Dreams of Elysium - A Basileía Romaíon Mod AAR

[Nikolai]

Pronoia, Elysium

January 1st, 1736

King Aurelian Galantinus was bored. He was 20 years old, a king of his own right, of a small, but modern kingdom in the new world. He wanted to sleep really, he hadn’t slept well last night.

But he was the king and he had to prepare for his yet young reign. His recently wedded wife Flavia was down at the Zeus temple to pray. Him? He could barely wait for her to come home, to see her perfect body – coupled with the perfect mind – and just be together. Not only as married couples should. No, he wanted to spend time with her. Learn to know her better.

He knew she was into history, especially history of Rome. Him, he had ambitions for the future. Future of Elysium, future of his dynasty. Future of the world. He wanted to make Elysium the lighthouse of America. He wanted to control vast areas, but not by war. To the west, the indigenous tribes lay, virtually defenseless.

Waging war with the civilized colonies of America would be out of his reach. The Holy Roman Empire and North Sea Empire was way too strong, and they would protect their colonies. Elysium, albeit once founded by the Eastern Roman Empire – the true Rome – was no longer a colony. Sure, they had close relations. But Elysium stood alone.

No, he planned to be at peace with his civilized neighbors if he could help it. But the tribes? A good place to expand. He needed the support of the senate to pass the legislation for colonial ventures though. And he knew very well the conservative forces did not want to venture outside the safe borders that were Elysium.

But right now? Right now, he wanted to prepare for when Flavia came home from her visit to the Zeus temple. Oh, she was such a devout soul. He prayed she would always be his muse, all to the day he crossed over Styx! But that was – Zeus willing – a long time coming. He really should read up on the history of Elysium, Flavia was so fond of the old tales.

Now, where did he place his old history books?

 

[The Kingmaker]

Fantastic! I’m really excited to see where you take this. It’s such an interesting premise. It’s been a treat thus far watching this concept go from inception to the genesis of your first update. I’m also interested to get to know your new power couple, Aurelian and Flavia. By all means, keep up the good work!

 

[Nikolai]

Fantastic! I’m really excited to see where you take this. It’s such an interesting premise. It’s been a treat thus far watching this concept go from inception to the genesis of your first update. I’m also interested to get to know your new power couple, Aurelian and Flavia. By all means, keep up the good work!

Glad to have you onboard, my friend! I will make sure to chime in on the discord to get your invaluable advice!

 

[Macavity116]

Oh, I've never played Victoria 3, but you got my attention when I see the Three Fires Council represented on the map. Quietly hoping to see my home mitten somehow involved in the coming story.

He knew she was into history, especially history of Rome.

Oh, this lady's a keeper.

 

[Nikolai]

Oh, I've never played Victoria 3, but you got my attention when I see the Three Fires Council represented on the map. Quietly hoping to see my home mitten somehow involved in the coming story.

All tribes will eventually belong to mother Elysium!

Oh, this lady's a keeper.

Right? She thinks of Rome daily - dream woman!

 

[The Kingmaker]

All tribes will eventually belong to mother Elysium!

Right? She thinks of Rome daily - dream woman!

 

[Emissary of the Prophets]

Love this! Brian Brown of the Anselm Society half-seriously jokes that America was founded by heretics; it seems to be true in this reality as well if the queen of a Roman colony is worshipping Zeus.

 

[Nikolai]

Love this! Brian Brown of the Anselm Society half-seriously jokes that America was founded by heretics; it seems to be true in this reality as well if the queen of a Roman colony is worshipping Zeus.

State religion actually is Hellenic! But we have total separation between church/temple and state.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Thank you for the update and good luck on the AAR. Did Elysium not Christianize or did they reconvert to Hellenism? My home is in Elysium. Where is the capital? Like @Macavity116, I know nothing about V3 and just following for your great storytelling.

 

[Nikolai]

Thank you for the update and good luck on the AAR. Did Elysium not Christianize or did they reconvert to Hellenism? My home is in Elysium. Where is the capital? Like @Macavity116, I know nothing about V3 and just following for your great storytelling.

Good to have you on board! Why Elysium is Hellenic will be touched on in a later update. The capital of Elysium is in RL Washington DC, actually. It's basically an alternate universe USA. So this is a mod for Victoria 3, that starts in 1736 instead of 1836, and has a whole other Earth. I will get to the presentation of that later.

 

[The Kingmaker]

And I’ve got to say I love the name of the capital. Pronoia fits so well. “Forethought,” as in the ERE colonists planned out where it would go before establishing their colonies, so there was no need to carve a district analogous to DC out of neighboring states. And then of course there’s the tie to the Byzantine quasi-feudal imperial patronage system.

I’m really excited to see where @Nikolai takes his American Byzantines!

 

[HistoryDude]

A Third Odyssey AAR in Victoria 3? That's new. I'll follow.

Also, it's nice to see that someone took the Hellenic path. Did you actually play a game of EU4 and then convert? Or is this just set in a similar world?

These Hellenics are the Plethonists, right?

 

[Nikolai]

And I’ve got to say I love the name of the capital. Pronoia fits so well. “Forethought,” as in the ERE colonists planned out where it would go before establishing their colonies, so there was no need to carve a district analogous to DC out of neighboring states. And then of course there’s the tie to the Byzantine quasi-feudal imperial patronage system.

I’m really excited to see where @Nikolai takes his American Byzantines!

Yes, a good name, coming from good advice! It grows on me more and more.

A Third Odyssey AAR in Victoria 3? That's new. I'll follow.

Also, it's nice to see that someone took the Hellenic path. Did you actually play a game of EU4 and then convert? Or is this just set in a similar world?

These Hellenics are the Plethonists, right?

No, I don't think it is associated with the Third Odyssey mod. This mod is made by @Drogan , and is his creation. It might be influenced by Third Odyssey, of course. This mod is a Victoria 3 mod, this one: https://mods.paradoxplaza.com/mods/51849/Any

 

[Nikolai]

PSA: I noticed something wrong with the mod install before I started playing. Despite a clean install some mod components (Morgenröte) which is removed showed up, partly. But it was stable and I didn't notice any other problems than some non working Morgenröte components. Now the mod owner @Drogan tells me he has read my AAR and it is clear the install is bugged. I lack the unique colonization law for instance. Probably why others don't colonize...

Turns out that Paradox mods, which I installed from, is buggy. Steam mods works fine, but installs from Paradox Mods....something is off. I did a clean install after my previous campaign, but after the mod updated, old files removed from the mod came back.

But I have already written several chapters, played half a century with lots of notes. So since the game is stable, and I have got so far, I think I will continue the AAR with the game as is. Just be aware the mod's colonizing feature - at a minimum - is kinda borked.

 

[Nikolai]

Pronoia, Elysium

January 1st, 1736

King Aurelian Galatinus smiled. He knew he had that history book in this shelf. Just, it had been misplaced. Alphabetically was the way, his wife made sure of that. He grinned. Oh, had he been lucky with Flavia.

He sat down with the book. Where did he leave off last time? Was it Manzikert? Let’s see…. Yes. The Seljuks. And Rome. Indecisive. White peace between the combatants. It had been close, but in the end, neither could claim victory.

The Seljuks conquered the Abbadids, who only had some small areas around Mecca for decades. He scoffed. Sure, they had reconquered all of Arabia now, but they were a spent force. The Romans, meanwhile, had reconquered Southern Italy from the Normans.

Then…yes. Then Rome reclaimed Aegyptus and North Africa up to Carthage, taking the Levant on the way. The Fatimids, weak as they were, had disappeared onto the dustbin of history. Aurelian took note of that. His wife had a distant forefather that was a general in that campaign. Would surely mean he scored some brownie points if that were coaxed into the conversation. He grinned.

Well, and now he had come to the decline of the Empire. Widespread conquest, over extension, slowly less central control over the areas, who were by now, in 1736 de facto indendent. Yadda yadda. The important part was…next page. There.

The Norse up in Scandinavia had sailed west, found the lost Åsatrú colonies of Vinland and Nordhafsvedr, and gained control of them. The Frankish upstarts in the Holy Roman Empire had set sail for what they called America after the Andalucian cartographer – a Christian, if he remembered correctly, even though the Al-Andalus were Muslim. And so, his forefathers had set sail too, towards what was now Elysium.

So many settlers had come over, many of them of the persecuted Hellenic creed. Indeed, his whole kingdom, while multi-religious and with a separation between temple and state, was de jure Hellenic. A truth testament in his own, if weak, faith. And his wife’s bold faith. Another strength she had.

Then, the war. The big, long war between Rome and Al-Andalus. Afterwards, Elysium was de facto independent. A free country sandwiched between the Holy Roman colony Louisiana and the Danish Vinland. Well, he had long decided to appease them both. No war. Not if he could do anything about it. Only colonizing of the interior.

He sighed. Opposition in the Senate would surely be fierce.

 

[The Kingmaker]

Another update! Glad to see Aurelian reading up on his history. I bet Athena/Minerva is Flavia's patron goddess. She seems like quite an impressive person, and we've never even met her!

That watercolor of the sailing ship is truly beautiful. I would say the same thing about the horseman by that Romanesque villa, but... he's got a second horse head sprouting from the middle of his chest. AI art can be brilliant or it can be monstrous.

 

[Nikolai]

Another update! Glad to see Aurelian reading up on his history. I bet Athena/Minerva is Flavia's patron goddess. She seems like quite an impressive person, and we've never even met her!

Oh, you will meet her eventually, in some way or another!

That watercolor of the sailing ship is truly beautiful. I would say the same thing about the horseman by that Romanesque villa, but... he's got a second horse head sprouting from the middle of his chest. AI art can be brilliant or it can be monstrous.

Thanks! I have a limited (free) art promts per day, and AI art is tricky when it comes to these things, so I decided to use the horse even though it was...less than optimal in some areas. I have a couple wonderful AI images coming up.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Thank you for the update. So, we do not have a delusional President Ersh mourning a long-dead wife.

 

[The Kingmaker]

Thank you for the update. So, we do not have a delusional President Ersh mourning a long-dead wife.

It's a reverse Ersh: a young monarch courts his gorgeous genius bride by reading history books.

 

[Nikolai]

Thank you for the update. So, we do not have a delusional President Ersh mourning a long-dead wife.

It's a reverse Ersh: a young monarch courts his gorgeous genius bride by reading history books.

I'm not saying I (young[ish], history interest, gamer and general nerd) is projecting anything about my relationship to my wife (georgous, history interest, gamer and general nerd), but...