An Occultus Faction possibly worked out?

[Iain.]

I reckon that this occultus sig here is Nabatea.

As you can see that there's a clearly defined hump on the back of the thing. This says Camel to me.

I've heard that the Nabateans were renowned for their camels.

In fact, their invention of an effective saddle for a camel meant they could effectively fight from the camels back. This allowed them to become the dominant tribe in their area. I saw a picture of a coin that clearly showed a camel wearing this new saddle.

From what I hear, they were pretty influential in their day.

I saw all this in a BBC documentary about Johann Ludwig Burckhardt's rediscovery of Petra called "The Rose-red City".

But yeah, it might be a long shot, but I think the Occultus sig could be Nabatea.

[Brennus]

Hi Iain! Welcome!

Thankyou for the short insight into the history of camel warfare but I doubt it could be Nabatea, the Nabateans just wern't expansive enough to qualify as a faction.

Hang on a minute though, when on earth did the Bosporan Greeks expand?

[Iain.]

Hi Iain! Welcome!

Thankyou for the short insight into the history of camel warfare but I doubt it could be Nabatea, the Nabateans just wern't expansive enough to qualify as a faction.

Hang on a minute though, when on earth did the Bosporan Greeks expand?

That's the thing, I'm pretty sure that the team has run out of expansionist factions to add to the game, so I'd think it would be necessary to add in other factions that historically weren't very expansionistic, though perhaps could have been if they had been differently inclined.

I can see Nabatea being kind of similar to Saba, but with more Hellenistic influences.

[Hannibal Khan the Great]

It was Aretas III that really started to Hellenize Nabatea though. Maybe material for reforms?

[Iain.]

A reform like that would be great.

This faction would work quite well I think.

As an added bonus, it might serve to stop either of the Ptolemys or Seleukids from getting to big and steamrolling everything.

[Moros]

FIghting from camelback goes back to long before anyone hear about the Nabataeans. The qedar and the people of tayma were recorded doing so. Herodotus talks about a nomadic people called the debae who 'lived and fought on camelback'. Indeed these people didn't use advanced sadals, however wether the nabataeans were the first to invent them later, I'm not sure. I'd love to see that coin, as camelriders are planned as a regional unit.

The Nabataeans and most northern and eastern Arabians hellenized very much and some also became very influenced by the parthians and later the sassanids. The Nabataeans were perhaps the ones most influenced by the Hellenes, especially after the capture of Damascus in 86 BC (IIRC). Greek became a frequent languages and is attested to have been used in the organisation of the late armies, together with an adoption of organisation and equipment (as pre-Roman freezes depicting clear hellenic styled but distinctly nabataean soldiers/armour/equipment). At this time they ruled a pretty large Area, from Dedan to Damascus and most of the Sinai, so they were expansive enough if you ask me. However our information on them in the early period is rather lacking, just as their justification. In a 1st Century BC mod, they'd make a fine addition, but not one who is based mostly on the two centuries we almost hear nothing about them.

That being said, it is no camel you see. Nor would a camel be a good symbol for them, as it would be more appropriate for the people more to the south, around between modernday Medina to around and especially Najran, where the camel was the symbol of the main deity of the 'Amar and similar tribes. I can't really think of a specific Nabataean symbol though, the ptolemaic eagle was popular but is already taken, other animals like the snake, scorpion or lion would make decent shield decorations but would not be applicable for them either.

I'll give you a hint though: geographically speaking you're way of.

[Iain.]

Ah, that's fair enough then. I guess not then. Thanks for all that information about the Nabataeans, I didn't know any of that.

And if I find the picture of the coin, I'll show it to you.

[Andronikos]

It looks a little like a griffin, the "hump" being its wings, which would suggest nomads or something eastern, but this isn't my guess. I believe, it is some stylized animal and moreover it looks western to me, so perhaps Celtiberians.

[Khazar_Dahvos]

i am pretty sure that is a bull being depicted

[abou]

It's actually a dragon.

[Hannibal Khan the Great]

I'm praying for a second Germanic faction, but sadly that doesn't look too likely at the moment....

[Cyclops]

I still think its an elephant-mounted FM for a semi-Hellenic Mauryan satrap.

It's actually a dragon.

Really?

Like a draco? Like another Balkan-ish faction with falxes? Like Bastarnae?

Or maybe its the Chi'in/Han Empires j/k

[abou]

Really?

No.

[Apázlinemjó]

That symbol is a naked woman, will we have the lesbians of Lesbos? I wonder how would look like an all female phalanx...

[Dutchhoplite]

I bet you wish for a skimpily armoured phalanx...You dirty, dirty man.....

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Hehehe, i would play them all the time :D

[Cyclops]

No.

Hmmph. Well I think it is, so there.

[Ibrahim]

It's actually a dragon.

No.

can you make up your mind?

honestly, though, I've kinda given up trying to figure this our for myself. I am however starting to lean towards the idea that it might be a griffin or dragon, as cyclops says.

[machinor]

OMFG!!! It's AN ELEPHANT!!! Seriously! Look at it! The left part of the symbol is the profile of an elephant head (right behind the "OC" of "Occultus" - looking leftwards)!!

Elephants!! Which means either an African faction ... OR AN INDIAN ONE! I found these examples of Indo-Greek coins/Indian coins showing Greek influence:





The latter one showing Antiochos.
This could mean the occultus faction is a Mauryan satrapy or something similar.

[Cyclops]

OMFG!!! It's AN ELEPHANT!!!...AN INDIAN ONE!...the occultus faction is a Mauryan satrapy or something similar.

I want to believe you, but I've been hurt before. There was this guy and he was fuill of sweet talk about a dragon...well lets just say it didn't end well.

Also there's a small difficulty about culture slots.

But if its true...no I can't let myself fall for that again.

[Foot]

Your right, it does look like an elephant. But unfortunately it is not. That bit of the symbol isn't even a head. Hell, we don't even know if that symbol even has a head. Yes, that's right, the symbol is that of Cthulhu. How could it not be?

Foot

[machinor]

Your right, it does look like an elephant. But unfortunately it is not. That bit of the symbol isn't even a head. Hell, we don't even know if that symbol even has a head. Yes, that's right, the symbol is that of Cthulhu. How could it not be?

An Atlantean faction?! AWESOME!!

On second thought... I'd say it's definately an indian elephant judging by the size of its ears.

[Cyclops]

An Atlantean faction?! AWESOME!!....

Atlantean? Are you dreaming? Cthulhu is Dagonic culture, and sure R'lyeh was a dominant faction before the arrival of the Mi Go, thats a little bit before the EB period.

Now an Old One faction based in Antarctica, with giant penguin militia, cata-shoggoths and lorica squamata would balance the lack of southern hemisphere factions. If I was a noob I could start a thread demanding WHEN WILL EB2 BE READY AND WILL THERE BE ONE OR SEVERAL SHOGGOTH UNITS AVAILABLE?

...On second thought... I'd say it's definately an indian elephant judging by the size of its ears.

Stop playing with my emotions.

Hey they're not seriously denying it, just diverting us with Lovecraft references...maybe there's something in this? Or will there really be AOR Fungi from Yuggoth and Deep Ones?

[MButcher]

i am pretty sure that is a bull being depicted

I agree. There's an unshakeable aura of "bullness" about it, particularly an Indian bull because of the large hump.

[Tuuvi]

That was my guess too, either a bull or an ox. Also to me the styling looks sort of celtic or scythian-ish, but it's too obscured to tell for sure.

[Brennus]

Perhaps we are looking at this the wrong way. So far most people have assumed that the symbol is facing left. IMHO we should look at it as if it were facing right. From the right it looks to me like an elk or bison. Although it could just as easily be an indian creature the culture slots make this impossible. Therefore I think we are dealing with a western, temperate faction.

If this is the case looking on coins for the answer will not help, I am studying Celtic coins at the moment and can tell you the only animals depicted are horses whilst no Germanic group were minting coins at this time.

[Phalanx300]

Seems like best bets are either Indian or CeltIberian.

Seeing foot denying Indian with some humour may actually mean its an Indian one. Would be great if so!

[Brennus]

Seems like best bets are either Indian or CeltIberian.

Seeing foot denying Indian with some humour may actually mean its an Indian one. Would be great if so!

But if that's the case what do you do about the lack of culture slots? Plus an Indian faction wouldn't be represented on the map fairly, unless the EBII map has been dramatically extended.

[Andronikos]

Faction with Indian touch which wouldn't need new culture slot can be Kamboja kingdom, but there are problems with it being on the map border.

[anubis88]

Kamboja Kingdom in 272 BC?

[Iain.]

Atlantean? Are you dreaming? Cthulhu is Dagonic culture,

Cthulu is Dagonic?

Don't they teach you kids the Necronomicon in school any more?

Cthulu is r'lyehic. Or maybe Vhoorlian.

On topic though, I think it kind of looks like a lion, with the head being at the far right of the picture.