[MOD] Britannia 479 AD - The Winter King

[Luca0312]

Britannia 479 AD - The Winter King
A Dark Ages Total Conversion for CKII, based on "The Warlord Chronicles" saga by Bernard Cornwell
(The Winter King, The Enemy of God, Excalibur)

Current Version: 0.98.1d (compatible with CKII 2.0.4)

Direct Download Link: Britannia 479 AD - The Winter King​

IMPORTANT NOTE: the mod MUST be placed in your documents folder (<your user documents>\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings II\mod), and NOT in the game main folder. Also make sure you delete any older versions of the mod (including "Britannia.mod") and the settings folder (usually it is <your user documents>\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings II\Britannia) before installing the latest release.

SCREENSHOTS
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MAIN FEATURES
- A completely new map covering Britain, Ireland and part of modern-day France.
- A campaign scenario starting in 479 AD, and revolving around two major struggles: the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, and the religious conflict between the ancient british Gods and the "new" catholic faith. The campaign end date is set to 867 AD.
- Custom Events and Storylines. There are hundreds of new or modified events, including a search for the legendary thirteen Treasures of Britain (choose the ambition "Restore the Old Gods"), a basic druid selection and education system, events regarding anglo-saxon and frankish invasions, religious conversions, trading routes with the mediterranean sea, seasonal events, and much more.
- A number of new traits, modifiers, decisions and ambitions/objectives.
- A dynamic 'Music Module'
- A dynamic 'de jure' map system that allows multiple 'de jure' map configurations.
- Custom buildings, appropriate for post-roman Britain. Several of them are culture-based or terrain-based. Many unique historical buildings (the baths of Aquae Sulis, the tidal bay of Mont Saint Michel, etc.). All buildings have a larger array of effects compared to vanilla. Barracks, stables and military buildings, for example, will reduce your tax income, increase risk of disease, and so on. There are custom building "sets" for specific purposes: justice buildings to reduce revolt risk, health buildings to prevent diseases, smiths and forges to improve your units effectiveness, etc.
- Culture-based de jure titles and kingdoms. In 479 AD most of Britain is divided among british, romano-british and cumbrian kingdoms. However, with the Anglo-Saxon invasions new de jure (non titular) kingdoms and jarldoms will slowly emerge: Mercia, Northumbria, Lindsey, Bernicia, Deira, and so on. Each title has different requirements and some of them may never appear, but in the long run at least some of these new anglo-saxon realms will pop up and grow, aggregate, etc.
- New military unit types (there were no knights or pikemen in 5th century) and combat tactics.
- Custom graphics, artwork, icons, portraits, etc.

INCLUDED MODS
Britannia 479 AD - The Winter King includes adapted resources and pillaging/sacking events from apg's Magnate Lords mod, as well as some events from cybrxkhan's VIET, the New Duel Engine from Galle and Ogaburan, EOOOQE's New Borders, and several others (please read 'A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE' at the end).

CONTRIBUTORS
Ols (co-developer), Cybrxkhan, apg, Keanon, Wappenwiki.org, Solo_Adhemar, DC123456789, Arko, Bujyland, Ciccillo Rre, richvh, Astanna, EOOQE, the development teams of A Game of Thrones and Elder Kings. And many others... thank you guys!

KNOWN BUGS AND ISSUES
- Several minor rulers have no wife or children at game start, even if they're not young anymore, simply because I haven't created all the necessary historical characters yet. Look at the bright side: more freedom for you to choose your spouse!
- Merchant Republics are not fully implemented yet, and they may make the game unstable in certain cases.
- Being still a beta release, there could be a number of undetected bugs, typos, etc... please let me know about any issue, I'd really appreciate it!

ADDITIONAL NOTES
The game is intended to have a totally different scale from vanilla. Think CKII "zoomed in". Distances are so smaller that armies can cross the whole map in a few weeks (and this is totally realistic). The campaign spans from 479 AD to 867 AD, so it's shorter than vanilla, but there are more things happening in a shorter time. Events (even vanilla ones) happen much more frequently. Battles do NOT last for days and days and days but are much quicker (as it should be). Disease and wars and many other things make this setting more violent and deadly than vanilla, so 60-years-old rulers will be a rare sight. CBs are different, and some cultures do not need a "traditional" Casus Belli at all to declare war (anglo saxons and franks) while others like picts and irish will not invade to conquer new lands very often, but they love to just raid and plunder for riches and glory, and they do it extremely well.

All the major characters from the books, both historical and fictional, are featured (and even some minor ones): Uther, Arthur, Merlin, Mordred, Lancelot, Galahad, Morgan, Nimue, Aelle, Derfel, Sansum, Tristan, and many others. If you know the books, you'll make many familiar encounters. For all the characters that are NOT covered by the books (especially in Ireland and Europe), I tried to be as historically accurate as possible. For example, King Clovis I of the Franks is there, as well as Syagrius, son of Aegidius, ruler of the Domain of Soissons. Ireland definitely needs more work.

---

And last, but not least, A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:

Although I spent hundreds of hours working on this, especially on the map, this mod contains pieces and bits and parts taken (with extreme prejudice and total carelessness) from a number of other mods out there. There is stuff taken from AGoT, CK2+, Lux Invicta, Magnate Lords, Elder Kings, Norse Mod, Better Rebels, The Prince and The Thane, and probably many others. I basically took whatever I liked from whatever source and tweaked it to make it fit this specific dark age arthurian setting.

The problem is I didn't ask permission to anyone of you. The reason is as simple as this: I never really thought the mod was going to be released, actually I was sure I was going to give up much sooner. But against all odds it has come to a playable beta version, and now releasing it makes more sense.

I can only do two things: first of all, I apologize to anyone whose work is in here. I should have asked for your permission beforehand. Second, I grant to all CK2 modders the right to do whatever you want with MY work (no need to ask). I guess someone could be interested in using the map for other mods, or some graphic stuff, or even some scripting. It's ok, you're welcome to take any part of it!

And finally, a huge thank you to Paradox for this amazing game, and to the creators of the Game of Thrones mod: their work made me love CKII (much more than I did with vanilla) and gave me the ispiration to start this project.

L.

 

[Mixxer5]

Looks nice and I 've a question (or request). I don't know "The warlord chronicles" but I see that You've Romano-British culture and rulers- how about possibility to create British Roman Empire? It could be used if You decide to create second version of Your mod- with whole Europe this time.

 

[Arko]

Impressive work so far on the map^^

 

[Joel M Bridge]

How will work planing as Roman Briton or Roman enclave in Gaul?

 

[Lucas Fenix]

Looks great so far, lots of detail! Keep up the good work.

 

[SlackBladder]

Looks very impressive! A question about religion, due to the more fluid nature of the old heathen religions how are you dividing them up? Will all the britons be under the umbrella of 'old gods' at start, and will the Anglo Saxons get their own religion?

 

[Luca0312]

Thanks for your comments guys! To answer some questions:

Looks nice and I 've a question (or request). I don't know "The warlord chronicles" but I see that You've Romano-British culture and rulers- how about possibility to create British Roman Empire? It could be used if You decide to create second version of Your mod- with whole Europe this time.

How will work planing as Roman Briton or Roman enclave in Gaul?

There is en empire-level title creatable in Gaul, that covers (de jure) the whole continental area of the map. It is called Imperium Gallicum, but that might change before release (if you have suggestions please don't hesitate). Other titles of the same levels in Britain are called 'High Kingdoms', so this one is the only where you find references to 'imperial' or 'empire'.

However, you must be of roman, romano-gallic or romano-british culture to create it. Franks will never do it.

Playing in Gaul as a romano-gallic ruler (under the Domain of Soissons, also known as Regnum Aegidii) has a major thing in common with playing as a romano-british ruler in Britain: you've got hordes of germanic people coming your way from the east, and they're tough. Historically, these germanic people achieved total victory on both fronts in less than a century. Keep in mind that the in the western part of modern-day France (Armorica, now Brittany I think) there are two other independent kingdoms, Broceliande and Benoic. These are less roman and more briton/celtic in culture (it's a specific culture called armorican), and they also will never create the Imperium Gallicum. So the only way to see this roman title restored is to play as a roman-related culture and somehow stop and repel the Franks, conquering their starting lands, and also subjugate the armorican kingdoms (those are culturally advanced but not very dangerous foes on the field). You can do it as a romano-gallic ruler of Soissons, or as a romano-british ruler of Britain, but that means you've got to solve all your problems in Britain first, and then cross the channel to conquer Gaul. A mighty task. Good goal for a game in the long-run!

Looks very impressive! A question about religion, due to the more fluid nature of the old heathen religions how are you dividing them up? Will all the britons be under the umbrella of 'old gods' at start, and will the Anglo Saxons get their own religion?

Right now the britons have a main pagan religion (the one I called Old Gods), a "gaelic" variant north of Hadrian's Wall, and a "roman" variant focused more on roman deities (this is also very present in Gaul). The Anglo-Saxon have their own Norse religion (and it's considered a different religion group at all). Then there are the christians of course... at game start, in 479 AD, several provinces in Dumnonia and Gwent are christian, as well as the southeastern part of Ireland. The Franks are also christians (actually I don't know if this is accurate... does anybody know?). Then there's one last religion, a eastern/egyptian cult (Isis) that is not fully implemented yet but that has a major plot role in the books, so it will be in soon.

The nice thing about the religion system is that the christians have a unique way of expanding, even to provinces where the ruler is not christian. This wasn't easy to balance but it works quite realistically now. The chances of this expansion depend on a lot of factors, major ones being the ruler's religion, the religion of neighboring provinces, the religion of the ruler's council (because only your spiritual councillor has to be of your religion, in the books Uther Pendragon is pagan but his chancellor is a christian bishop... the 'tolerant' trait, opposite of 'zealous', make these kind of situations possible and easier to manage). Minor factors for conversion include terrain and tech/economy levels (christians came sooner to coastal provinces and rich, romano-british lands, and only much later in forests, mountains and less civilized areas).

Pagan religion(s) doesn't spread as easily. This means that unless someone or something changes the odds in favor of the Old Gods, in the long run the christians will prevail (even revolt after revolt if the rulers are still pagans). Right now there are ambitions (should become plots) to "Restore the Old Gods" if you are pagan and "Divulge Christianity" if you're christian. Only druids and christian priests should get them (AI) but as a player you can choose them if you have a certain piety and if you are not 'tolerant'.

In a game I played as Merlin (he's already old at game start, but it felt right to gave him an extraordinary health, so he usually lives up to 70-80 years if nobody kills him sooner). I tried all I could to stop the christians (and I mean all, murdering bishops and plotting against my own christian king) and the effect could be seen, in fact it worked for a while... but after some decades the christians came and spread the Gospel anyway. They're powerful and I think they should be. Having various factors pulling toward historical accuracy makes the whole game more immersive I think.

...how much did I write? I guess I like talking about this!

L.

 

[Joel M Bridge]

Thanks for your comments guys! To answer some questions:




There is en empire-level title creatable in Gaul, that covers (de jure) the whole continental area of the map. It is called Imperium Gallicum, but that might change before release (if you have suggestions please don't hesitate). Other titles of the same levels in Britain are called 'High Kingdoms', so this one is the only where you find references to 'imperial' or 'empire'.

However, you must be of roman, romano-gallic or romano-british culture to create it. Franks will never do it.

Playing in Gaul as a romano-gallic ruler (under the Domain of Soissons, also known as Regnum Aegidii) has a major thing in common with playing as a romano-british ruler in Britain: you've got hordes of germanic people coming your way from the east, and they're tough. Historically, these germanic people achieved total victory on both fronts in less than a century. Keep in mind that the in the western part of modern-day France (Armorica, now Brittany I think) there are two other independent kingdoms, Broceliande and Benoic. These are less roman and more briton/celtic in culture (it's a specific culture called armorican), and they also will never create the Imperium Gallicum. So the only way to see this roman title restored is to play as a roman-related culture and somehow stop and repel the Franks, conquering their starting lands, and also subjugate the armorican kingdoms (those are culturally advanced but not very dangerous foes on the field). You can do it as a romano-gallic ruler of Soissons, or as a romano-british ruler of Britain, but that means you've got to solve all your problems in Britain first, and then cross the channel to conquer Gaul. A mighty task. Good goal for a game in the long-run!

L.

So will not be through normal title creating or special events chain/decisions?

 

[Kelruss]

How are you implementing the cult of Mithras?

 

[Luca0312]

So will not be through normal title creating or special events chain/decisions?

Yes, normal title creating right now. Should become a decision, feels nicer. Why did you think it was something different? Problem is that to create the title you have to control 50% of the de jure lands, and that means conquering the Franks or conquering Armorica, or both... (and Gaul, of course)

 

[Luca0312]

How are you implementing the cult of Mithras?

It's already in as a trait... right now I've given it to some starting characters (based on the books, because it's a major thing in the story and several main characters are mithraists). I am writing a chain of events to let players and non-starting characters become members of the cult as well. It felt wrong to make it a religion because in the books it's not, it's a brotherhood, and its members are mostly pagans (Old Gods) or even christians (to become a christian mithraist you've got to be 'tolerant').

 

[WildPeacock]

A mod around the Saxon Stories would be awesome as well.

 

[Joel M Bridge]

Yes, normal title creating right now. Should become a decision, feels nicer. Why did you think it was something different? Problem is that to create the title you have to control 50% of the de jure lands, and that means conquering the Franks or conquering Armorica, or both... (and Gaul, of course)

The think of proclaiming by troop try start up senate in said capitol get recognize by the troop, and then by the current eastern Emperor and marry into there current imperial family.

 

[Kelruss]

It's already in as a trait... right now I've given it to some starting characters (based on the books, because it's a major thing in the story and several main characters are mithraists). I am writing a chain of events to let players and non-starting characters become members of the cult as well. It felt wrong to make it a religion because in the books it's not, it's a brotherhood, and its members are mostly pagans (Old Gods) or even christians (to become a christian mithraist you've got to be 'tolerant').

I agree with that. Is there an event chain that allows people to decide whether one becomes a member or not? It's been a while since I read the series, but I seem to remember Derfel not wanting to allow Lancelot in.

 

[Luca0312]

I agree with that. Is there an event chain that allows people to decide whether one becomes a member or not? It's been a while since I read the series, but I seem to remember Derfel not wanting to allow Lancelot in.

That's right. In the books, it is said that any member of the brotherhood can forbid another man's initiation. I'd like to implement the same system. The selection of characters is based on martial skills, but if the player gets in, then he has the right to "check" every new potential member and to prevent someone becoming a brother (obviously they'll hate you for it). The following step is to implement a system that can make some other AI brother forbid the player's initiation if he get's "selected". That should be based on opinion, I guess. If any current member has a very low opinion of you, he will (or might, putting some randomness in it) speak against you.

Being in the brotherhood gives a martial bonus, and a high opinion bonus towards other members (plus a little bonus to AI honor and a little malus to AI zeal). No general opinion or prestige modifiers, since it's a secret cult. Nobody knows you're in except the other brothers. I'd like to write some nice event chains about it as well (stuff that happen among the brothers or similar), but that's for next version (I need some help from event scripters!).

 

[Luca0312]

The think of proclaiming by troop try start up senate in said capitol get recognize by the troop, and then by the current eastern Emperor and marry into there current imperial family.

Well that sounds good and ambitious, but the map ends a few miles southeast of Paris, so the eastern Emperor family really would not fit! It would be nice if we could add "external" characters and titles, people that exist and have titles, but are just not in the map area. That would allow me to have a Pope! Right now I can't have one, because he needs a capital... he has to be on the map, and that would not work. So instead I've got headless religions (it's probably more realistic anyway, in 5th century there was very little contact between british christians and the roman church, and the church did not have the "power structure" of 1066 at all).

Anyway, proclamation by troops and the creation of a Senate are good suggestions... they could be events/decisions for romano-gallic rulers and could easily be implemented. However, keep in mind that the mod focuses on Britain. If you play as a ruler in Europe, you'll literally be on the edge of the map... it's a wide spacious and nice region (Gaul), but the weird feeling of being on the edge of map is there. The "meat" of the mod is definitely in Britain!

L.

 

[Keanon]

Actually, you can add a black box in the corner, make it a wasteland and paint unconnected little provinces to represent such entities. They'd be unable to move their soldiers anywhere, they'd have no ships, it's more or less exactly what you mean, though making him seem powerful through 1 province might be some task.

 

[kingofparades]

In the game of thrones mod they have several landless titles. Maybe you could figure out how they did it there?

 

[richvh]

at game start, in 479 AD, several provinces in Dumnonia and Gwent are christian, as well as the southeastern part of Ireland. The Franks are also christians (actually I don't know if this is accurate... does anybody know?)

In 479, the Franks were still pagan (though the other Germanic groups in Gaul were Arian); Clovis converted to Catholicism in 496, at the instigation of his Burgundian wife. Source

 

[WildPeacock]

In the game of thrones mod they have several landless titles. Maybe you could figure out how they did it there?

It's as as simple as putting a "landless = yes" in the landed_title.