This is a small suggestion regarding Severia - not a province, but as a region. Historically, it is roughly a region encompassing the most of the current Ryazanian culture, with a few small independent tags on it. A home to tags from Chernigov to Ryazan, it is sadly somewhat overlooked peace of land. But no longer it is!
Culture
First thing first - Ryazanian culture no more.
The biggest issue is that, well, there was no culture called like that. As I said before, devs roughly followed one of the dialects of Russian, trying to make linguistic borders. But that is not correct.
The region followed "Severian" culture. By Severian culture I mean mostly culture of people from Chernigov to Kursk, from Rylsk roughly to Ryazan. It is a zone of a former Severian tribe, few principalities/duchies which rose there and their people, which took a hard hit during the Mongol Invasion.
As a result of old invasion, which destroyed Old Ryazan town, many people fled to North, making the region less populated. The region bordered huge swathes of Steppes which were sparsely populated, belonging to the Steppe Nomads, and was a source of a countless pillages.
This is a reason why in that region there were Sevriuks - local Cossacks, which held duty on the border with Hordes, on the Zasechnaya Cherta. Even after incorporation of Astrakhan and Kazan the borders were still not calm and the colonization of the land went slowly, with lots of raiding and risks coming from Hordes under Ottomans - like Crimea, thus the line functioned and was reconstructed even after Smuta.
However, politically culture happened to be under big pressure. After the failure of Bolotniknov rebellion, Sevriuks had their privileges revoked. After losing Severia to Poland, part of them remained there while others were transferred to Don Cossacks.
Then the region, which got shielded by Zasechanya Cherta, was repopulated. In XVII century Polish Severia became a part of Hetmanate with remaining local Cossacks integrating in the bigger entity while Ruthenian immigrants from a Right Bank settled in there a lot, assimilating local population (Severians). On Russian side, same happened with Muscovite settlers assimilating those lands.
As a result, Severians were assimilated. There are overall little traces about their uniqueness and the biggest legacies are Sevriuks and a few small sub-ethnic groups (sayans, polekhs) which survived due to being somewhat isolated. Regionally, the people there make up unique subethnoses relative to Ukrainian and Russian one, showing remains of a unique yet relatively small ethnos living there. Some scientists consider that it was a unique ethnos similar to Belorussian, which like Novgorodian could develop into independent nation given possibilities.
Now, surely, we can argue about how distinct are Severians and if they could be called a culture. But hey, we have fantasy "Ryazanians", so we can actually replace them with little harm and with making a lot of sense!
State
CoA (from XVII century Titulnik):
Severia was historically always a part of Russian Tsar title upon inclusion of that land. "Lord of the Northern Lands" it is, "gosudar severnykh zemel (Severia)". The name of it being North is old and related to the Rus' times, with a relative position of that duchy.
Point is, once Severia was a home to a few duchy - Novgorod-Siverian, Chernigov and Ryazanian, later with others adding on. They had little common leadership after early Rus' times despite the fact that they used to be, well, one land.
So I have a rather logical suggestion - an intermediate tag for Severia, before forming Russia - having a Severia tag. As a Kingdom of union of Severian culture, basically a kingdom formable on their lands - and on lands of historical Chernigov, Ryazan and Novgorod-Siversky duchies. The 3 green ones on the map:
Note that it is alt-history. It did not live in real life, all Severian duchies were assimilated and culture layer as well. However, if you are as interested as me in putting life to this poor culture, you can consider giving it a unified formable tag based on their culture, Tsar title, history and struggle it takes to restore Severia as a player playing someone Severian.
One the great advantages is that it not only will be more rewarding, but also that it will be a good intermediate tag before forming Russian Empire as Severian and be a logical step in restoring the pretenses of that culture to the political leadership in Russian lands, like Moscow becoming a big Duchy itself over time and ending up as a founder of Russia.
Flag can be that CoA. Another bonus is that Severian countries can now receive new flavourful missions for them, increasing their uniqueness and fun playing them.
Map
I mentioned it here mostly.
It may be a bit too much, but it is a proposal basing itself on maximum addition option unless otherwise is said. It doesn't cover Ryazan area, but I am sadly no real expert there.
.png "reworked Ukraine map WIP3.0 (1).png")
Key point here is rework of Trubchevsk, Starodub, re-emergance of Sevsk. Perhaps something could be done with Odoyev too.
There are other points about region, primarily about Jagoldai, XV century wars between Muscovy and Lithuania and other history/map changes which were not touched. If you have something to add, then please expand upon it.
Cossacks: fixing them and a word about Sevriuks
I already annoyed people about it.
But I have a simple idea based on Sevriuks and Siberian expansion.
Allow to make Cossack estate on border with Hordes regardless of terrain.
This is super important. It allows to make Cossacks in Severia, following a history of Sevriuks, make estates in Polish Cherkasy, following history of Register Cossacks, and put Cossacks near Siberian frontier.
Not only it allows to keep border hosts, like it is a case historically, but also make Sevriuks possible. Not just that, it allows to protect and enhance Siberia colonization. And it would perfectly fit with the other very neglected part of the game - Raiding.
Allowing to make Sevriuks (basically Severian Cossacks, more in a sense of Polish Register Cossacks) and adding Bolotnikov uprising during Smuta could also make the Severian experience way more fun.
Severian Missions
Not available yet. But to put it shortly, it is centered about creating Severia Kingdom before becoming Russian Empire, a path alternative to Muscovite one, a path of struggle!
I hope that this update interests you and if Eastern Europe gets a revisit, Severia will be nicely updated.
If you have more suggestions about it, then please do add. Or offer better suggestions about the region! Hope it helps.
Culture
First thing first - Ryazanian culture no more.
The biggest issue is that, well, there was no culture called like that. As I said before, devs roughly followed one of the dialects of Russian, trying to make linguistic borders. But that is not correct.
The region followed "Severian" culture. By Severian culture I mean mostly culture of people from Chernigov to Kursk, from Rylsk roughly to Ryazan. It is a zone of a former Severian tribe, few principalities/duchies which rose there and their people, which took a hard hit during the Mongol Invasion.
As a result of old invasion, which destroyed Old Ryazan town, many people fled to North, making the region less populated. The region bordered huge swathes of Steppes which were sparsely populated, belonging to the Steppe Nomads, and was a source of a countless pillages.
This is a reason why in that region there were Sevriuks - local Cossacks, which held duty on the border with Hordes, on the Zasechnaya Cherta. Even after incorporation of Astrakhan and Kazan the borders were still not calm and the colonization of the land went slowly, with lots of raiding and risks coming from Hordes under Ottomans - like Crimea, thus the line functioned and was reconstructed even after Smuta.
However, politically culture happened to be under big pressure. After the failure of Bolotniknov rebellion, Sevriuks had their privileges revoked. After losing Severia to Poland, part of them remained there while others were transferred to Don Cossacks.
Then the region, which got shielded by Zasechanya Cherta, was repopulated. In XVII century Polish Severia became a part of Hetmanate with remaining local Cossacks integrating in the bigger entity while Ruthenian immigrants from a Right Bank settled in there a lot, assimilating local population (Severians). On Russian side, same happened with Muscovite settlers assimilating those lands.
As a result, Severians were assimilated. There are overall little traces about their uniqueness and the biggest legacies are Sevriuks and a few small sub-ethnic groups (sayans, polekhs) which survived due to being somewhat isolated. Regionally, the people there make up unique subethnoses relative to Ukrainian and Russian one, showing remains of a unique yet relatively small ethnos living there. Some scientists consider that it was a unique ethnos similar to Belorussian, which like Novgorodian could develop into independent nation given possibilities.
Now, surely, we can argue about how distinct are Severians and if they could be called a culture. But hey, we have fantasy "Ryazanians", so we can actually replace them with little harm and with making a lot of sense!
State
CoA (from XVII century Titulnik):
Severia was historically always a part of Russian Tsar title upon inclusion of that land. "Lord of the Northern Lands" it is, "gosudar severnykh zemel (Severia)". The name of it being North is old and related to the Rus' times, with a relative position of that duchy.
Point is, once Severia was a home to a few duchy - Novgorod-Siverian, Chernigov and Ryazanian, later with others adding on. They had little common leadership after early Rus' times despite the fact that they used to be, well, one land.
So I have a rather logical suggestion - an intermediate tag for Severia, before forming Russia - having a Severia tag. As a Kingdom of union of Severian culture, basically a kingdom formable on their lands - and on lands of historical Chernigov, Ryazan and Novgorod-Siversky duchies. The 3 green ones on the map:
Note that it is alt-history. It did not live in real life, all Severian duchies were assimilated and culture layer as well. However, if you are as interested as me in putting life to this poor culture, you can consider giving it a unified formable tag based on their culture, Tsar title, history and struggle it takes to restore Severia as a player playing someone Severian.
One the great advantages is that it not only will be more rewarding, but also that it will be a good intermediate tag before forming Russian Empire as Severian and be a logical step in restoring the pretenses of that culture to the political leadership in Russian lands, like Moscow becoming a big Duchy itself over time and ending up as a founder of Russia.
not created yet
Flag can be that CoA. Another bonus is that Severian countries can now receive new flavourful missions for them, increasing their uniqueness and fun playing them.
Map
I mentioned it here mostly.
It may be a bit too much, but it is a proposal basing itself on maximum addition option unless otherwise is said. It doesn't cover Ryazan area, but I am sadly no real expert there.
1 - Starodub. The issue with a province of Trubchevsk was that it was in fact Starodub. And even objectively the Trubchevsk town is outside of the province. The province itself was drawn mostly right on the map, but it being Trubchevsk was a lie. I've split Trubchevsk into a separate province and this should fix the issue for both.
2 - Trubchevsk. It was noted already not only here that currently Trubchevsk is on the territory of Starodub and that actual town is in Severia. I've put it where it should be. Based on maps of Russian Empire's administrative divisions of XVIII centuries which more or less follow historical divisions, I've drawn Trubchevsk. I added Sevsk to it, both of which were outside of Hetmanate, so it should be the best historical solution not breaking other historical boundaries. The map I used for admin divisions is here.
3 - Novgorod-Siversky. Needless to say, an old and important town and a historical province, a heart of Severia essentially.
4 - Hlukhov. Northern capital of Hetmanate, a place which once played a prominent role in the history. A separate administrative and miltary unit under Hetmanate, a place where the Cossack cultured ended and Russia began, being on the boundary of cultures.
5 - Chernigov. Needless to say, an old and important town and a historical region. Southern part of it was split into Nizhyn for historical reasons.
6 - Nizhyn. Not only it is Nizhyn, a fine city of the Hetmanate era, but also the province is a home to other fine towns of Cossack glory, such as Konotop and Baturyn. With a doubt, I've put the province separate to reflect on its historical significance.
11 - Rylsk. Based on many maps, I've split Rylsk from Sumy. Main issue with it was that Rylsk, including Putywl, were outside of Sloboda Ukraine. And in general them having a separate province from the territorially dominant Sumy (which are.... province center right now there) is a right thing. I put Rylsk into the same area as Kursk. Addressed here.
12 - Sumy. Part of the Sloboda Ukraine, together with Okhtyrka formed the northern part of it. I put Sumy as a separate province for a historical reason - it was south to Zasechanaya Cherta, Russian line of fortifications against Tatars and thus sparsely populated until the land was being reclaimed by escaping from wars peasants of Right Bank Ukraine and Cossacks, which were settling the territories of Sloboda Ukraine, part of which Sumy are.
13 - Kursk. Just mentioning it because I've split Belgorod from it.
14 - Belgorod. I've addressed it here. To put it shortly - not only it is a fine city of Belgorod, but also Jagoldai T'ma, essentially Tatar vassals of the Lithuania later turned to Moscow. They are interesting guys and the place, along with Rylsk and others was a subject of wars between Lithuania and Muscovy in the early XVI century. Legacy of Mamai alone is noteworthy and interesting for it and for the dynamics of the province. Same area as Kursk.
15 - Kharkov. I've excluded Okhtyrka from it and some part of Izum regiment. It it based on the regiment administrative divisions of the Sloboda Ukraine.
2 - Trubchevsk. It was noted already not only here that currently Trubchevsk is on the territory of Starodub and that actual town is in Severia. I've put it where it should be. Based on maps of Russian Empire's administrative divisions of XVIII centuries which more or less follow historical divisions, I've drawn Trubchevsk. I added Sevsk to it, both of which were outside of Hetmanate, so it should be the best historical solution not breaking other historical boundaries. The map I used for admin divisions is here.
3 - Novgorod-Siversky. Needless to say, an old and important town and a historical province, a heart of Severia essentially.
4 - Hlukhov. Northern capital of Hetmanate, a place which once played a prominent role in the history. A separate administrative and miltary unit under Hetmanate, a place where the Cossack cultured ended and Russia began, being on the boundary of cultures.
5 - Chernigov. Needless to say, an old and important town and a historical region. Southern part of it was split into Nizhyn for historical reasons.
6 - Nizhyn. Not only it is Nizhyn, a fine city of the Hetmanate era, but also the province is a home to other fine towns of Cossack glory, such as Konotop and Baturyn. With a doubt, I've put the province separate to reflect on its historical significance.
11 - Rylsk. Based on many maps, I've split Rylsk from Sumy. Main issue with it was that Rylsk, including Putywl, were outside of Sloboda Ukraine. And in general them having a separate province from the territorially dominant Sumy (which are.... province center right now there) is a right thing. I put Rylsk into the same area as Kursk. Addressed here.
12 - Sumy. Part of the Sloboda Ukraine, together with Okhtyrka formed the northern part of it. I put Sumy as a separate province for a historical reason - it was south to Zasechanaya Cherta, Russian line of fortifications against Tatars and thus sparsely populated until the land was being reclaimed by escaping from wars peasants of Right Bank Ukraine and Cossacks, which were settling the territories of Sloboda Ukraine, part of which Sumy are.
13 - Kursk. Just mentioning it because I've split Belgorod from it.
14 - Belgorod. I've addressed it here. To put it shortly - not only it is a fine city of Belgorod, but also Jagoldai T'ma, essentially Tatar vassals of the Lithuania later turned to Moscow. They are interesting guys and the place, along with Rylsk and others was a subject of wars between Lithuania and Muscovy in the early XVI century. Legacy of Mamai alone is noteworthy and interesting for it and for the dynamics of the province. Same area as Kursk.
15 - Kharkov. I've excluded Okhtyrka from it and some part of Izum regiment. It it based on the regiment administrative divisions of the Sloboda Ukraine.
Key point here is rework of Trubchevsk, Starodub, re-emergance of Sevsk. Perhaps something could be done with Odoyev too.
There are other points about region, primarily about Jagoldai, XV century wars between Muscovy and Lithuania and other history/map changes which were not touched. If you have something to add, then please expand upon it.
Cossacks: fixing them and a word about Sevriuks
I already annoyed people about it.
But I have a simple idea based on Sevriuks and Siberian expansion.
Allow to make Cossack estate on border with Hordes regardless of terrain.
This is super important. It allows to make Cossacks in Severia, following a history of Sevriuks, make estates in Polish Cherkasy, following history of Register Cossacks, and put Cossacks near Siberian frontier.
Not only it allows to keep border hosts, like it is a case historically, but also make Sevriuks possible. Not just that, it allows to protect and enhance Siberia colonization. And it would perfectly fit with the other very neglected part of the game - Raiding.
Allowing to make Sevriuks (basically Severian Cossacks, more in a sense of Polish Register Cossacks) and adding Bolotnikov uprising during Smuta could also make the Severian experience way more fun.
Severian Missions
Not available yet. But to put it shortly, it is centered about creating Severia Kingdom before becoming Russian Empire, a path alternative to Muscovite one, a path of struggle!
I hope that this update interests you and if Eastern Europe gets a revisit, Severia will be nicely updated.
If you have more suggestions about it, then please do add. Or offer better suggestions about the region! Hope it helps.
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