All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

I was always under the impression that the version that we use today was just that and that there was no strict convention throughout the Roman period proper, or later.

You're absolutely right. I was presuming the use of our modern system and did not consider that something else might be pertinent in the world of Destiny. That's what I get for making assumptions, so thanks for helping expand my horizons!

Who knows, maybe the letters on the Titan banner aren't even Roman numerals! Maybe they're someone's initials… With lots of X's and I's… :-\

You are, of course, absolutely correct.

"The "standard" forms described above reflect typical modern usage rather than a universally accepted convention. Usage in ancient Rome varied greatly and remained inconsistent in medieval and modern times."

Roman inscriptions, especially in official contexts, seem to show a preference for additive forms such as IIII and VIIII instead of (or even as well as) subtractive forms such as IV and IX. Both methods appear in documents from the Roman era, even within the same document. "Double subtractives" also occur, such as XIIX or even IIXX instead of XVIII. Sometimes V and L are not used, with instances such as IIIIII and XXXXXX rather than VI or LX." – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals (wiki link for convenience only).

I was always under the impression that the version that we use today was just that and that there was no strict convention throughout the Roman period proper, or later.

The wallpapers are fantastic. Lovely job. There'll be no need to alter the Titan one I'd imagine.
http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/numbers/roman/
"The Romans themselves were not so fussy. There is a Roman tombstone in York, England, of Lucius Duccius Rufinius, who was the standard bearer of the VIIII legion (9th), and was XXIIX years old (or 28)."
–From the linked article.

Heh, I'll say that a tombstone is an unfortunate place to make such an error. But just because someone did it wrong on a relatively permanent surface doesn't mean that the error is in fact "correct". A typo is still a typo. I don't know what the Roman education system looked like, but I imagine there were many in the Roman armies who did not know how to read or write.

Who knows, maybe the letters on the Titan banner aren't even Roman numerals! Maybe they're someone's initials… With lots of X's and I's… :-\

Edit: Okay, I checked the Wikipedia page on Roman Numerals, and they have a whole section on Alternative Forms that says the numeral system was rather fluid back in the day, so your example is not wrong. I would expect, though, that a Roman Numeral system in Destiny would reflect the more recent and codified version that we use today, but maybe the non-standard form was very intentional on Bungie's part. Maybe it's intended to help show how much of human history was lost with the fall of the Golden Age.

http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/numbers/roman/

"The Romans themselves were not so fussy. There is a Roman tombstone in York, England, of Lucius Duccius Rufinius, who was the standard bearer of the VIIII legion (9th), and was XXIIX years old (or 28)."
–From the linked article.