761-835 CE (Superpowers)

''The neighborhood of the Roman Empire was becoming more crowded as Eastern Europe became civilized. No emperor had seen as many kingdoms near his borders in the entire eight centuries of the Principate. Politics was complicated by this increased number of other rulers, requiring more complex diplomacy from Rome. As the strongest and most ancient civilization in the region, the Romans were the object of both imitation and jealousy, but most importantly they were in high demand from kings and caliphs who knew them as much through legends as through Rome's own emissaries. Rome was the father of a crowded household, with dozens of children vying for their parent's attention.''

Historical Statistics for 800 CE (1553 AUC)

Caesar Quirilus (761-782)
Quirilus came to the curule throne on the heels of the greatest war that Europe had witnessed in centuries. His adoptive father had outdone himself in setting the Germanic kingdoms at each other's throats and the chaos he wrought was enough. Roman citizens were worried about the clash of kingdoms raging just beyond the limites (frontiers) of their empire and the time for peace had come. He urged his allies the Kingdom of Venetia and the Magnum Imperium Sarmatianum (Great Sarmatian Empire) to agree to a peace with the Kingdom of Lombardy and the Three Kingdoms of the Angles and the Andals, leaving those realms crippled and embittered but not divided. With his Treaty of Constantinople (762) in the bag, Quirilus went on to rule his empire with his citizens' well-being at heart before dying early of plague.

Maya Conglomerate
With firmly held borders to the South and the North, the Mayans were able to concentrate the majority of their forces to the West coast of North Columbia. Like any of their other neighbors, the natives on the West Coast were incredibly primitive, utilizing wooden and stone weaponry and made up of villages of between 200 and 4,000 people. More than being no match for the Conglomerate Standing Army, they were extremely lucky to even kill a single Mayan soldier. Worse for them still, the Mayans had recently invented an artillery piece that used gunpowder to launch 200 fire arrows at once, with the design having been perfected since the time of its inception in 751. By 771, over 100 were in use by the Mayans, whilst a single volley from just one could wipe out an entire native army.

Unlike the Romans, the Mayans had no need to fortify their borders with walls, merely constructing a few forts at strategic positions sufficed to keep them safe from the nomadic tribes lurking outside. Not so great a problem was the tribes living inside their borders. Numbering at about 7 million in a total population of 100 or so million, the natives posed no real threat to the Conglomerate as a whole due to their small numbers, lack of advanced technology and isolation from the central Mayan States. Still, they had very little incentive for revolution, as from their overseers they received education; health care; roads; water and food, all at far greater quality and in far greater quantities than they would ever have gotten before being conquered. Furthermore, once a village was part of the Conglomerate, and had paid their tribute in lives and materials to the Mayans, they only need continue paying taxes and they would be alright, having complete exemption from any further kidnappings for sacrificial ceremonies. There was one separatist group of natives, roughly named the People's Front of the Apache, but they did little more than plan attacks on the Mayan royal family, always failing miserably whenever an attempt was made.

The act of sacrifice had become almost a science to the Mayans. Every morning at the Pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacan a dog was sacrificed once the sun itself had broken past a certain point on the horizon. At midday, in the Pyramid of the Sun, the daily sacrifice was performed, based off of whichever day on the calendar it was. Furthermore, if there was a special occasion, such as the crowning of a new King or another victory over a tribe being announced, then a second sacrifice, usually of humans, was done. All in all, about 600 humans are sacrificed every year in Teotihuacan, with an additional 2,000 animal sacrifices or more performed over the same period. Other temples usually performed sacrifices to bless the inauguration of a new building or State governor.

Unlike many civilizations who sacrifice more when something goes wrong, the Mayans simply sacrifice to a different god for the same thing, believing that their sacrifices are enough as it is, and if a god is punishing them still, then surely another god will be more reasonable. This was just one of the many examples of the Mayans supreme arrogance in their belief of their own importance. Mayans and Mesoamericans were not allowed, by law, to marry or procreate with any of the native tribe members. Doing so would result in their mate and his or her entire immediate family being executed. Any children that resulted from such a union were executed in a special cleansing ceremony, by the Mayan parent themselves. Although by the standards of most civilizations this is tremendously barbaric, the Mayans believed that to not do so would be the worst barbarity of all.

In late 788 a new weapon was designed based on the Pyrobola (grenades) that were in heavy use by the military. These Pyrobola Insidiae were essentially 3 kilograms heavy devices with a perfectly flat surface at the top resembling ground. The intention of their use was to bury them in strategic locations so that only half-an-inch of soil was on top of them. When someone stepped directly on them it would move down a mechanism that set off a spark igniting the gunpowder within, blowing up like a fragmentation grenade. Though the kill radius was only about one meter, it was tremendously useful as a weapon of shock and awe, often dissuading an entire attack once one or two had gone off. As the shell was made of carefully crafted ceramics, one of these could remain in the ground for more than 20 years before the gradual seeping in of water rendered the gunpowder useless. In arid environments however, which the Mayans were now encountering to the east of their recent conquests, a land mine could remain fully functional for decades on end, finally becoming useless once the spark mechanism had rusted away.

By law, it was required that detailed records on any mine's location were kept at the nearest fort. Furthermore, all army bases had an up to date list that detailed all areas that may contain mines on the bases side of the empire.