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The Fall of the Final Emperor

Goob

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Goob

Goob

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Woo! 1000th post. Not wasting this milestone.
So, I'm doing something a little bit different. No magic, no sci-fi, just an surprisingly obscure but incredibly interesting time in history: The Migration Period, which lasted from around 375 AD to about 550 AD, when the Roman Empire (Or at least the western part, the eastern part would last for another 1000 years) finally fell fully and the framework of the early middle ages were laid down.
More specifically, this will be set in the December of 476, a scant few months after Odoacer conquered Ravenna and banished the last roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, a mere 16 year old who had ruled for less than a year.
Anyway, so you don't need to browse Wikipedia for an hour to join, here's a "short" summary of the period.

The Roman Empire, at the start of the 5th century AD, had just emerged out of the Crisis of the Third Century (When a load of emperors died really, really close to each other chronologically and there was a lot of civil wars and states breaking off.) with the reforms of Diocletian and the Tetrarchy. However, this had permanently weakened the empire, and immediately after Diocletian abdicated this Tetrarchy immediately got into another civil war, which lead to the ascension of Constantine the Great, who, as you might know, was also the emperor to convert to Christianity, and later convene the Council of Nicaea.
During this time, however, another threat was rising in the east, namely the Huns, which crossed the Volga in 370 and had established themselves by 430, ruling over the Carpathian basin and a large portion of modern-day Ukraine and Romania. During this, they conquered many peoples that lived there such as the Goths and the Alans, of which many started running, causing the mass exodus into the Western Roman Empire

Some of these groups include:
 
The Visigoths: The Visigoths became foederati (essentially an agreement letting the tribe settle inside the empire in exchange for defense) in 418, settling in southern Gaul. Shortly after this, however, they had either invaded Hispania because they had split off from the romans or had been ordered to do so by them, Wikipedia conflicts on this. But anyway, for whatever reason they invade Hispania and form the Kingdom of the Visigoths, which would last for another two centuries until the Islamic Invasions took over Iberia. As of 476, however, they're just chilling.

The Vandals (and Alans): The Vandals and their Alan buddies came with many of the other Germanic tribes running from the Huns that ended up in Gaul. However, they quickly crossed the Pyrenees and attempted to settle there before the Visigoths invade as mentioned earlier, driving them further right into North Africa where they finally settle in what is today Tunisia and spend the next 90 years or so raiding around the Mediterranean before they were conquered by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. As of 476, they're... also just chilling.

The Ostrogoths: After the Huns invaded, it's possible the Ostrogoths were one of the first tribes that were subjugated. However, once the Huns fell after the death of Attila, they establish a kingdom in what is modern-day northern Croatia, which is where they are as of 476. Later, however, they conquer Italy from Odoacer.

Other peoples such as the Sciri and the Heruli, later under the rule of Odoacer: Odoacer and his foederati, including the mentioned Sciri and Heruli, politely asked Orestes, a previous general of Attila and current de facto ruler of Rome with his son, Romulus Augustulus as a puppet emperor, to give them land in Utaly to settle down. When he declines, they storm Ravenna (yes, things got so bad that the end that the capital of the Roman Empire was moved to Ravenna. Makes more sense once you realize that almost every single one of the aforementioned tribes sacked Rome multiple times each. Yikes.) and depose Romulus, exiling him to Campania with a pension. I'm not joking, Odoacer actually gave the final roman emperor a pension of 6,000 solidi and sent him packing to southern Italy where he lived with some relatives. This is regarded the end of the Western Roman Empire by modern historians, though at this point the emperor had so little power that it might as well of ceased to exist.

And finally, the Franks: Unlike all the other Germanic tribes on this list, which originated in Scandinavia before migrating down into Eastern Europe and then getting chased out by the Huns, the Franks, as far as I can tell, were one of the Germanic tribes that lived in Central Europe, or more specifically modern-day Belgium and large chunks of western Germany. As of this RP, it's still sitting there, actually working with the Roman rump state in northern Gaul against the Visigoths, before conquering it later, after the start point of this RP.

Some final notes: All of these people are christan, with the exception of the Franks which'll be converted in about a decade. The Goths are all Arian Christians while the Eastern Roman Empire follows the Trinitarian Christianity set up by the Council of Nicaea. Additionally, the Empire of the Huns fell after Attila's death in 453-ish, leaving behind few remnants.
wow that was way longer than I expected. It was exhausting to write but surprisingly fun. I could rant about random parts of history for ages.

Map:

Spoiler

quality.thumb.png.b84fc29201fe6f1a5895823a7712647a.png

Uh... for characters... go crazy. Where are we starting? Italy, near Ravenna, probably, unless you have any better ideas. Anyway, I'm extremely tired and will be going to bed now. I shall check on this tomorrow. 

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Random Bystander

Random Bystander

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8 hours ago, AmazingGoob said:

for characters... go crazy.

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Is it bad that I now really want to make a time traveller character who's time machine broke down? I mean, you did say go crazy... :P (I'm only kind of joking here. I'm guessing that wouldn't be allowed, but if it was, I'd do it.)

Anyway, as soon as I can figure out what character I want to (and can effectively) play, I'll join.

 

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Goob

Goob

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1 hour ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

 

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Sure. Note, however, that's it's likely that you and your troops aren't actually roman and are actually germanic mercenaries with varying degrees of loyalty to Rome, and even if you are roman you're more likely to descend from a celtic Haul than an actual latin italian. Also note that by this time, units were less the classic shield wall and focused more on more mobile options like lighter infantry and cavalry.

 

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Goob

Goob

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1 minute ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

 

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sweats

Sorry. I'm trying to keep a modicum of historical accuracy before this completely descends into madness.

 

2 hours ago, Random Bystander said:

 

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Hehe. I'm pretty sure that falls under the category of sci-fi.

Anyway, I shall wait.

 

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Channelknight Fadran

Channelknight Fadran

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Spoiler

Name: Felix Rodrigue Quintus

Appearance: This guy \/

Spoiler

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Felix Tea Party Guide ‒ SAMURAI GAMERS

Personality: Maybe I'll just copy over Dain? Or perhaps literally just make him Felix von Rodrigue from FE3H... Kay, I'm doing Felix.

Skills: He's a centurion, which means he has a hundred men to command. Most are stinky mercs, but some are blood Romans like himself.

Backstory: Decorated war vet and whatnot. Lost his older brother in battle.

Other: Very grumpy.

 

 

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Tesh

Tesh

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Hm... Could I be a legionary?

Just... A random legionary who survived?

I'll make more of a character once things get rolling.

Also good job coming up with a rp that I'm excited enough to join...

:ph34r:

 

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The Unknown Ajah

The Unknown Ajah

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1 hour ago, AmazingGoob said:

 

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I'll just be a rogue mercenary/thief (officially he's a mercenary, when he's on hard times he is a pretty good thief). He could be... Visigoth? His nationality doesn't really matter, so it would be nice to know how realistic that is off the top of your head.

 

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Random Bystander

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One thing is for certain: It's hard to make Frankish names that don't completely suck. :P

Spoiler

Name: Amahild Nuzman (17)

Appearance: Long black hair, dark brown eyes, pale-ish skin, skinny, tall.

Ethnicity: Part of one of the Frankish tribes.

Skills: Can fight (thanks AmazingGoob for your help! :)). Can also do other stuff, like cook and hunt and fish. She's really good with languages.

Weakness: Extremely stubborn. Can't read or write, and doesn't care. Will accept almost any challenge.

Backstory: *insert interesting backstory here* (I didn't want to spend 3 hours on Wikipedia...) Also, she believes in Norse Mythology for the time being.

 

 

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Goob

Goob

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@Channelknight Fadran
@Random Bystander
@Tesh
@The Unknown Order

Kalarius Dakaes scanned the horizon. He had a spear on his back and he bore medium armor with small metal plates coating a leather interior.
Kalarius was running from the ill-fated Siege of Ravenna, months after Romulus Augustulus had been overthrown. He had long since gotten out of sight of Ravenna, and had traveled west, following the Po before he arrived to where he was camped now, in the middle of a abandoned town, his horse grazing near him.

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Tesh

Tesh

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10 minutes ago, AmazingGoob said:

@Channelknight Fadran
@Random Bystander
@Tesh
@The Unknown Order

Kalarius Dakaes scanned the horizon. He had a spear on his back and he bore medium armor with small metal plates coating a leather interior.
Kalarius was running from the ill-fated Siege of Ravenna, months after Romulus Augustulus had been overthrown. He had long since gotten out of sight of Ravenna, and had traveled west, following the Po before he arrived to where he was camped now, in the middle of a abandoned town, his horse grazing near him.

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Ah!

I'm going to do some research, and then throw together a character. I'll try and post that tomorrow.

 

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Random Bystander

Random Bystander

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*sighs* I don't really know how to accurately play this character. Oh well.

Amahild had been traveling for days. She noticed what appeared to be an town up ahead. She decided she would enter, so that she could try to bargain for some supplies and shelter. She nudged her horse forward, and headed over.

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