Hi everyone!
First, I realized a few minutes ago I was completely remiss in counting everyone's votes for the "what if" interim idea I had last week. So, without further ado, here are the results... I counted each first place vote as 5 points for that idea, each 2nd place vote as four, and so on...
FIFTH PLACE IDEA: 9) What if the future Thomas II, not Antemios, had died in that fire? - with 22 points total
FOURTH PLACE IDEA: 5) What if Basil had lived as long as the Megas? - with 24 points.
THIRD PLACE IDEA: 3) What if Manuel had come through his assassination attempt unscathed? - with 25 points.
SECOND PLACE IDEA: What would've happened if Post-Mongol Victory Gabriel had marched on Konstantinopolis? - with 28 points.
FIRST PLACE (IDEA EVERYONE WANTS TO KNOW!): What if David had inherited from Basil? - with
54 points!
So I'll get to work on these as time permits!
Secondly, my boyfriend has started reading the AAR again, and I promised I'd share some of his opinions/comments as a non-historian and English major... unlike most of you, he started very recently in the story--the great hunt where Segeo gets snubbed by Nikephoros for the position of
Pandomestikos. So far, he's:
1) Rooting for Segeo--he feels like the man is an "old war vet who's been denied his due, he's got a right to grouch that an inexperienced guy has upstaged him." Direct quote - "Experience should trump age."
2) He likes Andronikos, because Andronikos is rather religiously skeptical like he is, and Andronikos likes the bow like he does.
He is worried that, like any young kid that precocious (he's only gotten to where Andie is 10), Andronikos will be easily malleable in the wrong hands...
I'll keep adding more as he reads further...
Vesimir - We should be hearing from Safiya next update, or at least seeing her, so everyone will have a bit of a more... concrete... estimation of her abilities... as for your plot guess, very well thought out, devious even, we'll just have to see if that's how it plays out...
Leviathan07 - Vesimir has a point, we
haven't seen Safiya yet. We have seen Cecilia though... she's direct with Andronikos, and freely tells him he's not always right, something we haven't seen anyone else do yet... Good influence probably, but will that be enough when Safiya comes calling (or if Uncle Albie shoves Safiya onto his lap, so to speak?)
Fulcrumvale - It'll definitely be a major test of the new Komnenid army, both in simple logistical capacity and in command ability. The campaigns obviously won't take place simultaneously--much of the Transpontian force merely needs to march in place, while the fleet, for all its size and power, can't ferry both western invasion armies at once. Most importantly, it'll be a test of the new
Megos Domestikos, as he'll be coordinating the massive Western affair. Romanos is a relative unknown, and while he's had high marks in the past, those were commanding a single
tagma, not two field armies launching far away invasions totalling over 100,000 men...
asd21593 - When have the Komnenid children
not been rebellious? (Foolish, I'll grant you, there have been some non-fools in the bunch...)
cezar87 - I will admit, in the past I've done exactly that!
This time, however, I've had things outlined out for a while, so there's no changing the plot based on people's guesses... all I'll say is that what happens soon will show if Andie is good at short term plotting (just Cecilia), or if he's truly going to be machiavellian (something more)...
TC Pilot - Haaa haaa!
Servius Magnus - Now, is that a hint? Or yet another red herring?
FlyingDutchie - Albrecht is... what? 64 now? 65? He's up there. Its inevitable that young blood will replace the old, but is Albrecht slipping already?
We'll find out.
armoristan - Thomas the Goober? :rofl: I think he has a new nickname now! I wonder how "goober" translates into Greek... not fool, but goober...
Kirsch27 - Nope, we still haven't hit the DV switchover, so this is vanilla, those are the stats he goes into for when his education ends. If he hits one of the top tier ed modifiers, his stats would indeed be ridiculous... Basil-like ridiculous. Though he could always bomb too... ironically in the game itself,
Thomas III hinting at awe-inspiring stats as well, and then bombed out when his ed finished, leaving him the crazy idiot with good stewardship and that's it...
4th Dimension - Well, we know the quickest way to
your heart--a sword through the heart of your enemies.
Cecilia and Safiya both have their diplomatic advantages... Cecilia could calm the Latins in Spain, but Safiya could bring a Persian peace... which frontier do you want pacified?
Nikolai - Taking out Cecilia herself would be a
huge escalation... its easy to assume if Albie did that and Andronikos found out, his stepfather would have only a short time left in this world if the Emperor was of age. Goading teenage emperors into a rage by murdering their first love isn't a good move for career enhancement... chances are high Albie has a less... direct... way of removing her or her influence...
RGB - Maybe that would explain why Albie has been so adverse to war--its the domain of the young (which he certainly isn't)? More likely its because its far too uncertain for his diplomatic mind. He likes the certainly brought about by the blades of Eleutherios and others, not the uncertainty offered by a clash of arms...
Enewald - Ironic indeed should it happen that way...
canonized - Thank you for popping in again! That's the big reason I like doing those graphics--it saves massive "block of explanation text" writing, which is boring to write and often boring to read, and it lets me play with Photoshop more (and
play is what I do... fidgeting around, trying things... best way to keep learning!)
The next update has only just been started, it probably won't be posted until this weekend at the earliest, maybe the start of next week. There
might be an interim in the meantime, maybe not. We'll have to see how things develop!
