“I didn’t think I’d see you again so soon.” The old man said looking up at you. He was in the exact same place as yesterday.

“I spend my days mostly in the library of this museum but I’m old. It’s nice to have sit and actually admire the art in its entirety. There are only so many days left in my life for the appreciation of art.” He paused. “Have you come back to learn how our modern day states came to be?”

You hadn’t come here for that. Honestly, you had kind of hoped to just look around but you were quite obviously corned by this man. He took your silence for consent.

“Perhaps, I haven’t told you the secret yet? Many people think the titans ruled for so long because of their sheer power. That seems obvious. But humans aren’t prey animals. Romulina’s story shows the pure conquest model to be a lie. Romulina was able to form the first great empire in world history because she worked with humans. It was synergy. We ate ourselves. Because factions of humans saw their advantage in the titans. So, smart as you are, what do you think the actual secret to it was?”

You thought for a minute about what to say. You could just walk away but where was he going with this. Maybe it’s religion that civilized early people? “Religion?”

“Close.” He said. “An orthodox historian might take you down the path of ecclesiastical history and state formation. But there’s something you should keep in mind. Anatomically modern humans have been the same, more or less, for 200,000 years. If Ellie from our previous story had been born in the same year as you, she wouldn’t stand out at all. Our ancestors were the same us. So tell me are you so zealous that it’s your love of God that gets you out bed in the morning? If not what is?”

“My job, most days, I guess.” You replied. “I need money.”

“Precisely.” He smiled. “See, I knew you were a sharp cookie. It’s money. Money and the pursuit of money by the shrewd, the unscrupulous, and the fearful has driven much of human history. But it did not exist until Romulina’s granddaughter, Sahmaran, branched out. See the economist tells a half-truth. He will say that money is a store of value that can be exchanged for goods and services. And he is right that is what we use money for – but it’s not why we have money. When you ask the anthropologist, she will tell you that money is the tool used for social cohesion and control. Money is politics. Religion can codify this but only money can create the same stakes for all people.”

“But how? Society needs money or we’d all just barter. It’s straight-up efficient.”

“Do you barter with your siblings? Parents? Friends?” You shook your head at his words. “People have always been the same. Exchange is often dominated by social dynamics and familial-community ties. Even in our heavily market economy today, your spouse would probably be quite sour if you charged your sister-in-law a fee to borrow your drill. Some version of that was how most societies worked. But it was this new disequilibrium caused by empire that created money. Will you stay around for my story, today?”

You saw no other option and sat down.

----On the Origin of Money----

Life before Romulina’s transformation of Samnia was dominated by the power of the titans. Small groups of humans fortified their communities or lived nomadic lives to avoid being captured by nomadic titans. Human communities were united by a common enemy and built weapons to protect themselves. But Samnia changed everything. Suddenly there were titans and humans on the same side. In Samnia, the first armies were raised not for defence of a human community from a predator but for domination over another human community.

Samnia’s army was better understood as a militia. In the century since Romulina’s ascension in the village it had grown rapidly. Protected from the threat of attack, the residents of Samnia pushed further into the woods, dug great mines, and built large agricultural fields. Teramine and Remine were settled as the village expanded into the city. Remine became the centre of government in the now sprawling city. This expansion put pressure on nearby tribes. They would try to raid the edges of the rich city and when the plows of Samnites approached, many tribes resisted.

During the reign of Numa, a militia system was instituted. The young men of wealthier families would arm themselves in the winter months and pledge themselves to the protection of Numa and her realm. These military units guarded the border lands and fought punitive expeditions against local tribes. Numa herself often did not have to aid the battles. The overwhelming population of Samnia did most of the work. She simply arrived for the spoils. Numa ate the vanquished in their towns and reduced the sacrifices from Samnia to celebrate success in battle. This greatly increased the prestige of the militia whose fortunes made life easier and easier in Samnia.

This state of affairs was transient though. Internal and external pressures put pressure onto Samnia. The external pressures became quite severe as tribes became better organized against the incursions of the Samnites. They built better defences and developed ambush tactics that trapped the Samnite militia. As this went on, Numa spent the last years of her reign mostly in battle. She was an older woman by this point but an old woman who could crush a score of men by sitting down.

She earned her stripes fighting another tribe that had tried to ally with a titan. The other titan’s name is lost to history but he was younger and more naive. Titans in a land battle have more degrees of freedom than human military units. But novice titans often hyper focus on the battle. They don’t want to lose sight of their troops because their actions can be decisive against other humans. But in fighting with another titan this approach is folly. Numa used this to her advantage. Numa left her disciplined troops to hold the line and went wide around the battle field. Her opponent knew that he had to protect the rear flank of his troops from Numa. But he couldn’t keep track of her because he kept checking on his own troops. His attention divided he totally lost sight of Numa until an arrow from her bow caught him between the eyes. His lifeless body came crashing down upon his own troops.

The internal pressures were also significant. Numa took several lovers throughout her reign simultaneously to create familial ties to all of the old families of Samnia. This approach meant that she had four children. And as these children became adults, the human cost of feeding them was steep. All empires are founded upon a contradiction – a force so great that they can conquer their neighbours but so unstable that without neighbours to feast on, it will implode. Like a star that could explode violently into a supernova or collapse into a black hole.

To the city fathers of Samnia the youthfulness of their rulers was grating. They resented that all of their personal prestige was subservient to a titans who from their perspective were daft and naive One successor of the queen can be tolerated. A monarchy is just a succession of opulent mouths to feed. But three other brats? Imagine that it’s your father who is scarified to some snot-nosed teenager who isn’t even an heir? It was intolerable to the elites of Samnia who by sheer volume of sacrifices required were touched by this.

Sahmaran was exactly this snot-nosed brat. She was the youngest of her sibling but also the tallest. Nomadic titans still had to hunt to feed themselves. But the domestic titans had an unlimited food supply and could also eat a balanced diet of grains, legumes, and other vegetables. So they were substantially healthier than their nomadic counterparts. Being the youngest, Sahmaran also had no responsibilities. Like many youngest children, the sternness that Numa had brought down upon her older childrenwas forgotten by the time Sahmaran was born. Her older siblings were expected to participate in local politics. But Sahmaran? She liked to play games.

Games of this era, like today, are playful facsimiles of war. Ancient games didn’t have fixed rules as far as we can tell. The most common game was called charge. It was sort of like capture the flag but all of the human players played against a titan. The titan would stop opponents by knocking them over but the titan would have some sort of impediment. One of the only engravings we have of Sahmaran has her in the push-up position over a field with humans running underneath her. My best guess is that she had to stay elevated in that position, which limited her to using one limb at a time or maybe a strategic thrust from her pelvis or chest – I’m sure the young men were delighted by this – and by the fatigue of holding this position for an entire game.

The end result of this was that young Sahmaran was titan among titans. Taller than her fellows by dozens of feet. She was stronger than titans of this era. Being big means that you don’t have to be strong. Numa is depicted as quite slender. Male titans of the ancient world rarely are depicted with abs or striking physical features, as is common among depictions of humans of this era. Sahmaran, for lack of a better word, was ripped. Biceps that dwarfed domiciles. Quads so powerful she could force everyone in a village to their knees with a deliberate stomp. And from her teenage years of playing sports, she was agile and tactical in ways that titans had never been.

So that was her fate – a great military leader. Sahmaran was given control of a relatively meagre force of soldiers and a few settlers to set out to conquer a village far outside the bounds of what had been normal for the Samnites. This was sold is glowing terms to the population as the great expansion of the frontiers. But in reality, a few too many noble’s sons had been used to feed this titan’s muscle-bound form.

The conquest of Campania was not a great military battle. Sahmaran stood taller than anything the inhabitants had ever seen. She did not even notice the town’s walls as she walked to the city centre. The true battle was what came next. Sahmaran had to deal with competing interests that her lack of political education left her unable to navigate. The soldiers who kept order wanted a reward for their service. She could offer them land in Campania but they didn’t want to stay. They had families in Samnia and wanted prestige back home. The inhabitants of Campania chaffed under her rule. Sure Sahmaran had vanquished the local nomadic titans but she had quite the appetite herself. As did her soldiers who fed themselves by putting swords in the faces of local bakers. A tight balance had to be maintained between the soldiers who enforced the new order and the citizens who she had to have at least some support from to govern. No strong ruler is so strong that she can rule with the opposition of every single person. She wanted to discipline her soldiers who did what soldiers always do – drink, loot, gamble, fuck. But they were her only base of support, so she could only distract them with games and never meaningfully discipline them.

Now, we get to the real story of money. But I should pose a question first. Which sort of person made early human civilization possible? The great ruler or general? A religious movement? Perhaps, if you are of a romantic disposition then you think it is the philosophers. It’s none of them, actually. Great ideas and policy require purchase from society. Some way to integrate and make the new norms feel like something that should be accepted. It’s usually regular people who do this. And in cases where it’s relations between a transient armed population and the locals – it’s usually sex workers who build society.

Milda was similarly a youngest child. She was renowned for her beauty within Campania – long flowy, dark, curly hair hiding bright green eyes that enraptured those who held her gaze. A smile that emanated comfort. She was sought out for marriage, naturally, but resisted. Our ideas of heterosexuality and homosexuality don’t map well onto the ancient world. But Milda was the dominant partner in her relationships, a total inverse of societal expectations. This beautiful woman who wanted to penetrate both men and women, made her proclivities taboo. We probably would call her a bisexual woman today or perhaps a trans-masculine person, it’s hard to say through the sands of time.

Milda was definitely not the conventional straight woman expected of young women in Campania. She was married older for the time. Her family had so many suitors that her marriage was more of an auction where each year that passed drove the bidding up to get her parents to finally give up her hand. When such an offer finally arrived, Milda refused. She was not subject to physical coercion into the marriage but she was iced out socially. She was banished from her parents house and set-up a small hovel on the frontier between town and forest.

It was there that she met Salvia. She had heard of this mystic woman but had only seen her once before. Salvia was older and similarly lived on the fringes of acceptable society. Seeing herself in Milda, she paid a visit to her soon after. For years following she taught Milda how to live on the margins of society.

“The bark of this white tree, when boiled with some sage relives headaches.” Salvia said one day while they were out foraging together.

“So women in town must request it for treatment of menstrual pains then?”

“No.” Salvia shook her head. “I freely give it out. No request needed. Women when they request pain medicine from me usually ask for their husbands. Did you know that men apart from being headaches themselves can also have headaches? It was news to me. But the men simply won’t accept advice and the same medicine from the old Salvia, the woman who makes medicine for menstruating women.”

“So then what difference does it make if the women come, if their husbands will not take it?” Milda asked. They were stopped in clearing where Salvia was bent over propagating ginger.

“Medicine is not always the herbs. Some times it’s simply the presentation – a smidge of deception. This is bitter root.” Salvia dug up the root from a flower with bright purple flower. “It tastes like a donkey’s asshole and as far as I can tell it has the same medicinal value. But it covers up the flavour of sage and eating something this awful feels masculine. It feel courageous to take this medicine now. But it’s the exact same thing I give to their wives.”

Salvia gave her a wry smile. She cut the root into pieces and chewed on the root with little hesitation. She cut a piece off for Milda who immediately spat it out.

“Milda don’t be such a performer. Swallow it.”

“You can’t be serious. You just told me this did nothing.” Milda said incredulously.

“Still so naive. The performance of medicine is confidence. Word gets around that I can eat this stuff and not even flinch. It appears as magic but it’s truly just practice and knowledge. The magic is why I’m left to my own devices.”

Milda made daily trips to visit Salvia and came to like the idea of becoming a medicine woman. She was surprised one day to hear the sounds of vigorous sex coming from Salvia’s residence. She lingered awkwardly out of view until she saw a portly man leave. Milda was shocked. Why would a woman of Salvia’s gifts be knocking boots with such an ugly fellow?

“You’re a prostitute?” Milda said pointedly when Salvia emerged from her home.

“Politician.” Salvia retorted. Milda contorted her face. “Come with me to the ginger patch. Don’t speak. Just think. Why go about it.”

They walked silently through the woods to the same clearing. Salvia went to a shaded portion a pulled up some white ginger. Milda wracked her brain trying to figure out what was meant by politician. She traded favours for sex, maybe?

“See this plant, white ginger, is an aphrodisiac. Makes men erect and women drip. An absolute bastard to cultivate because it only like to make its tap root when its in the vicinity of pine mushrooms. Do you want some?”

“I don’t really want to make men erect. I’d rather make myself erect.” Milda confided. Without missing a beat, Salvia smiled and went on to the next plant.

“Ah, then you want the oil that comes from the broad leaf. It’s a superb lubricant especially if you appendage happens to be literally made of wood.” Salvia ran her knife up the leaf and a sheen of oil came off. She placed the oil in Milda’s hands and began rubbing her hands until the oil melted. “So have you figured out what I meant?”

“You mean that you can trade favours as a politician does?” Milda ventured.

“Not exactly. Sex is intimate. When you open yourself to it, people speak freely about what they mean. It feels natural. I tell you about a plant that makes men horny and you venture without prodding that you wish to have penis yourself. Information flows from the vulnerability of sex.”

“So you trade in information. But to what end? You’re not a city elder. I hate to say so, but honestly, but you are seen with a certain amount of contempt.”

“Part of the show, m’dear.” Salvia put her hands on Milda’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. “This is my most important question for you. You are prettier than I ever was. I think that you could learn lots of information and plant many ideas into people’s heads that will be stuck swirling and entwined in their desire for you. You stay far out of the fray but others will take your advice and act upon it. So tell, truly, what would you have people do under your spell?”

Milda stared back into the grey eyes of Salvia. Her hair was thin and her face was frail but still with a charm to it. She thought about what she would like.

“I’d like them to get along. To not fight so much over stupid things. To respect the young people in our village more.”

“Good.” Salvia replied.

Sahmaran’s arrival in the town was a shock. Milda had seen a few titans in her time. But this one was shockingly tall. She had joined the others in the square and from the vantage it was impossible to see the face of the titan when she was standing. Most of what was visible was her sandaled foot and calf that would have been impressive proportion on a woman of normal stature. A troop of soldiers with wooden shields and spears made a formation around the crowd but did not take a hostile posture otherwise. The titan spoke but her voice bellowed in a way that was hard for them to follow. The captain of the squad of troops whose hair was elaborated woven with feathers spoke to clarify. The city father’s were to write a prescription list with 12 people to be sacrificed in a feast that everyone would watch.

The list was composed mainly of outcasts, which included Salvia. The list was read aloud and Milda took off running to find Salvia. She relayed the news to her but Salvia did not seem very bothered. Instead Salvia picked up a bag and set off walking to the square.

“Are you nuts?” Milda protested. “Of all people, surely you can take to the woods and wait this out!”

“And have some other poor person take my place?” Salvia retorted. They walked in silence towards the town. Milda was distressed. She grabbed onto Salvia’s hand as they walked. Salvia looked at her surprised and gave her a gentle smile.

“I also have a plan.” She opened her purse which was filled with white ginger. “It won’t save my life but it will make the village have a good laugh at the expense of our new titan. I knew some of our local titans and they loved white ginger. Even meagre doses for beings of their size drove them wild with lust. I don’t think civilized giantess have ever experienced anything quite like that. I plan to eat all of this before hand.”

Milda laughed, “You’re serious?”

“Remember what I said about politics. It’s about the gentle nudges. Letting people think it’s their own ideas and their own game to play. You said that you want our people to get along. Well, they’re afraid. People who are afraid betray their own – often for a bad deal in their panic. I want them to panic less so that they can extract a better deal. You cannot will people to give up back stabbing but you can make the practice a little more productive. So while the Samnites expect this to be a great show of force, I want our people to laugh at an uncontrollably horny giantess. Show them that she’s just a person.”

That night, a feast was held. Soup was cooked in large pots and shared between the soldiers and the residents who ate together. It was a lovely summer evening were it not for the looming being watching over them. At the appointed time, the 12 were stripped naked and ritually bathed. Then walked onto a hastily built platform. There they waited to be picked up one by one.

The scene was horrible. Carried up, wordlessly inspected then slipped between the titan’s lips and swallowed. The first two were crushed between her teeth ending their lives in a single piercing shriek but the remaining were swallowed whole once terror had rendered them paralyzed. All of them except for Salvia who was seated in the last spot. Even from a distance, Milda could see that her face was flushed. The old woman shifted in her seat. Her arms were crossed over the shoulders and rhythmically running up and down her chest. When her turn came she moaned at the sensation of fingers gripping around her. She reached her hands up to run them across the lips of her predator. The titan let out a little cough to contain Salvia as it appeared that she was dancing on the titan’s tongue. Bemused whispering started among the crowd but the soldiers hushed everyone down.

What the soldiers could not contain was Sahmaran. That night everyone was woken up by the shaking of their homes. Confused they wandered out. In the dim light they could make out the figure of Sahmaran rocking back and forth. They could hear the sounds of her fingers driving into herself. In her excitement she bit down on her finger to hold back her moan but the muffled moan was audible to everyone. The titan climaxed. She was not done yet. A few minutes later the shaking started again. This time Sahmaran was on all fours while she fingered herself. Her back arched and she began playing with nipples over top of where her troops had been sleeping. She held back no moans this time. Shrieks of delight lit up the night and the smell of lust drenched every corner of the town.

Still the titan was not satisfied. Moments after everyone had tried to return to bed the titan was at it again. This time she bellowed for her soldiers to attend to her nipples. A score of men climbed up the titan's breasts. She held them against herself. When she relented the soldiers set to work kissing and massaging her nipples while the titan masturabted again. Milda watched as the townsfolk laughed and made merry. Many of them made rude gestures to mock the soldiers who had to attend to their titan's sexual needs. The mood of the town which had been sullen was riveted now with laughter. 

Milda was not sure if Salvia was still alive within the titan. Hopped up on the white ginger herself, Salvia was probably putting on quite a show inside Sahmaran’s stomach. Her plan had worked. There was indeed no way that everyone in the town – civilian and soldier – would not think of watching Sahmaran masturbate over their heads all night long.