Setting: Ancient Rome, though on an alternate world. Rome has risen to great heights- many fear her great armies and emperors. Most of the West has fallen to her Iron Eagles, leaving only a few isolated kingdoms in the East as the last known independent states.
The history of Rome to and including Commodus is identical to the actual Roman History, but the similarity stops at Pertinax. In this alternate world, Manius Julius Lupus rose from the Senate to take over after Pertinax was murdered and the throne offered for sale by the corrupt Praetorians. He adopted the cognomen and title of Caesar, and his family had ruled ever since.
There are a lot of holes in the set-up and character descriptions. This is done on purpose. Each writer will then have the wiggle room to grow his/her portion of the story as he/she sees fit. Plus it can give you clues as to what to fill in background-wise if you get stuck.
All of North Africa and Western Europe are under the Iron Eagles. In the East, the kingdoms of Dacia and Thrace have been recently conquered, up towards the mouth of the Danube. The Germans to the Elbe have been conquered and are beginning to be Romanized.
The Roman frontier is along the River Elbe towards the Bohemian mountains, along the Carpathian Mountains towards the Black Sea. In the East, all of modern Turkey, Syria, Armenia, Israel, and Iraq up to the Tigris are under Roman rule. The lands of Mesopotamia are under the Parthian-Sassanid kingdom.
Manius Julius rose to power on a wave of senatorial resurgence after the death of Pertinax. He and his successors maintain a veneer of Republican ideals and ways in an effort to placate the masses, but at the same time they hold a lock on certain offices. The Senators, vying for power among those offices ‘released to the people’ has broken into two distinct groups- Optimales who strive to maintain senatorial domination and power at the expense of the People and the Principate, and the Populares who give a rat’s ass about who has the power as long as the ideals of the Rome are served. They currently believe that solid support of a good Imperator is the best means of doing this. The two blocs often cancel each other out in votes, and playing the one against the other has often helped the Emperor maintain his own power.
Though Quintus was a good but hard ruler, the empire is severely stretched. Rebellions grow wherever the legions are not, and in some cases where the legions are. There are thirty-five legions spread throughout the empire. Three legions are stationed in Britannia, two are in Gaul, two in Hispana, and another three are in Egypt. A further three legions are in Sicily, with the rest strewn across the border forts on the frontiers, ranging across from East to West. The remaining nineteen legions are placed along the frontiers.
The three legions that used to be in Northern Italy as a Mobile reserve have been dispatched to Hispana under Titus to crush the Iberian revolt.
The Elbe legions wear heavy armour and clothing to withstand the cold and type of weapons the unconquered German tribes use, such as the axe and armour piercing arrows. While the Mesopotamian legions wear lighter equipment and are more mobile because of the terrain and warm climate. Each legion is tailored to its environment and mission.
[This message has been edited by Terikel Grayhair (edited 11-04-2009 @ 11:07 AM).]