It's been a little while, but we're here with our latest experimental release. Experimental Release 101 brings lots of improvements to existing systems:

Gameplay
- New tiered acquired traits for intelligence, strength, and attractiveness
- When you go through gender transition, you will be prompted to choose a new name
- Courtiers and heirs for enatic mercenaries should now be much better
- Monster duels during adventures and raids now use simulated duels instead of vanilla ones
- Species fertility system overhauled
- Abyssal piety gain for evil actions should now work better
- Membership in the Heralds is now restricted based on religion
- Characters who are immune to religious conversion are now properly protected from it
- Better logic for assigning children to polyamorous parents
- Sekolah's devotees now have better access to sacrifice
- Certain classes will affect your physique
- Adventurer warbands are unlikely to be led by pacifists
- Clones of characters with biographies and portraits will inherit them
- The Stygian religions now have access to the Cathedral wonder instead of the Pagan Temple
- More nicknames

History
- House Mizzrym now hold the barony of West Wall in Menzoberranzan
- House Morueme now wreak havoc in the eastern Nether Mountains
- Loviatans hold Silverwood just after the Time of Troubles
- Rethmar no longer falls to the gnolls
- Many vampires of Baldur's Gate, past and present
- Ancient history in Raurin

Map
- The Leewai has been separated from de jure Vaasa, and forms its own de jure kingdom with Aefarn and White Peaks (both moved from the empire of Pelvuria)
- Damara now has its canon duchies, both de jure and where appropriate de facto
- Formable duchy of Bloodstone and kingdom of Bakar

Events
- Polyamory events overhauled
- Freelance adventuring tweaked

Graphics
- Lots of new static portraits, especially for Menzoberranyr drow
- Giant troops will be appropriately armed

Optimisation
- All remaining buildings brought into line with CleanSlate
- The XP and level system now runs on the yearly pulse
- Sorcerers' spell points also run on the yearly pulse
- Lots of events now only run for landed rulers
- Artifacts brought into line with CleanSlate
- Many vanilla events brought into line with CleanSlate
- Spell Resistance now uses scripted scores
- Aging system now runs through on_actions
- More casus belli brought into line with CleanSlate
- Improved decluttering of minor characters
- Various events assigned to better action triggers
- MTTH events moved to on_actions instead
- on_actions tided and cleaned
- AI use of the 'clone' spell will be less excessive
- Fewer courtiers for AI rulers
- Recent changes to the CleanSlate base applied to appropriate places
- Wider range of wonder flags
- A new internal flag for quickly checking if a character has a patron deity
- And many other optimisations

Bugfixes
- Various events, especially in warrior lodges, will now correctly say why specific responses are available
- Some casus belli triggers have been fixed
- Society definitions and initial populations tidied up
- Trade route scripted triggers corrected
- Some broken localisation fixed
- Many scripted triggers adjusted
- Reincarnation trait now has an icon
- Astarion no longer has a distant orcish relative
- Robin and Marion will have convincing aliases
- Lake Weng always has sensible culture and religion
- Yikarian succession will work better in certain cases
- Forbidding vassal wars will no longer make you universally unpopular
- Patrician government will be checked more closely
- Healing spells should work more tidily
- You can no longer inherit an undead ethnicity from a grandparent
- Bards, not barbarians, get the opportunity to restory the magistracy
- Dynamic localisation for wonders now works properly
- The Tower event chain from Way of Life now has some sensible checks on it
- A new fix for long-lived adults with child portraits
- Many other bugs fixed

Enjoy!

It's been a busy few weeks! We have welcomed new recruit Elest to the dev team, who has been helping us push forward in areas where progress had previously been slow. And veteran member Teneb has returned to help us with events development as well.

Without further ado, let me introduce our 100th experimental release! It's a big one, including:

Events:
- Idle courtiers may go adventuring or raiding
- Physician-missionary removed
- Eladrin may sometimes switch to follow the Seldarine

Decisions:
- Decision to turn a commonwealth vassal into a merchant republic
- Mass sacrifice option introduced

Councillors:
- Default chaplain activity is now encouraging vocations, not hunting heretics. Hopefully an end to inappropriate burning at the stake!

Titles:
- Scarlet Scourge orcish holy order added

History:
- Vassal rework in Mulhorand
- Namshita now becomes landed as the only non-dragonborn Thymari leader
- Eltab and Soneillon both have bloodlines
- Ugewood changes to Uzbeg when appropriate

Wonders:
- Menzoberranzan and Airspur now have wonder-cities

Graphics:
- Several new event pictures

Optimisation:
- Combat tactics tidied up
- More casus belli brought into line with CleanSlate
- New scripted trigger for flying
- More scripted triggers for character classes
- Several complex sections refactored
- Old Gods adventurers reworked
- More recursive events use 'repeat event'
- Some buildings brought into line with CleanSlate
- Definitions of 'True Outsider' and 'Native Outsider' adjusted

Gameplay:
- Raiding will give XP more consistently
- Newly spawned commanders are likely to have relevant character classes
- Heads of faith will no longer demand you dismiss heathen councillors
- Elven liches will not retreat unless they are baelnorns
- Non-mammals will not suffer most negative effects of pregnancy
- Mercenaries may only employ engineers if landed
- Enatic mercenary companies should get female courtiers

Bugfixes:
- Granular congential traits included properly in lots of places that used to skip them
- Ziss'thiss will not mysteriously vanish
- Booga's children are of her dynasty
- Imbrar Heltharn will remain young forever (but as he's undead, he's not a pretty sight)
- Zealot voting corrected
- Viking invasions adjusted to correct pathfinding bug
- Scopes tightened up in a few places
- Kraken Society malenti invaders won't pretend to be aboleths
- Missing loc added
- Many others

As ever, have fun with it. I'm especially keen to hear feedback about the adventuring courtiers and the new chaplain job - do they work, are they too much?

It's time for Experimental Release 99! Highlights include new provinces on the map, new playable dragons and demon lords, lots of new history, and loads of new optimisations and bugfixes for smoother play. Please note that this release BREAKS SAVES due to the new provinces and new traits. Here's the full rundown:

Map:
- New provinces of Dun-Orthass, Dun-Tharos, Fields of Nun, Mussum, Giant Gap, Mount Sar, Sar'Rukoth, Vaults of Record, Shandaular, Southern Shandaular, Star Mounts, and Xûl-Jarak
- New de jure duchies of Dunwood, Council Hills, Okoth, Shandaular, and Giantspires
- New titular kingdoms of Eltabranar, Giantspires, Naratyr, Ashanath, and Thentur
- New barony names in Chondath
- The Duchy of Impiltur is now called Uplands
- The Duchy of Uplands in Turmish is now called Halondar
- The Duchy of Imphras is now called Dunthelar (after the original name of the river)
- New Giantspire Mountains region
- More accurate topography for The Rift

Graphics:
- New flags
- New static portraits
- Manshoon will only mask up when appropriate
- Dead characters will still get historic graphics changes

History:
- History overhaul in Chondath, Thar, Impiltur, the Vast, the Sword Mountains, Great Dale, Giantspire Mountains, Eastern Shaar, Shadowdale, and Delimbiyr Vale
- Small history tweaks in Cormyr, Unther, Treacherous Isles, Moonrise

Lore:
- New biography traits to support the new static portraits

Optimisation:
- Diseases brought into line with CleanSlate
- Most Casus Belli brought into line with CleanSlate
- Council voting patterns brought into line with CleanSlate
- Tactics brought into line with CleanSlate

Gameplay:
- Merchant republics allow matrilineal marriage
- Martial Faith can now use haruspicy as intended
- Gender conditions on council posts and minor titles updated
- AI characters whose creature type makes them immune to disease will not shut the gates
- Better event to spawn new concillors on startup, which should especially help enatic realms
- Long-lived species will now have older elders
- The Furious faith now uses county conquests
- Sharess now grants gender alteration, as she should
- Abyssal Army and Animate Dead now use different timers, which are visible and correctly described in tool-tips

Bugfixes:
- Lots of localisation fixes
- Decadence events no longer have unnecessary effects
- The Kuo-Tan Society decision to become a vassal of the Western Shou Provinces can now only target the Governor-General, as intended
- The Old Gods adventure event will now fire properly
- AI should now plunder dragon hoards more appropriately

Thanks and credit are once more due to our wonderful team who have done so much to make this happen, and to all of our playtesters who have stuck with us and given us helpful feedback. Please enjoy this latest release, and let us know how you get on!

We've been busy over the past three weeks. Here is Experimental Release 98, with all of this:

Characters
- More characters' secret society membership has been approved
- Some more baatezu are creeping around
- Vangerdahast has been hard at work concealing the Obarskyrs' extra-marital indiscretions
- Mirandor, Wyvernspur, Winter, Kendrick, Sarifal, and other dynasties corrected and updated
- Lots of small fixes to character history

Culture
- LeShay culture added

Graphics
- Elves can no longer have beards
- Smoother hobgoblins
- Lots of adjustments to portraits, especially religious garb
- Characters without sexual dimorphism now have small gender badges below their portraits

Lore
- New character names
- New nicknames
- Small history adjustments

Optimisation
- Succession gender laws cleaned
- Status of women laws updated
- Job actions cleaned
- Holding types cleaned
- Death and heir text updated
- Settling a tribe is more consistent
- Government flavour updated
- Execution methods sorted out and made more lore-compliant
- New scripted triggers for various elements

Localisation
- The character screen will now say 'spouse' instead of 'husband' or 'wife'. Isobel is very relieved.

Gameplay
- Immortal characters are less likely to seek experimental medical treatment
- AI characters will raid less often
- Special courtiers will not be affected by unusual conditions in the courts they join
- Raiding Shou Lung is now controlled by the same conditions as other raiding
- The Bhaalspawn trait is now occasionally heritable
- Lots of new text for when a ruler dies
- The Black Altar can be landless
- Employees of titles with religious connotations should now make sensible patron choices
- The longevity decision for arcane spellcasters now requires journeyman level in any class that has it
- You can only form a special court type (eg undead) if you are independent or your liege already has that type
- Excommunication chances now get worked out properly
- Naturally long-lived characters should be less bothered about having long lives

Bug fixes
- Lots of localisation errors fixed
- Graz'zt now always has his portrait and biography
- Historical wars of the Tuigans should work correctly
- The outsider purges should now work as intended
- Religious disqualification for certain titles now works better

As always, have fun and let us know how you get on!

It's been about six weeks coming, but we're all really grateful for your patience, because today's release is a big one. We finally got the much-needed overhaul of governments and succession laws done, which is a big step towards a properly optimised mod.

Without further ado, here is Experimental Release 97, featuring:

Optimisation
- Full overhaul of government potentials - many realms have different government now
- Corresponding full overhaul of succession laws
- Some fixes imported from CleanSlate
- Cleanup around job titles and some of their actions
- Retiring the 'is Muslim' trigger - the Calishite faith may play slightly more like other Faerûnian religions now

Graphics
- More than 80 new static portraits
- Diversified Dekanter, Tasloi and Batiri portraits
- New Elder Brain portrait set
- New loading screens
- Religious garb now varies by patron deity and class
- Lots of subtle adjustments to portrait rendering
- Additional death type icons
- Icons for all patron traits that lacked them
- Canon heraldry for Barze

Nicknames
- More nicknames added
- Characters who transition gender while having a gendered nickname will now get it replaced

Character history
- Lots of new characters, including dynasties for previously isolated courtiers
- Lifespan adjustments for lots of existing characters
- Historical vampire spawn now remember who spawned them
- Relatedly, Saestra Karanok now actually does the thing she's notorious for
- Aylin and Isobel's happy ending has been upgraded
- Luna's Silver Blood now has a bloodline
- Past Meisarchs of Amn get their correct titles
- More custom titles for other historical characters too

Title history
- Three more dwarfholds
- Kadar and the Nine Council use Divine Elective succession
- New history details in the Western Heartlands

Diversity
- Genies, fiends, and celestials get diverse courtiers

Gameplay
- Long-lived species have reduced disease chances
- More people can now worship the Abeiran primordials
- Some groundwork for future warlock-patron interactions
- Candidates in Nomadic Elective succession must be inside the realm
- Vendettas can only be declared within diplomatic range
- Changes to the celestial summons for some cultures
- Sahuagin CBs are now range-limited

Map
- Aerie of the Snow Eagles is now part of Angalpuk duchy
- Ibelgrak Valley split out from Angalpuk as its own duchy
- Brynwood is now a forest, as it should be
- Commonwealths are now orange

Localisation
- Government flavour updated
- Cooldown timers explained better
- No more 'semper ubi sub ubi'
- Katakoro Plateau region correctly identified
- Warnings about attacking co-religionists no longer assume your religion is a denomination of a wider faith
- Rivals will now accuse each other of being alienists, not witches
- No more references to Purgatory in the English localisation
- Hlal's aliases will work correctly
- Bug fixes
- Only adults can appoint apprentices
- Barbarian Adventure CB should now work as intended, with better AI control
- Localisation broken by case-sensitivity should be fixed now
- No more name-swapped murders
- Lots of small fixes

As ever, please enjoy and let us know any feedback!

Today we have have not one but two announcements for you.

Firstly, the awesome Silversweeper has produced the first version of a new submod (check out the Paradox forum for ck2 user modifications) to let you recruit custom adventurers, to bring your own favourite characters into the game. We enthusiastically support this development!

Secondly, it's time for another experimental release! Experimental 96, out today, offers:

Culture
- Easting culture (in the Vast) split off from Impilturan
- Rakasta culture (as a form of Tabaxi) added as a minority in Easting culture
- Corbie culture (as a form of Tengu) added
- cultural diversity for drow and duergar added

Religion
- Decadence really removed this time
- Limits placed on AI joining secret religious movements

Casus Belli
- The Liberate Nomad Duchy CB now applies to more regions

Map
- Two new regions defined - the Ride and the Land of the Lions

Character history
- New characters in the Vast, including two Heralds
- New details in Daggerdale, including a new holder

Lore
- Nearly 200 new nicknames

Graphics
- Avatars have different eye effects from Chosen
- New death icon for going to another plane

Localisation
- Better warrior lodge cultural loc
- Lots of fixes
- Copy-editing to add Realms flavour and remove real-world references

Optimisation:
- Old patron events deleted
- Planetouched type assignment overhauled
- Council power laws updated
- Nomadic tribal laws displayed
- New scripted triggers for governments

Bugfixes:
- No more error spam from the Raid CB
- Barbarian Adventure outcome cleaned up
- No level-ups for fully dead people
- Correct scope for law additions in maintenance events
- AI characters will correctly refuse conversion in many more scenarios
- Restoring the Lotus Throne should now work correctly
- Various other events and decisions tweaked
- Employment dates in character history fixed to reflect recent changes
- Evil reformation options for orc and goblin faiths now exclude their opposites correctly

Enjoy!

Hi - we have another experimental release for you today, with some bug fixes and some other changes and enhancements we think you'll like.

Religion:
- Decadence is turned off for all religions
- The group formerly known as Akalaic is now called Stygian
- The group formerly known as Unenlightened is now called Ka
- The Thasmudyanic faith is now in the Stygian group, where it should be
- The Interloper faith's deity-specific enemies should now work properly
- Patron selection decision tidied up

Culture:
- The selection of cultures for random worlds should now be better
- The Celestial Sea culture group is now called Han, reflecting its canon origins
- The Bawani culture is now in the Malatran group, as it is not of Han origin and is more similar to Mahasiswa
- Gur councillor events have correct triggers
- The pirates of Jahaka Bay are Nelanthern cultured, so as to be actual pirates

Map:
- Zakhara de jure rework: Empires of the Great Sea, Yehimal, and Segara replace Outer Zakhara, Utter East, and Yikarian Empire respectively; Crowded Sea has different extent
- Yikarian Empire is now titular instead
- Dragonisle is the de jure capital of both Pirate Isles titles
- Adjustments to geographical regions, including new Yehimal and Segara Sea regions

Character history:
- Amn rework finished - lots of new characters, and a different selection of patrician houses in various dates
- Lots of character histories adjusted
- New nicknames, especially for members of the Obarskyr dynasty
- Minthara is a paladin

Graphics:
- Mari hair adjusted

Localisation:
- More culture descriptions
- More real-world references removed
- Better localisation for some religions
- A lot of typos fixed

Optimisation:
- Monster cleanup event now more organised
- Bhaalspawn events now use a counter rather than cached trait checks
- Therianthrope and vampire infection now use saved targets
- Decision conditions tidied up
- Council power law optimisation begun

Bugfixes:
- The nicknames list is working properly again
- The Barbarian Adventure casus belli should no longer cause major lag; if you see it doing things it shouldn't, please let us know

And here's wishing you all a happy 2024. We'll be back in the new year with more updates, but for now - enjoy!