Probably not a bad idea since at this point the ck2 engine might not be able to acknowledge certain changes.
It also gives a chance to smooth out borders and tech related issues of conversion.
Im really looking forward to the next few postings. and im not super familiar with the coding, but i have made a few private mods and could try to help with the scripting if you want.
Any help is desperately needed once I get to that point.
And, wow, that is a really nice list of the various implications of things. In some ways, as a history major for my undergrad, I feel a little embarrassed to have not realized a lot of this beforehand; I was probably going to look at everything once I finished the CK2 portion. Anyways, to touch on some of what you posted:
The fact that islam is a non-factor in this world has a lot of implications i feel
I wouldn't necessarily say they are a non-factor. They are probably more going to end up a regional power. As things look at the moment, unless the Mongols go Muslim, Africa is Shia and much of the rest of the Middle East is Sunni. Without the Ottomans and having had more successful Crusades the Baltic and near Levant is going to stay predominately Christian.
1. I sincerely doubt there would be any sense of spanish unity given how early the reconquista was. Maybe they will develop it later the same way germany did. So i would think giving the spanish the opportunity to form a cultural union like a gb or pol-lit com would be posible, but i dont think an iberian wedding is.
I imagine that culture also comes into play. All three states are pretty equal in size and strength but of different cultures: Portuguese, Castilian, and Catalan for Portugal, Castile, and Aragon respectively with Basque Navarre off in the corner. You are right that a cultural union is possible but that or military dominance is probably the only way Iberian unification happens in this world.
2. conversely, greece probably has quite a bit of byzantine nostalgia with some suggesting it was the rejection of the empire that led to them getting conquered. Though there probably might not even be "greek culture" with some of the states taking on more italian traits, and Thraslid davlat in the mongol controlled greek regions.
Yeah, in the historiography of this world there will be a few Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Nationalist historians that are going to blame those that helped split the Empire and call them traitors. Greek language/culture will be an interesting subject. I don't know if they will necessarily take on Italian culture wholesale, the independent states may have something resembling what we are used to. And who is to say what will happen when the Mongol empire inevitably falls apart. What does Thraslid davlat mean?
3. If the merchant republics do meet africa early, then they would be meeting them technologically on par with themselves as christian kingdoms. So rather than eithiopia and nubia being cut off from the other christian kingdoms, wealth and contact probably would flow much more between them. So The Horn of Africa probably would have been incorporated into Christendom (west/eastern tech?).
That has a lot of interesting implications if it can happen. And, it would probably end up being Eastern tech, not exactly Western but still ahead of our universe.
4. The Mauretanian Order could probably turn into a Prussian style militarized monarchy if a hohenzorren convinced them to reform.
I am admittedly hoping that we get the Occitan, that is what the Hospitallers are, equivalent of the Hohenzollerns or they go Protestant. I would love a secular Christian kingdom there.
5. there was a neat what if book about how if norman lost hastings anglo-saxon england probably would not have involved itself with mainland europe but instead stayed culturally within the north sea. A united Celtic kingdom might throw a wrench in that though....
That seems to happen in my game a bit to be honest. They involve themselves with their marriage alliances and the Crusades but for the most part have been rather insular or been more involved with Scotland, the HRE, or Scandinavia. And, I would probably play that they are a bit more involved on the continent because the Celtic Union and a strong Scotland limit expansion/economic opportunities.
6. if the center of trade does stay in the eastern mediterranean, then those celts, anglo-saxons, and west french (being on both the tail end of the silk route and the novgorod north sea route) are going to be the poorest most backwater nations in christendom.
On some level that is true. But, as we saw the Mongols have really thrown a wrench in things. In my mind they may be more backwards but at the same time the North may be the ones more likely to try to cross the Atlantic because of their position.
7. Given that in our world paper was obtained by islamic samarkand and moved through the traderoutes as a closely guarded trade secret of Muslim guilds, it probably has a completely different story in theirs. Maybe it (and gunpowder) came earlier through the fleeing of catholic turks to russia Maybe it doesn't show up until much later given that the mongols through the entire system out of whack.
Gunpowder is a little hard to replicate in CK2 given it doesn't appear at all. You do have a point that paper and gunpowder may show up in Europe sooner in this universe. (Then again the talks Dr. David Fletcher is giving here are the highlights. In an in-depth history class discussing differences between the two worlds this would definitely be brought up.)
8. Does russia still have its third rome pledge from the byzantines? Did the Mongols claim it? If the answer to the first question is no, does russian kingdom have the right to call themselves czar? Between the influx of byzantines and christian turks to russia, and the emphasis on the eastern mediterranean medieval russia is probably in a stronger place technologically than ours. Maybe the russians and the north germans are the rennaissance italy of their world (in which case maybe Novgorod Russia is the renaissance Florence in this world).
There is no Russian-Byzantine marriage per se but they do have the Orthodox faith so it isn't too out there to see them claiming to be the successor of Rome (given that is kind of what the Byzantines called themselves, the term Byzantine being a term created later). The Mongols as of where I have played up to, I usually play ahead a few times to get an idea of what may happen or get some interesting results and choose which ever save appeals to me the most, have turned South and taken Turkestan, so more Christian Turks to flee to Rus, Lithuania, and Pomerania. I like your idea and i could honestly see two "centers" of the Renaissance in this world Italy and the Baltic. Eastern Europe, as long as it doesn't fall under the Mongol yoke, will definitely be in a better place in this universe by the mid 15th century and probably Western Tech.
9. again if the italians meet india first, i would imagine that would have some very severe theological and philosophical implications.
Oh yes. I imagine the Reformation and some of the resulting faiths may take some influence from India in this hypothetical scenario.
10. I'd imagine that French Jerusalem has as much in common with the French as the lombards do with Sweeden. I would guess if they dont get eaten (and even if they do get eaten by the mongols it would be worse) they would have their own Palestinian language that is french with a whole lot of greek and arab loan words. Its probably the english of their world, a latinized tongue completely adrift from all of its linguistic relatives.
Yes, Palestine and Morocco are both so linguistically fascinating and make me wish we had more cultural melting pots or I had the ability to mod them/would know if it works with the EUIV converter at all. The Occitan Hospitallers ruling over a majority Berber population probably produces something similar to the Normans and Anglo-Saxons. At this point you have probably the middle grounds of a Berber Romance language.
This is a very fascinating conversation. If you have any more subjects you want to discuss, or keep with the points you already brought up, please do so. The more I stay interested in this the more I play. The more I play the quicker updates happen.
