[MOD] After the End CK3
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I have a question, how much of this is going to be similar to CK2 After the End; for example is there still going to be The Holy Columbian Confederacy and other things like that or will it be entirely fresh and new?
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I think there was a dev diary on this on reddit a while ago or so. From what I remember, most of the nations will be ported over, but the Holy Columbian Confederacy is getting cut/replaced with something else.
I have some questions.
The first one isn't a question, it's just "Neat! Good luck!"
How much will the map be changing? One thing that bugged me, as a native of Northwest Indiana, is how my home region was part of Michiana and not Chicagoland. That's a very small, specific detail, but I'm sure people across the continents will have small specific details that bug them about their home regions, and I'm curious how many are potentially up in the air.
The first one isn't a question, it's just "Neat! Good luck!"
Do you mean that just in the "successor to the other thing" sense, or is this mod set after the time period of CK2ATE?
How did you choose seeds?
How much will the map be changing? One thing that bugged me, as a native of Northwest Indiana, is how my home region was part of Michiana and not Chicagoland. That's a very small, specific detail, but I'm sure people across the continents will have small specific details that bug them about their home regions, and I'm curious how many are potentially up in the air.
The former, the mod should have the same startdate, though with new bookmarks to accomadate the expanded map.
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I really don't see it being Full release until there is a Nomad DLC with Nomadic government
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(Written by nullpointer)
AtE CK3 Dev Diary 3: Imperial Bureaucracy
Hello everyone! I’m Nullpointer, one of the developers for After the End CK3. Today we will present one of the brand new mechanics we’re implementing - new both to CK3 and AtE itself.
That’s right, we’re going to Brazil! Or, more specifically, we’re going to present the Brazilian Empire’s unique government mechanics.
Motivation
In AtE, Brazil represents what China was to medieval western Eurasia: a large, advanced, bureaucratic, centralized state that, despite all these characteristics, should be slow to act, hard to expand and tricky to maintain. If the conditions are right it should be possible for the Empire to go on expansionist sprees or even collapse, but these would be uncommon events over this mostly stable frame.
We also want Brazil to represent - you guessed it - Brazil itself. With the inclusion of South America, Brazil (and its vassals) will be playable from game start, and despite representing China’s role it should also portrait concepts inspired on its own history, culture and traditions. Obviously this will be extensively portrayed through cultures, faiths, innovations and events, but in general Brazil in AtE won't be “China LARPing” but instead focus on Brazil as a gigantic, self-centered, bureaucratic colossus - hard to move and hard to stop, mostly due to its own fault.
The Undaunted Colossus is looking good…!
Finally, our third main objective is that whatever we implement in Brazil should be fun - fun to interact with as an external power, fun to play as the Emperor and also fun to play as a vassal. This means we can’t simply transform it into an inaccessible, immutable block, and even though we should restrain its capacities (in order to stop it from steamrolling everyone else) and enhance its stability (so it’s still there hundreds of years after game start), player agency (and/or sheer luck) should be respected.
...at least on the outside
In order to achieve all of this, we’re not only adding a few bonuses and restrictions - instead, a whole new set of mechanics (governments, contracts, succession laws and realm laws) has been devised in order to allow the Empire, its vassals and neighbours to steer the Undaunted Colossus towards progress, stability… or ruin.
New Government: Imperial Bureaucracy
The main characteristic that is common to Brazil, medieval China and imperial governments as a whole is the bureaucracy. Even if peasants are the vast majority of the population and local lands are ruled in traditional, quasi-feudal ways, actual power resides on the hands of a vast, complex group of officials, civil servants and courtiers that could set the whole country running in the right direction… or, more often than not, simply stall it.
In order to reflect this, Brazil is not a Feudal state, but rather a new government form: an Imperial Bureaucracy. This government form still has a monarch (the Emperor) on top, but the lands underneath are not necessarily governed by hereditary rulers. Instead, the Emperor can appoint (through vassal contracts) bureaucratic Governors (who should excel at peace time administration at the core of the Empire) and military Captains (who should take care of the conflict-prone borders) to aid him in maintaining a state of continental proportions. More on these later on.
Governors and captains, marquises and prefects, caciques and, of course, the Emperor
Many decisions rely on the opinion of councilors, governors and captains, who may also be influenced by their peers and vassals, creating a dynamic balance of power that can be influenced both by the Emperor (who can manage Governors and Captains), his vassals (who can influence or even force decisions) and, obviously everyone inclined to scheming.
One of the ways these vassals can influence the government is by helping to pick the next emperor. Just like the Byzantine Empire, hereditary rule is more of a suggestion, and inept successors will only be allowed if they have a strong enough backer. The Imperial Succession law mimics this, allowing key members of the court to influence who the next Emperor will be without (usually) deviating much from regular succession. Maybe your secondborn, well-read daughter is the prefered candidate for the bureaucrats, or maybe the captains would rather see your veteran brother over your feeble young children on the throne.
Only two of the Emperor's children can be chosen...
And Simão, the younger one, is heavily favored by the bureaucracy due to his diplomatic skills
Meanwhile, Vivaldo is not even considered due to his poor administrative skills
How much the bureaucracy (or the captains, or the Emperor himself) influences the Empire is dynamic, however: the Empire might be resolute as a whole, but the hands pulling strings on the court will change. In order to reflect this, Imperial Bureaucracies won’t have Crown Authority, but rather Court Authority, which can represent more power to Bureaucrats, to the Military or, in rare balance moments, to the Emperor.
Sometimes the pen is heavier than the sword
Finally, the Brazilian bureaucracy is pluralistic by nature, and as such vassals integrated in it have few reasons to claim independence in most cases, and most of them are too deep into the political system to see advantages in undermining it directly. Instead, bureaucratic vassals will work together in factions to increase the Bureaucracy’s grasp on the government… while military vassals will work on the opposite, taking power from these pampered civil servants and bringing them to those that keep the Empire united with blood and steel.
The Military won’t let a bunch of feeble clerks to rule Brazil on the Emperor’s behalf
New Vassal Contracts: Governorates and Captaincies
The Emperor (and his vassals) can negotiate with his vassals special contracts that vastly changes how the vassals will work. By assigning them to these, the vassal’s government form (and, potentially, succession and realm laws too) will be changed, which come with many bonuses, penalties and limitations.
The Emperor should also keep in mind the balance of powers: if too many bureaucratic Governorates are established, their faction will be too powerful to contain, and soon enough the court will be controlled by bureaucrats - their armies might be weak, but they excel at forging alliances and are wealthy enough to hire a large number of mercenaries. This is even more dangerous when we consider military Captaincies, since they usually have larger armies and more experienced commanders.
The player (and the AI) can negotiate these contracts, and they are valid for imperial vassals too - a governor might set up a Captain vassal if they end up bordering enemies, and a captain-general might turn a fertile captaincy into a prefecture. Finally, once per lifetime the Emperor can reorganize the empire - even without player interference, the AI will (usually) assign governors to core lands and captains to borders.
The base effects of these contracts are fairly straightforward: Governors provide more taxes, fewer troops and have bonuses to development and taxes. and Captains provide more levies, fewer taxes and have larger, more efficient levies (as well as expanded control). Their governments also unlock a series of other changes, as detailed below.
It’s important to notice that the Emperor is not forced to negotiate these contracts. Even though they bring many bonuses to their specialities (and also make vassals less likely to grow too much, due to the elective nature of governorates and captaincies), hereditary vassals are allowed to exist, but their loyalty won’t be guaranteed, as they might end up seeing themselves as rightful kings instead of mere imperial vassals.
New Government: Bureaucratic Governorate
Other than their obligations (and bonuses) from their liege, Governors and Magistrates are expected to come from the highest echelons of bureaucracy. As such, they’re initially assigned to the Bureaucratic Succession laws: only competent, well read characters can succeed. Small children, burly brutes and scheming scoundrels won’t have a chance, and the opinion of influential bureaucrats (such as Stewards and Chancellors) will be highly regarded during election. Finally, other than the governor’s close family and his vassals, the governor’s own counselors will be valid candidates for succession - the governor’s steward will be seen by many as his natural successor.
Bureaucracy can always outdo itself
Governorates also have a few limitations: they are usually not allowed to declare wars and, depending on their liege's Court Authority, their rights and powers might be further curbed (or expanded) - a bureaucratic court will give more importance to the opinion on Governors, for example.
Other than that, governorates are fully playable - instead of conquering your neighbours, a player might focus on consolidating power and use their optimized succession laws to focus on smooth transitions of power and mastering the courtly play… growing from Prefect to Magistrate to Governor by the pen, not the sword.
New Government: Military Captaincy
Captaincies have been part of the Brazilian history since the beginning, back when it was first colonized and divided between captain-generals. In more recent times, since the restoration of the Empire, Captaincies have the main function of defending the borders - and, when conditions are favorable, expanding them. In a counterpoint to Governorates, Captains are selected through **Military Succession** laws, prioritizing martial and prowess skills, and the opinion of knights and marshals is highly regarded in this selection.
Despite some maluses to development, Captaincies have a key advantage when compared to Governorates: they can declare wars. Notice that they ‘can’, not necessarily ‘should’, since increasing the territorial extension of the Empire is very costly. Still, with both the Emperor and the governors pretty much locked out of military conflicts, captaincies are one of the few ways that would allow territorial extension (both within and without the Brazilian borders).
Finally, captaincies are also fully playable and offer a middle ground between ‘classic’ CK3 gameplay and imperial mechanics, but being locked with only combat-oriented rulers (while the Bureaucrats can have a wider range of candidates) is a spin on its own. It’s also worth mentioning that, as emperors come and go, they might decide that a powerful vassal would serve them better as a governor despite their military origins.
New Realm Laws: Court Authority
The mechanic that ties everything else together is Court Authority. Brazil and the Empire might be too large to move or fail, but courts are much more fluid and their influence over Imperial administration are also much broader.
In 2666, Brazil starts with a heavily bureaucratic court, but this won’t last for long: not only the emperor is interested in gaining more power, but his Captains will gladly band together to press this issue. If the scales shift balance to the military, governors will do the same, and only when the conditions are right - with both factions either dwarfed under a strong Emperor or too busy fighting each other - power actually rests with whoever bears the crown.
Mechanically, Court Authority varies in a scale with 5 positions, similar to Crown Authority’s 4 levels. Differently from feudal mechanics, however, it doesn’t grow from 0 to 5, but moves from Bureaucratic on one side, to Balanced in the center, to Military on the other.
This means it’s not cumulative, and perks granted by one level can be kept or lost when you move to another one on either side. More importantly, these perks are not applied equally over all vassals - a bureaucratic court will favor governorates (with opinion bonuses, stronger rights and more saying on imperial decisions) and scorn captaincies (which will be enraged, weakened and even outright lose voting rights), and a military court does the opposite. At the most extreme positions, a faction can outright block candidates from being picked for succession, and might even appoint councilors directly, bypassing the ruler.
A balanced court, meanwhile, will grant the Emperor most of the powers one would expect from maximum court authority… and also give both Captains and Governors a large opinion penalty, which means only a strong, popular emperor can keep the power for himself, while weaker ones will need to rely on a faction or face frequent ultimatums.
Please fill in form 34b in order to capitulate
Court Authority also exists for imperial vassals, but they are capped by their government type: governorates can vary from Bureaucratic to Balanced, and captaincies can go from Balanced to Military. Just like the Emperor, governors and captains must control the expectations of their own military and bureaucracy - or be consumed by them.
Going into more details, here are the court authority levels:
Bureaucratic court: at this level, the court is completely controlled by the bureaucracy, with the actual leader severely restricted and the civil servants are free to optimize the state towards stability and progress.
* Vassal opinions are greatly improved
* Tax collection is improved, while recruitment is diminished;
* bureaucratic councilors and governors hold most power during voting, and captains and barred from voting
* Only able candidates can inherit the throne, in a similar fashion to Bureaucratic succession - while it’s not as harsh, a learned sibling will have priority over a minor child.
* Stewards and Chancellors can’t be sacked, their voting power greatly exceeds all others, and they are automatically picked by the bureaucracy, with no saying from the ruler
* All wars are banned, internal or external
* Governors are protected from sacking, while other vassal types can be revoked with no imposed tyranny.
Bureaucratic-leaning court: at this level, bureaucrats have more influence than the military, but their grasp on power is not absolute:
* Vassal opinions are slightly improved
* tax collection is slightly improved, while recruitment is slightly diminished.
* councilors and governors have more voting power than non-bureaucratic vassals
* Succession conditions are more lax, but some minimal bureaucratic virtues are expected
* Stewards and chancellors can’t be removed by the ruler, but they can be freely picked
* Internal wars are still banned, but captaincies can declare wars against enemies of the empire
Balanced court: either thanks to a strong leader or due to conflicting factions weakening each other, a balanced court allows the Emperor (or Governor, or Captain-General) to rule freely:
* Vassal opinions are greatly reduced
* Both tax collection and recruitment are slightly improved
* All vassals can vote, but the leader’s votes have by far the most influence
* There are no additional restrictions to candidacy - the Emperor can pick his successor among his close relatives
* Wars are allowed
* The Emperor can revoke titles at any time
Military-leaning court: as the court moves to the opposite direction, bureaucrats are replaced with officials, knights and captains:
* Modifiers are the opposite from bureaucratic-leaning court
* Marshals, captains and knights have extra voting power
* Marshals and knights can’t be sacked
* Candidates are expected to have a least some martial or fighting skills
* Vassals can declare wars
Military court: again, the de jure ruler is all but a figure-head, but now the army deals the cards
* Modifiers are the opposite from bureaucratic court
* Marshals are selected by the military, and not by the ruler
* Knights, Marshals and Captains have most of the voting power, and governorate vassals can’t vote
* Non-captaincy vassals can be revoked for free
* Vassals can declare wars
Due to the large number of vassals, a faction bringing ‘an offer you can’t refuse’ to the Emperor is more commonly a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’, while governors and captains can enjoy less rebellious vassals. The emperor should, then, learn how to swim with the current and make the best of the current faction, or wait until they’re popular and powerful enough to consolidate their power.
Next steps
Considering that Brazil is home to dozens of cultures and faiths, many other factors will account into the Empire. Given CK3’s next major patch, though, these cultural customizations will be postponed until we have a clearer view about how cultures are going to work. Custom succession styles, new factions or even new types of ultimatums are all planned.
https://i.imgur.com/NIIm3Bg.jpg
Another feature that is halted until Paradox implements a new voting system is a more extensive group of candidates and electors for bureaucratic or military states. Currently, CK3’s engine doesn’t allow unlanded characters to vote, nor characters without claims/ties to be candidates. Hopefully these limitations will be changed once they release a major patch that implements playable merchant republics.
Other mechanics are still planned - such as the dread Vestibular exams, which can bring glory or doom to young, up-and-coming bureaucrats - but they’re still being developed.
Stay tuned for the next dev diary!
AtE CK3 Dev Diary 3: Imperial Bureaucracy
Hello everyone! I’m Nullpointer, one of the developers for After the End CK3. Today we will present one of the brand new mechanics we’re implementing - new both to CK3 and AtE itself.
That’s right, we’re going to Brazil! Or, more specifically, we’re going to present the Brazilian Empire’s unique government mechanics.
Motivation
In AtE, Brazil represents what China was to medieval western Eurasia: a large, advanced, bureaucratic, centralized state that, despite all these characteristics, should be slow to act, hard to expand and tricky to maintain. If the conditions are right it should be possible for the Empire to go on expansionist sprees or even collapse, but these would be uncommon events over this mostly stable frame.
We also want Brazil to represent - you guessed it - Brazil itself. With the inclusion of South America, Brazil (and its vassals) will be playable from game start, and despite representing China’s role it should also portrait concepts inspired on its own history, culture and traditions. Obviously this will be extensively portrayed through cultures, faiths, innovations and events, but in general Brazil in AtE won't be “China LARPing” but instead focus on Brazil as a gigantic, self-centered, bureaucratic colossus - hard to move and hard to stop, mostly due to its own fault.
The Undaunted Colossus is looking good…!
Finally, our third main objective is that whatever we implement in Brazil should be fun - fun to interact with as an external power, fun to play as the Emperor and also fun to play as a vassal. This means we can’t simply transform it into an inaccessible, immutable block, and even though we should restrain its capacities (in order to stop it from steamrolling everyone else) and enhance its stability (so it’s still there hundreds of years after game start), player agency (and/or sheer luck) should be respected.
...at least on the outside
In order to achieve all of this, we’re not only adding a few bonuses and restrictions - instead, a whole new set of mechanics (governments, contracts, succession laws and realm laws) has been devised in order to allow the Empire, its vassals and neighbours to steer the Undaunted Colossus towards progress, stability… or ruin.
New Government: Imperial Bureaucracy
The main characteristic that is common to Brazil, medieval China and imperial governments as a whole is the bureaucracy. Even if peasants are the vast majority of the population and local lands are ruled in traditional, quasi-feudal ways, actual power resides on the hands of a vast, complex group of officials, civil servants and courtiers that could set the whole country running in the right direction… or, more often than not, simply stall it.
In order to reflect this, Brazil is not a Feudal state, but rather a new government form: an Imperial Bureaucracy. This government form still has a monarch (the Emperor) on top, but the lands underneath are not necessarily governed by hereditary rulers. Instead, the Emperor can appoint (through vassal contracts) bureaucratic Governors (who should excel at peace time administration at the core of the Empire) and military Captains (who should take care of the conflict-prone borders) to aid him in maintaining a state of continental proportions. More on these later on.
Governors and captains, marquises and prefects, caciques and, of course, the Emperor
Many decisions rely on the opinion of councilors, governors and captains, who may also be influenced by their peers and vassals, creating a dynamic balance of power that can be influenced both by the Emperor (who can manage Governors and Captains), his vassals (who can influence or even force decisions) and, obviously everyone inclined to scheming.
One of the ways these vassals can influence the government is by helping to pick the next emperor. Just like the Byzantine Empire, hereditary rule is more of a suggestion, and inept successors will only be allowed if they have a strong enough backer. The Imperial Succession law mimics this, allowing key members of the court to influence who the next Emperor will be without (usually) deviating much from regular succession. Maybe your secondborn, well-read daughter is the prefered candidate for the bureaucrats, or maybe the captains would rather see your veteran brother over your feeble young children on the throne.
Only two of the Emperor's children can be chosen...
And Simão, the younger one, is heavily favored by the bureaucracy due to his diplomatic skills
Meanwhile, Vivaldo is not even considered due to his poor administrative skills
How much the bureaucracy (or the captains, or the Emperor himself) influences the Empire is dynamic, however: the Empire might be resolute as a whole, but the hands pulling strings on the court will change. In order to reflect this, Imperial Bureaucracies won’t have Crown Authority, but rather Court Authority, which can represent more power to Bureaucrats, to the Military or, in rare balance moments, to the Emperor.
Sometimes the pen is heavier than the sword
Finally, the Brazilian bureaucracy is pluralistic by nature, and as such vassals integrated in it have few reasons to claim independence in most cases, and most of them are too deep into the political system to see advantages in undermining it directly. Instead, bureaucratic vassals will work together in factions to increase the Bureaucracy’s grasp on the government… while military vassals will work on the opposite, taking power from these pampered civil servants and bringing them to those that keep the Empire united with blood and steel.
The Military won’t let a bunch of feeble clerks to rule Brazil on the Emperor’s behalf
New Vassal Contracts: Governorates and Captaincies
The Emperor (and his vassals) can negotiate with his vassals special contracts that vastly changes how the vassals will work. By assigning them to these, the vassal’s government form (and, potentially, succession and realm laws too) will be changed, which come with many bonuses, penalties and limitations.
The Emperor should also keep in mind the balance of powers: if too many bureaucratic Governorates are established, their faction will be too powerful to contain, and soon enough the court will be controlled by bureaucrats - their armies might be weak, but they excel at forging alliances and are wealthy enough to hire a large number of mercenaries. This is even more dangerous when we consider military Captaincies, since they usually have larger armies and more experienced commanders.
The player (and the AI) can negotiate these contracts, and they are valid for imperial vassals too - a governor might set up a Captain vassal if they end up bordering enemies, and a captain-general might turn a fertile captaincy into a prefecture. Finally, once per lifetime the Emperor can reorganize the empire - even without player interference, the AI will (usually) assign governors to core lands and captains to borders.
The base effects of these contracts are fairly straightforward: Governors provide more taxes, fewer troops and have bonuses to development and taxes. and Captains provide more levies, fewer taxes and have larger, more efficient levies (as well as expanded control). Their governments also unlock a series of other changes, as detailed below.
It’s important to notice that the Emperor is not forced to negotiate these contracts. Even though they bring many bonuses to their specialities (and also make vassals less likely to grow too much, due to the elective nature of governorates and captaincies), hereditary vassals are allowed to exist, but their loyalty won’t be guaranteed, as they might end up seeing themselves as rightful kings instead of mere imperial vassals.
New Government: Bureaucratic Governorate
Other than their obligations (and bonuses) from their liege, Governors and Magistrates are expected to come from the highest echelons of bureaucracy. As such, they’re initially assigned to the Bureaucratic Succession laws: only competent, well read characters can succeed. Small children, burly brutes and scheming scoundrels won’t have a chance, and the opinion of influential bureaucrats (such as Stewards and Chancellors) will be highly regarded during election. Finally, other than the governor’s close family and his vassals, the governor’s own counselors will be valid candidates for succession - the governor’s steward will be seen by many as his natural successor.
Bureaucracy can always outdo itself
Governorates also have a few limitations: they are usually not allowed to declare wars and, depending on their liege's Court Authority, their rights and powers might be further curbed (or expanded) - a bureaucratic court will give more importance to the opinion on Governors, for example.
Other than that, governorates are fully playable - instead of conquering your neighbours, a player might focus on consolidating power and use their optimized succession laws to focus on smooth transitions of power and mastering the courtly play… growing from Prefect to Magistrate to Governor by the pen, not the sword.
New Government: Military Captaincy
Captaincies have been part of the Brazilian history since the beginning, back when it was first colonized and divided between captain-generals. In more recent times, since the restoration of the Empire, Captaincies have the main function of defending the borders - and, when conditions are favorable, expanding them. In a counterpoint to Governorates, Captains are selected through **Military Succession** laws, prioritizing martial and prowess skills, and the opinion of knights and marshals is highly regarded in this selection.
Despite some maluses to development, Captaincies have a key advantage when compared to Governorates: they can declare wars. Notice that they ‘can’, not necessarily ‘should’, since increasing the territorial extension of the Empire is very costly. Still, with both the Emperor and the governors pretty much locked out of military conflicts, captaincies are one of the few ways that would allow territorial extension (both within and without the Brazilian borders).
Finally, captaincies are also fully playable and offer a middle ground between ‘classic’ CK3 gameplay and imperial mechanics, but being locked with only combat-oriented rulers (while the Bureaucrats can have a wider range of candidates) is a spin on its own. It’s also worth mentioning that, as emperors come and go, they might decide that a powerful vassal would serve them better as a governor despite their military origins.
New Realm Laws: Court Authority
The mechanic that ties everything else together is Court Authority. Brazil and the Empire might be too large to move or fail, but courts are much more fluid and their influence over Imperial administration are also much broader.
In 2666, Brazil starts with a heavily bureaucratic court, but this won’t last for long: not only the emperor is interested in gaining more power, but his Captains will gladly band together to press this issue. If the scales shift balance to the military, governors will do the same, and only when the conditions are right - with both factions either dwarfed under a strong Emperor or too busy fighting each other - power actually rests with whoever bears the crown.
Mechanically, Court Authority varies in a scale with 5 positions, similar to Crown Authority’s 4 levels. Differently from feudal mechanics, however, it doesn’t grow from 0 to 5, but moves from Bureaucratic on one side, to Balanced in the center, to Military on the other.
This means it’s not cumulative, and perks granted by one level can be kept or lost when you move to another one on either side. More importantly, these perks are not applied equally over all vassals - a bureaucratic court will favor governorates (with opinion bonuses, stronger rights and more saying on imperial decisions) and scorn captaincies (which will be enraged, weakened and even outright lose voting rights), and a military court does the opposite. At the most extreme positions, a faction can outright block candidates from being picked for succession, and might even appoint councilors directly, bypassing the ruler.
A balanced court, meanwhile, will grant the Emperor most of the powers one would expect from maximum court authority… and also give both Captains and Governors a large opinion penalty, which means only a strong, popular emperor can keep the power for himself, while weaker ones will need to rely on a faction or face frequent ultimatums.
Please fill in form 34b in order to capitulate
Court Authority also exists for imperial vassals, but they are capped by their government type: governorates can vary from Bureaucratic to Balanced, and captaincies can go from Balanced to Military. Just like the Emperor, governors and captains must control the expectations of their own military and bureaucracy - or be consumed by them.
Going into more details, here are the court authority levels:
Bureaucratic court: at this level, the court is completely controlled by the bureaucracy, with the actual leader severely restricted and the civil servants are free to optimize the state towards stability and progress.
* Vassal opinions are greatly improved
* Tax collection is improved, while recruitment is diminished;
* bureaucratic councilors and governors hold most power during voting, and captains and barred from voting
* Only able candidates can inherit the throne, in a similar fashion to Bureaucratic succession - while it’s not as harsh, a learned sibling will have priority over a minor child.
* Stewards and Chancellors can’t be sacked, their voting power greatly exceeds all others, and they are automatically picked by the bureaucracy, with no saying from the ruler
* All wars are banned, internal or external
* Governors are protected from sacking, while other vassal types can be revoked with no imposed tyranny.
Bureaucratic-leaning court: at this level, bureaucrats have more influence than the military, but their grasp on power is not absolute:
* Vassal opinions are slightly improved
* tax collection is slightly improved, while recruitment is slightly diminished.
* councilors and governors have more voting power than non-bureaucratic vassals
* Succession conditions are more lax, but some minimal bureaucratic virtues are expected
* Stewards and chancellors can’t be removed by the ruler, but they can be freely picked
* Internal wars are still banned, but captaincies can declare wars against enemies of the empire
Balanced court: either thanks to a strong leader or due to conflicting factions weakening each other, a balanced court allows the Emperor (or Governor, or Captain-General) to rule freely:
* Vassal opinions are greatly reduced
* Both tax collection and recruitment are slightly improved
* All vassals can vote, but the leader’s votes have by far the most influence
* There are no additional restrictions to candidacy - the Emperor can pick his successor among his close relatives
* Wars are allowed
* The Emperor can revoke titles at any time
Military-leaning court: as the court moves to the opposite direction, bureaucrats are replaced with officials, knights and captains:
* Modifiers are the opposite from bureaucratic-leaning court
* Marshals, captains and knights have extra voting power
* Marshals and knights can’t be sacked
* Candidates are expected to have a least some martial or fighting skills
* Vassals can declare wars
Military court: again, the de jure ruler is all but a figure-head, but now the army deals the cards
* Modifiers are the opposite from bureaucratic court
* Marshals are selected by the military, and not by the ruler
* Knights, Marshals and Captains have most of the voting power, and governorate vassals can’t vote
* Non-captaincy vassals can be revoked for free
* Vassals can declare wars
Due to the large number of vassals, a faction bringing ‘an offer you can’t refuse’ to the Emperor is more commonly a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’, while governors and captains can enjoy less rebellious vassals. The emperor should, then, learn how to swim with the current and make the best of the current faction, or wait until they’re popular and powerful enough to consolidate their power.
Next steps
Considering that Brazil is home to dozens of cultures and faiths, many other factors will account into the Empire. Given CK3’s next major patch, though, these cultural customizations will be postponed until we have a clearer view about how cultures are going to work. Custom succession styles, new factions or even new types of ultimatums are all planned.
https://i.imgur.com/NIIm3Bg.jpg
Another feature that is halted until Paradox implements a new voting system is a more extensive group of candidates and electors for bureaucratic or military states. Currently, CK3’s engine doesn’t allow unlanded characters to vote, nor characters without claims/ties to be candidates. Hopefully these limitations will be changed once they release a major patch that implements playable merchant republics.
Other mechanics are still planned - such as the dread Vestibular exams, which can bring glory or doom to young, up-and-coming bureaucrats - but they’re still being developed.
Stay tuned for the next dev diary!
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This looks great!
Is a popular/strong Emperor able to declare wars to expand the Empire?
Is it possible to usurp the Empire? Either by an ambitious Governor, Captain, hereditary vassal or by a foreigner like a Yuan/Qing Dynasty situation?
Is a popular/strong Emperor able to declare wars to expand the Empire?
Is it possible to usurp the Empire? Either by an ambitious Governor, Captain, hereditary vassal or by a foreigner like a Yuan/Qing Dynasty situation?
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Something could also be used for California IMO, if you haven't decided to rewrite its story
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Does this mean that the mod will not release until then, or that when that is added the system will be changed?
AtE CK3 Dev Diary 4 - Keepers of Occultist Lore
(This dev diary was written by Thomas.)
For Crusader Kings 3, to better represent the lore of the Occultist faith, we have decided to split occultism into three related faiths. Of these, two remain extant in game, while the last, Druidic, is extinct. This Dev Diary will specifically cover the mechanics, lore, and some of the characters you may find practicing these faiths.
At their core, the two faiths which dominate New England believe in a relatively similar theology, centered around the “Old Ones,” ancient gods of unfathomable evil, power, and design. While the two agree on the existence and evil of these gods, numerous differences separate them to an irreparable degree. The two living occultist faiths are the Diabolist faith, prevalent in rural areas of New England, such as New Hampshire and Maine, and the Masonic faith, practiced in more “urbanized” areas, specifically those along the coast.
https://imgur.com/nfV4zEt
While both faiths are ultimately pagan and lacking serious organization, Diabolism is significantly more so, being an inherently more personal faith. It was the most common faith in New England for much of post-event history, and every clan chieftain had in his court a soothsayer, augur, or witch, whose purpose was to divine the unknowable designs of the gods, and do what they can to mitigate their impact (or, redirect them towards rivals.)
https://imgur.com/lbhQOLx
Diabolists generally believe in a wide pantheon of dark gods, some of which can, carefully and without an ounce of trust or leeway given, be bargained with. Witchcraft, sacrifice, and similar behavior in the name of these gods is accepted, and in some cases even venerated, as it is understood that Witches are taking a great burden upon themselves to protect others. Diabolists often bargain with lesser gods, such as Beelzebub, and some even go so far as to attempt to consort with the Old Ones, though those that do are widely regarded as dangerously insane.
https://imgur.com/F7sxGWN
The Masonic faith is notably different. Masons organize in “Lodges”- a mysterious network of churches and societies they claim predates the event by thousands of years. Masons fear the Old Gods, and strictly believe that any communion, even with the utmost care taken, is simply inviting the old gods to act on earth. As such, they absolutely despise witches and their crafts. Masons specifically don’t partake in sacrifice or witchcraft, and in fact view such behaviors as directly aiding the Old Ones.
https://imgur.com/sLxDbPh
Instead, they use tried and true scientific rituals to prevent the Gods from acting, and to counter witchcraft. Outsiders, however, point out, for example, that there is very little practical difference between a Diabolist’s scrawling of a pentagram to ward an area and a Mason sketching a fraction of the Divine Geometry to protect a building. Masons are also known for their scholarly skill - their interest in alchemy and learning is said to border on reverence, and prestigious Universities play a key role in their organization. Some still do fear the Masons - It has been said that the ancient Freemasons once ruled the world in secret, and this, combined with their elitism and fanaticism, leads to fears that they seek to return to this state of affairs.
https://imgur.com/h1toSGS
For most of post-event history, the various Masonic and Diabolist cults were part of the continuum of the countless cults throughout New England, indistinguishable from each other aside for the specific names of the gods they fear, and the slight variation of rituals - In fact, until the rise of the Yankee Emperor, to outsiders, there was no difference. The term Diabolist served as a catchall for all of these cultists, whether it was a wise-woman reading fortunes in the intestines of animals or an alchemist working to develop the philosopher’s stone in a room in the dimly lit taverns of boston.
However, the rise of the Yankee Empire forced a sea-change in the perceptions of the cults. A member of the Masonic Cult of the Skull and Bones himself, King Sidrach leveraged the general distaste of the largely urban “Mason'' cults towards the barbaric practices of the backwoods cults of the clans. Bringing together the various masonic societies in Boston and New Haven into both a Shadowy Cabal and a bureaucracy, he codified their disparate visions into a more unified mission, as both a bureaucratic apparatus to police the Yankee Empire, and to provide a religious justification for its expansion.
https://i.imgur.com/FEhF491.jpg?1
In reality, the Masons were a factitious mess, exposing and bringing down rival Masonic cults as often as they were hunting down witch covens. In the backwoods reaches of the empire, especially, the Witch Hunters of the Masons never truly made inroads. Though the Cabal has ostensibly dissolved with the fall of the Yankee Empire, rumors abound that members of the Masons still meet in secret, manipulating events towards a return of the Empire and the eradication of witchcraft.
https://i.imgur.com/CrLMkZz.jpg?1
Included in this rework of occultism are a number of characters and events, better representing the spread of these beliefs.
https://imgur.com/F2t7Pae
https://imgur.com/zzoojc7
(This dev diary was written by Thomas.)
For Crusader Kings 3, to better represent the lore of the Occultist faith, we have decided to split occultism into three related faiths. Of these, two remain extant in game, while the last, Druidic, is extinct. This Dev Diary will specifically cover the mechanics, lore, and some of the characters you may find practicing these faiths.
At their core, the two faiths which dominate New England believe in a relatively similar theology, centered around the “Old Ones,” ancient gods of unfathomable evil, power, and design. While the two agree on the existence and evil of these gods, numerous differences separate them to an irreparable degree. The two living occultist faiths are the Diabolist faith, prevalent in rural areas of New England, such as New Hampshire and Maine, and the Masonic faith, practiced in more “urbanized” areas, specifically those along the coast.
https://imgur.com/nfV4zEt
While both faiths are ultimately pagan and lacking serious organization, Diabolism is significantly more so, being an inherently more personal faith. It was the most common faith in New England for much of post-event history, and every clan chieftain had in his court a soothsayer, augur, or witch, whose purpose was to divine the unknowable designs of the gods, and do what they can to mitigate their impact (or, redirect them towards rivals.)
https://imgur.com/lbhQOLx
Diabolists generally believe in a wide pantheon of dark gods, some of which can, carefully and without an ounce of trust or leeway given, be bargained with. Witchcraft, sacrifice, and similar behavior in the name of these gods is accepted, and in some cases even venerated, as it is understood that Witches are taking a great burden upon themselves to protect others. Diabolists often bargain with lesser gods, such as Beelzebub, and some even go so far as to attempt to consort with the Old Ones, though those that do are widely regarded as dangerously insane.
https://imgur.com/F7sxGWN
The Masonic faith is notably different. Masons organize in “Lodges”- a mysterious network of churches and societies they claim predates the event by thousands of years. Masons fear the Old Gods, and strictly believe that any communion, even with the utmost care taken, is simply inviting the old gods to act on earth. As such, they absolutely despise witches and their crafts. Masons specifically don’t partake in sacrifice or witchcraft, and in fact view such behaviors as directly aiding the Old Ones.
https://imgur.com/sLxDbPh
Instead, they use tried and true scientific rituals to prevent the Gods from acting, and to counter witchcraft. Outsiders, however, point out, for example, that there is very little practical difference between a Diabolist’s scrawling of a pentagram to ward an area and a Mason sketching a fraction of the Divine Geometry to protect a building. Masons are also known for their scholarly skill - their interest in alchemy and learning is said to border on reverence, and prestigious Universities play a key role in their organization. Some still do fear the Masons - It has been said that the ancient Freemasons once ruled the world in secret, and this, combined with their elitism and fanaticism, leads to fears that they seek to return to this state of affairs.
https://imgur.com/h1toSGS
For most of post-event history, the various Masonic and Diabolist cults were part of the continuum of the countless cults throughout New England, indistinguishable from each other aside for the specific names of the gods they fear, and the slight variation of rituals - In fact, until the rise of the Yankee Emperor, to outsiders, there was no difference. The term Diabolist served as a catchall for all of these cultists, whether it was a wise-woman reading fortunes in the intestines of animals or an alchemist working to develop the philosopher’s stone in a room in the dimly lit taverns of boston.
However, the rise of the Yankee Empire forced a sea-change in the perceptions of the cults. A member of the Masonic Cult of the Skull and Bones himself, King Sidrach leveraged the general distaste of the largely urban “Mason'' cults towards the barbaric practices of the backwoods cults of the clans. Bringing together the various masonic societies in Boston and New Haven into both a Shadowy Cabal and a bureaucracy, he codified their disparate visions into a more unified mission, as both a bureaucratic apparatus to police the Yankee Empire, and to provide a religious justification for its expansion.
https://i.imgur.com/FEhF491.jpg?1
In reality, the Masons were a factitious mess, exposing and bringing down rival Masonic cults as often as they were hunting down witch covens. In the backwoods reaches of the empire, especially, the Witch Hunters of the Masons never truly made inroads. Though the Cabal has ostensibly dissolved with the fall of the Yankee Empire, rumors abound that members of the Masons still meet in secret, manipulating events towards a return of the Empire and the eradication of witchcraft.
https://i.imgur.com/CrLMkZz.jpg?1
Included in this rework of occultism are a number of characters and events, better representing the spread of these beliefs.
https://imgur.com/F2t7Pae
https://imgur.com/zzoojc7
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Druidic seems to be extinct. As in, it is a dead religion that you can bring it back just like Helenism in vanilla.
Notice that they said that Occultist was split into 3 religions, of which two still exist and the other is extinct.
It wasn't removed from the game, just the start date, to fit more with the lore.
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After the End CK3 Dev Diary 4: The Map (Part Two)
(Written by Kefir)
Hello there, dear After the End fans, my name is Kefír úr aka ArVass, and today I'm here to present to you our newest Developer Diary: The Map (Part Two)! As you already know, the majority of Crusader Kings 3's playtime is spent looking at maps, and maps, and even more maps; naturally, that means that the map has to look good, to ensure that the player is able to immerse themselves in the world of the 27th century Americas, the world After the End.
You might be wondering, “we have already had a DD focusing on the map, so why a second one?” Well, while the last diary offered an in-depth view of our methods and vision for creating the map, during the last few months of hard work we have gradually brought it to Life, both functionally and visually. We are confident that we are presenting the best quality work we possibly can!
General Look
Let’s first look at how the visual terrain turned out in its full glory:
Our wonderful team of map artists (shoutout to Elzephor and Nico) have worked countless hours (my CK3 playtime, for example, has just reached 340 hours, about 300 of which were spent in the map editor) on manually painting through the dozens of masks of the terrain to create the most accurate and aesthetically pleasing map achievable. In order to portray the terrain of different regions as realistic as possible, we relied on Thomas' GIS-generated automatic terrain for one, but also satellite images, tree coverage maps, and Köppen climate-type maps as visual guides and references.
Where were these pictures taken?
In CK3, the map can also be “spiced up” with additional post-effects and colour maps that can make parts of the map appear darker, brighter, colder, warmer, greener, yellower, grayer and so on than neighboring areas;
What are these places?
A cold and a warm part of the map with slightly different light shaders.
Moverover, we also gave attention to the heightmap, by manually conforming the shapes and bumps of the automatically generated heightmap's peaks to the vanilla mountain range textures. When the two overlay properly, they interact really nicely, making those mountains and hills really look alive.
Let's play Guess the Place!
New Terrain Types
As we announced earlier, we have decided to add a couple of terrain types that have no proper representation in the vanilla game, for example the rugged Tundras and the frozen Arctic deserts of the Far North, coming with significant development and attrition maluses. Flooded Forests are found in certain swampy areas, and combine some of the effects of Forests and Wetlands. Finally, there are Salt Flats, which are essentially harsh deserts where absolutely zero agriculture is possible due to the soil's salinity.
Flooded Forests
Salt Flats
Some terrain effects
(Written by Kefir)
Hello there, dear After the End fans, my name is Kefír úr aka ArVass, and today I'm here to present to you our newest Developer Diary: The Map (Part Two)! As you already know, the majority of Crusader Kings 3's playtime is spent looking at maps, and maps, and even more maps; naturally, that means that the map has to look good, to ensure that the player is able to immerse themselves in the world of the 27th century Americas, the world After the End.
You might be wondering, “we have already had a DD focusing on the map, so why a second one?” Well, while the last diary offered an in-depth view of our methods and vision for creating the map, during the last few months of hard work we have gradually brought it to Life, both functionally and visually. We are confident that we are presenting the best quality work we possibly can!
General Look
Let’s first look at how the visual terrain turned out in its full glory:
Our wonderful team of map artists (shoutout to Elzephor and Nico) have worked countless hours (my CK3 playtime, for example, has just reached 340 hours, about 300 of which were spent in the map editor) on manually painting through the dozens of masks of the terrain to create the most accurate and aesthetically pleasing map achievable. In order to portray the terrain of different regions as realistic as possible, we relied on Thomas' GIS-generated automatic terrain for one, but also satellite images, tree coverage maps, and Köppen climate-type maps as visual guides and references.
Where were these pictures taken?
In CK3, the map can also be “spiced up” with additional post-effects and colour maps that can make parts of the map appear darker, brighter, colder, warmer, greener, yellower, grayer and so on than neighboring areas;
What are these places?
A cold and a warm part of the map with slightly different light shaders.
Moverover, we also gave attention to the heightmap, by manually conforming the shapes and bumps of the automatically generated heightmap's peaks to the vanilla mountain range textures. When the two overlay properly, they interact really nicely, making those mountains and hills really look alive.
Let's play Guess the Place!
New Terrain Types
As we announced earlier, we have decided to add a couple of terrain types that have no proper representation in the vanilla game, for example the rugged Tundras and the frozen Arctic deserts of the Far North, coming with significant development and attrition maluses. Flooded Forests are found in certain swampy areas, and combine some of the effects of Forests and Wetlands. Finally, there are Salt Flats, which are essentially harsh deserts where absolutely zero agriculture is possible due to the soil's salinity.
Flooded Forests
Salt Flats
Some terrain effects
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Specific Land Features
Additionally, scattered through the landscape there are certain ambient map items, some of which you might have already seen; these include waterfalls like Iguazú and Niagara, volcanoes, canyons, and, my favourites, little inuksuk models to discover across Nunavut!
Special Buildings
Many iconic buildings of the American landscape can’t be properly represented using solely Vanilla models. So we decided to create some of our own, and sometimes incorporate others’ (thank you Matt for the Mesoamerican holdings!) meshes to fill our map. These include various Special Buildings, made by the genius MachineMeza, shabono villages for the Yanomami made by our wonderful Nico, and tipis, igloos and temple holdings for “patriotic” religions such as Americanists, by myself. We have also added a visible city sprawl around Metropolis holdings. Take a look!
Wonder what all these buildings are…
Additionally, scattered through the landscape there are certain ambient map items, some of which you might have already seen; these include waterfalls like Iguazú and Niagara, volcanoes, canyons, and, my favourites, little inuksuk models to discover across Nunavut!
Special Buildings
Many iconic buildings of the American landscape can’t be properly represented using solely Vanilla models. So we decided to create some of our own, and sometimes incorporate others’ (thank you Matt for the Mesoamerican holdings!) meshes to fill our map. These include various Special Buildings, made by the genius MachineMeza, shabono villages for the Yanomami made by our wonderful Nico, and tipis, igloos and temple holdings for “patriotic” religions such as Americanists, by myself. We have also added a visible city sprawl around Metropolis holdings. Take a look!
Wonder what all these buildings are…
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Animals
We incorporated xangelo7’s Ambient Animal collection into our mod, although since the pan-American fauna is slightly different than that of the Old World, we had to modify some of these animals into more fitting animals, such as condors and harpy eagles. There is a whole bunch of them inhabiting the lands of the Americas, waiting to be discovered...
A couple of examples of animals in the wild. There are even more of them hiding across the land.
Trees
As with fauna, flora also differs significantly in the New World from the Old World, therefore we have created a bunch of new tree- and “tree"-types to contribute to regional immersion. These include birches, ipês, araucarias, giant redwoods, and even saguaro cacti. I am going to release these trees as a separate resource pack for the modding community soon!
Heraldic Crowns and CoA Frames
This part of this diary is only tangentially related to the topic of mapping, but it is a similarly interesting and a rather small topic, thus we decided to include it.
As you know, in Crusader Kings 3, the government type of a realm is always reflected by the shape of the banner its CoA appears in, so naturally we decided to create custom frames for that purpose, which we use for the new governments we have in the game. These include the Brazilian Imperial government, Governorates and Captaincies, as well as Wardenships and Nomads, another two additions to the game. Additionally, thanks to AOD, we have successfully managed to extend this concept to the heraldic crowns above the banners.We now have proper mural crowns for cities, Phrygian caps for republics, and the majestic heraldic crown of the Brazilian Empire! This feature is not exhaustive, meaning that not all government types will get their own crown strip, but in the future we might expand this to cover all of our new governments, which we will expand on in a future Dev Diary!
Imperials, Captaincies and Governorates
Wardenships for Gaian realms
Nomads
Republics
Our dedicated team is working on many different aspects of development, and future development diaries will outline a slew of new features, lore, and art. While we are not yet ready to announce a release date, we are hard at work, and the distance towards the finish line is measured in distances of months, not years.
We incorporated xangelo7’s Ambient Animal collection into our mod, although since the pan-American fauna is slightly different than that of the Old World, we had to modify some of these animals into more fitting animals, such as condors and harpy eagles. There is a whole bunch of them inhabiting the lands of the Americas, waiting to be discovered...
A couple of examples of animals in the wild. There are even more of them hiding across the land.
Trees
As with fauna, flora also differs significantly in the New World from the Old World, therefore we have created a bunch of new tree- and “tree"-types to contribute to regional immersion. These include birches, ipês, araucarias, giant redwoods, and even saguaro cacti. I am going to release these trees as a separate resource pack for the modding community soon!
Heraldic Crowns and CoA Frames
This part of this diary is only tangentially related to the topic of mapping, but it is a similarly interesting and a rather small topic, thus we decided to include it.
As you know, in Crusader Kings 3, the government type of a realm is always reflected by the shape of the banner its CoA appears in, so naturally we decided to create custom frames for that purpose, which we use for the new governments we have in the game. These include the Brazilian Imperial government, Governorates and Captaincies, as well as Wardenships and Nomads, another two additions to the game. Additionally, thanks to AOD, we have successfully managed to extend this concept to the heraldic crowns above the banners.We now have proper mural crowns for cities, Phrygian caps for republics, and the majestic heraldic crown of the Brazilian Empire! This feature is not exhaustive, meaning that not all government types will get their own crown strip, but in the future we might expand this to cover all of our new governments, which we will expand on in a future Dev Diary!
Imperials, Captaincies and Governorates
Nomads
Republics
Our dedicated team is working on many different aspects of development, and future development diaries will outline a slew of new features, lore, and art. While we are not yet ready to announce a release date, we are hard at work, and the distance towards the finish line is measured in distances of months, not years.
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