Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
DOWNLOAD VERSION 1.12.1.a Hotfix for "Dioscorida" (Released 3/30/24): STEAM WORKSHOP | GITHUB (MANUAL) | PARADOX DOWNLOAD DISCORD | WEBSITE Newest Flavor Pack: South Ethiopia: The Highland Kingdoms
Next Flavor Pack: Sicily: Where Three Worlds Met
"Dioscorida [Socotra] is very large but desert and marshy [...] The inhabitants are few and they live on the coast toward the north, which from this side faces the continent. They are foreigners, a mixture of Arabs and Indians and Greeks, who have emigrated to carry on trade there."
- Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Greek navigational aid from the 1st century CE
RICE, or Regional Immersion and Cultural Enrichment, adds immersion to different regions, cultures, and religions in CK3. As a spiritual successor to my Immersion Packs for CK2, it is a collection of "flavor packs" similar to PI's official flavor pack DLCs. RICE's guiding philosophy is to keep a focused scope that won't change gameplay significantly, but instead adds flavor across the world that is grounded in historical authenticity, especially for lesser-known places, peoples, and histories.
Currently, the following Flavor Packs are included in the mod:
Aachen: Charlemagne's Capital (5/15/21)
Bamian: Valley of Light (12/12/23)
Bozo: Masters of the River (4/18/23)
Brittany: The Western Duchy (3/16/21)
Chios: Isle of Mastic (10/31/20)
Galicia: The Way of Saint James (6/30/22)
Granada: Memories of the Alhambra (6/1/22)
Guanche: The Fortunate Isles (12/16/21)
Harran: The Last Hellenic Pagans (5/22/21)
Khuzestan: Land of the Sugar Cane (1/15/23)
Khwarezm: The Oxus Borderlands (1/15/23)
Magadha: Diamond Throne of Buddhism (2/8/22)
Mordvin: Along the Volga (12/19/22)
Niger Delta Flavor Pack: Heirs of Oduduwa (8/17/22)
Normandy: Adventurers and Aristocrats (4/3/23)
North Atlantic: From Iceland to Vinland (10/30/22)
Pamir and Zunist: Roof of the World (8/23/21)
Polabians: Defenders of Svetovit (10/23/23)
Red Sea: Treasures of the Eastern Desert (7/20/21)
Rhodes: Shadow of the Colossus (3/15/22)
Sardinia: Reign of the Judges (2/8/24)
Siberia: People of the Reindeer (12/28/20)
Siwa: Oases of the Western Desert (10/31/20)
Socotra: Isle of Dragon's Blood (4/11/21)
South Ethiopia: The Highland Kingdoms (3/7/24)
Sri Lanka: Abode of Lions (8/28/23)
Sus: Door of the Sahara (12/16/21)
Tarim Basin: Peoples of the Silk Road (5/17/22)
Tuareg: People of the Veil (6/12/23)
Tuyuhun: Horsemen of Qinghai (5/1/21)
Upper Egypt: Children of the Nile (3/15/22)
Yazd: Abode of Worship (1/10/22)
Yazidis: People of the Peacock Angel (11/11/23)
Yorkshire: To Scarborough Fair (10/24/21)
At the moment, RICE is compatible with most mods as it is designed with compatibility in mind; wherever possible, I avoid editing vanilla files to prevent conflicts with other mods. For example, new cultures are added via hidden events at game start instead of province history. If you are a mod author and concerned about compatibiliy with RICE, don't hesitate to contact me on the forums or Discord!
“But you, brave and adept from this day on... there’s hope that you will reach your goal... the journey that stirs you now is not far off.”
- Homer, The Odyssey
The first official release of Regional Immersion and Cultural Enrichment is up! See above or the first post for links to download for Steam Workshop, on Paradox, and manual installation via GitHub. You can also check out the Siwa Flavor Pack Guide and the Chios Flavor Pack Guide for further information. I will update the front past later with more information such as providing any academic sources I used.
I'll be busy for much of November doing NaNoWriMo, but I will definitely put out an update or two for any bugs and fixes as needed. I plan for maybe a small flavor pack sometime late November or early December, though no promises yet as to what I'll be working on.
As this is the first initial release of the mod, please let me know if you encountered any bugs. The mod should be stable, as I've ran too many test games to count, but obviously I won't necessarily catch everything.
“But you, brave and adept from this day on... there’s hope that you will reach your goal... the journey that stirs you now is not far off.”
- Homer, The Odyssey
Hello all, this is a small update with a few new events and some miscellaneous additions and tweaks. I'm not modding much this month because of NaNoWriMo, but I am drawing some preliminary plans for the next flavor pack (which I'm not spoiling yet until I have some more concrete work done on it, in case I'm fickle and change my mind again).
Changelog below:
Added 2 new flavor events for the Chios Flavor Pack
Added 3 new flavor events for the Siwa Flavor Pack
Made generic flavor events slightly more frequent
Added in a few Spanish localizations, courtesy of Sourenics (WIP)
Intro event now has an option to see a brief overview of features added in flavor packs
Reindeer were domesticated centuries ago in Siberia. For many generations, they have served as a crucial part of the economy and society of this region, and feature prominently in its culture and religious practices.
The second major update (and third flavor pack) for RICE is now officially out, covering the cold, northern reaches of the map in Siberia. I figured I'd tackle this since it was kind of appropriate for the holiday season (plus, it was actually the first immersion pack I wanted to do when I returned to CK2, but ended up never doing it - I re-adapted my ideas from it here). Please see the Siberia Flavor Pack Guide for further info and details.
No idea what flavor pack I'll tackle next, though like before I have a few candidates in mind and will narrow down to what my interests are once I figure it out.
Brocéliande was a legendary enchanted forest that was the center of several events in the mythos of King Arthur. Some have identified it with Paimpont Forest in eastern Brittany, though it is probable that Brocéliande is fictitious to begin with.
RICE is now updated to vanilla patch 1.3, much, much sooner than I was expecting (seemed like there wasn't much for me left to polish thankfully). With this new version comes a new flavor pack which should complement the Northern Lords DLC well - Brittany: The Western Duchy. In terms of content it's a little smaller than my other flavor packs, and as mentioned in the dev diary, a lot of this stuff was adapted from really old code and work from VIET from years and years ago (though I elected not to remove anything proper, I did make some minor adjustments to the flavor to account for some anachronisms a Redditor pointed out to me). Please see the Brittany Flavor Pack Guide for further info and details.
As always, no idea what the next flavor pack will be, since it'll depend on my whims obviously, but we shall see!
Definitely does look interesting! Probably decent enough amount of material for ahistorical ancient era revival type flavor. I'll keep it in my notes in case I ever decide to do Phrygia related stuff.
"If a singer knows only one song but makes the sound pleasant, he is indeed a singer! [...] When a singer's voice is sweet, he is indeed a singer."
- Sumerian Proverb
Just released a new update with a number of tweaks and fixes. The big feature for this update is that I've finally gotten around to adding music tracks - I hadn't done so before because previously, there was no way in the code to limit music to play in specific contexts (like if you're in a certain region or of a certain culture) as I would have preferred. Anyways, there is a new game rule to disable the music or have it unrestricted (i.e. can play in any context and not be regionally/culturally restricted). The new music tracks have increased the size of the mod notably - not enough it should be a problem, but I thought I'd point that out.
I'm aware there's likely another patch coming around the corner soon, but based on the changelog for the beta it won't need an update on my part.
Anyways, here's the changelog:
Added 18 new music tracks:
5 Celtic themed (for Brittany Flavor Pack)
8 Egyptian themed (for Siwa Flavor Pack)
5 Greek themed (for Chios Flavor Pack)
Added new game rule: Disable RICE Music
Added Historical Context tooltips for Siberian decisions
Tro Breizh decision is now available for Bretons outside of but geographically close to Brittany (i.e. France, the Low Countries, and the British Isles)
At the start of the game, a few Siberian courtiers will be placed in the courts of a few lucky random AI Siberian rulers via hidden event
Reduced the chances AI will take decision to Erect Calvary
Added missing localization for activity names
Fixed game rule to disable intro event not working
Miscellaneous minor bugfixes
As for what's next on the horizon, I think I've settled on the next Flavor Pack and started some preliminary work on it, though as always no guarantees obviously. I hope to get enough work on it done before Stellaris Nemesis gets released, and if so, I will start showing some previews/dev diaries in a week or two.
“[Socotra is] a kingdom of equality that knew nothing of private property.”
- Idealized depiction of Socotra by Euhemerus of Messina, Greek scholar of the 4th century BCE
RICE's biggest update is now up, including the Socotra Flavor Pack! This was something I had wanted to mod in for CK2 for a couple of years, but never got a chance to - and now I am able to make use of my previous research and work here, in CK3. Anyhow, though this is the biggest update to RICE thus far, so there are probably a few bugs or issues that escaped my notice so let me know if you catch any. Also, having an update this size won't be the norm, and the the next Flavor Pack or two will be much smaller in scope. I've a couple of candidates for where I want to go to next, so we'll see what happens.
There have been some few minor changes to some things since I posted the dev diaries and the beta. Like usual, please see the Socotra Flavor Pack Guide for more info and details.
Added Socotra Flavor Pack: Isle of Dragon’s Blood
Added 8 new Middle Eastern themed music tracks for the Socotra Flavor Pack
Slightly increased chances RICE’s music will play
Erect a Calvary decision now requires at least level 2 of fame
Tro Breizh pilgrimage now also gives various rewards like a normal pilgrimage, such as the pilgrim trait
AI will be less likely to take the Erect a Cavalry decision in the earlier centuries of the game
The circumference of Qinghai Lake (青海) is more than one thousand li and there is a hill in it. After the lake freezes over in winter, people send healthy mares onto the hill. When people get them back the next spring, the mares are all pregnant. The foals born of these mares are called ‘descendants of dragon’ and many of them are fabulous. The people of Tuyuhun once got Persian (波斯) mares and sent them into the lake, and hence fine horses were foaled by the Persian mares. These horses could cover a thousand li in a single day and were famous by the name of Qinghaicong (青海驄) in the world.
- History of the Northern Dynasties (北史)
RICE 1.2.1 and the Tuyuhun Flavor Pack is now up! You can see the Tuyuhun Flavor Pack Guide for more info and details. I am 80% certain on what the next Flavor Pack will be, so stay tuned for more info!
Additionally, if you didn't see it, I now have an official Discord server for my mods, so feel free to drop by if you'd like to talk about my mods or see previews/teasers of my upcoming work!
Added Tuyuhun Flavor Pack: Horsemen of Qinghai
Added 3 new Asian themed music tracks
Added Swahili Colonies innovation and Swahili Sailors unique man-at-arms unit for East African cultures
Added missing Siberian Hunters Men-at-Arms for Siberian cultures
Fixed last building in the Bawarij and Pirate Den chains not showing the Thalassocracy perk from the Maritime Trade Dynasty Legacy requirement
Fixed random AI dynasties occasionally taking the Maritime Trade dynasty legacy even though they don’t qualify for it
I have not have this issue, but I do have a small issue where various dynasties suddenly have access and start down the unique Scoota legacy tree. Like the Bulanids. I have not solo-tested this yet so it could be some wierd mod interaction.
This was a possible bug in the old version, which I think I fixed in the new version. Try the new version and seeing if that fixes things (though it will probably only work on a new save rather than an old one).
I disabled all mods except RICE and the new legacies were there. I then started troubleshooting to see which might be conflicting, and I could not duplicate the issue. With all of my mods enabled the legacies were no longer disappearing. It's almost as if by loading RICE as the only mod something was resolved in the save file, though that doesn't make sense to me. I didn't change the load order or anything; I simply started re-enabling mods after RICE, and everything seemed fine.
Hmm... that's odd. All's well that ends well? I wonder if it has to do with some weird wonky PI code thing. Anyhow, glad that shouldn't be an issue now.
I would rather commit my story [of Charlemagne's biography] to writing, and hand it down to posterity in partnership with others, so to speak, than to suffer the most glorious life of this most excellent king, the greatest of all the princes of his day, and his illustrious deeds, hard for men of later times to imitate, to be wrapped in the darkness of oblivion.
- Einhard (c. 775 - 840 CE), The Life of Charlemagne
RICE 1.2.2 is now officially out, featuring a new flavor pack, Aachen: Charlemagne’s Capital - bask in Charlemagne’s legacy with some new immersive flavor dedicated to the area around Aachen! The update also includes a couple new features for the Socotra Flavor Pack, and game concepts/encyclopedia entries for a few RICE mechanics. For more in-depth info, check out the Aachen Flavor Pack guide:
Added new duchy building, the Dragon’s Blood Forest, which is already built in Socotra at game start
Added game concepts/encyclopedia entries for the following:
Pilgrimage to Aachen
Indian Ocean Pirates
Qinghaicong Horses
Siberian Courtiers
Note: Going forward, while I won’t add entries for most content I add, but I’ll provide these for major concepts that might need further explaining.
Negative modifier effects from the Bawarij Outlaw decision is slightly reduced, but to compensate the decision now only gives 1200 troops
Recruit Bawarij Outlaws decision no longer available if Socotra has the Bawarij Infestation modifier
Fixed Restore the Tuyuhun Kingdom decision being available if you hold an Empire title
Fixed Restore the Tuyuhun Kingdom decision missing context tooltip
Fixed Siberian cultures having access to the Swhaili Colonies innovation, and fixed East Bantu cultures not having access to that innovation
Other miscellaneous bugfixes
I’ve already started work on the next Flavor Pack - those keen-eyed of you may’ve figured out from some of my screenshots in the Aachen dev diary that the next flavor pack will be Harran: The Last Hellenic Pagans, which will be an adaptation of my CK2 Harran Immersion Pack to CK3. Here’s a couple of teaser screenshots:
4
2
1
Reactions:
Version 1.2.3 "Thabit ibn Qurra" (Released 5/22/21)
We are the heirs and the transmitters to our heirs of paganism, which is honored gloriously in this world. [...] Who has made the world to be inhabited and filled it with cities except the good men and kings of paganism? Who has constructed harbors and canals? Who has made manifest the occult sciences? On whom has dawned the divinity which gives divination and teaches the knowledge of future events except the wise men of the pagans? [Pagans] have made to arise the medicine of souls, and have made to shine forth their redemption; have filled the world with the correctness of modes of life and with the and it is they also who have made to arise the medicine for bodies and the wisdom which is the beginning of excellence. Without these products of paganism the world would be an empty and a needy place, and it would have been enveloped in sheer want and misery.
- Thabit ibn Qurra (836-901 CE), as quoted by Bar Hebraeus, a 13th century Syriac Orthodox bishop and saint
No beta version this time - the Harran Flavor Pack is all done and good to play! (To be fair I was adapting a lot of this from the CK2 version, so much of the writing had already been done) Because of this, the "dev diary" for the Harran Pack will be in this same post - do note even if you played the CK2 version, I added a few new things this time around, so be sure to look at the dev diary below and/or the guide in the Steam description.
But first, here's the changelog:
Added Harran Flavor Pack: The Last Hellenic Pagans
Added 5 Middle Eastern and ancient themed songs
Added Helleno-Semitic religion with three faiths: Harranism, Heliopolitanism, and Dusharaism
Added game concepts for Harranian Courtiers, Neoplatonic Academy, and Temple of the Moon (in Harran)
Activities added by RICE now have the appropriate icon when hovering over the province they’re held in
AI is slightly less likely to go on a Pilgrimage to Aachen
Brightened text for Siwa special building descriptions
Revised text for duchy requirements of the Restore the Tuyuhun Kingdom decision to be clearer
Fixed Maastricht bridge collapse event triggering for any ruler
Miscellaneous bugfixes
Harran Flavor Pack Dev Diary
Helleno-Semitic Religion
A new religion, Helleno-Semitic, is added with three faiths, all ancient syncretic polytheisms of the Levant:
Harranism, for Harran’s paganism that this flavor pack focuses on. It is a mix of Hellenism (particularly Neoplatonism) and Mesopotamian paganism. It survived into the 11th century. Tenets: Esoterism, Astrology, and Islamic Syncretism.
Heliopolitanism, for paganism that survived in the city of Baalbek (known as Heliopolis to the Romans) as late as the Arab Conquest, and focused on a Triad of Jupiter/Hadad, Venus/Atargatis, and Mercury/Adon. Tenets: Esoterism, Astrology, and Sun Worship.
Dusharaism, for the religion of the Nabataeans of Petra fame, which had many foreign influences and may have also survived as late as the Arab Conquest. Dushara was their chief deity, identified with Zeus. Tenets: Astrology, Aniconism, and Adaptive.
Only Harranism appears on the map in only one county (Harran). Ultimately, as these pagans’ survival is relatively late compared to other pagan faiths in the region, I see them as sensible additions that more realistically reflects the dynamic religious landscape of late antiquity than vanilla’s Hellenism.
Followers of these faiths can take a minor decision to Pray to the Planets, where you try to get a temporary modifier representing one of the seven classical planets that lasts for 7 years. This can be done every 15 years. Muslims of the time stereotyped the pagans of Harran as having special, even mystical knowledge about the stars due their religious practices purported revolving around worship of the celestial bodies.
Temple of Sin
There are two new unique buildings. One is in the barony of Tell Mahra in Harran, called the Temple of Sin, Sin being a Mesopotamian lunar deity. In real life, it survived into the mid-1000s - right before the 1066 start date, so it only appears in 867.
If you own or have a capital close to Harran and are pagan, you’ll have access to a decision, Make Offerings at the Temple of the Moon. It can be taken every five years and triggers an event that’s basically a way to pay gold to get either piety or prestige.
Conversely, if neither you or your liege or top liege are pagan, you’ll have access to a decision called Destroy the Temple of the Moon which permanently disables the building (unfortunately PI has not given us modders the ability to destroy buildings for some reason). The AI will usually take this sometime in the 11th century. When you destroy it, you instantly get 500 gold, 200 prestige, and 200 piety, but also some negative modifiers for you and the County of Harran. Obviously, pagans will hate you for this (if any are still around). Once destroyed, pagans will no longer be able to take the decision - thus, if you’re pagan, it’s best to secure the temple’s location as soon as possible!
Neoplatonic Academy
Another special building in the barony of Harran itself is the Neoplatonic Academy, which also only appears in 867.
If you own or have a capital close to Harran, you have access to a decision, Patronize the Neoplatonic Academy. At the cost of 50 gold, you get a modifier that adds to your learning and prestige; if you are Hellenic or Helleno-Semitic pagan, you will also get a bonus to piety. A bonus for patronizing the academy is that it improves the likelihood you’ll get a Harranian courtier with amazing stats and traits (more on that later).
However, in time, as the pagan faiths decline, so too does the Academy. After 1000 CE, if Harran is not controlled by a pagan or in a realm ruled by pagans, there is an increasing chance an event will trigger which destroys the Academy. A powerful pagan ruler who owns Harran or has it in their realm can take the decision to Revitalize the Neoplatonic Academy to reverse this trend and prevent the Academy's decline permanently.
For historical background, there is a theory that when the pagan Neoplatonic Academy in Athens (which itself claimed intellectual descent from the original Platonic Academy) was closed by Emperor Justinian’s orders in the 6th century, its members fled to Sassanid Persia and set up shop in Harran before the Romans allowed them to return, and that the academy mentioned in Harran a couple centuries later is a remnant of this. Though this theory is contested in scholarly circles, the Neoplatonic influence on Harran’s scholars is likely.
Harranian Courtiers and Treatises
Every now and then, Harranian courtiers will randomly spawn in realms in the Middle East. They typically have decent stats, particularly in learning. There is also a high chance they will also spawn with a unique modifier representing their background, and what they did before they arrived at your court, such as being a devotee to the deity Tanmuz or being an ostracized Harranian.
Keeping Harranian courtiers around is advantageous not just because they often make councillors, but also because they can sometimes publish academic treatises on various topics. In game terms, you receive a modifier. There are several types of books you get is random, and there are several books with their own unique bonuses.
If you are a Harranian Pagan yourself, and have at least 12 Learning, you can take the decision to Write a Scholarly Treatise. This will earn you one of the modifiers above, as well as some prestige and piety. If you pay a little bit extra you can get more prestige. Anyhow, in the future, after the Royal Court DLC is out, hopefully I can turn these books into artifacts.
Playable Harranians
There is one playable, semi-historical Harranian at the 867 start date: Thabit ibn Qurra, a famous scholar from the House of Wisdom at the Abbasid Court, and perhaps the most famous Harranian. He is not playable via the normal menu; instead, you need to first play as a ruler close to Harran, which will trigger an event offering you the opportunity to switch playing to Thabit ibn Qurra. Though a wonky method, it is necessary to ensure maximum compatibility with other mods. Like the CK2 version of the mod, if you play as Thabit, there is a CYOA event chain at the start of the game which will change your starting situation depending on your choices.
But there’s more! Unlike the CK2 version of the mod, at the 1066 start date, after the Temple of the Moon and the Neoplatonic Academy are gone, there is a playable, semi-historical Harranian… sort of: Abu 'Ali Muhammad Ibn Nabhan, a 7th generation descendant of Thabit ibn Qurra. His grandfather, Thabit’s 5th generation descent Hilal, converted to Islam in the early 1000s, but a few of Ibn Nabhan’s relatives might have remained pagan - perhaps the final Harranian pagans. At any rate, while Ibn Nabhan is Muslim and staunchly defended his grandfather’s conversion in real life, perhaps there is more to him than meets the eye…. If you choose to play as him, you’ll go through an event chain and an associated decision, where you choose to embrace your pagan heritage to try to bring it back against all odds. I included it as a difficult but semi-plausible way to embrace a form of paganism.
By the way, there is a game rule to disable the pop-up events asking if you want to play as these characters if you find it annoying. Note that the events will only trigger when starting near Harran.
Miscellaneous
Like all other Flavor Packs, this one will also have accompanying flavor events and music.
To round it off, I want to address a potential question some may have as to why I had Harranians separate from vanilla’s Hellenic or Sabians. Sabians are portrayed in vanilla CK3 as obscure gnostics, which the Haranians were not - they adopted the label of “Sabian” to be classified as People of the Book under the Abbasids, but had distinctly pagan practices. While I could make them Hellenics (like in my CK2 mod), I decided not to as I wanted to make them more distinct, such as portraying how they (or at least their elites) were part of the Islamic world, and partly because I feel vanilla’s Hellenism doesn’t capture the varieties of ancient Greek and Roman paganism well.
All in all, my CK2 version was one of the first mods I made after I returned from a hiatus for CK2 modding several years back, so it has a special place in my heart - returning to Harran to not only adapt my CK2 mod but expand on it is cool. Not to mention this is the first full adaptation of my CK2 work to CK3. I’ve spent a lot of time researching this seemingly unassuming city, and I hope you’ll appreciate delving into this city’s history, too. Speaking of which….
Withdraw into yourself and look. And if you do not find yourself beautiful yet, act as does the creator of a statue that is to be made beautiful: he cuts away here, he smoothes there, he makes this line lighter, this other purer. Cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is crooked, bring light to all that is overcast, labor to make all one glow or beauty and never cease chiseling your statue, until there shall shine out on you from it the godlike splendor of virtue.
- Plotinus (c. 205 - 270 CE), the founding figure of Neoplatonism
Just a minor update, with a bit of new content for Harran as well as integration of Chinese translation by Juijote. I'm doing some preliminary work for the next Flavor Pack and I'll do the obligatory previews/teasers on Discord, and the dev diary here and on Reddit, when I have more to show.
And the changelog:
Integrated Chinese localization into RICE instead of having it as a separate mod
Added several Neoplatonic philosophers as historical characters (who may show up in your dreams)
Fixed Pray to a Planet activity taking place in Harran
“Tammuz, radiant in the temple and on earth!”
- Hymn to Ishtar, goddess of war and love, and wife of the Mesopotamian deity Tammuz
This is the official update to patch 1.4. Unfortunately, since my main PC is borked at the moment, I've had to upload this using an old laptop which can't really handle CK3, but there are pretty much no changes so it should work fine, so let me know if you encounter any issues.
“We took ship at Suakin for Yemen. No sailing is done on this sea at night because of the number of rocks in it. At nightfall they land and embark again at sunrise. The captain of the ship stands constantly at the prow to warn the steersman of rocks.”
- Ibn Battuta, writing about his journey across the Red Sea
The newest Flavor Pack for RICE, the Red Sea, is now up! This was partly a cross-promotion thing with BlackEmperor's Africa Plus mod, which I highly recommend (and not just because I coded a few flavor events for it) - it adds in some flavor to various African cultures and religions, and is compatible with RICE. You can download it on Steam here. Additionally, I've uploaded a RICE+EPE compatch which can be downloaded per the above links.
As with the Harran Flavor Pack, the Red Sea Flavor Pack dev diary will be below.
Changelog:
Added Red Sea Flavor Pack: Treasures of the Eastern Desert as cross-promotion with the BlackEmperor's Africa Plus (BAP) mod by Black7Emperor7
Added EPE compatch (separate download)
Slightly reduced the frequency of Siberian courtiers spawning
Renamed file containing code for South Arabian culture - this will prevent South Arabian from popping up randomly in many situations, though it will not prevent those situations per se (it should now default back to the vanilla Akan)
Coastal rulers in Egypt now have access to the Maritime Trade Legacy
Fixed AI being unable to take the decision to visit the thermal spas of Aachen
Miscellaneous bugfixes
Red Sea Flavor Pack Dev Diary
Mines
The Red Sea was a major route for the Indian Ocean maritime trade since the days of the Pharaohs. It produced several important exports of its own, which will be reflected in RICE.
First, three mines have been added around the Red Sea. While there were many historically in the region, for gameplay and simplicity I narrowed it down to a few I felt were most important:
Mount Smaragdus in Jabal Quzlum - the Old World's chief supplier of emeralds for millennia until it supplanted by New World sources in the 1500s
Wadi Allaqi - a major gold mining region since Pharaonic times, which saw a gold rush during the 10th-13th centuries
Al-Baha in Bisha - to represent the mining regions of southeastern Arabia that were a major source of precious metals for the Caliphate in the early medieval periods
Other Resources
Two counties in Egypt - Fayyum and Aswan - will be given a permanent county modifier at game start called Egyptian Textile Manufacturing Center. Egypt was a major exporter of textiles during this period.
The Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and the waters off of Sri Lanka have been major sources of pearls for centuries. For Duchies along the coasts of those regions, a special Duchy Building can be built called the Pearl Industry, so you can profit from the pearl trade. Of course, such an investment comes at the cost of not being able to build a different Duchy Building.
Red Sea Ferries
There were many ways to reach Mecca for devout Muslims going on the Hajj, crossing the Red Sea by boat was a popular option for those from Africa. Thus, three coastal baronies are given a special building called the Red Sea Ferry at game start: Suakin, Aydhab, and Jeddah. This building has several upgrades and provides a minor boost to gold, development, and prestige. The last building in this chain requires the second perk, Cosmopolitan Ports, from the Maritime Trade dynasty legacy that was previously introduced in the Socotra Flavor Pack.
The taxes these traveling pilgrims provide are a nice source of profit, and greedy rulers can try to extract even more money from these caravans. If you own Suakin or Aydhab, you can take a decision to Increase Taxes on Pilgrims per city. Doing so adds a modifier, Extra Taxes Levied on Hajj Pilgrims, to the county you chose which increases its taxes at the cost of development and county opinion for 10 years. As Suakin and Aydhab were traditional rivals, taking this decision will grant the other city its own modifier, Increased Numbers of Hajj Pilgrims, which increases its development to represent pilgrims taking more interest in using its port instead (unless if it, too, has raised its taxes).
al-Umari and Wadi Allaqi
There is some new flavor for the ruler of the Eastern Desert in the 867 CE bookmark, Abu Abdallah ibn Abd al-Hamid al-Umari. An ambitious scholar and businessman, he amassed a following to exploit the resources of the Eastern Desert, particularly its gold mines. A prominent warlord on the Caliphate’s frontier, he got involved in regional politics and had a complicated relationship with the Tulunids in Egypt. He was assassinated in 870 CE, but perhaps you can change his destiny. His colorful life is represented in game with a unique modifier, Scholar, Merchant, and Warlord.
Because of the positive reception of the roleplay elements I added for Thabit ibn Qurra in the Harran Flavor Pack, while al-Umari won't have an extensive CYOA (partly because he is already a character in vanilla unlike Thabit), he will have a few events at the start of the game to slightly customize your starting scenario. Most importantly, you can choose whether to get free claims on a couple counties in Egypt, on Nubia instead, to vassalize yourself to the Tulunids to reconcile with them (as al-’Umari attempted historically), or focus on developing infrastructure.
Given his dominance in the region's mining industry, al-Umari had connections with merchant communities in Egypt, particularly in Aswan as it was the closest major city to Wadi Allaqi. Thus, there is also a decision, Seek Investors from Aswan, available to him or any ruler who controls Wadi Allaqi. It can be taken every ten years within the first fifty years from the 867 bookmark; at a hefty cost of prestige, it gives a ten year county modifier to Wadi Allaqi called Investment from Aswan. A consequence of doing this is that it’ll provoke the ire of Egypt’s ruler (assuming you don't own it yourself), who may interpret such actions as an insult to their authority.
Miscellaneous
Several new thematically appropriate music tracks as well as a few new flavor events have been added as usual. As mentioned above, some of these events are inspired by the ancient Egyptian religion, and for followers of Kushitic faiths - they have also been included in Blackemperor's Africa Plus mod as part of our cross-promotion. If you haven’t already, check out BAP here - it’s fully compatible with RICE and has plenty of great flavor for Africa.
Pamir Flavor Pack Preview
Lastly, here's a quick teaser for the upcoming Pamir flavor pack which will hopefully come sometime next month, as an adaptation of my Pamir Immersion Pack mod for CK2 and in time for its one year anniversary of that:
“Aydhab [is] a large town, well supplied with milk and fish; dates and grain are imported from Upper Egypt. Its inhabitants are Bejas. These people are black-skinned; they wrap themselves in yellow blankets and tie headbands about a fingerbreadth wide round their heads.”
- Ibn Battuta, writing about the port of Adyhab
This is a small update that includes minor tweaks and additions for some flavor packs. Barring any serious issues, this should be the last update for a couple weeks while I work on the upcoming Pamir Flavor Pack.
The changelog:
Added Mosque of the Companions modifier to the County of Massawa, which gives a small development growth bonus
At game start, a few random lucky, qualifying rulers will get Harranian scholars and Indian Ocean merchants, sailors, or adventurers in their courts via hidden event
Mastermind Theologian (Tier 4 learning trait) is now a virtue for Helleno-Semitic faiths
Diligent and humble are no longer a virtues for Helleno-Semitic faiths
Reduced trigger range of the event at game start asking if you want to play as Ibn Nabhan in the 1066 bookmark
Reduced al-Umari’s intelligence trait to level 1
Reduced volume of Celtic music from the Breton Flavor Pack
Fixed Thabit ibn Qurra’s fictitious sister getting the Great Harranian modifier (since that’s only meant for him)
Miscellaneous bugfixes
Speaking of which, here’s a couple preview screenshots of what I’ll be discussing in my first dev diary for the Pamir Flavor Pack this weekend (it’ll be a two parter like the Socotra dev diaries, as there’s a lot to cover):
Good deeds stand tall like a green pine, evil deeds bloom like flowers;
The pine is not as brilliant as the flowers, it seems.
When the frost comes, the pine will still stand tall,
While the flowers, withered, can be seen no more
- Nasir Khusraw
RICE's biggest update ever, the Pamir and Zunist flavor pack, is finally out! To give you an idea of how big this update is: the previous biggest pack, the Socotra Flavor Pack, the files for events and localization had a total size of 120 KB and 83 KB respectively (and that's after some new content added in subsequent updates); meanwhile, the Pamir and Zunist ones are 132 KB and 116 KB respectively. For that reason, this will be version 1.4.0 of the mod, rather than version 1.3.3 (also so I can get to the same number as vanilla 1.4).
Additionally, today's release marks exactly the one year anniversary of my final CK2 mod, the Pamir Immersion Pack, which the Pamir and Zunist Flavor Pack (unsurprisingly) is an adaptation of.
There's a lot of new content added to the Pamir and Hindu Kush region, so be sure to read the Pamir and Zunist Flavor Pack Guide for more information.
Changelog:
Added Pamir and Zunist Flavor Pack: Roof of the World
Added 5 Iranian and Central Asian themed songs
Added French translations for Aachen Flavor Pack and other miscellaneous text - thanks to French translators! If you’re interested in helping translate French, see here: https://paratranz.cn/projects/2617/files
Mahayana Buddhists can now take concubines (change done via hidden event to prevent compatibility issues with mods that modify Buddhist religions)
There is now a few days wait when you take the decision to visit the Thermal Spas of Aachen, so it isn’t instantaneous
House of Al-Harrani now has “He who knows his own essence becomes divine” as their house motto
Zahra the Poet now gets the Devoted (Nun) trait, as a wonky workaround to prevent players from potentially converting her to a non-Muslim religion or marrying her
Reduced chances of Maastricht bridge collapse triggering (so it’s more likely to happen later in the game)
Feast music plays when Nadun Festival starts (like in other vanilla and modded feast decisions)
Miscellaneous bugfixes
No concrete plans on the next flavor pack yet, though I am leaning on one idea at the moment. Either way, it will be a much smaller offering than this one.
On [Mount Aruna] is its statue called Zhun. The ceremonial institution is extremely gorgeous. The shrine is roofed with both gold and silver plates and paved with silver on the floor.
- The Book of Sui on Zun
RICE's biggest update ever, the Pamir and Zunist Flavor Pack, just got bigger with new content mainly focused on additional Zunist flavor as well as the legendary hero of Gilgit, Azur Jamshid. There have also been a number of other miscellaneous improvements as well. In fact, there's enough new stuff I've dedicated another dev diary to it (see below).
Anyhow, I am starting to design my next flavor pack, so you'll definitely hear more about it in the next week or two.
Changelog:
Added Kayani Dynasty in Gilgit at the 867 and 1066 start dates
New Zunist decisions:
Reclaim Mount Aruna for Zun
Offer Riches to Zun
Refurbish the Mural of Dokhtar-i Noshirwan
New game concepts: Azur Jamshid and Idol of Zun
Added special modifier for Azur Jamshid, Kayani ruler in 867
New decision in the Duchies of Pamir and Ladakh to Sponsor the Tumshiling Festival
New decision to Conciliate Kafir Tribes (i.e. remove Land of the Kafirs negative modifier)
Taoism and Vajrayana have male dominated doctrine instead of equal
New art for the Sacrifice Goats and Restore Idol of Zun decisions
Changed art for Harranian Write Scholarly Treatise decision
Peristani, Burusho, and Brahui now use EPE’s new South Asian ethnicity templates as appropriate if running the RICE-EPE compatch
Nearby players now notified if someone restored the Idol of Zun
Slightly reduced faith conversion/creation bonus for restoring the Idol of Zun
Sacrifice Goats decision now provides a message notifying you of the result
Fixed missing icon for Chinir Festival activity
Miscellaneous bugfixes
Pamir and Zunist Dev Diary #3 - Even More Zunist Flavor (And Other Additions)
Idol of Zun on Mount Aruna
Currently, Zunists can take a decision to Restore the Idol of Zun in Zamindawar. If you control Kabul as a Zunist, you'll gain access to a similar decision to Reclaim Mount Aruna for Zun.
The decision nets similar rewards: you get a character modifier, Restored the Idol of Zun on Mount Aruna, while the county of Kabul gets its own modifier, Idol of Zun on Mount Aruna. The bonuses are similar but a little more prestige focused than the decision for Zamindawar.
The famed Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang recounted a story about how followers of Zun came into conflict with Brahamnist devotees of Surya over control of Mount Aruna, purportedly near Kabul; the Zunists lost and relocated to Zamindawar. Shoshin Kuwayama, a Japanese scholar and archaeologist whose life work has focused on ancient Indo-Iranian history, interprets this to mean that Zunists dominated Mount Aruna before Brahmanists forced them out (rather than an alternative theory of Zunists trying and failing to control a long-standing site dedicated to Surya).
Offer Riches to Zun
Besides giving some nice modifiers, restoring the Idols of Zun now has an additional bonus: enabling a decision for Zunists in the region to Offer Riches to Zun.
After taking the decision, you first need to choose whether to offer riches to the idol in Zamindawar or Mount Aruna (if the idol on Mount Aruna hasn't been restored yet, only Zamindawar will be available). You'll then choose how much gold to spend, after which you'll get a random amount of piety and/or prestige - the amount is influenced by the gold you spent.
Offering to the Idol in Zamindawar has a higher chance of better piety boons more than on Mount Aruna, while the latter is better for prestige boons instead.
Dokhtar-i Noshirwan
The idol of Mount Aruna isn’t the only new thing Zunists can restore - the mural at Dokhtar-i Noshirwan, an archaeological site approximately 100km north of Bamian, can also be restored. Zunists who control the county of Bamian can thus take a decision to Refurbish the Mural of Dokhtar-i Noshirwan, which gives you a boost of piety and adds a helpful county modifier to Bamian called Refurbished Shrine of Zun in Dokhtar-i Noshirwan.
Historically, the site was built around the early 8th century possibly as a religious shrine, and is known among scholars for featuring an enigmatic figure, likely a deity of some sort on its mural. The ruler who sponsored this mural, its artisans, and the identity of this deity are debated, but it is possible it depicts a regional variant of the eastern Iranian god Oxus or Wakhsh, who could be connected to Zun - for example, Zun may have been a Hunnic/Hephthalite deity syncretized with Oxus, or even an alternative name for Oxus. This is all speculative and should not be taken as proven fact - I added this to the mod to point out there is still much mystery surrounding Zun’s origins and worshippers, and more to Zun than the Crusader Kings memes suggest or a simple assumption that Zun was just a Hindu or Zoroastrian god. If a connection between Oxus and Zun is valid, then the mural of Dokhtar-i Noshirwan may well be one of our few surviving artistic depictions of Zun or Oxus-Zun.
Conciliate Kafir Tribes
Currently, several counties in the Pamirs get stuck with permanent negative modifiers that represent the fiercely independent pagan tribes in the region. There is now a way to remove them via a new decision, Conciliate Kafir Tribes, but it won't be easy.
Among many steep requirements, the most important is you need to be a very powerful Zunist or Dezawist pagan ruler or a vassal of one (Dezawism being a new pagan faith from the Pamir and Zunist Flavor Pack representing Kalash and pre-conversion Nuristani paganism).
You’ll spend a hefty amount of gold and prestige before you can choose which County you want to remove the modifier from (it is obviously only doable for counties you own). In other words, you can't remove them all at once - you need to do it County by County. With a cooldown of 20 years, this means it could take close to a century to bring these tribes under control.
Azur Jamshid, the Fairy Prince
There is a new playable character at the 867 bookmark in Gilgit, Azur Jamshid, who has his own flavor. According to local legend, Gilgit (in present-day north Pakistan) was once ruled by a cannibal king, Shri Badat. A Persian fairy prince, Azur Jamshid, overthrew and killed Shri Badat with the help of his lover, the tyrant's daughter Nur Bakht. The Kayani dynasty (later renamed Trakhan) who ruled various parts of Gilgit and the nearby valleys for much of the medieval and early modern period claim descent from him.
In-game, Azur Jamshid rules over a few counties and has a modifier, The Fairy Prince, with a few bonuses. When the game begins, Azur Jamshid has an option of converting from Zoroastrianism to Vajrayana Buddhism, Ashari Islam, or Dezawist paganism. He also has decent stats and traits, as does his wife who is his soulmate. He also has a friend, Jataylotu, who may make a capable councilor or vassal and comes from a Burusho version of the legend, and is said to have been a Burusho minister of Shri Badat who tried to set his liege right; when that failed, he switched sides to Azur Jamshid.
Additionally, at game start, Gilgit suffers from a negative county modifier, Shri Badat’s Palace. There is a decision available to Azur Jamshid (or anyone ruling Gilgit) to Raze Shri Badat's Palace, to remove this modifier. This symbolizes Azur Jamshid helping the land heal from Shri Badat's oppression and foul magics.
Later on, once Azur Jamshid passes away, you’ll have access to a feast decision, Sponsor the Tumshiling Festival.
In real life, it is a winter celebration to commemorate the overthrow of Shri Badat. This festival, and the legend of Shri Badat, has similarities with other festivals and legends in parts of the Himalayas, particularly the Western Himalayas, which is why it is available to rulers who hold counties in the Duchies of Pamir or Ladakh.
Azur Jamshid's descendants are also playable in 1066, ruling over the same area around Gilgit.
That's all for now!
Selected Sources for Further Reading
Also wanted to give a shoutout here to Arrikirri on discord for helping me track some useful info on Zun.
This is just a quick hotfix for those of you running EPE with RICE. Apparently there was a bug causing South Arabian characters to be naked. The fix applies regardless of whether you use the optional RICE+EPE compatch or not.
“There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.”
- Pythagoras of Samos
This update contains a number of bugfixes but also a little bit of new content for the Chios Flavor Pack, mainly focused on the other islands in the county of Chios in-game such as Samos. I considered doing a full-fledged dev diary but there wasn’t enough content for that. I wrote a little run-down on the new content below, as well as a teaser for the next flavor pack, which will focus on Yorkshire (such is the logical outcome of all those years I spent memeing about Scarborough Fair in my CK mods).
Changelog:
Added new Chios related decisions:
Repopulate Patmos with Monastics
Go on a Pilgrimage to Patmos
Added the Heraion as a constructible special building for pagans or faiths with syncretic folk traditions on Samos
Added 14 flavor events for Chios, Samos, and nearby minor islands
Added new game concept: Pilgrimage to Patmos
Erect Monument to Homer is now a major decision
Azur Jamshid’s dynasty, the Kayanis, now have a unique dynasty COA
Fixed Tumshiling Festival decision not being available from the 1066 start date (works on new games only)
Fixed Kemet religious events not firing
Fixed Maastricht bridge collapse event triggering for random rulers
Fixed Taoist religions not being changed to male dominated
Fixed several modifiers decreasing build cost not reducing building piety costs
Fixed Nur of Gilgit’s grandmother not being female and not having a proper name
Miscellaneous bugfixes
Info on New Chios Content and a Teaser for What's Next
Pilgrimage to Patmos
There is a cave on the island of Patmos, a little south of Samos, that is reputedly where the Book of Revelation was written. It has been a pilgrimage site for centuries now, particularly after a monastery was built near the cave in 1088 with support from Roman Emperor Alexios I (not too long after CK3’s 1066 start date, interestingly).
Anyways, to simulate this, in-game, the ruler of the county of Chios (which is where Patmos is on the game map) has a decision to Repopulate Patmos with Monastics. It won’t appear until Chios’ owner’s culture is in the early medieval era; once that happens, it can only be taken if the owner has high stewardship, high learning or their culture is in the high medieval era. Doing so gives you a nice modifier and the county of Chios a positive county modifier as well.
However, the main benefit is that it unlocks yet another decision, to Go on a Pilgrimage to Patmos. It’s pretty much a standard pilgrimage event chain in RICE. The twist here is you get a little chance to receive a vision about the Book of Revelation.
Heraion of Samos
A new special building, the Heraion of Samos, has been added to the barony of Samos, which in vanilla is the city province of the county of Chios. In antiquity, Samos was a one of the most important cult centers of the goddess Hera, and her temple there was one of the first major classical Greek temples.
In-game, the building can only be constructed by a pagan, or a non-pagan who follows a faith with the Syncretic Folk Traditions tenet.
Miscellaneous & Teaser for the Yorkshire Flavor Pack
14 new flavor events have also been added to Chios, doubling the number of generic Chian flavor events to 28. The new ones are mostly focused on islands like Samos, Ikaria, and so on that are part of the County of Chios in-game but which I neglected previously.
Lastly, here's also a teaser for the next flavor pack, Yorkshire: To Scarborough Fair.
2
1
1
Reactions:
Version 1.4.3 "Scarborough Fair" (Released 10/23/21)
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
He/she once was a true love of mine
This update is RICE's official one year anniversary update - thanks for all your continued support, and let's hope that RICE continues to grow!
Years of memeing about Scarborough Fair in my mods has reached its logical conclusion with the Yorkshire Flavor Pack, though this update has a lot more than just me spamming Scarborough Fair in your face. As I'll be a very busy in November with NaNoWriMo, this will likely be the last big major update for RICE before December. What the next update focuses on will likely be determined by when Royal Court will release. Also, hard to believe that it's almost been one year since I first released RICE - it's been been fun traveling across the world with RICE, and certainly the journey isn't over yet!
Changelog:
Added Yorkshire Flavor Pack: To Scarborough Fair
Added 10 new music tracks: 6 English Renaissance themed songs and 4 variations of Scarborough Fair
Added new game rule for event frequently like in VIET
Revamped flavor events to trigger more similarly to VIET’s system
A few history changes are now disabled when playing with the TIP mod (to let its changes take precedence)
Scripted effects and scripted triggers are now split up by Flavor Pack in the code for convenience
Changed the jingle noises of some event themes to be faith based as appropriate
Changed the description of Zunism into something more accurate
Rebalanced the gold costs of several festival decisions
Fixed Azur Jamshid and Zunbils retaining clan governments at the 867 bookmark
Miscellaneous bugfixes
And a fun video about the history of Scarborough Fair (the song), with 30 historical recordings:
This is just a quick hotfix, main changes are a fix to RICE events not firing in some cases, and adding in new Yemeni ethnicities for the RICE+EPE compatch. I will be busy with NaNoWriMo during November, so there won't be any major updates barring some serious gamebreaking bugs at least for a couple weeks.
Since Royal Court is now officially delayed to 2022, my plan is to do maybe 1 small/medium sized flavor pack in December, depending on how my life schedule looks then.
So I checked out the latest patch, and I think Azur Jamshid and the Zunbils might still have the clans government, unfortunately. I've tried to correct this by reinstalling RICE and using no other mods as well.
While looking through the rulers, I think there are a few others that shouldn't have the clans government as well. The ones I noticed are the Puteshan kings, the Wakhan chiefs, the Shughnan chiefs, the Karran chiefs, and Marzoban Zahhak of Ghur (all in the 867 start date). Sorry for not informing you of these earlier!
Ah shit, you know what, I think I accidentally reverted the changes somehow. Thanks for bringing up the other new rulers also being funky, much appreciated!
Since it's a non-essential bug I didn't have time to look into it for this hotfix, but I'll make a note to myself to look into it for the next update, I'm hoping maybe once NaNoWriMo dies down I'll have another update around 3rd or 4th week of November.
