In Warband, like the original, you take the role of an individual on a fictional landmass known as Calradia, and are basically free to do whatever you want. Being a stand-alone, you don't need the original game to play. Warband is the stand-alone expansion to the original Mount and Blade, released towards the end of 2008. But like beard-girl, Warband has a really good personality and if you close your eyes when you kiss you can pretend that the facial hair is just a scarf or something. If games were women, Mount and Blade: Warband would be that girl with a hormone disorder that made her have kind of a beard.
Mount and Blade: Warband is not the prettiest game on the market.