House Baldwin Territories

House Baldwin. There is a lot of area that makes up the relatively small but significant Kingdom of Jerusalem. In the setting, House Baldwin lived on and the kingdom of Jerusalem became stabilized because of the man power generated by the Latin exodus.

Millions of Europeans tried to escape the Nomad Horde. This increased the capable manpower available for sustaining and establishing the Latin Kingdom. As the population swelled, there was pressure for greater organization and fairer distribution of the limited resources of Palestine.

House Baldwin was in a decline towards the 13C, bowing before more powerful nobles and houses that arrived from the west. It was in the outbreak of civil wars where the house matured into a cohesive middle ground between the European and the Palestinian inhabitants.

Interestingly, the inheritors of House Baldwin legacy are not related by blood to the original line, instead it has become a common practice to adopt capable heirs regardless of blood relation. This is because of the savagery of the civil war, that attempted to unify the fractured lands against the threats of their neighbors as quickly as possible. This meant the soldiers were forgiven, but their masters, the heirs, and families, were punished severely

Instead of organizing it per City or Town, I feel the organization is best achieved through groups of various networks. A group of settlements strategically depend and culturally connected best represent a fiefdom, more precisely than by individual city or town.

There are too many unknown villages that exist within each of these territories to be completely ignored. These villages can serve as the background of so many potential adventures. Characters who are men-at-arms will need these obscure villages as part of their background.

The title has a link of the "Best" map for running this game I have found so far. Looking at my copy of GURPS Fantasy Harkwood inspires me to do a much better job.

Next Up... (hopefully)

Random Village Generator - *(what I want out of a village generator) This should be able to roll up the following: Village main economic produce/role, secondary economic role, power center (religious, military, bureaucratic, noble), condition (wealth, morale), current problem in the minds of the population, current problem of the "power center" (which can be different from the people) and... anything else that will speed up GM improv...

Random NPC Generator - Looking for one online that will do European names (germanic or french).

Principality of Antioch (16 locales)

• Antioch (town, now city)
  

• Albara

• Marra

• Apamea

• Zerdan

• Artasium

• St. Simeon
  

• Laodicea /Latakieh
  

• Gibellum

• Alexanderetta

• Castle Biza (oldenbourg p. 312)

• Castle Athareb (oldenbourg p. 312)

• Castle Kafartab (oldenbourg p. 312)
  

• Artasium

• Zerdan

• Artasium

County of Edessa (10 locales)

• Edessa

• Ain-Tab

• Coris

• Ravendal

• Madrin

• Melitene

• Hisn-Keifa

• Samosata

• Turbessel
  

• Tulupe
  

Principality of Damascus (16 locales)

• Damascus

• Adratum

• Bostra

• Assalt

• Baalbec / Baalbek
  

• Emesa

• Tadmor

• Hamah

• Gadara

• Homes (oldenbourg p.301)

• Rasheiya (oldenbourg p.301)

• Kiswe (oldenbourg p.301)

• Ezra (oldenbourg p.301)

• Mazerib (oldenbourg p.301)

• Bosra (oldenbourg p.301)

• Jerash (oldenbourg p.301)

Principality of Allepo (6 locales)

• Allepo (town, now city)
  

• Artasium
  

• Manby

• Harran

• Rakka

• Shaizar (oldenbourg p.301)

Principality of Armenia (5 locales)

• Adana

• Tarsus

• Tunor

• Mamistra

• Marask / Marash
  

County of Tripoli (10 locales)

• Tripoli (town, now city)

• Arqa (oldenbourg p. 375)
  

• Margat

• Tortosa

• Castle Rouge

• Bortoun

• Gibilet

• Mons Ferandus

• Chaedes Chaveliers

• Apelias

Principality of Jerusalem (20/sq km; Pop 420,000) (39 locales)

• Jerusalem (Pop 12,500)

• Beirut

• Sidon

• Tyre

• Banias

• Acre

• Cesarea

• Arsuf

• Jaffa

• Ibelin

• Azotus

• Ascalon

• Gaza

• Daron

• El Arish

• Kerak of Moab
  

• Segor

• Kerak of Monreal

• Elim

• Belfort

• Toron

• Montfort

• Safed

• Castle Jacob

• Hattin

• Tiberias

• Nazareth

• Belvoir

• Baisan

• Sebaaste

• Neapolis

• Maribel

• Lydd

• Jerico

• Ramleh/ Ramla
  

• Blanche Garde

• Bethlehem

• Hebron

• Daron

A better map of 12C Crusader Palestine

The title is a link to a better resource for the Kingdom of Jerusalem 15C.

4950 Villages
30 towns
6 Cities
1 Capital city

I have to organize them into "districts" where the surrounding lands and their lords follow a chain of command centering to the Town or City. That's around 7 Major districts, and further divides into towns and their surrounding villages.

I came from a lasik evaluation and laser eye correction (reinforcement of my retina walls). So I can't do a lot of reading and writing, because I lost my near sight because of pupil dilation. Its been 7 hours since I left the clinic and the meds haven't worn off yet.

Kingdom of Jerusalem List

Basically using the guidelines and exel sheet of Medieval Demographics Made easy I'll work with these settlements. Basically for simplicity their major centers and the region is named the same. So the small villages around Jersulem will be simply referred to as Jerusalem. They will have their individual names which is free to be made up since alot of these maps are unreliable and it is an altered history after all.

I have not yet arranged the key fiefs according to their population. I plan to roll randomly what became what, then make up the rest. Since its random I don't have to worry about trying to get it accurate and saves me HOURS researching the actual political power. I'll just base the power structure after I roll up the value of each fief.

Population will be the most key determinant for political power given the era. The map in the link is a nice LOTR-ish map. There are more maps if you use Palestine as a search term and look form maps bigger than 2Mpix. Given a population of +2M I can't possibly make enough NPCs. I'll just have up to the GM rule of 7 key figures (GURPS mysteries) beyond the ones i've already fleshed out in my previous write ups.

To the other GMs out there. If it gets Boring reconsider the amount of time you are budgeting or do it at smaller increments (which go faster). What I'm doing is that I'll just use the exel sheet and bulldoze my way to filling up the Political crap out of these centers. Probably 2 hours TOPS!

Note that because of the climate these "Nation" is very "eastern" with their armor and dress. They wear very light and fight based on endurance and speed.

Major Fiefs (Cities, Provinces)

• Jerusalem
• Acre
• Tyre
• Damascus
• Ascalon
  
• Antioch
• Tripoli
• Edessa
• Mosul
• Beruit
• Galilee
• Sidon
  

Great Fiefs (Towns, Large Settlements)

• Nazareth
• Bethel
  
• Berea
• Bethany
• Bethlehem
• Hebron
• Ralma
• Jaffa
• Haifa
• Tiberias
• Siloh
• Gaza
  

House Baldwin: The Kingdom of Jerusalem

I've been reading up on the kingdom of Jerusalem. In the Sins of the Crusades, the altered history made for it to be one of the refuge territories when the Golden Horde successfully invaded europe.

Looking at the area, terrain and climate, it is very hard to fit a migrating populace of about 10 million Europeans in the 12C into the territories of Byzantine Empire, Greece, the Balkans, Norman Italy, Palestine, Egypt, and parts of northern Africa.

Anyway, given the tools used in Medieval Demographics made Easy, the many Palestine maps found on the web, and Google Earth it can be a fairly straight forward method of making the kingdom. It would probably take me 4-5 hours (and good internet). Basic Rule- If Its taking me more than 5 mins to research make it up.

typically Palestine occupies 22,000 sq. km but including Mosul region (the eastern region up to parts of the fertile Crecent) I've extended it to 60,000 sq km but with a density of a near Renaissance level of mercantile efficiency average 30-ish per sq km. This is around 2M. I can actually bolster up that population density if Egypt and Persia acted as granaries to feed that city, but that would mean Palestine had to provide some valuable service or product...
... hmmm.. well the can serve as middle men and be the "England" between the two with efficient taxation, a textile industry, and the first to develop a sense of unity as a source of morale will.

that would work I guess. 2M would mean up to a 20,000 standing forces, another 40,000 rotating forces, and up to a maximum 40,000 aditional with levying. Up to 100,000 swords and not counting the baggage of 30,000 (made up by the families and women).

Religion in Sins of The Crusade. The new Roman Empire, revitalized by Empress Anna Comnena and Emperor Bohemon of Tarranto is a theocracy that had no equal. Unlike that of Queen Isabel where the Church and the Kingdom was seperate, this theocracy had the greatest political strategists (Anna and Bohemon) in its conception.

The Golden Horde's invasion of the rest of Europe stamped "God's approval".

The House Baldwin's Palestine was the only remaining Latin Christian people, surrounded by Powerful Theocratic Orthodox Greeks, a form of Islam that has become very non-religious and more enlightened, and some traditional Islam.

Given the events in the setting and Christian Theocracy, Islam had to change. Fundamentalism vs Fundamentalism created two examples that made secularism an attractive choice. The first to change their view were the Hous aDin and their forays into philosophy and critical thinking which recreated the new islam in the setting (basically the early agnostics). Then a few members of House Osman dared to be different and basically became "wild" and truly secular embracing rationality, something their pragmatism of nomad orgins seemed to thrive in.

Its much harder to be a christian Secular when all the political power comes from a Christian theocracy that tries to control how you thought. The only people who were protected against this assault of irrationality are those who had the freedom to think for themselves.

There was also the Logos, the bureaucrats of the setting who carried with them the tradition of Ancient Academies. Although the truly secular Logos were still rare. House Baldwin's Palestine also had secular because of the inherent meritocracy in its efficiency.

Horde in Europe. in the setting, the horde flourished in Europe, but did so slowly because of the severe depopulation. They have began to also move vast amounts of people from their other provinces to repopulate changing the face of the average European (they look like the Steppe People of indeterminate heritage).

The first to be settled is France for their best arable land and climate. Germany and Spain slowly followed. The horde also could have established the most complete link between the East and the West, but at that distance and size bureaucracies and levels of organization cannot maintain contact and eventually broke off as a separate states.

French lands in Mongol Hands, the kind of Cavalry that can come about can defy imagination. The French industries of metal production, the grain production to breed better horses, the size and population able to support more intensely specialized Warrior class and the higher protein content in their diet and access to Imperial Chinese Physicians. These made powerful Horse Archer Knights who were bigger stronger and smarter. A natural check is that they were more fractured because of their relative power and their independence from the rest of the Horde.

In the setting, dealing with these guys are like dealing with monsters. A lot of lesser mooks, but the few elites are more than a match with the heroes.