Roman Centurion Portrait
by Andrea Mazzocchetti
I've been working out some more things about the Tharkallan Empire which, as you know, is my "Not Rome". I've been pulling a few things together that I'd already thought out, like naming the legions after gemstones and associating them with the provinces, and also the order in which the provinces were incorporated into the Empire. See my previous posts for all that.
Today I thought I'd try working out latin names for the various gemstones. I also looked up the Roman legions on wikipedia and learned about how they were named - which seems a bit of a muddle. Not that that is a bad thing, and in the end I have come up with my own muddle.
One thing I learned was that Augustus disbanded many of the legions he inherited and renumbered the rest in numerical sequence. So this is how I started out. I decided to use the format:
Legio <number> <province of origin> <gemstone>
When I started looking up latin versions of the gemstones, I discovered that Sapphires and Rubies are different forms of the same stone (IIRC) and that made me turn those legions into sister legions from the same province.
Similarly I discovered that Carnelian had a darker version, Sard, and that gave me two legions associated with that province.
What I did was keep the sequential numbers for the overall list and then add a second legion for those two provinces. So, Legio <number+1> etc. This gives me multiple Legio II's and IV's which I think nicely parallels the Real World. (You'll understand when you see the list.)
When I came to the end I realized I'd forgotten one: the Chromatic Legion, which is to be a sort of Praetorian Guard. I'd also decided to have a Diamond legion, so that added another, and not wanting to have an odd number of legions I added a third. These all I listed as under the capital: Thark.
So here is my list:
1) Legio I Jharkor Corneolus [Carnelian]
2) Legio II Jharkor Sarx [Sard]
3) Legio II Dharjiin Obsidianus [Obsidian]
4) Legio III Dharijor Sapphirus [Sapphire]
5) Legio IV Dharijor Ruber [Ruby]
6) Legio IV Doblian Topazus [Topaz]
7) Legio V Dorel Esmaraldus [Emerald]
8) Legio VI Bisset Amethystos [Amethyst]
9) Legio VIII Voria Ambar [Amber]
10) Legio IX Kostaddi Turchesius [Turquoise]
11) Legio X Karasal Onyx [Onyx]
12) Legio XI Nemedia Beryllus [Beryl]
13) Legio XII Filkhar Gagates [Jet]
14) Legio XIII Granbreton Achates [Agate]
15) Legio XIV Arolanit Iaspis [Jasper]
16) Legio I Thark Chromaticus [Chromatic]
17) Legio II Thark Adamantem [Diamond]
18) Legio III Thark Basaltes [Basalt]
This is not to say this list is final, of course! And I'm not sure yet whether it includes Auxilia or not. Probably not...
The other thing I did today was start making other legion associations: protector gods and goddesses, symbolic and animal associations, etc. This came about quite easily based on the associations of the gemstones.
I still have to work on that so I won't show it just yet.
Edit: I've just realized that I've missed a number. When I reorganized the list, likely when moving Ruby to join Sapphire, I didn't renumber the others properly. So Legio VII is missing. A Lost Legion! 😎
Now I have to work out what that is all about...
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