889-916 CE (Superpowers)

''Calvinus is a controversial figure in Roman history. Some remember him as Calvin the Great or Calvin the Builder but others speak of him as King Calvin, each for his own reasons. After changing his views, Calvinus became an ardent opponent of spending in the provinces but did not make his views known to his adoptive father. In the last ten years of the reign of Cassius, Calvinus was made the de facto leader of the patricianis faction in the Senate. Once in power, Calvinus took rather tyrannical measures to institute the sort of reform required to refocus the power of Rome on its own well-being.''

Caesar Calvinus (889-916)
Over his first few years in command, Kaeso Aurelius Calvinus slowly assumed a greater portion of political power in the Senate. His supporters returned the ancient office of princeps senatus (first man of the Senate) during his inauguration and Calvin made certain to exercise the authority of his position to keep the Senate in line with his political goals. Calvin continued living in his home on the Quirinal Hill, since there was no imperial residence in Rome after the earthquake and the emperor made every attempt not to miss sessions of the Senate. By 891, few decisions of the illustrious assembly were not influenced by the emperor. At the end of the year, Calvin had the Senate name him their Generalissimus, removing any equal to him in military authority.

Spending reform
With a firm grip on the Senate, Calvin set upon enacting sweeping reform of state expenditure. Salaries for medici (doctores) and chirurgii (surgeons), as well as other salaried civil servants, were diminished. At the same time, stricter medical regulations were imposed upon the options for health services that were available without cost. Only surgeries would remain free, forcing citizens to pay for medical opinions and regiminae (therapies) (in addition to check-ups and medicines which had always cost patients). Finally, a number of galenariae (public hospitals) suffered reductions in staff, based on the results of census information.

While health care was getting cut down, Calvin repealed the child care subsidy, saving a yearly amount of over 200 million Dn. On top of these changes, Calvin had been gradually reducing provincial stipends for the first four years of his reign. By 895, the state had more than 400 million Dn of surplus funds for paying the national debt and devoting to public works. In this way, the debt would be paid over several years while Calvin focused on other expenses.

As a result of these cutbacks, the health of citizens in the empire fell and Roman families in cities began to have fewer children. The common people never revolted against the state but many were discontent over the changes. One peculiar result of the reform was that some doctors and surgeons left the empire for other countries, offering their service to kings and caliphs. Roman medicine was renowned throughout the world from the Canary Islands to China so these experts tended to be welcomed with open arms. Although few states had the infrastructure or medical community to implement everything known to Roman medicine, this exodus disseminated medical knowledge throughout the known world, to the benefit of millions of people. Before, few doctors had left the empire to practice medicine since graduates of medical academies often went straight to a hospital. Now that medical workers were only going to be accepted on a necessary basis, some professionals would continue to leave Rome in the future.

At the same time, the loss of health care and of financial support for children, slowed the rising proportion of citizens relative to the number of non-citizens. Furthermore, the state opened itself to the plague by reducing the number of doctors for every citizen.

Reconstruction
The problem that motivated Calvin to favor the well-being of Rome over the support of its provinces was the primary reason for the dramatic reductions in public spending and became the target of most of the funds that his reforms had re-opened. Throughout his reign, Calvin tore down old residences in the capital and replaced them with new stone doma, at the same time as his contractors cleared the ruins that had been left untouched by his predecessor. Hundreds of thousands of houses were restored and replaced in this massive reconstruction program. For the first time, the wealth of a third of human civilization was being devoted to improving and restoring a single city of less than 2 million people. Great works could be accomplished in such a situation.

Collis Palatinus
While houses