A smaller update today, but an important one. We had a reported bug that starting on any date in 1369 would cause a crash. We have identified the error, and fixed the underlying issue, which was that dragon hoards were conflicting with other wonders. Full change log:

Titles:
- The Holycoin of Waukeen will now lead the Mercantile faith

Characters:
- More Amnian characters added and improved
- More nicknames
- Lots of special titles, too
- House Dralas and other Thayan connections corrected

Title history:
- As well as Amnian and Mercantile additions, new title holders in Everlund, Calling Horns, Riders to the Sky

Optimisation:
- Council power laws finished
- Succession laws started
- Summoned creatures will check if they should go home more often

Bugfixes:
- Avatar events and religious reformation now correctly update religions' god lists
- Dragon hoards will not spawn in place of other wonders, thereby preventing crashes
- Missing gods added
- Voting tooltips fixed
- Missing coat of arms added
- The Seven Sages will no longer wander the planes if they have ruled for a long time

It's been a little while, but we've got another update for you. There's a new personality trait, so this update will definitely break your saves - finish your current games before downloading.

Here's what we've got:

Optimisation:
- Demesne laws including status of women
- Obligation laws
- Council power laws
- Crown laws

Cultures:
- Added Gurri, Raurindi, and Barovian cultures
- More cultures have descriptions

Religion:
- The Abyssal Cult now counts as evil at last
- Vandria Gilmadrith isn't evil, but she's no longer good either

Titles:
- The historic duchy of Pelmarin and marquessate of Enzo exist, and the latter is playable
- The Order of the Aster stands ready to defend the Solar faith
- The Oxventure Guild can be hired
- The Guardians of Daggerford are on hand too
- Reef Giants now have enatic-cognatic succession, as they should

Events:
- Summoned creatures now get properly announced
- If the Lotus Throne is taken by an unsuitable holder, it will be destroyed
- Lowborn fiends and oni will not generally be promoted automatically
- Ardlings will only spawn under much more specific conditions
- Long-lived characters with more than one reason to live long will still age properly
- Courtiers can die in a wider and more appropriate range of horrible accidents
- Rulers who would be pleased with a gate to Baator will no longer get the opportunity to close one

Traits:
- Loyalty is now appropriately recognised

Decisions:
- An appropriately qualified person can restore the Lotus Throne if it does not exist
- You can no longer join the elven Retreat while at war
- Extracting secrets should now be beneficial to the perpetrator

Societies:
- Dark elves can join the elven warrior lodge if they otherwise qualify

Character history:
- Partial rework of Amn - new title holders, better dynasty trees - more to follow
- Overhaul of interregnum-era Tethyr, lots of horrible new playable characters
- History changes in Impiltur - no effect on play
- Lots of new minor characters
- Lots of tweaks and improvements to existing characters
- Luna's surname is now Silverblood (thank you, BG3 data-miners)
- Arilyn Moonblade's life is a bit more colourful
- Abdel and Imoen will no longer be falsely imprisoned
- Kyriani Agrivar retires to Red Cliffs
- The Dark Urge will now haunt Baldur's Gate from a more appropriate date
- Some of the other Baldur's Gate 3 origin characters will now be a bit more... in-character

Casus belli:
- Count-tier barbarians can now undertake great adventures, and the localisation says so
- Bahamutans can smite evil, and fiends can be smote
- Pagan subjugation should now work as intended

Nicknames:
- Lots of new nicknames added, including most of the ones from Nicknames+++
- Rulers are less likely to be called 'the Boy King', and less likely to be stuck with it for life

Graphics:
- The Dark Urge now has only the right number of horns
- Several missing patron/branch icons added
- Merchant characters will not try to wear too many different kinds of headgear at once

Localisation:
- More cultural title localisations
- References improved for deities including Shar, Malar, Vlaakith, Tchazzar, and Zaerith Menyar-ag-Gith
- Half of the Katakoro Shan will now be referred to as the Ghalyi Shan

Bug fixes:
- A stray pixel will no longer disrupt wayfinding
- Lots of localisation has been fixed, including removing real-world references
- Experts invited from Shou Lung will retain their original cultures instead of converting
- Eunuchs and dead people are less concerned about matters of reproduction
- Experience totals now have localisation
- Bhaalists can now, as promised, plot to murder their children and sworn-siblings
- A lot of provinces which are underground are now in the Underdark region

We've got more planned, as ever. I'm currently looking at another experimental release in two weeks, but we'll keep you posted.

Enjoy!

Another big experimental release today. Like the last one, this one breaks saves, so be prepared to start anew after downloading it. And we'd like to give advance warning that the next release is also likely to break saves too. And so, without further ado, the changes:

Rules:
- You can now control the use of static portraits for lore characters by means of a game rule.

Wonders:
- Big expansion of wonders - many of these have not been rigorously tested in gameplay, so we welcome your feedback
- New 'Great City' wonder
- New 'Wizard Tower' wonder
- Dragonborn cultures can now build the 'Great Djerad' instead of the Great Fortress. It's mechanically equivalent, but graphically distinct.

New upgrades:
- Divine literature collection
- Arcane literature collection
- Psionic literature collection
- Planar literature collection
- Public library
- Subterranean passages
- Deeper dungeon level
- Wing of wizardry
- Fogou
- All generic historical wonders converted to specific versions

New historical wonders:
- Waterdeep, City of Splendours
- Huzuz, City of Delights
- Kuo Meilan, City of Ghosts
- The Words of Heaven at Tanghai (placed in Meinan to get it on the map)
- Temple of Saigai
- Djerad Thymar
- Amaunator's Eternal Sun at Elversult
- The Companion at Elturel (no story event for it yet, we know it needs one)
- The Raging Flame at Tarmalune
- Shoonach
- Myth Drannor, City of Song
- Skyclave
- Towers of Rog'osto
- University of Qadib
- Fortress of Qudra
- Citadel of Thaymount
- Glaur, Dominions of Nehu

Character history:
- Full rework of Waterdeep, especially from the late 14th century onward. About a dozen new playable patricians, including the notorious Victoro Cassalanter
- Partial rework in Cormyr, introducing House Illance and fleshing out House Cormaeril, and filling in a bit of title history for the Wyvernspurs
- Much more detailed character history for characters across the Baldur's Gate series
- Beginning of a rework in Amn: Illehhune, Hhune, Ifalar and Krimmevol families
- More courtiers in many places, and some historical werewolves
- Many new dynasties, including some adjustments for existing characters (looking at you, Lae'zel of Creche K'liir)

Geography:
- Various wonders' placement slightly adjusted
- Regions in the Heartlands and around the Inner Sea slightly amended

Bloodlines:
- Fallen angel characters now give a different bloodline from other fiends
- Archdevils' bloodlines are now distinguished from Mephistopheles' personal one
- New bloodline for an Amnian notable

Titles:
- Knights Fentan mercenary company
- Grand Duchy of Marsember

Culture:
- Bedine ruler titles
- Diaman dynasties

Religion:
- Vlaakith and Zaerith Megyar-ag-Gith are now deadly rivals.
- Bedine characters can always worship At'ar, even if everyone else thinks she's dead
- Myrkul and Shar now have Chosen ones, and Sune has one in practice as well as in theory
- Diirinka, Blibdoolpoolp and Malcanthet now have patron icons

Societies:
- The Lords' Alliance joining rules have been slightly adjusted, and clarified
- You can't join the Harpers in or around Shou Lung (they don't compete with the Kuo-Tan)

Classes:
- The Shadow's Vigilance ability affects defensive plot power rather than directly boosting intrigue

Lore:
- A few more tweaks to culture descriptions, including court languages for all the ones already written
- Asabi culture will now be known by the endonym Laerti
- Some more distinctive adjectives
- Other cultural terminology updated

Optimisations:
- Minor titles completed
- Laws clean-up started

Fixes:
- Removed more real-world references in localisation
- Ambitions to become pious or prestigious are once more valid
- Chosen of Talona will now be immune to disease, as they should be
- Tazok has a dynasty
- The Knights of the Unicorn have a sensible composition
- No more court dwarfs, in a world that has courts of dwarves
- You can no longer generate piety merely by contemplating conversion
- You can't be renowned as a slayer of fiends if you are half-fiend yourself
- Gur courtiers should now be described in gender-neutral terms when being recruited
- The Metatext has its article now
- Sundry others

As usual, it's a pleasure to bring you this mod. Have fun, and let us know how you get on. We are especially interested in any feedback about balance on the wonders.

Another big experimental release today! We've focused again on the region covered by the Baldur's Gate games, with new graphics, new provinces, and lots of new characters. But there's little treats further afield as well, and a lot of minor fixes to enhance playability. This update breaks existing saves - be warned.

Map:
* De jure rework of the North and Heartlands
* New provinces in Amn and the Western Heartlands

History:
* New history for several provinces in Amn, Tethyr, and the Western Heartlands as well as the Wayrock in the Inner Sea and Cony Gap in the North
* Lots more courtiers in various places
* Two new Bedine-cultured mercenary bands
* Fewer characters are arbitrarily slated to die in 1500DR

Graphics:
* Static portraits for a range of canon characters
* Flags for new titles, including all the dwarf realms from the previous release

Lore:
* More cultures and culture groups have descriptive text
* Lots of new canon dynasty names
* New wiki links for historical figures in Baldur's Gate and Amn

Events:
* The fallen angel Zariel can now invade, if she isn't already present on Toril

Optimisation:
* Minor titles improved, and age limits removed

Bugfixes:
* Joyful patron selection now works correctly
* File format corrected for lots of critical culture and religion localisation
* The nickname 'the Lion' will only apply to male rulers, and 'the Lioness' now has equivalent conditions for female rulers
* Removed references to real-world religions and historical figures in several places
* The AI should no longer be allowed to try shattering the realm of a ruler who doesn't have one
* Bjornhild Solvigsdottir now looks like she should, and her family makes sense
* The City of Shade's description is now short enough to read
* Hengeyokai are now informed correctly about prospective partners

Hotfix for September 23rd release...

- Added Belt as interim Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate while Entar Silvershield is dead
- Also added Belt as bookmark character
- Also exonerated Abdel Adrian of the murder of Skie Silvershield

It's time for another experimental release. And this one's a big one! Experimental Release 89 is now up on GitHub & on here, and while the release notes are below, the main news is that this is a big update for people who like non-human OPMs, and the Baldur's Gate series. We have lots of playable BG characters, including Abdel and Sarevok during their appearances in BG1. We have many fixes for our existing BG3 characters, and more added. I'll be doing a separate post just to update our 'playable video game characters' list to reflect this release. And there are about a dozen new OPM realms, many of them duchies, with non-human holders. Because of the extensive map changes, this release breaks saves. Please be aware - the next experimental release will probably also break saves, this time due to trait changes.

So without further ado, the change log!

Bookmarks and Timeline:
- The Bhaalspawn Crisis start date is now 2 Eleint 1368 instead of 1 Hammer in the same year. Additionally, both Sarevok Anchev and Abdel Adrian are playable as Dukes of Baldur's Gate in that date, and throughout the month of Eleint.
- There are a quite few Baldur's Gate 3 spoilers scattered around, but most of them occur on or after the Toril Restored major bookmark.
- The final possible start date is now 1 Hammer 1499. Note that starting after the 'Honor Among Thieves' bookmark may reveal spoilers for the movie.
- The fall of Elturgard now happens in 1492, not 1494.

Map:
- New provinces: Qarlondrar, Harheldur, Ahruukar, Raskuldin, Khaelud, Fireforges, Graskynar, Utuerth, Skurrukh, Moonrise, Cloak Bay, Wood of Sharp Teeth, Lake Weng, Amstelar, Wild Hills, and Green Shadows
- Sage's Bay formally renamed to Crab Reach, and The Ruins to Selskar Vale

Titles:
- New de jure duchy of Cloakwood, as well as lots of OPM de jure duchies for new dwarf realms
- New titular duchies of Emerald Grove and Night Church
- Various historic names updated
- Female Grand Dukes of Baldur's Gate are now addressed correctly

History:
- Full title histories for new titles, including the Night Church back to the time of Gorothir
- Lots of new characters, including some more Baldur's Gate series ones, a notorious Calishite crime-lord, and a very special inhabitant of pre-Time-of-Troubles Waterdeep

Art:
- New desktop icon for the mod
- New icon for the 1479 major bookmark
- New sympathy icons
- Several elven clothing sets re-fitted to work better on humans and half-elves

Lore:
- Culture descriptions for some cultures and groups; more to follow
- FR Wiki links for the Snowsword dynasty

Flavour:
- Illithids encountered when adventuring will now be psions

Optimizations:
- Many factions
- Many ambitions
- All nicknames, both vanilla and mod-specific
- All minor titles

Bugfixes:
- Flind culture now has dynasties and retinues
- Shargrailar the Dark now gets a better nickname as intended
- A secret dragon's gender changes now take effect
- Dwarf/half-dwarf reproduction now works as expected
- Orcish religion now reluctantly allows matrilineal marriages
- Yuir patrons decision should now only list valid choices
- Far Realm fanatics will no longer be distracted by Asmadai rituals, even in theory
- Many historical characters are now born and die at the right times
- Many others

Have a wonderful time, and let us know how you get on!

Another experimental release! This time, we've got:

- History changes - Sespech in the 15th century, titular duchy of Scornubel, Shargrailar the Dark, Surcross after the Spellplague, new NPCs in Waterdeep and Huzuz
- Four new mamluk companies
- New names in various human cultures
- Optimisations - factions
- Fixes - half-giant and half-ogre child portraits, demon lord bloodline, obsolete empires, and more
- Tweaks - better loc for various things including bloodthirsty gods traits

Another set of incremental improvements today, in Experimental Release 87:

- New portraits by Nendur: Ogrillons, Aarakocra, Undead Giants
- The CleanSlate overhaul continues
- Many small history tweaks, including royal ancestors and descendants in Cormyr and Dambrath, more playable Khans of Yaimunnahar, and some new courtiers
- Cultural diversity overhaul continues
- Lots of localisation fixes
- Several new nicknames

Enjoy!

A small but nice incremental release today:

- New ears and tattoos for ogres
- New portraits for half-giants and half-ogres
- A lot portrait triggers and localisation cleaned up
- Lots of bug fixing, especially in missing or inappropriate localisation
- New names, especially for Shield Dwarves and High Coasters

Enjoy!

We're making steady progress with a number of areas, and we have some new elements to show off!

In this update:

Graphics updates:
- New half-orc portraits, with our continuing gratitude to Geheimnisnacht
- New Sossrim clothing, courtesy of After the End
- Late era clothing for Highcoaster, Bedine, D'Tarig and Illuskan characters, courtesy of After the End
- Wemic child portraits
- More appropriate religious garb

Patron trait overhaul continues:
- Deneir - recruit scribe
- Eldath - cheaper Cure Disease

De Jure rework in northern Faerun:
- Northern Realms empire split up - Frozenfar to Moonshae, the rest partitioned between Delzoun and Eaerlann (both previously titular)
- Cold Lands empire split up - Leewai moved to Vaasa, and the whole partitioned between Pelvuria and Bloodstone, both of which are new

Other:
- More 'Honor Among Thieves' characters - data files contain spoilers
- Some more dragons in earlier history
- Cultural diversity overhaul begins
- Cleanup of offmap likes/dislikes
- Cleanup of ambitions
- Cleanup of plots
- Nomadic Tribal rulers can now convert to commonwealth or merchant republic with a fully upgraded ranch

Fixes:
- No more seelie/unseelie double-agents
- Queens Under the Mountain will be actual queens
- Kobold clerics should have stable localisation