Hey all! I just wanted to add some more worldbuilding to crify and expin some things I didn't mention in the st info chapter. If any of you have any questions about the world, or any suggestions feel free to put them in the comment!

  ReligionGods and Deities are very real forces in this world, simir to other fantasy worlds. The twist here is that gods are spawned from the collective belief of sentient beings in the world. If enough people believe strongly enough, a god will come into being. Once borne their strength and influence in the world is dependent on the quantity and fervor of their followers. Simirly, should a people die out or their beliefs change, the god in question will lose strength and eventually fade into nothing.

  Gods are affected by the beliefs of their followers, and in turn may affect the world. Bestowing boons or changes to their followers, or manifesting themselves into the world for limited periods of time.

  Role of WomenAt this period of time, women in the ancient world and Rome faced legal and societal restrictions. Owning property or achieving financial and legal independence was difficult if not impossible in most cases. There are some notable exceptions however. Should the woman in question be a priestess of one of the temples, she will be able to accrue power and influence within the context of the temple's ability to affect the wider world. Certain trades may be dominated by women, weaving clothes and embroidering are typically done by women and may be a way for unmarried women to earn a living without having to depend on a husband.

  Most notably, there are women adventurers. While the Roman military may be limited to males only, should a woman be courageous of heart she may attempt to become an adventurer. Should she find success in this endeavor she will be considered equal status in all things to her male counterparts. Though buying property and obtaining legal titles may still be more of a challenge, though not impossible.

  Adventuring / Organized BodiesAt this point formal Adventuring guilds haven't appeared yet. Though there is talk amongst the various adventuring taverns that such a thing may come into py soon. Most adventurers frequent one or more of these establishments in search of work or companions whose abilities compliment their own.

  Simirly, mages, witches, shamans, wizards, all manner of magic wielders exist in the world. Some working as adventurers, others under sponsorship of noble families, and others still living hermit-like lives far from civilization. These people have not organized themselves yet. There is talk amongst the Roman senate of establishing a central magical pce of learning, and a body of authority to help regute and categorize the varied magic wielders, but at the moment individual patrician families are too influential to consent to relinquishing their unique status as the patrons of magicians

  SarcasticMisfit

  "Whaz da point of all dis? If the humies didn't want us to take all deez gubbinz, why do dey cova all dey're tingz in such shiny shtuff? It don't make no sense!" - Groknak Stompa

  It was Sunday, her one day a week where she didn't have to work and could do as she pleased. Aurelia had taken to visiting Livia (who was always ecstatic to see her) or walking along the hilltops outside the city walls. Her friend was only a few days away from reaching her day of majority, and Aurelia was eager to see what her friend would do. It seemed that everyday her friend would change her mind and come up with a new convoluted pn which ended with her fabulously rich. Favourites included becoming a gdiatrix and winning over the hearts and minds of the people, and becoming a criminal mastermind, embarking on dastardly adventures and liberating "unused" items from the wealthy.

  The mid-morning sun filled the narrow street, not quite making it to the ground. Aurelia walked past a small square filled with stalls, and turned into a small shop. A sign decorated with a shield and spear dangling out front.

  She'd come here on the recommendation of one of the adventurers she'd served the previous evening. They'd been making small talk as the table pyed a drinking game, Aurelia had been ferrying a constant supply of booze as they gambled on cards and discussed adventuring. Aurelia was an eager listener, always ready to learn more from the more experience clientele who liked to frequent the tavern, and had mentioned her need for a weapon before starting off herself. He'd taken one look at her stature, introduced himself as Damon, and had recommended she try a spear, her size would mean she could wield a much longer haft than normal. Keeping the danger as far away from her body was probably a good idea for an adventurer just starting out. So she'd happily agreed, appreciative of any advice which she could use.

  The storefront was retively small, only a few items on dispy. But further back in the building she could see a small workshop, the cmour of metal ringing as a burly man grinded the edge of a short-sword with a grindstone, his feet peddling caused the circur stone to rotate as he held the bde's edge to the stone.

  Aurelia had seen adventurers at the bar produce small whetstones from packs and pockets to hone their weapons during their downtime. Evidently, this bcksmith had a much more heavy-duty arrangement.

  In front of the bcksmith there was a wooden table with a scale and measuring tools ying upon it's surface. A comely woman came from a side door further in the building, and hurried over to the table. Evidently the bcksmith's wife ran the store while he himself made the arms.

  "Hello dearie, how can we help you today?" the comely woman smiled up at Aurelia. The starting signs of age doing nothing to mar the kindness emanating from her expression.

  "Damon recommended this pce to me!" Aurelia started. "He said you can cater to non-humans on the rger side?"

  "Of course dearie!" The woman said. "We've made arms for plenty of Tauren and other Beastfolk adventurers over the years. What sort of weapon did you have in mind?"

  "I was thinking a spear. I'm just starting out so I don't need anything too fancy" Aurelia said abashedly. "Damon recommended I start with that anyway"

  The sound of the grindstone came to a stop, and behind the woman the bcksmith rose and came to stand alongside his wife. He had a small cloth and was wiping down the bde of the sword he'd been working on. He looked her up and down and then walked to a side room without a word. The kind woman in front of Aurelia gave her an apologetic look.

  "My husband can be a man of few words sometimes. But rest assured he knows his business. We'll get you right and sorted in no time at all!"

  The man returned carrying a long, straight wooden shaft. After a gesture from the man, Aurelia straightened her back to allow him to compare the height of the pole to her. After a moment, he nodded, and made a small mark along the shaft. He turned and withdrew to the side room again, seemingly satisfied with whatever he'd been doing.

  "Now dearie, we can make you your spear right quick. But that brings up the matter of payment... We can take a small payment up front if you need to complete your first job before paying the rest! Plenty of adventurers in the past's wallets have gged behind their ambitions!"

  The offer surprised Aurelia, adventuring was a notoriously dangerous occupation, so the chances of not being able to make the payments on account of being dead and all were very present. But she supposed it must work enough for them to make the offer seriously, Damon had said they'd been in business for years.

  "No thanks! I brought enough to pay outright, but if I'm ever back looking for more I'll definitely remember the offer!" Aurelia gently refused. She preferred to avoid debt whenever possible, the idea of having payments looming over her made her stressed just at the thought. This way was much better, she made enough at the tavern to buy things outright, and if anything happened to her she didn't want to take advantage of the kind dy.

  "As you wish dearie" The woman smiled at her.

  Her husband returned after a moment. The long haft now head a bronze spear tip at one end, and a cap at the other end to serve as a counterweight. It looked comically oversized even in the burly man's hands. Even so, he skillfully carried it, careful not to scrape the ceiling with the tip. He id it lengthwise along the table, its ends protruding far to either side.

  Aurelia and the dy haggled for a bit, then agreed on what Aurelia though was more than a fair price. It seemed that the couple had the philosophy that keeping their customers happy would lead to them coming back in the future, rather than trying to squeeze every Uncia at every opportunity like traders at a market stall would.

  With payment exchanged, and the rge spear now in her hands. Aurelia bid the bcksmith couple a gracious farewell and made her way back to the Sword and Scroll.

  [Interlude]

  Gnarled roots and pnt-life encroached upon the outer edges of the road. The oppressive gloom dampening even the brightest of spirits, even though the sun was still visible though the foliage high above, very little of it's light managed to reach the forest floor below. It was a little better on the Via Latina, the main road between Roma and Capua. Marcus supposed it was because of the soldiers who patrolled the roads, beating back the brush each time, only for the forest to creep back in by the time they made the next pass.

  The mule drawn carts were able to make good time through the woods, being smaller than the rger horse-drawn which would take up more of the roads. They were nimble enough to detour around small blockages and damage to the route, and in just a weeks travel more they'd be out of the deep woods and near Rome proper.

  Every sound of branches snapping made Marcus flinch. His bastard brother Phillipe had taken his father's estate when the old man had finally croaked. The lecher had finalized the entire transfer of nd and goods while Marcus had been on the road, leaving him unable to contest the theft of his birthright. Marcus had been left with nothing but the carts, goods, and connections of his occupation. He had been meant to take over the estate when his damn father had passed, his burgeoning trading enterprise had been meant to dispy his competence in the eyes of his fellow Equites, the patriarch of a family should not bour like some Plebian.

  SarcasticMisfit

  The carts bore hides and furs from Carthage, a storm had wayid their ships on the way to Ostia, and they'd had to set down in Napoli and make the rest of the journey on foot.

  In Capua, the cowardly mercenaries and adventurers had quoted extortionate prices to escort the convoy to Rome. Clearly the southern air bred weak-willed men. He'd been forced to undertake the journey without guards, but Marcus was no coward. He would walk on foot the entire way if it meant he would reach his families estate and recim his birthright from his bastard brother.

  Maybe not, he considered. Without his cunt of a wife at his side when he arrived he'd have no chance of maintaining any legitimacy in the eyes of his extended family. They had been betrothed from birth, the elders of both families deeming that offspring would have sufficiently high magical ability as to be beneficial to both houses. Combined, both Equestrian families would have enough influence to unch themselves into the realm of being considered a Patrician family. Marcus was determined to be the patriarch of this new family, and it all hinged on him and his wife remaining together, and producing as many magical children as possible.

  The bitch had yet to get pregnant, even with his nightly efforts. Clearly the useless cunt was trying to sabotage the families arrangement by refusing to bear his children.

  Nothing would stop his ascension, not a scheming brother, not his whore wife, and certainly not this bsted forest with it's shifting shadows and strange noises.

  A young man jogged up to the cart where Marcus was seated. The fresh-faced youth had a sheen of sweat covering him, and Marcus recoiled slightly at the perceived uncleanliness. A proper Equites was clean and fresh smelling at all times. Lest the diseases and foul odors of the lower csses propagate to their betters. His cousin should know better, and leave the foul work to his lessers.

  "My lord! The mules are growing tired, perhaps we should rest them a while." The young man advised in between breaths as he kept pace alongside the cart.

  "Boy, come closer." Marcus gently instructed the young man. When he leaned in obediently Marcus spped the boy across the face and grasped the boy's head, forcing him to look up to the obstructed sky where the sun was high overhead.

  "Do you see that? We go from sunrise to sunset. What do you see when you look up, cur?" Marcus hissed softly, his lips inches from the boy's ear.

  "Th-The sun, milord." The boy stammered out. His eyes were darting around, clearly distressed at being handled.

  "That's right boy, and what does that mean, pray tell?"

  "Th-That we keep going. Until the sun se-sets?" the boy questioned, clearly not confident in his answer.

  "Very good boy, now go back to whatever you were doing before" He said, before pausing for a moment and adding "But do make sure to clean up, I am ashamed to share the same blood in our veins."

  "Ye-yes milord." The boy answered, before turning and beginning to slow down to allow his position in the middle of the caravan to catch up with him.

  Marcus sighed. All this selective breeding and occasionally they still managed to produce useless rats like the boy. He'd be gd to arrive in Rome, where he could dump the boy into the p of some other fool in the family.

  "Milord?" came a voice from behind Marcus.

  He whirled and shouted "WHAT!?!" what could be so important that the inbred little shit needed him to babysit his every action.

  "Do-don't you think it's a little quiet? I can't hear the birds no more. And the trees ain't moving no more."

  "Maybe the gods simply wish to grant me some peace and quiet from your senseless yammering. So shut up and be silent."

  Before he could rebuke the boy further, the mule drawing his cart reared up whinnying loudly . Straining the harness which held it to the cart. Soon all the pack animals where straining their bindings, their handlers attempting to calm them without success.

  And then the screaming started.

  Dark shapes colpsed on the caravan, emerging suddenly from the thick foliage bordering the road. The animals shrieking became manic, and some broke free from their reins, turning to run down the road and escape. Marcus stood in his seat, frozen in shock. He could do nothing but watch as the caravan was attacked by dark shapes that resolved themselves into tall brutish shapes. Dark green hide covered muscur forms. Thick tusks protruded from the bottom jaws of their lopsided faces, and a brutal cunning lurked in each of their small, beady eyes.

  "ORKS!!!" a cry rang out from the caravan.

  The noise broke Marcus's stillness. He quickly lept from his cart and began to search for an opening.

  "Marcus!!" a shrill cry came from his left.

  He turned to see his wife and the boy running towards him. Broken bodies began to fall behind them as the merchants and traders were mercilessly massacred, defenseless against the green horde which had befallen them.

  His mind raced to find a solution. Surely with most of the greenskins occupied with the rest of the caravan, he and his wife would be able to escape. The boy could come too, he supposed, he'd have to answer less questions about this failure if the boy returned alive.

  With them by his side, he raced down the road. Desperate to reach the bend further down where they could break the line of sight with the remains of the caravan.

  Looking back, it seemed like they were getting away. Most of the greenskins were occupied with killing the remaining members of the caravan which still stood. He almost threw up when he looked closer, they weren't even waiting for their prey to die before they started feasting.

  He watched as a man was held in the air by a leg. His stomach had been opened with a brutal ssh to the abdomen, bloody guts and entrails had begun to spill outward in thick ropes to the ground. The ork holding him up eagerly grabbed a hold of a fistful, and ripped it out of the man, and shoveled it into its open maw. Bloody chunks dripping from it's teeth as it quickly grabbed another handful.

  A cry of pain next to him brought his attention back to his immediate surroundings. The boy fell face-first onto the cobble road. A thick bck arrow sprouting from his back.

  His heart racing, he took his wife by her hand, and kept running. Trying to calm his nerves and search inside himself, seeking the inner strength which was the product of generations of good breeding. Strength flooded his limbs, and he picked up the bitch. With his enhanced body she was easily tossed over his shoulder as he began to pick up speed. So much tits and hips and she still couldn't give him children.

  A huge shape emerged from the brush in front of him. The ork was half again as tall as he was, and built as broad as a barn. Marcus skidded to a halt just in front of the creature. Just barely able to stop himself from running into the damn thing.

  "WHERE DOES YOOZE TINKZ YOOZE GOINGS?!!" The foul creature boomed.

  Marcus was startled the damn thing had talked, and even more so that it had been in a nguage he'd understood.

  He looked to his wife on his shoulder, she was pinly terrified. Shaking in his grip. He looked to the huge ork in front of him, the thing was much rger than the others and had more ornate clothing and weapons. If you could say such things about savages.

  The ork stepped forward, huge hand reaching out to grasp the pair.

  Filled with regret, he looked at his wife one st time. Her eyes widened further when she realized what he was about to do.

  He tossed her towards the hulking creature, taking advantage of the monstrosities momentary distraction to dart around it and, no longer encumbered by his wife's bulk, swiftly put some distance between him and the ork.

  He turned and looked behind him, checking to see of it was following him. The creature had his wife slung over it's shoulder in a horrible parody of his own actions, and had evidently decided that he was too fast to bother pursuing as it turned back to march to the sughter which had become of the caravan.

  When the st sounds of the dead and dying faded away to nothing, he breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed like he'd gotten away uninjured, so he'd likely be able to make it to Rome in a couple if he pushed himself now that he was no longer encumbered by the caravan. He cursed his luck that it was his caravan that was attacked. Those useless cowards in Capua should have warned him, then he would have simply waited for the storm to clear before putting the cargo back on ships and finishing the journey to Ostia.

  Now that the caravan is gone, the boy dead, and his wife captured, his prospects for becoming the head of a new patrician family were firmly in the gutter.

  He had a thought, and couldn't help himself from breaking down into a giggle, which quickly turned into howls of ughter.

  Maybe while in the tender care of the Orks, his cunt wife would finally start breeding, like she'd been supposed to all along.

  SarcasticMisfit