Hey all, No wait dont leave, its not another faction begging!(unseathes sword at points at chairs) sit down and listen please 
well i always liked the Gallaeci tribe and they were my ancestors, so i decided to a little rant about who they where, how they lived and Roman invasion, im also partly doing this as i expect the Gallaeci to appear as a Minor Unplayable faction and although those wont get to much attention i would like to show how they where a little.
Well first who were the Gallaeci?
The Gallaeci where the most north-western tribe and where across all of the Galicia province, North Portugal,a bit of west Asturias and a bit of Castilla and León, They where a mixture of celtic and proto-celtic culture and had created their own culture called the Castro Culture(ill talk more about it later) and spoke a Hispano-Celtic Language called Gallaecian.
What where the Castros?
The Castros were heavy fortified hillforts placed on easy to defend places, or strategically placed near important resources, They where quite old some sources stating that they already where made by the Atlantic Bronze Age,
They varied from size of 50 Hectare to less then one and where defended by 1 to 5 stone walls with ditches(not in the habitable areas ofc.) and sometimes had towers watching over the entrance and had parapets,
The Oppida(also called Cividade(meaning city) where the large castros with the largest know until now was the 50 Hectare one called Cividade de Bangunte, the Oppida had paved streets equipped with channels for water runoff, they also had water reservoirs and baths, and generally the gates to the oppida had warrior statues,There where also dwelling areas*shameslly copy paste because of laziness* The oppida's dwelling areas are frequently externally walled, and kitchens, sheds, granaries, workshops and living rooms are ordered around an inner paved yard, sometimes equipped with fountains, drains and reservoirs, and also had family nucleus.
The Cividade also had Smaller Castros under its wing(some where simply defense outpost) and according to multiple sources it had some kind of democratic ruling(but ill talk more about that where is due) here are some pictures of how they looked.
Their Economy and Arts.
The Gallaeci were craftsmen, specially in metallurgy, like the gauls they were superb with metals making fine pieces of jewelry,weapons and armor, that and the great ammount of ores in the arrea attracted the phoenicians and carthagenians into trading, starting wich brougth great wealth to the tribes and also have some influences that can be found for example in mediteranian based metallurgy like fibulae and earrings it also took some advances with things like granite millstones.
but this change also made for more social inequality, with some more rich then others and becoming aristocrats and those became the warrior elite with the best swords and armor like chainmail/Breatplates,long swords helmets and normally rode on horses.
They also had(as said before) alot of stone statues representing warriors and although not like the iberians they made some fine works too.
Their Way of living and Ruling
for this i am gona translate a bit of the spanish wikipedia.
The chroniclers of the Roman campaigns like Pliny the Elder, Strabo recounted a matriarchal society and democratic (a set of clans with a representative elected by clan members, and representatives of the clans of a tribe chieftain elegy each year) , although some people are sheltering around a kind of military aristocracy ruled his castro or clan, almost always accompanied by a druid as a counselor. Perhaps the matriarchy was a kind of egalitarian society, women were involved in the war in the same way that men, as Appian and antonius diogenes tell that in the expedicion of brutus Gallaicus(Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus)
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Food and Hunting
with this part i had a little trouble making it into my own words (also very tired) so forgive the copy paste
Classical authors, when talking about the culture of this people, play down their dedication to agriculture and emphasize their habit of picking acorns. Archaeological studies proved this idea wrong; it had obviously been upheld to portray them as barbarian. They actually had an agricultural activity we cannot call archaic, based on winter and spring cereals together with pulses and cabbages. They cultivated mostly wheat and barley, together with oats in scarce proportions and corn. In the group of pulses we can mention peas and beans. They would also cultivate linen and wool of sheep, which were the base of a domestic textile industry well documented in all the “castros” through spinning tools. Antonio Colmenero maintains that “the agricultural production was organised in the nearby plains, leaving the fertile marshland and the closer mountains for shepherding and large and small wild game hunting. Also from the most immediate surroundings of the castro would be obtained the basic materials for the handicrafts industry and the combustion; this being wood, iron, various minerals and coal for cooking and heating up the homes”.
Regarding the cattle farming, we can say that it was used mostly to produce milk, to pull the ploughs and, at the end of their life, as stock of meat and leather. They would not eat horse meat because this animal, used probably in the war and in sacrifices, was also a symbol of wealth and power.
The exploitation of the sea began in the initial phase of this culture. They used to gather seafood from the rocks and sandy bottoms near their villages. The list of seafood picked is long and it depends on the area where the castro was situated: mussels, limpets, snails, cockles, oysters, clams, razorshells and so on. Regarding the fishing, there were found in the castros remains of pounting, hake, scad, white seabream, red bream and so on. They used hooks and nets to fish.
Warfare
according to Strabo they were great figthers "They were capable fighters: Strabo described them as the most difficult foes the Romans encountered in conquering Lusitania" their style of war was much like the lusitanians using ambushes and fast movements instead of a great army against eachother, and as said before the warrior elite had apparently better weapons, chain mail and longsword and usually fougth on horseback while the lowest of the low usually had a spear, all groups used as shield a Caetra shield or a typical celtic shield, they always prefered to suicide before we taking prisoner or slave and never had prisoners(sometimes they did try to sell them for ransom) they also used some sort of kilt for battle.
edit: before figthing they also liked to scare the enemies like alot of barbarians,
Rich Gallaecia sent its youths, wise in the knowledge of divination by the entrails of beasts, by feathers and flames, now howling barbarian songs in the tongues of their homelands, now alternately stamping the ground in their rhythmic dances until the ground rang, and accompanying the playing with sonorous shields.
Well that was all, what do you think? Great,Mediocre,You should never post again,why did you waste 1 hour on this ****.
you decide, also i apolagize if it was too much copy and paste and/or the grammar mistake(dyslexia) and criticism is always welcome
The Gallaeci tribe
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Originally Posted by Spartan999
,*hands over wine* each day we come close to a Gallaecian victory
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