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Legacy of Rome will be released next week, so this dev diary will be the last of this cycle. Doomdark is busy hammering away at the game, so this week the honor of writing it falls to me. As he said last time, we'll finish off with some of the unique decisions, events and mechanics we've added to the Byzantine Empire in the DLC. Note that the following stuff is for the DLC, not the free 1.07 patch.

Succession in Byzantium works the same as in the rest of Europe, except for one thing. Children born to an emperor during his reign will get the ”Born in the Purple” trait, which gives them a stronger succession claim than any older siblings born before their parents ascended the throne. If you, as emperor, still want your gifted firstborn son as your heir instead of his snotnosed younger brother who had the good fortune of being born during your reign, infanticide is not your only option. Granting the Despot honorary title to your firstborn will rank him the same as if he had the Purple trait, and given his seniority in age, he will become your heir again.

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Ambitious emperors will no doubt try to reclaim some of Rome's former glory by restoring the Empire's lost territory. If they or their imperial vassals hold certain provinces, they will have the opportunity to restore the Roman Empire. This decision essentially signifies that the West has no choice but to accept the Byzantines as the true heirs of Rome's legacy. You will get a new title (complete with a new flag, of course), and the rulers of a restored Rome always get the ”Augustus” trait, which gives a slight boost to vassal relations. If you wish it, there is a decision to move your capital to Rome, though the city scarcely compares to Constantinople in this era so you will likely have to invest a lot of gold and time to rebuild it.

Another major decision, of course, is to mend the Great Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. You will need to reunite the Pentarchy (Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria and Rome) under Byzantine and Orthodox rule and accumulate a great deal of piety. When this decision is taken, Catholicism will become a heresy and Catholic rulers across Europe will have to decide whether to convert or not. A few will refuse, and Europe will likely be plagued by religious unrest for some time, but the first step has now been taken to unite Christendom under a single church.

View attachment LoR_01_ERE_Events.jpg

As you have probably seen, Byzantine rulers can elect to blind or castrate their prisoners. This can be an efficient way of permanently crippling your rivals without executing them outright. Have an obnoxious brother that covets your throne? If he is blinded or castrated, he will be removed from the imperial succession, and you will have one less pretender to worry about. Just don't expect him to like you much afterwards.

Castrated rivals aside, eunuchs played an important role at the Byzantine imperial court, and from time to time one of them will distinguish himself enough to be brought to your attention. This eunuch will be very loyal to your ruler and quite skilled in his chosen field. When other lords turn their backs on you, you will usually still be able to depend on his service, whether it's as a skilled general or a gifted spymaster.

Other events you can expect to see are triumphs being held when you emerge victorious from decisive wars, unruly Varangians in the capital, Hippodrome races and much more.

View attachment LoR_03_ERE_Events.jpg

Finally, let me stress that this does not mean that we have created a supercharged Byzantine Empire that will always go on to dominate Europe as the Romans did before them. Skilled and dedicated players will be able to stage a miraculous recovery and recreate the borders of the Roman Empire and maybe even hold it all together afterwards, but we have naturally taken care not to upset the balance of the game. Just wanted to put that out there. :)
 
Great to hear its only a week off

Is the change in Catholicism it being swapped out for a heresy with the same name, or are religions now dynamic and able to be changed by events?
And if it happens, will the throne of st. peter be able to re-assert itself, or be re-asserted by a strong catholic ruler, as an orthodoxy on meeting the right conditions?

And anychance that titles can copy the history of other titles on creation so the Roman Empire if founded by the EREmperor will keep the EREs numbering? As EU3 tags could?

Born in the Purple and the ability to castrate and blind prisoners are unique to the Byzantines, and will only be in the DLC.

Will the requirements be moddable? Surely the pagan and fantasy would benefit from alittle castrating and blinding for those with the DLC to unlock them
 
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Goose, can you confirm the rumor that the next CK II DLC pack will focus on Zoroastrianism, Persia and a decision to reform the Achaemenid Empire? :D

(This rumor may or may not have been started by myself. Just now.)

Seriously, though, any news on Ethiopia's ability to survive? Has anything to represent the Baqt been implemented in 1.07/LoR? I know you guys have revamped the religious setup in that area (which is great) but we need a way to help Miaphysites survive the Muslim hordes, as historically they were very tolerant of one another.
 
Is this tied to greek culture, the byzantine culture group, or the empire itself? Would an independent armenian ruler be able to use the blind and castration events?

Born in the Purple is only for the Byzantines obviously, but blinding and castration will be available to independent Greek rulers as well.
 
Will factions be an actual and constant threat or just a mild annoyance like plots? I hope that the Empire would have to fight civil wars every now and then like in real life - now playing the Byzantines becomes far too easy after a generation or two.
 
Will mending the Great Schism end the Papacy or will he stay along with any remaining Catholics?
 
I assume you guys have tried to balance Anatolia to reflect the Byzantine state to model the way the Normans, Turks, etc. were all critical threats to the Empire in this period?

Oh, who am I kidding. That won't sell as well as Byzantines sacking London.
 
And anychance that titles can copy the history of other titles on creation so the Roman Empire if founded by the EREmperor will keep the EREs numbering?

Will the requirements be moddable? Surely the pagan and fantasy would benefit from alittle castrating and blinding for those with the DLC to unlock them

Yes, the Roman Empire will inherit the title history from the Byzantine Empire, and modders will be able to change the blinding, castration requirements if they want.
 
Will mending the Great Schism end the Papacy or will he stay along with any remaining Catholics?

I imagine the Pope would become the Orthodox Patriarch of Rome.
 
Yes, the Roman Empire will inherit the title history from the Byzantine Empire, and modders will be able to change the blinding, castration requirements if they want.

Awesome thanks!!!
 
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