Final Faction Voting Thread
Yes, it has arrived! After much discussion and endless reseaerch, we have decided on and prepared the final faction up for voting, the Principality of Rostov-Suzdal. We apologise for the delay in releasing this faction, but our leading members were bogged down in exams. However, things have heated up our forums once again, and we are making great progress on the mod. Just a note, I apologise for not having presented a map of Rostov-Suzdal, but it is not on the area planned for our first release, and so the regions there have not been finalised. Anyway, withouth wasting anymore time, may the voting begin!
Just to remind you of the factions that have already made it into MA:
Papal States
Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of Ireland
Kingdom of England
Kingdom of France
Kingdom of Leon-Castile
Crown of Aragon
Holy Roman Empire
Kingdom of Bohemia
Republic of Venice
Republic of Genoa
Kingdom of Appulia-Calabria
Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Poland
Kingdom of Denmark
Kingdom of Cilician Armenia
Byzantine Empire
Kingdom of Georgia
Principality of Kiev
Novgorod
Moorish Amirate
Sultanate of Rum
Abbasid Caliphate
Fatimid Empire
Volga-Bulgarians
Khwarezmid Empire
Kipchaks
Principality of Lithuania
Golden Horde
The Emirate of Sevilla
In around 1020 the Caliphate of Cordoba, once an incredibly powerful empire encompassing much of the muslim land in the west and sometimes referred to as the Byzantium of the West by modern scholars, arrived at the end of its decline and finally dissolved into dozens of minor political states commonly referred to as taifa states. Among these was of course Sevilla under the rule of the Abbadid dynasty. Over the next fifty years, Sevilla would rarely witness a day of peace as it ruthlessly expanded at the expense of the smaller taifa states around it. Even the ancient and powerful city of Cordoba became just another name in the long list of states that Sevilla had conquered.
By game start (1073) Sevilla had become without question the most powerful of the muslim states with its only true rival on the peninsula being Alphonso VI and his kingdom of Leon-Castile to the north. The city of Sevilla itself is perhaps the most powerful single city on the penninsula. Such aggressive expansion is due in large part to Sevilla's Emirs, the Abbadids. Over its half century of existence, Sevilla has seen three rulers from the Abbad line with each being more ruthless than the last (Abbad II is said to have kept the skulls of his enemies whom he had personally murdered as flowerpots). Through a frighteningly effective mixture of military backstabbing and diplomatic deceit and treachery the Abbadids have managed to gobble up every other state in their path. The current Emir, Muhammad al-Mu'tamid, has only been in power for three years but he is viewed as cruel, lying, and faithless in his political dealings though in person he is a rather amiable man and a generous patron of the arts (especially literature). His overly extravagant lifestyle, however, combined with his constant warring (most notably with Sevilla's old rival Granada) is actively emptying the nation's treasury forcing even heavier taxes on an already tax-burdened people.
Form a gameplay perspective, Sevilla fills a very interesting gap in the Iberian Penninsula, being the only muslim power. It effectively changes the entire dynamic of the region from a race by the christian factions to gobble up as many rebel provinces as fast as possible to one that actually requires careful diplomacy and strategic planning as it id did in history. While powerful militarily, Sevilla's treasury is barely staying afloat and drastic measures need to be taken quickly to avert a complete collapse. Its diplomatic situation is tricky as it lies directly in the path of both christian expansion from the north and Almoravid expansion from the south. The ruling family would be incredibly interesting to role play with their various extreme traits and quirks. Ultimately the faction would be a very enjoyable challenge to play. THe only real drawback to Sevilla's inclusion is the fact that historically Sevilla as an independant nation lasted only until 1091 when it was conquered by the Almoravids (though through Muhammad al-Mu'tamid's shady diplomacy and backstabbing, Sevilla did manage to dodge the Almoravid maw for many years before finally falling as one of the last remaining taifa states). Ultimately, who can say where Sevilla's aggressive expansionism and wily cast of royal characters would have taken it had the Almoravids been stopped and of all the taifa states Sevilla is in the best position to just that.
The Kingdom of Norway
Norway itself would not be terribly viable without a few of our faction choices. Firstly, they keep Denmark from swarming over the north, or northern Russian kingdoms from tearing through Scandinavia. Secondly, they would possess the Western Isles in Britain, and here they would be key for fighting with the Irish and Scottish. The viking age was over, but neither the Irish or Scots had forgotten centuries of raiding and attempted conquests over their territories, and the Norwegians hadn't totally abandonned these attempts, though they'd finished, more or less, with raiding, and had switched to attempts at conquest. Only a while after the start (1073), Magnus Barelegs (himself dressing normally as a Gael, hence his moniker) he conquered the Isle of Mann began his attempted conquest of Ireland, capturing Dublin but being slain in an ambush in Ulster a year later. The Scots and Norse had yet to play out their wars and dealings to a final conclusion on the matter of various coastal territories and the surrounding islands of Scotland. The early period for the three factions is really the tail end of the viking age in the Gaelic world, with raiding turned to conquest. No one in the isles had been quite so successful in repulsing or absorbing the Norwegians, which actually led to their continued wars with them; because they had intermarried heavily with them, they assumed Gaelic succession laws were similar to their own, and made claims at both the high kingship of Ireland and Scotland, and attempted to enforce them. This comes as well with claims of the kingship of England (the Normans were descended from Norwegians and Danes) and Denmark.
The Norwegians were prolific traders, trading in countless ports all through the north of Europe, but also in the Meditterranean. Norwegians fought in the crusades, both to the Holy Land and in the 'Northern Crusades'; Norwegians served in mostly German armies against the Sword Brethern and Lithuanian pagans, and a Norwegian crusading king was known as 'Jerusalemfarer'.
At the time, they were ruled by Olaf III of Norway, son of Harald Hardråde, who participated in his father's invasion of England in 1066 in a failed attempt to claim the English throne. He originally ruled the country jointly with his brother Magnus II, who died in 1069, leaving Olaf in sole rule of Norway. He married Svend Estriden, daughter of the king of Denmark to make peace with him (as both had a claim on the other's throne), but produced no children, and he was instead succeeded by his bastard son, the Gall Gaedhil Magnus III, also called Magnus Barefoot or Magnus Barelegs, because of his habit of dressing as a Gael (wearing a long shirt and a cloak with no leggings or pants, and walking about barefooted much of the time). Olaf and Magnus, the first two rulers one would have in game, are both fairly strong. Olaf was an intelligent man, the first Norwegian king to read and write, and a religious man, who greatly improved the relations of Norway with the Pope, founding dioceses, building churches, and giving gifts to the new churches. He was also an intelligent businessman, who instituted the first guilds in Norway. His son Magnus was an intelligent military leader, and ended the period of peace his father had made, by going to war in both Sweden and Denmark, then on into Britain, retaking the Western Isles and the Isle of Mann. However, Magnus would not be so much of a diplomat; he had no legitimate heirs and Norway collapsed in a civil war after his death, he only narrowly brought to end a few wars in his lifetime. However, for what it's worth, he is a skilled military leader, so the first king Norway gets would be good for building the economy, and the second for making war.
Early Norway would still be developing out of the earlier form of aristocratic warriors toward the emerging feudal system. Norway, like other kingdoms, was, at the time, actually a few smaller kingdoms subverted to a more powerful over-king. 'Viking' type troops would still exist; they'd be light or absent of cavalry initially in Norway. However, the Western Isles provides a second facet to their armies. The inhabitants of the Earldom of the Western Isles were Gall Gaedhil; essentially Gaelic, but with copious Norse influences. This province would provide them Gaelic warriors, including some light horse, and a specific Gall Gaedhil unit or two. Combined with traditional viking soldiers, they would start with a unique mixture of units, and an interesting spread of provinces, three in Scandinavia, one in the British Isles. Outside of the Gall Gaedhil of the Hebrides, they would have no early cavalry of their own; Norwegians that did ride horses only rode them to battle and dismounted to fight, much as Saxons and other older Germanic peoples often did. They have strong infantry, but a lack of cavalry will hamper them as the necessity for horsemen builds up. In a straight out infantry fight though, they have an advantage of strong, relatively well-equipped and high morale soldiers making up the core of their army.
As such, from a gameplay perspective, they'd be a lot of fun. They'd in part help justify the presence of the Scots and Irish, as they still had some interesting dynamics at work between them. They have also a unique option of where to expand. One could focus on conquering Scandinavia (an obvious early choice), and going from there into the surrounding area, or using their British Isles province to expand into the isles and form a strong base there with the relatively rich provinces available. Their early armies would be built small, around a few units of well-equipped, capable soldiers good for fighting other infantry, giving them a good edge in some arenas in the early game, but those would lose their potency as heavy cavalry begins its more dominant period, meaning the Norwegians will then need to adapt further.
The Principality of Rostov-Suzdal:
Again, sorry about the map, Rostov-Suzdal is named Vladimir-Suzdal in that map, the red region.
In the North-Eastern corner of the Old Continent, on the vast land between the Dnester and Volga rivers only a powerful state was able to gain a foothold in the Early Middle Ages, and that was the Kievan Rus’. However, by the 11th century the once mighty state started to disintegrate into several smaller pieces because of both internal and external reasons. One of the most significant of these evolving principalities was called Rostov-Suzdal located between the Oka and Volga rivers and extended as far north as Belozersk and Ustyug. The local capital was Rostov the Great, and the chief towns included Suzdal, Yaroslavl, and Belozersk. Otherwise in old Russia only two towns were called veliky (great). One was Novgorod, the famous trade centre on the North, the other Rostov. An outstanding feature of the development of urban life in the Rostov-Suzdal land was the fact that none of its towns was an undisputed centre. From high antiquity this distant land had two parallel centres--Rostov and Suzdal. That is why the land is usually known by the dual name of Rostov-Suzdal (or later Vladimir-Suzdal Rus). However, the ancient records were ignorant of these artificial names and usually designated the territory between the Volga and the Oka as the Zalessk Land. What’s important is that the political unification of these two strong settlements and the several smaller ones opened the door to the split from the Kievan state. However, historically it did not take place until 1125, so in 1073 the faction would start as a subordered part of Kiev.
Slavic settlers entered the region in the 10th century and soon made it the centre of the Great Russian nation. The area is indeed the centre, lying as it does across the river route from the Baltic Sea to the Caspian Sea via the Oka and Volga Rivers and adjacent to the route from the Baltic to the Black Sea via the Dnieper River. That is why in the Zalessk Land trade was flourishing in this time much to the delight of the prince and the through passenger merchants. The pleasant economical situation enabled the line-up of a huge readily raised army as well (10-15000 soldiers). The Slavic colonisation was still continuous in the 11th century therefore the freedom of peasants in the principality was rather high. They were not averse from warlike situations and despite being relatively poorly armoured these Slavic woodsmen were considered tough warriors and that’s why a potential enemy could not be pleased when saw that they were who formed the biggest part of the Zalesskian army, wholly exactly the infantry. This section was otherwise a so-called territorial army with shields and spears (kopichnis) or with bow (luzhnis). The cavalry was lead by the boyars (high aristocrats), was mainly recruited from mercenaries and formed about 30% of the whole army. The warriors who served in it were the younger druzhinas of the prince, except about 20% of the cavalry who made up the most dreadful field unit, plus the escort of the prince. They were the old druzhinas, often deriving from some mysterious eastern land. In general the army of Rostov-Suzdal was not the most up-to-date and best equipped one of its period, but with the lethal combination of infantry and cavalry it formed a solid and effective power.
We must admit that this Zalesskian military wasn’t really unique either, since all of the Russian principalities and the Slavic people had very similar conditions as well. What really picks out Rostov-Suzdal from the row of the others that is its outstanding strategic location that can provide a rather exciting game-experience. As it was former said, the principality locates between the Oka and Volga Rivers at the very corner of the theoretical area of the Kievan Rus’. On the woody East there is no-one except some primitive Finno-Ugric tribes, northward there is a small land passage to the Scandinavian-peninsula, but danger cannot be expected from that direction and on the South extends the huge steppe, the highway of peoples but steppe folks usually don’t like the woody, marshy lands. For a capable commander a state on this location is God’s own country. The only potential enemy can be found between the Volga and Kama Rivers, that is the notorious Volga-Bulgaria, besides on the West the folk’s ‘own’ people, the Novgorodians and the Kievan central government. Despite having a solid strategic location in the beginnings Rostov-Suzdal can be easily invaded by Novgorod or oppressed by the still forceful Rus’ because of the bearings of case in foreign politics.
Anyway, these types of ‘inner’ conflicts were not too scarce historically either, so you had better pay attention right at the start if you played with the faction. However, survival is just the minimal requirement. If you have managed it, you can start to expand, to build the foundation-stones of your future empire and then you immediately come to realize that in spite of the advantageous commercial location, the area does not really abound in goods of the nature. Sure enough, playing Rostov-Suzdal you’ll studiously have to attend to those damned financial problems beside the several other one. And at last, when you will tend to take some relaxation gloating upon the subjugated half of Europe then comes the tempest. It is called Golden Horde… Consequently we can say that playing with Rostov-Suzdal would be rather unique and exciting, but on no account a pushover.
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Re: Final Faction Voting Thread
Originally Posted by Stig
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