The Kingdom of Nemedia

[Taranaich]

The Kingdom of Nemedia

“The two hosts confronted each other across a wide, shallow valley, with rugged cliffs, and a shallow stream winding through masses of reeds and willows down the middle of the vale. The camp-followers of both hosts came down to this stream for water, and shouted insults and hurled stones across at one another. The last glints of the sun shone on the golden banner of Nemedia with the scarlet dragon, unfurled in the breeze above the pavilion of King Tarascus on an eminence near the eastern cliffs.” – The Hour of the Dragon
Capital: Belverus (Nemedia)
Settlements: Numalia (Nemedian Valley), Hanumar (Nemedian Meadows), Tor (Nemedian Marches), Ghorbal (Nemedian Outlands)
Current Ruler: King Tarascus

Nemedia is the most culturally advanced Hyborian Kingdom, and the most dangerous of Aquilonia’s civilized neighbours. On at least one occasion Nemedia has dominated Aquilonia, even taking the capital Tarantia, albeit with the aid of sorcery. However, Nemedia is also much smaller than Aquilonia, and so faces a great challenge should their rivals decide to invade. Apart from Aquilonia, Nemedia should be wary of the armies of Hyperborea, the spies and assassins of Zamora and the imperial ambitions of Koth: it would be wise to ally with one or all of these to offer barriers to the other terrible dangers of Turan and Stygia. Perhaps the greatest threat to Nemedia is in the northern barbarians: should they migrate south en masse, there would be little to stop them devastating the lands.

Units


Arbalesters
“First marched the bowmen, in even ranks, arbalests half raised, bolts nocked, fingers on triggers.” – The Hour of the Dragon
Most Hyborian nations outside Aquilonia rely either on Shemite mercenaries or crossbowmen for their missile divisions. As the most powerful of these, Nemedia boasts some of the most effective crossbowmen of the age, and has a unique division wielding arbalests, a particularly powerful crossbow. They have greater punch than ordinary crossbows, but require slightly more skill to use and maintain, and although they match the Bossonian Archers in power, their range is far inferior, meaning that the arbalesters will always lose a skirmish with the Bossonians. If a commander can neutralise the Bossonians, however, then the arbalesters would wreak havoc among the Aquilonian infantry. As with all Nemedian units, they can be upgraded along with Nemedia's technical level, and so begin with simple chain, but eventually gain access to high quality plate - provided the King can meet the cost.


City Police
“… half a dozen men entered the hall. All but one wore the scarlet tunic of the Numalian police, were girt with stabbing swords and carried bills – long-shafted weapons, half pike, half axe.” – The God in the Bowl
The Nemedians have a strong history of civic law, which is reflected in their robust police force. These are those men too cowardly or poorly disciplined to seek work in the military, instead choosing to bully shopkeepers and harlots, as well as the occasional naive fool who signs up to improve public safety. They are generally only equipped with a scarlet tunic denoting their station, but occassionally they will wear armour, which can be upgraded along with the nation's technological progression.


Horsemen
“In gusts of blood-lust he festooned the gallows in the market square with dangling corpses, glutted the axes of the headsmen and sent his Nemedian horsemen thundering through the land pillaging and burning.” – The Hour of the Dragon
Horsemen of the Hyborian Kingdoms are those farmers, hunters, merchants and similar non-military personnel who have their own horses, and are used to chase after routers and deserters, as well as to harass outlying villages. They generally start out unarmoured, but can be equipped better with funding from the state, and can wear up to heavy mail armour to continue in their role as light cavalry. Their horses are generally kept unarmoured so as to provide swift transport and attack.


Mounted Men-at-Arms
“Through a slit in the cloak that covered him he saw, faintly in the lurid glare of torches, the great black arch of a gateway, and the bearded faces of men-at-arms, the torches striking fire from their spearheads and helmets… Half a dozen men-at-arms strode out of the shadows. The firelight glinted on their breast-plates and helmet crests” – The Hour of the Dragon
Men-at-Arms are the richer and more experienced folk who are not of the nobility: usually these are former mercenaries, adventurers, squires and other folk who have access to better equipment than horsemen, but not the lavish and expensive arms and armour of the knights. Men-at-Arms start out relatively lightly equipped with mail for themselves and their horses, and if the kingdom's coffers can afford it, they can be equipped with steel plate.


Knights of Nemedia
“The king and his allies moved westward at the head of fifty thousand men – knights in shining armor with their pennons streaming above their helmets, pikemen in steel caps and brigandines, crossbowmen in leather jerkins.” – The Hour of the Dragon


Royal Guard
“The three soldiers – men-at-arms wearing the emblem of the royal guards – rushed at the king, and one felled the squire with a blow of a mace.” – The Hour of the Dragon
The Royal Guard of Nemedia are the finest and most loyal soldiers available to the lords. Frequently they are made of ex-adventurers and warriors as opposed to nobles, considering the Hyborian knack for subterfuge and treachery. They are equipped with the finest Nemedian steel, with characteristic fluting patterns reminiscent of dragon wings and scales, and wield both lances and maces.


Adventurers
“A dully glinting, mail-clad figure moved out of the shadows into the starlight. This was no plumed and burnished palace guardsman. It was a tall man in morion and gray chain-mail – one of the Adventurers, a class of warriors peculiar to Nemedia; men who had not attained to the wealth and position of knighthood, or had fallen from that estate; hard-bitten fighters, dedicating their lives to war and adventure. They constituted a class of their own, sometimes commanding troops, but themselves accountable to no man but the king. Conan knew that he could have been discovered by no more dangerous a foeman.” – The Hour of the Dragon
The adventurers are composed of some of the deadliest and ruthless fighters among the Hyborian Age. Like the later Verlorn Hoop, they are frequently sent straight into the front line to wreak havoc among the lines of pikemen to clear the way for a knightly charge, a duty they are only to eager to carry out for honour and glory.

[Dimeola]

Perhaps some cavalry lighter than the knights? Squire mediums? What about mercenaries? Perhaps some mercenary Shemish archers or some foot from the barbarian lands, etc?

[Gurkhal]

Another great faction Taranaich. Wonderful work

[Taranaich]

Perhaps some cavalry lighter than the knights? Squire mediums? What about mercenaries? Perhaps some mercenary Shemish archers or some foot from the barbarian lands, etc?

All the Hyborian kingdoms will have Horsemen and Men-at-Arms, which are basically their light and medium cavalry respectively. Horsemen are those farmers, hunters, merchants and similar non-military personnel who have their own horses, and are used by the Nemedians to chase after routers and deserters, as well as to harass outlying villages. Men-at-Arms are the richer and more experienced folk who are not of the nobility: usually these are former mercenaries, adventurers, squires and other folk who have access to better equipment than horsemen, but not the lavish and expensive arms and armour of the knights. Horsemen generally start out unarmoured, but can be equipped better with funding from the state. Men-at-Arms start out with chain, and if the kingdom's coffers can afford it, they can be equipped with steel plate.

Mercenaries will work a little differently from the original game: rather than just wander about the land hoping to find some unemployed warriors (although that will still be in to a degree), they can also be recruited in a special "Mercenary Outpost" building, which will give access to a number of troops. Lower-level Outposts will only allow the recruitment of mercenaries in that region, but as you build up to larger buildings the zone of recruitment expands. Naturally units with a natural ZoR far away from the region will have a longer refresh rate, but it's better than having to invade Khitai or Kush to get some of their units. There will always be some Merc units that can only be recruited in their home countries, but hopefully this system means that nations with little military power like Argos can field strong, diverse mercenary countries.

One of the mercenaries unique to Nemedia will be the Nordic Guard. If the Nemedian player/AI chooses to establish trade links and alliance with the Nordheimir, then they will eventually gain access to a special elite guard of barbarian warriors akin to the Varangian Guard.

All Hyborian kingdoms will also have Peasant Archers, mostly consisting of hunters and sportsmen, who can serve a reasonable purpose as garrison but not to be relied on too much on the battlefield. I might give the Nemedians a Nemedian Longbowmen unit, since it seems logical that the Nemedians might try to ape Aquilonia's mighty longbowmen. These would be highly expensive and effective troops, although without the lifetime of training and experience of the Bossonians they would still be largely inferior to their inspiration.

I haven't made a finalized unit list for any of the factions since it's always changing, but I will at some point for clarity.

[Majestic7]

Nice units - but shouldn't the Adventurers be dressed in gray or black, not red?

[Taranaich]

By Crom, you've found me out!

The adventurers actually have their own unique texture now, all grey and battered armour, so they really look like they've been in the wars. They now look like the rugged, veteran badasses they should be. The reason they have the (old) Nemedian red cloth is because Nemedia was the second nation I worked on after the Cimmerians, and I wasn't as experienced in modding I didn't separate the normal Nemedian mail from the different type the Adventurers would use, so all the Nemedian units used the same lmail_hmail texture.

The Nemedians have been changed quite a bit since the original preview, I've learned a lot more modding stuff so hopefully they're better now. The new adventurers will feature in a future AAR, so stay tuned.

[Majestic7]

Well, can't wait to see that. Nemedia, Stygia and Shem are most likely the factions I'd want to play first, in that order, heh.

[Volkmar]

Just as Hyperborea is modeled after Russia, what is Nemedia modeled after in this? I've always interpreted Nemedia as a sort of Greek country from Howard's stories, as I've also pictured Aquilonia as Romans.

[keravnos]

what would Corinthia or Argos be then?

[Taranaich]

Nemedia is an odd one, as the two stories that depict Nemedians show very different aspects: God in the Bowl has a lot of Greco-Roman stuff, while Hour of the Dragon and a few others seem to portray a more gothic look. I've decided to have a Roman/Holy Roman Empire look for Nemedia, where the militia and levies are Roman, and the professional military more like gothic germans. So units like the City Police, Town Watch and Town Militia will be sort of Romanesque with tunics and mail, while knights and professional units will be more gothic with heavy gothic armour.

The Greek/Roman influence on Aquilonia and Nemedia seems mainly a society and administration thing, with the technology and military structure being more medieval. Therefore buildings, ancillaries, character names and some units will be Roman-inspired, but the majority of military units will be medieval.