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."

Part Two: Brennt London!
Marcus makes the inference at first that the invaders are Rome, come to bring civilization to this war-torn landscape. Marcus attempts to travel, leaving this "benighted world", and finds himself in yet another war torn world. And another. And another. And another. In this last world, one less impacted by the war, with people walking around, he walks into the street and is promptly hit by a vehicle. Upon waking up, he finds himself in a hospital, being tended to by a woman who looks exactly the same as his wife.

He quickly discovers that Rome is not the invading force, but instead the Germans, and began to get to know this second Angela. Marcus confesses to Angela and her father that he comes from a different world as the Germans attack London. The group are surrounded by German soldiers, and Marcus is wounded, forcing him to transport himself and Angela across the great divide.

Marcus awakes to find Quintus Saxus standing over him, who informs him that his family has been told of his being discovered, as Angela begins to acclimate to the discovery of other worlds, and the fact that he's married to another version of her. The two travel back to Roma I, where Angela heads to the Americanius family estate, and Marcus to brief the Emperor.

The Emperor feels that knowledge of worlds in which Rome fell would prove destabilizing to the status quo, and so forbids discussion of the discovery, with all evidence destroyed. Marcus pretends to do so, but has no interest in actually complying with his wishes on this front. The two Angelas get along quite well, and the second Angela slots in somewhat naturally to life the first Angela already had, with a father and children who accept her readily.

Marcus talked to his group of allies who also used bracelets and came up with a plan on how to properly act against Germania, involving universe hopping sabotage, searching for Germania I, and more general attempts to understand the society of the worlds across the great divide. After deploying the same sabotage technique multiple times across different worlds, the group was ambushed by German soldiers. They quickly infer the possibility that world traveling is a capability possessed by the Germans.

Marcus travels from world to world, moving towards Berlin, intercepting shiner transmissions, and eventually comes to Germania LXVIII, where he meets the Hitler of that world, deposed and beaten by children on the street as a beggar. He tells his tale of how another Hitler came in one night and ousted him from power, with policies antithetical in some ways to ones he had held prior. This Hitler also mentioned Herr Abschrift, and gave a description that matched one of the soldiers that Marcus had encountered at the earlier ambush, having pointed teeth.

Marcus arrives in Berlin I and is immediately surrounded by troops. Herr Abschrift appeared and destroyed the bracelet, preventing him from escaping to another world. He then takes Marcus into the hall of the Nazi Senate to show him the futility of his quest. Inside are nearly a thousand Hitlers, all reporting on the state of the war, all united in advancing the Greater German Reich.

Part Three: Rome Wasn't Built in a Day
A history of the next ten years of the Greater German Reich is recited. How they used different battle tactics depending on the earth, how August Hitler was born on only Germania I, how the Germans turned their ambition towards the moon, and so on. Eventually they drew up plans to invade Roma DCX, using more generalized interdimensional transport than the bracelets. Within ten days they conquered this first Rome.

At this point, sixteen years had passed for Marcus, who began his confinement by being tortured for information by the Germans, and then sought out as a source of company by Abschrift, learning from this some small minutiae of the outside world.

Meanwhile, the Emperor of Roma I was dying, leading to a minor succession crisis. Devices that allowed you to communicate between worlds were captured from the Germans and replicated, and the very beginnings of a counter insurgency strategy were discussed.

Abschrift mentions to Marcus that he comes from the true earth, not one of these pale imitations, and works for House Mirraflex.

Ultimately the Emperor's son comes out on top, and allows for discussion of the divide. Some of those with bracelets traveled to Roma XIII, after seeing that a traveler had appeared there.

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)