Chaos, the dark abyss (so space), created Gaia (earth) who created Ouranos (the heavens). The fucked and produced generation 1 of The Titans. Gen 2 of The Titans came from those kids fucking. The youngest of the Gen 1 Titans (Cronus) was scared his kids would overpower him, so ate the first five, until his wife (Rhea) tricked him and hid away the 6th. Zeus. When Zeus grew up he made his father puke, freeing the other 5 Olympians, and they fought a war against The Titans.
I'm writing an omake and I am too lazy to find the information myself, so I have a few questions I need answered. First, is our character's given name Quintus or Atellus, and also what rank do you have to be to command a legion?
In most contexts, Atellus would be called Atellus. In a formal context, or when being addressed by older/ more traditional Romans, he would be called Quintus Cingulatus.
*****
In the current time period, a legate is not so much a formal rank as it is a descriptor for the friends, family members and assorted companions of senatorial status a Roman governor took with him to serve in his province. They were senior to all the military tribunes but their duties could vary widely. They might have command of the cavalry, be tasked with assembling and commanding a fleet if one was required, or take command of a secondary campaign. (At the moment, for instance, Sertorius is serving as Cinna's legate in the campaign against the Samnites.)
A legion was generally commanded by the provincial governor, or whatever member of his staff he delegated the task to.
As to Roman religion, I can't think of any Roman creation myth off the top of my head, but the oldest (and most Roman) gods worshipped were the Lares - faceless, sexless, and nameless supernatural forces governing everything from the weather to boundaries and thresholds to the proper function of the state. Completely inhuman, with none of that anthropomorphized Greek rubbish.
(Each family would have its own Lar, and as pater familias Atellus should be praying and offering to it daily.)
Hm. If the Roman founding myth (that of Romulus) was even a bit accurate, as opposed to a total fabrication, the Romans might not have much characteristically Roman mythology and lore simply because they were in large part a 'creole' city thrown together from people, many of them outcasts, drawn from over a wide region. The spirits and gods they could all agree on would end up being pretty faceless and inhuman, and adopting foreign gods would come naturally to a people to whom all gods were foreign.
There are enough civilians including, apparently, Roman citizens that cutting off Nola's water supply was judged to be a bad political move. For one, the heavily fortified (but small) city probably has enough springs and wells that it can sustain the Samnite garrison directly. For another, we might well have to answer for a large number of Roman citizens dying of thirst. At least, that's how I remember the discussion going.
Similar objections arise in regards to any attempt to poison the water supply or introduce disease among the Samnites.
It happens but next time check because people get really pissed when a necro happens.
Also to answer your earlier question he graduated, got a job, has to to move, and is trying to make sure everything is set up for his grad school in the fall.
Thread necromancy is not against SV's rules. Complaining about such can be a violation, however, as it often spirals into large groups of people jumping on the necromancer. As such... well, please don't do this again, alright? Thank you.
To be fair, my current avatar is not Reinhard von Lohengramm, it's actually a character from SRW Z2 (though I do admit that they do look almost the same).
[X] Plan Wolves of Rome
- [1] An Army Marches On Its Stomach
-- [X] In your capacity as Sertorius' official representative, you set about trying to diplomatically convince them to open their stores to the legions.
- [2] Outriders
- [3] The Left Hand Strays
- [1] The Cult of Mars
- [2] Fortune's Favor
- [3] Study Logistics
- [4] Sparring
November 15th, 85 BC
669 Years After The Founding Of Rome
The Year of Flaccus and Marius.
The Fourth Samnite War (85 BC - Ongoing)
Your first ever campaign, you were assigned as military tribune to the VI Legion under one Quintus Sertorius, a famed general and the Legate of Italia. The legion was dispatched by the Proconsul Cinna to defeat the Samnite tribes once and for all, and win a resounding Roman victory close to home.
Legion(s): LEGIO VI GRADIVIUS (Sixth Legion, Blessed By Mars) Patron Diety: Mars, in his aspect as the Soldier-God Mars Gradivus (2/10) (+1 to all Mars-specific auguries)
Superstition: 2/10 -- The men put some stock in the word of gods and spirits, but do not quake at sunsets. Position: Tribunus Laticlavus (Broad-Striped Tribune) Commanding Officer: Quintus Sertorius Commanding Officer Reputation: 8/10 -- Sertorius is the soldier's ideal, a young man who rose from nothing and won the Grass Crown, the Republic's ultimate military honor. Held to be a champion of his soldiers and a defender of the common people, there are many in the Sixth who would die for Sertorius without question. Total Forces: 5,600 combined Roman legionnaires, equites, and auxilaries. Green/Veteran Split: 3 half-green Cohorts, 5 Average, 1 Skilled, 1 Elite, 1 Skilled Auxiliary Reputation With The Legion: 6/10 -- The giver of laurels and the breaker of the Samnites, the bringer of coin and law, and a capable fighter in your own right -- you are many things to the men of the Sixth Legion, but first and foremost you are the Tribune. They may not all love you, but they respect you. Location: Apennine Italy Occupied Cities: N/A
Allied Cities: Bovianum (7/10), Aquilonia (5/10), Bovianum Vetus (3/10), Alife (5/10) Besieged Cities: Nola (3 Months) Winter Stores: -1 Weeks worth of food. Campaign Profit: The tallied loot and profit for the legion(s) from this campaign currently amounts to 67 talents and 1,200 denarii of gold. The payout after the campaign ends, once the required sums are given to the city and the officers, is currently 32 denarii to a man, a sum equal to 14% of a full year's pay. Outcome: ???
Nola.
You come to hate it, the very word. Mere weeks pass as you and the legion wait in front of those walls, but part of you would swear the better half of a year crawls by underneath those grey stone walls and bleak grey hills. You pass the time as best as you can, of course -- you study, you spar, you drink. You bicker over politics with Rufus and your fellow officers, and discuss ancient wars with Sertorius until the candles wink out.
And, of course, like any Roman, you do your duty -- even when it is bitter. You march among empty farms and dry fields and demand food from people who had none left to give. Even your silver tongue cannot pry bread from the mouths of babes, nor force fields long razed to push up harvest in winter. At best, you manage a few loaves of bread here and there. You try your best, of course, and your men know this -- but it does not put food in their stomachs.
Nola.
You wonder on it often, as you look up at the walls. What would drive men to give life and limb to defy Rome? To starve themselves to spit in her eye? Is it madness? Is it love?
You do not know, but you intend to make sure that they starve indeed. Almost daily you ride circuits with the Gaulish auxiliaries at your back. They joke less, with their stomachs empty, and their eyes are harder in the winter. But their blades are sharp still, and their horses still faster than any in Italy. What few rebels you catch outside the city walls do not live long. The supply lines, which have become vital with the onset of winter, are well-protected by you and your riders, yet they do not bring nearly enough food to keep all your men fed. Some go hungry. Then more. And your hate for the grey walls and the grey hills grows.
Nola.
They speak of war often in the songs, but they do not speak of the hunger. It is a greater enemy than the winter wind or the cold steel of the foe -- it saps at a soldier's bones, eats at his loyalty, at his faith, at his very self. Even Sertorius' clever eyes grow sharp as the weeks pass. Your men laugh less, and when they do, the jokes are cruel. The Hirpini, those Samnite warriors who allied with you to defeat the rebels, fight among themselves almost daily.
In times like these, weakness cannot be tolerated, especially among the upper ranks. Though it is like pulling teeth, you finally bend and crack the other tribunes into something resembling shape. You do not know if it is your words or the hunger in their bellies, but they finally begin pulling their weight. What is more, the cult of Mars you and Rufus begin among the officers is quickly taken to by the newly-dutiful tribunes. You come to find that it provides them and the men with a core to focus around, a burning coal of hatred to remember -- they are the sons of Mars, and whatever pain or suffering they feel now, it will be revisited tenfold upon their foes.
Such is the way of the sons of the war-god. Such is the way of Rome.
When you stalk among the tents, the eyes that stare back are sharp and cold with hunger, like wolves'. But there is a steel in the hunger. They are wolves, yes -- but wolves of Rome, a pack lean and deadly, baying day and night at those hated grey walls.
Nola.
And when those walls fell --
You do not remember much of that day, afterwards. You remember the cold morning in Sertorius' tent, your breath misting as he explained in a sharp tone that the Senate had recalled his legion, that they did not think Nola a threat any longer, that they ordered him to return to Rome. You remember the look in his eyes as you realized that some part of him hated this city, too.
You remember Mercator's hushed warning -- "They will not stop." -- and Sertorius' silence that was his answer. You remember the order -- you remember giving it as it fell from your lips. You remember the wolves' eyes glinting as the ladders were raised, as the siege engines rolled forward.
Your next clear memory is of yourself at the head of a tidal wave, a rush of steel and flesh and howling. They keep cohesion, somehow -- barely -- under Mercator's tongue-like lash. You remember clambering up the ladder, and what followed after. The feel of bones breaking, of flesh giving way under Roman steel, of men screaming as they died. And then -- thundering down the other side of those hated grey walls, pushing back Samnites thin with hunger. You remember thinking how easy it was, how weak they were. If you had been hungry outside, then they had starved inside. The hated Samnite rebels were skin and bones, flesh like paper and arms that could hardly lift a sword.
Mercator's words flashed through your mind again, then. "They will not stop."
And then you are side-by-side with your men, your shoulders on those massive doors, pushing, pushing until they open to let the wolves in. You remember them howling.
Then all is black.
Your next clear memory is of yourself standing amidst a city wreathed in flames. An emaciated man lies before you, his eyes open. In death, you cannot tell whether he was Roman or Samnite. Your sword-arm is hot with his blood, and your chest rises and falls heavily.
Around you, Nola dies. Your men have long forgotten any semblance of order or rigidity. Men stand and fight, and they are butchered. They flee, and they are butchered. Buildings nearly half as old as Rome burn. The wolves eat their fill.
As a child, your father would read you histories of the various cities of Italy -- curt, dry affairs, stating who founded what, where, and when, and who destroyed what, where, and when. In your mind's eye, you saw then another of these histories, written perhaps in some future time:
Nola, a city of the Samnites of Campania, founded in the Year of Marcus and Opiter. Taken first by the Romans in the Year of Brutus and Barbula, and made then a colony of Rome.
Betrayed by treason to the Samnites in the Year of Sulla and Rufus, during the Social War.
Razed to the ground by the VI Legion under Quintus Sertorius in the Year of Flaccus and Marius.
Lesser Feat Gained: The Sack of Nola
The Sack of Nola
Lesser Feat, 85 BC --
Nola, history says, was once a city of the Samnites in southern Campania, from which hailed the family of the Emperor Augustus. It was razed to the ground in 85 BC during the Last Samnite War, in an act which Livy called "The most barbarous of barbarous acts", stating that there was not a stone left sitting atop a stone. The starving Sixth Legion stormed the walls of the city after a two-month siege, and, led by the Legionary Tribune Quintus Cingulatus Atellus, slaughtered the Samnites inside and razed the city to the ground.
Pillars of ash curl towards heaven as the sun rises. As daylight falls over the city, the officers regain control over an army shamed by Apollo's harsh gaze. The legion reforms amidst the wreck that was Nola, the men quiet and abashed as their blood cools in the light of day. Not much is left of the city -- burnt stones still stand atop other burnt stones, true, but little else remains. The hated grey walls lie shattered and broken, barely waist-high in some places. Corpses cool amidst the wreck, men and women and children butchered like so much cattle. Nola, a city of thousands, is now a city of none. There are no slaves to take -- Rome in Rome''s fury left none alive.
You find Sertorius where the gates of the city once stood, his blood-red cloak fluttering in the wind. His single eye surveys the wreck with an emotion you cannot quite fix, and there is an odd look upon his weathered face.
When he sees you, he at first says nothing, but instead stoops deep and runs a finger through the thick black ash coating the earth.
"Do you know what fate would have visited city had it fallen without blood, Atellus?" His voice is gravel on rock, and he does not wait for an answer. "In my mercy the land would have been set to purpose as a home for the legion, and the legion's heirs, and their heirs after them. All whom would have remembered always Sertorius, who gave it to them."
For a long moment, he watches the black dust with his single eye, then wipes his hand on his tunic and rises. For the first time since he started speaking, he looks directly at you.
"The dog Medix Appius lives still."
You blink, surprised. "And gave flight, surely?"
"Indeed -- and we, chase. He will walk bound before my train as I return to the city, and will serve final purpose as an example of what awaits all who would bear arms against Rome."
"This is not example enough, then?", you ask, waving at the ruins behind you.
Sertorius takes a final look at Nola. "Not to Samnites, no."
The legatus claps you on your shoulder as he turns away. "Have no fear, Atellus. You will see just reward for your deeds in the capture of the city. I will make special note of you to the Senate. Someday, you may burn cities yourself."
With that, he leaves you alone amidst the smoking wreck of Nola. You remain there for some time, watching the great pillars of black smoke climb towards heaven.
But thy father loves the clashing
Of broadsword and of shield:
He loves to drink the steam that reeks
From the fresh battlefield:
He smiles a smile more dreadful
Than his own dreadful frown,
When he sees the thick black cloud of smoke
Go up from the conquered town.
Campaign Ended: The Fourth Last Samnite War (85 BC) Legion Assigned: Legio VI
Legion Commander: Quintus Sertorius, Legatus of Italia
Position: Tribunus Laticlavus, Broad-Striped Tribune
Legion Nickname Gained: LEGIO VI GRADIVIUS -- The Sixth Legion, Blessed-By-Mars.
Rewards:
1500 Military XP Gained!
(6793/10000) to Rank 14
3000 Combat XP Gained!
(4230/10000) to Rank 11
8000 Command XP Gained!
Level Up! Command Level 8!
Rank Up! Command Rank: Proficient
Total Loot: 25 Talents of Gold
And such as is the War-god,
The author of thy line,
And such as she who suckled thee,
Even such be thou and thine.
The Last Samnite War (85 BC)
Your first ever campaign, you were assigned as military tribune to the VI Legion under one Quintus Sertorius, a famed general and the Legate of Italia. The legion was dispatched by the Proconsul Cinna to defeat the Samnite tribes once and for all, and win a resounding Roman victory close to home. Legion(s): LEGIO VI GRADIVIUS (Sixth Legion, Blessed By Mars) Patron Diety: Mars, in his aspect as the Soldier-God Mars Gradivus (2/10) (+1 to all Mars-specific auguries)
Superstition: 4/10 -- Mars is with us, for better or ill. Position: Tribunus Laticlavus (Broad-Striped Tribune) Commanding Officer: Quintus Sertorius Commanding Officer Reputation: 8/10 -- Sertorius is the soldier's ideal, a young man who rose from nothing and won the Grass Crown, the Republic's ultimate military honor. Held to be a champion of his soldiers and a defender of the common people, there are many in the Sixth who would die for Sertorius without question. Total Forces: 5,600 combined Roman legionnaires, equites, and auxilaries. Green/Veteran Split: 3 half-green Cohorts, 5 Average, 1 Skilled, 1 Elite, 1 Skilled Auxiliary Reputation With The Legion: 7/10 -- The giver of laurels and the breaker of the Samnites, the bringer of coin and law, and a capable fighter in your own right -- you are many things to the men of the Sixth Legion, but first and foremost you are the Tribune. They may not all love you, but they respect you. Location: Apennine Italy Occupied Cities: N/A
Allied Cities: Bovianum (7/10), Aquilonia (5/10), Bovianum Vetus (3/10), Alife (5/10) Campaign Profit: The tallied loot and profit for the legion(s) from this campaign currently amounts to 600 talents and 1,200 denarii of gold. The payout after the campaign ends, once the required sums are given to the city and the officers, is currently 214 denarii to a man, a sum equal to just under a year's worth of pay. Outcome: The total destruction of the cities of Aequm Tuticum and Nola, and the capitulation of the Hirpini and the Pentri, along with the other tribes of Samnium.
Siege:
Week 5:
(Sertorius) Lay Siege: 1d20 +6 (Epic Military) +4 (Renowned Logistics) +2 (Voice of Mars) +0 (Average Troops) = 14
versus
(Meddix Appius) Defend Against the Siege: 1d20 +4 (Renowned Logistics) +5 (Hearts of Steel) +4 (Rank III Walls) +1 (Adequately Supplied) -1(Outnumbered) = 16 The Siege Holds
Week 6:
(Sertorius) Lay Siege: 1d20 +6 (Epic Military) +4 (Renowned Logistics) +2 (Voice of Mars) +0 (Average Troops) = 19
versus
(Meddix Appius) Defend Against the Siege: 1d20 +4 (Renowned Logistics) +5 (Hearts of Steel) +4 (Rank III Walls) +1 (Adequately Supplied) -1(Outnumbered) = 24
The Siege Holds
Week 7:
(Sertorius) Lay Siege: 1d20 +6 (Epic Military) +4 (Renowned Logistics) +2 (Voice of Mars) +0 (Average Troops) = 32
versus
(Meddix Appius) Defend Against the Siege: 1d20 +4 (Renowned Logistics) +5 (Hearts of Steel) +4 (Rank III Walls) +1 (Adequately Supplied) -1 (Outnumbered) -1 (Hungry)= 17
Samnite Morale Roll: 1d20 +5 (Hearts of Steel) +4 (Renowned Command) = 21
DC: 12 The Siege Holds
Week 8:
(Sertorius) Lay Siege: 1d20 +6 (Epic Military) +4 (Renowned Logistics) +2 (Voice of Mars) +0 (Average Troops) = 20
versus
(Meddix Appius) Defend Against the Siege: 1d20 +4 (Renowned Logistics) +5 (Hearts of Steel) +4 (Rank III Walls) -1 (Outnumbered) -2 (Starving)= 16
Samnite Morale Roll: 1d20 +5 (Hearts of Steel) +4 (Renowned Command) = 24
DC: 13
The Siege Holds
Week 9:
(Sertorius) Lay Siege: 1d20 +6 (Epic Military) +4 (Renowned Logistics) +2 (Voice of Mars) +0 (Average Troops) -1 (Hungry) = 20
versus
(Meddix Appius) Defend Against the Siege: 1d20 +4 (Renowned Logistics) +5 (Hearts of Steel) +4 (Rank III Walls) -1 (Outnumbered) -2 (Starving)= 15
Samnite Morale Roll: 1d20 +5 (Hearts of Steel) +4 (Renowned Command) = 12
DC: 13
The Siege Breaks
Control the Legion: Sertorius: 1d20 + 4 (Renowned Command) +5 (Epic Military) =11
versus The Wolves Unleashed (The Legion): 1d20 + 2 (Months of siege) + 1 (Hungry) -6 (Opinion of Sertorius) = 17
Epic Failure
Outriders:
Hunt Down the Rebels: 1d20 +2 (Accomplished Military) +0 (Average Command) +2 (Gallic Cavalry) +2 (The Voice of Mars) = 26
versus
(Rebel Commander) Evade the Romans: 1d20 +1 (Proficient Military) +2 (Accomplished Command) +5 (Hearts of Steel) +2 (Home Turf) = 13
Roman Victory
An Army Marches On It's Stomach
Negotiations: 1d20 +2 (Accomplished Charisma) +2 (Accomplished Diplomacy) +1 Gift of Minerva = 19
versus Nothing Left To Give (Samnite Elders): 1d20 +1 (Proficient Charisma) + 8 (From The Mouths Of Babes) +2 (Harsh Winter) = 21
Samnite 'Victory'
The Left Hand Strays
Befriending Sertorius: 1d20 + 0 (Averag Command) + 2 (Accomplished Charisma) = 20
DC: 17
VOTING
Aftermaths
The sack of Nola was an event that will leave a lasting scar on the land of Samnium and the people who live there. You could not stop it from happening, but you might affect what happens after. Sertorius is withdrawn -- angry, perhaps, or something else -- and your judgement may well be law as far as the men are concerned. Speak, Tribune, and see it done. Pick up to two.
[] Admonishment: An army should control itself. A Roman army should know better than to sack a city ostensibly meant to be Roman. You have the worst offenders from each cohort selected and flogged. It will not win you any love, but it may teach them a lesson. [] Decimation: It is said soldiers ignored Sertorius and his officers' commands to cease during the sack. There must be a punishment for such insubordiation. With Sertorius' approval, you have one man from each century picked at random and beaten to death. One in every ten shall pay for the sins of the whole legion. [] Punishment: You have the pay of all men in the legion docked. Gold speaks louder than blood. [] Celebration: Half a hundred amphoras of wine were found under the governor's home. Rome has come up against her foes and triumphed. What better cause for celebration? [] Example: Sertorius is wrong. This is an example. A living example. You have the elders of the surrounding towns rounded up and brought to Nola, where they are forced to look upon the ruins of one of the mightiest cities of Campania. [] Annhiliation: You order bricks cleared, half-shattered homes demolished, and ruins leveled. When you are gone, it will be like nothing ever stood here at all. [] Nothing: To the victor go the spoils. So it has always been. So it will always be. (Incompatible with any other choice)
[] Write-In
Personal
For the first time in months, your personal matters jump back to the forefront. The legion will soon be returning to Rome, and the friends and allies you have made here may well follow you back into a far deadlier battlefield. Pick Three
[] Write Home: You take the opportunity of remaining on the Italian Peninsula to write back home to your friends and allies in the city. You wrote to... (Pick Two)
--[] Scaevola
--[] Cicero
--[] Atticus
--[] Proserpina
--[] Volero
[] Study Logistics: You read books on planning and organization, hoping to gain greater mastery of logistics and large-scale planning.
[] Speak With The Architects: You speak with the legion's architects and engineers, hoping to increase your own knowledge of Engineering.
[] The Cult of Mars: You attempt to solidify your small cult, turning it into an organization which may survive the transition from military life to civilian. Having brothers bound by bonds deeper than blood in the killing fields of the Senate may prove useful.
[] Prospects: While you cannot court anyone or get married now, Proserpina's latest comment has sparked thoughts of marriage in your head. You can't do much here and now, but you could have Proserpina write up a list of the best prospects and send them to you for you to look over. Should you like any of them in particular, you could even write to her father to gauge his interest.
[] Drum Up Support: You attempt to solidify the men's idea of you as someone they follow and support. They love you already, but having a solid voting bloc in future elections might prove very useful.
[] Carousing: You spend some of your nights carousing and partying with the Gauls, hoping to increase their opinions of you even further.
[] Hire the Gauls: The Gauls work for coin, and coin alone. It would be a relatively easy matter to hire a portion of them to serve as your retinue. The boisterous leader, Veniximaeus, must return to his clan in Gaul, but offers to leave his son Arminorix in your employ.
[] Make Connections: Ever aloof and arrogant, the aristocrats of the equtii, the knights of Rome, have come to respect you as a leader to look up to over the course of this campaign. You could try to make some deeper connections that might serve you well in the city.
[] Exercise Regimen: You continue your daily exercise regimen, waking in the morning and running a circuit of the camp to begin your day.
[] Expand Journal: You begin expanding your journal to include more than strictly military matters, such as political happenings or philosophical musings.
[] Sparring: You continue your sparring sessions with your men, hoping to further hone your swordplay before returning to Rome.
[] Fortune's Favor: After camp is made for the night, several of the officers, including Carcellus, gather to gamble and game. These men are all fast friends, with ties stretching back years, but if if you integrated yourself with them and got them to consider you one of them, it would go a long way towards improving your standing in the legion.
[] Study Finance: Money. How does it work? Where does it come from? What, exactly, is it? You're not too sure on any of those counts, so you decide to sit down and try and find out when you have the time.
[] Study Warfare: You study the campaigns of some of Rome's greatest generals, hoping to increase your own skill with command.
[] Begin Studying Siege Engineering: You want to know more about making things go fast at other things.
[] Study: You have your slaves bring you as many books as you can and begin to read. This has a chance of increasing any skill by a random amount of XP, or even learning a skill you do not know.
Author's Note:
It's back.
There is now a TWENTY-FOUR HOUR MORATORIUM on all votes.
Use this time to discuss the choices available and create different Plans. As previously discussed, any votes not in plan form, or submitted before the moratorium is up, will not be counted.
As always, discussion is rewarded. (As are Omakes and Reaction posts.)
Fair warning: I cheated mildly, by continuing the siege rolls for an extra week until the city fell -- I figured you'd waited long enough to see something.
That Sertorius bungled a +9 roll is just a plus that let me write a cool scene, though.
Fair warning: I cheated mildly, by continuing the siege rolls for an extra week until the city fell -- I figured you'd waited long enough to see something.
That Sertorius bungled a +9 roll is just a plus that let me write a cool scene, though.
