OK, here's my rationale behind the breaking down of the UK into her constituent parts.
a) Scotland didn't just "go away" in 1707. Throughout the 18th century, Scotland retained her identity as an ethnically, culturally and religiously different area of the United Kingdom. We aren't speaking about the difference between Dixies, Texans and Yankees: we're looking at the difference between Danes and Norwegians, but with Danes and Norwegians having major religious differences thrown into the bargain.
The last Scottish nationalist uprising wasn't in 1745, as some claim: it was in 1820, 16 years before the game starts, and resulted in the ringleaders being beheaded.
b) For most of this period, Scots was still a very different language from English and despite the best efforts of the educational establishment, it remained so well into the 20th century (and up until the present day, in many places). An Aberdonian would have been as difficult for a Londoner to comprehend in 1836 as, say, a Bavarian to a Prussian. North and South Germans are represented in the game, why not the constituent parts of the UK?
c) Welsh is a completely different lanaguge entirely to English, and was far more dominant in the 19th century than it is today. To simply lump Wales into some "British" identity is to ignore huge linguistic and cultural differences of long standing.
d) People often say that this was "the point at which everyone was truly British". Be that as it may, that implies loyalty to an institution (the monarchy/parliament) rather than some new ethnicity which sprung out of Act of Union. All through the 19th century, the Scots, Welsh and English continued to refer to eachother as such, despite common loyalty to the institutions of Britain. This is best represented by keeping the cultures individual, but giving the UK English, Scots and Welsh as state cultures.
e) There may be little possibility of Scotland becoming independent in game (and none for Wales), but that isn't the criteria VIP uses to define whether or not a culture should be included. If that were the case, then the whole of Africa would be "African Minor", Belgium would be "Belgian" and India would be "Indian". The purpose of VIP is to refine, improve and make more accurate. That's what I've tried to do here. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that Scottish Home Rule was debated thirteen times in the House of Commons over the course of the late 19th century. It was only postponed, with Irish Home Rule, because of the First World War. Had it not been for Franz Ferdinand's asassination, a devolved Scottish Parliament (or Scottish satelite state, in Vicky terms) could well have come into being in the 1920s: well within the Victoria timeline.
Nope. In the course of re-arranging the POPs, I reduced the population of the entire United Kingdom by about five million, to historically accurate levels for the time period. The reason that the UK has been overpowered is because she had five million people she shouldn't have
POPs will migrate, and with this in mind, the UK will benefit from multiple state cultures. I'd estimate, however, that these benefits are more than offset by the initial population reduction.
a) Scotland didn't just "go away" in 1707. Throughout the 18th century, Scotland retained her identity as an ethnically, culturally and religiously different area of the United Kingdom. We aren't speaking about the difference between Dixies, Texans and Yankees: we're looking at the difference between Danes and Norwegians, but with Danes and Norwegians having major religious differences thrown into the bargain.
The last Scottish nationalist uprising wasn't in 1745, as some claim: it was in 1820, 16 years before the game starts, and resulted in the ringleaders being beheaded.
b) For most of this period, Scots was still a very different language from English and despite the best efforts of the educational establishment, it remained so well into the 20th century (and up until the present day, in many places). An Aberdonian would have been as difficult for a Londoner to comprehend in 1836 as, say, a Bavarian to a Prussian. North and South Germans are represented in the game, why not the constituent parts of the UK?
c) Welsh is a completely different lanaguge entirely to English, and was far more dominant in the 19th century than it is today. To simply lump Wales into some "British" identity is to ignore huge linguistic and cultural differences of long standing.
d) People often say that this was "the point at which everyone was truly British". Be that as it may, that implies loyalty to an institution (the monarchy/parliament) rather than some new ethnicity which sprung out of Act of Union. All through the 19th century, the Scots, Welsh and English continued to refer to eachother as such, despite common loyalty to the institutions of Britain. This is best represented by keeping the cultures individual, but giving the UK English, Scots and Welsh as state cultures.
e) There may be little possibility of Scotland becoming independent in game (and none for Wales), but that isn't the criteria VIP uses to define whether or not a culture should be included. If that were the case, then the whole of Africa would be "African Minor", Belgium would be "Belgian" and India would be "Indian". The purpose of VIP is to refine, improve and make more accurate. That's what I've tried to do here. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that Scottish Home Rule was debated thirteen times in the House of Commons over the course of the late 19th century. It was only postponed, with Irish Home Rule, because of the First World War. Had it not been for Franz Ferdinand's asassination, a devolved Scottish Parliament (or Scottish satelite state, in Vicky terms) could well have come into being in the 1920s: well within the Victoria timeline.
Dysken said:
Nope. In the course of re-arranging the POPs, I reduced the population of the entire United Kingdom by about five million, to historically accurate levels for the time period. The reason that the UK has been overpowered is because she had five million people she shouldn't have
POPs will migrate, and with this in mind, the UK will benefit from multiple state cultures. I'd estimate, however, that these benefits are more than offset by the initial population reduction.
