The glory that is Rome lives on in Roman Republic Earth I (not to be confused with Roman Republic Earth II, where the Republic was never replaced by the Empire). All the good of classical civilization is combined with modern progress in an intriguing mix that makes RRE1 one of the most intriguing and advanced worlds in the ITA, notwithstanding its present legal status.
The history of Roman Republic Earth I branches off from the history of ITA Prime in 282 Common Era, when the Emperor Probus is not murdered by mutinous troops after he severely criticizes the extent and quality of their work in a land reclamation program. Instead Probus reigns for another twenty-five years before his death of natural causes at age eighty three. Under Probus and his four successors (none of whom were ever Emperor in the history of any other world yet discovered), military stability returned to the Empire's borders and Christians were allowed to be full citizens provided they entreated their God and His Son to bless and support the Emperor and the Empire. Accordingly, during the Fifth Century era of barbarian migrations which doomed the Empire in other timelines, the post-Probean Empire weathered the storm, greatly assisted by the military genius of Emperor Gaius Alexander (ruled 445 to 480 CE). In 793 CE, the Great Reformer, Emperor Leo Claudius, began the Empire's two-decade transformation back into a Republic, and so his successor, Julian Terminus, was both the last Roman Emperor and the first Consul elected under the constitution of the Second Roman Republic.
Today, with a population of twenty-five million people, Rome stretches from Etururia in the north to the mouth of the River Liris in the south. Serviced by five transcontinental air stops and the hub of railroads and four lane highways, Rome sports towering skyscrapers, the consequence of two centuries of building with steel girders. Many tourists from off world are surprised to find that famous sites of the classical era Rome did not survive (notably the Flavian Amphitheatrum, called on ITA Prime the Colosseum), but most are pleased by the beauty and grandeur characteristic of the Second Republic's "Glass and Columns" style of the mid-Nineteenth Century Common Era. Ballooning and hang-gliding has been a mass participation sport among all classes for nearly a century, so the skies are full of brightly colored, differently shaped balloons and wings. The immense Senate House, and the twin executive residences of the Consuls to the east and west of that building, are open to public tours on a regular basis. Also not to be missed are the numerous monuments throughout the city (notably the 200 meter high statute of the Emperor Gaius Alexander, the World Restorer of the Fifth Century, which stands over the Emperor's tomb).
Full Member: After much heartrending and political backstabbing, Roman Republic Earth I was admitted to the ITA as a Full Member on October 27th, 1998. This was spearheaded by Governor Erick Stanwyck, former Prime Governor of the ITA, and Governor 2 Rings Jade. Lucius Calpurnis Bibulus was elevated from Ambassador to the ITA to Governor for Roman Republic Earth I
Here's how the voting went:
FOR ROMAN ADMISSION 27
Amo Li Jia, Appeasement, Byzantine, Cleopatra, Dynasty, Ellsworth,
Empires, European Community, Free South, Hanseatic, Heian-kyo,
Inca, Isla de California, Khoisan, La Salle, League of Nations,
Marketplace, Mayan, Niew Amsterdam, Napoleonic, Prime, Rhodes,
Templar, Vinland, Weimar, Westphalia, Sanhedrin
AGAINST ROMAN ADMISSION 8
Bolshevik, Caliphate, Islamic Germany, Phoenician, Revival, Sikh,
Sumer, Norse-Islamic
PRESENT BUT NOT VOTING 2
Neandertal, Western States
Prior to the vote, it had been suggested by the ITA to the Senate and the Consuls that the abolition of slavery would allow the Second Republic full membership. The ITA, at first, was not impressed with the counter arguments that the elimination of hereditary slavery in 1913 CE was good enough. (Presently, slaves are brought into lifelong servitude through conviction of a variety of crimes, or through incurring debts they can not repay. Their children are automatically free citizens.) Frequent cross-dimensional controversies erupt because other ITA worlds grant fugitive slaves sanctuary once the slaves leave Roman Republic Earth I.
Every two years, a mass vote by all citizens (women have been electors since 1950 CE) elect a Consul, who serves a four year term. There are two Consuls, and either of them can veto an act of the Senate or an administrative decision by the other Consul.
There are two thousand Senators, elected from districts with equal population for a ten year term, with half the house being renewed every fifth year. Most of the Senators time is spent in Sub-Senates, where several hundred Senators debate and frame legislation in separate assemblies. Every week while the Senate is in session there is a Grand Convocation, in which votes are cast by the Senate as a whole on the various laws sent from the Sub-Senates.
The Republic consists of all lands around the Mediterranean and Black Seas, plus Gaul, Germania, Brittannia, Hibernia, the Maori Isles and Australia, the island continent in the southern Other Ocean, which Rome discovered in 1730 CE and colonized five years later.
Other nations on Roman Republic Earth I are:
The Muskegon Confederation in northeast Hesperia. This government is dominated by the mound-building tribes native to the region, and its capital is Cahokia. The worship of Sol Invictus is very popular there, and they have the picture of the Emperor Aurelian on their Twenty Sun currency.
Fusang along the west coast of Hesperia. There has been no war between the Fusangans (Chinese colonists now independent from the homeland) and the Muskegens for a hundred and twenty-three years. The Mississippi River is their border and trade is brisk between them.
The Desert States. Small principalities in frequent uproar, these pocket kingdoms and republics have not been centrally governed since the collapse of the Second Mayan League in the Eighteenth Century CE.
The Bantu Empire. The Republic's chief rival, ruling Africa south and west of the Congo River and owner of colonies on the eastern coasts of South Hesperia, it is slowly recovering from five decades under the rule of Soterism, a religious practice which oppressed their economy and population.
A sesterus (plural, sestertii) is worth three-quarters of an ITA pound. A Muskegon Sun is presently worth approximately one-fifth a sesterus. A Fusang yen goes for between 750 and 1,200 per sesterus. The Bantu sesterus is presently only slightly more valuable than toilet paper.
Equivalent to the Forbidden City
on Marketplace or DuRegent, Communaute Globale. -- The Golden
House (Rome, Londonium, Alexandria on the Nile, Alexandria on
the Rhine, Cahokia, and Terre Kangaroo.) Lodgings from 1,000 ITA
pounds a night (the Emperor's Mansion, self-contained quarters
for the very wealthy) to 20 ITA pounds for a bed and bath. Slaves
(for sexual and other purposes), casinos, meals included in cost
of rooms.
Equivalent to the New York City Ritz on ITA Prime. The
Kiyev chain of hotels, started in the city of the same name in
the Roman province of Scythia, and now the world's largest. The
Kiyev in Rome is directly across the street from the city's TDRS
station.
Very
comfortable. The Diaspora hotel chain. When Emperor Calvinus lifted
all legal disabilities from the Jews and allowed their return
to Israel (Seventh Century CE), most Jews remained outside the
Holy Land, but made frequent trips to the Rebuilt Temple during
PassOver. Their need for clean quarters was the initial opportunity
for the Diaspora, which now has hotels worldwide.
Locally made aeroplanes are still prop-driven and there is a great demand for jet engine mechanics. For the true dare-devils, you may have an opportunity in the arenas as a gladiator. Successful gladiators earn tens of millions of sestertii a year, but most novice gladiators earn a hopefully quick and painless death.
Nudity and pornography (both heterosexual and homosexual) are uncensored and so many alternative world residents may be offended by local print and broadcasts.
DEBT IS PUNISHABLE BY ENSLAVEMENT FOR LIFE, SO DO NOT RUN UP ANY BILLS YOU CANNOT MAKE GOOD UPON DEMAND. If you are enslaved, hope that a friend or relative will purchase you. Ordinary male slaves go for 500 ITA pounds, women 550 ITA pounds.
Evangelicals of any persuasion (Christian, Odinist, Islamic, Buddhist, Soterist, Communist, whatever) are advised that they must purchase a license from civil authorities before they can begin their lectures or door to door visits.