One question I have is how you plan on modeling tech groups throughout the game. Do you want China to be western, or Europe to still be western primarily. Or something different entirely?
On the subject of the Reformation, a weird Christian/Zoroastrian hybrid is a possibility perhaps, considering both are monotheistic and in this TL Christianity would've gone through Zoroastrian lands. I am uncertain how conflicting the beliefs are beyond that due to a lack of Zoroastrian knowledge, but perhaps it is close enough to be plausible? If so it would certainly be a unique idea. If not, the fate of Zoroastrianism should still be considered. It wasn't really killed off until sometime in the 11th-13th centuries, and by time years and years of Muslim rule had slowly eroded the entire religion.
I will also note that should you have any particular things you need done, I have some modding knowledge and am willing to help if you don't have enough already. Same with playtesting. I have a tendency to break pdox games by looking for loopholes in the coding, so I hopefully can help bugfix if(hopefully when) this gets to a playable state.
I don't know what we're doing with tech groups, honestly. I'd kind of like to get political and cultures finished before we figure that out,
Tentative plans for Zoroastrianism are that it got displaced into the Central Asian steppes (Scythia, for one, is Zoroastrian), though what you're suggesting is possible.
Thanks, any help is appreciated! I'm not a very experienced modder either, for that matter.
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Anyway, since I'm bored, he's a brief description of a hopefully complete Greece and Asia Minor, and a few of the surrounding states, though nothing here is set in stone.
Despite being responsible for the very genesis of much of modern civilization, Greece was never an integral part of the Argean Empire. By the time civil wars begin to play havoc on the Empire in the second. Alternating periods of hegemony and division continued, interspersed with occasional invasions from the north, the largest being by the Goths in the 4th-5th centuries, which made any expansion of Hellenic culture an impossibility. This cycle continued until the 12th century, when the Egyptians came from the south to establish Greece as part of their maritime hegemony that dominated the Eastern Mediterranean. By 1200, after a series of wars, Egyptian supremacy was secure.
The next two hundred years saw Greece chafe under Egyptian rule, especially their ham-handed and ultimately useless efforts to convert the populace to Islam; however, the Egyptian wars had borne a heavy cost, and it would not be until around 1400, when Egypt faced its own civil war between rival political factions at home, that Greece. A widespread rebellion began, with localized factions seizing power in cities across the region. This at first meant that the rebellion could not be put down, and independence was relatively easily won; on the other hand, it left Greece rather fractious and divided.
When
Athens attempted to consolidate its power over the region, the region threatened war again. Athens was forced to cede a great deal of autonomy to the local authorities in order to retain peace, and what resulted was the development of a loosely aligned League; the only thing keeping the League together is the threat of external invasion from one of the region's many threats. And even that unity is precarious, as the League begins to suffer its own internal divisions. Athens must rely on its relative wealth and naval strength to keep the other states of the League in line.
One of the main rivals of Athens is the western state of
Epirus, which has spent the last several years consolidating power, garnering a significant amount of wealth from trade, and developing into a relatively strong land force, and has the capability to challenge Athens for supremacy within the League.
Adjacent to those two are a trio of city-states, (south to north)
Sparta,
Corinth, and
Larissa, who have the capability to become power players as the League's internal politics grow more tense.
The northern edge of the League is formed by
Macedonia and
Thracia, who have little interest in its complex politics, but remain in the League largely as protection against its vengeful, much larger northern neighbor, the Empire of Gothia (depending on whether the Goths actually migrated there or not, might be changed)
Across the sea lie more League states, (counter-clockwise from north)
Bithynia,
Phrygia,
Lesbos,
Rhodes,
Caria, and
Lydia. Although none of them are especially powerful at the moment, the potential is still there. Out of these, Bithynia and Phrygia are developing potential land powers, Rhodes is small but has grown wealthy from trade, and Lesbos has the
POWER OF LOVE!!!
All of the league states are Hellenic.
Cyprus is the last holdout of Egyptian power in the region, and as such deserves mention.
Byzantium is a special case. This devoutly Christian, backwater city-state with dreams of empire had been previously tolerated by the other League members, as it had been an ally against the Egyptians, but the religious differences meant that joining the League was an impossibility. This proved to be Byzantium's downfall, as when diplomatic relations soured and a bizarre incident involving some sheep occurred in Athens, Athens and her allies promptly declared war. Outnumbered and outmatched, Byzantium will truly need divine intervention to survive.
Pontus is the other Christian state in the region, a petty kingdom which has surprisingly managed to remain independent of any other power for centuries.
Cappadocia is the successor state of an Egyptian province which once ruled the area, whose governors seized upon the opportunity of the rebellion to itself break off and establish itself as an independent state. Cappadocia's rulers are Muslim, though especially inland, its people are not. Cappadocia is the best hope to introduce Islam to the region.
Further east is
Armenia, a large Christian kingdom. Between it and Cappadocia lies the buffer kingdom of
Taurus, a Hellenic, Armenian-cultured state, whose days seem rather numbered as both sides look to swallow it whole. Toward the north, along the eastern Black Sea coast, is the Christian coastal kingdom of
Colchis, an ancient state.
There is also
Taurimark, a Hellenic state formed by some time ago a curious bunch of Norwegian-speaking colonists supposedly led there by a young, fair, blond-haired girl famous for her specific choice of weapon. Beyond that is
Scythia, a Zoroastrian kingdom which has achieved legend among the Greeks as the land of the Amazons.
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