Embers of Empire

(Some commentary at the end) [Verse] In a world, Split apart. The emperor is plotting, To make a fresh start. [Choir] (Mend the broken heart) [Verse] The world is broken, It's troubles accrue. Perhaps one last ditch effort, Can make it beat anew. [Choir] (Where is this headed to?) [Verse] Other enemies are present already And they will not relent One has to move slow and steady Otherwise repent [Choir] (The enemies won't relent) [Bridge] It could be glorious, but oh it's a mistake Carefully consider the steps you make [Instrumental] [Chorus] But why should our fate be thus?!! This we cannot abiiiide!! It is not right for us, We can still deciiide. Provinces lost to the night, But we carry the flame, In the end we will make things right We have things to reclaim. [Choir] (Many brave heros have thought the same) [Instrumental bridge] [Bridge] Too much to manage. There's been so much damage. [Bridge] Oh much damage. So savage. [Instrumental] [Bridge] Overextended! War never ended. [Verse] Our forces diverted. Our rivals asserted. Fortunes have turned. Bridges have burned . [Choir] Some lessons must be learned. [Instrumental] [Chorus] But why should our fate be thus?!! This we cannot abiiide!!! This fate is not for us, We can still deciiide!!! Provinces lost to the night, But we carry the flame, In the end we will make things right We have things to reclaim. [Choir outro] Many dead leaders have thought the same. [Instrumental outro] [Commentary, not lyrics] Ok, so the reason why I particularly like this song is that it has some historical inspiration, plus I think it walks between genres in a very nice way. The inspiration lies in Byzantine history when Justinian invaded Italy in an attempt to reunify the eastern and western half of the roman empire. For fans of Rome it was an admirable attempt, but in the end it was a disaster, and the roman empire was left weaker than ever before. Many other disasters occurred simultaneously that Justinian could not have foreseen, however it is was a poor decision from the start as he was already fighting a war with the Persians at the time and entered a rushed peace treaty with them. The Persians broke the peace treaty as soon as they saw the Romans were bogged down in Italy. While drained byzantine resources it was also a disaster for Italy, and this event is really what ushered in the middle ages there. Sidenote: Before this event Italy had been controlled by goths who would pay lip service to the byzantines but were in reality independent. The goths were a minority of the population in Italy however and acted as a kind of military caste. Roman administration in Italy had stayed mostly unchanged under gothic rule, and roman civilization was still much the same, except that Italy could no longer draw resources from its colonies. After the gothic war however most infrastructure and wealth was destroyed. So that's the actual inspiration. The song is more generally about the fall of empire though, and listening to it afterwards I can see that it even fits with certain current events. Not sure if that many people will enjoy it for all these aspects much as I do, but there it is. While the Byzantine empire did not fall for a long time after these events, this is a turning point where they are almost always reacting to their events. Justinian's reign is very much a mixed bag, Rome reformed their law system, they built wonders (Hagia Sofia), and their borders expanded, but at the same time all their resources were utterly exhausted and they ended up having to fight on many fronts. What had been a peaceful border no longer was, and the whole thing drained more resources than it contributed in terms of tax revenue. The rest of Byzantine history is one of fighting too many enemies simultaneously, constantly having to make compromises to weaker enemies in order to settle scores elsewhere. While there are other later causes for this, a lot of it is traced back to Justinian. So how is the song about this? Well it is kind of about how about how a once great empire is unable to accept its now much weaker position. The emperor and population all stand defiant and tries to regain what was lost, but in the process they end up making things worse in the long run.