We've known for some time that Sturgia will have a nord subfaction, and more recently we've seen a Scandinavian banner for Sturgia (and someone's said their architecture looks scandinavian.
Let's get the preface out of the way and I'll talk about what it should mean in game bellow, for those of that mind.
Now, I Love nords. There was something wonderful in warband about an all-nord infantry army and it's exquisitely simple effectiveness. But, ultimately, if you mix cultures like this, you're diluting the far-out, super interesting parts, making an overall weaker, more nuetral group (alternatively, you could deliver the super-specific-pulp parts of both cultures and lack the context to justify them)
*Woe to the guy who takes this seriously.
With all that knowledge out the way, let's talk about how the nords can be put into everything at the detriment of nothing.
Bannerlord has subfactions, and for some reason that escapes me I want to say that each group has six.
Firstly
One subfaction of sturgia. Leave the rest alone. The Flag should be slav, the clothes should be slav, the people should be slav, the buildings should be slav, the drinks should be slav. I'll award bonus points if one of the subfactions is baltic, one western slav (IE poland/bohemia) and there's a few travelers around, but I can understand the resources behind that.
Put Nord-ness into Vlandia. It makes way more sense. Perhaps more than one subfaction even, and nord influence can be a subtle addition to the people. Some troop-lines offer fantastic heavy infantry, others offer superior cavalry. More swiss/Italian subfactions would be nice too.
Batania. It can host a Nord subfaction. Now we've got maybe four whole subfactions of Nordland. Absolutely don't put any nord-ness into other factions, the surviving celtic nations were pretty good at keeping them out.
Secondly
Nordland mercenaries. Vikings were some of the most prominent mercenaries ever. I mean, they got that part of france by betraying their own and siding with france. Viking mercenaries served constantinople. Think of how crazy far that is (and also how the empire is those guys) So surely Nords4Hire has got to be a business found in every tavern of calradia.
Besides, I strongly believe that mercenaries need more love. You can't properly do one single group of no-culture mercenaries (...and no-culture women, villagers, looters and so on) and I think most players of the original game sacked mercenaries when they could get better, more cost efficient nationals anyway (the moral penalty negligible compared to the increased cost)
Finally
Bring back the sea raiders. The time period is more correct for bannerlord than it is for warband, and the skull drinking needs to be done in HD.
For mega points, have sea raiders come in seasons, sometimes as armies that can potentially conquer areas when they're weak, with Jarls that can supplant local lords.
At this point, you've got enough nord subfactions that you could safely say you've got an entire nord faction's worth, and we can all comfortably play nord without them needing a full-unified faction (at least till they get one) and you don't need to water down the diversity of culture in bannerlord.
Let's get the preface out of the way and I'll talk about what it should mean in game bellow, for those of that mind.
Now, I Love nords. There was something wonderful in warband about an all-nord infantry army and it's exquisitely simple effectiveness. But, ultimately, if you mix cultures like this, you're diluting the far-out, super interesting parts, making an overall weaker, more nuetral group (alternatively, you could deliver the super-specific-pulp parts of both cultures and lack the context to justify them)
*Woe to the guy who takes this seriously.
Jokes aside, while multiculturalism is perfectly functional, it tends to make the cultures within more neutral as they make compromises with eachother, and thus way less interesting. Just look at Sikhs who live in britain with their little ceremonial daggers rather than the swords they'd have at home, Italian American food, or the degenerate architecture of Australia I don't think Taleworlds will put in all the (super interesting) sociology to simulate that, but we've essentially got the more-familiar culture for most (scandinavia) and the less familiar culture of most (Russia) and while Taleworlds could go all-in on capturing interest in a fascinating untapped area (Did you see what the Witcher did for poland?) It seems they want to increase the influence of a culture that basically influenced everyone to the point where it might as well be a lesser, more recent rome. It sounds cool, but it's not going to blow minds.
Some people like familiar things, but it's no good if everything's samey. And, from a minority point of view, If you were a slav, it'd suck if someone had to wash away what was supposed to be your culture "to make it more palatable". Granted; M&B basically skips a whole load of cultures that should be between what's presented, but that's to get the maximum diversity possible in a compact map, and they didn't advertise one thing and gave another.
Now, scandinavia influenced a lot, given the propensity for boats and patches of land that wasn't scandinavia. It's true that they had influence in the baltics and rus, though from my reading it was far more practical (war/law/style of governance)-related with little lasting cultural impact (art,clothes,architecture and language all remained firmly slav).
In the meantime, Scandinavians also took britain, part of france, and this had far more of a cultural impact than it did in the east. English is basically Swedish but with different words, rather than the celtic it could've been. The normans, from a little bit of france, the main source for Vlandia, is basically Vikings+the French (regrettable language choice)
So... there's a faction that could acomadate more than one viking subfaction and the scandinavian influence could be greater.
There's one last faction that could have a nord influence... Batania.
I'll admit my biases; The batanians should be utterly crushed, and their geography is weird considering their position, and there's that Balion place that sounds like it'd be more accommodating. But, "vikings" clashed with celts often enough that you might as well...
Some people like familiar things, but it's no good if everything's samey. And, from a minority point of view, If you were a slav, it'd suck if someone had to wash away what was supposed to be your culture "to make it more palatable". Granted; M&B basically skips a whole load of cultures that should be between what's presented, but that's to get the maximum diversity possible in a compact map, and they didn't advertise one thing and gave another.
Now, scandinavia influenced a lot, given the propensity for boats and patches of land that wasn't scandinavia. It's true that they had influence in the baltics and rus, though from my reading it was far more practical (war/law/style of governance)-related with little lasting cultural impact (art,clothes,architecture and language all remained firmly slav).
In the meantime, Scandinavians also took britain, part of france, and this had far more of a cultural impact than it did in the east. English is basically Swedish but with different words, rather than the celtic it could've been. The normans, from a little bit of france, the main source for Vlandia, is basically Vikings+the French (regrettable language choice)
So... there's a faction that could acomadate more than one viking subfaction and the scandinavian influence could be greater.
There's one last faction that could have a nord influence... Batania.
I'll admit my biases; The batanians should be utterly crushed, and their geography is weird considering their position, and there's that Balion place that sounds like it'd be more accommodating. But, "vikings" clashed with celts often enough that you might as well...
Bannerlord has subfactions, and for some reason that escapes me I want to say that each group has six.
Firstly
One subfaction of sturgia. Leave the rest alone. The Flag should be slav, the clothes should be slav, the people should be slav, the buildings should be slav, the drinks should be slav. I'll award bonus points if one of the subfactions is baltic, one western slav (IE poland/bohemia) and there's a few travelers around, but I can understand the resources behind that.
Put Nord-ness into Vlandia. It makes way more sense. Perhaps more than one subfaction even, and nord influence can be a subtle addition to the people. Some troop-lines offer fantastic heavy infantry, others offer superior cavalry. More swiss/Italian subfactions would be nice too.
Batania. It can host a Nord subfaction. Now we've got maybe four whole subfactions of Nordland. Absolutely don't put any nord-ness into other factions, the surviving celtic nations were pretty good at keeping them out.
Secondly
Nordland mercenaries. Vikings were some of the most prominent mercenaries ever. I mean, they got that part of france by betraying their own and siding with france. Viking mercenaries served constantinople. Think of how crazy far that is (and also how the empire is those guys) So surely Nords4Hire has got to be a business found in every tavern of calradia.
Besides, I strongly believe that mercenaries need more love. You can't properly do one single group of no-culture mercenaries (...and no-culture women, villagers, looters and so on) and I think most players of the original game sacked mercenaries when they could get better, more cost efficient nationals anyway (the moral penalty negligible compared to the increased cost)
Finally
Bring back the sea raiders. The time period is more correct for bannerlord than it is for warband, and the skull drinking needs to be done in HD.
For mega points, have sea raiders come in seasons, sometimes as armies that can potentially conquer areas when they're weak, with Jarls that can supplant local lords.
At this point, you've got enough nord subfactions that you could safely say you've got an entire nord faction's worth, and we can all comfortably play nord without them needing a full-unified faction (at least till they get one) and you don't need to water down the diversity of culture in bannerlord.
