Story: Historical Background & Story suggestion

Story & Setting
#21

I don’t think this game will involve the Hussite war, but if this game is successful, they might just make a sequel which takes place ~15 years later where you can either help the Hussites or fight against them. At least in the beginning of the Hussite Wars, since they lasted for 15 years, and that would be a kind of long time span to cover in an story (unless time jumps forward in the story till the wars end, and Henry would be 50-something, if he’d be 20 now.) Anyways, in the beginning of this game,which may be divided in acts as well, you could/would/should be the same guy Henry, but 15 years older and wiser. He might be some important person now, in support of either Sigismund or Wenceslaus, depending on your actions in the previous game (I don’t know if we’ll be able to affect the story in that way as to support either brother in the conflict.)

I’m not so knowledgable when it comes to the Hussites or Czech history overall, but whether you’d support Wenceslaus or Sigismund in ‘Deliverance’, you’d still have to be against the Hussites, right? If at the end of ‘Deliverance’ you’re a close ally to either brother, supporting the Hussites ~15 years later would be a kind of betrayal to them… but a lot can happen to change your mind in ~15 years - one of those things would be to see Jan Huss burn at the stake. This event could be the prologue of the game (or Act I of the game even) in which you would decide if your character Henry are in support of Jan Hus’ ideas or not. Of course, that and other things is what would lead you away from Sigismund and/or Wenceslaus, and more towards the Hussite movement and Jan Žižka as their one-eyed leader (and later their zero-eyed leader.) Their battles where they used handgonnes and war wagons would be very interesting to see.

#22

In 1403 Hus was the rector of the Charles University, quite a few years away from burning at a stake so it cannot be a prologue to act I. Also, Sigismund won in reality. I am not sure if you are going to be able to bend it enough to change that. But at the beginning of the Hussite wars he was already the Czech king. Personally, I think that even if the authors let you help Wenzel, this won’t change the outcome because if it did the second or third acts (provided that they take place during the Hussite wars or generally after this conflict of the two brothers is resolved) would be alternative history and the authors would have to make a lot of it up. Wenzel was more sympathetic to Hus although probably for tactical reasons only and he also supported a different Pope in the Papal schism so who knows what would have happened if he became the Roman Emperor. That could change which Pope actually ended up being the only “true” one and Hus might have not burned at the stake at all, the Hussites never actually started a civil war and perhaps the catholic church would have been slightly reformed (allowing the people to take both the “body” and “blood” of christ at the masses for example). So my guess is that either Acts II and III will actually take place still in the middle of the brotherly conflict or they will go with the historical result and Sigismund will become the king no matter what you do in the first act.

1 Like
#23

Thx for thei nformation!! Great work

#24

I am talking about a sequel of Deliverance, taking place just before and around the Hussite wars, and the kind of intro/prequel/flashback/act 1 would be where you might’ve met Hus before he dies, decided your opinion about him and this helps decide your stance in the game. As well as whether you helped Sigismund or Wenceslaus in the first game, even if Sigismund wins and becomes king as is historically correct. If Henry supported either Sigis or Wencel, I am sure it would bring different consequences to the end game and to the sequel (if the sequel has Henry as the main character, ~15 years older)

#25

I think thats wrong. He was “King of the Romans” but not “Holy Roman Emperor”.

Also: I think, after he was deposed in 1400, the pope declared 1403 that wenceslaus isnt “King of the Romans” anymore…

#26

So… how does the Battle of Grunwald fits in there. I cant imagine that it will be in Act 1…

#27

It does not fit. As first Act takes part in 1402-1403 it cannot have battle that was fought in 1410. Or thats what I believe.

#28

Doesn’t sound like we will be playing in 1410.

#29

It might not fit but I think it has been all but confirmed by the devs in the reddit ama and ingame footage. My bet is a flash forward or something, and besides, a couple of years is not necessarily that significant a change.

#30

But what about that:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1y5yj1/we_are_warhorse_studios_developers_of_kingdom/cfhmrm4

#31

It is not said there that Battle of Grunwald will be in game. Just that the battle shown in trailer is Battle of Grunwald.

#32

Well, the actual political events and relations between the various characters were much more complex. :wink:

You cannot understand what happened in Bohemia without taking the events in Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, Italy, Austria, Poland and Germany into account. The events in 1403 were all part of a much larger game about supremacy in the HRE and eastern Europe.

You cannot, for example, forget that Sigismund himself was captured by Hungarians in 1401 and hold prisoner for eighteen months. During that time his cousins and Wenzel intrigued against him to gain the Hungarian crown for themselves (especially Jost). Sigismund only escaped because the people that took him were disjointed whom to install on the Hungarian throne. Sigismund got enough time to forge a new alliance with important Polish, German and Hungarian noblemen which led to his release.
Also in 1403 Pope Bonifacius IX intrigued against the Luxembourger by supporting Ladislaus in Hungary and installing Cardinal Angelus of St. Lorenz als legatus in Dalmatia, Croatia, Rascia, Bosnia, Malachia and Bulgaria in order to convince the bishops there to renunciate from the HRE and the reign of the Luxembourger. The Pope also installed Ruprecht von der Pfalz as king of Rome.
On February 3rd 1403 Sigismunds troops lost a battle against the troops of Ladislaus and therefore Ladislaus became king of upper Croatia on August 5th 1403. After that his troops marched towards Hungary but lost another battle against Stibor who fought for Sigismund. In two Reichstage on October 8th 1403 and February 18th 1404 Sigismund was finally made king of Hungary and Ladislaus party, his biggest opponent in eastern Europe and Hungary came apart.
In 1402 Jan Hus got first faculty director and then general director of the university of Prague and he also started to preach in Bohemian tongue in the chapel of Bethlehem in Prague. He soon became very popluar among the lower classes who were themselves upset with the mostly German nobility and upper class. At that time the lower classes spoke early Czech while the upper classes spoke medieval German. In 1403 Hus’ theories which were massively influenced by Wycliffe were published and gained much attention. They slowly led to social, religious and cultural uprising of the lower classes…

All this problems and relations made up the situation between Wenzel and Sigismund in 1403. I think it’s a bit too easy to condemn Sigismund for his actions. He just wanted to maintain the supremacy of the Luxembourgers in the HRE and he saw that Wenzel was obviously not willing or not capable of doing the right things (centuries later historians see Wenzel as one of the worst emperors in the history of the HRE…). And of course there was a big distrust between the two brothers (and between them and their cousins) which didn’t make the things easier… :wink:

1 Like
#33

Well, I think 1403 might be the start, but not the end… just like in Mafia, which was split thorught the 20s and 30s… and was a kind of retrospective as well… Mafia 2 had 40s and 50s, if I remember it correctly.

Btw, nice post, Lord Crash. It’s easy to say Wenceslaus was a drunkard and Sigismund was a traitor, but we should take into account geopolitical situation of their time and of medieval period in general. It wasn’t easy in medieval times to rule your father’s vassals, no matter if in England, France or HRE… being too powerful simply meant more envy from everyone, starting from the pope, your hostile neighbours, your vassals your father vassalised through various battles, not to mention your relatives who had rights to sit on your throne as well… this might be why W. had no children himself. With so many brothers and cousins, you do not want to have more pretenders to your throne than you already have, that makes some sense, doesn’t it…

#34

Stupid historians! They dont even know that Wenzel never was emperor :slight_smile:

Sorry, just saw the chnace to get smarty pants for one time …

#35

You’re right. But it was my fault. I wanted to write king instead… :wink:

#36

If I remember correctly, Dan said in an interview that it won’t be simply black and white, Sigismund wasn’t just plain evil. In real life people’s personalities consist of more than just one layer and there are often multiple angles to a story.

#37

Indeed. But it depends on the dedication and skill of the writer and the overall scope of the project how realistic characters are displayed in game… I hope that Warhorse can deliver here. It would be a damn shame to have one-dimensional characters in the game.

#38

Yes, though that’s from the perspective of us, hundreds of years far from those events. For contemporary citizens of Bohemia, Sigismund must be personified evil. They also mentioned that there will be just one end in KCD, even though your way to it could be different. So I assume that you’ll not be able to collaborate with Sigismund at the end. Although I guess the game will definitely not be black and white.

#39

I just want to make one correction - Otokar I. was not, as you have written, the first king of Bohemia. There were two before him, although their title was not hereditary. The first king was Vratislaus II. in 1061 and than Vladislaus II. in 1158. The Golden Bull of Sicily made the title hereditary in 1212.

#40

“Ruler” would be much more accurate to what I suppose you were willing to tell…

© 2015 Warhorse Studios www.warhorsestudios.cz