Timeframe

The timeframe of the Dominion of the Sword spans between summer 1080 A.D. and winter 1453 A.D. The game is turn based and the mod is based around 2 turns per year thus allowing the player to experience Middle ages throughout 373 years and 746 turns.

Start Date
The start date has been chosen arbitrarily as a tribute to the original game which also starts in summer of the year 1080.

Timeframe
The mod actually covers two major eras in history. The first is the High Middle Ages and is usually used to describe the period from 1000 A.D. to 1300 A.D. The Early Middle Ages followed what is usually known as the Dark Ages: a period when various European states emerged from the chaos of Migration Period after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The population has rapidly increased and with it political and economic change. The first half of the mod thus covers the period of opportunity and conflict when the main concern of most rulers was to establish a solid foothold of power. This era spawned the ideal of knighthood, also called the Chivalric Code, along with most of the attributes we associate with the Middle Ages such as Coats of Arms, Cathedrals, Castles etc.

This period was followed by the Late Middle Ages often attributed to the period from 1300 A.D. to 1500 A.D. It was the peak of the era, with previously mentioned aspects being refined and improved until they became finally obsolete and opened up a new dawn, that of rebirth- the Renaissance. It was the era of gunpowder, of plate armour and refined weaponry but also of Papal schism, and the crisis between Church and State, led by the Hussite religious Reformists. It saw the rise of independent nationalist powers within Europe that, having shed Rome and the ties of the Catholic community could more easily wage war with rival states and build great empires. Thus, the Middle Ages as a whole were essential to the develop of human civilisation, culture, art, religion and technology- it was a time that spanned the bridge between pre-history or classicism and the rise of global, intercontinental powers. Interestingly enough it was not always the 'civilised' nations that led the way in this, for the greatest nation in the medieval world was in fact one of the least civilised, the Mongols. Perfectly representing the exciting and complex dichotomy of the Middle Ages and the dominion of the sword.

End Date
The year 1453 was a significant milestone in history. In that year the Roman Empire ended when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottomans. The French conquered Bordeaux thus ending the Hundred Years' war. And the world has seen the first printed Bible. This year is considered by some historians the end of Middle Ages and thus has been chosen as the end of the Dominion of the Sword which is essentially a medieval mod. Another reason is that the year 1453 was also the end date of the first Medieval Total War, a game which we take a good deal of inspiration from.