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Once again, I am up late, and taking a break from work (dissertation proposal once again... its almost done, I feel I deserve a little break). This won't be an update (I haven't started it yet, it'll probably go up next Thursday or Friday most likely), but I'd like to do some replies, and also tell a bit about what happened at Tell Bashir...

AlexanderPrimus - Once again congratulations! I'll put it bluntly - you were an extremely easy pick for me to nominate. Your AAR is a carefully pieced together wonder (compared to my cumbersome, often haphazard work :)). I can only hope you'll keep advising me on music choices for the AAR! (I have several lined up - AP has heard them already)

canonized - Yes, I thought it was time Temujin made his appearance. Officially he was born circa 1162, but a) this is alternate history, 1161 isn't far off, and b) 1162 is an estimate. Sure he won't show up again for a long while, but it was a pleasant aside from events in Europe and the Middle East. :)

And yes, Zeno does underestimate Basil. While Basil has scruples, he isn't a slouch... as a kid his intrigue score is decent. Its more Basil knows all sorts of ways he can cause trouble, he's just has too many scruples to use many of them. Will that be a fatal flaw? We'll have to see.

VILenin - Kosmas isn't dead! The messenger reported that the Megas Doux barely escaped, one of a precious few. As for Manuel, he is down, he's in horrible pain, but he is definitely not out. At the very least he's getting vengeance on Zeno by staying alive - look for him to try to add to that.

Fulcrumvale - That problem seems to plague the would be usurpers. Zeno's case its not necessarily incapability, but really really bad luck. His double assassination plan failed in that Manuel and Basil are both alive (even if the Emperor is crippled) and he was off by one year on his estimate of when the Turks would come. All of this put together has foiled his plan - he's the Regent, titularly in charge, but his powers are hamstrung by competing factions and the ongoing crisis. If Manuel had died, Zeno could have pulled a John Tzimices or Nikephoros Phokas and claimed co-emperorship with the minor Basil, and pushed the kid aside to rule on his own. If Basil had died, he could have manuevered himself into being heir and co-emperor, pushing Manuel aside. If the Turks hadn't invaded, he would have had a precious year to corral the bureaucracy, the church, and the dynatoi to the point the army's objections might be invalid. Alas for poor Zeno...

kalendaree - Not likely. If the two met when Genghis historically has troops roaming in Armenia and Georgia, the early 1220s, Genghis would be in his early sixties and Basil would be in his late seventies (born in 1147). While Genghis was still capable into old age, it would definitely be a Battle of the Geriatrics. :)

Enewald - Well, that's all according to Mongolian tradition. I looked up some more stuff on it, some genealogists guess that those features could mean that Temujin's family had Tatar blood. The problem is we don't have any portraits made of Genghis from his lifetime (according to wiki), so we'll never really know.

As for Tell Bashir... see below. :)

English Patriot - Grim would be an understatement - the Turks now have the keys to Anatolia. We can only hope this wasn't a Manzikert...

RGB - I'd disagree. He's managed to pull a coup on Manuel when no one else could - even if the Emperor's only badly injured, Zeno came far closer than Basiliea could ever hope. It's that events larger than him came together to ruin everything for him... so far.

======*======

tellbashirbattle.gif

Tell Bashir is probably the most crushing Roman defeat since Nikephoros I was killed by the Bulgars in the 9th century. Kosmas, being relentlessly chased by two Turkish armies and finding his path of escape blocked, resolved to make a stand on a hill outside the small village of Tell Bashir. The Megas Doux hoped to badly maul the Turks during the day, then slip away with his army that night. By the book, it was about as good of a plan that could be developed in such desperate circumstances - the Romanoi were more heavily armed, man for man, than their opponents. Historically, when the Romanoi stood on the defensive and let the Turks come to them, the odds had been in their favor.

However, Kosmas had not counted on Sultan Sulieman's ability in the field. Unlike the last time the Turks faced the Romans, the Turks were not lead by a leader who felt he only had to bludgeon the Romans to death. Sulieman from the beginning stretched the Roman lines - even as his infantry went forward to skirmish with the Romanoi, his cavalry galloped north. Kosmas was thus forced to keep half his cavalry in reserve to combat this threat. Additionally, Sulieman did not order immediate full scale assaults on the Roman lines like the Turks did at Nineveh - he sent his light troops forward to skirmish with bow and javelin, harassing the Romans, holding them in place, while not wasting his men's lives.

Around noon about 8,000 Turkishn horse completed their circuit around the Roman lines, and Kosmas was forced to charge them with his cavalry reserve to keep them at bay. Once again, the Turks had been instructed to threaten and skirmish, but not fully engage. Thus the last Roman reserves were occupied when Sulieman's infantry genuinely went forward. There were no cavalry to assist the skoutatoi like at Nineveh, and steadily the were forced back. Sulieman concentrated his attacks on the left and the right, forcing Kosmas to draw reinforcements to threatened areas from his center. Around two in the afternoon, four hours after the battle started, Sulieman delivered his coup de grace - 12,000 of his newly reformed heavily armored ghulams smashed into the weakened Roman center.

The Roman army came unhinged. The center gone made both the left and the cavalry reserves suddenly surrounded. Only the Roman cavalry on the extreme right were able to successfully flee. The Turks then fully used their cavalry advantage to run down Roman survivors. The vast majority of Roman losses at Tell Bashir were not killed or wounded - maybe 10,000 suffered such a fate. Most were captured in the pell mell retreat that lasted all through the night - some 24,000 in total. Only Nineveh and Mount Tabor have come close to this sheer decisiveness in the history of the Komnenid Empire. It remains to be seen if this was a shameful blip, or the start of something more horrible...
 
General_BT said:
I actually did a wiki search on him and the entire Borijgin clan, and one of their characteristics was reddish hair (along with, supposedly, blue eyes) - to the point that Genghis Khan was supposedly surprised when he met young Kublai because the latter didn't have the family's red hair. So I tossed that in as well. :)

Central Asia is a major mixing pot and while uncommon, you do get reddish hair and lighter (green or hazel) eyes from time to time among the Afghans, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Uzbeks.

Some of the mixture could be recent but the bulk could have been from any of the numerous IE tribes that lived in the area and vanished into history.

Still I tend to see the red hair/blue eyes as somewhat of a legend, not to mention that Chinese art makes Chingiz look Chinese.

--------

1. That's a bad, bad defeat.

2. Haphazard - mine was certainly that. Yours isn't really, although perhaps Alexander plans even more.
 
Well the game's afoot with that crushing defeat . Onto the coup !
 
Out of curiosity, were the Persian casualties heavy enough to impede their advance?
 
I for one see Sulieman's invasion as the last, desperate attempt by the Turks to stop the Romans. If he should fail to regain at least some territory or inflict a lasting defeat, I just don't see how they can sustian the continued devastating losses they've suffered over the years.

Here's to hoping Basil can salvage something from this debacle.
 
A terrible defeat indeed! And only the start it seems..
 
I'm still getting caught up from my week away, but I have to stop and say "Wow!"

This Turkish War, Zeno's move. Everything. Very intense, very well written. I feel like I'm reading a novel, and a very good one.
 
Woohoo! My first draft of the dissertation proposal is off, and to celebrate, I made another update! But first, some replies for everyone:

Alfred Packer - That's very high praise, and I truly thank you. It's ironic, on my end I keep feeling there's always things I could had added, or things I could have written better. Call it author's angst, if you will - it's uplifting to know you guys like the story, and combats that tendency in my brain. As for novel worthy? Hmm...

English Patriot - Indeed it's only the start. The true scale of how things have gone bad will shortly be revealed...

AlexanderPrimus - This update, you'll get a taste...

TC Pilot - That is a very good point. Their best chance to take out the Romanoi was back in 1074, ten years before this AAR starts, when they had Emperor Michael on his knees, and Arp Arslan went away in return for payment. From that point onward, the Komnenoi especially became an eastern bulwark, took over the Empire, and the rest is history.

asd21593 - Also very high praise. Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoy it, and I hope that the future stories are just as enjoyable for everyone (I'm only about a third of the way done, if you would believe it or not...)

Fulcrumvale - The Turkish casualties weren't that heavy at all... perhaps 10,000 or so. For one, Sulieman didn't try to grind down the Roman army like Akin Ali attempted at Nineveh - his troops skirmished, and didn't close with the Romans until the absolute last minute before the decisive charge. Second, up until very recently in history (last 200 years or so) the vast majority of casualties in a battle tended to not happen in the fight itself, but rather the aftermath, when one side has broken and fled and the other is running down the victims. Tell Bashir was no different - once the Romanoi center broke, the army was cut up into pieces.

canonized - Indeed... but would a coup be the best thing for Romanion, in the middle of a war...

Enewald - The hashashin right now are laying low... before Sulieman went on this Roman adventure, one of the first things he did was storm the hashashin fortress at Alamut. He'd learned Malik Shah's lessons well.

RGB - Indeed. In terms of numbers lost, its far larger than Manzikert (which, by itself, wasn't that decisive of a defeat. The aftermath was the disastrous part). However, Romanion has more troops to lose this time than in real life. As for haphazard or not - trust me, it really really is, at least behind the scenes. XD

Well, without further ado, the next update!

romearisen2.png


"Who we are, and how we think, are left in the debris of our daily lives." - Basilieos Komnenos


May 2nd, 1162

Ikonion theme


"...1,270"

Sulieman Arslan raised en eyebrow and frowned. THe flap into his tent fluttered in the breeze, as the Sultan looked the messenger up and down. His displeasure was palpable.

"Fetch this man some water," the Sultan called to one of his servants, even as his hands clenched and unclenched in anger. Curtly, he gestured to the rider to sit next to him - the poor man wasn't the target of the Sultan's anger. Swiftly a pitcher of water appeared before them. After the man had supped two cups to wash away the thirst of travel, the Sultan began peppering him with questions.

"Almost thirteen hundred men lost?" Sulieman grumbled.

"Yes," the messenger poured a third glass. "Murad reports however that despite the losses, Edessa is now in the hands of the Faithful."

"If my son spends the lives of his soldier so freely, what price will he pay for Antioch?" Sulieman sighed. "Out of the 60,000 I gave him last spring to subdue Syria, he has lost a third in pointless assaults!"

The messenger's mouth opened, then shut. Sulieman looked at the man, and waved his hand dismissively. "Speak your mind. I do not punish honest opinion."

"With all due respect, Majesty," the messenger said hurriedly, "I saw the siege at Edessa - the Romans fought bravely, and no matter who led our noble forces, the Romans would have exacted a great toll."

"Perhaps," the Sultan nodded. Nonetheless, the events in Syria disturbed Sulieman. True, the armies of Islam had trampled for a year over Roman forces. After Tell Bashir, no organized Roman force remained in all of Syria, and Sulieman had taken to reducing the major Syrian forts and cities one by one. Most had opened their doors, fearful of repraisal, a few had attempted to resist. Things had gone so successfully that Sulieman himself had taken the crack troops of the two armies in Syria and lunged deep into the Anatolia heartlands.

Murad, eldest son of the Sultan, had been left to supervise the remaining sieges, and while he took cities, they were almost always bloody affairs. 20,000 men in a year - almost double what Sulieman had lost in pitched battle at Tell Bashir, and an ill omen when the Romanoi, finally, seemed to be stirring.

In the Levant, the Romanoi commander, one Theodoros Komnenos, had backed away from engaging the Turkish forces opposing him - a move Sulieman considered wise. It forced Alsir Bey to detach men from his mighty host to reduce fortresses and secure his supply line, all while Theodoros slowly recieved support from the Roman armies of Egypt. Alsir Bey knew this, and his preparations for the inevitable Roman counteroffensive seemed the only reason his army had stopped in Galilee, when the Holy City was ever so close.

To the north, Kilijc Arslan had run into a redoubtable opponent in Demetrios Komnenos the Younger. Sulieman's intelligence had estimated the son of the Roman Emperor called "the Great" had barely 15,000 men under his command, but the Sultan had long since decided that information was incorrect. Kilijc had advanced, but only slowly, at massive cost in men and supplies. Even now his forces pressed over the Armenian Mountains towards Trebizond, harassed by the dogged resistance of the Romans.

Seljukcommanders.png

The principle commanders of the Seljuk invasion force - Murad Bey, Murad Arslan, Alsir Bey and Kilijc Arslan. Often these are referred to as the 'Four Lions' of Sulieman Arslan.

It seemed only in the center did the Turks gain success, but here they had success beyond any of their dreams. Sulieman had hoped to secure most of Syria in the first year - instead, with the fall of Edessa, all of Syria save Antioch lay in Turkish hands, and the Sultan himself could see the walls of Ikonion on the horizon. Once again, Allah had blocked the paths He saw unfit, and laid a path clean for the Sultan. The Roman armies of Anatolia backpedaled before the Sultan's advance, rumors abounded that the Romans had switched commanders yet again.

For the past eight months, Sulieman had faced a Roman named Romanos Venizelos, who had foolishly lost a quarter of his force at the Battle of Larissa.

"Vatazces," Sulieman said quietly. The Roman's name sounded mean, and the Sultan had precious little information on this fellow. By all accounts he was far more intelligent than Venizelos - at the least, he pulled the Roman armies back to the fields between the immense fortress cities of Nikomedia and Nikaea. Ikonion would fall to Sulieman, if the Sultan paused to lay siege, and thereby granted the Romans the time they needed to recover. Sulieman would have called on his son in Syria to provide reinforcement, but with Murad's high casualties - that was now impossible.

"Vatazces..." he looked up, then to the far side of the tent. Sitting meekly was his erstwhile guest - their weekly lunch together had been rudely interrupted by the messenger's arrival. At the Sultan's look, his guest flushed, then stared at the ground.

"Do not worry, my friend," the Sultan said in perfect, unaccented Greek, "I vowed to never put you in a position where you might betray your emperor. I intend to uphold that."

"I am very much obliged, Majesty," Kosmas Komnenos, late strategos of the Syriaton stratos bowed his head.

"However, there is something you can do for me," Sulieman said thoughtfully, before standing. Briskly, the Sultan walked over to where Kosmas sat, like he had for the past 30 weeks he'd been in captivity - slightly slouched and sullen at his current fate, but his lower back straight, too proud to admit complete defeat. Murad Bey, among others, had demanded the Roman be put to death at his capture - they argued he was far too dangerous.

Sulieman would have none of that. War was barbaric enough, without personal assassination coming into play. Instead, the Sultan had given him a fine tent, a servants as well as guards - for where others saw a dangerous enemy, Sulieman saw a specimen.

The Sultan's main exposure to Romanoi before this had been to either merchants or diplomats. The diplomats were pompous, arrogant and tended towards prattle, while the merchants were like all others - prone to avarice and able to squeeze and extra ounce of gold from every coin.

Yet the Sultan now had a Roman warrior before him - a well known, highly respected one at that.

Kosmas looked down yet again. "I cannot assist Your Majesty in attacking my people - no matter the kindness you have shown me in my captivity."

Sulieman smiled. He had kept his word, and never asked Kosmas to betray his people - but by his very being here, his reactions to news, the way he played chess, the way he sang songs, all told Sulieman small details of how the Roman mind thought - details that helped teach the Sultan how to think like a Roman. Kosmas played chess in a slow, deliberate style - much like how the Roman army chose to fight. The quickly covered sour look he gave when a messenger said Venizelos commanded the Anatolian legions told Sulieman all he needed to know about his new opponent.

And the raised eyebrows that Kosmas had given at Vataczes name also told the Sultan much - a rebel rouser, someone capable but prone to trouble - perhaps even rash.

"You needn't remind me of a pledge I fully made," Sulieman smiled gently, before dismissing the messenger. "You merely need to make your next move in our chess match," the Sultan sat down opposite his guest. "More water, dates?"

Kosmas had no idea as he moved his chess pieces, the Sultan was carefully watching, plans forming in his own mind. So Murad was spending lives recklessly - that meant the war needed a swift conclusion. As Kosmas slowly marched his way to checkmate, the Sultan found a checkmate of his own.

seljukinvasionprogress1162copy.gif

If the Romanoi persist in fighting, do what no one has done since the Komnenoi have taken the Imperial throne - directly threaten Konstantinopolis. Sultan Sulieman knows it would be difficult, even bloodthirsty, to try to take the city itself, though if Turkish campfires shine across the Bosphorus, perhaps the Romans would be keen on hearing the Turks terms - all of Syria, Armenia, Mosul, Azerbijian and Trebizond returned to the Turkish Empire...

=========*=========​

Bernard von Baden gingerly knocked at the door of Prince Basil Komnenos. The guards had said the Heir to Romanion was inside his chambers, yet Bernard heard nothing, save the shuffling of parchment.

"Basil!" the German called, "you're going to be late! If you miss Alexandros' wedding..." Bernard pushed the door wide.

As he expected, Basil was hunched over the desk in his quarters - though unlike what he suspected, the Prince already had his good cloak and tunic on. Since the disaster at Tell Bashir, the prince had been spending an increasing amount of time in his quarters, looking at maps, leeching reports whenever he could. To add to the misery of their little group, Rodrigo was gone often, slipping out of the palace in the dark of night, and not to his usual whorehouses(the homes of the wealthy, young and single women of Konstantinopolis), but to actual brothels. Something was amiss - something Bernard couldn't put his finger on what.

The whole Roman state had been an erratic beast at best the past few months. Commanders had been hired and fired irregularly, and Bernard had heard Psellos curse up a storm as the Council appointed Romanos Venizelos strategos in Anatolia. Even Basil had said a curse - if one counted "damn" as a curse. And steadily, implacably, the Sultan had advanced onwards, a slow moving wall that no one, and no thing, seemed able to stop.

Yet today, right now, Bernard needed Basil's attention. It wasn't every day that one's best friend was married. Even more rarely was when he married your sister.

"Basil!" Bernard put as much bark into his thirteen year old voice as he could muster. Unfortunately his voice hadn't dropped, so that bark came out little more than a yelp. Unsurprisingly, his friend continued looking at whatever map had his attention.

"Basil!" Bernard stalked over, and started incessantly tapping his friends shoulder. "What are you looking at!?" Bernard peered, then started to chuckle. "You're reading Arabic?" Bernard laughed, looking at the two parchments in the Prince's hands. "You're telling me you can't read Greek worth a damn, but you're reading Arabic?"

"I'm not reading it," Basil finally spoke, "I know what it already says. Its the Sultan's proclamation declaring war. I'm looking at it."

"What do you mean, looking at it?" Bernard pressed. His friend's tone had changed from mocking to curious. "How does one 'look at' written words? You either read them, or you don't."

Basil lowered the parchment from its position inches from his face and snorted. "Shows what you know."

"What?" Bernard looked hurt. "Come now! Tell me!" he pestered, crowding Basil's side, trying to look too.

"Arabic is written in beautiful script - a scribe in many ways must also be an artist. This here was supposed to go directly to my father, which leads me to believe it was written by the hand of Sultan Sulieman himself. I'm comparing it to this one," Basil showed Bernard the second parchment, "which is one of many - probably all written by scribes."

art6.jpg

An example of Arabic calligraphy as art

"It's very pretty," Bernard admitted.

"And its telling me some things about Sulieman. He's not a blockhead, unfortunately," Basil sighed. "He thinks, and fights with finesse. Look how he creates these letters here."

Bernard followed dumbly to where Basil pointed.

"The loops in the calligraphy are amazing. He definitely thinks more in terms of grace and finesse than brute force."

"So he writes prettily?" Bernard asked warily.

"No, he fights with finesse too!" Basil pulled the papers back close to his face. "It'd explain why Kosmas fared so poorly - we've defeated Turks and others who fight bluntly. Those that fought with speed not power - skirmishing, harassing - like Malik Shah or Sulieman, we've done horribly."

"You can tell that, just from the writing?" Bernard looked at the script, now wide eyed. Desperately, the 13 year old looked for clues of his own. To him, the foreign language looked like a series of elegant loops and whirls.

"I can't say it for certain, but I can venture a guess," Basil set the papers down and sighed. Bernard could tell he was annoying his friend, but he was far too curious to let up now.

"So what else can you see?"

"A man will write the same way he thinks, and he fights the way he thinks. This Sulieman thinks with finesse and elegance as well - in another life, he probably would have been a philosopher, which makes him even more dangerous."

"Philosophers are dangerous?" Bernard was sincerely perplexed now.

"Yes. Philosophers are prone to think and not act, generals are prone to act and not think. A commander who is a philosopher is the summit of both types - a man who is willing to question himself and his own ideas on strategy, yet capable of acting quickly and decisively when the moment comes. The greatest commanders in history - Caesar, Trajan, Alexandros - were also philosophers in their own right."

"So all you've gleaned from this is that Sulieman is dangerous?" Bernard asked, smirking slightly.

"No... I think I know of a way he can be defeated as well..." Basil said slowly. His eyes narrowed, as if he was squinting at something in the distance. Suddenly, Bernard's friend was a flurry of movement. A clean parchment flew out from his desk, and Basil began writing in his hurried, awful scrawl that he called penmanship. Like Alexandros and Rodrigo, Bernard knew how to translate the foriegn language for everyone else that just read Greek.

"What is it?" Bernard asked. When he peered over Basil's shoulder, he saw his friend was sketching something - several concentric diamonds, letters and numbers scrawled amongst and over the shapes. Bernard couldn't understand what it was, but he had a sense that something special was going on. Finally, he began to make out scrawls denoting cavalry, infantry, and missile troops, and slowly, things began to come together. His jaw dropped.

"Basil! That's... you'd need to drill even Romanoi hours upon hours to do that?!" Bernard complained.

"I'm not finished!" Basil snapped in the tone of a master builder addressing an impatient customer. Bernard peered and looked for another five minutes, before finally Basil's quill was set aside, and Bernard dismissed the idea out of hand. It couldn't be done. It simply couldn't, not even with tagma from the Imperial Guard - not in the heat of battle! Bernard pointed this out, and, unsurprisingly, Basil shrugged off his thought.

"I will prove it to you! As soon as I get a command!" the Prince pronounced.

"I'm sure you shall. Now come, prove your command while you stand next to Alexandros and your sister while they are wed!" Bernard countered. "You are supposed to say a few good words before the ceremony - Alexandros asked for..." Bernard stopped in mid sentence. "You don't know what you will say, do you?"

"No, I don't, considering the marriage is forced and Zeno's way of making sure my sister isn't used to make an alliance with some powerful Prince," Basil grumbled.

"She'll grow to like Alexandros, and I'm sure he'll grow to like her," Bernard offered hopefully. It wasn't as if one could learn to like one's future bride when there was only two days notice of betrothal. "And you'll have nieces and nephews - little Alexandros' running around!"

At that point, Basil finally let loose a thin smile. "That point, good sir, scares me to no end," he grinned.

==========*==========
parchment_blnkscroll.png

A much simplified version of part of Basil's idea on how to defeat the Seljuks...

Sultan Sulieman plans a quick, hard strike on Konstantinopolis as a way of ending the war on his own terms. Yet Strategos Vatazces and a reinforced Army of Anatolia stand in his way, not to mention the Imperial Fleet and the Theodosian Walls. So far the Turks have had the upper hand by far, but young Basilieos thinks he knows a way to defeat Sulieman and his skirmishing tactics. Will the young Prince get a chance to prove himself? Will Rodrigo find information that can bring down Regent Zeno? And Manuel has been awfully quiet... surely something is going on. More will be revealed next Rome AARisen!
 
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Even if Suleiman is defeated in western Anatolia, he still will have enough men in the Levant and in his own army (never mind the reserves he can call upon from his empire) to hold the Roman possessions he has seized more-or-less indefinitely. Short of Suleiman death in battle, I can’t see that much light at the end of the tunnel for Romanion.
 
This is it. If the Sultan's armies can be beaten, really beaten, then the pressure of an inexorable Roman counterattack will surely end it all.

I do particularly like the Sultan's studying of Kosmas. Little does he realize how much of a mistake he's making.
 
Haha nice bismillah.

That looks like a supremely complicated plan. Complicated plans are usually worse than simple ones since there's more places where it could all go wrong.
Also seems a bit static. Would I want to fight that if I was Sulayman? No, not at all.

But that's Rhomaion for you. I hope Basil can pull it off if ever he gets into position of authority.
 
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It's all greek to me XD . The whole chess scenario is interesting to discern the mind of the enemy XD
 
Great update, will the Roman generals accept Basil's plan?

Either way, I see dark days ahead for the Romans. Even if the Turks are defeated, Romanion will be hurt for a long time. And as we read before, the Beast from the East! The Monster Of Mongolia! The Asian Sensation! The Krazy Khan! :p was born. This is gonna get ugly...


hope i didn't offend any mongolians :D ,
:) asd
 
Heroes truly see the world from different eyes, don't they? One perceives the depths of the Roman mindset merely by observing a captive warrior, all the while maintaining the impression of great chivalry; another glimpses into his opponent's soul by reading his penmanship.

These are very powerful portraits -- I especially love how you contrast them, respectively, with Kosmas Komnenos, apparently a general of great skill and honor, but not on the same level as these heroes, and Bernard von Baden, whose star pales in comparison to his royal friend. This writing reminds me very much of how the best historical epics portray their heroes: possessing of vision and understanding that extend far beyond the grasp of ordinary men. Kudos to you! :)

Sulieman and Basileios will make for great arch-enemies. Best match-up since Demetrios and Malik Shah!

Edit/P.S. Although, I wonder, where is Sophie and what is she doing? Both her father and her prince seem to be a bit busy...
 
Next update is roughly 60-70% done, look for it to get posted later this week, probably Friday.

Carach - Alot can change, and quickly. Tell Bashir wiped out one of the defending armies, and the bureaucratic chaos meant that the rest of Romanion's overwhelming military force isn't being applied concertedly. The Army of Anatolia has taken to skulking between the fortresses of Nikaea and Nikomedia, the Army of Egypt has joined the Army of the Levant, but only in shadowing the southern attack force - after what happened to his brother, Theodoros is understandably cautious. Yet Sulieman knows time is not on his side - the longer the war lasts, the more Romanion is going to get its act together - hence his plan for a quick strike to bring the Romans to the peace table.

Irenicus - In some ways, their portrayals are parts of my dissertation leaking into my writing (one of its cornerstones is the idea that the way war is fought and the cultural 'baggage' of the combatants are intrinsically linked). Both indeed possess skills of perception beyond others, and think on a different level. Next update I'll finally reveal Basilieos' grown up character card, so you'll have an idea of what he's capable of.

As for Sophie, her character will get fleshed out quite a bit next update.

asd21593 - Like I said, Genghis is still way down the road... 40-50 years, plenty of time to recover. Unfortunately, thats also plenty of time to keep fighting the same war and wear each other down, or find new opponents to fight and wear yourself down.

canonized - I got the idea of both of them studying their opponent from something mentioned in Colin Powell's autobiography. When he commanded the US V Corps in Germany in the 80s, Powell had a picture of his principal Soviet opposite sitting on his desk. Every time they revised operations plans, Powell would bring the picture along and try to study it, to get some little extra piece of information on how his opponent thought. Later after the Cold War ended, Powell found out his opposite had a picture of Powell on his desk and did the exact same thing! :)

RGB - No, I doubt Sulieman would want to fight that - Sulieman would probably instantly recognize the deadliness of Basil's plan. Yet Basil plans on using it should he get the chance - so the young prince has something else up his sleeve... :)

AlexanderPrimus - Getting Basil in there might require some deviousness... good thing Basil has a certain man, not yet dead, for a father...

TC Pilot - Well, Kosmas has been trumpeted as Romanion's best commander (Demetrios the Younger is probably the next closest, arguably if he wasn't paralyzed Manuel would have been better than both), so Sulieman is naturally looking for information there. And the Sultan fully realizes he's in a precarious position if the war doesn't end soon - Murad is losing soldiers by the bucket storming cities, while Romanion at any moment could get its act together and bring reserves to the front...

Fulcrumvale - If Sulieman decided to pull back in Syria and the Levant and fortify his position, it would be difficult for the Romans to eject him. Instead he's deep in Anatolia, gambling he can force the Romans to the peace table. We'll see if his march on Konstantinopolis pays off or not.