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| - Due to the falling ground water levels and increasing aridness of the Cahra Magnus, raids by nomads, mostly Garamantes, became intolerable threats to Africa’s prosperous ports. In response, in 1275(522) Crvvxivs had his generals expand the borders into Africa to create a buffer. Many nomad tribes were killed and those not usually died off from the Roman monopoly of the crucial remaining oases between their natural trade routes. Trade from equatorial Africa suffered but the increased demand helped Nubian and Habasiahn markets expand further. The Kushite Patrol Legion was enlarged and now guarded most of Rome’s southern borders (though they were never concrete). Carthago and Cyrene were no longer troubled though the new regions had to become partially under the Emperor's control when officially the regions belonged to the Senatorial provinces. To aide administration of the African provinces, some borders were shifted. 1279(526) An earthquake in Antioch killed 250 000 people. The Caesar's expansions caused a bit of a problem in 1282(529). Sure his majesty was just protecting them but he was also fundamentally violating the Senate’s constitution by having Imperial troops within the agreed boundaries of a Senatorial province. The only solution to avoid both civil war and invasion was to further integrate the position of Senate and Emperor in order for understanding and clear-cut status to be achieved. This was a reluctant and in some cases feared agreement but the Praetorians would tolerate only so much argument and acted as mediators to help in compromises. Now the Emperor and Senate were almost completely on level fields of authority and this fact was totally clear in the amendments to the Constitution. Now the Senate had influence and could make decisions on where to make war and how much to do so of, though they had the distinct responsibility to be paying attention and respond in a timely fashion to foreign threats. Further controls on the military were also enacted. These changes also expanded the Praetorian Guard and its standards to additionally guard the Senate- the Praetorian’s secondary nature being to weed out corruption and weakness in the government where conventional laws failed. This gave the Senate the intelligence and attitude to fit their expanded responsibility. In the end a definite border in all but name divided Africa Proconsvlaris and Ægyptvs into the Senatorial and Caesarian halves. It was speculation regarding whether Crvvxivs' acceptance of this power curb was was an expression of weakness or long sightedness. The Cæsar's rule was from then on routine but for the Goths in the Cavcasvs who were showing signs of rebuilding their identity. Their lot would have to be taken care of. 1288-92(535-9) Inexplicably the sun appeared to be heavily shaded for these years, causing crop failures, famines, barbarian incursions, and riots. There was no understanding of the event, causing many religions to perform more sacrifices. Crvvxivs managed to keep the Empire together but it took decades for it to really recover. 1297(544)-1302(549) There was an outbreak of a serious plague in the eastern provinces, apparently originating from Nubia and Habasiah. Distributed by the vital grain shipment routes, the disease and its hosts (rats and fleas) spread across the east, causing the most death in Byzantium where for a time it was killing almost 4000 people a day. Quarantines and the burning of many shipments from the east caused large amounts of hunger, but it also cut the plague down to just 5 years with less than 20 million dead. It appeared that with the continued growth and increasing density of the Empire, illnesses were having an easier time of becoming pandemic. 1298-1303(545-50) The Gohuar attempted invasions of the Empire, but are devastated by the plague there. Crvvxivs died in 1302(549) at 72, not from the plague. Also, the first fountain pen was invented in an Ægyptian ADA, but it would be some time before they are cheap and reliable enough for common use. Image:Empire 1302(549).png
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