I would prefer zombies…much more fun and entertaining. :D

Ironclad - If you like gory medieval battles, this depiction of the Siege of Rochester Castle is a must. It’s a little thin on story, and flat-out wrong in the historical accuracy, but it’s depiction of siege warfare is unrivaled out of all the movies I’ve seen.

Army of Darkness…not exactly zombies, but… ;)

The idea is awesome, though. Would love to see Zombie Vikings. XD

I applied! :D

If I were to make a suggestion, I would say make a single player linear Chivalry component. In the game you start as a levy, the first mission has you being called to arms with the rest of your town by the king to fight in his war, followed by a couple easy guarding jobs that turn to be not quite so easy, where you earn your place in the vanguard. You then play through, essentially, a series of battles with story elements being told in a couple places of downtime to get a soldier’s-eye view of the conflict of kings. You see and hear dissidents, complains, hear men laugh about the camp followers they slept with (“She gave me fleas!” “You better HOPE they’re fleas!”) and when basically follow a linear storyline of war, with the player fighting so fierce, that by the end of the game, he’s made a knight.

All in a mostly-linear game. Basically, a medieval Call of Duty, but with a good story, told through non-combat missions in between the battle missions. I think that would shake up the medieval/fantasy genre as a whole. You never have single player medieval games that are not RPGs or RTS games, and very rarely in any of those are you encouraged to be anything other than a noble or a knight. This would keep you, essentially, as a soldier until AFTER the war is over, when you’ve gained a knighthood, and be a completely unique way of telling the story of a war between kingdoms.

It could even be a part of the Chivalry mythos, being the story of how the kingdom of Agatha rose to power, and came to ruling the entire realm. Then it transitions to multiplayer, where that rule has failed, and the realm has dissolved to fighting between two factions, one that wants the realm for Malric Terrowin, and the remnants of the Agathan Crusaders who want to put King Argon’s son on the throne. All told from the eyes of the soldier who really wants nothing more than for the war to be over so he can go home.

Much more interesting than another bland MMO, IMO.

For the honor and glory of the land, and for the true king of the realm, for the kingship forged with iron and steel. I serve the heir to the throne of the kingdom of Agatha. For crown and for Kingdom, I serve.

For the glory of Agatha.

Inspired by a knight lord being asked to recite poetry on the spot by a noblewoman:

I have no gift for poetry or rhyme
That is not how I choose to spend my time.
Better to hand me spears or sword,
Than bandy out flow’ry words.
I’m more at home with horse and lance,
Than singing song for fools to dance,
Though lords and ladies often choose
To make me sing my dullest views.
And though warriors seem dull of wit
I am loath to disprove it
Better to be seen as simple and dumb
Than allow your foemen to have won.
My voice is simple, never graced
With rhyme nor any praise laced.
For though I’m fit, strong as a tree,
I have no gift for poetry.

Thoughts?

I missed getting into the Alpha because I lost internet in the middle of the hiring process, so I’d like to get into the Beta to make up for the Alpha I missed. :D

The evolution of plate mail began like all arms races do "How do I keep myself from getting killed?"Plate armor had been around centuries before, but the best armor available at the time was chainmail. Eventually, people started to put pauldrons on their hauberks, then some chest pieces, and eventually that simply evolved into the full plate we know.

1 It wasn’t so much how resources were being managed and traded, it was simply that they had little interest in strapping chunks of metal over their flexible rings. Eventually, they realized that plates would help in places. They had the resources for years, it takes very little more metal to make a plate curiass than it does to make the chest segment for a chain shirt.

2. Knights had been growing in more importance. When they started, knights were nothing more than elite warriors mounted on horseback. By the time plate armor came around, knights were the elite gentlemen of society, with their own honor code and hereditary titles. Being a knight was more important, and fewer people were allowed in, so each knight was more valuable than their predecessors.

3. With the importance of a knight growing, so to did the desire to keep him safe. The more knights lived to fight another day, the more powerful men you had in your next battle. With the shift of importance from being just a warrior to being quite simply a lesser noble at the very least, their pride gave them the chance to experiment. So they straps plates to their shoulders and discovered they warded off blows very easily, and it evolved from there.

3. From the cultural aspect, the knights had been fighting the Saracens for a large number of years off-and-on, and became exposed to a lot of different fighting techniques that they had never seen before. The Saracen armies had already begun to develop something similar to plate armor, and, just like the use of silks, surcoats, and the evolution of medicine, Europeans who returned from crusade carried with them stories of men who could ward off a dozen blows.

4. The climate actually would be detrimental to plate, in any form. Strapping yourself into plate armor is like putting yourself in an oven. Even the lightest, most breathable full plate armors will roast you if you’re not careful. If anything, other than maneuverability, the simple fact that plate got really hot was a main reason that plate was so segmented. Plate flexed easily, and breathed easier, but you can’t stay in it for long, and battles shortened after the beginning of plate armors.

I am not the foremost authority, I would check and recheck the info given here. I spouted these from the top of my head, but it’s been a few years since I looked into the evolution of plate armors. Don’t take everything I said as fact, double check it. I don’t want to be wrong and have you get a bad grade because of me.

It’s centered for me, I dunno what’s wrong with your screen. What resolution you running on? That might make a difference, somehow.