Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham announced

Paradox Development Studio has just announced the fifth expansion for Crusader Kings II : Sons of Abraham. Two long-requested features, playable Jewish characters and the ability to interact with the Catholic college of cardinals, will make their way into the medieval murder your brother and steal his stuff simulator. The ability to part the seas and march your armies through has yet to be confirmed, but quite a bit else has.

The focus of this expansion, contrasting the previous Old Gods DLC , is on the Abrahamic monotheistic faiths, with special attention paid to Christian, Muslim, and Jewish characters. Catholicism will now operate under a college of cardinals. Nine cardinals will be active at any one time, appointed by the Pope. You will be able to affect this process by grooming your courtiers for a church career, keeping on good terms with the Pope, and putting money into a campaign fund.

When the Pope dies, the active cardinals will elect a new one. If your Pope is elected, you will gain powerful abilities such as the ability to be granted a crusade on a target of your choice. Controlling several cardinals not only increases your chances of having one of your candidates elected Pope, but also makes it almost impossible for you to be excommunicated.

Holy Orders are also receiving an overhaul, with several new ones added such as the Christian Knights of Santiago and the Zoroastrian Immortals. You will now have the option of disposing of a troublesome son in the line of succession by sending them off to one of these orders, where they have a chance of being elected Grandmaster. Militaristic and pious characters may go to join the orders on their own.

Heresies are being overhauled as well, with unique mechanics, heads of religion, and the ability to replace the orthodox faith they broke off from if they come to outnumber it. One example given was the Cathar heresy of Catholicism, which allows the appointment of female priests. Muslim splinter groups will now have the ability to form their own Caliphates.

Speaking of Muslims, a new divide will be introduced over the course of the game in the form of the Mutazili and Ashari theological schools for Sunni characters. The former will focus on scientific progress, while the latter is more concerned with piety and divine law. Choosing a side will put you at odds with Sunni leaders following the opposite school.

The Jewish religion will be represented by the Khazar Khanate in the 867 start date, where the nobility historically converted to Judaism. It will not be possible to start as a Jewish leader in the other start dates, but Jewish characters will now appear in various courts, and it will be possible to educate your heirs with a Jewish tutor to convert your realm. New Jewish decisions will mainly revolve around the reclamation and restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. You will also have the opportunity to restore the Jewish High Priesthood.

This all comes on the back of the massive 2.0 patch, and what the devs are calling "Phase Two" of the CK2 expansion cycle. The patch will include over 300 new events (some of which will require the Sons of Abraham DLC), cloud saving, Ironman mode, and over 50 Steam achievements. You can read a bit more in the first dev diary .

And of course, this is a CK2 expansion, and you're reading PC Gamer. So expect a gigantic Q&A with Paradox in the near future.

Contributor

Len Hafer is a freelancer and lifelong PC gamer with a specialty in strategy, RPGs, horror, and survival games. A chance encounter with Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness changed her life forever. Today, her favorites include the grand strategy games from Paradox Interactive like Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis, and thought-provoking, story-rich RPGs like Persona 5 and Disco Elysium. She also loves history, hiking in the mountains of Colorado, and heavy metal music.

Latest in Strategy
Tzarina Katarin Bokha, the Ice Queen of Kislev
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
Civilization 7 Great Britain - Modern Civ art (via YouTube)
As Civilization 7 struggles to keep up with Civ 5 player counts, a new patch is coming tomorrow with still more UI changes and gameplay tweaks
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
King wielding his axe against would-be assassins in Norland.
Medieval colony sim Norland is getting a 'damn big update' that completely overhauls the game's mechanics: 'We're rolling out some radical changes to the core gameplay'
Age of Empires 2
Former Age of Empires 2 dev claims Microsoft demanded its first expansion should have a Korean faction, because 'StarCraft sold 3 million copies in Korea'
Endless Legend 2 Kin faction reveal
It's turtle time: Endless Legend 2's first faction is the fortification-loving Kin of Sheredyn
Latest in News
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'