Middle East Immersion

CHECK CHANGE LOG TO SEE A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF CHANGES, UPDATES ETC.

Compability with other mods is not supported per se, but works with several recommendable mods such as terrain pictures mods (e.g. Silk Road Terrain Pictures), Colonial Freedom, Expanded Mod Family, The Great Exhibition, Declare an Empire, etc.

This mod combines some of the best mods regarding the Middle East region and combining them into one. I want to thank everyone on this following list for having inspired me to do this, and especially for allowing me to incorporate each of their excellent works into this mod, which also features some home-made stuff.

1) Ottoman Missions, courtesy of Parmelion – an extensive Ottoman mission tree, which is both externally and internally focused.

2) Ottoman Events, courtesy of sN0w – events that provide distinctive and also balanced flavor for the Ottomans, besides being reflective of the varying competence of Ottoman sultans in this time period, giving rewards or penalties.

3) Saladin’s Legacy, courtesy of Plati – a mod consisting of a mission tree for Hisn Kayfa, renamed Ayyubids to reflect their glorious past and accompanied by a few events.

4) Historical Subjects, courtesy of MiguelW97 – one of my personal favorites, giving the Ottomans +1 Diplomatic Relations for every historical subject they have (e.g. the Barbary States such as Tunisia, Tripoli, Algiers to mention some), making a minor vassal swarm possible.

5) Ardabili/Persian missions and annexation events, courtesy of the creators of Lux in Tenebris – making the formation of Persia or even Mughals easier for the player/AI.

6) Greek province names and some area names from the 2018 mod Rebirth of Hellas by Ornlu Wolfjarl.

And with the latest update another mod, which has been dusted off for this occasion:

7) Ethiopia Missions Plus, a brilliant 2018 mod by Aelexander, which in itself enriches Ethiopia, and after some tinkering of my own should provide an exciting, but not too easy way to glory.

Besides these works, I have made the following content.

Egypt is now the primary tag for Egyptian culture instead of the Mamluks. While Egypt doesn’t have the Mamluk Government (yet), I have made a mission tree and created an idea set, primarily inspired by Muhammed Ali Pasha’s 19th century Egypt, but with some creative liberties in the process.

Syria has unique ideas now as well, and an extensive mission tree, primarily inspired by another modern Syrian entity, the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria. Therefore this mission tree is designed with the formation of Arabia in mind. Syria’s flag has been changed from the vanilla, which bore a close resemblance to the flag of the French Mandate of Syria, to the flag of the Arab Kingdom of Syria to better reflect its nationalist mission tree.

The flag of the rather insignificant tag of Fez resembles the flag of the Almohad Caliphate, and has inspired a name change from Fez to Almohads, unique ideas and an irredentist mission tree, which aims to retake Almohad lands lost in North Africa and Iberia.
Oman has a more extensive mission tree, which gives the player the opportunity to recreate the Early Modern Era Omani maritime empire stretching from the coasts of Fars and Baluchistan to the coastal hubs of Kilwa and Mogadishu, besides the island of Zanzibar.

Yemen, Ardalan and Iraq have minor mission trees, primarily internally focused. The conquest missions are partly based on the modern nations and partly on history, especially Yemen’s expansionist drive to the north.
Three new tags have been created. Firstly, The Caliphate, which is switched to when deciding to Unify Islam. Ideas and mission tree are inherited from the tag that formed The Caliphate (e.g. Ottoman or Mughal ideas/missions). Unfortunately, the unique governments of the Ottomans, Mamluks or the Mughals will be lost and be replaced by a Feudal Theocracy. A special disaster has been created for the Caliphate, called Islamic Civil War (fitna). This causes the Caliphate to be burdened with rebellions, tearing the country apart into several breakaway states.
The second tag is Zanzibar, which will appear if the Swahili Coast is controlled by a Muslim tag (e.g. Oman) and rebels control some crucial areas.
The third addition is a second Bosnia, which unlike vanilla Bosnia, which remains the primary nation of Bosnian culture, is a more Turkified version to reflect the rising Ottoman and Islamic influence through Turkish/Arab-origin names to rulers and a green flag. This tag will only appear through a triggered event, when the Bosnia mission in the Turkish tree is completed – the original Bosnia will not lose its cores and can still be restored.

A further bonus is a focus on the Indian tag Mysore, a country which to my sadness has been overlooked, considering its contribution to rocket technology in the 18th century. It now has a mission tree, which will lead Mysore to reach its widest extent it reached in history. A few events have been added, which gives the player the opportunity to embrace Hyder Ali and his son Tipu (who’s rule gives strong positive modifiers), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, as new rulers of Mysore, making Mysore an Islamic country, for the mid-1700s. At the turn of the century Mysore will revert to its Hindu roots and the maharaja of the Wadiyar dynasty reinstated. Another new addition is the addition of a Maratha mission tree and modifiction of a Mughal event, that makes Maratha independence much more likely.

The changes of November 1st are supposed to help bring about the fall of the Ottomans. To that end, several events can trigger declarations of independence in Greece, throughout the Balkans and the Arabian Peninsula. The obscure, yet familiar tag of Greece now has a modern era mission tree focused on realization of the Megali Idea, that dominated Greek politics from the Independence War until the Greco-Turkish War in the aftermath of World War 1. The rare tag of Crete has got a new flag to complement the Greek tree, where Greece can encourage a Cretan independence war, with potential Great Power intervention, to mirror the Cretan Rebellion in the late 19th century. Bulgaria has also their modern era flag and minor mission tree changes, that along with Greek irredentism should make the Balkans a powder keg, if events that can release several Balkan nations from their Ottoman overlords are triggered!

The last changes are a couple of mission trees to the overlooked Horn of Africa. Focus has been put on Adal and Ajuuran, whose mission trees can lead them not merely to hegemony over the Horn, but either down to the Swahili Coast or into the Arabian peninsula. In that regard, the addition of the Ethiopian mission tree by Aelexander makes the Horn of Africa a more immersive region with the big tags having flavor.

To sum up:

Mission trees for
1) Syria
2) Egypt
3) Almohads
4) Oman
5) Yemen
6) Iraq
7) Ardalan
8) Mysore
9) Persia
10) Greece
11) Adal
12) Ajuuran
13) Marathas

Unique ideas for
1) Syria
2) Egypt
3) Iraq
4) Almohads

New flags for
1) Mahra
2) Mysore
3) Sunni rebels
4) Shia rebels
5) Lebanon
6) Syria
7) Bulgaria
8) Crete

New/totally reworked tags:
1) The Caliphate
2) Zanzibar
3) Almohads (formerly Fez)
4) Ottoman Bosnia (not to be confused with vanilla Bosnia)

This is my first real mod, so I would greatly appreciate feedback, especially regarding modifiers (which might be OP, especially modifiers I don’t really know) and the Islamic Civil War (if you get that far), which is extremely severe. It is only through feedback, that I can change these things for the better.