![]() This is justified of course since well they are aliens but were originally bio-engineered humans created by humans and used for space travel making them some of the Blue-and-Orange Morality disposition. If anything they come off as subtly alien in something akin to the Uncanny Valley but entirely through the mannerisms which appears deliberate and rather well thought out.They kind of resemble the French, but not quite: pre-Revolutionary France wasn't all that good at warfare and oppressed its peasantry, while Revolutionary France was revolutionary (the Abh are not known for their guillotines), and Napoleon was hardly feudal. The Abh Empire in Crest of the Stars are an aversion: a Tall, Dark, and Snarky Feudal Future fond of Luxury Tropes and good living in general, but enthusiastic conquerors, largely indifferent to their conquered peoples, and well able to knock you into next week.Subverted when you find out they are ACTUAL Romans, descended from a lost legion who crossed into Alera from Earth in an unknown fashion. Jim Butcher's Codex Alera is Romans with Magic, right down to calling their own ancestors' works "Romanic".Chung Kuo features a future where humanity has been taken over and remade into one resembling Imperial China.They even have a client/patron system modeled on the Roman one. 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.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.They also readily utilise kamikaze tactics to participate in one of these is seen as the greatest honour that can be obtained. ![]() Captives are regularly press-ganged into becoming soldiers and slaves to fuel the war effort. The entire thing is ruled by a single Emperor who the rest of the people obey immediately and without question. ![]() The Wolrog Empire in Strontium Dog is modeled on pre- World War II Japan.The Shi'ar empire of X-Men fame has more similarities to the Romans, with the leader of the Imperial Guard being called Praetor, senators in the political system, Latin-like words like Majestor/Majestrix and the tendency to have extravagant, bloodthirsty rulers like D'Ken and Vulcan.Meanwhile over at Marvel Comics the Kree warriors from whom Captain Marvel descended quite literally look like Space Romans due to their Roman style helmets.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).Sonic the Comic features "Planet Romanus".While they have and use advanced technology, they are very isolationist to the point of xenophobia and have strong cultural taboos against certain technologies, such as anything related to space travel. They now exhibit some attributes of being Space Amish. When the Kryptonian's intergalactic empire collapsed, the Daxamites became independent. They were colonized by the mostly European-looking Kryptonians, with whom they subsequently interbred and established a distinct culture, including things such as buildings resembling step pyramids. The Human Alien natives of the planet Daxam had a distinctly Mesoamerican racial appearance and culture. In DC Comics the Daxamites have been established as being "Space Mexicans".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. 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. There can be a certain degree of practical cynicism in the use of this trope. 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. This trope does not exclusively describe only those based on Rome, but any implausibly Earth-like society. 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.
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