Manding/Mali Empire

**sumskilz** · March 24, 2009, 12:18 AM

With how far your map extends south, it seems a shame not to include the Ghana and Manding Empires. These two could easily comprise one faction as the Manding Empire was really a successor that grew out of the collapse of the Ghana Empire. Unfortunately, you may not have anymore faction slots left, but these two empires were considerably more powerful and wealthy than some of the factions that are included. Furthermore, they could comprise a very unique Muslim faction in a part of the map that would be otherwise be empty. If it is not possible to include them as a separate faction, I'd suggest special care be taken to represent them as part of the minor factions.

**Copperknickers II** · March 24, 2009, 05:21 PM

Our faction list is full afaik. All factions are chosen for gameplay reasons. We do not want too many powerful factions, some have to be challenging.

**OutlawVR** · March 24, 2009, 08:14 PM

Im not too familiar with these empires, but how much interaction did they have with the other factions included in the game (other then the occasional trade)? It seems they were pretty isolated from the rest due to the Sahara.

**sumskilz** · March 24, 2009, 10:34 PM

There was steady caravan trade across the Sahara and along the coast. The Mali Empire was tremendously wealthy. In particular, they traded salt, gold, ivory, and slaves with North Africa. The emperor Mansa Musa spent and gave away so much gold in Egypt on his pilgrimage to Mecca that gold was devalued in the region for several years folowing. Mali famously appears on the 1375 Catalan atlas.

It's true that both Empires engaged in very little warfare with other major factions, with the exception of the war between Almoravids and Ghana, which contributed to the downfall of the latter. This fact may make Ghana/Mali less appealing as a major playable faction, but its territories should be extremely difficult to conquer. Though, not often appearing in Christian histories, Mali was the superpower of its region. Its army contained a wide variety of cavalry from light to heavy, as well as spear and bow armed infantry. Manding soldiers often served as mercenaries in Moorish armies.

**Copperknickers II** · March 25, 2009, 04:25 PM

Thank you for the info

**Azim** · March 26, 2009, 06:10 PM

Sadly, we've already hit the 30 faction limit. It's too laate to make any changes now; we would loose a lot of valuable time on a project that has already seen some delays. However, we will represent these factions as well as possible as active rebels.

**sumskilz** · April 09, 2009, 02:40 AM

Originally Posted by Azim

Sadly, we've already hit the 30 faction limit. It's too laate to make any changes now; we would loose a lot of valuable time on a project that has already seen some delays. However, we will represent these factions as well as possible as active rebels.

Understandable. West African music is one of my specialties professionally; in the course of my studies I've learned quite a bit about the history of the region as well, so in the interest of historical accuracy I thought I'd bring it up. Unfortunately, there is little pertinent information written in English. Most of the primary sources are Arabic accounts, but there has been some scholarly work done in French (which I can read okay). If you need any help fleshing out that corner of the map, feel free to message me.