Surrounded by mostly weaker nations sharing a religion and culture group, with few real threats nearby and a large amount of flavour to guide its conquests, Rome has potential far exceeding its starting size and is considered a good beginner nation. As a highly militarized state with an almost unparalleled ability in the ancient world to mobilize its population and organize defeated foes such as Marsia and Frentania into subject allies ready to fight at their side, the Romans have eclipsed their traditional rivals of Etruria and Samnium to become the most powerful nation in the region, poised to unite the cities and tribes of Italy under its rule and emerge as a new challenger to the established order of the Mediterranean world. Rome is a local power in Italia, once one of the many Latin city states that has expanded to subjugate several neighbouring tribes and control various outlying areas outside its home region in the wake of its victory in the Second Samnite War.
