Holy Roman Party XVII: Nanu Nanu - Total War Heaven Forum

Terikel Grayhair
Imperator
(id: Terikel706)

posted 01 March 2016 00:41 EDT (US) 2301 / 2504

Gold?!?

That shit is expensive!

A few coppers maybe.

Ghosts get massive discounts at stores anyway (people tend to flee from them, dropping everything, so why do they need coin at all?).

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Pitt
Tribunus Laticlavius

posted 05 March 2016 07:02 EDT (US) 2302 / 2504

Why do ghosts need anything material?

Other than white sheets with eyeholes, of course.

"Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French." - P.G. Wodehouse, The Luck of the Bodkins

Terikel Grayhair
Imperator
(id: Terikel706)

posted 06 March 2016 03:47 EDT (US) 2303 / 2504

Because Charon charges a copper for passage across the Styx. Duh.

As to the other stuff, sometimes the dead do not realize they are dead and keep doing in death what they did in life.

And of course trying to earn that coin to get them across the Styx.

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[This message has been edited by Terikel Grayhair (edited 03-06-2016 @ 03:48 AM).]

General Sajaru
Tribunus Laticlavius

posted 07 March 2016 23:06 EDT (US) 2304 / 2504

If you need gold pieces, I guess Charon's been feeling the pressures of inflation too.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." - Ronald Reagan
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Pitt
Tribunus Laticlavius

posted 08 March 2016 09:02 EDT (US) 2305 / 2504

Surely it's about time he upgraded to include a Paywave option?

"Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French." - P.G. Wodehouse, The Luck of the Bodkins

Terikel Grayhair
Imperator
(id: Terikel706)

posted 08 March 2016 09:51 EDT (US) 2306 / 2504

Not a lot of electronics down there, I am told.

Charon runs a strict Cash Only business. No pay, no play.

He does make up in volume what he lacks in price, though. Nobody runs cheaper, and he has pretty much all he needs- a gondola, a long pole, and the occasional pretty woman with the revealing top to ferry across.

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Awesome Eagle
Spear of Mars
(id: awesomated88)

posted 09 March 2016 17:01 EDT (US) 2307 / 2504

So very little overhead?

You would think such a job would be pretty depressing to be honest. Not much to entertain yourself with.

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it- George Santayana
History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are- David C. McCullough
Wars not make one great- Yoda

Terikel Grayhair
Imperator
(id: Terikel706)

posted 11 March 2016 01:02 EDT (US) 2308 / 2504

What overhead does he have? Have you not seen the man? He is bone-thin. He does not eat at all. Of course his mother bitches at him to put on weight, but he has no appetite.

The gondola needs no fuel.

He has no girlfriend, and lives on his boat.

Thus, overhead = 0.

As for boredom, have you seen the people going over lately? More than enough to smile at. Ecstasy overdoses give him a younger crowd, a party crowd. Let us just say that some would rather pay the fare in natura.

Charon does not mind.

He has a good life for an un-life.

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Awesome Eagle
Spear of Mars
(id: awesomated88)

posted 11 March 2016 17:00 EDT (US) 2309 / 2504

I think a "Pimp my Ride- Underworld Edition" would be quite interesting. Imagine the gondola upgraded with a new outboard engine to make Charon's job easier, as well as big screen tvs and assorted entertainment options for his customers.

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it- George Santayana
History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are- David C. McCullough
Wars not make one great- Yoda

Pitt
Tribunus Laticlavius

posted 12 March 2016 00:52 EDT (US) 2310 / 2504

Speakers and subwoofers too, no doubt.

"Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French." - P.G. Wodehouse, The Luck of the Bodkins

Terikel Grayhair
Imperator
(id: Terikel706)

posted 14 March 2016 04:53 EDT (US) 2311 / 2504

I don't think Charon would go for that.

Poling his load across is the only exercise he gets. An outboard motor would take that away, leaving him to grow fat and lazy. He might even acquire a layer of fat over his bones- that just won't do.

Plus outboard motors require fuel. He is far too cheap to afford that.

He does not get a lot of return-business. Well, there was that Orpheus occasion, but that was a one-off thing. Most travelers take the trip only once. One could argue that his lack of onboard entertainment was the cause fo this, but I would argue successfully that a three-headed puppy with big teeth was more at fault. Most people who meet Cerberus only wish to forget the occasion. Nobody wants to see him again, and a return trip on Charon's Styx express would mean facing three sets of very angry chompers.

Plus, subwoofers and heavy bass tend to rattle bones. Charon most definitely would not like that. Plus, he gets enough entertainment ferrying the various souls over. With ecstasy overdoses and other drugs making the rounds, he gets a younger crowd, too, and they like to party. Sometimes he can stop in the middle of the Styx and party with them.

He would not want to give that up. So for him, his pole and his personal pole are more than sufficient.

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[This message has been edited by Terikel Grayhair (edited 03-14-2016 @ 12:58 PM).]

Pitt
Tribunus Laticlavius

posted 16 March 2016 06:46 EDT (US) 2312 / 2504

He certainly wouldn't go for it if someone wanted to play this:

"Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French." - P.G. Wodehouse, The Luck of the Bodkins

Terikel Grayhair
Imperator
(id: Terikel706)

posted 16 March 2016 12:00 EDT (US) 2313 / 2504

He would not like that at all, until around 1:17- "Don't Pay the Ferryman until he gets you to the other side."

Everyone pays. My question- not a facetious one, though- is what did the ancients believe would happen to a soul that refused to go over? Would it be eaten by Cerberus, or fade away into nothing, or slip down into a tortuous realm.

The carrot approach- the Elysian Fields- proclaimed that worthy souls live on as long as they are remembred. So what is the stick?

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[This message has been edited by Terikel Grayhair (edited 03-17-2016 @ 08:02 AM).]

Pitt
Tribunus Laticlavius

posted 19 March 2016 20:13 EDT (US) 2314 / 2504

Its shade might meet you at Philippi. Great Caesar's ghost, as Perry White always used to say.

Certainly the Romans at least believed in haunted places. Funerals and mourning rites and ceremonies were apparently thought to decrease the chance a ghost would return.

I seem to recall from Virgil's Aeneid that there were shades roaming the banks of the Styx/Acheron.

Edit:

Virgil's description (VI. 323-353) is of a great number of souls at the river bank, begging to be allowed across. Charon accepts and ferries across those who have had a proper burial, whose "bones have found rest in a due burial place"; "instead they must roam here flitting about the river banks for a hundred years, and not until then are they accepted and find their way home to the pools which are now their heart's desire."

"Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French." - P.G. Wodehouse, The Luck of the Bodkins

[This message has been edited by Pitt (edited 03-19-2016 @ 08:54 PM).]

Terikel Grayhair
Imperator
(id: Terikel706)

posted 21 March 2016 06:52 EDT (US) 2315 / 2504

Nothing about the coin? I guess that was custom and a tip, but not required.

Thanks for the info, Pitt. I remember now reading about priestly rites in cleaning a house where someone died- a good bit of that was the spiritual cleaning. I always thought that more for the survivors' benefit, that the dead is gone and they can now resume their normal lives as far as possible.

I see now the ghost's portion. I would have thought that the dead would go immediately to the Afterlife, and those who wanted to stick around (it is so fun with the living) would get the extra help from the priest to move on.

I did not know about the sools of the dead crowding about the riverbank begging for passage. That makes sense, too. Not everyone had a coin or a proper burial. Maybe that story was a priest's way of getting the dead to be burned or buried and not just hang around and rot. Sort of like the evolution of the Laws of Kashruth- people eating pig get sick, thus a priest says, God says do not eat pork. Only in this case, paint a horror story of an afterlife begging for passage unless the bones are put to rest.

Thanks!

As to my question, it appears from your quote that all souls want to go over. No stick necessary for the dead,.

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[This message has been edited by Terikel Grayhair (edited 03-21-2016 @ 06:53 AM).]

Pitt
Tribunus Laticlavius

posted 21 March 2016 08:16 EDT (US) 2316 / 2504

I think Apuleius writing later recounted that nobody could cross without a coin to pay the fare.

It does seem to be inconsistent. I can't pretend to be an expert on ancient belief; it's quite possible that Virgil came up with his own take on it, or that he favoured one of two or more competing versions. (Or perhaps including a coin was implicitly incorporated in his idea of proper burial?)

One wonders what Charon would do with all the coins. He'd seem to be a bit busy to take a day off to go the bank. Ferrying multitudes would appear to be a 24/7 job. Maybe that's why he was literally worn to the bone?

"Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French." - P.G. Wodehouse, The Luck of the Bodkins

[This message has been edited by Pitt (edited 03-21-2016 @ 08:20 AM).]

Terikel Grayhair
Imperator
(id: Terikel706)

posted 21 March 2016 09:43 EDT (US) 2317 / 2504

That one I can answer:

He is saving up for his retirement.

The fool does not realize that as long as there are people, there will be business. And when people are no more, the coins would be worthless.

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Terikel Grayhair
Imperator
(id: Terikel706)

posted 13 April 2016 11:44 EDT (US) 2318 / 2504

We live.

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EnemyofJupitor
HG Alumnus Superbus

posted 15 April 2016 14:11 EDT (US) 2319 / 2504

Wandering along, taking in the view where possible.

And I shall go Softly into the Night Taking my Dreams As will You

Terikel Grayhair
Imperator
(id: Terikel706)

posted 17 April 2016 03:40 EDT (US) 2320 / 2504

New poll is up.

Your favorite campaigning area in the Ancient World.

Do you prefer the dark forests and logistical nightmare of Germania and Gaul, or the rich spoils of Greece and Asia Minor? The hot sands of North Africa, or the barrenness of the Windswept Plains, where one can literally march for years before finding any settlement composed of more than three nomadic tents...

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Somewhere over the EXCO Rainbow
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EnemyofJupitor
HG Alumnus Superbus

posted 18 April 2016 13:33 EDT (US) 2321 / 2504

Gaul's nice because although it has the forests Germania's famous for, they don't dominate the map. This enables you to actually play properly. Iberia is like a more sun-soaked version.

And I shall go Softly into the Night Taking my Dreams As will You

Terikel Grayhair
Imperator
(id: Terikel706)

posted 19 April 2016 06:41 EDT (US) 2322 / 2504

I find fighting in Gaul and the West in general a logisitical nightmare after the Marian Reforms.

I like using legionaries, but the population centers of the west outside of Italia- except Corduba- do not support them. So there are always little bands of legionaries following my armies to merge into the veterans to fill their ranks. Those mobile resupply points make good targets for the enemy, thus can be a pain in the ass in more than one way.'

Greece and the East does not have this problem- most cities there are already huge by the time my juggernaut reaches them.

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General Sajaru
Tribunus Laticlavius

posted 19 April 2016 21:08 EDT (US) 2323 / 2504

It sounds like you head west first; as any Roman power, your best economic strategy is to head east for Greece and Turkey first, while the other Romans- usually the Julii go north, south, and west. Let them improve the towns in Gaul, Spain, and Germania, then come back and wipe them out to take over their cities in the forests.

I'm not sure what my favorite region is, although I know I don't like fighting battles in the mountains or the middle of the forest; the former wears out my troops too quickly, and I can't see where units are in the latter.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." - Ronald Reagan
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Gaius Colinius
Seraph Emeritus

posted 20 April 2016 16:50 EDT (US) 2324 / 2504

Iberia
Mountains everywhere and the weather is nice.

-Love Gaius
TWH Seraph, TWH Grand Zinquisitor & Crazy Gaius the Banstick Kid
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Terikel Grayhair
Imperator
(id: Terikel706)

posted 21 April 2016 05:24 EDT (US) 2325 / 2504

I agree with Gaius. Nice weather and mountains make a nice combination. There is also a warm-water beach surrounding the place.

But for fighting? Mountain battles are fun, but resupply and retraining of Fourth-Tier units is a pian. As a barbarian, I love storming Iberia with a single army. As a civilized faction, I tend to need two or three, just to keep one with full manpower.

It sounds like you head west first

Not really. I tend to go where I can expand best. Notice the condition I mentioned- 'by the time the Marian Reforms hit'. By that moemnt, the East is pretty much large to huge cities (they breed like flies. Still do) while the west remains relatively small. I play on HUGE, by the way, which tends to keep small towns small. Drawing men into the army at that scale does that.

|||||||||||||||| A transplanted Viking, born a millennium too late. |||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||| Too many Awards to list in Signature, sorry lords...|||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||| Listed on my page for your convenience and envy.|||||||||||||||||
Somewhere over the EXCO Rainbow
Master Skald, Order of the Silver Quill, Guild of the Skalds
Champion of the Sepia Joust- Joust I, II, IV, VI, VII, VIII