Rome AARisen - a Byzantine AAR

[FlyingDutchie]

Albie accused of witchcraft?

My money would be on the patriarch as poisoner. He is a Komnenid, is concerned with the diminishing power of the church (neither Albie or Andi are particulary religious), is investigating the poisoning for some reason AND is virtually untouchable as the highest religious authority in the Empire.

Hopefully Skleros and Angelos can find the truth, but I can't even begin to imagine what either of them would do to the perpetrator...

[Vesimir]

Are there still gonna be plots, intrigues and usurpers when it gets to EU3?

What else would it be about? BT does an amazing job at portraying the intrigues and sex and rock & roll and drugs of the Roman Empire so he better continue it. Also battles. And pretty much everything.

[Sudaxe]

What else would it be about? BT does an amazing job at portraying the intrigues and sex and rock & roll and drugs of the Roman Empire so he better continue it. Also battles. And pretty much everything.

Is there any other way?

Thought, at this pace, it will take a year or two short of a decade to actually complete the AAR will the end of the playable EU3 timeline.

[Kirsch27]

The Persians didn't do it, Albrecht didn't do it, it makes no sense for the Mongols to do it, (Why distract the enemy of their enemy? Byzantium proper doesn't even share a border with the Mongols, I don't believe, and if it is it's on the steppe, Mongol Turf.) and Segeo really just doesn't have much of a reason to do it, considering he's boned no matter what. Romanos might have done it, but he hasn't given any real indication of loyalty one way or the other so far, and dead emperor or no, a dark-skinned Andalusian with no noble birth or ties to the Komnenids is about as likely to be crowned as a Chinese rice farmer.

Konstantinos might have done it, he's got the money, the ties to Vishly, and the motive, as well as the means to actually stay on the throne.

The Danes are apparently beaten, for now, but they could very well have done it as well, they sent Vishly in the first place, and they've obviously got a motive, a list of them in fact. Plus they just pulled this trick a few years back, only with a killer horse, not a killer brew.

The other european rulers, a disgruntled dynatoi or despotes, or even a new arrival on the scene are always suspects as well. I don't see why the Patriarch would have done it, he really doesn't stand to gain much from killing an Emperor, and Andronikos hasn't been particularly opposed to the Church, either. But he is also a suspect, especially because his men found those weird little dolls a bit too quickly, and someone had to have planted them there, someone who could arrange access to the study.

I think Konstantinos, the Danes, or an (as of yet) unknown player pulling the Patriarch's strings are the most likely suspects at this point.

[Laur]

I think it's the hand of the Borgias...

[Deamon]

Fools! Andronikos himself did it! So he could root out all the deadwood and take control himself! Who would suspect that? Nobody! A cunning plan indeed.

[Panjer]

Fools, all of you!

[General_BT]

Panjer – Oh Edmund! How we miss thee! Maybe one of his descendants needs a cameo at some point…

Deamon – If Andronikos himself did it, that’d take some ridiculous level plotting. But what could he accomplish by having someone (Vishly clearly got his orders from a third party) up the poison dosage without just telling Vishly?

Laur – I can’t wait for that series!

Kirsch27 – Some of your analysis is right, some of it is not. I won’t say anything else for fear of spoiling the chapter. Ioannis definitely seems loyal, but is he a good actor, or is he that fanatically dedicated to his friend? Kaukadenos started as a friend of an Emperor as well, after all…

Sudaxe – At this point, it looks like the narrative sections of the story will DEFINITELY end with CK. By the EU3 timelines, there will be so much going on over so many different places that people will be interested in that I think I’ll have no choice but to move to a more history book timeline of sorts…

Vesimir – That said, there’ll still be plenty of intrigue and drama. Just told in a different way. Well, Gabriel’s finally doing what everyone has been hoping he’d do since 1247—he’s getting up and moving full bore for his birthright…

FlyingDutchie – Patriarch Thomas is a Komnenid, but he’s from the most remote branch from power possible—he’s descended from the original Manuel Komnenos, Prince of Sinope, who murdered the father of the Megas and tried to overthrow Demetrios during the early days of his reign. The Pereschen Komnenids are perhaps the poorest and least well regarded branch—Thomas becoming Patriarch is the highest office they’ve sniffed since their progenitor briefly was Kaisar from 1091-1092…

Zzzzz… – Sophie’s one of my favorites as well—a perfect compliment to Basil, and I’d say the most sensible part of the best ruling duo the Empire has had…

asd21593 – That’s seemed to be the mantra lately.

vanin – Well, the question is if, during such a power vacuum, the Patriarch would have waited for someone to tell him to investigate, or if based on rumors he’d heard, he decided to do so anyway? Anastasia had complained before that her husband was using black magic…

Avalanchemike – I haven’t played Dynasty Warriors in forever… and I haven’t read my copy of Three Kingdoms in about as long. The analogy is perfect! My homage, though, was completely coincidental…

Fulcrumvale – Ioannis is the type of person who could slit the throat of a baby, then with blood still on his hands, pick up the child of a friend and play with it. We’ve only begun to see what he’s capable of…

Servius Magnus – Maybe… though everyone one seems to be forgetting what tends to happen during moments of governmental crisis—the little bureaucrats still trundle along, often without orders, and keep doing what they’ve always done. There’s a certain comfort in following a routine, even if the routine makes no sense at that time or could be changed at any moment. No doubt the minor grain monitors, kephaloi and other low officials are quietly doing the same, praying word comes from Konstantinopolis as to who is their new master.

Or yeah, someone could have already stepped into the gap.

vadermath – The Pope of course! Seriously, the Patriarch’s involvement, like I said above, is one of the linchpin’s to this mess. Did he lurch ahead on his own? Is he getting orders? Was it preplanned and he’s simply (if blindly) following through with his part despite the situation changing? We’ll have to find out!

Enewald – Danorum delenda est? Albrecht wasn’t expecting the Patriarch to conduct himself like that—since the ascension of Thomas and his sidekick Aquinas, Albie has a rather dim view of their political intelligence (to the point he relished putting Aquinas in his place). He probably didn’t have his guards ready to intercept them simply because he thought they were going to be bumbling idiots like before, and not the spearpoint of an attack directly on him…

RGB – Nope, no precedent of the sort, which makes this even more mysterious. There have been Patriarch’s who have tried to act this way before (the instances I can think of involve threatening Emperors who married more than thrice), but no one has outright accused an effective ruler of witchcraft, to my memory… and yes, even bowing and praying to God, Albrecht is not capable of shutting off his political mind. I’m sure God’s quite annoyed at the constant interruption.

canonized – Interesting little twist? More like an, “Awww *bleep*!” moment in game. Albrecht was my most talented courtier! Why do the most talented courtiers always get accused of witchcraft? Why can’t it be bumbling bozo with a 1 martial who lost an army to three peasants without any pitchforks?

Ah, but I digress. In all honest, the medieval mind would have probably jumped to something like witchcraft for those who weren’t versed in poison. You have to remember that for the medieval world, advanced science and logical thinking was almost intrinsically paired to religion and superstition. Witchcraft was a conclusion that, in their minds, could be reached through a perfectly reasonable series of Aristotelian deductions and logical process. It’d therefore make sense that in a potential case where the stakes are this high, that if the Church is involved it would turn to its foremost intellectual mind in Aquinas to deal with the issue…





Well, things are coming together quickly for the move! I likely will not have time to work on any update from now until next week, so the next full update likely won’t get posted until the Friday after next or so, once I’m settled into my new place. But don’t fret, I shan’t leave you all empty handed! Here, in no random order, are parts of the latest version of a map for EU3. Compared to previous ones, there are far more countries with far more vassals and allies of the major powers instead of big blocs that are centrally ruled. It’s by no means complete, and considering there’s at least six months before I begin modding in earnest, things are very likely to change. Like before, I’ve only colored places that are different than they are in HttT… if its left blank, at least in this version, it will be the same as in HttT…

Enjoy!

[Enewald]

MEIOU map would serve better your game. And you called add 'Blessed by God' to every warlord for the first 100 years... and see gigantic armies tremble the world map.

[RGB]

Terrific spilterrification! I'm impressed.

I was searching for new Paint.NET fonts yesterday, came across this one you have on the map, didn't use it. Seeing it in use, it's not half bad.

[FlyingDutchie]

Like the map and the possible implications. An independent Spain, Italy and Egypt (not surprising as that was foreshadowed) are nice targets to bring back into the fold. The Russia's are splintered as ever and it looks like the 100th year war will be fought on English soil. Like the Dutch state .

The Crimea isn't Byzantine purple, so I guess the Danes have harrased Romaion enough to abandon the Black Sea Coast. Wonder if the Danes can hold out against the Tatars and Russians in the future.

In Asia it looks like the Mongols are there to stay, if the large North Chinese state is Mongol, that is.

[Vesimir]

MEIOU map would serve better your game.

This by a milion times. Either MEIOU or the Whole World Mod would be a thousand times better than vanilla.

[Sudaxe]

May I ask what the countries in Finland and the Baltic States are?

[General_BT]

To repeat what I said a while back, there won't be any MEIOU, Whole World, Magnus Mundi, etc, primarily because of the cpu load. My computer is old, and comparatively craptastic. It has major issues with vanilla HttT, and it'll slow to a crawl if I add as many provinces as are in MEIOU or Whole World. You all are more than free to do a conversion if you'd like though...

This is assuming I have the same computer when modding time comes around. If the fates have been kind, and I have something more... you know... game worthy, then MEIOU or Whole World would be a definite yes on the modding front!

I'll also say don't read too much into the colors... I used what palettes were available to distinguish a country from the others in the area. Part of the fun is me not revealing what's what, so you all can guess lol.

[Ksim3000]

Hey BT,

Gotta say I've been enjoying the updates as usual and also looking at the EU III HTTT map, I am indeed impressed! I may even download a copy once you've done and try and play the game myself. I hope the AI files are up to scratch though and it dosen't become a case of one power dominating everything with a lame duck AI. Still, it'll be interesting to see how you progress with the conversion.

Anyway, in regards to a narrative, I think you could do one for EU III, depending what country you play. Considering you have Monarchs and Advisors, etc, you could create a story although it would require extra creativity on your part. But never say never.

[VladAntlerkov]

So what am I seeing there in central Europe, the Arpad dukes of Franconia or the Von Franken kings of Hungary?

[Saithis]

Looks good - good luck with HTTT madness.

[Zzzzz...]

Awesome maps! Who's the red one on Japan? Mongol Shogunate or Imperial Japan fighting back? I'm hoping for the former.

The variety of green colours on the northwest of Golden Horde is Russia (and her vassals)? I hope it is!

Zzzzz… – Sophie’s one of my favorites as well—a perfect compliment to Basil, and I’d say the most sensible part of the best ruling duo the Empire has had…

Too bad Anastasia (1st wife of Demetrios) died early. Otherwise, a contender for the title "Best ruling duo of the Empire".

[Panjer]

Awesome maps! Who's the red one on Japan? Mongol Shogunate or Imperial Japan fighting back? I'm hoping for the former.

I'm guessing the mongols control the two islands in the south whilst the shogunate controls the mainland of Japan.

[Tommy4ever]

Just caught up again after a month without reading this.

The story really has started to heat up. I can't wait for the climax of this section when the Persian Komenids march West while intrigue in the City comes to a head.

As always fantastic writing General_BT!