Roma Arcana

Rome-6 (Roma Arcana)258 AD (AUC 1011)
Current affairs
In a world that the Infinity Patrol thinks might be an echo of the Cabal's home timeline, Rome is in danger from both foreign warriors and its own unhappy gods (whom the Romans are neglecting).
Divergence Point
439 BC: The Greek philosopher Empedocles leads a party through a hidden gateway in the caves under Mt. Etna; Empedocles does not survive this trip to the Underworld, but his men return with dinosaurs.
Major Civilizations
Roman
Great Powers
Rome (empire, CR4), Parthian Empire (empire), Germania Minoris (tribal)
Worldline Data
TL	2
Mana Level	normal (low in cities), spells require Pacts with local spirits
Quantum	7
Infinity Class	"off-limits" (Class Z)
Centrum Zone	undiscovered (?)

Roman Empire, c 150 CE

This reality has both mana and sanctity but spells take 10 times as long to case as the caster must attract the attention of a god or spirit and make his wishes known.

Thanks to offending the gods entire territory of the Roman Empire, once defaulting to normal sanctity, has dropped to a default of low sanctity.

Christianity either doesn't exist or is such a fringe religion that it boarders on the invisible.

See Chapter Nine of GURPS Fantasy for details. "Roman Technology" by Kenneth Peters in Pyramid 3/33: Low Tech describes Roman technology at the time when Roma Arcana is set. GURPS Classic: Imperial Rome focuses on the Republican and early Imperial periods, but contains general information on Roman culture and institutions.

Magic

"Magic in Roma Arcana is either ritual magic, based on an underlying skill, or clerical magic, granted by a god or powerful spirit (see p. B242). Mages always have Ritual Magery. The underlying skill for magic is Ritual Magic instead of Thaumatology, unless explicitly stated otherwise for a particular tradition. Magery is rare in the Roman Empire. Roughly 1/200 of the population has Magery 0."

"Isis is a goddess of magic, and her temples often serve as centers of learning the magical arts. These are based on Magery, not on Power Investiture; Isis doesn’t grant magical power, but skill in using one’s own gift. Purchase Magery with Preparation Required."

In this setting mana actually represents the availability of 'free' spirits to perform spells for the mage. Since in this setting the deities assign duties to the spirits (numen) where belief in them is strong Sanctity increases at the cost of mana.

External Links

• The BBC has a map of the Roman Empire that is nearly identical to the one on page 199.
• Wikipedia has a very similar map showing the fragmentation of the Empire that has not happened in this reality...yet.

See Also

• The Rome-X Timelines

References

• GURPS Fantasy, p.195