What kind of new faction(s) would you like to see added to the game in the future?

[dannazgu]

Agree, I want naval combat and travel more than anything. Being able to buy ships from everything from small merchant ships to large war ships. Maybe some new towns can be added to the islands between the Empire and Aserai lands. Trade fleets with new trade options, basically these could be oversized floating caravans that moves lots of goods from port to port. They would be expensive to get going, but very lucrative in the long run as long as they don't get attacked by pirates like roaming Nord raiding fleets or some type of Cilician pirates rebel faction that roam the Southern Seas.

The game needs new content for sure.

Of course, I wouldn't lie and say i wouldn't love see the vlandia homeland or where the calradians/imperials came from

 

[Totalgarbage]

the nords and their land/continent/kingdom, whatever with boats and ships (also as merchants)
or the Balion and Geroia continents

Isn't Geroia just Georgia which is controlled by the Khuzaits (as well as the rest of "Caucasus")?

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

The fighting at sea would be made by siege weapons and boarding and ramming, like the way it used to be before the development of cannons and gunpowders.
It was usually scorpions, small catapults on the tower of the ship and the ship "beaks" were used for ramming and destroy the hull and sinking the enemy ship... Of course, death and defeat at the sea would be instant death, since fighting with armor could be very fatal and would drag the person to the botton of the ocean.
I agree with the trade perharps the merchant specialist @Flesson19 , have some ideas

That would be interesting. I'm not familiar with how ancient naval warfare was conducted except a little bit of China thanks to my love of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so it'd be all new territory for me!

As for the Vlandians, I believe the implication is they come from the mountains around Ocs Hall and expanded westward from there. They may be related to the Battanians, to some degree at least.

I'm curious if he or anybody knows what workshop levels do and how to raise them. I get the impression they'll remain level 1 forever lol, or that it's an unfinished gameplay mechanic that may be scrapped since a serious problem with workshops is inundating the marketplace so higher grades maybe ought to produce higher quality (but higher price) goods to avoid devaluing the stuff that's already in the game.

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Isn't Geroia just Georgia which is controlled by the Khuzaits (as well as the rest of "Caucasus")?

If Calradia is Turkey, I'd suppose Geroia's Italy or Greece or something since it's some landmass outside Calradia proper and where all playable characters from Warband are native to. I think you get to Calradia by boat, so... eh, I dunno.

I think Calradia now is meant to be a combination of Europe and the Middle East, so the Duzeg Steppe of the Khuzaits would be analogous to Persia rather than eastern Turkey (not sure what the area's called IRL) and the Aserai's Nahasa Desert a northern Africa analogue. Vlandia and Battania are probably supposed to be France and Germany, with Charas perhaps being Rome given it's the first settlement of the Calrads (who, in turn, are supposed to have come from another continent in antiquity).

 

[Totalgarbage]

As for the Vlandians, I believe the implication is they come from the mountains around Ocs Hall and expanded westward from there. They may be related to the Battanians, to some degree at least.

Since Vlandians are primarily based on the Normans, I assume the land they come from is the homeland of the Nords.

If Calradia is Turkey, I'd suppose Geroia's Italy or Greece or something since it's some landmass outside Calradia proper and where all playable characters from Warband are native to. I think you get to Calradia by boat, so... eh, I dunno.

I think Calradia now is meant to be a combination of Europe and the Middle East, so the Duzeg Steppe of the Khuzaits would be analogous to Persia rather than eastern Turkey (not sure what the area's called IRL) and the Aserai's Nahasa Desert a northern Africa analogue. Vlandia and Battania are probably supposed to be France and Germany, with Charas perhaps being Rome given it's the first settlement of the Calrads (who, in turn, are supposed to have come from another continent in antiquity).

To my understanding, Calradia in Warband was Anatolia, but then was expanded to Europe + Anatolia + Caucasus + Western Central Asia that's immediately east of the Caspian Sea & the Aserai territory which is North Africa & the Levant (& northern Syria in Husn Fulq?).

The map is very "squished" but my guess is that Northern & Southern empire is basically modern day Turkey (Epicrotea is Istanbul/Constantinople/Nova Roma or Edirne/Adrianople or maybe Varna or Burgas and I'm guessing that Danustica is Antakya/Antioch). Western empire is predominantly the southern balkans from Greece to Croatia or Slovenia (I guess Ortysia is Dubrovnik/Ragusa), Battania is mostly Bulgaria & Romania (as the faction is partially based on the Dacians and Thracians), Vlandia is Western Europe from the west of France through Iberia to Italy. Sturgia is Ukraine + European Russia (+ Tyal which is east of the Urals + maybe Belarus to the west). I've already talked about the Aserai and the Khuzaits are Caucasus + east of the Caspian sea.

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Since Vlandians are primarily based on the Normans, I assume the land they come from is the homeland of the Nords.

Well, the city profiles give a fairly descriptive history of the regions and the Vlandian tribe formed around Ocs Hall, since Ocs Iron-Arm (or something like that) expanded from that territory and first took Pravend and, being impressed by the local Imperial culture, merged into them rather than pillaged them. The region of Rovalt and Ostican is particularly treated as a "far, far noth" wildland since it wasn't settled by the Calrads and left alone by the Vlandians during Ocs's time due to their fierceness.

To my understanding, Calradia in Warband was Anatolia, but then was expanded to Europe + Anatolia + Caucasus + Western Central Asia that's immediately east of the Caspian Sea & the Aserai territory which is North Africa & the Levant (& Iraq or Syria in Husn Fulq?).

The map is very "squished" but my guess is that Northern & Southern empire is basically modern day Turkey (Epicrotea is Istanbul/Constantinople/Nova Roma or maybe Sophia/Serdica and Danustica is Antakya/Antioch). Western empire is predominantly the southern balkans from Greece to Croatia or Slovenia (I guess Ortysia is Dubrovnik/Ragusa), Battania is Bulgaria & Romania (based on the Dacians and Thracians), Vlandia is Western Europe from the west of France through Iberia to Italy. Sturgia is Ukraine + European Russia (+ Tyal which is east of the Urals + maybe Belarus to the west). I've already talked about the Aserai and the Khuzaits are Caucasus + east of the Caspian sea.

I believe you're over-thinking real-world analogies since while these cultures do have real-world inspirations, they're still fundamentally their own thing and the land itself has its own history distinct from the real world. Basically, it's designed to allow us to do all the fun stuff we can do while justifying the presence of cultures that, in the real world, were thousands of miles away from each other while still being "real world-like" enough to maintain an illusion of realism.

Basically, I don't recommend trying to place in-game locations on the real-world map because most resemblance are likely a coincidence and have too many probable real-world analogues to be meaningful. For example, Calradia's resemblance to Anatolia is likely because the core development team is Turkish so that's their idea of "the world," the same way English fantasy authors often make worlds that resemble England or Britain when zoomed out. I don't see how Epicrotea corresponds to Istanbul/Constantinople since it's not on the "Oriental side" of a major strait but simply on the east side of a river near a mouth opening to Lake Laconia. You could argue it's actually Moscow because it's in a defensible location near vast woodlands, or Saint Petersburg due to being in a vaguely Slavic-inspired region and near a large body of water, or... what-have-you.

I can understand the desire to make those connections, though, so I admit that it's partly my own disposition that makes me inclined to simply treat it as its own fantasy world with its own distinct history that just so happens to have real world inspirations lol.

 

[danEN]

bannerlord lore

 

[Totalgarbage]

I don't see how Epicrotea corresponds to Istanbul/Constantinople since it's not on the "Oriental side" of a major strait but simply on the east side of a river near a mouth opening to Lake Laconia. You could argue it's actually Moscow because it's in a defensible location near vast woodlands, or Saint Petersburg due to being in a vaguely Slavic-inspired region and near a large body of water, or... what-have-you.

Istanbul/Constantinople is predominantly on the west of the Bosphorus and is on the southern coast of the black sea. I'm assuming that the sea to the north of Epicrotea is the calradian equivalent of the Black sea and I think that Varnovapol is basically Sevastopol. Of course, you're right that matching real world geography to that of Bannerlord is not exactly correct. For example, even if my example is correct, there's no equivalent of the Aegean sea in Calradia

 

[dannazgu]

Isn't Geroia just Georgia which is controlled by the Khuzaits (as well as the rest of "Caucasus")?

As far i know "no", they appear on warband on dialogue. I think they were some kind city-state navalbased, some liked Genoa and Serenissima of Venice.

If Calradia is Turkey, I'd suppose Geroia's Italy or Greece or something since it's some landmass outside Calradia proper and where all playable characters from Warband are native to. I think you get to Calradia by boat, so... eh, I dunno.

I think Calradia now is meant to be a combination of Europe and the Middle East, so the Duzeg Steppe of the Khuzaits would be analogous to Persia rather than eastern Turkey (not sure what the area's called IRL) and the Aserai's Nahasa Desert a northern Africa analogue. Vlandia and Battania are probably supposed to be France and Germany, with Charas perhaps being Rome given it's the first settlement of the Calrads (who, in turn, are supposed to have come from another continent in antiquity).

Calradia is not Turkey, but defeintely basen on the Balkans and Anatolia and Euroasia and caucasus. The empire (eastern roman/byzantines) for example, the Aserai clearly the region of Egypt & Syria, the khuzait the precursosrs of the turkish tribes/mongols if you follow warband lore, they'd be mongols because the Mamluks of warband.

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Istanbul/Constantinople is predominantly on the west of the Bosphorus and is on the southern coast of the black sea. I'm assuming that the sea to the north of Epicrotea is the calradian equivalent of the Black sea and I think that Varnovapol is basically Sevastopol. Of course, you're right that matching real world geography to that of Bannerlord is not exactly correct. For example, even if my example is correct, there's no equivalent of the Aegean sea in Calradia

That's true, I forgot that the palaces and all that are on the west side lol. But I know it's basically a city with itself on both sides, basically, but for some reason I thought "east side" lol.

If I had to analogize, I'd treat Lake Laconia as more like the Baltic Sea since, well, seasonal patterns basically. Sturgia's basically Sweden laid sidewise in terms of weather from what I can tell, though I can't say I know what the weather's like around the northern side of the Black Sea though...

But yeah, without an Aegean and Dardanelles and an implication the city's sitting on two sides of a major strait, I wouldn't pick any towards being a Constantinople-like. In-universe, it appears Lycaron functions like this since it's presently the capital of the eastern half of the Calradic Empire.

To be frank, I have more fun analogizing what this version of Calradia is compared to Warband's lol. Where do you think Warband's Calradia ends and the new Calradia begins, so to speak? I've imagined the area around Lageta to be basically a retconned Tulga and Battania to be a redesigned Vaegirs, with Varcheg being that area inaccessible from Rivacheg rather than Wercheg and then west from there it's a bit more clear how it aligns to Warband's geography. In that case, I suppose it's canon that the Khergit Clan migrates through Sturgia before settling somewhere around Lageta, and the Banu Sarran migrate/colonize Charas and turn what's a small desert area in Bannerlord into the big Sultanate it appears to be in Warband. That's how I imagine it at any rate lol, with some retconning here and there.

 

[Totalgarbage]

That's true, I forgot that the palaces and all that are on the west side lol. But I know it's basically a city with itself on both sides, basically, but for some reason I thought "east side" lol.

Yeah, both the city's historical centre and 66-70% of population is in the European side

 

[dannazgu]

Well, the city profiles give a fairly descriptive history of the regions and the Vlandian tribe formed around Ocs Hall, since Ocs Iron-Arm (or something like that) expanded from that territory and first took Pravend and, being impressed by the local Imperial culture, merged into them rather than pillaged them. The region of Rovalt and Ostican is particularly treated as a "far, far noth" wildland since it wasn't settled by the Calrads and left alone by the Vlandians during Ocs's time due to their fierceness.

The vlandians were mercenaries from another country, some island on north sea, something like that that settled on calradia by employement of the empire. Then stole their lands.

The Vlandians originated overseas and came to Calradia as mercenaries and adventurers. They take their name from one of their first warlords Wilund the Bold (Calradic: Valandion).

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

The vlandians were mercenaries from another country, some island on north sea, something like that that settled on calradia by employement of the empire. Then stole their lands.

The Vlandians originated overseas and came to Calradia as mercenaries and adventurers. They take their name from one of their first warlords Wilund the Bold (Calradic: Valandion).

I see. That's interesting to know, I thought they were the indigenous people of the mountains or something. I remember there being developer blogs that had summaries for each of the cultures, is that were your information is sourced from or in-game city profiles and the like? Speaking of which, poor Varcheg has no profile lol. I guess it's a figment of our imaginations, or built yesterday...

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Yeah, both the city's historical centre and 66-70% of population is in the European side

Thank you for reminding me, it's been forever and a half since I've read of European history, especially anything Roman related. It's a part of the world/history my knowledge is murky on.

 

[dannazgu]

I see. That's interesting to know, I thought they were the indigenous people of the mountains or something. I remember there being developer blogs that had summaries for each of the cultures, is that were your information is sourced from or in-game city profiles and the like? Speaking of which, poor Varcheg has no profile lol. I guess it's a figment of our imaginations, or built yesterday...

yes, i take information from the dev blogs and a wikia someone has placed all the info from devs there.

But the "natives" on the continet which had no nome before the Calradians (imperial), were simply Battanias, the aserai from desert, i think sturgia, and the khuzait from the eastern plains. There were some other culture in between but the empire merged them into theirs, like romanization. And sicne they were the most powerful country they name the continent theirs.
Varcheg was the precursor of Rivacheg, in warband.. It's disappointing there're no lore, but i think they only became important after the invasion of the Nords.

 

[Vasileus]

Here's some of my thoughts revolving around factions that could keep with the setting of the late-Roman/early-Byzantine period:

Darshi: Definitely should be added. They already have a minor faction (the Ghilman clan), have terrain features through their side of the map, and would fit as a stand-in for the Sasanian Empire. If war elephants are too much, I'd have no problem with them being a blend of the Imperial/Khuzait/Aserai fighting styles with cataphracts and horse archers of their own.

Nords/Jumne: Can see them getting added to the massive peninsula above Sturgia. Even if there's no sea travel, adding ferry points for them to interact with the Sturgians would be nice, or adding in more minor clans of Nordic mercenaries that you can hire.

Greeks: Ancient Greece makes no sense with the setting of the base game, and the Empire already represents the Byzantine Greeks of this period.

China: Would either add way too much complexity or be significantly overpowered, but maybe a minor Chinese kingdom or sinicized Khanate like the Guiyi Circuit or Liao Empire. If we follow the early-Byzantine/late-Roman period of the setting, a Guiyi or Western Protectorate-style kingdom would fit right in without breaking the faction balance.

That would be interesting. I'm not familiar with how ancient naval warfare was conducted except a little bit of China thanks to my love of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so it'd be all new territory for me!

As for the Vlandians, I believe the implication is they come from the mountains around Ocs Hall and expanded westward from there. They may be related to the Battanians, to some degree at least.

I'm curious if he or anybody knows what workshop levels do and how to raise them. I get the impression they'll remain level 1 forever lol, or that it's an unfinished gameplay mechanic that may be scrapped since a serious problem with workshops is inundating the marketplace so higher grades maybe ought to produce higher quality (but higher price) goods to avoid devaluing the stuff that's already in the game.

Vlandians are supposed to have sailed to Calradia, and Ocs Hall didn't become Vlandian until after they rebelled from the Empire (which happened only four generations before Bannerlord, seeing that the first Vlandian king, Osric Iron Arm, is the great-grandfather of Derthert). Ostican and Rovalt are supposed to have been the first Vlandian settlements, with the first Vlandians arriving in Calradia as mercenaries in service of the Empire.

If interested, here's a map of Calradia before Bannerlord assembled using the in-game lore descriptions for cities and villages. The only thing on here that's not mentioned in-game or in the lore descriptors is the Great Liang, which is supposed to represent the Chinese Tang Dynasty that defeated the Gokturk Khaganate and pushed them westwards towards Byzantium and Persia (just as how the Khuzaits were pushed westward by a "distant conquerer").

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

I think the indigenous population of the eastern countries are the Palaic? Don't know much about them beyond them not really existing anymore. But I'm also pretty sure the Khuzaits are themselves from some far eastern land because it says in their cities that they essentially conquered the region from the Darshi Padishah while fleeing some "great conqueror of the east," but it also makes clear that the Khuzait-culture people are basically a mixture of indigenous and colonist populations. The clan chiefs are even called "begs," which I'm pretty sure isn't a Mongol-inspired title.

One of the things I enjoy in Bannerlord is seeing the factions shift and their compositional cultures change accordingly. It's gonna be a shame for culture to be solely determined by father soon since that means you'll no longer see crazy things like Aserai-looking people dressed like Battanians or Vlandians in togas, since I also enjoyed seeing the cultures shift with the generations. I think it'd be cool to see side of gameplay expanded (though I have NO IDEA how it could be done meaningfully lol) like hybrid troop trees and cultures, and for it to happen as a result of outsider noble clans basically amalgamating with the peoples' they're ruling or something. In my first/previous playthrough, I played a cultural Battanian and he dominated the Nahasa Desert with a combination of promoted companions of multiple cultures and recruited native clans, and then his Vlandian daughter succeeded him and gradually conquered the world. I really enjoyed seeing how the cultural shifts were reflected in unit/army compositions and the makeup of the nobility; I think it'd be cool if this cultural shifting thing were expanded even further, though it may be best done indirectly since much of why I appreciate it is as a result of organic evolution through gameplay rather than a pre-determined pattern/combination thing.

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Here's some of my thoughts revolving around factions that could keep with the setting of the late-Roman/early-Byzantine period:

Darshi: Definitely should be added. They already have a minor faction (the Ghilman clan), have terrain features through their side of the map, and would fit as a stand-in for the Sasanian Empire. If war elephants are too much, I'd have no problem with them being a blend of the Imperial/Khuzait/Aserai fighting styles with cataphracts and horse archers of their own.

Nords/Jumne: Can see them getting added to the massive peninsula above Sturgia. Even if there's no sea travel, adding ferry points for them to interact with the Sturgians would be nice, or adding in more minor clans of Nordic mercenaries that you can hire.

Greeks: Ancient Greece makes no sense with the setting of the base game, and the Empire already represents the Byzantine Greeks of this period.

China: Would either add way too much complexity or be significantly overpowered, but maybe a minor Chinese kingdom or sinicized Khanate like the Guiyi Circuit or Liao Empire. If we follow the early-Byzantine/late-Roman period of the setting, a Guiyi or Western Protectorate-style kingdom would fit right in without breaking the faction balance.

I like your ideas and I think they could be fitted in neatly, especially the Darshi and "Jumne" (I can't recall, but is that the "Nordland" they are said to originally come from?) since we can already see some of that territory when we pan the camera around so it wouldn't require a massive expansion. As for Greek-inspired, yeah, the Calrad factions already fit that niche while combined with Roman characteristics, especially notable since all their names have a Greek-sounding ring to them rather than ancient Latin, obvious examples being the three emperors.

Still, I've love to see a little China somewhere lol, and I always like establishing a Liao Dynasty in northeastern China in Romance of the Three Kingdoms games so it'd be cool if I could import that here lol. Maybe it'll have to be M&B 3, if at all, but I'll dream of it at least.

Vlandians are supposed to have sailed to Calradia, and Ocs Hall didn't become Vlandian until after they rebelled from the Empire (which happened only four generations before Bannerlord, seeing that the first Vlandian king, Osric Iron Arm, is the great-grandfather of Derthert). Ostican and Rovalt are supposed to have been the first Vlandian settlements, with the first Vlandians arriving in Calradia as mercenaries in service of the Empire.

If interested, here's a map of Calradia before Bannerlord assembled using the in-game lore descriptions for cities and villages. The only thing on here that's not mentioned in-game or in the lore descriptors is the Great Liang, which is supposed to represent the Chinese Tang Dynasty that defeated the Gokturk Khaganate and pushed them westwards towards Byzantium and Persia (just as how the Khuzaits were pushed westward by a "distant conquerer").

Who the heck is Ocs then? I thought the progenitor was named Osric but I flipped to "Ocs" because it had to be named after somebody lol.

Thank you for the elaborations, and I'm impressed somebody in the fan community actually made a world map based on available knowledge while they were at it Of course, the further the setting of the game we go the more speculative it becomes, but still pretty illustrative of what the cultural shifts look like at least.

I have no idea who named a Tang-inspired country Liang, but, hey, there were a few IRL so I can roll with it lol though it would be very interesting to push all the way as far east as east can go some time in the indefinite future. It might be interesting if Calradia was less of a closed-loop economy as well, like some imports of far eastern or far southern trade goods and gear (I'm sure lots of people would love a big katana and crescent moon helmet while dressing up like geishas lol). That could be tied into potential DLCs regarding maritime trade or otherwise expanding the known world without having to render it all to be explorable/conquerable.

 

[Vasileus]

I think the indigenous population of the eastern countries are the Palaic? Don't know much about them beyond them not really existing anymore. But I'm also pretty sure the Khuzaits are themselves from some far eastern land because it says in their cities that they essentially conquered the region from the Darshi Padishah while fleeing some "great conqueror of the east," but it also makes clear that the Khuzait-culture people are basically a mixture of indigenous and colonist populations. The clan chiefs are even called "begs," which I'm pretty sure isn't a Mongol-inspired title.

You are correct about the title of "Beg", which is actually a title that originated from Old Turkic. Taleworlds have openly said in the past that the Gokturks were a source of inspiration for the Khuzaits, and if we're going by the late-Roman setting of the game then the Turkic Khaganates is a way better match than the Mongol Empire.

There are also Khuzait settlements with names like Akkalat and Karakalat using the "Kara-" (Black, meaning northern) and "Ak-" (White, meaning southern) prefixes of the Turkish language, and the "Karakhergit" minor faction is roughly translatable to the Black Khergits/Northern Khergits.

I like your ideas and I think they could be fitted in neatly, especially the Darshi and "Jumne" (I can't recall, but is that the "Nordland" they are said to originally come from?) since we can already see some of that territory when we pan the camera around so it wouldn't require a massive expansion. As for Greek-inspired, yeah, the Calrad factions already fit that niche while combined with Roman characteristics, especially notable since all their names have a Greek-sounding ring to them rather than ancient Latin, obvious examples being the three emperors.

Still, I've love to see a little China somewhere lol, and I always like establishing a Liao Dynasty in northeastern China in Romance of the Three Kingdoms games so it'd be cool if I could import that here lol. Maybe it'll have to be M&B 3, if at all, but I'll dream of it at least.

Even if the Liao or China proper isn't an option, the Liang vassals on the map look close enough on that map for players to do a Western Liao-style campaign with a capital based around Ortongard or Odokh. Add in the mod My Little Warband so you can create a properly sinicized Khuzait troop tree armed with crossbows and Chinese weapons, and go civilize/pacify the barbarian Emperors to the west as the exiled Son of Heaven (I'm planning to do this for my next run once 1.1 releases into the main branch)

Liang surprisingly works as a name for a Tang Dynasty stand-in since the Tang Emperors traced their patrilineal descent to the tiny kingdom of Western Liang during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. It's an esoteric fact of Chinese history, but the kings of Western Liang ended up being posthumously honored by their descendants as the first Emperors of China in the Li clan.

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

You are correct about the title of "Beg", which is actually a title that originated from Old Turkic. Taleworlds have openly said in the past that the Gokturks were a source of inspiration for the Khuzaits, and if we're going by the late-Roman setting of the game then the Turkic Khaganates is a way better match than the Mongol Empire.

There are also Khuzait settlements with names like Akkalat and Karakalat using the "Kara-" (Black, meaning northern) and "Ak-" (White, meaning southern) prefixes of the Turkish language, and the "Karakhergit" minor faction is roughly translatable to the Black Khergits/Northern Khergits.

I knew there was something to the "kara-" given it can't be a coincidence that there's two clans named "Kherjit" and players of Warband would know of their long term significance. That's cool to know, thanks for telling me! If I ever play a Khuzait, it'd help to better know their naming conventions since all I know is that they appear to be formatted like "given name-it" since they appear to be named after their founders. So, Khuza was probably the guy that found the Khuzait tribe, and Kher for the Kherjits, etc.

Even if the Liao or China proper isn't an option, the Liang vassals on the map look close enough on that map for players to do a Western Liao-style campaign with a capital based around Ortongard or Odokh. Add in the mod My Little Warband so you can create a properly sinicized Khuzait troop tree armed with crossbows and Chinese weapons, and go civilize/pacify the barbarian Emperors to the west as the exiled Son of Heaven (I'm planning to do this for my next run once 1.1 releases into the main branch)

I'm on PS4 so I can't mod lol, but I do appreciate how many Asian touches the Khuzait troops and armors have on them. I must say I loved swinging that Long Glaive like a guandao lol, felt like Zhang Liao just smacking folks around with it lol. Not to mention the beautiful tassels on the spears! Even if they're functionally inferior to higher tiered Noble Cavalry Spears (which also look cool to me), I just love the accessory on them. But yeah, I'd love make myself a Son of Heaven (or "Prince of Heaven" as RTK6 localized it, which I gotta say had some fun and unusual localizations of Chinese terms and phrases even if possibly less correct or mainstream compared to other RTK games) since I'm already aspiring to "unite all under Heaven" lol. Really can't wait for the beta patch to make it to main and get on consoles so I can carry on my second playthrough, already nostalgic about my first lol. Took me 4 or 6 weeks to do over December and January, so it was no small thing.

Liang surprisingly works as a name for a Tang Dynasty stand-in since the Tang Emperors traced their patrilineal descent to the tiny kingdom of Western Liang during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. It's an esoteric fact of Chinese history, but the kings of Western Liang ended up being posthumously honored by their descendants as the first Emperors of China in the Li clan.

You mean THAT Liang, the Han Chinese holdout during the Northern and Southern dynasties period, would end up via legacy being the guys who took China out of its dark age and established the Tang? That's really cool to know as well, I'm not as knowledgeable as I'd like to be about many parts of Chinese history since most of my in-depth knowledge is concentrated around the Three Kingdoms period thanks to video games growing up lol. Speaking of video games; here's hoping they put Yue Ling (small town east of Xiangping in northeastern China) back in Romance of the Three Kingdoms along with sea lanes connecting that region to the Central Plains and Wu; I really liked that about RTK7 and it's why I have a soft spot for founding dynasties named Liao.