...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Space Romans
- 293 statements
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A sort of three-way cross between Fantasy Counterpart Culture, Inexplicable Cultural Ties, and Planet of Hats, a Space Roman society is a human or Human Alien culture that, in an amazing coincidence, resembles a culture from Earth's history. This trope does not exclusively describe only those based on Rome, but any implausibly Earth-like society. Space Romans provide a handy way for the beleaguered writer to populate the galaxy with a variety of different, believable alien societies, but disbelief can easily be stretched to its limit if the writer isn't careful, or doesn't consider how the culture in question would be altered by being transplanted to space. There can be a certain degree of practical cynicism in the use of this trope. In older film and TV portrayals, especially ones on tight budgets, these kinds of societies might crop up as a way to have something different and sort-of sci-fi that week, while at the same time recycling stock props and costumes from other shows. It also takes a lot less creative time effort to use off-the-peg "Romans in Space" than to build a convincing alien society and aesthetic from the ground up. This is usually less offensive than Space Jews, who are inspired by ethnic stereotypes instead. See also United Space of America. Compare with Days of Future Past, in which a society on or originating from Earth revives an older culture in whole or in part. Contrast with Culture Chop Suey, where elements of several cultures are blended together. Two common variants are the Space Amish, a society of technological dropouts, and the Space Cossacks, rebels and/or exiles from mainstream society. |
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| Space Romans / int_114e569f | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_114e569f | comment |
The Romulans as portrayed in the Rihannsu novels are modeled on the Roman Republic, although the names Romulus and Remus and the terms "senator" and "praetor," among others, are actually Federation-assigned terms that often aren't actually accurate translations (e.g. the Romulan word deihu, translated as "senator," is actually closer to "clan elder"). | |
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StarCraft: The Terrans are dead ringers for the Confederate States of America: Southern accents, Black laborers, powerful "Old Families", a strange mix of redneck and gentlemenly mannerisms, and even the title of "Confederacy". Oh, and they have the same flag. According to the manual, they are the descendants of humans exiled from Earth because they had the potential to develop psychic powers, which were the political scapegoat of choice at the time; and they apparently developed a bad case of Future Imperfect. Blizzard's office in Texas even composed a country western song to play in Starcraft II, which is on the playlist for the jukebox in the campaign. | |
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Rocketship Voyager is a Star Trek: Voyager fanfic written In the Style of a 1950's sci-fi magazine pulp, so the Kazon have been changed from Gangbangers IN SPACE! to the usual cribbing off Edward Gibbon's The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire. | |
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Destiny: The Cabal is a race of giant rhinoceros men with an empire spanning many planets, and their subtypes are named after Roman military units like Legionaries and Centurions, with other units like Phalanxes and Colossi being named after Greek terms. Their elite soldiers even feature enormous helmet or shoulder-mounted plumes, and their armies are organized in a system of legions. Destiny 2 shows more about their nature, revealing they are very much Space Romans, with a hedonistic Emperor who was betrayed by his own Praetorian Guard, now ruled by a military tribunal akin to the Legates, with imperial dominion over several other species, and now have Latin-sounding names to many of their ranks and titles, as well as warriors named Gladiators and even gladiator fighting arenas and Bread and Circuses style entertainments to keep the masses content and happy. | |
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The Honor Harrington universe is explicitly modeled on the conflicts between the British Empire and Revolutionary/Napoleonic France. The Andermani Empire was explicitly inspired by its founders to be Space Prussians, although most of the population is originally Chinese in origin. Grayson was founded by what were, essentially, descendants of American Southern Baptists (with some fundamentalist Mormonism thrown in) and much of their culture is still recognizably American. |
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Doctor Who Expanded Universe Past Doctor Adventures: Dreams of Empire has the Second Doctor encountering the Haddron Republic, which are essentially a giant, "What if Caesar had crossed the Rubicon unsuccessfully?" IN SPACE! | |
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Wonder Woman Vol 1: The Martian society Diana fights in the Golden Age is run by Mars and is based largely on ancient Roman society, with an extra helping of misogyny. | |
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Space Romans | |
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From The Foundation of S.F. Success, some poetic Conversational Troping by Isaac Asimov. | |
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My Life at War: The Dhuvalians have a very French feel to them in their names and mannerisms. It's worth noting that Duval is a common French surname. Additionally the Free Market feel a lot like the American south. | |
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Space Romans | |
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Superfriends is fond of this trope. Planets they visit include Camelon, the medieval planet; Zaghdad, the Arabian Knights planet; and Texacana, the cowboy planet. | |
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Homestuck: The trolls are largely space Spartans, practicing mandatory universal conscription, culling of weak citizens, and "trials" for children that leave only a relative handful of physically superior survivors each generation. However, being a large unified empire covering multiple territories, they also have a strong Roman influence. Another wrinkle is that these same trolls are the creators of our universe, so within the Homestuck narrative, our Spartans and Romans were actually inspired by the genetic memories of our precursors. | |
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Fallout: New Vegas: Caesar's Legion, despite not being in space, are very heavily influenced by Roman culture (specifically that of their military). They have repurposed old football equipment and painted it to resemble the ancient Lorica Segmentata armor, use Roman military rank structure (Legionary, Decanus, Centurion), and see all other cultures outside themselves as "Profligate". They also use grammatically correct and correctly pronounced Latin. Justified in that the Big Bad leading Caesar's Legion (who renamed himself Caesar) founded it using knowledge he had found in the post-nuclear apocalypse regarding the ancient Romans, considering it a society strong enough to survive in a Crapsack World. | |
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Space Romans | |
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In Civilization: Beyond Earth, taking on the Purity affinity results in your units gaining Roman-like designs; for example, your Humongous Mecha and Powered Armor look like legionaries. Their Tier 4 basic infantry is even called Centurion. | |
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Space Romans | |
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Jim Butcher's Codex Alera is Romans with Magic, right down to calling their own ancestors' works "Romanic". Subverted when you find out they are ACTUAL Romans, descended from a lost legion who crossed into Alera from Earth in an unknown fashion. | |
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Space Romans | |
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EVE Online: The Amarr Empire is a space-faring version of Renaissance-era Spain. Their Knight Templar attitudes and descent from a Catholic splinter sect both bring to mind the Inquisition, while their conquest and enslavement of other peoples in order to bring them "closer to God" isn't so much reminiscent of Spanish behavior in their American colonies so much as it is a largely accurate description. The Caldari State is an exaggerated, sci-fi version of 1980s Japan. They're high-tech, insular, and xenophobic, with a grindingly ruthless corporate culture and little room for individuality amongst their salaryman workforce. However, they're also one of the most meritocratic societies in the New Eden galaxy. The Gallente Federation are descended from French colonists, but they're otherwise pretty much the United Space of America, with a system of government overtly based on that of the US. Going by their hedonistic pop culture, there's also a dash of Freestate Amsterdam in space! as part of that mix. The Minmatar Republic is a pastiche of the post-colonial Third World, having defeated the Amarr in a bloody war of liberation but still struggling to pull together a modern state, with many of their best and brightest leaving to find better prospects across the stars. The fact that the Amarr are the Space Spaniards, that the favored destination of those best and brightest tends to be the United Space of America, and their problems with organized crime and drug cartels all bring to mind Latin America, especially Mexico. The CONCORD Assembly is the Space United Nations, albeit a fair bit more powerful (they maintain the Space Police) and competent. The Blood Raiders, descended from an ancient and suppressed Amarrian cult, are Space Satanists of both the '80s "Satanic Panic" variety and the pseudo-Nietzschean philosophy popularized by Anton LaVey. They commit ritual sacrifice by draining people's blood, they used to kidnap children for such out of a belief that their blood is purer than that of adults (though they've since moved on to clones, whose blood is supposedly even purer), they have "breeding" camps to ensure a steady supply of blood and sacrifices, and their beliefs trend towards Social Darwinism and visceral contempt for the Amarrian state religion. The Thukkers are Space Romani. They are a Minmatar tribe that, unlike the others, remained nomadic rather than settling down on planets, and they refusal to integrate and abandon their way of life has led to discrimination against them from the other tribes, who associate them with criminality. Those Thukkers who settle on planets often experience an identity crisis, feeling alienated from both their fellow planetside Minmatar and from the "Great Caravans" who they feel no longer represent their interests. The Jovians are Space Elves. They're an extremely advanced race whose genetic modifications mean that they're no longer quite human, and they live in isolation from the rest of the galaxy (there are no jump gates connecting to Jove space), with only limited contact. The Enheduanni are Space Illuminati, a mysterious group that, according to the lore, have been manipulating events across the galaxy for generations. Their technology is far in advance of even the Jovians, such that one Jovian believes that they cannot be called human anymore, and their end goal is apparently to take over the galaxy and be worshiped as gods. Their name also evokes the Anunnaki, the ancient pagan deities of the Fertile Crescent, who some conspiracy theorists believe to actually be Ancient Astronauts who are still manipulating events on Earth. As far as player-based alliances go, the Red Alliance are literal Space Russians, formed by Russian-speaking players to have an alliance they could call their own. They even had their own Great Patriotic War when they got pushed back to their last star system in a battle reminiscent of the Siege of Leningrad, only to fight back and triumph. |
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Space Romans | |
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Many of the factions in Twilight Imperium have this sort of flavour. To begin with, the Lazax themselves are Space Rome, being a former great empire of many cultures, forcing Pax Lazax through its own military might, brought down by its own decadence. The Winnu are Space Byzantine, seeing themselves as the successor of Space Rome. The Letnev are Space Germans, with parts taken from both World War I (the aristocracy) and World War II (the fascism). The Hacan are Space Bedouin, nomadic desert spice merchants. The Mentak are Space Australians, with their home planet originally being used as a Penal Colony. The Saar are Space Romani, an oppressed people with no fixed home. |
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Space Romans | |
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Tour of the Merrimack explicitly has Space Romans who were descended from the original ones. They survived as a secret society in America before breaking off to form their own colony. | |
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Space Romans | |
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Such cultures appear over and over again in Stargate SG-1. Most of them were transported by the Goa'uld from Earth, making them descendants of the actual peoples they resemble. | |
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Space Romans | |
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The Protheans are also very similar to the Roman empire, as revealed in Mass Effect 3, being an expansionist and culturally domineering empire viewed as advanced Precursors by those who came after them. However, they also strongly resembled the Aztec. | |
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Space Romans | |
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Mass Effect: Turians are Space Romans for a variety of reasons: They possess the most powerful navy in the (known) galaxy. They even have their units organized into legions, with records of their deeds for each one. In fact, some records go back to the Turian iron age! Their names are often Latin-based, such as Septimus and Adrien. The name of the race itself is an obvious reference to (Cen)turians. Strict tiers of citizenship and mandatory military service. The third is formal citizenship attained after leaving boot camp. Which starts at the equivalent of the child's 15th birthday. This all mirrors similar customs of ancient Rome. Client races (like the volus) as compared to the Romans' client kingdoms (they have independently ruled kingdoms, but are dependent on the central government for international affairs and must pay tribute to Rome/Palaven). They jump at any perceived issue as a reason for war (the First Contact War for the turians, pretty much every war ever for the Romans but particularly things like the Second Punic War, started after the Romans perceived the Carthaginians' expansion into Spain as a threat). The Protheans are also very similar to the Roman empire, as revealed in Mass Effect 3, being an expansionist and culturally domineering empire viewed as advanced Precursors by those who came after them. However, they also strongly resembled the Aztec. The Asari are heavily based on the Ancient Greeks: city-states, a pantheon of varied gods, advanced technology compared to other civilizations, democratic governance rather than a republic, a Crystal Spires and Togas aesthetic and a (mostly) undeserved reputation for promiscuity. The Batarians are space North Koreans. The Batarian Hegemony is a hermit kingdom with a Stalinist political system whose leaders hate the (very Western) human Alliance but lack the military muscle to beat them, so they bankroll criminals and terrorists to strike at them. They also have a highly authoritarian government which tightly controls what the Batarian public do and do not hear from their media. The Quarians are blatantly both Space Israel and Space Romani. They're exiled from their beloved homeworld and wander the Galaxy in caravans working as tinkerers. They have an unfair reputation as thieves and cheats, and a more accurate one as reclusive almost to the point of xenophobia. They're embroiled in a conflict with those occupying their planet, but rather than Palestinians, these are robots created by the Quarians themselves as a direct reference to the Golem. Oh, and for bonus points that world, Rannoch, translates to "Walled Garden", also the meaning of "Paradise", as in the Garden of Eden. |
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Space Romans | |
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The Third Imperium in Traveller is a lot like The British Empire Recycled In Space especially in the noble classes. However in some aspects of culture it also resembles a United Space of America. Justifiable by assuming that much of it was a deliberate Shout-Out to tradition. | |
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Space Romans | |
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Star Trek The Romulans. The two habitable planets in their solar system are called Romulus and Remus. Their raptor emblem is reminiscent of Ancient Rome's aquila note which is Latin for "eagle". They have a Senate and they're ruled by a Praetor, with the Proconsul and the Vice-Proconsul just below that, and the other members are Senators. Centurion is a rank in their military. In TOS, their soldiers wore bronze-ish helmets. Explained in some sources as being the result of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens having formed the basis for the Greco-Roman pantheon and culture, and those same aliens doing the exact same thing with the Vulcans. When the ancestors of the Romulans left Vulcan they used what those aliens provided as the basis for their new society, and the Romulans just incorporated it better with superior technology than humans. Star Trek: The Original Series even has actual Roman space Romans, complete with slaves and gladiators, as well as 1920s Chicago Gangsters, Nazis, Native Americans in "The Paradise Syndrome", the Yangs (Yanks) and Kohms (Commies) of "The Omega Glory", and even an exact duplicate of Earth in "Miri". The space Romans from "Bread and Circuses" also have "son-worshipers" as counterparts to the persecuted Christians. The Yangs even have their own Constitution with the exact same wording and an old flag identical to the 50-starred US flag. The 1920s Chicago Gangsters in "A Piece of the Action" avert the amazing coincidence part of this trope: the entire reason why the Enterprise is there is to attempt to fix the cultural contamination that happened the last time the Federation sent a ship to the planet. As it turns out, that cultural contamination consisted of leaving a book about the mobs of Chicago in the 1920s in the hands of a highly imitative culture... The Nazis from "Patterns of Force", similarly, were a direct consequence of someone's meddling (a mad historian deciding to use the Nazi model to uplift a primitive civilization), rather than the species just happening to develop Nazis on their own. Interestingly, the Space Greeks in "Plato's Stepchildren" are actually imitating Earth's Greeks. They had visited Earth during that period and liked the culture. Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Mintakans from "Who Watches the Watchers" are an odd variant; they are a society of Vulcan Aliens that in an amazing coincidence resembles a Vulcan culture that did not exist at their level of technological development — that is, rather than Space Romans, they are Stone (Age) Surakists. |
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Space Romans | |
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The Mentak are Space Australians, with their home planet originally being used as a Penal Colony. | |
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Space Romans | |
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The various antagonist factions and nations in the Universal Century Gundam works tend to have very Germanic and Axis-inspired aesthetics. Zeon in the original Gundam series is the ones that play it straight the most, with its mobile suits, soldiers, uniforms, and philosophy are modeled on Nazi Germany. Zanscare in Victory Gundam on the other hand had 18th-century French aesthetics, down to the court wigs and guillotines. |
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Space Romans | |
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BattleTech: For literal "Space Romans", there's the Marian Hegemony which deliberately styles itself after ancient Rome to the point of structuring their armies in their own idiosyncratic way rather than following the more standard pattern used elsewhere in most of the Inner Sphere and Periphery and being ruled by a Caesar. They are the only faction in the Periphery to practice slavery. And of course the Draconis Combine is basically the theme park version of Imperial Japan at its most warlike in space. Justified in this case by the personal obsession of its founder (of actual Japanese descent) who just so happened to be able to make it stick while going around conquering planets that would one day belong to his descendants' realm. Other Inner Sphere nations also show distinct Earth-national cultural influences, but the Combine readily stands out as the most blatant example. |
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Space Romans | |
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The Mako Saga: Auran culture is effectively identical to modern America right down to people's names, which makes for some Aerith and Bob moments for the notably non-Earthlike names of planets. They also apparently had literal Space Romans at some point, considering the main ship in the series is named AS Praetorian. This, along with the fact the Aurans and offshoot Alystierians are biologically human plus or minus a couple fractions of a percent genetically, is given a parallel evolution handwave. | |
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1.0 | |
| The Mako Saga | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_91577124 | |
| Space Romans / int_919afeb2 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_919afeb2 | comment |
The Trigan Empire rose and fell on a distant planet, but had a Roman-style imperial system of government coupled with vaguely steampunk-level to modern technology (plus some Mad Science). | |
| Space Romans / int_919afeb2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Space Romans / int_919afeb2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Trigan Empire (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_919afeb2 | |
| Space Romans / int_9a2fd42e | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_9a2fd42e | comment |
According to Sonic the Hedgehog in Robotnik's Laboratory the planet Mobius has Romans, who unlike Earth Romans are afraid of Lions. They apparently build the ruins we see in Aquatic Ruin Zone. | |
| Space Romans / int_9a2fd42e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Space Romans / int_9a2fd42e | featureConfidence |
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| Sonic the Hedgehog in Robotnik's Laboratory | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_9a2fd42e | |
| Space Romans / int_9a7088bc | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_9a7088bc | comment |
Star Trek: The Original Series even has actual Roman space Romans, complete with slaves and gladiators, as well as 1920s Chicago Gangsters, Nazis, Native Americans in "The Paradise Syndrome", the Yangs (Yanks) and Kohms (Commies) of "The Omega Glory", and even an exact duplicate of Earth in "Miri". The space Romans from "Bread and Circuses" also have "son-worshipers" as counterparts to the persecuted Christians. The Yangs even have their own Constitution with the exact same wording and an old flag identical to the 50-starred US flag. The 1920s Chicago Gangsters in "A Piece of the Action" avert the amazing coincidence part of this trope: the entire reason why the Enterprise is there is to attempt to fix the cultural contamination that happened the last time the Federation sent a ship to the planet. As it turns out, that cultural contamination consisted of leaving a book about the mobs of Chicago in the 1920s in the hands of a highly imitative culture... The Nazis from "Patterns of Force", similarly, were a direct consequence of someone's meddling (a mad historian deciding to use the Nazi model to uplift a primitive civilization), rather than the species just happening to develop Nazis on their own. Interestingly, the Space Greeks in "Plato's Stepchildren" are actually imitating Earth's Greeks. They had visited Earth during that period and liked the culture. |
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Space Romans / int_9a7088bc | |
| Space Romans / int_9a7a61a | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_9a7a61a | comment |
Sonic the Comic features "Planet Romanus". | |
| Space Romans / int_9a7a61a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Space Romans / int_9a7a61a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Sonic the Comic (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_9a7a61a | |
| Space Romans / int_9e19f528 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_9e19f528 | comment |
Star Trek: Phoenix: An alien world visited during the second season is an almost literal example — the local species' culture is heavily reminiscent of the Roman Empire in architecture, clothing and warlike outlook, while using mostly Grecian artistic styles. | |
| Space Romans / int_9e19f528 | featureApplicability |
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Space Romans / int_9e19f528 | |
| Space Romans / int_a183d57f | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_a183d57f | comment |
Futurama: "A Pharaoh to Remember" features this as an inversion of Ancient Astronauts; an alien culture was an exact copy of Ancient Egypt, because they learned about pyramid construction and space travel from the Ancient Egyptians. Bender ends up becoming their Pharaoh (see the page image above). In a minor example, a planet called "Space Rome" is mentioned as one of the planets that fell victim to an Alien Invasion by the Brain Spawn. |
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| Space Romans / int_a183d57f | featureApplicability |
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| Space Romans / int_a183d57f | featureConfidence |
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| Futurama | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_a183d57f | |
| Space Romans / int_a4d1f742 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_a4d1f742 | comment |
Planetside: The New Conglomerate is very American, the Terran Republic is similar to the Soviet Union (the first game mixed this with Putting on the Reich, the second dropped this) and the Vanu Sovereignty has developed a futuristic feudal Japan flavour. | |
| Space Romans / int_a4d1f742 | featureApplicability |
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| Space Romans / int_a4d1f742 | featureConfidence |
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Space Romans / int_a4d1f742 | |
| Space Romans / int_a52def46 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_a52def46 | comment |
Kerbal Space Program: The Kerbals are goofy Little Green Men who are kind of space Americans, right down to the naming conventions: Jeb, Bob, Bill, Melzer, Bardrin, Billy-Bobfred... They're smart enough to build rockets but not smart enough to use them safely or effectively. | |
| Space Romans / int_a52def46 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Space Romans / int_a52def46 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Kerbal Space Program (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_a52def46 | |
| Space Romans / int_a5a0dd85 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_a5a0dd85 | comment |
Taoist Space Communists? The Tau. Who are also much like Brave New World with the themes of caste system, atheism and enlightenment. | |
| Space Romans / int_a5a0dd85 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Space Romans / int_a5a0dd85 | featureConfidence |
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Space Romans / int_a5a0dd85 | |
| Space Romans / int_a68aab11 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_a68aab11 | comment |
And before Daimos, there was Raideen, which was also directed by Tadao Nagahama. Raideen's Fantastical Empire is the lost continent of Mu, which was destroyed by a tsunami after being conquered by Barao. Mu itself is basically Atlantis powered by Schizo Tech, and the denizens dress in traditional Roman attirenote Though some Mu appear to dress in Indian and Greek styles. However, Princess Lemuria's backstory of being cast in a boat by her father for her own safety and using her great power to part the sea to save Raideen has parallels to something else... |
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| Space Romans / int_a68aab11 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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| Daimos | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_a68aab11 | |
| Space Romans / int_aaa12219 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_aaa12219 | comment |
Terra: The author admits to drawing a lot of inspiration for the Azatoth from ancient Rome. The names are Roman-derived, they practice slavery, the government structure is Romanesque, and so on. | |
| Space Romans / int_aaa12219 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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Space Romans / int_aaa12219 | |
| Space Romans / int_b683f90f | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_b683f90f | comment |
Arkonides of Perry Rhodan' is a mixture of predominately Roman and British imperialism, making them sort of albino Centauri. | |
| Space Romans / int_b683f90f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Space Romans / int_b683f90f | featureConfidence |
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| Perry Rhodan | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_b683f90f | |
| Space Romans / int_bcadd7cb | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_bcadd7cb | comment |
The Imperium of Man from Warhammer 40,000 is the unholy fruit of a foursome between ancient Rome, 19th century Prussia, Nazi Germany, the Crusader states, and the Inquisition-era Catholic Church, complete with Byzantine double headed Eagles, the Iron Cross, the Inquisition, Enormous Cathedrals, the God-Emperor, and Latin. Within the Imperium itself, various Space Marine homeworlds seem to each have their own Earth counterpart: The Space Wolves are Norse, the Ultramarines are literal Space Romans (including centurion brushes on their helmets), the White Scars are Mongols, the Black Templars are Teutonic Knights. Thousand Sons had an Egyptian theme going on, the Word Bearers are Babylonian, and Emperor's Children had something resembling French and Italian high culture before they were corrupted by Chaos. Zig-zagged by the Iron Warriors, whose distinctly Greek homeworld was irrelevant to the Iron Warriors' hat (World War 1-type trench warfare/siege specialists). More obvious in the Imperial Guard: The Valhallans, Praetorians, Catachans, Death Korps of Krieg, Attilans, Armageddon and others all descendants or counterparts of Earth culture. Given how a good number of Imperial worlds were originally settled by either the successors of modern Earth cultures or cultural revivalists, this is justified. Taoist Space Communists? The Tau. Who are also much like Brave New World with the themes of caste system, atheism and enlightenment. The Eldar are at times Japanese Space Greeks, but show elements of being Space Tuatha Dé Danann. More minorly, the Orks are a species of green British football hooligans, replacing enthusiasm for football as the reason for collectively sowing chaos with just loving violence. The Necrons began as the Tomb Kings IN SPACE!, which in turn are the Theme Park Version of Ancient Egypt if it was The Necrocracy. The Slann, the predecessor to the Old Ones in the early editions of the game, were basically the Byzantines, a species formerly ruling a large empire that shaped the galaxy, now reduced to a few holdouts. |
|
| Space Romans / int_bcadd7cb | featureApplicability |
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| Space Romans / int_bcadd7cb | featureConfidence |
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Space Romans / int_bcadd7cb | |
| Space Romans / int_c43df4d8 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_c43df4d8 | comment |
Doctor Who: In "The End of the World", the Doctor mentions that a "New Roman Empire" exists on Earth in the year 12,005. Given all the countless stories showing humans in space in the future, this New Roman Empire is almost certainly a space-faring civilization. | |
| Space Romans / int_c43df4d8 | featureApplicability |
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| Doctor Who | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_c43df4d8 | |
| Space Romans / int_c9b8f0f8 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_c9b8f0f8 | comment |
Take a wild guess at what the British Space Empire resembles in Space Captain Smith. | |
| Space Romans / int_c9b8f0f8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Space Romans / int_c9b8f0f8 | featureConfidence |
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| Space Captain Smith | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_c9b8f0f8 | |
| Space Romans / int_cbad9b62 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_cbad9b62 | comment |
The Galactic Empire in Legend of the Galactic Heroes is very German (more specifically, Prussian) in its style and influences. Some fans meanwhile call the Free Planets Alliance "Space Americans." | |
| Space Romans / int_cbad9b62 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Space Romans / int_cbad9b62 | featureConfidence |
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| Legend of the Galactic Heroes | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_cbad9b62 | |
| Space Romans / int_d461a59f | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_d461a59f | comment |
Battlestar Galactica (1978): Glen Larson drew heavily on his own Mormon upbringing for the depiction of its Space Opera setting. The protagonists are The Remnant of humanity, the scattered and exiled former inhabitants of twelve colonies searching for the mythical "lost thirteenth colony" of humanity that they believe settled on Earth, a blatant nod to The Book of Mormon's central conceit that the Lost Tribes of the Israelites crossed the Atlantic and settled in the Americas. | |
| Space Romans / int_d461a59f | featureApplicability |
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| Space Romans / int_d461a59f | featureConfidence |
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| Battlestar Galactica (1978) | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_d461a59f | |
| Space Romans / int_d461f757 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_d461f757 | comment |
Battlestar Galactica (2003) is incredibly guilty of this, with a very Earth-like civilization (that bounces between the 1930s and the mid 21st century technology- and culture-wise) that uses the Latin script and is based on Greco-Roman mythology, yet for some obscure reason takes place 150,000 years ago. After the remainder of the human race resettles on our Earth, they voluntarily leave all technology behind in the process. Alien Space Bats are responsible for humanity not only recreating colonial culture 150,000 years later, but also (for the Mediterranean offshoot) reinventing their script and belief system for no good reason whatsoever. | |
| Space Romans / int_d461f757 | featureApplicability |
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| Space Romans / int_d461f757 | featureConfidence |
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| Battlestar Galactica (2003) | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_d461f757 | |
| Space Romans / int_d77f28f7 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_d77f28f7 | comment |
The Radch in Ancillary Justice behave a lot like Space Romans: they are a vast empire that's expanded by conquering systems, offering the locals Radch citizenship (neatly assimilating later generations), leaving around a local Radchaai governor and army, and folding local pantheons into the Radchaai one. They even have a client/patron system modeled on the Roman one. | |
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Space Romans / int_d77f28f7 | |
| Space Romans / int_dca082c3 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_dca082c3 | comment |
Star Citizen: The United Empire of Earth is a quite literal example of the Roman Empire IN SPACE! They are ruled by an Emperor and a senate, and even come complete with a Rome* Earth, a Constantinople* Terra, the Vandals* the Vanduul, and an overextended empire. | |
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Space Romans / int_dca082c3 | |
| Space Romans / int_dd18fa29 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_dd18fa29 | comment |
Chung Kuo features a future where humanity has been taken over and remade into one resembling Imperial China. | |
| Space Romans / int_dd18fa29 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Space Romans / int_dd18fa29 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Chung Kuo | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_dd18fa29 | |
| Space Romans / int_f74b5f80 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_f74b5f80 | comment |
The Centauri in Babylon 5 have their own Senate rule by the nobility: The Centaurum, an Emperor and a vast (albeit for the time the series happens already decaying) Empire, have slavery, a rigid class system and a specialized army, among other many parallels with Rome. One of their Emperors, Cartagia, is an expy of Caligula. | |
| Space Romans / int_f74b5f80 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Space Romans / int_f74b5f80 | featureConfidence |
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| Babylon 5 | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_f74b5f80 | |
| Space Romans / int_f7558a18 | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_f7558a18 | comment |
Men in Black: The Series: One episode features literal Space Romans; the Imperians are an exact cultural copy of Ancient Grome, including having Gladiator Games. The similarity with Romans is never explained, even though the planet is said to be located in another galaxy. Another example are the Hyperians, who are Space Egyptians although much more brutal and animalistic. One of the Hyperians actually visited Ancient Egypt millennia ago, and was somehow buried as a mummy in a sarcophagus alive, sleeping until awakening in modern times. |
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| Space Romans / int_f7558a18 | featureConfidence |
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| Men in Black: The Series | hasFeature |
Space Romans / int_f7558a18 | |
| Space Romans / int_fb0c0a3b | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_fb0c0a3b | comment |
Voltes V: The Boazanian Empire is essentially 17th century Space France. The Empire consists of two classes, the Bourgieois-, er, the Horned Boazanians, who form the ruling class and live luxuriously, and the Proletari-, er, the Hornless Boazanians, who are forced to live as labourers and endure subhuman conditions. In the series finale, the slaves revolt and overpower the nobles. The nobles also dress like French aristocrats, complete with poofy wigs and frilly dresses. They also enjoy drinking a Suspiciously Similar Substitute to wine. Emperor Zambajil aims to use Boazanian slave labour to manufacture weapons to capture more colonies, a nod to France's colonial history in Africa and Asia. Prince Heinel, the true heir to the throne, has some similarites with Napoléon Bonaparte, namely their attitudes towards their fathers, how they lead wars, their swords and their prowess in military. In addition, those who are familiar with French language may recognize that the Boazanian Empire's name is derived from the French word voisin, which means "neighbour". This is the Boazanian flag. This is the flag of Arms of the French Empire (1804-1815). Notice anything similar? |
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Space Romans / int_fb0c0a3b | |
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Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_fd6407b | comment |
The Wolrog Empire in Strontium Dog is modeled on pre-World War II Japan. The entire thing is ruled by a single Emperor who the rest of the people obey immediately and without question. Captives are regularly press-ganged into becoming soldiers and slaves to fuel the war effort. They also readily utilise kamikaze tactics; to participate in one of these is seen as the greatest honour that can be obtained. | |
| Space Romans / int_fd6407b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Space Romans / int_fd6407b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
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Space Romans / int_fd6407b | |
| Space Romans / int_ff9ab17f | type |
Space Romans | |
| Space Romans / int_ff9ab17f | comment |
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Mintakans from "Who Watches the Watchers" are an odd variant; they are a society of Vulcan Aliens that in an amazing coincidence resembles a Vulcan culture that did not exist at their level of technological development — that is, rather than Space Romans, they are Stone (Age) Surakists. | |
| Space Romans / int_ff9ab17f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Space Romans / int_ff9ab17f | featureConfidence |
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Space Romans / int_ff9ab17f |
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