Poland and Lithuania stand side-by-side as large realms, powerful enough to have a large impact in central and eastern Europe. To their east lie the Russian states, as well as the Golden Horde, whose lands could be seized by a rapacious Lithuanian monarch. To the north lies the Teutonic State, occuping de jure territories belonging to Lithuania. Bringing the Teutonic Knights under control would open up access to the Baltic Sea and Scandinavia. Meanwhile, to the south, the Ottoman threat grows ever-closer. Wallachia is all that stands between them and Poland. However, if the two realms could unite, if they could march under one banner and protect their common interests, then there is no telling what challenges they could overcome...
King Vladislovas of Poland
With a claim on Lithuania, King Vladislovas is well-placed to regain control of Lithuania, which is de facto under the rule of Grand Duke Vytautus. However, his task will be no easy one. Should he wish to reunite Poland and Lithuania, the first step will be one of the hardest. In terms of military strength, Lithuania is equal, if not superior, to Poland, and Vladislovas has fewer marriage ties with other powers. However, he himself is available for marriage after the recent death of his wife, Jadwiga, the previous Queen of Poland, and well-chosen wife could secure the military assistance needed to overcome Lithuanian resistance.
Nevertheless, there are other challenges to face when ruling Lithuania...
Grand Duke Vytautus
Vytautus is in a difficult position. Born a pagan in a pagan land, the Teutonic Knights have been a constant threat. He was eventually baptised into the Catholic Church, along with many of his Lithuanian vassals, but that didn't solve all his problems. The Teutonic Knights continued to crusade against Lithuania, claiming his baptism to be a sham. Furthermore, the territorial expansion of the Grand Duchy has given rise to other religious issues. Now that Lithuania encompasses much of the old land of the Rus', the Orthodox church has a significant presence, with many of his Lithuanian and Russian vassals adhering to this faith. In his Crimean lands, there are even Sunni Mongols who came with the Golden Horde, although they are only a minority. Vytautus will have a hard time maintaining order, and he may he even have to consider adopting Orthodox Christianity. However, if he is able to appease his diverse range of vassals, all with their own grievances, the Grand Duchy will become a force to be reckoned with, able to withstand invasions from Poles, Teutons, and Russians.
Forming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a constitutional monarchy with a strong nobility, notable for its unprecedented religious tolerance and cultural diversity.
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth can be formed if the following conditions are met:
The Polish-Lithuanian Crown affords the following benefits:
That concludes the first part of the Dev Diary... now I shall address the initial release of the mod! The release date will be 8th August, i.e. next Saturday. This will be very much an early alpha-release, but hopefully it will provide a great experience and community feedback. There will be more details about it on the day itself (everything will be included in the next dev diary), but here is a brief overview of what will be included:
- Over half the map will be playable, from the frozen shores of Iceland in the North to the sun-baked Persia in the East, and the prosperous kingdom of Mali in the South
- Some early Renaissance content (traits, events etc.)
- The Beginning of the End will replace the Late Middle Ages bookmark on the Era Selection Screen (obviously the latter is still available through custom setup), complete with interesting characters to start as
I hope you're looking forward to an early glimpse of what this mod is like! There are plenty of areas which I haven't touched on in the dev diaries so far which you will be able to explore to your heart's content. I would also like to take this opportunity to promote the Beginning of the End subreddit, where you can see all of the previous dev diaries (which are also all on the forum) and discuss the mod or make suggestions. Farewell for now, and happy crusading (or happy religious tolerance, if that's more your style)!
Here are all of the dev diaries so far:
Dev Diary #000
Dev Diary #1
Dev Diary #2
Dev Diary #3
Dev Diary #4
Dev Diary #5
Dev Diary #6
Dev Diary #7
Dev Diary #8
King Vladislovas of Poland
With a claim on Lithuania, King Vladislovas is well-placed to regain control of Lithuania, which is de facto under the rule of Grand Duke Vytautus. However, his task will be no easy one. Should he wish to reunite Poland and Lithuania, the first step will be one of the hardest. In terms of military strength, Lithuania is equal, if not superior, to Poland, and Vladislovas has fewer marriage ties with other powers. However, he himself is available for marriage after the recent death of his wife, Jadwiga, the previous Queen of Poland, and well-chosen wife could secure the military assistance needed to overcome Lithuanian resistance.
Nevertheless, there are other challenges to face when ruling Lithuania...
Vytautus is in a difficult position. Born a pagan in a pagan land, the Teutonic Knights have been a constant threat. He was eventually baptised into the Catholic Church, along with many of his Lithuanian vassals, but that didn't solve all his problems. The Teutonic Knights continued to crusade against Lithuania, claiming his baptism to be a sham. Furthermore, the territorial expansion of the Grand Duchy has given rise to other religious issues. Now that Lithuania encompasses much of the old land of the Rus', the Orthodox church has a significant presence, with many of his Lithuanian and Russian vassals adhering to this faith. In his Crimean lands, there are even Sunni Mongols who came with the Golden Horde, although they are only a minority. Vytautus will have a hard time maintaining order, and he may he even have to consider adopting Orthodox Christianity. However, if he is able to appease his diverse range of vassals, all with their own grievances, the Grand Duchy will become a force to be reckoned with, able to withstand invasions from Poles, Teutons, and Russians.
Forming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a constitutional monarchy with a strong nobility, notable for its unprecedented religious tolerance and cultural diversity.
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth can be formed if the following conditions are met:
- You must hold both the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
- Your primary title must be Poland or Lithuania
- Your culture must be Polish or Lithuanian
- Your primary title must use Elective Monarchy succession
- High Centralization
- Tolerance VI
- Late Feudal Administration
- Full Council Authority
- You must NOT have the Religious Revocation law (Religious Control Mandate)
The Polish-Lithuanian Crown affords the following benefits:
- Opinion penalty for religious and cultural differences are reduced by a further 25% (combined with Tolerance VIII, this makes a 75% reduction to religious and cutural opinion penalties)
- Unique CB: if the ruler is Protestant (more on the Reformation in the future!), he can use a unique CB to vassalise the Teutonic Knights, reducing them to the feudal Duchy of Prussia and forcing them to accept the religion of the Polish-Lithuanian monarch.
- The de jure kingdoms of Poland, Lithuania, Kievan Rus and Galicia-Volhynia become de jure parts of the Commonwealth, and through conquest, the ruler gains access to decisions to incorporate Chernigov, the Crimea, Estonia and Pomerania to the Commonwealth's de jure territory.
- Unique events to add flavour to ruling the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
That concludes the first part of the Dev Diary... now I shall address the initial release of the mod! The release date will be 8th August, i.e. next Saturday. This will be very much an early alpha-release, but hopefully it will provide a great experience and community feedback. There will be more details about it on the day itself (everything will be included in the next dev diary), but here is a brief overview of what will be included:
- Over half the map will be playable, from the frozen shores of Iceland in the North to the sun-baked Persia in the East, and the prosperous kingdom of Mali in the South
- Some early Renaissance content (traits, events etc.)
- The Beginning of the End will replace the Late Middle Ages bookmark on the Era Selection Screen (obviously the latter is still available through custom setup), complete with interesting characters to start as
I hope you're looking forward to an early glimpse of what this mod is like! There are plenty of areas which I haven't touched on in the dev diaries so far which you will be able to explore to your heart's content. I would also like to take this opportunity to promote the Beginning of the End subreddit, where you can see all of the previous dev diaries (which are also all on the forum) and discuss the mod or make suggestions. Farewell for now, and happy crusading (or happy religious tolerance, if that's more your style)!
Here are all of the dev diaries so far:
Dev Diary #000
Dev Diary #1
Dev Diary #2
Dev Diary #3
Dev Diary #4
Dev Diary #5
Dev Diary #6
Dev Diary #7
Dev Diary #8
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