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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lacuna Caster
The Anzillu all look fine, but I'm still itchin' for detail on the city-states, and maybe a general map of the setting. (There are websites that do automated fantasy-atlas-generation these days, as I understand it?)
Yeah, the Anzillu cleanup was just a couple evenings of using the last thing I was working on to "link up" with the project in my brain again.
The city-states are in paper notes being brainstormed.
I have a very distinct idea of the geography and geology, I'd have to find a way to control the mapping, rather than "auto-map" it (if I'm understanding what automated generation would entail).
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
I need some sparks, some starting points, something to get my imagination going on the cities. Almost everything I have in the scratch notes is just getting a big "meh" and no creativity.
So far, the only city that's getting any traction is Nomos.
* secular rule by a council of citizens and "judges"
* site of the High Temple of Kagal-eunir, the Lawbringer
* maintains an extensive and meticulous body of laws and precedent regarding almost all aspects of life
* scholars come from across the known world to study philosophy of law and government
* tries to remain neutral in conflicts between other polities
* the Justices (high priests) of Kagal-eunir maintain a "high-holy court of law" that offers "ultimate justice" to anyone who can manage to bring their case there
* streets are laid out in precise geometry, and buildings are constructed to strict standards
* likewise, the fields and vineyards and orchards are often laid out in linear patterns even when they don’t quite fit the landscape
Spoiler: Also...
Show
Under the white plaster and gleaming marble, Nomos is the "cleansed" and rebuilt Dara (see
Zarruzassa above)... chip away deep enough and the red stone is still there, like flesh and blood under pale smooth skin.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Some other random ideas.
City built into the walls of a giant ancient sinkhole (giant as in something bigger and deeper than Xiaozhai Tiankeng).
A bigger version of Nan Madol.
City built in a large area of hot springs... but prophets and the "wilder" consider it a "doomed place".
City built on a a long peninsula into the sea, that is a center of trade and commerce and culture clash.
Any other ideas or sources you'd suggest?
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Max_Killjoy
I have a very distinct idea of the geography and geology, I'd have to find a way to control the mapping, rather than "auto-map" it (if I'm understanding what automated generation would entail).
There's a crude-but-serviceable website for tacking together geographical jigsaw-pieces here, but you might want to sign up for inkarnate for more detail?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Max_Killjoy
Any other ideas or sources you'd suggest?
EDIT: We mentioned the spire a few posts back, IIRC?
Pacific-fantasy-venice and the sinkhole-city sound awesome too. (I had some vague notion the latter would be connected to snake-folk down in the southern jungles.) I'd suggest you just slap something down on paper, map-wise, and see if that sparks any other ideas. (Always helps for me.)
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Max_Killjoy
Any other ideas or sources you'd suggest?
- A city of several layers: near a mountain range and a river, which, when their is massive rain, can cause biblical mudslides nearly burying the entire city. It has happened several times in the past but due to its strategic location and fertile terrain it's always repopulated. A new town is built on top of the buried remains of it's predecessor but a lot of buildings still have retained some access to the underlying parts. A mansion on top of a old blacksmith on top of a ancient bathing complex on top of a temple built by the first people who lived their is not abnormal.
You don't even need the biblical mudslides, in Europe their are several towns where you can find complete buildings underneath other buildings. Lookup underground tours of Rome, Paris, etc.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...d-rome/376836/
- A city in a swamp. The old town got cursed/conquered/destroyed for some reason and the locals who abandoned their old homes fled to the nearby swamp. After draining several parts of the swamp and rebuilding their once glorious city it proved to be much more defensive/secure. Due to the migration and the upheaval of of society their culture took a different course and they have diffrent social structures then their one time neighbouring cities. Near the swamp you can still find old ruins of the previous city, perhaps they are still haunted/cursed?
Think venice and it's merchant republic and how it's unique location and structure changed it into a powerhouse for several centuries.
- a Godless city: A massive earthquake destroyed nearly every church/temple during one of the most holy festivals burying thousands of people alive. The following tsunami destroyed the great harbor and the rich prosperous merchant districts. After the looting, chaos and fires that lasted for nearly a week the only parts of town that were left standing was the red district, the slums and the prison. This disaster shook the known world but after emerging from the rubble of their old town the survivors cursed god and forbade the construction of any temple/church in their city. Once a year, on the same day of the disaster, the citizens gather to spit in the sea, howl at the sun/moon/stars (depending on what kind of god they previously worshipped) and anyone caught proselytizing near the city during the previous year is buried alive under the rubble of their once greatest church.
Inspired by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.
- A Past Glory: Once it called itself the center of the world, in its market you could hear languages from the far corners of the world, exchange bureaus for every coin imaginable were available on nearly every corner, the city's language gave birth to a lot of commercial terms* used throughout the world till this day. If you couldn't find it in this town, you couldn't find it anywhere. It's decline wasn't sudden but subtle. Other trading towns slowly grew more important but it's demise came slowly and was barely noticeable at first. It wasn't a war, or famine. The city was strong enough to overcome this with ease, in fact it often was the direct cause of these calamities for other cities which tested it might. No, in the end the city fell from grace because the principal source of it's wealth, it's acces to sea and hinterland silted up. A harbor that once shelterd a thousand diffrent ships each day turned into the biggest collection of sand. The city's legacy lives on but it's greatness is long gone
* it was the birthplace of accounting, insurance, stock exchange, etc. It's language is now called the trader's tonge and some of it's words** are now part of every language in the known world
** Market for example comes from Mark's Tent. In ancient times, Mark one of the greatest/legendary traders ever, instead of travelling from town to town which was the custom, placed his tent on the townsquare and stayed there throughout the years to sell and buy goods. Other people followed suit and commoners, traders, craftsmen travelled to this location. The most often asked question was: Where is Mark's tent? which throughout the years became Where is the Market?. Before the decade was over nearly every town, which considerd itself important, had it's own Market.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Thank you.
Spire -- have that in my notes, not sure where to use it.
Swamp -- might fold nicely into "mega Nan Madol"
Silted Harbor -- with the aristocrats trying to hold onto past glory and keep up their "rightful place and lifestyle"... as people and business trickle away in search of opportunities, will make a nice element for one of the cities
Godless City -- I can probably weave that into a particular disaster-ruined city I have in mind
Layers -- given the history of the world, I'll probably use that more than once.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
You're welcome, I like world building (or stealing from history) in general.
The forever Fortress:
A slave island rebelled against their masters during a "time of troubles" and won. Fearful of the day their masters would return the new slave republic started building a massive fortress on top of a mountain protecting the bay/fjord/inlet which leads to the main harbor/capital of the Island. The first few years were blissful but when it became clear their former masters wouldn't return any time soon resentment started to grow amongst the population resulting in a boody civil war. Perhaps old, but not forgotten, ties to clan/race/religion started rearing their head or the massive undertaking was just to drastic for the rather poor Island. In the end the civil war ended in a stalemate dividing the Island in 2. The young republic died in it's infancy and both sides ended up being ruled by a diffrent powerful warlord/dictator (or perhaps one part still ruled by the republic).
The fortress, only protecting against naval invasion, was useless during the civil war. The capital was close to the new frontier though and it's warlord immediatly decided extending the fortress so I could also protect the main route to the capital against his new enemy. Plans were drafted and work began anew under much harsher conditions. When the work was nearly completed the citizens of the capital, sick and tired, rose up against their oppressor who swiftly destroyed this new rebellion.
Fearful of his own citizens he decided a 3rd part should be constructed, this time overlooking the capital itself so he and his supporters could flee if there ever was another rebellion. Those who were captured during the rebellion were enslaved and forced to toil day and night.
With limited means they eventually constructed, perhaps, the biggest manmade structure and certainly the biggest folly on top of that mountain. Several 30 feet walls, towers with catapults and ballista's, caves were dug out for supplies,livestock and to garrison troops. Great halls and living quarters for the warlord and his supporters, ... A massive fortress, well protect from all sides, on a nearly inaccesible location. At last the warlord was content. Even the people who suffered immensly during the construction felt some sort of pride because they had achieved the inimaginable. In the end it was for naught though. A new rebellion rose up and before the warlord could retreat to the fortress he and his family where cut down in the streets of the capital. The biggest fortress ever, nearly impossible to siege, turned out to be useless again.
It still dominates the landscape, overlooking the capital, hinterland and bay from the mountain. It has never been tested in battle, and probably never will.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
You know, reading through the polities presented in various fiction and gaming settings, it strikes me that it's hard to get variety and distinct flavor, and yet avoid the pitfall of "cities of hats".
"This is The Warlike State."
"This is The Trading State."
"This is The Mage State."
"This is The Intrigue State."
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Max_Killjoy
Any other ideas or sources you'd suggest?
Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique stories. Your gods are already Lovecraftian to begin with.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
daniel_ream
Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique stories. Your gods are already Lovecraftian to begin with.
In the setting as intended, those are the old gods, now trapped or subdued somewhere beyond contact with mortals. We just really really got deep into them as part of the discussion of the history of the setting. The current gods are mentioned upthread a ways.
I'll take a look at Zothique, both the setting and the stories.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Max_Killjoy
You know, reading through the polities presented in various fiction and gaming settings, it strikes me that it's hard to get variety and distinct flavor, and yet avoid the pitfall of "cities of hats".
"This is The Warlike State."
"This is The Trading State."
"This is The Mage State."
"This is The Intrigue State."
Cities of hats are convenient for stories about travelers. The civilization might be more complex, but really, they're only going to be playing with it for a single story (or a few sessions), so why bother with going into too much detail?
For more complex cities, you need multiple factions that want things. I find that looking at the Estates is a good way to accomplish this, classically determined as being the Clergy, the Nobility, and the Burghers, but having other estates is a good idea for your older setting.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Max_Killjoy
You know, reading through the polities presented in various fiction and gaming settings, it strikes me that it's hard to get variety and distinct flavor, and yet avoid the pitfall of "cities of hats".
"This is The Warlike State."
"This is The Trading State."
"This is The Mage State."
"This is The Intrigue State."
Try some variations on these:
Palace economy: Everything belongs to the King, including people. The Palace takes all production, and redistributes it. There is not a lot of economy, the priestly caste is powerful and giving them respect is key. Not much in the way of noblemen. Most people are engaged in subsistence agriculture, and grain is usually the unit of economic exchange. This state holds its land visibly, physically - farms, fences, soldiers abound. These states are usually fairly few, and differentiate largely based around their religion and story built around the king, as well as the current king's priorities. Learning, arts, subjugation? All is fair game when you are a tyrant.
Tribal society: These societies are usually very small - the clan is more like a large family with the chief as the "man of the house." Production mostly comes from raiding, hunting, and gathering. Strength is respected. Such tribes typically do not live close to other tribes - there are large buffer areas where both tribes can hunt and move around without exhausting resources. These tribes are mainly differentiated by the land they exploit - a horse tribe on the steppes, a fishing tribe on the shores, a hunting tribe in the forests. Everyone but the chief is more or less equal, and the chief's elevation can range anywhere between "first among many" and "ruthless despot."
Citizen democracy: "Citizens" are the elite class of society, and good luck getting anything done unless you've buttered up enough of them to speak on your behalf. Such a state is by necessity very small, and relies on a fragile alliance with similar states to project power. These are great for Cities of Hats, as antiquity teaches us. Slavery is highly likely, and there is also an underprivileged class that mostly revolves around serving the citizens.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Max_Killjoy
You know, reading through the polities presented in various fiction and gaming settings, it strikes me that it's hard to get variety and distinct flavor, and yet avoid the pitfall of "cities of hats".
"This is The Warlike State."
"This is The Trading State."
"This is The Mage State."
"This is The Intrigue State."
You have to remember the city of hats tends to work well because those hats only really apply to the elites of a society. If one compares Athens and Sparta the elites are totally city of hats people. To be considered elite in Sparta by default you had to be a trained warrior, in Athens citizens were respected for being well educated philosophers. Leonidas is the prototypical Spartan, while Socrates, Aristole, and Plato are the prototypical Athenian. There are lots of people in each city that aren't like Leonidas or Plato, but if one thinks of a typical citizen of either place those are the images one will conjure up.
I think you might be better off to look at what each state does best, and then rank other broad things in descending order. So maybe War City is best at having trained warriors, they do trading next, then diplomacy, wizardy, and finally intrigue. So that would indicate a society that is ruled by a warrior caste, who likely have a well guarded trading fleet that double as war ships, and also have a wide range of allies possibly many vassal states they conquered but don't subjugate through force. They have a wizard tradition, likely dedicated to war rather than pure research, and they likely think of spies as something best not thought of at all.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
As an aside while I work on the cities...
Reading much of anything about Greek polities, one inevitably hits references to powerful persons consulting Oracles, most famously Apollo's at Delphi.
So, for the world being worked on in this thread, of the deities listed here, which would be the most suited for "patronage" of Oracles?
(Open the spoilers until getting to "the most high gods" section.)
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Max_Killjoy
Reading much of anything about Greek polities, one inevitably hits references to powerful persons consulting Oracles, most famously Apollo's at Delphi.
So, for the world being worked on in this thread, of the deities listed
here, which would be the most suited for "patronage" of Oracles?
Kashavti, from your description:
Quote:
Goddess of dangerous journeys, secret crossroads, and hidden things.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Beleriphon
I think you might be better off to look at what each state does best, and then rank other broad things in descending order.
It's annoying that Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth is collectibly OOP, because it had a very good method for defining a society using tags - a bit like Fate's Aspects, but more detailed.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
oudeis
Kashavti, from your description:
The stars/night-sky connection fits as well. Either that, or Kagal-eunir, for prediction and control.
I think there are some excellent suggestions coming from Flickerdart and mig el pig, so I'll just chip in that I don't mind 'city of hats' too much myself. And you can always specialise: e.g, city-of-merchants, trading in hard currency, salt caravans and slaves, vs. city-of-bankers with shipping fleets (though that might be more appropriate to the medieval era).
Nomos all sounds fine to me, though I'd have to see it in relation to things like local resources and the lay of the land. A slightly gritty, intrigue-riddled court-of-camelot situation always appeals to me.
Y'know.. if you're really stuck for ideas, it's perfectly acceptable to use a game system that gives a detailed overview of the setting's social structure, but leaves geography deliberately sketchy and lets a combination of GM invention and player input fill in the blanks during play. I'd be itching to draw up some lifepaths.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
On oracles:
Ebabarra - the all seeing eye.
Pazzursetu - a shadowy, dangerous sort of oracle of that kind that gives cryptically true advice that has a tendency to be interpreted. in both a positive and negative way
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lacuna Caster
The stars/night-sky connection fits as well. Either that, or Kagal-eunir, for prediction and control.
I think there are some excellent suggestions coming from Flickerdart and mig el pig, so I'll just chip in that I don't mind 'city of hats' too much myself. And you can always specialise: e.g, city-of-merchants, trading in hard currency, salt caravans and slaves, vs. city-of-bankers with shipping fleets (though that might be more appropriate to the medieval era).
Nomos all sounds fine to me, though I'd have to see it in relation to things like local resources and the lay of the land. A slightly gritty, intrigue-riddled court-of-camelot situation always appeals to me.
Y'know.. if you're
really stuck for ideas, it's perfectly acceptable to use a
game system that gives a detailed overview of the setting's social structure, but leaves geography deliberately sketchy and lets a combination of GM invention and player input fill in the blanks during play. I'd be itching to draw up some lifepaths.
The book for that system appears to be out of print, with no PDFs on RPG DT. Copies on Amazon run between ~$120 and ~$720.
If it were available for anything like a reasonable price, I'd add it to the collection.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Max_Killjoy
The book for that system appears to be out of print, with no PDFs on RPG DT. Copies on Amazon run between ~$120 and ~$720.
If it were available for anything like a reasonable price, I'd add it to the collection.
Cripes. That's surprising. I'll do some digging and see what I can find.
(I should warn that BW has some other features that I recall you find problematic, such as explicit RP mechanics, but maybe those can be adapted, reworked or excised. There's a nice gritty combat system, wound recovery and skill selection with detailed simulations of weapon reach and penetration, though, which I think you'd like.)
EDIT: Failing that, you might try Burning Empires? (Same system, sci-fi setting.)
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lacuna Caster
Cripes. That's surprising. I'll do some digging and see what I can find.
(I should warn that BW has some other features that I recall you find problematic, such as explicit RP mechanics, but maybe those can be adapted, reworked or excised. There's a nice gritty combat system, wound recovery and skill selection with detailed simulations of weapon reach and penetration, though, which I think you'd like.)
EDIT: Failing that, you might try
Burning Empires? (Same system, sci-fi setting.)
At this point, I'm resigned to having to create a system as well as a setting -- I'd use BW for ideas and concepts, not whole-cloth.
EDIT: Guess what randomly showed up on the shelf at the FLGS since the last time I was there...
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
oudeis
Kashavti, from your description:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lacuna Caster
The stars/night-sky connection fits as well. Either that, or Kagal-eunir, for prediction and control.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Beleriphon
On oracles:
Ebabarra - the all seeing eye.
Pazzursetu - a shadowy, dangerous sort of oracle of that kind that gives cryptically true advice that has a tendency to be interpreted. in both a positive and negative way
Might have different oracles with different patron deities.
There's an element of Hekate in Kashavti, so I think that fits as well.
Ebebarra shares the sun-deity and oracle connection with Apollo (Dephi).
Pazzursetu gets the Necromanteion.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lacuna Caster
Y'know.. if you're
really stuck for ideas, it's perfectly acceptable to use a
game system that gives a detailed overview of the setting's social structure, but leaves geography deliberately sketchy and lets a combination of GM invention and player input fill in the blanks during play. I'd be itching to draw up some lifepaths.
What am I looking for in the Burning Wheel book that would help here?
And... there seems to be an implied setting, without any explicit explanation. Such as, Elf lifepaths that mention "The Citadel", with not even a hint as to what that's talking about.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Max_Killjoy
What am I looking for in the Burning Wheel book that would help here?
And... there seems to be an implied setting, without any explicit explanation. Such as, Elf lifepaths that mention "The Citadel", with not even a hint as to what that's talking about.
Oh, the non-humans are 100% Tolkien-by-default with a wink, nudge and the serial numbers filed off, so it's assumed you're either playing, e.g, in 2nd-age Gondolin, or else you'll make up your own Citadel to fit the purpose.
Wises and Circles tests can be used to invent facts about the world and related NPCs, and Burning Empires has a more explicit 'world burning' process that the group runs through before the first session.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
BW is a LotR game. It's not one heavily inspired by it (e.g. D&D), it's one where the implied setting is LotR, and it just never makes it explicit.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
AH, I see... LotR, nudge nudge wink wink. Say no more say no more.
I think understanding the system will be easier knowing that context.
(It's odd... HERO is pretty much all abstract, and I never had an issue with that. Something like oWoD is steeped in context, and I never had an issue with that. But the sort of unspoken context of BW was throwing me for a loop, like "It feels like there's something big I'm missing here.)
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Max_Killjoy
AH, I see... LotR, nudge nudge wink wink. Say no more say no more.
I think understanding the system will be easier knowing that context.
(It's odd... HERO is pretty much all abstract, and I never had an issue with that. Something like oWoD is steeped in context, and I never had an issue with that. But the sort of unspoken context of BW was throwing me for a loop, like "It feels like there's something big I'm missing here.)
HERO has the benefit of being intentionally abstract, in that its either Superheroes or action movie in setting X for the most part. So there's a bunch of implied context that goes along with that. WoD is its own thing with its own setting, while Burning Wheel definitely vacillates between "this is generic" and "this is very specific but you figure it out". The fact that its basically Lord of the Rings without being Lord of the Rings helps a great deal in the expectations.
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lacuna Caster
There's a crude-but-serviceable website for tacking together geographical jigsaw-pieces
here, but you might want to sign up for
inkarnate for more detail?
EDIT: We mentioned
the spire a few posts back, IIRC?
Pacific-fantasy-venice and the sinkhole-city sound awesome too. (I had some vague notion the latter would be connected to snake-folk down in the southern jungles.) I'd suggest you just slap something down on paper, map-wise, and see if that sparks any other ideas. (Always helps for me.)
Getting back into this now that my fixation on certain new games is in a bit of a lull.
On the subject of Inkarnate, this line from their ToS is rather chilling...
"Ownership of and Responsibility for Content - ALL CONTENT YOU SUBMIT OR CREATE USING THE INKARNATE PLATFORM SHALL REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF INKARNATE. YOU MAY OBTAIN A LIMITED COMMERCIAL LICENSE TO USE SUCH CONTENT BY SIGNING AND PAYING FOR A SEPARATE COMMERCIAL LICENSE AGREEMENT."
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
dont forget this was also the height of the celtic civilization! they were spread as far east as the danube at this point
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Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting
Quote:
Originally Posted by
FabulousFizban
dont forget this was also the height of the celtic civilization! they were spread as far east as the danube at this point
Absolutely -- there's going to be strong influence from that quarter in certain regards.