This is a guide on how to reform the Norse religion and set you up for conquering Scandinavia.
WARNING: Not confirmed, but Rajas of India may be required to convert to local religion and culture.[]
Difficulty: Easy
Time: ~20 years (May vary)
Helpful Resources:
- Succession survival guide
- Paganism page
- This guide
- Yes, the magyar horde has a lot of uses, but this guide is for those who aim to reform Norse and take over Scandinavia, and not take over Europe or the world*
The Magyar Nomads[]
For this guide we shall be playing as the Magyars. At first, you must do what you usually do as the Magyars, defeat Bulgaria and create Hungary.
Great, that was easy, Now you have a ~30k troop horde from forming Hungary. Deal with your demesne(Don't move your capital!), and look at Denmark, Declare a subjugation for Denmark on either ruler, with your 30k doomstack you should be able to easily conquer it. Changing culture or religion appears to grant an extra subjugation CB. I would reccomend taking the country in the middle of Denmark to make into your capital because it is large and rich. Invade/subjugate the two dukes in Denmark, but don't do anything else yet, do not grant anyone any counties in Denmark. If you want to lower your demesne, do it in Hungary.
Move your capital to a province in Denmark, Go to your Intrigue tab, and convert to the local religion and culture of your capital!(Norse and Norse). You should be tutoring your son's son(s) to make them Norse and Norse as well. I reccomend killing your heir because he will probably not convert to Norse and Norse anytime soon.
I do not reccomend giving out titles to people until you are Norse or Norse, or you will suffer religion and culture opinion penalties in the future. When you invite holy men and nobles, they will be of your religion and culture.
On Danish Neck a Magyar Yoke[]
Now what I would reccomend doing is granting independance to your vassals in Hungary. You don't need Hungary anymore, there's no point to keeping it unless you're planning to take over Europe.
You should have at least one Orthodox vassal in Hungary if it doesn't let you grant Tengri vassals independance, just give the Orthodox vassal a duchy and transfer the vassals in Hungary to him. Grant Independance. Great! You are now the King of Hungary sitting on Denmark's de jure lands.. but wait! There's more! You should have about 30k troops plus ~1000 in wealth. I also reccomend upping Feudal Taxes to small for that extra income.
Using your assets[]
Your 30k horde has a lot of implications. One thing you can do is raid bordering counties. No one will be able to stop you. You may notice that you can't really do anything to local Norse rulers. You have to wait until your heir inherits(make sure he is Norse/Norse!) to subjugate Sweden/Diuchy of Uppland. During this time, I would reccomend declaring war on Lotharingia for the county of Zeeland because it is a Norse holy site. After that is done, you should have two holy sites, One in Denmark, one is Zeeland.
I reccomend doing lot's of raiding and taking over the Slavic pagans below you to keep Norse authority up. It stayed at around 70% during my Denmark rule and was at 52% when I reformed.
After you die and your heir inherits, you should subjugate Sweden/Uppland/Svitjod. This should give you the Holy Site of Uppsala. you may encounter the problem of not having the neccesary piety to reform the Norse religion, but you can obtain it by warring against religious enemies and by holding great blots.
I reformed at this point, but it may take longer if you are struggling to obtain piety or if your MA is not high enough. Refer to the succesion guide to prevent your realm from horribly exploding upon your death. Luckily, remnants of the Magyar armies can be a huge asset to stabilizing your empire.
Do note that after you reform, you cannot use subjugation wars! You may want to unite Scandinavia first.
Spreading the Norse faith[]
As the Fylkir, you should be wanting to keep your faith strong. Apart from the simple conquering strategy: here are some good ways to spread the Norse faith.
1. Old Norse rulers will convert if they like you
2.. Support King Dyre the Stranger of Konugarthr, ally with him or join his wars. If he takes over Russia, then it will be Norse, and not Slavic!
3. Set up Norse powers using Holy wars or Great Holy Wars. It's fun to see a Norse king of Italy, Greece, or Ireland for example, I like to conquer these areas and set Norse kings there. I grant them independance because I have OCD and don't want my realm to have large chunks everywhere and i'm not looking to conquer the world.