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I'm finally done with my Cultural map rework, it only took me 10 hours of work! It's as perfect as I can make it, but there's still some ambiguity in some areas, so I'll add a disclaimer if I think something is in any way ambiguous. I've also made this map without changing any locations, terrain, or any other map because that's a whole 'nother can of worms. Also, I've added the original map to the bottom of this post, so make sure to check it for comparison. So without further a due, let's get into the changes:
The first change is completely changing the position of Mari culture, in the original map all of the western Mari lands were made Muscovite, while huge Mari exclaves existed further east. That setup is anachronistic, as the Eastern Mari pockets only arose in 1552 when the the Mari were conquered by the Russians, with many fleeing east to avoid forced christinisation. So I've moved the Mari back to their homeland, although there should be an event where after a Russian conquest many Mari will flee east.
The next change is the Chuvash, who were hugely underrepresented originally, the Chuvash are descended from the Volga Bulgars, specifically the ones that didn't convert to Islam; they also speak an Oghuric language, which is mutually unintelligible with Kazani. Even today Chuvash make up the vast majority in Chuvashia and having several isolated pockets throughout the Volga region. As a final note on the Chuvash, in the original map they were only present as a minority in several locations, however those locations don't actually have any significant Chuvash population and never did, so I don't know why they had Chuvash minorities.
The next change is that I've overhauled the entire Komi-Udmurt border, originally the Komi made up the majority in the Vyatska region, despite the region being majority majority Udmurt until it was Rusified. I've also made Komi the majority in Perm and the lands to the east of it, as it was majority Komi and was never Udmurt to begin with. I based the border mostly on these maps
Komi Map Great Perm Map.
Next up we have the Erzya, who are a Mordvin people who were only present in their eastern pocket in the original map, despite most Erzya living in Mordvinia to the west. I've also expanded them outside of Mordvinia slightly as those lands were not Rusified yet, including that little pocket to the south. I've also shifted the eastern pocket to the west by making the border the border follow the Reka river for the most part, as the Erzya lived west of that river.
The Moksha are the other extant Mordvin people, living in the regions described by these maps
2010 Census map Mordvin Language Map, also yes I checked the older censuses and other records and the Moksha have mostly stayed the same for as long as I can tell. They also have a minority pocket in the Kazani lands, which was present in the original map, nut it was the only Moksha location for some reason, it was also one location off, so I've shifted it to where it should be.
Then we have the Meschera, who may have been a Permic people or a Mordvin people, their language is poorly attested but their settlements aren't. They used to be the majority of the population in much of Ryazan oblast, however after the Mongol invasion their numbers significantly declined and they were forced into the swamps north of the Oka river, until they were eventually Rusified in a slow process over the next few centuries.
Next up are the Vepsians also known as just the Veps; who were only present in their modern majority areas in the original map, just shifted slightly to the east. But as it turns out the Veps used to be the majority along almost the entire coast of Onega, except for the north coast, which was mostly Karelian. I've also kept them as a minority in Belozeero as they would remain a large minority there before migrating south to Tver.
As for the Bashkir, they haven't had that many changes, I expanded them into some former Mari lands roughly along the modern border with the Tatars, I couldn't find any sources earlier than the first Russian census, in which the Tatar-Bashkir divide is roughly the same as it is today.
I've also added the Ungri, also spelt as Ungari, who were a Magyar people never migrated into the Pannonian basin, it's a misconception that the early Magyars were a homogonous group, with them being comprised of many different tribes, some of them Ungri, some Bashkir, some Khazar rebels, the Pannonian Avars and some Mari and Mordvin migrants as well. But the most important set of tribes were the Ungri tribes, who led the Mogyer confederation and were the tribe to speak the main descendent of the Magyar language. With all of this being said, there is a bit of ambiguity as to when the Ungri culture went extinct, because supposedly it went extinct in the 14th century, but I couldn't find anything more specific. So I've depicted them as being the minority in their homelands, with Bashkirs making up the majority as the Ungri culture went extinct when they integrated into Bashkir culture, which started around the 10th century and ended with them being fully integrated by the 14th century.
Which means that at game start the Ungri culture is almost extinct at game start, so I'm also proposing an achievement for the Ungri culture (yes I know that you haven't made the achievements yet). You see in CK3 there is an achievment called "Álmos There", which involves conquering Hungary and converting to Christianity as Álmos. So for PC I thing there should be an "Álmos There Again" achievement, where as an Ungrian tag you have to conquer all of Hungary and then convert to Christianity, in that order. Which would make this a pretty difficult achievement, but a fun one.
On a separate note I also expanded the Khanty/Mansi culture in a former Mari pocket, as it was primarily inhabited by the Khanty and Mansi peoples; who seem to be one culture in PC for now?
Lastly I've overhauled eastern Arkhangelsk oblast, as it was Vepsian in the original map and had Nenets pockets way too far south. The reason that there were Vepsians originally was that they were meant to represent the Bjarm culture, which is mostly unattested but may have been related to Vepsian. But that's not the best option as they were completely seperate cultures and it would be just as bad to have Dalmatian culture be represented by Romanian culture, just because they're related. For that reason Bjarm should be made it's own culture. I also extended the Bjarm to the sea as they were noted to also live along the coast by Nordic explorers, along with that I've moved the Nenets north, as the western Nenets only ever lived along the coast.
The Pomors were also included in this rework as I extened Pomor culture to include the Russians of Perm, as the Pomors used to be a much larger group as they were basically the "Northen Cossacks", whith them migrating east along the northern coast of Siberia and founding many cities along the rivers that flow into the Arctic sea. Also Arkhangelsk, shouldn't actually be a thing at game star, as it was founded in 1584, so the location should be renamed and a "Founding of Arkhangelsk" event should be added, similar to EU4. I also added some Sámi pops to the Bjarmian coast, as Sámi graves were found along the coast there.
Edit: The Arkhangelsk rework is quite ambiguous, as there's hardly any sources and loads of the evidence comes from a select few archeological sites. I just forgot to say that originally, edit over.
And that will be all, I spent a long time on this map and I really hope it helps shape the region in PC, but it's not perfect and if anyone finds something wrong with the map, please tell me. Also here's the old map for comparison.
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