TAOM — Tales From the Age of Men

A Lord of the Rings total conversion mod for Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord v1.4.5.

What is it

TAOM reimagines Bannerlord as Middle-earth during the War of the Ring. More than twenty kingdoms wage war across a custom map — hundreds of unique troops, rideable war beasts (war elephants, giant spiders, wargs), race-specific lifespans, alignment-driven diplomacy, a full career/class progression system, per-kingdom special resources, and dozens of other systems. Every kingdom, clan, lord, and troop has been replaced or rewritten to fit Tolkien's world.

By the numbers: 58 feature modules · 39 GameModel overrides · 30+ Harmony patch categories · 50 careers across 16 cultures · 11 special resources across 18 kingdoms · 800+ troop definitions · 2,600+ unit tests · 90 feature docs.

The active development branch (and the GitHub default) is bannerlord-1.4.5.

Quick Start (Developers)

Prerequisites

• Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord v1.4.5 installed
• Visual Studio 2022 (or the .NET SDK + MSBuild) — targets .NET Framework 4.7.2
• BANNERLORD_GAME_DIR environment variable pointing at your game install (the setup-dev-env.ps1 script configures this)

Build & test

git clone https://github.com/haterade22/TAOM      # lands on bannerlord-1.4.5
cd TAOM

.\setup-dev-env.ps1        # configure BANNERLORD_GAME_DIR + dependencies
.\build.ps1                # build the mod
.\build.ps1 -RunTests      # build + run the test suite
dotnet test TAOM.Tests     # tests only

A successful build deploys the module into your game's Modules/ folder. Enable TAOM in the Bannerlord launcher and start a new campaign (existing saves are not supported).

TAOM.sln at the root contains both Main (mod code) and TAOM.Tests. Tests run with MSTest + NSubstitute. Shared build settings live in Directory.Build.props.

Project Structure

TAOM/
├── Main/                     # Mod source (.NET Framework 4.7.2)
│   ├── Features/             # 58 feature modules (CareerSystem, SpecialResources, LotrIssues, Elephant, …)
│   ├── Core/                 # Core infrastructure + IoC
│   ├── Adapters/             # Sealed-type adapters (IHeroAdapter, etc.)
│   └── _Module/              # Bannerlord module files (SubModule.xml, ModuleData, GUI)
├── TAOM.Tests/               # Unit tests (MSTest + NSubstitute, 2,600+ tests)
├── docs/
│   ├── adrs/                 # Architecture Decision Records (11)
│   ├── features/             # Feature documentation (90 files)
│   └── migration/            # Bannerlord version-migration tracking
├── tools/                    # Rebalancing + localization scripts
├── .claude/                  # Claude Code config (skills, agents, rules, hooks, memory)
├── .codex/                   # Codex adversarial-reviewer config
├── CLAUDE.md                 # AI instruction file (authoritative project reference)
├── AGENTS.md                 # Codex review instructions
└── build.ps1                 # Build script

Architecture

All mod logic follows one pattern:

[HarmonyPatch / GameModel / CampaignBehavior] → IHookInterface → Service → IAdapter

Services never touch TaleWorlds sealed types directly — they work through adapter interfaces, which keeps business logic fully unit-testable.

Non-negotiable rules:

• TDD mandatory (red → green → refactor)
• Entry points under 150 lines — delegate to services
• No #region, no [Obsolete], no #if DEBUG (except IoC registration)
• Adapter pattern for any TaleWorlds sealed type
• Research TaleWorlds internals before implementing — never guess signatures

See the Architecture Decision Records for the full set of design constraints.

Features

Factions

Free Peoples	Dark Powers	Independent
Gondor · Rohan · Erebor · Dale · Rivendell · Lothlórien · Mirkwood · Lindon	Mordor · Isengard · Dol Guldur · Gundabad · Misty Mountain Orcs · Goblin-town · Blue Craig · Dunland · Easterlings (Rhûn) · Harad · Khand	Umbar (corsairs) · Shaghâna · Âbanissa

Over 100 clans and 800+ unique troop definitions across all factions. Settlements like Erebor are hand-kitbashed in the editor — see the build reference.

Headline systems

• Career System — 50 careers across 16 cultures; pick one at character creation, progress a tiered choice tree, unlock passive bonuses + an active battlefield ability (press V).
• Legendary War Beasts — ride wargs, Harad war elephants (trample + tusk auto-attacks), and Dol Guldur giant spiders (auto-bite); each driven by behavior-tree AI and fielded as cavalry.
• Special Resources — 11 per-kingdom resources (War Spoils, Gems, Elven Wine, …) that gate elite troop upgrades; XML-driven with many-to-one kingdom/culture mappings.
• Cultural Feats — lore-driven per-culture bonuses (Rohan cavalry speed, Erebor smithing, Mordor raid damage, Gondor loyalty, …), each backed by a dedicated GameModel override.
• Culture Conversion — conquered towns, castles, and their villages gradually adopt the conqueror's culture, switching recruitment pools to match.
• Smart Battle AI — coordinated cavalry line-charges, companion-led formation tactics, and mixed formations that interleave unit types instead of segregating them.
• War of the Ring — scripted phased escalation into permanent total war between Free Peoples and Dark Powers; configurable via JSON + MCM.
• Race & Age System — race-appropriate lifespans and fertility (immortal elves, 250-year dwarves, fast-breeding orcs, ageless Nazgûl).
• Named Companions — 18 lore companions (Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, …) as recruitable wanderers.
• Bandit Management — five LOTR bandit cultures replace vanilla hideouts, with configurable density and themed encounter flavor.
• Localization — full text support across 12 languages with graceful English fallback.

…and dozens more systems (castle recruitment, culture marketplace, troop-weight balancing, messengers, quick-action inventory, banner color persistence, settlement guards, custom battles, siege defense, tournament armor, shader precompilation, and more). Each is documented under docs/features/. LOTR rules are enforced through 39 GameModel overrides and 30+ Harmony patch categories — both registries are catalogued in CLAUDE.md.

How It's Built (AI-assisted pipeline)

TAOM is developed with a structured, AI-assisted engineering pipeline.

• Claude Code is integrated as more than a code generator: 41 custom slash-command skills, 5 specialized agents, 22 automated hooks, 18 path-scoped rule files, persistent cross-session memory, and 7 MCP servers (symbolic code navigation, decompilation, git, GitHub). CLAUDE.md is the authoritative reference every session loads.
• Codex (OpenAI) runs as an independent adversarial reviewer — it shares no session context with Claude, so it provides a genuine second opinion. 40+ reviews completed to date; review instructions live in AGENTS.md.
• Mandatory completion workflow — every C# feature passes a 4-phase gate before merge: build + internal /deep-review → Codex adversarial review → self-review of the fixes → closeout (issue, feature doc, CHANGELOG).

Installing to Play (non-developers)

TAOM ships as a set of modules. Required alongside the core TAOM module:

• Companion modules: TAOM_Map, LOTRLOME_Armory, TAOM.Dependencies, Alliance.Wargs
• BUTR dependencies: Harmony and Mod Configuration Menu (MCM)

Place all modules in your Bannerlord Modules/ directory, enable them in the launcher, and start a new campaign — existing saves are not supported.

Contributing

1. Read CLAUDE.md for coding standards and conventions
2. Write tests first — TDD is mandatory
3. Use the adapter pattern for any TaleWorlds sealed type
4. Keep Harmony patches and entry points thin (< 150 lines); delegate to services
5. Research TaleWorlds behavior before implementing — decompile, don't guess

License

Code (C# mod source): MIT License

Content (art, lore, data, XML assets derived from Tolkien's works): CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — non-commercial, attribution required, share-alike.

This mod is a fan project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Tolkien Estate, New Line Cinema, or TaleWorlds Entertainment.