RICE Mod Dev Diary #51 || Galicia-Volhynia Flavor Pack: More immersion for the East Slavs!
I'm Cybrxkhan, creator of the Regional Immersion and Cultural Enrichment (RICE) mod, which adds simple "Flavor Packs'' to different parts of the world. Today, we’ll go over RICE’s next major flavor pack – Galicia-Volhynia: Borderlands of the Red Rus. The focus this time is on the western Rus regions, as well as broader East Slavic flavor.
This update is a collab of sorts with Baptism of Rus by Meat Plague, who’s kind enough to let me integrate some of its content into RICE. The mod provides much-needed improvements to the East Slavs, and is already compatible with RICE, so do check it out if you haven’t yet!
Now, let’s move onto the dev diary. Please note all screenshots here are WIP. Feel free to check my mods' website, discord, and twitter for more info, previews, and updates!
1178 Historical Flavor
Roman the Great
One reason why I decided to do a flavor pack for Galicia-Volhynia is because there are several playable characters in the region with interesting stories in the 1178 bookmark. One of them is Roman Mstislavich, a Rurikid prince who would go on to unite the principalities of Galicia and Volhynia and emerge as one of the most powerful Rurikids of his generation.
For those who don’t know, RICE gives some historical characters “aspirations” at game start, that are like quests you can do related to the character’s real life motivations or circumstances. For example, Roman’s aspiration, Unify Halych and Volhynia, requires you to rule over the kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia as he did in real life. Unlike other RICE aspirations, which tend to give more basic boons, finishing this task gets you a unique reward: being able to marry an eligible Byzantine princess (if the empire exists). If none are around, the game will try to find a high-ranking Byzantine noblewoman instead; if that’s not possible either, the game will generate one for you. Regardless, you’ll get an alliance with the current Byzantine Emperor.
Over the years, scholars have proposed different origins for Roman’s second wife, Anna-Euphrosyne; even if she was Byzantine, it is uncertain which Byzantine Emperor she was related to, or if she was from a non-imperial noble line, though a plausible theory is that she was the daughter of Isaac II Angelos.
Oleg Yaroslavich
Galicia in 1178 is ruled by Yaroslav Osmomysl, meaning Eight-Minded. He has two sons: a legitimate son Vladimir, notorious for his decadent lifestyle, and an illegitimate son, Oleg, who is a bookmarked character. Oleg’s mother, Anastasia, was Yaroslav’s mistress/concubine; to make the long story short, for likely political reasons, the boyar nobles of Galicia burnt her at stake as a witch and forced Yaroslav to return to his original wife. This is reflected by a unique negative modifier Oleg has at game start, The Witch’s Son.
Despite this, Yaroslav wanted Oleg to inherit Galicia, not Vladimir. With RICE, Vladimir starts off with the Disinherited trait, while Oleg is a Legitimized Bastard, to ensure Oleg gets Galicia after Yaroslav dies as he historically did – though not for long. Oleg was poisoned at some point and Vladimir succeeded him. As an aside, when Yaroslav dies, an event will remove the Disinherited trait from Vladimir and give Vladimir and Oleg claims on each others’ titles. Vladimir will also get an army of event troops, to represent the boyars’ support and to give him a fighting chance.
Oleg’s aspiration, Secure Rule Against the Galician Boyars, thus tasks you with avoiding his historical fate. It requires you to remain ruler of Galicia, kill Vladimir, and ensure all your vassals have a positive opinion of you. Completing this aspiration will remove The Witch’s Son modifier, and let you choose a replacement modifier with more positive effects.
Other Characters
A few other characters have also been added, mainly for the 1178 bookmark.
Anastasia, Oleg Yaroslavich’s mother, has been added in the history files, even if she’s dead in 1178.
Vladislav Kormylchych has been added as a count in Galicia, along with his brothers Yavolod and Yaropolk. He was a powerful Galician boyar whose mother may have been the wet nurse of the aforementioned Vladimir, and he held great political influence as a power broker in the region for decades. Supposedly, he became the only non-Rurikid to rule a Rus principality in the pre-Mongol period when he took over Galicia briefly in 1213, but this might have been propaganda by later hostile sources that exaggerated his influence.
Cultural Changes
RICE’s next update will also come with some changes to cultures in Eastern Europe, particularly what vanilla culture calls Russian culture. It has been renamed to Rus culture and has some changes to its culture setup, in line with its depiction in the Baptism of Rus mod.
I’ve integrated a new tradition, Land of Towns, for East Slavic cultures from the Baptism of Rus mod; in RICE’s version, it gives further bonuses to some trade mechanics I’ll discuss later.
To Split or Not to Split?
One thing I deliberated for years was whether RICE should split the Rus culture in the early start dates, and if so, how to do it. As the American saying goes, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and there’s more than one way to depict the cultural setup of the East Slavs in 867. On one end, you have vanilla which has one catch-all culture. On the other extreme, some mods make each East Slavic tribe that purportedly existed into a separate culture.
The Baptism of Rus mod reimplements the old Ilmenian/Volhynian/Severian three-way split from Crusader Kings 2, and I decided to do a modified version of that, following feedback from modders/researchers with knowledge of Slavic history. Instead of one blob culture, or making each tribe a culture, I split Rus culture into four based on archaeological cultures and labeled them Ilmenian, Volhynian, Severian, and Krivich.
I am not here to claim which East Slavic setup is the best – I went with this out of personal preference as a middle ground for interpreting the region's history between vanilla's one cultural blob and some other mods' granularity.
As an aside, I’ve also added a Golyad (i.e. Galindian) culture to represent the remnants of the Dnieper Balts that dominated some of the area before the rise of the East Slavs. They occupy a few counties in 867, but in later start dates their spread is greatly diminished.
Forming Rus
There’s another part to this as well. If a Rus culture doesn’t exist in 867, how does it appear? Based on suggestions from the Slavic history modders/researchers I talked with, I’ve added a decision to Establish Rus Culture for those who control much of the historical Rus territory if you play in the 867 start date.
Early Rus historically ruled over not only Slavic peoples, but others like Finns and Balts, who were in the long-term assimilated into the East Slavs. Thus, the decision is available to anyone of East Slavic, North Germanic, Baltic, Balto-Finnic, and Volga-Finnic heritage, and whose capital has a culture of one of those heritages. In fact, Rus culture will take the heritage of your capital’s culture – so for instance, if you are a Norse ruler ruling a Karelian culture capital, Rus culture will have Finnic heritage.
You will also get to choose the main language of Rus culture. The default option is East Slavic, even if your original culture was non-East Slavic, as it served as a lingua franca of the region in this period. However, you can choose the language of your capital’s culture or your own culture if it’s different, if you like. For instance, in the example screenshot below, Rus culture has East Slavic heritage because the ruler’s capital was Krivich, but as the ruler was Golyad culture, he took the option to have the Baltic language.
The idea behind this was to offer alternate history scenarios where another cultural identity or language becomes dominant in the region. Generally, however, I want to make it so that the AI will most likely create a Rus culture with East Slavic heritage and language, like historically.
Once you take the decision, some of your counties will become Rus. Rulers in the region – particularly your vassals or those along major rivers/cities (i.e. trade centers) – may also convert to Rus culture as well. Lastly, Rus culture might get some randomized traditions, akin to how Greenlandic culture appears as part of RICE’s Greenland struggle, to allow for some variety.
Game Rules
Now, let’s say you don’t like how RICE handles the Rus split in the early start date, whether for gameplay reasons or because you disagree with my interpretation of history. There’s a game rule that lets you tweak this to your liking, called Rus Emergence. It has four options:
- Default: Rus is split in four in 867 and must emerge through decision, but other mods may override this
- Vanilla: Rus already exists in 867 OR another mod’s setup (like Baptism of Rus) is used
- Partial: Rus exists in 867 in some places (like Novgorod), but the four new early East Slavic cultures also exist (similar to Baptism of Rus)
- Override Other Mods: RICE will try to override other mods’ setup with the default.
Volga and Dnieper Trade
Much of Eastern Europe – which I’m calling the Volga-Dnieper Trade Region for convenience – is getting its own variation of the merchant trait and mechanics from the Silk Road and Trans-Saharan trade regions.
A new trait, Volga-Dnieper Merchant, can be gained by taking the Volga-Dnieper Merchants travel option, and it is sometimes found on NPCs too.
Similarly to the Trans-Saharan trade regions, these merchants may occasionally spawn in Eastern Europe via events. If you agree to a trade deal with them, you can get beneficial modifiers depending on what commodity they specialize in, such as amber, furs, or slaves.
Related to all this is a decision available only in the region to Develop the Volga-Dnieper Trade Routes. It provides five different options, many of which relate to the portage routes important in this region – that is, the transport of boats over land between bodies of water. The options are:
- Erect Portage Crosses/Stones (depending on if you’re Christian or not)
- Levy Boat Builders
- Maintain Hauling Sites
- Reinforce River Forts
- Promote Trade Goods
- Encourage Settlement
They all have various effects. For instance, Reinforce River Forts not only adds county modifiers to counties you own in the Volga-Dnieper trade region that improves defense, it also increases the chances Volga-Dnieper Merchants spawn in your court.
The Land of Towns decision gives additional bonuses related to this decision.
Cochineal
One of the most important exports of the Galicia-Volhynia region during the medieval period was red dye made from the larvae of the Polish cochineal insect. It is not to be confused with Mexican cochineal which later supplanted it, or Armenian cochineal from Armenia.
This industry is represented in a couple ways. First, a decision to Support Cochineal Industry is available in parts of modern-day Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Belarus, and Armenia. The decision places county modifiers boosting tax and development growth in qualifying counties.
There is also a duchy building, Cochineal Industry, available in the same regions. Besides some basic economic benefits, these buildings increase the strength of the modifiers your counties get when you take the cochineal decision, so they’re important if you want to make full use of the Cochineal Industry decision.
Kupala Night
As general flavor for the Slavs, rulers who are of a culture with West or East Slavic heritage, or follow a faith of the Slavic pagan religion, have access to the Kupala Night activity. This is the celebration of the summer solstice prominent among various Slavic peoples.
Like most festival activities in RICE, Kupala Night offers you a chance to gain prestige, modifiers, and lose stress. If you follow a non-pagan faith that isn’t pluralist, you’ll also lose piety, to represent historical condemnation of the practice by church authorities. Finishing the activity has a chance of putting beneficial county modifiers in counties you own that are also of a West or East Slavic heritage culture, or a faith of the Slavic pagan religion.
The activity has three intents you can choose from: fun, lavation, and herb gathering. The last option guarantees you’ll get an event related to finding herbs, an important part of the holiday.
Miscellaneous Additions
There is also some other minor flavor, of course.
A new building, Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle, has been placed in the barony of Ushytsia. a This was a major fortification on a militarily and economically strategic site for centuries, and was still well in use as a defensive structure into the 1700s. It is also currently a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage Site. In-game, the first level of the building exists in later start dates.
Another thing I’ve integrated from Baptism of Rus is the Honor Slavic Deity decision for Slavic pagan. Pick a deity and get a corresponding modifier!
Conclusion
That concludes this dev diary! Thanks for making it this far!
Last year, in my survey for my VIET and RICE mods, one of the most requested regions for new RICE content was Eastern Europe. I agree that currently, it doesn’t have as much flavor as some other regions, so I hope this will rectify the issue, and that my Eastern European friends – and anyone into Eastern European history – will enjoy the new influx of content for that region in RICE. The ETA for this update is sometime in March, but no clear idea when exactly that will be.
To end this, I once again recommend Baptism of Rus if you want more Slavic flavor. It includes further events, decisions, and mechanics, many of which I can’t implement in RICE to maintain maximum compatibility. Some of its cooler features include an event chain for the conversion of Rus, and a succession system to simulate the rota or ladder system of inheritance. Check it out if you're interested!
Selected Sources for Further Reading
- Angelos in Halych: Did Alexios III Visit Roman Mstislavich?, Alexander V. Maiorov
- Archaeology of the Slavic Migrations, Michel Kazanski
- Boats, Portages and Texts Comments on Society and Water Transport in Inland Russia During the Viking Age, Christer Westerdahl
- Building Materials and Architectural Details of Natural Stone used in the 13th Century Castle Buildings of King Daniel in the City of Chełm, Lucjan Gazda, Mykola Bevz, and Stanisław Gołub
- Byzantine Imperial Purple in Ancient Rus´, Alexander V. Maiorov
- Byzantium, Rus and Cumans in the Early 13th Century, Alexander V. Maiorov
- Cherven Before Cherven Towns. Some Remarks on the History of the Cherven Towns Area (Eastern Poland) Until the End of 10th Century, Various Authors
- Decorative and Applied Art of the Galicia-Volyn Principality in the Context of Byzantine Artistic Traditions, Various Authors
- Early Rus: The Nexus of Empires, Monica White
- History of the Domain of Cherven’ in the Written Record (10th-13th Centuries), Adrian Jusupović
- How the Extraction Method Could Be Crucial in the Characterization of Natural Dyes From Dyed Yarns and Lake Pigments: The Case of American and Armenian Cochineal Dyes, Extracted Through the New Ammonia, Various Authors
- Kam’yanets-Podilskyy, Encyclopedia Britannica
- Medieval Populations of the Mazovian-Rus' Frontier in the Time of Christianization, Various Authors
- Migrants or Natives? The Research History of Long Barrows in Russia and Estonia in the 5th–10th Centuries, Andres Tvauri
- Modelling the Medieval Town of Cherven, Stanislav Kostadinov and Tzvetomir Vassilev
- Portage Crosses on the Historical Waterways of Russia, N.M. Erman and O.A. Aleksandrovskaya
- Portages of the Russian North: Historical Geography and Archaeology, Nikolai A. Makarov
- Red Ruthenia as a Subject of Research: Preliminary Remarks, Andrzej Janeczek and Thomas Wünsch
- Rus: A Brief Overview, Christian Raffensperger
- Ruthenian-Hungarian Matrimonial Connections in the Context of the Rurik Inter-dynasty Policy of the 10th–14th Centuries: Selected Statistical Data, Myroslav Voloshchuk
- Ruthenian-Polish Matrimonial Relations in the Context of the Inter-dynastic Policy of the House of Rurik in the 11th-14th Centuries: Selective Statistical Data, Myroslav Voloshchuk
- Sacred Architecture in the Area of Historical Volhynia, Liliia Gnatiuk
- Seeking the Fern Flower on Ivan Kupala (St. John’s Night), Ullrich R . Kleinhempel
- The Alliance between Byzantium and Rus’ Before the Conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204, Alexander V Maiorov
- The Cult of St. Daniel the Stylite Among the Russian Princes of the Rurik Dynasty, Alexander V. Maiorov
- The Daughter of a Byzantine Emperor, The Wife of a Galician-Volhynian Prince, Alexander V. Maiorov
- The Florentine Company of Francesco Neroni and Trade With Dubrovnik (Ragusa) in the First Half of the 15th Century, Paolla Pinelli
- The Hungarian Faction in Galician Rus’ in the First Half of the 13th Century, Adrian Jusupović
- The Place of Rus’ in Medieval Europe, Christian Raffensperger
- The Plan of Kamianets-Podilskyi from 1773, Leszek Opyrchał
- The Plans of the Kamieniec Podolski Fortress Until 1793, Leszek Opyrchał
- The ‘Route from the Varangians to the Greeks’: Truth or Fiction, Various Authors
- The Territorial Organization in Western Rus′ Between High and Late Middle Ages, Andrzej Janeczek
- They Came From The North, Ryan Gesme
- Towns on the Frontier – The Frontier in Towns: Multiethnic Urban Communities in Red Ruthenia in Late Middle Ages, Andrzej Janeczek. The focus this time is on the western Rus regions, as well as broader East Slavic flavor.