History of Tagmatium
Early History
Contraction of the Empire
By the 2rd Century, the Aroman Empire's borders were beginning to contract. Where it had once stretched down to the Haken Bay, Azanian tribes had begun to nip at the heels of the Aroman possessions down there. These raids had intensified to open warfare, as the tribes were able to put concerted pressure on the Aroman forces in the area and started to roll them back. In order to shore up their defences, the Emperor Fundanus authorised the large-scale employment of Azanian mercenaries in 179CE to try to prevent the total loss of the provinces on the southern shore of the Amnalos Sea. Whilst this stabilised the area for several years, the mercenary cheiftain Jadimus saw the opportunity in imperial weakness and revolted against the Aroman governor Pascentus, declaring independence and seizing most of the provinces of $$$ and $$$. Pascentus fled back to Arome, leaving the legions to their fate. Although panic ensued, the Aromans were able to retain several cities on the northern coast and the island of $$$, but these remained as isolated exclaves of the Empire.
Whilst the south of the empire was under threat from the attentions of Azanian tribes, the tribes of Burania were also beginning to move against it. As Arome started to focus more heavily on its southern borders, forces were stripped away from their defensive positions on the Limes Buranicus, the network of border posts and forts that had kept the Buranian tribes at bay for over a hundred years. With troops being withdrawn and the subsidies that had kept the tribes content being paid increasingly erratically, the Buranians started to infringe on the eastern borders of Arome more and more often. This was stabilised somewhat after the fall of Aroman Azania, as it meant that the Aroman Empire could stabilise its eastern borders with the forces that had once been deployed in its south-west.
In order to keep the armies loyal to them, emperors after Poppidius (186-203CE) had resorted to paying large donativum, essentially bribes, to them on their ascension to the purple. From the reign of Spurius (211-219CE), this had also been accompanied by ever higher wages for the troops, in order to retain this loyalty. This, combined with the Aroman Empire on the defensive and the steady loss of forces in battle, whittled away the economic and military strength of the empire. With more forces being needed to keep the borders defended, the interior provinces became more anarchic, especially away from the heart of the empire around the Mare Centrum. Although the borders of the empire remained more or less inviolate during the period from 230-250CE, the internal structure of the empire became more and more unsound, with few emperors lasting more than five years and most lasting less than a year.
In 250CE, the Limes Buranicum were finally breached and Buranian horse raiders swept through the province, led by the Acirii tribe, only stopping at the straight between it and Vanarambaium. This resulted in the wholesale destruction of three legions and the conquest of the province of Illisia from the empire. It was a massive economic loss for the empire, as that province was one of the main breadbaskets and tax sources for the empire as a whole. It also directly precipitated the treason of the governor of Aexpurtia, Vetrianus, who conspired with the Acirii to usurp imperial rule and take the province as the heart of his own empire in 256CE. This was another of the richest provinces of the empire and represented a crippling blow to Arome. The next twenty years saw numerous emperors raised up by their own legions or the senate, only to be cast down just as quickly by the next usurper. Quintillius (258-267) ruled the longest during this time but he was murdered by a jealous chambermaid and his attempts to stabilise the empire died with him.
The New State
In 272, the emperor Heraclian and his son and heir Valentius were killed in battle against a large-scale Volsci invasion of the province of Crances Inferior in the north-east of the Aroman Empire. In the aftermath, the low-born infantry general, Auxentius, was proclaimed emperor by the forces on the battlefield. He quickly marshalled the forces of the north-east and marched against the emperor's surviving son Heraclian II, facing him at the Battle of Scutum (modern Skouton). Heraclian had become increasingly unpopular with the rest of Arome, reportedly treating the Senate with contempt and even seducing the wives and daughters of his own officers. The turning point of the battle came at the start when, as he addressed his troops, Heraclian was struck and killed by a javelin hurled by one of them. The rest of the army came over to Auxentius without a fight.
Auxentius was bouyed by this early success and quickly marched on Arome, where he was accepted by the Senate and people in a scene of jubilation. However, he was merely the latest in a long line of soldiers who had been declared as emperor on the battlefield and he faced an uphill task against him, one that had many others had been defeated by. The Empire had lost almost all its territory outside of the Occident, with the island of Vanarambaium having been taken by the Ganrid Empire under Vetrianus in 259CE. To try to answer the turmoil of the empire, Auxentius made his fellow-general, Numerian, his co-emperor and dispatched him to the north of the Central Sea to prevent the north Occident from breaking down again. Due to their close cooperation as generals, Auxentius and Numerian were able to support each other and bring stability back.
This provided the inspiration for a more ambitious scheme - dividing the empire up into quarters, each presided over by a senior emperor (Venerabilius) and a junior emperor (Cotta), using the imperial titles for them. Through this system, Auxentius was able to keep the borders relatively secure and pacify the internal structures of the empire. In a mood of optimism, Auxentius referred to this new system as the “New State” or “New Empire” (Novus Imperium) on several monuments that he erected at this time and even several speeches read out on his behalf to the Senate in Arome. Auxentius also tried to enact both economic and moral reform, with laws attempting to stabilise inflation by putting down edicts on maximum prices that could be charged for items such as bread, and the persecution of those who would not honour the gods by the traditional sacrifice. This was especially aimed at the followers of the executed prophet, who had spread across the entirety of the east of the empire.
By 287CE, the empire had stabilised enough that Auxentius was confident to go on the offensive against the Ganrid Empire. The campaign started in 289CE and lasted until 296CE but it had been much bloodier than expected. Domitillan, third and last Ganrid emperor, fled to the lands of the Acirii, where he lated committed suicide. Pax Aromana had returned to the empire, although it was now little more than the Occident and a few adjacent territories. It was a fragile peace, however, as the tribes that surrounded it were still probing at it and there was still unrest and outbreaks of plague internally.
The actions of Auxentius also led indirectly to the founding of Kirvina in Aurelia. After years of being ignored by the Octarchy and having been passed over for a leading role in the reconquest of the Ganrid Empire, the Magister utriusque Classae (Commander of the Navies) Lysandrus Tagares revolted. He had been defending the southern provinces for decades. Lysandrus took much of the navy of the Mare Ragas and the garrisons of shore forts with him and left to conquer Proculmea. This utimately failed and Lysandrus left, eventually settling in southern Aurelia.
The system faced its biggest challenge in 296CE, when the term limits that Auxentius had put in place were up. Each Venerabilius was to serve fifteen years before retirement, and this was a hard figure that counted any successor to them as being subject to that same limit. Auxentius and Phaltonius were content to retire, but the others were not. The other two retired Venerabilii, Petronius and Delmatius, conspired to regain their former authority and schemed with the Cussians, who were to act as a distraction and take as much of northern Arome as they could. The two former Venerabilii aimed to strike for Arome and the way down the Iaehos was almost clear, with only scratch forces and small garrisons in their way. These forces slowed them enough, however, and Ambrosius, the Venerabilius of Aexpurtia, was able to meet them at the Battle of the Veiian Fields outside of Arome.
The Burning of Arome
In the Battle of Veiian Fields, the two sides met. Although both forces contained significant numbers of cavalry, they had been committed in piecemeal skirmishes in the days leading up to the battle, so the battle itself was mainly a slog between the veteran infantry forces of both sides. Ambrosianus himself had been nervous about the coming battle, and so had delayed engaging until there was a chance that the coming sunset could cover his retreat. In the end, both sides suffered horrendous casualties and Ambrosianus was forced to break off and use the darkness to cover his retreat, almost as he had planned. The usurpers feared to stay on the battlefield, in case any pursuing forces caught up with them. They quickly marched on Arome.
Arome had little to defend itself with. The garrison forces, such as they were, had been stripped by Ambrosianus in order to bolster his own forces that had been strung out by their march from the south-east. The walls and defences of the ancient city were in a state of disrepair. At first, a body of armed citizens attempted to stop the forces of Petronius and Delmatius from entering the city, but they were quickly ridden down by the returning heavy cavalry of the usurpers. And when the forces did enter the city, there was no triumphal moment. Ambrosianus had been quick to spread the news that the two usurpers had invited the ancient Cussian enemy to attack Aroman territory. The citizens of Arome began to riot as soon as the vanguard entered into the city limits.
Venerabilius himself boasted that he had found Arome a city of brick and left it one of marble. In actuality, it always remained one of wood. As the rioting against the entry of the forces of the two usurpers into the city reached a fever pitch, a fire broke out, which swiftly turned into a conflagration that engulfed the ancient capital. It had been a dry spring and summer, and the fire burned for almost a week before it died down, leaving the capital almost completely destroyed. The forces of the usurpers withdrew from the capital and occupied the cities of west of Arome. Much of the empire was in a state of shock as they heard the news of the fate of the capital, and the rest of the Octarchy was gathering forces to seek revenge.
The Empire of Methodianus
Rise of Methodianus
The civil war that followed the Burning of Arome was swift and brutal. The armies of the other Octarchs joined with that of Ambrosianus and quickly pursued them, forcing them to retreat from the cities that they had taken and back north, in the hope of linking in with their Cussian allies. They were caught outside of the city of Iastia Veneribilium (modern Easteia), where they were forced to give battle. The Battle of Iastia wore on for two days, one of the few of the ancient wurld to do so, and caused high casualties amongst both sides. Petronius and Delmatius were captured alive and were taken back to Arome to view the damage they had caused. In a display of savagery, they were put to death by having the rubble of the city forced down their throats.
Although the fight against the two usurpers could have been an opportunity to draw the Octarchs closer together, in reality it drew them further apart. Each of them now suspected the other of conspiring to become the sole ruler of the empire. It didn't take long for this distrust to become skirmishes and then complete civil war, with the first battles taking place in 299CE. In an attempt to head off any individual amongst the Octarchs from claiming the sole title, a delegation was sent jointly by Octarchs Hermogenianus and Methodius to get Auxentius out of retirement to become that sole emperor, but he declined. Those two also worked closely together to defeat Octarch Ambrosianus of Aexpuriensis, who they viewed as partially responsible for the burning of Arome. They divided Aexpurtia between them. From there, an element of statemate set in.
Methodius died in 303CE and his son, Methodianus was proclaimed both Venerabilius and Cotta by the army stationed at Catana. Using this impetus, Methodianus crossed from Vanarambaium and into Laimias, with most of the cities quickly going over to him. The Venerabilius Arcadius and Cotta Majorian of the north-eastern quarter of the empire accepted Methodianus as their superior, although he later had them murdered. Julian and Justinus, senior and junior emperors of the Limes Adlanticum, the north-western quarter resisted Methodianus for several years before being put to flight, fleeing for the islands off the coast. Finally, Methodianus faced Hermogianus at the Battle of the Riverine Plains, to the east of modern Novumcastrum. Hermogianus himself was killed as he led his cavalry in a charge aimed at Methodianus, his horse falling as it stepped into a hidden drainage ditch and trappin him underneath it, to drown in the water at the bottom.
Under the Methodian Dynasty
After the chaos of the previous decades, Methodianus sought to return peace to the empire. He at first attempted to rebuild Arome but quickly despaired of it. Instead, Methodianus founded a new capital in 333CE, named Europatorium, on the northern coast of the Central Sea with an eye to it becoming the heart of a Europa-wide empire. He spent lavishly upon it and brought many treasures from across the empire to it. As well as this, Methodianus significantly reformed many of the imperial institutions, including the bureaucracy and the army, with an eye to regaining control over them and to reduce expenditures. This was undone by both his abortive rebuilding of Arome and the vast scale of the building project that was his new capital.
Methodianus favoured Christianity and even converted on his death bed but never made it the state religion of the Aroman Empire. he did support it and granted it significant privileges, reversing the persecution of the last centuries. However, he never took steps to penalise the Aroman religion, which remained the state religion of the empire. He was also able to establish the claim that the emperor was the head of the Church, although this remained challegned from some quarters. He took an interest in the unity of Christianity, calling several councils over his reign, including the First Council of Iconium and the Synod of Syracenio, to remedy doctrinal and theological issues. It was also established that the emperor couldn't rule on these issues alone but needed the consensus of the Church. Christianity continued to rise over this period but it remained a minority faith, partially due to the fact that until this point, Aroman Christians would often leave the empire for Salvia rather than remain and face persecution.
The heirs of Methodianus were able to preside over a period of relative peace and stability, although it also saw increasing Buranic migration, especially within the north-east of the empire. Eventually, these Buranic tribes were utilised as a source of manpower for the Aroman army and the legions were increasingly supplemented by Buranic auxilaries, especially as the Cussians, Haru and Qubdi were pressing in on the empire's borders again. They were also settled away from the heartland of the Empire, in the south-west corner of the Occident. The heirs themselves tended to squabble amongst themselves, which often led to one overthrowing the other. The Buranians provided forces that could be relied on to stand aside from the imperial family's politicking. Before long, Buranians were even becoming high ranking officers of the Aroman army.
The last of the Methodians, Florens, died without heirs in 397CE and power shifted into the hands of the Buranians. The half-Aroman Magister utriusque Militiae (Commander-in-Chief) Gento, who had been the power behind the throne of the last two Methodian emperors, was able to get his grandson elected as Methodianus III. However, the Buranic Dynasty waa shortlived, as the Aroman upper classes and military grew tired of being ruled by foreigners. An almost empire-wide purge ensued and the Magister Officiorum Hilarius was placed upon the throne in 439CE.
Collapse of the East and the West
After he gained the Leopard Throne in 439CE, Hilarius was able to negotiate peace treaties withe the external enemies of the empire. It came at significant financial cost to the empire, as most of these peace treaties involved large payments to the Buranian, Azanian tribes and the Qubdi at the empire's borders. He used this breathing room to attempt to drive out the Buranian settlements from the north-east of the empire, forcing them to join the rest of their compatriots in the south-west. This included what would now be termed "death marches", with bodies being left where they lay by the sides of the roads. However, at times these forced migrations were resisted by the Buranians, and subtly aided by the Cussians, and the west of the empire became increasingly lawless. In order to help with the deteriorating situation in the west of the empire, the garrisons of Vanarambaium were withdrawn.
This lawlessness spread, preventing the empire from collecting the taxes that it needed to support the troops to prevent the lawlessness in the first place. Hilarius' successor, Constantius (451-464CE) spent much of his reign attempting to reassert central rule over the west but with only varied success. When the Proconsul of Catanensis asked about further help for his province, he was told that he had to look to his own defences. His lasting monument are the Walls of Constantius which still surround Europatorion and rendered the city impregnable for over a thousand years. His successor, and father, Ioannes I (464-469CE) spent his reign reforming the tax system and introducing maximum prices on stables in order to both quell the rebellions and to raise the money to pay soldiers bring back peace to the empire. The coinage was also reformed, with a solid gold coin, termed the "Purus" or "Ameges" (Fragran and Laimiaic for "pure" respectively) becoming the standard after years of debasement. It remained stable for over one thousand years.
By the reign of Arcadius I (480-484CE), a general raised to the throne specifically to lead Arome through the tumultuous period it was in, the west was in dire straits. Most of the western provinces were either under governors who were rebelling against central rule, had been taken over by Buranians forced into revolt to survive or taken by Azanian tribes crossing the Amnalos Sea. Arcadius was an energetic ruler, and who never sat in the recovered Leopard Throne in the Great Palace in Europatorion, but he was not able to recover the situation. In 484CE, he led a force into the Ragasian provinces to attempt to bring the rebellious governor to heel. He was met outside the city of Dubaserium by a mixed force of renegade Aromans and Azanian mercenaries and defeated. Arcadius himself was killed in the ensuing rout.
This resulted in the Aroman Empire losing all of its territory west of the Iaehos river and the $name mountains and with only a tenuous grip on the west coast of Vanarambaium. East of that line, central authority had totally fragmented, with anarchy breaking out as Buranic tribes took much of the coastline and Aroman governors scorned the rule of Europatorion. Still, Aexpurtia remained under imperial control, as did the heartlands around the Central Sea and eastern shore of the Ranke Sea, although this was often subject to Buranian raids.
Stability and Weakness
The death of Arcadius resulted in a race back to Europatorion by the generals who had survived the disasterous battle. One of his junior generals, Theodorus from the provincial captial of Iastia was able to get to the imperial city before all the others and forced the Senate to declare him emperor at sword point. Whilst this seemed to be a low ebb for the Aroman Empire, Theodorus (reigned 484-518CE) was able to do much to stabilise the new frontiers of the empire. He had little to work with, however, as he saw little choice but to keep paying the tribute and subsidies that had been negotiated some forty years before by Hilarius. This meant that the imperial coffers were almost always empty. Despite this, Theodorus displayed an astute ability to play off the empire's surrounding enemies against each other, which meant that the borders were stable for the first time in several generations.
On his death bed, Theodorus forced the Senate to recognise his daughter Anastasia (518-531CE) as his successor and used the army to make sure this was carried out. She proved to be as vigorous a ruler as her father and demonstrated a ruthless streak that forced the usual Aroman disregard for women to be disgarded. Where her father had secured the borders of the empire, she turned her attention to the internal turmoil that had been shaking it. This included introducing new copper coinage, which swiftly became the coin used in everyday transactions. The tax system was reformed again and took into account the empire's reduced tax base and population. Although Anastasia stood apart from the religious affairs of the empire, it was notable that she diverged from the mainstream, Iconio-Coroclionian Christianity but did not use her position to promote this as the main Christian denomination of the empire. She was able to negotiate an extension of the fifty-year truce with Yacoub of Qubdi.
Under Anastasia's successor and son, Theodosius I (531-541CE), the Aroman Empire started to take more of an aggressive stance towards the areas that had succeeded from it. Campaigns were launched to bring the Aromano-Vanaram Kingdom back under the direct rule of Europatorion, as well as drive the Gharii back from the areas that they had secured in the north of the empire. These were only partially successful - most of the island of Vanarambaium remained under its own rulers, although the Aroman strip was extended significantly. Theodosius himself died of a aneurysm when told that a number of Aroman garrisons had gone over to the local rulers after the soldiers stationed there had remained unpaid for several years.
The death of Theodosius marked the high water mark for any reconquest during this period, as his son, Constantine I (541-559CE), was more concerned with stamping out the last of the pagan influences in the empire, citing the fact that they went against Christian morals. Games with human combatants had been banned during the reign of Methodianus IV (469-480CE) but games with animals were still incredibly popular - the importation of beasts from the Qubdi Empire had been one of the reasons behind the enduring peace between the two powerful states during this period. Constantine also sought to get rid of chariot and horse racing as well. This, coupled with increasing taxes to pay for the tribute and subsidies given out to protect Arome's borders, sparked off a riot that saw much of Europatorion in flames. Constantine was paralysed with indecision and refused to listen to his wife, Acacia, and his lead general, Scorpius, who urged him to deploy the imperial guards against the rioters. Instead, he tried to flee the chaos but was quickly caught and lynched by the furious mob. His body was paraded around the capital by the mob before being thrown into a common rubbish pit.
A younger brother of Constantine, Mauricius, was placed on the throne by the rioters. His first action was to let loose the imperial guards on the mob during his acclamation in front of the crowds and tens of thousands are estimated to have died in the bloodshed. With the capital in ruins, Mauricius then refused to pay the tribute that had been paid by the Aroman Empire to its various enemies for decades. He also kept the high tax levels instituted by his brother and began to build up the army again to go on the offensive against the Qubdi. However, the First Plague had started to sweep from eastern Europa and quickly struck down the soldiers massing in their camps before spreading across the rest of the empire and the Occident. Mauricius was in the habit of training alongside his forces and was struck down by it.
