I'm a mod dev and I wanna shine a light on our (non canon) underdogs! - Captain Zôrzagor 'Andrake' of Úlond: A corsair lord who recently conquered the ancient summer retreat of the Kings of Gondor at the very tip of Andrast. He has family in Umbar and a few years before game start, gathered together a band of blackguards and adventurers in Umbar to fight for coin and glory. - Sæbert 'of the Hills' of Morangol: A count in the Brownlands south of Dol Guldur - A minor Leofring tribesman who has great potential though he is beset on all sides. His people, the Leofrings, are kin of the Rohirrim who stayed behind in the north during the Ride of Eorl. - Ruadômirh 'the Scorpion King' of Koanoz: The Scorpion King is a tribal chieftain in the center of the Dune Sea, who rules from the ancient oasis of koanoz. Very fun to try and unite the disparate tribes of the dune sea (who are neutrally aligned) and either lead them against the shadow or to descend upon the faithful of bellakar! Or maybe, to carve his own path? - Captain Zânâben of Lonely Isles - Bastard son of the legendary pirate king of Mardruak, he can try to wrestle the mainland from his squabbling siblings to reclaim the corsair throne! He is situated on the small islands off the coast of bellakar. - King Wulfgar of Dunlandfells - A Dunlending lord who seeks to unite Dunland and drive out the Rohirrim from their ancient homelands!

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

Definitely gonna pin this. This is awesome thank you.

@peytongivens5119

11 ай бұрын

Looking at some videos on this as I've just started with the mod. My first playthrough was with them and I rejected Gondor, and conquered my way up to nearly establish the Enedwaith empire. Not before Mordor accomplished a hefty 40k amassed force with not even half their tributaries. My 13k force was no match haha. BUT an AWESOME start and a great secret selection that deserves a look see.

@junvloeberghs6999

6 ай бұрын

I'll def try wulfgar

I hope they add the possibility of reuniting the northern kingdom of Arnor

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

That would be sweet

@vakuankka9063

Жыл бұрын

the devs have plans to add all of Eriador and Lindon after the dwarves and the mountains have been added which is the next place they are going to add

@reikers

Жыл бұрын

check the mod in like a year if you want that

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

@@vakuankka9063 Gods I can't wait

@freakpoint22

5 ай бұрын

Good news the open beta for v0.4 came out on steam on feb 2. You can switch to arnorian culture through a decision and form the old empire borders. Also Hobbits and Dwarves!

And I will also add that while you can't 'conquer' wilderness, you can certainly colonize it, cause colonization is also a mechanic explored in the mod, and it is pretty neat.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

That’s interesting. How does that work exactly

@bouenmarsh4254

Жыл бұрын

@@Soul_Tomato you can create a colony in your neighbouring wilderness and start developing it. There will be some obstacles to remove and events to deal with, you can construct temporary buildings there and upgrade your colony for it in the end to become a fully fledged holding. Afaik you can only have one colony at the time and there’s a cool-down of five years between colonization attempts.

Another suggestion if you want a pure conquest and corruption run is the Golden King in Abrakhan. You get special decisions when conquering certain areas which gives you special troops while also giving you a focus for the next conqest. By the end of all the conquest decisions I controlled everything south of Harad which while almost impossible to keep solid control over served as the Warhammer which would shatter Gondor alongside Sauron

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

A Chaos Warhammer if you will. Very cool

For clearing up, Dunlendings were not a part of Rohan, they were actually the first inhabitants of the land of Calenardhon upon which now is situated the Kingdom of the Riddermark, but when Rohirrim came the Haladin peoples had either to submit or to move abroad, and so many Haladin tribes chose to cross over the river Isen to Dunland were some of their kin already dwelt, this becoming the Dunlendings, great video btw, love you focus on the lesser characters which play an important role

@Soul_Tomato

11 ай бұрын

Oh good clarification thank you!

Being able to unite the Witch-Realm would be unreal; Angmar, Gundabad, and so on.

@Soul_Tomato

29 күн бұрын

I think this may actually be a thing now

I need to Play as a hobbit and form the empire of the shire.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

Gods be good I would 100% play as Hobbits.

@Oak_II

Ай бұрын

thats what I wanted

There is a hidden gem start in the northern part of the kingdom Enedwaith where you can play a ranger of the north. You start as a tribal county opm, but you have tons of expansion options and an empire title to aspire to.

@Soul_Tomato

11 ай бұрын

Oh that’s a good one. Good to know

@restitutororbis675

10 ай бұрын

This is also my favourite start

@BB-wl3wo

9 ай бұрын

which county is it?

@birgir1000

9 ай бұрын

@@BB-wl3woI think it’s called harestolad, it’s in reedwater duchy

Great video, I subscribed, I would love to see some content of this Mod, its awesome.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

It’s a great mod and admittedly one of my favorite fictional worlds. Stay tuned. I may have something planned.

You probably know this but I will say anyway lol. But when Théoden was talking about the Westfold falling he was referring to the invasion by the Dunlendings during the reign of king helm Hammerhand and of the Easterlings during the long winter about 300 years before the war of the ring. That was when Edoras was captured and most of the lands of Rohan were pillaged and destroyed. King helm took refuge in helms deep or the Hornburg which is named after him and It is said during the long winter whilst he was besieged by Easterlings and Dunlendings; whilst both his men and the enemies were starving from the winter, he would venture out of the Hornburg blast his horn and hunt down stray enemies beating them to death with his own hands (thats why he is called Helm Hammerhand). His own war upon the enemies who invaded his land ended when he was found frozen standing upright and undefeated let alone by winter it self. The Easterlings and Dunlendings would forever fear the Hornburg and would flee in terror when they would hear the horn of Helm Hammerhand. Also Gondor was dealing with a number of Corsair fleets at the time and some Haradrim so they couldn't help.

@Soul_Tomato

10 ай бұрын

I actually didn’t know it to this detail. Very good write up thank you!

keep up the good work buddy!

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

Thanks friend!

Another one that's a bit of a challenge but also interesting in my opinion is probably playing as the Framlings mainly because to the west you have Gundabad and to the south you have the Beornings which might not be as much a threat but if Kamul decides to go on a rampage with dol gurdur (sorry if its incorrect spelling) than you might have a problem there as well

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

Great suggestion!

Only 800 swan knights would be... Quite amazing in the mod, lmao

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

Haha I suppose in the context of a Men at Arms regiment that would be insane

Im a tester I come bringing gifts of starts like my superior -Ar Gimilkhad of the Ar Adunaim: a Black Numenorean lord whom rules the small archipelago of the coast of umbar whose family claims to be the true heirs of the great Ar Pharazôn the Golden. He has quite a few relatives but he and his family however have this thing for keeping it in the family if you know what i mean -Mardat: Mardat is a nephew to the Haradrim king of Haruzan he follows the Khaz Ghramaze faith but is however in quite a unusual place as he is a duke under the Kingdom of Ray his goal is to convert the Boshnizharud lands to the one true faith, that of the red serpent! -The Abarzargari of Khillibakhar: Do you like restoring long gone realms? So do i! the Abarzargari are the Mardruakan Kingsmen Dukes of Khillibakhar whom once ruled Mardruak as governors under Castamir the usurper and his heirs... They even are related to them and somewhat ironically have a better claim to be heirs of castamir then the cassimirioni themselves.. -The Honnin: The honnin are the Druedain of the far south whom live deep in the forests of Suza Sumar where none have come back alive from.... The Honnin once inhabited all of the now kingdom of ray where they build also great wonders... they where however over the course of many centuries pushed more and more back by the migrations of the Boshnizharud people..

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

Another stellar group of suggestions. Thank y’all so much for these.

@Vaelar2007

Жыл бұрын

@@Soul_Tomato no idea if you know about em but another VERY cool character play us Hûz Margoz the starting lord of Riav a coastal lord inside the Medloshukain he’s descendant from the ancient very much evil Szrel dynasty and has a bus load of awesome flavour Canonically speaking he also was the one to slay the king of dale before being slain by Dain during the war of the ring aswel during the siege of erebor

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

@@Vaelar2007 I did not but this is also great to know

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

I think I’m gonna use one of these starts also. Thank you.

@Vaelar2007

Жыл бұрын

@@Soul_Tomato I look forward to seeing the video!

Just curious since I can't find it on the mod pages: does this mod feature the One Ring and the travels of the Fellowship in some kinda way?

@Soul_Tomato

8 ай бұрын

Gandalf, Legolas, Aragorn, and Boromir are in the game as of right now but no, the fellowship is not in the game nor is the ring as of yet.

Watching this has made me want to play this mod.

@Soul_Tomato

4 ай бұрын

You should! It’s expanded since I made this

I hope Glorfindel is playable when they add the north with Rivendell.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

God I hope so.

Me watching this even though i don't have ck3

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

Haha I appreciate it

Denethor is 89 years old at the time of the books. (Aragorn was once a political rival under the pseudonym of Thorongil, and is 87 when he assumes the throne) That said he's from a fairly pure-blooded Numenorean House, and Gandalf comments on both him and Faramir as having numenorean traits that Boromir did not have. Faramir would live to the age of 120, wherease Denethor was considered prematurely aged because of his use of the palantir and then later committed suicide. Despite not sharing some of the traits Boromir also likely would've had a longer life then someone like Eomer. Dude was in his 40s at the time of the book but seemed very unconcerned about marriage. Likely he was considered in the prime of life when he was killed at Amon Hen.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

So realistically Boromir could have lived to maybe his early 120s?

I have a question I have now downloaded the mod via Steam but when I am in the game the people have so different names always with Bookmark_ and also the names of the states have this bookmark or CN_, BM_ or even so random letters eg E/C/S and wanted to ask if this is normal

@Soul_Tomato

2 ай бұрын

Probably running it on a different version. You have to check the version and then roll CK3 back to whatever the mod is compatible with

I believe Sauron is a Meiar and was present during the First Age. Wouldn't that make Sauron much older than 4600 years old?

@Soul_Tomato

11 ай бұрын

Yeah, realistically should be ??? for age I think.

I admire how they've brought Middle Earth to life in CK3 and respect all the hard work they've put in, but I wish they didn't make original stuff south of Mordor and Harad. Would have preferred that effort went into past Bookmarks, which will be harder now with more map to fill.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

I kind of have to agreed

@Railery

Жыл бұрын

I don't mind that they made original stuff, but I do wish they would have filled out the rest of the canon map first, like the Grey Havens, the Shire, Dwarves, Angmar, etc.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

@@Railery I know they have a ton planned so perhaps they started with those to get a feel for modding and then moved on to the harder regions (i.e. those of non-human origin).

@Vaelar2007

Жыл бұрын

The reason why with 2.2 we went south is because the southern areas we added didn’t have any other races besides already existing ones giving us more time to prepare elven stuff for 3.0

@BlueSky-uf6oy

Жыл бұрын

@@Vaelar2007 ive seen maps online that Numenor had many colonies along the mainland's west coast, is an earlier bookmark going to involve those, or at least the immediate fallout of Numenor's collapse? That would give more reason for those southern areas being playable while still kind of tying into lore

Something I like to do is play a Rhovanion character. Reform the kingdom of Rhovanion and create a quadruple-alliance with Dale, Dorwinion and the Avari elves

@Soul_Tomato

11 ай бұрын

Is that the one south of the sea of rhun?

@jorikrouwenhorst7220

11 ай бұрын

@@Soul_Tomato Yep. I’ve you ever played as Dorwinion in the Divide and Conquer mod for Medieval 2 your pretty much fighting there most of time against armies of Rhun. Also got my love for Dorwinion and the Avari from that mod. In fact some of the old men-at-arms icon for Dorwinion units were taken from DaC.

I dont believe there is much certified tolkien lore about the far south of middle earth so most things found down there are fanmade in this mod and in other forms of media. Btw not totally certain about that so if i am wrong please correct me.

@Soul_Tomato

10 ай бұрын

I think you’re right. Most of the far away stuff is fairly ambiguous

Actually it's Orcs who took over Gundabad Goblins came from Goblin Town.

I want to see the day when Beleriand has been added.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

Oh like a first age bookmark? That would be cool.

@Kubilay31820

Жыл бұрын

@@Soul_Tomato Exactly!

One fun campaign would also be to play as Talion in Mordor and unite YOUR orcish hordes against the dark Lord. But i gues to make this viable in any way he would need to have at least Orcish religion... but one could possibly explain this as what he is showing his orc minions as the bright lord...

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

I wonder if this mod let's you do custom rulers. That could be a fun one.

@g0lgrim1

Жыл бұрын

@@Soul_Tomato Yeah, ruler designer IS possible. But as i discussed in their discord a while ago this scenario would be incredibly hard without a submod to give a real Celebrimbor/Bright Lord-trait for some buffs... since Talion would be Gondorian and of their religion Sauron or any other lesser lord would immediatly seize his little land where you would want to start INSIDE of Mordor...

Traditional (pre-Christian) epics do not have a white-and-black moral distinction in them. Rather, it is just a series of individuals and groups with their own interests that often clash with each other. Even in Beowulf, the monsters aren't necessarily evil, they just are in conflict with the Danes. Tolkien's stories may have borrowed heavily from those traditional epics, but the morality in them is very clearly in the Christian tradition, as Tolkien himself was a devout Catholic.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

If good and evil exist as opposing forces (edit: this makes no sense. I mean clearly defined) in a story rather than an grey area between two morally or logically justifiable parties then I consider it a binary personally. The central antagonists of Tolkien’s stories (Melkor and Sauron) are simply evil. They want nothing but domination and subjugation. There is no nuance. Sure, their minions have a little more leeway than this but even characters like the Nazgûl were corrupt long before the taint of their rings. That said Tolkein’s protagonists and “good” side character often delve into the morally grey (Gollum, Boromir, Fëanor) so I suppose the good spectrum (if we can call it that) characters are more pliable and exist with more nuance. Regardless, I did not make the binary comment as an insult to Tolkein’s works - this seems to be a sore spot for fans of his work and I’ll never understand it. I merely use it as a way of distinguishing it as a typical high fantasy setting of good and evil vs something from the likes of George RR Martin or Joe Abercrombie who typically seek to make morally grey and complex characters with the lines between good and evil often overlapping.

@wiegraf9009

9 ай бұрын

@@Soul_Tomato The reason there moral greyness in the characters is because they exist in a more fallen age than that of the origin of Tolkien's lore, NOT because there is actually moral ambiguity in his world, which is totally binary. He was very very obviously motivated to Christianize his source material and make it binary but this is not characteristic of most epics from pre modern times.

Uhhh... now i had a fun idea for a game. Just tought without Dunedain or dwarfs i find nothing fun. But with Dale and Losgalen allready you could play the War in the North... and try to NOT let Tranduil and Bard fall against the hordes of the dark Lord while defending in a last stand united in the Lonely Mountain against Orcs and the humans of Rhun.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

Not a bad idea at all

The main problem with all these mods except Princes of Darkness is the vanilla small lifestyle choices.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

Princes of Darkness is probably the best roleplaying mod we will get for CK3. Great great mod.

@bombyouup62

Жыл бұрын

@@Soul_Tomato Yes its literally a mod with everything. Course they get away with a lot of stuff because its owned.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

@@bombyouup62 Owned? How do you mean?

@bombyouup62

Жыл бұрын

@@Soul_Tomato Paradox owns White Wolf.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

@@bombyouup62 Whatttttt I had no idea.

Weird that they gave steward perk to Faramir instead of learning.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

Probably a nod to the line of stewards

you can repopulate the wilderness areas.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

Someone did mention this. That’s sixk

Starting as something other than top level ruler is excruciating. You will be dragged into so so many idiotic wars by the AI

@Soul_Tomato

7 ай бұрын

Idk I pretty much always play as single counties or dukes. Unless you mean in this mod specifically.

how to forge artifacts in this game?

@Soul_Tomato

3 ай бұрын

It’s kinda a process but I can certainly try to cover it at some loo

@carlsoria3215

3 ай бұрын

@@Soul_Tomato cause every dark faction has this crafting thing but there are no resources, where to find the resources. thanks dude.

@Soul_Tomato

3 ай бұрын

@@carlsoria3215 may be a good question for the discord!

You use some mods affecting holdings. Try to run LotR Realms in Exile without those mods. There is button to colonize wilderness if you don't have mods affecting holdings. Imho the system of colonizing is king of painful (you can colonize a single county per 5 years), but this is the way how you unite the whole area of Mirkwood either as elves or Nazgul from Dol Guldur. For some reason you don't feature numerous Black Numenorean and Umbarean starts, despite you play one of them later on. Imho, they're the most interesting, if you don't really want to replay the books. In most of other starts you have to face or cooperate with Sauron, not with these ones, if you don't wanna. Also, a secret OP start is down south in the Lands of Mumakil. In the Lands of Mumakil you can actually build mumakil as man-at-arms as opposed to buying them from traders. And it is far away from Sauron or any serious danger. You can roll over anybody with your mumakil army and build a powerful empire.

Just give me the Dead men of Dunharrow and unlimited battles

@Soul_Tomato

11 ай бұрын

A wave of green doom

they just forgot to add numenor

@Soul_Tomato

11 ай бұрын

Numenor doesn’t exist in the third age. But they do have some Black Numenor starts which I’ve put in the second start video that’ll come out in the next few weeks.

The Ride of the Rohirm had nothing to do with the death of the heir. The entire point was that they had cast off the fear of death that Morgoth had infected them with. So they did not fear death anymore and embraced it as the gift it was.

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

I didn’t mean the ride itself I just meant him foolishly charging the Witch King and then getting crushed by his own horse. I think Theodred’s death basically broke anything left in him that would have wanted to live. So he wanted to go out a King.

@adventwolfbane

Жыл бұрын

@Soul_Tomato except that wasn't why he did it. Again they had embraced Death as the gift it was. He saw the Witch King as the threat he was and had the choice to embrace death or fear it at that point. He embraced it and did what he needed to do.

@wiegraf9009

9 ай бұрын

@@adventwolfbaneYes his death was heroic not foolish. He died knowing he was going up against literally impossible odds of survival but it was the right thing to do.

Yes, zero nuance with Gollum-Smeagol...or Sauron the traitor or Beorn or wormtounge or Boromir or Faramir or...

@Soul_Tomato

Жыл бұрын

It’s not that deep my dude.

@watcherofthewest8597

Жыл бұрын

@@Soul_Tomato Just my opinion but Tolkien is deep and it never gets old re-reading and finding new meaning. A lot of people focus on the elves and dwarves and swords and all that is fine and cool, but there's a lot more there. But each to his own Soul Tomato, each to his own.