[Mods] Cybrxkhan's Immersion Packs - a library of small, modular flavor mods

[cybrxkhan]

Can't wait to find out what the differences between the Melingoi and the Ezeritai options might be, if any.

Joking aside, I think I know where I'll start in my next Byzantine game now.

There are actually some slight differences between the Melingoi and the Ezeritai courtiers, though nothing too huge so it's more a flavor thing. The Melingoi get a bonus +2 martial while Ezeritai is +1 martial and +1 intrigue (both have +15 combat rating) (bonuses subject to change):

Spoiler

The more important difference is that when the troops are levied via decision, the Melingoi will have slightly more heavy infantry and cavalry, and the Ezeritai more light infantry, archers, and pikemen. (Though you can levy both if you pay more)

None of this is exactly historically based other than the fact that the Melingoi apparently paid more in tribute to the Byzantines historically, so based on basically no other evidence I've just assumed for the sake of the mod that they're more prosperous and the Ezeritai are poorer and more rugged.

There will probably also be a similar sort of differentiation for the Tsakonians and the Maniots.

 

[vyshan]

I wonder what will your next immersion pack being about?

 

[cybrxkhan]

I wonder what will your next immersion pack being about?

Next one is Peloponnesian Immersion Pack: Sparta's Legacy. If you look at my last couple posts I posted screenshots of some of the work I've already done for it.

After that I am thinking of doing something very small to give myself a break (I have a few candidates I'm narrowing down atm, including but not limited to the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight), and after that it'll be Socotra: Isle of Dragon's Blood which will probably be relatively larger in content.

 

[vyshan]

Next one is Peloponnesian Immersion Pack: Sparta's Legacy. If you look at my last couple posts I posted screenshots of some of the work I've already done for it.

After that I am thinking of doing something very small to give myself a break (I have a few candidates I'm narrowing down atm, including but not limited to the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight), and after that it'll be Socotra: Isle of Dragon's Blood which will probably be relatively larger in content.

Neat.

Curious if you have any plans in either Immersion or your Event mods to add stuff for slavic pagans?

 

[cybrxkhan]

Neat.

Curious if you have any plans in either Immersion or your Event mods to add stuff for slavic pagans?

Nothing planned in the near future, though I have a few vague ideas for Immersion Packs for various Slavs, though nothing specifically for Slavic Pagans atm. I will probably start adding in some more stuff in VIET Events for general culture or religion groups at some point though, including Slavic Pagans, once I get most of the old stuff back.

 

[spendabuck]

After that I am thinking of doing something very small to give myself a break (I have a few candidates I'm narrowing down atm, including but not limited to the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight), and after that it'll be Socotra: Isle of Dragon's Blood which will probably be relatively larger in content.

Socotra: Isle of Dragon's Blood sounds really interesting? I presume it's about Nestorian Christianity?

Also, are you taking any suggestions for immersion packs? I think one about Manichaeism could be interesting.

 

[Emperor5000]

if you ever make an athens immersion pack...i have many links to give you on Platonic school there and its philosophers as well as books you can make "artifacts" your mods are great and i wait for more

 

[Emperor5000]

 

[cybrxkhan]

Socotra: Isle of Dragon's Blood sounds really interesting? I presume it's about Nestorian Christianity?

Also, are you taking any suggestions for immersion packs? I think one about Manichaeism could be interesting.

It'll be more about Socotra itself and the Socotri (and to a lesser extent the other peoples speaking the Modern South Arabian Languages, who're quite distinct from the other Arabs).

I might have a go at something with the Manicheans sometime, though probably nothing in the near future.

if you ever make an athens immersion pack...i have many links to give you on Platonic school there and its philosophers as well as books you can make "artifacts" your mods are great and i wait for more

Thanks, that might be useful, although I probably wouldn't focus too much on Hellenic/pagan Athens, and more on the medieval Roman side of things (I do have a few sources lined up already for that).

View attachment 438606

Awesome! How did that even happen, do you know?

 

[UrsusAtlanticus]

Thanks, that might be useful, although I probably wouldn't focus too much on Hellenic/pagan Athens, and more on the medieval Roman side of things (I do have a few sources lined up already for that).

Medieval Roman in the sense of the city of Rome? Or the wider (Western) Roman world? At any rate these mods look like a quite interesting idea, I'm looking forward to the Peloponnesian one.

 

[Emperor5000]

It'll be more about Socotra itself and the Socotri (and to a lesser extent the other peoples speaking the Modern South Arabian Languages, who're quite distinct from the other Arabs).

I might have a go at something with the Manicheans sometime, though probably nothing in the near future.



Thanks, that might be useful, although I probably wouldn't focus too much on Hellenic/pagan Athens, and more on the medieval Roman side of things (I do have a few sources lined up already for that).



Awesome! How did that even happen, do you know?

i cheat a little just for the photoshoot....thabit deserve a bloodline like that...i try to say something with a good pic , as for the medieval era in athens i know for sure we have many platonist now an then even after justinian shut down the school of athens (many sourses said that it worked with a differend administration away from pagan ways but i will look it for sure) also i have two characters to suggest for peloponise mod, you can look out for michael psellos and plethon gemistos (the second one was openly pagan in the age of paleologus) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Psellos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemistus_Pletho i am from korintos so i know many things about my area and also a platonist as well....so i was more than happy when i see someone at last make a mod focus on our schools...my plan was to make it a society like the stoics (they are almost the same with a few changes in names) but i dont know many things about the mechanism

 

[IlikeTrains]

Medieval Roman in the sense of the city of Rome? Or the wider (Western) Roman world?

Medieval Roman is Byzantine Roman, not sure if cybrxkhan meant this tho.

 

[UrsusAtlanticus]

Medieval Roman is Byzantine Roman, not sure if cybrxkhan meant this tho.

You might be right, I didn't read "side of things" as in reference to Athens, but it's probably the case.

I can imagine some events and maybe modifiers related to the Parthenon, it was apparently a quite important pilgrimage centre as a Christian church.

 

[cybrxkhan]

More preview screenshots of the additional Harranian material and the Peloponnesian stuff:

When you choose the option to play as Thabit ibn Qurra or his great-grandfather, you'll go through a CYOA-esque event chain to determine your starting situation. It was completely unnecessary but I wanted to practice some coding. Loosely inspired by Mount and Blade character creation. Probably will not repeat this too frequently for later modding.

Spoiler

Harranian bloodline, per @Emperor5000 's suggestion. Thabit ibn Qurra and al-Battani's family will have the bloodline.

Spoiler

Hexamilion wall decision, it's basically a simple boring "use mana to get modifiers" thing. Not too sure on the bonuses atm, might change.

Spoiler

Event that pops up when you select the decision to levy the Slavic troops in the Peloponese.

Spoiler

Anyways, these two have ballooned to be bigger than I wanted them to be, so next pack after these two will be a very, very small one, I guarantee it.

Medieval Roman in the sense of the city of Rome? Or the wider (Western) Roman world? At any rate these mods look like a quite interesting idea, I'm looking forward to the Peloponnesian one.

Medieval Roman is Byzantine Roman, not sure if cybrxkhan meant this tho.

You might be right, I didn't read "side of things" as in reference to Athens, but it's probably the case.

I can imagine some events and maybe modifiers related to the Parthenon, it was apparently a quite important pilgrimage centre as a Christian church.

Oh whoops that's my bad actually, I think I was really sleepy and had a brain fart - I meant Roman as in Byzantine Roman lol.

i cheat a little just for the photoshoot....thabit deserve a bloodline like that...i try to say something with a good pic , as for the medieval era in athens i know for sure we have many platonist now an then even after justinian shut down the school of athens (many sourses said that it worked with a differend administration away from pagan ways but i will look it for sure) also i have two characters to suggest for peloponise mod, you can look out for michael psellos and plethon gemistos (the second one was openly pagan in the age of paleologus) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Psellos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemistus_Pletho i am from korintos so i know many things about my area and also a platonist as well....so i was more than happy when i see someone at last make a mod focus on our schools...my plan was to make it a society like the stoics (they are almost the same with a few changes in names) but i dont know many things about the mechanism

Ah I see! Thanks for the mention of the two persons, I think they might work as historical characters or special event spawns (like some of the Muslim scholar events from vanilla), so I'll throw them in.

 

[Emperor5000]

lol, a court with gemistos, psellos and thabit decendens will be learning OP paradise xD hey paradox, get this guy into job for your next pagan-focused mod (he knows the story better than the most of you xD)

 

[Emperor5000]

and that is from another gameplay with one of my modding files (i saved the mod and i mod it myself ever since with what i know, the bloodline is a refference to a song (you know....Bad Blood )

 

[cybrxkhan]

@Emperor5000 Out of curiosity, what is Psellos' connection with the Peloponnese then? I don't see anything indicating a connection on Wikipedia, it says he was from Nicomedia.

 

[Emperor5000]

@Emperor5000 Out of curiosity, what is Psellos' connection with the Peloponnese then? I don't see anything indicating a connection on Wikipedia, it says he was from Nicomedia.

my honest mistake, psellos mostly make name in the court of constantinople accourding to greek and english sources, no mention of peloponnese, stay in second one about the mod, maybe in future psellos become usefull in other mods

 

[cybrxkhan]

my honest mistake, psellos mostly make name in the court of constantinople accourding to greek and english sources, no mention of peloponnese, stay in second one about the mod, maybe in future psellos become usefull in other mods

Cool cool, I'll keep him in mind for any future packs, he seems like a fascinating figure!

 

[cybrxkhan]

UPDATE TO HARRANIAN IMMERSION PACK NOW AVAILABLE!
Steam Workshop Download | Github Manual Download​

Lots of new goodies. I especially had a lot of fun designing the CYOA event chain for Thabit ibn Qurra/his great-grandfather if you choose to play as them - I will probably feature something similar, albeit on a smaller scale, in future mods.

I will NOT be adding any more except to fix any bugs, as I'll move on to my next Immersion Packs. Main new features include:

• 3 new soundtracks
• Harranian bloodline
• Book artifacts made by your Harranian courtiers (so they’re not useless),
• Most importantly, the ability to play as Thabit ibn Qurra or his great-grandfather via start up events at the 867 and 769 start dates respectively IF you select to play as the Emir of Edessa. It includes an in-depth RPG-esque event chain to set up the Thabits’ starting condition.

And here's a more detailed changelog:

Spoiler

• Added three new Harranian-inspired soundtracks
• Added several relatives of Thabit ibn Qurra to the history files, including his son, the Physician Sinan; his grandson, the mathematician Ibrahim; many of his ancestors; and a few fictional relatives.
• Added a separate startup event if you choose to play as the Emir of Edessa in the 867 and 769 start dates that gives Thabit ibn Qurra or his great-grandfather (who coincidentally was also named Thabit) the county of Edessa and makes them vassals to the Emir of Edessa.**
• Added a random event where a Harranian courtier with sufficient learning or the scholar trait can make a scholarly treatise for you as a gift, on one of several topics. This can only occur once per lifetime of both ruler and courtier.
• Added a new bloodline, Harranian Blood, that Thabit ibn Qurra and Al-Battani’s families have. It increases piety, tech, and opinion from Hellenic pagans, Arabs, and those with the erudite, scholar, and mystic traits.
• Harranian courtiers now have a chance of spawning with a number of unique modifiers, for flavor: Former Moneylender, Prominent Harranian, Neoplatonic Fanatic, Ostracized Harranian, Devout Planet Worshipper, Tammuz Devotee
• Hidden startup event now moves the Hellenic holy site from Syracuse to Edessa. This will allow you to secretly convert even if the province is no longer Hellenic.
• Patronizing the Academy will improve the chances of spawning Harranian courtiers, and tweaked how patronizing the Academy will increase the chances of Harranian courtiers with better stats
• Harranian Courtiers will now also spawn for Levantine and Assyrian characters
• Harranian Courtiers have a much lower chance of spawning for Hellenic Pagans
• Added French localization, courtesy of loup99, Mochi, and Domper59 from the WTWSMS team.
• Changed birth and death dates of some of the historical characters (in particular, Thabit ibn Qurra is now younger at the 867 start)
• Reduced the chances the Harranian courtiers spawned at game start will be poets or physicians
• Fixed generated children of Harranian courtiers potentially not being the same dynasty as their father

And here are some screenshots:

Spoiler

Tomorrow I will add a spoiler-y brief guide to the CYOA at the beginning of the game if you choose to play as Thabit ibn Qurra or his great-grandfather.

Lastly, I'm almost done with the Peloponnesian Immersion Pack (and am in fact already starting writing/researching for the Immersion Pack after that), as I only need to code in a few more events and do some testing. If you're interested in testing it out for me, much of the code is already up on GitHub.