Eretria doesn't exactly have a lot of slaves, right? So keeping the ones it does have alive and relatively healthy should be pretty important. More can always be purchased of course, but that takes money which could be better spent elsewhere.
That really depends on a cost analysis. If we make more selling salt than we do buying slaves (based on the course of a slave's lifespan at the saltworks), then we're making a profit regardless.
I'd actually more curious about maintaining a steady flow of slaves, given that our most likely resources are likely to be neighboring barbaroi polities like the Illyrians and Samnites.
Raiding them or encouraging our barbaroi clients to raid them and sell us prisoners of war for slave work could readily turn towards a concentration of opposition and coalescing of antagonistic sentiments.
That really depends on a cost analysis. If we make more selling salt than we do buying slaves (based on the course of a slave's lifespan at the saltworks), then we're making a profit regardless.
I'd actually more curious about maintaining a steady flow of slaves, given that our most likely resources are likely to be neighboring barbaroi polities like the Illyrians and Samnites.
Raiding them or encouraging our barbaroi clients to raid them and sell us prisoners of war for slave work could readily turn towards a concentration of opposition and coalescing of antagonistic sentiments.
If we can avoid working slaves to death in cheap order, even if the accounting balance is positive, I'd like that. I get that people like numbers, but I have standards.
And yeah, raiding people for slaves is a quick way to make enemies.
I wonder how the current owners of the saltpans worked them.
Serfs tend to be tied to a place and live off of what produce they don't owe to their overlord. This is a bit of a different dynamic. I doubt people can stand working it for the rest of their lives, and in any way, they wouldn't be paid in food so this takes more of an organization.
More generally, I'd rather not work people to death in short order, so I think making it temporary work would be better than shackling them to it until they collapse, slave or serf. We could also try paying them fairly, salt fetch a good price and they'll spend the money locally anyway.
I guess, if it's limited to the people we'd kill otherwise. But that doesn't give it much to work with and there's always the temptation to extend it to lesser criminals.
Serfs tend to be tied to a place and live off of what produce they don't owe to their overlord. This is a bit of a different dynamic. I doubt people can stand working it for the rest of their lives, and in any way, they wouldn't be paid in food so this takes more of an organization.
More generally, I'd rather not work people to death in short order, so I think making it temporary work would be better than shackling them to it until they collapse, slave or serf. We could also try paying them fairly, salt fetch a good price and they'll spend the money locally anyway.
Serfs were definitely used at some historical saltworks, though. They may not directly be able to eat what they produce but with it being quite valuable it doesn't seem that difficult to have some exchanges to supply a food source for workers.
This assumes that we've conquered Salapia outright and not having them as a tributary. If we've conquered them, then we have a whole city's worth of serfs that previously had some way to make a living without taking advantage of the salt right there. If we don't conquer them and they're just tributaries, then I don't see how the method by which they produce salt to gift or trade with us is our concern.
Producing salt by hand means constant, brutally dehydrating exposure to strong salt solutions and direct handling of salt itself, that dries out your body, cracks your skin, and can cause other, worse health consequences. It's going to be prohibitively difficult to find people willing to do that for money, even exorbitant sums of money, because even something like being a tenant-farming sharecropper is likely to be more appealing work. At least tenant farmers aren't doing work that will predictably kill them in a matter of a few years.
If we can avoid working slaves to death in cheap order, even if the accounting balance is positive, I'd like that. I get that people like numbers, but I have standards.
I support this, but at the same time I want to make sure we're all aware going in that historically, just about every kind of pre-industrial mining and especially salt mining was at times associated with slavery, use of condemned criminals as labor, serfdom, or some combination of the above.
The work is so brutal, particularly in the context of salt mining where the mineral you're working with is effectively toxic in the concentrations you're handling it, that people are very likely to just say "nope, I'd rather take my chances as a subsistence farmer."
I wonder how the current owners of the saltpans worked them.
Right now, they don't; the current king of the Dauni wrecked the salterns to deprive us of access to desirable resources. Previously, I imagine they were producing salt on a much smaller scale than could theoretically be done, and very possibly were themselves using involuntary servitude.
I'd assume we'd operate the saltworks akin to how Athens did their silver mines, the polis owning the operation, but giving leases out for operators, with it then being up to them to organise the slaves or other labour to extract the salt.
Producing salt by hand means constant, brutally dehydrating exposure to strong salt solutions and direct handling of salt itself, that dries out your body, cracks your skin, and can cause other, worse health consequences. It's going to be prohibitively difficult to find people willing to do that for money, even exorbitant sums of money, because even something like being a tenant-farming sharecropper is likely to be more appealing work. At least tenant farmers aren't doing work that will predictably kill them in a matter of a few years.
That's why I suggested to make it temporary work. Do a stint in it if you fell on hard times and leave with enough money to get started doing something less backbreaking.
I support this, but at the same time I want to make sure we're all aware going in that historically, just about every kind of pre-industrial mining and especially salt mining was at times associated with slavery, use of condemned criminals as labor, serfdom, or some combination of the above.
The work is so brutal, particularly in the context of salt mining where the mineral you're working with is effectively toxic in the concentrations you're handling it, that people are very likely to just say "nope, I'd rather take my chances as a subsistence farmer."
Eretria banned slavery of Hellenes outside war and citizen-debtors, but retained Peuketti and Illyrian slaves. They're limited in the kind of work they can do if it would compete with freemen. More than once we distributed slaves to the populace to reduce inequality between citizens (the "slave lottery") because dissonance caused by different values is very authentic.
Also honestly because it was funny at the time, in a grim and bleak sort of way.
Not as such, its just heavily disincentivized based on restrictions of slave use. Slaves can only legally used in the household or the workshop for individual households, whereas serfs are for agricultural labor. Slaves can also however be leased out for use on construction projects.
EDIT: Also IIRC we have a hard limit on the number of slaves in a household as well, but not on serfs?
Not as such, its just heavily disincentivized based on restrictions of slave use. Slaves can only legally used in the household or the workshop for individual households, whereas serfs are for agricultural labor. Slaves can also however be leased out for use on construction projects.
EDIT: Also IIRC we have a hard limit on the number of slaves in a household as well, but not on serfs?
The restriction was on how many Slaves could do menial, physical tasks, not in the number you could have overall. We implemented these to protect free labour, it was a shot against the Slave rich Work Gangs the Aristoi were using, not because of some moral obligation IC.
Our slaves probably trended into becoming House Servants for the Rich or Middle Classes, whilst the Serfs were tied utterly to property, and despite their number reductions due to the end of the Headhunting contracts, they still exist as the main source of Labour for the Richest of the Aristoi Land Owners, being bred or brought in so they don't have to rely on Aktimone or Metic labour like the Ekdromoi and other lesser Aristoi do.
Serfdom is completely different from slavery, which is totally dehumanizing and effectively social death. Even Ancient slavery, praised for its mercy compared to what we saw in America, is a mercy entirely based off the magnificence of the masters. A slave might be better off than a serf, but that lasts exactly until the moment the master no longer wants it to. They are completely different situations. Good reading for this would be Slavery and Social Death by Orlando Patterson. Every slave, exists, by definition, marginalized in their own society and manumission is a literal new birth, a new man. Serfdom and slavery are incomparable except for superficially, @Cetashwayo has even said so before in this very quest.
Serfdom is completely different from slavery, which is totally dehumanizing and effectively social death. Even Ancient slavery, praised for its mercy compared to what we saw in America, is a mercy entirely based off the magnificence of the masters. A slave might be better off than a serf, but that lasts exactly until the moment the master no longer wants it to. They are completely different situations. Good reading for this would be Slavery and Social Death by Orlando Patterson. Every slave, exists, by definition, marginalized in their own society and manumission is a literal new birth, a new man. Serfdom and slavery are incomparable except for superficially, @Cetashwayo has even said so before in this very quest.
Yeah, serfs have rights and freedoms, even if sometimes (often), their overlords infringed upon them.
Here where our system isn't even feudal, those rights are probably guaranteed better than in a feudal system where the person putting the serfs to work is also a mini ruler.
I doubt it's perfect, especially with the racial component of our serfs being mostly barbaroi while Hellenes who happen to work someone else's land are more likely to be tenant farmers, but it's definitely a step up from slavery in terms of rights and freedoms.
We were here before you. This was our land before it was yours, our home before it was yours, our rivers and our streams and our hills and mountains before you ever thought to sail to the west and claim it for your own. The flames of Aetna burned for our Gods before Hephaestus. When you came, you called us Sicels, and the land Sikelia, for it was our land and you were only visitors.
And then you began to take it all away.
You landed on our shores and stole from us. You stole the eastern sea and the southern sea, and they were closed to us. You pulled down our temples upon the coast, you ended our worship of the Gods of the water, you closed your ports and your harbors to us, and we wept for what we had lost and fled away. From the lowlands we watched below, and remembered the waters we had once sailed on.
You took our sea away, and it was forever lost to us.
You expanded onto our plans and stole from us. You stole the fertile valleys below Aetna's shadow, the rocky forests of the northeast. You stole the holy mountains of the far south, where priests in hidden temples made whispering incantations to the sky. You stole the lowlands where we reared our cattle, you stole our fields and our livelihoods, and we wept for what we had lost and fled away. From the highlands we watched below, and remember the plains we had once lived in.
You took our land away, and it was forever lost to us.
You raided into the interior and stole from us. You stole our wealth and our monuments, and carted away the gold of our towns. You stole our wives and daughters, you enslaved our men and broke their backs so that they may bend to the bondage you had put them in. You put our people into serfdom and worst of all you stole away our children, and we wept for what we had lost and fled away. From our towns we watched below, and remembered the neighbors we had once known.
You took our freedom away from us, and it was forever lost to us.
You tortured us, attacked us, murdered us, and we rose up. We called among us a man called Ducetius, and made him king, and he erected for himself a palace of freedom and liberty, and made war against you. But you broke him, and you broke us, and he abandoned his people and rushed away, and left us nothing but destitution. You took away our hopes and our dreams for a future, and so we wept for what we had lost and fled away. From our strongholds we watched below, and remembered the hero we had once followed.
You took our hope away, and it was forever lost to us.
And now you come for us. You call us defilers, barbarians, creatures of the upper lands, who break your oaths and must be put down. You break the gates of our cities, you shatter our walls, you burn our temples and you cart away our people. Great warriors fall to you, great heroes bow to you, all that we have is yours, all the lands we have maintained are disappearing, and so we weep for what we are losing, and begin to flee away. From our hideouts we watch below, and remember the refuge we once had.
But we will not die. We drive our sheep up the hills, disappear from your eyes so you think we are gone and defeated. You believe yourself victors, winners, that we have been exterminated. And then we come fro you. In these last mountains and hills, in these caves and the secret streams, we prepare our final revenge. We ambush your columns, we shower rocks down upon you, we slit the throats of your families in the dead of night. Until our last breath, until the slash of the final sword and the loose of the final arrow, we will not break.
After all, what do we have left to lose?
Goings on from around the Mediterranean, presented by Xenoparakletor Obander Eupraxis of the Demos Antipatria
OBANDER: Citizens, I thank you for granting me the privilege of a final bout of service with the assembly. I am afraid that as the years go by, the Gods see fit to add additional weight to my shoulders, I go crooked, and my legs begin to tremble like Atlas from the added years that I must carry. I sense that Charon awaits me in the underworld, but I shall have to keep him waiting for as long as I can. Ha! In the meantime, let me speak to the plans I have in the coming years. I am still virile and strong, and am able to sustain the sea voyages which will be necessary of me. This year, I will embark west to meet with the Kymaians and Rhegion, and ensure the cooperation of both in the evacuation of their people from the besieged city. Next year I will embark on the expedition of greater urgency to treat with the small cities of Melaina Kerkyra and Epidauros on the Adriatic and negotiate with the Daorsi to transfer the coastal lands to the Kymaians. Then, in the year after that, I will embark on the expedition of greater import, the treating with the Athenians and the assurance of an official proxenos in their city. This will be a fine mission and will guarantee many benefits to Eretria, from hearing of the activities and movements of all the lands beneath the silver eyes of the Great Owl. Then, in the same year, I will also embark on whatever mission that the ekklesia deems suitable from the remaining choices of the two defeated demes, and ensure that the matter in Kymai is brought to its conclusion; I believe we will be able to evacuate all those who would be willing to go by the third year.
Now I turn to news from around the Mediterranean.
News from Hellas! The Athenians and Spartans have made war in Chalidike, and battled one another. Fallen upon the field of battle is both Kleon, the Athenian politician and strategos who had led their aggressive strategy, and Brasidas, the Spartan general who had so ambitiously embarked on a route to the Chalkidike. Notable among his quirks was that the Spartan general was known for arming and gaining the loyalty of helots, a most peculiar attribute, and it is known that in Sparta his presence was a cause of some fear. The Spartan kings must then be somewhat relieved by his defeat, and that in his wake there is no clear victor, for it has caused both cities to consider peace. The Spartans and Athenians have sent an emissary, the Athenian emissary a general called Nikias, and together we can hope they will put an end to this bloody conflict. Remaining unresolved, however, are Thebai and Korinthos, as well as those cities in the Chalkidike abandoned by the Spartans, such as Skione, which has now been placed under siege for revolting against the Delian League. There is little other news from Hellas this year as with the end of the Chalkidike campaign there is little other fighting to speak of besides the generally rebellious nature of the Chalcidian cities, many of whom seek to break from Athenai and join their regional league, led by the defector city Olynthos.
News from the West! The Tarentines are on the move. Telesphoros has been replaced by Stentor, another member of the peace party, and he seeks to further increase ties with Sicily, having dispatched emissaries to Syrakousai and the Sikeliotes. The Tarentines have gained a lucrative new business model in the selling of slaves, with hundreds or even thousands carted out of Sicily by the victorious Sikeliotes. The Sacred War against the Sicels has dispensed of any of its initial punitive objectives and has transformed into a grasp of land. The Sicels, briefly united under a single chief, have been defeated and the chief killed at Henna before he had even become noteworthy enough to be known outside the island. The cities of Erbita, Centuripa, and Morgantina have fallen, and their population have been sold into slavery or enserfed, while the cities have been settled by metics or citizens from Syrakousai, the Sikeliotes, and Gela respectively. Henna, Herbessos, and Agyria are under siege, and a stream of Hellene immigrants are flowing into Sicily to take advantage of the land being seized. Some Sicels from Erbita and elsewhere have fled to the northern coast and founded the town of Halaesa between Kale Acte and Himera, while others hide in the mountains. Kymai remains under siege, but holds. The Campanian Oscans have begun to settle down in the valleys, and the Lucani have similarily given no indication of further movement.
News from the North! Ankon reports that all is well with the Picentenes and that there are no issues to be had there, though there are some reports that their people continue to press into the hilly frontier and establish new farms there. Issa and Pharos are expanding well, though some of the Liburni in the interior of Pharos have refused the reality of their subjugation and fled into the hills, where the citizens of Pharos follow to hunt them down. Iapode piracy remains an issue, but one relegated to their northeast corner, and sometimes now focused upon the Liburni who lick their wounds from their previous failures. All is quiet in Thrace, though news from there filters only slowly.
Goings on from within the city, presented by Proboulos Epiktetos Linos of the Demos Drakonia
EPIKTETOS: The office of proboulos is an extraordinary honor. In comparison to the xenoparakletor, my esteemed and honorable friend the great Eupraxis, the office of proboulos dates back to the first years of the city, the first concession of the citizens that although the assembly remains supreme, it is essential to elevate some men to lead, and to guide, the people. But since those days, the proboulos has revealed the failures of his office, in preserving the distinction between elevation and tyranny. There were men, good men, even great men, who saw the office of proboulos as an extension of their own glory, hubristic as they were. And as the office fell into less repute with the splitting of the xenoparakletor in the reforms created by wise Kallias, there was a general conclusion that men can only gain true glory from the office of xenoparakletor. But think of what the proboulos controls. In the first place, he is guardian of the people, as he protects the citizen rolls and oversees the other magistracies, rooting out any and all corruption. In the second place, he controls the city's finances, which are necessary for our city's survival. We are a city of commerce. Finally, in conducting the building of new great works, the proboulos provides employment to the people.
So I thank the people of Eretria for giving me this opportunity. Now I turn rapidly to the finances. We must manage our situation carefully. I have ordered the laying down of our new Triremes urgently; they will be complete in three years. Only after the triremes are complete will I order the training of new rowers; this is not just because we need labor for the construction of our great harbor but to preserve our finances. We have little margin for error; if we fall too much into deficit we will eventually have to dip into our sacred treasury, which should be held only for emergencies. Thus next year I will immediately embark on establishing the merchant registry so that we may better keep track of their transactions and movements. I have dispatched agents to Ionia and Sikyon to find us the finest craftsmen, the best doctors, and all who might grant new talent to our city. In this year we have the regularly scheduled assembly of the metics, and they will reveal their demands and grievances with the city. The election has yielded an extraordinary slate, as well:
Proboulos: Epiktetos Linos (Demos Drakonia). Xenoparakletor: Obander Eupraxis (Demos Antipatria). Lead Strategos: Only appointed in times of war. Metic Prytanis: Timotaios Herais (Demos Antipatria).
Agoranomos: Itheos Akadios (Demos Exoria). Assembly of the Mint: Krethon Ibykos (Demos Exoria). Popular Tribunal: Sosibios Kineas (Demos Drakonia). Chief of Public Lands: Kebes Bisaltos (Demos Exoria). Grand Mantis: Parmon Polyeides (Demos Drakonia). Elder Ekdromos: Austesion Sabyllos (Demos Exoria).
I have already spoke to the Elder Ekdromos, but we have agreed that working on a reformation of the city's military forces must wait until the triremes and rowers have been trained and the Harbor is complete, for our goal is to maximize those sources of revenue from which we draw and keep static those expenses that draw from our coffers.
I thank the following citizens for their participation. The consistent and vocal participation of citizens, and the effort that obtaining lifters so as to be able to speak and present your speech, is among the greatest of all services a citizen can normally provide. The following citizens have been awarded a carved stone and twenty drachmae for speaking. Skantarios the Hoplite, Euonomos Philonikos, Aniketos who calls himself Philosopher, Leukos the Accountant, Leander Long-Speaking, Arktos Arkadios, Kipekos Wide-Speaking, Sarpedon son of Sarpedon, Diomedon the Terse who speaks ever wisely, Gregorios Alexios, Erastos Nikedemos who kills spiders, Alkaios son of Kleitos who distinguished himself in speech this assembly, Eutychon Eutychos, Phylakos seller of grain, Heliodoros son of Giorgos whom all hope will recover from illness, Iskander Xanatos, Hermesdora Eretriazenis who calls himself Psillos, Nereos who makes sails, Kleon of the Tyrrhenians, Kleon Aristophanes, Kaidos the Messenger, Isigas Euplastos, Tychaeos who calls himself humble and aristos, the elder and younger Theopilos, who are fond of weasels, and Ajax Lalage of the Ekdromoi.
Leander the Long-Speaker and Phokion Aristeides have each been awarded 150 drachmae for their motions which have passed to the level of a general vote at a special session of the assembly next year, given the density of decisions to be made this year.
Demography & Culture
Eretria Eskhata - 354 OL
Adult Freemen: 24,181 (Census of 353 OL) Citizen Ratio: 42.0% Adult Male Citizens: 10,156 Adult Male Metics: 14,025 Total Free Population: 84,254
Patron Gods: Divine Marriage of Athene & Apollon Other Major Gods: Poseidon & Demeter, Zeus, Ploutos, Artemis
Political Offices
Next Election is 357 OL.
Proboulos: Epiktetos Linos (Demos Drakonia). Xenoparakletor: Obander Eupraxis (Demos Antipatria). Lead Strategos: Only appointed in times of war. Metic Prytanis: Timotaios Herais (Demos Antipatria).
Agoranomos: Itheos Akadios (Demos Exoria). Assembly of the Mint: Krethon Ibykos (Demos Exoria). Popular Tribunal: Sosibios Kineas (Demos Drakonia). Chief of Public Lands: Kebes Bisaltos (Demos Exoria). Grand Mantis: Parmon Polyeides (Demos Drakonia). Elder Ekdromos: Austesion Sabyllos (Demos Exoria).
Great Works
Wide Walls: Proud stone walls that protect the city from enemies. Sea Wall: Protect the city from any sea-based attack. Arkadion: A Temple to the Divine Marriage of Demeter & Poseidon. Temple of the Divine Marriage: A temple to the Divine Marriage of Apollo and Athena. Temple to Zeus Olympios: A temple to the supreme God of the Hellenes, Zeus Olympios. Temple of Artemis Amarysia: A temple and attached grove to the huntress Artemis. Naval Barracks: Where the city's rowers train. Hill of the Divine Marriage (Great Work): An artificial hill that looms above the city and holds its most important temples. Byssos Harbor: (Under Construction, done 359 OL).
Treasury & Income
Treasury in 354 OL: 349.5 Talents Income: 302.1 Talents Taxation: 191.0 Talents Commerce: 88.8 Talents League Income: 9.1 talents Tribute: 11.2 Talents Public Revenue: 2.0 Talents
Expenses: 340.5 Talents Navy Upkeep: 76.3 Talents Army Upkeep: 44.0 Talents Construction: 110.0 Talents (Great Harbor of Byssos) Misc: 58.0 Talents (Grain Subsidy to Kymai, Trireme Construction Cost) Salaries & Subsidies: 22.0 Talents Sacred Treasury Contribution: 30.2 Talents (10% into Sacred Treasury)
Sacred Treasury in 355 OL: 1535.4 Talents (+30.2 Talents per turn) Treasury in 354 OL: 311.1 Talents
Levy Pandemos: 14,286 (75% of all Adult Freemen minus men in special units and navy)
4,094 Hoplites (19% of all Adult Freemen)
675 Cavalry (3% of all Adult Freemen)
9,516 Psilloi (53% of all Adult Freemen)
Deployed Levy
Standing Army (Eretria Eskhata)
500 Sacred Ekdromoi (deployed at all times for 38.5 talents a turn)
50 Kleos Exoria (deployed at all times for 5.5 talents a turn)
City of Thurii: Full alliance with the city of Thurii cultivated in opposition to potential ambitions by Taras or other Italiote powers. Freemen & Ships: 14,000 Freemen, 20 Triremes.
City of Krotone: Full alliance with the city of Krotone cultivated in opposition to Syrakousai. Freemen & Ships: 10,000 Freemen, 10 Triremes.
Sikeliote League: Full alliance with the Sikeliote League cultivated in opposition to the main power in South Sicily, Syrakousai. Freemen & Ships: 22,000 Men, 15 Triremes.
Treaties
Treaty of Phaidros: Signed in 348 OL. Enforces peace between signatories. Signatories: Thurii, Eretria Eskhata, Taras, Metapontion Duration: 20 Years (Expires 368 OL)
Treaty of Eupraxis: Signed in 351 OL. Reconciles signatories, places permanent embasses in each city, and bars alliances with Mainland powers until end of Peloponnesian War. Signatories: Taras, Eretria Eskhata
Hard Bargain
What it means to be a Metic has greatly transformed over the history of Eretria. The oldest Metics of the city have lived in it for generations, and were among the first to live solely within the walls. Skilled craftsmen who had fled from Sicily to Eretria, these Metics were accepted mostly because in those early days Eretria desperately needed people, and skilled workers could free more to farm in the fields or become hoplites. Since those days, however, the picture has become more complicated. The decision to restrict slavery to house slaves and slaves held by the city has made it so that outside of considerable public works projects, slaves have not been doing manual labor since the city's founding. This has hardly yielded an ideological predilection against slavery; the general feeling is simply that slaves are less reliable and useful workers than Metics, and that the city has no need of them. This is a practical understanding of the reality: that the city's greatest experiment in mass slavery almost ended in its destruction with the Iapygian conspiracy in the first days of the city's life. Since those days, the Antipatrids have been in the forefront of encouraging Metic immigration, as Metics are surrounded on the one hand by barbaroi and on the other side by citizens, and must choose the citizens to be loyal to or else be destroyed.
But that understanding has broken down. The barbarboi are no longer feared among many, pacified and hellenized as they are. Metics have become the main form of agricultural laborer, working as indentured or tenant laborers on farms stretching into the frontier with the Peuketii and the Dauni. Some cross borders, working for Epulian cities as well as Eretria, while others stay in the same plots they have stayed in their whole life. Meanwhile, the wealthy metics of Eretria itself, the Ioniotes, as some of them call themselves, remembering their roots as Sicilian Ionians fled from the cleansing promulgated by the tyrant Gelo, have strained under the heavy taxation that undergirds Eretria's wealth. For the city could not finance its new triremes, or save the city of Kymai, or do many other things, if it could not press so hard upon the metics. In the future, perhaps, trade could make this taxation less important, but for now it crushes them.
At the same time, the embrace of other demes of the Metics as an opportunity has led to an increase in their immigration. The last great spurt of Metics before migration began to shift to the colonies was also a massive one, which reduced the city's ratio of citizens to Metics significantly. It also meant that a whole new wave of trouble was about to begin, as these new metics had little loyalty to Eretria, and in truth even those the Antipatrids had brought were hardly much more loyal, given the only metrics the agents used was an Ionian accent and an interest in immigration. Such was the crudity of such recruitment. The most frustrated Metics left immediately upon the passage of the Linean law to the colonies, embarking on the first ships they could find and sometimes even abandoning their fathers and mothers to start new lives abroad. The many left, however, were now agitated and excited. Eretria had granted four out of five of their demands in the previous assembly, and now with Metics moving to the colonies, their bargaining position was improving.
Why not press their luck? The embarassed representative had to deal with three truly radical demands before the assembly, which caused some citizens no great deal of anger. A few complained that the Metics had taken their generosity as evidence of stupidity, as they now seeked to fleece them. It was clear that the atmosphere in the city could only accept a single demand, and the Metics, aware of this, had made it so that each demand would lead to truly radical change. The Drakonids, under Linos, proposed that the assembly preserve the city's fiscal position and grant them a Prytanis of their own, but the Antipatrids roiled at the thought, saying it would breach the sanctity of the assembly and allow the Metics to develop charismatic leaders among their number who could threaten the city's safety. They suggested to take the second Metic Demand, to grant them the ability to purchase property in the city and to reduce their tax burden, which would split the Ioniotes from the tenant laborers and ingratiate them, but the Drakonids pointed out that this would make it easier for them to compete with citizens, undermine property rights, and reduce the city's revenue considerably. Theron Archippos of the Demos Exoria proposed that they should instead simply pay off all the Metic debts, a massive one-time payment which would mostly please the tenant laborers, but the Antipatrids complained that this would only delay the issue and the Drakonids pointed out that this would weaken the city's financial room to deal with Kymai considerably.
The matter now fell to the assembly. If it so chose, the assembly could even reject the Metic demands, throwing them into disarray but also ensuring that there was no further movement on this score for another eight years.
How should the demands of the Metic Assembly be dealt with? Choose one of the four choices below.
[] [Metics] It is time now for a Prytanis to be selected from among the Metics to address the assembly [Metics will choose their own representatives to present before the city].
[] [Metics] Allow Metics to purchase property within the walls of Eretria and reduce their taxation [10% reduction in Metic taxation, -14 talents a turn].
[] [Metics] The city will intervene in the Metic debt crisis and pay their debts [-90 talents].
[] [Metics] We cannot accept any of these demands! [Metics will consider assembly a failure].
Note: Tax reduction will come into effect at end of current census period, 357 OL.
Wide Ambitions
When Obander Eupraxis sailed across the length of Italia and arrived at Rhegion he found a city in the throes of change. Under its new proboulos Barnabas Eetion of the Black Sail, a feared naval captain and brilliant commander who had destroyed a fleet of Etruscans in the southern Tyrrhenian a decade earlier, Rhegion now sought to expand. Obander was greatly warmly when he arrived by Barnabas, who had been happy enough to see the Eretrian who had established a new relationship with Rhegion (5d4+4=15). The city's proxenos Krios was a great assistance in this regard, as he had gained the trust of Barnabas in the intervening years, and had worked hard to establish a rapport between Rhegion and Eretria. Barnabas took Obander into his council and invited him to a symposium where he brought out a small model of a trireme filled to the brim with figs, as he was told that the old man was quite fond of the fruit. Delighted by their sweet taste and supple texture, Eupraxis delighted in the taste.
But when he explained the situation in Kymai, Barnabas grew concerned. He explained that he understood the Eretrian obsession with Kymai, but that it was simply in the way of Rhegion. Rhegion was, after all, an expanding city, and one of the largest in the west. With Syrakousai weak and the Sikeliotes focused upon land it was the greatest trade hub for goods coming from as far as Emporion in the northwest and Naukratis in the southeast in the Nile Delta. He already aimed to make war against Kymai and to seize the island of Pithekousai. The Kymaians would be dispersed, Neapolis brought under Rhegion's influence, and the Oscans avoided. In this way Rhegion could solidify its control over the Tyrrhenian. Now, however, Obander was telling Barnabas that he had to wait on this score, for Eretria would evacuate them all.
A peculiar notion for Barnabas. He shrugged his shoulders and explained the situation. Perhaps, he could be persuaded to go somewhere else. But he would want Eretria's permission to do so before he moved. He explained that he could convince the boule of Rhegion to hold off on an attack on Kymai for a few years, but he needed something to guide them to another direction until that time. There were three obvious options. Rhegion could be convinced to make war against the city of Lokri Epixephyrii, and with their financial ability and tradepower, the city could almost certainly humble if not outright defeat the Lokrians, but this would raise tension between Eretria and Krotone. To the north, Eretria could persuade Rhegion to strengthen its hold over their surroundings by seizing Lipara and some of the cities of the Lucanian coast like Hyele, who would become dependencies of Rhegion, but this would anger Thurii whose own Tyrrhenian trade network, lucrative as it was, would become threatened. Finally, of course, Eretria could persuade them to seek an accomodation with the Sikeliotes and divide up some of the Sicel lands, but the Tarentines would grow concerned over this reconciliation as it would threaten their own growing trade network in Sicily.
Whatever the option chosen, Obander secured the agreement of Rhegion to act as a major port of call for the women and children, and eventually the men, of Kymai, such was the trust he garnered on his journey. When he arrived in Kymai, however, he was met with a frustrating sight. The people were not pleased by his presence when he told him who he was (2d10+2=9), and it was only with some effort and discussion with the city's remaining leadership that he was able to bring them around (2d10+4=15). The reason for the suspicion was obvious, of course; Eupraxis had just come from Rhegion, and although he was an Eretrian, the mother city of Kymai was distant and only tangentially its mother through their common ancestry in Old Eretria in faraway Hellas. The arrival of Eretrian grain shipments, however quelled much of the original suspicion, and it turned to shock and relief. How grateful were they for Eretria's help! Perhaps the city would also assist them against Rhegion and its ambitions as soon as the Oscans were dealt with!
When the truth came out, of course, it was far less glamorous, and caused much consternation. Some citizens were enraged and cursed Eretria. Some sought the advice of the famed sybil of Kymai, and her oracle had been fortuitous, saying that the people of Kymai would live on, which made many think that it would be better to stay in the city. Kymai's leadership, composed of the surviving members of the boule, were disorganized. When Obander pitched the options to them, some grew skeptical and others willing, but all objected to the colonial laws that Obander suggested to them. In all, the initial meeting was not what Obander had hoped, and although he returned home with a number of observations about Kymai in tow, and knew that it would be able to hold for another four years with the grain that had been shipped, he was not as happy about the state of its people. Panic or treachery could do the city in well before that deadline, and it would cause much grief to Eretria which was wasting such resources to help the confused and frightened people.
For this year, with too much to do and not enough time to do it, Obander was able to only extract a single useful decision from the mess within the city, which was that Eretria must make the determination now, before negotiating the territory with the Daorsi next year, whether or not Kymai should hold to the Linean laws. He has stated he will return again next year, this time to ensure that Kymai's leadership is more organized and cohesive, as of now there is much confusion in the city.
As pointed out by Linos himself in the course of the ekklesia debate, not doing so would create a poor precedent for the other Adriatic cities, and it would also allow the Kymaians to keep a cohesive identity, rather than being subsumed in an Epulian whole. Obander and Mnmenon, on the other hand, pointed out that it would be far harder to convince Kymai's nervous and disorganized people to go on an expedition when that expedition would then dilute their numbers with foreign peoples granted citizenship among them. Afexi citizenship was one thing, but for anyone to be granted citizenship for years afterwards...it would be a poor welcome.
These matters were put before the ekklesia.
How should Rhegion's attention towards Kymai be diverted away? Choose of one of three choices below.
[] [Rhegion] Encourage Rhegion to make war against the city of Lokri Epixephyrii [Raises tension with Krotone].
[] [Rhegion] Redirect their ambitions toward the islands of Lipara and the Lucanian coast [Raises tension with Thurii].
[] [Rhegion] Help them work out a settlement with the Sikeliote League in Sicily [Raises tension with Taras].
How should the Kymai's new settlement be treated in relation to the Linean colonial laws?
Current potential freemen to be evacuated from Kymai: 2,500 out of 5,500
[] [Kymai] The settlement will have the same citizenship laws as the rest of the Epulian League's new colonies. [-500 potential freemen, weaker cohesion, more rapid population growth after settlement].
[] [Kymai] The settlement may have its own laws [+200 potential freemen, stronger cohesion, less rapid population growth after settlement].
One More Shot
When the election ended it was clear that the Linean gambit had paid off. Linos was victorious as proboulos, leaving both the returning Kyros and the incumbent Archippos in the dust. In the foreign arena, however, there was more competition. Mnemnon held considerable support for his proposal to bring the Messapii fully into Eretria's orbit, but Obander was victorious upon the basis of his advocacy for expanding the Epulian League and pushing for an expedition to Athenai. The last eight years had extraordinarily changed the demes. The old Antipatrid and Drakonid families, which had once held a strong hold over their own demes, had given way to "new men" who had not come from these traditional power bases. The Demos Exoria, which had once been the weakest of the three, touted considerable resources and understanding through the elevation of Theron Archippos to Proboulos in the previous cycle and Mnemnon Keylonos as Xenoparakletor well before that. Mnemnon had been nominated by some for a wreath of Apollon, as had Eupraxis. Truly, this was not the world of the Drakonids any longer, even if once more a Drakonid held the post of proboulos.
The decisions of the demes to allow an additional foreign policy to be drawn from the losers was an ingenious policy which promised to ensure the loyalty of the opposition. The anger of the Antipatrids and Exoria, and the exile of the Drakonids from power for a full eight years, could have spilled into general stasis and civil conflict. But by channelling the wounds of loss into another shot at gaining some little power or prestige by having their policy chosen, the losing demes could console themself. Korydon Morys was barely plussed by the failure, and promised by the people he would do better next time before launching into advocacy for his options. He hoped, too, that one of the options to appoint deputies to the xenoparakletor would pass next year, and give him another chance to be in the limelight.
The current Xenoparakletor has argued that of the remaining options, he favors most the Picentes. Obander states that he would prefer to deal with the Picentes before he deals with the Enetoi, only because he feels that the Picentes may become a danger soon and it is better to deal with them now rather than later. By contrast, Linos would prefer to deal with the Enetoi and gain the trade route, assisting the city's finances and bringing them back into a better shape. Mnemnon has advocated loudly for both his options, but says he prefers the Messapii simply because it is a more urgent choice, with the Histri hostile but showing no aggressive intent against Eretria. The matter now falls to the ekklesia.
Pick one of four available choices. Mission success will be dependent on current xenoparakletor, although they may draw on the expertise of other citizens in situations less suited to them.
[] [Mission] Amber Trade Mission. The Enetoi were Eretria's staunch allies in the war against the Liburni. We must know capitalize on this to gain a monopoly over the export of amber to the wider Mediterranean. Through this we can strengthen ties and open the way for a future colony in the marshy lagoons off the coast of their lands, strengthening an Eretrian presence in the northern Adriatic [If successful, Eretria will be then be able to construct a trading colony in the Venetian lagoon and a new monopoly trade route worth 25 talents].
[] [Mission] Picente Diplomatic Mission.The colony of Ankon is now rapidly growing beyond the small plot of land provided by the Picentes. Although the town of Numana and its hinterland lies to the south, the northwest of Picenum is sparsely populated. In order to avoid conflict with the Picentes and ensure a foundation for new Eretrian colonies along that stretch of coast, the xenoparakletor will be dispatched to negotiate a purchase of land for both Ankon and future colonies [-40 talents, if successful Ankon's territory will expand and land will be opened up for further colonies in Picenum].
[] [Mission] Histri Diplomatic Mission. Although the Histri and Eretria started off on poor footing, it is time to resolve these differences and reconcile the two in the aftermath of the war with the Liburni. We will obtain a translator who will be able to communicate with the Histri and dispatch envoys on an expedition to Nesactium. The goal of the mission will be to resolve prior differences, leverage the recent victory against the Liburni while it lies fresh in their memory, and important to Eretrian prestige and honor, retrieve an apology from the people of Tergeste for their attack on the Eretrians. In the process we may hope to secure a trading post in a fine harbor to the southwest of Nesactium for our merchants [-25 talents, if mission successful Histri will be reconciled and could become allies, opens up potential for trading post at location of Pola].
[] [Mission] Messapii Tributary Mission. Although King Artahias reigns in Neriton, the Messapii are not yet integrated vassals of Eretria, and indeed owe only theoretical allegiance to the city. If we are to transform a temporary subject into a permanent ally then we must build the institutional and diplomatic grounding for it. The Xenoparakletor will tour the Messapii lands and gain support for a more permanent and fair arrangement, all the while tying the resolution of conflicts and the settling of disputes to Eretria. In this way we can curtail Artahias' ambitions without enraging him, and even grant him greater central authority that he may wield on our behalf [-20 talents, If successful, gain access to 25% of the entire Messapii freemen levy as well as 10.3 talents in regular tribute].
Note: This map is for geographic reference and does not reflect border changes between 353 OL-357 OL. The map is updated every four turns, so the next update is 357 OL (419 BCE).
When voting, please copy out vote text in its entirety in order to preserve the coherency of the vote. That includes the word with the vote brackets. No plan votes.
A/N: I transferred @Redium's and @Cavalier's user motion to next year mostly because there's already a lot to deal with this year. The motions will come into effect before Eupraxis embarks to deal with the cities of the Adriatic so that he can have his deputies (or not, if the motion is voted down) before he embarks on that mission.
Haven't yet decided what to do with the other votes but I will once more advocate for picking the Messapii as our foreign policy. Not only will it prevent the Messapii from getting used to their current subject status where they basically lack responsibilities but I also fear that if we keep refusing to collect tribute it will aggrivate the Peuketti. I can't imagine them being that happy paying tribute when their weaker cousins are allowed to skip out.
