Today, we have the second dev diary for RICE’s upcoming flavor pack –
Zhangzhung: Land of Hidden Treasures. The ETA for this update will be in roughly 2 weeks, but this is subject to change.
In the first dev diary we covered cultural and historical content for Tibet, particularly Western Tibet. This time, we’ll cover religious additions and changes, and other stuff I didn’t get to last time.
Please note all screenshots here are WIP!
New Faiths and Doctrines
New Faiths
The Dezawist faith in the old Peristani religion that was added with the Pamir and Zunist Flavor Pack more than 3 years ago, to represent the indigenous beliefs of the Dardic and Nuristani peoples of northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, will finally have company. A new faith,
Bonoñah, represents the old religion of the native Dards of Ladakh, like the Brokpas.
The modern Brokpas have two pantheons: the Bonoñah pantheon, who are only worshipped in certain circumstances, and the Live pantheon. It is theorized that the Live pantheon came with more recent waves of post-medieval Dardic immigrants in Ladakh, while the Bonoñah are the gods of earlier Dards who lived in Ladakh in medieval times and before.
Moving on, one issue with depicting indigenous Tibetan beliefs is that Tibet hardly had a united religious tradition before Buddhism. The history of Bön is complex, and there’s much debate on how to define it. Even vanilla makes a nod to this by describing Old Bön, or
Khyarwé Bön in-game, with “exact beliefs varied from place to place.” There is some indication that later Bön traditions evolved from agglomerations of diverse, distinct spiritual practices and even today, monastic Bön, which has great similarities to mainstream Tibetan Buddhism, differs heavily from the folk religion of various Tibetan peoples.
In RICE, I avoid touching vanilla code at all costs to ensure maximum compatibility, so I can’t add new faiths to the Bön religion. However, to showcase the aforementioned diversity, there is a new religion,
West Himalayan, representing indigenous Tibeto-Burman beliefs found in the western Himalayas. It has one faith (for now) found only in the county of Kimru:
Kimshuism. Kimru’s local Zhangzhung ruler will also start as that at game start.
Kimshuism represents the traditional beliefs and rituals of the indigenous inhabitants of Kinnaur, which may be related to the pre-Buddhist practices of Zhangzhung. Over the centuries, these beliefs and rituals have been heavily influenced by both Buddhism and Hinduism as the people of Kinnaur have (loosely) adopted both.
Doctrines
The Tibetan/Bön and West Himalayan religions have a special doctrine,
Himalayan Deities, which has two different options:
Assertive Deities (Kimshuist and Old Bön by default) and
Protective Deities (Reformed Bön by default).
These represent the different approaches to gods in folk Tibetan religion on one hand, and monastic Bön, which is more similar to Buddhism, on the other. Their bonuses relate to new decisions/mechanics I’ll explain below.
Religious Decisions
I am also adapting the
Rajas of Asia and
Dharmachakra mods’ decisions to select a personal
meditation deity. There are three variations of what you can select depending on your faith:
- Yidam: Bön or West Himalayan religion, or Buddhist faith and Tibetan heritage
- Nat: Burmic religion or Buddhist faith with Burman heritage
- Personal Meditation Deity: All other Buddhists whose faith has the East Asian or Tantric Canon Doctrines
Each deity provides a different modifier with various effects, though it will cost piety to switch. If your faith is Buddhist and has the Tantric Canon doctrine, or is Bön or West Himalayan and has the Assertive Deities doctrine, you don’t need to pay the piety cost to change modifiers.
Lastly, on a larger scale is an important decision to
Find a New Faith for Tibet, similar to a decision in the Persian struggle, available to all rulers following the unreformed Bön faith.
There are several options, from various Buddhist sects to Shaivism and Abrahamic religions with some presence in Tibet during this period. Usually, the AI will aim to convert to Nangchos or Gyur Bön as happened historically but you (and rarely the AI) can take an alternate route with a different spiritual path if you meet certain requirements.
Milarepa
Flavor has also been added in the form of
Milarepa, an 11th century Tibetan hermit and religious teacher. Though associated with the Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism, he is widely venerated by all Tibetan Buddhists to this day.
Milarepa’s life is the subject of much legend; in one story, he defeated a Bön master named Naro Bönchung in a duel of miracles to assert Buddhism's dominance over Mount Kailash, a holy mountain in the heart of old Zhangzhung. This likely apocryphal anecdote, symbolic of tensions between Buddhists and Bönpos in Tibet to this day, is captured through an event that can randomly trigger during the 11th century.
As an aside, Milarepa is my first attempt at DNA modding, i.e. giving a historical character a set appearance. He is often depicted as a long-haired, skinny man with a hand cupped to his ear (hence why he has the "eavesdrop" pose in the event). It is said his skin turned green as he lived as a hermit who only ate nettles for many years, though for reasons of realism, I won't make him green.
The event in turn unlocks a decision to
Consecrate Zuthulpuk Monastery for any Buddhist ruler who controls the county of Purang, where Mount Kailash is. It gives various positive modifier bonuses to the ruler who takes the decision as well as the county.
Treasure Revalers
The “star” feature of this update is the Tertön system.
Tertöns, or treasure revealers, are people in Tibetan Buddhism (particularly the Nyingma sect) and Bön who discover hidden religious treasures called
termas. Termas are often spiritual teachings, whether in physical written form or verbal, mental form, but can also be artifacts, buildings, locations, and so on. It is believed that ancient holy figures hid these treasures so that when the time was right, future generations would discover them for the benefit of all. Perhaps the most famous terma outside Tibet is the
Bardo Thodol, often known (incorrectly) as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which was revealed by Karma Lingpa in the 1300s.
The Tertön mechanic is available to Bön faiths with the Protective Deities doctrine, or Buddhists of Tibetan cultural heritage.
Tertöns
Tertöns are represented through a
Tertön trait that can be leveled up the more termas a tertön discovers. Before someone can even get this trait, they need to get the
Potential Tertön character modifier via an event. This event triggers randomly, but you can increase the chances it happens (more on that below). Certain things, like having high learning or some traits like the Mystic lifestyle, make it likelier to appear, but any adult could be a potential tertön – even those with many sinful traits. It is often said one shouldn’t dismiss a tertön just because they have flaws, and that it is possible for a fraud to pretend to be a Buddha-like figure
Termas are discovered randomly. There is a chance every year that someone with the Tertön trait, or the Potential Tertön modifier, discovers a terma. This chance is increased based on traits, piety, as well as experience in the Tertön trait.
As said, you can boost the chances of terma discovery, however. If you are a landed ruler, you can take the decision to
Patronize Tertöns. It gives you a modifier increasing the chances that Tertöns or Potential Tertöns in your court will discover terma, and it also increases the chances that courtiers (or even you) will get a Potential Tertön modifier. Even if nothing is discovered per se, you’ll still get small, randomized amounts of piety and prestige every year you have the modifier to represent the discovery of “minor” terma.
If you have the Tertön trait or Potential Tertön modifier, you can take a decision to
Search for Termas as well. This increases your own chances of finding termas.
Terma Discovery
How are terma discovered in-game? If you’re lucky, you or the Tertön/Potential Tertön will receive a vision indicating where the terma could be. It will generally be in a province close to your capital; the tertön will then have to travel there. Once they reach their destination, if one is found (as there’s always a chance of failure) an event triggers showing what kind of terma it is. In terms of in-game effects, termas range from artifacts, to gold, positive modifiers, and more.
For most types of termas, you can choose to keep it for yourself, let the tertön keep it (if you didn’t discover it), or donate it to a local temple, with varying effects. Besides this, people might react to the terma differently: the terma’s
recognition level could be questioned, accepted, or venerated. This influences the effects of the terma (for instance, if your terma is in the form of an artifact, better reactions means artifacts with more modifiers).
The recognition level simulates how even back then, tertöns were controversial, with some non-Nyingma Tibetan Buddhists arguing that termas were hoaxes. Even true believers acknowledged some tertöns could be frauds – in fact, tertöns would often express self-doubt and self-deprecating rhetoric as a way to prove their credentials (the idea being that only glory-seeking fraudsters would pretend to be perfectly virtuous and all-knowing).
Lastly, Tertöns started appearing in Tibet around the 11th century, and it took a while for them to become an important religious institution in the region. It is uncertain how the phenomenon started; for instance, some scholars believe it may have evolved from earlier Tibetian customs of recovering treasures from ancient burial mounds to protect them, while others say it has antecedents in similar Indian or Mahayana Buddhist practices.
Anyhow, the Tertön mechanic isn’t available right away in earlier start dates. You’ll have to wait for a global event to trigger sometime in the 10th/11th century first; a subsequent global event, sometime later, will make Tertöns more common and have an easier time finding terma.
Padmasambhava
As an aside, many Buddhist termas were said to have been hidden by
Padmasambhava, an Indian religious master active in Tibet around the 8th century, and one of Tibet’s most venerated spiritual figures. It is common for Tertöns to receive visions or dreams from Padmasambhava to guide them to termas, so he will often appear in these events in-game, as he has been added as a historical character of Gandhari culture and Vajrayana faith.
Miscellaneous Religious Flavor
There’s other religious flavor coming with the new update to immerse you in the spiritual culture and practices of the Himalayas, too!
Mani Stones
Characters of Tibetan heritage who are of a Buddhist, Bön, or West Himalayan faith have a new travel option,
Mani Stones, which increases your piety gain noticeably while traveling. I might change the bonuses to something more interesting for release, but no promises.
Flower Festival
One of the most important traditional celebrations in Kinnaur is the
Fulaich Festival in autumn. During Fulaich, locals go into the highlands to gather beautiful wildflowers, and offer them to local deities. It is thus an activity available to the West Himalayan religion, and is similar to other RICE activities that provide bonuses like piety and stress relief through various events.
Each family sends at least one person to go up the mountains to partake in harvesting flowers. You can thus appoint a
Flower Collector from among your guests if they’re close or extended family – such an honor, of course, brings them piety and prestige, and raises their opinion of you, while also giving you a little dynasty prestige, too.
Traditionally, only men were allowed to do this, so your faith’s gender doctrine will determine who can take this role. For instance, if you reform Kimshuism to be female dominant, then only women can be flower collectors.
Bön Tweaks
There have also been some minor changes to Bon in general. The Old Bon faith, for instance, no longer has Sky Burials. Although sky burials are commonly associated with Tibet nowadays, even during the era of the Tibetan Empire, burials in tombs were much more common.
Conclusion
That concludes the second dev diary for the Zhangzhung flavor pack!
This has been a fun flavor pack to work on, as I have a personal connection to this content as someone who was raised in a Buddhist household and was exposed to Tibetan Buddhism substantially as a child. Exploring this region’s history and religion through the lens of the game and academic research was quite interesting.
Huge thanks to Soraya, a former modder and researcher for Rajas of Asia and the Fallen Eagle, who pitched ideas and provided some sources to me about Zhangzhung more than a year ago. The number of sources (almost 180!) is the most I’ve ever had for a non-flagship update, so big that I've put my
list of sources for further reading in this Google Doc.
Again, the ETA for this update will be in roughly 2 weeks, but this is subject to change. I’ll continue to post teasers and previews until then. I’ve already started planning for RICE’s next couple updates, but will reveal information when I’ve a better idea of my schedule, as it will also depend heavily on when Paradox will release their upcoming free update in Q1.
