Preface- A Brief History of Rome
No one is in complete agreement on what events directly contributed to the declaration of the Nationalist Roman Imperium, or more commonly the Roman Empire. But nearly all historians agree that the Quiet Revolution of 1680 was the point of no return. After the rise of the Nationalists, wars of expansion and the eventually coronation of the Imperator were inevitable. But if we are to understand how the Empire came to be, we must first, briefly look at the Republic that preceded it.
The City of Rome was settled on the banks of the Tiber River in approximately 6000 BC. These early Romans were likely herders and farmers that formed a community merely to benefit each other through trade and mutual protection. The Roman City State grew and eventually tamed the wilderness to the south, founding the cities known today as Cumae and Antium. As the nation expanded the early Romans chose for themselves a king, or Caesar. All power was invested into the individual as he was supposedly put into place by the gods. Soon the Kingdom discovered that they were not alone in the world and good relations were quickly established with the German and Hittite peoples of in the West. However not everyone was so quick to befriend the Roman Kingdom. To the east, a band of barbarians lived in the Chehalis Plain and from the outset were entirely hostile to Rome.
Soon it was discovered that taking a metal known as copper and blending it with other metals to create bronze, Roman smiths could create new weapons, trinkets and idols to the gods (as at the time the teachings of Zoroaster were spreading throughout the Kingdom). However it was soon discovered that there were only minor veins of copper in the borders of Rome and without a large steady supply, Caesar knew that Rome would be vulnerable to outsiders and barbarians. Caesar learned that the Hittites had built the city of Kanesh on what was thought to be the only major source of copper in the world, and knowing that Rome needed this metal, war was soon declared and the first Roman legions, armed with spears, clubs and bows, marched west securing the city and the precious metal. If the Caesar would have stopped his conquest there or not is still an unresolved debate to this day, however the kings hand was forced when the barbarian tribes of Chehalis reorganized themselves into the Carthaginian City State and invaded Rome. Peace was made with the Hittites and the legions marched back west to Rome only to find the new city of Neopolis overrun by the barbarians. The region was quickly retaken and the entire Chehalis region was conquered with the help of the new weapons made from the metal seized in the west.
These two successful wars, combines with the spread of the Zoroastrian religion, are thought to be the beginnings of Romes unwritten philosophy of preemptive wars for the good of Rome. Over the next several centuries Rome followed that philosophy and eventually annexed the Hittites and, with the discovery of iron working, subjugated first the Zulu and then the Iroquois people. The vassalization of the Iroquois League will always be remembered as Romes first Holy War when the Caesar declared war in an effort to stop the spread of Hinduism and culminated in the sacking of the Hindu Holy City, whose name has now been lost.
As the Roman nation expanded and maps were re-drawn, the people began to wonder how one man, even one hand picked by the gods, could rule such a large expanse of land. Caesar was forced to give in to the demands of the people and formed a senate body that truly ran the nation, while the title of Caesar became a mere figurehead. The change to republicanism caused a rift in relations with most other kingdoms on the continent specifically Germany to the west, and the Maya in the far north tundra. The Germans were thought to be the bigger concern since at the time they shared a much larger border with Rome and had a comparable military, and the Maya were far to the north with the Zulu and Iroquois in between. However, by the 1300s Tensions with the Maya were beginning to cool and Roman focused more on the western border. But despite the overtures of friendship and pledges of peace, Pacal II sent an army south to invade the Republic. The Maya used their open border treaties with the Roman vassals to simply march their forces to the border of the Republic and invade without warning. The Maya, confident in their numbers of heavy swordsmen, knights and siege engines were certain that the Republic could quickly be brought to its knees. They laid siege to Oneida falsely believing that the entire Roman army was on the German border. However to the south a new army had been formed and marched to react to the Mayan invasion. Though smaller than the invading army, the Romans had one major advantage. Roman scientists had discovered gunpowder. The Mayans were soundly defeated and forced to retreat back to their homeland with the Roman harquebusiers and bombards marching behind them. After one enormous battle which ended with destruction of most of the Mayan army, Pacal capitulated to Roman rule. For over a thousand years the Republic had stood firm and became the single most powerful country in the world. Then in the early 1600s the winds of ultra-nationalism began to blow.
. But I got to switch to the Greeks and had a great time with the game. I never actually finished cause I wanted to try a new game with Rome. This game is where my story comes from. I know a story based off a Rome game isn't exactly hard to come by on here but I'm having a lot of fun with the game so I decided hey why not?
