Shammar, a small tribal state based around Jabal Shammar to the north of the Peninsula’s inhabitable area.

Makuria: A small (at least compared to the Mamluks) tribal state ruled by the Banu Kanz clan in the upper Nile region.

Bohtan: One of a number of small Kurdish principalities that existed in the period. Starts out as a revolter.

Lebanon: The Emirate of mount Lebanon is another new revolter state in 1444.

Germiyan: A Beylik quite recently annexed by the Ottoman Empire in 1444. Exists as a revolter states with cores in central Anatolia.

Eretna: Another Turkish beylik which exists as a revolter.

This is the Art of War developer diary you’ve all been waiting for. OK, that I’ve been waiting for.Historically, the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation were major disruptions in the European system. But Europa Universalis has never really done justice to that history. We had some casus belli options, and incentives to change your state religion or convert heretical provinces. But the earth-shaking military and political consequences of the end of Catholic hegemony over Christendom still eluded our design.Specifically, we want something sort of like the Thirty Year’s War to be possible. Grand religious coalitions should be drawing lines against each other until a sort of compromise peace can be found.A major feature in Art of War is the introduction of a dynamic Thirty Years’ War mechanic called “Religious Leagues”. These represent the historical conflict between Catholics and Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire which ended in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.The Holy Roman Empire starts the game with Catholicism as the dominant faith, naturally. This means that only Catholics can be Emperor, and any Emperor who converts will lose the Emperorship. However, at some point after the Counter-Reformation, if any Elector is Protestant, the ‘Evangelical Union’ event will fire. This allows the Protestants in the Empire to band together in defense of their faith. The Catholics will form an opposing Catholic League, headed by the Emperor. Any country in Europe is then free to join either League regardless of their faith, with AI countries generally favoring their own religion unless they have strategic reasons to support the other League. For example, France might join the Protestant side to balance against the Emperor.Protestant countries in the Protestant League can declare war on the Emperor with the ‘Religious League’ Casus Belli at any time. This will drag in both Leagues and start a League War. A League War unlocks a new war-goal called ‘Religious Supremacy’. Enforcing this goal costs 50% warscore and can be enforced by either attacker or defender. If the Emperor wins and enforces the war-goal, Catholic is set as the official faith of the Empire, the Religious Leagues are disabled, and from then on all Electors must be Catholic (in addition to the Emperor). If the Protestants win and enforce this war-goal, Protestantism becomes the dominant faith in the Empire, the Emperor must be Protestant, and the Catholics become the opposition who may then attempt to declare war on the Protestant Emperor to reassert their control.If the war ends with neither side enforcing their war-goal, a Peace of Westphalia event triggers that establishes Religious Peace in the Empire according to the principle of ‘Cuius regio, eius religio’, 'Whose realm, his religion'. This also ends the League Wars and removes the religious restriction on who can be Emperor. League Wars can also end if the opposition league - be it Catholic or Protestant - fails to declare war for too long. If enough time goes by without the opposing faith at least attempting to overthrow the ruling order, the Emperor will win by default and his now dominant religion will be set as official.To represent the way military technology and tactics developed during the Thirty Years War, and to encourage countries to join in the fighting, any country that joins a League War gets a bonus to army tradition and a reduction in the cost of military technology for 100 years.If either Catholics or Protestants have won the great religious war and made their faith the official faith of the Holy Roman Empire, countries in Europe who follow that religion will get a bonus to their Legitimacy, Missionary Strength and Tolerance of their own faith, with Protestants getting a slightly larger bonus to represent the greater difficulty they face in achieving it. Finally, an Emperor whose religion is Official will get bonuses in gaining Imperial Authority and to their ability to pass reforms, putting the Empire on a fast track towards unification.The Reformation itself has been overhauled as well and these changes will be free in the launch day patch. We have introduced “Centers of Reformation”, which are hubs for the spread of the Protestant and Reformed faiths. A Center of Reformation is created for the first three countries to convert to Protestantism and Reformed Protestantism, respectively, and will exist in their provinces spreading their faith to the surrounding provinces unless the province holding the Center of Reformation is conquered and then converted to another religion. This replaces the old system of random events spawning new faiths in provinces and, we think, makes for a stronger and more consistent Reformation, as well as rewarding countries who convert early because they are near one of these Centers of Reformation.We continue our weekly looks at the substantial changes in the map overhaul by checking out the Near East. This part of the map overhaul has been headed by CanOmer and we think you'll find that the region has been much improved compared to its state prior to the Art of War. In total 123 new provinces have been added, along with six new tags and one new culture (Kurdish).In 1444 the Near East is a quite diverse region. There are two clear regional powers (the rising Ottoman Empire in the north and the declining Mamluk state in the south) and a host of smaller states that will either be gobbled up or ride the coattails of a larger empire into great power of its own. As this is a quite large region we'll go over its different parts in detail.No great empire dominates the Arabian peninsula in 1444. Instead, this inhospitable inland is controlled by clan based states centered around the control of the trade routes that cross the desert.The coasts, on the other hand, are controlled by organized states, focused around the coastal cities of the Red sea, Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf.In the mountains to the west we find the Hejaz state of the Meccan Sharifs, in the south we have Yemen and the maritime Omani kingdom, and on the eastern coast, the small kingdom of the Jabrids of Qatif.Due to its unique geography, this region has benefited greatly from the map overhaul. First, the added provinces have been used to show the depth of the desert areas and the importance of the coastal areas. Second, the wastelands have been redesigned. The great Rub' al Khali no longer extends as far north as it once did and a new wasteland has been added for the great Syrian desert which will act as a barrier to many armies and make military campaigns in the region more realistic, steering them towards major population centers.New Countries:Ever since antiquity, Egypt has been one of the most densely populated parts of the eastern Mediterranean. The Nile valley would continued to provide rich harvests throughout the period of Europa Universalis IV and the shipments of surplus grain to the Ottoman cities in the north fuled that empire’s great expansion. In 1444, both Egypt and the Levant are controlled by the Mamluk state with its firm grip over the overseas spice and silk routes.The biggest effect of the map overhaul in this region is that we have been able to more clearly show the importance of the Nile to an Egyptian state. Areas with a higher population density have also been made a lot more detailed.New Countries:In 1444 this region is almost entirely politically divided between the Qara Qoyunlu federation in the east and the Mamluks in the west. Much like in Persia, the focus in this region has therefore been to create a plausible situation once these empires collapse and to make the province setup better reflect the relative importance of some areas. You'll find that the Mesopotamian valleys and the ports of the Levantine coast are now much more detailed.New Tags:In 1444, Anatolia is politically divided into a number of Beyliks. The Ottomans are already the clear leader among these states and it’s slowly encroaching on the independence of the others.The added provinces in this region have allowed us to include a more detailed setup for the starting beyliks as well as a more robust homeland for the great Turkish state that in many ways dominated the first centuries covered Europa Universalis IV.New Tags: