Roma Aeterna
Mass Effect AU
Introduction:
"Ah Flavius Belisarius. Reclaimer of the Empire, conqueror of the Barbarian kings, Restorer of the Legions, the greatest commander since Gaius Julius Caesar, greater even than Alexander the Great himself.
Fifty four years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, you found yourself at a vital crossroads. In true keeping to the finest traditions of the great Roman conquerors of old you had recovered North Africa from the would be Vandalic 'kings' and retaken Italia herself with blood and iron. You, great savior of the Empire, had recovered the Eternal City herself from the filthy Gothic usurpers, and ruthlessly driven the traitorous turncoats from our home. YOU Flavius Belisarius won the absolute loyalty of the liberated people of Rome, and as tales of your accomplishments and the feats of military prowess by your Legions spread through the world, the first rumblings of a revolution began to make themselves known.
Of course the weakling Emperor Justinian was no fool. He realized your power was growing to eclipse his own. That at a word all the Empire would rally to your banner. He recalled you to Constantinople to stop you before it was too late. He thought you weak willed, obedient, and foolishly loyal. He could not have been more wrong.
You, Flavius Belisarius, Scourge of the unworthy Emperors, refused, and your word was given. A revolution the likes of which had never before been seen swept across the Roman world.
To Rome volunteers of all walks of life, from all corners of the old empires, of all classes from Patrician to Plebeian to free men to slaves, even women and peoples from outside the Empire rallied to your banner. They rallied to Rome, and they rallied to save their realm. They rallied to YOU, Flavius Belisarius because they knew in their hearts, in their very souls that you would reforge the Empire to once again stand unconquered against the world, marching to bring to heel all those who dared look upon our success with envious eyes. They knew beyond all doubt that YOU, great restorer of what it means to be Roman, would cleanse the rot of decadence and corruption that drained the mighty and brave people of Rome of their resolve and their strength in the face of the barbarian hordes. That YOU Belisarius the Wise would combine the unchallenged strength of the old Empire of the old Pax Romana with the hard learned lessons of the divided Empires and the near forgotten virtues of the Republic to create a new empire, one of cold steel and strong people to replace the crumbling empire of useless gold, silver, and cowardly men.
In the face of this, in the face of a Roman people that for the first time in CENTURIES found themselves once again full of vigor and unity of purpose and with a goal to strive for. In the face of the might of the newly restored Legions, against every living soul of the Empire, what chance did The cowardly, decadent, and unforgivably vain Justinian truly have?
Justinian fell. His mercenary armies fell against the unbreakable discipline of the Legions, and the whole of Constantinople, the Jewel of the East rose up to bring the disgrace of an emperor to be judged against your boundless might and unparalleled virtue and found wanting. You Belisarius, paragon of all that it is to be Roman, found yourself being pleaded, no, implored to take up the mantle of Emperor unchallenged of the People of Rome and all her holdings, and you, most dutiful of us all, obliged. You took leadership as all great Roman heroes in the vein of the indomitable Horatius and the virtuous Cincinnatus not for greed or personal ambition. You took command because it was your duty as Roman and as a citizen to do everything in your vast and unparalleled abilities to see Rome great again.
Great does not begin to cover the scale of your successes.
You, Flavius Belisarius, founder of the greatest line of emperors ever seen, marshaled the strength of all those with stout hearts and strong spirits, be they of Roman blood or foreign descent, or be they even man or woman, and turned all their efforts to retooling our forges to war production, exchanging our gold and jewelry for the sword and shield, our race horses for steeds of battle, our silk clothes and exotic hats for the coat of mail and steel helmet of the legionnaires. You taught the WORLD that to be Roman is to defend the Empire, to BE the Empire. It is to extend the light of civilization to all who would fight and die to protect it, and to destroy those who would threaten it so thoroughly, so ruthlessly, and so completely that they can never become a threat again. It is to devote everything to the prosperity of the Empire, not to the individual, because when the Empire prospers, so do her people, but when the individual prospers, the rest are crushed, and the Empire left to whither and die. Yes Belisarius, shield of civilization, it is you from whom we relearned the meaning of the motto placed on our battle standards since the beginning of the Ancient Republic.
S.P.Q.R.: The Senate and the People of Rome. Not the Emperor of Rome, not the Merchants of Rome, not the men of Rome and not the God of Rome. The Empire stands, and the Legions march for the PEOPLE of Rome. For what are the true Legions but people of Rome, and as everyone from Carthage to Macedon, to the Gauls and even the Spartans themselves learned in the past. When all the people of Rome strike out for war. When the Eagles lead the Legions into battle, they conquer all against whom they march.
Thanks to you, Imperator, they marched on the World and now, Flavius Belisarius, five centuries after you delivered us from our doom;
We march on the stars."
-Titus Loreius Audaios,
Legate, Legio V Victrix,
Before leading his legion into their transports to join the first fleet sent to colonize Mars.
A/N: So it begins.
So as you've probably guessed, this is another alternate history story about the Roman Empire surviving its fall and coming to rule the world and beyond. However, let me tell you what this is NOT.
This is not simply an insertion of the Roman Empire as we know it into the Mass Effect setting.
What this is, however, is an speculation on what I personally believe would be the kind of Roman Empire that might have had a chance to not only survive its demise, but go on to unite the human race under its banner and thrive well into the future. Along with an exploration of what the human race would look like after being united under an empire like Rome (which tends to Romanize other cultures, in layman's terms, take the parts they like of that culture, make them better, and then replace the rest with their own. Think cultural assimilation.) for well over two millenia before ever running into the wider galactic community.
Plus, let's be honest, who doesn't want to see the Legions duke it out with the Turians.
On that note however. Another thing this will not be is a HFY fic where humanity curbstomps everyone in their path. I'm going to do my best to make this an interesting, and well thought out story. Though in general, I'm going to flesh out certain elements of the Mass Effect universe and mess with the story a bit to portray everyone involved as what they should be. The Citadel Council is a governing body with some of the best leaders that each race can offer. The Salarians are going to be incredible scientists and spies, the Asari are going to be ridiculously highly experienced and well trained commandos, negotiators, and diplomats, if somewhat stagnant, and the Turians are going to be a highly disciplined, professional fighting force with soldiers who have been training the better part of their lives to be the best there are, and have proven themselves in all out galactic war.
Conversely, Humanity in this situation is not at all going to be the fractitious, inexperienced newcomer either. You will see more in the coming chapters, but this is an Empire that for longer than any other single civilization in human history, and from almost the very beginning of its existence, has never bowed to anyone, never acquiesced to the demands of a foreign power, and is used to being the biggest, baddest, most powerful entity in the world and it will show.
As for how big of a deviation from canon and the original plot this will be; it depends on how the story develops. The general plan right now that I have outlined is to use canon as a guide to keep us on track and avoid making it unrecognizable when compared to the regular plot, but not be afraid to deviate and change the Mass Effect universe in considerable ways.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this. I am certainly open to suggestions and questions. In fact PLEASE send me suggestions. The more ideas I have to work with, the better the finished product is going to be. However keep in mind that I might not answer some due to spoilers, and the fact that I am trying to avoid the trap of spoon feeding you all of this new setting with a handful of codex entries for you to dig through before you can actually get to the story. I will try to present it all within the story itself, and if I make a codex at all, it will completely separate from the story itself, and only reference what has already been revealed in the story itself.
Please let me know if I make any major errors so I can fix them if they need to be fixed. I'll rewrite if I need to on occasion, I just want to make the best story I can.