DRAMATIS PERSONAE
The Invulnerable Radagaisus, King of the Goths (Randy's past life)
The Beautiful Kreka, Radagaisus' consort (Theresa's past life)
The Wily Fritigern, a Gothic chieftain (Howard's past life)
The Treacherous Saphrax, a Greuthungi chieftain (Stevens' past life)
The Magister Militiae Nepotianus, a Roman general (Niall's past life)
The Jealous Valens, "Roman Emperor" (Ken's past life)
ACT I
SCENE I
Rome. "Palace of the Emperor."
The Roman Empire had divided between the west and the east long ago. Now barbarian hordes were coming in from Germania and the Steppes to conquer the divided nation that had conquered most of the world.
Valens was the Emperor of Rome, if one could call a person in such a day and age Emperor of Rome. With Rome divided there were emperors in the west and in the east but they were never one and the same. Valens considered himself to be the Roman Emperor simply because he was the most powerful person in both the west and the east, as if having been named for a past emperor was not enough. Due to this he was jealous of both Romulus Augustus and Zeno, rulers of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires respectively. A third fact was his actual residing in Rome since the West's capital was Ravenna and the East's Constantinople.
With his friend, a Magister Militiae by name of Nepotianus, Valens planned the defense of his "empire." He wanted the Goths, his most persistent enemy to be wiped out but was hesitant to do so as he had fallen in love with the sister of a Gothic chieftain named Fritigern, a wily fellow to be sure.
"I am torn, Neopotianus." Said Valens. "To defend my empire I want to wipe out my most persistent enemy but that would mean wiping out the people of the woman I love."
"Then marry her and leave the defense of Rome to others." Said Neopotianus.
"I can't leave this to others." Valens looked at Neopotianus as he sat in a chair. "The Goths are a threat and they must be taken care of yet I don't know how."