Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord Names Aserai as Next Faction

A new faction has been announced for Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord that introduces the Aserai, a group of desert-dwelling people.

Developers TaleWorlds revealed the lasted faction to come to the game through a blog post on the game's Steam page that included quite a bit of background info on the faction. The Aserai are composed of tons of clans and sub-clans, but they've now chosen to align under one sultan with the power of the Empire weakening.

Following the release of the Vlandians faction, Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord players will know by now that the posts from TaleWorlds that introduce new factions can be quite long with info about the factions' background and other details included. This recent blog post for the Aserai is no exception with TaleWorlds explaining that the group draws inspiration from Arab tribes.

"The Aserai are based on the Arab tribes just before the great Islamic conquests of the seventh century, which created a diverse tri-continental caliphate whose scale and institutions don't really fit Bannerlord's political system. In the centuries before, the Arabs formed a series of confederations and kingdoms inside and on the margins of the Arabian and Syrian deserts. Many think of the entire Middle East as arid wastes, even though most of the more famous battles, especially during the Crusades, were fought in coastal Mediterranean regions or the highland steppe of Anatolia. The Arab heartland however really is mostly desert. Our landscapes reflect the harsh beauty of dunes, craggy mountains, and oases, along with the less glamorous stretches of wasteland in between, like scrubland and dry wadis."

As for their combat preferences, the Aserai are comfortable fighting both on horseback as well as on their own two feet. A range of weapons including spears, bows, and other arms give them diverse options for battle.

"Mideastern armies are popularly associated with horse archers, but in fact those only became prevalent about two centuries after the founding of Islam with the influx of Turks. The Arabs fought with short sword, long spear, and foot bow. Warriors prided themselves on their flexibility, fighting as light mounted lancers or heavy foot, in formed ranks or as individual champions. Javelins, a favourite weapon of the Berbers, made their appearance in Islamic armies fairly early, and we have the Aserai use them as well. All in all it's a mix of good troops, pretty well balanced across cavalry and infantry."

More information on the newest faction will come soon as the game's team takes players' questions about the Aserai.