The Homeland Reclaimed!Before the cities of the Roman Empire lit up with the flame of civilization and built a state that stretched across three continents, conquering many barbarian forces, the original warrior tribes lived in the old Dominion of
Firehelm. They spent their time ravaging native lands close to them and infiltrating nearby tribes to take all they had, and their realm prospered for a while. However, after a brutal civil war most of the surviving people had to migrate from their homeland and into the north lands which were inhabited by many different native civilizations. They would spend a long time subjugating these kingdoms and tribes, gradually carving up more and more land for themselves. Finally, the old Overlord and leader of these migrations settled his main force next to the river Tiber and started up a small settlement called Rome. In this settlement he proclaimed the start of the Roman Empire, and all of the conquered territory became Imperial land.
Migration patterns of the Firehelm hordes, with the largest arrow being the main force lead by the Overlord
They had left their old home behind to build a new, more prosperous empire and to establish a force which would not be brought down by any forces, outside or inside. And the old Dominion was left to rot in decay, with the remaining few forces joining into a short term alliance with another band of raiders. However, recently the Emperor managed to work out the deal with the chief who had held the region and lead the opposing side of the civil war. The old territories were brought back under Imperial control, personally held by the Emperor, and now enjoy the special status as the Prefecture of Firehelm. And in turn, the other chief was allowed into the server of the Empire, where his safety has been guaranteed. A small garrison of Roman troops moved in to secure the borders of the Prefecture and preserve what is left of their past. The date on which this occurred, which is the 14th of January, will in future years be celebrated within the Roman Empire as an important holiday, when the motherland was returned to proper rule.
The Senate and ElectionsIn December the Emperor wrote and published the First Imperial Edict, in which he detailed the reforms which would add a political aspect to the region. Having a blend of political and cultural activities within a raider region was the original plan for Rome, where raiding would be the main focus and purpose and the politics would exist as additional activity to interest people and give them more chances to rise up and contribute. When it was founded Rome did have a political system, but it was too rushed and after some infighting was scrapped and Rome went on to function with the structure of a regular raider region. However, time has passed and the region has grown, and now the first step towards creating a new and unique system has been taken.
The SPQR(Senate and People of Rome) was created with the purpose of serving as a legislature, which would require the Emperor's approval for passed legislation. All members of who hold the rank of Legionary or higher are allowed to participate in discussions, votes, and elections, and can write their own proposals. Additionally, the position of Consul was created to oversee the SPQR with an intentionally small term of one month. With this also came the creation of social classes, which would serve as the foundation for future expansions of the system. The Patrician class would act as the ruling class of the region, while the equites class would be the backbone of the Empire as members of that class are true enlisted and trained Romans, the Proletarii class differs in that they are just enlisted but untrained Romans that enjoy few rights, and the Latin class consists of regular residents who have a nation within the Empire and have almost no specific rights. There were some additional reforms in the edict, which you can check out
here.
The first election for the office of Consul which would determine who would serve from late December to late January saw three candidates(Darth Tiberius/Byroms, Chelvo, Pageko) step up, having both the Optimates and Populares factions represented along with an independent candidate. The election ended with Darth Tiberius/Byroms winning in a landslide, with even candidate Chelvo giving his vote and support to the winner. The first term was a satisfactory one, as the forum which was previously only used for membership applications and storage and was rejected for discussion in favor of the discord actually saw activity and a few different proposals being proposed. A new member managed to pass an act to start up a roleplay, however since he had to leave due to RL restraints another Roman will have to be put in charge of running it. Currently we are in the middle of the election for the second term, where Darth Tiberius has opted not to run and given their support to Chelvo, who is sweeping up the votes. It seems this term will go to the Populares faction, who also have the WA Delegate of the region on their side. Due to the special privileges this grants them, it is interesting to speculate what they have in plan once they take over the office of Consul.
Unreported RaidsLast week the Roman warmachine went full speed ahead and was online to fight the fendas and natives alike during ever major update and a few minor updates. Aside from speedruns and racing with the greys, we also trained a couple new members who got into it pretty quickly and earned promotions from Munifex to Legionary. A healthy boom in embassies has been recorded as a result of this consistent raiding, as well as tired but satisfied Romans. There was also an attempt made at a multi team raid but there were a lot of unexpected no-shows so after essentially raiding with one team for 10-15 minutes the raid was ended and the no-shows were demoted, hit with stick, and hosed down. We're also happy to see Pageko try out triggering for the first time with pretty solid accuracy and speed and look forward to seeing him hone his skills more. Below are the hitcounts and participants of the larger raids that managed to pass the filter for a forum post, spoilered for your convenience because in Rome the barbarian is always right
on the cross.