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Well that is just unfairly impressive. It looks like you've really come a very long way with this mod in the last few months!
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After the End CK3 Dev Diary 5: Thunderland and Nomadism
Good tidings, all!
I apologize for the lack of regular teasers - I have had a bit of a personal crisis over the past two weeks which prevented me from attending to most mod-related duties. However, I have decided to make up for this by publishing a full dev diary for Thunderland instead!
We should start with a look at the region as it exists in the CK2 Fan Fork. I assume you're all at least a little familiar with how the region looks and plays in this version, but here's a refresher in the form of screenshots.
The de jure empire of Thunderland in the CK2 Fan Fork.
De jure kingdom view of the empire.
De facto realm view in 2666.
Religion view.
Culture view.
Government view.
Now, let's take a look at the way this region looks in CK3. Before I do that, though, I would like to remind everyone: Everything you see in this dev diary is a work in progress and will likely be changed in some way before the final release. With that out of the way, let's get to the part you've all been waiting for!
The de jure empire of Thunderland in After the End CK3.
De jure kingdom view of the empire.
De facto realm view has been excluded and will not be discussed in this dev diary. The de facto setup of Thunderland (along with most of the rest of the map) will probably change dramatically before release, so there is little point in discussing the specifics now.
Religion view.
Culture view.
Government view (INCOMPLETE - SUBJECT TO MASSIVE CHANGE)
As you can see, there have been a lot of changes, so we should go through them in a bit more detail. Let's go in the reverse order of the screenshots I just showed you.
First, you may have noticed that we have quite a few governments which don't exist in vanilla. We'll start with the one that is most prevalent in Thunderland - the Nomadic government. Nomadic is a Tribal-like government based on horseback men-at-arms and large expanses of land, with unique events for mass migrations. In terms of gameplay, they have a huge penalty to levies, taxes and fort level, but they can control far more land and hire larger men at arms stacks. As they grow, their capacity to keep larger horseback armies increases (making their upkeep cheaper, their stats better and their max count higher), at the expense of being even more limited at hiring non-mounted troops. When the conditions are right they can migrate to another realm, in a special conquest-like casus belli that, if successful, causes them to leave behind their old homeland in favor of the new conquered realm. Nomadic rulers can eventually adopt Feudalism or Republicanism if they are satisfied with their current home and seek to access the benefits of a more centralized government. (Basically, it's what we think the CK2 Nomad government should have been.)
Next, let's talk about the new cultures. As you can see, the cultures in the CK3 version of the Heartland are far more granular than they are in the CK2 Fan Fork. This is not universally true for the entire map - in fact, we have removed quite a few smaller cultures that we deemed unnecessary in light of the changes present in the upcoming Royal Court DLC - but we thought that more granularity was warranted in the Heartland region because the CK2 Fan Fork did not capture the region's diversity very well.
In terms of non-native cultures, the massive Grangelander culture has been split into Grangelander and Heartlander, and the Prairielander culture has been split into Prairielander and Preiryansky. There is also a new culture for part of Minnesota - Uplander, which is centered on the Twin Cities. However, all these changes are relatively minor when compared with the improvements we've made to Native American representation. The single Sioux culture in CK2 has been split into Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota, to more accurately represent the diversity within the Sioux nation. Other Native American groups which went unrepresented in CK2 have been included in CK3, including Mandan,Hidatsa, and Arikara (the previous three are represented as one culture called Mandaree), Chippewa, Oji-Cree, and Arapaho. These changes allow After the End to more accurately and inclusively represent the indigenous peoples of the Great Plains, and (hopefully) pique players’ interest in the indigenous history and cultures of this area in the process.
Personally speaking, I think the biggest changes to the region are the religious ones. The Peyotist religion, once the dominant faith, has been substantially reduced in Thunderland . Although Peyotist was certainly more suitable for the area than the pre-Fan Fork Ghost Dance religion, we felt that now was the appropriate time to refine the setup even further. To make up for this reduction, a new faith has been added - Sun Dance.
Here is its current description:
"The Sun Dance is the central ritual of the Plains religious complex. The four-day ritual ceremony opens with the dreams and visions of the presiding medicine people and then begins in earnest with ritual piercing and suspension followed by a constant dance for the 4 days where food and water are abstained from in a feat of strength and endurance by the ritual dancers. This yearly ritual reinforces the core beliefs and ethics of the peoples who participate. The act of self-mortification and dancing is not only a feat of strength, but an empowerment for the whole tribe, as the dancers are giving of themselves to appease the spirits and thank the creator, who in turn bestows fortune on the tribe. The use of bison skin and bones on the central pole is done to honor the bison and the creator and is believed to bless the tribes with a bounty. Furthermore, the ethics of selflessness, bravery, and endurance are celebrated by the dance and the participants. While a single major event, it is a culmination of the central theology of the peoples who participate, with all ancestors and spirits believed to participate."
This religion is based on the real-life Sun Dance ceremony, which has historically been suppressed by the American and Canadian governments to encourage assimilation to the majority culture. However, now that the United States and Canada are no more, indigenous practices such as Sun Dance have reasserted themselves and are now the majority faith in many parts of Thunderland.
Its current tenets are: Auspicious Birthright, Ritual Celebrations, and a new unique tenet called Great Hunt. This unique tenet makes the various Hunting lifestyle traits virtues and makes Sun Dance soldiers far more effective in certain types of terrain (Plains, Steppe, and Drylands, as well as potentially more types which may be added in the future). However, it also renders them extremely hostile to other faiths - even faiths in the same Religion are considered Evil.
Moving on, Peyotism has not been excised from Thunderland entirely. On the contrary, it has been split into two new faiths. The first, Fire Cross, is part of the Christian religion, and adheres more closely to normative Christian practice. As a result, its practitioners are accepted as brothers in faith by most other mainstream Christian groups, with the notable exception of Mormonism.
The second, Half Moon, is in its own Peyotist religion. Although it is on good terms with Fire Cross, its more substantial deviations from normative Christian practice causes other Christians to view them with suspicion and hostility. Most major Peyotist rulers have decided to adopt the Fire Cross faith as a matter of political expediency, but Half-Moon is still popular among the peasantry and lesser vassals in large Peyotist realms.
Both Fire Cross and Half-Moon have the new Sacramental Herbs tenet, which allows practitioners to (you guessed it) smoke sacramental herbs as a means of achieving spiritual enlightenment.
The Trailwalker religion has also been split into many sub-faiths to more accurately reflect the cultures and traditions of the regions in which Trailwalker is dominant. The dominant form of Trailwlker in Thunderland is Real Roader, which is the closest to the CK2 version. (This is unsurprising, because the CK2 version was originally created with this exact region in mind.)
(Yes I know the tenet name is unlocalized)
The other varieties of Trailwalker include Midnight Sun, Interranger, and Dust Rider. These exist in the far north, Intermountain West, and Southwest US/Northwest Mexico respectively. These other Trailwalker faiths, as well as the mechanical and flavor differences between them, will be discussed in future dev diaries. (There is actually a TON to talk about with Trailwalker, but I don't want that discussion to overshadow the rest of this dev diary.) For now, it is enough to say that all Trailwalker faiths allow rulers to pick one of several personal deities to follow.
There is another new religion present in Thunderland - Petromancer, a faith in the new Wellness religion. This faith is more akin to an alchemical movement than a traditional religious one, built around achieving long life and great power through harnessing the energy of the earth.
Here is its religious description:
"Petromancers believe that human illness and suffering are caused by the dimming of the inner flame, which when properly fueled can make even the most difficult tasks be accomplished seemingly without effort. Creating this fuel is mostly accomplished through finding natural sources of power through geomantic arts. When one is able to find and control one of the many power spots throughout the earth, it serves to greatly enhance the potency of their alchemy. With time, these power spots deplete in energy and potency, and therefore practitioners are constantly seeking out new ones to fuel their personal flames and keep healthy."
I feel that the Petromancy faith does a good job of representing the current economic and cultural importance of oil in the region without falling into the same pitfalls and cliches that you would expect an “oil religion” to have. Petromancy also exists in places such as Texas and Alberta, which have their own relationships with oil.
Finally, the Norse religion has been replaced with the new Viking faith, which is more obviously divergent from historical Norse paganism in terms of lore and flavor. (It will be discussed more in a future dev diary.)
Those are the biggest changes we have made to Thunderand compared to the CK2 version. I apologize for the lack of consistent updates this preview cycle, and I may also do a single dev diary for the next preview cycle because I expect to be very busy with IRL matters in the near future. I hope this dev diary was worth the wait!
Good tidings, all!
I apologize for the lack of regular teasers - I have had a bit of a personal crisis over the past two weeks which prevented me from attending to most mod-related duties. However, I have decided to make up for this by publishing a full dev diary for Thunderland instead!
We should start with a look at the region as it exists in the CK2 Fan Fork. I assume you're all at least a little familiar with how the region looks and plays in this version, but here's a refresher in the form of screenshots.
The de jure empire of Thunderland in the CK2 Fan Fork.
De jure kingdom view of the empire.
De facto realm view in 2666.
Religion view.
Culture view.
Government view.
Now, let's take a look at the way this region looks in CK3. Before I do that, though, I would like to remind everyone: Everything you see in this dev diary is a work in progress and will likely be changed in some way before the final release. With that out of the way, let's get to the part you've all been waiting for!
The de jure empire of Thunderland in After the End CK3.
De jure kingdom view of the empire.
De facto realm view has been excluded and will not be discussed in this dev diary. The de facto setup of Thunderland (along with most of the rest of the map) will probably change dramatically before release, so there is little point in discussing the specifics now.
Religion view.
Culture view.
Government view (INCOMPLETE - SUBJECT TO MASSIVE CHANGE)
As you can see, there have been a lot of changes, so we should go through them in a bit more detail. Let's go in the reverse order of the screenshots I just showed you.
First, you may have noticed that we have quite a few governments which don't exist in vanilla. We'll start with the one that is most prevalent in Thunderland - the Nomadic government. Nomadic is a Tribal-like government based on horseback men-at-arms and large expanses of land, with unique events for mass migrations. In terms of gameplay, they have a huge penalty to levies, taxes and fort level, but they can control far more land and hire larger men at arms stacks. As they grow, their capacity to keep larger horseback armies increases (making their upkeep cheaper, their stats better and their max count higher), at the expense of being even more limited at hiring non-mounted troops. When the conditions are right they can migrate to another realm, in a special conquest-like casus belli that, if successful, causes them to leave behind their old homeland in favor of the new conquered realm. Nomadic rulers can eventually adopt Feudalism or Republicanism if they are satisfied with their current home and seek to access the benefits of a more centralized government. (Basically, it's what we think the CK2 Nomad government should have been.)
Next, let's talk about the new cultures. As you can see, the cultures in the CK3 version of the Heartland are far more granular than they are in the CK2 Fan Fork. This is not universally true for the entire map - in fact, we have removed quite a few smaller cultures that we deemed unnecessary in light of the changes present in the upcoming Royal Court DLC - but we thought that more granularity was warranted in the Heartland region because the CK2 Fan Fork did not capture the region's diversity very well.
In terms of non-native cultures, the massive Grangelander culture has been split into Grangelander and Heartlander, and the Prairielander culture has been split into Prairielander and Preiryansky. There is also a new culture for part of Minnesota - Uplander, which is centered on the Twin Cities. However, all these changes are relatively minor when compared with the improvements we've made to Native American representation. The single Sioux culture in CK2 has been split into Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota, to more accurately represent the diversity within the Sioux nation. Other Native American groups which went unrepresented in CK2 have been included in CK3, including Mandan,Hidatsa, and Arikara (the previous three are represented as one culture called Mandaree), Chippewa, Oji-Cree, and Arapaho. These changes allow After the End to more accurately and inclusively represent the indigenous peoples of the Great Plains, and (hopefully) pique players’ interest in the indigenous history and cultures of this area in the process.
Personally speaking, I think the biggest changes to the region are the religious ones. The Peyotist religion, once the dominant faith, has been substantially reduced in Thunderland . Although Peyotist was certainly more suitable for the area than the pre-Fan Fork Ghost Dance religion, we felt that now was the appropriate time to refine the setup even further. To make up for this reduction, a new faith has been added - Sun Dance.
Here is its current description:
"The Sun Dance is the central ritual of the Plains religious complex. The four-day ritual ceremony opens with the dreams and visions of the presiding medicine people and then begins in earnest with ritual piercing and suspension followed by a constant dance for the 4 days where food and water are abstained from in a feat of strength and endurance by the ritual dancers. This yearly ritual reinforces the core beliefs and ethics of the peoples who participate. The act of self-mortification and dancing is not only a feat of strength, but an empowerment for the whole tribe, as the dancers are giving of themselves to appease the spirits and thank the creator, who in turn bestows fortune on the tribe. The use of bison skin and bones on the central pole is done to honor the bison and the creator and is believed to bless the tribes with a bounty. Furthermore, the ethics of selflessness, bravery, and endurance are celebrated by the dance and the participants. While a single major event, it is a culmination of the central theology of the peoples who participate, with all ancestors and spirits believed to participate."
This religion is based on the real-life Sun Dance ceremony, which has historically been suppressed by the American and Canadian governments to encourage assimilation to the majority culture. However, now that the United States and Canada are no more, indigenous practices such as Sun Dance have reasserted themselves and are now the majority faith in many parts of Thunderland.
Its current tenets are: Auspicious Birthright, Ritual Celebrations, and a new unique tenet called Great Hunt. This unique tenet makes the various Hunting lifestyle traits virtues and makes Sun Dance soldiers far more effective in certain types of terrain (Plains, Steppe, and Drylands, as well as potentially more types which may be added in the future). However, it also renders them extremely hostile to other faiths - even faiths in the same Religion are considered Evil.
Moving on, Peyotism has not been excised from Thunderland entirely. On the contrary, it has been split into two new faiths. The first, Fire Cross, is part of the Christian religion, and adheres more closely to normative Christian practice. As a result, its practitioners are accepted as brothers in faith by most other mainstream Christian groups, with the notable exception of Mormonism.
The second, Half Moon, is in its own Peyotist religion. Although it is on good terms with Fire Cross, its more substantial deviations from normative Christian practice causes other Christians to view them with suspicion and hostility. Most major Peyotist rulers have decided to adopt the Fire Cross faith as a matter of political expediency, but Half-Moon is still popular among the peasantry and lesser vassals in large Peyotist realms.
Both Fire Cross and Half-Moon have the new Sacramental Herbs tenet, which allows practitioners to (you guessed it) smoke sacramental herbs as a means of achieving spiritual enlightenment.
The Trailwalker religion has also been split into many sub-faiths to more accurately reflect the cultures and traditions of the regions in which Trailwalker is dominant. The dominant form of Trailwlker in Thunderland is Real Roader, which is the closest to the CK2 version. (This is unsurprising, because the CK2 version was originally created with this exact region in mind.)
(Yes I know the tenet name is unlocalized)
The other varieties of Trailwalker include Midnight Sun, Interranger, and Dust Rider. These exist in the far north, Intermountain West, and Southwest US/Northwest Mexico respectively. These other Trailwalker faiths, as well as the mechanical and flavor differences between them, will be discussed in future dev diaries. (There is actually a TON to talk about with Trailwalker, but I don't want that discussion to overshadow the rest of this dev diary.) For now, it is enough to say that all Trailwalker faiths allow rulers to pick one of several personal deities to follow.
There is another new religion present in Thunderland - Petromancer, a faith in the new Wellness religion. This faith is more akin to an alchemical movement than a traditional religious one, built around achieving long life and great power through harnessing the energy of the earth.
Here is its religious description:
"Petromancers believe that human illness and suffering are caused by the dimming of the inner flame, which when properly fueled can make even the most difficult tasks be accomplished seemingly without effort. Creating this fuel is mostly accomplished through finding natural sources of power through geomantic arts. When one is able to find and control one of the many power spots throughout the earth, it serves to greatly enhance the potency of their alchemy. With time, these power spots deplete in energy and potency, and therefore practitioners are constantly seeking out new ones to fuel their personal flames and keep healthy."
I feel that the Petromancy faith does a good job of representing the current economic and cultural importance of oil in the region without falling into the same pitfalls and cliches that you would expect an “oil religion” to have. Petromancy also exists in places such as Texas and Alberta, which have their own relationships with oil.
Finally, the Norse religion has been replaced with the new Viking faith, which is more obviously divergent from historical Norse paganism in terms of lore and flavor. (It will be discussed more in a future dev diary.)
Those are the biggest changes we have made to Thunderand compared to the CK2 version. I apologize for the lack of consistent updates this preview cycle, and I may also do a single dev diary for the next preview cycle because I expect to be very busy with IRL matters in the near future. I hope this dev diary was worth the wait!
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Interesting seeing the lake shore religion. Will northern ontario no longer be christian?
After the End CK3 Dev Diary 6.1 - Religion (part 1)
Good tidings, all!I apologize for the lack of content recently - finals and the holidays have been very stressful for the entire dev team. However, we've decided to make up for this extended break by creating our longest, most detailed, and most in-depth dev diary yet (for any version of the mod). This dev diary focuses on the unique ways that AtE will handle religion and faith, and it is so long that I have to upload it as a PDF instead of posting it inline. I hope you enjoy it!
After the End CK3 Dev Diary 6.1 - Religion (part 1)
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Wow, the work you do is amazing. The level of detail that shines through this diary is great. I really like the thought you give to the world building.
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These new religious mechanics are really interesting and I can't wait for more. I'm also curious as to what the rest of the americanist mechanics are.
Regarding Americanists, Would it make sense for them, Upon resurrecting the USA, To gain claims/CBs for De-Jure lands of the USA? This could be for anyone who somehow restores the USA.
Regarding Americanists, Would it make sense for them, Upon resurrecting the USA, To gain claims/CBs for De-Jure lands of the USA? This could be for anyone who somehow restores the USA.
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After the End CK3 Dev Diary 6.2 - Religions (part 2)
Good tidings, all!
Part 2 of the religion dev diary is out! Just like the last one, it's so long that I can't post it inline. Here's a link to the PDF.
I hope you're looking forward to the mod!
Good tidings, all!
Part 2 of the religion dev diary is out! Just like the last one, it's so long that I can't post it inline. Here's a link to the PDF.
I hope you're looking forward to the mod!
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Do I understand that right, Anthropophagism was born out of people misreading the Communist Manifesto as "Cannibal Manifesto" due to bleached lettering?
No, they read the Cannibal Manifesto from Oswaldo de Andrada, a brazillian modernist poet
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Are there any changes to the pirate religions? How their raiding works in Ck3, or if they have unique tenets?
Those are always been some of my favourite religions in the mod. What's better than building a pirate empire in the Caribbean?
Those are always been some of my favourite religions in the mod. What's better than building a pirate empire in the Caribbean?
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Someone on the subreddit extracted it, here. Though I will caution that the devs have said its not finalized as of now, and many regions still need focus time.
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Kinda sucks the occultist faiths are locked into viewing each other as evil. At least we can RP The call of Cthulhu/Dark Heresy Free mason inquisition trying to save the world from cults in the backwoods trying to bring doom upon the world.
I'm definitely wanting to try and reform the Cults of Starry Wisdom. I'd have thought that scaly would be a virtue since they'd have that Innsmouth look.
I'm definitely wanting to try and reform the Cults of Starry Wisdom. I'd have thought that scaly would be a virtue since they'd have that Innsmouth look.
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The way you made several faiths share a head, it could be useful for the vanilla CK3 world too - for example, Insular Christianity could finally be depicted as what it actually was IRL, a variant of Catholicism that diverged from Rome due to well, insularity, but still recognized the Papacy, not to mention the various Caliphates, with several schools of Islamic thought recognizing the same Caliph.
There's alternate historical potential too, for example you could mend the Schism while retaining Catholic/Orthodox peculiarities as nothing but a rite variant, as in Uniate churches nowadays, etc.
There's alternate historical potential too, for example you could mend the Schism while retaining Catholic/Orthodox peculiarities as nothing but a rite variant, as in Uniate churches nowadays, etc.
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Is it mentioned anywhere what faiths share the same religious head?
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In the mod, Americanism and Conclavism (A Canticle for Leibowitz-inspired North American Catholicism)
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I have a question if Popes in Saint Luis consider themselves continuators of Papacy in Rome why their heraldry starts from the beginning? You mantioned Pope Paul I, but there were already many "Popes Pauls" beforehand (residing in Rome)
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I'd think it's so the mod doesn't have to define exactly when contact with Rome was lost. This leaves it open to have happened either before or after the papacy of Paul VI.