Well, I'm the one they need to pitch to, no point in me pitching to myself as I can't make it.
Okay, well then...
*ehem*
Using the RNW feature from EUIV, Paradox should work on a EU:R-esque (i.e. nation is played as a single state, but with individual characters generated because we need those thousand-year-old dynasties of god-chosen heroes) fantasy game.
Like Stellaris, players and AI can play as randomized races as well as some pre-generated races filling normal fantasy tropes (e.g. humans, elves, orcs, vampires). Races can be defined by portraits and racial traits (e.g. Elves: Immortal, Nature-Tuned, Slow Breeding; Humans: Quick Lives, Versatile, Breed with Anything; Vampires: Immortal, Monstrous Siring...) and realms can be defined with realm traits (e.g. Rohan: Cavalry Army, Honor-Bound; Gondor: Thousand-Year Prestige, Chosen Lineage; etc...). Dynasties will also have a limited pool of traits, adding to the replayability. Some traits are permanent and chosen at game start. Others can come and go based off rulers, decrees, and what buildings have been added to the realm.
Provinces would be the EU-style (via the RNW generator), with the Stellaris-styled grid system with size based off "potential" instead of physical size. Potential is defined by access to resources, farming, rivers; and will also define what things can be built. Special multi-tile upgrades include forts and cities, which are upgraded villages. This potential could be tied to racial traits, so a desert province might have more "space" for a race of desert naga than for temperate elves. This opens up terrain that is normally not open for settlement in normal Paradox games - for example mermaids control and settle the oceans as humans do the land. Using the CKII "no military access" set-up, moving units through owned provinces could worsen relations between states, units would take attrition in unfriendly lands, and owners would have the option of demanding tolls or compensation. Refusal to pay might result in stand-offs or even wars.
The RNW generator would need to be tweaked to favor large contiguous land masses, more in the vein of Crusader Kings than EUIV. Oceans and lakes are important for variety and mountains necessary for races such as dwarves and goblins that might favor subterranean realms. This might mean replacing a height map with a better generation for terrain type (and then producing the height map after the fact, based off those terrains?).
Armies would be like CKII, with unit specialization. There will be unique units that are generated based on racial
and realm traits. Realms will have a limit number of unique units, three to five. These don't necessarily need to be powerful units, they just need to be balanced on the upper side of the power spectrum. For example, vampires unique units might be super cheap zombie units that replenish quickly after battle and effectively have infinite morale (granted by "evil" racial trait and "magical schools" realm trait).
The time frame also needs to lend itself to the fantasy setting, potentially tens of thousands of years. Instead of individual days, each month should be divided into three ticks (beginning, middle, end; or 1st, 11th, 21st). Interesting combinations could be rolled per campaign where seasons are regular (like Earth), or irregular (like Westeros), or unchanging (north is always winter, south is always summer).
This also means that realm sizes need to be limited, with only certain rulers being able to piece together large realms that essentially disintegrate on their death. The CKII tributary feature might be a good starting point for this. Players should not feel punished for their realm disintegrating. Instead it should be emphasized that this is a natural part of the ebb and flow of a normal game. Conquering the "whole world" should not end the game, as the realm will fall apart with time, or trigger a large invasion from outside the map. An emphasis on good versus evil, and divine bloodlines.
Large realms require sub-rulers and characters to govern far-off provinces. Characters can only control contiguous lands within a certain distance of their primary location. This would prevent such issues as in CKII with Horde rulers owning a random collection of provinces throughout the map and not a defensible realm; or the "snake" realms that sometimes occurs in EUIV as a realm annexes just a thin stream of provinces.
Users will have control over many aspects via the rules panel pre-game launch. Including selecting season type, game length, and how many "god-touched dynasties" (lucky nations) exist on start up. Other options could include map size, giving options for those with less powerful computers, and whether or not aquatic races exist.
As a long-term game, ensuring that the game remains interesting throughout is highly important. The lack of realm stability should be a great way to boost this. A dynamic map that avoids huge blobs means there is always something to do. Other ideas include an ebb and flow of magic (worlds can be "high magic", "low magic", "magical tides", "decreasing magic", "increasing magic", "magical cataclysms"), multiple "golden" and "dark" ages that universally influence the map, mid and late game invasions, and world-changing events. When a realm collapses the player can choose which of the successor states to play, or maybe when a realm is conquered it's leaders are exiled and become a nomadic group that can be granted land in a new area or maybe roam for centuries, waiting for a time to retake their throne (e.g. Aragorn in LotR). Lesser dynasties that haven't settled die-out in time, but those truly blessed by the gods with the right to rule will persist for a long time.
More ambitiously the team could develop a dynamic map system wherein major events can literally reshape the world. Events analogous to the sinking of Numenor might befall a realm that dares challenge the gods. Or like Pathfinder's starfall, perhaps the world is struck by a massive, magical asteroid? The event might mean an age of utter chaos that lasts for hundreds of years, but those that survive will find themselves all the stronger for it.
A user can select from a number of "ending" conditions. The most common would be they can run out the clock. Other options include, but are not limited to: creating a spell so powerful that the world is brought into permanent grace, creating a spell so powerful the world blinks out of existence (or the gods send the ultimate punishment), or perhaps they finally forge a kingdom powerful enough with a dynasty lead by kings who wield the absolute authority of the gods that the world is brought into perpetual peace.
