After the End Fan Fork Dev Diary 45 - Maya Rework, Map Changes, and Patreon
Good tidings, all!
Well, it's certainly been a while since our last dev diary, and I apologize for that. A lot of the work we've been doing over the past month has either been behind the scenes optimization stuff or continuing work on major overhauls that we aren't quite ready to show off yet. However, I think that, as of right now, we have more than enough for a proper dev diary. That's enough of an intro - on to the changes!
Maya Rework (Part 1, Religion)
Yes, the long-anticipated Maya Rework has finally been realized. This was a feature that was initially supposed to be in v1.0, but we simply didn't have time to include everything before it released. However, that didn't stop us from continuing to work on it, and it is finally ready for implementation.
Let's start with the changes to the Mayan religions. Both Mayan religions already had access to a pilgrimage decision prior to this update. However, we have added quite a few more things to them that should make playing in the region far more interesting.
First off, let's take a look at the Pick Personal God decision for Neomayans.
The Select a Personal God decision.
This decision allows you to select one of four different gods to be your personal companion - Hunab Ku, Aquarius, Pacal Votan, and Valum Votan.
Personal god selection
Each god gives you a different special stat-affecting character modifier.
The character modifier for Pacal Votan.
This seems like a relatively minor decision - and it is - but I see it as vitally important for the Neomayan faith. Neomayanism is primarily based on the IRL New Age movement of Mayanism, which isn't very familiar to most of our players. Therefore, many of the religion's gods are completely unknown to the player, and it's hard to get yourself into a proper roleplaying mindset as a Neomayan ruler. A small decision like this which educates players on the differences between Valum Votan and Pacal Votan helps ground the faith and make it a touch more understandable to the player, which in turn helps keeps players invested in their campaigns.
Next, the Animal Sacrifice decision.
The Animal Sacrifice decision.
This decision is actually available to many other faiths besides the Mayan ones, such as most of the Afro-Syncretic faiths and the Strangite heresy of Mormonism, but it felt appropriate to highlight this one here. This decision lets you select an animal for sacrifice to Hunab Ku, or whoever else your high god is.
Selecting an animal.
Depending on your selection, you will receive an amount of prestige and piety that ranges from "alright" to "impressive." This decision will hopefully breathe a little more life into all of the religions listed above.
Now, the pièce de résistance of these new decisions, the Bloodletting Ritual. This decision is exclusively available to the Neomayan and Uahomche faiths, and serves as an analogue to coronation for these faiths.
The Hold a Bloodletting Ritual decision.
After taking this decision, you will be asked to select which part of the body you want to draw blood from. Some options are riskier than others, but with high risk comes high reward...
The trick is to use your tongue.
Assuming that the ritual goes well...
...and it did...
...you'll get an amount of prestige and piety corresponding to the body part you had pierced, and you'll also get the special Bloodletter trait. (Thanks to Nico for this icon!)
The Bloodletter trait.
This trait will impress those that follow a Mesoamerican religion, but it will decrease opinion with those that follow a religion in the Christian or Cult of Saints groups, as they regard bloodletting rituals as barbaric. Therefore, you may occasionally want to avoid taking this decision - you don't want to give any newly-acquired Christian vassals more of an excuse to plot against you...
Also, you might want to avoid the decision because this can happen.
Just saying...
There's one final decision we've given to the Mayan faiths - the ability to commission a stele - but it's not worth writing about at length. It's more or less a copy of the Norse Runestone decision, with the same mechanics and drawbacks. We have updated the flavor text, however.
There is one additional bit of new flavor you can get as a ruler with a Mayan religion - forming the Empire of Yucatan now has a special flavor event associated with it...
A laudable accomplishment! (I fired this event from the console for testing purposes.)
Now that we've covered the new religious flavor, let's move on to the new history stuff, shall we?
Maya Rework (Part 2, History)
One of the things that held back the entire Yucatan region before v1.1 was its lackluster history. Aside from King Israel Soberon, none of the rulers had any appreciable family history, and none of the titles had any interesting backstories either. That changes now.
The history of the Yucatan changed forever when, in the late 2300s, a strange foreigner suddenly emerged from deep in the Lacandon rainforest. This man called himself Pancho Bolom.
The character portrait for Pancho Bolom.
Many details about this man are shrouded in history, from his exact date of birth to his land of origin. The man himself said that he hailed from a land of sailors and pirates far to the north and that he became a castaway in the Yucatan following a disaster at sea, but some who say that they knew him prior to his emergence claimed that he arrived in the Yucatan willingly, perhaps motivated by scholarly interest or a desire to escape a checkered past.
What is known is that, while venturing deep into the jungles of Lacandon, he came across a small group of hitherto-obscure cultists in a settlement called Bàakʼ who followed a unique version of the Mayan religion, incorporating many strange and idiosyncratic practices into their worship. Pancho Bolom claims that he received a divine revelation telling him that the religion of Bàakʼ was the true faith and that the time had come to spread this faith far across the land, but those in Bàakʼ say that he converted to the faith in a slightly less dramatic fashion. Whatever the case, Pancho Bolom made it his life's work to spread the word of this new religion, known to most as Neomayanism. Interestingly, despite self-identifying as a "pirate," Pancho Bolom chose to spread his message in an entirely peaceful fashion, claiming that this was the true will of Hunab Ku. Pancho Bolom's mission was largely successful - within a few decades, most of the southwestern Yucatan peninsula adhered to Neomayanism.
Pancho Bolom's two children, Kayum and Dona Betty, took it upon themselves to continue spreading the Neomayan faith - but using the sword rather than the tongue. On the eve of their joint expeditions, Pancho Bolom is said to have pleaded with his children to stay, saying that their adventures would slow rather than quicken the progress of Neomayanism. His children ignored him, and conquered the kingdoms of Peten and Chiapas, respectively.
The King of Peten...
...and the Queen of Chiapas.
Although they appeared successful in their adventures during their lifetime, fortune would soon turn against both branches of the family. The Kingdom of Peten was eventually lost to a follower of the old Uahomche faith, and remained in Uahomche hands for nearly two centuries.
The usurper of Peten.
The Lacandon branch are now minor dukes on the borders of the great Kingdom of Yucatan, and, even within these reduced lands, a majority of their people still do not follow the Neomayan faith.
Meanwhile, the Chiapas branch of the family, which took the name of Vivero, eventually strayed from the Neomayan faith to facilitate the peaceful integration of their kingdom into Mexico - provided that their dynasty remain on the throne.
Wayaan and his spouse Margarita, the daughter of Mexico's Emperor Julian.
The Viveros remained followers of the Sacred Heart until the disintegration of the Mexican Empire, whereupon they converted to the majority faith of their subjects... the Uahomche faith.
Tabscoob, who adopted Uahomche.
What's more, the kingdom did not last through Tabscoob's lifetime. Drawing on the legacy of the ancient ruler Votan Zapata, an upstart peasant wrested control of the mountains away from the Viveros, leading to the collapse of the kingdom. Now, the Vivero dynasty is left with only a few counties to their name.
As you can see, Pancho Bolom's children would have done well to heed his words.
We have also changed the history behind the Salazar dynasty - the ruler who broke away from the Mexican Empire, Israel Salazar, was a Jarocho who adopted the Neomayan faith in secret before declaring independence.
Israel Salazar's new portrait.
You may have noticed that we gave the Salazar dynasty a unique bloodline - the descendants of Pancho Bolom have received one as well.
Pancho Bolom's bloodline.
For those of you disappointed that Neomayanism in particular has received the spotlight, don't worry - I have plenty more to show you in the future. Here's a preview:
This religion screen looks different...
For now, though, I conclude this overview of the Maya Rework. A gigantic shout out to Heraios Kadphises, who laid out much of these changes in an extensive design document. Thank you so much for your help!
Map Changes
So, aside from the changes to the Mayan religions and histories detailed in the last dev diary, we have a few other changes we'd like to show you, specifically in the realm of mapping. I would like to offer my gratitude to BoneLorde for these changes - they helped immensely with some of the changes I'm going to show you now.
This overview will be limited to areas north of the Rio Grande, because there are a few things to the south of that area which I am not quite ready to show off yet.
First off, we've added a new de jure kingdom in the Four Corners area - the Kingdom of Dinetah. This kingdom is part of the de jure empire of Aztlan.
The Kingdom of Dinetah.
This new kingdom exists at the start as well - it is led by Hastiin Dodge, who used to be the duke of Dine Bikeyah prior to v1.1.
King Hastiin of Dinetah.
This kingdom has a number of alternate names, which appear when different cultures hold it. Non-native cultures will call it "Navajoland," while different native groups each have their own names:
Hopi: Hopituskwa
Apache: Apacheria
Hopefully, this change will give the Mormons a touch more staying power and highlight the Navajo rulers a little more.
Next, let's look at some de jure changes made to the HCC. There is a new de jure duchy in the Kingdom of Carolina - the Duchy of Midcountry.
The Duchy of Midcountry.
The new de jure kingdom view of the HCC.
The old County of Augusta was split in half along the Savannah River to accommodate this change, and the former titular Duchy of Augusta has been removed entirely. Its former ruler now controls the Duchy of Midcountry.
Duke Walker Frymore of Midcountry.
Aside from these two major changes, we've also made a number of minor adjustments to county names. These changes mostly apply to the Northeast, but adjustments have been made across the map. Here are a list of them, excluding changes made south of the Rio Grande.
As always, all of these changes are not final - if you have any further suggestions regarding map changes or county names, feel free to leave them in a comment below! Now, for our last major announcement.
Patreon
For the longest time, I have refused to accept donations or other forms of compensation in exchange for my work on the Fan Fork. However, I have decided to change this policy. I now have a Patreon page, which you can find by clicking here. Right now, the only reward for contributing is a unique role on the community Discord server. Here is a copy of the FAQ available on the Patreon page itself:
Minor Changes
There's only one minor change worth mentioning:
Good tidings, all!
Well, it's certainly been a while since our last dev diary, and I apologize for that. A lot of the work we've been doing over the past month has either been behind the scenes optimization stuff or continuing work on major overhauls that we aren't quite ready to show off yet. However, I think that, as of right now, we have more than enough for a proper dev diary. That's enough of an intro - on to the changes!
Maya Rework (Part 1, Religion)
Yes, the long-anticipated Maya Rework has finally been realized. This was a feature that was initially supposed to be in v1.0, but we simply didn't have time to include everything before it released. However, that didn't stop us from continuing to work on it, and it is finally ready for implementation.
Let's start with the changes to the Mayan religions. Both Mayan religions already had access to a pilgrimage decision prior to this update. However, we have added quite a few more things to them that should make playing in the region far more interesting.
First off, let's take a look at the Pick Personal God decision for Neomayans.
The Select a Personal God decision.
This decision allows you to select one of four different gods to be your personal companion - Hunab Ku, Aquarius, Pacal Votan, and Valum Votan.
Personal god selection
Each god gives you a different special stat-affecting character modifier.
The character modifier for Pacal Votan.
This seems like a relatively minor decision - and it is - but I see it as vitally important for the Neomayan faith. Neomayanism is primarily based on the IRL New Age movement of Mayanism, which isn't very familiar to most of our players. Therefore, many of the religion's gods are completely unknown to the player, and it's hard to get yourself into a proper roleplaying mindset as a Neomayan ruler. A small decision like this which educates players on the differences between Valum Votan and Pacal Votan helps ground the faith and make it a touch more understandable to the player, which in turn helps keeps players invested in their campaigns.
Next, the Animal Sacrifice decision.
The Animal Sacrifice decision.
This decision is actually available to many other faiths besides the Mayan ones, such as most of the Afro-Syncretic faiths and the Strangite heresy of Mormonism, but it felt appropriate to highlight this one here. This decision lets you select an animal for sacrifice to Hunab Ku, or whoever else your high god is.
Selecting an animal.
Depending on your selection, you will receive an amount of prestige and piety that ranges from "alright" to "impressive." This decision will hopefully breathe a little more life into all of the religions listed above.
Now, the pièce de résistance of these new decisions, the Bloodletting Ritual. This decision is exclusively available to the Neomayan and Uahomche faiths, and serves as an analogue to coronation for these faiths.
The Hold a Bloodletting Ritual decision.
After taking this decision, you will be asked to select which part of the body you want to draw blood from. Some options are riskier than others, but with high risk comes high reward...
The trick is to use your tongue.
Assuming that the ritual goes well...
...and it did...
...you'll get an amount of prestige and piety corresponding to the body part you had pierced, and you'll also get the special Bloodletter trait. (Thanks to Nico for this icon!)
The Bloodletter trait.
This trait will impress those that follow a Mesoamerican religion, but it will decrease opinion with those that follow a religion in the Christian or Cult of Saints groups, as they regard bloodletting rituals as barbaric. Therefore, you may occasionally want to avoid taking this decision - you don't want to give any newly-acquired Christian vassals more of an excuse to plot against you...
Also, you might want to avoid the decision because this can happen.
Just saying...
There's one final decision we've given to the Mayan faiths - the ability to commission a stele - but it's not worth writing about at length. It's more or less a copy of the Norse Runestone decision, with the same mechanics and drawbacks. We have updated the flavor text, however.
There is one additional bit of new flavor you can get as a ruler with a Mayan religion - forming the Empire of Yucatan now has a special flavor event associated with it...
A laudable accomplishment! (I fired this event from the console for testing purposes.)
Now that we've covered the new religious flavor, let's move on to the new history stuff, shall we?
Maya Rework (Part 2, History)
One of the things that held back the entire Yucatan region before v1.1 was its lackluster history. Aside from King Israel Soberon, none of the rulers had any appreciable family history, and none of the titles had any interesting backstories either. That changes now.
The history of the Yucatan changed forever when, in the late 2300s, a strange foreigner suddenly emerged from deep in the Lacandon rainforest. This man called himself Pancho Bolom.
The character portrait for Pancho Bolom.
Many details about this man are shrouded in history, from his exact date of birth to his land of origin. The man himself said that he hailed from a land of sailors and pirates far to the north and that he became a castaway in the Yucatan following a disaster at sea, but some who say that they knew him prior to his emergence claimed that he arrived in the Yucatan willingly, perhaps motivated by scholarly interest or a desire to escape a checkered past.
What is known is that, while venturing deep into the jungles of Lacandon, he came across a small group of hitherto-obscure cultists in a settlement called Bàakʼ who followed a unique version of the Mayan religion, incorporating many strange and idiosyncratic practices into their worship. Pancho Bolom claims that he received a divine revelation telling him that the religion of Bàakʼ was the true faith and that the time had come to spread this faith far across the land, but those in Bàakʼ say that he converted to the faith in a slightly less dramatic fashion. Whatever the case, Pancho Bolom made it his life's work to spread the word of this new religion, known to most as Neomayanism. Interestingly, despite self-identifying as a "pirate," Pancho Bolom chose to spread his message in an entirely peaceful fashion, claiming that this was the true will of Hunab Ku. Pancho Bolom's mission was largely successful - within a few decades, most of the southwestern Yucatan peninsula adhered to Neomayanism.
Pancho Bolom's two children, Kayum and Dona Betty, took it upon themselves to continue spreading the Neomayan faith - but using the sword rather than the tongue. On the eve of their joint expeditions, Pancho Bolom is said to have pleaded with his children to stay, saying that their adventures would slow rather than quicken the progress of Neomayanism. His children ignored him, and conquered the kingdoms of Peten and Chiapas, respectively.
The King of Peten...
...and the Queen of Chiapas.
Although they appeared successful in their adventures during their lifetime, fortune would soon turn against both branches of the family. The Kingdom of Peten was eventually lost to a follower of the old Uahomche faith, and remained in Uahomche hands for nearly two centuries.
The usurper of Peten.
The Lacandon branch are now minor dukes on the borders of the great Kingdom of Yucatan, and, even within these reduced lands, a majority of their people still do not follow the Neomayan faith.
Meanwhile, the Chiapas branch of the family, which took the name of Vivero, eventually strayed from the Neomayan faith to facilitate the peaceful integration of their kingdom into Mexico - provided that their dynasty remain on the throne.
Wayaan and his spouse Margarita, the daughter of Mexico's Emperor Julian.
The Viveros remained followers of the Sacred Heart until the disintegration of the Mexican Empire, whereupon they converted to the majority faith of their subjects... the Uahomche faith.
Tabscoob, who adopted Uahomche.
What's more, the kingdom did not last through Tabscoob's lifetime. Drawing on the legacy of the ancient ruler Votan Zapata, an upstart peasant wrested control of the mountains away from the Viveros, leading to the collapse of the kingdom. Now, the Vivero dynasty is left with only a few counties to their name.
As you can see, Pancho Bolom's children would have done well to heed his words.
We have also changed the history behind the Salazar dynasty - the ruler who broke away from the Mexican Empire, Israel Salazar, was a Jarocho who adopted the Neomayan faith in secret before declaring independence.
Israel Salazar's new portrait.
You may have noticed that we gave the Salazar dynasty a unique bloodline - the descendants of Pancho Bolom have received one as well.
Pancho Bolom's bloodline.
For those of you disappointed that Neomayanism in particular has received the spotlight, don't worry - I have plenty more to show you in the future. Here's a preview:
This religion screen looks different...
For now, though, I conclude this overview of the Maya Rework. A gigantic shout out to Heraios Kadphises, who laid out much of these changes in an extensive design document. Thank you so much for your help!
Map Changes
So, aside from the changes to the Mayan religions and histories detailed in the last dev diary, we have a few other changes we'd like to show you, specifically in the realm of mapping. I would like to offer my gratitude to BoneLorde for these changes - they helped immensely with some of the changes I'm going to show you now.
This overview will be limited to areas north of the Rio Grande, because there are a few things to the south of that area which I am not quite ready to show off yet.
First off, we've added a new de jure kingdom in the Four Corners area - the Kingdom of Dinetah. This kingdom is part of the de jure empire of Aztlan.
The Kingdom of Dinetah.
This new kingdom exists at the start as well - it is led by Hastiin Dodge, who used to be the duke of Dine Bikeyah prior to v1.1.
King Hastiin of Dinetah.
This kingdom has a number of alternate names, which appear when different cultures hold it. Non-native cultures will call it "Navajoland," while different native groups each have their own names:
Hopi: Hopituskwa
Apache: Apacheria
Hopefully, this change will give the Mormons a touch more staying power and highlight the Navajo rulers a little more.
Next, let's look at some de jure changes made to the HCC. There is a new de jure duchy in the Kingdom of Carolina - the Duchy of Midcountry.
The Duchy of Midcountry.
The new de jure kingdom view of the HCC.
The old County of Augusta was split in half along the Savannah River to accommodate this change, and the former titular Duchy of Augusta has been removed entirely. Its former ruler now controls the Duchy of Midcountry.
Duke Walker Frymore of Midcountry.
Aside from these two major changes, we've also made a number of minor adjustments to county names. These changes mostly apply to the Northeast, but adjustments have been made across the map. Here are a list of them, excluding changes made south of the Rio Grande.
- Aiken - New county, split from Augusta
- Baton Rouge - formerly Itta Homma
- Dutchess - formerly Poughkeepsie
- Niagara - formerly Buffalo
- Dare - formerly Albemarle-Hatteras
- Mead - formerly Grand Canyon
- Oceanside - formerly Pendleton
- Rockland - formerly Newburgh
- Sebago - formerly Southern Maine
- Suffolk - formerly the County of Long Island
- Steuben - formerly Canacdea
- Ulster - formerly Woodstock
As always, all of these changes are not final - if you have any further suggestions regarding map changes or county names, feel free to leave them in a comment below! Now, for our last major announcement.
Patreon
For the longest time, I have refused to accept donations or other forms of compensation in exchange for my work on the Fan Fork. However, I have decided to change this policy. I now have a Patreon page, which you can find by clicking here. Right now, the only reward for contributing is a unique role on the community Discord server. Here is a copy of the FAQ available on the Patreon page itself:
If you want to provide support, and have the financial means to do so, I humbly request that you consider donating to my Patreon.
Minor Changes
There's only one minor change worth mentioning:
- Made under the hood changes that should increase the mod's average FPS by 10-15 frames.
- 6
- 3
- 2
STOP! COOKIE TIME