Way long ago back with .30 or something like that there was a thread discussing how silly Orthus is for various reasons. Personally I take a special interest every time he spawns and use WB to turn him into the real deal killa thrilla...anyways...I vaguely remember that one of the big modders around here stated that they modded Orthus so that when he spawned he would provided free promotions to barbarian units which were lost when he died. Is this an XML thing or something more complicated?

I believe you are remembering Magister saying that he added extra traits to the Barbarians while Orthus was alive. That would be python.

Losing the traits requires python. (I used to copy the Basium and Hyborem code in CvEventManager.py, but I think I prefer just having one <PythonPostCombatLost> for those three units to have.) I actually just gave out the traits the normal xml way, although I could have given out the traits upon Orthus' arrival if I had wanted to.

Cool idea. Especially if combined with a boost in barb. spawning, IMO.