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Tinto Flavour #20 - 23rd of May 2025

Hello, and welcome one more week to Tinto Flavour, the happy Tuesdays & Fridays in which we take a look at the content of Europa Universalis V!

Today we will be taking a look at the content of Muscovy, and its ‘successor state’, Russia, after Grand Prince Ivan III ‘the Great’ proclaimed himself ‘Sovereign of All Russia’. This is a special TF, because it’s the first one in which we show the content for one of the seven ‘Tier 1’ counties, those that we consider the most important in the 1337-1836 period, and thus, that have the most content in the game.

Let’s start taking a look at it, as usual:

The Grand Principality of Muscovy stands at a crossroads of political maneuvering, and economic troubles under the Tatar Yoke, and an ongoing power struggle among East Slavic principalities, each vying for supremacy within the fragmented Rus' territories. The Tatar invasion continues to cast a long shadow over the region and Muscovy, like many other Rus' principalities, remains a tributary to the formidable Golden Horde.

Guiding Muscovy through these complexities is Grand Prince Ivan Rurikovich, a leader keenly aware of the delicate balance required for survival under Tatar dominion. He has skillfully managed the principality's affairs through diplomatic initiatives and strategic alliances and now seeks to consolidate power and enhance Muscovy's standing within the Yoke, with aspirations to unite the Rus' land under one banner.

Country Selection.png

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

Muscovy1.png

Muscovy2.png

This is the starting diplomatic situation of Muscovy:
Personal Unions.png

Muscovy starts in a Personal Union with a bunch of principalities, including Novgorod, which is a Republic that elects its rulers among those of other countries.

Tatar Yoke.png

This is the current starting state of the Tatar Yoke, with Muscovy being entitled as the ‘Grand Prince of Vladimir’ - or, in other words, the ‘tribute collector’ for the Tatars. We won’t talk about this feature today, but in the Tinto Flavour devoted to the Golden Horde.

These are some of the privileges that the Russian countries have available from the start:
Privilege Kormlenije.png

Privilege The Ryad.png

Priviliege Tysiatskii Office.png

Also, this starting Legal Code Policy:
Policy Russkaya Pravda.png

Here you have some of the advances available for Muscovy and Russia through the ages, as usual:
Advance Gatherers Tribute.png

Advance Pomestnoe.png

Advance Zasechnara.png

Advance Imperial Guard.png

And now let’s move into the narrative content. Muscovy has 109 Dynamic Historical Events available, while there are another 73 unlockable after having formed Russia, which makes for a total of 182 available DHEs - that’s what being a ‘Tier 1’ country means, in regards to content. Many of them will unlock very different types of other content assets, as you’ll see now:

Event Campaigns against Novgorod.png

This is an event that may trigger if Novgorod elects another ruler, as happened historically.

Kremlin.png

Kremlin2.png

If you build the Kremlin, there will be further events related to it.

Event Denga and Ruble.png


Event Prikazi.png

Reform Prikazi.png


Event Book of Census.png

Reform Razriadnyi.png


Event Sophia Komnenos.png

ReformByzantine Court Ceremonies.png

If Byzantium falls, and some other conditions are met, you might be able to marry a Greek princess, and proclaim your country as the ‘Third Rome’.

If you expand your country, you might be able to form Russia at a certain point:
Form Russia.png

Russian Empire.png

Russian Empire2.png

The Russian Principalities account for approximately 460 locations, so you need to conquer some more from the Golden Horde to get to the 508 required. I forced it through the console to show it to you, but one of our QA testers made a recent run, and he was able to form it around 1500, OOC.

When the Age of Reformation starts, there will be this advance available for the Russian countries:
Siberian Frontier1.png

That unlocks:
Pomor Outpost.png

Settle the Frontier.png

It’s also possible for a unique disaster to trigger, the Time of Troubles:
Time of Troubles1.png

Time of Troubles2.png

Time of Troubles3.png

Time of Troubles4.png

Time of Troubles5.png

Time of Troubles has many different events happening, on top of the DHEs:

If you overcome it, there’s even more late-game content, of course:

Reform Collegium.png


Reform Nakaz.png


Reform Speransky.png


Event Bolshoi.png

Bolsoi Theater.png

… And much more, but that’s all for today! As today is Friday, this will be the schedule for next week:
  • Monday -> Tinto Flavour about Venice and Genoa
  • Tuesday -> Tinto Flavour about Serbia and Georgia
  • Wednesday -> Tinto Talks about the Orthodox and Miaphysite religions
  • Thursday -> Third ‘Behind the Scenes’ video!
  • Friday -> Tinto Flavour about the Roman Empire, AKA Byzantium
And also remember, you can wishlist Europa Universalis V now! Cheers!
 
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1497 Sudebnik actually calls them "христианинъ".
But not «христианство». I am specifically debating over usage of stvo suffix to denote this group.

But perhaps it is just a stylistic choice and I worded it poorly.

At the end, there is not Boyarstvo but Boyars
 
Are you insinuating that the Caliphate wasn't destructive or culturally valuable to Iberia? I'm not sure which one is a worse take.

Such as?... Because to my knowledge almost all Russian institutions have their origins either in pre-tatar yoke or post tatar yoke times.
If there was significant cultural exchange between mongols and slavs you would expect the Black Death to arrive in Russia quicker than in Italy, but the opposite happened historically. You would also expect the religion to change, like how Rome turned most of its' subjects from pagan to christian, but again, the opposite happened.
The only significant "cultural exchange" I can think of between mongols and slavs during this time period is mongols sacking Russian cities, desecrating orthodox churches and enslaving woodworkers, icon painters and other artisans. The only significant things that Russian culture got from the tatar yoke is some loanwords of turkic origin and dumplings.

That is, unfortunately, a myth. Novgorod was just as despotic and authoritarian as the other Russian principalities despite nominally being a republic.
And Kyiv wasn't even independent after or during the tatar yoke, what possible democracy in the XIV century are you talking about?
Sure the Caliphate was destructive for Iberia, but it left no heritage on its land for Spanish kingdoms to embrace. Actually they wiped every sign of muslim presence during their Reconquista. Tsardom of Moscow, on the contrary, embraced mongolian taxation (Basqaq) system, population census and entire government form based on Yarlik permission. The only reason for Moscow to become a monarchy is her close ties with Golden Horde.

Religion during the times of Yoke changed too. First serving as a branch of Greek orthodox church it later became autocephalous. They had no access into Constantinople and that forged fundamentally different ideology, but then the city fell and Russian branch remained one true.

And Novgorod, despite being oligarchic underworld, at least tried to preserve his traditions at the verge of mongol/lithuanian threat. Veche served as the main instrument of power in Kyiv up to annexation by Lithuania in XIV century.
 
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I'm pretty sure most of the "Muscovites are mongols" myth comes from modern day propaganda and any Russian with historical and cultural knowledge will be able to tell you otherwise

Idk if this relates to modern day politics (if that's the case I'll remove it) but this video makes a great analysis in debunking modern day myths about history
Surely, YouTube channel posting "Z" propaganda songs is a "great analysis"
 
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There we go again with the Ukrainians laying unique claim to an all-encompassing eastern slavic nation
You are fighting monsters you created by yourself.
Sometimes gratitude is just gratitude without any claims.

By overlooking, Ukrainians here mean, for example, Ryazanian culture in Chernihiv, Mikhail Romanov as a Kyivan ruler in the XV century, no Uniate Church in EU4, or similar inaccuracies in other previous games.
And we really appreciate a more individual approach in EU5, that's it.

And it's not about CONQUERING AND UNIFYING ALL EAST SLAVS!!!!!! as a lot of Russian players only care about. However, personally, it's the last thing I think about.
What I hope to see one day:
  • Cossack stuff of all kinds – unique units, unique navy, advances, steppe colonisation, unique buildings, being unique type of mercenaries, and YES, some aspects can be shared with Don and other Cossacks, no problem.
  • Unique historical events, challenges and policies that pushed Ruthenian (or later Ukrainian/Belarusian) societies towards Decentralisation, Inward, Liberalism societal values rather than Centralisation, Outward, Absolutism like in Russia.
  • Possibility to unify Ruthenian culture (or Ukrainian/Belarusian cultures if unified later).
  • Content about the Uniate church that fits nicely into the Age of Reformation (already confirmed).
  • Cultural events/advances about Ivan Fedorov, Pamvo Berynda, Lavrentiy Zyzaniy, Meletiy Smotrytskyi, Peresopnytsia Gospel, Petro Mohyla and his academy, Ostroh academy, Pochaiv Lavra and others.
  • Specific production and trading stuff – chumak salt trading, historically massive saltpetre production and export, being the grain basket, Polesian amber etc.
These are facts. Their implementation would be consistent with content provided for other regions. To argue against them merely for the sake of unifying everything with Russia is ridiculous and clearly politically biased.

I have no illusion – Ruthenia won't ever have as much content as Russia in these types of games. However, Ukrainians here are really grateful to the team if we have some amount of interesting content. As options and possibilities, not as heavy railroading.
 
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Broken clock and propagandistic media purposefully promoting genocidal imperialistic ideology and denying internationally recognised borders are different things. I hope users consider your choice of "sources" before interacting with your agenda
I'd say a Russian knows more about Russia the same as a Ukrainian knows more about Ukraine, and being able to fact-check instead of denying giving it a single watch would be wise to make your knowledge storage stronger.

If you consider every small-town youtuber a state-sponsored propagandist then perhaps you should try books challenging your beliefs instead. Denying Russian history is the same as denying Ukrainian history.
 
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You are fighting monsters you created by yourself.
Sometimes gratitude is just gratitude without any claims.

By overlooking, Ukrainians here mean, for example, Ryazanian culture in Chernihiv, Mikhail Romanov as a Kyivan ruler in the XV century, no Uniate Church in EU4, or similar inaccuracies in other previous games.
And we really appreciate a more individual approach in EU5, that's it.

And it's not about CONQUERING AND UNIFYING ALL EAST SLAVS!!!!!! as a lot of Russian players only care about. However, personally, it's the last thing I think about.
What I hope to see one day:
  • Cossack stuff of all kinds – unique units, unique navy, advances, steppe colonisation, unique buildings, being unique type of mercenaries, and YES, some aspects can be shared with Don and other Cossacks, no problem.
  • Unique historical events, challenges and policies that pushed Ruthenian (or later Ukrainian/Belarusian) societies towards Decentralisation, Inward, Liberalism societal values rather than Centralisation, Outward, Absolutism like in Russia.
  • Possibility to unify Ruthenian culture (or Ukrainian/Belarusian cultures if unified later).
  • Content about the Uniate church that fits nicely into the Age of Reformation (already confirmed).
  • Cultural events/advances about Ivan Fedorov, Pamvo Berynda, Lavrentiy Zyzaniy, Meletiy Smotrytskyi, Peresopnytsia Gospel, Petro Mohyla and his academy, Ostroh academy, Pochaiv Lavra and others.
  • Specific production and trading stuff – chumak salt trading, historically massive saltpetre production and export, being the grain basket, Polesian amber etc.
These are facts. Their implementation would be consistent with content provided for other regions. To argue against them merely for the sake of unifying everything with Russia is ridiculous and clearly politically biased.

I have no illusion – Ruthenia won't ever have as much content as Russia in these types of games. However, Ukrainians here are really grateful to the team if we have some amount of interesting content. As options and possibilities, not as heavy railroading.
All I want is for Kyiv to be able to unify Russia for a cool alternate history rather than being limited to just Ruthenia, since Kiev was the capital of the Rus and got hit hard by the mongols and rebuilding it would be just as fun.

I completely support extra flavour for Ruthenia, it's perfect for playing tall, but for those wanting to play wide? They shouldn't be denied a Kyiv-Ruthenia-Russia run either.
 
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All I want is for Kyiv to be able to unify Russia for a cool alternate history rather than being limited to just Ruthenia, since Kiev was the capital of the Rus and got hit hard by the mongols and rebuilding it would be just as fun.

I completely support extra flavour for Ruthenia, it's perfect for playing tall, but for those wanting to play wide? They shouldn't be denied a Kyiv-Ruthenia-Russia run either.
In the same fashion, if there is any semblance of Yugoslavia possible to be formed, I'd like for Bulgaria to be able to form it as well rather than be limited to OTL's borders. I strive for the maximum possible flavour.
 
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All I want is for Kyiv to be able to unify Russia for a cool alternate history rather than being limited to just Ruthenia, since Kiev was the capital of the Rus and got hit hard by the mongols and rebuilding it would be just as fun.

I completely support extra flavour for Ruthenia, it's perfect for playing tall, but for those wanting to play wide? They shouldn't be denied a Kyiv-Ruthenia-Russia run either.
Such kind of "alternative histories" should be accessed only via switching primary culture or court language. It's not something that should exist by default imo.
 
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Such kind of "alternative histories" should be accessed only via switching primary culture or court language. It's not something that should exist by default imo.
"Switching primary culture"? So the heirs of the Kyivan Rus are not worthy of forming Russia? I suggest that you read up on Rus' history to understand how limiting Russia-formation to muscovites is not grounded in reality (or refer to my previous posts)
 
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I love it when people don't know the difference between X century Kyivan Rus' and Russia, what formed from Duchy of Moscow and has no connections to Rus'.
I love it when people are confidentially incorrect about the history of a country.

The Web is a vast array of knowledge, I suggest you take advantage of it.
 
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I love it when people don't know the difference between X century Kyivan Rus' and Russia, what formed from Duchy of Moscow and has no connections to Rus'.
No connection, other than in dynasty, territory, language, culture, food, legal systems, religion, traditions, architecture, legacy, genetics, history and social structure.
Being sacked, and made tributary by the mongols didn't erase that, just like it didn't in Ukraine and Belarus.
Did they change in 300 years? Of course, just like in every single geographical regional during every single time period since the fucking bronze age.
Russia is not the sole successor of the Kievan Rus' (which wasn't even the name of the state, but of the time period), but certainly one of if not the most important.
 
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I love it when people are confidentially incorrect about the history of a country.

The Web is a vast array of knowledge, I suggest you take advantage of it.
I learned Russian history a lot. I already took advantage of it.
Moscow and Russia are parts of absolutely different time frame. It's like modern Italy claiming herself to be Empire of Romans.
 
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