Minor Factions Lore

Today we’re focusing on Minor Factions -The mercenaries, nomads and outlaws that have their own agendas and aren't part of the struggle for power in Calradia. Some of them are based on real historical groups while others are a bit more open ended.

Video

turks

Vlandian

The Brotherhood of the Woods started as a vlandian peasant movement, hiding out in the forests, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. Similarly to Robin hood and his merry men… However, it encountered the problems that any long-running rebel movement might - it needed to ensure a steady supply of food, and also ensure that none of the poor would dare earn a bag of coins by informing on them. Slowly but surely, it began to make use of extortion, terror, and corrupt deals with the local authorities to survive, becoming little different from any other organized bandit group in Calradia.

The Company of the Golden Boar are mercenaries who are based on the The Great Catalan Company of Roger de Flor who was a Italian military adventurer hired by the byzanitine emperor Andronikos to combat the turks. Company of the Golden Boar are also Vlandians, mostly local conscripted troops who don’t adjust well to peacetime and instead opted for a life of constant warfare. They are probably the least disciplined and most brigandish of Calradia’s mercenaries, and a scourge to any bit of countryside where they are allowed to run loose. Still, like all mercenaries, they know that their future earnings depend on their reputation, so they honor their contracts and practice their skills, particularly with the crossbow, to ensure their employers receive their money's worth.

Sturgia

The Lake Rats live in the marshes on the shores of the great northern lake, in shacks made out of the timbers of ruined ships. They live by "wrecking" - i.e. luring ships onto shoals with false lighthouses and beacons. Because they're scorned by the rest of Calradia - "all criminals, smell like marsh gas and mud and rotten fish" - they scorn everyone else back. Although mostly Sturgian, their ranks have been swelled by fugitives, debtors, and anyone else who'd rather live by a thieves' code than by the laws of nobles.
Wrecking has been practised a long way back in Denmark. So it makes sense the Sturgians are doing it here. The long shorelines, the heavy marine traffic in combination with some difficult and often harsh waters, has produced many wrecks here. It was only recently, that the light signalling was fully developed and deep sea-bed canals were dug in the often very shallow waters here, making seafaring relatively safe

Nord-
The Skolderbroda, or Shield Brothers, are a mercenary company for those who take fighting and training very seriously. Based on the Jomsvikings of the Baltic.They are primarily Nordic but do allow recruits from other cultures, as long as an already-serving Shield Brother will vouch for them. Their rules are almost monastic: no women in their encampments and no amusements, and no Brother is allowed to spend the night outside without permission. In combat, they fight with spear and axe in the Nordic style and are valued by all the noble houses of the north.

Vakken-
The Finnic tribes are to be known as the Sons of the Forest. in Bannerlord. They practice slash-and-burn farming in the deep woods, outside the grasp of the Sturgian boyars. They burn down tracts of trees, grow crops on the virgin soil fertilized by ash for a few years until the land is exhausted, and move on. It is an inefficient use of land but a very efficient use of labor, suitable for a numerically small population in a large area. Also, because the plots are hard to measure and tax, it’s a very good strategy for people who don’t care to be governed.

Khuzait

The Karak Khergit are a nomadic clan from Khuzait that has resisted all efforts by the centralizing Urkunid Khans to keep them in one place, giving them farmlands and serfs, and forcing them to give over taxes and military levies. They are treated by the other clans with a combination of envy and contempt. They trade and sometimes even intermarry with their settled brethren, but they also do a limited amount of kidnapping for ransom and raiding of flocks, and scoff at those who would blame them for carrying on with the heroic old ways.

Empire

In the south and east, colonies of fugitives and free-spirited wanderers have learned to live and ride like the steppe peoples they fight, forming the Eleftheroi. These are based on the Cossacks -- Third Rome rather than Second, admittedly but probably not much different than those who guarded the Byzantines' Black Sea frontiers.
Originally the descendants of runaway slaves and debtors, they soon became highly valued by the local imperial commanders for their knowledge of this frontier zone. Their leaders have been granted titles, their young men taken in the retinues of archons and emperors. But though they are now very loyal to the idea of the Empire, they remain quite hostile to its actual authority.

The Embers of the Flame are the descendants of a rebel movement that rose up nearly a century ago, after the sainlty but innefective teenaged Emperor Darusos was toppled by one of his generals. They claim that they are preparing the way for Heaven to bring back Darusos and usher in a golden age. This is inspired by the 14 year old emperor who in his short 4 years ruling, formed a cult and came to be known as Elagabalus.. after the deity of the same name.. but like so many other rebel movements in Calradia they have been forced to turn to extortion to survive.

The Hidden Hand are a type of mafia who dominate the rural areas, and sometimes the towns, of the southern parts of the Empire. They thrive by making themselves useful to authorities: repressing unrest, silencing troublesome preachers, and robbing from merchants who compete with their patrons. Many of them go back and forth between a respectable life in the towns and a criminal life on the countryside, spending two or three months a year as brigands and enforcers and the rest of the year as "traders" specializing in stolen goods, knowing full well that no one will bother them.

Legion of the Betrayed. Inspired by the Varangians, the fearsome Nord guardsmen of the Emperor, who in the tumult after Arenicos' death have formed a mercenary outfit. The Last Legion was created after the Emperor Arenicos enacted his reforms, abolishing the last of the Empire's standing armies in favor of archon's private retinues that were significantly cheaper and better at controlling territory. The Legion is made up of men who detested this change: they loved the old army, its standards and its unit histories and its camp life, and they blame the new system for destroying the empire. But an army does not hold together unless it is paid regularly, and they take contracts from imperial and foreign lords alike.

Battania

The Wolfskins are heirs to a long tradition in the Battanian lands wherein great warriors went "wildling" for part of their youth, learning the ways of the woods and how to suffer hardship. So long as a Wolfskin wears no sewn clothes, eats no cooked food, and sleeps under no roof, he is immune from the laws of man. And only follow the code of the wold. In fact, the modern wolfskins tend to be the sons of wealthy families taking a few years to indulge their feral side, robbing travellers and living viciously and not necessarily hewing to the old code.
The Wolfskins are inspired by the Fianna, a fighting brotherhood who were the stars of a major Irish saga. It treats them as heroes, but they also have a dark side, extorting money from clans who are interested in mundane things like marriage and crops and don't have time to fight all the time.it is suggested that the Fianna may in reality have given rise to legends of werewolves.

Aserai

The Jawwal, or “roamers,” Are the main bedouin confederacy in the Nahhas desert. like those who plagued caliphs, sultans and kings throughout Islamic history. They wander from highland to lowland grazing grounds, declaring huge swathes of the desert their “territory” in which any caravan must offer protection money. They compose poems of their deeds and mock other clans of the Banu Asera for having given up the “Freedom” of black wool tents for stone houses in the oases. The other clans consider them boastful nuisances, though grudgingly respecting them as protectors of the old Aserai ways.

Darshi
The Ghilman are a band of mercenaries who recruit from the tribes of southern Calradia and the lands to the east. They are legally their own slaves and masters: each “sells” himself to the order and, in the process, becomes a part-owner. They are known for their fine horses and fine clothes. But no one should assume from their oiled locks, perfumes and peacock feathers that they spend more time preening than training. Their skills as mounted archers are second to none, and as lancers are close behind the Vlandians and the imperial cataphracts.
These people represent the forerunners to the Mamluks. Who fought for and later came to dominiatre the caliphate of Islam. While mamluks were purchased as property, their status was above ordinary slaves, who were not allowed to carry weapons or perform certain tasks. In places such as Egypt, from the Ayyubid dynasty to the time of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, mamluks were considered to be "true lords" and "true warriors", with social status above the general population in Egypt and the Levant. In a sense they were like enslaved mercenaries.

Thank You.

And that’s all of them so far. During research for this video I managed to find a bunch more information on the Main Factions, so i’m planning on covering each of them a bit more in depth with how they relate to history. Be sure to subscribe and hit that bell if you don’t want to miss it! This video was also an idea from a comment. So please let me know if there’s any topic from the game you’d like to see.

[DerRitter]

copy paste

[★RULER★]

nice copy pasting

[T h e A M a n]

wolfskin eat pp

[Vinny McQuaid]

wut abot da foerst ppl????

[Ganjadalf]

A good read

[DraginAss]

Thank you for the content.

[DraginAss]

If these are the minor factions, then who are the major factions?