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Seems I have a new AAR to read, after I get around to your CK one.:)
 
Alright, I promise to try and keep up with this one RGB :)
 
rcduggan: heh, in the beginning there will be a bit of waiting unfortunately. But I'll try to get that settled as soon as I can.

Alfred Packer: thank you! clearly someone read both the updates!

Legolas: this one continues and the other one isn't quite over yet. Doubleplusgood.

Nikolai: excellent news! thanks!

Estonianzulu: great news! nice to see you again!

VILenin: Aha! So you're still alive! Good to know :D
 
The World in 1393 and How it Got There

Religion in Europe


Religions.jpg


So the conversion continues slowly. Besides the country layouts, there's also religion to consider. So, when I was planning the conversion, this is what I came up with (although things have changed a little since now EU3 is the target):

1393REL-1.png

This is the map of the state religions of the various governments; as you notice, Southern Italy is controlled by a Muslim dynasty (from Tunis) and there's still a couple of Sunni states in Galicia and Malaga; the Ismaili Fatimids are still hanging on to the Hedjaz.

Croatia is Orthodox, as is Sicily, and most of the Lithuanian-controlled Baltic.

Crusader Carthage, Alexandria and the Knights of St.John bring a bit of Red to North Africa, and the Latin Empire of the Polish Nation is still looking towards Constantinople in Anatolia.

The Nestorian states are the remainder of the Ilkhans (in Azerbaijan) and the Khaganate of Kartli (in Derbent); in general, in this universe "Nestorians" are synonymous with the Mongols, both the states and the settled population, even though obviously Syrian and Persian Christians may well belong to the same church.

The "Coptic" states are the Nubian Kingdoms and Ethiopia.

This isn't too much work, but let's look at what beliefs the people, rather than the rulers, hold in May 1393:

1393RELI.png

As you notice, a whole lot messier. Now obviously EU3 provinces aren't that small, this is more of a historical-result kind of map I was going to unleash upon everyone at some future point, but hey, why not now?

The Barbarian Empire was immensely successful at re-establishing the dominance of the Byzantine Orthodox church into the Near East, but it was also more tolerant of Oriental and Assyrian churches. In practical terms, this means that whatever Muslim power prevails in the Near East, it will have a wrong-religion population to deal with.

A similar situation faces the other seeming Orthodox superpower - the Horde in Sarai. In fact, the majority of their territories do not share the faith of the rulers; their lands will include Nestorian and Orthodox provinces, tengrists and other pagans, Sunni Muslims in former Volga Bulgaria, and the lone Jewish province of the game in Astrakhan (remarkably unconverted through over 300 years of CK game-time!).

The red dots in Orthodox and Muslim lands are what remains of the Crusades, while the little azure splotches in Denmark and Provence are the reminders that these areas had been under Orthodox lords that were associated with the Monomach Empire, which you can read about in Part I of the Megacampaign.

Outside Astrakhan, orange Jewish spots show significant communities, rather than an outright majority. As always "Nestorians" are almost all Mongol in descent.

During the actual conversion, additional religions such as Buddhists and even minor religions such as Druze, Yezidi, Alawites, Mandaeans and Zoroastrians (under a catch-all "Persian" designation) may be represented in their strongholds on the fringes of the CK map. This map was simply done before I knew I could actually add religions in EU3.

-----

Next "update" I talk a little about the wider world, new cultures, and my (lack of) Photoshop skills.

Cheers.
 
Latin Empire of the Polish Nation? Hmm sounds really interesting :D , some kind of Polish HRE I guess?

EUIII stratup looks more and more interesting out there, and will make great alternative history. Interesting, that Jewish Khazars survived in Astrakhan, and good thing that you plan to mod those additional religions. I`ll have to do the same with the Copts in my game. :)
 
We need a crusade event to retake Rome . Especially since it's surrounded by Latins . Even Carthage is Latin !
 
Looks good so far. I'm really interested to see the impact the Byzantine impact on Russia has as history goes on. Kiev vs Novgorod should be a great showdown eventually.
 
The more I look at it, the more I realize that this is one major undertaking. Good luck.
 
One hell of a mixed up religiously world. Great :D!
This Polish Latin Empire, just like thrashing mad said, looks really interesting. Wanna hear more about it. Or perhaps of their destruction?.
Is that Astrakhan going to be an independent nation? Please, let them so! I need to see Jews converting provinces around the Caspian sea and becoming a major trading power of the Steppes and Near East... ;)
 
RGB said:
VILenin: Aha! So you're still alive! Good to know
yup, still breathing. And, on occasion, I even make it to the boards. Of course, with my AAR on haitus I expect you to pick up the slack and update twice as frequently. ;)

Cool religious maps! I hope to see the soothing light blue of Orthodoxy spreading far and wide in the years to come. And make sure you crush those stupid Nestorians, every time I hear that I think they're a group of Christmas donkeys. :rolleyes:
 
it's strange that Sicily is Orthodox while Italy is Muslim.. but I like the Nestorianism, did you mod that in?
 
thrashing mad: I'll do a detailed look at the Latins in Anatolia in part I, but they're essentially the last Crusader states from the 1301 Crusade, and have aspirations on Constantinople.

Jews - well, even in 1066 Khazars around Astrakhan are a stretch, but that's how the game had it. For my part, I imagine that the city is cosmopolitan, but Jews of all stripes would make the city a trading hub etc. over the centuries under relatively tolerant rule and make up the province's most dominant religious group.

For the culture I imagine that the main population is still Turcic so they're going to be Volga Tatars.

canonized: Chances are that's bound to happen at some point.

Estonianzulu: Kiev vs. Novgorod is one of the great themes I think for early game; something about Benevolent Autocracy vs. Self-destructive Republicanism yada.

basharious: Glad to have you on board!

Alojzy: feel free to leave comments there too :D

ComradeOm: the involvement started under Theodore and came to fruition under Vsevolod II. The Sanseverinos are Orthdox even if they're Italian, and they've held on to Sicily famously even if they lost Naples.

The Greek community in Sicily was large at the time, and the Arabic-speaking Muslim population converted to the Byzantine rite under pressure.

So, basically, HERE and HERE

comagoosie: There's nothing stopping you my friend :D

nalivayko: if it gets too bad I'll bail and make a smaller-scale conversion. But so far I'm hopeful.

Emperor_krk: well they start under the GH but Astrakhan is going to be a releasable Jewish nation. Maybe I'll play around with that a little.

Cyrus_The_Great: I'd be very grateful!

VILenin: I've a soft spot for the Nestorians, but we'll see.

Updating frequently? Hopefully.

rcduggan: No stranger than the Orthodox Denmark was in the CK section; of course a lot of it was gameplay-inflicted where the AI can invade anywhere it wants.

Well, Naples proved to be a remarkably unstable nation, no matter who was at the helm (Normans, Imperial Welsh or Greek-Italians) whereas once confined to Sicily the Sanseverinos proved remarkably resilient.

Whatchagonnado, right?

Sr. Toledo: not really going to happen in this AAR since East and West have not been friendly at all, but there is another Byzantine AAr that's trying to do just that: HERE

Capibara: maps I can do indeed. Glad to have you here!