Normandy Flavor Pack Dev Diary:
Adventurers and Aristocrats
Today, I’ll touch on RICE’s next flavor pack, announced last week:
Normandy: Adventurers and Aristocrats.
This update will introduce a mini-struggle about the lesser-known period of Normandy’s history between Rollo and William, and the formation of the Normans as a people, before they went on to greatly impact medieval history. There is also some more generic flavor related to the Norse and to Christians as well.
Normandy Struggle
The centerpiece of the Normandy flavor pack is a new mini-struggle, RICE’s second struggle, the
Consolidation of Normandy. It has three phases: Adventure, Confrontation, and Acculturation. The phases' connections are depicted in
this chart.
The struggle is not about the Normans overall, so there won’t be much for the Anglo-Normans, Sicily, etc. Instead, the focus is on the Normans’ “birth” and the Duchy of Normandy’s generations long political, military, and cultural struggle to coalesce under a united identity - and determine the nature of that identity. Pop history often glosses over what happened in between Rollo and William the Conqueror - the actual rise of Normandy took generations and was, as history tends to be, quite messy.
One aspect of this struggle are several “passive” catalysts in this struggle that are calculated on an annual basis, such as whether involved rulers have North Germanic vs. Frankish spouses, or if you have high stats. Their impact is usually smaller than “active” catalysts, but they might make the struggle lean in one direction or another.
The strength of struggles (in my opinion) from a design POV is they are a great narrative tool for devs and modders to depict historical complexities, beyond mere "names and dates" factoids, without caring about min-max gameplay. This struggle is an experiment to see how struggles could work in a small area. Due to its small size, the few involved rulers have a much greater impact on its outcome compared to other struggles.
Starting the Struggle
In the 1066 bookmark, the struggle is well under way, and could end quickly if William triumphs in England. For the 867 bookmark, however, there are a few new ways to form Norman culture and start the struggle besides vanilla’s decision to Establish Norman Culture.
First, if you are the top liege of Neustria, you can take a decision to
Grant Normandy to the Norse. This picks (or generates) a random Norse character, typically with high martial. It favors picking Hrolfr (aka Rollo) if he is alive and landless, but not always. Alternatively, if you want to pick a specific character, like to ensure Hrolfr is chosen, you can use a character interaction.
If you are Norse ruler yourself, a third option is a character interaction to ask the highest tier ruler of Normandy, typically the king of France, to give Normandy to you. You’ll need prestige, a decent martial score, and the French ruler to have at least -25 opinion of you.
These options will all grant the county of Rouen and the Duchy of Normandy to the selected Norse character, who becomes Norman and also converts to their liege’s faith if they don’t already follow the same religion. All other counts in Normandy are made vassals of this Norman ruler; existing AI counts with more than one county in Normandy have their non-capital counties given to randomly generated pagan Normans.
The AI will never use the character interactions, and will avoid using the decision if a player owns land in Normandy. These decisions/interactions are mainly to help the player create their preferred situation before beginning the Normandy struggle, for roleplay reasons.
Also, if you play with
Historical Invasions, the creator has reached out to me and we’ll make sure our mods continue to play nice with each other with these Normandy decisions/interactions.
Ending the Struggle
There are three ways to end the struggle.
The Norman Conquest simulates the "canon" ending of William the Conqueror defeating Harold Godwinson to become King of England. Ruling England is one way to fulfill this decision, but you can also alternatively go for France, or form a “Greater Normandy” that includes Brittany and Flanders.
Among other bonuses, this ending enables the decision to
Compile the Domesday Book, which gives various perks like increasing control over your newly conquered territories.
The alternate “good” ending for Normans is
Complete Assimilation, representing the Normans focusing less on military endeavors, and more on transforming Normandy into a center of French culture and learning. The last ending,
Outsider’s Yoke, is for non-Normans, representing the Normans losing control of Normandy.
Norman Traditions
The Normans’ ethnogenesis is represented through two traditions.
Legacy of the Northmen is what Norman culture starts with at the 867 start, representing the early years when they had, and were perceived by their neighbors to have, greater ties with Scandinavia.
This tradition is related to the decision to
Commission the Historia Normannorum. This text was completed in 1015 CE by Dudo of Saint Quentin in real life, at the behest of the Dukes of Normandy, perhaps as political propaganda as part of the Dukes' efforts to forge a shared Norman identity. This decision, available
only during the Acculturation Phase, is important as you need it for the Norman Conquest or Complete Assimilation endings of the struggle.
When taking this decision, all cultures with Legacy of Northmen will have it replaced with the
Adventurers and Aristocrats tradition, which is similar but generally has better bonuses.
If the struggle ends with Norman Conquest, then this tradition is further upgraded with military and diplomacy related bonuses. If it ends with Complete Assimilation, it is upgraded with learning and stewardship related bonuses instead.
Norse and Norman Adventurers
In contrast to the idealized pop history image of Viking raiders attacking the “weaker” or “more civilized” Europeans (depending on your ideological slant), Norse relations with other societies was oftentimes complicated. For example, even after the Normans began to Christianize, they kept contact with pagan Scandinavians, who often came to fight for or against various lords in Normandy, irregardless of religious affiliation. As another example, Rollo wasn’t the first Norse warlord to work with the Carolingians - as far back as Charlemagne’s time, pagan and Christian Norse warlords served under the Carolingians.
In the tribal and early medieval eras, European rulers who own coastal territory (or have vassals that do) can take a decision to
Invite Norse Adventurers. You can choose five types:
- Courtiers lets you pick between two courtiers with high stats in at least one skill
- Colonists adds beneficial county modifiers to your capital duchy (with a small chance of a control malus)
- Mercenaries gives you randomly between 200 to 1000 special troops (Norse MAAs are guaranteed, so you won’t ever get just 200 useless levies)
- Traders gives you a beneficial character modifier
- Rulers gives piety and prestige and grants a random county you own to a Norse character
If negotiations go well, you can spend some prestige to attempt to get a vanilla modifier that prevents landless Scandinavian adventurers from attacking you, representing their aid in resisting Norse raids. Success depends on your stats, corresponding to a type of settler you can invite. For instance, if you invite traders, the chances of success of getting the modifier depend on your stewardship. Note that if you pick the rulers option, you get this modifier by default.
In the early and high medieval eras, once the Normandy struggle starts, a similar decision to
Invite Norman Adventurers is also available to rulers in West Europe and the Mediterranean who follow an organized religion present in Normandy (usually Christianity). It has a few differences, though. Most importantly, it costs more but has better effects. Second, if the Norman struggle has ended with the Complete Assimilation Ending, a new option to invite Norman Scholars is available.
Normans will also not give the modifier to prevent Norse attacks; instead, they have a chance (or 100% if you picked rulers) to give various modifiers boosting stats and improving your military.
There’s a chance the Norse or Norman adventurers will demand more if you did not give them land – typically gold, but occasionally titles if you have any to spare. If you reject their demands, they might comply (especially if you have high diplo, martial, or dread). Or, they may refuse to back down, and you’ll not only lose the gold you spent, but you’ll also get nasty county modifiers in your capital duchy, as the adventurers go rogue and become brigands.
Mont Saint Michel
One of the most famous locations in Normandy is Mont-Saint-Michel, an abbey and tidal island. Today, it is a major tourist destination and a UNESCO heritage site. In medieval times, it was an important pilgrimage location associated with the Archangel Michael, and this is represented in a few different ways in-game.
First, there is a new special building in the county of Avranches,
Mont-Saint-Michel.
You can now also take a decision to
Go on a Pilgrimage to Mont-Saint-Michel if you are Christian and nearby. You can choose between different bonuses during the course of the pilgrimage.
Mont-Saint-Michel went through quite a storied history over the medieval period. In 867, the decision to go on a pilgrimage is initially only limited to Avranches and neighboring counties. I won’t spoil the story, but you can follow the history of Mont-Saint-Michel and its growth as a medieval pilgrimage center through a couple decisions and events, such as finding the relics of Mont-Saint-Michel's founder, Saint Aubert. These will expand the range of people who can take the pilgrimage, as well as change the bonuses you get from the decision.
An extra, minor decision to
Observe the Procession of Saint Aubert is available to rulers within a range of Avranches. It’s a nice way to get smaller piety bonuses. Do note while it is at first available to a wider range of rulers, by the end of the Mont-Saint-Michel decision/event chain, it can only be taken by rulers of Avranches and neighboring counties.
Christian Religious Sites
There is also minor flavor for all Christians too, in the form of a decision to
Build a Local Christian Religious Building. It is similar to the decision to build Buddhist religious sites that was added in the Magadha Flavor Pack last year, as a short event chain that, after a year or two, grants you a character modifier and your capital a county modifier, along with other bonuses.
You can choose between building a chapel, a small/large church, or a small/large monastery. Chapels' bonuses are weakest, but they're cheap and provide equal prestige and piety. Churches and monasteries provide both prestige and piety, with more prestige for the former and more piety for the latter. Large churches and monasteries also provide a minor renown bonus upon completion, with the amount depending on your piety level.
Miscellaneous
I hope you enjoyed our little romp through the upcoming flavor for Normandy!
Normandy was selected to be the focus for this update partly because much of Europe is lacking flavor in RICE, and I felt Normandy was a good candidate for rectifying that. And, as mentioned earlier, Normandy would also be a good testing ground for a smaller struggle - I know some people don't like struggles, but I strongly believe we have yet to see the full potential of struggles as a narrative tool, and I hope to add even more to RICE in the future to depict more complexities of history.
Anyways, this update will hopefully improve the game's depiction of medieval Normandy, even if just by a bit!
Selected Sources for Further Reading
- 'An Angel's Power in a Bishop's Body: The Making of the Cult of Aubert of Avranches at Mont-Saint-Michel', Katherine Allen Smith
- Confrontation and Unification: Approaches to the Political History of Normandy, Mark Hagger
- Early Normandy, Lesley Abrams
- Ethnopoiesis in Early Normandy, Graham Shelton
- From Poachers to Gamekeepers: Scandinavian Warlords and Carolingian Kings, Simon Coupland
- Guillaume le Conquérant a-t-il Rattaché l’Angleterre au Continent? [Did William the Conqueror unite England with the Continent?], Jean-Philippe Genet
- How the West was Won: The Norman Dukes and the Cotentin, c. 987–c. 1087, Mark Hagger
- La Normandie Avant 1066: Quelques Lectures Contemporaines (1966-2016) [Normandy before 1066: some contemporary readings (1966-2016)], Pierre Baudouin
- Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay, UNESCO
- Pro Tutela Regni: Revisiting a Royal Diploma From 918 on the Birth of Normandy and the First ‘Ducal’ Laws, Gilduin Davy
- The Construction of an Identity in Early Normandy: Ethnogenesis of the Gens Normannorum, Thiago Natário
- The Mountain and the Man Beneath: Medieval Mont-Saint-Michel Through The Perception of Pilgrims, Sabina Rosenbergová
- The Myth of the ‘Invincibility’ of the Norman Cavalry Charge, Georgios Theotokis
- The Politics of Being Norman in the Reign of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy (r. 942–996), Fraser McNair
- The Vikings and the Natives: Ethnic Identity in England and Normandy c. 1000 AD, Letty Ten Harkel
- The Vikings on the Continent in Myth and History, Simon Coupland
- Who Built What at Mont Saint-Michel During the 10th Century?, George Candy
