Medieval Tech OOC thread (Spaces available!)

[Angermanland]

behold: uber large factbook of doom!

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=10141&start=0

[Drvarska]

This sounds great, during that time my nation was divided into many states before they united together. I was thinking of doing a Scottish-themed nation perhaps placed north of Frozopia with the coastline. I will still have to think upon an elite unit such as Highlanders, skilled swordsmen fighting alongside the music of the Great Highland Bagpipe. Anyways, im in.

[Angermanland]

oh yeah.. if i could get a map of Angermanland based on the information in my factbook, that'd be great.

and before anyone gets confused, rain forest =/=jungle. Britain has rain forests [or so the all knowing wiki tells me]

[Jimanistan]

Actually, I think I'd be more interested in playing a city-state (or small country) set up as a colony by Jimanistan, and go from there. I've always characterized Jimanistan as an isolationist state, anyway, so it would make more sense if the Motherland wasn't really involved at all.

I won't go to the same lengths as Angermanland, so I'll just toss out some information about the colony I just now made up... It could be located on some of that archipeligo to the left of Frozopia:

The Principality of Argirium

Capital (primary city): Argentor ( "The Silver City" in Tyromisi)
Government: Monarchy (headed by a Prince, who is advised by the Merchant Council, a body consisting of thirteen members of the merchant ruling class)
history: A colony established several decades before the start of the RP, by colonists from Jimanistan's Otromo province. Has assimilated local native populace quite effecitvely, with cunning combination of awe-inspiring architecture and the corrupting influence of material wealth. Relies on trade, and generally willing to strong-arm any reluctant partners in commerce. Majority of military hired from the Motherland, primarily from Otromo and Elaith along the southern coasts. Powerful naval, marine forces, steadily becoming weaker the further they fight from the shore. Typically very greedy people, who will go to great lengths for plunder.

[United States of PA]

Small factbook on the nation i will be using

The Kingdom of Nova Britannia
Government-Constitutional Monarchy
Leader-King Alfred VVI
Military-About 40,000 Regular Army, best of which are the Ulster Swordsman and Longbowmen. About 100,000 Semi Trained or untrained Militia Forces spread between every Town, City, and Borough. About 15,000 Trained and Armed Militia as Military Reserve. Very Powerful Navy

History- Nova Britannia is a Island Nation. It also is extremely Catholic Nation, often partaking in Crusades just to kill Blasphemers. Most of its Army are either Ulster Swordsmen, Retinue Bowmen, Armored Swordsmen, or Gothic Knights. Favorite Siege weapons as well as the easiest to produce in the country is the Trebuchet. While being a Constitutional Monarchy the only Rights provided by the Bill of Rights of the country is that no one man can be owned by another, women however are not mentioned in this bill, so quite often women are owned as slaves by wealthy landowners.

[Angermanland]

if you think that fact book is big and elaborate...

it's not.

there's a lot of stuff I've not done [forgot to name or place my capital for one ]
i think my Aust one ran to ten pages. it's certainly a lot longer than the one i have here.

then again, i built that up over the course of the RP. this is just my starting one

humm. i'll need to add a navy eventually, i suppose... and something on merchants, they're probably going to be a big deal for me..

someone take land to my north already

[United States of PA]

I'll grab the NW most island. Also, Jimanistan, mind if your City-State and my nation kinda sit hand in hand. Trade, support each other in wars and such

[Jimanistan]

-snip-

Well, I didn't actually read your factbook, I just took your word for it when you called it "An uber-large factbook of doom"

[Jimanistan]

-snip-

I like the sound of it... Though signifigant cultural differences could lead to strife (such as women being more or less on par with men in Argirium, as opposed to having a slave-like status) at some point, which could also be interesting.

[Angermanland]

it's a bit over three pages in word.

also,United States of PA ? : 40k regular army? nuh-uh. that's ridiculous huge.

i'm not sure what ulster swordsmen are, but aren't those bowmen [if memory serves] particularly good?

and an army that's 'mostly' Gothic Knights? even allowing for the fact that they're only one of four 'mostly's they're like, the heaviest of heavy cavalry, if memory serves. they're basically inherently elite.

not to mention a rather odd unit for an island nation to have.

[United States of PA]

-snip-

I like the sound of it... Though signifigant cultural differences could lead to strife (such as women being more or less on par with men in Argirium, as opposed to having a slave-like status) at some point, which could also be interesting.

i am planning on about 25-40 years down the road (When my current king dies) for that to be changed. After that, well, i am gonna get a Republic after a brief but bloody Civil War. With the republic i will have a more Athens style country

[Terror Incognitia]

Small factbook on the nation i will be using

The Kingdom of Nova Britannia
Government-Constitutional Monarchy
Leader-King Alfred VVI
Military-About 40,000 Regular Army, best of which are the Ulster Swordsman and Longbowmen. About 100,000 Semi Trained or untrained Militia Forces spread between every Town, City, and Borough. About 15,000 Trained and Armed Militia as Military Reserve. Very Powerful Navy

History- Nova Britannia is a Island Nation. It also is extremely Catholic Nation, often partaking in Crusades just to kill Blasphemers. Most of its Army are either Ulster Swordsmen, Retinue Bowmen, Armored Swordsmen, or Gothic Knights. Favorite Siege weapons as well as the easiest to produce in the country is the Trebuchet. While being a Constitutional Monarchy the only Rights provided by the Bill of Rights of the country is that no one man can be owned by another, women however are not mentioned in this bill, so quite often women are owned as slaves by wealthy landowners.

Regular Army? REGULAR army?
That could be an issue right there. It's the middle ages, and government bureaucracy and tax collection aren't really up to the expense of a regular force, especially not on that scale.
40,000 is about as big an army as was fielded at the time for a campaign, let alone held in permanent readiness.

[United States of PA]

it's a bit over three pages in word.

also,United States of PA ? : 40k regular army? nuh-uh. that's ridiculous huge.

i'm not sure what ulster swordsmen are, but aren't those bowmen [if memory serves] particularly good?

and an army that's 'mostly' Gothic Knights? even allowing for the fact that they're only one of four 'mostly's they're like, the heaviest of heavy cavalry, if memory serves. they're basically inherently elite.

not to mention a rather odd unit for an island nation to have.

Read through, most of it is either Armored Swordsmen, which are swordsmen with Chainmail for armor. Ulster Swordsmen are Unarmored Swordsmen or lightly Armored Swordsman with 2 Handed Swords, Claymores i think is what they are called, though im not certain. Retinue Bowmen are bowmen with a Hunnish Bow thast with little to no training can get the same power as a Longbow. Gothic Knights, shoulda worded my last bit differently, their the most numerous unit of Heavy Cavarly, the most common type are Basically a unarmored Fuedal Knight from Medieval 2 Total War.


40,000 men is actually decent how my country's area is split into 10 Areas each with a Commander. Each commander has to raise his own army, each Commander is also the richest man in his area. As a result each 10 Commanders has a roughly 3,000-4,000 Man Personal Army, just each Commander Answers to the King. After my Country Exits its Civil War and Becomes a Republic this will be done away with and the new Country will have a Smaller roughly 15,000 man Army total, with about 50,000 Militia. As for the 40,000 Men, King Edward II i believe had about 36,000 men in his Army total when he was defeated by Robert the Bruce King of Scotland.

[Terror Incognitia]

Correct, he did.

However that consisted of lords, levies and mercenaries. He had absolutely zero standing army. They were raised for the specific campaign, then dispersed.
There were garrisons on the active, hostile Scottish border of a few hundreds, everything else was raised at need.

[United States of PA]

Correct, he did.

However that consisted of lords, levies and mercenaries. He had absolutely zero standing army. They were raised for the specific campaign, then dispersed.
There were garrisons on the active, hostile Scottish border of a few hundreds, everything else was raised at need.

However, it was quite common for a lord to raise a army and keep it Both for protection against rebels, pirates, and other threats.

[Angermanland]

mostly they kept a very small army [more bodyguard] and had the capacity to rapidly raise and equip a levie, i believe.

also, i was looking into those bows. they may be good, but they have some serious weaknesses. [such as outright falling apart if they get damp]. not to mention all i can find shows the huns as having bows that were vastly superior to anything Contemporary in the west. meaning stuff that existed at the same time. problem: we're talking 14th century longbows. the huns disappeared in the 8th century, and the evidence for the comparison of bows is their contact with china in the 4th century. so far as i can find, anyway.

additionally, i find this extremely unlikely: "Retinue Bowmen are bowmen with a Hunnish Bow that with little to no training can get the same power as a Longbow. ". even if it's true, little to no training = couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. i don't care how much power you can get, it's going to be nowhere near comparable if they don't have significant training, if only in accuracy and rate of fire. and while you might be able to get more power, can you keep drawing and releasing that bow over and over and over? probably not.

while the strength needed to draw it is a big Reason for the longbowmen to get a lot of training, it adds up to a lot more than just being really strong.

so, i'll accept that they're good. i won't accept that they're going to achieve much, if anything, more than any other bow [particularly longbows] on 'little to no training'. for one thing, if That were the case, they'd have displaced crossbows, and they certainly didn't do That.

added bonus extra research: everything i can find on Gothic knights so far shows them as heavy cavalry in full plate weilding lance and mace, and with their horses equipped with barding armor [that is, the armored coat thingies] . I'm sorry, but that is not cheap and nasty cavalry. that's expensive and killy cavalry. perhaps you were thinking of something else... or ME2TW got it wrong... *shrugs*

[Corbournne]

Hey. I'm interested in joining this RP. I'm undecided whether to play as Corbournne, which would be rather like a blend of several European countries, or to create an Asian nation (possibly akin to the Tran Vietnamese Dynasty) to give the pseudo-Japanese player a counterpart to interact with. I'm leaning toward the latter, but I'd like your guys' input before committing.

[Frozopia]

Actually, I think I'd be more interested in playing a city-state (or small country) set up as a colony by Jimanistan, and go from there. I've always characterized Jimanistan as an isolationist state, anyway, so it would make more sense if the Motherland wasn't really involved at all.

I won't go to the same lengths as Angermanland, so I'll just toss out some information about the colony I just now made up... It could be located on some of that archipeligo to the left of Frozopia:

The Principality of Argirium

Capital (primary city): Argentor ( "The Silver City" in Tyromisi)
Government: Monarchy (headed by a Prince, who is advised by the Merchant Council, a body consisting of thirteen members of the merchant ruling class)
history: A colony established several decades before the start of the RP, by colonists from Jimanistan's Otromo province. Has assimilated local native populace quite effecitvely, with cunning combination of awe-inspiring architecture and the corrupting influence of material wealth. Relies on trade, and generally willing to strong-arm any reluctant partners in commerce. Majority of military hired from the Motherland, primarily from Otromo and Elaith along the southern coasts. Powerful naval, marine forces, steadily becoming weaker the further they fight from the shore. Typically very greedy people, who will go to great lengths for plunder.

I like it. Assuming The Zoogie People doesn't mind sharing a bit of that region with you then it should be fine. You may wish to go more indepth on your military soon.

Small factbook on the nation i will be using

The Kingdom of Nova Britannia
Government-Constitutional Monarchy
Leader-King Alfred VVI
Military-About 40,000 Regular Army, best of which are the Ulster Swordsman and Longbowmen. About 100,000 Semi Trained or untrained Militia Forces spread between every Town, City, and Borough. About 15,000 Trained and Armed Militia as Military Reserve. Very Powerful Navy

History- Nova Britannia is a Island Nation. It also is extremely Catholic Nation, often partaking in Crusades just to kill Blasphemers. Most of its Army are either Ulster Swordsmen, Retinue Bowmen, Armored Swordsmen, or Gothic Knights. Favorite Siege weapons as well as the easiest to produce in the country is the Trebuchet. While being a Constitutional Monarchy the only Rights provided by the Bill of Rights of the country is that no one man can be owned by another, women however are not mentioned in this bill, so quite often women are owned as slaves by wealthy landowners.

Angermanland and incognitia have expressed many of my concerns with your army.

5,000-10,000 would be a very big (and scattered) Peace time standing army, which would really be more militia than anything else. 40,000 would be a very large army with a very short lifespan before most of it returned to collect the harvest . Sorry man but you better fix that.

I will start making map additions for those who have created factbooks. Also add me on msn if you have any questions: Oldirishgeezer@hotmail.com...Even if you dont its probably best to have as much contact as possible during rps.

[Jimanistan]

-snip-

Okay, though I'd prefer to avoid exact numbers, if only because of my hatred of war-threads that degenerate in short order to number-wanking contests.

The backbone Argirian military is its strong navy, made primarily of several score corsair ships (I'm thinking something vaguely Viking Longship-ish, but perhaps larger, and less capable of shallow-water travel), backed up with retrofitted merchant ships. Land forces would work similiarly, but in smaller number, perhaps a few thousand mercenaries (fighting in times of war in exchange for land and being beyond the reach of the law, and being given a free hand to raid other nations), backed up with levied peasants when neccesary, the maximum force capable of being mustered numbering perhaps fifteen or twenty thousand. All in all a smaller force, but one more capable of micromanagement. That aside, the peasants are known to be a hardy sort, typically armed with spears and pikes, along with the occaisional hunting shortbow (not a whole lot to hunt on islands, though surely a bit). A very small group of perhaps a couple hundred landed knights and nobles to round it out, armed and armored quite heavily atop their horses.

Corsairs are armed with shortbows for ranged engagements (ship to ship), and with long knives, scythe-like swords, maces, axes, hatchets, and just about any light weapon. Typically unarmored, or very lightly armored (leather, padded, maybe a helmet here and there). Very fierce fighters, aimed at quick and deadly movement, relying on speed to counter more heavily armed enemies. Typical tactical wisdom would suggest any land fighting to take place near the shore, where naval support can be made available. Argirian soldiers well-known to search a battlefield for scavengable armor and weapons, either for personal use or for sale. Many of the mercenaries are known to be of questionable loyalty, but would be difficult to buy off, due to their very priviliage status in Argirium.

If there are any issues with that, let me know, I sort of just made it up as I went along, lol.

[Frozopia]

Looks good.

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=10176

Beginnings of a fact book. Will also be adding other fact book creators to the map within the next few hours.

[The Zoogie People]

WRT army sizes, can someone clue me in on what would be "acceptable"? I don't have a good sense of medieval-era numbers. Supposedly in 200's China warlords raised armies of some 700,000...so the 40k number doesn't jump out to me as incredibly far-fetched to begin with. I understand Medieval Europe is a different story, but we're in a fictional setting... I'll work my numbers so that they're realistic and fit in with the rest of you guys's. Just need a rough gauge though.

[Frozopia]

Army sizes can rise pretty high, i'm not certain how high really but beyond 40,000 logistics become a nightmare. However standing armies cannot really go above 5,000-10,000 and a lot of that is really militia.

Also Zoogie do you mind If I put Jimanistan city state in a tiny portion of that section you wanted to claim. You would pretty much surround him heh...Look at editted map in op.

[Jimanistan]

Er, Frozopia... I asked for the archipeligo to the left of your spot, not that little speck to your right...

Not that I'm complaining, but, uh... Well, I guess I am. A city state could probably dominate most of those little islands west of Frozopia, if not all of them.

[The Zoogie People]

Ooh, I did not notice the earlier post where you asked that...sure! I'm cool with sharing. Although I guess it's a moot point now, but...if anyone else wants to share....no? OK, I'll just cry in my lonely corner.

And I do second Jimanistan's comment about number wanking.

[Frozopia]

Er, Frozopia... I asked for the archipeligo to the left of your spot, not that little speck to your right...

Not that I'm complaining, but, uh... Well, I guess I am. A city state could probably dominate most of those little islands west of Frozopia, if not all of them.

Ha im an idiot sorry. I read penisula and on the right somehow...Changing now.