The Eagles of Avalon

cthulhu: The day Remus leads troops of professional quality, Europa will tremble.

Chief Ragusa: Thanks a lot for your indepth comments! I'm already taking notes, believe me, especially for the post where Remus moves into Visigoth territory. Yes, I'd to like there's still Roman elements in Gaul that he can utilize as he marches into barbarian-held lands. Should be interesting...

Darks63: Thanks, sir!

Lord E: I think the Gallic officers know enough to trust Remus' legend, but it still makes them nervous.

Charles: I have vague hints at where the story goes long-term, but I fill in a surprising amount of it as I write, especially based off of reader comments. The ultimate destination, though, a battlefield in Brittania 25 years from now, still remains.

Avernite: Remus as a commander is great to write, not the horrible wounds and difficulties he runs into as Remus the fugitive.

coz1: Thanks, like most of the description in this story, it involves hurried research just before I write to make sure I get some authenticity.

Amric: I picked Gubernator mainly to distinguish the Magister per Gallias from the Magister Militum. I wasn't sure what to use for Syagrius, certainly not the 'King of Soissons' some books give him, but a distant Roman governor. Praetor seemed too low, legate and tribune rather innocuous.

Stuyvesant: Great things coming eventually. I get impatient sometimes to do a battle where Remus wields a true army, not a hopeless outnumbered bandit force. It's coming someday, just takes time to get there. Yeah, stripping the garrisons is key for him since otherwise, the Visigoths will just roll them up bloodlessly. The more he can concentrate, the more damage he can do.

stynlan: Naturally, only a master can resurrect the Western Empire.

Lofman: Well, the Visigoths have been busy battering themselves against Hispania and the Suebi, so much of their army is outside Gaul. Gamewise, there's an opportunity though story elements will always have their place. Btw, have you ever updated any more flags or shields for the game? The ones included are excellent.

Anarcho Liberal: I think the only non-pathetic Roman army, outside of the East, is Claudius' in Italia and also the one lying dead in front of Laudunum.

Draco Rexus: Thanks, glad you liked it. I think Remus has a good aggressive mentality, reminds me somewhat of Lee in the Seven Days Campaign, though the odds are worse in Remus' case.

Note: I finally found the artist who drew the excellent pic I use for the Eagles of Avalon title. Daniel Zollinger has graciously given me permission to continue to use this picture as the story header for Part I. Feel free to check more of this excellent artwork at his site.

November 488

The conditions of the camps outside Syracuse prompted Selenus to encamp his Italians to the north, several leagues away at Xiphonia. What was left of the ancient Greek village was barely enough to note in passing, and there were no usable buildings to serve as a residence. As a result, the meeting took place in his small command tent, scarcely larger than what his troops slept in and hardly a praetorium at all. He had an inkling that the Italian soldier respected him more for not having such comforts. Fortunately, they knew little about how much circumstance had forced Selenus into living on their level.

Command was a concept that struck him each morning with its novelty, its pressure, and its myriad of different emotions and responsibilities. The distance between logistics and command was the same as between the seas and Sol above. Every decision now fell to him alone, and bore with it the consequence of failure. That it also bore the fruits of success mattered little without any significance success. Even a relatively simple military task as a march from ruined Messana to Syracuse consumed him. He fretted over records, became a perfectionist in supply, driving his subordinates mad with exasperation. The veiled expressions in their eyes marked them as waiting for a setback, a sign of weakness. For his part, however, Selenus suspected that Merkandrin did his part to keep them in line.

As the march progressed, Selenus found that he was subjected to frequent suggestions on the man's part, particularly when he made command decisions that were met with awkward silence. In his inexperience, Selenus found that it was practical to rely on the man, and appreciated his couching his advice in such non-binding terms. They saw no combat anyhow, which he counted as a divine blessing. Despite his experience with combat itself, he dreaded the moment when all eyes would turn to him, and the screams would begin. That would be his test.

Sicily was a bare wisp of its classical past. In recent centuries, a slave revolt under Emperor Valerian had begun the devastation of the island's interior. Then the Franks raided in 278. After 440, it was the Vandals who eventually ceded most of the island to Odoacer in exchange for tribute and control of Lilybaeum. With Odoacer's fall and the weakness of the western empire, the Vandals again coveted control of all Sicily. Few of the major cities flourished and populations declined in concert with Italia and Africa. Once a granary of the empire, Sicily was scarcely able to feed itself. Yet armies continued to contend for its possession. King Gunthamund, attempting to reassert the power of the Vandal Kingdom after the death of his ineffectual predecessor, had dispatched almost seven thousand warriors to Lilybaeum. More devastation was in store for the weakened island.


Selenus often dwelt on the lands through which they marched. As a self-taught scholar, he could scarcely ignore the stories of Alcibiades, the battle of Himera, Archimedes, and many great names of the past. In his own small way, he would add to Sicily's story.

Aside from the cultural aspects of the campaign, he contended with the well-being of his men. It came naturally to him, an instinct borne of his youth spent caring for livestock. Fortunately, the cooler weather mitigated the problems of supply, as did his occasional communications with the small fleet hugging the coast. Though unappreciated by the army and particularly its general, Suomar, Selenus managed to arrange beach landings at opportune points, and always in the nick of time, providing foodstuffs to hungry troops. The capture of Syracuse unopposed, with its ancient port facilities, eased the burden considerably. In gratitude, Suomar ordered the Italians to camp outside the city, while most his troops enjoyed the comforts of Syracuse. Though spared Messana's fate, Syracuse would groan under the burden of so many restless men.

Within weeks, disease would set in and spread slowly through the city, causing the death of soldiers and residents alike. The large army quickly ate through Syracuse's grain reserves and everyone grew hungry. Grain convoys arranged from Tarentum and Rhegium were barely enough to sustain Suomar's army. Forage parties were soon arranged, which cut a swath throughout the southeast corner of the island, stripping what little livestock and fields remained, and angering the native landowners. Complaints, mostly ignored, began to flow into the city, and beyond to Rome. The breaking point for the encampment came on an unseasonably hot night, when drunken troops, bored and poorly officered, set fire to the Basilica of Saint Lucia, incurring the wrath of the Bishop and the civilian authority. While riots were forestalled by quick negotiation, Suomar and his army were clearly no longer welcome in Syracuse. Matters were surely going to come to a head, but this was fortuitous timing. The Roman commander was already planning for the coming campaign and the march on Gela.

By October, temperatures and tempers had cooled and the columns of limitanei began to move out westward to meet the Vandal army. Reinforced by Italian levies to thirty five hundred, Suomar was optimistic provided he found the right ground to defend. Romulus, and Suomar's sponsor, Varic, promised more troops, though none from Claudius’ veteran army.


Even while the Vandal army passed through Agrigentum, King Theodoric of the Goths was occupying Venetia. The raw materials of Suomar's growing army would be precisely that - raw. Having left the strategic port, Suomar abandoned it to the care of the officer and troops he had little wish to retain, Selenus and his Italians. As the last of the Roman army passed out of the city, Selenus was preparing to move in to garrison the port.

First, however, he had an unexpected meeting to host. In Xiphonia, his two guests had already rode into camp as evening darkness approached, and with what little luxuries he had, he provided sufficient welcome for them. Lady Barbaria had suggested he be hospitable, and he had little choice in the matter. Most of the supplies provided thus far were at her behest. He owed much, he knew, and the reckoning would come one day. For the present, he smiled awkwardly at the two prominent citizens seated across from him, draping themselves on camp stools with as much dignity as one could in such circumstances. Liberus and Marcus Gedronia represented the largest landowners in eastern Sicily, with vast latifundia stretching all the way to Italia. With their workers earning starvation wages and the soil wearing from constant theft and deprivation, the two noblemen scraped what little crops could be had on the island. And they were clearly unimpressed by the Roman officer they were advised to come to with their grievances.

"And there are others," Liberus continued, staring into his cup with distaste, and quietly setting it back down on a nearby box. He was figure out of place in the military setting, his green tunica immaculate, matching the elegance of his bronze hair and pale skin. Marcus was no different, and Selenus imagined them holding forth in the Senate in Rome, accepted and honored. "Together, there are thirteen of us, and almost every grain of wheat your soldiers marched by, belongs to us. Every stalk torn, every villa ransacked, every cow…eaten."

Selenus shifted slightly, knowing the value of even a single cow to its owner, remembering with scant fondness his father's wrath if his herd was diminished. He thought about a response, but Marcus took over for his partner and it was clear that his duty was to listen.

"It is at the point, Praetor, where the Roman hand is no softer than the Italian or the Vandal. We can only presume that the Emperor and his party will see to our interests in Sicily. We do after all, have the blood and the position. To say nothing of…coin." The smile on Marcus Gedronia's face promised daggers. "And this is no longer an issue of agriculture. Six hundred civilians died in Syracuse in the past three months. The Bishop's patience is still challenged by the basilica fire. And we certainly do not appreciate the general's tax in kind."

Selenus continued to keep silent, feeling the repressed frustration and wishing he had never assumed political responsibility…for anything in his life. He leaned forward just as Liberus made clear that they were not finished.

”I’ll be forthright, Praetor. We are only here on your lady’s recommendation.”

My lady, Selenus grimaced as he listened. It was as if he was a pet of some kind, to be used but rarely acknowledged. Still he kept silent.

”We are looking for someone to look after our interests, and all that entails,” Liberus said, holding forth. ”That means keeping these…vagabond’s hands off our lands, making sure our political and economic interests are…looked after, and keeping an open ear towards Rome. Now…” he said, looking quizzical. ”Do you think you can handle this responsibility? Or should we ask your lady another recommendation?”


As tempted as he was to reply in the negative, Selenus knew his fortunes would be forfeit if he defied Lady Barbaria. He placed palms on the table and, with a high voice of false confidence, smiled and said, ”Domini, I am willing.”

There was a silence of brief assessment, his answer clearly unsatisfactory. Yet neither did he leave. More political responsibility lay ahead, Selenus thought with apprehension as he waited for them to continue.

Darks63: It's hard to envision Selenus killing off his commander, even if he doesn't like him. Varic, now, there's a killer for you.

stynlan: She's slowly molding him into something or someone of her liking...

Petrarca: I look forward to your post-digest comments. We can't have everything green and happy for the Romans, now can we?

aussieboy: Very true, and Selenus studied under the logistical master himself, Claudius.

Lord E: Fear not, I will not keep you too long from Remus's story. Selenus is always in trouble, isn't he, poor kid. I hope someday he gets to do the machinations in this story. Then again, it just wouldn't be Selenus, would it.

Avernite: I don't want to make it easy for him, but Selenus as a commander as such intriguing possibilities.

Draco Rexus: Selenus is taking his first timid steps into real command. Suomar is an ill-tempered hot head, perfect for subordinate command, especially leading cavalry. As a commander in a strategic sense, we'll see...

coz1: Yeah, I try with Selenus to reference back to his early days. I enjoy his rise immensely, and it's nice to take stock with how far he's come.

Stuyvesant: I'm not sure the nobles are particularly impressed with Selenus, but he comes recommended by Lady Barbaria. Compared to Varic and the other Roman factions, Barbaria at least has an economic sense which appeals to them. Part of the internal Roman politics I really need to flesh out in a larger story.

CatKnight: That would be a quick story if Selenus went to Suomar. I knew you wouldn't miss the cow reference, good man!

Prussian_King: Thanks! Sometimes visuals are needed to spice up some dry text, especially to capture a picture of what is going on in this crazy world of mine.

He was the child of one of the king's concubines and was named Dietrich, translated into the Latin Theodoricus or Theodoric, from the Gothic "Þiudareiks" meaning 'King of the People'. Eventually known to the Romans as Flavius Theodoricus, he was the son of Theodemir, one of the leading Ostrogoth chieftains, born in Carmuntum in 454. The world he came into was that of a Romanized people, settled in their Balkan lands almost a century after their great migration and the battle of Adrianople. Living in an uneasy harmony with their new overloads, the Gothic people flourished in the east, becoming an important part of the Eastern Empire.

As a tribal prince, he was sent to Constantinople in his youth, ostensibly as a hostage, but raised in great comfort and position. There he was to become familiar with the Roman culture and military that would affect his life throughout. Upon his father's death in 474, the Ostrogoths became divided between two branches of the royal Amal line, Theodoric on the one hand and a rival and relative, Theodoric Strabo, son of the chieftain Triarius. Theodoric became responsible for Pannonia and was victorious in battles with the Sarmatians and helping the Empire to put down several revolts. He quickly grew into a formidable warrior and leader.

It was his brother, Theodoric Strabo, however, who attained leading prestige in the tribe. After the abdication of Romulus Augustulus in 476 and the Italian interregnum that followed under Odoacer, Theodoric Strabo began to covet these lands to his advantage. As Theodoric had been favored by the Emperor Zeno, Theodoric Strabo naturally enjoyed the favor of Basilicus, who had driven Zeno into exile. It was Basilicus who, wishing to encourage Strabo's ambitions and distract the rising Goths from eastern affairs, encourage the Amal chieftain to lead a large army westward. With imperial backing, Strabo was able to compel Theodoric to join him on campaign.

Although they loathed one another and frequently warred over strategy, the two Theodorics made a formidable military team and quickly won several engagements against Odoacer's Italo-Roman armies. The eastern Alps were soon won and Ostrogoth power grew. For the next several years, Theodoric Strabo became the ascendant chieftain, recognized tacitly by Zeno after his return to power. By the late 480s, however, Theodoric - distinguished from Strabo by the use of the title, 'the Amal' - had become a threat to his position. Seeking to counter Strabo's power and keep the Ostrogoths at odds, it was Theodoric the Amal who was made Zeno's Magister Militum, and with fortuitous timing. Theodoric quickly gained great imperial favor by helping Zeno to put the Syrian revolt of Illus and Leontius. Overt civil war was avoided by Strabo's accidental death in 481. This gave Theodoric reign over the entire tribe.

For the present, the Ostrogoths remained an effective imperial ally, the foedorati army assisting in the Emperor's protracted campaign to suppress the Roman general Ovida in Dalmatia. For several years, the mountainous terrain and Ovida's Fabian tactics prevented decisive success. After Ovida's death in 486, his successor, the Comes Viator, proved just as able, defeating a portion of Zeno's army at Narona. Despairing of ever conquering the recalcitrant province, the Emperor relented and abandoned the campaign, accusing Theodoric of poorly prosecuting the war in northern Dalmatia and Illyricum. Though he never ceded his claim to the province, Zeno found that his setback had only encouraged the Ostrogoths’ ambitions.

By 487, many in the imperial court in Constantinople feared open war with the Ostrogoths, a proposition that Zeno sought to avoid. The Sassanids continued to threaten the eastern border, and he could ill-afford to pursue a major conflict with a risky chance of success. Like his enemy Basilicus before him, Zeno took the route of diversion. Unwilling, for religious and political reasons, to pay homage to Zeno, the western emperor Romulus Augustulus, remained a perennial distraction. The fall of Ravenna that year had resulted in the death of Zeno's own Patrician, Odoacer, and had united Italia once more under imperial rule, though not his. To bring Romulus to heel and to remove the Ostrogoth problem, Zeno offered the rule over northern Italia to Theodoric in exchange for the cession of Moesia. If Romulus failed to come to terms, then all of Italia would become the homeland of the Ostrogoths.

Theodoric took the lure and began to mass his armies. As a last gesture, Zeno sent an imperial embassy to Rome in the early autumn of 488, calling for Romulus to acknowledge his higher imperium. To make the deed more palatable, he offered the return of the western regalia. With Ravenna's fall, however, Romulus possessed a large veteran army, and remained defiant. He played for time, encouraged by the rival factions around him: the Bishop Felix, his mother, loyal Senators, and his advisor, the elusive Varic. Zeno, however, had already set war in motion, and Romulus hoped for a delay that did not exist. By the fall of 488, the Ostrogoths were crossing once more into Venetia.

Theodoric’s army varied little from the forces Strabo took with him into Italia a decade before. The Ostrogoths continued to rely on the bow and spear foremost, and the shock troops remained the heavy cataphract cavalry, wielding the large kontos lance and wearing formidable mail corselets of gilded iron. The infantry tended to use equipment procured from defeated enemies, wearing thick wools and linens and continuing to use the saxe spear that had served so well. Each soldier, whether mounted or not, would carry several javelins in addition to their primary weapon, giving the Ostrogoths an unmatched battlefield versatility.

Claudius, victor of Ravenna​

Opposing Theodoric, the Roman army of Claudius Bos, as he was known at the time, was a stark contrast from the Italo-Roman army Odoacer wielded in the previous campaign. Of the fifteen thousand soldiers under his command, fully one-third were veteran infantry, the comitatensii, most of the these the vaunted Comite Calor who fought under Remus Macrinus. These were the soldiers who had won several battles against the Italians at the Calor, Tusculum, Arminium, Mediolanum, and Ravenna. They were experienced in engagements against all types of foe, in field and siege battles, and were tested on assault and defense. They were the rival of any infantry in the world at the time, and were wielded by a solid if uninspiring general. Passing years of Roman government had slowly restored a measure of the fabricae system of weapons and armor manufacture. The Roman infantry wielded fairly standardized equipment, including the trusted spatha. There was also a growing reliance on the spiculum to replace the myriad of pilum, hasta, plumbata, and other missile weapons then in sporadic use. Shorter than the pilum, the spiculum boasted a smaller iron point. It was derived, like much of Roman equipment and tactics, from Germanic influences.

In comparison, each army boasted significant advantages and vulnerabilities. The Ostrogoths possessed twice the amount of cavalry as their Roman counterparts, who had not developed a heavy cavalry arm to any degree. Over open ground, the Goths would possess a superior ability to maneuver. To match this, however, the Roman cavalry included a high percentage of sagitarii, with a speed and range that could play havoc if their enemy was caught unawares. With most Gothic bows on foot, Claudius’ army had the advantage in ranged attack. On foot, the comparison swung decisively in the Romans’ favor. If Theodoric committed to a sluggish melee, the outcome was almost assured. The Roman infantry was well trained in the cuneus formation, the ‘swine’s head’ tactic used widely by Germanic tribes. With narrowing ranks of troops forming a triangle, it was in essence a bludgeoning wedge.

A final Roman advantage was its familiarity with siege warfare. Having fought in mountainous terrain against a foe determined to fight as little as possible, Theodoric and his army had not conducted a military siege in years. They boasted little of the knowledge necessary to do so, and would have to relearn this vital sphere of warfare quickly if they hoped to move against the large Italian cities. The siege, however, was Claudius’ specialty, and if the campaign bogged down, it would be to the Romans’ advantage.

Theodoric the Amal invades Venetia, 489​

The early moves of the campaign played to these strengths. Knowing that Theodoric could ill-afford to ignore Mediolanum, Claudius sat his army across the approaches to the Cisalpine capital, astride the well-used Via Postumia at Verona. Using a screen of his light missile cavalry to mask the Padus, he was well-positioned should Theodoric attempt to push south. Having done the impossible in capturing Ravenna, he had essentially wrecked that city’s use as a defensive fortress. However, he had also reduced its value to Theodoric. Mediolanum boasted the same scenario, its own breached walls having been reduced by Remus Macrinus’ sack some years before. Neither city had received much in the way of restoration, Romulus preferring to focus his treasury on Rome itself. Much would depend on which way the Goths moved. In the closing months of 488, however, it was clear that Theodoric was taking his time, securing Venetia amidst inclement weather, poor roads, and limited supplies. By 489, he would have to move out of this region if he wanted maintain his army in the field, and that was when battle was expected.