Bastions: Tales of the Anglo-Prussians

[mayorqw]

I love these summaries. It feels like you've created an entire world of your own; I feel like I could be reading this off my history schoolbooks. Very, very good!

Oh and I second Vesimir

[JDMS]

I love these summaries. It feels like you've created an entire world of your own; I feel like I could be reading this off my history schoolbooks. Very, very good!

Oh and I second Vesimir

+1

Great update.

[Enewald]

Prussian cossacks, yayz.

[Mr. Capiatlist]

One of the coolest cultures ever. Ukrainian Normans are even more absurd than Saxon Balts and that's what I love about them.

I love these summaries. It feels like you've created an entire world of your own; I feel like I could be reading this off my history schoolbooks. Very, very good!

Oh and I second Vesimir

+1

Great update.

Prussian cossacks, yayz.

Thanks everyone! I do enjoy crafting this little world of mine.

Just a reminder, part 3 of Homelands' last chapter was posted a while ago (about a week ago), and part 4 is being finished now. Expect the conclusion of Homelands on Christmas.

[thekonkoe]

Never posted in Homelands I don't think but lurked and read it all, great AAR, really looking forward to the continuation into EU3. Out of curiosity, apart from the very different history of your Prussia, and the monstrosity that is the Caliphate, can we expect any changes outside of Europe?

[Mr. Capiatlist]

Never posted in Homelands I don't think but lurked and read it all, great AAR, really looking forward to the continuation into EU3. Out of curiosity, apart from the very different history of your Prussia, and the monstrosity that is the Caliphate, can we expect any changes outside of Europe?

Yes, actually I'll take this chance to expand on some of them (though many will become apparent in the first chapters of Bastions). The biggest thing is that the Mongols never invade Europe, instead they conquer India and eventually convert to Hinduism. This means that Bastions starts off with a very aggressive Hindu state, and Hinduism is an important player all the way through the end. It all means that India starts off slightly more united (religiously).

Islam is still important in many parts of the world and will start off with a new group:
Franda Islam (which is introduced in the beginnings of Bastions) is a split from Sunni Islam, it incorporates many Christian themes into Islam (so European Muslims ~= Arab Muslims). So Franda Islam has a different symbolics, different means of worship. I am going to compare it to Mormons and other Christians. It is in name mostly the same (especially to outsiders), but to people on the inside it is very different and almost its own religion.

Bastions will set the stage for most of this, so I don't want to spoil too much. Hopefully once Homelands is done I can get through the Prologue as quick as possible and the culture updates will not stop me from starting Bastions itself. I want to have Bastions started before Spring, but that really depends on the Prologue.

[thekonkoe]

I have a similar religion to explain one of my CK games. I decided to combine Sufism (already considered by some Muslims as outside the religion particularly certain sects) and Christian traditions of asceticism and theosis. Its basically a very mystic Sufism with some things incorporated from Christianity, also threw in a little Norse and Gaelic flavor since thats where it all happened. Are you going to make it heretic or heathen for Islam?

[Milites]

I am really enjoying this setup. Especially this last part I found rather interesting:

By 1450 only small groups of huntsmen retained the stereotypical life in the saddle. In 1507, the nomadic lifestyle was illegalized and men with excessive saddle sores were fined.

"This is a raid! Hey you, yes you on the white-spotted mare. Get off and let me see your sores!"

[Mr. Capiatlist]

I have a similar religion to explain one of my CK games. I decided to combine Sufism (already considered by some Muslims as outside the religion particularly certain sects) and Christian traditions of asceticism and theosis. Its basically a very mystic Sufism with some things incorporated from Christianity, also threw in a little Norse and Gaelic flavor since thats where it all happened. Are you going to make it heretic or heathen for Islam?

It starts off as a faction of Islam (I copied over Wahabis). There is one other religion to be introduced with the quratis. It is in PEIOU.

I am really enjoying this setup. Especially this last part I found rather interesting:
"This is a raid! Hey you, yes you on the white-spotted mare. Get off and let me see your sores!"

Haha. Thank you very much. Every culture has that one crazy law that makes you wonder how it was enforced.

[Mr. Capiatlist]

Bastions
Culture Updates
The Britons

The use of the word “Briton” to refer to any resident of the British Isles is a modern one. In 1389 it was unheard of and even offensive to refer to the Britons as one group instead of the ten that actually were present at the time. England especially was a melting pot of different cultures, but overall on the isles there were Normans, English, Saxons, Scots, Highlanders, Welsh, Cornish, Norse Gaelic, Irish, and Moormen. Each one of these groups had a central region, or place that was distinctly theirs, and more often than not, had their own government, ruler and language. The Normans were centered on Kent and Canterbury; the English on London and Norfolk; the Saxons had Lancaster; the Scots were centered on Edinburgh; the Highlanders in Alba; the Welsh still control Wales, but also Bristol; the Cornish held Cornwall and Devon; the Norse Gaelic set up a government on Mann and in Dublin; the Irish still held Ireland; and the Moormen were centered in small communities throughout Ireland and Scotland.

The Moormen are the most recent addition to the Isles, and they are also the most fleeting. Modern records suggest their population was never greater than two or three thousand all told. They were mostly made up of Jews and Muslims from the Caliph who were settled in Ireland and Scotland during the time when those regions were under the control of the Caliph. After the Caliph officially left the Isles, small Moormen city states popped up, but were quickly captured and pillaged by the native Christians. The last such settlement, outside of Glasgow, was sacked in 1353. Since then the Moormen lived lives of persecution, not unlike the lives of the Jews in other Christian countries. Slowly they trickled back into France and Spain. Many Moormen who arrived in the Isles spoke Breton and it was because of this that they were often the ones incorrectly chosen to go to Ireland and other Gaelic-speaking Regions. Many of them chose to go back to Bretony and eventually settled in Rennes and Nantes.

Another small group, numbering no more than seven thousand, was the Norse Gaels. The Norse Gaels were the descendants of Viking raiders and settlers and were thus a coastal people. Very rarely was a Norse Gael settlement farther than day’s walk from the Sea. After the removal of the Caliphate, the Norse Gaels were united by the King of Ireland, and were granted two small territories to government forever. The first was Dublin and the second was Mann. Mann, or the Isle of Man, is where many Norse Gaels chose to live, giving rise to their more common name: the Manx. The Manx were important to the King of Ireland because it was their ships and their sailors who made raids and invasions of England possible. The Welsh bore the brunt of these attacks, and the island eventually became an important target for the English. However, there was no denying the tie between the Irish and the Manx, and today many do not a difference between the two. Mann is still considered part of Ireland, and the Manx share many customs with their Western neighbors including religion.

The Cornish in 1389 were a close knit group of people. They inhabited Cornwall, and it was not uncommon for a Cornish person outside of Cornwall to be called Welsh. The Cornish, however, were not Welsh and took great offense at the suggestion that they were. They were separated from the Welsh by religious differences (the Welsh were an equal mix of Revisionist and Unionist and the Cornish often Revisionist) as well as political differences (the Welsh were conquered by Ireland and the Cornish allied with Revisionist Ireland against Anglican England). But Cornwall sat right on the border of England and was therefore easy pickings. The spirit of the Cornish kept Cornwall free for many years, up to the Union that would eventually unite the Isles under the King of England. But their tenaciousness granted them a spot on the Union Flag, something that their Welsh brothers would not ever get.

There was a common British joke in the 1600 and 1700s that the Welsh were a people without a culture. This was not really the fault of the Welsh as much as the fault of their location. Wales spent much of its history trapped between two war-hungry countries that often saw Wales as nothing more than a battle ground. Whether it was the Irish and the Saxons, or the Saxons and the Normans, or the Irish and the English, Wales was on no side and always the first to be sacked. In 1389 the Welsh people were enjoying a few years of peace between the wars that were common between Ireland and England. At the time Wales was part of England and was subject to missionary work. Part of this was enforcing Normo-Saxon culture and language (often referred to as English). But in times the Welsh would be getting the same from the Irish and so the Welsh were slowly divided into two groups: Gaelic Welsh and Saxon Welsh, to this day the divide remains, although very smudged.

In the snowy north lived a race of men fear by all, the Highlanders. Though often romantically associated with rebellion, kilts and a strong sense of freedom, the Highlanders were in reality just Scottish people who still spoke Gaelic. No more or less prone to rebellion and kilt-wearing than their southern neighbors, the Highlanders were staunch supporters of the Pro-Irish movement that controlled Scotland at the time. This in part was fueled by Ireland supporting them as a fifth column against Pro-English Scotland only years before. The Highlanders were often Revisionist, though many were also followed the Norse Rites in communion with Iceland. One fact they are famous for is their deadly wars with the Scots, their mortal enemies to the south. The Scots and Highlanders were divided mostly by who ruled Scotland and what language they spoke. Scotland under the Scots had been very Pro-England, and now was ruled by a foreigner supported by the Highlanders and was now very Pro-Ireland. These divisions would last until the modern day, and it was the Highlanders who continued the fight for Scottish independence long after the Scots happily subjected themselves to English rule.

The Scots, on the other hand, are not known for their rebelliousness, fondness of kilts and a strong sense of independence. This is because whenever the Scots did show these characteristics it was always against Ireland and never against England. The Scots were Revisionists, like the Irish and the Highlanders; however they spoke Scots, a relative of Saxon and English. Their allegiance with England was mostly cultivated by the English with tax breaks and extra land grants for their service. In essence, they were allied to the English for the same reasons the Highlanders were allied with the Irish: because it was in their best interest. Some speculate that had the Scots and Highlanders united that Scotland would have been a much bigger player in British history. Since they didn’t, Scotland took a secondary role in the political arena, earning them the nickname “Northern Wales”. Once the English invaded Scotland in the XV Century, the Scots decided to convert to Anglicanism, putting the final brick between them and the Highlanders in place.

Ireland today is a strange place. Once it was one of the two pillars of Britain, now it is little more than a territory of the United Kingdoms. Independence for Ireland is unlikely in the modern day as there is little unity between the groups seeking Irish independence. Like many Britons today, the Irish are mostly Anglican; though before the XVI Century they were some of the most die-hard Revisionists in Europe. Ireland single handedly removed the Caliph from the Isles, waging a war for independence that is still praised in songs sung in pubs across the island. The O’Bryans, who united Ireland, quickly made themselves King and enforced Revisionism on the lay. This displaced the more native Norse Rites which had taken hold during the Caliph’s rule over Ireland. Initially Ireland held a strong position to unite the Isles early; holding Ireland, Mann, Cornwall, Wales and Scotland as a tributary state. However, England was quick to resist and far more technologically advanced. England also had the advantage of population, and in the 1400s was supported by the Kingdom of Prussia, which had declared Revisionists as non-Christian and the subject of Crusade.

The Normans make up most of England’s population in the south, especially in Kent and Hampshire. The reason for this is that it is the closest to their homeland in Normandy. The first wave of Normans settled in the Suffolk/Norfolk region as well as London and Mercia. This was the wave that came with William the Conqueror. Many of these Normans would later leave England to become the Azowians. The second wave of Normans came with the fall of Christian France and the institution of Islam in Paris. The Normans left Normandy seeking to continue their religious institutions (which would have been protected under the Caliphate). When they arrived they found England full of English and Saxon speakers, but devoid of Norman speakers. The new arrivals were welcomed, though, as the English King (descendent of Russians installed by the Prussians) was looking for more soldiers to continue his war against the Irish, the Scottish and the Caliphate. By 1389 the Normans are an important group of people, but are more or less Anglicized.

The Saxons, or more officially the Cumbrians, are sandwiched between the English and the Scots and are related to both. Many Saxons had fled England to become the Prussians, but many remained behind filling the void in Northumbria left by Morcar’s Saxons. Saxon contributed heavily to modern English, probably more so than Norman. Living in the north meant that they were often outside of the loop when it can to ruling England. Until the 1300s, though, they were the majority of the population, slowly being replaced by the English. The Saxons reacted positively with the arrival of the second Normans, it meant that they could centralize more, it gave them a class of people under them who were not collaborating with the Irish for independence and brought more people to act as farmers, soldiers and other peasant jobs during a time when the Saxons were transitioning to a more mercantile society. The system of English beats Saxon, Saxon beats Norman, and Norman beats Celtic would govern English society into the Enlightenment.

Lastly are the English. The English are the product of the Normans and the Saxons. A story goes that the English were considered Saxon until an English clergyman wrote to the King in his native language and the King had so much trouble reading it he demanded that the clergyman be brought to London to translate it. The story concludes with the King falling in love with the sound of spoken English and eventually learned how to speak it too. It is assumed that this story refers to King William II, but the name or date is never given so it is impossible to tell. King William II, was the second English-speaking King, but was the last to not speak English as his first tongue. English and Prussian are often compared as they are still slightly related. Prussian took Saxon and used a Baltic vocabulary while English took Saxon and mixed in Romance vocabulary. Still, English is more closely related to its Saxon roots than Prussian will ever be. By 1389 English was over taking Saxon as the most common language in England, and by 1500 it will far outweigh any other language in the Isles. The rise of English precipitated the rise of Anglicanism, also known as Anglican Unionism. Where Anglicanism went, English followed, which soon meant that English was spoken throughout the Isles and wherever the Britons happened to go overseas.

[Enewald]

Cumbrians are Saxons?
Since when?

[Zhangku]

This is fantasy. Roll with with it.

[Mr. Capiatlist]

Cumbrians are Saxons?
Since when?

Around the same time Ukrainians were French.

This is fantasy. Roll with with it.

[Mr. Capiatlist]

Hey everyone! Homelands is over! Check out the final update over there!

[Baldor Arbanus]

Saxon Balts, Ukrainian Normans, and the Highlanders warring with the Lowlanders. That's awesome.

There should be a Thirty Years war between European and Arabian Islam, just saying.

[Enewald]

Saxon Balts, Ukrainian Normans, and the Highlanders warring with the Lowlanders. That's awesome.

There should be a Thirty Years war between European and Arabian Islam, just saying.

Read the other AAR, it is Eternal...

[Vesimir]

Poor Wales. It became what Belgium was to the UK and Germany.

So the russians left no proper impact on the Isles other than being one of the english dynasties?

[Gwyn ap Nud]

I'm enjoying the culture updates, but I confess, having already read Homelands, I'm impatient for the recap to be over and Bastions proper to begin.

[Mr. Capiatlist]

Saxon Balts, Ukrainian Normans, and the Highlanders warring with the Lowlanders. That's awesome.

There should be a Thirty Years war between European and Arabian Islam, just saying.

Read the other AAR, it is Eternal...

Yes, it lasts throughout the entirety of Book 2, so you'll get to enjoy some of it. A second set of religious wars begins as well as some invaders come from the East. Also, it is the "Infinite War".

Poor Wales. It became what Belgium was to the UK and Germany.

So the russians left no proper impact on the Isles other than being one of the english dynasties?

Yup. I cannot say, however, that I am an expert on Wales so it was probably for the best.

Not really, the more I thought about it the less it made sense for the Russians to have a large effect. Think about it, William the Conqueror brought thousands of Normans, Morcar brought thousands of Saxons to Prussia. Sviendorog left like 50 Russians in England. It just wasn't going to make a huge change.

I'm enjoying the culture updates, but I confess, having already read Homelands, I'm impatient for the recap to be over and Bastions proper to begin.

If you think you are getting impatient: I am going crazy. My hope is to get writing at light speed. Updates will probably come in waves. The Culture updates will go on until they are done (Bastions will not wait for the culture updates).

[Keanon]

Nothing in your cultural updates about the scandinavians?