History YMMV / CrusaderKings

** The Karlings largely owe their status as TheScrappy to being this in the 867 start. They aren't necessarily a threat, but they take up huge swathes of Europe and are very difficult to dislodge.

** The Karlings largely owe their status as TheScrappy to being this in the 867 start. They aren't necessarily a threat, but they take up huge swathes of Europe and are very difficult to dislodge.

** A bug in the release version of Rajas of India allowed [[MisterSeahorse men to become pregnant from homosexual couplings]]. There was much laughter. The eventual fix to this bug included checks to ensure the potential parent is actually female... though another overlooked loophole means that the "father" can ''also'' sometimes be female, so it's not entirely fixed yet.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: [[OpenMouthInsertFoot Paradox unintentionally got into a bit of hot water]] with a March 2018 promotion where ''[=CK2=]'' was free to keep on Steam for a couple days. They announced this with a tweet that included the phrase "deus vult", which [[http://www.newsweek.com/paradox-interactive-875640 unfortunately for Paradox has become more known as a white supremacist slogan than for its historical use in the six years since the game came out]]. Cue a minor InternetBackdraft and Paradox pointing out the historical context in a response.

* MemeticPsychopath: In an actual Crusaders King II game, the most successful characters are typically exemplars of PragmaticVillainy. The memetic version of the successful Crusader King character, however, and by extension the player base, is [[AxCrazy bloodthirsty]], [[TheCaligula sadistic]], [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder treacherous]], and [[RoyalInbreeding incestuous]], .

* MemeticPsychopath: The player base. They are generally considered [[TheCaligula psychotic,]] [[AxCrazy cruel,]] [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder treacherous,]] [[IncestIsRelative family fuckers.]] Naturally, they revel in this.

** Also, the ''other'' scripted event that makes its first appearance on the east edge of the map, the [[TheBlackDeath Bubonic plague]]. Unlike the Mongols, there's no way to hide from or resist them. Even if you can avoid having your court (or worse, your family) being wiped out by it, it'll kill your economy and, with it, your ambitions stone dead.

%% UnfortunateImplications now requires external citations.

** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism Catharist]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messalian Messalian]] heresies. Both quite obscure heresies normally of note only to theologians and specialist historians, they are actively sought after by the Crusader Kings fandom for both the challenge of overthrowing the mainstream of Christendom with them, and their special traits. Both allow for significantly expanded women's rights, allowing early access to cognatic inheritance (where men and women inherit on equal terms) and the ability to grant talented women positions of power directly. In addition, the Messalians allow incestuous marriages; tying together {{Tangled Family Tree}}s that would make [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire the Targaryens]] balk is a RunningGag for the fandom.

** The Seduction Focus. Not so much that ''you'' have the option of extramarital affairs, but rather that all the AI characters do and have no rhyme, reason or discretion in using it. AI seducers tend to eat up processing power and your patience jumping everything in sight including your spouses, your siblings, your children and your [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs siblings' children's spouses]] and spreading [=STDs=] and bastards with your character having no way to stop it. The focus has been {{nerf}}ed at least twice, and even then the only thing it's done is to make {{Chaste|Hero}} or even [[IncompatibleOrientation Homosexual]] the most valuable traits to look for in a spouse. It's bad enough that Paradox has actually added the option to remove the AIs ability to use the seduction focus.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: The original game, while it had its fans, was definitely a flawed game, with a TroubledProduction and quite a lot of bugs. Crusader Kings II, on the other hand, has received by far the smoothest launch of any Paradox game to date, and received almost universal acclaim from the fans. Expansions like Sword of Islam, Legacy of Rome and The Old Gods have only served to make it even better.

** This is less of an issue after Horse Lords, as their Invasions are linked to their Nomadic government form instead of their religion.

** As a Catholic, having a vassal Pope (which can be achieved by making an Antipope and pushing his claim on Rome, making him the official Pope). Putting aside that you need to be an Emperor to have one in the first place, once you have one you get free claims on any catholic duchy or county in the game and the power to excommunicate any catholic character who annoys you, letting you imprison them penalty-free and making it nigh impossible for them to form factions. This doesn't so much break normal mechanics for vassal management and expansion as snap them neatly in half.

** "[[AltumVidetur DEUS VULT]]." Latin for "God wills it", it was a common Western Christian motto and appears frequently in the games (up to and including having the expansion pack for the first game named for it). Also sometimes gets mutated by the fanbase, for example "Dievas vult" being used as a joke on the Romuva (Baltic) pagan thundergod Dievas.

** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messalian Cathar]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messalian Messalian]] heresies. Both quite obscure heresies normally of note only to theologians and specialist historians, they are actively sought after by the Crusader Kings fandom for both the challenge of overthrowing the mainstream of Christendom with them, and their special traits. Both allow for significantly expanded women's rights, allowing early access to cognatic inheritance (where men and women inherit on equal terms) and the ability to grant talented women positions of power directly. In addition, the Messalians allow incestuous marriages; tying together {{Tangled Family Tree}}s that would make [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire the Targaryens]] balk is a RunningGag for the fandom.

** Hellenism is also a major source of feuding, including arguments over whether it was still practiced at all combining with the desire of a certain portion of the playerbase to play Hellenic anyway, and a VocalMinority repeatedly demanding that the developers provide support for it (and triggering a CreatorBacklash over the whole issue). When Paradox decided to add the option to revive Hellenism in "Holy Fury", they added a game rule to allow players to disable these events because of the strife the issue has brought in the fandom.

** Hellenism is also a major source of feuding, including arguments over whether it was still practiced at all combining with the desire of a certain portion of the playerbase to play Hellenic anyway, and a VocalMinority repeatedly demanding that the developers provide support for it (and triggering a CreatorBacklash over the whole issue).

*** The above point is itself part of another debate on the best way to handle DLC: One side prefers smaller DLC with tighter focus since it gives them the freedom to selectively purchase and activate content with precision, while the other side prefers the "content pack" format since they tend to cost less on a per-unit basis than a collection of smaller [=DLCs=] with similar content. [[UnpleasableFanbase Both sides tend to accuse Paradox of being out to make a naked cash-grab when they don't follow their favored model]].

* GeniusBonus: The blue-clad blond knight featured on the game's box art isn't some generic crusader, but Creator/WalterScott's Sir Wilfred of Literature/{{Ivanhoe}} himself: http://imgur.com/92J4u3Y

** The UsefulNotes/{{Byzantine Empire}}'s Doukas Dynasty. The first Doukas emperor, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_X_Doukas Constantine X Doukas]] is [[RedRightHand clubfooted]] and inept with money. His heir, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_VII Michael VII]] is just as inept with money, and usually ends up lazy and craven. In real life, Michael VII ended up giving his throne ([[{{Squick}} and his wife]]to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikephoros_III_Botaneiates Nikephoros III Botaneiates]] after realizing that he could not get anyone's support anymore - plus, he was very lazy and spent his reign giving all his power and responsibilities to [[FemmeFatale his mother]] and [[DeadlyDecadentCourt his councillors]]. They were so inept that many walkthroughs for the forming of the Roman Empire recommend against starting as him.

** The {{Byzantine Empire}}'s Doukas Dynasty. The first Doukas emperor, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_X_Doukas Constantine X Doukas]] is [[RedRightHand clubfooted]] and inept with money. His heir, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_VII Michael VII]] is just as inept with money, and usually ends up lazy and craven. In real life, Michael VII ended up giving his throne ([[{{Squick}} and his wife]]to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikephoros_III_Botaneiates Nikephoros III Botaneiates]] after realizing that he could not get anyone's support anymore - plus, he was very lazy and spent his reign giving all his power and responsibilities to [[FemmeFatale his mother]] and [[DeadlyDecadentCourt his councillors]]. They were so inept that many walkthroughs for the forming of the Roman Empire recommend against starting as him.

** The Seduction Focus. Not so much that ''you'' have the option of extramarital affairs, but rather that all the AI characters do and have no rhyme, reason or discretion in using it. AI seducers tend to eat up processing power and your patience jumping everything in sight including your spouses, your siblings, your children and your [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs siblings' children's spouses]] and spreading [=STDs=] and bastards with your character having no way to stop it. The focus has been {{nerf}}ed at least twice, and even then the only thing it's done is to make {{Chaste|Hero}} or even [[IncompatibleOrientation Homosexual]] the most valuable traits to look for in a spouse.

** With the importance of the Crusades in-game, ''CK'' also inherited the "Remove kebab" meme spawned by ''Webcomic/{{Polandball}}''. Paradox is on-record as considering the statement Islamophobic and doesn't allow it on their official forum.

** [[https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/ck2-dev-diary-41-secret-religious-cults.999496/ This dev diary]] for ''Monks and Mystics'' included a shot of a new trait, "Secretly Sunni" (for somebody who outwardly followed a different faith but secretly was a Sunni Muslim). The AddedAlliterativeAppeal quickly got the players coming up with names for corresponding traits such as "Reclusively Romuvan", "Surreptitious Suomenusko", and "Covertly Cathar".