[MOD] Princes of Darkness

[karde]

Baal is a devourer/rabisu in lore.

Stat boosters are rare in PoD. Some artifacts, special buildings, dynasty legacies etc. Rare powers also help with that but yes, it's not really easy upping them

 

[CyberEagle]

Demons are asked about their house because they have player mechanics linked to their dynasty legacies and it would suck to be barred from them for not being dynasty head, but if you really wanted to keep his house, you could start as another character wait a handful of days, then switch to Baal.

 

[Lord Asgar]

Questions. So, I recently read "Counsel of Primogen" and was surprised to learn that apparently, not only do the Primogen outrank the court offices (Sheriff and such), it's also they, not the court offices, doing most of the city's actual managing, drafting proposals and ready-made stratagems the Prince can implement/just sign off on if desired.

1. If so, this seems far closer to CK3's powerful vassal system than the court offices. Currently, primogen are minor titles. Why not swap the two? It's certainly possible to have more than five councillors, see the AGOT mod for instance.

2. That said, the current approach works better with my previous assumptions. I was always under the impression that it's absolutely the Sheriff and Seneschal (and maybe Scourge) who are the most powerful people in the city after the Prince. And that being made Primogen was more like scraps the Prince tossed to vassals to placate them. I know each city is different, but so which of the two is more the norm?

 

[karde]

First thing, the book is for modern. Primogens as a concept is barely starting in Dark Ages. This is an era where vampires realms are much more mono clans (Lasombra Sea of Shadows, Ventrue Fiefs of the Black Cross etc).
Even in modern, it varies widely per city. Some cities have all powerful primogens with the prince being a puppet. Others have yes men primogens that act as enforcers for a tyrant prince and not a check. It's hard to tell you a "norm" since, really, each city is different due to its history, the power of its prince, the importance of non prince clans in the vampire populace etc.

For the mod's purpose though, primogens work better as a court position linked to having powerful (and likely multi clans) realms. Having 13 (and more) new councillors (and assorted new tasks for them) would be very unwieldy for the players to work with. Being non mandatory court positions work better gameplay wise and also theme wise to represent the novelty of the concept.

 

[Lord Asgar]

Thanks for indulging me! Followup question: But isn't the idea regarding multi-clan stuff in Dark Ages still just the same as modern, that vampires of different clans coexist in the cities and that you're supposed to form coteries of a diverse clan makeup? Like, a Ventrue Prince doesn't even have any use for the sewers himself. So long as the Nosferatu don't become a problem to him, he can let them stay, even benefitting from the whole thing by making it conditional to emplying their unique talents towards his ends. So wouldn't the idea of a monoclan society actually be more foreign to vampires than a multiclan one, because they're by nature drawn to different niches (even if there can be overlap)?

 

[karde]

I more meant mono clans "power structures" if that makes sense. Sure, that Ventrue lord will let the Nosferatu stay in their sewers but they are a low clan! Why would he even listen to what they have to say, even less so give them a (primogen) seat at the table?
While vampires stayed roughly feudalistic even in modern, they were even more so in dark ages (the low/high clans distinctions). They only care about their liege and vassals, not about the "common (vampiric) people" crawling in their city (as long as they behave, like feudal peasants).

Modern sects are by definition more mixed clans friendly and also abolished the high/low clans divide, while most big dark ages constructs are very mono clans (once again for their power structure). Lasombra rule in the Sea of Shadows, Tzimisce in the Voivodate, Ventrue in Black Cross etc

 

[BlackyNoir]

I just learned last week CK3 total conversions were a thing, and I have been playing PoD a lot since then. Maybe the feedback of a new players, fresh eyes, can be useful, or not.

(for context I played WoD since the first Masquerade edition released, almost exclusively vampires, and mostly Dark Ages, but on and off over the years; and didn't check out the last edition at all I stopped at V20; and I am not a fanatic, the canon and the rules have been sufficiently vague that there's room for a lot).

1. The first thing is even with above average knowledge of the source material, I feel the mod lack a documentation. The wiki helps a little bit, but there's a lot of things where I feel it's not clear if you can do it, or could do it, or how to do it, or are you supposed to.
   Like, if I only feed on people who agree to it, should I use "hunt" even if it's not a hunt? Is it just the name of the mechanic and the mod abstract it all? Or did I get a lot of negative modifiers I didn't find for doing it? Or should have been punished for it, but there's a bug and it didn't happen? I don't know. (it's just an example among several, I'm not really asking ).
   I understand not everything can be documented, and some things are supposed to be secret until you discover them especially for events, but if I'm lost when I know WoD and CK3 reasonably well, I'm afraid for the first time experience of newer players? Or maybe the fact I know some of the source material confuse me more on how or if it's implemented? Unsure.
2. The amount of content, is quite impressive! And I certainly haven't seen most of it yet.
3. I feel there's a lot of strong emphasis on roads/via as "faith", that oftentimes (not always, but most of the time probably) goes way overboard what Dark Ages, or just WoD in general, had. Especially with relations and modifiers, especially negative modifiers, they shape most of what we do toward mono-"faith" and mass conversions that I don't remember being the norm (it happened). I would personally probably tone it down, to allow characters more choice into being a zealot or not.
4. Travel felt very safe and easy for cainites. Maybe because I have played fairly strong characters, but those tend to plow through challenges and events instead of not being shown the savage furry clawed monstrosity that want to rip it off on sight?

Overall, it's very impressive.

 

[karde]

Thanks for the feedback

1. I've written the in game tutos and the wiki mostly by myself so rest assured that I'm aware of this issue. CK3 is a very complex game and PoD adds on top of it so there always will be a big barrier of entry I'm afraid. We can obviously always do better and there are several specific reworks in testing right now that should help ease this for some specifically complicated systems.
2. Thanks! Yeah there is a lot and always more to come.
3. If you know base CK3, you know that religions are a big big thing there, the driving force of most conflicts and gameplay variations. Players also built expectations coming from here, a big one being that "my realm should be mono faith!". Everytime we tried to de emphasize faiths and make conversion less of a thing, we got a lot of push back. We still try to do so piecemeal when we can (faith opinion modifiers are way less of a thing than CK3 except in some cases) but we can't really make sweeping changes easily in that regard.
4. There are added events to show WoD specific dangers but they are mostly toothless, that's true. The reason is mostly gameplay related. CK3 uses travel a lot these days and we also do (it's a cool concept) but all in all, players don't have a lot of agency in avoiding travel danger (redrawing your travel road is tedious at best and pointless at worst). So if travel suddenly becomes dangerous enough that players are afraid of it, they will lock themselves out of a lot of content (CK3 activites, PoD journeys etc)

 

[BlackyNoir]

Nice, thanks for the acknowledgement and the answers!

About faith, if you feel strongly about it, I wonder if it could be made a game rule. I don't know how easily mod can add their own, but if possible, and (big) if you can find a relatively simple modifier (to not have to redo a lot of complex work), it could ease some people into it. Lots of if, and for your audience maybe it's not worth the work, that I don't know.

One thing I would add to maybe clarify about learning and documentation, it's also about what you can or can't do. For example there's a big craft menu, and you get the craft tutorial in the beginning, but after that... are we supposed to be able to use it? Do we need events? Or lifestyle perks? Or level of skill? Or unique modifiers? Can we delegate, for example is it worthwhile to try to recruit someone else in court or coterie to do so, and if so which perk/skill/splat/thingie are we looking for? It's more about being presented the whole sandbox, specific things in it, and not knowing if it's worth pursuing and how to do so. Details we can get through experimentation and reloads, but general things like that are harder to grasp if not covered in the wiki.

One last "big" (all things being relative) I forgot, is about blood bond. I was very confused and surprised a cainite could apparently drink another cainite blood, with no effect (talking early on, pre-Sabbat rituals of course). Maybe I missed something because I naturally stayed away from it (coming from the tabletop), but it's such a core mechanic and element of the game. But maybe it's a similar answer, and would be too limiting and dangerous gameplay wise for the general audience, and I can see perpetual/permanent hook unto you not being fun for new players

 

[karde]

1. Faith stuff in CK3 is everywhere, it's not as simple as flipping a switch. Sure, we could just do a crude game rule that says "you can't ask for conversion" but I don't think it would get the point across. The issue is more structural.

2. You mention crafts. It's one of those big complicated systems that I've talked above that we are reworking basically from scratch to be easier to understand so we are in agreement there.

3. In tabletop, the first level of blood bond is basically "you think this person is nice" which... isn't that big of a deal. CK3 moves at a much quicker pace than tabletop so it's unlikely you will feed from the same vampire quickly enough to contract a lvl2 or 3 blood bond... unless you plan/scheme for it, which we represent with the blood bond character interaction

 

[BlackyNoir]

Very good point, I didn't think about the difference in time management and speed. My bad.

 

[Lord Asgar]

I more meant mono clans "power structures" if that makes sense. Sure, that Ventrue lord will let the Nosferatu stay in their sewers but they are a low clan! Why would he even listen to what they have to say, even less so give them a (primogen) seat at the table?
While vampires stayed roughly feudalistic even in modern, they were even more so in dark ages (the low/high clans distinctions). They only care about their liege and vassals, not about the "common (vampiric) people" crawling in their city (as long as they behave, like feudal peasants).

Modern sects are by definition more mixed clans friendly and also abolished the high/low clans divide, while most big dark ages constructs are very mono clans (once again for their power structure). Lasombra rule in the Sea of Shadows, Tzimisce in the Voivodate, Ventrue in Black Cross etc

Followup lore question to this: If monoclan-ruled realms are more the norm in the Dark Ages, and Primogen Councils don't really exist yet in most places, what exactly is the societal impact of the High Clan/Low Clan distinction? If it's a monoclan-ruled realm, aren't Low Clans and High Clans still just as equally disenfranchised?

The V20 version of Dark Ages also made it so that what's considered a High Clan or Low Clan is different for each city.

 

[karde]

Well, high clans/low clans divide is really just a fancy vampire way to represent the peasants vs clergy/nobles medieval divide.
Do the clergy and the nobles cohabit with the peasants in the medieval times? They do. Do they always rule over them by either temporal or spiritual means? They also do.

Your mono clan vampiric power structure is basically the same. Are they a lot of low clans in say your Sea of Shadows? Sure, they are welcome to do their lowly things out of the way of their Lasombra rulers (as long as they answer when called). Now when another high clan enter the town? Well, they are expected to present themselves to the prince, state their business in the city. If they intent to stay, they need to recognize the prince's authority.
Basically the same as if a foreign noble visited a local castle. The local noble will present a welcoming face while clearly probing about why this foreign noble is in town. Is he a threat? a potential new vassal? etc
You don't give that kind of consideration to a peasant/low clans.

As you stated though, the divide is different everywhere and is also not as enforced everywhere but the above is the general idea for those realms that care about the divide.

 

[Lord Asgar]

Well, high clans/low clans divide is really just a fancy vampire way to represent the peasants vs clergy/nobles medieval divide.
Do the clergy and the nobles cohabit with the peasants in the medieval times? They do. Do they always rule over them by either temporal or spiritual means? They also do.

Your mono clan vampiric power structure is basically the same. Are they a lot of low clans in say your Sea of Shadows? Sure, they are welcome to do their lowly things out of the way of their Lasombra rulers (as long as they answer when called). Now when another high clan enter the town? Well, they are expected to present themselves to the prince, state their business in the city. If they intent to stay, they need to recognize the prince's authority.
Basically the same as if a foreign noble visited a local castle. The local noble will present a welcoming face while clearly probing about why this foreign noble is in town. Is he a threat? a potential new vassal? etc
You don't give that kind of consideration to a peasant/low clans.

As you stated though, the divide is different everywhere and is also not as enforced everywhere but the above is the general idea for those realms that care about the divide.

Hm, very interesting, I'm starting to form a picture. Couple more followups:

1. So in-lore, can Low Clans be vassals? I suppose it depends on what you mean by "vassal", a ceremonial term vs "someone who is not an independent ruler in a realm but serves a liege"?

2. According to Counsel of Primogen, before the modern Primogen Councils, they had similar institutions, but staffed by the ruling clan's elders only. This institution is still separate and higher in rank than the offices like Sheriff, but inaccessible to vassals not of the ruling clan, correct? So the best they could hope for in terms of participation in the governing process were the offices?

3. Does the High Clans not wanting to see or hear anything about the Low Clans in their realm not kinda violate one of the most important principles of kindred society, their obsession with control and authority in their territory? Being found unannounced in another's domain is considered grounds for final death. It seems like giving them a carte blanche to do anything they want and cause havoc in the realm, ironically.

 

[karde]

1. CK3 is much stricter about vassals that the lore is. Especially in medieval times, it's hard for vampires to define what area they really control. An example is Mithras, his "vassal" Hugh (Cornwall) doesn't return or answer his messages. That's basically being independent de facto but it's not like Mithras can easily enforce anything that far from London. And Hugh not being openly hostile, it's far from a priority concern.
So if a low clan rules something in an area that you consider yours but doesn't cause any issues (no hostility, not trying to act subtly against your interests etc), it's likely that you won't do anything about it. If you act it could be dicey and its potential high clan replacement could be even more ambitious.
Most realms also have their own systems so it's rare for the high/low clans divide to be critical. Avalon? It's mostly tied to the Mithraic cult. Courts of Love? You have 5 official courts with clear borders, everything under them is local and basically report to their local court of love. Shadow Reconquista? You want to fight against the Ashirra? Doesn't matter who you are, you are hired. Ashirra? More similar to the early Caliphates

2. Very very broadly yes. You have to keep in mind that dark ages were way more diverse than modern though. Let's take Paris as an example, you would expect the most feudal system ever right? Well, no. Nosferatu are given a place of honor because Mnemach and her brood were there since Lutetia and are very influent in many areas.
So your local mileage will vary from this kind of broad generalization.

3. You have people for that. If you are a powerful prince, you do not deal with the local Gangrel making a fuss, you send your sheriff or local equivalent. Same as medieval once again, nobles won't care about peasants until said peasants are causing problems.

 

[Lord Asgar]

Lore/comprehension question (both Dark Ages & modern): How exactly can one envision kindred vassals paying their tithes?

What I mean is, the lore stresses that kindred value wealth much less than mortals do, it is easy for them to acquire. Blood tithes are a thing, but not the norm. The one currency kindred truly value is favors. I've heard the vassal contract described as domain in exchange for prestation.

But how do you turn favors into a regular tax? Primogen and offices do work for the Prince, but I always saw that as something else, it's a reward, and the pool of titles is small. How does the rest earn their keep? Princes putting together coteries for a job is a typical trope, but surely a domain does not produce so many "quests" as for the prince to constantly be ordering around all non-officials/Primogen on them?

 

[karde]

As you said, wealth is of little importance to vampires so it's not about that. It's mostly about protection (be it real or "mob protection"). You are a prince in the fringes of Wales, you are (rightfully) scared of the werewolves there, you count on Mithras to send backup if things go really sideways. You also count on Mithras to influence the English court to protect the area against mortal Welsh that could disrupt your activities. You give Mithras access to your influence on your local area, trained (ghoul) knights when he needs it in exchange.

You are a Norman vampire who followed the triumvirate when they conquered England. You took the place of an existing Prince with their help. Mithras has awakened and dealt with the triumvirate. You see the writings on the wall, you pay hommage to him, allow access to the cult of Mithras in your city, perhaps accept a light blood bond. You are bullied but you know you can't do anything else.

 

[flintsparc]

Princes of Darkness, "Unlanded & Unnamed", Version 1.14.3 2/25/2025​

• Compatibility with Crusader Kings 3 version 1.14.3 (Traverse), Arctic Attire & Medieval Monuments

DLC Compatibility​

• Added Arctic Attire to the relevant cultures
• Medieval Monuments are disabled by default, but there's a game rule to enable them

Landless​

• Landless Inquisitors
  • New buildings, mechanics (Curia Support, recruit from other orders, ask for invasion) and new objectives tailored for landless
• Landless Independent Hunters (non Shih)
  • New dynasty legacy and objectives tailored for landless
• Landless vampires
  • Ambassador path : Choose a patron to support and help them achieve greatness while you build your camp and rank up your ashen ambassador trait
  • Grandmaster path : Complete martial or war contracts to gain grandmaster xp. This xp can be used to improve the three precepts of your military order (pre selected for canon orders, your choice for custom ones)
  • Caravan path : Cover starting costs to unlock the trait, then level it by doing transport contracts. The trait unlocks new landless court positions and can divide travel options costs by 2.
  • Cult path : After creating your cult, unlock county based actions to help or hinder local rulers depending on their faith, gaining trait xp in the process. The trait xp unlocks additional herd and ghoul max size.
• Added new contracts:
  • Assault an Exposed Lair: For Hunters. Based on the existing Find Lair events
  • Overhauled the natural disaster events
    • Natural disasters are now contracts. If you (or any Coterie member!) can predict the weather, you get notified 3 years in advance
    • You can now prevent or intensify natural disasters if any present Coterie member can manipulate the weather. This also includes Fae (with the Eldritch Prime cantrip) and Sorcerers (with Weather Control 6)
    • Intensifying natural disasters now counts as a heinous act for the purposes of Golconda. Also, Wyrm-aligned faiths get piety from it
    • Added two event options for providing disaster relief to mortals, available even if you can't manipulate the weather
      • Basic relief costs gold, adds piety, and gives a True Faith perk point if you have the trait
      • Extensive relief costs massive stress and more gold, adds more piety, and gives Beatific trait xp (up to 100)
    • Added an event option for turning the disaster into good weather, which has the same stress cost and rewards as the extensive relief option
    • Fixed some glitches that could happen when trying to travel to a disaster while you already had a travel plan in progress
    • Fixed some faulty dates for historical natural disasters
• Added canon landless characters and starting events to go landless for characters that we still want playable without a DLC but should be landless
• Added playable landless characters
• Added an adventurer tab (if you have the DLC) to the dark ages vampires bookmark

Domiciles​

• Inquisitors, Hunters and Vampires now have access to a domicile that will stick with them even if they switch from landed to landless or vice versa

Blood Magic and Necromancy​

• Added the following blood sorcery paths to canon characters and learnable otherwise :
  • Path of Karma
  • Divine Hand
  • Lure of Flames
  • Movement of the Mind
  • Path of the Blood's Curse
  • Evil Eye
  • Revelations of Duat
  • Revelations of Midgard
• Necromancy has been reworked in the new blood sorcery style with paths and schools
• The schools are as follow :
  • Giovanni Necromancy
  • Harbinger Necromancy
  • Cappadocian Necromancy/Mortis
  • Rosselini Necromancy
  • Impundulu Necromancy
  • Lamia Necromancy
  • Nagaraja Necromancy
• Each school has access to some of the 12 new paths
• Canon characters have been given their necromancy path rating when applicable

Sorcery rework​

• Improved and expanded the sorcerer lifestyle tree

Crafting rework​

• Crafting has been completely reworked to be easier to understand and use

Herd and Resonance​

• Herd is now a game concept
• Blood tithes and auto animal interaction have been removed
• The base resonance gains have been reduced
• Herd and ghoul max size are no longer tied to stats
• The above is compensated (and in some cases, exceeded) by the new domicile buildings

1. The goal here was to remove obfuscated (herd and ghoul max size) and micro intensive systems (maximizing resonance especially animal one) and replacing them by easy to grasp and less tedious methods, domicile buildings in that instance

Wraith​

• Wraith rework #They are still only playable by custom character but should feel better and be more interesting for those who want to try them

Game Rules​

• Added an experimental game rule that removes levies from the game. More testing required
• Added a game rule to halve resonance gains
• Added a game rule to disable the Flaying Plague
• Added a game rule that lifts the restrictions on which splats can participate in tournaments
• The game rule to remove patrons/easter egg characters is now much smarter about how to give the empty land to, resulting in less bordergore when this rule is activated
• Hid the "World of Darkness" game rule (it still exists in the code so that submods can make use of it)
• Non-default game rules now have subtly highlighted text, like those from vanilla

Gameplay Additions​

• Added an objective inspired by the Constantinian Fae for the "Catholic adjacent" Garou faiths to be accepted by Hunters #Adapted from littleking_soul work
• The war for Livonia is (finally) now a thing, a chain of events for Jürgen, Alexander and Qarakh #the AI will always follow the canon choices, ending with Alexander taking over Black Cross Prussia and warring against Livonia but players can make other choices

Gameplay Changes​

• Some characters now start with an event to switch to landless if that makes sense for them (and you have the DLC). Lucita has a new special objective in this path as well
• Rebalanced the costs of learning certain abilities:
  • Lowered the cost of learning Fae Arts and Slivers (1000 -> 500) since their lifestyle trees are smaller than average
  • Increased the cost of learning Lament, Theurgy, and Psychic Powers (500 -> 1000) since they contain multiple lifestyle trees
• Increased the prestige gain from hunting Werewolves/Fae/Demons to bring it up to par with hunting Vampires
• If you abandon a Journey to learn a new ability, it no longer counts for increasing the cost of future Journeys
• Removed points of interest from walls again
• The Immortal trait is now available in the Ruler Designer. It costs 999999 points like the other endgame traits
• Characters who only have a half-splat (also including Ghouls and Revenants) can now invite Mortals to their Coterie
• Bela Rusenko's objective now gives him access to a new demonic lifestyle and men at arms
• Small nerfs to some shapeshifters innate prowess (their traits)
• Thanks to paradox adding a new command, added the possibility for hunters and shapeshifters to designate any member of their house as heir and not only one of their children
• AI Fae and shapeshifters won't marry each other anymore. No changes for players. #Shapeshifters and fae marrying make the shapeshifters extinct in a couple of generations with the way our splats script are setup
• Added Slovien culture to provinces following vanilla CK3. Added it to a few characters as well
• The access caern perk now lets you also use (but not construct) the unique/wonders caerns
• Adjusted the rewards for hunting Kuei-Jin via the Find Lair Journey to be in line with Vampire hunt rewards (they always gave you the minimum rewards before, regardless of the victim's age)
• Rock Lord now has an house modifier
• Aristotle's event is now less definitive about him being "the" Aristotle. His stats are also been brought in line with PoD's conventions (yes that mean nerfed)
• Mycenean culture can now achieve the independent/French victory path of the French struggle #For Alexander's purpose
• Anna Comnena will now get an improved nickname when finishing her objective
• Cabiri ducal buildings now longer require a specific gauntlet level at higher level, made costlier to compensate
• Kosczecsyku now starts with several books to represent his lore better
• Increased the stress gain from the Demonic Knowledge modifier
• Randomly generated barons in Litany realms now have a much lower chance of being full shifters instead of Kinfolk
• Eased the access of demonic lore lifestyle for Nephilim
• Added missing lifestyles bonus to bloodlines traits
• Overextension can now also happen to vassals
• Infernal patrons won't ask you to corrupt a place on the other side of the world anymore. Yeah for reasonable demons
• Vanilla artifacts locked behind a specific religion can now be used by their PoD "equivalent" (like a Muslim only vanilla artifact can now be used by the Ikhwan Al-Safa)
• The AI will now seduce less often #The very seduce happy vanilla AI results in a lot of events and secrets that frankly don't matter in PoD since adultery isn't a thing
• Safeguard for the Tremere objective to avoid some funky de jure shenanigans
• If the AI achieves the Web of Knives objective, they will get a powerful spawned army instead of the usual reward to avoid potentially disrupting the player too much without counterplay
• Gaining XP in the Bandit or Marauder tracks of the Gallowsbait trait after completing a criminal contract now counts as theft for the purposes of Golconda
• Ayr's seven named swords have been reworked. They are now all semi unique (unique name and unique modifier)
• Wild vampires tenet now gives a provision bonus
• Loosened the requirements for the Search for Azhi Dahaka objective (your prisoners now need to be Generation 10 or lower, instead of Generation 5)
• Tzimisce dynasty legacies no longer give access to Vozhd and Szlachta but instead give +2 max herd and ghoul #Those two flesh construct are still available as usual by vicissitude but won't be forced for every tzimisce now with this change. Alien parasite Tzimisce theorists rejoice
• Nerfed some overtuned stress gain modifiers from vanilla landless events
• Foul blood now gives a flat +max herd size instead of a multiplier
• The flaying plague trait is now less deadly but more debilitating (stats wise)
• The option to "kill them all" when covering up the Masquerade now causes additional stress if compassionate
• The option to lay low when covering up the Masquerade no longer costs prestige (the debuff is crippling enough as is)
• Special MaA (sin dragons, zmei, fenris avatar, leviathan, lost ancients, unnameable) are back being unlockable MaA instead of the convoluted alert+char interaction when at war+spawned troops thingie
• The "reinforce your army for free!" vanilla options in the visit holding events now cost stuff

History​

• DA CN Ravnos/Malkavian/Brujah/Toreador/Gangrel detailed read history changes (new characters, quotes, coteries, artifacts, setup changes etc)
• Antonius of Cairo now starts with special troops (to make the outcome of Cairo staying a free city like in lore more possible)
• Apacia's culture changed from Cuman to Saka
• Added Aimeric de Cabaret's portrait by Sithia
• Added 23 lore buttons, scripted the stats of those characters
• Hippolyta now properly starts with Lamia necromancy
• Most canon ghouls didn't have their domitors setup, this has been fixed

Interface​

• You will now get a warning in the main menu if you're running another mod that overwrites a crucial vanilla GUI file
• You will now get a warning in the main menu if you launch the mod in a language other than English or Simplified Chinese
• Removed the "Landless Rulers" map mode (it introduces massive lag in POD)
• Clarified the requirements for the final Sabbat objective
• Added an "Impossible" difficulty in the bookmark screen for Olwen and Ishaq

Graphics​

• Event backgrounds during heists are now chosen based on your target, not your own character. Meaning a landless character infiltrating a landed court will no longer be surrounded by tents for some reason
• Gave Ifrit glowier eyes
• Stone Dog Gargoyles now look like stone dogs
• Demons without a host will no longer get the red ghostly shader if the abyssal prison was broken
• The characters spawned during the Age of the Inquisition now have some shiny white clothes

Compatibility​

• Added a global variable called POD_loaded so that submods can recognize if POD is in the playset

Bugfixes​

• Fixed the Inquisition titles not getting assigned to the proper holder
• Wights can no longer be installed by claimant factions
• Fixed an exploit that would let you plunder Constantinople multiple times
• Effects that read a character's base stats (like Mytherceria's stat absorption or summoned clones) no longer cause you to end up with negative base martial
• Mummies will now always spawn a vampire of children of osiris (setite for bane) faith when using the give to random button #A longstanding complicated issue that made it so mummies would spawn all sorts of various splats as generated characters, including unfinished splats
• Cabiri Mummies will now always spawn a vampire of the cabiri faith for their generated characters #Instead of a random character that will most likely hate them
• To make the above work, replaced a couple of vampiric faiths that accepted the mummies by shunning them instead
• Fixed a related longstanding issue where faiths of the Osirian League considered Horus' followers (you know, the leader of their faction) to be astray
• Fixed a few mechanics that didn't work properly with the early inquisition game rule
• Fixed a backward reward in the umbra Inventium
• Added splat hostility checks to a number of interactions that were missing them
• When you're planning an Artifact Heist and you gain that Artifact through some other means, you now automatically abandon that Journey
• Fixed Neteru lacking vassal contracts (thanks to Arzakon for the fix)
• Fixed the Hanging Gardens not spawning. Again. For real this time.
• Fixed a bug that would generate Kuei-Jin court chaplains with missing traits
• Another pass for preventing random characters from being generated with unfinished/unplayable splats
• Torpid vampires and wights will no longer send you letters about your mutual rivals
• Fixed some instances where learning Blood Sorcery would also give you your clan's tradition for free
• Fixed an issue that made gluttonous not that virtuous to demons of gluttony
• Trying a fix for not allowed to vote for primogen candidate in elective
• Antasia won't approach king level French rulers to vassalize them anymore because she can't
• The crafting recipe from the Guard perk (Mummy Hekau) now actually gets displayed
• The Dreamer section in the character window can now be expanded, like the other sections
• Various small fixes (more safeguard against supernatural merc comp, definitive form in changing titles names)
• Codex of Legacies characters will now properly rename Byzantium to the Dream
• Custom created Kiasyd now properly get disciplines
• Fixed a Gargoyle starting discipline assignation issue
• Fixed an issue with the battle modifier vertigo overriding its improved variants
• Fixed the summon wraith theurgy interaction not having a notification and leaving the wraith to wander
• Added an icon for level 9 buildings that was missing from vanilla
• Fixed some achievements that could get triggered if an AI character fulfilled the requirements
• Fixed the "Ate My Way Up The Ladder" achievement not triggering if the player got their 13th+ generation trait via event
• Copying physical traits to another character will no longer "copy" pregnancy
• The buildings in Rome or your Domicile now get reset if necessary after changing your faith
• You can no longer offer military assistance to hostile splats
• Fixed a bug that could lead to duplicated Hunt Journeys
• Minor fixes (misleading valeren power, demon demand on infernalist and monument expedition localizations)
• The script to unland fae going to arcadia post shattering is now much more aggressive to avoid having untouchable arcadia fae still ruling
• Strengthened safeguards against wights/arcadia characters holding land
• Fixing unboundable being blackmailable
• Certain objectives that could previously teach you Blood Sorcery without a Tradition now also teach you Thaumaturgy
• Fixed the absorb fetish interaction not working
• Created Danava characters (and Kiaan) now properly start with Sadhana instead of generic Thaumaturgy
• Fixed a bug that could cause the player's heir to end up with a bugged Coterie if all previous Coterie members died at the same time
• Fixed a bug that could cause a nonexistent character to try and take away your Great Person
• The Holy Grail now knows about your secret infernalism when testing you (naughty naughty)

 

[Orinsul]

Stellar update! Thank you

 

[Lord Asgar]

Started a playthrough as landless Lucita, within the first year of my playthrough, all three of her ghouls had died in an accident. Huh.