Albonium

Volume II - Against Rome

Book IV - The Elven

I - The Second Roman Way

Senator Aelius walked around the streets of Rome, the capital, the pinnacle of the empire, for the empire belonged to Rome as an extension, and therefore Rome was not merely a capital, as Paris was, but a coalition dominated by a singular power. And this coalition was shared, not because ever possible rebellion could be destroyed, but because it seemed there would be no purpose in rebellion, as Second Roman rule, which spanned the solely habitable continent of Europe protected the remaining seventy million lives against the evils of the Fell, and history had been rewritten by the wealth of Rome, the victor of the Isle of the Fell against the demonic forces of Tharizdun. His presence was of taint, and therefore had to be destroyed. Purpose and direction was given, and thus power could have its reigns put on in terms of motivation, loyalty, and wealth.

Power was bought in terms of pre-Great War designs, in cars and planes, in ships and oil and gasoline, in knowledge, which was incredibly scarce as nearly all knowledge was destroyed by the Great War and by the Civil War in Rome. Illiteracy was rampant and the intellect of the common man became impoverished, and history was henceforth rewritten, and the Second Roman Empire, headed by the resurrected Julius Caesar, was the beacon of light unto the great darkness of the empty lands, and the ruin that came before.

Merchants sold goods to feed their families, and few could have higher ambitions. Demand was placed on them by those who did, who were henceforth capable of ruling. If there was a higher ambition, it was directed towards personal hedonism and pleasure, and thus the individual would become highly valued in society, for their greed was basic and simple, and easily strung with.

Men became poor and men became rich. Yet, the poor men struggled, and struggled hard, for they hated the world they were in, and wrestled with it until others were poor and they were rich, and thus the Roman state constantly took steps forward.

Greed and corruption were rampant, but were allowed so long as the educational basis remained the same: to increase the prosperity of the people, for power was never directed towards greed, as those who were greedy were satisfied by rich pleasures and not influence or power. Roman democracy was henceforth defined as a government representing the people, which did not necessarily have to be chosen by them, for the people lacked knowledge, and they lacked patience.

Truth and press were meant to be controlled and divided, yet they were dominated in a stronghold of power and wealth, held back only by the competency of the small. Struggle was the prime locus, that forced the powerful to stay their power, and was the thing that abolished decadence.

The new Emperor, he realized, or the Imperator of the Roman Army, the Pontifex Maximus, he who was worshiped as protected by the gods and their scriptures, the Princeps Senatus, among many other titles understood this well, on a level decent to his uncle and predecessor, and therefore he would not be overthrown, for anyone strong enough felt no need to, and such things driven by greed only happened in a tragic vacuum of purpose, and therefore was brutal to the individual, as one was kept in power so long as he was useful, and stripped of it once he lost his nerve.

And therefore, so long as there were demons to attack, so long as enemies existed to unite the entities of Rome and make them obey their leader, so long as the cause of Second Rome was never questioned as the successor of the great states of Man, this was the Roman way.

II - Occurrences

It had been fifty-two years after the bloody Roman war, and sixty two after the death of Caesar. Polonius had started his reign, and all seemed well, as Mankind slowly rediscovered itself, and entered a golden age of little opposition, yet, it was clear that this age would falter, once energy could not be directed, once no threats emerged, that Man would lose his direction and then diverge, for the policy of struggle would dissolve the state at the greater demand for progress, and it seemed that Man was driven by two forces, hate and love, hate which granted a state of Man an enemy, and love which made the men support the state. Either Man united by hate which created a barrier of love, or Man divided and hated and loved himself, creating a constant struggle and a race towards power.