New Civilizations Rome ( IC, OPEN)

[Greater Utrecht]

Black Forest, Germania
Shvartsnegger had arrived in a settlement south of where he was before. It was alive with children playing. He made his way to the chief's tent where he shot him dead along with everyone else inside. Soon his psychopathic tendencies kicked in and began slaughtering the settlement. After an hour of gore, death, and destruction, Shvartsnegger left the village with 20 skulls has his trophy.

For weeks, he went on a rampage, collecting skull trophies. He soon made his way into a settlement in future Liepzig where he challenged the chieftain in a duel to the death. He defeated the Chieftain and beheaded him. He was soon crowned as the new chieftain of the settlement and ruled with an Iron Fist and a Wise Mind. He taught the people of the settlement many things such as writing and created laws. He significantly reformed the settlement in administration and economy and ordered many of his people to begin trading with the Romans. Soon he plans to conquer Germania... and Rome!

[Republic of the Cristo]

Rome, The Grand Coliseum, 100 A.D./u]

Breath, he let out a long and slow breath. Breath. It was dark, he could barely see the walls surrounding him. He could hear the murmur and cheer of thousands upon thousands of spectators above him. Breath. Mark was dressed in the most Spartan of clothing, being of the Mallus Pugnator class of gladiator ( literally, hammer fighter). He had on a leather helmet, linen wrapped fists, iron greaves, and a long loin cloth. It was an odd thought, but Mark was thankful that he was in at least decent shape. He had been having a lot of weird thoughts as of the last three days; the closer and closer he got to enacting his plan, the more and more he realized the full prospects of what he was doing.

5 days ago, the Coliseum opened up the Ludos ( public games). There, the common man of Rome could participate and square off against all the professionals of the coliseum in any even that was opened; this included the gladiator matches. Hundreds of men had been lined up outside of the coliseum at the time of registering for the Ludos. Africans, Romans, Greeks, Germans, even a few Orientals were there, ready to take part in the world famous games. When Mark had gone to sign he was surprised at how nonchalant the registrars were about his desire to be in the games was... apparently, many of the men here were coming exclusively for the games. The registrars simply passed on his paper work and told him when to arrive in the next 5 days. It was like an ancient and incredibly efficient and user friendly version of the Hunger games. He would return to the home of Hector of Mario, which had served as his temporary residence since his arrival to this world. He would bring in his team go over the plan several more times in that five day span. Now, the moment had finally com.

Breath. He was currently surrounded by the lift that ascended the fighters ( men and beasts alike) up into the arena, where they would battle for their lives. Mark stared forward as the lift rose, thinking deeply of the things that had brought him here. A broken heart, frustration with his life, boredom, and even he had to admit, a overinflated ego. At this moment, however, he was not feeling all that great. " If I shot the chains lifting me up right now, I could escape! I wouldn't have to go through with this; no killing, no power, no pressure, no fear. I could live the rest of my life in solitude and -" He stopped himself immediately. Words from a distant past now creped in from the back of his mind to the foremost of his thoughts, " You're a loser." His ex-girlfriend's voice smattered itself all over his brain, like an inky black tar that refused to come off. Mark could now feel a fiery heat generating from his chest and his head. " Show you." he whispered as the lift had finally brought him to the surface of the arena.

A almost blinding sunlight shone down on Mark, causing him to lift his arm up in front of his eyes. He held in his hands the Zarotan ( he had convinced the registers that it was a hammer) The muffled mummer of what he heard inside the lift was now a near defeaning cheer. Mark looked all around him, the fear he had been experiencing earlier had been replaced with a combination of rage and awe at his current situation. He grinned ear to ear, feeling that the cheer from the crowd was irresistible. He finally looked out around him. Their were 9 other men in the oval. They too were now looking around at their opponents. It had only now occurred to Mark that these men served only the purpose of demonstrating his power... and that for that, they really did not deserve what was coming to them.

Mark looked directly up in front of him He saw a splendid enclosed section of the seats, nearest to the arena floor. It was draped in purple cloth and numerous fat persons stood in it, eating and smiling down on the entertainment. A tall man appeared out from the center of them and walked to the very edge of the enclosed area, nearest the arena floor. The crowd grew silent and all faced the tall man clad in purple. " Trajan." Mark said aloud to himself. He possessed a traditional auburn Roman haircut, and a long face. His most defining feature by far though, was his very large nose. The statues that Mark had seen of him were quite spot on. The Emperor lifted his hands up and yelled out to the crowd, " Let the games... BEGIN!"

BAAA!
Silence
BAAA!
Screams
BAAA!
more screams
BAAA!
Fewer screams as people began to look at where the noise was coming from
BAAA!
Rack-rack!

Around the arena floor, over half of the contestants, whom had been standing but a few seconds ago, were now dead. The silence had returned to the crowd. The silence, strangely, made Mark feel powerful. He walked slowly out into the center of the arena floor. None of the gladiators dared make a move, and the crowd was too scared to make a sound. Mark looked up at the Emperor's enclosure, waiting for Trajan to stick his big nose out. The purple clad monarch eventually got the picture and stuck his head out. He looked down at Mark with an unsure stare, and Mark looked back at him with a stare of near resentment. " What... are you doing?" were the first words to exit Trajan's mouth. Mark responded, " Making myself known." He held his rifle up high above his head; everybody in the arena ducked. " My name is puerignis ( child of fire). I have arrived here to fulfill my destiny, and to complete my father's work. Thousands of years ago, my father, gave you mortals the gift of fire. And because of it, you have flourished beyond all compare. Today, I give you the gift, of the Zarotan!" He held up the rifle high. Some members of the crowd stuck their heads up now to get a better look at him; intrigued by what he had to say. Trajan was still casting his unsure gaze down on Mark, " You claim to be... be the son of Prometheus. What proof do you have to claim such a thing?" Mark gestured behind him. " I killed five men, warriors, in mere seconds and from many yards away. I did so with fire and thunder. What proof more do I need." Mark intentionally made his face go dark; he could feel the power rushing through him! Trajan spoke again, " You have come on your father's behalf to deliver us another gift? That is incredibly kind of you." Trajan gave a faked smile. Mark looked down for a moment before casting his gaze back up. " Yes, but I have come here for something else as well." Trajan's smile began to wane a little, at the thought of what his being could possible want. " All around you, everything you see, is because of my father and his gift to you. Without our gift, you would return to being but beasts in the wild. And for this mighty gift, my father to this day remains tortured by the gods. In return for his gift, and for the punishment he is receiving because of you, I have come to claim this empire, as compensation."

Trajan's smile turned immedieantly into a grimace of anger; the crowd began to mummer loudly. " You are no god!" Trajan sputtered out " You are but a mortal man whom has some how stolen a tool from the divines. Guards, kill him!" This is what Mark had been waiting and planning for. His rifle was out of bullets, and he knew he would not have enough time to reload before the guards had killed him. A guard bearing a pilla in his left arm now stood where the emperor had only moments ago, his arm cocked back and was ready to throw at Mark. A split second before he would have thrown however, another loud BAAA cracked through the air. A hole was made in his chest and blood and other bits of matter sprayed out of his front and back torso. He fell over immedieantly. A large blond and muscular man could be seen several rows away holding a Zarotan to his shoulder and cocking the bottom lever, getting ready for another shot. All of a sudden, 25 people in total throughout the entire arena began revealing Zarotans that had been previously hidden. Guards began dropping left and right all throughout the arena. The spectators that did not fall to the crowd and cover their heads attempted to run out of the arena.

Mark looked up at the Emperor's enclosure; it was now empty. No doubt, he had made a hasty exit once the shooting began. Mark was not worried however, as all was according to plan.

[u]Immedieantly outside the Grand Coliseum of Rome, 100 A.D.

About 20 men and a few women were running furiously through the private corridors of the Grand Coliseum. Armored clad men stood in a circle around numerous purple toga clad men and women who were all huddled and running together. Amongst them was the emperor Trajan. The second he had seen one of his men blasted down by that... that... weapon, his survival instinct to run kicked in. If this puerignis truly was a god... he shuddered at the thought. He and his group eventually made it out of the coliseum and onto a road where the Emperor's carriage should have been. Instead, what he and his guards found was the carriage lying on the ground with the horses shot dead and numerous guards to accompany them. At least 25 more persons carrying the same infernal weapons as puerignis were standing around and staring at the carnage before collectively turning their gaze towards the emperor and his accompaniment. They pointed their weapons at the circle. The imperial guards raised their weapons but the emperor shouted " Stand down, stand down. "

[Cuprum]

Luoyang - China

The campaign had left the Marquis weary. While the other generals had hastened off to give their reports on the battles, the Marquis couldn’t help but drag himself from his horse and trudge back towards his offices. He unclipped his regalia and armour as he walked, allowing one of his guards the honour of carrying his shoulderguards, his cloak, his blue-plumed helmet. The streets of Luoyang were safe, he knew. He ordered his battered vanguard to disband, aside from two guardsmen, and headed for his palace.

Arriving at his well-kept abode, the Marquis smiled as he saw his former employer at the door. The Marchioness was deemed attractive and had many suitors within the Empire, but the Marquis had not given her leave to marry any that had approached him thus far. All were either too lowly or too old for her; she was a maid of nineteen now, but still his most valuable posession. Her dark hair tumbled freely down to her shoulders, a stark contrast to her elaborate red dress.

“You’re back, old champ!”

The Marchioness stepped out across the tiled pavement, opening her arms wide to embrace her former servant.

“I have kept the birds well, as you told me to, and I received words from the Imperial Court! My uncle Yu told me—“

“Inside, girl.” commanded the Marquis, not allowing his former employer time to speak.

The Marquis followed his obedient partner into the first room of his moderate home, where he was greeted with the pleasant smell of spice. The sun’s light filtered in through the windows, which the Marquis was quick to slide shut.

“You’ve had word from him?” asked the General, having commanded his two guards to wait outside. She nodded quickly now, a frown forming on her face.

“He said that he feels strongly for your cause, for the future emperor, but can only send a token force of twenty or so men.” The Marquis sighed, stroking his stubbled chin. His hair was of a medium length; not as long as he had worn it when he was a boy, but still respectful of his youth.

“Twenty or so? That won’t keep the peace. Most of the other Generals have several times that number in Luoyang alone. That isn’t counting their own personal estates, or the allegiances that they have bought. Twenty men will only bolster my own to thirty.” The Marchioness’s pretty face darkened further.

“Your uncle has said that he, for political reasons, will not be allowing us to return there until a new emperor is settled. He says he, as head of Han Dynasty, will not allow Han to pick the wrong side.”

“He abandons us? Abandons the Empire?” The Marquis balled his fists.

Mei nodded quietly, her brown eyes staring at her feet. The Marquis’s own blue eyes seeped with rage, and he yelled out with rage and fear and pain.

“How did the campaign go? Against Zhu Fong?” The Marchioness asked, later that night, when she had entered The Marquis’s study. The Marquis had his feet up on the desk, having changed into a loose-fitting robe of red and blue colouring. His fiddle was in his hands, and he twisted the ornate ivory handle creating a beautiful noise.

Quickly placing his fiddle down on the desk, The Marquis shrugged.

“We won. My vanguard held firm against the three daughters of Zhu Fong, while the warlord himself died to one of our spears. Zhu Fa, the oldest of his daughters surrendered, and the mountains are now back in the Empire’s hands. Hurray.” The Marquis feigned a cheer, before folding his arms and giving the Marchioness an annoyed tone.

“I find it incredible how the other generals can plan out and perform such military campaigns without an emperor. Even as the battle raged, I could feel the generals dividing up the spoils in their heads. Oh, I’ll have this farmland. Zhong, do you want that mine over there?”

The general continued making silly impressions of the other generals, before a cutting look from Mei made him stop.

“But it was a success. Nobody important died, even the man we set out to kill. By tomorrow the Imperial Throne will be mine” The Marquis shrugged. The fin red blossoms that were pinned his chests (A symbol of their graduation from the Imperial Academy) didn't matter to him at all.

[The Holy Dominion of Inesea]

Bamako-Timbukto Region, West Africa

James Buchail hopped off his camel and called for the caravan to come to a halt. There were fifteen camels and about 10 men in his train, mostly slaves he purchased from passing Mande nomads. They trusted him and feared him, for he wielded a power and knowledge far beyond their's. He also had freed them, something unknown in terms of compassion. James uncovered and activated his Constructor. The bot dropped to the ground and begun whirring. Nanites from the box bore down into the ground and tested the air around him. As the constructor worked, he set his men to setting up camp. The Niger River was a mere quarter days ride away and the vegetation levels reflected that. The porters, that's what he decided to call them, began setting up tents and erecting awnings for the animals. His men were confused as to why they were so far from the fertile water zones, but had learned not to question him. In the two weeks since James had landed, he had quickly established himself.

When he first landed, he immediately used his constructor to create several ingots of iron and a few pieces of gold and salt from the surrounding rock scape. The area where he landed was all but riddled with the stuff. After two days or so he had assembled a smallish fortune. He happened upon a bazaar along the Niger River. There he traded and bartered and melted and purified and constructed for a few days, using his knowledge of Mande to estalbish himself with the nomads. His number one seller were the alloys he made. Copper and Tin and Bronze and Lithium and Iron and Chromium and all other metals were availible in abundance in the region. The Mande nomads carried much on them as it was. James traded for it and created simple tools of bronze and steel. The steel was a major hit to say the least, it's creation far beyond these peoples. James Buchail purchased six slaves and hired four young men from the various tribes. Over the course of a week or so he acquired animals, food, and water and supplies.

The Constructor dinged. It had finished it's survey. There was Iron Ore and gold particulates as well as copper and salts in the ground below within the range of the dissembler and ressembler nanites. There was also an aquifer not deep down. Buchail downloaded a schematic onto the Constructor for a water pump. The machine started whirring and crafting the pump and pipe down. As it worked, the hired hands watched with some apprehension. James ignored their looks and thoughts and set up the power generator. It was a suitcase-sized device that converted all sorts of things into power. For now, he set it to converting the thermal and solar energy into power and set it to running the Constructor. After about an hour, the pump was complete. Water sputtered from it. The men were amazed and immediately set to filling the water supplies. James merely acknowledged that the task was done and set the Constructor to another. He set the machine to craft a series of tools, weapons, and raw ingots from the surrounding area. James had selected the area because the GeoSurvey from his reader said that in his time the region was still rich in the metals he would need for his plans. The area was famed for it's iron, gold, and salt deposits. Salt in particular would be easy to amass. For now the boggest concern was food. He planned to ride out to the pastoral community and trade simple tools for food. But that was a task for the morrow. He arranged for a guard and lay down to sleep. Through the night the Constructor created ingots of metals and minerals that were in the range of it's nanites. When the land was stripped, it set about to making tools. And so Buchail's first two weeks went.

[Republic of the Cristo]

Senate, Rome, 100, A.D.

Bloody and beaten, the emperor remained staring up at the self declared god with a look not of hatred or fear, but of curiosity. Puerignis and his army ( 50 men in total) had retreated to the senate building of Rome after they had captured Trajan and his cohorts. They had executed his guards once Puerignis met up with them outside. They made their way through a Rome that had been suddenly thrown into chaos. Crowds were running in all directions and spreading word of a man who was calling himself the son of Prometheus and whom had begun a massacre at the arena. As Puerignis and his army made their way through the city and to the senate building they shot any guard or soldier who had attempted to stop them ( which was quite a few).

4 hours had passed and chaos could be heard from the outside. No doubt riots and looting had occurred, and the city guard were conflicted between keeping order and retrieving the emperor. In that 4 hour span, Trajan had been beaten and tortured by Puerignis's men. He himself would not lay a hand on Trajan, fearing of his primitive filth. To Mark's surprise, the emperor possessed a much stronger will than what he had originally anticipated. He had made his demands to his prisoner upon entering the Senate and informed him of the consequences of his denial would entail, and even then Trajan refused. For this, both of his hands had been broken by rifle buts, he had been beaten and kicked in the stomach repeatedly, and he had had right ear sliced in half. Mark barely kept vomit down at the sight of his blood. Now, four hours later, Puerignis stood in front of the emperor, whom was on his knees, who in turn stared back up at him. Mark had found that he respected this man more than what he had initially hypothesized he would. He had also concluded that he would not break. He would not fold to his demands by mere torture and threats of violence; and without the emperor's formal abdication of the throne to Mark, then all that he has done will have been for naught. A new tactic had to be used...

" You are a good leader." Puerignis looked down at Trajan as he said this. He looked surprised at the compliment given by his torturer. " I'm not lying. You have done great things for your people so far, especially behind the scenes." Trajan gave a worried look at Puerignis. Mark held his nose and despite the gnawing fear at the back of his neck bent down next to Trajan's good ear. " I know of what you have done for Hadrian, you are truly a great mortal." Trajan looked at Mark with a look of complete loss. " How -"

" I'm a god, remember? But that is not the only thing that I have seen." Puerignis stood up and looked down at Trajan, " Your mind will fail you in your later years. Your judgment will be corrupted and you bring darkness to this empire. thousands will suffer under your tyranny. And once you have passed away, this empire will fall to the hordes of the north." Lies, all lies. Trajan would actually be one of the most successful and compassionate rulers Rome would ever have. Still though, necessary in order to make him break. Puerignis then turned his back on Trajan and walked over to one of his men, he whispered in his ear, " Check the men outside, I want a report on the situation out there." The man nodded and trotted off to carry out the task. Mark did not care about what his men actually had to say, rather, he wanted Trajan to think on what he had just said. Puerignis pretended to talk with the other members of his army for a while, then he heard the report ( all clear, except for a few now dispatched soldiers). Then, Trajan finally spoke up, " I... I can't."He said in a weak and faltering voice; so different from the strong and dignified tone he had held earlier. " I don't want them to... If what you say is true, then I don't want them to suffer." Puerignis looked now into Trajan's eyes. He saw the look of utter defeat, and of utter sadness. It was the look of a man about to sacrifice himself. Puerignis did not show it, but inside, his heart was breaking as well. Here he was, breaking the spirit of a man that only now did he realize was greater a man than he ever would be, and he was doing it all for greed... to prove his ex wrong... but he was in too deep to back out now. Puerignis now stood high over Trajan. He looked down at the emperor's now tearing eyes. There was only stoic rage in the god's eyes, not at the emperor, but at himself. " Say it."

Trajan looked down at Puerignis's knees and began breathing heavily. " I...I... I, Trajan of Rome, surrender my throne-" He gulped; simply saying the words seemed physically agonizing to him. " I surrender all my titles, I surrender my power, I surrender my riches, and I ... I... I surrender the Roman empire- to Puerignis son of Prometheus." Puerignis raised his head up to the ceiling and shut his eyes. He could feel the power from the arena rush into his body, only now it was not one of self satisfaction, now it was one of determination. He opened his eyes now, realizing that the room had been deathly silent during the whole ordeal. He turned around to face his men, whom were all staring wide eyed at the son of fire. Hans was the first one to bow wholly onto the ground, with his nose touching to the floor, facing towards Puerignis. The rest of the army soon followed. Before Mark, 35 men now bowed down to their new emperor. Even Puerignis was astonished by the event. He looked down at his side, and he saw that... that even Trajan was now bowing. Puerignis looked up now " I did it," he whispered in English, " I did it."

Outside of the Senate building, Rome, 100 A.D.

Puerignis walked down the steps of the Senate building, with the emperor and 35 of his men behind him ( the other 15 being on the roof protecting the building, and now Puerignis). In front of the building, 100 legionaries had been assembled, shields up and pilla drawn - ready to storm the building. There were two centurions in front of them - likely their leaders. One of them held up a hand, ordering his men to stand down. As Puerignis reached the bottom of the steps he stopped and his men followed suit. The centurion whom had signaled called out to Puerignis, " Have you come to surrender?" The child of fire shook his head, quite the opposite. Trajan now stepped to Puerignis's side. The soldiers gave a collective gasp at the condition their monarch was in. Trajan spoke once more in his strong and dignified voice. " You will stand down before this man. I surrendered all that I own-to him. Men, acknowledge your new emperor." Puerignis was surprised by the way Trajan had insisted that they praise him. The centurions furrowed their brows in disbelief and looked between their new and old emperor. One asked " Sir, there is no need for such a drastic measure, allow us to kill him now-"

" You will do now such thing!" Rage could be heard in Trajan's voice as he raised a hand at the centurion, whom straightened his back and went blank faced at the reprimand. Trajan now held up both of his broken hands and spoke aloud. " Citizens and soldiers of Rome, on this day it will be known until the end of days, that I, Trajan of Rome, have surrendered my leadership over our empire over to Puerignis son of Prometheus. Thus, declaring him the new emperor." He then clicked his heels together and gave as best a roman salute he could in his condition. " Hail Puerignis!" Numerous legionaries in the garrison immedieantly followed suit. Very quickly Puerignis's own army and the rest of the legionaries were doing the same. And finally, even the centurions were forced into doing so as well.

Mark had done it, he had become a god, and the ruler of the world. He finally proved to himself that he was not a loser, and that he was truly capable of anything. That loser of the past Mark was gone, burned away by the son of fire. All that remained was the bright ember, the conquering divine. All that remained was Emperor Puerignis.

Hail!

[Imperial Idaho]

Outskirts of Lutetia, Gaul, Roman Empire

James had arrived in Lutetia earlier in the day, he barely managed to slip off the ship unnoticed, and he had pre-planned by going under an alias. Lutetia was by James's standards, a average settlement, but it was a boom town to the Romans. Lines of houses could be seen under construction and much of the forest was being cut down, tools could be found everywhere nearby. James took a small hatchet from one and headed into the forest and began collecting wood. He began wandering for a place to camp and found a small cave, he gathered stones, set them in a circle and lit a fire. When James exited his tent after placing his things inside he was welcomed by snarling teeth and growls. Wolves, and starving ones at that, despite being excellent city planners the Romans weren't the best at managing the environment. James slowly reached into his tent and began to grab his rifle, but the front-most wolf lunged at him and bit his left arm. "OW! Dammit!" James yelled in pain, he sucker-punched it in the jaw, and it let go and back off slightly.

Now bleeding, James grabbed his rifle and held it up, shaking like a leaf due to his new wound. "BACK! STAY BACK WOLVES! BACK!" he yelled in agony, despite this another wolf appeared ready to attack. As it lunged forward James fired the rifle at it, with poor accuracy he hit the side of it and in pain it closed its gapeing jaws, though it still had its momentum. The Wolf knocked James to the ground but did not attempt to attack him, the other wolves were fleeing from the loud noise of the gun shot. James sat up, pulled the lever on his rifle and put another round in. He heard the whimpering of the wolf and instantly felt guilty, James had always loved dogs, and wolves were little different. He quickly bandaged himself then turned attention to the wolf, James pulled the bullet out of its side with tweezers and them wrapped its wound with linen. The wolf wandered away after a few moments and James went to sleep, hoping they wouldn't return.

[Cuprum]

Pyongyang - Goguryeo

The Emperor used the deposition of the Goguryeo Hae's king as the pretext for his campaign and started preparations for an invasion force. General Joaquín Soria commanded an army of 60,000 soldiers and an undisclosed number of Xiognu forces. They would gather at Youzhou. The Old Emperor commanded an armored cavalry of 10,000 strong. His cavalry would eventually meet up and join General Soria's army during the expedition. A fleet of 500 ships would also transport an additional 40,000 conscripted soldiers and 3,000 military gentlemen (volunteers from the elite of Chang'an and Luoyang). This fleet would sail from the Liaodong Peninsula to the Korean Peninsula.

In April, General Soria's army departed from Yincheng. On 1 May, they crossed the Liao River into Goguryeo territory. On 16 May, they laid siege to Gaimou, which fell after only 11 days, capturing 20,000 people and confiscating 100,000 shi of grain.

Afterwards, General Soria's army advanced to Liaodong. On 7 June, they crushed a Goguryeo army of 40,000 troops strong, who were sent to the city to relieve the city from the Chinese siege. A few days later, Emperor He's cavalry arrived at Liaodong. On 16 June, the Han army successfully set Liaodong ablaze with incendiary projectiles and breached its defensive walls, resulting in the fall of Liaodong to the Chinese forces.

The Han army marched further to Baiyan and arrived ther
e on 27 June. However, the Goguryeo commanders surrendered the city to the Han army. Afterwards, Emperor He ordered that the city must not be looted and its citizens must not be enslaved.

On 18 July, the Han army arrived at Anshi. A Goguryeo army, including Mohe troops, were sent to relieve the city. The reinforcing Goguryeo army totaled 150,000 troops. However, Emperor He sent General Soria with 15,000 troops to lure the Goguryeo forces.
Meanwhile, another Han force would secretly flank the enemy troops from behind. On 20 July, the two sides descended into battle and the Han army came out victorious. Most of the Goguryeo troops dispersed after their defeat. The remaining Goguryeo troops fled to a nearby hill, but they surrendered the next day after a Han encirclement. The Han forces took 36,800 troops captive. Of these prisoners, the Han forces sent 3500 officers and chieftains to China, executed 3300 Mohe troops, and eventually released the rest of the ordinary Goguryeo soldiers. However, the Han army could not breach into the city of Anshi. This city was defended by the forces of Yang Manchun. Emperor He considered abandoning the siege of Anshi to advance deeper into Goguryeo, but Anshi was deemed to pose too great of a threat to abandon during the expedition. In mid-September, the harsh winter worsened the conditions for the Tang army, which compelled Emperor Taizong to withdraw his forces from Baiyan.

The Marquis devastated much of Goguryeo and took 206,800 captives in October. Famine and despair forced peasants to surrender to the Han. They established a chiliarchy office at Yonghung with local officials. Ordering defectors to build ships, the Han began attacking the coastal islands. In the Liaodong Peninsula, the Han eventually massed Korean defectors into a colony of 5,000 households. In November, the king and the Choe clan retainer Jang Jin-kyeong staged a counter-coup, assassinated the head of the Choe family and sued for peace. When the Goguryeo court sent the future Goguryeo king as hostage to the Han court and promised to return to Kaegyong, some of the Han invaders withdrew from Central Korea.

There were two parties within Goguryeo: the literati party, which opposed the war with the Han, and the military junta — led by the Choe clan — which pressed for continuing the war. When the dictator Choe was murdered by the literati party, the peace treaty was concluded. The treaty permitted the maintenance of the sovereign power and traditional culture of Goguryeo, implying that the Han gave up incorporating Goguryeo under direct Chinese control and were content to give Goguryeo autonomy, but the king of Goguryeo must marry a Han princess and be subordinate to the Chinese Emperors.

[Republic of the Cristo]

3 days after the coup...

Rome, 100 A.D.

The men and women wailed, cried, and moaned upon their crosses. The ones whom had just been on cried the worst, while the ones whom had been on for a day or more hardly made a sound. The Divine-Emperor Puerignis looked at their mounted bodies as the chariot passed by. 1,000 crosses had been erected outside of Rome, and the cries of the accused could be heard from miles around. These were the men and women whom had participated in the chaos of the coup; the looters, the rapists, the thieves, and general insects whom were attracted to a flame where ever they could find it. Upon cementing his power three days ago, he commanded the military of Rome to suppress the riots and to capture anyone involved ( be they participant or onlooker). It would be a whole day and a half before the situation was under control again. Once order had been restored, the Son of Fire ordered all those whom had been captured to be crucified. Puerignis had chosen to run the chariot passed a line of them outside of Rome to see his orders carried out. He would let it be known to his people that he would not stand for any form of insubordination or disobedience.

Puerignis's chariot eventually made it's way down the entire line and turned towards a private entrance in the wall reserved for the higher ups in Roman society. They entered into a small garrison inside the city. They were walking about, carrying supplies, rushing off to rebuild parts of the city that had been destroyed. There was still a mess to clean up, but it was significantly better than what it was three days ago. a large and luxurious litter was prepared and waiting for the Divine emperor, and 6 members of his Army of Fire were now waiting to be his guard. Puerignis dismounted from the chariot. He looked much different from what he had three days ago. He now wore the imperial purple toga of the emperor. Puerignis walked past his guards who gave him the roman salute. He quite enjoyed it. Puerignis closed his eyes as he entered into the large and lavish litter, were he then seated himself down on a bench on one side of the box. He snuggled his bottom into some sitting pillows and breathed out loudly. It had been a long and strenuous five days... and he still had more work to be done.

Puerignis opened his eyes to see Hector of Mario sitting directly across from him and grinning from ear to ear. His grin was so infectious that Puerignis couldn't help but grin too. " Well..." Hector showed off his surprisingly white teeth. Puerignis finished his sentence, " We did it!" The two men threw back their heads and laughed out loud for several minutes. It was as if all the stress and pressure of the last three days was being released in this one session of laughter. A minute or so after they had finished off the last of their titters, Puerignis peered over at Hector. He was beginning to accept him as a legitimate friend. " So, how have you been over the last few days? You weren't disturbed by the riots now were you?" Hector stuck up his hand and shook his head, " No, no, I was quite fine. The riots never reached my quarter of the city. I did hear, however, that Gaius lost a worker." Puerignis had just remembered the troll of a man whom had built all of his army's zarotans. He would have to keep true to their agreement. " A shame, I will compensate him." The litter became quiet all of a sudden. Hector looked out of the window of the litter before speaking again, " You know, your men never did explain why you wanted me to be present in your litter." Puerignis smiled again. " Oh, yeah... remember what I said about you having all the resources you would ever need for your experiments." Hector furrowed his brow and gave a faint one sided grin. " Well... you'll see."

19 minutes later...

Puerignis ushered Hector into a small room with a desk, a fire place, and several shelves filled with scrolls on them and a map on one wall of the room. Puerignis stood in front of the desk and watched as Hector walked around and inspected the room. " What is this place." Puerignis smiled, " my accountants room of imperial logistics." Hector looked back and raised an eyebrow at Puerignis. " At least, that's what my imperial accountant told me it was. From this room," Puerignis picked up a piece of lead and held it out so that Hector would take it, " You will have knowledge and access to all resources present in the empire." Hector took the piece of lead from Puerignis's hands and looked at it. He stared back up at the Divine-Emperor. " What do you mean." Puerignis motioned to the map on the wall. " If it exists in the empire, and you need it, all you need to do is write for it in this room, and you will receive it." Puerignis put his hand down and began to walk out of the room, he turned back before he left, " I'll leave you to it then." With that, the Son of Fire closed the door and left the genius inventor to finally dawn upon what he had just said. He tentatively sat down at the seat in front of the desk and looked down at the blank scroll in front of him. He gently placed the lead down on the scroll before he began with a fury to write down everything he could possibly need to satisfy his intellectual pursuits.

1.5 hours later...

" They are only curious as to what exactly is going on in Rome your holiness." Senate was in session and Puerignis sat at the imperial throne before the head consul. He was receiving his very first daily report. Some of the governors were becoming ancy about hearing reports of violence in Rome and were starting to ask questions. " Then tell them exactly of what has occurred. I, Puerignis son of Prometheus, have received the seat of Emperor under the edict of the former emperor Trajan. I do not know why they should be so unsure as to our situation." The consul kept a blank face and he could tell that he thought Puerignis a fool or a mad man or both. " I believe that they are more concerned with your, erm, divinity; as well as your, uh-" he motioned to the guards on either side of the throne holding up the zarotans, " methods of how you attained such power. They wish for you to clarify who you are and why you are here." Puerignis was getting annoyed by the consul's constant aging of him to give an answer to counter his own claim of divinity. Puerignis was no fool, he knew that most of Rome did not believe his claims, even with the Zarotans as proof. Nevertheless, he had to maintain the image. " Inform them that I am the son of my father Prometheus, the gifter of fire. And, that I have risen to power through the use of yet another divine tool that my family has chosen to grant to you mortals." He could now see the consul visibly annoyed, " And," Puerignis was sure to make this point quite clear, " that if any are in doubt as to my divine nature, that they, their families, and their servants will be put to death and their titles and claims will be redistributed by me." The consul took on a far less defiant look now. " Is this understood consul Marvic? Can you send this message along, or is it beyond your skill set." Marvic took on a look of distaste, " No, it will be done... your holiness."

[Heidelski]

Vladimiar landed to the sound of wailing. He covered his ears and cursed in russian. He then pulled out his imap and looked to see where the horrid wailing was coming from. He saw a bunch of people being crucified. He smiled evily and set corodintes to that location. He ws going to rescue them. He loaded the 60 bullets into the AK-12 and started walking towards the site. As he walked he saw a roman legionaire on a horse yelling at some slaves. He wlked up to him and asked him in Latin " How are you today sir". THe soldier turned and Vladimiar jumped up grabbing the gladius and they both tumbled to the ground. Vladimar got up first because of his armor and stabbed him through the neck. The soldier collasped immediatly and the slaves ran. Vladimiar yelled after them but they did not stop. He shrugged and started looting the soldier while grabbing onto the horses reins. He changed into the soldiers clothes. He grimaced. The armor was heavy. He took the armor off and just kept the tunic on. He took inventory, Gladius, loaf of bread, Imap, gun, ammo maker, horse, and a roman uniform. Good. He got on the horse and started riding towards the crucifiction site. He hoped he would make before they strung everyone up. He needed some followers. He also hoped he could find someone also from the time period he came from. He neede allies to.




OOC: Can we have a bookbag of like none futuristc stuff(clothes, medical supplies, water)

[The Assorted Saharan Outposts]

Changes were being made to the laws and policies on the island of Rhodes. Well, actually, not much was being changed, to be honest. The only things that changed were the people that were high up in the politics of the island, and the one who was in the position of power. Samantha had only been leading the island for three days, and already she started to make many changes to the government. By now word had probably gotten around about her weapon; her revolver, and some didn't want to get in the way of such a device after seeing what it could do to a man like Augustus, who was currently recovering from his wounds, and wouldn't make a full recovery for a long time. Until then, Samantha had entrusted the army to a replacement general, a man by the name of Alcaeus. Alcaeus was a strong man and he seemed to be eager to take orders from the new governor, even if taking orders from a female was looked down upon; Samantha made sure no one would criticize. Someone with a gun could be very persuasive, surprisingly.

As for Alexander, Samantha had made sure he was put under good training from the generals of the army, and when he wasn't training he would help Samantha with some of the duties of being governor. Alexander was basically her assistant, and he didn't seem to be complaining, and Samantha rather enjoyed that. As long as people didn't complain, she was a rather happy woman. Of course, Alexander seemed rather clueless about what to do in some fields, so Samantha would have to look into finding some smart people to help her out with somethings.

Another thing that changed since Samantha's short rule began was the conscription laws. Basically, there would be thorough inspections of the villages and make sure no one was left outmost the conscription services. Every able bodied man was supposed to be put into the legion of Rhodes. Of course, this would take some time to finish the conscription cycle, but it takes place only once a year, so it wasn't like its take too much time. Besides the army changes, though, not much was improved.

Now, currently, Samantha and Alexander were sitting in the capital building of Rhodes, eating dinner at a table. "I still can't believe you did that." Alexander commented as he took a bite of his food; some freshly caught fish.

"Are you still going on about that, Alex?" Samantha asked, now frequently shorting Alexander's name to just simply Alex. "Honestly now, it happened so long ago. You should just forget about it."

"So long ago?" Alex asked, ignoring his Samantha had shorter his name. At least he was polite enough to say her full name. "It happened only three days ago, and ever since then you've been talking nonsense as well. I can't stop talking about this."

"The education system of my time is not nonsense." Samantha said. "And just because I say things you may not believe doesn't mean I'm crazy." Some of the things she told him he just couldn't seem to get his head around, like the weather system or what actually made the oceans and such. Of course, she attempted to force atheistic beliefs on Alex as she did so, and the recently Catholic boy did not seem to believe her.

"Well, good luck getting anyone else to believe that." Alex muttered before shaking his head and taking another bite of his food. "Though, if people believe you have an object that shoots thunderbolts, then they might believe anything you say."

Samantha, who had taken a drink of water, chuckled before putting her glass down. "Is that how they're explaining it?" She asked, a grin on her face. "Ah, the stupid, superstitious people. I love these people; my people."

Alexander nods. "Whatever you say." He muttered befoare eating their food in mostly silence, but a short conversation was made every few minutes. Dinner was just about to be finished when a messenger had came into the building, looking like he had ran a marathon.

Samantha was a bit surprised by the sudden appearance of the man, so much so that she put her hand to the handle of her gun. "What is the meaning of this?" She asked, narrowing her gaze at the man. "You have anything to say? Make it quick."

The messanger nodded, taking deep breaths as he did so. "Governor, Rome has a new emperor." He said in between deep breaths. "Emperor Puerignis, son of Prometheus is the new emperor of Rome."

"Son of Prometheus?" Samantha asked before laughing. "Oh, that is funny. That's very funny. I don't believe him, but he is the new emperor, correct?" She asked.

The messenger nodded. "Yes, my lady, he is the new Emperor." He responded, now having recovered his breath. "You will now be taking orders from him."

Samantha nods. "Well, send a letter to the new Emperor that I, Samantha Maxaman, will gladly follow his orders." She said. She needed to get on the Roman Emperor's good side, or else she could see her land be taken away from her. That would ruin her plans. This new emperor on his own screwed up her plans, so she'd need to make a new one.

The messenger nodded before quickly running out the door of the building, most likely running to send his message to Emperor Puerignis after a night rest.

"You? Taking orders from someone?" Alexander asked incredulously as he brought another piece of food to his mouth. "I didn't expect you to do something like that."

Samantha chuckled and grinned. "Oh, Alex, there are many things I still have to teach you." She said in plain English.

The sudden change in language caused Alexander to pause. "What...what did you say?" He asked, as he had only heard Greek before, and maybe some Latin. "I didn't understand."

"You'll learn later." Samantha said, now back to speaking in Ancient Greek. "Until then, eat, train, and learn. You'll believe everything I tell you sooner or later."

[The Holy Dominion of Inesea]

Bamako-Timbukto Region, West Africa

Thec settlement was growing at a remarkable rate. The idea of a static settlement was not new to the region, though most of the pastoralists and nomands lived in semi-permanent tents and raised animals. The settlement, James named it Hartford after the city he was born in, was diverging from this norm. Using the tools made by the Constructor, James showed the men in Hartford how to make mudbrick abodes and a low wall. The settlement had attracted numerous trade caravans, interested in the metals and water Hartford provided. Located as it was, it cut three days off the regular trade route between the Mande-Saharans and Ashanti. James bought slaves from the passing caravans and freed them, incorporating them into the settlement. He also bought women and teens. There were now 46 adult males, 22 women, and 17 teenagers in the settlement. They were all assigned jobs, in accordance with their skills if possible. The Constructor created a forge for the settlement. It also created, using the nascent metals, a lower quality version of itself. This machine was tasked with gathering metals from the outlying areas and assembling them into the basic tools of the region. The main constructor began working on an irrigation system from the river to the settlement.

James tasked ten men, farmers from the south, with preparing the lands between the settlement and the river for farming. The irrigation system that the nanites built brought freshwater from the Niger. The land was already fertile, but the canals made it even more so. James tasked another dozen men and women with digging subcanals and whatnot for the fields. Another dozen were cattlemen and theu tended to the growing herds. James personally tutored four of the teens in maths and accounting. He used them and an older woman to trade with the passing caravans, trading away salt and water for supplies like seeds and animals. Every day, for about 45 minutes, he trained the adults with spear and sword and shield and the teens on bow and arrow.

James sent out parties daily to scout the surrounding area. They also directed nomads to Hartford. James wanted as many nomads as possible bringing their trade to Hartford. He also wanted them to stay in Hartford. He was producing more tools and needed more workers than he had on hand.

[Heidelski]

Vladimiar kept on riding and soon saw slaves mining some type of metal. He rode over and ordered the two guards to leave and that he the relief. They acknowledged and rode off. He picked up the metal and told the slaves they were free if they worked for him. They agreed. He picked up some metal and inserted it into the bullet maker. He clicked the button and a bullet was made. He polished off the metal and he ended p with 27 bullets. He loaded them into the gun. He gave the gladius to a strong looking slave and they walked towards the wailing. Soon, the former KBG assain and Spec Ops solder would take over the roman empire.

[Republic of the Cristo]

Rome, Magister Opera ( Master Workshop), 100 A.D.

His holiness sat at a medium length white wooded table with his chair facing outwards. He had his legs crossed and was casually sipping from a goblet of wine. He watched with amusement as Hector stood some feet in front of him shouting out orders and pointing at slaves. " Move that to the corner; pile those in the in the bins; be extremely careful with that it's flammable!" And so on. About 40 or so slaves were running in and out with all manner of materials of the large and bare workshop. The " Magister Opera" as it was called, was a warehouse that Hector had aquisitioned; along with the slaves and about 10,000 Denarius worth of materials ( about 10 million USD).

Puerignis was grinning widely as he saw about 20 slaves carrying in the massive bronze Aeoliophile. They swayed and swayed about, causing Hector wince and shout out of fear of them dropping his creation. Puerignis was quietly laughing to himself at the whole ordeal. Finally, the slaves managed- some how- to place the massive engine at the very center of the workshop. An aide came up from behind Puerignis and whispered into his ear. " Your holiness,"

Puerignis gave up a bored hand allowing him to speak. " The southern governors have given their full support to you sir." The divine-emperor rested his hands on his knees and continued to look at the Hector and his slaves, hopping they would clown around more. " Very good then." The Aide waited around and looked nervous. Puerignis felt his nervousness and turned back around towards him, " Well?"

" It's just that, one of the governors was... not whom we were expecting... she, that is."

Puerignis raised an eyebrow at his aide. " She? A women governor? Who in my father's name is this governor, and how did she get this position ?" The aide looked down and spoke in a hushed tone, " Governor Samantha of Rhodes sir. According to the reports given to me, your holiness, she injured the former governor and forced him to abdicate." Puerignis began racking his mind as to who the hell this women could be. " He thought of all the Roman governors he had ever read about, as well as every famous Roman women he had ever even seen mentioned. He could think of no one to fit such a description, not even the name! Samantha... that name was not a Greek or Latin name... that was English. A crouching dread soon began to drape itself over Puerignis as his mind finally realized the true identity of this women. " I would like for you to send an emissary to this governor Samantha of Rhodes. One of my choosing."

Pantheon, Rome, 100 A.D.


A young and handsome dark haired man, bearing the armor and regalia of the Praetorian guard entered into the Pantheon. The building smelled in incense burned to the gods of Olympus. The boy, whom had walked in with a stride now paced himself in reverence of the numerous statues depicting his gods now stared him down. He made his way to the central alter of the Pantheon. There, the augur Commodus Thecarisu, master of the Pantheon, was chastising a augur in training. " That is why you throw the seed inside you ignorant boy, of course the crows -" The young praetorian cleared his throat, causing both men to look at him. Commodus looked at the boy and dismissed him before turning back towards the boy. " Praetorian, it is an honor for you to grace our temple to the gods. Tell me, is your purpose here imperial business, or personal enlightenment." The boy handed Commodus a scroll, " Imperial business." Commodus took the scroll and unleashed it. He read from side to side downward. About half way down, his eyes grew wide with anger and he began reading out loud. " And as penance for the vile acts being commenced against his Holiness's father, as well as to acknowledge that family's eternal mark on man, this temple, being the Pantheon, shall be seized by the Son of Fire, Gifter of the Zarotan, Son of the Titan Prometheus, Divine-Emperor Puerignis, for the purpose of worship of the Son of Fire and his imprisoned father! What madness is this that you bring in the house of the gods?"

The young Praetorian stood up tall, with his back straight, " You will have three days to move out of the Pantheon and to another temple your holiness. His Holiness the Divine-Emperor will be seizing it for -"

" I know why he is seizing it!" Commodus interrupted. " Tell me, you don't really believe he is a god, let alone the son of a Titan now do you?" The young praetorian shrugged his shoulders and responded " I don't know, but I do know that if i don't do what I am ordered, I will be outside the city on one of those crosses. You probably will be too if you don't acknowledge the eviction order." Commodus was stunned silent. The Young Praetorian told the Master augur good day and gave a hail to Puerignis before walking out of the building. Commodus continued to stand there in stunned silence at what he had just been told.

Immediately outside of Rome

50 Roman legionaries marched down the cobbled roads outside of Rome towards the countryside. Some slaves whom had been caught running away told of how a man bearing strange tools ambushed and killed a Roman soldier. This half garrison was now deployed to the countryside to attempt and find this rouge.

[Heidelski]

The russian laughed as he saw a few roman soldiers fall down dead as he shot them. He gave his followers there weapons and armor and clothing as he put on the armorwairily. People were searching for him. He quickly kept riding towards the crosses. When he rrived he saw 10 roman soldiers stringing up three more people and six people waiting to get strung up. Only ten? This should be easy he thought. He rose his gun and shot three of them. The others turned and he yelled at them to surrender before his thunder sword destroyed them. They threw down there swords and bowed down. He rolled his eyes and thew the armor and swords at his followers. He then grabbed the people being strung up on the crosses. 5 women and 4 men. He gave them weapons to and then made 20 more bullets. He then rode of towards Baii with his followers, half on horseback, with him. He left the romans there along with the people already on the crosses.

[Cuprum]

Luoyang - Ming Dinasty

Han emperor He died and was succeeded by the eight-year-old Emperor Shang. In his final edict, Emperor He named Empress Deng and Grand Commandant Joaquín as the regents to assist Shang in ruling Han. The Empress ostracised Joaquín and placed her close associates such as He Yan, Deng Yang, Li Sheng, Bi Gui and Ding Mi in high positions in the imperial court. The Empress promoted Joaquín to the rank of Grand Tutor, which was actually a move by her to place him in a powerless position. The Empress also appointed her brothers Deng Xiao and Deng Jintao in high military ranks. The imperial guards were also under the Empress' command. The Empress and her associates thus controlled the court.

Joaquín was in a powerless position and was thus unable to participate in discussions on state affairs. In December, he feigned illness to avoid the Empress and ostensibly retired from public life. The next year, when Li Sheng was sent to Jing Province to assume office as the new Inspector, he paid a visit to the Marquis before his departure. The Marquis put up a show in front of Li Sheng and pretended that his health had worsened. The Marquis pretended to have poor hearing and misheard "Jing Province" as "Bing Province". Later, when a servant came to feed him porridge, The marquis pretended to cough so badly that the porridge spilt on his clothes. Li Sheng reported The marquis's condition to the Empress and she thought that the marquis was going to die soon so she lowered her guard. In the meantime, The marquis and his allies were secretly preparing for a coup to seize power.

In January, the Empress and his son visited the Gaoping Tombs to pay his respects to the late emperor He. The Empress, together with her brothers and close associates, followed Emperor Shang on the trip. While they were away, Joaquín seized the opportunity to launch the military coup. He had all the city gates in Luoyang shut on the orders of the empress dowager and he took over the floating bridge at the Luo River as well. He appointed Gao Rou as the acting General-in-Chief and Gao took over command of The Empress's army, while Minister Coachman Wang Guan was placed in charge of Deng Xuan's army. He wrote a report to Deng Hao Yi, asking him to remove The Empress and her brothers from power, in the name of the late Emperor. Deng Hao Yi was shocked when he saw the report and was unsure of how to react.

The Minister of Finance Huan Fan managed to flee from Luoyang and went to see The Empress. Huan Fan advised The Empress to move to Xuchang and call for a punitive war against The Marquis in the name of the emperor. On the other hand, Palace Attendant Xu Yun, Imperial Secretariat Chen Tai and Palace Guard Yin Damu advised the Empress to surrender as soon as possible. She pondered over the issue for a night and finally decided to surrender. She hoped to lead a luxurious life even though she had lost her power. She sent Xu Yun and Chen Tai to apologize to the Marquis on her behalf. The Empress and her brothers returned to their residences after losing their powers.

After the incident, Zhang Dang was arrested and he produced a full confession on a plot to overthrow the emperor. The Empress and her associates were accused of treason and arrested and thrown into prison. Huan Fan had earlier met Si Fan during his escape from Luoyang and he told Si Fan, "The Imperial Tutor is planning to rebel, you should come with me!" Si Fan surrendered himself to Joaquín after that. The Marquis had Huan Fan arrested and thrown into prison on charges of falsely accusing him of treason instead. Subsequently, The Empress and her associates were executed for treason along with their clans.

Joaquín successfully seized power during the coup and eliminated the royal faction led by The Empress in the imperial court. He was appointed as chancellor and received the Nine Bestowments from the emperor Shang.

The Chancellor felt that Emperor Shang was too young and weak to rule, he forced the last Han ruler Shang to abdicate and took over the throne, founding the Ming Dynasty.

[Republic of the Cristo]

Garrison courtyard, Rome, 100 A.D.

Atten-tion!

70 heels clicked together simultaneously in the central courtyard of the private garrison of the Army of Fire. The Army of Fire had been quickly established as the Divine-Emperor Puerignis's cohort of choice. In the recent few weeks following the coup by Puerignis, the Army of Fire has received this barracks all for themselves, a guarantee of citizenship upon leaving the military, new red and black uniforms, as well as an extended income when compared to the rest of the military; the members of the Army of Fire are now earning salaries on par with the Praetorian guard. They have also received 20 new members since the coup. These soldiers were taken at random among those whom had just been recruited. It was, as according to his Holiness's understanding, that recruiting them before other cohorts could influence them would more easily allow for the new mentality of the army to be taught and trained into the young soldier's mind. The Army of Fire would only recruit as fast as the now imperial armorer ,Gaius Urellius, could create them in his now fabulously refurbished armory (as according to the promises of Puerignis prior to the coup).

Centurion Maximus Coello marched in front of his army, inspecting to see if their chests were out far enough, or if they held their rifles to their shoulders straight enough. Once he was pleased with their posture, he turned around and gave the roman salute to his holiness. The Divine-Emperor had also undergone a wardrobe change; the once solid set of royal purple robes he had worn only a day ago, were now a combination: with a solid black tunic on his torso and running down to his shins, with a red sash running down his right shoulder and a royal purple one over his left combing down crossed his chest and to intertwine as another sash around his waist. He wished to look intimidating, and he felt that he was quite successful.

On this morning however, he was anything but happy. His men had captured what at first they believed to be deserting soldiers, however, upon investigation, it was found that they had ran away from what they had described as an extremely fast firing Zarotan. This information had been relayed to Puerignis whom immediately called the Army of Fire together. Ever since hearing about the possible time traveler " Samantha", he has been quite on edge about such possibilities. Now, to hear that one is not only this close to Rome, but an aggressive murder, he had to take immediate and brutal action. He could tell whom ever it was whom had done these attacks was foolish, and if not a bit too needlessly aggressive. He would try and play this in his favor.

Puerignis marched in front of his Army and shouted out, " Men! I have an enemy. This enemy has dared, not only to claim the property which is rightfully the empire's but, by stealing slaves, but has even gone so far as to attack Roman soldiers! This foolish man, whom ever he is, has already killed at least ten of your brethren. What is more, is that he too is armed with a Zarotan. It is of a different style to yours however. This person's zarotan can fire numerous bullets with extreme speed. This rebel is not only armed, but he is stupid, which makes him dangerous. Some of you may die, but you will be saving possibly hundreds. We believe he is in the countryside. You will go there, and you will bring with you the 4th Cohort as well. Find this fool and execute him! Men! I have an enemy, so that means he is your enemy too. Go, go fulfill your duty!"

Outside of the Pantheon, Rome, 100 A.D.

Commodus leaned against a column across the plaza, staring at legionnaires walk in and out of the temple that once belonged to him. With them, they brought tools, blocks of linoleum and marble, brass brazens, and numerous torches. Commodus had, reluctantly, ordered the staff of his temple to transport all artifacts of value ( both spiritual, and profit wise) to the Temple of Mars, which would serve as it's temporary storage area while a new temple just outside of Rome could be constructed for it. Commodus starred darkly and grieved as he watched the legionnaires carry out what he could only describe as desecration. He was so caught up in his brooding that he had not noticed the man appear behind him until a hand was on his back. Commodus turned around to be face to face with the first Consul Marvic. " Why, consul Marvic - what a surprise to see you here! Erh, I am sorry, but the Pantheon is being... seized by his holiness, so your sacrifices will have to be carried out somewhere else." Marvic shook his head, " I am well aware as to what his... holiness, has done and it quite disgusts me; that we the citizens of Rome must suffer from his delusions." Commodus nodded his head violently, " Exactly!" Marvic brought Commodus in closer, and spoke in a hushed voice, " Quite coincidently, you and I are not the only ones whom feel that the current leadership may be... inept. Perhaps we could speak further of this matter at my estate." Marvic grinned at Commodus, whom returned it in kind. " Yes Consul, indeed, I think I shall do just that."

Imperial governors palace of Rhodes, City of Rhodes, 100 A.D.

The man standing in front of the front gates of the imperial governors palace was somewhat short, and skinny. He was mostly bald, with noticeable steel grey hairs horseshoeing around his head. He was clean shaven and possessed dark brown eyes. He wore the white and red robes of a senator, but the posture suggested something more along the lines of police work. Behind him were 8 members of the Praetorian guard. This was the emissary Tyrannius of Latiea, and he was waiting to be escorted into the governor Samantha of Rhodes's palace.

[Heidelski]

Vladimiar heard the clanking of military men in the distance. He ordered the former slaves without horses to hold here and defend the road they were on. He and the other 13 rode off towards the southern peninsula at break neck speed. The y stopped in a forest near Nples for the night and while they were there vladimiar made the slaves make mmo and ammo casing while looking at blueprints of weapons to build.

[Imperial Idaho]

Divio, Gaul, Roman Empire

James sighed as he entered the tavern, he had spent the past few days walking from Lutetia to Divio, and felt he deserved a drink. He had found some Roman coins on an abandoned cart yesterday, and though he wanted to keep them to pay for a boat trip to Rome, he was too exhausted to care. James gave the barkeep some coin and in return he got a drink. He sat there contemplating where to go next when a farmer burst into the building and ran to a table hosting a group of poor folk. He quickly spoke with them and they began to look outraged and stormed out. James asked them where they were going and the farmer replied "Trajan has been overthrown! We ar-" "WHAT!" James interrupted and shouted in English. The farmer looked at him curiously and annoyed. "I'm sorry, continue." he said in Latin, "We are going to revolt! The new Emperor even claims to be a god! With complete disrespect for us Druids. Those bastards have been here too long! " the farmer continued and ran out, more people joining him.

How? How could this be possible? Trajan was supposed to be around for another two Decades! Was it something James did? Was it possible some chain of events James caused in his short time here could lead to the take over of Rome? He doubted it, but nevertheless Rome had just had a Coup, and James's plans may be ruined. James finished his drink, grabbed his things, and exited the building. Directly nearby were the bodies of several guards along with those of several poor folk and farmers. James quickly walked away from the city, behind him smoke began to rise. He figured if he were to change his plan slightly enough then it would still work, he could only hope though. James thought he cold see something in the forest, though after looking again he realized it was probably nothing and kept walking.

[The Assorted Saharan Outposts]

Alexander, who had been serving as guard for Samantha along with a few other soldiers, noticed the man at the gates and made his way over to the man. Honestly, most would say that protecting the governor was a rather noble job, and he should be proud that Samantha entrusted him to do it, but honestly, he knew Samantha could take care of herself, and he was guessing she just wanted it for the company. Not many people bothered to visit the governor, so Samantha usually found herself alone in her palace unless she called for a meeting, and even then not a lot of people would show up. Alexander approached the gates and opened them before staring at the man. "Can I help you?" He asked, speaking in Ancient Greek. He wasn't sure if the men would understand him, but it was worth a try.

[Republic of the Cristo]

Imperial governors palace of Rhodes, City of Rhodes, 100 A.D.

"I am his Holiness's imperial emissary, Tyrannius of Latiea ." He responded in Greek and held out a scroll bearing the imperial seal on it; it was his writ of authorization for completely free travel and regional immunity in Rhodes. " I request that I be taken to this so called, Governor Samantha, immediately."

Divio, Gaul, 100 A.D.

The local garrison had gathered inside of the town. They had walked to where they believed the worst of the revolt was in the streets. They formed up into a turtle formation and looked the crowd dead on. A centurion spoke up from the center of the turtle. " By order of the imperial governor of Gaul, you are to dissipate from this area immediately under penalty of Crucifixion!"

19 miles outside of Rome, 100 A.D.

The large army had been marching for a few hours now. The Army of fire was in sandwiched in the middle of their line by a group of 100 legionaries in their front and from behind. The company in front stopped at the " Halt!" order by their commander. The two companies behind followed suite. The Centurion Maximus Coello walked up to the front of the army to see the disturbance. About a dozen or so poorly clothed peasants were blocking the road way, with weapons raised. Maximus looked over at the other Centurion. Although they were of the same rank, Maximus, being apart of the Army of Fire, was the unofficial leader. " Send your legionaries up. I want them captured." The centurion gave the Roman salute and ordered his men to charge up for the capture. 100 legionaries burst forward at a dead sprint towards the slaves.

[The Assorted Saharan Outposts]

Alexander looked at the scroll and stared at it for a few seconds before looking at the emissary. "Right, well, right this was, sir." He said before opening the gates completely to allow the man in, as well as the guards. He was a bit anxious about what would happen to Samantha, but he held back that small worry. "She's over here." He said before walking to the front door. Instead of opening the somewhat large doors, he knocked on it as hard as he could, his knuckles stinging slightly as he did.

A few seconds later, Samantha would open the door, the redhead poking her head out and looking at Alexander and the company he brought with him. "Alex, what's going on?" She asked, her gaze more focused on the guards the emissary had with him.

"These people wanted to see you, Samantha." He said, glancing back at them before looking at Samanth once more. "I suggest you let them in."

Samantha nods. "Right, well, come on in." She said, attempting to smile and look as friendly as she possibly could. As she said this, she opened the door much wider for everyone to walk through, including Alexander, who walked in as soon as there was enough room to do so.

[Republic of the Cristo]

Tyrannius walked into the room accompanied with his guards. Once they were all in he turned towards Samantha. " I am to assume that you are the current governor of Rhodes, Samantha?"

[The Assorted Saharan Outposts]

Samantha nods. "Yes, that is me, and what is it that you want?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. She was expecting this was about her...forceful removal of the previous governor, but it wasn't like she was going to do anything too radical now. She needed to wait before she did anything considered insane.

[Republic of the Cristo]

" I am his holiness's imperial emissary, Tyrannius of Latiea. I was sent here upon his holiness's request to question and survey you. He expressed deep concern as to why and how a women, not even a Greek women, could come to the position of governor over the island of Rhodes. In light his this curiosity, he has sent me to collect answers, among other things." He reached into his toga and pulled out a piece of parchment. He held it in his hands and looked down on it. He looked up again at Samantha, " As of yet, he is not planning on deposing you. Gods know why not, but his decision may yet change depending on how you answer the following questions, which you are obligated to answer and to answer truthfully. To lie will be considered at act treason- and if you are lying we will find out." He said this last part with more than a small amount of menace. " Now, the first question is, whom are you? Where are you from? Describe life up until this point."

[The Assorted Saharan Outposts]

Samantha nods before taking a deep breath. She looked at Alexander and gave him a confident smile before looking back at Tyrannius. "Well, my name is Samantha Maxaman, and I am just your average, everyday human. I come from where the Romans would call Britannia, and what the Greeks would call Vretania. Specifically I'm from northern Vretania, as shown by my hair. As for my life story, well..." She chuckled and shook her head. "Are you sure you want to hear it? I'm afraid that you wouldn't believe me if I don't tell you." As if these Romans were going to believe that she had traveled back in time. Who would believe her at all if she said that?