Hi all,
Today I want to talk about the main feature in the upcoming update: the ability to play as provinces, and the mechanics they get.
Provinces are very different to independent factions - almost the exact opposite, since they’re on the other side of most systems.
Province gameplay is centred around building your way up and attaining power. The main track here is the appointment to offices: you can be a member of the imperial court - such as the magister militum - a subordinate there, a leader of an army or a navy. To do so, you’ll need to win a race against other applicants for the role. Your skill will matter here, but naturally since this is a late Rome-inspired game what matters more is the emperor’s opinion of you and your perceived loyalty. Commanding a military makes you a commander of that military, plus ones below it in the hierarchy. 
You’re also playing on the other side of the power bloc system, meaning that you’re able to use them as a tool rather than worry about managing them. You can join existing power blocs (depending on your own character (for instance, you can’t join the Legions power bloc without holding a command), or you can convince someone to make one for your own goals. Being in this power bloc and managing it gives you
Unlike an emperor, who is tasked with goals by his subjects, a provincial governor is tasked by the emperor himself. Through the campaign you will be tasked with goals like developing your province or attacking a settlement that are time-limited. Failing to meet these goals will reduce your standing with the emperor and his establishment.
There are five different levels of recall status, which are updated every couple of months to ensure that you’re given fair warning that the emperor wants to be rid of you. The final level will see the emperor looking to recall you to the capital - ending your campaign - unless you refuse, starting a civil war (upon winning you will become emperor yourself). If leading a power bloc you can also use this as a shield, which may or may not save you.
Conversely, with a high standing with the emperor you can attempt to take power through peaceful means. A high standing means you have the option of trying to be adopted and declared successor on the ruler’s (natural... or unnatural) death.
When playing as a province you won’t be able to build your own armies, only command ones that you’ve been assigned to. You’ll be able to perform actions in your settlements, build them up and assign governors to regions as usual, but apart from that you’ll be working mainly in the shadows. Got a more powerful rival governor? Discredit him or have him assassinated.
In other news, I’ve been creating a sample campaign to show off the modding capabilities of the game. This is something a bit different (so as to show off what is moddable, I’ve made plenty of changes) - the Aghlabid invasion of Byzantine Sicily in the 9th century.
In this, you’ll take control of either the Theme of Sicily or the Aghlabid expeditionary force, and you’ll get a ton of custom features not available in the base game: a new map, custom government types, units, buildings, cultures and religions, date system (uses real world dates instead of fantasy 28-day months), new UI like a panel that shows the custom features and their current status. The Aghlabids can’t recruit troops (they need to get them shipped from the mainland). The Theme needs to prevent instability, which will result in settlements flipping to the usurper Eugenius.
This campaign, along with the main campaign will be released with the mod editor, as an example of how to set up totally new campaigns and modes.