Crusader Kings II challenges players to fork the timeline
ForkKnife: Battle Royale
Yesterday, things got a little weird for fans of historical sandbox Crusader Kings II, as a screenshot of the game used in a Bosnian newspaper led to a flurry of interest in the history of forks, of all things. CKII fans confirmed that the newspaper's article on the history of the now-ubiquitous cutlery was inaccurate, and it didn't actually originate with an obscure Venetian Doge's wife.
Today, Paradox threw down the gauntlet and asked players to engage in a little tine travel. Players have been challenged to take control of Doge Domenico III of Venice and correct the history books by conquering the world in the name of forks, and claim a community achievement named "This fork of mine".
It's all very silly and perfectly in keeping with Crusader Kings II as a whole. You'd think that a game dedicated to simulating medieval politics on a massive scale would make for a dry and unengaging experience, but the end result is more like The Sims but with more sex, death, chaos and the occasional bear dressed as a man. You can step into the shoes of any historical figure you can find on the map and lead them to alter the history books however you please, meaning that gimmicky playthroughs are a key part of the experience.
In order to do your part for Fork-kind, you'll need to start a game on April 1st (of course), 1081 as the Serene Doge Domenico III of Venice, with the aim of spreading spiked cutlery far and wide, by diplomacy, guile or force - after all, your strategy should have many prongs. While optional, Paradox also suggest that those with the Customization Pack DLC rename Venice 'The Fork Republic', which sill surely lead to some spectacular screenshots as this empire spreads to all points across the globe.
As an aside, it just occurs to me that Crusader Kings II is the only place where Doge memes are still cool.
Crusader Kings II is currently 75% discounted on Steam, with most of its (enormous amount of) DLC being half price at present.