Nubia
Yes, one of the oldest civilizations on earth is chock full of potential content and cool stuff that would be great for eu4, if only it is given the love it deserves.
Here's my fixed map of Nubia. And, yes, I'm aware that it was stated in a comment on the last dev diary that there would be no changes to the map. However, I think that is a mistake, and would like to desperately plead to Paradox to change their mind on that front. Africa's map as it is now is absolutely unworkable. There are provinces the size of European countries, entire historically relevant island chains missing from the map, borders that seem like arbitrary blobs with no historical or cultural basis that are clearly a relic of EU4's distant past. Simply put, Africa needs border changes more than any other region in the game. Not doing them in destining this update for failure. Mission trees and events cannot fix the fundamentally broken current state of Africa in EU4.
With that said, let's talk about Nubia. In 1444, Nubia had been a part of the Christian world for centuries. The powerful kingdoms of Alodia and Makuria dominated the region, and even won impressive victories of Arab and Ethiopian armies. However, some time in the 13th century AD, things started to go wrong. Power struggles with the Ayyubids and later Mamluks, an invasion by bedouin nomads, and a devastating outbreak of plague have immensely weakened the kingdom of Makuria. Alodia is faring even worse. Some scholars even contend that Alodia had already collapsed by 1444, but certain archaeological findings support its continued but severely weakened existence until the late 15th century. This time period marked the beginning of the transition of the Upper Nile Valley from a culturally Nubian, Christian region into the culturally Arab Muslim region that it is today.
Tags
Makuria: Once the most powerful Christian Nubian polity, the kingdom is now a shell of its former self. Its old capital of Dongola has fallen and is now a vassal of the Bedouins, forcing them to retreat north to Qasr Ibrim. On a side note, Dongola was a much more important site to the Coptic faith. It, not Qasr Ibrim, should serve as the coptic blessing in Nubia. While weak, however, Makuria's last great king, Joel, led a brief cultural and political renaissance of the kingdom, which should reflect in the player having access to a high skilled ruler at game start. If leveraged right, Makuria can reclaim lost cores on Dongola and much of the rest of northern Nubia, with the help of its sole vassal, Dotawo.
Abdalabi: Some time in the mid 15th century, a tribe of Rufaa Arabs known as the Abdalabi asserted their power in northern Nubia. They quickly asserted themselves as a new force to be reckoned with, capturing the city of Dongola and turning it into a vassal kingdom. Not much later, around 1480, they would invade further South, nearly destroy the Abwab kingdom and the remains of Alodia. While they would eventually be subjugated themselves at the hands of the Funj, they stood a real chance of becoming the new masters of Sudan, and even continued to rule the north of Sudan as vassals.
Abwab: As Alodia weakened in the 13th century, its northern territories broke away to form their own independent kingdom, known to the Arabs as Al-Abwab (Arabic for The Doorway). This Christian state is not very well understood, but managed to outlive its predecessor, surviving until its conquest by the Funj in the 16th century.
Alodia: Similarly to Makuria, Alodia is a state that was incredibly power centuries before game-start. Its capital of Soba, once a grand metropolis, now lays nearly abandoned. Despite this, however, the state still has some cores to its north, so recovering Alodia's status as a great power is hard, but possible. Oral traditions in Sudan state that the kingdom actually survived as a rump state to the South called Fazughli, though the veracity of these stories is worthy of skepticism.
Funj: Currently, this state doesn't exist in the start, but rather emerges by event in 1500. While the Funj sultanate did not emerge as a great power until the 16th century, their ancestors were already living in the Eastern Sahel, so I see no reason not to include them so that players can pick this nation in 1444. The Funj are a people who would emerge from obscurity to eventually conquer the entirety of Sudan. Likely descended from the neighboring Shilluk people, the Funj Sultan would claim descent from the Umayyad dynasty of Arabia as a source of legitimacy. I'll talk more about them later.
Shilluk: A pagan,Nilotic people from modern day South Sudan, the Shilluk Kingdom. In 1444, the Shilluk state is a new institution, being established around this time by the legendary reth (king) Nyikang. The Shilluk would resist conquest by the Funj (though the Funj would eventually seize the northern half of the Shilluk kingdom's territories), and the states even aligned themselves with crushing multiple revolts by the Dinka people in the Shilluk's northern provinces. A revolt tag called Dinka should exist in the kingdoms two northern provinces to reflect this subject population.
Kunama: A pagan people in modern Eritrea, the Kunama live an agrarian lifestyle without a centralized state, but instead rely on their matrilineal, clan based system of local governments to run affairs. For this reason, the Kunama ought to be Africa's first stateless society in eu4.
Semien: A vassal of Ethiopia, the Jewish region of Semien had recently been conquered by the Solomonic kings of Ethiopia. However, they are still ruled by a Jewish governor, which I think makes them more appropriate to start as a vassal kingdom.
Dahlak Kebir: This Muslim Archipelagic state is, frankly, a long overdue inclusion in the game. Not only is this state fascinating for its complex system of urban cisterns and beautiful structures, but it also played an important role in Red Sea economics. The islands were a major pearl fishery, which could be reflected by them producing precious gems with a goods produced modifier on the province. Additionally, this archipelago is a must include for the role it played in the Ottoman-Portuguese Wars, becoming an important base of Ottoman naval operations.
Beja: The nomadic Beja people ruled over the coastal deserts of southern Egypt and Nubia since antiquity, and played a pivotal role as ally and adversary against both the Egyptian and Aksumite empires of ancient times. By the 15th century, they have been introduced to Islam and are a vassal people to the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate.
Along with new tags, East Africa is in bad need of a cultural overhaul. My suggestion is to split the region into four cultural groups. These would include Rufaa in the Levantine culture group, a Nilotic culture group (red), Cushitic culture group (purple), and Habesha culture group (blue.) While imperfect, this division far better reflects the cultural differences that exist in East Africa. It would also include the introduction of several new cultures, including Rufaa, Dinka, Shilluk, Kafiche, and Oromo (in 1444, as they did not just pop out of nowhere during their later expansions.)
Finally, East Africa could use some formables. One that gets brought up a lot is Aksum, a nation that could be formed by any Christian or Fetishist Tigray cultured nation if it controls enough cores. Nubia is another common suggestion, but personally I think that the Nubian formable should resemble the formables in India and be dependent on religion. Any country in the Nubian group or is Rufaa and Beja (and is not Funj) should be able to form either Nubia (if Christian), Kush (if Fetishist), or Butana (if Muslim).
Culture
Missions and Ideas
Of the nations in East Africa, the ones that badly need mission trees in my view include Ethiopia, Adal, Funj, and Makuria, as well as mission trees for any formable Nubian tags.
Ethiopia:
I assume the devs already have an idea in mind, as Ethiopia seems like an obvious pick to provide flavor to in this update. Ethiopian focuses should largely focus on the attempts of the Nigusa Nagast to wrangle his subject nobility into submission, as well as establishing relations with Christian Europe, conquering the Adal Sultanate, dealing with Oromo expansion (an event which this update will hopefully improve, I'd like to see it become a national disaster for all nations in the Horn personally, but it's hard to do worse than its current implementation) and pressing North into Egypt and eventually Jerusalem. Some events, like the letter to the Mamlukean Sultan and the request for Portuguese aid, would likely be better implemented as missions. The ideas could also use some retouching, but that's a matter of opinion.
Adal:
Again, I'd be surprised if this one isn't already on the devs' to-do list. Mostly regarding relations with the Ottomans and other Somalis, dealing with Oromo expansion, improving Zeila as a city, etc.
Funj:
Funj's missions are necessary not only for guiding players, but also the AI. Funj rarely expands into Sudan in the current game, so missions could help fix AI behavior in this regard. Anyways, Funji missions should concern themselves with the adoption of Islam, the crushing of Dinka resistance in the South, expansion into Sudan, and, eventually, preparing for the inevitable confrontation with the Egyptians or Ottomans.
Makuria:
As the last true Nubian Christian power, should definitely have its own set of missions focused on retaking its lost cores, converting them back to Christianity, refurbishing the famous cathedral of Dongola, and establishing close ties with Ethiopia.
That's all. Next post will focus on Songhai, Mali, and the other states of the Sahel.
Yes, one of the oldest civilizations on earth is chock full of potential content and cool stuff that would be great for eu4, if only it is given the love it deserves.
Here's my fixed map of Nubia. And, yes, I'm aware that it was stated in a comment on the last dev diary that there would be no changes to the map. However, I think that is a mistake, and would like to desperately plead to Paradox to change their mind on that front. Africa's map as it is now is absolutely unworkable. There are provinces the size of European countries, entire historically relevant island chains missing from the map, borders that seem like arbitrary blobs with no historical or cultural basis that are clearly a relic of EU4's distant past. Simply put, Africa needs border changes more than any other region in the game. Not doing them in destining this update for failure. Mission trees and events cannot fix the fundamentally broken current state of Africa in EU4.
With that said, let's talk about Nubia. In 1444, Nubia had been a part of the Christian world for centuries. The powerful kingdoms of Alodia and Makuria dominated the region, and even won impressive victories of Arab and Ethiopian armies. However, some time in the 13th century AD, things started to go wrong. Power struggles with the Ayyubids and later Mamluks, an invasion by bedouin nomads, and a devastating outbreak of plague have immensely weakened the kingdom of Makuria. Alodia is faring even worse. Some scholars even contend that Alodia had already collapsed by 1444, but certain archaeological findings support its continued but severely weakened existence until the late 15th century. This time period marked the beginning of the transition of the Upper Nile Valley from a culturally Nubian, Christian region into the culturally Arab Muslim region that it is today.
Tags
Makuria: Once the most powerful Christian Nubian polity, the kingdom is now a shell of its former self. Its old capital of Dongola has fallen and is now a vassal of the Bedouins, forcing them to retreat north to Qasr Ibrim. On a side note, Dongola was a much more important site to the Coptic faith. It, not Qasr Ibrim, should serve as the coptic blessing in Nubia. While weak, however, Makuria's last great king, Joel, led a brief cultural and political renaissance of the kingdom, which should reflect in the player having access to a high skilled ruler at game start. If leveraged right, Makuria can reclaim lost cores on Dongola and much of the rest of northern Nubia, with the help of its sole vassal, Dotawo.
Abdalabi: Some time in the mid 15th century, a tribe of Rufaa Arabs known as the Abdalabi asserted their power in northern Nubia. They quickly asserted themselves as a new force to be reckoned with, capturing the city of Dongola and turning it into a vassal kingdom. Not much later, around 1480, they would invade further South, nearly destroy the Abwab kingdom and the remains of Alodia. While they would eventually be subjugated themselves at the hands of the Funj, they stood a real chance of becoming the new masters of Sudan, and even continued to rule the north of Sudan as vassals.
Abwab: As Alodia weakened in the 13th century, its northern territories broke away to form their own independent kingdom, known to the Arabs as Al-Abwab (Arabic for The Doorway). This Christian state is not very well understood, but managed to outlive its predecessor, surviving until its conquest by the Funj in the 16th century.
Alodia: Similarly to Makuria, Alodia is a state that was incredibly power centuries before game-start. Its capital of Soba, once a grand metropolis, now lays nearly abandoned. Despite this, however, the state still has some cores to its north, so recovering Alodia's status as a great power is hard, but possible. Oral traditions in Sudan state that the kingdom actually survived as a rump state to the South called Fazughli, though the veracity of these stories is worthy of skepticism.
Funj: Currently, this state doesn't exist in the start, but rather emerges by event in 1500. While the Funj sultanate did not emerge as a great power until the 16th century, their ancestors were already living in the Eastern Sahel, so I see no reason not to include them so that players can pick this nation in 1444. The Funj are a people who would emerge from obscurity to eventually conquer the entirety of Sudan. Likely descended from the neighboring Shilluk people, the Funj Sultan would claim descent from the Umayyad dynasty of Arabia as a source of legitimacy. I'll talk more about them later.
Shilluk: A pagan,Nilotic people from modern day South Sudan, the Shilluk Kingdom. In 1444, the Shilluk state is a new institution, being established around this time by the legendary reth (king) Nyikang. The Shilluk would resist conquest by the Funj (though the Funj would eventually seize the northern half of the Shilluk kingdom's territories), and the states even aligned themselves with crushing multiple revolts by the Dinka people in the Shilluk's northern provinces. A revolt tag called Dinka should exist in the kingdoms two northern provinces to reflect this subject population.
Kunama: A pagan people in modern Eritrea, the Kunama live an agrarian lifestyle without a centralized state, but instead rely on their matrilineal, clan based system of local governments to run affairs. For this reason, the Kunama ought to be Africa's first stateless society in eu4.
Semien: A vassal of Ethiopia, the Jewish region of Semien had recently been conquered by the Solomonic kings of Ethiopia. However, they are still ruled by a Jewish governor, which I think makes them more appropriate to start as a vassal kingdom.
Dahlak Kebir: This Muslim Archipelagic state is, frankly, a long overdue inclusion in the game. Not only is this state fascinating for its complex system of urban cisterns and beautiful structures, but it also played an important role in Red Sea economics. The islands were a major pearl fishery, which could be reflected by them producing precious gems with a goods produced modifier on the province. Additionally, this archipelago is a must include for the role it played in the Ottoman-Portuguese Wars, becoming an important base of Ottoman naval operations.
Beja: The nomadic Beja people ruled over the coastal deserts of southern Egypt and Nubia since antiquity, and played a pivotal role as ally and adversary against both the Egyptian and Aksumite empires of ancient times. By the 15th century, they have been introduced to Islam and are a vassal people to the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate.
Along with new tags, East Africa is in bad need of a cultural overhaul. My suggestion is to split the region into four cultural groups. These would include Rufaa in the Levantine culture group, a Nilotic culture group (red), Cushitic culture group (purple), and Habesha culture group (blue.) While imperfect, this division far better reflects the cultural differences that exist in East Africa. It would also include the introduction of several new cultures, including Rufaa, Dinka, Shilluk, Kafiche, and Oromo (in 1444, as they did not just pop out of nowhere during their later expansions.)
Finally, East Africa could use some formables. One that gets brought up a lot is Aksum, a nation that could be formed by any Christian or Fetishist Tigray cultured nation if it controls enough cores. Nubia is another common suggestion, but personally I think that the Nubian formable should resemble the formables in India and be dependent on religion. Any country in the Nubian group or is Rufaa and Beja (and is not Funj) should be able to form either Nubia (if Christian), Kush (if Fetishist), or Butana (if Muslim).
Culture
Missions and Ideas
Of the nations in East Africa, the ones that badly need mission trees in my view include Ethiopia, Adal, Funj, and Makuria, as well as mission trees for any formable Nubian tags.
Ethiopia:
I assume the devs already have an idea in mind, as Ethiopia seems like an obvious pick to provide flavor to in this update. Ethiopian focuses should largely focus on the attempts of the Nigusa Nagast to wrangle his subject nobility into submission, as well as establishing relations with Christian Europe, conquering the Adal Sultanate, dealing with Oromo expansion (an event which this update will hopefully improve, I'd like to see it become a national disaster for all nations in the Horn personally, but it's hard to do worse than its current implementation) and pressing North into Egypt and eventually Jerusalem. Some events, like the letter to the Mamlukean Sultan and the request for Portuguese aid, would likely be better implemented as missions. The ideas could also use some retouching, but that's a matter of opinion.
Adal:
Again, I'd be surprised if this one isn't already on the devs' to-do list. Mostly regarding relations with the Ottomans and other Somalis, dealing with Oromo expansion, improving Zeila as a city, etc.
Funj:
Funj's missions are necessary not only for guiding players, but also the AI. Funj rarely expands into Sudan in the current game, so missions could help fix AI behavior in this regard. Anyways, Funji missions should concern themselves with the adoption of Islam, the crushing of Dinka resistance in the South, expansion into Sudan, and, eventually, preparing for the inevitable confrontation with the Egyptians or Ottomans.
Makuria:
As the last true Nubian Christian power, should definitely have its own set of missions focused on retaking its lost cores, converting them back to Christianity, refurbishing the famous cathedral of Dongola, and establishing close ties with Ethiopia.
That's all. Next post will focus on Songhai, Mali, and the other states of the Sahel.
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