Application Of Great Imperium Romanum

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Imperium Romanum
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Application Of Great Imperium Romanum

Post by Imperium Romanum »

Well, after being introduced to the ESUS by another member of yours I have decided to try my hand at entering this organisation. I have been RP’ing for just over a year, but I consider my role playing abilities to be more than acceptable. I have utilised three different nations in the past as I got to grips with a style which I liked, going through a xenophobic race of humanoids, an interstellar colony of hive minded beetles and an Objectivist utopia of underwater jellyfish, before arriving at a nation I like.

The Glorious Empire of the Great Imperium of Romanum, as its self conferred full title is, is essentially a “what-if� nation. In this case, it is the product of the Roman Empire overcoming the threats posed by the Eastern migrating tribes and succeeding in expanding, adapting, and stabilising as time progressed; regressing back to a Republic based model of governance whilst retaining the name of “Empire� in its shortened form.

Its history was simply a gradual, yet momentum gathering, march of Roman conquests across the globe in a safe and steady manner. Conquering much of northern Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean only to pause and ensure their new citizens were fully integrated and accommodated before engaging in the arduous process of spreading their territory across the harsh terrain of the Middle East and Russian waste lands. By the year 1200 the Roman Empire was engaged in productive trade with the eastern lands of India and subsequently gaining new knowledge via the silk trade routes of new methods to improve their own technology, explorations across the oceans revealed the New World civilizations which were either absorbed or conquered into the Imperium.

The drastic turning point in this alternate version of Rome was the discovery of an alien portal in 1843 which allowed access into alternate versions of earth, by this point the Roman Empire spanned the globe and was focused mainly on cultural integration. What naturally followed was the expanding of their realm through the portal onto seven other versions of earth (thus far); three which have been fully conquered, and four which they have foot holds on. Now in the year A.D. 3082 the Roman Empire occupies eight extra-terrestrial worlds, and has used their dimension hopping technology to expand onto multiple versions of those worlds in turn.

In terms of society and culture Romanum is diverse and welcoming to favourable cultures, the discovery of the Mesoamerican nations, whose strong military and spiritual devotion as well as their impressive architecture, provided a useful insight into how other nations traits could be proven to be useful to the Imperium. The smooth integration of Mesoamerican culture into Roman society paved the way for similar transitions during the conquest of the Eastern continent.

The original Roman pantheon of gods has expanded a hundred-fold over their conquest of earth, subsequently all gods are accepted and tolerated by the Imperium, the assimilation of Hindu and Mesoamerican cultures naturally adding a near thousand possible deities to the already complex assortment of Roman gods. Monotheistic religions in the form of Judaism, Islam, Christianity and Zoroastrianism exist but have not took hold in a strong manner, whilst Islam has a strong following in the Middle East Judaism is the most secure religion, centred naturally around their Promised Land; Christianity is viewed as a small cult like sect whilst Zoroastrianism is more wide spread, but being the focus of smaller communities and certain members of the lower class.
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Re: Application Of Great Imperium Romanum

Post by Naggeroth »

Hey, the process we go through here is you're given three Senerios which you're to write a self-contained short story for. These don't have to be canon to your nation but they do have to be written by you and provided within the time frame of about a month. If for any reason the application is going to take longer just let us know in this thread.

Now, as for the Senerios.

Test #1: Congradulations, you have become owner of your very own Out of Context Problem. Much like those Native to the American or Australian Continents as the first European settlers arrived your society has been presented with a fleet/machine/ship/spaceball which defies everything you currently understand about physics. To make matters worse they/it is currently sitting in exactly the same spot across all the Earth's you have conquered. Write the reaction of someone within the nation, be they military, civilian, government or scientist. There is no limits to what the object/s may be so long as they are beyond your nations understanding.

Test #2: Now we're presented with something different. Specifically a society which is much less advanced then your own. You wish to incorporate them into the Empire's sphere of influence however local International pressure means you cannot use violence without facing very dire consequences. Roleplay the methods your government uses to intergrate them into your society without using overt force. Note that covert force or threats of violence are not prohibited.

Test #3: The final challange. Large Elements of your military are very close to an uprising following a rather Charasmatic General who has just returned from a successful campaign against the Republic's enemies. To make matters worst forces loyal to this man have moved into threatening positions along the boarder of several neighbouring nations causing them concern which they are taking the oppertunity to voice. Deal with the international fallout, the General's influence or both in any way you see fit.

These are you're tests. Take your time to answer, if you need more time merely inform us and we'll hold off marking.
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Re: Application Of Great Imperium Romanum

Post by Imperium Romanum »

Excellent stuff, I shall get onto it then, I shall keep you posted on my progress.
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Re: Application Of Great Imperium Romanum

Post by Imperium Romanum »

Right, installment 1:

Hsia Zhuang, a short balding man of Chinese descent, was bundled briskly down a white marble corridor adorned with red tapestries and a vibrant mix of Chinese and Roman design aesthetics. The two soldiers escorting him, done out in full Roman Legionary uniform, helmet, shield, short sword, and of course a machine gun, were a foot taller than him, strong chinned and muscular, their skin as dark as the blackness of space; a visual reminder of the Roman armies practice of moving its soldiers to operate in lands foreign to the troops place of origin, in order to minimise the possibility of rebellion, after all, if they were not loyal to the land in which they served, they would at least be loyal to the Imperium which they served.

Hsia Zhuang of course bore no ill towards these men from the heart of Africa, they were all citizens of the Imperium; what he did resent however was being dragged out of bed in the early hours of the morning, driven for four uncomfortable hours, in silence, to a concrete military bunker without a single explanation. Somehow he managed to re-adjust his spectacles with the soldiers marching astride him; their hands clasped firmly around his forearms.

They entered what Zhuang first mistook to be some sort of underground garden, pebble mats, Zen rock sculptures, fountains, and artfully twisted bonsai trees co-existed with the solid mosaic and columned walls which were distinctly Roman, being escorted to a stone pedestal he found himself suddenly standing in front of a collection of military officials sitting behind a raised marble desk.
Twelve bright eyed, toga wearing, military types sat staring in a calculating manner at Zhuang, who shifted uncomfortably in his more traditional oriental clothing and unconsciously adjusted his glasses; of the twelve men eleven were Chinese like himself, one man, sitting in the centre of the table however possessed the chiselled features of a Roman born aristocrat.

"Hsia Zhuang?" he inquired in a strong, yet reassuring voice.

"Ye-Yes" Zhuang croaked, suddenly realising that his throat had dried up from five hours of relative silence.

"Celebrated scientist of the Eastern Centre For Cosmological Observation?" The man of Rome added.

"Yes sir." He replied uneasily, his fingers drumming against his palms in a nervous twitch. The man before him nodded his head in a satisfied manner.

"Hsia Zhuang, I am Ovidius Praeconinus, Legatus Legionis of the collective Provinces of China." The way in which he spoke suggested that his name was to be received with revelation and joyous shock, Zhuang did not disappoint.

"Ovidius Praeconinus!" He gasped, "Consolidator of the European nations of Darkness in Fractal Earth Three?"

"That I am," Ovidius made a dismissive gesture but a look of smugness flickered across his face, "But this meeting is, alas, not about me, but of you my fellow Imperium citizen. Tell me, did you notice anything... unusual yesterday night? In the Eastern Heavens above Central China?"

Zhuang's mouth opened and closed like a fish deprived of oxygen before marshalling an answer, "Well... I... and my fellow colleagues spotted a... meteorite, or small asteroid, entering the earth's atmosphere, barely large enough to cause any disturbances... It would have broken up before impact judging by its size..."� Zhuang trailed off, a small gnawing thought began to form in the back of his mind.

"And, have you heard anything else unusual recently in the Central Provinces recently?" Ovidius asked casually, seemingly examining a mosaic on the ceiling.

"Well..." He stammered nervously, "There was the... ah, reported impact of a fallen satellite in Chibi City wasn't there? A military one..."

"Yes, that's right." Ovidius said nodding serenely, Zhuang relaxed slightly, even though beads of perspiration were now massing like ants on his forehead. "Please, would you direct you attention to these please..." Ovidius waved a hand at a large screen built into the wall, originally hidden behind a banner bearing the Imperium insignia. Zhuang watched as a number of images rolled by, a caved in house, cordoned off and surrounded by troops, a crater containing a large blocky steel item, and a jumple of pictures of what Zhuang presumed to be... the oddest satellite he had ever encountered. Was this some kind of top secret military project?

"What would you say," Ovidius said in a manner as calm as though he were discussing the possibility of an early lunch, "if we said this wasn't ours?"�

Zhuangs head spun as though he'd been hurled out of a window, "Wha- What are you suggesting sir?" He clamoured, "That a nation from the fractal worlds is spying on us?"

Ovidius drummed his fingers on the desk whilst he seemingly pondered, "What if I told you it wasn't made by human hands?" He said with an air of infinite finality.

"What?! Those That Came Before?" He exclaimed as a wave of revelation rolled over him.

"No." Ovidius replied simply, "It is well regarded amongst academic circles that Those That Came Before have departed the form of universe to which we are familiar with. We suspect that this," he motioned towards the screen, "Is from something else."�

"Then... surely... why do you need me?" He cried abandoning all pretence.

"Oh not just you, three others in a similar profession in Fractal Earths One, Two and Four... as well as an assortment of specialists we've managed to procure from the existing nations on the four other... unconsolidated Earths." He sounded indignant, seeing Zhuang's look of confusion, and anticipating his next question he added, "The exact same situation, as far as we know it, has occurred on all the Fractal Earths."�

Zhuang, naturally, was not too surprised by this, the universe was more or less exactly the same in the alternate dimensions, the same comets went by, the same meteorites fell, it should only make sense that the same mysterious object would fall upon their world to cause extensive confusion. Although he was probably out of his league, and out of bounds, his curiosity had been stoked, "What are the other nations stating?"

"It is difficult to say, the... China's, because yes they all fell in the same place, are by their nature isolationist... But the current line in response to our inquiries has been that it's simply a military satellite." An unexpected grin erupted upon his face, "Although the Ming and Qing nations are at utter loss to explain what's fallen in their backyard. He laughed, "Primitives, they've come crawling to us for help." He regained his composure, "But the most important thing is to resolve the situation within our own borders, to that end, we're dispatching you as an official representative, to inspect this... anomaly, and give a reasonable assessment. Agreed?"�

No sooner had Zhuang managed to open his mouth to reply was he once more seized by the elbows and escorted from the room as quickly as he had come, the door slamming shut behind him as he made his most undignified exit.

Chibi City

The wide paved Roman avenues lined with trees, intermittent with squares home to statues or fountains, did little to detract from Chibi Cities natural aesthetic. The deeply styled red tiled sweeping roofs of townhouses lined the streets, the streets filled with the smells of street vendors peddling their wares. Zhuang however felt isolated, both by the military vehicle in which he was being carried in and the knowledge he knew.

The street where the device had fallen had been blockaded off, troops preventing access to the area in order to protect what had fallen there. Zhuang’s vehicle was waved through and not before long he had been escorted into the remains of the house in which a family of five had been killed as the Anomaly as he called it had made its dramatic entry. Stumbling over debris and rubble, and choking on the dust he stirred up he feasted his eyes upon the burnished metal sphere that lay before him.

At least half of it had to be buried beneath rubble, although it was vaguely spherical it was covered with odd bumps and protrusions, it didn’t seem to be a satellite, although who knew what small multi-armed creatures from across the void considered a satellite to be. It seemed to be covered in etchings, strange intersecting shapes and lines across its surface; he wiped his glasses on his shirt, reaching out to brush his fingers across its mysterious surface he was rewarded with a sudden slap across the wrist.

“Ouch!� he cried in indignant surprise, squinting up at the owner of the offending hand he found himself face to face with a formidable looking woman of Mongolian descent.

“What do you do?� She demanded, putting unnecessary emphasis on her words whilst adjusting a screwdriver she carried.

“I� he said puffing himself up to his full height, just below her nose it seemed, “am Hsia Zhuang. Entrepreneurial scientist of th-“

“Eastern Centre For Cosmological Observation. Yes I know, well done. Come with me.� Turning briskly round and stepping lightly over a pile of rubble to navigate round the satellite Zhuang it seemed he had no choice but to follow her.

Despite feeling a deep urge to hide somewhere dark and comfortable he summoned enough courage, although it was possibly irritation and tiredness posing as courage, to ask her whom she was.
“And who exactl-“

“My name is not important, neither is yours, my job however is important as is yours. Hold this.�

Thrusting a meter long drill like device into his hands trailing a number of wires he stood there dumbly and was reminded painfully of his utter lack of social skills; in the very least he was gratified by the fact that he wasn’t a berk.

“If I may.� She said bluntly yanking it once more from his hands; she placed the sharpened end on one of the small lines that adorned its surface. Now he could see that they were in fact minute grooves, flipping a pair of goggles over her head and jerking her head in manner that implied he should back away, or perhaps hide beneath several meters of fallen concrete, flicked on a switch.

Zhuang’s indignant cries were smothered by the pounding screech of metal on metal as the jackhammer got to work. Staggering out of the room, at utter loss to find a reason as to why a respected scientist would use such brutish and heavy handed methods against a rare, and possibly ground breaking discovery. Having ventured into an adjacent room, he found a number of fellow scientists sitting forlornly amongst a number of erected white plastic work cubicles.

“What,� Zhuang announced to the room at large whilst sitting down on a free chair, “Is that woman doing in there?�

“Mershenka? A tall scrawny man with a bird like nose said glumly, “She’s trying to open it.�

“It’s like a caveman trying to figure out the workings of a carriage clock by smashing it apart with a club.� Another added miserably.
“But... why?� Zhuang said in disbelief, what aren’t you al-“

“Why aren’t we taking readings with our own equipment?� One said with an arched eye brow, “None of our instruments work, apparently it doesn’t exist.�

“But that’s...�

“Improbable? Humph.�

Zhuang’s brow creased in a frown as the jack hammers noises drummed against his skull, “What does she do?� He asked slowly.

“She’s an engineer.� A colleague replied with an infinite air of bitterness.

Zhuang was about to express his general disgust at being treated as inferior by a wrench wielding monkey when a sudden inexplicable blast knocked him, and everyone, and everything in the immediate vicinity, over; a few moments later an opposing wall joined them by thankfully toppling away from the crowd of scientists scrabbling over each other to stand up. Zhuang managed to pull himself to his feet, and was rewarded with the sight of Mershenka, scratched, bloodied and bruised, a look of complete and utter bewilderment upon her face; that surreal scene was suddenly replaced by flying bricks and splintered wood tearing towards him; Zhuang fell backwards as darkness engulfed him.

He gasped as the cool shocking sensation of water hitting his face caused him to bolt upright into consciousness; his heading spinning a kindly man patted him on the shoulder and asked in a genial way that doctors usually had if he was “ok�. Zhuang would have replied to this if it had not been for the that fact he was distracted by cries of terror, shock, and mostly memorised by an ungainly black oblong slab the size of a small tower block laying floating above the house where the satellite was; in either case, the doctor had moved onto another fallen colleague.

“Wha- What is this?� He gasped, cleaning his glasses as he directed his bewildered stares towards a badly scratched scientist he recognised as a fellow man of learning.

“I don’t know.� He replied grimly, but honestly.

“Did the satellite bring it here? Aliens?� Zhuang said in disbelief.

“That is the satellite.�

Watching now Zhuang could see it was made of the same black burnished material, similar patterns sketched across its surface, a surface that seemed to shift and move like a large Tetris puzzle. A glowing white light seemed to emit from within it, shining between the cracks of the various items which composed it; suddenly a number of exterior segments shifted, allowing a bright shaft of other worldly light to shine through, a number of blockish industrial looking parts seemed to sail out of the light, slotting into place whilst the hole re-sealed itself.

“Parts seem to be coming through a portal of sorts, in its centre.� The scientist standing next to Zhuang said firmly, as though assuring himself of the facts he knew. Zhuang could see a large crowd forming in the distance, held back by Imperium forces to keep the half panicked, half fascinated, people at bay. The rumble of tanks and helicopters could be heard approaching.

“Is it... dangerous?� Zhuang asked, mesmerised by the objects inconceivable nature.

“Welll... they’ve got tanks... helicopters... I’m sure it’s just a precaution... It’s that Mershenka’s fault. The scientist added bitterly.

Zhuang suddenly remember the last time he saw her, and was about to inquire as to where she was, or what had happened to her, when the deafening roar of jet planes erupted overhead, dozens of missiles erupted against the mysterious objects exterior, tanks and mobile rocket launchers unleashed their fury upon it; it was soon obscured by a great cloud of black smoke. The crowd screamed and ran in shock and in anticipation of several falling tonnes of exotic metal.
Instead, what was demonstrating to be a weapon of war, unleashed wave after wave of lasers that tore through jets and tanks, causing them to explode like Christmas crackers. Zhuang, and hundreds of other witnessing the spectacle, screamed as a wide beam of light cascaded from its hull, the surrounding ground shuddered, dirt, debris, buildings, and to Zhuangs horror, people, were sucked up into a great shining white awning; it was as if a giant vacuum cleaner from hell had descended upon Earth. A fighter jet, trailing fire after dodging a web of fiery lasers plummeted towards the alien device, only to be crushed beneath tonnes of ejected debris from the device’s innards. The white vortex expanded as the size of the device grew, sucking in more and more of its surroundings.

In his last memories, the ones that would be his own and no ones else’s, ones that would be prised several hundred years later by intrigued archaeologists from the battered remains of an interior computer matrix once integrated into a human being, it would show that as he was sucked, flailing, screaming, into the vortex like so many others, he was seized, again like all the others, by a pair of deft mechanical claws, the truly last thing he saw, was a huge whirring menagerie of razor sharp industrial equipment as it plunged into his body and mind.

The rest of Zhuang’s memories would be the simple relaying and receiving of orders as he marched his way across the Roman world burning all in his wake along with the burgeoning army of an automated interstellar malevolence who viewed the glorious Roman Empire as little more than a door mat to wipe their feet on.
Last edited by Imperium Romanum on Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Imperium Romanum
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Re: Application Of Great Imperium Romanum

Post by Imperium Romanum »

-So the markers know, i'm still in the game, just have been busy is all.
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Re: Application Of Great Imperium Romanum

Post by Kostemetsia »

IR, what encoding are you posting in, if you know? Your quotation marks look, to me, like the characters for a lowercase a with circumflex, a euro sign and an o/e ligature in that order.
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Re: Application Of Great Imperium Romanum

Post by The Mindset »

Kostemetsia wrote:IR, what encoding are you posting in, if you know? Your quotation marks look, to me, like the characters for a lowercase a with circumflex, a euro sign and an o/e ligature in that order.
This isn't a problem on his end, it's a problem on mine. During the forum merger some encoding errors happened - his future posts won't have the same problem.

I'm working on a fix for past posts, but I don't want to deploy it until I'm sure it won't corrupt it further.
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Re: Application Of Great Imperium Romanum

Post by Imperium Romanum »

I trawled through my first post ammending all the incorrect syllables, but I ran out of time for the last few paragraphs.

Next installment coming tonight.
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Re: Application Of Great Imperium Romanum

Post by Imperium Romanum »

Sorry I was away on holiday, may I continue with this?
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Re: Application Of Great Imperium Romanum

Post by The Mindset »

Yeah, help yourself.
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