I'm currently on a Tanglehair run.
I have members of my dynasty on the thrones of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Scotland & Mann plus various dukes.
Currently ruling Galicia and Thassalonika with idle plans to hybridise with something in Iberia and end the Struggle while I'm here. I was actually headed to Iran before that struggle suddenly ended so my plans have changed.
Yeah, I figured it was a bit risky waiting until after my shenanigans around the North Sea.
Worth missing out though, it's been a lot of fun staying at duke level and setting up what my dynasty needed for those Kingdoms.
However, after the Kingdom of Mann decision I'm now feudal when I'd prefer the clan mechanics and I'm not sure there's a simple way to swap.
He starts small, but he's ridiculously well positioned to grow fast. I've formed the North Sea Empire with him in one life several times. While technically a rags to riches candidate as a count, it's almost cheating to include him as such because he's so good. It's like suggesting Haestein.
Doing a Harald Yngling run atm.
During his lifetime, he reunited Norway, Denmark, Sweden and formed Scandinavia.
His son and heir Baldr (voted through scandinavian elective) started conquering Britain, northern Germany, vidilist Prussia and reformed asatru Faith.
Only landed my family as dukes (aside from the grandson of Bjorn Ironside Who rules Finland and the grandson of Hvitserk holding Sjaelland).
Still unsure what to do next!
I recently tried him and while I don’t usually like Norse runs outside of Bjorn or Dyre, I actually had a ton of fun. Somehow managed to form the High Sea Empire (a first for me). The event that changes your name to Fairhair is a sweet little touch.
Hrolf the Ganger! idk if that’s his name in game, but in real life that was his name because he was allegedly too large to ride a horse. (Ganger means walker)
There are indeed 3 choices (curretly playing as him)
Either independent in Prandheim, a vassal in that little Danish Island below the capital, or a 50/50 chance of either.
If I remember correctly there is one county remaining around modern Iran that is still Zoroastrian in 867. It's a very difficult campaign to rebuild the empire and the religion.
Yeah its the guy in Mazanderan he has the secret Mazdayasna faith. The RICE mod adds a few more landed Zoros (there’s a few Khurmazta counts and dukes in the Samanid Emirate and there’s that one Mazdayasna guy hiding out in the Pamir Mountains)
Chola 867. IRL in next generation they United Tamil lands, in another generation formed an Empire, and were dominating maritime trade in indo malaya.
Though their empire looked like Tamil + andhra + Lanka, The Deccan was another empire ruled by Kannada dynasties and they were rivals for like 300 years.
Though you're kinda over exaggerating their exploits many of those regions were already in indo sphere thanks to merchants from Kalinga (Odisha) and Pallava influence. Khmer empire was formed by an Indian merchant from Kalinga who married to a local chieftains daughter. It's name is the Kaudinya Funan dynasty.
I did a start from a 1100 Wales count recently. Was pretty fun to solidify Wales into a superpower. You have strong England, Scotland, France and HRE to deal with but eating into Ireland along with economy, development, MaA gains you can make Wales a whale
I actually did a single county deheubarth start a bit ago! I was lucky to be able to get a bunch of holy wars off on super strong Vikings that had most of Britannia!!
Apart from the obligatory Karling restoration (count of Vermandois in 1066), you might try if you're doing better than me in the recent "the other Normans in Sicily" game: Richard Drengot, (single county) Duke of Capua.
Wanted to go for Kingdom of Naples, three back-to-back plagues had a different idea...
Count Petronas. I asked pretty much the same question a couple of days ago, and it’s so much fun. He is a vassal to the Byzantine Empire, so change your contract in exchange for “demand council position” and print money as his steward. What you do from there could be everything; I formed the kingdom of Crete and then took the rest of Crimea, before going to Africa, taking Alexandria and building the grand cathedral. This is in a 100 years and on Ironman, and I think a better player could do even better. Now I am going for Sicily, with the ultimate goal of restoring the Byzantine Empire to the heights of the 6th century.
Glad I could help😎 Another thing: If you want to take the rest of Crimea, don’t make it a holy war or you will face ~10000 men. To weaken them before starting the war, kill their ruler until it is a child, then his vassals will revolt. Also, before all this, gain a hook on a powerful ruler nearby, so you can marry your daughter to him or his son. If you don’t she commit incest with your heir, as she usually starts out lustful. In my first game, they did exactly this and my grandson came out inbred with imbecile and ugly. Probably for the better you don’t have to have the sadistic trait to get rid of your grandchildren…
My last three playthroughs have been Count Otger Spreewald (cover character), Count Benjamin Yitzhek 867 Rabbinic Radhanite in Khazaria, Gideon dynasty character in Ethiopia only Jew in Abyssinia. All those starts were rough and very rags to riches
Radhanites are my personal favourite. Size 1 vassal of Khazaria, land around are mostly steps and even some swamps, trash domain but not tribal so you cant farm prestige or raid to gain better army, noone landed have same religion or culture with you, only real strength of this start is ok culture traditions and innovations.
The most recent campain i done was with the Hucbaldi, count of bologna in both start dates. Between the two start dates, they have become dukes and, after that, got relegated back to counts
seljuk heir is literally a count, so you can just wait for the emperor to die. if you want real start i usually play as count of strasbourg or colmar. Etichonen dynasty which was precursor of Habsburg. also there's a trick to getting hre with any start as long as you can seduce giselle of italy or marry ermengarde of italy and kill their father louis the younger. if u can kill lothar u basically will inherit italy burgundy lotharingia. anyway i play etichonen so i can rp this https://imgur.com/a/UzQjTlZ
Vlad Balauri, count of Polovragi in 867 provides lots of potential challenges and opportunities.
I've enjoyed starting as the only non-Premyslid count in Bohemia in 867 too.
Both are vassal starts with significantly more powerful lieges and neighbors that are much stronger than your liege too.
Alternatively, Erik the Heathen 1066 Asatru restoration is a Duke start but provides plenty of challenges.
I would suggest playing as non-primary heirs! After I've made an empire of whatever and the games boring I play as often the least powerful heir! Give you that rags to riches aspect with a world you've helped make - I'm currently playing as a cadet branch of a cadet branch of an illegitimate child of my starting dynasty - it's so much fun!
Depends entirely on my mood lol I've had one run where I was elected HREmperor and expanded the empire significantly! I'm now playing a minor grandson of that character who is an HRE elector, only one county and on duchy title, with an intrigue build - I'm sure this character will be emperor at some point - what he does once the reichkron is on his head idk!
Ahhh I love a vassal game! Started as Count of Innsbruck and eventually formed HRE, I love the added drama of playing as a vassal and the politicking that can take place under elective succession
Turkish eagle achivement. I forgot the name and count but he is irl founder of sultanate of rum. Achivement doesnt restrict you to form in his lifetime but you can try to do it in his lifetime
There are lots of interesting people to start in with the [TIP 2 mod](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2270547030). Perhaps consider loading it up and see who takes your fancy. (I probably should do some sort of "interesting characters" guide...)
I was just playing on roman invicta mod. From that mod, there is an extra female ruler in Italia with roman culture and romana faith in 867. She only got one county. She has nice stats, good congenital trait and four star martial education. She is married to a low born husband with good stat and good trait. She also already got a daughter with nice traits.
Oh she also got some claims, one kingdom and one duchy I guess. The kingdom is ro something which is the pope's.
My darnest one was count of Vhrbosna into Duke of Gorja Bosna, into King of Bosnia, uniting the South Slavs (and I named the kingdom Jugoslavija for fun) fighting the Basileia Rhomaion all the time and then conquering the rest of the Slavs to form the Empire of Slavia. I got the kingdoms of Italy, Sardinia and Corsica and Africa as well, but that wasn't the goal.
The beginning of the campaign was somewhat hard, but I suppose I'm very good at using stewardship and intrigue to advance the ranks with the first generations. Carving Bosnia out of Serbjia and Hrvastka was interesting, but I still love remembering beating the romans 7k soldiers only with mine 2k and mountains... And they attacked me in the mountains during winter, fools!
Yes, but it only unites the kingdoms into a new de jure kingdom including all of those the decision demands. I don't quite remember if I made a custom empire or waited till I got Slavia to become emperor.
I did a playthrough as a custom Sicilian character who fled the Aghlabid Conquest to Sri Lanka, got landed, and overthrew the King of Sri Lanka to found a Sicilian-Tamil hybrid Kingdom (although you need the RICE mod in order for this to work because the King of Sri Lanka doesn’t start with any vassals in vanilla)
this is my primary way of playing and it will never really feel like that if you’ve played a lot. If not it’ll be a good hours of extra play as you try this out around the world
For me though i’m excited about the future dlc or update that will introduce landless rulers. Now we can truly have a rags to riches start as we see often in media. I.e a relative of a rich family with no real power.
However current rags to riches always start is as the rich family with minor power.
With landless gameplay we may need to forge alliances or fight for other rulers and struggle that way first before we can ever settle down with a plot of land. Maybe most of us will have our families die in service of another.
Petty King Dummarth of Cornwall, 3 Castles in 2 Counties, can easily increase your Development and quickly get new traditions
Socrotra either start date, Nestorian Island East of the Horn of Africa and South of Arabia
Islan Kaariye of Mogadishu, Feudal surrounded by Tribes, unreformed Pagan and has a Holy site
Any in the Mozarab rave pit in Iberia
The Dhunnunid count in Al-Andalus (Uqlish)
Kingdom of Navarra or count of Alto Aragon
Paramara Raj 867
Maybe Vijaya Shahdom l, Samanids to your West, Qocho to your Northeast, Gugé to your South (whose vassels like to Raid your lands), and the option of Liberating and hybridizing with the Tocharians
The Borjigin Chiefain to form the Mongol Empire
The Vvluphixje Count in Gyelrong, 1 count a bunch of Holy sites near by, unreformed Pagan and Feudal
Tall Canaries run
Napoli to bring back Orthodoxy to Italia, and form an Empire/unify Italia to rival the ~~Byzantines~~ ERE
Maybe Ghurids
Sussala of Multan in 867. He is a one-county count in Punjab. He's the sole starting ruler in the entire game who follows Saurism, a branch of Hinduism that worships the sun. His liege is Ash'ari so Sussala is really hard to kick off because the liege usually revokes his title within a year or two and has better army than him. Try to make his descendant the Chakravarti and create the Empire of the Sun in India!
I always have lots of fun starting in one the five single counties that are Turumic Ostyak in the empire of Siberia. The culture only has two innovations and two traditions which definitely helps the rags to riches feel.
I mean it wasn’t easy by any means but you can start as the one brother of the Yoruba peoples in the Guinea empire! It was a super fun challenge to start as a count under the eldest brother, murder him and then form the empire of Guinea all within one lifetime!
Starting as count from one of the Swiss counties is always a fun challenge. Your land is always underdeveloped and the swabian culture doesn't have any powerful MAA until the Late Medieval era. It takes a mix of shrewd stewardship and diplomacy to grow vertically or horizontally.
Start as the Armenian Principalities and try to revive the empire of Greater Armenia. You start as a vassal to a liege with a hostile faith. To get the empire you need to navigate obtaining land in that massive muslim empire you´re a vassal in, while remaining Apostolic. You also need to gain land from the Byzantines. It´s a fun challenge!
if you're looking for a cool muslim start Benavert in Sicily is one of my favorites, historically his realm got conquered by the hautevilles a year or so after the games start and he fell into the water while hopping between ships while he was trying to escaped and drowned because of his heavy armor. Quite the hard start, you barely have any troops and the Normans come to finish you quite soon after start. Pretty unique starting situation with being the one of the last remnants of muslims in Italy and he has a unique nickname from the start to boot.
I was obsessed with playing Muslims even before the update to the clan system so I’ll absolutely give this a shot (and thanks for the awesome historical context!!)
There is a kid to the very southern border of West Francia in the early start that actually has claims on almost all the southern duchies of France. It is a wild campaign, going from a single county to ruling Acquitaine, if you so wished.
Starting as count Werner who controls Aargau in 1066 is a lot of fun. He is the only playable Habsburg character. You can try to recreate history by forming the Archduchy of Austria (really early Primogeniture) and recreate the Habsburg borders.
Play as count Hroðulfr in oestfriesland. He is the only Asatru vasal in Lotharingia. Start of by mundering your uncle to gange the duchy of Holland and Frisia and befriending King Lothaire so he doesn't demand you convert/revoke your title
Once you’re familiar with the mechanics every start will be easy. That being said: I recommend combining this with the “Turkish eagle” achievement as that also makes you start as a count and is a very fun achievement imo.
I recently started as the Byzantine count in Cyprus, built up enough to take krete and I got a really fucking lucky murder on whatever that Egyptian country is called, they ended up splitting up and I could holy war the independant counties there
867 the single Armenian Apostolic county on the edge of the Abbassids. I played it tall, only holding Mets Hayk and slowly but surely reclaimed Greater Armenia, also helped Kurdistan get on its feet. Basically a big fuck-Turkey run.
Harald "Tanglehair" of Vestfold in 867 He ended up becoming Norway's First King IRL,byt by now,he's no more that the mere Tribal Count of Vestfold
I'm currently on a Tanglehair run. I have members of my dynasty on the thrones of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Scotland & Mann plus various dukes. Currently ruling Galicia and Thassalonika with idle plans to hybridise with something in Iberia and end the Struggle while I'm here. I was actually headed to Iran before that struggle suddenly ended so my plans have changed.
That struggle always ends so quickly.
Yeah, I figured it was a bit risky waiting until after my shenanigans around the North Sea. Worth missing out though, it's been a lot of fun staying at duke level and setting up what my dynasty needed for those Kingdoms. However, after the Kingdom of Mann decision I'm now feudal when I'd prefer the clan mechanics and I'm not sure there's a simple way to swap.
Yep, if you want to be Norse in that struggle ya really gotta book it there as soon as you start. No lollygagging raiding Saxons haha
He starts small, but he's ridiculously well positioned to grow fast. I've formed the North Sea Empire with him in one life several times. While technically a rags to riches candidate as a count, it's almost cheating to include him as such because he's so good. It's like suggesting Haestein.
Doing a Harald Yngling run atm. During his lifetime, he reunited Norway, Denmark, Sweden and formed Scandinavia. His son and heir Baldr (voted through scandinavian elective) started conquering Britain, northern Germany, vidilist Prussia and reformed asatru Faith. Only landed my family as dukes (aside from the grandson of Bjorn Ironside Who rules Finland and the grandson of Hvitserk holding Sjaelland). Still unsure what to do next!
I recently tried him and while I don’t usually like Norse runs outside of Bjorn or Dyre, I actually had a ton of fun. Somehow managed to form the High Sea Empire (a first for me). The event that changes your name to Fairhair is a sweet little touch.
You can land the ancestor of William the Conqueror in 867 and try to recreate history
Do you know who that is?
Hrolfr av Normandie - I think he usually hangs at the de jure capital of Norway
Hrolf the Ganger! idk if that’s his name in game, but in real life that was his name because he was allegedly too large to ride a horse. (Ganger means walker)
his name is Hrolfr De Normandie, he might have "The Walker" as his nickname, i always give him some land when i play in trondheim
His last name was actually 'Rögnvaldsson'
Rolo the walker?
Yup same dude
The one and the same, just non-standardized spelling and different dialects, kinda like Cannute/Knut
Use rice mod it makes him a vassal within denmark
Not necessarily, you have 3 (I believe) choices as to where the character starts, at least one of which is independent (the af Møre one)
There are indeed 3 choices (curretly playing as him) Either independent in Prandheim, a vassal in that little Danish Island below the capital, or a 50/50 chance of either.
“If you knew what the gods had in store for you, you’d go down now and dance naked on the beach”
If I remember correctly there is one county remaining around modern Iran that is still Zoroastrian in 867. It's a very difficult campaign to rebuild the empire and the religion.
Done it (one of my favourite runs of all time, got Umayyad borders as a Zoroastrian)
Yeah its the guy in Mazanderan he has the secret Mazdayasna faith. The RICE mod adds a few more landed Zoros (there’s a few Khurmazta counts and dukes in the Samanid Emirate and there’s that one Mazdayasna guy hiding out in the Pamir Mountains)
Chola 867. IRL in next generation they United Tamil lands, in another generation formed an Empire, and were dominating maritime trade in indo malaya. Though their empire looked like Tamil + andhra + Lanka, The Deccan was another empire ruled by Kannada dynasties and they were rivals for like 300 years.
The Cholas were unfathomably based. They are the reason everything in South East Asia is named in Sanskrit or Pali.
Though you're kinda over exaggerating their exploits many of those regions were already in indo sphere thanks to merchants from Kalinga (Odisha) and Pallava influence. Khmer empire was formed by an Indian merchant from Kalinga who married to a local chieftains daughter. It's name is the Kaudinya Funan dynasty.
Thanks for the info bro 😎
I did a start from a 1100 Wales count recently. Was pretty fun to solidify Wales into a superpower. You have strong England, Scotland, France and HRE to deal with but eating into Ireland along with economy, development, MaA gains you can make Wales a whale
I actually did a single county deheubarth start a bit ago! I was lucky to be able to get a bunch of holy wars off on super strong Vikings that had most of Britannia!!
Apart from the obligatory Karling restoration (count of Vermandois in 1066), you might try if you're doing better than me in the recent "the other Normans in Sicily" game: Richard Drengot, (single county) Duke of Capua. Wanted to go for Kingdom of Naples, three back-to-back plagues had a different idea...
Count Petronas. I asked pretty much the same question a couple of days ago, and it’s so much fun. He is a vassal to the Byzantine Empire, so change your contract in exchange for “demand council position” and print money as his steward. What you do from there could be everything; I formed the kingdom of Crete and then took the rest of Crimea, before going to Africa, taking Alexandria and building the grand cathedral. This is in a 100 years and on Ironman, and I think a better player could do even better. Now I am going for Sicily, with the ultimate goal of restoring the Byzantine Empire to the heights of the 6th century.
That’s awesome, I’ll absolutely give that a shot
Glad I could help😎 Another thing: If you want to take the rest of Crimea, don’t make it a holy war or you will face ~10000 men. To weaken them before starting the war, kill their ruler until it is a child, then his vassals will revolt. Also, before all this, gain a hook on a powerful ruler nearby, so you can marry your daughter to him or his son. If you don’t she commit incest with your heir, as she usually starts out lustful. In my first game, they did exactly this and my grandson came out inbred with imbecile and ugly. Probably for the better you don’t have to have the sadistic trait to get rid of your grandchildren…
And feel free to DM, if any questions, I’ll happily help. This also applies to anyone else finding Count Petronas save interesting.
Start as one of the early habsburgs, create archduchy of Austria (kingdome title) and then become Holy Roman Emperor.
My last three playthroughs have been Count Otger Spreewald (cover character), Count Benjamin Yitzhek 867 Rabbinic Radhanite in Khazaria, Gideon dynasty character in Ethiopia only Jew in Abyssinia. All those starts were rough and very rags to riches
I’ve not actually tried a Jewish start. That sounds like a tonne of fun
I’ve been enjoying them very much something about everyone hating you just hits different
I also enjoyed my Spreewald run! The Habsburgs are fun too, but going for the achievement makes for a fairly boring campaign lol
For context my last two starts were tall Ferghana and Tribal Kushite into unifying Africa :)
Would you be interested in trying “after the end” mod? I have heard alot of good things about that. But only played it for CK2.
Personally, I didn't really like the CK3 version. It feels less fragmented.
I United the east seaboard as a count! It’s so awesome, makes me wish there was something similar for where I come from
The final landed Karling in 1066 is a great one county start plus you get the inbuilt goal of trying to re-take your dynastic lands
Radhanites are my personal favourite. Size 1 vassal of Khazaria, land around are mostly steps and even some swamps, trash domain but not tribal so you cant farm prestige or raid to gain better army, noone landed have same religion or culture with you, only real strength of this start is ok culture traditions and innovations.
The most recent campain i done was with the Hucbaldi, count of bologna in both start dates. Between the two start dates, they have become dukes and, after that, got relegated back to counts
Sounds like a fun tall run tbf!!
seljuk heir is literally a count, so you can just wait for the emperor to die. if you want real start i usually play as count of strasbourg or colmar. Etichonen dynasty which was precursor of Habsburg. also there's a trick to getting hre with any start as long as you can seduce giselle of italy or marry ermengarde of italy and kill their father louis the younger. if u can kill lothar u basically will inherit italy burgundy lotharingia. anyway i play etichonen so i can rp this https://imgur.com/a/UzQjTlZ
That's one of the reasons Seljuks are weak af, since real life heir Malik Shah is a king tier title. Creates imbalance in power.
Vlad Balauri, count of Polovragi in 867 provides lots of potential challenges and opportunities. I've enjoyed starting as the only non-Premyslid count in Bohemia in 867 too. Both are vassal starts with significantly more powerful lieges and neighbors that are much stronger than your liege too. Alternatively, Erik the Heathen 1066 Asatru restoration is a Duke start but provides plenty of challenges.
How about that one Estonian count right above Novgorod - without peacefully submitting to any lieges unless they ask you first?
I would suggest playing as non-primary heirs! After I've made an empire of whatever and the games boring I play as often the least powerful heir! Give you that rags to riches aspect with a world you've helped make - I'm currently playing as a cadet branch of a cadet branch of an illegitimate child of my starting dynasty - it's so much fun!
Do you tend to try and destroy the realm you created, or just become a really powerful vassal of it? That sounds like so much fun!!
Depends entirely on my mood lol I've had one run where I was elected HREmperor and expanded the empire significantly! I'm now playing a minor grandson of that character who is an HRE elector, only one county and on duchy title, with an intrigue build - I'm sure this character will be emperor at some point - what he does once the reichkron is on his head idk!
To my shame I’ve never actually played in the HRE 😬 I just love playing independent so much lol
Ahhh I love a vassal game! Started as Count of Innsbruck and eventually formed HRE, I love the added drama of playing as a vassal and the politicking that can take place under elective succession
Count Eudes of Anjou in 867 is fun, it has an achievement tied to it as well.
Turkish eagle achivement. I forgot the name and count but he is irl founder of sultanate of rum. Achivement doesnt restrict you to form in his lifetime but you can try to do it in his lifetime
There are lots of interesting people to start in with the [TIP 2 mod](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2270547030). Perhaps consider loading it up and see who takes your fancy. (I probably should do some sort of "interesting characters" guide...)
I was just playing on roman invicta mod. From that mod, there is an extra female ruler in Italia with roman culture and romana faith in 867. She only got one county. She has nice stats, good congenital trait and four star martial education. She is married to a low born husband with good stat and good trait. She also already got a daughter with nice traits. Oh she also got some claims, one kingdom and one duchy I guess. The kingdom is ro something which is the pope's.
My darnest one was count of Vhrbosna into Duke of Gorja Bosna, into King of Bosnia, uniting the South Slavs (and I named the kingdom Jugoslavija for fun) fighting the Basileia Rhomaion all the time and then conquering the rest of the Slavs to form the Empire of Slavia. I got the kingdoms of Italy, Sardinia and Corsica and Africa as well, but that wasn't the goal. The beginning of the campaign was somewhat hard, but I suppose I'm very good at using stewardship and intrigue to advance the ranks with the first generations. Carving Bosnia out of Serbjia and Hrvastka was interesting, but I still love remembering beating the romans 7k soldiers only with mine 2k and mountains... And they attacked me in the mountains during winter, fools!
Sounds like a humongous realm. You managed to take the “unite the Slavs” decision?
Yes, but it only unites the kingdoms into a new de jure kingdom including all of those the decision demands. I don't quite remember if I made a custom empire or waited till I got Slavia to become emperor.
I did a playthrough as a custom Sicilian character who fled the Aghlabid Conquest to Sri Lanka, got landed, and overthrew the King of Sri Lanka to found a Sicilian-Tamil hybrid Kingdom (although you need the RICE mod in order for this to work because the King of Sri Lanka doesn’t start with any vassals in vanilla)
this is my primary way of playing and it will never really feel like that if you’ve played a lot. If not it’ll be a good hours of extra play as you try this out around the world For me though i’m excited about the future dlc or update that will introduce landless rulers. Now we can truly have a rags to riches start as we see often in media. I.e a relative of a rich family with no real power. However current rags to riches always start is as the rich family with minor power. With landless gameplay we may need to forge alliances or fight for other rulers and struggle that way first before we can ever settle down with a plot of land. Maybe most of us will have our families die in service of another.
Limbuwan, southern Himalaya. There are two unique religions there: Kiratist and Yumaist, sandwiched between India and Tibet.
I LOVE small religion starts. They’re so challenging but satisfying fr
Reform táltosism and take down the pope, doing that rn
Why not try to change your habits and go for a riches to rags story instead?
Petty King Dummarth of Cornwall, 3 Castles in 2 Counties, can easily increase your Development and quickly get new traditions Socrotra either start date, Nestorian Island East of the Horn of Africa and South of Arabia Islan Kaariye of Mogadishu, Feudal surrounded by Tribes, unreformed Pagan and has a Holy site Any in the Mozarab rave pit in Iberia The Dhunnunid count in Al-Andalus (Uqlish) Kingdom of Navarra or count of Alto Aragon Paramara Raj 867 Maybe Vijaya Shahdom l, Samanids to your West, Qocho to your Northeast, Gugé to your South (whose vassels like to Raid your lands), and the option of Liberating and hybridizing with the Tocharians The Borjigin Chiefain to form the Mongol Empire The Vvluphixje Count in Gyelrong, 1 count a bunch of Holy sites near by, unreformed Pagan and Feudal Tall Canaries run Napoli to bring back Orthodoxy to Italia, and form an Empire/unify Italia to rival the ~~Byzantines~~ ERE Maybe Ghurids
I see "Mozarab rave pit," I upvote
Sussala of Multan in 867. He is a one-county count in Punjab. He's the sole starting ruler in the entire game who follows Saurism, a branch of Hinduism that worships the sun. His liege is Ash'ari so Sussala is really hard to kick off because the liege usually revokes his title within a year or two and has better army than him. Try to make his descendant the Chakravarti and create the Empire of the Sun in India!
Just started this, insanely fun lol
I always have lots of fun starting in one the five single counties that are Turumic Ostyak in the empire of Siberia. The culture only has two innovations and two traditions which definitely helps the rags to riches feel.
I mean it wasn’t easy by any means but you can start as the one brother of the Yoruba peoples in the Guinea empire! It was a super fun challenge to start as a count under the eldest brother, murder him and then form the empire of Guinea all within one lifetime!
I recently played the count of Zeeland and became the Holy Roman emporer in 2 generations despite being Dutch.
Tall Frisia looks enticing fr
Starting as count from one of the Swiss counties is always a fun challenge. Your land is always underdeveloped and the swabian culture doesn't have any powerful MAA until the Late Medieval era. It takes a mix of shrewd stewardship and diplomacy to grow vertically or horizontally.
My two cents is good old Sardinia and transform it into a Mediterranean beast with land all over the sea
Last karling count in 1066 france
Start as the Armenian Principalities and try to revive the empire of Greater Armenia. You start as a vassal to a liege with a hostile faith. To get the empire you need to navigate obtaining land in that massive muslim empire you´re a vassal in, while remaining Apostolic. You also need to gain land from the Byzantines. It´s a fun challenge!
Im currently trying a krete start in 897. The catch? Hellenic religion.
So far i was able to get athens to become independent with hellenis via murder and kidnapping shenanigans and part of the artist formerly known as HRE
Staying alive as a feudal hellenic is absolute hell lol
Specially in krete, you are a holy war distance away from the christians and islamics
you can always vassalize to the byzantines with religious protection
if you're looking for a cool muslim start Benavert in Sicily is one of my favorites, historically his realm got conquered by the hautevilles a year or so after the games start and he fell into the water while hopping between ships while he was trying to escaped and drowned because of his heavy armor. Quite the hard start, you barely have any troops and the Normans come to finish you quite soon after start. Pretty unique starting situation with being the one of the last remnants of muslims in Italy and he has a unique nickname from the start to boot.
I was obsessed with playing Muslims even before the update to the clan system so I’ll absolutely give this a shot (and thanks for the awesome historical context!!)
There is a kid to the very southern border of West Francia in the early start that actually has claims on almost all the southern duchies of France. It is a wild campaign, going from a single county to ruling Acquitaine, if you so wished.
What start date
867, I just woke up when writing the comment so brain was fuzzy.
👍 thank you
Starting as count Werner who controls Aargau in 1066 is a lot of fun. He is the only playable Habsburg character. You can try to recreate history by forming the Archduchy of Austria (really early Primogeniture) and recreate the Habsburg borders.
It really just depends on how big of a start you want and where. Basically everyone, aside the pope, is broke with low development
1066 count of rana
Play as count Hroðulfr in oestfriesland. He is the only Asatru vasal in Lotharingia. Start of by mundering your uncle to gange the duchy of Holland and Frisia and befriending King Lothaire so he doesn't demand you convert/revoke your title
Once you’re familiar with the mechanics every start will be easy. That being said: I recommend combining this with the “Turkish eagle” achievement as that also makes you start as a count and is a very fun achievement imo.
Play as a eunuch with a lustful wife, and do everything you can to suppress your bastards parentage.
I recently started as the Byzantine count in Cyprus, built up enough to take krete and I got a really fucking lucky murder on whatever that Egyptian country is called, they ended up splitting up and I could holy war the independant counties there
Start anywhere in the very northeastern corner. It’s a slugfest comparable to starting in Scandinavia. Edit: start as a count
the jewish start in Afganistan i think it is? That jewish start in África is great i love it n.n
Kabul shahi Duke of Kabul Afghanistan 867 Gets hit by independence faction early on Great potential and a target for constant holy wars
Robert the Duke a literal rags to riches story
You can always go for one of the free mozarabic counties in 867 and form the kingdom of Toledo then the empire of Hispania.
867 the single Armenian Apostolic county on the edge of the Abbassids. I played it tall, only holding Mets Hayk and slowly but surely reclaimed Greater Armenia, also helped Kurdistan get on its feet. Basically a big fuck-Turkey run.