Others will, no doubt, hammer out bronze



That breathes more softly, and draw living faces



Out of stone. They will plead cases better

And chart the rising of every star in the sky.

Your mission, Roman, is to rule the world.

These will be your arts: to establish peace,

To spare the humbled, and to conquer the proud.





Virgil, Aeneid

I highly recommend zooming in fully to see the full detail of the map. I also want to thankfor her map here for giving inspiration on some of he provincial borders. You can find the version without cities here , and an image of only the cities here

On the day of Dies Commodianus, AD 192, Roman Emperor Commodus was busy at work announcing his new plans to rename the empire in his honor, as well as the capital city, months of the year, the senate itself, and a number of other important items. Fortunately for the empire and unfortunately for Commodus, however, that day also marked the landing of a strange being from space, ripping through the atmosphere in his ship and crashing right down into the senatorial forum, crushing the mad emperor underneath. Through the smoke and rubble, a bat-like space alien stepped out and greeted them.

The implication of such an unsubtle sign from the gods was clear.

For the next thousand years the immortal Emperor oversaw the empire, bringing it together and pushing its boundaries further than ever before, bent on nothing less than total world domination. In theory the Roman administration and culture has been spread far and wide, but by now that governing culture has been so fundamentally changed that it'd be just as accurate to call it Chinese, Andean, Indian, or the successor to countless other human cultures.

Now, nearing the end of the 10th century of the new calendar, people all around the planet are preparing to celebrate the momentous anniversary of their Emperor's arrival. But it seems the emperor himself is setting his sights further than some Earthly parties. With his ship finally repaired and working again, he plans to set course for new pastures, this time bringing his armies with him. How much more can a lone immortal conquer with an entire planet to support him?





SOCIETY

Global culture has changed rapidly due to the newly impose imperial authority and waves of settlers in many places. One of the largest changes has been the rise of the Domini, a distinct class of non-hereditary land owners who oversee much of the global trade and keep many traders, scholars, and merchant fleets under their patronage. Other classes have also started to arise in the increasingly stratified society as more and more laborers and artisans start to specialize in their work.



The empire mostly rules with a light hand in many of its provinces, with the Emperor's grasp slowly tightening as technology develops to make it more feasible. Many local customs and traditions are allowed to continue much as they were before the empire ever appeared so long as they don't interfere with imperial law, and for many people in the rural provinces life remains mostly the same. However, while things such as faith and custom are protected, other practices have been persecuted without exception, such as human sacrifice and more recently slavery.



Currently the Emperor is mostly concerned with growing and moving populations towards his goals. For many in the crowded cities, this has meant new offers of free land and money to those willing to help settle the rural provinces, cementing imperial control there in the process and creating greater social mobility.





ADMINISTRATION

Over the last thousand years, most of the original imperial bureaucracy has been transformed, abandoned, or added onto to the point of being unrecognizable to the Romans of antiquity.



Responsibility for governing the massive breadth of the empire is divided between several layers of bureaucracy. At the bottom are people's councils ruling individual cities and townships, with local nobility running counties above them. Further up the pyramid are provincial governors, who are elected to serve 5-year terms by citizens' assemblies. The individual provinces also have a legislature made up of the Domini to balance the governor's power and representatives chosen by the governor which make up the Lower Senate, with each of the 450 provinces receiving one senator and one vote. Through the Lower Senate, legislation for the whole empire is able to be proposed and debated before passing on to the Upper Senate.



Groups of provinces are lumped into dioceses, ruled by a vicar selected by the individual governors of the provinces under their command. The 75 vicars make up the Upper Senate, who are able to vote on and enact legislation created by the Lower Senators, as well as ensure that the provinces under their authority meet tax quotas. Vicars are elected by the combined Domini legislative bodies of their respective provinces, but must also be approved by their respective prefect. If the prefect does not approve of their nomination, another election must be held.



Above the dioceses are the 6 massive prefectures under whom all diocese senators swear fealty. Prefects oversee the internal activities of their lands, cast tie-breaking votes for the Upper Senate, can overturn nominees to the diocese senatorial office, and appoint judges to their respective courts. The 6 prefects also form a semi-formal council which communicates the wishes of the Upper Senate to the Emperor, and vice versa. Just as the diocese senators swear to them, the prefects themselves also personally swear loyalty to the Emperor, who is solely responsible for appointing them to their office and can demote them from their otherwise lifetime terms as he wishes.



Currently the 6 prefectures are Europa (purple), the oldest and most prestigious; Aethiopia (red), one of the fastest developing prefectures from its mineral wealth and trade; Hespiridia (brown), the largest and also where imperial authority can be the weakest; Asia Australis (yellow), holding the largest population and some of the most important trade routes; Asia Borealis (green), with the second largest population and largest destination for traders; and Asia Oceanus (blue), containing some of the very last provinces added to the empire and the lowest population.



The Emperor himself does not reside in a singular capital, but instead moves his court between a number of the largest and most prestigious cities around his empire, ensuring that his direct oversight doesn't become a distant memory in any one region.





RELIGIONS

The entire empire is a patchwork of faiths, mostly made up of various polytheistic traditions that blur into one another in one large continuum, with many local gods belonging to multiple pantheons. Some of these gods, such as Apollo, Serpent, and Perun, have found widespread global appeal.

Existing outside of this pagan dynamic are the various monotheists concentrated in various regions. The main groups are the Cult of Di (within northern China), Acuaton (centered around the Caribbean), and finally the largest of them, the Christians (mostly associated with the eastern Mediterranean and Persia), who are divided into two major branches.

The first of these branches are the Marcionites; those who posit that the one true God of the New Testament is separate from the false Hebrew God of the Old, and that Jesus Christ was created fully formed and entirely of a divine nature to be a savior of humanity. The church emphasizes piety and combining faith with good deeds on Earth.

The second denomination are the Stoicites, who put more emphasis on the philosophical side of the faith and preach the importance of rejecting passion and irrationality in favor of God, the intertwined nature of wisdom and holiness, and the system of duty one has to their family, government, and ultimately heavenly Father. The Stoicites believe that Christ was the son of God, but of a human nature.

Ultimately, the empire does not concern itself much with faith, and does its best to allow cultures to borrow from one another and integrate their religions. Religious persecution is outlawed, and at the same time none of the various faiths are given favor, with every temple and church paying the same tax. Even the many cults erected around the Emperor, worshiping him as a living God, are expected to pay the same. The Emperor himself asks only that his citizens give sacrifice or prayers to their deity of choice for his good health and prosperity.





TECHNOLOGY

The Emperor has used his great knowledge to rapidly advance his subjects, giving them the edge necessary to take over and rule the world. A combination of new fertilizers and farming methods, as well as radical new ideas such as germ theory, sterilization, and quarantine which diminished plagues, allowed for a large population boom that providing a steady source of workers, bureaucrats, scholars, merchants, and most importantly, soldiers and tax-payers. Over the centuries, he has gradually introduced new developments in metallurgy, chemistry, and transportation, making it possible to exploit the planet's resources in ways never thought possible. Now massive ships of steel and iron, airships floating over the skies, and metallic carriages carried along tracks crisscrossing the lands all ensure that no corner of the Earth is left untouched and unconnected. Communication over long distances has also been extremely important, and regular horse relay stations and large heliograph towers have been built, and even now new telegraphic lines are being developed.