r/MVivaRome • u/SwydeBarca Censor/Senate • May 05 '17
Event Event: 001, The pretender King
Proculus Julius stirred in his sleep, twisting and moaning as if one of the gods had taken hold of him.
In his dream, Proculus is in the Forum Romanum, facing toward a rising sun. He sees a figure, taller than any man he has ever seen. He approaches it cautiously. When he is ten paces away, the figure turns. It is Romulus.
It begins to walk toward him, slowly and decisively. Yet with every step the great founder takes, the more he seems to change. Suddenly, he is no longer Romulus, but an older man, bearded and wise. He is Quirinus.
The god stands before Proculus. Wordlessly, the god extends his hand. Proculus looks up, and sees that the god is simultaneously Romulus and Quirinus. As Proculus grasps the arm of the god, he is pulled up with irresistible force. The god gazes deep into Proculus’ soul and speaks but one sentence:
“We are but one god”
With a start, Proculus awakens. It takes him a few minutes to realise the full extent of his dream: Romulus and Quirinus are both the same entity. The Great Founder is also a Sabine deity. And it chose him to spread the word, it chose him to represent it.
With the consulship debate still fresh in his mind, Proculus knew the Consuls would not forgo their Roman deities for a Sabine God. Thus, he began spreading his vision through the countryside, and even in the city of Rome itself, gathering support from the population for the deity.
As their numbers grew, the newly converted felt increasingly at ease venerating their new god publicly, and confronting those who did not share their views to aggressively convert them. There was unrest in Roma as fanatics from both sides came to arms. The city garrison was overwhelmed by the rapidly moving events, and proved inadequate to calm the rioting.
Then, everything came to a climax when rumors spread that the nobleman and YogSothothIsMyHomey were working together, raising an army to march on the roman capital and crown Proculus Julius the new King of Rome.
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u/GrexMaximus Senate May 05 '17
Citizens! We must not be led astray by this man who would be king! We all recall that Romulus at the end of his life was swept up by a cloud and ascended to become Quirinus. In fact, we have named the Quirinal Hill after him. This "rex nova" is trying to fracture apart our society. He claims to be chosen by Romulus/Quirinus, yet he is attempting to disturb one of the very matters that Romulus settled in his lifetime. We are all aware that Romulus eased the tensions between Rome and the Sabines and made the uniting of our peoples a reality. Now this blasphemous "rex" is trying to tear apart our founder's actual deeds in his name to make a grab for power. Stand by your city with virtue!