The Agitatores Group
by Alekso Minotaur and peter Woody
The Agitatores were the super stars of the Roman age. They were well known in any city which had a circus, but lacked much social dinstinction. Unlike gladiators, agitatores were not necessarily slaves, but were considered INHONESTAE PERSONAE (not honest persons) even if they were patricians. They could earn a lot of money, and their wealth was widely known, as were their horses.
This group's motto is "VINCAS NON VINCAS TE AMAMUS POLIDOXE" (whether or not you win, we love you Polidoxe (the name of a well know horse)) and it perfectly demonstrates how deeply the Roman population adored this "sport". In fact, this motto was even found on a mosaic in a house in Pompeii that featured an Agiator and his horse. It was so important to the people that the DOMINUM FACTIONUM (the lords of each contesting faction, named by their own colour) could directly influence how the Emperors would organzie the races.
Q: WHY SHOULD I WANT TO BE AN AGITATOR IN ROMA?
A:Well firstly, because we are a fun group. There are other good reasons, such as the historical reenactment of a roman practice, the chance to be a "star" in that moment, the opportunity to help with Sim maintenance and to win prizes during the official events.
Q: PRIZES AND SIM MAINTENANCE YOU SAID?
A: Yes! During official festival events, the Dominum Factionum will rez a tip jar in which the public can tip. The amount donated will be shown over the tipjar and will be shared among the winners this way: 40% to the 1st place winner, 20% to the 2nd and 3rd place winners, and the remaining 20% donated for the sim maintenance. Every round the public will be asked to tip once again based on the riders' skills shown in race. So, do you love ROMA? Do you love playing a game which can make you earn some money? Join us!
Q: IS THERE A FEE TO JOIN THE GROUP?
A: No. You can join us by invitation. We'll be glad to meet you in ROMA to talk about it and, possibly, invite you.
Q: WHY "POSSIBLY"?
A: Because we want people who really like racing and reenacting ROMAn habits, not people who will show up only for official events to try to earn money. Members need to come to some training sessions and practice races. But even those who do not win any races will not leave empty handed. The Imperial Builds shop in the market will always be glad to make a donation to the group for its members.
Regardless to how the original FACTIONA were organized internally, this SL group will follow this hierarchy:
DOMINUS FACTIONIS (pl.: DOMINUM FACTIONUM): the group's owners: peter Woody and Alekso Minotaur. They gave birth to this group. All the decisions about disputes among racers will be up to them. Until that decision, nobody is allowed to badly react to any "offence", or action considered as such. Keep clear in mind that they are your Dominum, Agitator!
PRAEFECTUS LUDIS: S/he is the SUPER PARTES MAGISTER, the referee of any contest. In his/her absence, his place can be taken by anyone chosen by the DOMINUM FACTIONUM. His/her decisions about the race in progress, must be respected as it would have been taken by the DOMINUM. Those decisions include penalties and disqualifiation of misbehaving agitator/es.
MAGISTER FACTIONIS: S/he is what we can call the "capitain" of a team. They decide who will take part to the next races, and are responsible of the good training of the agitatores in his/her team. This role decides strategy, and chooses which racer will be appropriate for each race.
AGITATOR: the racer . Before you can become an agitator you have to follow a training period to get acquainted with the race's (few) rules and the vehicles. A good racer must know his horse and his horse must know his agitator. S/he is responsible for acting honorably at all times and helping to teach the Novicii.
AGITATOR - NOVICIUS: the trainee. Before you become an agitator, you must train. You will not have an outfit until you are an Agitator. When the PRAEFECTUS LUDIS decides that a Novicius is ready, a promotion will follow. If the Novicius is well behaved and races against his teachers (the full Agitatores, depending on which faction they belong to), the PRAEFECTUS LUDIS can decide to promote him/her to Agitator. The decision of which color to assign an Agitator to is that of the PRAEFECTUS LUDIS or the DOMINUM FACTIONUM (who always has the final decision).
The Equipment: The equipment provided consists in:
OUTFIT:
1) a short tunica of your faction's color, with a leather jacket
2) some bandages for your legs, as the real agitatores were used to wear;
3) a leather cask with a comb of coloured horsehair, according with your faction color. THE DOMINUM FACTIONUM and the PRAEFECTUS LUDIS will be recognizeable by a helmet like the others, but the comb has black horsehair
4) optionally a pair of sandals and a scripted whip can be supplied, under request.
For more rules, see our display in the ROMA Tabularium: http://slurl.com/secondlife/ROMA/166/86/27
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