The Balance of Power
The year is 264 BC. The Hellenistic Kingdoms, fractured remnants of Alexander the Great's empire, have settled into a tense, wealthy stalemate in the East. In the West, a new power has consolidated the Italian peninsula: the Roman Republic. Across the narrow sea lies Carthage, an ancient merchant empire whose fleets control the waters of the Mediterranean.
The flashpoint is Sicily. Both Roma and Carthago eye the island with greedy, paranoid intent. It is the beginning of the First Punic War, a conflict that will drag on for over a century and determine the fate of the Western world. Yet, in the shadows of this titan struggle, others plot their own ascendance.
— Sibyla's Prophecy, Second Scroll
Geopolitical Theaters
The Italian Peninsula
Roma has defeated the Etruscans, the Samnites, and the Greek colonies of the south. Italy is unified under Roman hegemony. The Republic possesses immense manpower, a disciplined citizen-soldiery, and an unyielding political will that refuses to accept defeat. They look outward for the first time.
The African Coast
Carthago rules from North Africa to southern Iberia. Their wealth is unmatched, drawn from trade monopolies and silver mines. They do not field citizen armies, preferring to hire vast hosts of exotic mercenaries paid in Carthaginian gold, transported by their invincible war galleys.
The Hellenistic East
The Ptolemaic dynasty (Aegyptus) controls the fertile Nile and the intellectual capital of Alexandria. The Greek leagues (Achaia) struggle for independence against Macedonian overlords, using brilliant diplomacy and the legendary hoplite phalanx to survive between empires.
The Wild Frontiers
To the west, the Iberian tribes (Lusitania) hold the rugged mountains, resisting Carthaginian expansion through devastating guerrilla warfare. Far to the north, the Celtic and Germanic tribes wait in the dark forests, a storm gathering that will one day shatter the civilized world.