[Welcome to the seventh chapter of the Commentarii. We're in India now! Some progress at last! On the other hand, I know bugger all about India! Also their gods are apparently overpowered as all hells! Oh no...

You can read the previous archives here:

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=Commentarii

And now, on with the quest.]

>>3372242
Wait, who did we appoint as our lieutenants?

>>3372242

It is night. The day's debate with your lieutenants is done and over with. There was some friction at first, a bristling over the Latin titles and ranks, but everyone saw reason in the restructuring in the end.

A part of you is glad that you can finally begin to use your native speech again if only reciting the formal rankings of the individuals aboard the yet-to-be-renamed ship, the familiar sounds rolling across your tongue with such verve. And the formal consolidation of the infantrymen under you as the overall commander is something you had planned to do, sooner or later. Had your father lived, it would have been later.

Hm. Your father is dead, and so too is your mother. There isn't much keeping you to voyage eastward now. You could head east, brave the wrath of Juno Queen-Bitch, and maybe resettle in your beloved Rome. That is an option that has been whispering seductively in your head ever since your father died.

Was your mother alright? Not... Rhea, but your Roman one. If that little shit Octavian killed her alongside Caesarion-

Something cracks. You look down at your clenched fist, and sigh at the broken leaden stylus. Too much work can kill a man. You resolve to go to sleep.

But as you tuck yourself in on the too-large room that still has your father's scent embedded in every nook and cranny, you glance at the pile of bronze dust, the remnant of that odd colossus. It is completely insane, this streak of thought coming out of the blue, but-

>Ingest the dead god's bronze dust

>No, are you crazy? What are you hoping to achieve from doing that? Bronze poisoning?

>Suggestion

[Whichever option you pick, a Dream will commence.]

>>3372293
>No, are you crazy? What are you hoping to achieve from doing that? Bronze poisoning?

>>3372293
>No, are you crazy? What are you hoping to achieve from doing that? Bronze poisoning?
It's corrupted. Dispose of it as far and safely as possible.

>>3372293
>No, are you crazy? What are you hoping to achieve from doing that? Bronze poisoning?

File: la venus d'ille.jpg (44 KB, 349x500)

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>>3372308
>it's corrupted
What if, and I'm just spitballing here - what if we cast a statue of Venus out of it?

>>3372267
I tried to upload a word doc via 4chan, but apparently that is no good. Prepare for text spam.

>>3372335
Yeah, that's not possible. I'd recommend pastebin for linking a large quantity of text in one post.

>>3372335
You can't. Post info dumps on a pastebin or right here.

>>3372359
>>3372345

My god, I was racking my brain for the name of the website. Thanks, formatting there now

>>3372267
https://pastebin.com/VPGPSjnb
To answer your question, it was Galen and Vaeli, as per the votes from the last thread.

>>3372406
A few things:
A pastebin of our personal information, abilities and the current year would be great.
Are all the pretty and intellectual slaves dead too?

>>3372419
The intellectuals are working as immunes, specialised "soldiers" like engineers and doctors. The pretty slaves were sold off back in Numante, right before the voyage was launched for reals - unless I am catastrophically mistaken.

By the way, keep the suggestions coming! First time running thing, so advices are always helpful. Currently a bit tired from scrolling through all the archives, but I'll try to get the virtues and personal abilities written down later!

>>3372293
>No, are you crazy? What are you hoping to achieve from doing that? Bronze poisoning?

>>3372406
Were the cohort traits dependent on our choice of commander?

>>3374327
>>3372406
Also, would it be possible to ferment the figs, turn them into wine?

>>3374327
A mix of commander and component-soldiers. For example, the second cohort is named "Germanorum" after its commander's origin, but its main pervading influence is that of the Jewish recruits, which gives it the Zealous trait, overriding Vaeli since he's the only German there, limiting his ability to spread his specific Trait.

>>3374371
From a quick googling it seems you need quite a lot of things other than just dried figs to do so, such as tons and tons of sugar, yeast, large glass containers, etc. Also I seem to find only fresh figs as ingredients, not dried ones. Could you elaborate on the possibility of this option?

>>3372298
>>3372308
>>3372315
>>3373197
Vote closed, anons don't want to ingest corrupted ex-god bronze dust for some reason. Right before they're about to have an obligatory Dream that comes with killing notable creatures.

Can't imagine why!

I always hit post too soon. I'll be updating later in the day, have to do morning things and then go to the house of the gods. Any particular thing you want to do with the bronze shards/dust from the Unnamed God, by the way?

Cast another statue? Forge it into a cursed spear? Throw it into the sea?

>>3375385
Forge it into a cursed xiphos. Spears are too situational.

Far to the west, a tired politician dreams.

Far in the east, one guest enters again uninvited.

May Oneiros grant you her favour, and Nyx her all-obscuring cloak-of-obsidian. Flee from the grasp of Hypnos, lest you lose your memory of the Self.

Fortuna asks of you three dice of three. [Roll 1d3]

Rolled 1 (1d3)

>>3375823

>>3375385
Also, make it into a cursed Xiphos.

>>3372328
>what if we cast a statue of Venus out of it?
What if we cast a statue of Inanna out of it?

Rolled 1 (1d3)

>>3375823

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>3375823

File: nature reclaims.jpg (42 KB, 715x409)

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Jungle. Plant-life stretch from north to south, west to east.

The First Citizen awakens in the unwaking world.

"A dream," he marvels, looking around him. Gone is the pillowed lectus cubicularis on which he fell asleep scant hours before. The house of his true-father where he fell asleep is gone, replaced.

A fantastic vista of intense green unfolds before him, exotic snaking-trees and fan-shaped bushes playing a lively, neverending game of Chinese whispers. Fantastic birds with plumes longer than the arms of men squawk/trill without a care in the world as they echo their mating calls in search for their soulmates. And there - is that the famous large-striped cat said to be found in the lands of the Hindus? This is far indeed from his usual haunts - unless this is a representation of that land closest to the pillar of the skies.

The Father of the Fatherland smiles. It has been many years since he last had such a pleasant dream. Nightmares he has had aplenty, the deeds of his past coming to haunt him where he was most vulnerable, but no dreams. In life he commanded the love of his people and legions alike. In the in-between realm of Somnus, he was as nothing.

"Kind Morpheus, have you resolved to give me a night of rest at last?" the First Citizen asks aloud. No voice responds, but a way opens among the dense undergrowth, creating in moments a footpath that would take centuries of animal and human trodding to make in the real. He sighs. "Meandering through an unknown jungle in my old age, this cannot be good for my heart."

The First Citizen starts walking. Slowly, painfully (the illness of his body not quite gone in this dream-form) he saunters through the newly-made way, enjoying the feel of the grass against his naked feet.

At the end of the road (he remembers not the length or the duration of the trek) is a clearing, floors of stone carved into flat planes. Alien architecture reigns here yet, despite the obvious signs of abandonment. The First Citizen wonders at the design and the scale of the construction, the devilish gargoyles and unknown demigods that decorate the marble temples that stand proud amidst the parasytic vegetation that seek to dominate their august forms. Here is the mementori mori to all great cities of Man, the First Citizen thinks to himself. Remember, Rome, your own mortality.

In the middle of the clearing is a small kiosk - of the same make that form the surrounding temples and palaces, but more recently constructed, or rather cobbled together; there is none of the religious devotion of the stone-carvers who crafted this city.

File: gods of dead stone.jpg (379 KB, 1920x864)

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>>3375919

A bartender wrapped in luxurious silk and buzzing with an almost nervous, electrical energy caters to those already seated, constantly cleaning his ceramic cups or wiping the downed stone tablet serving as the table. He is not alone; two customers are seated before him, waiting for the bartender to make up his mind at last on what to serve. The First Citizen approaches, glad to have somewhere to seat at last.

"Welcome, welcome!" the constantly-moving bartender shouts. "Come, sit, eat, drink! We do not get many guests here, not these days, and three in one night - well, call me superstitious, but this is an auspicious sign!"

The First Citizen politely bows his head to the jubilant bartender, then takes the last remaining seat. "This is an unusually long dream," he remarks. "Do you serve posca in here? It has been a while since I have had it." Years in fact. The drink of slaves, commoners, and soldiers, the First Citizen had had no occasion for even a sip of the plebeian drink, entertaining as he were the senators of that once great Republic with expensive wines and decadent fruits. He missed it so.

"It just so happens that I prepared for exactly that!" the bartender smiles good-naturedly, winking toward the Greek youth seated furthest away from the First Citizen, who sits with his cup, unasked for and untouched. "So many Yavanas here today. Vinegar is easy enough to get, and herbs and spices are plentiful here." The bartender takes a swig of his own drink before he pours the pungent drink for the First Citizen. He thanks the bartender and rests his legs on the stools of cool stone, sipping the wrongly-mixed drink without complaint.

"This is not a normal dream," the Soldier proclaims. The First Citizen glances over his cup to get a good look at the young man - a Parthian perhaps, or some variant of the easterlings. His noble brow and intelligent eyes proclaim his royalty, but he is dressed in unadorned hoplite armour sans arms, the metal the colour of copper. "My father, the King, spoke of such a dream in the day of his coronation, after his coupling with the Head Priestess."

The bartender grins widely, far wider than humanly possible, then takes another swig from a new flask without giving an answer.

"Where are the others?" the Greek speaks for the first time. The First Citizen sits up, alert. Something about the way the Greek youth spoke is uncannily familiar. "There was a Sinae king and a carpenter the last time. Both are nowhere to be seen."

"Not just a customer, but a repeat one!" the bartender exclaims. "Well, well, well." He rubs his hands. "I wasn't told of this. But I am not the one to answer questions, lovely gents! It is for me to ask, and you to answer. Thus according to the traditions of old must I ask - what are your names?"

File: a throne denied.png (270 KB, 655x558)

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>>3375933

>1

"A tired old man who has lived for too long in this world," the First Citizen replies languidly. "In this road of life, many titles and honours were gathered over my name, like so many dust motes in an ancient villa. I fear it would be too long to recite ere the end of this dream."

"But I must know your name. I insist!"

The First Citizen simply sips his cup, ignoring the tantrumming bartender. The trek has worn him out. His is the lack of care of the geriatric.

"I am Magon son of Mago, rightful king of Suerna," the Soldier says proudly, before the bartender can continue. "An oath I have sworn to the gods old and nameless, one that I intend to fulfill. I shall kill the murderer of my parents and siblings, the accursed Harkonni."

The First Citizen's eyes, dimmed with age but endowed with the alacrity of decades of politicking, immediately spots the reaction from the Greek. The youth smoothes over it almost as quickly as it began - he will be a master politician, that one - but there's no mistaking it; these two are connected somehow.

The Greek speaks.

>>3375940

>"Hospitable Bartender, I did not wet my lips with your drink. We are yet strangers, you and I, thus there is no need for the Giving of Names."

>"Kind Bartender, I am Alexandros, the Basileos Returned. I have sailed to the foreign shores of the Hindus to find a way into Sinae.

>Stare at the First Citizen.

>Custom

>>3375838
Another excellent idea!

>>3375835
>>3375396
We'll get into what-do with bronze after the Dream, got any other ideas so I can write them in on the options?

>>3375945
>"Hospitable Bartender, I did not wet my lips with your drink. We are yet strangers, you and I, thus there is no need for the Giving of Names."
>Stare at the First Citizen.
A combination of these two.

>>3375945
>"Hospitable Bartender, I did not wet my lips with your drink. We are yet strangers, you and I, thus there is no need for the Giving of Names."
Fuck you, bartender, we're doing this dance again

>>3375945
>Hospitable Bartender, I did not wet my lips with your drink. We are yet strangers, you and I, thus there is no need for the Giving of Names."

>>3375951
We could make a cursed gun, a cursed mace, a cursed shield, a cursed sling, a cursed bow, a cursed arrow, a cursed helm/set of armour or something that isn't a weapon like a cursed drinking cup. What are the implication of making a cursed drinking cup out of a dead sea-god?

>>3375940
>"Hospitable Bartender, I did not wet my lips with your drink. We are yet strangers, you and I, thus there is no need for the Giving of Names.
>Vipera in verpecula est

Try to give a warning to the Old man at least.

>>3375988
>>3375987
>>3375978
>>3375977
>>3375958
And so the old song and dance begins anew. Vote closed.

>>3375995
I am of the mind that from the moment we start accepting stuff from gods and give them our names, we enter their games.
I may be wrong, but I would rather our fate stay our own if possible.
The Gods in mythology aren’t nice at all after all

>>3376006
A lot of gods can be pretty chill

>>3376006
Agreed

File: Gaja.jpg (19 KB, 344x400)

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"Vipera in verpecula est."

The First Citizen spills some of his drink.

"Are you alright, old man?" the bartender asks, not unkindly. He offers him a slip of cloth to wipe himself with.

"I am- all is well," the old man replies hurriedly. "Thank you, bartender, but I do not think I will need the cloth. This is a dream, after all." He smiles ruefully. "It is nothing new for old men such as I to smell. As we begin to lose control over our body functions, well..." he lets the rest of the ignominious statement go unspoken.

The bartender waves the square-cloth insistently. "Are you sure you do not want to wipe yourself off? The vinegar may not bother your western noses, but it reeks to me."

"No. I do not think I will require anything more of you."

The bartender looks oddly at the First Citizen, but the Greek's reply to his earlier question shifts his attention.

"Hospitable Bartender, I did not wet my lips with your drink. We are yet strangers, you and I, thus there is no need for the Giving of Names."

"Another one! Humans are becoming more and more suspicious." The bartender wipes his brow with the profferred cloth. He squints with suspicion at the Greek, examining him this way and that. "Have we met before?" he asks.

"Have we?" the Greek replies. A question to answer a question.

A peafowl shrieks somewhere in the jungle.

"Oh, get on with it!" the Soldier barks. "We do not have all night, bartender. How am I to wake up rested and whole if you spend the rest of the dream quibbling with the Hellenes?

"Right, right, right" the ever-moving bartender says, taking a swig from another jar. "One, yes, always," he mutters, mostly to himself though you are all able to hear it. "But two in one night? Well, let's see if they will refuse this."

The bartender takes out a large cabinet of dark-red wood and places it on the table-that-was-dolmen. The First Citizens smells the faint whiff of ocean-salt and dried medicine-herbs. A cabinet of curiosities. The bartender opens up four of the pockets, displacing them entirely from the cabinet and places them before his guests, their contents laid to bare. In each is a small statuette of ivory, simply and tastefully carved.

"Goods, goods, goods!" he says exultantly. Then he takes another swig from his drink. "Goods to sell, goods to buy, goods to," he hums, "enhance! You are truly lucky three, yes. You are visited by the august presence of- well, nevermind that. For reasons of my own, I am compelled to gift you one of these objects to aid you in your journey. Choose carefully and choose well, for-"

>1

"This one is mine!" the Soldier interrupts, taking the rampaging elephant. "My cousin-ancestors of Carthago once menaced the vile Latins with their fantastic beasts of curved horns and thick hide."

>>3376281

"Yes, yes, yes!" the bartender says. "It is your birthright, your heritage!" He does not seem to mind the rude interruption at all. "Gaja, the greatest of beasts. Even the wild-striped tiger fears to hunt them alone. Beware the elephant that is enraged! Now, the old man."

The First Citizen considers the three pieces before him. The leftmost is a group of standing infantrymen standing two rows of two, bearing spears in the upright position as one might when marching in a parade. Their face is forgettable, unremarkable, one that you might see once among a sea of faces in the market and never remember the very next moment. But there are four of them.

"Ah, the humble Bhata, weakest and smallest, but most numerous, yes," The bartender says, smiling at his interest to the ivory statuette. "What is a general without his soldiers, a king without subjects? And quantity, they say, have a quantity all its own."

The First Citizen turns his attention to the second, a horse and its lance-bearing rider. The mount is depicted with its foremost hooves suspended mid-air. The rider's face is beautifully carved in stark contrast to the rest of the piece. Man or woman, he cannot be sure; the curve of those pouting lips, the sparkle in those unpainted eyes - so full of life and something other.

"Most unfortunate that such virile animals are so rare in these lands," the bartender says mournfully. "It is the land, the jungle, the water in the air; they reject the animals of the north. But that does not stop rich warlords from buying them, all the same, and for a good reason." He taps his nose knowingly. "Good horsemen can turn the tides of war, yes. Agility! Energy! Such verve! You, old man, could use some of that. This vivacious Ashva could lend you some of that."

The First Citizen lastly looks at the most elaborate piece on the board. It shows a minister wearing a comically large hat, holding a sceptre. The minister's face is aloof, closed. The First Citizen does not like it. It is the face of a man who knows too much.

"Mayhap it is wisdom you seek?" the bartender says eagerly. "If you give me your name, I will tell let you have Senapati - the wise minister. No name, no gift. Your name is nothing compared to the things you would know, the whispers you would hear! You are old, but that means you have lived and experienced a life. You know what the right decision is, don't you?"

The First Citizen chuckles. "I do not belong here. I am old, bartender, and soon to depart the world of the living. These gifts of yours are generous to the extreme, but I think they are best left for those who have more to live for."

"But with these gifts, that could change," the bartender says. "Do you not have any regrets left in your life?"

>>3376284

"Regrets I have many, to be sure. But they are not something to be remedied like a bad case of the cold, but learned from," the First Citizen replies. "If I were wiley Ulysses, perhaps I would have chosen one of these to find strength again in these limbs, rejuvenated enough to participate in the affairs of men. But I am a Roman. It is considered a grace of our people to take our leave from our guests. To stay longer than is natural would inconvenience my kind host, Life herself. And..." he pauses, looking at the Greek, "unlike my predecessor, whose life was cut so cruelly short before his time, I have lived mine in full."

And I am so, very tired.

The bartender is aghast. "Senility has caught up to you in your ancient age!" he cries. He turns to the last person to choose. "So be it. I will shed no tears upon his grave. But you, young man, you have much to live for, much left to do. Will you pick one of these gifts? Will you give me your name?"

The Greek answers.

>>3376292

>"Kind Host, I am a man of pietas, one who knows that an unhelpful guest is an irreverent one. I would gladly give you my name if you give me yours in turn. [Initiate the exchange of names]

>"Good Host, I am merely a sea-faring Greek, plying the waters of the trade as my forefathers have done. Grateful am I at your attention, but I find that I require none of these."

>Custom

>>3376294
>"Kind Host, I am a man of pietas, one who knows that an unhelpful guest is an irreverent one. I would gladly give you my name if you give me yours in turn. [Initiate the exchange of names]
We're on an odyssey. Can't fail to imitate Ulysses.

>>3376294
....Could we give him the cursed metals under the pretense that it is divine in nature?
In exchange for his name.

>>3376376
No, because he would probably be able to sniff it out and you don't have the kind of power to take items into dreams.

>>3376294
>"Kind Host, I am a man of pietas, one who knows that an unhelpful guest is an irreverent one. I would gladly give you my name if you give me yours in turn. [Initiate the exchange of names]

>>3376294
>"Kind Host, I am a man of pietas, one who knows that an unhelpful guest is an irreverent one. I would gladly give you my name if you give me yours in turn." [Initiate the exchange of names]
Let's do it.

>>3376294
>>"Good Host, I am merely a sea-faring Greek, plying the waters of the trade as my forefathers have done. Grateful am I at your attention, but I find that I require none of these."

>>3376294
>"Good Host, I am merely a sea-faring Greek, plying the waters of the trade as my forefathers have done. Grateful am I at your attention, but I find that I require none of these."

>>3376294
>>"Kind Host, I am a man of pietas, one who knows that an unhelpful guest is an irreverent one. I would gladly give you my name if you give me yours in turn. [Initiate the exchange of names]

>>3376294
>"Kind Host, I am a man of pietas, one who knows that an unhelpful guest is an irreverent one. I would gladly give you my name if you give me yours in turn. [Initiate the exchange of names]

>>3376345
>>3376381
>>3376422
>>3376459
>>3376484

The bartender considers. "A name for a name, mine to yours and yours to mine. That seems fair." He nods decisively, the deal struck. "But I cannot have these two others hearing both of our names. I propose an alternative: we will write our own names on these parchments here, and exchange them at the same time."

The Greek inclines his head. "A thoughtful suggestion. I accept."

The First Citizen looks on, intrigued at the trade. He always had a bit of madness in him, he thinks. Yet he succeeded where others failed. Does that make him mad, or inspired? The border between bold and reckless is very thin.

They begin writing, the bartender and the Greek both.

>[Nemo]

>[Outis]

>[Alexandros]

>[Gaius]

>Write-in

>>3376704
>[Alexandros]
I'm tempted to write SOL INVICTVS, but I'm not sure how that'd play out.

>>3376704
>Gaius

>>3376704
>Alexandros Nikos
It might be a bit overt, and also not proper Greek, but I think it gets the point across.

>>3376704
>Alexandros

>>3376704
>>[Alexandros]

>>3375977
>Fuck you, bartender, we're doing this dance again
>>3375995
>And so the old song and dance begins anew. Vote closed.

>>3376294
>>3376381
>>3376422
>>3376459
>>3376484
So why are we doing this after avoiding giving him our name several times? It makes no sense.

>>3379216
We avoided it because he didn't give us anything of equal value.
Now he's giving us his name.

>>3379218
The reasoning previously was that we're not playing his game. >>3376006

As to equal value, the bartender has already offered the same thing in the past
>"The second question, then - it is only right that we participate in the Exchange of Names

To me it looks like different anons voting inconsistently.

>>3379230
>To me it looks like different anons voting inconsistently.
yup

>>3376704
>[Alexandros]

I prefer the personality of Alexandros scornful and unyielding towards gods

>>3379243
Scornful toward the gods is our character's Roman side, the piety Greek. I'd hoped that the colder part of Caesar-Alexandros was more of the Caesar, while the warm emotional bits were more of the Greek in his new form, especially in the earlier threads!

>>3379216
The bartender is asking once more for your name, this time as a prerequisite for you to pick one of the pieces. He really wants your name.

>>3379318
I'd hope that it was evident*

I really don't want Alexandros to drink the bartenders moonshine, if I'm being honest. I just want his name so he can't fuck with us like he fucked with Qin.

>>3379433
I can agree to that, though there is the possibility of either the bartender giving us a false name, or reading our name aloud as we give it to him.

>>3379437
>false name
Possible.

Fortuna, has the bartender ever lied to any of us, to the best of our knowledge?

>>3379474
Does lying by omission count? Please note this is not the exact same individual from your first dream, but their roles are similar.

>>3379484
>Does lying by omission count?
No.
>Please note this is not the exact same individual from your first dream, but their roles are similar.
Well fuck

>>3376734
>>3377574
>>3377207
>>3378694
>>3379243

Alexandros it is. Just one more thing. Is this our character's True Name?

>Yes

>No

>>3379689
>Yes
Unless the original Alexandros would like to reclaim it

>>3379689
>Yes

>>3379689
>No
While Alexandros is the name of our earthly vessel, we are Caesar.

>>3379743
Come on, man. We're Alexandros, Megas Basileus, the conqueror destined to seize the world! You want to stick to the name of the Caesars in the west, even as that line persists in degrading and desecrating all that we built in our time as a Roman?

>>3379689
>No

>>3379748
I just don’t wanna give him our true name, that’s all.

>>3379689
>No
ROMA is still within our heart.

dumb cunts have voted for giving our name
let us not do anything even more retarded and lie to him
>give true name

>>3379882
Conscript Father, I plead for calmness and civility in this forum . A nation's liferoad is ever-winding, subject to highs and lows from decisions made in wisdom or in vanity. He who can tell us what the right answer is lives in the inaccessible future, long after the choices have been made.

Our Caesar-Basileus is a paradoxical being, of Roman stateliness and Grecian majesty. An ambition as fierce as that of the Great King of old burns in him, but also the humble and anti-monarchial ideals of his forefathers, who chased the last King of Rome and vowed never to allow a king to rule them again.

But most importantly, Caesar is his own being.

"Caesarem se, non regem esse."

Whether this New Man traces the footsteps of Alexandros Basileus, that youth of unparalleled vision and brilliance whose works yet echo in our own millenium, or seek to embrace Romanitas, holding values that clash against the self-aggrandisement of the oriental monarchs, is up to you, esteemed Conscript Fathers. But whichever way you choose, Roman or Greek, Chinese or Parthian, Caesar will be Caesar.

And like all movers and shakers of our humanity's story, Caesar is a madman at heart.

Outis is Greek for "No One", the answer Odysseus gave when the cyclops asked for it. Nemo is likewise, just the Latin translation of it.

>>3379689
>No

>>3379689
No we are Cesar

>>3379689
>Is this our character's True Name?
What does the distinction imply? We're both as far as I am concerned.

>>3381421
Simply put, whether you feel a greater affinity with the Roman heritage, or this newfound Greek body/identity. And whether you feel the name "Alexandros" that you wrote is the real, honest one.

>>3379699
>>3379728
Yes

>>3379743
>>3379750
>>3379805
>>3380037
>>3381255
No

Hm. Vote closed, I'll try to write up something before dinner.

>>3381710
Well, does this mean that Shiza likes being Roman more? Because I wanted him to be both and neither: something unique, a new synthesis -- a man who could look beyond the small scale and see the true nature of life, civilization and existence, and make it all his.

I forgot to ask for a dice roll in my foolish hurry to start writing. I would be grateful if three people could give me their rolls of 1d100.

>>3381714
Then that could be a write-in vote! You could actively campaign for choosing options that you think fit that form in the write-ins. I occasionally forget to add the >custom option, but it's safe to assume that in general, you are free to add write-ins and custom options. The better written and more well thought-out, the better!

>>3382028
dice+1d100

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>3382028

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>3381714
Backing this, a synthesis, Novus homo, a new man to see beyond the horizon!

>>3382028
I have to get caught up on this quest more fully but the premise is really cool kudos to you QM.

>>3382032
The roll needs to go in the Options field!

>>3382037
Thank you, I must say I wasn't expecting us to spawn so far away from China proper. I wonder when we'll actually get to China and then return to Rome.

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>3382028

>>3381714
Honestly, your description sounds like the worldview of the first Alexandros. He wanted to fuse the cultures of the greeks and the people he conquered to create a new culture for his empire, after all.

Rolled 85 (1d100)

>>3382028

File: Jupiter and Juno.jpg (522 KB, 2209x1773)

522 KB JPG

Divine Caesar, you are a creature of impiety and guile. To your mortal parents were you ever deferential. Loving, even, if such a thing is possible between the mortal and divine. But to your fellow gods, you reveal a set of fanged barbs.

You consciously reject that Grecian sarcophagus of living flesh that your spirit is entombed within and proclaim your Romanitas. "Ours is the sternness of those who would act with rationality," you speak so proudly in your heart of hearts; "What god need I, when I have the Self!" Irony upon irony, then, that you are more as Wiley Odysseus than Pious Aeneas! A creature of chaos are you, one that confuses the very gods watching your progress eastward.

Juno reclines in her bed-seat beside the Most-High, her august husband. The two are watching the matters of the material realm, as they are wont to do. To your confrontation against the foreign god of the Hindus does she pull his attention.

"See!" she speaks, imperiously lifting a single finger toward you, "look how he behaves! No Roman is he, that detestable man who would bring forth a monarchy once more in your beloved Rome, Husband."

"Neither does he belong to the Hellenes," thunders Jupiter Tonans. "Have we not discussed this, Wife? This Child of the Star is a demi-god, simple as that. Just because he is born as Greek does not mean he has lost his Roman spirit. You have seen many come and go, each and every one trying to attain true divinity. Rare is the individual that succeeds."

"Yes, I have seen very many demi-gods litter the mortal planes indeed," Juno Regina says acidly. Her divine husband flinches at the venom in her words, the not-so-subtle implication behind. "So many that, despite all your assurances, we have among us half-bloods, detestable mongrels of disreputable pedigree littered among the august members of our assembly. It seems there are those among us who would pour fourth our celestial seed like rain in Britannica. What did you say regarding Hercules? "Pigs will fly before that idiot joins us", was it? "What is he gonna do with that prodigious strength of his, brute-force his way into Olympus? Ha-ha!"" she mocks, ending with a convincing mimicry of her husband's laughter.

"You tumble with a mortal girl one time," Jupiter grumbles.

"One?" The Queen of Heavens arches her eyebrow.

"...There may have been a couple of others. Prodigious amount of wine was involved."

"A couple?" The threat in her voice crescendos, and Jupiter, Wise Sky-Father, decides to turn her attention to less harmful (to himself) things. He relents. Such is the fate of all married men.

"Very well, Wife. What would you have me do?"

>>3382098
>>3382098

Juno Regina is a clever goddess indeed. Her whispered plan makes ingress into the ear of the Most High, giving him an uncomfortable frown. But enough of the gossip of the gods - we have a story to tell. Celestial Muses, begin once more the story of this Man-God we call Caesar.

Tell us of his first Usurpation.

---

"Hah!" the bartender shouts as the exchange ends. "Let me see... 'Alexandros', eh? A common name, a pretty name, a good name. I remember an Alexandros who crossed the Indus. Another [u]Yavana he was, and about as young as you." He squints. "But you are not he."

The Greek opens his own parchment.

>True Name gained: इन्द्र

"I do not know this language," the Greek says as he reads what he was given.

The bartender does not respond. He is scrutinising the name he was given with a frown that turns into anger. First comes the shade of red, the common denominator in all violent feelings, then that special shade of death-flesh of those who know that they are well and truly fucked. "Lies, lies, lies!" He howls. "Deceiver! Teller of Falsehood! Give me back my name!" The bartender suddenly turns around and begins to rummage through the undergrowth, searching desperately for something.

A grumble of thunder gathers above with menacing intent. The First Citizen looks up and sees grey between the green of the overhanging canopy of the jungle, wondering, fearing - What has my father done this time? - and marveling, the tingle behind his neck telling him that this will be a great storm. Rarely do the world of the waking experience storms such as these, these continent-changers, ocean-draining embodiment of wrath heavenly and oceanic. He turns to stare at the Greek, the man who dared cheat a god.

He is grinning.

The First Citizen feels perspiration gather in his hands at the sight of that smile, instinctively clutching at the hem of his robes. The Madness, that special Caesarian mania that transformed Rome - it is as an aura that visibly radiates through the Greek's imperious lips, the cunning glistening eyes of hazelnut-brown.

>>3382121

"What is once freely given is not so easily taken back, kind host," the man says mockingly. "Ah, I see how it works now. A True Name, readily given, becomes legible and understandable. But that was not the important thing, was it? No." He crumbles the writing and throws it into the foliage behind him. "What is important is understanding the name. The letters are mere depositories for the Word, after all."

"Name gained by deceit! Lord of Falsehood!" the bartender shouts, turning around to face the Greek once more. Naive, unchallenged child, the noble-lord unexpectedly thrown out from his carriage. O, you gods of the Hindus, complacency is your downfall. So secure and well-established are you in your own divine delusions of the oneness of the world that you did not expect the Wheel to be broken by an errant rock-comet.

The greatest of warriors can do nothing against the innocent facade of the politician.

In his hands are three dazzling javelins of light - the product of his desperate search. The First Citizen raises his hands to shield his eyes against the light of those bolts that hum so eagerly to be thrown.

Capite velato, as is proper for the priests of that faraway nation called Rome. The Greek puts on his hood to cover his head, as was the custom of his fathers, and their fathers before that.

The change is palpable, violent. The bolts of lightning fall to the floor as the once-god shrieks in pain, clutching the stumps where his hands were. Blackening ichor spill/hiss onto the leafsome floor and turn all it touches acrid, as all of the fluid of divines do when coming to contact with that which is mortal. But this is no golden-ambrosia blood of the gods. It is decayed corpse-water that spurts through this energetic, foolish, warrior-god.

The alcoholic warrior-god dies as he lived; drunk and undeserving. But let us spare you further detail, lest you turn impious after witnessing the juvenile simplicity of the unchallenged divine. What is important is this: Caesar has wrested a domain that was once considered sacrosanct. And the other gods will know this act for what it is:

A challenge against the standing gods, old and new.

>>3382124

The hoplite-Soldier disappears in a flash of light. This Dream was more than he bargained for. The First Citizen is alone at last with the last person he expected to see again.

"Ave, Caesar," the Old Son greets the Greek. "A most unexpected encounter."

And the Greek replies -

>"My son. My Octavian." [warmly]

>"Ave, Augustus." [sarcastic]

>"I do not know of whom you speak." [Alexandros]

>[Custom]

A 75 wasn’t enough ? :/

jesus fucking christ
what happened to this quest

>>3382132
Too much divine stuff not enough mortal one.

>>3382127
>"Ave, Augustus." [sarcastic]
Given we're pretty pissed that Octavian killed Caesarion, this seems appropriate.

>>3382127
>>"My son. My Octavian." [warmly]

>>3382133
>>3382128
>>3382132

Roll-under, so 13 was a very good roll. Instead of him smiting you, you reverse-smote him... was it bad? Should I re-write?

>>3382138
I quite liked it personally. The fact that we just killed Indra, the Indian king of gods is a bonus.

>>3382145
Technically at this point Indra is a minor god, since Vishnu is the big honcho - hence his relegation to things he wouldn't be doing if he were still at the top. The glory days of Indra was long over.

>>3382127
>"My son. My Octavian." [warmly]
Whether we resent him or not, the meeting of another Roman is a thing to be celebrated. I would go for the Alexandros option, but we already rejected that as our true name...

>>3382127
>"Ave, Augustus." [sarcastic]
A fellow Roman he may be, but he still killed young Caesarion

I just want you to chaps to know that I am open to deleting the newest update if it feels too out of hand. The usurpation of a domain does NOT equate to mastery of it - Caesar is still very, very bad at sorcery, and will require time and a lot of experience to achieve threatening-status.

It was not my intent to portray Caesar as becoming suddenly overpowered. I kind of wanted to show in-game what happens if you give your True Name to the wrong person and for the wrong price (unequal exchange), not suddenly turn this into God Simulator. I often mentioned that I seek criticism so I can improve. If the players believe it best to go on a rewrite, I will delete those posts and write up another one when I next have time.

>>3382138
I'll say that outright killing a full fledged god might have been a bit much. The forgotten, delirious one we bodied in the previous chapter was one thing, but Indra is still well known and worshiped. Maybe wounding him (however severely) would have been more appropriate?

>>3382191
Personally, I like the development, and don't feel that it felt overpowered. The bartender already felt like a minor spirit, anyway. Definitely don't delete the last update.

>>3382127
>>"My son. My Octavian." [warmly]

>>3382191
Eh, I don’t mind, I just didn’t really expect us(or really wanted to) kill that guy(who was he anyways?), I just wanted him to leave us be.
Honestly, It would be nice to turn down the divine side of things a bit and focus more on War and conquest, I am still a bit sad our last try turned into a divine slugfest, I didn’t expect the divine stuff would be so important in the story.
But it’s really up to you and the others players.

Regarding divine/martial ratio, I'd say 60/40 focus on managing mortal affairs would be good going forward. We are a demigod, after all. Divine ascension may be our overall goal, but we're going to have to at least match the deeds of the original Alexandros on earth before we can make it there.
Again, though, I like everything you've done so far. Progressing the story is vastly preferable to a rewrite.

>>3382127
>>"Ave, Augustus." [sarcastic]

>>3382191
It might've been obvious from my last post, but I think we should keep going without a rewrite.

>>3382127
>"My son. My Octavian." [warmly]
Let's at least try to be nice?
Also we pissed off Indra, the guy with a god-killing dart. Shit.

>>3382191
>>3382199
Indra is not a minor spirit. He's... pretty important, as the king of the minor gods.
Wounding him feels more appropriate.

>>3383186
And Inanna is Aphrodite and Athena rolled into one; the queen of heaven; but nobody had a problem taking her down. If it's a problem later we can say it was a minor incarnation, or he only seemed to be dead, or some other divine malarkey.

>>3383279
Yeah, I guess.
Inanna was a small-time city-Goddess, remember? Ending it with that

>>3383293
See, that's not true though. The small-time city goddess was a minor local incarnation of the true Inanna, queen of the Sumerian pantheon. You may be more personally familiar with Indra, but that doesn't make him a more significant deity in history as a whole.
So, same deal. Fortuna nerfed the most powerful goddess of the near east by claiming that she was a local incarnation; no reason why something similar can't happen with Indra.

>>3383302
Hmm,I thunk I understand now.
Yeah, I guess I'll let it go

>>3383337
>Hmm,I thunk
what in the fuck happened there

>>3383186
So one of the things I've tried to establish is the regional dividing of "gods". City A has temple to X. City B also has temple to X. X-A is stronger than X-B, because the people of A are numerous/more fervent in their worships/more influential in regional-national-politics, and so on.

Indra in this case, as was the case with our Inanna and our unnamed sea-god of a dead civilisation, is not THE Indra. He is AN Indra, during a period of time when worship of pro-Aryan gods like Indra was lessened in favour of Vishnu-Brahma-Shiva (who was itself/selves? an important but relatively minor deity during the time the Rigveda was written, if we compare the amount of hymns dedicated to it/they to that of Agni or Indra) possibly due to political changes and the changing of religious sensibilities with the introduction of Buddhism, a religion that emphasised ascetism in heavy contrast to the ritual-heavy worship of Vedic gods.

Thus do we see a complete 180 on the characterisation of Indra. Beginning as the King of Heaven, their Zeus-equivalent (the Vedic tradition is familiar to us who are well-acquainted with variations of proto-Indo-European stories, with the prepared example of Indra/Zeus and his vajra, or thunderbolt-weapon, the separation of Devas and Asuras tenuously comparable to Aesir/Valar, Gods/Titans dichotomy) lording over rain and storm and lightning, and then... becoming something of a drunkard symbolic-king over the minor devas who get beaten up every now and then to emphasise that he is no longer the big boss that he was. His "soma-drinking" descriptor, once used to exalt and praise him in the older Vedic scripts, make him out to be an unrepentant alcoholic drunkard in post-Vedic traditions.

I'd like to make it known that I am not a student of Hindu history. I have probably done them great wrong in my slop-shod attempt at fitting them into my preexisting worldview that I had in mind when beginning this quest. I'm always interested in player comments regarding the mythologies used, so if you have any disagreements, remarks, or other somesuch, feel free to write them down!

>>3383512
>Aesir/Valar, Gods/Titans dichotomy
I think you may mean Aesir/Vanir. The Aesir and Vanir are the two types of Germanic gods. The Valar are the minor deities in Tolkien's mythology.

>>3383518
Urgh, teach me to post before morning tea, you are absolutely right. It was Vanir I meant to say.

>>3383512
Indian myth is heavily esoteric.

For example, consider that "Indra" has its roots in "Indreya", meaning "senses": Indra is the lord of the senses, representing your senses, which tempt you to make more karma. The temptations are the Apsaras (divine courtesans), representing the pull of base pleasures, and Indra is indeed known to send them to tempt people off the spiritual path.
This is a relatively simple example.

>>3382127
>>"Ave, Augustus." [sarcastic]

Uh, I very much enjoyed the update until I couldn't quite get what happened to the bartender god. (Was Jupiter somehow involved as well?) Judging by reactions he got totally wrecked which does feel a bit excessive. I wouldn't mind encroaching on his dominion though given that we possess his true name. It was all a dream after all.

>>3382127
>>3382179
>"Ave, Augustus." [sarcastic]
>A fellow Roman he may be, but he still killed young Caesarion

>>3383548
>Was Jupiter somehow involved as well?
The opportunity to eliminate another sky god must be tempting.

>>3383548
And what did donning the hood symbolize? I understand it is a roman clergy thing but how did it work into countering the bolts?

>>3383548
Even then, I pushed too much magic. I will move back to more familiar territories, ie not so much divine magicky stuff, when we come back to the Real. I really should have made it much clearer that what passes in dreams are much, much more exaggerated, beyond-realistic. The massive changes in terrain, physically impossible deeds, magic of a scale that would require significant sacrifces in the real world.

>>3383563
It was there to acknowledge the votes for Romanhood. Get it, Roman hood?

Please don't stone me.

>the part where I talk about writing this quest

I am thinking of heavily scaling down magic in future posts, including the power-ups you will receive, especially at the early phase. A bit of Black Company, maybe (the book, not the excellent quest that was run in 4chan). What are your thoughts?

>>3383646
This is me on monile btw, 4chan on mobile is a pita

>>3383558
No, I hadn't planned for him to become actively involved here.

>>3383646
>>3383648
pls notice me senpai, my inner /x/eno is anxious >>3383526

>>3383646
Regardless, this quest is very fresh and rapidly became my favorite.

>>3383651
I appreciated your input but I find mobile typing to be far too limiting to go around reading sources from one tap and weiting in the next (especially necessary because I cannot remember 99 percent of indian names), wasnt Indra originally an adopted name and not indigenous to Indian? I thoight there was some dissent regarding the priginal origin of the name.

>>3383646
I've never read Black Company, but I think you've been handling magic excellently already. No need to tone it down, I'd say.

>>3383653
You know, comments like these are what keep me chugging on. Not that i am asking for praises, that would just cheapen it, but seeing as I am in a forum with several hundred well established quests, I feel so small amodst them.

Mechanics is my weakest area, I fear, and that is where the powercreep has come from I think. I really wish I was better at scaling the story appropriately like that blackcompanyqm.

>>3383659
It is an excellent wuest you can find on suptg

And now my smoke break is over

>>3383656
I can't tell you anything from the perspective of /his/, but if I had to guess Indra came from the Aryans (this is known from his similarity to Inra the Hittite god and Thor) and Rudra (aka Shiva) came from the Harappans.
From a historic point of view, Vedic Hinduism as we know it seems to be a fusion of Aryan and native Indian legends.

However, I can certainly provide answers from a spiritual perspective.

>>3383662
Honestly I liked the way BCQ was designed mechanically. But it still suffered from power creep towards the end. You would likely have to rebalance/scale the stats down along the road. It has also occurred in Crusader quest, making every challenge trivial (or demanding what would've previously been considered insane difficulties).

And statting everything up takes a lot of work.

I don't know about others but for me BCQ-like stats in a quest are preferable. The fight of wills with the forgotten oceanic deity was more enjoyable with visible bonuses (and maluses) AND their names written up.

>>3383662
>Mechanics is my weakest area
This is for the best, I'd say. More narrative and less stats is always an improvement in my book. Numbers are important for managing an army, an organization, and eventually a country; don't get me wrong. Putting them on personal combat or a contest of wills weakens the experience though, IMO.

>>3382134
>>3382179
>>3382320
>>3383532
>>3383548
Sarcastic

>>3383181
>>3382203
>>3382152
>>3382136
My son

Vote closed, writing

File: Augustus.jpg (19 KB, 260x375)

19 KB JPG

"Ave, Augustus," the Greek smiles coldly. "I who am already dead salute you."

"Evidently not," the First Citizen replies with a wry chuckle. "You are a tenacious man, father. If you had wished to haunt my dreams, you would have done it far sooner."

"I raised my son better than to grow up a fratricide."

Ah. The aged but youthful countenance of the statesman creases into a grimace. "Not one of my better moments, I confess." Pause. "It had to be done."

The Greek says nothing.

"It had to be done," Augustus repeats, firmly this time. "Otherwise that child of yours would have destabilised the Republic. Was it not you who told me, father, to ensure the stability and supremacy of our people? Did I do you wrong by killing your love-child and preventing a third civil war in as many decades in the city of Rome?"

"I ensured that your legacy would remain," the Old Son speaks earnestly to the stone-faced Youthsome Father. Shatterred is the mask of the politician in this oneiric stage; those secret, hidden words he had never dared voice in the real world tumble out, first hesitantly, then with a strident gait. Hidden thoughts, dangerous thoughts. To be the First Citizen in Rome is to sleep on a bed of knives. "Statues and temples I have consecrated in the name of Divine Julius. In the name of Rome. I have doubled the size of the Republic, pacified Hispania, created a lasting peace between us and the Parthians. My family's entire wealth I invested into the burgeoning State so that roads, those life-veins of nations, could be built. At my expense, Caesar. Never at the people's.

"It was I who rebuilt the city of our forefathers after the civil wars devastated the sacred city. I was left with ruined bricks and I leave behind me a city of marbles. Public works, revamping of urban infrastructure, with organisations to ensure that the city remains habitable for centuries to come.

"I have established tax reforms to standardise revenues from the provinces, so that those who are ruled by Rome would not suffer under unjust and unrealistic amount of fiscal burdens. Gone are the worries of the yearly rebellions! Gone, too, the tax-farmers, replaced with official tax collectors. And with the annexation of Egypt, Rome no longer need be worried about its food supply, always so tenuous.

>>3383841

"Have I not done you proud?" The old man's voice trembles, breaking down with emotion. In the waking world he commands the love of his people and the loyalty of his soldiers, whose numbers are legion. In this false reality of the construct-psyche, he is merely an old man. His cries tear themselves out of his mouth now, a torrential outflow of repressed emotionality. "I followed your path. That most intolerable - impossible - demanding path that you set for yourself and died before completing. No mere man should be expected to bear the burden you carried. Why didn't you come back? Why weren't you with me in Rome? Why, father, have you abandoned me?"

>"Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta.” To think that the young man you shaped to become your successor would kill the one bright light in your life... what might have Caesarion become when he grew up? If anything like his father, he might have been the man to truly conquer the world, against whose solar light Augustus seems but a pale reflection from the moon. “You accuse yourself with your own words. There are other options than murder, though few are so simple.” [Stern]

>"Magna servitus est magna fortuna." Greatness brings forth responsibilities equal to the magnitude of one's superiority. Whatever your feelings toward his disposable of Caesarion, you know you chose well in a successor. Always have. "My son, you have never disappointed me." [Gentle]

>”Quem di diligunt, adulescens moritur dum valet, sentit, sapit. I was evidently beloved by the gods, to such a point that I was brought before their halls before my time.” The individual that Augustus thinks he knows is dead and gone. Why concern yourself with the worries of this old man? What is important is the fact that he killed Caesarion. [Sarcastic]

>Custom [Write-in]

Little did anons realise that they were being given snippets of History class, that most dreaded of subjects.

>>3383842
>"Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta.” To think that the young man you shaped to become your successor would kill the one bright light in your life... what might have Caesarion become when he grew up? If anything like his father, he might have been the man to truly conquer the world, against whose solar light Augustus seems but a pale reflection from the moon. “You accuse yourself with your own words. There are other options than murder, though few are so simple.” [Stern]
>"Magna servitus est magna fortuna." Greatness brings forth responsibilities equal to the magnitude of one's superiority. Whatever your feelings toward his disposable of Caesarion, you know you chose well in a successor. Always have. "My son, you have never disappointed me." [Gentle]

Hit him with the old one-two

>>3383842
>"Qualis pater, talis filius." Perhaps you chose your successor too well. You knew Octavian had the potential to carry Rome to greatness, but at what cost? Perhaps you shouldn't accuse others so lightly, you who have lead countless men to their deaths, you who have put countless more to the sword, all to achieve what your wayward son has. [Weary]

>>3383855
>>"Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta.” To think that the young man you shaped to become your successor would kill the one bright light in your life... what might have Caesarion become when he grew up? If anything like his father, he might have been the man to truly conquer the world, against whose solar light Augustus seems but a pale reflection from the moon. “You accuse yourself with your own words. There are other options than murder, though few are so simple.” [Stern]
>>"Magna servitus est magna fortuna." Greatness brings forth responsibilities equal to the magnitude of one's superiority. Whatever your feelings toward his disposable of Caesarion, you know you chose well in a successor. Always have. "My son, you have never disappointed me." [Gentle]
well shit, this works just as well

>>3383842
>gentle
I like Augustus he did good.

>>3383858
I like this

>>3383842
Im changing from this
>>3383862
To this >>3383858 and gentle

>>3383865
>senpai noticed me
it's a good feeling

>>3383879
Shh I'm supposed to be impartial

>>3383842
>>"Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta.” To think that the young man you shaped to become your successor would kill the one bright light in your life... what might have Caesarion become when he grew up? If anything like his father, he might have been the man to truly conquer the world, against whose solar light Augustus seems but a pale reflection from the moon. “You accuse yourself with your own words. There are other options than murder, though few are so simple.” [Stern]
>>"Magna servitus est magna fortuna." Greatness brings forth responsibilities equal to the magnitude of one's superiority. Whatever your feelings toward his disposable of Caesarion, you know you chose well in a successor. Always have. "My son, you have never disappointed me." [Gentle]

>>3383858
This is pretty good.

>>3383858
supportan

>>3383842
>"Magna servitus est magna fortuna." Greatness brings forth responsibilities equal to the magnitude of one's superiority. Whatever your feelings toward his disposable of Caesarion, you know you chose well in a successor. Always have. "My son, you have never disappointed me." [Gentle]

>>3383858
Indeed, do the ends justify the means?

>>3383842
Mix
>>3383858
with
>"Magna servitus est magna fortuna." Greatness brings forth responsibilities equal to the magnitude of one's superiority. Whatever your feelings toward his disposable of Caesarion, you know you chose well in a successor. Always have. "My son, you have never disappointed me." [Gentle]
Go from weary to gentle to really emphasize the latter part.

Should we add that we didn’t go to Rome with him because of Juno?

>>3386177
On the phone and short on time so hard to count votes, do you guys want simply Weary (seems to be winning, I may be wrong) or a mix of Gentle and Weary? And if the latter, in which order?

>>3386258
I’ll vote for a mix of Gentle and weary, if it change the vote any.

>>3386258
A mix - just weary sounds bitter, disappointed. We do recognize his achievements.

Weary -> Gentle

>>3383855
>>3383861
>>3383927
Stern + Gentle

>>3383965
>>3384038
Weary

>>3383876
>>3386222
>>3386263
>>3386266
Weary + Gentle

Vote closed

>"Qualis pater, talis filius." Perhaps you chose your successor too well. You knew Octavian had the potential to carry Rome to greatness, but at what cost? Perhaps you shouldn't accuse others so lightly, you who have lead countless men to their deaths, you who have put countless more to the sword, all to achieve what your wayward son has. [Weary]

>"Magna servitus est magna fortuna." Greatness brings forth responsibilities equal to the magnitude of one's superiority. Whatever your feelings toward his disposable of Caesarion, you know you chose well in a successor. Always have. "My son, you have never disappointed me." [Gentle]

"Forgive the quickened tongue of a sorrowful father," the Greek says with a weariness that belies his youthful countenance. "It is every man's dream for his son to live old and sire many children of their own. One does what one must when taking the reins of a nation."

"The Republic will never be the same," the First Citizen responds with some bitterness. "The civil wars were... costly. Of the senators that survived, half did so by the virtue of being spineless, and the other half were too old to start joining sides in the wars." He hesitates, wondering if he should speak ill of his father's close companion even indirectly. "Cicero is dead. I tried to save him, but..."

"Marcus Antonius. A true friend, but ever the hot-headed one." The Greek slumps from the news, one his many nagging worries threading from his first life validated at last. Sstories came from the west in the trading city of Numante, tales of purges and notable families of Rome disappearing in the night, but reliable details were hard to come by. He had hoped - wished - that the death-news of this particular man was merely one of the sailors' fibs. "Did he die well?"

The First Citizen nods. "As well as can be said of any man."

"I see."

The two men, young and old, share a moment of silence. It is a sympathetic bond only two leaders of the known world could have, the back-breaking knowledge that the well-being of millions relies on their continued sanity amidst the madness of politics. A single cough could germinate into a rebellion by nobles confident in the ill health of the very person they worshipped but a day before; one misspoken word to the testy envoy might embroil the nation into a war unprepared-for.

A politician ceases to be his own person precisely because he must embody the will of his constituents. He is as a god, addicted to the continued votive-offerings of the people that worship him, chained by the very thing that empowers them.

What came first? Power or Responsibility? Even the gods do not know, enslaved as they are to the same ouroboric cycle.

The Son is the first to speak again. "Come back to us." A command without authority. He knows that he cannot compel you to do anything, as mighty as he is in life.

File: Son of Julius.jpg (17 KB, 300x458)

17 KB JPG

>>3386998
The Father shakes his head. "The gods do not will it," he says gently. "I left you too soon, Octavian. You are right - the city was in shambles when I left it. But I knew I had a good successor to continue the work."

The old man raises his face to utter another apology. Even more should-haves and could-haves. Things that in hindsight would have been better left undone. "I couldn't be the good successor to you that you deserved-" he begins. The youth raises his palm and gives him pause.

"My son, you have never disappointed me."

It is as if a great weight on the aged form of the statesman is lifted, the invisible Globe turned aetherial for the Roman Atlas by those words. The First Citizen squares his shoulder, straightening his creaking back as it has not been straightened since the onset of his illness. Light and dark spots flash before his eyes, sympathetic phantom pains from his brain refusing to unchain itself from the corporeal pain-responses of his dying body even in this dream, but he manages all the same. This is what it means to be Roman - to cast aside the frailties of the physical form in all its emotional and bestial needs in order to exercise Man's one true unique gift, the expression of his Self, without hindrance.

"Have I played the part well?" he asks, with a delighted grin full of wrinkles and the other symptoms of old age that reminds the Greek of that bright-eyed young man he came to adopt all those decades ago, the man that he had deemed capable of the political theatrics necessary to rule like a king over the anti-monarchial Romans. A fine balancing act that must have been - if only he had been alive to see it! For a split-second, a tiny moment in time too short to definitively measure, Augustus is young Octavian again.

Caesar nods. "You have. Better than anyone could have asked for."

"Then applaud, O Caesar, as I exit."

---

Year 14 of the Common Era, in the 19th day of the month named after him, Augustus dies peacefully in his sleep.

>>3387017
damn, we were gone longer than I thought

File: Dawn.jpg (394 KB, 800x533)

394 KB JPG

It is not even morning. The night air is a refreshing caress against your dream-fogged senses.

You quietly sip some of the fig juice Aisling was experimenting on, leaning against the railing that separates your body and the sea-surface many feets below you. It tastes foul, not at all like the delicious fruits that your men stole away from Suerna, but it's not like you have any choice; she spent most of your water rations on her disastrous culinary experiments. The blame was firmly pinned on you for encouraging her new idea on what to do with the dried figs, so you ended up with the bill on the tap, so to speak.

It is poison on your taste-buds. You take another patient swig.

The coastal fortress of Muziris is visible in the pre-dawn light. The sky has yet to lose the nocturnal colours from the sun peeking in the east, though the clouds already bear the pink-orange blush of the reddish sun.

"Bad dream?"

You lazily turn around and see Hermann doing his stretches. "Mmm," you mumble noncommittally. "You?"

"Just my morning routine. Any excuse to get away from the bed, once in a while." Your gaze lowers to his pouch. Ever since he married Aisling - gods, it was what, two months now? - he's been looking less dour with more flour in his diet.

"You're a lucky man, Hermann," you chuckle, raising your jug of fig-poison toward him. "Your wife's handiwork."

Hermann shakes his head, pushing the jug back to you. "It was your idea."

"I guess I would be a poor leader if I pulled rank..." you muse. This thing is literally poison. You can feel your stomach rebelling at the thought of taking more of this... sludge, but your tongue is still parched. Five hours until the ship arrives at Muziris! Merciful Oceanus, why didn't you make all water drinkable? And the heat!

You take another grimace-filled sip. Bleugh.

>>3387073

"So, India." Hermann is standing beside you now, the two of you watching the port wake up. Fishing ships like tadpoles compared to your gigantic tessarakonteres are making their way to the city as well, laden with the night's catch. You wave at one of the native fishermen staring at your ship, but they quickly turn their gaze away from you.

"Friendly people," Hermann says. "Any funny business we should be expecting?"

You shake your head. Lynius was very clear about the fact that Muziris was an old playground for the Harkonni. "We'll have a translator there. There are quite a few Greeks, from what I hear, so language shouldn't be an issue, either."

"Not what I meant," Hermann says. Touchy, touchy.

You tell him as much. "Why, Hermann, could it be that your honeymoon phase is already over?" you joke.

"I am serious. The last city we went to blind, we almost died. I need to know if we should be ready for anything."

The last city. A nightmarish orgiastic scene that made you scrabble for everything you had, and everything you didn't know you had. You are pretty certain you won't be able to simply level a city again. That really took something out of you.

"The latest update your man Lynius had from his counterpart in this city was two years ago," Hermann says. "That's entirely normal in such a faraway depot, but many things can change in a year, nevermind double that."

"Mmm."

>"We should be on guard, Hermann. Always." [Disembark with a significant military contingent]

>"An overt show of force might turn the city hostile. We're foreigners here, remember?" [Disembark with a lesser number of guards]

>Custom [Write-in]

>>3387076
>"An overt show of force might turn the city hostile. We're foreigners here, remember?" [Disembark with a lesser number of guards]
Of course, have the folks left behind be on high alert, just in case. Have a few of the most fleet footed soldiers be with us in case we need to quickly call for help.

>>3387076
>>3387087
This it should be fiinneee right? I mean we arent trying to sack em this time to no angry city dities will be out for our head

Whichever vote wins, I'll put on a secondary vote to see who and what you specifically bring.

Don't forget bribe gifts! Local rulers get insulted when you don't bring gifts.

>>3387103
Lets bring the fig wine

>>3387076
>"An overt show of force might turn the city hostile. We're foreigners here, remember?" [Disembark with a lesser number of guards]

>>3382132
It turned into some weird god shit quest instead of the cool exploring mercenary general quest. I guess it was never intended to be a mercenary or warlord quest but some weird fucking divine bartender shit quest.

>>3383646
The extreme magic shit just feels so weird and out of place compared to the start of the quest. The first few threads were cool and seemed like it had a coherent direction and goal but now it’s just turning into magic bartender god everywhere we go asking the same thing and fighting esoteric god and turning into a young adult overnight. It’s not even Caesar reincarnated goes to China quest anymore, it’s just a mishmash of divine shenanigans and shit. Might as well ignore all mortal and army shit now and just go all in on sorcery and godshit since that’s where the quest is going to go no matter what people vote.

>>3388168
>>3388172
You're right. I'm sorry.

>>3387017
Hell, this got me teary-eyed.

>>3388197
It is not THAT bad as he makes it out to be.
The premise of the quest involved gods and "extreme magic shit" that reincarnated freaking Caesar. The exaggerated reaction is just a clash of unreasonable headcannon and the way the story took a turn in a DREAM. Don't let it discourage you.
I for one like how dreams let us, readers, meet our potential antagonists. Besides, people voted for it to occur.

>>3387076


>"An overt show of force might turn the city hostile. We're foreigners here, remember?" [Disembark with a lesser number of guards]

>>3388197
It’s fine. The quest is what it is. Just because some readers don’t like it doesn’t mean you should apologize for it. I’m not saying it’s a bad quest or bad writing. Just a dramatic power creep and a complete change of direction from where it seemed to be heading initially.

Uh, the quest doesn’t seems to be getting Upped on the qst page anymore.

>>3388289
That happens to every thread that crosses the 5-day mark.

>>3387076
>>"We should be on guard, Hermann. Always." [Disembark with a significant military contingent]

>>3387076
>"An overt show of force might turn the city hostile. We're foreigners here, remember?" [Disembark with a lesser number of guards]

>>3387207
>>3387087
>>3388216
>>3388294
Careful

>>3388291
Guarded

Vote closed, writing

>"An overt show of force might turn the city hostile. We're foreigners here, remember?"

Hermann nods. "No sense provoking the locals. I'll make sure to keep the riders on high alert, in case we have to fetch you back to the ship. You should have some men posted around in the city, to ride back to the ship as quickly as possible if they sense something amiss. Once you enter the palace, we will lose contact with your team."

A sound precaution, and the most you can make at this point. If things do go pear-shaped, the men disseminated into the markets and the urban centres are not likely to return in time to leave with the ship. The German has always been the more level-headed of your entourage. Callous, but level.

A faint horn sounds from the city, racing across the waves to reach your ears. The long, serious-sounding tune repeats once more, and then fades away, letting the gentle lapping of the waves become the dominant background song once more.

"The air is too hot and wet," Hermann sniffs disprovingly. "This is a bad land for horses."

"Apparently the warlords of this continent are mad for them," you comment. It was something Micah mentioned off-handedly right before your father's second-last voyage. The climate of this continent was hot and insufferably humid, a combination that did not improve the temperament of the hundreds of horses in your stables.

"And no wonder - the swampy atmosphere rots the bones of good horses. Whatever they have here must be stunted, miserable creatures, like asses compared to my own mounts, nevermind your Nisaeans." Hermann wipes his brow. The sun is only halfway up the horizon, but you too are beginning to feel the heat. The German must be fatigued if even you feel the heat so strongly.

"Go get something to drink," you tell him. "I want everyone readied for whatever happens. We're probably not going to have any trouble with the natives." You pour the contents of your jar into the sea, content to commit this small act of sacrilege against the ocean gods given the nearness of the port.

"That's my wife's handiwork you're dumping into the sea there," Hermann observes.

"Hers was a drink so divine that I just had to offer it to the gods," you say sarcastically. "...Please don't tell her I threw it away."

The German grins. He anticipates the feeling of riding again, not on the wobbling deck of the ship, but on real ground. Muziris! It may be no Alexandria, but seeing land again after so long makes him forget the disgusting humidity in the air for a second. "Of course, Warmaster."

---

>>3389019

Vote I
Lynius will be taking trade goods to the Harkonni rep while you announce your presence to the local ruler. What goods would you him to offload the ship via the Harkonni trade rep in Muziris?

All numbers in parenthises are WEALTH

Perishable Trade Goods (Dried Figs from Suerna) (~2)
Imperishable Trade Goods (Numantean Glassware) (~4)
Imperishable Luxury Goods (Tyrian Purple-Dyed Silk) (~4)
Imperishable Luxury Goods (Exceptional Numantean Glassware) (~1)

Pick the type and amount of goods you want to sell off here. Please note that the Wealth indication here is an estimate based on Numante economy. Various factors influence the profit of such items, not least of which is the distance from place of origin.
>SELL [things you want sold]
>KEEP [things you want kept]

Vote II
Choose up to three characters to bring with in your excursion into the city.

>Veicht/Scrivener - closest thing to a "spiritual leader" for the ex-Five Hundred, now for the entire "Legion", though it is too grand a term for a number barely over one thousand. He carries around with him a portable tablet to record the things he sees.

>Timon - the former master of marines, one of your father's inner circle. A Varangian, he lost his sword-arm lost while defending your parents. He hasn't lost his spirited attitude, however, and continues to assist the running of the Legion in an advisory role.

>Micah - the Hellenised Jew, your father's secretary. Also a member of your father's inner circle. He is in charge of figures and sale prognostics.

>Galen - The energetic commander of your first "Legion". He sure has bounced back up quickly from the ordeal he suffered at the hands of his previous commander.

>Vaeli - Hermann's relative, a man of few words like his uncle. Is fascinated by horses. Hermann keeps him away from stables at night. A determined fighter.

>Ambiorix - The Gaulish chieftain, father-in-law to Hermann. He's still glum about the loss of his only daughter. Doesn't like to talk about it.

>Hermann - The German chieftain, son-in-law to Ambiorix. Though he initially married Aisling purely for bonding the Germans and the Gauls, he seems to be enjoying his newly-married life. Likes to talk about it. Will mention possibility of children, and potential names, and other things that prospective fathers prattle on about.

>Ariamnes - The Parthian nobleman who signed up to go on a bit of a lark around the world with you for what was essentially pennies, considering the true price of cataphractarii. Also saved your life that one time. He's pretty nuts.

>Kaphar, a widowed Jew who joined your Legion. He seems to be a leader figure among the young Jews within the second cohort, despite (or because of) his cynicism toward orthodox Judaism. Prefers to use a curved sword.

[cont.]

>>3389030

>Zaharin, one of the few officers of the former Five Hundred who along with Galen did not capitulate to Cabaleiro. She was the woman who commanded the twenty-man unit that was defending Veicht the Scrivener until you rescued them from Cabaleiro's lot.

>Apicus Procopius, the Syrian head-chef of the ship. He is always in search of new ingredients, new preservatives (seeing as he cooks on a ship, a fact he always complains about), and different ways to not murder your tastebuds with the limited ingredients he has. Familiarity with herbs and poisons is in his job description.

>Other suggestions

Vote III
A small number of guards is not considered a breach of hospitality, and indeed, may raise your prestige depending on the kind of guards brought. Besides, you need some men to separate yourself from the commoners and keep the way clear. You will bring 10 soldiers from...

>Cohors prima Suernicum
>Cohors secunda Germanorum
>Auxilia I Gallorum Equitata
>Cohors Germanorum Equitata
>Equites Cataphractarii Parthi
>Mix [custom]

Vote IV
Expensive gifts open the hearts of men, but make it too flashy and you invite jealousy and envy. But to give something too small is also unthinkable.

>Nisaean Horse (1)
>Statue of Dido
>Wealth (specify amount)
>Imperishable Luxury Goods (specify type and amount, those sold off by Lynius will be unavailable)
>Cursed bronze fragments
>Other [suggestions]

Vote V
Ride on Nisaean horses as you make your way through the city and ultimately to the palace?

>Yes, ride on the heavenly horses to awe everyone
>No, ride ordinary horses borrowed from Gauls/Germans instead
>No, walk all the way
>No, use the palanquin, the rest can just walk

>>3389030
>Sell Figs, Glassware (all of it, both trade and luxury)
>Keep the rest
>Veicht
Should record what we see here.
>Micah
Could help us buy shit from here.
>Hermann
He wanted to be on solid ground, so he can come with us.

>>3389039
Also:

>Cohors prima Suernicum
>Give the purple silk as a gift
>No, walk all the way
Let's not draw too much attention to ourselves by riding superhorses.

>>3389033
Vote I
>Sell figs, inferior glassware
>Keep other items

Vote II
>Veicht, to chronicle our travels
>Micah, to assess the prosperity of the foreign land
>Ariamnes, who was our salvation in the last foreign city we visited

Vote III
>Equites Cataphractarii Parthii
Let us ride through the city with our knights; none in our procession need walk.

Vote IV
>Give away the higher quality glassware

Vote V
>Yes, ride the heavenly horses. I'm sure they need some time out of the shipboard stable, lest they wither in confinement.

>>3389080
This but we should give a horse to the leader

>>3389080
Support

>>3389030
>>3389033

>Figs
>Lesser Glassware
Lesser stuff

>Veicht
>Procopius
>Micah
Hopefully a non-combat trip

>5 Auxilia Gallorum
>5 Cohors Germanorum
I trust our yuro boys desu

>Dido
>1 Nisaean Horse
>Ordinary Horses
Looks like we’re giving him our nicest horse

Also, I will note that you all should want to bring the chef. We’re in INDIA for Caeserion’s sake, if there’s anywhere in the world you’d want a spice/poison Master it’s here

>>3389411
I could trade out Micah for Procopius, but we should definitely be taking Veicht and Ariamnes. They're hands-down the most interesting side characters.

>>3389438
Tbh I don’t want to take Ariamnes just because, as you can see based on my choices, I want to be relatively on the DL and our glorious Don Quixote is pretty noticeable.

>>3389033
>Procopius
I could have sworn there was a god by this name or one similar, but if there is Google has vanished all trace of him it seems.

>>3389438
I'll support that

>>3389504
There was a byzantine historian named Procopius.

>>3389039
Support. Bringing a Jew for trading and merchant activities just makes sense. It’s foolish not to utilize your jews properly, that’s why Hitler lost. Also voting against bringing a Nisaean horse or giving one as a gift. We’re only here for trading, resupplying, and R&R anyway.

Vote 1 is agreed upon, but the rest of the votes are scattered.

>Roster 1 - Literati
Companions: Veicht, Micah, and Hermann
Honour Guard: Cohors prima Suernicum (on feet)
Gift: Silk of Tyrian Purple (1)
Mount: None

>Roster 2 - Old Faithful
Companions: Ariamnes, Veicht, Procopius
Honour Guard: Equites cataphractarii Parthi (mounted)
Gift: Luxury Glassware (1), Nisaean Horse (1)
Mount: Nisaean Horses

>Roster 3 - Non-Combat Trip
Companions: Veicht, Micah, Procopius
Honour Guard: Mixed (Gaul/German, mounted)
Gifts: Statue of Dido, Nisaean Horse (1), Ordinary Horses (1-5)
Mount: None

All these options are still open to change according to popular sentiment. For example, if you feel the gifts section in Roster 3 to be too much, anons should express such an opinion and offer a different selection. I just tried to consolidate the viewpoints of the anons discussing their votes so far. Hopefully this second round will be helpful for anons' final decision, and make it less difficult on my part to track the result!

>Family Trip
Companions: Hermann, Ambiorix, Veicht
Honour Guard: Auxilia I Gallorum Equitata
Gift: Fig wine
Mount: Ordinary horses

Let's not use our Nisaean horses here. The South Indian climate is supposed to be terrible for specially-bred horses. If we still have the Mongolian ones we should use them

>>3391753
As the one who came up with R3, I would like to amend my vote with the ordinary horses as being the Party’s mounts rather than a gift. In addition, I’d be ok with cutting the Statue from the gifts list of other anons will it to be so.

>>3391794
Support

>>3391753
>Roster 2 - Old Faithful

>>3391753
>>Roster 2 - Old Faithful
>Companions: Ariamnes, Veicht, Procopius
>Honour Guard: Equites cataphractarii Parthi (mounted)
>Gift: Luxury Glassware (1), Nisaean Horse (1)
>Mount: Nisaean Horses

Something that's been on my mind. The gens Julia traced their ancestry to Venus, correct? Are we ever going to get the chance to sit down and discuss that bit of legendry with the goddess?

>>3393078
Should’ve done that before our reincarnation desu

>>3391753
>Roster 1 - Literati
Companions: Veicht, Micah, and Hermann
Honour Guard: Cohors prima Suernicum (on feet)
Gift: Silk of Tyrian Purple (1)
Mount: None

Although I’d prefer no gifts I guess that’s not an option even if we’re only here to trade. I will never support any vote to give away any of our Nisaean horses.

>>3392672
>>3392584
Are you guys mental? The Nisaean hordes are the future for us. They are what will breed and sire our future heavy cavalry army.

>>3391753
>Roster 1 - Literati
Companions: Veicht, Micah, and Hermann
Honour Guard: Cohors prima Suernicum (on feet)
Gift: Silk of Tyrian Purple (1)
Mount: None

>>3391753
>Roster 1 - Literati

>>3394221
Interesting. Since Roster 2 is identical to my suggestion above aside from the fact that I also didn't want us giving away the Nisaeans, I didn't notice.
Still, I'd rather not give away the tyrian purple silk either. As far as I know, the die couldn't be obtained outside of the Mediterranean. Best to hang on to such an important symbol of kingship if it can't be replaced.

>>3394956
Paraphrasing from this research paper I found after googling it:
>India was known for high-quality dyes. For example, as early as 500 BC Egypt was using Indigo (an indigenous dye) for muslin
>They found purple-coloured cotton in Mohenjodaro, probably coloured with Indian/Common Madder
>From 500 BC to the 3rd century AD they used Saffron, Indigo, Ochre, Carbon Black and this yellow stuff made from cow piss

>>3394966
Sure, there's Indian purple. It wouldn't be tyrian purple, though. It's an important distinction for a Greek or Roman character, I think.

>>3394979
Yeah, that's true. We could try getting other stuff while we're here, such as:
>Indian purple for our Tyrian purple
>Horses from the North
>A sadhu
>An Urumi (TN: "Urumi" is Kerelan for "motherfucking whip sword")
>A medical treatise
>Some math textbooks
>Soma
>Huge stonkin' piles of gold

I can't help but feel that Indians are a bit like Elves: they peak early and it's a long decline afterward.

>>3394996
Seeing as we're in the southern tip of India, horse is not going to be something that is high quality or available. Parthia was a much better place to purchase horseflesh in. China also has poor quality horses except in the northern/Manchu areas (essentially parts in contact with the nomadic people who improved horses in the first place), so expect maxmum covetousness over your horses, even the "ordinary" Gallic/German ones.

Soma is a very interesting suggestion... do you mean the "divine" soma, or the actual drink from psychedelic plant matter?

I'm not very good with Indian history, were their medical sciences relatively advanced?

>>3395110
>Seeing as we're in the southern tip of India, horse is not going to be something that is high quality or available.
Which is why I specified "in the North". If we plan to go there on the way to Sina.
>Soma is a very interesting suggestion... do you mean the "divine" soma, or the actual drink from psychedelic plant matter?
If we're going for the former, expect Indra to make some kind of response, or the moon god Soma, often conflated with Vishnu and Shiva because the drink was said to reside in the moon.

It goes without saying that the last bit has an esoteric meaning

>>3395110
We NEED the horses. Do not give/gift/sell them under ANY circumstances. I would rather give no gift and move on than give up any of our horses.

>I'm not very good with Indian history, were their medical sciences relatively advanced?
That depends on whether bathing in a corpse filled, shit filled, magical river for spiritual healing and renewal counts as advanced medicine.

>>3395178
Don't worry, I will not update until consensus is attained.

Horse in particular is a very important matter given their near unreplenishableness (Nisaeans at least) so it needs a significant majority to pull through. I only added them as gifts because there were multiple comments stating they wanted to use some as gifts. If more anons think otherwise, then they should be vocal about it.

>>3395178
>That depends on whether bathing in a corpse filled, shit filled, magical river for spiritual healing and renewal counts as advanced medicine.
A: Modern India is not even close to Ancient India.
B: Magic is real, so the magical river DOES heal you.
C: Rude

>>3395196
I think we should conserve the horses. 1 out of 20 Is a lot.

>>3391753
To reiterate and clarify, I'm voting for Roster 2 with the modification of not giving away a horse.

God dammit can we not get bogged down in Indian history?

>>3394996
>I can't help but feel that Indians are a bit like Elves: they peak early and it's a long decline afterward.
It's more accurate to say that theirs is the history of many empires, each massively successful and many revolutionary, that slowly ended up creating an incredibly stable social structure that reduced the likelihood of innovation and invention.

Combined with a history of constant in-fighting (caused by the mountains, deserts and thick forests that bordered the sub-continent on all sides) meaning they rarely expanded beyond India and were fairly self-contained.

>>3395110
>Seeing as we're in the southern tip of India, horse is not going to be something that is high quality or available.
This, one of the few reasons that India is famous for using Elephants in warfare is because good cavalry horses, outside of the north, would always have to be imported meaning that it was expensive as shit and even ignoring that, was often unsuited to many regions thanks to the dense jungle.

>I'm not very good with Indian history, were their medical sciences relatively advanced?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddha_medicine

These were the two systems of medicine traditionally performed in the north and south respectively. Both relied on a Humouric system similar to the Greek concept and are of debatable effectiveness given the lack of detail it gives in regards to them.

There's also this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattva_(Siddha_medicine)
But it just provides additional detail to the southern medical style's humors. Still kinda useful.

Busy with real life things, but I'll try to put up a new thread within the week

>>3395535
and thank you, I'll make sure to read these articles, I'm completely out of my depths when it comes to India X_X

>>3397830
Honestly, I can only profess a limited familiarity with their history too. Colonial India is something I'm a bit more familiar with but even then my knowledge is shit.

I know a bit about their armies and societal structure yet medicine is not something that has ever really came up. I can look into other things if you ever need a hand though.

Fortuna has abandoned us

>>3407013
>Within the week
We got time

>>3407014
May want to archive the thread though since we're on page 10.

Last post lol

HAH Got'em.

>>3408840
Faggot

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340 KB PNG

>>3408862

QM is b& and can't update for a while, btw.