Islam (M2TW Religion)

Overview

Islam is one of the three major religions in Medieval 2: Total War. The Islamic factions (the Moors, Turks, and Egyptians) can start Jihads against Catholic, Orthodox or Rebel provinces.

Gameplay

The factions which have Islam as their faith will have several different gameplay options available to them. Most notable however is that the Pope has no authority over Muslim factions, so Papal missions and threats of excommunication are no longer present. Crusades are not available for Muslim factions to initiate, though players may find their cities designated crusade targets by Catholic factions. Muslim players do have the option to initiate a Jihad against enemy cities, which in terms of gameplay is much the same as a Catholic Crusade option. This is done through an Imam with a piety of at least four.

Islamic factions also have access to the Hashashim from Assassins Guilds, and have certain Religious Mercenaries available to them. Thier buildings also spread their religion faster than Catholic Churches, although they do not provide a Health bonus, unlike the higher level Catholic buildings.

Diplomatically Muslim factions can have an antagonistic relationship with the other religions. They are able to call Jihad on all religions. Catholics for their part can also call Crusades on Muslim factions, leading to inevitable conflict as both sides declare a religious war on each other. For this reason it is difficult for a Muslim faction and a Catholic to have a long term alliance; those two religions tend to be more hostile to each other than any others. Muslim players can however decline to call or ignore Jihads called on Orthodox and Pagan factions if they want a more cooperative relationship with those factions.