So, I’ve done Egyptian, Greek and Russian cultures that have influenced aspects of the Destiny Universe. Today we look at the Final of the big three: Roman culture. (Now a large majority of this post will focus on the Cabal, as I’ve found they’re heavily influenced by the Romans, so I will be quickly stating the non-Cabal related references first (also prepare for a wall of text)): Weapons: - Vacuna - Roman goddess of Rural Leisure to the Sabines. - Hadrian-A - A reference to the Hadrian wall built in AD122 under the orders of Roman Emperor Hadrian. The weapons flavour text reads ‘you are the wall that defends the people’, a clear reference to the wall. - Fabian Strategy - A military strategy where pitched battles and frontal assaults are avoided in favour of wearing down opponents through a war of attrition and indirection. The strategy was named after and created by Quintus Fabius Maximus Vernucosus, the dictator of the Roman republic given the task of defeating the great Carthaginian general Hannibal in Southern Italy during the second Pumic war (218-202 BC). The grimoire card makes direct reference to Fabius Maximus. Thanks BookGoblin [quote]- Scipio-D - named after Scipio Africanus, a Roman General[/quote] Thanks Mk300mk: [quote] - Zenobia-D - named after Septimia Zenobia, a third-century queen of the Syria based Palmyrene Empire.[/quote] Ships: - Belisarius Defiant - Belisarius was a general in the Byzantine Empire. Cabal:(the cabal we face in game are heavily influenced by the Romans (barring the colossus cabal unit, which has mainly Greek influences)) - legionaries - the literal definition of a legionnaire is “a soldier in a Roman Legion” - phalanx - a phalanx in history is a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed of heavy infantry, armed with spears, pikes, sarissas or similar weapons. The name given to this cabal unit is in reference to it’s rectangular shaped shield (when the red legion phalanx expands its shield, it resembles a rectangular shape). The unit also bares similarities to the Roman “Turtle Formation”, a defensive position used by Roman armies. - Centurion - A professional officer in a Roman Army. - Gladiator - an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman republic and Roman Empire. The Cabal unit (introduced in D2) see a large presence aboard the leviathan, especially in the coliseum area, similarly to their Roman counterparts (just not aboard a massive spaceship). - Incendiary - this may be a reference to the Greco-Roman era weapon called the “Greek fire”. It was used in various methods: 10th century “flamethrowers” used by the Byzantine empire under the lead of Emperor Leo VI. The weapon was called a chėirosiphōn and was used as a land weapon and a sea weapon, being mounted onto the bows of ships and burning other ships to ash whilst being on the water. The cabal unit and the “Greek fire” are both flamethrower based. - Dominus - Latin word for master or owner for master or owner, used as an official title or the Roman emperors under Diocletian. - Emperor - a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire, which the Romans had many of. Thank you User pugwash1: [quote] - War beasts - are like the lions of the gladiator games as we see in the final level a room full of bones and skulls with war beasts - Psions - they were forced into the cabal empire like in the early days of Rome there were soldiers that weren’t from Rome to help fight for rome[/quote] [b]The midnight coup:[/b] I now want to talk about an event from the lore of destiny. Specifically the Midnight Coup, and what could have possibly served as inspiration for the event down to specific actions. For those who don’t know, can’t remember or haven’t taken a trip over to YouTube for a dose of lore, here’s the story: - Calus overthrows the previous rulers, the praetoriats. - Calus castrates the consul, making him flee into the wastelands. - Calus meets Ghaul, a gladiator and appoints him red legion primus. - soon 8 conspirators ploy to overthrow Calus. - they were: Ghaul, the Consul, Caiatl (the princess imperial), Freeborn Otzot (the psion savant), Liktour Shayotet (the emperors protection), Adeel Emoli’moli (the ever joy), Evocate General Umun’arath (the primus of all legions) and Iska’al of Phantor (the trader and confident). - Ghaul, Liktour and red legion soldiers stormed the palace, slaughtering those who opposed them. - Calus fled to his throne room, only to find his daughter there holding Calus’ bones of power, breaking them before him. - the conspirators exile the emperor on the leviathan. - the population goes into slight disarray, before being calmed by Adeel and his celebrations. - Ghaul removes all idea of an emperor and declares himself dominus. There are two possible stories that serve as inspiration to the midnight coup: The first one is the [b]overthrowing of emperor Galba by Otho[/b] (this holds less imagery than the second one): The events go as follows: - Galba saw revolt and unpopular opinions from two legions in Germania Superior after they refused to swear loyalty to him. - as a result, he adopted as his successor L.Calpurnias Piso. - the populace saw this as a sign of fear. - furthermore M.Salvius Otho, who was expecting to be adopted was alienated by the choice of Piso. - Otho secretly entered talks with discontented Praetorian and plotted to kill Galba. - Galba tried to flee but was met by a troop of Otho’s cavalry and was killed. - Piso was killed afterwards. - the people then went on to celebrate Galba’s death. - Otho took the rule as emperor. Now the comparisons between the midnight coup and Otho’s coup are as follows: - Galba is referenced through Calus (both were seen as greedy and both held the title of emperor) - Otho is referenced through the consul (both orchestrated the events, but neither directly participated, and both held a personal vengeance) - the discontented praetorians are referenced through the red legion troops. - when Galba is confronted by the troops, it could be referenced through the throne room confrontation. - Both Emperors are inevitably stripped of their power with a member of the coup taking command of the empires. - Both populations have celebrations after the respective coups (obviously for different reasons. The second one being the [b]assassination of Julius Caesar[/b](this is a lot more reflective, pre and post coup): The event goes as follows: - Caesar, a Roman General is made leader of the Empire and possible to become dictator. - Caesar was beloved by members of the senate and the populace. - however some members of the senate disagreed with the idea of a dictatorship and wished for a republic. - Some of Caesar’s close allies formed a group planning to assassinate Caesar. - the group was led by Gaius Cassius Longinus (the “moving spirit”), Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (a general in Caesar’s army), and Marcuse Junius Brutus (referred to a Brutus) was seen as the illegitimate son of Caesar and the leader of the coup. - the leaders, among 30 other senators cornered Caesar and killed him. Caesar resisted until seeing Brutus, breaking Caesar emotionally. - the death of Caesar led to mass rebellion against the conspirators and the senate by the people. - the conspirators were being hunted down and killed by those who remained allied with Caesar. There are differences with this example but it has a lot more similarities to he midnight coup: - Calus reflects Caesar (both are powerful, beloved and influential as seen by the populace’s respective uprisings). - Ghaul reflects Brutus (both seen as son like figures by their leaders). - Consul represents Cassius (the moving forces). - Decimus is reflected through Liktour Shayotet (as both were high ranking officials and were both present for their respective coups). - the mob of conspirators is reflected through the red legion group that stormed the Palace. - Caesar’s emotional breaking could be reflected through either: 1) Calus finding out his daughter has betrayed him, or 2) Caiatl literally breaking Calus’s bones of power. - both Caesar and Calus were removed from their powerful positions (obviously in different ways). - both populations are not to happy with the respective coups. - post coup events show conspirators being killed by those loyal to the emperors. [spoiler]to those who got this far, thank you for reading. If I missed any items out with references please tell me below and I’ll find them and the references and credit you in an edit of OP. [/spoiler] [spoiler]link to master post https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/247827988/0/0[/spoiler]