Community world · Macedonia, Roman Greece · 100

Thessaloniki 100 BCE, 100

Roman shadows, Hellenic grit, Urban survival

The Roman province of Macedonia is a crossroads of tension. In the bustling port of Thessaloniki, the wealthy navigate Roman politics while the urban poor struggle against rising grain prices and the heavy hand of the governor's tax collectors.

Created by Near

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$Thessaloniki 100 BCE, 100 cover image$

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World premise

A playable world seed with consequences.

Year 100 BCE. The great Roman road, the Via Egnatia, cuts through Thessaloniki like a scar, bringing the marble-cold efficiency of the Republic to the sweating Hellenic docks. You begin these opening weeks in the shadow of the Kasander Slums, where the air is thick with the scent of fermented fish and the copper tang of the dyers' vats. Here, survival is a matter of counting every obol while the Publicani tax-farmers eye your household's meager assets. Between the looming threat of the Praetor's lictors and the rising cost of grain in the Lower Agora, your place in the city is precarious, defined more by who you owe than who you are.

The price of semi-refined wool has surged, leaving the dyer's district on the edge of a lockout.

A local Roman official is looking for a 'discreet' Greek scribe to translate census records that don't quite match the tax receipts.

The Dockside Syndicate is offering 'protection' for single-room insulae against a sudden rash of unexplained fires.

Your immediate neighbor has disappeared after a visit from the lictors, leaving behind a debt that the Publicani may try to link to you.

Map

Locations

urban

The Thermaic Wharves

The gateway for Roman legions and eastern luxuries, thick with the smell of salt, sweat, and the faint scent of incense from distant cargo.

market

Lower Agora

The chaotic economic heart where bread prices determine if the city stays quiet or riots, and every deal is shadowed by the publicani's ledger.

residential

Kasander Slums

Cramped, multi-story insulae prone to fire and disease, housing the city's invisible hands where debt-bound laborers share walls and worries.

authority

Praetorium District

The elevated seat of Roman power where the Governor's word is law, lictors pace, and the Boule petitions in vain under marble arches.

social

Shrine of Serapis

A gathering point for those seeking divine help or a discreet place to exchange forbidden news, where the Cabiri mysteries whisper beneath Olympian rites.

travel

Via Egnatia East

The great military road leading towards Byzantium, frequented by couriers, legions, and desperate travelers seeking escape or opportunity.

Power

Factions

economic · influence 75

The Publicani

Roman tax-farming syndicates who squeeze every last drachma from the local economy, setting prices and crushing debtors.

political · influence 45

The Boule

The local Greek council, desperately trying to maintain civic dignity under Roman oversight while mediating local disputes.

crime · influence 50

The Dockside Syndicate

A loose network of porters and smugglers who control the flow of goods into the black market, offering relief from publicani prices.

Pressure

Opening rumors

Credibility 82

grain merchant's slave

Merchants in the Lower Agora are being told to hold back stocks; the Governor expects a legion from Byzantium that will need feeding first.

Credibility 65

tavern talk

The Publicani syndicates missed their quarterly projection and are planning a 'secondary inspection' of the Kasander Slums.

Credibility 44

dockside mystic

Initiates of the Cabiri claim the sea-birds are flying low over the Thermaic Gulf—a sign of coming storms or a ruined harbor.

Begin

Start a life inside Thessaloniki 100 BCE, 100.

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