The Plan
It was the year 278, in the center of Rome at the heart of the Senate it was chaos! One week ago a foolish Patricii diplomat shattered all Rome's hope of peace with its rivals the hated Etruscan to the north and Epeiros to the south-east.
For the past two years, the Roman Republic attempted to negotiate a peace treaty with both kingdoms with whom Rome had been wagging wars for control over different zones of the Italian peninsula in which all 3 states had control over trade and influence.
The senate decided to send 3 influential senators from the 3 main parties of the senate assembly to negotiate a treaty and salvage something as Rome was losing its position during the negotiations. The third man diplomatic envoy from Rome was formed from Furius Medullinus of the Nobiles, Servilius Priscus of the Patricii, and last but not least Quintus Trebellius Ralla of the Equites branch.
The republic’s main demands centered around trade control and fixed taxation of merchants around Rome’s territorial waters and a clear guarantee from Epeiros and Etruscan that they will reduce their military presence near roman borders, while the combined alliance of the Etruscan and Epeiros kingdoms’ main demands centered around Etruscan control over trade in Rome’s Tyrrhenian
sea territorial waters in the west of the peninsula while Epeiros control trade in the Adriatic sea to the east of the territorial waters, to have full control over the Taras region that included trade, diplomacy, and influence and the republic must hold any military force at 200km away from any enemy main cities in which the senators flatly refused as this would leave Rome unguarded from a direct attack.
As negotiations were going nowhere the senators departed arretium but never reached Rome and while the Republic demanded answers for the disappearance of their envoys the enemy alliance continued to say that they had nothing to do with the unfortunate dissaparence despite information started to surface that the Epeiros king during a banquet toke a remark from the senators as a thread and arranged the assassinations while the envoys left the Etruscan territory.
The situation became worse when the two rivals both united against Rome to stop its ambition of securing full control of Italia. Tensions were at their peak because the republic did not have the funds to fight a war on two fronts. The Senate was split between arguing who to blame and what to do, but when there is chaos, there also lies opportunity...
During the extraordinary assembly, the Roman senate had to comvine in full numbers for the first time in the past 30 years and as a result, the senate rotunda was packed with every representative elected. From the 500 senators gathered each was part of a faction, the Patricii, Nobiles, Equites, and Plebeians.
The most numerous faction at the moment was the Equites who had 158 senators to their side while the Patricii, Nobiles, and Plebeians had 119,113 and 112 senators dispersed among the other factions.
A young man stepped forward and with a strong voice asked the acting Consuls to speak to the gathered senators! Despite some skeptic looks from some senior members attending he was given the floor and approved to speak.
He spoke loud and confident so that everyone there could hear him and so he laid out his plan for securing the borders, refilling the republic coffers, and also managing the war effort.
- Esteemed Senators! With your support, I wish to lay down a plan I formed with my colleagues to combat this crisis we find ourselves in at the moment.
- My name is Decimus Rufus of the Sextilius family son of murdered former senator Quintus Trebellius Ralla!
- As many of you knew my father as an honorable man I ask you in honoring my father and his colleagues who were brutally murdered by these barbarians to listen to my plea and help me exact revenge ..NO! Exact JUSTICE against this treachery.
After different low conversations started among the different groups he waited in patience as they died out and began again.
- I am aware that the Republic at the moment does not have apple funds to raise a new army to combat this threat and while diplomacy is failing us I have come up with this solution.
- My family the Sextilius! -making a point to emphasize the name.
- Will fund in full the raising of a new army 32000 strong.
- We will also fund half of the necessary equipment including military and non-military.
- I will be elected by the senate acting commander of all the Republic forces for the duration of the war but I will also elect generals from the different factions to balance things out and find a stable and functioning compromise.
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