1000-1029 (247-276 AD) (L'Uniona Homanus)

The Build Up
The Romans had a great affiliation with the building material of cement, as can be seen in their construction throughout the city of Rome. Just at the start of the Millennium a new element was emerging in the Norther Provinces. Iron ore was used mostly by the military but a few modifications to it would allow it to be used by the whole of the nation. Among these innovations was steel through the incorporation of carbon and magnesium as alloys in the ore. The Germanic Provinces, prized for their rich reserves of Iron and extensive forests for making charcoal to melt the ore, produced this but were at first not recognized as much more than some chemical tinkering nothing special. The Great Wall of Germania was built in less than five years between the Rivers Albis and Odris (Oder). This was the strongest fortification in the Empire and rested the criticisms of those who now saw the power of this new metal.

This method of fortification was not only used on the Albis but also on the Ister, on the edge of Britannia and on the areas North of Parthia. By no means was this impregnable but the barbarians who saw this had neither the technology nor the military leadership to conquer these fortresses. With this the Pictish above the wall in Britannia, still commemorative called Hadrian’s Wall, dropped any idea that the Romans would attempt to take their lands, as the only ships they ever saw were from expeditions. This came to an end with a Britannian invention, cast iron, made with the alloy of silicon and carbon. This was credited at first to the Britannians but was actually borrowed from the more obscure records brought from Sinica.

Both of these were used to make another and an improved version of the weapons from the records of China. The Rifle. The navy of Rome also invested heavily in the Canon on their ships. The iron miners became an important factor in the demographics of Rome and the managers of the mills creating the cast iron and steel became extremely wealthy as well. However, both of these inventors Manus Aventinus of Germania Chalybem (Steel of Germania), and Cloelius Juniculus of Major Ferrum Britanniae (Greater British Iron) decided against patenting either of these inventions. Competition quickly sprung up within the first decade of the new millennium. Cloelius and Manus were remembered throughout the Empire and retired very wealthy; they were recognized for their contributions on the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the death of Marcus Aurelius in 1008 (281AD) with Ignacius at the age of Sixty Seven.

The Generals with the blessing of the elderly Emperor prepared to take the islands of Hibernia (Ireland) and the parts of the island of Britannia not yet under Roman control. The leader of this mission was the son of Horatius from the Viking Wars, Soletius Africanus. Ignacius on the morning of June the fifth was poised to order the invasion but died in the night, possibly from a stroke which he had been found to be prone to on a trip to the Medical University in Lutetia. The Senate ordered the legions to move, ‘in the name and honor of Ignacius’ and they did so; in the mean time the zealous nationalist and expansionist who had risen to one of the senator seats from Hispania. His name was Jacobus Zaragonus and he introduced the option of ordering the conquest of Hibernia and what was planned to be called Caledonia (Scotland). Soletius followed his orders and left with the writ from the Senate ordering the invasion.

Almost without resistance the areas of Hibernia and Caledonia became new Imperial Provinces and many people from the province of Britannia came to introduce Roman customs to the conquered. The Senate of Caledonia was called to replace the meetings taking place in any open place in each village. The same was found in Hibernia though trade had been more active with that Province and some customs were slipping through if not in practice but in that they did not seem so foreign and dangerous. Caledonia and Hibernia stayed peacefully developing over the next few years and the Wall of Hadrian was turned into schools and Hospitals that would stand for much longer in the settlements of Edinia (Edinburgh) and Glasionensis (Glasgow) which would become important trading ports and military bases.

The fleet of Soletius came from Aquitannia to which the Africanus family returned after a spite with the family of Lutetius Cimber. Lutetius Cimber, though he had no sons, remained a high advisor of the Britannian military whose opinion was regarded as ‘second only to the Emperor’ as one high general described him. Ignacius wanted to form a contingent group of troops from Aquitannia and Britannia who would attack from several directions but Soletius was the only man given the order form the Senate. Lutetius became enraged, though not prone to rash behavior, he declared that ‘the development of Caledonia into a civilized region will be met by the conquest of Britannia of both this and all other islands.’ The Senate saw no problem with this and saw it a suggested plan for the future of these two new areas rather than a spiteful statement by a scorned man.

Hibernia with its closer connection to Britannia became its facade for a greater tension between Aquitannia and Britannia. Caledonia being that of the Aquitannians. The Island of New Cyprus as it was called (The Isle of Man) was the setting for this proxy war and would decide the prevalence in the military of the Cimber or the Africanus family in the military of the Northern Provinces.

The Battle of New Cyprus 1010 (283 AD)
The First Canon to be launched in a battle by the Roman Empire was not against a barbaric group but by its own military against another and on a small island between two provinces on the outermost parts of the Empire. The amount of ships lost was unprecedented from the Punic Wars in the Republican Period which won the Empire North Africa. The number was believed to be nearly three quarters of both fleets but the battle on the land would be all the more destructive. From the ships came the newer weapon, the rifle, which was incorporated as the ballista had been before. The smoke was almost blinding and the ground was described as being ‘permanently stained with soldier’s blood.’ The stalemate of the sea came to be the stalemate of the land as well and the prospects looked worse as the troops from the main island were preparing to invade mainland Aquitannia. The islands of Verdisia (Guernsey), Iorsia (Jersey), and Anabela (Alderney) were taken as a warning and the beaches of Lugdunensis (Normandy) were poised to be invaded first. The Rifles were ready and the soldiers were fierce for conquest and for capture up the Seine of the city of Lutetia.

A third player came into the mix of this Civil War after being quickly granted the Dictatorial Power. Jacobus took many troops from Germania and Hispania into the fields of the battle and met with the generals their power was given to the new Emperor and the troops on New Cyprus were ordered to retreat. Many had not seen the death they had created on that Island until they returned with the Emperor, Soletius and Lutetius to witness the bones still being picked by birds. The Settlement called the Treaty of New Cyprus 1011 (284 AD) was this put the island of New Cyprus in the hands of the Province of Hibernia and gave the islands of Verdisia, Iorsia, and Anabela back to the Province of Aquitannia. Britannia was given the ability to take Caledonia when a referendum of the People, which had been a popular practice in that Province actually even prior to conquest, approved of such annexation.

The fear that existed from the thought of the Empire turning in on itself resonated not only in Aquitania but throughout the Empire. This reinforced support for Jacobus and his speech in Londinium to the new Governors of Caledonia, Britannia, Hibernia, Aquitannia, and the leaders of the military in the mini civil war resonated through them. “We are Romans. We come here to bring civilization to those who did not know it, we use our military to bring peace throughout the lands we have conquered. what had been done on that island [pointing north west towards New Cyprus] is a travesty because it never should have happened and what has occurred and what almost occurred near Aquitannia was a betrayal of the name of the Emperor Ignacius whose name brought you all here today. I will see no more war among the provinces and I will not see this Empire, greatest in History, be destroyed by the weapons of its own innovation and creativity to advance the petty interests of some families. We abandon the idea that a few men can dictate the future of an Empire, it will take the whole of the People to do that.” -Jacobus

This emphasis on the People would shape politics from them on. Policies were put in place in the military to keep a single family from gaining a monopoly on rank. It was decided that a general could, unless by an decision from the Emperor, only serve for a term of ten years and that for their son to take such a position or any other would and could only emerge from their merit. Jacobus was formally declared Emperor of Rome on his return from Londinium in the year 1011 (284 AD). He was the first Emperor of the new millennium and his policies would change Rome for ages to come.

On to the North
The vikings that retreated from Britain took with them tons of gold from the cities they rampages through and weapons from the Britannians. But the state model, which they took as the reason for their defeat, with its central authority in the Emperor was interpreted by the Vikings to be what would lead them to victory. The Vikings declared themselves Kings of Scandinavia, the name they learned from the Romans in the provinces. The first king, Aethelfred, copied the inventions of the Romans and solidified the lands across the Elbe River as the Scandinavian Empire. The ships that once could only move a few vikings at a time began to hold as many as sixty vikings on board at a time. The conquered peoples provided a great resource of soldiers to attack the Romans. Aethelfred moved to the conquest after placing his son Aethelgrif as his successor and leader of the invasion.

Aethelfred died in 999 (272 AD) while preparations were still halfway to completion. and Aethelgrif continued to move toward the invasion. In 1013 (286 AD) the invasion began with boats coming up the several rivers of the Empire. The Provinces of Germania and Aquitania were hit first but the troops spread to Britannia, Hispania and Lusitania before the navy met the vikings at the Strata Gibraltarae (Strait of Gibraltar). The movement of troops from the capital too much time to keep them from taking the treasuries throughout the great capitals. Many buildings were destroyed by the Scandinavian Invasion but Jacobus would lead the charge from Rome.

The areas of Hispania and Lusitania were hit the least and the military quickly pushed them back to the Sea when Jacobus’s Army met with the local regiments, already in battle. They moved into the ships, which Jacobus had ordered to be equipped with cannons as well as the number of ships almost doubled, and followed every ship into the lines of battle. Britannia was still so strong from the remembrance of the last invasion that the battles there were not contested as being anything other than successes, which they were after the bloodbath that they also were. The ships of the Vikings though were quickly taken by the generals who, following the words of the Art of War their recently deceased leader Lutetius Cimber had praised, brought them to the continent to fight the Vikings in the island and river filled province of Belgica north Aquitannia where Jacobus was slaughtering the Vikings by lighting no more than three or four ships on fire to take down the whole fleet. The spirit of jacobus led every soldier there to take their full wrath upon the Vikings. The policy of Ignacius not to follow the Vikings back to their homeland was retrospectively seen as a mistake and one that Jacobus pledged not to have repeated.

The last Viking ship to fall in Britannia had its fertile ashes, both of wood and the soldiers inside them, spread on the fields and the harvest was one of the most productive of recent memory. The battle cry of jacobus rang from the highest general to the lowest soldier and the settlements that the Scandinavians had, in imitation of those of Rome and Britannia, were quickly laid waste. Every person, or so it seemed from later descriptions, was either killed or sold into slavery. Their reputation for the attacks in Britannia got them no easy treatment from any of their owners. The Britannians particularly liked to use them for large scale building projects that would have been too dangerous for the regular building people, there were many casualties. The whole Baltic sea, then named the Mare Suebicum, was on fire on the arrival of Jacobus and the enraged soldiers. It was made an Imperial Province and the generals who had just conquered them were put as their Governors. The Areas of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden became Scandinavia and the areas of Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia became Suebia, the last Province of the mare Suebicum was Prussia in what is now Poland and half of Germany.

The People of this land were treated terribly by the Scandinavians and now the Romans but the initial cruelty of the Governors would be followed by the wealth and culture of the other provinces. The Scandinavians, Prussians, and Suebians would be remembered as an inferior people but the provinces of these people were celebrated in Rome as the borders were at a height not previously thought possible. The Romans moved to complete the conquest from the Mare Suebicum to the River Ister by burning the barbarians in between where the Scandinavians had conquered and the end of the Provinces of Macromannia (Moldova and Ukraine) and Crimea. The people of this area were not used to central power but were aware of the brutality taking place to the North of them. The few resistance that was met was returned with quick defeat and most people took an excited stance to the incorporation into the Empire known for its wealth and prosperity.

The People of the northern provinces who were attacked by the Vikings were happy to see these events but the people of Greece and Rome were stunned by the accoutns of destruction and death from their Emperor. The fertilization of the soil with he ashes of the dead and their ships was the most shocking. The newspapers ran with calls for the Senate to take the Imperial title from Jacobus but they were ignored as the money from the Senate