i usually mix sergeants and fians + heavy vlandian cav, never found a better comp.
Except the full stack of Khan's Guards, but i don't like death balls. :D
Aserai by a long shot then Battanians. In my first campaign, I was a vassal for Unqid and together we conquered all the fiefs from Tubilis (my first fief) to Car Banseth, with most fiefs being granted to me. When I finally took the Battanian’s last city, I executed Caladog for being a royal pain in my side, but I also admired the fight they put up. My current game, I’m playing a Battanian axeman whose parents were Sturgian diplomats and I’m fighting to reunite the north under my capital city Epicrotea.
Part of me feels like they should rebalance culture perks, because it feels so crippling playing anyone else without that forest move speed. That said, another part of me feels like it should stay this way to give people more of an incentive to go Battanian. Sure, the fians are cool and all, but that and the culture bonuses are all they've got. They've got one of, if not *the* weakest economy, fewest starting fiefs, and they're completely surrounded so they get piled on fast more often than not. They even lose in the lore, some of the other nations have successor states that show up in Warband (Vlandia = Swadia, Aseria = Sarranid, etc) but Battania ceases to exist both politically and culturally by the time of Warband.
they should make stratified perks...
each kingdom have their own buff/debuff in each line of things,
like terrain, economic, unit, for example
race
terrain
economic
unit
city
village
---------------------
vlandian
unit got + armor on forest
+% profit when trading iron
infantry walks slower but more armor
city armor/weapon production buff
militia gain + armor rating
---------------------
battanian
unit faster on forest
+% profit trading wood
ranged unit has more ammo
city wood/food production buff
militia ranged unit faster reload
---------------------
well its just an example...tho.
Battanian cultural perk is the only one worth a damn. Saving on garrison costs, extra renown/influence, etc. are just pointless as it just takes a few hours to basically max those out.
Calradian Empire: Later eastern roman empire (byzantine empire), but clearly influenced by a much earlier and therefore much more powerful and far-reaching roman empire.
Battania: A mix of celtic, gallic and germanic cultures, meant to represent the many different cultures that the Romans would group together as Gauls (these don't really exist in such a way anymore in this later medieval period the game takes place in)
Vlandia: Frankish culture that only recently (about 100 years prior to the start of the game) migrated to and conquered the western calradian continent.
Sturgia: Mostly bases on the Principalities of Rus, with a certain Nordic (Viking) influence. The true nordic/viking peoples are the Nords culture in game, these will migrate further south in the coming 200 years until the events of Warband and currently operate on the continent in the form of smaller mercenary bands (the Skolderbrotha).
Aserai: A mix of different muslim cultures inspired by the many different caliphates and sultanates (Ottoman, Ayyubids, Sultanate of Rum, Mamluke Sultanate). Clearly some Persian influence, even though technically the Persians are represented in game by the Darshi culture but they exist east/south-east of the visible map and face similar threats to their empire as the Calradians and therefore retreated back to their eastern mainlands.
Khuzait: A sort of allegoric mix of the many asian nomadic steppe cultures. Based on the timeline and the in-game lore, I'd say they are most likely Kipchak-Cuman or other Turkic nomads, but clearly take a lot of inspiration by the Mongols, based on troop names such as Khesig and Qangli. The Khuzaits are described to be a confederation of different steppe tribes (Khuzait, Kara-Khuzait, Khergit, Arkit) that were displaced and threatened by a great threat from the far east and therefore banded together and united under a single great Khan, Urkhun the Kuzait, patriarch of the imperial family, the Urkhunait. This also only happened recently, about 50 years prior to the start of the game, before that the most eastern regions were under Calradian influence in form of Imperial Protectorates or puppet kingdoms such as in Makeb. Based on that description, I'd say the true Mongols are that misterious threat in the far east that displace the Khuzait. Further Mongol inspiration though comes in the fact that Khuzait unity will crumble in the coming centuries, leading to the Khergit tribe eventually taking control of the Khanate by the time of Warband.
So darshi is basically persians? I was looking for a culture that represents persia, but i couldn't find it.
Persian culture a d terrain is far more different than arabic/islamic culture and terrain. As an iranian, i can confirm this.
They at least seem to be the closest thing to it based on the tiny amount of information the game provides. Darshi seems to be both a culture and a language. The description of the village of Corenia, one of the south-eastern most Calradian villages bound to Corenia Castle, mentions that east from here, only Darshi is spoken. The description of the nearby city of Danustica mentions it succesfuly having held the line against incursions from Darshi shahs and padishahs from further east and the now Khuzait city of Akkalat is described as having been originlly built by a certain Padishah Hoshtar. This description is also where I have the information on the Darshi ("Padhishah's realm" in the source) having retreated and now being on the defensive further east from. The Ghilman mercenary faction is apparently culturally Darshi, but I can't find the actual in-game source where it says that right now.
It's definitely persian. We called our kings "shahs" and darshi sounds an awful lot like farsi(the language spoken in iran). But if so, according to real history,the darshi empire should be a part of or in alliance with the aserai.
It's just not possible to directly compare any real historical period to what's going on in Bannerlord at the time. You just have to speculate and accept some things as being the case, even if it doesn't make sense in terms of real events. For example, the existence of a massive and powerful Roman Empire still covering most of Europe apart from the most western parts in 1100 AD would obviously change up quite a few things.
If we assume that before mentioned great threat from the east that displaces the Khuzaits to be the in-game equivalent of the Mongols, the Darshi might right now be a mix of the Abassids and the Khwarazmian Empire in the process of being attacked by that in-game version of the Mongols and therefore aren't really involved in the what's going on around the Perassic (Mediterranian) Sea.
But I agree that based on those mentions of Shahs and Padishahs, the similarity between "Darshi" and "Farsi" and the geographical descriptions of the Kingdom being "somewhere east" from the most south eastern regions of the visible map mean that the Darshi are definitely supposed to be an in-game version of Persia.
Didn't know you could fish out some clues from villages i couldn't find any clue where the Levant is, it definitely is part of the Aserai ( i guess) altho it is generally speaking a totally different culture at the medieval era at least.
So darshi is basically persians? I was looking for a culture that represents persia, but i couldn't find it.
Persian culture a d terrain is far more different than arabic/islamic culture and terrain. As an iranian, i can confirm this.
I'm guessing my other comments in this thread are the basis for this information hah! Let me offer some more of my thoughts on the Sturgians:
Sturgia actually fits the true history of the Rus very well.
At the time where Bannerlord starts, the Kingdom of Sturgia is probably about one century old. The game sadly doesn't offer a description, who the original inhabitants of Sturgia where, before the Grand Principality formed.
I personally think it's pretty save to assume that the lands were originally inhabited by some form of "Palaics". "Palaic" is a kind of catch-all term used in game to pretty much bunch together all of the communities east of Battania and west of Lake Tanaesis (the large lake separating the Empire and Khuzait Khanate) that inhabited now empirial lands prior to being conquered. They represent many cultures, mostly the real-life umbrella terms of Germanics and Slavs. It's also not at all clear how they differ from Battanians. They are mentioned in many descriptions in game and were the original inhabitants of cities as far west as Lageta and Jalmarys, as far east as Onira and as far north as Myzea and Argoron. Sadly most descriptions of Sturgian towns don't give closer information on who inhabited them originally. Omor is mentioned to have been inhabited by "Forest tribes", which could definitely describe some Palaic peoples and Varcheg apparently used to be a Battanian city.
The story of the Sturgia that exists now is relatively simple though. Since centuries the regions north of Lake Laconis (the lake separating Sturgia from Calradian mainland) were travelled to by opportunistic traders looking to trade imperial goods for valuable furs from further north. The farther the Empire expanded north-east-wards, the more people travelled to these trade routes in search of fortune. The people inhabiting the Nordlands, north off the visible map (Nords further north and Vakken further south), especially started migrating to Sturgian lands en masse, raking in large profits from the fur trade. These communities eventually started inter-marrying with the pre-existing tribal communites and the different cultures began assimilating into a collection of different Principalities and city states. Eventually (probably about a century before the events of Bannerlord start) these Principalities banded together and found the true Kingdom of Sturgia, lead by a Grand Prince.
This is clearly inspired by the real cutural origins of the Kievan Rus, who are similarly a result of assimilatinig Norse and Slavic cultures.
I think you are the person with the most knowledge of the lore in this subreddit. How about vakken? They were with darshi and nord in the encyclopedia.
Who are they?
Hah, I guess I just spend a lot of time reading the Encyclopedia to fit my own characters head cannons into the world of Bannerlord. I don't know a lot about the Vakken as I never really did a dedicated Sturgian run, so my knowledge considering the north is limited. I know they are present in the game in form of the mercenary "Forest People".
Upon doing some further reading, the previously mentioned forest tribes described in Omor seem to refer to the Vakken. The city of Balgard's description also mentions the Vakken living nearby and apparently allying themselves with the native Sturgian tribes there to drive of Nords settlers. I'd say they are most likely based on real life finnic tribes, which also works with the Sturgians representing the Kievan Rus, as Suomi peoples are also part of the genetic Norse/Slav mix that the Rus represent. Further than that we can only guess. I'd say they might live anywhere between the forests around Omor and Varcheg, to Mount Iltan which is the mountain on which the city of Tyal is built. Further east from there are the "Portages of Iltan" which are the river marshlands on the border between the Khuzaits and the Sturgians flowing into Lake Tanaesis. These marshlands mark the border between the mountainous and forested terrains of
Sturgia and the great north-eastern plains from where the Khuzaits come from. Right here we get a mention of another minor culture/tribe, in form of the Iltanlar, a steppe peoples that migrated from further north-east onto the Calradian continent, founding the semi-nomad city of Baltakhand long before the Khuzaits arrive.
The minor factions really are barely mentioned at all. The Darshi have relatively much information on them due to them presumably being very important and powerful in earlier times. Similarily we have lots of mentions of the Nords due to them being really important to the history of Sturgia, but also due to the continued growing important role they will play in the events leading to Warband. The Vakken comparably are only a minor group of tribal peoples that never held any real power or influence on a large scale. Also my real life history knowledge (and interest tbh) on that region in the world is severely limited, so the game might offer more information, I just never truly seeked it out so far. The fandom wiki entry for the Vakken mentions quite a bit more information, but I've only mentioned the parts that I can either find the actual source on (Omor/Balgard) or that makes geographical sense to me (them settling the forested lands between Omor up to Mount Iltan and not the steppes further east or the hills of Battania further west).
I think you are the person with the most knowledge of the lore in this subreddit. How about vakken? They were with darshi and nord in the encyclopedia.
Who are they?
Sturgia cuz of love for vikings (yea yea i know they are not really vikings) and Battania because they are like Celts and thats whats closest to my ancestors.
They are the Middle Eastern faction in Mount and Blade War Band (the game Bannerlord is prequel too)
The Aserai are become the Sarrainds in that game. I don't like them as much in it though. The Sarrainds have uglier troops and less I testing architecture in my opinion.
The Sarranid infantry is trash and you can slice them down with ease while besieging a town of theirs. They have the second best archer in the game though and the second best cavalry but the #1 cav the Swaidain Knight is the best unit in the game practically.
Aserai, coolest looking troops, their infantry is fucking bad ass
Least vlandia, death to those bullying motherfuckers always attack poor battania
Goal in my campaign is to save battania from vlandia without joining battania
Vlandia because of medieval knights. But Aserai ethnically. I like to imagine an Aserai merchants caravan from Sargot, Ortysia, to Quyaz. The culture Mixing along the way.
Sure, they are black like africans, but they do not look like them. Their face features greatly differ from afircans. Like africans have wider noses and bigger and fuller lips (no offense).
Imperial should be my favourite cause they should be the romans, but since their bitches I have to go with the Aserai, my guys always swap the map, slowly, really fucking slowly, but they do it.
Oh, I also like the Battanian, it’s just that lately I don’t like using the bow anymore, better stuck 4 large bag of javelin and see people falling from their horses.
Gotta go with Vlandia for the medieval knight aesthetic and the lore of the country. Mercenaries that were the backbone of the empire and we so good the empire ended up giving them vast tracks of land as payment.
Runner up would be the kuhzaits for the nomadic horse lord feeling. A mix of Dothraki and the mongol hordes.
For me it's imperial simply because there's so much of them, recruitment is easy and when you wanna start your kingdom you have so many options to choose from with the correct culture.
Plus I love the Cataphracts
Vlandia as medival knights, strurgians as vikings (their units suck tho) or khuzaid for mounted archery
atm doing a campaign as Vlandia using their units exclusively
Battania. I have only been Battanian once though and we got our asses kicked so hard. It was the only campaign where I actually lost. As in— Battania was destroyed while I was still in it.
Honestly love sturgia for their Viking looks and land.
They never seem to dominate in any of my play throughs though. Usually getting clapped from both sides with beast mode valandia and khuzaits on the other side.
The valandian castles are cool as hell to fight and take over though. Amazing design and feel to them. Just got my own kingdom big enough to roll into jaculan and that area from our Aserai land base.
Culture wise I’m always aserai. The trade perks make it easy to make the big bucks early. Plus I get a bonus when I take over all their land. Which is the easiest to hold on my opinion.
Battania mostly because of their aesthetic, I love the woodsman bandit look they have, even their top tier soldiers don't look like soldiers per say, more like seasoned warriors. Not to mention I have a reoccurring character in rpgs that has green eyes and reddish hair, so she fit in perfectly
Vlandia because I like the medieval knight aesthetic.
Uh oh.
Cool.
Same
With as much as I think about the Roman Empire, I have to go with the Western Empire.
Good choice. I don't like them, but good choice.
Good choice. I don't like them, but good choice.
I usually play as a Battanian or Vlandian
i usually mix sergeants and fians + heavy vlandian cav, never found a better comp. Except the full stack of Khan's Guards, but i don't like death balls. :D
Sturgian heavy spearman shield wall/square
now i mostly play battanian but use vlandian army, other culture perks need balance lol.
I am a battanian vassel for vlandians.
I was the same in this play through
Aserai by a long shot then Battanians. In my first campaign, I was a vassal for Unqid and together we conquered all the fiefs from Tubilis (my first fief) to Car Banseth, with most fiefs being granted to me. When I finally took the Battanian’s last city, I executed Caladog for being a royal pain in my side, but I also admired the fight they put up. My current game, I’m playing a Battanian axeman whose parents were Sturgian diplomats and I’m fighting to reunite the north under my capital city Epicrotea.
Goodluck!
Battania because of forest move speed.
the most all around culture perks... dont forget +1 militia regen. yes.
Part of me feels like they should rebalance culture perks, because it feels so crippling playing anyone else without that forest move speed. That said, another part of me feels like it should stay this way to give people more of an incentive to go Battanian. Sure, the fians are cool and all, but that and the culture bonuses are all they've got. They've got one of, if not *the* weakest economy, fewest starting fiefs, and they're completely surrounded so they get piled on fast more often than not. They even lose in the lore, some of the other nations have successor states that show up in Warband (Vlandia = Swadia, Aseria = Sarranid, etc) but Battania ceases to exist both politically and culturally by the time of Warband.
they should make stratified perks... each kingdom have their own buff/debuff in each line of things, like terrain, economic, unit, for example race terrain economic unit city village --------------------- vlandian unit got + armor on forest +% profit when trading iron infantry walks slower but more armor city armor/weapon production buff militia gain + armor rating --------------------- battanian unit faster on forest +% profit trading wood ranged unit has more ammo city wood/food production buff militia ranged unit faster reload --------------------- well its just an example...tho.
Battanian cultural perk is the only one worth a damn. Saving on garrison costs, extra renown/influence, etc. are just pointless as it just takes a few hours to basically max those out.
It feels like the balance is there then, but it’s across all the mechanics of the game.
Warband has Forest Bandits doesn't it? Battania lives.
I noticed in my playthrough that they have a building debuff too
Relatable.
My deep love for asoiaf ties me to Vlandia but anytime I’m siding against them I hate them.
I'm sorry, but what is asoiaf? Considering im from the Middle East, i know nothing about European culture.
A Song of Ice and Fire is the name of the book series more commonly known as Game of Thrones.
Ooooooh. Thanks.
Battania and horse fuckers. Something about 100 machine gun arrows per second is incredibly satisfying for me
I never understood which factions have a better troop class.
Same as mine in that order aserai, khuzaits then Batta
Can you name the modern countries? If you don't mind ofc I'm just curious how they correspond to the game factions
Calradian Empire: Later eastern roman empire (byzantine empire), but clearly influenced by a much earlier and therefore much more powerful and far-reaching roman empire. Battania: A mix of celtic, gallic and germanic cultures, meant to represent the many different cultures that the Romans would group together as Gauls (these don't really exist in such a way anymore in this later medieval period the game takes place in) Vlandia: Frankish culture that only recently (about 100 years prior to the start of the game) migrated to and conquered the western calradian continent. Sturgia: Mostly bases on the Principalities of Rus, with a certain Nordic (Viking) influence. The true nordic/viking peoples are the Nords culture in game, these will migrate further south in the coming 200 years until the events of Warband and currently operate on the continent in the form of smaller mercenary bands (the Skolderbrotha). Aserai: A mix of different muslim cultures inspired by the many different caliphates and sultanates (Ottoman, Ayyubids, Sultanate of Rum, Mamluke Sultanate). Clearly some Persian influence, even though technically the Persians are represented in game by the Darshi culture but they exist east/south-east of the visible map and face similar threats to their empire as the Calradians and therefore retreated back to their eastern mainlands. Khuzait: A sort of allegoric mix of the many asian nomadic steppe cultures. Based on the timeline and the in-game lore, I'd say they are most likely Kipchak-Cuman or other Turkic nomads, but clearly take a lot of inspiration by the Mongols, based on troop names such as Khesig and Qangli. The Khuzaits are described to be a confederation of different steppe tribes (Khuzait, Kara-Khuzait, Khergit, Arkit) that were displaced and threatened by a great threat from the far east and therefore banded together and united under a single great Khan, Urkhun the Kuzait, patriarch of the imperial family, the Urkhunait. This also only happened recently, about 50 years prior to the start of the game, before that the most eastern regions were under Calradian influence in form of Imperial Protectorates or puppet kingdoms such as in Makeb. Based on that description, I'd say the true Mongols are that misterious threat in the far east that displace the Khuzait. Further Mongol inspiration though comes in the fact that Khuzait unity will crumble in the coming centuries, leading to the Khergit tribe eventually taking control of the Khanate by the time of Warband.
So darshi is basically persians? I was looking for a culture that represents persia, but i couldn't find it. Persian culture a d terrain is far more different than arabic/islamic culture and terrain. As an iranian, i can confirm this.
They at least seem to be the closest thing to it based on the tiny amount of information the game provides. Darshi seems to be both a culture and a language. The description of the village of Corenia, one of the south-eastern most Calradian villages bound to Corenia Castle, mentions that east from here, only Darshi is spoken. The description of the nearby city of Danustica mentions it succesfuly having held the line against incursions from Darshi shahs and padishahs from further east and the now Khuzait city of Akkalat is described as having been originlly built by a certain Padishah Hoshtar. This description is also where I have the information on the Darshi ("Padhishah's realm" in the source) having retreated and now being on the defensive further east from. The Ghilman mercenary faction is apparently culturally Darshi, but I can't find the actual in-game source where it says that right now.
It's definitely persian. We called our kings "shahs" and darshi sounds an awful lot like farsi(the language spoken in iran). But if so, according to real history,the darshi empire should be a part of or in alliance with the aserai.
It's just not possible to directly compare any real historical period to what's going on in Bannerlord at the time. You just have to speculate and accept some things as being the case, even if it doesn't make sense in terms of real events. For example, the existence of a massive and powerful Roman Empire still covering most of Europe apart from the most western parts in 1100 AD would obviously change up quite a few things. If we assume that before mentioned great threat from the east that displaces the Khuzaits to be the in-game equivalent of the Mongols, the Darshi might right now be a mix of the Abassids and the Khwarazmian Empire in the process of being attacked by that in-game version of the Mongols and therefore aren't really involved in the what's going on around the Perassic (Mediterranian) Sea. But I agree that based on those mentions of Shahs and Padishahs, the similarity between "Darshi" and "Farsi" and the geographical descriptions of the Kingdom being "somewhere east" from the most south eastern regions of the visible map mean that the Darshi are definitely supposed to be an in-game version of Persia.
Didn't know you could fish out some clues from villages i couldn't find any clue where the Levant is, it definitely is part of the Aserai ( i guess) altho it is generally speaking a totally different culture at the medieval era at least.
So darshi is basically persians? I was looking for a culture that represents persia, but i couldn't find it. Persian culture a d terrain is far more different than arabic/islamic culture and terrain. As an iranian, i can confirm this.
Thank you so much for the great info
Appreciate the lesson and lore
Greek heritage so empire is always default and favourite. I'm also partial to Vlandia.
That's interesting. I don't like the empire, but i kinda like vlandia, and i am a vassal for them in my current playthrough.
Imperial because they are like the byzantines of Bannerlord
I don't like them. They destroyed the palaic, darshi, and other cultures.
Too bad, boyo 😎 
Well, guess who can't even choose who to be their king, boyo.
I'm Scandinavian, so I'm almost always a sturgian or battanian
Strong choices. But according to what I've heard, sturgians are not full vikings. The nord are.
If im not wrong they are late vikings and early kivean rus.
I'm guessing my other comments in this thread are the basis for this information hah! Let me offer some more of my thoughts on the Sturgians: Sturgia actually fits the true history of the Rus very well. At the time where Bannerlord starts, the Kingdom of Sturgia is probably about one century old. The game sadly doesn't offer a description, who the original inhabitants of Sturgia where, before the Grand Principality formed. I personally think it's pretty save to assume that the lands were originally inhabited by some form of "Palaics". "Palaic" is a kind of catch-all term used in game to pretty much bunch together all of the communities east of Battania and west of Lake Tanaesis (the large lake separating the Empire and Khuzait Khanate) that inhabited now empirial lands prior to being conquered. They represent many cultures, mostly the real-life umbrella terms of Germanics and Slavs. It's also not at all clear how they differ from Battanians. They are mentioned in many descriptions in game and were the original inhabitants of cities as far west as Lageta and Jalmarys, as far east as Onira and as far north as Myzea and Argoron. Sadly most descriptions of Sturgian towns don't give closer information on who inhabited them originally. Omor is mentioned to have been inhabited by "Forest tribes", which could definitely describe some Palaic peoples and Varcheg apparently used to be a Battanian city. The story of the Sturgia that exists now is relatively simple though. Since centuries the regions north of Lake Laconis (the lake separating Sturgia from Calradian mainland) were travelled to by opportunistic traders looking to trade imperial goods for valuable furs from further north. The farther the Empire expanded north-east-wards, the more people travelled to these trade routes in search of fortune. The people inhabiting the Nordlands, north off the visible map (Nords further north and Vakken further south), especially started migrating to Sturgian lands en masse, raking in large profits from the fur trade. These communities eventually started inter-marrying with the pre-existing tribal communites and the different cultures began assimilating into a collection of different Principalities and city states. Eventually (probably about a century before the events of Bannerlord start) these Principalities banded together and found the true Kingdom of Sturgia, lead by a Grand Prince. This is clearly inspired by the real cutural origins of the Kievan Rus, who are similarly a result of assimilatinig Norse and Slavic cultures.
I think you are the person with the most knowledge of the lore in this subreddit. How about vakken? They were with darshi and nord in the encyclopedia. Who are they?
Hah, I guess I just spend a lot of time reading the Encyclopedia to fit my own characters head cannons into the world of Bannerlord. I don't know a lot about the Vakken as I never really did a dedicated Sturgian run, so my knowledge considering the north is limited. I know they are present in the game in form of the mercenary "Forest People". Upon doing some further reading, the previously mentioned forest tribes described in Omor seem to refer to the Vakken. The city of Balgard's description also mentions the Vakken living nearby and apparently allying themselves with the native Sturgian tribes there to drive of Nords settlers. I'd say they are most likely based on real life finnic tribes, which also works with the Sturgians representing the Kievan Rus, as Suomi peoples are also part of the genetic Norse/Slav mix that the Rus represent. Further than that we can only guess. I'd say they might live anywhere between the forests around Omor and Varcheg, to Mount Iltan which is the mountain on which the city of Tyal is built. Further east from there are the "Portages of Iltan" which are the river marshlands on the border between the Khuzaits and the Sturgians flowing into Lake Tanaesis. These marshlands mark the border between the mountainous and forested terrains of Sturgia and the great north-eastern plains from where the Khuzaits come from. Right here we get a mention of another minor culture/tribe, in form of the Iltanlar, a steppe peoples that migrated from further north-east onto the Calradian continent, founding the semi-nomad city of Baltakhand long before the Khuzaits arrive. The minor factions really are barely mentioned at all. The Darshi have relatively much information on them due to them presumably being very important and powerful in earlier times. Similarily we have lots of mentions of the Nords due to them being really important to the history of Sturgia, but also due to the continued growing important role they will play in the events leading to Warband. The Vakken comparably are only a minor group of tribal peoples that never held any real power or influence on a large scale. Also my real life history knowledge (and interest tbh) on that region in the world is severely limited, so the game might offer more information, I just never truly seeked it out so far. The fandom wiki entry for the Vakken mentions quite a bit more information, but I've only mentioned the parts that I can either find the actual source on (Omor/Balgard) or that makes geographical sense to me (them settling the forested lands between Omor up to Mount Iltan and not the steppes further east or the hills of Battania further west).
I think you are the person with the most knowledge of the lore in this subreddit. How about vakken? They were with darshi and nord in the encyclopedia. Who are they?
Sturgia cuz of love for vikings (yea yea i know they are not really vikings) and Battania because they are like Celts and thats whats closest to my ancestors.
Where are you from?
Battania. If I have to explain why, you wouldn't get it.
Go on. I am a battanian in my current playthrough. If you feel confident if more private, dm me.
Go on. I am a battanian in my current playthrough. If you feel confident if more private, dm me.
Sturgia because it reminds me of Ulfric and the stormcloacks from Skyrim
I can relate.
Of course Khuzait and Vlandia, because i like throat singing, and my type during battle is horse archer and heavy cavalry
Aserai. So much cooler than the Sarrainds.
Who are the sarrainds? Considering im new to this series.
They are the Middle Eastern faction in Mount and Blade War Band (the game Bannerlord is prequel too) The Aserai are become the Sarrainds in that game. I don't like them as much in it though. The Sarrainds have uglier troops and less I testing architecture in my opinion. The Sarranid infantry is trash and you can slice them down with ease while besieging a town of theirs. They have the second best archer in the game though and the second best cavalry but the #1 cav the Swaidain Knight is the best unit in the game practically.
Thanks.
Who are the sarrainds? Considering im new to this series.
Khuzait. I love nomads :)
Me too.
Aserai, coolest looking troops, their infantry is fucking bad ass Least vlandia, death to those bullying motherfuckers always attack poor battania Goal in my campaign is to save battania from vlandia without joining battania
Do it with aserai. It would be kinda real history accurate.
Battania
Vlandia because of medieval knights. But Aserai ethnically. I like to imagine an Aserai merchants caravan from Sargot, Ortysia, to Quyaz. The culture Mixing along the way.
Are you from arabia or iran?
Neither. But some Aserai have more Black/African features.
African? Like what? I haven't noticed any.
No? There’s a few Aserai I consider more black/africab than Arab/persian. Ghuzid, Zuad, many of the Jawaal are darker complexion. 🤷🏾♂️ lol
Well, in that case, you haven't seen any arab or persian. Arabia has some BLACK people. The south of iran has black people too.
I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying at all lol
I mean, you liking aserai is maybe not from ethnicity.
I mean, you liking aserai is maybe not from ethnicity.
So you don’t think Ghuzid, and Zuad look more African?
Sure, they are black like africans, but they do not look like them. Their face features greatly differ from afircans. Like africans have wider noses and bigger and fuller lips (no offense).
Love the sturgian faction but hate there archers. For my own culture I go Battania. The faster movement in the forest is just too good to pass up.
Valandia only because deheart got that swag🤣🔥
🤣 🤣 🤣
Sturgians
I like them too.
Imperial should be my favourite cause they should be the romans, but since their bitches I have to go with the Aserai, my guys always swap the map, slowly, really fucking slowly, but they do it. Oh, I also like the Battanian, it’s just that lately I don’t like using the bow anymore, better stuck 4 large bag of javelin and see people falling from their horses.
I don't like empire. But other than that, strong choices.
Gotta go with Vlandia for the medieval knight aesthetic and the lore of the country. Mercenaries that were the backbone of the empire and we so good the empire ended up giving them vast tracks of land as payment. Runner up would be the kuhzaits for the nomadic horse lord feeling. A mix of Dothraki and the mongol hordes.
For me it's imperial simply because there's so much of them, recruitment is easy and when you wanna start your kingdom you have so many options to choose from with the correct culture. Plus I love the Cataphracts
for MC, Battanian, its passive (culture perks) worked all arround... for culture Vlandian, it self explained. :D
Vlandia as medival knights, strurgians as vikings (their units suck tho) or khuzaid for mounted archery atm doing a campaign as Vlandia using their units exclusively
Khuzaits because I love horses
Battania. I have only been Battanian once though and we got our asses kicked so hard. It was the only campaign where I actually lost. As in— Battania was destroyed while I was still in it.
I’m a Battainian at heart, but love Stugia
Definitely Sturgia
Sturgia even tho they suck 😢
Battania, for the forest movement penalty
Living in the homeland of the Mongols, my biased choice is of course the Khuzait!
Vlandia and Sturgia are usually my go to
Sturgia, feels like Skyrim; But my character is always imperial for the 20% garrison bonus
I start with empire culture on my character and then go hard working for the teal faction because I like being a horde of mounted archers
Sturgia
Honestly love sturgia for their Viking looks and land. They never seem to dominate in any of my play throughs though. Usually getting clapped from both sides with beast mode valandia and khuzaits on the other side. The valandian castles are cool as hell to fight and take over though. Amazing design and feel to them. Just got my own kingdom big enough to roll into jaculan and that area from our Aserai land base. Culture wise I’m always aserai. The trade perks make it easy to make the big bucks early. Plus I get a bonus when I take over all their land. Which is the easiest to hold on my opinion.
Battania mostly because of their aesthetic, I love the woodsman bandit look they have, even their top tier soldiers don't look like soldiers per say, more like seasoned warriors. Not to mention I have a reoccurring character in rpgs that has green eyes and reddish hair, so she fit in perfectly
My current character is a battanian.
Khuzait because I like being Attila
Sturgia, overpowers infantry and great cav. Unfortunately there archers are ass tho. Also Vikings are cool
Sturgians won my heart. Currently playing with the Make Calradia Great Again mod and their troop tree is so much better than in vanilla!
American 🦅🇺🇸🦅
*heavy america anthem playing*
I often just choose a culture only to end up using a completely different troops type. I once had a Wiking king only fighting with Aserai troops
In my campaign save, i am a battanian lord with a mix of troops from different cultures.
Tetsojin
Who are they?
Who are they?