MEuro II: Antiquity Arena

[reformer]

And let the games begin. . .

[DuQuense]

Day one

The Wall

Centurion Danijel Dedlirick was walking the Wall along the bridge over the Oder, He noticed how bright the Aurora was. Then it faded back to normal. But just as it faded He noticed something about the road on the other side. There seemed to be something there. Calling for the Guards, He sent a squad out to check.

Marinus Spurius was playing Chess with the Persian, Sohrab Jamsheed, while the Celt Áed Vercingetorix looked on. Like everyone in the Barracks they were talking about It. “The road is 15 strides wide, and I helped Scythe the edge just two days ago. That tree wasn’t there”. * “Well it would be hard to miss. 20 strides across, and split across the end of the road, like a log split in half for firewood, this is Demons work”. while most of the men drew a cross, a Few like Æðelmær Theodoric, made a hammer. The men in the Barracks ignored this. While supposedly they were all Christians, The men from the lands north of the Baltic Sea, were allowed to join, with out looking into this. The Priests would get to them in time. Meanwhile it did no harm.

· The road ends 30 strides from the Bridge, with half a tree split across the road rite at the edge.

Caspian Sea

Captain Pantaleon Euthymius keep a eye on the helmsman, newly promoted, he wasn’t completely at home with the oar . A clear spring nite, all they had to do was follow Ares’ Belt across the sea to Cathay* where they would pick up a Cargo. As the Aurora faded, everything changed, instead of the low new moon on the horizon. There was a full moon overhead, and instead of Ares, there was the great star sea ** As the men started calling on Christ and the Blessed Mary, there were a few mentions of Poseidon, and Neptune as well.

As the ship entered the Bay it was seeable that not only the sky had changed. There was no town, there was the hills, and the stream. But no Wharfs, no Cargo from distant Cathay. As the ship turned to return to Aorsiopolis***, there was much praying, in hope that home would be there.

· small town on the east coast of the Caspian, slightly southeast from the Volga, the Kazak end of the Silk Road.

· The Milky Way

· Roman City at the Volga Delta

Carthage

Farran Körbl guided his small Merchant man around the headland, He had a cargo of Smoked Herring and salted Cod from the western fisheries*, and was coming to exchange it for a Cargo of dates, As he entered the harbor He stopped, and like most of his crew stood there in awe. Instead of the Sleepy little Roman Port* there was a massive City, with giant walls, that looked larger than Rome. And there was a Small Warship headed their way.

· Leif wasn’t the first, neither were the Irish
· Rome rebuilds Carthage in 50 BC. The port and territory is just to Geopolitically Strategic.

[Forum Lurker]

Carthage

The council was in furious debate. A simple fishing boat, now confiscated and its crew imprisoned, had brought word of Rome's resurgence, and the only question was how to strike quickly enough to end the threat before the Italian princes fell under the enemy's power. By sunrise, it was decided: two couriers would go to Sardinia, one to Iberia, and one to Sicily, there to recruit Hellene sailors to bolster the fleet being assembled. Both the Sicilian and Iberian galleys were to be loaded with ivory and gold to purchase mercenaries.

Sardinia

The governor paced about his offices, quietly panicking. The Roman Eagle had been reported to fly at a fort on the southern edge of Corsica, and the levies being mustered wouldn't stand a chance if a proper legion had somehow arrived there. Worse, the seas around the islands were his responsibility, and the council would have him executed if his failure were known. The only possibility was to get troops who would not report back to Carthage. A galley laden with silver set out for the European coast, to the Gallic towns; in a week, forty merchant galleys would follow, to transport the warriors raised with offers of silver and promises of Corsican loot and women.

New Carthage

Routine patrols of the excellent Iberian light cavalry noticed Roman standards lofted to the north and south. Couriers rode swiftly to the capitol, but it would be a day at least before their message could be heard.

Kernow

The convoy of merchant ships sailing into harbor were astonished at the pace of new construction. The tiny little village, once little more than a harbor where merchants came to sell tin, was a bustling port city; hardly a metropolis on the lines of Carthage or Athens, but still far larger than it had been at the last visit. The local chieftain must have moved his capitol, reasoned the crew, as they hailed the harbormaster.

[reformer]

Aranthur Repesuna, the local lord was relaxed and content, laying and eating with his wife and close friends in the proper Etruscan customs when the ocation took a serious downturn at the orival of an odly dressed prefect.

To add to the slight state of confusion, the man adressed thoes assembled in what sounded like Latin. The language, though still spoken in parts of the south, was in decline, as was culture in Latinium. As with most Latins in these parts, the man showed distate at the art and prescence of females in the room. Barbarians Repesuna thought to himself.

The aleready fragile moment was completely shattered when the prefect drew his sword and promently arrested Repesuna for inhabiting the governors house and by being a general dissident to a place called Ruma or something like that.

The poor prefecture didn't know what he was up against. In about two minutes he was surrounded by palace guards, and was promply taken to the local jail.

In response to what could only be assumed as a latin uprising, Repesuna sent his good friend, fellow nobleman and diplomat Larth Calisna on a quick mission to the south to check on major Latin merchants and nobleman and such. Having spent much of his time in central Italy, Calisna spoke Latin fluently and had a passing knowlage of the people's traditions.

[Glen]

Western Roman Empire
ISOT Night

Arthur Pendragon, King of Britons, Gewisse, Picts, Scots, and Gauls, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire as proclaimed by the New Legion, felt old.

He sat by the fire in rich furs, wrapped against the cold of the night, and names from his past flashed through his drowsing thoughts; Ambrosius, Myrddin, Dubrinicus, Caius, Gwenevere, Bedwyr, Ancelus, Gawain, Tristan, Medraut, Cerdic, and many, many more. Most of them gone now, leaving him alone with a new generation to carry on the fight, to bring civilization back to the world.

Over the fire was hung the first sword he had carried as Dux Bellorum, now broken but still a powerful symbol. It had been Ambrosius' idea, for him to pull the sword from the grave of Lucius Artorius Castus, as a way to tie him to one of the Dux of old. The sword had served him well for years, but had just been too damned old in the end.

He glanced down at the sword sheathed at his side, the sword that never left his side, the sword that still could make him shiver, and filled his enemies with dread. He wondered for the thousandth time if he were well and truly damned for the things he had done to get this far...

First had been the Picts, whom he had beaten in battle, but could not truly command until he had undergone their secret pagan ceremony. That had brought him his first wife as well, and peace in the North, so he could not regret it fully. And it had been necessary, even if now the Picts were ostensibly Christian and good foederati of the Empire. Than had come the wheeling and dealing with the defeated Saxons and their kin, pagan to a man, which had brought them back to their status of Gewisse. They too had now started to be converted, though many still secretly clung to their pagan faith. And the compromises he had forced on the Church in his lands, between Pelagians and more conventional Romans. They were all one now, in theory, but had he made the entire church in the West heretic by his actions? Perhaps that was one of the reasons (it certainly was one of the excuses) why the Pope in Rome would not acknowledge him Emperor. And so he had now taken another step, and proclaimed a new Patriarchy in the West.

But what most often made him believed himself both damned and blessed was the sword at his side now, which had come out of the West from the hands of the Lady on the day of his crowning, a strange blade she had claimed was centuries old, and yet was better made, stronger, and sharper than any he had wielded. Made from the iron of a star, she had claimed. It had helped him cut a swath through his enemies and made him not just King in name, but in reality, and had seen him here to his claim on Empire itself.

Unbidden, orders of battle came to his mind. The Britons and Scots made up the calvary of his New Legion, the Britons from decades of his and his leutenants' training, and the Scots once he had subdued them had taken to the horse as if born to the saddle (they had been excellent charioteers before that as well). The Gewisse still were infantry, axemen mostly, as were the savage Picts of the North, and the Gauls who had only of late been added to his legions. Soon the Frisians too would march in his forces, each conquered or coopted people bound to him by promises of more glory, loot, and land in the next campaign. But the Gewisse and Britons made up the bulk of his navy as well, a strange assortment of local craft, dragonships, and even a few warships now on the old Roman model. Cerdic was not just his captain of Gewisse, but Count of the Saxon Shore, responsible for repelling (and recruiting) his fellow Saxons from the continent, though this time they would have to settle for farms on the continental frontier. He had sworn to the British kings that no more of their kind would come to the Isle of the Mighty, and he would keep that promise. But if things went well in the coming campaigns, there would be land aplenty on the continent.

God, his mind had become entangled in politics, war, and religion, rarely able to break out of those thoughts nowadays. But then again, what else did an old man have...

[Bulgaroktonos]

Day 1
Palphlagonia
Macedonian Empire

Alexander Phillipou awoke, slightly put off from the previous evening. His night had not been terribly debaucherous, but it was, as with most evenings with the Macedonians, one that involved a lot of wine. The Persian nobles were quick studies in the ways of the Macedonians, as were the Indians that accompanied him.

As usual, Alexander restrained himself. The lessons his father had taught him were many, mostly inadvertant lessons on how to avoid assassination and how to deal with his generals, and how to maintain respect. Perhaps foremost had been to never drink too much. Phillip had been renowned for his capacity to drink, and Alexander had nearly fought him to the death whilst his father was drunk. That had only led to his father's death, and several attempts on Alexander's life. So, as it was, Alexander kept his own indulgences in check. Perhaps his popularity suffered with the heavier drinkers like Clitus, Philotas, and some of the younger generals, but Alexander knew he had their respect.

But, no matter the state of his head, Alexander had a rebellion to crush. Rumors had spread in Illyria that Alexander was dead. This had led to a revolt by the Illyrians and a few of the northern Thracian tribes. He supposed his previous lesson had not been fitting enough to teach them who their ruler was. The Illyrians were true barbarians. The Persians could be taught to be Greek, but the Illyrians were always going to be Illyrians, and that needed to be fixed.

Alexander called a meeting of his generals, planning the march over the next few days. They would head to Ephesus, and from there, march up the coast to Troas, across the Hellespont, and meet Antigonos. Antigonos had long been raising an army to replace the older veterans in Alexander's army, who would retire to Anatolia or anywhere in the Empire they so wished, free from taxation, as was custom. Messengers reported he had another 30,000 troops from Macedon and several of the principle allies in Greece, particularly Argos and Corinth, the premier Greek Allies. Thracian allies and mercenaries were scarce, as they were mostly already engaged in fighting against the rebel Thracians. Added to the forces Alexander was bringing from the rest of the Empire, Alexander had the utmost faith that the Illyrians may give up without even a fight.....

[Highlander]

Malta

Nerva Cepheus looked out over the waters of the Mediterranian with his spy glass. Nothing, except for small swells and a vast emptiness. Nerva stood upon the main fortress of Valletta, which over looks the sea. Idly, guards walked along the walls, conversing with each other.

"Commander, there is nothing to report," said one of Nerva's helpers; a young lad of about sixteen, with light blond hair and a boyish face.

"Good," was all Commander Cepheus said, although he had a strange feeling in his gut.

[Soyuz]

Lusitania
Day 7

The sun was threatingly looming over the western horizon unevenly elluminating the city walls. Two people descended from those walls, both dressed in armor, carrying swords. Their shift has ended, and they were ready for a night of endulgeance for their days hard work. The normally busy streets were void of people, but when they hit the main square, they could barely make their way through a crowd. They quickly noticed that the crowd's attention was focused on a single man, speaking in an highly excited voice, constantly interrupting himself, widely gesturing and not taking any questions.

"And then, by my very eyes, the Procouncil's mansion was gone! And never one did I see a single Eagle... Phoenician language, now, I can barely understand it, but I swear I heard it spoken! ..."

The two soldiers quickly caught on to his story. And they did not like the tone it was spoken in one bit. Drawing their swords, they gently made a path to the speaker through the crowd. It took the touch of metal to the troat to finally shut the person up.

"Shut your poisonous mouth, you sinister theif! Go sell your stories somewhere else."
"He's just drunk," someone shouted from the crowd.
"No, deer sirs, a thousand blessings of Endovelicus on you, I say it is true. Just ask my companions they saw it too... Neither could I believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes."

The soldiers were somewhat set off. They expected an old drunk fool in rags begging for money with his fairy tales. However, they found a well-off man without a whiff of alcohol in his breath, and if they didn't know better, they'd say he was a merchant. The case was quickly falling apart, and they realised that thier plans were quickly replaced with this lunatic.

They tried to quickly move the person away for detainment, but the crowd failed to give way and an unpleasant scene took place. A woman screemed and the soldiers had to grab the person and run. The crowd gasped, and exploded in all directions. The next minute it was on the wide paved main street, in the narrow alleys of the slums, on the soldier's platzdarm and on the river bank. The whole city of Illiturgi was talking about it, and the two soldiers weren't surprised, but still dissapointed, when the city's administrator came.

The man, still not giving up his fantasy, fell to his feet. One of the soldiers might have pushed him down, but the administrator didn't care where the sign of respect came from. The room quickly filled of stories of Carthago Novo, how it changed, and how the Carthagineans retearned after a 200 year absence. The poor man was threatened, bled and tortured, but would not let down.

A soldier finally exited from that building into the darkness. He woke a tired rider who galloped to the West. He cursed, since he knew the night was wasted, and could never be relived back again. The sky in the east was already filling with fragile light.

[Glen]

Originally Posted by Forum Lurker

Kernow
The convoy of merchant ships sailing into harbor were astonished at the pace of new construction. The tiny little village, once little more than a harbor where merchants came to sell tin, was a bustling port city; hardly a metropolis on the lines of Carthage or Athens, but still far larger than it had been at the last visit. The local chieftain must have moved his capitol, reasoned the crew, as they hailed the harbormaster.

The merchants were odd, but then again, the tin merchants were used to dealing with all sorts of exotic traders who made port. They were just thankful that more and more seemed to be coming again, after the dark years before the King. At first, they had trouble even discovering who they were. Their own language was unfamiliar, though it reminded some of the Lebanon. They had one or two who claimed to speak Briton, but there speech was odd and difficult to follow. None seemed to speak Latin. Finally, they settled on Greek as a common tongue, and the haggling began.

Overall, it was a successful transaction for all concerned, but it was strange. They claimed to come from Novo Carthago, though they dropped the 'New' part, and clearly couldn't be local if none of them spoke Latin. Settlers no doubt (though not Visigoths...stranger and stranger). None of the traders they had asked after had been known, but then again, a lot of people had been displaced during the dark years, and a lot more had moved following new opportunities now that the Summer Kingdom had returned. They also seemed strangely ignorant for traders of any of the doings in politics of the world. They had not even recognized the name of Arthur Pendragon, King of the Britons. When once or twice they had referred to him by his newer title, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, they seemed to grow very, very quiet. Strange visitors indeed, but at least their money seemed good, though oddly stamped....

[Ward]

She Who Boild the Kong
woke with a start and left her tent the sky was red and she yelled for her Chiefs .
We will be moving are herds in the morning to the west . See to it she ordered the chiefs. As she went back to her Tent with a young Boy of 13 .

The morning came early to the camp as She Who Boild the Kong walked boldly out of her tent and ordered her house hold to start tearing down the camp . The young boy starged out of the tent looking like he had riden from one end of the Hords lands to the other end none stop .
By early morning the hord is on the heading toward the west .

[Glen]

OOC: I have edited to expand my first post. Please do read it.

http://www.alternatehistory.com/disc...75&postcount=5

[Forum Lurker]

Kernow
As the Carthaginian sailors left port, holds filled with tin, furs, and a bit of amber, the captains continued to conference belowdecks. They had now managed to come up with a coherent assessment of the situation: some local king had managed, in the less than three months since the last voyage, to take over the entire island, and its neighbor to the west as well, and they claimed part of the mainland. The whole thing smacked of sorcery, powerful sorcery. The king apparently claimed the title of Roman Emperor, and spoke the almost-dead Latin tongue to reinforce this, which would seem an even worse omen, save for one tiny tidbit of information a sailor had gleaned when trying to make sacrifice: they had abandoned the Roman emperor-worship, and indeed its entire pantheon. While the nature of this new British god was yet unclear, he was plainly no friend to the true Roman religion. With luck, religious schism would keep the British "Romans" from aiding the Italians, should those restive tribes rebel yet again.

New Carthage
The governor had now learned of the "Roman" presence, and steps were being taken. A galley was dispatched to Sardinia and Carthage to inform them of the situation, while the cavalry were mustered; given the swiftness of the rebellion, they couldn't have gathered enough of a force to justify a complete raising of the levies, but an overstrength cavalry contingent would help the Carthaginian forces run down their opponents once they scattered, and ensure that this not happen for another generation. Scouts began to ply both northern and southern borders in force, trying to discover which tribes had raised the Eagle, and in how much force.

[Glen]

Western Roman Empire
Day 7

His generals were meeting with Arthur around the great, round table that held the maps and models of the land for the next campaign season. This table had been an innovation that allowed them to move more easily around the war room, and reach any part of the display no matter where they were standing. And that is where the messenger found them.

"My Emperor, the Gauls! They have risen up! The Franks and Burgundians have been wiped out as if they had never existed. But not all is well...the Gauls have abandoned the Christ, and have embraced the Old Religion once more. I myself saw the Wicker Man lit!"

From many around the table, there were gasps and curses. Arthur noted the Pict was less put out by this.

"Brude, get me a wise man...do not even pretend to have no knowledge of such a one. We may need such to treat with the Gauls if they have fully returned to the old ways."

"Gentlemen, this may be an opportunity, or a grave threat. Either way, we must know what is happening in Gaul."

[Soyuz]

If a person was to visit Lusitania now, he would not recognise it from only half a month ago. Wild rumour were flying from town to town, each more outrageous than the other. The Celtiberians have managed to descreatly conquer the Cantabri. Noone could explain how the Roman flags flew over the rebellious Gallaeci, who would die rather than surrender. Traders informed that the Mauretani extanded as far east as during their height. Yet, none of this could compare to the speculations about Carthago Novo.

This was the thing preoccupying seamingly anyone in Lusitania. "Carthagineans, the Carthagineans!" was on everyones tongue. The latest rumour was that the soldiers of Carthage's army rose from the dead, led by the immortal Hasdrubal Barca. However, none could tell if this was a blessing for a new Golden Age of Lusitania, or a curse for when the Lusitani betrayed Carthage and allied with the Romans. An offering was already presented to Cariocecus, the God of War, who was said to have walked the Earth that night.

Neither did the government could explain or deny these paradoxes. The King kept silent, and could only send more scouts to the surrounding areas. A special deligation was ebbing their way to New Carthage in a cloud of uncertainty. Night shifts were doubled, and the peasants advised to take defense and pray harder at the altars.

[Bulgaroktonos]

Alexandrian Army
Day 7
Outside Ephesus
Delian Ionia

Alexander stood below the walls of Ephesus talking in circles with one of the town's wealthier merchants. It had begun when Alexander had arrived outside the gates earlier that day. Yesterday, outriders had reported the Ephesus had revolted. His intial thought was that the Illyrian revolt had spread to Ionia, which would not bode well for crushing the Illyrians before winter.

Being within reasonable distance, Alexander had let the men get their rest. They had marched to Ephesus that morning, before even the sun had risen, and arrived outside the gates a little later.

His initial inclincation had been to immediately begin preparing the seige engines to level Ephesus and sell its people into slavery in the east. Indeed, the fleeing farmers, and merchants who saw the approach of the army were fleeing towards Ephesus. If that didn't show that Alexander's vengence was expected, Alexander didn't know what did.

But something told Alexander not to lay seige, but instead to ask for a meeting. And as the merchant said for the 30th time that Alexander was not the conqueror of the known world, but a recently deceased, half-witted son of an ineffectual Macedonian king, Alexander was not so sure he should have listened to the voice. And he was getting fed up.

"See here, merchant," the Alexander said, pouring derision into the final word, "I have no time for your games. I do not know how it is that Ephesus dares to play these dangerous tactics, as you know full well that I leveled Miletus, and you should well know that I will level your city if you refuse me entrance. I do not tolerate rebellion, and I will certainly not be fooled by your claims of ignorance."

The look of sheer shock on the merchant's face set Alexander aback.

"Miletus? Gone?"

"Yes. And it's people sold to slavery. So shall be the fate of your city, if you do not immediately surrender it back into the fold of the Corinthian League."

[Forum Lurker]

New Carthage
The arrival of Lusitanian ambassadors added only a little to the constant furor since the sudden resurgence of the once-dead Romans. Still, a concrete plan of action could be determined, and a proposition was at once forwarded: if the Lusitanians assisted the Carthaginians in defeating the Roman forces to the south, and yielded any captured nobles or officers to Carthage, they would be permitted to hold all of the captured lands.

[Aussey]

Antirrhodos Palace
Alexandria, Lower Egypt
Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt

Tryphaena III Maria, Queen Philopator and Pharaoh of Egypt, sat up, and screamed. Within moments, over 20 guards and palace noblemen were standing next to the Queen's bed, asking her if she was all right. The Queen assured them she was just dreaming, and all returned to their beds or their posts.

Tryphaena, however, decided to go visit the old priest, at the Church of the Holy Wisdom (formerly Temple of Posiedon.) After all the nobles, and guards were out of sight, the Queen dressed in peasants clothing, and snuck out a back window.

The streets of Alexandria were a very bad place for an attractive young woman of 18 years. She arrived at the church safely. As tradition dictated, she dipped her hands in the Fountain of Wisdom (the fountain that used to hold a statue of Poseidon in the center, now housed a woman dressed in traditional Jewish clothes), and made the Sign of the Cross. She stood up, and walked up the temple steps, until she reached the center altar, where the Eternal Flame was kept. The Priest was startled at first, but then knew who the "peasant was."

"Your Highness, it is very unsafe for you to continue doing this, exspecially at this time of night." said the priest, warmly. "I know Father, but I had a dream, a horrible yet exciting dream! I dreamt that I woke up in hours not yet here, and that foreign delegates from Alexander himself were in my court!"

The priest looked confused. "Your Highness, Alexander's spirit lived long after his death, we all know. But it finally died when Christ came. Surely you know that! So how could not only Alexander's spirit, but Alexander himself, and his empire have delegates in your court in days to come?"

"Father, I do not know the answers to your question. But I know that I am the Holy Father's Representative and Chief Priestess on Earth. Surely, could this be a sign that Egypt is to convert heathen barbarians of the past?" asked the Queen.

"You are right in the fact that the Creator has chosen you as his Representative, Queen Tryphaena. I am but a mere priest, much lower and comely than the Father's Chief Priestess. Rest assured, however, that if the Father really is trying to tell you something, he will explain it to you, hisself on Earth."

With that, the Queen thanked him, and scurried back to the Palace, put back on her silk sleeping-clothes, and went back to sleep.

...the next day...

All the nobles, clergy, and generals from all parts of the empire were assembled. It was the first Senate meeting of the year, and they could not start without the Queen. Suddenly, the two great doors slammed open, and two guards with black-and-green ostrich feathers (costumes identical to Roman, except the Red, is replaced with Black and Green) walked in, one on either side of the Queen.

The Queen walked down the purple carpet, all the senators bowing as she passed, until she reached the Throne of Cleopatra, made of pure silver, and encrusted with diamonds, emeralds, black opals, and deep-purple gemstones. The Patriarch of Alexandria walked over to her throne, bowed, and then placed the Imperial Crown on her head. He turned to the Senators, and in a loud voice announced "Her Most Excellent Highness Tryphaena Maria, By the Grace and Will of God, By Virtue of Holy Sophia, and By the Blessings of the Most Blessed Virgin Marie, Queen Philopator and Pharaoh of Egypt, and Sovereign Lady of all her Dominions, Divine Representative of the Holy Father & Creator, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Matriarch of the East, Pontifex Maximus, Grand Mistress of the Holy Order of the Virgin-in-Egypt."

Almost immediatley after the Patriarch uttered these words, the room was in an uproar. The Queen had taken ill for a week, postponing the Senate meetings. She had taken to her room, and refused all visitors. As such, it was a shock when all she could hear from the room were talks of foreign nations, and rebellious Ethiopians. She took the Imperial Scepter and banged it against the marble floor of the Senate. Just as immediatley as the Senators and Senatoresses had begun talking, did they become quiet.

"Senator Philadelphius of Aryabia" began the Queen. "Tell me, what is this situation going on?"

"Your Highness, around the first of this month, all the tributary states to our empire's north and south dissappeared. Also gone, are the Romans in Africa. The Governors in Libya and Parthia Superior sent word over a week ago, arrived yesterday. Carthagians and Armenians appear to be stronger than ever recorded...and Jews."

A slight uproar from some Jewish senators was quickly calmed. "I request, Senator Philadelphius Aryabium, that you watch how you refer to citizen-subjects of my empire. Now what about the Jewish peoples?" asked the Queen.

"They seem to have complete control of the Holy Lands, and even a port city on the Antonnic Sea (Red Sea.) The Governor of Greater Syria has sent a request for troops to invade and re-take the lands of Israel and Judea, and he requests he have permission to try and execute the King of the Jews."

The Queen and Senators argued for the next few hours on what was to be done. Finally, the Queen made her decision.

"We will, indeed, invade this Jewish nation. However, it has been decades since an Egyptian emperor merely executed a foreign monarch. We will first offer this Jewish sovereign terms to rule until his death, signing over his nation to Egypt. Since you have such a passion for this issue, Senator Philadelphius, you will be in charge of dealing with Judea."

With that, the Senate was called to a close, as the sun was starting to set. The Queen returned to her chambers, and got ready for a feast with some Christianized, Arab princes.

[Douglas]

Messene, Messenia, Peloponessus
A member of the Delian League

The kings of Sparta had quickly learned through a few odd occurences that the helots in Messenia had revolted. Several Spartiates had returned, driven from their estates under strange circumstances. The humiliated Spartans reported that the helots they encountered had actually fought in the hoplite manner, and with vast numerical superiority had driven them into flight. A dozen full-blooded Spartans had been killed. Several Spartiates had apparently gone mad- they reported that the Helots had built a fortified city on Mt. Ithome.

Sparta had not had a Helot Revolt for sixty years, but the kings and ephors already knew what had to be done. Two thousand of the helots that had not revolted were executed, as an example to their fellow slaves. The Spartan war machine was prepared, and a great host, consisting of half of Sparta's military and led by King Archilachos, had marched out of the valley of the Tageytus to the tune of flutes.

The Messenian landholders' words were soon proved true. The Spartan army ran into a small body of hoplites and auxiliaries a few miles east of Mt. Ithome. The battle had been short but fierce: the outnumbered helots had fled after several minutes, leaving behind a hundred dead and wounded. After the wounded slaves had been found out and killed and the eight dead Spartans buried, the army marched on, killing the few helots that had not fled to Mt. Ithome.

King Archilachos kept a truly Laconian silence as he led the red-caped Lakedaimonians up to a well-fortified city that as far as he knew had not existed twenty days ago. He knew that this was an impressive engineering work,but he would never have expected it of helots. Surely they had had help, perhaps from Thebes or Athens, or even the Great King. Instead of assaulting it, he ordered his soldiers to encamp as he pondered what to do about this unexpected situation. He sent a messenger to King Agesipolis that he would not be returning to Laconia quickly.

King Agesipolis was also experiencing some perplexing events. Several triremes had returned from abroad, bringing news that the barbarous Macedonians were devastating Ionia, and that the satraps and soldiers of the Great King were nowhere to be seen in that region. An unknown, yet strangely enough Greek-speaking people had conquered Egypt.

But far more important, and more dangerous than any of these, was the situation in the Peloponessus. It seemed that all of the members of the Peloponessian League had changed: they had refused to give special treatment to Spartan envoys, and had actually mocked them as being citizens of an "insignificant" polis. Something would have to be done about this. Stranger yet was the existence of a brand-new city in Arcadia called Megalopolis, which claimed to be, of all things, a Messenian colony. They had treated the Spartan envoys worst of all, beating them even. These Megalopolitans would have to be punished.

[Cockroach]

Epirus, day one
Pyrrhus III rode along insopecting his army. As usualy the elite of the army were concentrated on the right flank... the Hetairoi, drawn from the nobility of Epirus as well as Macedonian and Thessalian rebels, the two thousand Hypaspists, the Royal Guards armed with Javalins, a twn foot spear and a Gladius... he continued on down the line past the Phalangites and Legionaries.

A macedonian army was belived to be a matter of days march away... and with the Romans bogged down in Southern Greece Epirus had little choice but to face the Macedonians alone.

Day seven
A week had passed, no sign had been seen of the Macedonian army althought scout had reported that Macedon was still their.
Pyrrhus III looked over a dispatch that had recently arrived from Southern italy...

[DuQuense]

The Wall Day Seven

Legatus Legionus Brutus Leonius Looked over the Reports, and turned to his fellow Legatus, “So the western roads end Seventy miles from the wall, and the Wall and the river Road ends 250 miles south, with no sign of the farms and towns that were there, I believe whe should send a couple of Centurias south to this Boiohauvium, to see if the Wall resumes to their south.

Toulon Gaul Coast day 15

The harbormaster couldn’t believe his eyes when the Warship, came sailing into the port with the [Banned Bull of ‘Baal Karthmon’] Painted on the sail, Then the Captain had tried to Bribe him, to direct him to the mercenaries to fight Roma. Fortunately, he had already sent for the legionaries, it had taken a Centuria, to Capture the Ship, With the Archers preventing the Rebels from cutting the ropes.

It had taken a Day to get the crew to tell all, the Captain and Mate, had died under the questioning, but the Second had talked. As such the Legion was ready when the merchant ships arrived. they had slowed entering the harbour, things just looked wrong, then several roman Galleries had come out from behind the headlands, aand the legions had appeared on shore.
Several hours later the Carthagian ships gathered togetter, outside the harbor [far outside] there were only 22 of them left the others had been burned by fire bolts from the roman Carroballistae* and several of them had bolts in their sides where the fire hadn't taken hold. The Carthagians set sail back sail to Sardinia, to tell about the Proud Gaullia, overrun by the resergant Romans.

Meanwhile The Romans were sending a report to Rome, and a Cohort of troops to reinforce Corsica.

*The ballista was basically a giant crossbow and worked on the same principle by firing iron tipped bolts towards the enemy positions. It was smaller weapon than the catapult (onager) and was used to kill and injure the enemy soldiers advancing or those within a fort, trying to sustain a siege.
The ballista came in a range of sizes with varying ranges. A ballistae bolt could be fired anywhere from 300 yards (275m) to 550 yards (500m). It was loaded with a 3 ft (100cm) bolt that could be fired at up to 115 mph (184 kph). The effect of impact could be devastating.

Rivetia Cesari day 15

Legatus Legionus Augustus Felix, looked to the north, 2 weeks ago his legion had been ready for a attack by the Macaronni Tribes, that had never come. Instead his scouts reported that the area seemed to have been taken over by a group of tribes calling them selves the Boiohauvium. He could only hope that they would be more cooperative, ‘Zeus’ knows it would be hard for them to be Worse.

Turning he looked South, that way should be Roma, And Caesar Octavian Augustus, and Stability. Instead the merchants were talking about the Republic, and non existing Borders, and misplaced roads. Maybe a second Boar [The Legions Symbol] Sacrificed to Jupiter, as well as the Legions traditional one to Mars, this Feast day.

Scondisci tribes [ East Balkans]

‘Man of the Eagles’ had gotten his name due to his having been a Mercenary for the Romans westward along the coast. Now he listened to the other chiefs of the various tribes. They were talking about a strange new Tribe of horsemen, that had appered out of the East, and were sweeping all in front of them. They were planning a combined attack against these interlopers into the tribes territory. When Man of the Eagles, suggested that they ask the Romans for help, they laughed at him. The Scondisci, needed no-ones help in holding on to what was theirs,

Londonium Day 21

The Ships had arrived with Supplies for the Legions, that were north of Londonium, Fighting the Celts, they were bewildered by what they found.

Emperor of the West- but Rome has no Emperors, Dark Days of Fighting – But Rome has been at peace for 60 years since the peace treaty with Marc Anthony of Egypt, Jesus of the Jews – but Israel is part of the Egyptian Empire – of course whe are sure that Egypt has a Empire, Crucified in 783 AUC – But my good man, it is only 780 this year, you speak … at this time the yelling was so loud that no-one cared.

Roma

First Counsel, Marcus Lepidus the Younger, Raised his Voice, and commanded silence, Not that he was heard the first time over all the other yelling in the Senate. But by the third attempt he succeeded. “ So whe agree Whe send the -Legio I Pia Fidelis [loyal and Faithful]- to Vetluna, in this rebellious Etruscan League, With the -Legio I Italica-, in reserve. As the Senators started yelling again, Lepidus whispered orders in a messengers ear. By the time the senator stopped auguring, the Legio’s would be there.