Heir of Aurelian

Marcellus sat within the confines of his office. After witnessing the first voyage of the newly constructed Fluyt, he was in a rather good mood. That was until Sigefrida placed a document on his desk and began to update him on the ongoing situation within the capital of the Sassanid Empire.

“Bahram is dead, and Narseh has emerged victorious in the first battle for the crown of Persia. However, he has severely depleted his army in this one battle. Despite this, he has proven that he is a man of action, and as a result, many of the undecided nobles have begun to back him.

While this is a good thing, it doesn’t come without its consequences. Bahram’s supporters, or at least those who survived the battle, have fled to the faction of Shapur, who is now our primary concern. Shapur’s armies have doubled in size, while Narseh’s have been severely reduced.

Not only that, but Shapur is a man with a strong military background, and is hellbent on gaining vengeance for his father. If he gains the crown of Persia, he will spend the next few years rebuilding the Sassanid Army and will march on Constantinople without a second thought. Something needs to be done, but we have already provided Narseh’s faction with the most support we can possibly achieve while still remaining in the shadows.

If Mitra were to somehow suggest to her brother that he hire more mercenaries from Germania, he will begin to become suspicious as to how she had so many ties to the barbarians. Besides, Narseh’s treasuries are also starting to become depleted. If we don’t come up with a solution to restore his wealth, as well as his forces, then everything we have sunk into this matter will be for nought.”

Marcellus remained silent for several moments as he thought of how best to proceed after hearing this information. What would obviously benefit Narseh would be to open up trade with Rome exclusively through his merchants.

However, the hatred in Persia right now for the Roman Empire was at an all-time high. If he even got his hands on Roman goods and began to sell them across the Sassanid Empire, then it was basically declaring that he was conspiring with the Romans.

What Marcellus needed was a middleman, a foreigner, who could sell the Roman goods to Narseh for a decent price, which he could then in turn sell to his own people at markup. The problem with this was that Rome owned the entirety of the Mediterranean. Anyone who he could trade was basically, at this point, nothing more than barbarian raiders. Who would not be welcome in Ctesiphon. Even Narseh had received harsh critique from the Persian nobles for hiring Vandal Mercenaries.

It was at this moment, that a certain Kingdom popped up in Marcellus’ mind, which he was quick to voice aloud.

“The Ghassanids! We can sell our goods to the Ghassanid Kingdom at a severe discount, and in return for this we can demand that they sell the excess exclusively to Narseh’s faction! What do you think, is this a feasible option?”

Sigefrida dwelled upon this idea for several moments while looking at the map displayed on the wall of Marcellus’ office. After several minutes of silent pondering, she finally sighed before expressing her opinion on the subject.

“It is possible… But it will require a significant effort on the part of the Frutmentarii to keep the Ghassanids quiet about our involvement. In the short term, acquiring Roman luxury items through a third party, and selling them for a massive profit, could definitely help with Narseh’s financial difficulties. However, it doesn’t quite solve his problem with the lack of troops.

I suppose with the wealth he acquires through the trade of these goods, Narseh could in turn hire Mercenaries from among the Arab tribes, but if he suffers such large losses in a battle with Shapur’s forces, then he is bound to be right back where he started. Still… It’s a better plan than anything I have been able to think of, so I will begin working on a proposal that can actually work.

In the meantime, I suggest you start thinking about how you best plan to reform the Roman Government. Need I remind you that this military dictatorship can last only as long as you are capable of wielding authority?”

“Alright, I will get on that. I have something in the works, but it will take some time to fine tune into a proper system. I thank you advance for your hard work…”

Sigefrida wore a stoic expression on her pretty face while she nodded her head in silence before departing from the room. As for Marcellus, he was quick to begin drafting a proposal for the shift of the Roman Government into a Semi-Constitutional Monarchy. One where the Roman Emperor would be selected from those members of the ruling Monarch’s dynasty who had proven themselves through merit and character.

If Marcellus were to die before he could properly sire an heir, or before, he could personally choose one. Then it would be up to his Imperial Council, or in other words his cabinet, to select an heir from his dynasty based upon their merit and character. A simple majority vote would do in that regard.

Naturally, this was just the start of the Government that Marcellus had planned, however thanks to his dreams from another world, one which was far more advanced than this one. He had a lot of political systems to draw inspiration from, and could thus, finely tune the political system he was in the process of creating until it was capable of lasting for another millennium if not more.