I agree that barbarians represent a lot of different things, including Medieval brigands and Renaissance pirates and modern terrorists--but included in that group are also the more primitive nomadic peoples who have been a thorn in the side of every civilization from Sumer onward. It's not Rome-centered: the Kassites plagued Sumer, the Libyans plagued Egypt, the Xiongnu/Yuezhi/Mongols plagued China, the Alans plagued Eastern Europe, the Turks and Parthians plagued Persia. Sometimes these nomads eventually gave up their nomadic ways after conquering a few cities and become civilizations in their own right--see the Mongols, Mughals, Parthians, Ottomans, etc.; others remained "barbarians" until their confederations collapsed, a new wave of "barbarians" defeated and/or absorbed them, or some civilization recognized their usefulness and paid them to harass someone else (see: the Seljuks).Barbarians are generic to me. They are always pale skinned, with a stereotypical "barbarian" costume. At least one guy has a mohawk.
Civ Rev had different barbarian leaders, and one of them looked Aboriginal, with the name Norte Chico. And you have the option to say, "Step aside, smelly one", as if they lacked decent hygiene.
The idea of barbarians seems Romanocentric to me, for lack of a better word. They represent brigands, raiders, pirates, highwaymen, even civil war rebels.
