Harthgate’s Lords of Wessex

Hello fellow Crusader Kings, my name is Edgar Harthgate. Today I have for you an expansion covering the Petty Kingdom of Wessex and other neighboring realms to create a more unique atmosphere for the region during the 867 Start Date.

Features:

– [Characters]: plenty of new characters along with their Houses and Dynasties, based on historical characters where enough information is available. These characters are currently present in the Petty Kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia.

– [Events]: I have begun the early stages of implementing story events for characters. There is currently only one Story event available, in order to to experience it you must start as Godric af Cantware in 867.

– [Cultures]: a small selection of new cultures have been included. The Angles, in order to correct the status of the Anglo-Saxons as a hybrid culture, and the Jutes. The Jutes were a split culture, they were once present in England and eventually joined with the Anglo-Saxons while some of them remained in Western Denmark and are now present there during the 867 Start Date.

– [Landed Nobles]: new Rulers to play as with differing character backgrounds, who boast historical or cultural representation where appropriate. These characters are currently present in the Petty Kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia, and the Jarldom of Jylland. [Currently Available]: [12]

– [Distribution of Titles]: Rulers with excess titles have had them handed out to new vassals. If you like to play as future King Alfred, don’t worry. He will still have seven counties once he inherits the Petty Kingdom of Wessex.

– [Traditions]: unique regional traditions have been added to Anglo-Saxon culture. These are based loosely on the reforms to Anglo-Saxon economics and military organization spearheaded by Alfred during his reign and continued by his son Edward the Elder after his death.

– [New Tradition]: Burhs focuses Anglo-Saxon culture on the improvement of its Castles and Cities and provides culture-wide economic bonuses, defensive bonuses, and Stationed Men-at-Arms bonuses. Available to cultures who are descendant of Old Saxon culture or are of West Germanic Heritage.

– [New Tradition]: Fyrds expands upon the original Hirds tradition with two new Men-at-Arms regiments; the Ceorls, a skirmisher regiment, and the Thegns, a pseudo-heavy light cavalry regiment. These new Men-at-Arms are designed to allow the Anglo-Saxon to field effective counters to Norse unique Men-at-Arms. Available to cultures who are descendant of Old Saxon culture or are of West Germanic Heritage.

– [New Tradition]: Herepaths is meant to represent the connectivity established between castles and settlements by way of a system of hidden paths and military roads. It provides bonuses to travel safety, movement speeds of all types, increased experience gains, and access to Becoming and Adventurer by choice. Available to any culture.

– [New Tradition]: Rota Organization was a system of rotating and maintaining stationed armies, men at war cant tend their fields after all. To solve this problem the Anglo-Saxons would rotate in and out parts of their total Fyrd, a portion of their armies fighting their wars or standing guard at staging grounds to respond to threats while the rest remained at home to ensure that there would be food for the realm in the aftermath. It provides bonuses to monthly income, and significant changes to culture-wide Men-at-Arms, Levies, and even Garrisons. Available to cultures who are descendant of Old Saxon culture or are of West Germanic Heritage.

– [New Men-at-Arms]: Ceorls are Skirmishers consisting of freemen and sellswords who make up the bulk of a Lord’s Fyrd. Unlike normal skirmishers, Ceorls can counter Spearmen in addition to Heavy Infantry and have increased advantage in local terrain.

– [New Men-at-Arms]: Thegns are pseudo-Heavy Light Cavalry. Mounted response troops consisting of aspiring lords and loyal retainers, designed to be a mounted version of Huscarls. Thegns counter Heavy Infantry, Archers, and have a half-counter against Skirmishers. If you were looking for a new heavy hitter, these combined with the improvements provided by Burhs challenge Varangian Veterans for their title.

Details:

Lords of Wessex aims to create a more unique representation of Wessex than what is already available. To that end multiple characters, dynasties, and houses have been added; while several characters have been landed as historical vassals of the Petty Kingdom of Wessex and neighboring regions such as the Petty Kingdom of Mercia.

Where possible these characters are based on historical data available to the public, while others inspired by popular culture or a historical indivudials representation in popular culture. For example, Odda of Devonshire, along with his father, were both historically Ealdormen of Devonshire in the past. Odda himself has been represented in popular culture as Odda the Elder.

In a few instances historical characters already present have been slightly changed or altered to better reflect history, or their representation in popular culture. One instance of this is Aethelred of Wessex, who at the time of his death had two sons. He was also known to be close with a man named Wulfhere, who may have been father of his wife Wulfthryth and held lands near Wiltshire and Gloucester.

As Lords of Wessex has grown I have expanded the scope to cover changes to Anglo-Saxon culture both in the present, meaning the 867 Start Date, and in the past. Part of this has been the introduction of new Men-at-Arms such, as the Ceorls and Thegns, and the inclusion of semi-historical cultural traditions. Both of which aim to have quite the impact on how you might traditionally play a Anglo-Saxon ruler.

Compatibility:

– Parts of Lords of Wessex interacts with vanilla files, currently this does include overrides or replacers for historical characters. Please check the Compatibility folder if you are concerned that Lords of Wessex may be incompatible with your current setup for a complete breakdown of the files and keys affected.

– Instructions have been included in the compatibility folder to provide limited assistance for potential compatibility issues.

Notes:

– In the future I would like to continue to expand the scope of Lords of Wessex to England at large. For now it is limited to Wessex, Mercia, and now Jylland during the 867 Start Date.

– Currently only English and Polish Localizations are available, please feel free to contribute a translation into your preferred language so that it can be included.

– If you have any feedback, suggestions, or bug reports please inform me through Steam.