The reign of the Rasna

This will be my first timeline. Please comment on it. Critique/compliments/suggestions?​

The Reign of the Rasna

The city of Ruma¹ has been under Rasnan² control for most of it’s history. But the Rumans revolted against their king, Tarquin the Proud, and they declared themselves independent. Tarquin tried to regain the throne of the new Roman republic several times, but it failed. He sought for help. The king of Clevsin³, Lars Pursenas, and the current lucumo of the Rasna,
In his first year as lucumo (508 B.C.), Pursenas invaded Ruma. The Rumans were prepared for the attack, but, after a long siege, the Rumans were defeated and Tarquin the Proud became king again.
Pursenas however, was not happy to return the city to Tarquin. Therefore Pursenas put a relative of him one the throne, so Pursenas and Clevsin largely held control of Ruma. The Latins in the city also hated Tarquin, so a new revolt would be less likely. He also made Ruma a full member of the Dodecapoli. With Ruma as a member of the Dodecapoli, the influence of Pursenas became larger, and the Rasnafication of Ruma would also become larger.
Many people disagreed with Ruma becoming a Dodecapoli League city, since there had always been 12, the religious number. But Ruma was allowed to stay, because of the danger of having a new rebellion in Ruma, and because the Rasna were looking forward to expansion…

¹ Rome.
² Etruscan.
³ Clusium.
 Elected ruler of the twelve Etruscans city states, ruled for one year.
 Dodecapoli, the twelve Etruscan league cities.


rasna.PNG

rasna.PNG
 
After Ruma became part of the Etruscan League, there were several clashes with the neighbouring tribes, such as the Latins and the Sabines. The Rasnans won most of the battles, being stronger. The Latins gradually become subject to the Rasnans, while the Sabines were conquered.
But there were more enemies than just the Italians. The various Greek states and colonies were an important power in the Mediterranean, especially in trade, but also in military. Most importantly, they also had many cities in Italy. The Greeks were also afraid of Rasnan expansion into Southern Italy. So therefore the tensions between the Rasnans and the Greeks stated to rise.
The Greek cities of Syracuse and Cumae attacked the southern Rasnan League in the bay of Naples (474 B.C.). The Rasnans won. The Rasnan victory is generally seen as important. Since Rasna won, it was able to hold a lot of it’s influence on Southern Italy, and also it’s naval power, which would otherwise have been seriously damaged.

But there would soon be a new conflict.

In the battle of Alalia (450 B.C.), the Rasnans fought against the Greeks. The Rasnans were helped by their allies, the Carthaginians, from Carthage.
The Greeks had approximately sixty pentekonters, while the Rasnans and Carthaginians together had approximately 130 ships. The battle took place near the Corsican coast, and the Rasnans and Carthaginians were victorious. The Greeks were driven out of Corsica.
Carthage and Rasna agreed that the Carthaginians would get Sardinia and the Rasnans got Corsica. The primary town on Corsica, Alalia, became part of the Dodecapoli, which now held fourteen cities.

rasna.png

rasna.png
 
Im confused is it Rome or Ruma? Because the map says Rome and you mention the Roman Republic but you refer to it as Ruma at least once.
 
Ruma is the Etruscan name for Rome. The map says Rome - i will change it later (don't know why it says rome, rest is in Etruscan, took it from wikipedia and didn't change any names)
 
The years following Alalia were not peaceful. There were many wars and conflicts. The zilath’s¹ of Clevsin were most times elected as lucumo, and Clevsin, also partially ruling Ruma, was the most important city.
Also the Celts were dangerous. Many Celts invaded Italy these times (390-370 B.C). One of them, the tribe of the Senones, set up camp near Clevsin. The Senones had a huge army, with more than 12.000 warriors. The Senones wanted to negotiate with Clevsin about land rights. The methlum², afraid of the Senone army, sent messages to other Rasnan cities to help. Fragmented as they were, there came not much help. Only Ruma, which had family ties with Clevsin, and Perusia³ sent help. When they arrived, they attacked the Senones. It was a long battle, and in the end, the Senones were defeated.
The Senones had at the time a very professional military, with good warriors. Their fearsome look was also frightening to the enemy. But they also had weaknesses. They didn’t fight in formation, and they didn’t have a lot of body protection.
The Etruscans were armed with spears and swords, and they wore good helmets, armour en shields.
The remaining Senones either fled or committed suicide, since it was for a Celt very bad to become captured, or loose a battle, they rather died. A small group of Senones remained near Clevsin. They would slowly assimilate in the Etruscan population.

¹ King of an Etruscan city-state.
² Etruscan city-state.
³ Perugia.
 
The real beginning of the Rasnan empire starts with Sethre, zilath of Velzna¹. Sethre was a great military commander, and his mother was said to be of Clevsinian royal blood. When he was chosen as lucumo, his army had a lot of successes. He fought against the Latins and Sabines, and both were destroyed. He also had successful campaigns against the other Italian peoples, and against the Greeks.
But his real success was politically. When he had been chosen as lucumo a few times, he was able to change the political structure. Since there are not much written sources from this time period, we cannot be sure how he did it, but it is certain that he convinced all the methlums to make the lucumo, the ruler, an office which wasn’t for a year, but for his entire life. He also made the Rasnan army more centralized.
He is seen as the founder of the Rasnan empire.


¹Orvieto. Here the Etruscan city-states met to choose their rulers (lucumo)


I'll post more about Sethre and the Etruscan expansion in the next update.
 
By the way it appears there is already a far more detailed thread on this called Weighted Scales.

My TL takes quite a different turn than it looks like this one is going, but thanks for the plug :p

In regards to the TL, I'd like some more flesh, this looks a little barebones. A lot of "this happened" but not a lot of whys and hows.

Otherwise, I'm very interested to see where this goes (a recall a lot of people rooting for the Etruscans in my TL) so now maybe everyone can see what they wanted to see all along right here ;)

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The First Greek war was the first major war in Rasnan history. It is well documented by both Rasnan and Greek historians. It began in (342 B.C.), when Sethre had been lucumo for five years.
The Greek city-states began to realize the danger of a more united Rasnan state, which Sethre had just created. Most of the Greek city-states decided to attack the Southern Etruscan League, which consisted of southern cities like Capeva¹and Irna². The most important Greek city states that attacked were Syrakousai³ and Neapolis.
The Greeks besieged the city of Capeva. They first blocked the harbour of the city, so all the trade was stopped, and the Greek land army besieged the city from land. The Greeks were with far more than the small army of Capeva, and therefore, it did not take a very long time before Capeva fell.
When lucumo Sethre of the Dodecapoli, the main Ransanan league heared of this, he had to help his Rasnan brothers. And he prepared for a war larger than the Rasna had ever faced so far…

¹ Capua
² Salerno
³ Syracuse
 Naples.

In the next update much more about the First Greek War.
 
Sethre and his army were preparing for the war. The Rasnans had at the time already quite a professional army, but still some ordinary men were forced to go in the army.
The Rasnan fleet sailed to Capeva and besieged the captured Rasnan city. There was quite a Greek army inside, but it was not very large. The Greeks tried to stop the army while landing, but failed, and retreated in the city. The city fortifications were still damaged from the Greek siege, so therefore it was not very difficult to conquer. From there the Rasnans marched to Neapolis.

The Etruscan navy was meanwhile attacked near Neapolis. The Rasnans had approximately 100 ships, just as the Greeks. The Rasnans however used a new invention on their ships, a corvus¹, which made it easier to board enemy ships. This made sure that the Rasnans won the battle.
The remaining Greek ships, approximately forty, fled to Neapolis. The Rasnan fleet followed and blocked Neapolis’ harbour, and the Rasnan army besieged the city also from land.
Neapolis was a big and strong city. Nevertheless, it still fell to the Rasnans.
The Greeks however, were far from defeated…

¹ OTL Roman term.
A corvus:

corvi.PNG

corvi.PNG
 
Carthage had been in conflict with the Greeks for a longer time. The reason for this was that the Greeks and the Carthaginians were the major naval and trade powers in the Mediterranean. An attack on the Greek city-states would therefore be beneficial for Carthage. Carthage was also interested in expansion to Sicily and other Greek areas. Therefore the declared war on the Greek city states (341 B.C.) (note that there was no Second Sicilian War ATL)
The Carthaginians attacked the Greeks, and first captured both Selinus¹ and Segesta. Carthage had at the time a very powerful navy, and a large army, largely dependant on mercenaries. Their army was far greater than any single Greek city state had, or even a few combined. The army consisted of light and heavy infantry, and also cavalry. Many were Carthaginian citizens, but there were also many Libyans, Celts and Spanish in the army.
Afterwards, they attacked Gela, and afterwards, one of the more important cities of Sicily, Akragas².
The siege was in the beginning quite successful, but at a certain moment, the Greeks counterattacked and the Carthaginians had many losses, but were not defeated. The city was situated on a hill and difficult to conquer. Therefore the city was surrounded and the people slowly starve. In the end, the people left the city, starving, fleeing to other cities.
And so the Carthaginians captured Akragas.

¹Selinunte.
²Agrigento

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