Byzantium – Enhanced Byzantine Culture
"What was the ruin of Sparta and Athens, but this, that mighty as they were in war, they spurned from them as aliens those whom they had conquered?"
– Emperor Claudius
This mod is an attempt to enhance the Byzantine Culture group with the hope of recommending such a change to Paradox. The first important point being that anyone in the Byzantine culture group can use these events and decisions, starting as or forming Byzantium isn’t required. This also means that if you can culture flip into Byzantine you can enjoy this content, and it’s advised not to flip to a more immediately populous culture group or you will miss out entirely. Then there are the major design decisions.
– The main choice is recurring and straightforward: Conversion or Acceptance? Do we accept cultures and perhaps have some of their traits diffuse into the broader nation, or try to restore the cultures that once lived there for centuries, or even try to spread those beyond their historical boudnaries? If I’ve done it right one is easier, perhaps more ethical, while the other path can have a potentially more powerful capstone. Ideally you can mix and match strategies for the four primary regions and play around with what suits.
– Since culture is a binary affair in EU4, instead of overriding the vanilla culture assignments, a Byzantine nation has the ability to grab hold of the minority as and when they encounter it and use that as a springboard for easier conversion.
– This is less of a mechanical design choice, but since this is speculative history, bordering on fiction, it may be ideal not to imagine all the cultures now in the Byzantine group as different flavour of Hellenophones. Some of them definitely are, but in my conception I imagine the more distant cultures still using their own tongue. Albanian for example just straight up transplants from South Slavic to Byzantine with little internal change as their ties to the Greek world improve.
This is probably the most complex mod in this chain I’ve made so far, so let me know about any bugs. Also let me know about the balance, whether it’s too powerful or one set of options feels lackluster, as this is meant to represent a possible suggestion for Paradox. It’s focused on the territories of the Eastern Empire, but there are ideas that could be implemented for the post-Restoration gameplay.
Hope you enjoy this, and looking forward to your feedback and suggestions!
Required DLC:
These DLC should be installed in order to use this item.
Europa Universalis IV: Purple Phoenix
Revisions:
Old revisions of this mod are available below. Click the link to download.
