Empire

“Northern invasion…” I repeated to myself, not continuing the memorial. My knowledge of ancient European history was very poor. Both due to the loss of so much history in the Collapse and just not being required learning. Survival and employment tended to be prioritized more.

What little I did know was more common knowledge that everyone did. Given that this seemed to commemorate an important victory dating back to the Roman Empire, this was a two thousand year old landmark. It’s remarkable that it’s still standing. But they always knew how to build things to last.

I focused back on the plaque. “409 AD. End of…barbarian invasions…secured the Empire’s frontier.” The Latin was fairly flowery at least compared to what was spoken today. It was at least still understandable even if I skimmed over things.

“So this was marked to celebrate the end of the repeated attempts to invade from the east. Though this sort of history lesson isn’t that revealing for me.” The Romans had more than a few marks of their achievements throughout the land. While certainly special for its age, in the grand scale of the Empire and time, it didn’t have that much significance.

B jumped up on my arm leaning around. “There’s another monument on the other side.” I tilted around to see a far more grander design feature. While the invasion commemoration was a simple obelisk, this was a person. Time wore away a good bit of the stone carved features, but I could recognize Imperium when I saw it.

I walked over checking the bridge for any sort of traffic. It remained as deserted as before. The statue stood at least four meters tall with the man stretching out a hand to grasp at something. His gaze locked on to the horizon.

“Tiberius Lucius Caesar Augustus V, first Emperor of the Roman Imperium. 605 AD. I don’t think I’ve seen the founder before.” I craned up to get a better look at the statue. Based on the rest of the plaque, this was erected in memory of him. So I guess this probably was what he looked like during his youth or maybe early years as Emperor.

B crawled over to the foot of the statue. “I have no visual data on the man either. This must have been important during the Empire or Imperium days to have a statue.” He bounced down to the plaque keeping to the safe distance marked by the light. “It says that this was his home after being adopted by his uncle.”

I squatted down to look closer at what he read. “To think Coulen had connections back to the old Imperium days. Probably goes a little way to explain their adherence to the Sciens Principles.”

“It is said that the Orthodox Sciens had their founding during the first century of the Imperium. And the fervor only increased as civilization advanced rapidly with Roman scientific innovations. If we looked around the Basilica, we might find more Imperium relics.”

“Probably, though the best we’ll ever see is during Visitations.” A pair of monuments in honor of the old Romans. I guess that it made sense that would be what I’d find here. This area was closer to the heart of the Empire and Imperium compared to the northern and eastern regions that were added later.

It did give a slight bit of insight into the town. Though not really what I sought, I never thought it would be easy. Asking around would be easier, if I didn’t put my foot in my mouth when dealing with them. And the questions I had couldn’t be asked easily without offending them.

Crossing my arms, I stared at the statue as though as I expected to give me something. It didn’t. And I knew it wouldn’t. The founding of the Imperium and Sciens. What parts I knew about Sciens, it came from the Golden Age of the Imperium, though some of the more zealous believed it went even further back. I didn’t know if they were just making Sciens more important by being rooted in the Empire or they were just delusional. But it wasn’t a rare opinion to hold.

I’d probably find plenty that thought that around here given that man. It honestly didn’t really matter to me in the end because it didn’t change the service that the Basilica provided. Personal interpretation mattered to the individual. But if the old city held strong ties to the Imperium then that could have seeded into their culture. And created a branch of the Orthodox, one more troublesome to deal with.

I didn’t think that line of thought was getting me anywhere. Useful as the bridge might be, I still had a lot of day remaining and if I could make it over to the plaza maybe that had something more helpful. It wasn’t like they just contained detailed records or anything. But a piece to the puzzle would be nice.

Scanning the map, I remembered that the plaza stood on the complete opposite side of the Corpus integrated into the campus. It probably got a lot of foot traffic. I’d have to be careful, but I wasn’t about to give up now.

“Let’s get going, B. I want to check out the other site.”

Returning towards the heart of the town made it feel like I left behind the past. Part of that came through in the buildings and also just the general appearance. While the whole town kept a general cleanliness to it, the outer parts I found more in disrepair. Attachments to buildings looked less designed and more patchwork. Old failing parts remained and just got covered up at best rather than replaced.

It had a whole vibe of just making due with things. Given how the inner parts of the town looked new and shiny by comparison, I didn’t know why it had such a rundown appearance. It didn’t seem like the town hurt financially. So I could only guess that another cause created that gap.

For now, I just march onward to the plaza. It did mean starting to get into thicker crowds, but as long as they could see that I was Courier, then I didn’t get any trouble. Even the Orthodox had respect for us. I honestly didn’t know anyone that would intentionally give one a hard time. But I guess somewhere they might.

Passing the Corpus tower, I saw the Imperium National Plaza. On name alone, I could guess that it had to be built around the thousand years of the Imperium. A better one probably would place it in the early part of the reign, given the statue.

But as I approached the edge of the park that surrounded it, I saw another gathering. Though this one looked very different from that of the Basilica. They were actively running away in a panic. “What the hell is with this town?!”

I rushed down the stairs into the main grounds of the park. Trees lined the edges doing a good job of cutting down ambient noise. A few of the fleeing townspeople knocked past me. The weight and force threw me to the ground. “Dammit…”

Rolling back over, I narrowly dodged another sprinting woman. This wasn’t going to be a good plan. I pushed off the ground with a little glow from my ankles to get me clear. “It’s only gonna be too hard to make it through the main path. B!”

I stretched out my hand for him. He crawled out into the palm of my hand. Once more a light shone from under my sleeve as I wound back my arm. A sharp swing launched the monkey into the air with him spreading out his limbs a little for control.

Moving to the side path away from the chaos, I looked around the hedge to see if anyone charged through. Thankfully, no one decided on this path.

“The main paths are completely out,” B reported. “There’s a narrow service path that you can use.” He sent me an updated marker to my screen on my jacket.

I tapped on it and motioned out, to send out a projection for me to follow. Making full use of my gear, I bolted forward as I started to hear the cracking of stone and pained screams. This was very different from someone just upset. It sounded like a fight.

What was happening in this town?