The Winter King
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The Winter King or Western Europe 410-962 AD - The Winter King is a Dark Ages total conversion mod for CK2, featuring a new map focusing on western Europe (currently encompassing Britannia, Ireland, Gaul, Scandinavia, and parts of Germania); a large variety of new religions, especially pagan faiths; a dynamic de jure map that changes as various factions rise to and fall from power; and a mix of playable legendary and historical rulers including King Arthur, Clovis I, Coel Hen, and Syagrius of Soissons.
It is partially based on The Warlord Chronicles saga by Bernard Cornwell (The Winter King, The Enemy of God, Excalibur).
The mod is a continuation of Britannia 479 AD - The Winter King.[1]
Main Features[edit | edit source]
- A completely new map covering Britain, Ireland, Gaul, Scandinavia, and part of Germania. The map is zoomed in with much more detail than vanilla and the mod is "sped up", with troops march much more quickly and battles resolving in a day or two.
- A main campaign scenario starting in 479 AD, and revolving around two major struggles: the barbarian invasions of Sub-Roman Britain and Gaul, and the religious conflict between the ancient pagan Gods and the "new" Nicene faith. The campaign end date is set to 962 AD.
- Numerous playable historical and legendary characters, including King Arthur, Syagrius of Soissons, Clovis I, and Beowulf, along with long, fleshed out king lists and pedigrees.
- Custom Events and Storylines. There are hundreds of new or modified events and mechanics, including a high kingship system, events regarding Anglo-Saxon and Frankish invasions, Roman restoration events, religious conversions, a search for the legendary thirteen Treasures of Britain, trading routes with the Mediterranean sea, a dedicated season and climate system, and much more.
- A number of new traits, modifiers, decisions and ambitions/objectives, and a complete overhaul of the casus belli system.
- A large variety of new music and sounds to better fit the time period
- A dynamic 'de jure' map system that allows multiple 'de jure' map configurations.
- Custom buildings, appropriate for post-Roman Britain. Several of them are culture-based or terrain-based. Many unique historical buildings (the baths of Aquae Sulis, the tidal bay of Mont Saint Michel, etc.). All buildings have a larger array of effects compared to vanilla. Barracks, stables and military buildings, for example, will reduce your tax income, increase risk of disease, and so on. There are custom building "sets" for specific purposes: justice buildings to reduce revolt risk, health buildings to prevent diseases, smiths and forges to improve your units effectiveness, etc.
- Culture-based de jure titles and kingdoms. In 479 AD most of Britain is divided among the various Brythonic kingdoms. However, with the Anglo-Saxon invasions new de jure (non titular) kingdoms and eorldoms will slowly emerge: Mercia, Northumbria, Lindsey, Bernicia, Deira, and so on. Each title has different requirements and some of them may never appear, but in the long run at least some of these new Anglo-Saxon realms will pop up and grow, aggregate, etc. The Franks will similarly replace the de jure setup of Gaul with their own, and a resurgent Roman Empire can also restore the old Imperial administrative setup.
- New military unit types (there were no knights or pikemen in 5th century) and combat tactics.
- Custom graphics, artwork, icons, portraits, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions[edit | edit source]
Is this mod historical? Do I need to read the (Warlord Chronicle) books to understand it?
The mod strives to be as historical as possible, except for bending the scenario in Southern Britain to be generally faithful to the Warlord Chronicle series. You definitely don't need to be familiar with the books, although you should note that the books do give a considerable twist on many of the main Arthurian characters and so some of them may not be exactly as you expect. There will be a number of spoilers for the books, however, particularly if you decide to play later bookmarks.
Is this a fantasy mod?
No, not any more than vanilla CK2 is fantasy. There are a few fantasy events ported from vanilla as well as integrated in from Ancient Religions, which can be disabled by the appropriate game rule.
How does the de jure change system work?
Germanic (generally Anglo-Saxon and Frankish) duchies will appear de jure once they are created, under their respective kingdoms. Frankish titles can also appear through special events after a successful invasion. Germanic duchies will be de jure removed once completely conquered, revealing the underlying Brythonic or Roman titles underneath. Romans have a more complex system, which depend on the region being reconquered: Germanic duchies within the old borders of the Empire will be removed once they have been fully restored to Roman control; The Armorican kingdoms (Broceliande and Benoic) are re-integrated once they have been completely reconquered; Visigothic and Burgundian-controlled territory will revert to the Roman setup as each former Roman province is retaken and fully controlled; and the Britannic civitates reappear as the main provinces of the civitas are restored to Roman rule. There are also a number of kingdoms and empires (e.g. Guenet, In Fochla, Scandinavia) which may gain de jure territory when created for the first time.
How do I form Britannia?
As the adult (over 20), male king of one of the Brythonic kingdoms, you will see the decision to claim the High King of Britannia. Once you have fulfilled all the requirements and taken that decision, each of the other British kings will be asked if they will support your claim but remain independent, support your claim and swear fealty to you, or dispute your claim, with their choice depending on your culture/religion/government, their opinion of you, and whether or not you are in a NAP or alliance with the other king, among other factors. You will then be given a choice to either stand down or go to war against a coalition of all of the opposing kings. If you manage to defeat this coalition, you will gain the High Kingship and all the kings that you have defeated or earlier agreed to swear fealty will become your tributary. You will then able to increasingly secure your dynasty's hold on the crown and eventually unite Britannia into a single unified realm through a series of reforms.
How do I form Aenglaland?
As the king of one of the 7 main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, you will see the decision to claim Aengland and become the Bretwalda. Taking this decision requires you to conquer land and force the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to accept your overlordship as Subject Kingdoms to accumulate Hegemony Score, which is gained depending on many provinces you control directly or through tributaries. Once you control at least half of all Anglo-Saxon provinces and have accumulated enough Hegemony Score, you will be able to claim the title of Bretwalda. The Bretwaldaship is a personal title and will be forfeited on succession, but can be made into a permanent title by accumulating Bretwalda Authority (similarly to Hegemony Score) to Declare Supremacy, after which you can begin the process of vassalizing or annexing your Subject Kingdoms to properly unite Aengland.
Can I migrate to Britannia as an Anglo-Saxon on the continent?
Yes. If you can play as the Scylding Kings of Angeln in 479, you will see a decision to migrate to Britannia at around the start of the 6th century, with a chain that will eventually lead to you forming the Iclingas and the Kingdom of Mercia. However, there is currently no general event or decision chain that would allow you to migrate as any other ruler.
Will the rest of the map be filled in?
Yes, it is our plan to expand the playable area to eventually cover most of the ingame map. While map expansion is always ongoing, it is a huge project and progress is rather slow and gradual. Our current focus is to finish up what's left of Gaul.
Will the offmap power mechanic be added, e.g. for the ERE?
Making the Eastern Roman Empire into an offmap power is in our long term plans, but it's not high priority at the moment and is unlikely to be added anytime soon.
What are you working on right now? What's going to be added next?
We post occasional teasers or developer diaries on our ParadoxPlaza thread, usually as a release is approaching.
What mods are integrated into The Winter King?
Ancient Religions, Better Congenital Traits, and Dungeons and Sieges have been partly or fully integrated into the mod.
Is this compatible with any other mods?
As a general rule, total overhaul mods like this one are not compatible with any other mods. However, some mods may be specifically designed or have a compatibility patch that allows you to use it along with The Winter King.
What DLCs is this mod compatible with?
All DLCs are compatible with the mod. Most unlock the relevant corresponding mechanic that it does in vanilla, though some (e.g. Sword of Islam and Sunset Invasion) do not (currently) have any ingame effects. We recommend that you just leave all your DLCs enabled.
Does this mod require any DLCs?
No, although The Old Gods is highly recommended due to the large amount of pagans at start. However, the portrait submod requires the following DLCs to function properly: Celtic Portraits, Norse Portraits, Mongol Portraits, Early Western Portraits, Iberian Portraits, Monks and Mystics, and Holy Fury.
Can I use some of your assets for my own mod?
Of course! You can use any part of our mod in your own mod, as long as you give us the proper credits. Note that we have also borrowed several assets, in particular the base map and several of the flags, from other mods, and so you'll have to go to the original source to get the proper permissions; for this reason, we request that you contact a member of the team for permission clarifications before you use anything.
I've noticed a bug, or something doesn't seem right. What do I do?
Report the bug in the thread. Make sure to report everything that seems buggy, no matter how small or minor; it might be 5-minute fix, but it'll never get fixed if we don't know about it! If it happens in a certain situation, be sure to keep a save; we'll often ask for one, since it makes reproducing the bug much faster and easier.
The mod crashes on startup/has missing cultures and religions/has events that pop up over and over again/is generally broken. What do I do?
Try the following:
1) Make sure that no other mods are enabled
2) Make sure that you're running the correct CK2 version (currently 3.3.3 for BTWK v1.11.2)
3) Verify the game cache of your CK2 version
4) Redownload the mod (possibly from another mirror)
As well, if you do manage to make it to the main menu, check that you have the correct checksum (YRMR for BTWK v1.11.2 if all modules are enabled). If the checksum is different this indicates that you have other mods enabled, you are on the wrong version, or your install is corrupted, all of which are likely the source of your problem.
The mod always crashes right before it finishes loading, no matter how many times I install and re-install it. What do I do?
This mod uses a large, detailed physical/terrain map, which can be too much for weaker computers to handle. Try disabling trees and other terrain features in settings.txt to reduce the load, but otherwise your computer may simply not be powerful enough to run the mod. We will be looking at making the map easier to render in the future.
