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:eek:

An impressive recovery, a legendary campaign, a war god rises and...a death in battle!? NOOOOO!! Evil cliffhanger is evil! I seriously hope that this is just you teasing us with the "severely wounded" trait!

He's just too young to die, too young indeed. Basileios Komnenos shouldn't fall from anything less than the blade of Sulieman the Great himself, or I won't admit it!

...

:p

Although if he really dies now, the dramatic legends of Basil would be an epic for posterity. He would join the ranks of the Sleeping Kings, with whispers of hope about how the Hero will come back one day and save the Empire. And he'd have a Medieval ballad, a Shakespearean tragedy, a Byronic poem, and a bunch of post-modernist novels to his name, as befits a hero who lives fast and dies young. :D
 
Been following this for ages, but haven't deigned to post... until that last one. That cliffhanger is torture! But excellent writing, excellent, to a prospective Byzantinist this is a simply fantastic =).

(By the way, I enjoyed the homage to Stonewall Jackson, I've enjoyed reading about his 'foot cavalry')
 
Man he best come out of this alive, there's no point being the saviour of the Empire if you die!

Up! Up Basil! Back to the battle I say!
 
If Basil dies, the Empire dies with him. But given that one day painters will portay a grand and imposing, something tells me the story has not yet run its course.
 
If he dies, I can imagine another nerd interlude, this one in the form of an article entitled “What if Basil Kommenemos had lived?”

Oh, and the foot cavalry thing was devilishly brilliant. Who can’t love the Stonewall Kwisatz Haderach?

Edit: The Basil Kommenemos theme seems to be mostly derived from the excellent theme music from “The Eagles of Avalon,” which given the similarities between the two works (and especially between Remus and Basil) is very appropriate.
 
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Fulcrumvale said:
Edit: The Basil Kommenemos theme seems to be mostly derived from the excellent theme music from “The Eagles of Avalon,” which given the similarities between the two works (and especially between Remus and Basil) is very appropriate.

I'm pretty sure he's using Hans Zimmer's soundtrack from "King Arthur."
 
AlexanderPrimus said:
I'm pretty sure he's using Hans Zimmer's soundtrack from "King Arthur."
…Which was also used as the theme music for The Eagles of Avalon. Regardless of whether it’s intentional or not, it still makes for some great Easter egg.
 
Wow, I don't know which is the more shocking: the result at Homs (it's one thing to beat the AI when you're outnumbered but to annihilate them?), or what must have been the look on your face when you got the event that indicated your 24-martial prodigy was either wounded or killed in the battle. Seriously, it would be awful to get such a wonder, only to have him vanish so quickly. I hope it's just a wound and there's a miracle-worker in the near future. Hang in there, Basil!
 
Fulcrumvale said:
…Which was also used as the theme music for The Eagles of Avalon. Regardless of whether it’s intentional or not, it still makes for some great Easter egg.

Haha, I didn't get what you meant at first. :D That AAR was before my time, though I guess it's still going.
 
Basil survives allright. Earlier chapters reveal as much. But still, worrying. We might face a serious injury here, with all that amounts to.
 
Severy wounded... or dead.
Noes... :(
He is your only guy with 24 martial stats! He can't die! :wacko:
But he will proably survive.
And maybe he just gets blind? :p
Or just a illnes.
 
Bah, clearly it was Vataczes who knocked Basil out of the saddle before the spear struck him!
Vataczes, by the way, must surely be the first cockney strategos.
 
Eams said:
Bah, clearly it was Vataczes who knocked Basil out of the saddle before the spear struck him!
Vataczes, by the way, must surely be the first cockney strategos.

Cockney!? :wacko:
 
Before I unveil what finally happens, first, I'd like to deal with the backup of replies.

canonized - 1) Indeed... Vataczes is a very vulgar man. Its quite easy to see how, despite his admitted skill on the battlefield, he could have made many many enemies in urbane Konstantinopolis.

2) Explosive? Nah... that chapter was gentle and full of kind goodness. XD

AlexanderPrimus - 1) Vataczes respects competence, and little else. Basil made some mistakes, but at the most basic level, Basil is competent, and cares for his men. That is why he wants Basil to succeed, to the point of instigating him to anger.

2) Would I be evil enough to build up a character only to kill him? Hmm....

It's Amazing - Indeed, it would've been 'effin nice if Vataczes had spoke up a little bit earlier. :) Though Vataczes called himself staying in the shadows and not undermining his commander, so he was trying to help by staying quiet. Its just after the Battle of the Sands, he couldn't do that any longer.

2) Homs wasn't too shocking if you take into account that one, the Turkish infantry was mostly peasants, while mine was not, and two, the Turks had inferior numbers of cavalry, and only light cavalry (mine was split evenly between light and heavy). Finally, their morale was already low to begin with... so the massacre wasn't really much in doubt. The art in the AAR was trying to explain it without saying "the AI went to battle with a bunch of peasants."

Irenicus - 1) Well, I took the idea that if John Dunkeld is running around as a cavalryman mercenary, he probably picked up what the Byzantines would have considered the bad habits of the Franks - ill-discipline. Hence he and his 'Scots' (in reality, it probably would've been a vast mixture of groups, since this was basically a unit for hire almost) would have been prone to charging when they saw an advantage, not on order.

2) I have to do evil cliffhangers every now and then, or the story would get boring. :) And yes, if Basil did die at this moment, it would be something that would get memorialized - he'd be the James Deam of the Byzantines.

Enewald - 1) Blaming the Latins has been a Byzantine tradition since... well... the beginning. XD

2) Believe me, I cussed up a storm when that happened. My boyfriend thought the computer had ate my files or something. XD

kalendaree - Harold Godwinson appear in this story + Godwinson AAR = Godwinson Ho! :) It was a coincidence I noticed that there was a Harold Godwinson up in Denmark when I looked back at the savegame, and I couldn't resist bringing him down as part of the 'Latin contingent.'

Fulcrumvale - 1) Exactly why I have Vataczes created the way he's created! Byzantium has a reputation for being cultured and urbane, so here's a strategos that is the exact opposite. Think of him as a Byzantine Patton...

2) Now that you mention it, for the next interlude, I am going to do a gamer "what if!" Brilliant idea! :) As for Stonewall Basil - he's not going to be a little crazy and insist he can only eat lemons all day... And yes, Basil's theme is from the movie King Arthur (the movie was a disappointment, good sountrack though) - Mettermrck drew his theme from a different track than mine (I believe his comes from Hadrian's Wall, while mine is from Woad to Ruin.). That's another excellent AAR people should read. Eagles of Avalon is majestic and great, and yes, Remus is a partial inspiration for Basil!

asd21593 - 1) Oh, there are plenty of other defeats coming... the Empire grows, but its not a smooth process, and there are numerous setbacks.

2) Well, if Basil goes down, the war still goes on. Vataczes will still be there, as will Thrakesios. Beyond that, you'd have Theodoros Komnenos (who hasn't done much in four years) and Venizelos (who has done horribly over four years). The two sides would balance each other out...

English Patriot - 1) Sometimes it takes a vulgar guide to shock the gentler folk into recognizing their problems.

2) It might be poetic though - the Savior of the Empire does more in four years than others did in a lifetime, then dies at the pinnacle of his glory, far before his time... Then he could be up and back to battle in legends, as the man who would arise and save Constantinople in its hour of greatest peril...

TC Pilot - 1) I thought it'd be a little twist on history to have the Hospitallers be the disciplined group, considering at the "real Battle of the Sands" (Arsuf) the Hospitallers were the ones that charged without orders. Then again, Arsuf was a crushing victory for the Crusaders, so maybe the Hospitallers should have charged ahead of John Dunkeld...

2) *Puts TC Pilot's head back on so he can continue writing about Blackadder!*

RGB - Good point. Basil might have won the duel with Dunkeld, but he probably would have lost Dunkeld's troops.

Avarri - YES!! Someone got the 'foot cavalry' reference! Welcome to the AAR (or getting caught up in it, I should say)!

Estonianzulu - If Basil dies, the Empire dies? As long as Zeno can't keep things under control and others attempt to manipulate things it won't go well... but keep in mind, the Turks have suffered a beating here, and while they have large armies, Romanion has more men to spare...

Nikolai - He does? Where in the earlier chapters? (I'm curious where you found the hints... I don't remember any...)

Eams - That's an interesting theory - it would be something in line with what Vataczes would do. The man's clearly prone to violence - something appropriate to the battlefield, surely. I wouldn't call his accent cockney though... 'boorish' or 'peasant' might be more appropriate.

And without further ado...

==========*==========
romearisen2.png


Basil felt himself falling... and falling. The ground rushing up to meet him changed to a see of blackness, yet he felt himself tumbling onwards into the void. He tried to scream, he tried to shout, but all he heard was the sound of nothing - not even air rushing by him as he tumbled surely to certain doom.

Yet even as the blackness enveloped him, suffocated him, he saw something. A small, tiny pinprick of light, directly before him. The sensastion of falling slowly subsided, yet the light seemed so far away. Yet Basil knew, somehow, if he wanted to live, he had to reach that light.

So he started to move. He didn't walk, but floated. Despite there being no terrestrial obstructions, it felt like something kept shoving against him, holding him against reaching the light, against reaching salvation. The darkness beckoned, it called, it tried to suck him back into its grasp.

But Basil fought on. He flailed, he tried swimming in the void, he focused his mind on reaching that light. And slowly, ever so slowly, it grew closer and closer.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he felt close enough he coudl almost reach out and touch it. As his hands stretched forth, the light began to shimmer... then change. Instead of a single blazing point, it grew, fully as tall as Basil and as wide as a man. As it grew, it illuminated everything around him.

To the Prince's surprise, he saw the interior of his tent, its cot, chest, small table and chairs arranged the same was it was when the army had moved out that morning. The flaps, however, were closed, and no light shone from under the canvas.

Basil turned back to the warmth of the light, and watched as it started to coalesce...

"H...Hagios Megos?"

saintdemetrios.jpg

THe apparition seemed to shimmer and dance, as if the surface of water stood between the two. While Basil could not clearly see the apparition's face, he felt a sense of warmth, of pride wash over him. Suddenly, as if by some invisible Moses, the translusence that had covered the image split, revealing the apparition in clarity.

It was then he heard a voice. It wasn't thunderous or booming, but still, quiet, with the sound of a quiet autumn breeze, not a tempestous summer storm.

"Yes..."

Hagios Demetrios seemed to hover just above the prince, a shimmering face and upper body with no legs or feet - he simply faded into nothingness. He wore the faded trappings of a strategos of fifty years ago, the locks of his hair long and white, waving gently as if in a light breeze.

"You will face a choice, Basil," the voice whispered. "A choice that will decide whether Romanion will live, or die..."

"Which choice makes Romanion live?" Basil asked. Romanion must not die... it couldn't die!

celeborn2.jpg

Hagios Demetrios... as Basil saw him.

The great apparition gestured towards the flap of the tent. Basil slowly rose from his bed, and walked towards the opening. As soon as he stepped outside, an amazing sight greeted his eyes.

Before him laid three cities, immense in size, and glorious in their architecture. Thick, stout walls ringed their perimeters as far as the eye could see. One he readily recognized as Konstantinopolis - the graceful dome of the Hagia Sophia and the enormous golden cross at its summit were brilliantly lit by the rays of a rising sun. The other two cities Basil didn't easily recognize - both had tall, thin minarets rising gracefully above their defenses, and Basil could hear distantly on the wind the Muslim call to prayer. After a moment of confusion, a voice within him spoke.

Instantly the Prince knew what they were - Baghdad and Mecca, the two most important cities in all of Islam.

For a moment he was able to enjoy simply looking at them, their graceful, thin minarets in contrast with the solid, stately Hagia Sophia. Distantly, on the wind, he could make out the sounds of the Call to Prayer, echoing off of the thick city walls.

But that moment did not last.

Basil felt things change, more than heard it at first. By instinct the Prince turned around, just as the rhythmic, metallic clank of an army on the march met his ears. Behin him, as far as the eye could see, he made out a host of faceless soldiers, all clad in the bright cloaks of the Imperial tagma, banners of saints and Romanion fluttering above their heads. At their head rode a man mounted on a brilliant stallion, dressed in a white so shining it was almost blinding. While nothing told him such, Basil instantly knew who the rider was.

It was him.

Quickly, with drill-field precision, the Roman ranks aligned themselves facing the two cities of Islam, Baghdad, the capital of the Turkish Empire, and Mecca, seat of the Emirate of Hejaz, a major Turkish ally. Great siege engines rumbled forward, then reached those enormous walls, as massive catapults launched fire and flame into the two cities.

Basil's heart raced as he watched the Romanoi rushing forward, a tidal wave of men, banners held high. The fires inside Baghdad and Mecca's walls rose into towering sheets of flame. One by one the great minarets fell to the ground, as the cries of battle rose into a thunderous roar that drove all other noise away. Basil squinted, then he saw it! Victory! The banners of Romanion flew above both cities!

"So I shall be victorious against the Muslims?" Basil heard himself ask. There was a quiet hushing sound and the noises of battle momentarily faded away, as if the breeze was instructing him to be silent. Basil obeyed.

Even as the Romanoi began to break into celebration, Basil spotted something. The lower section of the walls of Mecca and Baghdad seemed to shimmer, as if water was pouring out from underneath them. At first Basil thought it was a mere desert mirage, until he saw what was making the shimmer...

Blood.

It was not a tidal wave, not a wall of ichor thundering forth, but a slow, steady spread that grew even as the Romanoi ignored it. As Basil watched, horrified, it reached the closest group of Roman soldiers. At its touch, one by one, they all blackened, then collapsed into ashes, even as they laughed. Implacably, with no stop, the slowly spreading field continued.

Basil tried to shout a warning to the other Romans, but nothing came from his mouth - only the steady noise of celebration as they danced and sang as one by one, they turned to ash. After five minutes, the bloody lake had completely covered the Roman armies, leaving only empty tents, and bloody weapons strewn about.

Yet mercilessly, the lake of blood continued to spread.

As Basil screamed, the waves of the lake finally lapped up against the famed Theodosian Walls, and as one, they tumbled to the ground. Basil turned to the shimmering form of Hagios Demetrios, and screamed. He shouted, he begged, he pleaded for the greatest general in the history of Romanion to do something, to stop the death, to stop the killing, but the saintly image stood still. One by one, the great buildings of the capital fell into dust and flame - the Blacharenae, the Boukoleon, the Hippodrome. Finally the blood reached the Hagia Sophia itself, and flames roared out of all of the great church's windows.

disasterdraftone.jpg

Just as Basil thought things could not become worse, and the stench of death and horror was overwhelming, the Prince saw the final symbol of the Empire, the great cross atop the greatest church in Christendom, shudder, then tumble into the flames. In its place, a new, haunting banner surmounted the great dome.

It was a long pennant, blue as the sky with red fringes. In the midst of the blue field was a snow white bird, as if in mid-flight. Basil did not recognize the flag, and turned to Hagios Demetrios. Immediately Basil felt an immense wave of cold wash over him, followed by an emptiness as wide as the Russian steppe. The banner belonged to no Christian, no Muslim, but something far more alien, and far more deadly. Above the noise of a city dying, Basil distinctly heard the scream of a horse.

"What must I do?" Basil pleaded. "I will give my life, my crown, everything I can, to keep this from happening! Hagios Demetrios! Show me what I must do!"

From within the folds of his robes, the apparition produced two scrolls. One seemed to float into the air between it and Basil, before opening with the crackle of ancient parchment. One Latin word was written across its seemingly aged and cracked form.

Pax.

"When? With whom?" Basil asked in a worried tone. The apparition extended its hand, and the parchment crumbled into a small cloud of dust, carried away by the light breeze. Only silence greeted the Prince's persistent questioning.

Basil closed his eyes and tried to pray, but it felt as if something wouldn't let him. The apparition of Hagios Demetrios needed his attention here and now.

"You will know..." the tiny, quiet voice said to him.

Basil nodded in resignation, as the second parchment began to disappear back within the robes of Hagios Demetrios.

"What is..."

Before Basil could even finish his question, the apparition shook its head. "You are not ready... I will show you in time..."

Then, with lightning speed, the hands of Hagios Demetrios were upon Basil's head before the Prince coudl react. Basil felt something warm and comforting coming from his skulls, slowly spreading down his body. Instantly, he was asleep...

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

light.jpg

Light.

Blinding, harsh light. Basil instinctively blinked, and groaned.

"He's awake!" a loud voice assaulted his ears, and Basil groaned again. He heard the sounds of people running, a thump as something fell over, and hushed silence for a second before noise thundered back into the room once again. To his relief, suddenly the blinding light stopped, and for the first time with blurried eyes, Prince Basil could see who was approaching. Alexandros Thrakesios had a look of absolute relief on his face, in contrast with the perpetually grim expression of Ioannis Vataczes.

"You owe me 15 solidii," Vataczes turned to Alexandros and held out a beefy palm. As Basil watched, shocked, his friend pulled out a small purse of coins, and counted the requisite number into Vataczes hands.

"You bet I wouldn't survive?" Basil asked, alarmed. Part of him thought those were rather strange first words coming from a wounded man.

"Ah, he talks! Another ten!" Vataczes held out his palm again, only to have Thrakesios smack it away. Vataczes flashed a broad grin. "Welcome back to the world of the living, Highness."

"No, I bet you'd wake up two weeks after the battle, Vataczes here bet four," Alexandros clarified. "We were both far off - yet, it seems, you're too stubborn to die even when its your appointed time."

"You've been quite a layabout and a lazy bum," Vataczes pulled an apple out of his pocket and started eating. "Taking two months away from us during the middle of the war - an effin' shame," the strategos said. He managed to keep his straight face for a minute longer, before a chuckle broke through.

"Two months?" Basil wanted to bolt upright in his bed, but his body wouldn't let him. The Prince's eyes said everything though.

"Two months and three days," Alexandros clarified. "You were awake at first after your injury, but you were incoherent. You kept mumbling about Hagios Demetrios - I thought you were praying."

"I... was," Basil said quickly. So it all wasn't a dream after all.

"The chuirgeons thought it best to put you to sleep, so they fed you some milk of the poppy," Thrakesios went on. "Then they couldn't wake you. You breathed, but you were in a sleep none of us could rouse you from. They," Alexandros pointed to several of the churigeons now starting to cluster around, looking in wonder at the Prince, "wanted to bleed you thrice a day. My tutor studied medicine, and I know for sure that Hippocrates advised against bleeding more than once a day, so I forbid it, on pain of death."

"Probably saved them from 'effin bleeding you dry," Vataczes mumbled around pieces of apple. "You've got Alexandros here to thank for your life from the start," Vataczes rumbled in his gravelly voice. "He was just behind you, dismounted, got you back out of there before you were effin' trampled. You owe him a bit of a thank you."

"Thank you, Alexandros," Basil said sincerely as the footfalls of another person approaching the bed came to his ears.

"Ah, so it is true," another voice said, and Basil turned to see his erstwhile father in law, Theodoros, Prince of Antioch. "You have returned to us." The man's smile was broad, but even in his dizzy state, Basil could tell it was merely plastered on. By his eyes, Theodoros Komnenos looked as displeased as when he'd found out his daughter had married behind his back.

"The Prince couldn't effin' leave us, not with what's coming towards Syria," Vataczes said directly to Theodoros. Harsh words had obviously been spoken on this or some other matter between them before Basil had awoken.

"We should let my son rest," Theodoros didn't even turn to face Vataczes, the fake smile still on his lips, "He needs to focus on getting better."

"He's the effin' Prince of the Empire, he outranks you and commands both effin' armies," Vataczes took a step closer to Theodoros, towering over the man. "And I'm going to effin' tell him."

"Tell me what?" Basil asked. Once again, he tried to sit up. This time, his body let him get halfway, before he reluctantly sank back into the bed.

"Sulieman's coming," Vataczes said.

sultansulieman.jpg

Sulieman marches, with a great and vast host...

"We don't know that!" Theodoros snapped.

"Why the 'effin hell would 20,000 Turks from Anatolia meet up with another 30,000 from the heart of effin' Persia near Edessa!" Vataczes glared at Theodoros, before looking at Basil. "After the way Basil's bamboozled all his other commanders, do you think Sulieman's going to trust his last effin' 50,000 troops to some cockup? Sulieman's going to effin' come down Syria into the Levant to cover his effin' ass!"

"Basil," Theodoros turned to the Prince, "we don't know this for sure. We have reports that 20,000 Turks have appeared near Antioch, and another 30,000 are in northern Mesopotamia marching west. Venizelos still reports a large Turkish army in Anatolia, and I see no reason why the Sultan himself would..."

"What kind of igorant piece of shit are you?" Vataczes snapped. "Venizelos isn't worth the chair he sits his ass on! He wouldn't effin' know a Turk from an angel if someone pointed them out to him! And you believe him?"

"Vataczes?" Basil asked.

"Only a... Highness?" Vataczes stopped in mid-rant.

"Your Highness," Basil said, using the coldly formal address for Theodoros, "regardless of whether Sulieman leads this group or not, from both of your descriptions, a large Turkish host - perhaps the last host they can muster - has appeared in extreme northern Syria. We should get marching north."

"But Basil," Theodoros complained, "you're bedridden! You need to stay here and recuperate! I'll take the armies north, and lead them against this force."

"He just wants command of your troops," Alexandros said coldly.

"Do we not have things called litters?" Basil asked. This time, his body found the energy to sit up. The movement made him dizzy, and he felt unwell, but he refused to show that to any of them around him. "Vataczes, requisition a wagon I can ride in, as well as several litterbearers."

"What are you going to do? You cannot possibly ride!" Theodoros pointed to the Prince's thin, atrophied legs. "Are you going to be carried into battle?"

"If I do not rise from this bed and try to walk, try to ride... I never will again," Basil said grimly. "As I outrank you, Highness, I would recommend you go and see to the disposition of your troops."

==========*==========
versusbilling.png

So, indeed, Basil got the "Severely Wounded" event. Alas, I was too busy cursing at my luck to get a screenie of it. Will Basil recover? Will he face Sulieman? ANd where and when does Hagios Demetrios want Basil to make peace... and will Basil choose correctly? Feyd Rautha and the Kwitzach Haderach will finally meet and events will come to head in Konstantinopolis next Rome Arisen!
 
Excellent, he's back in the saddle! The dream is disturbing, it offers so much, but at such a price, nevertheless, the Turks approach, and Basil must defend Romanion!


Oh I don't suppose you could give us a pic of that flag flying above Constantinople?
 
English Patriot said:
Cockney!? :wacko:
I read him like Ray Winstone (the actor portraying him) speaks :p
Excellent update! The betting was a particularly nice touch.
 
Ahh , dream sequences . Looks like the gambit won't work so we'll have to go heads up on this one .