With The Viking Sagas, Age of Empires II seems increasingly willing to revisit older historical abstractions and give more specific identities to peoples and polities that were previously represented by broader civilizations.
I think the Crusades would be a perfect setting for the same treatment.
My suggestion would be a DLC focused on the Crusader States, with at least two new civilizations:
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Jerusalem
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Antioch
The main reason is not simply to add more civilizations. It is to distinguish between European crusaders arriving from the West and the Latin Christian societies that became established in Outremer.
At the moment, AoE II often uses civilizations such as the Franks to represent both groups. Historically, however, a Frankish crusader arriving from Europe and a Latin Christian born and raised in the Kingdom of Jerusalem should not necessarily be represented by the same civilization.
A DLC like this could therefore work especially well if it followed the model apparently being used in The Viking Sagas: adding new civilizations while also updating older scenarios and campaigns.
For example, older Crusades content could be revised so that:
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the Kingdom of Jerusalem is represented by Jerusalem rather than generic Franks;
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the Principality of Antioch is represented by Antioch;
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newly arrived French, English, German or Italian crusaders would still use their appropriate European civilizations.
This would make scenarios involving the Crusades much more historically expressive without requiring a complete redesign.
The two civilizations could also have very distinct identities.
Jerusalem could represent the Latin kingdom of Palestine, with an emphasis on heavy cavalry, military orders, fortified settlements and the mixed Mediterranean character of Outremer.
Antioch could represent the more northern Crusader State, with stronger Byzantine, Armenian and eastern Mediterranean influences, perhaps with greater emphasis on mixed armies or regional units.
The campaign possibilities would also be excellent.
A Baldwin IV campaign could cover the struggle between Jerusalem and Saladin, including Montgisard, the internal politics of the kingdom and the succession crisis that eventually led toward Hattin.
A Bohemond of Antioch campaign could begin during the First Crusade, cover the siege and capture of Antioch, and continue into the conflict between the new principality and the Byzantine Empire.
There would also be an opportunity to revisit parts of the classic Saladin campaign and other Crusades scenarios, replacing generic representations with Jerusalem or Antioch where appropriate.
I think this kind of DLC would fit AoE II particularly well because it would add new playable content while also improving the historical identity of some of the game’s most famous old campaigns.
The most interesting part, in my opinion, would be precisely this distinction:
Franks should remain Franks - but not every Latin Christian in the medieval Levant needs to be one.
