452-485 CE (Superpowers)

As the first emperor not part of the line of succession of Nerva, Emperor Draco was expected to turn the Empire in an entirely new direction. It was believed at the time that while the Nervan emperors had done a lot of good for the Empire, the time had come that new blood was needed, figuratively speaking anyways. Therefore the election of an emperor, the first time in Roman history, was seen as another chance for Rome to enter an age of prosperity. Others however believed this change would bring about the nation's doom and so initially looked down upon the Senate's choice.

Electing a young, ambitious statesman was the right decision for the Senate, though they very well could have picked a better brash youth. Draco was, as many complained, short tempered. He fired his advisor constantly, often rehiring the same person multiple times, and, on one occasion, fired the entire Senate over the issue of whether to build a new Cathedral in Rome, or in Neapolis. Though he corrected this minor mistake the next day, the image of him as a tyrant stuck.

The man was tolerated for the very same reason he was chosen for the position, he was competent. Not easily influenced by others, and impossible to intimidate, he made the Empire one of the most proactive in the world during his rule. Decisions were made quickly, and whenever the Senate needed to have a consensus with him, they soon learned that he was always right, even if he was, in fact, wrong.

Civil Events
Seeing hope in Scipio's Melita Project, Draco became almost involved in the island as the city's founder himself had been. He built the primary Forum of the city, located several miles south of the harbor, and around this he constructed the city's most important structures. There was the Cathedral of St. John, the Maco Mercatori Arcessito (Foreign Trade Fund), the Provincial Government House and even the Arch of Scipio in that one location. Another important structure he had built there was the Curia Conlegia Macani or Senate of the Banker's Guilds. The purpose of this building, completed in 459, was to have a consensus on bank interest rates and other figures on a national level. Therefore, to more easily take part in this new council, all the major maco had a Praetorium Maci (Bank Headquarters) built somewhere on the island. The benefits to them of doing this were that they had advanced notice on changes in average interest rates as well as inside knowledge on the state of all banks in the Empire, both incredibly useful for even the largest of public banks.

In 460 the construction of vital civic buildings was also begun. The Maco Imperio, a bank meant to serve as the model bank of the state, was built near the Forum directly in site of the Curia of Bankers. A Galenaria, the only one which would be built on the island, was constructed on the west side of the harbor district. Very similar to the primary one in Jerusalem, there was a large banner going around the building's highest tower that made it visible to anyone, anywhere in the city.

As a prime example of the extremes he would go to over a simple issue, in 456 a friend of his who was a priest was once having a discussion with him over whether praying before statues of saints was heresy. Unable to agree with each other over the argument, the Emperor decided to settle it the best way he could. It was only a week later that the Third Council of Jerusalem was held. Though initially starting with the causal issue, it evolved into an even larger theological conference, eventually becoming the longest one since the the First council was held in the holy city in 333 CE.

When the Hunnic Empire finally settled down in 476, the emperor was quick to act on this, immediately declaring to the Senate, not for any particular reason, that he did not personally recognize this new nation. When inquired upon what he meant by stating this, he chose to send an emissary to the Huns, so as to declare it to someone who would actually be bothered by this. Unfortunately for Draco, the Hunnic rulers of the empire had slightly bigger problems. The countless other barbarian tribes that were under Hun dominance were growing restless from lack of representation. Eventually, in 480, this erupted into a full blown civil war between the Huns and the Union of Germania. Though initially at a disadvantage, the Union steadily gathered moment until it finally knocked the King Attila IV off the throne.

The revolutionary leader, Clovis of Francia was elected, in as fair an election as one headed by barbarians can be, to become King of United Federations of Francia, Sarmatia, Anglia, Lombardia and the Huns. Aside from these tribes, more than 100 different people were already part of the new nation, with the Romans now calling it Concordia Francia or the Frankish Union. Based on an organized system of electing a new monarch each time one died, the Union was generally considered, especially by the Romans, to be a fake Republic. Nevertheless, when the Franks sent an emissary to Rome in 484 to begin trade relations, the aging Emperor Draco immediately accepted, and just as quickly, placed a heavy trade tax on mercantile relations with the Union.

Military
Though faced will several stressful military difficulties during his reign, Draco interestingly handled these with a relatively calm demeanor, only becoming infuriated when his generals would tell him he's doing something wrong, after which he would of course fire them. This noticeable aspect of his character, while seemingly an enormous flaw, was not as great a problem as it may seem. Not only did it garner him a good deal of respect as a leader, but his mistakes were always corrected anyways and many actually found his antics to be quite amusing. He was, in fact, a very sociable person and tended to get along very well with most members of both the upper and middle classes.

The first issue at hand was, of course, settling the new border that Rome had created for itself. Although it was completely up against the Vistula River, coming over to cross the Dacian Wall, the geographical barrier would never suffice as a defense in another invasion and so had to be fortified. With the river as a moat, a massive wall was built out of concrete blocks as well as other stones for support. Slightly bigger than the larger of the three Judean walls, it still copied that same wall in several other ways. The overall design was almost identical and it even had the characteristic slant that the wall in Arabia had that allowed it to resistant virtually any siege weapons. Completed in 457, Draco would later commission for a smaller (2 m high) wall to be built on the opposite side of the river that would serve to block massed troop formations, cavalry and battering rams from even approaching the main wall.

As for what to do with the virtually barren Germanic lands that had been conquered, they only had a population of about 30,000 by now, the emperor had an answer to this as well. With the region's extensive resources and river ways it was the perfect place to serve as one of the industrial heartlands of the Empire. Mines, smithies and workshops would be built in the region and towns and villages would then spring up around these industries. Though this would make the population almost exclusively of the working class, the decision would enormously benefit the rest of the Empire as a whole. Migration to the region would arrive fast, so that by the death of Draco around 10% of Rome's production was centered around these newly acquired lands.

Another minor border, the one leading into Cimbria was merely fortified with a standard wall in 466, it would see very little use.

The next major problem for Draco was the Persians. Even if it was lucky that they hadn't attacked during the war with the Huns, everyone in the Senate agreed that it would be even better if they hadn't attacked at all. Throughout the years of peace, the Sassanid Empire had returned to being one of the world's major powers, having finally recovered from the devastation of the 3rd century. With their newly equipped army, the Sassanids invade Rome's ally Armenia in 461 CE. Only a minor power, the little foederatus would have been completely incapable of fighting the Persians off on its own and so the main Roman army had to be brought in. Turning the tide just before the capture of their capital in early 462, the Roman-Armenian forces then began a slow push to the Persian capital of Ctesiphon.

After the Siege of Ctesiphon (463) the Romans were able to negotiate the unconditional surrender of the Sassanid Empire. Through the usual treaty conditions, large tributes were paid, army limits were placed and most importantly, substantial land was given to Armenia. Much more strongly than any treaty, this last defeat pacified them for good as they no longer had a taste for fighting wars with an enemy who had simply gone far out of its league and whose very own borders were virtually untouchable. Furthermore, Armenia was still rising as a power and with the new gains from the war, was close to equalling the Persians in power.

For the first time in its history, Rome was safe. All of its land borders were defended by practically impenetrable walls, whilst its sea borders were patrolled constantly by extensive fleets. Foreign trade was still lucrative, as the promise of trade relations with Rome made the Empire the friend of virtually any nation on the entire supercontinent. The fact of the matter was, the Roman Empire had now grown so powerful that no single enemy could ever hope to even come close to defeating it. Even if a combined force of Chinese, Indians and Persians were to, theoretically, have invaded the Romans, their massive population base would have allowed for a militia of any conceivable size to be formed with less than four years. By the time of Draco's death, all of the neighboring empires and peoples had realized that they no longer could hope to fight the Romans, and besides, trading with them was a much better choice anyways.

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