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I think it's the moral authority (or organization or whatever it's called now) of the religion. So the fact that we have Antioch and won a holy war is going to count for a lot more than the traits of the characters.
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Mar 5, 2014 01:59
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OOC: Ah, I found a guide that tells the factors: Factors leading to rulers imprisoning your preacher; Target ruler is Zealous x3 Vassal of target is reformed religious head x5 It's before 930 AD (I think) x5 Target ruler is Baltic culture x5 Target ruler is East slavic (x3) or north germanic (x5) and you are muslim Target ruler is the attacker in a religious war or viking invasion x10 Factors leading to rulers allowing the missionary to stay; Target ruler is north germanic, its after 930 AD and you are catholic x4 Target ruler is Cynical x3 Target ruler is Arbitrary x2 Target ruler is east slavic and you are orthodox x3 Target ruler is defending against a crusade or religious war. x4 The factors effecting whether a noble converts is Cynical x3 arbitrary x2 east slavic being asked to convert to orthodox x2 The factors affecting a noble refusing conversion, Zealous x5 baltic culture x2 east slavic asked by muslim x3 north german asked by muslim x5 vassal is reformed religious head x5 a member of a reformed paganism x5 Moral Authority has absolutely nothing to do with it. NewMars fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Mar 5, 2014 |
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Mar 5, 2014 05:46
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  What the heck, let's jump on this apple-cart and see where it goes. Convert the Mongols Marry into Kiev
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Mar 5, 2014 08:08
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I too am for marrying into Kiev and converting the Mongols. If they get a cynical/arbitrary ruler we should definitely pounce on that.
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Mar 5, 2014 10:18
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Talky posted:Well obviously we'll just have to arrange the marriage carefully, such that someone of the Komenian Dynasty inherits the Caliphate rather then the other way around. There are so many reasons why this is a terrible plan that would never work even if we were stupid enough to try it that it's hard to pick just one, but I'll just stick with the obvious. Our Empress is a woman. In order for her to marry a Muslim man, she would have to convert to Islam, abdicate her throne, and join her husband's household whereupon all their children would be of his dynasty. If, after our beloved Empress' (hopefully long) reign, a male Komnenos were to (unthinkably) convert to Islam he could take a Muslim bride, but their sons, being only matrilineally descended from the Caliph (or whoever) and not even members of his clan would have almost no chance of inheriting a true claim on the Caliphate and even then would almost certainly have to fight a massive war to press that claim. So basically your plan to avoid going to war with the Caliphate involves abandoning our most deeply cherished traditions, engaging in a series of bloody and disreputable political machinations, and going to war with the Caliphate. I can only imagine what brilliant plan you'll come up with next.
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Mar 5, 2014 11:32
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 I would like to add a hearty 'Me-too' to the converting the Khan/Marrying into Kiev plan!
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Mar 5, 2014 14:18
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Duckbag posted:So basically your plan to avoid going to war with the Caliphate involves abandoning our most deeply cherished traditions, engaging in a series of bloody and disreputable political machinations, and going to war with the Caliphate. Are there really senators who feel threatened by this party?
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Mar 5, 2014 14:47
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Duckbag posted:There are so many reasons why this is a terrible plan that would never work even if we were stupid enough to try it that it's hard to pick just one, but I'll just stick with the obvious. Our Empress is a woman. In order for her to marry a Muslim man, she would have to convert to Islam, abdicate her throne, and join her husband's household whereupon all their children would be of his dynasty. If, after our beloved Empress' (hopefully long) reign, a male Komnenos were to (unthinkably) convert to Islam he could take a Muslim bride, but their sons, being only matrilineally descended from the Caliph (or whoever) and not even members of his clan would have almost no chance of inheriting a true claim on the Caliphate and even then would almost certainly have to fight a massive war to press that claim. I would like to second this motion with a hearty 
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Mar 5, 2014 14:54
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NewMars posted:
Someone needs to keep an eye even on the fringe lunatics lest they get too close to whispering their poison in Senator Scruffles' ear.
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Mar 5, 2014 22:12
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AJ_Impy posted:Someone needs to keep an eye even on the fringe lunatics lest they get too close to whispering their poison in Senator Scruffles' ear. Acting Consul Scruffles, remember. He is a good boy. Yes he is. Yes he is. Here, have an olive, boy.
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Mar 5, 2014 22:26
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I'd like a look at the religion ledger while we're at it- how is Orthodoxy doing?
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Mar 5, 2014 22:27
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Pester posted:I'd like a look at the religion ledger while we're at it- how is Orthodoxy doing? I'll crack open the ledgers for the next State of the World, but in a nutshell the only major Orthodox nations left are us and Kiev, so how Orthodoxy is doing and how we're doing are pretty closely related. I haven't always bothered screenshotting it, but my vassals have been pretty busy converting heretic or Tengri provinces on their own initiative, so there's that at least.
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Mar 6, 2014 00:06
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  It seems that the douxes, unlike the esteemed New Byzantines, don't want us to become a menagerie of false faiths and lesser peoples. I want to send my personal congratulations to these stewards of the Empire.
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Mar 6, 2014 01:18
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NewMars posted:
 Haha, yes, we Komnenians are a simple lot, united only by our love of the Dynasty and of course Partying. Never will you see us implicated in some of the rather suspect plots that surround the senate. Outlandish plans; yes. Ill-thought out ideas: Well, when you've had your fifth drink in the last quarter hour, any idea might seem fine. But to be a threat to our fellow senators, even were they themselves obvious threats to the Komnenian dynasty? Why, hah, we'd much rather engage in gentle dialogue and cajoling to get folks to change their minds and steer the correct course. After all, a dagger in the back is rather final but you can always have another drink. Oh wait, you were talking about the, uhh, Binding Blights? The ones that seem rather, overly fond of the Turks? Not that I have the least bit against the Turks, some of my finest mistresses are turks, but the idea of marriage with them is, well. One too many drinks methinks, hahaha. What a silly old drunken Komnenian I am.
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Mar 6, 2014 02:15
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Rincewind posted:I'll crack open the ledgers for the next State of the World, but in a nutshell the only major Orthodox nations left are us and Kiev, so how Orthodoxy is doing and how we're doing are pretty closely related. I haven't always bothered screenshotting it, but my vassals have been pretty busy converting heretic or Tengri provinces on their own initiative, so there's that at least. Not that Kiev is anything to really sneeze at, though. That said, we should probably make drat sure we keep an eye on them. The Mongols only have to win one fight with them to take the whole drat country down.
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Mar 6, 2014 07:50
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I support tightening our ties with Kiev and begin making cultural inroads in the Mongol kingdom. Being friends, and on good terms with them, would be to our mutual benefit. The resulting knowledge exchange would certainly be a major boon.
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Mar 6, 2014 08:36
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So I was at this party last night, you know, providing entertainment and such, when this old guy just sorta died on top of me. He said some things in medias res*, if you catch my meaning, and apparently I'm a senator now. I guess Theodora set all kinds of precedents. Anyway, I hear this is the party where we drink a lot and talk about how great the empress is, so count me in on that. * ooc: My deepest apologies for not knowing an ancient Greek euphemism for loving.
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Mar 9, 2014 18:15
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PART FIFTEEN: The Fallen King (1231-1247) The ongoing archaeological excavation of the original site of the Archives of the Black Chamber has continued to yield stunning historical discoveries. We are proud to present excerpts from The Testimony of Sebastiano Ziani. This text, written by the Venetian Doge Sebastiano the Cruel, was long believed to have been lost. The Black Chamber, however, had retained a copy of it for their own purposes. "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes." —Virgil, Aeneid  A confession: My reaction, upon hearing of the Empress Euphrosyne's death at the hands of the vile Turk was one of genuine dismay. I saw late Empress's war for Antioch as something unequivocally good for both Christendom in general and Venice in particular. The schismatic Orthodox Church holds sway over the Greeks, of course, but— were they not still Christians? Isn't it much preferable for one of the holiest sites in our religion to be in Orthodox hands than Muslim Turks? Surely a strong Christian empire in the east would be a powerful bulwark against the hordes of Turks and Mongols lurking beyond its frontiers! I was not alone in this sentiment— the prevailing mood in 1231 was that without the vigilant armies of Constantinople, there'd be nothing stopping the Golden Horde from marching straight from Kiev to Cadiz. (Of course, the Mongol khanates have instead become bogged down slowly, slowly trudging across the Turkish Empires. But had I the good fortune to be able to see history's twists and turns before they occurred, I would not be writing the confessions you now see before you.) And, of course, a strong Greek presence in the near east would be an important counterweight to the Genoese crusader states in the Hold Land— for while the Genoese were perhaps unequal to the task of defending their borders from the Turks and Egyptians, they were certainly able to leverage their position to monopolize trade in the region. Since, clearly, the Genoese were the greatest threat facing the Most Serene Republic of Venice. I wasn't even overly concerned with the continuing Greek expansion in the Adriatic at the expense of Croatia. Their empire was rich beyond our wildest dreams. Our wealth was already on the basis of our trade in the Greek mainland. Wouldn't further Greek consolidation in the Adriatic be more lucrative than bartering with impoverished Croatians? So it was that when Empress Valeria was crowned in Constantinople, I wished her all the best— both in her current endeavor to reclaim Antioch from the Turks and in the continuing good fortunes of the empire in general.  Oh, I knew there were rumblings in the Byzantine Senate about seizing Venice, of course. But nearly every conceivable policy— and quite a few inconceivable ones— had its proponents in the halls of the Senate. There were senators who wanted to reconquer Rome. There were senators who wanted to convert to Islam. It was easy to write off the Senate as less a deliberative body and more a rattlebag of throughly unworkable ideas. The armies of the late Empress Euphrosyne remained in the field, with the formidable Eparch Serapion taking command. The Seljuks attempted to attack a weak point in the Greek lines, but the two other wings of their army wheeled around to relieve their fellows.  I personally dispatched a letter of congratulations to Valeria. She returned her well-wishes for the continued coexistence of Greek and Venetian in the Adriatic.  The Shia Caliphate renewed its efforts to push the Genoese out of the Holy Land. Music to my ears. Perhaps the victors of the next Crusade would be more interested in preserving the kingdom of Jerusalem than their own trade. Perhaps Venetian ships would ply those waters.  I heard vague rumors of a Black Chamber agent operating in Venice. But I believed the power of the Black Chamber was vastly overstated— their reputation was founded upon claiming credit for the assassination of various Turkish sultans by their fellow Turks. There seemed little sense in believing there were Greeks hiding beneath every floorboard or in every wine-cellar.  Instead, my eyes were turned east. The Seljuks were routed as the Greeks ran amok through Syria; the Genoese were swiftly defeated by Caliph Ali VI, unable to mount any sort of defense of their distant holdings from their Italian capital.  The Catholic Knights of Calatrava came to the aid of the Greeks. Was it a spirit of Christian ecumenicism in the wake of the failure of the Genoese crusader state? Perhaps. But it should be noted that their grandmaster, while Castilian in culture and Catholic in religion, was a Komnenos.  The Greeks scarcely needed the help, however. The war was all but won— the only challenge was keeping its soldiers paid long enough for the Seljuks to surrender. The empress turned, as many of her forebears had, to the Jewish merchants of Constantinople for funding, which kept the army in the field until Sultan Iskender the Magnanimous finally ceded Antioch to the empire.  The restored theme of Antioch might not have been contiguous with the rest of the empire, but it was still much closer to Byzantine's centers of power than the ill-fated Genoan territories.  The Orthodox Church grew in power and prestige.   At the time, I still saw the strength of the Empire of the Greeks as a positive development. One needed only look at the chaos enveloping Croatia, with the Grand Prince of Bulgaria seeking to overthrow his liege-lord in favor of a more compliant puppet king. Wasn't it lucky for my Republic that the all-important ports of the Adriatic prospered under the watchful eyes of the Greeks?  Not everyone in the Catholic world saw this as a good thing. Hungary decided that, with Greek ranks depleted by its war against the Turk, the time was ripe for an opportunistic war of expansion.  The Hungarians underestimated the Greeks, however. I've learned that that's something we Catholics often do. While Hungary easily outnumbered the decimated levies of the douxes, the empire's coffers were still full from the loans it took out to fund the war against the Seljuks. While the money would have to be paid back eventually, the merchants of Constantinople knew that patience with the throne inevitably paid dividends. The money was put towards hiring sellswords and paying the salaries of the Varangian guard, giving Valeria a formidable force. Meanwhile, the main body of the Hungarian host stumbled into the army of the Doux of Athens, busy waging his own private war, forcing the Hungarians to fight on disadvantageous ground.  The Athenians were eventually defeated by the Hungarians, but it was too late— the Greeks were upon them.  Hungary learned the hard way that the Empire of Greeks possessed strength beyond the mere number of men its feudal vassals were obliged to furnish their empress with: Strength in its standing armies of cataphracts, in the Varangians, in its ability to seamlessly integrate foreign mercenaries into its campaigns, in its ledger-books.  In spite of how the douxes often behaved, they still theoretically served at the pleasure of the empress. The reforms of Iouliana the Great, however, set crucial precedents curbing their power and made the imperial prerogative to dismiss malcontent douxes much less theoretical. For the first time in her reign, Valeria found herself presiding over an empire at peace. She decided to take steps to make sure it stayed that way.   Not all the douxes recalled from their themes were willing to give up their privileges.  Fighting a war against a single doux was much easier than fighting half the nobles in the empire at the same time, hoever. Moreover, Valeria had prudently refrained from demobilizing the combined army of cataphracts, Norsemen, and mercenaries that had just fended off the Hungarians until she had successfully revoked the themes of the douxes plotting against her.  Having successfully made an example of the Doux of Adrianopolis, Valeria continued to strip douxes who dared to support pretenders or seek independence of their titles.  Our rivals in Pisa recognized the significance of Greek dominance in the Adriatic towards the fortunes of Venice, offering Valeria a sizable bribe to declare an embargo war on the Serene Republic. This would, of course, have been disastrous for us. We were utterly dependent on trade with the Greeks— if they took steps to drive us from the Adriatic, everything we had struggled to build would have vanished overnight. Valeria made a great show of refusing the Pisan offer and expelling the Pisan emissaries from Constantinople. She'd never declare war on the Venetian merchants who have plied the empire's coasts for decades. Not over something so petty as two hundred ducats.  The Black Chamber busied itself with affairs in the east, seeking to assassinate Iskender— a man who, in spite of presiding over some of the worst military defeats in Seljuk history, stubbornly clung to power. Rumors of Black Chamber interference in Venice subsided.  The Orthodox Church, mollified by the restoration of the Pentarch of Antioch, raised no objections when the empress granted additional religious rights to the remaining Muslim residents of the theme.  Valeria also sponsored a historian's account of the illustrious reigns of the Komnenoi. The resulting document makes Iouliana Komnene's Alexiad seem like the very picture of impartiality; however, I am told the history was popular throughout the empire.  And then, on August 1st, 1238, Valeria appeared before the Senate with a stunning revelation— after an extensive investigation presided over by the imperial logothete Violante di Beirut, the Black Chamber obtained unassailable proof that the city of Venice was, in fact, the de jure territory of the empire; that I, rather than being the universally-recognized doge of a centuries-old republic was nothing more than a usurper squatting on Greek territory. This ancient wrong would now be righted— the Republic of Venice would now be restored to its rightful rulers.  I was now paying the price for my short-sightedness. I hurriedly liquidated as many assets as I could and cashed in every favor I was owed in order to field a sizable mercenary army. I decided that the best course of action would be to take the fight to Greece itself— perhaps if I beat the Greeks on their native soil, the empire would decide the cost of conquest was too high. Furthermore, it would protect the city itself from the rampages of an invading army.  The Achilles' heel of this plan was that the Greeks could not be defeated in the first place. They brought overwhelming force to bear against our beleaguered army. I was suddenly aware of just how small the Most Serene Republic of Venice really was.  With my armies defeated, I fled back to Venice. The Greek army swiftly followed. The personal forces of the Contarini family put up an impressive fight— but it was hopeless.  Valeria made a point of clemency upon seizing the city— as if good manners could somehow justify the decision to call up an army of 20,000 to snuff out the liberty of a republic after years of mutual co-existence and shared prosperity!  In the end, I surrendered. I had used every resource at my disposal— every man-at-arms, every coin of gold, every ship. It was all for nothing. Vast wealth, I learned, was no match for vast wealth and a vast army.  Valeria explained to the vanquished Venetians that the Republic would continue to be allowed to exist under the watchful eye of Sabas Kimmerikon. Katepano Sabas Kimmerikon of Venice. A Greek, of course.  Greek patricians were installed to replace the fallen merchant families of Venice. The Morosini, in return for swearing fealty to the empire, were permitted to continue plying the waters of the Adriatic. The Contarini, Faliero, Dandolo, and Ziani were all dispensed with. And I was left with the knowledge that not only had I led my republic into ruin— I had also destroyed my own family.  Without a second thought, the Greeks returned to their eastern intrigues.  Valeria, having tired of letting the blood of her fellow Christians, decided to go on a pilgrimage to her Antiochan conquest, holy platitudes spilling from her perfidious mouth.   She came back to Constantinople singing the praises of her false Church.  Of course, she was motivated less by Christian zeal and more by lascivious fornication with the members of that Church.  Her firstborn daughter, born before she took the throne, was passed over as heir in favor of her son Traianos, swathed in purple since his birth. She sought to foster the same base avariciousness which characterized her reign in her son.  In 1241, Valeria declared war on Cilicia. The tiny Armenian state had bravely resisted Turkish conquest for centuries. Unfortunately for them, however, they were located between Antioch and Anatolia.  While the Greeks busied themselves murdering Armenians so pampered imperial pilgrims could walk from Constantinople to Antioch without deigning to leave imperial territory, Sulan Iskender finally died. He had lived through the arrival of the Ilkhanate, the loss of Persia, Golden Horde incursions to the north, the Greek conquest of Antioch, and decades of assassination attempts. In spite of it all, he held the Seljuk Empire together and lived long enough to die peacefully in bed— perhaps the best revenge of all.  The end of the war on Cilicia coincided with the birth of Valeria's bastard son, who was quickly foisted off on his father.  Our beloved city's trade network was in a shambles— the trade outposts maintained by the turncoat Morosini left the empire's puppet republic with a feeble Adriatic foothold, but the Pisans and Genoese were rapidly moving in to fill the vacuum. The Genoese were particularly successful— it seems their trading contacts in the east outlived their territorial ambitions.  The new Seljuk sultan was considerably less popular than Iskender, and the Black Chamber easily found conspirators to plot to assassinate him.  Unfortunately for the Greeks, a poisonous snake is not a rational actor and the Black Chamber's first assassination attempt was a total failure.  Valeria, for her part, continued to dally with the father of her bastard son, humiliating her husband.  She didn't let her vices distract her from the business of ruling, however. If only she had! Then, perhaps, I would still be the Doge of a free Venice. Alas, however, when word came that a peasant revolt had broken out in the far-flung Greek exclave of Ryazan, she gave the matter her full attention.  It would turn out that the peasant revolt in Ryazan was a consequence of the total collapse of the principality of Kiev. In time, the region would be reunified by the kingdom of Novgorod— but for now, anarchy reigned as the only other Orthodox power of consequence in the world dissolved before Valeria's eyes.  Valeria realized that the revolt in Ryazan was actually an opportunity for the further consolidation of imperial power. While the douxes and doukessas of Ryazan had long sworn fealty to Constantinople, the crown laws of Kiev still applied to the title, and it couldn't simply be revoked like an ordinary Greek theme. This meant that Ryazan douxes or doukessas were frequently leaders of anti-imperial factions. So, instead of fulfilling her feudal obligations to her vassal, Valeria cooly ceded Ryazan to the peasant rabble, forcing the ousted doukessa to rely on her Greek title— which could be rescinded with a word from the empress.  Kiev wasn't the only neighbor of the Greeks to fall apart in the 1240s. In 1243, the empire Iskender fought so hard to keep together collapsed into civil war. A few years ago, I would have welcomed the news. Now, though, I knew that all this would be to the Greek Empire's advantage.  Valeria, of course, did suffer her share of setbacks— her beloved Greens were defeated by the Blues in a Constantinople chariot race.  I presume she felt better when she received word that the Black Chamber had successfully assassinated the sultan of the Seljuk Empire. Iskender's resilience, I suppose, was the exception rather than the rule. More's the pity.  Fortune is a fickle thing, isn't it? The Seljuks had a brief respite from their woes when Baytas the Fat surrendered to the newly crowned child Sultan Suleyman II.  A fresh round of fighting immediately broke out.  The Mongols joined the fray, seeking new conquests.  Finally, on February 15th, 1245, the Seljuk Empire fell.  Sultan Karatay, having seized what he styled as the Baytasid Khaganate, hoped to succeed in building a lasting, stable Turkish empire where the Seljuks and Saimids had failed.  Of course, how could anyone prosper when sharing a border with the Greeks? The Black Chamber immediately sprung into action against Karatay.  As did the Greek army:  The Knights of Calatrava, always eager to defend Christendom on those occasions when it is convenient to the Komnenos family, were the first to arrive in Sinope.  Their numbers were decimated by a Baytasid army before the Greeks could relieve them, however. Such is the fate of self-styled defenders of the Catholic faith who stand by while the Adriatic turns red with Catholic blood, and then call the Orthodox schismatics who spilt it brothers in arms.  While Karatay was still consolidating his power after vanquishing the Seljuks, he still had sizable armies at his disposal. Unlike so many previous wars, the Greeks could not win through overwhelming numbers alone.  Even when the Mongols sprung on the Baytasids, Karatay kept his armies in the west, reasoning that he'd rather win one war than lose two.  The Turks suffered an early setback when an attempt to relieve Sinope was routed by the Greeks.  Karatay then made a critical error— he committed additional forces to Sinope in an attempt to hold the province. By this time, however, the main Greek host had arrived on the scene, and an outnumbered Turkish army found themselves fighting on unfavorable ground. Realizing that he'd likely lost the war by splitting his forces, a desperate Karatay made another attempt to relieve Sinope. The result was another disastrous rout.  Karatay attempted to bring fresh forces into Anatolia, but he had already squandered any numerical advantage he might have enjoyed. But I suppose accusing another enemy of the Greeks of folly would be casting stones in a house of glass.  After eluding the Greeks for months in the mountains of eastern Anatolia, Karatay finally stood and fought on the most defensible ground he could find.  He was soundly defeated. The last Turkish enclave on the northern coast of Anatolia had been reclaimed.  Princess Eirene, already passed over as heir in favor of her quicker, cleverer brother Traianos, was quietly sent off into a convent before she became the latest claimant to the imperial throne for the douxes to rally around.  And the Empire of the Greeks continued to grow— east, north, south, and west— there was nothing they desired that they did not covet as their own.  As for me? I'm still in Venice, the Greeks having in their infinite mercy refrained from having me executed or maimed. "The King of Venice," they call me. My fellow Venetians have lately joined in the mockery. "Where's your crown, king?" they ask, upending buckets of offal onto my head. I can hardly blame them. I led them into ruin and foreign subjugation. I was entrusted with the richest and most important merchant republic in the Mediterranean, and I let it all slip away.  The one pale shadow of a hope that sustains me is the thought that perhaps what happened to me will be educational to the rest of Western Christendom. The Greeks are not your friends. They cannot be co-existed with. They will turn on you the moment they see weakness, and not stop until all of Europe bends its knee to Constantinople.  Assassination Scorecard: Tsars Killed: 2 Sultans Killed: 5 Nosy Chancellors Killed: 2 World Map, 1247  OOC: I'm sure Sebastiano still having k_venice is some kind of weird bug relating to how I sort of kludged the ability to fabricate claims on the capitals of merchant republics back into Project Balance-- or maybe the sort of strange thing that PB was trying to prevent by removing that ability? Either way, I kind of like it. Next: State of the World and a Senate session!
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Mar 10, 2014 06:08
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 Steppes and Republics Ah most excellent, a excellently placed republic to increase our trade in the Mediterranean Sea. Although I can't help but wonder..... How does Somalia have a trade post in the Black Sea?! HOW!? ooc: Awesome update as always, looking forward to the chaos of the Senate meeting. Seriously though why is Somalia in the Black Sea?
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Mar 10, 2014 06:38
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I sincerely hope you refer to this in future historiography as the Great Betrayal.
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Mar 10, 2014 06:54
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 Hail our pious Empress, reconqueror of Antioch! The Patriarchate stands as a light of wisdom, illuminating the Christians of the land! The Church truly prospers under the Empress' guidance; so I ask, is it not in prime position to assume more responsibility over local rulership? Empress Valeria already dealt with the more rebellious Douxes, would it not be better to nip these malcontents before they even bud, by refusing ducal ambitions at the root? The Empress listens to the Church, so I ask.
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Mar 10, 2014 07:54
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The Republic of Somalia is already my favourite divergence in history, thus far. They're poised to conquer all of Abyssinia and perhaps even Southern Arabia, and they hold a complete stranglehold over the trade of the non-Mediterranean Middle East. They would, realistically speaking, be by far the most wealthy state of the "Western" world, and they will doubtless hold status as a major polity if they can also manage to take the territories of their local region. Contrast this to the Somalia of OTL, and then imagine how the disgustingly rich Somalian Republic will end up over another 800 years of history. Well, assuming the Egyptians don't cramp their style, of course, and that the Caliphates maintain the current trend of crippling revolts. DentedLamp fucked around with this message at 08:09 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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Mar 10, 2014 08:06
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  Truly, the Imperial family is blessed for its piety! A Pentarch restored, the eldest child renouncing all claims to become a Monastic, and the Basilissa's zeal upon returning from Constantinople is unquestioned! (If she has one failing, it is one that she shares with King David the Psalmist: It is a salutary reminder that none are truly righteous without the grace and forgiveness of the Almighty.) Our glorious standing army, our new legion, has proven its worth against heathen and heretic alike: I am delighted at the restoration of Venice to the true orthodoxy, those who adhered to the false belief cast out as Anastasius cast out their Arian predecessors. We have even corrected the Miaphysitism of those on the path to Antioch, or at the very least restored them to the proper authority. Her commitment to holy wisdom can also not be denied: The chronicles of the works of her family highlight this as well.
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Mar 10, 2014 09:19
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 : Senators.: Early in the reign of our blessed mother, you provided the Roman Empire with three clear mandates. First: The restoration of the holy city of Antioch to the embrace of the Orthodox Church. Second: The destruction of the Republic of Venice, the Catholic merchants of which had long grown fat off the riches of honest, hard-working Orthodox Roman citizens. Third: Reclamation of the Anatolian interior from the infidel Turk.: The first and second of these lofty goals have now been achieved. We've also made major progress on the third, although a landlocked Baytasid rump territory yet remains.: We shall continue to work to achieve total victory in Anatolia until instructed otherwise. This notwithstanding, we are ready to renew the partnership between the Senate and the Imperial Throne which has led Our empire to such lofty heights.: As is traditional, before asking you to choose which Senatorial faction you choose to align yourselves with, we shall briefly summarize the present condition of the Roman Empire and the world around it. The Roman Empire is stronger than it has been for centuries. Most significantly, we have reclaimed the theme of Antioch and conquered Venice. The latter of these accomplishments signals the return of Roman authority in Italy, absent since the fall of Bari in 1071 swept away the last vestiges of the Catepanate of Italy. We are pleased by this development, and hope that it eventually leads to our armies dumping the bloated body of the false Bishop of Rome into the Tiber.  The Komnenos Dynasty is also strong. Traianos is a worthy heir, and the blessed matrimony between ourself and our husband which has in no way been compromised by any untoward conduct has led to the birth of many legitimate children who, upon coming of age, might potentially secure any number of advantageous alliances for the empire.  The Baytasid Khaganate is simply the latest in a series of vile Turkish empires squatting on our frontiers. In spite of the loss of Persia to the Ilkhanate and the still-recent fall of the Seljuks, the Baytasids remain one of the most potent military forces in the world. Recall that they nearly bested our armies in combat until they foolishly dived their forces and attacked Sinope piece-meal. Consider that the next Sultan of the empire, whether he be Baytasid, Seljuk, or Saimid, will perhaps represent a higher caliber of generalship than Karatay.  The Pagan hordes of the Ilkhanate continue to reign over the former Seljuk domains of Persia. Rather than dealing the death-blow to the Turk, however, they have become bogged down attempting to secure the useless steppes to their north.  The Golden Horde are the proud rules of an even more desolate stretch of wasteland. So far, our Orthodox brethren in Kiev... excuse us, in Novgorod have been spared their wrath. But we wonder if this can last.  Kiev has fallen, of course, but like a phoenix the Grand Principality of Novgorod rose from its ashes. The Rurikoviches continue to rule over these lands, a powerful Orthodox bulwark in the North. They are our brothers, and perhaps one day the old alliance between our nations shall be renewed.  Yet no longer does the sacred flame of Orthodoxy burn in the Roman Empire and Rus alone— the pagan rulers of Lithuania have forsaken their vile idolatry and converted to the Orthodox Church.  The Kingdom of the Germans continues its gradual disintegration. It is a rotting hulk, and foreign possessions dot its interior like pockmarks. How these Catholics fight amongst themselves!  De Toulouse Sicily remains the preeminent power of Italy, but its conquest of the peninsula has stalled with the secession of Benevento. Pisa and Genoa— the latter unburdened of its territories in Jerusalem— continue to ply the waters of the Mediterranean. And the Bishop of Rome still lays claim to what is by right ours.  The Jimenas still reign in France, having halted— for now— the territorial losses suffered in prior years.  Halted the territorial losses on mainland Europe, I should say. The English have finally driven the French from Cornwall.  It was not the heretic FitzAdelisa who achieved this victory, however, as the Waldensians found themselves unable to govern their Catholic subjects and were quickly overthrown. Currently, the de Mowbrays— an old Norman family which has long since adopted English culture— rule over the kingdom.   Meanwhile, the Scottish have been gradually pushing Wales out of its Irish holdings.  Norway has broken free from the shackles of the Kaiser to become the preeminent power of Northern Europe, ruling not only Norway itself but Denmark and Holland as well.  The Shia Caliph still reigns supreme in Egypt, Northern Africa and the Levant.  With having swept the Genoese back into the sea, the Caliph's main rival is the fantastically wealthy merchant republic of Somalia. While Somalia seems likely to lose its current war against the Caliph and be forced to cede the exclave of Dongala...  The real basis of Somali power remains intact.  Iberia remains a chaotic stalemate between Taimid Andalusia, Banu Barghawati Mauritania, León, Portugal, Castille, and other minor Christian states.  With the former republic of Gotland now serving as the royal capital of Sweden, Iceland's domination of trade in Northern Europe is now unchallenged.  Meanwhile, the Mediterranean remains hotly contested between our vassal republics in Venice, Belgorod, and Crimea, the remaining free Italian cities of Pisa and Genoa, and a few northern outposts established by enterprising Somalis looking to expand beyond their nation's near-monopoly over trade in the Near East.  In West Africa, the former kingdom of Songhai has given way to Ghana...  ...but the Soumare dynasty continues to hold sway over the region.   The overall religious situation remains more or less stable. The most notable developments are our successes in converting portions of the Theme of Antioch and the conversion of the Baltic pagan Lithuanians to the one true faith.  The Roman Empire is the second largest in the world by number of provinces. Of course, provinces are hardly interchangeable. The Baytasids, even in their diminished state, still rule more provinces and can muster more troops than we can. This concerns us. (Actual voting instructions to follow in a separate post)
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Mar 10, 2014 10:03
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: It is now time for you to swear yourselves to one of the many factions of the Senate. We shall be brief in our descriptions of these, as you seem to have spent the intervening years making up myriad new parties and factions.  The Old Romans believe in the reclamation of the glories of the Roman Empire of classical Antiquity. We rather hope they mean the part of Classical Antiquity after the conversion of Emperor Constantine. The New Byzantines are the party of Iouliana the Great, who believe in a Byzantine future. They have been the largest party for decades, although our late mother forced them into a coalition with her beloved Old Romans. The Milvians are the defenders of our sacred faith; however their party has been left tragically marginalized. The Komnenians are loyal the the Komnenos family above all else. Including ourself, it seems.  The Fraternalists share much in common with the New Byzantines, albeit with a more republican bent. We grant our vassal republics many privileges, however, we remind them that we are an empire.  The True Religion's Advocates In Time Of Rebellion & Strife are schismatics.  The Iconoclasts are heretics.  The Guiding Light are infidels. Steppes and Republics advocates for the merchant republics, Pechenegs, and Cumans of the steppes. We are curious what they think of Venice, a merchant republic with nary a steppe or Pecheneg in sight. The Loyalists are what the Komnenians were like 100 years ago.  Unitas are barbarians who would turn on the very peoples the Roman Empire is meant to protect, civilize, and enlighten. : There are also several intra-party factions you can join in addition to one of the main parties.The New Marians are in favor of strengthening the Roman army and stating the obvious. The Expansionists favor an even more aggressive program of expansion than the one we are presently engaged in. The Phanariotes favor enlightenment, learning, and scholarship— qualities we believe will be very important in the coming centuries. VOTING INSTRUCTIONS!! IMPORTANT!! READ OR DIE!!!!!!! PLEASE FORMAT YOUR VOTES AS SHOWN BELOW! You can add more to your post, obviously, but please make these a bit easier to count by copying the relevant BBcode below! Yes, even the dumb poundsigns. I'm from tradgames, that's how we do our votes in Mafia or BSG or whatever, and they'll make votes stand out from things that aren't votes, so just indulge me here. If you vote for cross-party faction in addition to your main party, just paste that vote code underneath your main vote. code:
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Mar 10, 2014 10:23
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##Vote Old Romans ##Vote Expansionists Venice was but the first step! Next stop, Rome!
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Mar 10, 2014 10:26
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##Vote Komnenians I know I'm not usually this... sober when I come before you, but I simply haven't been feeling very festive lately. You see, I have grave concerns about the direction this empire is headed in and I cannot keep quiet about them any longer. These endless wars grieve me and the growing power and ambition of the Black Chamber is beginning to terrify me. Our empire is strong indeed, but the cost has been horrendous and I fear we have let power corrupt us. We have abandoned diplomacy for violence and in the process forgotten the value of peace. We won great victories, I won't deny it, and what's more we deserved to win for those lands were ours by right, but was it truly worth it? How much blood and treasure was spent to bring Dalmatia, Antioch, Venice, and Sinope back into our realm? Could not that money have been spent on great works and great parties? Would not our families, farms, and workshops fair better in the light of peace than under the dark clouds of suffering and sacrifice? And then there is the world beyond our borders. To the west, we have alienated the Catholic powers and destroyed an important buffer between our realm and the German Empire. Will we be able to defend our newest enclave from the Pope's followers in the long run? Perhaps, but the expense of doing so could well out weight the value of the land we've taken. To the east, matters are graver still. I do not think the Turks can resist the Mongols much longer in their weakened state and should the Ilkhanate add Mesopotamia to its bloated empire, their next target will be us. I can only pray we will be strong and united enough to face them. So celebrate our victories while you can, Senators, for dark times lie ahead. Duckbox fucked around with this message at 10:47 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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Mar 10, 2014 10:35
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##Vote Milvians ##Vote Phanariotes While the Milvians may currently be marginalized, I can only hope that this austere body may have a chance to vote to bring the wisdom and light of Orthodoxy to the Mongol hordes through a constant stream of holy minded individuals.
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Mar 10, 2014 10:40
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##Vote Milvians I am a Milvian of the ancient and proud ΑΙ υποσημειώ Ιμπυ lineage: We have protected the faith in the name of the Empire since time immemorial in these hallowed chambers. I would hope my sons would take up our legacy as I did from my forefathers. ##Vote New Marians ##Vote Expansionists ##Vote Phanariotes As ever, my lineage is an enthusiastic supporter of cross-party initiatives that serve to strengthen our empire. The armies of Constantine, the expansionism of Gaius Iulius, and the wisdom of Solomon are all valuable targets that will bring us from strength to strength.
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Mar 10, 2014 10:40
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##Vote New Byzantines ##Vote New Marians
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Mar 10, 2014 10:47
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##Vote Komnenians ##Vote Phanariotes The Empress has expressed an interest in the Phanariotes, so I will throw my hat into the ring with this party. It is certainly important for us to develop new alcohols or whatever they claim to do. I'll be honest, I'm not much for learning. I much prefer to read the Alexiad and attend parties in period costumes.
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Mar 10, 2014 10:50
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##Vote Old Romans
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Mar 10, 2014 11:07
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Empress Valaria? More like Empress Venerial, am I right?  Really Senators how can we allow this wretched prostitute to dictate ...to... why is everyone looking at me? Can...did she hear that?t-t-That is to say ...I..I have always been the most loyal supporter of the k-Komenian family. h-h-H-Hail Valeria! Hail Caesar! ##Vote Komnenians  Oh Jesu help me.
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Mar 10, 2014 11:11
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##Vote New Byzantines The senator, newly arrived in Constantinople, promptly falls asleep after indicating his support for the New Byzantine faction.
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Mar 10, 2014 11:11
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##Vote Guiding Light ##Vote Phanariotes
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Mar 10, 2014 11:24
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##Vote New Byzantines ##Vote Phanariotes The Mongols must be brought into the light of Orthodoxy as soon as possible.
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Mar 10, 2014 11:25
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##Vote True Religion's Advocates In Time Of Rebellion & Strife ##Vote Expansionists Schismatics? The True Advocates? Must have been a blunder of the tongue, but understandable nonetheless given that I am practically completely surrounded by actual schismatics. Regardless, I am certain that my esteemed colleagues shall vote correctly this time. And just to be clear, the Fatimids re-annexing the holy land? Your fault, you could have prevented this if only you had listened to wiser council. But I guess we'll just have to see more innocent pilgrims kidnapped by the heathen Saracens so long as they hold it. I'm sure Jesus will love that.
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Mar 10, 2014 11:27
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forkis posted:Schismatics? The True Advocates? Must have been a blunder of the tongue, but understandable nonetheless given that I am practically completely surrounded by actual schismatics. Regardless, I am certain that my esteemed colleagues shall vote correctly this time. You do actually have a valid point. Whilst the 'Advocates' consider the true orthodoxy to be a schism, their own papist beliefs are both schism and heresy. In truth, they should be on a par with the vile Iconoclasts.
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Mar 10, 2014 11:48
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##Vote Old Romans ##Vote Expansionists Do we actually get Roman legions somewhere up the tech tree?
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Mar 10, 2014 11:49
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 21:22 |
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Samuel posted:
If we get Roman legions I call consul!
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Mar 10, 2014 12:09
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