Physiologus, the first major update for The Witcher’s Realms, will release
between June 30 and July 31 of this year. This has been a long time coming, and I’m excited to preview what the monsters of the Witcher’s world will look like in Crusader Kings 3. There aren’t any promises here – a lot of the update is still in progress.
If you want to skip to the good bits, this outline might help.
- Where’s the mod at now?
- What does Tours and Tournaments mean for the mod?
- What’s in the next update?
- Monsters
- Major Contracts
- Minor Contracts
- Monster Cults
- Activities and Travel
- Artifacts
- Monster Slayer Trait and Nicknames
- Buildings
- Special Buildings
- Polish for Religions, Cultures, and Dynasties
- Contributed Art
- What’s after the next update? What about witchers?
Where’s the mod at now?
Since the mod released last year with the kingdoms, cultures, and religions of the Northern Realms in 1263, minor updates have fleshed out some features and added localization for multiple languages. The updated features run from Skelligers’ access to mechanics from the Northern Lords flavor pack to formable empires and buildable universities. The added localization fills out Spanish and Russian translations of the mod’s content – huge thanks to Lale with
Mahakam Workshop and zh1zyanskij for their work. Meanwhile, an excellent
submod has added Nilfgaard’s invasions (check it out if you haven’t!).
What does Tours and Tournaments mean for the mod?
If you follow other total conversion mods for CK3, you might have heard that Tours and Tournaments was a tough update. That’s less true for The Witcher’s Realms than more complex projects, but the compatch has still eaten up time. The good news is that several mechanics from CK3 1.9 are great for
Physiologus.
Those are, in no particular order,
harm,
travel, and
activities.
What’s in the next update?
Monsters
Obviously. To be precise, monsters will plague the rulers of the Northern Realms in events, and in those events monsters will be represented in text.
Later major updates will add more, from mages’ frighteners in 0.4 to elf-stalking aguaras in 0.5.
Minor Contracts
Of the different monster events, Minor Contracts are the simplest: there’s a monster in your realm and something must be done. Or not – in fact, characters facing a monster will always have three options: ignore the problem altogether; send a knight to deal with the creature; or seek out a witcher. This last option will come with the next major update. Unlike in Major Contracts, none of these options put the ruler themselves at risk, and the potential malus of a bad outcome will never be too terrible. However, there are stakes: a knight or witcher unequal to the task will be wounded at best as the monster runs rampant, while a successful intervention will earn your subjects’ (fleeing) appreciation.
Archespores are obnoxious, but really the least of Vizimir’s troubles.
There are 40 Minor Contracts set to appear, with 21 involving monsters that can turn up anywhere in the world – nekkers, for example – and 19 involving monsters that will strike only in certain terrain or under certain conditions. Glustyworps will only haunt wetland provinces, while draugirs will only despoil war-torn lands.
The full list of monsters in Minor Contracts is:
| Terrain | Group | Monster |
| Any | Nuisances | Mamune, Misguid, Mecopteran |
| Any | Draconids | Cockatrice, Forktail, Wyvern |
| Any | Insectoids | Arachas, Endrega, Kikimora |
| Any | Necrophages | Ghoul, Grave Hag, Gravier |
| Any | Vampires | Plumard, Ekimmara, Fleder, Garkain |
| Any | Ogroids | Nekker, Troll |
| Any | Relict | Chort |
| Any | Other, Multiple | Archespore, Wild Hunt |
| Forest | Multiple | Arachas, Endrega, Leshen |
| Hills | Multiple | Basilisk, Cyclops, Arachnomorph |
| Mountains | Multiple | Catoblepas, Harpy, Manticore |
| Wetlands | Multiple | Aeschna, Cinerea, Fogler |
| War-Torn | Cursed Ones | Draugir |
| River | Multiple | Water Hag, Drowner, Amphisbaena |
| Coastal | Multiple | Clabater, Siren, Vodyanoi |
Major Contracts
If Minor Contracts are the sort of thing you can ignore, Major Contracts are the opposite. These are problems that involve a monster at your doorstep, if not even closer. Where Minor Contracts leave the outcome to your lessers, Major Contracts can be up to you, for better or worse. The structure for these event chains was inspired by The Witcher 3 and, to some degree, 1 and 2. Geralt’s progress through complex contracts in CDPR’s games is about as good as interactive stories get. Whether in a witch hunt in Vizima’s outskirts or outside a drunken troll’s den in Flotsam, the steps of investigation, choice, and consequence make for great stories.
Who doesn’t love a troll?
The thing is, after drafting and redrafting some painstaking event chains, stories of more than 3-5 events were just too long to be fun in CK3’s pacing. So, Major Contracts involve 2-4 back-to-back events in general, with some special cases involving additional events. Like Minor Contracts, characters will always have a choice in approaching these event chains, between hoping the problem will go away; engaging a courtier or a witcher to tackle the matter; or going after the monster themselves. Unlike Minor Contracts, Major Contracts hide multiple, branching narratives, so that a character boldly riding out against a troll might find out that the troll is no villain but an honest mason – or that there was never a troll at all, but a plot by the Steward to siphon off tolls. This unpredictability and the resulting hard choices offer a little of the tension familiar to fans of either CDPR’s quest design or Sapkowski’s narratives. There are 20 Major Contracts set up for
Physiologus, with another 12 to appear in later updates for mages and dryads, dwarves, and elves.
Each Major Contract is really two or three different event chains, with greater risk and reward than other parts of the update.
The monsters set to appear in Major Contracts include:
| Mod Version | Monsters |
| 0.2 | Alp, Bruxa, Doppler, Dragon, Godling, Higher Vampire, Hym, Korred, Merfolk, Nightwraith, Noonwraith,
Plague Maiden, Succubus/Incubus, Troll, Weeper, Werewolf, Wight, Wild Hunt, Wraith, Zeugl |
| 0.4 | Djinn, Koshchey, Hybrid |
| 0.5 | Dryads: Yghern, Treant, Vypper; Dwarves: Shaelmaar, Kobold, Barbegazi; Elves: Aguara, Banshee, Barghest |
Monster Cults
Who could forget the Ladies of the Woods? There are several cults worshiping monsters or monstrous entities in the Witcher’s world, and their corruption of desperate humans happens to fit well into CK3’s framework for heresies. From time to time, characters might receive an otherworldly nudge to abandon their false godhead for a real power. Characters who give in and abandon their old faith to lead a cult will be empowered, but also despised by their righteous neighbors. Characters who resist the promises of power will keep to their old faith, only to cope with the betrayal of their subjects – counties’ populations, vassals, and even courtiers – who don’t share their resolve. While Monster Cults can be quashed like regular heresies in CK3, characters can also dispatch a witcher or take it upon themselves to seek out the horror enthralling their subjects, which plays out like a Major Contract.
The monstrous godheads appearing in
Physiologus include:
| Region | Terrain | Monsters |
| Any | Any | Coram Agh Tera |
| Any | Any | Lilit |
| Any | Coasts | Melusine |
| Any | Plains, Farmlands | Sylvan |
| Any | Woods, Wetlands | Leshen |
| Velen | Any | Ladies of the Woods |
| Vizima | Any | Dagon |
| Vizima, Toussaint | Any | Lady of the Lake |
| Skellige | Any | Svalblod |
| Ysgith | Any | Gernichora |
Activities and Travel
The event-driven features of Tours and Tournaments offer a lot of opportunities for monsters to ruin your day. The obvious space for monsters to appear is in Hunts, both in unexpected ambushes – there’s nothing like riding after a hart only to be ripped from the saddle by a peckish griffin – and in Monster Hunts. This special type replaces Legendary Hunts with (in)glorious opportunities to track down monsters yourself, from dangerous beasts like manticores to creatures that might be best left alone (unicorns, for example). Chances to embark on a Monster Hunt are few and far between, if not quite so sparse as Legendary Hunts in the base game. The risks and rewards of Monster Hunts are brutal and glorious, as only the craftiest characters stand a chance of surviving a head-on encounter with a monstrous predator. This update will feature Monster Hunts for griffins, fiends, and unicorns (at the absolute least).
Monsters will also appear in Travel events, with a clear relationship to the Danger mechanic introduced in Tours and Tournaments. Where in the base game you might risk an encounter with bandits on a shortcut through a province with low Control, in The Witcher’s Realms you might just be torn in two by a ravening fiend. Of course, the bandits could still show up, too – the mod doesn’t replace the mundane challenges that keep CK3 interesting, it just adds more. The list of monsters who might wreck your travel plan is a subset of the monsters in Minor Contracts; terrain-specific monsters are the same between the two lists.
There are other chances for monsters to turn up in activities. I’m sure some players will want to drag a shaelmaar into their tournament and watch their least favorite knights get pulped. Meddling with other activities is tricky and a little less obviously necessary than Hunts, though, so while I have some specific plans for monsters in Tour, Tournament, Feast, and Grand Wedding activities, those will remain mysterious for now.
This section is sort of about T&T, so I’ll add a mechanical note here. Paradox did a nice job detailing their approach to the Harm mechanic in the latest round of events and dev diaries, and it sets up a convenient solution to a problem inherent to monsters: they’re all about killing your character. That’s fun and all, but like anyone who’s lost an heir to poisonous plant will know, at some point the random deaths are too much. So, I’m working to integrate monster events into the Harm game rules. It’s not clear to me where the right balance lies, but hopefully the mod can accommodate everyone from hardcore masochists to players who don’t prefer to see every other character eaten by monsters.
Artifacts
Everyone loves a trophy. When you bring down a monster in a Major Contract or a Monster Hunt, most monsters should yield a souvenir: something to remind your character, or their intimidated and impressed subjects, of their feat. Some are only a little different from mundane artifacts – griffin feathers, for example – while others are grotesque (fogler teeth for good luck, anyone?). Because 3D assets are unbelievably hard to come by, these all depend on vanilla assets. So, don’t expect to see a lovingly rendered stuffed unicorn in your court. Artifacts are a lot of fun but also time-intensive to implement, so this part of the update will be the first to be pushed back to a later, minor update in the interest of a sooner-rather-than-even-later release.
Monster Slayer Trait and Nicknames
Stuff is fine, but what about fame? Events with monsters can lead to characters gaining a trait (Monster Slayer) memorializing their feat and tweaking their stats a little, as well as characters gaining a nickname. The nicknames aren’t always good ones – your subjects might well remember you for that one time you let a fiend eat their children, instead of all of those other times you responsibly sent your knights to their aid. Thanks to Lale with Mahakam Workshop for the gruesome trait art:
Illustrations for Monster Slayer and a secret second trait.
Vizimir’s knight took care of those archespores after all. Good for her.
Buildings
From 0.2 on, each update will add at least one building chain to integrate the characters and creatures of the Witcher’s world into your day-to-day realm management. For
Physiologus, the monster-themed building chain is the Butcher’s Quarter. This gruesome district is where craftsmen turn the mangled remains of monsters, from harmless relicts to vicious predators and unspeakable horrors, into garb and knick-knacks for their novelty-seeking customers.
The levels of the Butcher’s Quarter are:
- Flesher’s Shacks
- Plumer’s Stalls
- Furrier’s Shops
- Carver’s Workshops
- Tanner’s Manufactories
Besides the monster-themed chain,
Physiologus adds building chains for Fish Ponds, Apiaries, Shrines, and Cemeteries.
Don't tell Dorregaray of Vole about this place.
Special Buildings
Wonders, monuments, and other great works add a lot to our world in CK3, and so
Physiologus also adds a heap of special buildings for characters to construct for undying glory and mechanical bonuses. While later updates will stack on more special buildings, in particular remote keeps for witchers in 0.3, mysterious towers and grand academies for mages in 0.4, and everything from sorrowful ruins to great delves for dryads, dwarves, and elves in 0.5, this update sticks to human buildings and a small handful of monstrous edifices. There is at least one unique building in each de jure kingdom, and at least two after accounting for future updates.
The list for special buildings in 0.2 includes:
| De Jure Kingdom | Buildings |
| Poviss | Icebound Ports, Salt Works |
| Kovir | Great Canal, University of Lan Exeter, Royal Shipyards |
| Hengfors | Ducal Mills, Margrave’s Canals |
| Jamurlak | Guild Ports, Luton Road |
| Redania | Great Temple of the Eternal Fire, Temple Shipyards, Hierarch Square, Oxenfurt Academy, Oxenfurt Aqueduct, Dungeons of Drakenborg |
| Vespaden | Great Fur Markets, Summer River Ports |
| Kaedwen | Royal Wineries, Vrani Amphitheater |
| Temeria | Seat of Friendship, Crones’ Lair, Royal Cripts, Bastions of Gors Velen, Citadel of La Valette, Trader’s Trail |
| Cidaris | Royal Bazaar, Corsair’s Yards |
| Verden | Adalette Lighthouse, Royal Beacons |
| Brugge | Royal Causeways |
| Aedirn | Royal Foundries, Royal Wool Mills |
| Rivia | Eskalott Citadel, Royal Forges |
| Lyria | Melitele’s Orchards |
| Skellige | Shipwright’s Harbor, Freya’s Garden, Grymmdjarr’s Keep, Eldberg Lighthouse, Elverum Lighthouse, Cave of Dreams |
| Cintra | Royal Citadel, Highland Duns |
| Angra | Beauclair Palace, Gernichora’s Lair, Tesha Mutna |
Polish for Religions, Cultures, Dynasties, and Characters
While the bones of human societies in The Witcher’s Realms are in decent shape, there’s some polish left to add and corners left to fill in. For religions, besides overhauling Monster Cults with event chains in this update, I’ve added the Crow Clan Druids (from standalone Gwent and the R. Talsorian RPG), and polished custom localization for some faiths – this means, for example, having faith-appropriate names for your court chaplain. For cultures, I’ve polished traditions a bit; in future minor updates, I’ll revisit name lists and coats of arms. A culture-adjacent is revisiting gender-dependent access to combat; instead of most cultures sending women to war, in 0.2 there will be a system resembling the awarding of the Shieldmaiden trait in the base game. For dynasties, I’ve added appropriate legacies to some canonical dynasties, and otherwise brushed up their renown, etc. to match their reputations. I’m planning on adding dynastic artifacts – for example, an ancient scepter for Dezmod’s heirs – to make the oldest dynasties feel more impactful, but that might not make it into 0.2. For characters, I’ve added a small handful of canonical characters, my favorite being Silgrat, a bit character from The Witcher 2 (thanks to whoever suggested him on Discord). More usefully, I’ve polished canonical characters with more history, traits, and so on.
Contributed Art
Several phenomenal fan artists were kind enough to grant permission for the use of their Witcher art in loading screens, so there will be about 16 unique loading screens in
Physiologus. It’s not fair to the art or the artists to shout them out at the very end of a long preview, so I’ll post a teaser and link to their sites later on.
What’s after this update? What about witchers?
I keep mentioning witchers in Contracts and so on, but there will still be no witchers in the Northern Realms in
Physiologus. They’ll come in to save your characters from evil in 0.3 (
Monstrum) along with systems for existing witcher schools and opportunities to patronize witchers. The gist is that a Court Witcher position will let you keep a witcher on retainer, although keeping a monster slayer from returning to the Path might be difficult; and when Contract events come up, you’ll have the option to seek out a witcher on a moment’s notice. However, rulers with a bad reputation among witchers – for non-payment, arbitrary arrests, and so on – might find themselves left to figure out their own monster problems, while rulers with a good reputation will have an easier time finding the right witcher for their problem.
Physiologus has been difficult to set up, in part for reasons unrelated to the mod but also because narrative design and implementation in CK3 is hard. The good news is that the trial and error that went into this update should save a lot of time on
Monstrum and the major updates to follow. In fact, a lot of the events involving witchers are already outlined, written, and even partially implemented, since figuring out systems for monsters also depended on systems for monster-slaying. So, the next major update ought to come along faster than this one.
There are two big features I haven’t mentioned, one of which will come with
Physiologus: clean-up of errors in CK3’s scripting system that are thrown by the mod, and an overhaul of the mod’s terrain, terrain textures, and province borders. The error clean-up has taken some iteration, as total conversions risk breaking a lot of things, but now that it’s done (for now), implementing mod systems is enormously easier. The terrain overhaul, on the other hand, needs further iteration – I’ve had fun revisiting procedural terrain, but finding the right balance between styles of terrain and map aesthetics will need another month or two of attention. So, those are a couple of behind-the-scenes challenges that have begun to pay off for this update.
If you’ve read this far, thanks for bearing with me.
Drop your questions about
Physiologus here or on
Discord, and otherwise you’ll see smaller previews and patch notes soon enough!
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