Greetings!

Today I want to bring up some minor, but still very flavorful, changes and fixes we’ve done to a few religions. Most of what I’m about to present is the courtesy of our talented and passionate betas, who suggest a lot of good improvements!

Manichean
The Manichean religion, which in-game is part of the Zoroastrian Group and mainly present on the Steppes, has been changed to be more historical and just generally more fleshed-out. For example, rulers of the Manichean faith can no longer take concubines, can now have female temple holders and get access to Reincarnation events. The religion also receives a bunch of new goodies:

• A ‘Bema’ religious festival decision
• A formable Holy Order (The Army of Light)
• A religious head with an accompanying title (The Manichean Church)

Khurmazta
The Khurmazta religion is a new heresy in the Zoroastrian group, and is mainly present in Khiva and the new Pamir areas among the Sogdian people who live there. Rulers that adhere to the Khurmazta faith can choose to embrace a Patron Deity, who all give various bonuses much like the Hindu patron deities do.

Nestorian
The Nestorian religion, which is present in parts of Arabia, India and Africa, has also been fleshed out with new details. There is now a decision to form their Holy Order (The Order of Saint Addai) and, while not strictly relating to Nestorianism, we’ve added a new culture that is primarily Nestorian - the Assyrian culture. The Assyrian culture is present in the area around Baghdad/Syria.

General
One of the main things that caused India to be very stagnant and overly resistant to invasions was the fact that they started out with very powerful Holy Orders right out the gate. We’ve reconstructed these so that you can form them under certain circumstances, and they will automatically form when India is under threat, i.e. by letting some of the major cities fall to invaders.

Also, a lot of religions have had their Holy Sites moved around. The Indian religions, Nestorianism and Manichean in particular. They’ve primarily moved into the Purang county in Tibet, to the holy mount Kailash.

 

[Mofiros2000]

My guess of new portraits that 80% will coming: tibetan, khitan, new mongolian (remake). I hope my guess is right.

I hope for south or west slavs

 

[Thaif]

Hmm, what of the Khurramites, aka Muhammira? Described as being "Zoroastrians/Manichean in Shia clothing", they defended their lands from the Abbasid Caliphate for a few decades between approximately 816–837.
They had a prophet called Hashim later known as al-Muqanna or "The Veiled"(he died around 783) and founded the religion. He was a chemist, and one of his experiments caused an explosion in which a part of his face was burnt. For the rest of his life he used a veil and got his nickname.

The heydays of the Khurramites came with Bābak Khorramdin, an Iranian freedom fighter, whose rebellion, from its base in Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran wanted a return to the glories of Iranian past. The Khorramdin rebellion of Babak spread to the Western and Central parts of Iran and lasted more than twenty years before it was defeated when Babak was betrayed, because the guy was a pretty talented commander and beat many Abbasid commanders sent to deal with the Khurramites.

Oh and yeah more flavor for Slavic, Suomenusko(which honestly should be 2 separate religions), and Romuva. There should also be a "upstanding" society(or societies) for pagans.

One thing I'd kill my meddling courtiers for would be for a ruler with the Trade Focus to be able to arrange for the Hold a Summer Fair event decision, similar to how the Hunting Focus enables the Go on a Grand Hunt event decision. It would make sense after all.

 

[CatilinamSum]

They are still a heresy

Would you guys consider changing this for balance reasons? It can be very difficult to get a Manichaean OR Zoroastrian playthrough off the ground in 769, because as two prominent heresies of the same faith, they're constantly vying for supremacy.

It'd be really, really nice if Manichaeism was its own thing. As it stands, the Mazdan religious group (next to the Jewish one, I suppose) is the only group to have only one legitimate faith.

What's more, you guys just added a new Zoroastrian heresy! Give Manichaeism some love.

 

[Kljunas]

Some sort of dynamic holy site system would be great if Paradox could implement it. Barring such a system, 1066 is the game's default start date and it is to that year that the game's systems should be most balanced.

Eh this has more to do with being railroady and out of place at early dates than unbalanced.

But yeah dynamic holy sites would be great.

 

[spendabuck]

Seeing how Jainism and Hinduism now have Kailash as a holy site, Buddhism should probably also get a holy site there; after all, Vajrayana Buddhists believe that it is home to the Buddha Demchok. They also believe that Milarepa, a champion of Vajrayana Buddhism, made battle with a champion of the Bön religion, Naro Bön-chung; neither won the battle, so they decided that whoever could reach the top of Mount Kailash first would win. Naro sat on a magic drum and floated to the top by meditating, but once he was nearly at the top, Milarepa rode the rays of the Sun to the top, winning the contest. Actually, based off of the fact that he rode the rays of the Sun, maybe the Zunists could also have Kailash as a holy site (makes more sense than Egypt)?

I'm also excited for India, which seems like it's going to become more connected to the rest of the world; invasions from foreign powers (i.e. Middle Eastern empires) are going to be easier, the Hindus and Jains (and hopefully Buddhists) have a holy site in Tibet, and there are apparently going to be Nestorian Christians in India. Out of curiosity, will anything be done with the Parsi migration (so far the only thing representing it is a single Zoroastrian province south of Gujarat from 1066 on)?

 

[DarkstarMatryx]

I love playing Zoroastrians and Zunists so its nice to see love go into any of their heresies or split offs and i look forward to the new Norastian. I really hope to see more done with the West African tribes to make playing them actually fun and capable of doing something in their tiny corner.

 

[adityakb]

Since we are on the topic of religions:

What about marriages between the Dharmic and Islamic religions? There were instances of inter-religious marriages between these two religions especially during the Mughal period. Though the CK2 timeline falls well before the Mughal period, I feel this mechanic should be supported.

 

[Orctavius]

Eh this has more to do with being railroady and out of place at early dates than unbalanced.

It doesn't matter if its railraody. The Charlemagne start date is a blobby mess and little fun to play. I’ll concede that it's also an issue the Old Gods start date, but getting 1066 right is more important. If making Kiev an Orthodox Holy Site makes sense in 1066, which it does, then Paradox should make the change.

 

[moscal]

Few random events for minor religions is possible?

 

[myrt]

Few random events for minor religions is possible?

Yes, unique events are the best form of flavour

 

[Griff Lancer]

Yeah, it was just sad that Iberia(In early start dates: I love my old gods start date, even if it's flawed) and east Africa both fall to Islam in generally every game without player intervention, which is for the most part in this timeframe unhistorical. While India which was practically put to the sword by Islamic Horse Lord's remains virtually untouched.

 

[Kapitalisti]

They are still a heresy

Damn, that's too bad. So we can still expect the Manichean faith being triumphant in most games?

 

[superninja76]

Let's restore the assyrian empire!

 

[LordLoko]

I think Manicheism should be already become a separate religion. Manicheism start strong in Uyghur regions while zoroastrism start as a dominated fringe religion, it's easy to be screwed up by a stronger manichiest faith. Not to mention that Manicheism is related to Zoroastrism as much as christianity relates to manicheism

 

[SaintxNio]

PLEASE FIX THE POPE RELATIONSHIP!!!

 

[klopkr]

Great changes but it sucks that I'll still have to see 'Manichean' triumphant every 10 years in game.

It just doesn't make sense to have a heresy that has more rulers than the true faith.

 

[BlackPrince]

They are still a heresy

And this is a reason why I lose all interest in upcoming DLC.

 

[moscal]

Great changes but it sucks that I'll still have to see 'Manichean' triumphant every 10 years in game.

For me this is bug of mechanics "heresy become mainstream". This shouldn't be based on political power and relative strength MA but possession of holy sites.

 

[moscal]

And this is a reason why I lose all interest in upcoming DLC.

I think, that upcoming DLC will have focus on military sphere. Changes for warfare can be worth.

 

[Sonmi]

I hope for south or west slavs

My guess is that South and Western Slavs will share a pack.

Other pack goes to the Berber.