The World in 1393 and How it Got There
Religion in Europe
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):
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:
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.
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Next "update" I talk a little about the wider world, new cultures, and my (lack of) Photoshop skills.
Cheers.