Roman Empire

The Roman Empire (Latin: Imperium Romanum) is an empire that ruled across almost all of the known world, particularly around the Mediterranean. It was briefly split into 4 distinct parts by the Emperor Diocletan in his Diocletan reforms, something that would be completely overturned by the Emperor Maxentius following the War of the Tetrarchy. The empire began to wain during the closing days of the 8th century, and officially fell in AD852 after at least 50 years of war against barbarian incursion and civil strife, marking the beginning of the Ab Imperium Emortuus epoch. The fall of the empire resulted in the formation of the Second Roman Republic on mainland Italy as a direct continuation of the Empire, as well as various other rump states formed through the Latin Diaspora and former colonies declaring their statehood.

Campaign by Drusus against the Cherusci
During Drusus' campaigns into Magna Germania, he encountered the Cherusci tribe, who promptly attempted to fight the Romans. Drusus destroyed the tribe, and crucified the chieftain Segimer and his successors, Hermann (Arminius) and Flavus. With the crucifixion of the young Arminius, the Germanic tribes could have never unified under his banner, and never fight any Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. The western part of Germania Magna had been pacified, and allowed the Romans to set up a permanent position along the Elbe river.

Reign of Emperor Commodus
With the death of Marcus Aurelius, the role of the leader of the Roman Empire had shifted solely unto Commodus. Commodus, having loved his father dearly, sought to emulate him in every aspect as emperor. He held onto the territory that Aurelius had conquered during the Marcomannic Wars and began a systematic expulsion and civilizing of all tribal barbarians that lived in the newly acquired provinces of Sarmatia and Marcomannia, as well as a re-invigoration and reinforcement of the legions along the Danube and Elbe rivers and in the new provinces.

In AUC 937 (AD183), Commodus lead an expedition across the Elbe and further into Central Europe, killing and enslaving many Germanic barbarians. His campaign ended after a year in AUC 938, having successfully expanded the borders of the empire in Germania to the Oder River, and had also secured the western Cimbric Peninsula.

Though Commodus was popular among common Romans and the army due to his increased militarization, he fell out of favour with more prominent individuals, especially those in the ever-corrupted Praetorian Guard. The causes of this are said to be that Commodus had ordered various purges within the Praetorian Guard and the Senate in order to lower corruption in both institutions. In AUC 936 (AD192), he was assassinated in a plot by a group of Praetorian Guards. Commodus had chosen Septimius Severus as his heir in the office of the princeps.