Gaulish plagues

6

At this time there was a big festival held in Tolosa. It was attended by several immigrant families from Carbonia, who are held hostage by the Roman state, in order to secure the debt payment that the Carbonian country owes Roman naval corporations. The Kingdom Carbonia owed 300.000 Denarius to a Gaulian exporter of Glass artworks. The products were delivered into the Carbonian harbours, but the full price of the products never paid. There are also noblemen from Carbonia that borrowed money from several Roman provinces in the East: Moesia, Thracia, Epirus and Noricum. The total sum is 2.000.000 Asses which the Carbonians used to invest into their local infrastructure and to expand their navy. Only half of the debts have been paid off.

The Carbonians around Tolosa are 1420 in number. The original 900 people were kidnapped in Moesia by the military after complaints of creditors became assassination attempts upon the Carbonian immigrants in Moesia. The Military wanted to prevent a potential war with Carbonia. Even though Carbonia is a small country far removed from the Eastern Imperial border, an alliance of Sarmatian troops could always provoke danger and hostile invasion. The military leaders deported them to the legionary camps in Gaul, who on turn handed them over to the Aquitanian governor. It has been 10 years now and the hostages begot more children in the mean time. They live in a guarded camp right outside of Tolosa. They are well fed and taken care off, but they are not permitted to travel outside of the region without permission of the Governor of Aquitania. The Aquitanian administration has refused to subject the Carbonians to slave labour as proposed by their creditors in the Eastern provinces. Instead, the Aquitanian government has paid 500.000 Asses to the Rome and pretended it were payments from the Carbonians. At the moment the Carbonian debt is 500.000 Asses and 100.000 Denarius. The debt is received by the city state of Rome itself and then distributed to the creditors. The Senate didn't agree with slavery of the hostages either because it would give them a chance to infiltrate into the Empire and cause damage from within. Half of the wages of the hostages are send to the treasury of Rome to pay off the rent of the outstanding debts. The motivation for this fraud by the Aquitanian leaders is simple: they refuse to get more intrusion of Rome into their businesses. Also, the trade with Carbonia over seas has gained Aquitanian corporations goods in value of 5.000.000 Asses past five years.

The festival was a celebration of several Germanic deities. There were also many Germans present who travelled all the way from their German countries (outside of the Empire) to attent the parties. The German sojourners were 4000 in total. Each paid 2 Aureus for attending. They also spend a lot of money in the city by buying souvenirs and consuming a lot of agricultural products. The Carbonians participated into the celebration because they were trying to find a way to escape their captivity. They were not in chains, neither were they subjected to harsh labour, but they expected that it would be just a matter of time before they were sold on the slave market or kidnapped by creditors who were blaming them for what their domestic government did to the Roman banks. They were just immigrants who lived in Moesia for almost two generations. They didn't scam nor rob anybody, but they were law abiding immigrants, without Roman citizenship or Latin rights.

Carbonia has around 2,350.000 people of whom 20.000 are scattered among the Roman provinces Moesia, Gaul (Aquitania), Rhaetia, Cappadocia and Macedonia. The Roman senate, in agreement with the Emperor, has agreed to ban Carbonian immigration into the Empire. It's not just the scamming of their government, but also because of the high fertility among the Carbonians and their unwillingness to adapt to Roman culture. Some regional administrations has voiced their worries about this and the potential social unrest that might follow. The Carbonians are also forbidden, everywhere they live within the Empire, to marry with a non-Carbonian.

At Tolosa there are two best friends, Saulina and Lolina, both born in Carbonia and migrated to Moesia, where later they've been captured and transported to Tolosa. Saulina and Lolina have been best friends for about two years. They plan to escape their imprisonment and to flee back to their homeland. They've been away for almost 10 years and they are tired of the pressure to assimilate to Roman customs. They have nothing against the Roman lifestyle, but they never planned to become political hostages!