Celts

Traits: Religious & Militaristic

Starting Technologies: Warrior Code and Ceremonial Burial

Unique Unit: Gallic Swordsman

Starting in the second millennium BC, the Indo-European peoples, with their mastery of the horse, began a vast migration from Central Eurasia. With energy and purpose, they spread across Europe, Asia Minor, Persia, and Northern India. Among the many peoples to emerge from this migration were the Celts, a devout and culturally rich group.

By the late eighth century BC, the Celts had developed a distinct culture, marked by shared material traditions and a loosely related common language. They dominated regions including Central and Northern Spain, France, the British Isles, parts of Central and Western Germany, Northern Italy, the Balkans, and even Asia Minor. Known for their advanced metalworking, fine pottery, and their blend of animism and polytheism, the Celts are remembered as a unique Iron Age civilization.

Despite their shared culture, the Celts were never a unified people. Proudly independent, they lived in large towns and small cities, engaging with the Mediterranean world by the fourth and third centuries BC. They interacted with Greek, Roman, and Carthaginian traders and colonists. The Celts were notorious for resisting foreign rule, famously sacking Rome in the early fourth century BC and fiercely opposing Alexander the Great.

The Roman Republic, seeking revenge for past humiliations, ultimately subdued the Celts. Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul and campaigns in Britain in the first century BC dealt a devastating blow to Celtic power. While the Romans conquered and, some argue, nearly eradicated Celtic culture, many regions of the British Isles remained proudly Celtic.

Today, the people of Ireland, Cornwall, Scotland, Wales, and Northwestern Spain are proud descendants of these ancient warriors. The Celts continue to be celebrated for their mastery of metalworking, including fine bronze statues, unparalleled iron weapons, and their revolutionary contributions to dress and armor. A territory greater than the Franks under Charlemagne and of the Roman Empire, the Celts were truly an expansive and impressive people.

Are you the one king to unite the proud and independent Celts into a unified, unstoppable kingdom; maybe even an Empire? Can you resist the aggression of the civilized, urbanized powers of the south and west from claiming your lands? Can you build a civilization that can withstand the test of time?