There was once a dream that was Rome

[AvengerDr]

Chapter 6 - The Proconsulship of Aurelius Quintus Balba Illyricus

Chapter 6 - The Proconsulship of Aurelius Quintus Balba Illyricus
“Aurelius is but a mere a boy. He is unfit to lead the Provinces. His mother’s foolish ideas cost us the war, need I say more? Thank Jupiter she had the grace to die without any… help. All who are in favour, raise your hands. Good. Kill the rest.”
-Legatus Varro addressing the conspirators in the film “Nox Longa”, (“The Long Night”, AD 1963)

The Long Night
“On the last day of February, AD 987, a triumvirate formed by Legatus Varro of Sicily, Legatus Tertius of Beneventum and Legatus Castus of Dalmatia sent the Praetorian guard of the Provinces to detain Aurelius. The triumvirate had Aurelius sign a declaration of abdication that conferred the Proconsulship to Castus Appius Balba. […] Proconsul Castus ruled the Provinces for two years. […] One of the leading theories for his short-lived rebellion explained Varro’s unwillingness to assume the Proconsulship as an elaborate political ploy to discredit Castus’ family. Indeed, when Aurelius came of age two years later, Varro shifted his political and military weight again, helping Aurelius and his mercenary host to regain the Proconsulship. […]”
-De Bello Civili vol. IV

Life of Aurelius
"We remember the many military victories of Proconsul Aurelius. What is often neglected are the personal tragedies that plagued his life. He spent his young adulthood on the battlefield, being known to personally lead his legions in the field on several occasions. During the campaign to regain the Proconsulship he had a daughter from a concubine, Demetra Quintus Drusilla. Not knowing if he would have survived the oncoming battles, he legitimised her. After the war he married Tranquillina Balbus Alypia with whom he had two sons: Æneas and Maximus. Æneas died young, at one year of age. This was the second Æneas of the gens Adalia to die very young and thus the name was not used again until […]. In AD 1000, Demetra was poisoned by Tranquillina, as she wanted her own son Maximus to be the next Proconsul. Her plot discovered, she was imprisoned by Aurelius and never heard of again. Nine years later, Tranquilina’s second and only surviving son Maximus died of measles. […] Disillusioned by his first marriage he had two more sons Ignatius and Alexandra with another concubine, Furnilla. […]

Later he married Kyriake Iacobus Zoiana, the daughter of the Consul of the Independent Province of Achaia […]. Perhaps the memory of Tranquillina still haunted the palace in Tarentum as Ignatius too was poisoned by Kyriake. According to folklore, Kyriake was so beautiful and persuasive that he managed to convince Aurelius to forgive her and to have the last illegitimate heir surviving, Alexandra, assassinated. Indeed, she died in mysterious circumstances. […] Aurelius had five sons from Kyriake: Antonius, Marcus, Regulus, Flavius and Martianus."
-Proconsules Romani vol. III

The liberation of Epirus Nova and the Fall of Constantinopolis
"By AD 1000 the Greek Empire was again being ravaged by internal strife and revolts. […] Pursuing the Eastern Doctrine initiated by his mother, Caesonia, he heard the cry for help of the people of Epirus Nova in the southern part of Illyricum. In AD 1004 the armies of the Provinces sailed towards Epirus. Too weak to defend themselves the Roman legions pursued the Greek armies towards Constantinopolis. On August the 20th, AD 1005, the capitol of the Greek empire surrendered.

Proconsul Aurelius Quintus Balba formally arrested the Emperor of the Greeks, Philippos II, for usurping the title of Emperor of the Romans. He renounced the title of Emperor of the Romans and recognized Aurelius’ rightful claim to the Empire. […] His successor, Loukas I, again claimed the title of Emperor of the Romans after Philippos II’s death. Basileus Loukas I is considered to be the last Emperor of the First Greek Empire, following the Fall of the Empire in AD 1029. […] Aurelius recovered the Imperial Insignia sent to Constantinopolis by the barbarian Odoacer who deposed the last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus. The insignia was bestowed upon Zeno, the Greek Emperor of that time. The Imperial Insignia was brought to Tarentum. [...]

When Aurelius returned home, he found Capua under the attack of Mercator’s host. Mercator was the son of Herennia, the disgraced woman who assassinated Theodadius, Aurelius’ grandfather. Mercator remained Despot of Capua for one year, after which Aurelius’ army successfully liberated the city."
-De Bello Graeco vol. II

The liberation of Spoletium and Pannonia
"Having secured the southern border in Epirus, the re-union of the Western provinces to the Eastern provinces required the liberation of Spoletium in the West and Pannonia in the East. The Kingdom of the Lombards at the time had definitely split into several independent duchies, with the seat of the King confined in the Alps. Spoletium at the time was known as the Duchy of Spoleto, while Pannonia was known as the Duchy of Carinthia. […] Spoletium was liberated in AD 1012. […] The Duchy of Carinthia fell in AD 1020. […]

In AD 1025 only the eastern part of the Province of Cisalpina divided the Eastern Provinces from the Western ones. […] On the verge of the recent military victories, Aurelius set forth towards the Duchy of Ferrara and Treviso to unify the provinces. […] Aurelius who at the time was 54, led his legions towards Ravenna, the last capitol of the Western Roman Empire before its fall from AD 402 to AD 476. This time, the threat of the Proconsul was not underestimated as in the previous decades. A united alliance of the King of the Lombards, of France, Bavaria and several other Catholic duchies faced Aurelius in Ravenna. The Roman legions fought bravely but capitulated. Aurelius itself was wounded during the battle but managed to escape. Following the defeat at Ravenna the allied armies marched towards the south. Ancona was sacked. Finally, in AD 1027, Aurelius surrendered. […]

Few weeks later Proconsul Aurelius died. Historians have conflicting views whether he died of natural causes or if he committed suicide after the defeat."
-De Bello Italico vol. IX

 

[guillec87]

nice update! is the succesion by family or elective?

 

[DavidMK]

Mind publishing the changes you made to the game start as a mod? I'd love to play this scenario.

 

[AvengerDr]

Sure, though I'll need a bit of time. I'll be away for the weekend as I'm going to visit Stonehenge and the Roman Baths in Bath.. A wonder to be visited from people all across the Empire, they said

For the time being, succession is cognatic primogeniture. We'll see what happens once and if the Empire is reformed...

 

[AvengerDr]

Hi, I've posted a mod in the other forum with the changes I have been using. I also managed to change the name of the Kingdom title (so Sicily becomes Sicilia and Italy -> Cisalpina, when ruled by a roman hellenic ruler). You can find the thread here. Hope you like it (and that it works )

 

[unmerged(458565)]

One of the most readable (or shall I say, legible) AARs I've ever encountered, but then I am partial to any pagan campaign in CKII Has marrying your Hellenic characters been problematic? That's what's halted my Zoroastrian game as, coincidentally, the Kingdom of Sicily.

 

[AvengerDr]

Thanks, it means a lot! I dabble in scientific writing but I had never attempted to write prose. Yes marriage was one of the biggest problem in the early stages of the game. I thought it would be too gamey to choose a pagan woman at random from the other cults, so I never chose any of them. How would they even know about each other?

I recurred to use the "invite debutante" action in the beginning. Now I marry them to distant cousins Which could come in handy in the future as foreigners would despise them ("us") even more due to their in-breeding. Surprisingly, some foreign character in the Byzantine empire have been randomly converting to the Hellenic faith so that could also become interesting.

 

[AvengerDr]

Chapter 7 - The Proconsulship of Divus Antonius Aurelius Constantia Hellenicus

Chapter 7 - The Proconsulship of Divus Antonius Aurelius Constantia Hellenicus
“My liege, news reached me that the Eastern Roman Emperor Eustathios II died without heirs. The next in line for the throne is a pagan heathen. The Lavinian heresy, may God have mercy of her soul, has spread much farther than we possibly could imagine. The people of Rome itself have abandoned Christ and the Good News. I implore you to free Rome of this plague and to rid the world from those pagans once and for all. May the Virgin Mary bless your reign.”
-Missives of Pope Julis II to the King of France, AD 1028

The Fall of the Empire
“Shortly after Antonius assumed power, the unthinkable happened: the Empire of the Greeks (known as “Eastern Roman Empire” at the time), fell. Emperor Eustathios II died without heirs and the empire should have passed to his brother, Loukas Makedon. However, Loukas had renounced Christ and embraced the path of his ancestors. No one in the Empire recognised his claim as legitimate and the Eastern Roman Empire was officially dissolved. In the years that followed, the Empire plunged into a vicious civil war that ended with the deposition of Loukas and the crowning of a new Emperor, the former King Davit IV of Georgia. […]

Although the Eastern Empire had officially been disbanded by Aurelius in AD 1005 with the arrest of Emperor Philippos, the Eastern Empire continued in name under the reign of Eusthatios II. […] Eustathios II is regarded as being the last Greek Emperor before he centre of power shifted from Constantinopolis to the Georgian kingdom. […]

While the rule of Loukas Makedon was being challenged, Antonius intervened in defence of “the peoples of Rome”. Shortly after the start of the Greek civil war, in 1030 AD, legions from Epirus Nova and Sicilia moved towards Thessalonica in an effort to pacificate the pretenders to the throne and to reclaim the seat of the Gods, Mons Olympus. […] In the meantime Legatus Liberius of Sicily moved towards Zachlumia, part of Dalmatia that was still under Greek rule. […]"
-De Bello Graeco Vol. IV

"Legionaries! Soldiers! Once, our ancestors watched over these lands. The people have not forgotten them! Have you? Even the Emperor of the Greeks, Loukas, has turned away from the Crucified one. Is he your emperor? Rome has only one true Caesar and he does not live in Constantinopolis! If we do not stop them they will raze these lands and leave nothing alive. [...] What you see in the distance is the Mons Olympus, the home of the gods. They will be watching us. They have waited for this day for centuries. We shall not fail them! Today, we fight for Rome, we fight to free the Gods! Mars be with us!"
-The speech of Proconsul Antonius A. C. before the battle of Thessalia, as recorded by Legionary Historian Septimus B. T.

"The might of Antonius' legions was too much to bear for the divided greek armies. The Thessalonican forces surrendered after the Battle of Thessalia. Many leagues to the east, the Greek Civil war ended with the crowning of a new Eastern Emperor, Davit of Georgia. At which point Antonius ordered his legions to retreat. Although he did not manage to occupy Constantinoples before the crowning, he liberated the home of the Gods and severed access to the rest of Greece proper, thus severely hurting his claim to be the successor of the Greek Empire. Indeed many of his vassals did not swear fealty to the new empire, choosing to remain independent. Thus from AD 1034 onwards, Constantinopolis became a puppet of the Georgian line of Emperors”

The Georgian Empire

The Liberation of Graecia
The fall of the Empire of the Greeks left a profoundly mutated scenario in the lands west of Constantinopolis. Free from the central influence, a number of Duchies that chose to remain independent had emerged in Epirvs Vetus, Athenae and Achaea. Having married the daughter of the short-lived independent Legatus of the Provincia of Achaea, Kyriake Iacobus Zoiana, Antonius felt entitled to restore Roman rule in Graecia and, at the same time, send a warning message to the new Georgian Empire. At the head of his legions fresh from the victory in Thessalonica, he marched towards Athens and beyond. […]

The Duchy of Athens was liberated in 1036 AD, following the battle of Arta (now known as Ambracia, in Epirus Vetus). […] The war continued when, in the spring of 1040 AD, Antonius’ Legions defeated an alliance of the western Greek armies in Thessalia. Successively, his legions were attacked from the north by the Georgians. The Georgian Empire intervened in what was the first of many confrontations. Emperor Okhropir I, Davit I’s successor, personally commanded his army in the battle of Sirrhae, in the province then known as Chalkidike (now Chalcis). […]

Numerous myths and legends have emerged around the battle of Sirrhae, even going as far as narrating that the Roman Legions and the Georgian army stood motionless side by side while Proconsul Antonius and Emperor Okhropir fought to the death. According to more reputable sources, Antonius might not have been there at all: the historian Septimus collocates him at the siege of Athenae instead and Legatus Vetranius of Noricum at the head of the legions fighting the Georgian Emperor. […] In AD 1041, Achaea was once again under Roman rule.

Before Antonius could sail back towards Italy, he received news that armies of Duke Carlo of Genoa were moving towards Aquileia and Tergeste in Noricum. […] It is important to remember that by the 1040 the once great Kingdom of the Lombards had splintered in several duchies and counties. Once ruled by the Karling dynasty, the kingdom was at the time held by House Bereg, a slav house. However they held little real power. Instead, the Duchy of Genoa was a rising power in Gallia Cisalpina, controlling its western part. The actual King of Lombardy reigned in exile in the Island of Corsica. […] Veterans from the Graecian campaign were asked to continue serving the Provinces and defend Noricum from the Genoan aggression. […] The Legio I Hellenica arrived in the fall of 1042 AD at Tergeste where they repelled the invaders back to Aquileia that had been occupied by Genoan forces. […] Duke Carlo of Genoa signed an armistice a two weeks before the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. […] Legatus Martianus of Athenae concluded the Libration of Graecia proper in 1048 AD with the annexation of Epirus Vetus."
-De Bello Graeco vol. V

The King in Exile of Lombardy

 

[guillec87]

nice update! I though all of Italy was now under Roman control

 

[AvengerDr]

No unfortunately my last attempt failed. Whenever I attack northern Italy it's usually me against the rest of Europe so it's very hard to win. Luckily with the fall of the Byzantine Empire there's now a power vacuum there. But who knows, maybe in the future Italy will be unified once again!

What's more important is that Antonius' heir is a woman who the AI married to another guy through a regular marriage. Time to call the Arcani?

 

[Tub]

You might have already mentioned this, but what mods are you using? I noticed that Italy has been renamed to Lombardia.

I tend to find that the Karling inheritances screw up my plans for conquest. Normally, Italy gets inherited by Lotharingia, and forms a weird-looking snake state. I hope you get to conquer the rest of Italy, recreate the Roman Empire!

 

[AvengerDr]

I'm using CK2+ and that I think is responsible of the name change from Italy to Lombardia. As pointed out earlier in the thread, that name was a bit confusing as it was a lesser known way in which the historic kingdom of Italy was known at the time. Regarding the other "romanised" province names, that is a mod that I built myself. You can find the link in the first post of the thread.

Sorry about the lack of updates too but I've been fighting against various work deadlines in the past weeks. Anyway a new update is coming soon!

 

[AvengerDr]

Chapter 8 - The second fall of Roma

Chapter 8 - The second fall of Roma

“to his holiness,
the King of France, his deepest regrets but His majesty is unable to offer assistance. The King is confident though, that God is working through mysterious ways. He is sincerely concerned about the heresy which plagues the Eternal city. He invites His holiness to consider relocating His court to France where the King will gladly grant him the freedom to establish a novel Holy See. […]”
-letter addressed to the Pope intercepted during the siege of Rome

A long feud existed between the Province of Samnium (then called Beneventum before the Romanisation edicts) and the Papacy, even more so than with the rest of the Provinces. The Pope, powerless and abandoned by the rest of the European Powrs fought the Samnite armies on uneven grounds. By 1044 AD, Rome was once again free from the hold of the Papal Kings.
With the northern Kingdoms splintered, there was no credible menace to the borders of Roma if compared to the previous occupation, one century earlier. With the armies of the provinces victorious in Roma and Greece, the people were starting to clamour for a new Caesar. Proconsul Antonius visited Roma in 1045, to oversee the demolition of St Peter’s Basilica where a new Temple of Jupiter was going to be built by the victorious Legatus Cinna of Samnium. The Proconsul and Legatus Cinna met in the Curia Julia, the old senate house of the Roman Empire. The building had survived to this day as it had been converted to a church. Antonius himself later wrote of the meeting:

“[…] Cinna led me to the Curia Julia, in the Forum Romanum. He told me that it had been built by Julius Caesar in person. It was spared by the Christians as they had consecrated it as a basilica in honor of Sant’Adriano. […] I told him that I was grateful for his effort in liberating Roma. I asked him when he intended to restore Roma as capitol. He gave me a cold stare and told me that the people would not recognise as Caesar the ruler of a divided land. He warned me that although I ruled as heir of Antonius I was not the only one aiming for the throne. “Who would the people recognise as Caesar? What can the son of Aurelius say to the Romans? Does he walk the halls Caesar and Augustus walked? Is he each day closer to Constantinopolis, ready to give the final blow to the false Emperor of the Greeks as the Legatus of Thessalonica?”.

Upon hearing these words, my Praetorian Guards instinctively reached for their gladii, their ceremonial swords. With a wave of my hand I commanded them to stand at ease and decided to leave. […] But Cinna was right, those who ruled across the sea were my kin but their power grew day by day. Our cause had created an enormous power vacuum in the East which my family had filled. I dare not question their loyalty to the cause of Roma, which many of them had never seen. Only by uniting our two lands and securing their borders I could be entitled to lay claim to Roma and the Empire.”
-Res Gestae, Proconsul Antonius, 1045 AD

The campaigns of Aemilia and Asia Minor
“The road towards unification of the Western and Eastern provinces passed through the lands of Aemilia and Verona that at the time were independent duchies. […] Legions from Picenum occupied Ravenna, the last capitol of the Western Roman Empire. […] The siege of Bononia was interrupted by an alliance of European powers who struck a disastrous blow to the Provinces, effectively ending the war. […] All hopes of claming the Imperium ended that day. Rumors of sedition began to circulate in the following months. The conquest of Epirus Nova in AD 1048 by Legatus Martianius of Sicily further diminished Antonius’ legitimacy. […]

After the defeat at Bononia he turned to self-isolation, afraid that someone would betray him. Fearful of every meal he took, of every cup he drank he waited for a concealed blade that never struck. During this period he turned to the faith of his ancestors. […]
With Roma, Mons Olympus and Athens firmly under Roman control, the Roman faith had managed to spread far and wide. Indeed, by AD 1050, it was no longer an isolated cult. The majority of the inhabitants of southern Italy turned to the faith of the old Gods for counsel and solace. The youngest generations were born in a land that no longer knew Jesus the Christ. They knew him as Iesus Nazarenus, another name for Bacchus, as Dyonisus was for the Greeks. […]

Roman-Hellenic enclaves were also surfacing amidst the Orthodox population in Greece. There were even news of a group of Roman missionaries who had travelled to a remote archipelago far away in the northern seas, where they were spreading Roman culture and religion. These islands were known as “Insulae Faeroae”, located north of Caledonia. […]

Armed with his renewed faith in the Gods, and probably under the counsel of the religious elite of the Provinces, Antonius began planning the liberation of Lampsacum in Asia Minor. The town was rumoured to be the birthplace of Priapus, a minor deity in the Pantheon, son of Bacchus and Venus. Enlisting the support of the other Legati on another military campaign of doubtful outcome would have been harder than one motivated by religious fervour. Eager to show the world that the defeat at Bononia was not the sign of a new Roman decline he soon reached Thessalonica, where he ordered an expeditionary force to set sail towards Lampsacum.

-De Bello Graeco V

 

[guillec87]

nice update! Imperii Romanii grows stronger day by day!

 

[AvengerDr]

Chapter 9 - Of Gods and Men

Chapter 9 - Of Gods and Men
“What does it mean to be Roman?” I often ask my students. Someone born in Roma? In Italy? A Roman legionary? A Senator? Then we ourselves are not Romans. Roma is not just a city, Roma is an idea. Roma means progress; Roma means civilization. Roma is honor, it is duty towards the State… Did I ever tell you the story of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus? I probably have, but let me tell it once again. He was an aristocrat, forced to poverty to pay for the dishonour caused by his son. He lived as a farmer but was then called to serve Roma as dictator against a nearby tribe. After he won, he stepped down as dictator and resumed his life as a farmer.

It is true, very often civilization has been spread by the sword. Our own ancestors, who we most cherish, corrupted the very essence of Roma, causing its fall. But the Gods, or the powers of Nature, have given us another chance, to build a better Roma! Thus remember, as we ourselves are living proof, they might even kill the last of us, but the dream that was Roma will never be forgotten.”
-Manuscripts of the Philosopher Apollonius of Lupiae, AD 1053

The liberation of Lampsacvm
When Antonius landed near the shores of Lampsacvm, the Roman legions found a battlefield littered with the bodies of the Greek powers that were battling for the remnants of their once great Empire. The surviving opposing armies were too weak and scattered to pose any real challenge. The coastal towns in this north-western part of Asia Minor fell one after the other after a few months of siege. In the spring of AD 1053, the warlord ruling these lands formally surrendered to the Proconsul.

The liberation of Lampsacum, together with the diffusion of the faith in the Gods of the Pantheon in the Southern part of Italy and in Greece legitimized Antonius to take a bold step. In ancient Rome, the head of the faith was the Pontifex Maximus, a position that later was absorbed by the office of Emperor. The Pontifex was the high priest of the Collegium Pontificum, the office who advised the Emperors in matters pertaining to the Roman religion. The Elder Rex Sacrorum of Roma of the time, Cornelius Q. T., advised Antonius to recreate this institution, so that it would confer the faith more authority in the eyes of the other European Rulers. Although foreign rulers were believers themselves of another religion, they could not ignore for longer those who within their very own borders and away from Roma, were embracing the ways of Bacchus. Thus, upon its return, Antonius gave the order to relight the old flame in the still-standing Temple of Vesta, in the Forum Romanum.

The Exile of Domitianus
Domitianus Aurelius Antonina was the eldest son of Antonius and the designated heir of the Provinces. When Antonius returned in Tarentum after the campaign in Asia Minor, the Praetorian Guard told him that his son, Domitianus was being held in the castle’s dungeon. According to the records of the time, Domitianus, following a fit of rage had raped and murdered two women. Domitianus was being held in prison, unbeknownst to the people and to his wife, Plancina. After he learnt of what his son had done, Antonius presented him with two choices: face a trial and death by crucifixion or exile, never to return to the Provinces again, relinquishing all claims to the Office of Proconsul. […]

During the night, Roman legionaries escorted him and his family to an unmarked ship in the port of Tarentum. He told his wife that he was answering a call from Jupiter who destined him to a greater purpose than administering lands and men. […] The ship brought him to the Insulae Faeroae, located to the north of what once was called Caledonia. […] Antonius did not deem any of his trueborn heirs worthy of the office of Proconsul. For this reason he adopted Aurelius, a son he had with a concubine, Vistilia. Thus from AD 1053 onwards, Aurelius was known as Aurelius Antoninus Vistiliana Iuvenalis.

-De Divinitatisque Virorum Vol III

 

[guillec87]

nice update! can you please load a map of the Mediterranean? to see how the restoration is going

 

[AvengerDr]

The world circa AD 1051

Religion

The dark pink in Southern Italy and Greece is the Hellenic faith.

 

[guillec87]

you are doing nice!! at this pace you will have restored the Empire in a blink