The Height of Empire

Note 6/26/21: I haven't updated this story in a while, in part because it was the first thing I published on this site and I have grown frustrated with how I set it up. There's more I'd still like to do with it, but correcting it would involve more significant changes than just editing some chapters. If you're a reader and would be interested in seeing it continue, comment and let me know - if there's interest I might migrate it to a new story, which would allow me to set some things up in a better-designed format now that I know how the site works.

Author's Note: Be sure to press "Start Game." This story is designed as a game, so please do leave comments reporting things you like, things you don't, and any bugs that crop up as I learn the coding. Likes and comments help me know what you're enjoying and where to focus my efforts!

The year is 189 A.D., and you are a young man of noble birth in the Roman Empire. The Pax Romana - the great peace that followed the establishment of the Empire - has lasted for nearly 200 years, and no one doubts that the Empire will endure for the rest of time. Commodus, the current Emperor, seems to confirm this belief. He has reduced the Empire's involvement in foreign wars, keeping many soldiers at home (or at least, during their tours of duty, in their barracks). The people greatly appreciate this (none more so than the soldiers who would otherwise be dying in distant lands), and their loyalty to Commodus is significant - of late, it borders on a personality cult, which the Emperor has been pleased to encourage.

It must be said, of course, that with so many people still in their homes and not out fighting and dying for the Empire, intrigues and conspiracies now abound, and Commodus's rule has become more and more strict as he is able to leverage the people's support and feels the need to keep intriguers under control. But such is the price of peace.

You, Gaius Lentillus, are a strapping young man and the only son (indeed, only offspring) of a minor noble family in Rome. Your mother died when you were just a child, and your father passed away earlier this year. But now you are 21 - fully come of age - and master of your own household. You are not without ambition, but you may be, for the moment, without direction. You know that you want to climb to the heights of Imperial society and make a name for yourself there - and, being a man of Rome, you know that you want to enjoy yourself while doing it. But how exactly you accomplish this...ah, that's yet to be seen.

The day after your 21st birthday (and after a raucous celebration), you wake up to an unexpected but not unwelcome sensation: a warm, wet mouth wrapped around your stiffening prick.