Gentes Orcorum (Roman gladiator-type Orcs)

[Temuchin Khan]

This idea has been in the back of my mind for a while, but only today did I finally put it all together.

The back story: On the Old Continent, the original homeland of the Orcs and the Humans of Wesnoth's world, the mighty Lavinian Empire has conquered and enslaved the Orcs, and employs them as fodder for the gladiatorial games that entertain the masses.

Some of these Orcs have escaped, however, and carved out a small bit of territory for themselves. However, many Latinisms have invaded their language, especially gladiatorial terms, and they continue using the weapons and equipment that they became accustomed to during their years as slaves.

This could probably be turned into an interesting campaign, but that is for another time. For now, here are the Arena Orcs:

EDIT: Another version of this faction with only four lines is on the next page.

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Note:  Only the line with heavy armor would not be bare-chested.  "Mediuim armor" means other body parts may be armored, but not the chest, "light armor" means nothing except a helmet or a shield, "unarmored" means no armor or only a shield.

Orcish Pugnator -- unarmored; club (high damage, low reps) & whip (melee impact, low damage, high reps)
                -> Orcish Paegniarius -> Orcish Brutal Paegniarius -- whip (gains marksman) & club; gains shield, otherwise unarmored
                -> Orcish Bestiarius -> Orcish Feral Bestiarius -- unarmored; whip (gains marksman) & spear, loses club

Orcish Samnis -> Orcish Provocator -> Orcish Hoplomachus -- heavy armor (highest resistances of faction), short sword & spear, large shield, helmet

Orcish Gallicus -- long sword, medium armor, helmet, no shield
                -> Orcish Murmillo -> Orcish Murmillo Faber -- long sword (high damage, low reps), gains charge (blade); shield, medium armor, helmet with face guard
                -> Orcish Secutor -> Orcish Secutor Faber -- short sword (low damage, high reps), gains marksman; shield, medium armor, helmet with face guard
                -> Orcish Dimacherius -> Orcish Dux -- two swords, one long and one short; medium armor, helmet, but no shield; gains throwing daggers

Goblin Piscator -- unarmored; net (melee impact, slow) & trident; scout line
                -> Goblin Retiarius -> Goblin Fleet Retiarius -- gains dagger and shoulder guard; otherwise like Piscator
                -> Goblin Laquerius -> Goblin Laquerius Faber -- has lasso (melee impact, slow) rather than net, has lance (firststrike) rather than trident, unarmored

Goblin Latronian -> Goblin Venator -> Goblin Venator Faber -- archer line

Goblin Falx -> Goblin Thraex -> Goblin Thraex Paratus -- sickle sword, helmet, shield; has skirmisher

Hey, if we can have multiple human and elvish cultures, why not a second Orc culture?

[Jetrel]

Orcs + Romanesque culture =

I like. All we need are images...

[Noyga]

Nice & fun idea !

But the archer doesn't fit well IMHO.
You could put a javeliner instead or Laquerii.

Essedari (charioteers) would be nice also.

[Temuchin Khan]

Nice & fun idea !

But the archer doesn't fit well IMHO.
You could put a javeliner instead or Laquerii.

Well, there were gladiators who specialized in hunting wild animals, which is not the same as facing them one-on-one. A bow would be the logical choice for a weapon if you're putting on a hunt.

Essedari (charioteers) would be nice also.

True, but what role would they play in the overall structure of the faction? We already have heavy, medium, and light gladiators, and one of the lines of light gladiators could function as a scout. Besides, while we've talked about chariots in several threads during the past half year, I am not really sure if it would be practical to have a chariot unit in Wesnoth.

EDIT: I edited the previous post, adding some additional information about the weapons used by the Arena Orcs.

EDIT: A bit more information added to the Arena Orcs.

Also, it might be interesting to give these guys a Latin name. Something like "Orci Gladiatores".

I've posted many faction ideas, but this is one of the four I would most like to see completed, the others being the Kedari (Arab/Turk faction), the Dardanoi (Greek faction), and the Airiya (Iranian faction).

[irrevenant]

Besides, while we've talked about chariots in several threads during the past half year, I am not really sure if it would be practical to have a chariot unit in Wesnoth.

What's wrong with chariots? Presumably they'd only work on grasslands, but so long as most maps in the campaign contain enough roads/grasslands, that wouldn't be a significant problem.

[jining]

i dont think that espcaped gladiators would have chariots, and i definately think that orcs should have some more variety

[Temuchin Khan]

There is one other gladiator class that I would like to include somehow: the thraex, which fought with sickle-sword, shield, and helmet.

I'm thinking the thraex could be a goblin with skirmisher, kind of like a rough, barbaric version of the Loyalists' fencer line.

Goblin Falx -> Goblin Thraex -> Goblin Thraex Paratus

Also, I'm thinking the Dimacherius -> Dux branch of the Gallicus would have the longsword as his primary weapon and the short sword as his secondary weapon. On any given turn, he would have his choice between high damage, low reps and low damage, high reps.

[Eleazar]

Besides, while we've talked about chariots in several threads during the past half year, I am not really sure if it would be practical to have a chariot unit in Wesnoth.

What's wrong with chariots? Presumably they'd only work on grasslands, but so long as most maps in the campaign contain enough roads/grasslands, that wouldn't be a significant problem.

The pragmatic problem with chariots is that at our normal unit scale, a chariot & rider & horse can't fit in a hex. (Unless they are Devlings )

• You would have to signifigantly scale down the rider (like to 40-60%) to fit the whole thing in a hex. Some rider units are scaled down maybe 10-20% but thats much easier to overlook than having only chariot units at half size.
• The unit can't expand beyond it's hex. Keeping each unit in one hex is a limitation of the engine and a facet of our game philosophy. (See FPI) Neither will be causually changed.

[Temuchin Khan]

• You would have to signifigantly scale down the rider (like to 40-60%) to fit the whole thing in a hex. Some rider units are scaled down maybe 10-20% but thats much easier to overlook than having only chariot units at half size.
• The unit can't expand beyond it's hex. Keeping each unit in one hex is a limitation of the engine and a facet of our game philosophy. (See FPI) Neither will be causually changed.

So basically chariot units, however nice it would be to have them, are impractical for Wesnoth, as I've been gradually coming to understand. That resolves that issue.

Also, I edited the main post to include the Goblin Thraex. That gives the Arena Orcs six lines, three Orcish and three Goblin.

And no trolls! Besides, the Paegniarius supplies the need for a burly, unarmed goblinoid with a club anyway....

[Noyga]

I don't see where is the problem ... The same considerations also applies to other existing units like Gryphon riders whose rider are already signifigantly scalled down.

[Temuchin Khan]

I don't see where is the problem ... The same considerations also applies to other existing units like Gryphon riders whose rider are already signifigantly scalled down.

I'm having trouble finding information on the essedarius. Aside from the chariot, what equipment did he use?

Also, I'm starting to wonder if it was a mistake to make the whip, net, and lasso ranged weapons. Maybe they should be classified as melee. Anyway, it would fit the faction better if there were as few lines of ranged weapons as possible.

EDIT: Extensive changes to Pugnator, Gallicus, and Piscator trees, to increase the diversity among them. Also changed whip, net, and lasso to melee weapons. Added throwing daggers to arsenal of Dimacherius -> Dux branch, just for the fun of it.

[Temuchin Khan]

Essedari (charioteers) would be nice also.

Tell you what -- if you find me some more information on the Essedari, and their weapons and equipment, I'll consider it.

[Noyga]

Essedarii used spears, lances and bows on wooden chariot and where leather-armored, and fighted like the ancient britons.
Some were actually females and called Essedariae.
If fond than there was sometimes another type of mounted gladiators : Equites who fought directly on horseback with spears and round shields. This could be used as a level 1

[Temuchin Khan]

Essedarii used spears, lances and bows on wooden chariot and where leather-armored, and fighted like the ancient britons.
Some were actually females and called Essedariae.
If fond than there was sometimes another type of mounted gladiators : Equites who fought directly on horseback with spears and round shields. This could be used as a level 1 :)

Something like this?

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Orcish Eques -- spear; charge (pierce); small shield, mounted, light armor
          ->Orcish Equites -> Orcish Equites Faber -- spear; charge (pierce); small shield, mounted, good speed and resistances, medium armor
          -> Orcish Essedarius -> Orcish Essedarius Faber -- bow, lance, charge (pierce), but not as effective as Equites; rides in chariot, speed and resistances not as good as Equites, medium armor

Wow. We're talking about having seven lines, four of which branch. This is a heck of a big faction! Still, the ancient Romans would be proud to see that we're preserving as much of the variety of their gladiators as we can.

And you know what I like most about this faction? The challenge of making so many melee-only lines different from each other.

[Cuyo Quiz]

Romans would love to see this with realistic graphics, in a giant projection screen, and with a good dust/spplatter engine for enhanced blood effects.

That is all i have to say, don't bother to retort this.