But what if western Calradia is actually Central Europe?

So I'm trying to make a pet mod inspired by Hogs of War, and wondered how Calradia (and the rest of MnB's world) could evolve into the early 20th century. Sure, we have The Red Wars mod, but I always thought it was a bit superficial. The real world political geography changed quite strongly between the 13th century and the 20th century. Yes, there's still France, for example, but what France was in the 1200's is quite different from what it was in 1914. Same goes for the other European nations, so methinks that Calradia would have also evolved quite a lot over the centuries.

I looked at some real-world maps for the 12th-13th centuries for context, wondered what nations (or cultures) the Warband's factions were inspired by, then looked at some 14th century maps, and, of course, at Bannerlord's map. I've reached the conclusion (though I've noticed this before) that Calradia's 'evolution' is some 200 years "sooner" than Europe's. For example, Bannerlord is set in the early 11th century, but many things are reminiscent of the 13th, likewise, Warband is set in the mid-13th century, but many things are close to the 14-15th centuries. And yes, I know it's all a fantasy setting, so many things will be incongruent, but suspending this, bear with me.

As mentioned, I tried to look at Warband's factions from the point of view of the nations\ cultures that they were inspired by. At first, I thought:

• Swadia - Germany (though many of you convinced me that it was basically, north-western/ west-central Europe, that is - France, BeNeLux, Germany, maybe Austria);
• Rhodokia - Portugal, Italy, and Spain (Spain in particular is supported by the Rhodoks' constant conflict with the Sarranids, and the historic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula by the Muslims);
• Sarranids - Almohad Caliphate or some other Muslim state (don't know much about this honestly, was mainly coming from the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula; also, they're unlikely to be Iranians or Turks, because as per Bannerlord's map, those'd be too far);
• Khergits - the Golden Horde (in my opinion the Khergits are more Turkic than Mongol, but then, as per Bannerlord's map, that'd stretch their empire too far to the west, which can't be right, so they're probably based more on Genghis Khan's Empire after all);
• Vaegirs - Muscovy or Novgorod (obviously Slav-inspired; Vaegirs have conflicts with the Nords and Khergits, similar to how Muscovy and Novgorod had conflicts with Denmark, Sweden and the Tatar-Mongols/ Pechenegs/ Kumans/ whatever; also conflicts with Swadia - German knights or whatnot);
• Nords - vikings in general, Denmark in particular (geographically, their location is more like that of Denmark than of the entire Scandinavia, also, Nords supposedly came from across the northern sea, as did the Danes, if I'm not mistaking).

But then I tried to turn the map of Europe on its side, looking for other ways to see a pattern. I wondered "What if Swadia is Germany and Rhodokia is France?", but that wouldn't have been at all right. This contradicted the physical cultures, titles (at least to a degree), lords' names, and geography. Likewise, I wondered what the Khergits were doing in central Calradia in the 13th century (Genghis Khan's Empire had already receded from Central Europe by that point), and also the Vaegirs (a Slav nation supposedly inspired by Russia, when the Rus states were not yet stretched so far west at that point). And of course there was the question of Swadia, which, as per Bannerlord, descended from Vlandia, which was established by westerners (similar to how France was, at least if I'm not mistaking, established by the Franks (granted, the latter came from the north-east), but half of France's modern-day territory was conquered by the English in the 12th century, similar to how westernmost Calradia was taken by the Vlandians). And then, how would have the Moor-inspired Sarranids and the Dane-inspired Nords fit the picture? Obviously this wasn't right at all!

I also wondered if the Calradic Empire is actually supposed to be the Holy Roman Empire. Both are\ were located dead-center of Calradia\ Europe, both were major powers, both are\ were medieval states, neither are Rome (ok, the last one's a half-nitpick-half-joke). But then, that's not exactly right either, because the Calradic Empire is supposed to be the divided Roman Empire. Yet, if the Calradic Empire was indeed supposed to be the HRM, it would have made a degree of sense:

• To the west it has Swadia\ Vlandia and Battania (France, maybe the Celtic peoples);
• To the east - the "barbaric"\ "non-Roman"\ "non-western" cultures (Slav, Turkic);
• To the south - desert cultures (the Aserai are across the sea from Calradia as is Northern Africa from Europe);
• To the north - Sturgians (a faction inspired by Rus and Scandinavia).

Though of course, that isn't very accurate, albeit a bit closer to the right track, in my humble opinion.

https://preview.redd.it/qz4jw0jhwdz61.jpg?width=2850&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7872d3239b40dd7edb7a2ea39515c0ca0f3e555f

But then I looked at the above 14th century map of Europe and wondered: What if it's Central Europe? Think about it:

• Swadia - HRM;
• Rhodokia - Italy (and this also works lore-wise, because the HRM did hold half of modern-day's Italy, and Swadia did hold Rhodokia; also, Rhodoks are said to be famous merchants, and some Italian city-states were also famous for it);
• Sarranids - Ottoman Turks (geographically it makes sense: Rhodoks - Sarranids <-> Italy - Ottomans, and the Ottoman Empire did engage the Italians, granted it wasn't just in Italy (Venicians held territory in Greece, for example); also, many in the community have noticed that Sarranid units are at least somewhat reminiscent of the Ottomans);
• Khergits - Hungarians (the Greeks called Hungary "Western Turks", on account of the latter also being an invading nomadic people from the east; also, Hungary has Slav neighbours to the north, and neighboured the Ottoman Empire to the SE in the 15th century, the in-game Maghyar helmet was apparenly also worn by Khergit troops in one of the earlier MnB classic versions);
• Vaegirs - not Russians, but rather Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, whathaveyou (they're Slavs; Poles used bardiches (though I think it was much later? not sure about Czechs and Slovaks though), geographically it makes more sense for the period in question (13th century to 15 century - if you're with me on the idea that WB should actually be set in 1454 rather than 1254);
• Nords - still Denmark (though could be larger Scandinavia in general).
• Ironically, the sadly forgotten Dark Knights can be shoehorned into the (Baltic) Teutonic Knights, albeit with a different uniform and with a different agenda.

"But what about France, Spain, Portugal...?", you might ask. Well, the Holy Roman Empire did hold some territories that are now part of France (in fact, France and Germany kept disputing them, as far as I know, until not so long ago), so that might be that. Spain and Portugal might not even be a thing in MnB's universe\ world; the closest thing to them is the custom battles character Rodrigo de Braganca, but since there's no settlement called Braganca (Bragança is a real town in Portugal, though the relation is only an assumption) anywhere in the games or lore, as yet, we can assume that it's a purely made-up name in-universe, or that the in-universe equivalent of Spain\ Portugal is somewhere else entirely. And we can assume that it's not in Rhodokia, because Rodrigo got cheated by Rhodokian merchants, hence why he started his criminal empire in Rhodokia (plus, few, if any of the Rhodokian names are Spanish/ Portuguese anyway).

And the British Isles? Well, I can only assume that, in-universe, it's Balion. Balion is an anagram for Albion (Roman name for Great Britain), after all. Also, the custom battles character Konrad is from Balion. Konrad is a Germanic name, and England was established by Anglo-Saxons, which are\ were Germanic peoples (England is named after the Angles even). Another point in favour of this idea is the presence of an archipelago to the south-west of Calradia both on that 'planet' map that was allegedly found in Bannerlord's files, and in Bannerlord's in-game world map, if you zoom out far enough (someone apparently did it by modding the zooming function - they posted the below picture a long time ago):

Credit goes to whoever took this screen (sorry, mate, I can't remember your nickname).

Note the archipelago stretching to the SW from Charas. Either that's Balion (rough British Isles equivalent), or Balion is the continent to its left, and the archipelago is something else.

Note that I'm not saying that my musings are the absolute truth, obviously the factions are a mishmash or different cultures and nations and their weapons and armours are also mixed from different periods, nations and cultures (the Khergits in particular, across different versions, have used both the "traditional" Tatar-Mongol gear, and strangely, Japanese katanas and Maghyar helmets). I'm just saying that if we were to place Warband's Calradia anywhere in Europe, it'd most likely be in the west-central Europe.

Anyway. I know my musings will probably not be agreed with by most of you guys, if you even bother to read this wall of text. But it's still something to consider, no?

Submitted May 15, 2021 at 09:44PM by Almerious https://ift.tt/33QR9rC