I understand the temptation to be clever, but Plan Carmen Sandiego isn't. It insults the Samnites by moving the temple (which realistically achieves precisely nothing because the volcanic pools are still there, and form a focus of worship even in the absence of a physical temple) and then compounds this by allowing a group of Samnites to return to their homes while feeling that they haven't really been beaten by Rome. (All this assuming it even works, which I very much doubt).
I don't know. It might have been shown off screen, but armies in this period were reading entrails to decide whether to engage or not. I don't see the Samnites randomly worshipping this pool without proper rites and instructions. They risk the wrath of the gods.
I would prefer light looting because I want to get our attack underway ASAP, but I'm willing to go with medium looting.Sorry for the mass tag guys, but I don't want to alter the plan without consulting with those voting for it. Would you object to changing from minimal to medium looting? I'm coming around to the idea that the plan as is is too lenient, and it would probably help with managing the cohort.
Even assuming that there are no other members of the clergy in all of Samnium (I know that the update says that the priestess is the last, but I'm reading that as the last in the town), it's far more the fact that we would be leaving a highly visible metaphorical hole where there should be a temple. Even if we just carry off the sacred implements, that's really just going to look like looting the temple to the Samnites.
If we're serious about making citizens of the Samnites, we should be looking to ease the transition, and that means showing respect for their religion, where practical.
I see your point about taking the temple's sacred implements being seen as looting anyway. I think taking the priestess should suffice.
I can agree with Open hand generally, but we need more than just local assurance of their submission. A few key hostages should suffice or taking of all or (or some )agricultural equipment, damaging said equipment or the slaughtering a third of their livestock.
Something.
I do not agree that we should leave them to our rear and that they are sufficiently humbled.
That's why we're attacking Aeclanum, where pretty much all their living fighting men are. Break them there and thoroughly sack the town, and we've demonstrated both the futility of resisting Rome and that submission is not necessarily the extinction of Samnite culture. We'll also have killed the vast majority of the potential troublemakers in the area.
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In any case, this is a nice segue.
I am altering Plan Sulla Redux to involve a heavier level of looting, in the interests of punishing the locals for killing our messenger, preventing mutiny, and removing resources that the locals could use to remobilise behind us.
If I didn't feel like the vote complexity would be ridiculous I'd say something like "establish a new temple of Mephitis on the site of the pools with a Roman priest(ess) of the goddess, while moving the big fancy stuff to Rome." I mean, Mephitis is worshipped in Rome, so that's doable.Good luck worshipping properly without the priesthood or an actual temple, though. And that's assuming that the pools don't become the site of a Roman temple afterwards.
Remember, the forms of worship matter a lot at this point in history. Some random schmuck trying to carry out a ceremony they don't know and don't have the tools for would be considered as likely to insult the object of worship as to propitiate them.
What do you think about dropping "Swords for Plowshares" from Carmen Sandiego? It's fair to point out that it'll slow us down and be a wonky gambit, plus it sounds like we're unlikely to be actively outnumbered at Aeclanum after all, so we don't need it s" may be a bridge too far.
Exactly how do you expect the goddess to NOT be mad that we killed the sole surviving priestess of this cult?By killing the Priestess but not destroying the Temple we will avoid the curses of the gods while crushing the spirit of the Samnite people. It's a great middle ground between barbary and more barbary.
In his defence, I'm pretty sure she's only the last surviving priestess in Aequum Tuticum, not necessarily in all of Samnium. It is apparently a fairly major cult down there, after all. I would be very surprised if there wasn't at least a handful of others scattered about.
In his defence, I'm pretty sure she's only the last surviving priestess in Aequum Tuticum, not necessarily in all of Samnium. It is apparently a fairly major cult down there, after all. I would be very surprised if there wasn't at least a handful of others scattered about.
Sure, but Apollo had a lot of priests, and they had a lot of daughters, and he still struck the Achaeans with a plague when Agamemnon kidnapped one daughter of one priest and wouldn't ransom her back.
Similarly, being a priest is one of the few ways to gain sacrosanct status from violence in Roman society- because, again, it's assumed that killing them will incur the displeasure of the gods. Soldiers may be willing to take that risk in battle (e.g. the killing of the other priestesses, who took up arms during the battle for Aequum Tuticum), but that doesn't mean they (or we) wouldn't worry about the consequences of doing it in cold blood.
Certainly it wouldn't be reasonable to advertise killing a priestess as a way of avoiding divine wrath. If that's Quintus' primary concern, he should be sparing the priestess and going with "Mercy" or maybe "Captured Gods." All the other options seem likely to incur divine wrath, it's just a question of how much divine wrath.