In a recent
Steam community update, Taleworlds has revealed the lore behind Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord's faction, the Vlandians. The detailed post also includes a behind-the-scene peek at how the team designed the faction's backstory, and their accompanying weapons.
The Vlandians are loosely based on the feudal states of early medieval Europe and in particular the Normans, "the Norse raiders who settled in France then carved out kingdoms for themselves in the UK, Sicily, and the Holy Land".
As for the weapons themselves? "Vlandian arms and armour are based on that of Western Europe from the 9th to the early 12th centuries," writes Callum. "This was a period of relatively fast evolution, and leaves us with some balancing issues. For example, there are textual references to what appear to be two-handed swords in this period, notably as wielded by Swabian mercenaries at the 1053 battle of Civitate, but as far as we know no artistic depictions or specimens.
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