Alt History Roman Supernatural Roleplay

[Drifter]

I've been toying with the idea of an alternate history of Rome, starting with the founding myth of Romulus and Remus, wherein Remus founds the city (now called Remanus) on top of Aventine Hill, only to find that breaking ground too far into the hill turns out to break a seal that held back monsters and creatures of legend and lets them loose in the world once more.

This RP will take place around 45 BC (around the end of the era of Julius Caesar, for contextual reference) after hundreds of years of supernatural creatures mingling among the changing Roman empire, rubbing elbows with humans and demigods alike. The superstitious natives of the empire are mistrustful of what may lurk in the shadows of their own streets, but they are even more terrified of the infelix, or the cursed descendants of Romulus himself, who are violent warriors, rumored to transform into vicious beasts by night. The infelix united the neighboring Gallic empire, and the citizens of Remanus fear invasion.

Basically, the idea is sort of "Roman" monster hunters, in a way, with some missions including domestic supernatural problems, and with an overarching focus on relations with the agitated Gallic empire.

Anyone who's interested, please let me know. I'm working on history and mythos for the OOC right now, and would be happy to answer any questions.

 

[Demonx]

This sounds like a fun concept. Consider my interest piqued ^_^

 

[dreamshell]

Should I assume we'd be following the rest of Roman history more or less at is happened? The overthrow of the Tarquins, Camillus, Cincinnatus, the conquest of Sicily, Spain, Carthage/the Punic Wars, butting heads with the Seleucids and the Parthians, Greek subjugation, Gracchi civil agitation, the Social Wars, the Servile Wars, the Marian-Sullan conflict, the First Triumvirate and so on? (Some of that's out of order, I know, but those seem like the major 'beats' of Roman Republican history. To be frank, I'm more aware of the broad strokes of a lot of that than the minutiae.)

Though I imagine Caesar's Gallic Wars will go/went quite differently if the Gauls have been unified into a rival nation. Depending on how early that happened, "Remanus" might have had a lot more trouble with the tribes in its own backyard (i.e. the Latins, Samnites, etc.).

Also, what sort of supernatural entities would coexist alongside humans? What effects might they have on this alternate Rome/Remanus?

All this is to say I am definitely interested. =)

 

[Tempest]

Refer to signature for reaction.

 

[Drifter]

I've been going through Roman history (admittedly, my Republic knowledge is a little hazy, as most of my knowledge comes from the kingdom and empire eras) and trying to figure out how much I am willing to tweak in order to get a coherent picture of Remanus as it exists around the date of this RP. The history will take me the longest time of everything in this RP, but for the moment, it looks like everything is basically the same in terms of the landmarks.

As for the supernatural elements, that I can answer more readily. The gods will be much more of a presence in Remanus, so demigods will be somewhat more common and not quite so mythical (several will have rose to the ranks of consul and higher military and government positions to please their divine parents), and there will be monsters such as cyclopes, lamiae, harpies, sirens, fauns, oceanids, daemons, and some other things I'm working on as we speak. In this new founding myth, Remus allows Romulus to live, and he and his descendants end up being struck by a curse, transforming them into "infelix", cursed, violent men who transform into vicious beasts by night. So, they're another aspect of mythology that I'm sorting out and tying to this new Gallic empire.

Anyway, thanks for your interest, and I'll let you all know once the OOC is up. It should answer a lot of your questions, especially once I've had a day or two more to plot.

 

[Drifter]

The OOC is up!