[Mod Idea] Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

[Dark_Lord_Alan]

I had an idea for a mod, which was landing back at the start of the game of ck2 from modern time (Or into an alternate shattered history) and passing on the secrets of the future to their descendants before dying. I also have no mod experience and so have no idea what I would actually be doing. If I just went and looked through the tutorials and such, I might muddle through, but I'd most likely get distracted and wander off before I ever really got anywhere. Here I am seeing if there is any interest in this mod being made and if anybody would like to help.

So Far what I envision is the idea that your starting character landed there from some time mishap, and is able to use their knowledge of future ways to advance the primitive screwheads they landed among. This would lead to things like powerful retinues of arquebus wielding infantry, or a new government type, knowing the value the future places on cities over temples and castles. I was also seeing the idea that you can't implement all of this in one life time but perhaps leave a tome behind that unlocks new abilities as tech progresses and the people are able to better understand these advanced ways.

However not all is easy as the superstitious and religious resist, seeing there being penalties from temple vassals, Christians and Muslims as you disrupt god's design, peasant revolts maybe handled through a culture type mismatch.


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So the start is trying to figure out how best to begin executing any of this, unique culture types, an inherited trait, bloodline? Or something else?

 

[Flavius Ricimer]

Like a cross between 'The Spaceman and King Arthur' and 'Foundation'

I guess the easiest way to do this would be to create a new culture + retenue + artifacts and shoving them into the Winter King mod.

 

[High Elder Ash]

lol

 

[Ezumiyr]

But how would it work, practically?
If I were magically transported to 1066 (just an example), I really doubt I would be able to do much, or even rise to any position of authority.

1. To begin with, I would speak alien languages, or at least have an alien pronounciation (I happen to know latin, so I would be able to communicate, but I only know modern or classical pronounciation). But most people wouldn't be able to communicate easily, or at all, depending on where they land and how fast the language evolved locally.
2. We all know how to write and read, but medieval writing is also very alien to us, and it needs experience and knowledge to decipher it. So in practice it wouldn't be of much use either. Maybe monks would be curious to learn that new, faster way to write though.
3. Politically and culturally, we have very different ideas from medieval people, and we would have no way to prove what we say. So let's forget everything about new governements.
4. Only our technical knowledge would be valuable. But how do you make an arquebus on your own in the middle ages?

Those are just the realism arguments, so let's not care too much about them, but let's still keep them in mind.
Then there are problems with CK2 specifically. In practice, it would mean: new culture, new religion. It would start with landless characters appearing thanks to some magical ritual (imagine satan cultists trying to invoke a demon, and poof! that's you finishing a bite of lasagna, speaking a distorted version of their language). I feel like it has some potential for supernatural events.
Most of the job would be writing those events. Some ideas come to mind.
However it seems harder to believe that such a thing would have bigger outcomes. That's still just what random guy from the future. Unless you're extremely talented at something you can do during the middle ages (which implies much more than theoretical knowledge - for example it would be basically impossible to prive the merits of modern hygiene), it would probably not change anything.

 

[Truewhit]

But how would it work, practically?
If I were magically transported to 1066 (just an example), I really doubt I would be able to do much, or even rise to any position of authority.

1. To begin with, I would speak alien languages, or at least have an alien pronounciation (I happen to know latin, so I would be able to communicate, but I only know modern or classical pronounciation). But most people wouldn't be able to communicate easily, or at all, depending on where they land and how fast the language evolved locally.
2. We all know how to write and read, but medieval writing is also very alien to us, and it needs experience and knowledge to decipher it. So in practice it wouldn't be of much use either. Maybe monks would be curious to learn that new, faster way to write though.
3. Politically and culturally, we have very different ideas from medieval people, and we would have no way to prove what we say. So let's forget everything about new governements.
4. Only our technical knowledge would be valuable. But how do you make an arquebus on your own in the middle ages?

Those are just the realism arguments, so let's not care too much about them, but let's still keep them in mind.
Then there are problems with CK2 specifically. In practice, it would mean: new culture, new religion. It would start with landless characters appearing thanks to some magical ritual (imagine satan cultists trying to invoke a demon, and poof! that's you finishing a bite of lasagna, speaking a distorted version of their language). I feel like it has some potential for supernatural events.
Most of the job would be writing those events. Some ideas come to mind.
However it seems harder to believe that such a thing would have bigger outcomes. That's still just what random guy from the future. Unless you're extremely talented at something you can do during the middle ages (which implies much more than theoretical knowledge - for example it would be basically impossible to prive the merits of modern hygiene), it would probably not change anything.

There's is plenty of good Reddit posts about this on bad history.

 

[JULIU E]

I think I read a book about this topic. Not Twain's of course, but in which a U.S veteran is sent back to the Viking Age, tries to modernize them, and ends up with a spear through him.

 

[killerbee256]

But how would it work, practically?
If I were magically transported to 1066 (just an example), I really doubt I would be able to do much, or even rise to any position of authority.

1. To begin with, I would speak alien languages, or at least have an alien pronounciation (I happen to know latin, so I would be able to communicate, but I only know modern or classical pronounciation). But most people wouldn't be able to communicate easily, or at all, depending on where they land and how fast the language evolved locally.
2. We all know how to write and read, but medieval writing is also very alien to us, and it needs experience and knowledge to decipher it. So in practice it wouldn't be of much use either. Maybe monks would be curious to learn that new, faster way to write though.
3. Politically and culturally, we have very different ideas from medieval people, and we would have no way to prove what we say. So let's forget everything about new governements.
4. Only our technical knowledge would be valuable. But how do you make an arquebus on your own in the middle ages?

Those are just the realism arguments, so let's not care too much about them, but let's still keep them in mind.
Then there are problems with CK2 specifically. In practice, it would mean: new culture, new religion. It would start with landless characters appearing thanks to some magical ritual (imagine satan cultists trying to invoke a demon, and poof! that's you finishing a bite of lasagna, speaking a distorted version of their language). I feel like it has some potential for supernatural events.
Most of the job would be writing those events. Some ideas come to mind.
However it seems harder to believe that such a thing would have bigger outcomes. That's still just what random guy from the future. Unless you're extremely talented at something you can do during the middle ages (which implies much more than theoretical knowledge - for example it would be basically impossible to prive the merits of modern hygiene), it would probably not change anything.

I speak a few romance languages and understand a few others, if I found myself in romance europe I think I could figure out how to communicate with the locals in a few weeks. How I would find food and shelter during that time I have no idea and I seriously doubt I could get anyone in power to listen to me. Now if the travel is two way, or I can prepare, then I would buy some Latin, Italian or Greek medical books, books on gun powder, metallurgy etc. If I could take those books to books to someplace like the University of Bologna or perhaps even a monastery I might be able to effect some changes.

 

[vnth]

I think the technology aspect might be too hard to implement. Maybe something modest like basic knowledge about germ theory and inflation might be possible. But if you want to speed up the middles ages then you might as well change the entire game. If the time traveling part interests you, perhaps you could consider something like the main character trying to replicate events from their knowledge. Like using longbowmen tactic to win against the French before Crecy and Agincourt or something.

 

[HandicapdHippo]

Yeah this something that realistically has 1000 ways it could be implemented, all of which would show short coming after the initial character dies due to how abstract the premise is, now if it was an invasion of thousands of future people at once it could be more justified giving them new governments, retinue are, but a single person? Such knowledge they could bring probably wouldn't show practical effects on the grand worldwide scale ck2 operates on for centuries if ever.

 

[Dark_Lord_Alan]

If you watch Star trek tos you learn the basics of making the arquebus. Obviously this would take some things in stride, such as communication. Also the after effects of the initial character dying is something I wanted to look at theoretically. In one version in my head many of the main abilities were tied to a journal the first ancestor wrote and that losing this journal would be catastrophic. The kind of idea I was looking at was can one person kick over a domino that changes the world entirely or is it just one blip in the grand scheme of things

 

[JGBeagle]

To be honest, it could easily work like a Jewish courtier or fleeing Chinese noble where you can choose to let them reside in your court and you can utilize them for your council. Then they can return to their time after a while or simply die.

 

[Dark_Lord_Alan]

That's actually a pretty amusing idea anyway. Just some dude pops in and you can either let the join the court or execute them. Then you can either try and send them back via event or just let them live giving you bonus tech points every so often.