Soldiers were slowly abandoning their sacrifices to Mars, Minerva, or Ares, and instead offered them to the universal God of War. The endless local spirits and gods were now understood to not be actual individuals, but merely different manifestations of a handful of entities. Some, like Mithra, actually became more powerful as Roman veterans began to worship him and bring his cult back home with them in retirement.Д«y this point, Rome's religious makeup began to shift. In the wake of conquest, the Eastern gods did not fade away in defeat, but continued to have popular support from the common people. Tributes and ambassadors flooded the Emperor's halls in Rome, and plans for further conquest were already being drawn up even before the last Persian rebels were subdued. Emperor Parthicus sent emissaries as far as the islands of Chryse and Argyre, bringing back with them tales of immense wealth and exotic races of both men and beast. Just as Alexander had before them, the Romans took an ever greater interest in India and Arabia following the war over Persia. His lover, main general, and successor would take on the royal name Parthicus in honor of this achievement. It would not be until the reign of Emperor Valentine in AD 170 (923 AUC) that Rome would finally gain an edge, and even then victory only came through the help of new amazon and centaur auxiliaries from the north. More and more powerful magic continued to be discovered and utilized in a theological arms race, which devastated the lands of Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia, and beyond. Rome was not the only civilization revisited by the gods, and Ahura Mazda, Mithra, Anahita, and others became more involved in the escalating wars. The most formidable foe to the Empire continued to be the various dynasties of Persia. Magic at this point was almost entirely religious in nature, with little interest in discovering alternate sources. Neptune was frequently called upon to protect the navy, and Osiris saw increasing popularity for those hoping to give their loved ones an easier journey to the underworld.

Cultists of Jupiter could invoke his powers to control the weather in their armies' favor, while followers of Apollo could help heal and mend wounds. By this time, the rekindled magical arts coming out of the various temples and academies also began to play a larger role in outward expansion. Since soldiers also demanded sizable land grants upon retirement, this also encouraged the Empire to seek out new conquests. This also necessitated tax reform and the end of private tax farmers. The most important changes to come, however, were not from the various conquests, but from the internal reforms put into place by Emperor Vitus, who emerged victorious in the ensuing civil wars of the early second century and established a new dynasty of his own.ДЄmong Vitus' reforms were a restructuring of the military, shifting the role of soldier's pay from their generals to the imperial throne.

By the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty in AD 95 (848 AUC), Imperial borders stretched from the Elbe river in the north, the Saharan wastes to the south, and the Euphrates river to the east. Campaigns into Germania and Marcomannia continued, and were finalized under his own son and successor, Emperor Germanicus. Not since the Trojan war had the gods taken an active role in the world, at least in the West.Дrusus, known to history as Drusus the Lame due to his limp following a fall from his horse, soon took the reigns of the Empire. Mourning turned to celebration, and a new star appeared in the sky to mark the occasion. The divine messenger announced that the revered Caesar had ascended into the pantheon of gods and would continue to preside over his subjects from the afterlife. While all of Rome gathered around his mausoleum, their cries were interrupted by the appearance of Mercury himself. However, his reign could not last forever, and in AD 14 (767 AUC) the Emperor shuffled off his mortal coil. While events don't exactly repeat themselves, they certainly rhyme and feel familiar to our own world, and I think the end product will be both alien and mundane, as the more things change the more they stay the same.ДЄfter nearly a century of calamity and civil war, Augustus Caesar successfully took the throne as the first Roman Emperor and brought about decades of unprecedented peace. I don't think of it as alternate history, per se, but more. This timeline is a bit different from anything else I've made. After far too long, I feel it's finally ready to post online and share with everyone else.

One of them has revolved around revisiting one of my older maps here and giving it a major overhaul. Although I've been on hiatus for a while now, I've still been actively working on various maps and scenarios.

Roma invicta saber