What’s your best Roman meme?

Just trying to find out who can grant who Citizenship.

Is it only the Beloved Emperor in Rome? Or can Roman Generals do it as well?
I know the people of Hispania &their friends on the Iberian peninsular are clamouring for "Latin Rights" Is that only attainable through Imperial decree?

Can individuals be granted Citizenship by other means? I realise ( I think at least ) that adoption is an option. For example can a Legate give citizenship to a tribal chief or his sons to bring them on side?

Whilst you have your thinking caps on:-

I know the Auxiliaries are not Roman citizens( Unless granted after 25 yrs Service)However does anyone know if they are from the tribes in the Province currently controlled by our Characters? Or can we still in good old Roman fashion expect our client tribes to place their warriors at our disposal?

J Flower wrote:Just trying to find out who can grant who Citizenship.

Is it only the Beloved Emperor in Rome? Or can Roman Generals do it as well?
I know the people of Hispania &their friends on the Iberian peninsular are clamouring for "Latin Rights" Is that only attainable through Imperial decree?

Can individuals be granted Citizenship by other means? I realise ( I think at least ) that adoption is an option. For example can a Legate give citizenship to a tribal chief or his sons to bring them on side?

Whilst you have your thinking caps on:-

I know the Auxiliaries are not Roman citizens( Unless granted after 25 yrs Service)However does anyone know if they are from the tribes in the Province currently controlled by our Characters? Or can we still in good old Roman fashion expect our client tribes  to place their warriors at our disposal?

 
 

Assuming the current situation in Iberia et al is that of Socii then by calling for Latin rights they are wanting to change the terms of the treaty they have with Rome. Latin Rights as I understand it would give them all rights as a citizen except voting rights. Voting rights having a property qualification unless in parts of Italy.

Having an office would grant citizenship but that may annoy others who wanted that office and felt you had ignored your patronage duty to existing 'qualified' candidates.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/civitas

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

Above may be of use in pointing towards where to look, though I'm not sure that the Emperor would want you changing any treaties without his consent and what would Rome get out of the increasingly favourable terms for Iberia?

J Flower wrote:Just trying to find out who can grant who Citizenship.

Is it only the Beloved Emperor in Rome? Or can Roman Generals do it as well?
I know the people of Hispania &their friends on the Iberian peninsular are clamouring for "Latin Rights" Is that only attainable through Imperial decree?

Can individuals be granted Citizenship by other means? I realise ( I think at least ) that adoption is an option. For example can a Legate give citizenship to a tribal chief or his sons to bring them on side?

Whilst you have your thinking caps on:-

I know the Auxiliaries are not Roman citizens( Unless granted after 25 yrs Service)However does anyone know if they are from the tribes in the Province currently controlled by our Characters? Or can we still in good old Roman fashion expect our client tribes  to place their warriors at our disposal?
 
 

Various ways for a non Roman to become a Roman Citizen which did vary a lot over time, probably the best known is to do 25 years service in the Roman Army Auxiliaries.  But see also the rules on freed slaves which tends to be a multi generation approach to being made a citizen.

What is noticeable is that grant of Citizenship was viewed as a big reward and not given out lightly, half the Roman Army doing 25 years service to get it will probably be very unhappy if some General starts trying to dish it out to his barbarian drinking buddies on a whim!

Questions concerning citizenship were debated by a ten men Senate Committee the "Decemviri Stlitbus Iudicandis" prior to referral to the Senate.  Which means the Emperor has a veto.

Effectively man does 25 years service in Auxiliaries and his citizenship goes through on the nod.  Other requests for grants of Citizenship are going to be an automatic no unless a "Patron" commands enough influence in Rome to get it approved.  And since the whole Roman system was based on favours and patronage this is the type of power Emperor's like to keep very close control off.  

Due to Julius Ceesar long command in Gaul the Julio-Claudian dynasty had a web of allies & clients in Gaul they were happy to reward and Nero also favoured the Greeks.  But being too generous can be viewed as buying support and as a sign of weakness.

Somewhere in the middle is the case of Children of Roman citizen fathers and non citizen mothers as happened a lot when the Legions were stationed a long way from Rome (and note in this period rank and file Legionaries unlike officers were not allowed to be married, indeed had to divorce any existing wives before signing up).  If parents not married children took status of their mother and no women were citizens but on retirement a Roman could marry, adopt his own children and apply to have them made Roman Citizens.

An expensive legal process but with a bit of help from your Patron should go through.  If requests of this nature from Rhine Legions backed by the Patron-General start to get rejected probably sign that said Patron-General has upset Nero.

Roman Auxiliaries and allied units could be recruited as on an individual basis on on a block basis from Tribes.  Likewise they could be recruited from inside or outside the Empire and their officers could be as varied.      

At one end of scale are units recruited from Tribes outside the Empire and lead by their own Chiefs (often given Roman Ranks) - Good example would be the Batavian units viewed as experts at River warfare or the Sarmatian Heavy Cavalry who helped Garrison Hardian's wall at a later date.  While at other end are he and the the scale are units recruited on an individual basis and trained and lead by Roman Citizen officiers.  Though it was perfectly possible for units to change over time so Julius Ceesar allied Gallic Cavalry are after a hundred plus years are now Equites alares and and the Grandson's of his Tribal allies are now dressed in Toga's and have three Latin names.

In early Imperial period the drive was very much to have full time professional Auxilliary Units lead and trained by Roman Officiers and recruited on an individual basis from with-in the Empire (men shown on game sheet as being in service) as such men and units were viewed as better disciplined and more reliable.  Recruiting outside the Empire or summoning war bands from the local tribes could be a sign of crisis / plotting a revolt or a civil war.

The respectable alternative would be to show a campaign need for "specialist" troops to support Roman units.  A good historic example used in game is the "recruiting" of allied archer specialist's by the Syrian Legions as a counter to Parthian Horse Archers.  Would also be acceptable for Gov dealing with light hit and run raiders to recruit Numidian and Moorish Light Cavalry or Camel riders.

IMO the Senate being mostly old military men will understand need to recruit missile and light specialist troops even going outside the Empire to do so.  You might be able to make a case for hire of very heavy cavalry and horse archers from the Alans etc.  But padding out the Legions with German/Dacian/British Warbands and mixed Gladiators is clearly sign of a "wrong-un"..........And the sacred Chickens agree!

Marshal Bombast wrote:

J Flower wrote:Just trying to find out who can grant who Citizenship.

Is it only the Beloved Emperor in Rome? Or can Roman Generals do it as well?
I know the people of Hispania &their friends on the Iberian peninsular are clamouring for "Latin Rights" Is that only attainable through Imperial decree?

Can individuals be granted Citizenship by other means? I realise ( I think at least ) that adoption is an option. For example can a Legate give citizenship to a tribal chief or his sons to bring them on side?

Whilst you have your thinking caps on:-

I know the Auxiliaries are not Roman citizens( Unless granted after 25 yrs Service)However does anyone know if they are from the tribes in the Province currently controlled by our Characters? Or can we still in good old Roman fashion expect our client tribes  to place their warriors at our disposal?

 
 

Assuming the current situation in Iberia et al is that of Socii then by calling for Latin rights they are wanting to change the terms of the treaty they have with Rome.  Latin Rights as I understand it would give them all rights as a citizen except voting rights. Voting rights having a property qualification unless in parts of Italy.

Having an office would grant citizenship but that may annoy others who wanted that office and felt you had ignored your patronage duty to existing 'qualified' candidates.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/civitas

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

Above may be of use in pointing towards where to look, though I'm not sure that the Emperor would want you changing any treaties without his consent and what would Rome get out of the increasingly favourable terms for Iberia?

Since the granting of Latin Rights is in the gift of the Emperor think the question is not so much what would Rome get from granting these rights to Iberia or any other region. But what would the Emperor gain and why were they granted to the Gallic lands North of the Po, then Greek Sicily then to Iberia in 74 AD?

Against granting them is the cost and also the possible opposition of parts of the Senate who do not wish to share.

In its favour is gaining or perhaps retaining the love and loyalty of the provinces you have bestowed your favour on.

For Nero or any Emperor its a pure political decision based on how much he wants to keep the Legions with Iberian links, the five provinces and the sacred chickens of Cordoba happy.

Bit like the cost benefits of ordering the British Legions to get out of their nice new Bath House and get on with the conquest. Or sending orders to the Danube Legions to stop bothering about wine sales and invade Dacia to get en-slaved Romans back.

As Emperor and as Imperial advisors is it a I) YES II) NO or III) SOMETHING TO KICK DOWN THE ROAD UNTILL LATEST WORK OF ART FINISHED.

Ref Latin Rights for Iberia think the current answer is III

From the back-seat safety of Iberia comes encouragement to raid or invade a neighbour. Who actually controls ‘foreign policy’? The Emperor, the Senate or the local commanders?

Johntindall wrote:From the back-seat safety of Iberia comes encouragement to raid or invade a neighbour. Who actually controls ‘foreign policy’? The Emperor, the Senate or the local commanders?

Can you fit a back seat in a Chariot?

As for who controls Roman "Foreign Policy" the technical answer is the Emperor advised by the Senate of the Roman People and governors should not even move out of their province without the permission of the Emperor.

In actual fact if bored local commanders want to gather some loot and make a name for themselves - they will find it pretty easy to find an insult to Rome or a small hostile raid which needs to be responded too in order to protect the honour and status of Rome and the Emperor. Even if Rome or the Emperor know nothing about the fact they have been insulted or raided untill after the war has started.

If you start a war for local reasons and win its normally ok and he is a spiffing chap/back slapping all round esp if you can send the Emperor/Rome a large donation to the treasury and a load of slaves. Problems can however be caused if you start a war and proceed to loss one of the Emperor's very expensive Legions. In this case nasty questions about your authority to start the conflict etc can be asked !! The other possible problem is if you start a war and do so well that either the Emperor starts to view you as a possible rival with too much self confidence or your own troops declare you as Emperor.

In Rome is burning both the Syrian and Rhine commanders have tried to avoid these possible problems may making sure the Emperor is fully aware of what they are doing and getting the Imperial rubber stamp for their campaigns. But are they in the clear if say two legions vanish into the wild woods of Germany and are never seen again? Or if drunk on victory and the loot of Parthia the Eastern Legions declare a certain Gov of Syria the new Alexander and Emperor of Rome?

The other main commanders in RIB seem to be faced with situation were official Roman policy at start of the game on Britannia was too - "get on with the conquest and finish the sodding job." While the Danube frontier has just had a very heavy Dacian Raid with thousands of Roman subject carried off as slaves. Resulting in Rome demanding extreme revenge to stop anyone else getting idea of this sort and also eyeing up Dacian gold mines and slaves as a good way to refund the rebuilding of Rome.

So far both the British and Danube Legions who clearly do not want to get out of their nice new Bath Houses have been delaying and clearly think Rome underestimates the problems they face - With 4 armoured Legions of the most highly trained professional killers in the world V some local farmers in blue paint - such as the midges getting into their rusting armour. But have not been able to change the official position.

Guess the question now is for how long can the British & Danube commanders continue to ignore and frustrate the will of the Emperor and Senate before they start to see negative effects? And if the Emperor really pushes the issue with direct orders and sackings could this trigger a revolt against the authority of Rome with "Roman" units going native and making common cause with their local bath house buddies against Nero?

While

Rome is burning has shown up and I have to report that the Sacred Chickens of Cordoba are pecking at their food in what can best be called a "Hot and bothered manner."

- Being good traditional Roman Chickens they fully support the Emperor plan to save on excessive rebuilding costs by sending citizens out of Rome
to form new colonies.  But why Belgium and a route through a Germanic Bog?  And why settle in a province reported as having plague and famine last month?  Assume that Rome has been listening to path finder goats rather than sacred chickens?!  Are people not aware pathfinder goats probably think the mountains of Caladonia are a good place to settle!  

- Other concern is - Did anyone sacrifice the October Horse to Mars?  Probably not since the October Horse is the winner of a horse race in March and at the time Rome's race track was a pile of ashes.  May be a bad omen for Roman Cavalry, who did at least manage to outride all the Heavy Cavalry and Camel Lancers.............pity about the Horse Archers.

PS 350,000 settlers = 700 Colona @ 2m denarrii each.........anyone got a spare 140,000,000 denarri to fund the policy of setting up new colona for victims of the fire? Which too be fair is at least a lot cheaper than quotes from the builders guild to rebuild Rome.

Having followed up this thread rather late I have enjoyed the journey.

I note that we are all rather alone (Nero's divide and rule?) and frankly have wondered what the senate is for. Probably like many of the Senators and people of Rome. With a lack of direction from said Senate but a lot from the Emperor (and the advisors in this steam of consciousness) I think I know what to do.

However I do hope one of the commanders gets really, really drunk and makes a move towards the purple!

And lets all try to communicate more consistently. [the the strains of Blowin' in the wind']

Friend of mine who joined a Ancient Greek Society as a Athenian Sythian Archer (claimed big advantages were trousers and not having to lung huge great shields around) and likes odd wargames armies with links to his beloved Sythians recently sent be a photo of a coin showing the goddess Dacia carrying a standard which is on the "surpressed histories website".

I attach the wording for info of brave Roman's in RIB who may be looking to help pay for re-building of Rome via Dacian gold mines. Seems you have to keep an eye out for very large snakes or Dragons


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dacia as a goddess holding the wolf-dragon staff of the Dacian and Sarmatian tribes. Dacia is the ancient name for what later became known as Romania, after the conquerors. Its language was superseded but left its flavor in Romanian, which has a very different flavor that the other Romance languages. This is a coin of Trajanus Decius, 251 CE (who named himself after the Roman conqueror of Dacia, after his military expedition there to fight the Goths).
"The Dacian Draco was the standard ensign of troops of the ancient Dacian people, which can be seen in the hands of the soldiers of Decebalus in several scenes depicted on Trajan's Column in Rome, Italy. It has the form of a dragon with open wolf-like jaws containing several metal tongues. The hollow dragon's head was mounted on a pole with a fabric tube affixed at the rear. In use, the draco was held up into the wind, or above the head of a horseman, where it filled with air and gave the impression it was alive while making a shrill sound as the wind passed through its strips of material.
"Draco (Latin) and Drakon (Greek) mean "serpent", "dragon". The root of these words means "to watch" or "to guard with a sharp eye". It is a derivative of Greek drakōn “gazing".
...
"According to Saxon ethnographer Teutsch, Transylvanian Romanians may have inherited something of the "snake-cult" of the ancient Dacians, who are known to have had a dragon (or snake) as a "victory banner". He mentions that some doorknockers are shaped like snake heads (protective ones in this case). Furthermore, in Romanian villages in the Brașov's region surveyed by Teutsch, the vaults of certain gates bear snakes carved in the shape of garlands with their ends representing the "sun-wheel".
According to historian Vasile Pârvan, the Dacian war flag, representing a wolf with a serpent's body, depicted the balaur. The balaur is not identical to the other creature of Romanian myth, the zmeu [literally, “serpent"]. The biggest difference is that the zmeu, even if it has some lizard features, nevertheless is a human-like figure, while the balaur is the true form of the dragon. Usually, in all Romanian myths, legends and fairy tales, the balaur always has three, five, seven, nine or twelve heads. The balaur sometimes is a malefic figure, but most of the times is a neutral figure, guarding various places, objects or knowledge.
"Also, in various myths and lore, there will be a series of dragons that have to be defeated in order to obtain the precious objects or entrance to the guarded places, usually three dragons, with scales of iron, silver and respectively gold, or silver, gold and respectively diamond, each stronger than the previous one, the number of their heads increasing with the difficulty. Some motifs developed in the folk tradition that defines the snake as protective of the household correspond, to some extent, to the interpretation of a protective Dacian "Dragon" symbol.
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Dacian_Draco

Nice: that is informative and very interesting. It may be well to warn the legionary commanders? I note that the iageges have amazons on their OOB!

J Flower wrote:Totally agree with diplomacy side of things being a bit thin, seems that we are playing a bit in isolation although in principle many of us belong to the Roma Faction.

An analysis of Ad Infinitum over several turns suggests there are eight regularly-active Roman players (Aegyptus, Baetica, Macedonia, Lusitania, Dalmatia, Germania Minor, Syria, Moesia) plus Nero. There seem to be five regularly-active non-Roman players (Parthia, Caledonia, Hunni, Roxolani, Sitones).

Several start-up positions were busy initially but have had no actions reported for months such as Greece, Africa Nova, Anatolia, Judea, Aquitainia (MarkTurner26?) and Upper Brittania to name a few.

If you think I missed someone, let me know.

Great analysis John. I think notwithstanding the in-house Roman power struggles to the rest of the world the Romans need to present power, backed by military force (or its threat) and discrete borders.

I am struggling to ensure that any Legionary action will be successful hence the delays in action. And also the problem that if Rome (the city) implodes then pay well many become a problem for the troops.

I’d add that I agree with the comment elsewhere (Stuart?) that we are all here in our positions because we are Nero’s “drinking buddies” if so then we need to consider what Nero’s loss of Glory means to us individually and collectively?

Any thoughts?

Regor wrote:Great analysis John. I think notwithstanding the in-house Roman power struggles to the rest of the world the Romans need to present power, backed by military force (or its threat) and discrete borders.

I am struggling to ensure that any Legionary action will be successful hence the delays in action. And also the problem that if Rome (the city) implodes then pay well many become a problem for the troops.

I’d add that I agree with the comment elsewhere (Stuart?) that we are all here in our positions because we are Nero’s “drinking buddies” if so then we need to consider what Nero’s loss of Glory means to us individually and collectively?

Any thoughts?

Good analysis John & Regor so basically the question is can eight good men and true save Rome from famine, plague, anarchy, and hairy barbarian types who seem to include a Blue Druid lover with a taste for Oratory, a proto Viking Queen, two hairy horseman and a Silk Merchant with a love of the arts and PJ's who seems to be getting much too friendly with Jews, Christians and others who do not respect the gods of Rome. And as a side effect save themselves from getting lynched or filled with arrows marked "made in Ctesiphon.

Ref upkeep for the Legions since we are all looking at lists which include a large chunk of men in service and their costs which include a lot of men doing service in the Legions plus comments in the rules which say not paying these men will upset their friends and relations back home. Problems in Rome and with the military treasury may not impact revenue to pay the legions so much as distribution of that revenue. But that raises a linked problem in that if certain provinces were to get over run with fire and sword would that impact the pay of Legions stationed elsewhere?

Taking a slightly more positive spin on "we are all only in position because we are drinking buddies of Nero = he is slowly going nuts & will be thrown out = And all his drunken mates will be thrown out at same time" my character is taking view that we are loyal clients of the great Julio-Claudian family and their heirs of the Popular party with a program of positive land reform to benefit the plebs in Italy, to rebuild Rome in a spacious and fire safe way, extend the franchise and keep the Legions strong and the barbarians and other foes of Roman gods at bay.

Add in some really good games (with the exotic animals mentioned earlier?) and I think this is a ok platform to stand on. Of course it still leaves us with a small problem of being loyal clients of a family which could die out at any moment! Anyone get feeling we would almost be playing the Spanish Regency Council at the start of Glori?

As for Trajan going back to the Legions in Britannica - we already have 4 legions and the best general in the whole Roman Army in Britannica. The question would seem not can we finish the conquest but is it actually worth it? Or would some or all of these troops be better deployed elsewhere?
Like Syria for instance?

Not saying we can actually move troops from Britannica to Syria but perhaps the generals could speak to each other and shuffle along a bit.

Active damage to revenue

Regor wrote:I note that the iageges have amazons on their OOB!

Care to share what it says? Did you get a photo of "Diana Prince"?

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Regor wrote:Great analysis John. I think notwithstanding the in-house Roman power struggles to the rest of the world the Romans need to present power, backed by military force (or its threat) and discrete borders.

I am struggling to ensure that any Legionary action will be successful hence the delays in action. And also the problem that if Rome (the city) implodes then pay well many become a problem for the troops.

I’d add that I agree with the comment elsewhere (Stuart?) that we are all here in our positions because we are Nero’s “drinking buddies” if so then we need to consider what Nero’s loss of Glory means to us individually and collectively?

Any thoughts?

Good analysis John & Regor so basically the question is can eight good men and true save Rome from famine, plague, anarchy, and hairy barbarian types who seem to include a Blue Druid lover with a taste for Oratory, a proto Viking Queen, two hairy horseman and a Silk Merchant with a love of the arts and PJ's who seems to be getting much too friendly with Jews, Christians and others who do not respect the gods of Rome.  And as a side effect save themselves from getting lynched or filled with arrows marked "made in Ctesiphon.

Ref upkeep for the Legions since we are all looking at lists which include a large chunk of men in service and their costs which include a lot of men doing service in the Legions plus comments in the rules which say not paying these men will upset their friends and relations back home.  Problems in Rome and with the military treasury may not impact revenue to pay the legions so much as distribution of that revenue.  But that raises a linked problem in that if certain provinces were to get over run with fire and sword would that impact the pay of Legions stationed elsewhere?

Taking a slightly more positive spin on "we are all only in position because we are drinking buddies of Nero = he is slowly going nuts & will be thrown out = And all his drunken mates will be thrown out at same time" my character is taking view that we are loyal clients of the great Julio-Claudian family and their heirs of the Popular party with a program of positive land reform to benefit the plebs in Italy, to rebuild Rome in a spacious and fire safe way, extend the franchise and keep the Legions strong and the barbarians and other foes of Roman gods at bay.

Add in some really good games (with the exotic animals mentioned earlier?) and I think this is a ok platform to stand on.  Of course it still leaves us with a small problem of being loyal clients of a family which could die out at any moment!  Anyone get feeling we would almost be playing the Spanish Regency Council at the start of Glori?

As for Trajan going back to the Legions in Britannica - we already have 4 legions and the best general in the whole Roman Army in Britannica.  The question would seem not can we finish the conquest but is it actually worth it?  Or would some or all of these troops be better deployed elsewhere?
Like Syria for instance?

Not saying we can actually move troops from Britannica to Syria but perhaps the generals could speak to each other and shuffle along a bit.  

Active damage to revenue  

Yup, I cans agree to that! My recent research has confirmed much of what you say. I think the folks at Rome just want us to keep the barbarians out, gather some glory and would probably not care too much who the Emperor is if he achieves that through his drinking buddies and well, rebuilds Rome. Sooner rather than later? Because Rome has been untroubled by barbarians at the gates for a long time now.

What Stuart says that worries me most is the Jewish/Christian potential for rebellion. That and the Britons/Germans etc opportunities for revolt might be as simple as checking that our tax-gatherers (or rather the Emperors tax men) dont go overboard and provide a casus bellum.

To Glory, my friends and lets toast to an era of inter-Roman cooperation.

Johntindall wrote:

Regor wrote:I note that the iageges have amazons on their OOB!

Care to share what it says? Did you get a photo of "Diana Prince"?

Simply put my informant says the Iazyges have so and so many troops available and adds that they also have warbands of women warriors called amazons.

However to my addled brain this information may be wildly inaccurate. I hope to be able to check it out soon.

BTW do any of our frenemies read this stream of unconsciousness? [Asking for a friend]

Regor wrote: BTW do any of our frenemies read this stream of unconsciousness? [Asking for a friend]

I believe that Jason2 on this forum was/is the King of the Caledoni, Calgacus but have not been able to link anyone else.

Has the guy who played Syria dropped out?

Johntindall wrote:Has the guy who played Syria dropped out?

Believe this to be the case.

However I am sure the noble senators running Egypt and Judea should have no problem dealing with irrate Partharian horsemen and revolting Jewish fanatics in the general area.

Oh and if its not too much trouble can you also borrow the contents of the Temple (inc solid gold arc) in order to fund Roman builders and enough extra grain to supply 121,000 people in Italy.

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Johntindall wrote:Has the guy who played Syria dropped out?

Believe this to be the case.

I wonder why? I thought he was doing really well.

This is a wonderful interactive website about Trajan's column: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/trajan-column/index.html

It even includes a colourised scene, adding some (now missing) spears and other equipment.


Might come in useful for someone eventually?

In November, "Prefect Aegypti, Gaius Caecina Tuscus pleased Nero by presenting him with a beautiful female slave called 'Acenath the Beautiful’."

In December Nero did not attend the Senate, until appearing with a bad back.

I say, go Nero!

Johntindall wrote:

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Johntindall wrote:Has the guy who played Syria dropped out?

Believe this to be the case.

I wonder why? I thought he was doing really well.

That might cause us Romans a problem.... Whats an empty position like in LGDR? Can it easily be taken over or is there some momentum (like stopping a supertanker?)

Your thoughts?

Doubt that Syria will continue with its invasion of Parthia, esp since I think the original player intention was more to build up military reputation, take over a few buffer states for financial reasons and take firm control of most of the eastern legions ready for when Nero falls of his chariot or something like that. Rather than try and invade Parthia proper.

In 50 years time from RIB period Trajan junior did invade Parthia will a lot of success. However this was after Parthia had been weaked by internal wars and Alan invasions and he reinforced the Eastern Legions with the veterans of his conquest of Dacia and most of the Guard. Also helped that he was Emperor, sane, had a rebuilt Capital & administration which generally worked and did what it was asked. Plus was not sitting on a ready to explode Jewish revolt at any moment.

If Parthia was not active I suspect Richard would return Roman Legions to home bases and normality would be restored too the East. However, since the Parthians are player lead and now now got just a little vexed about the threat to skin their King and use him has a foot stool. The campaign may continue with the Parthian player trying to push back the advances made by the Gov of Syria and generally pose as pro Greek and Jewish liberation and as a re-born Mithradities of Pontus.

Think this offers a big chance for either a new player or a existing eastern based player to take control and save the Roman East from nasty Asiatic Tyrannts and save the day, just like Sulla, Licullus, Pompey and Caesar in the past!