1. Praetorian
Rome, AD 180s. Gnaeus Marcius Rustius Rufinus is promoted from the legions into the Praetorian Guard during a moment of crisis and discovers that the emperor’s protectors operate inside a world of bribery, surveillance and competing court factions. A plot involving Lucilla places his new loyalty…
2. Praetorian: The Price of Treason: Volume 2
Rome, AD 185. Two years after helping to defeat Lucilla’s conspiracy, Rufinus remains haunted by the cost and vulnerable to enemies who know how he entered the Guard. Praetorian prefect Tigidius Perennis appears to offer order, but accusations of treason spread through an imperial court where…
3. Praetorian: Eagles of Dacia: Volume 3
Dacia, late second century CE. Cleander uses his growing influence at court to send Rufinus away from Rome on a mission designed to be useful whether he succeeds or dies. In a province shaped by recent conquest, abandoned mines and unsettled communities conceal dangers that official…
4. Praetorian: Lions of Rome: 4
Rome, AD 188. Rufinus is believed dead after the events in Dacia, giving him a rare chance to act beyond the expectations of enemies and friends. In the capital, Cleander’s control over access to Commodus has deepened, and offices, favours and punishments increasingly serve the chamberlain’s…
5. Praetorian: The Cleansing Fire: 5
Rome, AD 190. Cleander has fallen, but his clients, debts and hidden arrangements remain embedded in the Guard and the city’s administration. Rufinus is ordered to uncover what survives of the chamberlain’s organisation while Commodus searches for new favourites and new explanations for Rome’s unrest. The…
6. Praetorian: Blades of Antioch: 6
The eastern empire, AD 194. Septimius Severus has secured Rome but must defeat Pescennius Niger, whose support in Syria and the eastern provinces makes him a credible rival. Rufinus joins the campaign as the struggle moves through the approaches to Antioch and towards the decisive Battle…
7. Praetorian: The Nemesis Blade
Rome and the northern frontier, after AD 197. Septimius Severus has defeated his rivals and campaigns in the east, leaving Rufinus as a tribune responsible for Praetorians in the capital. A disturbing letter from the north interrupts the appearance of peace and sends him towards the…
8. Praetorian: The Bandit King
The Roman frontier, early third century CE. Rufinus is drawn into a region where robbery, local resistance and the ambitions of provincial officials have merged into a challenge to imperial authority. Reports of a bandit leader prove more complicated than the court’s description of a common…