The Campaign: Germany, + Religion Preview!

[Rhyfelwyr]

Welcome to the third official VR preview!

This preview will show the German territories, mostly occupied by the Holy Roman Empire. The Imperial Italian possesssions will be shown in the next preview, which will cover all of Italy. As a bonus, this preview will also reveal the religions that are included in VR, giving an overview on each.

In 1073 AD, the Salian dynasty ruled the Empire, although an elective system was in place. The core German provinces conform largely to the five main regions of the HRE, namely Franconia, Lorraine, Bavaria, Swabia, and Saxony. Of these, the larger will be represented by two settlements on the map, to highlight their importance and allow a historical representation of the feudal titles held in them. Of the five core regions, four will begin entirely under the control of the Roman Emperor, as he was known at the time. Saxony had been in revolt in 1073, and so the settlements of Bremen and Hamburg are represented through a rebel sub-faction, the Duchy of Saxony. In addition to these core provinces, the Emperor must retain control of the outer provinces, with Brabant in the west, the largely Pagan Nordmark to the north-east, and the Kingdom of Bohemia in the east, currently at war with the anti-Imperial Poland and Hungary. When combined with the Italian provinces, these territories make the Holy Roman Empire the largest faction in VR. However, many were largely free from the Emperor's control, and this will be represented through our government system. For anyone playing as the HRE, the real challenge will lie in consolidating your empire before even thinking of expanding further.

Below are some screenshots of the HRE's territories, and the rebellious Duchy of Saxony:

Northern and central Germany:

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Frisia and Brabant:

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South-west Germany and Imperial Burgundy:

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The Bohemian and Austrian territories:

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The Roman Emperor, Heinrich:

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The pro-Imperial Premyslid dynasty of Bohemia:

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Religion

VR doubles the number of religions included from those in vanilla M2TW. Religion will play a much more significant role than in standard M2TW, with regions much harder to convert, many factions having the ability to change their official religion, and religious populations providing recruitment and building options for settlements. Below is a brief description of each religion and its historical importance, in order of the pic shown:



1. Roman Catholicism While less dominant than in vanilla M2TW, Catholicism will remain a very influential religion in VR, held by a more factions than any other faith. The Pope feature will be kept from vanilla, however new features will be implemented such as the ability to create anti-Popes, the foundation of monastic orders, and historical titles for Bishops and Archbishops should add a lot more flavour for the rolepaying of a faction with this religion.

2. Celtic Christianity - This unique branch of Chistendom is still influential in the more remote parts of western Europe, notably those which retain some form of Celtic identity. Celtic Christianity is the dominant religion of Scotland, Ireland, and also has influence in Brittany in France. Playing as Scotland or Ireland, players will have a choice between developing Catholicism to improve ties with their European counterparts, or maintaining the dominance of Celtic Christianity, with its unique features regarding the calculation of the date of Easter, and its system of monasteries and missionary work.

3. Orthodox Christianity - As in vanilla M2TW, the Orthodox faith will be dominant in Russia and Byzantium. These factions will benefit from new features similar to those being implemented for Catholicism, with the additional bonus of being able to appoint Patriarch's, the head on earth of their faith, whether of the Russian or Greek Orthodox churches. In addition to those, the Orthodox faith has an entire new front in VR, with the map extended southwards to include Makuria and the Ethiopian Zagwe dynasty offering very different challenges to players wishing to try Orthodox factions!

4. Judaism - No faction has Judaism as its official religion in VR, indeed the last officially Jewish empire before 1073 was the long extinct Khazar Khanate. The only settlements to have large Jewish populations are those in Israel, however all throughout Europe there are Jewish communities in many towns and cities. In game, these will provide special buildings, giving bonuses in particular to trade and income.

5. Sunni Islam - The Sunni faith is the more puritanical of the major Islamic denominations, strictly opposed to the idea of sainthood and idolatry. In particular, the Murabitun, originating from the Sahara, threaten to carry their holy war across the Iberian peninsula and perhaps even beyond. Sunni Islam is by far the dominant branch of Islam, dominant throughout north Africa, Arabia, the Levant, Iraq, and to the east of Iran.

6. Shia Islam - The more moderate branch of Islam, the ceremony involved in the Shia faith is in stark contrast to that of their puritanical Sunni counterparts. Only the Fatimids begin as Shia, however there are Shia populations spread dotted around the Sunni world, and in particular being dominant in eastern Iraq and parts of Iran, as well as having expanded through its influence over certain groups of Turks.

7. Zoroastrianism - This religion is a remnant of the beliefs the Parthian nomands once held in Iran. Their beliefs are derived from the prophet Zoroastra, who built a monotheistic faith, based around the divine God Ahura Mazda. A very unique faith amongst the greater Muslim and Christian conflicts of nearby areas, Zoroastrianism is based mainly Iran, where it still has a sizeable number of followers since Islam reached the region in the seventh century.

8. Hinduism - Although there are no Hindu faction in VR, Hinduism is the dominant religion of the far south-east corner of the map, most notably in Sindh and the Indus, and the west-Indian territories held by the Islamic Ghaznavid Empire. Hindiusm is unique in that it is the only polytheistic religion in VR, and Hindu regions will provide many exotic and diverse units, including lots of elephants!

Paganism and Heresy are also included in VR, playing a similar role as they did in vanilla M2TW.

Hope you enjoyed the preview, and please give any feedback!