World Conquest Online

Dom, Lucius and Shang Yang stood in the heroes hall, having completed their earlier tasks. They had been lucky so far not to have bumped in to any of the others and were looking forward to completing this final Cube roll before moving on.

"Have we decided between Domestic and Military then?" Shang Yang asked seriously as he took a seat on one of the comfortable sofa’s for once.

"I think that as you are both here, if I chose Military now, you would both be upset with me." Dom joked, "So Domestic it is!"

"I think it would be the best at this current moment." Lucius agreed as he lay down on his Chaise Lounge, "We just need more support domestically, but we do need to increase our military strength quickly as Tongpai Town will find us soon."

"Realistically, we should have more Warriors than them by now with the recent influx." Dom responded.

"Correct, but we do not know how many they grow by a day." Lucius argued back. "Plus, we are just one front for them, but we also have the south to look at with the Ancient Underground City and beyond."

"Plus the Mountains and Silver Forest to the west." Shang Yang added, "We always need more."

Dom nodded in agreement, before grabbing the Orange Cube from his satchel and holding it in his hand.

"System, please roll a Domestic Hero." Dom asked politely.

[Financial, Legal or Craftsman]

Dom didn’t ponder for long as he usually did, as he felt the options this time were more restricted. He had Shang Yang for his legal needs, and he would also fill the Legal Office that they had gained. A Craftsman would be great but they had a large influx of new residents and more coming daily, so unless he got a hero graded blacksmith there wasn’t much he needed.

"Financial please." Dom asked, knowing that this was something that would be a great help to the group.

[Rolling for Financial Hero.....Marcus Licinius Crassus

Hero Grade - A

Hero Strength - Gold and Entrepreneur

Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman General and Statesmen during the final years of the Roman Republic before it became a Roman Empire. He was the third member of the first famous Roman Triumvirate of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus. Commonly known as the Richest Man in Rome, historically if his wealth is ever converted to a current currency, he is most likely still one of the richest men in history, having a recorded wealth of over two hundred and twenty nine tonnes of Gold.

He was a renowned entrepreneur, having bought land, property and businesses from many who were struggling and turning them around in to profitable businesses. He created the first known fire service, even if he often used it for unscrupulous means. He was a keen slave owner and property owner, with a way of making money like no other.

As well as being an A Grade Domestic Hero, he is also a B Grade Martial Hero, having fought in wars alongside other famous generals and having defeated the slave revolt of Spartacus. He is most famous for his time as Governor of Roman Syria, where he took his Legions to war against the Roman Enemy of Parthia and lost miserably, loosing his life and that of nearly all of his men.

He was also a well known Orator and Spokesmen with a keen passion for the arts. He came from a modest background and acclaimed all of his wealth by his own means]

A tall muscular man with olive skin, wearing a toga similar to Lucius appeared, as well as the strong muscles on his upper body, he also had a growing belly around his waist that jiggled gently as he stepped out of his room in the Heroes Hall. He was cleanly shaven, with a small amount of brown hair atop his head. He had a strong Roman nose and a slightly protruding chin. He also had a gladius strapped to the belt at his waist which was standard military, rather than something extravagant as expected.

"Marcus Licinius Crassus at your service!" He bellowed loudly, in a jovial manner.

"Welcome to Riverside!" Dom replied kindly. "It’s great to have you here!"

"It’s great to be here!" He exclaimed in return as he noticed Shang Yang and Lucius sat down on in the centre of the room. "How interesting, a fellow Roman I believe and an exotic foreigner?"

"I am Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus the Mayor of Riverside, and this is Advisor Shang Yang." Lucius replied seriously.

"Pleasure to meet you both." Crassus commented as he headed over to the seats and sat on a Chaise Lounge that was available. "I recognise your name."

"I am also a fellow Roman." Lucius stated, "However I do not know of yours, so we must be from different time zones."

"That is correct." Dom interrupted. "Crassus is from around three hundred years after you."

"This is going to get confusing." Crassus laughed, "Tell me about yourselves?"

"I’m the Mayor and I look after the overall Domestic sides of Riverside, I am a reluctant Mayor but we are building something great here." Lucius responded.

"I am an Advisor to the Lord and the Mayor." Shang Yang stated, "I am also working on the Rules and Laws that separate us from the savages."

"Interesting." Crassus replied seriously, putting his hand on his cleanly shaved face. "Do we have a military?"

"We do." Dom responded, "Greek Hoplite and the Ninth Legion. As well as Horse Archers and a collection of highly qualified Commanders."

"Caesar’s Ninth Legion?" Crassus asked seriously.

"Maybe originally they were, but not any longer." Dom replied to him, suddenly realising that he had a Roman General here who could potentially add some upgrades and tactics to the Legion as Subutai did for the Horse Archers.

"I would like to inspect them if we have chance." Crassus responded.

"That would be great, however I was hoping you could help us from a Domestic perspective as a priority." Dom asked. "We are growing rapidly, but we are missing some key fundamentals to make us successful."

"And in what aspect would you like me?" Crassus asked, "I am more than happy to help grow Riverside in to a mighty empire!"

"How about managing our Finances and Trade?" Dom asked, which caused Crassus’s eyes to open in excitement.

"Just show me the money!" Crassus exclaimed with a laugh. "I’d be more than happy to take on a role doing that!"

There was a visible relief on Lucius and Shang Yang’s faces when they heard this, as if a final piece in their puzzle had been filled. With the Finance Office now having a leader, they had four key pillars of Riverside’s long term domestic growth confirmed.

"Where are the slaves with the food and drinks?" Crassus suddenly asked whilst Dom was in thought.

"We don’t have slaves unfortunately." Lucius lamented. "But you will find that it’s a great place to be regardless. Come, I’ll show you around Riverside."

Lucius got up and headed towards the Heroes Hall door, followed by the slightly overweight Crassus who seemed excited to be there. The light from outside poured in to the room and Dom and Shang Yang were blinded slightly before the doors closed again.

"I was surprised that Lucius didn’t offer him the Mayorship as usual." Shang Yang stated with a gently laugh.

"I think he probably doesn’t feel he is the best candidate for it." Dom replied, "He’s an exceptional man Crassus, but maybe not the most trustworthy as the Mayor."

"I get the same feeling." Shang Yang stated seriously, before continuing. "All of your key tasks are now complete, what is your next plan?"

"I am going to visit Ophelia and check on her, but first we need to plan the evening feast!" Dom replied happily.

"It’s understandable that you want to visit her, but you must first inform Meritamen so as to not cause any unnecessary jealousy and drama." Shang Yang stated seriously.

"That’s a good point." Dom replied, hitting his face with his palm. "Let’s sort the feast out first."

"Agreed, who are we inviting?" Shang Yang stated, "Be aware that who ever you invite will most likely be seen as the leaders of Riverside, and therefore the noble class, so be careful to not invite people you don’t believe will fit in to this."

Dom agreed and sat down himself whilst he pondered on who to invite. Shang Yang reached in to his own satchel and removed an empty piece of parchment and a lead pencil, as he waited on Dom to start listing.

"First, we need to invite all of the Heroes. Yourself, Lucius, Crassus, Meritamen, Tomyris, Tomoe, Subutai, Gan Ning, Abubakar and Uriah." Dom started, "We should also invite the Centurions, so Banas, Octavian, Alexander, Pullo, Meng Gao and a couple senior representatives from the two hundred Hittites."

"I’ll ask Uriah to select his best two men who would be trained as Centurions." Shang Yang replied seriously as he wrote down words quickly as he took notes. "That is the Military side of things, what about the Domestic?"

"For the Domestic, we need the Elite villagers of Hua Tou, Himilco, Sostratus, Aristarchus, Peruda and reluctantly Gu Kaizhi" Dom continued, "Each of those is an asset and therefore needs to be of the higher ranks and at the feast."

"I agree with all of those." Shang Yang stated, "Gu Kaizhi will have his benefits in the long term, having him involved will allow him to create artwork and poetry that can increase the culture of Riverside, which is something that has been mainly ignored until now. Who next?"

"I think this is when it get’s more difficult as we are choosing people from our town who represent the different sections. Obviously we need the family heads who are leading the key departments, Helena from the Docks, Wang Shu the Builder, Lars the Lumberjack, Benjamin the Farmer, Zanug the Herder, Alejando the Weaver and Cassius the Merchant." Dom replied, "However, we should also invite Doctor Phoebe, Kento and Minato the teachers."

"Anyone else?" Shang Yang asked as he checked his list and quickly counted, "that is only around thirty three people."

"They can all bring a guest with them, which would take us up to nearly seventy people." Dom replied, "Maybe we should invite the family head of the Benoit family who look after the cooking?"

"I’ll ask him when I discuss food with him later." Shang Yang responded, "I would also say maybe invite a couple of the Hittites, but with Uriah and two of his Centurions, if they bring guests then they will have a fair representation."

"Very well, so these are the first nobles of Riverside." Dom replied, not realising that he had just changed all of these people destinies for ever.

"These are the first nobles of Riverside." Shang Yang agreed. "One day, when you are the Emperor of a giant Empire, we can look back at this meeting and laugh at how small it is in comparison."