The Regifugium of 88 BC
The rex sacrorum, a respectably elder man they call the "king of sacrificies", stood at the center of a great crowd in the comitia, about to commence a great sacrifice for the waning of the old year and to renew for coming year the regal power bestowed from Jupiter. It was an annual event, and so all attending watched solemnly as the rex sacrorum and his lesser priests moved through an ancient ritual.
That ancient ritual was sometimes the source of much confusion, as many in Roma today could not rightly understand what the ceremony, and its subsequent festivities, was for. Some today claimed that, since it was called the Regifugium, or "king's flight", it symbolized the flight of the last king from Roma. Others said it was called that only because the Rex sacrorum must hurry away from the political power of the comitia once he is finished, lest his regal presence become dangerous for him. All knew, though, that it was simply an old kingly ritual that the Rex sacrorum had taken on, whereby political power from the gods, Jupiter in particular, was renewed each year for the magistrates who had taken the regalia and imperium into their hands; Someone had to do it.
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The flamens and pontiffs watched from a particular place of honor, to the side, quietly. Albinus the Elder, flamen of Jove himself, stood alongside the Pontifex Maximus, watching as the king of sacrifices dipped the large, hallowed blade into the heart of a white-skinned animal.
When it was over, he turned to his superior, a man he had become quite acquainted with over the past few years. They had even spoken of Albinus succeeding the pontiff, though without any seriousness. Now though, Albinus gestured for the aging hierophant to speak with him as the ceremonies ceased.
[OOC: Need someone to roleplay the Pontifex Maximus.]
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