Paradox Interactive’s latest developer diary has highlighted the different options that apply to gender, sexuality, faith, and ethnicity in Crusader Kings III.
In developer diary #22, Paradox Interactive explained how they are “are huge believers in allowing players as much freedom as possible to shape the game world in their image.” They state this is reflected in their slogan “We make the games, you create the stories.”
The blog post then explains that while Paradox Interactive do strive for reasonable accuracy of history within the game, they will allow players to change the game’s world through gameplay, or with customizable rules from the outset.
“Of course, when trying to model history reasonably accurately as we do in CK3, your starting environment might be a far cry from the just and equal Realm you wish to rule, but determined players should be able to change the mores of their society over time – if that is their fantasy.
As you might suspect, the CK3 team consists of some very nerdy, passionate and compassionate people. Some of the things we’re outlining in this Dev Diary were part of the regular development process, and some have been passion projects. It has been very important for us to represent our players, the team behind the game, and the people who don’t feature heavily in most history books and media. We want everyone to feel welcome and to empower you to play your fantasy.
CK3 truly is a diverse game; it spans a map of nearly half the world and almost six centuries of history. This world is inhabited by a myriad of titles, cultures, faiths, and characters. It’s been our goal to represent all of these things with a great level of detail and accuracy to give you all a deeply immersive experience with more dynamic elements and player choice than ever before. Will you recreate history, build a brand new world, or something in between? It is all in your hands.
But we haven’t just added more diversity; that variety is also much more readily available than it was in CK2. For example, all Faiths and Cultures on the map are playable on release, and the dynamic Faith system will give you much greater power to change the world. We’ve also added many different Game Rules which allow you to tailor your CK3 experience. If you would rather play as a Queen than a King from day one, the Game Rules let you do that, without having to create a custom Faith during your campaign. There are other challenges out there to conquer and stories to explore!”
These customizations include Faith Tenets being able to change from Male Dominated, to Equal, Female Dominated, or Inverted. The Spouse Council Position also reflects how queens could rule in the absence of kings, and the Spouce Council Position can grant them duties to perform.
Equal has also been altered so it “covers more areas and has fewer exceptions than it did in CK2, largely thanks to our dynamic Faith system and the design philosophy mentioned above.” Inverted will reverse the “historical gender statuses” of the time period, area, and religion.
“Women are also more visually present in Crusader Kings than ever before. We have some awesome loading screens with a diverse bunch of characters, for example, but the biggest impact comes from the new event window. In CK2 we had lovely event illustrations, but the drawback was the lack of variation when it came to characters. In CK3 we use our gorgeous character models to bring the events to life, which will showcase the rich diversity of the cast of your playthrough in the event windows.”
Sexuality also includes Hetrosexual, Homosexual Bisexual, and Asexual. Rather than being a singular trait, it has its own system. “It also means that we do not frame heterosexuality as the default in CK3,” Paradox Interactive explain, “which was also important for us.”
“Children develop their sexualities around the age of 10 and once set, it will not change. It’s worth noting that we don’t model sexual and romantic attraction separately in the game, so a character’s sexuality sets both their sexual and romantic preferences.
We do however differentiate between sexual preference and sexual behavior in-game. A character’s sexuality in and of itself can never be criminal, but certain sexual acts can be. For example, if a Faith’s ‘View on Same-Sex Relations’ is not set to ‘Accepted’, two men who have sex will get the ‘Sodomite’ Secret (no matter their sexuality). While the AI doesn’t pursue romance or sex with someone they’re not attracted to, the player can sometimes choose to act against their sexual preference (albeit with a penalty, and it can never lead to a lover relationship). This means a player’s heterosexual male character could get the ‘Sodomite’ Secret if they seduce a homosexual or bisexual man.”
The “View on Same-Sex Relations” can alter how all faiths perceive same-sex relations, while and “Sexuality Distribution” alters how common certain sexualities are.
Faiths now include more distinctions between non-Christian faiths from Africa and India.
“African Paganism from CK2 has been replaced with at least six new Faiths; Roog, Bori, Siguism, Akom, Waaqism, and Kushitism, all with their own Tenets and flavor. For example, the Bori have a long history of matriarchs and worship the spirits. As they believe in spirit possession and that spirits can be either feminine or masculine, they are accepting of same-sex relations. The Siguics, on the other hand, worship their ancestors and believe that twins are blessed.
Hinduism has been split into seven different Faiths. In addition to expanding upon and fleshing out the four main traditions of Hinduism (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartism), CK3 also sees the addition of less well-known Hindu traditions such as Krishnaism and Advaitism. Buddhism has five Faiths, Jainism three, and many Religions across the map have received similar diversification. We have also added a Dualism Religion with seven different Faiths, for example Manicheanism, Mandeanism, and Sabianism.”
Players are also able to create their own faiths. The game rule “Faith Acceptance” will even prevent religious wars breaking out, and “Randomized Faith” will distribute random faiths to the various factions.
Finally, there will be more portrait sets in Crusader Kings III, a total of seven. “On release, there will be a visual distinction between Western Europe, Northern Pagans, the Middle East/North Africa, Byzantium, the Steppe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and India. We will also have an even greater number of ethnicities, so you will see variations within these seven groups.”
The portrait system will also allow children of mixed ethnicity to “look a bit like both parents.” More information will come in a later development diary.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments below!
Crusader Kings III launches 2020 for Windows PC, Mac, and Linux (all via Steam).
