For as far back as you can remember you have always been working. Before your mother and father died you used to have a job similar to a servant’s and you only had to carry the master’s documents from one place to another. However, one day they were worked to exhaustion, despite being obviously sick, leading to their deaths soon afterwards. After that you became their replacement and were worked six times harder than you were before out in the vineyard
You endured this for eight long years, harvesting and sowing new grapevines every year for the wealth of your owners. During this time you heard of the grand tales of the gladiators, slaves sent to fight one another and some feral animals for the enjoyment of the people of Rome, and their triumphs from fellow slaves passing through the area. Over time you began to be in awe of the idea of becoming known by fighting and not having to work daily. This idea brought about a strong desire of freedom within you, causing you to think of any ways to escape the repetitive style of your life.
However, your repetitive lifestyle would quickly come to an end on one decisive day when your master, who was named Felix Octavius Faustus, came to you to tell you that the land at the vineyard was no longer arable. The recent droughts had caused the land to become barren and coarse and would be too expensive to revert to the bountiful field it once was. He told you that he felt somewhat guilty about your parents’ deaths, so instead of forcing you to move to another one of his farms like he was forcing his other slaves, he gives you two choices: to either train and become a gladiator and bring fame and glory to his and your names, or go to a different farm, farther north of Rome to the farming-centric town of Sausa.
- Become a gladiator
- Continue being a farmer
You decide to follow your heroes and become a gladiator to bring glory and fame to your’s and Felix's names. After hearing you decision, Felix sends you with a small bag of supplies for where you head next and he wishes you luck in your journeys. Despite your physical separation, Felix reminds you of the importance of your patron-client relationship now that you will be apart from each other. If you want a chance at freedom, you will need to give it your all.
You start by training under the direction of a skilled gladiator-coach. He works you hard, but you learn a lot and you see drastic improvement in your skills. You decide that you want to become a Murmillo, a gladiator who fights with a gladius (short sword designed for stabbing) and a long rectangular shield. You eventually graduate from the gladiator school and begin your work fighting through the lower levels of competition. Fighting comes naturally to you and you are succeeding much more than even you expected. In some of your off-time, you must also put on events at funerals and you eventually arrive at the Colosseum, long after you had officially become a gladiator. At first you weren’t favored among the crowds due to your being new to the scene. This changes after many months of training and observing, and as you quickly defeat some of the other well-known gladiators, causing you to become well-known in the sports circles. In a matter of three years you rise to be known as one of the best warriors in the empire.
However, after winning continually you look to political problems to temporarily quench your boredom. You find out that an old colleague of yours, Spartacus, has started a rebellion of sorts to support the slaves of the empire. Although you personally identify heavily with the movement, you are unsure what to do with your new found popularity, despite still being considered as a lesser being. You consider two choices: join Spartacus and become a part of the slave revolt or get close to the revolutionaries and then tip off the government to keep your fame.
What do you do?- Join Spartacus to fight the Romans
- Tip off the guard to warn the government
Despite having a strong desire to become a gladiator and fight for a living, you decide that you aren’t ready for an action packed life like a gladiator’s just yet and think that it is probably best to just stick with what you know for now. After hearing you decision, Felix sends you with a small bag of supplies for where you head next and he wishes you luck in your journeys. Despite your physical separation, Felix reminds you of the importance of your patron-client relationship now that you will be apart from each other. If you want a chance at freedom, you will need to give it your all.
You begin your journey northwards toward the small, farming-city of Sausa. Using the supplies given to you by your old master, Felix, and instructions on how to get there from nearby road-building slaves, you make it to Sausa in three works. With zero rations and a stomach grumbling for food, you go from farm to farm, begging to work at the farms as a free man. Most reject you, thinking that you are incapable of doing any meaningful work as a free man. Luckily, on the very next morning you come across an old, lame man named Lucius Faustus Claudius.
Lucius tells you a long story about his past fame as a gladiator in the coliseum, and how he lost his left leg in a terrible battled in the coliseum. He also tells you about how difficult it has been for him to find good workers to maintain his small vineyard just outside of town. Knowing that you need work, he offers you work on the farm as a free man, which you readily accept. Initially you were payed enough money to pass by without starving or needing to do other work. However, by using your past eight years of experience of agriculture, you help increase the output of the small farm dramatically, allowing for Lucius to buy more land and to pay you more money than before. After only three years of work and a lot of bargaining you become a co-owner of the now largest farm in Sausa, giving you power over both the slaves and free men working on the farm, and allowing for you to keep up your patron-client relationship with Felix.
At first you felt accomplished, but this quickly changed to boredom and a small feeling of meaninglessness. While in town one day you hear of a slave rebellion headed by a warrior named Spartacus. Remembering your past, you feel a connection to the slave rebellion and begin to seriously contemplate whether you should join the rebellion or continue your farming in Sausa.
What do you do?- Join the rebellion with Spartacus
- Continue farming, again
You have chosen to continue your career in farming and agriculture. After years of dutiful service, your master frees you and you are able to start your own small farm on the outskirts of town where you primarily grow root vegetables to eat, but you are able to a live a happy and productive life. There is always a nagging feeling in the back of your head that haunts you: “What could have happened if I had spoken up for the rights of slaves and joined the great revolt, would things have turned-out different?"
You eventually start a family when you meet a woman who is also a liberta, she was freed after she convinced a rich businessman to support her master as she was doing routine shopping in the city’s forum. Your kids are Roman citizens, which allows them to have better education and more opportunities in life than you.
Your children learned about the servile wars in their Greek textbook tablets, but there was never a revolt during their lifetime. It is interesting to you to see that they have a totally different perspective on slavery than you do.
You are unable to vote because you are not a citizen, but as a libertine, you still advocate for slave’s rights in city meetings and by spreading pro-individualist rhetoric. You make small changes on a local level, but nothing much comes of your action, causing you to continue regretting abandoning your slave brethren.
THE END
You join the rebellion and were able to convince many of the other slaves on the plantation to go with you. The ideals of the rebellion are popular amongst other workers as well. It is agreed upon that lower class citizens and slaves were being abused and mistreated by the upper-class patrician. Because you only know how to farm you hide at the back of the lines. Spartacus is defeated after turning south at the Alps, the Roman legion is superiorly trained and has more powerful and effective weapons.
The untrained forces are out-fought and eventually retreat to the south, a poor tactical choice which results in the army being captured. You are rounded-up with the other prisoners of war. You are tried for treason and found guilty, due to the nature of war, you are offered to become a slave again, which you accept, untill the Romans find out about how close you were to Sparticus. Due to your involvement with supporting the war you are executed by crucifixion.
THE END
You join the rebellion, and use your trained gladiator skills to rise up in the ranks of the rebel army. Because of your experience and charismatic leadership, you overtake Spartacus as the leader of the slave revolt and commander of the military. You are able to implement more rigorous training in the army to ensure that you are fighting on equal footing with the impressive Roman legions.
You are confronted in northern Campania (Italy) by the Pompey’s Legions, which had returned from Hispania (Spain). This demands a major decision for you to make that will change the course of the war.You decide not to turn south at the Alps, and cross them instead. You and your band of rebel succeed in evading the Romans. The consular legions that had been pursuing you became engaged in a war against invading gallic barbarians, meaning you were free and able to start a new life in the harsh northern provinces.
The rebel group is able to form a temporary government that is able to negotiate with Rome. You were successfully able to improve conditions for Roman slaves by giving them legal protection and a form of partial citizenship. You also bargained for the removal of laws that unfairly punished slaves such as the group punishments.
THE END
You decide that the fame and the loyalty of the crowd that you have gained over time are too important for you to give up. However, you figure that this revolt will not be immediately stopped by the government, and you decide to find a way to benefit from it. Knowing that Spartacus would take in anyone who was or is a slave, you join the revolution but never do any real fighting. During your time in the rebellious slave army you act as a spy, sending messengers back and forth to higher officials in the Senate, hoping for the rebellion to be put down quickly in order to get some form of a reward.
Roughly two years later your hopes came into fruition with a new Roman military force, under the command of Marcus Crassus, quickly taking out the rebellious slave army. Soon afterwards you were given full Roman-citizenship, allowing for you to not only be free but also have the possibility to take on a political seat, unlike your past-slave peers. With full Roman-citizenship, you begin to be treated equally by Roman-born citizens and you consider your possible future position in the government.
After a close election, you become the city’s consul, giving you more opportunities to reform the city and support the community. You are able to use your place of authority to make a good living for yourself and advocate better working conditions for slaves. When you are working on legislation, you think back about your days as a slave and reminisce about the servile wars with a hopeful light. You are glad that you are improving the lives of slaves, but you are dissatisfied with yourself and that you did not help out the war effort of the rebels, but rather stopped them before they gained traction.
THE END