More Starts I Recommend in LotR: Realms in Exile for CK3

I've had a few people reach out and ask me for an update to my older Starts I Recommend video so I decided to whip this one up for y'all. Hope you enjoy :)
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Image Sources:
The Grey Havens by Matthew Stewart
Feanor art by Ted Nasmith
Castamir and Eldacar by Matěj Čadil
Music:
Oblivion OST - Watchman's Ease
Age of Empires II DE OST - I Will Beat Your Behind
OSRS OST - The Golem
Blasphemous OST - Una Senda de Pasos Blancos
Elden Ring OST - Song of Honor

[@wildworld1643]

Here's some more *Non-Bookmarked* starts that are very fun/worth playing, from yours truly (A contributor for the Realms mod). Gorin of Nordinbad. They are a fairly challenging but doable start, with a custom quest chain to take over the Grey Mountains with the aid of Erebor. They are the only Dwarven ruler in the Grey Mountains. Katajan Gyuruchill II of Kref Nilja. He is a vassal of the Tedjin Confederacy, and while the Tedjin Confederacy is a bookmarked start, generally you go good as them and fight against Sauron. As Gyuruchill and his son Azumen, you can instead resist turning good, taking the Tedjin Confederacy for yourself and turning south, as you have a decision to crush Bellakar and Felaya. Eldberk of Zillinakhur. He is the Eccentric nephew (?), rival, and claimant of Uri the Generous, Lord of Buzra Dum. He is a slightly funny character, he has his own intro event, and as him you can claim Buzra Dum to the south for your own. Eldberk starts as a count just south of Gabilgathol, in the northern Blue Mountains. Arphen Karamar of Emyn Beraid. He is the Sirrandai vassal of Cirdan, and if I'm not mistaken, the only Sirrandai ruler in Middle Earth at this start date. He has a custom decision to Restore the Realm of Sirgala, which was an ancient realm in Lindon. Aran Lanthir of Nelornieth. He is another Elven ruler, this time at the very east of the map. He has an intro event (written by yours truly), a custom artifact, and a decision to reach out to other Elven realms. Chieftain Caradoc II of Moin Dulachald. He is the Hillman ruler of Moin Dulachald, in Rhudaur. He has a decision to restore Rhudaur, which involves quite a bit of colonization. He also faces threats from the Orcs of Mount Gram.

[@ferbintegabriel4714]

I would like to mention another interesting flavor is to restore the Rhovanion Culture and Empire as a Rhovanion ruler. It's a challenging start because plenty of lands you require are ruined, and the others are held my easterlings and you also gotta defeat the 2 mighty Kingdoms in the north, so basically there is also desicions that make your culture more cooler and you also stand near Mordor which can also get quite challenging. In my opinion this has to be one of the hardest challanges you can do in this mod, except the Ballin one.

[@caleboverman4464]

The Axe that Walks starts off with a special event that gives you some gold and prompts you to migrate to another Wilderness mountain county. On my playthrough, I ended up resettling in some mountains right between Dorwinion and Rhun and proceeded to fight a bunch of wars to keep Dorwinion from falling.

[@noahblackwell5795]

Funny how they went out of their way to give custom content for a cool character only for them to have to redo it when adventurers come out. Mod makers truly live in a two steps forward one step back pendulum.

[@maximdrager3639]

​@@noahblackwell5795 And yet, you still can't be a Baron. you can't just be given land as a minir vassal

[@MrKhalsaman]

@@maximdrager3639baron gameplay wouldn’t be that interesting atm tbf, it’s the same gameplay loop as a count, just on a smaller scale. I think they’re waiting to add barony gameplay once they release playable republics and theocracies

[@peter3664]

I don't know if you covered them in a previous video, but the Blue Mountain Dwarves have some really cool options to recolonize and rebuild Belegost and Nogrod, both of which give them some insane units and modifiers. They make for some super fun midgame goals.

[@dominus1444]

Finally some Realms content its like a desert out here.

[@wildworld1643]

Also, not only does Maglor have a ton of content in the form of his quest chains, it's also incredibly written

[@saytans7497]

the ending where he goes back to himring feels good

[@Torag55]

@@saytans7497 I got that ending and got the Silmaril from Ulmo. I think at that point, it makes sense for Maglor to journey to Valinor since his ban has been lifted due to his redeeming actions. Ulmo himself even tells him to go to Valinor to ease and soothe his melancholic and aching heart.

[@_byron_0]

@@Torag55i have a question. In my game Maglor doesn‘t have his sword. Does anyone know why?

[@jorikrouwenhorst7220]

If there's one thing I wish I could do in Lotr is having religions with "Echo's of the Ainur" being able to "Reembrace the Ainur".

[@Soul_Tomato]

@@jorikrouwenhorst7220 that wood be sweet

[@jorikrouwenhorst7220]

@@Soul_Tomato I really want to do that cause I want to play a prince in Far Harad that's a decendent from a Nuemenorian prince that was invited to be a king and revive the kingdom.

[@TacticusPrime]

@@jorikrouwenhorst7220 You can just reform your religion with the vanilla mechanics, can't you?

[@jorikrouwenhorst7220]

@@TacticusPrime well yes but the religions in the mod are divided into three groups. Children of illuvitar (good guys) Melkor/Sauron (evil) People of darkness (everyone else) These are ‘doctrines’ that you can’t change so for the ‘people of darkness’ you can’t get the “Primacy of X deity” doctrine that you can with ‘children of Illuvitar’.

[@TacticusPrime]

@@jorikrouwenhorst7220 Huh. I could have sworn that I changed that doctrine in my religion once. Maybe I'm misremembering what change I made.

[@d2ws_]

Maglor was a super fun playthrough for me, cool af event chain and decisions

[@comradezy]

I think my favorite playthrough so far was just basic Denethor. I love all the mountain goblins and orcs but the colonizing places is a bit too slow for me.

[@sidneysill8495]

Maglor is the best run I've done in this mod.

[@klemenslam1916]

Good guy Saruman?

[@jefferyhanderson7849]

It’s possible.

[@SirBoggins]

He can redeem himself!

[@mementomori771]

Fun fact Khamul is the only named Nazgul other than the witch king

[@TacticusPrime]

Well, the mod names them, often drawing from MERP

[@Jaguaist]

Can you play all of the Dwarf-fathers in this? I only found the legendary houses of house Dwalin, Uri and Durin. Not the other 4. Wonder if they can spawn. You can find the other dwarf tribes on the map, but they are not of the Dwarf-father's lineage.

[@TacticusPrime]

Maybe they will be added as the map continues to explore

[@xGhost4000x]

I wonder if they could use the landless adventurer mechanic to create a "Fellowship" unique adventurer type in this mod.

[@Soul_Tomato]

I honestly don’t know. I think it would be incredibly difficult to make it work because you’d have to plan for so many variables

[@dominus1444]

That is exactly what they are doing

[@wiedzmin8204]

My problem with this mod, is things go down way too fast. Literally Morder conquers Gondor within 10 years

[@Soul_Tomato]

That is pretty accurate to how the world works unfortunately. It’s a big issue with playing within the setting. You kind of have to deal with Mordor first before doing normal ck3 stuff

[@karaltar7914]

Even with a nerfed Sauron in one of my games Gondor fell before Aragorn returned.

[@niklass.8699]

Yeah, if you don't play as Gondor yourself they get rekt pretty hard. When I play elsewhere I usually switch to Sauron and disband some his Men-at-Arms to even the odds a little.

[@moskaumaster1594]

@@Soul_Tomato Its why they should have started the mod further in the past

[@Jaguaist]

Appreciate the AOE2 and OSRS music btw!

[@qhu3878]

sup

[@Soul_Tomato]

Sup

[@sebastian4507]

The balrog is literally the most irritating creature in the universe

[@Soul_Tomato]

@@sebastian4507 true and real

[@samwill7259]

Reminds me of a lot of the mechanics of Anbennar in EU4, dunno if that team is working on CK3

[@Soul_Tomato]

They are indeed working on a CK3 version

[@billychops1280]

You should definitely do a Maglor run

[@bobertobobino2372]

You should do a cake farting video next pls Soul

[@suchtxsrykeinwlan6218]

What?

[@Soul_Tomato]

What

[@bobertobobino2372]

@@Soul_Tomato Like into the cake

[@sebastian4507]

What

[@caleboverman4464]

What

[@TrajGreekFire]

Argon looks like driller from Deep Rock

[@Soul_Tomato]

@@TrajGreekFire ROCK AND STONNNNNNNEEEEEE

[@wildworld1643]

Hi Traj it's Icy. You should play this mod Traj.

[@ShadowKingDrakkon]

My last one and current playthrough created own character replaced the hillman with a black numenorian and colonized all the way up to and rebuilt angmar having a lot of fun with you get some cool custom decisions doing that also and can make empire of the iron crown

[@dominus1444]

I cannot believe you said playing as the King of Bellakar would be boring. That is absolutely my favorite playthrough by a long shot.

[@jefferyhanderson7849]

I have a dream…. That one day I will be able to play tall as a united Hobbit nation.

[@thesmilyguyguy9799]

:+ D

[@Soul_Tomato]

@@thesmilyguyguy9799 smily, good to see you

[@thesmilyguyguy9799]

@@Soul_Tomato M D