[IB AAR] Severus The God

[Juvenal]

This is a sequel to my (fairly) long running AAR Spite of Severus.

It is still the same campaign being described herein, but my narrative has now ascended to the impersonal and god-like realm of the 3^rd Person.

Things have become more complicated than they were in those innocent early days when Severus made his vow to take revenge on the Romano-British aristocracy. Greater Pictavia (as Britannia and Hibernia are now known) is preparing itself to join in the great game of warring nations on the mainland of Europa.

I shall in due course describe some of the triumphs and tragedies of European History according to IBFD v7.03 so that when the Picts burst onto the scene, their part in the great drama will have some meaning and you will be able to decide which side (if any) you are rooting for.

Here is the story so far...
I: Watching and Waiting
II: Imperium Constantini
III: Burgundii Transit
IV: Rise of the Franks
V: The Fate of Lugdunum
VI: The Great Crusade
VII: Merovaeus the Frank
VIII: Encounter at Aletum
IX: Aletum Concluded
X: The Condate Waltz
XI: Battle of Condate
XII: Claiming the Prize
XIII: Keyne
XIV: A Matter of Faith
XV: Pilgrimage to Avaricum
XVI: Avaricum Battles
XVII: Expedition to Durocortorum
XVIII: The Long Road Back
XIX: Changing of the Guard
XX: Britannia Invaded
XXI: A Lesson in Warfare
XXII: A Time for Reflection
XXIII: Pictavia Resurgent
XXIV: Betrayal and Revenge
XXV: How to Capture a City
XXVI: How not to Capture a City
XXVII: Prince Galam in Aquitania
XXVIII: A Debt Repaid
XXIX: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
XXX: The Sign of Jovinus
XXXI: The Limit of Willpower
XXXII: The Gathering Storm
XXXIII: The Big Lie
XXXIV: Death by Moonlight
XXXV: Grasping at Shadows
XXXVI: Human Resources
XXXVII: A Tragedy in Two Acts
XXXVIII: No Parole
XXXIX: Hard Choices
XL: Cirech's Swan Song
(Cirech's Swan Song Concluded)
XLI: Prince Ciniod's Mission
XLII: War with the Romans
XLIII: Battle near Campus Leuci
XLIV: The Augusta Shuffle

[Juvenal]

SEVERUS THE GOD
I: WATCHING AND WAITING

“One globe seemed all too small for the youthful Alexander”
Juvenal

Once upon a time a Roman Emperor of the West made a bad decision and set in train a series of events that would lead to the permanent loss of Britannia and Gaul.

There had been rebellions in Gaul before, and barbarian incursion also, but these had always been respectively suppressed and beaten back. But in the year of our Lord 410, the Emperor Honorius, beset by the pretender Constantine III in Gaul, replied to a call for help from the loyal Romano-British with the harsh advice that they should look to their own resources.

This they did, casting out the Roman administration and adopting the mantle of an independent Christian Kingdom. But the change of leadership had unforeseen effects. Among those dispossessed by the new order was a minor trader and smuggler, the bastard descendant of a long forgotten Emperor. He went into reluctant exile, looking for a new patron among the Picts and Gaels to help recover his lost prestige.

Eclipse of Roman-Britain
And so it was that Octavius Severus Alexander became the quartermaster for the Barbarian invasion that overran and extinguished the flame of Christianity in Roman Britain. For a time, Severus fancied himself the potential new Emperor of the West. He successfully dispatched and supplanted his patron Angus, but then lost out to Drest, the wily Pictish heir, who stripped him of the means to beget his dynasty and left Severus an embittered and broken man.

But thanks to Severus, Britannia and Hibernia were united under a single High King for the first time in history. Worship of the Christian God was suppressed, and Drest took his place atop the precarious pyramid of disparate clans and tribes. Drest was very careful to make sure that the nobility which held him aloft feared each other more than they resented his rule as tyrant.

Foundation of Greater Pictavia
Severus, settled down to become the ideal bureaucrat. With the nominal title of Vortigern (King of the Britons), he administered the kingdom, controlled trade and collected taxes for the High King. Severus treated the realm of Greater Pictavia just like his own businesses in the time before his fame. He encouraged the worship of a small selection of “useful” Pictish Gods, organized the establishment and improvement of the infrastructure of Roman civilisation through public works, and patronised the cults which produced Pictish warrior champions.

After a time Drest began to take the loyalty of Severus for granted, being increasing distracted by the need to anticipate and crush plots against him. Severus was left free to govern as he saw fit, provided he kept nothing for himself. He grew his home town of Eboracum through forced immigration into the new capital for the British Isles. Only in the long-colonised south and east were his reforms strongly resisted, and as a consequence these areas gradually diminished in importance as they were eclipsed by the renaissance in the north.

Severus gave his economic reforms the highest priority, even being willing to invite Saxons to settle in the lands of the Iceni in return for their help against the raids of the sea peoples. He was feared and respected by his officials. By the people, he was merely feared.

Preparations for Intervention in Gaul
The transformation of Britannia into a “modern” power took a full decade, and while it was happening, Gaul was also being transformed, but in a more sinister fashion. From across the Channel, Severus watched the decline of the Imperium Constantinii and the rise of the Franks. He had never entirely given up his hopes for supremacy in Gaul, simply transferring his ambitions to Britannia as a whole. So it could truly be said that Severus loved his country.

The efforts of Severus to make Britannia ready to support a modern army actually increased Drest's difficulties. The nobility, finding their powers constrained by the burgeoning State bureaucracy, resorted to hiding their wealth from the administration, creating private armies of retainers, almost as if to anticipate the rise of feudalism a few hundred years hence.

Drest's problems with the nobility were compounded by the impact of his own growing family, brothers, brothers-in-law and sons all vying with each other for influence and power within the charmed circle of the High King's Court.

But none of this concerned or surprised Severus. He felt that it was Britannia's destiny to rule in Gaul, and he knew that Drest would soon find that the only way to prevent civil war would be to distract his nobles by proclaiming a crusade against the Continent.

[Legio]

Another supreme AAR from Juvenal. The stAARt has not disappointed my expectations.

[Entropy Judge]

Ooh, yay! Are the Franks as heavily armored as the Romans?

[Kátz]

Nice!

[Xavier Dragnesi]

Another excellent AAR of Juvenal's to follow.

[Scutarii]

Juvenal's back and writing. Looks to be another great AAR.

[bomberboy]

This is going to be good, I take back my comments of you being overrated. Are telling us this in 3rd person because severus has already told his story?

Edit: His granddaughter is called Bouddica, isn't that odd.

[dax]

Waiting for a battle-report!

[Kallum]

excellent

[Watercress]

wonderful, Severus is back on the air.

[Selifator]

Well, the supplicants have arrived, now for a message of the gods...

[Beggar]

I read through your first Severus AAR after you finished it, and I have to admit your writings are second to none I'm waiting for updates for this AAR, and I'll also check out your older AAR Juvenals Journal. Good luck to you !

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Excellent...Anticipating it!

[Juvenal]

Thank you everyone for posting your support for my story (twelve posts - absolutely amazing). Although it hasn't quite lived up to your generous praise yet, I shall be working hard to produce something worthy.

@Mr. Cursed - Don't worry, anticipation should shortly give way to a new episode.

@Kohvi - I am honoured that you consider it worthwhile searching out my old work. I am still fond of Juvenal's Journal even though it isn't quite as focussed as my later writing.

@Selifator - Yes, I do have a weakness for flattery.

@Master Magic Mage - Sorry for my lack of speed, it has taken me a long time to find the right scope and tone for the story now that I am not limited to the first-person account of Severus.

@Kallum - Thank you.

@dax - Battle report coming shortly (but there are no Picts involved).

@bomberboy - I went to 3rd person so that I could be free to explain what is going on from more than one viewpoint (there are six factions involved with Gaul). Also, should Severus meet a sticky end, I won't have to end the story straight away.

@Scutarii - I certainly hope so.

@Xavier Dragnesi - Um, I'd better get writing...

@wr1ght - Music to my ears.

@Entropy Judge - The Franks speciality is throwing axes, it's a bit like getting cluster-bombed.

@Legio Caesar - Glad you liked the start, I have been struggling with the tendency for this type of story to become like a school history lesson. We'll just have to see how successful I am.

[Juvenal]

II: IMPERIUM CONSTANTINII

“I demens! et saevas curre per Alpes, Ut pueris placeas et declamatio fias”
(Go, madman! rush over the wildest Alps, that you may please children and be made the subject of declamation)
Juvenal

In 405AD Roman Gaul was devastated by barbarian incursions, Vandals, Alans and Suevi burst across the Rhine near Mainz and started pillaging their way through the province.

In the resulting chaos, the soldier Flavius Claudius Constantinus of Britannia seized his opportunity, proclaiming himself Emperor and taking the last legions of Britannia with him into Gaul.

Constantine was able to defeat the armies of the Western Empire and secure the borders of Gaul under his control. He then went on to defeat cousins of Honorius in Iberia, adding a third province to the Imperium Constantinii.

At first things went well for Constantine. While the Gothic armies of Alaric roved unchecked through the Italies, Honorius foolishly executed his own best general Stilicho and was temporarily deserted by the bulk of his Italian legions. As the least threatening of many enemies, Constantine now found himself accepted by Honorius as co-Emperor.

From three provinces to one
However, the change of ownership in Gaul hadn't solved the problem of the Vandals, and their subsequent migration into Iberia led to the loss of that province and the revolt of Constantine's general Gerontius, who went into alliance with them.

Britannia also revolted, under Vitalinus the Brigante, when Honorius refused to provide aid for their denuded forces against Saxon raids. This left Constantine in 410AD with only the rump of Gaul and with a ring of enemies closing in from all sides.

Constantine, a man who had already gambled and won, now decided to go all-out for final victory. He gathered his legions at Arelate and invaded Italy, hoping to crush Honorius with the help of Allobich the turncoat Roman Magister Equitum, and become undisputed Emperor of the West.

But the gamble failed. Hearing that Allobich had been killed, Constantine withdrew to Arelate pursued by Constantius, the new Roman Magister Equitum.



Battle of Lugdunum
With his son Constans beset by the rebel Gerontius at Lugdunum, Constantine hoped for relief from his general Eldobich, but events soon conspired to condemn the legions of the Imperium Constantii to defeat in detail.

Finding his way south blocked by Gerontius, Eldobich elected to help raise the siege of Lugdunum. As Gerontius concentrated to face north, Constans came rushing out of the the city behind him.

Eldobich hoped to join his levies and limitanei with those of Constans in order to offset the superior quality of the Bucellari of Gerontius.



The three armies came together on a hillside on the road to Alesia. Gerontius had anticipated the approach of the clumsy newly-raised legions of Eldobich and had posted his men well up the hillside, but still able to block a junction with Constans.

Eldobich found himself at the foot of the hill facing a the prospect of a very risky up-hill frontal attack against a superior force. Fearful of disaster, he hesitated.



While Eldobich was contemplating his conundrum, Constans appeared at the enemy rear and charged in with his whole force.

The ragged and starved forces of Constans fought with an élan born of desperation. They defeated the detachment Gerontius had posted to delay them, and rushed headlong into his main body atop the hill.

But after the initial charge was spent, the men of Constans were soon overwhelmed by the larger rebel force and Constans fell, mortally wounded.



The army of Eldobich finally arrived at the summit in some considerable disorder. But it was too late and they faced the full force of the grim and bloodied host of Gerontius. The counter-charge broke the Foederati of Eldobich on first contact, and his army dissolved into a mass of fleeing fugitives scattered across the hillside.



It wasn't until almost reaching the border with Raetia that Eldobich was able to reform enough of his stragglers to make a small field force.

In a final irony, the sacrifices at Lugdunum were rendered pointless when the Roman, Constantius, abandoned his siege of Arelete and embarked onto ships to deal with crises elsewhere in the Empire.

[Legio]

Great update, and some nice twists as well

[Kallum]

so you are going to play with the Imperium Constantini now or still the celts? I'm somewhat confused:$

[Kátz]

Hell yeah to the Greatness of this story!!

[Juvenal]

@Kallum

I am putting the Pictish intervention in Gaul into context. A lot of things happened there between 410AD when Severus was exiled, and the Pictish expedition to Gaul in 425AD. I want the reader to understand the political situation when the Picts finally land at their equivalent of Omaha Beach.

I have been investigating what went on in Gaul while I was playing Severus in Britannia. I use a script to change sides mid-campaign so that I can delve into the full details.

The battle near Lugdunum and death of Constans at the hand of Gerontius are the first important events of the campaign. They dealt a body-blow to Constantine, and so really needed to be described.

I let the AI play both sides during the Lugdunum Battle. It was fascinating to watch the rash attack and hero's death of Constans, while Eldobich bumbled around at the bottom of the hill.

I shall be talking about the Burgundii in the next episode, and the Franks in the one after that. Then we can get back to the Picts.