SOME HISTORICALL INFO (take it like commercials in a TV show )

A little history !

I tried to make the story as plausible as it is possible. I am very curious about its outcome. Up to this moment, believe it or not, things happened in the same way as in real history : The dacians stormed the iazigii, but did not attacked panonia. The differences start in the story of Longinus. Altough Tibiscum was assaulted and taken, Longinus was captured trough threachery.

In the story, it is still winter. Many interesting things will come until the late spring, as i will insert and adapt to the story some really interesting plots from the history. Trajanus did not attack only but in the late spring. The reasons are obvious... to avoid snow, and bad weather which probably made him withrdraw in the first war, when he was just at the gates of Sarmizegetusa.

The ruins of Sarmizegetusa, altough very little known to the world,are in the list of the World Heritage by UNESCO. The city was located at around 1000-1200 meters above sea level, deep in the mountains of Sureanu, together whith many more other fortresses. Sarmizegetusa was more of a religious center, whith a unique calendar and a temple complex. The fortress Sarmizegetusa, altough defended by solide walls, it was not ment to be a military settlement, as it was not that strong compared to the neighbouring fortresses. In an around it, lived aproximately 25-50 000 people, in terasses, across the mountains. You can ask yourselfs how this man made a living at such a high altitude where snow is around 6 months/year... they did manage to make a living theyr, carving those terasses in the hillsides. They could practice agriculture, or growing out sheeps (traditional practice).A complex system of canalization (hundred of kilometers of clay pipes), brought fresh water to the theyr houses and the settlements.Some of them still work (i visited the area this summer).

Historically, the romans advanced on 5 columns , whith ~200 000 men. The major column attacked at Drobeta, went to Ad Mehadiam, Tibiscum, Agnaviae, Tapae, then straight to Sarmizegetusa. The other columns crossed the Danube at 4 different points, using pontoon bridges or boats, following other directions, invading the centre of Dacia (Transilvania), trough all the known passes of the Carpathians.

The dacian fortresses , built whith the assistance of greek and roman engineers, where very strong, as they where located on the hilltops, but had one major flaw : they lacked water ! In rainy months, this was not much of a problem as they had water collecting system, but in the summer months it prooved to be critical. This, the threachery and the might of Trajanus led to the demise of the Dacian state in august 106, when the last pockets of resistance where whiped out, and king Decebalus commited suicide to avoide beeing captured by the romans alive and humiliated.

In 106, the independence of Dacia ended, forever. It was a terrible blow from which the dacians never recovered. A new chapter started in the dacian history which would radically change the dacian culture: the romanization.