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Tinto Flavour #2 - 17th of January 2025 - Florence

Hello, and welcome for the second week to Tinto Flavour, the new series in which we will show the flavour content of the latest super secret Project Caesar!

Today we will be taking a look at Florence! I hope you get visually stunned by what you see, but not a rapid heartbeat, fainting, confusion, or hallucinations, as it happened to Stendhal when he visited the city in 1817. So, let’s start!



The Florentine domain stands strong at the cusp of a new age! Our republic has stood the test of time and is located in a prime position to take advantage of our region's prosperity and affluence. Around us, rivaling states and potential allies all make their moves in a bid to influence and expand their territory in Italy. \n\nHowever, few are as well known for their aptitude in arts and cultural influence as our forums of thought in Florence. Under the guidance of a capable administration and an educated people, the coming century will elevate our people and have us shine brightly as pioneering innovators during a time of great enlightening.

Country Selection.png

As usual, please consider the UI, 2D and 3D art as WIP.

We have two elements here that appear in the Country Selection screen, AKA the Lobby. The first is the flavour immersion text that countries with unique content have. They have dynamic localization keys, which are the two words in bold that appear in the text, and which while hovered, allow to check a game concept. The second is a screenshot of the country name, flag, ruler, and the three main elements that define the country - Government Type (Republic), Country Type (Settled Country), and Country Rank (County). The courtroom illustration is the generic one for European countries, but it can potentially be unique.

Let’s jump into the country itself...
Florence.png

Tuscany is a lovely place, isn’t it?

The Republic of Florence is a Signoria, which is a unique, major Government Reform for Italian countries:
Signoria.png
Signoria Description.png

This reform unlocks a Succession Law, the Elective Potestate:
Elective Potestate.png

Florence also has a unique Estate Privilege for its ‘Senate’ (the flavour name of ‘Nobility’ for Republics, the ‘Signoria Council’:
Signoria Council.png

And a unique Estate Privilege for the Burghers, ‘Florence Guilds’:
Florence Guilds.png

This unlocks a unique Socioeconomic Law, the ‘Primacy of Florentine Guilds’, in which you can pick one of three different policies to embrace, promoting one of the three different types of Guilds:
Primacy of Florentine Guilds.png

Primacy of Florentine Guilds 2.png

Florence has another unique policy for the Legal Code Law, which is the 'Consiglio Maggiore':
Consiglio Maggiore.png

Florence also has unique advances, 13 in total, spread among the different Ages, of which I’m going to show a few selected ones:
Arte della Lana.png

Fiorino d'Oro.png

Florentine City Militia.png

Uffizi.png

You might notice that 3 of them have unique icons/illustrations, while the one for the Florentine Citizen Militia still uses a generic one.

Speaking of the Florentine Citizen Militia, it unlocks a unique type of Army Levy Unit:
Florentine City Militia 2.png

Florentine City Militia 3.png

And the Uffizi unlock a unique building:
Uffizi 2.png



All that I’ve shown you so far is what we internally consider ‘structural content’, that is, the type of content that would show up and could be (mostly) checked when starting a new game and digging and hovering over the different panels in the game. Let’s now start with the ‘narrative content’, the one that appears dynamically as you play the game. Oh, and one comment: although we usually have a minimum amount of 'structural content' and 'narrative content' for each country with unique flavour, it's widely diverse, so some countries have more 'structural ones' than others that have more 'narrative content', and vice versa, with others having a balanced amount of each type.

Florence can suffer two disasters during the game, an outlier in the game. You may see that they have some associated effects as long as they’re active, and that they also have associated events that may also trigger (8 for the Ciompi, 13 for Savonarola). Here you have the first one, the 'Ciompi Revolt':
Ciompi Revolt.png

Ciompi Revolt.png

And here the second one, 'The Rise of Savonarola':
Savonarola 1.png

Savonarola 2.png

Savonarola 3.png

Savonarola 4.png

The background illustration is the generic one, but it will receive a unique one. Oh, also, inviting Savonarola to Florence might not be a wise decision…

Besides disasters, there are a bunch of interesting flavour DHEs (‘dynamic historical events’) that can happen to Florence, of which I’m going to show you a selection.

The first is the creation of the Medici bank, in the form of a Building Based Country, ruled by a member of the Medici family, of course:
Medici Bank.png

If you select the first option, you will continue playing as Florence, while the second makes you to continue playing as the Bank of Medici! This is not a common type of content, at all, but a very special one, worth showing.

The event creates a building in the location of Florence, a Bank, and also an independent BBC, the Bank of Medici:
Bank.png

Bank of Medici.png

Two more banking countries are starting in Florence in 1337, the Banks of Peruzzi and Bardi:
Peruzzi, Bardi, Medici.png

It also showcases the Medici, after triggering the event.

There are more events related to the Medici's rise of power in Florence, but let me not reveal all the interesting content today, so let’s continue with other events…

An interesting historical character in Florence’s 14th century is Sir John Hawkwood, an infamous condottiere:
John Hawkwood.png

If you decide to hire him, you will be able to hire a unique mercenary company, the ‘White Company’, led by Hawkwood as general:
White Company.png

We also have some famous artists from the Florentine Renaissance, such as:
Leonardo Bruni.png

Da Vinci.png

Donatello.png

Do we have here two of the Ninja Turtles, maybe?

But besides characters, you also have events that may be related to buildings, such as the construction of the Duomo of Florence, that may end up with a unique Work of Art:
Event Florence Cathedral.png

Duomo.png



… And much more Florence-related content, as there are dozens of unique flavour events! But I think that this is enough showcase for today, as we don’t want to spoil the fun of starting a game for the first time! Next week we will be taking a look at the unique flavour content for Novgorod, cheers!
 

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Why then define a rank for democracies? Then only monarchies and theocracies should have a rank. Democracies should only have a status that can change depending on the way they are governed.
Because the devs thought it was a great idea to have a generic "rank" system and apply it the same way to every country in the world no matter governance or religion or culture or anything else, and to model it off of French peerage minus marquis.

Especially funny given that pretty much only Europe has a notion of "peerage" like it does, with multiple different ranks of subservience. Other places either have a single universal "subservient" rank, or the ranks aren't fundamentally different but are used to describe difference in culture and ruling nature (in the Ilkhanate, for instance, there's a difference between "amir" and "malik", but only with regards to the type of governance they hold: amirs were some variety of semi-nomadic, non-Persian governor, while maliks were sedentary and Persian) rather than any sort of "hierarchy".

Like, it's Europe that's obsessed with hierarchy and precedence, and uniquely so throughout this whole period. There's another thread floating around where there was a notion in Europe to try to create a precedence of states in Europe. Europe in this era is obsessed with hierarchies.
 
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I think this description messes up Signoria with commune. The commune is actually an urban oligarchic republic instead of signoria, signoria is more of "one-party" version of it where power is controlled by one faction or family and translates to English like a "lordship". The reason for rise of signorias over communes in 13-14th Italy is lack of political stability inside communes. While the Signoria Council of Florence (and other councils in communes) had the same name, it was kinda two different things.
 
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Hello Tinto Team,

Savonarola, as a historical figure, was seen as a great source of inspiration on both sides of the Reformation. For instance, Philip Neri, the founder of the Oratorians and an important figure in the Counter-Reformation, who was later canonized as a Catholic saint, “often read the writings of Savonarola, especially The Triumph of the Cross, and…used them for the instruction of his spiritual children.” 1. In contrast, Martin Luther, in a 1523 re-publishing on Savonarola’s own Fifty-first Psalm, wrote of Savonarola in a preface, that "though the feet of this holy man are still soiled by theological mud, he nevertheless upheld justification by faith only without works, and therefore he was burned by the Pope. But he lives in blessed-ness, and Christ canonizes him by our means, even though Pope and Papists burst with rage." 2.

These two perspectives illustrate the enormous shadow that Savonarola’s actions cast over the Reformation as a whole.

With this in mind, should Savonarola’s Florentine theocratic republic (or even Savonarola himself) survive until the in-game Reformation, will there be any planned flavor regarding how it can respond to the Reformation?


[1.] Life of St. Philip Neri, translated by Thomas Alder Pope, vol. i., p. 278.
[2.] Creighton, M., A History of the Papacy, Vol III, 246-247.
 
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By 1337 it was fully annexed by Florence
In 1337 the Signoria of Arezzo was ceded to Florence who put the Guelphs in charge. However the city quickly regained its independence as Florentine power declined. Due to being very recently ceded (you can just as well make an argument that it should start as independent as we don't know an exact date) and the nature of how it was ceded, having the Signoria sold, I don't think its unreasonable to have Arezzo as a vassal rather than a fully annexed territory.
 
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I don't really have a frame of reference for things like unique military units or unique buildings because a lot of the time we haven't seen the generic version. Could we get a reference thread for tinto content that has all the generic versions of a bunch of things in it?
 
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Does Florence get any benefit from having all these bank BBCs in it or us it not really something the player will care about?
The Bank building increases the location's (or maybe even the whole country's, the tooltip isn't really clear) tax base by 5%. If that's true for all branches, a kind of Pokemon attitude where you'd want them all seems preferable, especially if that 5% modifier is country wide.
 
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The Bank building increases the location's (or maybe even the whole country's, the tooltip isn't really clear) tax base by 5%. If that's true for all branches, a kind of Pokemon attitude where you'd want them all seems preferable, especially if that 5% modifier is country wide.
Ah, that 5% is for the owner of the location, not the owner of the building. Yeah that’s a solid bonus.
 
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Honestly even though this is nice, it would be quite underwhelming in amount of content if there are no mission trees in the end.
Why? Because all countries will have the same gameplay loop no matter how different they are ie. increase crown power, defeat the estates, and conquer stuff.
Being reminded what famous person was from Florence through a few events is not enough to keep me immersed.
Though I commend the bonfire of the vanities and the ciompi rebellion, that is good stuff indeed.
I like the banking "countries" though I wouldn't consider them as unique flavour as they are tags of their own and I am looking forward to playing the Medici's.
 
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Stuff that seems new: cost of replacing cabinet member and expected cost of court. The first is stability I guess, while the second is a minimum amount of court expenses you need to have in order to not lose legitimacy and/or prestige?

Also, minor nitpick, in the case of John Hawkwood, if he's a 14th century historical character, he could hardly be from Great Britain.
Great Britain is an island, and people have lived there for a very long time

Edit: "Respectfully disagree" as much as you like, it doesn't change the fact that it's true
 
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Great Britain is an island, and people have lived there for a very long time
And with everything else, context is king. Can you honestly tell me that when you first read that description you thought of the island and not the country? I'd wager most people wouldn't, hence I raised the subject, and even with Pavía's explanation about how that description is crafted and what it refers to I think it isn't the best, since it has to potential to leave people confused.
 
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Oh, another question. Are the unique to a country/region/religion advances ever locked behind going one of military/diplomacy/administration or are they always available for a nation if it could get it?
 
I like the content.

However in this screenshot I'm not sure what greater than 30 spiritualist vs humanist means? Humanist/Spiritualist is a spectrum. If Humanist is a number between 0 and 100 and Spiritist is a number between -100 and 0, I'm not sure if that text means your score must be >-30 or >+30.

1737156555368.png
 
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