Dark Ages AD 634 – The Age of Heraclius and the Byzantine-Arab Wars

The year is AD 634.

The Roman Empire has endured for over a thousand years. Though the Western Empire fell to the barbarian kingdoms generations ago, the legacy of Rome lives on in Constantinople. The Eastern Roman Empire—known today as Byzantium—stands as the guardian of Roman civilization, preserving its laws, culture, and military traditions against a world descending into the Dark Ages.

Only a generation earlier, the great Emperor Justinian I launched his ambitious Renovatio Imperii—the restoration of the Roman Empire. His victorious armies shattered the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa, destroyed the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy, and reclaimed parts of Hispania, briefly restoring Roman rule across much of the Mediterranean.

Yet Justinian’s achievements came at a terrible cost.

His successors inherited exhausted treasuries, weakened frontiers, and relentless enemies. When the usurper Phocas seized the imperial throne, the empire descended into chaos. In AD 610, the Exarch of Africa, Heraclius, sailed to Constantinople, overthrew the tyrant, and claimed the imperial crown.

Heraclius soon faced the greatest war in Roman history. The mighty Sassanian Persian Empire swept through Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Anatolia, capturing Jerusalem itself and carrying away the True Cross. Refusing defeat, Heraclius rebuilt the Roman armies and launched a series of daring campaigns deep into Persian territory. After years of total war, the Emperor achieved a stunning victory, forcing Persia to surrender its conquests and restoring the Empire’s eastern provinces.

But peace would prove fleeting.

In the north, the Avar Khaganate continues to threaten the Danube frontier, while Slavic tribes pour into the Balkans. To the south, a new power has emerged from the deserts of Arabia. United under a new faith, the Arab armies have begun their invasion of the Roman and Persian worlds, ushering in one of history’s most transformative conflicts.

The fate of empires now hangs in the balance.

Features:

– Historically accurate campaign beginning in AD 634

– Campaign map extensively redesigned to reflect the political and territorial situation of the seventh century

– Exclusive use of Age of Charlemagne expansion units for greater historical authenticity

– Historically authentic factions, characters, and settlements

– New faction traits tailored to each playable kingdom and empire

– Curtailed climate change script for a more stable long-term campaign

– Hun re-spawn script disabled

– Numerous historical improvements and balance changes to create an immersive early medieval experience

Whether you choose to defend the Roman Empire under Heraclius, lead the rising Arab Caliphate, command the warbands of the Avars, or forge the destiny of Europe’s emerging kingdoms, Dark Ages: AD 634 – The Byzantine-Arab Wars delivers a campaign grounded in meticulous historical research and designed to recreate one of the most pivotal eras in world history.

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