neothiamin
commented
5 years ago While I have taken a hardline stance against adding new religions to the game (both because the core mechanics of the mod are my main priority right now and because religion modding is a pain in the ass), I am not against modeling sects through modifiers and unique events or decisions. There are lots of good ideas for sects that should be modeled, Hussitism included. A Hussite expedition to Byzantium is definitely possible and is actually something that I think would be fun.
Following my latest strategy of [s]overworking Neo in WotL so he takes time to relax and logs in MC to fight the Ender Drake with me[/s] assisting the other modders, time to push further obscure historical facts about Hussitism and its involvement with the Byzantine Empire in a way compelling enough to convince both him and everyone who reads this that this'd be such a fun mechanic that he certainly wants to add for the betterment of WotL.
So let's talk about the Utraquists for a bit of a background, shall we? They're the main branch of Hussitism, generally considered a moderate one. In fact, during the final Hussite wars, the Utraquists joined with the Catholics to root out the radical branches reminiscent in Bohemia. Utraquism would become the main faith of Bohemia all the way up to the Thirty Years War, when the invading Catholic and Protestant armies made a big mumbo jumbo that remained unfixed all the way into the 20th Century, when the Soviets effectively said "there is no God" and pointed guns at whoever said otherwise.
So how does that tie into the Byzantines? Well, other than the missed opportunity of adding a religion that should already be in the base game with fun mechanics, the Hussites actually interacted with the country that is the third most played in EU4: Byzantium! How, that far away? Well, other than indirectly screwing them by forcing the Eastern European armies to go crusade rather than help defend Constantinople, the Utraquists originally tried to legitimize their faith with Orthodox assistance.
The tl;dr of the whole ordeal - Catholics did not recognize the Hussites at all, they needed to do some diplomacy around and get someone remotely influential to recognize their religion. If the Pope in Rome wouldn't agree and there were no anti-popes, there was only one solution: the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople! Prior to the Council of Florence, they saught their legitimization and even were willing to adopt some of the Greek rite to gain favor with them.
There is only one problem, though. The Utraquists were too late. They didn't send their legate for years, and in 1451, the Pope officially declared them heretics. A hussite (ironically named Constantine) traveled to Constantinople for that purpose in 1452. Seeing the dates, it should probably be immediately obvious why the negotiations, sadly, ended there.