SPQR
Episode 2 – Setting The Stage
With the death of the Tyrant, the leading citizens of Rhodes came together, in a spirit of unity and cooperation, to discuss the future of their island nation.
No, just kidding, they fought and bickered like children, eventually splitting into five ‘Factions’ or ‘Political Parties.’ The only thing they could agree on, mostly, was color-coding the parties for easy reference. They were:
Red for the Military Party, more commonly referred to as the Reds. Their symbol was a sword raised in anger. You know. Because they are the Military Party. Creative bunch, those Military Party Guys.
Blue for the Religious Party, who preferred to call themselves Templers, but were referred to as ‘The Gods Squad’ by the other parties. Their symbol was a picture of a Temple. The Templers were not renowned for their subtlety.
Yellow for the Merchants Party, well, they preferred to call it ‘Gold,’ but the Reds insisted on calling them Yellow and, eventually, this stuck. Their symbol is paperwork. Or rather, promissory notes issued to the over-spent and often bankrupt old aristocratic families, forced to borrow from the New Rich merchants in order to keep up appearances. The Yellows were not terribly well liked outside the small circle of ‘New Rich’ merchants.
The more Civic-Minded Citizens joined the Green Party, which was mostly concerned with building statues and nice buildings and dedicating these structures to themselves. Like the Religious Party, they represent the oldest and most aristocratic families. In fact, they are such old families that no one remembers any more why a hammer smashing gold coins is a good symbol. It is assumed to mean that they consider the ‘New Rich’ to be annoying, but then, who doesn’t.
Finally, there was the Populist Party (also known as ‘The Black Panthers’ and, sometimes, ‘The Real Reds’). They made great rumblings about supporting the ‘common pleb’ working class against the oppressive patrician overlords. They wanted Red as their color, indeed claiming it as the birth-right of their party, but since the Military Party formed a few hours earlier and had already claimed the color, they had to settle for black (although, rebels to the end, they use some red too). Their symbol is a fist raised in anger, at the Military Party, for stealing their color.
And thus ends the ‘Set-Up.’ Join us next time as the convention gets underway and we learn why Kleitos’ fast boat was important enough to make it into the Convention Header. We are, I suspect, another couple updates away from learning why Aristonomes is lucky.
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as you could read 
Originally Posted by comagoosie
