That much "disposable" labour could offer two large investments, if the empire was not being governed by facists. First, a massive roads and ports upgrading and expanding, with second, new settlements on those new networks. With the highlands becoming wilder, it would make sense to building new roads into them and organize it. The cost would be monumental, but with the mini ice age, now is the time to find and develop new lands not needed to be considered before. The higher elevations would experience the seasonal melt earlier, and could be what puts the potato on the Roman plate. And stop messing around and finally invent blue potato gnocchi.
Heraklios needs to wake the hell up. I know not every Sideros is going to be like the first three, it just sucks he is right after them. Like he could have been just a caretaker Sideros and that wouldn't have been tough, even with the mini ice age. I hope at least some cultural blossoming will happen like modern theatre and orchestras. He is indulgent if not indolent. Chariot racing too, imagine the bitter irony of the masses watching better fed horses running around while chewing their free loaf.
A solid public works program would be a good idea to build more and better infrastructure and provide employment. I feel though it would be like the National Workshops in France in 1848. It starts for a bit, soon gets lots of opposition from the "better" parts of society because of the expense, and then get shut down, with the option of massive public backlash and military suppression.
And yeah, Herakleios is a tool. Not at all like his younger brother Demetrios or cousin/wife Sophia, as will be shown. The latter two got the competence allotted to his generation of Sideroi.
It's a recipe for a French Revolution...and Leo Kalomares will be the Napoleon who "cleans up" the mess after.
Funnily enough, the idea of having Leo Kalomeros far predated the idea of having...whatever you call this.
The Romans are doing the Enclosure Acts just as the Kingdom of England did IOTL. And just as in England, it's spawning masses of human misery in the name of agricultural efficiency.
The Army of Suffering must be a peasant revolt that grows into a national crisis of sorts.
It was quite eye-opening for me to be reading about the 1600s and 1700s and seeing how much enclosure was deeply resented and a major source of agitation. While claims of agricultural efficiency are accurate (if made in good faith), it is interesting how often this bit of history is left out of "narratives of progress".
Are the Tourmarches looking to expand the size of the Roman army too? IIRC the Romans are the only ones with an entirely standing army, so an expansion will strain the finances.
Are they generate additional revenue too?
At some point. Right now they're focusing on building up the material basis to support said larger army. Bigger farms and workshops with economies of scale can produce more food and equipment, which is why they're removing just economics legislation to make it easier for those to form and grow.
almost to 500! also, I maybe this already has been resolved but is the avignon/maniz schism still ongoing at 1650? if so i've been wondering about the chances of unification even if its at first only de jure, in order to present a united front against the romans to the south and the bohmist triunes to the northwest.
It's not. It very recently got resolved during the middle of the war in Germany, and for the exact reasons you pointed out.
Third Thread: The next update proper will start a Thread III. I'll post a link here to the new thread once it exists.
Roman Monarchy: The Roman monarchy will survive to the present day ITTL, and it will have some degree of actual power, although the exact level is up in the air. It won't be like present-day ceremonial European monarchs. That said, I don't think the 'absolute autocrat' model is a good model, as the current storyline in the TL is illustrating. It's a system with a single point of failure, the nature of the autocrat. I prefer something with a few more fail-safes. Ideally, my rough plans for future Roman government will make sense ITTL and fit organically into the story but would confuse people IOTL a lot if the modern TTL Roman Empire ISOTed into our world. It won't fit neatly into our poli-sci categories. I haven't given much thought to how other countries' modern governments would look, but China and the Ottomans both seem like good choices for this 'monarchy still has some executive power but isn't either a glorified potted plant or an absolute autocrat'. And considering that this is a spectrum, the monarchs could be at different points in this spectrum.