1247–1347
| 2000–2100
| Armed with cannons, Rome invades Ethiopia. Sina watches this new phase of expansion with concern.
|
|
| The Nionian Emperor Go-Daigo visits Rome, learns about Roman exploration and conquest, and brings the secret of gunpowder back to Nionia.
|
1347–1447
| 2100–2200
| Go-Daigo leads the Kemmu Restoration, using firearms against the powerful Hojo regency. The new firepower helps him to see off opposition from his erstwhile ally, Ashikaga Takauji. He restores the powers of the Emperor and unites Nionia.
|
|
| Continued exploration/conquest of interior Africa runs into difficulty when Roman African states unexpectedly turn against Rome.
|
|
| Roman explorers return from an attempt to circumnavigate the globe with news of a brief landing on a huge new landmass in the West. They call it Terra Nova, but this is no time for a military adventure there.
|
|
| Plague in Europe and in parts of Sina. The Emperor Blandius
Postumus
dies suddenly and there is a struggle for power unprecedented in over a thousand years.
|
1447–1547
| 2200–2300
| The first electrostatic machine.
|
|
| After a succession of short-lived Emperors, the Senate votes Sextus Vincius
Sacerdos
into power.
|
|
| VINCIAN DYNASTY 2204–2509 AUC
|
|
| Sacerdos is still trying to secure his position when Nionia invades Corea and attacks Sinoan territory. Sina appeals to Rome for help, but the call comes at exactly the wrong time. Rome is struggling to survive in the face of its internal rifts, African entanglements, renewed Indo-Persian problems and the decimating effects of plague. The Empire is in no position to assist.
|
|
| Sina battles Nionia alone but concedes large tracts of territory. Roman relations with both Sina and Nionia are damaged.
|
|
| Rome tries to repair the damage of the last century. In an attempt to rebuild Roman solidarity, Sacerdos extends full citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Empire, regardless of nationality or religion, withholding only the right to hold office from freedmen.
|
1547–1647
| 2300–2400
| Meanwhile, Nionia is still in the ascendant. Nionian explorers sight the Southern island continent and call it Goshu.
|
|
| When Nionia begins to colonise Goshu, Rome becomes seriously alarmed. Nionia is beginning to look like a serious rival to the Empire. Rome puts pressure on Nionia to cease expanding and urges Sina to do the same, but since becoming a buffer state between Rome and Nionia, Sina has become increasingly introspective, and the Sinoan government refuses to get involved. Rome completes the conquest of Africa. More experiments in electricity and magnetics. Rome at last begins a serious invasion of central and southern Terranova, spreading cautiously into Mexica, Maia, and inland into Aravacia.
|
|
| Nionia follows suit, entering Terranova in the far north. Rome is more uneasy than ever and begins seriously to debate war but for the moment, and to the dissatisfaction of many, does nothing; there is still a huge amount of land, with its own peoples to contend with, between the two powers.
|
1647–1747
| 2400–2500
| Nionia pushes south, until Rome’s fears that she is not only allowing her rival to claim valuable territory but that her existing Terranovan provinces are under threat become intolerable. Conflict is now inevitable and is to dominate the next century.
|
|
| The two armies sweep towards each other across the country – the Romans pushing north from the southeastern coast of the northern continent , each trying to cajole or force the indigenous peoples to side with them.
|
|
| The ensuing sequence of wars, although they vary in intensity and are divided by short, unsuccessful peace agreements, is brutal and often chaotic, with naval battles in the Atlantic and around Nionia itself. Tracts of land change hands several times, at vast cost in Roman, Nionian, and Terranovan lives. The Camian peninsula in Mexica is of particular importance since for Rome to allow the Nionians to claim it would amount to their being permanently flanked.
|
|
| The Emperor Vincius
Arcadius
dies in suspicious circumstances and his brother,
Nasennius
, seizes power.
|
|
| The Roman military and economy has been damaged. During a brief lull in the Roman–Nionian conflict, in the final years of the 25th Century, the
first African Uprising takes place in the province of Lundae in Africa.
|
|
| The first – very slow and inefficient – electrically powered vehicles to run on magnetic rails.
|
1747–1847
| 2500–2600
| Madness first appears in the Novian family. The Africans are temporarily subdued.
|
|
| In the second African Uprising of 2503, a poorly equipped Roman legion is massacred near Musitania (Mosi-oa-Tunya) Falls. Nasennius is widely blamed for the disaster.
|
|
| Oppius
Novius, Nasennius’ nephew by marriage, gains in popularity in the Senate.
|
|
| After an outbreak of smallpox in Rome, Nasennius commits suicide leaving no children. Oppius Novius takes power.
|
|
| NOVIAN DYNASTY 2509 AUC – PRESENT
|
|
| Rome secures Northern half of Africa. Southern Africa claims independence.
|
|
| Although bringing the conflict to an end and holding onto Northern territory are significant successes for Rome, this is the first serious loss of territory for the Empire in centuries. Cracks appear elsewhere in the Empire: there is conflict in Terranova, and old tensions in India stir again.
|
|
| In 2512, Oppius’ brother Servius succumbs to family madness.
|
|
| Oppius works to rebuild international stability. He succeeds in reversing Roman fortunes in Terranova, where the Romans advance north. His task is eased by new technology such as longscript – a method of transmitting codes through electric pulses invented in 2511. This allows direct government of overseas territory. Longscript lines are laid under the Atlantic, and through Africa. Thirty years later come longdictors. Rome will be able to respond far more swiftly to any future unrest.
|
|
| There are accelerated attempts to find a reliable form of air-travel.
|
|
| Rome’s military might is, just, superior to Nionia’s, but it looks as though it will be impossible ever to expel the Nionians from the Terranova altogether. Therefore, Rome finally comes to grudging terms with Nionia and northern Terranova is divided between the two Empires. Under the Mixigana Treaty, a huge wall is built across the continent to
separate them. Trade between Nionia and Rome resumes, but there is a persistent distrust and rivalry. Rome develops new high explosives. Nionia seems always on the verge of catching up with Roman technology.
|
|
| Rome begins to expand through Southern Terranova. Rome works to improve the network of roads, whilst simultaneously building a vast system of magnetways throughout the Empire.
|
1847–1947
| 2600–2700
| Development of flight using circling wings powered by engines – the first volucer.
|
|
| Continued colonisation of North and South Terranova. The arms race with Nionia goes on.
|
