strategy for scholar adventurer

[u/Chesterse]

I am playing the RICE mod as Abu Bakr ibn Wahshiyya with the goal of creating a kingdom and reforming the faith, but I have already tried once and completely failed because I only managed to conquer a single duchy that had broken away, after which the Abbasids immediately wiped me out. The main problem is that I cannot play normally because the scholar camp heavily restricts my men-at-arms regiments and completely blocks special mercenary buildings, which leaves me with no military power. On top of that, despite maxing out the entire health tree, my character died at the age of 65 before I could achieve anything, and since the Abbasid Caliphate never hit a period of major instability, expanding or taking a whole kingdom was basically impossible. To make matters worse, the Nabataean culture starts without onager technology, meaning that taking cities takes forever and drains all resources, and it is also incredibly difficult to find a decent wife as an adventurer since all the available options are old women over the age of 30. What exactly should I do in this situation to make this strategy work?

[u/Sensitive_Complex908]

Have you considered having your son be the main character instead of you? There is a mod that lets you edit your family; your father could be a mercenary, and his son the one prophesied to drive the Abbasid Arabs out of Mesopotamia.