So, I often play as the Eastern Roman Empire in the Old Gods' start. There I am, the valiant, brave and glorious Basilieus Basilieos I Makedon slaying infidels and heretics left and right, reclaiming the long-lost glory of the Roman Empire. Rome has fallen, Jerusalem has fallen,. Damascus is mine, even the great and holy cities of Mecca and Medina lie threatened as the Arabian Empire retreats on every front... and no one seems to care. The very heart, the very birthplace of Islam is on the doorstep of my empire - in a generation or two the Cross will fly from the walls of the Grand Mosque and the City of the Prophet will be firmly and forever in Christian hands as I drive the forces of Arabia back.
And it dawns on me - apart from triggering a jihad that I smashed utterly - conquering some of the holiest places on earth is recieving barely any attention at all, and even then only from the bordering powers that have lost territory to me and want it back.
This is hardly what would have happened in real life if the Christians had reclaimed Jerusalem - even after the Great Schism which is still two centuries away from my current date there would be rejoicing throughout Christendom, East and West, should the city where Christ had spent his last days be returned to his followers. The Bishop of Rome has just been deposed by the ERE! The spiritual head of the Western Church has just been humiliated... but apart from the occassional mercenary-hiring Pope trying and failing horribly to reclaim his city there are no consequences.
It just doesn't feel right. There should be events that fire when certain cities are captured or raided - say you're a viking warlord who's a long way from home raiding the rich cities of the Med. You just sacked Jerusalem - an event fires where you discover a holy relic; a shard of the True Cross! This gives you great piety and prestige and damages the moral authority of Christendom and boosts your own pagan faith but at a cost - every lord in Christendom now hates your guts for defiling such a sacred place and laying your grubby pagan paws on such a holy relic and they really want that little bit of wood back. Perhaps you look upon the True Cross and recieve an epiphany and convert to Christianity. There's a lot of possibilities there.
Similarly - you are a Christian lord, your victorious armies march into Mecca and you plant the cross upon the Kabala itself - Islam reels and their moral authority plummets, and yet for your blasphemous act the Muslim lords all have massive opinion penalties with you and perhaps some gain a CB on Mecca to rescue the holy city from the infidel if they're nearby... of course you get a big piety and prestige boost for seizing the heart of a powerful rival faith.
You are Caliph, Emperor of Arabia - the ERE has collapsed and you drive all before you, even now your forces lay seige to Rome itself and the Pope has quit the city in fear of your vast armies! Rome falls and you ride into the city in a glorious procession to the very Basillica of St Peter itself to tear down the cross and convert the great church into a mosque rivalling even Medina and Mecca. Your piety and prestige are greatly enhanced, as is the authority of Islam - but now Christianity rallies around the pope who has been granted a new bishopric in Avignon, say, as happened historically when the pope was driven from Rome. Event troops spawn as the pope makes a last-ditch effort to reclaim his city as the pious flock to his banner. If the pope fails then there will be no recourse but to resort to a full crusade to return Rome to the Vicar of Christ.
Essentially what I am looking for is events and event chains to fire - it doesn't even have to be much, just a single event like 'Jerusalem Reclaimed! - Christianity Rejoices!' that gives you opinion boosts with all independent non-heretic christian rulers and some prestige and piety. to expand on it, perhaps a particularly Zealous ruler might try to steal a relic of the enemy faith like the Muslims did for the True Cross through a decision, or maybe be offered another decision to convert a famous church or mosque or temple to a place of worship for your own faith like the Christians did for the Pantheon or the Muslims did for the Hagia Sophia. I suppose the temple holding converting to a mosque or bishopric reflects this but there's not enough fanfare or flavour to it - it's just a background event when IRL such a thing would send shockwaves through a faith. - you could gain prestige, piety, opion and moral authority with events like this at the expense of worsening relations with other religious rulers, giving them CBs or even increasing revolt risk in your provinces where the offended religion is present.
At the end of the day I just want my emperor marching into Jerusalem to reclaim her for Orthodoxy to be an event - news. I don't want the reaction to be: "Hey, Pierre, did you hear the Byzantine Emperor reclaimed the Holy City of Jerusalem from those filthy infidels?" "Huh? Oh... cool... hey , did you hear that Vivienne accused Margaret of Witchcraft the other day? Pass the salt please."
These things had meaning, these cities had influence and authority in the hearts and minds of people across nations and cultures. Having them restored to the True Faith or lost to the Infidel should likewise have meaning. Triggering Crusades and Jihads is a start but I think adding more flavour to this can only improve the game. Thoughts?
And it dawns on me - apart from triggering a jihad that I smashed utterly - conquering some of the holiest places on earth is recieving barely any attention at all, and even then only from the bordering powers that have lost territory to me and want it back.
This is hardly what would have happened in real life if the Christians had reclaimed Jerusalem - even after the Great Schism which is still two centuries away from my current date there would be rejoicing throughout Christendom, East and West, should the city where Christ had spent his last days be returned to his followers. The Bishop of Rome has just been deposed by the ERE! The spiritual head of the Western Church has just been humiliated... but apart from the occassional mercenary-hiring Pope trying and failing horribly to reclaim his city there are no consequences.
It just doesn't feel right. There should be events that fire when certain cities are captured or raided - say you're a viking warlord who's a long way from home raiding the rich cities of the Med. You just sacked Jerusalem - an event fires where you discover a holy relic; a shard of the True Cross! This gives you great piety and prestige and damages the moral authority of Christendom and boosts your own pagan faith but at a cost - every lord in Christendom now hates your guts for defiling such a sacred place and laying your grubby pagan paws on such a holy relic and they really want that little bit of wood back. Perhaps you look upon the True Cross and recieve an epiphany and convert to Christianity. There's a lot of possibilities there.
Similarly - you are a Christian lord, your victorious armies march into Mecca and you plant the cross upon the Kabala itself - Islam reels and their moral authority plummets, and yet for your blasphemous act the Muslim lords all have massive opinion penalties with you and perhaps some gain a CB on Mecca to rescue the holy city from the infidel if they're nearby... of course you get a big piety and prestige boost for seizing the heart of a powerful rival faith.
You are Caliph, Emperor of Arabia - the ERE has collapsed and you drive all before you, even now your forces lay seige to Rome itself and the Pope has quit the city in fear of your vast armies! Rome falls and you ride into the city in a glorious procession to the very Basillica of St Peter itself to tear down the cross and convert the great church into a mosque rivalling even Medina and Mecca. Your piety and prestige are greatly enhanced, as is the authority of Islam - but now Christianity rallies around the pope who has been granted a new bishopric in Avignon, say, as happened historically when the pope was driven from Rome. Event troops spawn as the pope makes a last-ditch effort to reclaim his city as the pious flock to his banner. If the pope fails then there will be no recourse but to resort to a full crusade to return Rome to the Vicar of Christ.
Essentially what I am looking for is events and event chains to fire - it doesn't even have to be much, just a single event like 'Jerusalem Reclaimed! - Christianity Rejoices!' that gives you opinion boosts with all independent non-heretic christian rulers and some prestige and piety. to expand on it, perhaps a particularly Zealous ruler might try to steal a relic of the enemy faith like the Muslims did for the True Cross through a decision, or maybe be offered another decision to convert a famous church or mosque or temple to a place of worship for your own faith like the Christians did for the Pantheon or the Muslims did for the Hagia Sophia. I suppose the temple holding converting to a mosque or bishopric reflects this but there's not enough fanfare or flavour to it - it's just a background event when IRL such a thing would send shockwaves through a faith. - you could gain prestige, piety, opion and moral authority with events like this at the expense of worsening relations with other religious rulers, giving them CBs or even increasing revolt risk in your provinces where the offended religion is present.
At the end of the day I just want my emperor marching into Jerusalem to reclaim her for Orthodoxy to be an event - news. I don't want the reaction to be: "Hey, Pierre, did you hear the Byzantine Emperor reclaimed the Holy City of Jerusalem from those filthy infidels?" "Huh? Oh... cool... hey , did you hear that Vivienne accused Margaret of Witchcraft the other day? Pass the salt please."
These things had meaning, these cities had influence and authority in the hearts and minds of people across nations and cultures. Having them restored to the True Faith or lost to the Infidel should likewise have meaning. Triggering Crusades and Jihads is a start but I think adding more flavour to this can only improve the game. Thoughts?
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