It would be easy to take one look at the byzantine UI prompts and the arcane systems of territorial stewardship in Crusader Kings and conclude that the game was a purely abstract exercise, a grand strategy game far too grand for the soil of the human condition. When the wheels of its systems are in motion, however, they reveal a maelstrom of ambitions and desires to be carefully negotiated not just by one ruler in their time, but a lineage of power carried on through blood (familial and martial).

Can such a meticulous rendering of medieval politics even begin to mount a critique the Western orthodoxy that it rests upon? Is such a critique necessitated by the arc of the game? Perhaps our discussion on Discord this Thursday at 8:30pm EDT / 5:30pm PDT will provide a formal venue to mount a valuable interrogation, all while the careful strings of our spymasters pull its shadows into sharp relief.

Supplemental reading: Crusader Kings III is a World of Complexity That Feels Powerfully Alive by Gita Jackson (Waypoint/Vice)