Hello, fellow forummers!
I am back from my long exile hiatus to which I enjoyed. But I am back and I hope you enjoy what I have to offer.
*****
Autumn, 355 AD
*****
Constantius sat inside his chamber in his palace at Constantinople, as the growing footsteps of sandals slapping onto the marble floor echoing ever louder, as the Roman officer stood before the emperor and saluted. Constantius looked up to the officer and acknowledged him.
“It is done, Augustus,” he said emotionlessly, addressing the emperor. “Silvanus is dead,” Constantius nodded in reply.
“Thank you, Ursicinus,” he replied, as he dismissed his obedient servant. As Ursicinus left the chamber Constantius sighed in relief. The emperor knew that a potential threat had been eradicated before it had gotten serious. He felt angry but also sad.
“Silvanus was a man whom I trusted and he did this to me!” he thought angrily to himself. Constantius now rued the decision to send his Master of Infantry magister peditum to Gaul, which had been wracked by deep incursions by barbarians, which some seems had decided to settle.
“With Silvanus dead it keeps my rule over the empire intact but I can’t solve all the empire’s problems,” he pondered to himself. “I need someone else to stamp out the trouble in Gaul while I maintain rule in the eastern provinces. But who do I choose?” Annoyingly for Constantius there were no main standouts that he could think of and that was largely to do with the civil war.
Constantius’ father, Constantine The Great, had spent thirteen years reuniting the western and eastern Roman Empire under the banner of Christianity. But when he died in 337 things changed. Imperial power was divided between his three sons: Constantius, Constantine II and Constans. However, it was not long before civil war broke out and thirteen years of hard fighting across the whole empire ensued before Constantius was the sole survivor out of the three sons by 350 AD. But there was only obstacle before he could be crowned Augustus: the usurper Magnentius who in 350 AD seized control of the western part of the Roman Empire.
“Of course!” Constantius exclaimed to himself, possibly coming up with a possible suitor to help his Gallic conundrum. “Julian could be the key!” He thought of when most of his extended family had been killed in the civil wars after Constantine’s death. Although he remembered all had died apart from the two sons of his half brother Julius Constantius: Gallus and Julian.
Constantius had decided to appoint Gallus Caesar so he could supervise the eastern provinces, while Constantius fought Magnentius in the west. However, the emperor's happiness soon soured after recollecting how after brutally suppressing Magnentius' revolt he had Gallus executed, as he suspected he held sinister motives with regards to the throne.
“Why on earth would Julian accept my offer to command the army in Gaul after what I did?” Constantius thought depressingly, as he thought back to why he had sent Silvanus in the first place. The emperor knew after being crowned Augustus he couldn’t attend every single flashpoint across the empire at once. So Constantius decided to send his trusted friend Silvanus to Gaul. He had no choice for it needed his best commander to solve an growing crisis.
The troubles in Gaul had gotten to breaking point after all of the belligerents in the civil wars had decided to strip the borders bare of all available manpower in their attempt to seize power. The only thing that did was prompt large scale barbarian raids, which penetrated deeper into Roman territory each time it wasn’t checked.
Constantius recollected telling Silvanus his objective: to go into Gaul and show them the might of Roman steel as Julius Caesar did. However, the emperor remembered getting the shock of his life when informed by couriers the army in Gaul had proclaimed his friend Augstutus to which Silvanus accepted.
"How could I have fallen into the trap of entrusting generals with so much power? It had been the downfall of many emperors in the past!" Constantius lamented to himself at being put into that position. However, he had Ursicinus to thank for he had bribed disgruntled soldiers within the rebelling army to have Silvanus killed and nip the problem in the bud. But the problem still arose: should he trust Julian with commanding his troops in Gaul?
“I have no choice,” he sighed to himself. “The troubles in Gaul still persist and if unchecked will merely undermine my power to the point of my downfall. Besides, a relative will be a bit more trustworthy than that snake Silvanus!”
So the emperor decided to entrust Julian the command of solving the troubles in Gaul. To make sure Julian would agree to head this dangerous expedition to Gaul, as well as strengthen the bond between him and Julian, the Augustus decided to give his sister Helena to Julian as a bride.
But there was just one problem: Julian had never held any public positions or even spent any time in the army.
General Rawlinson- This is most unsatisfactory. Where are the Sherwood Foresters? Where are the East Lancashires on the right?
Brigadier-General Oxley- They are lying out in No Man's Land, sir. And most of them will never stand again.
Two high ranking British generals discussing the fortunes of two regiments after the disastrous attack at Aubers Ridge on the 9th May 1915.
I am back from my long exile hiatus to which I enjoyed. But I am back and I hope you enjoy what I have to offer.
*****
Autumn, 355 AD
*****
Constantius sat inside his chamber in his palace at Constantinople, as the growing footsteps of sandals slapping onto the marble floor echoing ever louder, as the Roman officer stood before the emperor and saluted. Constantius looked up to the officer and acknowledged him.
“It is done, Augustus,” he said emotionlessly, addressing the emperor. “Silvanus is dead,” Constantius nodded in reply.
“Thank you, Ursicinus,” he replied, as he dismissed his obedient servant. As Ursicinus left the chamber Constantius sighed in relief. The emperor knew that a potential threat had been eradicated before it had gotten serious. He felt angry but also sad.
“With Silvanus dead it keeps my rule over the empire intact but I can’t solve all the empire’s problems,” he pondered to himself. “I need someone else to stamp out the trouble in Gaul while I maintain rule in the eastern provinces. But who do I choose?” Annoyingly for Constantius there were no main standouts that he could think of and that was largely to do with the civil war.
Constantius’ father, Constantine The Great, had spent thirteen years reuniting the western and eastern Roman Empire under the banner of Christianity. But when he died in 337 things changed. Imperial power was divided between his three sons: Constantius, Constantine II and Constans. However, it was not long before civil war broke out and thirteen years of hard fighting across the whole empire ensued before Constantius was the sole survivor out of the three sons by 350 AD. But there was only obstacle before he could be crowned Augustus: the usurper Magnentius who in 350 AD seized control of the western part of the Roman Empire.
Constantius had decided to appoint Gallus Caesar so he could supervise the eastern provinces, while Constantius fought Magnentius in the west. However, the emperor's happiness soon soured after recollecting how after brutally suppressing Magnentius' revolt he had Gallus executed, as he suspected he held sinister motives with regards to the throne.
“Why on earth would Julian accept my offer to command the army in Gaul after what I did?” Constantius thought depressingly, as he thought back to why he had sent Silvanus in the first place. The emperor knew after being crowned Augustus he couldn’t attend every single flashpoint across the empire at once. So Constantius decided to send his trusted friend Silvanus to Gaul. He had no choice for it needed his best commander to solve an growing crisis.
The troubles in Gaul had gotten to breaking point after all of the belligerents in the civil wars had decided to strip the borders bare of all available manpower in their attempt to seize power. The only thing that did was prompt large scale barbarian raids, which penetrated deeper into Roman territory each time it wasn’t checked.
Constantius recollected telling Silvanus his objective: to go into Gaul and show them the might of Roman steel as Julius Caesar did. However, the emperor remembered getting the shock of his life when informed by couriers the army in Gaul had proclaimed his friend Augstutus to which Silvanus accepted.
“I have no choice,” he sighed to himself. “The troubles in Gaul still persist and if unchecked will merely undermine my power to the point of my downfall. Besides, a relative will be a bit more trustworthy than that snake Silvanus!”
So the emperor decided to entrust Julian the command of solving the troubles in Gaul. To make sure Julian would agree to head this dangerous expedition to Gaul, as well as strengthen the bond between him and Julian, the Augustus decided to give his sister Helena to Julian as a bride.
But there was just one problem: Julian had never held any public positions or even spent any time in the army.
General Rawlinson- This is most unsatisfactory. Where are the Sherwood Foresters? Where are the East Lancashires on the right?
Brigadier-General Oxley- They are lying out in No Man's Land, sir. And most of them will never stand again.
Two high ranking British generals discussing the fortunes of two regiments after the disastrous attack at Aubers Ridge on the 9th May 1915.
[This message has been edited by Legion Of Hell (edited 08-09-2012 @ 09:42 AM).]