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Amazing narrative as always! :eek:
Funny, look how China was during the third century and you see something in common with the Europe of the 13th century. :p
Three Kingdoms, Three Empire.
None of them can beat the other ones. They shall bleed upon each other, until only one remains, or until none remains...


Romance of Three Empires?
 
Looking at that map, it's hard to believe the map of Europe has changed so much in the last hundred years...

The Romans are once again undisputed masters of the Mediterranean world, but we all know what's coming...
 
Subduing Italy and North Africa will almost certainly take years to accomplish. By the time Thomas II is finished with that, Baghdad may be under new management, and Helene’s advice might be correct after all.

Oh, and does anyone else think that Sophie now looks like Margaret Thatcher?
 
Sophie certainly has turned into a fisty gandma. Good to see she finally managed what had to be done, maybe she can retire in peace now. And after the short break in the last update, I once again hate Mehtar.

I certainly enjoyed this depiction of Thomas's voices, as it showed his internal struggles from outside for a change, but I wouldn't want it to become the main way of showing them. I like to hear the ramblings of Memnon and Acheron too much.
 
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Stop scavenging lines from Rome, you scoundrel!
 
Nice!! I like this update a lot. :D Two petulant emperors, young enough that their grandma can still talk sense into them... I have actually been waiting for something like this for a few updates now. :)

I also like the way Thomas' troubles are depicted. It's thrilling when you have his voices commenting on situations, especially when they make him (almost) kill people. :eek: But not all the time. They are, after all, not real, just imagination of a faulty mind.

I think the pictures could do with a bit less "Roman" attire and more "Byzantine" attire. HBO's Rome and the Romanion of the Comnenids are not the same thing, there's 1000 years of clothing fashion in between! The Byzantines didn't really wear Flavian-style legionary helmets and leather cuirasses, did they? If anything Comnenid Byzantion should have comparable fashion attire to the late Empire of the 4th century, cloaks and tunics instead of togas. And more beards. And thoroughly medieval weapons and armor. Just my 2 ct. I have no idea where one would get such pictures. Bulgarian and Yugoslavian 1960's movies perhaps? :p
 
Leviathan07 - Well, that's the problem with finding appropriate pics to use--I simply don't have access to many proper "period" movies for attire, so I make do with the best I have (Rome, I Claudius, Kingdom of Heaven, King Arthur, the Tudors etc. etc.). Of the movies I have King Arthur is perhaps the closest (the formal cermeonial attire for a Byzantine general was surprising anachronistic, even in the late 12th century), but not by much. I've seen a few of the Bulgarian movies (the movie about their first Khan is the one I'm thinking of), and the costuming was blatantly bad... do you have any suggestions?

Dimmimar - Oh, I can't toss in any Easter eggs? lol

Deamon - I am about to say something that will require me to turn in my nerd card, but...

...I have yet to read any Harry Potter. *hides face in shame*

DarthJF - So far the response has been mixed, so I think I might do a combo of ways to show his voices. As for Sophie, she needed to make one last appearance for sure...

Fulcrumvale - The Turks by this point are fighting the Mongols hard, so it remains to be seen what management will control Baghdad (the Mongols are still technically off the CK map). As for Sophie, I don't see the resemblance to Lady Thatcher (she's actually Antonia from I Claudius)...

TC Pilot - Ah, the joys of what can happen when one pits a human against AI nations... this is the point in game where I started serious roleplaying. It was apparent that even with a rather average ruler like Thomas I, I could conquer the whole map in a generation. So I kind of backpedaled, something that will be reflected in the AAR...

Enewald - Three Empires for now, however one must question how much longer that will last when two of the empires gang up on one? (And Leo is definitely not Cao Cao, and his Italy realm is definitely not Wei...)

Scotticus - Helene can do an awful amount of good or evil, depending on what she says to her husband. As for Thomas, like I said, I think from the responses so far I'm going to take a middle route with depicting his mental illness.

asd21593 - Is it manipulating if it's not intentional? And don't be so sure to cut Mehtar out of the loop just yet...

Nikolai - I'll try to use this form some of the time in the future then! :)

Kirsch27 - In the short term, peace with Spain makes a great deal of sense. Italy is the immediate problem, and securing Spanish assistance in Italy could be vital in breaking that stalemate. Just because Thomas and Alexios signed an agreement doesn't mean that both sides will hold to it in perpetuity--these are Byzantines we're discussing, after all! Longer term, yes, it'd make sense to secure the whole med under one flag, but considering imperial failures in Italy so far, Thomas needs the help.

RGB - What's wrong with Baghdad as a goal, especially when the Turks are weakened, distracted to the East, and Romanion is infinitely stronger than it was in real life? lol


I've got part of the next update started, my goal is to have it done early (maybe Wednesday or Thursday this week), and another update possibly up next weekend. We'll see if the ambitious schedule holds out!
 
Hum, I'm not sure what Helens game is. At least it is good for the empire right now. She, either by design or by change, diffused a tense situation, and focussed Thomas' "minds" on a new target.
And Mechtar may be very good at intrigue, he is not very good at diplomacy. Not knowing or caring about the motives of the westerners is not good diplomacy in my book, and might have ended bad for the empire too!
 
Remember how General_BT mentioned that Helene has her own demons to deal with? ;)

The pillar of the Empire sits on volcanic ground, mm hmm.

And Sophie got turned into a vaguely British Queen person? lol. So that's what you meant by her last big work. Interesting to see the journey of a teenage girl in love, through Imperial Splendour, turmoil, and tragedy, to universal respect as a proud relic of the glorious past. What a life.
 
Irenicus - Sophie turned into an angry grandmother knocking her grandkids' heads together...

Clydwich - An ever bigger question is if Helene has a game. She could have simply been mollifying her husband, she could have been playing politics, or she could have simply been rambling. More will be revealed on that soon...

Enewalds - The Capets are actually in this update, though rather indirectly.


So, as promised, the next update a few days ahead of schedule!

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The 1211 Italian Campaign Theme


“A good Emperor will know his friends, know his enemies, and most importantly, know the difference.” – Albrecht von Franken, Logothetes kai Romanion.​



From George Alexander’s The Campaigns of Emperor Thomas II, Uxbridge University Press, Cambridge, Angleterre, 1935:

…In a world where inheritance is the means by which power and authority transfers over time, the strength and will of the sons often had more to do with the continuance of a state than the skill of the father. Theodoros Komnenos was unfortunately not made of the same material as his father. Where Leo had been conniving, Theodoros was weak. Where Leo had been charismatic, Theodoros was shy. In fact, the only thing they seemed to share was a desire to possess as many mistresses as possible.

When the ancient Leo took ill for the final time, Adhid Kosaca, ever the opportunist, leapt at his chance for absolute power with all the alacrity of ambushing an imperial column. If we are to believe Hermann de Hauteville, Adhid’s charisma and success on the battlefield won over the commanders of Leo’s thematakoi, so that when the old man finally died on August 17th, 1210, they raised Kosaca on their shields, proclaiming him Emperor of Italy, Sicily, and North Africa. Almost immediately, Theodoros was seized in Taranto and confined to his villa on the outskirts of the city, while Kosaca declared that his own son Muhsin would succeed him.

Adhid Kosaca had everything an emperor could want – a disciplined, motivated army, deep coffers, and apparently no enemies on the peninsula itself. However, he was missing one important ingredient. There is little doubt if Emperor Adhid’s surname had been Komnenos, his subsequent efforts to rally the Italian nobility to also contribute men and material might have succeeded. Alas for him, he did not carry the imperial name, a name so rooted in the minds of many with glory and success that the idea of a non-Komnenos as emperor, according to de Hauteville, was far beyond the comprehension of many of the smallfolk. Kosaca’s imperial reception amongst the Hellenized nobility—many of whom were related by blood to Leo’s enormous Komnenid brood—was cool at best.

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Adhid Kosaca, after he crowned himself Adhid I, Emperor of Italy

Desperate to escape his prison, Theodoros Komnenos, through the comes of Lecce, one Bardan Skleros, proclaimed Adhid Kosaca a usuper and imposter in a letter to all the nobility of southern Italy. The response was immediate—Andronikos Spartenos, the Prince of Salerno, was among the first to declare a revolt against Kosaca. While few other nobles openly took up arms, many smallfolk took to the countryside. Chaos quickly spread.

Simultaneously, the young Komnenid passed letters to Konstantinopolis, promising to serve as an Exarch over Italy, along with his thematakoi, should Konstantinopolis free him. To this day, historians argue what was going through young Theodoros’ mind. It should have been obvious that Konstantinopolis would have never consented to elevating him to the status of an Exarch. It is the opinion of this author that perhaps young Theodoros panicked in his cell, and panic, we all know, can inspire rational men to do irrational things.

Theodoros’ letter undoubtedly presented the Imperial government, especially that spider of spiders, Mehtar Lainez, with a golden opportunity. There is no doubt that Konstantinopolis was likely keenly aware of the rifts between the pro-Komnenid elites and Kosaca’s cabal, but to have those rifts explode openly into public, even to the point of conflict, was an event not to be passed up. We do not know what the Imperial response was to Theodoros’ offer, but Thomas II’s military response was far easier to see.

All through the summer of 1210, the Emperor marshaled a force of nearly 50,000 troops in Sicily, along with a formidable fleet of two hundred warships and unknown transports. Amassing such a force was no easy task and could not be hidden—Adhid Kosaca detached troops from his main army to deal with Spartenos and the other rebels to the north, while he personally led 40,000 soldiers and his entire fleet to Calabria, with the intention of blocking the obvious and safest route into Sicily.

However, the Romanoi were lead by someone far different than the opponents Adhid had faced before. Thomas Komnenos was only 18 years old at this point, but he already had a surprising following amongst the rank and file of the Roman army. If Albrecht von Franken is to be believed, the young Emperor also refused even a cot—much to the consternation of his higher ranking officers and court officials. He ate simply, famously refusing to eat anything that his soldiers did not also enjoy. The only creature comfort he allowed himself was the presence of the Empress Helene, who lived a similar, almost ascetic life.

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Thomas II Komnenos, aged 18

Throughout the fall and winter of 1210, both sides sat warily on opposing sides of the Straits of Messina, assuming the other might move at any moment. However, in January of 1211, word reached Adhid Kosaca of ominous events farther north that required his immediate attention—a huge fleet of Spanish ships with thousands of marines had landed near Naples, and ransacked through the city. Convinced that Thomas was still waiting for further reinforcements, Kosaca slipped north with 30,000 men and half his fleet to give chase.

It was at this moment that the young Emperor struck.

Thomas divided 20,000 of his men into no less than eight different detachments, with the express purpose of using the larger Imperial fleet to land them all about the Italian coast at key strategic locations. Complete coordination was obviously impossible, but between February 7th and March 17th imperial forces landed and seized Lecce, Bari, Salerno, Brindisi, Crotone, and Corigliano Calabro. Thomas himself, with the main army of 30,000, landed at Taranto on March 11th.

The rapid series of sea invasions from Calabria to Bari threw Adhid Kosaca into a state of confusion. Kosaca could not at once watch the nobility in the countryside, garrison the coastal cities, ward off the Spanish raiders and have a strong field army to match the force from Emperor Thomas. Faced with this problem, Kosaca opted for an approach all too known to military history—seeing that his was backed into a corner, and the longer the Emperor was in Italy, the more the nobility would react against him and the more land he’d lose, Kosaca opted to solve the entire issue on a single day. One battle, one decisive battle, de Hauteville tells us, had been Kosaca’s hallmark of success for the past six years.

So just shy of Salerno, Kosaca doubled back and forced marched his men towards the Apennines with the hope of bottling up the possible paths the Emperor had to cross these mountains. However, despite his best efforts, on the 8th of April, he found Thomas blocking the passes. The Emperor had left 10,000 men to siege Taranto, while force marching his own army hard to do the same. Kosaca knew his army was slightly larger, but decided he did not want to fight on ground that was not of his own choosing. Instead, he pulled back towards Potenza on the night of the 8th, hoping to pull Thomas towards the plains of Salerno where he could find ground more to his own choosing.

After three days of his scouts reporting that the enemy was safely behind him, on the 13th of April Kosaca’s army made camp underneath the walls of Potenza, with Kosaca and 2,000 of his personal guards, renamed the Autokratorion tagma, taking posts inside the city. Outside of the city walls, however, Kosaca’s camp had little, if any fortification—we are told by Hermann de Hauteville that Kosaca had decided the city walls provided decent protection for himself, and the hassle of building any abatis would be outweighed by the hassle they’d cause in the planned pre-dawned march onward towards Salerno.

If we are to believe Hermann de Hauteville and Albrecht von Franken, Kosaca’s chief field engineers had been bought by the infamous Mehtar Lainez, along with several key persons involved in scouting for Kosaca’s army. One of these engineers took horse as soon as the army was safely in camp, and rode to the Emperor’s army, merely five miles away at the time. On hearing the news, the Emperor and his army quickly stepped out, covering their mailed feet with cloth to muffle the noise.

Around ten o’clock that night, we are told, Kosaca’s men on watch were awoken with the thunder of horses, and thousands of voices screaming the same words—“Remember [the Magnificent]!” Thomas II, at the head of his cavalry, charged headlong into the camp, and if the chroniclers are to be believed, slew over one hundred men that night. Kosaca’s army outside Potenza stood little, if any chance as Imperial cavalry trampled through their camp, followed quickly by skoutatoi that ruthlessly killed anyone they found, even those that tried to surrender. The Emperor dispatched four tagma, slightly over 10,000 men under Demetrios Lainez to run down the survivors and crush the remnants of Kosaca’s “empire.” The Emperor himself, with around 5,000 men, settled in to lay siege to Potenza, trapping Kosaca and his “imperial bodyguard” inside.

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The chaos of Potenza. In the night attack itself, according to chronicler Hermann de Hauteville, Kosaca lost some 8,000 casualties, mostly killed. Save the 2,000 inside Potenza itself, the rest of his army broke up and fled to the hills.

However, not all of the Emperor’s commanders had believed in his daring plan for a night attack. One Andreas Mourtzes (the same who headed the invasion of the Papacy slightly over a decade earlier), instead of marching to Potenza marched back across the Apennines to report the Emperor had died leading a foolish assault. To the rest of the Roman world, there was a full agonizing week where news of Thomas’ devastating victory was completely unknown, and instead Konstantinopolis girded itself for a possible civil war between the clearly inept Nikolaios, younger brother of the Emperor, and any one of the numerous Komnenid cadet branches all across the Empire.

We are told that almost as soon as the word reached the imperial capital, Mehtar Lainez immediately placed Nikolaios Komnenos under house arrest, and took almost dictatorial power in the city. Numerous dynatoi whose loyalty was suspect were confined, along with almost any member of the Komnenoi the Megoslogothetes could find. We have little idea what would or could have happened if a messenger had not arried three days later bearing news of Thomas’ triumph. Incidentally, for his trouble Mourtzes was stripped of his rank and all privileges on the Emperor’s return to Konstantinopolis, and banished to Alania in the far north.

Demetrios Lainez slashed northwards through southern Italy through the spring of 1211, running down the remnants of Kosaca’s army, then advancing up towards Spoleto. With the news of Kosaca’s entrapment, the great nobility of southern Italy saw little reason to back a failing horse, and all quickly knelt once again before the Imperial throne. By June 1st, 1211, All of Italy that had once knelt to Leo Komnenos was once again under Imperial jurisdiction.

Lainez did not stop there, however. His army pressed even further north, into the lands of the Genoese League. The Magistrate of Genoa sent an official protest, citing existing trade treaties with Konstantinopolis that promised the league autonomy. Lainez did not listen to these words, instead stating that the new Emperor was going to enforce the arrangements of his father and grandfather—the Italian city states would kneel, or suffer the consequences. Tuscany and Mantua both pledged to the Emperor in Konstantinopolis, but both Pavia and Genoa itself refused.

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Rather foolishly, after Kosaca and his legions had failed, Pavia decides to try to stand with her army of 6500 mercenaries…

So, on July 23rd, Demetrios Lainez authorized Alaeddin Qasim, his principal subordinate, to cross the Po. Two weeks later, on August 7th, Alaeddin’s column of 8500 men attacked the main army defending Padua, a force of 6500 sellswords and other mercenaries under the command of rogue Saracen Inal of Tunis. After a sharp battle, Inal’s army cracked under the pressure of kavallaroi charges, and broke. Pavia itself surrendered to Imperial forces the next month after a short siege. Quickly, Lainez turned southwards, quickly moving in to seize Genoa as well. That city threw open its gates on October 27th, on the news of a great even further south.

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Yet at the Battle of Pavia, this army of peasants and sellswords was mercilessly destroyed by the larger and superior Imperial army led by Alaeddin Qasim.

Potenza had doggedly resisted the Emperor for five months before a disease and deprivation finally took their toll. Waves of typhus and other maladies swept through the besieged town during the months of August and September. Finally, on September 24th, Adhid Kosaca himself died from typhus. After two days of confusion and infighting between the city fathers and the commanders of Kosaca’s armies, the city threw open its gates on September 27th. The Emperor Thomas rounded up the survivors of Kosaca’s Autokratorion tagma, and ordered them executed to a man for treason…

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Demetrios Lainez’s campaign was not the only subsequent invasion after Thomas’ initial assault. Isaakios Vataczes, along with 7,000 troops, sailed from Methone, landing in Kairouan on the 16th of June. Likewise, Mahmud of Byzantion led two tagma totaling 4500 troops into Leptis Magna. At the death of Adhid Kosaca, both campaigns became rather moot, as local elites fell over each other kneeling before Konstantinopolis.


==========*==========​

December 26th, 1211

Georgios Donauri, comes of Madaba and chillarchos in the Scholarae tagma of the Imperial Guard, plastered a smile across his face. Truth be told he’d drank too much at a party celebrating the birth of the Savior the night before, and now the noise of the Konstantinopolis mob was only adding to his hangover headache. However, one had to keep up good form, and as a rather senior commander in the Emperor’s victorious Italikon Stratos, he had his role to play. So, he grimly thought as he raised his hands and waved at some toothless women shouting blessings, he was here, dressed in his ceremonial kit complete with gilt sword and far too much silk, when he could be sleeping off the alcohol still in his system.

“I wish these peons would stop their screaming and go home,” the man next to him grumbled. Andreas Kaukadenos, Prince of Mosul, was only a year older than Donauri, yet despite his 23 years he already wore the red cape of a strategos. For a second, Donauri reflected longingly on the privileges of being a prince, instead of a comes. Andreas had grown tall, with an almost imperial bearing and rapidly thinning hair.

“My head agrees,” Georgios brought a slightly pudgy hand up to his temple. In his youth, he’d been outright fat, but as he’d grown, all that weight had shifted to muscle, making him more akin to a bear than dough. “Damned proles.”

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Georgios Donauri, comes of Madaba

“They have to cheer on their Emperor,” Andreas said, waving to someone else in the crowd. “You expected anything different during the first officially sanctioned triumph since the Megaloprepis?”

“Not really,” Georgios sighed. If his head wasn’t hurting, he would’ve smiled. He was proud of his ‘friend’ the emperor, in a way. A whole succession of Megos Domestikoi had faltered in Italy, where Thomas had succeeded, and succeeded wildly beyond anyone’s expectations. If anyone deserved a triumph, it was this emperor. Donauri just wished a triumph didn’t require the official appearance in parade uniform of every officer of the army of rank greater than kentarchos.

“Well, I’m bored,” Andreas complained. “We’ve been sitting here for half an hour at least, listening to all the patriarchs prattle on about this or that…”

Georgios nodded sourly, looking up as the Patriarch of Alexandria droned on about God this and that. The comes’ eyes wandered over to the long line of prisoners on the far side of the spina, the target for the refuse and rotten vegetables of the proles of the city. When he saw the sobbing form of Theodoros Komnenos, he couldn’t help but laugh. The irony instantly made him feel better.

“What’s so funny?”

“Theodoros Komnenos bawling before the people,” Georgios chuckled. “So much for being a great emperor!”

“Hah!” Kaukadenos giggled.

Silence fell between the two as the Patriarch finally dismounted from the spina, and Emperor Thomas II, Conqueror of Italy, already being called the Megas reborn, the true heir of the Megaloprepis and a host of other titles, mounted the spina to the thunderous ovation of the entire city. For about five minutes, the Emperor held Georgios’ attention with his address, thanking the army, its officers, and the people of the empire for their contribution to the victory. Yet as the words came on, all clearly written by someone like von Franken or Lainez, Georgios’ mind started to wander more and more.

“Indefatigable,” Andreas observed with a smirk. “That is certainly not a word for every day conversation.”

“Mehtar,” Georgios said without thinking. After a few more such phrases reached his ears, Georgios turned to Andreas. “Entertain me. This speech isn’t doing that.”

“Well,” Andreas whispered, “apparently the Bishop of Reims has decided he wanted to crown Alexios King of the Franks. As you can imagine…”

“The Franks did not react well?” Georgios rolled his eyes. “I said entertain me, not tell me the obvious!”

“Wait, it does get entertaining! No, the Franks didn’t react well! In fact, they managed to get both Popes to declare that the crown of France belonged to the Capet dynasty and no other, excommunicated the Bishop for his trouble, then declared that Arnaud Capet is the new King of France,” Andreas laughed. “Arnaud Capet! Would you believe it?”

“Should I know the man? He is a Frank, after all,” Georgios raised an eyebrow.

“Yes!” Andreas sighed, exasperation on his face. “He was the Duke of Normandy or something, and was here in Konstantinopolis around five years ago as French ambassador!” At Georgios’ continued blank look, Andreas leaned close. “With the daughter?”

“Oh!” Georgios’ eyes went wide, before he burst out laughing. There were many fond memories there! “So that slowwitted father is now King of France?” Only a slowwitted father wouldn’t have heard the noises Georgios and Adelaide made in that manor…

“King of France and England!” Andreas went on. “Apparently all the Frankish nobility have offered their fealty, and he’s declared that if Alexios has the gall to cross the Pyrenees, he’ll meet him and crush him as a man can crush a fly!”

“Ah, he sounds like a Frank even,” Georgios laughed.

“Ah, so I see they did manage to get Muhsin to sail here,” Andreas said dryly, cutting Georgios off. The comes looked where Andreas’ finger pointed—on the spina, before the eyes of screaming crowds, the eldest surviving son of Adhid Kosaca knelt before the tall, already rugged form of the 18 year old Thomas, then groveled, falling prostrate. Finally, the Emperor lowered his hand, allowing Muhsin to kiss the imperial ring, and thus gain official re-admittance into the Empire. The crowd roared once more, like some immense beast trumpeting its kill.

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Andreas Kaukadenos, Prince of Mosul[/i]​

“Pity that Lainez catamite talked Thomas into letting the Kosaca’s keep Kairouan,” Georgios sighed. The Donauris were probably the most powerful family that did not yet have a princely title—surely if the Kosacas were replaced, Georgios would have been on the short list. “What was the reasoning again?”

“Stripping the Kairuoan Kosacas might have unduly upset the Balkan Kosacas, who have ever been His Majesty’s faithful servants,” Andreas quipped, before making a rather rude gesture towards the Megoslogothetes. In the tumult, it was obvious Mehtar missed the gesture, and Andreas scowled. “They probably gave him some nubile young thing to take advantage of.”

“Probably,” Georgios said sourly.

“So you didn’t get a theme,” Andreas observed. “It’s not like you walked away empty handed. New Imperial Master of the Mint?” Andreas chuckled. “How much is the difference between your salary and your pay?”

“Significant!” Georgios chuckled. True, he would have liked a princely title, but Thomas’ award of the Mint, coupled with Madaba’s closeness to several important trade routes, meant that Georgios Donauri was rapidly becoming one of the richest men in all of Romanion. However, the thought of money made Georgios’ grin fade rather quickly. “I’d be even happier if that damned emir in Najaf wouldn’t have raised his tolls on my salt caravans!”

“Your salt caravans?” Andreas chuckled. “I thought they belonged to the merchants who paid for them and their goods… not the man whose land they pass through!”

Georgios scowled, ignoring the quip. “Since the emir raised his tolls, I’ve had numerous merchants lower their bribes!” He started to throw his hands up in exasperation, but caught himself. “It’s annoying!” he hissed instead, “Why should my cut go down simply because some bastard infidel prince in Najaf decides to take a bigger bribe?”

“Sultan Faramarz is to the far east, so my spies tell me,” Andreas muttered, clapping as the Emperor promised the people of Konstantinopolis a new era of glory, peace and prosperity. “’Tis a pity you couldn’t just ride to Najaf and pummel the emir yourself.”

“I’m sure my profits would go up,” Georgios said his voice fading. For a moment they were both drowned out by yet another roar of the crowd, and chants of Megas and Megaloprepis. Georgios shouted a few appropriate phrases, but when he turned around, Andreas was grinning almost inanely from ear to ear.

“Say, why not file a complaint with Thomas?” Andreas asked.

“It’d be shot down by that Lainez creature,” Georgios almost spat. “Says we need peace. I say I want my money!” Georgios shook his head. “No, it’d be useless.”

“Well… what about sacrificing one of those caravans?”Andreas said darkly.

“Oh really, Lord ‘but those aren’t your carav…”

“Hence the reason why you should sacrifice one,” Andreas’ smile somehow grew wider. Another roar of the crowd, as the Emperor spoke something about God and himself. When the noise died some, Andreas went on quietly, “Arrange for one, or more, to have something bad happen to them. Something we can pin on that lout in Najaf.”

“Like?” Georgios raised an eyebrow.

“I could order some of my men to dress as Turks?” Andreas offered. When Georgios started to frown, Andreas laughed, and raised both his hands. “Oh, I know what you’re thinking! For a friend, I’d gladly say… 50/50 split?”

Georgios nodded slowly. There would definitely be a great deal of money in it. “And that would compel the Emperor to go east,” Georgios muttered aloud, his mind racing ahead. “And if the Emperor went east…”

“He’d need viceroys,” Andreas nodded, waving toward the crowds for a moment before returning to his friend. “He’ll win, no doubt. The Turk is divided, distracted, and weak. At the very least, he’ll take the Tigris and Euphrates valley from them. That’s a great deal of land to be broken into themes. Themes that will need good, governance and taxation.” The smile grew wider. “Viceroys in our world have a tendency to be…”

“…disloyal?” Georgios offered darkly.

“Yes,” Andreas nodded. “That means Thomas will need viceroys he is close with, viceroys that have been friends of his since childhood…” Andreas winked. “People he could trust.”

“And as we are both already Princes of the Empire…” Georgios waved as well, before turning to Andreas and grinning from ear to ear. “…Princes who rule border themes…”

Their word were drowned out by one final roar of the crowd. The two nodded to each other, as Thomas II, Conqueror of Italy, slowly descended from the spina.

=========*==========​

So Thomas has won is first campaign, but some of his “friends” are already planning his second. Italy has been reconquered, but will Italy remain restive? Next update there will be some terror, some tumult, and our intrepid, mad emperor will face a challenge he hasn’t seen before…
 
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Methar will probably die comfortably of old age, in his sleep, with young boys at his side, massaging him. Just to spite you.:D
 
I do have to say.

Rosenkrantz and Guldenstern must die. I hate chatty courtiers.
 
The cosmic irony of the true heir to Basil trying to prove his status by unknowingly violating his last wishes and invading Persia in what will in all likelihood be its darkest hour in the fight against the Mongols probably has the old emperor spinning in his grave. I can only hope that he’ll be up to the latter challenge.