Hmm, next one is a struggle, somewhere vibrant and dynamic, and is going to be a big one. Perhaps the North Indian plain? This is the period in which the likes of the Delhi Sultanate came to displace indigenous Hindu states in North India and the region swung between Muslim and Dharmic rule frequently, and would allow a way to model the different periods of religious tolerance and intolerance, with a conciliatory ending allowing a modifier that would let Islam within India be tolerant of Dharmic religions and not seek to convert the whole subcontinent, avoiding the ahistorical religious homogeneity we often end up seeing there.
Another option could be South East Asia or the Swahili Coast, in conjunction with RoA and IBL+RoA, since those are also dynamic, rapidly changing regions in this period. We have the rise and fall of the Khmer and Srivijaya Empires in South East Asia, while the Swahili Cities are rising to prominence as commercial, cultural and political players in the Indian Ocean world and converting to Islam. Islam is also entering into insular South East Asia a bit later on, as the Majapahit Empire collapses. But both of these would probably require significant new systems to properly model government structures, and would require close collaboration with other mods, so I would guess that they're less likely.
Another possibility is Anatolia, since the region seesawed between Byzantine and Islamic control for much of the game's timeframe, and it's a popular region to be playing in. Central Asia, too is very dynamic, and could fit. But again really requires a system to model nomadic cultures to really work properly, so I consider it less likely. The Rus' could definitely use some love, as could Baltic peoples, but not sure either fits for a new struggle just yet, especially as Eastern Europe is one of the areas being mooted for a minor pack later this year, and as a rule Cybrxkhan seems to prefer to spread these out across the map relatively evenly.
No matter what, I look forward to it. I basically always play with RICE because it makes the world feel so much richer and bigger, like a place real people and cultures inhabit. And it's so well made that it rarely conflicts with anything. TBH, if I were PDX I'd offer them a job and try to integrate RICE into Vanilla.
