Land Reform Is Pretty Hard

Going over what the MC can do in the ending for the War in the North, and looked over examples of land reform throughout history. Spent almost five hours on research yesterday as it became a bit of a rabbit hole of "OH FUCK; OH SHIT; NOOOOOO!" while going through it.

"Land Reform is pretty hard" is 100% something the Gracchi Brothers have said more than once.

It'll also be without a doubt uttered by our MC.

Extra History/Credits has a good video series that'll bring you up to speed and explain their involvement in history. Each episode averages around 7 minutes, and there's 6 of 'em in total.

I bring up the Romans because they're so universally known, but if you look closely all throughout history you'll find that land reform is a familiar spectre behind many civil wars and revolutions throughout the globe.

More specifically, Land Reform and the greed of the elite.

If my conclusion from my amateur research is right, it wasn't until Julius Caesar and his conquest of Gaul that mass distribution of land was "possible" in the way it was debated about in the Roman Senate.

Pompey had conquered vast tracts of land in the east, but that land was inhabited by ancient even-by-their-time-period civilizations. Think of Greece, Syria, Anatolia, etc. Many of them had been under the control of the Diadochi and had the benefit of integrating Greco-Persian influences into their civilizations.

Influences familiar to the Romans, so the peoples living there werent depopulated (killed, enslaved, fled) on the level the Gauls as a whole were in modern day France.

Plus the eastern half of the Mediterranean had rough terrain that made latifundia (big ass estates that produced food) difficult to do on a massive scale without upsetting their new "vassals" (and why Egypt was so important as a source of constant food).

There was Hispania and the Spanish Wars, that did allow the distribution of land. But have you seen the geography of Spain?

The land is rich in resources (like famously silver) but it is rugged and ill-suited for farming unless you do it in the western half of the peninsula.

There's a reason why Hispania took almost exactly two centuries to fully pacify, and even then it wasn't "fully" pacified (the Basques have famously fought off invaders throughout all history, including literally everyone listed below plus springing an ambush on Charlemagne himself).

The Spanish Ulcer was an ulcer not just for Napoleon and the French Empire, but also for Carthage, Rome, the Visigoths, and the Umayyad Caliphate.

Spain just has a literal history of doing this:

Then there's Gaul (France).

Most of the land (western half of Gaul at least) is flat, fertile, and next to great rivers.

Vast tracts of desirable land, now free to give to legionaries.

Just now, from writing the above, I realize this 100% contributed to Caesar's drastic decision to do civil war. He had fought in Gaul for wealth and political currency, but the fucker actually pulled off total conquest. The land he conquered was inevitably going to be used as a political bargaining chip for any politician back home.

He's the one who spent miserable winters in Gaul, fighting and killing alongside his men. Why the fuck would he let Cucklian Obesius bargain with his conquered land to ingratiate himself with his soldiers for votes??

Cucklian Obesius:

Julius Caesar:

Ahem, got distracted there for a bit.

Anyways, see how the promise of land being distributed to fighting soldiers leads to conflicts?

Politicians know people will fight for land they can settle.

This brings us to Kingdoms and Empires and the War in the North.

Veldora Duchy is the most fertile region of northern Argent, and it's where we'll be fighting alot in.

The Breadbasket of the North!

The most populated duchy north of Lake Serenith!

And the target of a dozen tribes fleeing their strongholds thanks to the rising V'era threat.

If only...

there was...

someone...

who could help them....

You're gonna have your hands full in the aftermath, and the repercussions of what you decide will pop up later in the future... as it usually does when it comes to land distribution.

But this will also, quite obviously, play into the whole Conqueror/Unifier/Messiah paths the Squire route thrusts you in.

Conqueror: You basically place the (surviving) tribespeople to work clearing land, and place them on the edges of the duchies to be a sorta "early alarm system" for V'era incursions. Sounds bad, but grade MC's actions here on a historical curve lol. This is done purely through force and more than a few casualties. Some accept this, but a majority instead go back to their strongholds and flip the coin on whether the V'era will cease their advance.

Unifier: You pretty much work to integrate them into the northern duchies as new citizens of the kingdom. This is done through diplomacy and a bit of force.

Messiah: You do some shenanigans by using religion and doggo. Armiel Ast'stead and Samuel Bridgewatch come in clutch for this route.

Thank you for your time!