Submod: Massylian Royal Family

[ProvostGuard]

The Massylian Royal Family submod

All credit goes to the RTR team for producing this excellent mod!

This (small) submod replaces the current Massylian royal family with that of Zilalsan and his sons Naravas, Gaia, and Oezalces, though they are all older than they were historically (for the sake of gameplay). To install, simply extract the attched file to your RTW folder. I recommend making a copy of desc_strat.txt (RTRVII\Data\world\maps\campaign\barbarian_invasion), descr_names.txt (RTRVII\Data), and names.txt (RTRVII\Data\text); I have included backups just in case. This mod should not seriously impact gameplay and exists mostly for historical role-playing purposes.

The dry, historical details:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The suffete Zilalsan (Zllsn), born c. 300 B.C., was the first leader on-record to have ruled the Massylian Numidians. We know nothing else about him, but an inscription from Mactar does identify his son as Nrwt, who is clearly one in the same with the Naravas mentioned by Polybius. Naravas, evidently a Numidian prince with familial ties to Carthage, sided with Hamilcar Barca during the Libyan War and supplied a contingent of Numidian cavalry; Hamilcar, on his part, offered one of his daugthers in marriage.

A separate inscription from Thugga names another son of Zilalsan: king Gaia (Gyy), father of Masinissa (Msnsn). According to Livy, when Gaia passed away in 206 B.C., the kingship fell upon his brother Oezalces (from the Libyc Izalca?). The aged king died shortly afterwards, and while Masinissa hurried back from Spain, Oezalces' eldest son Capussa (Kwsn?) took the throne. However, Capussa proved to be a weak ruler, and a royal relative and rival named Mazaetullus (Msdl) assembled an army against the new king. After killing Capussa in battle, Mazaetullus placed Oezalces' youngest son, the boy Lacumazes, on the throne and "contented himself with the modest title of Protector," (Livy 29.29.12) though authority should have passed into the hands of Masinissa (the Carthaginians, who seemingly supported the coup, may have doubted Masinissa's loyalty). The rest is history: after a series of adventures, Masinissa eventually retook the throne and created the Numidian kingdom. His actions, endorsed by influential Romans, precipitated the fall of Carthage; yet this relationship would ultimately end with Numidia's incorporation into the Roman Empire.

For good measure, I've also replaced the names of the diplomat and spy with Patas and Aris, two of the names listed on the Thugga inscription (the latter appears in Carthaginian contexts as well). In the absence of historical names for Numidian women, they have been given Punic ones.

I'm open to any comments, criticisms, and recommendations.

[Voice of Treason]

...Well after 24 campaign losses in 48 hours I can tell you Syphax and Gudusan were absolute Jonahs...
...Let's hope Zllsn and Nrwt have gematrial/numerological/whatdafugever??? superstitial significance....hopefully translating as "lasting more than 30 game turns!"

[MasterOfThessus]

Good idea Have you been tinkering with their traits as well?

[Maurits]

Looks good! Every increase in realism is of course a nice addition to the game

[Voice of Treason]

...Edit...campaign #27...
...100000 denarii and these starting armies....Zilalsan...
unit massylia warlord exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit aor numidian light infantry exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit aor numidian light infantry exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit aor numidian noble cavalry exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit aor numidian light infantry exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit fac numidian archers exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit fac numidian archers exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit fac numidian archers exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit aor numidian light infantry exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit aor numidian light infantry exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
...Naravas...
unit massylia warlord exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit aor numidian light infantry exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit aor numidian light infantry exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit aor numidian light infantry exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit aor numidian light infantry exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit fac numidian archers exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit fac numidian slingers exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit aor numidian noble cavalry exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit aor numidian cavalry exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit fac numidian towered elephant exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit fac numidian archers exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit fac numidian slingers exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
...The furthest Emperical achievement in 27 campaigns H/H...and it's still total war

[ProvostGuard]

I haven't edited any character traits, though I might do so in the future. I understand that playing as the Massylians is presently very difficult. Adding more territories within their sphere of influence would probably be the best way to resolve this, though I suspect RTR may have already reached the settlement limit. The other alternative is to weaken the Carthaginian foothold in Africa, which would probably be a bad idea. Historically speaking, the Massylians had very close ties with Carthage until the time of Masinissa and the arrival of Scipio Africanus (some eighty years after the mod begins!).

In any case, my next step is to overhaul the current list of Massylian names with ones that were historically used by the Numidians. For the women, I will again borrow from Punic examples.

[Voice of Treason]

...ggggggggrrrrraaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!....PIGS NIPPLES!...
...(sigh)...last try...
...Numidia...120000 Cash + Kirta pop 3500 + starting armies post #5...
...Carthage hobbled to 250000 startcash...
...Campaign 28...and...here...we...go...

[MasterOfThessus]

Is it really that impossible?

[Tony83]

The Massylians could probably do with hiring a couple of Spartan units!

[DukeCanada]

The Massylians could probably do with hiring a couple of Spartan units!

Or perhaps a pink Hussar