How I became what I am now: A Mount&Blade II: Bannerlord story (part 1)

Bannerlord is the successor of Mount&Blade: Warband, currently in Early Access on steam. It is a game where you start as a noone, one unimportant under thousands, and end up... well, that is up to you.

In a big sandbox world in an early medieval setting you can do everything. You can be a merchant, a mercenary or a king. If you have the strength and wits to pull it of.

In this series I will be writing a (dramatized) story of what I experience in the game. I have been playing warband for quite some time (and quite some time ago) and I hope I will have much fun with this too. I will be playing a trading based character and see how that works in a world full of deadly conflicts.

random genetics

My name is Ayasa. I was born an Aserai, the old culture of the deserts. We Aserai know all about sand, the hot winds of the desert and what both together can do.

And we know war.

For ages our tribes have battled each other for the scarce resources, but now new enemies have appeared, enemies of all Aserai. The leaders of our clans have mostly stopped fighting each other and stand now united against the outlandish threat.

But even though I have known the true facts of life, I had never dreamed - or feared - to become entangled in this fight. But it happened.

My parents were humble traders in a small oasis town in the southern mountains. We were not rich, but we seldom had to starve.

still random genetics

Maybe it was from them that I learned how to do the numbers. Even in young years I had an aptitude for numbers and used that whenever I could. My parents recognized my skill, and even when I was only half as big as them I was send on trade errants on their behalf.

The few times bandits threatened our humble but prospering town, many the youth would like me take place as guards while the regular troops sallied to give chase. That also gave me ample time to watch people and it didn't took me long to recognize that my father was right. Not only in trade it generally pays if you treat people well, while it seldom costs you more than a more likable stance.

But then the war finally came to us. Armies came and when they left, everything else did, too. My family decided it was time to walk away from the storm and found a better place to live. Father, mother, my elder brother and the two younger siblings had not much left except hope.
And even that was taken.

Even the cheap inn we stayed at was not safe. Raiders came and in the resulting fight both my parents were killed. The children, including our Fathid and Alya, were taken captive to be sold as slaves.

About me and my brother... I somehow managed to motivate our the other travellers in the inn to try an organized counter attack. The Raiders were surprised aobut the sudden resistance, and decided it was not worth the risk. They rode away, leaving me and my brother in tears.

But we are Aserai. We know that the wind of the deserts blow strong. And we know that even the most fiercest of winds sometimes changes it's course...

For days we have been following the slave raiders. And now, in the center of the old Empire, we found them. We are close.

don't ask me

I am not good at fighting, a woman smaller than many and lacking training. But I will not give up. If I have to, I will fight. And maybe there is a different way. You never know what lies behind the next dune.