The German Question
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2025 5:15 pm
Right now, the German culture is broken up in a variety of strange and inconsistent ways: There is German, Central German, Old High German (which isn't even a culture, but a linguistic period), Franconian... Because of the way the game handles culture, this needs to be addressed. Here are three potential paths:
Unification
This is by far the easiest, and in line with other precedents. Large cultures like East Slavic, Italian, Persian, Berber, Norse, Turkish, Baltic are unified. Delete all subcultures and unify them into German, while giving German culture an unrest increase for wrong culture pops to simulate the historical turmoil in parts of the HRE where a German-speaking minority ruled over different majorities.
Three way split
This would be in line with France, which is split into French and Occitan. Split German into Low German (which is in Northern Germany, as that is the flat low-lying part next to the ocean), Central German and Upper German/Austro-Bavarian (Alpine region). Adjust starting pops and state cultures for countries to match.
Regionalization
This would be in line with the Iberian peninsula, which has Ibero-Latin, Basque, Catalan and Portuguese. Create the following cultures: Lower Saxon, Markish, Frankish, Thuringian, Saxon, Swabian, Alemannic, Bavarian, Austrian. Adjust starting pops and state cultures for countries to match. This is by far the most granular and historically accurate of the three proposals, but also the most work-intensive.
Which of these three do you prefer?
Unification
This is by far the easiest, and in line with other precedents. Large cultures like East Slavic, Italian, Persian, Berber, Norse, Turkish, Baltic are unified. Delete all subcultures and unify them into German, while giving German culture an unrest increase for wrong culture pops to simulate the historical turmoil in parts of the HRE where a German-speaking minority ruled over different majorities.
Three way split
This would be in line with France, which is split into French and Occitan. Split German into Low German (which is in Northern Germany, as that is the flat low-lying part next to the ocean), Central German and Upper German/Austro-Bavarian (Alpine region). Adjust starting pops and state cultures for countries to match.
Regionalization
This would be in line with the Iberian peninsula, which has Ibero-Latin, Basque, Catalan and Portuguese. Create the following cultures: Lower Saxon, Markish, Frankish, Thuringian, Saxon, Swabian, Alemannic, Bavarian, Austrian. Adjust starting pops and state cultures for countries to match. This is by far the most granular and historically accurate of the three proposals, but also the most work-intensive.
Which of these three do you prefer?