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In 2756 AC (2003 AD in Christian terms), magnetic railways span Roman territory from Persia to Terranova, and mechanised crucifixes are ranked along the banks of the Thames.

As volume one of ROMANITAS opens, Marcus Novius Faustus Leo, heir apparent to the Imperial throne, is mourning the death of his parents following a tragic accident. However, as information about the last days of his father's life becomes known, Marcus realises that his father's death was no accident - and that his own life is in danger.

Meanwhile, an escaped slave girl called Una, who possesses the power to see inside others' minds, struggles to save her brother, Sulien, from a London prison ship.

In a fortune teller's stall in a Gallic flea-market, Marcus, Una and Sulien's paths cross. Now the fate of the Empire rests on their shoulders...

The present day but a very different one to the world we know...

The Roman Empire stretches across the Atlantic and far into Asia, yet it is an unstable time. Strange fires burn out of control; the Emperor falls suddenly ill, and a massacre in the shadow of the Great Wall of Terranova brings the world to the brink of a global war. At this critical time, three years after a conspiracy against his life forced him into hiding, the young heir to the throne Marcus Novius must take command of the greatest power on Earth. But his ambitious cousin Drusus - spurred on by a riddling Sybilline prophecy - threatens this last chance to avoid a world conflict, and Una, a former slave whose love for Marcus seems out of place at the Roman court, is drawn into the political intrigue and a dangerous enmity.

Though many of Marcus' friends and supporters are scattered, he can rely on the driven, sharp-witted Una, her idealistic brother Sulien, now working to relieve the suffering of slaves, and Varius, wounded and disillusioned by the past but still committed to the vision of a better Rome. But even these three will find their lives at risk and their loyalties tested, as they encounter unforeseen conflicts and the manoeuvrings of shadowy forces. Both within the Empire and far beyond its borders, simmering tensions are starting to reach boiling point...

Imagine a world in which Rome never fell. Now the Empire stretches across the Atlantic, slaves are constructing a giant bridge over the Persian Gulf, and magnetic railways span the globe. But tensions within and without are about to change the face of the earth.

Marcus Novius is caught in a massive explosion at the Coliseum which kills his uncle the emperor... making Marcus, his heir, the new leader of the Roman Empire.

Marcus, the healer Sulien and Una, his sister - and Marcus' own love - have been together through thick and thin, fighting for freedom, fighting for their lives, fighting for justice, and Marcus' ascension to Roman throne was supposed to be the start of something magnificent...

But Marcus is horribly wounded himself in the explosion, and Sulien is having problems fighting his way through the terrible devastation to be at his friend's - his emperor's - side.

And it's not long before Sulien and Una realise life will never be the same again, for the Roman Empire is about to face its most dangerous enemy...