Imperator Germanorum: The Legacy of Arminius
- Thread starter Sarthak
- Start date
Weren’t there still a continental Gallic kingdom in Switzerland ? I hope it’s them , the Thracian and something like either Palmyra or the kingdom of emesa even possibly as a duo
Edith : also how a Rome screw would affect Romanisation and hellenisation of people in the empire ? I guess it depend on how thing happen and when but would be beautiful to see a somewhat surviving Punic identity even if heavily modified surviving same for other region
Last edited:
Wheeled plough with a iron blade and pull by several oxen is what we normal talk about when we say heavy plough.
the punics do have an interesting future ahead of them
something like a heavy plough is present in teutoburg.
Were there any accounts of the Punic language and culture surviving during the Imperial period? It might be too late to establish a post-Roman Punic state if the culture was pretty much wiped out after the Third Punic War.
I can see a new Mauretania rising if Rome is severely weakened, but not a Carthage.
I can see a new Mauretania rising if Rome is severely weakened, but not a Carthage.
the punics survived as an ethnic group until Septimius Severus, that much is attested to. However after that it is harder to ascertain when they died out as an ethnic group.
Berbers LARPing as Punics might be interesting for TTL's North Africa.
its possible that they could conquer carthage, but they won't be a ripoff of Carthaginians if they do that. They were far too independent and protective of their culture for that to happen
Didn’t they survived as a linguistic group to at least until Saint Augustine ? Also heard that Arabic conqueror reported that some people had a language similar to their (Semitic) in the new conquered group in the Maghreb
its a blurry thing after septimius. There are differing reports on the issue after him
A glimpse into how everyday life in this new Germania is changing as a result of the reforms would be nice; either in the documentary style as right now or a vignette from the point of view of an average person of the time.
Especially with writing now becoming a thing, a lot of finnicky cultural aspects will probably end up formalized - the effects of that on the whole structure of the Germanic religion would be intriguing, although it'll probably take some time from the current point of the timeline for major changes to happen there.
The Kingdom of the Cottian Alps had already been annexed by this time period but there isn't anything far-fetched about restoring its autonomy. It happened to Judea at least.
Chapter 7: Culture of the Early Kingdom of the Teutoburg
Chapter 7: Culture of the Early Kingdom of the Teutoburg
***
“It is of our opinion that the people of Teutoburg will never die, at least in spirit and legacy.” – Vespasian.
***
Agriculture of the Kingdom of Teutoburg
From Early Germanic Agriculture and Urbanization
“Agriculture in Germania was a necessity of life if the people hoped to live a healthy and plentiful life. However, the nomadic and migratory manner in which the early Germanic peoples lived did not necessitate a proper and efficient manner of tilling the land, in comparison to their ancient Roman and Greek counterparts. Therefore, we can trace properly settled agriculture in Germania back to the Rex Cheruscorum, Thumelicus the son of Arminius. Like the Romans, Thumelicus was a great borrower. Although the Germanics produced little that was really new, the improvements they made were extremely consequential to the development of agricultural tools.
Rex Cheruscorum, Thumelicus
Looking at the Romans, the Cherusci seem to have adopted grafting, budding, legume rotation, fertility appraisals and cold storage of fruit. Mentions of prototypes greenhouses can be found in Runos inscriptions throughout the area as well. The most important crop was without a doubt wheat. However what allowed the Germanics to have a proper life of agriculture would be the Ard, or the lightplough without a mouldboard. It is a symmetrical line of draft fitted with a symmetrical share that traces a shallow furrow that does not invert the soil. In its simplest form, this plough represents and resembles a hoe, pierced with a nearly vertical wooden spiked head which is dragged through the soil by draft animals or rarely by people.
Evidence has appeared through archaeological remains that the Ard plough was used as far early as 8000 years ago in the Far East. Iron versions of the Ard appear in Egypt and Assyria during the years between 100 AVC to 400 AVC as well. In Europe, the Ard seems to have arrived some 3000 years ago, with the earliest drawing of the Ard being found in many caves in Suiariki. [1]
an early inscription found in Fulka showing two ox's plough the field using an Ard plough and led by a farmer.
The expansion of this tool seems to have passed from Rome to the Cherusci under the leadership of King Thumelicus, who adopted the tools and expanded its practice in the populace. Aided by draft animals such as the ox and farm horses, the plough was a gamechanger in Germanic agriculture during that time, as it forced the normally nomadic peoples of the area to settle down and take part in settled agriculture and horticulture, growing more yields than before. The expansion of agriculture also had a direct impact on the urbanization of the area near the Rhenus.
Urbanization among the Cherusci and Chaucii occurred due to the organic planning and action of Thumelicus and Akhtumer, with aid from agricultural upliftments in Germania. It provided the agricultural peoples of Germania an economically beneficial area to gather around to trade and sell their goods. It is no surprise or coincidence that the Old City of Fulka is surrounded by cultivated clay and mud, which indicates that the city was surrounded by farmlands during the time of Thumelicus and Agilmar I.
A drawing of Fulko, the first Germanic historian.
Perhaps the greatest ancient historian regarding Germanic crops during this time will be the first Germanic historian, Fulko. Fulko was apparently a courtier of Agilmar I who wrote the ‘Book of Agilmar’ which is the best contemporary source of the time. In it he writes:
ᚷᚱᚨᛁᛜᛟᚠᛏᚺᛖᚦᚨᛚᛁᛒᛖᚱᚹᚨᛊᛈᚱᛟᛞᚢᚦᛖᛞᛁᚾᛏᚺᛖᛚᚨᚾᛞᛊᛟᚠᛏᚺᛖᚺᛁᚷᚺᚲᛁᚾᚷᚨᛚᛟᚾᚷᚹᛁᛏᚺᛚᛖᚷᚢᛗᛖᚨᚾᛞᛏᚢᚱᚾᛁᛈᛊ
Or in our modern day terms, The crops of the highest caliber were made for the High King, such as Wheat, Legumes and Turnips.
From this we can understand that it is highly likely that Wheat, Legumes and Turnips were the mainstay staple crops of the early Teutoburg Kingdom. From archeological remains that have been found by modern archeologists, it seems that Wheat was generally grown anywhere possible, whilst Legumes were grown near the Rhenus River and Elbe River basins, whilst Turnip was brought in from Gaul, and introduced to the population through crop rotation methods.”
***
Language of the Kingdom of Teutoburg
From The Languages of the Germanic Race
“The Kingdom of Teutoburg spoke what we today call Western Old Germanic. There have been attestations to the fact that there were a few North Germanic and High Germanic Speakers living in the realm as well, however the vast majority of the population spoke Western Old Germanic. It is considered today to be a proto language of the Western Germanic language.
A defining feature of this language is the completion of the process of Arminian Law [2]. It is a set of sound laws describing Proto Indo-European stop consonants as they developed in Old Germanic around 3,000 years ago. It establishes a set of regular correspondences between early Germanic stops, fricatives, and the stop consonants of certain other centum Indo-European languages, with Latin and Greek used most of the time for illustration and reconstruction. For example, in proto Indo-European, the word for ‘foot’ would be ‘Pods’. The change that occurs is that p is translated into f by the fricatives, and in Old Germanic the word evolved to become ‘fot’ using this law. This language structure was present in Old Germanic, as attested by written records, both from Germania and Rome during this time period.
Old Germanic also had six cases, three genders, and three moods (indicative, subjunctive and imperative) and two voices (active and passive). This is quite similar to the state of Latin, Greek and Middle Indic. Nouns and adjectives were declined in at least six cases: vocative, nominative, accusatives, dative, instrumental, and genitive. Verbs and pronouns had three numbers: singular, dual and plural.
The Book of Agilmar written by Fulko, an early example of writing during the period of the Kingdom of Teutoburg.
Of course the greatest achievement of Thumelicus which was continued under the reign of Agilmar I was the standardization of the Runos script, which found wide use under the court of Agilmar, as depicted by the written works of Fulko. The script continued to develop and was encoded in Unicode with unified Runos range. Agilmar I seems to have been an incredibly taken monarch in regards to the written script, and Fulko writes to us in his early scripts that:
ᛏᚺᛖᚺᛁᚷᚺᚲᛁᛜᚷᛟᚠᛏᚺᛖᛏᛖᚢᛏᛟᛒᚢᚱᚷᚦᚺᛖᚱᚢᛊᚦᛁᚦᚺᚨᛏᛏᛁᚨᚾᚷᚱᛁᛜᚨᚱᛁᛁᚨᚾᛞᛒᚱᚢᚦᛏᛖᚱᛁᚹᚨᛊᚨᚱᚨᛈᛁᛞᛞᛖᛇᛖᛚᛟᛈᛖᚱᛟᚠᛏᚺᛖᚱᚢᚾᛟᛊᛗᚨᛞᛖᛒᛇᚺᛁᛊᚠᚨᛏᚺᛖᚱᚺᛖᚹᛟᚢᛚᛞᚦᛟᚾᛏᛁᛜᚢᛖᛏᚺᛖᛈᚱᚨᚦᛏᛁᛊᛖᛟᚠᛖᛜᚦᛟᚢᚱᚨᚷᛁᛜᚷᚹᚱᛁᛏᛁᚾᚷᚨᚾᛞᛊᚨᚹᛏᛟᛏᚺᚨᛏᚹᚱᛁᛏᛁᛜᚷᚹᚨᛊᚢᛊᛖᛞᚢᚾᛞᛖᚱᛟᚠᚠᛁᚦᛁᚨᛚᛈᚱᛖᛗᛁᛊᚠᛊᛁᚾᚺᛁᛊᚦᛟᚢᚱᛏᚨᚾᛞᛞᚢᚱᛁᚾᚷᛊᛖᛊᛊᛚᛟᚾᛊᛟᚠᛏᚺᛖᛖᛚᚦᛖᚱᚦᛟᚢᚾᚦᛁᛚᚨᚾᛞᛏᚺᛁᚾᚷ
Or in modern-day terms, he writes that The High King of the Teutoburg, Cherusci, Chaucii, Chatii, Angrivarii and Bructerii was a rapid developer of the Runos made by his father. He would continue to develop the practice and encourage its writing under official premises in his court and during sessions in the elder council and the Thing.
From this, it is pretty obvious that the written language as a whole continued to expand throughout the Germanic world during this time period. We have records from the time that indicate that the courtiers of the realm and the Thing of the Teutoburgii as the Romans came to call them was starting to become increasingly literate in the matters of writing.
***
Religion and Folklore
From Germanic Religions; its roots
The Germanic Religion or Germanicism [3] was and is the main faith of the Germanic peoples. This was also true during the establishment of the Kingdom of Teutoburg. However, each tribe or group would belong to a different sect, one formed through interaction with other societies and religions, and loosely based on a Northmen [4] and European tradition. One of the largest influences upon Germanic religion has been its encounters with other cultural groups such as the Celts and Romans, who also inhabited central Europe. Germanic religion also had many crossovers with that of the Romans. Notably their shared ritual practices, particularly the culture’s fascination with nature and their position within the world: primarily with a patriarchal worldview concerning men’s position within the religion: having men as the executors of rituals, akin to a family priest or shaman. These rituals did not occur in any ceremonial buildings, instead taking place within the home, a place of much spiritual importance to Germanic culture. While spiritual duties were traditionally carried out by men, there are historical examples of Germanic priestesses in Roman writings, women who would take the role of a religious leader and would usually be involved in the performance of executions. Their folklore has always been one that has directly reflected their physical environments: Gnomes, who lived underground: Woodland Elves who inhabited the forests, and basilisks, living in the seas.
The statue of a Germanic priest found in the ruins of Old Fulka.
The highest god, or King of the Gods, according to Germanicism is Wodan, or as he is called in the Northlands [5], Odin. Typical symbols of religious nature in the early Teutoburg Kingdom were: a simple point with the radiating beams of the sun, the indications of the four directions of the compass, either with or without the sun circle, the sun wheel, the radiating sun in many forms, the vault of heaven, the tree of life, the symbol of the serpent, the spiral, the concentric circle, the double headed axe, the cup stones and the cup-indentations on the stone axes which represented the sun symbol of their circle, etc. Some of the important gods and goddesses of Germanicism are:-
Wodan – King of the Gods; God of Wisdom, Healing, Death, Royalty, The Gallows, Knowledge, War, Battle, Victory, Sorcery, Poetry and Frenzy.
Frijjo [6] – Queen of the Gods; Goddess of Motherhood, Marriage, Foresight, Wisdom, Dwelling.
Balðraz [7] – God of Light, Joy, Purity, and the Summer Son.
Frawjaz [8] – God of Sacral Kingship, Peace, Prosperity, Sunshine, Fair weather, and Good Harvest.
Frawjon [9] – Goddess of Love, Beauty, Fertility, Sex, War, God and Magic.
Tiwaz (Tyr) – God of Bravery, Justice, Formality, War and Peace.
Þunraz [10] – God of Lightning, Thunder, Storms, Sacred Groves and Trees, Strength, Hallowing, Fertility and Protection.
A depiction of Þunraz
Nerpuz [11] – God of Sea, Seafaring, Wind, Fishing, Wealth and Crop Fertility
Mimir – God of Knowledge, Wisdom, Advise and Patron of Ambassadors
Hnuki [12] – God of Mischief, Trickery, Intrigue, Scheming, Spirituality, the Hearth and Cunning
Heimdallr – God of Foresight, Rainbows, Patron of Watchmen, and Guardian of Ásgarðr [13] and the Bilröst [14]
Like most Polytheistic faiths, Gods in Germanicism aren’t necessarily good beings, and can make mistakes as well, and aren’t all powerful. The Kingdom of the Teutoburg under Agilmar I seems to have taken the patronage of Frawjaz, with several temples of the god having been found in ancestral Teutoburg territory and lands. It is also said that the earliest epics of the Germanic gods were written down during this time.
***
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From The Shahanshahs of Iran
“In 818 AVC, Vologases I of the Parthian Empire died from unknown reasons, leaving the throne to his eldest surviving son, Pacorus, who became known as Pacorus II of the Parthian Empire. Pacorus II was soon met with revolt from his brother, who crowned himself as Vologases II and his cousin, Artabanus, who crowned himself Artabanus III of the Parthian Empire. Like almost every Parthian succession, the empire was once again torn apart due to the question of succession.
Pacorus II
The Parthians continued to fight it out with one another, destroying each other in devastating battles all across the empire, however the constant battles, and fighting between succession enemies every few decades had gotten extremely old, and many Nobles were dissatisfied with the rule of Pacorus II. One of these nobles was Araxa of the House of Zik, one of the seven great houses of Iran. Araxa was an ambitious nobleman who valued power, and wanted to gain it all for himself. From Median origins, thus being Persian by lineage and ethnicity, much like many peoples in Media, Araxa seems to have resented Parthian rule, and wanted to restore Median and Persis rule of Iran.
As the three princes of Parthia fought each other in pitched battles all around the empire, though mostly centered in and around of Mesopotamia, Araxa seems to have been busy trying to consolidate his own power base. Araxa sided with Pacorus II during the succession war, and managed to become the governor of Media through this, gaining the goodwill of the rightful Parthian ruler. During the war, he managed to raise a large army in Media and marched into Media in support of Pacorus II and took part in the Battle of Arbela, where Pacorus II defeated Vologases II and sent him into exile into Parthian Armenia, where he would live under house arrest for the rest of his life. However the renegade prince, Artabanus III was still running around Persis and Susiana and as such Pacorus II asked Araxa to take care of the renegade prince once more, trusting the young noble from the House of Zik.
Somewhere near Carmania in the Parthian Empire, in 820 AVC, Araxa defeated Artabanus III and absorbed his own forces into his own army and marched back to Babylon in triumph, though with a hidden agenda hidden under the guise of a victorious military parade. Araxa returned to Babylonia in 821 AVC, and marched into Ctesiphon that year, seemingly on a normal conquest victory parade. However, after gaining the loyalty of the soldiers and becoming the virtual ruler of Media, Araxa was now powerful enough to become a usurper himself.
A depiction of Araxa I of the Zikanid Dynasty.
His troops surrounded the seat of the Parthian Shah and asked him to come out and hand over the title of Shahanshah to him or else he would die. Pacorus II fearful for his life, abdicated the throne and handed over the title of Shahanshah to Araxa who was crowned Araxa I of the new Zikanid Empire, the third Iranian Empire, now ruled by the House of Zik. The rest of the Great Houses of Iran were summoned to Ctesiphon to swear allegiance to the new Shah.
The House of Ispahbudhan of Gurgan, the House of Varaz of Eastern Khorasan, the House of Mihran of Ray refused to swear allegiance to the new Shah, whilst the House of Karen of Nahavand, the House of Spandiyadh of Ray and the House of Suren of Sakastan swore allegiance to the new Shah. Araxa I didn’t keep his promise, and he needed to make sure that any potential enemies for the sun throne would be dead, and so he killed Pacorus II and had his remains thrown out of the city and scattered to the Mesopotamian sands. Meanwhile however Volagases II, who was in house arrest in Armenia came to know about the movements and events going on in Iran and began to move trying to have another bid for the throne.
He contacted the disenchanted leaders of the Ispahbudhan, Mihran and Varaz, and asked them to support his bid for the sun throne. The three houses who wanted to restore the Parthians, reluctantly agreed to this idea, and in late 821 AVC, Vologases II, with support from Tiridates I of Armenia and the aforementioned 3 great houses, invaded Mesopotamia from the north. The new Zikanid Empire raised its forces in Mesopotamia and marched north to meet this foe that was coming from the north. The two men met each other during the Battle of Hatra. We do not have many resources or sources regarding what happened in the Battle of Hatra, however it seems that Araxa I came out victorious and Vologases II was forced to flee back to the north. Araxa I pursued Vologases II and laid siege to the capitals of Armenia itself. Tiridates I, himself of the Arsacid dynasty could also be a pretender to the throne, so Araxa I was targeting him as well. In 823 AVC, after two years of devastating siege warfare, the Armenians and Parthian remnants fell to the forces of Araxa I and the Armenian semi-independence came to an end as the new Shah directly annexed it into the new Zikanid Dynasty. Vologases II and Tiridates I were killed and executed.
Tiridates I of Armenia
In 824 AVC, Araxa I came to Ctesiphon which he named the permanent capital. He reaffirmed the rights of the ancient Iranian gods, such as Ahura Mazda, Angra Mainyu, Anahita, Mithra, Shamash etc and continued the Seleucid and Parthian tradition of viewing themselves as gods, as the Cult of the Leader was appreciated and expanded. Araxa I also put down the Ctesiphon Accords in which he defined the succession law of Iran, which was to be inalienable, unchangeable and rigid down to the core. Following the salient features of Iranian and Zoroastrian social organization, after the death of the Shah, the empress would succeed the throne for 1 year as the Shahbanu (Queen-Empress), giving a transitional time for the new Shah, who would be the eldest son of the former shah to learn his new duties and to ascend the throne. If the Shah had no male children, then a brother would take the duties of Shah. If the Shah did not have any brother or male children, then the title of Shahbanu would fall to his wife, and after her death as well, to the eldest daughter. This succession law written down by Araxa I is considered to be an extremely important event in Iranian history, and the Ctesiphon accords would basically define Iranian succession down along the line.
While Araxa I’s system was a beneficial one, he immediately made the waters murky when he made his wife, Parmida, co-monarch alongside him. Nonetheless, Araxa I would become the first Shahanshah of the glorious Zikanid Dynasty, founded on the ashes of the Parthian Empire.”
***
----
[1] – ittl Sweden.
[2] – ITTL name for Grimm’s Law.
[3] – Name of Germanic paganism ittl
[4] – Norse ittl
[5] – Scandinavia
[6] – Frigg/Frigga ittl.
[7] – Baldr ittl
[8] – Freyr ittl
[9] – Freya ittl.
[10] – Thor ittl.
[11] – Njoror ittl.
[12] – Loki ittl.
[13] – Asgard
[14] – Bifrost
***
“It is of our opinion that the people of Teutoburg will never die, at least in spirit and legacy.” – Vespasian.
***
Agriculture of the Kingdom of Teutoburg
From Early Germanic Agriculture and Urbanization
“Agriculture in Germania was a necessity of life if the people hoped to live a healthy and plentiful life. However, the nomadic and migratory manner in which the early Germanic peoples lived did not necessitate a proper and efficient manner of tilling the land, in comparison to their ancient Roman and Greek counterparts. Therefore, we can trace properly settled agriculture in Germania back to the Rex Cheruscorum, Thumelicus the son of Arminius. Like the Romans, Thumelicus was a great borrower. Although the Germanics produced little that was really new, the improvements they made were extremely consequential to the development of agricultural tools.
Rex Cheruscorum, Thumelicus
Evidence has appeared through archaeological remains that the Ard plough was used as far early as 8000 years ago in the Far East. Iron versions of the Ard appear in Egypt and Assyria during the years between 100 AVC to 400 AVC as well. In Europe, the Ard seems to have arrived some 3000 years ago, with the earliest drawing of the Ard being found in many caves in Suiariki. [1]
an early inscription found in Fulka showing two ox's plough the field using an Ard plough and led by a farmer.
Urbanization among the Cherusci and Chaucii occurred due to the organic planning and action of Thumelicus and Akhtumer, with aid from agricultural upliftments in Germania. It provided the agricultural peoples of Germania an economically beneficial area to gather around to trade and sell their goods. It is no surprise or coincidence that the Old City of Fulka is surrounded by cultivated clay and mud, which indicates that the city was surrounded by farmlands during the time of Thumelicus and Agilmar I.
A drawing of Fulko, the first Germanic historian.
ᚷᚱᚨᛁᛜᛟᚠᛏᚺᛖᚦᚨᛚᛁᛒᛖᚱᚹᚨᛊᛈᚱᛟᛞᚢᚦᛖᛞᛁᚾᛏᚺᛖᛚᚨᚾᛞᛊᛟᚠᛏᚺᛖᚺᛁᚷᚺᚲᛁᚾᚷᚨᛚᛟᚾᚷᚹᛁᛏᚺᛚᛖᚷᚢᛗᛖᚨᚾᛞᛏᚢᚱᚾᛁᛈᛊ
Or in our modern day terms, The crops of the highest caliber were made for the High King, such as Wheat, Legumes and Turnips.
From this we can understand that it is highly likely that Wheat, Legumes and Turnips were the mainstay staple crops of the early Teutoburg Kingdom. From archeological remains that have been found by modern archeologists, it seems that Wheat was generally grown anywhere possible, whilst Legumes were grown near the Rhenus River and Elbe River basins, whilst Turnip was brought in from Gaul, and introduced to the population through crop rotation methods.”
***
Language of the Kingdom of Teutoburg
From The Languages of the Germanic Race
“The Kingdom of Teutoburg spoke what we today call Western Old Germanic. There have been attestations to the fact that there were a few North Germanic and High Germanic Speakers living in the realm as well, however the vast majority of the population spoke Western Old Germanic. It is considered today to be a proto language of the Western Germanic language.
A defining feature of this language is the completion of the process of Arminian Law [2]. It is a set of sound laws describing Proto Indo-European stop consonants as they developed in Old Germanic around 3,000 years ago. It establishes a set of regular correspondences between early Germanic stops, fricatives, and the stop consonants of certain other centum Indo-European languages, with Latin and Greek used most of the time for illustration and reconstruction. For example, in proto Indo-European, the word for ‘foot’ would be ‘Pods’. The change that occurs is that p is translated into f by the fricatives, and in Old Germanic the word evolved to become ‘fot’ using this law. This language structure was present in Old Germanic, as attested by written records, both from Germania and Rome during this time period.
Old Germanic also had six cases, three genders, and three moods (indicative, subjunctive and imperative) and two voices (active and passive). This is quite similar to the state of Latin, Greek and Middle Indic. Nouns and adjectives were declined in at least six cases: vocative, nominative, accusatives, dative, instrumental, and genitive. Verbs and pronouns had three numbers: singular, dual and plural.
The Book of Agilmar written by Fulko, an early example of writing during the period of the Kingdom of Teutoburg.
ᛏᚺᛖᚺᛁᚷᚺᚲᛁᛜᚷᛟᚠᛏᚺᛖᛏᛖᚢᛏᛟᛒᚢᚱᚷᚦᚺᛖᚱᚢᛊᚦᛁᚦᚺᚨᛏᛏᛁᚨᚾᚷᚱᛁᛜᚨᚱᛁᛁᚨᚾᛞᛒᚱᚢᚦᛏᛖᚱᛁᚹᚨᛊᚨᚱᚨᛈᛁᛞᛞᛖᛇᛖᛚᛟᛈᛖᚱᛟᚠᛏᚺᛖᚱᚢᚾᛟᛊᛗᚨᛞᛖᛒᛇᚺᛁᛊᚠᚨᛏᚺᛖᚱᚺᛖᚹᛟᚢᛚᛞᚦᛟᚾᛏᛁᛜᚢᛖᛏᚺᛖᛈᚱᚨᚦᛏᛁᛊᛖᛟᚠᛖᛜᚦᛟᚢᚱᚨᚷᛁᛜᚷᚹᚱᛁᛏᛁᚾᚷᚨᚾᛞᛊᚨᚹᛏᛟᛏᚺᚨᛏᚹᚱᛁᛏᛁᛜᚷᚹᚨᛊᚢᛊᛖᛞᚢᚾᛞᛖᚱᛟᚠᚠᛁᚦᛁᚨᛚᛈᚱᛖᛗᛁᛊᚠᛊᛁᚾᚺᛁᛊᚦᛟᚢᚱᛏᚨᚾᛞᛞᚢᚱᛁᚾᚷᛊᛖᛊᛊᛚᛟᚾᛊᛟᚠᛏᚺᛖᛖᛚᚦᛖᚱᚦᛟᚢᚾᚦᛁᛚᚨᚾᛞᛏᚺᛁᚾᚷ
Or in modern-day terms, he writes that The High King of the Teutoburg, Cherusci, Chaucii, Chatii, Angrivarii and Bructerii was a rapid developer of the Runos made by his father. He would continue to develop the practice and encourage its writing under official premises in his court and during sessions in the elder council and the Thing.
From this, it is pretty obvious that the written language as a whole continued to expand throughout the Germanic world during this time period. We have records from the time that indicate that the courtiers of the realm and the Thing of the Teutoburgii as the Romans came to call them was starting to become increasingly literate in the matters of writing.
***
Religion and Folklore
From Germanic Religions; its roots
The Germanic Religion or Germanicism [3] was and is the main faith of the Germanic peoples. This was also true during the establishment of the Kingdom of Teutoburg. However, each tribe or group would belong to a different sect, one formed through interaction with other societies and religions, and loosely based on a Northmen [4] and European tradition. One of the largest influences upon Germanic religion has been its encounters with other cultural groups such as the Celts and Romans, who also inhabited central Europe. Germanic religion also had many crossovers with that of the Romans. Notably their shared ritual practices, particularly the culture’s fascination with nature and their position within the world: primarily with a patriarchal worldview concerning men’s position within the religion: having men as the executors of rituals, akin to a family priest or shaman. These rituals did not occur in any ceremonial buildings, instead taking place within the home, a place of much spiritual importance to Germanic culture. While spiritual duties were traditionally carried out by men, there are historical examples of Germanic priestesses in Roman writings, women who would take the role of a religious leader and would usually be involved in the performance of executions. Their folklore has always been one that has directly reflected their physical environments: Gnomes, who lived underground: Woodland Elves who inhabited the forests, and basilisks, living in the seas.
The statue of a Germanic priest found in the ruins of Old Fulka.
Wodan – King of the Gods; God of Wisdom, Healing, Death, Royalty, The Gallows, Knowledge, War, Battle, Victory, Sorcery, Poetry and Frenzy.
Frijjo [6] – Queen of the Gods; Goddess of Motherhood, Marriage, Foresight, Wisdom, Dwelling.
Balðraz [7] – God of Light, Joy, Purity, and the Summer Son.
Frawjaz [8] – God of Sacral Kingship, Peace, Prosperity, Sunshine, Fair weather, and Good Harvest.
Frawjon [9] – Goddess of Love, Beauty, Fertility, Sex, War, God and Magic.
Tiwaz (Tyr) – God of Bravery, Justice, Formality, War and Peace.
Þunraz [10] – God of Lightning, Thunder, Storms, Sacred Groves and Trees, Strength, Hallowing, Fertility and Protection.
A depiction of Þunraz
Mimir – God of Knowledge, Wisdom, Advise and Patron of Ambassadors
Hnuki [12] – God of Mischief, Trickery, Intrigue, Scheming, Spirituality, the Hearth and Cunning
Heimdallr – God of Foresight, Rainbows, Patron of Watchmen, and Guardian of Ásgarðr [13] and the Bilröst [14]
Like most Polytheistic faiths, Gods in Germanicism aren’t necessarily good beings, and can make mistakes as well, and aren’t all powerful. The Kingdom of the Teutoburg under Agilmar I seems to have taken the patronage of Frawjaz, with several temples of the god having been found in ancestral Teutoburg territory and lands. It is also said that the earliest epics of the Germanic gods were written down during this time.
***
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From The Shahanshahs of Iran
“In 818 AVC, Vologases I of the Parthian Empire died from unknown reasons, leaving the throne to his eldest surviving son, Pacorus, who became known as Pacorus II of the Parthian Empire. Pacorus II was soon met with revolt from his brother, who crowned himself as Vologases II and his cousin, Artabanus, who crowned himself Artabanus III of the Parthian Empire. Like almost every Parthian succession, the empire was once again torn apart due to the question of succession.
Pacorus II
As the three princes of Parthia fought each other in pitched battles all around the empire, though mostly centered in and around of Mesopotamia, Araxa seems to have been busy trying to consolidate his own power base. Araxa sided with Pacorus II during the succession war, and managed to become the governor of Media through this, gaining the goodwill of the rightful Parthian ruler. During the war, he managed to raise a large army in Media and marched into Media in support of Pacorus II and took part in the Battle of Arbela, where Pacorus II defeated Vologases II and sent him into exile into Parthian Armenia, where he would live under house arrest for the rest of his life. However the renegade prince, Artabanus III was still running around Persis and Susiana and as such Pacorus II asked Araxa to take care of the renegade prince once more, trusting the young noble from the House of Zik.
Somewhere near Carmania in the Parthian Empire, in 820 AVC, Araxa defeated Artabanus III and absorbed his own forces into his own army and marched back to Babylon in triumph, though with a hidden agenda hidden under the guise of a victorious military parade. Araxa returned to Babylonia in 821 AVC, and marched into Ctesiphon that year, seemingly on a normal conquest victory parade. However, after gaining the loyalty of the soldiers and becoming the virtual ruler of Media, Araxa was now powerful enough to become a usurper himself.
A depiction of Araxa I of the Zikanid Dynasty.
The House of Ispahbudhan of Gurgan, the House of Varaz of Eastern Khorasan, the House of Mihran of Ray refused to swear allegiance to the new Shah, whilst the House of Karen of Nahavand, the House of Spandiyadh of Ray and the House of Suren of Sakastan swore allegiance to the new Shah. Araxa I didn’t keep his promise, and he needed to make sure that any potential enemies for the sun throne would be dead, and so he killed Pacorus II and had his remains thrown out of the city and scattered to the Mesopotamian sands. Meanwhile however Volagases II, who was in house arrest in Armenia came to know about the movements and events going on in Iran and began to move trying to have another bid for the throne.
He contacted the disenchanted leaders of the Ispahbudhan, Mihran and Varaz, and asked them to support his bid for the sun throne. The three houses who wanted to restore the Parthians, reluctantly agreed to this idea, and in late 821 AVC, Vologases II, with support from Tiridates I of Armenia and the aforementioned 3 great houses, invaded Mesopotamia from the north. The new Zikanid Empire raised its forces in Mesopotamia and marched north to meet this foe that was coming from the north. The two men met each other during the Battle of Hatra. We do not have many resources or sources regarding what happened in the Battle of Hatra, however it seems that Araxa I came out victorious and Vologases II was forced to flee back to the north. Araxa I pursued Vologases II and laid siege to the capitals of Armenia itself. Tiridates I, himself of the Arsacid dynasty could also be a pretender to the throne, so Araxa I was targeting him as well. In 823 AVC, after two years of devastating siege warfare, the Armenians and Parthian remnants fell to the forces of Araxa I and the Armenian semi-independence came to an end as the new Shah directly annexed it into the new Zikanid Dynasty. Vologases II and Tiridates I were killed and executed.
Tiridates I of Armenia
While Araxa I’s system was a beneficial one, he immediately made the waters murky when he made his wife, Parmida, co-monarch alongside him. Nonetheless, Araxa I would become the first Shahanshah of the glorious Zikanid Dynasty, founded on the ashes of the Parthian Empire.”
***
----
[1] – ittl Sweden.
[2] – ITTL name for Grimm’s Law.
[3] – Name of Germanic paganism ittl
[4] – Norse ittl
[5] – Scandinavia
[6] – Frigg/Frigga ittl.
[7] – Baldr ittl
[8] – Freyr ittl
[9] – Freya ittl.
[10] – Thor ittl.
[11] – Njoror ittl.
[12] – Loki ittl.
[13] – Asgard
[14] – Bifrost
Last edited:
