Quote:Never heard of them.
Regarding the steppe nomads, the classic layout was handled pretty well by Robert Adams in the Horseclans books (although you probably wouldn't want the telepathic set).
Anyway, before I go on, I'll note that one of the aspects that'd been driving the differences between these nations was from a game design perspective - I wanted to make them as different as possible within the bounds of the Total War series hardcoded limitations, and had planned to model Rider cavalry off of the camel units, while Islanders had light dog (horse) cavalry, the Rivermen had chariots, and the... hell, call'em Vikings, for now... used elephants.
That said, the bit about their bringing the huge-breed dogs with them when they invaded makes sense. Hmm. Tempting.
The other misperception here is the idea that they haven't changed since they arrived. They've been ruling their current lands for hundreds of years, now - they might not look it, but in reality they're as civilised as any of their subjects or rivals. They've hung on to their tactics and skills as a concious choice and effort, rather than a consequence of their lifestyle.
Yes, they use the bow as their ranged weapon of choice. The River Kingdom doesn't have a seperate component of ranged troops; as already mentioned, their line units carry atlatls and so don't need the support, especially the long-service units who've had time to practice their aim. The Islands tend to grow the wrong sort of wood for bows or atlatls, and anyway are relatively poor - they make do with javelins and the occaisional unit of mercenaries. The Dynasty favors crossbows of varying sizes. The sling as a weapon of war (against anything larger than a rabbit) is unknown in the civilised world, and rare even for other purposes - that'll change when the Vikings announce themselves on the scene.
Ja, -n
===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"