Hi everyone! Today we're back for another development showcase, this time about Cultures!
CULTURES:
Cultures in Elder Kings for CK3 have been changed in much of the same way as the faiths and religions. Most cultural hegemonies have been broken, and we've added new mechanics to ensure that the map retains some cultural diversity as the years and eras pass.
While in CK2 culture groups could rule over multiple provinces, we've decided to essentially make every culture in CK2 its own culture group. This means that the former Nedic group, which was composed of the Cyrodiilics, the Nords, the Bretons, and the Reachmen, will now be replaced by a Breton culture group, a Cyrodiilic culture group, a Nordic culture group, and a Nedic culture group.
The most obvious change will probably be in the province of High Rock. The home of the Bretons is known to be almost always ruled by petty kings, and a strong ruler unifying the province is the exception, rather than the rule. To help achieve it, and give some more life to the province, the former Breton culture has been made into its own culture group, and you can now find the Glenumbran, the Northmen, the Iliac, and the Bjoule.
The most observant in the crowd will probably spot the Balfieran and the Horsemen cultures, respectivelly part of the Altmeri and the Yokudan group.
However, this increased cultural granularity and diversity would be next to useless if the cultures could be wiped out in a few decades (as is the case in vanilla, and even with the harshest cultural conversion time game rules a single cultural hegemony often installed itself over Tamriel). To try and prevent this, we've decided to tie most cultures to one or several places in Tamriel, named a
nativity region.
NATIVITY REGIONS:
A nativity region is effectively a part of Tamriel in which a culture can easily be spread. Trying to spread a culture outside of its nativity region (or regions), will take much longer than spreading it in its core homeland.
From 1 to 12: Glenumbra, Rivenspire, Stormhaven, Wrothgarian Mountains, Bangkorai, West Ghost, Karth, Craglorn, White-River, East Ghost, Dark-Water, Solstheim.
But then, how can you hold on to the land you conquer? Well, you can always invite settlers natives from the region to at least make it so the province is part of your culture group - which should appease the tensions.
This is done through the
Promote Local Culture Steward job, that works in very much the same way as the
Promote Culture job from the same councillor. The only difference is that instead of spreading your own culture, you instead convert the province to a culture within your culture group that is native from the region.
Here, I am trying to convert the culture of a Mountain Orc county. Making it Glenumbran would take several decades, as my culture is not part of this nativity region.
So I can instead ask my Steward to promote a local culture, a culture within my culture group that is native to this region, in this case the Wrothgarian Mountains. It just so happens that the Northmen culture is native from here, so my steward will invite Northmen settlers and use them to make the province a bit easier to manage.
In the case that your culture group doesn't have a culture that is considered native from the place you're trying to convert, you will have no choice but to spread your own, at a much slower pace. Or you can install vassals sharing the province's culture.
Most of the time your culture nativity regions are fixed. But there are some cases in which a ruler can, with enough effort, expand its culture zone of influence.
But keep in mind that these situations will be very rare.
DEAD CULTURES:
Some culture groups have been present in Tamriel for a very long time, and may have even ruled over a significant portion of it. But that was ages ago, and now younger cultures have taken their place.
But that doesn't mean they are gone forever.
Among these people is the reworked Nedic culture group. The Nedic once ruled over most of Northern Tamriel, and they are nowadays pretty much only represented by the Reachfolk. But an ambitious and powerful Reachfolk ruler could study the lost traditions of the other Nedic tribes, and slowly revive them over time.
Among the lost Nedic people, the following can be rediscovered:
- The Galen (in most of High Rock)
- The Duraki (in Craglorn)
- The Kreath (in White-River)
- The Perena (in Colovia)
- The Gemha (in Nibenay)
The ancient tribes of the Kothringi in Black Marsh, and the Keptu in central Hammerfell are still alive when the game starts, but they hold far less land compared to the Reachfolk.
Some other culture groups will also be given dead cultures to revive, like the Ayleids. It should make for fun playthroughs, as you try to re-establish some long lost traditions and cultures over your people's former empire!
INNOVATIONS:
The world of TES is much unlike ours, but we've still tried to apply the CK3's standard over it.
We have divided the timeline in four broad eras, or ages:
- The First Era
- The Early Interregnum
- The Time of Pretenders
- The Unification Wars
As you can guess, the game will begin around the Interregnum, as the central authority in Cyrodiil crumbles, leaving most of the provinces broken and in constant struggle. As time progresses, warlords will conquer and unite their regions, until we can find strong regional hegemonies. But even these hegemonies will shatter, and at long last a powerful ruler might do what no one did before, and unify Tamriel...
Each of these eras will have most of vanilla's innovations, as well as some specifically made to represent the cultural progressions in Tamriel.
The closely guarded secret of the Moonstones in Alinor, the gradually increasing understanding, and power, of magic, and the Witch-Knights of the Reach are three examples of what we can represent with the innovations.
That is all for today! I hope you enjoyed this development showcase, and if you have any question about the cultures or other features, feel free to ask!
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