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Tinto Flavour #15 - 25th of April 2025 - Military Orders

Hello and welcome one more week to Tinto Flavour, the happy Fridays in which we take a look at the content of the super secret Project Caesar!

Today, we will be talking about the Christian Military Orders, and specifically, the Teutonic Order and the Knights Hospitallers! Let’s start without further ado:

The glorious Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, also known as the Teutonic Order, faces its destiny on the stormy coasts of the Baltic Sea. Created to protect the Christian pilgrims on their way to the Holy City of Jerusalem, its objective shifted to Christianize the Pagan tribes of Prussia and the Baltic through the creation of a state on those lands.

Under the leadership of our predecessor, Hochmeister Werner von Orseln, the Teutonic Order has expanded its territorial holdings, but this expansion has not come without consequences. The Order's aggressive policies have created powerful enemies, as the Pagan tribes to the East have united and formed the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, then allying with our Catholic southern neighbor and rival, the Kingdom of Poland, which has set aside their Christian duty, joining with the pagans against us.

The time has come for our Order to prove that we are up to the crusading task that we have set for ourselves, and show the world that even surrounded by enemies, our faith stands triumphant.
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The Knights Hospitaller conquered the island of Ródos in the early 14th century, spurred by the fall of Acre in 1291, establishing a stronghold that would allow us to pursue our mission to protect Christian pilgrims. Ródos, a picturesque island in the Aegean Sea, has become a thriving center for our Military Order, marked by fortifications and a bustling economy. However, this prosperity is countered by relentless attacks by neighboring Muslim fleets. But we have demonstrated remarkable resilience, defending Ródos through ferocious battles, showcasing our martial prowess and unwavering dedication.

Nonetheless, the future of our Order looks bleak, as our enemies become more powerful and the disunity among the Catholic countries runs rampant. Recovering the Holy Land seems to be a fading hope with each passing day, but our determination is unbreakable, and we will pursue that objective until our last man falls.
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Country Selection Teutons.png

Country Selection Knights.png

As usual, consider all UI, 2D and 3D art WIP.​

The Teutonic Order starts with an interesting political and diplomatic situation:
Teutonic Order.png

Teutonic Diplomacy.png

The Teutonic Order has several vassals, including the Livonian Order; but also starts at war with Poland and Lithuania - something that is not final, since we’re considering representing this Teutonic-Polish conflicts with a truce, instead, as it was resolved peacefully a few years after the start of our game.​

While the situation of the Knights Hospitaller is also interesting, in a different way:
Knights.png

A Unique Location Minor with unique content spotted!​

All Military Orders share some common flavour, starting with a Major Government Reform:
Military Order.png

That unlocks some unique buildings:
Order Headquarters.png

Order Stronghold.png

Order Commandery.png

The Order Headquarters is a capital-only building (so just one per country). The Order Stronghold is a building that you can build in any location you own. While the Order Commandery is a foreign building, that you can build in the lands of any Catholic country with which you have good relations, making it a powerful tool to support your crusading effort.​

There’s also this Estate Privilege for your Clergy:
Military Orders.png

That unlocks a unique diplomatic action with other Catholic countries, the Sponsorship of Military Order:
Sponsorship Military Order.png

Sponsoring.png

Sponsored.png

As being theocracies, the Military Order also have access to unique Laws & Policies, such as:
Law Divine Cause.png

Law Holy Mission.png

Law Monastic Order.png

Law Celibacy.png

Going to the more unique content for each, the Knights have access to a couple more reforms and privileges:
Reform KNI Crusade Sea.png

Privilege KNI Local Commanders.png

The Teutons start with another unique Estate Privilege, and a Work of Art:
Privilege Kulm Law.png

Chronicon Terra Prussiae.png

And both have their own set of advances:

Teutonic Advances
Advance TEU Crusader Discipline.png

Advance TEU Teutonic Heavy Cavalry.png

Advance TEU Reformed Army.png

Advance TEU Teutonic Religious Authority.png

Advance TEU One Estate, One Religion.png


Advances for the Knights Hospitallers
Advance KNI Assistance Suffering.png

Advance KNI Reconquista.png

Advance KNI Scourge.png

Advance KNI Crusade.png

Advance KNI Order State.png

The Teutonic Order and the Knights also have a few dozen unique events each, but since today’s Tinto Flavour is already long enough, let’s just show one example per each:
Saint George1.png

Saint George2.png


Aftermath Crusade Era.png

And that’s all for today! Next Friday is a bank holiday in Tinto, so no Tinto Flavour; but remember that on Monday we will take a look at the Tinto Maps Feedback for Eastern, Central and Southern Africa, and on Wednesday there will be a Tinto Talks about Protestantism and the War of Religion. Cheers!
 

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Will you add mechanics that reflect the serious support the Teutonic Order had for wars and raids by Western knights? Furthermore, up until the Council of Constance, there was a fierce PR battle between the Order, which accused Poland of supporting pagans, and Poland, which accused the Order of being interested only in plunder, not Christianization. The common belief of the Western knights in the Order's cause was the basis for their involvement on its side.
 
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I still don't understand why don't you use the actual flag of the Teutonic state and decided to opt for the Grandmaster banner/coa, I get that's more unique amd iconic for the average Paradox gamer but it doesn't represent the order itself
Screenshot_20250425_151834_Chrome.jpg

This flag here was never used by the order in this form(although there are similar banners) but it's the adaptation in a more modern rectangual format of the official coa of the Order
 
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Im glad the naval side of the Hospitallers is represented ! They were literally practicing corsairs against the Ottoman Empire and the Barbary corsairs. Will it be hard to end up playing with the Hospitallers on Malta considering the starting date ?
 
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So... can we make the teutonic order into...say... some kind of crusading horde? Like in the mostly unrelated game Europa Universalis 4 by Paradox Interactive?
 
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Will the Military Orders be able to secularise themselves into new tags?

And will the Livonian Confederation that The Livonian order eventually formed feature?
 
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This is looking great, but I'm a little distracted by the inconsistency in naming things here. There seems to be exonyms and endonyms used variously, like Ródos and Estonia, 'Akkā and Ösel. I don't remember if this was covered before, but are they dynamic names based on ownership? That makes sense, especially since it's called Rhodes in the flavor text, but then why use the Greek name when it's the Knights?
 
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Weren't the survivng templers, reconstituted into the Order of Christ in Portugal at this time, so if theirs any future content for bringing them back then using that order to do it makes sense.
 
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One of the main reasons the teutonic order fell into collapse was because the HRE that supported the crusades on prussia decided that at some point there were no more heretics to convert on that region, and basically abandoned the order to fight poland alone. Will that support and loss of support be portrayed in the game?
 
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Interesting to see that Courland doesn't have its two exclaves, have you not reviewed the Poland and Ruthenia tinto map feedbacks yet?
Screenshot_20250425_152149_Chrome.jpgScreenshot_20250425_152201_Chrome.jpg
 
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two questions
1. Is there an event to sell Malta to the Knights if they lose Rhodes
2. Is there a way for the Knights to become a Building based country as happened historically after they lost Malta towards the end of this game’s time period
 
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