The pre-AFSNES I.
- Thread starter das
- Start date
das
Regeneration In Process
Why yes, as a matter of fact it is.
Btw, thanks for the native name. Have any ideas for the name of the greater region itself? I'd have used Mexico, but that too is a misleading anachronism.
North King
blech
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2004
- Messages
- 18,165
Oruc
Reactionary
I doubt I can be Saxons this early, I guess i'll take something near China.
Yes, I am joining as Rome, but not for awhile, so I suppose I can create an Etruscan state, i.e. Rasna or Rasenna, and then replace it with Rome as the successor next update...right, das? Start them in Etruria, modern Tuscany, please. More details to come.
das
Regeneration In Process
Sure, you can do that.
Cool.
The early history of the Tusci, or Etruscans - Rasna in their own language - is shrouded in myth. Later writers would claim that they were descended from wolves, migrated from the great Indo-European Steppe, emigrated from Lydia, or even were placed there mysteriously by great gods as white as the driven snow. Whatever the cause, these people were flourishing in north-central Italy with their own unique religion and government around 3000 BC and later. They had some contact with Hellenic civilization before their move into Italy, as could be seen through their repeated depictions of Greek heroes and adoption of some of the Hellenic gods, but the main influences on the Etruscans were from the Middle East, whence they acquired their tradition of haruspicy and some of their physical characteristics.
The Aisar
Etruscan religion soon evolved from their original animistic beliefs to a more concrete and developed polytheistic pantheon. The Etruscans' word for 'god' was "ais". The average ais lived in a sacred spot, a fanu, and upon many of these a temple, favi, was built. Flerchva, or offerings, would be made at these spots in order to seek the favor of the aisar. Some of these aisar were most definitely Greek in origin, viz. Aritimi (Artemis), Pacha (Dionysos), and Menrva (Athene). This last formed a heavenly triumvirate with Tinia, god of the sky and of time, and Uni, wife of Tinia and patroness of Perusia. Hercle, another Hellenic-inspired deity (deriving from Herakles), was the son of Tinia and Uni. Fertility deities were important to the Etruscans, who worshiped not only Fufluns (mainly in the vicinity of Populonia) but also Maris and Cel, the latter of which was the typical Earth Goddess. Catha, the Sun, and Tivr, the Moon, flew overhead. Other deities include Selvans, god of boundaries and woodlands; Nethuns, ruler of springs and fountains and other water sources; and Laran, god of War and husband of Turan, goddess of love and vitality. The Underworld was ruled by Aita, a Hades analogue and also the name of the Underworld itself, and his wife, Phersipnei. The Etruscan view of the afterlife and death was particularly large-looming in their lives; like those who lived along the Nile, they believed that their experiences after death were based off of the richness of their tombs. Thus, typical Rasna would commission fine, realistic statuary depicting the deceased in his or her prime, and would build tombs far more luxurious than their houses. Most Etruscans would never dare to violate a tomb and so doom a person in his or her afterlife, although there were exceptions. In that case, the keepers of the sacred things, or cechase, would look after tombs in addition to their priestly duties. Generally Rasna were a pretty pious lot, though - what many would call superstitious - consulting the gods for many small details. At each public event, a netsvis (lit. an augur) or the female version, the nethsra, who would, in typical haruspical tradition, read the bumps on the liver of a sacrificed sheep. In order to tell what meant what, a special bronze liver was created that depicted the proper interpretations. In addition to normal work, each man belonged to a sacred society, or alumnathe.
Economy, Society, and Seeing Dead People
The tomb cities one could find in Etruscan civilization were far too expensive for subsistence farmers, and indeed commerce did exist between the Etruscans and other Mediterranean civilizations, viz. North Africa, Tartessos, Hellas, Phoenicia, Egypt, and even the inhabitants of Palestine. (OOC: Need more detail, Isry: are you the Jews or what?) The trade that enriched the Rasna fell into the hands of a privileged few; these families, or lautn, soon became an established aristocracy. Even though the emphasis of the lautn was on a monogamous pair relationship, for some reason many other Mediterranean peoples believed the Etruscans to be promiscuous and to have low morals; the Greeks of Megale Hellas especially portrayed Etruscan women as rather whorish. Naturally, this has no basis in reality, and the Greeks were probably just jealous of Etruscan high moral standards. [1] The family also had a strong influence on the name; surnames were introduced soon after the establishment of the aristocracy, and were added to the praenomen and patronymic that were already in existence. Naming conventions, though, reflected the basic tenet that Etruscan society was patrilineal. This is the only known double standard applied to the usual Etruscan egalitarianism that was shown in their legal system, which normally allowed equal protection for all under the law (naturally, the aristocracy had some advantages inherent in the amount of money they controlled but little else; there were no intrinsic benefits to being a member of the aristocracy without also having the money that such a position entailed).
Governmentally, the Etruscans were far ahead of the rest of the Italic peoples in establishing a state society. This had some vestiges of the tribal system, which were reflected in city laws and the like, but the disparate Etruscan city-states (methlum) were grouped into a federation with the central government in command of the entire mech, or people. Individual governments on the methlum level had many magistrates, quite a few of which carried out favi religious functions; indeed, most of the Etruscans subscribed to a kind of theocracy, with the religious aspect of life always affecting the government's policies, primarily in the direct influence of the cechase but also in the constant consideration of haruspicy when making a decision. Each methlum had 11 partners in a league, the word for which was also mech, and these leagues met at the odd nearby fanu to make league-wide decisions of a military and political nature. Each methlum sent representatives which elected a league-wide ruler, or lucumo, for the duration of one year.
and...orders
I suppose we're supposed to post orders in-thread, so I guess the Rasna should just inhabit and control the areas that they normally would, and develop along the lines they did in OTL, most of which have been shown above. Territorial expansion should also be confined to OTL.
[1] = That, and our wine-soaked orgies beat the tar out of theirs...
The early history of the Tusci, or Etruscans - Rasna in their own language - is shrouded in myth. Later writers would claim that they were descended from wolves, migrated from the great Indo-European Steppe, emigrated from Lydia, or even were placed there mysteriously by great gods as white as the driven snow. Whatever the cause, these people were flourishing in north-central Italy with their own unique religion and government around 3000 BC and later. They had some contact with Hellenic civilization before their move into Italy, as could be seen through their repeated depictions of Greek heroes and adoption of some of the Hellenic gods, but the main influences on the Etruscans were from the Middle East, whence they acquired their tradition of haruspicy and some of their physical characteristics.
The Aisar
Etruscan religion soon evolved from their original animistic beliefs to a more concrete and developed polytheistic pantheon. The Etruscans' word for 'god' was "ais". The average ais lived in a sacred spot, a fanu, and upon many of these a temple, favi, was built. Flerchva, or offerings, would be made at these spots in order to seek the favor of the aisar. Some of these aisar were most definitely Greek in origin, viz. Aritimi (Artemis), Pacha (Dionysos), and Menrva (Athene). This last formed a heavenly triumvirate with Tinia, god of the sky and of time, and Uni, wife of Tinia and patroness of Perusia. Hercle, another Hellenic-inspired deity (deriving from Herakles), was the son of Tinia and Uni. Fertility deities were important to the Etruscans, who worshiped not only Fufluns (mainly in the vicinity of Populonia) but also Maris and Cel, the latter of which was the typical Earth Goddess. Catha, the Sun, and Tivr, the Moon, flew overhead. Other deities include Selvans, god of boundaries and woodlands; Nethuns, ruler of springs and fountains and other water sources; and Laran, god of War and husband of Turan, goddess of love and vitality. The Underworld was ruled by Aita, a Hades analogue and also the name of the Underworld itself, and his wife, Phersipnei. The Etruscan view of the afterlife and death was particularly large-looming in their lives; like those who lived along the Nile, they believed that their experiences after death were based off of the richness of their tombs. Thus, typical Rasna would commission fine, realistic statuary depicting the deceased in his or her prime, and would build tombs far more luxurious than their houses. Most Etruscans would never dare to violate a tomb and so doom a person in his or her afterlife, although there were exceptions. In that case, the keepers of the sacred things, or cechase, would look after tombs in addition to their priestly duties. Generally Rasna were a pretty pious lot, though - what many would call superstitious - consulting the gods for many small details. At each public event, a netsvis (lit. an augur) or the female version, the nethsra, who would, in typical haruspical tradition, read the bumps on the liver of a sacrificed sheep. In order to tell what meant what, a special bronze liver was created that depicted the proper interpretations. In addition to normal work, each man belonged to a sacred society, or alumnathe.
Economy, Society, and Seeing Dead People
The tomb cities one could find in Etruscan civilization were far too expensive for subsistence farmers, and indeed commerce did exist between the Etruscans and other Mediterranean civilizations, viz. North Africa, Tartessos, Hellas, Phoenicia, Egypt, and even the inhabitants of Palestine. (OOC: Need more detail, Isry: are you the Jews or what?) The trade that enriched the Rasna fell into the hands of a privileged few; these families, or lautn, soon became an established aristocracy. Even though the emphasis of the lautn was on a monogamous pair relationship, for some reason many other Mediterranean peoples believed the Etruscans to be promiscuous and to have low morals; the Greeks of Megale Hellas especially portrayed Etruscan women as rather whorish. Naturally, this has no basis in reality, and the Greeks were probably just jealous of Etruscan high moral standards. [1] The family also had a strong influence on the name; surnames were introduced soon after the establishment of the aristocracy, and were added to the praenomen and patronymic that were already in existence. Naming conventions, though, reflected the basic tenet that Etruscan society was patrilineal. This is the only known double standard applied to the usual Etruscan egalitarianism that was shown in their legal system, which normally allowed equal protection for all under the law (naturally, the aristocracy had some advantages inherent in the amount of money they controlled but little else; there were no intrinsic benefits to being a member of the aristocracy without also having the money that such a position entailed).
Governmentally, the Etruscans were far ahead of the rest of the Italic peoples in establishing a state society. This had some vestiges of the tribal system, which were reflected in city laws and the like, but the disparate Etruscan city-states (methlum) were grouped into a federation with the central government in command of the entire mech, or people. Individual governments on the methlum level had many magistrates, quite a few of which carried out favi religious functions; indeed, most of the Etruscans subscribed to a kind of theocracy, with the religious aspect of life always affecting the government's policies, primarily in the direct influence of the cechase but also in the constant consideration of haruspicy when making a decision. Each methlum had 11 partners in a league, the word for which was also mech, and these leagues met at the odd nearby fanu to make league-wide decisions of a military and political nature. Each methlum sent representatives which elected a league-wide ruler, or lucumo, for the duration of one year.
and...orders
I suppose we're supposed to post orders in-thread, so I guess the Rasna should just inhabit and control the areas that they normally would, and develop along the lines they did in OTL, most of which have been shown above. Territorial expansion should also be confined to OTL.
[1] = That, and our wine-soaked orgies beat the tar out of theirs...
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Looks good Dachs!
Well, if Eturia is being settled this early, I suppose I can go with my idea as well. I'll join as the Parthenian Republic, capital at Taras. Details to come.
Well, if Eturia is being settled this early, I suppose I can go with my idea as well. I'll join as the Parthenian Republic, capital at Taras. Details to come.
LittleBoots
The Bloody Banner
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2006
- Messages
- 1,979
[1] = That, and our wine-soaked orgies beat the tar out of theirs...
Absolutely Brilliant, Dachs, although I tempted to take up Mycenae for the Glory of Hellas to disprove this hateful slander!
EDIT: I guess I can always start over in England if my bit of Greece fails. Therefore, I suppose I'll start as the Ionians, or maybe the Doric barbarian invasion
p). I'll get back to you shortly with that one, das.
Insane_Panda
Deity
Story today!
Insane_Panda
Deity
Also, great story dachs!
das
Regeneration In Process
Not necessary, but permissible in the pre-NES.
Sure, why not?
EDIT: Thlayli, that's technically allowed, but do note that the classical Sparta as we know it probably does not yet exist as such, so you'll have to come up with a different backstory for Parthenia if you want to play it.
Except for that minor bit where the Samnites had absolutely no chance whatsoever.
Bunch of hill tribesmen, man!Sounds like a plan. Maybe we'll have another Battle of the Allia River, or perhaps a another series of hastily altered speeches...Sure, why not?
Prologue.
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
"Stop reading, you feckless slime. You've got work to do." Gruargh looked up from his book and beheld the mildly annoyed (but at the same time grinning) face of Draar.
"What kind of work?" He attempted to arrange his face into an expression of quizzical puzzlement. "Pretty much everyone has been installed already. Besides, das is going to be doing most of that work himself, right? Why should we - "
"What was the last civilization you went out and settled?"
"Ummm...the Zapotecs? I just started reading Marquez - "
Again, Draar's laconic grunt cut him short. "Time to go let the Etruscans into the universe. That means getting the stupid tribe moving in the first place."
"Can't you do it with someone else? I mean, it's not as though there's a manpower shortage, and I've only read the first sentence!"
"That's the best part of the bloody book. Come on, off you go."
The polar bears' usual Andorran base site had already been occupied by a veritable tent city of NESers awaiting introduction into the new universe; more were being shuttled down every day from the warp point in geosynchronous orbit. Naturally, most of these were prohibited from entering the underground base itself, but every so often some lunatic would try it, and upon capture would be summarily shot out of a hyperspace gun in the general direction of the small penguin encampment on Ceres. It was during such an unfortunate ceremony that Draar and Gruargh exited the lift tube and began to walk towards the tent city, with the latter talking rather animatedly and the former not saying much of anything in response. That was, after all, how most of their conversations went.
"Is Ursus here yet?"
"That's proprietary information."
Gruargh tried again. "What about that German, von Dunkelheit? He's not supposed to be even in the NESverse anymore at all, is he?"
"Can't say."
"Can't, or won't?"
"Shut up."
A different tack: "Well, who all is here? Any luminaries in particular?"
"Well, Napoleon is taking over Tartessos, instead of the pirate - though Xen has been spotted in the NESverse rather recently. Bit of a shame. Anyway, the Central Asians have already been taken over by the Texan. Instead of Olmecia, we have the kilt-wearing obsidian spearman in Nubia...maybe they finally will overrun Egypt, and stay that way, though I doubt it. Instead of him, the otters have set up a home base in Zapotecia and everyone knows who's in charge there. We've got a Jew in Judaea again, though I think that you helped settle them there. You know the deal. For some reason, there's a Sardinian civilization...don't think that one will last. It's being run by LightFang, though, so there's some potential. The crazy Roman is at it again, and he's in charge of the Etruscans we're going to meet. The usual suspects are in charge of Chinese civs, and our good friend silver has got Maghda on a tight leash. Other than that, we have an abnormally - or rather, normally for this bunch - crowded Hellas, and finally someone who wants to fool around in south Italy at Taranto, in immediate proximity to Uncle Joe in Sicily."
"That's a lot of people."
"Who do you think is inhabiting these tents, genius? Pick up the pace already - you're the one that wanted to be reading now." Draar began to move faster, despite the large scar from the gunshot wound, inflicted more than one year ago, and the crushed right paw he had, a souvenir of the Tau Ceti incident back in September. Gruargh struggled to keep up, which stopped the questions for a minute, until they passed the helicopter pads and reached the "concentration camp". Grabbing a roster, Draar ambled off towards the miniature legionary camp, where could be seen an impatient-looking Roman with his hand anxiously gripping his gladius. As the two polar bears began to glean the proper information from the testy NESer, they would never have suspected who, at that very moment, was watching on a familiar - or not-so-familiar - gothish ship in near-Earth orbit...
"This world is boring." He was clad in a Prussian uniform, replete with glimmering medals, greatest of which was his prized Iron Cross. He had been the Chairman and he had been a Chancellor, but he always wore that same outfit, whether in Cracow or Berlin. And always - always! - for the same great Cause. As he turned away from the screen, an audible sigh was heard from the shadows around the rest of the observation lounge.
"Well, I can't just slam Germany down in the middle of barbarian Northern Europe and let you overrun the entire world. There has to be some sort of timeline going up to it first. Don't worry, you'll get your chance..."
"Hmm." There was a brief silence while the German thought. Then, an evil smile. "But, of course, there will be more of a Germany than before. Last time, it was rather lacking...too many Poles. It took nearly ten years to turn that monstrosity into a real Deutschland."
"It depends. It would be hard to keep overt movements out of the notice of someone else...say, for instance, those silly penguin stooges...so if the Jastorf civilizations never appear, then it will look bad for me to still have a Germany." The German's face turned to a mask of displeasure. "You once ruled Sparta, after all, for a great Golden Age. Perhaps again?..."
"Nein. Griechenland is far too crowded. It would be too much like last time. Last time, I had to rely on that Roman fool, and the Communists, to assert my dominance, and even then I left soon after. If I do decide to take this pitiful little universe over, it will not be in the Peloponnese."
"Fine. Whatever you say...just means, I guess, that this one will survive for much longer than the others."
The German turned to leave. "I don't think so, mein Herr. You got quite a lot of play out of the universes I did 'destroy'. And when I left, they always seemed to get more boring...after the fall of New Prussia...the end of Großdeutschland...the fall of Sparta - "
"Perhaps not that last."
"Oh, don't be so sure. After 600 BC, that universe was getting positively silly." He spat out the last word with disdain. "Still, even then, the onus of destruction is still on me. Whether by nuclear fire or by simply leaving. You, my friend, will Create, and I shall Destroy." With those parting words, he strode out the door, leaving the other to brood, to prepare, and to orchestrate the organized kaos that was about to ensue but a few thousand kilometers away...
Insane_Panda
Deity
Hahaha! Wonderful story, dachs. I particularly enjoyed the Marquez reference.
das
Regeneration In Process
This kind of stories brings flavour not as much to the NES itself as to the entire community. There is no overestimating inside humour
das
Regeneration In Process
The title of "anti-Communist" doesn't quite fit after you play a communist Italy. So yes, that leaves you as just the Texan.
So yes, that leaves you as just the Texan.Similar threads
