My first real post, and an introduction to my upcoming AAR.
Not experienced with this type of writing, so please tell me what you think. All critisiscm is welcome. Excuse for the typos :sweatdrop:
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The Fall Of An Empire
A small introduction to the Empire's state in the 4th century
The Roman Empire is nothing more then a shade, a ghost, a rotting leftover. It is horrendously divided on all the possible issues. Some cities are content, most are on the brink of civil revolt. But the biggest issue at this moment is religion, one of those few things the state cannot fully control. The West is the perfect example of waning glory, for that matter.
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The Roman Glory is waning, that is for sure. Yet, is it lost? I say not. Roma is still a powerful and prestigious city, even if it's inhabitants are nearing rebellion. The Emperor of Roma is still the mightiest man on earth, second to maybe the Emperor of The East. Roma's current armies may not be as strong as Caesar's legions from 300 years ago, yet they still are the mightiest military force in the world. Roma and Constantinopolis together are still the mightiest force in the world, formidable as they are disciplined. The Empire may not be as Augustus' Empire from 400 years ago, yet it is still the mightiest empire in the world, and not even one of the other factions can be called a rival.
Yet the enormous power wanes and wanes, everyday just a little bit more. It's like a big wall is tiered down, brick by brick. The Western lands, once owned by barbarians, are poor, and they tend to rebel easily. Constantinus gave the Eastern Empire real power and great riches, by assigning Aegyptus, Makedonia, Pontica and Syria under it's rule. The only Western cities who can compete with those riches are Carthage and the mountainlands of Brittania.
Due to the economic recess, the people are unhappy. En masse they leave our cities, taking their families and, more important, their swordhands and riches with them. They move to richer places, or stronger places, like the Eastern Empire. The men of barbarian kind move to join their brothers in arms, the Franci, Saxones and Alemanii. They know our tactics and secrets, and uncover them to the barbarians which they choose to linger with.
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The only way to keep our legions alive is by accepting them into it. Those barbarians, especially the Germans, are eager to work and fight for Roman gold, more eager then to defend their homeland. They settle in our lands, they take their families because we ask so. It provides us soldiers, but all the same more men who could haul with the enemy or start a rebellion on their own.
Because that, my dear friends, is without a doubt the biggest problem of the already so horrendously troubled Western Empire. Rebellion and strife between Romans and other Romans. East and West are in peace with each other, yet in the states themselves, rebellion is always waiting to strike. The poor conditions that several cities are in makes it easy for them to fall into rebellion. Not rebellion as in the anarchistic way the rebellious barbarians act, but in an organized way. Another Roman faction appears, determined to break our authority down.
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They think they can run an empire. We Romans slaughter each other in these dark days. The Pagan Romans attack the Christian Romans, and the Christian Romans attack the Pagan Romans, resulting in endless civil strife. It does not only lower our unity, but it also shatters our morale, destroys our carefully built infrastructure and it strengthens our enemies. How can someone claim to be a true Roman when he is warring against other Romans?
Our enemies are divided too. The barbarians who lurk in their dark forest endlessly war each other over petty issues, and it weakens them too. The barbarians are divided, yet they have one enemy which they all hate. Roma.
We are the only state which they all hate. The barbarians keep their eyes off Constantinopolis and it's regions and put their greedy minds on our lands in Gallia! They sharpen their knives and wait in the forest until our legions pass before they cut our throats. All the barbarians want a piece of our Empire.
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And they are not the ill-minded fools they once were. They have adapted our siege equipment, and know exactly how to use Ballistae against our walls. They know how to make an organised army, they know how to raise a war against us, they even know how to build stone walls to protect their cities from other bloodlusty barbarians. We are not in the great win-win situation we were when we first met them.
But there is more, yes my friends, even more. The local barbarians but aside, there are even worse enemies in the form of a man. Nomadic people have been chased out of the northern steppe, and come to raid our lands. In enormous horde they seek to settle in the lands of the Imperator! On horseback the steppe-peoples come, to chase everyone away. They will chase the barbarians in Germania right into our lands, where they will loot and pillage even more then they were planning to do! And then even fiercer en demonic men will push our borders, hoping to destroy all of our remaining Roman glory and turn it into burning pieces of trash.
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But we must not give up hope. The gods, or the god, however you please, are still on our side. If our internal squabbles can be settled before the hordes from the east and the Barbarians from the North arrive, we are more then strong enough to counter anything that they throw against us. Our balanced legions of Foederatii, Comitatenses, Equites Sarmartae and Auxilia are unmatched and will defeat any barbarian host, if commanded properly. We are still the best siege engineers, making unrivalled heavy Ballistae and Scorpios, which kill our enemies from afar. Our disciplined armies can withstand any mad barbarian charge, our spearmen can destroy any Hunnic horse lord. Our brick walls are unmatched complex constructions, which take entire armies to break them. Our infrastructure is superior, our highways a wonder to the barbarian eye.
That said, we see a difficult task before us. Just keeping the Empire together will be an enormous task that will require a new and powerful Augustus. We must unite the Empire under one religion, and destroy any rebellion. The Empire's economy needs a boost, but can be powerful again if designed with enough attention. We must continuously watch our borders because of the barbarian threat, and we need to reinforce our border cities to defend against the Nomad hordes from the far east. Italia must be stabilised as centre of supreme power again, Roman authority must strike fear into any who oppose us. Our enemies are numerous and dangerous, but an oiled Roman war and diplomacy machine could divide and crush them.
And so we wait, hoping that a new Augustus will be sent from heaven. A new leader, sent to lead us to glory once the more. Our summer is over, this is the fall of an empire.
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