Countdown to Open Beta - Casse
Greetings Europa Barbarorum fans!
Prepare to meet the second faction preview of the week! EB does not take responsibility for frothing mouths, heart failures or spilled beverages over your computers.
This week internally, EB has begun to iron out the many little and big bugs found by our hard-working beta testers in the closed beta release. Besides that, some of our skinners and modelers that have been away or busy taking exams have returned, and because of that some of the units you will see here are fresh like baby breath.
Shout outs go out to Prometheus, Psycho V, WEIRDSHADY, Spartan_Warrior, Kali and Aymar du Bois Mauri for skinning and modeling the units. A big shout out goes out to Teleklos Archelaou for taking and uploading the extreme-zoom screenshots, and making the faction banner and sigs, something that he’s been doing for us for quite some time now. Finally, props and kudos to Ranika and his team for their hard work and care that went into the realization of the Casse faction and its warriors.
Still, EB is a team effort and this preview is a product of all our efforts.
This week, the EB team is proud to present:
At the end of the world, there is a great people. Far removed from the wars of the Mediterranean sea, the steppes, and far off deserts, they wage their own war. Your people are among the most fearsome in all of the known world, and you know this. They came to these islands and crushed, displaced, or flatly annihilated the old people; broke them utterly. They are poets, and traders, and miners, but most of all, they are warriors. The people of the islands cry to you. They want a leader. They want some one to direct them, to lead them to great things. They want you, and who are you to deny them? This land is your right, it is the right of anyone strong enough to take it. Would you let the petty lesser tribes put you down before your chance for greatness?
The British tribes have always fought as skirmishers and ambushers, with only the rare field engagement. While this is fine for petty tribal conflicts, a potential emperor of the Britons cannot focus on this forever. He must be decisive and swift, and build a real army, not an amalgam of petty warbands. But you are the ruler of the Casse, and they have long been the most militaristic fore-thinking of the Britons. They are descended from Gauls, and employers of Gallic tactics; with planning, Britain will easily be attained, barring any unforeseen circumstances. Britain is rich; rich with tin, and silver, and copper, and livestock of all kind. A large, well funded army is quite possible, with all of the island under your yoke. The southern tribes provide the strongest, heaviest soldiers. They are the best trained, the best equipped, and the best disciplined tribes. The midlanders are more wild, lightly armored at best, but available in great number, and are relatively inexpensive, making them a good asset for overcoming an enemy by number. In the far north lay the remaining peoples. Caledonians are without remote concept of civilization. Abhorrent even to the other Britons, they are maniacs in many ways, and completely disorganized. However, they are brave. If nothing else, Caledonians are an effective shock force, and fairly disturbing to an enemy. You must rely on infantry and foot soldiers. Your cavalry is scarce and weak, and chariots are expensive. You must organize units of champions, brave warriors, who will encourage your other men to continue to fight. Britons are brave, but sometimes practicality of a situation overcomes them. Seeing great warriors of their people continue to fight will spur them on though, but champions expect compensation.
To become high king and forge a real empire, uniting Britain will be the foremost part of your early reign. The Britons are pleased to serve a powerful king, so you must show military strength. However, they also expect acumen in business matters; Britain has always been made rich by trade with distant foreign powers, and they have come to enjoy their lifestyle. You are not ready for wars with any major powers. Not yet, anyway. It may be humbling, but you are, after all, only a very small kingdom. Conquest of all of the British Isles will provide you with an easily defended enclave, which will produce great amounts of money, with proper trade agreements, and a large population from which to pool a great army of conquest. Invading mainland Europe will not be easy, but if one takes advantage of the constant wars there; attacking weakened enemies in Gaul or Germania, you can secure an easily reinforced stronghold on the mainland, and expand from there. However, this assumes everything goes to plan, and no one turns a covetous eye on your wealth. Germans are strong, brave, and numerous, and Gauls have great soldiers and relentless leaders. Further off are the ambitious Romans, Carthaginians, and the hearty Hellenic peoples, who already know the value of the island from centuries of trade. The task is daunting, to say the least, but you are not a leader of common men. You are king of the most fierce warriors, wisest clerics, and greatest champions on the whole of the planet. You are the rightful king of all of Britain, and your people deserve an empire. Their lives have been endless strife and toil at war. They deserve an empire to reflect the greatness of their achievements. As your glorious ancestors drove the wretched men who once inhabited the island from it, as they had destroyed them, so must you destroy your enemies. You must be vicious, you must be relentless, and utterly break every enemy to your will. Your people deserve peace, and peace will only be had when your enemies submit to your rule. Again, king of the Casse, I ask you, who are you to deny them?
History:
The Casse came to Britain in an unknown year, but likely in the third or fourth wave of Celtic migrants from Gaul. They established themselves as a military and trade power swiftly. They traded with Gaul, the Greeks, and likely many others. They were very similar to Gauls in many respects, like most southern Britons, and had some influences from the Belgae as well. Archaeological evidence, and transcribed oral histories, copied in later periods by Christian monks, point to stories of a failed attempt at unifying the whole island under their rule. A plague racked the Casse and their subject tribes, among them, the Atrebates, Icenes, Trinovantes, and others. The plague was seen as a bad omen, as the king and several sub-kings had died from it, so the attempt fell apart. Caesar recongized them as the Catuvellanians, and called their king Catuvellanius, likely taken from an actual Gallic title; 'Catuvallanorix', or 'King of the Islanders'. At any given time, their power waxed and waned in varying levels of severity, but they remained some of the best organized, strongest, and most wealthy of all Britons. Their control of tin trade, large silver reserves, and substantial wheat harvests ensured them a place as the most powerful in Britain.
Culturally, the Casse were very similar to the Gauls and Belgae, with distinct Briton influences. They had advanced coinage, large mines (significantly larger than Gauls or Belgae, for that matter), quality metallurgy, and an involved political and legal system. The average person's life was spent pursuing a trade, going to a school, becoming a soldier, or going into politics, not unlike a later society. Day to day life for Britons would be a bit more stressful than it was for their Gallic counterparts; the threat of enemy tribes raiding or invading was constant. However, that doesn't mean every moment was purely war. A favored pastime was sports, including a game we now call 'hurling'; so popular was this game in all of the British Isles, that it's mentioned in numerous legends. The Irish hero Sentata, better known as Cu Chullain, was noted for his great skill in hurling. They also told lengthy stories, sang, played music, and created poetry, about such heroes, wars, and gods. They engaged in large public feasts, keeping the local chiefs and chieftans as somewhat accessible characters, to whom the people felt an honest relation. This practice encouraged a tribe to feel exemplify their relations; the extensive Celtic clan model encouraged loyalty, so long as the people felt they were truly related. They were also good farmers, and had a strain of wheat grain that was exceptionally healthy, pointing to an advanced understanding of farming methods. They also ate a great deal of meat, especially compared to later civilizations in the region, which likely accounted for their great size; they were even taller than Gauls. Swords were not as common among the Britons; iron was expensive, and often imported from Gaul or the Goidils in modern Ireland. Iron was favored, instead, for spear and javelin heads. Swords in the south were often imports from Gaul, and swords in the midlands were made to be shorter than other Celtic swords, to preserve iron. Everyone in a tribe was considered family, even slaves, who eventually worked their way into the upper tribal community. Their economic model was a type of anarcho-capitalistic lifestyle, with religion encouraging charity, but never enforcing it. Taxes were taken mostly to provide their leader with a home, improve settlement defenses, and pay their warriors and champions. Soldiers were paid based upon experience, and it was not uncommon for a particular warrior to recieve a large gift for performing a heroic action, such as a pile of silver, or a new weapon or a shirt of mail. In war, champions were a rallying point. They would be banded together as an elite group, whom which the other soldiers would unite with, and follow them into battle; this was an important aspect of British-Celtic war. While the Gauls were similar in some respects, the Britons relied heavily upon champions to inspire them in battle.
As in any Celtic kingdom, their leader is elected, not hereditary. The tribes elect a chief, chiefs in an area elect a chieftan, chieftans elect kings over a larger area, and the kings elect the high king. That is, in a stable kingdom. The Gauls and Goidils successfully managed larger kingdoms in this format for many years, but the Belgae and Britons struggled to attain a remote semblance of order over anything but the smallest of areas. Part of it would have to be enforced through pure military might, to ensure every tribe and region plays along, even when their king is not elected as the high king. In terms of law, the kings had little power; law lay in the hands of judges, elected as well by the people. The higher one's station in society, the harsher the fines and punishment under the law levied against them. Law was central to Celtic religion, and elected officials were meant to be exemplars of the law. A king was a military and business leader, and expected to be intelligent, versed in several languages, and capable of fighting in combat, and intent on leading his men personally when the chance was logically available. The Casse had a king, who ruled over the Casse and their surrounding subservient tribes, such as the Belgic Atrebates, directly. His position was mainly as the organizer of the military, and had a great deal of control in this respect. He also had control of diplomacy, and was the final word in making or breaking alliances. His electors were a kind of 'senate', composed of all the chiefs and chieftans under his rule; after his election, they would also act as advisors. Chieftans and lesser kings acted as generals and lieutenants, and chiefs were captains of local militias. As such, all of them, from the lowest chieftan, to the high king, were elected based on a multitude of issues, but the foremost was their ability to command and lead soldiers. The elected judges formed a seperate 'senate', through which they passed and modified law. This was a slow process; this model was still in use in post-Christian Celtic countries, such as the Irish and Welsh kingdoms, and it's notable that almost no laws changed over hundreds of years. A change to a law would be proposed, and the judge would take this proposal to his tribe. The tribe would vote for or against it, by majority rule, and the judge would return to the conclave, and give the tribe's results. A majority of votes on part of the judges' tribes was required to pass or veto the proposal.
The religion of the Casse, and other Britons, involved dozens of minor local gods, demigods, hero worship, and major deities that would be worshipped over huge regions. Most of their deities tend to be war, health, or legal gods, and their heroes tend to vary between warriors or great poets and storytellers. Among their most important deities are Camulos, a Belgic god of destruction, and Andraste, a British goddess of war. Both require sacrifices, and encourage a large amount of xenophobia toward outsiders; though Britons were remarked as cordial and even warm to outsiders; as well as absolute obedience to the law. Their religion also includes certain ritual aspects, such as painting the body, believing it provided some amount of special, magic protections. They also collect the heads of dead enemies, not just as trophies or signs of bravery, but because the belief that the soul resided in the head. To control a man's head, they believed, meant that his soul had to be your slave, in both this life and the next. The 'druidae', druids, actually didn't come to Britain until around 70 BC, though they'd been in Gaul much longer. However, an essentially identical class, which we casually call druids, was present before hand, and their influence was quite strong. If a higher official was arrested, such as the king, this conclave would also try him, collectively, rather than having a single judge oversee him, since he represents all of the tribes. Likewise, a chieftan would be tried by those judges of the tribes he represents, if he was accused of breaking the law. These systems meant to give each tribe a voice in the events of their kingdom, and the matters of running it.
The Britons were conquered, allied, or otherwise subverted to the Roman powers. During the Roman conquests, Britons fought both as defenders, and alongside the invaders. The Romans withdrew due to constant pressure from both Picti from Caledonia and Goidils (called Scotti) from Ireland. The destruction of silver mines, tin complexes, and encroaching Goidilic slaver colonies and piracy operations made Britain far too unprofitable, especially considering the problems in the other parts of the empire. The Britons continued to exist for a very long time in varied sub-cultures, such as the Cymriae and Cerniuae (Welsh and Corns), the Strathclyders, the Regyddites (who were also partially Gaelic), and the Cumbrians (also had a large Gaelic population). Even today, the Welsh remain a distinct people and are culturally descended from the Britons, though diluted heavily by the Anglo-Saxon and Norman influences from England, and Gaelic influence from Irish colonies established during the dark ages. The Britons never experienced the total Romanization that Gaul did, and their culture was quite resilient and long-standing because of it.
Take a look at the Casse warriors in action:
Now, some of the warriors that will give their lives for the Casse cause:
Celtic archers, Sotaroas (Sow-tah-rows, Bow Soldiers), while not great or exceptional, are good. They are well trained, disciplined, and can put a fair deal of range behind their attacks. While their arrows aren't too notable, their ability to swiftly pepper an enemy with arrows is always of use. They are not really meant to defeat an enemy force, or even truly damage one, so much as they are meant to irritate and draw attention away from a main force, so it can position itself for flanking. As such, they are good runners, who fire a few volleys as a distraction, and then withdraw to a safe position to hide. If caught in a melee, they would be slaughtered for sure.
Historically, archers in Celtic culture had little variety, with only a few truly notable types of archers. They were irritative forces, and intended to soften large enemy forces, but rarely meant to be truly effective in the manner of eastern archers. However, if positioned properly, or experienced enough, they could be truly devestating. Their skill was good, they could fire many volleys swiftly. The Celtic concept of archery was more often to simply blacken the sky with arrows, than it was to fire few, effective volleys. However, their arrows were well made, though not great, and would be capable of puncturing lighter armors, and were quite deadly in their own right. All the same, these men were better off as hunters than field warriors.
Mala Gaeroas (Mah-lah Guy-rows; Southern Spear Soldiers) are the file warriors of the southern tribes of Gaul and Britain. The Gaeroas all utilize well-made long spears, and a few decent javelins, making them both fair melee warriors and impromptu skirmishers. Their versatility, and low relative expense, mean they are a fine warrior band for enterprising warlords looking to expand their lands. They have some experience with combat, but are not yet hardened to battle. However, they are trained well enough to march in a good formation, something actually lost on greater warriors for the Britons. Their longspears may seem a bit unwieldy, but this is likely to help them in combating cavalry and chariot horses as a unit. While unarmored, they have large rectangular shields, which provides them a good amount of protection. They are fairly well trained with these shields, and they provide a fair amount of protection from ranged attacks, but the lack of armor makes them quite vulnerable to flanking.
Historically, spearmen in Britain and Gaul would have been the young to middle-age warriors, who had not risen greatly in prestige, or who had chosen to continue to fight as a lower warrior. They would use well-made, but not truly exceptional spears, and javelins for skirmishing. This allowed their most basic warriors to perform two duties, and allocate other soldiers to more specialized positions. Their equipment would be self maintained, and they would be expected to keep their weapons and shield in good condition. They likely paid for their own equipment, but spears and javelins are relatively cheap, the most expensive part of their equipment was likely the shield. These warriors represent the most basic professional warriors of almost all of the southern tribes. They would be highly viable for warchiefs who couldn't afford to bring in many swords or other weapons for his tribe.
The Belgae are terrifying warriors. Even their younger men are well trained, disciplined, and willing to fight. Braver than most warriors equal their societal status, the Batacorii (Bah-tah-kur-ee-eye; Fighting Troop) are good spearmen, and fine light infantry, well worth their cost. Even experienced warriors fall into the Batacorii, basic warriors of the Belgae, but fully honorable. Those warriors too poor to enter the ranks of the swordsmen of the Belgae armies, the Batacorii is a fine position to fall into.
Historically, the Belgae were a number of extremely fierce tribes that were highly indepedent. However, they were fairly well trained, their violent behavior toward most outsiders forced them to learn tactics and the finer points of warfare to defend themselves from their many, many enemies. The lower warriors would fight bare chested almost always, even in winter, though they actually wore cloaks to the point of the battle, then would toss them aside to fight. Belgae spearmen were lower warriors, but very important to the Belgae's warring. They were quasi-professionals who formed the bulk of the Belgae's forces.
The Botroas (Boat-rows, Sword Soldiers) are the basic medium infantry of the southern tribes of Gaul, but also of the south of Britain. They are well trained, with a fair amount of experience, and good quality swords, with javelins to soften an enemy before a charge. Like near all Celtic warriors, they are loyal to a tribal head, who is himself loyal to numerous mounting tiers of nobles, leading to the king. These form the core of the southern armies. Like most Celtic shock infantry, the brunt of their attack is in the charge.
Historically, the Botroas were the younger professional warriors of southern Gallic and Briton tribes. The similarity between the two was very close; somewhat odd, as the northern Gallic tribes equivalent was dressed and armored so differently. In Gaul, these men would be Aquitanii, Boii, and similar tribes. In Britain, they were the Casii, Dumnonii, and other southern tribesmen. Their lack of armor would leave them vulnerable, but they had great mobility, and their youthfulness included a desire to prove themselves to their people, making them somewhat lacking in fear, or, perhaps, simply more afraid of disgrace than they are of death.
The Belgae Milnaht (Mel-not; Great Men) are a very fierce group of warriors. With lands in the north of Gaul, south of Britain, and middle of Hibernia, the Belgae have spread themselves over a fairly wide area. They are a fair mix of Britons and Gauls, with portions of the more civilized Gallic culture mixed into the more tribal and fierce culture of the Britons. They still wear bronze helmets and sometimes employ bronze weapons as back ups. However, they use a great deal of iron in swords, spear, javelin and arrow heads, and chain shirts worn by their nobles. The professional warriors of the Belgae are bare chested warriors with a long, bronze rimmed shield, and bronze helmet, and sometimes painted with the elaborate designs popular to the Britons. Their ferocity and skill with their swords and shields make them capable of standing against slightly heavier warriors. They are also capable of sapping, and have a penchant for undermining walls, making them valuable to any army of Britons marching into Europe, where they are bound to encounter stone fortifications. If the Gauls or a tribe of Britons ever managed to incorporate Belgae regions into their lands, they would undoubtedly try and use them in battle.
Historically, the Belgae were a number of extremely fierce tribes that were highly indepedent. However, they were fairly well trained, their violent behavior toward most outsiders forced them to learn tactics and the finer points of warfare to defend themselves from their many, many enemies. The lower warriors would fight bare chested almost always, even in winter, though they actually wore cloaks to the point of the battle, then would toss them aside to fight. Among the Belgic tribes were the Nervii, easily among the most fierce of all the Celtic peoples, and many of the first Celtic invaders into Ireland. The Belgae fought using three main manners, their fierce forward charge, their skilled and methodic ambushes, and their hit-and-run skirmish tactics. They were also skilled sappers and tacticians, but above all remembered is the charge. The Belgae could break near any enemy with a fierce charge, and if they could not, their good skill with their weapons and shields allowed them the power to stand and fight.
Clohmcorii (Klum-kur-ee-eye, Swordsmen) are Celtic shortswordsmen. The shortsword is a common weapon, essentially a very long knife or dagger, and used by hunters, and carried by many as a form of self defense. Warriors using shortswords are not generally very well trained, if at all. However, they are readily available, cheap, and have a good charge. They lack javelins or other ranged weapons and are extremely vulnerable at range.
Historically, the Celts generally favored spears and shortswords. These warriors, with shortswords, were not necessarily that high up in society; the swords were of debatable quality. Many may not even have fought in battle before, just being hunters or young boys called in to fight, or have chosen to go and fight. Light swordsmen in Celtic society were fairly common, and necessary, often, as a bridge between light and medium infantry, when medium infantry was unavailable. They were increasingly more common during the Roman conquests, as the professional armies with longswordsmen had either been bought by the Romans, or turned on one another, leaving the only defense to these young warriors.
The British tribes best warriors are not so much trained, as they are proven. Young men are trained to fight, but the older warriors grow through real experience in battle. The Rycalawre (Rie-call-a-oo-re; Great Champions) are near fearless, and even more hungry for glory than younger men. They have already felt the rewards of victory, and have many heads to their credit. Their original training has been augmented by years of warfare, often leaving their bodies heavily scarred. The Rycalawre are wealthy, powerful men, but they were not necessarily born as such. When a young warrior begins to attract prestige to himself, often by having a mound of heads to his name, he also begins attracting favors and gifts from his chief. These favors, like armor, weapons, jewelry, and slaves, allow him to be outfitted in superior equipment to lesser men, as well as having beautiful ornate equipment, such as elaborate bronze 'horned' helmets, giving them a near mythic appearance on the field. Any who survived a battle with Rycalawre present, would surely never forget them.
Historically, Rycalawre would have been individual warriors from tribes that grew to prominence through having numerous victories and kills to their credit. While individually desiring glory, the Rycalawre would organize into groups, possibly to appear more fearsome (since a group of horned warriors is more frightening than an isolated one). Their elaborate, ornate clothing, weapons, and armor would help encouraged the other men, and surely appeared fearsome to their enemies. Their presence would also encourage their fellows, as they were built up in stories about them as being nearly indestructible, and their own fearlessness would serve as a good example. They would be armed with quality swords, spears, axes, and other weapons, likely given to them as gifts for their service to the tribe. Likewise, their armor was gifted to them, rather than bought. This would make outfitting a champion very expensive, but once they have their armor and weapons, they would be otherwise ready to fight.
Celts are a collection of hero cultures, and the Britons are no different. Among their southern tribes especially, there are warriors of exceedingly great skill, who use Gallic equipment. The Calawre (Call-a-oo-re; Champions) are not actually generally real champions, but they wealthy, and skilled. They have good armor and good Gallic swords. They are called champions more because of their appearance than anything; they actually mostly simply fill in the need for more affordable, all-purpose heavy infantry among the Britons. They are skilled, and professional, but their expense generally would keep their numbers low.
Historically, the Britons had little in the way of 'real' heavy infantry. Most often they relied on wealthy champions to fill that need. However, sometimes they did employ bands of wealthier warriors, who were not necessarily the greatest skilled, but they would be easier to amasse in one place than a group of real champions, and, while they wouldn't be AS skilled, they certainly had to have a talent for combat to survive as long as they had to afford their equipment, which was likely imported. However, the Britons also were fond of using leather and bronze scale, which was made locally. These shirts would be lined under with padding, so they could be worn comfortably. Such armor grew far more popular in wake of Roman invasion, due to armor worn by some auxilia being of similar design.
Some monuments to remind you that not all is blood and gore:
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Originally Posted by Alexander the Pretty Good
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