Roman Empire

The Roman Empire is one of the largest Human empires in the world founded before the Downfall of Numeron ths also making them one of the oldest as well. The Empire is centered in the European Continent, but at one point it had holdings in Africanas and Asia. The Empire's control has waned since those days and now it remains on the Italian Peninsela in its only major holdings, but still controls the western meditereanian.

The Roman Empire is often been the brunt of citisism for its persieved lack of action, but it has been hit hard by two major civil wars, and was the one first attacked in the Orc breakout into Europe. All of these wars and disasters have had a major effect on the upper leadership, who have become corupted due to their constant state of near destruction.

The capital of the Roman Empire is the truly magnificant city of Rome. While Rome was once far and away the largest city in the world, it has fallen far down the list following a series of declining Emperor's who have brought fear and starvation to the Italian region. With the declining power of the Roman Empire the capital has all but moved to Milan where the final nail in Rome's coffin may have come in the form of the Skaven Sacking of the city which killed the Emperor, and put so much fear in the goverment that they moved the senate and the Emperor to Milan.

The Roman Empire was first founded by the twin brothers Romulas and Remus of whom battled for supremecy against the Kingdom of Etrus and the Etruscans who were dominent on Italy, and during their rise they would found Rome and the Senate of Rome leading to the Republic of Rome. Following the wars of Italy by Romulas the Italian Peninsula was dominated by the Roman Republic becoming the major power force in southern Europe but also having a strong relationship with Numeron allowing them to expand peacefully in regions not dominated by the Numenorians. Following the taking of Sardinia the Romans would take control of Hispania through the bribing of local Hispanic tribes, and this led to the complete takeover of the western Mediterranean as well, but also led to a rise in conflict between Rome, and the nearbye power in Carthage. Following this large expansion a Roman General named Hadrian would rise from the Senate and eventually underwent a takeover of the Senate becoming the first Emperor, and under his rule he expanded the Roman Empire massively across Europe, and further expanded into Asia, and Africanas.

History
The city of Rome grew from settlements around a ford on the river Tiber, a crossroads of traffic and trade sometime around the year -3000. According to legend, the village of Rome was probably founded by members of the Latin tribe of Italy, on the top of the Palatine Hill. The Etruscans, who had previously settled to the north in Etruria, seem to have established political control in the region before the coming of the Italians, and formed the aristocratic and monarchical elite. The Etruscans lost power in the area over centuries due to the immigration of more and more Latin and Sabine tribes, but even during this rise the Etruscans under the Kingdom of Etrus would still hold the region as a client state. As a client state of the Kingdom of Etrus these original Latin and Sabine tribes reinvented their government by creating a republic, with much greater restraints on the ability of rulers to exercise power, of which the Kingdom of Etrus would allow and then infiltrate over the generations following its rise.

Rise of Romulas and Remas
Over the generations the once independant of sorts Republic of Rome had been completely co-opted by the Kingdom of Etrus and was now known as the Latin League led by several Etruscan noble families of whom dominated the league as monarchies, and it would be in this position that in the year -1550 the twin brothers Romulas, and Remas Silvia would be born to Rhea Silvia, daughter of Numitor, king of Alba Longa which was one of the Kingdoms in the Latin League making them members of a royal bloodline of House Silvia. Their father would be the Third Generation Titan Mars of whom had taken a keen interest in the fate of the Italian Peninsula but following the defeat of his original bloodline in House Raeti he moved to the Italians as his next attempt at building the Italians.

Rebuilding the Republic
The Roman Empire was first founded by the twin brothers Romulas and Remus of whom battled for supremacy against the Kingdom of Etrus and the Etruscans who were dominent on Italy, and during their rise they would further expand Rome and the Senate of Rome leading to the Republic of Rome.

Civil War
Despite originally ruling as Kings the twins Romulas, and Remas would begin to have diverging beliefs on the movement of the Romans going forward with Romulas believing in the Republic and its values while Remas wanted the Senate as more of a tool for their expanding monarchy. These diverging ideas eventually led to a civil war between the two brothers and after a brief conflict the victorious Romulas would turn it from a monarchy into a republic ruled over by a Senate of which he was just a member of.

Peninsula Wars
The Roman Republic would expand outward and over several years had taken control of much of central Italy, and had spread into Southern Italy as well. Following the defeat of a large alliance of Kingdoms of Northern, and Southern Italy the Roman Republic would have complete control of the Italian Penisula stopping in the north at the Lucerne Mountains and Umbar. A war against Sicily would expand the Roman Republic into Siciliy and most of the islands south of Italy as well as the large island west of Italy of Sardinia.

European Expansion
Following the wars of Italy by Romulas the Italian Peninsula was dominated by the Roman Republic becoming the major power force in southern Europe but also having a strong relationship with Numeron allowing them to expand peacefully in regions not dominated by the Numenorians.

Preaching to Western Europe
Mathew the Apostle would following the death of Jesus leave Nehekhara for a time travelling to Constantinople where he would found the Roman Catholic Church converting the population there to its belief before travelling to Italy where he was able to convert the population there as well thereby converting the Roman Empire to Christianity.

Conversion of the Bretonians
Following his conversion of the Romans he would travel with a large grouping of these Romans to the expanding rapidly Kingdom of Bretonia and would be able to convert the monarchy of Bretonia to the worship of the Christian Church of which the Romans would form the Roman Catholic Church, while the Bretonians would form the Fraticelli Church both of which swiftly became the state religion of both nations.

Conversion of the Dwarves
Departing the Kingdom of Bretonia he would attempt to make his way eastward into the region of Alcase, and Lorraine but was forced to move north and then west by large numbers of Trollocs who blocked his path eventually making him enter the Dwarven Holds of Matron where he remained for almost fifteen years preaching to the Dwarves eventually converting there King of whom renamed their lands the Imperial Empire of Matron and joined the Roman Catholic Church.

Hadrian the Great


With the entire Roman system seemingly unable to move forward due to politics it would be a man from within this problem that would come to rise within the ranks and grow himself into a position that he could change things. Hadrian was born into the elite ranks but he had been trained in an academy outside of Rome unlike most of his class of people thus changing his purspective on the outside world in ways that his family could not have seen. His time in the east at a college in Greece had led him to seeing the world so much differently, and also it led to him believing that they needed the help of Rome which would come to be one of the defining reasons for his expansionary position later in life. When he returned from this time he was a different boy then they remembered but he was just as charismatic as before and for this reason they ignored his more ideolistic viewpoints and were happy when he entered the Senate at the low age of twenty two years old.

Hadrian Expands into Croatia
Main Article : Dutchy of Estalia



The Roman Empire was expanding throughout Europe following the rise of Hadrian and one of his main projects was to expand into Croatia in the hopes that one day they could bottleneck the control that Umbar, and Dol Amroth had over the trade routes of the Adriatic Sea. In this way Hadrian sent a great expedition to both Greece, and the region of Croatia and these expeditions were as much civilian as military. When the mission arrived in Estalia it went about founding two major ports in the form of Bilbali, and Varonne from where they would begins sending large quantities of trade, and resources into Estalia. As they expanded from these two ports they found resistence in the north in the form of the Kingdom of Serbia. The Kingdom of Serbia was a truly massive Kingdom at the time rivalring the eventual size of Estalia, but it had a serious weakeness in the fact that it had just come out of a series of Civil Wars that had drained its military of manpower, and many of its cities were in near ruins when the Roman holdings begin to reach the borders of Serbia.



War with Serbia
When the Romans attempted to bribe the local Serbians into joining they discovered their local supporters were hanged in towns, and their solders were attacked as they attempted to move throughout the region. This caused the Romans to slow their expansion into the Serbian Kingdom and to take it as a logitimit threat to their control of the region. In order to allow for them to more easily enter the Kingdom of Serbia as conquerers they would instigitate two scenarios which would help to bring down the Serbian Kingdom. To the north of the romans and the east of the Serbians was a truly burgeoning population of Visigoths that were living on the outside of what is now Estalia, and these Visigoths wanted more and more authority of which the nationalist Serbians would not give them. Because of this the Visigoths would be funded by the Romans and a small puppet Kingdom would form that begin to battle against the Serbians on their northeast front causing a divergance of forces, and more importantly riots thorughout many eastern towns. The other element was that the Romans bought a mercenary force and equipped them in the colors of Dol Amroth and then snuck them inside the northwestern section of Serbia and from here they would burn villages down, and cause all sorts of problems that the Serbians could not ignore. These fake attacks would cause a brief war between the two that culminated in a battle that was lost by the Serbians and led to the death of the Serbians King, and their heir leaving them virtually leaderless for a time.

The Fall of Serbia
The true fall of Serbia can be determined by the massive losses they suffered fighting the elite forces of Dol Amroth. When during the final Battle of that conflict happened and they lost both their King, and the heir to the throne they became leaderless and the Romans took this oppurtunity to end the conflict as they moved in and sacked the entire region of Pazin, and Zadar where the main population outside of Karlova was located. At the same time this was happening the Visigoths were overruning the eastern side basically unoposed due to the route of the only real army of the Serbians in the east during the Battle of Magritta. All of this was too much for the Serbians and what little remained of their leadership begin to sue for peace, and the Romans would quickly accept this offer and thus annexx what little remained of the Serbian Kingdom. During this time they made deals with the realm of Dol Amroth to fix their borders through the offering of tribute payments to Dol Amroth to finance their losses. With this completion also meant the end of the Visigoths of whome couldn't dare beat the Romans but were also forever hateful towards the betrayal they were delivered due to the fact that they had been promised control of their lands if they assisted Rome.



Death of Hadrian
At the age of sixty nine the greatest Emperor in the history of the Roman Empire thus far would die of Typhus that had afflicted in to his bed for nearly five years. His death would bring an end to his reign which had seen the expansion of Rome externally, and the fortifying of the Roman Empire at home. During the reign of Hadrian he would be most remembered for his defeat of the mighty Moors during his later years which allowed for Rome to basically control the entire Mediteranean Sea alongwith North Africanas. His conquering of Estalia, Greece, and the founding of Constantinople gave rise to what would eventually become the eastern Roman Empire, and even later the Byzantine Empire. But more then this it was his construction of cities and fortresses such as Ravenna, Valencia, Genoa, and many others that he would cause the greatest affect. His reordering of the Roman Legions would go unchanged until the ravaging of the Fall of Hispania thus proving how much of an effect he had.

Pax Romana
As Hadrian did not leave word for who should sucede him the task was given to the Senate and when they couldn't come to a decision the power was taken by Domitium of whome was in control of the First Legion which was seasoned in Rome and thus easily gained control of the Senate. Under Domitium the expansion in the east would take place as well as the immigration of Italians throughout the Empire and Europe caused by his Italian Nationalism. These things would have a short term major boom for the Roman Empire but in the long term it would lead to the sucession of many of these regions most importantly being the Byzantine Empire's growth.

The Roman Civil War
The situation in Rome should have been great as the Romans should have entered a golden age following the reign of Hadrian. Instead the new Emperor Domitium was a complete failure at everything except upsetting the provinces.

Coruption
With the deaths of so many of the wisest leaders during the Civil War and the coming of the Orcs the Romans had a severe lack of qualified leadership. This had become clear during the failings of the War in Hispania, and War in France.

Emperor Nero
Constant expansion in its history had meant that the weaknesses of the internal economic model of the Empire was often hidden, but without expansion the empire is in dire straights. The current Emperor Nero is a corupt and failure of a Emperor that many whisper may be a mad man, who dresses as a women.

Peak under Gaius Hadrian
The Empire was at its peak during the Reign of the great Hadrian Emperor. Under Hadrian the Empire expanded greatly throughout Croatia, and Africanas, and would become nearly as large if not as powerful as the ancient Numeron Empire, and was the match for both The Empire, and Nehekhara.

Post Orc Invasion
The Roman Civil War cost the Empire a great deal of its land. Followng this they lost further land to the coming of the Orcs. At current the Romans are in control over Western Mediterianian as well as Italy and parts of Hispania and France.

Demographics
The Roman Empire once under the reign of the Emperor Gaius Hadrian stretched over much of Europe and Africanas, and during its peake it had a population not matched by anyone but the ancient Numenorian Empire, The Empire, and the Empire of Nehekhara.

Population Centers of the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire is dotted by towns of which their are many vast, and powerful towns that all add together to create the overall Roman Empire. Cities are ruled by Senators, and preficts of whom are chosen based usually on hereditary leadership, and in more important cases based on being appointed by high leaderships.

Culture
Life in the Roman Empire revolved around the city of Rome, and its famed seven hills. The city also had several theatres, gymnasia, and many taverns, baths and brothels. Throughout the territory under Rome's control, residential architecture ranged from very modest houses to country villas, and in the capital city of Rome, to the residences on the elegant Palatine Hill, from which the word "palace" is derived. The vast majority of the population lived in the city centre, packed into apartment blocks.



Most Roman towns and cities had a forum and temples, as did the city of Rome itself. Aqueducts were built to bring water to urban centres and served as an avenue to import wine and oil from abroad. Landlords generally resided in cities and their estates were left in the care of farm managers. To stimulate a higher labour productivity, many landlords freed a large numbers of slaves. By the time of Augustus, cultured Greek household slaves taught the Roman young (sometimes even the girls). Greek sculptures adorned Hellenistic landscape gardening on the Palatine or in the villas.

Many aspects of Roman culture were taken from the Etruscans and the Greeks. In architecture and sculpture, the difference between Greek models and Roman paintings are apparent. The chief Roman contributions to architecture were the arch and the dome.

The centre of the early social structure was the family, which was not only marked by blood relations but also by the legally constructed relation of patria potestas. The Pater familias was the absolute head of the family; he was the master over his wife, his children, the wives of his sons, the nephews, the slaves and the freedmen, disposing of them and of their goods at will, even putting them to death. Originally, only patrician aristocracy enjoyed the privilege of forming familial clans, or gens, as legal entities; later, in the wake of political struggles and warfare, clients were also enlisted. Thus, such plebian gentes were the first formed, imitating their patrician counterparts.



Slavery and slaves were part of the social order; there were slave markets where they could be bought and sold. Many slaves were freed by the masters for services rendered; some slaves could save money to buy their freedom. Generally mutilation and murder of slaves was prohibited by legislation. It is estimated that over 25% of the Roman population was enslaved. Professor Gerhard Rempel from the Western New England College claims that in the city of Rome alone, during the Empire, there were about 400,000 slaves.

The city of Rome had a place called the Campus Martius ("Field of Mars"), which was a sort of drill ground for Roman soldiers. Later, the Campus became Rome's track and field playground. In the campus, the youth assembled to play and exercise, which included jumping, wrestling, boxing and racing. Riding, throwing, and swimming were also preferred physical activities.

In the countryside, pastimes also included fishing and hunting. Board games played in Rome included Dice (Tesserae or Tali), Roman Chess (Latrunculi), Roman Checkers (Calculi), Tic-tac-toe (Terni Lapilli), and Ludus duodecim scriptorum and Tabula, predecessors of backgammon. There were several other activities to keep people engaged like chariot races, musical and theatrical performances,



Clothing
The cloth and the dress distinguished one class of people from the other class. The tunic worn by plebeians (common people) like shepherds and slaves was made from coarse and dark material, whereas the tunic worn by patricians was of linen or white wool. A magistrate would wear the tunica augusticlavi; senators wore a tunic with broad stripes, called tunica laticlavi. Military tunics were shorter than the ones worn by civilians. Boys, until the festival of Liberalia, wore the toga praetexta, which was a toga with a crimson or purple border. The toga virilis, (or toga pura) was worn by men over the age of 16 to signify their citizenship in Rome.

The toga picta was worn by triumphant generals and had embroidery of their skill on the battlefield. The toga pulla was worn when in mourning. Even footwear indicated a person's social status: patricians wore red and orange sandals, senators had brown footwear, consuls had white shoes, and soldiers wore heavy boots. Men typically wore a toga, and women a stola. The woman's stola looked different from a toga, and was usually brightly coloured. The Romans also invented socks for those soldiers required to fight on the northern frontiers, sometimes worn in sandals.

Language
The language of Rome before its expansion was Latin, and this became the empire's official language. By the time of the imperial period Latin had developed two registers: the "high" written Classical Latin and the "low" spoken Vulgar Latin. While Classical Latin remained relatively stable, even through the destructive moments of the Empire`s fall, Vulgar Latin as with any spoken language was fluid and evolving.

Emperor
The powers of an emperor (his imperium) have existed, in theory at least, by virtue of his "tribunician powers" (potestas tribunicia) and his "proconsular powers" (imperium proconsulare). In theory, the tribunician powers (which were similar to those of the Plebeian Tribunes under the old republic) made the Emperor's person and office sacrosanct, and gave the Emperor authority over Rome's civil government, including the power to preside over and to control the Senate.

The proconsular powers (similar to those of military governors, or Proconsuls, under the old Republic) gave him authority over the Roman army. He was also given powers that, under the Republic, had been reserved for the Senate and the assemblies, including the right to declare war, to ratify treaties, and to negotiate with foreign leaders.

The emperor also has the authority to carry out a range of duties that had been performed by the censors, including the power to control Senate membership. In addition, the emperor controls the religious institutions, since, as emperor, he is always Pontifex Maximus and a member of each of the four major priesthoods. All of these powers combine to turn the role of Emperor into a truly powerful position.

Senate


In theory, the Emperor and the Senate are two equal branches of government, but the actual authority of the Senate is negligible and it is largely a vehicle through which the Emperor disguises his autocratic powers under a cloak of republicanism. Although the Senate still commands much prestige and respect, it is largely a glorified rubber stamp institution. Stripped of most of its powers, the Senate is largely at the Emperor's mercy.

Many emperors since Hadrian have showed a certain degree of respect towards this ancient institution, while others have been notorious for ridiculing it. During Senate meetings, the Emperor sits between the two consuls, and usually acts as the presiding officer. Higher ranking senators spoke before lower ranking senators, although the Emperor could speak at any time.

Roman Legions


The standard of a legion, the so-called aquila (eagle) was the very symbol of the unit's honour. The aquilifer who was the man who carried the standard was in rank almost as high as a centurion. It was this elevated and honourable position which also made him the soldiers' treasurer in charge of the pay chest. A legion on the march relied completely on its own resources for weeks. To make camp each night every man carried tools for digging as well as two stakes for a palisade. Apart from this and his weapons and armour, the legionary would also carry a cooking pot, some rations, clothes and any personal possessions. Weighed down by such burdens it is little wonder that the soldiers were nicknamed 'Marius' Mules'.

The necessity for a legion to undertake quite specialised tasks such as bridge building or engineering siege machines, required there to be specialists among their numbers. These men were known as the immunes, 'excused from regular duties'. Among them would be medical staff, surveyors, carpenters, veterinaries, hunters, armourers - even soothsayers and priests. When the legion was on the march, the chief duty of the suveyors would be to go ahead of the army, perhaps with a cavalry detachment, and to seek out the best place for the night's camp. In the forts along the empire's frontiers other non-combatant men could be found. For an entire bureaucracy was necessary to keep the army running. So scribes and supervisors, in charge of army pay, supplies and customs. Also there would be military police present.

Roman Navy


The Roman Navy was always considered an inferior arm and was strictly under army control. But already during the First Punic War, Rome proved itself capable of launching a fleet capable of checking an established naval power such as Carthage. Romans were no sailors though. They had no knowledge of ship building. Their ships were in fact built copying the example of captured Carthaginian vessels, combined with the expertise supplied by the Greek cities of southern Italy. Rather unexpected success in battle was obtained by a logical Roman idea that a warship was little more than a floating platform on which the soldiers could be brought into close contact with the enemy.

For this purpose they invented a huge boarding plank with a large spike on the end, which could be raised and lowerd like a drawbridge. Before battle it would be raised and then dropped onto an enemy's deck. The spike would embed itself into the oppnent's deck planking and the legionaries could board the enemy vessel across it. This elaborate contraption was called 'the raven' (corvus) This invention gave Rome five victories at sea. However, it is believed that it's weight, carried above the water line, also made the ships unstable, and could in rough seas cause them to capsize.



Pretorian Gaurd
The praetorians (cohors praetoria) were the imperial guard to protect Rome and the emperor. They were a crack unit whose members wore a special uniform and received double pay, in addition to the bribes which they came to be offered in the guise of bonuses for their allegiance. (Traditional teaching is that the praetorians were crack soldiers, chosen for their fighting ability. There are however those who claim that the Praetorian guard, rather than being a body of select men, were merely an army drawn from Italy, rather than from the provinces.)

When the emperor went on campaign, the imperial guard went with him. The institution of the cohors praetoria had originally been that of a group of men acting as bodyguards to a general, but Augustus - most likely drawing on the experience of Julius Caesar's murder - created a large personal army. Initially, the Praetorian guard consisted of nine cohorts of 500 men each. This was increased by emperor Caligula to twelve cohorts. Vitellius again increased their number to sixteen cohorts. Vespasian therafter reduced their number again to nine cohorts and Domitian increased them to ten cohorts of 500 men. A cohort was commmanded by a tribune, together with two equestrians. The guard itself was commanded by the praetorian prefects, who were equestrians rather than of senatorial rank. A sign of the exclusion of the mighty senate from certain key positions by the emperor.

Soldiers of the praetorian guard served only for sixteen years, a term much shorter that the service of an ordinary legionary. But after their sixteen year term they became so-called evocati, which ment that they were held back from discharge. Their service in the praetorians meant they either went on to perform specialist military duties or it simply qualified them either for service as centurions. These centurionates would usually be taken up in praetorian guard itself or in the city cohorts and the vigiles. Though some also took commands as centurions in the regular legion.