Enewald - Alexandros' martial is insane, but its not unique. Clemente Kosaca (Basil's right hand man) had a martial of 20, and there was Basil's 24, of course. Should Alex the Younger live to use it, he could certainly join the upper stratosphere of Roman commanders from the period. If he survives, of course--even Basil with his 24 got thumped badly in his first major battle...
AlexanderPrimus - The dichotomy of the two struggles of life and death was completely unintentional actually. The update needed a major dose of politics from around Romanion, but needed to address the loss of Cecilia... that just seemed the most natural way of writing it. Thank you for the compliments, though!
asd21593 - The real question is, how does Andronikos deal with his grief? Does he go into seclusion? Does he go on a murderous rampage? We don't know--that's been left hanging...
Zzzzz... - That would be a rather devious plan... force Gabriel to accept terms in return for saving Persia. That's if Andie doesn't plan on simply letting Gabriel hang where he is...
FrozenWall - Well, Gabriel et al have been the greatest threat to Andronikos since his coronation--Andie could be calculating that Persia is so far removed and so hard to control that Arghun won't be a threat like Gabriel would. Or, could Andie be up to something else? Is he up to anything at all?
vanin - Anastasia has kind of disappeared from the story, at least for the time being. She may or may not return at a future date, we'll have to see. And yes, Andie's life has been rather tragic so far--losing his father when he was a toddler, then his uncle when he was a child, and now the love of his life. It'd be enough to drive many people to drink, or worse...
Qorten - Andronikos was rather emotionless to begin with... remove the one thing that genuinely got emotion out of him? Are you left with a ruthless automaton of an emperor? Or someone that'll let loneliness and loss get the best of them?
vadermath - There are definitely parallels between Andronikos and Demetrios losing the loves of their lives so early on. The big question is will Andie recover better than Demetrios did? As for the Mongols, their invasion is hurried and not as equipped as Arghun would like, but they're still coming with a vast host against a Persia whose armies are divided. Arghun's got local superiority, and can potentially destroy the Persian armies in detail. One thing is for sure--it'd be doubtful there'd be a Minas Tirith--Arghun wouldn't deploy his elephants in a siege, that's what the endless mass of Indian levies are for...
...as for Albie, we'll hear from him one last time in the coming updates...
Leviathan07 - Considering he's suddenly the most eligible bachelor in Europe, and his hand could cement a lasting, powerful alliance or two, it's inevitable he'll remarry. Whether he'll love that wife, or even respect her, is a major question, however. As for Andie talking about strategic matters as his wife is giving birth, its partly an outgrowth of what I see Andie wanting to do when he's nervous and stressed. He's a "policy wonk"--he loves the minutae of policy and intrigue, and I can see him retreating to that when he's nervous about something outside his control (like his wife giving birth)--its a distraction that helps him psychologically feel in control. *shrug*
Laur - That's a good point. Cecilia was definitely a moderating influence on Andronikos--fiscally, and likely morally. Without her, will his ego and his ruthlessness take over? We'll have to see!
Kirsch27 - It was doubtful that Andie would have become a Basil-like family man... he doesn't share Basil's beliefs, or Basil's chivalry. That might be the better thing for Romanion though--Basil's family squabbles resulted in a civil war and the formation of the Western Empire after his death... as for Alex, one thing is for sure. If he wears a bright purple cape into battle, he
will be easy to see!
Sergei Meranov - I'm sure others would disagree about assessing Andronikos as "reasonable," (
)but in family life, yes, he was at least happy--something few of the Komnenid emperors have enjoyed...
RGB - The sun does go down from there, but you only see it if the sun is out and its not a blustery, rainy day...
Tommy4ever - Ego the size of a continent isn't a flaw? :rofl: Cecilia's loss is going to definitely shake him up psychologically--maybe you'll get your wish?
Vesimir - Out of curiosity, what is so special about Dihistan?
EDIT - Next update is about half done, sitting at 5 pages. Wholly in Persia, I'll let you know. You can deduce what that could mean.
