With the upcoming Chronicles Alexander DLC I suggest to use those skins
Hinduist monk skin for Puru priest
In the time of Alexander the indians were already hinduist so used the Hindu monk skin because it is more accurate than the greek priestess female skin of Chronicles.
Middle eastern trade cart skin for Puru trade cart
Same as the precedent this trade cart skin is more accurate for the Puru than the default western european trade cart skin
Return of Rome trade cart skin for all Chronicle civilization (except for the Puru)
Return of Rome introduce a trade cart skin who is antiquity themed and the conductor of the trade cart look like the male villager of Chronicles so use this trade cart skin for all the trade cart of Chronicles (except for the Puru who have a better skin with the middle eastern trade cart skin) because this skin is more accurate than the current western european skin used by the Chronicles civilizations.
No, the Generic AoE2 Hindu Monk Skin will not be more accurate. Saffron Clad was adopted by Hindus in Bhakti Era copied from the Buddhist Monks. The Buddhist Monk Design will be more fitting than the Hindu Monk Design for Purus. Ancient Age Hindus mostly wore White and there were Female Priests too called Brahmavadini although less than men in number. By later ages we see their number dwindle further to almost nil today.
So Chronicles Monk design is actually more closer. Ideally they should look something like this -
The Hump Back Bull is very Important for proper representation of India.
The Chronicles Trade Cart is actually fine because of the Solid Wheel which was very prevalent in Ancient Age. Although in case of India, Solid Wheel is associated only with Indus Valley Civilization (2500 BCE) as we have solid wheel bullock cart models found from their archeology. Indo Aryans entered India with Chariots (1000 BCE) of Spoked Wheel and Horses as mentioned by Ancient Text. By Mahajanpada Age (600 BCE), use of Iron Spoked Wheel was prevalent, but the horse got replaced with Hump Back Bull.
Does the Priestess fit the Achaemenids, too? @Juggernaut8704
I wish they would reksin the horse-drawn Trade Cart nonetheless, now that the siege weapons also get new skins, it would be the only unit still looking like the AoE2 version. But I don’t recall seeing any Trade Carts in the trailer and screenshots, maybe there will be a new skin, or the RoR one.
I didn’t spot any Villagers for Achaemenids and Puru, either. Would be awesome if these got skins distinct from the Graeco-Roman ones, although unlikely.
The Achaemenids followed Zoroastrianism, a faith that shares striking parallels with Vedic Hinduism. It is possible that the ancient Aryans split into related branches, giving rise to two sibling yet rival traditions. By “mirroring,” I mean that many concepts and terms in the two religions either carried identical meanings or direct opposites.
In early Zoroastrian practice, there is good evidence that the Gathas (the oldest parts of the Avesta, attributed to Zoroaster) address both men and women; there are verses that treat men and women as capable of righteousness, of moral agency. Priestesses in antiquity (e.g. in Sasanian period, or earlier related to the cult of Anahita.
While both male mobeds and female mobedyars could serve as priests, but perhaps male priests served with slightly higher ranks. Over time, however, mobedyars became restricted to further subordinate roles. In fact, most religions have this trajectory. Many early societies in their earliest forms were relatively egalitarian; it was the later rise of rural setup and feudal structures that led to the subordination of women. Today, mobedyars are generally assistants, not full priests.
Rashin Jahangiri is a practicing mobedyar in present day who leads groups of female Zoroastrians and promotes Persian culture. Her attire and presentation offer a useful comparison when visualizing priestess representations. I think it looks close enough with chronicles priestess.
I agree getting more distinct regional skins that accurately fit with the timeframe of chronicles would be awesome.
