They could have given them either Spanish or French gfx or a combination. They even have Italian Units for some reason, are they related to Italy?
Why do the Basques have Italiangfx?
- Thread starter daniloy
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I believe it's because the Basques are an isolate population wholly unrelated to both the Spanish and the French and their Celtic ancestors. This is, again, just my speculation, but I think that the idea was that, by giving them Italian graphics, players in the region will be able to instantly know that a character is Basque, because they'll be visually distinct from both Iberian and French portraits. Thus, having Italian graphics instead of Iberian, French, or mixed graphics allows the distinctness of the Basques from both populations to be immediately evident regionally. At the same time, by using Italian graphics, they're also getting a new graphical pack altogether (which seems to be a priority when making changes, getting newer ones spread around more than older ones) and one that still befits their broadly Mediterranean setting.
Furthermore, it leaves Iberian-French mixed portraits open for Catalans and Occitans in the future. Whether or not this was intentional, I can't say, but it is an interesting side effect.
Furthermore, it leaves Iberian-French mixed portraits open for Catalans and Occitans in the future. Whether or not this was intentional, I can't say, but it is an interesting side effect.
The basques are genetically and linguistically utterly unique among Europeans its believed there the only survivors of Europe's original Pre Indo-European population. There closest relatives genetically are actually the Welsh and Irish. Who outside the basques show the most Pre Indo-European ancestry.
Genetically not so much. Most of Europe is a mixed genetic bag between Indo-European steppe invaders and pre-Indo-European populations, in much the same way that the English, despite being considered a thoroughly Germanic people with a thoroughly Germanic history tied to a thoroughly Germanic tribe, are actually near indistinguishable from the Welsh when genetics are taken into account. The Basques, although still bearing some distinct genetics, are overall pretty typically European in their structure.
When I say an "unrelated population", I mean more in a cultural sense, really. If we're talking genetics, then IIRC the Spanish are actually the closest fit with a 70-80% match. That they're made visually distinct is, I suppose, an abstraction made for the sake of flaunting their distinctiveness, to convey the spirit of being able to pretty much immediately recognize a Basque, rather than an active statement saying that they look like Italians or are closer to Italians than anyone else.
EDIT: There's also the Uralic peoples to consider. Their proto-Uralic form probably neighbored Proto-Indo-Europeans, but all the same they beat Indo-Europeans to many regions of the continent. This is especially notable in Scandinavia and European Russia, where the Sami and various Ugric and Mordvinic peoples still exist as minorities, while Finland and Estonia represent the places where they remained strong. Other groups that survived into written history, such as the Etruscans, Minoans (and Eteocretans), the Rhaetians, and possibly the Camunni, all indicate a language family (that may or may not include Minoan/Eteocretan) separate from the Basques across half of the Mediterranean. They're not alive today but still, they survived long enough to get written down.
The most recent generic data links them to neolithic Iberian farmers. The basques because of their relative isolation were not effected by the migration of the Yanma culture into Europe which radically altered the genetic make up of Europe in the mid Bronze age. it also helps explain why there language is unique as its the only part of Europe where the Yanma culture did not supplant the preceding culture.
That's the thing. Yes, they are related to Neolithic farmers. Problem is, so is just about everyone else in Europe. I don't know that I'd say the shift was anything 'radical' in the genetic department. Pointing again to the Angles, they migrated over, now the people of England consider themselves English, they speak English, they consider English history to be their own, they identify with the Angles, but if you just had genetic samples to work with you'd find no difference between them and the Welsh, or at most a fairly small difference in all but the most thoroughly Norse of English settlements
The angles are nothing like the Yanma migrations, Almost the entirity the entirety of Europe today Is all descended in the male line from a single ancestral group from central Asia.
...and a massive preexisting population of Neolithic farmers that they culturally absorbed
Because it's fugly, primarily designed to represent Franco-German people, and the devs made a specific and concentrated effort to erase vanilla faces from every corner of the map whether or not their fill-ins made practical sense (ie English portraits for Goths, Saxons, Frisians, and Angles, when the Angles were mostly assimilated Celts up to the noble level, the Frisians and Saxons might be better off as Germans, and the Goths are, well, Goths, and the portrait pack is designed to specifically represent Normans).
The goal to purge the world of vanilla faces is quite possibly the entire reason we had so many new portrait packs this last round to begin with.
I completely agree. It's the only thing I don't like from the latest (major) update.
I understand they wanted the Basques to look different from both French and Iberians... But I don't think giving them Italian portraits is a good solution, at all. Italian portraits are simply "too Italian", specially their clothing... The same could be said about Italian units, that they also use... They simply don't fit there. Basque-Navarre medieval fashion was the same as in the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, although it was usually the first to include French influence (because of their geographical location, and the links with French nobility in the late Middle Ages), according to this article (written in Spanish.) So I think they could use the same portraits and units as the French characters. But I would suggest other options too:
-French portraits.
-Iberian portraits and units.
Or...
-A "basquegfx" mix between Iberian and French portraits (faces and clothing ) and units, in a similar way to the Hungarians, Andalusians or Dalmatians: maybe Iberian faces with French clothing. As we don't currently have French units, they could use Iberian ones.
In any case, I really hope they don't use Italian portraits (and units) in the next update.
I understand they wanted the Basques to look different from both French and Iberians... But I don't think giving them Italian portraits is a good solution, at all. Italian portraits are simply "too Italian", specially their clothing... The same could be said about Italian units, that they also use... They simply don't fit there. Basque-Navarre medieval fashion was the same as in the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, although it was usually the first to include French influence (because of their geographical location, and the links with French nobility in the late Middle Ages), according to this article (written in Spanish.) So I think they could use the same portraits and units as the French characters. But I would suggest other options too:
-French portraits.
-Iberian portraits and units.
Or...
-A "basquegfx" mix between Iberian and French portraits (faces and clothing ) and units, in a similar way to the Hungarians, Andalusians or Dalmatians: maybe Iberian faces with French clothing. As we don't currently have French units, they could use Iberian ones.
In any case, I really hope they don't use Italian portraits (and units) in the next update.
tbh might be better to call it Occitangfx to replace the old Occitangfx, rather it'd be the "Occitan portraits", covering Basques, Occitans, and perhaps Catalans too, to show where the Spanish and French blend into one another in the transpyrenean cultures
For those interested:
Basquegfx: Iberian faces and French clothing (plus Early Western clothing support). Iberian units.
It's not Ironman compatible, sadly.
Basquegfx: Iberian faces and French clothing (plus Early Western clothing support). Iberian units.
It's not Ironman compatible, sadly.
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