Thera

Thera: Legacy of the Great Torment is a conversion mod for Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms that creates an entirely new campaign map with a number of new and modified factions.

Thera was once a world much like our own: a world of vast forests and windswept plains, with mighty civilizations and rich, extensive cultures. The The Great Torment happened. The ground heaved and shuddered, swallowing entire cities and cracking continents. Vast storms swept over regions for weeks, months, and in some places years. Frigid blizzards iced over many of the lands, and what wasn't frozen suffered famine and plagues. The civilizations of the world broke and scattered, with only the hardiest surviving the disasters that ensued. Some civilizations turned to warfare to survive, others to science, others to religion.

That was two hundred and twenty-two years ago. The seas have calmed, the storms have passed, the plagues have ended, and the fields are green again. The survivors of the Torment have banded together into a number of small civilizations, separated by vast lands of wilderness and hostile brigands. With stable food and a growing population, the leaders of the nations of Thera have begun to look outwards from their borders, with spies, diplomats, and armies mobilizing to see what remains of civilization and what they can seize for themselves.

As a campaign, Thera places emphasis on careful empire management, intermixed with the proud Total War tradition of finding someone to beat the snot out of and crushing them in tactical battles. The player starts out with a substantial war chest and a large number of unaffiliated rebel settlements bordering their territory, encouraging rapid expansion and buildup early on before real war erupts between the various nations. There is a wide variety of factions to choose from, some of them being modified original factions from Medieval II and Kingdoms while others are entirely new, with completely new character models. Though at first glance the mod looks like an alternate Earth, there's a lot of deliberate anachronisms and some Low Fantasy elements (primarily in the form of the bestial Uruk Dominion).

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Provides examples of:

• Affably Evil: Jarl Bluetooth of the Men of Valhalla. According to his opening speech, he made good friends with a fellow jarl, listened carefully to what he had to say, sat down next to him, thanked him for his wisdom, and then cut his throat and made a cloak out of his skin.
• After the End: A major point. The world has been destroyed. Its up to you to take your particular nation and rebuild it.
• The Alliance: Several:
  • The various Christian nations have a loose alliance, mostly held together by the fact that they're surrounded by pagans and Islamic factions and the Inquisition is there to slap them on the head like recalcitrant children.
  • The Warriors of Kukulcan are an alliance of tribes and warriors from multiple parts of the Mesocala landmass, unified in both their worship of Kukulcan and hatred for anyone who doesn't. Their unit roster consists of troop types from both the Paynal Empire and Sycorax Nations.
  • Povos Hispana and the Tahar Caliphate are also tribal alliances made primarily to resist Christian attack.
  • The Uruk Dominion combines this with The Horde, as they are a society of former slave creatures and gladiators, coupled with the oppressed peoples of the Demos region on the southernmost continent, unified to fight against domination by the Romuli Empire.
• Anachronism Stew: Tech and cultures vary wildly. You've got everything from the Late-Renaissance Faustian Reich with their pikemen, musketmen, and cannons to the Paynal Empire, an Aztec-like civilization that hasn't invented the wheel, to Romuli, which is basically Ancient Rome (which can develop gunpowder, letting them field legionaries in lorica and wielding muskets and cannons).
• Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Uruks and Ly Kan can interbreed with human females; the male offspring of such unions are Uruks or Ly Kan, while the female offspring are human.
• Blood Knight: The Men of Valhalla believe they will go to join the Norse gods in Valhalla if they die a good death, and thus pitch themselves into battle for its own sake. The Duchy of Dracule also features a unit called Blood Knights, as well as battelfield stealth units called Vampyres that terrify opponents.
• The Chosen One: Several cultures have "chosen" ones who they venerate who held their cultures together during the Great Torment. Avalon has King Arthur, and the Lao Che Khanate has Lao Che.
• Cool Versus Awesome: Romans vs. Vikings! Pirates vs. Mongol Samurai! Wolfmen, Uruk Hai, lizardmen and Spartans vs. pikemen, cannons, and Renaissance swordsmen! King Arthur vs. Mesoamerican tribesman! Scottish swordsmen versus Spanish conquistadores!
• Fantastic Racism: All of the bestial species in the Uruk Dominion were slaves of Romuli. Once Romuli's control of Demos slipped, they began to return the favor.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: For the most part, every culture has a rough counterpart historically. Only the Teutonic Order is entirely unchanged from its Kingdoms incarnation.
  • The Inquisition is a beefed up version of the Papal States, complete with their own secure island.
  • The Kingdom of Avalon is medieval England with elements of King Arthur, and the Bons Chevaliers are medieval France. The Grand Duchy of Dracule is a combination of Lithuania, Poland, and Transylvania under Vlad the Impaler's rule. The Holy Order of the Pale Knight is a stand-in for the Kingdom of Antioch.
  • The Men of Valhalla are obviously Vikings, while the Men of Wotan are a fusion of Vikings and medieval Russia.
  • The Vashta Sultanate, Barkar Caliphate, and Tahar Caliphate are Turkey, Egypt, and the Moors, respectively.
  • Povos Hispana is a pagan version of Portugal, while the Ducado de Sangre Valiente is renaissance Spain/Aragon. The Faustian Riech is a fusion of Renaissance Holy Roman Empire and Italy. The League of Privateers is a mixture of various pirates and coastal Italian cities.
  • The Gaelic nations are a fusion of Welsh, Irish, and Scottish cultures. Naturally, they smack headlong into the England-equivalent of Avalon.
  • Romuli is obviously Ancient Rome, while the Uruk Dominion is a combination of Isengard, Sparta, and a heavy bit of Spartacus. Lao Che is a fusion of the Mongols, medieval China, and feudal Japan.
• Final Boss: For the non-Christian nations (and likely the Christian ones too at some point), the Inquisition, which is Thera's equivalent of the Papal States. They have no less than six full-sized stacks of elite troops on two small, well-fortified islands. Tackling them will take a lot of men and a lost of casualties and will likely only happen after you've conquered most of the other Christian nations. You don't have to fight the Inquisition, but they are likely to be the last thing standing between you and total domination of the entire map.
• Gladiator Revolt: Essentially how the Uruk Dominion was founded.
• Grey and Gray Morality: There is no faction that is a clear-cut "good guy" but even the most brutal factions have reasons for their distrust and hate of other factions. Depending on the faction, this can stray into Black and Gray Morality and even Evil Versus Evil.
  • A good example of this is the Uruk Dominion. Their primary drive is to secure freedom for their oppressed and brutalized people - a noble goal, as they're the only nation where Uruks, Ly Kan, and Reptarri are actually free instead of slaves. However, they also breed stronger warriors in breeding facilities using human women - mostly captured and enslaved human women from regions they've invaded.
  • The closest faction one gets to a true "good guy" is Avalon, which places the protection and prosperity of the people above all else and emphasizes the rule of law over all citizens, including the king. On the other hand Avalon is closely tied to the Inquisition and its fairly backward views on things like scientific development.
• The Horde: The Uruk Dominion is made of several bestial species formerly used as slaves by Romuli: the monstrous Uruks, the canine-like Ly Kan, and the lizard/frog/fish-like Reptarri. They also include humans who served either as gladiators or hoplites as auxilliaries and militia.
  • The Warriors of Kukulcan are a Mesoamerican version of this, consisting of many tribes united in worship of Kukulcan and hatred of anything else. Their human sacrifice rituals round out the horde-ishness.
• Hoist By Their Own Petard: Sycorax specialize in using enemy technology against them. They're the only Mesocala "native" faction have access to horses, guns, and elephants.
• The Kingdom: The "chivalric" Christian nations (Avalon, Bons Chevaliers, Grand Duchy of Dracule, and the Teutonic Order) most strongly adhere to this, sticking to a medieval-level culture of knights, men-at-arms, and archers and possessing a close connection to the Inquisition.
• Lightning Bruiser: Knights in general, as well as Uruks and Ly Kan warriors.
• One-Gender Race: Uruks and Ly Kan are always male.
• Pirates: The League of Privateers, a loose alliance of pirates, thieves, brigands, criminals, and outcasts all brought together in a coalition whose primary goal is to conquer, loot, and pillage.
• The Remnant: Several factions' backgrounds involve them defeating corrupt or weak governments and driving them out during or after the Great Torment. For example, the Senate Legions for Romuli, or the Otterbach for the Faustian Reich. Generally, finishing the remnants of these factions is the first step on your path of conquest.
• Science Is Bad: The Inquisition is extremely suspicious of scientific development, and this is why the Faustian Reich is under scrutiny and suspicion by the Grand Inquisitor. Conflict between the two is likely as the campaign progresses.
• Vestigial Empire: Romuli once dominated most of the southernmost continent, and the Patynal Empire controlled most of Mesocala.