Deos populi Romani

World of Darkness -- Pax Romana ~SPQR~ Roma

Introduction

Deos populi Romani translates roughly to Gods of Rome. And it is about the gods of Rome and their followers that forms the warp and weft of this story.

The Emperor is Dead

Intro Recap

The death of Augustus on the 19th of August in AD 14 sets in motion a series of events that will come to enfold not just the mortal population of Rome, but that of her gods as well.

Today is September 19th, the fourth and final day of the Ludi Romani or Roman Games. The Games are a state celebration for the entertainment of the Roman people and all exhibitions are free to the citizens of Rome. This years games are shadowed by the cremation and funeral march of Augustus that took part on the 14th of September.

Rome, already the largest city of the empire with an estimated population of 1.5 million, is inundated with visitors who have come to pay their final respects to Rome's greatest leader. Against the backdrop of Augustus' funeral rites and the opening of the Ludi Romani the Senate spars with the Tiberius while the noble families of Equites quibble with both the Emperor and Senate for improved political position.

For the last five days mortal and supernatural struggles and violence have grown more commonplace. The grieving population remains ignorant, perhaps willfully so, to the greater meaning of these struggles and the impact such events may have upon the future.

At this point, all members of the divine band called Cras A Potius have felt the sting of attacks by rival cults or secret societies. The last five days have not been kind to the young Avatars and each struggles more or less alone with both mundane and supernatural threats.

The Wolf and the Dove

In the chapter titled "The Wolf and the Dove" the Avatars Morpheus and Siobhán find both their followers and themselves under attack. In the case of Siobhán, her followers the Cult of Victoria Nemetona are physically attacked by a cavalry group called the Riders of Doom, a new and xenophobic offshoot of the Cult of Mars. For Morpheus the attacks are more a form of nebulous harassment beginning with the jailing of several members of Morpheus' Circle of Hungry Dreamers and then the closure of Morpheus' temple over unpaid taxes.

The attacks progress when Siobhán's sacred grove is invaded and she retaliates by killing Jovian Antonius, an avatar and high-priest of the Riders in his home. The Rider's strike back and Siobhán is seriously injured and to save herself manifests her Secret Garden with a potent miracle. Alternately Morpheus is attacked by a group of Roman mercenaries led by the famous Gladiator Enyalius, the threat is serious when Morpheus' ability to put the mortals to sleep fails and Morpheus is stabbed with a blade of celestial steel called the Dagger of the Moon. Morpheus might well have truly died save for the presence of the Celtic vampire Galchobhar whose savagery broke the mercenaries who then fled.

In both major attacks silver coins called the Specie Janus were found on the corpses of the deities' attackers.

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Characters

~ Cercyon -- God of Fire & Forge

~ Alfhard -- Elderly smith & new Priest to Cercyon

~ Goda -- Mortal wife of Cercyon and mother of his son.

~ Atreus -- First born and semi-divine son of Cercyon by Goda of the Marci Tribe.

~ Morpheus -- One of the Oneroi, gods of dreaming and sleep, he is the master of the mortal form.

~ Miko -- Morpheus' most cherished love and also a ghul.

Links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus

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