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DavidMK

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Feb 17, 2012
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latest

A WTWSMS AAR

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Principal Senator Caecina, 2nd of his name, head of the Roman Senate and in title if not fact, Consul of the Roman Republic and defender of the Senate and People of Rome. In title but not in fact, something that troubled him greatly. He had not always been so frustrated, the Republic had been dead for centuries, the Rus Publica usurped by the Imperium so long before by Dictator Augustus Caesar in ages past. But within his lifetime he saw his world upended when Emperor Nepos was deposed in a palace coup led by the Magister Militum in favor of Romulus "Little" Agustus, a pompous name for an innocent child made a pawn by the Foederati Odoacer. The noble Emperor survived and when Odoacer did away with his pawn (at least being sufficiently civilized to not kill the poor child) Nepos reclaimed the throne... In title if not fact. And then he died, assassinated by foolish traitors and the Imperium was at last truly dead in the west. It was only then that Caecina begin to dream not only of restoring Roman dignity by punishing the backstabbing Odoacer but to go even further and restore the Rus Publica itself.

From the ashes of treason and invasion, the Eternal City shall rise once more like a great phoenix! Senātus Populusque Rōmānus! Deus Vult!
 
I do like WtWSMS AARs
 
Great to see another AAR by you David!
 
Hope the Pope wont mind!

The Pope is independent so his opinion isn't overly relevant atm. Since I'm playing as a Western Christian, I'll probably end up playing nice with him.

Oh! The Roman Senate!

A few test games aside, I've never played as them so I've no idea how this will work out.

On a related note, I won't be a merchant republic in this AAR. I get the game mechanics but it's totally ahistorical so i'm going to RP the hell out of this and also pass decision laws that favor the council to simulate the Senate.
 
Caecina was a man of many contradictions, a Senator yet, until political realities forced the issue, hardly a republican. A strong mind for money and competent administration and yet foolish in his personal indulgences. Humble and willing to serve yet always jealous of those that he viewed as holding better position. If there was any trait that didn't exist in stark contrast with the rest of his personality, it was his willingness to do what needed to be done without hesitation or cowardness. It is this last that compelled him, a man who would have loved nothing more than to serve the imperium, on his current path.

To serve under Odoacer, on it's own, would have been no great burdon. Indeed he had compelled the Senate to recognize his claim to be Rex of Italy when the man yet swore fealty to Nepos and Little Agustus after the coup. No, it was the idea that the light of Rome would be forever extinguished that set him on the path to rebellion for without the Roman State, how could the Senate long endure? And so he and the other Senators began to make their plans. Republican and patriotic rhetoric to whip the citizens of Rome into a frenzy, ready to take up arms when the time came, money saved, stolen and 'earned' for use in securing mercenary aid and spies sent to Odoacer many powerful enemies encouraging invasion so the traitor would be too distracted to act when the Senate made its move.

It would not be long before the Roman Eagle spread its wings and bore its talons once more.
 
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The time has come for Rome to rise once more! With the Ostrogoths provoked by Roman spies into attacking Italy, the Senate made it's demands to Odoacer. God favored the Senate for by the time the Roman emissary reached the wouldbe Rex, the Ostrogoths, far from being a convenient distraction, had in fact overrun all of northern Italy! Despite this, the fool refused and had the emassary executed.

Not waiting for a responce, the Senate called the people of Rome to arms and already had mobilized a levy army by the time their emassary's head returned as answer. With a Lombard mercenary army already dispatched south, the levy army wasted no time making an attempt to evict the Italians form their forts outside the city.

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As news of the Senatorial rebellion spread, Romans from across central Italy flocked to Rome to join the levies and secure an independent Republic. 1 by 1 the Italian forts fell to Roman forces and de facto independence was achieved. The Senate quickly went to work entrenching Rome and deploying the levies in such as way as to hinder any Italian approach before a counter attack could be launched.

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Such preparations proved unnecessary for the Ostrogoths broke the back of Italian resistance and sent Odoacer fleeing into exile. Ostrogothic emmasaries soon arrived in Rome conferring recognition of an independent Roman Republic on condition of standing down its levy army and pledging to not disturb the Western Patriarch's position on and possession of Vatican Hill. The Senate agreed to these terms and so ended the Roman Rising.
 
Independent. For now.
 
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The Republic it would seem did not stand alone in the dream of a restored Rome as a number of successor states vied to lay claim to the legacy of the Western Imperium. For the most part the Senate simply dismissed such notions, too small, too far away and too weak to pose any real threat to the Republic's legitimacy. The Senate did however find occasion to take offence when the barbarian Burgundians attempted to lay claim to Roman heritage.

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This was followed sometime later by the Ostrogoths' claim that their realm, dating back to Dacia before the coming of Attila the Hun, shared a history as venerable as the Roman's. A year of feasts, festivals and general merrymaking was proclaimed across the Ostrogothic realm in celebration of their 2,000th anniversary. While many learned Romans scoffed at the legitimacy of such claims, not a single Senator could be found condemning the claims to greatness being made by the Ostrogoths. After all, they did not claim to actually be Romans and even the most haughty Senator could not honestly deny that the Ostrogoths, making the Adriatic their private lake and ruling over the Roman hartland, hadn't achieve greatness as of late.

Brief may that greatness be, for only Rome can be master of Italy!
 
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subbed
 
These Ostrogoths are just another form of "new rich" satirised by Juvenal, and others.
 
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As the campaign season of 483 became increasingly ideal, the Senate considered its next move. The surrounding countryside was gripped by consumption hindering the Ostrogoth's ability to raise levies, Rome itself was spared any outbreak leaving the city at full strength and the Ostrogoths and Vandals had gone to war to decide the issue of Sicily placing what Ostrogothic forces that were not dealing with disease far to the south. Not expecting the Vandals to long be a distraction in a limited war, the Senate voted to go to war and moved to remove Ostrogothic forces from the Republic. Forces which had occupied the old Italian forts outside the city and refused to leave even after recognizing the Republic's independence.

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A month into the fighting, Caecina came down with an initially unidentified illness while overseeing a siege of 1 of the Ostrogothic forts.

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As the disease progressed, Caecina's medicas identified the illness as Camp Fever. On it's own no great threat to a man blessed with the best that Roman medicine had to offer but when coupled with his advanced age, bore reason for concern.

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Such concerns proved well founded when Caecina's Camp Fever aggravated existing conditions resulting from age and led to the development of Gout. Already left out of sorts by his fever, the Gout crippled him fully and his medicas confined him to bed rest. And so it was Rome's greatest military mind was removed from the field without Romen forces ever engaging the Ostrogoths in open battle.
 
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Dire start of the war...
 
Not the best way to start a war.