Gaulish plagues

14

At this time the government of Narbonesis recognised the crisis it was in. Their resources were being depleted due to troops that were sends to fight in Britain. The riots at the coast were still going on. The Senate became restless when the news reached them. Narbonensis was important as it was the Province in which much of the oil reserves of Rome were stationed. The oil tycoons from Northern Italy become frightened that a potential revolution might cost them their yearly income from the oil trade. The senate understood that they had to put down the rebellion soon, before it would spread also into the Alpine provinces. The Senate knew that dissatisfaction with Roman rule was also present within many towns in the Alps. 

Valerius was still residing at the magazine when a messenger from Rome arrived with the news that 4500 troops from Thracia were on their way to Gaul. This news alarmed Valerius. He understood the implications of a province under martial law. He knew that there are military tunnels around the Lemanus Lake which were dug during the rule of Julius Caesar. Those tunnels were a military strategy to police the Helvetians without them being aware of an approaching army. He is not certain whether those tunnels are still in use. After the annexation of Gaul the tunnels had no strategic purpose anymore. 

''Valerio... What are you up to?''

''I want to go hiding into the underground military camps around the Lemanus Lake..''

''Dude! You do know that those places are haunted?''

''What do you say?''

''Didn't you know? Those tunnels and those underground chambers have been abandoned for almost 23 years man!''

''What for?''

''When Emperor Augustus died many of the Augustan troops stationed at the Rhine region revolted against Rome. Augustus promised them extra payment for their efforts to maintain the Imperial frontiers. These payments never came. Also Augustus' successor was slow in solving the problem. What happened next was that many soldiers and policing agents began haunting German villages and plundering them. This happened outside of the jurisdiction of the state and that of the military. Some of these soldiers and officer were tried before court and incarcerated for years. A few received capital punishment. The rest of them stored their stolen riches into the military tunnels around the Lemanus lake and some tunnels in Rhaetia. Several years into the reign of Tiberius a weird plague befell those soldiers. Many died in horrible manners. All kinds of weird physical symptoms haunted them. Those that were not incarcerated nor executed were discharged from the army and from the policing agents of the state. Within months their corpses were found at the entrances of those military tunnels. Not only that, the nearby towns also experienced paranormal activities that brought intense fear among the civilians. Within three years, the governor in Lugdunum ordered that the tunnels in Gaul ought to be abandoned. In Rhaetia the civilians closed the entrance of the tunnels without permission from the local authorities. Some of those civilians became psychotic within weeks and committed suicide after killing some of their relatives in the process. The generals in Gaul, Italy and the Rhine region didn't want this record to become public. From then, the tunnels - which at the time of Augustus was seen as a great achievement of Rome - were denied as an account of fiction. Slaves that were used to work in the tunnels were executed to be sure that no witnesses survived. Veterans were paid hundreds of Denarii in order to remain silent about their former dealings with the tunnels. Today those tunnels are known as legends to motivate new recruiters for the army. Few people are still around to reveal what happened over there. Some of the loved ones of those Rhaetians that became psychotic are forbidden by the authorities to give accounts of what happened to their relatives. It is now blamed on bad nutrition.''

''Man... I never heard of this..''

''That is because you are not supposed to know about it. When I was nine I had an uncle who used to deliver food supplies for the army Rhaetia. He was attack one day by one of those mentally infected Rhaetians. He was severely wounded and lost a lot of blood. He was taken care off by the military and he recovered within 8 months. He still had to work for another four years to pay off the costs of his recovery! Also, he had to pay back for the supplies that were damaged by the attack! My uncle died 6 years ago. Also, there are some widows of former soldiers that went into those tunnels after the ban by Gaul's administration, and they never returned. The army forbid anyone from going into the tunnels to search for them. Around 100 civilians tried to uncover the mystery past 20 years and they vanished! They just vanished!''