Mount & Blade 2 is alive and kicking, thanks for asking.
In a rather lengthy post on the official website of TaleWorlds Entertainment have given us a description of a new faction to fight against/recruit/rule/trade with.
The souther nation is called Aserai, and are, to quote the developers:
(…) based on the Arab tribes just before the great Islamic conquests of the seventh century, which created a diverse tri-continental caliphate whose scale and institutions don’t really fit Bannerlord’s political system.
While Mount & Blade games never aim to satisfy the number crunchers and pixel hunters, they are immersive simulators of what it would be like to be an enterprising leader of military/trading band.
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is set to launch sometime in the future. No, really, that’s the best we’ve got. Hopefully it’s this year.