Leipsana Rōmaika

[Zenith Darksea]

The year - 1205. The Byzantine (or Roman, as they themselves think of it) Empire is shattered, laid low by the Fourth Crusade. In the West the lands are torn up by Normans, Bulgars, Scythians and others, while in the East the Turks and Saracens run wild and unchecked. The Mongol Hordes loom on the horizon. Can a great leader reforge the Roman Empire, or will a foreigner conquer the land? The map focuses around Greece, Italy, Asia Minor, Bulgaria, Khazaria and the Tauris (Crimean) peninsula. Four turns per year, and whatever other interesting features that can be implemented. The mod draws to a close in 1299 (historically, this was the beginning of the Ottoman Emprie).

Here's a glimpse of the nature of the campaign map:


The Factions:

BYZANTINE
House of Lascaris (Empire of Nicaea)
House of Angelus (Despotate of Epirus)
House of Comnenus (Empire of Trebizond)
WESTERN
Latin Empire
House of Montferrat (Kingdom of Thessalonica)
House of Champlitte (Principality of Achaea)
House of Roche (Duchy of Athens)
Crusader States
Republic of Venice
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Papal States (unplayable, of course)
BALKAN
Kingdom of Bulgaria
Kingdom of Serbia
Kingdom of Hungary
Kipchak Khanate (Cumans)
ASIAN
Mongol White Horde (an emergent faction, if this will be possible)
Kingdom of Georgia
Kingdom of Cilician Armenia
ISLAMIC
Sultanate of Rum (Seljuk Turks)
Ayyubid Kaliphate (Egypt)
Abbasid Kaliphate (Baghdad)

I already have ideas and plans for utilising the M2TW engine, though obviously we shall have to wait for further news and to see how it actually works. Expect to see units such as the Pronoiarioi, Paramonai, Skoutatoi, Tzakones, Helepolis (a Byzantine trebuchet), Norman knights, Saracen Ghulams, and Turkoman horse archers.

If you are interested and wish to contribute, what this mod needs at the moment is historical research (I want to have all the historical knowledge and designs for factions ready to click into place as soon as M2TW comes out and we know how to mod it). We're pretty well covered on the Byzantines (though every little helps), but other factions need just as much accuracy! Accuracy is a primary aim of this mod, though gameplay will also be a key issue, and the two features will be balanced as best as possible. I sympathise with many gameplay complaints (especially the headache of governing too many cities), but I also want to have an atmospheric and believable game. Want to help? E-mail me at hachiman101@hotmail.com, or PM me.

Our official forums can be found here: Leipsana Rōmaika

[Justiciar]

Sounds like a great idea. Good luck with it.