- Moderator
- Posts : 395
Coins : 11608
Join date : 2017-07-14
Age : 28
Metaloneus
Thu Aug 03, 2017 9:31 pm
This is where you can find out about the communities that will be playing a part in the upcoming site plot. While the House and Black Creek are just two, there will be more added as the plot moves forward. Sign ups for these communities will open up soon.
- The House of Augustus:
I. Overview
The House of Augustus is a secret society that has lurked within New Rome for ages. Through the years, they’ve faced numerous conflicts, but always remained undetected by the masses, whether they played a big hand or just watched from the background. The House of Augustus has one goal in mind: to reinstate a more traditional Roman lifestyle and military within New Rome. Whether the individual wants this for the better ethics, more effective military, or more efficient society, all of the brothers and sisters of the House of Augustus share the same common goal.
II. Cultural Norms
The House of Augustus believes in Ancient Roman traditions. While there are no official signs or symbols to detect a member of the House, very many members of the House will gladly display symbols of their respected gods. It’s common practice in the House to praise and respect the gods, which is often in lost in new age members of New Rome. Whether it be sacrificing to the gods, or simply praising to them before meals, this is a priority to members of the House. Beyond this, members embrace the code of ethics their ancestors had. They carry honorable trades, making sure to give to their community, and act with charity and honor.
While there are members of the House who aren’t family oriented, or don’t even have a family occupying a home in New Rome, a popular tradition among House members are ties to one another, and their families, creating tight knit relationships. Often times, this integrates into the political world the House participates it. Many leaders in Camp Jupiter and New Rome are secretly in the House, and they do well to keep their friends and enemies close. It has always been a priority to the House to participate in power in New Rome, for the greater good.
III. Customs
The House has special customs they follow, in general, and when it comes to choosing who they want in their Rome and who they don’t. The House finds children and legacies of water, death, and sorcery gods to be very unfavorable, as did more traditional Romans. These people would not be considered for positions in the House, unless extreme circumstances applied. These people are often who the House targets to extract from New Rome, and often go as far as to literally kick them out of New Rome under the Legion’s nose.
Likewise, the House favors children and legacies of honor and war based gods, often favoring these to consider reaching out to over even some Olympian’s children and descendants. While war gods have an abundance of kids attending camp, the House carefully determines which of them might be acceptable picks. This category of people is rarely targeted for extraction by the House, but rare cases have occurred.
The House deeply admires the combat style of the Ancient Romans, who were ages beyond their time. They practice with ancient weapons, and weapons inspired from the ancient ones. The House sticks to ancient Roman combat, typically spears and pilums, backed by the gladus. They typically only carry pugios for ceremonial purposes. With these weapons, they practice ancient combat, with occasional modern tactics mixed in.
Beyond all, the House respects the ethics of an old Roman. One who is hard working, honorable, and respectful to Roman traditions is often honored by the House. Often times, they’ll excuse an unfortunate birth for these reasons. But when enough of these traits are shown, you might just feel yourself being watched. The House might just be considering you. But be weary, defy all of what the House is about, and they may just target you, to remove you from New Rome while no one is looking.
IV. System of Government
The House of Augustus has gone through several shifts of government change during its history. Sometimes it carries an official government, sometimes it doesn’t. The House has gone through as many shifts as you would imagine during the years, and currently rest at a semi-democratic system. Members can do as they please, so long as they’re helpful to the cause and aren’t committing an action that has any risk to revealing the House.
Senior members are members who have been with the House at least a year, and gain the right to induce initiation with a potential recruit, if they’re chosen. They also gain unfiltered access to the Temple of Augustus, a secret temple located under Temple Hill. They can also initiate a vote to veto a decision made by the Augustus Circle, in which all Senior Members will cast a vote. The veto only takes place if at least 80% of people vote for it. Senior members also vote who gets promoted to the Augustus Circle when a slot opens.
The Augustus Circle is four members of the House, elected by the Senior members. These members make all major decisions for the House, from who to extract from New Rome or what major steps to take to make a real impact. There is no requirement to be promoted to the Circle, so long as you are in the House.
V. Initiation
“What is the most important asset of New Rome?”
“How far would you go to protect New Rome?”
“Why?”
These are the three questions that are asked by, typically, a Senior Member to a Roman that the House has interest in. This is the phase called the pre-test, in which a worthy Roman is picked by the Augustus Circle under the advisement of Senior Members. From there, they observe this Roman closer, and ask them these three questions to determine their eligibility further. Depending on the answers of the potential recruit, they either dump them from eligibility or enlist them in the next phase.
In the commitment test, or phase two, they begin to ease the potential recruit into difficult situations that will determine the recruits ability to choose the right choice for Rome. This phase will last a different amount of time for each recruit, and halfway through, the House will reveal what it is and who they are to the recruit in question. This phase is custom tailored to each recruit, but must be finished before they continue on.
In phase three, the membership ceremony, the recruit will be brought into the Temple of Augustus, accompanied only by their recruiter. There, they will meet the current Augustus Circle, where they will ask the recruit to give an oath of loyalty to the House. Although in the past there was a pre-written oath, the modern House asks each member to give an oath of their choosing, and swear on Styx. From there on, they are a member of the House of Augustus.
- Black Creek:
I. Overview
Black Creek is a campground located in a secluded area in Utah. Formerly, Black Creek was a small town that was often considered to be built in the state of Utah, and often went from approval to cancellation, leaving no trace of what would have basically been a stop-in small town. The result of this was a perfect place to build a small community, although it was eventually invaded by unknown forces and its inhabitants, the ones who survived, were forced to flee and regroup.
The inhabitants of Black Creek are all old members of the legion, usually newcomers and probatios alike. These former Romans are all people who were singled out by the House of Augustus, whether it be because of un-Roman behavior, widely disliked gods in their blood, or they carried a bad influence on other potential traditional Romans. The House would target these demigods, pick them, bring them into private and essentially, kick them out of New Rome, with the threat of death if they ever showed their face again.
The House does this with mostly newcomers, to assert a likelihood that they didn’t like the legion and ran off. All of these people kicked out are of course, off the record. When one of these people get kicked out, they’re escorted to outside of Caldecott, and sometimes given a smaller weapons. The House very rarely spares a traditional Roman weapon to these people.
II. Cultural Norms
Black Creek has no typical type of behavior. While sure, some people end up there because their behavior is just unhelpful for Romans, this can be for a plethora of reasons. A newcomer might just be too laid-back for the House’s liking. Or, they might be too timid or shaky. It’s even possible for something as different for a recruit of the legion to be too aggressive. Even if a Roman expresses perfectly honorable behavior, there’s still a chance they might be removed if their bloodline isn’t liked by the House. Even still, only so many people are removed, in order to keep their extraction a secret from New Rome.
When you live in Black Creek, you’re surrounded by people who need you. Your privacy is hard to achieve, and you know everyone’s name. Despite the diverse behaviors around, Black Creek typically gets along well when no major issues plague them. It’s a tight knit community that just wants it’s own people to survive. When a new recruit is brought to Black Creek, it’s usually a sight for sore eyes to meet a new person.
III. Customs
When you talk to Black Creek, you’ll notice an influx of demigods and legacies of water gods, underworld gods, sorcery gods, and typically lesser gods. This is because descendants of these gods are typically targeted by the House. While you’ll meet the occasional descendant of a different god, it’s very rare to meet a child of a war or honor god in Black Creek, as these are the gods that the House admires most.
You’ll typically find more legacies over demigods at Black Creek, though this isn’t always necessarily the case. A sixth generation legacy of Honos is still much more favorable to the House of Augustus than a direct child of Volturnus. Legacies of unliked gods are more targeted because it means they’re typically more likely to spread their legacy and have more kids, than just a demigod would be.
Black Creek has no means of producing their own weapons. With no supply of silver, Imperial Gold, or Celestial Bronze, they’re without a means to arm themselves. The only weapons they have are the weapons brought with their recruits, which are rarely large or Roman oriented. You’ll typically never find a gladus or pilum in Black Creek, but usually the weapons Vulcan descendants made that aren’t Roman. Alternative short swords, small axes, daggers, and the occasional pugio. The Creekers have to make due with these, and so their members with combat magic can be assets.
Because of this, a common trait in Black Creek is a ruthless combat style, using much more offense and much less defense, going as far as to attack directly with their hands if need be. You don’t want to be the person who a Creeker got the drop on, because in order to survive, they’ve had to use these tactics.
IV. System Of Government
Black Creek is a community made by former Romans who needed a way to survive. Because that’s their only goal, they’ve always worked together for it, and never sat down to make a formal government. While monsters, starvation, and other demigods and legacies always pose a threat, they’re able to tackle these issues without much issue in forming a plan together. When it comes to talks of forming an official system of government, that’s when true unsettlement of their people begins. For that reason, the subject is typically avoided.
With that being said, Black Creek isn’t entirely a free democracy either. The louder voices of leadership within the group speak up, and often gain support. A few of these well liked leaders typically make the choices for Black Creek, although they have no officially authority, and are just looked up to by their people for their respective talents and traits.
V. Recruitment
Long ago, when Black Creek first began, it was a two demigods and a legacy who were kicked out together, which is a rare happening. These people began to wonder if others were kicked out, and while they knew there was nothing they could do to get back into Rome, they wondered if they could unite with other Romans who were being removed. Each one of them would take turns scouting somewhat far away from Caldecott, looking for people clearly kicked out without much with them. When they finally spotted someone, they recruited them to their team. After locating to Utah, it was regular to have a recruiting scout. Though, towards the last few months of Black Creek’s existence as a small community over a campsite, their recruiters were not coming back.
Should you have been, or get recruited to join Black Creek, they only have one enforced practice. That you deface your SPQR markings on your forearm. The common recommendation is scarification by burning. However, marks by ink or metal work just as well. If you somehow had the means to just remove it without damaging your skin at all, the Creekers would accept it, though that isn’t a common case.
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
|
|