How to become a Pirate Lord (Kingdom of Man)

This guide will focus on how to activate the major decision "Elevate the Kingdom of Mann & the Isles". Becoming a pirate lord is not a too terrible feat to accomplish. There are a few different ways you can approach this decision, and I will go into 3 that I personally have done back to back without failure. Yarr Harr

Requirements

First and foremost, we have the basic requirements for the decision, such as;

• Having the Northern Lords DLC enabled
  
• Being either part of the North Germanic culture group or the Norman culture

Next, is the in game requirements you much achieve;

• You must be an Independent Ruler
  
• Level of Fame must be the Living Legend (5)
  
• Have the duchy title of Mann
  
• Have the county title of The Mon
  
• Title is equal to Duchy rank
  
• Culture has not entered High Medieval era
  
• Has the trait Viking

It does cost 2000 Prestige to do this decision!

A Kingdom of Pirates - Rewards

Although requiring a small realm size to form this kingdom, the rewards are quite beneficial for this decision, with one of the largest outcome in regards to all decisions, if not the most. This list includes;

• Your dynasty gets 2500 renown
  
• Your dynasty gets the modifier Legacy of Piracy for 100 years
  which includes; -50% embarkation cost, +50% Raid Speed, can raid regardless of government type (nutty), can sail in major rivers (slightly less, but still nutty imo)
  
• Gains the title "Kingdom of Mann and the Isles"
  
• Duchy of Mann becomes de jure part of Kingdom of Mann and the Isles
  
• Duchy of the Isles becomes de jure part of Kingdom of Mann and the Isles if owned
  
• Duchy of the Northern Isles becomes de jure part of Kingdom of Mann and the Isles if owned
  
• Duchy of Strathclyde becomes de jure part of Kingdom of Mann and the Isles if owned
  
• County of Isle of Man becomes Realm capital
  
• Government becomes Feudal
  
• Government of tribal vassals become Feudal
  
• Realm Capital gains 3 building slots
  
• Realm capital gains an army of 5000 Levies, 1000 Jomsviking Pirates, 1000 Bondi and 500 Varangian Veterans, inheritable on succession *NOT ABLE TO REPLENISH*
  
• Realm capital becomes the character's culture (Norse)
  
• +20 Development in realm capital
  
• Realm capital becomes Norse
  
• Realm capital gains the modifier The Stolen City for 100 years
  which includes -200% building construction time and -50% building cost
  
• Choice between the nickname "The Great and Terrible" or -10 stress (pfft)

Another thing to point out is the renown earned from the decision can earn you all the way to Practiced Kidnappers, starting from 0. This is very close to Making a Killing which is an amazing dynasty trait, providing 5 gold per 100 enemy casualties every battle, while also increasing the enemy fatality rate by 10%


As you can see, this list is quite hefty, and as you will see, it isn't that bad to obtain, starting our 3 different methods is the Infamous son of Ragnarr, Ivar the Boneless

Method 1: Ivar the Boneless

Beginning with our island boy who now controls Dublin, Ivar is one the title characters you can play as under Wrath of the Northmen in 867. *Make sure you have ironman mode enabled*. He is one of the sons of Ragnarr and thus has some good relations with the other brothers such as Sigurdr or Bjorn for potential allies later in the game. More importantly, Ivar starts with 5000 special troops, your game will start while in two wars, but with a total start of 7228 levies and 500 gold. He also starts off as a Viking! saving quite some time raiding. Here is a general run through that I did a few times while trying to do the King of all the Isles achievement.

Lets get out of war
Very first of all, I usally go down the medicine focus tree as I find living the longest is a safer bet then a Diplo focus tree, but you can experiment with both. After that I usually grab a regiment of Huscrals as I love those guys, you will notice you begin the game at war within a duchy invasion of East Anglia and a duchy invasion of Lothian

• The war with Lothian I find to be the easiest, They are outnumbered 1360 to 7228, they are also at war with Jorvik. I try and enforce demands as that fame is needed to get to the Living Legend
  
• The war with East Anglia is a bit more tough as they are farther down the British Isles, as well as having a force of 4500 men, while some basic military tactics will win this war for you, you can try and ally yourself to one of your brothers for assistance, or even get some mercenaries if you really need the boost

With these wars out of the way we can focus on prestige

*NOTE* Be aware that the Isle of Mon is not under your domain, you can work your way around getting the title from your vassal, I just worked towards getting high crown authority and imprisoning him and revoking his title right before I ascend to lord of the pirates.

Prestige Prestige Prestige
By now you should have noticed that all we really need to do to ascend to king is a Level of Fame of 5, (and as stated above, take mon from your vassal). There are plenty of ways to get to Living Legend, but here are some things I did to earn this.

• Devotee of Thor is my go to as it provides +2 Stewardship and +3 Prowess
  
• Hunts and feasts whenever they are available
  
• Raising Rune stones provide 250 piety and 350 prestige
  
• Once you take the title of Mon from your vassal, you can form the duchy title for the prestige (DO NOT FORM ANY KINGDOM TITLE)
  
• Allying with your brother provides nice defense in case of any Anglo-Saxon or Scots that want your precious islands
  
• A conquest for Ireland is a viable strategy for the duchy titles
  
• Keep an eye of your men at arms maintenance
  
• If your brothers die, make sure to pay for their mound, as that provides 350 prestige
  
• Raiding can provide nice amounts of gold and prestige if you can raid efficiently

I found my average age as Ivar getting this title was 62 years old, If however you are slain, being your son is not the worst thing to happen, just grind the same way you did as your father, This happened twice for me and I was able to get the title around age 54 as the son.

The worst thing about this method is choosing between The Boneless or The Great and the Terrible


On to the next character. Haesteinn

Method 2: Haesteinn of Montaigu

A fan favorite, Haesteinn is a beast of a viking. Haesteinn begins in 867 with 3700 troops as a count, 500 gold, the viking trait, 2600 prestige AND starts off as exalted among men. Starting as Haesteinn, you effectively only need to progress one level of fame, and hold the Isle of Mon. Here are some tips to get this CK legend to the position of Pirate Lord.


Starting Off

• go devotee of Ullr, as it's a nice martial buff providing +3 martial, an increase in movement speed in winter affected provinces by 50%, and knight advantage in winter by +2
  
• I go Medicine focus tree, as you do start a bit older as Haesteinn, but you can go strategy for a boost in martial at the start
  
• If your wife does not start with fat martial, divorce her and find one who does, and make sure she is assisting you
  
• I just have myself educate my heir, but up to you
  
• Make sure you do NOT embrace realm traditions

You can do all this before hitting the start button, once you are ready and feel set, begin your mayhem

Time to go a Viking!
The main goal here is to outlive Ivar, Raid, and if you are up to the task, earn an extra 1300 or so prestige so you can do a nice kingdom invasion to get some realm size, here are some tips

• I go straight ahead and capture the duchy of Mallorca, and the island adjacent to it. This allows Raiding in the Mederterrian and is just an overall nice boost to diplo range as well.
  
• Times you are not at war, make sure you are at the least doing hunts, if not both hunts and feasts.
  
• You can do a kingdom invasion for Alba (my personal choice as its close to mon) or even against Ivar, but he is kinda scary so I just let him do his thing, if he dies, you have a chance to take the title of mon
  
• Once you control the isle of Mon form the duchy!
  
• Allying with some of the sons of Ragnarr can be beneficial in case of an invasion of Brittany or France, which is pretty much inevitable, but with some allies, mercenaries, and some good ol' stratgery you can fend them off

Once you hit Living Legend, which is honestly quite hard not to do as Haesteinn, as long as Mon is under your control you can go ahead and form the title!

Method 3: Character Creation

*NOTE* I am building my characters under the achievement threshold of 400 points for the sake of achievements

This is of course a section with a bit more freedom, If you want to make a guy who has every lifestyle and commander trait in the game, go ahead, but the purpose of this guide is to more or so show you how to get the title while being achievement eligible. I got this title many times as I was doing an Achievement run for King of all the Isles, but here is my personal go to do building an achievement eligible viking tank.

The Guidelines

• Make sure you are North Germanic or Norman (Norse op)
  
• Astaru is the way
  
• Education go Grey Eminence
  
• Personality go Brave and Wrathful (Virtuous for Astaru)
  
• Physical Trait go Quick
  
• Health Trait go One-Eyed (Virtuous for Astaru)
  
• Fame Trait go Viking (Raider)
  
• Adjust stats to your preference to add up to under 400 points, I suggest either stewardship or marshal
  
• Set your age to 18
  
• Being unmarried with no kids is A ok

The rest is entirely up to you, you can start instead of Ivar, but remember that Ivar starts with 5000 troops, that you won't have, even though you wont have either of those beginning wars, you can go pretty much anywhere that you are a duchy or count.

Conclusion

This decision is quite a fun little endeavor to do if your bored and want to try a bit more content that Northern Lords had to offer. As stated earlier throughout the guide, I had done this title as a stepping stone for the King of all Isles achievement, I did many many run through earning this title, and I gotta say it's pretty decent for what you have to do, however if you are mega sized in the tribal era, going this route does cut your levies and gold by a decent amount, and replaces them with a irreplaceable pirate hoard. I did end up earning the achievement and the title in one run through and ended up with a game looking like this. Hope you learned a thing or two and enjoy plundering the seas!

[dwarfpcfan]

Just started a new run and I actually started as the duke of Jylland in Danemark, captured Gottland in the baltic before rampaging up the british Iles to get the 4 duchies to create it while also holding Iceland. On my way there I murdered 3 kings of Scotland, 2 of Boneless's descendants and a lot of punks wanting to step up to me. All with a single ruler, till I was able to fire up the decision.

[Vhalknor]

I've always wanted to set up for one of my Kids (not my heir) to inherit the dutchy and for them
to create the Kingdom of man and the Isles. Is that possible? has anyone manged it? The big block is getting an AI character to living legend. Most I see with my kids is distinguished

[Panda BaoBao PL]

I invite you to my new ultimate guide about millitary
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2846475771

[dwarfpcfan]

Just did this decision again today. Started as the 1 county chieftain of the Isle of Mann and worked my way up to the decision in a single king. Killed a lot of member of Ivar the Boneless's dynasty to get there by now I'm in a good position to decide where I want to go next once I finish solidifying my rule with my 2nd king and secure income so my 3rd or 4th king can then make a play at Britania or the North Sea empire

[Llamacidal]

wow does not even have max court grandeur? bad

[Spoon]

my hair smells so bad

[Saxon Jim]

Vikings are so op

[dwarfpcfan]

Most powerful decision in the game at the moment because it let's you keep raiding for 100 years as feudal. This is ridiculously good because you can use that to power devellop your counties and built every money making buildind, build extra settlements and just do in a 1-2 rulers what would take 3-4 rulers.

[TheGamingNot]

even if you dont form isle of man. vikings are still broken

[Thedrpibb]

@Jager, I preferred Grey Eminence over the others as imo, the lifestyle traits in both the August and Diplomat tree are absolutely nutty for prestige, and management of your kingdom. This is not to say the others are bad by any sense of the means, while I rarely go intrigue or learning early life (in regards to the medicine tree when I am ~45-50 years old) all lifestyles are solid and can be used, Alliances and not having to deal with pissy vassals are a godsend, Grey Eminence is also my preferred way to start when trying to get the King of all Isles achievement and securing the Isle of Mann is a good start to earning that