Neo Basileia ton Rhomaioi

The New Roman Empire

The New Roman Empire is a personal addition to the Ground Zero Games universe commonly referred to as the Tuffleyverse or GZGverse. It is not compatible with the commonly accepted 'canon' portrayed in the official products. It was originated on a whim some years ago. The first public mention was in a message dated Mon, 27 Apr 1998 21:00:15 -0500 (CDT) on the GZG-list and from there it has degenerated into full-fledged monomania. By the end of that year I had started a website that began as a gimmick so I could easily organize my own forces. However, that website was poorly organized and primitive in design and concept, just barely a step up from the loose-leaf binders that were the original home of the valiant Romans. So welcome to my work in progress, the transferring of the entire website to a new provider and total revision of the entire incomprehensible mess. I’m even trying to translate at least some of the acronyms. I originally designed the website for my own purposes and it was not nearly clear enough to communicate to other people.

Further clarification and caveat: according to the US Army’s mental health ‘professionals’ I am completely sane. I do not have multiple personalities, nor do I honestly consider myself a Roman citizen in the sense that this term is usually meant. Although in the sense that Fr. John Meyendorff means it, perhaps I do. Read his book, The Byzantine Legacy in the Orthodox Church, which leads me to my next point. Any discussion of the Roman Empire after the Declaration of Milan has to include a discussion of the Orthodox Church. This skirts close to my personal beliefs. I will be including a rant here real soon now on the topic of religion in gaming. Because I haven’t kicked enough sacred cows lately. See John's blog for rants on a variety of topics--Ed.

Also a personal mea culpa. I was informed by a gentleman who actually speaks Greek that I was mixing my genders. Nea is female, Neo is male. Basileia ton Rhomaioi is male. Neo Basileia ton Rhomanioi is actually correct. However, the colloquialism would likely be Nea Rhomania. Romania means "Land of the Romans" and as the Romans referred to themselves as such even into the 20^th century when the last of the Millet Rum was savagely murdered and forced to flee Anatolia by the Turkish government. Hellene never meant a nationality until relatively recently. In the time of the Empire, Hellene referred to pagan Greek concepts and beliefs. "Modern" Christian Greeks thought of themselves as Romans.

So officially, it is the Basileia ton Rhomaioi, the Empire of the Romans.To the Romans themselves, it is Nea Romania. To avoid confusion, I should point out that the modern nation of Romania inhabited by Vlach, is part of the Romanov Hegemony, which considers itself the Third Rome.To the English-speaking diplomatic community it is the Roman Empire, to which the appellation "New" is usually added, hence the NRE. When they are trying to be polite they translate into Greek and say Neo Basileia ton Rhomaioi.

Background Assumptions:

Dirtside II House Rules -- Including the world-famous Engineering Rules that no one is mad enough to actually use.

Timeline

Themes -- Planets, and the forces they place at the disposal of the Emperor of the Romans.

Game Stuff

Army (DSII and SGII)

Navy (Full Thrust II)

Supporting Cast:

Saeed Kalifate pending --The bastard stepchildren of the Tuffleyverse, so unsympathetic no one will take a crack at defining them even as an intellectual exercise. This is the beginnings of a collaboration Tony Wilkinson and I were doing based (oddly enough) on the Ottoman military of the 1500s.

New Jordan pending -- Someone has to be the Puppet State of the Western Imperialists, Lackeys of the Christian Crusaders, Dupes of the Zionists, and Traitors to the Dar al’Islam. Translation: These are the Muslims who are far more interested in getting rich and getting laid than getting martyred.

Miscellaneous Allies pending -- All the minor powers that round out the feel of the NRE-verse. Someone has to provide auxillary troops.

Islamic Federation pending -- Even though Chris DeBoe is being gracious enough to host my webpage, I'm going to have to disagree with him on his interpretation of the Islamic Federation land forces. Using the core militaries of the Arab world, and based on a somewhat decentralized feudalism, this is my interpretation of just how bad the Islamic ground forces will probably be. This was done many years ago. Now that I've had a chance to fight Arabs, I have no reason to change my opinion.