During some thread of discussion lately (I don`t recall exactly which it
was), someone said something along the lines of "I should be able to
play an Arthurian setting if I wanted to - the rules should apply to all
settings."

I disagree with this statement. The rules have been created to satisfy a
set of conditions that do not allow for a higher scale game. That is,
they do not represent nations/realms of the size of England, France and
Germany etc.

But, an Arthurian setting - a real Arthurian setting not the
Norman-French romanticized version so popular in modern theater and
literature - would be on the exact scale that the BR authors chose.

So I started a little research. How many kingdoms were there in the
modern UK at the time ? Where was Arthur likely to have his origins ?
What do the historians say ? How can this be related to BR ?

Arthurian Britain was likely 5th or 6th Century Britain. All scholars
agree on that. Arthur was likely a battle leader or warlord based
somewhere in what is now Wales or on the Welsh/English border, and
probably commanded a troop of cavalry some 100 strong. A huge battle
force that stayed the advance of the invading germanic tribes for almost
50 years. Which in the scale and culture of the time is what you would
expect !

Anyway, I made a start. Is anyone interested in putting together such a
setting ? The scale is about the same as Cerilia - taking into account
all of England, Scotland and Wales and allowing Brittania, Ireland, and
Denmark to have the same degree of significance that Aduria, Ghaele etc
do in Cerilia.

There are a number of distinct cultural groups, the Romano-Britons, the
Saxons, the Jutes, the Angles, the Picts, the Irish, the Romans (minor
at this time I know - but so were the Masetians). Essentially you end up
with three major groups, the Germanics, the Brythonics, and the Gaelics
(throw in a few minor aberrations and you`ve replaced Anuirean, Rjurik,
and Vos - leaving the more civilized Romans).

The Brythonianic kingdoms are again separated into Welsh, Cornish and
Bretonic kingdoms. Seeing as how these surround the Germanic kingdoms,
you`d have to at least start with these.

Looking at just the British in Wales (welsh is a germanic term meaning
foreigner apparently - it`s what the anglo-saxons used to refer to the
native inhabitants of the area - they are non-german) - so looking at
just those, we have major kingdoms including: Gwynedd , Powys,
Ceredigion, Buelt, Dyfed, Ystrad, Towy, Brycheiniog, Glywsing, Ergyng,
and Gwent.

Of these many included a number of independent sub-kings, (non-feudal)
vassals in the true interpretation of BR vassals. In Gwynedd for
example, there are the kingdoms of Afflogion, Ysfeilion, Rhos,
Rhufoniog, Dogfeiling, Meirionydd, and Dogfeiling. Some of these would
be only one or two provinces in size, some larger. (although Gwynedd is
one of the larger Kingdoms)

Lots of lovely place names too.Strange mixtures of culture, and
technology - not to mention at least three sets of Gods without counting
the Christians (who I`d prefer to leave out of it if it can be managed).

So many BR rules are closely related to Cerilia though, and there would
need to be careful setting rules to keep the flavor and the balance. For
example, the germanic tribes almost always kept their realms in one
piece - even if they had joint regents, while the Celts almost always
divided them up between several heirs (multiple heirs). This was one of
the reasons that the anglo-saxons eventually won out.

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