Magnus Imperium (Fallout Alternate History)

The **Magnus Imperium**, or **Grand Empire**, is an autocratic empire based upon the ancient Roman Empire. It was founded in 2255 when Caesar's Legion, the military organization that predated the Imperium, claimed Flagstaff as the capital of a new empire. It was founded by Edward Sallow, now known as Caesar, and Joshua Graham, who created the Legion as a way to unite the various tribes in the Four States Commonwealth under one cultural banner and advance civilization in the post-war world. The Imperium's citizenry consists mostly of reconditioned tribals and their descendants.

## Society

Imperial society is divided into four main groups: the Legionarii (Legionaries), the Equites (Landowners), the Pontifices (Priests), and the Servi (Slaves). Legionaries encompass all citizens that have been conscripted into the Legion, from Recruit Legionaries to Legates, and have full rights within Caesarean Law. Equites are men who are valuable to the economy and are exempted from military conscription. These landowners work as merchants, scientists, doctors and other specialized careers. Pontifices are the priests of the Empire and are in charge of holding religious ceremonies and educating children, usually the children of slaves. Pontifices are barred by Caesarean Law to hold any political position as a check on their influence within the upper echelons of Imperial governance. Servi are slaves, who have a wide-variety of functions; there are personal slaves under the ownership of the Man of the household, slaves under the ownership of Equites to work in factories and workshops, slave labourers who built much of the Imperium's frontier towns, and much more.

Movement between the social classes is possible, but difficult depending on the circumstances; there are slaves who have become citizens through various means and legionaries who have been disgraced and enslaved. The most common way a slave is freed is when an Imperial takes a slave woman to be his wife; she automatically becomes a Femina Legionis in that case. This is only permitted if the slave is under the ownership of the man who wishes to marry her and must not be vitally important to the Empire as a slave. The reverse is prohibited as woman may not own property (including slaves) and so are barred from marrying those of a lower class. Any citizen may be stripped of their citizenship under Caesarean Law if convicted of committing a serious crime and the available punishments include being condemned as a slave. Generally these slaves are treated poorly and are given the worst jobs as punishment for their crimes.

### Women

The women of the Imperium are an integral part of their culture. The wives of soldiers, landowners and priests are free women who serve the Legion by caring for the family while their husbands work. Woman are known as *Femina Legionis*, or Legion Women, and are expected to instil "*virtus*," or virtue onto their children, teaching the male children to obey Caesar, be moral, revere the gods and dedicating themselves to serving the state, all the while grooming the female children to become mothers and future wives. Women are not allowed to serve in the army or own land, but there are some religious positions opened up to them and can be quite influential.

## Government and military

### Central government

The post of Caesar is the ultimate authority within the Empire. The word of the Caesar is law and supersedes any

The emperor was the ultimate authority in policy- and decision-making, but in the early Principate he was expected to be accessible to individuals from all walks of life, and to deal personally with official business and petitions. A bureaucracy formed around him only gradually.[184] The Julio-Claudian emperors relied on an informal body of advisors that included not only senators and equestrians, but trusted slaves and freedmen.[185] After Nero, the unofficial influence of the latter was regarded with suspicion, and the emperor's council *(consilium)* became subject to official appointment for the sake of greater transparency.[186] Though the senate took a lead in policy discussions until the end of the Antonine dynasty, equestrians played an increasingly important role in the *consilium.*[187] The women of the emperor's family often intervened directly in his decisions. Plotina exercised influence on both her husband Trajan and his successor Hadrian. Her influence was advertised by having her letters on official matters published, as a sign that the emperor was reasonable in his exercise of authority and listened to his people.[188]

### Technology

As decreed by Caesar, the Empire firmly believes that reliance on advanced technology weakens humanity and was responsible for the Great War. As such, the Imperial Legion is a relatively low-tech organization that relies on numbers, physical fitness and discipline to achieve their objectives. A typical legionary will wear leather armour fashioned in the style of the pre-war illustrations depicting ancient Roman legions; this armour is fashioned mostly from Brahmin leather fashioned by slave-operated Fabricae and issued to lower-ranked legionaries. Centurions are some of the best the Legion has to offer, and so utilize better armour in battle. Generally they are of their own design by either having it custom-fabricated for themselves or putting it together through pieces taken from their dead foes in battler (or a combination of both). Legates have the same privileges but are offered the absolute best armour the Legion can manufacture (usually taken in the form of heavy metal armour).

Due to the scarcity of advanced arms within Imperial territory, the Legion marches into combat with relatively simple guns and melee or unarmed weapons. As a testament to this is that on average, only four men are issued guns within a contubernium (a Legion "squad" of 8 men). Of those four, only the Decanus is given an advanced one (such as an assault rifle or marksman's rifle) while the rest are given bolt-action hunting rifles in addition to their standard Legion Gladius. As for the rest of the soldiers, they have the option of purchasing their own or can take one off a dead enemy or comrade, provided that it is of practical use for their rank and not of an ammunition type that is exceedingly rare within the Imperium.

## Religion

Imperial citizens worship four gods; Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Divus Julius, the historic Julius Caesar. The reason these four are the ones worshiped is because Jupiter, Mars and Venus were the only gods mentioned in any of the "holy texts," and Edward Sallow, the new Caesar, was so enamored with Julius Caesar that he wished for him to be treated as the most divine god in his new order.