Interesting. I assume that the Peuketii were always the least powerful Iapygian tribe? Their territory was smaller than that of the Daunii and Messapii even before Eretria inflicted epic amounts of suffering on them.
We really need to butter these guys up if we want them to be loyal long term. The amount of casualties our arrival inflicted on them is insane, so there should be plenty of bad blood here. Right now we've bought Harpus out with money, but i think we should definitely conquer some land for them so they can expand their population without having to angrily eye the coastal cities we burned down / resettled with Greeks.
Just, preferably not from the Messapii, since we kinda need them to shield us from Taras righteous wrath. So, Daunii or Lucani it is, and of those two i think i prefer tangling with Arpus. The Lucani are large, scary and have a fierce reputation. Also, the Daunii have better lands.
Interesting. I assume that the Peuketii were always the least powerful Iapygian tribe? Their territory was smaller than that of the Daunii and Messapii even before Eretria inflicted epic amounts of suffering on them.
We really need to butter these guys up if we want them to be loyal long term. The amount of casualties our arrival inflicted on them is insane, so there should be plenty of bad blood here. Right now we've bought Harpus out with money, but i think we should definitely conquer some land for them so they can expand their population without having to angrily eye the coastal cities we burned down / resettled with Greeks.
Just, preferably not from the Messapii, since we kinda need them to shield us from Taras. So, Daunii or Lucani it is, and of those two i think i prefer tangling with Arpus. The Lucani are large, scary and have a fierce reputation. Also, the Daunii have better lands.
I always pegged the Peuketii as the smallest, yes, but then they never had much of an opportunity to shine because you destroyed two of their coastal cities within a year of landing.
We really need to butter these guys up if we want them to be loyal long term. The amount of casualties our arrival inflicted on them is insane, so there should be plenty of bad blood here. Right now we've bought Harpus out with money, but i think we should definitely conquer some land for them so they can expand their population without having to angrily eye the coastal cities we burned down / resettled with Greeks.
To be fair, most of the destruction occurred after the assorted Peuketti petty kings (such as the late and unlamented Foetus) kept breaking peace treaties and repeatedly attacking us, and Harpos in specific suffered more from a treacherous attack from the Lucani than he did directly from warring with us.
[X] Send the triremes [10 Triremes dispatched under Eusebios to protect Brention].
[X] Provide Harpos with 40% of the money [80 talents from the indemnity go to Harpos, he is elated and may make more gestures of loyalty in the future].
[X] No, we will not fight with our allies, and will take the left flank instead, conceding the point.
Through the blessing of the gods, our city has wisely to chosen our allies. Let us make it clear to all that we are the greatest city to have as an ally.
[X] Send the triremes [10 Triremes dispatched under Eusebios to protect Brention].
Number of voters: 35
[X] Favor Krotone in the peace [+200 talents for Eretria's part in the war, Lokri loses Temesa and has a harsher indemnity].
Number of voters: 35
[X] No, we will not fight with our allies, and will take the left flank instead, conceding the point.
Number of voters: 38
Who is Eusebios? He is a simple fisherman, but everyone who has fought against him has died. Who among the Liburni speak his name with anything but the utmost reverence? Eretrians heap praise and reward upon Herodion and Drako, for they are public and speak publicly, but Eusebios is silent. His wife is the sister of Drako, and she loves him dearly, and yet every morning at dawn he gets in his boat, and returns home in the evening with the taste of salt on his lips. He cares for her and they have any number of children together, but none of them have their father's prowess at the oar. He is an aberration, an anomaly. For him, it is intuition, the mere understanding of naval warfare as if it is as simple as the fishing he does every day. He does not take pretensions, even the minor ones available to the heroic of Eretria, and prefers in the old Greek style to exercise an absolute humility so total that his legend would fade into myth if not held up by others.
And yet he is real. The Korinthians would discover as much as they dispatched their twenty triremes, winding across the Sallentine Peninsula, with an intent to torch and burn the city of Brention. Its ox-bow harbor would be a fine outpost on the Adriatic, and it would weaken the Messapii even further in their war against Taras. At the same time, the Triremes of Eretria raced south. Every night they spent their time on the shore, supplies carted alongside them or foraged from the countryside. At Gnatia, they greeted Ostaron, who happily hosted them and appreciated the deep humility of Eusebios, who asked for bread and salt and little else. This strange man seemed to him to encompass the image of Eretria unknown to those who did not know it, a silent mass of the poor and the quiet, who live their lives in the shadow of the giants of the city, enjoying the fruits of their labor and participating in the hoplite phalanx. The ideal of the phalanx, the competition of each and every man, meant to these men a purpose, and a defense of their homes and families for the sake of the city.
When he arrived at Brention he met Daxtus. Short and stout, Daxtus was a jovial and bearded type, more prone to laughter among those he liked than of dour seriousness. In this he was able to share much with Eusebios, and the two enjoyed the company of the other. Daxtus explained to Eusebios the situation, how Eretria's subsidy had aided the Messapii but they needed the assistance of the triremes. Eusebios remarked how peculiar it was that Brention had been sacked by Eretria only years before and now they were defending it, and everything stopped in the conversation, but he then remarked that he is glad they did not dissuade the people of the city, for it is a pleasant town, and the mood calmed. His disinterest in argument and singleminded focus on the coming Korinthians overrode any attempted jabs given by either the notables of Brention or Daxtus. And he had ideas- some proposed by him, others taken up by him after proposed by a barbaroi. They would need wool and metal, but it would work. The plan was set in motion.
The Korinthian Triremes arrived at Brention and entered the harbour without resistance near the crack of dawn. The city seemed deserted, a small town at the center of the harbor. Two small towers had been erected at either side of the harbor, and there were some strange structures on the shore, but the Korinthian thought little of it. That was, until the bells began to ring. They were a terrific and shrill clanging that ran throughout the city. Women, men, and young children clanged pots and pans together to alert everyone. The city bristled with men, as if they had been warned of the Korinthian arrival. An order to start treading water and shift position was met with confusion among the Korinthians. Then another order went out with the lighting of fires across the harbour, and a horrible clinking began to sound behind them. As it turned out, Daxtus had been preparing for the Korinthian arrival for some time. For just such an occasion, with Eretrian funds, a great chain had been forged to protect Brention. So as the Korinthians began to back water, the chain stood in their way, closing them off.
The triremes, covered by enormous blankets of wool, were unfurled with their rowers already inside. Messapii strongmen rushed out. It was over before it had even begun. With ten Triremes in front of them, a harbor bristling with Messapii, and a chain behind them, there was no choice. Korinthian Triremes tried to push out, to push aside the chain, but only nine were able to escape. Eleven were left, and surrendered to Eusebios and the Messapii, who promptly took them hostage and burned their ships as sacrifices to Artemis. It was a neat end to the expedition, but something did not sit right with Eusebios. Why was it so easy? How was it that the Messapii were already so prepared? There were dark forces behind this beyond Eusebios' reckoning, but he could not fathom what the reason was. A few more weeks were spent in Brention, and then Eusebios went home, still concerned. Whatever had happened could not have been mere fortune. But- he was Eusebios. He did not ask those kinds of questions, but returned, gave his report to the vestigial ekklesia, and went back to fishing.
It was the largest host that had been assembled since the end of Hiero's Empire, all to oppose its continuation. 28,000 men, citizens of more than half a dozen city states. All saw ahead of them a choice between liberty and slavery. On the one side there was the remains of the hegemon of Syrakousai, an enormous force of mercenaries who would do nothing less than destroy all who had assembled against it. But on the other stood this coalition. Some of its cities had tyrants, others were democracies, but all were aware of the cost of failure. Some had come as far as Epulia for the sake of this war, which was no longer a war of Ionian against Dorian but a war against hegemony. It was a declaration to the world that Italia and Sicily stood for free cities, for the end of a single great and tyrannical leader who would denude all the poleis of city for his own ambitions. It was an attack against Syrakousai for its wealth siphoned from the cities of the other Greeks.
There could be no peace. Phaleron sent back the messenger of the coalition offering terms with a rooster and told them that they should sacrifice it before they engage him in pitched battle. Slowly, laboriously, the coalition began to move. The Eretrians took the left flank, Rhegion the right. In the center, joining them after much harassment from Phaleron, were the southern Sicilian cities. Metapontion, Himera, the Sikeliote League all formed the center as well. A bustling enormity of allies, having to negotiate between all of them. Herodion, who had the support of the Italiotes, was elected as strategos. All on Sicily knew him; he had brought them freedom and been a tremendous general, undone only, it is said, by tyche and the whims of fortune. Herodion saw much wrong with the coalition's makeup. There were too few skirmishers and cavalry, even when he assembled the aristocracy of every part together. They must, he realized, confront Phaleron on pitched battle, and the only way to do would be to go straight for Syrakousai and begin burning the estates of the mercenaries who made up his army. If he could not pay them, then they would force him to fight.
In the process, however, there was much cost. Harpos and his Peuketii cavalry were a major cavalry screen, and they suffered much to the enemy. Harpos always knew how to make a problem into an opportunity, though, and selectively sent rival tribal chiefs to the front of the screen where they would face certain deaths, then exchanged them for others. Perhaps not the best strategy for battle, but it allowed him to eliminate many of his remaining rivals for power and influence. He was reprimanded for Herodion, after which he apologized by sending the sons of his rivals to the front instead. It was not as if it totally damaged his performance, but it still proved an irritant, especially when Ducetius and his Sikel cavalry were a terrible plague upon the supply train. In the end, however, the army reached Megara Hyblaea, which had been a formerly independent colony of Megara. It almost instantly defected to enormous host, when one of the anti-mercenary partisans opened the gates and the city was flooded with men of the army. Most of the mercenaries were exiled, drowned in the sea, or slaughtered. It was a bitter business, but the Sikeliotes, in particular, were bitter, and indeed, soon after this minor sack the city joined the Sikeliote League, contributing a tiny force of its denuded male population (many had been deported or killed by Hiero) for the army.
It is still unknown why Phaleron chose to do battle at Megara Hyblaea. It is possible, being a mercenary captain with no independent powerbase, he had to listen to the demands of his army and the Syrakousai aristocrats. Either way, he would face down the far superior force at Megara Hyblaea on its flat and even ground, the fertile floodplain that fed Sicily, and indeed, much of the Greek world. It was here that one of the most titanic clashes of the century would take place, between a coalition of allies and a single force of some 15,000. Afraid of the danger that Syrakousai's mercenary horsemen posed, Herodion donned his riding gear and prepared his horse, his beloved Anaximander. Unknown to him, it would be his last ride.
Syrakousai did not wait for battle lines to form before deploying its cavalry and attacking Herodion's, which had formed at the Eretrian left flank. Phaleron rode with his cavalry whilst his second, Thetis, held the mercenary phalanx together as they marched forward. Hardened professionals, these mercenaries had seen more than a decade of warfare across Sicily. Some had been at Himera. They would not break easily, even against a superior force. The orders were given to march forward. Shields shook and spears waved in the air as they moved forward. The incessant, shrill fife of Syrakousai was contrasted with the shouting and hollering of the allied lines. All were in good spirits. Every man wanted to prove he was the better of the last. Some rushed forward but were disciplined by the line. Eretria's young brimmed with the excitement of the day, hoping to prove themselves in what they knew would be a battle to be remembered. Some even had flights of fancy that they would be remembered in the cemetery of heroes for their heroism. They were only right in part, for many would be buried on that day.
As is custom Rhegion clashed first and the first line slammed into Syrakousai. In the center some of the Sicilians raced ahead of their brothers and hit the mercenaries first, before being pushed back and forward by the jostling of their friends and enemies. On the leftmost flank, Eretria's finest marched to war and clashed with the left flank of Syrakousai with a ferociousness amplified by the failures of hoplites in past battles. Every man wanted to prove himself worthy to make up for past failures, but the truth was that the reality of war was not the Iliad, and like the son of Priam who ran through the battlefield with fleet foot to demonstrate his bravery only to be cut down, there was no chance of an easy demonstration of victory here. Instead there was the grueling crush of men and the desperate fight of the other parts of the army.
For the Cavalry and skirmishers, because of the attack of Syrakousai, had been cornered on a hill. Herodion could not reach the very army he was commanding, so Eutropios was forced to command the order of battle. With over 2,000 horsemen, the coalition was simply outnumbered in cavalry. All that was left was to survive and hold Syrakousai from diverting its attention to the phalanx. It had happened so quickly that even Herodion had been taken off-guard, but now they were trapped. He spoke to the men in the heat of battle about the necessity of sacrifice, and rode to face his doom. As it was, he did not find it. Instead, he and his Kleos Exoria, like centaurs, carved a swathe through Syrakousai's cavalry, killing left and right as they pushed towards Phaleron. Herodion, unlike the hoplites, knew he could achieve the heroic ideal. Few would expect the enemy commander to go straight for his opposite for the sole purpose of cutting him down. A man fell to Herodion's right. He kept going. The skirmishers, psilloi and light cavalry, rallied under Harpos and broke out of the left flank of Syrakousai's encirclement, blowing a horn of triumph that only steeled Herodion forward.
He saw Phaleron. Phaleron saw him, saw his eyepatched, and reared his horse, trying to pivot away. Herodion readied his spear and threw it from horseback, striking Phaleron's horse in the stomach and pulling it down. Somewhere a spear appeared from under him and Herodion fell. He got up. He started moving towards Phaleron, scrambling upwards and retrieving his spear. Herodion had lost his but didn't care. He picked up a helmet. Phaleron thrust his spear, but Herodion avoided it and grappled with Phaleron, pulling him to the ground. Phaleron clawed upwards, desperate, trying to reach for his dagger. Herodion pulled it out and plunged it in his gut, then met Phaleron's pained screech by grasping the helmet he held in his right and slamming it into the commander's face. Someone plunged a spear into the back of his knee and he grunted, but still he continued until Phaleron was finished. Then, at last, he rose, screamed victory, and collapsed. His unconscious was surrounded by the Kleos Exoria, who dismounted and drew their spears, defending against the encroaching cavalry. They fought for what they thought was the end of the battle, but with half their number slaughtered, Syrakousai's cavalry began to retreat. They were breaking.
After all, the battle had been decided elsewhere. With such a larger coalition, Eutropios ordered they move to encircle the mercenaries. Both flanks pressed forwards, despite profound casualties for Rhegion and Eretria. At last, with the news of Phaleon's death and the fear that even if they returned home they would be overthrown by the Sicilian citizenry, the mercenaries began to break. It started in the center, with them rushing south to Syrakousai in the hope of retrieving their families before retribution came. The flanks held out, but with the center starting to fail, both flanks were becoming separate. Both obeyed the flee order of Thetes, who declared to them that they should fight in the hills. The Sikel cavalry that had been so prevalent before the battle had deserted mid-way, riding northwest with an enormous quantity of loot stolen from the camp.
When the dust cleared, Herodion was still alive. Half his comrades from abroad had died or been injured. Eutropios had carried the city to a conventional victory over Syrakousai. But there was a terrible omen for the city when Herodion awoke, in his tent, crowded by friends and allies. For when he awoke, he begged for a drink of water, and then said weakly, to all assembled, with a horrible trembling in his stalwart voice:
"My legs. I can't feel my legs."
Battle of Megara Hyblaea
Allied Casualties
3,900 casualties for all Allies
784 casualties for Eretria Eskhata
Half the Kleos Exoria
Harpos' Tribal Rivals
Syrakousai Casualties
4,300 casualties
Phaleron and his companions
Hiero's Empire
Population & Military
Eretria Eskhata - 312 OL
Population: 37,496 (3.25% growth per turn) Triremes: 10 Total Raisable Levy: 3,450 men Hoplites: 1,925 Men Sacred Ekdromoi: 500 Men Cavalry: 375 Men Kleos Exoria: 25 Men Psilloi: 600 Men Manpower Reserve: 1,542 (1,145 Casualties)
Eretrian Army (Camping near Rhegion for 311 Campaign)
Strategos: Herodion Total Forces: 2,760 Greeks, 500 Peuketii Hoplites: 1,540 Men Sacred Ekdromoi 400 Men Cavalry: 300 Men Kelos Exoria: 40 Men Psilloi: 480 Men Peuketii Skirmishers: 300 Men Peuketii Light Cavalry: 200 Men
Under Construction
Stone Wall [Tier III, Fortification]
--Sea Wall [Tier III, Fortification Extension]
--Wide Walls [Tier III Fortification Extension]
Will finish at end of 312 OL
Expenses: 295.3 Talents Navy Upkeep: 66.0 Talents (Triremes Deployed to Brention) Army Upkeep: 68.2 Talents (Army deployed for five months) Trade: 16 Talents Construction: 0 Talents Theater Subsidy: 10 Talents Sacred Treasury Contribution: 45.1 Talents Misc: 80 Talents (Harpos Reward)
Sacred Treasury: 576.4 Talents (45.1 from annual tithe) Treasury at End Turn: 467.3 Talents
Trade
Imports
1 unit of Metals from Kymai (-10 talents per turn due to tax)
1 unit of Metals from Canosa (-6 talents per turn due to tax)
Exports
2 units of Smoked Anchovies to Taras (+20 talents a turn)
1 unit of Lumber to Greece (+10 talents a turn)
1 unit of Grain to Athens (+7 talents a turn)
Modifiers
Weights and Measures: 10% Trade Bonus Agora: 25% Trade Bonus
Dependencies
Epulian League Relations
Pylona: 135
Barletos: 150
Garnae: 120
Sipontion: 115 Total Tribute: 3.6 Talents Maximum Levy: 712 Men
Peuketii Relations
King Harpos of the Peuketii: Good Relations
Total Tribute: 11.0 Talents Maximum Levy: 1,086 Men
Alliances & Diplomacy
Gnatia: Full Alliance with the Messapii city of Gnatia, offered to Eretria after they were saved by Eusebios of the Fifty Masts from a pirate fleet. Maximum Levy: 350 Men
Kerkyra: In a defensive pact with Eretria after forcing Eretria to abandon its alliance with Taras. Maximum Levy: 2,000 Men, 70 Ships
Metapontion: In a mutual full alliance with Eretria Eskhata against the Dorian cities of Sicily and Italy Maximum Levy: 2,500 Men, 20 Ships
Messapii Confederacy: Under Oath of Peace with Eretria sworn on the Goddess Artemis.
Wars:
The Great Sicilian War (Eretria Eskhata, Metapontion, Rhegion, Himera, Sikeliote League, Gela, Akragas, Selinous versus Syrakousai)
And that is it for this particular arc of Magna Graecia. We will be going on a hiatus because I have work during the summer (four months). I hope to be able to update during the summer, but until I know what my work is like, there will be no more updates. I hope you enjoyed this, and yes, Magna Graecia will continue and return no matter what!
The triremes, covered by enormous blankets of wool, were unfurled with their rowers already inside. Messapii strongmen rushed out. It was over before it had even begun. With ten Triremes in front of them, a harbor bristling with Messapii, and a chain behind them, there was no choice. Korinthian Triremes tried to push out, to push aside the chain, but only nine were able to escape. Eleven were left, and surrendered to Eusebios and the Messapii, who promptly took them hostage and burned their ships as sacrifices to Artemis. It was a neat end to the expedition, but something did not sit right with Eusebios. Why was it so easy? How was it that the Messapii were already so prepared? There were dark forces behind this beyond Eusebios' reckoning, but he could not fathom what the reason was. A few more weeks were spent in Brention, and then Eusebios went home, still concerned. Whatever had happened could not have been mere fortune. But- he was Eusebios. He did not ask those kinds of questions, but returned, gave his report to the vestigial ekklesia, and went back to fishing.
... Okay, we are hiding behind our walls for the next 20 years. Until the next generation can step up. Those are terrible casualties by any standard. More than a third of our muster lies dead and our best strategos and Proboulos has been crippled! And we are just about to head into the clusterfuck that are the Peloponnesian Wars...
Hopefully the Samnites will keep Arpos busy, Kerkyra honors their deal against Korinthos and Daxtus holds out against Taras.
... Okay, we are hiding behind our walls for the next 20 years. Until the next generation can step up. Those are terrible casualties by any standard. More than a third of our muster lies dead and our best strategos and Proboulos has been crippled! And we are just about to head into the clusterfuck that are the Peloponnesian Wars...
Hopefully the Samnites will keep Arpos busy, Kerkyra honors their deal against Korinthos and Daxtus holds out against Taras.
It should be noted that while we have basically lost Herodion's maniacal talents in the terrors of Calvary, which has won us battles after battles, we do still have an excellent candidate for Strategos that has proven himself with his arete in this war.
Eutropios. Herodion's lover, comrade and trusted right hand.
Indeed, it was Eutropios who kept our Phalanx from crumbling against Lokri and Reghion when Antipater fell, and it was him who led the main body of our allied army to victory against Syrakousai. He is an proven and experienced commander, and has Herodion's trust.
If its the next arc is The Peloponnesian Wars the is fine we will have time the war lasts 27 years we wil have time to help Athens or we can always hire those Mercenaries who fled
It should be noted that while we have basically lost Herodion's maniacal talents in the terrors of Calvary, which has won us battles after battles, we do still have an excellent candidate for Strategos that has proven himself with his arete in this war.
Eutropios. Herodion's lover, comrade and trusted right hand.
Indeed, it was Eutropios who kept our Phalanx from crumbling against Lokri and Reghion when Antipater fell, and it was him who led the main body of our allied army to victory against Syrakousai. He is an proven and experienced commander, and has Herodion's trust.
To be honest, i was thinking about relying on our Barbaroi and League meatshields plus walls to defend against land attacks and massively focus on naval buildup. Daxtus is the only landbound enemy in striking range of our city and he has the problem of very easily running into a multiple front war if he attacks us. Taras has to carve through the Messapii to get to us, and all other threats are naval.
And we have an Admiral whose naval mind is every bit the equal of Herodions cavalry genius.
In this time in a lot of cases be wounded in a battle mean "death in suspension". Infections kills you as surely than the spear of an ennemy. And if you enough lucky to survive it imply that in the majority of case you will be amputated.
In this time in a lot of cases be wounded in a battle mean "death in suspension". Infections kills you as surely than the spear of an ennemy. And if you enough lucky to survive it imply that in the majority of case you will be amputated.
But at the same time with the new systems the casualties have only hit our manpower reserves, not affecting how many troops we can put on the field aside from the Kleos Exoria and Barbadoi vassal numbers.
Victory but at a cost, though not dead a second hero has been removed from the field for us. Still Herodion has secured a legend for us, though I am not sure if Heroic Sacrifice is part of the Greek traditions.
Victory but at a cost, though not dead a second hero has been removed from the field for us. Still Herodion has secured a legend for us, though I am not sure if Heroic Sacrifice is part of the Greek traditions.
I doubt we get in for that very reason; it would be hell to besiege and take (and we probably don't have the navy for that aniway). Ods are they will sue for peace, accept the end of Hiero empire and pay a good indemnity.
Yeah, I wouldn't expect much more than what we got from Krotone and Lokri combined. This will be a 'please go away'-payment split 7 ways.
That said, we already have almost 600 Talents stored up to start building once the wall finishes.
