Marsi

The Marsi are a medium-large Sabellic faction located in a mountainous territory in the central Apennine Mountains, containing parts of southern Picenum and northern Samnium.

Their starting neighbours are the Frentani, Samnites, Volsci, Rome and Sabines.

In-game Description
"The Marsi are a small tribe located in the central mountains. Many nearby tribes, chiefly the Vestini, Paeligni and Marrucini, stood in federation with the Marsi throughout numerous wars, including the Samnite Wars and Social Wars, and thus are represented in-game as Marsi. All tribes in this federation were noted as being very warlike, and though they would submit to an alliance with Rome near the end of the fourth century BCE, they would rebel against it only two years after reaching terms."

Starting Cities

 * Marruvium:
 * Sulmo:
 * Aveia:
 * Aufinum:
 * Pinna:
 * Pretut:

Strategy
Though your starting position is relatively surrounded, most of your initial neighbouring factions only have one or two accessways into your territory which are relatively defensible. The Sabines arguably have the most possible invasion routes into your territory and will probably need to be dealt with through warfare or diplomacy. Despite your defensible territory, it may be convenient to make truces with some of your neighbours.

The Marsi have a slightly larger starting territory and superior combat bonus to most of their neighbours, except for the Sabines who have an even stronger melee bonus. The bonus to city faction morale also allows higher ratio of taxes and/or recruitment to supply consumption and can therefore act as a convenient economic bonus. All-in-all, the Marsi are probably one of the more comfortable factions to start out as in the area.

To reduce the amount of exposed borders, expanding along the Adriatic coast into the Frentani, Sabines and/or Picentes can be advisable. The best option for early expansion will probably depend on random factors such as diplomatic events and AI vs AI conquest.

Trivia & History

 * As referenced in the in-game description, this faction includes not just the Marsi (who inhabited the territory around the in-game city of Marruvium) but also the Paeligni (Sulmo) and Vestini (Aveia, Aufinum and Pinna) with whom they had become confederated by the time the Romans first encountered them in the 4th Century BC. The Marrucini were also a part of this confederation but none of their cities are actually featured in-game, they inhabited an area between Pinna, Aufinum, Sulmo and Anxanum in in-game terms. The in-game Marsi also include the Praetutii who weren't historically part of this confederacy.
 * Though the Marsi allied with the Samnites against Rome during the Second Samnite War, they (and their confederates) joined in alliance with the Romans at the conclusion of that war. The Praetutii had a different fate and were conquered alongside the Sabines in 290 BC after the end of the Third Samnite War.
 * The Romans held Marsic soldiers in high regards, and they were said to provide the finest troops of all of Rome's Italian allies.
 * The Marsi would be one of Rome's main antagonists during the Social War of 91-87 BC, which is sometimes simply called the Marsic War. The Marsi and several other Italic tribes revolted, demanding full Roman citizenship rather than the current arrangement in which they were quasi-independent client states with no say in Roman politics. Though the Italic allies were defeated in war, the Romans ended up giving them citizenship anyway to prevent future revolts.
 * The faction's icon, depicting a soldier next to a recumbent bull, is taken from Marsic coins that were made during the Social War and symbolized resistance against Rome. In the original coins, the soldier often additionally had a fallen Roman standard lying at his feet. In another coin design of the same era, the bull was depicted as goring a wolf which symbolized Rome, as a reference to the legend where Rome's founders Romulus and Remus were suckled by a wolf.