A/N:
Hello all, back again with another chapter! This chapter will be looking at the lands around Western Rome and how they feel about Rome's resurgence. I hope everyone enjoys this newest chapter!
In Reaction to Victory
Following the Battle of Vesontio, word would quickly spread of how the Roman forces had won despite being abandoned by their allies and then outnumbered. This news would start creating an aura of invinsibility around the Rome. From this point on, the countless Germanic Kingdoms would not view as simply a formerly grand nation past it's prime, with territory ripe for the taking. Instead, the various kingdoms viewed Western Rome as a nation beginning its true ascent as a force not to be reckoned with.
The one that learned this lesson firsthand were the Burgundians.
Gundioc returned from the battle, damaged both mentally and physically. It was supposed to be his finest moment, defeating the Romans in one decisive battle. He had worked with his brother-in-law Ricimer in order to make sure the Romans lost, and that the emperor died. But not only did Majorian survived, but the Romans won the battle. It was rather a pyrric victory, but a victory none the less.
It was at this point Gundioc turned his attention North, to the Alemannic Kingdom. To him, Rome was now no longer the most viable option, as trying to do so would run his men into the ground. The Alemanni, on the other hand, were much smaller players in Western Europe. They were much easier targets for conquest, they weren't even a united people, more a loose confederation under the same banner. The Burgundians had already started to push the Alemanni out to get away from Majorian, soon it would be time to finish the job.
Another group that learned the wrath of the Romans were the Ostrogoths. They had tried to take all of Illyria, and paid dearly of it. In the days following the Romans crushing victory at Surmium, Valamir had been forced to step down as king due to his blindness. In his place, a new king was chosen.
Theodemir stepped up as the new king. He had come from the
Amal Dynasty, a distinguished group of Gothic nobles for centuries by this point. He had already ruled over a section of the Ostrogothic Kingdom alongside his brothers-in-law, Valamir and Videmir. Now he continued gaining prestige.
He knew that trying to attack Rome, especially now would be akin to suicide. Instead, he sent gifts of gold following the births of Anicia Juliana and Honorius. Theodemir hoped to eventually join his family to the Roman imperial family through marriage in order to create an alliance. This would come either through a marriage of Anicia Juliana to his son
Theodoric, or more preferably, Honorius to his daughter,
Amalafrida. He knew that marrying Amalafrida to the firstborn son, Theodosius would be the most ideal, but it was also one that he knew would not be accepted by the Romans. The spare heir might be a possibility with enough time though.
Regardless, he knew that right now, he could not afford to make the same mistake his predecessor had done. If the Ostrogoths were to survive they would need Rome as an ally, not an enemy.
The Alemanni were stunned at Rome's victories, they had not expected the old empire to be so strong. It was as if it had been reborn, like a phoenix under its new master. But whilst there was awe, there was also frustration, not so much at the Romans, but at what they had forced the Alemanni's way; The Burgundians. The Burgundians had begun pushing their way into Alemanni land, wanting to reestablish themselves to the direct detriment of the Alemannic Kingdom.
It was during this time that one of the smaller leaders of the Alemannic confederation would rise in prominance, a young man by the name of Barodur. He would had a love for Rome and it's society, wanting for his people to reach the heights of military and societal brilliance that Rome had had. He knew that he would have to repeat what Majorian had done in order to keep the Alemanni going. He studied many battles and tactics.
This would be the man that would come to reshape the Alemanni forever, turning it into one of the greatest Gernanic forces of the late 5th and Early 6th century. For now though, he was the man tasked to with protecting the Alemanni for Burgundian invasion.
The Franks would recieve word of the Victories of one Majorian not long after the Burgundians.
Childeric, King of the Salian Franks would find himself awed at Rome's refusal to die, despite being past it time. However, his reaction would differ in one key aspect. Instead of fear, what he felt towards Rome was respect. Childeric respected the tenacity that Rome had shown over the past 6 years. To Childeric, Rome was now a true challenge, worthy of respect. He had no plans to stop his conquests, but he now had to take more care in how he did so. He knew that when he fought Rome, nothing less than his absolute best would be required.
Both Visigoths (under
Theodoric II) and Suebi (led by
Richimund and
Frumar) were both joined in relief that they had not been victims of Majorians latest campaigns. They had already had to battle Majorian in the first few years of his reign, and had lost much of their power as a result.
But they were also angry, wanting the power they had in years prior, but being unable to do anything against the growing might of the emperor. If they lost to him at the early stages of his reign, when he was still technically a puppet, trying anything at this stage was completely idiotic. All they could do for the time being was wait, and bide time to strike.
The Eastern Roman Emperor Leo sat on this throne, reading over the letter recounting Majorian's victory.
As he did, a few emotions ran through his head. One of them was pride. Pride that Rome was still able to rise to the occasion and conquer, even after centuries of previous degradation. He hoped to eventually see both sides of the empire reunited as one glorious nation (preferably under his rule), now a possibility thanks to Majorian.
But the other major emotions were those of envy and inferiority. He and Majorian had ruled for roughly the same amount of time, yet Majorian had accomplished so much more than he had. Majorian had revived the Western Empire, turning it from a shadow of it's former self, back into the tenacious and mighty empire it had once been. Leo hadn't done much of note in his reign as emperor.
Many in his own court even refered to Majorian as the "Superior Emperor on an inferior Throne". This fuelled him, he wanted to prove himself as an effective emperor.
This is when Asper struck, egging on Leo to invade the West. Fortunately, Leo had enough sense to shut this idea down ( although he pondered it for a moment). Asper then backtracked, instead egging on the emperor to invade Dacia. It had been former Roman lands afterall. If he could reclaim it, he could say he was "restoring the empire", just like Majorian. Leo thought over this, as much as he hated giving in to Asper, his ambition eventually drove him towards this goal.
Leo was going to retake Dacia, and there was nothing that could stop him.
A/N:
And that is all for now. I wanted to do something different, focusing on the world around Western Rome. I would like to thank @Marius Herman for some of the ideas, thank you so much! Next Chapter will go into 464, as the divisions between the Ricimerians and Feroxians continue to fester. Thank you all for reading this series, let me know what you have to think, feedback is always appreciated. See you next Chapter!
