This map demonstrates my suggestions for Bulgaria. Several settlements have been placed in incorrect locations in the current game, so the blue dot represents their corrected position. Varna Bay also wasn't very well drawn as a coastal feature, so I redrew it. The same has been done for the island of Nessebar in the Bay of Burgas.
Province Suggestions:
1.) Name: Dobruja (Bulgarian name), Dobrogea (Romanian name)
Capital: Kötence (Turkish name), Kyustendja (Bulgarian name), Constanta (Romanian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Steppe
The region had previously been part of the Bulgarian-speaking Principality of Karvuna until the early 15th century, when it was conquered and briefly held by Wallachia until falling to the Ottomans. I don’t know when Romanian settlement began, but from the 13th to 15th centuries, it belonged to the Bulgarian state and its appendages, hence the culture.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/DobrXIV.png
2.) Name: Silistre (Turkish name), Silistra (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Silistre (Turkish name), Silistra (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Steppe
From the late middle ages to around the 16th century, the region of Dobruja was (and to a reasonable extent, still is) very arid and sparsely populated. It was even described as a desert by then-contemporary authors. Only fortified settlements retained any population while vast, wild steppe dominated until the 19th century when the steppe became agricultural land.
Below is a PDF of a book describing late medieval Dobruja. Part of it is in English, and describes the topographic character of the region during the time period. It is more extensively described in Bulgarian, and I can translate it by request.
http://www.bulgari-istoria-2010.com/booksBG/G_Atanasov_Dobrudzjanskoto_despotstvo.pdf
3.) Name: Varna (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Varna (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Grassland
4.) Name: Kirk Kilise (Turkish), Lozengrad (Bulgarian)
Capital: Kirk Kilise (Turkish), Lozengrad (Bulgarian)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Grassland
5.) Name: Magna Silva Bulgarica
In Western sources, the Balkan Mountains were referred to as "Magna Silva Bulgarica" and they represent an impassable wasteland. It was densely forested and virtually uninhabited until only a few centuries ago.
https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Българска_гора
It could form a natural border/boundary between the Ottomans and any potential stronger conqueror who could gain a foothold in the region.
6.) Name: Filibe (Turkish name), Plovdiv (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Filibe (Turkish name), Plovdiv (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Farmlands
7.) Name: Kircaali (Turkish name), Zherkovo (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Kircaali (Turkish name), Zherkovo (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Mountains
8.) Name: Tirnova (Turkish name), Tarnovo (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Tirnova (Turkish name), Tarnovo (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Farmlands
9.) Name: Lovech (Bulgarian name), Lofca (Turkish name)
Capital: Lovech (Bulgarian name), Lofca (Turkish name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Hills
Before the Bulgarian state fell in 1396, Lovech was its autonomous appendage, and the fortress of Lovech didn’t fall until after 1444 (sources date the fall between 1446 and 1462). Thus, I propose that Lovech be an independent OPM in 1444. It would be headed by Voivode Stanko of Lovech. It could an Ottoman core like Albania. Perhaps a decision/mission to form Bulgaria after acquiring all cores could be available?
Sources:
Here's a German-language version of 1628 book "Rumelia and Bosnia" by Ottoman historian Hadji Kalfa, republished in Vienna in 1812. It says that Lovech fell in 866 (1461-1462).
https://books.google.ca/books?id=DzsLAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=snippet&q=866&f=false
http://lovech.court-bg.org/img/File/Lovech_History.pdf (municipal website, cites 1446 as the year of the town’s fall, but I don’t know where that figure came from)
https://books.google.ca/books?id=HDQn3tJkyUcC&pg=PA223&lpg=PA223&dq="станко+войвода"&source=bl&ots=qgw8w-zKhY&sig=j1Xdff1-er88_wS6SirBzLjFhiQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFsLHrkMjVAhXmx4MKHeCPAoQQ6AEIOjAD#v=onepage&q="станко войвода"&f=false
Book, details the folklore regarding Stanko, the last Voivode of Lovech.
This site presents the borders of medieval Lovech:
http://www.euratlas.net/history/europe/1300/1300_Southeast.html
My proposed national idea set of Lovech is on the bottom of the second page.
10.) Name: Ivraca (Turkish name), Vratitsa (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Ivraca (Turkish name), Vratitsa (Bulgarian name)
Terrain: Hills
The town of Vratitsa (modern-day Vratsa)/Ivraca was situated on an important pass of the Balkan Mountains, thus warranting the hills terrain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vratsa
11.) Name: Vidin (Turkish name), Badin (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Vidin (Turkish name), Badin (Bulgarian name)
Terrain: Grassland
When controlled by a nation of Bulgarian culture, the game currently assigns it the name “Vidin”, but Vidin is the Ottoman Turkish name of the town, while at the time, it was called “Badin” in Bulgarian.
12.) Name: Sofya (Turkish name), Sofia (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Sofya (Turkish name), Sofia (Bulgarian name)
Terrain: Highland
The province contains a sizeable part of the Central Balkan Mountain Range, Mount Rila and Mount Pirin, all of which are nearly 3000 meters tall; hence I don't believe that the current in-game "woods" terrain is suitable for the province.
13.) Name: Kosten (Turkish name), Velbazhd (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Kosten (Turkish name), Velbazhd (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Highland
14.) Name: Uskup (Turkish name), Skopje (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Uskup (Turkish name), Skopje (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Highland
The dialect spoken in the Macedonia region is classified as being of the Eastern-South Slavic variety (grouped with Bulgarian), as opposed to the West-South Slavic variety including Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian. The populace held a Bulgarian identity as attested by the existence of organisations such as the IMRO during late Ottoman times which sought to cede the area to Bulgaria. I don’t know where the idea that the Vardar valley was of Serbian culture comes from, I’ve never heard that suggested outside of this game.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Macedonian_Revolutionary_Organization
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonian_language
15.) Name: Sozopolis (Greek), Sozopol (Bulgarian), Sizebolu (Turkish)
Capital: Sozopolis (Greek), Sozopol (Bulgarian), Sizebolu (Turkish)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Grassland
The are belonged to Byzantium from the end of the Savoyard crusade to 1453.
I suggest that the provinces be organised into the following states:
Macedonia (existing state, includes provinces 13 and 14)
Thrace (existing state, includes province 4 and 15)
Bulgaria (existing state, contains provinces 1, 2, 3 and 8)
Shopluk (new state, includes provinces 10, 11 and 12)
Zagore (new state, includes provinces 6, 7 and 9)
Shopluk means "the land of the Shopi", the Shopi being an ethnographic group native to the region (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopi#Shopluk_area).
Zagore means “the lands behind the mountains”, in this case referring to the lands south of the Balkan Mountains. During the middle ages, the term was often synonymous with Bulgaria as a whole in western sources (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zagore).
Here's a topographic map of the region to add some reasoning to the terrain suggestions.
As a native speaker of Bulgarian, I would gladly offer my services to Paradox in translating and providing material/sources relating to the subject.
Province Suggestions:
1.) Name: Dobruja (Bulgarian name), Dobrogea (Romanian name)
Capital: Kötence (Turkish name), Kyustendja (Bulgarian name), Constanta (Romanian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Steppe
The region had previously been part of the Bulgarian-speaking Principality of Karvuna until the early 15th century, when it was conquered and briefly held by Wallachia until falling to the Ottomans. I don’t know when Romanian settlement began, but from the 13th to 15th centuries, it belonged to the Bulgarian state and its appendages, hence the culture.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/DobrXIV.png
2.) Name: Silistre (Turkish name), Silistra (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Silistre (Turkish name), Silistra (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Steppe
From the late middle ages to around the 16th century, the region of Dobruja was (and to a reasonable extent, still is) very arid and sparsely populated. It was even described as a desert by then-contemporary authors. Only fortified settlements retained any population while vast, wild steppe dominated until the 19th century when the steppe became agricultural land.
Below is a PDF of a book describing late medieval Dobruja. Part of it is in English, and describes the topographic character of the region during the time period. It is more extensively described in Bulgarian, and I can translate it by request.
http://www.bulgari-istoria-2010.com/booksBG/G_Atanasov_Dobrudzjanskoto_despotstvo.pdf
3.) Name: Varna (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Varna (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Grassland
4.) Name: Kirk Kilise (Turkish), Lozengrad (Bulgarian)
Capital: Kirk Kilise (Turkish), Lozengrad (Bulgarian)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Grassland
5.) Name: Magna Silva Bulgarica
In Western sources, the Balkan Mountains were referred to as "Magna Silva Bulgarica" and they represent an impassable wasteland. It was densely forested and virtually uninhabited until only a few centuries ago.
https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Българска_гора
It could form a natural border/boundary between the Ottomans and any potential stronger conqueror who could gain a foothold in the region.
6.) Name: Filibe (Turkish name), Plovdiv (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Filibe (Turkish name), Plovdiv (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Farmlands
7.) Name: Kircaali (Turkish name), Zherkovo (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Kircaali (Turkish name), Zherkovo (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Mountains
8.) Name: Tirnova (Turkish name), Tarnovo (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Tirnova (Turkish name), Tarnovo (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Farmlands
9.) Name: Lovech (Bulgarian name), Lofca (Turkish name)
Capital: Lovech (Bulgarian name), Lofca (Turkish name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Hills
Before the Bulgarian state fell in 1396, Lovech was its autonomous appendage, and the fortress of Lovech didn’t fall until after 1444 (sources date the fall between 1446 and 1462). Thus, I propose that Lovech be an independent OPM in 1444. It would be headed by Voivode Stanko of Lovech. It could an Ottoman core like Albania. Perhaps a decision/mission to form Bulgaria after acquiring all cores could be available?
Sources:
Here's a German-language version of 1628 book "Rumelia and Bosnia" by Ottoman historian Hadji Kalfa, republished in Vienna in 1812. It says that Lovech fell in 866 (1461-1462).
https://books.google.ca/books?id=DzsLAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=snippet&q=866&f=false
http://lovech.court-bg.org/img/File/Lovech_History.pdf (municipal website, cites 1446 as the year of the town’s fall, but I don’t know where that figure came from)
https://books.google.ca/books?id=HDQn3tJkyUcC&pg=PA223&lpg=PA223&dq="станко+войвода"&source=bl&ots=qgw8w-zKhY&sig=j1Xdff1-er88_wS6SirBzLjFhiQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFsLHrkMjVAhXmx4MKHeCPAoQQ6AEIOjAD#v=onepage&q="станко войвода"&f=false
Book, details the folklore regarding Stanko, the last Voivode of Lovech.
This site presents the borders of medieval Lovech:
http://www.euratlas.net/history/europe/1300/1300_Southeast.html
My proposed national idea set of Lovech is on the bottom of the second page.
10.) Name: Ivraca (Turkish name), Vratitsa (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Ivraca (Turkish name), Vratitsa (Bulgarian name)
Terrain: Hills
The town of Vratitsa (modern-day Vratsa)/Ivraca was situated on an important pass of the Balkan Mountains, thus warranting the hills terrain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vratsa
11.) Name: Vidin (Turkish name), Badin (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Vidin (Turkish name), Badin (Bulgarian name)
Terrain: Grassland
When controlled by a nation of Bulgarian culture, the game currently assigns it the name “Vidin”, but Vidin is the Ottoman Turkish name of the town, while at the time, it was called “Badin” in Bulgarian.
12.) Name: Sofya (Turkish name), Sofia (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Sofya (Turkish name), Sofia (Bulgarian name)
Terrain: Highland
The province contains a sizeable part of the Central Balkan Mountain Range, Mount Rila and Mount Pirin, all of which are nearly 3000 meters tall; hence I don't believe that the current in-game "woods" terrain is suitable for the province.
13.) Name: Kosten (Turkish name), Velbazhd (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Kosten (Turkish name), Velbazhd (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Highland
14.) Name: Uskup (Turkish name), Skopje (Bulgarian name)
Capital: Uskup (Turkish name), Skopje (Bulgarian name)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Highland
The dialect spoken in the Macedonia region is classified as being of the Eastern-South Slavic variety (grouped with Bulgarian), as opposed to the West-South Slavic variety including Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian. The populace held a Bulgarian identity as attested by the existence of organisations such as the IMRO during late Ottoman times which sought to cede the area to Bulgaria. I don’t know where the idea that the Vardar valley was of Serbian culture comes from, I’ve never heard that suggested outside of this game.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Macedonian_Revolutionary_Organization
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonian_language
15.) Name: Sozopolis (Greek), Sozopol (Bulgarian), Sizebolu (Turkish)
Capital: Sozopolis (Greek), Sozopol (Bulgarian), Sizebolu (Turkish)
Culture: Bulgarian
Terrain: Grassland
The are belonged to Byzantium from the end of the Savoyard crusade to 1453.
I suggest that the provinces be organised into the following states:
Macedonia (existing state, includes provinces 13 and 14)
Thrace (existing state, includes province 4 and 15)
Bulgaria (existing state, contains provinces 1, 2, 3 and 8)
Shopluk (new state, includes provinces 10, 11 and 12)
Zagore (new state, includes provinces 6, 7 and 9)
Shopluk means "the land of the Shopi", the Shopi being an ethnographic group native to the region (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopi#Shopluk_area).
Zagore means “the lands behind the mountains”, in this case referring to the lands south of the Balkan Mountains. During the middle ages, the term was often synonymous with Bulgaria as a whole in western sources (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zagore).
Here's a topographic map of the region to add some reasoning to the terrain suggestions.
As a native speaker of Bulgarian, I would gladly offer my services to Paradox in translating and providing material/sources relating to the subject.
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