Possible backstory

Users who are viewing this thread

felix77

Sergeant
I was giving it some thought and there are 2 historical medieval time frames that would fit well in to this mods format. In the late 1340's the black death swept Europe. It had all ready devastated Asia and the middle east, following late Mongolian empire trade routes. During the height of the 100 years war that had all ready crashed the population, nearly 50% of the western worlds population was lost.

This period fits well in to the stock troops and items. Gunpowder was known but simple cannons and grenades didn't appear until the last decades of the war. The standard troop types seam to be modeled after this period as well. The down side is, the world remained relatively politically stable. Fields went to fallow but the result was the birth of the renaissance, not the void we're looking for. There was a labor shortage, the majority of the serfs ran away and bought land that was now dirt cheap. It was written that nobles and banner men were seen plowing and sowing their own fields.

If any thing the time of the black plague and the 100 years war brought more stability then any thing. France gained a sense of national identity and lead to the end of the Burgundians soon after.

So a historical mod from this time would not be good, there is not a political vacuum to fit the theme. But an unhistorical mod could work.

Personally I am a bigger fan of the early middle ages. Constant political upsets and unrest lead to countless opportunities. Between 540 and 760 AD The Plague of Justinian swept the world back and forth every few years. War was constant and borders shifted endlessly. The Germanic kingdoms had destroyed the imperial roman armies and eaten away at the empire until it collapsed. A professional army covered in steel was brought down by a throwing axe. The shield destroying weapon robbed the Romans of their military advantage, Imperial corruption didn't help ether.

What was left during this period of war and plague was wild unsettled lands. A few city states held their populations in the south but majority of the north was held by Germanic kings and sparse population. Many rulers would rule an area in name alone, having little authority over the local lords. Feudalism hadn't evolved yet, so the lord owned the land his vassals worked. Not all land belonged to the crown. Kings had little say on what went on hundreds of miles away through bandit infested forest roads.

Lords often were warlords in that time, devouring neighbor estates and some times declaring them selves kings.

So the idea is you have a desperate population, plenty of refuges trying to escape areas of war and plague. You have open land to settle and little regional authority. You also have pagan Odinists.

So the Huns can fit the Khergit with little modification. They disappeared from written history after the fall of Rome but would have held lands in eastern Europe for centuries. All though life in settlements in green, mountainous Europe would not support their horse archers for long on a large scale so they were eventually destroyed or absorbed. The Byzantine fits the Rhodoks infantry fairly well. All though with the fragility and necessary thinness of giant shields even the romans went to the smaller, thicker round shield at the end. Javalins and throwing axes were common weapons of the time to try and destroy the enemies shield before a charge or even kill or maim them.

In the early 8th century the Islamic invasion of spain could make another inspired faction. Swadians would work. The Muslims were very rich having recently conquered all of north Africa and most were mounted and wore mail shirts and steel helms. A Luxury most European armies never had until the very late middle ages. They also could use lances and archery from horseback, all though their bows were not to steppes quality. They didn't sit around camp fires for a year working on them ether though. They brought stirrups to Europe, some thing Europeans lacked, preventing effective archery or couched lancing. Huns probably didn't use stirrups ether, but shot from short range and threw spears like the Japanese.Mongols and Arabs generally used the stirrups early, they could stand on them and use their legs to hold their body still while shooting arrows from horse, giving them better accuracy. Also you are less likely to get knocked off when couching a lance if you have your feet secured.

Nord troops could represent most of the Germanic factions with some changes. The style of fighting was very similar from 9 A.D. when they destroyed the roman invaders, all through the expansion period. Only when the vikings converted to Christianity did the mothod change in Scandinavia. But the Franks and the Burgundians use the same basic style the Vikings did hundreds of years later.

Of coarse the early and late middle ages weren't like they are portrayed by pop culture. That image was inherited from early modern age humanists and romanticists. Humanists portraying life as ignorant squallier caused by religion. Romanticists portrayed it as a time of every one in chain or plate, carrying swords, every thing made of hardened steel.

The truth was that a steel chain shirt and hardened steel sword costs as much as a luxury car would today. Even if you served at war for years you most likely wouldn't waste your coin buying a sword unless you needed to make a statement. A sword is a symbol of position.

Bronze and iron were still used for armor and weapons in the late middle ages. So quality of items could vary by material as well. Most common weapons could be Axe, spear, glaive, and bow. Of coarse the flail weighted with iron spiked balls were very common and so were maces. Because most people didn't wear chain or plate armors, most actually wore thick cloth with stuffing like horsehair for armor.

The armor progression could be: Cloth, fur/cured leather, boiled leather plates, even the helms. Then reinforced boiled leathers. Interlocking plates behind cloth or leather riveted through to give a studded look, it's in native but the models are bad. Mail would be very expensive through out the middle ages and would be reserved for nobles, mounted/elite troops or veterans who could afford it from their spoils. A coat of plates would be the highest for early middle ages.

So just my ideas, I would love to make my own mod and even use the custom settlements idea. But unfortunately I'm not experienced and all the mod tutorials are out of date. Plus I would probably start some thing ambitious and never be able to finish.
 
Well, about doing your own mod, you should try. Do it slowly, when you are tired stop and go do something else.

Your ideas sound goods, but I think that this mod isn't supossed to be historical.
 
Back
Top Bottom