Note that some of the featured factions will not be included in the first release. These previews will be divided by factional groupings similar to Rome 2's style. Reposted from TWC team member Lord Giovanni.
ORTHODOX CHRISTENDOM
Autocephalous Patriarchs: +4 Religious Conversion Rate
State Churches: Public Order Bonus from Presence of Orthodox Religion (+4 max)
Empire of Nicaea
Laskaris Dynasty: +25% Morale in siege battles
Nicaean Traditions: +2 XP ranks for all heavy cavalry recruits
Palace Intrigue: +3 Ambition for all non-family-member generals
The Roman province known as Asia has always been very important to the Eastern half of the Roman Empire. In the most recent decades, however, it has become absolutely vital. Constantinople, the ancient capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, has unthinkably been captured by treacherous Latin crusaders with conniving Venetian allies. The reigning Eastern Roman Emperor during the capture of Constantinople, Constantine, was the first member of the Laskaris dynasty to be raised to the imperial throne, elected through popular acclaim. As Constantinople burned, Emperor Constantine and his family fled across the Sea of Marmara to the province of Asia. It was here that his brother Theodore Laskaris founded the Empire of Nicaea, the "empire in exile", continuing the Greek, Orthodox resistance to the Latin Catholic crusaders. Having been in power when Constantinople fell, the Laskaris emperors have become utterly determined never to lose another city in the same manner, and burn with the desire to liberate Constantinople and their fellow Orthodox Greeks.
The goal in the most immediate term is obvious: the recapture of Constantinople and the expulsion of Latin influence from Greece and Anatolia. The Bulgarians could be strong allies in this endeavor, although they have their own interests in this conflict. Although the time is ripe to begin this reclamation, care must be taken in the mounting of this campaign. The disgraced Komnenos dynasty ruling in Trebizond has also laid claim to the Roman Empire, and may become enemies to Nicaea as well. Even more concern should be given to the Turks. The Sultanate of Rum had once been kept at bay in central Anatolia thanks to a unified Roman response. However, with the Eastern Roman Empire fragmented, the Turks will surely attempt to conquer more territory at Roman expense. If the Laskaris family can drive the Latin crusaders from Constantinople and Greece, they may also be able to have their revenge upon the Turks as well.
The feudal holders the Theme lands of Asia province have helped the Nicaeans maintain the core of the old Eastern Roman army: heavy cataphract cavalry. The forces that they can field around this solid foundation are varied and capable, and determined to reclaim the lands from which they have been driven.
The Eastern Roman Empire is in its darkest hour. Only a true heir to the Caesars can restore to the empire the glory that it deserves. But should such a restoration happen, it may be the catalyst for the Eastern Roman Empire to return to power that it has not known for many centuries.
Empire of Trebizond
Komnenos Dynasty: -20% Resistance to Conquest
Trebizondian Traditions: +2 XP ranks for all archer recruits
Palace Intrigue: +3 Ambition for all non-family-member generals
The fall of Constantinople to Latin crusaders was an unmitigated disaster for the Eastern Roman Empire. However, such an earthshaking cataclysm also carries with it great opportunities- like providing the means for an old imperial family to rise to power once again.
The Komnenos family is an ancient one, which once ruled the Eastern Roman Empire from Constantinople. The emperors of their line saw the reversal of the empire's misfortunes, and the reclamation of many lands that had been captured by the Seljuk Turks. However, the byzantine intrigues of the imperial court turned against the Komnenos family, and they were driven from power in a palace coup. They were relegated to a minor place in the empire, until the splintering of the empire that resulted from the Fourth Crusade. Fleeing Constantinople to the far-off imperial province of Trebizond on the Black Sea, the Komnenos dynasty gained the rulership of that province, founded the Empire of Trebizond, and asserted its claim to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Far away from the fertile lands from which elite noble cavalry can be drawn, the Empire of Trebizond has had to adapt its army around the methods employed by their Trebizondian subjects. The men of Trebizond have always been respected as very capable archers, but have always been relegated to a secondary place in the Eastern Roman army in favor of cataphracts. Should the Trebizond Archers be given direct imperial patronage, they will form a new, powerful core to a new Eastern Roman army. The infantry formations of the old Eastern Roman army would benefit greatly from this new arrangement, making the army of Trebizond even more powerful overall than even the armies at the height of the empire's glory.
The remoteness of Trebizond from the crusader Latin Empire has given it a measure of safety from the Latin crusaders who now run rampant through Greece and Thrace. The immediate threat facing the Empire of Trebizond is that of the Turks. The Sultanate of Rum in central Anatolia has grown strong thanks the fracturing of the Eastern Roman Empire, and is casting covetous eyes towards Trebizond. War will come to these lands, and swiftly. However, the Turkish horse archers will have a more difficult time facing up to the archers of Trebizond. This advantage could perhaps be pressed, and a Komnenos-led army could perhaps liberate the province of Galatia from centuries of the Turkish yoke. The ultimate goal of the Komnenos Emperor, however, should be the liberation of Constantinople and regaining the imperial throne from the upstart Laskaris family. With the power of Trebizond and central Anatolia behind it, the Laskaris family could once again return in triumph to Constantinople, and begin a second restoration of the empire surpassing that of their legendary ancestor, Emperor Alexius I.
Kievan Rus'
Veche System: +30% Wealth from Commerce
Princely Coalitions: -15% Upkeep for all non-mercenary units
Primus Inter Pares: -2 recruitment slots per province
On the windswept steppes east of the Baltic, a success story that has been four centuries is about to have its next chapter revealed.
The Russian people, masters of the steppes west of the Ural Mountains, have built a powerful and unique culture that is distinct from all others in Europe and Asia. In the walled cities that dot the mighty rivers of their homeland, a form of representative town government called the Veche has begun to spread. Veche meetings are town councils in which all of the town members, regardless of gender or station, can make their opinions known. As most inhabitants of towns are tradesmen of some kind, this has aided the creation of a budding merchant class, drawing its example from the mighty trading city of Novgorod to the north.
This increase in townsman representation all takes place under the notice of the princes who rule the Russian people. The princes are cut from the same cloth as the glory-hungry nobility found almost everywhere else, and their interests are stronger than elsewhere in Europe. The lands occupied by the Rus' people are not centrally governed, but are instead a loose coalition of princedoms which acknowledge the rule of the Grand Prince in Kiev. This structure of government has led to the Russian armies being comprised of levies of the various states which marshal when the Grand Prince of Kiev calls for it, at least in theory. While this means that the cost of maintaining forces for the Grand Prince's army is less costly overall- thanks to these troops usually belonging to another prince's army- it also makes the mustering of an army slower, as the other princes want to keep control over their own forces.
The arrival of a large confederation of nomadic tribes called the Cumans should provide excellent opportunities for the princes of Russia to increase the territory of the Russians, as well as spread Christianity to a pagan people. The absorption of the Cuman Confederacy would simply be another successful chapter in the history of the Russian people up to now. In the four centuries since the state of the Rus' was founded by Rurik the Viking, it has enjoyed a period of prolonged expansion, even if that expansion has been decentralized.
Still, perhaps the conquest of the Cumans should wait. There are whispered rumors among the Cumans of a new empire that is rising beyond the trackless eastern steppes. The people forging this empire, called the Mongols, have been called the instruments of God's wrath, and are rumored to fight in a manner without mercy or pity. If these rumors are to be believed, then the Grand Prince of the Rus' must be ready to call the last of his countrymen to war, with all the allies he can muster.
Second Bulgarian Tsardom
Freedom Fighters: +30% Morale when fighting Orthodox enemies
Tarnovo School of Art: +30% Wealth from Culture
Imported Administration: +10% Corruption
The most recent decades have seen the sudden and remarkable rise of a new Slavic Orthodox power in the Balkans- Bulgaria. Bulgaria was even just a century earlier ruled by the Byzantines, although the Byzantine rule of Bulgaria was never an easy one. With the patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church being forced into a subservient role to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, and the Slavic Bulgarian culture in danger of being overwhelmed by a Greek one, the Bulgarians chafed at their situation and dreamed of independence. In 1185, that dream became a reality. Peter Asen, a Bulgarian noble, led a revolt against Byzantine rule, claiming the title Tsar Peter IV, the first ruler of the Second Bulgarian Tsardom. He and his people fought a long war over twelve long years against Byzantium, yet against terrible odds, the Bulgarians triumphed. Their struggle for political and religious independence has had a marked effect on the Bulgarian cultural psyche.
It was, therefore, not a little ironic that the Bulgarians immediately rallied to the defense of Orthodox Christianity in general when Constantinople and Greece fell to Latin Catholic crusaders in 1204. Under the brilliant and capable Tsar Kaloyan, the Bulgarians inflicted a smashing defeat upon the knightly armies of the so-called "Latin Empire" at the city of Adrianople, the same site of another famous battle almost a millennia earlier. The crusader army was smashed, and Baldwin of Flanders, the self-styled "Latin Emperor" was captured. The Latin Empire still was able to rally its strength, however, even in the face of this catastrophic defeat. Although the crusaders occupying Constantinople and Greece have not folded as easily as the Bulgarians might have wished, the liberation of Greece's Orthodox population is a tempting avenue for the expansion of Bulgarian power. If Constantinople were to fall into Bulgarian hands, then perhaps the Bulgarians can supersede the Greeks as the champions of Orthodox Christianity.
The increased interest in Bulgarian's unique Orthodox heritage has led to a renaissance of Bulgarian iconography and religious art. To help cultivate this blooming generation of painters and iconographers, a school of art has been established in the Bulgarian capital of Tarnovo to better teach the optimal forms and styles of art, religious and otherwise. The demand for beautiful frescos and icons has made Bulgarian artists in high demand throughout the Orthodox world.
Even though the Bulgarians have a deep pride in their independence, their administration has been heavily influenced by their period under the Byzantines. The overly complex Greco-Roman administration of the Byzantines has meant that many "enterprising" courtiers can make a handsome profit of tax revenue, and cover their tracks in the bureaucracy. The formulation of a more uniquely Bulgarian administrative model should help to mollify this problem.
Bulgaria has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of its independence war, and stands ready to become the foremost power in the Balkans- and that is only the beginning for this vigorous people.
Kingdom of Makuria
Legendary Archers: +2 XP ranks for all archer recruits
Sub-Saharan Slaves: +50% Wealth from Slaves
Religiously Isolated: +30% Unrest from foreign religions
Before the Muslim conquest of the southern Mediterranean basin in the 7th Century A.D., Christian missionaries from Egypt brought the Gospel to the Nubians, beyond Upper Egypt. Christianity spread quickly across Nubia, but its link to the rest of the Christian world was soon severed. Egypt was one of the first lands to fall to Muslim invaders, and soon the all-conquering Arabs swung south to lay waste to Nubia. The first kingdom in their path was the Kingdom of Makuria. Even when the Byzantine and Persian imperial armies crumbled before the Arab assault, the army of Makuria held strong. Drawing on the ancient tradition of archery of the Nubian people, Makurian longbowmen decimated the Arab armies on two separate invasions. The Arabs were forced to retreat and conclude a truce with the Kingdom of Makuria. The archers of Makuria have stood guard against any Arab aggression ever since.
Having found war with the Makurians to be futile, the Arab lords of Egypt have instead become interested in trade. Makuria sits atop ancient veins of gold that were coveted even when the pharaohs ruled Egypt. Makuria's conflicts with tribes to its south has also granted it a ready supply of slaves for it to sell to the Arabs, and the Makurian slave trade is one of the principal sources of its wealth.
The Makurians had a healthy relationship with the Egyptians when the Shi'ite Fatimid Caliphate ruled there. The Sunni-Shi'ite divide left the Fatimids with few friends in the Arab world, so the Fatimids allied with their southern Christian neighbors. When the Sunni Ayyubids overthrew the Fatimids, the situation between Egypt and Makuria became much more hostile. Instigated by the Ayyubids, Bedouin raiders have made increasing forays into Makurian territory, and increasing Muslim settlement in northern Makuria is putting pressure on the Makurian rulers. The decrease in trade to Egypt is also putting increased pressure on the Nubians. All of these factors are driving the Kingdom of Makuria into decline.
All of that said, however, a nation's decline does not pre-ordain a nation's destruction. There is still much strength in Makuria. Its warriors are the descendents of those who first turned back the Arab hordes, and some of the finest archers on earth. Unifying the Christian lands south of Egypt, and perhaps even invading Egypt itself, may be just what the Makurians need to revitalize their civilization.
