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Rome AARisen - a Byzantine AAR

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Vesimir - Manuel was roughly Andie's age when he started trying to challenge Nikolaios and was rebuffed. He didn't pull his big coup until a couple years later after some time to watch and learn. However, by age 17, Manuel had effectively conquered Egypt. True, his opponent was a certain inept Edmund, but defeating a formidable Norman army at such a young age isn't something to be sneezed at...

cezar87 - Considering his lofty reputation amongst the readers, I don't think Manuel in the flesh could beat Manuel! :D In all seriousness, the man was a one of a kind, a devious/sociopathic genius. While some people might have shades of him, we won't probably see his carbon copy ever again...

Enewald - Not really? Only two people have tried it that I can remember. It's not exactly a healthy way to gain power...:rofl:

vadermath - Well, Andie was young, but the Gardener too failed when he was at that age (twice actually). He learned from his mistakes though. We don't know yet if Andie has a second chance to learn from his... if he lives, its likely a mistake he'll never forget.

humancalculator - Well, if it was crimson (considering Andie was under the effects of a hallucinogen, do we know it was crimson, or even blood, or if he was even puking at all? :wacko:) that'd indicate fresh blood, some kind of stomach or intestinal bleeding which would be a major health issue.

AlexanderPrimus - Joyce seemed to be my most common one (barely) amongst the chapters I tried. I'm surprised though that Manuel's self poisoning scene got Dan Brown. I'm even more surprised that Thomas II's death, one of the most tear-jerker updates in the whole AAR, got H.P. Lovecraft. Maybe the program thought Thomas' death signaled the return of Cthulu...:rofl:

Kirsch27 - And this is why, IMHO, good stories don't have a main-characters-don't-die rule. There's no suspense otherwise, unless you really believe someone could be offed. And you're spot on about the belladonna, good detective work. It works much like an opiate in terms of ODing, but it doesn't cause digestive tract bleeding. So, did Vishly mix something else in? Or is something else entirely going on? Hmmm... medieval forensics...

..and yes, safe assumption about Albrecht.

Vesimir - I randomly tested quite a few tracts from AARs I read around the forums, there was alot of Dan Brown, Ian Fleming, and David Foster Wallace. In the OT the thread about this site comments the default seems to be DFW, for some reason...:wacko:

Fulcrumvale - Well, the Persians had their wacky period. Perhaps exile and time spent in "time out" has taught them the error of their ways? Or, it could all come crashing down in the heat of the moment... we'll see soon!


A while back I promised I'd do a series of "What If" interims. Here is the first in the series! Enjoy everyone!

whatifmanuelhadsurvivedcopy.png
 
Vesimir said:
CSI Constantinople!
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That would be unneeded, what the Emperor says is what happened. Or what the Megoskyriomachosomthing says.

To Andronikos poisoning himself;
He poisons himself in order to have everyone thinking his wife-to-be did it so that her relatives would march unopposed to the City. If he manages to make the people think that Safiya and her wholy family, including the Lion and Whore of Babylon are thoroughly evil, they must opposed by any means necessary, boosting the morals of the loyalists against the armies of Persia. :D
Very Byzantine, right?
That way he could also marry his lost love and possibly get rid of Albrecht, who was for this marriage with the devil, also cooperating with the foes of the Emperor.
Who cares of health when you want power. Just being a Komnenoi is unhealthy.
 
Enewald said:
That way he could also marry his lost love and possibly get rid of Albrecht, who was for this marriage with the devil, also cooperating with the foes of the Emperor.
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Which would be the worst thing he could do. Without Albrecht, he would have the roman bureaucracy on his head. And if he would put someone on Albrechts place, the empire would fall apart and we would move to full blown feudalism with nobles that really don't care what their emperor wants. Anarchy.
 
I like the what-if. A very non-obvious outcome analysis.

And man, is that a nice helmet or what?

CSI Constantinople...sounds like cameo material.
 
Vesimir said:
Which would be the worst thing he could do. Without Albrecht, he would have the roman bureaucracy on his head. And if he would put someone on Albrechts place, the empire would fall apart and we would move to full blown feudalism with nobles that really don't care what their emperor wants. Anarchy.
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This, a thousand times this.

Albie (or his subordinates and puppets) is, by this point, probably present in every single bureaucratic institution, spy network, noble court, etc...you get the point. Imagine what would (and will) happen once the single person controlling most of them dies/is killed/banished? The Apocalypse. Albrecht has, after all, had more control over the Empire than any person in Europe not wearing the purple, Mehtar included. Andronikos would be a fool to remove his stepfather from power completely, especially now, with the Lion of Persia returning to claim what was his years ago. And all of this for a woman! Pfft! He's like Basil, except less competent. Let's hope he learns from his mistakes, and becomes wiser with age. And yeah, I'm 100% sure he'll live. Why? Nikky died prematurely, BT definitely won't pull the same stunt twice.

Vesimir said:
CSI Constantinople!
Click to expand...

Horatio, it seems the Emperor has been stabbed with a dagger!
"Well, it seems he was really..."
*puts on sunglasses*
"livin' on the edge!"
YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAH!
 
Albie will be out of the picture sooner rather than later. Even if Andi doesn't completely remove him from power he will die of old age soon enough.

I doubt Andi hasn't thought about a replacement already. He wants Albrecht punished (and maybe dead) but not the Empire destroyed. The best choice from the current court (as far as I can remember it) would be Anastasia since she seems to have some skill with intrigue. Maybe not Albrecht's equal but, then again, no one is. A power vacuum and some chaos are inevitable.

Oh, and how old IS Albie? Every time I try to think of it I just get the impression he's been there forever:wacko:.
 
TC Pilot said:
Albrecht has been around a long time. He first appears on page 111 (it's now p. 238), back in February 2009, in AD 1207 at the age of 10. Meaning, as of this last update, he's 66.
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Yeah, he's like the Rome AARisen "smoking man."
 
vadermath said:
Hell, he's probably the longest-running character of the entire AAR! I get giddy just by thinking of his death scene; it'll probaby be suitably epic.
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Knife fight for life with the emperor which takes place on the highest point of the Kosmodeon palace and leads to both of them falling from the top constantly fighting and dropping into the Marmara not to be seen again for a few months after which Albrecht returns in a new more powerful form ready to steer the Empire for years to come?!
 
I didn't think that perhaps he was hallucinating the blood/whatever, but that's possible. I read the last bit of that scene as from a neutral point of view, rather than Andronikos', though, after he started to phase in and out of lucidness and the vomiting bit. So I assumed the courtiers were freaking out about it, but maybe he imagined that too, after all he's having some sort of delirious rapture, who knows what's really real in that update, post-grappa intake.

As for the debate against removing Albrecht, I don't think this'd be a good time to straight up chop the dude's head off, because that WOULD cause his agencies to disintegrate/implode/whatever, but if Andronikos uses the weak position Albrecht's in, or shortly going to be in, to regain control over many of the Megoskyriomachos' powers and capacities, then removing Albrecht would be much less of a problem, and indeed a boon once control is fully placed in the hands of the Emperor. The only questions are A- Does Andronikos plan on doing this, and can he pull it off/not die a gruesome death in his marital bed, and B- Does he have the skill necessary to control such a vast intelligence empire, and still administrate/do battle for Romanion at the same time?

He's actually in a fairly good position politically as long as he doesn't die, (There's ALWAYS a catch...) but if he's too weak or too stupid/distracted/youthful/inexperienced to take advantage of that, he could be put into a rather bad position, rather quickly. He made an ultimate gamble, the die's been cast, but now we wait to see what he rolled.
 
There's a lot of possible outcomes to the poisoning, and if Andi is lucky vomiting could have saved him. In several cases however, vomiting will cause some nasty damage to esophagus and pharynx.

It really all depends on what exactly he's been posioned with, and how that, eh, synergizes with the ethanol.

I like the idea of an over-the-top-silly-dramatic-dorky-cool fight between Andi and Albie(We could rule the empire as father and son!). (Un)fortunately it's not really in the vein of this AAR.

Really liked the What-If by the way!
 
Nehekara - Thank you. :) I think the Albrecht-Andronikos fight would definitely be the Hollywood ending to the arc, but I'm working on a, um, more worthy end for our dear von Franken... besides, Albie doesn't have cybernetic enhancements. Youth would definitely triumph...

Kirsch27 - Considering there's currently no heir, the courtiers would be freaking out if the emperor coughed too much, let alone if it was obvious he was poisoned. And yes, now's the time to figure out whether Andronikos rolled a 20 (instant success in D&D parlance), or a 1 (instant failure)...

Vesimir - Neither Andie nor Albie have lightsabers, so I'm afraid there'll be no appeals for Galactic Domination, or revelations at Albie is actually Andie's father... :p

vadermath - Albie probably has generations of patronage built up throughout the system. He's an institution unto himself. But even the greatest insitution can be torn down--some just have to be disassembled more carefully than others...

TC Pilot - By page-count, Albie is the longest running character. In terms of age, however, Emperor Manuel, and Patriarch Igantios Komnenos have him beat...

cezar87 - If Albie goes, Anastasia is certainly one replacement. However, there'd be definite opposition to a woman taking a position as powerful as Megoskyriomachos, so if she did it she'd likely take the role in a more unofficial way, like how Sophie ran the intelligence part of Basil's Empire while Rodrigo officially headed the spies. Megoskyriomachos itself could go to a simple stooge at that point...

RGB - I had a good idea that everyone would assume that Manuel would poison his way out of the Turkish war, but that'd require spying and networks beyond even Manuel's abilities. What readers tend to forget is that like his father, Manuel was also a warrior and respected by the army as such. If war came, he would be expected to lead the main Byzantine response to the Sultan's invasion, and expected to face Sulieman in battle. The only Roman who probably could've beaten Sulieman was Basil. If Manuel and Sulieman had met, Basil at best would've been commanding a tagma of his own, not the army. The results of the battle would have undoubtedly gone bad for Romanion...

Enewald - Yet another good one liner! I'm going to have to find a way to incorporate "Just being a Komnenid is unhealthy" into the story somehow! :)
 
Vesimir said:
I was going for a LotR feel. Epic battle, a few days pass, and Albrecht the White returns.
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But Andie isn't wreathed in smoke and flame and he's not 24 feet tall. Lightsabers, smokey flamey batwings of doom... same diff... :rofl:
 
So, how far do you guys think Gabriel and co. can pacify if they defeat the Imperial armies in the east? I think they might be able to take Anatolia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt if they defeat Bataczes. Italy, North Africa, the Balkans and Spain are a completely different story however.
 
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