Europa Universalis IV - Mod Spotlight - Anbennar pt 2, 2023

ANBENNAR: MOD SPOTLIGHT #2​

Hey everyone and welcome to the second part of the EU4 10th Anniversary Mod Spotlight for the Anbennar fantasy total conversion mod. If you haven’t read the last one, check it out here, otherwise, let’s get going!

Last time, we explored the Serpentspine Mountains and their intriguing underground gameplay, along with Cannor and Bulwar – our spin on Europe and the Near East. Now, brace yourself to uncover the rest of the world, including Anbennar's take on the Americas, Asia, and Africa. So, let's dive in!

Actually, before we get out of our comfort zone, let’s revisit Cannor one time:

Cannor Revisited​

The Deepwoods​

The Greentide also affected the Deepwoods, bringing orcs into the forest and tipping the balance between the local wood elven and forest goblin clans

Last time we talked about the moon elves and sun elves which live in Cannor and Bulwar respectively, but naturally in our trifecta of elven archetypes we also have the forest-dwelling wood elves. These elves live just south of Escann proper in the Deepwoods, a primeval forest with strong links to our equivalent of the Feywild, the Feyrealm.


The Feyrealm can be alien and confusing, where north is orange and south is 24.

The woodland glades are connected by thin pathways… but some are less stable than others. The ones marked above share the Verdant Link, which allows instantaneous travel between any and all links. This dynamic alters army movement in the Deepwoods. Beware: an army from the forest's other side can surprise you by materializing right behind if you're not cautious.



“Sup.” -the Archfey Herald of Change (1444, colorized)

Long-lived Rulers

Taelarios is one of the oldest elven rulers in 1444, and also founder of the New Sun Cult. His death is one of the many incidents that will challenge the foundations of the faith.
In many fantasy worlds, races like elves enjoy extended lifespans. Think Tolkien's elves who can live thousands of years, or even D&D's elves with their 750-year span.

However, our timeline spans only 400 years from 1444 to 1821. And having the same ruler for the entire game can get pretty boring.

Thankfully as we can change the setting to work with gameplay restrictions. Elves in Anbennar live to be around 400 years old - this prevents having the same ruler throughout a game, but in case you do, there’s also events that address the challenges of your ruler's lengthy existence. After all, someone who's lived for centuries might struggle to keep up with changing times.


Thought you’d get keep your 6/6/6 ruler for 400 years straight?

Vampires​

Speaking of long-lived rulers, as mentioned last time this also stretches to liches… and also vampires.
Corvuria, Asheniande and in our BitBucket build, Luciande, are the premier vampire countries.
You can’t have a fantasy setting without vampires, and in Anbennar our vampires are primarily inspired by D&D vampires in terms of types, strengths and weaknesses, but of course, greatly influenced by Vampire: The Masquerade in terms of hierarchy and organization.

In EU4 vampires will come in two flavours. The first is an estate, representing the interests of vampiric society within your country. From the image above you’ll also see a new type of privilege we use in Anbennar - organization privileges, which help customize and flavour the inner workings of your estate.

As mentioned, the concept of the ‘Masquerade’ is also incredibly important, and the loyalty of your Vampires Estate actually dictates the loyalty of the vampires to your estate’s Vampiric Laws. Taking Vampire: The Masquerade, if the estate represents the local Camarilla aka the local vampiric council, then having a disloyal estate means a lot of vampires are refusing to follow the Camarilla’s laws - and in this instance can break the Masquerade, which will have great penalties to your country.

Secondly, vamprism is also represented as a ruler modifier. Yep. You can be a vampire.

Being a vampire comes with its own set of problems. The left event is very much inspired by Ravenloft’s Strahd von Zarovich, who has ruled his country by pretending to be his successors

North Aelantir

The lost homeland of the elves, Aelantir (which means Oldhome in Elven)

Aelantir is the Americas equivalent of Anbennar, but in a reversal, it’s actually the Old World here: the lost elven homeland. Once ruled by the Precursor Empire, it was destroyed in civil war 1444 years ago when the continent was sundered by dark magic in a cataclysmic event known as the Ruin of Aelantir. To the rest of the world, it was known as the Day of Ashen Skies.

Gameplay-wise, we decided to keep the same dichotomy as vanilla with colonizers going west, but in Anbennar the wild legends that historical conquistadors believed in have far more truth in them. Lost civilizations, ancient treasures - there’s all of that and more. Ultimately, this design keeps colonial gameplay somewhat relatable and combines it with the big trope in fantasy of elves coming from a lost western continent (see: Tolkien’s Valinor).

Of course, with fantasy’s established tradition of adventuring, this means that alongside colonial empires you’ll find independent tags popping up in Aelantir, from pioneers and adventurers to trading companies and more, bringing more variety and competition in the old/new world than you would in vanilla.

The Ruined Sea

Quite the Panama canal, eh?

The most striking feature of Aelantir is of course the Ruined Sea in its center. You’ll notice that at its edge it's a perfect circle. This isn’t some error in mapmaking, no, this artificial circle was caused by the Day of Ashen Skies that brought ruin to the continent. This place was the epicentre of it all, and was once a great desert.

Today, the Ruined Sea is our equivalent of the Caribbean, although much bigger, with a clear sea passage to the western side of the continent (and to Haless, our Asia equivalent) which will certainly give a new feeling to the colonial game.


Our mega-carribean also has larger colonizable places too

The jungles of Soruin is anything but welcoming, but may turn out to be the perfect place for escaped orcish slaves to become masters of their own destiny.

Noruin is kinda our Eastern American Seaboard analogue, and is home to many spawnable colonial tags

You’ll need to build something to get over the Cliffs of Ruin to the rest of Aelantir

Various depictions of the Noruin ruinborn from our community

You might be asking, if the elves fled Aelantir, who are the natives? Well, there are some elves who weren’t that lucky. The Cannorians call them “Ruinborn”.

Originally inspired by the Draenei and Lost relationship from World of Warcraft, and for the Noruinic ruinborns specifically the Falmer from the Elder Scrolls, these elves have been mutated by the magical energies of the Ruin of Aelantir, and can range from bat-like noses, potent magic blood to humanoid leeches.

Noruin after its been settled by colonials

Some of those countries will be adventurers, like those of Escann or the Dwarovar, and others will spawn as regular countries from the get-go; the split is pretty even. Each of them has their own story and identity which you can read in their ideas; for instance Marlliande is a vampire republic of lavish manors and harsh plantations, very much inspired by Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Valorpoint seeks to provide freedom to everyone, including the Ruinborn, and Isobelin is our own take on New York City.

Amadia and Harafe

To the southwest is Amadia, which is primarily for vanilla colonial empire play, unlike Noruin


Harafe is divided between jungle to the south, and desert to the north. Wait, what’s that in the desert???

Gommoport, Mestikardu and Zurzumexia are artificery-driven colonies by gnomes, goblins and kobolds respectively. Eventually they can unite into the Harafe Triarchy.

The Ynn and Epednar

The Ynn is centered around and named after the river Ynn - which is a corruption of the elven word for river, ainé.

A part of my overall vision for Aelantir was to offer something different in the natives of the region. In Anbennar, not all of the ruinborn natives are tribal.

The Ynnics are a feudal civilization (with knights and everything), inspired by the idea of a Mississippi-esque civilization which thrived into the medieval era, but take inspiration from many other sources such as South Slavs and Hyrule. The tagline for this area was: “Knights vs Cowboys”

In 1444 we find the Ynn out the cusp of their equivalent of the Dark Ages. The valley used to be united under the great Ynnic Empire, an equivalent of the Roman Empire which brought great stability and prosperity to the region, but collapsed two centuries ago following a massive civil war and widespread tribal invasions. Proud knights riding antler-horses all seek to claim the title ever since, and now imperial bureaucracy has been replaced by harsh feudalism and constant warfare. But while they fight each other, the people of the upper river in Pomvasson and surrounds have turned their back on tradition to follow their dragon god - the last dragon of Aelantir (and later on, the stewardship of that dragon’s son: Varlengeilt).


Iosahar mechanics - It’s Crusader Kings in EU4!

As mentioned, the Ynn is medieval and heavily feudal, and that’s represented in their mechanics. Direct conquest is extremely costly as de jure borders are sacred, but they instead create special subjects, iosahars or oathbound, that are extremely easy to make to expand via vassalization.
Those iosahars then grant you the authority you’ll need to reform your religion, as the people of the Ynn will only listen to those that have proved to be a potential new emperor. Still, let’s just say that medieval politics are not known for smooth reforms and peaceful debates, so expect the same of Ynnic politics.

To restore the Ynnic Empire, you’ll need to reform and tackle the issues of Ynnic society

Malacnar has the unique Battleking mechanic, which rewards you if you lead from the front

Dalaire, Broken Sea and Forest of Cursed Ones

That gigantic white bit in the east is the Dalairey Wastes, said to be a consequence of the civil war that brought ruin to Aelantir

The rest of Northern Aelantir is full of snow and tall trees

Anbennar has its own version of the Seven Cities events, upgraded into a mini text adventure that’ll give you some insight of deep lore

Eordand

The ancient forest in the middle of Eordand is the land of the fey, and none is allowed inside.
Finishing our tour of North Aelantir, we arrive in Eordand, located in the north-west and isolated from the rest of the continent by mighty mountains. Full of mystical forest, fey influence permeates the region, and in ancient times fey took the inhabitants of the region with them to save them. While they eventually grew bored with them, Eordan ruinborn are fey-touched ever since and worship the fey in season-aligned beliefs, similar to the Eladrin of D&D.

Eordand is notable for having extremely well-preserved precursor ruins, as the region was so far away and shielded from the Ruin, hence Eordans kept a lot of precursor knowledge and their realms are as advanced as Cannor. In gameplay, they have the most standard EU4 gameplay in Aelantir, and are thus a good entry point to the continent, with a sizeable and fun MT too!

South Aelantir
Effelai

The Effelai Jungle, currently placed within the top five worst locations to raise a family - Chronicler’s “Best Places To Live In Halann - Edition VII”

Heading now to South Aelantir, you’ll be met with our own version of the Amazon: the Effelai.

Prior to the Day of Ashen Skies, the jungle was a relatively calm region. Decorated with sparsely populated Precursor settlements, and the occasional floating city as its most defining features.

But be warned.

The Effelai is alive, very much inspired by The Last of Us but with seeds and green plants rather than fungi, and Pando, which is a gigantic forest in real life which is actually a single tree organism. Nature reigns supreme here, and would-be trespassers will join the Seedthralls: infected ruinborn who are slowly turned into mindless husks serving only the jungle.

Taychend is Post-Apocalyptic Mad Max meets Mesoamerican hijinks

Though Taychend was spared complete destruction from the Day of Ashen Skies, the worst excesses of Elvenkind – pride, ambition, envy – doomed it nonetheless.

As society collapsed, newly-freed slaves and tyrant-slavers alike divided Taychend into innumerable warlord states, centered around great cities built around the salvaged ruins of the Old World. Rural mansions were converted into scrap-fortresses, libraries and temples turned to new hubs of trade and vice, and the magical trinkets and artifacts of the old Slaver-Nobility repurposed into weapons of mass destruction, wielded by powerful “Relic-Lords”. Faith itself fuels the fire, as elves struggle to achieve great things in the quest for godhood, thousands of cults worshipping the warriors and conquerors of ages past.

Kheios

What’s that coming over the hill? It’s a magical blue desert sand that’ll kill you.

At the farthest corner of South Aelantir lies a large island, Alecand, home to 7 great magically shielded cities. These cities became a refuge during the Day Of Ashen Skies, its wards protecting its inhabitants from the hell outside its walls manifested by the Kaydhano, a deadly blue sand that periodically arrives by storm. These inhabitants would soon leave their cities, and rebuild their civilizations from scratch, becoming known as the Kheionai.


The Kheionai are largely inspired by Ancient Greeks, coming also with their equivalent of greek colonies on the mainland

The Death Winds of Kaydhano Sea come periodically, striking the island of Alecand

PICTURE BREAK​

Wow, that was a lot, huh? Let’s take a break and look at some pictures.


I believe this was the first or second loading screen we had, done by Biegeltoren, who’s responsible for a lot of our loading screens to this day


Rendition of Harafe ruinborn by the campfire being watched by the Silent Watchers, a more degenerated type of ruinborn - by kollinger

This loading screen was commissioned by the Chinese community - a depiction of Castellos saving Aelantir during the Day of Ashen Skies

The mod started as a project in university, and this was the poster I made to advertise it

One of the first pictures I took of the mod back in 2017, back when Sweden ruled the world

A nice graphic I made in 2018 showing the thought process behind some of the flags


Chill. Also by, you guessed it, Biegeltoren

Here’s a map to cool you down: a beautiful rendition of Aelantir by Man-Squid

Forbidden Plains

Some more lovely map art


The Forbidden Plains is divided into three parts, the mountain highlands to the west, the plains themselves, and the lakes

Isolated from the world by the magnificent peaks of the Serpentspine Mountains, the Forbidden Plains are a vast land that has never known centralized rule in any form, and a history (mostly) detached from the outside world. While similar to Central Asia in many ways, the most obvious difference is the lakes and surrounding bodies of water where central Siberia ought to be.

But first, let’s talk about steppe nomads. In Anbennar, we’ve got centaurs.

Centaurs

Sometimes you just gotta raid and pillage, you know?

The centaur race, despite their physical compatibility with their lands, are not actually native to the wide and open steppe. The centaurs are in fact natives to the Feyrealm, and within the Prime Material Plane lived in Escann back when ancient forests dominated the region. After conflicts with the ancient Castanorian Empire (our equivalent of Ancient Rome) they were forced to flee to the east during the Second Great Cleansing, where they would eventually collide with the human natives on the plains and drive them from the wide open steppe.


All these dudes are centaur clans

Centaur gameplay is all about MOMENTUM. You need to keep warring and warring and warring and building up Centaur Zeal or you’ll collapse. You’re in for a wild time.


POV: you before being trampled

Ogres

Luv me eating. Simple as.

Hugging the mountains in the west of the Forbidden Plains lay the lands of the cannibalistic ogres. In ancient times they rose up against the True Giants, who both created and enslaved them, feasting upon their remains and inheriting their strength. Ever since, the ogres have lived in disorganized tribes, gorging themselves on anything that moves, including each other.

It’s all ogre

In 1444, the future of the ogres hangs in the balance. To the south, the Kingdom of Maghargma, with its many subjects, seeks to chart a new path forward for ogrekind. Under their guidance, they hope to propel ogres into the future out of their monstrous ways, and claim dominance over the plains. The only thing standing in their way are the Wild Ogres to their north. Should the reigns of leadership be seized by these barbarian savages, who knows what dark paths their unbridled hunger will lead them down…

Peoples of the Lakes​

The Triunic Lakes​

In a sharp contrast to the nomadic peoples of Central Asia, whose niche is assumed by the centaurs of the region, the humans of the Forbidden Plains live within organized city states with borders that have remained mostly stable for over a thousand years.

Instead of primarily drawing from an Asian background, the humans here are actually a mixture of three cultures: the Eastern European-esque Mestamic tribesmen, Turkic conqueror-inspired Zabatlari and Asian steppe nomad Khamgunai.
Together they formed city states across the lakes in relative safety from the centaur hordes, and have formed a new government to resolve their differences and work together against outside threats: the Lake Federation.




We’re serious about the word Federation here. And this is one of the more unique parts of Anbennar: a shared progression Mission Tree.

All other cities vie to complete a unique, common mission tree, where some rewards are unique and cannot be achieved by more than one member of the federation. Doing so improves your standing with other states, which may see you at the top of the hierarchy of equals. Whether one takes a path of uniting the Federation or leaving it, one must be swift and deft in their diplomacy if they wish to find themselves as anything but a page in the histories of the Federation.

And folks we have reached the attachment limit for this forum post, but part 2 is not done yet! We have lots more to show you, including a look at the upcoming Sarhal update...

Continue reading part 2 here!