>>> FIRST PREVIEW <<<

[Tzar]

We are proud to present the first Ferrum Aeternum official preview

Ferrum Aeternum (Eternal Iron) began life as the Medieval Historical Events Project, but our ambitions, under the leadership of Ataegina, quickly took off and now, with a team of just 8, we have launched into a gigantic, spectacular total conversion.

General Info

Ferrum Aeternum (FA) opens in 1099, at the dawning of a new and exciting century, just after the Crusaders captured Jerusalem; and will end in 1453 when, historically, Constantinople fell to the Turks and the last remnants of the Roman Empire were extinguished. These 454 years are played through with 2 turns per year, giving an expansive, intense and occasionally frantic campaign.

I can assure you we have worked hard to get the most out of the MII:TW engine; maxing out the unit limit, the Faction limit, the Map limit, the Culture and Religion limit – in fact no limits have withstood our modding onslaught!

Factions and Units

The Americas and Aztecs have been removed, but we have made up for this with certain new appendages, a few of which you can see later. Some Factions will remain a secret for the moment, but some of the new additions are The Kingdom of Georgia, The Kingdom of Raska and The Rajput States.

Kingdom Of Georgia

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Georgia became a unified state in 1008, but with the arrival of the Seljuk Turks they had to continually fight off invasions and for their independence. By 1099, King David IV had all but thrown off the shackles of Seljuk domination, and retaken much of the land lost in the Turkic invasions. Georgia is now ready to forge a new independent history over the next centuries.

No doubt from the south the Seljuks will at some point look back towards Georgia for invasion; and beyond them other Turkic tribes and Steppe people are drawn to these rich lands and may have a say in Georgian futures. Relations between the Georgians and the Cumans and Alans to the north are relatively good, but should the going get tough on the Steppe they too may look to foray into Georgian lands. The Caucasian mountains, which saved Georgia from complete Seljuk subjugation, will no doubt be important for their future survival: they provide a safe-haven should the rest of Georgia be overrun. Being surrounded by peoples who favour light armour, arrows and horses; the Georgians will have to be careful as they seek out war, and many mercenaries from the Steppes will likely have to be used. Georgia is situated on the Black Sea, and there across the seas are other expansion options, but a Georgian ruler cannot afford to neglect the homeland, unless he wants the Georgians end up like their former neighbours, the Armenians: exiled and persecuted.

***

Historically, Georgia came to dominate the Caucasus region in the 12th century, termed the Georgian Golden Age, until the Mongol invasions in the 13th century; they also had great influence over the Empire of Trebizond, formed after the Byzantine collapse in the midst of the Third Crusade.

Banners

Kingdom Of Raška

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"At first we were confused. The East thought that we were West, while the West considered us to be East. Some of us misunderstood our place in the clash of currents, so they cried that we belong to neither side - and others that we belong exclusively to one side or the other. But I tell you, Irenaeus, we are doomed by fate to be the East in the West and the West in the East, to acknowledge only heavenly Jerusalem beyond us, and here on earth: no one." - St. Sava

In the isolated mountains and hills of central Balkan is the Serbian Kingdom of Raska. Under the loose control of the Byzantine Empire, the various Serb Zhupans have a large degree of autonomy and often rebel with the support of Hungary. Although subject to the Byzantine Empire they remain largely independent, ruled by ethnic Serbs. Vukan was initally appointed by King Bodin of Zeta to rule the province of Raska, but now, through a combination of military actions and smart diplomacy, he has separated Raska from the declining Kingdom of Zeta, and put it in a position to unite and rule all the Serbian peoples.

Their homeland is reasonably safe, as the Serbs have a history of mountain warfare and the cavalry of Byzantium and Hungary will have a hard time fighting the Serbs on their own terms. Yet beyond their mountain habitat the early Serbian cavalry is not really a match for that of Hungary or Byzantium, and likely many mercenries will have to be used, making any campagins onto the north or east plains costly and dangerous. Landlocked, the main chance for Raska lies in the south. Byzantium holds a narrow strip of coastland to the southwest of Raska; surely the first target for any Serbian leader - access to the Adriatic would open up sea trade for Serbia across the eastern Mediterranean, and would fund further advances against Byzantium. The Byzantines themselves are hard pressed from the Turks in the east, recently losing all of Anatolia - they have little time at the moment to pay much attention to the small Kingdom of Raska. Byzantium, however, should not be underestimated, despite their apparent decline. Indeed, rather than make war with their neighbours, Raska could utilise their numerous family links with the Bulgarians to launch a joint attack on Byzantium or Hungary, who are becoming major players themselves in the Balkans. They have absorbed the Croats immediately to the north of Raska - does the same fate await the Serbs? Wedged between these two powerful peoples, Serbia must be careful how they advance.

***

Historically, this kingdom would last until the 12th century when in 1166 Stefan Nemanja came to power. He too, like the former rulers of Serbia, tried to find a way to make Raska independent. During the Byzantine-Venice wars, Stefan Nemanja declared independence, but Byzantium managed to end the war with Venice and invaded Serbia. Stefan Nemanja surrendered and was taken away to Constantinople and later reigned as a puppet king. But with the death of the Byzantium emperor, Stefan Nemanja managed to conquer Zeta, then Kosovo, parts of Macedonia and the eastern parts of today's Serbia. Byzantium tried to recapture the lands, but failed. Stefan Nemanja ruled until 1195 when he stepped down from the throne and appointed his son, Stefan I, as the ruler of Serbia.

Since the Curia already had ambitions to spread its influence to the Balkans as well, Stefan used these propitious circumstances to obtain his crown from the Pope, thereby becoming the first Serbian king, in 1217. In Byzantium, his brother Sava managed to secure autocephaly for the Serbian Church and became the first Serbian archbishop in 1219. Thus the Serbs acquired both forms of independence: temporal and religious.

Banners

Rajput States

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Rajput States are a collection of clans and kingdoms spread over India from Punjab to Bengal. The Rajputs themselves are one of the Kshatriya (military and ruling classes in Hinduism), known for their valor, chivalry and mercy in war. There is much fighting among the individual states, but recently they have been united against a common enemy, and now it is the Rajputs who are leading the defence of India from the invading Muslims. With the aftermath of the Crusades in the west, religious warfare is now moving east and is becoming even more fierce - where most other Middle Eastern nations fell to the Muslim expansion, the Rajputs would much rather fight to the death than renounce their Hinduism for Islam.

Once the Muslims are defeated, if, indeed, they ever are, the Rajputs may seek to unite all of India. The in-fighting needs to be combated first, but then, from a powerful stronghold on the Indian sub-continent, the Rajputs could really take the fight to the Muslims in the west, and may even involve themselves in a three way religious war in the Levant. However, from the north there may be even greater threats than the Muslims. The Steppe people, using the horse and the bow, are currently just small groups of nomads, but should they be brought together by some strong leader, India and its riches may be their target.

Banners

The Map

We have been very ambitious with the map, and are in the early stages of crafting one stretching from the Canary Islands to Bangladesh and from Finland to the Horn of Africa. This is arguably the largest map TWC has ever seen, and we are very excited about the possiblities this map will offer us. You can see can an early screenshot of the minimap below.

Historical Events

We have not neglected our origins, and in addition to plenty of new historic event pop-ups, there will be faction specific events too: events that may well have an effect on how you will progress in the game. On the historical theme, we will have new faction, unit and building descriptions, all of which have been deeply researched. There are also hundreds of additional names for all factions and new titles, traits and ancillaries.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Graphical Aspects

The whole look of the game has been re-done. From new UI’s to new Princess portraits to new strat models, no graphical element has been overlooked.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Miscellaneous Features

• Landmarks, such as the Pyramids, present on campaign map and battle map
• An Area of Recruitment system
• Independent cities and minor factions represented by Rebels and AOR units
• Historical figures emerge in-game with historical events
• New Strat models
• New City models
• Generals can construct permanent stone field forts

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Landmarks

New Strat and City Models

Historical figure - King Baldwin

New Captains and Generals - Roman (byzantium)

List of material kindly lent by other mods:

• Bulgaria TW - Bulgarian units
• joedreck - Banner & Symbol MOD
• Salty - Shields mod
• MADTAO(BALTS)- Lithuanian units
• xeryx - Xai mod
• burrek- skins
• DisgruntledGoat - skins
• DieKugelstoßer - skins
• Charge - Map textures
• Laca's - Byzantine Unit
• riczu74 - Blockade siege icon
• Caius Britannicus - Material from 'The Crusades'
• Knights Of Honour - Georgian Shield Textures
• Blue Lotus Team - Material from 'Blue Lotus'
  

Credits

• Mod leader/skinning/coding/modelling/pretty much everything - Ataegina
• Coding and all the 'boring' (but very very important) bits - TheFirstO'Neill
• 2d Art/research/public relations - Tzar
• Mapping - gigantus
• Text/research - Mattius
• Advertising/research - Hekk and Firekiller

[knight of virtue and valor]

I am honored to be the first one to say awesome job! I will be following your progress! plus rep for you!

[Hounf of Culan]

Damn son, that is awesome!!!! I love it, looks like it will be amazing!!! You guys have made great progress so far, keep it up.

[B. Ward]

Outstanding work

[Ataegina]

well this is just a part of what we wanted to show, we're going start the work for the second preview, hopefully this time ill not take 6 months and we ill show another features and factions

[Tzar]

Thank you guys, we worked hard for this but your comments will give us energy to work even harder!

[Stefan the Great]

Good job and historical accurate flags,good choice Tzar...Keep up the good work...What about historical battles , it would be good to make Battle at Kosovo field...

[Ataegina]

kosovo battle and many other battles are on our list for historical battles

[Stefan the Great]

kosovo battle and many other battles are on our list for historical battles

Great then....

[firekiller]

nice work here

[aarronpeake]

awesome simple awesome cant say more than that

[Socal_infidel]

Fantastic preview! Looks like you put a ton of work into this! Congrats, mates!

[AnthoniusII]

Exelent job guys!!!!

[\Vazul's Ghost/]

All I can say is wow! Tzar you must truly be honoured for simultaneoudly being part of two aweome mods; Ferrum Aeternum and Tzardoms!

Excellent work Ferrum Aeternum team!

[Tzar]

All I can say is wow! Tzar you must truly be honoured for simultaneoudly being part of two aweome mods; Ferrum Aeternum and Tzardoms!

Excellent work Ferrum Aeternum team!

I am my friend!

[TheFirstONeill]

It is very gratifying to recieve encouragment from so many renowned modders within this forum, thanks guys


cheers
Jason

[B. Ward]

As I said earlier great job, but I noticed something you may need to fix.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Where you see the circles, flip those graphics upside down. The uv map on the banners for the mini-spear banners is upside down so you'll have to flip those textures for them to show correctly ingame. Otherwise you'll have upside down symbols on your battle banners.

[Tzar]

Thanks

[TemplarLord]

Seems very promising, I will keep track of this one...

Ali Srbija kao jedna od naroda...?

[Ataegina]

nice find, i'm sure this ill be fixed asap