I. Faction
1. Naming patterns
a. General discussion
All right, this is a complex matter and having a good name list with such a limited engine is trickier than one could think. I also think naming patterns play an important part in the immersive feeling a mod can provide. Since I have some experience with naming traditions (because of the importance of genealogy in emblem studies), this aspect of modding was the first I worked on (since MTW I would add). Over time I've come up with a personnal method to get the result better and better. There are two important aspects I want to discuss before going further.
The first concerns uniformization of those lists. Since factions dont represent one culture both in a matter of space and time, it seems important to me to choose the most satisfying timeframe & dialect and always stick to it. As an example here, the burgundian kingdom could be seen as a political entity spread over at least four cultures. This means that even the modern transcription of the names will change from one area to another : Gérard, Girard, Géraud or Giraud are all names you can use for a burgundian characters but they all refers to the same germanic root Gerhard. As a result, none of these five (including Gerhard) are wrong but you also cant really mix them in the same list. The same logic goes behind diminituve or pet forms (although the first would have to be discussed for some italian dialects and their most common specific forms like Ugo/Ugolino/Uguccione). This is specially true when the name change in time like it does in Provence when the father dies (one Raymondet, usually the son of a Raymond, would only use the first form during the life of his father). Concerning the form of the name itself I prefer to go with the most academic form used because you cant represent the evolution of the spelling over time anyway leading to some strange anachronistic names. Having to represent different periods and their naming patterns with one list is complex enough to avoid more interference.
This leads to my second point about those naming patterns & the frequencies.
Because specific naming traditions were so important in the middle ages, I think its important to represent them in every aspect. Frequencies can differs from one name to another but also from one culture to another. Some dialects had incredibly varied naming patterns like tuscan (in which the most used first names would be given to less than 5% of the men) while others were more strictly formatted by tradition (in french and english for example, the same two names John/Jean & Guillaume/William could represents more than 25% of the names in the same generation). The other aspect to take into consideration here is the evolution of these patterns over time. Five hundred years of history is a huge timeframe and its often possible to split it into several periods : french names for example follow the uniformization of the french culture in the 14th and 15th, and get less region specific after 1300; on the other hand they get some very specific culture oriented patterns before 1050-1100 in some regions (germanic in burgundy, norse in normandy). Of course political events like the norman conquest in southern italy determine these even more : lombard names (Pandolfo, Landolfo, Trasmundo) mix with norman names (Guillaume, Richard, Roger) which themselves get italianized later (Guglielmo, Riccardo, Ruggero) and the process is repeated with the angevine rule (families from Provence, but working in both ways this time).
The method I use to be sure both of these aspects are accurately reproduced is to establish a database of individuals (usually more than 500 but 1000 is closer to what you need for an accurate result) using a determined source (genealogy, seals database or some census like the florentine one) and timeframe. Then its only a matter of parsing the result to match frequencies (dont really need a list 1500 entries long) and arranging the list by merging alternate spellings. Of course you still need some knowledge in the given language to get a perfect result which is where I hope some contributions will help.
b. Burgundy
Less talk, more result.
The source used here is a mix of my seal database and genealogies plus some complementary surnames from online genealogies. The result gave me an index of 1400 names (including 280 surnames) used between 1000 and 1350 in Dauphiné, Savoie, Forez, Bourgogne and Provence. French surmanes arent hard to figure since they are always patronymic and hereditary (Adhémar, Bérenger, Gantelme, etc) or locative (de Viennois, de Royans, de Savoie). Usually, there are no occupationnal or descriptive surnames (even Porcellet isnt in this case, although you can find some of them later, in lower nobility, specially in Savoie, Valais and Vaud).
Resulting list is following :
Male first names
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Women first names
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Surnames
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
2. Family tree
At the start of the game, the burgundian kings comes from the main line of the Welf dynasty. Little is known on their lives and even less on the live of their relatives. Although some of them lived at the court and were designed as close relatives in the royal acts, it's still very difficult to place them in the family tree. While things stay theorical for a good part of the tree, I've tried to reproduce the state of the dynasty in 1017. The extinction of the cousin branch before the death of Rodolphe III, fifteen years later, sealed the fate of the dynasty leaving the kingdom opened to a chaotic succession between the sisters of Rodolphe (he had six).
The heart of the kingdom being the region of Lausanne and Genève, it's not very surprising to observe that the closest vassals and relatives to the king were the local counts in pago gebennensis, the future counts of Genève or Maurienne/Savoie (queen Ermengarde probably was the sister of the first count, his protector & advisor during all her life). For now, I've left Humbert de Maurienne out of the tree since Savoie could be added after the first release (this could be discussed though).
Actual code of the tree :
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Note that the game engine somewhat limit the possibilities and that the tree could have to be arranged a bit later to suit the family tree settings in db. The problem being that CA didnt seem to think that people should stop aging once they die (thats why all the ancestor are older than following generations, even if they died younger themselves).
3. Other characters
Political situation of the kingdom isnt good in 1017. King Rodolphe III, who promised his succession to emperor Heinrich the year before, had limited power outside the Alpine part of his territory. His loyal subjects are local dynasties of the area from Grenoble to Lausanne (Albon, Grandson, Faucigny dynasties for example) and most of the burgundian prelates, as the Welf often placed their relatives (mostly illegitimate children) at the most importants sees (Vienne, Lyon, Sion, Lausanne & Genève). As a consequence of this strategy of favouring the church against the nobility, the bishops were often invested with temporal power in Upper Burgundy (in Vaud, Valais, Viennois, Lyonnais).
In the southern part, the bosonid counts of Provence almost act as an independent power since they have retaken the coast from the muslims at the end of the tenth century.
King Rodolphe also have to face a serious rebellion in Upper Burgundy (enough to call the emperor for help), against the counts of Mâcon (future palatine counts of Bourgogne) of the house of Ivrea, former kings of Italy.
Current character list (very sketchy)
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
4. Titles
Still WIP
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
5. Description
II. Units
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