That sounds pretty good. What if someone wants to play as an Romano-Goth, though? Can we set up a couple of events whereby they can indulge in a similar career path to Theodorics? For example, if I were to create-a-character who was a Romano-Goth when the game starts, is there a way where I could:
Start in Pannonia II with 10,000 Romano-Gothic Event Troops (mixture of heavy infantry and light infantry/pikemen) and control over one county, while also being at war with the Eastern Roman Empire for a claim on Singidunum (or whatever territory approximates that in this game.) Similar to the way William the Conqueror starts in the Vanilla CK II game.
Events you can pursue follow:
Be Named Magister Militum of the Eastern Roman Empire (Conferring a hefty prestige bonus and a modest income)
Text: Some fancy version of explaning that your character, as a stand in for Theodoric, threatened the Eastern Empire with further war and sacking of cities unless you recieved an official Roman title and payroll for you and your army.
Requiring:
- Must Hold One Duke-level title within the Balkan territory of the Empire
AND
- Must Be Romano-Goth
And then if you acquire 'Magister Militum' you could move on to: "Be Named Consul of the Eastern Roman Empire" (Conferring an even larger prestige bonus and salary.)
Flavor Text about offering to make yourself useful to the sitting Emperor in case of a succession crisis.
Requirements:
- Must Hold one Duke-Level Title Within the Balkan territory of the Eastern Roman Empire
AND
- Must Already Be Named 'Magister Militum'
AND
- Must Defeat Theodoric Strabo's Ostrogoths (which in this scenario should control a duchy-level estate in or around Thrace - hence their nickname 'Thracian Goths'. Defeating these Goths should also come with an increase in manpower to 20,000 total event troops.)
And then if you get named Consul, recieve an event that says something along the lines of 'Having eliminated all his other rivals for power in Constantinople, the Eastern Roman Emperor now looks to rid himself of Theodoric's troubling Ostrogoths.' With options to A) 'Accept the Eastern Roman Emperor's sponsorship for an invasion of Italy, in order to wrest it from the usurper Odovacer and hold it as a Roman ruler.' or B) Do nothing, which leaves you stranded in the middle of the Eastern Empire with troops you'll need to disband and puts you in a state of war with the Eastern Roman Empire.
If you 'Accept the Eastern Roman Emperor's sponsorship for an Invasion of Italy,' you get put in a state of war with Odovacer. If you defeat Odovacer, you should then become the ruler 'king' of all Italy and Sicily, gain a treasury of 1000, with further events:
Immediately after becoming the 'king' of Italy, you recieve an embassy from Epiphanius (a holy man of northern Italy at the time) who begs for your assistance in rebuilding the war-devastated northern Italian provinces. If you accept, you lose your entire treasury, but get +20 to all Roman or Romano-Italian characters' opinions of you. You should also acquire Epiphanius (a 20 Diplomacy, 5 Martial, 7 Stewardship, 8 Intrigue, 20 Learning character). If you refuse, you keep your treasury, but lose -20 to all Roman or Romano-Italian opinions, and don't get Epiphanius.
Some flavor event decisions you could make as ruler of Italy would then be:
A) Bring back the captives of Liguria (northern Italy) from the Burgundians. (Requires State Diplomacy of 25 or better, Prestige of 1000 or better, 200 gold). Gain +10 to Romano-Italian/Roman Opinion.
B) Remit 2/3rds of the taxes of the citizens of Liguria for 1 year (northern Italy) (-2.0 (or some other penalizing amount, however much income Italy gets you at the start of the game)
C) Settle Your Soldiers on Roman Land: Allows you to recruit the noble Liberius, who is 10/5/25/5/10. Gives you a 'Mercenary' unit (is this possible?) of 5000 Romano-Gothic soldiers, who cost very little to maintain and who can be maintained all the time. Might actually be good to have a few of these Mercenary bands. They could also be 'Holy Orders' who (is this possible?) cost you prestige to raise instead of piety?
C) Convert to 'Roman' culture - converts Theodoric and his immediate family and retainers of 'Romano-Gothic' culture to 'Roman' culture or 'Italo-Roman' culture, costs you -20 opinion from all pagan characters, +5 from all Christian (and thus Roman, to one extent or another) characters.
D) Create a Roman administration: Grants you the noble Cassiodorus as a character you can recruit for your court: (12/5/12/10/15) and his son, the famous Cassiodorus of the
Variae and the Gothic History, who is (20/5/20/5/20). Gives you +10 bonus to Italo-Roman/Roman opinion, costs you a percentage of your monthly income.
E) Restore Roman Monumental Architecture (a major component of Theodoric's success), costs you a portion of your monthly income, gives you an on-going bonus to Roman/Romano-Italian opinion.
F) Visit Rome and Recieve the Senate's Acclaim: Confers upon you the title of Princeps (with a hefty prestige and income modifier), converts your Italian kingdom into '
The Western Roman Empire,' and allows you recruit Senators into your administration. This should require every existing Senator to have an opinion of you which is at least 75 or better, and for your character to be Roman/Romano-Italian.
G) Host Spectacles in Rome: A -200 gold event that gives you +15 Roman/Romano-Italian opinion for 2 years, useful just before you ask the Senate to recognize you as Princeps. Could replace the "Host a Grand Tournament Event"
H) Restore Roman Trade Abroad: A -500 prestige event that increases your income by a large amount every month for about 10 years at a time, while also granting you +5 Roman/Romano-Italian opinion.
Later Events could be time-triggered, or event triggered:
G) In 504, you could recieve an event offering you the chance to take back all of the Western Roman Empire's traditional provinces in Illyricum, and recieve a casus belli on it all. Accepting will piss the Eastern Roman Emperors off, and the whole Eastern Empire, as will winning the war, but success will give you a +10 opinion modifier in Italy and in Illyricum, and two more 'Mercenary Armies' of low-cost (or Retinues) Roman troops from Illyricum.
F) In 507 (the year of the historic Battle of Vouille in which the Visigothic Kingdom lost most of its Italian Holdings) or whenever the Franks go to war with the Visigoths after you become princeps of the Western Roman Empire, you could recieve an event that offers you the chance to restore Roman control to southern Gaul (Provence), and gives you a claim on all the territories of Provence, as well as a claim on the Visigothic throne. If you accept the event, you get major negative opinion points with the Burgundians and the Franks and the Eastern Roman Empire. If you win the war(s) and reclaim Provence, you should recieve new events:
1] Restore Roman Administration in Gaul (Costs -200 gold, you lose the character of Liberius, who becomes Prefect of Gaul - or someone does anyway - a King Level Title under your Emperor Title) with claims to the rest of Gaul, Spain, and Britannia, and which can only be held by a Gallo-Roman, Romano-Goth, Roman, or Romano-Italian. Since none of the Frankish or Burgundian rulers are likely to be 'Gallo-Roman' in 510 or so, it's unlikely this title will be usurped before it can expand, but if it does, them's the breaks.
2]Deploy a Roman Army in Gaul (Costs a hefty percentage of monthly income, but gives you +10 to Romano-Gallic opinion, and gives you another Mercenary army of Romano-Goths)
3]Reintroduce Gallo-Romans to the Senate of Rome (-1000 to prestige, but +5 to Roman or Romano-Italian opinion and plus +15 to Gallo-Roman.)
4]Recover Gallo-Roman prisoners from Burgundians. Gives you a Casus Belli on the Burgundians, allowing you to add some territory to the empire. If you win, you get the territory, plus +10 to Roman, Romano-Italian, Gallo-Roman Opinion.
As for the Visigoths...
Accepting the event for the battle of Vouille should give you a claim on the Visigothic Throne. Now, that could be tricky. The current King is not going to want to surrender his independence. Historically, the King died in battle with no legitimate successor and Theodoric outmanuevered/defeated a rival in order to claim the Visigothic realm for the empire. I don't know how that could work in game, but I suppose you could just have an all out war with the Visigoths with conditions that if you lose, you take a MAJOR prestige and Roman/Roman-Gothic/Gallo-Roman/Italo-Roman opinion hit (like, -30 or -40, even -50 ... a Roman Emperor is supposed to defeat Barbarians, not the other way around) and lose your claim, but if you win, you get the throne and control over the Kingdom, but at a -20 Romano-Visigoth opinion hit, while a +10 Hispano-Roman opinion bonus?
As for the Vandals: perhaps there should be one event, in the late 490s, or early 500s, in which you can marry your sister to the Vandal King, or his heir. If you accept, you get a -10 opinion modifier among Vandals, but +10 to Romano-Africans, AND you get a +5 Romano-Italian/Roman opinion boost along with a minor income boost due to increased African trade and provisioning of elephants for the games.
The Long Haul::
So getting the Western Roman Empire back doesn't turn out to be so hard: you've got a powerful army, the Romans respect you as a Roman princeps, you win battles, everything is good. But after 511, it should become increasingly hard to hold onto things.
For one: There are still Romans living under Barbarian rule. After 511, if you aren't at war with Barbarians for over a year you start getting opinion minuses from your subjects. If you lose a war, you get a major opinion hit.
Two: The Acacian Schism should start making your subjects really annoyed at you after 511, with an increasing opinion negative for years after 511 that don't resolve the schism (say -5 for the first year, -10 for the second, negative -20 for the third...) If you 'Help Resolve the Acacian Schism' you get a +10 opinion modifier from all Roman/Gallo-Roman, Hispano-Roman, Italo-Roman subjects until 519, when the Schism is finally resolved. After the resolution of the schism, unfortunately, your subjects get a +10 to their opinion of the Eastern Roman Empire and a -10 to their opinion of you based on religious differences (in addition to their native religious difference dislike of you.)
Three: To Resolve this Issue, You should, after 519, have an option to convert to Chalcedonian/Apostolic/Orthodox/Catholic (whatever we're calling it) Christianity. If you do, you get a +10 to opinion from the Eastern Roman Emperor, and +20 from your subjects, BUT, you also spawn an Event Pretender to your throne, a Romano-Goth named Theodahad, who has a claim on all your titles. If he beats you, you are deposed and he becomes 'king' of the Kingdom of Italy. If you beat him, you get a -20 to Romano-Gothic opinion for the rest of your reign, but hold onto your throne and Imperial title.
Four: Succession. The Western Roman Empire should have an Elective Succession system. But, for your first succession, you should need to get the approval of the Senate, the Visigoths, and the Eastern Roman Emperor. This event could cost you -2000 prestige and a hefty chunk of cash (to grease the wheels). If you get the approval, your chosen heir gets a +20 opinion modifier from all three groups for 25 years. If you don't get the approval, then on your death your heir has a -20 opinion modifier from all three groups. Placating the Senate will be easy (just repeat the 'Visit Rome and Gain Senatorial Acclaim' Event), but the Eastern Roman Empire will also get a claim on all of your titles (except the Visigothic Throne), and your death will spawn a Visigothic Event Pretender who will try to win a war to retake the throne of Spain.
Five: Longevity (Visigoths) in order to hold on to your empire, you need to eventually do something to integrate the Visigoths and Hispano-Romans back into your empire. Theodoric never got to do this, and so his empire collapsed after his daughter's death, but in order to hold onto Spain in the game, your successors (and it will need to be a successor) should have to do a series of events to retain Roman rule in Spain. 1) Your successor should be a Romano-Visigoth of (your) the Amal Dynasty. Eutharic should be a good choice, but anyone of your dynasty who is Visigothic will gain a +20 bonus to all Visigothic opinion. 2) They should convert to 'Roman culture' shortly after their succession to avoid opinion negatives with Senators and the Eastern Romans. 3) To avoid spawning rebels in Hispania, they should institute 'Romanizing Reforms in Hispania' as soon as possible. These reforms could cost a hefty chunk of prestige and cash, but come with a large opinion bonus. After doing this, there should no longer be an opinion negative for you or your heirs not being of Visigothic-Roman culture. (If that's even possible.) 4) Re-establish Pan-Mediterranean Trade. This should come with opinion bonuses for all of your subjects. 5) Support a Roman Army in Hispania. This should cost a chunk of cash and a lot of prestige, but come with an opinion bonus for residents of Spain. 5) Restore Roman Monumental Architecture in Hispania. Another costly event that gives an opinion bonus.
This sort of event sequence should also be applied to Vandal North Africa and to Northern Gaul and Britannia if you ever wind up recovering those provinces.
Other problems an Amal-dynasty Western Roman Empire could run into are...
A) Justinian's reconquests. Justinian is going to find some way to legitimize his invasions of the West. Even if you are still the Western Roman Empire, you should have to fend off Belisarius at some point during the 530s. If you win (which will be tough, as Belisarius should come as a 20/30/15/5/10 or something super-general with special event troops, but doable) Justinian loses all claims to the Western Empire. If you lose, you lose your Italian holdings and your Western Imperial title. (If you conquered North Africa prior to Eastern Roman Invasion in the early 530s, you will also have to fend off Belisarius there, and if you win Justinian loses his claim to North Africa. The same goes for Hispania in the 540s.)
B) The Justinianic Plague. When it hits, it should be completely devastating. BUT, before it hits, there should be an event talking about a 'Sun-Shroud' that lasts for 18 months, causes severe winters for up to a decade, and famine. Your people should have a -10 opinion modifier throughout the climate events and the Plague.
C) Frankish Invasion. If you manage to survive the 530s with your Western Empire more or less intact, you should have to face down the grandsons of Clovis sooner or later, along with their Eastern Roman allies.
D) Lombard, Avar, Bulgar, and Slavic Invasions throughout the 560s.
E) Maintaining the respect and friendship (tenuously) of the Eastern Roman Empire. This is a pickle. We never saw this play out long term in history, but given that by 519 Theodoric and Justin were ruling two SEPERATE Empires of Romans rather than just two halves of the same Empire as had been the case during the Theodosian dynasty, if your empire survives Belisarius and the 530s intact, eventually you're probably going to have to throw down with the Eastern Romans to control both halves of the Empire, or watch the East be devoured by the Persians and later Arabs while Slavs, Bulgars, Lombards, and Franks keep gobbling at you in the West. To that end, whenever the Eastern Roman Emperor dies without a direct male heir, you should get a claim on the title, and winning that war should give you control of the Balkans and Thrace, and claims to Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. If you lose, you lose your claims to the Eastern Empire for a generation. BUT, before you wind up having this war, you should have the option to do a couple of events to keep Roman relationships cool: A) Jointly Name Consuls for the Year with the Eastern Roman Emperor. A -100 prestige hit that gives you +10 Eastern Roman Emperor opinion for a year. B)Request Eastern Roman Imperial approval of your successor. A -1000 prestige hit that confers a +30 bump to Eastern Roman Imperial opinion of your successor for 10 years. C) Diplomatic mission to Constantinople. A -200 cash hit that comes with a +10 opinion bump that is on-going for 5 years. You can also pursue traditional marriage alliances and stuff.
ANYWAY. I write too much. I don't know how much of this is even possible, or if there's anyone out there crazy enough to mod all this stuff. If I had any skills with modding, I would do it myself, but my two attempts to create a mod have been badly botched failures. I'm just throwing this out there as an idea for other people to pursue if you have time and interest.
Also, if there's a way to hide this text behind a cut, PLEASE TELL ME. I looked and didn't see a way, and I don't often post here.
