The orange-ish base color for the land itself indicates that we're a Greek colony, and that Greeks have settled/conquered through much of Peuketii. (Also that Taras and various other ports along the Sallentine Peninsula are Greek as well)
Our city, Eretria Eskhata, is marked by a large circle (large city) outlined in red and filled in with a light gray color. This indicates our ownership (I take it that the red outline is what marks it as ours? There are plenty of other gray-shaded circles on the map, that aren't in our sphere of influence).
Taras is marked by light blue compass points, indicating that it is a major cultural center with influence on the smaller Sallentine ports that are light-blue circles.
Our city is also marked by compass points, indicating that we are a major cultural center. Those compass points are shaded with either black or dark gray. The other cities in the Epulian league are marked by circles outlined in red with a gray/black filling -- they are under our influence or leadership.
There are two main cities in the Peuketii region -- Canosa and Sannape. Those cities are marked by gray circles, outlined in green, but they also have gray/black compass points. The smaller city Rhyps is outlined in green with a gray/black filling -- does this mean they 'belong' to the Peuketii, but are in our cultural sphere of influence?
While it is correct that orange represents that you are a Greek colony, the fill of the Peuketii represents your suzerainty over them, not colonization or conquest.
No, the red outline is actually orange and represents you're a Greek city. For example, all the Aegean Greeks have orange outlines. What marks it as yours is the compass points colored blue.
The light blue compass point indicates that is Taras' color. The "influence" is actual control. Notice that Metapontion, as an example, has a fill that represents that it controls Metapontion, Sitiris, and Silvion.
The color is dark blue.
It is a Peuketii city that is under your suzerainty, also; the dark-blue compass points of Canosa and Sannape represent that they are under your control and are dependent.
@Spacegnom Many thanks for your assistance in tallying this, saved me some time.
[X] Do not allow leaderless bouloi to run. No. of votes: 26
[X] Put aside twenty talents this year for a future expedition[-20 talents, Will not be able to construct multiple buildings in 304 OL due to cost.] No. of votes: 32
AN: THIS IS A REMINDER NOT TO VOTE YET. VOTING, AS PER THE DECISION OF QUEST-READERS, IS ON PAUSE FOR A 24-HOUR OR SO DISCUSSION PERIOD. TOMORROW YOU WILL GET TO VOTE ON THE DECISIONS PRESENTED HERE.
Laying down the Yoke
The end of the year's election seemed to be a victory for Drako; the attempt to create leaderless bouloi was averted, which meant that he ran essentially unopposed. Whatever plans his opponents such as Antipater, who had partaken in an aggressive verbal sparring match in Taras with Drako, wanted, they would not have it this year. However, the victory was not much for Drako, who felt betrayed by the city that he had come to serve for having allowed the Tarentines to fall prey to the Messapii dogs. Although he was aware of the need for a navy, his aristocratic sensibilities had pulled him again and again back to the land. He could only have wished that Herodion, rather than doing great things in Sicily, was there with him, but he suspected that this would not have been to his benefit. A victorious Herodion, coming home with loot and glory, could have trounced him without uttering a single word. Many of Drako's allies began to rankle and chafe at the attitude he held when 303 OL turned to 304 OL; the shipyard was complete, but no new triremes were being constructed. Such a thing lay in the purview of the boule, and Drako did not want to open up his coffers to construct a navy just yet. When some of the other bouloi offered to help, he rebuffed them; Eretria would need Kerkyra's technical help, since the triremes she was using were old and in need of repairs that they did not have trained shipbuilders for, but that concession was too much for proud Drako.
So it was a mercy to him that a new controversy provoked a distraction. Some metic sons, not interested in their father's trades, dived in to the agricultural laborer business, finding the wages lucrative despite having to compete with serfs. However, the aristocratic landowner who had employed them, Nikephoros who had previously been the subject to a complicated family inheritance dispute more than ten years earlier, requested that the courts bar them since the law currently made no singular exception to metics in labor. Sure, the juries had right buggered him before, but if he trusted in Fortune, everything might come up Nikephoros.
Nothing came up Nikephoros. The presiding jurors, many of them experienced in land disputes since they had served in the contract court, suggested that the whole matter should be sent to the ekklesia since there are a vast array of problems here. To make matters worse, it also provoked many questions about the legal status of serfs. Previously, courts treated serfs like debt farmers whose debt obligation was immutable, but this was based on outdated archaic era Eretrian laws from before the tyranny of Diagoros some fifty years earlier, and even then the logic was questionable. One of the earliest hellraisers on the issue, so much so that Antipater suggested he was doing it on Drako's behest, was Sideros, who used his position in the boule to argue it all needed to be considered. Soon, more cases were sent to the courts and shoved to the ekklesia. What was at stake here was a vast array of different issues, and in order to get around the usual confusion of the ekklesia, Drako assigned a mikroboule made up of citizens drawn by lot (who had previously served on juries) to compile the issues. Although a minor footnote in the dispute, this surprising innovation had come to Drako presumably throughout the years of experiencing the ups and downs of Eretrian democracy. If they must be democratic, he reasoned, then allowed a bit of measured forethought to come into it.
The mikroboule had its leader in the merchant Isokrates' brother Arkathos, who was a good enough speaker to rise to prominence within it. With the aid of Isokrates, he explained the basic problems. First, the restrictions on movement must be established; serfs by their nature must be restricted, but how restricted? Some aristocrats recommended full immobility, others wanted to be able to choose, and Antipater recommended that in an emergency like a serf revolt they may move serfs at will. This did not sit well with Drako. Who interpreted an emergency? Antipater answered that if it is an emergency enough for the sacred treasury to be violated, it would be emergency enough for the serfs to be moved. Drako accepted the logic but disputed why the serfs would need to be moved or confiscated. Antipater answered military necessity. The two glared. A few mischievous minds wondered if their tension was more than rivalry.
Also a problem was the matter of serfs serving in the army. They could provide additional psilloi, something that could be helped by the fact that Peuketii are natural at throwing javelins. There was a question, though, of whether the additional armor of the city could be given to them, and if so, what kind of trust could they expect? After all, there was much less incentive than the dependencies to fight. They could run at the first opportunity. It was deeply concerning. In addition to this matter, and tied into it, was legal protections. IN Sparta, the helots could be killed at will and in ritual annual savagery, were done so for sport. Other poleis were not so discerning.
Then there was the question of limitations of serfs. Some argued that serfs needed to be allowed to do some basic housework if there were only one or two doing that, but not only was this harder to police than slave manual labor, but one serf in the house is worth more than one slave in the field. And furthermore, what about tenant metics, the original case that made this mess? Should they be allowed? The benefits could be many, but it could divide the countryside between metics and serfs in a way that could be confusing, and aristocrats would have to deal with wage laborers competing with their serfs. Some aristocrats, preferring the ideal of a serf economy, despised the idea of paying wage laborers in wealth.
What about manumission? Should serfs be manumitted if they collect the funds, however collected? Should landowners be able to free their serfs? One concern is doing this as a measure to spite the children, releasing all the serfs. In response to this Drako suggested some basic laws on manumission, but by now the ekklesia was tiring of the mikroboule's presentation. The series of questions asked were serious and required due consideration, but came in such a fashion as to make many rub their foreheads from the sheer tedium of all these decisions. Finally, there was the matter of punishment, which woke many of the ekklesia members (who had dropped almost below quorum because the extended proceedings had forced poor citizens to tend to their jobs rather than come to the assembly). The questions were presented, and then a sigh of relief was released. Finally, they could vote on this whole mess.
How stringent should restrictions on movement be?
[] Under no circumstances can a serf move between estates.
[] Only with the master's permission can a serf move between estates.
[] In an emergency allow the polis to move serfs at will. [-10 Aristocratic opinion].
Should serfs be allowed to serve?
[] Allow serfs to serve in the army [+100 Serf Psilloi].
[] No, they cannot be trusted.
Should serfs have any legal protections?
[] Only those afforded to them by their masters.
[] Prevent the killing of serfs without due cause.
[] Prevent torture and killing of serfs without due cause. [-5 aristocratic opinion].
Should serfs be barred from other occupations for their master?
[] It is two sides of the coin; just as slaves cannot do manual labor, serfs cannot do household labor. [-5 aristocratic opinion].
[] Allow serfs into other occupations so long as they are limited, allowing two serfs per master in non-manual occupations.
Should tenant metics be allowed?
[] Yes, and provide incentives in terms of favorable contracts to them, ensuring good wages. [+10 metic opinion, -10 Aristocratic opinion].
[] Yes, but give them no special treatment.
[] No, serfs are enough; we do not wish to create an agricultural servant class of Greeks. [-15 metic opinion].
Should manumission of serfs be allowed?
[] Allow manumission at the will of the landowner.
[] Allow manumission only with specific regulations and requirements.
[] Do not allow manumission under any circumstances.
What should the punishment be for serfs fleeing from bondage?
[] Execution.
[] Twenty lashes across the back, ten more for each serf who aided and abetted them.
[] Such savagery is above us; Serfs will be punished by heavier grain requirements for the others. Let their whole collective suffer for the choice of one of their number, as the polis suffers for one of theirs.
Xenoparachoosing
In between these tedious debates there was the case of the xenoparakletor. Kallias had done a good job, but some citizens grumbled he should have predicted Kerkyra ahead of time while others wondered why he had spent so much time there. On the whole though, the city appreciated the job that Kallias had been doing, and it seemed as though he may well win the xenoparakletor position again. Before that, though, Drako recommended that they change an aspect of it; the length of time that a xenoparakletor spends in office. Drako explained that when it was roiginally decided the polis did not have a very good idea of what a Xenoparakletor was since it was such a peculiar institution, far more representative than the proxenos. Fearing tyranny, they had regulated the length of time to three years, but, Drako argued, that was not very much time at all. With much of the job relying on personal connections, there needed to be a longer period of time to establish them. Arguing against him, Ampelios, one of the xenoparakletor candidates to step forward, explained that in his mind the main issue was that the city needed candidates who could be responsive to the city's needs. To have them lose themselves in foreign affairs and foreign connections may well induce them to be more sympathetic to other poleis. Kallias, speaking on his own behalf, explained that he had not felt himself alienated from the polis and thought that unlikely to change with successive terms.
Meanwhile, one more wild-card threw his hat into the ring, the merchant Kassandros. Acting increasingly independent of Drako, Kassandros' announcement was presaged by the first formal speech that Timaeus had done in the ekklesia in years. A former proboulos, Timaeus' term was controversial and short, running for only two years. Incapable of controlling his boule and his opponents, Timaeus had left the office in a disgrace, only to construct an extremely powerful banking business, notably so. Disliked deeply by many aristocrats, Timaeus was one of the oldest plutocrats in the city, a rich merchant who had turned himself into one by deep personal struggle. Now he lived with an unnamed mistress and a wife near the docks in a modest house. In his speech, he showed that he had learnt much, respectfully endorsing Kassandros as a man of ability and diplomatic skill. His entrance threw the anti-Drako coalition being constructed by Antipater, Ampelios, and a few others for a loop. Had an old ghost come back to haunt them?
Who should be the new Xenoparakletor?
AN: I disliked the way that the player-based xenoparakletor system worked since it put too much emphasis on a base functionary. So instead we're going to be implementing a stat system based on three attributes, with the highest possible score in each being 5. The three stats are Rhetoric, Arête, and Agathosune, meaning assertiveness in a good cause. Rhetoric regulates diplomatic skill, arête your renown, and Agathosune your assertiveness and aggresiveness. All are important in different situations.
[] Kallias, the current xenoparakletor. RHE: 2 ARE: 2 AGA: 2 A good diplomat, Kallias is an all-around candidate and his experience is shown by the fact that he has one more total skillpoint than you can usually get at this level.
[] Ampelios, the brother of Eustarchus. RHE: 3
ARE: 0
AGA: 2
Like his dead brother, Ampelios is a skilled speaker and assertive negotiator, but has little renown.
[] Kassandros, the slave merchant. RHE: 5
ARE: 0
AGA: 0
The quintessential bargainer, the merchant and member of the boule Kassandros is good at one thing; making deals. He makes the best deals. Deals like you wouldn't believe.
Should the length of the Xenoparakletor's term be changed?
[] Change it to five years.
[] Change it to ten years.
[] It's fine, don't change it.
Frenemies
At the same time, Antipater proposed that the time had come to stop stalling. He accused Drako of preventing the construction of a fleet despite many liturgies being lined up, and of attempting to poison the well with Kerkyra. Naturally, Drako denied both, but then launched into a detailed explanation of the problems of Kerkyra, some of which referenced age-old conflicts. Not impressed, Antipater commented that Drako had lost some of his edge if he was having to think about events long before his time. The calculated move to infuriate the implacable Drako, though, did not work, as one might have expected. All the while, the representatives of the cities of the Epulian League discussed the deal with Drako. They were not any of them friends of Taras, but neither had they seen much of Kerkyra. It was difficult for them to articulate their exact concerns, but they might have been summed up as concern for the power of an alliance in which Eretria was independent of the Epulian League. They requested it be allowed that the entire Epulian League signs the alliance.
Should the city send an alliance offer to the Kerkyrans?
[] Indeed, a full alliance.
[] No, we must have only a defensive pact to avoid entanglements.
[] We will not have an alliance.
Should the entire Epulian League sign the alliance?
[] Having the full league agree can only strengthen ties.
[] No, to present one alliance to the league may give them ideas about our foreign policy independence in the future [-10 relations from each member].
Engineering Eretria
Finally, there was the case of what to build. Although there was a truly dizzying array of possibilities, Drako was skeptical of almost all of them. With the Agora and the shipyard finished the city's trade and commerce could flow more fully, but there was still much to be done. Among other things, a processional road would be a sacred place for all Eretrians to navigate through, and would clean up a haphazardly constructed place, but it was the most expensive. An underwater spring, dug from the natural waters and streams flowing into the sea there, may be worth it as well. A stone quarry would provide the ability to eventually construct stone curtain walls, the gold standard for polis protection, and would also provide the ability to construct a larger, stone theater and a domestic source of stone for buildings, making it cheaper to build everything in stone. Finally, sinking agricultural wells in the rich water table of Epulia would improve yields in a country that can get dry in the long, hot summers.
The questions go before the ekklesia.
What should the city construct this year?
Available talents: 242.6.
[] A processional road. [-200 talents, Unlocks Temple (with marble quarry), boosts city stability by +30 for a short time, improves city sanitation, boosts defensibility and navigability of city].
[] Underwater Spring [-120 talents, Allows city to last longer in a siege.]
[] Stone Quarry [-140 Talents, unlocks Lyceum, Stone Wall, provides domestic source of stone.]
[] Agricultural Wells [-130 talents, increases water available for irrigation, +10 hoplite opinion,+5 aristocratic opinion, +.5% population growth.]
AN: THIS IS A REMINDER NOT TO VOTE YET. VOTING, AS PER THE DECISION OF QUEST-READERS, IS ON PAUSE FOR A 24-HOUR OR SO DISCUSSION PERIOD. TOMORROW YOU WILL GET TO VOTE ON THE DECISIONS PRESENTED HERE.
[] Agricultural Wells [-130 talents, increases water available for irrigation, +10 hoplite opinion,+5 aristocratic opinion, +.5% population growth.]
This is best choice.
more pop growth means more bodies to use.
@Cetashwayo: Could we add a provision that any serfs who distinguish themselves in battle can be given full citizenship status by the general, with some loot going to the aristocrat as compensation?
@Cetashwayo: Could we add a provision that any serfs who distinguish themselves in battle can be given full citizenship status by the general, with some loot going to the aristocrat as compensation?
Yeah, I fixed that. I'm sorry if the update feels a little "off" around the edges; I was suffering from hand pain by the end of it (2,600 words in 40 minutes) and wanted to keep up a good pace. I don't want to delay things much longer unless we want the Peloponnesian war to be in 2020.
[] Twenty lashes across the back, ten more for each serf who aided and abetted them.
[] Such savagery is above us; Serfs will be punished by heavier grain requirements for the others. Let their whole collective suffer for the choice of one of their number, as the polis suffers for one of theirs.
Honestly my reaction to these two is WHYNOTBOTH.jpg I think beatings and a quota increase or execution and quota increase would work really well.
[] Twenty lashes across the back, ten more for each serf who aided and abetted them.
[] Such savagery is above us; Serfs will be punished by heavier grain requirements for the others. Let their whole collective suffer for the choice of one of their number, as the polis suffers for one of theirs.
Honestly my reaction to these two is WHYNOTBOTH.jpg I think beatings and a quota increase or execution and quota increase would work really well.
Well, we really have quite a few choices to make^^. I for one will probably go for a "nice" treatment of the serfs (movement with the allowance of their master, include them in the army, high protection (we can take the hit I think), allowing them to serve in non-agri occupation and allow for full manumission). I simply see not much benefit in treating them badly and I think we can really use the increased manual labour (and really if a child has angered his parents enough for them to free all slaves he probably deserves it). I think that a write-in for the military option might be a good idea since I fear that the current choice doesn`t really result in much loyalty/moral - maybe freeing them if they manage to capture a full panoply during the battle or something like that?
I think we should also allow the metrics to work on the fields - we need the manpower and we need work for our metrics - but no special treatment.
In regards to the Xenoparalektor - I would change it to five years and maybe go with either Amepelios or Kassandros since my main goal would be some trade agreements and not anything more complicated which shouldn`t require much prestige.
For the alliance stuff, defensive and the whole league seems like the best idea. I really don`t want to get involved in the typical Greek adventures if possible and see little reason why we should limit a defensive treaty to us instead of the whole league.
In regards to building - I am torn between the wells (more growth and more goods seems like a great idea) and the stone quarry (the theater could be really useful to further strengthen our position as a cultural centre independently from Greece) but I think that we will likely build some ships next turn so I think that the wells is probably the better idea.
I was thinking something like 20 years indenture as a serf then 10 years corvee to their former master, and serfdom not being inheritable. I felt this would dovetail nicely with creating a class of Metic farm tenants. We get consistent labour, only the bound nature of it changes.
I was thinking something like 20 years indenture as a serf then 10 years corvee to their former master, and serfdom not being inheritable. I felt this would dovetail nicely with creating a class of Metic farm tenants. We get consistent labour, only the bound nature of it changes.
You're suggesting they essentially become metics of a sort, or would a new class with reduced privileges from the metics be created for them? Otherwise it would probably deeply frustrate the metics.
You're suggesting they essentially become metics of a sort, or would a new class with reduced privileges from the metics be created for them? Otherwise it would probably deeply frustrate the metics.
Having a permanent serf population is going to be more complicated in the long run than creating a system from the get go that sees them transfer to being free labourers - Sparta put a lot of time and effort into keeping their helots down.
Sparta is completely unique among the poleis and its trouble with Helots stemmed in large measure from its idiosyncracies. The institution of serfdom here is directly patterned off of Sicily. There's no domestic constituency for being super-nice to the Peuketii and transforming them into a permanent metic class at the expense of the stability of the labor supply, so the proposal would almost certainly result in massive civil unrest to boot.
