[MOD] Iranian Intermezzo - AD 935 bookmark

[Damarrocarion]

IRANIAN INTERMEZZO - AD 935 BOOKMARK

Currently, there is a two hundred year gap between Old Gods and Stamford Bridge/Alexiad start dates. I hope to rectify this a bit by creating a bookmark between them, currently named “Iranian Intermezzo” as it was during this time that dynasties such as Buyid took control in Persia and I have chosen AD 935 as this was year when things were in quite a flux.

That is not to say that Persia was only interesting place in the world. Haakon I reigned as first Christian king of Norway, Otto the Great would soon rise to the throne and Igor of Kiev ruled over large areas of Russia.

I attempt to be as accurate as I can when it comes to history and love any commentary/help on this. If something appears blatantly wrong, just say it. However, I likely take some considerations for sake of game play. For example, Buyid start independent here while they technically stayed as vassal/tributary of Ziyarids until Mardavij was killed. I might move some events a year or two earlier/later if it has no massive repercussions for gameplay. For example, Otto the Great might be playable at the start while historically his father died 936.

I am not making any new mechanics as the priority is to just get the map right first. That being said, few scripted Norman adventurers hitting Italy would probably need to be added at second stage. Likewise, Qarmatians, especially their ruler could require some coding to represent the fact their ruler had stolen the Black Stone but that will probably be the limit of tweaking I do. I vision for the time being Hurufi heresy will act as placeholder.

I am grateful for any assistance when it comes to borders and minor rulers under large domains and potential interesting places such as heretical holdouts in remote areas. This also reduces risk of personal burnout

I vision that mapping out central Europe with its multitude of rulers will be hardest part. Anyway, the quicker the map is done, the sooner can this be put to playtest with contributors of course having the privilege to take part first.

Map and rulers have now been done, aside from India and MOD is available for play and can be DOWNLOADED HERE. If you do download it, bear in mind it's still work in progress and subject to change. I would love any feedback in regards to bugs you see, etc. (see below*)

Development and previews

Part 1: Persia proper
Part 2: Turkestan and Qarmatians
Part 3: Chaotic Caucasus
Part 4: Phase 1 complete
Part 5: Panic in Pannonia! (Few updates made later)
Part 6: Glorious Germania!
Part 7: Big in Britannia
Part 8: Scary Scandinavia (- Finland)
Part 9: Eastern Enterprises
Part 10: Byzantium - Theme song
Part 11: Wild Wild West Africa
Part 12: Francistan
Part 13: Spain & Italy

*IMPORTANT: There was a bug in previous code, which caused certain dynasty to constantly spawn new members. This eventually caused game to go slowly so you had to use console commands to kill said dynasty. This bug seems to be fixed now.

 

[Damarrocarion]

Thanks:

- Sol717 for Caucaus

- Richvh and Modding community for technical help

- Imperium3 for Wales

- Slavic face for Poland, Kiev and Pomerania

 

[Damarrocarion]

Release schedule

Alpha release

- Provinces and rulers in place throughout the map. Estimated February 2015

Beta release

- Any bugs and historical errors corrected. Estimated early summer 2015

Final release

- Playtested version with some new events, etc. written for places like Qarmatians, etc. Release date unknown.

 

[Damarrocarion]

Part 1: Persia proper

As the bookmark name suggests, Persia is naturally the first part of our journey along with it's rival dynasties.

SAMANIDS

Spoiler

Samanids control good chunk of Persia under Nasr II who oversaw a prosperous period for Samanids during his long reign. Nasr suppressed several revolts as he ascended the throne when he was very young. Ghaznavids would emerge from their realm to take Afghanistan later and they would see the downfall of Samanids along with Kara-Khanids.

Samanids hold heartland of Khiva while Khorasan is held by Turkish Simjurid dynasty and Kabulistan is held by Lawiks. Persian noble Makan had also been installed in Gurgan and truce agreed with Ziyarids after province changed hands repeatedly in tug-of-war between Nasr and Mardavij.

BUYIDS

Spoiler

Buyid dynasty is Kurdish (as per games history files) and followers of a Shiite sect. Technically vassals of Ziyarids until Mardavij’s assassination, in-game they are an independent Satrapy holding Fars. Historically Buyids rose to prominence and re-established several old Persian titles and traditions such as title Shahansah. At the height of their power, they even held Abbasid Caliph as their vassal.

ZIYARID

Spoiler

Ziyarid domain consists of central Persia, with bulk of Hamadan, Eshefan and Tabaristan under their control and almost rivals Samanids in power. This is however tempered by the fact that ruler of Ziyarids is a Zoroastrian and thus lacks allies of any sort in game. Historical vassal information is hard to come by but Bavandid dynasty holds Tabaristan under them.

Mardavij and his brother (Muslim) both fought numerous wars and are thus hardcoded to be soldiers. Historically Mardavij’s attempts to overthrow Caliph stopped when he was murdered but since this is CK2, we can change history. Right now he might be too strong as he can muster more soldiers than Samanids with his martial ability so dropping him to skilled tactician is probably in order eventually.

GHURID

Spoiler

Ghurids were originally “pagans” (actual religion not defined) ruling over hard to reach area of Ghor (Mandesh) which was "island of unbelievers" (= Hindus, Zoros, Buddhists, etc) in sea of Muslims. They would later convert to Islam and take over Ghaznavid lands. In game terms to make the conversion possible via choice, Amir Suri is a Zunist who starts with some event troops to give a human player a chance stay as Pagan, even if achievements are not possible in modded game. Province religion of Mandesh has also been made Zunist, mainly to stop religious uprising wiping the dynasty out.

ILYASIDS

Spoiler

Banu Ilyas was a Sogdian but such culture does not exist (unless modded) and it only exists as Sogdiana dynasty in CM start while their historical areas are Turkish. Hence Ilyasids are a Turkish dynasty ruling Kerman. Historically his domains were bit smaller than de-jure Kerman. With this in mind, he has been given three vassals of Persian culture who are also Shia to simulate his weak rule as dynasty was not particularly successful.

SAFFARIDS

Spoiler

Saffarids were subjects of Samanids but are now making a comeback and control Sistan along with provinces in Zabulistan and Balochstan. Ahmad ibn Muhammed was last successful Saffarid ruler though. His son would see the dynasty lose its lands in Sistan and fade from history.

YAZIDID

Spoiler

Yazidid dynasty rules Azerbaijan according to history files and fixing actual borders to this area is actually bit complicated as information is hard to come by and often confusing and/or contradictory as 935 happens between death of Sajids (previous dynasty) and rise of Sallarids. Nonetheless, Sallarid dynasty has been placed under them. Historically they took over these lands though some time after 935.

Lut/Yazd

Information regarding these areas is scarce. They may or may not been under Samanid/Ziyarid control or were independent. So for the time being, they are ruled by ahistorical count but probably get added to either one of the surrounding realms.

This concludes first Dev Diary.

 

[bontanel]

This looks promising. Way to fill the 200 years gap in history!

 

[Damarrocarion]

This looks promising. Way to fill the 200 years gap in history!

It's just one start date (1st of January 935) though, not "select any date" between ToG & Alexiad

I hope to have areas of Turkestan, Mesopotamia & Arabia up for review soon.

If anyone thinks the description of the bookmark (the image visible in first Dev Diary) needs tweaking, let me know.

 

[ninoallen]

OTTO !! count me in !! this is gonna be amazing

 

[Damarrocarion]

OTTO !! count me in !! this is gonna be amazing

If you wish to participate, feel free to send me a private message with suitable details on what you think should go in to this module. For example something along the lines:

Siemomysl should be Slavic pagan ruler of greater Poland with primary title duchy of Greater Poland. He has interesting vassal x because of y.

- Notes on de-jure borders compared to in-game de-jure borders of said duchy or kingdom of Poland

- Anything else interesting you think is warranted.

 

[Damarrocarion]

Part 2: Turkestan & "Qarmatians"

Couple of more places have been completed.

Zhetusy - Karakhanids

Kara-Khanids have been given most of de-jure Turkestan and it's old Tengri ruler is about to die or getting ready to be murdered by his Muslim son Satug Khan. Both characters already appeared in history files so I did not alter their age for this particular case (Satug was apparently juvenile when taking the throne). Chigils were kept as Manichean vassals of Zhetusy.

Spoiler

Oghuz Turks

Oghuz main title is Turkestan but their influence also extends over Dihistan, which automatically translates they have several feudal vassals under them, which might prove to be problem for them later.

Spoiler

Republic of Damman - Qarmatians

Spoiler

Qarmatians were one of those "weird groups" world history is littered with. Sadly the game lacks Qarmatian heresy so these ultra violent-utopia building-vegans currently have Hurufi heresy. I felt these guys could be modeled with some humor so their ruler is bit weird and to account for the fact that he actually chose some fire-worshipper (Zoroastrian) as Mahdi who promptly told everyone to worship fire, one of the vassal families is a Persian Mazdaki.

Later I hope to expand this to account for the fact they have the Black Stone still in their possession but for the time being I likely just upgrade their holdings to account for the loot they acquired during their raids.

 

[AndreasPhokas]

I wonder are the karens still around? I think I read that they stuck around for a bit longer(same with the bavandids)

 

[Damarrocarion]

I wonder are the karens still around? I think I read that they stuck around for a bit longer(same with the bavandids)

From what I have gathered, they were ruling land under Bavandids. in CK2 mechanics this would require putting a barony holding to Tabaristan and giving it out to them. Bavandids are available in every bookmark and this one is no exception.

I did put ahistorical Zoroastrian to Dihistan as Oghuz vassal since ruler information there is hard to come by but technically I could replace him with a Karen dynasty member.

All in all, this mod will have following Zoroastrians to play at the start:

- Mardavij
- Bavandid in Tabaristan
- Ahistorical guy in Dihistan
- One of the merchant houses (Mazdaki) under Qarmatians
- Chigil (Manichean)
- One of the tribal chiefs under Pechenegs (who will be around Crimea)

Currently plenty of areas under Ziyarid are without holders and I probably put Muslim vassals there to increase the chance Mardavij gets murdered as happened historically. Of course, Bavandids converted historically around 840 I believe so that is ahistorical too unless we want to make assumption the guy swapped his faith for this occasion

 

[Ozamu]

Looking promising! Pity that I'm so busy with my work and my thesis, otherwise I would be interested to lend a hand.

 

[greendevil]

Interesting I've always wanted a good persian start.

 

[imperium3]

In the British Isles, Athelstan rules as first king of a united England.

Olaf Guthfrithsson is the Norse petty king of Dublin. In 937 he launched an invasion of England (allied with Owen I of Strathclyde and Constantine II of Scotland) that resulted in the Battle of Brunanburh, the largest battle in Anglo-Saxon history before Hastings. Historically it was a crushing victory for Athelstan. I think it would be a good idea to move this war slightly forward and include it in the start date.

On the mainland, Rudolph rules as the only Bosonid king of West Francia (which seems to have elective succession at this time, since he was followed by the Carolingian heir, currently sheltered by Athelstan in England). Normandy is held by William I Longsword, son of Rollo. In 935 the Magyars launched an invasion of Burgundy but retreated in the face of a large Frankish army.

Another Bosonid, Hugh of Provence, is king of an Italy crumbling before vassal insurrections and Magyar incursions.

Indeed, one of the biggest issues of the period in western Europe was the Magyars, who constantly raided everyone. It's a shame that the game's raiding system doesn't allow for this to happen.

All in all, a pretty exciting choice of start date.

 

[Damarrocarion]

Part 3: Chaotic Caucasus

This time we look at Caucasus and it's three kingdoms. The layout and rulers for this area haves been provided by Sol717 from his Mod "Armenia+" and he was kind enough to supply me with his vision so I could use it in this mod. Be sure to check that out.

Spoiler

Caucasus is a mess of small states after massive conflict with Byzantines and Arabs. Duchy of Armenia is the one which deserves special note as it's ruled by Abas I who was one of the more successful rulers of Bagrationi dynasty and whose son Ashot III expanded Armenia's influence and used title "shahanshah" for himself. It should offer interesting experience with Abas to build a proper realm in the mountains.

Note: In history files Abas already has the crown of Armenia. However, in practice this probably would just mean most surrounding realms would accept to be vassalised immediately so he has been demoted to duke. This might of course change when we see how it works out in actual game place. I need to remove the claim to non-existing crown when I can and replace most rulers with Sol's version (Abas should not be 60).

Of course, that glory would not last and succession disputes followed with future rulers and eventually Seljuks conquered the area. Other interesting realms in the area are Akbhazia who can quite easily go for Georgia and Tengri Alania who is no longer under Khazar rule but already has two christian vassals.

You can see on the map that Azerbaijan has been redone and Shia Sallarids now control duchy of Tabriz. Likewise, I have done bit of map changes to Persia proper too in a way that the independent Shiite count of Lut has been made a Ziyarid vassal. This probably puts Samanids and Ziyarids into conflict which works well enough for the game dynamics and gives Mardavij another vassal who dislikes him.

 

[Damarrocarion]

Just a bit of taste what I am working on right now.

Spoiler

I hope to have bulk of Middle-East done before year is over.

 

[morano08]

I can't wait to see the Byzantine Empire

 

[loup99]

Well, hello. Subscribed! I'm more interested in the western Europe stuff though.

 

[Damarrocarion]

I can't wait to see the Byzantine Empire

I am happy to receive any help on such things which Thema certain people such as Nikepheros or Ionnes Phokas should reside over

Well, hello. Subscribed! I'm more interested in the western Europe stuff though.

Once I have done with Middle-East, I probably work on British Isles so should be around January when we get there.

Likewise, if somebody wants to write a proper code for Qarmatians (= Republic of Damman), I won't say no to the offer. After it was added, there has been some issues with crashing when clicking the bookmark selection date.

 

[Damarrocarion]

Still some work left in Middle-east plus Qarmatian code needs rewriting. I also plan on making Socotra a republic with some Somali houses under it to simulate the slightly-off-map regions.

Spoiler

I plan on having the module with middle-east portion available by end of the year for peer review and critique.