I think a whole bunch of thank yous are in order!
First and foremost, I want to thank you all, the readers, for reading and supporting this story. I had an idea, but you all were often the ones to breathe life into it. Your comments, advice, and criticisms all helped shape and mold the story, as well as helped me grow and develop as a writer. I can’t tell you how many times your ideas or guesses helped me write what would happen in the story, or how often your questions helped me find shallow points I needed to clarify, or parts of this world that needed to be rounded out. Your words have been invaluable! I want to give a special thanks to AlexanderPrimus and Calipah for their significant contributions to helping me write this (You can thank AP for the Godwinsons as well as his wonderful Scottish interludes, and Calipah for all the background information that helped make ibn Taymiyya and later Muslim characters more rounded and engaging than before). There are countless others I need to thank as well, and I wish I could thank you all individually. You all deserve a salute.
Second, I also need to thank Paradox for setting up and maintaining this wonderful place called AARland, and everyone that helps moderate it and contributes to it. This place is a very warm, very welcoming environment for writers, and I seriously doubt I would’ve had the courage to start something like
Rome AARisen in another location or another format. Those of you that are interested in writing but haven’t tried, I urge you to go ahead and start your own AAR here… It’s a wonderful place, and you can only add to it through writing of your own.
As promised, I have replies for everyone! I’m currently putting together the final maps, which will be based on Divine Wind. I’m hoping this week and next to post a series of them covering Western Europe, Northern Europe, Russia, the Balkans, Egypt, the Near East, Central Asia, the far East and finally India. It will be a huge undertaking (and since I’m unfamiliar with DW province locations, there could possibly be a few errors here and there), but I’m hoping it can prove to be a starting basis for the mod…
cezar87 – Well, Timur about equaled his real life counterpart, if one counts the one time vassalages OTL Timur extracted from the Mamelukes and the Byzantines as binding as a vassalage in CK (OTL Timur never lived long enough to see how “binding” those ties actually were). OTL Timur expanded more to the north however, holding a large Golden Horde under his thumb, compared to this timeline’s Timur who has Danish allies, and rules a much reduced Blue Horde.
I’m not so sure Artair will be sailing to Konstantinopolis immediately, but if his descendants play their cards right, Alba could easily rule the waves and rule an Empire over which the Sun Never Sets…
Vesimir – Something great is what I hope comes out of it… once the mod gets off the ground. And I’m hoping that once it does, and people start playing it, I’ll be able to read what some of you will do with asundAAR stories.
Well, several Komnenoi realms are well poised for the great colonial race, especially Alba and Iberia. Their big rivals though, Burgundy, Scandanavia, and the French baronies, will bear watching too… and I’m still debating what I want the Alban dragon to look like. Yellow on Red? Red on white? White on red?
Carlstadt Boy – I bet that by 2012, there will be some left that will call themselves Romans. I doubt they’ll bear much resemblance to the Komnenid Romans (let alone the Latin Romans), but the history is so recent and rich there will no doubt be people mining it for legitimacy even 700 years later….
As for some Romans being a major power? Well, we’ll have to see what alternate histories EU3 cooks up for you guys!
vadermath – It is… especially for the people of this 14th century world. For them, there was no break in Emperor’s really. The Komnenoi rebuilt the old empire in power and size to such an extent that few would have any doubts believe they were
the Roman Empire, with a history that stretched back to Augustus. For these people, (outside of Iberia) the idea of there not being an Emperor, or someone claiming to be Emperor, would surely be a sign that the world has been turned on its head. I would imagine that this would add even more apocalyptic visions and views on top of the historical fright from the Black Death alone…
Nikolai – Like I said above, thank you, thank you… especially from you, who reads
almost every AAR on the forum, (I tip my hat to you, sir!) to say such things is a high honor. I can only say that I am glad that the ending to the story has done the rest of it justice, and I hope to see you reading my future stories as well!
And yes, Rome AsundAAR will definitely be coming, perhaps not right away, but I am going to lay the groundwork for the mod with the final maps I’ll be posting here this week!
JackTheRipper21 – Hahaha! Well, we’ll see. I might whip something together for Theodoros! As for the ending, it was hard, in many ways. The pieces to bring the whole thing tumbling down were always there—the Komnenid Empire was built on the backs of exceptional rulers/men behind the throne, and one average Joe wearing the diadem, so to speak, could start the whole thing falling—but bringing those pieces together took effort and care. I’m glad you think that they worked out so well!
Saithis – Considering in my AsundAAR AAR (I truly expect others to write some, and maybe write better ones than mine!) I’m going to be switching countries either every ruler or every ten years, haven’t decided which, I think I’ll respond to your statement with a question. “Which challenge?” Mali colonizing the New World? Iberia holding together as an Empire? King Arthur uniting Britain? There’s a slew of them available aside from the obvious ‘Rebuild the Empire.’
A new and worthy beginning—we can all hope. These are the Komnenoi after all. We’ve seen them with more than worthy beginnings and worse than foolish failings…
RGB – 1) More than likely the females were indeed sent elsewhere.
2) Varangian Carthage is an interesting place. The ‘Varangian’ portion of it is the Godwinson family and little more aside from their guardsmen. The majority of the population is either Berber descendants of the Muslim powers that ruled the region before, with a huge chunk of Greek and Italian expatriates who moved in when the city became a commercial hub. I imagine it’s a huge, cosmopolitan place, almost like Venice in OTL (perhaps even taking Venice’s place considering the fate of that city in this timeline…)
3) Romanitas?
4) Timur died exactly like OTL Timur did… on campaign into China. This Timur got further than ours… ours died just after the campaign started. This Timur made just enough progress to deal a grievous blow to the Yuan before he left.
5) Not quite finality… the leviathan is dead, but there are all sorts of fishes that are going to feed and grow off that carcass. Some of them might turn into leviathans in their own right…
The “Greeks” (as they will probably be known in the EU3 time period, as they clearly don’t rule the ‘Roman Empire’ in the way event he Cordoba emperors do), definitely need a string of level headed rulers to rebuild things. Or one ambitious and lucky conqueror. Hey, it worked with Demetrios!
Zauberfloete – Welcome to the story! The Thomases were fun to write, each in their own way—Thomas I for being Captain Violent (as my boyfriend took to calling him), Thomas II for the challenge of trying to write multiple personalities while making him still a sympathetic character, and Thomas III, because, well,
It was Thomas the Builder. And I’d also agree on your assessments—Basil is easy to love, but Basil wasn’t what the Empire needed, and yes, it was completely a victim of its own success. It went from ruling a small, cohesive realm to a sprawling empire covering many peoples and religions, without the bureaucratic understanding of how to rule them all. The Komnenoi did decent in making something ad hoc to run the whole thing, but they never could stop tinkering or break from hereditary, feudal solutions… which is ultimately what did them in.
And thank you for the song selection! I enjoyed it!
TC Pilot – Well, bear in mind you also were reading a chronicle compiled by someone who’s patron was Timur’s grandson. Shahrukh might not be pleased if Ibn Khaldun wrote that Timur looted and ransacked Konstantinopolis instead of “saving its treasures from a fire started by the defenders of the city…”
And from the moment I saw the empty throne picture, I knew it fit! Oh, I would absolutely
love to do a multiplayer game with the mod whenever its done! It’d just be the logistics of getting people together to play… and people finding a country they want to play as…
asd2195 – Now that I’ve done a trial run with it, yes the EU3 portion will in all likelihood be history book.
BraidsMAmma – The rump Empire (Balkans and most of Anatolia) could have survived… Timur was willing to let it survive as a vassal to buttress his Western front while he gallivanted into China. Instead, Anastasios’ determination to resurrect the dead title of “Megas Komnenos,” coupled with his loathing amongst the Anatolian lords, did the whole affair in. Now, you’ve got a two fight in Anatolia over who will be in control of Konstantinopolis’ ruins, and an entirely rudderless, leaderless Balkans. Considering that the Antiochean Komnenoi are vassals of the Timurids, there’s also the chance that Shahrukh could move west and settle the whole mess himself…
RedRoman – No, the Komnenoi are by no means extinct! The Komnenoi who have that name alone (those with a descent from Andronikos I) still hold power only in Spain (and there on paper only, really), and the descendants of Gabriel hold Basra and the Arabian coast (unnamed theme as of now…I don’t like just “Basra” by itself) But there are tons upon tons of other cadet branches running around. Off the top of my head, Chrysokomnenoi, Mavrokomnenoi, Skazioi, Aiguptokomnenoi, Ankyrakomnenoi, Lofokomnenoi, and tons upon tons of others… descendants from all the various branches that have split off in 300 years. The problem isn’t that there are no Komnenoi left, there are too many lol!
As it’s been posted on the internet, it’s already been published, so no HBO…
Leviathan07 – Iberia is hanging at the cusp, and I think in EU3 at the beginning it could be one of the most exciting areas. The Emperor in Cordoba has rich lands and numerous vassals, but one of his vassals is exceedingly powerful and doesn’t like him much. Things could explode at the touch of a button, or Iberia could diploannex itself into a unified empire… The Scots are survivors, and have turned the tables on the French invaders, but we’ll have to see if the Capets can scraggle up some last bit of grit to hold on.
Burgundy is still around, yes, and we’ll get to the state of the HRE (as well as most of the world) when I post the various map updates… I do have to say, I am dreading the German one lol. The Hohenfrankens are still around as well, yes. The Balkans and Anatolia have both balkanized effectively… the Balkans themselves due to Anastasios sweeping away the old order and installing new men (who are now struggling to hold their claims), and Anatolia is split between the Chrysokomnenoi and Komnenoangeloi camps.
Egypt played smart (as it has most of the 14th century) and avoided conflict, solving its disagreements through more subtle means. For them, kneeling to Timur was a simple solution to what could have been a deadly problem—they knew outside of Konstantinopolis Timur’s western interests were ephemeral, and his next goal was far to the east, so why not kneel, let him have his way, and then do as you wish when he’s gone?
The_Archduke[b/] – Wow! Long time no post! Glad to see you’re still around, and glad to hear that hallowed call one last time!
canonized – It has been a long while since I’ve seen you here friend, or on the board for that matter! Thank you for all your kind words, as well as the ideas and help you’ve furnished over the years. I hope we’ll get to see you finish the great stuff you’ve started over in EU3… there’s a whole generation of AARlanders who need to know what Timelines is!
AlexanderPrimus – Hola, amigo! Your Scots and Saxons have come off rather well… after your lovely interims I simply couldn’t let the Scottish Komnenoi slide away into obscurity (and it helped in game that Scotland held off the Capetians as well!), and as for the Godwinsons… well, there was a little bit of me personally wanting some Saxons to end up well off in this universe, even if it’s from serving as mercenaries to a foreign prince. And glories indeed—the Scots are led by no less than an Arthur Komnenos, great things are bound to happen!
humancalculator – All good things must come to an end. Of course, this means that somewhere along the line, there will be a new beginning…
Zzzzz… – If you are, you certainly won’t mind answering the few questions I have below since you’re reading will be refreshed? Thank you!
Hannibal X – Thank you for the accolades! I’ll be sure to let everyone know when it starts (as well as where the mod development thread is, etc.). Germany uniting seems to be a problem in this timeline, but stranger things have happened. Carthage is in a prime trading position, and Persia is well placed if she can break out from the Timurid thumb. Scotland has King Arthur, so they win on awesomeness… it should be an exciting start!
WelshDude – It was my pleasure, though I’d hardly call it the greatest ever. There are many many things I wish I did better, but I nonetheless thank you for such kind words!
MajorStoffer – That also might be a hilarious scene to scribble out at some point. Thomas II was greeted with accolades by his angelic predecessors… I wonder what Andronikos II would face? Or Anastasios? An eternity of ear cuffing due to their idiocy, or something equally appropriate? And I’d be thrilled if you jumped in to help with the mod, if only for things like province assignments (which is a tedious business :/). The more eyeballs on the project, the easier it will go and the quicker Rome AsundAAR can be ready for EU3…
Frrf - *bows, blushes* Thank you! I have certainly tried, and I hope my writing can live up to such kind words! This whole thing started as a way to make myself practice my writing on a regular basis, and looking back, it has improved immensely. There’s still a great deal of work to be done, in my opinion, so practice will make perfect. I’ll be sure to let you and everyone else who is interested know when and where I start my next project!
Lord Strange – I was expecting that response from my British readers!
Avernite – Well, Burgundy, the von Franken lands, and Scandanavia. I never really got a chance to do much explanation on how and why Sweden ended up conquering Norway and Denmark for good at the start of the 14th century, and it’s one of my biggest “I wish I had more time to talk about…” parts of of the whole world. Religiously, yes, I imagine that this Church chaos is going to lead to some very interesting results in the 15th century. The ideas that I had (which, please, all of you, feel free to debate, reinforce, or tear down as you see fit):
- An eventual split between Santiago/Karthagion and the rest of the Orthodox Church
- A new faith arising in Persia, with Judeo-Christian, Muslim and perhaps a little Zoroastrian element (considering by the time the Romans took Persia in the 13th century, there were still large pockets of Zoroastrianism alive in the region)
- Nestorian Christianity become the major religion of the ‘Western Mongols’ a.k.a. the khanates outside of the lands of the Great Khan or India.
- The Turks spreading Taymiyyite Islam throughout northern India.
- Arabian Muslims following their own branch of belief, basically the anti-Taymiyyites. There are large groups of these Muslims in Persia and the rest of the Near East.
- The Taymiyyite enclave in the Levant taking root
- Mali, with its own Caliphate, following its own, basically unreformed version of Islam
- The Danes of Sortmark forming a ‘proto-Uniate’ Church with Catholic and Orthodox components (since the rulers are Catholic but the majority of the populace is Orthodox)
- The Rus raising their own Patriarch and shunning Konstantinopolis for good.
I’m seriously thinking in the EU3 mod there should be an event that fires if someone controls two (or some set number) of the following cities: Cordoba, Basiliopolis, Rome, Karthagion, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, Ikonion, Konstantinopolis, Napoli and Dyrrachion, which would allow that person to make a claim to the title Megas Komnenos, for an ongoing prestige bonus. Once they control five of these, they actually get the title Megas Komnenos, for a bigger prestige bonus. Sounds like a good idea (I’m also thinking the Komnenos blood has been so diluted that most dynasties are related, in some way, to the Komnenoi…)
SkippyW – Yes, once the mod is released I’m going to make it available to everyone… Like I said, I’m hoping once that’s done I’ll get to read other people’s stories of what happens in their version of this alternate history…
Laur - Well, there are plenty of powers that are claiming the Roman mantle… the Egyptian Sultans definitely will be claiming Roman descent, there’s an Empire in Iberia, and statelets all around that are claiming they’re Roman… far more than could do so in our timeline, I think. The title of ‘Empire’ has already been desacralized, I would argue, simply through proliferation. I mean, the Komnenoi had to create the title Megas Komnenos to cover their own exceptionalness in a sea of people claiming imperial dignity. You have the following people that, through one emperor or another, have been granted the title basilieus at the very least:
Persia – Shahanshah, was originally Autokrator ton Persion.
Faraud/Transoxania – Shahjahan was Timur’s rendition of the title Megas Komnenos.
Spain – Has a Megas Komnenos.
Egypt – Basilieus in this timeline, by EU3 will change to Sultan, but still has imperial dignities.
There are four imperial-ranked successors there, and there are others with the potential to rise to the same status—southern Italy/Sicily/Karthagion, for one… as for Scotland, if Artair lives up to his name, it's a definite possibility...