Res Publica: A Quest of Ancient Rome

Telamon · 2018-02-03T05:20:08+00:00

SENATVS • POPVLVS • ROMANVS Thine, Roman, is the pilum: Roman, the sword is thine, The even trench, the bristling mound, The legion's ordered line. This quest is made to be read in FlexSpace or another dark theme. The Res Publica Discord is open for business 86 B.C. It is the final century of the Roman Republic. Rome, once a fledgling city-state on the banks of the Tiber, has spread its dominion from the verdant foothills of Italy to the rolling plains of Hispania and beyond. For nearly a century since the defeat of her archenemy Hannibal, the might of Rome has been unquestioned on land or sea, as city-state after city-state crumbles before the legions’ unrelenting tide. Her reach stretches from the shores of Greece to the deserts of the Levant, and there is no power in the West which might hope to stand against the Republic. It is the blackest of ironies, then, that Rome’s greatest threat comes not from without, but within. Emboldened by the glory won in their many wars, Rome’s most beloved generals have turned upon one another in the name of base ambition, dividing the Roman army against itself. Theirs is struggle which has already watered the streets of Rome with blood, and now threatens to spill out across the domains of the Republic. Brother turns blade against brother, and Roman takes up arms against Roman. It was said of old that the house divided cannot stand, and yet again it is proved true. Italia burns. In times such as these, men of ambition and vision might forge a future for themselves amidst the turmoil and toil of war. It was said by the Greeks of yore that crisis breeds greatness -- and if it is so, then this crisis must breed the greatest men of our time. You are a citizen of Rome, raised in the looming shadow of the city now at war with itself. As a landowning citizen of status, you are entitled to a seat in the Senate should you prove yourself worthy. Your tutors, skilled men all, say you have the potential to be a Roman of no small worth, a figure who will shape the very history of the Republic itself. But to be a man of note in the Republic is no small task. To simply survive in Rome, you must be more cunning, more vicious, and more brutal than all around you. You must trust nothing and no one, for even the fastest of friends may turn foe, and the love of the people is fickle and fleeting. You must be as skilled on the podium as on the battlefield, you must balance love and hate in equal measure, you must watch your foes closely and your friends closer still. To misstep, to err, to fail is death. You will lose your wealth, your love, and your life. Your name will be ground into the dust and your enemies will play dice with your bones. You will join countless thousands in the gutters of history, lost to time and memory in the growing shadow of Rome. But to succeed is to rise above, to tread the world beneath your feet. It is to rub shoulders with titans and decide the fate of untold millions. It is to make your name a legend to outlast the very gods themselves. It is to become immortal, remembered in tongue and song for as long as men walk the earth. May the goddess of Victory smile upon you, Roman. Welcome to Res Publica, a quest set in the waning days of the Roman Republic. You will play as Quintus Cingulatus Atellus, a young Roman citizen of the aristocratic class who aspires to a seat in the Senate. Over the course of the game, you will make your way up the ranks of Roman society, ascending from elected position to elected position. You must be a soldier and a politician alike, an orator and a conqueror in equal measure, if you hope to rise above your peers and ascend to the highest civic glory of all: the Consul, the first citizen, supreme political and military ruler of the entire Republic. In Rome, your status in the eyes of the people is everything -- life and death itself. Win the love of Rome, and you will be able to defy the Senate itself, to perform acts others would call treasonous and emerge unscathed. Earn their displeasure, on the other hand, and you will find yourself with enemies beyond count, disgraced and disfigured. The Roman people are a fickle lot, and even one who is secure in their love must be careful, for it might swing at any moment from him to another. Of course, you will have ample opportunities to earn adoration from Rome. Quintus, as an aspiring Roman politican, must follow the cursus honorum, the unofficial yet socially enforced sequence of elected positions, both civic and military, which serve as a stepping-stone to the Senate. A politician who successfully navigates the cursus honorum will emerge a skilled military and political mind, capable of navigating the Roman people through war and peace alike, and ready to assume his place at the helm of the Republic. At least, that is the intent. In reality, however, you will compete with hundreds of other young men, each just as ambitious and aspiring as yourself, each jockeying for power and favor in the eyes of influential senators and patricians, each seeking his own path to the halls of power. It is an achievement of no small merit simply to survive in such an environment, much less prosper. For make no mistake -- Rome is a cruel mistress. It is a city consumed by it's own legend, a brutal, byzantine web of intrigue, lust, betrayal, and vice, navigated only by the most ambitious and ruthless of minds. Greater men than you have tried and failed to climb her towering heights. Shall you follow in their doomed footsteps, or will your name burn through Rome? And thine the wheels of triumph, Which with their laurelled train Move slowly up the shouting streets To Jove's eternal flame.

Thread starter Telamon
Start date Feb 3, 2018
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historical fiction unreliable narrator a cleverly disgused roman history course discussion is the best thing since sliced bread epic rome telamon quest the die is cast

Res Publica

Created: Jul 18, 2019

Status: Ongoing

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To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods?
For Romans in Rome's quarrel spared neither land nor gold,
Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life, in the brave days of old.

Last edited: Jul 18, 2019

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Jul 2, 2018

#3,537

actually...

Nurgle said:
Pm OP next time or read his profile where he wrote that he is busy instead of necroing the thread. Not cool dude.

Thread necromancy is not against SV's rules. Complaining about such can be a violation, however, as it often spirals into large groups of people jumping on the necromancer. As such... well, please don't do this again, alright? Thank you.