Where Free Company's Art Comes From

People have been asking about the look of Free Company: the old map, the shields, the faces. So here's where it all comes from, and why I went this way.

The map: Fra Mauro, around 1450

The strategic map is built on Fra Mauro's world map, made by a Venetian monk on the island of Murano in the mid-1400s. It's one of the great maps of the Middle Ages, and it has one thing that confuses everyone at first: south is at the top. Africa sits above Europe, and the Elbe runs where you don't expect it. I kept it that way on purpose. Your company knows the road a few days ahead and not much beyond it, and a map drawn by someone who never saw most of what he painted feels right for that. Every road, river and town on it is somewhere your men have to walk.

The faces: Hottenroth's costume plates

The new portraits come from Friedrich Hottenroth's 19th-century history of dress, hundreds of hand-painted figures showing how people across Europe and beyond looked through the ages. I cut every figure out by hand, one at a time. Below is plate 81, with the two figures that became al-Mansur of Córdoba and the captain Yusuf. Every faction leader, captain and band type now has one of these faces.

The shields: The Art of Heraldry, 1904

The faction arms come from A.C. Fox-Davies' The Art of Heraldry, with colour plates by Graham Johnston. The one exception is the Measurers, whose emblem I made myself. I should be honest that proper heraldry came a little after the year 1000, and some of the kit your men wear is later than 997 too. I took the same liberty most historical games take, because a shield you can read at a glance tells you who owns a town, who's marching on you and whose silver you're taking. More period-accurate gear is on my list for after launch.

Why old art at all?

I wanted one consistent look. Every portrait comes from one source and every shield from one book, so nothing feels pieced together. I also wanted the game to feel rooted in how people of the past pictured their world. These are real historical works, all public domain, and they're credited in the game's credits under Historical sources. The new portraits are in the game now. Free Company releases November 13.