Northern Germany is still held by pagan Saxons, an attractive target for Karling expansion, while southern Germany is held by relatives of the Karlings under their Bavarian kingdom. It is a time full of opportunities, but under Salic law, the continent seems deemed to shatter into pieces. The HRE will be founded either by him or by the largest of his successors, stabilizing the game a little.
To the north, ambitious Pictish kings may capitalize upon the power vacuum in Great Britain to expand at the expense of its weakened neighbors.įrance and Germany will see the rise of Karl the Great, and then know a long, never-ending fight for succession.
Ireland is divided, and likely to stay so without foreign intervention. In this layout, it is likely that each of the petty kingdoms will get absorbed progressively by the larger southern realms, except if one desperate bid to unite Britain succeeds. Great Britain is in shambles, as rival Norse and Saxon rulers fight hopelessly for supremacy. Without a Karling intervention, they are likely to maintain their position for the rest of the game and even conduct campaigns across the Pyrenees into southern France. Spain is in the hands of the remainder of the Umayyad Caliphate, with the sole opposition to their ambitions on the Empire of Hispania being the Kingdom of Asturias, to the North.