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CK2 Dev Diary #33: Let's Talk About Sects

Hi everyone!

It’s time to spill the beans on some actual content in the upcoming expansion Monks and Mystics, which we announced last Friday at our Fan Gathering (I hope all the good folks who showed up had a fun time - I sure did!)

The genesis for this expansion came about a long time ago, when I started thinking about secret societies and conspiracies and wrote it down as one of several outlines for a couple of “mini-expansions”. Now, for various reasons we never went ahead with that expansion model and most of the ideas have, by now, been used in bigger expansions. However, the concept of fraternities stuck and the time is now auspicious!

The core feature of Monks and Mystics is something we simply call “Societies”. Societies are groups of like-minded characters who are working together for personal and mutual profit. Some Societies are perfectly legit (that’s the “Monks” part in Monks and Mystics); others are perhaps viewed with some suspicion (e.g. Alchemists) but are hardly criminal. Finally, there is the subversive kind, of which the Demon Worshippers are certainly the worst. (Such shadowy and outright evil cults can be actively combated through a new job that can be given to the Court Chaplain.)

The basic loop goes like this; you put out word that you’d like to join a specific Society. After a while (immediately, for open Societies), you will be approached and offered membership as a novice. At this lowest rank, you usually don’t get many new abilities (but if the Society is secret you can now at least see the leader and the other members.) Now and then, you will be given missions that will further the goals of the Society. If you complete them, it will give you more power within the Society, which should eventually allow you to “level up” in Rank. The new Rank will give you access to at least one new special ability. Using these abilities (they are basically just a special type of Decision) can also increase your power within the Society, and so it goes, all the way up to being the leader of the whole Society.

benedictine_mission.png


Of course, members of the same Society tend to like each other, and will sometimes (depending on the nature of the Society) even be obedient towards members of higher rank; or at least not hostile. This creates a whole new way of discouraging factions and pave the way for loyal vassals (or even a loyal Pope!)

That’s all for now. In a later dev diary I will go through the actual Societies and talk about their particular powers and abilities...

Be sure to check out the funny teaser trailer for Monks and Mystics, and remember the Livestreams later today, where Emil and Steven’s quest for the best German cookie continues, followed by the Norman adventures of Chris, David and yours truly!

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Maphibo said:
You're not alone in this.

I was hoping for a more religious and less fantastical DLC. Fleshing out the heresies more, giving more power and influence to the Pope and the Cardinals, maybe even a real parallel hierarchy for the Church.

The only feature I really like in this DLC is the arrival of the monastic orders. Given the importance of the monastic life in the time period of the game, this was long overdue.
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I agree. I had, for years, been seeking non-military monastic orders. I have not once sought or reveled in these supernatural event chains and would much rather CK2 actually include a wider representation of medieval political society. It'd be a shame if the game was no longer being developed and it's filled with fantastical stuff while not having Dominicans or Benedictines.
 
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Red-XIII said:
There are numerous eye witness reports and documents relating to events not explainable within the bounds of modern materialism. There's not a single documented case of monkey evolving into a human.
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I would love to discuss this here, but refuting creationists is not a job for the CK2 forum. I've sent you a private message.
 
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Knotz said:
I'd like to echo this, P'dox has a habit of making the primary point of their DLC a liiitle too common/OP so it'd be nice if membership in these societies wasn't hugely common. Specially the fringier ones like Satanism.
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My motto is, "if it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing" . . . Maybe paradox is the same?
 
Red-XIII said:
Is someone suggesting it doesn't?



Seriously, the self-entitlement of modern materialism knows no bounds.

There are numerous eye witness reports and documents relating to events not explainable within the bounds of modern materialism. There's not a single documented case of monkey evolving into a human.

I'm not going to make fun of other people's ridiculous believes (such as big bang theory), but I'd appreciate it if they would get off from their high horses and took a good self criticizing look at their own provability before making claims about what does and doesn't exist.


+1
While, to the best of my knowledge, it considered to be the same deal under a different name by religion IRL, we're thankfully not dealing with RL here. If there's to be supernatural in CK I'd rather see it sidestepping as far away from the religious god vs devil vector as possible.

All that said, I get the feeling that PI is stepping away from it's own established method of madness.
The way I've seen it - PI's been allowing 3 types of content in.
1) Historical bases. Such as starting conditions on maps or time-related singled-out events like the Viking age.
2) Logic-governed mechanics adapted to history alterations. Such as dejure drift, creation of custom empires, formation of trade republics, religious conversions etc.
3) Outright wonky content with no pretence of not being wonky from the outset. Such as sunset invasion.

Thing is - I'm worried about the number 2 part of this DLC. It'd be pretty weird to see every single character on the map somehow involved with some kind of society. People, especially rulers, have other things to do beside polishing membership cards and enjoying extracurricular activities. This needs some sort of mechanic in place to ensure that more elusive societies stay elusive and that the less elusive ones don't become all-inclusive.

Granted, no secret society would be a complete representation of the modern theoretically stereotypical and stereotypically theoretical conspiracy without at least some hands in some jars, but that doesn't mean that every jar has an excuse to have an eye drawn on it.
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Attempting to troll like that again will likely result in a ban, or worse.

The arm of the lord will come crashing down on you.
 
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I liked the supernatural events, and I want them in my game.
The ones who dont can simply not buy this DLC, because I WANT SUPERNATURAL EVENTS, and think they are fun.
 
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Fofotron said:
Belief in evolution is ridiculous
I will never accept it, and proudly teach my children that it is wrong.
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I've sent you a message too. See if you are more talkative than the first one, who hasn't responded yet.
 
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Does this mean that the shia are finally going to get some flavour?
 
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I think that a lot of people are missing the hidden point - since PDX introduced the "Supernatural Events" game option it is entirely possible that the new DLC will have tons of new content for mystics, secret societies, witchcraft and the like, but with half of the content hidden or only appearing if supernatural events is enabled.

Think about it - if you are designing an event or decision from the ground up with the new switch in mind then it is entirely possible to have an event like the following -

A woman has been brought to you accused of witchcraft.

a) Let her go, the peasants are obviously mistaken (Increase Revolt Risk, add Lowborn Courtier with Learning trait to your court etc)
b) Burn her at the stake (Peasants are happy, receive Piety and maybe gold reward)

If Supernatural Events are enabled then the following outcomes will/may also occur

a) (Possible introduction to Witches coven, opportunities to learn ancient lore etc)
b) (The witch curses you, leading to interesting event chains)
 
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Well, looks like this will be another DLC based on a Hollywoodized version of history. *sigh* At least modders will be able to do some good with it.
 
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Afinati said:
I agree. I had, for years, been seeking non-military monastic orders. I have not once sought or reveled in these supernatural event chains and would much rather CK2 actually include a wider representation of medieval political society. It'd be a shame if the game was no longer being developed and it's filled with fantastical stuff while not having Dominicans or Benedictines.
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Not only Dominicans and Benedictines, they could also have humanist societies. Humanist societies did exist before classical writings finally became accepted by the Catholic Church. Albeit they were rare. In the 11th century, there was a humanist society among the nobility in northern France, for example.
 
doktor_zaius said:
Definitely agree. I do like that sorcery has been added. Wether someone believes in it or not, the people at the time took it very seriously.
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Not really. Witchhunts were banned by the Catholic Church thoughout most of the Middle-Ages. They didn't become popular until the mid 15th century--right about the time CK2's timeline ends.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt#Christianisation_and_Early_Middle_Ages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch...ng_of_the_witch_hunts_during_the_15th_century
 
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