We got it before my turn.
Terminus Est, I think.
Sicily was an independent elective kingdom. Possibly lost on succession if you didn’t pay attention to whom was getting elected. No clue how Tripoli could be lost without a war.
It seems we lost Ireland, too.
Nice to see the French/English/Danish bloc fall apart. Let’s hope we can sweep up some of the pieces.
And where are the Fatimids? Did they completely self destruct?
But, wait, what happened to Gibraltar? It’s simply unacceptable for any piece of the Iberian peninsula to not be under our rule.
Oh! I didn’t realize your ruler had died. I thought you were asking who should next feel the glory of Hispanian rule.
Ireland is currently in a revolt. Yeah, way to go, Irish. Make noise up there and I’ll trot over my massive stacks to squish you when I get around to it (I just landed the troops there before I died, actually).
I believe a duke got into a war with some mercenaries. I was also dispatching troops there when I died.
Terminus Est, here comes the save file.
I got the file and took a quick look. My predecessor left me in a pretty pickle. I’m way, way over my demesne limit, my most powerful vassals hate me, most of them are in a faction to lower crown authority in the empire with more than 130% of my strength, and there’s a far-ranging independence war involving Munster (Ireland), Leptis Magna, Syrte, and Sicily with Condotierre Jofré ‘the Mad’ of the Catalan Band joining them for good measure.
Sicily may be frakked as the Caliph (Egypt) has declared jihad on them for Tripolitana. On the other hand, Egypt is no longer held the the Fatimids but the Mikailids who are reduced to some scattered counties. Most of former Fatimid territory is held by the Hazarapsids who are based in Persia; their Shah seems to be incapable.
This is going to be fun!
Now that I think of it, I did start 4 holy wars the second I took my turn. I ate a huge hole out of the Fatmids and caused them to implode with decadence, I think.
All of those things are fairly typical when inheriting an empire.
Have fun! 
So I’ve been sitting on the save for more than a week and I haven’t done much other than poke around the initial position without unpausing the game. I’m in the process of moving, so I don’t have a lot of time to devote to the game especially when it’s such a large and complicated start. I’ll cede my place to the next player, whom I think is applecider.
bump?
You can send me the save file, but I won’t have time to play until the 21st. Family in town. Bump me to the next spot in the list, or send it along and I’ll get moving as soon as I can. Either way, I won’t be offended.
I think I already sent the file to appleciders, but if we want to keep the game moving along, I’ll send it to Pleonast.
Got the file. I should be able to start in tonight.
I didn’t get to the game until tonight. I only took quick notes.
Notes
1345: First off, I grant all my kingdoms, duchies (except two) and baronies to various vassals to lessen the hate. And grant enough counties to get under the demesne limit. I look for kinsmen who have good stats, but no prospects for land.
Then I need to find an heir. My only son is German and thus cannot be considered. So I make my eldest daughter my heir. And I marry her to the King of Wales, who is a Jimena. That will bring that kingdom into the Empire.
I also betrothe my two other daughters to the King of Hungary and the Duke of Orleans. My son I betrothe to the sister of the Kings of Castille and Sicily.
Cash to several key vassals brings factions down to tolerable levels.
1346: I bring the war I inherited to a close. I revoke the title of the King of Sicily and keep for myself, since it gives no elector penalties.
And then I die, at the tender age of 40 due to natural causes, leaving the empire to my young daughter of 17. Yikes!
Who’s up next? I’ve uploaded the save to my Google drive.
That would be me, I think.
Huh…That was a short reign. I’m glad you got Sicily back, though. I had fought for it during my two reigns, and I was unhappy we had lost it.
Me too. I’m more happy about my daughter’s marriage to the heir to the Welsh crown. So her successor will also inherit that. Well, once some children are born. That’s got to be the first priority of the new Empress. I think her husband is also due to inherit some English duchies, which means more of Britain will join the Empire, eventually.
At only 17, she could reign for a very long time.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I have the CK2 save converter to EU4. So if anyone is interested (and also has EU4), we can continue this into the age of discovery.
You’re going to be dissapointed.
I don’t have it yet, but why not? I didn’t play EU in many, many years.
Hispania in 1346
In 1346, the once united and powerful kingdoms of France and England have broken apart, and are divided amongst a number of petty kings and independent dukes. Only the Holy Roman Empire can somewhat rival with the mighty Hispanian Empire following the conquest/reconquest of large parts of Southern France, Northern Morocco, Sicily and Tripolitania (the circumstances of some of these conquests have unfortunately not been recorded in historical chronicles and came as a surprise for the new monarch ;)).
The Muslim world is almost entirely under the rule of the Hazaraspid Shah, with the exception of Ethiopia and some territories belonging to the Mikailids. However, the main threat for the Christian world isn’t this Persian Empire. The gigantic Ilkhanate now has conquered all of Russia, Finland, Central Europe, the Balkans and Turkey, after the complete disappearance of the Byzantine Empire (also not recorded by the chronicles).
The young Empress Juliana I (first female ruler of Hispania), renowned for her beauty, kindness, charity, gregarious nature and remarkable diplomatic talent is probably the first Hispanian monarch to begin her reign loved by her vassals contrarily to all expectations (the fact that she inherited few domains from her father certainly contributed to the lack of resentment amongst the Hispanian nobility). She has been married by her father to the crown prince of Wales (also a Jimena) with the hope that their heir would finally unite the two kingdoms.
The Hispanian Empire includes seven kingdoms, numerous duchies and counties, and even several merchant republics, most notably the Republic of Valencia. It is believed that the charters of these republics have been granted by Telo I, Alvar I or Alvar II but again chronicles are silent.
1346-1347 : Beginning of a reign
The first issue the young Empress had to face was the lack of a direct heir. Numerous members of the very extended Jimena dynasty could pretend to the throne. Jimena I favored the king of Wales Mendo I the great, her father-in-law, primarily in order to ensure the union of the two crowns in case she would die without children, but also because of Mendo’s diplomatic and administrative talent.
Unfortunately, the large number of electors, along with the rivalries amongst them resulted in an awkward situation. The heir presumptive changed every time a major vassal switched his vote, and votes switched often. During the first year of her reign, the duke Ponce of Toledo, the king Alvaro I of Mauretania, the king Esteban I of Leon were in turn considered as heir presumptive. Having no way to impose her choice, the empress resigned herself to this situation, since in any case, the crown wouldn’t leave her dynasty.
Another issue was the existence of an anti-pope in Portugal. Having no clue about what advantages she could derive from this situation, she simply ignored it, hoping that a knowledgeable courtier (
) could someday advise her on this matter.
Apart from a quickly crushed peasant’s rebellion in the county of Angoulême, Hispania faced no threat. For this reason, the empress could spend lavishly on military improvements and on the creation of two new cities in Angoulême and Toulouse. She also made the important decision of moving her capital from Toledo to Barcelona. Despite being a little less advanced, Barcelona was wealthier, more convenient for army movements and more centrally located in the empire.
A great number of Hispanian nobles were secretly intriguing. The empress, when she was aware of these intrigues, acted selectively, trying to diminish the influence of heretics and “foreigners” (i.e. nobles who didn’t belong to the dominant Castillan culture, especially Germans) by having them arrested at the slightest pretense, while ignoring plots against them. Notably, she sent to jail the duke of Munster, and stripped him of his title in order to grant it to the count of Desmond, a Castillan catholic. Unfortunately, when she tried to pull the same trick on the duke of Algarve and Barcelona, he revolted. This revolt was hopeless, but necessitated the gathering of nearly 30 000 men to besiege the duke’s fortresses.
In May 1346, Juliana I declared war on the duke of Cornwall, at the request of the king of Wales who intended to take the ducal title for himself, and with whom she wanted to keep good relations. This declaration of war was purely formal, however, since the empress judged that Mendo I didn’t need her help to successfully wage this war. Mendo I also declared war against the 3 yo king of France Alexander I, over the province of Devon, at the time vassal to France. By November of the same year, Cornwall had been conquered by the king of Wales, but the war still raged on in Devon. This war would have unexpected consequences for Hispania.
In April 1347, Juliana agreed to the marriage of her sister Dueña to the duke of Orléans, a marital alliance that had been negotiated by her father and began to also seek an advantageous marriage for her half-brother Gomez (she intended to grant him an Hispanian title and betroth him to the heiress of a count or duke, so that the bride’s domain would eventually join the Hispanian empire).
She however had to suddenly change her plans. Her husband, Iago, had received from his father the title of Count of Vannes. As such, he was leading his levy in western France against the vassals of Alexander I. On June 4 1347, at the age of 21 he was killed in a battle against the duke of Bourbon. Whether Juliana mourned her husband isn’t known. However, this event was putting an end to the 758th (approximately) Hispanian plot to join the crowns of Wales and Hispania.
Juliana sought to marry the second son of the king of Wales. Unfortunately, despite the good relationships between the two sovereigns, Mendo I absolutely refused a marriage or betrothal between the empress and any of his sons. There were only two avenues left for Juliana, and none of them was promising. The first one was to make sure that Mendo I would be elected as her successor, but the chances of this happening appeared slim. The second one was through her mother. The dowager empress Aragonta had a strong personal claim on Wales, that would eventually be inherited by her son Gomez. Juliana could support this claim. Unfortunately, this option was difficult to implement. Not only would the empress have to wage war against Wales, but also it was quite certain that the pretender would immediately sever links with Hispania unless he already have an Hispanian king title. And all such titles having been granted by her father Alvar II (:mad:) she would need to either strip one of her vassal kings from his title or conquer a new kingdom, like, as she envisioned, Africa, but this would be a long term and uncertain goal.
According to the chronicles, she decided that she needed a break to ponder this issue.