Starting M2TW tonight... who should i play first? In my quest to play through all the TW games before Rome II comes out i'm starting Medieval 2 tonight.  Who's campaign should it start with?

Bare in mind i've never played M2TW before, although i've seen a few lets plays.  I'd like an interesting faction, but not nessesarily one that'll lead me to be clobbered within the first couple turns (pretty sure that rules out HRE?)