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Prologue:
It had been 4 years of bloodshed and conquest for Majorian, but 4 years that had seen the reconquest of Southern Gaul and Hispania. These four years had taken Majorian from the control of Ricimer in Rome to the very Southern tip of Hispania and now culminated in the construction of a fleet and the beginnings of a reconquest of North Africa. For such a long time North Africa had been the breadbasket of Rome and a very rich province to boot and for such a long time it had been of huge importance to keeping Rome and her empire fed. For 585 years it had been a Roman province from the Fall of Carthage to Scipio Africanus the Younger to its loss to the Vandals between 429 and 439 CE. He was based at the Portus Illicitanus in Eastern Hispania and it was here that he was gathering his fleet to make ready for war against the Vandals. It had only been 5 years since they themselves had sacked Rome under Genseric and now the Romans were ready for their revenge.

Majorian's desires to reconquer North Africa were by no means beyond the thoughts of Genseric who had been fearing this outcome since the conquest of Hispania began. He had devastated Mauretania for fear of a Roman invasion and even had his navy ready around the areas he feared they might land to help repel the Roman fleet. Majorian had already thrown the Vandals out of Hispania and, under Marcellinus, had reconquered Sardinia and Sicily. North Africa was the main prize, however, and it was here that Majorian turned his attentions in 460 AD as his next and most glittering conquest. But this was by no means certain and one event on a night in summer that year threatened everything he had worked towards.

It began as a spark, traitors paid by Genseric to try and prevent the Romans from leaving Hispania, but soon grew into a flame as the traitors moved against the Roman fleet. According to Hydatius, the Bishop of Aquae Flaviae in Gallaecia (North-Western Hispania), the traitors attacked the ships and seemingly attempted to set fire to them while they were still being prepared for the invasion:

'While Majorian was campaigning in the province of Carthaginiensis the Vandals attempted to destroy, through traitors, several ships that he was preparing for himself for a crossing against the Vandals from the shore of Carthaginiensis. However their treachery was discovered as they attempted to destroy the fleet and they were arrested.'

— Hydatius, Chronicle, 200, s.a. 460.

The plot was quickly discovered once they made their attempts to actually destroy the fleet and, although some damage was done to the ships, Majorian's dreams of conquest were still alive. A few days later the traitors were taken out and executed on the orders of the emperor, their deaths serving as a warning to any who would betray him for Genseric. So with this act, the execution of those men who had attempted to preemptively stop the invasion, Majorian turned his attention to Africa. Only a couple of months later the Roman fleet sailed out of the port and away from the Spanish coast towards Africa. What might have happened had the fleet been doomed on that fateful night? Might the invasion have been averted and all the events that followed it as well? What might have become of Majorian and Rome? Of Genseric and the Vandals? Or Ricimer?

Hydatius was a pessimist, he most likely believed that it was the end of the world and that all civilisation was coming to an end. He probably believed he was chronicling the end of days, an apocalypse he would never see after his death only 8 years after Majorian set sail in 460. But whether or not he thought that it was the end times, the remainder of his life would see a very real world end as Majorian, and Rome, was about to face demons from both inside and out.

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Note from the Author:

This TL is going to be more of a side-project for now so I won't update it all that frequently as compared to, say Union of the Two Crowns (I promise there is an update coming) or Golden Kings. I probably will give a second update at some point in the next couple of weeks but I'm going to leave you with this for now and let some discussion foster (I hope). I am sure someone has done a Majorian TL before around the same premise but I hope to, if not go a different route or take a different angle, examine and observe it in a quite different way. (Knowing me I'll end up doing it exactly how everyone else did it but oh well :))

I am very excited about doing this timeline because I do really quite love the end of the Roman Empire and the period just after it but I don't know huge amounts about it (any guidance would be appreciated so I don't mess up) so I'm quite intrigued to see where I'm going to go with this.

EDIT: Also I don't know but I have a feeling that someone else had a timeline similarly named to this so sorry if it seems like I ripped the name off- I honestly didnt! It was the first thing that came to mind. I swear.
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