Warlords of Utopia (novel)

Warlords of Utopia was the fourth novel in the Faction Paradox series.

Publisher's summary
Marcus Americanius Scriptor's memoirs of the war between every parallel universe where Rome never fell and every parallel universe where Hitler won the Second World War have long been regarded as the definitive account of that turbulent time.

Scriptor's life story, from his early life among the housesteads of an obscure province to his role in the ultimate confrontation with Nazism, was intimately connected with the major political and social developments of his time. His highly personal record of events was praised even in his own lifetime for its honesty and intimacy, as well as for capturing the scale of a war that consumed thousands of worlds.

This exciting new translation of a classic work of military history is accessible to new readers and existing students of the War alike.

Part One: The Face of History
Marcus Americanius Scriptor was the first born son to the governor of the American continent on a world where Rome has conquered the entire planet. At twelve he completed a history of the American continent, before being sent to military academy in Britannia at thirteen. At eighteen, still in the military, The Emperor of Rome read Marcus' history and remarked that it was a detailed work, though not good enough to rank among the top class of historians. Upon a short letter explaining that it was written at the age of twelve, Marcus was commissioned to write more historical work for the Emperor and the Emperor's court, including a comprehensive history of the Roman forum.

In the course of his work into this history, after it was completed and published, two things happened. The first, his meeting and marriage to Angela Scriptor, and the second, him hearing about an old man who had materialized years earlier on the lowest levels of the forum, wearing foreign clothes and speaking an unknown language, before being grabbed by guards and forcibly removed. A strange item of jewelry was taken from him and he was sent to a hospice in the Alps.

Marcus visited the old man and, intrigued, tracked down the piece of jewelry, a bracelet. Upon returning to the hospice, he now found he was able to communicate clearly with the old man, where before it was touch and go. He and the old man fought over the bracelet before being transported to a different version of Rome, meeting guards there who had "shiners", and finding the man in a pool of his own blood, and then finding himself back on his own world.

Marcus discussed the issue of the other Rome with his brother, father, wife and her father, and decided to travel there once more. This time, he went with money, and attempted to blend in, purchasing books on world history, which diverged from theirs in part due to plague, and some of the shiners, and noticing that this world had other technology not available in his, such as helicopters. Using the purchased shiner, Marcus and his family were able to replicate the internal workings, but not make it function, and were unable to easily acquire helicopters. As such, they realized that it was time to approach this diplomatically and involve the Emperor.

The Emperor was enthused at the idea of trading with other Romes, though under the utmost secrecy, and so Marcus set out to contact the Emperor of this other Rome. Upon meeting the the Emperor of this second Rome, Marcus learned that the old man had died, and his body had been incinerated. Trade deals were struck, gold, medicinal herbs and writings in exchange for the first few helicopters and shiner transmitters, and an agreement was signed between Emperors that no Emperor was to ever have authority over another. Soon Marcus' world was transformed by the new technology introduced.

Marcus continued to travel and experiment with the bracelet, finding four "directions" in which it could travel. He also began to number the worlds he found, and noted the distinctions between them, Roma II having the shiners and the plague, Roma III being influenced by the Serics, Roma IV having certain religious disputes, and so on. Eventually, they discovered Roma CLII, a world utterly ravaged by natural disasters.

While exploring this world, a creature attacks Marcus, demanding the bracelet, and explaining that the original owner was one of thirteen who attempted to "remove themselves from the board". The goal of the creature is to track every last one of them down and kill them, the old man being the eighth. Boasting about how it's immune to rituals, sigils, temporal attacks, being bound inside a black hole, it's promptly killed with a sword, and Marcus recovers seven other bracelets.

With this newfound wealth of interdimensional technology, more of Marcus' close friends and allies are able to be involved in the exploration of other Romes as well, though this is still a closely kept secret. However, the Emperor of Roma I had become frustrated by the Americanius family's continual rise in wealth, even as he prospered, allies close to him complaining about their influence and attempting to slow down their growth and limit their wealth as much as they could.

This lead to the first usage of the bracelets offensively, acquiring private documents of the Americanius family's enemies to give to the press, blackmailing key figures, or even assassinations. Eventually the Emperor decided to reveal the secret of their wealth to the public, the existence of other earths and the bracelets. However, the general populace did not care, though this announcement did cause social change, as people began to question their society and consider the societies of other Romes.

Around this time, Marcus was in the Londinium of Roma DCX, "the edge of creation", a place where no further Romes existed from. He contemplated this fact, and how there might be more worlds out there, instead of jumping from point to point though, jumping across a "great divide". The ground shook beneath him and he found himself in a new world, with screaming filling the air. He finds a shiner, turns it on, and plays it.

"We shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

Characters

 * Marcus Americanius Scriptor
 * Consobrinus Patreulis
 * Herr Abschrift
 * Angela Scriptor
 * Quintus Saxus
 * Adolf Hitler
 * August Hitler
 * A creature
 * An old man

Continuity

 * Abschrift is a Cwej. (PROSE: The Book of the War) He tells Scriptor that he originates from the "True Earth". (PROSE: Original Sin)
 * Roma D is home to fearsome clockwork men who have formed the "Ferrum Legion". (COMIC: Doctor Who and the Iron Legion)