Germania, stretching from the North Sea to the Baltic, from the River Scheldt to the Vistula and south to the Danube, and encompassing the future Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands and Germany, comprises occasionally cultivated wilderness inhabited by migratory tribes.
Rome had conquered Gaul (the future France, Belgium, Luxemburg and part of the Rhineland) to the west and made some German tribes, including the Batavi, tributaries. Nero increased taxation and his overthrow led to civil war between Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian. Resisting both taxation and conscription, the Batavian noble, Burhmund (Latin name, Claudius Civilis), led his and other tribes in rebellion, nominally supporting Vespasian. Veleda, preaching against all Romans, brought the Bructeri, Tencteri and Chamavi to Buurhmund's cause.
"'Under Julius Classicus and Julius Tutor, the Gallic auxiliaries went over to Civilis, while they proclaimed their province an empire in its own right.'" (p. 489)
These background details are so complicated that it is possible to read the story without properly comprehending them. The narrative occurs on several levels:
nature and the seasons;
barbarian culture and psychology;
political boundaries and military conflicts;
mythological interpretations;
the temporal physics of the Time Patrol.
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