What Happens When You Conquer Everything in Bannerlord?

As a passionate Bannerlord player and content creator myself, I get this question a lot – what exactly happens when you finally conquer the entire map and control all of Calradia? After hundreds of hours commanding armies across the countryside, besieging castles, and managing settlements, players want to know if there is any special endgame or concluding events to this mammoth task.

The short answer is…nothing formally happens. No end credits, no victory cinematic, no notification that you‘ve "beaten" the game. You are simply left standing alone atop the feudal food chain.

But just because Bannerlord doesn‘t offer a defined ending, that doesn‘t mean determined warlords aren‘t trying – or finding their own fun in the aftermath with vibrant modding and roleplaying communities. Let‘s break down conquering Calradia, why there‘s no "ending," and what players aim to do once total dominance is achieved.

Step-By-Step: Conquering the Map as a Solo Clan

While Bannerlord has extensive multiplayer and co-op options, many playthroughs by top players and content creators opt to conquer the entire map as a solo clan leading their custom faction. Here are the core steps to subjugating all rival kingdoms and empires under your rule:

1. Build an Army & Funds

Starting off on your own means no fiefs or vassals to call for reinforcements. You need to recruit wanderers, rescue prisoners, and win battles to build up your own elite retinue of troops. Quests, trading, and hunting bandits provide essential gold in these early scrappy days.

2. Capture Your First Settlement

Once you have sufficient troops (50-100 elite units recommended), identify a weakly defended enemy village, castle, or city. Besieging settlements is very costly in supplies, equipment durability, and troop morale, so pick your first target carefully. Victory grants you a valuable foothold.

3. Swearing Oaths & Growing Your Faction

After taking your first fief, receive the oaths of allegiance of enemies you defeat to turn them into vassals. Send companions on missions to recruit additional clans. Slowly expand territory under your custom banner. Manage relations to keep turmoil low.

4. Deal with Snowballing Kingdoms

Rival kingdoms left unchecked will rapidly expand at critical tipping points. You’ll need to carefully balance offense against the largest faction(s) with defending your existing lands. Leave weaker enemies to buffer between regions.

5. Become the Dominant Force

Meticulously continue disrupting enemy factions by creaming their parties, interrupting sieges, and ultimately seizing control points. As you take more settlements and sway lords, leverage sheer numerical advantage to steamroll remaining resistors.

Why There‘s No Ultimate "Ending"

Unlike story-driven RPGs with defined final bosses and concluding events, Bannerlord spins a dynamically evolving medieval war simulator that remains open-ended by design.

There are no set win conditions or game ending triggers because the developers intend for unscripted, emergent narrative through its sandbox mechanics. Rival nobles have their own evolving motivations and strategies independent of player actions. Each new playthrough spins fresh scenarios.

Once you stamped out all other original kingdoms as a dominant conqueror, Bannerlord offers no special cutscenes or credits celebrating your rule from Laria to Zeonica.

But is conquering Calradia still satisfying? Absolutely. The journey itself creates epic player-driven stories no script could match. Read on for what players have done after their own hard-fought unification!

What Players Do AFTER Total Conquest

So you‘ve finally seized the last Khuzait grazing pasture and shoved the last Vlandian holdout off the map. With no defined "endgame" or closing events, what comes next after such a glorious struggle?

Defend Against Rebels & Would-be Usurpers

Bannerlord‘s dynamic mechanics mean eliminated factions can still claw their way back from seeming destruction to vex overlords. Lords you‘ve defeated, or even disgruntled vassals, may defect to resurrect old kingdoms or forge new ones. Be prepared to frequently smash uprisings and make examples out of treasonous parties unless you enable realm stability policies.

Roleplay Your New Empire

Create your own stories without the confines of pre-scripted narratives! Host tournaments for your kingdom, enact policies from your throne, forge alliances through marriages, or overhaul cultural composition by conquest. Retire your sword and just walk the streets of your lands. Mods exponentially expand ruler roleplay potential.

Consolidate Holdings & Develop Infrastructure

Fully upgrading all the villages, castles and cities under your banner takes time and tremendous investment into hearths, walls, hospitals and more. You may find after conquest you still have vulnerable weak points or economic shortcomings in your massive domain. No rest for the triumphant!

Install Mods

The vibrant Bannerlord modding community has already expanded base game content substantially, but modifications really enable next-level customization of post-conquest sandboxes. Add story events, overhaul combat AI, introduce fantastical beings, or mesh Bannerlord with other fictional universes!

Beat Your Best Times

Think you consolidated Calradia fast this run? Try beating your own speed conquest records! The current reported world record (patch 1.5.0) for conquering the map stands at just under 7 hours held by Zemalf. Think you can shatter that benchmark with the perfect start? Prepare and optimize your next attempt!

Duel Foes & Allies in Multiplayer

Bannerlord multiplayer offers entirely different challenges, pitting your customized character against other players in sieges or open battlefields. Even after PvE conquest, crossover to PvP domains puts your skills to work in fresh ways.

Wait for Full Release & New Content

Bannerlord remains in Early Access on Steam, so many players shelve the title temporarily after wrapping their last campaign to wait for the full launch build and expansions down the road. The developers continue cooking up new mechanics, equipment, scenarios and polish to enhance the experience. Patience may reward those who hold off.

Now trade your sword for a scepter and make your own destiny from your conquered throne. Just because the game doesn‘t end doesn‘t mean your journey does! Command armies or emissaries to continue adding to your domain. Rule justly through council diplomacy or with an iron fist through fear and awe.

The concluding events are whatever you envision for your dynasty’s next chapter over Calradia, mighty conqueror. Where the game stops officially supporting you with fanfare, the true sandbox begins.