This has to be a first!

[MythicalMino]

In the Bible, David (before he was king) and Saul's son, Jonathan, were Heart-Companions. I am sure they were not homosexual (although, the Heart-Companions in the game may very well be taken from a homosexual military unit of some sort from history...)

Here is the text concerning David & Jonathon:

I Samual 18:1-4

And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle."

When it talks about Jonathan loving him as his own soul, I have read some translations use the term Heart-Companion....they also made covenant with one another, swearing by all that they had (hence, the giving of his garments, robe, weapons, ect.), to protect one another with their lives....

Not preaching to or at anyone...just thought it would go with the discussion on "Heart-Companions"

[ November 01, 2003, 14:55: Message edited by: cpbeller ]

[johan osterman]

The heart companions are based on the Theban sacred band. An explicitly gay elite company, that if recall correctly fought against Philip II in Alexanders youth. As for the name I am not sure where Kristoffer got it, I'll hazard a guess that it is from Alexanders companions, and he choose to gay up the name by adding the heart prefix.

[ November 01, 2003, 15:50: Message edited by: johan osterman ]

[Jasper]

I thought the addition of the Sacred Band was a nice touch; My only complaint is that at 25 gold they don't seem worth it. :-(

Maybe they should go berserk? As pairs of lovers fought in the same unit, that might be a fair approximation of the madness inherent in watching your mate die. This kind of psychology was the whole point of the Sacred Band.

[ November 01, 2003, 18:55: Message edited by: Jasper ]

[Pocus]

they are the only units which can be blessed, so you cant really compare them to the cost of another Arcoscephalian one I think.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Lars M. Nielsen:
Actually I wasn't sure what they were called, but I've read their symbol was the letter lambda.

Nope. The Lambda letter was not used by Thebans, but by Spartans (Lambda as in 'Lakedaimon', ie the alternate name for Sparta).

[st.patrik]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Arent the Spartans supposed to have also been a gay legion? Saw something about that on the learning channel.

Not exactly - I mean in Greek culture generally back then homosexuality, or rather a form of bisexuality, was pretty standard - just read some of Plato's dialogues (there's references all over the place). The only difference was that in general it was an older/middle-aged guy with younger boys, or at least youths.

I don't remember the details on Sparta in particular, but I don't think they differed that much from the Greek norm in this respect. They certainly weren't distinct in this regard from other Greek city-states.

[PvK]

Spartan youths were frequently raised and trained by older warriors, and part of the training, it's generally accepted, included homosexual relations. Though, they were more bisexual rather than gay - they had wives and children, too.

Dominions isn't the first computer game to have Spartans, although AFAIK it might be the first to mention it, though I doubt it - there are many games out there.

As for the first to have blood magic and crossbreed monsters... nah. I remember a game back about 1989 that had a "sacrifice virgin" command... another that had male prostitution as a way to make money for your hero... there are quite a few games that include necromancy, vampirism, abominable monsters, and so on. Spiderweb Software has its "Geneforge" series of games, which center around making mutant monsters.

PvK