Rules Thread (1.0)

**Lucius Malfoy** · January 18, 2018, 01:11 PM

Map of the provinces & dioceses of the late empire

Another, more detailed digital map of Late Roman cities, forts and other places of interest

How does Late Roman government work?

Well first off, we're in the Dominate period: the ship of state is thus helmed by the Emperor, whose word is theoretically law. Of course, that's only the case if his subordinates are willing to enforce his commands. He rules for life, or however long he can hold on to his throne, and is free to designate any man as his heir. Emperors have dispensed with the pseudo-republican formalities of the Principate and now openly rule as autocrats, with the Senate reduced to little more than a ceremonial rubber stamp & a pool for educated civil governors, so the only ways to change an Emperor's mind are to 1) somehow directly convince him that whatever he's doing is a bad idea, and 2) oppose him militarily. The position of Emperor confers +5 Auctoritas.

There is essentially no solidly-established succession law, meaning that just being an Emperor's blood-relative or designated heir is no guarantee against usurpation when your predecessor dies, and it is not uncommon for generals to attempt to usurp the throne at the drop of a hat in this time period. Thus, anyone can rebel against the Emperor anytime, in theory. Moderators have the discretion to add modifiers to your rolls when calling on legions and provinces to join you based on why you're rebelling, though: attempting to seize power from an Emperor just because will naturally fetch you far fewer supporters than doing so because the Emperor tried to have you killed for no good reason or isn't defending your province adequately from the barbarians, after all.

The second most important man in government is the Magister Utriusque Militiae, better known as the Magister Militum - the supreme commander of the empire's armed forces. Grand multi-provincial and multi-diocesan armies are likely to be led by this guy, if the Emperor isn't doing it himself. A Magister Militum can also lean on his soldiers to render the Emperor a puppet, although there's always the danger that the Emperor can escape from under his thumb, declare him an outlaw and announce that it's open season on his head for any governor/dux with a grudge against him. The office of Magister Militum confers +4 Auctoritas.

Below the Magister Militum, there are the various provincial commanders. This is a confusing mashup of Comes (counts), Duces (dukes) and the occasional lesser Magister who all ultimately answer to the Magister Militum, as seen in this chart:

Western Roman command chart

So how do these commands work, roughly?

The Emperor directly commands Italia Suburbicaria's palatine and comitatenses legions, including the Domestici (imperial guard).

The Magister Militum, besides being the theoretical commander-in-chief of the entire Western army overall, also directly commands the comitatenses legions of Italia Annonaria and any diocese without a regional commander (see below).

The Magister Equitum per Gallias commands all of the Galliae diocese's palatine units and the Flavia Victrix Constantia comital legion. The 57 ripenses legions of Galliae are divided six ways between his subordinates (Dux Moguntiacensis, Dux Belgicae II, Dux Germaniae I, Dux Sequanicae, Comes Tractus Argentoratis, Dux Tractus Armoricani): each of the duces get 10 ripenses legions, while the Comes Tractus Argentoratis gets only 7. These six lesser commanders also each command a comital legion: Geminiacenses, Lanciarii Gallicani Honoriani, Germaniciani Iuniores, Menapi Seniores, Ursarienses and Secundani Britones, in that order.

The Comes Illyrici commands Illyricum's palatine legions and the Catarienses and Pacatienses comital legions. His four subordinates - the Dux Raetiae, Dux Pannoniae I et Norici, Dux Pannoniae II and Dux Valeriae - respectively command 5, 10, 10 and 5 ripenses legions and the Secunda Iulia, Tertia Italica, Mauri Cetrati and Lanciarii Lauriacenses comital legions in that order.

The Comes Africae commands Africa's palatine legions and the Prima Flavis Pacis and Secunda Flavia Constantiniana comital legions. His subordinates, the Dux Tripolitaniae and Dux Mauretaniae Caesariensis, each command 5 limitanei legions.

The Comes Tingitaniae commands the Secunda Flavia Virtutis, Tertia Flavia Salutis and Tertio Augustani comital legions and the 5 limitanei legions in the western Sahara.

The Comes Hispaniae commands Hispania's palatine and comital legions.

The Comes Britanniae commands Britannia's palatine and comital legions. His subordinates, the Dux Britanniarum and Comes Litoris Saxonici, are respectively responsible for the 16 limitanei legions along Hadrian's Wall and the 9 stationed along the Saxon Shore.

All other comital and palatine legions are under the authority of the Magister Militum unless otherwise placed under someone else's command by the Emperor.

Each comital/palatine commander's office confers +3 Auctoritas, and limitanei commanders' offices each confer +2 Auctoritas.

Note also that every one of these positions is appointed, and can also be revoked, by the Emperor. In theory - naturally, in reality one can refuse an Emperor's sacking and instead rebel against his authority, if the legions he's been assigned to command are willing to support him in the endeavor. In such a situation, he must pit his charisma + modifiers from his past actions (such as leading his men to victory or defeat, and any amount of gold that he's willing to put up as a bribe) + a simple 1d6 roll against the Emperor's own charisma, modifiers and 1d6 roll to determine which side his men take.

The civil side of government is divided into three tiers: Praetorian Prefects, Vicars and Rectors. Each controls a tier of the Roman Empire's civil administrative apparatus:

Prefects control a Praetorian Prefecture, the highest tier of Roman civil organization comprising of multiple dioceses. There are only two such Prefectures in the west: the Praefectura praetorio Galliarum (covering the dioceses of Britanniae, Galliae, Septem Provinciae and Hispaniae) and Praefectura praetorio Italiae (covering the Italian dioceses, Illyricum and Africa). They can appoint and sack vicars (although their decision is always subject to review by the Emperor, who can nullify it if they so wish), serve as judges (all trials are overseen and sentences handed out by them unless the Emperor steps in) and control the prefecture's tax stream, allowing them to embezzle from the funds gathered by the vicars and governors before presenting it to the imperial treasury. Each Prefecture confers on its holder +3 Auctoritas.
Vicars control an entire diocese: for reference, see the map at the top of this post. Vicars are responsible for ensuring that the soldiers stationed in their diocese receive their salaries on time and for the flow of tax revenue from the diocesan level, giving them the opportunity to embezzle from the funds sent to them by the governors if they so wish. If a diocese's troops have to go without pay, the vicar's head will be the first one they seek in the event of a rebellion. Each Vicariate confers upon its holder +2 Auctoritas.
Rectors, or provincial governors, are obviously responsible for the individual provinces. Their main responsibility, besides enforcing law and order in their province, is to ensure that the province's tax revenues keep coming in year after year. Naturally, this means a governor can embezzle from his province's taxes. Since they control tax collection efforts at the local level, Rectors can also choose to ignore the tax rate set by higher imperial authorities and attempt to exact higher or lower taxes on their subjects, to either bring them more money (to skim off the top) at the heightened risk of a bagaudae uprising or to appease their people at the risk of losing their job/head if they can't explain the sudden shortfall in funds to their superiors. Each governorate confers upon its holder +1 Auctoritas.

In the event that a general wishes to rebel, he must first worry about the local civil authorities, assuming they aren't already on his side of course. A combination of that civil official's charisma stat + Auctoritas + any modifiers that a moderator deems should apply here (such as whether they've been stiffing the legions in their diocese of their pay, any grand buildings they've constructed, any money they're offering as a bribe, etc.) + a simple 1d6 roll will then be pitted against the rebel's own charisma + Auctoritas + modifiers + another 1d6 roll to determine which way the legions' allegiance falls.

Finally, there's the imperial court itself to consider. The court works much like the Privy Council from WOTR in that all of its officers are salaried, and the Emperor gets to set their annual salary as well as whether they get paid year by year or not. There are three offices of import in the imperial court: the Magister Officiorum (imperial chancellor), Praepositus sacri cubiculi (imperial chamberlain) and Comes sacrarum largitionum (imperial treasurer).

The Chancellor commands the secret police, the Agentes in rebus, giving him a +1 to assassination rolls anywhere throughout the Empire, and also directs the palatine guards when they aren't on campaign, meaning he's in a perfect position to move them out of an assassin's way should he wish to eliminate his boss for some reason or to direct them to arrest his enemies in the capital. This office confers +4 Auctoritas.
The Chamberlain controls access to the Emperor's person. He can deny anyone who comes to Rome seeking an audience with the Emperor, even if the audience was arranged by the Emperor's invitation in the first place, as long as he's able to come up with an excuse that won't cost him his job/head. This office confers +3 Auctoritas.
The Treasurer is in charge of overseeing...well, the treasury. He has the responsibility of ensuring that soldiers are paid, public works are done on time, and the Empire's economy doesn't fall apart on a moment's notice. As the master of the empire's mints, he can also order the debasement of currency and the minting of more coins, immediately depositing an extra 100,000 solidii in the imperial treasury at the cost of a permanent 10% increase to troop recruitment & upkeep and building costs every time this is done. The Treasurer is also naturally in a perfect position to steal from the treasury he's overseeing. This office confers +2 Auctoritas.

There are other, lesser imperial court offices such as the Quaestor sacrii palatii (imperial supreme judge) and Comes rerum privatum (Count of the Emperor's private estates). These are basically sinecures that the Emperor can grant as a favor to his allies or their friends and relatives. The court can survive if the Emperor doesn't appoint a player character to these minor offices, which is not the case with the big three outlined above - those must be filled in at all times. Each minor courtly office confers +1 Auctoritas.

As is the case with the army, the Emperor has the final say on who gets all civil jobs in the Empire and for how long: they can appoint and dismiss officials from the Magister Officiorum down to the basic Rectors at will. Theoretically, anyway - a Praetorian Prefect who's upset about his dismissal notice can make common cause with the local commanders and get them to rebel in his name, for example, in the process granting their soldiers immunity to the Civil Authority-based challenge posed by any loyalist civil official below the rank of Praetorian Prefect, for example. Praetorian Prefects can also attempt to appoint and dismiss diocesan vicars under their authority, although such attempts are subject to the Emperor's approval or nullification.

To recap, here's how the imperial tax revenue stream works, and keep in mind every step on the ladder has the opportunity to embezzle from it:
Rector (province-level) -> Vicar (diocese-level) -> Praetorian Prefect (prefecture-level) -> Treasurer (empire-wide-level) -> Finally, the Emperor can spend whatever hasn't been embezzled.

Economic rules

The Roman Empire’s main revenue stream, naturally, are its taxes: levied from its subjects by publicans, tax farmers contracted by the state, in both the increasingly devalued currency and in kind. Provincial taxes will be fixed and by default only flow into the imperial coffers; however, each province’s income can be affected on a yearly basis by various rolled events and factors – tax resistance/evasion (the Late Roman aristocracy in particular was infamous for doing everything they could to get out of paying taxes, contributing to the Western Empire’s impoverishment and decline), the presence of marauding bagaudae (peasant rebels), a poor harvest, etc.

Moreover, each province doesn’t provide its maximum income by default; instead the imperial government must set a tax rate for the entire diocese, which brings them a percentage of that diocese’s provinces’ tax income – and the higher the tax, the higher the risk of a major bagaudae rising. For example, a medium tax on the diocese of Gallia brings in a total of 42,500 annually, barring any negative factors such as a bagaudae revolt.

Tax rates:

Low – 10% of income collected – 2/20 chance for an annual bagaudae rising
Medium – 25% of income collected – 5/20 chance for an annual bagaudae rising
High – 50% of income collected – 10/20 chance for an annual bagaudae rising
Ruinous – 80% of income collected – 16/20 chance for an annual bagaudae rising

Provincial/diocesan incomes

Building & private income rules

Players do not gain any income from the provinces' tax revenues (at least not without embezzling from said revenues), for those instead flow exclusively into the imperial coffers. Rather, they will have to engage in private enterprise - farming, mining and crafting, or trading - to support themselves. Urban development is no longer really a private enterprise, as that's handled by the imperial government - nobody can 'own' a city, or even a section of it, and in any case the empire is beginning to undergo the de-urbanization process that resulted in (among other things) the population of Rome itself dropping like a stone from ~800,000 in the early 4th century to 30-50,000 by 476.

Tier I buildings take 2 days to finish, Tier II ones take 4 days, Tier III ones take a full week, and Tier IV ones take 9 days.

Mining and crafts

Trade

Agriculture

Players may also construct Grand Buildings, which add one non-military trait point to a single character. Buildings can be upgraded by paying the difference between the tiers.

Tier I: 10,000
Tier II: 20,000
Tier III: 30,000
Tier IV: 50,000

Grand Buildings may be whatever you want them to be. A new forum, a theatre, a statue, a temple or church, an arena, a plaza.

A Grand Building takes one full week to construct, at the end of which a thread should be posted in the capital or home thread forum (depending on whether the structure is in Rome or not) establishing the structure as a place to meet. (if appropriate, a statue might simply be added to an already existing forum, for example, in which case its presence will be noted)

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Players begin with a family wallet of 5,000 solidii. Once they've chosen one economic branch to start with, they will get the Tier I Class A building for free to start with, but must stick with this original branch until they have reached Tier IV. At that point, they can invest in a second branch, but development of that new branch will be capped at Tier II. Unless the Emperor starts taxing their private enterprises, players will get to keep all of the income from their chosen economic branch, and collect it at the end of every week.

Military rules

The following unit types are available for recruitment and deployment by Rome. Note that the palatini & comitatenses cannot be recruited; a fixed number of these elite soldiers exist at game-start as the preset legions of the empire, and no more of their kind can be raised, at most their employer (either the Empire itself, or a usurper who has gotten them to defect) can pay to replenish their ranks at 50% of their cost of maintenance. Bucellarii can be recruited by individual characters, and ripenses & limitanei cohorts can be recruited by the Imperial government and any declared usurpers who hold at least two provinces.

The basic unit is the cohort, comprised of 500 men. A legion in this period is approx. 2,000 strong, naturally consisting of 4 cohorts. By default, a pre-existing legion will have 2 cohorts of infantry, 1 of archers and 1 of cavalry.

Palatine legions:

Auxilia palatina: A cohort of elite heavy infantry armed with spears, spathae and scuta. Their ridge-helmets are often gilded and jewel-encrusted to set them apart from the common soldiers, and all of their equipment is of the finest make. The domesticorum pedites are a special unit of palatine infantry, sworn to guard the Emperors & their kin with their lives. Worth 7 points. Costs 9,000 solidii to maintain.

Scholae: A cohort of elite heavy cavalry armed with razor-sharp lances, spathae medium-sized scuta. Quite capable of breaking an infantry line with a single charge, then pulverizing any survivors with their blades. The unit of scholae specifically tasked with protecting Emperors and their kin are also known as 'candidati', after their white tunics. Worth 8 points. Costs 12,000 solidii to maintain.

Sagittarii graves: A cohort of elite armored archers, who fight with long composite bows while wearing gleaming helmets and coats of chainmail. Not only can they shoot farther and with more precision than even the archers of the comitatenses, they can also defend themselves more effectively in close combat thanks to their heavier armor. Worth 6.5 points. Costs 8,000 solidii to maintain.

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Comitatenses:

Cohors peditata: One cohort of heavy professional infantry outfitted with helmets (ridge helms chiefly), lorica-hamata chainmail or lorica-squamata scale armor and a spatha, rounded scutum and plumbata (heavy darts) to replace the older pila. Still one of the best, and certainly the most disciplined, infantry units in Europe. Worth 6 points. Costs 7,500 solidii to maintain.

Equites promoti: One cohort of professional horsemen equipped with helmets, chainmail and a thrusting lance, spatha and rounded scutum. Decent medium (leaning towards heavy) cavalry, able to charge with their lances and hold their own in a fight, but still best used to charge the enemy flanks and rear instead of rushing them headlong. Worth 7 points. Costs 8,500 solidii to maintain.

Cohors sagittaria: One cohort of professional archers, equipped with helmets and composite bows. Capable foot archers. Worth 5.5 points. Costs 6,500 solidii to maintain.

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Bucellarii:

Pedites bucellarii: Mercenary infantry (including veterans of the Roman army) on a private individual's payroll rather than that of the state. Generally they're well-equipped - they're not likely to work for poor masters, after all - though they aren't as rigorously organized and trained as comitatenses, and lack the legions' plumbata. Worth 3 points. Costs 7,000 solidii to recruit and 6,000 to maintain.

Equites bucellarii: Mercenary cavalry (including veterans of the Roman army) on a private individual's payroll rather than that of the state. They're medium cavalry, outfitted with chainmail and helmets like the regular equites, and most effective at charging an enemy's flank with their lances. Worth 3.5 points. Costs 8,000 solidii to recruit and 7,000 to maintain.

Sagittarii bucellarii: Mercenary bowmen (including veterans of the Roman army) on a private individual's payroll rather than that of the state. Some fight with bows, others use light crossbows that have a longer range and more penetrating power than ordinary bows but are vulnerable to the weather. Worth 2.5 points. Costs 6,000 solidii to recruit and 5,000 to maintain.

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Ripenses:

Cohors ripenses: One cohort of higher-quality border guardsmen, mostly found along the rivers of the Rhenish and Danubian limes. They are slightly better-drilled and equipped than the limitanei stationed away from those two particular borders. Worth 2 points. Costs 4,000 solidii to recruit and 3,000 to maintain.

Equites scutarii: One cohort of lightly armored cavalry equipped with a helmet, mail shirt, plumbata darts or javelins, spathae and a larger scuta than what the Equites Auxilia carry. They are medium cavalry, leaning towards the lighter end of the armor spectrum, and best used as heavy skirmishers or flanking troops. Worth 2.5 points. Costs 5,000 solidii to recruit and 4,000 to maintain.

Sagittarii ripenses: One cohort of higher-quality border bowmen commonly found at the great riverine limes of the Empire, trained to a higher standard than the milites sagittarii of the lesser limitanei. Worth 1.5 points. Costs 3,000 solidii to recruit and 2,000 to maintain.

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Limitanei:

Auxilia cohors: One cohort of lower-quality border guardsmen, light footsoldiers who fight with a thrusting spear and scutum and have at most a helmet for protection. Not great soldiers, but useful for fending off barbarian raids and padding out an army's numbers. Worth 1 point. Costs 2,500 solidii to recruit and 1,500 to maintain.

Equites auxilia: One cohort of light cavalrymen from the border, wearing only helmets for protection and armed with light javelins or darts in addition to a spatha and small, rounded scutum similar to the parma of the ancient velites. Light skirmisher cavalry, best used to harass an opponent from a distance and not at all meant for charging or fighting in extended melees. Worth 1.5 points. Costs 3,500 solidii to recruit and 2,000 to maintain.

Milites sagitarii: One cohort of lower-quality border guardsmen, unarmored archers wielding locally made bows of inferior quality to the comitatenses archers' composite weapons. Poor quality missile troops best used to scout and shoot down barbaric raiders. Worth 1 point. Costs 2,000 solidii to recruit and 1,000 to maintain.

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Special units:

Circumcellions: A 500-strong mob of fanatical Donatist rabble, fighting unarmored and equipped only with slings and cudgels which they call 'Israelites'. While little match for a prepared Roman legionary, these light infantrymen are adept at hiding and fighting in the desert, and are thus able to flawlessly hide on African terrain until the enemy is right on top of them. Moreover, they are so determined to martyr themselves for the glory of God - believing that martyrdom is the highest virtue of all - that they will never flee from the battlefield, even if the rest of the army that they've joined has disintegrated and it is clear that they are doomed. Worth 1 point, free of upkeep, can only be spawned by asking for a Circumcellion roll as a Donatist.

Barbarian foederati differ from tribe to tribe, and will accordingly be assigned differing stats as they come up. Foederati cannot be recruited normally: the Emperor (either the guy actually running things out of Rome, or a declared usurper) must negotiate with the king and chiefs of, say, the Goths or Alamanni, and offer them the opportunity to settle permanently in Roman lands in exchange for their military support. Federate forces are free, being sustained by the land you gave them – the income taken out of the provinces you’ve opened to them is their pay. The size of the foederati forces recruited, the income cuts their presence deliver, and the odds of recruiting them in the first place, will be left to moderator discretion and defined by the size & prominence of the tribe in question (for example, successfully recruiting the Franks or Saxons should be harder, more costly and more rewarding than recruiting the Juthungi or Scirians).

Post-Roman units will also be made available should a region either rebel against the Emperor (whether in service to a usurper, in which case they're only available temporarily and can't be recruited after the war has ended, or to achieve independence), or be cut off from the rest of the Empire.

Existing legions at game start

Existing limitanei forces

How will battles be done?

Naval rules

The Mediterranean trade network remained a major part of the Late Roman economy. Grain from Africa was crucial to feeding the masses in Italy while Spanish garum was considered the finest delicacy by the Roman elite, for example, and Italy in turn was a conduit for exotic trade goods from the eastern half of the empire and beyond. Consequently, it is crucial that the islands of Sicily, the Baleares, Sardinia and Corsica remain under Roman control (if not the Emperor, then at least a usurper who isn’t closing down trade lanes around them) in addition to the major port cities from which provincial goods can flow back to the capital.

These major ports are defined as the following:

-Ostia: Rome’s own main port. If this has fallen, something has clearly gone horribly wrong. Italian provinces make -20% less income until Ostia is retaken by a force that also reopens trade from it.

-Carthage: African grain flows out of Carthage’s commercial port to feed the hungry commons back in Italy. Should Carthage fall to an enemy that shuts this trade down for whatever reason, well ruling in Italy will not be a pleasant endeavor. 10/20 chance for a Bagaudae uprising in all Italian provinces until Carthage is retaken and the grain shipments start anew, further divided into a 50% chance for each annual bagaudae uprising to be either a medium or large-sized warband.

-Tarraco: Modern Tarragona was one of the richest and most heavily developed port cities in Spain, and it’s from here that the highest-grade garum is exported from factories in more distant Baetica to the rest of the empire. Should the port fall, all provinces outside of Hispania take a -5% income hit, and resentment among the elites and soldiers alike (for watered-down garum, or ‘hydrogarum’ is a popular sauce with the troops) grants a +1 bonus to any usurper who controls Hispania or promises to reopen Tarraco when they appeal to the legions to join their cause.

-Arelate: Modern Arles was one of the largest ports in southern Gaul after the decline of Massalia in Caesar’s time, and thus a natural conduit for trade from the Mediterranean to the northwestern provinces of the empire and vice-versa; it is from here that British tin and iron, Gallic wine and German lumber flows to the rest of the empire, while African grain, Spanish garum and silks and spices from the east flow westward & northward. Should Arelate fall and/or be closed off, all provinces in Gaul, Britannia and Germania take a -10% income hit while the rest of the Western Empire takes a -5% hit, and usurpers who promise to reopen Arles get a +1 to their rolls when trying to secure the allegiance of the British, Gallic and Rhenish legions.

-Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, the Baleares: These islands aren’t necessarily major ports, but they are important in ensuring that trade flows smoothly and safely throughout the Mediterranean. Should they fall to pirates, a hostile barbarian tribe or a usurper who feels it’s in his interest to shut down the Mare Nostrum trade network, until they’ve been resecured all provinces in Italia, Hispania, Gaul and Africa take a -2% income hit and a 1/20 chance for a small bagaudae uprising in every one of their provinces for each of these four islands that falls.

Military ports:

The following are the only ports where naval units can be recruited, following this map.

-Rutupiae, Maxima Caesariensis
-Portus Itius, Belgica II
-Portus Illicitanus, Hispania Carthaginiensis
-Forum Iulii, Narbonensis I
-Colonia Agrippina, Germania II
-Mogontiacum, Germania I
-Castra Regina, Raetia II
-Carnuntum, Pannonia I
-Aquincum, Valeria Ripensis
-Portus Julius, Campania
-Ravenna, Flaminia et Picenum
-Brundisium, Apulia et Calabria
-Aquileia, Venetia et Histria
-Ancona, Picenum Suburbicarum

The following naval units are recruitable at these ports:

-Liburna: The basic Roman warship in the west, a speedy light galley with one or two decks. Capable of navigating rivers as well as fighting on the high seas, so they can be built at all military ports, and they come in units of 20, and are worth 30 points in battle. They cost 5,000 & take 2 days to be built and 3,500 in upkeep.

-Trireme: A larger, heavier triple-decked war galley capable of smashing most liburnas to pieces. Incapable of navigating rivers, and so they can only be built on the non-riverine ports (so not Colonia Agrippina, Mogontiacum, Castra Regina, Carnuntum or Aquincum). They come in units of 10 and are worth 50 points in battle. They cost 7,000 & take 4 days to be built and 5,000 in upkeep.

Transport ships are free, and it can be safely assumed that you will have requisitioned them from local merchants and fishermen to transport your armies across bodies of water. However, they’re totally defenseless on their own, so it’s not a great idea to attempt transporting armies across bodies of water without a fleet to cover them unless you intend for your army & characters to commit an elaborate form of suicide (or your opponent just doesn’t have a fleet at all).

What are bagaudae?

‘Bagaudae’ (meaning ‘fighters’ in Gaulish) was a term applied to the bands of peasant rebels who rose up to resist the Roman state’s taxation, as well as to seek decidedly violent redress against the injustices of local clerics and big landowners. They roamed the imperial countryside, pillaging estates and generally acting like bandits, and in-game must be dealt with either through negotiation or simply by crushing them militarily. Every province in which a bagaudae band is active pays less tax, and a bagaudae band has a blanket 8/20 chance of growing in strength by one level for every year that they are left unattended.

The initial strength of a bagaudae band is determined by the level of taxation in the affected province:
Light taxation – 500 men, 5% reduction in tax income until destroyed or recruited
Medium taxation –1,500 men, 15% reduction
High taxation – 3,000 men, 30% reduction
Ruinous taxation – 6,000 men, 50% reduction
The following are the bagaudae unit types:

Cohors rebellium – 500 men – A unit of rebellious peasants, fighting on foot with whatever tools-turned-weapons they have at hand: woodcutting axes, scythes, forging hammers, pitchforks, hunting bows, etc. A deleuit (‘insurgents’) unit is able to both fight in melee and shoot from a distance, though being a band of untrained rabble, they’re pretty poor at both and are only really dangerous in large numbers. Worth 0.5 points.

Equites bagaudae – 500 men – A mounted unit of rebellious peasants that includes a number of small local landowners, most of whom ride into battle atop draft horses and ponies. Not effective cavalry, to say the least, but they have greater mobility than the deleuit and pose a slightly larger threat to the forces of law & order. Worth 1 point.

Any bagaudae band larger than the smallest, 500-man one (which will consist of a single cohors rebellium) will have the following composition:

1,500: 2x cohors rebellium, 1x equites bagaudae
3,000: 4x cohors rebellium, 2x equites bagaudae
6,000: 8x cohors rebellium, 4x equites bagaudae

Bagaudae bands can also be recruited by any usurper that enters a province in which they are present, though he must promise to lower their taxes and pass a roll (same rules as the basic roll to recruit legions to their cause) to gain their allegiance. While terrible fighters, they’re at least free of upkeep and numerous.

Character rules

Traits and skills

Characters have the following free points for their skills:

Age 10-18: 4 points
Age 18+: 6 points
- Characters may start with a maximum of 6 trait points, even if age 50 or older at the start.
- Characters may start with a maximum of +3 in any skill.
- You can gain additional skills via RP.

Skills
1. Military Skills
- Battles: +1 to battle rolls per level. Gained when a character wins a battle where the enemy is not outnumbered by more than 1.2 to 1 and where total soldiers on both sides is more than 6,000 men. This applies per flank, but does not stack more than once per battle (e.g. a character cannot gain +2 for defeating an enemy flank and then the enemy reserve).
- Pillager: Improves loot gained from raids, see Raid rules. Gained after every 3 raids.
- Scout: +1 to detecting armies preparing to attack the force the character is in command of, and -1 to enemy detection rolls made on an army your character is in command of. This applies if the character is specifically in command of the scouts (in RP this can be confirmed with anything like 'Scouts', 'Outriders', 'Light Horse', 'Cavalry', anything that can easily be interpreted as being in charge of the scouts) or successfully ambushes an opposing force.
- Logistician: Armies this character is in overall command of move 5% faster. Calculate total marching time in hours and subtract x%. Moreover, points in Logistician will reduce attrition from natural sources while campaigning in rough terrain and/or foreign lands. Gained on request on a per-campaign if moderators feel the character's army's mobility has significantly contributed to a successful outcome.
- Rearguard: -1 to your army's rout casualty rolls. Applies only if the character is in command of the reserve. Gained if the army the character is in retreats in good order (i.e. the reserve wins their fight with the victorious enemy flank and no rout roll is made).

2. Personal Skills
- Survival: +1 to surviving death rolls and in duel defensive rolls. Gained if the character loses a battlefield duel (e.g. no sparring, training, friendly, or tourney duels) but is not killed by his opponent or from surviving an assassination attempt.
- Personal Combat: +1 to duel and jousting rolls. Gained if victorious in a duel that occurs either during a serious battle situation (a real battle, not a practice fight, tournament melee, training etc.) or if the victor is the winner of a tournament. Can be gained under other conditions if mod approved (highly unlikely). Does not require the death of the other combatant.
- Assassin: +1 to assassin rolls. Gained if the character assassinates another player character.
- Wealth: +5% to province income if you are a lordly character or +5% to asset income if you are a merchant character. Gained if the character uses their wealth to achieve something political (e.g. bribery, blackmail, buying someone's death) at moderation discretion.
- Charisma: +1 to any rolls to convince an AI character to do something. Gained if the AI character is convinced to switch loyalties from any one party to another. This must be a switch of political or military allegiance.
- Auctoritas: +1 to any rolls to convince AI Romans to do something, such as getting a province or legion to defect to you in a campaign to usurp the throne. Auctoritas stacks with Charisma. You cannot have any points in Auctoritas at signup: instead you are assigned a default amount of Auctoritas depending on your position in the Roman government/army, and gain or lose points based on events that transpire in the RP (winning battles however is the surest way to build Auctoritas: a victory will always bring you a basic +1 Auctoritas, and the grander the battle the more points you’ll earn).

3. Trait Limitations
- The Assassin trait is limited to a maximum amount of +2 to prevent overly powerful assassins at the game's start.
- You can’t put any points into Auctoritas at sign-up.

Temperaments:
The four temperaments were first described by the Greek physician Hippocrates and became one of the basis of his medical theories that dominated the medical sciences for thousands of years, humorism. They describe the four basic personality types based on the balance of the four bodily fluids - sanguine (optimistic, active and social), choleric (short-tempered, fast or irritable), melancholic (analytical, wise and quiet), and phlegmatic (relaxed and peaceful). There is also a fifth temperament, supine (affectionate and pliant).

Players will be able to choose two temperaments for their characters, one dominant and one subservient. From the dominant temperament, two personality traits can be picked, while only one traits can be picked from the subservient one. These will be the basis for the personality of your character in the game. Players are greatly encouraged to try to follow these traits as close as possible in their RP.

When new characters are born in-game, players should choose their temperaments and personality traits then, and are also encouraged to not choose the same over and over again, which would lead to the same character being played in all but name.

It is possible to alter a character’s temperaments in-game with mod approval, should a major life event (such as the death of a beloved spouse, defeat in war, betrayal by an ally, etc.) occur.

Sanguine:
- Confident: This character is very self-assured, brimming with confidence and difficult to shake even under pressure. However, taken to an extreme, they can show a suicidal disregard for their life and the lives of others, and fail to take...well, failure into account when planning. +1 battle rolls, +1 to rout rolls against this character.
- Sociable: This character is an extroverted social butterfly, capable of making friends left and right. However, they have little time for 'boring' matters like finances, and are more interested in buying flashy things to show off to their friends than managing their wealth. +1 Charisma, -2% income.
- Upbeat: Nothing seems to get this character down. They're perpetually smiling and looking on the bright side of even the darkest developments, truly the kind of optimism that can be infectious...or delusional, if the situation is bad enough. +1 to surviving non-battle death rolls, -1 to post-battle rolls (captivity, death, wounding).

Choleric:
- Bloodthirsty: This character is hotheaded and loves to jump into fights, lethal or otherwise. This is not something others find endearing off the battlefield, though. +1 Battles, -1 Charisma.
- Ill-Tempered: This character is ornery and seems to explode at the slightest provocation. While they've gotten into enough fights to toughen them up, a person who's as easily baited as a bull that sees red won't make a good commander. +1 Duels, -1 Battles.
- Impulsive: This character acts before (sometimes, without) thinking. They might move and decide more quickly than others, but their recklessness can lead them to disaster as well. +5% movement speed, -1 to detection rolls.

Melancholic:
- Haggler: This character is obsessed with getting the best possible deal for themselves, and ever watchful (even paranoid) for anyone trying to rip them off. This sort of fellow is rarely the sort others like, but none can deny their ability to sniff for gold. +7.5% income and improves loot from raids, -2 Charisma.
- Meticulous: This character loves to analyze situations down to the last minutiae before acting. On one hand this means they'll probably have a clear picture going in, on the other their decision-making abilities could easily become paralyzed as they spend too much time analyzing and not enough acting. +1 detection rolls, -5% movement speed.
- Pessimistic: This character is always looking at the negative side of things. They may be right in some cases - when you suspect every man you meet to be a bad guy, you're probably right at least one out of ten times - but it doesn't exactly make them endearing. +1 to survival rolls, -1 Charisma.

Phlegmatic:
- Austere: This character disdains pomp and pageantry, instead preferring a plain & simple (the uncharitable might say 'rigidly spartan') lifestyle. +5% income, -1 Charisma.
- Empathic: This character is strongly attuned to the emotions of others and cares for them, making them great friends or kinsmen to have - but poor warriors and generals. +2 Charisma, -1 to battle/joust/duel rolls.
- Reserved: This character is a stoic who generally keeps to him/herself and exercises strict control over their emotions. While this means they're not likely to make reckless moves in court or on the battlefield, they can come across as unfeeling robots to others. +1 battle rolls, -1 Charisma.

Supine:
- Amiable: This character is a pleasant person who tries very hard to get along with everyone s/he meets. Indeed, perhaps too hard, at that...they also tend to excessively seek validation from others, and at worst can be described as clingy ticks. +1 Charisma, -1 to duel rolls.
- Idealistic: This person is a strong believer in higher ideals and the innate goodness of man. On the one hand they tend to be inspiring and uplifting figures, on the other they can be taken advantage of by those who live well beneath their expectations. +1 Charisma, -1 to rout/assassination/escape rolls.
- Submissive: This character is the sort of person others can easily walk all over. On the other hand, they're generally regarded as beneath suspicion, and if they ever find their spine they could easily strike back without their foes seeing it coming. -1 to Charisma, -1 Battles, +1 to assassination & escape rolls.

Religion

Your choice of religion confers upon you a bonus.

Nicene Christianity: The orthodox, mainstream sect of Jesus Christ’s followers, followed by a majority (though still a narrow one) of the Empire’s population. In the west, it is de facto led by the Pope in Rome, though he has yet to assert papal supremacy over the Patriarchs of the East and can still be best defined as one of several autocephalous equals within the top rank of the Church’s hierarchy. -1 to rolls for unrest (ie. Urban rioting, bagaudae revolts, attempts by lynch mobs to kill your character).

Arianism: A Christian heresy that believes that though Jesus was the Son of God, he is not actually one with the one and eternal God, instead being a creation of and subordinate to God the Father. It is most popular with barbarians, both within and without the Empire’s borders. +1 to negotiations with barbarians.

Donatism: A Christian heresy that believes clerics must be morally faultless in other to administer valid prayers and sacraments. In addition, though Christ preached love and forgiveness, Donatists have absolutely none for ‘traditores’ – Christians who had previously recanted their beliefs and handed over holy objects or other Christians during times of persecution. Donatism is still especially strong in Africa. Can call up bands of Circumcellion fanatics in times of war (1d6 roll for 500-man bands of fanatical rabble).

Greco-Roman Polytheism: The old state religion of Rome, which honors a vast number of deities (quite a few of whom were originally Greek or Etruscan) and is responsible for many of Rome’s state and religious traditions to this day. Pagans believe that good relations with those gods is critical to maintaining the well-being of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately for them, traditional Roman polytheism has declined massively and is now chiefly a religion of the aristocratic elite, having been eclipsed by Mithraism among soldiers, Sol Invictus among other pagans and Christianity among the commons. +2 to Battles when defending in a siege.

Sol Invictus: The ‘unconquered sun’, a new pagan deity revered since the days of the great Aurelian, who first promoted it as a war god and patron of soldiers. This sun-god has a festival celebrated on 25th of December and has largely eclipsed the old Roman pantheon in the hearts of non-aristocratic pagans, particularly the soldiery. +1 to Battles.

Mithraism: A mystery religion centered on the eastern god Mithras, with a complex seven-tiered system of initiation, the ritual sacrifice of bulls in particular and underground temples. As a faith of warriors, it is especially popular with the soldiery of Rome, where its chief competitor is the cult of Sol Invictus. +1 to Duels.

Neoplatonism: A pagan philosophy based on Plotinus’ interpretation of Plato’s own, older philosophical teachings. Neoplatonists believe the first principle of reality is ‘the One’ – a simple, ineffable thing that is both the creative beginning and end of everything else – and the rest of the universe is but its emanation. Popular with intellectuals but few others, Neoplatonism guided Julian the Apostate in his efforts to revive paganism, but its tenets were not accepted by (or just totally baffled) most mainstream pagans. +1 to Charisma rolls outside of talking to legions.

Manichaeism: A Gnostic religion from the Orient that teaches a dualistic cosmology, where all things are either of the realm of light & the spirit (and thus good) or of the realm of darkness & the flesh (and thus evil). Manichaeism incorporates some Christian & Zoroastrian concepts and figures, such as Ahura Mazda (as its God, the 'Father of Greatness') and Jesus, and was briefly Christianity's rival for the Empire's #1 eastern monotheistic religion until the late 3rd century when it was persecuted by Diocletian; unlike Christianity, Manichaeism didn't recover from that blow, although it still survived into the 4th century, mostly in Gaul. +1 to assassination rolls.

It is, of course, entirely possible to convert to a different religion over the course of the game for any reason - genuine belief, disillusionment with your old religion, the insistence of your in-laws, political convenience, etc. But be warned: while Christian converts from paganism are generally accepted outside of the extremist Donatist sect, Christian converts to paganism are not well-regarded by their peers on account of their apostasy (though again, non-Donatists probably won't stab you in the kidney over it)...and, oddly enough, they aren't thought of very highly by the pagans whose ranks they've rejoined, either. Historically it seems that pagans generally mistrusted those who converted to paganism, such as Julian the Apostate himself.

Speaking of Julian: there are also inter-religious tensions between the various different sects of paganism and Christianity, as well. Nicene Christians rejoiced when the heretic Arius died from his bowels exploding, and called it miraculous; and among the pagans, there was little enthusiasm for Julian's effort to achieve a pagan revival due to both their mistrust of him (a Christian apostate) and his Neoplatonic ideals, which were not shared by the worshipers of Mithras and Sol Invictus. Some will prefer to be ruled by a governor from a different religion entirely than a heresy of their own faith, deeming the former a 'disease of the skin' as opposed to the latter's 'disease of the heart'. So basically, just because someone else happens to be a Christian or a pagan doesn't mean you should feel obligated to automatically ally with them - be sure to check the specific kind of Christianity or paganism they adhere to as well.

Ethnicity

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