Which nation to choose?
Of the pre-made characters, Bjorn Ironside, who starts as the Duke of Upland and forms the kingdom of Sweden, has the easiest start in the game. He starts out with very good diplomacy stats so all his early vassals have a high opinion of him and can take advantage of that diplomacy to expand very quickly and then form the Kingdom of Sweden. Also very easy with bribes and gifts then can absorb all Denmark and Norway. You descend the middle tree of diplomacy to benefit the real ruler.
It’s entirely possible to build a Scandinavian Empire in 1 life time with him using this strategy and he has good stats across the board.
Another very easy starter is Rourke, the Norse ruler of Gardaiaki. He starts the gate with all the conditions to form the Kingdom of Novgorod, really good stats, a decent heir and a really good wife with inherited traits and Bjorn Ironside if you need a strong alliance. The ability to use it to collude (which you shouldn’t).
That said if you want to learn and are ready to start something more challenging. My advice would be to start as Duke of Prussia or Smogtica and try to build either a Kingdom of Lithuania or Livonia (with the decision of Terra Mariana).
The reason I suggest this is because Lithuania with Baltic Pagans is probably the best place to learn the basics of the game without too much difficulty while still having all the basic mechanics to explore.
You’ll have vassals to manage, but as long as you’re careful they shouldn’t be a problem, neither Lithuania or Livonia are huge as empires move a lot, as long as you keep the vassals in line. Take necessary steps to and be cautious in expansion. They are easy to make and hold.
Their home religion of Vidalism also has sanctuaries that are either already in your kingdom’s territory or very close, allowing you to pursue advancements and technology so that you can reform your religion and Then become feudal lords from the land.
Both Lithuania and Livonia are by no means weak as states once you start snowballing them, and once you’ve created them, it’s relatively easy to expand outwards to form a southern Baltic empire. It is a relatively small kingdom in a region that can be easily conquered. Tribal Counts and Dukes.
Livonia is the harder of the two to build but is definitely the stronger one as the special decision to build it gives you viking longships allowing you to raid as effectively as the vikings from your fiefdoms. First is a huge boost to your wealth early game.
That said, Lithuania is easy while still nothing to sneeze at. He has very good land for building revenue and military buildings. Sanctuaries, while not the best in the game, are pretty good.
You’ll have to deal with raiding and raiding Narsimians and slave neighbors nipping at your heels, but both are great for learning how to protect your realm and bringing them to heel after your game. is an excellent goal for
It won’t be as easy as say Bjorn or Rurik as both are Norse and are in a very good position at the start of being the strongest culture in the game right now.
But Lithuania has great growth potential and is perfect for experimenting and learning the game without too many barriers to prevent you from building a feudal lord or empire.