First 769 - 1453 game (Long Summary)

769 - 1453. Anglo-Saxon Catholic Count of Surrey to English-Egyption Cathar Empress of England. This was also Ironman.In the 8th century I almost quit the game because of a Waldensian uprising. They out numbered me by several thousand but through the luckiest victory of my entire game I destroy them in one battle.Once I expanded from a Count to a Pretty King it became pretty easy to take over England.Rulership was always inherited from Parent to Child and never to distance relatives. However once an distant Irish relative, an Irish Pretty King got it, but I killed him to take it back. The blood line was never broken.The game slowed down once I took over Scotland and Ireland. From there on out most of my expanding was done by my vassals. I took lands in Finland, Jerusalem, Egypt, and part of the East by crusaders. Once the lands were taken by crusades my vassals in those lands expanded for me.After I got Finland and Jerusalem but before I got Egypt and India I created my Empire.At some point I gave Scotland to a Scottish Duke to preserve culture. He became the King of Scotland of course but then started expanding into Spain. The Scottish Kings took all of spain and eventually half of it broke off forming Andalusia. Andalusia almost pushed down into Africa but my expansion later into Egypt fightened them from expanding. Most Western realms became to afraid to expand when I started reaching the peak of my strength.During the course of my game I was defending Finland against Slavic holy wars. Eventually I had defended against 12 in total.Eventually I took 3/4 of Egypt through crusaders. It was to much for me to hold so I gave the land to the best Egyption duke I had. He and the following Egyption Kings took over the rest of Egypt. Parts of Africa were untaken but I used claims to capture it. I also started marrying off my daughters to the Viceroy of Egypt's sons. During my game several of my rulers were friends with the Viceroys of Egypt. During the end game I was marrying my children only to English or Egyptions. Egypt became a very important realm to me for that rolepalying aspect. Africa would also unify itself as a kingdom under my Empire in the last century of the game.The last crusade that my catholic rulers were apart of gave me land next to India.The last few centuries were slow going. I was overwhelmed by the large amounts of land I was getting through crusades. It became easier just to breath and let the game play it self out while I protected my heirs. My children were always good catholics until the last two centuries.The epic conclusion of my game was the rise of Cathar in the last 3 centuries. In the late 13th century I was given the surprise when my ruler suddenly died. The death of the Emperor was fine but when I checked out my new rulers traits he was secretly practicing Carthar. I decided to go with it and for 3 generations my rulers secretly practiced the Cathar religion in the dark, spreading the true word to their children and closest friends.During the 3rd generation of the Cathar leadership my Emperor was forced by the Cathar's Cult Leader to announce himself as Cathar. During this time I was trying my hardest to convert all my leaders. I didn't do most of the converting though. The secret cult did it all and did an amazing job at taking over my realm.There was Cathar provinces popping up in the 12th century one at a time. But then in the start of the 13th Century I had 2... 3.... 2... 3... 4... cathar provinces popping up. I was always going back trying to convert provinces back to Christianity. It became a pain in the♥♥♥♥♥When my realm flipped over to Cathar over half my countys turned to Cathar. The majority of the characters in my realm flipped too, about 5/8.When my Emperor was forced to openly worship by the secret religions leader I was worried about losing my realm. However it was actually really easy to manage. All my Viceroys were Cathar and they coverted their lands pretty fast.Once I was Cathar I decided to let women rule and a few of my last rulers were Empress'I wasn't able to get three Empress in a row.My final achievement was Smash the Patriarchy. I got it in the last 10 years. I also controlled all Catholic holy sites as a bonus.Unfortunately my Empress married one of her relatives leading to the first incest relationship of my rulership. *sigh*I have screenshots through this entire game saved. I gotta put them all together now. I've been playing this campaign since the start of the year.Now what to play next Ironman?