Pre-SpryNES VI: Tumidi maris imago

The subdivisions section of the stats consists of a list of the polity's various constituent parts, which are generally autonomous from each other in some sense. One of these will be bold, and is the one that the player is playing as part of.

The bold subdivision (and in rare cases other subdivisions) will be divided into 'Factions'. This represents the fact that there are often various different elements with influence over what the polity does, apart from the player. The player has direct control over the bold 'Faction'. In a monarchy, this is generally the king himself; in a republican system of some sort, it will be the clique that currently holds the most influence and is capable of pursuing a consistent policy. In this case, it is the most influential members of the senate.

Each number subdivision or faction is followed by four numbers.

The first represents the political clout of the subdivision or faction within the whole. All these numbers will add up to 10, and will change depending on events in the NES: so for instance, if Rome's senatorial leaders somehow show themselves incompetent in the eyes of the rest of the senate, the rest of the senate may be less willing to be led by them, resulting in a point moving across from the leaders to the majority. On the level of subdivisions, it might happen that the Etruscan city-states decide to form some kind of closer political organisation, in which case their collective political clout might increase at the expense of the rest.

The second number represents, in the case of subdivisions, the subdivision's contribution to the army. So in the example, Rome itself provides approximately 4/10ths of the army's troops, while Campania provides 2/10ths, etc. In the case of factions, the second number is an assessment of the faction's role in providing leadership to the army. So in the example, it will be seen that 60% or so of generals are drawn from the senatorial leaders and those strongly under their influence; none are drawn from the populace; but there is a 40% chance of any given general being someone who is not really under the player's direct control. In monarchies where the king commands the field army, he usually has 10 points here.

The third number is a rather rough-and-ready indication of the economic influence of the subdivision or faction in question.

The number in brackets is that subdivision or faction's opinion of the player's faction. So in the above example it can be seen that the populace is rather keen on the senatorial leadership's current actions, whereas the equites, for whatever reason, are rather less keen. When it comes to subdivisions reaching 2 or 3, this will be a warning that you may need to worry about the possibility of this subdivision rebelling.

After the factions section, there is a summary of how much income and regular expenditure you have each turn. There will then be a figure for how much money you have banked, and a percentage. If you leave money unspent in any given turn, it will be banked, but minus the proportion of it indicated by the percentage. This represents the fact that in many contexts in this world income for projects relies on one-off levies from wealthy people or other entities in your polity, and therefore cannot be carried over to the next turn. If you don't spend this money, the people who might have contributed to your projects will just find other ways of spending it.

Then there is a breakdown of your regular expenditure each turn. In most cases the main cost will be your military forces.

History: The city of Cyrene (along with its seaport Apollonia) is one part of an association of five long-standing Greek cities called the Pentapolis. Cyrene was founded, it is said, by Battus, a man from Thera who became the city's first king in about 630 BC. His dynasty ruled the land for nearly two centuries, although under loose Persian rule from 525, until the last king was killed by the Cyreneans in 440. From then on, Cyrene had a constitution combining the considerable power of the landowners and merchants with democratic elements. This lasted until a war arose in Cyrene in 323, between the oligarchic party and elements of the populace led by a man called Thimbron; Thimbron largely gained control of Cyrene and Cyrenaica, and the oligarchs fled to Ptolemy in Egypt, who took advantage of the situation to send an army under Ophellas to besiege Cyrene. Ophellas defeated Thimbron and had him crucified, and remained the governor of Cyrene until 308, when he allied himself with Agathocles of Syracuse and sent an army all the way to attack Carthage. Agathocles, however, made a treacherous attack on the Cyrenean army and Ophellas was killed and the army joined up with Agathocles. Two years later, Cyrene rebelled against Ptolemy, who was doing badly in the war with Antigonus, but control was in due course reasserted when Ptolemy sent his stepson Magas to recover the territory in 300 - which was considered, along with southern Syria and Cyprus, a vital forward bulwark preventing any invasion of Egypt. Magas has been in control of Cyrene ever since.

Administration and politics: Cyrene used to be an altogether independent republic of a primarily oligarchic sort, and connections between landowning and merchant families are close, making the Cyrenaic aristocracy a very cohesive unit. Magas has succeeded in coming to arrangements with them whereby they largely support his rule, which is thus little dependent on Egypt. He has a small guard of Macedonian veterans and a small staff, but there is no real safeguard of Ptolemaic control except for his own person. Cyrene did not at any point pay regular tribute to Ptolemy [I ] Soter, but made contributions when necessary, such as during wars; no such contribution has so far been requested or received by the new king Ptolemy [II], but it is generally understood that Magas (who indicated nothing to the contrary) remains loyal to his half-brother as towards his stepfather.

Economy: Cyrenaica is the main mid-point of the trade route between Greece and Egypt, which contributes to its very considerable prosperity. The export of grain is of great importance, although not quite on the scale of Carthage. Herding is also important, as is the export of the valuable plant silphium (which has long appeared as the city's symbol on Cyrene's coinage).

Religion and culture: Greek polytheism, strongly associated with the civic identity of the five cities of the Pentapolis. Apollo, whose temple in Cyrene is by far the most prominent and whose annual festival dominates the city's religious life, is honoured above all throughout the Pentapolis, as founder (his oracle at Delphi told Battus where to settle) and as patron. There are active traditions of theatre and literature (often also connected with Apollo).

History: Two Thracian tribes, the Bithynians and Thynians, settled in the area east of the Bosporus several centuries ago - no-one knows exactly how long, but they have certainly been there for a while. They lived for a long time as a subject people of the Persian kings, but during that period developed a line of hereditary rulers. When Alexander the Great invaded, he missed Bithynia out of his invasion. When the governor he had appointed over the old satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia (which covered Bithynia) tried to subdue the area, he was defeated by the Bithynian ruler, Bas. Bas's son Zipoetes fought a series of wars, taking advantage of the other commitments of the rulers of western Asia Minor. He succeeded in asserting control over much of Paphlagonia to the east. He also fought a war against the Greek cities of Chalcedon and Astacus in 315, in which he was forced out of the field by the arrival of reinforcements sent by Antigonus, but he succeeded in destroying Astacus in the wake of Antigonus's defeat and death at Ipsus in 301, extending Bithynia's territory to the south. He then declared himself basileus, built himself a royal capital, Zipoetium (albeit nothing particularly splendid), and defended his position successfully for the next two decades against multiple attempts by Lysimachus to unseat him. His death in 279 resulted in a civil war between his sons, in which his elder son only prevailed in a difficult war that involved the destruction of the capital and the recruitment of Celtic mercenaries, a step that snowballed into three whole Celtic tribes, 20,000 men in all, deciding to migrate into Asia Minor. It falls on Nicomedes's head to build on his father's legacy and to rebuild a kingdom ravaged by the wars with Lysimachus and the recent civil war (not to mention needing to do something about the Celts).

Administration and politics: Bithynia is a monarchy, and Zipoetes claimed to be a basileus only ten years after the much more powerful generals who were successors to Alexander the Great declared themselves to be basileis. This testifies to his ambition and claims to be more than a tribal chieftain, and his claims were substantiated by his military victories and conquests. His son will probably have to establish this anew if he is to retain any credibility with other monarchs, or moreover with the Thracian Bithynians whose chieftain he is and who have always been dominant in the kingdom, although institutions like the tribal council have become rather more fossilised, and the monarchy far more permanent, than in Thrace.

Economy: The heartland of Bithynia is hilly country where herding predominates. The hinterland of the destroyed Greek city of Astacus is good agricultural land, but has suffered considerably from the ravages of war (as has Paphlagonia) and is in need of repopulation.

Culture and religion: Thracian polytheism influenced by Greek religion.

History: The current king descends from Datames, a Carian who was made satrap of Cappadocia in about 385. His rebellion, ultimately unsucessful, against the Persian king apparently nevertheless won his dynasty enough prestige to keep them in power in Cappadocia ever since as tributaries of the Persians, and they retained this position under Alexander the Great. After Alexander's death, however, Cappadocia was assigned to the Macedonian general Eumenes, and the Cappadocian satrap Ariarathes [I ] was captured and crucified in 322. His son Ariarathes [II], however, was brought back by the Armenians when Eumenes was defeated in 316 by Antigonus, although he only managed to fully regain control following Antigonus's death in 301, when he was made once again the satrap by Seleucus - although substantial parts of the old Persian satrapy were now in the hands of other Seleucid dependents. The deaths of Seleucus and Ariarathes [II] left the position of Ariarathes's son Ariamnes somewhat ambiguous, and so far no negative consequences have arisen from Ariamnes's failure to answer Seleucid requests for tribute; payments had in any case been rather sporadic during Seleucus's lifetime.

Administration and politics: Cappadocia is governed monarchically by its longstanding ruling dynasty of satraps. There is a powerful aristocracy based in hillforts across the country, on which most of the peasants are dependent.

Economy: Herding and agriculture.

Culture and religion: Local polytheism. The moon goddess Ma at Comana, which is an independent temple state, is of considerable importance.

History: This kingdom dates no further back than its current ruler, who was the last in a line of Persian rulers over the city of Cius, on the Hellespont. He was expelled from Cius as a boy by Antigonus, and fled to a fortress in Paphlagonia, where he managed to carve out a territory for himself there and to the east, to establish himself as the most important local political authority, and to expand his territories gradually into a large kingdom, founding a capital at Amasia some way to the east. On the deaths of Lysimachus and Seleucus in 281, he proclaimed himself king and made an alliance with the important city of Heraclea on the Black Sea.

Administration and politics: The kingdom is very much the personal creation of Mithridates and relies on his network of dependent local chieftains and princes. Its continuation beyond his death is not absolutely assured, although the dynasty is prestigious and goes back more than a century - perhaps even to Darius the Great.

Economy: Herding and some agriculture; the land is mostly hilly or mountainous.

Culture and religion: The population is a mixture of Paphlagonians, Phrygians, Cappadocians, Armenians and some smaller peoples, until very recently rather politically and culturally fragmented, and their religious practices are thus varied.

History: The current dynasty has ruled the tribe of the Molossians for time immemorial, claiming descent from Achilles. In 370, on the death of king Alcetas, his sons Neoptolemus and Arymbas divided the Molossian kingdom, and on Neoptolemus's death in 357 Arymbas took control of the whole kingdom. He made an alliance with Philip II of Macedon, and as part of it Philip married Neoptolemus's daughter Olympias (and their son was to be Alexander the Great).

In 343, Philip ejected Arymbas and installed Neoptolemus's son Alexander on the throne of Molossis. During the 330s, Alexander unified the three Epirote tribes under Molossian domination, and crossed into Italy where he fought with the Greek cities against the Italian tribes, but was eventually killed in battle in 331. The three original tribes, however, still continue, although the Molossians remain much the most important. On Alexander's death in Italy in 331, however, his cousin Aeacides (Arymbas's son) took the throne (at the expense of Alexander's son Neoptolemus, and also at the expense of his own elder brother, Alcetas). The 320s and 310s saw Epirus end up on the other side of things from Macedon (now ruled by Cassander); Aeacides was killed in battle in 313 and replaced by his elder brother Alcetas (at the expense, again, of Alcetas's son Neoptolemus, and of Aeacides's son Pyrrhus), who had to make a humiliating peace with Macedon. He and his two sons were killed in 306 by a popular revolt, and the Illyrians invaded and put his nephew Pyrrhus on the throne - no doubt the kingdom's nadir.

A few years later, Neoptolemus, Alexander's son, seized the throne. Pyrrhus ended up at the court of Ptolemy Soter in Egypt, married his stepdaughter, and somehow persuaded him to give him money to reinstate himself. He returned, but came to terms with Neoptolemus, leading to a short period of uneasy joint rule before Pyrrhus had Neoptolemus killed in 297, leaving Pyrrhus himself as the sole remaining member of the royal house.

Cassander and his eldest son both happened to die shortly afterwards within a few days of each other, resulting in a civil war in Macedon between Cassander's other two sons. Pyrrhus intervened on the side of one claimant, and in return for his support got control, in one go, of all the peripheral territory Alexander had ever had and more, including the city of Ambracia (which he made his capital, inasmuch as he ever had one). He then fought a prolonged and intermittent three-way war for control of Macedon. He also married the daughter of Agathocles, the ruler of Syracuse who had campaigned successfully against the Carthaginians and had asserted his rule as king (basileus) of the eastern half of the island. Agathocles gave Pyrrhus the island of Corcyra (Corfu) as a dowry.

Pyrrhus, although he had proved his exceptional abilities as a general in the war over Macedon, was eventually driven out of Macedon in 285 by Lysimachus. Pyrrhus, then, had built up Epirus from a very meagre position, albeit partly through luck, and was in an excellent position to cross to Italy in pursuit of glory and empire when the city of Taras (Tarentum) asked him to (see update 0).

Administration and politics: The player will readily appreciate, then, that there is nothing much holding Pyrrhus's alliance together except his own person, and should therefore be happy to move elsewhere should he cop it. It consists of the three tribes, the cities of Ambracia, Corcyra and a few other places, some areas that were once peripheral bits of Macedon; and then it consists of the Greek cities in Italy and Sicily that he has attached to himself in the last five years.

Economy: Epirus is poor for agriculture, and trade in the Ionian sea is not what it once was either. Pyrrhus has never fielded a particularly large army in Greece. His wars in Greece have mostly been paid for by plundering Macedon and Thessaly, and he did not suffer particularly great losses, but the effect on the economy and population of Epirus, especially Molossis, has still been somewhat deleterious - and this has worsened since he has crossed to Italy, since a not insubstantial proportion of Epirus's men have been serving in Italy for the last decade.

Most of the manpower and all of the supplies for his campaigns in the West, though, have had to be provided by the local Greeks and Italians. However, despite inviting him in, their position is difficult: their economies and populations have been shrinking since the fifth century, mostly through near-continuous wars with each other. The Greeks of Italy are therefore somewhat impoverished and demoralised, especially following a further half-decade of unsuccessful war in an uncomfortable partnership with their old Italian enemies - especially since both Thurii and Locri have been recently sacked. The Greeks of Sicily are rather better off and more optimistic about Pyrrhus's arrival, but are still somewhat exhausted by recent political chaos and by wars in which large swathes of the island were ravaged.

Religion and culture: Greek polytheism, except among the Italian tribes where Italian gods are worshipped. The most important religious site in Epirus is undoubtedly the Oracle of Zeus at Dodona.

The Western Greeks were among the chief originators of philosophy and oratory, and Greek culture has long thrived here. Now little remains of Western Greek cultural dynamism, and the cities, though still large, have shrunk in power and population. Huge Classical temples bear witness to their former greatness.