Crusader Kings II - Paradox Entertainement (02/12)

[Homer Simpson & the Brain]

Well the Norse who settled in Russia were called Rus, after (possibly) the Finnish name for Sweden, Ruotsi, which comes from the word for groups of warrior oarsmen. That name spread and became common in the Byzantine and Muslim world.
The Norse who settled in the Gaelic-speaking world of Western Scotland and Ireland were called Norse-Gaels or (According to the list on wikipedia) (Old Irish: Gall-Goídil; Irish: Gall-Ghaeil; Scottish Gaelic: Gall-Ghàidheil) meaning 'foreigner-Gaels' which the world Gael is considered to be a Gaelic person, in the same vein as how the Anglo-Saxons considered themselves Anglo-Saxon in the broadest sense of the term. So their name is basically 'Foreign Irishmen' and is thus unrelated to being from the North. That being said, apparently people in Dublin called the Norse 'eastmen' and other Irish called the 'lakemen.'
Norse were also refereed to as Varangians in the Byzantine and Muslim world, after the Norse word for Swordsman, specifically to distinguish them from the Slavicized Rus.

So the words various cultures used for the Norse wasn't related to north but, like every collection of words for a culture, came from a variety of sources. Sometimes the language of the speakers, sometimes a descriptor from the locals, and sometimes a derivation (as in Norman's roundabout Latiny way the word came about).

I actually didn't know where the term "Rus" popped out of. It makes sense, given that at the time northern Russia was mainly finnic in culture.

So, if I wanted to stick to a "theme" for neighboring melting pots, there would be Norse-Gaels in Scotland and Ireland and Norse-Britons in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany?

 

[Evilprodigy]

I actually didn't know where the term "Rus" popped out of. It makes sense, given that at the time northern Russia was mainly finnic in culture.

So, if I wanted to stick to a "theme" for neighboring melting pots, there would be Norse-Gaels in Scotland and Ireland and Norse-Britons in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany?

IIRC the theory is because the Swedes brought Finnish interpreters since the Swedes didn't speak Slavic and the Finns introduced their employers/slavemasters (depending on individual situation) using their word for them.

I mean, maybe? Apparently through Latin writings the romance-speaking world adopted the 'northman' approach, since that is what they were called in Spain and Italy and even the Andalusians used that derived term in Arabic form. So for something in the Celtic world you'd probably want to use something like whatever their word for foreigner is since the Irish just called them 'foreign irishmen' since they were half-irish descendents of Viking settlers. So Norse were probably just called foreigners before they settled and mixed with locals.

 

[Homer Simpson & the Brain]

IIRC the theory is because the Swedes brought Finnish interpreters since the Swedes didn't speak Slavic and the Finns introduced their employers/slavemasters (depending on individual situation) using their word for them.

I mean, maybe? Apparently through Latin writings the romance-speaking world adopted the 'northman' approach, since that is what they were called in Spain and Italy and even the Andalusians used that derived term in Arabic form. So for something in the Celtic world you'd probably want to use something like whatever their word for foreigner is since the Irish just called them 'foreign irishmen' since they were half-irish descendents of Viking settlers. So Norse were probably just called foreigners before they settled and mixed with locals.

Thank you for helping me find patterns I could follow for naming non-Germanic hybrid Norse cultures.

 

[Homer Simpson & the Brain]

Given my previous posts, you most likely guessed I'm creating a CK2 mod with a cultural component. Since I'm already altering the map of Europe in the Middle Ages, is there anyone who could tell me if Paradox made the right choice in having both Cornwall and Brittany be culturally Breton?

P.S. I know that linguistically they are very similar, since they share three quarters of their vocabulary, but that's not really a guarantee of cultural similarity.

 

[AvatarOfKhaine]

Given my previous posts, you most likely guessed I'm creating a CK2 mod with a cultural component. Since I'm already altering the map of Europe in the Middle Ages, is there anyone who could tell me if Paradox made the right choice in having both Cornwall and Brittany be culturally Breton?

I would argue yes given that there is no real practical reason for a Cornish culture that would otherwise use Breton names just with a different skin.

It's believed (and for the Medieval period relatively well-attested) that Cornish and Breton remained mutually intelligible until around the 1300s-ish, in as much as any date marks a cut off point for a concept as amorphous as mutual intelligibility.

Basically, Cornish is closer to Breton than Welsh but only barely, and if you're adding something as minor as Manx then Cornish probably 'deserves' the same level of respect but that otherwise just keep it Breton (or shift it to Welsh for gameplay purposes, there really isn't much difference in terms of which is best to represent Cornish but PI ultimately chose the slightly more linguistically accurate one rather than the more gameplay useful one).

 

[Homer Simpson & the Brain]

I would argue yes given that there is no real practical reason for a Cornish culture that would otherwise use Breton names just with a different skin.

It's believed (and for the Medieval period relatively well-attested) that Cornish and Breton remained mutually intelligible until around the 1300s-ish, in as much as any date marks a cut off point for a concept as amorphous as mutual intelligibility.

Basically, Cornish is closer to Breton than Welsh but only barely, and if you're adding something as minor as Manx then Cornish probably 'deserves' the same level of respect but that otherwise just keep it Breton (or shift it to Welsh for gameplay purposes, there really isn't much difference in terms of which is best to represent Cornish but PI ultimately chose the slightly more linguistically accurate one rather than the more gameplay useful one).

Got it. Thank you.

 

[Pkmatrix]

So, I'm reinstalling Crusader Kings II for the first time in years. Other than African Portraits and South Indian Portraits DLCs, both of which I already have, I basically have vanilla CK2. What DLCs would you guys say are essential?

 

[ByzantineCaesar]

So, I'm reinstalling Crusader Kings II for the first time in years. Other than African Portraits and South Indian Portraits DLCs, both of which I already have, I basically have vanilla CK2. What DLCs would you guys say are essential?

Old Gods (for pagans & vikings), Sword of Islam (for Muslims), Way of Life (for flavor), Conclave (for depth), Holy Fury. The portrait DLCs are all pretty essential to me too.

 

[Yorel]

Dastur Tashfeen of the Zuhaid Empire is finally dead. He ended up living 64 years, 30 of which were sat on the Sun Throne of Persia that Zun had granted him. Took him quite a while considering he was Infirm for three years, had Cancer and was also stressed... I guess having a pet cat and an effective Court Physician has its drawbacks...

Tashfeen had a rather peaceful reign overall... Mostly because had no major war after the Great Holy War he called for Jerusalem. Considering that made me reach a threat level of 50%, that practically prevented me from declaring War for most of his reign. Persia still expanded quite a bit thanks to his vassals though... Even if I have trouble knowing exactly how much because Zuhaid Persia is already a massive Empire.

Tashfeen also allowed me to switch most of my Succession Laws to Primogeniture... Which cause a ton of worry because I had so many of them I basically got a -200 opinion penalty with most of my vassals that would only have disappeared nine years after Tashfeen died. Still, I avoided Civil Wars so I won't complain. Had plenty of Religious Revolts to crush though.

Didn't change that I had to give some of my titles because I hit my vassal limit. Both went to relatives (Both of whom are married to Tashfeen's daughters I think) and they were also among the few left that weren't on Primogeniture. I also lost Trebizond because it was still under Gavelkind when Tashfeen died: it thus went to his second son Zakariyah and not to his heir and successor Mursalin III.

Speaking of which, Mursalin III is gonna have a lot on his plate when I'll go back to play as him... I had 30 vassals under Tashfeen, this number got to 48 upon his death... My guess is that since I put Exclave Independance on Harsh, some of my vassals lost of their most distant possessions. Which means I'll probably have to do some vassal management... And probably will also have to give up a few Kingdom titles.

However, I'm going to start one of the new games I had planned for and talkes about a few pages ago. So as a temporary sendoff to that awesome Shattered World Zunist campaign, here is a quick recap of my rulers:

Zuha (January 1st, 753 - July 26, 784)
The Shaykah of Bost and the founder of the Zuhaid dynasty. Became Emirah of Sistan on May 20, 775. Succumbed to severe injuries she sustained during her campaigns in Makran.
Banham "The Great Tiger" (May 26, 775 - August 24, 839)
Eldest son of Zuha. Satrap of Sistan. He pursued the conquests of his mother, becoming the first Shah of Sistan on February 13, 792. Became a Legend through his Martial exploits, which earned the respect of all towards his descendants. He ended up succumbing from severe stress, though he was 64.
Azyan (July 12, 801 - August 9, 858)
Second son of Banham, born from a concubine. Became heir to the throne after his elder brother Amooz died under suspicious circumstances on March 20, 803.
Reformed his religion into the Church of Zun, of which he became the first Dastur on March 6, 854. A week later he would also officially take the title of Shah of Sistan & Khorasan.
Died comatose in his bed.
Baddar "The Shrewd" (November 13, 818 - May 5, 869)
Eldest son of Azyan, elected into his position by the Elders. Second Dastur of the Church of Zun, Shah of Sitan & Khorasan. Through conquests, he would eventually add the titles of Shah of Kabulistan (August 11, 863) and Transoxiana (May 22, 865) to his titulature. Succumbed to depression.
Shahzadi "The Arm of the Giver of Justice" (February 10, 835 - May 15, 883)
Eldest daughter of Baddar, elected into her position by the Elders. Third Dastur of the Church of Zun, Baneshben of Sistan, Khorasan, Transoxiana and Kabulistan.
Through conquest, became Baneshben of Persia (February 6, 871) and Daylam (May 22, 879). Died of natural causes.
Shahou (February 2, 854 - October 13, 898)
Younger brother of Shahzadi and only son of Baddar. Elected to his position by the Elders. Fourth Dastur of the Church of Zun, Shah of Sistan, Persia, Daylam, Transoxiana, Khorasan and Kabulistan. Unpopular ruler, his life ended when a snake was put into his bed. The culprit was never found.
Mursalin I "the Great" (June 25, 880 - March 6, 943)
Only son of Shahou and his wife Yasmoon, herself a great grandaughter of Zuha through the latter's daughter Parigul. Elected into his position by the Elders.
Fifth Dastur of the Church of Zun, Shah of Sistan, Daylam, Transoxiana, Khorasan and Kabulistan. Became the first Shahanshah of Persia on June 18, 906.
Succumbed to depression apparently, despite being 63...
Soban "the Great Tiger" (November 22, 916 - September 22, 955)
Eldest son of Mursalin I. Elected into his position by the Elders. Sixth Dastur of the Church of Zun and second Shahanshah of Persia.
Was found dead behind his chessboard, having lost the game. A mysterious monk who disappeared the same night is reported to be his murderer, but he was never heard of again...
Mursalin II "the Lionheart" (October 2, 935 - February 22, 982)
Eldest son of Soban. Elected into hisposition by the Elders. Seventh Dastur of the Church of Zun and third Shahanshah of Persia.
Best remembered for his defense of the Zuhaid Empire against a Jihad. Succumbed to a heart attack (how I interpret "died clutching at his heart").
Tashfeen "the Holy" (March 23, 958 - November 1, 1023)
Eldest son of Mursalin II. Elected into his position by the Elders, upon insistance of his father (I had primogeniture in some of my titles, but not all of them, especially the Empire of Persia)
Eight Dastur of the Church of Zun and Fourth Shahanshah of Persia. Launched the first Great Holy War of the Church of Zun, resulting in the conquest of Palestine.
Succumbed to a Cancer, after spending three years under a Regency for his infirmity.
Mursalin III "Irongrip" (Born November 18, 985)
Eldest son of Tashfeen. The first to succeed the throne by right of birth. Ninth Dastur of the Church of Zun and Fifth Shahanshah of Persia. Currently sits on the Sun Throne in Kandahar.

So, I'm reinstalling Crusader Kings II for the first time in years. Other than African Portraits and South Indian Portraits DLCs, both of which I already have, I basically have vanilla CK2. What DLCs would you guys say are essential?

This will be less a recommandation and more a personnal ranking on my part.

The Top Three DLCs for me would be Holy Fury, The Old Gods and Charlemagne. Holy Fury might be the most recent but it brings a lot of content as well as the possibility of alternate starts with Shattered and Random World, which brings a lot of replayability if you don't have Total Conversion Mods. The Old Gods is one of the more popular DLC because it added a new start date (867) as well as playable Pagans and Zoroastrians. Finally Charlemagne also brought a new start date (769), Viceroyalties and Custom Kingdoms and Empires.

After them, I'd say Sword of Islam (Playable Muslims), The Republic (Playable Merchant Republics), Rajas of India (Playable Indian Lords) and Horse Lords (Playable Nomads).

Then I'd say comes Legacy of Rome (Byzantine flavor), Sons of Abraham (Abrahamic Religious flavor, adds Judaism), The Reaper's Due (Epidemics) and Jade Dragon (Adds interactions with China for neighboring realms).

After them we'd have the "flavor" DLCs: Way of Life (Rulers can focus on a specific aspect), Conclave (Reworked Council Mechanics) and Monks and Mystics (Societies).
And always at the bottom Sunset Invasion, because it's so optionnal it even as its own game rule to toggle it on or off now...

After that, in terms of non-major DLCs: The Customizing ones first, the Converter if you have EU4, The Portraits Packs, the Music Packs and finally the Unit Packs in that order.

 

[dianaswordofsappho]

So my Ireland game has gone well so far
Mumu has been fun too but uh

I haven’t United ireland yet but I got Croatia through marriage so now there’s just mumu Croatia

 

[Darth Revan]

So, I'm reinstalling Crusader Kings II for the first time in years. Other than African Portraits and South Indian Portraits DLCs, both of which I already have, I basically have vanilla CK2. What DLCs would you guys say are essential?

I was going through a similar search a month ago. This article does a good job of breaking stuff down https://www.strategygamer.com/articles/crusader-kings-2-dlc-buying-guide/

 

[Kome]

So, I'm reinstalling Crusader Kings II for the first time in years. Other than African Portraits and South Indian Portraits DLCs, both of which I already have, I basically have vanilla CK2. What DLCs would you guys say are essential?

Way of Lewds is the most important DLC.

 

[Nagisaki]

Way of Lewds is the most important DLC.

tbh, I hated playing with that DLC on until they added the game rule to turn off AI from using seduction.

 

[Homer Simpson & the Brain]

A little tip for anyone dabbling in cultural modding as I'm doing: there's no need to come up with a name for a Norse/Anglo-Saxon melting pot, because "Anglo-" is already referring to the Angles, who were historically part of the North Germanic culture group and, geographically speaking, Denmark's Texans in the 5th century. Barring a few aesthetic alterations, you just have to make the Anglo-Saxons shift from West to North Germanic.

In light of this, you could also use Anglo-Saxon as the name of a Norse/German melting pot, meaning that, with a little more modding, you could end up turning Germany English with a Norman ruler.

 

[Yorel]

So, news from my "Quantum Leap through savefiles" ideas. As a reminder, since my Zunist Shattered World went so well, I've decided to do other Shattered World games, except that I'm switching savefiles each time a character dies. So, since Tashfeen the Holy died in my Zunist game, I thus decided to switch to another savefile.

The first candidate was the Count of Paris... Who died in battle five months after I began. He had no heirs, so Game Over. Well... That was fast. We'll go back to you later!

Second candidate was Aigidia Leovracos, Countess of Constantinople. This times things have gone much MUCH more smoothly. In 24 years of reign, Aigidia has already become Queen of both Thrace, Greece and Epirus. I own all of these realms except for two provinces in Epirus. Though early expansion was done through conquests, ever since Aigidia became Queen of Thrace, I've been asking for vassalization around as most of the Greek Orthodox Counts around tend to say yes. Started annexing my way in Anatolia thanks to that, but I'll have to go to war soon.

Two things worry me about the way I'm expanding right now though. One is the fact that since it's a Shattered World, Reigning Counts tend to marry Reigning Countesses, which could create shennanigans in terms of succession. Second things is that I'm hitting my vassal limit pretty fast so I have to keep creating Ducal titles to reduce the number of vassals I have. But so far, I don't have that much of a problem. I'm a bit worried about how I'm going to create the Byzantine Empire though...

Family-wise, Aigidia has had six children through two marriages. Her eldest son and heir is Theodosios, who despite only being level 2 in terms of diplomatic education still has 17 diplomacy. He's also married to a Genius Pechneg but so far they only have one daughter and she's not a Genius. The next in line is Theodosios' brother's Bardas... But him having children might be problematic as both he and his wife are homosexuals. Shame given that she's Quick.

 

[Sevarics]

So, I'm reinstalling Crusader Kings II for the first time in years. Other than African Portraits and South Indian Portraits DLCs, both of which I already have, I basically have vanilla CK2. What DLCs would you guys say are essential?

I can't comment on DLC but modwise I love HIP and Anime Portraits

 

[Sevarics]

Is there a way to copy over the Valyrian graphics and culture from AGOT mod into the normal game?

 

[Evilprodigy]

Is there a way to copy over the Valyrian graphics and culture from AGOT mod into the normal game?

Targaryen invasion of Europe mod.

 

[Sevarics]

Targaryen invasion of Europe mod.

I mostly just wanted to play as a Valyrian in the HIP mod. I copied over some files from the Targaryen Invasion of Europe mod to the HIP mod so I'll see if this works...

 

[Sevarics]

I mostly just wanted to play as a Valyrian in the HIP mod. I copied over some files from the Targaryen Invasion of Europe mod to the HIP mod so I'll see if this works...

Yeah that didn’t work. Oh well. Guess I’ll go back to 2.7.