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Basque Paganism mod v1.0

Pied-Noir

Future Battle Bishop
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Sep 6, 2011
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91C97754C45253568D5E437CDC72EE343FA80FF6


This mod adds the Basque pagan faith to CK III, which I've called Euskal. It's slightly convoluted as to what best to call it, and native Basque sources are very difficult to interpret, but I've followed Paradox's lead in not wishing to name religions after cultures, so whereas the religion group is called Basque the actual faith itself is not. For those of you don't know, Basque paganism is a fascinating and unique syncretic religion which was the native faith of the Basque Country throughout the CK III time period and potentially into the 16th century. It slowly adapted to elements of Christianity over time, and today exists as a sort of mythology wrapped around the Basque national identity. It was heavily focused on witchcraft, tricksters, tales of giants and serpents, and the belief that the forces of nature were controlled by various gods whose actions had to be kept in check in order to avoid calamitous storms.

As well as vanilla, this mod should be compatible with any mods that don't add their own Basque religion group, so it'll be fine with most general balance and gameplay mods.

Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2335975673

"Basques practice an ancient chthonic faith based on synthesis with nature, outdoor rituals, mythical creatures and witchcraft. Once fiercely anti-Christian, many now rely on oral tradition and worship their old gods in secret."

I hope it's of use/enjoyment to some of you.
 
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Omg, I love you.
<3

Do you think you could add the Lauburu or the Eguzkilore as the symbol of the religion instead of that you used?

The Lauburu is listed as the religious symbol of the Euskal faith, so should appear in certain event text. I don't know exactly when and where those lines are used, but every faith can have one assigned, and I did give the Lauburu to the Basque faith.

As for including it as the icon... I did briefly consider this, but my understanding is that it's a relatively recent symbol. None of the traditional Basque coats of arms use it, and there aren't direct references to it during the early Middle Ages. My suspicion is that the Lauburu is something that came about during the attempts at conversion later in the Middle Ages/into the Renaissance, and is symbolic of a distorted Christian presence. I think it's a syncretic symbol, not dissimilar to the Celtic cross.

I have a friend who does icons for my religion mods and I requested a ram's mask because Basque mythology has plenty of references to animals, especially sheep, and one of the common distinguishing features of the Basque pagans (from the perspective of the Christians in Aquitaine) was their regular sacrifice of sheep. Modern Basque festivals - which are steeped in pagan mythology - include effigies and masks of animals such as rams and fauns. I think he did a great job with them and I wouldn't want to waste his work.

Thanks for your interest - I hope you enjoy the mod. :)
 
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The Lauburu is listed as the religious symbol of the Euskal faith, so should appear in certain event text. I don't know exactly when and where those lines are used, but every faith can have one assigned, and I did give the Lauburu to the Basque faith.

As for including it as the icon... I did briefly consider this, but my understanding is that it's a relatively recent symbol. None of the traditional Basque coats of arms use it, and there aren't direct references to it during the early Middle Ages. My suspicion is that the Lauburu is something that came about during the attempts at conversion later in the Middle Ages/into the Renaissance, and is symbolic of a distorted Christian presence. I think it's a syncretic symbol, not dissimilar to the Celtic cross.

I have a friend who does icons for my religion mods and I requested a ram's mask because Basque mythology has plenty of references to animals, especially sheep, and one of the common distinguishing features of the Basque pagans (from the perspective of the Christians in Aquitaine) was their regular sacrifice of sheep. Modern Basque festivals - which are steeped in pagan mythology - include effigies and masks of animals such as rams and fauns. I think he did a great job with them and I wouldn't want to waste his work.

Thanks for your interest - I hope you enjoy the mod. :)

Makes sense about the lauburu, but I think that the Eguzkilore makes more sense as a symbol of basque paganism than the ram. I'm basque and I have never seen any ram symbol and the eguzkilore is everywhere!
 
Makes sense about the lauburu, but I think that the Eguzkilore makes more sense as a symbol of basque paganism than the ram. I'm basque and I have never seen any ram symbol and the eguzkilore is everywhere!
Haha, I could have done with your help a few days ago - finding Basque speakers online is like finding needles in a haystack. Thankfully there are numerous English language sources.

And keep an eye out for the hilarri reference when your Basque pagan characters die. :)
 
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Basque Paganism mod v1.1
With the release of the Celtic Paganism mod I've updated some of the others to increase modular compatibility. For Basque, I've also made some improvements:

Code:
v1.1

- added Mountain Warriors (pikemen) as a unique holy order MaA regiment for the Basque religion group
- replaced the Just and Arbitrary traits with Patient and Impatient as virtues/sins for the Basque religion group
- added the Witch trait as a virtue for the Basque religion group
- removed some earlier database changes to improve compatibility with other religion mods
 
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