951-986 CE (Superpowers)

After the death of the Emperor Brutus, his eldest surviving son, Publius Claudius Moratius was given the throne. In the great procession he was dubbed Emperor Claudius, the second emperor to receive that title. Many considered it an odd choice, given the history behind the name, but Claudius II was very proud of the heritage of his name, and unlike most people, recognized the good history behind it. Whilst Claudius II made no great achievements during his reign, he ruled during a period of great turmoil, a time when the Empire for the first time felt as if it could be conquered. However the way he handled the situation, and his ultimate sacrifice for the Empire, has allowed him to go down in history as the Heroic Emperor.

Civil Events
Many of Claudius' efforts in the public field were dedicated to upgrading and repairing much of the Roman infrastructure, a job that was little more difficult than usual every 200 years or so. Whilst doing so, Claudius decided to dramatically increase the number of large inter-provincial roads that stretched across the Empire. Although these had been destroyed centuries ago by Sapiens for the high-upkeep costs required to maintain them, the Empire's wealth was now at such a level that it could much more easily afford this, and the benefits of having more major roads. The improved network was completed around 975, just in time for the next big war.

The major issue for the beginning of his reign was a rather surprising one though. Wood, one of the most important resources in the world, had steadily become more scarce a good. Europe, once covered in continent wide forests, was now in danger of having this resource completely depleted. Economists together with botanists calculate that at the Empire's current rate of consumption, there would be virtually no trees anywhere in Europe by 1100 CE. Whilst many in the Senate waved this off as a problem for the future, not the present, Claudius at least had the foresight to now that the problem might become unresolvable by that time. In 957 he therefore began working closely with the Empire's greatest experts to find a solution to the problem. The solution they came up with was as simple as it was effective.

A law was passed the following year that required for anyone to cut down a tree, two more needed to be planted in the very same area. Anyone caught not following this law was subject to a crippling fine. Though this should have been enough to solve the problem, the emperor and his panel of experts were still worried that with enough people not obeying the law, there still might be a gradual decline. He therefore founded the Ministry of Forestry in 961, an office in the government dedicated to the continued existence of a large source of wood, and the maintenance of the Empire's vast forests.

One of the most important jobs of the ministry was to organize the shifting of "Protected" and "Unprotected" zones. This was extraordinarily difficult, and to be effective, required a more precise mapping of the Empire's land. Once the cartography was completed in 965, the business of establishing a system for these zones was underway.

Essentially the way this system worked was that entire areas would be declared off-limits for people to cut down. Scouts would be sent periodically to be sure that there were still as many trees there as when they last checked. If not, an investigation ensued. Whilst an area was "Protected" like this, the government would also send people to plant more trees until the entire zone was covered completely. After a few decades of being a protected zone, they would then become unprotected, and open to forestry again. This shuffling was usually noted in the weekly Nuntia, or could be found out by visiting the nearest government building with an Officer of the Forest.

Although this second method was far more complex than the first, its effectiveness was even more remarkable. By the end of Claudius reign, forests in the Empire had already grown by about 10%, the first time in centuries that there had even been growth, much less such a high level of it. The only downside was that the upkeep costs were very large, and by the end of his rule, the Empire's debt was reaching about 30% of their GDP. The main cause of this however had nothing to do with upkeep costs, but rather, war.

Military
The start of Claudius' reign was marked by the wrapping up of the decades long Icelandic Wars with the Treaty of Reykjavik in 953. This treaty divided the island into an eastern Roman half and a Danish western half. As soon as the treaty was made, Claudius ordered the creation of an enormous defensive wall to cut across the island, right along their border. Although the Danes were bothered by this development, their tremendous losses in war, and their distaste for building walls themselves stopped them from either retaliating or building one of their own.

With the embarrassing loss of the war in the eyes of the Danes, their government was on the verge of collapsing. What was once a united federation of kingdoms, modeled after the Germanic Federation, was now an amalgam of warring tribes, ironically a similar scenario to the early Germany. During the turmoil of the Danish Civil War, a small King, who had somehow maintained neutrality in the conflict, was on a voyage to explore the world to the west. Using knowledge of a circular world gained from the Romans, Erik the Wise (OTL Erik the Red) hoped to reach the rich cities of China. If he could manage this, the riches obtained through trade would make him the most powerful Danish King, and perhaps the new leader of the Federation.

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