Here is the story of my first time playing Crusader Kings II, with the CK2 Plus mod. It's something of a ramble, in part due to the nature of the game itself. I hope some of you find it entertaining, at least.
Myself and two friends (henceforth MX and Bubs) start in the mid 11th century (1060 IIRC) as patriarchs in the Merchant Republic of Raugia. For fun we used the ruler designer to create custom characters. MX was Gabriel Pyrrogenes, geared towards scholarship and intrigue, and I forget who Bubs was, but he does not much factor into this story.
My character is to be Tiberios Mencetic, a vicious cannibal of a man who is very, very good at killing people. I had dumped everything I could into martial, and mostly forsaken other stats. As a result of this, I soon became hated by many people. One such person even challenged me to a duel, and was naturally cut down in short order. I picked up the duelist trait from this experience, and soon began using my newfound power to challenge others as a way to rapidly eliminate my enemies.
Despite being such a brutal and violent man, Tiberios did manage to get married to an Arabic woman, Anahita. I forget exactly which country she came from. They had a rocky relationship, particularly because Anahita found Tiberios' duels to be dangerous and careless.
Our general plan, as set by MX, is that we are a group of pagans. Specifically we follow the Hellenic heresy of Promethianism, and our goal at the start is to lay claim by scheme or conquest to the holy land of Athenai alongside two other holy sites, so that we may rebuild the First Academy.
For that to occur, Gabriel Pyrrogenes needs to become the Archon of Raugia. Archons are elected from the Patriarchs of the Republic, based on their prestige and how much money they have spent to campaign. The standing Archon's house is also in this race, but it is the heir, not the Patriarch, who qualifies. This is because Archon is a title held for life.
During the progress of this scheme, Anahita became pregnant, to much joy on Tiberios' part, and much displeasure on his many enemies' part.
MX designed his character to have high learning and scheming, and had set himself well ahead of all the other houses in terms of prestige. Yet there was one small problem: Archon Cvijetin is by no means elderly. Fortunately, Gabriel Pyrrogenes is friends with a murderous madman. One quick duel later, and the Archon is dead. Long live Archon Pyrrogenes.
Shortly after this Anahita gives birth to a daughter, Adriane. There is much rejoicing.
Alas, tragedy strikes, as Anahita is murdered. Despite having little interest in intrigue, Tiberios manages to discover the identity of the one responsible for the plot. A lowly woman in his court, by the name Pulcheria. As is in his nature, Tiberios challenges her to a duel.
She did better than most, but still died. Though saddened by the loss of his wife, Tiberios has achieved vengeance. And, this latest duel advanced his fighting ability to that of a Formidable Fighter.
Deprived of his wife, Tiberios is left to raise his daughter alone. Tiberios does not know much of the world, but he does know the art of swordsmanship. And though he is a cruel, violent man, he is a fair one, and sees no reason why his daughter cannot become as skilled in the ways of killing as he is. Adriane takes well to his instruction, showing promise that she may one day be a warrior herself.
Several duels later, a fair number of them at the behest of Archon Pyrrogenes as part of some schemes, and Raugia is ready to go to war for the Holy Land of Athenai. Tiberios, being one of the best warriors in the world, is picked as Raugia's marshal and will lead the Republic's armies. Around this time, Tiberios has found little success in finding a second wife, and must face the possibility that he may never have a son. This is not a problem for Tiberios: if Adriane can wield a sword, then she can be the heir to house Mencetic. This greatly increases Adriane's opinion of her father.
The campaign in Greece goes well. Alas, during the battle for Athenai, Tiberios suffers a grevious wound, losing one of his legs. Still he leads from the front, and manages to corner the enemy commander, Komes Tomas of Abydos. Despite hoping around on one leg, Tiberious slays Tomas easily.
Sadly, Tiberios dies of infection. His epitaph is as follows:
Mayor Tiberios has ascended to Heaven at age 49. He died succumbing to his severe injuries. A Greedy man, he often remarked on the need to tax his people into space. A wicked man, Tiberios will surely pay for his sins in the afterlife.
And so the realm of Mencetic is left in the hands of Adriane, a girl of only twelve years old. Fortunately her father's warhammer, given to him by his friend and lord, Archon Pyrrogenes, was recovered from the battlefield and deliver safely to her treasury.
Lady Adriane faces many challenges. As a child she has no where near the skill of her father, except in the areas that he completely neglected, and the realm suffers for this. Still, Archon Pyrrogenes is there to assist, offering to educate her, and in anticipation that she may be as skilled as her father, implementing into law that women may become Marshals in the Republic of Raugia.
Adriane benefits from Gabriel's guidance, becoming adept in scheming and deceit, at least compared to her father. The war is concluded successfully, and Archon Gabriel is able to rebuild the First Academy, proclaiming himself as Scholarch.
In the year of 1092 Adriane becomes of age, finishing her education as a Skilled Tactician, and deciding to forgo the traditional life of a woman for the time, becoming a Martial Lady. Though her Martial skill is not yet as high as her father's, it well surpasses the other lords of Raugia, and she is made Marshal and sent to instruct the troops. Doing so, she is able to improve the skills of many of the realm's commanders.
Following further in her father's footsteps, Lady Adriane becomes a strategist and duelist, eliminating many nobles who proved problematic to the designs of Scholarch Gabriel. Alas, Scholarch Gabriel succumbed to old age, and the position of Archon passed to another house.
This would not do, of course. Bub's first character had died and some point, and he was now playing as his daughter, who was next in line for Archon. At some point we also went from being the Republic of Raugia to the Republic of Ragusa, but that doesn't really matter. What matters is that for our plans to continue, the Archon must be a player.
So, naturally, Lady Adriane challenges the incoming Archon Maroje of Dubrovnik to a duel. He perishes, of course, and as it turns out, he had no living heirs, thus ending his line. As fate would have it, Maroje was also the son of Archon Cvijetin. Killing Archons has now been firmly established as a Mencetic family tradition. Bub's current character, Marina Maximianus, becomes the Dogaressa of Ragusa.
Lady Adriane lives a fairly interesting life. She marries one of Gabriel Pyrrogenes' non-heir sons, Sabas, who turns out to be a rather skilled character himself. Together they have three children: Tiberios, who was born while Adriane was leading her troops in a siege, Maximos, and Phillipa. Adriane falls ill with cancer, but with her husband Sabas as her court physician she is cured, though at the cost of her right eye. This does not affect her ability to duel significantly, and in fact leads to many of her future opponents underestimating her. She becomes known as Adriane The Ruthless, establishing another family tradition. Sabas unfortunately perishes during a diplomatic incident, though Adriane at least has three potential heirs, so remarrying is not a concern. Adriane continues building up the military might of her realm, which was vastly expanding by her conquests, however she unfortunately perishes to camp fever in the year 1120 at the age of 43. She is succeeded by her son Tiberios, who also dies of camp fever in the year 1121 at age 20.
Maximos comes to rule in a rough spot. The Aztecs have invaded Iceland and are stating to carve apart Britain. Then the Black Death sweeps through Europe, having started in Germany. It hurts everyone, even the Aztecs, though they still have their event spawn armies. MX is sadistically happy when the Black Death reaches India, having worried that the subcontinent would be spared the pain that the rest of the world had experienced. This turns into horror when it stays in India long enough to rebound to the Middle East and back into Europe. Fortunately the three of us all miraculously survive, as do our heirs.
More bad news as the Aztecs invent guns.
Maximos fails to become quite as good of a general as his ancestors, though he is a skilled duelist and continues the family tradition of being known as The Ruthless.
The Aztecs conquer Constantinople, and several surrounding lands in the process. We are only spared because Ragusa is considered part of Croatia, and Croatia was not in the Aztec war goals against the Byzantines. MX's character at the time, who I forget the name of, is quite the scholar and schemer, and tries to find out how to kill the Aztec Emperor. Maximos, though not as skilled as his mother or grandfather, tries to challenge the Emperor to a duel, but for the first time in the game the AI was smart and rejected it. MX starts a plot on the Emperor's life and turns on auto-invite.
Alas, Maximos dies in 1140 at the age of 35 while trying to achieve immortality, bitten by a venomous snake. Like his brother and grandfather before him, his epitaph proclaims how he will surely pay for his sins in the afterlife. The realm of house Mencetic, Salerno, passes to his daughter, Adriane II.
The Aztecs take a heavy hit, as enslaved Europeans spread smallpox across the Atlantic. Alas, the Aztecs remain the strongest military power on the continent.
Adriane II is quite progressive as Mayor of Salerno, reforming many laws (overturning one such law that apparently allowed barons to rape virgin serf women) despite the ire it draws from some in her court. Like her grandmother before her, she too becomes a Martial Lady who is quite skilled in combat and strategy.
MX's plot succeeds, and finally the Aztecs are put on roughly equal footing for a power of their size with the death of their Emperor. This plot involved the cooperation of half the lords in Europe when it finally came to fruition.
And that was pretty much it. We didn't come back to that game, in part because of how messed up the state of Europe had become, and in part because of changes to the mods we were using. Still, it was quite an experience, even if I only touched the surface of the features the game has to offer.