Category:Argossean



ARGOSSEAN The Maritime People Argos is one of the Hyborian kingdoms that rose out of the ashes of Acheron when it fell three thousand years ago. Situated on a coastline with natural sea-ports, the people of Argos have become master sailors, crafty pirates and powerful merchants. Argos is a smaller nation with a population of just over seven million people. Short and stocky, the Argosseans share traits with Zingarans and Shemites, whom the original Hyborian inhabitants have spent centuries marrying and breeding with.

Description
The sea-ports, especially Messentia, are cosmopolitan and liberal. In contrast, the inland provinces of Argos are peopled with more traditional, conservative farmers, craftsmen and laborers. The roads of Argos, lined with trees, fields and villages, are generally peaceful and the inland folk are friendly toward strangers. Nearly every village has an inn for travelers, most of whom are making their way to Messantia or one of the other port cities or toward Zingara, Ophir or Aquilonia laden with trade-goods.

Clothing
Most Argosseans dress in linen, cotton or light wool in deference to the warm climate and they tend to prefer white or muted colors. The style for Argossean men is a type of robe that is knotted in the front with a cape slung over the shoulders. The cape is wide and, if one can afford it, heavily embroidered. The cape is called a tebenna.

Though the clothing of common Argosseans is generally simple and cycles through a small number of minor style changes, the clothing of the wealthy is another story. Fashions can change dramatically almost overnight, particularly among the ladies of the merchant houses in the coastal cities. This is the bread and butter of the city’s clothiers and they actively prey on this habit. It only takes the right clothier or a house lady to see a Vendhyan woman in a brightly patterned sari or a Khitan woman in a tightly fitted silk dress before every woman of every merchant house begins wearing something similar.

Behavior and Notable Oddities
Argosseans do not believe in judging themselves; they always look to others to determine the opinion they should hold about themselves. Thus reputation is important to the Argosseans and most hold – or pretend to hold – a civilized code of honor. Further, the Argosseans make sure others see them upholding the code. When there are no witnesses, Argosseans do not feel compelled to hold to the code at all.

In rural and inland areas of Argos, Allegiance is a necessity of life. The feudal framework of the government demands it; anyone who has not declared an allegiance is automatically suspect, for that person has no protector, no one to vouch for him. Written contracts are not typically used away from the coastal cities, so only oaths taken before one’s peers are considered valuable or believable. A person without an Allegiance has either not taken any oaths or his word is so suspect that no one wants his oath.

A characteristic of Argossean medicinal theory is cleanliness. Virtually all Argossean cities have thermal baths, both public and private, for this reason. Most Argossean healers recommend cleanliness, as well as a moderation in diet and wine. They believe that overdoing amorous activities, reading by candlelight and overindulging in wine are some of the best ways to get sick. The treatment is usually based on diet. Essentially, Argossean medical theory is that behavior can lead to illness or wellness.

Sickness is caused by three things according to the Argosseans. The first cause of illness is the body’s natural degeneration as a person ages. The second cause is natural redisposition to illness; the Argosseans have noticed that a son with a certain illness often has a father and a grandfather and so on with the same illness. The third cause of illness is immoderate behavior and lifestyle excesses; certain sins against Mitra can cause certain illnesses.

Argosseans, like most Hyborians, revile sorcery. Their legends are replete with stories about degenerate rituals of demonic debauchery, horrifying plagues and worse. Sorcerers in Argos hide their talents from the people for fear of mobs with pitchforks, torches and nooses.

Argos is famed for its gladiatorial games. Slaves and prisoners are forced to serve as gladiators and fight other slaves or animals. Condemned men do not even get the opportunity to fight – they are simply slaughtered by butchers or fed to savage animals. The site of countless atrocities, exhibitions in the arena serve as rituals to express man’s otherwise repressed savagery. Landowners, lords and barons use gladiatorial bouts to settle land disputes; instead of going to war with a neighboring lord for land, they host a game between them to settle the dispute. While this saves the peasants from the ravages of war it does require a steady stream of slaves.

Religion

 * Mitra
 * Bel
 * Gita

Argos is a Hyborian kingdom and Argosseans worship Mitra primarily. However, Argos is a trading nation and people from many nations go there, live there, work there and worship there. This has bred a certain amount of tolerance for foreign gods, particularly Shemite and Kothic gods. Bel, especially, is held in regard by many Argossean freebooters and fences.

Mitra is regarded as the one true god to those that worship him in Argos. Unlike Aquilonians, however, Mitra’s urban Argossean followers are apt to tolerate other cults, although the worship of Set is still viewed with extreme suspicion and anger. Rural Argosseans are more intolerant of foreign religions. The biggest difference between Argossean worship and typical Hyborian worship of Mitra is that women are allowed to learn the first two inner mysteries of the cult, whereas the other Hyborian nations do not allow women to learn any of the inner mysteries.

Bel is another god found in Argos, particularly among the privateers, freebooters and fences, is Bel, god of thieves and commerce imported from the Shemite pantheon. He is often depicted as an eagle carrying a forked bolt of lightning, hinting that he can steal the powers of the heavens if he so desires, including the powers of the other gods. Bel’s priests hold a certain prestige among the thieves and pirates of Argos. In order to serve society, each member of the priesthood must have at least lived as one with the society.

Gita is an obscure spider goddess worshipped deep in the backwoods and among the treacherous hills of Argos. The spider is a female force in this cult. Her priestesses believe in the superiority of noble blood and some engage in breeding programs to produce strong, pliable slaves. The cult praises cunning, patience, skill and industry

Government
Ruler: King Milo

Argos is a feudal kingdom and the land of Argos is split into different fiefs, counties and baronies. These provinces are ruled by counts or barons. Most of the wealth is held in the hands of the merchant houses and these houses hold much of the power as well. Most of Argos’ barons and counts come from these houses. Argos is more politically stable than most of the Hyborian realms.

Pirates are the favored heroes of the Argosseans and make some of the world’s best pirates. The coast of Argos has many harbors. Although most of them are not used for commercial reasons, they do serve as convenient hiding places for pirates and merchants hiding from pirates.

Economy and Common Professions
With its command of the sea and the trade routes, Argos has become a wealthy kingdom. Argos’ position as a trading hub means that nearly anything is available for purchase somewhere within the coastal cities.

The merchants employ merchant ships, usually coasters, cogs and other small and intermediate craft to transport goods far cheaper and far safer than those same goods can be sent overland, piracy notwithstanding. The trading vessels are not equipped for extended sea voyages and usually move within sight of shore. Argos’ economy is extremely dependent upon a trading season that starts in late spring and ends in the early autumn. It is during this season that fair weather can be expected. Also, Stygian ports are temporarily open to Argossean trading ships during this season.

Common professions:
 * Gladiator
 * Fisherman
 * Merchant
 * Peasant
 * Physician
 * Pirate
 * Priest
 * Soldier
 * Sailor
 * Shipwright
 * Slave trader

Sex Roles and Marriage
Women are under the control of their fathers until they marry. Although peasants have more free choice in marriages because their dowries are either small or non-existent, aristocratic women are subjected to arranged marriages. Their lands and potential children are too important to noble families to be given away indiscriminately.

The women of Argos tend to be somewhat docile and subservient; nevertheless, when the men are away at war, women are expected to protect home and hearth. Women do not serve in the Argossean military. They can, however, serve as gladiators if they renounce their freedom, social status and citizenship, although King Milo is uncomfortable with this.

Slavery
Slavery is still quite alive in Argos, though it is not so prevalent as it once was. The majority of slaves attached to Argos rarely see the city; they spend their days chained to the oaring benches of a ship, either in Argos’ mighty navy or aboard one of her larger trading vessels. Other slaves are used as laborers; most of Argos’ coastal cities were built via slave labor.

The average Argossean owns no slaves, primarily because he has little need of them. In Argos, the philosophy of ‘a day’s wage for a day’s work’ is a nearly religious dogma, and slavery stands in stark contrast to that. The free farmers of the interior usually cannot afford to feed slaves, so they merely have large families to help work the farms. The average Argossean of a Merchant House or noble family, on the other hand, has never done a day’s work and feels no compunctions regarding ownership of other human beings.

The life of a slave in Argos is horrific. Slaves are at the beck and call of their masters in all ways, including sexual. However, an Argossean master cannot kill a slave unless the slave has previously tried to escape. A recaptured, escaped slave is branded and his life belongs to the master in all ways – including the slave’s death. The majority of Argos slave trade exist to supply the wealthy and the noble with enough gladiator slaves to please them.

Influences
Architectural influences: The city states of ancient Greece.

Argosseans architecture is similar to that of ancient Greece. A characteristic of Argossean medicinal theory is cleanliness. Thus have virtually all Argossean cities thermal baths, both public and private, for this reason. Pillars and arches are a common sight in Argossean houses and public buildings. Upper class Argossean houses have a wide central courtyard entered from a type of ‘harbor,’ as they call it, or an atrium. Rooms lead off from the central courtyard. The houses are typically single story and use stone for the foundation, with frames of wood and clay plastering to build up the walls.

More Information
RPGS:
 * Return to the Road of Kings (Argos, p 26-37).
 * Faith and Fervor (Mitra’s Might, p 15-22).
 * Argos and Zingara (entire book)
 * Shem - Gateway to the South (Shemite Religion, p 38).
 * Hyboria’s Finest - Nobles, Scholars, Soldiers (Argossean scholars, p 6.)