monkspider
Warlord
There is a very reasonable amount of anger and bewilderment at the announcement that the HRE is included in BtS as civilization. The arguments against their inclusion very correctly point out that Holy Roman Empire is hardly anything but a proto Germany. Others point out that at it's best, it couldn't be considered a true civilization by any measure, since it was more of an political construct, and no one considered themselves "Holy Romans". Even others would add that Charlemagne never actually ruled what was the Holy Roman Empire, in fact it wasn't even established until 200 years after his death.
In light of all of these facts, most members of the CFC would consider their inclusion to be very blockheaded (and dare I say, dumb) move. But fear not, there may still be time to act. BtS has not gone gold, and it is possible (even if unlikely) that the community could persuade Firaxis to correct this rather silly mistake.
1. Having not seen Charlemagne's actual artwork, it is possible that he could pass as a Polish, or Hungarian leader. Hey, it worked for Alexander and Augustus during the early Civ IV beta, and Qin and Kublai more recently. The HRE UU and UB sound generic enough that they could probably be repurposed as well.
2. Failing this, they could at least rename the Holy Roman Empire to the Frankish Empire. The Franks are probably unlikely to be on anyone's top Civ lists but they are more historically accurate, and would allow Firaxis to keep the actual leaderhead as Charlemagne, which was probably their main reason for including the HRE as a civ.
3. A final, rather novel solution would be to make Charlemagne leader of both France and Germany. This would be kind of fun and unique, after all no other leader can be used with two different countries. This would bypass the French vs. German dispute on Charlemagne's nationality with the only real downsides be that they are not making use of their art assets for the HRE UU and UB and would create the slim possibility that Charlemagne might occasionally fight himself.
If you can think of any other solutions, feel free to add them or if you just want to chime in on your disapproval of the HRE"s inclusion (or your approval). But I think the community has a chance to persuade Firaxis on this, a company that has been historically receptive to the community's wishes, so let's try to send a strong message.
In light of all of these facts, most members of the CFC would consider their inclusion to be very blockheaded (and dare I say, dumb) move. But fear not, there may still be time to act. BtS has not gone gold, and it is possible (even if unlikely) that the community could persuade Firaxis to correct this rather silly mistake.
1. Having not seen Charlemagne's actual artwork, it is possible that he could pass as a Polish, or Hungarian leader. Hey, it worked for Alexander and Augustus during the early Civ IV beta, and Qin and Kublai more recently. The HRE UU and UB sound generic enough that they could probably be repurposed as well.
2. Failing this, they could at least rename the Holy Roman Empire to the Frankish Empire. The Franks are probably unlikely to be on anyone's top Civ lists but they are more historically accurate, and would allow Firaxis to keep the actual leaderhead as Charlemagne, which was probably their main reason for including the HRE as a civ.
3. A final, rather novel solution would be to make Charlemagne leader of both France and Germany. This would be kind of fun and unique, after all no other leader can be used with two different countries. This would bypass the French vs. German dispute on Charlemagne's nationality with the only real downsides be that they are not making use of their art assets for the HRE UU and UB and would create the slim possibility that Charlemagne might occasionally fight himself.
If you can think of any other solutions, feel free to add them or if you just want to chime in on your disapproval of the HRE"s inclusion (or your approval). But I think the community has a chance to persuade Firaxis on this, a company that has been historically receptive to the community's wishes, so let's try to send a strong message.
), and either add Charlemagne to France (4 leaders for a civ that few non-French people ever play!) or (my preference) use him either as 1) a leader for a Hungarian, Lithuanian, Polish or Polish-Lithuanian civ or 2) a new leader for Spain. Or 3) maybe they could darken his skin and he could be Harun al-Rashid! That would be great, an actual Caliph as leader of the Arabs. 
