I can't believe how many players we've already had I've had some really cool DMs and questions about the story across platforms so I might leave some of the answers here.
This section is a Centurions story but a lot of the rest of it is just real Roman life drama.
For example a few of the other major characters are a slave, a 'dodgy' baker and a greek expat with more planned. I really wanted to just show the flavour of Roman life. I led with the Centurion as I thought it would cater more to what the public are generally used to in regards to these sorts of stories but much of the rest of it is a lot more akin to a period drama!
The art came about fairly naturally, I am much better at drawing than I am at painting so when I moved to a graphic tablet I started sketching and black and white seemed to fit with the dark undertones.
Because its choice based I wanted you to be able to wrestle with these ideas and come to your own conclusions. The scope of this will be much greater as the story progresses. As a writer I don't like placing a morality onto the audience I think its disrespectful to the reader. Moral ambiguity is so tied to both ancient and modern life. You're absolutely correct in the characterisation of decadent and glorious. Its fun to play up to these but also to subvert them and to not see ourselves as above it.
The mystery is loosely tied to existing political events its during the reign of Emperor Domitian who was quite an interesting character - class - politics - wider Roman struggles - the clash of civilisations and the moral impact that comes with that. I have thought about doing specifically real figures historical fiction versions too but their history is set in stone and may conflict with giving players choices.