Empire of Rome

Blazon and symbolism are self-evident.

Essentially, an idea born out of lack of sleep and watching two-and-a-half seasons of Showtime's series The Borgias in two days (Cesare x Lucrezia forever!). This asks: what if Cesare Borgia, through some mixture of insanity, balls of steel and mind-boggling luck, had survived the reign of his father as Pope? In 1503, with the aid of his armies, Cesare moves to safe-guard Borgia wealth and Borgia power by once more assuming the robes of Cardinal, purging the Curia, and, finally, assuming an ever-changing hereditary title (at various times called Pope, Caesar Augustus, Caesaro-Pope, Emperor of Rome / Italy, King-Bishop of Rome and Italia, and Vicar of Christ and King of Heavens). Somehow surviving multiple attempts on his life (due to luck), riots in Rome (ruthlessness), a military coup (incompetence of its instigators), accidents with misplaced poison (sheer sisterfucking luck), three rival Popes (each other), and the combined armies of all of the now-Protestant princes of Christendom (France, the other Roman Empire, Spain, England, and most of Northern Italy with the exception of the Venetians and several subdued territories of the Romagna and Tuscany -- due to pestilence and infighting), Cesare is soon in the odd position of being married to his sister (rumoured to be the actual drive behind his actions) and father of several children. His Roman subjects continue to be suppressed by a partially bought, partially "converted" Papal Guard whilst the Papal Armies are campaigning in Tuscany, but are becoming increasingly fond of their new ruler: after all, his victories and the plagues (particularly syphilis, but also sporadic outbreaks of Bubonic Plague) visited upon his foes appear to be a sign of some kind of divine favour. Catharism and other maltheistic heresies are on the rise again, seeing that Christ's vicar on earth is a bastard who is openly married to his own sister and does not hesitate from murdering his enemies.
Due to all these factors, the Empire of Rome, which soon included Naples, the Romagna and Tuscany, somehow survived its early years, and lasted for almost thirty years until the chaos of the early days had settled. Cesare and Lucrezia's oldest son and heir, Alexander VII, had somewhat more traditional morals and somewhat less luck than his father. Though Cesare, Antichrist to much of Europe, was dead, the Empire of Rome continued to be surrounded on all side by incredibly hostile powers, all greater in manpower and wealth than Rome itself. At this time, Alexander allied himself with -- ironically -- the sole major Catholic powers left in Europe, namely Portugal and Venice. Though the Venetians would not accept their accedance to the Holy Alliance, Rome also had an understanding with Turkey regarding the Holy Roman Emperor's Balkan holdings. Indeed, very soon the Franco-Spanish-German invasions of Italy was renewed, with the Spanish marching North from Sicily, the French south from Piedmont, and the Germans through the Veneto. After retreating behind the walls of Rome for a Spanish siege of several months' length, a stroke of luck occured: the Spanish king died, and was succeeded by a man who was both Catholic and, in a sense, an admirer of Cesare Borgia. Eager to unite himself with the house that was clearly blessed by God, the new King of Aragon and Castile married his sister to Pope-Emperor Alexander and joined his armies with the Papal ones to march first against the French, then against the Germans. Near Piombino, the joint armies inflicted a crushing defeat over the French army (mostly due to sheer luck; the French were heavily pestered by unexpectedly cold weather, lack of powder and shot, syphilis, and first facing west enemy was advancing from the east). Meanwhile, the Habsburg Emperor had withdrawn from Italy to defend Hungary against the Turk. It was clear that the war was won and a hegemony of the Borgia dynasty established over all Italy, and a few years and inconsequential skirmishes later, an exhausted Europe met in Venice for a General Council headed jointly by Pope-Emperor Alexander and the Protestant Pope Martin VI who had emerged from the initial schism. At the Council of Venice, both Popes were acknowledged in their rights and possessions as per the status quo. Cesare's canonisation of his father, Alexander VI, was withdrawn, and Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia posthumously condemned as schismatics, heretics, and general sinners. In return, however, the House of Borgia would continue to reign Italy from Rome and continue to head the ever-shrinking Catholic world as hereditary Pope, and Alexander VII's daughters Lucrezia and Giulia were betrothed to high-ranking members of the Valois and Habsburg families, respectively.

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