Hawkeye1489 – If little Andronikos inherits, that is exactly what’ll happen… he’ll have Spanish Komnenid blood from his mother and Edessan from his father. But that’s assuming Nikephoros doesn’t have an heir and the baby Andronikos lives…
The_Archduke – Undoubtedly that’s long-term probably in the back of Nikephoros’ mind…
Leviathan07 – That’s an interesting question. In normal peacetime, the Turks would either be marginalized (by making deals with their neighbors to keep them in line), or they would be “moved.” However, it’s probable that Gabriel’s mind isn’t focused on something like that, he’s instead thinking of Konstantinopolis. We’ll have to see where the Turks end up in all this. The lands they currently have are hardly a power-base, but they’re still a potential source for trouble in the future…
Vesimir – HOI? I have no idea if it’d go that far… I’m even thinking on what will happen after EU3 yet! What to do next’ll probably come up once we get to 1800 or so lol. And if Gabriel officially tries to establish a Christian/Muslim church, at least now,, don’t be surprised if the Orthodox Church would demand his removal…
Ksim3000 – Thanks for the huge vote of confidence! Unfortunately, the series won’t ever be published, because it’s already been published (posted on the internet, and per forum rules, technically Paradox property). However, I will say I’m slowly fiddling with my own writing on the sidelines. I’ve got the rough sketch of a story laying around, can’t say too much because, once again, of the publishing, etc. If I ever get time to finish it, and if it ever gets picked up, believe me, I think you all would love it though!
As for Gabby… is he insane, or just ridiculously casual in how he gambles? Someone truly insane would’ve have avoided battle with the Mongols for that long, but someone cautious wouldn’t have launched an infantry attack into the dust like he did. Hmm…
Tommy4ever – In terms of length, definitely. Its over 1000 pages in Word. As for the Mongols religiously, they’re going to be interesting in a hundred years!
RGB – I like your custom!
1) Well, here’s a brief, off the top of my head summary. Genghis in this timeline had six sons – Jochi, Ogedei, Chagatai, Tolui, Hulagu and Batu. Each got their own ulus on daddy’s death, and Ogedei became Great Khan. Jochi tried to overthrow Ogedei, got killed, and his ulus went to Batu. Ogedei had two sons, Berke and Ariq Boke, the latter of which is now Great Khan. Hulagu had two sons, Guyuk and Mongke, as well as Altani. Both Guyuk and Mongke predeceased their father, so the fate of Hulagu’s ulus (India and Central Asia) is up in the air. The other sons of Genghis had kids too, but they haven’t been categorized as they haven’t been relevant to the story yet…
2) Gabriel it’s safe to say already feels threatened by Alexios..
armoristan – I came
this close to splitting the battle, and in the end, the main reason I didn’t was because I was tired and didn’t want to mess with splitting the music… so I went ahead and wrote the rest!
Deamon – Crazy Mongol chick bent on vengeance. Can’t forget the last part. And Altani’s not too crazy… compared with the Komnenids, at least!
FlyingDutchie – Kublai hasn’t shown up in the story. Yet. There’ll probably be at least a cameo for him down the line though…
Siind – First, that solenarion is amazing… I had no idea the Romans had access to such a piece of tech! Only problem I can see with it is that a dart still wouldn’t have the hitting power of an arrow, let alone a crossbow bolt. And thanks for the effort of replying to the reply as well… answers were spot on!
Nenekhara – Oh definitely. Gabriel’s got an army, but one that’s tired and wants to go home. Albrecht has his guile, while Nikephoros has his riches. Stage’s set for something big to happen. As for Andrew Comnyn, you’ll have to ask AP what he’s got in store for him!
Kirsch27 – Just cause I describe the sword in detail doesn’t mean Alexios is the one that ends up making it famous. Swords are heirlooms, and often stripped from the dead and become the heirlooms of their new owners…
TC Pilot – Oh, I don’t know who you’re talking about. And see? There’s a Bataczes in this world that isn’t a ruffian villain!
Servius Magnus – Well, there was a Roman victory of the
Mongols, but as the Romans are wont to do, that doesn’t necessarily spell the end of Roman versus Roman violence…
Fulcrumvale – Indeed. 3/4ths of the Mongol army escaped, Altani and Tokhtamysh are still alive to lead it. Altani as
Khatun of the entire Empire? It’d take some Komnenid scale plotting on her part to do that… but the Mongol Empire isn’t immune to deviousness!
Cecasander – Kinda? The Turks completely saved the Romans at Amol! In the end, the
Megaloprepis’s prophecy came true—the Turks did save Romanion. For now, at least… As for the Nestorians as a bridge, not necessarily between Christianity and Islam—Nestorians might be considered heretical by the Orthodox, but they are considered heathen by the Muslims, as they still believe in the divinity of Jesus. A better bridge they once served was between Christianity and Zoroastrianism possibly… at least according to their fellow Christians…
Nikolai – Nope, the first scene was from before the battle…
Qorten - Altani definitely has a new motivation in life, and vengeance… well…
von Sachsen – Hahaha! Knew someone would catch the rebel yell! For some reason whenever I heard the
Soldier’s Chant I heard in my head people yelling the rebel yell over it. So I mixed it together that way!
asd21593 – Almost makes up for how much they dislike each other in our timeline!
Enewald – The archers opening fire that early was a medieval tactic—if you line up enough bowmen and tell them to shoot as far as they can in that direction, some arrows are going to hit targets. Gabriel’s idea wasn’t necessarily to cause casualties amongst the enemy, but to sow confusion. In the dust and poor visibility, there’s no way the archers could have aimed… so if arrows, even a few, are raining into the Mongol levy ranks, that’s bound to confuse them some. The Romans, as Siind pointed out, lost every cavalry battle save the Turkish surprise near the end… the Romans had far greater numbers, but the Mongol cavalry was far better, despite being outnumbered 4 to 1…
Well, you all might not have noticed (yet), but I just finished my big project for the first part of the week--redoing the table contents structure for the AAR, including lots of pretty new chapter pictures. Yes, I was bored, and yes, Photoshop was there to entertain me.
I'm hoping the new layout is more visually appealing, and also cuts down the length of that poor page in the Inkwell!