Wallachia and Moldavia Research (XIII-XV AD)
Make the family complete! Give us Dracula!
Establishment of Draculesti or Dracula dinasty, branch of Basarab dinasty.
Relations with members of the Order of the Dragon, Hungary and Holy Roman Empire.
Relations with Moldavia ruled by Vlad Dracula's cousin Stephen Bogdan-Musat, direct heir of the colonist from Terra Maramorus, Transylvania.
Relations between the childhood friends, Mathias, Dracula and Stephen.
Civil wars with the members of the Danesti branch of the Basarab dinasty and war with the Turks.
Campaign south of the Danube with 30,000 victims including women and children, beheaded or impaled near the banks of the river or in the Wallachian capital.
Revenge for the death of his father and his crusader brother being buried alive by the Saxon merchants and local nobles, Dracula's feasts.
Sadistic sense of humour, torture, psychological war of Dracula. 20,000 Turks impaled in the besieged capital of Targoviste. Having dinner amongst the impaled and still living and cutting the limbs of others.
Social cleansing of the population by offering feasts and then burning the saloon and the building. He wanted to have a European capital without beggars and poor.
If you refused the invitation at a feast you were killed at the spot if not after having dinner.
He tried to kill all the nobles because he was not sure who assassinated and tortured his family.
Burning his own villages and fortresses and forts only to not permit the Ottomans to do so. He, unlike his cousin, Stephen of Moldavia who had a very strong system of citadels relied more on pitched battles, ambushes and night raids.
He also used the scorched earh tactic, desolating the entire country, burning grains, killing lifestock, poisoning food and water sources, leaving corpses to rot so to start epidemics in the enemy camp.
Impaling, boiling alive, hanging, skinning alive, cutting limbs of thieves and pretenders, crooked merchants. He even cut the sexual organs of the outlaws or the tongue to liers and deceivers.
He was very sarcastic. He used to wash his hands in the blood of his enemies before having supper. Also he received a guest in his home full of dead bodies and hang him from the ceiling were the aer was fresher when the guest said he is deranged by the awful smell.
The pikes were blunt for a longer process and a greater pain. He would impale officers in longer stakes to show their status.
Dracula offended by the Ottoman emissaries who refused to take off their turbans nailed them to their heads and sent them to Istanbul.
The people also feared and respected him, even now many wait for "his" return. Dracula put a golden cup at a public well and only when the cup was stolen did the people knew he was dead, or... "sleeping".
Night attack and sabotage in the Turkish camp, they dressed like Turks and in the panic created, the enemy soldiers started slaughtering each other.
Failed assassination of the Sultan and treason from the Wallachian nobles in favor of Dracula's younger brother.
Defeat after 90,000 men are sent against him and his brother Radu the Handsom, captain of the Jannisary organises a coup.
Saxons counterfeit a letter to the Sultan with Dracula's seal and Mathias imprisons him.
Dracula retakes the country with help from Hungarians, Transylvanians and Moldavians.
After they leave he is caught by surprise by the Ottomans, and unable to gather the great army.
Dracula is killed together with his 4,000 strong and loyal guard of Moldavian, veterans and trusted nobles who fight to the very last breath alongside him.
He is beheaded and his head is kept in honey and impaled in a stake at Constantinople to show that he is dead.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
House of Dracula: Vlad II "the Devil" Dracul (the Dragon), Vlad III "the Impaler" Dracula (Son of the Dragon), Vlad IV "the Monk"
The territories were known by the Byzantines as Ruso-Vlachia or Mavro-Vlachia for Moldavia and Ungro-Vlahia for Wallachia and by the Ottomans as Kara-Bogdana, the Persians called Wallachia Kara-Ulag and Terra Lytua - Ilaut. So most of the factions knew them as Vlachs. Bogdan I, also from Maramorus was independent in 1359 when he had defeated Dragos but his son Latcu accepted the vassalage of the king of Hungary and Poland so a good candidate as a house of the Hungarian Crown. It seems in Maramorus there was civil strife so many of the local Knyaz went to, de facto colonise lands owned by the king but only de jure, in title. Alexander the Good was backed by Hungary in 1400 but turned against them and allied with the Poles who failed to aid him against the Ottomans and he attacked them instead when they mingled in the civil war of Lithuania. Before that, he participated in the wars against the Teutonic Order. He also granted rights to merchants from Poland and Lithuania. Stephen the Great even if he was backed by Janos Hunyadi and Vlad the Impaler accepted the vassalage of Poland and crushed Mathias Corvin, the son of Hunyadi when he invaded the country so after 1400 Moldavians turn to Polonians for assistance. Even so, relations with the Polish king worsen and it is Mathias who becomes the protector of both Vlad Dracula and Stephen Musat always sending reinforcements against the Ottomans and even granting Stephen the Great land in Transylvania for aiding his vassal, Vlad who was also the cousin of Stephen. The father of Stephen the Great, Bogdan Musat was also helped acceding the throne by the Hungarians and a vassal to them. Stephen reconsidered his allegiance after being invaded by the Tartars and the Ottomans subsequently, in many waves. Later he even fought the Polonians that also invaded him so his only true friends were his childhood partners. Vlad the Impaler was born in Hungarian held lands and the Corvins started their career in Hatzeg. Wallachians on the other hand even if making alliances with the Polonians were very carefull not to upset their Hungarian friends and many times accepted vassalage, Mircea the Elder, member of the Basarab dinasty participated in Hungary's crusades and Vlad the Impaler was supported by Mathias Corvin untill he upset the Saxons and as Saxons were again his subjects and good merchants he chose to back them, that and the fact that he was seeking to become the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Vlad the Impaler was member of the Dracula dinasty, title gained by his father also called Vlad when he joined the Order of the Dragon and renouncing his Basarab name. He killed most of the other members of the Basarab dinasty to extinguish this obsolete dinasty and name and give another significance to his successors. He was a vassal of the Hungarians and a frontier guard for the commercial routes and merchants of the Holy Roman Empire. Vlad the Impaler was also the grandson of Mircea the Elder. The Hungarians intervened in a civil war on behalf of Mircea and from that point onward supported his successors to maintain or gain the throne in exchange for vassalage. Vlad Dracula fled to Bogdan Musat of Moldavia, his uncle and his cousin Stephen where he was educated and became very close to Stephen promising to aid one another, when his father Vlad and bigger brother Mircea, successor to the throne were assassinated. Mircea was buried alive by the nobility and the merchants of Targoviste. His younger brother Radu the Handsome was raised and educated by the Turks together with Vlad but the later fled to Moldavia because he was not contempt to be in the hands of the Turks after confronting the Turks with his father and older brother when they met to sign a truce. Mircea was chosen to participate in a crusade of the Order of the Dragon led by Hungary on behalf of his father with the envoy of the pope, he bared the name of his famous grandfather and was loved by the people and the pride of the family. Unfortunately the result of the crusade was negative and his younger brothers were to be sacrificed by being given as hostages to the Sultan in order to preserve the peace, as was the custom. Radu converted to Islam and was pleased to be adopted by the Ottomans. That happened even if at first the Sultan tried to rape him after a party and he fled, climbing a tree and trying to hide after he had stabbed the Sultan in the leg. With time he started to accept the Sultans proposals and became his lover, spending time with him and being by his side day and night. He even had an affair with his son and heir to the throne. He became the captain of the Janissary and was successeful in his campaigns. He died of siphillis while he was Bey of Wallachia. Both Radu and Vlad learned logic, literature, horsemanship and other warfare tactics, including the language. The father of Vlad the Impaler willingly gave his smaller children to the Ottomans, to be educated in their own fashion including the presentation of the Quran in exchange for support. Vlad being older and remembering the horrors of the Ottomans couldn't hide his hate and was reticent to their teachings and felt like a captive. From time to time he was jailed as matters of discipline. He also had another illegitimate or son to another wife successor also called Vlad, half-brother of Vlad the Impaler, later known as Vlad the Monk and becoming contender to the throne alongside other members of the Basarab dinasty, the Dan dinasty branch that the father of Vlad the Impaler tried to extinguish. Because there were many step-brothers and cousins years of civil wars fallowed. Unfortunatelly his Moldavian uncle Bogdan was also assassinated and he fled to the Transylvanian Voivode and future king of Hungary, Janos Hunyadi who helped him finish his studies and made him familiar with Mathias. He was sent to attack the puppet voivode of Wallachia on behalf of the Turks and both him and his cousin Stephen were aided by Janos and Mathias to accede the throne, even if at first Vlad acceded the throne on behalf of the Ottomans and was against the Hungarians. Vlad sent a large contingent of cavalry, 6,000 men to help Stephen gain the throne of Moldavia. Even if Stephen defeated the invading Mathias, later they sent troops for each other and because Stephen aided Vlad who was invaded by the Turks, Mathias granted him land in Transylvania and the former foes became friends, afterall their fathers Vlad II Dracul and Bogdan II Musat were both close to Janos Hunyadi, the father of Mathias and so was the grandfather of Vlad the Impaler, Mircea the Elder famed for his crusade alongside Janos. Janos even helped Stephen against his own uncle, Petru who assassinated Bogdan by beheading him on the spot, while attending to a wedding of one of his Bojars, perhaps even in front of Stephen who barely escaped with his life and ran in Transylvania seeking refuge at the court of Janos and then heading to the court of his cousin, also backed by Janos for gaining the throne, to collaborate against the step-brother of Bogdan II who had troubles with another contender to the throne Alexandrel, a nephew. The grandfather of Stephen was Alexander the Good, close friend to Mircea the Elder. Vlad, similar to his grandfather participated to Hungarian led Crusades and received reinforcements when attacked, he crossed the Danube and desolated the area, sending to heaven all the garissons. Mathias received money from the pope, hired 12,000 mercenaries and aquired 10 Danube warships. Vlad when crossing the Danube even killed women and children in revenge for the civillians the Turks killed in their incursions, to whipe them out and make them tremble. He burned two towns and counted almost 24,000 victims without including the citizens burned in their own houses or beheaded Turks on the way. The pope, the Italian states and the Saxons of Transylvania celebrated his succes. The Venetians from the court of Mathias were also full of joy and the Genoes from Caffa thanked Vlad for the fact that he saved them from 300 warships of the Sultan who were prepared to attack them. He was called Athleta Christi by the pope. The Sultan disgusted by the grousome deeds of his enemy who refused to pay 10,000 ducats and offer 500 recruits, cancelled his plans to attack the Genoese from Crimea and sent about 100,000 men against the Impaler, who "respected" his generals by impaling them on the tallest pike, to show their rank. Vlad organized a surprise attack during the night that resulted with another 15,000 victims. Radu led the Janissary in Wallachia hoping to become Bey of Wallachia when Vlad fled to Stephen, leaving behind his forces that were utterly destroyed without his guidance, by the Sipahi but eventually with help from his mercenaries, Vlad managed to get back his country, the nobility was very shifty and turned to Radu who promised they would regain their authority diminished by his older brother. He suffered a crushing defeat against his younger brother who besieged Vlad's eagle nest, the Poienari Castle. Eventualy, due to numerous wars, Vlad III Dracula, Knight of the Order of the Dragon couldn't pay his mercenaries any more, even if after the defeat against Radu III the Handsome who managed to become Bey, he had won another three victories and turned to Mathias who at first accepted to aid him but then ambushed, captured and imprisoned his ally because he was tied by his fellow knight and the threat of the Ottomans in the eyes of the Holy Roman nobles and lords and was better needed in the east as warlord than as an Emperor with mostly diplomatic attributs. Seldom the Imperial Army would be formed by gathering all the dependencies, more often border guards would confront the invaders or the rebels in or near their domains. The Saxon merchants, tired of Vlad's agressions who was very authoritarian, harrased them and sometime impaled them even, or thretened to do so, presented him as a foul man, capable of all kind of attrocities and cousing horror. The western world which before celebrated his victories, without knowing his warfare methods, the way he ruled his country and the attitude towards allies, changed their perspective regarding the role of Dracula in the east seeing that he started to use the methods of persecuting the enemies against his own allies, he was uncontrollable and dangerous in their eyes, he simply made no consent, everybody had to comply, there were no excuses, he allowed no arguments, there was no return from his decisions and visions, implacable convictions. Taking advantage of this, the Saxons even counterfeited a letter that was supposedly sent by him to the Sultan asking for a truce or that was indeed the case. He did that before, in his youth and career start so the suspicions of Mathias were understandable. He left behind personal sympathies and ambitions, even if it was possible to be a trick of either the merchents or Vlad who wanted to deceive the Turks in thinking he has changed his mind and acted how was best for his country and role in the Order of the Dragon, anti-Ottoman combatant and in the views of the civilised west of course. This was the epiphany of the Hunyadi-Corvin/Corvinus, Musat, Dragon/Dracul/Dracula/Draculea/Dracules/Dragulios-Basarab alliance and the key to overcome a common foe, collaboration and de facto assistance not only de jure. The successors of Basarab untill Mircea the Elder, turned against the Hungarians also because of family ties, being relatives with the Bulgarians and acted as a buffer state and intermediated the conflicts of the Balkans. They mostly fought over the key settlements and fortified areas of Severin and Vidin. In the eyes of the pope Vidin would have been a good stronghold for massive invasions in Byzantine and especially Bulgarian held lands, as the Bulgarians were excommunicated and deserved punishment for their treachery. Later, the Ottomans invaded and the old grudges were left behind. Still Wallachia suffered from internal strife due to the two competing branches of the Basarab dinasty, Dan and Dracula. The father of Vlad the Impaler hated the Dans because his brother gathered an army of mercenaries from Transylvania and received proffesional Byzantine soldiers from Constantinople to depose his other brother sustained by the Ottomans and had all the glory. Hungary accepted him as vassal in exchange for better conditions for the Saxon merchants and protection. Dan afterwards participated in a self ruled crusade and was victorious against the Turks killing about 36,000 men. They had better popularity and represented a great threat for him and his children and out of jealousy spilt his own blood but his successor was even more grousome, making sure that everyone sees the defeated foes and impaling them individually on long pikes while they were still alive, in the same manner that his older brother died, while he still draw breath. He revenged his death by also impaling among thieves, crooked merchants. He displayed the forrest of damned souls to every diplomat he received and if the diplomats were outraged he would impale them as well. Everybody knows of the case when the Turkish diplomats refused to take away their turbans because of traditions and he nailed them to their heads to make sure they wouldn't fall off or the encounter of the Ottomans of their own men, 40,000 impaled and displayed on the roads of the deserted city they were besieging. He was a foul soul but he had suffered, boy did he suffer. He used to cut off the hands of treacherous thieves, pretenders and betrayers and the legend says people knew Dracula was dead when someone dared to steel a golden cup from a public fountain. The Dans eventually replace the Dracules with all the efforts of the father of Vlad the Impaler to get rid of the offsprings of his own brothers, his nephews, in the name of conserving his own hereditary line, they just refused to die out and were constantly better sustained by the nobility and the people. They probably fled to the Ottomans for support as many usurpers did. The Hunyadi-Corvin/Corvinus dinasty/family established in 1360 extinguished in 1504, the Basarab/Bassaraba/Bazarad one established in 1310 in 1529 and the Musat established in 1363/67 in 1704. Mathias himself was an "Impaler" as he impaled, tortured and beheaded the leaders of the three nations of Transylvania, Szekely, Saxons and Nobles who started a riot, presumably supported by Stephen the Great in 1467. Stephen also gained Kilia, a port to the Black Sea, owned by either Hungary or their Wallachian vassals before. Mathias attacked the Moldavians and burned three major cities Baia, Bacau and Roman killing, as his fellow Knight of the Order of the Dragon, Dracula women and children also. Many innocent civillians perished. He returned to Baia, the former capital of the mark of Hungary in northern Moldavia who the Hungarians still claimed and fortified the area. In a night full of fire and smoke the two armies met once more melting each other untill the dawn, at the gates. Mathias was shot three times in the back by arrow fire and the Hungarians fled. The cavalry captain of the Moldavian army failed to cut their retreat and was later executed for either his incompetence or treachery. The Hungarians buried 500 cannons and their plunder so that the Moldavians don't find them. From that moment onward Hungarians ceased to claim land in the Moldavian state and aknowledged them as a self-ruling faction and not usurpers. Mathias lost 10,000 men even if attacking with 40,000 and Stephen lost 7,000 from 12,000. He was lucky he preserved his personal guard of 200 men on cavalry backs, the other troops fighting dismounted. His cavalry guard protected their wounded king with their own lives and managed to save him with great casualties, courage and loyalty. In Transylvania the three nations were unsatisfied by the fact that he cancelled the tax exemptions, possibly to raise funds for his professional Black Army with mostly mercenary troops of the Hussites from Bohemia as pavisiers, Germans and Silesians as both armigieri and armati. The Serbian Gusars received local members as well and the regiment became a permanent one in the army. The role of local nobles in the army was diminished in favour of permanet, professional troops, they no longer had to gather men from their domains and lead them to battle. As stated above he started to punish Stephen but barely escaped with his life changing his feelings towards him and adopting a more friendly strategy with the help of his vassal and cousin of Stephen, Vlad and because of nostalgia, even if Mathias was 10-11 years younger he would have still remembered Vlad and Stephen when visiting his father or heard stories about them. It is almost certain that Vlad and Mathias spent time together during their studies and possibly exchanged thoughts and ideas. We know that when the two were helped to gain the throne he was about 13 years old and they were 23-24 and still Mathias was involved in politics from an early age proved by the consemnation of him being a mediator in the conflict between Saxon merchants and Vlad even if he was only 14 years old. Because of the instability from, before autonomous regions and because he had reconciled the Saxons with Dracula at his 14th annyversary in the past and didn't worked out he knew he had to take grave measure and imprison his companion and tried to "cure" him when the merchants of Hermannstadt presented evidence of Vlad's high treason. He himself had been falsely accused and imprisoned in his youth but the people asked for his liberation and possibly hoped the same to happen for his comrade. It was grim and grave but had to be done, especially because his father started his career as Voivode of Transylvania. The grim thing about it was that both Mircea the Elder, the grandfather of Vlad the Impaler and Mircea Dracula, his elder brother fought alongside Janos Hunyadi and probably the family ties and the title of Knight of the Order of the Dragon and Vassal of the Hungarian Crown saved the Impaler from being impaled.
Both "Impalers" had similar live events and this probably tied them, both lost their older brothers to assassins, both were taken hostages, imprisoned and persecuted, both were betrayed by their nobles and targets for assassins, both were involved in politics from very early ages, both were Knights of the Order of the Dragon, both had to impose extreme measures and reforms and hire mercenaries for proffesional armies and both hated the Ottomans because they killed their relatives or relatives died while fighting them as was the case of Janos who died of bubonic plague after he won a crusade over Belgrade, misarably, in his tent. Vlad met his death while he tried to pacify his country once more with help from the Transylvanian Voivode led by the Voivode himself, Stephen V Bathory and reinforcements from Hungary and Moldavia, after being released from captivity. Bathory left and Vlad was deserted once more by the nobles and protected until their last breath by his personal guard of Moldovans sent by Stephen to aid him. Stephen and Mathias had a slow, painful and unglorious death, being consumed by disease and paralysed. Mathias condition also severed because his wife was constantly poisoning him with mercury. Win against the Turks and being betrayed by your love, if that is not "romantic" I don't know what is. Later the role of frontier guard was taken by Stephen the Great who was also called Athleta Christi by the pope. Janos Hunyadi had received the same title for his "Long Campaign" even if losing at Varna and Kosovo. He managed to take his revange at Belgrade. Because he was betrayed by a member of the House of Dans or Danesti, Vladislav II of Wallachia who didn't show at Kosovo and later even changed sides, created the future crusader of three generations tradition Vlad III Dracula, Knight of the Order of the Dragon and Athleta Christi, Voivode of Wallachia, Ban of Severin, Duke of Amlas and Fogaras and Vassal of the Crown of Hungary, protector of the Italian and Saxon merchants, western civillisation and of Christianity, a man capable of taking desperate measures in desperate times, "the Impaler", model for Bram Stoker's novel Dracula and a Hollywood favorite.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Recently historians found proofs that he was involved together with Mathias in a campaign similar to that from Bulgaria but in Bosnia where he also slaughtered thousands of Turks and impaled them. Dracula also used troops dressed in Turkish clothing and burned many settlements together with Vuk "the Dragon" Brankovic, also a member of the Order of the Dragon it seems. The Ottomans tried to ambush them in a forrest but Vlad used the cavalry to rear charge them. The victory was complete, on behalf of Mathias Corvinus, their suzerain.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Moldavians, except from the time of Alexander the Good when they fought alongside the Polish against the Teutones and invaded Poland when the army was involved in a civil war in Lithuania for not giving aid against the Ottomans stood in their country only offering support for the invaded Wallachians from time to time. In the 13th century they were invaded by Halych and joined the Hungarians against them between 1231-1257. After Tartars destroyed Kiev in 1240, most terrifiant enemy, especialy for the northern Bolokhoveni they started to supply the Tartars with mounted troops. Most of the troops were allied with the Cumans and participated with them and the Rus armies against the Tartars at Khalka river in 1223 but changed sides when they saw the Tartars were stronger and invaded Transylvania and Hungary with them in 1284-1285 but as mercenaries most likely. They could thus be allied troops for either the Cumans or Tartars or both. For Hungarians as well. In the 14th century they were invaded by Hungarians, Ottomans, Tartars, Polish but managed to defeat them. They made alliances with Wallachia, Poland and Theodoro. Even if de jure they were vassal to the Bulgarians they never supplied troops, only the Cumans did. Instead they helped the Polonians, Wallachians and Theodoro but never participated at major Crusades except Varna. There was a try for a major crusade, the allied forces of soverain Poland, Hungary and Brandenburg for reconquering Kilia and Akkerman or Cetatea Alba but later Stephen received news from Hungary that the Polish king wanted to place his own brother on the throne of Moldavia. They invaded with 80.000 men after Stephen invaded and pillaged Gallicia. The Poles went directly to the capital of Suceava instead of capturing the citadel of Hotin or Khotyn where Stephen later organised and ambush after the Poles failed to destroy the walls of Suceava even if they were very well prepared with cannons and stood untill they finished their provisions and beyond, suffering from famine. At Hotin Stephen ambushed the Poles who could not use their heavy knights, their strongest troops and suffered a devastating defeat. They were fallowed all the way to Cernauti, Bukovina, Border with Halych. On the way the Poles managed to rearange their lines and charge their knights but to no good use. Moldavians used guerilla warfare, ambush tactics and had a series of very strong citadels, they let the enemy invade but no enemy managed to defeat them and few returned. Citadels: Hotin or Khotin, Soroca, Tighina, Suceava, Neamt, Kilia, Cetatea Alba, Orhei, Roman, Scheia, Craciuna, Tetina. People living in Moldavia: Bordinians, Bordini, Brodnici or Brodniks remnants of the Tauroscythae, participating at the battle of Khalka river as Cuman vassals and allied to the Rus. They changed sides and rode with the Tartars; Berladniks came from Halych after a civil war in 1159, mixed Vlachs and Slavs that allied to the Cumans and devastated the colonies of Kiev at the Black sea and ports from Dnieper. In 1161 they capture an important port between Dniester and the Black Sea and this affects trade for the Kievans. Bolohoveni and other Vlachs dweled in and near the northern citadel and were agelong enemies of Halych, plundering and burning the settlements and citadels of one another. Others were present in Pocutia and were vassals to Halych and later Moldavia and Poland. Some stood with all the threats of the nomads in cities like Baia, Roman or the city port of Braila, present on the trade route between Bistritz of Nosnerland, Kronstadt, Hermannstadt, Campulung, Prahova, Braila, Vicina, Kilia and was important for the trade with Saxons, Genoese, Venetians, Byzantines and later Polish and Lithuanian merchants as well. Bordini were present here as well as border guards next to Csangos and the Szekely but on behalf of the Cumans. Another important trade center was Jassy of the Jasz people, riders of Sarmatian origin but vassals of Cumans of Black Cumania like Pechenegs and the Oghuz. They could be added to Bulgaria as vassals from Black Cumania and White Cumania from east of the Dniester to be independent. The roster of Bulgaria is better for them anyway. It could even be a playable faction if agreed, a sleeper faction but a better candidate would be Wallachia with Hungarian units for tier 1, mixed tier 2 and 70%-30% tier 3. Anyway Voivode of Moldavia and Voivode of Wallachia, Ban of Severin, Knyaz or Castellan of Terra Harszoc, Duke of Fogaras and Amlas should still be given as titles for Hungary even if Moldavia and Wallachia will be playable or emergent. The titles of Ban of Severin, Voivode of Wallachia or Transalpina and Duke of Fogaras could be suspended if Wallachia is not conquered and vassal, if enemy then Hungarians could reconquer it and promise the titles to other more loyal pretenders. Even Transylvania can be playable as not only once did it split, including the formation of Transdanubia from Transylvania and with it's troops. If playable Transylvania could have the fallowing titles: Voivode of Transylvania, Count of Hermannstadt, Count of Szekelys and even Castellan or Knyaz of Hatzeg, Voivode of Terra Maramorus, Duke of Fogaras, Castellan of Hunyady, Arad, Cuculiensis Castri or Nosnerland and Hungary could have the titles: Ban of Temeswar, Ban of Croatia and Dalmatia, Ban of Bosnia, Ban of Slavonia, Ban of Macso and Ban of Styria. This division could be made if someone would want to represent the civil war and Hungary having more armies to rely on, armies who sometimes fought each other: Hungarian army, Croatian army, Transylvanian army, Wallachian army, Saxon army, Szekely army and even the armies of Terra Harsoc, Terra Maramorus, Banate of Severin and Banate of Macso. This can also be used to make sure that Hungary is represented and will stay as it was the most important player in central area and the greatest threat to the Holy Roman Empire, Byzantines, Ottomans, Kievans and Poland. I would suggest three representatives: Hungary and Croatia, Transylvania and Wallachia, all playable and the last two sleeper factions. Transylvania instead of Hussite Pavisiers could have the Greatswords and heavily armoured crossbowmen with kite shields. Also armoured macemen, dismounted knights and men at arms with halberds and poleaxes and medieval picks. Most importand and unique: Szekelys and Saxons.
Wallachians were much more involved sending aid to the Bulgarians, Serbians, Byzantines, Hungarians and participating in all the major Crusades from the Balkans. They were preocupied by all the Balkans and not only just by their own country.
Options: Hungary and Croatia united and Transylvania playable, vassal and sleeper faction that can split, Wallachia to Hungary, sleeper and Moldavia to Bulgaria, sleeper or emergent or both Wallachia and Bulgaria vassal to Bulgaria, sleepers. Scripted that Wallachia should become vassal to Hungary or independent and Moldavia to Poland, sleeper, emergent vassal or independent.
Edit: Made some further reasearch and gave it some thought and because of the new sleeper faction system I came up with this proposal, sustained by the fallowing facts:
With a total of 12 very strong citadels, strict governing also using the scorched earth technique, impaling or beheadings on the spot as disciplinary punishments for both enemies and citizens, especially for peasants caught unarmed with at least a bow and sword in both times of peace and war, traitors and incompetent captains, relying on cavalry charges, ambushes and expert archery, winning against the Hungarians, Tartars, Polonians and Ottomans with very few defeats against the later and because now the mod goes all the way to 1500 I think Moldavia too deserves to be a sleeper faction under Hungary, Kiev, Cumans or Bulgaria until the second half of the 14th century and then self standing and playable as Wallachia and as I said even Transylvania under Hungary. Croatia and Bosnia too, it's true, deserve to be playable as sleepers under Hungary but I think that because of their implications in the crusades and being a wall against the Ottoman expansion qualifies the first mentioned factions better as playable than the later, together with the Ottomans as a sleeper faction, under the Seljuks of Rum. Wallachia too untill the first half of the 14th century can be under either Hungarians or Bulgarians. Both Wallachia and Moldavia would have unique units and battle strategies, using guerilla warfare and in campaign using psichological war, Moldavia also relying on massive fortiffications, 80% of which were unbrakable. In two sieges with cannons of the Polonians and Ottomans the walls could not be breached, of Suceava and Neamt. Only Cetatea Alba and Kilia, Black Sea ports and citadels were taken by the Ottomans in a blitzkrieg invasion from the sea due to their somewhat remoteness. It would be nice if forts could be implemented, that would mean 8 border Forts: Khotyn and Tetina in the north against, Kiev, Poland and Lithuania, Soroca, Orhei and Tighina in the east against the Tartars, Craciuna in the southwest against Hungary and the Ottomans from Wallachia, of which 2 at the Black Sea ports: Cetatea Alba and Kilia, 1 the capital: Suceava and 3 in the heartland as a avanpost before the capital: Scheia in the north, Roman and Neamt in the south and west. Tighina or Bender meaning port in Turkish was a citadel and also an important Dniester port. It would be nice if a script could be added in campaign giving a lot of militia troops to both Wallachia and Moldavia but especially Moldavia when invaded, as Stephen the Great started gathering conscripts later known as Razesi, Orthodox crusaders. They were promised land. There is a legend in which Stephen the Great is refused shelter by his mother in her fortified monastery from Neamt and sent to die fighting the Turks and he even reaches the lands near Wallachia, Vrancea where a mother gives him all her seven children to fight for him, even if they were part of Wallachia and they are promised seven mountains to herd their sheep. Instead of begging for sanctuary Stephen gathered a new army of conscripts and defeated the Turks against all odds. Moldavians also participated together with the Poles and Lithuanians against the Teutones at Grunwald in 1410 and won a series of battles against Halych before their unification, in alliances with Hungary, Cumans or Tartars. They also participated in the battle against the Tartars together with the Cumans and Kiev at Khalka river in 1223 and with the Tartars against Transylvania and Hungary in 1285. At the begining of the mod they were vassals of both Cumans and Kiev de facto and Bulgaria de jure but changed sides, some joining the Hungarians while others the Tartars, especially the non-Vlach hordes of Tauroschythae and Galicians and possibly the remaining Oghuz, former subjects of the Cumans together with Pechenegs. Pechenegs migrated in Baragan Plain and Dobrudja mostly, before and after the joint Mongol-Tartar invasion. The Cumans and Jasz also fled in Hungary with some of the Vlach migrating in Transylvania from both Wallachia and Moldavia seeking refuge from the nomad invasions and offering military services to the Hungarians who used them as horse archers but in a separate contingent from the Cumans regiment of Jasz and Cumans. Later they will switch sides once more siding with the Polonians but will turn to the Hungarians again, after being betrayed by the later. The most correct way to represent them would be: Moldavia, sleeper under Bulgaria representing their Cuman suveraigns of Black Cumania, somewhat detached from White Cumania and with different objectifs, caring more about the west and offering military support to Bulgaria and fighting Kiev while the others, from White Cumania cared about the east. Stephen the Great will be the one who will decisevly defeat the Golden Horde, it's weak reminiscent army being slaughtered by the Crimean Khan, ally of Stephen and most likely Theodoro. Later, when Astrakhan will be subdued, the Nogais will also join the Crimean Tartars, new hegemons. For more details of the destruction of the Golden Horde by Stephen the Great of Moldavia see post #29 of this thread.
Originally Posted by Visarion
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