"A Servant no More" - It's easier than you expect

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1. Introduction

Here, you'll need this!

This is a video form of the guide with updated information on how to accomplish this achievement.

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I'm assuming that since you're here, reading this guide that you understand the game enough to know that this ain't no walk in the park. Seriously, like for some reason all 3 of my friends seem to have problems with accomplishing this achievement, and really, I get it. I understand it can get difficult adjusting to life without a member.

But here in this guide, I can guarantee you, like some kinda bible belt preacher, that the lord, your savior, Baphomet is here to assist you in your endeavors to become Emperor of some none existant exploit heavy, 100 realm size Empire.

[NOTE] I have completed this achievement several times using this method, I will display media from both playthroughs.

I'm also coming out with another achievement guide sometime soon.

2. DLC's and Game Rules.

The DLC's I'd absolutely recommend and would almost say are required, are:

Sword of Islam (because you're playing as a muslim)
Old Gods (because this character only exists in the 867 start)
Jade Dragon
Monks and Mystics

Here is the full list of Dlc's I used though

3.1 Starting Position (General Information)

So before we go into the game, we should have a look at the starting situation.



So as you can see, you’re starting as a duke on the coast of the Abbasid Empire. So far up until this point, the Abbasids have been waning in power, and like the Romans, are awaiting a slow death towards the start of the next century.

3.2 Starting Position (Military Information)

Galilee at the start of the Old Gods, starts with one of the strongest military forces in the Abbasid Empire, at roughly 2.5k troops. The Shaybanids, al-Armani, and the Fatimids, all adjacent dukes in the Abbasids maintain a significantly lower levy at 1.67k, 2.01k, and 1.95k respectively, and are quite easy to defeat considering a lack of alliances to start off with.

3.3 Starting Position (Mu'nis)

Now onto the character we’re starting off with. As you can see here Mu’nis will start off with excellent stats, with more focus on his intrigue abilites. Dynastywise. He is the only member of his family. Which brings me onto the next point about his character, he doesn’t have a member.

Now this serves as a problem, since the only way anyone's ever going to consider an alliance with you is the prospect of kids and thank god you’ve got me, because I have spent the better part of 3 years trying to find the formula for d*ck regrowth, and it turns out, there are several ways to achieve this. But we’ll get to that later.

3.4 Starting Position (Achievement Info)

Quick strategy my a**.

4. Before you start

There are several things you must do before you start the game:

1. Double check your neighbours' military levies, the stats I gave you are an average based on previous experience.
   
2. Check your character for immoral trait.
   
3. If Mu'nis doesn't have an immoral trait, send him on Hajj to Mecca, this will give him a 33% chance to get the proud trait.
   
4. If you don't get the proud trait, then I don't know... restart? As far as I'm aware, this the only way you can force getting an immoral trait, because you're unable to get seduction focus.
   
5. If Mu'nis has immoral trait, get him to join lucifer's own (This is why I recommended Monks and Mystics)

Ambitions:

There are several useful ambitions that could be used at the start. The glaringly obvious one is the "ask liege for title", which obviously does what it says.
Now you might be saying, "but sire, my liege doesn't like me", well lucky enough for you, that guy in the council you keep forgetting, the Chancellor can fix that problem for you. If you increase relations high enough, your liege might consider you as a candidate for his next title.

Focuses:

There are two focus' you should be keeping an eye on for this acheivement, Theology and Intrigue.

Theology

Theology is particularly useful early on in the game because of the casus belli "conquest"
As you can see, the "conquest" casus belli requires 50 piety, for which Theology can give you 100 in a random repeatable event chain.
It is also to have a big pool of piety for when the time comes for you to create a kingdom (200 is required).

Intrigue

Intrigue is generally useful for maintaining your realm whenever you're at war (which you will be 80% of the time). It's particularly useful when you botch a war and you lose a large amount of troops, especially when your vassals feel powerful enough to create factions (Independance is the one you want to look out for). This focus would allow you spy on your fellow vassals and check to see if they're plotting against you and imprison them before they can act. It's even better when you revolt against you because you can revoke and give the title to a more 'content' vassal.

5.1 First moves (Tips and Tricks)

Before we get onto this, some tips and general things to know.

• Since you're planning on getting marriages (eventually) and since the achievement explicitly says that you have to get the 100 realm size empire in Mu'nis' lifetime, I would advise that you don't truce break or decrease relations with anyone unnecessarily.
  
• If you're that desperate to declare war on the emirate you just attacked, you should plot to assassinate their emir. The death of their emir should remove the truce.
  
• The casus belli "conquest" against muslims only costs you 50 piety, I would advise getting Theology focus as it allows for a repeatable (and random) event chain that gives you 100 piety upon completion.
  
• Realm size is calculated by the amount of settlements (cities, baronies, tribes, temples) one has in their realm.
  
• Revolt titles in an Empire count as Empire titles.

Ultimately, before you make it to step 6 you need the following things:

• 51% of de jure counties in Jerusalem (Kingdom)
  
• 100 piety
  
• 200ish gold

5.2 First Moves (First steps to victory)

Getting to know your enemies is extremely vital in these first steps, as it will determine how quickly you can get the achievement before you die a painful death.
Because of this information I was able to sneak my way into the acquiring top tier counties of my neighbours in this image.


Of course, your game may not start out like this, you might get unlucky, sometimes your enemies might get the upper hand by marrying the right realm at the right time.
If that's the case, tough luck, but you won't be out of the fight for long, all it takes is a little cash.

Hiring Mercenaries

This is something I'd advise you do, regardless of the playthrough, as I'm sure you've heard of the amazing qualities they bring to the table. Not only are they often more powerful than your avarage troops (during this period of time), but they also don't count to the ever so annoying prerequisite for declaring war.

Cannot declare war if we have raised levies

This should (hopefully, if you've timed it right) let you blitzkrieg through your enemies, opening up new avenues for attack.

Where do I attack?

There are several criteria for determining where to attack. These are:

• Lowest adjacent military strength
  
• Highest concentration of settlements (very useful information, considering the conquest casus belli only only allows you to take one county)
  
• Few alliances (also very useful since you don't have to ability to form your own)
  
• No truces with you (Though you can get away with truce breaking if you're desperate)

5.3 First Moves (Lucifer's Own)

Here's the step that really counts towards getting this achievement. If you are unable to join Lucifer's Own in under 20 years and you don't see yourself reaching 100 realm size conventionally, I would probably advise you restart.

Why should I join Lucifer's Own?

You want to join Lucifer's Own because of the intrigue bonuses it adds, grandmaster abilities and diplomatic boons for obedient members and extra abilities like abduct, and the best of all of them. DARK HEALING
Of course joining comes with its downsides. Every once in a while you will suffer from a persistent effect that may give you bad personality traits or negative genetic mutations. This would be bad, but it wouldn't be the end of the world (or the game for that matter) considering this achievement is solely focused on one character.

Intrigue Boons
The most obvious boon to not only your intrigue stat, but all your stats is the Summon Familiar ability that you get at rank 2. The best familiar (in my opinion) the cat gives you 3 intrigue which is astoundingly high for one boon to an attribute.
The "Go on a venture" event chain is also very useful for increasing intrigue, as it may grant you the "impaler" lifestyle trait, which gives you +2 intrigue.

Useful Abilities

• Sacrifice to Satan (Very useful for getting rid of rivals and enemies without piety or tyrant costs)
  
• Attempt to abduct (Same purpose as previous ability, but it's very expensive, costing roughly 300 dark power per use)
  
• Tainted Touch (Use it to eliminate your boss, or kill the grandmaster)
  
• Summon Familiar (Good for increasing attributes, the cat in particular increases intrigue by +3!)
  
• DARK HEALING (Yes)
  
• Absorb Lifeforce (Anyday when I kill a baby is a good day)

Ultimately, the reason for joining Lucifer's Own is the ability DARK HEALING, which allows you to grow a pair, and ultimately end your alliance problem.

5.4 First Moves (Dealing with an annoying Liege)

Now every once in a while, your liege will do something so out of the ordinary just to p*ss(for some reason this was censored...) you off, like for example, imprisoning you for no apparent reason, or revoking your duchy title without provocation.

Here's just a couple of ways you can deal with your annoying boss:

• Plot to assassinate him (This should be done as a councillor, most preferably the spymaster)
  
• Spy on him using intrigue (Will help with detecting your liege's plots, and there is a very small chance that you could abduct him)
  
• Ignore him (You don't have to respond to his pesky revokation of your title)
  
• Alleviate your loses, attempt to take de jure counties in duchies/kingdoms that your liege is interested in, and create new titles if your liege is taking your only top tier title.

5.5 First Moves (Conclusion)

Here's what I accomplished by the 7th of August, 889 (22 years after start):

6. Marriages, Alliances and Kingdoms

Marriage

Marriage in Ck2 is very important for your character for 2 reasons. Firstly, it allows you to create non-aggression pacts, which would in turn allow you to create alliances with powerful realms. Secondly, it would allow you to change religion to your spouse's religion.

Alliances

The criteria for picking your alliances should follow:

• The realm should be militarily powerful
  
• Should be difficult to vassalise (If they can be vassalised, you might aswell vassalise them yourself)
  
• The realm should be in the Abbasid Empire (If they aren't in the Abbasid Empire, then you can't ask them to join sub-realm wars.)

For your fourth marriage, you should of course attempt to marry a christian.
[TIP] I would advise that you get several courtiers through the "Present Debutante" decision. You'll thank me later.

Kingdoms

Now at this moment in time, if you've played like I have, you might have noticed you can't exactly create a suitable kingdom for muslims. The only kingdom you could possibly create is Jerusalem, but that requires you to be of a Christian religion. Well, through some gamey exploitable mechanics that I have discussed in this section, you can!

Remember that christian wife you just married, because she will be your saviour. Because of new mechanics implemented in the Monks and Mystics patch, you are able to secretly convert to spouse religion, and in this case you should do so for your christian wife. As soon as you secretly convert, adopt your secret religion openly, but only do so when you achieve these prerequisites.

• 51% of de jure counties in Jerusalem (Kingdom)
  
• 100 piety
  
• 200ish gold

Now as soon as you create the Kingdom of Jerusalem, you will notice this happen in a matter of days.



My liege decided it was a good idea to transfer to me, all of my de jure vassals.



Close but no cigar...

7.1 Finishing Moves (Who do I attack?)

We're almost done!

That means there's more conquering to do, but now that you've created a Kingdom tier title, you've got yourself a new casus belli at your disposal.


You are now capable of taking duchy tier titles by proxy.
For those who are unaware, you can do this by first checking claimants in the title screen (click on the coat of arms/emirate flag thing), then landing your claimant with a county and then sicking the Kingdom on your unsuspecting foes. Though beware, a considerable amount of time has probably passed since you first started the game and your opposing emirates have probably guarded themselves with alliances. Of course, you should have alliances of your own by now, considering your sword has been returned to you.

7.2 Finishing Moves (Empire)

Now, the next question you'll be asking is, "How the f*ck do you get an empire title? I've got 100 realm size and I'm almost dead, pls help!".

My answer to that is, you don't. Funnily enough, all you need to do to complete this achievement is to rebel against your Emperor. Be it for independence, or to increase council power. As long as your liege declines your demands, your revolt will create an empire tier title that counts towards this achievement.

[NOTE] This was from my first playthrough.


Tada, done. Told you it was easy.

P.S. In case your interested, you probably aren't but here's the Kingdom of Jerusalem before I packed in for my second game. Look, Mu'nis is still alive!

[Edgar Harford]

I'm coming out with a video of this guide with updated information if anyone's interested, here's a teaser for the video. Subscribe to that channel and ring the bell to get a notification for when I release the tutorial. I also have a discord server for anyone interested in any more tutorials and discussions.

https://discord.gg/nAUTyJ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwwWIRUO19k/

[Azunai]

some of the stuff in this guide was rather helpful to know. the part about the temporary revolt empire doesn't work, but the most difficult part is getting the first kingdom anyway.

after that you can just gobble up some other stuff so you can form the kingdoms of syria and arabia while still being a vassal and the stupid caliph will happily transfer all the de jure vassals to you. then all you have to do is fabricate a claim on the empire and start a faction to install munis as the new emperor. at that point you own half the empire anyway, so if you can bribe a few more guys to join the faction, the revolt will succeed easily.
or if you can't fabricate the claim, you start an independence faction and break away with your 3 kingdoms, which luckily is also the number of kingdoms you need to create a custom empire. the 8k prestige shouldn't be hard since you get 5k prestige from creating jerusalem as a (temporary) catholic.

[Rico]

For anyone wondering this guide no longer works. Empire title must be a permanent one.

[Alien]

I wouldn't say it's easy. It's basically gambling - hoping that your character won't die before you can conquer enough territories either to form an empire yourself or to claim another one. The execution is easy when you don't die randomly. And it does happen since you have to play at least for 20 years in game. Not very fun when it fails.

[The_Spartan]

I did this achievement in the next few days right after the expansion came out... extremely easy.

[The_Spartan]

(the imprisionment happens before the peace proposal, but the execution happens only afterwards)

[The_Spartan]

There are multiple ways of getting this achievement, but if you think you are truly good at the game then you should know the easiest one - marrying and getting the daughter of the Caliph pregnant, wait for her to get a claim on the empire, kill her, and then push your son's claim to the throne. By the time you are able you must have gobbled nearly half of the empire within the inside, so with some alliances / merc spam it is extremely easy. Before accepting peace proposal and putting your son on the throne however, imprision him - and then sacrifice to Satan / or just execute, and BANG, Arabian Empire inherited.

[chebonaparte]

lol i knew it! but somebody ought to mod that view feature in! it's tedious to read every owner's armies menu by menu!

[CÆSAR]

@chebonaparte he just took a small part of the screen as a picture and then overlayed it on the screenshot bro lol

[Vive La]

Arabian Empire is the easieat emperor rank title you can usurp within the lifetime of Munis