Veii

Attributes: | +30% Tax Output, +15% Mine Output

**Veii** is a medium-sized Etruscan faction located in southern Etruria, across the Tiber from Latium. It is one of only a few factions playable in multiple scenarios, being available in both the Unification of Italy sandbox and the Etruria-only sandbox.

Its starting neighbours are Rome, the Sabines, Clevsin and Velathri in the full Italy sandbox, and Clevsin and Velch in the Etruria-only sandbox.

### In-game Description

"The city-state of Veii is one of the wealthiest owing to its control of the Tiber river at Etruria's south. When Rome escaped Etruscan hegemony, Veii would become one of Rome's earliest rivals over control of this territory."

### Starting Cities

* **Veii**: The wealthiest city in Etruria, Veii's position directly across the Tiber from Rome inevitably led it into alternating alliances and conflicts with the Romans for over 300 years.
* **Cisra**: Cisra (Caere in Latin) is a relatively young Etruscan city. The word "ceremony" derives from a Latin form of this city's name due to the Etruscan love of ritual. Cisra quickly grew into a major maritime power, and managed to take Corsica from the Greeks with help from their Carthaginian allies.
* **Tarchna**: The Etruscan city of Tarchna (Tarquinii in Latin) is named after the legendary king Tarchon, who is said to have founded the city and Etruscan civilization. Tarchna is one of the oldest Etruscan cities and once enjoyed sole control over the rich Tolda Mountains, but has started to lose its northern possessions and turned its focus southwards.
* **Velch\*\*\***: Velch (Vulci in Latin) is a major Etruscan trade city. After a decline in the early 7th century, Velch recovered and became one of the richest cities in Etruria, expanding its lands greatly. The beloved Roman king Servius Tullius was originally an Estruscan named Mastarna from Velch, and some sources say Velch helped him overthrow his predecessor.
* **Vatluna\*\*\***: Vatluna, known to the Romans as Vetulonia, is a major Etruscan city located in the Maremma hills. In Vatluna were the Lictor's rod and the fasces invented, which would later be adopted by the Romans as symbols of power. Under Roman rule nearby irrigation systems would be neglected and Vatluna would decline as the area reverted to malaria-infested swampland.
* **Velzna+**: Velzna, known to the Romans as Volsinii, is a major Etruscan city and home to the Fanum Voltumna. Every year delegates from the twelve Etruscan cities of the Dodecapoli would meet at the Fanum Voltumna to discuss matters of state between the Etruscans and hold religious ceremonies, including the addition of a nail to the wall of the fate goddess Nortia's sanctuary.

**\*\*\***City belongs to Velch in the Etruria-only sandbox

**+**City only belongs to Veii in the Etruria-only sandbox. In the full map sandbox it belongs to Clevsin instead

### Strategy

The Tiber river provides a very defensible border against the neighbouring Romans and Sabines in the full Italy sandbox, so it may be wise to stabilize your other borders before crossing this boundary. On the other hand, Etruscan early-game brigades have superior stats to those of the Latins and Sabellics, which can be leveraged in an early strike against Rome (the Sabines, however, have a very powerful melee bonus which more than compensates for the lower base stats of their early spearmen).

In the full map sandbox, Veii's starting border with Clevsin is the most exposed. It will probably be necessary to either make a truce with them through diplomacy or conquer their more threatening cities of Velzna and Saina before doing much else. Conquering them entirely is also an option, as the eastern borders of their territory are very defensible, thanks to the Tiber river.

In the Etruria-only sandbox, Velch becomes the more threatening neighbour instead, as the border with Clevsin is reduced to a single defensible accessway north of Velzna.

Veii's economic bonus is quite strong, and helps ensure that the player will have enough gold to go around.

### Trivia & History

* According to legend, Veii and Rome's first war was fought as early as the 8th Century BC during the reign of Rome's legendary founder Romulus, making Veii a rival of Rome since the latter's very inception.
* After roughly 350 years of intermittent warfare, the Romans under Camillus finally defeated Veii in 396 BC after a 10-year siege. The Romans virtually destroyed the city, which would never recover its former prosperity.
* Veii was historically one of the earliest in-game factions to be destroyed, and wasn't actually contemporaneous with the Bruttii who didn't emerge as a distinct people until the 350s BC.
* Aside from the city of Veii itself, none of the cities assigned to the Veii faction in-game were historically part of Veii's territory and were all independent city-states instead. Veii was presumably elected to receive its own in-game faction due to its significance in Rome's early history, and several other city-states were then merged with Veii to simplify the faction roster.
* The faction's icon seems to be taken from ancient coins of coastal Etruria, which were often engraved with a very similar octopus or cuttlefish emblem.