I want to share an alt-hist mod idea I've been brewing: The Serafimate

[Azgabeth]

The Serafimate Mod Journal #1​

Preface & Disclaimer​

Hello, before I introduce my plans for this EU5 mod I want to first talk about a few things so as to avoid any confusion or possible attacks.

This mod idea came about from one of my Fallen Eagle CK3 campaigns, as we all know, CK3 is not exactly the hardest game to succeed in. It is also not very conducive to emergent storytelling, so I had to “fill in” a lot of the blanks (on this note, once All Under Heavens comes out I do plan on redoing the campaign from scratch to get a better outcome). While I believe I am doing a decent job, I am sure to have many shortcomings, which is why I am posting here in hope for feedback.

What has to be fundamentally understood about this mod is that while it is an alt-history mod, it is also a personal work of fiction. So, if I judge that the “rule of cool” is plausible enough, I am likely to keep it. For example: I’ve already set my mind to create an eastern religion called Wǔ Jiào (五教), “The Five Teaching” where christianity and islam, or rather the teachings of Jesus and Mohammed reach an equal level of syncretism with Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. Did this happen in our timeline, no. Is this idea cool, yes. Is it plausible under certain historical circumstances, also yes.

Additionally, I will mostly discuss concepts. Because the game is not out yet, and we’re still unsure of what can and cannot be done. Some things will be easier to infer from the available information than others. I also will not discuss hard numbers because of this reason.

I have to add that I am a beginner. I am still learning how to use raster and vector editing tools. I apologize if things look ugly I promise I will try to improve.

Now without further ado, let’s get to the meat n potatoes

The Serafimate​

The Serafimate will be the central polity of the mod and likely it’s namesake unless I can think of something better.

Some lore/ historical background:
The Serafimate has its origins in one daco-roman Adventurer “Gladius Ciconius (of the Stork)” who in the chaos of the migration period, managed to carve out a polity for himself with the center of power in Triserafis (three serafim) in the Danube Delta, which controlled the Danube River Valley.

The original polity was called the “Dominate of the Danube”, and inherited many late Roman institutions. Initially, there was only the title of “Dominus”, lord and master of the Danube, which through various political machinations, was elevated to imperial level by Byzantine Recognition.

The best way I can describe it is that as the polity expanded with the ideology of “control all the danube”, the “flanks” of Illyria and Dacia, controlled descendants of Gladius Ciconius, began to rebel, seeking independence and “equal standing”.

Well they lost the civil wars, but not without compromise. The Dominus at the time Seraphim (that was his actual name), was a genius in every sense and a scholar. Influenced by the De Coelesti Hierarchia of Pseudo-Dyonisus, he came up with a new temporal hierarchy, to appease his brothers.

There is One Seraphim on earth, who rules all the earth as God’s regent. This Seraphim must come from the Ciconius Dynasty.

This Seraphim can delegate “regions” of the earth to Heruvims’ as Imperiums. Heruvims can delegate to Ophanims. It sort of stops here. There is an Angelic Hierarchy as Nobility Ranks, and it will be a privilege for the Ciconius Estate, but as far as countries go this is where it stops.

Over time this system evolved into something I will explain shortly with visuals.

What I want to make clear is that “Serafimate” will be a Country Rank above Empire. A requirement to get this rank will be ~50 million Pops. So China should be the only other polity capable of getting it. Something like a reunited Caliphate, united Europe and India should probably also get it. I am not quite fond of the name Serafimate for the Rank because I want a more “universal” name so that it doesn’t feel weird when other countries rank up. Hegemony is already taken as it is a game mechanic, any other ideas?

Ok. Now to continue the lore up to 1337:

Long Story short, the Arab invasions still happen, the initial ones are actually a lot more successful this timeline. The Ciconius dynasty bails out the Byzantine Empire with the condition of a member of the Dynasty becoming Basileus. Over time the Byzantine Empire was also incorporated. A long “reconquest” policy takes place, with constant tug of wars between the Muslims, and the Serafimate.

But circa 11th century another brilliant Seraphim results in the rapid conquest of the levant, persia (up to the indus), egypt and arabia. As any rapid conquest goes, it doesn’t entirely last that long but the sheer violence and effectiveness of it allows for a permanent foothold.

As a result this is the rough border of the Seraphimate IO in 1337.

How the IO Functions​

There are going to be several polities within the Seraphimate IO. Mainly monarchies, theocracies and republics but also some tribes in the middle east.

The Government Reforms for the Monarchies within the IO are going to be: Seraphimate, Heruvimate, Ophanimate, Principate and Regnum.

The Reforms for Theocracies are going to be: Ecumenical Patriarchate and Patriarchate.

The Republics within the IO will all be called Toll Cities.

Additionally there is going to be a special Building Based Country with its own pop type called Banners.

Why do these matter?

Well to change the laws of the Serafimate IO, each country will vote. To perform actions within the IO the “influence” currency will have to be spent.

I’m not sure on the “influence” gain modifier yet. What I can tell you is that a Seraphim will gain more per month than a Heruvim who will gain more than a Ophanim etc.

As for the votes I’m pretty sure the following will work fine:

Seraphimate 20 votes, Heruvimate 15, Ecumenical Patriarchate 15, Ophanimate 10, Patriarchate 10, Principate 5, Banners 5, Toll Cities 2, Regnums 1.

I’ll give you an example of some starting laws of the Serafimate:

Military Law

“All For One” - if a Heruvimate is directly attacked by an outside power, all heruvimates and the seraphimate will get an event to join the war.

Banner Law

Food and Gold - whenever a Banner is located within the borders of an ophanimate that country will have to pay for the “expenses” of the Banner in terms of food and money.

Religious Law

“Serafimate” Christianity - I’ll explain this type of christianity in a different journal

Aside from Law Changes there’s going to be certain actions members can do which requires a vote.

For example there will generally be 3 ways to change who holds the Serafimate: Succession, War (Usurp Serafimate Casus Belli), Or calling for an Election on “How well the current Serafim” is ruling.

The Heruvimates​

After the Serafim. The highest rank in the angelic hierarchy are the Heruvim.

In terms of gameplay, think of the Serafim as the Holy Roman Emperor ruling over a decentralized polity through an IO. And of the Heruvim as France, ruling over several vassals, some more loyal some less so. Heruvimates will all be Empire Rank.

The Heruvimates at the start are the following ten:

PS: think of these more as “De Jure” territories, they get even more splintered.

Each Heruvimate has its own history of formation or acquisition. Some were acquired "peacefully" some through conquest. Their history informs their politics. Some will be more tolerant of other cultures, some less so, etc. What is important to note, is that all these polities have a common origin in the “colonisation” policy of the Ciconius Dynasty. You’ll see what I mean.

1. The Dominate of Danubia.
   1. This is the polity which first emerged from the Ciconius Dynasty. Historically it has most often been the Serafimate though not always. In 1337 it will be the Serafimate tho.
   2. “Dominate” comes from Latin Dominus, i.e. lord, owner. As the initial polity ruled over a romance speaking population this title was picked to clarify the authority of the ruler, ie that he “owned” as his personal property all of the Danube.
2. The Gospodaria of Dacia.
   1. Dacia was the second polity to emerge. Initially it was sort of an “appanage” of Danubia, with the center of power in the Transylvanian Plateau. Over time it conquered all of the Carpathian Mountains.
   2. The rulers of Dacia took on the Title “Gospodar” from the slavic population they came across. Gospodar pretty much has the same meaning as Lord.
3. The Augustate of Illyria
   1. The third polity. To be clear Dacia and Illyria emerged nearly at the same time. A big difference tho is that Dacia had to deal with a foreign slavic population. Illyria had to deal with a roman and romanized illyrian population
   2. Pretty self explanatory, the highest title in Illyria is Augustus.
4. The Khaganate of Sarmatia
   1. The fourth polity. Given the Capital is on the Danube Delta, a fundamental Policy of the early Danubian State, was the conquest of the Pontic Steppe. A long period of punitive campaigns, marriage alliances, colonisation, assimilation, “bannerisation” (i will explain what banners are i promise).
   2. And herein is the colonization I was talking about. The rulers here, despite being from a romance origin and renaming the region to something familiar, did not impose their own titles but rather took on the local titles such as Khagan, this will be the trend.
5. The Basileon of Rhomania
   1. The 5th polity. Not much to say. It is the Byzantine empire. It wasn’t conquered. The Danubian State and Byzantine Empire always enjoyed a frenemies relationship, mostly friends though. With the Muslims at the gates of Constantinople though, the Danubians bailed them out on the condition of a member of the Ciconius Dynasty (which already had influence in the empire) becoming emperor.
   2. They kept the Greek style titles like Basileus.
6. The “Didi Mepe” of Caucasia
   1. The medieval kingdom of Abkhazia was inherited through dynastic means. Caucasian Albania, Iranian Azerbaijan and the northern Caucasus was mostly conquered.
   2. Here’s the thing, from my research, it seems that Medieval Abkhazia actually used Georgian as a court language. From what I could gather, Mepe means King and Didi Mepe would be something like “Great King”. There are so many ethnic groups here that it gets really confusing. I mean I guess just picking the “georgian” title would be fine?
7. The Pharaoh of Egypt
   1. In this timeline, some time after the Arab conquest the Egyptians revolted and the Serafimate capitalized on the situation to benefit. Nubia was conquered
   2. About the use of Pharaoh. In many ways yes, it makes little sense, but some egyptaboo coming to power is also plausible and funny so it stays
8. The Mangista of Ethiopia
   1. Ethiopia was inherited. Ethiopia will have a lot of content about rebellious nobles.
   2. Mangista comes from Mängəśtä which is the Ge’ez word for realm. The Title used is Negus Negast.
9. The “Padishahi” of Oriens
   1. There are many names for the region containing “the levant”, syria, mesoptamia, etc. I’ve pondered what a latin-speaking population would name it. Honestly, Oriens feels like it fits just right.
   2. As for why Padishah. Well the islamic polities that were conquered here did the same thing as in our timeline: adopt farsi as a court language. Naturally when the Danubians conquered, they adopted as they did elsewhere the local titles. I went with Padishah as I feel Shahanshah is a bit too long.
10. The Kalifate of Arabia
    1. Arabia was conquered. It was more a “secular” conflict than a “religious” one. The catholic crusades still happen but they have a different angle they are not about the holy land.
    2. Now, about the title. Please do not get mad at me, I realize caliph has a very important connotation in the islamic world. At the same time, I think it is realistic for a foreign power to conquer the area and title themselves “caliph” so as to show supremacy over the conquered islamic population even if the title holder themselves doesn’t follow an islamic faith.

I think this is enough for this week. Next week I will discuss more on what “Ophanimates” are and how utterly fragmented the Seraphimate really is.

But here is a teaser:

 

[Enku7071]

Hyped, mod sounds cool and the log was a delight to read. I'd love to see more of it as time goes on.

What I want to make clear is that “Serafimate” will be a Country Rank above Empire. A requirement to get this rank will be ~50 million Pops. So China should be the only other polity capable of getting it. Something like a reunited Caliphate, united Europe and India should probably also get it. I am not quite fond of the name Serafimate for the Rank because I want a more “universal” name so that it doesn’t feel weird when other countries rank up. Hegemony is already taken as it is a game mechanic, any other ideas?

Feels like rather than a country rank, tailor-made IO would fit in much more, but that's just me. I will postpone until the Chinese Empire IO reveal to formulate my views and potential suggestions for it.

I also wonder how would this Roman entity affect the Slavic people living there, as well as Turkic Khaganates, Mogyer migration, and later on the Mongol invasions.

But circa 11th century another brilliant Seraphim results in the rapid conquest of the levant, persia (up to the indus), egypt and arabia. As any rapid conquest goes, it doesn’t entirely last that long but the sheer violence and effectiveness of it allows for a permanent foothold.

Was the Muslim polities that weak to simply crumble within few decades, after 300 years of bickering? Was there any other reasons on why the Muslims in Arabia rumbled that fast? Is there any relatively powerful Muslim entity around? I'm guessing sth along the lines of Hindustan and Turkestan.

Also, how stable is the current Seraphimate is? Is it stable and prosperous enough to continue existing for the first 100 years or is it teetering on a brink of collapse?

The Heruvimates at the start are the following ten:

I am not sure if the Seraphimate religion allows for titles of Biblical foes like "pharaoh" or local name like "didi mepe", I feel they'd rather super standardise it, only allowing special title name for more privileged/core part of the empire (e.g. Byzantines would get the exception imo) but if there's a good explanation for it, or if the empire is kinda decentralised, I can see such sepaate naming conventions happening tho.
Guess I'll only know about it next week!

I think this is enough for this week. Next week I will discuss more on what “Ophanimates” are and how utterly fragmented the Seraphimate really is.

Even for Ophamites those realms look absolutely bonkers. I'd personally love to see some of these Ophamites being much more decentralised, with each of them having their unique succession laws and special mechanics.

 

[blue0china]

I’ve already set my mind to create an eastern religion called Wǔ Jiào (五教), “The Five Teaching” where christianity and islam, or rather the teachings of Jesus and Mohammed reach an equal level of syncretism with Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism.

This setting sounds somewhat reminiscent of I-Kuan Tao, a modern religion that emerged in the twentieth century. It once flourished, but after the mainland fell and the government in Taiwan imposed martial law, new religious movements were not officially recognised, and I-Kuan Tao activities were forced underground. It was not until the lifting of martial law in the 1980s that the faith was able to revive in the Free Area of the Republic of China.

On the mainland of our country, under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, I-Kuan Tao was completely suppressed and eradicated as early as the 1950s, and this situation has continued to the present day. In fact, even in recent years, there have been news reports of followers being arrested.

 

[Azgabeth]

This setting sounds somewhat reminiscent of I-Kuan Tao, a modern religion that emerged in the twentieth century. It once flourished, but after the mainland fell and the government in Taiwan imposed martial law, new religious movements were not officially recognised, and I-Kuan Tao activities were forced underground. It was not until the lifting of martial law in the 1980s that the faith was able to revive in the Free Area of the Republic of China.

On the mainland of our country, under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, I-Kuan Tao was completely suppressed and eradicated as early as the 1950s, and this situation has continued to the present day. In fact, even in recent years, there have been news reports of followers being arrested.

DUDE I HAD NO IDEA!!!

Thank you so much. Looks like I’ll have lots of reading to do when I start fully working on that area!