Hi! New modder here, and I've been developing a little original fantasy scenario called Sonendar!
Sonendar v.1.06.2.5
Requires:CK2 v.2.1.6
Highly-Recommended: The Old Gods, The Republic, Sunset Invasion, Mongol Face Pack, African Face Pack
What it does is that it totally converts CK2 to a custom map with its own unique histories, characters, and more! Sonendar isn't based on any existing media franchise or fictional setting, it's all completely made-up by me.
Here's a few things that it covers, but a full list of everything that is changed would take me quite a while to write!
New Laws and Systems
The Pawxatuck Confederacy
The Independent States of the Pawxatuck Confederacy are a loose band of various advanced tribes living in the northwestern corner of Sonendar. They grouped together to form the Confederacy in order to defend their culture and independence from the encroach of other peoples, such as the Nords who invaded from the North and the Green Country people, who are expanding rapidly thanks to the fertile lands of their country.
Independence and freedom weigh highly in Ockchaw culture. Thus, Ockchaws are by default True Cognatic and cannot switch out of Feudal Elective. Furthermore, by Ockchaw tradition, the chief among them all, the Great Gaffer, is periodically chosen from among one of the ten Gafferdoms of the Confederacy. After their term is over, the reigning Gaffer must abdicate the seat to the candidate with the highest votes.
Thus, instead of Investiture laws, they have a set of laws governing the term limits of their Gaffers. Longer term limits mean that you will stay in power longer, but carries a heavy penalty among your vassals, who prefer shorter terms. The shortest term limit, 4 years, confers a +30 bonus opinion among your vassals, basically negating the effects of "short reign".
Thanks to their culture of independence Ockchaws may not raise Crown Authority above Low, except during War time, during which it may be raised to Medium. To compensate for this, vassals will raise relatively more troops under Minimal authority. The Pawxatuck Confederacy also has special Militia Laws, which are essentially the same as Feudal Levy Laws, with the difference being that vassals retain relatively fewer troops under the lowest settings. However, the lowest Militia laws also mean that the troops that vassals do contribute will have much higher Morale.
All of these factors mean that as Great Gaffer, you will spend a lot of time trying to maintain good relations among your vassals. Under effective leadership, the Pawxatuck Confederacy will be able to punch above its weight -- for defensive purposes-- as compared to a realm of equal size and similar centralization level.
The Yuan Empire
Almost as polar opposite to the Pawxatuck Confederacy, the Yuan Empire (or rather, the two warring kingdoms into which the Yuan Empire has split), benefits most from highest centralization, thanks to their special Imperial Authority laws. Thanks to their unique culture, the state thrives under high Imperial Authority, conferring a massive boost to technological spread and reducing revolt risk across the country. Contrarily, under lowest Imperial Authority, the empire suffers massive increases in revolt risk, and a reduction of the speed of technological advancement -- but your vassals will be pleased.
The Imperial Army Laws affect the balance of military forces in the Empire. At the lowest settings, vassals contribute the least to the cause of the Empire, so to compensate, the College of Bureaucrats conscripts far more peasants from the Emperor's personal desmesne into the Imperial Retinue, increasing retinue sizes. At the highest settings, vassals contribute the most to the cause of the empire. In order to ensure orderliness in the ranks, the College of Bureaucrats must spread out its political controls among the ranks of the Emperor's bannermen, and can spare fewer commanders for the Imperial Retinues, decreasing total retinue size.
The State Burden laws affect the balance between bureaucracy and nobility. Setting the State Burden laws on their lowest setting will offend the clergy -- the bureaucrats-- by decreasing their opinion on you and putting higher taxes on clergy. Essentially, it is a tax on the scholars and middle-class officials who do most of the work of administering the Empire. On the other hand, setting State Burden Laws to their highest setting will force the Feudal Vassals to pay their fair share of the burden of administering the empire, upsetting them, but the Bureaucrats will be thrilled.
Thus, in the Yuan Empire, the trick will be to balance between the Feudal Lords and the Bureaucracy. As the bureaucracy is innately tied into the Faith of the empire itself -- the Yuan Empire's faith is "Imperial Bureaucracy", you would do well to manage these two factions wisely.
Kingdoms of the Reichsmarch
The Reichsmarch used to form an empire that dominated most of West-Central Sonendar, in the lands surrounding Lake Sonendar. In former times, the Reichsmarch was an empire whose power rivaled that of the Yuan Empire in the East. It comprised primarily of four kingdoms: the Nordmark, the Easterreich, the Westerreich, Zührenheim, and had for a brief time even forced the Merchant King of Rozha to bow the knee as a vassal.
After the Nord invasions and the economic disruptions caused by the First Great Age of Piracy, the Reichsmarch suffered a succession crisis and broke up into the four original kingdoms from which it had emerged. The areas worst affected was the Nordmark, which simply ceased to exist and broke up into a chaotic realm squabbled over by petty Nord chieftains.
As a king of the Reichsmarch, you may have ambitions to reconquer the land and rebuild the former Empire. If you have Nord, Westermarker, or Eastermarker culture, you will be able to take a special ambition: Unite the Reichsmarch. As long as you have the ambition, you will gain the ability to wage a war of subjugation over all de jure members of the Empire of the Reichsmarch.
I've also fleshed out the dynasties of most of the Western Sonendar kings, so that they will be a bit less prone to dissolution and succession crises. The exception to this is the Kingdom of Bregnac, whose rulers I've purposefully designed to be in an unstable and contentious state.
I'm really new to modding, so Sonendar may not be fully balanced, and bits and pieces will seem a bit unfinished. I'll definitely be slowly updating and working on it as time goes on, so expect it to improve a lot as I work on it. However, all of the states on the map are playable and unique in some way, so please enjoy it and report any bugs to me and feel free to make suggestions! I'm also really open to anyone who wants to help me!
Sonendar v.1.06.2.5
Requires:CK2 v.2.1.6
Highly-Recommended: The Old Gods, The Republic, Sunset Invasion, Mongol Face Pack, African Face Pack
What it does is that it totally converts CK2 to a custom map with its own unique histories, characters, and more! Sonendar isn't based on any existing media franchise or fictional setting, it's all completely made-up by me.
Here's a few things that it covers, but a full list of everything that is changed would take me quite a while to write!
New Laws and Systems
The Pawxatuck Confederacy
The Independent States of the Pawxatuck Confederacy are a loose band of various advanced tribes living in the northwestern corner of Sonendar. They grouped together to form the Confederacy in order to defend their culture and independence from the encroach of other peoples, such as the Nords who invaded from the North and the Green Country people, who are expanding rapidly thanks to the fertile lands of their country.
Independence and freedom weigh highly in Ockchaw culture. Thus, Ockchaws are by default True Cognatic and cannot switch out of Feudal Elective. Furthermore, by Ockchaw tradition, the chief among them all, the Great Gaffer, is periodically chosen from among one of the ten Gafferdoms of the Confederacy. After their term is over, the reigning Gaffer must abdicate the seat to the candidate with the highest votes.
Thus, instead of Investiture laws, they have a set of laws governing the term limits of their Gaffers. Longer term limits mean that you will stay in power longer, but carries a heavy penalty among your vassals, who prefer shorter terms. The shortest term limit, 4 years, confers a +30 bonus opinion among your vassals, basically negating the effects of "short reign".
Thanks to their culture of independence Ockchaws may not raise Crown Authority above Low, except during War time, during which it may be raised to Medium. To compensate for this, vassals will raise relatively more troops under Minimal authority. The Pawxatuck Confederacy also has special Militia Laws, which are essentially the same as Feudal Levy Laws, with the difference being that vassals retain relatively fewer troops under the lowest settings. However, the lowest Militia laws also mean that the troops that vassals do contribute will have much higher Morale.
All of these factors mean that as Great Gaffer, you will spend a lot of time trying to maintain good relations among your vassals. Under effective leadership, the Pawxatuck Confederacy will be able to punch above its weight -- for defensive purposes-- as compared to a realm of equal size and similar centralization level.
The Yuan Empire
Almost as polar opposite to the Pawxatuck Confederacy, the Yuan Empire (or rather, the two warring kingdoms into which the Yuan Empire has split), benefits most from highest centralization, thanks to their special Imperial Authority laws. Thanks to their unique culture, the state thrives under high Imperial Authority, conferring a massive boost to technological spread and reducing revolt risk across the country. Contrarily, under lowest Imperial Authority, the empire suffers massive increases in revolt risk, and a reduction of the speed of technological advancement -- but your vassals will be pleased.
The Imperial Army Laws affect the balance of military forces in the Empire. At the lowest settings, vassals contribute the least to the cause of the Empire, so to compensate, the College of Bureaucrats conscripts far more peasants from the Emperor's personal desmesne into the Imperial Retinue, increasing retinue sizes. At the highest settings, vassals contribute the most to the cause of the empire. In order to ensure orderliness in the ranks, the College of Bureaucrats must spread out its political controls among the ranks of the Emperor's bannermen, and can spare fewer commanders for the Imperial Retinues, decreasing total retinue size.
The State Burden laws affect the balance between bureaucracy and nobility. Setting the State Burden laws on their lowest setting will offend the clergy -- the bureaucrats-- by decreasing their opinion on you and putting higher taxes on clergy. Essentially, it is a tax on the scholars and middle-class officials who do most of the work of administering the Empire. On the other hand, setting State Burden Laws to their highest setting will force the Feudal Vassals to pay their fair share of the burden of administering the empire, upsetting them, but the Bureaucrats will be thrilled.
Thus, in the Yuan Empire, the trick will be to balance between the Feudal Lords and the Bureaucracy. As the bureaucracy is innately tied into the Faith of the empire itself -- the Yuan Empire's faith is "Imperial Bureaucracy", you would do well to manage these two factions wisely.
Kingdoms of the Reichsmarch
The Reichsmarch used to form an empire that dominated most of West-Central Sonendar, in the lands surrounding Lake Sonendar. In former times, the Reichsmarch was an empire whose power rivaled that of the Yuan Empire in the East. It comprised primarily of four kingdoms: the Nordmark, the Easterreich, the Westerreich, Zührenheim, and had for a brief time even forced the Merchant King of Rozha to bow the knee as a vassal.
After the Nord invasions and the economic disruptions caused by the First Great Age of Piracy, the Reichsmarch suffered a succession crisis and broke up into the four original kingdoms from which it had emerged. The areas worst affected was the Nordmark, which simply ceased to exist and broke up into a chaotic realm squabbled over by petty Nord chieftains.
As a king of the Reichsmarch, you may have ambitions to reconquer the land and rebuild the former Empire. If you have Nord, Westermarker, or Eastermarker culture, you will be able to take a special ambition: Unite the Reichsmarch. As long as you have the ambition, you will gain the ability to wage a war of subjugation over all de jure members of the Empire of the Reichsmarch.
I've also fleshed out the dynasties of most of the Western Sonendar kings, so that they will be a bit less prone to dissolution and succession crises. The exception to this is the Kingdom of Bregnac, whose rulers I've purposefully designed to be in an unstable and contentious state.
I'm really new to modding, so Sonendar may not be fully balanced, and bits and pieces will seem a bit unfinished. I'll definitely be slowly updating and working on it as time goes on, so expect it to improve a lot as I work on it. However, all of the states on the map are playable and unique in some way, so please enjoy it and report any bugs to me and feel free to make suggestions! I'm also really open to anyone who wants to help me!
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