By what names would the factions have been known?

[Quillan]

Fatimid Caliphate, wasn't it? (Egypt, that is?)

[Dracula(Romanian Vlad Tepes)]

There are many historical problems in this game.

[LegioScythia]

I didnt really notice that.....

[Agent Smith]

The "Russians" were really known as Kievan Rus from the mid 9th century on until the middle of the 12th century. Prior to that it was the Rus Khaganate, which began in the early ninth century at Novgorod at later pushed south to Kiev. Power could not be held together for long, however, and (I think wikipedia put it best) "during the years from 1054 to 1224 no fewer than 64 principalities had a more or less ephemeral existence, 293 princes put forward succession claims, and their disputes led to 83 civil wars."

Anyway, there is a good read about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus%27

[edyzmedieval]

At the start of the game, the Byzantines were known as Romania, and they called themselves Rhomaioi.

Turks - Saljuq Turks
Egypt - Ayyubid Caliphate, later Fatimid Caliphate
Russia - Kievan Rus, Novgorod Cnezate(sp?)
Hungarians - Kingdom of Hungary, with the capital at Buda (Budapest is made by Buda and Pesta)
Spain - Kingdom of Castille, Kingdom of Leon, Kingdom of Toledo
Moors - Almoravid Berber Caliphate, later Almohad Caliphate
Italy(Milan and Venice) - Republic of Venice, Milan, Genoa, Florence
Sicily - Norman Kingdom of Sicily (Palermo and Naples)

[spark82]

Hi all, this is my first post!

So, for not to be off topic:
I play 1.1 patch with Deus lo Vult 2.0 mod, and in that all the kingdoms are named as they called themselves in their own language. As for Hungary (Kingdom of Hungary) the name is "Magyar Királyság". AFAIK it's correct, and I'm Hungarian, so...
And all the others seem correct, for Poland: Krolestwo Polskie, Turks: Selcucklular, Spanish: El Reino Leon y Castille, etc...
Maybe that method could be used, and also, the authors of that mod returned the territorial ranking system (Count of Pest, Lord of Croatia (for Zagreb) etc.), so it's quite cool. Also they included the crowns of each christian faction, and you have to return to your capital with the faction heir to be crowned and so on. But it's not my work, so check it out. I can't remember the address completely but google surely helps.

[Temujin]

Egypt - Ayyubid Caliphate, later Fatimid Caliphate

Fatimids came before the Ayyubids, surely? Replaced by the Mamelukes in mid 13th century, IIRC.

Mongols could be either Golden Horde or Ilkhanid, depending on where they appear. Historically, they should appear in both Baghdad and Volga-Bulgaria, and not be mashed into a single horde with Batu and Hulegu both present.

[spark82]

Oh and I forgot that in the age the game occurs, not Buda nor Pest was the capital of Hungary... Until about 1050 there was no "capital", the residence of the king was Székesfehérvár (SouthWest of Budapest), which means "white castle with throne" or something like that. Then came our first capital, Esztergom (North of Budapest) until it was moved to Visegrád (near Esztergom) about 1300. Visegrad remained capital until 1422 when King Sigismundus (later Holy Roman Emperor) moved his residence to Buda. But when he became Emperor, he moved to Vienna maybe - I have to check that. Buda started to function as capital in 1456 under Matthias I. But he also moved to Vienna when he captured it in 1480. And in 1541 Buda was captured by the Seljuk turks and it was held by them until 1686. During that period the capital was Pozsony (today Bratislava, capital of Slovakia). And Buda became capital again only in 1873 when it was merged with two other towns: Óbuda and Pest... So, technically Buda was capital in the mediecal ages only for the shortest periods...
And one more thing: the former Kingdom of Hungary gave not less than 4(!) capitals to today Europe: Budapest (Hungary, quite ovious ), Bratislava (former Pozsony, Hungarian capital for over 300 years, today Slovakian capital), Zagreb (Croatia), and Beograd (former Nándorfehérvár, where the Turkish army was defeated in 1456, and according to history tolling at noon was ordered by the pope on that victory of christendom, today Serb capital).
So that for capitals and M2:TW historical accuracy :)

[edyzmedieval]

Fatimids came before the Ayyubids, surely? Replaced by the Mamelukes in mid 13th century, IIRC.

Mongols could be either Golden Horde or Ilkhanid, depending on where they appear. Historically, they should appear in both Baghdad and Volga-Bulgaria, and not be mashed into a single horde with Batu and Hulegu both present.

Salah-al-Din (Saladin) was from the Ayyubid Dynasty. Mamlukes came to power in 1280, rising to power after Ayn Djalut, in 1260. It's weird with Egypt, because it was a simple caliphate, the Arab caliphate, which split up into 3: Cordoba, Cairo and Baghdad.

The Ilkhanate was the Mongol power of Baghdad, AFAIK.