Book excerpt: All roads lead to Rome, the greatest city of the Ancient World. Anything you desire is available in this city of over a million people. Its all here: goods from far off Parthia; pottery from Brittania; food from Egypt; vile tomes from Syria; and murderous cults from Africa. The mighty Empire is pressed on all sides by foes, both mundane and otherworldly. Forces within the Empire itself are growing in power, drawing on the most ancient of horrors to corrupt it from within. Welcome to Rome.