History VideoGame / Imperivm

!!''Imperivm II''

* DropTheHammer: Norman chiefs wield large anvil-sized war hammers.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Pretty much all the Egyptian civilization, excepting its most heavily armed warriors.

* BladeOnAStick: The Iberian guerrilla fighters wield what looks like a ''gladius'' blade at the end of a pole.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: Yes, Celtic and Germanic women fought as warriors, even if not exactly as portrayed in the game.

* AnAxeToGrind: Iberian elite guards.

!!Tropes found in these games:

* AFatherToHisMen: Caesar is portrayed as this in ''Imperivm Civitas III'', and one mission involves settling the Rhine with veterans of his army.

* AerithAndBob: Rod, Dumnorix's second-in-command. Next to guys like Ravgalod and Lekevyt, he has a rather mundane name.

* TheBeastmaster: Druids and priestess can control eagles and wolves. Also, the Summoner from the first game.
* BigBad: In the first game, the Teuton Milred. He’s later replaced by Julius Caesar himself.

* BittersweetEnding: At the end of the first game, Larax has freed Gaul from the Teutonic raiders and Vercingetorix has defeated Caesar in Gergovia, but Kathobodua claims she will have her desired destruction of the Gauls nonetheless (and, for what we know about how their next battle in Alesia turned out, she's right).
* CardCarryingVillain: The Teutonic riders from the first game seem delighted at killing Larax’s wife.
* TheChosenOne: Larax is called it by several characters.
* ChurchMilitant: The druids are said to kill those who enter their sanctuaries, and for what we see through Larax’s eyes, it's true. However, this later proves to be helpful, as they ally with Larax and summon vampire spirits to clear the druid cemetery.
* DamselInDistress: Adatel, the leader of the warrior women, starts this way (as well as BadassInDistress, that is) when she gets magically captured in a sacred terrain and it takes Larax to rescue her. He even scolds her and her second-in-command Silvera for disturbing such forces.
* DeadpanSnarker: Larax has some gold moments.
-->'''Druid 1:''' Intruder! You have violated the sacred druid sanctuary!
-->'''Druid 2:''' You deserve death!
-->'''Larax:''' Have a nice day you too.
* DealWithTheDevil: Or, in this case, with a war goddess.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Ogox allies with Larax after the latter bests him in the lands of Kebatha.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Larax is initially cold and aloof, and much more interested in avenging his wife than saving the remnant villagers from the Teutonic riders, but he mellows after travelling with Maios and Daranix and becomes more of a conventional hero. Ironically, he ends becoming a KnightTemplar as a consequence of this.
* DeusExMachina: Almost literally. Thoric comes to reinforce Larax’s forces by Kathobodua’s orders.
-->You must never forget the gods, Larax. Never.
* DiscardAndDraw: At the end of the first game, Larax discard his magical stone in order to undo his deal with Kathobodua and escape her cave.

* TheDreaded: Milred, the Teutonic leader that attacked Bibracte (as well as Kormaris, where he killed Larax’s wife), has its chief Kushmer and his warriors scared as hell.

* EasilyForgiven: In ''Imperivm Civitas III'', if you side with Pompey in the civil war, Caesar will not only forgive you but apologize for forcing you to choose a side. Justified because in real life he did pardon a lot of his defeated enemies.
* FreudianTrio: Out of the three heroes chosen by Kathobodua, Larax is TheMcCoy, being the most violent and rambunctious; Thoric is TheSpock, as he's stoic and taciturn, as well as the most devout to the goddess; and Lleldoryn is TheKirk, balancing them both.
* TheGhost: In ''Imperivm Civitas III'', Sulla, Mithridates the Great, and Spartacus are all villains in the story. You only receive one letter from the third one, you never meet the first two directly, and the first one is dead before the game begins.
* GodzillaThreshold: Crossed by Larax in the first game after he summons Kathobodua, the goddess of war, in order to offer her his life in exchange for power to avenge the death of his wife. The first ally he stumbles upon after their pact, the wise druid Maios, literally freaks out after learning of it, knowing nothing good can come from it.
* GoodCopBadCop: Larax and Dahram, the druid of Decatia, form unintentionally this when they interrogate a captured enemy after the battle of Silonion. The former claims Kathobodua is whispering very nasty things to his ear to do with him, while Dahram wants to have a more civilized talk.
* HeroicBuild: Larax, the protagonist of the first game, features a character design with ridiculously ripped arms.

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Both Larax and Lleldoryn trust pretty fast on the Romans to help them defeat the Teutonic raiders. They apparently forgot that they previously discovered Roman priests helping the Teutons.
* InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn: Thoric and Lleldoryn choose to stay in Kathobodua's cave while Larax goes to help Vercingetorix in the final battle.
* IronicName: A Roman priest has the name of Vigorius, which turns unintentionally funny once you hear his voice actor speaking like a terminal throat cancer patient.

* LadyLand: Leprian, the hidden island of women warriors.
* TheLoad: Lleldoryn from the first game until he gets his druid powers from Degedyc.

* MagicalIncantation: In order to free Adatel from the spell that has her trapped, Larax has to get near a sitting god statue and say the rather kitschy magical words "Baharum, Baharym, Bahazum, Bahadum!"
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: In ''Imperivm Civitas III'', the event popup that tells you that an Earthquake destroyed a building attributes this to the anger of the Gods.
* OneManArmy: After gaining the magic stone, Larax is so powerful that he single-handedly wipes out the Teutonic rider squad which had turned the nearby village, Kormaris, into a pile of ash and corpses.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted: both the Gaul chief and the main druid of Kebatha are named Dumnorix.
* PowerCrystal: After making his pact with Kathobodua, Larax is granted a magic stone that gives him SuperStrength in times of need. (Times of need, of course, being when the game allows it.)
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: There are some examples.
** Dumnorix notes to Larax that they are struggling to defend Kebatha and tries to get his help instead of having him chasing pointlessly the Teutonic invaders.
** In ''Imperivm Civitas III'' there are other examples as well.
*** Cicero's missions involve protecting the republic from corruption and dependency on Egyptian grain.
*** Lucius Lincinius wages war against Mithradates after the former tried invading Roman Asia Minor.
* ReligiousBruiser: Thoric, who claims to walk only following the way marked by Kathobodua.
* RetiredBadass: Borii.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: While you're in Gaeta helping Crassus exploit the third servile war for his gain, Spartacus sends you a letter threatening to burn every house in Gaeta if you try to stop him. This is a rare depiction of the famous rebel as being willing to kill civilians, which is historically accurate too.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Larax for his wife and Gorix for his father.
* RuinsForRuinsSake: Several missions in ''Imperivm Civitas III'' features ancient Greek and Phonecian ruins, and even Gallic megoliths, with no explanation for any of these.
* SadlyMythtaken: Cathubodua was a Gaul goddess in real life just like portrayed in the first game (where she is given the less Romanized name of Kathobodua). The oddity comes in the third game, where a ''Britannian'' druid worships it. Then again, considering how little we actually know about Celtic gods and Cathubodua in particular, it is not impossible that she was worshipped in certain places of Britannia as well.
* SavedByCanon: Obviously, Julius Caesar didn’t die poisoned by a traitor in Gaul. Though this is averted in the ''Imperivm Civitas III'' where he is assassinated by Brutus as per real life.

* ShaggyDogStory: Maios is killed mere minutes after being rescued by Larax and Daranix.
* TheSpymaster: Verhilla seems to be this, as she is in charge of recruiting rebel warriors from the nearby villagers.
* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: In ''Imperivm Civitas III'', the slave camps show men and women wailing and crying in cages. If you have them then occasionally you'll be able to see burly men leading rows of despondent slaves to and from the building. Caesar also complains about slave labor being so prolific because it leaves little work for free Romans. However from your perspective slavery is just an easy way to harvest resources and to entertain the masses with BloodSport.
* StealingTheCredit: Pompey Magnus does this to Lucius Licinius and to Crassus after the latter two defeat enemies of Rome with your help.
* StealthHiBye: The first two druids Larax finds in his way to the Kebatha sanctuary disappear suddenly (not without apologizing politely) to escape some bandits which Larax is left to fight. This is later exploited by Larax, who discovers they are using secret passes and decides to follow two more druids to find the place.
* TitleDrop: In the second game, Hamilcar Barca drops the original subtitle in his first deployment in Gades.
-->'''Hamilcar:''' We are finally here. Get yourselves ready for the conquest of Hispania!
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: The classic campaign for ''Imperivm Civitas III'' begins by stating that your family lost its influence and fortune after attempting to defy the dictator Sulla, and that his death finally allows you to come out of exile.
* UndyingLoyalty: Platonius to Caesar.
* UngratefulBastard: Justified. The druid Maios seems not overtly excited when Larax saves his life from Teutonic riders, as he notices Larax has made a pact with the goddess Kathobodua and knows well that it can cause a disaster.

* YouAreWhatYouHate: Invoked in the first game by Vercingetorix, who tells Larax that, by becoming Caesar’s general and following his orders to subjugate Gaul villages, he has become just like Milred.

'''''Imperivm''''' is a series of historical (and vaguely HistoricalFantasy) RealTimeStrategy games by Bulgar developer Haemimont Games and distributed by Spanish company FX Interactive.

* ScaryBlackMan: Exploited in-universe. Mauritanian fighters have the ability to intimidate their opponents and dealing extra damage. Moreover, how would you call huge, bald, enormpusly muscled black dudes who wield two swords and speak as a SoftSpokenSadist?

* TyrantTakesTheHelm: The classic campaign for ''Imperivm Civitas III'' begins by stating that your family lost it's influence and fortune after attempting to defy the dictator Sulla, and that his death finally allows you to come out of exile.

* HistoricalFantasy: The games follow closely the historical events, but at the same time there are very real magic and gods in their universe.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Dumnorix notes to Larax that they are struggling to defend Kebatha and tries to get his help instead of having him chasing pointlessly the Teutonic invaders.

* SavedByCanon: Obviously, Julius Caesar didn’t die poisoned by traitor in Gaul.

* WeHaveReserves: Invoked and exploited. Carthage's army is basically designed to send waves of men to die to the front: it is mostly formed by mercenaries, so your city population remains untouched even in the worst of the military massacres, and some of their unit types are very clearly meant to be disposable and/or to be used as mindless berserks (one of them, the Numidian footsoldier, has the explicit skill to damage their opponents ''upon dying'').

* HitAndRunTactics: Iberian horse riders have the ability to increase wildly their attack after passing a time without engaging battle, which makes hit and run repeatedly an excellent tactic for them. This is TruthAndTelevision, as this technique was favored by Iberians and used to disrupt the enemy's discipline.

-->'''Druid 1''': Intruder! You have violated the sacred druid sanctuary!
-->'''Druid 2''': You deserve death!
-->'''Larax''': Have a nice day you too.

* SadlyMythtaken: Cathubodua was a Gaul goddess in real life just like portrayed in the first game (where she is given the less Romanized name of Kathobodua). The oddity comes in the third game, where a ''Britannian'' druid worships it. Then again, considering how little we actually know about Celtic gods and Cathubodua in particular, it is perfectly possible that she was worshipped in certain places of Britannia as well.

* DeadpanSnarker: Larax has his moments.

* DropTheHammer: Normand chiefs wield large anvil-sized war hammers.

* TheJuggernaut: Normand chiefs.

* WeHaveReserves: Invoked and exploited. Carthago's army is basically designed to send waves of men to die to the front: it is mostly formed by mercenaries, so your city population remains untouched even in the worst of the military massacres, and some of their unit types are very clearly meant to be disposable and/or to be used as mindless berserks (one of them, the Numidian footsoldier, has the explicit skill to damage their opponents ''upon dying'').

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Now with [[ArtisticLicenseHistory/Imperivm its own article.]]

* ArtisticLicenseHistory:
** Viriathus's headquarters are located in Mons Herminius in his campaign, probably because it was for a long time believed to be his place of birth. However, this theory was already disproven as mere folklore by the time the game was produced; as we don't know Viriathus's birthplace, it would have been more accurate to locate his fortress in Mons Veneris, which sources name many times as his main stronghold.
** Catriona, Viriathus's main priestess, sports a Britannian name that would have been incredibly odd to hear in continental Europe.
** Normand warriors serving as allies to Gauls and Britannians would have been shocking in real life. This is somewhat justified in-game in the first installment because the only named one, Thoric, is a rogue warrior chosen by the goddess like the protagonists, while the others are mentioned to be "not people who like to be ordered around".
** The weapon wielded by the Iberian guerrilla fighters, a sort of a BladeOnAStick, doesn't have a historical counterpart. Real life Iberians also favored javelins over bows, so it would make more sense for them to have a javelin caster unit than an archer one.
** Related to the previous, though so pervasive in media that it could be its own trope, the usage of falcatas by Viriathus and all Iberian footsoldiers is inaccurate. The falcata was limited to South East Iberia and was rare to find on the rest of the peninsula, where straight swords were much more popular. Ironically, some Iberian heroes ''do'' wield straight swords in the game, when in real life chieftains would have been possibly the only warriors wealthy enough to acquire falcatas from any point of the peninsula.
** Carthago lacks cavalry in the game, which is a great departure from real history, where they were known and feared by their Numidian and Iberian mercenary horsemen. Similarly, there's no record of Carthago using dromedaries on the battlefield as the game shows.
** Carthago's Sacred Band was actually composed by spearmen in the Hellenic phalanx style, not swordmen as portrayed here (they did carry swords, but just as a secondary weapon). Also, its presence in the game's events is a huge anachronism: while Carthaginian armies always featured commanders and small forces recruited among Punic citizens, the real Sacred Band was officially disbanded sixty years before the very First Punic War and its unit name was never used again.
** Praetorian guards weren't exclusive to Imperial Rome as the third game shows. In real life, they were present in Roman Republic as well serving as bodyguards for praetors (hence their name).
** In the first game, the Battle of Gergovia is portrayed as a massive, Napoleonic-style open field battle in a plain. This was fortunately corrected for the third game, in which it is accurately portrayed as the montainous assault it was in real life.
** Although the game doesn't mention it by its name, the German mission is clearly meant to be the Battle of Teutoburgo, where Varus was defeated by Arminius. However, the real battle was not a random ambush to a Roman force trying to reach a city ruled by Varus as it is portrayed in the game, but almost the opposite; in real life, Varus commanded the Roman force personally and was attracted out of his camp through deception by Arminius, who then ambushed and killed him.
* ArtisticLicenseReligion:
** In real life, Carthago's religion had priests that were clean shaven for ceremonial reasons, not bearded "shamans" like their counterparts from the game. Also, the latter ones feature in-game quotes about Moloch, which was actually a posterior and vaguely pejorative Hebrew word for any Phoenician god; a person from Carthago would have referred to his god as Baal Hammon or simply Baal.
** The Iberian priestesses are clearly based on the ''dama'' busts of Spanish archaeology, but in real life it is actually unknown whether those are meant to represent priestesses or noblewomen. It's admittedly difficult to represent the religious class of ancient Hispania, as the land was a pretty mixed bag at this stuff; northern tribes might have had Celtic druids, while southern regions could have shared Carthago's Phoenician priests (tellingly, the priestesses from the game pray to the Phoenician goddess Astarte).
** In the third game, Britannian druid Penut chants the name of Kathobodua, a continental Gaul goddess. This is presumably a in-game reference to the goddess's role in the first game, though.

Mainly distributed in Europe, the series was insanely popular in Spain and Italy and was acclaimed for its relative historic faithfulness and educative value.

** The Iberian priestesses are clearly based on the ''dama'' busts of Spanish archaeology, but in real life it is actually unknown whether those are meant to represent priestesses or noblewomen. It's admittedly difficult to represent the religious class of ancient Hispania, as the land was a pretty mixed bag; northern tribes might have had Celtic druids, while southern regions could have shared some of Carthago's Phoenician priests (tellingly, the priestesses from the game pray to the Phoenician goddess Astarte).

** The weapon wielded by the Iberian guerrilla fighters, a sort of a BladeOnAStick, doesn't have a historical counterpart. In comparison, their usage of falcatas as footsoldiers's weapon of choice is not wrong, but a bit geographically extrapolated: the falcata was limited to South East Hispania and was very rare to find in the rest of it, where straight swords might have been more popular. Ironically, the game's Iberian heroes wield straight swords, despite they would have been possibly the only warriors wealthy enough to acquire falcatas from any point of the peninsula.

** In real life, Carthago's religion had priests that were clean shaven for ceremonial reasons, not bearded "shamans" like their counterparts from the game. Also, the latter ones mention Moloch, which was actually a posterior and vaguely pejorative Hebrew word for the Phoenician gods. A person from Carthago would have referred to his god as Baal Hammon or simply Baal.
** The Iberian priestesses are clearly based on the ''damas'' busts of Spanish archaeology, but in real life it is actually unknown if those are meant to represent priestesses or noblewomen. It's admittedly difficult to represent the religious class of ancient Hispania, as the land was a pretty mixed bag on this field; northern tribes might have had Celtic druids, while southern regions could have shared some of Carthago's Phoenician priests (tellingly, the priestesses from the game pray to the Phoenician goddess Astarte).

** The weapon wielded by the Iberian guerrilla fighters, a sort of a BladeOnAStick, doesn't have a historical counterpart. In comparison, their usage of falcatas as footsoldiers's weapon of choice is not wrong, but a bit geographically misplaced: the falcata was limited to South East Iberia and was very rare to find in the rest of it, where straight swords might have been more popular. Ironically, the game's Iberian heroes wield straight swords, despite they would have been possibly the only warriors wealthy enough to acquire falcatas from any point of the peninsula.

** In real life, Carthago's religion had priests that were clean shaven for ceremonial reasons, not bearded "shamans" like their counterparts from the game.
** Iberian priestesses pray to the Phoenician goddess Astarte, who was certainly worshipped by Iberians, but not to a great extent and mostly in the Mediterranean coastal regions. For an unit class meant to represent the religion of Viriathus and his people, goddesses like Epona or Nabia would have been more adequate.
** Carthaginian shamans mention Moloch, which was actually a posterior and vaguely pejorative Hebrew word for the Phoenician gods. A person from Carthago would have referred to his god as Baal Hammon or simply Baal.

** Viriathus's headquarters are located in Mons Herminius in his campaign, probably because it was for a long time believed to be his place of birth. However, this historical theory was already disproven as mere folklore by the time the game was produced; as we don't know Viriathus's birthplace, it would have been more accurate to locate his fortress in Mons Veneris, which sources name many times as his main stronghold.
** Catriona, Viriathus's main priestess, sports a Britannian name that would have been rather odd to hear in continental Europe.
** Normand warriors serving as allies to Gauls and Britannians would have been shocking in real life. This is somewhat justified in-game in the first installment because the only of them shown, Thoric, is a rogue chosen by the goddess like the protagonists, while the others are mentioned to be "not people who like to be ordered around".
** The weapon wielded by the Iberian guerrilla fighters, a sort of a BladeOnAStick, doesn't have a historical counterpart.

** In the first game, the Battle of Gergovia is portrayed as a massive, Napoleonic-style open field battle in a plain. This was fortunately corrected for the third game, in which it is accurately portrayed as the montainous siege brawl it was in real life.
** The Battle of Teutoburgo was not a random ambush to a Roman force trying to reach a city ruled by Varus as it is portrayed in the game. In real life, Varus commanded the Roman force personally, and he was marching out of a campament to solve what he believed it was a tribal uprising.

** In real life, Carthago's religion had priests that were clean shaven for ceremonial reasons, not bearded "shamans" like their counterpart from the game.
** Iberian priestesses pray to the Phoenician goddess Astarte, who was certainly worshipped by Iberians, but not to a great extent and mostly in the coastal regions. For an unit class meant to represent the religion of Viriathus and his people, the goddesses Epona or Nabia would have been more adequate.

* ChurchMilitant: The druids are said to kill those who enter their sanctuaries, and for what we see through Larax’s eyes, it's true. However, this later proves to be helpful, as they ally with Larax and summon vampire spirits to clean up the enemies of the druid cemetery.

'''''Imperivm''''' is a series of historical and vaguely HistoricalFantasy RealTimeStrategy games by Bulgar developer Haemimont Games.

** Viriathus's headquarters are located in Mons Herminius in his campaign, probably because it was for a long time believed to be his place of birth. However, this historical theory was already disproven as mere folklore by the time the game was produced; as we don't know Viriathus's birthplace, it would have been more accurate to locate his fortress in Mons Veneris, which sources name it many times as his main stronghold.

** In the first game, the Battle of Gergovia is portrayed as a massive, Napoleonic-style open field battle in a plain. This was successfully corrected for the third game, in which it is accurately portrayed as the montainous siege brawl it was in real life

** In real life, Carthago had priests that were clean shaven for ceremonial reasons, not bearded "shamans" like their counterpart from the game.
** Iberian priestesses pray to the Phoenician goddess Astarte, who was certainly worshipped by Iberians, but not to a great extent and mostly in the coastal regions; for an unit class meant to represent the religion of Viriathus and his people, the goddesses Epona or Nabia would have been more adequate. Similarly, Carthago's shamans mention Moloch, which was actually a posterior (and vaguely pejorative) Hebrew name for the Phoenicians's main god; a Phoenician or Carthaginian person would have referred to it as Baal or Baal Hammon.

* FreudianTrio: Out of the three heroes chosen by Kathobodua, Larax is TheMcCoy, being the most violent and rambunctious; Thoric is TheSpock, as he’is stoic and taciturn, as well as the most devout to the goddess; and Lleldoryn is TheKirk, balancing them both.

* WeHaveReserves: Invoked and exploited. Carthago’s army is basically designed around sending waves of men to die to the front: it is mostly formed by mercenaries, so your city population remains safe even in the worst of the massacres, and some of their unit types are very clearly meant to be disposable and/or to be used as mindless berserks (one of them, the Numidian footsoldier, has the explicit skill to damage their opponents ''upon dying'').

* GodzillaThreshold: Crossed by Larax in the first game after he summons Kathobodua, the goddess of war, in order to offer her his life in exchange for power to avenge the death of his wife. The first ally he stumbles upon after their pact, the wise druid Maios, literally freaks out after learning of it, being GenreSavvy enough to know nothing good can come from it.

** Iberian priestesses pray to the Phoenician goddess Astarte, who was certainly worshipped by Iberians, but not to a great extent and mostly in the coastal regions; for an unit class meant to represent the religion of Viriathus and his people, the goddesses Epona or Nabia would have been more adequate. Similarly, Carthago's shamans mention Moloch, which was actually an ancient Hebrew name for the Phoenicians's main god; a Phoenician or Carthaginian person would have referred to it as Baal or Baal Hammon.

** In the first game, the Battle of Gergovia is portrayed as a massive, Napoleonic-style open field battle in a plain. This was successfully corrected for the third game, in which it is accurately portrayed as the montainous siege brawl it was in real life.

Mainly distributed in Europe, the series was insanely popular in Spain and Italy and was acclaimed for its historic faithfulness and educative value.

** The weapon wielded by the Iberian guerrilla fighters, a sort of a BladeOnAStick, is made up for the game.
** Catriona, Viriathus's second-in-command, sports a Britannian name that would have been rather odd to hear in Hispania.

* IronicName: A Roman priest has the name of Vigorious, which turns unintentionally funny once you hear his voice actor speaking like a terminal throat cancer patient.