[center] [img]http://i.imgur.com/hDdYtk7l.png[/img] [h1]I, Arabicus: Rome and the Rise of Islam[/h1] [img]http://i.imgur.com/iyLysdy.png[/img] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [i]When the Saracens appeared in Syria, Emperor Marcellus was fighting the Lombards in Italy So the task was given to Marcus Priscus Caesar, the third son of the Emperor. He set out from Rome in Anno Domini 633 with one third of the Palantini. And a host of Visigothic knights sent in friendship from their King. What is known about the career of young Priscus in Syria is very little. But I will tell you what news came back to the Imperial Court. In November of that year, he arrived in Antioch. He rested there until March of the next year, Anno Domini 634. The army of Priscus Caesar arrived in Jerusalem to pray. There they heard news that the Ghassanid Saracens were failing. The Saracens from the south were rapidly overtaking them. In April, a small contingent of Saracen scouts were captured. And they were brought to Priscus Caesar in Jerusalem. There he ordered them executed on the steps of the barracks. Their crime was demon worship in the city of God. After this incident, Priscus Caesar declared a victory. And he gave upon himself the title "Arabicus" For he claimed to be the conqueror of the Arabs. And so he became Marcus Priscus Caesar Arabicus. At the waning of April, his army marched out to meet the enemy. Arabicus was welcomed by the Ghassanid Saracens. Who had carried the brunt of the War. There was a battle, and Arabicus was lost. Little is known, but his army was destroyed.[/i] -Linus Pious, Pontiff of Rome and Imperial Historian [img]http://i.imgur.com/Z8sBhec.png[/img] [h1]WELCOME TO THE ARRPEE![/h1] [/center] It is the year 634 AD, but events have not transpired in the way they did in our world. Urged on by his mysterious Aksumite wife, the General Stilicho overthrew Emperor Honorius and seized power for himself. A series of strong Germanic Emperors ruled in the 5th century, keeping the Western Empire together at the loss of Britain and Soissons. Further losses would take place as the rising Barbarian Kings in Francia and Visigothia pushed their territorial rights whenever they saw weakness. When Emperor Remus died in battle against the Visigoths in 598, it looked as if the Western half of the Empire up to the Italian border would be lost in its entirety. A young nephew of Remus, Marcus Marcellus Priscus, was declared Emperor by his soldiers and proved his worth by pushing the Visigoths back in Hispania. He was crowned Emperor Marcellus, and the few feeble opposing claimants were assassinated before he reached Ravenna. When the old ruler of the Eastern Empire died childless, Marcellus moved to take control and proved himself again in a skirmish with the Sasanians. And so the Empire was unified. The Sasanian threat grew larger when the Shahanshah Bozorgmehr made a shaky alliance with the White Huns. He had expected an exiled Roman prince in his court to be elevated in the Eastern Empire, and he saw the rise of Marcellus as a threat. Confident he could get the Eastern court to support his claimant, the Shahanshah invaded. Off and on wars between the two great powers followed, continuing for nearly thirty years and only ending when Bozorgmehr died. With his other sons lost on the battlefield, the Persian Empire came under control of a three year old boy, the new Shahanshah Mazdak. In Constantinople, Marcellus split the Empire in two so that his son Flavius Marcellus Pulcher could rule the west and be prepared to control a unified Empire. Pulcher placed his capital in the young port city of Venice. In 630, German incursions through the alps became so intense that both father and son were called to fight on the border. So when reports of increasing Saracen raids reached the Emperor, he decided to send his second son, Marcus Priscus Caesar, who would prematurely declare himself "Arabicus" before disappearing as his army was destroyed in the deserts of Syria. Emperor Marcellus and his son, Emperor Pulcher, fight the Germans on the borders of Italy. The second Imperial son, the self-named "Arabicus", has went missing after a defeat, and an eight year old boy named Mazdak sits as Shahanshah of Persia. Blood on both sides have been spilled, and the borders of the two Empires are exhausted from thirty years of hard war. Will they be able to defend against the Saracen threat, or will the world's great civilizations fall to the Arabs and their strange new religion? [img]http://i.imgur.com/GzVHcSX.png[/img] [h1]SO WHAT DO WE DO?[/h1] So I've been reading up on late antiquity quite a bit recently, and I've taken an interest in writing some stuff based on the time period. I've also wanted to experiment with the Nation genre and blur it into advanced character RPing a little more by adopting a smaller, more local-scale story. For reference, here is the base-map. [hider=Warning: It's a map][img]http://i.imgur.com/oZyqOjzl.png[/img][/hider] The first thing you will probably notice is that I am an uninspired map maker. The second thing you will notice is that the region is not divided the way it historically should be for an NRP. That is because I've chosen to scale down to local governments. In some cases, like in Africa, the traditional regional nation-states are still up for grabs in their full power. The three central empires however (Rome, Persia, Islamic Arabia) are divided into their respective types of regional government. The Roman Emperor will be a hands-off NPC who I will avoid using as much as possible, and this will be explained by wars in the west that keep him occupied. The Shahanshah of Persia will be handled much the same way, though I think I will most likely explain his absence by incapability, either through extreme youth or through extreme old age. The exception will be the Caliph, who will be RPed by Dinh AaronMk. That does not mean that Aaron will have absolute control of the Arabs, as others will be allowed to control smaller Arab tribes and clans either in support of Aaron's Caliph or in spite of him. To further explain, here is a map clarifying borders. [hider=Warning: It's also a map][img]http://i.imgur.com/PSildR5l.png[/img][/hider] Africa, the Caucasus, and the Eastern Steppe nations will be one shade per country, whereas the shades in the three major empires represent their subdivisions. In the case of Rome, you will be RPing local appointed officials that belong to important families throughout the Empire. In Persia, you will RP the hereditary noble families and the lands they possess. In the case of the Arabs, as I said above, you will control a tribe or clan. A third map for further explanation. [hider=Warning: It's also a map too][img]http://i.imgur.com/TFSwmbQ.png[/img][/hider] [h3]THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU WILL BE LIMITED TO THE SECTIONS ON THE MAP[/h3] Rather, if you wish to be a governor or major regional political power you will be limited to those sections. If you want to play an individual, a lesser government official or local tribe, or a foreign army from somewhere else in the western world fighting as mercenaries in the east, you will be allowed to do so. If you want to be a Visigoth, or a Briton, or a Khazar, you can so long as your story remains in the middle east and you respect your limits as a stranger in a strange land. Also, if this RP succeeds, i'd be fine with expanding the map and the storyline to cover a larger area. Hell, if we reach Precipice of War level success, we could include the entire world. [h1]APP?[/h1] [img]http://i.imgur.com/TFSwmbQ.png[/img] If you want to apply as a larger government of some kind, you will have to join as one of the above areas. Just one, you cannot mix and match. With the Caucasian, Turkish, and East African powers you will be a monarch. For Persia, you will be a local noble of some sort. With Rome, a local official. With the Arabs, a clan or tribe. So long as you start within the above map area, you can also join as a smaller unnamed faction. This could be a military leader, a mercenary, or a smaller polity like a city or small desert tribe. You can also elect to RP a single person if you so chose. Fill out what is relevant to you. Make sure to have a bio of some sort, as I need those for deciding whether or not you can fit into this world. [b]Leader Name:[/b] [b]Faction Name:[/b] [b]Map Province:[/b] [b]History/Bio:[/b] [img]http://i.imgur.com/ityE7v7.png[/img] [h1]CURRENT PLAYERS & CLAIMED TERRITORIES[/h1] Vilageidiotx - Diocese Oriens Dinh AaronMk - Quraysh (Caliphate) babbysama - House Karen-Pahlav: Media Nerevarine - Sigbjörn "Bláserkr" Ivarsson: The Blue-Shirt Army (No Provinces) [img]http://i.imgur.com/WC8QKzl.png[/img]