Discussion Thread is here. This is "The Appeasement of Ares: A Derailed Rome". This will be the only post for this thread.
Chapter 1 - Days of War
Part 1 - Troubled Teachings
Lennene School of Higher Learning, Neos Megálē Ellás
(OTL: New York City)
The students filtered into class, the teacher is the first Oscan teacher to teach at the Lennene [1] school. He walked to the front of the class just as the final students streamed in.
In perfect Lennene he wrote on the board: “What does Italia mean to you?”
Then he turned and looked at his class; “Tell me,” he commanded, “what do you know about Italia?” Instantly about 10 hands stuck up. He pointed to one hand; the student stood up, and said; “It is a peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea.” The instructor smiled; “Come, come, that must not be all you have heard?”
The student gulped loud enough that it could be heard from the back rows; however he spoke softly now; “The region of Italia is a monarchy controlled by Vetio [2], one of the oldest countries in the world.”
He could feel the instructor gazing through his eyes now, it felt as if he was looking into his very soul now; “You know what I am referring to… what was your name? Achaikos?” The timid student responded simply with “Yes, my name is Achaikos.” The instructor nodded, “Okay, if you feel that way I will ask someone else.” The student sat down, and muffled a brief “Thank you.”
The instructor turned toward another hand raised that seemed more eager to add to the conversation. The student shot up and stated firmly, “The Vetio government is a brutal dictatorship that has oppressed its citizens for decades under the leadership of the current Elvetorix [3]. The Lennisk [4] and Phenisians [5] however continue to engage in ruthless ethnic feuding in the south.” The instructor now grinned with satisfaction, “Thank you, umm… Cameron [6] is it? That is an Illyrian name isn’t it?”
Cameron responded, “Yes, I’m a 'Pirotis [7].” The instructor now stopped for a second, he considered this and then continued. Finally he started his lesson.
[1] Hellene or Greek.
[2] Guess where that comes from.
[3] I will tell you if you guess correctly, this should help a little (EDIT: Dathi THorfinnsson is correct (Helvetii)).
[4] Italian Greeks.
[5] Phoenicians.
[6] Wait, what? A celtic name used by the Illyrians. WTF? (EDIT: thank you Cimon, I was mistaken)
[7] Epirote (Epirotis is non-romanized version), someone from Epirus.
Part 2 - Latins in Review
"Ch. 2 – The Early Rasnan Expansion, History of the Rasna Ed. 5"
We like to think of most myth and legends that are altered by the passage of time as superstitions that have most likely lost all kernels of truth a long time ago. However sometimes mythology can be the key to discovering more about the history.
The Rasna have been one of the longest-surviving ethnic groups and have developed a large collection of myths and legends, both their own, and borrowed from the countless civilizations they have co-existed with over the ages.
One of these myths is about the Roman Kingdom, a small little city near Veia, which nearly impeded the expansion of the Rasna into the south.
Now 27 centuries later, the mythological city of Rome has been discovered in the swamps of Latium. And it has drastically advanced our understanding of the enigmatic Latins that were absorbed into the Rasna culture during the First Rasna Empire.
A picture of the "roman forum" in the now drained swamps of the Tiber River.
Rome and the Discovery of Latin Culture
During the investigation of the Roman ruins many Latin texts were discovered, including basic translation tablets which seem to confirm its relationship with the Umbrian languages. The known Latin vocabulary can proudly be said to be approximately 2500 words.
Buried in the ruins of what has been called the “Roman Forum”, which is now a large swamp a large rectangular plaza exists that continues to give incites into the relations of the Romans with the sabines.
The discoveries have not stopped there; marshes continue to bring up new and exciting artefacts that revolutionize our view of this small group nestled in the plains of Latium.
The Latins however continue to remain enigmatic; we do know that the Rasna considered the Romans the most courageous warriors who were said to endure any torture without being broken in. Although we do not know how much of this is true, the stories of the Rasna continue to fascinate many and the mythologies of the ancient peoples of Italia are now almost never simply ignored and continue to be taken into account when searching for archaeological remains.
Part 3 - Campania at War
Campania Campaigns, 615 BU (727 BCE)
Thucer looked at the peasant in front of him, he smiled and began to push its eyes in, whenever he saw his victims die he convinced himself it was revenge for all the fellow soldiers. He had lost all his friends at the battle for Rome, the last battle of the Latin war. Now he looked every victim in the eyes and brutally killed them.
“For Lare, and Vulca,” a cruel hatred appeared in his eyes as he through the man to the ground and stepped on his skull. The Rasna had not just stopped there; Thucer obediently had followed Veia through its campaigns against the Volsci and Sabines. He was a cold-hearted bastard, he knew it, and so did everyone else, which is why they chose him.
“Thucer, would you like to be made the king of Ushiluna [1]? You would become rich and control the largest city in Campania!” the king of Veia had asked him. One does not say no to a king.
A reconstruction of Thucer from his remains.
Despite the promotion, Thucer continued to battle at the head of his armies. It helped him release the stress of kingship, every day he had to talk to 50 different fat rich Greeks and merchants, and everyday he almost strangled them in rage. Yet he was a king so he forced himself to hold it back.
That is why he forced submission on the people of Campania. He wanted them to fear him, to cower while he walked through the streets. Apparently the Latins had made a name for him: Thucer Sterculus [2].
And this is why he had burned them; he had set Gabii on fire himself and oversaw the city of Tibur burning to the ground. He ravaged the rebellious Circeii and had told his military to stay and search through the swamps of Latium. Until every last child of Circeii, was dead.
[1] Ushiluna means "south river" in Etruscan, Ushiluna is set near Campeva OTL, except a century earlier.
[2] Thucer "little shit".
Part 4 - And so a new Dynasty Begins
In 615 BU (727 BCE), the war-hardened Thucer “Sterculus” massacred the Latin tribes. He claimed them as revenge for the death of his comrades at the Battle of Rome. The military victories of Thucer that were collectively referred to as the Campania Campaigns showed his people the iron fist of oppression, and reduced the once proud warrior and aristocratic tribesmen to serfdom.
He also controlled the Campanian city known as Ushiluna. Although as a warrior he was devastatingly effective, in fact he always lead his armies into battle even against the fiercest foe, his leadership was different and despite his (cruel) efficiency his reign was disastrous, especially for trade between Megálē Ellás [1] and mexl-Rasnal [2] which stayed at a stand-still until his death in 593 BU (705 BCE) at the grips of septicemia from a puncture wound (to be fair he killed the man who gave him the fatal wound).
Without Thucer a young military leader was given the vital choke point between Veia and Parthenope. The man’s name was Cuinte Tarna and under him the city began to flourish and under him it began to grow past its heavily fortified walls and even incorporated nearby villages along the way.
However his reign would not be perfect, at the death of Thucer many Latin groups rose up in battle and although all their organized armies had disappeared long before the rebellious people of Latium soon became a problem once again.
A modern portrayal of Dionysus.
Finally in 588 BU (700 BCE) a masterful offensive pushed the aggressive rebels out of Latium and he began to secure his hold on the entire region. In a remarkable innovation from his former king, and from any other society in the world; he offered the people food and entertainment; the Rasna would later call this concept Fufluns (Dionysus) et Maris referring to the Etruscan gods of joyousness (and wine) and agriculture (as well as harvest and fertility). This concept would later become popular elsewhere in the next centuries.
However the reign of Cuinte was cut short, he died of disease in 583 BU (695 BCE) after only 10 years leading Ushiluna, but unlike the man he succeeded he left a successor, the Tarna dynasty would see the prosperity of Ushiluna and mexl-Rasnal for generations to come.
[1] Magna Graecia in crappy OTL Modern Greek.
[2] mexl-Rasnal means Etruria in Etruscan.
Part Five - Dodecapoli
“Can everyone see the map on the processor screen?” the professor asked, a grumble of affirmation came from the quiet lecture hall. “Okay then,” the professor continued, “how many of you have any knowledge of the Dodecapoli?” One young man in the back row made a sign with his hands that the professor interpreted to mean ‘a little, not much’. The rest stared blankly, the professor smiled, some kids were concerned that they had no idea what a “dodecapoli” was, but the professor soon put them to ease, “Don’t worry, that’s fine. Today’s lesson is about the dodecapoli so you will all understand it reasonably well by the end of today’s class.”
“The Dodecapoli was the league of 12 cities that together co-ruled mexl-Rasnal, the cities were originally Fufluna, Vetluna, Veia, Curtun, Aritim, Perusina, Velathri, Velch, Tarchna, Caisra, Clevsin, and Velzna. All Rasna politics during this period was league-based because for religious reasons they organized every city into a league of 12, if one of the original 12 cities was destroyed for example, then another one would take its place,” the professor grumbled now, he saw that 2 people were asleep and others were not paying attention, he went up to one of the sleeping students, and yelled directly into her ear, immediately she woke up and the rest of the class looked back in attention, “okay, now that I have your attention, this is all going to be on the exam so listen up!”
“Now the dodecapoli would control mexl-Rasnal for a period of about 500 years,” he said calmly, “in this time they moved to the position of being one of the most influential nations in the western Mediterranean, and even a large player over the entire Mediterranean before being forced into irrelevance.”
“That map on the processor screen is of mexl-Rasnal in the year, this shows Rome and the Latins which should be discussed on page 61 of your textbooks,” the professor paused to drink some water before continuing, “I encourage you to bookmark that page and read it later. However right now we must continue.
"The results of the Rasna’s skirmishes into Campania were the complete submission of the Latins, especially because of the successful military campaigns of the first two Rasna kings of the newly-founded Ushiluna who were known as Thucer Sterculus and Cuinte in Magna; Thucer decentralized Latium and had all Volsci and Latin cities destroyed along with their people, Cuinte managed during his reign to drive out the decentralized resistance left after Thucer’s death, to occupy to Latins with other things, and in many cases make them reliant on the state for food in poorer areas. These actions combined resulted in Ushiluna becoming prosperous, especially as a trade artery between the Greeks to the South, and of course the Dodecapoli. The Dodecapoli of course also traded with the northern celts during this time period.”
“The Tarna Dynasty in Ushiluna are especially important, and they give the expansion of mexl-Rasnal into the Bodincus River Valley [1] the occasionally used title ‘the Tarna Expansion’ for all the greek weapons used that must certainly have travelled through Ushiluna. The Tarna Dynasty started with Cuinte in Magna and continued for little over half a century till the poisoning of Pesna II,” he looked up at the processor screen that had just entered sleep mode.
“After the poisoning of Pesna II, his best advisor took the thrown. His reign is totally undocumented other than the fact that he was Pesna II’s advisor and was killed less than 5 years after taking the thrown,” now the professor looked down at his notes, “I’m afraid I am getting sidetracked here, is there any questions before I get back on topic. One hand went up. He pointed at the hand, “Yes?”
“Is it true that Cuinte in Magna came up with the idea of Fufluns et Maris?”
“Yes, the idea that you could keep a population happy with only food and entertainment was first brought up by him, however I believe other philosophers thought of the concept individually, often to explain the erosion of public interest in patriotism and politics. And it of course is the official motto of the Vetio Kingdom.”
“Are you from Vetio?”
“Yes, I escaped when I was only 12 with my parents to Alalia.”
[1] Bodincus (River Valley) is Ligurian for the Po River Valley.
Part Six - Alliances Broken
“Ch. 6.1 – The Economics of the Dodecapoli, History of the Rasna Ed. 5”
The dodecapoli had an important and unique role in international trade, they were positioned in between the rapidly modernizing Keltoi peoples to their North (however trade with this group would only really pick up in the 4th century BU (5th century BCE) ), and the economic centre of Lennenes outside of Ellás, known at this time as Megálē Ellás, this of course means “Greater Greece” referring to the wealth of many of the Italia colonies.
Neos Megálē Ellás is of course named after the original, and is a congregation point for refugees from Vetio, giving it a large Lennisk population, along with Oscan and Rasna groups as well who fled the modern totalitarian state under the rule of Diarmad Elvetorix. However that will be covered in more detail in later chapters.
Rasna Coinage.
There was a confluence of interests, trade, and powers in the city of Ushiluna (modern Sluna), this city controlled all passage between the northern city-states of Megálē Ellás such as Neapolis, Poseidonia, and Cumae, and the Dodecapoli (especially Veia). These interests were often trying to slant the government of Ushiluna towards the favour of one, one ruling family would prefer to Rasna and tax the Lennenes while another ruler would do the opposite. This balance of interests meant that the city was rife with corruption.
At the same time of course the Rasna were growing and their sphere of influence had begun to conflict with that of the Carthaginians, these conflicts escalated in 3rd century BU (Very late 5th century BCE; most of 4th century BCE) but died down during and after the Senone and Safineis Wars.
The Rasna in this period of time had one thing that particularly made them unique, this was the fact that they were mostly land-based all but two of the major Rasna cities (those being Fufluna and Pisae) are all on normally top of hills and nowhere near the coast of the Tyrrhenian (or Adriatic) Sea, this meant that almost all trade was done over land at least to begin with. In the 5th century BU (6th century BCE), alliances began to diverge from what they had been previously, the Carthaginians and Rasna, now allied together against the growing numbers and strength of Lennenes that had moved into Massalia and other colonies (or apoikia [1] ). This culminated in multiple battles, the most important of which was the Battle of Alalia sometime mid-century; this battle in which approximately 130 Rasna and Carthaginian ships fought the Lennene’s 60 pentekonters. This battle saw the near destruction of the Carthaginian/Rasna fleet and as a result of the navy of Alalia being crippled we also see the hasty evacuation of Alalia, which was almost immediately claimed for the Rasna.
[1] Lennene for distant home or colony, during this period of Lennene history overpopulation of Ellás sent many refugees to fertile and wealthy colonies.
Part Eight - Fluctuation
The world of the 5th century BU (6th century BCE) was very different from previous centuries, in 657 BU (545 BCE) the battle of Alalia was fought between ~130 Rasna and Carthaginian ships on one side and the Lennenes on the other side with 60 pentekonters [1], it stopped the expansion of young Lennene colonies in the western Mediterranean, the annexation of the formerly Lennene city of Alalia and of Corsica also started in this period. At the same time it saw the once mighty leagues of mexl-Rasnal have their influence wane, from a power trading as far away as the Near East to a regional power in their corner of the Western Mediterranean Sea.
Carthage had become the commercial centre of the West Mediterranean region, a position it retained until decline under the Second Council of Elders. The city had conquered most of the old Phoenician colonies, subjugated the Numidian and Moor tribes, and taken control of the entire North African coast from modern Morresco in close proximity to the borders of Egypt. Its influence had also extended into the Mediterranean, taking control over Sardinia, Malta, the Balearic Islands, and into Sicily. Important colonies had also been established in Iberia. Their cultural influence in the modern day on the Iberian Peninsula is powerful despite the near destruction of all Carthaginian architecture by the Celtiberian conquests.
Force of Numidian Calvary.
Defeating the lennene colonies once however was not enough, in the next century the Carthaginians, Lennenes, and Rasna would continue to conflict for more than a century. Alliances would change and revert to old patterns, which despite hostilities did not slow the trade between all these different groups; for example the trading city of Ushiluna continued to grow under an independent dynasty that brought the city to the same level as many Dodecapoli (Rasna governance in this time period), it was definitely the most powerful city at this time in the campanian league [2].
The underlying ethnic tensions are still seen in this region today, Vetio Kingdom is known for its brutal crack-downs on violence between the Lennisk and Phenisians of Italia.
This area of the world seemed to be among many regions in flux, at the same time the grand Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great destroyed the hegemonic median empire, this empire lasted for over two centuries. Buddhism was founded even further away, the greek philosophers began to grow various forms of thought, psalms was written in the Near East, Jainism was revolutionized by a new prophet, Sun Tzu wrote “The Art of War”, at the same time many others also contributed to major religious, technological, and philosophical innovations.
[1] OTL ~120 Rasna/Carthaginian Ships vs. 60 Alalian pentekonters, the Ushilunans have in this reality contributes greatly to the war effort from their now bustling harbour, that as a bonus has a trained navy, unlike much of the OTL force on the R/C side.
[2] All Rasna cities were put in leagues of 12, Campania had a league of its most powerful rasna cities, so did Padania and other rasna groups. The Dodecapoli was the most important of these.
Part Nine - Sail to Victory
The fact that the Rasna now controlled an island, crucial to many trade routes was if anything encouragement to the development of the harbour of Ushiluna, that we know by this period to be named Mlakaθi [1]. The fleet doubled in strength and built a small reputation against its enemies in battle. And arguably due partially to the aid of Ushiluna’s fleet (as well as a land force) an invasion of some northern lennene territory in 412 BU (524 BCE) succeeded in taking Kuma [2], probably one of the most powerful northern cities before this event. Ushiluna had the honour of sending one of its lauχum [3] from the royal dynasty (which now had entered a centuries-long period of stability) to reign over the citizens of Kuma, an honour given to him despite the mixed heritage of the army in part because he according to legend killed the lennene leader Aristodemus of Kuma, which demoralized the enemy army and almost certainly tipped the scales in their favour during the rest of the battle.
Pithekoussai Island today.
Like the Ushilunan counterpart this dynasty became stabilized, in this case because of the parent city’s immense influence and ability to aid Kuma in suppressing its citizens during revolutions. The city of Kuma is very important because for one thing it is said to have introduced the Euboean (aka Cumaean) form of the Lennene Alphabet that had been adopted by the Latins and more importantly the Rasna for written communication. Besides this up to this point it had been a dominating military power. Kuma was an offshoot of another Euboean city on an island (of the same name as the city) near to Kuma called Pithekoussai [4].
At the same time as the rasna began making such advances into greek territory, an new rival began to show its abilities for war, this group was called the safineis, and it came to around equal terms with Ushiluna in campania in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BU (mid to late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE). However their talent for war would not be fully known for several centuries yet. This is one of the first signs of the decay of the power of the Rasna in Italy, a collection of war-like tribes now were capable of forcing back the advances of the Rasna, a civilization that was much more advanced at the time.
Tensions would not flare up again between the lennenes and the rasna on the scale of the Alalian or Kuma victories [5]. However through many small-scale or even non-violent campaigns the Rasna expanded their power, the declining city of Parthenope is known in fact to have had a Rasna dynasty by the year 390 BU (502 BCE). The city of Dicaearchia had its tyrant assassinated in the year 388 BU (500 BCE) which meant every major lennene city north of Poseidonia on the western coast of Italy was now controlled by the Rasna. The Rasna may have begun to go into decline but they certainly weren’t going quietly.
[1] Beautiful Water, the greek/rasna letter is a theta.
[3] Cumae in latin/english, as it is commonly known.
[3] Prince (in this context) or King in etruscan language, the greek/rasna letter is a chi.
[4] Pithecusae in latin.
[5] The first invasion of Cumae removes the Battle of Cumae, and the conflict at Aricia wouldn’t happen without rome, as well as the attempt on Neapolis (which wouldn’t exist without Cumae).
Chapter Epilogue One
“Fiction has to be plausible. All history has to do is happen.” - Harry Turtledove
Chapter Epilogues are a concept thought of late last night, I am aware most people have little to no understanding of the actual history, so here is a little guide to understand the references and where I am going with this. Rome is currently the capital city of Italy, the seat of the pope, and spawned two very successful nations (Roman Empire and Republic) as well as off-shoots (Byzantine Empire, Holy Roman Empire, Russian Empire (tsar refers to Roman Emperors), Francia (under Charlemagne) ). However we can cover that in later epilogues. For now I will cover things between the beginning of this chapter (~750 BCE) and the end of the chapter (500 BCE).
Lets start with the relatively well documented (however often mythological) Roman history. The Roman Kingdom had 7 kings, 4 were of non-Etruscan origin, the final 3 were Etruscan. The mythology states that Rome started in 753 BCE, and that the old city was founded on Palatine Hill (but Remus wished to begin on Aventine Hill). An etruscan dynasty began in ~617 BCE (again, according to myth), with a peaceful turn over of the former king choosing an Etruscan heir.
This continued until ~508 BCE when Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquinius the Proud) was overthrown for his tyrannical mistreatment of Rome’s citizens, Rome became the Roman Republic. After being overthrown, Tarquinius fled to Cumae (Greek City), and also sought the help of the city of Clusium (Etruscan city). Clusium supposedly ended its war on Rome after seeing the bravery of one captured Roman, however to make it look like the trip wasn’t for nothing they besieged Aricia, which sent for help from the Latin League and Cumae, Cumae defeated the army of Clusium.
Now that I covered some basic mythology, lets look at Italy in a larger context. In 750 BCE the Etruscans had probably just conquered the entire area of Etruria and had not yet expanded their influence past Etruria to a great extent, however in several successful campaigns in the Etruscan Expansion they grew to encompass the Po River Valley (however only really having a few towns or cities) and to the south they grew to control Latium and Campania (including Rome). They founded Campeva near to where I founded Ushiluna several decades early.
The Etruscans were fiercely aristocratic and theocratic, hence the religious element to making leagues of 12 cities and the fact that they organized their governments as monarchies. The Latins were considered fierce warriors sometimes, as well as being aristocratic and having many similarities with the Etruscans who they often allied with. To the north of Etruria lay the celts and ligures, the Celts were a rapidly urbanizing, agricultural civilization that dispersed over Gaul (France), Iberia (Spain and Portugal), Germany, Britain, and later Northern Italy, the Balkans, and Turkey. The Ligures were a civilization separated into tribes, they were a mixture of tribes which were originally the first settlers to the area after the ice age, however this original culture disappeared among successive waves of introduced celtic culture. Other than this there is the Umbrians and Oscans, these groups often fostered very capable warriors and are thought to be the first inhabitants of Italy, some relatively famous tribes from this group are the Sabines (who were very often thought to have interacted with Rome), and the Samnites (one of the early great enemies of Rome). Other than this we know of the greeks in southern Italy, who had colonized Italy after leaving the overpopulated greece. They founded Magna Graecia which was almost as prosperous as mainland Greece. The Messapi and Apulians are two other groups, these relatively peaceful (or at least militarily weak) people were originally Illyrian (from the Balkans), but migrated to Italy. At this time there was also the North African Carthage’s colonies on Sicily, the Sicels (native Sicilians), and the native people of Corsica and Sardinia.
Other than an increase of Etruscan power (peeking at around 600 BCE), and the strengthening of Carthaginian power on Sicily the Italian peninsula saw some minor migrations (like the Oscans moving into Campania mentioned in part 9), but few great changes.
On an even larger scale we know that Carthage moved from colony to empire in this period of time, it extended power across North Africa, Iberia, Sardinia, Sicily, Phoenicia (the homeland, in modern Israel/Lebanon), and even further through an interconnected web of trade routes and alliances. Greece saw Athens and Sparta rise to power, a dispersal of colonies, overpopulation, a blooming of knowledge, and threats from Persia during this time period. Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Iran saw a rapid turn over of dynasties and empires that included the Neo-Assyrians, the Persians, the Medians, the Neo-Babylonians, and others. Buddhism began in the 6th century, Jainism had another prophet transform the religion, Proverbs was written in the near east, Zhou Dynasty China was in full swing through most of this period, and plenty of other events that would have great impacts on the world today.
Chapter Two - Trials of a New World
Part One - Friendships Broken, Friendships Made
“To teach the decline of the Rasna many teachers start out with a hypothetical anecdote in journal entry form from a merchant or higher profession to allow students to begin to understand the nature of this period of time, in fact I like the method so here is one of these anecdotes for the class to consider,” the professor began reading aloud from the textbook, ‘This year shipments of Egyptian grain have failed to land in Ushiluna’s port. I fear the problem of Ambrone [1] piracy, financed by Carthaginian gold will ruin our trade; already the Latins who work on our operations ask for much larger profits if they are to continue making these dangerous trips across the open sea where the Phoenician triremes have such an advantage of our relatively inexperienced crews. I can only hope that soon I will once again see the sails of our vessels climbing over the skyline of Ushiluna, instead I only occasionally see the Lennene and Ambrone sails cross through our horizon on the way from the land to the north with plunder from our vessels or Lennene trade ships eager to trade for the same materials our routes once monopolized. I fear for the future for my family, my business, and myself.’”
A fearsome projection of an Ambrone pirate.
“Now class,” the teacher continued, “what might this teach us about the cultural factors affecting this time period?”
Slowly, multiple students raised their hands.
“Yes, uhhh… Demetrios.”
“Carthage wasn’t allies with the Rasna anymore.”
“Yes, very good.”
“It seems by the sound of it that they were enemies in a small scale way. Even raiding Rasna ships passing near the coastal areas.”
“Thank you, okay, you… yes you in the back.”
“The Carthaginians were funding piracy in the Tyrrhenian Sea.”
“Good, I believe you had your hand up?”
“Yes. Uhhh… the Rasna economy over water was failing and Lennenes were taking a lot of trade away from them.”
“Last hand… you!”
“The general outlook for many Rasna was pessimistic.”
“These are all very good remarks you should all be able to understand at least these basic implications of the anecdote. The western Mediterranean economy was in tatters, the conquests of the Rasna and general decline, along with the now less powerful Lennenes, and growing Carthaginians meant for those cities not actively involved in trade with Carthage or in open hostilities with them that the world was falling apart. The Rasna now went exclusively near the shore, being on the Ambrone bad-list, and they would only take the Strait of Rhegium in order to avoid the Carthage-controlled western edge of Sicily. It was very much a period of concern and although they managed to survive on the scale of only a regional power, they would never take back the glory of 150 years before in the height of the Dodecapoli. However it wasn’t all bad, they managed to form a trade relationship with the more cautious Poseidonia, this trade relationship brought some prosperity back to the Campanian Rasna and also to the Poseidonians, they built a long wall similar to a scaled-down version of the Athenian one. Something that did not escape the notice of the people who described “New Athens” as Poseidonia. However this soon became a joke due to the mythological conflict between Poseidon and Athena due to the naming of Athens, and to force the name on Poseidonia as well was seen as a joke to ‘rub it in’. This also increased the amount of inland routes, many materials would travel across land from Ushiluna to Poseidonia, Taras, and the rest of the south from which it would travel across the Adriatic to mainland Greece,” the professor stated this enthusiastically and with only moment’s pause he continued, “this developed many of the first western roads to go along withs the more well known royal road which were designed by Persia to travel the empire.”
[1] Ambrone is what the Ligures (Liguria) called themselves.
Part Two - Petaloύdes Ahead
“Chapter 4.4 - Early Economics of the Western Mediterranean, The Mediterranean: Before Lennene Unification Ed. 2”
By the 4th century BU (5th century BCE) the entire framework of Italian trade had changed from the decades and even centuries before. Here is a brief description of inland and oversea transportation.
Inland Transportation
Several inland transport routes were utilized and trade flowed to five Rasna ports, these were Pisae, Fufluna, Mlakaθi (Harbour of Ushiluna), Alalia, and Kuma which exported their wealth to the world, other inland routes circumvented the sea and went to cities such as Rhegium, Taras, and other Lennene cities in Southern Italia entirely through a network of roads, the first of its scale, several roads passed near by the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Sea Coasts and supported trade in the worst periods of Ambrone piracy. This road system is now the basis for the roads of not only southern Italia, but for much of Southern Europe and areas of the New World.
In the 4th century BU (5th century BCE) the roads were very experimental in both scale and design, and because of this they vary greatly. Roads along the Adriatic Coast have a 4 foot-high wall on their side facing towards the coast (as far as can be identified from archaeological digs), which is where there would be the most risk considering most (Illyrian) pirates would have to land on the coast. The Tyrrhenian Coast has several very wide roads, with little cover even today for bandits and the like, the would be much more traveled and the number of eyes was often considered an advantage against thugs preparing to steal from wagons and carts. Another road has been found leading straight through Umbria as well however it is considered small and insignificant, it would have been very dangerous if you were unprotected but would have been extremely travelling if you needed a quick route between South-Eastern Italy and Ushiluna. Vetio’s security concerns are enough that no follow up archaeological digs have been made.
Ramps used in battle.
Oversea Transportation
Oversea transportation was much faster than inland transportation and allowed people to get across the sea, to trade with Egypt, Ellás [1], Sicily, and even Carthage (enemy governments was not as reason to harm your own economy after all). The port cities of Kuma, Fufluna, Mlakaθi, and Pisae collected resources from across Italy, including Keltoi [2] items from even further north. There was one risk that dominated all others for the sea traders, the fact was that the pirates were very able mariners, more so than the Rasna, and it showed in their ruthless raiding of the Rasna vessels. The Carthaginians helped finance these expeditions of terror to economically isolate meχl-Rasnal. However all it forced them to do was to innovate, many vessels had large numbers of Latin crew members, who were cheap workers and easy to toss around, however they were also often good warriors, at least in hand to hand combat, the trick was to develop a way to board an enemy ship without risk of ramming sinking the ship.
This lead to the lupumarish [3] a device used on the front of Rasna vessels that could be knocked down onto the side of an opponent’s boat, allowing a boarding crew to easily take over the pirate’s ships and possibly even collect more loot from the opposing ship, and even the ships themselves which were often well made using every piece of silver they got [4]. This mid-4th century BU invention greatly increased the success of their operations and cut down on piracy, just enough to allow the water ways to continue prospering (however eventually more drastic means would be needed, but that is discussed in chapter 5).
Zankle and Rhegium because of the need of the Rasna to access the Strait of Rhegium (to avoid Carthaginian Sicily en route to Ellás and Egypt) became needed allies and great trading partners although there was occasional bumps when either side got greedy. Poseidonia, although originally concerned of hostility shown to more northern Lennene groups (Kumans for example), trade quickly flourished and the city grew a network of roads and sea lanes leading to the rest of the Mediterranean. The Rasna may have been struggling for relevance but they weren’t dead yet.
[1] Greece.
[2] Greek for celts.
[3] Slave of Death in Etruscan.
[4] This shows they are pretty desperate, considering that normal currency was leather bags with cheap alloys inside (here).
Part Three - Conspiracy of the Latins
Carthage, 345 BU
The young Latin looked nervously up to the building he was entering, here the finest of Carthage met and discussed the city’s future and today hopefully his as well. The council of elders was preparing to meet.
Today he would be lucky and an audience with the council would be accepted.
“Presenting to the Council of Elders, a Latin warrior offering a plan to thwart the Rasna of Campania for your consideration,” an old speaker spoke to the growing crowd of elders on the borders of the room.
This brought up a low grumble from the councillors who had seen many such plans all of which had failed to defeat any city-state of meχl-Rasnal.
The Latin came out from a large doorway into the filled room on his own and stood in front of the crowd with a serious look on his face, he paused a minute, thinking out every word; and then he spoke “My councillors, I come to you today because of the menacing Rasna, who continue to… terror the people of Latium in a evil occupation that saw the end of freedom for the Latins. My organization has secretly started planning a mission to die… uhh… kill the ruling dynasty of Campania.”
This brought up a slow murmur from the crowd, they had thought this impossible considering that the dynasty included 5 kings (The kings of Ushiluna, Parthenope, Kuma, Dicaearchia, Pithekoussai were related because of the campaigns of victories lead by the Rasna, especially Ushiluna) and their families.
“The feast of Laran is in what you call the month of Sīwān,” [1] he paused to think this through, “Laran is what you might call Ares, a god of war, all of the kings of the Campanian League will talk… meet on that day, and the king of Ushiluna will lead the meeting in his own city.”
A reconstruction of Carthage.
He swallowed before continuing, “Mars, our god of war, showed himself to us and told us to strike during the feast for Laran.” The murmur grew into cries to throw them out, or kill him as a sacrifice. Finally it calmed down enough that the man could yell over the angry elders, “On the day of the strike the military will be paralyzed by the loss of their kings. I believe that your Ambrone pirates will be free to attack any harbour of Campania without fear of the ships of the Rasna. Soon after, my people will raise a hoard of Latins, the last of the Romans, to deliver the people of Latium from their shackles.”
A man yelled out a joke from the back row, “How should we trust someone who does not even know properly the language of the civilized world!?!”
This brought laughter from the entire audience.
A chuckling man looked down at the Latin standing in the centre of the room, “What the fuck are you still doing here, this is over, you will have your answer when… if a fleet of Ambrones arrives to follow through with your plan.”
The Latin nodded, and left, he was determined not to show his humiliation, but when he finally got out he muttered to himself; “Fucking fat filthy pigs, Carthage will one day topple, and soldiers of Mars will be on the battlefield to declare victory.”
Back in the meeting hall, without his knowledge the Carthaginians were quick to come to a decision, a message was sent to the allies in the north, it read, “You are to attack the harbours of Mlakaθi, Parthenope, Kuma, Dicaearchia, and Pithekoussai on the day of the feast of Laran, Send your entire fleet and raze all the ships of Campania.”
[1] The month and the god are real however I don’t know when or if the feast of Laran exists, it is a small suspension of disbelief.
Part Four - Chaos, Confusion, and a New Dynamic
The plans of the Latins came to pass at the feast of Laran during the beginning of the games taking place in grand arena in Ushiluna. Five men, followed by their wives, sons, and daughters came out in front of a large audience, little did they know that many Latins hidden in the crowd carried bows, knives, and various other weapons, they were ready to hit their targets.
Finally just as the games had begun, an arrow fired, hitting the tyrant of Parthenope. Then a knife came swirling through the crowd, just missing the eldest son of the king of Ushiluna, and the suddenly an onslaught of arrows, knives, and projectiles hit several kings and royal family members. The guards soon became confused and began trying to disperse the crowd killing many bystanders and participants in the crime in the process. Soon the games came to a halt and a mob of people were forcing their way out of the arena, everyone was running and many people were trampled. After the events were over, the kings of Parthenope, Kuma, and Dicaearchia were dead, the eldest son of the Ushiluna king was the only child of his to survive, and a smattering of other children and 2 queens were dead.
But in the terror of the situation the king of Ushiluna (who's names was Aule or Cai depending on the chronology of the dynasty you believe) showed his ability to command, he gave the command of Kuma and Dicaearchia to the king of Pithekoussai, and gave his eldest son Parthenope, with a promise to the remaining royal children that they would be given their parent’s cities when they turned 24. This settled any struggling over the thrown and allowed a temporary calm to the situation. The military was put on high alert to protect the cities of Campania from any further attacks, this message got across Campania by night fall. And when the Ambrones started to attack at the harbour of Mlakaθi their assaults were easily thwarted, their was similar however varying degrees of success across the rest of Campania, except for Pithekoussai which lost most of the harbour to a fire.
A Lennene statue of a Rasna warrior.
Then the issue of the Latins came back to the table, the king of Ushiluna sent a message out that promised the Latins full citizenship in Ushiluna and increased food from Ushiluna in return for their cooperation and aid in finding the “Last of the Romans” that had almost crippled the Campanian Rasna. In return for a generous reward a tip quickly came in that lead the Rasna to discover a young village in the ruins of the latin city of Tibur that had not been inhabited since the days of Thucer Sterculus.
The city was massacred and the Ushilunan soldiers showed that they also had a capacity for ruthlessness. After this is considered the point where the Latins began to assimilate into Rasna culture. And also shows the beginning of a more heavy handed Campanian dynasty. Some of the Latins involved in the plot against the Rasna were able to escape to Carthage and into the hands of the Oscans but the flames of the rebellion had been doused for good. Another important feature was it finally allowed Safinim to get the edge against the Campanian Rasna who were still hit hard by the crisis.
A new dynamic had became clear, the Rasna were slowly losing control of territory that had always been theirs and now were in decline, perhaps for good. The Oscans to the south were defeating the Rasna and moving to dominance, the northern celts were as ferocious as ever, and conflicts with Carthage had finally climaxed. This was the beginning of the end of the golden age of Ushiluna and meχl-Rasnal.
It was not all bad though, the pirates had been decimated by their failed attack on Campania and it would be years before another fleet could be created, the lennenes were coming off a victory against Carthage in the year 368 BU (480 BCE) [1]. And the Carthaginians would probably never attempt something of that scale ever again, the future was clouded, at least for now the Rasna would survive.
[1] After the Carthaginians defeated the Spartan leader Dorieus, the lennenes would defeat the Carthaginians in a counter strike this is not butterflied and happened in 480 BCE.
Part Five - All Storms Pass
“After the chaos caused by the Last of the Romans, and the Ambrone failure to take the harbours of Campania, the dynamic of the Western Mediterranean was completely different from what it had been before,” the professor said, “the Ambrones had their generous payments halted from Carthage and the already unsteady mission of piracy the Ambrones were engaged in quickly failed. Over the next several decades the pirates of the North would return to their strongholds, their power extremely diminished by failed raids picking away at their numbers. Does anyone have any questions?”
One person raised their hand, and the teacher nodded for him to ask.
“Why did Carthage stop funding the Ambrones?”
This was a simple question with a simple answer the professor thought to himself, “The Ambrones would have needed a large amount of money to rebuild the vessels lost in the raid on Campania. The sky-high cost and perceived incompetence by many Carthaginians of the Ambrone pirates had reached a breaking point where eventually Carthage decided to cut its losses and attack with Carthaginian vessels which were thought to be better prepared.”
The teacher paused, “Does that answer your question?”
The student nodded.
A carthaginian vessel sporting the phoenician horse, a traditional sail design.
And abruptly the professor continued, “Several Carthaginian vessels harassed Rasna vessels in the Tyrrhenian Sea and did for a little while manage to slow down trade, however the effort would soon become to costly for the Carthaginians, and the Rasna were mostly marginalized anyways and the piracy eventually faded until the Rasna experienced the safest seas in almost a century.”
“However the Rasna would continue to decline on their own accord, never again would they be able to defeat the Lennenes at sea, or dominate the trade network they had created. Now they were sidelined. The Oscans were expanding in the south, and the keltoi in the north. In fact this would come to full fruition in the next century because of a group of keltoi known as the Senoni, but that is for another lecture,” he said confidently, “both the Keltoi and the Oscans would get a chance to try and conquer the Rasna. However it would still be many years before the Rasna lost all political power and it would be in no way permanent. The Rasna would still have more than one reincarnated empire, the end of the Rasna dodecapoli would not be the end of the Rasna.”
Part Six - Rise of the Safineis
One of the most prominent of the Oscan tribal groups in the 4th century BU (5th century BCE) and later was was the Safineis[1], they are the reason for the name given to much of central Italia this region is called Cingetolexodoenti, or “slopes give warriors”, a reference to an enormous defeat for a semi-mythological Elvetorix on the mountainous terrain of the region. However at the time the Safineis would have known the region of Safinim, and the Rasna of Campania called the region by the name Samnium in later centuries.
While the Rasna rebuilt themselves after the assassination of many members of the Campanian Dynasty, the Oscan tribes, lead by the Safineis began savaging several small villages on the edge of Rasnan territory, and slowly they even began to move to bigger targets, an army of a little less than a thousand would walk on a major trade outpost the Rasna maintained along the roads along the coastline, and although the route was far less travelled after the Ambrone defeat opened the seas to more trade, it still was a major event if as much for the antagonism of the display of force as much as the actual net cost, and an army of heavily armed Rasna soldiers and lightly armed Latins was soon dispatched, said to be 30,000 by early accounts, although it was probably closer to 3000 or 5000, still a major fighting force, this was sent out to crush the Safineis and Oscans in several cities that now existed nearby to Ushiluna itself.
Safineis warriors in full battle dress.
This army was bigger than the army of Oscans due to the less organized nature of these armies and the Rasna at first met little resistance, they destroyed several cities over a period of about a month, then in the spring of 328 BU (440 BCE), a now almost bored fighting force was ambushed on the narrow trail between Ushiluna and Taras, this battle showcased the excellent fighting skills of the Safineis and the army that probably wasn’t more than 1500 almost completely slaughtered the army. In fact only traders passing through days after the Safineis had left would discover the corpses stretching for as far as the eye could see.
This battle that is not known by any name would be a landmark in the relationship of the Rasna with the Oscans, the barbarians were now in control and the Rasna were slowly waning in influence, several decades later in 308 BU (420 BCE) [2] the Safineis would conquer Ushiluna (the other cities of Campania would survive for more than a century before meeting a similar fate). One wonders what could have been if the Latins had not already assimilated into Rasna culture at that point considering it would have meant an end to dependence on the Rasna and forced them to work on creating their own cities and government (or of course a collapse into anarchy).
The Rasna of Campania were past their golden age, and as the Rasna desperately attacked the Oscans, it was already almost a sure thing that the Rasna had lost on the southern theatre. The safineis would not stop there, however it would be more than a century however until we see the shepherds of the mountains [3] start reaching for the full potential.
[1] Safineis is the term the Samnites used for themselves.
[2] 4 years after Campeva (modern Capua), an OTL Rasna city that has a history paralleling in some ways the history of Ushiluna would have been conquered by the Oscans.
[3] The safineis were first a foremost shepherds of the mountainous regions of central Italy, that didn’t stop them from being damn good warriors too.
Part Seven - The Safineis
“Chapter 6.2 – The Early Safineis, Italia Ed. 3”
The Safineis were a proud and durable people; they were a tribe of Oscan, who are known to have been one of the oldest peoples of Italia. The Latins used condescending names against many other peoples of Italia — the Fat Rasna, the Undemanding Umbrians, and so on. For at least one people, however, the Latins used a label that showed respect, even fear: “belliger Samnis”, the Warrior Safineis.
This was one of the most important features of Safineis culture however no culture was 1-Dimensional (not even Sparta). They were shepherds, and much of their culture centred on this fact, their religion called the Cult of Springtime or the Holy Springtime incorporated many elements from their warrior and shepherding culture. Any firstborn that was birthed during the spring months was sacrificed to the Safineis God of War, known as Mamerte (probably the result of an ancient famine or bout of overpopulation), who the Lennenes would later associate with Ares, showing how much war influenced their culture. Shepherd Warriors would attend migrations where a village would be moved to a location that the warriors believed would please a pre-selected sacred animal such as a bull, a wolf, or a deer.
Shepherds of Ancient Italia.
Other than their religion, there are many features that are influenced by war and shepherding. Though they would later prove themselves capable of conquering vast territories, they did not have any concept of land ownership, the lands were used only by the group to feed the herd. On the other hand, an obvious result of their warrior capabilities, as an outlet to prove their strength is the tournament held every spring equinox where warriors would prove their strength in wrestling and other feats in warrior games.
They would later influence Rasna religion; Laran (the Rasna god of war) would adopt many of the features of Mamerte, stopping just short of demanding sacrifice of firstborns in springtime. And of course as I mentioned earlier the Lennenes would associate Ares with Mamerte.
Their society would stay fairly simple until they began to really expand their influence in Campania by the 3rd century BU (4th century BCE).
Part 8 - Worlds Collide
“Book IV 58-59, The History of the Peloponnesian War”
“(58) During the same summer the people of Kamarina and Gelo in Sicily made a truce, in the first instance with one another only. But after a while all the other Sicilian states sent envoys to Gelo, where they held a conference in the hope of effecting a reconciliation. Many opinions were expressed on both sides; and the representatives of the different cities wrangled and put in claims for the redress of their several grievances. Eventually, personal objections would end the conference, and many cities left the talks without an agreement.
(59) Syracuse was the first notable city to leave the talks declaring that Sicily is for the Syracusans [1] and that they intended to continue with their efforts to move on the other cities of Sicily. They declared that they would not allow wrongs done against them in previous wars to go unpunished and would defeat the Sicilians in conquest. The original truce would be broken by the people of Kamarina and Gelo very quickly as Gelo came to the aid of Syracuse while the people of Kamarina sought to destroy them.”
The war for Sicily grew as the Athens sympathizers and allies of Syracuse fought for power, Cleander, a strategoi for Kamarina, took Zankle, an important city on the strait of Rhegium. They then began moving to besiege Syracuse, while allies of Syracuse scrambled to stop them, Gelo sent its own army after Kamarina itself and just as the battle for Syracuse started, the people of Kamarina began to fortify the walls and collect food for a long battle on the homefront.
After most of the navy of Syracuse was defeated by an incoming army of Kamarina, the chances for Syracuse seemed to be getting slimmer. However slowly as news began to reach the army of Kamarina of the homefront battle, the siege was recalled and while the army of Kamarina returned ready to force back the army of Gelo the allies of Syracuse began trying to regain lost territory. Eventually Kamarina was liberated while on the other side the army of Syracuse was much smaller than it was before the outbreak of fighting and had lost at the important points near the Strait of Rhegium. The war had changed the balance of power on Sicily forever.
The armies of Syracuse meet the Athenian fleet.
During what became the beginning of a relatively peaceful period, the cities of Kamarina and Gelo a second time tried for peace, and this time another invitation was sent out, and so began what would be known as the Second Conference of Gelo. After a powerful speech by Dionysius [2] , a popular strategoi, the Sicilians agreed to a peaceful truce, this truce known as the Kamarina-Gelo Alliance was very important to the survival of Syracuse during the Sicilian expedition, a conflict directly between Syracuse and Athens directly, as the hostile Lennene city states of Sicily did not come to the aid of Athens, allowing the alliance of Syracuse to force out the Athenians who retreated back to under the direction of an Athenian strategoi, Nicias, with 98 ships out of the 207 that had arrived on Sicily [3]. This was a devastating loss for Athens. The triremes were replaceable but not so for the 15,000 oarsmen who had perished off the coast of Sicily were not [4].
As a result of this the army had to begin using for much of their fleet untrained slaves, after an attempted coup failed to overturn the democracy of Athens, the government turned power over to a leader who temporarily had almost complete power over Athens, the council chose Baerius who began a campaign to end the conquest of Sparta and in a daring campaign lasting several years he had a long string of victories, however it would not last, the remaining navy could not hold down an entire empire and the people began to rebel, the Athenian Empire had almost entirely collapsed by 284 BU (396 BCE). Athens was finally defeated for good in 280 BU (392 BCE). Athens would survive, their fleet limited and their army nearly gone, but it was long past the end of the First Golden Age of Athens.
[1] OTL they Congress of Gela came to the decision thanks to the now butterflied Hermocrates that they would form a peace, and “Sicily for the Sicilians” kind of like the Monroe Doctrine, this timeline had a less fruitful result without Hermocrates.
[2] Dionysius I the Elder in our reality made Syracuse one of the most powerful cities in all of Greece, in this timeline he is staying as a strategoi instead of rising to power after victories in the now butterflied Second Sicilian War (started by Hermocrates). We will see how this works out.
[3] The entire army was destroyed OTL, in ATL about half escapes, a grave defeat for Athens but it gives them a dozen more years before they are ultimately defeated. Have I butterflied Philip of Macedon with this move?!? I don’t know.
[4] It was 30,000 oarsmen OTL that were defeated, so it is very different.
Part Nine - The War that Wasn't
This type of bronze coin was common when Iberia was part of the Carthaginian Republic.
While the Greeks cities in Sicily bickered and prospered, Carthage had conquered much new farmland in northern Libya, they strengthened and founded new colonies in North Africa, such as Leptis and Oea, in the desert between the modern moorish lands and Egypt. Carthage had also sponsored the journey of Mago Barca across the Sahara Desert to Cyrenaica, and Hanno the Navigator's journey down the African coast. However, the Iberian colonies had seceded, cutting off Carthage's major supply of silver and copper.
They were now the financial center to the entire Mediterranean, the Phoenicians managed to guide through their ports goods from Libya, Iberia, Gaul, Ellás, Egypt, Anatolia, Illyria, Mesopotamia, Levant, Armenia, Media, Italia, and Persia. And reach markets far and wide, they were skilled merchants and were very capable of defending their interests, sometimes with force.
Segesta, a Elymian ally of Carthage submitted to Carthage in the year 298 BU (410 BCE) [1] in return for aid against the enemy city of Selinus, after a quick defeat of Selinus at the Battle of Selinus and then went on to destroy Himera in the Second Battle of Himera. Despite Syracusan participation in the defense of these cities (even their strategoi known as Dionysius died during battle) the sides would uneasily withdraw peacefully with the Carthaginians taking the spoils of war.
This was just a sign of an earthquake preparing to take the western Mediterranean by storm. The Kamarina-Gelo Alliance became the counter-weight to the city of Carthage, a scale that had an unmistakeable bias towards Carthage, soon the cities of the Mediterranean, whether they knew it or not were taking sides, the Rasna of Veia, Pisae, and Fufluna began to side with the Italiote League who opposed the Sicilians because of the fact that they were competing, especially for trade with Ellás. The Gauls and Celtiberians remained fiercely independent, although uniting with the Phoenician colonies in Iberia occasionally who as mentioned before had seceded from Carthage. The Persians decided to remain out of it, making it a struggle of almost entirely the Carthaginians attempting to gain favour with the Lennenes against their own people on Sicily.
However the war through clever diplomacy on both sides managed to be delayed with a peace treaty, known as the Conference of Akragas, it offset war for thirty years and maintained the status quo. A masterful negotiator on the side of Syracuse known as Akakios was able to manage concessions out of the Carthaginians and defend the territories of the Lennenes well, these negotiations ended in 295 BU (407 BCE) but the divide remained and after the end of the Peloponnesian War this would align new alliances in place for even the homeland of the Lennenes, Ellás.
As the alliances formed several major developments proceeded in the meχl-Rasnal, events that would profoundly influence the peninsula of Italia, all over the world it seemed to be both a time of peace and a time of new trials.
[1] The year the OTL Second Sicilian War started, with the help of the rogue strategoi Hermocrates, who's absence has already caused chaos in Greece and Sicily.
Chapter Three - Any Port is Welcome in a Storm
Part One - From Vetio we Flee
[A humid day in the month Maimakterion made the weather of Alalia intensely hot, Marius had gone undercover, the Alalian authorities were searching the village for refugees from Vetio. And he knew he would never be welcomed there again. When I knocked on the door, I could here hustling on the door to get the refugees into hiding, many soldiers ignored this, not wishing to sentence the refugees to die in a Vetio labour camp. When the house owner opens the door for me he has a visual display of relief to see it is me, followed by a quick ushering indoors, best not take chances with the soldiers.]
[I find my interviewee]
When did you leave Vetio?
When I was twelve, my parents sent me off on a navis oneraria [1] that landed at Libya, I had stolen bread and was to be executed, fortunately my parents had a merchant friend who sailed off from Sluna to Kartajen [2], then from there I traveled to Alalia after I had collected enough money. It took me 8 years to get the money.
Have you seen your parents since?
No.
I am sorry to here that. Have you been back to Vetio since?
No. I can barely survive with the aid of our lovely host, I could never manage enough to make it to Vetio.
[A woman in cleaner robes than the rest blushes]
Do you want to?
I just want to see my family. The last word I got from them was the merchant before he died when I was still in Kartajen was that my father had starved the next summer but my sister had caught the eye of the local rix, if they joined hearts, there might be hope that they are alive yet.
How do you get the power to continue?
I take each day step-by-step, like an interview, I respond to each challenge, each question that comes my way.
Tell me about the last time you saw your parents.
I was just a teenager, it was a rainy night and my parent hugged me once near a bridge I had been hiding under, a favourite spot of mine before I was hunted . . .
Hunted?
Sorry, it is hard for me to relate, in your society you have trials, correct?
A idealized "Hunter" with the spoils of a raid.
Yes.
In Vetio there is no need, why find the truth when all you need to do is scare the people enough, and how better than public execution?
Thank you, please continue.
. . . after I said goodbye I went through Sluna, evading the patrols. I knew the way. I found the merchant in a small ship in the port ready to take me out to his vessel. We left in the early morning of a cold day in Gamelion.
What was it like in Vetio?
As a child I believed it my divine purpose to spread the good word of Vetio. I joined the Marmertines [3], a club set up to indoctrinate the children of Vetio. By your standards I was starving but at the time it felt like I was in command of the world, I was in the comforts of my family, my people, and my gods. And was happy.
[Upon finding records I discovered that the man's family was killed after his sister killed the local lord or rix in his sleep]
[1] Latin (which has infiltrated the Etruscan language) for Cargo Ship.
[2] Berber name for Carthage.
[3] Oscan for "Sons of Mars".
Part Two - Kill Them All and the Gods will Know their Own
By the year 300 BU (412 BCE), the Rasna had already been rattled to the core, their racial memory would never recover from this period of decline they were going through. The south was a lost cause, the lands of the once proud Latins and Romans lay in ruins, the rich Campanian Rasna of the south were gone. And now a period of flux had started.
This would be further stressed in 288 BU (400 BCE) by an invasion from the North, this new wave of Gaulish invaders known as the Senoni went virtually unchallenged through Rasna territory before settling on the coast of the Adriatic Sea and forcing out many of the Umbrians, they created a kingdom for themselves around a city known to them as Sena [1]. This appeared as a looming threat until was finally broke out in 279 BU (391 BCE), and hoards of gauls came down on the city of Clevsin [2] like a scourge, this siege began the war for the ancestral homeland of the Rasna.
The Dodecapoli was not finished yet, Fufluna [3] and Curtun [4] sent their combined armies on a mission to defeat the gauls, the armies together were about 18,000 which historians tell us is about three Rasna soldiers for every two Senoni soldiers.
A Depiction of the Battle on the fields outside Clevsin, the last battle the site would ever see.
The armies met on the farmer’s fields surrounding Clevsin for an enormous battle (for the relatively small population of Italia these armies were huge), this battle would set the stage for the future of Italia.
So you can imagine the Rasna’s concern when the Gauls won. The battle was long and hard, the armies were both inflicting major damage upon each other and at the end the Gauls came out victorious. It is said that the Gauls attacked with the ferocity of the animals of the North, old myths once held to be true even said that the Gauls transformed themselves into beasts to defeat the army of Rasna veterans. However now the commonly held belief is that the Gauls were capable warriors who knew the weaknesses in the popular Italic Phalanx, the Phalanx worked well against other Phalanxes but not against a more mobile army, the core was always made of the richer and well-armed soldiers while the flanks were less experienced and less well armed.
The flanks must have been exploited flawlessly, the soldiers were butchered by the full force of the Gauls and then the core of wealthier soldiers were surrounded and killed.
However the battle was not so simple, as the Rasna began to realize that they were losing, the army of Clevsin attacked from behind, reinforcing the Rasna, though the army of Clevsin was only a fraction of the Senoni army, the rescue allowed the others a moment to regain their footing, however by the end of it the Rasna were once again surrounded, the soldiers were retreating now into the gates of Clevsin and before the gates could be closed it was too late, the city was razed. The Rasna soon realized the enemy they were facing was greater than they thought.
Another battle for Italia would be fought soon enough, but the odds were different now, though some major players had been knocked out of the game, the Rasna had more than enough man power to continue their fight, but the Senoni would have much greater challenges ahead of them, and had much fewer men to continue on with.
[1] Senigallia in modern Italy OTL.
[2] Clusium.
[3] Modern Populonia.
[4] Modern Cortona.
Part Three - Sweat in Peace Time, You will shed less Blood in War
In 265 BU (377 BCE), the year the peace agreement signed at the Conference of Akragas came to an end, a surprise came, weeks before the agreement officially ended, the Italiote League amassed a fleet in Rhegium, and attacked Zankle, they of course weren’t bound by the peace agreement, and were counting on reinforcements from Carthage when the agreement reached its end.
And this fleet of 80 vessels surrounded the city, they made land fall and thousands of soldiers began surrounding the city and pillaging the hinterlands. The city that had seen this coming, had prepared by collecting as much crops as possible and sending a message of their siege to Syracuse, a loyal ally.
When Syracuse received word that the city was under attack, they redirected their efforts that had been to prepare for the struggle with Carthage that would repeat inevitably to help Zankle, a land army was sent and most of the fleet left for Zankle, when they arrived with 150 vessels they engaged in the Battle of Zankle, the battle was hard fought but numbers prevailed, the result was that the fleet brought the battle back to Rhegium, only a couple miles away from Zankle.
The city found itself with a reduced navy and a lack of preparedness for such an assault. They knew reinforcements were two weeks away and that was a huge concern, because they didn’t know if they could last that long against an onslaught of invaders. However 9 days into the siege a command came from Syracuse to bring part of the fleet back home to prepare for Carthaginian assaults.
And finally when a new army of 60 vessels arrived to relieve the battered Rhegium army, they found 25 Sicilian vessels supplemented with 15 vessels from Zankle. and the battle ended with both sides withdrawing to their sides of the Strait of Rhegium. As the tensions began to settle for the moment the moment finally came, the Carthaginians got their chance to strike out for revenge. The Second Sicilian War had begun.
Forces battling at Katane.
The Carthaginians sent some of their army over land, some reports say 100,000 men went off to march over Sicily, and it seems this figure might have been realistic, this army marched on Segesta for a momentous victory. This battle was easily won and next they marched on Himera. This battle was a major setback for the Carthaginians as the Himerans held out for a month until sea vessels could stop shipments into the city, once the Himerans did meet them in battle though the city was emptied of its inhabitants and resettled by Phoenician Settlers.
However the fleet had much more important battles to win.
First they sent a fleet to attack Zankle. Though unsuccessful in taking the city it distracted Syracuse and relieved the Italiote Lennenes enough to be reinvigorated to continue their own battle. At the same time they attacked Katane, a city with deep connections to Syracuse. This enraged Syracuse and 60 vessels were dispatched to scare off the Carthaginians, meanwhile another fleet attacked Syracuse directly, but was warded off by a strong defense from the remaining navy. Soon Gelo was also sending aid, taking some of the burden of Syracuse.
However the turning point in the war which would progress further as mostly large skirmishes was of a diplomatic nature, Kamarina, a historical ally of Carthage, in the year 260 BU (372 BCE) broke its alliance with Syracuse, and soon internal conflict increased, this was a huge victory for Carthage and soon the rest of the alliance of Sicily was on the defensive.
After Himera, the land army had marched for Zankle, taking it siege and immobilizing its forces. The war was turning out very badly for Syracuse and Sicily.
Part Four - A Textbook Example
“Chapter 7 - The Early Decline Period, History of the Rasna Ed. 5”
Battle of Perusia
One cannot explore the Battle of Perusia without understanding one man, his name was Rasce Alsinei. He was the one who finally ended the dominance of the Senoni in the Umbrians lands, and tried to restore the Umbrians and Rasna to old balances of power. He was the general who defended Perusia from Senoni assault and though he did not live to see it, his courage and ingenuity would bring back some of the power long since lost to Gaulish and Oscan onslaughts.
Rasce Alsinei in a small space of time however managed to revolutionize the Italic Phalanx. And started a pattern that would begin to differentiate the phalanxes of the East from the Italics. His alteration was simple, he realized the error that allowed the flanks to fall so easily, and set about changing that, the richer and more heavily armoured were distributed evenly across the phalanx, allowing for uniform amounts of strength. Not only this, but this humbling act that forced the noblemen to be spread out through the entire army allowed them to join more in with their poorer counterparts and allowed to interact, move, and cooperate as one.
Gallic Warriors against a Rasna soldier, found in the ruins of Fufluna.
When a force moved to extract a tribute from Perusia, they found an army standing guard over the city from their hilltop fortress. This army held the higher ground and eventually had to be dealt with, and after trying to wait them out for over a week. His men finally marched onward into battle. Once again they tried to go for the flanks of the army that was roughly their size, about six thousand soldiers in total.
And they met a surprise, an army stronger than any they had ever met in battle. They knew they were losing until a lucky arrow hit Rasce, piercing his thin armour (that in some glorified tales he had given to a poorer soldier that had shown promise), and in fact the army did successfully force them back, even until they were trampling on the dead general’s body. But then in a sudden burst of courage, the army fought back hard and strong, finally covering enough ground to retrieve their fallen general and soon they drove the Senoni into retreat, mostly toward the Tiber River. Early ones got boats, some desperately swam across, many drowned from exhaustion, being unable to swim, or just the mass of bodies that were forcing them forward. And a courageous few fought a valiant final battle on the shores of the Tiber River, surrounded by their dead comrades. A fitting climax to the battle for meχl-Rasnal.
The Aftermath
The leader of the Senoni, a Gaul named Brennos [1] was no longer capable of controlling his kingdom, in fact many of his most loyal supporters had fought themselves to death on the banks of the Tiber River while his cowardly brethren and political enemies retreated in fear. Finally in the year 277 BU (389 BCE), two years after the battle, the kingdom collapsed, various enemies of Brennos began a diaspora through out Umbria as warlords. As many as a hundred warlords existed at first according to the Rasna historians who have translated ancient texts, but in the year 270 BU (382 BCE) it is known that only 10 kingdoms remained, in a daily struggle for dominance. One that stirred up trouble in the Umbrian lands for years to come.
While this all happened in Umbria, the Rasna were now coping with what they yet did not know was their death blow, as the influence of the major cities began to decline, and Fufluna opened up to attack was in its death throws, the Dodecapoli began to decline, Pisae [2] was entered into the league of twelve cities to replace Clevsin. And though significantly weakened, they continued to carry on. And would still continue for more than a century.
[1] Or Brennus to us OTLers.
[2] Pisa in Modern Italia of OTL and ATL (dropping the harsh ending is probable considering it exists in both timelines).
Part Five - Tortured by Fundamentalism
Korinthos, Ellás United
Erasmios walked up to the stage, above him he saw the flags, Athēnai, Korinthos, Themanthos, Messinia, Pella, and finally closest to the stage he recognized the flag of Ellás United, he only recognized the brilliantly coloured flag from books, he had been a child last time he had passed through the Gates of Herakles and sailed to Ellás. He had lived most of his life in Neos Athēnai [1], far from his ancestral homeland.
As he walked up to the podium, he looked out at his audience, there must be over a thousand people in this room. He had no idea his ideas had so much popularity in the ancient city, he had been told that closer to the heart of New Lennene Religion that the old ways were still enforced, and that the Lennenes lacked the freedoms the colonies received. These people are in attendance at great risk to themselves and their families, he thought, I hope they get a good show.
He found himself staring, and realized he had stood there without moving for several seconds. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He closed his eyes, calmed himself down, and then tried again.
The unofficial emblem for the "Common Ancestry" Movement growing in popularity across the Lennene World.
“Hello, thank you for coming. I am glad to get a chance to speak to you, you honour me with your presence. I am happy to discover the showing I gathered with my modest ideals. Ideals I hope many of you have considered or will consider, despite the stigma they may get from the current government. Many of you are probably scientists, freethinkers, religious minorities, or just activist hoping my ideas will be the beginning of a revolution in which we can reshape our view of our world, ourselves, and our religions.
This is something I promise I will deliver on.
Despite our differences, despite what religion might say, we are no different from the barbaros of Libya, the people of Vetio, and even the people across the ocean who seem so alien to us that fundamentalists teach our children they are a different species! We must throw out such bigotry if we ever hope to accomplish a free society, where fundamentalist aren’t allowed to brain wash our children and barbaros are given equal rights. If we ever hope to improve the world we live in we must change the fundamentals of society, a good start would be to teach common ancestor theory beside divinities in school. This moment is the first opportunity in centuries for anything to change and we can...”
Suddenly a bang came from across the room, and Erasmios keeled over in pain. He fell to the floor, but just had enough time to view the shooter before his eyes closed, perhaps forever. He could here the crowd screaming for a few seconds, and then nothing.
[1] San Francisco Bay Area. It has a climate very similar to the Mediterranean Sea, and in this era roughly corresponding to the 1870s in terms of settlement of the New World.
Part Six - Clutching at Straws
The war was going very badly for Syracuse, in 255 BU (367 BCE) the city was surrounded by enemies on all sides. Finally in an act of desperation, a fleet had been dispatched to land on the Libyan Coast and bring the battle back to Carthage. Ten thousand soldiers were sent to attack the rich agricultural areas under the control of Carthage, in the hopes that they could stop force the Carthaginians to come back home, and eventually they hoped to hit their final target, the city of Carthage itself. Defeat Carthage, and the Phoenician cities would go their separate ways, at least that was the plan.
As this plan came into action, the Carthaginians dispatched their general Melqherem with an army of 18,000 to stop this army before it could do any damage, a large army for the time period. The Lennene army decided it was better not to engage them directly and tried repeatedly to hit their army quickly and get out before their forces were organized. At the same time, their activities of raiding the Carthaginian farmers was paying off. The Carthaginian armies in Sicily were often carefully rationed and many were killed needlessly in battle because they were malnourished and their bodies could not take the stress of battle.
The Sicilian Lennenes finally decided to head for Carthage, realizing they had done all they could where they were, so they marched towards Carthage. Before they attacked Carthage however they would need to confront Melqherem’s army, and the Battle of Sicca Veneria [1] in 253 BU (265 BCE) decided how the war would proceed.
The battlefield was hot and dry, behind the other army is a fortress on a foothill. There was about 10,000 Carthaginian Soldiers because a large portion of the army was sent to cover other possible targets and defend the citadel from inside the walls. The battle was enormous for the age and the winner would have made a huge leap forward for their cause.
The battle as depicted by the Carthaginians (this version of events may stray from those provided by Carthaginian scholars).
The battle finally begun with both sides forming defensive positions near the city, Carthage made the first move, they sent their cavalry to make a quick assault on the opposing phalanx and retreat behind their allies. However when they charged, the Lennene spear men were quick to respond, the sky was quickly filled with a swarm of spears that pierced the armour of men and the skin of horses. Before they could run back to their lines the advancing Lennenes overtook them and slaughtered them, the battle begun in favour of the Lennenes.
As the Lennenes moved up the foothill, the Carthaginians began to advance, their entire force moved as one and fought valiantly, however after several see-saws with both sides falling back and then pushing back the Lennenes finally finished off the army. Melqherem was captured and sent on a ship heading for Syracuse where he would be publicly executed.
Sicca Veneria was destroyed, and wouldn’t be rebuilt for several decades, and never again would it find itself on a map of the Republic, the city eventually fell into irrelevance before being abandoned in the 5th century AU (6th century CE).
[1] Modern El Kef, Tunis.
Part Seven - A Last Hope
With Melqherem on his way to a swift execution, the Lennene forces continued their march to Carthage with little resistance to Carthage, they arrived near the end of the month of Thargelion and laid siege to the city, the city could hold out for years if they wanted to with shipments through their harbour that was unreachable to the forces waiting around their city.
The hope that the Lennenes had was that they could provoke the public into demanding an attack before the preparations for an all-out strike on the opposition from well-trained forces spread out across the Republic. To achieve this aim, they tried to outrage the people, they stuck heads on the end of mechanical arrows and used katapaltai to launch these into the city streets where they would be seen by hundreds of people in the city.
This did cause mounting pressure on Carthage to bring the battle to the Lennene ‘savages’, however an organized army would relieve Carthage sooner than expected and this would relieve the pressure. The fleet landed in a city beyond the reaches of the patrols and came directly from Sicily to help rescue the homeland, 30,000 people now marched to defeat the army surrounding Carthage.
Motya after the city was defeated and plundered.
In what are now known as Adom Pinna [1] the couple thousand Lennenes left prepared a line of defense to stop the advance of these reinforcements, the Lennenes tried to hold them back by making sure they had the hill at their backs, according to Carthaginians after the battle about as many Lennenes were defeated by the sword as by retreating on a long uphill slog. No Lennene had the ability to write there version of events after they died from battle or sacrifice or being sold into slavery. This battle which slaughtered the Lennene presence in Libya resulted in a change, the war was back to one front, one front that the Lennenes had almost certain inferiority on.
However during this general pull out of Sicilian forces, the Syracuse forces struck against their enemies, they temporarily regained contact with the forces of Rhegium, and sent a force to attack into Carthaginian territory. This resulted in the Battle of Motya, which was a major win for the Lennenes, who destroyed the city and killed its inhabitants.
The fleet raided deep into Carthaginian territory, and the Carthaginians retreated for the first time since the beginning of the war into their own territory.
However this momentary lapse in the war effort for Carthage was soon corrected, and after some of the unrest caused by the Sicilians in Libya was reversed an army returned to Sicily in 250 BU (362 BCE), and despite the losses the Carthaginians faced, the war continued.
[1] Red Hills is what unreliable sources tell me it means, feel free to correct me.
Part Eight - End Game
The war for Sicily seemed to be drawing to a close, in a war of attrition the Carthaginians just had enough resources that no amount of expertise and cunning would help the Sicilians, they saw the enemy closing in on all sides, in 249 BU (361 BCE) the Rasna even entered the conflict on the side of the Italiote League. Later they would be instrumental in securing the surrender of Zankle in 247 BU (359 BCE). That defeat might have been what finally resulted in the decision that ended the war.
This is an image of the location where the two sides signed for peace in Motya.
After several years where the victory seemed unattainable even to the most bold Lennene soldier, the leadership of the city of Syracuse and its allies finally agreed to negotiate an end to the war in 246 BU (358 BCE), the negotiations happened in Zankle which was declared ‘neutral territory’ for the negotiations. After several days of intense debate, the Lennenes pulled out to consider the position. A second set of conferences happened in the rebuilt Motya, both sides came up with a set of conditions that they could live with that were largely in favour of the Carthaginians, it became known as the Peace of Motya. The main points were:
However at the same time that the situation had begun to stabilize in Sicily, a new war had begun to redraw the map of Ellás. The winds of change had not ceased, the currents had only been distorted.
Part Nine - War is Peace
“Chapter 7 - The Corinthian War, Ancient Wars of Ellás”
During the early months of the year 268 BU (380 BCE) when the conflicts in Sicily had just began to reemerge on the horizon, the old poleis were heading towards a war that would tear apart the Lennene homeland once again, and reshape it under a new domination.
Causes of the War
The Lennene documents are heavily biased, the histories were written by the victors. In 269 BU (381 BCE) a group of Theban men, unrelated to the government, started to raise tensions in Messenia, the home of the helots. They started a revolt that managed to occupy the Spartans for months, going into 268 BU, and finally once the revolution was quelled the Spartans were outraged enough that the Spartans declared war on the enemy alliance. The war had started.
However it should be obvious that despite this being the actual cause, there was several underlying factors that lead up to this eventual explosion of war.
The ruins of the ancient city of Sparta.
Spartan Imperialism
Decades earlier, the mark of the Delian League transforming into the Athenian Empire was increased control over its components and exacting monetary tribute instead of ships. After the war, many members of the Peloponnesian League began to notice parallels with Sparta, the city had become spoiled after its victory. This greed is what led many of their allies to defect.
Demographics
Just as the Spartans had begun to provoke their allies with their arrogance and greed, they had also started to decline at an ever increasing pace, the way that the Spartans lived meant that they had low-birth rates, and the harshness of their lifestyle meant very few of children born actually survived. When the war started, the population of Sparta was down to a few thousand, not even close to the size of the armies of their new enemies, and their enemies knew it.
Isolationism and Xenophobia
Despite the fact that the Spartans and their allies had joined together to win the war, the Spartans were always most comfortable when they isolated themselves from the rest of the world. An extension of classic Lennene xenophobia. The mountainous nature of Ellás meant the isolated polis [1] was the basic unit of government, and each polis considered themselves superior to every other, even their allies.
Anger over the Peloponnesian War
Twelve years after the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians were angry from their defeat in the Peloponnesian War, they were angry over the terms which limited their power. The war would mean the treaty had no meaning, they could get revenge, and begin to recover their former power. And indeed when the war started, the Athenians immediately started planning the construction of several triremes to expand their navy.
[1] A city.
Chapter 1 - Days of War
Part 1 - Troubled Teachings
Lennene School of Higher Learning, Neos Megálē Ellás
(OTL: New York City)
The students filtered into class, the teacher is the first Oscan teacher to teach at the Lennene [1] school. He walked to the front of the class just as the final students streamed in.
In perfect Lennene he wrote on the board: “What does Italia mean to you?”
Then he turned and looked at his class; “Tell me,” he commanded, “what do you know about Italia?” Instantly about 10 hands stuck up. He pointed to one hand; the student stood up, and said; “It is a peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea.” The instructor smiled; “Come, come, that must not be all you have heard?”
The student gulped loud enough that it could be heard from the back rows; however he spoke softly now; “The region of Italia is a monarchy controlled by Vetio [2], one of the oldest countries in the world.”
He could feel the instructor gazing through his eyes now, it felt as if he was looking into his very soul now; “You know what I am referring to… what was your name? Achaikos?” The timid student responded simply with “Yes, my name is Achaikos.” The instructor nodded, “Okay, if you feel that way I will ask someone else.” The student sat down, and muffled a brief “Thank you.”
The instructor turned toward another hand raised that seemed more eager to add to the conversation. The student shot up and stated firmly, “The Vetio government is a brutal dictatorship that has oppressed its citizens for decades under the leadership of the current Elvetorix [3]. The Lennisk [4] and Phenisians [5] however continue to engage in ruthless ethnic feuding in the south.” The instructor now grinned with satisfaction, “Thank you, umm… Cameron [6] is it? That is an Illyrian name isn’t it?”
Cameron responded, “Yes, I’m a 'Pirotis [7].” The instructor now stopped for a second, he considered this and then continued. Finally he started his lesson.
[1] Hellene or Greek.
[2] Guess where that comes from.
[3] I will tell you if you guess correctly, this should help a little (EDIT: Dathi THorfinnsson is correct (Helvetii)).
[4] Italian Greeks.
[5] Phoenicians.
[6] Wait, what? A celtic name used by the Illyrians. WTF? (EDIT: thank you Cimon, I was mistaken)
[7] Epirote (Epirotis is non-romanized version), someone from Epirus.
Part 2 - Latins in Review
"Ch. 2 – The Early Rasnan Expansion, History of the Rasna Ed. 5"
Case Study: Myth precedes Archaeology
We like to think of most myth and legends that are altered by the passage of time as superstitions that have most likely lost all kernels of truth a long time ago. However sometimes mythology can be the key to discovering more about the history.
The Rasna have been one of the longest-surviving ethnic groups and have developed a large collection of myths and legends, both their own, and borrowed from the countless civilizations they have co-existed with over the ages.
One of these myths is about the Roman Kingdom, a small little city near Veia, which nearly impeded the expansion of the Rasna into the south.
Now 27 centuries later, the mythological city of Rome has been discovered in the swamps of Latium. And it has drastically advanced our understanding of the enigmatic Latins that were absorbed into the Rasna culture during the First Rasna Empire.
A picture of the "roman forum" in the now drained swamps of the Tiber River.
Rome and the Discovery of Latin Culture
During the investigation of the Roman ruins many Latin texts were discovered, including basic translation tablets which seem to confirm its relationship with the Umbrian languages. The known Latin vocabulary can proudly be said to be approximately 2500 words.
Buried in the ruins of what has been called the “Roman Forum”, which is now a large swamp a large rectangular plaza exists that continues to give incites into the relations of the Romans with the sabines.
The discoveries have not stopped there; marshes continue to bring up new and exciting artefacts that revolutionize our view of this small group nestled in the plains of Latium.
The Latins however continue to remain enigmatic; we do know that the Rasna considered the Romans the most courageous warriors who were said to endure any torture without being broken in. Although we do not know how much of this is true, the stories of the Rasna continue to fascinate many and the mythologies of the ancient peoples of Italia are now almost never simply ignored and continue to be taken into account when searching for archaeological remains.
Part 3 - Campania at War
Campania Campaigns, 615 BU (727 BCE)
Thucer looked at the peasant in front of him, he smiled and began to push its eyes in, whenever he saw his victims die he convinced himself it was revenge for all the fellow soldiers. He had lost all his friends at the battle for Rome, the last battle of the Latin war. Now he looked every victim in the eyes and brutally killed them.
“For Lare, and Vulca,” a cruel hatred appeared in his eyes as he through the man to the ground and stepped on his skull. The Rasna had not just stopped there; Thucer obediently had followed Veia through its campaigns against the Volsci and Sabines. He was a cold-hearted bastard, he knew it, and so did everyone else, which is why they chose him.
“Thucer, would you like to be made the king of Ushiluna [1]? You would become rich and control the largest city in Campania!” the king of Veia had asked him. One does not say no to a king.
A reconstruction of Thucer from his remains.
Despite the promotion, Thucer continued to battle at the head of his armies. It helped him release the stress of kingship, every day he had to talk to 50 different fat rich Greeks and merchants, and everyday he almost strangled them in rage. Yet he was a king so he forced himself to hold it back.
That is why he forced submission on the people of Campania. He wanted them to fear him, to cower while he walked through the streets. Apparently the Latins had made a name for him: Thucer Sterculus [2].
And this is why he had burned them; he had set Gabii on fire himself and oversaw the city of Tibur burning to the ground. He ravaged the rebellious Circeii and had told his military to stay and search through the swamps of Latium. Until every last child of Circeii, was dead.
[1] Ushiluna means "south river" in Etruscan, Ushiluna is set near Campeva OTL, except a century earlier.
[2] Thucer "little shit".
Part 4 - And so a new Dynasty Begins
In 615 BU (727 BCE), the war-hardened Thucer “Sterculus” massacred the Latin tribes. He claimed them as revenge for the death of his comrades at the Battle of Rome. The military victories of Thucer that were collectively referred to as the Campania Campaigns showed his people the iron fist of oppression, and reduced the once proud warrior and aristocratic tribesmen to serfdom.
He also controlled the Campanian city known as Ushiluna. Although as a warrior he was devastatingly effective, in fact he always lead his armies into battle even against the fiercest foe, his leadership was different and despite his (cruel) efficiency his reign was disastrous, especially for trade between Megálē Ellás [1] and mexl-Rasnal [2] which stayed at a stand-still until his death in 593 BU (705 BCE) at the grips of septicemia from a puncture wound (to be fair he killed the man who gave him the fatal wound).
Without Thucer a young military leader was given the vital choke point between Veia and Parthenope. The man’s name was Cuinte Tarna and under him the city began to flourish and under him it began to grow past its heavily fortified walls and even incorporated nearby villages along the way.
However his reign would not be perfect, at the death of Thucer many Latin groups rose up in battle and although all their organized armies had disappeared long before the rebellious people of Latium soon became a problem once again.
A modern portrayal of Dionysus.
Finally in 588 BU (700 BCE) a masterful offensive pushed the aggressive rebels out of Latium and he began to secure his hold on the entire region. In a remarkable innovation from his former king, and from any other society in the world; he offered the people food and entertainment; the Rasna would later call this concept Fufluns (Dionysus) et Maris referring to the Etruscan gods of joyousness (and wine) and agriculture (as well as harvest and fertility). This concept would later become popular elsewhere in the next centuries.
However the reign of Cuinte was cut short, he died of disease in 583 BU (695 BCE) after only 10 years leading Ushiluna, but unlike the man he succeeded he left a successor, the Tarna dynasty would see the prosperity of Ushiluna and mexl-Rasnal for generations to come.
[1] Magna Graecia in crappy OTL Modern Greek.
[2] mexl-Rasnal means Etruria in Etruscan.
Part Five - Dodecapoli
“Can everyone see the map on the processor screen?” the professor asked, a grumble of affirmation came from the quiet lecture hall. “Okay then,” the professor continued, “how many of you have any knowledge of the Dodecapoli?” One young man in the back row made a sign with his hands that the professor interpreted to mean ‘a little, not much’. The rest stared blankly, the professor smiled, some kids were concerned that they had no idea what a “dodecapoli” was, but the professor soon put them to ease, “Don’t worry, that’s fine. Today’s lesson is about the dodecapoli so you will all understand it reasonably well by the end of today’s class.”
“The Dodecapoli was the league of 12 cities that together co-ruled mexl-Rasnal, the cities were originally Fufluna, Vetluna, Veia, Curtun, Aritim, Perusina, Velathri, Velch, Tarchna, Caisra, Clevsin, and Velzna. All Rasna politics during this period was league-based because for religious reasons they organized every city into a league of 12, if one of the original 12 cities was destroyed for example, then another one would take its place,” the professor grumbled now, he saw that 2 people were asleep and others were not paying attention, he went up to one of the sleeping students, and yelled directly into her ear, immediately she woke up and the rest of the class looked back in attention, “okay, now that I have your attention, this is all going to be on the exam so listen up!”
“Now the dodecapoli would control mexl-Rasnal for a period of about 500 years,” he said calmly, “in this time they moved to the position of being one of the most influential nations in the western Mediterranean, and even a large player over the entire Mediterranean before being forced into irrelevance.”
“That map on the processor screen is of mexl-Rasnal in the year, this shows Rome and the Latins which should be discussed on page 61 of your textbooks,” the professor paused to drink some water before continuing, “I encourage you to bookmark that page and read it later. However right now we must continue.
"The results of the Rasna’s skirmishes into Campania were the complete submission of the Latins, especially because of the successful military campaigns of the first two Rasna kings of the newly-founded Ushiluna who were known as Thucer Sterculus and Cuinte in Magna; Thucer decentralized Latium and had all Volsci and Latin cities destroyed along with their people, Cuinte managed during his reign to drive out the decentralized resistance left after Thucer’s death, to occupy to Latins with other things, and in many cases make them reliant on the state for food in poorer areas. These actions combined resulted in Ushiluna becoming prosperous, especially as a trade artery between the Greeks to the South, and of course the Dodecapoli. The Dodecapoli of course also traded with the northern celts during this time period.”
“The Tarna Dynasty in Ushiluna are especially important, and they give the expansion of mexl-Rasnal into the Bodincus River Valley [1] the occasionally used title ‘the Tarna Expansion’ for all the greek weapons used that must certainly have travelled through Ushiluna. The Tarna Dynasty started with Cuinte in Magna and continued for little over half a century till the poisoning of Pesna II,” he looked up at the processor screen that had just entered sleep mode.
“After the poisoning of Pesna II, his best advisor took the thrown. His reign is totally undocumented other than the fact that he was Pesna II’s advisor and was killed less than 5 years after taking the thrown,” now the professor looked down at his notes, “I’m afraid I am getting sidetracked here, is there any questions before I get back on topic. One hand went up. He pointed at the hand, “Yes?”
“Is it true that Cuinte in Magna came up with the idea of Fufluns et Maris?”
“Yes, the idea that you could keep a population happy with only food and entertainment was first brought up by him, however I believe other philosophers thought of the concept individually, often to explain the erosion of public interest in patriotism and politics. And it of course is the official motto of the Vetio Kingdom.”
“Are you from Vetio?”
“Yes, I escaped when I was only 12 with my parents to Alalia.”
[1] Bodincus (River Valley) is Ligurian for the Po River Valley.
Part Six - Alliances Broken
“Ch. 6.1 – The Economics of the Dodecapoli, History of the Rasna Ed. 5”
The dodecapoli had an important and unique role in international trade, they were positioned in between the rapidly modernizing Keltoi peoples to their North (however trade with this group would only really pick up in the 4th century BU (5th century BCE) ), and the economic centre of Lennenes outside of Ellás, known at this time as Megálē Ellás, this of course means “Greater Greece” referring to the wealth of many of the Italia colonies.
Neos Megálē Ellás is of course named after the original, and is a congregation point for refugees from Vetio, giving it a large Lennisk population, along with Oscan and Rasna groups as well who fled the modern totalitarian state under the rule of Diarmad Elvetorix. However that will be covered in more detail in later chapters.
Rasna Coinage.
There was a confluence of interests, trade, and powers in the city of Ushiluna (modern Sluna), this city controlled all passage between the northern city-states of Megálē Ellás such as Neapolis, Poseidonia, and Cumae, and the Dodecapoli (especially Veia). These interests were often trying to slant the government of Ushiluna towards the favour of one, one ruling family would prefer to Rasna and tax the Lennenes while another ruler would do the opposite. This balance of interests meant that the city was rife with corruption.
At the same time of course the Rasna were growing and their sphere of influence had begun to conflict with that of the Carthaginians, these conflicts escalated in 3rd century BU (Very late 5th century BCE; most of 4th century BCE) but died down during and after the Senone and Safineis Wars.
The Rasna in this period of time had one thing that particularly made them unique, this was the fact that they were mostly land-based all but two of the major Rasna cities (those being Fufluna and Pisae) are all on normally top of hills and nowhere near the coast of the Tyrrhenian (or Adriatic) Sea, this meant that almost all trade was done over land at least to begin with. In the 5th century BU (6th century BCE), alliances began to diverge from what they had been previously, the Carthaginians and Rasna, now allied together against the growing numbers and strength of Lennenes that had moved into Massalia and other colonies (or apoikia [1] ). This culminated in multiple battles, the most important of which was the Battle of Alalia sometime mid-century; this battle in which approximately 130 Rasna and Carthaginian ships fought the Lennene’s 60 pentekonters. This battle saw the near destruction of the Carthaginian/Rasna fleet and as a result of the navy of Alalia being crippled we also see the hasty evacuation of Alalia, which was almost immediately claimed for the Rasna.
[1] Lennene for distant home or colony, during this period of Lennene history overpopulation of Ellás sent many refugees to fertile and wealthy colonies.
Part Eight - Fluctuation
The world of the 5th century BU (6th century BCE) was very different from previous centuries, in 657 BU (545 BCE) the battle of Alalia was fought between ~130 Rasna and Carthaginian ships on one side and the Lennenes on the other side with 60 pentekonters [1], it stopped the expansion of young Lennene colonies in the western Mediterranean, the annexation of the formerly Lennene city of Alalia and of Corsica also started in this period. At the same time it saw the once mighty leagues of mexl-Rasnal have their influence wane, from a power trading as far away as the Near East to a regional power in their corner of the Western Mediterranean Sea.
Carthage had become the commercial centre of the West Mediterranean region, a position it retained until decline under the Second Council of Elders. The city had conquered most of the old Phoenician colonies, subjugated the Numidian and Moor tribes, and taken control of the entire North African coast from modern Morresco in close proximity to the borders of Egypt. Its influence had also extended into the Mediterranean, taking control over Sardinia, Malta, the Balearic Islands, and into Sicily. Important colonies had also been established in Iberia. Their cultural influence in the modern day on the Iberian Peninsula is powerful despite the near destruction of all Carthaginian architecture by the Celtiberian conquests.
Force of Numidian Calvary.
Defeating the lennene colonies once however was not enough, in the next century the Carthaginians, Lennenes, and Rasna would continue to conflict for more than a century. Alliances would change and revert to old patterns, which despite hostilities did not slow the trade between all these different groups; for example the trading city of Ushiluna continued to grow under an independent dynasty that brought the city to the same level as many Dodecapoli (Rasna governance in this time period), it was definitely the most powerful city at this time in the campanian league [2].
The underlying ethnic tensions are still seen in this region today, Vetio Kingdom is known for its brutal crack-downs on violence between the Lennisk and Phenisians of Italia.
This area of the world seemed to be among many regions in flux, at the same time the grand Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great destroyed the hegemonic median empire, this empire lasted for over two centuries. Buddhism was founded even further away, the greek philosophers began to grow various forms of thought, psalms was written in the Near East, Jainism was revolutionized by a new prophet, Sun Tzu wrote “The Art of War”, at the same time many others also contributed to major religious, technological, and philosophical innovations.
[1] OTL ~120 Rasna/Carthaginian Ships vs. 60 Alalian pentekonters, the Ushilunans have in this reality contributes greatly to the war effort from their now bustling harbour, that as a bonus has a trained navy, unlike much of the OTL force on the R/C side.
[2] All Rasna cities were put in leagues of 12, Campania had a league of its most powerful rasna cities, so did Padania and other rasna groups. The Dodecapoli was the most important of these.
Part Nine - Sail to Victory
The fact that the Rasna now controlled an island, crucial to many trade routes was if anything encouragement to the development of the harbour of Ushiluna, that we know by this period to be named Mlakaθi [1]. The fleet doubled in strength and built a small reputation against its enemies in battle. And arguably due partially to the aid of Ushiluna’s fleet (as well as a land force) an invasion of some northern lennene territory in 412 BU (524 BCE) succeeded in taking Kuma [2], probably one of the most powerful northern cities before this event. Ushiluna had the honour of sending one of its lauχum [3] from the royal dynasty (which now had entered a centuries-long period of stability) to reign over the citizens of Kuma, an honour given to him despite the mixed heritage of the army in part because he according to legend killed the lennene leader Aristodemus of Kuma, which demoralized the enemy army and almost certainly tipped the scales in their favour during the rest of the battle.
Pithekoussai Island today.
Like the Ushilunan counterpart this dynasty became stabilized, in this case because of the parent city’s immense influence and ability to aid Kuma in suppressing its citizens during revolutions. The city of Kuma is very important because for one thing it is said to have introduced the Euboean (aka Cumaean) form of the Lennene Alphabet that had been adopted by the Latins and more importantly the Rasna for written communication. Besides this up to this point it had been a dominating military power. Kuma was an offshoot of another Euboean city on an island (of the same name as the city) near to Kuma called Pithekoussai [4].
At the same time as the rasna began making such advances into greek territory, an new rival began to show its abilities for war, this group was called the safineis, and it came to around equal terms with Ushiluna in campania in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BU (mid to late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE). However their talent for war would not be fully known for several centuries yet. This is one of the first signs of the decay of the power of the Rasna in Italy, a collection of war-like tribes now were capable of forcing back the advances of the Rasna, a civilization that was much more advanced at the time.
Tensions would not flare up again between the lennenes and the rasna on the scale of the Alalian or Kuma victories [5]. However through many small-scale or even non-violent campaigns the Rasna expanded their power, the declining city of Parthenope is known in fact to have had a Rasna dynasty by the year 390 BU (502 BCE). The city of Dicaearchia had its tyrant assassinated in the year 388 BU (500 BCE) which meant every major lennene city north of Poseidonia on the western coast of Italy was now controlled by the Rasna. The Rasna may have begun to go into decline but they certainly weren’t going quietly.
[1] Beautiful Water, the greek/rasna letter is a theta.
[3] Cumae in latin/english, as it is commonly known.
[3] Prince (in this context) or King in etruscan language, the greek/rasna letter is a chi.
[4] Pithecusae in latin.
[5] The first invasion of Cumae removes the Battle of Cumae, and the conflict at Aricia wouldn’t happen without rome, as well as the attempt on Neapolis (which wouldn’t exist without Cumae).
Chapter Epilogue One
“Fiction has to be plausible. All history has to do is happen.” - Harry Turtledove
Chapter Epilogues are a concept thought of late last night, I am aware most people have little to no understanding of the actual history, so here is a little guide to understand the references and where I am going with this. Rome is currently the capital city of Italy, the seat of the pope, and spawned two very successful nations (Roman Empire and Republic) as well as off-shoots (Byzantine Empire, Holy Roman Empire, Russian Empire (tsar refers to Roman Emperors), Francia (under Charlemagne) ). However we can cover that in later epilogues. For now I will cover things between the beginning of this chapter (~750 BCE) and the end of the chapter (500 BCE).
Lets start with the relatively well documented (however often mythological) Roman history. The Roman Kingdom had 7 kings, 4 were of non-Etruscan origin, the final 3 were Etruscan. The mythology states that Rome started in 753 BCE, and that the old city was founded on Palatine Hill (but Remus wished to begin on Aventine Hill). An etruscan dynasty began in ~617 BCE (again, according to myth), with a peaceful turn over of the former king choosing an Etruscan heir.
This continued until ~508 BCE when Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquinius the Proud) was overthrown for his tyrannical mistreatment of Rome’s citizens, Rome became the Roman Republic. After being overthrown, Tarquinius fled to Cumae (Greek City), and also sought the help of the city of Clusium (Etruscan city). Clusium supposedly ended its war on Rome after seeing the bravery of one captured Roman, however to make it look like the trip wasn’t for nothing they besieged Aricia, which sent for help from the Latin League and Cumae, Cumae defeated the army of Clusium.
Now that I covered some basic mythology, lets look at Italy in a larger context. In 750 BCE the Etruscans had probably just conquered the entire area of Etruria and had not yet expanded their influence past Etruria to a great extent, however in several successful campaigns in the Etruscan Expansion they grew to encompass the Po River Valley (however only really having a few towns or cities) and to the south they grew to control Latium and Campania (including Rome). They founded Campeva near to where I founded Ushiluna several decades early.
The Etruscans were fiercely aristocratic and theocratic, hence the religious element to making leagues of 12 cities and the fact that they organized their governments as monarchies. The Latins were considered fierce warriors sometimes, as well as being aristocratic and having many similarities with the Etruscans who they often allied with. To the north of Etruria lay the celts and ligures, the Celts were a rapidly urbanizing, agricultural civilization that dispersed over Gaul (France), Iberia (Spain and Portugal), Germany, Britain, and later Northern Italy, the Balkans, and Turkey. The Ligures were a civilization separated into tribes, they were a mixture of tribes which were originally the first settlers to the area after the ice age, however this original culture disappeared among successive waves of introduced celtic culture. Other than this there is the Umbrians and Oscans, these groups often fostered very capable warriors and are thought to be the first inhabitants of Italy, some relatively famous tribes from this group are the Sabines (who were very often thought to have interacted with Rome), and the Samnites (one of the early great enemies of Rome). Other than this we know of the greeks in southern Italy, who had colonized Italy after leaving the overpopulated greece. They founded Magna Graecia which was almost as prosperous as mainland Greece. The Messapi and Apulians are two other groups, these relatively peaceful (or at least militarily weak) people were originally Illyrian (from the Balkans), but migrated to Italy. At this time there was also the North African Carthage’s colonies on Sicily, the Sicels (native Sicilians), and the native people of Corsica and Sardinia.
Other than an increase of Etruscan power (peeking at around 600 BCE), and the strengthening of Carthaginian power on Sicily the Italian peninsula saw some minor migrations (like the Oscans moving into Campania mentioned in part 9), but few great changes.
On an even larger scale we know that Carthage moved from colony to empire in this period of time, it extended power across North Africa, Iberia, Sardinia, Sicily, Phoenicia (the homeland, in modern Israel/Lebanon), and even further through an interconnected web of trade routes and alliances. Greece saw Athens and Sparta rise to power, a dispersal of colonies, overpopulation, a blooming of knowledge, and threats from Persia during this time period. Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Iran saw a rapid turn over of dynasties and empires that included the Neo-Assyrians, the Persians, the Medians, the Neo-Babylonians, and others. Buddhism began in the 6th century, Jainism had another prophet transform the religion, Proverbs was written in the near east, Zhou Dynasty China was in full swing through most of this period, and plenty of other events that would have great impacts on the world today.
Chapter Two - Trials of a New World
Part One - Friendships Broken, Friendships Made
“To teach the decline of the Rasna many teachers start out with a hypothetical anecdote in journal entry form from a merchant or higher profession to allow students to begin to understand the nature of this period of time, in fact I like the method so here is one of these anecdotes for the class to consider,” the professor began reading aloud from the textbook, ‘This year shipments of Egyptian grain have failed to land in Ushiluna’s port. I fear the problem of Ambrone [1] piracy, financed by Carthaginian gold will ruin our trade; already the Latins who work on our operations ask for much larger profits if they are to continue making these dangerous trips across the open sea where the Phoenician triremes have such an advantage of our relatively inexperienced crews. I can only hope that soon I will once again see the sails of our vessels climbing over the skyline of Ushiluna, instead I only occasionally see the Lennene and Ambrone sails cross through our horizon on the way from the land to the north with plunder from our vessels or Lennene trade ships eager to trade for the same materials our routes once monopolized. I fear for the future for my family, my business, and myself.’”
A fearsome projection of an Ambrone pirate.
“Now class,” the teacher continued, “what might this teach us about the cultural factors affecting this time period?”
Slowly, multiple students raised their hands.
“Yes, uhhh… Demetrios.”
“Carthage wasn’t allies with the Rasna anymore.”
“Yes, very good.”
“It seems by the sound of it that they were enemies in a small scale way. Even raiding Rasna ships passing near the coastal areas.”
“Thank you, okay, you… yes you in the back.”
“The Carthaginians were funding piracy in the Tyrrhenian Sea.”
“Good, I believe you had your hand up?”
“Yes. Uhhh… the Rasna economy over water was failing and Lennenes were taking a lot of trade away from them.”
“Last hand… you!”
“The general outlook for many Rasna was pessimistic.”
“These are all very good remarks you should all be able to understand at least these basic implications of the anecdote. The western Mediterranean economy was in tatters, the conquests of the Rasna and general decline, along with the now less powerful Lennenes, and growing Carthaginians meant for those cities not actively involved in trade with Carthage or in open hostilities with them that the world was falling apart. The Rasna now went exclusively near the shore, being on the Ambrone bad-list, and they would only take the Strait of Rhegium in order to avoid the Carthage-controlled western edge of Sicily. It was very much a period of concern and although they managed to survive on the scale of only a regional power, they would never take back the glory of 150 years before in the height of the Dodecapoli. However it wasn’t all bad, they managed to form a trade relationship with the more cautious Poseidonia, this trade relationship brought some prosperity back to the Campanian Rasna and also to the Poseidonians, they built a long wall similar to a scaled-down version of the Athenian one. Something that did not escape the notice of the people who described “New Athens” as Poseidonia. However this soon became a joke due to the mythological conflict between Poseidon and Athena due to the naming of Athens, and to force the name on Poseidonia as well was seen as a joke to ‘rub it in’. This also increased the amount of inland routes, many materials would travel across land from Ushiluna to Poseidonia, Taras, and the rest of the south from which it would travel across the Adriatic to mainland Greece,” the professor stated this enthusiastically and with only moment’s pause he continued, “this developed many of the first western roads to go along withs the more well known royal road which were designed by Persia to travel the empire.”
[1] Ambrone is what the Ligures (Liguria) called themselves.
Part Two - Petaloύdes Ahead
“Chapter 4.4 - Early Economics of the Western Mediterranean, The Mediterranean: Before Lennene Unification Ed. 2”
By the 4th century BU (5th century BCE) the entire framework of Italian trade had changed from the decades and even centuries before. Here is a brief description of inland and oversea transportation.
Inland Transportation
Several inland transport routes were utilized and trade flowed to five Rasna ports, these were Pisae, Fufluna, Mlakaθi (Harbour of Ushiluna), Alalia, and Kuma which exported their wealth to the world, other inland routes circumvented the sea and went to cities such as Rhegium, Taras, and other Lennene cities in Southern Italia entirely through a network of roads, the first of its scale, several roads passed near by the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Sea Coasts and supported trade in the worst periods of Ambrone piracy. This road system is now the basis for the roads of not only southern Italia, but for much of Southern Europe and areas of the New World.
In the 4th century BU (5th century BCE) the roads were very experimental in both scale and design, and because of this they vary greatly. Roads along the Adriatic Coast have a 4 foot-high wall on their side facing towards the coast (as far as can be identified from archaeological digs), which is where there would be the most risk considering most (Illyrian) pirates would have to land on the coast. The Tyrrhenian Coast has several very wide roads, with little cover even today for bandits and the like, the would be much more traveled and the number of eyes was often considered an advantage against thugs preparing to steal from wagons and carts. Another road has been found leading straight through Umbria as well however it is considered small and insignificant, it would have been very dangerous if you were unprotected but would have been extremely travelling if you needed a quick route between South-Eastern Italy and Ushiluna. Vetio’s security concerns are enough that no follow up archaeological digs have been made.
Ramps used in battle.
Oversea Transportation
Oversea transportation was much faster than inland transportation and allowed people to get across the sea, to trade with Egypt, Ellás [1], Sicily, and even Carthage (enemy governments was not as reason to harm your own economy after all). The port cities of Kuma, Fufluna, Mlakaθi, and Pisae collected resources from across Italy, including Keltoi [2] items from even further north. There was one risk that dominated all others for the sea traders, the fact was that the pirates were very able mariners, more so than the Rasna, and it showed in their ruthless raiding of the Rasna vessels. The Carthaginians helped finance these expeditions of terror to economically isolate meχl-Rasnal. However all it forced them to do was to innovate, many vessels had large numbers of Latin crew members, who were cheap workers and easy to toss around, however they were also often good warriors, at least in hand to hand combat, the trick was to develop a way to board an enemy ship without risk of ramming sinking the ship.
This lead to the lupumarish [3] a device used on the front of Rasna vessels that could be knocked down onto the side of an opponent’s boat, allowing a boarding crew to easily take over the pirate’s ships and possibly even collect more loot from the opposing ship, and even the ships themselves which were often well made using every piece of silver they got [4]. This mid-4th century BU invention greatly increased the success of their operations and cut down on piracy, just enough to allow the water ways to continue prospering (however eventually more drastic means would be needed, but that is discussed in chapter 5).
Zankle and Rhegium because of the need of the Rasna to access the Strait of Rhegium (to avoid Carthaginian Sicily en route to Ellás and Egypt) became needed allies and great trading partners although there was occasional bumps when either side got greedy. Poseidonia, although originally concerned of hostility shown to more northern Lennene groups (Kumans for example), trade quickly flourished and the city grew a network of roads and sea lanes leading to the rest of the Mediterranean. The Rasna may have been struggling for relevance but they weren’t dead yet.
[1] Greece.
[2] Greek for celts.
[3] Slave of Death in Etruscan.
[4] This shows they are pretty desperate, considering that normal currency was leather bags with cheap alloys inside (here).
Part Three - Conspiracy of the Latins
Carthage, 345 BU
The young Latin looked nervously up to the building he was entering, here the finest of Carthage met and discussed the city’s future and today hopefully his as well. The council of elders was preparing to meet.
Today he would be lucky and an audience with the council would be accepted.
“Presenting to the Council of Elders, a Latin warrior offering a plan to thwart the Rasna of Campania for your consideration,” an old speaker spoke to the growing crowd of elders on the borders of the room.
This brought up a low grumble from the councillors who had seen many such plans all of which had failed to defeat any city-state of meχl-Rasnal.
The Latin came out from a large doorway into the filled room on his own and stood in front of the crowd with a serious look on his face, he paused a minute, thinking out every word; and then he spoke “My councillors, I come to you today because of the menacing Rasna, who continue to… terror the people of Latium in a evil occupation that saw the end of freedom for the Latins. My organization has secretly started planning a mission to die… uhh… kill the ruling dynasty of Campania.”
This brought up a slow murmur from the crowd, they had thought this impossible considering that the dynasty included 5 kings (The kings of Ushiluna, Parthenope, Kuma, Dicaearchia, Pithekoussai were related because of the campaigns of victories lead by the Rasna, especially Ushiluna) and their families.
“The feast of Laran is in what you call the month of Sīwān,” [1] he paused to think this through, “Laran is what you might call Ares, a god of war, all of the kings of the Campanian League will talk… meet on that day, and the king of Ushiluna will lead the meeting in his own city.”
A reconstruction of Carthage.
He swallowed before continuing, “Mars, our god of war, showed himself to us and told us to strike during the feast for Laran.” The murmur grew into cries to throw them out, or kill him as a sacrifice. Finally it calmed down enough that the man could yell over the angry elders, “On the day of the strike the military will be paralyzed by the loss of their kings. I believe that your Ambrone pirates will be free to attack any harbour of Campania without fear of the ships of the Rasna. Soon after, my people will raise a hoard of Latins, the last of the Romans, to deliver the people of Latium from their shackles.”
A man yelled out a joke from the back row, “How should we trust someone who does not even know properly the language of the civilized world!?!”
This brought laughter from the entire audience.
A chuckling man looked down at the Latin standing in the centre of the room, “What the fuck are you still doing here, this is over, you will have your answer when… if a fleet of Ambrones arrives to follow through with your plan.”
The Latin nodded, and left, he was determined not to show his humiliation, but when he finally got out he muttered to himself; “Fucking fat filthy pigs, Carthage will one day topple, and soldiers of Mars will be on the battlefield to declare victory.”
Back in the meeting hall, without his knowledge the Carthaginians were quick to come to a decision, a message was sent to the allies in the north, it read, “You are to attack the harbours of Mlakaθi, Parthenope, Kuma, Dicaearchia, and Pithekoussai on the day of the feast of Laran, Send your entire fleet and raze all the ships of Campania.”
[1] The month and the god are real however I don’t know when or if the feast of Laran exists, it is a small suspension of disbelief.
Part Four - Chaos, Confusion, and a New Dynamic
The plans of the Latins came to pass at the feast of Laran during the beginning of the games taking place in grand arena in Ushiluna. Five men, followed by their wives, sons, and daughters came out in front of a large audience, little did they know that many Latins hidden in the crowd carried bows, knives, and various other weapons, they were ready to hit their targets.
Finally just as the games had begun, an arrow fired, hitting the tyrant of Parthenope. Then a knife came swirling through the crowd, just missing the eldest son of the king of Ushiluna, and the suddenly an onslaught of arrows, knives, and projectiles hit several kings and royal family members. The guards soon became confused and began trying to disperse the crowd killing many bystanders and participants in the crime in the process. Soon the games came to a halt and a mob of people were forcing their way out of the arena, everyone was running and many people were trampled. After the events were over, the kings of Parthenope, Kuma, and Dicaearchia were dead, the eldest son of the Ushiluna king was the only child of his to survive, and a smattering of other children and 2 queens were dead.
But in the terror of the situation the king of Ushiluna (who's names was Aule or Cai depending on the chronology of the dynasty you believe) showed his ability to command, he gave the command of Kuma and Dicaearchia to the king of Pithekoussai, and gave his eldest son Parthenope, with a promise to the remaining royal children that they would be given their parent’s cities when they turned 24. This settled any struggling over the thrown and allowed a temporary calm to the situation. The military was put on high alert to protect the cities of Campania from any further attacks, this message got across Campania by night fall. And when the Ambrones started to attack at the harbour of Mlakaθi their assaults were easily thwarted, their was similar however varying degrees of success across the rest of Campania, except for Pithekoussai which lost most of the harbour to a fire.
A Lennene statue of a Rasna warrior.
Then the issue of the Latins came back to the table, the king of Ushiluna sent a message out that promised the Latins full citizenship in Ushiluna and increased food from Ushiluna in return for their cooperation and aid in finding the “Last of the Romans” that had almost crippled the Campanian Rasna. In return for a generous reward a tip quickly came in that lead the Rasna to discover a young village in the ruins of the latin city of Tibur that had not been inhabited since the days of Thucer Sterculus.
The city was massacred and the Ushilunan soldiers showed that they also had a capacity for ruthlessness. After this is considered the point where the Latins began to assimilate into Rasna culture. And also shows the beginning of a more heavy handed Campanian dynasty. Some of the Latins involved in the plot against the Rasna were able to escape to Carthage and into the hands of the Oscans but the flames of the rebellion had been doused for good. Another important feature was it finally allowed Safinim to get the edge against the Campanian Rasna who were still hit hard by the crisis.
A new dynamic had became clear, the Rasna were slowly losing control of territory that had always been theirs and now were in decline, perhaps for good. The Oscans to the south were defeating the Rasna and moving to dominance, the northern celts were as ferocious as ever, and conflicts with Carthage had finally climaxed. This was the beginning of the end of the golden age of Ushiluna and meχl-Rasnal.
It was not all bad though, the pirates had been decimated by their failed attack on Campania and it would be years before another fleet could be created, the lennenes were coming off a victory against Carthage in the year 368 BU (480 BCE) [1]. And the Carthaginians would probably never attempt something of that scale ever again, the future was clouded, at least for now the Rasna would survive.
[1] After the Carthaginians defeated the Spartan leader Dorieus, the lennenes would defeat the Carthaginians in a counter strike this is not butterflied and happened in 480 BCE.
Part Five - All Storms Pass
“After the chaos caused by the Last of the Romans, and the Ambrone failure to take the harbours of Campania, the dynamic of the Western Mediterranean was completely different from what it had been before,” the professor said, “the Ambrones had their generous payments halted from Carthage and the already unsteady mission of piracy the Ambrones were engaged in quickly failed. Over the next several decades the pirates of the North would return to their strongholds, their power extremely diminished by failed raids picking away at their numbers. Does anyone have any questions?”
One person raised their hand, and the teacher nodded for him to ask.
“Why did Carthage stop funding the Ambrones?”
This was a simple question with a simple answer the professor thought to himself, “The Ambrones would have needed a large amount of money to rebuild the vessels lost in the raid on Campania. The sky-high cost and perceived incompetence by many Carthaginians of the Ambrone pirates had reached a breaking point where eventually Carthage decided to cut its losses and attack with Carthaginian vessels which were thought to be better prepared.”
The teacher paused, “Does that answer your question?”
The student nodded.
A carthaginian vessel sporting the phoenician horse, a traditional sail design.
And abruptly the professor continued, “Several Carthaginian vessels harassed Rasna vessels in the Tyrrhenian Sea and did for a little while manage to slow down trade, however the effort would soon become to costly for the Carthaginians, and the Rasna were mostly marginalized anyways and the piracy eventually faded until the Rasna experienced the safest seas in almost a century.”
“However the Rasna would continue to decline on their own accord, never again would they be able to defeat the Lennenes at sea, or dominate the trade network they had created. Now they were sidelined. The Oscans were expanding in the south, and the keltoi in the north. In fact this would come to full fruition in the next century because of a group of keltoi known as the Senoni, but that is for another lecture,” he said confidently, “both the Keltoi and the Oscans would get a chance to try and conquer the Rasna. However it would still be many years before the Rasna lost all political power and it would be in no way permanent. The Rasna would still have more than one reincarnated empire, the end of the Rasna dodecapoli would not be the end of the Rasna.”
Part Six - Rise of the Safineis
One of the most prominent of the Oscan tribal groups in the 4th century BU (5th century BCE) and later was was the Safineis[1], they are the reason for the name given to much of central Italia this region is called Cingetolexodoenti, or “slopes give warriors”, a reference to an enormous defeat for a semi-mythological Elvetorix on the mountainous terrain of the region. However at the time the Safineis would have known the region of Safinim, and the Rasna of Campania called the region by the name Samnium in later centuries.
While the Rasna rebuilt themselves after the assassination of many members of the Campanian Dynasty, the Oscan tribes, lead by the Safineis began savaging several small villages on the edge of Rasnan territory, and slowly they even began to move to bigger targets, an army of a little less than a thousand would walk on a major trade outpost the Rasna maintained along the roads along the coastline, and although the route was far less travelled after the Ambrone defeat opened the seas to more trade, it still was a major event if as much for the antagonism of the display of force as much as the actual net cost, and an army of heavily armed Rasna soldiers and lightly armed Latins was soon dispatched, said to be 30,000 by early accounts, although it was probably closer to 3000 or 5000, still a major fighting force, this was sent out to crush the Safineis and Oscans in several cities that now existed nearby to Ushiluna itself.
Safineis warriors in full battle dress.
This army was bigger than the army of Oscans due to the less organized nature of these armies and the Rasna at first met little resistance, they destroyed several cities over a period of about a month, then in the spring of 328 BU (440 BCE), a now almost bored fighting force was ambushed on the narrow trail between Ushiluna and Taras, this battle showcased the excellent fighting skills of the Safineis and the army that probably wasn’t more than 1500 almost completely slaughtered the army. In fact only traders passing through days after the Safineis had left would discover the corpses stretching for as far as the eye could see.
This battle that is not known by any name would be a landmark in the relationship of the Rasna with the Oscans, the barbarians were now in control and the Rasna were slowly waning in influence, several decades later in 308 BU (420 BCE) [2] the Safineis would conquer Ushiluna (the other cities of Campania would survive for more than a century before meeting a similar fate). One wonders what could have been if the Latins had not already assimilated into Rasna culture at that point considering it would have meant an end to dependence on the Rasna and forced them to work on creating their own cities and government (or of course a collapse into anarchy).
The Rasna of Campania were past their golden age, and as the Rasna desperately attacked the Oscans, it was already almost a sure thing that the Rasna had lost on the southern theatre. The safineis would not stop there, however it would be more than a century however until we see the shepherds of the mountains [3] start reaching for the full potential.
[1] Safineis is the term the Samnites used for themselves.
[2] 4 years after Campeva (modern Capua), an OTL Rasna city that has a history paralleling in some ways the history of Ushiluna would have been conquered by the Oscans.
[3] The safineis were first a foremost shepherds of the mountainous regions of central Italy, that didn’t stop them from being damn good warriors too.
Part Seven - The Safineis
“Chapter 6.2 – The Early Safineis, Italia Ed. 3”
The Safineis were a proud and durable people; they were a tribe of Oscan, who are known to have been one of the oldest peoples of Italia. The Latins used condescending names against many other peoples of Italia — the Fat Rasna, the Undemanding Umbrians, and so on. For at least one people, however, the Latins used a label that showed respect, even fear: “belliger Samnis”, the Warrior Safineis.
This was one of the most important features of Safineis culture however no culture was 1-Dimensional (not even Sparta). They were shepherds, and much of their culture centred on this fact, their religion called the Cult of Springtime or the Holy Springtime incorporated many elements from their warrior and shepherding culture. Any firstborn that was birthed during the spring months was sacrificed to the Safineis God of War, known as Mamerte (probably the result of an ancient famine or bout of overpopulation), who the Lennenes would later associate with Ares, showing how much war influenced their culture. Shepherd Warriors would attend migrations where a village would be moved to a location that the warriors believed would please a pre-selected sacred animal such as a bull, a wolf, or a deer.
Shepherds of Ancient Italia.
Other than their religion, there are many features that are influenced by war and shepherding. Though they would later prove themselves capable of conquering vast territories, they did not have any concept of land ownership, the lands were used only by the group to feed the herd. On the other hand, an obvious result of their warrior capabilities, as an outlet to prove their strength is the tournament held every spring equinox where warriors would prove their strength in wrestling and other feats in warrior games.
They would later influence Rasna religion; Laran (the Rasna god of war) would adopt many of the features of Mamerte, stopping just short of demanding sacrifice of firstborns in springtime. And of course as I mentioned earlier the Lennenes would associate Ares with Mamerte.
Their society would stay fairly simple until they began to really expand their influence in Campania by the 3rd century BU (4th century BCE).
Part 8 - Worlds Collide
“Book IV 58-59, The History of the Peloponnesian War”
“(58) During the same summer the people of Kamarina and Gelo in Sicily made a truce, in the first instance with one another only. But after a while all the other Sicilian states sent envoys to Gelo, where they held a conference in the hope of effecting a reconciliation. Many opinions were expressed on both sides; and the representatives of the different cities wrangled and put in claims for the redress of their several grievances. Eventually, personal objections would end the conference, and many cities left the talks without an agreement.
(59) Syracuse was the first notable city to leave the talks declaring that Sicily is for the Syracusans [1] and that they intended to continue with their efforts to move on the other cities of Sicily. They declared that they would not allow wrongs done against them in previous wars to go unpunished and would defeat the Sicilians in conquest. The original truce would be broken by the people of Kamarina and Gelo very quickly as Gelo came to the aid of Syracuse while the people of Kamarina sought to destroy them.”
The war for Sicily grew as the Athens sympathizers and allies of Syracuse fought for power, Cleander, a strategoi for Kamarina, took Zankle, an important city on the strait of Rhegium. They then began moving to besiege Syracuse, while allies of Syracuse scrambled to stop them, Gelo sent its own army after Kamarina itself and just as the battle for Syracuse started, the people of Kamarina began to fortify the walls and collect food for a long battle on the homefront.
After most of the navy of Syracuse was defeated by an incoming army of Kamarina, the chances for Syracuse seemed to be getting slimmer. However slowly as news began to reach the army of Kamarina of the homefront battle, the siege was recalled and while the army of Kamarina returned ready to force back the army of Gelo the allies of Syracuse began trying to regain lost territory. Eventually Kamarina was liberated while on the other side the army of Syracuse was much smaller than it was before the outbreak of fighting and had lost at the important points near the Strait of Rhegium. The war had changed the balance of power on Sicily forever.
The armies of Syracuse meet the Athenian fleet.
During what became the beginning of a relatively peaceful period, the cities of Kamarina and Gelo a second time tried for peace, and this time another invitation was sent out, and so began what would be known as the Second Conference of Gelo. After a powerful speech by Dionysius [2] , a popular strategoi, the Sicilians agreed to a peaceful truce, this truce known as the Kamarina-Gelo Alliance was very important to the survival of Syracuse during the Sicilian expedition, a conflict directly between Syracuse and Athens directly, as the hostile Lennene city states of Sicily did not come to the aid of Athens, allowing the alliance of Syracuse to force out the Athenians who retreated back to under the direction of an Athenian strategoi, Nicias, with 98 ships out of the 207 that had arrived on Sicily [3]. This was a devastating loss for Athens. The triremes were replaceable but not so for the 15,000 oarsmen who had perished off the coast of Sicily were not [4].
As a result of this the army had to begin using for much of their fleet untrained slaves, after an attempted coup failed to overturn the democracy of Athens, the government turned power over to a leader who temporarily had almost complete power over Athens, the council chose Baerius who began a campaign to end the conquest of Sparta and in a daring campaign lasting several years he had a long string of victories, however it would not last, the remaining navy could not hold down an entire empire and the people began to rebel, the Athenian Empire had almost entirely collapsed by 284 BU (396 BCE). Athens was finally defeated for good in 280 BU (392 BCE). Athens would survive, their fleet limited and their army nearly gone, but it was long past the end of the First Golden Age of Athens.
[1] OTL they Congress of Gela came to the decision thanks to the now butterflied Hermocrates that they would form a peace, and “Sicily for the Sicilians” kind of like the Monroe Doctrine, this timeline had a less fruitful result without Hermocrates.
[2] Dionysius I the Elder in our reality made Syracuse one of the most powerful cities in all of Greece, in this timeline he is staying as a strategoi instead of rising to power after victories in the now butterflied Second Sicilian War (started by Hermocrates). We will see how this works out.
[3] The entire army was destroyed OTL, in ATL about half escapes, a grave defeat for Athens but it gives them a dozen more years before they are ultimately defeated. Have I butterflied Philip of Macedon with this move?!? I don’t know.
[4] It was 30,000 oarsmen OTL that were defeated, so it is very different.
Part Nine - The War that Wasn't
This type of bronze coin was common when Iberia was part of the Carthaginian Republic.
While the Greeks cities in Sicily bickered and prospered, Carthage had conquered much new farmland in northern Libya, they strengthened and founded new colonies in North Africa, such as Leptis and Oea, in the desert between the modern moorish lands and Egypt. Carthage had also sponsored the journey of Mago Barca across the Sahara Desert to Cyrenaica, and Hanno the Navigator's journey down the African coast. However, the Iberian colonies had seceded, cutting off Carthage's major supply of silver and copper.
They were now the financial center to the entire Mediterranean, the Phoenicians managed to guide through their ports goods from Libya, Iberia, Gaul, Ellás, Egypt, Anatolia, Illyria, Mesopotamia, Levant, Armenia, Media, Italia, and Persia. And reach markets far and wide, they were skilled merchants and were very capable of defending their interests, sometimes with force.
Segesta, a Elymian ally of Carthage submitted to Carthage in the year 298 BU (410 BCE) [1] in return for aid against the enemy city of Selinus, after a quick defeat of Selinus at the Battle of Selinus and then went on to destroy Himera in the Second Battle of Himera. Despite Syracusan participation in the defense of these cities (even their strategoi known as Dionysius died during battle) the sides would uneasily withdraw peacefully with the Carthaginians taking the spoils of war.
This was just a sign of an earthquake preparing to take the western Mediterranean by storm. The Kamarina-Gelo Alliance became the counter-weight to the city of Carthage, a scale that had an unmistakeable bias towards Carthage, soon the cities of the Mediterranean, whether they knew it or not were taking sides, the Rasna of Veia, Pisae, and Fufluna began to side with the Italiote League who opposed the Sicilians because of the fact that they were competing, especially for trade with Ellás. The Gauls and Celtiberians remained fiercely independent, although uniting with the Phoenician colonies in Iberia occasionally who as mentioned before had seceded from Carthage. The Persians decided to remain out of it, making it a struggle of almost entirely the Carthaginians attempting to gain favour with the Lennenes against their own people on Sicily.
However the war through clever diplomacy on both sides managed to be delayed with a peace treaty, known as the Conference of Akragas, it offset war for thirty years and maintained the status quo. A masterful negotiator on the side of Syracuse known as Akakios was able to manage concessions out of the Carthaginians and defend the territories of the Lennenes well, these negotiations ended in 295 BU (407 BCE) but the divide remained and after the end of the Peloponnesian War this would align new alliances in place for even the homeland of the Lennenes, Ellás.
As the alliances formed several major developments proceeded in the meχl-Rasnal, events that would profoundly influence the peninsula of Italia, all over the world it seemed to be both a time of peace and a time of new trials.
[1] The year the OTL Second Sicilian War started, with the help of the rogue strategoi Hermocrates, who's absence has already caused chaos in Greece and Sicily.
Chapter Three - Any Port is Welcome in a Storm
Part One - From Vetio we Flee
[A humid day in the month Maimakterion made the weather of Alalia intensely hot, Marius had gone undercover, the Alalian authorities were searching the village for refugees from Vetio. And he knew he would never be welcomed there again. When I knocked on the door, I could here hustling on the door to get the refugees into hiding, many soldiers ignored this, not wishing to sentence the refugees to die in a Vetio labour camp. When the house owner opens the door for me he has a visual display of relief to see it is me, followed by a quick ushering indoors, best not take chances with the soldiers.]
[I find my interviewee]
When did you leave Vetio?
When I was twelve, my parents sent me off on a navis oneraria [1] that landed at Libya, I had stolen bread and was to be executed, fortunately my parents had a merchant friend who sailed off from Sluna to Kartajen [2], then from there I traveled to Alalia after I had collected enough money. It took me 8 years to get the money.
Have you seen your parents since?
No.
I am sorry to here that. Have you been back to Vetio since?
No. I can barely survive with the aid of our lovely host, I could never manage enough to make it to Vetio.
[A woman in cleaner robes than the rest blushes]
Do you want to?
I just want to see my family. The last word I got from them was the merchant before he died when I was still in Kartajen was that my father had starved the next summer but my sister had caught the eye of the local rix, if they joined hearts, there might be hope that they are alive yet.
How do you get the power to continue?
I take each day step-by-step, like an interview, I respond to each challenge, each question that comes my way.
Tell me about the last time you saw your parents.
I was just a teenager, it was a rainy night and my parent hugged me once near a bridge I had been hiding under, a favourite spot of mine before I was hunted . . .
Hunted?
Sorry, it is hard for me to relate, in your society you have trials, correct?
A idealized "Hunter" with the spoils of a raid.
Yes.
In Vetio there is no need, why find the truth when all you need to do is scare the people enough, and how better than public execution?
Thank you, please continue.
. . . after I said goodbye I went through Sluna, evading the patrols. I knew the way. I found the merchant in a small ship in the port ready to take me out to his vessel. We left in the early morning of a cold day in Gamelion.
What was it like in Vetio?
As a child I believed it my divine purpose to spread the good word of Vetio. I joined the Marmertines [3], a club set up to indoctrinate the children of Vetio. By your standards I was starving but at the time it felt like I was in command of the world, I was in the comforts of my family, my people, and my gods. And was happy.
[Upon finding records I discovered that the man's family was killed after his sister killed the local lord or rix in his sleep]
[1] Latin (which has infiltrated the Etruscan language) for Cargo Ship.
[2] Berber name for Carthage.
[3] Oscan for "Sons of Mars".
Part Two - Kill Them All and the Gods will Know their Own
By the year 300 BU (412 BCE), the Rasna had already been rattled to the core, their racial memory would never recover from this period of decline they were going through. The south was a lost cause, the lands of the once proud Latins and Romans lay in ruins, the rich Campanian Rasna of the south were gone. And now a period of flux had started.
This would be further stressed in 288 BU (400 BCE) by an invasion from the North, this new wave of Gaulish invaders known as the Senoni went virtually unchallenged through Rasna territory before settling on the coast of the Adriatic Sea and forcing out many of the Umbrians, they created a kingdom for themselves around a city known to them as Sena [1]. This appeared as a looming threat until was finally broke out in 279 BU (391 BCE), and hoards of gauls came down on the city of Clevsin [2] like a scourge, this siege began the war for the ancestral homeland of the Rasna.
The Dodecapoli was not finished yet, Fufluna [3] and Curtun [4] sent their combined armies on a mission to defeat the gauls, the armies together were about 18,000 which historians tell us is about three Rasna soldiers for every two Senoni soldiers.
A Depiction of the Battle on the fields outside Clevsin, the last battle the site would ever see.
The armies met on the farmer’s fields surrounding Clevsin for an enormous battle (for the relatively small population of Italia these armies were huge), this battle would set the stage for the future of Italia.
So you can imagine the Rasna’s concern when the Gauls won. The battle was long and hard, the armies were both inflicting major damage upon each other and at the end the Gauls came out victorious. It is said that the Gauls attacked with the ferocity of the animals of the North, old myths once held to be true even said that the Gauls transformed themselves into beasts to defeat the army of Rasna veterans. However now the commonly held belief is that the Gauls were capable warriors who knew the weaknesses in the popular Italic Phalanx, the Phalanx worked well against other Phalanxes but not against a more mobile army, the core was always made of the richer and well-armed soldiers while the flanks were less experienced and less well armed.
The flanks must have been exploited flawlessly, the soldiers were butchered by the full force of the Gauls and then the core of wealthier soldiers were surrounded and killed.
However the battle was not so simple, as the Rasna began to realize that they were losing, the army of Clevsin attacked from behind, reinforcing the Rasna, though the army of Clevsin was only a fraction of the Senoni army, the rescue allowed the others a moment to regain their footing, however by the end of it the Rasna were once again surrounded, the soldiers were retreating now into the gates of Clevsin and before the gates could be closed it was too late, the city was razed. The Rasna soon realized the enemy they were facing was greater than they thought.
Another battle for Italia would be fought soon enough, but the odds were different now, though some major players had been knocked out of the game, the Rasna had more than enough man power to continue their fight, but the Senoni would have much greater challenges ahead of them, and had much fewer men to continue on with.
[1] Senigallia in modern Italy OTL.
[2] Clusium.
[3] Modern Populonia.
[4] Modern Cortona.
Part Three - Sweat in Peace Time, You will shed less Blood in War
In 265 BU (377 BCE), the year the peace agreement signed at the Conference of Akragas came to an end, a surprise came, weeks before the agreement officially ended, the Italiote League amassed a fleet in Rhegium, and attacked Zankle, they of course weren’t bound by the peace agreement, and were counting on reinforcements from Carthage when the agreement reached its end.
And this fleet of 80 vessels surrounded the city, they made land fall and thousands of soldiers began surrounding the city and pillaging the hinterlands. The city that had seen this coming, had prepared by collecting as much crops as possible and sending a message of their siege to Syracuse, a loyal ally.
When Syracuse received word that the city was under attack, they redirected their efforts that had been to prepare for the struggle with Carthage that would repeat inevitably to help Zankle, a land army was sent and most of the fleet left for Zankle, when they arrived with 150 vessels they engaged in the Battle of Zankle, the battle was hard fought but numbers prevailed, the result was that the fleet brought the battle back to Rhegium, only a couple miles away from Zankle.
The city found itself with a reduced navy and a lack of preparedness for such an assault. They knew reinforcements were two weeks away and that was a huge concern, because they didn’t know if they could last that long against an onslaught of invaders. However 9 days into the siege a command came from Syracuse to bring part of the fleet back home to prepare for Carthaginian assaults.
And finally when a new army of 60 vessels arrived to relieve the battered Rhegium army, they found 25 Sicilian vessels supplemented with 15 vessels from Zankle. and the battle ended with both sides withdrawing to their sides of the Strait of Rhegium. As the tensions began to settle for the moment the moment finally came, the Carthaginians got their chance to strike out for revenge. The Second Sicilian War had begun.
Forces battling at Katane.
The Carthaginians sent some of their army over land, some reports say 100,000 men went off to march over Sicily, and it seems this figure might have been realistic, this army marched on Segesta for a momentous victory. This battle was easily won and next they marched on Himera. This battle was a major setback for the Carthaginians as the Himerans held out for a month until sea vessels could stop shipments into the city, once the Himerans did meet them in battle though the city was emptied of its inhabitants and resettled by Phoenician Settlers.
However the fleet had much more important battles to win.
First they sent a fleet to attack Zankle. Though unsuccessful in taking the city it distracted Syracuse and relieved the Italiote Lennenes enough to be reinvigorated to continue their own battle. At the same time they attacked Katane, a city with deep connections to Syracuse. This enraged Syracuse and 60 vessels were dispatched to scare off the Carthaginians, meanwhile another fleet attacked Syracuse directly, but was warded off by a strong defense from the remaining navy. Soon Gelo was also sending aid, taking some of the burden of Syracuse.
However the turning point in the war which would progress further as mostly large skirmishes was of a diplomatic nature, Kamarina, a historical ally of Carthage, in the year 260 BU (372 BCE) broke its alliance with Syracuse, and soon internal conflict increased, this was a huge victory for Carthage and soon the rest of the alliance of Sicily was on the defensive.
After Himera, the land army had marched for Zankle, taking it siege and immobilizing its forces. The war was turning out very badly for Syracuse and Sicily.
Part Four - A Textbook Example
“Chapter 7 - The Early Decline Period, History of the Rasna Ed. 5”
Battle of Perusia
One cannot explore the Battle of Perusia without understanding one man, his name was Rasce Alsinei. He was the one who finally ended the dominance of the Senoni in the Umbrians lands, and tried to restore the Umbrians and Rasna to old balances of power. He was the general who defended Perusia from Senoni assault and though he did not live to see it, his courage and ingenuity would bring back some of the power long since lost to Gaulish and Oscan onslaughts.
Rasce Alsinei in a small space of time however managed to revolutionize the Italic Phalanx. And started a pattern that would begin to differentiate the phalanxes of the East from the Italics. His alteration was simple, he realized the error that allowed the flanks to fall so easily, and set about changing that, the richer and more heavily armoured were distributed evenly across the phalanx, allowing for uniform amounts of strength. Not only this, but this humbling act that forced the noblemen to be spread out through the entire army allowed them to join more in with their poorer counterparts and allowed to interact, move, and cooperate as one.
Gallic Warriors against a Rasna soldier, found in the ruins of Fufluna.
When a force moved to extract a tribute from Perusia, they found an army standing guard over the city from their hilltop fortress. This army held the higher ground and eventually had to be dealt with, and after trying to wait them out for over a week. His men finally marched onward into battle. Once again they tried to go for the flanks of the army that was roughly their size, about six thousand soldiers in total.
And they met a surprise, an army stronger than any they had ever met in battle. They knew they were losing until a lucky arrow hit Rasce, piercing his thin armour (that in some glorified tales he had given to a poorer soldier that had shown promise), and in fact the army did successfully force them back, even until they were trampling on the dead general’s body. But then in a sudden burst of courage, the army fought back hard and strong, finally covering enough ground to retrieve their fallen general and soon they drove the Senoni into retreat, mostly toward the Tiber River. Early ones got boats, some desperately swam across, many drowned from exhaustion, being unable to swim, or just the mass of bodies that were forcing them forward. And a courageous few fought a valiant final battle on the shores of the Tiber River, surrounded by their dead comrades. A fitting climax to the battle for meχl-Rasnal.
The Aftermath
The leader of the Senoni, a Gaul named Brennos [1] was no longer capable of controlling his kingdom, in fact many of his most loyal supporters had fought themselves to death on the banks of the Tiber River while his cowardly brethren and political enemies retreated in fear. Finally in the year 277 BU (389 BCE), two years after the battle, the kingdom collapsed, various enemies of Brennos began a diaspora through out Umbria as warlords. As many as a hundred warlords existed at first according to the Rasna historians who have translated ancient texts, but in the year 270 BU (382 BCE) it is known that only 10 kingdoms remained, in a daily struggle for dominance. One that stirred up trouble in the Umbrian lands for years to come.
While this all happened in Umbria, the Rasna were now coping with what they yet did not know was their death blow, as the influence of the major cities began to decline, and Fufluna opened up to attack was in its death throws, the Dodecapoli began to decline, Pisae [2] was entered into the league of twelve cities to replace Clevsin. And though significantly weakened, they continued to carry on. And would still continue for more than a century.
[1] Or Brennus to us OTLers.
[2] Pisa in Modern Italia of OTL and ATL (dropping the harsh ending is probable considering it exists in both timelines).
Part Five - Tortured by Fundamentalism
Korinthos, Ellás United
Erasmios walked up to the stage, above him he saw the flags, Athēnai, Korinthos, Themanthos, Messinia, Pella, and finally closest to the stage he recognized the flag of Ellás United, he only recognized the brilliantly coloured flag from books, he had been a child last time he had passed through the Gates of Herakles and sailed to Ellás. He had lived most of his life in Neos Athēnai [1], far from his ancestral homeland.
As he walked up to the podium, he looked out at his audience, there must be over a thousand people in this room. He had no idea his ideas had so much popularity in the ancient city, he had been told that closer to the heart of New Lennene Religion that the old ways were still enforced, and that the Lennenes lacked the freedoms the colonies received. These people are in attendance at great risk to themselves and their families, he thought, I hope they get a good show.
He found himself staring, and realized he had stood there without moving for several seconds. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He closed his eyes, calmed himself down, and then tried again.
The unofficial emblem for the "Common Ancestry" Movement growing in popularity across the Lennene World.
“Hello, thank you for coming. I am glad to get a chance to speak to you, you honour me with your presence. I am happy to discover the showing I gathered with my modest ideals. Ideals I hope many of you have considered or will consider, despite the stigma they may get from the current government. Many of you are probably scientists, freethinkers, religious minorities, or just activist hoping my ideas will be the beginning of a revolution in which we can reshape our view of our world, ourselves, and our religions.
This is something I promise I will deliver on.
Despite our differences, despite what religion might say, we are no different from the barbaros of Libya, the people of Vetio, and even the people across the ocean who seem so alien to us that fundamentalists teach our children they are a different species! We must throw out such bigotry if we ever hope to accomplish a free society, where fundamentalist aren’t allowed to brain wash our children and barbaros are given equal rights. If we ever hope to improve the world we live in we must change the fundamentals of society, a good start would be to teach common ancestor theory beside divinities in school. This moment is the first opportunity in centuries for anything to change and we can...”
Suddenly a bang came from across the room, and Erasmios keeled over in pain. He fell to the floor, but just had enough time to view the shooter before his eyes closed, perhaps forever. He could here the crowd screaming for a few seconds, and then nothing.
[1] San Francisco Bay Area. It has a climate very similar to the Mediterranean Sea, and in this era roughly corresponding to the 1870s in terms of settlement of the New World.
Part Six - Clutching at Straws
The war was going very badly for Syracuse, in 255 BU (367 BCE) the city was surrounded by enemies on all sides. Finally in an act of desperation, a fleet had been dispatched to land on the Libyan Coast and bring the battle back to Carthage. Ten thousand soldiers were sent to attack the rich agricultural areas under the control of Carthage, in the hopes that they could stop force the Carthaginians to come back home, and eventually they hoped to hit their final target, the city of Carthage itself. Defeat Carthage, and the Phoenician cities would go their separate ways, at least that was the plan.
As this plan came into action, the Carthaginians dispatched their general Melqherem with an army of 18,000 to stop this army before it could do any damage, a large army for the time period. The Lennene army decided it was better not to engage them directly and tried repeatedly to hit their army quickly and get out before their forces were organized. At the same time, their activities of raiding the Carthaginian farmers was paying off. The Carthaginian armies in Sicily were often carefully rationed and many were killed needlessly in battle because they were malnourished and their bodies could not take the stress of battle.
The Sicilian Lennenes finally decided to head for Carthage, realizing they had done all they could where they were, so they marched towards Carthage. Before they attacked Carthage however they would need to confront Melqherem’s army, and the Battle of Sicca Veneria [1] in 253 BU (265 BCE) decided how the war would proceed.
The battlefield was hot and dry, behind the other army is a fortress on a foothill. There was about 10,000 Carthaginian Soldiers because a large portion of the army was sent to cover other possible targets and defend the citadel from inside the walls. The battle was enormous for the age and the winner would have made a huge leap forward for their cause.
The battle as depicted by the Carthaginians (this version of events may stray from those provided by Carthaginian scholars).
The battle finally begun with both sides forming defensive positions near the city, Carthage made the first move, they sent their cavalry to make a quick assault on the opposing phalanx and retreat behind their allies. However when they charged, the Lennene spear men were quick to respond, the sky was quickly filled with a swarm of spears that pierced the armour of men and the skin of horses. Before they could run back to their lines the advancing Lennenes overtook them and slaughtered them, the battle begun in favour of the Lennenes.
As the Lennenes moved up the foothill, the Carthaginians began to advance, their entire force moved as one and fought valiantly, however after several see-saws with both sides falling back and then pushing back the Lennenes finally finished off the army. Melqherem was captured and sent on a ship heading for Syracuse where he would be publicly executed.
Sicca Veneria was destroyed, and wouldn’t be rebuilt for several decades, and never again would it find itself on a map of the Republic, the city eventually fell into irrelevance before being abandoned in the 5th century AU (6th century CE).
[1] Modern El Kef, Tunis.
Part Seven - A Last Hope
With Melqherem on his way to a swift execution, the Lennene forces continued their march to Carthage with little resistance to Carthage, they arrived near the end of the month of Thargelion and laid siege to the city, the city could hold out for years if they wanted to with shipments through their harbour that was unreachable to the forces waiting around their city.
The hope that the Lennenes had was that they could provoke the public into demanding an attack before the preparations for an all-out strike on the opposition from well-trained forces spread out across the Republic. To achieve this aim, they tried to outrage the people, they stuck heads on the end of mechanical arrows and used katapaltai to launch these into the city streets where they would be seen by hundreds of people in the city.
This did cause mounting pressure on Carthage to bring the battle to the Lennene ‘savages’, however an organized army would relieve Carthage sooner than expected and this would relieve the pressure. The fleet landed in a city beyond the reaches of the patrols and came directly from Sicily to help rescue the homeland, 30,000 people now marched to defeat the army surrounding Carthage.
Motya after the city was defeated and plundered.
In what are now known as Adom Pinna [1] the couple thousand Lennenes left prepared a line of defense to stop the advance of these reinforcements, the Lennenes tried to hold them back by making sure they had the hill at their backs, according to Carthaginians after the battle about as many Lennenes were defeated by the sword as by retreating on a long uphill slog. No Lennene had the ability to write there version of events after they died from battle or sacrifice or being sold into slavery. This battle which slaughtered the Lennene presence in Libya resulted in a change, the war was back to one front, one front that the Lennenes had almost certain inferiority on.
However during this general pull out of Sicilian forces, the Syracuse forces struck against their enemies, they temporarily regained contact with the forces of Rhegium, and sent a force to attack into Carthaginian territory. This resulted in the Battle of Motya, which was a major win for the Lennenes, who destroyed the city and killed its inhabitants.
The fleet raided deep into Carthaginian territory, and the Carthaginians retreated for the first time since the beginning of the war into their own territory.
However this momentary lapse in the war effort for Carthage was soon corrected, and after some of the unrest caused by the Sicilians in Libya was reversed an army returned to Sicily in 250 BU (362 BCE), and despite the losses the Carthaginians faced, the war continued.
[1] Red Hills is what unreliable sources tell me it means, feel free to correct me.
Part Eight - End Game
The war for Sicily seemed to be drawing to a close, in a war of attrition the Carthaginians just had enough resources that no amount of expertise and cunning would help the Sicilians, they saw the enemy closing in on all sides, in 249 BU (361 BCE) the Rasna even entered the conflict on the side of the Italiote League. Later they would be instrumental in securing the surrender of Zankle in 247 BU (359 BCE). That defeat might have been what finally resulted in the decision that ended the war.
This is an image of the location where the two sides signed for peace in Motya.
After several years where the victory seemed unattainable even to the most bold Lennene soldier, the leadership of the city of Syracuse and its allies finally agreed to negotiate an end to the war in 246 BU (358 BCE), the negotiations happened in Zankle which was declared ‘neutral territory’ for the negotiations. After several days of intense debate, the Lennenes pulled out to consider the position. A second set of conferences happened in the rebuilt Motya, both sides came up with a set of conditions that they could live with that were largely in favour of the Carthaginians, it became known as the Peace of Motya. The main points were:
- The city of Syracuse would give 20 talents to begin and 15 talents every year as tribute to Carthage.
- The city of Zankle would maintain neutrality in all future conflicts, it cannot have a standing army however Carthage and Syracuse were both obligated to aid the city if it came under attack.
- The Syracuse navy was limited to 12 ships, an extremely restrictive term,
- The Rasna had free travel (without hostility from Carthage) through the Strait of Rhegium to honour their involvement in the war,
- All allies of Syracuse were given the opportunity to form an alliance with Carthage with no harsh feelings or penalties,
- Most territory taken by Carthage during the war was split between the Italiots, Kamarina, and Carthage,
- The tyrant was deposed and executed, a democracy was put in place,
- For five years a fleet of 15 triremes occupied the harbour,
- Syracuse maintained itself as a separate state under the leadership of its own citizens,
However at the same time that the situation had begun to stabilize in Sicily, a new war had begun to redraw the map of Ellás. The winds of change had not ceased, the currents had only been distorted.
Part Nine - War is Peace
“Chapter 7 - The Corinthian War, Ancient Wars of Ellás”
During the early months of the year 268 BU (380 BCE) when the conflicts in Sicily had just began to reemerge on the horizon, the old poleis were heading towards a war that would tear apart the Lennene homeland once again, and reshape it under a new domination.
Causes of the War
The Lennene documents are heavily biased, the histories were written by the victors. In 269 BU (381 BCE) a group of Theban men, unrelated to the government, started to raise tensions in Messenia, the home of the helots. They started a revolt that managed to occupy the Spartans for months, going into 268 BU, and finally once the revolution was quelled the Spartans were outraged enough that the Spartans declared war on the enemy alliance. The war had started.
However it should be obvious that despite this being the actual cause, there was several underlying factors that lead up to this eventual explosion of war.
The ruins of the ancient city of Sparta.
Spartan Imperialism
Decades earlier, the mark of the Delian League transforming into the Athenian Empire was increased control over its components and exacting monetary tribute instead of ships. After the war, many members of the Peloponnesian League began to notice parallels with Sparta, the city had become spoiled after its victory. This greed is what led many of their allies to defect.
Demographics
Just as the Spartans had begun to provoke their allies with their arrogance and greed, they had also started to decline at an ever increasing pace, the way that the Spartans lived meant that they had low-birth rates, and the harshness of their lifestyle meant very few of children born actually survived. When the war started, the population of Sparta was down to a few thousand, not even close to the size of the armies of their new enemies, and their enemies knew it.
Isolationism and Xenophobia
Despite the fact that the Spartans and their allies had joined together to win the war, the Spartans were always most comfortable when they isolated themselves from the rest of the world. An extension of classic Lennene xenophobia. The mountainous nature of Ellás meant the isolated polis [1] was the basic unit of government, and each polis considered themselves superior to every other, even their allies.
Anger over the Peloponnesian War
Twelve years after the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians were angry from their defeat in the Peloponnesian War, they were angry over the terms which limited their power. The war would mean the treaty had no meaning, they could get revenge, and begin to recover their former power. And indeed when the war started, the Athenians immediately started planning the construction of several triremes to expand their navy.
[1] A city.
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