Cerberus

The Cerberus Empire (Cerberusian: IMPERIVM CERBERVSVM) was the period of ancient Cerberusian civilization, characterised by a mostly non-familial accession form of government and large territorial holdings around the Cerberus Sea in Hesperia and Libera. The Empire shifted to autocratic rule for some 700 years, before finally becoming a Republic in 947 B.C.E. In the 328th year of the Republic, it began to destabilize due to a series of civil wars in outlying territories. Several events marked the transition from Oligarchic rule to Autocratic, including Julus Cecer's appointment as perpetual dictator, the Battle of Actium, and the granting of the honorific Augustus to Octavian by the Cerberus Senate.

Etymology
The name of the Cerberusian Empire has been discussed at length; however, the etymology of the name is derived from the Elysium languages’ Kerberos. This name has its root in the ancient proto-Hesperian languages’ ḱer, which denotes an earlier meaning of “Horned”.

This has often been seen as the source of some of the legends concerning the myths of the Cerberus’ creation, however recently other linguists have pointed out that Cerberus could be derived from another proto-Hesperian word *ḱerberó, or “variegated”. This has been shown to enforce the idea of what would represent the Cerberusian Empire in its early stages, as a “variegated” empire of many different cultures.

History
Although many legends about the Cerberusian Empire are known, the most widely accepted is the legend of the Keros and Beros creation legend, which states that twin brothers were discarded shortly after birth by their mother and nursed by a mythical three-headed wolf. This creature was regarded as a mythic beast created with the first shards of life. The brothers were raised as hunters, and soon found themselves amongst other humans. Their mother, the wolf, who had given them their names, continued to watch from a distance, as her sons became leaders among their people. Together, they created the nation of Cerberus, a name which honors their mother by returning to the earth the names that were given to them.

Although the true origins of the powerful Cerberus empire are somewhat shrouded in mystery, it is likely that the original city of Cerbus was originally a village of an iron age people who would later rise and conquer the peoples around them.

The city of Cerbus was established on an island in the Cerberus Sea, halfway between modern day Etat Libre d’Esprit, Lomarre and Slostia. The island was a low-lying grassland island that disappeared with the rising of the sea level by several feet during the “great-warming” period in the second millennia B.C.E.

For many years the idea that the island existed was contested to that of a myth and many archaeologists argued that the island on which the Olmona capital, Aldston, is situated is the original island. However, in 1978, an oceanographic survey, done in partnership between Etat Libre d’Esprit and Lomarre, whose original purpose was to map the sea floor in search of natural gas deposits, discovered the site of the island of Cerbus. A group of archaeologists were sent to the site and it was confirmed; it has been exhaustively studied and catalogued, and is off limits to the general population for the fear of the destruction of the site.

Phases of the Empire
The Cerberus Empire is generally characterised by three distinct periods within the history of the classical empire. • The Oligarchic period, which lasted a span of 313 years • The Autocratic period, which lasted a span of 740 years • The Republican period, which lasted a span of 372 years

Although there were many periods of instability, these are considered as the main transitional phases of the empire.

===Oligarchic Period ===

Cerberus had begun annexing overseas provinces, on the main land of both Hesperitus and Tenebris in the second millennia B.C.E, and in that sense was an "empire" while still governed as an oligarchy. Oligarchican provinces were administered by former consuls and praetors, who had been elected to one-year terms and held imperium, "right of command". The amassing of disproportionate wealth and military power by a few men through their provincial commands was a major factor in the transition from republic to imperial autocracy later on. Later, the position of power held by the emperor was expressed as imperium. The Cerberusian word is the origin of Navis "empire," a meaning it began to acquire only later in Cerberus history.

As the first emperor, Augustus took the official position that he had saved a weak previous tribal society from collapse, and carefully framed his powers within oligarch constitutional principles. He rejected titles that Cerberusians associated with monarchy, and instead referred to himself as the princeps, "leading citizen". Consuls were elected, tribunes of the people continued to put forth legislation, and senators still debated in the curia. It was Augustus, however, who established the precedent that the emperor controlled the final decisions, backed up by military force.

The Oligarchic rule was characterised by 21 emperors of the empire, during this time the empire expanded into both Hesperitus and Tenebris, however this period was also characterised by a great warming, which had influenced the level of the sea.