Copy that.
I agree, this topic needs not to have been seen as controversial. I offer Elfryc an olive branch and for the record I did not intend to cause offense with my depictions of captured women, and I offer apology for any offense caused by describing such. To this end I have also toned down some of my earlier replies to Elfryc.
I do caution you against applying despoiling women as DLC, the good news with handling the results of what happens when women are taken in spoil is that it happens in huts depicted in the game. i think it unnecessary and in fact potentially hazardous to your reputation to depict this actively as DLC even with adult tags. Everything Elfryc was concerned about would become horribly true. And this is assuming the rapes themselves are still not depicted in the game, just the trauma/status of the captured women.
Having a spike in pregnancies after women are taken in spoil should happen, but it should happen in the background code without any highlighting, a player that investigates the cause of the sudden spike in pregnancies might be able to work it out for themselves, and may indeed like the quiet depth this adds.
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Following Livy, Sabines did not take action against any army, they tried to stop the fight arguing that they had family members on both sides at the time, that would speak about them being integrated in the roman society. Of course this is the roman point of view of the history, so who knows what really happened.
But its even worse, as Sabine people did not attack Romans because the kidnaped women, but years after that because Rome was becoming a threat for them. They previously discarded the attack because, you know, Romans had just kidnaped some women.
But this is almost a bronze age related story though, were women had a established role in society we know fairly well. Not sure if that could apply to Neolithic times, even if Neolithic is very likely when hardcore patriarcal societies started to form.
Of course it is still open to discussion if you do not agree 
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I know this discussion from the beginning (Backer, 2014) What initially looked like an objective discussion turned into an attempted brainwashing.
It became clear: exactly the people who expect tolerance for themselves are the same, who in the opposite case have 0.00 Tollerance.
The decision of Warhorse was completely o.k. And what else could have come of it, we have seen in the smear campaign against Dan Vara shortly before publication. A little unknown blogger brought out stuff from 2015, twisted it and accused the trade press of reporting Nazi-friendly ā¦ Because of a t-shirt (!)
It is possible that we have to accept compromises on reality - yes. But the game offers so many exciting variants, does that really strike us? Did we miss a brothel in āannoā? Or a rape scene in Caesar 3?
Exciting, I found your reference to the harem. We should really think about that ā¦ However, how does it fit into an early Neolithic society?
Hunter group - yes, ruler - yes, farmer ā¦ (?) Most had barely enough nerves for 1 woman 
I know this discussion from the beginning (Backer, 2014) What initially looked like an objective discussion turned into an attempted brainwashing.
It became clear: exactly the people who expect tolerance for themselves are the same, who in the opposite case have 0.00 Tollerance.
There is a reason for this and a logical chain of action, āpolitical correctness gone madā is anything but, there is a clear political pattern with a logical basis, but the logic is dark.
There was a theorem I helped to work on forwarded back nearly 20 years ago which explained how and why the SJW phenomena would occur as a predictive model, which has proven chillingly accurate with hindsight. Frankly I wish I had been wrong.
Well, you know Iām always ready for sound discussions and debates, no trouble with that. When time will come, Iāll have dozens of documents related to the misnamed Near East harems, for example.
Just, I donāt intend to come back in this thread before some time. Iām fed up having to call a troll a troll when he derails every possible thread and whose lone contributions are advocating for the implementation of rape as a āwinā button, sex toys, sexual cults, and a Bronze Age collapse being depicted as a zombie apocalypse. Aside of hollering at you.
Maybe the next step will be him advocating for pederasty being included in game?
On my end, Iām fed up with that. I wonāt accept nor give any fake olive branch. Iāll just withdraw from the thread, and continue my suggestions and give you with pleasure any material I may provide in more private and constructive places.
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Well the olive branch was offered, and it was genuine.
I am not here to get a rise out of people I propose something or observe something in the topics here and discuss them, with regards to history I discuss the history, with regards to historical theory I discuss the theory, with regards to artifacts, either recreated or original I discuss what they might be. In each case I give quotes links or backing data such that I have to support.
Observe the difference between that and those who take my contributions as though somehow I was dancing on the graves of their loved ones.
All in all there is a warning lesson to be learned from. When you steer a conversation in a direction an SJW doesnāt want to you go, or come to a conclusion an SJW doesnāt like, or propose a solution an SJW doesnāt prefer it is, in their eyes, hate speech or bigotry of the worst order, and they will be quite open in their condemnation through openly harsh language all while maintaining they are being put upon.
Ancient tribes capturing women, it may be historical but HOW DARE I suggest it. What a monster I must be, I have been treated as if am crawling into the game and performing the rapes. Today this is my cross to bear, tomorrow it may be yours, if you want make any form of inclusion, or exclusion an SJW doesnt like.
It may sound ridiculous, but āsafe spacingā is always only one sided, and this has crept into games development as much as historical debate.
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I just spent some considerable time reading this entire thread thus far. From a third party perspective this had been a very interesting conversation. Minus the emotional flaring. But I suppose thatās the nature of passion we all have for this game. I definitely need to come on this forum more often.
Now on the topic of PoWs, would it be possible to press slaves or prisoners into military service? Has anyone read of this specifically happening during the Neolithic Age before we had advanced to the Bronze Age?
The only Neolithic information known related to this -I think- is this:
- Mass graves have been found, like an complete wiped village, where statistically female skeletons are missing, but it is not frequent.
- ADN studies have found some female skeletons to rest in places far away from their origin.
And little more.
Neolithic villages in Europe were small and the power required to keep āslavesā was still not there.
Even lees to have armed slaves I would say.
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Very true. I think it is likely that the following may have occured when someone was captured:
- Instant death - most common
- Taken as captive (mostly younger women)
- Maybe taken for ritual sacrifice (some evidence of this in LBK, but very sketchy)
Can you point to some evidence about point 3?
I mean, ritual sacrifices used local victims -even voluntary- or captives?
What do you think?
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I will look for this later and post.
This relates to ritual cannibalism associated with several cultures, including LBK. It is VERY circumstantial.
I think that will be one of the point where youāll have to take a decision related to gameplay more than archaeological certainties ā or you could have to wait 50 years to have more certainties.
For instance, finding bones with cuts upon may mean either cannibalism or a processing of the dead. The clearer cases are those with human bones being disposed of the same as animal bones: in such a case this would indicate canibalism (e.g. if the bone is broken to eat the marrow). And in such a case, we canāt even be sure if this is reserved to someone of the tribe or to an enemy/complete stranger.
When a man is found well preserved in a bog with his hands tied in the back and with evidences heās been strangled with a string, you canāt know if this was a sacrifice or an execution, and in both cases there could be very precise circumstances that lead to this death (e.g. something considered a sin could be punished, or it could be considered an defamatory death penalty, or a voluntary, personal sacrifice for appeasing the spirits or gods, etc.).
The case probably is the same for women being held as prisoners and āadoptedā or āincludedā in their new families/communities. Kidnapping women was probably a quite common practice, but I think thatās still more probable women exchanges were done quite peacefully.
E.g. I guess in Middle Ages more women were āexchangedā through marriage practices, be it to consolidate the family estates for freemen, or seal a political alliances, than through rapt ā a number of them being also ritualized rapt, like @lotus253 rightly recalled above. I guess the same could be say of earlier periods, like to Roman nobility families exchanging women between themselves through divorce because there was a very low life expectancy as they married and had children far too early, which created numerous health issues.
All in all, I think you have to keep to an opened gameplay, relying once again on plausability: leave the player choose what he wants to play like, even if extreme choices by them should be balanced by extreme reactions by the surrounding tribes.
If a player decides to play peacefully, thereās no reason he should not find trade/political allies. If he decides to play the hulk way, heāll have to fave furious neighbors. The most important is that players donāt feel closed in a certain gamestyle and may make tests and play as they like, as long as this keep possible for the period.
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I agree wholeheartedly with this. As I have said many times, exogamy was likely common place and I doubt the capture and theft women was commonplace, thereās no way to be sure. Additionally, how can you tell the difference between cannibalism that was willful or unwillful, and whether it came from a local tribe or from the same tribe? All of the evidence that I have seen listed is highly circumstantial, like I said before. I will find what little examples I can, but in the end, I doubt they will be terribly conclusive. My first and second options for captives are probably the most well supported by evidence, and even that is sketchy =/
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This is a more general question that can be relatable to the main game of Ancient Cities.
As we all know, with the begginings of society and civilization, mankind started to enslave fellow man.
Often slaves were acquired as war spoils. Man were used as mine and agricultural beasts of burden, and women were sold as domestic and sex slaves.
I believe in the spirit of making this game accurate and more revolutionary that a slavery-war-economic system to be applied in the game, as it would make wars and raids much more rational and a strategic decision to be taken, aside from the historical perspective on it.
Best wishes and best regards.
I have moved your post to an existing thread where your question has been debated extensively 
Enjoy the reading!
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Hmmm why not political prisoners? It took place back then, it could be a point of contention between the tribes.
It makes sense to me.
So the discussion has mentioned bond slaves or those that willingly choose to enter slavery to repay debts. But what about a more tradition based servant instead? Neolithic tribes would of had their traditions and rituals. So would there perhaps be some place for slaves or servants that hold to their status out of a sense of duty or their tribes views on honor? Such individuals would not need guarding or a means of confinement like a forced slave.
You mean indentured servitude?