[RFC] Rome, the Conquering Empire

[trexeric]

It's amazing how many pictures can be taken of the same thing.

 

[Tycho]

It's amazing how many pictures can be taken of the same thing.

I got bored and was continously mashing the "Prt Screen" button. It was being slow, so I didn't want to miss if my knights got killed and I failed the battle.

 

[Tycho]

With thousands of men from the remnants of Germany marching to retake Berlin, the situation seems quite dire for the men that garrison the city. Pierre orders all men to have weapons ready at any time, for fear that the Germans may cross the river and attempt to storm the city in a shock attack, using speed and power to overwhelm the defenders. For multiple days and nights, the soldiers that garrison Berlin prepare boiling oil, stones, unmoveable trebuchets, as well as a plentiful supply of ammuntion and reinforcement of the ground under the walls to prevent sappers from doing anything, as well as fortifications of the actual walls themselves. Each man prays nightly for the Germans to retreat and go away, for with the death of Fromm, the Umbra Lupa, Germany has dispatched his crueler brother, Siegfried Fromm.

Miles away, diplomats from both England and Roma meet in the capital to discuss affairs of the world. England offers it's knoweledge of the world and it's assorted maps should Roma decide to trade it's own information with them. The Emperor believes the trade to be a good idea, in hopes that it will paint a broad picture of the frontier where Germany now rests and threatens the newly taken city of Berlin, and accepts the trade wholeheartedly.

On April 13'th, 1050, the fury of the German military is unleashed upon Berlin. General Pierre's belief that the Germans would try to use shock troops to overwhelm the defences was correct, with thousands of axe wielders marching towards the city at full pace. Pierre orders the knights of the 3'rd Cavalry Legion forward to deal with the issue.

A furious battle leaves two thousand Roman knights wounded and a routed army of axemen who have suffered almost four times as much casualties as the Romans have. Another unit of armored knights of the 5'th Cavalry Legion are dispatched to assist the tired knights and protect them while they gather their strength to move.

Meanwhile, the main encampment of the German army across the river glows brightly with the reminder that yes, they are still there, while swordsmen under the command of the nobleman Heinrich Gustafson march and scout through the northeastern forests. It is troubling news, as these men are technically in Roman territory, using this opppurtunity that they have to spy on the Roman fortifications around Berlin with impunity. Cavalry attack is nigh impossible in the the thick forest, and sending a Praetorian legion to deal with them will result in heavy casualties for both sides. Pierre deigns to spend his time fortifying some more, and putting fake straw troops around the walls in an attempt to fool the Germans.

The Germans however grow tired with spying and more interested in striking back at the Romans that have killed large portions of their friends. They strike at night, hoping to get the upper hand on the Roman cavalry. Unfortunately for them, they run right into the Praetorian legion after getting turned around in the dark and moving towards a blacked out Berlin.

The fighting goes on for hours, with the Praetorina Legion emerging victorious, having slewn Heinrich Gustafson. His head is set up on a pike outside the gates of Berlin next to Seneschal Fromm's.

War elephants from the Saharan barbarian lands march northward in an attempt to pillage the lands outside of Carthage and perhaps take the city for themselves. The Roman legion stationed there is waiting for precisely the right time to strike.

Led by General Gaius Marius, the Roman legion is attacked by the barbarian war elephants that stampede across the flat planesland to Carthage. An ingenious trap is set however, and with the use of flaming pigs, the elephants are panicked and end up killing one another, with the survivors cut down by the advancing Roman legions.

A great engineer by the name of Norbert Rillereux graduated from the fine academy of Roman Infrastructure Construction, inspired to produce great works for the glory that is Roman.

Roman settlers from Brusindium escape city life by banding together and moving towards the Eastern European frontier, creating the city of Aquincum. Construction of a theatre immedieatly begins, since all Romans now the power the arts have on the minds of the people and future generations.

The phony war that has been waged eternally between Roma and Arabia is finally put to an end by the famed medieator Publius Syrus. He brokers a successful peace deal between Arabia and Rome in return for political and infiltrator prisoners on both sides to their respective nations. This peace will last for many years between Rome and Arabia and lead to prosperity between the two nations as trade flourishes.

With that, the amount of wars going on at the same time was reduced from three to two, with the Spanish still resisting in Iberia and the Germans remaining defiant on their border. Something needed to be done about their arrogance against all that was Roman.

Spain collapses into ruin soon after, political turmoil and internal pressure splitting them apart. But as one star falls on the continent, another rises like a flashing beacon.

The Dutchmen of the Netherlands settle their first and greatest city of Amsterdam, a city that rivals even Roma in size. Such a city is a prosperous trade partner, and relations between both Rome and the Dutch will be profitable in time.

Continued resistance by German soldiers and guerrilla forces has reduced the amount of armored cavalry around Berlin by a significant amount. The main German force has retreated, but Siegfried Fromm has returned with his cohorts of macemen that seek to do battle with the Romans.

The Roman Empire at the peak of the Low Middle Ages is an astonishing thing, having conquered much land that people had thought was nigh impossible, especially Germania. Provinces now draw in great amounts of wealth, which is used to fund the large army being used by Rome to subjugate it's enemies under it's boots.

Berlin finally rests as the people that have waged countless years of their life to defying Rome have either died out, been imprisoned, or left the country by will or force. Berlin finally becomes productive again, eager to become the finest Roman province.

The Fifth Cavalry Division is woefully unprepared for the assualt by macemen and spear users under the command of Siegfried Fromm.

The Second Cavalry Legion also falls to the German maces.

 

[Tycho]

Soup's on fellows, the next four updates will follow after dinner.

 

[Tycho]

With the destruction and annihilation of the Second Cavalry Legion outside of Berlin, the frontier city is now out of the famed Roman heavy cavalry troops. Pierre has his troops dig in and prepare for heavy fighting that will no doubt come when the Germans rush their position and try to overwhelm the city.

A Roman glassmaker named Sirius Cincinattus experimented with his glassmaking one day, discovering that he could shape them into optics using brass and bronze telescopic mounts to peer at far distances. Sirius sells the patent to the Roman government and ends up with seven million denarii, an unheard of sum for the time. With that, the Roman military cranks out thousands to be put out on warships.

A strange black powder from the far east is transmitted on a ship that arrives in Roma six months later. Roman scientists immedieatley start to research this strange new compound.

The Leaning Tower of Roma, so named because of the boggy and unstable soil it was built upon caused it to slump, was constructed in Roma by the great engineer Norbert. Working hard with almost no food or sustenance, the engineer labored to see his dream come to life on paper and in real life. Soon after the construction, Norbert was bedridden with pneumonia and respiratory problems, but that did not stop him from giving the order to have him wheeled out to view his creation one last time before he died in his sleep seven days later.

Roman soldiers fresh from the conquest of Iberia march northward to reinforce friendly soldiers at Berlin from General Pierre's request and the orders of the Roman military high command. Almost seventy thousand soldiers march northward on the Holy Roman campaign trail. None know what will happen to them.

Siegfried Fromm watches from the forests all that goes on in Berlin, something that the Roman troops know all too much. Civilians and soldiers that wonder too far from the city were later found either in pieces, headless, and/or handless hung in in bags or nooses in plain view of the city. Needless to say, morale drops like a sackful of hammers in a lake.

One night, the thing that all people had feared that would happen to Berlin does happen; Siegfried Fromm leads his troops in a sneak attack on Berlin. Their first target? The 13'th legion stationed on the northeastern side of the city.

The Praetorians will not go quietly without a fight though. Pierre leads his men into battle with a token force of knights left behind in Berlin to hold the city. They descend into the forest forcing captured German soldiers doused in flame forward before lighting them on fire and setting them running in the general direction of Fromm's soldiers. And with that, everything descends into chaos.

The battle goes on for hours until the light of dawn cracks over the world and Fromm retreats with his remaining troops. The death toll is a horrible affair.

German casualties:
17,200 dead
6,900 wounded
2,899 missing
10, 650 captured

Roman casualties:
15,500 dead
3,000 wounded
400 missing
20 captured

With the victories performed by the Roman soldiers, the current look of the Empire is much like the above. The Netherlands wisely have sided with Roma.

For now.

Lord McCauley, a English-Scotchman scholar, assembles a list of the wealthiest nations in the world. Considering how the Roman economy is doing with the recuperation from th cancellation of two wars and the continuation of another war, fourth place for the Empire is not that bad.

Fromm returns in force again to try and dislodge Roman troops from Berlin, using horse archers much like his late brother Seneschall Fromm, or the Umbra Lupa.

Though Siegfried Fromm is significantly more tactically and strategically smarter than his brother, he still loses the battle. However, the purpose of his attack upon the Roman armored knights has revealed their positions to him, with his sacrificial lamb gambit succeeding in what he wants it to do.

Meanwhile, Roman soldiers continue to advance northward to Berlin, with almost one hundred fifty thousand soldiers marching to reinforce Berlin.

With the arrival of numerous Roman legions and cohorts, the force of the Roman garrison is so powerful that Siegfried Fromm is reluctant to try anything else that might get more German troops killed with no gain for them.

Notre Dame, a massive cathedral dedicated to the Christain god is constructed in Roma through slave labor and plentiful whipping, along with a incentive in extra rations.

Pierre dies five years before the march on the last German stronghold, but his son Jorge leads the men in a furious and massive fall of the hammer that will shatter most Germans morale.

 

[Tycho]

That's it for me people for tonight. I'll have the next four updates ready for you by tomorrow. Till then, enjoy.

 

[hoplitejoe]

How long till a country breaks free I wonder

 

[Tycho]

How long till a country breaks free I wonder

, towards the end of the game my stability was about as stable as balancing the Brooklyn Bridge on a sponge and three grains of rice. Of course, the true Roman Empire would not have accepted such things easily, and neither did I. The number of breakoff's at different points in time within a fifty year gamespan can not be counted on my hand's or toes, but of course I loaded an autosave every time.

 

[Tycho]

The assualt upon the last German stronghold is a vicious battle, with over one hundred fifty thousand soldiers and fifty thousand cavalrymen. The sheer size of the army consumes most of the food in the surrounding countryside as they prepare for battle.

The first assualt from twenty two battering rams brings down six gates and unleashes a veritable storm of hooves and gleaming armor. They rush through the city, murdering all German soldiers that they come across and riding down civilians. Jorge has mandated their will be no mercy to the people that continue to defy the Roman Empire.

Resistence is fierce within the city as the archers awaken and arm themselves. Siegfried Fromm has prepared his troops well and has used Jorge's bloodthirst and eagerness to kill Germans that he has set up blockades. As the knights sweep through the city, they split up with every road they come across, being funneled into narrow streets and allyways and being chunneled into blockades that they could not go around. With that, hundreds of archers at certain points unleash flurries of arrows that strike down hundreds of knights.

As the war on the German front heats up as the competition for Konigsburg heats up, Roman scientists finally make a breakthrough. The black powder that they started researching years ago has finally been broken down and successfully tested. Coming from China, this gunpowder allows muskets to be used in the place of longbows to punch through most armor and whatnot.

The Dutch of Amsterdam try to cut a deal with the Roman Empire, trading the knoweledge of Divine Right for the secrets of Gunpowder. The offer is considered.

After about two years of haggling and dealing, the technology of different types and whatnot are finally traded for Divine Right, cementing the power of the Emperor and his family.

A picture of the Leaning Towr of Roma looming high above much of the city.

The English are eager to trade almost forty five million gold pieces for the secret of Meditation, and the deal is quite a simple thing; the Emperor and the Upper Council and Senate accept. This will help the treasury with it's many debts and payments that need to be done.

The University of Brusindium is constructed almost two years after the English trade, with the scholar Publius Arachus eager to expand the knoweledge of the Roman empire through secular and religious thinking.

Continued infrastructure construction goes on in Sparte, orders from the Emperor and the local governor.

The barbarians that lived on the western edge of the Iberian Peninsula have finally arranged themselves into the Portugese Nation. The Portugese are afraid that the might that is Roma will turn to them and smash them apart. They are safe so long as they do not try to attack Roma.

There was not any gurantees for peace was there?

 

[MoreEpicThanYou]

You're... STABLE?

Oh well, once you colonize America it'll go down in no time. I was collapsing with my American colonies, and I didn't own Iberia, North Africa, or Berlin until AFTER my French cities revolted and my stability went up. Read Eternal Empire for more!

 

[Tycho]

You're... STABLE?

Oh well, once you colonize America it'll go down in no time. I was collapsing with my American colonies, and I didn't own Iberia, North Africa, or Berlin until AFTER my French cities revolted and my stability went up. Read Eternal Empire for more!

Don't worry METY, I'm reading your story as often as I can when I'm not working, and it's highly good ! I did colonize America, and let me tell you this, I absolutely hated the stability bar. That and the conquests to the East and the North kind of caused my Empire to break apart almost fifty times, but the joy of autosaves knows no bounds.

 

[Tycho]

Well fellows, I will be staggering the next three updates over the next week or so. Until then, hope you have enjoyed.

 

[hoplitejoe]

What do you have against the 30 image limit? (and my scroll trying to find when the next update begins )

 

[thecaesar]

Yes! Gloriam Romae!

 

[trexeric]

This is a great story!

 

[Tycho]

What do you have against the 30 image limit? (and my scroll trying to find when the next update begins )

Well, mostly it's just because I get to a good stopping point and stay there for the next update. Nothing personal against the image limit truly .

Yes! Gloriam Romae!

Thank you Caesar, it only gets better from here on out.

This is a great story!

Thank you as well trexeric for your praise .

 

[christos200]

Instead of colonizing america colonize east asia and take over china.

 

[thecaesar]

Yes! Kill them and take all their silkworms!

 

[Tycho]

Instead of colonizing america colonize east asia and take over china.

Good idea... I can actually still do that as the game is still ongoing right now.

Thanks Christos!

Yes! Kill them and take all their silkworms!

Oh don't worry ,

 

[thecaesar]

Grassor! ...No, grassābimur! Mwahahahaha!