Mahra Military Coup
New player here. I got the game about 2 weeks ago, and because I'm stubborn, I wanted to play the lowest rank country and make it a power. For all obvious reasons I was having a difficult time getting anything going, rarely making it past 1840 before I decided I would need a new approach and restarting the run.
Long story short Mahra starts with 150 total aristocrats/clergy and 9.5k peasants. Passing tenant farmers would fill up the servicemen roles quickly, but I would get ~8 officers from my potential pool of 150 before they would stop hiring. Mahra only has 4 arable land, so I figured I would try to fill it all of with state owned farms and ranches. Giving the nobles 3 choices. Get a job, starve, or become an officer.
Turns out having no available arable land completely decimated their wealth. Manor houses aren't even in the buildings tab anymore. I might just pass a bunch of progressive laws before I even go conquer anything since it looks like I can do whatever I want.