The Ancient Rome Game

[Neverwonagame3]

"We swear on our lives..."
"We swear on our lives..."
"our lives, our swords, and our Eagle..."
"our lives, our swords, and our Eagle..."
"that we shall be faithful..."
"that we shall be faithful..."
"... to Rome and it's Governors."
"... to Rome and it's Governors."

"How did you get away with that?"
"Publius, it's was actually rather easy. If anyone asks, we cite the fact that these are auxiliaries and we can't trust their loyalty."
"But what if Augustus finds out? He won't fall for that!"
"His attention is mostly focused on Rome. Even if it wasn't, we are currently small and weak. Lines of communication are long, and a message would take a week at best to reach Rome. If you must worry, worry about-"

A messanger rushed in. "Governor! Governor! The Germanians are attacking!"
"-That!"

 

[CivRulesAll]

Augustus sat on his throne that he had placed on top of his palace roof, on a tower. He had heard that the Germans were invading Julium. He had sent an elite corps to help them, about 500 praetorians. Without them, Julium would be doomed to die to the invading German hordes. And that was not good for Caesar, as he enjoys the luxuries he gets from them.

 

[Neverwonagame3]

"Quick! How long until they reach Julium?"
"Half an hour if we're lucky."

Quirinus sighed at looking foolish, but at least he had time.

"Alright- we have a third of that to make a plan(1), then I've got to rally the troops. Nestorius?"
"Refugees claim the army to be in thousands"
"Thousands!" cried Quirinus and Publius in unison. The news seemed shocking.

"-and whilst that's not necessarily the case it'll have to be our working assumption."
"Thousands!" exclaimed Quirinus. "Everyone. Courses of action?"
"Rome will send aid- Augustus is not the type to let down his own city."
"But not in time for the battle, Gaius. What use is it?"

Gaius stood up. He stared Quirinus in the eye. Quirinus knew what the gesture meant, and gave a look as if he was about to shake a fist.

"Calm down, Governor. I was only going to make a suggestion."
"Quickly or you'll be out fighting on the front!"
"I was only going to suggest that we withdraw for now. We can't defeat thousands of men with auxiliaries."

Quirinus fumed. He knew it was the right plan, but he couldn't be shown up in front of his advisors, let alone the men. Additionally, there was his own pride- there was no way he could achieve anything like the dreams his ego would have him grasp for if he couldn't win a battle even on the defensive.

He turned to one of the guards. "Tiberius? The gesture."

Grasping his spear, Tiberius looked out of the door. A group of auxiliaries were practicing- illegally, but it was Quirinus's law v.s Quirinus's fist- and trying in vain to hit a set-up target with their spears.

To Publius's shock, the spear rushed past them all and out the door. Going literally over the heads of the auxiliaries, it wooshed through the air and hit the target straight in the centre.

Knowing he was speaking rubbish, Quirinus commented. "We are Romans, with Roman valor. We can win!"

1: As far as I know, there was no ancient Roman concept of a "minute".

 

[CivRulesAll]

"Look Caius, We're almost there, I won't have any more casualties!" said a praetorian. The corps had suffered few casualties, about 10.
"No. Emperor Augustus sent us to aid Julium, anc we will do so." said Captain Caius.
"The Germans will be invading Julium in approximately half of an hour. How are we supposed to get there in that time!?" shouted Gaius.
Caius' eye moved towards the river that was flowing downstream in the direction they were going.
"I have an idea..." said Caius.
A few minutes* later, they had assembled a raft large and seaworthy enough to carry them all. They were flowing down the rapids with speed. Julium was in sight. But as they passed the giant forest, they saw glints of metal and dashes of shadows in the forest's darkness. Night was closing in, and the praetorians were running as fast as they could. They reached Julium just in time. The Germans were marching. Caius went up to Quirinius, towering over him(In customary terms, he was 7'8" tall.)
"We are at your command, Governor Quirinius." The 490 praetorians presented themselves, and then the sun had gone down. The Germans were invading.

*Let's just use minutes.

 

[choxorn]

Meanwhile, in Pompeii, it was an ordinary day. Nothing at all happened that doesn't always happen. The farmers farmed the volcanic-ash-fertilized soil. The gossips gossiped. The merchants traded. The soldiers threw spears at targets.

Then the Earth shook violently for a few minutes, causing minor damages to some of the buildings, and a few of the houses collapsed inward.

Pompeii is need of some marble, stone, and timber (wait, we already have that) to re-build the minor damages from the earthquake.

 

[CivRulesAll]

Emperor Augustus will send marble to the noble city of Pompeii so they can repair the minor damage.

 

[Bratmon]

Meanwhile, in Pompeii, it was an ordinary day. Nothing at all happened that doesn't always happen. The farmers farmed the volcanic-ash-fertilized soil. The gossips gossiped. The merchants traded. The soldiers threw spears at targets.

Then the Earth shook violently for a few minutes, causing minor damages to some of the buildings, and a few of the houses collapsed inward.

Pompeii is need of some marble, stone, and timber (wait, we already have that) to re-build the minor damages from the earthquake.

Dun Dun Dunnn

 

[choxorn]

Emperor Augustus will send marble to the noble city of Pompeii so they can repair the minor damage.

Thanks.

@Bratmon: There will be no volcano yet.

 

[Bratmon]

yet.

Still, I'd hate to be an insurance company.

 

[CivRulesAll]

Bratmon, Why don't you sign up?

 

[CivRulesAll]

Emperor Augustus needs Iron from Eboracum.

 

[Icekommander]

"Well there goes the last of the shipments" Navinus said. The governor just grunted. He had yet to get a reply from the Emperor regarding if he could get half of his payment in Marble, two cubic arpents worth, hopefully. Unfortunatly time had run out, and he risked the emperors anger if he waited much longer. Pompeii's shipments had left three days ago, and Juliums five days before that. Which meant that hopefully some of his return payments should be getting back within several weeks. Yornicus looked forward to it.

 

[Neverwonagame3]

"Look Caius, We're almost there, I won't have any more casualties!" said a praetorian. The corps had suffered few casualties, about 10.
"No. Emperor Augustus sent us to aid Julium, anc we will do so." said Captain Caius.
"The Germans will be invading Julium in approximately half of an hour. How are we supposed to get there in that time!?" shouted Gaius.
Caius' eye moved towards the river that was flowing downstream in the direction they were going.
"I have an idea..." said Caius.
A few minutes* later, they had assembled a raft large and seaworthy enough to carry them all. They were flowing down the rapids with speed. Julium was in sight. But as they passed the giant forest, they saw glints of metal and dashes of shadows in the forest's darkness. Night was closing in, and the praetorians were running as fast as they could. They reached Julium just in time. The Germans were marching. Caius went up to Quirinius, towering over him(In customary terms, he was 7'8" tall.)
"We are at your command, Governor Quirinius." The 490 praetorians presented themselves, and then the sun had gone down. The Germans were invading.

*Let's just use minutes.

Quirinius looked on angrily, as the man towered before him. Supressing the urge to shake a fist, he gestured to Tiberius.

A veritable giant of a man (described as 7'7'' himself), he took advantage of Quintus's "tall shoes" to appear larger then Caius himself. Quirinus stood behind him, smiling. In the game of intimidation, it was Caius's move.

"The enemy appear to have 1500 men. They appear to have intercepted our scouts, and will reach the Rhine before we've finished speaking. We have 1000 men of our own," (he avoided mentioning they were illegal auxiliaries) "but they have never fought before and have low morale."

Trying to remember the strategic "map", Quirinus thought for a second. "I've deliberately left the left flank undefended, so they'll probably move a detachment there. The main attack will have slightly inferior numbers, but they'll be hoping to break our lines. We must stop them quickly!"

As the armies rushed to battle, Nestorious looked on, thinking to himself. This Caius had to be an impressive commander, to fit 500 men on a single raft. He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen the sight with his own eyes. Since the plan was made and it was unlikely he could be corrupted, there would be one more task for him this battle- to asess the Praetorians as a fighting force. There was a risk Quirinus would have to fight them some day.

 

[CivRulesAll]

The praetorians fought the Germans as if they were one entity, throwing their javelins absolutely simultaneously and precisely, each one at a different enemy, traveling with one step and then another at exactly the same pace, putting a testudo up as fast as a man could snap his fingers, each of them killing at least 10 germans before being wounded. And their morale was indestructible, even when they sustained a casualty(which was not often), they would not take a second glance at the body. Caius was a beast in combat, rivaling the German Berserkers in combat. He could kill 3 men with one slice of his razor sharp, 3-foot-long, double edged sword. Injury seemed like nothing more than flies on his skin to him. Even a Spartan Warrior would cower before this cunning beast, waiting to be released. Each of the Praetorian Guard fought long and hard. The morning came, and the praetorians had hardly sustained more than 15 casualties, although they were dead tired. They would sleep and eat til the Germans came back next night.
Nestoirous was amazed. 'These are not warriors... they are lions in human form...' he thought...

 

[Neverwonagame3]

OOC: Hang on, don't we have character separation here?

 

[choxorn]

In Pompeii, the builders are fast at work using marble to rebuild the damage from the Earthquake. Most of the damage was minor enough that the job is not taking long. The main threat to the re-building process was people showing up at the building sites and stealing equipment, breaking things, or painting graffiti. But, the buildings were erected or repaired quickly anyway.

Now, that the damage is repaired, Pompeii has recieved messages of Germanic attacks at the north edge of the empire. We will send a legion of troops and some wine, to give to the Germans to surrender to them make them too drunk to fight.

 

[Neverwonagame3]

Military:

The praetorians fought the Germans as if they were one entity, throwing their javelins absolutely simultaneously and precisely, each one at a different enemy, traveling with one step and then another at exactly the same pace, putting a testudo up as fast as a man could snap his fingers, each of them killing at least 10 germans before being wounded. And their morale was indestructible, even when they sustained a casualty(which was not often), they would not take a second glance at the body. Caius was a beast in combat, rivaling the German Berserkers in combat. He could kill 3 men with one slice of his razor sharp, 3-foot-long, double edged sword. Injury seemed like nothing more than flies on his skin to him. Even a Spartan Warrior would cower before this cunning beast, waiting to be released. Each of the Praetorian Guard fought long and hard. The morning came, and the praetorians had hardly sustained more than 15 casualties, although they were dead tired. They would sleep and eat til the Germans came back next night.
Nestoirous was amazed. 'These are not warriors... they are lions in human form...' he thought...

OOC: BTW, was it a dig as a "make-it-up-as-you-go" style to do this? I admit I did accidentally take some implicit NES conventions over to Forum Games.

"Calm down, Nestoirous!" exclaimed Nestorious. "I know they're impressive, but we have to think logically about this! Emotions get us nowhere."
"But- but he's better then the Emperor! We don't stand a chance!"
"Quiet!" cried Nestorious, focusing on the returning men.

He began to think. Was this some sort of ploy? The Praetorians went beyond all expectations, but even against barbarians they seemed to do suspiciously well. Caius seemed to have a touch of arrogance- he obviously assumed that after the feat that was last battle the Germans would not attack again for a while.

Estimates prior to the battle had estimated a force in the thousands, and Quirinus had completely abandoned the left flank.

"You idiot!" exclaimed Nestorious, angry at himself. "They're going to attack!"

Civil:
(OOC: Using civil to mean 'not military'.)

Some people were pleased at Caius's great victory. Some people were assessing it calmly and reasonably. In both cases, Quirinus was not one of them.

"WHY!" he cried, throwing the strongest punch he could manage. "WHY DID HE HAVE TO DO SO WELL!"

Tiberius smiled calmly, blocking the attacks as they came. Despite everything his master barked at him, he couldn't bring himself to concentrate on the battle- his mind was lost in anticipation. Finally, after all these years he had found a warrior who was, roughly, his equal.

Publius rushed into the room. "My lord, shouldn't we be chasing the-"
"WHY! WHY! WHY!" cried Quirinus, punching desperately against Tiberius's armor. "WH-"

Tiberius flinched slightly, knocking Quirinus off balance. Suddenly he was thrown across the room, crashing against a desk. Looking behind him, the Governor briefly noted that it was completely cut in two.

Then he noticed his spine.

"WHY!"

 

[CivRulesAll]

Sorry about using your character, that was a one time thing.
And the words just flowed as I wrote it. So, yeah, it was made up as I went along.

 

[Neverwonagame3]

Sorry about using your character, that was a one time thing.
And the words just flowed as I wrote it. So, yeah, it was made up as I went along.

That's okay. I'll drop the point.

 

[Vertinari118]

City Name: Aliso
City Location: Banks of the River Main
Governor Name: Legatus legionis Georgius Aemilius Falco
Preferred god: Mars
Enemies: We are a small town/fort on the very edge of Augustus' empire in the middle of Germany who do think? The Gauls maybe? The Germans of course.
Goods Export: Soldiers hardened in battle with the brutal Germans, coal, iron, copper, timber and salt
Goods Import: Cereals, olive oil, wine, marble, any resource not listed above that might be useful for building a fort/city.

The small town of Aliso comprises mostly of the legion stationed there and its families, with some Germans moving in due to the pros of life as a Roman citizen compared to a wild barbarian. It is moderately isolated from the rest of the Empire but if it has a peaceful lull in the constant fighting with the Germans it has the potential, owing to its position on fertile ground near a river, to become a city in its own right.