i am not expert in czech story, but i am getting some interest…so
-what factions will we enconter? Lituanians? the teotonic order?
-and will we as soldier’s of the holy roman empire fight against the teotonics? (O_O)
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what about the Hussites?
Yeah, Ahmad, you are right! They will be for sure! 
but those only appeared in 1419-20, and the game setting is in 1403…
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Will I be able to play for the Vikings or Slavs?
vikings? i doubt it…
I doubt there will be any significant joinable factions. While it is true that the story pits the supporters of Sigismund against those of Wenceslas, judging by what little information about the main story is available, the player will be on the side of the loyalists. Perhaps even more importantly the scope of the game is rather small to accomodate factions with any meaningful gameplay impact.Not to mention the issue of realism.
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Well it was apparently not all that black and white “good Wenzel” and “evil Sigismund”. I think it would make some sense for the character to be on Sigismund’s side (and not just because he actually won in reality). And even more sense if the story is supposed to be nonlinear.
There were no Vikings in the traditional sense of the word in 1400s any more. Scandinavia (and Iceland) was then under the rule of the Danish queen Margaret. Those people were descendants of Vikings of course (as are today’s Norwegians,Swedes, Danes and Icelanders) but to call them Vikings would make about as much sense as calling the French of the time Gauls.
Jan Hus was actually the rector of Charles University at the time of the game (1403) and a at that time a respected catholic priest. Actually in 1403, he translated some of John Wycliffe’s works in the hope to reform the catholic church…and only since then has he been gradually falling from the (catholic) grace, while the hussites started to slowly form only after his death in 1415 (also the question is how much Hus would have approved of catholic churches burning and things like that…probably not very much, but that is not an issue here).
So there are not many factions you could join other than the sides of the two brothers…of course you might be able to join a professional guild (as you would have to if you wanted to sell the products of your craft legally at that time…at least in the cities, I am not so sure about countryside) or clergy, but a game where you play a monk and rewrite scriptures would probably be quite boring 
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There’s the Western Schism, which did cause some factional conflicts in Flanders, but I don’t know what influence (if any at all) it had in Bohemia.
This is long after the age of vikings. At this present time Scandinavia is christian.
King Wenceslaus was supporter of pope Urban VI but at the same time he tried to protect Hus and his supporters (read heretics) from the Church. Even if Wenceslaus supported and liked Hus, he still allowed the church to sell indulgences, 'tis one of the many reasons why czechs today are agnostic atheists.
While I certainly understand the focus on a specific storyline, it would be nice to see, perhaps as a stretch goal, the ability to choose sides within the story and have varying outcomes accordingly.
I do like the idea of various factions, whether joinable or not, as to add an extra element of intrigue and immersion into the world.
I was more thinking about whether the Schism caused any conflict inside Bohemia. Depending on how many years there are between each act, the Hus’ ministry and perhaps even the Hussite Wars could certainly feature in the game.
Something interesting on Wikipedia, that sadly lacks a source:
At this time (1408) the Charles University in Prague was divided by the Western Schism, in which Gregory XII in Rome and Benedict XIII in Avignon both claimed the papacy. Wenceslaus felt Gregory XII might interfere with his plans to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor. He denounced Gregory, ordered the clergy in Bohemia to observe a strict neutrality in the schism, and said that he expected the same of the University. Archbishop Zajíc remained faithful to Gregory. At the University, only the scholars of the Bohemian “nation” (one of the four governing sections), with Hus as their leader, vowed neutrality. (Link)
The Encyclopaedia Britannica has more on this.
Of course, this probably wouldn’t have affected commoners much. Things like clergy preaching in the vernacular in places such as Bethlehem Chapel might have had more influence, however. If we ever reach Prague, of course.
No Hussites for Act I, they don’t exist yet.
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The Schism has influenced Bohemia for sure Tom. Wenceslaus tried to reclaim the german crown (He never acknowledged his dethronement so he kept using the title “King of Romans”) and hoped that the Council of Pisa would solve the Schism. He also knew that Prince Rupert (who also was using the title “King of Romans”) supported Gregory XII, so he asked the Charles University for their opinion, which would back his claim for the crown.
Since the Charles University was (still) a very prestigious institution back then, the university had a lot of foreign students and professors. There were four governing sections: Czech (this included students and professors from Bohemia, Moravia, Transylvania, Hungary and all german speakers living in these regions), Saxon, Bavarian and Polish.
The german students and meisters faced a big problem: They lived and studied in Prague, but it was extremely likely that after they finished their studies, they would leave for Germany, which was under the jurisdiction of Prince Rupert, who started threatening them that if the university backs Wenceslaus, they would face dire concequences in the future.
Important fact: The chancellor of the university was the Arcibishop Zbyděk Zajíc, a supporter of Gregory XII.
A reformist group and it’s supporters (Jerome of Prague and Jan of Jesenice) exploited this situation and travelled to Točník castle to discuss this situation with the King, who was staying over at the castle. Nobody knows who exactly proposed the making of the decree (Decree of Kuttenberg) that would decrease the power of the foreign “nations” back at the University, but most sources from that time say that the meisters “were surprised”, so it was probably the king’s idea.
The decree of Kuttenberg decreased the influence of foreigners in the decision making. Because of this, the whole german section of the Charles University left (around 800 people) for the university in Vienna, Kraków, Heidelberg, Köln, Erfrut (they also founded the Leipzig university). This event completely destroyed the czech - german relations for many centuries (“They will never forgive us for this”).
They formed couple of years later, but what do we know
Factions - Germany - Teutonic Order - Poland - Austria - Hungary all of them can be settled in border regions of the map
We know in what area the first act is set, even the edge of the map is still deep in Bohemia. Also Borders weren’t strictly defined with passport controls it was partially a question of how far a rulers influence reached.
Here’s an over simplified map , it doesn’t have Bohemia Germany and Austria for a reason, they where all part of the same realm. Germany wasn’t a united factions unless you count the empire. Having Germany and Austria as opposing factions in 1403 would be a bit like having a Holland and a Netherlands faction or a United Kingdom vs. England. Bohemia was at least it’s own Kingdom within the empire but it’s King was Emperor a lot at the time.
(Sorry the map is in german)
That said the Habsburgs could definitly be a relevant faction, austria however is just one of the duchies they own some of there lands in 1403 were in modern day Slovenia, Switzerland and Bavaria. And there could easily be delegets representing the Teutons, Polish or Hungarian rulers
Also the church or Italian city states could be factions that send representatives but they probably wouldn’t have troops in the area
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