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Toasty
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Prologue
As the light of dawn shone on the enlightened feilds of the Middle Ages, the small nation of England stood in turmoil. The weakly formed Republic had collapsed on its crumbling foundations, stared in the face of defeat by the third Anglo-Roman war.
On the continent of Majoria, constituted of 10 powers in a crescent form around the Great Bay, the four largest powers of England, Rome, Greece and France had found themselves entangled in a new era of combat. The recent climax of the Franco-Russian war, with the capitulation of Catherine I at the battle of Smolensk, had lead France to dominate the European sector of the continent, which was inhabited by Germans, French, and Russians. Though the French heartland largely consisted of desert outside the fertile coastline, Joan had cut off her southernly neighbors and established a large empire early on. Bordered by a rational Iroquois nation, France had had little to nothing worth fearing for several centuries.
Rome had found herself quite fortunate under the leadership of Emperor Caesar. Despite her relatively small size, she had recently aquired almost half of the Aztec lands after a decisive battle at Texcoco and possessed what was arguably the most powerful army on the continent. Montezuma had come to Elizabeth's aid for the first of the Anglo-Roman wars, and payed the price after she chipped their alliance for peace and the capture of Neapolis. Since that her reputation had been made as a traitor and a liar, and this began England's decent into peril.
England had began her trek to being a great power with the early defeat of Greece in 600 AD. A short battle that resulted in the razing of Greece's second city, Sparta, allowed her to capture the fertile plains on which York was now situated, and the Oxford Jungle. England still feared Rome and her forces which resulted in the attack on neighboring Egypt, who was soon reduced to a confederation of the cities Thebes and Elephantine. However, Roman intervention had caused complications which included the survival of Egypt, and the creation of the first Anglo-Roman war. The defeat of the Roman armies at Neapolis, and the capture of furs and iron had made England the most powerful nation on the continent from 57 AD, with the capture of Memphis, to 371 AD, with the fall of Memphis and Coventry in the Second Anglo-Roman war. With huge reparations being payed at 25 million pounds per year, the English Republic was formed; only 3 years after the beginning of the Third Anglo-Roman war, the Republic collapsed, and England again found herself in war and anarchy.
Chapter 1: The Royalty Crown to Be Restored
Nottingham, Newcastle, and London, the three major cities in England, had gone into bread riots upon the final nail in the Republic's coffin was pushed in with the Third Anglo-Roman war. Elizabeth of the House of Tudor, whom had lead her nation before the collapse of the original English Despotic reign, now saw her opportunity to reclaim rule of the country.
As Roman Legionaries pushed further and further towards the English heartland, the people became increasingly jaded and angered by the third backstab of Caesar. All of the Anglo-Roman wars had been started by Caesar, and all of them without a declaration of war. Because of the need for a more self-sufficient economy, the Despotism had been overthrown after the second by a plethra of organized guerilla scholars, whom had studied at the libraries of Liverpool, Canterbury, and even the Royalty's home city of London.
Now Elizabeth, in political exile granted by Joan d'Arc, planned her return home. Paris was beautiful, but she had greater callings. She would return to the throne of England, expel the Romans, and return to richer things.
Chapter 2: The Battle for Nottingham
Nottingham had once been in control of Rome, and now the nation sought a return to it. Ravenna had since revolted to the English forces. As one of Rome's largest cities and one of the closest to her capital they now posed a serious threat to Rome itself: Caesar had, in turn, demanded that England's respective city of Nottingham be recaptured and burned to the ground.
One of Caesar's greatest generals, Hadrian, had been ordered to command the expeditionary force. Nottingham was relatively well inside the borders of England due to it being a great center of culture, on a desert flood plain and as such it was large in population. Populated by 391,000 souls, it was the second largest city in England, and with its capture (and subsequent destruction) England's productivity would be dealt a serious blow.
Hadrian's force arrived in strength of six Legionary divisions. While Roman sages worked to achieve a design of stronger means, Legionaries remained the fiercest fighting force in the world, having the best in offensive and defencive capabilities.
All reports had shown that Nottingham would be defended lightly with two spearmen regiments and one pikeman regiment. This reports proved true as the city came in sights.
Hadrian, one horseback, had ordered the immediate attack of the city. The red banners of Rome fluttered in the high noon sun, as the swarm of sweating Romans charged through the vast desert at the unprepared city.
The battle was swift and decisive. The first wave, done by two veteran regiments of Hadrian's forces, engaged in melee combat with the pikemen.
The clash of the hot metal and the blood-stained sand made no notice of the city walls that had been so laboriously built by the citizens of old. Despite the hopes and wishes of the citizens of Nottingham, the red banners stood high in the combat, while the forces of the arm-reduced republic came to bloody death.
Outnumbered 2 to 1, they killed a quarter of the second and all of the first regiments before falling entirely. The second wave, consisting of all the regiments, all of which were veteran except one that had been trained as Caesar's personal guard, was a complete success. No casualties were made with what could be described as no less than a slaughter of the English spearmen, and Nottingham was captured, per Caesar's orders.
However, in a moment of rare defiance by Hadrian, it was not burned. His division needed to heal badly, and the city could serve as a great springboard of power agains a nearby and exposed London.
However, many of the soldiers felt their stomachs tie in knots at the tought of staying in an English town. The English people were vigilant and had a severe sense of superiority to the "Roman Lobsters," as they liked to call the red-shelled Legionaries. Should they stay too long, and stay so close, they might meet their doom at the hands of the citizenry...
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26-08-2002 05:37
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