My ambition in this mod is to make it so complex that gameplay in every culture will be one way or another different from the others, thus giving players completely new gameplay experience every time they try playing as new culture. This also involves recreating societies of those cultures as realistically as it's possible. Therefore I introduce you to the idea society of Rome will be revolving around. The idea is simple, as in Indian cultures in Rajas of India DLC, Romans (and not necesarily only them - but a word on that later) will be divided into 5 different social classes, representing the divisions in society in Rome. I present the list of those classes with predicted bonuses and permissions, from the highest to the lowest.
- Patricius - the highest class, representing the very elite of Rome and the only one with full political and civil rights (that involves becoming a senator, holding all offices and titles)
- +2 Diplomacy, due to reputation of Patrician class
- +20 opinion to other Patricians, due to some sort of aristocratic sense of kinship
- -20 opinion to Plebeians, due to the Conflict of the Orders
- -50 opinion to Slaves, due to the Patricians most frequently using (and abusing) them
- Eques - the second highest class, representing the aristocrasy of lower status, composed of men wealthy enough to afford having a horse (since the name), able to hold senior military and administratory offices and most titles
- +1 Stewardship, due to Eques being mostly composed of skilled merchants and administrators
- +1 Martial, due to the nature of Equitarian class and their exclusive right to hold some military offices
- +10 opinion to other Equtarians, also aristocratic kinship but less effective due to the more meritocratic nature of the class
- -10 opinion to Plebeians, due to the Conflict of Orders (lesser effect because of same as above)
- -10 opinion to Freedmen, due to the distaste of freeborn to freed slaves
- -20 opinion to Slaves, due to usage of them (but in lesser manner than Patricians)
- Plebeius - the middle (or in reality lower) class, representing the very People of Rome, composed of poorer citizens of lower birth, able only to hold the title of Plebeian Tribune and attend to People's Assembly
- +20 opinon to other Plebeians, due to the common cause in Conflict of the Orders
- -20 opinon to Patricians, due to the Conflict of the Orders
- -10 opinion to Equitarians, same as above
- -10 opinion to Freedmen, due to the distaste of freeborn to freed slaves
- -10 opinion to Slaves, due to the distaste of free men for slaves
- Libertus - the lower class, composed of slaves freed by their masters, having the right to attend to People's Assembly but no right to hold any office or title.
- -1 Diplomacy, due to the stain of slavery
- +10 opinion to other Freedmen and Slaves, due to the slave kinship
- -10 opinion to Equitarians and Plebeians, due to their distaste for former slaves
- Servus - the lowest class, composed of slaves, human-property with no rights
- -2 Diplomacy, due to status as slave
- +50 opinion to other Slaves, due to the very strong slave kinship
- +10 opinion to Freedmen, due to the slave kinship
- -50 opinion to Patricians, due to their use and abuse of slaves
- -20 opinion to Equitarians, same as above
- -10 opinion to Plebeians, due to the distaste of free men for slaves
Because of the title holding availability, the mod will probably allow you to play as a member of only the first (or the first two) class(es).
I will also try to implement fully operational Roman Senate, cursus honorum (with all its offices), parties in the Senate - the Optimates and the Populares, option to organise a Triumph upon completing a succesful war campaign and more.
This involves creation of many roman-exclusive traits: Senator, Quaestor (example of currently held office), Former Quaestor (for the purpose of cursus honorum), Optimas & Popularis (and an option to choose/change faction membership) and more.
That is all for today, I hope you like those ideas - if so, share our mod with your friends who also play Crusader Kings II. Knowing that you people wait for this mod to be released really helps me out a lot.
Stay tuned for more news and features.
~Arivius
Sorry, I forgot to add because I wrote this feature in the middle of the night:
As Patricius you will have the ability to perform manumissio - aka to free one of your slaves - the freedman will become your courtier with special reputation bonus (patronus-libertus relation). Slave trade will also be implemented, giving you the option to buy a slave for certain purpose (e.g. tutor, worker, gladiator and more) and also (to a certain degree) of chosen nationality. Therefore roman class system will also expand to different nationalities as long as they have Roman citizenship or are slaves.
Great idea,I particularly love the Ancient Era.Just a couple of questions:do you plan to introduce the military tree of the cursus honorum,such as tribunes and legates,to the roman faction?And about policy,would we be able to implement it,as in Drusus' proposed enfranchisement of the Socii?And are the Assemblies going to be event-like?Also,what CK version will be needed to run this?If you need any research material,I've got loads of books about this age,so just send me a message.Thanks and keep up the wonderful work
About CK version - I don't know yet. I update the game regularly and new updates often give new opportunities - Paradox releases new mechanics which I can use to improve mod. Thus I'd say - probably the very last version. Now I'm working on version 2.1.3 I believe.
I'm not sure if I understand correctly what you mean by introducing a military tree, could you explain it a little? As much as I'd love to, I'm not an omnibus and I may not be familiar with what you mean. The same applies to policy question, if you ask particularily about enfranchisement of Socii, I think there will be such option. Maybe there will be special event after winning Social War as Rome to choose what will happen with unruly Italians. Maybe there will be even special crown law that will either enable or disable cultural assimilation? I don't know yet, this is very open subject.
About popular assemblies - that is very probable, but that really depends on what will be their role. If assemblies gameplay-wise will have little-to-no impact on the game, there will simply be no point in adding them. But if they will really change it, they will be a must. It really depends on how society will look like in the end. That's another quite open subject, so we'll see.
And thanks for support, I really appreciate all ideas and interest you put into my mod's development. :)
I'll try to explain better.For a man to start the cursus honorum,he must've served as a military tribune with the legions,they were elected every year and there were 4 for every consular legion,this in Republican times.By the Imperial era,they were 5 for every legion,4 of them being eques and the senior tribune a senator.Legates were the commander's personal assistant during a campaign,often commanding a legion by themselves.
About policy:I meant also stuff like the Edict of Milan,or the enfrachisement of every people in the Empire.This would tie in with being a Optimate or a Popularis
The assemblies were quite big,they were one of the reasons for the war between Marius and Sulla
About policy: I think it's the matter of events. Just as you have for example fabular even for Byzantines associated with Greek Fire in vanilla, there could also be either year-specific or associated with certain factors (for example Christianity being very common in Edict of Milan one) historical events for Rome.
About cursus honorum: Honestly? I have no idea now how that could be implemented. Maybe members of the senate could be granted the title of Military Tribune which in turn could grant them possibility to command forces? I guess something like that could work.
About assemblies: I agree, their role in Roman politics was crucial, but it's like in vanilla CK - you don't see simple folk interacting with rulers - CK in all its glory forgets about people - the only thing that resembles them are province cultures and local revolts. I just think it could be difficult to make assembly important in CK, since there is little-to-no mechanics to make assembly work.
The cursus honorum maybe could be added as a trait,for instance,being a tribune would grant +1 martial,permanent,legates could have +3,etc.
Another thing i just thought about was the age requirements for certain positions,such as praetors and consuls.Senators could stand for praetors only when 38 or older and for consul when 40 or older,Sulla in his dictatorship passed a law which allowed patricians to stand for curule office a year before plebeians.
About assemblies,they were the main reason for the rift between Marius and Sulla,and were also used by Pompeius and Caesar to secure their commands against the pirates and Gaul,respectively.Maybe implanting them as events would work,because these situations were not all that common.
In one of feature's paragraphs I mentioned that cursus honorum will work as a trait system, so that's already done.
Finally, you must understand that recreating ancient societies (especially Roman with all its complexity) fully in Ancient Kings is impossible. For playability's sake, I can't include too much details, that's what this is about. I mentioned that assemblies are a matter for later discussion, since I don't know yet how exactly Roman state/politics/whatever will work. When I'll proceed to actually creating those offices, traits and events, then I can know for sure if and how assemblies will work in AK. I hope you understand my motives.
You have the drive for perfection that so many game designers lack. You are creating exactly what I am looking for! Keep up the good work!
Thanks! I really appreciate what you say. :)