Grand Theft Civilization

[need my speed]

This was fun to write, though it takes far longer than a normal update. Still, I'd be interested in knowing what you think of this?

"The war is over! Peace has come to all of Rome! To all Romans - and yes, at long last, to all Hobbits."

He slowly swept his gaze left to right, staring intently at the hundreds of Romans and Hobbits listening to him. Michel Delving's forum always was a busy place, but no commerce was done today, no deals closed and no goods sold; today, everyone present had gathered around one of Rome's foremost generals of the last war of the Hobbits.

The last war of the Hobbits, indeed...

"Because there are no Hobbits anymore!" He sneered, and a glint of cruel malice flashed past his eyes - but perhaps it was a trick of the light, or of his face; he did have a gruesome scar on his cheek.

Suddenly, his arm shot up, and as he pounded his chest with his fist, in the traditional Roman greeting, he roared, daring anyone to defy him.

"Only Romans! Only Rome! PAX ROMANA!"



"The Pax Romana, as foretold by our ancestors, as prophesied by the first sybil... Has dawn today!"

He lifted up his hands into the sky, as if seeking to hold Iupiter himself in his arms. A tear trickled down his beard, reflecting the bright sun. God, he was old, but this, this was worthy of being the final chapter of his life.

From the darkness, Rome had risen, set to bestride the world like a colossus - as she had done now, as she would forever continue to do. The Hobbits would be Romans, in time. Good, Christian Romans. And with the right leadership, with proper devoutness, dedicated to spreading the light of Christianity to all corners of the world...

He turned back to the masses, gathered to hear his sermons. It fell to him to teach them, of Christianity, of the Republic, of Rome, of how material and spiritual peace could only ever be achieved when all were united under the same God, under the same nation, under the same ethos, as one selfsame people.

Pax Romana. Roman Peace.

All of the world would be Roman. Good, Christian Romans. He only needed to ensure his vision would last, beyond his life, beyond his death. He only needed to construct a site so holy, that it would forever inspire all Christians to heed his words, to follow his vision, until the whole world was cleansed of darkness.



"They are saying," Spoke Marcus Antonius as he rounded a corner of Roma's palace, Vergilius hurrying to keep his pace. "That we, the Triumvirate, and the Quorum, the voting populace, have the divine right to plot the whole world's course."

Vergilius opened his mouth to speak, but Marcus Antonius went on. "That we, Romans, have been put here by the grace of all the Gods, and that it is our duty to spread Christianity far and wide."

"This we know, Marcus, this we have always known." Interrupted Vergilius, adjusting the clothes he had hastily put on after having been awoken just after dawn by Marcus Antonius.

"No, we don't!" He pushed open the door with a bit too much force. Crassus' office. But he wasn't done talking yet, and his voice rose to a crescendo before Vergilius could reply.

"They have made Christianity out to be an inherent part of being Roman - and the reverse, too; they are calling up every single Christian to take up arms and 'liberate' their brothers from 'oppressors' such as Gondor or Carolus Magnus!" He spat out the last bit, and turned around to look at Vergilius.

Marcus Crassus spoke up, quickly grasping the subject.

"All of our diplomatic efforts, our peace treaties and trade negotiations, would be void, bereft of any importance. The Concord of Civilisation would be broken. Who would give us the time of the day, when we are fanatic fools intent on indoctrinating, enslaving, or even murdering, anyone who isn't a Roman citizen? Who isn't a 'proper Christian'?"

Vergilius let out a deep sigh. "We would be no better than barbarians, lashing out at anyone who isn't us..."

"And so, the Triumvirate meets. We must put a stop to this fundamentalism." Marcus Antonius sat down and let his head sink in his arms. He was a military man, always having disliked this politicking. But now... The fate of the entire world rested on his shoulders.

Vergilius sat down too, following his example. They talked until well into the night.



"Technically, we are a body of advisers, voicing our opinions, voting on issues, but all that as advice to the Triumvirate, not as binding law." A man of noble stature stood up, dressed impeccably in the most expensive dark red toga to be found in all of the many markets of Neapolis - or perhaps in none of them, having had his servants custom-tailor his robe. He was, after all, part of the elite. Part of Rome's Quorum, part of the politicians who voted on the important issues and steered Rome into the right direction.

"They have never ignored us!" A man dressed far more soberly shouted out. He hailed from Cumae, of a distinguished line of philosophers going back many centuries. He had a wild look, his hair sweeping beside his shoulders as he rose and turned his head, but somehow, this only added to his appearance.

"Precedent, yes, but the selfsame precedent you hold up as reason here would be the precedent you are so willing to destroy." He strolled through the room now, arms animatedly moving as if to paint his point in the air. "You, for whom tradition is holy writ, would turn your back on the very concept of civilisation! You would have us take up arms against not only Vice City or Khand, but even against our brothers of Gondor or Holy Rome!"

"That is a lie!" A cry so loud that it awoke any who might have been sleeping - but none were, for this matter was too important. "Brother, look around you! The black evil of Barad-dur has already claimed the souls of many Portuguese brothers! Their faith couldn't help them withstand the poison of Mordor! Gondor has long been harried by this same evil, and only survives because our influence stretches to their lands - Holy Rome is falling, a corpse still moving, and brother, you wouldn't deny their faith, would you? None were as devout as our loyal Holy Roman brethren - and yet they fell like so many before Sauron's will."

He gazed around the room, lifting up his arms as he did. "Brothers, only Rome can stand against Mordor. Only Rome can stand against those who would destroy Christianity, who would destroy civilisation. We have a moral imperative, my brothers, to stand up for the weak, for the vulnerable, and so, we have a moral imperative to urge our noble leadership to take action. Take up arms! March, towards besieged Holy Rome, garrison all of Gondor, spread Christianity throughout Khand, spread swords throughout the oppressed populace of Vice City - let our influence talk to those amenable to us, and let our armies talk to those unreceptive of our words!"

His rousing speech left a silence, in sound and movement, as all were enraptured, none looking away. Until a low voice sounded.

"Don't mince your words, 'brother'. The Concord of Civilisation is the primary Christian institution, and you would see it destroyed. For there would be no concord between civilisations. There would be Rome, and a mass of enemies, faceless to you and yours, for they are not Rome, and thus incapable of being a force of good. That is what you are saying. But I say that you are wrong. Already, Raven Rock is securing the lands for Holy Rome. We will aid our friends, liberate their lands, work and fight for and with them, if needed. Yes, Roman men and Roman weapons are doing this - because we have a duty to our fellow civilisations, a duty to our shared Gods, and that transcends Rome. How arrogant you are, how self-righteous indeed, to put Rome on a pedestal above all others, to equate her with Christianity and her leadership with the Gods themselves!"

The debate would go on for quite some time, but he knew he had won. The Quorum would advise the Triumvirate as it always had, and this new faction of fundamentalist Christian fanatics wouldn't get to execute their legalistic coup. They wouldn't order the Triumvirate into holy wars against Rome's friends. It baffled his senses, the twisted logic that resulted in this being at all sensible.

On his way back home, he passed a young boy peering at the silks of a small store. He patted the young boy's shoulder, a friendly gesture, and moved on.

A friendly gesture that allowed the boy to slip a small sack of golden coins inside his hand. Marcus Licinius Crassus paid well for those who made sure the Quorum steered Rome into the right direction.



It was a small shack on the nightly shore of Arretium, lit up only by a few candles. Not even the moonlight dared to climb inside, dared to reflect light on what these men here were discussing.

"Drink your nepenthe, brothers. Our time will come."

In the distance, the three men saw the lights and heard the blows of labourers laying the final hand to Arretium's latest caravel. The Fortuna II would set sail soon, on a more southward course taking her past the eastern shore of Hyperion lands.

"We could smuggle some of our numbers inside. We could start anew in a smaller nation, one with less democratic institutions, one where our voices would be soon be taken for the divine truth that they are."

"So we could... Perhaps, my brothers, that is what we must do. But let us wait, for now. Let us sink back into the shadows, let us talk with the common man and woman, let them hear our truths. And in time, these faceless masses, these many, will shout out our truth with one voice, and the cowards in Roma will hear us, and will have to act lest all of Rome descends into civil war."

"We might not be alive to see this come to pass, brother."

"We will be watching. From the shadows, here, or from our thrones in Heaven. Our truth will live on, in the Church of the Nativity. Our brother made sure of that."

"He has fallen ill now, has he not?"

"Yes... His mind was slipping, focused on rash action, tempered not by the patience that is our strength. A sad necessity, but God will greet him warmly, and tell him of our noble intentions."

He looked outside again. Even the moon had hid itself now. But he thought - and he might be mistaken - that he saw Pluto shining brightly for a moment. Pluto, who presided over the afterlife... A promise, then, to the immortality of their words, as they spoke on these nightly Plutonian shores.

He sighed contentedly. Their vision would yet be reality.





A raven flapped its wings and cawed. The sun was just rising from her nightly bath, and most of the men on the Fortuna I hadn't yet opened their eyes. Some, of course, had been awake at the nightly hours, and it was one of them that cast a glance at this raven.

A raven... That implied land nearby, he realised.

He blinked. He blinked twice.

The sun's rays, dancing almost horizontally over the water at this early hour... Collided with a wall of land in the far distance.



Drums were booming, but a trumpet surpassed their volume. Axes, the men of the Fortuna sighted, and iron armour covering the entire body. Not chainmail, no. Some kind of iron, or steel, a harness, though seemingly more flexible than anything Roman smithies could forge.

"HALT! We are the Brotherhood of Steel! Pledge in your hearts and minds, pledge by your swords and shields, that you will stand with the Brotherhood of Steel!"

All drums and trumpets played together at once, as if to punctuate that statement.

"Lay down your weapons! We are peaceful, but ever cautious! Any resistance will be met with deadly force! Trust each of our soldiers with your life! Let them blindfold you, and come forth to be taken into our vaults and fortresses!"

Another drum-trumpet crescendo, as the strange soldiers encased in their steel harnesses approached the Fortuna's crew. They could still sail away. They saw only a few archers.

"Pledge your hearts and minds to be one with Steel! Brothers!"



The world went black in front of their eyes, and their legs started marching almost involuntarily at the pace set by the Steel drums. They were at this Brotherhood's mercy.

It was simply another day for the crew of the Fortuna. Their Lady would see them through.

 

[need my speed]

The Hobbits from Michel Delving were eager to meet their estranged brothers and sisters, and eagerly migrated to the now Roman islands.



The hardened populace of Ravenna, however, had no time for this sentimentality - nor did the Triumvirate; this was an excellent opportunity to covertly encourage the most devout Christians to resettle themselves far away from Roma.



The Fortuna finally made the acquaintance of Tandi of New California. Her Confucianism seemed to be broadly aligned with Rome's own Christianity, and she was actively opposing of Mordor.











Tandi's character gave sufficient reason to pursue further trade; open borders were established and maps were acquired.





A decidedly more unpleasant figure was met on the outskirts of Fortification Hill.



The Witch-king of Angmar, rumoured to be (almost?) as evil as Sauron of Mordor. Indeed, they were rumoured to be in cahoots with each another, the dark lord of Mordor and the witch-king of Angmar.













At home, far away from these trolls and tombs, more pleasant events took place. Settlers from Cumae had established the city of Perusia, in the middle of untouched woodlands, to serve as a check on Anywhere's expansion; once before, they had expanded into these islands, presumably being driven east by the Viking revolutionaries - but this time, the islands were Roman, and would stay Roman forever.



The Hobbits from Michel Delving had also started colonising Rome's new islands, by establishing the city of Thainhall, from where Roman-appointed Hobbits - thains, who ruled the Hobbits of old - would oversee the integration of Bilbo's Hobbits into Roman society.



The reintegration of the Hobbit labourers went 'well', the thains decreed. The Roman macemen regiments heartily agreed - or perhaps it was the opposite way around.



Gibbon certainly agreed, citing Rome as being 'the most advanced and the most glorious nation ever, advanced in the sciences and arts, advanced in all matters of spiritual and other enlightenment, glorious in force of arms and all other pursuits a Roman could ever set his mind to, which, in the large Res Publica of Rome, was many a pursuit indeed'.



In fact, all of Rome agreed; all of Rome, that now spanned even the islands to the west, that now included all Hobbits too. All were united in Rome. How fortunate they are, to be part of such a magnificent civilisation. Lady Fortuna - Our Lady, Notre Dame - had smiled down upon both Romans and Hobbits. But then, they were one now. To celebrate this, Neapolis constructed a glorious cathedral.



Although... Were all Hobbits truly part of Rome? The Fortuna II stumbled upon a work boat filled with loudly singing, cheering, and drinking men, much like the Hobbits were wont to. And just like the Hobbits, these men were lacking in size, with the Romans being well taller.



But these were no Hobbits; these men were Dwarves, Durin's Folk.











The Dwarves lived in the hills and mountains east of Russia and Rohan. Rohan, who was now facing Russians and French revolutionaries - or perhaps it was Russia who was facing French revolutionaries. It hardly mattered to the Dwarven sailors; their homeland was being invaded by the Eastasians, according to their hushed whispers. Hushed, for Eastasia had spies everywhere, and could kill a man from half a world away by mere thought, or so the sailors were convinced.

 

[need my speed]

Speaking of Rohan, Rome had never quite gathered intelligence on Rohan's peculiarities, thoroughly convinced by Yekaterina's sweet smile that Rohan was doomed and unworthy of the merest thought. In which she was quite correct, of course.









And so, more and more of the civilisations of the world were met. One day, all of them would know Rome - would, perhaps, know Rome too intimately, moreso than their homelands, but forgotten memories as they rejoiced under the banners of Rome.

Perhaps. Or perhaps not.

 

[need my speed]

It was clear to see for all that Portugal was naught but a minion of Sauron. And with Holy Rome on its last legs, the Concord of Civilisation favoured Gondor to lead the next round of discussions and debates - alongside Rome, of course.



They would discuss a great many things; the rise of Sauron, the opening up of the world and all the evil that had been revealed, the gradual weakening of the bar-bar hordes... Speaking of which:



A fleet of quinqueremes had been sighted off the coast of Raven Rock - and Raven Rock was a citadel built into a mountain accessible from the seas. Rome's navy was too far away to alleviate matters, while the seaside fortresses of England and Holy Rome had all been burned by the Portuguese.

The city of Circeii was established, to appeal to Circe, goddess-nymph of witchcraft, born from Helios - whose Colossus shone brightly in Arretium's sun - and, perhaps more importantly, Perse. Perse was one of the three thousand daughters of the Titan Oceanus, and Circe herself was the sister of mighty figures such as the mother of the Minotaur - who was also the wife of king Minos - and the keeper of the Chrusomallon Deras; the Golden Fleece. It was hoped that these powers could be arrayed against any who dared to threaten Rome, including the approaching bar-bar fleet.



Ray Machowski's security firm had gradually expanded into more... Covert assignments.



And the Triumvirate was eager to make use of his services.



With Circeii packed with fundamentalist Christians, Rome was bound to rouse Vice City's ire as border clashes with the Hindus of Clymenus would become increasingly common. Unless these Hindus were... Silenced.



That same day, the Concord of Civilisation announced that Rome would maintain her position as Defender of the Faith.



And of course, this caused a small rise in the amount of boys and girls who chose to dedicate their lives to the faith.



Even in far away Raven Rock, where pilgrims sought to re-establish Holy Rome's former cities. Originally, they had wanted to travel south, but the camping quinquereme fleet made this a too risky affair.



So they established the Castra Circes, to further honour Circe.



Of course, it would be wrong to merely appeal to Circe, who was but one aspect of the Christian God. As decided during the meetings of the Concord of Civilisation, most of the world lacked any notion of Christianity, and would need to be brought into the fold - fast. People such as Handsome Jack, peoples such as the Dwarves, they seemed to be forces of civilisation eager to adopt Christianity. Soon, Christians would gather in Arpinum's port, to help these unenlightened souls rise out of the darkness into the light.



So, too, would Arnor be helped, apparently the ancestral homeland of Gondor.



The Fortuna II stumbled upon the Arnorian sailors as they docked in the Soaring Dragon.



These sailors conducted themselves as nobly as the noblest Gondorian or Roman ever could - pity, then, that Elendil of Arnor had a long-burning hatred of the Dwarves to his north.









The Fortuna I discovered a people far more ignoble than the Arnorians; the Umbaric pirates.



They were pirates, scarcely more than an organised bar-bar fleet of pillagers and rapists that had occupied and raided the lands for centuries.









None had suffered more under this tide of looting and plundering than the fair peoples of the Glade.



Though many people would dispute this, saying that Rayman and his fairies deserved nothing less and so much more.

 

[need my speed]

And so a great deal more of the world was now known to Rome. The cartographers' guild rose to prominence, though aside from these few years, the concept of guilds never became an integral part of Roman society, and would only loosen in structure and strength as time passed by.





Still, they supplied Roman diplomats, politicians, and all who were interested with maps, painstakingly drawn by hand. They would look for ways to easily duplicate their maps, being supported by the libraries and the entire bureaucracy and administration of all of Rome in time, all seeing the benefits of such a technology. But that would be the zenith of the guild's power.



It was revealed that Adolf Hitler had seized the lands of Eurasia. Not too surprising; like breeds like, and in a society as totalitarian as Comrade Uncle's Eurasia, it was no wonder a genocidal maniac would rise to the top and replace the brutal regime with his own even more brutal regime.



One had to wonder at Oceania's city names.



The Fairy Glade was besieged by many opponents.



Whereas the Valley stretched to the borders of San Andreas and Angmar.

 

[need my speed]

The city of Setia was founded in the far north; with so many new peoples contacted by the exploring Fortunae, Rome would need more coastal cities than ever to accommodate merchants from all over the world.



With Mr Dark of the Valley? Yes; his was a land newly opened up to Rome, after the Fortuna stumbled upon a massive war in the Glade.



The mysterious Mr Dark seemed like a more manipulative and less hands-on version of Sauron, seeking to shape the world to his visions of darkness and despair.









The Fairy Glade stood against this diabolic force of darkness, but the Fairy Glade was also in dire straits, as the crew of the Fortuna observed. Carl Johnson had unleashed an army mostly composed of chariots, but also containing certain Heroes of the Sword and a great general by the name of Jean II d'Alencon. Mr Dark, meanwhile, had sent an absolutely massive force of axemen to lay siege to Rayman's lands. And if that wasn't enough, Saruman was supporting the war effort with galleasses and quinqueremes.





Note the open border treaties Rome has in the second picture, and compare the gold per turn increase of the first picture of this message with the above picture. This policy of opening borders with all and sunder wouldn't continue, however; Toni Cipriani had warned Rome about the many spies and agents in the Illuminati's employ, knowingly or not.



And so the hand of Bob Page was rejected.



As was his religion, Judaism, promoting itself as the faith that secretly ruled the world, through greed, manipulation, progeny, nepotism... There was no virtue to be found here, only a staircase to ascend in a quest for personal power coupled with the ruin of everyone else.









The world looked bleaker and bleaker, with the discovery of so many different forces of evil, and with many potential forces of good being manipulated against each other. Roman politicians and priests worried about this, but the Hobbits had no time for such intrigue, content with the simpler things in life. Such as food, and drink, and inventing popcorn in the new city of Cornhill.



With the Hobbits living peacefully on their own islands, rebuilding, largely content with their new lot in life, Rome's army gathered in Fraternitas. Axemen and spearmen, previously dedicated to keeping the peace along Rome's borders and policing Rome's citizens, were gradually being replaced by longbowmen. They would all march for Fraternitas, where they would be outfitted with maces and pikes, instead of axes and spears. Soon, all of them would march - or sail - to a wholly different destination.



Rome's navy, fierce galleasses with fiercer crews, had been distributed throughout Rome's sea borders, to ward off pirates or worse. One of these galleasses had finally sighted Raven Rock, and was ready to bring Roman peace to the prowling bar-bar quinqueremes nearby.



These quinqueremes threatened the recently established Castra Ira, though perhaps a fleet of galleasses from Isengard would relieve the besieged fortress before Rome could. However, scouts from Castra Ira reported more than mere pirates on their shores; they spoke of the howls of wargs and the roars of orcs to the south, of the taint of Mordor penetrating deep inside - former? - Portuguese lands... Had Afonso truly fallen so very far?



But no, Saruman's men lifted nary a finger to help out the besieged populace of Castra Ira. And the Ira herself, that mighty warship, sailed right into an ambush.



Of course, the foul shadow of Mordor had long fallen over these islands, and so it was only to be expected that they were swarming with pirate covens. The Ira would make things right.



As would one of Ray Machowski's agents, having arrived in Clymenus.



Make the world a little righter, make our souls a little lighter.



Make civilisation shine bright and brighter.



But even as the last wails of the Hindu missionaries died out, the wails of all of civilisation swelled.



What horror had befallen this backwards continent, to be stuck with maniacs intent on committing genocide upon the entirety of humanity, intent on stamping out the barest hint of individuality, intent on controlling everything and anything, knowing better than a man or woman themselves what they think inside their heads, even before they thought their thoughts.

Luckily, these madmen were besieging each other, for now.



And if they would forever be replaced by horrors of their own making - such as how Hitler had usurped Comrade Uncle and reformed his Eurasia into Germany - then their horror may yet be confined to this continent of pitch black evil.

 

[need my speed]

Luckily, there were more peaceful people too, hardened statesman who had pledged themselves to peace, yet saw no peaceful path to that utopia.



Tomas Masaryk of Bohemia was such a man, having expelled all the diabolical forces of Mr Dark from Moskito's Nest.



He would make a good ally of Christianity and civilisation.











So, too, might Saruman be, with all his wisdom, and his hard labour in the barren hills and mountains of his island - and with his island beset by pirate after pirate of Razorbeard, perhaps it was understandable why he and his men chose isolationism, chose to let the Ira do the work of cutting down the quinqueremes.



Saruman would be observed, watched, and if possible, brought into the light. How better than with a demonstration of Roman might?



His sailors did offer the Ira relative safety, and his sailors did seem curious as to what this Christianity represented.



Nearby, the Bilbo's Bane patrolled the strait between Lux Perpetua and Morannon.



It was there, that a truly Earth shattering message was conveyed, from the archers of Morannon, to the sailors of Bilbo's Bane, to the devout of Lux Perpetua, to all of Rome, the entire Concord of Civilisation, and the world at large...



As Sauron's homeland lacked any Christian institution, he must have tortured the poor priests of Adams, the former English city, now under the brutal control of Mordor.



And now Afonso, of Portugal, could point out that he had caused Sauron to convert, that he had given Christianity a massive boost in power, that he, and his Portugal, deserved to be the leader of the free and civilised and Christian world.

He could point all that out. But he had brought ruin to Christianity. Evil incarnate now posed as pious and good, its barbarism pretending to be the civilised way of things... What nightmares had Afonso created...

 

[clanky4]

And so the hand of Bob Page was rejected.

As was his religion, Judaism, promoting itself as the faith that secretly ruled the world, through greed, manipulation, progeny, nepotism... There was no virtue to be found here, only a staircase to ascend in a quest for personal power coupled with the ruin of everyone else.

illuminati confirmed


Link to video.

Do you have the option "choose religions" checked off? I'm loving these state religion choices, or lack there of, for certain civs.

 

[need my speed]

Alas, the Illuminati's diplomacy music comes from Deus Ex (UNATCO theme, Detroit theme, and Deus Ex's main menu theme).

'Choose Religions' is on, as I chose Christianity for myself. Which, coincidentally, was with the discovery of Theology.

One day I intend to add a bunch of other religions, to represent Middle-earth and Fallout as well. And, when - if - I get around to adding the relevant civilisations, A Song of Ice and Fire, Warhammer 40.000, and Command & Conquer. I actually made a list of it some months ago, but I highly doubt I will work on this anytime soon, if anytime at all:

 

[need my speed]

Despite Sauron's... Misappropriation of the Christian faith, there were those who saw this as heralding a new era. After all, the first - and, arguably, most threatening - of all evil had seen the light, and was even now tirelessly working on turning Mordor from a scorched and shadowed wasteland into a proper civilisation, with green meadows and a bright sun, with songs of miners as they went to work and cheers of farmers as they reaped what they had sown.

But that, alas, was merely the imagination of those living in the quiet forests of Silvarum, too used to their tranquil peace to comprehend the horrors of the world outside of their woods. They constructed a fine monastic fortress in their woods hidden from sight amidst the trees and forests, unless one knew where to walk and where to look, and so they declared all was good and well in the world - if Christianity could be spread to each and every nation, then each and every nation would turn towards the light and forsake its evil ways.



Publius Valerius Publicola - and others - from Cumae had meanwhile founded Satricum. He had been one of Cicero's close confidants in preaching against the tyranny of the Triumvirate, before Cicero saw the new Res Publica and became a supporter of the Triumvirate. Publicola, however, had never stopped arguing for a more inclusive democracy, with no Triumvirate at all.



As the missionaries from Roma went to work, setting up Christian institutions and appointing priests and pastors for Satricanus, the populace of Silvarum promised to train as many missionaries - and priests, and pastors, and more - as necessary inside the newly built Alhambra, dedicating the Alhambra to fulfilling the Christian needs of all of Rome.



Even for eastern Rome, where the fortress-cities kept Portugal away from Holy Rome.



For the entire world, if need be; they solemnly pledged themselves to their vision of a world united in Christianity.



With renewed zeal, seeing Christianity flourish, the Ira clashed for a final time with the pirates threatening Castra Ira.



The final time, for now, at least; undoubtedly, other pirates would take their place.



No pirates had any hope of chasing Rome's quick caravels over the deep oceans, of course.



Crewed by as many missionaries as could fit on board, the fleet was named 'Devotus' and would introduce Christianity to Rhovanion. The Rhovanion merchants and emissaries, as well as their leader Brand, had expressed their interest in Christianity in the past, after all.



The missionaries from Raven Rock, having settled down to educate the citizens of Castra Sancta and Castra Circes, were also 'replaced' by the Alhambra, and were sent south to the lands of Vice City. It was, after all, bad behaviour to assassinate Hindu key figures; much better would it be to convince them of the truth of Christianity.



Others had already arrived, to prepare the lands just beyond Khandic and Vice City boreds, expecting have resistance from the Khandic and Vice City Hindus living in the nearby cities.



The city of Ardea was established. Its name was probably a joke, referring to the dry desert landscape with 'ardus' or 'aridus' on one hand - see also the English 'arid' - and referring to the heron with 'ardea' on the other (the meanings of these words are true, but the backstory of the city's name is one I just made up).



Despite Sauron's treachery, Christianity flourished. And maybe, just maybe, posited the pacifists of Silvarum, we should give Sauron a chance to prove himself. Yes, agreed Marcus Licinius Crassus, open borders would increase Rome's commer- I mean, yes, Sauron, yes, spiffing chap he is, hell of a bloke, excellent lad, truly excellent, the very best, I say!



Even the Triumviri indulged in wine, at times. Still, there was no denying it... Adams, capital of the English revolutionaries of old, home of aeronautics experiments, now a fully integrated part of Mordor's dominion... Now a Christian part of Mordor's dominion.



And Rome, so it was remembered, had brought Christianity to this corner of the world. A masterstroke, then, as the priests of Silvarum proclaimed - or the invitation of death on Rome's doorstep, as the philosophers of Cumae worried?

Sauron resisted the Concord's will, and Ciryaher, understandably, wanted no Mordorian peon traipsing through his lands, but the Concord of Civilisation had spoken.



And yet, there was more dissent within the Concord's ranks, as certain Hobbit engineers sabotaged the construction of a great temple complex in Michel Delving. Worse, they quietly sneaked past Roman borders and constructed an improved version of this temple complex in Little Haiti!



No matter. Other Christian civilisations were permitted to construct their temples to Christianity - and good Romans overseers were, for a time, permitted to encourage the Hobbits of Michel Delving to work just a bit harder...

The Roman missionaries had seen the construction of Angkor Wat - next to courthouses, monuments, ice cream companies, and more buildings - but hadn't known of this trickery, of course.



They had pressed on, south of Little Haiti, to spread their faith to Little Havana.



With success.



There was more good news, with Roman missionaries arriving in Rhovanion waters, setting off from the ports of Alduringeard to convert Brand's most important cities.



There, they met the fledgling French people, an identity constructed purely out of revolutionary sentiment against their Dwarven brothers. Louis XIV certainly looked Dwarfish, to the Roman missionaries...



Christianity spread like wildfire, and the Devotus - now heavily undermanned - returned to Roman waters, having brought the light of Christianity to a people worthy of enlightenment.



And indeed, Brand was quick to convert to Christianity. New missionaries, trained in the Alhambra, were sent to Arpinum, where a new fleet of caravels would soon be assembled.



Unlike Brand, Tommy Vercetti, despite the spread of Christianity through his lands, again fell under the sway of Hinduism. And this time, key Hindu figures were housed in the palaces of Tommy Vercetti himself - it would be very hard indeed for Ray Machowski's spies to gain access to these preachers.

And even then, would the Vice population convert to Christianity? It was doubtful, and it might just paint Rome as a nefarious power to the misguided populace of Vice City. Besides, Marcus Licinius Crassus didn't want to endanger a large trade deal with Donald Love, passing north of Clymenus heading deep inside Roman lands.



The least his spies could do was to stir up discontent amongst the Christian community.



Which succeeded, of course.



But it made no difference, and neither did the work of even more Roman missionaries; Tommy Vercetti remained sewed to the perverted ideals of Hinduism.



With the Concord fracturing in division, Rome sided with Gondor; yes, Ciryaher, trade would cease at once with Mordor, and the open border treaties of the last Concord of Civilisation... Were torn apart. A failure. All because of Sauron's trickery.



Even the armies camped at military base of Fort Baxter came to believe in Christianity, but alas.



As more and more missionaries emerged from the gates of the Alhambra, those waiting in Arpinum hurried southwards to set sail with the returned Devotus.

 

[need my speed]

... Where a divine act prevented the final few missionaries from entering the caravels, which, apparently had been loaded to full capacity already?





Could that be because the missionary in Alduringeard had spread Christianity without exiting the caravel? Is this a bug present in vanilla Beyond the Sword as well?

Luckily, the Christian God could rebuild the world.



What sorcery is this...



And so, with divine intervention, the Devotus could set sail to new lands. To Isengard, to see whether Saruman the White was willing to unleash his armies upon Razorbeard and Sauron, and all the forces of darkness, under the light of Christianity, with the banners of Rome at his side.



Certainly, his island cities could be a thorn in the side of Vice City's Hindu populace. Provided these Hindus wouldn't first convert the citizens of Isengard... Well, Isengard? Redding and Manila were hardly cities belonging to Isengard - but Saruman had no more inspiration, it seemed.



As this great voyage commenced, the Fortuna II was forced to hurry back to the Arnorian outpost of En Udanorath, after pirates prowling outside the Eastasian city of Paradise Swarming almost burned the caravels down in entirety.



... So much for divine intervention.



And so we are back at the turn of the open borders vote. More than an hour ago.

Brand was converted to Christianity, Louis and his French rebels were met, while Hobbit saboteurs ruined any chance at building Angkor Wat in Michel Delving. All in all, things progressed similarly - but not entirely the same; the Fortuna II somehow avoided the pirates prowling near Palace Swarming, and one of Rome's missionaries got lost and found herself in Vice City, the capital city of Vice City.

Other, larger changes, appeared too; Adolf Hitler, intent on exterminating all those not Germanic, signed a defensive pact with Helga Steele, follower of the pacifist Buddhist faith. Although, pacifist - according to Handsome Jack, she wasn't pacifist at all, using Buddhism as a cover for her far darker activities.

The Dutch people were met, too, by the Fortuna sailing through the waters of San Andreas.



Willem van Oranje's worst enemy was Sauron, and as such, Rome was happy to make the acquaintance of his Dutch people.



This time, the missionaries heading for Rhovanion had disembarked properly, and as such, the Devotus was soon ready for its journey to Isengard without any divine intervention.



And so a new era dawned, with a fragile and fractured Concord of Civilisation being reinforced by foreign powers eager to adopt Christianity. A shifting of geopolitical balance, with Sauron seeking to strike at the very core of what Rome makes Rome by pretending to adhere to Christianity, with the pacifist Buddhists revealed for the Machiavellian warmongers that they are, and with civilisations such as Rhovanion, Arnor, or Isengard, hopefully becoming bastions of Christianity. An era marked not for its fearing of bar-bars, nor for a military offence against bar-bars - no, an era marked for the dozens of civilisations - that is, barbarism masking itself as being civilised - proving to be far more dangerous than the bar-bars ever could be. An era marked not for military action against these many threats, but for wars of influence and religion, diplomacy and politics.



And as far as Rome was concerned, these wars of influence were all but won; who could possibly prevail against the power of the newly developed printing press? Maps, newspapers, anything and everything could be written down in minutes, copied by the thousands in but a few more of these minutes!



The cartographers' guild was famous all over the Republic., and a gigantic tower would be assembled in Ravenna as a testament to the cooperation of the cartographers, the monasteries, the libraries, and all other parties involved, that had seen to the development of Rome's first printing presses. While this was the zenith of the guild's power, this also proved that there was little to gain by jealously guarding a guild's secret; much more had been accomplished by sharing and cooperating, and so guilds would forever fade out of the Roman worldview.



In Arpinum, the second Divinus fleet had been finished - thanks to the burgeoning industries that were gradually replacing the workshops of the guilds - yet a third of her planned crew was still being trained in Alhambra, what with Roman missionaries journeying to the capital of Vice City instead of the military base of Baxter.



And with the Divinus fleets and the Alhambra missionaries spreading Christianity faster and farther than ever before, who could possibly claim an era of Roman global power as never seen before hadn't dawned?

 

[Noyyau]

The unknowable misteries of the universe, where cosmic events can shift the course of history even despite divine interventions...

 

[need my speed]

Yes, a new era had dawned. An era of spreading Christianity, by word to those who would be receptive to the light, and by sword to those who would plunge the world into darkness. As such, Arpinum commissioned three galley fleets, the first of which would be the Antonius.



Missionaries heading towards the Divinus saw the Antonius set sail to the ports of Fraternitas, where Rome's army remained in waiting.



With the last of her crew arriving, the Divinus could also set sail - to Hyperion lands. Someone would be needed to counter the pact between Adolf Hitler and the Buddhists of Helga Steele's Atlas.



This understandably made Adolf Hitler upset, ranting about the inferior Christian subhuman menace. Even so, this very same subhuman menace had gained influence amongst the armies of Vice City, with more and more soldiers - especially those stationed at Fort Baxter - converting to Christianity. And at home, Antium was amassing trebuchets by the dozen, all manned and maintained by Christian Romans.



Handsome Jack would perhaps need more help though, if he wanted to survive against the Atlas onslaught. But Rome, alas, was occupied with preparing the defences of her fortresses in the former Enclave lands.



Roma's political apparatus sent engineers to Fraternitas, too, to inspect the construction of the fleets and the equipment of the armies.



As Khand booked success against Razorbeard's pirate fleet, the former Hobbit islands were reinforced with Roman workers - even here, on the outskirts of the Roman Republic, all had to be ready when war would be declared. Mines had to be fortified, jungles had to be cleaned out, and longbowmen would be shipped over to guard the vulnerable Hobbit populace.



But war came sooner than expected; how could Rome deny her ally in this hour of need?



Yet the situation was precarious, to say the least.



Still, the Vergilius and the Crassus galleys had finished construction, and now, all of Rome's army could set sail.



A spire inspired both by the Pharos - the Great Lighthouse - of Hyperion and the fortifications of Minas Tirith, of Gondor, was constructed as the entire army embarked.



Part fortress, part signal to the world at large; the crusade against evil has began!



Meanwhile, the predominantly Hindu workers of Vice City were tearing down entire forests - even those in Roman lands! Ray Machowski's agents tried to stop them, but bribes and threats had little effect, and assassination was out of the question for now.



Was Vice City preparing for war, converting lumber into trebuchets? Roman agents would try to find out, but most would be sent towards Portugal - and then, Mordor. To make the most out of this, the Triumvirate freed up a massive amount of resources to fund Ray's espionage efforts.



As Roman agents were making their way towards the former Enclave lands, the few military units present struck against the Portuguese labourers, liberating the captured Holy Roman ones...



... And keeping the Portuguese ones as hostages.



... Well, that's a failed screenshot. But you can guess what was supposed to be on it; capturing the Portuguese workers.

The longbowmen and macemen soon withdrew again, knowing they could not stand up to the Portuguese army on their own. But these skirmishes did inspire fear into the hearts of Portugal - fear, and doubt; had Sauron doomed them?



Perhaps he had, for which fortress could possibly stand against the massive trebuchets assembled in Antium?



They would go to Libertas, to rendezvous with Ray's agents and await the approaching warfleet.

 

[need my speed]

Most of the warfleet had reached Arretium already, with the Vergilius trailing just behind.



The Crassus and the Colossus were farther behind, and had linked up with the nearby Ira stationed in Thainhall. A prudent move, as bar-bar pirates lurked in the distance, intent on making sure Rome's army could never threaten Mordor and her minions.



Of course, the mindless minions of Mordor failed in this.



And they were lucky that it was Rome, and not Mordor, that would punish them.



A meeting of the Concord of Civilisation was quickly broken off, as the emissaries of Sauron and Portugal were cast out, their ploys for naught.



And the first clash of arms was a decisive victory for Rome.



So far, all methods employed by Mordor had failed; the bar-bars had been roused from their slumber, yet were now sleeping permanently in the sea. The Concord had been faced with discord, yes, but the core - of Rome, Holy Rome, and Gondor - had only grown closer, stronger, and more committed than ever. On the battlefield, Rome had moved quickly to secure her fortresses and liberate the Portuguese labourers.

But Rome had no spears, nor pikes, in the former Enclave lands. Elephants trained for war were mighty beasts that would easily trample Rome's macemen - and so, Rome's macemen retreated.



As the Divinus II arrived in Hyperion lands, the missionaries were disheartened to see that the war wasn't going well for Handsome Jack.



Perhaps Brand and his bowmen had come to help. Or perhaps the Great Wall, just south of Soaring Dragon, could hold Atlas off.



Maybe God would guide the Hyperion soldiers to victory. But, understandably, after having seen the warmongering and scheming evil of Atlas, hidden behind the pacifist veil of Buddhism, the Hyperion men and women were wary, very wary, of religion.



But they knew of Rome, of course. And Handsome Jack did see many similarities between Hyperion and Rome; both having taken up the role as the primary civilised nations of the world, desiring to secure all of civilisation, needing to stand in the front ranks against the vast dark that surrounded their light.



And so the citizens of Frostbite Cravessa cautiously listened to the Roman missionaries. Soon, their brothers and sisters of other Hyperion cities would follow.



They even renamed their city to 'Frostbite Cravesse', for unknown reasons (apparently, that's the name it's supposed to be).



The Shire galleass was launched from Arpinum, to be stationed in Thainhall as the Ira followed the warfleets. The Hobbits rejoiced, being reminded of the tranquil peace they had known in the Shire - well, according to their own myths; no Hobbit alive remembered the Shire proper, and Rome knew that the Shire had been a backwards place where Hobbit labourers rolled in their own filth. Sill, if the Shire galleass could inspire such 'memories' of peace...

Hopefully the Hobbits wouldn't face any hostile forces, as city garrison forces and galleys to ship them over were readied.



Near Ardea, the port-city of Ostia was founded. It would become a hotbed of Khandic and Mordorian merchants - and spies. Ray Machowski's agents would sniff them all out, keep track of them, and perhaps even convert them to serve the Roman cause.



Intrigue was also to be found in the latest meeting of the Concord of Civilisation. There was one question that occupied Roman and Holy Roman minds; what to do after the war with Portugal? Rome had rebuilt the Holy Roman lands, putting the homeless civilian populace to work constructing fortifications, and after, to work at the farms and mines, and then, to work as craftsmen and merchants and any job they liked - Rome had constructed a series of forts, but they had evolved into proper cities in their own right.

The Holy Roman populace enjoyed being part of Rome.



And Carolus Magnus admitted that, as much as it pained him, he couldn't go against the will of his people; if they wanted to be Roman, then he had no right to tell them otherwise.



Would Holy Rome, then, go on as a city-state, a bastion of holy Christianity deep within Roman lands? A Papal State, as existed in the fictional world of Earth imagined and described by a great writer?

The concepts of civilisation, of nation, of state, and more, were discussed in a special congress of the Concord of Civilisation.



The fundamentalist Christians had their own piece to say, speaking of how to be Christian was to be Roman, but of course, the entire Concord objected to this, and the Triumvirate explicitly distanced itself from them. A call to arms, to draft as many men as possible from all throughout the Christian nations, to overthrow their governments and liberate themselves to Rome, was completely ridiculed.



They were not entirely without influence though; they persuaded the Triumvirate to reform Rome into a unitary state. A confederation of cities might have worked for a smaller and less diverse Rome, granting every city the ability to administer and rule its own territory without much in the way of oversight of or accounting to Roma. Indeed, so long as everyone felt, in their hearts, that they were all Roman brothers and sisters, then this was a good thing.

But the Hobbits were Hobbits, not Romans. The Portuguese would be Portuguese, not Romans. The Holy Romans, admittedly, had chosen Roman rule, but even so, they were happy foreigners in their own lands. Rome had long ago started programmes to tie all these people together; had not the Hobbits settled all throughout Rome? And when that resulted in unexpected and negative side-effects, hadn't they been alleviated by settlers from the most Roman of cities, such as Cumae? Rome itself was being contradictory here; did she want a confederation of different peoples, or one Roman nation? The answer was the latter; one unitary state of Romans.



This had certain implications for the war effort; the Portuguese would need to be Romanised, and would necessitate special wartime administration until this Romanisation programme could be carried out. The Holy Romans would be fully integrated within Rome too, not as a separate people, but as full Romans. Roman citizenship, as such, was extended to Holy Rome, and domestically, there would be no difference between citizens of these two nations. Holy Rome, in essence, had become a more independent city part of the greater Roman Republic.

The fundamentalists perceived this as a victory for their cause; Holy Rome had, for all intents and purposes, surrendered her lands and her independence to Rome, in their eyes. According to them, this was a first step on the road of uniting all of Christianity under Rome. But the Triumvirate knew better; a looser concept of Rome, a confederation with just as much independence as desired, would have attracted more people.

 

[need my speed]

The restructuring to a unitary state came in the middle of Rome's war with Portugal. Some might say that this was an unwise move, but with a national identity of Romanness burying itself deep inside the hearts and souls of every single man and woman of Rome, they worked harder than ever. Raven Rock's military recruitment and training programme vastly sped up, as a result.



It would be needed, as Castra Sancta fell under the shadow of the lumbering Portuguese beasts of war, no doubt brutally trained by their Mordorian masters.



With such a threat on the horizon, Holy Rome geared up for war - and sent out her merchants and civilian populace to mingle with Rome's - as Ragnar Lodbrok crowned himself king of all Anywhere - king of all Vikings, now, having captured Claude Speed's new capital of Altamount too. Amidst these political changes, Dutch emissaries contacted the Ira to ask whether Rome would consider closing her borders to Mordorian merchants - or, like as not, Mordorian agents and armies.



Meanwhile, within Hyperion borders, Roman missionaries were doing good work in healing a populace scarred by religion.



They met part of the Hyperion army and blessed each and ever man, including the baggage train.



Soon, Roman missionaries would do good work in Isengard, too, as the Devotus made her approach.



The desert outpost of Pisa was founded, in the shadows of the leaning mountains, as they were called. It would be a site of peaceful prayer and quiet life.



It would be a site very much unlike Antium, where the final few trebuchets were now rolling through the gates north-eastwards, only for the populace to get back to practising with their longbows.



In Arpinum, the quaint fleet of Frodo galleys set sail, to ship city garrison forces to the Hobbit - Roman - islands.



As this happened, the Ira skirted Portuguese borders - but the Portuguese armies kept intruding upon Roman borders, caving in mines and carrying off any valuables found within.



Rome's longbowmen pelted the trespassing hostiles with arrows. A troupe of elephants was an obviously attractive target, and so they were withdrawn in favour of axemen armed with shields.



And they could be struck by lightning fast Roman maces...



Luckily, Rome didn't stand alone; Handsome Jack and his people had eagerly converted to Christianity, and supplied the Divinus with as much fish as she could carry out of gratitude.





Kundaj V of Khand had sunk all of Razorbeard's pirate fleet and then declared peace, even capturing Spellbound Forest to make sure peace was maintained.



The seas were a little bit safer now, and Rome felt compelled to strike up a peace accord as well.





Although, Razorbeard's maps did reveal the Bayou, a swampy place infested with pirates... Was he just biding his time, until he would terrorise the seas again?



The rough miners of Redding initially wanted nothing to do with Christianity, but mayor Ascorti, a charismatic host, indulged his guests, and in time, came to be convinced of Christianity's rightness.



Saruman soon converted to Christianity, adding the fires of his furnaces to the light of Christianity, and the white hand of the Uruk-hai to the arms of Rome.



As the native Filipino tribe, long integrated within the Empire of Isengard, also eagerly took to the tenets of Christianity, the Devotus sailed on to the mainland of Isengard.



The Ira had also sailed on, reaching the Portuguese naval force.



What naval force? A trireme fleet, now buried in the depths of the water, another trireme fleet, still being constructed on the shores, and a galley fleet, docked in Arroyo.



The Ira went to Freeside for necessary repairs, having scouted the army camped in Arroyo.



The Portuguese land force also didn't survive unscathed; though they pillaged the aluminium mines of Castra Sancta, they lost many soldiers in the process, thanks to Rome's fierce longbowmen.



Worse, for Portugal, was the outfitting of a Roman unit of pikemen. Iron armour all over, and pikes, far stronger and far longer than mere spears - the Portuguese elephants stood no chance.



The pikemen occupied a strategic position near a mountain pass north of the Portuguese army, ensuring none of the lumbering beasts could escape.



None of the lumbering beasts would escape, as macemen reinforced with pikes cut them to pieces.



With this threat largely culled, another threat appeared on the horizon.



Hopefully, the Hyperion caravels could deal with these triremes, else Rome's army might just sink; the galleasses were trailing well behind the galleys.

 

[need my speed]

Perhaps Rome would need to invest more in her navy. Generals from Antium were hired by the shipyards of Arpinum, and any future crews would undergo mandatory training in naval warfare.



Other naval activities were more successful, with Christian missionaries making landfall and quickly converting the populace of Ethraid Engrin.



Rome's armies managed to land on the shores relatively intact.



Rome's fleet, a little less so, but all the captains were commended for the expert navigational skills they displayed, and all the hands on deck were commended, too, for their swordsmanship and valiant efforts to turn the pirates away.



As the galleys threatened to be overwhelmed, the Ira became apparent on the horizon, and though the pirates beat a hasty retreat, it was far too late for them, their morale having been shredded to pieces as they couldn't even seize a fleet of galleys.



Really, the galleys must have had survival odds of ten to twenty percent or so... But the pirates, alas, had survival odds of zero percent.



The final batch of trebuchets had arrived in Fraternitas.



They, together with agents of Ray Machowski, were loaded into the Vergilius. The main fleet had by now sighted the shores of Castra Ira, and with the Ira herself guarding the waters, no agent of Mordor could prevent Rome's army from making landfall.



Certainly not the paltry troupe of Portuguese.



They were torn apart by Roman maces, and with so few numbers left, they were dispersed by a few concentrated volleys of longbow fire.



As news of the lifting of the siege of Castra Sancta reached Rome, all of Rome celebrated, but none more so than Michel Delving; parties and feasts was in the blood of the formerly Hobbit populace.



Their 'bull running' became a nationwide pastime, for some time at least, and certain migrants even advertised their little cottages and outposts as being great places to herd, train, and run with bulls. So it came to be that first Taurum, and then Minotaurum, were founded.





Castra Ira hosted a festival of its own though; the single largest parade of military might the world had ever seen.



These soldiers hadn't come to laze around and show off their shining armour though. The Leonum took command and quickly took up positions all across the Portuguese borders.



Raven Rock rushed out a unit of macemen well accustomed to the large forests and the hilly landscape up north. They would garrison the mountain pass, lest the Portuguese guerrillas go south to stir up mischief.



Meanwhile, Rome's army closed in.



The siege weapons, the crossbowmen regiments, and a few straggling pike- and macemen, soon caught up to the main army, as Ray Machowski's agents infiltrated the city.



His agents were hardly needed though, and so they went off to investigate Adams, that curious bastion of Christianity under the shadow of Mordor.



The shadow of Mordor, that had by now extinguished the light of the Dutch city-state, as Kent Paul, one of the very few surviving Dutch refugees, told Rome.



He was invited to an audience with the Triumvirate in Roma, where he would eventually settle down and become somewhat of an expert on cultures, diplomacy, and foreign politics. Ray Machowski would come to appreciate him greatly.



Kent Paul would be avenged, as Arroyo fell to Roman arms.



As Arroyo fell, never to get up again, and as the brainwashed Portuguese survivors were taken captive.



The Roman army gathered herself around what was rumoured to be holy water, curing all ills and healing all pains, while the Portuguese labourers were sent to the monasteries of Castra Ira for re-education, and the smithies of Castra Sancta for honest work.



Still, as mighty as Rome was on land, so powerless she was, at times, at sea. Relying on speed and agility was fine, so long as they weren't caught - by quinqueremes, for example.



More generals and admirals were called upon to rectify this problem; this time, they would station themselves in Arretium.



That is not to say that Roman sailors couldn't fight with the best. Rome further recognised the need to clear our the jungles - who knew how many pirates and beasts made their homes there - and would soon start civilising this wilderness, too.



As the Divinus docked for repairs in Sarn Ford, a recruiting office for more sailors was set up in Arretium.



Though Rome's navy was certainly not without merit, as one Ira turned away enterprising Mordorian fishermen, while another returned from besieging Arroyo through the waters of Ultra-Luxe and Westside. There was no hurry, as Rome's army was still healing - and, mostly, enjoying their time off in this holy water.



But Sauron had seen the innumerable legions of Rome amassing near Adams, and reacted with subterfuge. His desperate proposal to open borders was harshly rejected - Roman soldiers needed no open borders to pass through.

 

[need my speed]

The end of the war with Portugal coincided with the completion of the Porcelain Tower of Ravenna, a tower dedicated to cooperation and to learning. The restoration of peace to the shattered Enclave-successor states - that is to say, Holy Rome, and the refugees picked up by Rome's fortresses - and the strengthening of the Concord of Civilisation, both through the spread of Christianity and through the folding of Sauron's minions, was also a symbol of cooperation.



With Christian civilisations all cooperating, monasteries all over the Christian world saw an increase in foreign students and teachers. Most, of course, flocked to Rome, being the largest, most learned, and most Christian civilisation in existence. After finishing their studies in Rome's monasteries, many opted to stay in Rome - and indeed, many took their families with them. Even non-Christians were interested, and a small immigration boom took place all over the Roman Republic.



Ray Machowski and his new aide, Kent Paul, made sure to screen all migrants, lest they be agents of Mordor.



Of course, the former Enclave lands still weren't entirely as they should be; Sauron controlled Adams, and much of the countryside south of the Roman fortresses was razed and lacking any institutional presence. Most of Sauron's army had abandoned these lands to lawless thugs, leaving but a token force in Adams as his army occupied Vault 15, the habitat of the Dutch people before their brutal enslavement and execution.



Rome would have to liberate the enslaved Dutch, but for the moment, all the Ira could do was prowl about the outskirts of the city. Not that the Ira was needed elsewhere in particular; the city of Velitrae was established, and though surrounded, for the nonce, by swampy jungles, in no time at all, the pirate covens hiding there would all be wiped out.



A catastrophic event occurred in multiple of Rome's largest workshops - the so-called heavy industries - as God struck and blew them all apart with the force of a thousand trebuchets. Especially Aprinum's heavy shipbuilding industries were struck hard. At the same time, Roman alchemists, inspired by the holy water, immediately abandoned their experiments with powders and potions to try and replicate these waters of life. Some suspect that the secretive alchemist guild, clinging to the shadows of a society progressing beyond guilds, was somehow responsible for the explosions in Rome's industries.



I discovered that 'Heavy Industry' improvements (from Workshop, to Light Industry, to Heavy Industry) accidentally gave a base yield increase of three production, instead of one, which I have now fixed. I further decided to not pursue Gunpowder until every city is garrisoned by Longbowmen; I can easily get enough money to upgrade them all, and though minor, I like the additional experience the Colosseum gives to Archery units, but not to Gunpowder units.

Still, Arretium's shipyards could cope with Arpinum's losses - especially with the recently established academies for admiralty. The Samwise was the largest fleet of galleys yet, with even more room for Roman soldiers to be ferried across the Republic.



They would be used to supply the Shire Islands for now, as they had come to be called; Rome's army wasn't needed that far abroad, what with Toni Cipriani of Liberty liberating the indoctrinated Illuminati populace, capturing the media and propaganda bastions of Montreal and Picus Towers, as well as an area only known as Dreamland, were strange experiments that couldn't see the light of day were done in the name of science.



The leadership of Raven Rock set out to organise the many refugees in the war-torn former Enclave lands. A host of engineers, priests, and many more professions, were assembled to provide aid to the suffering families living of the lands, from day to day, survival the only thing on their mind.



The Shire Islands started their own civilisation programme, training workers on land and on sea, and setting up the settlement of Eastwood in the eastern woods of the Shire Islands. Under the leadership of governor Clinton, this settlement would be iconic for its many Hobbit-related festivals and plays.



This was very much unlike the outpost of Velitrae, the people of which were even now scouring the jungles seeking to drive off any pirate they could find. When they threatened to be overwhelmed by a massive siege fleet, the Shire galleass from Thainhall was called upon.



At the same time, Rome's army packed up its camp and took up positions on the border of Adams. A small detachment - eight macemen regiments - were sent to Castra Ira, to capture the island fortresses of Daemon Angren and Morannon.



The Roman soldiers, and the Mordorian citizens even moreso, would need the blessings of Christianity and the guidance of God during this campaign. Luckily, the Devotus already lay in waiting, just off the shores of Lux Perpetua, ready to carry Rome's missionaries to and fro.



Rome's faith in her missionaries never wavered, certainly not as the missionaries took a detour through Cumae, the holy city of Christianity, where they performed great miracles.



Rome's monasteries had long grown in importance, having, over the years, evolved from archives of record-keeping, to places of learning for theology and other matters religious, to entire universities with studies ranging from alchemy to astronomy. These studies were expensive though; teachers had to be hired, material had to be bought, rooms had to be prepared... There were even calls for an institution to hand out tests to students, to determine who had learned and who had kept themselves ignorant - but that was something most monasteries weren't willing to consider... Yet?



Regardless, the opportunities presented by Rome's monasteries were attractive to both Romans and foreigners, and more and more monasteries started charging these foreigners money - and later, Romans themselves, too - for the opportunity to study. Exchanging foreign coin, determining the going rates, and more, was something the monastic orders knew very little of, and so, merchants were called upon for their expertise. Foreign students often did not have enough coins, however, and gradually, the concept of loans, of interest, of borrowing - of banking, indeed - came to spread throughout Rome.



Rome recognised that strength in arms could only be based on strength of heart, strength of spirit and strength of soul. Rome's missionaries, and the esteem the whole world held Rome's monasteries in, was something to be treasured.

This was even true for the wicked of the world, whose strength was drawn from evil and malice, whose veins flowed with poison and whose eyes flashed cruelly. Even as a gladiator from Crimethink Camp booked successes in Oceanic society - that is to say, he was a psychopathic mass murderer - Oceanic triremes hanged every last pirate from the jungle trees and had fun dyeing markings and cutting carvings on the dying and dead pirates.



At least this spared Rome's galleasses from the dangers of combat - unlike the Glade of Dream's navy, which had been sunk by Saruman, the entire Fairy Glade torched down by rampaging Uruk-hai. Was this a man of Christianity? That was something to ponder later. For now, as the galleasses returned to Thainhall, the Divinus caravels had finished their repairs and sailed out of Sarn Ford's port.



She would be filled with missionaries, as ever, as the Devotus already was. The Devotus stumbled upon the Christianos, heading for Morannon, and the Colossus, heading for Daemon Angren.



As they each went their different ways, Castra Hispania was established, in honour of the Spanish revolutionaries who had, presumably, seen the tendrils of Sauron closing around Portugal before even Rome was aware of the growing evil. The - very few - Spanish survivors amongst the refugees cried tears of happiness.



Far-flung Gondor had its own Christian miracles, and as tales of them were spread by merchants and sailors, many of Gondor's cities took to Christianity with renewed zeal, and even in the ports of Westfold, of Rohan, Christianity was taken up. Though perhaps that was because of the renewed war between Arnor and the Dwarves, between Elendil and Durin. After all, Eorl of Rohan didn't want to suffer the fate of Rayman of the Glade of Dreams.



Khand kept close watch on evil, though, and as reports flew in from Spellbound Forest that Mr Dark was stirring up trouble in Front cities, Kundaj V went on the offensive. Razorbeard's pirates might be very amenable to Mr Dark, and together they might just be more than a match for Khand. Better to prevent that before Mr Dark's Valley could swallow up the barren lands between Khand and the Front - and so yet more bastions of Front pirates were razed, such as the Walk of Life.



With all this intelligence being gathered, and with the furnaces of Saruman soon producing paper in as massive a quantity as Rome, Rome opted to sell all the information that she had gathered.



200 Afghani from Helga Steele of Atlas.
90 Auksinas from Claude Speed of Anywhere.
620 Ariary from Elendil of Arnor.
10 Baht from Tomas Masaryk of Bohemia.
220 Bitcoins from John Maxson of the Brotherhood of Steel.
40 Colón from Castamir of Umbar (there's no currency starting with a 'u', apparently).
140 Dollar from Durin of the Dwarves.
150 Euro from Revolutionary Chairman of Eastasia.
110 Florin from Razorbeard of the Front.
30 Franc from Louis XIV of France.
180 Gulden from Ciryaher of Gondor.
60 Hryvnya from Carolus Magnus of Holy Rome.
120 Inti from Saruman of Isengard.
260 Kroner from Kundaj V of Khand.
60 Lari from Edward Sallow of Legion.
685 Lira from Toni Cipriani of Liberty.
70 Naira from Benny of New Vegas.
80 Ngultrum from Tandi of New California.
110 Ougiya from Big Brother of Oceania.
180 Riyal from Brand of Rhovanion.
40 Ruble from Yekaterina Alekseyevna of Russia.
750 Shekel from Carl Johnson of San Andreas.
160 Shilling from Ragnarr Lodbrok of Scandinavia.
160 Vatu from Mr Dark of the Valley.

Some - many - of these deals were quite unfair for Rome, of course, and so they built up a hefty amount of diplomatic capital beside financial capital, too.

 

[need my speed]

Now that (almost) everyone knew how the world looked, it was time to change how the world looked; clearly, with Razorbeard and Mr Dark growing closer, the time to deal with Sauron was now.



The Leonum lead the charge, as ever, securing the landscape around Adams so that the main host could pass uncontested.



The Christianos brought her troops to the hills of Morannon, treating the Mordorian populace to a glorious sunrise of iron.



She then ferried a large group of workers to the other continent, for many had gathered in Lux Perpetua to see Mordor fall; from macemen eager to join the war effort to workers called upon to rebuild the war-torn lands.



Bilbo's Bane, having docked in Lux Perpetua, bombarded the incensed populace of Morannon.



The Colossus secured the oil fields of Daemon Angren, and the macemen prepared themselves to storm the hills.



The first Ira bombarded Adams' fortifications, there only because of the Enclave's love for bunkers and bases and fortresses.



The second Ira secured the entire sea - admittedly a small one - near Vault 15, cutting the formerly Dutch city off from any trade or relief.



And so the forces of Christianity went to war. Kundaj V against Razorbeard, moving the pirates' attention away from Mordor and away from any plan Mr Dark might be hatching. Khand suffered grievous losses - lost even the fortified Spellbound Forest - and came to Rome begging for aid, but Rome, of course, was occupied with Mordor.



Saruman slowly but surely converted his people to Christianity - such as those in his capital Angrenost - perhaps in preparation of liberating Wellinghall, coming to Khand's aid. But then, perhaps not; who knew the mind of the white wizard but himself? Handsome Jack and Helga Steele were still at war, with little in the way of progress, though Toni Cipriani had managed to found the city of Newport on their continent. Speaking of which, Toni Cipriani, though not a Christian, was doing his part by now even occupying the headquarters of the Illuminati's secret and not-so-secret police force.



There was only one disappointment; Tommy Vercetti demanded an exorbitantly large sum of gold to join the war against evil. So be it, if he wished to occupy himself with extravagant feasts and orgies, well, it wasn't Rome which he was dooming, nor was there any Roman that would come to regret the consequences.



Because as Mordorian citizens were showering themselves in the projectiles of Bilbo's Bane, relentlessly beating down on their heads, homes, and walls...



Roman soldiers were showering themselves in glory.



And in gold, too. The entire civilian populace of Morannon had already fled, apparently forming partisan squads in Barad-dur to the south.



Despite lacking any naval assistance, and despite needing to charge up a hill, instead of down, the soldiers near Daemon Angren had the fearsome Antonii with them.



And they were famous for their brutal tactics.



Both of these two armies soon left the desert islands to the vultures preying on Mordorian corpses.



The main fighting took place near Adams, which was subject to heavy bombardment from both catapults and trebuchets.



It further suffered the assassination of the Mordorian officer corps stationed there, leaving the army in disarray.



Adams was poised to fall.



And so it did.



No Mordorian presence would be suffered on this continent, not even one in the able hands of Rome. Adams, however, had a large tunnel complex underneath it, and many a Mordorian managed to slip away. Old English men and women, long since imprisoned, were discovered here. Some were still alive, but others had been used for gruesome experiments in the underground dungeons - or 'laboratories', as the Mordorians called them.



As the English were rescued, the Mordorians were slaughtered.



The English were brought to Castra Hispania, where they would recover in Rome's caring arms.



Reports of the war were sent to Roma by her own agents, for military personnel at home to study and analyse.



Meanwhile, the Shire galleass escorted Thainhall's work boat to a pod of whales a fair distance away from Cornhill. The galleass would remain there, and keep watch over the sea lanes between Rhovanion and Rome there, too.



Though Rhovanion chipped in as well, patrolling the seas.

 

[need my speed]

To the east, Bilbo's Bane covered the Christianos as she took on board multiple regiments of macemen, intermixed with agents intent on infiltrating the very heart of Mordor.



Cirith Ungol, however, had launched a massive war fleet of galleasses. There was no way Bilbo's Bane could stand up to this threat.



She beat a hasty retreat, hoping the Mordorian sailors hadn't caught onto her.



The Ira covered Rome's main fleet. Most of the army had already went on board, but some still needed medical attention before being ready to sail. Soon, all these Roman soldiers would turn south, towards Barad-dur and the other lairs Sauron had defiled the earth with. At last, Sauron's trickery was revealed, dropping any pretence at being a good Christian and converting to Confucianism. Confucianism, a religion founded in Vault 15 by the New Californians who would end up declaring themselves to be the independent city-state of the Netherlands. Confucianism, a religion now corrupted in the hands of Sauron, with the intention of sowing discord and spreading confusion throughout the civilised world.



Luckily, Rome's own agents were far better at sowing discord and spreading confusion; Rome highly doubted Sauron was involved with the failing of the French revolutionary movement, but Rome knew that the fall of Adams could be attributed to the agnets of Ray Machowski. As a consequence of this, the Triumvirate had approached Ray Machowski, offering to integrate his security company within the government as an intelligence agency and secret service. Of course, most of Ray's operations these days were conducted on the request of the Republic, so this wasn't a large change - but it still marked the de jure birth of the Officium Frumentarii.



Castra Britannia was established in honour of the fallen English people - and also to ease the task of loading such a massive army on the many ships crowding the shoreline.



And also, for the protection of these ships... For Mordor possessed fearsome galleasses, just as fast as the fastest Roman ships and vastly more lethal.



Seeing that neither going north nor going south would find Rome's ships in safe waters, Bilbo's Bane and the Christianos docked at Lux Perpetua under the cover of longbowmen. Which, at Amor Sapientiae, proved to be remarkably effective.



Of course, it would be seafaring ships that would win the naval war, not land-bound soldiers. Raven Rock brought deliverance with the new Salvatio galleass.



The next Concord of Civilisation had a markedly different tone, now that Sauron's treachery had been laid bare to all.



Admittedly, not many were willing to involve themselves with such a mighty power as Mordor. But Rome and Holy Rome stood their ground, and managed to get the rest of Christian civilisation on board, albeit reluctantly.



There were, however, problems brewing in the realms of Christianity. A longbowmen regiment from Michel Delving, arriving in Circeii, discovered Hindu prophets preaching their religion.



And in Michel Delving herself, the taint of Hinduism had already spread...



When Tommy Vercetti was hastily contacted, he pretended that all was just fine.



Rome, unfortunately for him, had an entirely different impression, and closed her borders with Vice City. No merchants, no missionaries, no men at all would pass through for the time being. To think that the Hobbits - Romans, yes - of Michel Delving were now calling for the construction of a Hindu temple, as if their Christian cathedral wasn't good enough!



Still, all followers of Christianity had declared war on the wicked evil of Sauron.



Mhm-hm... Pretty coloured lines!



With the coming of the Salvatio galleass and the Samwise galley, soon, the waters would be safe to bring the entirety of Rome's might to bear against the darkness of Mordor.



Near Vault 15, where Sauron had cruelly corrupted and indoctrinated the Dutch people with his Confucianism, Rome's might had already been brought to bear against this darkness, what with the Ira II scoring a small victory over Mordorian galleys.



This, however, came at great cost, and she had to hurry to the city of Ultra-Luxe to the north for serious repairs.



A destination she would unfortunately never reach.



But even as she was beset upon by Mordorian warships, a handful of men managed to escape and bring word to Rome; New California was rapidly falling, with The Hub captured and Shady Sands - the former capital of New California - razed to the ground. Clearly, Sauron sought to replace his lost lands to let his evil flourish elsewhere.

But all of Christianity now stood against him. All of Christianity had been unified, in peace, with the construction of the Apostolic Palace of Cumae. And now, with all of the Christian armies heading to war in union, the Taj Mahal was built in the city of brotherhood, Fraternitas, for all Christian men were brothers in this war against the great evil of Sauron.



This war took many shapes. The Samwise and the Devotus dropped off migrants from the home continent to found a new outpost in the former Enclave lands, to facilitate Rome's naval control of the southern sea there.



This was a prudent move, as none of Rome's galleasses could stand up against those of Mordor; not the Irae, not the Bilbo's Bane... Only the Salvatio, constructed following Enclave designs, stood a chance.



Stood, and went on standing, as Mordor's orcs went overboard and trashed helplessly in the deep sea.



And so, finally, the Bilbo's Bane and the Christianos could set sail again.



The Samwise, too, caught up to them, and the heroic conquerors of Morannon quickly went on board.



And finally, Rome's main army was ready to head out too.



With all these forces amassed against Mordor, Rome declared this Sulphurous Sea - Barad-dur was, after all, built on its shores - also known as the Sea of Serpents - from back when the Enclave and Mordor dominated this sea together - to be Rome's very own sea. The sea of the Roman people. Their sea - Our Sea. Mare Nostrum.



Now to conquer the lands south of it.

 

[need my speed]

Mordor had long excelled in espionage, but with Sauron's eye turning east to submit New California to his indomitable will, Mordor's agents in the west had become rather lacking. This as the Officium Frumentarii had been established, strengthening Rome's own efforts, and attracting men eager to serve their country yet perhaps not best put to use in the military.



These were the glory days of the Officium Frumentarii, and many Mordorian agents were caught. Helped by Rome's paper industry and printing presses, not to mention her cultural pressure, many Mordorians began fearing that Sauron had abandoned his homelands to flee eastwards. Calippus would take charge of a rapidly growing division within the Officium Frumentarii; not one of intelligence, nor one of protection or assassination, but one of propaganda.



One of the earliest propaganda issued was the glorification of the longbowmen stationed in Amor Sapientiae, who had arms so muscular and bows so perfect that their arrows punctured right through the many Mordorian galleasses passing by, sinking them all with expert marksmanship (historical records gloss over the fact that, mere days earlier, the fish and clam exported by Toni Cipriani were lost because of a boggled price 'negotiation' and the publication of petty insults by the selfsame propaganda office).



The Mordorian populace was, however, not unjustified in thinking that Sauron had indeed abandoned his homelands - which only made Rome's embellishments seem more believable - as Tandi soon watched helplessly as her cities of Maxson and Gecko were burned to the ground. And as Mordor's armies were busy far away, Rome's army was at Mordor's doorstep.



Still, with the Salvatio in dire need of repairs, the Mordorian war fleet would have easy pickings on Rome's fleet. Despite the gigantic size of Rome's fleet, many of her ships were solely dedicated to transport, and she had comparatively few galleasses to guard all these transport galleys.



Yet in an incomprehensible move, the lonely Samwise galley trailing behind Rome's main force somehow attracted the attention of Mordor's admirals.



Of course, many of these so-called admirals were pirate lords, trained in the ways of looting and pillaging and preying on the weak, perhaps even hired from Razorbeard or hailing from the shores of Umbar. On second thought, it was no wonder these vultures felt no inclination whatsoever to engage with the full might of the Roman army and navy combined. The Samwise, understandably, felt much the same about Mordor's own navy, and so, a hasty withdraw to Lux Perpetua was in order.



There were now two courses of action. One, a lightning fast assault on the coastal fortress of Cirith Ungol, the many natural harbours there perfect for guarding the entirety of Rome's fleet. Two, a full frontal assault on Mordor's capital, to collapse that vile stain on the map in one stroke. Option one was attractive, for it would mean the safety of the entire fleet, were it not for rumours of a massive cave network full of wicked creatures such as gigantic spiders. And as a military instructor from Neapolis would afterwards point out: "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."



'It is sweet and fitting to die for one's fatherland', indeed, so long as the nameless general remained behind in the comforts of luxurious Neapolis, no doubt. Still, the admiralty resigned themselves to the second option, knowing that the taking of Cirith Ungol was too risky and of too little strategic gain - and who knew, the Mordorian galleasses hadn't yet engaged Rome's massive fleet.



Should worse come to worst, then there were always the able shipyards of Raven Rock quickly building up new fleets - there were ever so many English, Spanish, and even some Holy Romans and Portuguese men, eager to play their own part in the war against Mordor.



This efficiency was not only achieved by having so much manpower to call upon, though; Raven Rock was the very picture perfect of Enclave order and organisation, producing not whole ships, but tiny parts of ships, all to the exact same measurements, that could then easily be used to assemble or repair any ship whatsoever. These ideas spread back to Rome, where they would find a multitude of applications.

For example, the standardisation of longbows, so that all would be as capable as those of Amor Sapientiae, or the standardisation of tools and plans workers were issued with, so that any worker could take over the work of any other, digging mines and setting up industry to the same specifications as all other workers... The applications were endless. Especially in the aforementioned industries, as well as in the army, this concept of standardisation - and of, as such, replaceable parts - would gain traction.



The Roman navy survived unopposed, and the weakness of Mordor was now clear for all to see; behind that facade of brutal evil hid men only capable of preying on those who would offer no opposition.



That, perhaps, was the very nature of evil, and as such, so long as good men and women stood up to it, evil would never succeed. Good men willing to crew a galleass, for example. Soon, when a fourth Salvatio fleet would be assembled (Raven Rock isn't working on a galley, actually), the three Salvationes would cleanse the Mare Nostrum from all Mordorian ships.



To further ridicule the Mordorian 'navy' - and also, to seal even the barest desert off from Mordorian forces - the city of Timidi was established; a city built in the questionable honour of those who are shy and timid - who are cowardly, and indeed, who are part of the Mordorian navy.



Because, as Mordor's navy did nothing, the Roman navy sailed up to the proverbial gates of Barad-dur, even having the audacity to bombard the Dark Tower itself.



Rome was skilled in the art of siege warfare, and though the odds were not entirely with Rome, the command came to press the attack. After all, the Roman navy might not get lucky a third time, and it would be well worth the expected slight increase in casualties to capture Barad-dur now, rather than later.



Especially as the Frumentarii stumbled upon a secret meeting of Mordorian generals in Orodruin, already discussing how to best liberate Barad-dur.



Well, that was a prudent move, at least; it cost the lives of a highly decorated regiment of Lux macemen - skilled in the arts of urban warfare and general combat without compare - but Barad-dur, after having pushed more than half of its civilian populace to the front lines, had fallen into Roman hands.



It was surprisingly... 'Civilised', for lack of a better word. 'Developed', perhaps, yes.



Sauron, before relocating to Orodruin, had appointed the general responsible for bringing down the Lux regiment as lord of Barad-dur and commander of the entire war effort - meaningless titles, of course, as Sauron held absolute power, but still, there was some skill hidden behind these titles, and Rome would be glad to make use of this now-captured general.



In Michel Delving, its reputation having suffered now that a sizeable part of its population adhered to Hinduism, a select few recent graduates from military training banded together to set sail for Raven Rock. They were all devout Christians, and wanted to both fight against the great evil of Mordor and show the world that Michel Delving was still a Roman - and as such, Christian - city to the core.



Rome's pikemen harried the fleeing war elephants of Mordor, escorting their crudely constructed catapults to safety.



The crossbowmen, protected by these pikemen, shot down a few of the beasts - and more importantly, forced the Mordorian forces to abandon the catapults they were escorting. After all, piles of collapsed wood, punctured with crossbow bolts, was of little use to Mordor.



And so the Roman army had set foot on Mordorian soil - had met mace and pike with Mordorian arrows and axes, had prevailed even on the seas against overwhelming odds, and had, the top it all off, taken up residence within the crumbling fortifications of Barad-dur.

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - sed dulcius est pro patria vivere.