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CK2 Dev Diary #36: The Witching Hour

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a good time during the Holidays. I know I did, but now it’s time to don the crown, strap on the sword and get back to work on Crusader Kings II (and my other game, of course...) Now, what better way to start off the new year than with a bit of harmless witchery? In the terribly long eras before the great thinkers of the Age of Reason would have us replace magic with science, the “occult” was of course seen as a normal part of life, and society lived in fear of curses and evil spells. But… just because you’re superstitious does not mean the witches aren’t out to get you! Just like today, the desperate and the unscrupulous would seek power by any means necessary, including the worship of demons and evil spirits...

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This brings us to my favorite Society in the upcoming expansion Monks and Mystics; the Demon Worshippers. These brothers and sisters of the left-hand path come in several varieties: Abrahamics get “Lucifer’s Own”, Tengri pagans get the “Plaguebringers”, the Indian faiths are afflicted with a particularly nasty type of Kali worship, Baltic, Slavic and Finnic pagans get “The Cold Ones” (evil shamans) and Germanic Pagans have those who curry the favor of Hel and of powerful jotuns. Regardless of religious context, they are all united in their self-serving, utterly ruthless quest for power in the world of the living, and care little for their fate in the afterlife. As they advance through the ranks, Demon Worshippers get powers like “Dark Divorce”, “Summon Familiar” and “Tainted Touch” (a health curse.) Through their network of agents, they can also attempt to abduct relatively low ranking characters. Now, a lot of the content for the Demon Worshippers is hard to explain in terms of placebo effects and natural phenomena, so if you don’t care for the supernatural I suggest simply not joining those Societies (because rooting out their covens and persecuting them through your Court Chaplain is reasonably historical and adds flavor to the game.) However, if you really don’t want them around, you can turn them off through a Game Rule.

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Next up are the infamous Assassins, a Shiite Muslim Society that - unsurprisingly - specializes in murder. The elusive Assassins consider themselves the true followers of Allah, and will do anything to further the advances of Shia Islam and protect their fellow believers. Consisting of loyal warriors as well as competent spies, wielding manipulation and social skills as expertly as a dagger, they specialize in asymmetrical warfare, striking hard at the heart of their enemies. Their special powers include intimidation and murder. For example, they can get a Favor with someone (if you have the Conclave expansion) by leaving a dagger on their pillow. At higher ranks, they can also mark someone for death, so that lower ranked members will get that murder as a mission. Since this Society is also a political entity and a Holy Order of sorts, the Grandmaster gets the power to raise special troops.

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There is more to say about these Societies; their other powers, missions and semi-random events, but I don’t want to spoil it all. Oh, and if you have the Way of Life expansion, you can use “Spy On” to find out if a character is a member of a secret Society like the above...

There won’t be a CK2 stream today, but stay tuned for something next week (and a new dev diary, of course)!
 
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Guyyyyys

The thing that deserves the greatest hype in this dev diary. Is the part of the tooltip in the third screenshot that says "is secretly Shia" and "is NOT secretly following another religion."
I disagree. The thing that deserves the greatest hype is this bit:

get back to work on Crusader Kings II (and my other game, of course...)

Vicky 3, right?
 
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Now, a lot of the content for the Demon Worshippers is hard to explain in terms of placebo effects and natural phenomena, so if you don’t care for the supernatural I suggest simply not joining those Societies (because rooting out their covens and persecuting them through your Court Chaplain is reasonably historical and adds flavor to the game.) However, if you really don’t want them around, you can turn them off through a Game Rule.

Just want to make sure I understand this part. Does the game rule option turn off the demon worshiping cults altogether or just the supernatural powers?

If it just turns off the cults, will there be an alternate way to only remove the supernatural stuff from the game play? Avoiding the cult still means the AI has access to these powers right?
 
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I know I asked a lot of questions, but...
Can we get a sneak peek on the artwork for Plaguebringers, The Cold Ones and those nasty Kali worshipers?
 
Just want to make sure I understand this part. Does the game rule option turn off the demon worshiping cults altogether or just the supernatural powers?

If it just turns off the cults, will there be an alternate way to only remove the supernatural stuff from the game play? Avoiding the cult still means the AI has access to these powers right?

I think it turns off the society. The "Dark Powers" itself is more like something that "can be interpreted as supernatural", when it actually seems to represent your influence in this edgy society.
 
Wait, "secretly following another religion"? Has this mechanic been explained yet? Because it sounds like a very interesting way to add flavor to "convert now, repent later" runs for Zoroastrians or Jews.
 
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Kali ma... KALI MAAAAA!
 
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Just want to make sure I understand this part. Does the game rule option turn off the demon worshiping cults altogether or just the supernatural powers?

If it just turns off the cults, will there be an alternate way to only remove the supernatural stuff from the game play? Avoiding the cult still means the AI has access to these powers right?

As I understand it, the game rule prevents anyone from joining the society, which in turn means that no one can use supernatural powers.
 
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Lucifer is the given name (by the Romans) of the Angel of Light. In English the name is Morningstar. In no theological text is his given name ever given, only his title of Satin. The Muslim concept is identical, even including Judgment Day and the Antichrist. It absolutely makes since that they join the same demonic cult.

As for the Zorastrians, earlier in this very reply (left unquoted) you were going on about how it was the same thing. Why would you now complain that they join Lucifer's Own? And don't say becuase they don't worship Lucifer, they get the proper localization.
Actually the devil/satan exists in both but is diffrent, lucifer however does not exist in both.
Lucifer simply means morning star an honorific carried by a babylonian king, who is to be cast down from on high (not from heaven and not an angel). Now when CK2 begins the idea hat he's a fallen angel is already in place but he's not seen as one with the devil yet in the period. Even revelations mentions the fallen angel, antichrist and the devil as separate beings.
Satan in christianity is the spirit who tempts christ in the desert, he's amentioned a few times but it's a bit unclear when the word is used as simply advesary and when it means The Advesary.
Saytan/Iblis in islam is a prideful being who would not bow before man and is thus cast out of heaven. This story is combined with the story of the angel who fell by Milton creating our modern idea of Lucifer/Satan, but it's not from christianity at all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer

The idea of Lucifer as the devil and a combination of these is like I said a product of Milton's paradise lost and thus a 17th centrury thing.
 
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So if there is going to be a Lucifer cult, does that mean there will be an official religion in game that can be created? Or is it all going to be just strictly a secret cult?
 
Guyyyyys

The thing that deserves the greatest hype I'm this dev diary. Is the part of the tooltip in the third screenshot that says "is secretly Shia" and "is NOT secretly following another religion."

Gonna be a whole new layer.
I am interested in how this would affect existing spy on mission. Often I would find characters promoting "vile heresies". However, as the player I'm never given the option to promote vile heresies so I assume it's just a random bad thing to discover.
I look forward to being rightfully accused of promoting vile heresies in the future.
 
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