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Primus Alderus was bored. He had been bored ever since he moved here. His father was of course very happy with his promotion. There had been quite a few promotions of late; the Hierarchy had had something of a shakeup since the Relay 314 incident. Heads had metaphorically rolled (and literally if the rumours were to be believed) within the Hierarchy. As a result Primus and his father had left Palaven for the Citadel.

He hated it here. The house was nice enough but school was terrible. His classmates were predominantly Asari or Salarians and he had nothing in common with them. He missed his old friends, even talking and gaming with them was all but impossible thanks to the damn time differences.

The young Turian sighed and looked for a distraction from this depressing train of thought. He went over to his desk and logged onto the extranet. The usual games were all there but Primus did not feel like playing them, it would not be the same.

Then he noticed all the new titles. That was strange, he had not heard about any new games coming out, never mind this vast new selection. The titles looked a little odd, as thought there were translated, Salarian perhaps? Their tech companies were always a bit paranoid about new developments; fear of corporate espionage always outweighed good publicity worries. But the usual Salarian logos where nowhere to be seen, so where did they come from? Perplexed Primus looked on the news section; he had been out of the loop for a few days. And just like that the mystery was solved.

These were human games.

Dare he play them? His father would not approve of course. But there again his father had moved them to the Citadel without his approval. In any case, he would probably never know. If he did, well what could be more proper than learning about a new alien culture? With these rationalisations made, the young Turian began exploring.

After reading past the headlines Primus learned that these were old or 'classical games' as the site described them. After scrolling though the oldest ones, which looked very simplistic and quickly looking up what a 'Sonic Hedgehog' was (which raised far more questions than answers) he found one that sounded appealing.

"Rome Total War," Primus murmured to himself "I've no idea what a 'Rome' is but the Total War part sounds good."

Rome, as it quickly became apparent, was a place on Earth, which had built an empire at some point in human history.

"Must have been quite early, they don't even have guns."

Instead, as he watched the opening cut scene the Turian noted the walled settlements and that the armies fought with primitive close combat weapons. They also rode upon strange four creatures, one of which looked like a giant Elcor with an absurdly long nose.

As Primus began playing the tutorial the one thing that really took him by surprise were the names. Roman names were remarkably similar to Turian ones, a few were Turian names. It was only after he thoroughly checked the language setting that he acknowledged that it was not some strange translation issue. This ancient human civilisation had, by pure coincidence, names that were uncannily like those of modern Turians. Primus vaguely wondered if these Romans were still around in some form or another.

Apart from that bizarre circumstance, the game was a good one. Fighting battles with his Roman Army was easy enough to learn and they seemed to far more ordered than the 'Gauls' they were fighting, who reminded him a little of Krogan. Once the battle was done Primus moved onto the Campaign map and faithfully followed the advice on building and expanding his Empire across the oddly boot shaped map. Within the hour Primus finished the tutorial and began his first real campaign. It was on a far larger map and he had the choice of three Roman factions. He picked the red Julii faction he fought with in the tutorial and began a short Campaign...

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A week later Primus found himself facing his first multiplayer campaign. The other players were a friendly enough bunch. The majority were naturally human but there were a few others. In particular the incredibly foul mouthed Asari bartender leading the Britons, who began the game by loudly proclaiming that she'd be painting the map blue to match her azure. Primus had even managed to rope in one of his classmates; a Salarian named Lerorth who, favouring hit and run tactics, took command of the Parthians. Primus having spent virtually all his spare playing through every major faction chose his old favourites the Julii once more.

Just one more turn thought Primus. The Gauls were down to their last settlement. The human playing them had put up a damn good fight but he had been fighting enemies on all sides from the start. Now Primus' well-organised Legion's were at the gates, one more turn and he could breach the walls. He pressed the end turn and waited.

DEFEAT

The message popped up and Primus gaped, he had been so close.

"Oh typical, the totally a-historical Egyptians have done it again," grumbled one of the human players.

"One more turn and I would have won!" exclaimed a frustrated Primus.

"Same here buddy," replied a human playing one of the other Roman factions.

"I'm just glad I made to the end," decided Lerorth. "Those chariots are lethal!"

"New game, same time next week?"

"Yes"

"Defiantely"

"Absolutely"

"With light-hearted bravado: I look forward to trampling you all with my war elephants next time."

Primus grinned; he would be looking forward to it.

"Indeed" replied the winner, "This one is most gratified to have won. And this one now requests that you all bow to your new Pharaoh!"

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