Aquitaine is a minor Bretonnia faction in
Total War: Warhammer. It only appears in the Season of Revelation
mini-campaign, as in the Grand Campaigns it is combined with Bordeleaux.
"Fairest land in the world. The grain
is plentiful, travelling is easy, and monsters are rare. Who would choose to
live anywhere else?"
— Aquitainian noble.
The Dukedom of Aquitaine is a founding
Dukedom that lies within the gentle western coast of Bretonnia. Known for having
one of the most tranquil lands within the entire Old World, Aquitaine is famous
for its highly arable farmlands and its gentle sandy shores. Due to its
tranquillity and without any external threats to unify this Dukedom's people,
this land is extremely famous for its unstable violent atmosphere, with feuds
between nobles, peasant revolution and small civil wars being an all too common
occurrence.
Nevertheless, the lands of Aquitaine are
still a beautiful sight to behold, with their Knights being among the most
stubborn and courageous out of all the realms of Bretonnia. The current ruler
of Aquitaine is the young, enigmatic and courageous Duke Armand, a fearsome
Grail Knight of the Lady of the Lake who lives within the high walls of Castle
Aquitaine, located within the southern borders of the Dukedom.
Geography
"Travel through Aquitaine is boring.
Dull, dull, and dull. Field of wheat, village, field of wheat, ridiculously
overbuilt castle, orchard, small town. Best part of my job."
— Eldergar of Busreq, Coachman.
Aquitaine lies south of the Gilleau and the
Forest of Châlons, and consists almost entirely of arable land. There are a few
hills, but nothing so steep as to make pastoral farming the only option. The
coastline is the gentlest in Bretonnia, with many beaches, few high cliffs, and
numerous safe coves. However, there are no suitable locations for a major port,
so the largest settlements are fishing (and smuggling) villages. Inland, there
are no major rivers, no obvious crossing points through the low hills, and no
particularly defensible locations. As a result, no settlements have grown
particularly large. Even the town of Aquitaine is no bigger than medium-size,
and that is due entirely to the influence of the ducal court.
Indeed, noble influence is the main factor
in town size throughout the dukedom. Noblemen encourage urban development
around their castles so that they can tax the trade and become wealthier. So
far, these developments have never taken root: when the noble loses interest,
the towns shrink again. Thus, there are a lot of towns with abandoned areas as
large as the inhabited. The hovels there quickly collapse, but the more
substantial buildings slowly moulder away. A similar effect can be seen in
Aquitaine’s castles. As there are no naturally defensible locations, the lords
of Aquitaine rely on construction to protect their homes. A noble facing attack
or possessing extra money extends his castle, and his heirs abandon the parts
that are no longer necessary to avoid the expense of upkeep. These abandoned
buildings are often taken over by Dereliches, which discourages people from
raiding them for building materials and from trying to live in a building
surrounded by abandoned structures.
The
People
"Almost no monsters in Aquitaine. Even
Beastmen from Châlons seem to stay out. Feuding nobles, gangsters, rebellious
peasants, cultists, serial killers, and protagonists in abundance,
though."
—Marietta, Tilean mercenary.
The people of Aquitaine do not have to
fight to defend their land, so they fight each other. Aquitainians themselves
prefer to say that they have honour and the courage of their convictions, but
the result is the same. Aquitainians have a reputation for being stubborn and
for resorting to violence to solve their problems. As a result, their knights
are among the most renowned in Bretonnia, and the dukedom is constantly in the
grip of several small wars, revolutions, and feuds.
People often leave Aquitaine as a result of
a serious disagreement with someone more powerful than they are. Others,
particularly nobles, leave to prove their mettle against monsters, of which
Aquitaine has remarkably few. Some, of course, leave because they are sick of
the constant feuding and want to live somewhere people just get along. These
folk tend to keep moving. The internal politics of Aquitaine are in constant
flux as old feuds die down and new ones flare up. The new Duke has, if
anything, made things even worse, despite his best intentions. Whenever he
intervenes personally to suppress a revolt or force reconciliation in a feud,
he succeeds. However, if he cannot intervene personally, he tends to do
nothing, which means that many other feuds are allowed to develop.
There are a few famous, ancient feuds which
Duke Armand has not been able to resolve (although in these cases, none of his
predecessors could, either). The feud between the D'Elbiq and Du Maisne
families has continued for several centuries. It was started over the soiling
of the daughter of one house by the son of the other, but no one now knows
which was which (both houses claim that it was their daughter, of course). This
feud has become so formalised that the locations of the battles are set in
advance, and people come to watch. The feud is still real, though, so the
battles are to the death, which attracts even more people.
A more recent feud is that between the
Earls of Desroches, in the west of the dukedom, and Fluvia, in the north. The
two men used to be inseparable friends, spending much time at the courts of the
land. A little over ten years ago, something happened, and the two have been
implacable foes ever since. Both are intelligent, fine tacticians and
strategists, and superb warriors in their own right. Most of the time they keep
their feud low-key, but as no one knows the cause, no one knows what might
cause it to flare up into full-blown war. Between them, the two lords command
the fealty of over a third of the nobles of Aquitaine; war between them would
devastate the dukedom. Relations between Aquitaine and other dukedoms are generally
neutral. Disputes within Aquitaine stay there, and other nobles have more sense
than to get involved.
Type: Minor
Category: Bretonnian Kingdoms
Ruler: Armand d'Aquitaine
Campaigns: The Season of Revelation
Official Name: Dukedom of Aquitaine
Ruler: Duke Armand d'Aquitaine
Government: Feudal Government
Capital: Castle Aquitaine
Chartered Towns: Derrevin Libre, Chateau
D'Epee
Major Exports: Unknown
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