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.
FRANKISH CHRISTENDOM
The Feudal System: +15% Wealth from Agriculture
Chivalry: +2 XP ranks for heavy cavalry recruits
The Kingdom of England
Yeomen: +2 XP ranks for archer recruits
Magna Carta: +6% Tax Rate
Occupiers: +50% Resistance to Conquest
At the turn of the 13th century, the Kingdom of England ruled more lands in France than the Kingdom of France. In the space of a decade, most of those lands have been lost under the inept reign of the latest king of England's Angevin Dynasty, John I. John has turned out to be barely a shadow of the warrior-king that his older brother, Richard the Lionhearted, was. Thanks to a disastrous ongoing war with France that broke out at the start of his reign, Normandy, Brittany and Anjou were all taken by the French. Only Aquitaine, which became an English dominion from John's mother Eleanor, remains an English enclave.
But all is not lost yet. The King of France, Philip II Augustus, has become too ambitious for his own good. Countess Joan of Flanders, a vassal of his, was alienated by Philip's confiscation of cities in Flanders, and has rebelled against Philip's rule. She has put together a powerful alliance against France, with England and the Holy Roman Empire joining it. Friends such as these will surely aid England in reclaiming its lost territory from the powerful French forces. The Celtic kingdoms of Britannia are also prime targets for expansion, and should be dealt with before any of them can become too powerful to threaten the English heartland.
England boasts a very robust feudal army, with its powerful knighthood descending from the incomparable Norman knights who conquered the country over a century ago. They do not, however, have the wild abandon or ferocity of their French counterparts. However, infantrymen have begun to play a larger role in English armies, with a growing interest in producing powerful archers and stronger commoner levies. These commoners may yet prove to be a match for the powerful French knights. If this turns out to be the case, England will find itself with a powerful advantage against its rival across the Channel.
Much has been lost for England since the height of its power, but with expert generalship and careful management of allies and enemies, its best days may yet lie ahead of it.
The Kingdom of France
Élan: +50% charge bonus for all heavy cavalry
Gothic Architects: -1 build time for all structures
Powerful Nobility: -6% Tax Rate
The current king of France, Philip II Capet, is also known as Augustus, and is truly deserving of that title. He has been a remarkable ruler who has turned France into arguably the most powerful nation in Christendom. By promoting the foundation of guilds of all kinds, the prosperity of France's budding merchant class has increased from year to year, and their taxes have enriched the royal treasury. A happy effect of this patronage is that many French architect and mason guilds have produced the finest examples of Gothic cathedrals in Christendom, and have transferred the architectural lessons learned to other building projects.
Philip II is an astute general, having united the cantankerous French lords behind his rule, and led them to glory against the Saracens in Palestine, and against the English closer to home. He has taken the measure of the current king of England, John I, and found him wanting. The English once owned more land in France than the French, but through brilliant campaigns Philip has routed the English at almost every turn, and recaptured much territory that had been taken by stronger English kings.
French knights have taken the concept of chivalry and gallantry farther than any other nation in Christendom, and their knights are commonly accepted to be the finest on earth. This focus on nobility has made the nobles more powerful overall, and they keep a substantial amount of tax wealth for themselves, to maintain their fighting potential at its peak. This focus on knighthood has also made the French army more imbalanced than their neighbors, with infantry roles suffering as a result. The power of the French knights, however, should be more than enough to see them through most encounters on the field of battle.
King Philip II is the most powerful monarch in Christendom at present, and his reign has been nothing if not successful. But he may yet be a victim of that success. A powerful alliance has been forged against him consisting of England, the Holy Roman Empire, and the rebellious county of Flanders. With three powerful forces arrayed against him, Philip will need to use every ounce of strength from himself and his subjects to see off these foes and establish the power of France once and for all.
The Kingdom of Sicily
Multiculturalism: -25% unrest from foreign religions
Adept Agents: +15% Success chance for all agent actions
Foodstuff Economy: -30% Wealth from Industry
The Kingdom of Sicily was formed when Norman adventurers invaded Sicily and Naples in the late 11th century, driving out the Saracen and Byzantine powers from those regions, and establishing a Catholic feudal state there. However, the French-speaking Normans found themselves ruling over a culturally diverse population of Arabs, Greeks and Italians, among others, along with having to deal with the variety of different religions that were present there. This led to the rulers of Sicily adopting a spirit of religious tolerance that was rare in Europe. However, Catholicism was granted the privileges of being the official religion. Even though minority ethnic and religious enclaves still exist and are safe from official persecution, Catholicism has made a remarkable spread in Sicily within the near-two centuries since it fell to the Normans. The need to maintain communication and understanding between the various groups while forwarding the policy goals of the kings, and keep public disturbances to a minimum, has helped Sicilian agents become more efficient than in more culturally unified areas.
Although the Norman ruling line survives, its dynasty does not. Instead, it subsists in a young German who sits on the throne: Frederick I Hohenstaufen of Sicily. He has demonstrated remarkable intelligence at a young age, and so his reign looks to be a promising one. Even though his family is German, the young king identifies far more with his Sicilian heritage. Also, Frederick is no friend to the current Holy Roman Emperor, Otto IV, who is a member of a rival house for the imperial throne. As such, he can potentially take advantage of the fractious situation in northern Italy to expand Sicilian power in that direction. He can also make use of the large Sicilian navy to begin expansion in almost any direction. The former hinterland of the Byzantine Empire, which was shattered following the Fourth Crusade, could provide interesting opportunities. The Latin Empire in Constantinople could be both a friend or foe to any efforts there. Alternatively, the Almohads are preoccupied with their jihad on the Iberian peninsula, and would pose little threat to an invasion of the Balearic Islands, or even an invasion of their mainland holdings.
Sicilian armies have quite varied possibilities, thanks to the various ethnic groups that are found throughout the kingdom. Arabs and Greeks can provide excellent archers, while the Italian city-dwellers can produce strong infantry formations. The Feudal System was relatively easily adapted to the landscapes of Naples and Sicily, and so powerful knights of Norman heritage can also be fielded. However, the arable land of Sicily and Naples has left it with relatively few mineral resources, which leaves their industrial efforts lacking overall.
The Latin Empire
Latin East: +10% Research Rate
Crusader Empire: -25% Resistance to Conquest
Foreign Conquerors: +30% Unrest from foreign religions
The youngest and most interesting realm of Latin Christendom was born following the capture of Constantinople, the ancient capital of the Byzantine Empire, by Latin Crusaders. This was the strange culmination of the maze of treachery that was the Fourth Crusade. The original target of the crusade was Egypt, which would provide a fertile base of operations, and a large native Christian population, to aid in a short overland march to Jerusalem. The Venetian merchants who would be shipping the crusaders, however, had other plans. They, along with a claimant to the throne of the Byzantine Empire, forced the crusaders to divert to Constantinople. Faced with an increasingly desperate situation and spurred on by Byzantine treachery, the crusaders, with Venetian support on the water, became the first armed force to ever capture that legendary city.
The new crusader masters of Constantinople have made the most of their situation. They saw their actions as effectively putting an end to two centuries of formal schism between Rome and Constantinople with the swing of a blade- the method Alexander the Great used to solve the puzzle of the Gordian Knot. The Greek states occupying the remains of the Byzantine Empire might see the situation differently, but they will soon see the error of their ways when they have been forcibly brought back under the rule of Constantinople, now ruled by Catholics. With their capital city being a great repository of the knowledge of antiquity, the scholars accompanying the crusaders have learned much from the books of the ancients, as well as from their new Greek subjects. However, the manner in which the Latin empire was forged, as well as the intolerance that the Frankish crusaders have towards those who do not share their faith, have made the new masters of Constantinople not well loved among subjects who do not share their views. Conversion of their subjects, therefore, is of a primary concern in the short term.
Even though the new empire is less than a decade old, it has already seen its fair share of battle. It has continued its conquest of Byzantine territories across the Bosphorus, and with a crushing victory at the Ryndacus River the previous year, conquered all the lands around the Sea of Marmara. Although peace has recently been forged between the Latin Empire and the Bulgarian Tsardom to the north, it looks unlikely to hold. The Bulgarians should not be taken lightly, as they inflicted the first major defeat against the Latin Empire at the Second Battle of Adrianople.
Even so, the knights of the Latin Empire still retain their crusading zeal, as they find themselves in an excellent location to roll back the tides of heresy and heathenry that surround their young domain. By incorporating heavy cataphract armor to their knights, and with the addition of Greek archer auxiliaries, Italian infantry and Byzantine technology, the Latin Empire could produce an army that would sweep all before it. They just need the strength to survive until they could field such a force.
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