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I think Remus might be too succesful for the good Emperor in Rome, some people might think he will make an attempt to be Emperor (while we know he is an odd Roman general in that he doesn't seem to want to be Emperor instead of the Emperor like any good Roman general should). He should look out for assassins, and other nasty things.
 
*jumps over backwards with joy and makes many strange noises*

Does this mean that the save file is restored?
 
Remus reacted very calmly to each of Gundobad's surprises. He's not going to be able to send troops to help Rome as he's about to embark on gruelling gallic campaigns.

If his system of warfare has a weakness, it is in the clientarii They lack the training and weapons to be have the effectiveness Remus needs.
 
Actually, from what I can tell, they're more being used to pin down enemy forces until heavier troops can be moved in to eliminate them. That actually works out because, as it is, Remus is outnumbered by virtually every possible opponent, so any way he can make due with what he has is good.
 
I can’t wait to see the look on Romulus’s face…
 
Indeed. With this string of successes to his name there will be those in Rome that will see him as an Emperor, whether Remus wishes it or no. They might see him in the imperial purple as a dream of hope (Selenus, I would imagine), or as a nightmarish threat (the current pipsqueak on the throne). But as an Emperor, I think they will see him.
 
How long has Remus been out in Gaul now? Nearly four years?
 
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Wonderful update Mett. A great battle it was and now Remus really is the ruler of Gaul. I am glad to see he has got the tribes under control, now is the time to march south and make sure Rome is also once more under control :)
 
Darks63: Thanks sir, glad I got past that wall. :)

Lofman: Quite true, even a military triumph won't immunize Remus from political intrigue, as VJ's writing hints at.

Vincent Julien: It's somewhat restored. I have the Western political map done to some accuracy, and from what I remember of the Persian border. The rest of the world, no guarantees. And armies will be off, too, but still useful for using some game elements to illustrate events. Remus in Gaul? Trying to remember...must be several years now, like you said, 3-4.

Chief Ragusa: Yeah, I was trying to convey calm confidence with just a hint that Gundobad was coming close to stripping that away from him...almost, but not quite. In the end, he had enough flexibility and presence of mind to react in time. The clientiarii are more of a stopgap...hate to say it, but fodder also. :) They're useful for auxiliary roles, and simply to fill manpower gaps that the Romans simply haven't made up yet.

Plushie: You're right on the money, they're battlefield speed bumps. :) Though down the road, you'll see some specialized effective types. For now, this is the genesis of the clientiarii system.

Fulcrumvale: Oh I have no doubt Romulus will react with emotion to the news that Remus has his own province which now borders Italia. ;)

stynlan: Very astute...whether he'll finally abandon his long-lasting loyalties to the dream of old Rome, even after all he's been through, remains to be seen.

Lord E: Thanks sir! Yes, he's ended the immediate threat to Gallia though the Franks appear to be trying again, and the Visigoths certainly aren't knocked out. He'll still have another campaign against the Franks in him before he can truly afford to march south and return home.

Thanks all, for sticking with me through my creative hiatus! It is sooo glad to be back and help bring this story to the conclusion of this section. I'll be trying to post at least an update a week, with VJ graciously joining in to bring Rome to life. I'll be away this weekend, but look for more next week. :)
 
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His arm wanted to fall off. Never in his life had he known such physical exertion, and with each slash and parry, the very marrow of his bones ached, longing to simply break and end the prolonged agony. Yet he persevered. With embers of a lingering range, he stood foremost in the breach, standing toe to toe with the oncoming enemy, helping his men batter aside incessant attacks from determined warriors. His scarlet sash, wrapped tight around his armor, had marked him for all to see, friend and foe alike. It was a rash gesture, an invitation for arrow and blade to find and end him. Yet this was a mad day, and he was at the crest of it, carrying him beyond what he thought he knew of himself. The torture lasted for hours, the enemy numbers inexhaustible. Soon his arm would truly give way, his life to follow.

Yet suddenly, his mad slashes no longer connected with flesh and bone. Soon he was piercing the air, the lack of resistance sending him off balance, only strong hands around him keeping him from pitching through the wall and down the slope below. His vision blurred, the weight of the day’s strife pressing down on him. It was as if sound vanished, and what had once been a roaring mob simply stopped and stared at their handiwork, the torn bodies of warriors strewn across the single ever so dangerous breach in the main wall, packed densely through and down to the valley below. Hundreds? A thousand perhaps? Madness.

His vision came into focus, and with a roar in his ear, the noise came back. It was deafening. This was not the cries of men in battle, screaming their defiance…this was…cheering…for him. It was unfathomable, unnerving, and he limped away from the carnage, his officers at last reaching him, carrying him back to safety, clucking at his insanity. Yet the deed was done, the day was rescued, and the men loved him for it. As a way of acknowledgment, their general tripped over a rock, keeled over, and expunged the contents of his stomach into the dusty ground. Such was how Selenus celebrated his first battlefield victory.

That night, he returned to the scene, cleaned up since the last visit. Dusk was settling over the walls of the Syracusan fortifications, the garrison was once more dispersed in nervous patrol, with a strong contingent guarding this break in the stonework. Already, most of the bodies had been removed and a gruff primicerium was overseeing hasty repairs, his men shoving loose stone and dirt into the gaping hole. For the present, however, Selenus could still see out over the landscape below and could still see the last of the Vandal columns limping back into camp, from where the smoke and fires had continued all day. There was still a mass of dead arranged all the way down the western slope of the Epipolae, a testament to the intensity of the latest Vandal effort.

He heard the crunch of rocks, but didn’t turn. ”Why did they come so hard, Marcus? Surely the Prince knows how impossible the attack was, no matter the numbers. And repeatedly…all day. Has the man lost his sense?”

Not observing the officer’s reaction, he kept starting, squinting at the layout of the Vandal camps. The fires had been burning for the past three days…day and night. And the smoke hung over the valley like a dense fog. What then? Why would an army stoke fires for days and launch a series of desperate and futile attacks. Pride then, but why would the Prince not wait? Another six months to a year, and Syracuse would starve. Selenus couldn’t pull off another resupply miracle. The Vandal blockade was tighter than ever. What then?

His eyes flickered to the warriors strewn the rocks below him. And then it hit him. The fires, the smoke…the bodies. ”Plague.”

Each man instinctively shivered, but at last it made sense to him. His army was weakened by plague and rather than admit his vulnerability and break off the siege, Prince Gento had gambled poorly, with predictable results. He had bashed his army against the walls of Syracuse and had failed.

Selenus could recall the last attack, as he had observed from his horse, watching the Vandal warriors crest the rise and concentrate on a breach made by a siege engine months before. Hundreds of their strongest had poured into that desperate melee, and he had felt the siege slipping away from him, the breakthrough that would make pointless all his efforts, all the planning, and all of the meticulous maneuvers. It had filled him with dread…and then anger. Before his staff could stop him, he had lept off his horse, drew his spatha, and charged into the fray, bludgeoning his way through the ranks of his men until suddenly, there he was, at the forefront. He had frozen, he recalled, stunned at the suicidal gesture he had made. Then that Vandal axe had crashed into his blade, almost knocking it aside in one blow. He had staggered, but it ignited his rage, and the madness had overtaken him. Without thought, without technique, with poor discipline, his sword had become a sickle on wheat, not always effective, yet keeping the enemy at bay, wary of this cornered animal that had appeared in their midst. His own soldiers, shocked by their pale and soft general in their midst, had responded with ferocity. And the Vandals had broken.

By Heaven, he had done it, he gritted to himself, trying to control the sobs that now wracked him. To his credit, Marcus said not a word nor placed an arm, letting his general have his private moment. No one would ever say a word. Selenus fell to one knee, holding his head in his hands, feeling the moist tears on his cheeks. He was filled with self-loathing, but God help him, he had loved it. With just his sword hand, he had become an instrument of decision. He had saved his siege with the force of his will. He could never go back now, he finally realized, wondering if he meant the farm or the battlefield.

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The Praetor Selenus, painted soon after his Sicilian campaign

Collecting himself, he stood and walked quietly back to his waiting staff, all of whom were staring shyly at him, with that quiet respect that had permeated the entire army since that last attack.

He sat on his horse with a weary sigh. ”Back to the city. I need a bath, and there’s marching orders to be drawn. Be ready to send out riders.”

* * *

Two days later, he was proven right. Admitting defeat at last, Prince Gento took the remains of his army and marched south, away from the scenes of death and away from the defiant walls of the city he could not take, with its general he could not break. Almost immediately, Selenus sent patrols across the Anapus, tracking the Vandal retreat. But it was the camps, rather than the enemy army, that presented the greatest obstacle. Despite Gento’s attempts to burn away the disease that had stripped his army, the river camps were a land of desolation. Bodies were piled on the ground, fallen anywhere, left to slowly decay and die. Worse, diseased horses and men both lay on the riverbanks, polluting the waters. It would take a week to clean up the decay and eliminate the threat to the city. Soberly, Selenus had the work details quarantined in camps of their own, struggling not to notice as pestilence worked its own revenge on these Romans. But the hard measures worked. Syracuse was spared this disaster, and the pursuit could resume.

As if to mark the victorious occasion, the Vandal fleet disappeared, and the first convoys from Italia arrived to replenish supplies and manpower. Selenus knew this would not last forever, and he made fleet construction a priority. For the present, however, Roman Sicily could breathe easy.
 
That's two things Romulus is going to pitch a fit at. First Remus saves Gaul and then Selenus holds Syracuse something his favourite could not do. Remus still has lots of fighting to do in Gaul. I think the clientarii have few roles other than cannon fodder. Remus does not really have enough troops to form a battle line without the clientarii and he risks his battle line everytime he fights. If he fought the Visigoths with those units, he'd be broken.

Selenus did it. Great!
 
Should we start taking bet on how long it will take for Romulus to either be overthrown or die of a heart attack?
 
So, Romulus is getting rivals at both ends of his little state.
 
I actually think Selenus would be a better Emperor than Remus. Remus is an excellent military commander and leader of men, but Selenus is an administrator par excellence, and he's picking up that 'leader of men' trait that Remus has very well. Remus would do well to remain a military commander, perhaps the military commander, while Selenus takes the purple.
 
Marvellous. Selenus should re-stock and then quickly attack now that the Vandals are at their weakest!
 
Plushie said:
I actually think Selenus would be a better Emperor than Remus. Remus is an excellent military commander and leader of men, but Selenus is an administrator par excellence, and he's picking up that 'leader of men' trait that Remus has very well. Remus would do well to remain a military commander, perhaps the military commander, while Selenus takes the purple.

Sounds right to me ...
 
On the other hand, Remus would probably have Selenus administering the empire for him, so switching around who’s actually wearing the colorful robe doesn’t really change much.
 
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Well, the idea is that an Emperor needs to be in Rome. Look at Byzantine history: An Emperor's throne became less and less secure the longer he was away from it. Remus is almost definitely going to be off campaigning against the barbarians that stole the Empire, so it makes sense to have Romulus on the throne itself.