A country's heritage in the diplomacy interface
Heritages are a set of modifiers assigned to each state, usually consisting of two bonuses and one malus usually reflecting its culture, history, or ambitions. Several countries have unique heritages, while the remainder share group heritages. Heritages are pre-assigned and cannot be changed over the course of a game, not even when creating a formable nation, outside of a few rare events.
Country heritages
Many major and more notable countries have their own unique heritages, listed below.
Acragas is the second most powerful Siceliote city, vying with Syracuse for control of the island, but also victim to its own tyrants and demagogues. Her temples are perhaps the most numerous in the entire Greek world.
Home to the once great city of Troy, the Greek cities of Aeolia have a strong mercantile background on the along the Hellespont, and boast many philosophers as residents and natives.
The fiercely independent Aetolians have survived their northern neighbors advances by tenacity alone, and stand ready to become one of the leading powers of northern Greece.
Few generals had as many unlikely successes as Antigonos Monophtalmos and his son Demetrios Poliorketes. Their heritage is one of strong siege-craft, and of championing the free Greek cities of the Mediterranean.
A traditional antagonist to Sparta and a regional power in Peleponesos, Argos has been down on its luck ever since Peleponesian war. With the destruction of Spartan power the Argives have however found new friends in the successor kings, and their people have begun to restore their heritage as a military power.
The kingdom of Armenia was founded many hundreds of years ago and has kept true to its own heritage for generations, even under the Achaemenid's and Alexander the Great the kingdom has preserved its own traditions of kingship and warfare.
One of the more diplomatically influential tribes in Southern Gaul, the Arverni also has a strong tradition of artisanal production of metalworking.
While the heyday of Athenian influence may be over, it remains one of the most prestigious cities in the Greek world and is home to the Akademia founded by Plato. While it has at times languished under vile foreign tyrants such as Demetrios of Phaleron, the city still maintains its traditions of Democratic rule.
As one of the few Persian lords to survive in power after both the conquest of Alexander the Great and the successor wars that followed, Atropatene is in many ways the last guardian of the now lost Achaemenid Empire.
Breaking free from Persian rule even before Alexander's arrival, the Bithynians are determined to maintain their independence and build a lasting dynasty to rival even the diadochi, with designs on the entire northern coast of Asia Minor.
The Boeotian League was at one time the most powerful state in Greece under the leadership of Thebes, but has taken a step back in the wake of Macedonian interference in the region.
The Bosporan Kingdom is an example of the heights overseas colonies can achieve. Uniting the trading posts of the Khersonesos, the powerful Spartokid dynasty rivals the Hellenistic kings of the east in ambition and treachery.
One of the oldest cities in the known world, Byblos has been the home of Phoenician maritime kingdoms for longer than most other countries have even been populated and it is from here that many of the settlers that founded the great Punic towns in the western Mediterranean originated.
Byzantion was fortuitously founded in command of the most important strait in the eastern Mediterranean, growing rich from the passage of trade through and across the Bosporos strait.
Founded as 'the new city' centuries ago by settlers from Tyre in faraway Phoenicia, Carthage is now the uncontested leader of the Punic, or Western Phoenician world. Her heritage is one of a strong naval and mercantile power, often led to greatness by charismatic generals.
Croton was a successful Achaean colony and home to the mathematician and sage Pythagoras' and his famous school, which was forced out of the city by revolutionaries afraid of its impious influence and political clout.
The Greek colony of Cyrene was established by settlers fleeing a famine on the island of Thera. They successfully integrated the native inhabitants and established the famed Pentapolis, or five cities, now a byword for the entire region. A centre of trade and learning, Cyrenaica holds a unique position if they can maintain independence from their powerful neighbors.
The center of the Hellenic world and home to Apollo's most famous oracle the Pythia, Delphi has played an important role in the vicissitudes of Greek history - her rich temple treasuries a prime target for impious looters.
Elea is the main colony of Phocaean refugees who fled Ionia as the Persians approached. They are renowned for their maritime experience and the philosophers their city has produced including Zeno, whose paradoxes still confuse its residents.
Custodians of the Temple of Olympus and generous hosts of the quadrennial Olympic games, the Eleians occupy the crossroads of Greek culture and serve as the settlers of disputes and judges of victory.
When Alexander died Ptolemaios Soter made certain that he was to be granted the richest and most prosperous land that he had known during the military campaigns under his former liege. Egypt is both the breadbasket of the Mediterranean and the carrier of a legacy going back millennia. With its wealth, and drawing from its traditions as well as those of the Hellenic world, Ptolemaios set out to build a state famed for its patronage of religion and culture.
As the center for the worship of Asclepius, Epidauros attracts physicians and natural philosophers from across the Greek world, advancing the study of medicine and flourishing under the patronage of pilgrims who seek treatment.
The green lands of Epirus were long divided between various states but have in time been united under the fist of the Molossians, often allied with the neighboring Argeads of Macedonia.
Eretria, or the 'City of Rowers', was the most powerful Euboean city after Chalkis, with which it vied for control of the fertile Lelantine plain, and contributed ships in the diadochi conflicts which wracked Euboea.
As one of the oldest peoples on the Italian peninsula the Etruscans have a long and proud Heritage of state and city building.
Home to the famous tomb of Mausolus, Halicarnassus was governed by the Hekatominids until the arrival of Alexander the Great, where upon it was fired by the Persians and lost its prior importance.
The people of Heraclea Pontica are descendants of the people of Megara, settled along the Bithynian coast and named for Herakles who had traveled into the realm of Hades nearby. Once a colony itself, it settled many cities along the Black Sea, becoming a notable power after the fall of the Persian empire.
With the many disparate tribes of Iberia under their leadership, the Iberians have a large population for their military if they can keep them all in check.
Risen from relative obscurity the Iceni are a proud and fiercely independent people.
The birthplace of many of the most influential philosophers of the Hellenic world, the mindset of the Ionians is inherently inquisitive and dismissive of religious superstitions.
With a heritage dating back to the Kingdom of Judah, this remains the carrier traditions of a people that has seen kings, and conquerors come and go. Some have been their own and some have come from faraway lands such as Greece or Persia. To this day the Judean people cherish their deeply religious and fiercely independent heritage.
In a distant past it is said that the Kalingas were brothers with neighboring tribes, and to this day we have maintained closer relations than most with the tribes of the jungles that surround our coastal kingdom. Perhaps this is why we still cherish many of our own tribal traditions ourselves. With the oppressive Nanda rule in this region gone we are the natural leaders of our region, though our riches can easily attract unwanted attention from other states on the rise.
Cius, strategically placed in command of the Propontis, has been an important city since its foundation, later submitting to Persian rule under the government of the eastern Mithridatids.
Cnidus boasts a long history, founding far flung colonies and maintaining its independence from the barbarians of the interior through deft diplomacy.
While the Upper Nile has been our home for generations the Kushite people were once the masters of Egypt, and even Judea. With the lower Nile in Greek hands we remain the custodians of the native Egyptian legacy as well the traditions of our own.
Under the Argeads Macedon was built into the premier military force in the Greater Greek region, uniting mainland Greece under one rule. Even after the death of Alexander and the rise of the Antipatrids Macedon has an uncontested rule among Greek states, with the Macedonian barons making up the core of a strong military machine.
Massilia was the leading colony of the Ionian city of Phocaea, whose people abandoned their homes rather than submit to Persian rule. The refugees settled here and in their other colonies, turning the isolated port into one of the foremost trading powers and colonisers in the west, all the while defending their strongholds from the barbarians that surround them.
While the Maurya empire is a newcomer to the scene of Northern India it is also the carrier of an ancient Dharmic heritage that predates its own conception as well as that of the Nanda and Argead empires it displaced. The state built by Chandragupta is one of institutional strength but it must also harbor a great variety of peoples and faiths.
This heritage can be lost after the first generation of Mauryan rulers have died or been deposed.
An ancient rival of Athens for control of Attica, Megara derives its status from its position linking Hellas to the Peloponesos, and is home to the Megarian school of dialectic philosophy.
When the Spartans were defeated by Epaminondas of Thebes, he founded the city of Messene and gave it to the Helots. We have always been the main population group in both Laconia and Messenia, but for centuries we were slaves under Sparta. As a free nation we can finally benefit from our own hard work. As a free nation we must also never forget that we were once slaves under Sparta, and forcefully be on our guard against those who would enslave us once again.
Metapontum is one of the oldest Italiote colonies, founded by settlers from Achaea and surviving the intrigues of its close neighbors. The mathematician Pythagoras fled here from Croton, and many still follow his religious teachings.
Miletus produced Thales, the most famous philosopher before Socrates, who brought Babylonian teachings to the Hellenic world. The citizens of Milesians are also unmatched in their talents for architecture and construction.
Our Bedouins ancestry allows us to dominate trade across the desert, providing the wider world with goods that would otherwise not be within their reach. This wealth has allowed us to build great cities, monuments and a strong army, well versed in the ways of desert warfare.
The region of Pontus has been a crossroad between Persian, Anatolian and Greek culture since long before Alexander brought his men eastwards, all the way back to when the Greek colonies sprung up across the Anatolian coastline.
The Minoans were the masters of Crete, once the overlords of all the Greeks. After the devastating volcanic eruption of Thera, the civilization fell into obscurity.
Founded many centuries ago Rhodes has risen to be one of the premier naval powers in the Aegean, but is also famous for its great workshops and its magnificent siege works. The most proud achievement of the island state remains being able to withstand the arduous siege of Demetrios Poliorketes, who brought the most advanced siege machinery in the world to the island but failed to breach its fortifications.
Born where the Greek south meets the Etruscan north, Rome has quickly risen to be the dominant force of central Italy and the leader of the a league of allies that stand ready to do their every bidding. Rome's unfailing capacity to mobilize its population and acquire the loyalty of the city states under its protection has over time grown into a strong imperialistic heritage.
With no direct connection to their Greek homeland the Seleukid rulers have had to foster a Hellenistic culture which can encompass and empower a ruling caste that is caters both to its Greek subjects and immigrants as well as its large Chaldean and Persian population groups. As such it has often come to choose adaption over cultural supremacy and has over time become a shining beacon of the Greek fusion of cultures known as Hellenism.
Once the dominant power of the Greek world, Sparta remains the carrier of an ancient martial heritage that few can question.
Syracuse is one of the older Greek colonies in the west and it has on many occasions been a local power contending with the other Italic, Phoenician and Greek powers on equal terms. Over time, with the growth of Roman, Etruscan and Carthaginian power the city has had to adapt to an ever more militarized reality.
Founded as a Spartan colony in Magna Graecia, Tarentum has not always had a lot of friends in their near area. Over time however the city has become renowned for its highly skilled light cavalry and built a heritage as an influential power in its region.
Many centuries ago Tartessos was one of the most important commercial and political centers of Iberia. A heritage that lives on to this day, even if the tribes that dominate the area would largely be foreign to the old Tartessians.
Once the leading military and hegemonic power in mainland Greece, Thebes was completely destroyed by Alexander the Great. Kassandros of Macedon however rebuilt the city, inviting Theban exiles to once again establish themselves in their old homes in Boeotia. Eager to reclaim the Heritage of Epaminondas, the Thebans are now ready to rise again.
As one of Alexander's officers and former bodyguard Lysimachos was always an able general. The lasting heritage he brought to Thrace however was that of a state builder and a diplomat, able to leverage great gains from his victories in the successor wars despite his meager resources.
Event heritages
Certain country-specific heritages will appear only after certain events.
After the deaths of the great Chandragupta and Ashoka Maurya, the Empire they had built entered a period of significant decline.
Given to
孔雀 if the first option of the
Mauryan Decline event is taken
Cultural heritages
Some countries of the same culture or culture group share a common special heritage, listed below.
Hellenistic
The Achaeans have preferred to avoid the great political games of recent years, maintaining their small league of alliances but ready to defend themselves if their sovereignty is threatened.
Starting countries:
The disparate islands of the Aegean sea produced the shipwrights and sailors who brought the Persian invaders to their knees, and still maintain a strong maritime tradition to this day.
Starting countries:
The interior of the Peloponesos is remote and rural, a primordial place fantasized of by the urbanized elite of Greece, and survives mainly on agriculture and maintaining its distance.
Starting countries:
The Greek colonists of the north western Pontos Euxinos descend mainly from Megara and Miletos and have founded thriving trading hubs, preferring to stay out of the affairs of the mainland.
Starting countries:
The isolated cities of Crete remain doggedly embroiled in their own wars of revenge and dominance, asleep to the great political upheavals of the Hellenic world.
Starting countries:
The island of Euboea is not particularly rich or populous, but its people have always produced fine sailors and asserted their independence, using the isle's strategic location and rugged terrain to best advantage.
Starting countries:
The Greek colonists of the southern Pontos Euxinos have lived in close proximity with the native Anatolian peoples for centuries, trading and negotiating with the barbarians kings.
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The once wealthy and powerful Italiote cities stagnated under their own indolence, preferring to rely on local mercenaries and aid from abroad to wage their wars while they discuss philosophy.
Starting countries:
The Greek cities of Sicily have struggled with the rise of populism like nowhere else in the Hellenic world, a symptom of the comfortable life of philosophy and culture pursued by their people.
Starting countries:
While Greek settlers have traveled east for generations before Alexander it was his conquest of the Achaemenid empire that led to the creation of eastern Greek states. The fusion of Persian and Greek culture that Alexander tried to foster now lives on as an undisputed Hellenistic heritage.
Starting countries:
Dacian
Among the oldest colonies founded by Greeks, the Bithynian cities have survived by acceding to the demands of barbarians kings and emperors, concentrating instead on cultivating their cities.
Starting countries:
Scythian
Our people prides itself with its great skill as riders and its horsemanship. Nobles and commoners alike learn to ride at an early age and as a consequence the force of our cavalry arm can make the strongest of empires tremble. A pastoral lifestyle has made many accustomed to a free way of life however, fostering an autonomous mode of government where chieftains and nobles have great say over their own business.
Starting countries:
Group heritages
All other states without a country or culture/culture group specific heritage get a generic one from the list below, based on the terrain and modifiers of its capital. The first heritage that the country meets the requirements for will be selected.
Some would say that the ancestors of this people were pirates and plunderers, always ready to profit from the misfortune of others. That is, however, a matter of perspective. A strong adventuring spirit along with a love for the open sea is the heritage that binds this people together.
The Heritage of this people has been associated with navigating the open seas for generations. Some say their ancestors came here from faraway lands, others that they have welcomed sailors that sought out their ports.
While they never became great seafarers this people have always been dependent on what the sea brings them for their wealth and prosperity. A Heritage of trade and bartering is the core around which their culture revolves.
The fertile plains around great rivers have given birth to many civilizations over the centuries. This people's heritage is closely tied to farming the land of the river plains in which they originated.
The wide open grasslands of the north have been the home of this people for generations and the harsh life of the steppes has completely shaped their heritage and society at large.
Life in the plains, fields and pastures has shaped this people into what it is. Over time these farmers and shepherds have constructed cities, roads and bridges but at their heart they still value a life in the countryside.
The mountainous landscapes in which this people originated has shaped their Heritage of fierce independence and self determination. Some would say that their strong sense of self defense can even make them see enemies where there were only friends, but their awareness of how they can survive and defend themselves in hostile terrain has served them well over the centuries.
The ancestors of this people have traversed open deserts for many generations and over time built traditions and an almost instinct based understanding for how to survive and thrive among the hot dunes. Whether the objective is to build an empire of the sands or to traverse a desert in search of new homes there are few who would find this task as natural as those of this heritage.
Over the centuries this people has made nature their fortress. The deep jungles and the creatures that dwell within them are their allies, their foes and the principal asset around which they organize their defenses.
In the forests of their homeland this people has acquired a strong tradition of archery and a long tradition for how to maintain the unity of the disparate tribes that dwelt there.
People accustomed to marshes and wetlands once built this state. In this environment they acquired great experience in asymmetrical warfare as well as in how to turn land that some would consider unfit for living into a prosperous garden.
The Heritage of this people was once forged in the open highlands. To this day they remain more well versed than most in the construction of stone buildings and fortifications, but they also carry a strong aversion to the open seas.
Notes:
Generic heritage for any countries that do not fall into any of the other groups.
+10% Population Happiness
+5% National Tax
−1 Diplomatic relations
Most peoples have something to be proud of but this is not the case for the citizens of this state. Long forgotten by the outside world they continue to lead uneventful, if peaceful, lives and have no hopes or aspirations of note.
Releasable country heritages
A few releasable countries from events and missions also have unique heritages, listed below.
The coasts of Caria have been populated by Greek settlers for centuries, and the resulting communities of mixed culture, both Greek and Carian, have often organized themselves in federations.
Released from the
Egyptian mission tree
Thalassocracy
Corinth was one of the largest city-states of Greece until recent years, playing an important role as it was at a highly defensive position in-between the rich states of Attica and the Peleponnese. After the conquests of Macedon, it was left as nothing more than a fortified position for the Macedonian troops in the south, bereft of its own independence.
Released from the
Roman mission tree
Subduing Greece
The ten great cities of the Decapolis have often been allied to one another to defend against the Judean aggressors to the south, and now they have finally been put together in a league.
Released from the
Roman mission tree
Eastern Glory
The people of Sicily has long been under the protection of Carthage, as they were faced by the danger of subjugation by the Greek overlords of Syracuse. Finally they have come together to form a proper state, instead of a flimsy defensive alliance protecting several city-states
Released from the
Carthaginian mission tree
An End to Sicilian Warfare
The Persian Mithritadids ruled the Mysian city of Cius until the assassination of Mithridates II drove his heir to forge a new kingdom in Paphlagonia, which eventually became the regional power of northern Asia Minor.
Can be formed through the Kiosian event Paphlagonian Response
本都 can also get this heritage through the
Pontic event
Mithridatic Solution
Notes:
For countries released through the Autonomous Enclave mission task.
+10% State Religion Happiness
+5% Omen power
-1 Diplomatic relations
This state was founded by the priesthood of a great temple. To this day they revere the old traditions of their predecessors even if some would say their rule has grown increasingly focused on the temporal world over time.
Released from the Generic mission tree
Pearl of [Region]/ Growth of [Region]/ Stabilize and Grow [Region]
These islands have long been under Carthaginian domination and have maintained a strong commercial identity.
Released from the
Egyptian mission tree
Greater Empire
References