Rome AARisen - a Byzantine AAR

[Kirsch27]

Dude, wow. The beginning of that update was pretty sad, with Gabriel, and then we went to absolute hilarity at the end with Andronikos and Ioannis being about as evil as you can be, while simultaneously playing with a little baby, whom I style his Imperial Bastardship Manuel. Seriously, that is so messed up, they're just bouncing him up and down while they're talking about killing his mom and all the midwives and servants. This kid's gonna turn out to be one sadistic little man, I tell you what.

[Deamon]

I love it when a plans comes together! You see, I've been purposefully delaying reading your AAR, tonight after doing my homework I thought: "It's time" and behold multiple updates for me to read! And really a lot has happend once more in Romanion! A joy to read once more!

So finally Gabriel is done for! But I must applaud you, you actually made me feel some sympathy for the old guy, I never liked the young Gabriel much but this guy.. He's better. A shame about his son Nikephoros though, I bombarded him to my favorite guy and he stook with it to the end. Really his dead scene was superb and in the top of my list of scenes.

Andronikos has turned out in quite the emperor, but for how long? I don't know why, but somethings off about him! He's to "perfect" at the moment. Something must be wrong with him right? Atleast he's got a son that's born to kill.

All with all! It was a splendid read

PS.
This Aionios fella, I feel he will be important.. Important for the downfall of the Roman Empire that is!

[Frrf]

I'll miss Albie, I always actualy liked him. As for Gabriel, I hope this isn't the last we hear of him. I have a feeling he'll try to influence events in Persia in true Roman fashion, after all, he has shown himself capable of subterfuge in the past. On a different note, I change my guess for robo-nun to the king or queen of Transoxiania.

[Zzzzz...]

Amazing update. The first part is just sad, atleast Gabriel became a legendary character in their history.

[Vesimir]

God dang it. :/ I'm hoping for a Napoleon like escape from Gabriel but I'm pretty sure that won't happen... Oh, well. My favourite character has passed away. Long live Alexandros the Younger! But Gabriel really had became wiser with age. Too bad he couldn't tell Albrecht what he wanted to.

It is kinda sad seeing Albrecht pass away even though I never liked him. But as a victim of Andronikos he's automatically OK.

[Tommy4ever]

Interesting. I feel this child shall have an exciting future ....

It did seem a little heartless the way they dismissed Safiya though.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the latest crisis in everyone's favourite Imperium.

[FrozenWall]

I'm hoping for a Napoleon like escape from Gabriel but I'm pretty sure that won't happen...

ye, he deserves a waterloo!

[Siind]

ye, he deserves a waterloo!

Or at least a chance to fall on his own sword, or have a heart attack or... something. The old guy really dosn't deserve to be dragged through the streets like some damn trophy.

[FlyingDutchie]

Alas poor Albrecht, I've always had a soft spot for the man. He was probably the most loyal man in this AAR, so loyal to the very concept of the Empire he would even exile his son or order a frend to die. Men like him are rare in history. Guess even Andi grasped this, after the closest thing he had to a father died.

Lots of potential threats and plotpoints in that one. Guess a new Mongol threat is looming in the distance, while Manuel II might raise hell if he ever finds out his true heritage as the most pure blooded Komnenid around. The very mention of a Royal house of Pola could mean a Von Franken resauration too, which would be interesting to say the least. But I guess I should wait a bit more for all that to be revealed...

[vanin]

The scene with Ioannis, Andronikos and little Manuel... probably the best one I've seen here in this AAR, incredible! I hope that Manuel will recieve a bright future, yet I fear that that might not be the case.

As usual, looking forward to the next update and what the new chapter might bring!

[General_BT]

Sorry replies are so late this time! We had company last weekend, coupled with Christmas preparations, so time disappeared quickly! The next update is started, with luck I might finish it before Christmas. If not, it'll likely be posted sometime middle or late next week.

vanin – I just loved the irony of the scene—a father meeting his son, them bouncing the uncaring baby as it coos and giggles, all while they giggle about the baby killing its mother! It seemed suitably—dysfunctional.

FlyingDutchie – Albrecht was that rarity in Roman politics—someone who was loyal, and dependable. The only times he was disloyal (keeping Gabriel from the throne, for example) were times when being loyal would have, in his estimation, hurt the Empire as a whole. There are many who will aspire to this (and others who will use that sheep’s-clothing to disguise their wolf-like intentions), but there won’t be another Albrecht…

You’re right on all accounts—there is a future Mongol threat from the East down the line, and I will say this—by the EU3 timeline, Albrecht’s descendants are indeed royalty. I will not say where, however!

Siind – Andronikos didn’t kill him because he knew parading Gabriel through the streets in his ‘triumphal’ return to Konstantinopolis would be the ultimate way to ‘castrate’ the old man’s ability to be a threat—as well as being the gravest insult to Gabriel possible. For a generation of Romans from The City, Gabriel has been the perpetual ‘Boogie-Man’ from the east. For Andi, there was no better way to cement his position in the eyes of the public than to parade the boogieman through the streets in golden chains…

FrozenWall – Gabriel, even defeated, probably wishes he had a Waterloo, a glorious death in battle instead of captivity. For Andi, that’d be about as bad an outcome as Gabriel winning—considering Gabriel’s reputation, it’d be too easy for him to become a martyr in the East, and an uncontrollable ‘boogieman’ in the West, with pretenders to his name causing trouble left and right.

Tommy4ever – It was completely heartless… to Ioannis Safiya was a good lay. Angelos never thought of her as a mother to his children, or even really a partner deserving actual love and attention. To Andronikos, she was a threat—Safiya’s the only woman who has been able to manipulate Andronikos (Andi willingly chose to open himself to Cecilia as he loved her). That made Safiya, in Andi’s mind, the ultimate threat—she was the one person that could make him do things whether he wanted to or not. That loss of control enraged him to no end…

Vesimir – So being a victim of Andronikos is a get out of jail free card? Gabriel and Albrecht could have done amazing things together—imagine if they had seen eye to eye, and Thomas II had been succeeded by a Gabriel I who would be ruling to this day, with Albrecht at his side? Gabriel was too proud to compromise with his uncle, and Albrecht saw Gabriel’s pride and appetite for war as a threat to imperial stability. There’s a huge what if for you…

Zzzzz… – Gabriel’s tragic inability to claim his birthright just seemed the thing that legends are made of—especially considering how he and his sons almost single-handedly molded a new state out of Roman-conquered-Persia, and divorced it from Konstantinopolis centered culture and religion. Andi’s triumph has it in Konstantinopolis’ politicsl orbit, but how long will that last?

Frrf – King of Transoxania? Sorry that’s not the case—that person is born west of the Euphrates…

Deamon – Andi is doing amazingly well, but he’s also had a combined run of good luck and good/ruthless support (Who wouldn’t want Ioannis Angelos to their ‘bad cop?’). If Angelos morphs from loyal friend into political power in his own right (his mother, after all, is Komnenos), or Andronikos’ sons aren’t up to their father’s caliber, or a sufficiently political person gains a great deal of power in the West, things could get very ugly very quickly.

As for the Aionios, yes, he is important in that regard… possibly not how you think he is, however…

Kirsch27 – In all likelihood, the kid won’t remember a lick of that conversation. Being raised in Ioannis Angelos’ house, though… that’s enough to turn a sane kid into a trained sociopath/killer any day…

TC Pilot – Bloodlines are going to become increasingly important—there are so many Komnenoi running around, they all can’t possibly be equal, and an Angelos, Byrennios, or other dynatos that is one generation removed from Komnenoi status can easily claim they’re more important than the Komnenoi of Pereschen (about as distant from the Megas bloodline as possible.

Smuggy McSmuggerton. Nice. I like. I couldn’t see Andronikos taking Albrecht’s death completely callously—Albrecht made Andronikos. The old German was the one that taught him to be ruthless. It was only fitting that his demise, no matter how distant, rattle Smuggy’s armor a little.

Christian V – Wow! Long time no comment! Glad to see you’re still following… and yes, I have those kinds of dark moments sometimes when writing…

Nehekara – He could simply be a different kind of gardener. Every garden needs fertilizer. Maybe he gets fertilizer by using his flail on people, then taking their bodies back to his garden?

asd21593 – There’s a pretty decent success rate at usurpation during the Komnenoi Era really. For success, we’ve got the Megas, Manuel, Basil (who ‘deposed’ his father peacefully), Christina and Nikephoros IV/Albrecht (deposed Gabriel via money, then ostracization). For failures, we’ve got Christophoros, Hajnal, Basiliea, Andreas Kaukadenos, Gabriel, and Antemios… 5/11 isn’t that bad a success rate…

Siind – Even being half as awesome leaves massive shoes to fill! Glad to see you’re still reading as well!

AlexanderPrimus – Thank you… I tried my best. I only hope the next chapter is just as well received!

Leviathan07 – After Transoxania… it’d started before then (despite numerous chances, I couldn’t bring myself to beat down the broken HRE or maul France yet, for example), but forming that kingdom was the moment I decided to try to follow the characters of the emperors on the throne to the letter, and let lots of opportunities slip by…

Enewald – Assuming a normal genetic spread, I wonder how many people would be running around with Komnenoi blood in, say, 1836 in this alternate history? Enough they have their own pop in Vicky?

vadermath – Andronikos has two sons by Cecilia at this point… Demetrios who is 7, and Nikephoros who is 5. Manuel would be his third child, as well as third son. I thought about giving Albrecht an in-person death scene, but I decided it’d be more powerful (and better reinforce his demise as a power player) if his death was off camera, and we only saw the response. On one hand, Andronikos is leaping on the political opportunity, just like Albrecht of all people trained him to do. On the other, he feels a little bit of something sad. Is it regret? Is it remorse? Is it rooted in the fact he feels he did wrong, or is it the possibility that in other circumstances, Albrecht could’ve been more useful? Perhaps we’ll never know…

[Enewald]

Assuming a normal genetic spread, I wonder how many people would be running around with Komnenoi blood in, say, 1836 in this alternate history? Enough they have their own pop in Vicky?

One Komnenoi 1100.
5 in 1150.
20 by 1200.
Close to 100 at the moment in the game alive, 1250, right?
That should double before 1300, and 1350 ~200 could have their own inbred town.
Assuming they are rich and powerful, it doubles again before 1400, and 1450 there could be thousand of them.
But since they like killing each other, it might slow the breeding a bit.
Incest should be after so many generation no problem.

By 1800, at least then, we have over million Komnenois.
Year 2000, there is no humanlike being without the blood of Alexios Komnenos in his veins.

[Deamon]

Deamon – If Angelos morphs from loyal friend into political power in his own right (his mother, after all, is Komnenos), or Andronikos’ sons aren’t up to their father’s caliber, or a sufficiently political person gains a great deal of power in the West, things could get very ugly very quickly.

And what about... All three?

[Fulcrumvale]

Sorry I've dropped off the face of the thread for a few months--it's been a very busy semester. But I just spent about five post-wisdom-teeth-removal hours catching up, and damn, it's been excellent as always. It's always sad to see the passing of another generation, but Altani's sudden off-screen death seemed particularly sudden and wrenching. Albrecht had a very long time in the sun before Andi forced him out, but Altani was always fighting to forge her kingdom, only to see it stamped out suddenly and brutally in the course of an afternoon in Persia.

Religious developments in Arabia seem to be coming to a head. I have a feeling the next rumblings from Egypt will be Aionite missionaries sticking their noses into the Sunni/Shia split there and watching the whole thing blow up, but...I eagerly await whatever it will be.

[vadermath]

Altani was always fighting to forge her kingdom, only to see it stamped out suddenly and brutally in the course of an afternoon in Persia.

Lesson to the Mongols: Stay out of Persia.

[Frrf]

"Frrf – King of Transoxania? Sorry that’s not the case—that person is born west of the Euphrates…"
King/Queen of France?
Whoever it is, Merry Christmas to all. I would say this on the day, but I will be without internet.
And anyway, with any luck I can look forward to an update.

[Saithis]

I don't get how you can update so fast. >.>

[armonistan]

One Komnenoi 1100.
5 in 1150.
20 by 1200.
Close to 100 at the moment in the game alive, 1250, right?
That should double before 1300, and 1350 ~200 could have their own inbred town.
Assuming they are rich and powerful, it doubles again before 1400, and 1450 there could be thousand of them.
But since they like killing each other, it might slow the breeding a bit.
Incest should be after so many generation no problem.

By 1800, at least then, we have over million Komnenois.
Year 2000, there is no humanlike being without the blood of Alexios Komnenos in his veins.

[Morrell8]

All will fall before the Komnenid horde. (Gears of war Reference)

[General_BT]

Morrel8 - I have no idea about the reference. I am Gears of War-illiterate... Glad to see you're still keeping up with the story. I remember your comments from when this story was in its infancy!

armoristan & Enewald - That qualifies as a horde, however... comparable to Genghis Khan's bloodline in the modern era... literally in the millions!

Saithis - It's not that fast... I've actually slowed down quite a bit compared to what I used to be... I used to be a robot....

Frrf - Nope again... East of Italy...

vadermath - But if the Mongols learned that lesson, the story would get suddenly far less interesting! And there'd be no check to the Komnenoi spreading their brand of "wholesome goodness" over the earth...

Fulcrumvale - Welcome back! You got the luxury of reading whenever you wanted for a bit, before having to wait like everyone else. Altani was indeed a tragedy--she wanted her own realm, but was continually stymied, by both her gender and outside forces. Her lasting and greatest contribution, however, was the remade Samarkand, something which will survive her...

Deamon - All three would lead to an epic collapse on the grandest of scales...A truly Roman collapse.

Hey, made it to friends and family after slipping and sliding across the roadways of the USA. Sadly there'll be no update before next week--I have about half of the update finished, but simply ran out of time. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone, have a safe and enjoyable time with friends and family! Rome AARisen will be back next week!