Roman Empire
Italy
Rome
August, 22 1780 CE
2100 hrs

Lust

Gluttony

Envy

Greed

Wrath

Sloth

Pride

The seven sins of man. This is a world of sin, dark and terrible sin. Sin not of individuals but of nations. Of leaders…

Every nation has its heart and soul. And the Roman Empire was no exception. The great city of Rome dominated the life of the nation. It was the heart that pumped blood everywhere throughout the body. It was here that the great centers of arts, architecture, commerce, trade, science, and religion were located. Here great minds and great leaders congregated to discuss, theorize, to formulate, to plan, and to plot.

Here was the center of power. And the center of sin.

Perhaps no man embodied these sins more than Andronikos Komenous.

Lust. Oh yes he was quite familiar with that one. People spoke of how he had bedded the wife of every nobleman in Rome and deflowered their daughters.

Gluttony. Hmm…he was no glutton. At least not for food. He was a glutton for other things. Knowledge and power namely. His library was crammed with books from not only every corner of the Empire, but also every corner of the world. As for power….ah yes power. He courted contacts carefully, building himself a web of influence and control.
Envy….ah yes. He was envious. Envious of the success of others. Why had he not been distinguished with the honor of commanding the armies and leading them to battle? Why were others granted ownership of provinces, and cities, while he remained in Rome? He rankled at the injustice of it.

Greed…without a doubt. He was greedy. Greedy for money and power. Though in his eyes they were one and the same. He wanted to rule and fill his coffers with wealth. He wanted to control the lives of people, he wanted to decide whether they lived or died by his hand. Oh yes….how he wanted power. The Imperial Throne itself perhaps….

Wrath…not normally. In most cases he was a calm and level headed man, rarely giving in to his baser emotions as lesser men would. However sometimes when his ire was raised, people spoke of how his control would slip and they would see a look in his eyes that promised death. This happened very rarely however.

Sloth…he was not lazy. But he did love his luxuries. He liked his wine and his women. Preferably both at the same time. He enjoyed a life of comforts and pleasures and had no qualms of it. Especially if there was some fine Babylonian opium involved.

Pride…he was a proud man. And with good reason. He was a handsome man, with remarkably good looks, something which no doubt aided him in his quest to bed and deflower every maiden in the Empire. He was skilled and capable in all manners be it political, administrative, financial, or military. His mind was sharp and he was able to see methods and routes that no one else could. He was a calculating and logical man and prided his intellect highly. After all did not the Emperor himself listen to his words? He had every reason to be proud.

Andronikos Komenous smirked as he walked through the darkened streets of Rome. The Emperor had requested his presence; it would not do to be late.

Emperor Manuel Komenous looked out the window and sighed. Once again he was forced into the unpleasant position of reigning in his cousin’s excesses before he ended up ruffling one too many feathers.

And there was of course the matter of his cousin’s power and ambition which he was quite well aware of.

But now he had found a perfect way to remove Andronikos from the picture. There was a war brewing in Central America. The Aztec’s and Mayan’s who had warred for centauries were at each other’s throats yet again. What better way then to be rid of him then by sending him into a war zone? So many fatal things could happen in a war zone…

Various nobles and generals had been agitating for intervention against the Maya. He had been petitioned time and time again with various arguments, ranging the usage of Mayan territory as a military base to project power in the Caribbean and spread Roman influence in the region. Andronikos too had petitioned him to intervene proposing the construction of a canal through Panama to ease the passage of ships. Merchants had eagerly backed the idea and now he had little choice but to consent.

The idea of sending most of the Imperial Fleet to the far side of the world, leaving the home waters relatively unprotected was disturbing to him. The Spanish and English were predominant naval powers having to defend colonies across the world. If either of them decided to force their way into the Mediterranean he would have little to stop them. And then there was the rapidly growing power of Germany as well, after having devoured Russia, and more than doubled in size it loomed over Rome primarily a land power, yet Roman spy planes had spotted a German aircraft carrier with escorts moving into the North Sea.

English battleships too had been sighted in the Atlantic by Roman destroyers. However that was not quite worrisome since England was locked in a war with Japan on the other side of the world and thus regular naval movements were understandable.

What was worrisome on the other hand was the complete and utter lack of any Spanish naval movements. Not a ship had been seen by the spy planes, patrol vessels, or satellites. The same was true of the Israeli’s.

And now despite these ominous signs he was being forced into sending a significant naval, air, and land force to the far side of the Atlantic. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. At least after the end of this he would be well and rid of Andronikos.

The thought cheered him up greatly.

A map of the world:

ROCX World Map as Rome

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/6080/romanempiredc0.th.jpg (http://img263.imageshack.us/my.php?image=romanempiredc0.jpg)

Mayan Empire
Yuctan Peninsula
Chichen Itza
May 4, 1780 CE
0100 hours

The capital of the Mayan Empire was still slumbering when the Roman Imperial Navy entered the Caribbean and slipped past Hispaniola and Cuba, both Mayan territories with no alarm being raised. The fleet continued until it was a mere few kilometers off the coast of Chichen Itza. There was no fear of attack, the Roman fleet was large with almost a dozen of the AEGIS cruisers forming around the aircraft carrier in the center. The Mayans too had no navy, and indeed no technology capable of even making a dent in the formidable fleet.

From aboard the aircraft carrier the IRNS-Cornelius Sulla, Andronikos gazed in the direction on the city, before smirking and nodding to the admiral standing next to him on the deck.

The massive bombers took of taxiing down the runway of the carrier with their deadly payloads. The sound of them thundering over head was what first alerted the people of Chichen Itza that something was very wrong. Of course by then it was too late.

Explosions tore through the ancient city, leveling the enormous monolithic stone temples and places. The skies lit up with flashes and the ground shook as the deadly bombs rained down on the city.

The wooden dwellings of the poorer sections of the city rapidly caught fire and turned into a massive firestorm that swept through the slum areas burning alive thousands who were trapped in the conflagration.

The bombers continued their terrible work leaving much of the city smoldering rubble. The military districts of the city were particularly devastated with large portions of the local garrison dead. The people breathed a sigh of relief believing the worst was over. They were mistaken.

Jet fighters screamed through the air and began strafing and bombing the forces that were beginning to mass south of the city. The cannon fire tore through the Mayan ranks leaving entire regiments annihilated and crippling much of the Mayan army.

The next stage of the assault began an hour later. The transport craft silently glided closer to shore under to cover of the darkness. The transports hit the beach with a thump and the Imperial Marines hastily and silently disembarked.

Advancing inland they came across the Mayan forces on the outskirts of the city. Gunfire blasted down the shocked and unprepared Mayan troops. Hundreds fell mown down by a scythe of deadly metal. Bullets tore through bodies spraying blood; the lifeless corpses thudded to the ground spreading redness on the green grass.

The Mayan infantry finally managed to find their wits and return fire few bullets found their targets and it only served to double the ferocity of the Roman attack.

The battle lasted till dawn. There were no survivors.

Mayan Empire
Yuctan Peninsula
South of Chichen Itza
May 4, 1780 CE
1300 hours

Roman tanks blasted a path through an Mayan infantry division. Machine guns clattered and shells screamed through the air. One of the tanks opened fire on the retreating Mayan forces and the ground opened up in a gout of fire as a dozen men were blasted into charred pieces.

Behind the tanks came waves of cavalry. After viewing the Mayan terrain it was decided that the best way to keep the area supplied would be to use horses. The Roman foot troops had apparently decided that the horses could just as easily double up as transport.

The thundering hooves smashed through broken bodies leaving a bloody mess in their wake. The Mayan troops desperately fled south into the jungles many tossing their packs and guns away in order to run faster.

The Mayan armies had been thoroughly routed and the city was in Roman hands.

That was when the massacres began.

Groups of Roman soldiers went door to door through the city dragging out men women, and children. The women and children and the elderly were summarily shot and their bodies dumped in large ditches outside the city. The men were grouped into work gangs and set to work building fortifications for the Romans.

The Roman engineers set to work demolishing the ancient Mayan temples and palaces, and clearing out the rubble. Radar towers and airfields were erected and a fortified compound built.

At the end of that week almost nothing remained of the ancient city and its people.

This scene was repeated all over the other cities of the Mayan Empire as entire cities were annihilated with the populations fleeing into the jungle, being massacred, or enslaved.

Within a mere three weeks the Mayan Empire ceased to exist.

The former Mayan Empire:

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/559/romanmayalandee1.th.jpg (http://img395.imageshack.us/my.php?image=romanmayalandee1.jpg)

Roman Occupied Mayan Territories
Canal Security Zone
June 13, 1784 CE
1900 hours

Andronikos snarled in frustration as he read the latest missive from Rome. Four bloody years. Four long years….and the canal was no sooner to completion than before.

He had contacted Rome innumerable times informing them the entire region was secure and stable. That there was no danger at all. Yet Rome refused to dispatch the necessary engineers and machinery for him to construct the canal.

His men and engineers had done what they good, the land had been cleared of the jungle, the marshes drained and the roads and railroads constructed. All the infrastructure was in place. All that was lacking was the canal itself.

In the first year or two almost every day he had sent messages to Rome demanding the release of the necessary resources to construct the canal, he had his supporters in Rome put pressure on the Emperor as well….but the damn man wouldn’t budge.

He insisted that the Roman engineers and resources were needed for more pressing and urgent matters in the Empire itself.

Now he sent a message to Rome once every other month. Less actually. He knew better now. Manuel had no intention of the canal every being constructed. He would rather keep Andronikos rotting away in this backwater, far away from the center of Imperial power, so that he would never be a danger to the throne.

Even when Manuel’s son was born, and Andronikos had applied to be relieved of his command so that he could visit Rome his request was denied. He was told that his skill and expertise were required for the “vital role of defending Rome’s territory in the New World and preserving its power and influence in the barbarian lands of the America’s”

He smiled bitterly. So this was his fate. To rot in an Imperial backwater and never set foot in Rome again. He had been effectively exiled. And here he would stay and here he would die if nothing changed.

Roman Empire
Carthage
September 30, 1790 CE
2300 hours

The nuclear plant in Carthage was old…but not too old. It was in the middle of its life span and no one expected anything to go wrong.

That was why when the sound of an explosion was heard in the middle of the night in Carthage no one suspected the nuclear power plant as the culprit and instead assumed that it was an attack by one of Rome’s enemies. Spain most probably. By the time the real source had been found it was too late.

The nuclear plant suffered a catastrophic meltdown, the cause was unclear. But the impact was devastating. The reactor exploded and began spewing radioactive particles. Fires spread engulfing the plant and spread further reaching in the city. The firefighters that rushed scene fought the blaze for days before it finally burnt itself out.

Every fire fighter in the city ended up dying of acute radiation poisoning along with several thousand of the cities civilians. The radiation particles were found to have been deposited hundreds of miles around the city, and even far into the Sahara.

An investigation was launched and the catastrophe was found to have been caused by the negligence and incompetence of several officials who were duly punished. As far as the Roman Imperial government was concerned the matter was closed. No one expected anything to come of it.

Of course they were wrong.

Roman Occupied Mayan Territories
Canal Security Zone
October 1, 1790 CE
1100 hours

Andronikos looked at the message in disbelief. He could scarcely believe its contents.

News of the disaster in Carthage had reached the Roman forces in the Mayan Territories day following the meltdown. The eternity of his forces consisted of troops recruited from North Africa, and a good percentage of them hailed from Carthage itself.

He had sent a message to Rome requesting that his troops be redeployed to North Africa and his forces granted leave to visit their families and homes.

The response had shocked him.

Andronikos Komnenos
General of the Mayan Occupation Forces

Under no circumstances are you or your forces to leave the Roman Occupation Zone in the Mayan Territories. If any attempt is made to leave your postings it will be considered desertion, an act which is punishable by death. You are held personally responsible for the actions of your forces, and should you allow any to leave you will be charged with willful disobedience of a superior and court martial. Any treasonous actions by you or your forces will be severely punished.


Signed and Sealed,
Flavius Maximus
Supreme Commander of the Roman Imperial Military

Under Authority of Manuel Komnenos
Emperor of the Roman Empire


He read the message over once again and a smirk spread across his face. In his paranoia his cousin had made a mistake. A terrible mistake. One he would not live to regret, not if Andronikos had anything to do with it.

The time had come to take action. He needed to speak to his men.

Andronikos gazed at the men recruited from North Africa. Each was highly trained and highly skilled to meet with the high standards of the Roman Imperial Army. He valued each soldier for his loyalty, integrity, and ability.

“Men of Rome!” he roared causing them to snap to attention. “This is a great day in the history of our nation! A day that will echo through the ages. Rome is strong! Yes it is strong prosperous and powerful. However all is not well. For the Empire is threatened!”

He paused for effect “Not by enemies. It is threatened from within! By insidious enemies. The corrupt, the power hungry. The nobles who care more about filling their own purposes than serving the Empire! Look how callously they consider your lives. The death of thousands in Carthage is unimportant to them. Through the incompetence of these officials many of your fellow citizens and even your family members lost their lives. And now they do not even allow you leave to visit your family, friends, and homes who have suffered from this disaster. Have you received any compensation? Any apology? No. The politicians and nobles cannot even sympathize with your plight. They care nothing for you.”

He had them. Now was the time to reel them in “You all know me. I am a true Roman I believe in discipline, dignity, honor, and above all duty. I am not like my cousin who is a corrupt, lazy ignorant buffoon who is visiting ruin upon our nation. There must be a change. This situation cannot go on.”

The soldiers looked stunned at this pronouncement.

“Do not mistake me. Family duty and loyalty are important. However every single one of us has a greater duty and destiny. We are all here to serve Rome. The Empire beckons to us. It rises above personal squabbles and makes us each a piece of a Greater Whole. It is time for us to serve the Empire”

He looked into the eyes of his men trying to gauge their reactions. “I am going to Rome. Will anyone be coming with me?”

Supscription post.......Awesome story man.:goodjob: