The New Roman Republic (De Publica Romanorum Novum)
Any less official names your nation or its people may have
Anton’s Republic, New Rome, Nova Romae
General Information
Nation type (Major Belligerent, Minor Belligerent, Non-Combatant)
Major Belligerent
Overview
If there is any one thing that can summarize up the entirety of the New Roman Republic, it a romanticization of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire of Earth. They have adopted the language, culture, style, and mannerisms of the old Romans. However, this rebuilt version of Roman is uncanny in its appearance. The historical records of the colonists who originally founded the colony are incomplete – as such the New Romans had to fill in with other cultural elements or their best approximations of what Roman culture and life was. While this has created something that is vaguely Roman on the surface, key elements of former Roman culture are missing. The end result however is a culture and nation unique to the age of interstellar travel that wasn’t previously seen in human history.
The Solar War something that had brought disruption to the lives of several peaceful colonists in the outer human colonies. The end result was colonists that had become dillusioned as their once idyllic colonial lives was interrupted by resource shortages and men being pulled away to fight the war. This was only further compounded by the piracy caused by the Solar War, which effected the outer systems the most as they were unable to defend themselves. Anton Russo, a governor of one of the outer colonies as well as former naval officer, attempted to step up to the plate to help defend these colonies by rallying various traders and other civilian ships in the area to help defend against the pirates, and while progress was made they were unable to defend all of the outer colonies, leaving several to rot as crime became rampant.
With the end of the Solar War and the civil unrest in Sol, many humans also fled to the outer colonies, only further straining their already limited resources. Anton Russo once again rallied various civilian ships, but this time for a different purpose. He spread a message throughout the outer colonies that the collapse of current human civilization was inevitable as a result of the chaos of the Solar War, and invited those in the outer colonies, regardless of who they were, to join him in and expedition beyond known space to find a new home somewhere else in the stars. The expedition group swelled in size and ended up leaving the known stars of human civilization.
The group traveled around for a while, some colony ships splitting off to go and form their own colonies, but the bulk of the group remained with Anton Russo. They ended up happening upon a wormhole during their travels. The group saw this as a chance to explore somewhere in the galaxy that previously been unseen by human eyes. The wormhole however behaved strangely compared to all previous science the group had on wormholes, causing even more of the colony ships to be split from Anton’s group, and causing the main group to crash land on a fertile world that would later become as New Rome.
Within the initial few days of the crash, Anton’s colonist had found themselves on a planet that seemed to happily sustain life, and with animal and plant life that would be edible to human life – but another problem reared its ugly head. It quickly became clear that the gravity of the planet was actually higher then Earth’s, and while it was manageable and parts of the colony ships were salvaged to build dwellings that created Earth-gravity, workers still had to leave their dwellings to travel to farms and mines of the new colony, and as such suffered physical injuries as a result.
Anton, who had by this point become the de facto leader of the colonists, consulted with several scientists who had come along with the expedition. It was quickly agreed that the only true long term solution – since the FTL engines of the ships had been to damaged to be able to attempt to find a new world – was to genetically modify the whole population of the colony. Genes were extracted from some of the local wildlife and modified to be compatible with the human genome. Within a month the entire population had undergone gene therapy and was now capable of living comfortably in the higher gravity of the planet. A side effect of this therapy is this new subspecies of human – which would later become known as the Romus Humans – was far stronger as a result.
It another few months after this mass gene therapy that a few colonists decided to crack open the old historical and cultural archives from Earth in attempt to figure out what values the colony should adopt. Most of them were irreparably damaged in the crash as well as several lost from the colony ships were lost in the travel to the wormhole as well as those lost when traveling through the wormhole. Most of the historical records of the 21st century and beyond remained clear, but everything prior to that remained unclear and murky. The colonists were somehow drawn to Roman history – but were initially confused. They found myths and stories talking about two gods called Ares and Mars, but they as if they were one in the same, but the damage to archives made it difficult to figure the truth behind the situation. The conclusion made by the colonists was that they were twins who represented different aspects of war – Ares representing disciplined soldiers, honor in battle, and the honing of one’s personal skill while Mars came to represent blood, brutality, and personal glory earned in war. The result was the formation of The Cult of Ares and Mars while the colonists continued to explore to reconstruct the rest of the Roman Pantheon.
The Cult also ended up assigning something to Anton that would become unexpected. The Cult declared that Anton was the son of Ares – and fated to lead the colonists to a destiny of rebuilding the glory of Rome among the stars. To this day it is debated by scholars outside the New Roman Republic whether Anton truly believed himself to be the son of Ares or whether he merely saw the Cult as a way to begin rebuilding human civilization in this sector of space, but either way the result was the same. Anton drove the Roman bent far further and officially declared the colony to be the nation of the New Roman Republic and changed the name of the planet from New Terra to New Rome. He founded the initial Senate as well as became elected as one of the two consuls. This is also the point where the colonists sometimes referred to the new nation as Anton’s Republic – since the senate and the other consuls often deferred to him and he was so integral in the founding of the new republic.
As the New Roman Republic rapidly grew, primarily due to the heavy use of artificial wombs to help grow new Romus humans without creating genetically similar beings, so did people began filling in other aspects of the New Roman Pantheon. With damaged historical records, the New Romans adopted Nephthys as their Goddess of Death and the Underworld, figuring that since she was an Egyptian Goddess and Egypt once apart of the ancient Roman Empire that she was probably at least associated with the Old Roman pantheon. Jupiter would later be updated to become God of Space as the New Romans figured the old Romans could not have known about the extent of the stars. Neptune would also enter the pantheon continuing to hold domain over the sea. The titan Gaia also entered the pantheon as Goddess of the terrestrial domain, such as the Earth and Planets, and was also believed to have helped the rest of the pantheon ascend to their godhood over the other titans. The rest of the Old Roman pantheon was also adopted into their original positions, with Vulcan also being assigned the aspect of spaceship building. With the rest of the pantheon filled out, New Rome entered a cultural golden age with a wide variety of new paintings, literatures, myths, and poems being written about the restored pantheon. Latin was also adopted as the primary language of the Republic, with English mostly being taught only so that the old archives could be studied.
With New Rome thriving and becoming a heavily developed world, the New Romans finally rebuilt their FTL ships and began exploring the era around them. They also began studying the wormhole that they had initially traveled through to see if it could be used to develop a better method of FTL. The Republic’s initial explorations in their solar system and the surrounding one discovered more remnants of the initial expedition, having founded their own colonies and were peacefully developing. Most of them had found Earth-like worlds and thus were able to avoid the mass gene therapy the New Romans had to employ. The New Romans began trading peacefully with these colonies as the Republic began spreading out to new worlds within the local area.
Relations quickly began deteriorating however as The Cult of Ares and Mars remained the dominant religious influence. To them these colonies represented an oppturunity to begin rebuilding the Roman Empire of old and to bring the glory of the gods into space. Several priests and priestesses began to say that Ares and Mars had granted them visions of the New Romans standing victorious over the colonies, with the flag of the republic proudly flying over them. It wasn’t till Anton himself claimed that he had received a vision of himself leading a grand fleet that the New Romans became onboard with the idea. The industry of the Republic turned towards building warships, as they began gearing up for a war.
Primo Conquestum, otherwise translated to as First Conquest, is the day that New Roman ships destroyed the small fleet of the nearby human colony of New Germany and marched their forces down onto the surface, raising the flag of New Roman Republic over the colony. To this day it is celebrated as the beginning of New Rome’s empire and recognized for integral the victory was in inspiring more New Romans to sign up for the rapidly expanding New Roman military.
New Rome went on to continue conquering nearby human colonies, and while they were a many great victories, there were naturally some setbacks as the wealthier colonies were able to muster fleets able of beating back the New Romans. The fleet personally led by Anton however, never suffered a defeat, neither did any troops that he led in battle. The end result was an even greater mystique placed around Anton as most of those who followed the New Roman pantheon truly believed him to be the son of Ares and was to lead the New Romans to greatness among the stars
New Rome was eventually able to consolidate most of the local human colonies under their control, which lead to greater economic power as the resources of these colonies were directed towards rapidly expanding the Republic. This was also about the time the Citizen-Resident system was introduced, giving the conquered human populations a chance to stand side by side with the Romus Humans in terms of political power and influence. Many of the conquered populations also adopted the New Roman pantheon as not all to dissimilar to the Old Roman Empire, the New Roman Empire found ways to incorporate their Gods and Goddesses into the wide structure of the mythos.
Psionics also started showing up among both the Romus Humans and the conquered humans. The commonly excepted explanation was that they were either the children of gods or had been blessed with some small portion of divine power. Anton himself ended up becoming a psionic, so most of those who had adopted the New Roman pantheon ended up believing the explanation. The psionics often ended up being deployed directly on the frontlines, where their presence was thought to help bless the troops to victory and their powers often played key roles in battles against human colonies who had not yet been able to train their own psionics for war.
The flurry of signals from all this conflict was picked up by a nation known as the Untar Confederation. A race of intelligent psionic humanoids that were almost entirely a dark tan color and only had a few other physical variations. They made contact with New Roman Republic and were incredibly weary due to how aggressive they were. It was about a year after first contact that the Untar decided to declare on the New Roman Republic, in a hope to contain the Romans and achieve victory over them.
The Untar entered the war realizing that it would be long and difficult but thought that their victory was assured due to their superior technology. The problem quickly arose however when the Untar realized the sheer scale of the New Roman Republic. Despite their superior technology, their species had a low birth rate and a longer gestational period then the humans. While the Untar were able to easily win early battles, when it became clear the the Romans could muster far superior numbers of troops and ships, they were quickly put on the back foot in the conflict, loosing battle after battle as the Romans were simply able to absorb far more losses then the Untar.
This all culminated in the Battle of New Rome, where the Untar amassed their fleets and planned to initiate a Scorched Earth plan to eliminate the Roman’s advantage in the war. The mass of ships however was detected in FTL far before they arrived, allowing the Romans to prepare a defense and amass their own larger navy over the New Rome. The result was a battle where the Romans may have suffered a heavy blow to their fleets, the Untar navy was almost entirely wiped. The Romans took a few months to prepare themselves and launched a mass offensive against the Untar’s worlds.
The Untar lost world after world as the Roman’s fleet launched their conquest. Roman forces once against suffered heavy losses on the ground, but the Untar simply did not have the ability to muster more men then they could. The Romans finally arrived at the Untar capital world of Aerin, where the last of the Untar navy was destroyed and the Untar Confederation finally surrendered, allowing the Romans to achieve victory. The Untar Goddess known as Dela was incorporated into the New Roman pantheon as the Goddess of Psionic powers. The Romans now ruled over a large empire spanning multiple systems and world and were quickly becoming the major power within their local sector.
The real victory for the New Romans in the Untar conflict however was their technology and scientific prowess. Their technology was quickly incorporated into the next generation of New Roman ship design, all of which would remain staples in the New Roman navy till the Great War. The industrial technology however was incorporated into the first Forge World. A barren world in a system was stripped down and converted into one massive factory incorporating Untar technology and techniques. The result was a massive increase to New Roman industrial capacity and also a shrine to Vulcan – as the construction of such a world was viewed as an act of divine worship to his greatness.
A decade in Earth years followed the Roman-Untar War where the New Roman Republic experienced a minor golden age. During this time, they built a second Forge World and continued to expand the borders of their Empire as well get in contact with various members of the galactic community and begin integrating themselves into the wider galactic trading network. Anton Russo also finally retired from leading the Republic, where he said Ares had told that it was his time to rest, the dreams of a great New Roman Empire realized. His son, Enrico Russo, well-educated and trained in the art of governance and war, would be elected as a consul, alongside a veteran admiral of the Roman-Untar war known as Andrea Costa, who believed the New Roman Republic was not done expanding their great empire.
The study of the wormhole that the initial expedition came through lead to the ability for the New Romans create their own artificial wormholes. These required a large amount of space and power however – restricting them to creating an instant network of FTL gates between major points within New Roman space. The discovery was still important however, as it greatly expanded the military’s ability to maneuver within their own space as well as made trades between the major core worlds and the capital far easier to carry.
New Rome also made first contact with the Vuln along their border – a species of avians who shared some of the militaristic qualities of New Rome. Initial relations were actually good with the Vuln – as both them and the New Romans viewed each other as honorable warriors, but as the Empires expanded towards each other and resource rich systems as well as colonizable worlds quickly ran out, it became clear that relations would not remain stable with the Vuln for long.
Anton Russo, having lived far longer then a normal life-span, finally passed away in his sleep. The Cult of Ares and Mars however quickly declared that he hadn’t truly died – saying that his spirit had ascended to the heavens where he was given ambrosia and was to join the gods in immortality. This gave rise to the Cult of Anton, where he is worshipped as the hero and assigned the role of the Protector God of the New Roman Republic. The third Forge World was also commissioned, once again greatly expanding the industrial capacity of the New Roman Republic.
The major industrial project of the time however would end up being the Kuat Drive Yards, constructed around Kuat – a industrial world that was already important due to it’s shipyards and industrial capacity – had several massive rings of shipyards constructed around the planets. These shipyards would to this day serve as New Rome’s primary site for the construction of new military vessels, as well as having several prototype labs where new models of ships are constructed and tested.
Relations with the Vuln also finally reared it’s head. Celesa, a system which was agreed as a neutral zone between Roman and Vuln and was never to be colonized nor have any military ships or installations within it was discovered by a group of Roman traders to be playing host to a Vuln military installation. The Romans contacted the Vuln government and ordered them to destroy the station. When they refused, both sides sent fleets to a battle that became known as the Skirmish of Celesa. The battle ended in a decisive Roman victory, wiping out the Vuln fleet as well as station.
Early attempts were made by diplomats on both sides to prevent Celesa from turning into war – but the two Consuls completely prevented that. Andrea was a staunch worshipper of Mars and sought to lead fleets again for her own personal glory, while Enrico desired to match the great accomplishments of his father. The end result was that both the consuls shut down all proposals for peace, and the Roman military readied itself for war. The Romans were the first to strike, making a quick thrust into Vuln space.
Unlike the Roman-Untar war prior, the New Romans found that war to be far easier. Not only did they have superior numbers, but the incorporation of the Untar and their technology also gave them a technological edge over the Vuln. Vuln worlds quickly fell and they tried to sue for peace but to no avail. Both Andrea and Enrico had chosen to personally lead fleets, and neither was willing to stop till the Vuln had totally fall to the submission of the New Roman Republic.
The New Romans using the resources of the conquered Vuln to help construct their fourth Forge World, leading to what was declared as the New Pax Romana. The New Romans were at the height of their power and one of the de facto major powers of the galaxy. The entirety of the republic lived in luxury and despite a small number of Vuln and Untar rebellions that continued to occur throughout this period they were easily quelled, with the vast majority of the population preferring the stability afforded by the New Roman Republic. This period of Pax Romana would continue until the Ashtar arrived in the galaxy.
The arrival of the Ashtar was the end of the New Roman’s Pax Romana. The New Romans were no longer able to engage in the glory of war that they so desired. The New Romans became angered by the Ashtar – feeling that they crippled any true abilities for the New Romans to expand and gain power.
New Romans made several attempts to try to conquer various minor powers along their border, but each time they thwarted by the Ashtar. The Ashtar also forced the New Romans to mothball half of the shipyards at Kuat as an attempt to make aggression far more costly for the New Romans – severely crippling the ability for New Rome to build new ships. They sat in silence, begrudgely accepting the position that they had been put in by Ashtar. They began licking the wounds that had been caused by the Ashtar while waiting for a sign from the Gods that it was the right time to strike and regain their status as the glorious empire of New Rome.
When everyone realized that the Ashtar had vanished, New Rome quickly seized it’s chance and went on a conquest spree within their local space. They most took on minor powers – primarily Human, Vuln, and Untar states that had fled Roman hands or banded together to try to stand against the Romans. The initial victories in the war gave hopes to the Romans that they would once against stand on the pedestal of being one of the greatest empires. Their hopes quickly turned for the worse however as they simply were not prepared to face the major powers.
New Rome had not drawn up any real battleplans for fighting the major powers – or at least not ones that were extensive enough to serve as a useful framework for fighting the major powers. Expecting that they would go into the war and easily defeat them as they had done the Vuln and other minor nations previously, it was quickly apparent that this was not the case. The New Romans lost ground, but strategy was changed to match the reality of the war the were fighting. The New Romans were also able to bring the rest of the Kuat Drive Yards back online, helping them build the new ships needed to face down the Great War.
The New Roman Republic quickly found themselves at odds with the Asrian Ascendancy however, which proved to be a disaster. The New Romans, only have gotten the Kuat Drive Yards fully back online part way through the war, simply could not muster the same amount of dreadnoughts as the Ascendancy. The Ascendancy used this to hit the Romans were hit hurt – their Forge Worlds. One ended up being totally destroyed when a Darkstar unknowingly targeted supports for one the antimatter reactors on the planet, causing a cascade effect which has left a scarred world incapable of recovering from the damage caused it. The remaining three were captured at different points in the conflict, their industrial capacity used by the Asrians during the war.
As the war drew to a close however the Asrians returned most of New Rome’s conquered territory as well as the Forge Worlds – giving them the pressure they needed to remain a major power at the Treaty of Détente. These worlds remain broken however, as only one is full operational while another remains at a third it capacity with the remaining one fully offline, as the Asrians did not have the knowledge needed to maintain and repair the critical antimatter reactors of these worlds.
The Romans only reluctantly accepted the Treaty of Détente – as they immediately became suspicious that other weaker powers would likely exploit this period to become as powerful as the major powers while other major powers would begin violating the treaty as soon as they got the chance became. As such the Romans began violating the treaty in secret immediately, but their experiments were limited to a small number of designs to make the missing resources look less suspicious and just a by-product of attempting to rebuild the Forge Worlds. Of these treaty violating ships, only a few designs ever showed promise due to the conditions they were developed in, so while New Rome’s treaty violating designs continued to be developed efforts were made to designs fleets compositions and designs that would get around the weaknesses imposed in ships by the treaty.
When the messages was heard, the New Romans also immediately seized the oppturunity and began using fast transports to quickly get men and supplies Agdemnar. They lost many of their men to reckless decision-making however and quickly had to take a moment to step back and scale down the size of their operations on the planet as they began trying to develop a strategy to seize the planet for themselves. They also quickly began up-scaling their test with treaty-violating designs and began building some of those new designs in preparation for the likely fall of the Treaty of Détente soon – as it occurred to them that was the fighting at Agdemnar nations would no longer be willing to abide by the restrictions placed on them. The current consuls also began using the battle to drive up a fervor in the people of New Rome, telling old stories of Anton Russo marching upon the human colonies and the Untar, and how it was finally time for the New Romans to truly seize the day and become the empire that will last eternal.
New Rome: As the capital of the New Roman Republic, New Rome is important due to governmental reasons, but beyond that, it is also in a key position among the core worlds to serve as a vital trade hub, meaning it also act as the primary economic center of the Republic as well. It also holds huge cultural value – some of the largest temples to the New Roman Pantheon are on New Rome, as well as the resting place of Anton Russo’s body.
Kuat: Kuat stands as one of the most important military and industrial targets in the Republic. In addition to the large amounts of factories on the surface responsible for producing ship parts, the planet is also surrounded my a massive ring of shipyards known as the Kuat Drive Yards. The shipyards provide huge production capacity for ships to the Republic, as well as offering dry-dock and repair space to help keep the fleet running.
New Germania: As the first world that the New Romans ever conquered it represents an important historical point for them – but it is also a massive agricultural world. New Germania is dotted with huge complexes of farms as well as it’s oceans even being covered in a variety of farms. New Germania is key in supplying the industrial and population worlds that do not have the same food supply as other colonies and agricultural worrlds.
Aerin: The Untar Home World. In addition to being a huge population center, it also is the primary technological center of the New Roman Republic. A variety of research departments make their home here do to easy access to trained personnel.
Vulnia: The Vuln Home World. It is primarily a population center as well as financial center for the outer colonies. It also is the home of New Roman naval forces that operate within the outer colonies
The Forge Worlds are one of the greatest achievements of the New Roman Republic. Massive planet-spanning factories that are capable of large amounts of industrial output, they are key economic points as well as shrines to the God Vulcan. A total of four have been constructed, all in differing states of repair due to the Great War as well as a lack of the specialized components needed to repair their massive anti-matter reactors.
Forge World 01: Still fully operational.
Forge World 02: Only at a third it’s total capacity. Three of its four reactors are awaiting the special containment components needed to bring them back online.
Forge World 03: Offline. All of the reactors went offline as the Asrians did not have the know how to repair them.
Forge World 04: Ruined. The destruction of one of it’s reactors has left the planet scarred and the atmosphere destroyed. Science vessels and small military patrols are the only things left, as they scavenge for information on how to prevent such a future disaster.
Societal/Governmental Information
Romus Humans: Representing about 40% of the total population of the New Roman Republic, Romus Humans are considered the dominate species of the Republic. Compared to their human brethren, they are stronger and have greater muscle densities, and also tend to live longer life spans on average. Sexual dimorphism as well as the wide range of phenotypic traits are for the most similar to humans.
Humans: Representing 20% of the total population, the human populations of New Rome are your bog-standard homo sapiens. The occasional trait and genetic alterations not displayed in the rest of the human population occasionally shows up here do to New Roman populations having spent multiple generations away from the main human populations, thus creating their own gene pool.
Half-Romans: As Romus Humans still carry mostly human genetic markers, Humans and Romus Humans are fully capable of producing viable offspring. Known as half Romans, they make up about 10% of the population and can display increased strengths anywhere from the human baseline to that of the Romus Humans.
Untar: Representing 10% of the population, the Untar are a bipedal race of humanoids. They lack any large scale genetic variation in terms of phenotypic traits, with most of the population have largely dark tan skin and darker patches of hair. Their other notable traits are a low birth rate as well as increased intelligence and universal psionic ability.
Vuln: Representing the last 20% of the population, the Vuln are a humanoid race of avians. Their wings are for the most part vestigial and seem to be left over from their genetic past, however Vuln still capable of using their wings for gliding as well as slowing themselves down if falling from air. Genetic variance tends to be in the color of their feathers, with mostly darker colors displayed. No known Vuln, at least inside of the New Roman Republic, has displayed any capacity for psionic ability.
New Roman culture isn’t so much Roman culture as it is a poor clone of it. The damaged historical and cultural records have left the gaps to be filled in to be used religious and cultural authorities for their own purposes. For example, it is often taught that the only reason that the Old Roman society fell was due to exterior forces and spies from within, ignoring many of the factors that the Romans caused themselves that led to the downfall of the Empire. The result is that the Old Roman society is often painted as being the highest point of cultural development for human society, and had it not been for it’s downfall, it would have led humanity into a golden age and let them ascend into space far earlier then they actually did. New Rome thus attempts to mimic the Old Romans as much as possible. Buildings are often grandiose and used marble or metal forged to look like it to match the architecture of the Old Romans, Latin is the official language of the Empire and it is usually dominant language where Romus Humans and Humans live, and clothing while still being more modern in take as elements of the Old Roman styles.
One of the other central themes that is prevalent is almost zealotry that a huge part of New Roman religious life. Once again do to damaged records the New Roman pantheon while mostly be similar to the one the old Romans had been altered with various deities from other cultures. There was also a huge loss of the mythos – leaving a lot of stories that would paint the Gods as being more spiteful and hateful missing from the rebuilt mythos, painting them in a much more positive light. New Romans thus are much more devout to their Gods – with most expected to pick at least one by the time they turn of age to be their primary God of worship. Those who enter the Priesthood will obviously choose the God they are a priest or priestess of, but for everyone else, it usually has something do with their profession. Pilots, merchants, and traders along the space lanes will usually pick Jupiter, factory workers and miners will choose Vulcan due to is associations with the forge, and soldiers will pick Ares or Mars. Everyone in the Republic is also expected to worship the supposedly ascended Anton Russo – as he is their divine protector and will keep the New Roman Republic from ever truly falling like the Old Romans did. While all of these have created a much more devout and zealous New Roman Republic, they still tend to be accepting of other religions – viewing the Gods and pantheons of other religions as merely the same deities with different names or incarnations.
New Roman culture is also tends to focus more on the collective rather then the individual. It is taught that in the vastness of space with Empires spanning hundreds of worlds and trillions of souls, the individual matters far less, and thus one’s life is best spent in service to the collective. Individual members are often still upheld as great men and women that should be respected and revered, but this is often added with a heavy dose of those individuals only being able to rise to their status due to the nature of the collective and their service to the collective. It is also this belief in collective that lead to the formation of the resident-citizen currently in use today, as it was believed that one had to earn their place in the collective before being allowed greater privileges.
The New Roman Republic is by in large a mostly industrial nation, but their economic largely centralized. What that mean’s is that most worlds are specialized in a few different types of economic fields, with their only being a few worlds such as the Capital that boast a wide variety of different industries. Agri-worlds, industrial worlds, the forge worlds, and mostly urban worlds are a common site throughout the New Roman Republic. The economy is also largely dominated by a variety of government owned mega-corporations that are responsible for overseeing the vast majority of the New Roman economy. These large mega-corporations arose primarily from the collective-worshipping nature of the New Rome, but a few smaller corporations still due exist.
When it comes to trade, the New Roman Republic primarily exports a wide variety of industrial goods. Refined metals, alloys, industrial machinery, and a variety of components for ships and weaponry. New Rome usually also has to sometimes rely on food imports. Due to the largely industrial nature of it’s economy, during times of war when food resources are more scarce New Rome has had to import food to keep up with the demand. This was particularly damaging during the Great War when despite having more then enough resources for trade, were unable to import food to keep up with demand. This led to rioting on the outer colonies – the worlds most often effected by the food shortages. Recent projects in years have focused on incorporating hydroponics into New Rome’s urban and industrial worlds, as well as several new colonies being settled primarily to be turned into more massive agri-worlds so that New Rome may finally be able to go to war without worrying about a long term food shortage.
New Rome is governed by two primary bodies – the Consuls and the Senate. The Senate acts as the legislative and judicial portion of the Republic’s government. They are responsible for passing all legislation as well as being responsible for setting up the court system as well as confirming judges for the major courts. The Consuls consistent of two elected individuals from the senate, and are the primary military leaders, with one overseeing the navy and the other overseeing the planetary-based forces of the Republic. They both have votes in the Senate and are also responsible for overseeing the law enforcement and diplomatic departments of the Republic, as well as a variety of other government agencies.
Another important aspect of the New Roman Republic’s government is the distinction between non-residents, resident, and citizens. Non-residents are anyone is anyone who has immigrated to the Republic and was not apart of a conquered population. They have to await at least one year before being able to become a resident, and essentially have no involvement in the political process. Residents are anyone born with the Republic or were a member of a conquered population. They can vote in the elections for Senate as well as their own local governments but are incapable of holding any government office. Citizens are any resident or non-resident who has spent at least two total years of service in any branch of the military or is distinguished via serving the Republic as either a high level engineer or scientist. Citizens can hold government office as well as having an extra vote to use during elections
Technological Information
Antimatter reactors have become the dominant form of power generator within New Rome over the past few centuries. The constructs can generate the immense power necessary for supplying Roman vessels as well as Roman industry. A special variant of anti-matter reactors has been developed, simply referred to as generation two reactors. These reactors are far larger than their older generator brothers and their primary use is in powering the New Roman forge words. Due to their immense size however, most of the parts involved in their containment fields as well as power systems require specialized teams of engineers and scientists to be able to construct, preventing these components from being mass produced. This is the primary reason the Forge Worlds are still offline or at lowered capacity, as it took the original teams decades to build and design the necessary parts. Fighters, shuttles, and other such vessels however still rely on fusion reactors since their size prevents them from being able.
Despite the Treaty of Détente restricting weapons development, the New Romans also sought to violate those particular parts of the treaty. It was far easier for them to hide their weapons development and figured that developing the next generation of weapons would make it far easier to retrofit vessels later down the line when the treaty finally collapsed. The first attempt into this was to use the long standing antimatter prowess of the Republic in attempt to develop weapons that would be far more destructive then anything the New Romans had before. The result was a wide variety of antimatter-based weapons that the New Romans have begun to deploy into their new designs. The first of these is beam-based weapon capable of projecting a large stream of antiprotons. While power intensive, these streamers have begun being incorporated into capital ships as well as in smaller numbers on cruisers, destroyers, and frigates. A wide variety and size of bombs and missiles using antimatter have been developed as well and are being stockpiled so they can begin replacing other forms of explosive weapons within the New Roman Republic. The New Romans have also begun testing antimatter shells to be used within their railguns.
The dominant form of weaponry in New Rome, besides the usual variety of railguns, lasers, and explosives, is plasma. For centuries and during the Great War as well as through the Détente period the New Romans choose to use plasma as their dominant form as it was the most powerful form of energy weapon they had access to, besides a few spinal-mount particle beams on certain capital ships. While the Treaty of Détente restricted the power output of Roman plasma weapons, new ones were still developed in secret as well as different combinations of gasses to achieve the desired effect. While the development of antimatter weapons as made plasma somewhat less popular among New Roman designers, they remain a mainstay for augmenting the capabilities of ships as well as in situations where the power requirements of antimatter weapons becomes an issue.
Beyond the standard FTL drives employed by New Rome, gates have been setup between major worlds within New Rome employing knowledge of wormholes. These gates allow for effectively instant travel with any other gate within the network, making transport within New Roman space far easier. These gates are expensive and require a power source, but the boon to trade and logistics makes them worth it.
As the New Romans had to rely on gene-editing fairly in their history, they have become adept at it. It is not uncommon for them to gene-edit their soldiers to improve their strength as well as other attributes. Cybernetic augmentation has also become popular in recent years to make their troops far stronger as well as replace limbs lost in combat
With the construction of the Forge Worlds, it became clear that the New Romans would need some solution. While stations were built in orbit as well as habitats scattered through the system containing the Forge World it was evident that there simply was not enough workforce to staff the worlds. Robots quickly became the solution, with the rapid development of new types of robots. The end result is the Forge Worlds were staffed by Overseers and Priests of Vulcan who oversaw the massive robotic work force that operated the many fabricators and replicators of the Forge Worlds. Robotics has also become a new avenue of military planning for the New Romans, as they seek to use the advanced constructs of these worlds to augment their military capabilities. Nano-technology and robotics has also been widely incorporated into the Forge Worlds as well as other aspects of New Roman life to bolster their technological and military capabilities.
//This list is not complete, and I will add to it overtime, but I feel like this is what is most important/relevant. I will make sure anything else major is either brought up in IC or in OOC to the GMs.
Military Information
The New Roman military is divided into two primary branches, with a variety of supporting organizations. The two primary branches are the Legio Astrum and the New Roman Space Navy. Each is overseen by one of the Consuls, with a military cabinet to help oversee and command both branches of the military as well as the other organizations.
Legio Astrum, or the Star Legions consists of all non-space-faring units, including the intra-atmosphere air force and wet navy. They also have a field command which coordinate smaller divisions of troops from the front lines while high command coordinates overall troop and units movements from behind the lines. They are by far one of the largest branches of the New Roman military, as even the elite units and special forces are incorporated into the structure of Legio Astrum.
The Classis Stella, or simply known as the Star Navy, operate all space-borne forces of the Republic, including marines and other forces meant for boarding ships or fighting aboard space stations. Unlike the Roman Empire of Old, the command structures of the Classis Stella and Legio Astrum are separate due to how vital the Classis Stella is to the overall security and military strength of the New Roman Republic. However, it isn’t uncommon for particularly gifted commanders to be given command of both a fleet and a number of legions, and the Consuls often take command of both legions and fleets as well.
The Expeditionary Corps is a scouting force used primarily for scouting new worlds. While technically part of the military as military vessels are assigned to it to guard their expeditions, it is mostly civilian colonists and scientists, so it’s the only branch where the two years of service rule does not grant one citizenship.
When it comes to espionage and counter-espionage Strategic and Tactical Information Services, or STIS, is the go to force for the New Roman Republic. While looked down upon by other branches of the military as their tactics are more dishonorable, they have proven invaluable in several wars to acquiring necessary information as well as preventing a number of terror attacks by Untar and Vuln actions earlier in New Roman Republic.
Roma-Class: The Roma-class is a Great War era dreadnought that saw service throughout the Great War and into the Détente period. Only a few of these vessels remain, as the Kuat Drive Yards only coming back online half way through the war prevented the New Romans from building dreadnoughts in large numbers. It is armed with a large number of plasma torrents and cannons, as well as a few large railguns and a large spinal-mounted particle cannon. It also carries a compliment of strike craft and bombers. Attempts were made to retro-fit the few remaining Roma-class vessels, but those attempts were largely abandoned in favor of constructing new dreadnoughts. They have been equipped with a few antimatter missiles however to make up for their older weapons.
Byzantium-Class: Another Great War era dreadnought, the Byzantium-class was commissioned to be an answer to the Asrian dreadnoughts. While using similar armor and shields as well as carrying the same spinal-mounted particle cannon, it opts to use far more missile pods and beam plasma weapons. It also sacrifices some of it’s own armament in favor of carrying more strike craft. This remains the more popular dreadnought due to the limited amount of Roma-class vessels, but plans are being made to phase it out.
Pompeii-class: The first truly successful dreadnought out of all of New Rome’s treaty violating experiments, the Pompeii-class promises to be the modern-era dreadnought necessary for New Rome to regain its military dominance. Opting out of a large spinal-mount weapon unlike previous New Roman dreadnoughts, it uses the extra space and power output to incorporate a number of antiproton streamers. It also sports more powerful plasma turrets compared to older generators and then a few missile pods and railguns, and a small complement of strike craft mainly for repelling other strike to finish off it’s armament. Only a few Pompeii-classes exist as the New Romans are still not yet ready to openly violate the treaty.
Antiochia-Class: A Great War era class that has mostly been phased out, it was long of the longest serving ships ever produced by the New Romans. Mostly consisting of railguns and missile pods with a small number of plasma turrets, it was famed by New Roman admirals for its reliability and ability to turn the tide of battles with a full barrage. It’s aging weapons however have made it unpopular in the modern era as even battleship designs that were made to appease the Treaty of Détente were capable of overpowering the class in wargames. Only a small number remain mostly serving as patrol vessels along trade routes, with the rest scrapped and melted down.
Florentia-class: Another Great War era class ship that still sees service in the New Roman’s fleets, unlike the Antiochia-class it is primarily equipped with plasma weapons and other beams weapons, and also carries strike craft. The Florentia is still in wide-spread use, as New Rome is still preparing their other modern-era ships for wide-scale deployment among their fleets.
Belum-class: The only Détente-era treaty vessel that the New Romans began using to use as a wide-spread vessel and developed as a replacement for the Antiochia, the Belum-class is a fairly light ship that like the Antiochia uses a large number of railguns and missile pods. Unlike the Antiochia is a faster vessel – as it’s armor was reduced to put it line with treaty limitations. While this was thought to limit its capability, most New Roman commanders found it useful as a vessel capable of quick sudden surprise attacks while enemies were occupied with the rest of the fleet. Much like the Antiochia before it, it is famed for it ability to turn battles and fairly reliable design.
Belum-Class MK2: A refresh of the Belum-class for the modern era, unlike its predecessor it has far bulkier armor and is far larger. It uses updated missile pods as well as being the first New Roman vessel to have railgun capable of firing the potent antimatter tipped shells now equipped by the fleet. It also sports a smaller number of plasma turrets for defense against strike craft.
Aquileia-Class: A modern-era vessel in violation of the treaty designed mostly as a replacement for the Florentia, it opts for a number of antiproton streamers rather then beam plasma weapons, and sports a fair number of plasma turrets as well as a compliment of strike craft.
Aeneas-Class: Détente era vessel mostly designed to support and protect capital ships, it is primarily equipped with plasma turrets for fending off strike craft and a number of frontal rail-guns for engaging other capital ships.
Brutus-Class: Another Détente era vessel this time primarily equipped with a variety of plasma beam cannons and a smaller number of turrets. The Brutus is more common then the Aeneas, as commanders favor the ability of the Brutus to engage other ships and the power of their plasma weapons.
Achilles-Class: The first modern era cruiser, it is equipped with a few antiproton streamers as well as a few plasma turrets for defense.
Hercules-Class: Another modern era cruiser designed primarily as a missile boat, its sports a number of missile pods equipped with antimatter missiles as well as a few railguns capable of firing antimatter tipped shells.
Odysseus-Class: The Odysseus is a détente era vessel primarily equipped with plasma beams weapons and is one of the most common ships in the Roman fleet.
Leonidas-Class: A détente era vessel serving primarily to help protect the large ships of the fleet, the Leonidas has a few plasma turrets and a small number of railguns.
Lysander-Class: A fairly light détente era vessel mostly designed to assist large capital ships in amassing barrages, it is almost exclusively with missile pod weapons.
All of the Roman frigate designs also have MK2 versions that are equipped with modern era weapons and armor and the older MK1 variants are slowly being phased out.
Phoenix-Class: A small corvette that does not see any combat service, but mostly serves as a patrol, scouting, and policing vessel. It is equipped with some plasma beams cannons a few turrets. Variants for both the Détente and modern era exist.
Dragon-Class: A response to strike craft, the dragon class serves equipped with a number of plasma turrets and missile pods to protect capital ships from strike craft.
Aurora-Class Bomber: A small stealth bomber that has both détente and modern era versions, the Aurora is fairly popular for augmenting the ability of Roman capital ships to engage other capital ships.
Lion-Class Fighter: A small fighter that is primarily used by Roman capital ships for engaging enemy strike craft and protecting other vessels.
Anton Shield Ship: A design originally commissioned by Anton Russo late in life, the Anton Shield ship has seen updates and redesigns throughout it’s life, but its purpose remains the same. It is capable of combining with other shield ships and projecting a frontal barrier to help protect Roman fleets from barrages. Its only armament is small number of plasma turrets to protect it from strike craft.
Legionary Transports: Both larger and smaller variants of the ships exist, but their purpose is simple, they carry the ground forces of the empire to their destination.
//Unless otherwise stated, all ships are equipped with the standard set of shields, armor, and point defense appropriate for their size and class. I will make notes where they have more or less shields/armor then is normal for their class. I really just did not want to have to write two-three paragraphs per a class.
The Legio Astrum is divided primarily into Legions, with each being specialized to their own purpose. While Legions exist that are primarily mainline infantry, the term Legions can also apply to the wet naval units or air forces. As for the kinds of equipment employed by the Legio Astrum, all infantry are equipped with a standard set of power armor and communications devices, as well as varying kinds of plasma weaponry and kinetic weapons depending on what the specific Legion is designed to fight. Most mechanized forces consist of tanks and large mobile command centers that are equipped for heavier fighting. A few specialized mech Legions exists, but they are not favored by the Romans as they have not seen much success when they were deployed in larger numbers. The ground forces also make use of both the Aurora-Class and Lion-class as their aircraft of choice, as well as a number of gunships and other transports vessels to assist in combat. Most Legion commanders will either favor quick decisive attacks, or a rapid attack followed by periods of entrenchment to give time for the Romans to manage their flank. Flanking tactics and air strikes are also fairly popular among the Legions of New Rome.
The Spear of Anton is the culmination of all the secret weapon experiments and treaty violations made by the New Romans. Named after the same legendary weapon used by Anton Russo himself to channel his psionic abilities, the Spear of Anton returns to the form of older Roman dreadnoughts by opting for a spinal mount weapon, but this time the weapon in question is a massive antiproton streamer capable of devastating other capital ships. This anti-proton streamer is also unique in that it is powered by the reactors used by forge worlds – adding on to its destructive potential. It also comes equipped with effectively every other weapon in the New Roman arsenal, as well as one of the largest compliments of strike craft with the New Roman Republic. The armor and shields are also some of the strongest ever conceived. The Spear of Anton remains the single most powerful weapon ever built by the New Romans, and constant changes are made to it everyday to constantly add new weapons and defenses that will make the ship needed to reclaim the glory days of New Rome.
Finished! For the most part anyway. As the RP progresses I will update this with more specifics around land forces as well as more ship designs.
Official Nation Name
The New Roman Republic (De Publica Romanorum Novum)
Any less official names your nation or its people may have
Anton’s Republic, New Rome, Nova Romae
General Information
Nation type (Major Belligerent, Minor Belligerent, Non-Combatant)
Major Belligerent
Overview
If there is any one thing that can summarize up the entirety of the New Roman Republic, it a romanticization of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire of Earth. They have adopted the language, culture, style, and mannerisms of the old Romans. However, this rebuilt version of Roman is uncanny in its appearance. The historical records of the colonists who originally founded the colony are incomplete – as such the New Romans had to fill in with other cultural elements or their best approximations of what Roman culture and life was. While this has created something that is vaguely Roman on the surface, key elements of former Roman culture are missing. The end result however is a culture and nation unique to the age of interstellar travel that wasn’t previously seen in human history.
The Solar War something that had brought disruption to the lives of several peaceful colonists in the outer human colonies. The end result was colonists that had become dillusioned as their once idyllic colonial lives was interrupted by resource shortages and men being pulled away to fight the war. This was only further compounded by the piracy caused by the Solar War, which effected the outer systems the most as they were unable to defend themselves. Anton Russo, a governor of one of the outer colonies as well as former naval officer, attempted to step up to the plate to help defend these colonies by rallying various traders and other civilian ships in the area to help defend against the pirates, and while progress was made they were unable to defend all of the outer colonies, leaving several to rot as crime became rampant.
With the end of the Solar War and the civil unrest in Sol, many humans also fled to the outer colonies, only further straining their already limited resources. Anton Russo once again rallied various civilian ships, but this time for a different purpose. He spread a message throughout the outer colonies that the collapse of current human civilization was inevitable as a result of the chaos of the Solar War, and invited those in the outer colonies, regardless of who they were, to join him in and expedition beyond known space to find a new home somewhere else in the stars. The expedition group swelled in size and ended up leaving the known stars of human civilization.
The group traveled around for a while, some colony ships splitting off to go and form their own colonies, but the bulk of the group remained with Anton Russo. They ended up happening upon a wormhole during their travels. The group saw this as a chance to explore somewhere in the galaxy that previously been unseen by human eyes. The wormhole however behaved strangely compared to all previous science the group had on wormholes, causing even more of the colony ships to be split from Anton’s group, and causing the main group to crash land on a fertile world that would later become as New Rome.
Within the initial few days of the crash, Anton’s colonist had found themselves on a planet that seemed to happily sustain life, and with animal and plant life that would be edible to human life – but another problem reared its ugly head. It quickly became clear that the gravity of the planet was actually higher then Earth’s, and while it was manageable and parts of the colony ships were salvaged to build dwellings that created Earth-gravity, workers still had to leave their dwellings to travel to farms and mines of the new colony, and as such suffered physical injuries as a result.
Anton, who had by this point become the de facto leader of the colonists, consulted with several scientists who had come along with the expedition. It was quickly agreed that the only true long term solution – since the FTL engines of the ships had been to damaged to be able to attempt to find a new world – was to genetically modify the whole population of the colony. Genes were extracted from some of the local wildlife and modified to be compatible with the human genome. Within a month the entire population had undergone gene therapy and was now capable of living comfortably in the higher gravity of the planet. A side effect of this therapy is this new subspecies of human – which would later become known as the Romus Humans – was far stronger as a result.
It another few months after this mass gene therapy that a few colonists decided to crack open the old historical and cultural archives from Earth in attempt to figure out what values the colony should adopt. Most of them were irreparably damaged in the crash as well as several lost from the colony ships were lost in the travel to the wormhole as well as those lost when traveling through the wormhole. Most of the historical records of the 21st century and beyond remained clear, but everything prior to that remained unclear and murky. The colonists were somehow drawn to Roman history – but were initially confused. They found myths and stories talking about two gods called Ares and Mars, but they as if they were one in the same, but the damage to archives made it difficult to figure the truth behind the situation. The conclusion made by the colonists was that they were twins who represented different aspects of war – Ares representing disciplined soldiers, honor in battle, and the honing of one’s personal skill while Mars came to represent blood, brutality, and personal glory earned in war. The result was the formation of The Cult of Ares and Mars while the colonists continued to explore to reconstruct the rest of the Roman Pantheon.
The Cult also ended up assigning something to Anton that would become unexpected. The Cult declared that Anton was the son of Ares – and fated to lead the colonists to a destiny of rebuilding the glory of Rome among the stars. To this day it is debated by scholars outside the New Roman Republic whether Anton truly believed himself to be the son of Ares or whether he merely saw the Cult as a way to begin rebuilding human civilization in this sector of space, but either way the result was the same. Anton drove the Roman bent far further and officially declared the colony to be the nation of the New Roman Republic and changed the name of the planet from New Terra to New Rome. He founded the initial Senate as well as became elected as one of the two consuls. This is also the point where the colonists sometimes referred to the new nation as Anton’s Republic – since the senate and the other consuls often deferred to him and he was so integral in the founding of the new republic.
As the New Roman Republic rapidly grew, primarily due to the heavy use of artificial wombs to help grow new Romus humans without creating genetically similar beings, so did people began filling in other aspects of the New Roman Pantheon. With damaged historical records, the New Romans adopted Nephthys as their Goddess of Death and the Underworld, figuring that since she was an Egyptian Goddess and Egypt once apart of the ancient Roman Empire that she was probably at least associated with the Old Roman pantheon. Jupiter would later be updated to become God of Space as the New Romans figured the old Romans could not have known about the extent of the stars. Neptune would also enter the pantheon continuing to hold domain over the sea. The titan Gaia also entered the pantheon as Goddess of the terrestrial domain, such as the Earth and Planets, and was also believed to have helped the rest of the pantheon ascend to their godhood over the other titans. The rest of the Old Roman pantheon was also adopted into their original positions, with Vulcan also being assigned the aspect of spaceship building. With the rest of the pantheon filled out, New Rome entered a cultural golden age with a wide variety of new paintings, literatures, myths, and poems being written about the restored pantheon. Latin was also adopted as the primary language of the Republic, with English mostly being taught only so that the old archives could be studied.
With New Rome thriving and becoming a heavily developed world, the New Romans finally rebuilt their FTL ships and began exploring the era around them. They also began studying the wormhole that they had initially traveled through to see if it could be used to develop a better method of FTL. The Republic’s initial explorations in their solar system and the surrounding one discovered more remnants of the initial expedition, having founded their own colonies and were peacefully developing. Most of them had found Earth-like worlds and thus were able to avoid the mass gene therapy the New Romans had to employ. The New Romans began trading peacefully with these colonies as the Republic began spreading out to new worlds within the local area.
Relations quickly began deteriorating however as The Cult of Ares and Mars remained the dominant religious influence. To them these colonies represented an oppturunity to begin rebuilding the Roman Empire of old and to bring the glory of the gods into space. Several priests and priestesses began to say that Ares and Mars had granted them visions of the New Romans standing victorious over the colonies, with the flag of the republic proudly flying over them. It wasn’t till Anton himself claimed that he had received a vision of himself leading a grand fleet that the New Romans became onboard with the idea. The industry of the Republic turned towards building warships, as they began gearing up for a war.
Primo Conquestum, otherwise translated to as First Conquest, is the day that New Roman ships destroyed the small fleet of the nearby human colony of New Germany and marched their forces down onto the surface, raising the flag of New Roman Republic over the colony. To this day it is celebrated as the beginning of New Rome’s empire and recognized for integral the victory was in inspiring more New Romans to sign up for the rapidly expanding New Roman military.
New Rome went on to continue conquering nearby human colonies, and while they were a many great victories, there were naturally some setbacks as the wealthier colonies were able to muster fleets able of beating back the New Romans. The fleet personally led by Anton however, never suffered a defeat, neither did any troops that he led in battle. The end result was an even greater mystique placed around Anton as most of those who followed the New Roman pantheon truly believed him to be the son of Ares and was to lead the New Romans to greatness among the stars
New Rome was eventually able to consolidate most of the local human colonies under their control, which lead to greater economic power as the resources of these colonies were directed towards rapidly expanding the Republic. This was also about the time the Citizen-Resident system was introduced, giving the conquered human populations a chance to stand side by side with the Romus Humans in terms of political power and influence. Many of the conquered populations also adopted the New Roman pantheon as not all to dissimilar to the Old Roman Empire, the New Roman Empire found ways to incorporate their Gods and Goddesses into the wide structure of the mythos.
Psionics also started showing up among both the Romus Humans and the conquered humans. The commonly excepted explanation was that they were either the children of gods or had been blessed with some small portion of divine power. Anton himself ended up becoming a psionic, so most of those who had adopted the New Roman pantheon ended up believing the explanation. The psionics often ended up being deployed directly on the frontlines, where their presence was thought to help bless the troops to victory and their powers often played key roles in battles against human colonies who had not yet been able to train their own psionics for war.
The flurry of signals from all this conflict was picked up by a nation known as the Untar Confederation. A race of intelligent psionic humanoids that were almost entirely a dark tan color and only had a few other physical variations. They made contact with New Roman Republic and were incredibly weary due to how aggressive they were. It was about a year after first contact that the Untar decided to declare on the New Roman Republic, in a hope to contain the Romans and achieve victory over them.
The Untar entered the war realizing that it would be long and difficult but thought that their victory was assured due to their superior technology. The problem quickly arose however when the Untar realized the sheer scale of the New Roman Republic. Despite their superior technology, their species had a low birth rate and a longer gestational period then the humans. While the Untar were able to easily win early battles, when it became clear the the Romans could muster far superior numbers of troops and ships, they were quickly put on the back foot in the conflict, loosing battle after battle as the Romans were simply able to absorb far more losses then the Untar.
This all culminated in the Battle of New Rome, where the Untar amassed their fleets and planned to initiate a Scorched Earth plan to eliminate the Roman’s advantage in the war. The mass of ships however was detected in FTL far before they arrived, allowing the Romans to prepare a defense and amass their own larger navy over the New Rome. The result was a battle where the Romans may have suffered a heavy blow to their fleets, the Untar navy was almost entirely wiped. The Romans took a few months to prepare themselves and launched a mass offensive against the Untar’s worlds.
The Untar lost world after world as the Roman’s fleet launched their conquest. Roman forces once against suffered heavy losses on the ground, but the Untar simply did not have the ability to muster more men then they could. The Romans finally arrived at the Untar capital world of Aerin, where the last of the Untar navy was destroyed and the Untar Confederation finally surrendered, allowing the Romans to achieve victory. The Untar Goddess known as Dela was incorporated into the New Roman pantheon as the Goddess of Psionic powers. The Romans now ruled over a large empire spanning multiple systems and world and were quickly becoming the major power within their local sector.
The real victory for the New Romans in the Untar conflict however was their technology and scientific prowess. Their technology was quickly incorporated into the next generation of New Roman ship design, all of which would remain staples in the New Roman navy till the Great War. The industrial technology however was incorporated into the first Forge World. A barren world in a system was stripped down and converted into one massive factory incorporating Untar technology and techniques. The result was a massive increase to New Roman industrial capacity and also a shrine to Vulcan – as the construction of such a world was viewed as an act of divine worship to his greatness.
A decade in Earth years followed the Roman-Untar War where the New Roman Republic experienced a minor golden age. During this time, they built a second Forge World and continued to expand the borders of their Empire as well get in contact with various members of the galactic community and begin integrating themselves into the wider galactic trading network. Anton Russo also finally retired from leading the Republic, where he said Ares had told that it was his time to rest, the dreams of a great New Roman Empire realized. His son, Enrico Russo, well-educated and trained in the art of governance and war, would be elected as a consul, alongside a veteran admiral of the Roman-Untar war known as Andrea Costa, who believed the New Roman Republic was not done expanding their great empire.
The study of the wormhole that the initial expedition came through lead to the ability for the New Romans create their own artificial wormholes. These required a large amount of space and power however – restricting them to creating an instant network of FTL gates between major points within New Roman space. The discovery was still important however, as it greatly expanded the military’s ability to maneuver within their own space as well as made trades between the major core worlds and the capital far easier to carry.
New Rome also made first contact with the Vuln along their border – a species of avians who shared some of the militaristic qualities of New Rome. Initial relations were actually good with the Vuln – as both them and the New Romans viewed each other as honorable warriors, but as the Empires expanded towards each other and resource rich systems as well as colonizable worlds quickly ran out, it became clear that relations would not remain stable with the Vuln for long.
Anton Russo, having lived far longer then a normal life-span, finally passed away in his sleep. The Cult of Ares and Mars however quickly declared that he hadn’t truly died – saying that his spirit had ascended to the heavens where he was given ambrosia and was to join the gods in immortality. This gave rise to the Cult of Anton, where he is worshipped as the hero and assigned the role of the Protector God of the New Roman Republic. The third Forge World was also commissioned, once again greatly expanding the industrial capacity of the New Roman Republic.
The major industrial project of the time however would end up being the Kuat Drive Yards, constructed around Kuat – a industrial world that was already important due to it’s shipyards and industrial capacity – had several massive rings of shipyards constructed around the planets. These shipyards would to this day serve as New Rome’s primary site for the construction of new military vessels, as well as having several prototype labs where new models of ships are constructed and tested.
Relations with the Vuln also finally reared it’s head. Celesa, a system which was agreed as a neutral zone between Roman and Vuln and was never to be colonized nor have any military ships or installations within it was discovered by a group of Roman traders to be playing host to a Vuln military installation. The Romans contacted the Vuln government and ordered them to destroy the station. When they refused, both sides sent fleets to a battle that became known as the Skirmish of Celesa. The battle ended in a decisive Roman victory, wiping out the Vuln fleet as well as station.
Early attempts were made by diplomats on both sides to prevent Celesa from turning into war – but the two Consuls completely prevented that. Andrea was a staunch worshipper of Mars and sought to lead fleets again for her own personal glory, while Enrico desired to match the great accomplishments of his father. The end result was that both the consuls shut down all proposals for peace, and the Roman military readied itself for war. The Romans were the first to strike, making a quick thrust into Vuln space.
Unlike the Roman-Untar war prior, the New Romans found that war to be far easier. Not only did they have superior numbers, but the incorporation of the Untar and their technology also gave them a technological edge over the Vuln. Vuln worlds quickly fell and they tried to sue for peace but to no avail. Both Andrea and Enrico had chosen to personally lead fleets, and neither was willing to stop till the Vuln had totally fall to the submission of the New Roman Republic.
The New Romans using the resources of the conquered Vuln to help construct their fourth Forge World, leading to what was declared as the New Pax Romana. The New Romans were at the height of their power and one of the de facto major powers of the galaxy. The entirety of the republic lived in luxury and despite a small number of Vuln and Untar rebellions that continued to occur throughout this period they were easily quelled, with the vast majority of the population preferring the stability afforded by the New Roman Republic. This period of Pax Romana would continue until the Ashtar arrived in the galaxy.
The arrival of the Ashtar was the end of the New Roman’s Pax Romana. The New Romans were no longer able to engage in the glory of war that they so desired. The New Romans became angered by the Ashtar – feeling that they crippled any true abilities for the New Romans to expand and gain power.
New Romans made several attempts to try to conquer various minor powers along their border, but each time they thwarted by the Ashtar. The Ashtar also forced the New Romans to mothball half of the shipyards at Kuat as an attempt to make aggression far more costly for the New Romans – severely crippling the ability for New Rome to build new ships. They sat in silence, begrudgely accepting the position that they had been put in by Ashtar. They began licking the wounds that had been caused by the Ashtar while waiting for a sign from the Gods that it was the right time to strike and regain their status as the glorious empire of New Rome.
When everyone realized that the Ashtar had vanished, New Rome quickly seized it’s chance and went on a conquest spree within their local space. They most took on minor powers – primarily Human, Vuln, and Untar states that had fled Roman hands or banded together to try to stand against the Romans. The initial victories in the war gave hopes to the Romans that they would once against stand on the pedestal of being one of the greatest empires. Their hopes quickly turned for the worse however as they simply were not prepared to face the major powers.
New Rome had not drawn up any real battleplans for fighting the major powers – or at least not ones that were extensive enough to serve as a useful framework for fighting the major powers. Expecting that they would go into the war and easily defeat them as they had done the Vuln and other minor nations previously, it was quickly apparent that this was not the case. The New Romans lost ground, but strategy was changed to match the reality of the war the were fighting. The New Romans were also able to bring the rest of the Kuat Drive Yards back online, helping them build the new ships needed to face down the Great War.
The New Roman Republic quickly found themselves at odds with the Asrian Ascendancy however, which proved to be a disaster. The New Romans, only have gotten the Kuat Drive Yards fully back online part way through the war, simply could not muster the same amount of dreadnoughts as the Ascendancy. The Ascendancy used this to hit the Romans were hit hurt – their Forge Worlds. One ended up being totally destroyed when a Darkstar unknowingly targeted supports for one the antimatter reactors on the planet, causing a cascade effect which has left a scarred world incapable of recovering from the damage caused it. The remaining three were captured at different points in the conflict, their industrial capacity used by the Asrians during the war.
As the war drew to a close however the Asrians returned most of New Rome’s conquered territory as well as the Forge Worlds – giving them the pressure they needed to remain a major power at the Treaty of Détente. These worlds remain broken however, as only one is full operational while another remains at a third it capacity with the remaining one fully offline, as the Asrians did not have the knowledge needed to maintain and repair the critical antimatter reactors of these worlds.
The Romans only reluctantly accepted the Treaty of Détente – as they immediately became suspicious that other weaker powers would likely exploit this period to become as powerful as the major powers while other major powers would begin violating the treaty as soon as they got the chance became. As such the Romans began violating the treaty in secret immediately, but their experiments were limited to a small number of designs to make the missing resources look less suspicious and just a by-product of attempting to rebuild the Forge Worlds. Of these treaty violating ships, only a few designs ever showed promise due to the conditions they were developed in, so while New Rome’s treaty violating designs continued to be developed efforts were made to designs fleets compositions and designs that would get around the weaknesses imposed in ships by the treaty.
When the messages was heard, the New Romans also immediately seized the oppturunity and began using fast transports to quickly get men and supplies Agdemnar. They lost many of their men to reckless decision-making however and quickly had to take a moment to step back and scale down the size of their operations on the planet as they began trying to develop a strategy to seize the planet for themselves. They also quickly began up-scaling their test with treaty-violating designs and began building some of those new designs in preparation for the likely fall of the Treaty of Détente soon – as it occurred to them that was the fighting at Agdemnar nations would no longer be willing to abide by the restrictions placed on them. The current consuls also began using the battle to drive up a fervor in the people of New Rome, telling old stories of Anton Russo marching upon the human colonies and the Untar, and how it was finally time for the New Romans to truly seize the day and become the empire that will last eternal.
New Rome: As the capital of the New Roman Republic, New Rome is important due to governmental reasons, but beyond that, it is also in a key position among the core worlds to serve as a vital trade hub, meaning it also act as the primary economic center of the Republic as well. It also holds huge cultural value – some of the largest temples to the New Roman Pantheon are on New Rome, as well as the resting place of Anton Russo’s body.
Kuat: Kuat stands as one of the most important military and industrial targets in the Republic. In addition to the large amounts of factories on the surface responsible for producing ship parts, the planet is also surrounded my a massive ring of shipyards known as the Kuat Drive Yards. The shipyards provide huge production capacity for ships to the Republic, as well as offering dry-dock and repair space to help keep the fleet running.
New Germania: As the first world that the New Romans ever conquered it represents an important historical point for them – but it is also a massive agricultural world. New Germania is dotted with huge complexes of farms as well as it’s oceans even being covered in a variety of farms. New Germania is key in supplying the industrial and population worlds that do not have the same food supply as other colonies and agricultural worrlds.
Aerin: The Untar Home World. In addition to being a huge population center, it also is the primary technological center of the New Roman Republic. A variety of research departments make their home here do to easy access to trained personnel.
Vulnia: The Vuln Home World. It is primarily a population center as well as financial center for the outer colonies. It also is the home of New Roman naval forces that operate within the outer colonies
The Forge Worlds are one of the greatest achievements of the New Roman Republic. Massive planet-spanning factories that are capable of large amounts of industrial output, they are key economic points as well as shrines to the God Vulcan. A total of four have been constructed, all in differing states of repair due to the Great War as well as a lack of the specialized components needed to repair their massive anti-matter reactors.
Forge World 01: Still fully operational.
Forge World 02: Only at a third it’s total capacity. Three of its four reactors are awaiting the special containment components needed to bring them back online.
Forge World 03: Offline. All of the reactors went offline as the Asrians did not have the know how to repair them.
Forge World 04: Ruined. The destruction of one of it’s reactors has left the planet scarred and the atmosphere destroyed. Science vessels and small military patrols are the only things left, as they scavenge for information on how to prevent such a future disaster.
Societal/Governmental Information
Romus Humans: Representing about 40% of the total population of the New Roman Republic, Romus Humans are considered the dominate species of the Republic. Compared to their human brethren, they are stronger and have greater muscle densities, and also tend to live longer life spans on average. Sexual dimorphism as well as the wide range of phenotypic traits are for the most similar to humans.
Humans: Representing 20% of the total population, the human populations of New Rome are your bog-standard homo sapiens. The occasional trait and genetic alterations not displayed in the rest of the human population occasionally shows up here do to New Roman populations having spent multiple generations away from the main human populations, thus creating their own gene pool.
Half-Romans: As Romus Humans still carry mostly human genetic markers, Humans and Romus Humans are fully capable of producing viable offspring. Known as half Romans, they make up about 10% of the population and can display increased strengths anywhere from the human baseline to that of the Romus Humans.
Untar: Representing 10% of the population, the Untar are a bipedal race of humanoids. They lack any large scale genetic variation in terms of phenotypic traits, with most of the population have largely dark tan skin and darker patches of hair. Their other notable traits are a low birth rate as well as increased intelligence and universal psionic ability.
Vuln: Representing the last 20% of the population, the Vuln are a humanoid race of avians. Their wings are for the most part vestigial and seem to be left over from their genetic past, however Vuln still capable of using their wings for gliding as well as slowing themselves down if falling from air. Genetic variance tends to be in the color of their feathers, with mostly darker colors displayed. No known Vuln, at least inside of the New Roman Republic, has displayed any capacity for psionic ability.
New Roman culture isn’t so much Roman culture as it is a poor clone of it. The damaged historical and cultural records have left the gaps to be filled in to be used religious and cultural authorities for their own purposes. For example, it is often taught that the only reason that the Old Roman society fell was due to exterior forces and spies from within, ignoring many of the factors that the Romans caused themselves that led to the downfall of the Empire. The result is that the Old Roman society is often painted as being the highest point of cultural development for human society, and had it not been for it’s downfall, it would have led humanity into a golden age and let them ascend into space far earlier then they actually did. New Rome thus attempts to mimic the Old Romans as much as possible. Buildings are often grandiose and used marble or metal forged to look like it to match the architecture of the Old Romans, Latin is the official language of the Empire and it is usually dominant language where Romus Humans and Humans live, and clothing while still being more modern in take as elements of the Old Roman styles.
One of the other central themes that is prevalent is almost zealotry that a huge part of New Roman religious life. Once again do to damaged records the New Roman pantheon while mostly be similar to the one the old Romans had been altered with various deities from other cultures. There was also a huge loss of the mythos – leaving a lot of stories that would paint the Gods as being more spiteful and hateful missing from the rebuilt mythos, painting them in a much more positive light. New Romans thus are much more devout to their Gods – with most expected to pick at least one by the time they turn of age to be their primary God of worship. Those who enter the Priesthood will obviously choose the God they are a priest or priestess of, but for everyone else, it usually has something do with their profession. Pilots, merchants, and traders along the space lanes will usually pick Jupiter, factory workers and miners will choose Vulcan due to is associations with the forge, and soldiers will pick Ares or Mars. Everyone in the Republic is also expected to worship the supposedly ascended Anton Russo – as he is their divine protector and will keep the New Roman Republic from ever truly falling like the Old Romans did. While all of these have created a much more devout and zealous New Roman Republic, they still tend to be accepting of other religions – viewing the Gods and pantheons of other religions as merely the same deities with different names or incarnations.
New Roman culture is also tends to focus more on the collective rather then the individual. It is taught that in the vastness of space with Empires spanning hundreds of worlds and trillions of souls, the individual matters far less, and thus one’s life is best spent in service to the collective. Individual members are often still upheld as great men and women that should be respected and revered, but this is often added with a heavy dose of those individuals only being able to rise to their status due to the nature of the collective and their service to the collective. It is also this belief in collective that lead to the formation of the resident-citizen currently in use today, as it was believed that one had to earn their place in the collective before being allowed greater privileges.
The New Roman Republic is by in large a mostly industrial nation, but their economic largely centralized. What that mean’s is that most worlds are specialized in a few different types of economic fields, with their only being a few worlds such as the Capital that boast a wide variety of different industries. Agri-worlds, industrial worlds, the forge worlds, and mostly urban worlds are a common site throughout the New Roman Republic. The economy is also largely dominated by a variety of government owned mega-corporations that are responsible for overseeing the vast majority of the New Roman economy. These large mega-corporations arose primarily from the collective-worshipping nature of the New Rome, but a few smaller corporations still due exist.
When it comes to trade, the New Roman Republic primarily exports a wide variety of industrial goods. Refined metals, alloys, industrial machinery, and a variety of components for ships and weaponry. New Rome usually also has to sometimes rely on food imports. Due to the largely industrial nature of it’s economy, during times of war when food resources are more scarce New Rome has had to import food to keep up with the demand. This was particularly damaging during the Great War when despite having more then enough resources for trade, were unable to import food to keep up with demand. This led to rioting on the outer colonies – the worlds most often effected by the food shortages. Recent projects in years have focused on incorporating hydroponics into New Rome’s urban and industrial worlds, as well as several new colonies being settled primarily to be turned into more massive agri-worlds so that New Rome may finally be able to go to war without worrying about a long term food shortage.
New Rome is governed by two primary bodies – the Consuls and the Senate. The Senate acts as the legislative and judicial portion of the Republic’s government. They are responsible for passing all legislation as well as being responsible for setting up the court system as well as confirming judges for the major courts. The Consuls consistent of two elected individuals from the senate, and are the primary military leaders, with one overseeing the navy and the other overseeing the planetary-based forces of the Republic. They both have votes in the Senate and are also responsible for overseeing the law enforcement and diplomatic departments of the Republic, as well as a variety of other government agencies.
Another important aspect of the New Roman Republic’s government is the distinction between non-residents, resident, and citizens. Non-residents are anyone is anyone who has immigrated to the Republic and was not apart of a conquered population. They have to await at least one year before being able to become a resident, and essentially have no involvement in the political process. Residents are anyone born with the Republic or were a member of a conquered population. They can vote in the elections for Senate as well as their own local governments but are incapable of holding any government office. Citizens are any resident or non-resident who has spent at least two total years of service in any branch of the military or is distinguished via serving the Republic as either a high level engineer or scientist. Citizens can hold government office as well as having an extra vote to use during elections
Technological Information
Antimatter reactors have become the dominant form of power generator within New Rome over the past few centuries. The constructs can generate the immense power necessary for supplying Roman vessels as well as Roman industry. A special variant of anti-matter reactors has been developed, simply referred to as generation two reactors. These reactors are far larger than their older generator brothers and their primary use is in powering the New Roman forge words. Due to their immense size however, most of the parts involved in their containment fields as well as power systems require specialized teams of engineers and scientists to be able to construct, preventing these components from being mass produced. This is the primary reason the Forge Worlds are still offline or at lowered capacity, as it took the original teams decades to build and design the necessary parts. Fighters, shuttles, and other such vessels however still rely on fusion reactors since their size prevents them from being able.
Despite the Treaty of Détente restricting weapons development, the New Romans also sought to violate those particular parts of the treaty. It was far easier for them to hide their weapons development and figured that developing the next generation of weapons would make it far easier to retrofit vessels later down the line when the treaty finally collapsed. The first attempt into this was to use the long standing antimatter prowess of the Republic in attempt to develop weapons that would be far more destructive then anything the New Romans had before. The result was a wide variety of antimatter-based weapons that the New Romans have begun to deploy into their new designs. The first of these is beam-based weapon capable of projecting a large stream of antiprotons. While power intensive, these streamers have begun being incorporated into capital ships as well as in smaller numbers on cruisers, destroyers, and frigates. A wide variety and size of bombs and missiles using antimatter have been developed as well and are being stockpiled so they can begin replacing other forms of explosive weapons within the New Roman Republic. The New Romans have also begun testing antimatter shells to be used within their railguns.
The dominant form of weaponry in New Rome, besides the usual variety of railguns, lasers, and explosives, is plasma. For centuries and during the Great War as well as through the Détente period the New Romans choose to use plasma as their dominant form as it was the most powerful form of energy weapon they had access to, besides a few spinal-mount particle beams on certain capital ships. While the Treaty of Détente restricted the power output of Roman plasma weapons, new ones were still developed in secret as well as different combinations of gasses to achieve the desired effect. While the development of antimatter weapons as made plasma somewhat less popular among New Roman designers, they remain a mainstay for augmenting the capabilities of ships as well as in situations where the power requirements of antimatter weapons becomes an issue.
Beyond the standard FTL drives employed by New Rome, gates have been setup between major worlds within New Rome employing knowledge of wormholes. These gates allow for effectively instant travel with any other gate within the network, making transport within New Roman space far easier. These gates are expensive and require a power source, but the boon to trade and logistics makes them worth it.
As the New Romans had to rely on gene-editing fairly in their history, they have become adept at it. It is not uncommon for them to gene-edit their soldiers to improve their strength as well as other attributes. Cybernetic augmentation has also become popular in recent years to make their troops far stronger as well as replace limbs lost in combat
With the construction of the Forge Worlds, it became clear that the New Romans would need some solution. While stations were built in orbit as well as habitats scattered through the system containing the Forge World it was evident that there simply was not enough workforce to staff the worlds. Robots quickly became the solution, with the rapid development of new types of robots. The end result is the Forge Worlds were staffed by Overseers and Priests of Vulcan who oversaw the massive robotic work force that operated the many fabricators and replicators of the Forge Worlds. Robotics has also become a new avenue of military planning for the New Romans, as they seek to use the advanced constructs of these worlds to augment their military capabilities. Nano-technology and robotics has also been widely incorporated into the Forge Worlds as well as other aspects of New Roman life to bolster their technological and military capabilities.
//This list is not complete, and I will add to it overtime, but I feel like this is what is most important/relevant. I will make sure anything else major is either brought up in IC or in OOC to the GMs.
Military Information
The New Roman military is divided into two primary branches, with a variety of supporting organizations. The two primary branches are the Legio Astrum and the New Roman Space Navy. Each is overseen by one of the Consuls, with a military cabinet to help oversee and command both branches of the military as well as the other organizations.
Legio Astrum, or the Star Legions consists of all non-space-faring units, including the intra-atmosphere air force and wet navy. They also have a field command which coordinate smaller divisions of troops from the front lines while high command coordinates overall troop and units movements from behind the lines. They are by far one of the largest branches of the New Roman military, as even the elite units and special forces are incorporated into the structure of Legio Astrum.
The Classis Stella, or simply known as the Star Navy, operate all space-borne forces of the Republic, including marines and other forces meant for boarding ships or fighting aboard space stations. Unlike the Roman Empire of Old, the command structures of the Classis Stella and Legio Astrum are separate due to how vital the Classis Stella is to the overall security and military strength of the New Roman Republic. However, it isn’t uncommon for particularly gifted commanders to be given command of both a fleet and a number of legions, and the Consuls often take command of both legions and fleets as well.
The Expeditionary Corps is a scouting force used primarily for scouting new worlds. While technically part of the military as military vessels are assigned to it to guard their expeditions, it is mostly civilian colonists and scientists, so it’s the only branch where the two years of service rule does not grant one citizenship.
When it comes to espionage and counter-espionage Strategic and Tactical Information Services, or STIS, is the go to force for the New Roman Republic. While looked down upon by other branches of the military as their tactics are more dishonorable, they have proven invaluable in several wars to acquiring necessary information as well as preventing a number of terror attacks by Untar and Vuln actions earlier in New Roman Republic.
Roma-Class: The Roma-class is a Great War era dreadnought that saw service throughout the Great War and into the Détente period. Only a few of these vessels remain, as the Kuat Drive Yards only coming back online half way through the war prevented the New Romans from building dreadnoughts in large numbers. It is armed with a large number of plasma torrents and cannons, as well as a few large railguns and a large spinal-mounted particle cannon. It also carries a compliment of strike craft and bombers. Attempts were made to retro-fit the few remaining Roma-class vessels, but those attempts were largely abandoned in favor of constructing new dreadnoughts. They have been equipped with a few antimatter missiles however to make up for their older weapons.
Byzantium-Class: Another Great War era dreadnought, the Byzantium-class was commissioned to be an answer to the Asrian dreadnoughts. While using similar armor and shields as well as carrying the same spinal-mounted particle cannon, it opts to use far more missile pods and beam plasma weapons. It also sacrifices some of it’s own armament in favor of carrying more strike craft. This remains the more popular dreadnought due to the limited amount of Roma-class vessels, but plans are being made to phase it out.
Pompeii-class: The first truly successful dreadnought out of all of New Rome’s treaty violating experiments, the Pompeii-class promises to be the modern-era dreadnought necessary for New Rome to regain its military dominance. Opting out of a large spinal-mount weapon unlike previous New Roman dreadnoughts, it uses the extra space and power output to incorporate a number of antiproton streamers. It also sports more powerful plasma turrets compared to older generators and then a few missile pods and railguns, and a small complement of strike craft mainly for repelling other strike to finish off it’s armament. Only a few Pompeii-classes exist as the New Romans are still not yet ready to openly violate the treaty.
Antiochia-Class: A Great War era class that has mostly been phased out, it was long of the longest serving ships ever produced by the New Romans. Mostly consisting of railguns and missile pods with a small number of plasma turrets, it was famed by New Roman admirals for its reliability and ability to turn the tide of battles with a full barrage. It’s aging weapons however have made it unpopular in the modern era as even battleship designs that were made to appease the Treaty of Détente were capable of overpowering the class in wargames. Only a small number remain mostly serving as patrol vessels along trade routes, with the rest scrapped and melted down.
Florentia-class: Another Great War era class ship that still sees service in the New Roman’s fleets, unlike the Antiochia-class it is primarily equipped with plasma weapons and other beams weapons, and also carries strike craft. The Florentia is still in wide-spread use, as New Rome is still preparing their other modern-era ships for wide-scale deployment among their fleets.
Belum-class: The only Détente-era treaty vessel that the New Romans began using to use as a wide-spread vessel and developed as a replacement for the Antiochia, the Belum-class is a fairly light ship that like the Antiochia uses a large number of railguns and missile pods. Unlike the Antiochia is a faster vessel – as it’s armor was reduced to put it line with treaty limitations. While this was thought to limit its capability, most New Roman commanders found it useful as a vessel capable of quick sudden surprise attacks while enemies were occupied with the rest of the fleet. Much like the Antiochia before it, it is famed for it ability to turn battles and fairly reliable design.
Belum-Class MK2: A refresh of the Belum-class for the modern era, unlike its predecessor it has far bulkier armor and is far larger. It uses updated missile pods as well as being the first New Roman vessel to have railgun capable of firing the potent antimatter tipped shells now equipped by the fleet. It also sports a smaller number of plasma turrets for defense against strike craft.
Aquileia-Class: A modern-era vessel in violation of the treaty designed mostly as a replacement for the Florentia, it opts for a number of antiproton streamers rather then beam plasma weapons, and sports a fair number of plasma turrets as well as a compliment of strike craft.
Aeneas-Class: Détente era vessel mostly designed to support and protect capital ships, it is primarily equipped with plasma turrets for fending off strike craft and a number of frontal rail-guns for engaging other capital ships.
Brutus-Class: Another Détente era vessel this time primarily equipped with a variety of plasma beam cannons and a smaller number of turrets. The Brutus is more common then the Aeneas, as commanders favor the ability of the Brutus to engage other ships and the power of their plasma weapons.
Achilles-Class: The first modern era cruiser, it is equipped with a few antiproton streamers as well as a few plasma turrets for defense.
Hercules-Class: Another modern era cruiser designed primarily as a missile boat, its sports a number of missile pods equipped with antimatter missiles as well as a few railguns capable of firing antimatter tipped shells.
Odysseus-Class: The Odysseus is a détente era vessel primarily equipped with plasma beams weapons and is one of the most common ships in the Roman fleet.
Leonidas-Class: A détente era vessel serving primarily to help protect the large ships of the fleet, the Leonidas has a few plasma turrets and a small number of railguns.
Lysander-Class: A fairly light détente era vessel mostly designed to assist large capital ships in amassing barrages, it is almost exclusively with missile pod weapons.
All of the Roman frigate designs also have MK2 versions that are equipped with modern era weapons and armor and the older MK1 variants are slowly being phased out.
Phoenix-Class: A small corvette that does not see any combat service, but mostly serves as a patrol, scouting, and policing vessel. It is equipped with some plasma beams cannons a few turrets. Variants for both the Détente and modern era exist.
Dragon-Class: A response to strike craft, the dragon class serves equipped with a number of plasma turrets and missile pods to protect capital ships from strike craft.
Aurora-Class Bomber: A small stealth bomber that has both détente and modern era versions, the Aurora is fairly popular for augmenting the ability of Roman capital ships to engage other capital ships.
Lion-Class Fighter: A small fighter that is primarily used by Roman capital ships for engaging enemy strike craft and protecting other vessels.
Anton Shield Ship: A design originally commissioned by Anton Russo late in life, the Anton Shield ship has seen updates and redesigns throughout it’s life, but its purpose remains the same. It is capable of combining with other shield ships and projecting a frontal barrier to help protect Roman fleets from barrages. Its only armament is small number of plasma turrets to protect it from strike craft.
Legionary Transports: Both larger and smaller variants of the ships exist, but their purpose is simple, they carry the ground forces of the empire to their destination.
//Unless otherwise stated, all ships are equipped with the standard set of shields, armor, and point defense appropriate for their size and class. I will make notes where they have more or less shields/armor then is normal for their class. I really just did not want to have to write two-three paragraphs per a class.
The Legio Astrum is divided primarily into Legions, with each being specialized to their own purpose. While Legions exist that are primarily mainline infantry, the term Legions can also apply to the wet naval units or air forces. As for the kinds of equipment employed by the Legio Astrum, all infantry are equipped with a standard set of power armor and communications devices, as well as varying kinds of plasma weaponry and kinetic weapons depending on what the specific Legion is designed to fight. Most mechanized forces consist of tanks and large mobile command centers that are equipped for heavier fighting. A few specialized mech Legions exists, but they are not favored by the Romans as they have not seen much success when they were deployed in larger numbers. The ground forces also make use of both the Aurora-Class and Lion-class as their aircraft of choice, as well as a number of gunships and other transports vessels to assist in combat. Most Legion commanders will either favor quick decisive attacks, or a rapid attack followed by periods of entrenchment to give time for the Romans to manage their flank. Flanking tactics and air strikes are also fairly popular among the Legions of New Rome.
The Spear of Anton is the culmination of all the secret weapon experiments and treaty violations made by the New Romans. Named after the same legendary weapon used by Anton Russo himself to channel his psionic abilities, the Spear of Anton returns to the form of older Roman dreadnoughts by opting for a spinal mount weapon, but this time the weapon in question is a massive antiproton streamer capable of devastating other capital ships. This anti-proton streamer is also unique in that it is powered by the reactors used by forge worlds – adding on to its destructive potential. It also comes equipped with effectively every other weapon in the New Roman arsenal, as well as one of the largest compliments of strike craft with the New Roman Republic. The armor and shields are also some of the strongest ever conceived. The Spear of Anton remains the single most powerful weapon ever built by the New Romans, and constant changes are made to it everyday to constantly add new weapons and defenses that will make the ship needed to reclaim the glory days of New Rome.
Things to be done -all of military and tech -fix the grammar and spelling issues that I probably left in there -culture sections for the Untar and Vuln(at some point)
Official Nation Name
The New Roman Republic (De Publica Romanorum Novum)
Any less official names your nation or its people may have
Anton’s Republic, New Rome, Nova Romae
General Information (an overheading to space things out a bit)
Nation type (Major Belligerent, Minor Belligerent, Non-Combatant)
Major Belligerent
Overview
If there is any one thing that can summarize up the entirety of the New Roman Republic, it a romanticization of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire of Earth. They have adopted the language, culture, style, and mannerisms of the old Romans. However, this rebuilt version of Roman is uncanny in its appearance. The historical records of the colonists who originally founded the colony are incomplete – as such the New Romans had to fill in with other cultural elements or their best approximations of what Roman culture and life was. While this has created something that is vaguely Roman on the surface, key elements of former Roman culture are missing. The end result however is a culture and nation unique to the age of interstellar travel that wasn’t previously seen in human history.
History
The Solar War something that had brought disruption to the lives of several peaceful colonists in the outer human colonies. The end result was colonists that had become dillusioned as their once idyllic colonial lives was interrupted by resource shortages and men being pulled away to fight the war. This was only further compounded by the piracy caused by the Solar War, which effected the outer systems the most as they were unable to defend themselves. Anton Russo, a governor of one of the outer colonies as well as former naval officer, attempted to step up to the plate to help defend these colonies by rallying various traders and other civilian ships in the area to help defend against the pirates, and while progress was made they were unable to defend all of the outer colonies, leaving several to rot as crime became rampant.
With the end of the Solar War and the civil unrest in Sol, many humans also fled to the outer colonies, only further straining their already limited resources. Anton Russo once again rallied various civilian ships, but this time for a different purpose. He spread a message throughout the outer colonies that the collapse of current human civilization was inevitable as a result of the chaos of the Solar War, and invited those in the outer colonies, regardless of who they were, to join him in and expedition beyond known space to find a new home somewhere else in the stars. The expedition group swelled in size and ended up leaving the known stars of human civilization.
The group traveled around for a while, some colony ships splitting off to go and form their own colonies, but the bulk of the group remained with Anton Russo. They ended up happening upon a wormhole during their travels. The group saw this as a chance to explore somewhere in the galaxy that previously been unseen by human eyes. The wormhole however behaved strangely compared to all previous science the group had on wormholes, causing even more of the colony ships to be split from Anton’s group, and causing the main group to crash land on a fertile world that would later become as New Rome.
Within the initial few days of the crash, Anton’s colonist had found themselves on a planet that seemed to happily sustain life, and with animal and plant life that would be edible to human life – but another problem reared its ugly head. It quickly became clear that the gravity of the planet was actually higher then Earth’s, and while it was manageable and parts of the colony ships were salvaged to build dwellings that created Earth-gravity, workers still had to leave their dwellings to travel to farms and mines of the new colony, and as such suffered physical injuries as a result.
Anton, who had by this point become the de facto leader of the colonists, consulted with several scientists who had come along with the expedition. It was quickly agreed that the only true long term solution – since the FTL engines of the ships had been to damaged to be able to attempt to find a new world – was to genetically modify the whole population of the colony. Genes were extracted from some of the local wildlife and modified to be compatible with the human genome. Within a month the entire population had undergone gene therapy and was now capable of living comfortably in the higher gravity of the planet. A side effect of this therapy is this new subspecies of human – which would later become known as the Romus Humans – was far stronger as a result.
It another few months after this mass gene therapy that a few colonists decided to crack open the old historical and cultural archives from Earth in attempt to figure out what values the colony should adopt. Most of them were irreparably damaged in the crash as well as several lost from the colony ships were lost in the travel to the wormhole as well as those lost when traveling through the wormhole. Most of the historical records of the 21st century and beyond remained clear, but everything prior to that remained unclear and murky. The colonists were somehow drawn to Roman history – but were initially confused. They found myths and stories talking about two gods called Ares and Mars, but they as if they were one in the same, but the damage to archives made it difficult to figure the truth behind the situation. The conclusion made by the colonists was that they were twins who represented different aspects of war – Ares representing disciplined soldiers, honor in battle, and the honing of one’s personal skill while Mars came to represent blood, brutality, and personal glory earned in war. The result was the formation of The Cult of Ares and Mars while the colonists continued to explore to reconstruct the rest of the Roman Pantheon.
The Cult also ended up assigning something to Anton that would become unexpected. The Cult declared that Anton was the son of Ares – and fated to lead the colonists to a destiny of rebuilding the glory of Rome among the stars. To this day it is debated by scholars outside the New Roman Republic whether Anton truly believed himself to be the son of Ares or whether he merely saw the Cult as a way to begin rebuilding human civilization in this sector of space, but either way the result was the same. Anton drove the Roman bent far further and officially declared the colony to be the nation of the New Roman Republic and changed the name of the planet from New Terra to New Rome. He founded the initial Senate as well as became elected as one of the two consuls. This is also the point where the colonists sometimes referred to the new nation as Anton’s Republic – since the senate and the other consuls often deferred to him and he was so integral in the founding of the new republic.
As the New Roman Republic rapidly grew, primarily due to the heavy use of artificial wombs to help grow new Romus humans without creating genetically similar beings, so did people began filling in other aspects of the New Roman Pantheon. With damaged historical records, the New Romans adopted Nephthys as their Goddess of Death and the Underworld, figuring that since she was an Egyptian Goddess and Egypt once apart of the ancient Roman Empire that she was probably at least associated with the Old Roman pantheon. Jupiter would later be updated to become God of Space as the New Romans figured the old Romans could not have known about the extent of the stars. Neptune would also enter the pantheon continuing to hold domain over the sea. The titan Gaia also entered the pantheon as Goddess of the terrestrial domain, such as the Earth and Planets, and was also believed to have helped the rest of the pantheon ascend to their godhood over the other titans. The rest of the Old Roman pantheon was also adopted into their original positions, with Vulcan also being assigned the aspect of spaceship building. With the rest of the pantheon filled out, New Rome entered a cultural golden age with a wide variety of new paintings, literatures, myths, and poems being written about the restored pantheon. Latin was also adopted as the primary language of the Republic, with English mostly being taught only so that the old archives could be studied.
With New Rome thriving and becoming a heavily developed world, the New Romans finally rebuilt their FTL ships and began exploring the era around them. They also began studying the wormhole that they had initially traveled through to see if it could be used to develop a better method of FTL. The Republic’s initial explorations in their solar system and the surrounding one discovered more remnants of the initial expedition, having founded their own colonies and were peacefully developing. Most of them had found Earth-like worlds and thus were able to avoid the mass gene therapy the New Romans had to employ. The New Romans began trading peacefully with these colonies as the Republic began spreading out to new worlds within the local area.
Relations quickly began deteriorating however as The Cult of Ares and Mars remained the dominant religious influence. To them these colonies represented an oppturunity to begin rebuilding the Roman Empire of old and to bring the glory of the gods into space. Several priests and priestesses began to say that Ares and Mars had granted them visions of the New Romans standing victorious over the colonies, with the flag of the republic proudly flying over them. It wasn’t till Anton himself claimed that he had received a vision of himself leading a grand fleet that the New Romans became onboard with the idea. The industry of the Republic turned towards building warships, as they began gearing up for a war.
Primo Conquestum, otherwise translated to as First Conquest, is the day that New Roman ships destroyed the small fleet of the nearby human colony of New Germany and marched their forces down onto the surface, raising the flag of New Roman Republic over the colony. To this day it is celebrated as the beginning of New Rome’s empire and recognized for integral the victory was in inspiring more New Romans to sign up for the rapidly expanding New Roman military.
New Rome went on to continue conquering nearby human colonies, and while they were a many great victories, there were naturally some setbacks as the wealthier colonies were able to muster fleets able of beating back the New Romans. The fleet personally led by Anton however, never suffered a defeat, neither did any troops that he led in battle. The end result was an even greater mystique placed around Anton as most of those who followed the New Roman pantheon truly believed him to be the son of Ares and was to lead the New Romans to greatness among the stars
New Rome was eventually able to consolidate most of the local human colonies under their control, which lead to greater economic power as the resources of these colonies were directed towards rapidly expanding the Republic. This was also about the time the Citizen-Resident system was introduced, giving the conquered human populations a chance to stand side by side with the Romus Humans in terms of political power and influence. Many of the conquered populations also adopted the New Roman pantheon as not all to dissimilar to the Old Roman Empire, the New Roman Empire found ways to incorporate their Gods and Goddesses into the wide structure of the mythos.
Psionics also started showing up among both the Romus Humans and the conquered humans. The commonly excepted explanation was that they were either the children of gods or had been blessed with some small portion of divine power. Anton himself ended up becoming a psionic, so most of those who had adopted the New Roman pantheon ended up believing the explanation. The psionics often ended up being deployed directly on the frontlines, where their presence was thought to help bless the troops to victory and their powers often played key roles in battles against human colonies who had not yet been able to train their own psionics for war.
The flurry of signals from all this conflict was picked up by a nation known as the Untar Confederation. A race of intelligent psionic humanoids that were almost entirely a dark tan color and only had a few other physical variations. They made contact with New Roman Republic and were incredibly weary due to how aggressive they were. It was about a year after first contact that the Untar decided to declare on the New Roman Republic, in a hope to contain the Romans and achieve victory over them.
The Untar entered the war realizing that it would be long and difficult but thought that their victory was assured due to their superior technology. The problem quickly arose however when the Untar realized the sheer scale of the New Roman Republic. Despite their superior technology, their species had a low birth rate and a longer gestational period then the humans. While the Untar were able to easily win early battles, when it became clear the the Romans could muster far superior numbers of troops and ships, they were quickly put on the back foot in the conflict, loosing battle after battle as the Romans were simply able to absorb far more losses then the Untar.
This all culminated in the Battle of New Rome, where the Untar amassed their fleets and planned to initiate a Scorched Earth plan to eliminate the Roman’s advantage in the war. The mass of ships however was detected in FTL far before they arrived, allowing the Romans to prepare a defense and amass their own larger navy over the New Rome. The result was a battle where the Romans may have suffered a heavy blow to their fleets, the Untar navy was almost entirely wiped. The Romans took a few months to prepare themselves and launched a mass offensive against the Untar’s worlds.
The Untar lost world after world as the Roman’s fleet launched their conquest. Roman forces once against suffered heavy losses on the ground, but the Untar simply did not have the ability to muster more men then they could. The Romans finally arrived at the Untar capital world of Aerin, where the last of the Untar navy was destroyed and the Untar Confederation finally surrendered, allowing the Romans to achieve victory. The Untar Goddess known as Dela was incorporated into the New Roman pantheon as the Goddess of Psionic powers. The Romans now ruled over a large empire spanning multiple systems and world and were quickly becoming the major power within their local sector.
The real victory for the New Romans in the Untar conflict however was their technology and scientific prowess. Their technology was quickly incorporated into the next generation of New Roman ship design, all of which would remain staples in the New Roman navy till the Great War. The industrial technology however was incorporated into the first Forge World. A barren world in a system was stripped down and converted into one massive factory incorporating Untar technology and techniques. The result was a massive increase to New Roman industrial capacity and also a shrine to Vulcan – as the construction of such a world was viewed as an act of divine worship to his greatness.
A decade in Earth years followed the Roman-Untar War where the New Roman Republic experienced a minor golden age. During this time, they built a second Forge World and continued to expand the borders of their Empire as well get in contact with various members of the galactic community and begin integrating themselves into the wider galactic trading network. Anton Russo also finally retired from leading the Republic, where he said Ares had told that it was his time to rest, the dreams of a great New Roman Empire realized. His son, Enrico Russo, well-educated and trained in the art of governance and war, would be elected as a consul, alongside a veteran admiral of the Roman-Untar war known as Andrea Costa, who believed the New Roman Republic was not done expanding their great empire.
The study of the wormhole that the initial expedition came through lead to the ability for the New Romans create their own artificial wormholes. These required a large amount of space and power however – restricting them to creating an instant network of FTL gates between major points within New Roman space. The discovery was still important however, as it greatly expanded the military’s ability to maneuver within their own space as well as made trades between the major core worlds and the capital far easier to carry.
New Rome also made first contact with the Vuln along their border – a species of avians who shared some of the militaristic qualities of New Rome. Initial relations were actually good with the Vuln – as both them and the New Romans viewed each other as honorable warriors, but as the Empires expanded towards each other and resource rich systems as well as colonizable worlds quickly ran out, it became clear that relations would not remain stable with the Vuln for long.
Anton Russo, having lived far longer then a normal life-span, finally passed away in his sleep. The Cult of Ares and Mars however quickly declared that he hadn’t truly died – saying that his spirit had ascended to the heavens where he was given ambrosia and was to join the gods in immortality. This gave rise to the Cult of Anton, where he is worshipped as the hero and assigned the role of the Protector God of the New Roman Republic. The third Forge World was also commissioned, once again greatly expanding the industrial capacity of the New Roman Republic.
The major industrial project of the time however would end up being the Kuat Drive Yards, constructed around Kuat – a industrial world that was already important due to it’s shipyards and industrial capacity – had several massive rings of shipyards constructed around the planets. These shipyards would to this day serve as New Rome’s primary site for the construction of new military vessels, as well as having several prototype labs where new models of ships are constructed and tested.
Relations with the Vuln also finally reared it’s head. Celesa, a system which was agreed as a neutral zone between Roman and Vuln and was never to be colonized nor have any military ships or installations within it was discovered by a group of Roman traders to be playing host to a Vuln military installation. The Romans contacted the Vuln government and ordered them to destroy the station. When they refused, both sides sent fleets to a battle that became known as the Skirmish of Celesa. The battle ended in a decisive Roman victory, wiping out the Vuln fleet as well as station.
Early attempts were made by diplomats on both sides to prevent Celesa from turning into war – but the two Consuls completely prevented that. Andrea was a staunch worshipper of Mars and sought to lead fleets again for her own personal glory, while Enrico desired to match the great accomplishments of his father. The end result was that both the consuls shut down all proposals for peace, and the Roman military readied itself for war. The Romans were the first to strike, making a quick thrust into Vuln space.
Unlike the Roman-Untar war prior, the New Romans found that war to be far easier. Not only did they have superior numbers, but the incorporation of the Untar and their technology also gave them a technological edge over the Vuln. Vuln worlds quickly fell and they tried to sue for peace but to no avail. Both Andrea and Enrico had chosen to personally lead fleets, and neither was willing to stop till the Vuln had totally fall to the submission of the New Roman Republic.
The New Romans using the resources of the conquered Vuln to help construct their fourth Forge World, leading to what was declared as the New Pax Romana. The New Romans were at the height of their power and one of the de facto major powers of the galaxy. The entirety of the republic lived in luxury and despite a small number of Vuln and Untar rebellions that continued to occur throughout this period they were easily quelled, with the vast majority of the population preferring the stability afforded by the New Roman Republic. This period of Pax Romana would continue until the Ashtar arrived in the galaxy.
The arrival of the Ashtar was the end of the New Roman’s Pax Romana. The New Romans were no longer able to engage in the glory of war that they so desired. The New Romans became angered by the Ashtar – feeling that they crippled any true abilities for the New Romans to expand and gain power.
New Romans made several attempts to try to conquer various minor powers along their border, but each time they thwarted by the Ashtar. The Ashtar also forced the New Romans to mothball half of the shipyards at Kuat as an attempt to make aggression far more costly for the New Romans – severely crippling the ability for New Rome to build new ships. They sat in silence, begrudgely accepting the position that they had been put in by Ashtar. They began licking the wounds that had been caused by the Ashtar while waiting for a sign from the Gods that it was the right time to strike and regain their status as the glorious empire of New Rome.
When everyone realized that the Ashtar had vanished, New Rome quickly seized it’s chance and went on a conquest spree within their local space. They most took on minor powers – primarily Human, Vuln, and Untar states that had fled Roman hands or banded together to try to stand against the Romans. The initial victories in the war gave hopes to the Romans that they would once against stand on the pedestal of being one of the greatest empires. Their hopes quickly turned for the worse however as they simply were not prepared to face the major powers.
New Rome had not drawn up any real battleplans for fighting the major powers – or at least not ones that were extensive enough to serve as a useful framework for fighting the major powers. Expecting that they would go into the war and easily defeat them as they had done the Vuln and other minor nations previously, it was quickly apparent that this was not the case. The New Romans lost ground, but strategy was changed to match the reality of the war the were fighting. The New Romans were also able to bring the rest of the Kuat Drive Yards back online, helping them build the new ships needed to face down the Great War.
The New Roman Republic quickly found themselves at odds with the Asrian Ascendancy however, which proved to be a disaster. The New Romans, only have gotten the Kuat Drive Yards fully back online part way through the war, simply could not muster the same amount of dreadnoughts as the Ascendancy. The Ascendancy used this to hit the Romans were hit hurt – their Forge Worlds. One ended up being totally destroyed when a Darkstar unknowingly targeted supports for one the antimatter reactors on the planet, causing a cascade effect which has left a scarred world incapable of recovering from the damage caused it. The remaining three were captured at different points in the conflict, their industrial capacity used by the Asrians during the war.
As the war drew to a close however the Asrians returned most of New Rome’s conquered territory as well as the Forge Worlds – giving them the pressure they needed to remain a major power at the Treaty of Détente. These worlds remain broken however, as only one is full operational while another remains at a third it capacity with the remaining one fully offline, as the Asrians did not have the knowledge needed to maintain and repair the critical antimatter reactors of these worlds.
The Romans only reluctantly accepted the Treaty of Détente – as they immediately became suspicious that other weaker powers would likely exploit this period to become as powerful as the major powers while other major powers would begin violating the treaty as soon as they got the chance became. As such the Romans began violating the treaty in secret immediately, but their experiments were limited to a small number of designs to make the missing resources look less suspicious and just a by-product of attempting to rebuild the Forge Worlds. Of these treaty violating ships, only a few designs ever showed promise due to the conditions they were developed in, so while New Rome’s treaty violating designs continued to be developed efforts were made to designs fleets compositions and designs that would get around the weaknesses imposed in ships by the treaty.
When the messages was heard, the New Romans also immediately seized the oppturunity and began using fast transports to quickly get men and supplies Agdemnar. They lost many of their men to reckless decision-making however and quickly had to take a moment to step back and scale down the size of their operations on the planet as they began trying to develop a strategy to seize the planet for themselves. They also quickly began up-scaling their test with treaty-violating designs and began building some of those new designs in preparation for the likely fall of the Treaty of Détente soon – as it occurred to them that was the fighting at Agdemnar nations would no longer be willing to abide by the restrictions placed on them. The current consuls also began using the battle to drive up a fervor in the people of New Rome, telling old stories of Anton Russo marching upon the human colonies and the Untar, and how it was finally time for the New Romans to truly seize the day and become the empire that will last eternal.
Major Holdings
New Rome: As the capital of the New Roman Republic, New Rome is important due to governmental reasons, but beyond that, it is also in a key position among the core worlds to serve as a vital trade hub, meaning it also act as the primary economic center of the Republic as well. It also holds huge cultural value – some of the largest temples to the New Roman Pantheon are on New Rome, as well as the resting place of Anton Russo’s body.
Kuat: Kuat stands as one of the most important military and industrial targets in the Republic. In addition to the large amounts of factories on the surface responsible for producing ship parts, the planet is also surrounded my a massive ring of shipyards known as the Kuat Drive Yards. The shipyards provide huge production capacity for ships to the Republic, as well as offering dry-dock and repair space to help keep the fleet running.
New Germania: As the first world that the New Romans ever conquered it represents an important historical point for them – but it is also a massive agricultural world. New Germania is dotted with huge complexes of farms as well as it’s oceans even being covered in a variety of farms. New Germania is key in supplying the industrial and population worlds that do not have the same food supply as other colonies and agricultural worrlds.
Aerin: The Untar Home World. In addition to being a huge population center, it also is the primary technological center of the New Roman Republic. A variety of research departments make their home here do to easy access to trained personnel.
Vulnia: The Vuln Home World. It is primarily a population center as well as financial center for the outer colonies. It also is the home of New Roman naval forces that operate within the outer colonies
The Forge Worlds are one of the greatest achievements of the New Roman Republic. Massive planet-spanning factories that are capable of large amounts of industrial output, they are key economic points as well as shrines to the God Vulcan. A total of four have been constructed, all in differing states of repair due to the Great War as well as a lack of the specialized components needed to repair their massive anti-matter reactors.
Forge World 01: Still fully operational.
Forge World 02: Only at a third it’s total capacity. Three of its four reactors are awaiting the special containment components needed to bring them back online.
Forge World 03: Offline. All of the reactors went offline as the Asrians did not have the know how to repair them.
Forge World 04: Ruined. The destruction of one of it’s reactors has left the planet scarred and the atmosphere destroyed. Science vessels and small military patrols are the only things left, as they scavenge for information on how to prevent such a future disaster.
Demographics
Population
Romus Humans: Representing about 40% of the total population of the New Roman Republic, Romus Humans are considered the dominate species of the Republic. Compared to their human brethren, they are stronger and have greater muscle densities, and also tend to live longer life spans on average. Sexual dimorphism as well as the wide range of phenotypic traits are for the most similar to humans.
Humans: Representing 20% of the total population, the human populations of New Rome are your bog-standard homo sapiens. The occasional trait and genetic alterations not displayed in the rest of the human population occasionally shows up here do to New Roman populations having spent multiple generations away from the main human populations, thus creating their own gene pool.
Half-Romans: As Romus Humans still carry mostly human genetic markers, Humans and Romus Humans are fully capable of producing viable offspring. Known as half Romans, they make up about 10% of the population and can display increased strengths anywhere from the human baseline to that of the Romus Humans.
Untar: Representing 10% of the population, the Untar are a bipedal race of humanoids. They lack any large scale genetic variation in terms of phenotypic traits, with most of the population have largely dark tan skin and darker patches of hair. Their other notable traits are a low birth rate as well as increased intelligence and universal psionic ability.
Vuln: Representing the last 20% of the population, the Vuln are a humanoid race of avians. Their wings are for the most part vestigial and seem to be left over from their genetic past, however Vuln still capable of using their wings for gliding as well as slowing themselves down if falling from air. Genetic variance tends to be in the color of their feathers, with mostly darker colors displayed. No known Vuln, at least inside of the New Roman Republic, has displayed any capacity for psionic ability.
Society
New Roman culture isn’t so much Roman culture as it is a poor clone of it. The damaged historical and cultural records have left the gaps to be filled in to be used religious and cultural authorities for their own purposes. For example, it is often taught that the only reason that the Old Roman society fell was due to exterior forces and spies from within, ignoring many of the factors that the Romans caused themselves that led to the downfall of the Empire. The result is that the Old Roman society is often painted as being the highest point of cultural development for human society, and had it not been for it’s downfall, it would have led humanity into a golden age and let them ascend into space far earlier then they actually did. New Rome thus attempts to mimic the Old Romans as much as possible. Buildings are often grandiose and used marble or metal forged to look like it to match the architecture of the Old Romans, Latin is the official language of the Empire and it is usually dominant language where Romus Humans and Humans live, and clothing while still being more modern in take as elements of the Old Roman styles.
One of the other central themes that is prevalent is almost zealotry that a huge part of New Roman religious life. Once again do to damaged records the New Roman pantheon while mostly be similar to the one the old Romans had been altered with various deities from other cultures. There was also a huge loss of the mythos – leaving a lot of stories that would paint the Gods as being more spiteful and hateful missing from the rebuilt mythos, painting them in a much more positive light. New Romans thus are much more devout to their Gods – with most expected to pick at least one by the time they turn of age to be their primary God of worship. Those who enter the Priesthood will obviously choose the God they are a priest or priestess of, but for everyone else, it usually has something do with their profession. Pilots, merchants, and traders along the space lanes will usually pick Jupiter, factory workers and miners will choose Vulcan due to is associations with the forge, and soldiers will pick Ares or Mars. Everyone in the Republic is also expected to worship the supposedly ascended Anton Russo – as he is their divine protector and will keep the New Roman Republic from ever truly falling like the Old Romans did. While all of these have created a much more devout and zealous New Roman Republic, they still tend to be accepting of other religions – viewing the Gods and pantheons of other religions as merely the same deities with different names or incarnations.
New Roman culture is also tends to focus more on the collective rather then the individual. It is taught that in the vastness of space with Empires spanning hundreds of worlds and trillions of souls, the individual matters far less, and thus one’s life is best spent in service to the collective. Individual members are often still upheld as great men and women that should be respected and revered, but this is often added with a heavy dose of those individuals only being able to rise to their status due to the nature of the collective and their service to the collective. It is also this belief in collective that lead to the formation of the resident-citizen currently in use today, as it was believed that one had to earn their place in the collective before being allowed greater privileges.
Economy
The New Roman Republic is by in large a mostly industrial nation, but their economic largely centralized. What that mean’s is that most worlds are specialized in a few different types of economic fields, with their only being a few worlds such as the Capital that boast a wide variety of different industries. Agri-worlds, industrial worlds, the forge worlds, and mostly urban worlds are a common site throughout the New Roman Republic. The economy is also largely dominated by a variety of government owned mega-corporations that are responsible for overseeing the vast majority of the New Roman economy. These large mega-corporations arose primarily from the collective-worshipping nature of the New Rome, but a few smaller corporations still due exist.
When it comes to trade, the New Roman Republic primarily exports a wide variety of industrial goods. Refined metals, alloys, industrial machinery, and a variety of components for ships and weaponry. New Rome usually also has to sometimes rely on food imports. Due to the largely industrial nature of it’s economy, during times of war when food resources are more scarce New Rome has had to import food to keep up with the demand. This was particularly damaging during the Great War when despite having more then enough resources for trade, were unable to import food to keep up with demand. This led to rioting on the outer colonies – the worlds most often effected by the food shortages. Recent projects in years have focused on incorporating hydroponics into New Rome’s urban and industrial worlds, as well as several new colonies being settled primarily to be turned into more massive agri-worlds so that New Rome may finally be able to go to war without worrying about a long term food shortage.
Government
New Rome is governed by two primary bodies – the Consuls and the Senate. The Senate acts as the legislative and judicial portion of the Republic’s government. They are responsible for passing all legislation as well as being responsible for setting up the court system as well as confirming judges for the major courts. The Consuls consistent of two elected individuals from the senate, and are the primary military leaders, with one overseeing the navy and the other overseeing the planetary-based forces of the Republic. They both have votes in the Senate and are also responsible for overseeing the law enforcement and diplomatic departments of the Republic, as well as a variety of other government agencies.
Another important aspect of the New Roman Republic’s government is the distinction between non-residents, resident, and citizens. Non-residents are anyone is anyone who has immigrated to the Republic and was not apart of a conquered population. They have to await at least one year before being able to become a resident, and essentially have no involvement in the political process. Residents are anyone born with the Republic or were a member of a conquered population. They can vote in the elections for Senate as well as their own local governments but are incapable of holding any government office. Citizens are any resident or non-resident who has spent at least two total years of service in any branch of the military or is distinguished via serving the Republic as either a high level engineer or scientist. Citizens can hold government office as well as having an extra vote to use during elections
A lot of sci-fi settings outside of RP ignore physics and other scientific law. Why? Because were all not science majors and most of do not care for the complex math involved. Its just a different theme for the setting if that is an issue I don't see why you don't go find a setting that more adheres to real science that would be better for your tastes.
An address to the Empire of Attolia and the Kingdom of Ubren
"The European Trading League was created with two primary goals in mind, one to create a better environment for the merchants and other economic forces of Europe to be able to deal and trade fairly, and two to create better connections between the European powers to ensure a stable and peaceful Europe. It is with this in mind that the European Trading League has near unanimously voted to embargo both the Empire of Attolia and Kingdom of Ubren. While we cannot support the warmongering of Ubren, neither can we support Attolia's war crimes against it's own people, nor their attempts to disrupt the European order by trying to colonize lands recognized to Ianian via treaty. Until both parties agree to come to the negotiating table over these issues, the embargo will remain in place. Below are the signatures of all Trading League members participating in the embargo."
The Three City's Republic of Ianian - Doge Stefano Bianchi
The Republic of Tourbes - Carlos Sequeira
The Echyan Empire - Makis Panas
The Holy Territories of Edoniras - Buccio de Calvio
Tangir, Southpoint Tangir was the one of the metaphorical “crown jewels” of the Ianian’s colonial empire. It served as one of the main hubs of trade in and out of the Mediterranean as well as being an invaluable naval base for the formidable Ianian Armada. Today, however, it was where the Ianians were conducting an important clandestine meeting – one that could decide not just the future of the Ianian’s continued efforts in North Africa, but the future of the Hijeen people as well.
A government office had been procured for the meeting. Doge Stefani along with a few other notable Ianian diplomats sat across from a supposed “acolyte” of the al-Selim. It had taken connections, bribes, and a little bit of force from the Doge, but they had finally gotten the meeting that the Serene Doge had sat out for them.
“While it is not unusual for people to seek out the al-Selim – the efforts that you – a non-HIjeen – have gone through to seek him out are unusual. I have heard your message however, and something can be arranged – but before I would be willing to do so I need something from you. Why do you seek out our prophet?” spoke the acolyte.
“Simple really – the Serene Doge and the Senate are interested in cooperation. We have always endeavored to protect the Hijeen people from unfair discrimination and have safe guarded the Hijeen under are rule from attacks by Viponists. We were hoping that we could discover the al-Selim goals and cooperate if those are peaceful.” Responded
“Oh really Doge? You desire to protect the Hijeen people? Does that include giving them the weapons to escalate a conflict with a European power and throw more of their lives away?” questioned the acolyte.
The Doge flinched for a moment – the secret dealings with the tribes in the Sahara had been only known to a few within the government in the military.
“How did you…!?” the Doge looked at the acolyte for a minute, before he spoke again.
“You will discover my dear Doge, that the eyes and hears of the al-Selim are everywhere – it might have been a slight mistake of yours to let Linia and Southpoint elect senators who are Hijeens – and thus loyal to the al-Selim.” said the Acolyte.
The Doge gathered his calm and spoke again. “Yes, we did infact give weapons to them, but only because we believed their freedom should be a goal of Ianian, considering the Redcliff oppression they suffered under.” said the Doge.
The Acolyte laughed a little, before speaking again. “We both know that isn’t true Doge, that your government only desired to use them as pawns in the game of chess that you European powers like to play. Never the less, I think I know what I need to. Wait for another messenger, you shall have your meeting with the al-Selim.”
With that, the Acolyte departed, as the Doge began to prepare for his trip to meet the Al-Selim.
A letter to Edoniras To the most esteemed Sovereign of his people, his Holiness Invictus XI,
I am happy to see that our peoples can finally stand side by side with each other. While Ianian may be a secular government, some of our founding ethical principles have been based off of Viponist philosophy, and it would be a tragedy to ignore the cultural values that our Viponist population share with your people. Both of our governments have also been committed to peace in Europe. That is why I send this letter today, I would like to formally extend an offer to the Territories to join the European Trading League.
With the close proximity of our nations, having a defensive pact as well as the expanded trade access would be invaluable to not only Ianian but your people as well. Your people would also be exempt from the Straight Tax, would would be a large boon for Southern Trading ports. The Trading League was created not just to expand trade, but to use said trade to ensure peace across Europe, so I hope you see the value that Edoniras joining the organization and accepting the defensive pact would bring to ensuring that goal.