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



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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