The ByzanPict Empire Part 5: Amalrich III, the Kharijite Emperor

Amalrich III is the first character I’ve played to be born in the purple. With Amalrich I “The Just” already being old when he inherited, Amalrich II “The Cruel” was born in some ghastly hovel in Hamburg rather than the Imperial Palace in Constantinople.

I hope that this status as an heir born to a sitting Emperor gives Amalrich III some of the legitimacy that his father and grandfather lacked, because dear god he is not doing anything to help himself right now. It’s bad enough he’s a German emperor of a primarily Greek and Pictish empire. Now he has to go and convert to Islam as well? And not even to a sensible form of Islam like Sunni or even Shia. But Kharijitism? So he’s both a Muslim AND a heretic. Great!

There is an upside to this potentially troubling succession, though. Amalrich is without a doubt the most competent ruler stats-wise I’ve had in a long time, even going back to before the union of the empires in 1317 (Yes, that’s what I’m calling it). He’s got reasonable learning and diplomacy, tolerable intrigue and although his martial is a bit naff he’s got an incredible 22 stewardship. This means I should be making money and hopefully fixing up the administrative mess that the Empire has become.

There’s another upside here, because even though Amalrich is a Muslim heretic, my Catholic vassals STILL like him better than they did his dad. I put a lot of points into tolerance during this game, having only a -13 modifier for ‘infidel’ is manageable. In fact, a lot of the negative opinion I have has to do with how much people hated Amalrich “The Cruel”. He didn’t really do that much bad stuff did he? *consults list of murders, mutilations, usurpations* Oh, all right then. He was a dick. It just means I’ll have to work a bit harder to make them all like me. Currently I have quite a lot of Kharijite vassals, but most of them are pretty cool with me, except the Dux of Venice who seems intent on pissing me off.

The big threat, of course, was Werner, Amalrich’s brother who pappy was never able to bundle off to a monastery and couldn’t bring himself to kill. Werner inherited virtually all of his father’s sweet demesne in Mesopotamia and Sicily, and – crucially – is a Christian. As such, he hated his brother Amalrich and it would only be a matter of time until the Catholics rallied around him. In the face of this inevitability, Amalrich had him pre-emptively poisoned, although his involvement was discovered. I don’t remember the last time I played a character without the ‘Known Murderer’ opinion modifier. Anyway, that means I’ve got the demesne back for now, although Amalrich has three sons so getting back on the next succession will be an even bigger problem. There is one other claimant, who will need to be dealt with before long.

So who can guess the downside to being a Muslim? That’s right – Muslim rulers can’t form the Roman Empire. Even though the Ottomans considered themselves the continuation of the ERE, apparently you can’t do it in CK2. That means no Imperial Reconquest CBs and no sexy red colour change. My attempts to form the Roman Empire so far have been frustrated by factional discord and the fact the Franks are sitting pretty in the Holy Land.

So what’s a radical Muslim emperor to do? Well, I suppose I can always become Caliph. You see, being a heresy, there’s no Kharijite religious head like with Sunni and Shia Islam. So that means if I get 100 piety and take a couple of holy sites, then I can declare myself Caliph. Freaking God-Emperor. I like the sound of that. The holy sites I need are either Mecca and Medina (right out, they’re too far away from me) or Baghdad, Damascus and YOU GUESSED IT Jerusalem. I already hold Baghdad, but Damascus and Jerusalem put me in the same position I was before, though – having to war with the Franks. So I guess as soon as my faction problems are solved I might need to break my pact with Francia and attack Damascus then Jerusalem in a holy war. If I can form the Caliphate, then I will have the Great Holy War CB at my disposal and as religious head I’ll be able to call them on whoever I want. Like, for instance, Francia. Or Egypt. Or India. Whoever I want.

 Once I’ve done that, I suppose I always have the option of turning back to Catholicism and reforming the Roman Empire. But I’m not sure. An Eastern Roman Caliphate is a pretty interesting scenario. We’ll have to see. Running low on time though.

Also, this happened.