'Angevin Ascendancy' Faction List Discussion

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

The first era, 'Angevin Ascendancy', will begin in 1154, when Henry II has just ascended to the throne of England. His Empire stretches from Yorkshire to Gascony, but this is a mixed blessing. For the French, Scots and Kingdom of Gwynedd lay just beyond the borders and can strike at any moment. The French however have their own problems with the County of Toulouse in the south, where the Heretical Cathar faith has recently come to light and is spreading like wildfire - it is a danger which will need to be vanquished. In Central Europe Frederick Barbarossa will soon be crowned Holy Roman Empire and his lust for power could greatly threaten the Italian City States of Pisa and Genoa, and possibly even the Papacy.

The Kingdom of the Isles has just been hit by a civil war which has seen Somerled gain power, a fearsome ruler who may just lend cause for concern to Malcolm IV, King of Scotland. Ireland remains fiercely divided almost 150 years after the death of Brian Boru and may soon suffer more divisions thanks to the incoming Norman invasion. Elsewhere the bitter struggle between the Christians of Iberia and the Moors of North Africa continues, with Abd al-Mu'min leading the new Almohad dynasty, who have only recently broken the Almoravids power. Further afield, changes are afoot in Central America while the Norse settlers in Greenland continue to prosper, developing commercial relations with the local Eskimo population. These are very turbulent times where only the strongest will prosper.

FACTION LIST

English
French
Holy Roman Empire
Castilian-Leonese
Aragonese
County of Toulouse
Kingdom of Mann
County of Hainaut
Pisans
Genoese
Papacy
Danish
Norwegians
Scots
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Kingdom of Deheubarth
Kingdom of the Isles
Ui Neills of Ulster
Kingdom of Connaught
Algonquin Tribes
Dorset Eskimo
Portuguese
Almohads
Lordship of Galloway
Norse Atlantic Colonies
Sosso Empire of Kaniaga
South-East Mississippian Tribes
Mayans
Chimu Empire
Toltec Empire

So as you can see, only if we can add factions will the map be extended to the East and far to the South. Please feel free to discuss this preliminary list, if any powers should be added/removed etc.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Here are the planned emblems for the new factions, along with some revised ones:

Castilian-Leonese



County of Toulouse



Duchy of Brittany



County of Hainaut



Pisa



Genoa



Norse



Scots



Galloway



Gwynedd



Deheubarth



Kingdom of the Isles



Ui Neills



Connaught



Algonquin Tribes



Dorset Eskimo




Almohads



North Atlantic Colonies



Sosso Empire

?

North American South Indian Tribal Grouping (TBD)

?

Mayans

?

Chimu Empire

?


Toltec Empire

?

Any help or suggestions would be great.

[Afonso I of Portugal]

It would be nice if you add this Almohad flag from 1212. However, i must admit it is hard to do it.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I think it would be very much possible, I might use that or I'll probably end up doing it as one of their numerous heraldic devices in battle.

[Afonso I of Portugal]

Fine. Good luck with your mod!

[Bacchon]

I love that you're using the Nunavut flag as the Inuit symbol.

I grew up in northern Canada (near the Arctic Circle, actually), so I can probably help with, at least, researching the Inuit faction(s), and can provide some info, if you need it, with their interaction with the Vikings who came over.

That said, I have a concern. Well, two, really, but one of them has been said about every 'barbarian' faction: the Inuit were never any kind of 'nation'. That said, I recognize the needs of the game.

Second issue: the Inuit never had any concept of a soldier or a military. When they fought, they used their hunting spears and knives, which would mostly have been made of stone. The Inuit never really got out of the Stone Age until European settlement in the past couple centuries. They would have had some metal tools and weapons procured in trade, but that's it. They don't even have words for things like 'axe', and the concept of a sword just doesn't exist in their language.

My point with all of that is... there are records of the Inuit fighting with and wiping out Viking settlers in Greenland, so they were not unaware of the concept of war, unlike some accounts, but, as I said, they had no military or soldiery of any kind. Just hunters. And they only used one weapon, the spear. So did you have any thoughts on how they would function on the battlefield, what their armies would consist of?


Next...thing. The First Nations living in northern Quebec/Labrador and Newfoundland were neither Inuit nor Algonquin, who lived mostly in the Great Lakes and St Lawrence area. You could fold the Quebec-area Nations into the Algonquin, but the natives of Newfoundland were a completely seperate group. Not that Newfoundland exactly needs to be accurately represented... ;)

If the map does get pushed out to the North American West Coast, I would say you'd need a southern First Nation for the Texas/New Mexico area, a western First Nation for the west coast and a northwestern First Nation for the upper British Columbia/Yukon Territory area. And, preferably, a Nation for the Great Plains. Even that is leaving huge areas empty...


Cheers,

Barret

[Sun of Chersonesos]

hi,

i'm useless at any sort of devlopment whatsoever. but one question; have you just begun this project or are yo somewhat in the middle of the timescale? and if in the middle (pretty much) when will you expect release?

furthermore, given the history points placed in this history discussion of Ireland and whatnot, it would appear that it would be safe in saying that i agree with BKB on the inaccuracy issue of Ireland. I do not believe that it is necessary to be arguing about The kingdoms of Ireland due to the Byzantines. Any communication they may or may not have had between them is somewhat irrelevant and there is no necessity to begin questionning The factions of Ireland when the team may or may not be in the middle of development.

Sun

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Well its only at the research stage at the moment as we cannot mod the game until the patch comes out and the pak extractor is released. As for release, well it will be done period by period, but I can't really put a timescale on it.

[Jasper The Builder]

Owain Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd 1137-70, was born circa 1109. In 1137 he succeeded his father Gruffydd ap Cynan (1081-1137) to the kingdom of Gwynedd, which covered most of north Wales. While England was engaged in civil war, Owain used his skill as statesman and soldier to extend his frontiers. In 1157 Henry II led his first campaign against Owain, but it ended in a truce. He was required to do homage to Henry but it was not long before Owain was acting with complete independence. When Madog ap Maredudd died in 1160, he attacked Powys and extended his influence to the east. Six years later, the Council of Woodstock attempted to reduce the Welsh princes from client status to that of dependent vassalage, and the subsequent uprising was led by Owain and Rhys ap Gruffydd of south Wales. Henry's second attempt at subduing Wales failed ignominiously and left Owain free to capture Basingwerk and Rhuddlan castles (1166-67). In 1168 he set foot on negotiations with Louis VII of France to build an alliance between Gwynedd and France against their common enemy. It was a course which required great finesse and firm judgement. In one direction it pointed to a policy which would be used to good effect by later rulers of Gwynedd, the search for recognition and an alliance in Europe. Having openly defied Henry in 1168 by offering to help Louis, Owain maintained his independent position until his death. He left behind him a reputation of wisdom and magnanimity.

[russia almighty]

This might be stupid but how are any of the N.American factions going to win against a focused European attempt on them ?

I'm assuming the Norse Colonies are going to have EXTREMELY small armies

[Severus]

I don't know if your going for accuracy, but there never was a "Toltec Empire"(atleast that we know of) There's debate of whether they were an acutal ethnic group, or just a product of Aztec myth.