Specifically the transition from Nuugdan Tsarai into Guwaamud. I've been playing a Nuugdan Tsarai campaign which thus far I've absolutely loved; the first 40/50 years or so have been the most fun I've had in the early game, honestly maybe ever. It's very story oriented, the unique events are all enthralling, I'm in love with the vassal mechanics/missions, and the combat with the republics and resisting against the command is great fun. And the faceless queen. Hoo boy; one of my favorites, of that I'm certain.

And then Guwaamud happens. And it's...weird. And I'm gonna try my best to explain why it felt so weird to me without sounding like I'm just complaining lol.

You can only form it after the faceless queen dies; it's specifically formable only after you lose her lifetime modifier. And you form Guwaamud, and suddenly you're not doing any of what you were doing anymore; Guwaamud says you're doing something else now, and most of that something else is a harem...? Which don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with a good ol' fashioned harem, but the focus on it in reforms and traditions seems very strange SPECIFICALLY for the fact that you're coming out of Nuugdan Tsarai, which has already done an immense amount of flavor and story building for something that this doesn't feel related to at all. None of the new tag feels related, honestly. You're no longer a horde, you lose most of your steppe flavor, you can no longer recruit female generals. And that last point seems ESPECIALLY weird to me considering what I've just been doing for the past 30 years, that being uniting the tribes, conquering neighbors, making deals with other cultures, and fighting off the command as the very female faceless queen. Who, when she dies, ascends into literal godhood as the entire country mourns. You have a permanent added deity, specifically for female rulers. I'd assumed switching to Guwaamud was the 'next step' so to speak since it unlocks after she dies, but it feels like it's asking me to forget about who I've been playing up until now.

Guwaamud itself seems fine. The harem mechanic is legitimately interesting, and I don't expect every country to allow female generals. Again, it just felt like a little odd specifically in the context of it going from "I am a fabled goddess warrior queen of a mighty steppe hoard", to "I'm a pretty simple kingdom with a harem. What? No, women can't fight, that'd be crazy" in about 3 in game days. It's so vastly different in a way I'm not used to when changing into a formable. I'm aware Daxugo is largely ABOUT transitioning away from the steppe horde culture and reforming into something else, but haven't I kind've done all that day 1 after forming Guwaamud? What's really the point if after the click of a button, I'm already something completely different in pretty much every way? The faceless queen's death events feel like the opening something bigger for your people, and then when you turn into Guwaamud, it's like a "well. nevermind". It doesn't feel 'led into' at all; like it should've been formed by a different country, all the changes are so massive and abrupt, largely to the detriment of what it's been getting you invested in prior.

I am completely open to the idea that I'm missing something, or taking a branching path I didn't mean to tread onto, but it seemed like the natural progression until it didn't. Do you get the ability to recruit female generals back? Does Daxugo bring back some of the tribe's old history, or does it brush it off after all that wonderful build up in the early game? Should I have formed Daxugo directly from Nuugdan Tsarai instead of taking the country shift into Guwaamud?

Thanks for reading; it was just a very "Wait. What? Why?" moment that I've not really had in this game before, and I don't really know how the rest of the campaign goes on account of not having played it yet. Really don't want to sound like I'm not enjoying the game; again, this campaign thus far has been one of my favorites if not my #1 in all the game as a whole. This bit just felt odd enough wilst playing that I kinda wanted to know what y'all think/if anybody who actually knows what happens later in the campaign could weigh in.

Edit: Forgive what's probably quite a bit of rambling please btw. It's 5am and I'm just trying to get the gist down :'D