

######################## Useful information

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## Key features of this mod ###############################################
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-- Events and Decisions
	Convert to an Amazonian Culture
	Gain the Amazonian martial traits
	Found an Amazonian Empire after gaining core territories
	Conquer Amazonian heartlands and establish protectorate client states
	Convert to a feminist heresy as a powerful Empress and wage enatic Holy War
	Found or join the Hall of Heroines warrior lodge
	

-- Religions
	Anunnaki, the religion of the original city builders of antiquity.
	Ishtarian, the religion of the original Amazonians and an Anunnaki heresy.
	Reform a vanilla heresy with new features
	Reform Islamic sects as a Calipha and turn them into feminist religions


-- Game Rules 
	Global Succession laws
	Amazonian Cultural Prevalence
	Ishtarian Messiah


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## Retinues ##########################################################
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This requires the Legacy of Rome DLC

Themiskyran		Silver Shield  			(pikemen + heavy cavalry)
Valkyrie 		Folkvangr Guard  		(knights + heavy infantry)
Scythian 		Steppe Sister	  		(light cavalry + horse archers)
Parthian 		Cataphract Horse Archer		(heavy cavalry + cavalry archers)
Kushite 		Shotel Warrior  		(heavy infantry + archers)
Carthaginian		African Elephant  		(pikemen + elephants)
Etruscan		Etruscan Raider			(heavy infantry + pikemen)
Pritani			Woad Warrior			(light infantry + heavy infantry)
Illyrian		Illyrian Privateer		(heavy infantry + pikemen)
Valascan		Divka Warrior			(archer + pikemen)


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## Cultural Features ###########################################################
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			raider?		seafarer?	retinue synergy?	Origin					Extras	
Themiskyran		no		yes		yes			Byzantine (minus Alan & Arberian)
Valkyrie		yes		yes		yes			North Germanic group
Scythian		yes		no		yes			East Slavic group & Alan
Parthian		yes		no		yes			Persian group
Kushite			no		no		no			East African group & Egyptian		Desert Pyramid (feudal building)
Carthaginian		no		yes		yes			Berber & Andalusian			Cothon (feudal building)
Etruscan		yes		no		no			Italian, Roman & Sardinian		Watchtower (feudal building)
Pritani			yes		no		no			Celtic group				Men can use warpaint
Illyrian		yes		yes		yes			Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian & Arberian
Valascan		yes		no		yes			Bohemian & Slovien			Amazonian women can gauge out prisoners' eyes 



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## Events and Decisions ###################################################
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## Adopting an Amazonian culture

	Independent adult women from the relevant cultures (listed above) can convert to an Amazonian culture once their realms are large enough. The option will appear in the intrigue menu.
	Upon choosing the convert, the character must wait for 30% of their total vassals and courtiers to signal that they are also willing to convert before the new culture will be adopted. 
	Once this occurs, the capital's culture will flip and the character will receive the Trailblazer modifier. While this modifier is active, winning major battles provides a chance for their culture to very quickly spread throughout the realm.

	An important note of Amazonian realms is that unlanded men will slowly lose their claims if those claims are for any title within the same realm. This occurs even faster under the Ishtarian religion. The aim of this feature is to prevent factions from installing men in positions that should be held by Amazonians, as there is no easy way to tell the AI not to do this otherwise.

## Taking the Amazonian trait
	
	The Amazonian trait is gained by Undergoing the Rites found in the intrigue menu for characters with at least 8 martial. 
		It is available to any woman while any of the following are true:
			has any liege with an Amazonian culture
			follows the Ishtarian religion
			has an active enatic-cognatic bloodline
			any liege has an enatic-cognatic bloodline while also possessing the Amazonian trait AND their immediate liege has the trait also
			the enatic game rule is active, effectively making all realms Amazonian			
	Once gained, the trait forces that character's vassals into a female-favoured succession so that enatic rule can dripfeed through the realm. 

	There is a secondary upgrade to this trait called Legendary Amazonian. It functions the same way as the regular trait with added buffs. Most notably, it makes the character immortal and immune to aging, but it can only be gained under rare circumstances.
		The character must have the original Amazonian trait and be in prime health
		Must be young: between the ages of 16 and 29 inclusive
		Must have at least 16 martial
		And the event will only ever trigger after a major battle victory.

## Amazonian Empires
	
	Amazonians can form unique empires through the decision menu. Each culture has a set of five core provinces they must completely hold and require at least one relevant kingdom title.
	Once formed, the character will gain a new bloodline and transfer any held relevant kingdom title to their new empire.
	Each empire has a unique flag and a name associated with the culture.

## Amazonian Tributaries

	As an Amazonian-traited empress (culture is not required), a character will have the ability to establish client states in the heartlands of different Amazonian realms. This requires Majesty rank 4. 
	The option will become available to a character who personally controls one of the following duchy titles plus any counties within it:
		Armeniacon (Themiskyran)
		Uppland (Valkyrian)
		Crimea (Scythian)
		Merv (Parthian)
		Nubia (Kushite)
		Tunis (Carthaginian)
		Tuscany (Etruscan)
		Essex (Pritani)
		Dioclea (Illyrian)
		Bohemia (Valascan)

	Taking the decision will create a suitable administrator character of the appropriate culture, give them a cultural artifact, and install them as a Protectorate with a decent event army. This is a custom tributary type for the mod. They provide a small amount of income and prestige to their Protector as well as levy reinforcements. They cannot refuse a call to war, and the Protector must join them in defensive wars. 

	Depending on the capital holding at time of transfer, they may set up with a different government type. If their dejure kingdom doesn't already exist, they will also create the title at a small cost of wealth (giving them dejure claims on a larger territory they will request help in conquering). They will further request and pay for any dejure territory controlled by any member of your realm, but only for their intial kingdom title. 

## Hall of Heroines Warrior Lodge

	A new warrior lodge, The Hall of Heroines, is a female-only society for women with high martial skill. The lodge lacks the usual powers and missions of other lodges, but I try to make up for that with some personalised events. Players who attempt to found the lodge will go through a short event chain to invite interested members but the AI founds the lodge instantly once they take the decision. This is NOT limited to Amazonian cultures, but is rather a way to increase the playablity of female characters regardless of their culture.
	To create the lodge, a female character must satisfy the following requirements:
		16 martial
		1500 prestige
		wealth enough to pay (varies on income)
		as well as any of the Shieldmaiden traits fitting of the Hall's ethos:
			Brave
			Proud
			Ambitious
			Honest
			Diligent
			Just
			Gregarious

	The currency of the Hall is Fame. As the name suggests, the easiest way to gain Fame is through making a name for yourself by winning battles. 

	The lodge provides a number of new abilities. Most notably:
		Gain the Shieldmaiden trait personally
		Gain the Amazonian trait (if the character is not from an Amazonian culture or Ishtarian religion)
		Improve martial education one level at a time. This is in addition to any existing non-martial education.
		Summon an Amazonian horde in times of war. Strength varies depending on realm size and rank.
		Gain the Heroine leadership trait, which allows all subsequent abilities.
		Commission new battle gear, a sword and some armour.
		Go on a Legendary Quest. Four options for quests, each providing a different bloodline. Only the Grandmistress has access to this decision more than once.
		Challenge the Grandmistress. This is a duel for leadership. If the challenger loses, she may find herself demoted, banished or simply executed for the trouble.




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## Religions #############################################################
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	The mod adds the possibility to reform existing feminist heresies, and the ability to reform Islamic caliphates to have feminist features. It also adds two new religions related to the rise of Amazonians and their arch nemeses, the Anunnaki God-Kings.

## Feminist Heresies
	
	This requires the Sons of Abraham DLC

	Feminist heresies are those that allow women to hold religious titles and don't have opinion penalties towards female rulers. Potential heresies are Cathar for western Christianity, Bogomilist for eastern Orthodox, Messalian for Nestorian, and Mazdaki for Zoroastrian - thus the decision to become a feminist heretic is only available to these religion groups. Taking the decision will offer a chance to publicly convert, secretly convert, or not convert at all. 
	The option to convert will become available to any woman with the Amazonian OR Heroine trait supposing that she also satisfies the following:
			is independent
			either a feminist succession law, or holds an empire title
			either not already a heretic, or secretly already a feminist heretic
			holds at least a kingdom title
			either holds and empire title, or owns a holy site for their religion

		Thus, an Amazonian-traited empress can convert at any time, but a traited queen must first hold a holy site

	Publicly converting will cause all friendly vassals, courtiers and protectorates of convertible opinion (30+) to convert with you at a cost of 1000 prestige, and this will then cycle down the heirarchy to convert as many realm characters as possible within days. Once you are a heretic, you may engage in Holy Wars against your own religion group. Take enough territory and your heresy will become the dominant religious doctrine. 

	Reformations will become available as more realm characters convert to your heresy, but require that the heretic holds an empire title. The decision is only available while a heretic, meaning one can no longer reform once the religion becomes dominant. They include:
		Constructing a Feminist Seminary: grants the ability to hire priestesses through the Intrige menu. This is available to queens also.
		Succession: choose what succession type your heresy will follow.
		Identity: choose to adopt peaceful, contractual or aggressive religious features.
		Concubinage: choose whether the religion allows consorts for males, females or both. 

## Feminist Caliphate

	This requires the Sword of Islam DLC

	The decision to reform an Islamic faith with feminist features first requires a female to hold a Caliphate title. This is, without the reformation already in place, very difficult and highly unlikely to occur. With this in mind, any woman who manages to become Calipha will find the requirements of reformation comparably easier to satisfy. The Calipha need only hold the title of Calipha and requires no special traits, even if being a Sayyida or a Mirza will make the formation of the Caliphate piety-cheap. The decision requires at least one holy site under control (already a requirement of forming a Caliphate).

	As with the heresies, new options for reformation become available as more realm characters follow your branch of Islam. They are otherwise available at any time through the Intrigue menu. In contrast to heresies, the options are fewer and largely depend one whether the Calipha belongs to an Amazonian culture. They include:
		Constructing a Feminist Seminary: as above, but additionally requires a feminist succession law first.
		Succession: absolute cognatic for non-Amazonians or enatic-cognatic for Amazonians.
		Polygyny: disables the polygyny feature, forcing all men of your religion to divorce all their secondary wives.
		Concubinage: available only to Amazonian-cultured Caliphas if polygyny has been abolished, flipping the structure to allow consorts for women.
	Furthermore, a Calipha can gain a bloodline to show that she is a direct descendant of Mohammed through his only daughter. This bloodline grants an additional decision:
		Heritage: allows children to inherit the Sayyid trait from their mothers, effectivvely replacing the Mirza trait which is not inheritable. Requires the succession reformation first.

	Unlike reforming a feminist heresy, some of these reforms can also be reversed at absolutely no cost if an AI male from a non-Amazonian culture manages to gain control of the Caliphate. The succession law will be reduced to absolute-cognatic if not already, but polygyny will be reinstated as concubinage is abolished. The religion will remain technically feminist, however, and the status of women will remain at maximum level.

## New religions

	This requires the Holy Fury DLC

	Two new religions have been added: 
		Anunnaki: an aggressive religion held by spawned God-Kings.
		Ishtarian: an Anunnaki heresy that may eventually find a new Messiah

	Anunnaki God-Kings (seen ingame with the Anunnaki trait) are especially dangerous characters. When they spawn, they appear with very large armies and can quickly conquer a significant territory if left unchallenged. Fortunately, Legendary Amazonians can always challenge them in a fight to the death and Anunnaki will never refuse.
	
	Anunnaki religion spreads fast as every major battle victory gained by the God-King has a chance to convert a random realm province.
	
	The religion of the Anunnaki is similar to the Aztec religion from the Sunset Invasion DLC, allowing believers to sacrifice prisoners in a violent ceremony. The religion becomes especially aggressive and expansionist if an Anunnaki God-King manages to capture a holy site, which will unlock prepared invasions similar to the Norse religion. The Anunnaki holy sites include:
		Baghdad in Iraq
		Giza in Egypt
		Esfahan in Persia
		Ascalon in Jerusalem
		Thessalonika in Greece

	Ishtarian begins as an Anunnaki heresy and has three methods of appearing ingame.
		The first is through the standard heresy mechanic, flipping an Anunnaki province with low moral authority.
		Second, if the God-King loses a major battle, a random Anunnaki province may flip to Ishtarian.
		Third, through the appearance of a Messiah, randomly chosen from among the Legendary Amazonians.

	The Ishtarian Messiah will be hailed as the return of the goddess herself, regardless of what religion she may already be. She can choose to embrace the worship and convert to Ishtarian, or refuse it, but the cult worship will never vanish. If at first she refuses, she can later accept it through right-clicking her portrait icon and choosing to finally embrace.
		Once chosen as Messiah, the Legendary Amazonian has a chance to convert a random realm province to Ishtarian with every major battle victory in the same way that a God-King can. Realm characters will also slowly convert of their own volition as their faith in the Messiah's holiness increases.

	The Messiah also has a number of unique abilities.
		She can convert Amazonian-cultured tributaries to Ishtarian through the Diplomacy menu (right-click another's portrait).
		If Grandmistress of the Hall of Heroines, she can convert the Hall to an Ishtarian-only warrior lodge. This is not a mass conversion event and most members would instead leave rather than convert to a new religion, but it does give Ishtarians a better chance at conquest against characters who might otherwise have benefitted from the Hall's abilities.

	Ishtarian begins with limited features, but unlocks more as followers conquer holy sites. The holy sites and their unlocks include:
		Baghdad in Iraq - allows fleets to navigate major rivers
		Jaffa in Jerusalem - allows women to take up to three consorts
		Hormuz in Persia - unlocks seafaring, lowering the cost of fleet upkeep
		Constantinople in Thrace - allows vassal levies to be raised without incurring an opinion penalty. 
		Rome in the Papal States - unlocks defensive attrition, forcing hostile armies to take extra attrition in Ishtarian provinces

	Both religions enforce feminist succession among vassals, but Anunnaki will retain male leadership if the ruler is already male. 

	As part of the same religion group, both Ishtarian and Anunnaki share the ability to instantly convert tribal holdings to either castles or cities as representatives of the original city builders. This is free of charge when done by an Anunnki God-King, cheap when done by an Anunnaki ruler who isn't a God-King, and of moderate cost when done as an Ishtarian.
	
	Likewise, in honour of their derivations, both religions can build Ziggurats as great works (wonders). They function as a mix between Great Temples, Grand Fortresses and Royal Palaces. Ziggurats begin with 3 slots at the first stage, but are limited to 1 slot by the fourth stage. 

	

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## Game Rules ##################################################################
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The mod comes with three Game Rules.

The first, 'Crusader Amazons Succession Law', allows players to decide global succession laws. If playing from a historical chapter at campaign start, these laws will lead to extreme border gore and very strange realms appearing. Best used with Shattered World setting alongside a high Female Ruler Percentage. None of the rules affect Merchant Republics, and will only affect theocracies if the religion allows for female temple holders. The four options are:
	>Default - Does nothing. No laws will be changed. Leaving the rule on Default allows the possibility to reform religious succession laws later as this ability is blocked under any other rule.
	>Equal - All realms will be locked to Absolute Cognatic succession. Status of Women is bumped up to its maximum of 4, the title law is switched to feminist (meaning female rulers are not penalised), and matrilineal marriages are permitted. With this succession type, men and women will be given a largely equal opportunity to inherit.
	>Female Preference - All realms will be locked to Enatic-Cognatic succession. This option is no different to Equal in terms of the peripheral laws it enacts, but the succession type means males can only inherit if there are no eligible females. 
	>Female Dominated - All realms will be locked to full Enatic succession. Again, the same peripheral laws are changed. The succession type means that only women can inherit. Unlike the Matriarchal feature of reformed Pagan religions, this option does not penalise men for holding titles nor prevent them from holding council positions. It simply makes their chances of inheriting titles highly unlikely. 


The second, 'Amazonian Culture Prevalence', allows players to pick how regularly Amazonian cultures will appear and to a lesser degree how quickly adjacent characters will adopt them. This Rule is only applied in the first instance to the liege's initial decision to convert and in the second instance to spouses'/courtiers' willingness to follow them. Unlike the previous Rule, changing the prevalence will not affect any other features of gameplay. The four options are:
	>Default - Does nothing. No weight is applied for or against conversion.
	>Common - Characters are 10x more likely to convert to an Amazonian culture as ruler and spouses/courtiers will convert 10x quicker.
	>Never - Removes the AI's decision to convert as a ruler, and also removes the decision to convert for spouses and courtiers. Characters and provinces will convert at the vanilla rate, which is very slow.
	>Rare - Characters are only 10% as likely to convert to an Amazonian culture as ruler and spouses/courtiers will convert at 10% default speed.


The third rule, 'Ishtarian Messiah', applies to the key event that revives the Ishtarian religion and requires the Holy Fury DLC and the Supernatural Events rule not set to off. The Messiah will always be a Legendary Amazonian who best represents Ishtar as a goddess of love and war, and will therefore be a playable character with either the Brilliant Strategist education or only attractive features. She must have a sizeable realm herself - either 36 realm size or a kingdom tier title - and must not control a religion or be a republic. The five options are:
	>Rare - Default option. The messiah will be unlikely to appear in an ordinary campaign.
	>Rare (Player Only) - Same as Rare but the AI will never be selected.
	>Common - Players are likely to encounter the rise of Ishtarian in their game.
	>Common (Player Only) - Same as Common but the AI will never be selected. This is the best option for anyone wanting to experience an Ishtarian campaign.
	>Never - No character will be selected and the Ishtarian religion will not appear naturally. This option also removes the Anunnaki God-Kings from appearing.






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And that's most of the mod! 
