Rome was a civilization that grew out of the city-state of Rome, founded in the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC. During its twelve-century existence, the Roman civilization shifted from a monarchy to an oligarchic republic to a vast empire. It came to dominate Western Europe and the entire area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea through conquest and assimilation.
In ancient Rome, a gens (pl. gentes) was a clan, or group of families, that shared a common name (the nomen) and a belief in a common ancestor. In the Roman naming convention, the second name was the name of the gens to which the person belonged. The term has also been used to refer to families within a clan system in other contexts, including tribal clans.
The origins of the gentes are unclear, although they are probably not as ancient as the Romans themselves thought; although some were associated with particular cults or ceremonies, all were primarily personal and familial in nature, with no specific political or public duties. Also, the gentes did not usually have legendary founders that were worshipped, and the gentile assemblies are not recorded to have passed any sort of legally binding resolutions. Few of the names have clear Indo-European etymologies, and some have been traced to Etruscan names.
Nevertheless, the relationships of the gentes was a major factor in politics; members of the same gens were "family", and therefore frequently (though not always) political allies.
Gentes did have a legal standing in republican Rome. The gens as a legal entity owned property, including a family burial ground. There was a gens chief, more formally in early Rome and less formally in later Rome; in fact, some notable members of patrician gentes had themselves adopted by plebeian families in order to run for offices not open to the patricii. Members of a gens had a legal obligation to help one another when asked. A gens was exogamous; that is, individuals could not seek marriage partners from within the gens.
A gens was patrilineal and patriarchal. However, such customs were not necessarily inherited from the Italics; the Etruscans could have exercised them also. By the time of republican Rome, Etruscan culture as a whole was fast assimilating to the Italic. The gentes were probably mixed.
Originally the plebeians and patricians were not allowed to intermarry, and several patrician families had collapsed as a result, until the Lex Canuleia, allowing intermarriage, was passed.
Among the patrician gentes there were two categories, the gentes maiores, and the gentes minores. The maiores were the leading families of Rome: these were the Aemilii, Claudii, Cornelii, Fabii, and Valerii, and they claimed special religious and secular privileges.
Junius is the nomen of the gens Junia, an important and very ancient family of ancient Rome, with both Patrician and Plebeian branches. Many notable members of the family bore the cognomen Brutus.
The first Junius known to Roman tradition was the patrician Lucius Junius Brutus, founder of the Roman Republic. Marcus Junius Brutus, Caesar's assassin, was by no means his descendant, as some wished to believe, but came from the plebeian family of the same name.
In the early Roman Empire, several notable Junii belonged to the patrician Junius Silanus branch. The Silani were in close contact with the Julio-Claudian emperors and even related to the imperial family by blood, some being direct descendants of Augustus.
Named after the Junii (a non-fictional people), the House of Junii, are situated in the south of the Italian Confederation, or Roman Republic. Marcus Junius Brutus is the most famous bearer of the Iunius name, although at the historical time the game takes place, he was not yet born.
Another famous Junius was Lucius Junius Brutus who led the overthrow of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, last Etruscan King of Rome, and founded the Roman Republic. In the game, the Junii like to rub this in the other Romans' faces. They are extremely proud of their heritage as founders of the Republic, and do not feel like they ought to share their place with anyone. Politically, the are by far the most conservative. They are right-wing and do not tend to pay respect to the Plebians (unlike the left-wing Julii) or the gods (unlike the superstitious and reverent Cornelii). They believe that they are the guardians of the Republic and all true Roman ways, and that no one else can claim this title.
When playing the game the player is trying to gain territory at the expense of the other factions. The faction usually fights the Greek Cities and Macedon, both situated to the east.
After some success, the player can start the civil war, which happened in real life, but not how the game portrays it. They must strike down the Roman Senate (S.P.Q.R.), and the other Roman factions: the House of Julii (the enemies of Gaul) and the House of Cornelii(the arch-enemies of Carthage).
The Junii receive the weakest gladiators, Thraex Gladiators, but can recruit them before the other Romans can recruit their own. They receive also another unique unit, but their superior temples make up for the loss of a few rather specialized units in the late game.
