Roma Invicta - And Age of Iron and Rust Redux

Karolus Rex · Dec 16, 2015

Roma Invicta : Book One - An Age of Iron and Rust
By Karolus Rex

Preface

The Roman Empire was, at his peak, the greatest power the world had ever seen.

Founded by the twins Romulus and Remus, the city of the seven hills would grow under the guidance of the Kings, expand under the strong hand of the Senate and finally it would achieve magnificence under the Emperors.

Under Imperator Traianus the power of the Caesars and of Rome, would achieve unimaginable heights. But then the bright star of Rome, that had been growing for a thousand years, begun his descent.

Attack by plague, barbarians and civil wars, Rome, and her Empire, would suffer a century long time of chaos.

It's after this dark age in Roman history that our history begins.

It all begun because a young pagan Emperor, Iulianus, decided to destroy the ancient foe of Rome.

Persia.

And from moment own, the history of Rome, her Empire, and the World changed forever.

Karolus Rex · Dec 16, 2015

Hello everyone.

You probably don't have no idea who I am.

But some, at least, know my old TL [thread=360827]An Age of Iron and Rust[/thread].
.

Well this new thread is the new version of the TL.

The Redux version, will be written at the same time as my current TL - [thread=373374]The Prussia of The South - A Portuguese TL[/thread].

If you liked the first version of the TL, the I hope you might like the new Version Two.

starwarsfan · Dec 16, 2015

Cool, is the old tl on here as well? Wouldnt mind reading it.

Karolus Rex · Dec 16, 2015

The Rise of a New Emperor

Part One

After having won the civil war against his cousin, Constantius II, Flavius Claudius Iulianus Augustus, spent two years reasserting his grip in the Roman Empire.

Having the complete loyalty of the armies of the Western half of the Empire, especially the owns from Gaul, Iulianus decided to ensure the loyalty of the Eastern armies, by leading them and his Gallic troops into a successful war against Sassanid Persia.

The Imperial Field Army, the Comitatenses, comprised of almost seventy thousand soldiers from all corners of the Roman Empire, left Antioch and begun a march north towards the Euphrates.

On rout, he ordered the Armenians to gather their army, under the command of their King Arsaces, and to wait for further instructions from the Emperor.

Once the Imperial forces crossed the Euphrates river, they begun to move towards Carrhae to give the false impression, that they would move down the Tigris.

For that reason Iulianus ordered the division of his forces, with thirty thousand men leaving to wreck havoc in Media, under the command of his cousin Procopius and General Sebastianus, with the Armenians being ordered to aid them.

While the Roman-Armenian forces marched to Media, the rest of the Roman Army marched to the city of Circesium and from there they begun a march towards the capital of the Sassanid Empire.

Ctesiphon.

When the Sassanid King of Kings, found about the roman force marching against his capital, he ordered his all army to move towards them, leaving Media to be ravaged by the second Roman force.

At Ctesiphon, Iulianus managed to win a tactical victory against the Persians, but was unable to capture the city and to put his puppet, Shapur's brother Hormizd, in the Persian throne.

After the failed siege one of Iulianus most trust commanders, and one of his oldest friends, Salutius, advised the Emperor to retreat back into Roman territory.

Following the advice Iulianus begun his retreat, by just like Alexander, he decided to take a different rout than the one he had used first.

Instead to follow the river, he ordered a march into the Persian hearthland trying to reconvene with the forces under Procopius.

During the march north, the Roman and Persian forces face each other in battle near Maranga. There the Romans were able to repel the Persian attackers, but the Emperor was fatally wounded by a barbed spear that pierced his liver.

His old friend and personal physician, Oribasius of Pergamum, tried desperately to save him, but no hand of men would be able to save the Emperor.

On his final hours the Emperor, adopted Salutius and appointed him Caesar and heir to the Roman Empire. Salutius tried to refuse the honor, but his old friend would hear no further words on the matter.

An Emperor's word was law, even the one of a dying Emperor, as he remembered the men around him.

Now, knowing that the throne would be secure as he forced his General to swear allegiance to Salutius, Iulianus begun speaking of philosophy with his oldest friends, Salutius and Oribasius.

As he grew weaker, his mind begun to diverge, but in his last minutes he was able to keep clarity and spoke one last time.

"Don't make such long faces my friends, for today i will be in the Plains of Asphodel, with Hadrian and Aurelius."

The next morning, the 26 June 363AD, Saturninius Secundus Salutius, was declared Imperator and Augustus of Rome.

The first command of the new Emperor, was to keep the force march north.

After a week of skirmishes and forced marches, the two Roman forces converged near the town of Nineveh. There the Romans, numbering almost sixty thousand soldiers, stood firm against the Persian Army.

Shapur II knowing he can't defeat the Romans without incurring with tremendous casualties sends envoys to the roman camp.

Over the course of two weeks, a peace treaty his agreed upon.

The Status Quo Ante Bellum is keep, prisoners and other captives are to be traded in exchange for ransom.

In the end the treaty protected the interest of both Empires, but neither side went home happy.

War would eventually occur between the two superpowers of the ancient world, but for now both sides would keep the peace, for bigger threads loomed over the horizon.

Karolus Rex · Dec 16, 2015

starwarsfan said:
Cool, is the old tl on here as well? Wouldnt mind reading it.

Already add the link to the old TL on my second post.

Zireael · Dec 16, 2015

Wow, gonna subscribe to this one too, I liked the premise.

Salvador79 · Dec 16, 2015

He was a modest emperor, this Iulianus, if he deems himself to go to Asphodel, not to Elysium.

Agricola · Dec 16, 2015

Interesting. Perhaps we will learn a bit more about Neo-Platonism.

altwere · Dec 16, 2015

Oh! I'm glad that you are back.

Epimethius · Dec 16, 2015

Yes! Looking forward to it!

Karolus Rex · Dec 17, 2015

Zireael said:
Wow, gonna subscribe to this one too, I liked the premise.

Thanks

.

Salvador79 said:
He was a modest emperor, this Iulianus, if he deems himself to go to Asphodel, not to Elysium.

The last words were a piece of Roman Propaganda created a little after Salutius got into the Constantinople. In reality Iulianus didn't said any last words, except some random things about philosophy and other topics.

Agricola said:
Interesting. Perhaps we will learn a bit more about Neo-Platonism.

Iulianus religion won't survive his own death, but paganism will get a bust in some decades.

EDIT: Were you speaking of the Philosophical school? If you are they will flourish for a while but they won't have a very good ending in the Eastern Empire.

altwere said:
Oh! I'm glad that you are back.

Thanks

.

Epimethius said:
Yes! Looking forward to it!

Thanks

.

Karolus Rex · Dec 22, 2015

The Rise of a New Emperor

Part Two

After doing a tour in the Eastern Empire, Emperor Salutius arrives at Constantinople. There he would find an old companion Valentinianus.

Valentinianus, the son of the Illyrian General Gratian the Elder, came to the Emperor with a petition to be allowed to return to the army. Salutius accepts and nominates him to the command of a cohort on his personal guard.

It's in this position, that Valentinianus saves the Emperors life from an a murder attempt, during the Games held in honor of the new Emperor. An assassin, under the pay of Procopius, managed to enter the Emperor's quarters and almost stabbed in the chest. He would had succeed, had it not been for Valentinianus. He putted himself between the blade and the Emperor, getting hit on the shoulder.

The assassin was captured and eventually the payer was found out. Less than twenty-four hours later the Emperor ordered the Agentes in rebus to find and kill Procopius.

As a reward to Valentinianus, Salutius married his only daughter to his eldest son Gratianus. Having no other offspring and being a men well into his fifties, Salutius decided to think in the succession and adopted Valentinianus as his successor, as a way to ensure that his grandson would one day wear the Imperial Purple.

With the succession now ensured, Salutius sent his new Caesar to the Western Empire, to ensure the safety of the Gallic border.

In the second year of his reign, Salutius left Constantinople to tour the Italian peninsula and to receive an acclamation on the Senate of Rome. While the Emperor is in Illyria, Procopius, that managed to avoid the Agentes blades for over one year, bribes the two legions stationed in Constantinople and declares himself Emperor.

When the news reach Salutius, he quickly raises a force from among the Illyrian legions. and prepares a march back to Thrace. As news of the Emperors march reach the city the rebel legions, angered that the gold promised wasn't delivered, kill the usurper and sent his head to the Emperor, begging to be forgiven.

Desperate for soldiers to keep the Empire safe, Salutius forgives them, but he begin a plan to reform the Roman Army. The main objective would be to ensure that the loyalty of the Legions, that had been lacking for the last two hundred years, would return.

As the Emperor fights usurpers in the East, Caesar Valentinianus destroys an Alamanni army near Durocortorum and forces the survivors to join the Imperial Comitatenses.

Some months later, in March of 366AD, a Visigothic force crosses the Danube and begins to plunder Thrace. The Emperor quickly gathers as many legions as possible, and begin to push them to the north.

At the same time in the West, Valentinianus appoints General Jovinus as Magister Equitum and gives him orders to take the war into Alemanni territory.

Over the course of two years, both campaigns brought stability to the Roman borders, with the Alemanni being forced to become a Roman client and ordered to provide five thousand men to the Comitatenses.

In the East the Visigoths are pushed back further north, eliminating their gains over the past generation. But the Emperor ain't well. The sixty-one years old Salutius, begins to see his health fail and, his forced to stop the campaign. He signs a treaty with the Goths, forcing them to retreat some two hundred miles from the Danube, the sons of their Kings are sent to Constantinople and they are ordered to provide a cavalry force to the Comitatenses.

It was also around this time that the famous Slave Legions were born. Desperate for soldiers in the West, Valentinianus begins to recruit slaves from the Imperial Mines to the Legions. Those men would, in time, prove themselves hard soldiers, willing to endure the hardest of the privations and with a fanatical loyalty to their Caesar.

The next year another privation drops in Valentinianus shoulders.

In Britannia the roman garrison on Hadrian's wall revolts and allow the Picts to invade roman territory and at the same time the Scotti and the Attacotti invade from Hibernia, while Saxon and Frankish warships raid northern Gaul and southern Britannia.

General Flavius Theodosius is sent to Bononia, with orders to gather an army and to sail to Britannia. He sets sail in late April with eight thousand men, seven thousand foot and one thousand cavalry. Most of the men are either provided by vexillationes or by barbarian auxiliary units.

Over the course of the year Theodosius the Elder, manages to defeat the invaders in several engagements. The Picts are defeated in Eboracum and the Scoti retreat back to Hibernia when they saw the approaching Roman army.

In the south the Classis Britannica and the Classis Germanica had manage to defeat the Saxonic and Frankish raiders.

Karolus Rex · Feb 6, 2016

Sorry for the hiatus of this TL

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*****

The Rise of a New Emperor

Part Three

With the Picts forced out of Britannia, General Theodosius begins to plan an invasion of the lands of the Scotti in Hibernia, to stop their attacks on Britannia Secunda.

The men of the Comitatenses Britannicus, now eight thousand strong, are concentrated in Segontuim and, under the protection of the Classis Britannica, they set sail to northern Hibernia. When they arrive at the mouth of the river Ban-dea they begin the construction of a fort, to act as their base.

As the Romans fortify their position the local Scotti tribes, impressed and fearful of the roman force put aside their differences and unite to fight off the invaders.

But the brave Scotti are unable to defeat the romans and are completely crushed by a roman force under Tribunus Flavius Aurelius. After their defeat the remaining Scotti chieftains swore their allegiance to the Emperor and accepted the status of Foederati. As Foederati they are force to supply enough men to form three cohorts and sends their heirs to Londinium as hostages.

While Theodosius the Elder ends the first phase of the Roman Conquest of Hibernia, in the southern shores of Africa a revolt begins to hatch.

Enraged by the behavior of the Comes Africae Romanus, the son of a local Moorish Prince, named Firmus, begins to conspire to kill the corrupt Roman commander.

In the middle of all this trouble promises to appear on the Danubian border as Caesar Valentinian begins the construction of a series of fortifications on the lands of the Quadi, enraging Gabinius, their King.

On the following year, Theodosius the Elder, is called back to Galia by the Caesar. As a reward for his victories on the past two years the elderly General is promoted to the rank of Magister Peditum.

Far from the field of death in the West, in Constantinople Emperor Salutius begins to reform the Roman army. The Reforms of Salurius were a series of measures to ensure that the army stays loyal to the Emperor and not to their Commanders and Generals.

This Reforms, codified into the Bellicus to Order, destroyed the old army of Constantine. The diseased Emperor had concentrated the armies on the cities, deep inside the Imperium. While this ensured that the Emperor always had the army near him, it left the borders unprotected.

Because concentrating large number of men on the border, without ensuring their loyalty, would be both dangerous and stupid, this first set of measures were purely bureaucratic, but set the foundations of the roman army for the next decades.

The first, and probably more important, was the creation of a career course in the military, inspired by the old Cursus honorum and the Tres Militiae, named Tutela Bellum. On this code it was stated that every men, either centurion or legionary, are forced to serve for five years on the border Legions, the Limitanei, before being able to serve in the Comitatenses. Also as a way to stop the rise of a new generation of barrack Emperors, positions as commanders legions or higher was barred to the lower officers.

Future high ranking officers, would first serve three years in the Protectores. Then they would obliged to serve has cohort commanders, with the ranks of Protector, in the Limitanei for four years. After their service in the border legions, they could continue to serve in the Limitanei, but this time as Praefectus, for another four years. Those that chose to be transferred to the Comitatenses, would keep their rank, but would receive the title of Tribunus , for four years. At the end of their, three years as junior officers and eight years of service as cohort commanders, they would now be available to serve as legion commanders.

Another change was on the command structure. From that moment own hierarchy would be followed strictly, to the point where giving orders to units out of ones command, could end in severe punishment. This way, only the Emperor could command every unit in the Empire, since every officer was directly under his command.

Lindseyman · Feb 6, 2016

Karolus Rex said:
Sorry for the hiatus of this TL .

Another change was on the command structure. From that moment own hierarchy would be followed strictly, to the point where giving orders to units out of ones command, could end in severe punishment. This way, only the Emperor could command every unit in the Empire, since every officer was directly under his command.[/SIZE][/FONT]

Nice to have this back

That change if strictly adhered to will cause problems on a battlefield! Does it mean the legate of one legion can't give orders to another legion even if its command officers are dead?

Karolus Rex · Feb 6, 2016

Lindseyman said:
Nice to have this back
That change if strictly adhered to will cause problems on a battlefield! Does it mean the legate of one legion can't give orders to another legion even if its command officers are dead?

If one legate is death then the eldest Tribunus/Praefectus will take command of the legion and if he dies the second eldest will take command and so one...

But indeed this will cause some problems on the battlefield, but the plan of this reform isn't to improve the battle effectiveness of the legion, but to avoid the appearance of rivals. If a legatus orders another legion in battle and then they win that battle, there is a chance of him winning the loyalty of the other legion, besides of that loyalty of his own legion, with the new reinforcement on hierarchy that risk is cut.

Karolus Rex · Feb 9, 2016

A New Flame on the East

Part One

As the Roman Emperors tried to hold off both internal and external threats, in a Africa a spark was about to become a huge fire.

The tyrannic attitude of the Comes Africanus brought several men of the region to the extreme, and during a feast in Carthage the conspirators under the Moorish Firmus murderer the corrupt governor.

Fearing the response from Constantinople, the conspirators declare Firmus as the true Emperor of Rome and begin to bribe the soldiers stationed in north Africa.

When the news of the new usurper reach the western and eastern capitals, neither the Imperator nor the Caesar can do something to stop the rebellion. Quadi activity on the Danubian border forces the Western forces to stay on the Pannonian border, while the Eastern legions were needed on both Mesopotamia and Thracia binding the hands of both Emperors, leaving only the weak and unproven Legions of Hispania to crush the revolt.

And such Valentinian sent Theodosius to prepare the Hispanic soldiers to crush the African rebel.

As the victorious general left to Hispania the Quadi thread became truth. Under the iron rule of King Gabinius a mixed horde of Sarmatians, Goths and Quadi invaded the Pannonian region.

Desperate Valentinian sent horsemen to Theodosius ordering him to bring the Hispanic soldiers to Pannonia.

As the Western soldiers under the Magister Jovinus and the Caesar fought the Quadi host an event far to East would have tremendous effects on the Roman Empire.

On capital of the Sassanid Empire, Ctesiphon, the aged Shapur II passes away after a reign that started on the womb of his mother. His son, also named Shapur, was proclaimed as the King of kings of Iran and Aniran.

With the rise of Shapur the Third, the Sassanid Golden Era had ended.

ZhugeLiang · Feb 9, 2016

Interesting timeline. I'm guessing that this is going to be a Rome wank?

Karolus Rex · Feb 10, 2016

ZhugeLiang said:
Interesting timeline. I'm guessing that this is going to be a Rome wank?

Thanks

.

Na this timeline ain't going to become a wank, I hope. You will see the Roman Empire prosper for some time but things will go very bad for them on several points. They will survive but their are going to be as Roman as the Byzantine Empire was.

Karolus Rex · Feb 18, 2016

Feedback and commentary is greatly appreciated.

*****

A New Flame on the East

Part Two

Under the command of the Caesar the Western forces were able to throwback the Quadi invaders. But the western forces were not enough to strike them in their own ground. So as winter came, Valentinianus left to Mediolanum and left his forced under the command of the Magister Jovinus.

While in the Western capital, the Caesar begun to address the severe manpower shortages the Western Empire was facing. As winter begun to pass and no solution was found, Valentinianus decide to make a revolutionary move.

Conscripting slaves.

The thought of arming slaves was considered heresy by the roman aristocracy, whose minds still remembered about the Servile Wars, but, as pointed out the Caesar, conscripting slaves was no different than conscripting gladiators and that was a usual occurrence, in times of need.

As the Western Caesar tried to Empire intact, in the far east a King of Kings was having dream of conquest.

Shapur the Third had lived his all life under the shadow of his most famous predecessor, his father Shapur the Second. Determined to buy himself military glory, he turned his gaze to the Persian Empire's neighbors. To the West laid the Roman Empire, that while in descent still had enough power to crush his opposition and to invade Persia, as his father had found out. As things were Shapur would leave the Roman Wolf alone for the time being. To his south laid Arabia and his petty kingdoms, divided between Persia and Rome. On the East laid India and the Kushan and Gupta Empires, greater foes for the Persians to face on his own. That only left him with the Hephthalite tribes on the north.

Forced by the strength of his neighbors to stand his hand, the new King of Kings decides to bide his time.

In good time he did, for it was on year of 372CE that the Huns moved against the Goths of the Pontic steppe.

And their first prey were the Thervingi.

After the end of the winter, the army under General Theodosius arrived from Hispania after two years of recruiting and training. Some of the legions that came with the General had participated on the Mauretanian campaign of 371, but that had been just a show of force to ensure the loyalty of that African Province.

As things were Theodosius arrived with twelve thousand untested soldiers, helped ensuring the pacification of the border, but the Hispanics were too green for an advance against Quadia.

In Conspantinopolis, Salutius receives the envoys sent by the usurper Firmus. The African usurper recognizes the elder man as the senior Augustus and asks in turn to be recognize as Caesar in Africa. This deal would ensure peace in the Empire, but it would also put the grain storage's of the all Western Empire on the hands of a usurper. Determined to rule over all the Empire the Augustus as the envoys heads sent back to Carthage, as a clear message to Firmus.

With the West distracted on the Pannonian border, the Augustus puts the forces in Egypt and Syria under the command of Theodosius the Younger, the son of the Western General Theodosius the Elder, and orders him to retake and Africa and kill the usurper and his supporters.

While the Roman Empire engulfs himself into war, both civil and external, the Huns defeat the Thervingi in Western Scythia and move to attack the Tauric Peninsula. There they subjugate the Alan tribes and begin to raid the lands of the Greuthungi.

The Greuthungi King, Ermanaric, ambushes three Hunnic clans under the command of the warlord Rugila and forces the Huns out of the lands his people.

When the Gothic king returns to his hall, his son Randver accused the wife of his father Svanhildr, of infidelity and tells him that she tried to seduce him. Enraged by this he orders the death of his wife and has her trampled to by four horses. Then as the king drunk himself until oblivion her two half-brothers, Hamdir and Sörli, stab the king and leave him to die.

With the death of Ermanaric, the Goths lost a strong leader capable of fighting the Huns.

Their mistake would pay dearly on the years to come.