Chapter One
Death of a Chieftain
Winter 270 BCE
Much had changed in the two years since the battle for Sucum-Murgi. The majority of the army had been disbanded due to the Tribes financial woes. Following the successful campaign, Tantalos had returned to Oxtraca to govern the tribe from it's capital leaving his son Ditalkos to consolidate Sucum-Murgi as a now Lusotannan town. However this was proving difficult as Jubal, the former Turduli chieftain, had a younger brother named Kuintitaku who had been absent at the time of the battle and was now trying to raise an army, albeit with limited success. He had managed to raise a small band of followers the previous summer and had been waging a guerilla war against the occupying force, until Ditalkos managed engage him and almost completely wipe out his followers. Kuintitaku escaped however and while he still lived he would be a beacon of hope for those that wished to oppose Lusotannan authority.
Perhaps the biggest noticeable change was the change in the Chieftain. Having been stricken with a mystery illness the Chieftain had been confined to bed for the best part of a month. Everyone who was in the know knew that his days were coming to an end, sooner rather than later.
“Ambon, come here son.” A man wearing only a pair of trousers in the Celtic fashion despite the cold shouts into the gloom of a nearby house.
“Yes father?” Replies an adolescent emerging into the daylight for the first time that morning.
“Look at those men there and tell me what you see.”
“The traders? I see men who aren't strong enough to take things so they must give something away in return.”
“Trade is the lifeblood of our tribe.” The man sighs. “Without it we have nothing but the goods we make ourselves. One day you may be Chieftain, gods permitting, and if you have the same attitude to merchants then as you do now it will be a dark day indeed. Now, show me what you have learned of sword-play.”
The man is Latronos, son of Tantalos and widely accepted as the next chieftain of the Lusotani. In fact he had been de-facto leader of the tribe since his fathers illness. He had shown himself to be more than capable in this role and while his father had been an excellent leader in times of war, in times of peace he had become restless.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Latronos, it's your father, he's gone..” Latronos looked into the face of the man who had just addressed him, Vivius veteran of many battles and his father's right hand man.
The old chieftain fought until his last breath but in the end the illness was too much for him. He left a legacy of bloodshed and expansion, almost doubling the lands of his people during his lifetime. Yet he also left debt. Latronos' first priority would be to strengthen the tribe's infrastructure in order to pay back the monies owed. The money his father had borrowed from his Carthaginian allies to the south.
Originally Posted by Blxz
Re: Iberian Nights (A Lusotannan AAR)
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