The Least flavored region in the whole game: a couple of suggestions to fix it. (Siberia)

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macky527

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Currently, Siberia is arguably the least flavored region in the whole game. Even if it is not #1 it is definetly high up on the list. This is because the game neglects Siberia a lot in terms of... everything. In this thread I will give out some ideas for Siberia. The issues plaguing the region in my opinion are:
1 - A ill-fitted religion. Tengriism in-game represents most forms of Siberian shamanism under it's umbrella (except ainu for some reason?), but it's bonuses are ill-fitted for siberians. The lack of more flavor events also is a mark against it.
2 - Lack of unique NI's. Tags like Nivkh and Chukchi have easy potential for national ideas, with clear focuses, but instead use the generic siberian ideas. It is okay for some tags with little data (like Chavchuveny for example, i need help with them as i cant find anything on them), but having more unique ideas
3 - Arguably the least developed government reform in the whole game, the Siberian Clan Council. For a start it doesn't have estates or factions, while most government reforms have one. Native Americans do not have either as well, but are compensated with Federations, Tribal Development, and unique native buildings, all of which SCC's lack. Am not saying 'give Siberians New World mechanics', am saying that Siberians need something accurate but can also make them fun to play.
4 - Not enough tags. One of the things that makes a region more fun is the number of tags; The more tags in an area, the more possible alliances, targets for war, and it generally makes gameplay look more interesting. Tag-making may be a bit restrained now, but there are certainly ways to fit relevant tags in Siberia.

This one is the easiest to implement and one of the more important ones, so this goes first. @Pavía . In here, I have made national ideas for Nivkh and Chukchi (2 "musts"!) and Kamchadals, Khodynt, Nanai, Orochoni and Xibe (also important, but not as needed as the former two.)

First is Nivkh ideas. I have already made these before on Paradox Forums, but am gonna put these here again. the Nivkh ideas should be focused on trade and diplomacy, with a potential naval focus as well. Note that subsitute ideas are made as well, if you do not like some of the modifiers I put.

Traditions:
+10% Trade Efficiency
+10% Naval Morale

1) +1 diplo rep
2) +10% global sailors, +10% global trade power
3) +10% production efficiency
4) -1 national unrest
5) +10% goods produced
6) +15% trade range
7)+10% Infantry Combat ability

Ambition: +15% improve relations

Another modifier I was thinking of was +1 accepted cultures, this can replace Naval Morale, or be combined with the diplo rep at the first slot.

Next is Chukchi ideas. The fact you guys have not made a separate national idea set for the Chukchi is kinda strange in my opinion, as they were by far the most relevant of the 4 "Far East" siberian tags. I have given them a military-oriented set, to reference the long conflict they had against the Russians. The "Prussia of Siberia" if you will.
Traditions:
+25% loot amount
+15% movement speed
1) -15% land attrition
2) +10% land morale
3) -10% shock damage recieved
4) +10% goods produced
5) -5% fire damage recieved, +2.5% discipline
6) +15% global trade power
7) +20 settler increase
Ambition: +20% global sailors

If you want to cement this tag as militaristic, you can replace one of the traditions or the ambition with Shock Damage Recieved, moving the Fire Damage Recieved to the Shock Damage Recieved slot, and buffing the discipline to 5%, but I feel that this is good already.

Next is Nanai ideas. They were pretty different from Jurchens so imo a set for them is quite needed, and this is the 3rd most important NI set I am making, although it isn't as urgent as Nivkh or Chukchi. If Orochoni does not get their own set, then they should use Nanai ideas, rather than Jurchen.

Traditions:
+2 tolerance of the true faith
-15% shock damage recieved
1) -20% land attrition
2) +10% global sailors, +10% global trade power
3) -0.02 war exhaustion
4) +10% production efficiency
5) +1 legitimacy
6) +1 yearly prestige
7) +10% morale of armies
Ambition: -1 global unrest

Next is Kamchadal ideas. The first thing to note is that I think the tag should be renamed "Itelmen" or "Itelmens", as Kamchadals were natives of Kamchatka who assimilated into Russian culture, or mixed blood settlers of the peninsula.

Traditions:
+20% global sailors
+15% movement speed
1) +1 yearly legitimacy
2) +10% goods produced
3) +1 land leader shock
4) +15% defensiveness
5) +10% global manpower
6) -10% build cost
7) +10% global trade power
Ambition: +1 admiral maneuver

Next is Khodynt ideas. I labelled the set 'Yukaghir' instead as this set works for any Yukaghir tag, but it's unlikely a 2nd yukaghir tag would ever be introduced.

Traditions:
+10% production efficiency
+1 hostile attrition
1) -10% stability cost, +50% female advisor chance
2) +1 land leader shock
3) +1 tolerance of the true faith, -0.1 yearly corruption
4) -15% land attrition
5) -25% unjustified demands
6) +10% global trade power
7) +5% trade efficiency, +1 land leader maneuver
Ambition: +10% morale of armies

Orochoni ideas, another militarily oriented idea set. If they do not deserve their own set, make them use Nanai ideas.

Traditions:
+1 yearly legitimacy
+1 hostile attrition
1) +10% production efficiency
2) +10% infantry combat ability
3) +10% shock damage
4) +1 land leader maneuver, +1 admiral maneuver
5) +1 yearly prestige
6) +15% movement speed
7) +10% land morale
Ambition: +20% manpower modifier

Xibe ideas. Now I just realized I misspelled the tag as Xibe when it should have been Sibe. Oops. If this tag doesn't deserve it's own set, make them use Jurchen ideas. This tag should also start as a vassal of Korchin, ideally. Culture Conversion might be an odd pick, so if you do not want that, give Sibe -10% land attrition, the same as Jurchen's ambition.

Traditions:
+10% defensiveness
+15% fire damage
1) +10% cavalry combat ability
2) +50% chance of new heir
3) -10% idea cost
4) +5% discipline
5) +15% movement speed
6) +20% improve relations
7) -10% development cost
Ambition: -20% culture conversion cost

Coded NI's are attached, with localization.

Siberian Clan Council definetly need some sort of mechanic to stand out and make it not so flavorless and static, in my opinion.

The first potential mechanic you can use is reusing the Parliament mechanic, relocalized as the "Council of Elders". Ideally, seats would be localized as "Tribes" or "villages", but idk if that's possible. Unique debates would be ideal, but not 100% needed. Based loosely off the Ainu carange, although something similar happened among various different groups: "Disputes between kotan (settlements) were decided on the merits in open discussions called carange, to prevent the disputes from escalating into violence. The debates took place in casi, or fortified compounds. In addition to this, the custom of saimon or "trial by ordeal" remained strong, and the outcome of such ordeals constituted a pact to settle a matter."

The second idea is to use Factions, unique to Siberian Clan Councils, as these tend to be the default for estate-less tags. The factions were made via generalizations of the most important forces in Siberian societies. Note that these are kinda 'draft' versions, any feedback on these would be helpful.

Shamans - +1 tolerance of the true faith, -10% idea cost. -2.5% discipline - Influence Increases when at positive stability
Clan Leaders/Clans - +15% improve relations, +1 diplomatic upkeep, +0.15 monthly autonomy - Influence increases when establishing Alliances or Royal Marriages
War Leaders/Warriors - +10% national manpower, +0.5 yearly army tradition, -10% improve relations - Influence increases when at war

Nanai and Orochoni should start off as Siberian Clan Councils instead of Hordes imo, their structure aligned much more with their northern neighbors than their southern ones.
Haixi and Jianzhou can also start as Tribal Federations rather than hordes as well, but that's a whole different tangent.

The religious mechanics and events for Tengri feel made for hordes, neglecting the fact that Siberian shamanism is lumped in as well.

The first thing I would do is to make Ainu start off Tengri, rather than Animist. This may look weird, but if Siberian shamanism is represented as Tengri, and if Nivkh is Tengri, there is no reason for Ainu to stay animist.

The second thing is that the Siberian Clan Councils should start with Totemism or animism as a syncretic faith, rather than the 'No Syncretic Faith', as the beliefs of Siberians often have overlaps in North America, and often had animal worship as well.

The third thing is that flavor events should exist referencing certain ceremonies popular to certain ethnic groups in Siberia. These can be either tied to the culture or the religion, personally I would tie them to the religion but it's up to you. A notable example of a must-have flavor event include the Bear Festival for Ainu and Nivkh, but there are many others, in particular referencing the shaman's ceremonies and rituals.

Although any tag additions must be done in a conservative manner, some (minor) tags have been added in 1.32 (like Wadai) and soon enough, in 1.34 (So far, Latgalia), showing the doors for new tag additions are not closed just yet. This gives me hope that Siberia can hopefully recieve some new tags. So here are some tags that Siberia and it's vicinity can use.

1) Buryatia (revived) - Have no idea why this tag was removed, removing it was unecessary imo. So I would give them the provinces of, Ude, Barguzin Irkutsk and Ust-Kut, with Chara being owned by Solon. Even without the gold mine, a Buryatia tag is quite necessary and imo worth readding again. Note that the Buryat culture should be in the Altaic culture group with their Mongolic brethren, and be a Horde rather than a Siberian Clan Council.
2) Sakha - Out of all the peoples in the middle of Siberia, the Yakuts or Sakha are by far the most relevant, and would make for an interesting addition. This thread already has many ideas for what a Sakha tag would look like, and they are unique enough imo to recieve their own idea set.
1654359510229.png
Possible flag for Sakha, the modern flag of the Sakha Republic.
3) Skewbald Horde
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skewbald_Horde - owns Tomsk, Ket, Agan and Vah. Could start off as a Horde rather than a Siberian Clan Council. Would have Samoyed primary culture. Ideally Selkup gets its own culture, but Samoyed works too i guess.
1654359706702.png
Selkup ethnic flag, what I would use for a skewbald horde tag
4/5/6/7) Konda,Pelym,Belogorje,Lyapin
These 4 tags are all in the Yugra region, and were documented by the Russians. These tags would be all Ostyak culture, and would likely share one or two national idea sets (Khanty vs Mansi) among them. Pelym would own Pelym and Tura, Konda would own Ostyaki, As and possibly Sibir, Belogorje would own Surgut and Yugan, and Lyapin would own Komi, Obdorsk and Berezov. (First province listed is the capital)
As for flags,I would use these:
1654360169441.png
Lyapin (actually Obdorsk's symbol, but Obdorsk's kingdom is absorbed into Lyapin in this setup)
1654360331108.png
Konda
1654360388240.png
Pelym
1654360469747.png
Belogorye
8/9) Khakas/Yenisei Kyrgyz, Altai
The land of Kyrgyz culture given to Oirat in the Manchuria update should be in fact be not owned by Oirat directly, instead owned by new states, tributaries of Oirat; Altai and Yenisei Kyrgyz (Tuva/Uriankhai is a potential 3rd option, but am unsure.)

Yenisei Kyrgyz should own Pegaya Orda, Kuznetsk and Sayan, Altai should own Altai Uriankhai, Barnaul and Imakia, and Tuva should own Tannu Uriankhai and Khovsgol. All likely hordes rather than Siberian Clan Councils. All 3 can have different NI's, or Tuva and Altai can share.
1654394773099.png
Altai flag (Altai Republic flag)
1654394832257.png
Khakas people flag, what I would use for the Yenisei Kyrgyz
1654394932277.png
Tuva's flag

Will research and come up with the Yakut, Selkup, Khanty and Mansi NI's later down the line (will post them in replies or/and edits when I am done), but for now here is the plans for Buryat, Yenisei Kyrgyz and Tuvan ideas (modsiberia2ideas)
 

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Do you mean trading? The Saami of Obdoria (Yamal) traded with Novgorod, Rus. Exported arctic fox skins. The Saami dressed in the clothes of Ancient Rus'.
Also, Western Siberia actively traded with Sasanian Iran. Archaeologists find many dishes from the Sassanid dynasty, dozens of times more than those found in Iran itself. Western Siberia exported sable and marten furs.
Many Mansi, Ugrians participated in the invasion of Europe during the time of Attila. The ancestors of the Hungarians also come from there.
I mean within the game's timeframe. It's nice that they traded so afar then, but things change rapidly especially in the steppe-adjacent areas.

I mean any formal relations with any polities aside from war.
 
Changed the NI's to be more balanced, as well as gave chavchuveny ideas based off the koryaks
 

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On the ethnic map you can see that the city of Perm is the ethnic border between the Bashkirs and the Permians
View attachment 906394
If we compare the Dolgikh map and the map for the Bashkirs, then we get such a border of the western settlement of the Mansi.
The Mansi divisions are named after the rivers: Vishera, Kosva, Upper Tura, Chusovaya, Ufa, Iren and Sylva. Dolgikh included the so-called Turin Tatars in the Mansi, saying that they were Tatarized Mansi.
Ayat does not seem to be the name of the river.

Clip2Net Menu_2022-11-15_22_59_34.png


Pelym - owns Pelym, Konda, Sosva
Koda - owns Koda, Belogorye, Bardak
Obdorsk - owns Lyapin, Obdorsk, Kazym

at least thats the way i see it, idk

Obdorsk is similar to the name of a Russian fortress ending in -sk. It is better to call her Obdoria or simply Ob. The capital of the Mansi Obdoria is Pulnovat-vosh. on the map I gave above, the name seems to be more accurate, Puling-avot-vash. Obdorsk fortress built by the Russians.

The Russians claim that one dynasty ruled in Pelym and Kondа. Pelym consisted of three parts: Pelym itself, Konda and Tabary.

Bardak Principality is known by the Russian name of the time of Yermak, that is, the end of the XVI century. This principality is named after the Ostyak, that is, the Khanty prince Bardak. Therefore, I propose to call this principality Vasyugan after the name of the river.

Belogorye should be called by some local name. Because not Slavs lived there, to call it White Mountain, Belaya Gora.
 
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If we compare the Dolgikh map and the map for the Bashkirs, then we get such a border of the western settlement of the Mansi.
The Mansi divisions are named after the rivers: Vishera, Kosva, Upper Tura, Chusovaya, Ufa, Iren and Sylva. Dolgikh included the so-called Turin Tatars in the Mansi, saying that they were Tatarized Mansi.
Ayat does not seem to be the name of the river.

View attachment 910974



Obdorsk is similar to the name of a Russian fortress ending in -sk. It is better to call her Obdoria or simply Ob. The capital of the Mansi Obdoria is Pulnovat-vosh. on the map I gave above, the name seems to be more accurate, Puling-avot-vash. Obdorsk fortress built by the Russians.

The Russians claim that one dynasty ruled in Pelym and Kondа. Pelym consisted of three parts: Pelym itself, Konda and Tabary.

Bardak Principality is known by the Russian name of the time of Yermak, that is, the end of the XVI century. This principality is named after the Ostyak, that is, the Khanty prince Bardak. Therefore, I propose to call this principality Vasyugan after the name of the river.

Belogorye should be called by some local name. Because not Slavs lived there, to call it White Mountain, Belaya Gora.
Fair enough changes. Belogorye being a name of Russian origin tbh isn't the worst idea, as EU4 doesnt solely stick to endonyms. Obdorsk tag can afford to lose the -sk though and become Obdor. But just asking, what was the 3rd most significant state in Yugra? I know Pelym was significant for the Mansi, being a Novgorod ally, and Koda would become the most significant later in the timeline, but what would be a good 3rd tag? Chose Obdorsk/Obdor only because their symbol is the modern Salekhard symbol.