Anno Domini 1237.
Europe and Asia are plunged into the abyss of bloody war. Christians wage war with Muslims and heathens. Catholics battle with orthodoxies. Orthodoxies kill each other.
Brother against brother, and son against father.
From the West, Teutonic Knights have come crusading against heathen and orthodox Slavs, to turn them into the Latin faith. Knight-brothers have already consolidated in Baltic and now look further to the East, where, boundless and rich, Rus lies.
Poland, torn apart with inner contradictions, tries to deter the approaching Order Komturias, already settled firmly on the right bank of Vistula.
But upon all European nations hovers another, imminent threat. From the Far East comes Batu-Khan - the ambitious grandson of the great conqueror of nations, Genghis Khan. Furious hordes sweep across the Great Steppe and the land of Rus, aiming for the West, aiming for the Last Sea, laying one nations under tribute and mercilessly exterminating others. They are determined to fulfil the holy will of the Khan, and it seems that there is no force in the world that can stop them.

The historic mod "Rus - 13 century" reconstructs the events of this dramatic and heroic age. You can unite the forces of Russian princedoms and give battle to the Horde, or gather the Novgorod militia and warmly greet the Order knights on the ice and snow of the northern lands. You can feel yourself a warrior of the Horde, a vassal of the Teutonic Landmeister, or become a proud shlachta and fight for the glory of Kingdom of Poland.

Installing:

It is highly recommended to uninstall mod previous version(s) before installing .620!

1) Run .exe
2) Follow instructions

ATTENTION!!! YOU MUST CHOOSE 'MOUNT&BLADE' FOLDER AS DESTINATION PATH, NOT 'MODULES' FOLDER!!!

[rule] Key features:[rule]("b" stands for feature which is partially or fully implemented in beta, "f" stands for further versions)

• full-featured global mod oriented on implementing historical aspects as accurate as possible (due to gameplay and engine restrictions) (b)
• timeline and storyline of the mod disaplay the real events (such as Northern Crusades, Mongol Invasion of Rus’ and so on) (b)
• new HQ map of Eastern Europe as well as new map icons (b)
• intro battles depends on class and faction of Player (b)
• the names of places, lords and units are spelled in the way of their faction-possessor (b)
• some new locations such as mines, mercenary and bandit camps (b)
• new scenes (with new buildings and various scene props) (b)
• reworked trading system, trade routs and trading specialization of towns are based upon their geographical locations (b)
• new exclusive 2D art by Ganbat Badamkhand (b)
• intro (starting video) (f)
• music is fully replaced (as standalone mod, optional) (b)
• lots of various quests based on HQ literary principles (b)
• faction lords represent actual historical characters, with fiefs and appearance based upon historical documents (b)
• new NPC-companions with different side-quests (f)
• Player’s nationality (culture) affects relations with factions (b)
• new troop trees, based upon historical info (b)
• troop hiring and training system reworked in more realistic style (b)
• 3 types of troop trees: "levy" ("militia"), "professional" and double branched "elite" (b)
• tons of new clothes, armors, weapons, horses, buildings based on authentic images and reconstructed items (b)
• new HQ textures including global map and vegetation (b)
• banners of all factions are replaced with more historical-accurate analogues (b)
• new face and hair textures, based upon nation appearance (b)
• 5 new factions (b)
  
  
  
  • Rus (united Russian princedoms with 2 separate troop trees: northern and southern)
    
  • Crusaders (united forces of German, Swedish and Danish crusaders)
    
  • Horde (forces of Mongolian Empire united with the conquered nations: Cuman, Kirghiz, Turkmen, Chinese etc.)
    
  • Poland (united)
    
  • Lithuania (as a minor faction)
    
• volunteers and mercs are replaced with real historical analogues (b)
• brand new system of sound environment (b)
• authentic voice records for each faction (b)
• dynamic global weather system (b)
• ability to change shield art (b)
• multi-stage siege system (b)
• new types of parties – scouts, patrols, prisoner trains, messengers, rich caravans (b)
• user-friendly installer with a lot of options to choose (b)
• many features could be tweaked by individual demands through in-game menus (b)
• correcting bugs and omissions of original game (b)
  

[rule] Gameplay features:[rule]
(implemented at the moment)

• Riders take damage when they fall from a killed/wounded horse
• Morale penalty for units with different cultures in party. Morale bonus for mononational party
• Fodder for horses (influences horse speed based on type - common, arabian, steppe). Party speed drastically decreases when there’s no fodder
• Icons for parties on global map depend on party's size
• Player can control his character while minimap is open. Terrain showing on minimap. OPTIONAL FEATURES
• Combat continues after Player has been knocked unconscious. Player can observe battlefield in free-fly mode. OPTIONAL FEATURES
• Ability to open Character/Party/Inventory menus in all "combat" menus (by using hotkeys)
• Player can recruit troops only in fiefs of faction he belongs to. Player-mercenary can hire anywhere he’d like. Mercs can be hired freely. Positive relations with fiefs and their owners are required. Elite troops can only be hired in Player’s own castle.
• Chel’s morale mod (reworked and improved). Global morale influences battle morale
• Armours/weapons degrade if player loses a battle
• New type of NPC: smith, who can repair and upgrade weapons/armour
• Player can split his party into smaller groups with NPCs as commanders (only if player leads more than 20 men)
• There’re much more various citizens in towns
• New icons on minimap for traders/mayors/owners in towns
• Character creating wizard reworked due to background story
• Brief historical info about troops through dialog with them. Info about items in inventory. OPTIONAL FEATURES
• Prisoners can be sold in mines or to the slave trader in Cherson or to ally and enemy lords by flexible rates (while being at towns). Also Player can give prisoners to lords for free in exchange of increased personal relationship. Prisoners’ cost depends on their level and the main party trading skill
• Trade routs. Special caravans travelling on historical trade routs
• Maximum amount of prisoners increased. The more prisoners are in the party the more of them would escape at night
• Decreased structure building time in fiefs
• Player can initiate dialog with city/village administration through center menu
• Party salary displays week cost for all Player’s troops including garrisoned ones or under NPCs’ control
• Lords intercept hostile parties travelling near their fiefs if they’re stronger (hostile party must be spotted first - chances depends on party size)
• AI party strength and upgrade speed depends on player's level
• Professional and Elite units can be upgraded only in their faction's cities. Player can’t upgrade them in the field
• Helmets obscure field of view in first person view. OPTIONAL FEATURE
• Food stores in castles decreased, recovery time increased.
• Wounded units move slower in battle
• Player can give some orders to his party right before fight such as hold ground, charge, follow leader, line up in different forms
• Alcoholic drinks are all consumable and give morale bonus if any other kind of food is present in inventory or morale penalty otherwise
• Bandits can ambush Player (chances depends on honour rating)
• Bandits help each other when engaging Player party
• Player can lay to rest fallen warriors (increasing honour, decreasing morale)
• New type of NPC – teachers. They give a short help info about mod features.
• Bows can’t be freely used in inappropriate handwear
• It’s possible to speed up or slow down time in missions (by + and -)
• New animation for 2h weapons
• Added restrictions for joining rescued prisoners
• New item type – maps which increasing pathfinding skill while in inventory
• It’s possible to upgrade troops of all factions in neutral city Cherson
• Players can release imprisoned lords without ransom (increasing relations)
• New looting system. Now it takes time to carry trophies from the battlefield. Amount and quality of it depends on Player’s skills and number of dead bodies
• Ministering wounded gives experience
• Cattle follows the Player
• Chances to escape after losing the fight for lords are lowered
• Amount of troops available for hiring depends on city’s prosperity
• Hiring through menu, not through dialog
• It’s possible to turn off fast travel (for better roleplay)
• New target reticule
• Performance in scenes with lot of trees improved
• Horse descriptions includes types
• Players can choose on what side they’d wish to fight in battles between neutral parties
• It’s possible to sort inventory of player and traders by type or cost
  

Our team:

Main developers:
Bers - scene maker
ConstantA - lead developer
Damon - developer, project manager
Kopcap - lead artist
N - lead modeller
Rongar - lead programmer
Unknown - developer

Contributors and helpers:
ARaven - historical consultation
ArRiad - sound, programming
Chekan - historical consultation, beta test
Димо - models, textures, map, coordination
Gt-Bd - textures, 2D art
гЭнЫк (CHUR) - voice recording, music
Immortal - models, textures
incus - historical consultation
Invictus - coordination
Kiivit - proofreading
NightHawkreal - texts, beta test
Samnit - models, textures
sd - map
Thracian - models, textures
Vanok - mod idea, tech support, PR
VIKING (UFO) - historical authentication specialist

Other contributors:

mebius
ShoDan
Shurikello

Special thanks to:
Barf for new face meshes
Basennik for Russian warcries
Checkmaty for More Metal Sound
Chel for his morale system
dreammora for original game localization
dstemmer for his fast scene chooser
HokieBT for UpdateModuleParties
In Vain for German warcries
Janus for his installer script (used in 0.401 beta)
JoG for beta-testing and PR
mtarini for openBrf
Siegbert_von_Meklenburg for German warcries
Ser Ge Nuk for quest ideas
СергиоОбрегон for music
Thorgrim for MapEditor & brf-edit
ToFik for quest ideas
Winter for his moded operations
yart for helping with beta-test
yellowmosquito for Mount & Blade Banner and Flag Standardization Pack
Yoshiboy for his tutorials

all users of rusmnb.ru for their help and support
our families and friends for understanding and patience
Armagan and TaleWorlds for the best medieval Action/RPG and great development tools.