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Post 1

StrategyGameEnthusiast

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Jun 21, 2024
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I'm back, and my plans have changed since the end of my last AAR. This is going to be a mega-project that will take many years, because it'll take years to get every save played. However, I'm going to start with some narrative stuff very quickly, because some narrative stuff won't have any link to the saves (for example, the lengthy prologue, which ill introduce the villain). I'll link the modlist once I actually start playing saves, I want to do the prologue first so that I commit to this (could be the start of a saga across games)

Just as an idea to the scope of this AAR, there will be 121 saves, covering every human culture in CK2 as well as 44 religions (I'm not reforming any pagan faiths, and generic paganism isn't included). My plan for a sequel to this, if all goes well, would take place in CK3 and include every culture and religion in that game (there's over 300 cultures including preset divergent and hybrids already and the map hasn't been expanded yet), followed by the third story in EU5 with all its cultures, with the finale in whatever version of Stellaris that exists by that stage.

Part 1 of the prologue will drop in the coming days...
 
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Good to see you continuing to experiment Mr. @StrategyGameEnthusiast . Looking forward to your narratives when they arrive.
 
Good to see you continuing to experiment Mr. @StrategyGameEnthusiast . Looking forward to your narratives when they arrive.
Thank you @Chac1
 
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Oh, this sounds interesting. I love a big crazy project.
 
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Prologue: The Origins of the Iron King (and how he ended up on an Earth)
In the vast multiverse, there exists many worlds where magic is a part of life. The trillions of Earths on the edges are unfortunate in that they do not have any magic by default, instead only being blessed with magic if a great accident happens. At the centre of our universe, magic is usable by almost every inhabitant. But where magic is at its strongest and most abundant, is somewhere in the middle, on a planet home to hundreds of trillions of people, of which a couple of billion can use magic. Magic on this planet has two origins; human and divine. Human magic was invented in the early 1st century BS (Before Saviour)* by an advisor to the Emperor. Divine magic dates to the origin of the universe, and in most religious traditions the divine figure/figures created it. Human magic can be taught, but divine magic is something one is born with, and only a rare few are born with it.

*The distinction between BS and AS (After Saviour) is based around the birth of the 'Saviour of Humanity', a man who managed to defeat the Dark Lord. It is unknown who the Saviour actually was, as two brothers, Lapult and Escherch, both managed to defeat the Dark Lord, their elder brother Klazelc - who was born in 10 BS. The two theories are the following: Lapult was the Saviour, and Escherch was born in 4 AS; or Escherch was the Saviour, and Lapult was born in 4 BS. But I digress, this story isn't about any of them, rather it is about an unwitting servant of the Dark Lord known as the Iron King.


In this world, there existed five great states - the Empire, the Elective High Nobledom of Kaltai, and the three Iron Kingdoms of Lamni, Kingville and Kingopolis - so called because of the absolute powers of their kings throughout their existence. Although there were three Iron Kingdoms, only one man is referred to as the Iron King: Ilton the Conqueror, who conquered Kingopolis between 867 and 871 AS from the Qestes King Iten VI. Ilton gained the title of Iron King through his brutal consolidation of power in the decades following the conquest, which involved the annihilation of the Qestes nobility and the forced intermarriage of conquering Xaranites with the native population (endogamy was banned if you had 3 or more grandparents from one ethnic group until after Ilton's death in 919 AS).

Ilton died in 919 AS, but in 2025 AS, a mistake by a powerful wizard leads to Ilton and an army of Xaranites, dating to the beginning of the conquest but with all the knowledge after it, arriving on the Earth that this story takes place on, just outside Beijing...
 
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Hmmmm, interesting. :)
 
Just as an idea to the scope of this AAR, there will be 121 saves, covering every human culture in CK2 as well as 44 religions.
Wow
Just playing just one to the end is already a thing... can't just imaging playing them all...
 
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Hmmmm, interesting. :)
Thank you for the interest!
Wow
Just playing just one to the end is already a thing... can't just imaging playing them all...
This is where the bulk of the time for the project will come from (luckily I've decided on a new method to speed up saves - not having any feudal vassals and representing other dynasties in my kingdoms through fictional descendants of bastards of my dynasty).
 
And so it begins.... Liking that we are getting to the narrative quickly.

(endogamy was banned if you had 3 or more grandparents from one ethnic group until after Ilton's death in 919 AS).
Interesting to see laws that establish such cultural and societal ways. This is an intriguing new world. Can't wait for your Iron King's full tales.
 
And so it begins.... Liking that we are getting to the narrative quickly.
You're welcome.

Interesting to see laws that establish such cultural and societal ways. This is an intriguing new world.
Hint:
It'll influence his actions on this Earth he's arrived on.
 
The Iron King Takes Beijing
Jun 12th 2025:

Breaking News!

In the Chinese capital of Beijing, an army of strange giant men surrounded important government buildings. Attempts to shoot the men failed as the bullets bounced off their armour. The leader of the army, a 3m (9ft 10 in) behemoth wielding a 3ft sword, demanded to meet the leader of China. After taking the Forbidden City, the army brought the government and military leaders of China before their leader.

The Iron King demanded to know which of the men brought before him was the ruler of China. Once the government and military leaders were presented in order of rank and seniority, the Iron King dismembered them one by one. With the government and military of China dismantled, the Iron King ordered his soldiers to secure their new conquest and conduct a census.

*******************************​
"Ilton, my glorious brother" said Prince Xarunon, a half-brother of the Iron King, "I found this in one of the buildings". Xarunon presented his half-brother with a map of the world. "Tell the men that they will obey our custom of assimilation of the conquered. They must not kill or rape unless given a concrete reason to do so. This map indicates there are many more realms to conquer, so we will leave behind 5 million Xaranites here to assimilate the 'Chinese'. The rest will be sent to conquer and assimilate other realms. Xarunon, gather our other brothers and our cousins and I will inform them of the plan to spread the House of Xaran across this strange new world." Xarunon simply stated "It will be done, brother" and left the room. Ilton took a look at the grounds of the Forbidden City and decided that this would make a fine capital for the new Xaran, just as the old Qestes capital became his capital in his past life.

****************************​
As the Xaranite soldiers began conducting their census, a teenage boy was called by his mother and father, who presented him with a GPS and told him to go straight to Jiuquan, the capital of the Han Kingdom of Xia[1], to warn the King of the looming Xaranite theat. Although it would be a long and dangerous journey, he agreed to undertake it to save his people from the Iron King...



Author's Notes: 1: There's also a Tangut Kingdom of Xia, splitting the in-game de jure kingdom.
 
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Teehee, I understand little. :D
 
Oh, so this is happening in the present!

The Iron King and his other-worldly minions certainly sound unstoppable.

At the moment, I'm not only rooting for the boy to successfully complete his mission but also for an alliance to form with a solution to stopping the coming tyranny.
 
Oh, so this is happening in the present!
Yes it is.
The Iron King and his other-worldly minions certainly sound unstoppable.
At the moment, I'm not only rooting for the boy to successfully complete his mission but also for an alliance to form with a solution to stopping the coming tyranny
It will take the world uniting against the Iron King to stand a chance at defeating his army...
 
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What an interesting start! What modern technology can stop a bunch of magical warriors? Will the boy find out he's magic?
 
What modern technology can stop a bunch of magical warriors?
None, it'll take magic to beat them.

Will the boy find out he's magic?
No, he's just a messenger and once he gets to his destination he will never be heard from again (hence why I haven't named him).
 
The Wizard Realises His Mistake
Jun 19th 2025:

I take a good look in the mirror and notice a grey strand amongst my brown hair. "I certainly didn't get my father's best genes" I remark to myself. My father always looked much younger than he actually was, but I'm the opposite. But how much of that is down to genes, or life choices? My father was always extremely vain and paranoid about aging, at least from what my mother has told me about him. I've usually been more accepting of aging. But things are different now. I wonder if it was life events that shaped my father's relationship with aging. I'd ask my mother, but she doesn't like talking about him unless she has to. I don't blame her one bit, given the kind of person my father is. And I certainly couldn't ask him, because the last time I saw him in person was during the Revolution, 18 years ago last month. When the rebels took control of the country, they imprisoned my father, who had served as leader of the ruling military junta for eight and a half years. The last time anyone has seen him was in the build-up to the 2021 General Election, and while his hair had gone grey, he still looked like a man in his thirties, not his sixties. Of course, everyone, excluding myself, thought him to have been dead. "We executed him after the Revolution" was the cry of the police and army. But I knew the Dark Lord wasn't going to let his anointed heir go down so easily.

If you trace my lineage, father to father, eventually you reach the Dark Lord Klazelc, the most powerful practitioner and inventor of dark magic to ever live. Other practitioners of dark magic have created spells, curses and potions, but only the Dark Lord could create an entire branch of magic out of them. To be fair, one needs to be connected to the divine to have the ability to create entire branches of magic, and there can really only be one Dark Lord.

************************************​
I'm distracted from my thoughts by her entry into my study. Shit. I forgot it's her birthday today. "Dad" she calls out. "Mom wants to know if you're going to spend all day up here or if you'll come down and join my birthday celebrations." I make my way over to where she's waiting and say "Of course I am Lucy, I'm just busy."
"With what, Dad? School finished three weeks ago, does Felonius expect his staff to continue working over the holidays?"
"No, it's... complicated"
"Dad, I'm not a baby anymore, as of today I'm an adult woman. I know all about your superhero escapades with your friends that you don't even speak to anymore."
Even she knew she had gone too far by bringing them up. "Dad, I didn't mean it like that."
"I know you didn't"
Still, it cuts deep. I still talk to Teddy and Sylvester every now and again, but Harry's too much of a wreck and the others were always more mutual friends, and we all agreed that there was no point trying to connect more after he died. My best friend. The hero of the Revolution, who turned the tide against my father and his dictatorship. The King prophesised by the gods to restore goodness after the reign of terror. The Anything, the most powerful being to ever exist in our universe. The guardian of our universe from harm and destruction. The connection between our universe and the central universe.

***************************************​
"Dad, are you crying?" Lucy asks.
"Yes"
"It's okay Dad, I know it's tough for you to remember them. Remember him. I just got frustrated because I want to help you with whatever it is you're doing."
Even though I told myself that I'd always keep the more experimental magic away from my family to protect them, I allow Lucy to stay in my study. I show her what I'm working on, trying to translate a spell from an ancient spellbook.
"Is this what I think it is?"
"It is". The very spellbook created by the Dark Lord, containing every spell, curse and potion that existed when he crafted the book. Many of which he invented.
"How did you get it?"
"When the Revolution deposed your grandfather, The Anything found it in a filing cabinet. He knew what it was, and gave it to me to decipher."
"Did he use it?"
"Yes, he did". That was of course how my father was able to fake his death, in 2020 I managed to translate a cloning spell which showed how he did it.
Lucy looks at the page I'm currently translating.
"What does this one do?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out. It mentions time travel, but that can't be right. Time travel in the sense that sci-fi writers utilise it for isn't possible. Unless you're a deity, or you possess the Celestial Gem of Time, you can only view the past or future, not interact with it."
I work on a few paragraphs, then I realise what I've done. "Fuck"
"What is it, Dad?"
"This curse negates any insurance spells."
"Insurance spells?"
"Spells I use before I start translating to prevent anything from happening."
"So what's happened?"
"Someone from our world's history has been transported to the present day of another world to wreak havoc on it."
"Who?"
"Ilton the Conqueror"

****************************************​
Lucy and I go down to greet the rest of the family, and inform them that I have to go on another adventure. She seems to sense that I intend on going alone, and she says "Dad, let me come with you. I can help." I don't doubt that, but I can't let her get hurt. I couldn't live with myself if she did. She's only 16, I rationalise to myself. But I was leading armies into battle at that age. "Okay, but what will we tell your mother? And should you go say goodbye to your friends? After all, they're here for you."
"They're here for Oscar, Dad". I look a bit confused at her statement, but she clarifies "Dad, Oscar's 15 and the captain of the school football team. He's slept with all of my friends. He's slept with most girls in both of our years." I don't express it to her, but I'm a bit shocked to hear about my eldest son's activities. I never took him for the womanising type. Lucy then laughs and says "I bet Oscar's thinking about how many of my friends he can sleep with in one night" I try to think of anything else to shift the conversation away from my son's sex life. Anything. Anything, Benjamin. Anything other than your son's sex life. Eventually Grace, my wife and mother of my children, comes in and asks what's going on.

Lucy explains everything about the curse in the spellbook and Grace just says to me "Honey, you don't need to explain any magic stuff to me anymore. After your father showed up on a stage 13 years after he was executed I learned that it's best not to ask about magic. You're the expert after all." She then turns to Lucy and says "Are you sure you want to go with him, baby? He can get a bit confusing whenever magic is involved." That wasn't a dig, that's 100% the truth, I forget that most people can't even use magic, let alone decipher spellbooks written in extinct languages. And even though you can learn some branches of magic, none of my kids wanted to. I get it, nobody wants their teacher to be their dad. But I'm hopeful about our youngest, Jake. He's only 2, but I can already tell he's inherited some genetic magic, namely foresight.

Grace says "Ben, it's okay. If you need to save the world again, go do it. And Lucy, good luck on your first superhero mission." She then leaves to tell the rest of the party that Lucy and I are leaving. We return to my study and I pinpoint which Earth Ilton has arrived on based on reports of what's going on. I find it, and I utter the spell that takes Lucy and I to this Earth, as far from Ilton as we can be there, to build a team of heroes to stop the Iron King....
 
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Well, it's good the non-magic Earth has someone looking out for them. Lucy and Ben are going to have trouble finding superheroes where they're going though.

Did Ilton die of natural causes in his home-dimension, or was he defeated some other way?