The Morea, a Palaeologid AAR

General_BT said:

Ouch! Tough break with the misguided warrior, otherwise Stephanos would've had some pretty good stats.

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All I can say is he gets worse...

stnylan said:

Mmmm, it looks like Morea might be in for a rocky time of it.

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I'm sad to say that this is an understatement...

mark-hasforth said:

good history good luck

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Thanks, the Morea will need all the luck she can get...

Chief Ragusa said:

Konstantinos is just to loyal to realise he'd be that warrior-king. Stephanos would rather read a book. True, books were rare and precious items, worth a lot more than a sword, but a king should know how to use one. If only for self-defence against would -be assassins.

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All I can say is that Konstantinos might get that chance...

Chief Ragusa said:

It does appear that stnylan is correct in his assessment that Morea is in for a rocky time.

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Things will get much worse when Georgios II dies...

Jazzy-Devine said:

Oh my... Let's hope the current king has a few more good years in him, before the "misguided warrior" takes over.

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Sadly, Georgios doesn't have as many years left in him as I would have hoped.

Olaus Petrus said:

What a lazy excuse of a prince. His uncle would be more worthy heir.

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Well, that opportunity just might come knocking...

The marriage between Konstantinos the Younger and his cousin Eudokia did not last long. Within four months, Eudokia had died of a fever. Critics of the Royal Family, including some prominent clerics, claimed that this was God's punishment for their incestuous marriage.

While none of the clergy, least of all Patriarch Pantoleon, had supported the marriage, Pantoleon was not an extremist. He came out and silenced these attackers, by reminding them first of God's fairness, saying, "If indeed these two were to be punished by God for their incest, He surely would have struck them both down, and not only poor Eudokia."

After giving a much longer speech on the subject, Pantoleon shifted to speaking of God's mercy, and ultimately proclaimed that Eudokia was merely the victim of a fever, and God had nothing to do with it. The critics dared not argue with the Patriarch, and so they stopped.
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Soon after, word arrived that the province of the Lower Don had converted to Orthodox Christianity, and that the churches there were now officially subordinated to the Morean Patriarchate.
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In January of 1158, Konstantinos the younger married Alexeia Kabakes, daughter of the Roman Prince of Philippopolis.
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It was a beautiful spring day in early April, and Konstantinos the Younger was enjoying a walk by himself in the gardens. Suddenly he heard a voice behind him say, "You there!" He stopped, and spun around, to see a thick beard with a smiling face hidden beneath it, "Oh! Bartholomaios! It's you! You scared me half to death!"

Bartholomaios laughed, "I always do."

Once Konstantinos had caught his breath, he demaned, "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in ages!"

"I've been busy."

"With what?"

"Family matters."

Konstantinos raised an eyebrow, "Such as...?"

Bartholomaios sighed, "My sister has been sick for some time."

"I'm sorry." For a moment there was a silence between them. Then Konstantinos heard a young girl's voice call, "Hello!" He turned, and there was his cousin, Princess Cheilous. He beckoned to her, "Cheilous! Come here! I'd like you to meet someone!"

She ran over to him, and asked, "Well, who is it?"

Konstantinos pointed to where Bartholomaios had been standing and said, "This is my best friend, Bartholomaios."

"Where is he?"

"Huh?" Konstantinos turned around, and Bartholomaios was gone. Strange, he thought, I never heard him leave. Then again, I never do. He's quite sneaky that one. After a moment, he sighed and said, "I guess he's still shy. I think he likes you, cousin."

Cheilous, who was only seven, giggled, "How old is he?"

"A year younger than myself."

The little princess giggled again, "A nineteen year-old in love with a seven year-old. I'm flattered, but I think he's a little mixed up."

Konstantinos laughed, "Yeah, he is a bit wierd. So, cousin, how have you been?"

Cheilous' happy expression faded, and she sighed, "Not so good." Suddenly she screamed and banged her hands against a wooden wall in the garden, "MY WHOLE FAMILY DRIVES ME CRAZY!"

Konstantinos put his hand on her shoulder, "What's wrong?"

The Princess began crying, "Nobody believes me!"

"I'll believe you. I promise."

Cheilous began crying loudly, and she began speaking incoherently. She fell to the ground and just started crying intensely. Konstantinos picked her up, and carried her gently to her chambers. When he was almost there, he noticed his cousin had stopped crying, and saw that she was asleep. When he had entered her room, he set her down gently on her bed, smiled, and said, "Sleep well, cousin." Then he left.
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King Georgios was hard at work managing his estates, when suddenly there was a knock on his door. "What do you want?" He demanded.

"It is I, Steward Alvanites, my lord. I have an important matter to discuss with you."

"If you're here to give me more of your rediculous financial advice, then you can forget it! By all the Saints in Heaven, I should just be my own steward!"

"No sir, it is not about that at all."

"Then I guess you can come in. But not for long, I have work to do."

Alvanites entered, bowed, and said, "My King, do you remember the day when my father came here with his whole family, and sought refuge from his evil brother who stole his inheritance?"

"I remember."

"My lord, his dying wish was that one of his sons would have a chance to re-enter the Empire, and begin the road to the Purple. If one day an Angelid of his line could become Basileios, then our family's disgrace could be erased, and our evil cousins could be punished!"

"I remember his wish."

"My lord, I have been told that the Count of Karvuna is nearing death, and that I am his closest heir. He is an old friend of my father's, and he wishes for me to inherit Karvuna when he dies. I know that Karvuna is an insignificant province of the Empire, but it is at least a chance for me to return, and to begin building my father's dream. Ofcourse I will stay if you command me to, but my liege, I beg you, please do not make me stay here. Let me go to Karvuna and begin my father's dream!"

Georgios waved his hand, without ever looking at Alvanites, "Go. I'll find someone to fill your shoes."

"Thankyou, my liege! Thankyou!"

And before the month was out, the Count of Karvuna had died, and Alvanites Angelos was now the Count of Karvuna.

Chief Ragusa said:

Nobody believes Princess Chelious about what?

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That will get answered in the next update...

Chief Ragusa said:

Barty is suitably creepy.

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That's what I was aiming for.

Chief Ragusa said:

An Angelos on his way to the purple. Not good for Morea.

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Well, it can actually be very good, since he does owe it all in part to the Palaeologi. Besides, if Alvanites or one of his descendants attain the purple, then we won't have the problem with the Dukas. Sure the Dukas may be my ally right now, but what's to stop him later if he decides to renew the family rivalry?

stnylan said:

Perhaps Chelious is not the only one with a few loose marbles. Who is to say Bartholomeis was really there?

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That's part of the mystery. Is Konstantinos the Younger crazy, or is Bartholomaios one sneaky son of a gun...

It was three days before Christmas. Everyone in the castle at Korinthos was looking forward to the annual Christmas Ball, which the King himself always hosted. Such had been a tradition since the very beginning of the Kingdom of the Morea, to celebrate not only the birth of Christ, but also the birth of the Kingdom, as it was created on December 25th, 1066 by Emperor Konstantinos X as a Christmas present to then Prince Georgios Palaeologus of the Peloponnesus.

Suddenly, a horrible shriek was heard echoing through the halls. The King, along with both Konstantinos the Elder and the Younger, and twenty elite soldiers of the Knight-Guard rushed to the source of the noise, which ended up being the chambers of young Princess Cheilous.

Cheilous was less than a month away from her 8th birthday, and everyone was horrified by the shriek that she made, it seemed almost impossible that such a horrible sound could come from such a young girl.

The Princess continued shrieking until her father picked her up in his arms and asked her, "What is it, my child? What's wrong?"

The eyes that looked back at the King were full of a fear he had never seen before. His daughter's face was filled with the worst of fears. She nearly began to cry, and said, "He's coming! He's coming to kill us all!"

"Shh, shh, shh," said the King, as he stroked her hair, "Who's coming?"

"HIM!" She shouted, "HIM! He had a face so evil I was terrified to even look upon it for an instant! He will lay low this Kingdom! He will destroy it! DESTROY IT!"

In an effort to comfort his daughter, the King smiled and said, "My dear Cheilous, no one will destroy this Kingdom. The armies of the Morea are invincible. Our Knight-Guard are among the best warriors in the world. And I will never let anything harm this Kingdom, forged by the sword of my father and my grandfather."

Cheilous, who was still in her father's arms, grabbed his face and pulled it close to hers, and said, "You don't understand... He is coming! I don't know how long, but he will come, with an army straight out of hell! And no one who stands against him will prevail! All in his wake will die!"

Gerasimos, the Captain-General of the Knight-Guard, said, "The child is mad, no army can stand against us!"

Everyone seemed to nod in agreement, all but Konstantinos the Younger. But though he didn't agree, he didn't speak up.

Cheilous looked desperately around her, at all the faces, her eyes begging them to believe her. After a while, she grew tired of trying, and merely shouted, "YOU ALL WILL BRING IT UPON YOURSELVES! YOU DAMN YOURSELVES BY YOUR OWN ARROGANCE!"

At this, it was decided there was nothing left to be done. The King put her in her bed, and begged her to sleep, telling her all would be better after some rest.
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Konstantinos the Younger walked alone to his chambers, his head hung low. How could he have been such a coward? He had promised Cheilous he would always believe her, and he did indeed believe her, but he was too afraid to speak out when no one else believed.

He opened the door to his chamber, and as he was about to close it, he heard a voice say, "Hold up!"

Looking up, he saw Bartholomaios running towards him. He welcomed his friend in, and told him everything that had transpired in Cheilous' chambers.

Bartholomaios looked at him, with a more stern face than Konstantinos had ever seen before, "She's right you know. Even as we speak there is an evil brewing far from here, and when the time is right, it will come and take away all the souls of the world. Only one can stand up to it."

"Who is this hero?" Konstantinos asked.

"No one who lives now. But do not worry, the hero will come in time."

"How do you know all this, Bart?"

Bartholomaios smiled, "Trust me... I know..."
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The year of 1159 passed by with relatively little of interest. Cheilous continued to declare that the world was doomed, and that this "Him" would destory it all.

In February of 1160, Cheilous began to find cats and dogs, and then she would proceed to butcher them most violently. When confronted on this, she said they were sacrifices, the only way to keep "Him" from destroying the Kingdom.

Now things were getting too serious, Georgios called in Father Isaias, the Priest who led worship in the Church of Blessed Alexios Dekanos. After careful examination, Father Isaias said that regrettably, the best thing, for both the Kingdom and for Cheilous, was to lock the Princess up, and have visitors limited, with her only regular visitor being a nun who would see her once a week.

At first the King protested this, but even as he argued in her defense, Cheilous began to shriek again, and began again her proclamations of death and destruction. At last, the King was forced to give in, and ordered the Princess locked away.

A noted author of the day soon wrote:

Our generation has seen history come back to life. Indeed, our King is as the Great Alexandros himself, in nearly every respect. In the Fourth Crusade we saw that we had also a Hektor, who was indeed even named so. In Italy we saw that the King's near-twin brother in as the reincarnation of Achilles himself. Now we have our very own Cassandra, the Princess Cheilous, who is just as mad as the one who spelled the doom of Troy. In that light, perhaps she, too, is right, just as Cassandra was. Are the days of our Kingdom indeed numbered?

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Chief Ragusa said:

Insanity has taken hold of this family.

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Sadly, yes. Some very unsteady years are ahead.

Olaus Petrus said:

Hopefully you can prepare your kingdom against HIM, because Dragon and his servants are a serious threat.

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Yeah. Poor Cheilous. But its ironic that she is (somewhat) right. I think you'll see what I mean in the next few updates.

stnylan said:

Not precisely a good omen.

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No indeed. And things will only continue to go down hill.

The next two years passed with relative quiet. For the most part, the poor little Princess had stopped her proclamations of doom. But occasionaly she could be heard shouting about the demise of the Kingdom.

By the summer of 1162, Cheilous had become deeply depressed by the fact that no one believed her. She even began to refuse to eat. Word soon reached the Royal Family of this, and much concern was raised.

At last, at the urging of Bartholomaios, Prince Konstantinos the Younger went to visit the young Princess, now 11.

The guard of the Princess' cell permitted Konstantinos to visit, but insisted that he stay close by, incase she tried anything.

Konstantinos reluctantly agreed to this. He went over to Cheilous' cell, and called her name.

She smiled for the first time in two years, crawled over to him, and held her hands through the bars, "I'm glad you came to see me, 'Tinos, I've been so lonely down here."

Konstantinos could see the horrible condition she was in, she was filthy, having not had a bath since her imprisonment, her hair was a mess, she wore torn up rags, she looked more like some beggar or petty thief and not the daughter of a King that she was.

The Prince held her hands, and said, "You are not alone. Bartholomaios and I believe you. You should hear him talk, he understands you better than even I do, I think."

"But how can that be?" Asked the Princess, "I've never even met him?"

"I've told him everything you've ever said about the end of our Kingdom. He's convinced you're right."

"Oh is he? That is wonderful news! What does he say?"

"Well," said the Prince, "He speaks often of how this 'Him' is a very real threat, and that you are right that he is almost unstoppable."

"Well, I'm glad that someone understands."

"He also says that there is only one man who can stop 'Him'."

"Who, 'Tinos, who?"

Konstantinos shook his head, "He does not know. He says this hero is not born yet."

"Not born yet!? But, but, what if 'He' comes soon? How can we stop 'Him' if the only hero capable of doing so isn't even born yet?"

"I don't know. I guess we just have to trust that God won't let 'Him' come until this hero arrives."

"But, how will we even know who the hero is?" Asked the Princess.

"I don't know."

Suddenly, the guard gave Konstantinos a nudge with the butt of his spear, "It is time to leave, sire. Visiting hours are through."

Konstantinos got up, and began to leave. He stopped momentarily, turned around, and said, "I will visit you more regularly, Cheilous."

She smiled, "I would like that. And see if you can't get Bartholomaios to come with you one of these days."

The Prince smiled back, "I will try, but you know how he is."

"Yeah..."
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In the autumn, Thomais Dekana met with Crown Prince Stephanos, and said, "My lord, your father, the King, has commanded that you are to be married. He has entrusted me with the tast of finding your bride."

Stephanos sighed, "Well that's good. At least I don't have to bother."

"Is there... anything in particular you are looking for in a bride? Any special quality you wish me to search for, sire?"

The Crown Prince snorted, "Why go through all the trouble of finding a special quality? After all, we're going to be married forever anyway, why should it matter that she have anything special? Its not like I have to like her. You decide what kind of woman is right for me. Just make sure she's pretty. Its too much effort to like an ugly woman."

Inwardly, Thomais resented the Crown Prince's outlook on women, but she knew better than to let her feelings show. She merely bowed and said, "As you wish, sire."
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It took her over half a year, but Thomais finally found what was, in her eyes, a perfect match for the lazy Crown Prince. His cousin, Maria Blanga, grand-daughter to Count Theophylaktos Blangas of Samos. Maria was everything the Crown Prince was not: hard working, smart, and witty. And she was pretty, too, so that selfish moron would be happy with that, at least.

Thomais was no longer so worried about the future. With a woman like Maria as Queen, the Kingdom was in good hands. Stephanos was so lazy, he'd probably let Maria run the country full time, a job she was perfectly suited for.


So the Crown Prince married this young, nearly forgotten daughter of the lowliest Count in the Kingdom. The couple was married in February. Within a month, a sad day for the Kingdom, though, ironically, the happiest day for the young couple, would come.
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The date was March 16th, 1163. No one had even heard from the King in three days, not even so much as a request for food or drink. At last, Chancellor Thomais went to the King's chambers to see if he needed anything.

When she opened the door, she found the King slumped over his papers. She smiled, at last he was sleeping well. Perhaps he had finally exhausted himself enough to get a good night's sleep.

As it turns out, she was only half right. She decided that, sadly, she must wake the King, after three days he must really need food and wine. At first she called him, "Sire? ... Majesty? ... My Lord?" She even ventured to try his name, "Georgios?" But there was no answer. Obviously he was sound asleep.

So she walked over to him, and shook his shoulder to waken him. As she shook him his head fell limply back, and she could see his eyes and mouth were open, and there was a small bit of drool dangling from his mouth.

Suddenly, she let out a loud shriek, and soon ten Knight-Guards had arrived, swords drawn. When they saw the King's body, they immediately began a search of the entire castle, calling the entire rest of the Knight-Guard, all 500 members, to join the search for whomever could be responsible.

No murderer was found. An apothecary, along with the Royal Physician, later declared there was no poisonous substance in the King's body, nor had anyone been responsible for his death in any way. He had died of exhaistion, he had literally worked himself to death managing his Kingdom.

So passed the greatest conqueror in the Morea's history. He had survived insurrections, betrayals, and vicious battles. It is ironic that when all the weapons of man could not kill this valiant warrior, he died doing paper work.