Arcadia, Arcadian

1. #1Arcadian History

   Keys: history, gossip, past, Rumor

   Commonly known History of Arcadia (In Chronological Order)

   • Dominus quickly climbed the ranks of the Arcadian colosseum as a teen due to his quick wits as well as his physicality, within a few years earning him the Colosseum Name "Dominus" for how he would put on a show and prefer to humble his foes rather than kill them.
   • At twenty and at the pinnacle of his career in the Arena, the Arcadian Senate was mired in endless scandals, the Republic's slow decline due to their factional politicking, corruption allowing the borderlands being eaten piecemeal by Arcadia's neighbours.
   • Dominus led a slave revolt, but not of the typical kind. Through connections he had made, he performed a coup in accordance with the disenchanted military using the gladiators of the colosseum as his vanguard.
   • Installed as Imperator by the will of the population, he dissolved the Republic and instated the Arcadian Empire. Sweeping away corruption at the point of the sword, he tipped the political balance from the merchants and landowners in favour of the Arcadian Legions.
   • He freed the slaves from the wealthy landowners, giving back the rich Arcadian farmland to veterans of the Legion.
   • Freed slaves were given the option to either leave Arcadia or join the Legion and become full citizens who earn land after eight years service.
   • Having bolstered both his domestic support and the military with his reforms, he then led the Arcadian Legions out in aggressive expansion.
   • Dominus wears his title "The Tyrant" with austere pride as city after city, nation after nation are subjugated.
   • Dominus knows the soul of the crowd, what moves them and stirs their passions and he uses this ruthlessly. Politics is spectacle and he excels at it, writing his legend with every successful campaign.
   • Before every battle or siege he offers the enemy lord a choice, to face him in single combat to spare the lives of their men. Few have taken him up on this, none have lived, but he treats the valiant dead and defeated with honour and punishes duplicity or perfidy.
2. #2Vestals

   Keys: priestess, Vestal, virgin

   In Arcadia, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals are priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Arcadia's sacred hearth and its eternal flame.

   The Vestals are unlike any other public priesthood. They are chosen before puberty from several suitable candidates, freed from any legal ties and obligations to their birth family, and enrolled in Vesta's priestly college of six priestesses. They are supervised by a senior vestal but chosen and governed by Arcadia's leading male priest, the Pontimax—in the Imperial era, this means the emperor.

   Vesta's acolytes vowed to serve her for at least thirty years, study and practise her rites in service of the Arcadian State, and maintain their chastity throughout. In addition to their obligations on behalf of Arcadia, Vestals have extraordinary rights and privileges, some of which were granted to no others, male or female.

   The Vestals take turns to supervise Vesta's sacred flame shrine so that at least one Vestal was stationed there at all times. Vestals who allowed the sacred fire to go out were punished with whipping. Vestals who lost their chastity were guilty of incestum and were sentenced to living burial, a bloodless death that was intended to seem voluntary. Their sexual partners, if known, were publicly beaten to death. These were infrequent events; most Vestals retired with a generous pension and universal respect.

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