Just to make your mouth drip

[Ranika]

Corrected.

[TheTank]

What I have read about the early germanic tribes (300BC-100AD) I get the impresion that these people very spartan..
They did not like cities and did not create many stunning pieces of art like the celts in this time period and prefered a simple more simple life.
I personally think is a big reason that the romans where very successful to romanize the gauls but roman attemps to civilize the germanics where largely unsuccessfull...
Centuries the germans started to be more interested in Roman culture but not in the way that the Romans had in mind
And about germanic art
In the time period of the wandering of the tribes and the early dark ages the germans did create stunning peices of art but that is much later.

[Steppe Merc]

Don't pretend you wouldn't.

Yeah, good point. I'll be yelling at my Grivpanvar and my Zradha Shivatir to charge the enemy's infantry, probably.

[Ludens]

Thank you for that very extensive reply, Ranika. I geuss I'll have to do some reading on Gaulic and Germanic cultures before I play EB .

[Ranika]

What I have read about the early germanic tribes (300BC-100AD) I get the impresion that these people very spartan.

I don't know how 'spartan' they were, but the Celts were definitely comparatively decadent. The Celts were considered decadent by mediterranean cultures as well; they saw gold as 'jewelry' metal, and more meant for trinkets. Silver was considered holy and used to make coins as well as religious objects, in addition to much jewelry as well. It's notable though, the average Celt owned an awful lot compared to the average member of any society near them. They produced such an amount of art, jewelry, textiles, etc., that much of what they had was considered rather cheap in their society. Really class defining objects were weapons and armor; most could at least afford a nice piece of jewelry or two. That would tend to give them a bit of a decadent appearance; even the lower class was dressed colorfully with a piece of nice jewelry or a nice cloak. They had a very large 'middle class' that allowed this, due to the relative inexpense of many objects other societies would find expensive. When they relaxed, another form of decadence involved a lot of drugs and alcohol (forbidden by some tribes, most notably the Nervii, to keep their warriors hardened), many imported from the mediterranean, as well as made indigenously; Gauls were particularly skilled in producing beer and wine; wine they exported as well as used in great amounts during feasts. The feasts are another point of decadence in themselves; they weren't for a select group usually, they were for everyone in a tribe. Massive feasts, with all manner of locally available foods, drinks, etc., as well as, if a wealthier chief was financing it, imported food and drink. The mixing of classes in Celtic society was largely due to the fact that one's station could greatly change; being born in poor station hardly meant one was going to stay there. That was also seen as unbecoming to some (though it's not a purely Celtic thing, but for many cultures, for a long time, much of what they got of barbarian culture was found in the Gallic cultures).

Also, I'm going to note this; it's either Gaulish or Gallic. Gaulic appears to be an amalgam of the two.

[GoreBag]

Which drugs, specifically, other than alcohol and the PCP-type substance mentioned previously?

[SaFe]

I think by "spartan" the conversation between the suebian Warlord Ariovist with Julius Caesar comes to mind, as the germanic king told Caesar that his warriors had no roof over their heads for many years and live only for fighting.

[jerby]

Which drugs, specifically, other than alcohol and the PCP-type substance mentioned previously?

i think PCP, and the havoc of battle do a good job to be 'immume' to pain..
when i was kid i went on a fieldtrip to the police. and a man told me that they always shoot in the legs. but when somebody gets aggresive and is heaily on XTC (or something) they coudl clean their clip on their legs, and they still keep running.
they smash their hands strait threw a front-screen of a car without blinking..

those Gaesatae should have been a terrifying sight... but the day after would be a REAL HANGOVER..imagine yourself waking up with a javalin stuck threw your leg..

[Ranika]

Which drugs, specifically, other than alcohol and the PCP-type substance mentioned previously?

Depicted on a few metal plates Nantes, there appear to have been smoked and inhaled substances, and a few Celtic legends point to the usage of what would seem to be pyschedelic mushrooms. Additionally, the wealthier likely imported a lot of other substances from around the known world; the ancient world had a great deal of substance abuse, and of many many substances.

[Steppe Merc]

I know hemp was used a lot to make clothing and ropes and the like in the east in particular. I bet at least some of that was smoked...

[Spongly]

The Scythians in Herodotus' time seem to have smoked a fair bit of grass. As for the Celts, I can certainly speak for Britain when I say that you don't live in this country for long without coming upon fields and fields of magic mushrooms, and something tells me that people have been eating the buggers for a fair old while...

[jerby]

I know hemp was used a lot to make clothing and ropes and the like in the east in particular. I bet at least some of that was smoked...

whahha...you get home after a hard day of work. to see your friends smoking up your scythian pants

[Teutobod II]

I think by "spartan" the conversation between the suebian Warlord Ariovist with Julius Caesar comes to mind, as the germanic king told Caesar that his warriors had no roof over their heads for many years and live only for fighting.

I think it was 14 years...

[skeletor]

I know the berzerker vikings used poisened mushrooms as drugs before battles, to get in their "berserker state of mind". This is not written down, but the effects of the drugs point to "Fly mushrooms" along with boose and others.

They wold get white foam around their mouth, and not respond to pain.
After battle, they became very calm and dizzy, and could sit still in the same place not saying a word.

I don't think they smoked too mutch. A bunch of stone pople woldn't possibly be the most frightening sight on the battlefield

-Skel-

[GoreBag]

whahha...you get home after a hard day of work. to see your friends smoking up your scythian pants

That is the funniest thing I've read all day.

[jerby]

you must have a tough life..glad to have written it

[Zero1]

Scythian1: Whoah, dude...like...where's my pants?

Scythian2: You smoked em...

Scythian1: Oh....wow...I did didnt I?

[Narayanese]

I'm curious about the pronunciation of the german names..
Is ¯ long vowel and ´ high-pitched short vowel?
And is the w like the english sound, or more like v, or like the last phonom in te word 'you'?

[GoreBag]

As phonetics are written, the straight line indicates a long vowel sound ("Oh";"Ay" as in "lay";) and the circumflex indicates a short vowel sound. I'm also reasonably sure that the "w" is like the English kind, and the "z" also like the English kind.

[jerby]

wouldn't be much of a surpize to me if scythian's walked around naked alot. scared somebody will rob their pants to smoke them.
people after a drinking game would be naked: somebody smoked their pants while they were still in it.

[SaFe]

Wōdánáwulfōz:
As example you would speak it out like Wō(like a long spoken wonder) dá like in the word darling not in the word day ná - also here is it a long a - wulf like the english word wulf and finally ōz like in the wizard of Oz.

Hope that helps:-)
.
.
.
and if you can't get it right this is what happens to you
.
.
.

[jerby]

that's not that hard. that's practically fonetic for me (dutch). but i can see englishmen havign trouble with it..especially Wo-Da.

[SaFe]

german, dutch and scandinavian speaking people would have it easier to speak today proto-germanic.

[jerby]

happy me,
any units with a G in it..always fun to hear americans say: Slagroom (wipped cream) and that sort a stuff

[Narayanese]

Wōdánáwulfōz:
As example you would speak it out like Wō(like a long spoken wonder) dá like in the word darling not in the word day ná - also here is it a long a - wulf like the english word wulf and finally ōz like in the wizard of Oz.

Hope that helps:-)

*pronounces the german unit list a few times, doesn't feel as awkward as before*
Ah thanks, I think I understand.
*looks down at the street, relieved not to see any wōdánáwulfōz down there*
So ō is pronounced like o in swedish, ê perhaps like ä in swedish, short vowels exept those with ´, and no vowels are diphtongs, and w and z are english sounds.

[jerby]

So ō is pronounced like o in swedish, ê perhaps like ä in swedish, short vowels exept those with ´, and no vowels are diphtongs, and w and z are english sounds.

before you said it i completely understood it..

[GoreBag]

ōz like in the wizard of Oz.

"Oz" as, in the wizard (and the prison), rhymes with the english "jaws".

[pezhetairoi]

My god at last we can see spears stuck in the ground beside them warriors. I was having enough of having forester warbands suddenly take up spears from nowhere, and the same goes for the hastati, whose pila come from nowhere. Hmm, the skirmishers seem to be a little over-ambitious... trying to throw two framea at once? ;-)

But all that aside, wonderful job! They look really good, especially the beards... i don't know, but the fact that they have beards seems to strike me for some reason...

[Tux]

About the frameas check this post , someone asked the same as you at twc, hope it clears things out.

[Lord Tomyris Reloaded]

and other thing, in barbarian lands, i mean, north europe, its cold, why self naked warriors? only intimidation purposes or anithing beyond that?

I believe many Germanic tribesmen fought semi-naked or even naked to prevent clothing infecting a wound acquired in battle.