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What happens when a Roman governor is sent to a province of the Empire? Well, you’ll be able to decide for yourself sometime later but let us already talk about it today: Let’s take a look at the “Romanization” feature!

Historical Context

Let’s start with a look at the real Roman Empire which we used as inspiration. It’s worth keeping in mind here that as with so many historical topics, historians are working with limited evidence on those ancient times.

“Romanization” is usually defined as a process of cultural integration of the people in the provinces of the Roman Empire.

But from what we know, the “Romanization” of local peoples in the provinces tended to vary quite a bit depending on location and culture. It often was a slower, indirect process but at the same time, we shouldn’t forget that the provinces themselves were usually established after brutal military conflict.

While cities were founded and a certain level of administration set up, the Romans main focus was on peace and – very importantly – taxation. Plenty of the local administration was left in the hand of local leaders, chiefs, or kings. Similarly, Roman intervention in people’s lives often was very limited, with no requirements to give up the local ways, culture or religion. Historians have a hard time defining to which degree this Romanization was planned but also how both Romans and locals looked at it due to limited written records on the topic.

There was a large motivator for people in the provinces to “romanize”, however, meaning: learn Latin, dress like Romans and adopt more Roman customs – career and influence! To make a military or political career, but also to stay relevant and compete with rivals on a local level, there was no way around becoming more Roman.

Of course, this was just a broad overview, and there are plenty of differences (for example between the Eastern provinces and Gaul or Britannia) and nuances that would go beyond the scope of this blog – after all, we want to talk about Anno 117: Pax Romana as well.

We’ll be adapting aspects of these historical events in Anno 117: Pax Romana – but as our Senior Game Writer Matt wrote in the DevBlog in July: “we need to cherry-pick and take liberties with the history to keep the game FUN.”

In Anno 117: Pax Romana

As mentioned above, Romanization is a process in the provinces, therefore, this mechanic will be present in Albion – and not Latium, which basically is at the heart of the Empire.

At a core level, in your role as a governor, you can decide if your subjects in Albion should embrace the Roman way or stick to their traditions. That’s of course a rather game-y way to represent this topic: an actual governor did not have such a way to decide people’s culture. In Anno 117, this decision will lead to very different needs and requests towards you that will go beyond food and clothes but will also reach into topics like culture, traditions and mentality. More on those aspects at a later date.

Your provinces will always start with the local culture, this is how you, as a governor, are finding the province upon your arrival. That was a very important element for us, since we want you to get a feeling for the region, for its people and their culture.

But after you have started setting up the basics, it’s time to decide on the next steps. Gameplay-wise, this will take the form of upgrading your residences from Tier 1 to Tier 2. Will you make your Waders (Tier 1) embrace the Roman way? Then they will renovate their houses in Roman style, with red-tiled roofs. The “Mercators” of Tier 2 are on the road to Romanization, resulting in a vastly different look for your city – and very different demands from your population.

Letting your Waders stick with tradition, Tier 2 will instead see the arrival of the “Smiths”. The level of urbanization will also increase, but smaller huts will make place for larger houses and their needs and demands will speak of a synergy with their environment and the local customs.

Both ways are valid options for you as the governor but be prepared to not only have a visually distinct look of your respective cities, but also set up entirely different production chains and public service buildings.

Beyond that, forces outside your control might also have an eye on your decision and will react according to their own interests. You will certainly see the topic of Romanization to be covered in quests and the campaign as well.

Needs and Production

Now, let’s take a look at two production chain examples.

The local, Celtic population in Albion very much prefers to live in harmony with the environment, like the swamps that have been mentioned before. Understandable, that they also prefer to wear trousers in the colder (and wetter) climate up north, far away from the sunny Latium.

Let us today take a look at the trousers production chain: local sheep and weld to use as dye come together in the “Hosier”, whose services are much sought-after.

For Romans, however, who saw more kinship to, for example, the people of Greece or Anatolia (who, like them, lived around the Mediterranean), using trousers was a weird, alien thing. It was a clear distinction for them between the cultured Roman and barbarians from the north (Gaul, Britannia, Germania). Even more in the time of the Principate, when ever more people from across Empire came to Rome and even joined the Senate.

The “official” stance on trousers blurred over the years, but remained a factor for a significant length of time.

Only logical, that in order to appear more Roman and get access to higher offices, locals had to adjust to Roman dress code. In Anno 117: Pax Romana, your “romanized” population will at some point ask for togas. Let’s also take a look at their production chain:

Flax to be turned into cloth by a weaver, snails who produce the precious Tyrian Purple and a loom to produce the togas.

However, here we suddenly have a complication: Snails and the expertise for producing the dye is only available in Latium! Indeed, not all goods will be producible locally, and will instead have to be shipped all the way from Latium to Albion.

Other goods might have to be shipped from Albion to Latium, of course, but that’s a topic for another day (and blog).

Over the course of your governorship, more decisions will be asked of you: from your people, other parties and likely also the Emperor himself!
The choice for the Roman or Celtic way affects each island independently, leaving you with plenty of choice on how you want to approach your role as a governor. Such a decision will immediately impact your next steps in setting up an island thanks to different production chains and public service buildings. Later on, you will also be able to have both ways on the same island – as long as you can deal with the increase in complexity in satisfying the demands of two rather different cultures at the same time.