Carthage

Carthage is the most famous and wealthy trading city on the Mediterranean. A labyrinthine nation of venomous ambition and dark gods, it is a beacon on the shores of North Africa for adventurers and freebooters. It is ruled by a mysterious elite who seldom wander far from their walled inner city of temples and palaces. Life is cheap in Carthage, peopled as it is by great slavers and traders whose silver tongues mark them as the true descendants of the Phoenicians who came before them.

Warlord (warleader)

A typical Carthaginian warlord is well used to avoiding perils and spotting opportunities. It is rare to blindside such a person and even rarer they miss a chance for personal gain or to put one over their enemies. The gods favour this combination of cunning and bravery which reaps great rewards in battle.

Carthaginian warlords have exemplars in legend, story and film. These include mercenary leaders (such as Xena from some episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess), tyrants (such as Memnon from The Scorpion King) and raiders (such as the leader of the “Four Legged Demons” in 10 000 BC).

Kit skills: Use one-handed weapon; Use armour and shield; Throw javelin

Corsair (champion)

The rough sailors of Carthage are feared around the Mediterranean. Some think them little more than pirates whilst others respect their strength. These are men and women who are ready for whatever the seas bring them, unafraid of far off lands and foreign ports.

There are many examples of such adventurers and champions in fiction. Corsairs may be modelled on adventurers (such as Conan the Barbarian; and Lord Kalidor and the eponymous heroine from the film Red Sonja) or mercenaries (such as Mathayus from The Scorpion King).

Kit skills: Use one-handed weapon; Use armour and shield; Throw javelin; Extra hit; Resilience

Mystic (priest)

The walled section of the city of Carthage is to many an unknown and terrifying place. Tales emerge of arcane practices and demanding gods for whom blood and gold flow in equal measure. Central to this are the elder mystics of the priesthood for whom respect and fear are the tools of their trade.

Carthaginian mystics include charismatic cult leaders (such as Thulsa Doom from Conan the Barbarian), noble priest-queens (such as Queen Taramis from Conan the Destroyer) and trusted seers (such as Cassandra from The Scorpion King).

Kit skills: Open Gate of Horn; Ceremony; Resilience

Alchemist (philosopher)

When the Titans brought to mortals stolen mysteries of the gods, the elite of Carthage were drawn to learn how the dead and living could be affected by this new magic. Hidden from the gods in backstreets the alchemists ply their trade - stealing unwanted corpses for dissection and brewing experimental mixes in the shadows.

Inspiration for Carthaginian alchemist characters might include secretive necromancers (such as the Witch of Endor), experimenters (such as Victor Frankenstein) and traders in antiquities stolen from the desert (such as Sallah from the Indiana Jones films).

Kit skills: Apply quintessence (one type); Physician; Use one-handed weapon

Masterless (attendant)

The Masterless of Carthage are so called because they are not masters of their own lives. Tales are told of servants inside the walled city with their tongues cut out so they cannot tell the secrets of the Children of Dido. In the wider city, they go about their business silently and unnoticed - like ghosts in the narrow streets doing their best to avoid the attention of the luckier, free residents.

Other examples of attendants are artisans, labourers, dockworkers, porters, diggers, caravan drivers, camel trainers, traders, spies, personal assistants to the warlord, whores and cultists.

Attendants have a single special skill. They can use any single skill in the system provided a character who knows that skill is instructing them. See herecache for full information.