537-595 CE (Superpowers)

''With the untimely death of the beloved Ulpius, Rome had no successor to the curulian throne. By his own laws, this allowed the Senate to elect a new emperor, choosing the famous general and consul Gnaeus Fabius Comptus. The people of Rome heavily supported this choice, as senators expected, and the man himself was pleased to accept. For his role in the ongoing civil war, Fabius was a national hero and the perfect choice to lead the country out of the conflict.''

Caesar Fabius (537-582)
Few citizens had risen through the ranks of the empire as quickly as Fabius. Being named Legatus Augustus of the province of Dacia at the age of 31, he found himself leading one of the largest armies in history to retake Greece from a force of rebels. Once he successfully defeated the main rebel army in 534, he was recalled to Rome to be rewarded as Dacian Consul as a reward for his services to the empire. The Senate and Caesar had denied him his Triumph, on the grounds that it would insult the Greeks, but in return he would be named the youngest Consul since Pompeius Magnus (although consulship was very different then). Fabius proved to be an able consul and the people of Rome were still sore that he had not returned for a Triumph so when the equally beloved Caesar Ulpius was assassinated, the Senate had almost no choice but to appoint Fabius its new emperor.

Pleasing the people
As an emperor of the people, Fabius would go to great lengths during his long reign to keep them happy. Seeking to magnify his parallels with Pompey, he made one of his first acts the renovation of the Theater of Pompey, renewing it to its former glory and building a colonnade to enclose a new park outside the theater proper. This park had a statue of himself as its centerpiece but also featured religious art and was entered through a victory arch crediting success in the bellum civile (civil war) to his predecessor who had been emperor when he fought the Greek rebels. Construction on the theater put the public accounts even further into debt but was met with great enthusiasm from people of all orders.

Once this project was finished in 542, there would be another year before regular tax revenues returned and grain subsidies for Alexandria could be halted, since grain shipping routes would reopen once the plague subsided. Despite the admonition of the Senate, Fabius refused to cut the various expenditures that he would come up with each year, keeping the state in debt.

For the most part, Fabius financed grand public games in Rome and in major Greek cities. Animals would be shipped in large quantities from Africa and Asia for local gladiators to fight to the death. Enough gladiator slaves were dying or gaining their own freedom that their numbers reached an all-time low. In fact, the number of slaves in general had fallen to about 5 million out of a total population of 91 million people (after over nine million people died from the Ulpian plague). While Fabius cared little about the falling total number of slaves, he was concerned about gladiatorial matches becoming more difficult to hold. To slow this decline, he arranged to buy agricultural slaves from the aristocracy for high prices. By the end of his reign, the number of slaves would fall to a historic 4 million slaves, from a combination of manumission, natural attrition, and death in the arena.

Since a maximum number under Caesar Constantine, slaves have slowly decreased in prominence in the Roman Empire. Laws were passed to restrict manumission and encourage the birth of vernae (slaves born to slaves) but these tended to be house slaves as emperors were not especially fond of the latifundia (landed estates) of the aristocracy, where the majority of Rome's agricultural slaves would work. At the end of his reign, Fabius had effectively left a situation where the owners of latifundia would never release their agricultural slaves and would heavily encourage their slaves to have children. Slave markets were basically only selling vernae from whatever sources were available, although a few small wars would occasionally supply markets.

As wealthy landowners weakened, the landholding plebeian grew in prominence. These lower class farmers constituted the backbone of the agricultural industry in Magna Germania, as ager publicus (public land) acquired by the emperor would be prioritized for retiring legionaries and the urban poor. Emperors before Ulpius had devoted millions of denarii each year toward encouraging such settlement and Fabius would continue this trend after it slowed during the crises of the previous decades.

Caesar Sulla had supported lower class farming by buying latifundia but these were resold to patricians by Imperator Antoninus and Caesar Maximius. As the number of slaves fell, these would become less profitable for wealthy landowners, leading them to sell their private land back to the emperor who gave the land to retiring legionaries and leased the rest to plebeians in a manner similar to what Sulla had pioneered. Over time, these properties would either be sold to whomever was leasing the land or given to legionaries retiring from military service. There had been quite some time since Italian estates could be given to legionaries in return for their services to the empire and the resurgence of this particular donative greatly pleased the middle classes.

In terms of popularity, the reign of Fabius was a successful period. Few recent emperors other than Draconus were in power for as long as Fabius and that emperor did not have the former general's way with the people. Although hypercompetent at running an empire, Draco made no attempts to endear himself to the public and had a reputation for his temper. Fabius stands apart as a builder of the public's faith in imperial leadership, which had been strong under the Antonine dynasty but would waver from time to time under less competent or less caring emperors (e.g. Aurelius, Antoninus, Darius, Scipio II). His reign would long be remembered as a golden age for the Roman Empire, a time when the advantages of stability and wealth could freely support great works of art and philosophy without the worries of Germanic invasion, war with Persia, or internal upheaval.

Military strength
As a signal of this prosperity, Fabius disbanded two legions between the years of 541 and 552. There had been obstacles in replenishing the ranks of fallen legions from the civil war and those legions which disappeared were already functionally gone. A major obstacle had been a law outlawing residents of the Greek provinces from joining the Legion except in positions where they operated artillery. In some sense, this measure that Ulpius passed was not to the benefit of the Greeks, since being a legionary was a good way for plebeians to make a good income. He had justified the law on the grounds that the Greek would need to prove their devotion and loyalty to the Imperium Romanum and that they would be otherwise unpunished for the actions of their countrymen. Indeed, even Italian residents of Greece and Anatolia were included in the law, alleviating the sentiment of unfair treatment that some Greeks may have felt by their exclusion from the Legion. Ulpius was clear that the uncertain loyalties were regarding the Greek region rather than the Greek culture or people.

Regardless, the law excluded a region of around ten million people from membership in the Legion, seriously hurting recruitment. Disbanding two legions was more an official measure rather than an effect on present military strength. This reduction would still mean a weaker army defending the empire. With the fortifications on the frontiers, such a loss was of little concern to Romans.

After the civil war, the organization of the imperial legions was as follows. As usual, there were nine legions along the Limes Arabicus, for holding off a future invasion by Persia. One third of them were stationed behind the Vallum Magnum Judaecum while the rest protected Mesopotamia and Armenia. Across Greater Germany was a total of seven legions - four along the walls on the border of Gothica and three patrolling the frontier lands between the Danube, Rhine, and Vistula rivers.

There were three legions in Nubia, with none in Egypt anymore, and only one legion in Hibernia (Ireland), as there had been little unrest there in the last century. Another four legions were stationed along the Limes Alutanus, getting shared by the legates of Dacia and Moesia Inferior. The remaining two legions got stationed in Mauretania, for a total of 26 legions.

Although there had not been so few legions since the Republic, the military was far stronger than that period. Every border, save the western border to the great African desert, had a strong wall on which the legions and auxiliary soldiers were stationed, giving imperial forces a distinct advantage against foreign invaders, when supported with patrols going deep outside the empire. On the seas, Rome had never fielded stronger fleets, with over 200,000 men serving onboard its ships. Individual cities had their own city guards pooled from the population and paid by the federal state through a simple municipal stipend. More important than any of these factors, the Legion itself had unparalleled siege equipment and more than adequate ranged support.

On an open field, a single legion of 6,400 legionaries, 1,600 archers, and their artillery support was more than a match for a force of over thirty thousand Venedian natives or even the 10,000 Persian Immortals, the famous elite guard of the Sassanids. Together, a number of legions could be fielded to combat any foe that had ever faced Rome. Should the Huns somehow reappear with their horde of one million tribesmen, there could be two dozen legions in Italy before they reached the Danube. Romans and their senators thought in exactly these terms and more, instilling unwavering confidence in the populace that they were safe. With the Hero of the Civil War at the helms of Rome, they felt they could be no safer.

Civil Events
Though the emperor himself knew very little about civil matters, his many advisors and his economic team were competent enough individuals to successfully keep the Empire on track. Taxes were further lowered to stimulate growth and the banks influenced to reduce interest rates by about 2%. The goal they had in mind here was to meet the emperor's demands for change, change of any kind. It was hoped that a reduction in taxes and the cost of borrowing would increase the entrepreneurial spirit of the Empire's people on a whole. Combined with several other reforms of the emperor himself, this process was, for the most part, successful.

In 538, in anticipation of the planned invasion of the Nubian countries, a new facility was added to the Academia Bellica in Carthage. The Center for the Research of Arms and Armor was the first of its kind anywhere, an institute dedicated solely to the development of new weapon designs as well as the improvement of defense technologies of all kinds. Over a hundred mathematicians, engineers (doctores), medics and soldiers were employed there so as to ensure that all angles were being looked at in their research. By its second year in existence, they had already discovered more optimal proportions for the design of a Gladius sword.

The Center's advancements during Comptus' reign would include: a semi-automatic Ballista that continued to fire as long as it was being cranked (549); a Scorpio with twice the tension at very little additional complexity (552); braces to reduce strain on an archer's muscles (570) and several mechanisms for the easier deployment of a Ballista on walls or on the field (544). Unfortunately, on the emperor's death, funding for the research center was greatly reduced and so discoveries and advancements would arrive at a far slower pace.

In 567, following the attempt of a monk in Jerusalem who pleaded for the creation of a new Calendar where the years are numbered after the birth of Jesus Christ, the Anno Domini system, Comptus had a committee look into the accuracy of the current Roman Calendar that had been put into question by the elderly monk. Though nothing was really changed in the calendar itself, the Pope was convinced to pass Dogma relating to the time of celebration for certain major events, namely Easter Sunday.

Trade was another vital part of the emperor's policies, particularly that of trade with the East. Since sea trade was more difficult and far more competitive than land trade, Comptus decided to make a deal with the Sassanids and the Gupta Indians. They would jointly build a new Silk Road, a single route, 8 meters wide and made using Roman and Indian technology, that stretched from Tyrus in the west, all the way to Pataliputra in India. Though the Gupta Empire collapsed only a year after the road's completion in 553, it would remain in use by their successors for a long time afterward.

Not just having limited himself to military technology, Comptus helped the Empire's merchant fleets by purchasing several navigational and naval technologies from the Gupta Indians during the 540's. Furthermore, a new design for a horse collar was bought from Chinese merchants that greatly increased the ability of a horse to continue exerting itself in field work. This last technology was purchased some time around 580 CE and its importance to the Empire can not be understated. The new collar greatly increased the output of a single farmer and allowed even more of the population to shift away from agriculture, causing another urban shift. This allowed for the population boom that would occur from 585 to 600 CE.

Military
Throughout his long rule, Comptus was engaged in several major wars across the world, and only a nation with Rome's vast economy could have possibly supported several of these wars. Though these battles across the globe were almost all completely unrelated, it was the first time that a nation was engaging in anything remotely resembling a "world war".

Tensions between Rome's vassal Nobatia and Axum's former ally, Alwa were the lowest they'd ever been since the Nubian Civil War, and a reunification of those two nations, ignoring Makuria, seemed a definite possibility. Preemptively, Comptus planned an invasion to conquer all three before they could finally regain their footing. In 539 four legions were moved to Aegyptus to flank the three kingdoms from either side (east and west). Though each put up a resistance against the two legions they were facing, neither could achieve many victories and by 543 they were conquered formed into the new Roman province of of Nubia. Makuria, which was uninvolved in the war, attempted to make diplomatic relations with Rome. The legions of Comptus had other ideas however and soon two of them were performing an almost identical plan of attack on the formally neutral nation. By 545 all the Nubian kingdoms were owned by the Romans and the last remaining major nation in North Africa was the Axum Empire.

Axum had been prospering in recent centuries thanks to Roman trade and around this time it had become part of the Big Four economies of Eurasia (Rome; China; India; Persia), having a GDP of around two-thirds of the Sassanid's national income. Relations with Rome were going just as well as the economy, with a massive Citadel like embassy as a major part of the Axum (City) skyline and intense cooperation between the two nations in the Red Sea. The importance of trade by sea had unfortunately caused the Axumites to neglect their forces on the ground as there was no need to field a standing army with Rome around to protect it. They however underestimated the ambition of Roman emperors, something which would prove to be their downfall in 562.

It was that year that a force of only two legions crossed the border into the Axum Empire and began its three week long advance towards the capital, ignoring all other cities along the way. After a week, the Axumites received confirmation that they were in fact at war with Rome, something which came as an enormous shock to them, though they nevertheless send their entire ground forces to intercept the legionaries. At the same time, the Roman Red Sea Fleet was meticulously taking out single groups of ships of the incredible Axum Navy, the largest in the world at the time. Once they had regained their bearings however, the Romans would experience very few more victories at sea, surviving only through their far more advanced technology in ship to ship combat.

By the second week's end, the embassy of Rome in their capital had finally failed to maintain their personal innocence in the matter and a siege within the city was begun on the citadel and its 100 legionaries and 20 sagittae. Due to adept organization by their commanding Centurion, judicious use of their archers and 25 Ballistae and the near-impenetrable gate, they held out until the main Roman army could surround the capital. The king was overthrown with very little more resistance after two days and the Axum Empire was annexed as the Federation of Axum province of the Romans. Like Aegyptus, this was a very prosperous region, producing virtually a third of Rome's gold and providing much needed ports for Rome's trade with the Orient.

Earlier, in India, the Kingdom of the Hepthalites, or White Huns, began its last ever invasion of the Gupta Empire. Starting in 549 CE, just as plans for the new Silk Road were underway, they invaded in full force from the north. This came at a most unfortunate time for the Gupta as their economy was in shambles from massive spending compounded by tax reductions from several years before. They had hoped that constructing a new, better Silk Road would be exactly what they need to revive their ailing economy. Adding to this a war already ongoing with the Kalinga Indians and growing civil unrest, the Gupta were in no shape to be fighting off one of the other top ten armies in the world. Luckily, the Romans send three legions to their aid, in exchange for promised payments later on, and this renewal of their forces was able to hold back their collapse even longer. The cost of maintaining over 18,000 legionaries so far from Rome began to be considered too much for the Senate and they were all pulled back the same year the new Road was finished, 553. Almost immediately, the Gupta Empire was overrun by its enemies, finally collapsing completely in 554.

Just as the Romans had predicted however, new kingdoms rose up in its place, and after a decade or so, were once again willing to engage in prosperous trade with the Romans. This was considered to actually be the ideal situation, a powerful Indian state could potentially cause problems for the Romans, especially now that the Sassanids were no longer an enemy. Analysts at the time believed that if one empire could unite all of India, it would be the most powerful force in the world. Though this was not true, the fear of a united nation along the Indus was considered the least desirable possibility for Rome.

Another conflict the Romans had to engage in over in India was one with the Moriyan Kingdom of Sri Lanka. Though a deal had existed for a while now, that allowed Roman merchants to pass between the island and the continent, their new ruler repealed the treaty and began to pillage any passing Roman ships in 568. The next year, the Red Sea Fleet was dispatched to persuade the Moriyans to change back their policy. After two years of costly naval battles, a deal was made wherein Roman merchants were all given money from the government that they would pay to Moriyan patrols as they went through the pass. The price of this was less than the amount more it would cost to go around the island and so no merchants would be tempted to make extra money by simply circumventing having to pay the toll.

This was only a temporary measure as, in 577, a Roman fleet with several legions invaded the Moriyan kingdom and annexed it for the Empire as the Territory of Moriya. Only two years later, they sold it to the Kadambas Kingdom for an absurdly low price, with the deal that the Romans were still allowed to have free passage through the strait.

Finally, Comptus made several reforms to the Roman army itself during the 570's. Most importantly, the number of legions was increased from 32 to 36, thereby making the size of the legionary army 230,400 men. Though this was a minor increase when compared to the overall size of the Empire's armies, it made the primary arm of the Roman military more maneuverable, greatly increasing its reach.

Emperor Constantine II (582-595)
Not nearly as influential as his father was, Gnaeus Constantinus Comptus made very little progress in the growth of the Empire. There were only two wars throughout his entire rule, and though one of them was the stage for one of history's largest battles, the wars, on a whole, were not particularly spectacular. His life would finally be ended by an assassin from Caledonia, whilst the emperor was on a visit to Parisium in Gaul.

Civil and Military Events
Over Constantine II's reign, the Empire began to have a far smaller role in politics of the East. A law was passed outlawing any military operations in India and by the emperor's orders, trade directly with anyone from China became illegal. The Tributum, a poll-tax on non-Romans, was also raised during this period as part of the emperor's gradually increasing policies of oppression on those who were not of "civilized" breeding. The Graecian and closely Roman provinces therefore received a great deal of attention, with Constantine's policies of coddling them essentially reversing any remnants of discontent from the Civil War. It was perhaps a little ironic then that the emperor's eldest adopted son was a former Jew from Tyrus, a man who would later be his successor.

The first opponent that Constantine II faced was the Somali people southeast of the new Axum province. A large part of the wall that defended the former empire from these people was destroyed during one of the many soldiers rebellions by Axumites during their nation's annexation. The two year long war the Romans would wage against them finally came to an end in 586 when the Romans made a deal with the primitive tribe. The Romans would relinquish a large plot of land, fertile land, in the area to the Somali in exchange for a permanent end to hostilities and the possibility of beginning trade relations. Though they certainly had no intention of listening to the Romans, the promise of the riches they could receive from trade were too much and by 597 they had settled down into a Foederatus of the Empire.

The next problem the emperor would face was their old enemies, the Germanians. Their nation, the Frankish Union or Federations of Germania, was rapidly growing in power and already had a military force almost twice as big as Rome's, numbering well into 2.5 million soldiers. They had already fortified their northern border towards the restless Norse in Karelia and were preparing themselves to focus on reaching the Black Sea, for although they were powerful, they had very little part in any trading networks and their standard of living was one of the lowest in the world. Unfortunately, this attempt to move into the former Bosporian Kingdom's territory brought them into conflict with the fishing villages of Taurica who were allied with Rome.

The initial battle against this unorganized coalition of trading partners was no problem for the Germanian hordes, but the whiplash from their military offensive against one of Rome's own allies brought them up against an enemy they could never hope to challenge. Their move alerted the Romans so much so that they retaliated with a force of 6 legions and twice as many auxiliaries. Arriving by sea, the defensive force met with the Barbarian army in early May of 591 CE. As the Germanians were made aware of this, they made the tactically obvious decision to concentrate their entire forces and simply overwhelm the Romans. Unfortunately, since they were now actively seeking out the Romans, they were forced to fight the battle on Roman terms.

Their first and greatest battle was fought near the center of the peninsula over a vast area of mountainous terrain. The legions had already set up minor fortifications and dug defensive ditches in preparation for the battle. Furthermore, artillery pieces, consisting of 720 ballistae and 360 scorpios, were set-up along these defenses. Since the combined rate of fire of the support artillery was 144 shots per second, and they were themselves supported by 16,000 archers, the Roman army of 38,400 Legionaries and 60,000 Auxiliaries had an enormous advantage over the 720,000 men horde they were about to face. Following the 30 minute long battle, the hordes retreated from Taurica completely, scoring another victory for the Romans. However, the Roman garrison was quickly reduced to only 2 legions, with little support, and so when the Germanians returned two years later in 593, they were decisively defeated in several battles and forced to flee.

The annexation of Taurica and entry of the Germanians into Mediterranean trade was only one of the many reforms that the Federations underwent over the latter half of the VIth Century. A rudimentary legal system, partly copying the Romans was developed and new laws for the election of their monarch were created. In 594 several large Slavic Tribes, numbering over 6 million people, were admitted into the union. In their honor, the newly founded capital of the Federations was dubbed Kiev, after a legendary leader of those mighty people. This was all only the start of the Frankish Union's Golden Age of development and prosperity, and it would continue in strength up until their invasion by the Arabs in 661 as part of the War of the Caucasus.

Mayan Conglomerate
Undergoing another half century of non-expansionism, the Mayans managed to make themselves stronger and more united than ever. Most of the internal non-Mayan cultures were suppressed out of existence at this point with the exception of the Nahua Culture which had already grown in influence over the Mexica States and was, by the 580's, gaining momentum with the Mayan States. The teaching of the language Nahuatl became optional in all Mayan schools, to which over 70% of children attended, and the integration of Nahua practices with Mayan ones was underway. Though there would later be a minor cultural stand-off within the bureaucracy during the 600's, that problem would later be resolved in Nahuan favor.

Technology was also advancing rapidly due to the research institutes that existed as part of most schools. Hygiene became further emphasized during this period and several types of soaps and toothpaste were invented. Also a fine bristle brush was invented that could be used for the cleaning of teeth and easier cleaning of difficult hair. This hygienic shift created a much greater demand for water and so the government constructed the first stone Mayan aqueducts to bring water to their cities in 548. By 570 all major cities were serviced by at least one aqueduct, many by over 20, and by 590 water use per day was at around 100 L per person. This included its use for bathing, clothes washing and drinking.

On a city wide scale this was provided by a central aquifer which stored the water which was pumped by an archimedes screw to several massive surface wells. Simple faucets dispensed this water for free to anyone in the city who needed some. This would remain the norm until metal casting allowed for direct piping to houses during the VIIth Century.

A new city was founded in 588 with the intent of using it as a major financial center. This city was known as Chichen Itza. There, the first official place for the making of loans was established, the start of the Mayan Banking system. The massive structure was the only place in the Conglomerate where official loans could be made and this would still be the case up until another was founded in Teotihuacan in 616. Unlike in the Roman Empire, multiple small banking institutions did not spring up as the idea gained momentum, instead, a single bank would be built in each city, one which would contain that entire state's wealth and serve as the focal point of its economy. That was however to come much later.

In 590 CE an entirely new invention, unseen throughout the entire world was developed by a Mayan scientist. By filling a ceramic sphere with gunpowder and fragments of flint, they had created the first fragmentation grenade. As this weapon had a kill radius of about 6 meters, it was a lethally effective weapon. Every Mayan soldier was equipped with two of these, enormously increasing the effectiveness of a single man in battle.

Though the Mayans and their new technology were not known to the Romans at the time, the device would later be called Pyrobolum Silexis in the Latin language and the weapon's effectiveness at the time would have been devastating were it able to be used against Roman legionaries. Their advanced armor would only have been able to reduce the kill radius to about 4 meters and the only real protection a legionary would have had against these grenades would have been his shield. Still, due to how much more effective metallurgical weapons would have been against the Mayan's obsidian and stone ones, the Roman army was doubtless the more powerful of the two, and would have been the victor had the empires' paths ever crossed.

Towards the end of the century, 594 CE, the Mayan's next great king came onto the throne. He was regally known as Federal King Ch'anqua II. Son of the previous king and his Nahuan concubine, his reign would see the emergence of a unified Nahua culture as the dominant one in the Conglomerate and the greatest one on the entire continent.