Rurik and the Kievan Rus

The Slavic people lived in constant fear of their Suomenusko, Tengri and Romuva neighbors. Unable to agree upon one King, the Slavic rulers foolishly waged war on each other. Brother killing brother, fighting for power, hoping that in the end the victor will become King, but alas King of a weak realm he would be.
And so, as it was the age of the Vikings, the wise rulers of Novgorod asked their distant cousins for protection and safety. In exchange they would honor them with the highest of their titles, bathe them in riches and as long as the Slavs could keep their culture and faith they would call the Vikings their lord and master.
A Viking by the name of Rurik answered their pleas. Little did they know that Rurik would become their savior and their hero; And his name would become immortal and mark the first chapters of Russian history.

Introduction

The Byzantine Empire

Suomenusko Tribes

Tsardom of Russia

Word from Author

Of course the random events in your playthrough may force you to adapt and therefor abandon this walkthrough (Rurik might die or perhaps an important war will be lost), but take this walkthrough as a guideline for how to create the Russian Empire as Rurik and how to keep it intact for future generations.
Even if things will go terribly wrong, it's not too late to restart the game and try again.
Rurik will always have the Brilliant Strategist, Quick, Gregarious, Ambitious, Just and Brave trait, but his military trait will be different. I recommend to restart the game until he has the Organizer, Unyielding or Siege Leader trait. With one of these, his conquest campaigns will be much more easier.

THANK YOU for taking the time and reading my detailed Crusader Kings II (2.3.2) guide!

While obviously this walkthrough is not historically accurate, I took inspiration from actual events[en.wikipedia.org]. The Rurikids did successfully defend the lands from all outside threats, they raided the Byzantine Empire, conquered Kiev to make it their capital (hence the name Kievan Rus) and introduced Christianity to the Russian people.

I hope you liked this guide, please support me by upvoting it and check out my other guides.

I wish you good luck in your Crusader Kings II playthrough and beware of the Horde!

[Burn]

Thanks! Maybe it's about time to make a part 2, or similar guide but for CK3

[SOKAR/UNREG]

Super interesting to read.

[Napolon]

Russian historians tried to identify the Scythians with the Russians during the spring of nations, on the wave of nationalism, when the ideological task was to find the Ancient ancestor of the Russian people. Now no one takes this seriously.

This is stupidity, like the identification of the Aryans and Germans, which was arranged in the Third Reich.

[Napolon]

OMG... In the 19th century, in Tsarist Russia, due to constant conflicts with Sweden and the fact that St. Petersburg was built on territory recaptured from the Swedes, when attempts were made to establish state history, the Norman theory was rejected.
The very idea that Russia was founded by Swedish conquerors was perceived as an insult, since the theory was proposed only 6 years after the end of the Russo-Swedish War of 1741-1743 which the Russians won (Very wrong time). The rejection of the theory was based on political motives.

In fact, now it is not a theory at all, it is simply a set of actually existing burials, historical evidence, and purely Scandinavian names of rulers at the beginning of Russian annals. Names like Rurik, Helga, Svendoslav, Rogneda Rogvolodovna, who was taken as a concubine by Prince Vladimir, these are all Scandinavian names.

[⚧️uzingram]

dawg be projecting

[Dyre]

@forcalquier Pathetic. Of course you have nothing to say once confronted. people like you just make up your own narrative then accuse others of doing so when your fragile ego is confronted.

[⚧️uzingram]

naw shlawg be making up him own history

[Dyre]

@forcalquier you're ignorant to even basic history. They crossed the danube into greece, and took over most of north india, and for a time ruled huge amounts of the middle east. And thats the recorded history. Just because that was their "core" region doesnt mean they didnt travel and colonize far and wide.

[⚧️uzingram]

Also no. Scythians weren't all over on eurasia. Them were in Caucasus, Ukraine, Crimea and some parts of Romania/Poland/Belarus. Scythians weren't going all over to the ural mountains, this is clearly propaganda

[⚧️uzingram]

If there is so alot of historical proofs could you say them here? It would be great if you named it all here, because it seems that internet couldn't find any. Are you just creating your own history????