I wanna be a peasant in Crusader Kings 3.

[mathuser]

Did you ever hear of the independent peasants' republic of Dithmarschen? It's not a state Crusader Kings would have playable. It's a Europa Universalis government. Dithmarschen was at the border of the Holy Roman Empire, so swampy and so remote it could use the terrain to repel feudal lords to retain independence. It had such a level of autonomy, it could stay in the Middle Ages into the 19th century.

TL;DR Dithmarschen, and also the members of the Frisian Freedom, was a literal farmers' republic in the Middle Ages. However, these aren't the same as what's being suggested. The upcoming clan government would probably be appropriate.

Regarding the suggestion, some events about the knights, which will be in the game, rising to nobility could possibly add some flavor.

Also, here is some info about the peasants' republic: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...id_the_free_peasant_republic_in_dithmarschen/

 

[sortulv]

That’s the thing though! You don’t have to keep track of an entire game of peasants. Just you and the peasants created for your story and actions you regularly interact with if we are going this idea. The rest of the characters for one time events you can just kill off the same way CK2 does.

It’s not like this is the modern age where you gotta go see your rich uncle in Gotland. Most likely you are going to live, marry, have kids, work the farm, and die where you are born. So there’s no need to have a large system spamming peasants everywhere. Too complicated.

Ahh - in the same way we don't need to keep track of other nations when you don't interact with them? So, basically for this version of the game, you would only need to keep track of the local village... Hmm - at this point the Guild series would be more in line with what you're looking for

To keep with the PDX of games though, you should treat characters played by AI and humans in the same manner. That is part of what makes the game interesting - so, if you can play on the peasant level, all peasants needs to be tracked... If you can only play down to the landed nobility, you only need to track landed nobles and those interesting to the landed nobility...

 

[Denkt]

Justinian was from indifferent age, Joan d'arc was a general, and China isn't in the game.

In any case, social mobility clearly doesn't mean what you think it means if you consider it equal to modern standards.

Im not sure what you mean with social mobility, to me it mean a significant Rising in status compared to your parents, to me social mobility in modern age is thus pretty limited. If you mean social mobility require you to stay as a peasant your whole Life, no it don't work like that, not today either. The wast majority of people will not see any social mobility, not today and not in the medieval era.

I don't think the era or location matter that much which was why I mentioned Justinian. Joan was a born in a peasant family which became minor nobility due to her which is a rise of social status. If a mere teenager could rise from peasant to nobility, it mean there was definitively some social mobility during that era.

It's a shame that they use that power to erase themselves from history. That or you're talking nonsense, which I would never accuse someone of...

Im not sure what you are talking about. There was not as much information written down from that era as it is today. Not as many people could read or write as today and books was expensive to make and they would need to survive all way today. Even the surviving version of Joan of Arc is probably more fiction than a real Life person and given traits that sound made up such as one french commander claimed her skills as a military commander was that of someone with decades of experience and her ability to use artillery was exceptional. At that Point she would have been about 17 years old, could not read and only write her name at most with just weeks or months of military experience. The claim was also made about 25 years after her Death. So even if a person is remebered, we cant exactly be sure if it is actually the person or a legend based on the person that is remembered.

 

[MrNewVegas]

You want a different game, chum

 

[Pannonius]

That's right, you tell him, bucko.

 

[pliznobn]

Did you ever hear of the independent peasants' republic of Dithmarschen? It's not a state Crusader Kings would have playable. It's a Europa Universalis government. Dithmarschen was at the border of the Holy Roman Empire, so swampy and so remote it could use the terrain to repel feudal lords to retain independence. It had such a level of autonomy, it could stay in the Middle Ages into the 19th century.

Dennis the Peasant finally got his autonomous collective?

 

[Ruprecht]

Not just Dithmarschen, wherever peasants could resist the imposition of a 'feudal' lord they got on perfectly well without them.

 

[Kanaric]

lol you have no idea what this game is about if you think this would work.

Go play that czech RPG, whatever it's called.

 

[Fediuld76]

I know I'm gonna get all of these complaints such as: "How is that fun gameplay?" I don't care. I wanna be a peasant. I wanna grow my crops and battle the elements through a good harvest season or a bad season and receive gold as a result to reinvest into better quality pitchforks. I want to be drafted by the local rulers into a levy in times of war and have a kill counter. I want to be a veteran of war and eventually become a advanced troop type, a general, or a knight and if I survive long enough, be rewarded by my good work from the Monarch and receive a baron or a county of my very own. I want to be the lover of the local duchess, whom cheats on her husband for me because her husband is small where it counts.

Forget making baronies playable, I wanna start from the damn dirt. The absolute bottom of medieval society. I want to look at that little Sims picture and see a single masculine figure, heroically holding his pitchfork and wearing a linen coif to protect my bald middle-aged head from the sun. Raising bands of other peasants to defend our lands from raiders like the historical Russian Tsar Ivaylo did to defend his cabbages from the Golden Horde. Crusader Kings 3 is supposed to be focused around characters right? A peasant is a character! Therefore you should be able to play as a peasant. No excuses!

That is all.

Seriously though. Playing as a peasant in a Crusader Kings 3. Get drafted into a levy. Now you're on a Crusade. Now you're a count in Antioch because you did a lot of heroic things in the Crusade and most of the nobility died in the war so your King started drawing from his military ranks.

Cmon now. Don't tell me that wouldn't be fun!

Define period and area. West Europe under feudalism was segregated and climbing the ranks was impossible even for rich people.
The bottom of medieval society never managed to climb higher than the "bottom". It stopped there and died at pretty young age, barely hitting 40.

Even until the 1600s, anyone without noble blood was nobody without any single opportunity to climb up.

Notable exceptions were Italy and Byzantium but these two didn't had aristocratic driven feudalism like everyone else. Anyone worth his salt could become powerful and even the Emperor. (Bazil I, Justinian etc are good examples).

India same thing, caste system didn't allowed anyone climb the ladder and this is hard even today outside the big cities. The Arab world was not that different than Feudal Europe.

 

[Denkt]

Define period and area. West Europe under feudalism was segregated and climbing the ranks was impossible even for rich people.
The bottom of medieval society never managed to climb higher than the "bottom".

Given that people was made into nobles and reached high positions while having modest backgrounds indicate that this is not true. Any society need some way for people to advance since if Everything is based on birth, what will happen once the noble families dies out or how did even these families come to existance in first place?

It stopped there and died at pretty young age, barely hitting 40.

If people survived childhood, their chance to live long Life increased alot. Rich people who could afford the best Medical care (which are the characters in game) would probably have very good chance to live long Life, Assuming the avoided warfare and such.

Even until the 1600s, anyone without noble blood was nobody without any single opportunity to climb up.

Feels you simply picked an arbitary year.

Notable exceptions were Italy and Byzantium but these two didn't had aristocratic driven feudalism like everyone else. Anyone worth his salt could become powerful and even the Emperor. (Bazil I, Justinian etc are good examples).

Hard for me to say if these are actually exceptions. Competence have Always been highly regarded and Soldiers is not Always the sort of people to value a title above Everything else, if somebody else can lead them to greater success, pay them more and so on they may simply choose that person and how powerful a person is largely tied to their ability to get the respect of their Soldiers.

Maybe there is a case that the more stable a society is the more aristocratic it would be since serious Changes generally require war which would mean some families lose Everything while others are raised to the top and Byzantine don't feel to me to be the most stable or successful thing during the CK time period of 1066-1453.

 

[myrt]

Sounds fuckin awful and I'll give you as many reasons why as you'd like

 

[Pannonius]

That's right, boys. You tell him.

 

[gustavotoniato]

I love to see the Roman Senate in Byzantium

 

[Turbofjes]

Getting paid for your work and owning your own personal pitchfork? What kinda easy-mode start is that?

 

[luxfelix]

Fun thread regardless , this came to my mind while reading:

If your character goes "into hiding", maybe there could be a story arc of living with the peasantry, affecting their traits &/or province loyalty when returning to power (while being seen as a "traitor to one's class" by other haughty nobility)?

Then again, this could also apply to hiding out in a monastery (sanctuary), travelling abroad to escape conspirators (etc., etc.)...

I recall burghers/merchant republics are not planned content (at least upon release?), though those were some ways I thought you could technically play as a lowborn character within the context of CKIII -- I dunno, it's fun to brainstorm though.