Name of the Civ: Alphanate of the Lycontines
Noun: Lycontines
Adjective: Lycontine
Title: Alpha Male
Name: Canidius
Bonuses: Expansionist Scientific Militaristic
Cultural Group: Mediterranian
Level of Aggression: 2
Favorite government: Republic
Shunned government: Fascism
AI strategies: Defense, Happiness, Culture
Favourite colours: Civ colours 1, 21, 24
Diplomacy: Byzantines
Real World Location: England.
Fantasy location: A northern pine forested peninsula isolated from the rest of the north east continent, closest neighbor is the United Norse Commune.
Unique Unit: Lycontine Cataphract (My sketch, based on
this image.)
Replaces knight/cavalry, A6,D5,M4 upgrades to A8,D5,M4 +1 hitpoint, blitz, costs 70/80, requires iron, horses, feudalism, also used as King unit.
Civilopaedia:
After the fall of Rome, the wolves remained civilised, fighting off barbaric invasions with their legionnaires. Once the wolves needed to expand into Europe, they were unable to compete with the mounted knights and later, the Arab ansar warriors. The wolves created new kind of fighting force based on both the knight and the ansar warrior, the cataphract. The Lycontine cataphract, who first saw service in the Battle of Barcinona, was armed with a bow, lance, sword and dagger, and wore a shirt of mail or scale armor (the cataphract, from which the warriors took their name). This armor was so heavy that even halberds, pikes, and other counter-cavalry polearms had trouble penetrating it. In addition to their suit of armor, cataphracts carried a small, round, ironbound shield of wood that could be strapped to the forearm or slung from the waist. The cataphracts horses were carefully bred over the centuries to be the perfect warhorse, and were heavily armored as well, creating tremendous mass for the initial impact of the charge. Cataphracts used both missile tactics and shock tactics, and became the mainstay of the Lycontine army. This elite cavalry was used throughout the centuries, and even survived past the introduction of gunpowder.
2nd Unique Unit: Lycontine Legionnaire (an older sketch):
Replaces swordsman/medieval infantry, A3,D3,M2 upgrades to A5,D3,M2 +1 hitpoint, builds roads and forts, cost 30/40, requires iron, iron working.
Civilopaedia:
After the Roman conquest of Britannia, the native wolves began the adoption of the Roman tactical system based on small and supple infantry units called maniples. Each maniple numbered 120 men in 12 files and 10 ranks. Maniples drew up for battle in three lines, each line made up of 10 maniples and the whole arranged in a checkerboard pattern. Separating each unit was an interval equivalent to a maniple's front of 18 m (60 feet), so that the maniples of the first line could fall back in defense into the intervals of the second line. Conversely, the second line could merge with the first to form a solid front 10 ranks deep and 360 m (1,200 feet) wide. In the third line, 10 maniples of light infantry were supplemented by smaller units of reserves. The three lines were 75 m (250 feet) apart, and from front to rear one maniple of each line formed a cohort of 420 men. Ten cohorts made up the heavy-infantry strength of a legion.
Two infantry weapons gave the legion its famous flexibility and force; the pilum, a 2-metre (7-foot) javelin used for both throwing and thrusting; and the gladius, a 50-centimetre (20-inch) cut-and-thrust sword with a broad, heavy blade. For protecton each legionary had a cuirass and convex shield. In battle, the first line of maniples attacked on the double, hurling javelins and then diving in with swords before the enemy had time to recover. Then came the maniples of the second line, and only a resolute foe could rally from the two successive shocks.
Wonders:
Roman Baths
Tourist attraction, increases happiness in all cities on conrinent, heal troops in foreign territory, requires construction.
Civilopaedia:
As the Romans advanced west in Britannia, building the Fosse Way as they went, they crossed the River Avon. Near here they found a hot water spring. It brought over one million litres of hot water to the surface every day at a temperature of about 48 degrees centigrade. They built a reservoir to control the water flow, baths and a temple. A town, Aquae Sulis, quickly grew around this complex. Many Romans viewed the springs as sacred and threw valuable items into the springs to please the gods. An altar was also built at Aquae Sulis so that priests could sacrifice animals to the gods. The waters at Aquae Sulis gained a reputation as being able to cure all ills. As a result, many travelled to Aquae Sulis from all over the Roman Empire to take to the waters there.
Hagia Sophia
Tourist attraction, increases happiness in city where built, increase effect of cathedrals, requires monotheism.
Civilopaedia:
The Hagia Sophia, was completed in 537, and still stands to this day in Lycontinople, almost 1500 years later. Justinian's chief architects, Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletos were responsible for its construction. The basic design was to add a Near Eastern dome to the cross-shaped Roman basilica. Given the scale of the building (it is held up by four massive, 100-foot stone columns), it was a monumental undertaking, requiring the efforts of ten thousand workers over five years. The building has since become the archetype for most Orthodox churches.
City list (40 cities):
Lycontinople
Trinovantum
Aquae Sulis
Sudtone
Clausentum
Isca Dumnoniorum
Noviomagus Regnensium
Rutupiae
Durovernum Cantiacorum
Durobrivae
Verulamium
Camulodunum
Calleva Atrebatum
Venta Belgarum
Oxnaford
Isca Silurum
Cyppa's Hamme
Corinium
Glevum
Northwic
Stour-in-Usmere
Derventio
Snotingaham
Lindum
Castra Devana
Escafeld
Eboracum
Isurium
Cataractonium
Olicana
Vinovium
Luguvallium
Barcinona
Liburnum
Athínai
Thessaloníki
Kórinthos
Herakleion
Lupokuoka
Xianggang
Military leaders:
Arctos
Nubilus
Baileyi
Scientific leaders:
Lycaon
Occidentalis
Civilopaedia (change nations and history if needed):
During the early days of civilisation, far to the north in the misty forests of Britain and Northern Europe, while the human civilisations of Mesopotamia and Hellas were developing, a race of highly intelligent biped wolves created a civilisation of the woods. Originally, these wolves were efficient hunters, eating the entire kill, but their lifestyles changed with the first formations of settlements. The Romans, trying to make the wolves inferior, believe that the Trojan Brutus, founding his city Trojanova (Trinovantum) on the Themes, brought civilisation to the wolves (the lack of any supporting evidence denies this). These wolves began domesticating livestock and growing fruits, then forming towns near fertile regions and fresh waters. These towns thrived with the increased food stockpiles in their granaries. The wolves no longer needed to concentrate on survival, and began their search on improving lifestyle.
It is unknown when the first settlements appeared, but historians believed it was around the sixth millennium BC. During this era the first important settlements were on the sites of future important cities, including Trinovantum on the Themes, and Aquae Sulis, located on the natural hot springs near the River Avon. The influence of these towns grew, absorbing nearby packs. These major town-packs begun to rival each other. War ignited between the town-packs, but the alpha male of Trinovantum, Arctos, managed to unite the various town-packs into the first wolf nation. Arctos was the first to give the wolves a codes of law, and the new government, where each town-pack had its say. Two wolves, the alpha male and female, headed this government. The Latin tribe of Italy, known as the Romans, later mimicked this new government and called it the Republic, headed by two consuls.
The first alphanate (as the nation was called) began to spread its influence over the wolf tribes of Europe. At the time of the foundation of the Roman Republic, the alphanate nation spread from Britain, Germany, Gaul, northern Iberia and northern Italy. The alphanate's influence even spread to the human tribes of the Celts, who lived in the regions of Gaul and northern Italy. The nation did not last, as the Romans, copying the arts of wolf and Hellas, began its expansion into wolf lands.
Romes first target was the Celts, who sacked Rome under their leader Brennus, but they were soon conquered. The Romans began the assimilation of wolf lands, pushing their territories back into Britain. Although Britain is an island, this did not stop the Romans, who began the islands conquest in 43 AD.
The end of the wolf nation was the birth of the province of Britannia. The following centuries of Pax Romana saw the wolves becoming an assimilated population of Rome, including the adoption of the Latin language and the formation of the wolf
Legionnaires. This Romanisation would remain with the wolves even after the Fall of Rome.
The migration of the Huns into the eastern empire caused a chain reaction that would bring down the Roman empire, leaving only the eastern half. The Huns caused a movement of Germanic tribes into the empire. This in turn led to the removal of the Roman legions in Britannia. The wolves were left to defend themselves against the onslaught of barbaric invasions. Anglo-Saxon tribes from Germany began their invasion, managing to found many settlements, including Sudtone and Snotingaham, and captured some cities, including Trinovantum, calling it Lurdenbryg. The wolves managed to repel these invasions, but the Romans suffered a worse fate. Visigoths sacked Rome in 410, and the western half fell in 476, when the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was dethroned. The eastern half lived on as the Byzantines.
After the barbaric invasions, new nations appeared across Europe, born from the barbarian tribes. The following centuries were known as the dark ages, a time when the old knowledge was lost. The relative survival from barbarian onslaughts meant that the wolves retained their knowledge. The wolves began their conquest of their own lands. With their wolf Legionnaires, they took back the northern coast of France. The land of France was the centre of the Holy Roman Empire, led by Charlemagne. He signed a treaty with the wolves, which allowed them to keep their lands in northern France, and any new lands they conquer outside the empire, if they helped the emperor fight a new enemy.
The rise of Islam posed a threat to Europe, including the Byzantine empire in the east. By 800, when Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor, the Arabs managed to nearly destroy the Visigoth kingdom in Spain. The wolves, now helping the Christian kingdoms, conquered the city of Barcinona. Barcinona was used as a base for the Christian kingdoms to conquer Spain from Islam, but the city remained in the hands of the wolves. The conquest of Barcinona was the battle that the wolves first used their Cataphracts. The wolves also claimed a position in Italy, with the conquest of Liburnum.
The wolves fought alongside the Christian kingdoms in the crusades. Originally Byzantine, the city of Jerusalem fell to Saracens. The need for the crusades made the wolves believe that the Byzantine empire was soon to fall to Islam. The Byzantines had a large empire, but by the 13th century it was reduced to Greece, Thrace and western Anatolia.
In 1204, the wolves, under
Canidius, sent an army to the struggling empire. With his army of Cataphracts and Legionnaires stationed in Liburnum, they set sail to Constantinople, along with crusaders from the Christian kingdoms. Constantinople was the greatest city in Europe, and the capital of the Byzantine Empire. The effectiveness of the wolf army enables them to take the greatest city in Europe with minimal damage. The Byzantine emperor Alexius V Ducas Murtzuphlus slipped away into exile. The victory earned the wolf nation the name of the Lycontines (Lycos, from the Greek meaning wolf, combined with Byzantines). Constantinople was renaimed Lycontinople, and made capital of the Lycontine nation. In a twisting move, the crusaders were going to sack the city, but after the wolves took the city, they turned on any crusader wanting to take the citys treasures. These crusaders were then sent back to Venice, without their reward. This move damaged the Lycontine reputation with the European kingdoms. These kingdoms began pillaging the Lycontine cities in Europe. The capture of Constantinople wasn't the final death blow to the Byzantines, however. Theodore I Lascaris and a band of refugees fled to Nicaea, where the Byzantine empire continued to live on. In 1208 he assumed the title of emperor.
The next threat to Europe came from the Ottomans, who formed their nation in Anatolia. Centred on the former Byzantine city of Basra, the Ottomans took the Byzantine capital of Nicaea in 1331, ending the aging empire. Their last emperor, Andronicus III Palaeologus, fled to exile. The next target of the Ottomans was the Lycontines. In 1453, under Mehmed II, the Ottomans attempted to take the city of Lycontinople. The Lycontines thwarted their siege of the city, but the alphas signed a treaty with the sultan. This treaty allowed the Ottomans to pass through Lycontine territory. The Ottomans were not to attack any Lycontine possession. The Ottomans expanded through the Balkans, until the first siege of Vienna in 1529.
The Lycontines began to form an overseas empire, opening trade with the eastern nations of China and Japan with the ports of and colonies in the Americas, Africa and the Pacific. The ports of Lupokuoka in Japan and Xianggang in China became famous throughout the nation and Europe. The new wealth that flood into the empire in the 18th century began the industrial revolution. The Europeans were soon to follow, and the new nation of the Americans.
In the modern age, the Lycontines were dragged into the world wars, but suffered less damage than the European nations. Surpassed by new rising superpowers, the Lycontine nation takes a second place in the modern world. The Lycontines would remain unique, being the only wolf nation on Earth.
)
) - kulade
Based on an idea by MaisseArsouye (If you know what it is, MaisseArsouye, shh! don't tell!)
How do you make a link to a single post, like what do you type in?
. The Thirsties, a race of really dry creature things fought against the US government to take control of Nebraska, Kulade's homestate. After sucsesful, Kulade liberated the state, and renamed it Kulade Land, thus Kulade Land was born.
