In this new blog series i will analize all the posibilities for posible new civlizations for AOE II, previously I made a blog series about unused posible bonuses for AOE II. here i will post my personal opinions on each of the candidates and i will also give some ideas on how to repreesent these factions. I will try to base everything on historical documentation in order to try to be impartial on my analisis. Feel free to give your toughts on the comment section
The first question we must ask is which are the parameters for a culture to be in AOEII. of course there are some obvious ones; the first is that the culture/civiization in question must have been developing and existing beteween the fall of rome and the year 1600. The second parameter is that the culture must be an organized civilization and not just a small neolithic tribe; there are some posible civilizations that still had neolithic technology but were developed and big enough to be considered as AOE II candidates but we will discuss them later when their turn comes out. the Third parameter is to have participated on wars and expansionism remember the game name is " Age of Empires" and finally the fourth parameter is that we must know at least part of the history of the civilization candidate, because that will be needed for campaigns and AI names and the bonus selecction of that civilization.
I will divide these blogposts by continent and region and in the cases a civilization were present at more than one region i will mark it with a "*". I will also rate each civilization in a scale from 1 to 5 in how likely is that civilization to be featured on a DLC.
Europe part 1 Iberian Peninsula
During middle ages the Iberian Peninsula was a battlefield, currently the following civilizations represent military factions relevant for the Iberian peninsula: 1 Goths, Berbers, Saracens, Franks, Byzantines, Spanish and Portuguese. However the Iberian peninsula can still offer more, the current Spanish faction is mostly inspired by Castille-Leon leaving the possibility of a splitting there, and there were also some other factions that existed in the early middle ages and the fall of rome and here is a list of strong candidates for AOE II that were present or relevant in the Iberian peninsula: 1 the Vandals, 2 The Alans ( which mixed with the vandals so maybe Alans and Vandals must be the same Civilization on game) 3 the Suebi, 4 the Basques (kingdom of Navarre) 5 The Aragonese. I personally ommit Asturias because these two reasons 1 Asturias was the last stronghold of the visigoths in the peninsula and 2 you can see them as the seed of Spain and Portugal so you can A consider them goths or B consider Asturias Dark and feudal Age Spanish or Portugese.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rV7K8hQPo4
1 The Vandals & Alans *
The Vandals were one of the most relevant germanic tribes that invaded the Roman Empire; they started as a minor group that became more and more important as they migrated to the Iberian Peninsula and later to North Africa, They started to mix up with the Alans ( Another group of barbarians that came from Iran in Asia and started to migrate to Europe) in the Iberian Peninsula, Both Groups have a long story of conflict with the Huns and the Goths. The Story of the Vandal invations is pretty well documented and unlike other germanic groups that invaded the Roman Empire they became excelent sailors and were enabled to invade several islands on the Mediterranean like Sicily, Corsica, the Balearic Islands and Sardinia and of course they used their Naval skills to take over North Africa. The Vandals unlike most groups that converted to Roman Catholicism, they instead converted into the Arrianism which was an early split of Christianity and they were very devote to it.
The Vandals ravaged Rome and sacked it, to the point that the name "vandalism" is now synonimous with property destruction. Considering all of these traits if the Vandals & Alans ever appear in AOE II this civilization may have bonuses for Infantry against buildings in a different way than the goths; bonuses for their navy, posibly a bonus for their demolition ships since there was a battle Vandals won against byzantines in which they used a small group of incendiary untripulated boats against the byzantine navy,and perhaps here we can have the only central european civilization ( that architechture may fit well with them considering their origins) with acces to Camel Riders as they Conquered North Africa and mixed up with the Alans which came from Central Asia, they may also have to get a bonus for monks or something related to religion since they were Arianism zealots. For its campaign they should be based on Geiseric (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaiseric) which was the responsible of taking africa and Sacking Rome. for its wonder they saddly didn't make any relevan landmark, but in this case we may assigate a " sacked or ruined" landmark like in the case of Huns and Cumans , and a Sacked Hippo Regius Cathedral could fit well. Since the vandal language is lost, devs may assign them the same language Goths and Teutons speak
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alans
Likeliness: 5 out of 5, Vandals and Alans are one of the most requested and relevant civilizations and they cover all prerequisites to be in AOE II only missing a Wonder which can be easily adressed by assigning them a ruined landmark as i mentioned previously, Also they don't are really represented by any existing civ,
2 The Suebi
The Suebi was one of the germanic tribes tha invaded the Roman Empire. They originated in central Europe and it was a large group, the Suebi were related to a degree with the Vandals so it is possible that if they appear in AOE II instead of being its own civilization they may be represented with the Vandals in case the vandals are added in a DLC. Also like the vandals they converted to Arianism ad take a similar migration route, but unlike Vandals they stayed in the Iberian Peninsula in the northwest and later they converted to Roman Catholicism abandoning Arianism. They became in conflict with the Goths which later absorbed them into their kingdom, military sepaking they were similar to other related germanic tribes. their history is well documented but military its not very impressive
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suebi
Likeliness 3 out of 5, The main problem with the Suebi is that they are very similar to other possible candidates as well as being similar to Goths and it is not highly requested.
3 The Basques
The origin of the Basques is still a mistery, and this is reflected in the language they speak as the Basque language is not related to any other Language in the World and is speculated this language is the last survivor of an ancient group of languages that existed previously to the indoeuropean languages in Europe. By the end of the Roman Empire the ethnic group was already occupying the region we know today as the "Basque Country" between modern day Spain and France. the survived the invations of the Visigoths the Franks, and later the Moors and this probably because the orography of the region which enabled for small skirmishes. because of these if Basques are added to the game is possible that the devs may adress this facts by giving some defensive bonuses and posibly bonuses for their skirmishers and spearmen. of course the language they should speak on game should be Basque, for its architechture style maybe the western european may fit well rather than mediterranean, and for its wonder and even for its unique castle there are several options available perhas the Cathedral of Pamplona ( the original Romanic one not the modern Gothic one) could fit well as the Wonder. The Basques were also famous for Whaling so maybe they should also have some bonus for their fishing ships.
The Political identity of the Basques started with the foundation of the Duchy of Gascony in times of Charlemagne, which later leaded to the foundation of te Hispanic March ( the eastern parts of the March will later became Aragon). Later on the southern parts of the Duchy of Gascony splitted into the Kingdom of Pamplona founded by Iñigo Arista its first king, ths was due to internal conflicts between the Franks and the Basques and also as result of the Roncesvaux pass in which the Franks lost against the moors and then destroyed Pamplona in order to keep them loyal to the Charlemagne empire. If the Basques are added to the game maybe their campaign should be inspired in Iñigo Arista. later on the Basques involved in the Reconquista actively. The Kingdom of Pamplona transformed later in the Kingdom of Navarre and finally they united to Spain by matrimonial unions; even so the Basque identity still remains strong to our days. The Bsque history is also full with rebellion and resistance so their bonuses unique unit and unique techs shuld adress that
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Basques
Likeliness 4 out of 5: Basques covers all prerequisites but is not a very solicitaded civilization, of course some fans solicitate it here and there but not as strongly as other candidate civilizations. Also there is the issue of being currently part of an umbrella civilization in this case the Spanish and Franks, despite being culturally different in reality than both groups.
4 The Aragonese *
As mentioned previously in the Basque analisys, the origins of Aragon started with the Battle of Roncesvaux Pass leading to the foundation of the Hispanic March. After the battle of Poitiers, the carolingians converted the Central Pyrenees region into the County of Aragon which later became indepedent from France in the IX century under Count Aznar I Galindez. For a brief period of time the County of Aragon was ruled under the Kingdom of Pamplona until it again became indepedent in 1035 now as a Kingdom after the unification of the counties of Aragon, Sobrarbe y Ribagorza, The Kingdom started to expand both miltarily and by matrimonial unions and it became a player in the reconquista against the moors. Laterly the Kingdom of Aragon managed to gain control of the Principality of Cataluña and the Kingdom of Valencia, becaming the Crown of Aragon which later started to conquest more outside the Iberian Peninsula. The Aragonese conquered the Balearic Islands ( kingdom of Mallorca) as well as Sicily, the Kingdom of Naples , and at some point parts of Greece were vassals of the Crown of Aragon. The Aragonese started to adopt Catalan as their language so if they ever appear in AOE II their units should speak Catalan despite in its origins they speaked Aragonese and not Catalan. Despite Ferdinand of Aragon married with Isabella from Castille, the Crown of Aragon still had relative independence from Spain until the year 1700. For its Campaign there are interesting options on one hand there is Alfonso el Batallador, which actively participated in Reconquista and there is also Jaime I el Conquistador which greatly expanded Aragon. Considering the Naval expansion of Aragon if they ever appear in AOE II they should get at least a naval Bonus, Probaby in land their focus should be in Heavy Cavalry and the militia line. their architechture that fits the most with them is the mediterranean and for its wonder and posibly for its unique castle there are plenty of options of Cathedrals and castles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_of_Aragon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Aragon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_of_Aragon
Likeliness 4.5 out of 5, the Aragonese suffers the same problems as the Basque, it is not requested oftenly by the fans desite the fact they have every requisite covered; but unlike the Basques they did expanded militarily outside their homeland and devs also take these facts in consideration when picking new civiizations for a DLC or expansions. Also there is the issue of being currently part of an umbrella civilization in this case the Spanish and Franks.
Europe part 2 British Isles
During middle ages the British Isles were the scenario in which several empires and kingdoms born and entered in conflict with each other. Currently the following civilizations on game adresses cultures and civilizations that had something to do with medieval history in the archipelago: Vikings, Britons, Celts, Franks and Sicilians in case you consider them " Normans". However there may still be room for a bit more civilizations from this region even if we agree or not with that because " Celts" and " Britons" are kind of umbrella civilizations, not to mention several candidates from these islands are highly requested by the fans; on one hand the current Celts is mostly inspired the Picts and Scotland, and on the other hand Britons are mostly inspired in England; so maybe there is room for civilizations like the Welsh, the Saxons, the Irish, and perhaps proper Normans and not just Italo-Normans. I will analize these four options since basically most of the other minor counties, clans and kingdoms are too small and too many.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwPVk72GLfY
1 The Irish
Currently Irish are under the Celt umbrella ( indeed the roots of modern Ireland culture are Celtic due to the Gaelic invation) but during the middle ages in reality the Irish history has little to do with the Celts in Great Britain. Because of their isolation Ireland developed a a culture that is quite different from Great Britain. Ireland was christianized quickly during the late antiquity and early middle ages, Monasteries flourished at that time and even today this cultural trait is shown in the Saint Patrick's day celebration. The Isolation of Ireland enabled to the monasteries there to develope arts, techinques and sciences so maybe if the Irish ever appear in AOE II as a separate civ from Celts they should totaly had to get a Monk and monastery focus, maybe even one of their unique technologies may allude to Saint patrick's day. During the early middle ages the Irish had to defend against Viking invations frequently, also because at that time Ireland was divided in several kingdos they also fought with each other, at this time the Irish developed a type of Round Towers that were used for defense against raids so of course if they ever appear on AOE II they should get some tower related bonus.
The language they should speak ingame should be Gaelic , their Architechture style should be Western european and for their Wonder the landmark that may fit the best that job is the St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. I am not sure about the campaign but there are several kings and chieftains that can be done for that. Ireland later was invaded by the Normans ( which ultimately mixed and adopted Ireland culture despite their efforts) and later by England.
Likeliness 4.5 out of 5, The irish has almost every requirement but it has one big problem, the Irish at middle ages weren't unified under the same ruler and when that happened it was because they were conquered, they also didn't managed to conquer land outside their homeland, still is likely to have them because it is a faction that is requested very oftenly.
2 The Saxons *
Saxons were one fo the germanic tribes that invaded the Roman Empire along with Vandals, Goths, Franks and others. Part of the Saxons stayed in continental Europe while others crossed the English Channel landing and stablishing kingdoms in Southern England ( the names Sussex, Wessex, Essex refers to the saxons) some of the Saxons in Continental Europe started to mix with other ethnic groups while the Saxons in Saxony ( Modern Day Germany) felt into Frankish rule for a period. The Saxons that arrived to England mixed with another two notorious germanic tribes the Jutes and the Angles, so they later became the Anglesaxons ( the root of England)
Saxons culturally speaking are linked to central Europe so if they appear in AOE II they should have their Saxon German language and should share the Central European Architechture style, Military speaking they were good navigators , and shared similar strategies than other germanic groups so probably if they would be depicted in AOE II maybe they may an infantry + siege civilization or a Heavy Cavlry civilization on land while also they should probably may get a naval bonus and maybe an archery bonus, Due to the Location of Saxony they may also get some economic Bonus related to trade, Farming or fishing. For their Capaign my personal pick is Widukind which was a Saxon Leader that resisted Charlemagne and Christianization, he eventually lost against the franks but his history is full with battles. For their Wonder there are a lot of options to pick in Germany and Southern England.
Likeliness : This is a tough one since Saxons not only overlaps with Britons ongame, it also kind of overlaps with Teutons and Franks. It is also a remarkably requested civilization by many fans, but at the same time it is pretty similar to other civilizations present in the game, in my personal opinion it is a 2 out of 5. One of the problems with Saxons is all the intermixing with other ethnic groups , military factions and Cultures considering how messy was Central Europe at Middle ages, so delimiting them is a hard work to do.