The Arverni
Here's a thread to start collecting information on our revised 'Gallic Tribes' faction, the Arverni.
Some basic info:
A map of their location in the 1st century:The Arverni were a Gallic tribe that inhabited the present-day region of Lyon, France. They gave their name to the French region of Auvergne.
The Arveni were a very powerful tribe living in the Auvergne, with their most important stronghold being Gergovia (somewhere near Clermont-Ferrand). They had been the most powerful Gallic tribe in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC under their king, Luernios, but when his son Bituitus was defeated by the Romans in 123BC and the Roman ‘Provincia’ (that is the origin of the French word "Provence") established, their ascendancy passed to the Aedui and Sequani.
One of the most famous princes in the history of Gaul belonged to the Arverni tribe: Vercingetorix. He was responsible for leading the last major rebellion against the Roman occupation of the Gaul homeland, but was defeated decisively at the Siege of Alesia by Gaius Julius Caesar, and executed five years later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arverni
Here's an interesting comment about their appearance; I don't know how accurate it is, but perhaps we could distinguish the Arverni from the Boii and Belgae by making them darker-haired:
Here's some further evidence of this, from Strabo:In the sixth year of the war the conquest seemed to have been made, and the Roman legions were guarding the north and west, while Cæsar himself had crossed the Alps. Subjection pressed heavily on the Gauls, some of their chiefs had been put to death, and the high spirit of the nation was stirred. Meetings took place between the warriors of the various tribes, and an oath was taken by those who inhabited the centre of the country, that if they once revolted, they would stand by one another to the last. These Gauls were probably not tall, bony giants, like the pillagers of Rome; their appearance and character would be more like that of the modern Welsh, or of their own French descendants, small, alert, and dark-eyed, full of fire, but, though fierce at the first onset, soon rebuffed, yet with much perseverance in the long run. Their worship was conducted by Druids, like that of the Britons, and their dress was of checked material, formed into a loose coat and wide trousers.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/wom...eds/chief.html
Note that Strabo describes the Arverni as one of fourteen tribes that comprise the Aquitani. He goes on to say:Next, I must discuss the Aquitani, and the tribes which have been included within their boundaries, namely, the fourteen Galatic tribes which inhabit the country between the Garumna and the Liger, some of which reach even to the river-land of the Rhone and to the plains of Narbonitis. For, speaking in a general way, the Aquitani differ from the Galatic race in the build of their bodies as well as in their speech; that is, they are more like the Iberians.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/...trabo/4B*.html
Seems like the perfect choice for this faction; the location is good, they were clearly a dominant and powerful tribe, and they fought Rome as hard as any people ever did...The Arverni are situated on the Liger; their metropolis is Nemossus,a city situated on the Liger. This river, after flowing past Cenabum (the emporium of the Carnutes at about the middle of the voyage,an emporium that is jointly peopled),discharges its waters towards the ocean. As for their former power, the Arverni hold out as a great proof thereof the fact that they oftentimes warred against the Romans, at times with two hundred thousand men, and again, with double that number — with double that number, for example, when they, with Vercingetorix, struggled to a finish against the Deified Caesar; and, before that, also, with two hundred thousand against Maximus Aemilianus, and also, in like manner, against DometiusAhenobarbus.
Now the struggles against Caesar took place near Gergovia (a city of the Arverni, situated on a high mountain), where Vercingetorix was born, and also near Alesia (a city of the Mandubii — a tribe which has a common boundary with the Arverni — and this city too is situated on a high hill, although it is surrounded by mountains and two rivers), in which not only the commander was captured but the war had its end. But the struggles against Maximus Aemilianus took place at the confluence of the Isar and the Rhodanus, where the Cemmenus Mountain approaches closely the Rhodanus; and against Dometius Ahenobarbus, at a place still lower down the Rhodanus, at the confluence of the Sulgas and the Rhodanus.
Again, the Arverni not only had extended their empire as far as Narbo and the boundaries of Massiliotis, but they were also masters of the tribes as far as the Pyrenees, and as far as the ocean and the Rhenus. Luerius, the father of the Bituitus who warred against Maximus and Dometius, is said to have been so exceptionally rich and extravagant that once, when making a display of his opulence to his friends, he rode on a carriage through a plain, scattering gold and silver coins here and there, for his followers to pick up.
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Originally Posted by rory o'kane
