Caesars of the East

Caesars of the East
How a small idea changed the history of the Roman Empire forever...

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Chapter I: Ascension of the Berber Prince
And all the East hail to Lusius Quietus (870-874 AUC)

Chapter I, Part I

On the 9th of August 870 AUC, Emperor Trajan of the great and powerful Empire of Rome died of edema on the 9th of August, and was succeeded by his adoptive son, Hadrian. Hadrian was seen as great new emperor ready to stand against anything. But sadly the first little idea of his reign was the surrendering of the newly gained lands of Armenia and Mesopotamia back to their dreaded eastern enemies, the Parthian Empire. The new territories were governed by the Berber general, Lusius Quietus. Lusius on the other hand, wanted the new territories under his protection and command. The lowly plebians of the east praised him for his mighty figure and bravery against the Parthians. The general arrived in Trajaninopolis (Tarsus) on the 12th of September where an assassin, presumably ordered by the new emperor, attempted to take Lusius' life, by ambushing him in his quarters. The mighty general supposedly killed the assassin with his bear hands, before marching up to the Emperors villa that he was mourning in, demanding that Hadrian example what happened. In records that had been written by a legionnaire under Lusius, two legions clashed within the city and forced Lusius to flee the city back to Ctesiphon, where he proclaimed himself Emperor of Mesopotamia, claiming suzerainty over the Roman provinces of Babylon, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Armenia and Syria. All the armies within these provinces ceded his suzerainty over the eastern provinces, and all begun to March for the key cities of Byzantion, Alexandria and Jerusalem, all of which controlled key points of the Roman trade and military.

The crisis within the empire worsened when the Senators begun to side with Lusius, seeing him as a honorable and brave warrior, able to defend the Near East from the Parthian menace. The Parthians themselves, fearing the massive legions that had mustered under Lusius, decided to wait for a better time to attack Ctesiphon. Lusius and his legions attacked other Roman armies and were able to win sieges of the cities of Acre, Tiberias, Antioch, Trajanopolis and Antioch in Asia Minor, by late 873. The successes of Lusius were turned upside down at the battle of Alexandria, where tired Mesopotamian legionnaires battled the tough Roman army of the emperor, forcing Lusius to order retreat back to the Sinai, hoping to draw Hadrians army into the mountains. Hadrian though, had outsmarted his plan and sailed up the coast to Caesarea, their only port remaining in the Levant. From here Imperial armies landed and retook most of the Levant from the pretender, and by mid-874 the city of Antioch had fallen to the armies of Hadrian. Lusius however, had marched his other armies all the way to the coast of Asia Minor, where he sieged the city of Miletus, allowing him to move his navy here and launch an attack on Greece.

Even through all of his successes, Lusius could not defend from armies of Greece that had crossed the Hellespont and absolutely sweeped up all of Mesopotamian Asia Minor. The losses of this territory were not great, but Lusius had to flee to Edessa, where he formed a large army out of former garrisons to take down the approaching Emperor, currently biting up his lands in Judaea. Hadrian returned to Trajanopolis and wept for his predecessor and all his greatness that was collapsing before his own eyes. Lusius also entered the city and a second stand off occurred, ending in the destruction of the cities centre and walls. The massive battle led to Lusius mortally wounding Hadrian in chaos. Hadrian fled to his villa and became ill quite rapidly, forcing the Emperor to flee back to Rome. This opening allowed for Lusius to hold his stand in the East. Lusius returned to Ctesiphon in late December. His legionnaires praised him. The peasants worshipped him like a god. And all who saw him proclaimed: Hail the Caesar of the East!!!
 
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And thus began the Imperium Orientem (874-882 AUC)

Chapter I, Part II

The state of Rome was shattered. Newly crowned Emperor Hadrian against the Berber pretender, Lusius Quietus. The Emperor proceded in late 874 to retake Judaea but failed horribly in the foul battle of Tiberias. The Emperor rode on with 7,000 ready Egyptians, but was absolutely outmatched by Lusius' pool of troops he had conjoined from all over Mesopotamia and Syria, numbering over 10,000. This battle did not go unnoticed as in the thick of battle, Hadrians horse was cut down and he was slain viciously by an incoming flank of Mesopotamian cavalry. Once the Senate heard of this they agreed that Lusius' should be proclaimed Emperor, but with the sheer distance between Rome and Judaea, Lusius didn't hear from the Senate until his arrival at Napoli in 877, after he conquered Alexandria in 875 and Carthage in 877. The Emperor was greeted by a diplomat from Rome proclaiming: "Mighty Lusius, as you have killed Hadrian, heir to Trajan, we now see that you are the true Caesar. People fear that our state could be shattered, even though we have accomplished so much, and that you could guide Rome, as the greatest Caesar who ever lived."

Lusius was pleased and entered Rome on the 3rd of March 877 and proclaimed the Emperor of Rome on Capitoline Hill. The Roman state was shattered from this civil war with the majority of Anatolia, Syria and Judaea up in flames because of constant battles and razing. The Roman Senate really elected Quietus to have an emperor brave enough to keep Ctesiphon, allowing for an opening for a renewed invasion of Persia. Hadrian was not going to do this. He planned surrender the territories in fear of the indefensibility. But they could be defended, with enough legions and walls, the plains of Mesopotamia could stand strong under Roman rule.​

The Roman Senate provided him with a large amount of diplomats to send around the empire, which acknowledged his status as the new 15th emperor of Rome. With Rome secured under Lusius set out by ship first to Anatolia, where his loyal troops had defeated an unambiguous collection of legions at Callipolis, from where the armies set out for Byzantium, the key trading port of the Black Sea trade. When Lusius arrived at Byzantium, he sent copies of the imperial letter to the defenders and attackers, forcing them to both give in and acknowledge him as emperor. However, some rogue legions left over from Hadrians army in central Anatolia still defied his rule. As the imperial letter was sent out and received by all the commanders by 880, from Mauritania to Britainnia. He and his great army separated in Anatolia and divided into smaller armies which chased down those still loyal to Hadrian, finalizing his title with the destruction of the last remnant of Hadrians army at Antioch on the Meander, in the 18th of February, 880 AUC.

Finally with the entire empire stable once again, Lusius Quietus returned to Rome on the 14th of September 881, after to touring the Near East and securing Roman forts and cities. When he returned he had an ambitious plan. He wanted to move the capital east. Preferably to Corinth or Antioch, so the eastern gains could be centralized and the planned invasion of Persia could be better contained and planned. The senate denied this plan but he still moved a large portion of the standing Roman armies to Antioch and Ctesiphon, preparing for a probable Parthian invasion. As so it came. On the 2nd of March 882, upon Lusius arrival at the port of Antioch, the Parthians declared war.
 
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On the 9th of August 870 AUC, Emperor Trajan of the great and powerful Empire of Rome died of edema on the 9th of August
Redundii :p

Keep going, looks interesting.
 

Stolengood

Banned
A more interesting POD would be Trajan living a year or two longer and actually making Lusius Quietus his heir. Hadrian was only made Trajan's heir after his death, with the help of Trajan's widow; even though Hadrian was a relative, it doesn't seem like Trajan especially favored him as a successor.

What would be interesting in that case, then, is how a Berber Emperor would be taken, and how Quietus would deal with the people of Judaea -- hopefully, in a smarter manner than Hadrian did IOTL.
 
A more interesting POD would be Trajan living a year or two longer and actually making Lusius Quietus his heir. Hadrian was only made Trajan's heir after his death, with the help of Trajan's widow; even though Hadrian was a relative, it doesn't seem like Trajan especially favored him as a successor.

What would be interesting in that case, then, is how a Berber Emperor would be taken, and how Quietus would deal with the people of Judaea -- hopefully, in a smarter manner than Hadrian did IOTL.

I don't want to turn this into a discussion (since it's someone else's timeline) but I'm not entirely sure who Trajan would pick as a successor. I'm unsure if he would pick Quietus, given his Berber background and the possible misgivings the Roman aristocracy might have about that-but I'm not too sure on Hadrian either. I still find Hadrian to be likelier (nor do I really think Trajan was going to name a successor within the next 2 years).


Anyway, an....interesting start to the timeline to say the least. I'm not entirely sure Quietus would (or if it would be a good idea for him to) declare himself emperor of Mesopotamia-that only makes him look now like a foreign king trying to impose his will on the Roman empire (possibly a la the Palmyrenes), which although it may not affect his standing with the legions, would probably alienate the senate and provide a perfect opportunity for someone in the west to declare himself emperor with their backing. He could do well enough just declaring himself Roman emperor from Ctesiphon and just using that as a base to regroup and march west (like he does do ITTL).


Other than that tidbit, this is off to a great start.

What would be interesting in that case, then, is how a Berber Emperor would be taken, and how Quietus would deal with the people of Judaea -- hopefully, in a smarter manner than Hadrian did IOTL.

To be fair to Hadrian, he did solve Roman problems in Judaea essentially for good...eventually.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
...did you say "with his bear hands"?
Huh. Must have kept the animal skin from when he was a standard bearer?

The right to Bear Arms.
The right to bear Bear Arms.
Bearly capable.
I'll stop now.
 
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Parthian Invasion of Mesopotamia (882-884 AUC)

Chapter I, Part III

On the 2nd of March 882 the Parthian king Arsaces XLIV attacked the city of Ctesiphon and begun to siege the city, careful not to destroy any key parts of the city, hoping to reclaim the city as the capital. Lusius had just arrived at the city of Antioch and quickly coalsced all of his legions in the Near East and had them all stationed at Edessa on the 6th of September 882. The armies quickly conjoined under the single leader, Emperor Lusius. The now formidable force challenged the Parthians at the battle of Seluecia, the former Hellenic city that was overshadowed by Ctesiphon. The city collapsed into chaos and hundreds of peasants were killed. Before the Emperor had even reached the gates of his own city, he had lost nearly half his men, now with his army only numbering around 9,000. The Parthians had a superior force awaiting him outside so he had to withstand the siege while the army of Eygpt headed for Ctesiphon, not arriving until December 882.​

Finally when the Egyptian legionnaires arrived, the city was almost in ruins after revolts left the city shattered. The Egyptians and Lusius could only just beat back the Parthians, as the armies had lost enough men already and their morale was low. The Parthians were to return a week later and fight with Lusius once more. Their king, Arsaces XLIV, had already fled the scene of the battle and took up hold in a massive camp a few kilometers east of Ctesiphon. The battle was only one because of a massive defensive operation set up around the city while the Parthians had gone. The Roman archers were needed more than ever and did that job fantastically, holding of a Parthian assault for almost 2 days until Arsaces returned and told his troops to abandon the siege and head straight for the Levant. The Romans were weak and could not put up a fight against the Parthians again. So for almost a year the Parthians were uncontested and raided most of Mesopotamia, Armenia and the Levant until Lusius returned to Antioch in late 883.

The Parthian menance could not be dealt with pure numbers, the Romans had to use supreme tactical genius to destroy the kings army. So Lusius devised a genius plan, he would kill off all of the raiding parties and allow their captains to survive, allowing them to warn the Parthians and scare Arsaces off giving the Romans some breathing room. So on the 2nd of December 883, the armies of Antioch split apart and begun to kill off Parthian raiding armies, one by one until the 21st of July 884 where Arsaces abandoned the siege of Jerusalem and headed straight for the city of Antioch. Roman spies intercepted the army and warned Lusius to regroup at Antioch before Arsaces arrived. Finally on the 5th of August 884, the armies of Lusius and Arsaces met face to face. Arsaces, scared for the safety of his large army and his own life, decided to offer surrender. He and the Parthian army would leave and be spared in exchange for peace. Lusius agreed to this and sent Arsaces army off with a Roman escort to the borderlands in Assyria where they would rejoin their brothers in Parthian lands. Lusius had been prepared for this and sent an assassin to kill the Parthian King and shatter their state, which in turn succeeded but the death was blamed on his captain, a young landowner from Italia. Was one mans life worth an empire? No. Lusius let the Parthians imprison the captain and let his soldiers return to Ctesiphon. Lusius regretted this and hated himself for doing this. He proclaimed to the senate one day he would storm the Parthian capital and drink with the man, and proclaim the Emperor of Rome, the king of Persia.
 
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Expansion into Arabia (884-890 AUC)

Chapter I, Part IV

Arabia, the unknown frontier, was unwanted by all empires because of its arid desolate climate. But Emperor Lusius had noticed its economical values, being an area to secure trade with the east, and slaves for the growing empire. So after peace was declared with the Parthians in 882, the emperor a small army marched to Ezion Geber, a small Jewish settlement right on the edge of Roman lands, and also a key port for trade to Africa and India. The army built up on its training here for a matter of months. Lusius then explored south and subjugated tens of villages and rounded up hundreds of slaves, many of which were admitted into his army. By 886, he had reached the walls of the city of Jeddah, one of the largest known cities in Arabia. The city withstood a year long siege until its fall in March 887. The cities conquest was known to the inhabitants of the city as the White Storm, denoting the Romans pale appeareance, even though their Emperor was a Romanised Berber, looking very similar to an Arab himself. With the fall of Jeddah, the Emperor exploited the slave business and introduced the Roman Gods and lifestyle to the Arabs which was actually taken on fairly nicely as their lifestyle allowed them to centralise and become more rich. The problem was Christian Copts from Egypt who immigrated there and established firm Christian communities in Arabia. The Christian influence led to the revolt of 889, where a christianised Arab warlord, called Dāwud ibn Saleh, who named himself after King David of Israel.

Dāwud first appeared at Jeddah where he killed the Roman governor, Marcus Parthius. Lusius immediately reacted to the situation and sent his entire Arabian force to Jeddah to subjugate this rebel. The armies of the rebels and Romans met at the small town of Mecca where the warlord had built himself a hold. Lusius demanded his surrender but he did not comply so with the raising of a sword, thousands of men fell into a bloodbath that lasted for days until finally Dāwud came out of his hold and rode on Lusius, actually stabbing him in the leg in a dogfight they came into. Eventually the emperor jumped on Dāwud, who was in his camel, and hit him to the ground, breaking his skull and killing him instantly. Dāwud's supposed successor and brother Tariq took his Arab Christian brothers south to Yemen where they sought a home away from the Romans. Thousands of Arabs died during the year long civil war and Lusius was displeased with the Arabs. He gave his son, Traianus Quietus, whom he named after his former emperor, the title of Governor of Arabia. And with that Lusius returned to Ctesiphon, angry and with hate against the Christians. They had nearly shattered a new territory before they had settled it. Another persecution? No, he was going to make them suffer worse than before.
 
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Lusius the Christian Slayer (890-896 AUC)

Chapter I, Part V

Lusius was in angee with the rebellious Christians, trying to restore liberty and freedom to praise their God. The Emperor, on the other hand, wanted to crush these followers of Christ to help save his glorious empire. So on the 1st of July 890 AUC, Lusius decreed that Christianity would be banned and all followers executed by the cross, like their puny prophet. Traianius, still governing in Arabia, was able to expell almost all the Christians from his province, Arabia Maior. The Christians in Arabia were said to of fled to the tribal kingdom of Tariq ibn Saleh, which grew out of its small capital, Dāwudmadīn, which was known as Davidopolis in Latin/Greek. With the growth of Tariqs kingdom, Traianus feared a powerful Arab rebellion, and without his fathers permission, allowed Christians back into Roman Arabia. This pleased Tariq who sought that Traianus would be a good emperor. On the otherhand, the Christians across Europe rebelled and were crushed over a two year period known as the Quietus Persecutions. Lusius was proclaimed by some historians and politicians as bad of a Christian hater as Nero. Their differences were that what Lusius did, was accepted because of his reasoning.

By 892 the Christians had all but been pushed to the fringes. Many fled to Parthia and Germania and converted leaders there, allowing for some states to be completely converted. Entire cities had even been destroyed for their resistance. Judaea had suffered the most but still remained mainly Christian and Jewish, no matter how hard the Romans played. With his work done, Lusius retired back to Antioch and oversaw the construction of the great Lusian walls of Antioch, abling it to defend from future sieges without expansion for centuries. The Emperor did not see the Christian defensive that would come next. On the 12th of October 892 the Emperor was attacked by a Christian assassin who failed and was killed by the Praetorian guard. This was not all, an amassed army of Copts and Arabs stormed Judaea, hoping to save the holy land from the Roman menance. The city of Caesarea was once again a changing point in history. The army of Christians was slain to the last man like the Spartans at Thermopolyae. The Emperor saw the honour in these people and finally left them be, but still made public pratice illegal, trying to curfew the expansion of "the word of God".

The Christian populace was relieved with Lusius' rage finally over, but some still did not trust the man. A secretive order that called themselves the Gaurd of St Peter, a Christian sect devoted to killing all that threatened their religion. The majority of Christians saw this as anti-Christ like and was condemned as a heresy and cult. Still, many devout Christians joined. While Lusius travelled and implored the Roman Empire, this new cult was planning to end his life permanently. Many in the cult saw Traianus as a threat but the wise Patriarch of the Order saw that he could implore and save Christianity, sparing them throughout the persecution. The Christians plotted, and waited. The day came in 896 where Lusius was sailing from Cyprus to Corinith by ship and was intercepted by a small Christian pirate fleet, which sunk his ship with Greek fire. Lusius was aware of the pirates, so he and the Praetorian gaurd jumped into the waters of the Mediterraean. He was unable to swim for a prolonged period of time and is said to of been lost to the sea. His death was as heroic as his throning. The Caesar of the East was dead. The Emperor of the Arabs would rule.
 
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Chapter II: Continue Eastward!
Hail the New Caesar of the East (896-905 AUC)


Chapter II, Part I

As of the recognition of Lusius Quietus' death, his son, Traianus Quietus (Trajan), became Emperor Trajan II, the 16th Emperor of Rome. His first change as Emperor was to create a legalisation of all beliefs within Rome, allowing Christians to return into the boundaries of Rome. He also sent troops down into Southern Arabia to try and quell the Bedouin before Tariq decided to crusade against his brothers. The emperor himself left Roman territory with his large Arab legions. The Bedouin put up almost no fight and were completely subjugated by the end of 897. Once his Arabian conquests had been completed, he moved his armies back to Jeddah, where he left his force and sailed north to Rome, where he planned to confront the Senate on future conquests in Europe. Surprisingly, a Germanic force of 15,000 Chatti tribesman attacked Augusta Trevorum and pillaged the Rhineland. Lusius was unaware of the invasion force until his legions arrived in Rome, where the Senate informed him of the approaching invaders. Trajan stood up against this invasion force and sent only his finest men across the Alps into Gaul, now a battleground of Germanic tribesmen and legionnaires. The Roman army under the general Amulius Quietus (Trajans adopted son, who was a young Gallo-Roman general), quickly extinguished the main forces of Chatti at the battle of Lugdunum which the Chatti's conferdate leader "enter name here" was killed. Trajan was pleased with the legions work and personally went by building a monument to them in Lugdunum in 899. Prior to that, the legions swept northward to Augusta Trevorum and were able to push most of the Chatti behind the Rhine. However in August 898, the new head of the Chatti confederacy asked for peace and a foedarti status within their occupied territory, approximately the entire region of Treveri (OTL northern Alsace-Lorraine).

The Emperor had bigger problems with the arising of a Vasconic revolt which was put down between 899 and 902. The Vasconic revolt was led by Oroitz the Fearless, who died in battle with Roman forces in the Pyrenees, a similar death to the legendary King Leonidas of Sparta. The Emperor himself returned to Rome and appointed Amulius as his co-ruler. He also arranged his adoptive son to marry Julia Acilius, daughter of statesmen Marcus Acilius, who in turn was the son of Consul Manius Acilius Rufus. The marriage was strategic as her father had control over a large portion of the Senate and a marriage such as this could help improve relations with the Senate, which had come to dislike Trajan for his distractive wars in the East and his disregard of the rising power of Christianity. Some actually speculate that he converted to Christianity after his fathers death but he denied all claims, claiming to follow his ancient Berber gods, as well as the Roman gods. With the finality of the Senates approval, the Emperor set out on a amassing of troops, for one reason only. Parthia was weak. And Rome was getting hungry for land.

His recruitment skills were exceptional after his fathers contributions to the army made the generals adore him and thus his son. Trajan II wanted to live up to his namesake and knew exactly how. The Parthians had been weakened with the death of King Arsaces XLIV in 893 and the rising of the somewhat more reliable King Arsaces XLV. The new Arsaces had focused in rebuilding the Parthian military and securing lands in Afghanistan, before he started a new war plan against the Romans. Sadly for him, the Romans were double prepared and the war preparations were complete in 905. The Parthians were about to strike Ctesiphon in late May but we're hit by two Roman armies routing from the west. The Parthians held on and battled off the legions over a period of weeks before they could finally get to Cteisphons walls. Little did they know that a Roman army of 20,000 was waiting just downstream at the site of Babylon, where they took their respects to the former glorious city and marched for the Parthians. The war had just begun.
 
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