the idea that each rps 2 rgbs sounds interesting, I thought of something like that, just that we control 'made-up' characters, sort of like the representatives we have now, just that they play a more active role, e.g. being able to run for ToP/consul/etc.
but if we were to start over, I prefer that we start the game sometime historically after the 1st punic war. I don't think it would be very interesting if we start from 272bc again and bicker over whether to go north or south.