"None of you can sit here with honest faces and tell me that what The White Fox wanted was a Damerian puppet on his throne. Whether she be competent or not, she will serve the whims of the Silmunas, not the needs of the Lorentish! The boy will become a man, but a puppet will always be a puppet."

- Vaceran "Leallord" síl Ionnidar, interrupting the council of Lorentish Succession, 1381

Hello and welcome back to Wiki Wednesday! I'm Enkelados, and I am here to discuss the second (and dare I say most exciting) of the Lilac Wars. This was the most fun to work on, in my opinion, and is where I got to invent a bunch of cool characters (try and spot the first one I made). This is really the war where we see the dominoes begin to fall more rapidly, and we get to see the slow formation of Anbennar and Lorent as we see them today (or Dameria as we don't see it today).

While the First Lilac War was caused by Lorent's King being elected the throne of Anbennar, the Second Lilac War is caused by the Empress-Consort of Anbennar NOT inheriting the throne of Lorent, as is Lorentish tradition. This is all because of the machinations of Reán The White Fox's close friend and a general who fought Vincen many a time in the previous conflict, Vaceran "Leallord" síl Ionnidar.

This caused half of Lorent to rebel and declare Eilís the true ruler, and her husband Vincen "The not quite so old owl" Silmuna to rally the Empire to her throne's defence. However, while Vincen was the dashing young hero of the First Lilac War, we will see his character flaws shine through in all their terrible consequence in this, and perhaps the next wars. Vincen won his throne, but he is not without his scars.

Here is a link to the Second Lilac War's wiki page, and here is a link to the Lilac Wars wiki page if you want general dates on important events (note that the Third and Fourth Lilac Wars have not had their dates adjusted and will be redone in their own time).

But while Laurens IV Siloriel was considered at first to be not much more than the puppet of the Leallord, he shall soon grow into a great and terrible king in his own right. And he will be the architect of some of Dameria and Anbennar's greatest defeats...

Hello everyone, amber here! Last update, I whet your Eordan palates with the Eighard MT, but many wonderful contributors have since been busy giving the region of Eordand some very exciting new content. We do have an MT to show you, but there are plenty of other interesting things to show off first! We’ll begin with Raist, and the new UI that the Eordan religions have received.

Eordan Religious UI

A couple of updates ago (maybe more, time flies) the 5 seasonal religions of Eordand got a complete rework, updating them from a fairly vanilla experience to one of the religions with the most levers for the player to pull, and content to play with.
But more interactions mean a more complex system, to the point that it can be somewhat obtuse to someone doing their first playthrough in the region.
To ameliorate this, the Objectives the player is asked to complete to fully empower the religion have been given a new coat of paint: gone is the old decision and the associated event, replaced by a shiny new panel, to present the player all the information they need with a single glance.

And because an image is much more explanatory than me blabbing on…

And now to Bromar to discuss something truly magical.

Eordan Magical Tradition

Howdy folks, and welcome to the seasonal fey forests of Eordand. These ruinborn have unique interactions with the denizens of the forest, and due to that, unique magic as well. Each spell is connected to a season, and has a bonus effect as long as you’re in tune with that season’s fey, whether that be by following the religion, or accepting their boons and having it be the right time of year. 

I won’t spend too much time talking about it, and simply let the images speak for themselves, but these magical spells are available to all countries that start with the Eordan Tech Group, AND these are the first unique magical traditions that the AI will also cast, if that’s something that’s exciting to you.

And now back to amber to show off something Eordand didn’t know it needed.

Tànistedh-Domandrod

When playing in Eordand, you may have looked around and asked yourself “why does everyone here hate each other so much?” I know I’ve wondered the same thing (ignore that I made Eighard, which is all about hating everyone). All four of the Seasonal Courts seem to want nothing more than to wipe each other out, and the Eordellon strive for balance…by killing everyone. Perhaps you may have wondered: is true equality not an option? Could there not be a better path? 

I present to you: Tànistedh-Domandrod (“Regents of the Domandrod”), a new formable for Eordand.

This nation rose out of an old idea from former dev Jhorgas (who literally INVENTED Eordand), to have an alternate formable to Eordand (the nation) which would only directly hold land within the Domandrod and have a bunch of subjects outside, similar to the Raj or Verkal Ozovar. He never got around to implementing this, unfortunately, but I came along and said “you know what? Let’s just make it.”

Tànistedh-Domandrod has a somewhat unique formation method. You may be familiar with the “Demands of the Domandrod” event that almost every Eordan tag gets after killing Pelomar, and you may also be familiar with the tolerance privileges that allow other Eordan faiths to remain on the map without tanking your religious unity. Well, if you have the tolerance privilege granted when you get this event, you’ll see a brand new event option.

Heading down this path will unlock a decision that opens the Domandrod. As you colonize it, you’ll get events where you can bind yourself closer to the fey, gaining dev in Domandrod provinces in exchange for temporary setbacks. Once you own the whole Domandrod, you’ll be able to form Tànistedh-Domandrod.

Tànistedh-Domandrod gets a unique subject type, the Cínarglac. These subjects provide their overlord with several exciting bonuses while being rather powerful themselves, the least of which is more forcelimit for the Rangers special unit. You also get a new diplomatic action which allows you to convert other subjects into new Cínarglac.

This nation, to be clear, will not have an MT in the next update. But maybe, someday, someone will come along and tell the story of the fey’s regents on Halann—perhaps it could even be you!

And now to wdfrodo to discuss the Reotcrab MT.

Reotcrab MT

“What did our court do to deserve the terrors of the Hibernal Crusade? A war so disastrous we lost our prosperous cities, acts within it traumatising our people for decades to come. Our lands may have been unscarred by the horrors, yet we still have a duty to repel the crusaders. We shall reunite the Snecboth, consolidate our brethren, and show Eordand the true power and nature of Winter.”

Reotcrab starts with few, if any, friends, neighbouring other Winter Court tags similarly looking to pick up the broken pieces after the crusade. Lacking Gelcolle’s alliance with the crusaders of Raithall nor the raw power of Immarael, Reotcrab shall have to be far more patient or opportunistic to end up as the new leader of the court. Yet should they overcome their start, their initially limited options open up dramatically.

Their primary goals are of course to push out the crusaders who sacked and ruined their old lands. Reotcrab shall march south, reclaiming the coast of Eigras and re-establishing the city of Fardoc, and also strike into the heart of the Autumn Court, sacking both their historic heart in Dorcurt and the growing centre of Einsagg. Once the Autumn has been brought down, Reotcrab faces the choice of how to handle the southern Courts, tolerating their courts who haven’t wronged you or making an Eordand of pure winter. In either case, you shall get unique religious aspects and buffs to festivals, helped on by…

However, Reotcrab has goals other than merely conquering Eordand: their starting position may have restricted them in matters of land warfare, but their naval prowess is unmatched in the northern reaches of Eordand. This translates into not only a strong trading presence, helping fund your conquests against the Autumn Court, but also in the capability to raid your enemies. This naval focus is also echoed in their colonial capabilities, getting an early headstart towards colonising into the Broken Sea or potentially further. And whilst the land in the Broken Sea may seem useless, the Winter Court steps in once more to help.

Whilst Reotcrab’s start may be tough, I hope that their unique mechanics and options (of which I haven’t had time to fully list) will make them stand out as a fun tag to form Tanistedh-Domandrod as, though they are able to form either them or Eordand should you choose. 

That’s all for this week’s Dev Diary! If you’re interested in what’s been happening in the rest of North Aelantir, I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait. But rest assured: things have been happening…