• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Maver1ck

First Lieutenant
124 Badges
Aug 24, 2008
283
21
  • Stellaris
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
  • The Kings Crusade
  • Magicka
  • Majesty 2
  • Majesty 2 Collection
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
  • Europa Universalis IV: Res Publica
  • Victoria: Revolutions
  • Rome Gold
  • Semper Fi
  • Ship Simulator Extremes
  • Sword of the Stars
  • Impire
  • Victoria 2: A House Divided
  • Europa Universalis IV: Rights of Man
  • Stellaris - Path to Destruction bundle
  • Tyranny: Archon Edition
  • Europa Universalis IV: Cossacks
  • Stellaris: Galaxy Edition
  • Europa Universalis IV: Mare Nostrum
  • Cities: Skylines - Snowfall
  • Europa Universalis IV: Third Rome
  • Knights of Honor
  • Cities: Skylines - After Dark
  • Darkest Hour
  • Arsenal of Democracy
  • Cities in Motion
  • Crusader Kings II
  • Crusader Kings II: Charlemagne
  • Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome
  • Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods
  • Crusader Kings II: Rajas of India
  • Crusader Kings II: The Republic
  • Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham
  • Crusader Kings II: Sunset Invasion
  • Crusader Kings II: Sword of Islam
  • A Game of Dwarves
  • Deus Vult
  • Dungeonland
  • Europa Universalis III
  • Divine Wind
  • Stellaris: Galaxy Edition
  • Europa Universalis IV: Art of War
  • Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise
  • Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations
  • For The Glory
  • For the Motherland
  • Hearts of Iron III
  • Heir to the Throne
Sorry for the reboot, but I figured that considering the massive map changes, that it would be best to begin again, rather than try and catch up to where I was - as the huge number of provinces makes a big difference.

Anyway, Will have a Prologue update up again ASAP, and then get further than last time

Hesus... this looks different

Anyway, I've played the Byzantines once all the way though, making the terrible mistake of hitting 100+ infamy at the end, in order to build a slightly greater than historical Roman Empire in HTTT.

However, I recently started playing DW, and got the Death and Taxes mod, an interesting mod that takes national ideas and sliders up a notch, as well as adding some interesting cultural stuff. As well as the OMG different map, which I think is the DAO? Correct me if I am wrong, map.

House Rules :

1) I will NOT break the infamy limit, unless my legitimacy drops my limit down.

2) I will NOT attempt to be come the Holy Roman Emperor - if my some random chance I do, then I will not form the HRE.

My Goals (OOC)

1) Restore the Roman Empire
2) Conquer the lands of the Western Empire
3) Dissolve the HRE
4) Spread Greek Culture around the Med
5) Dominate Persia, India and the Silk Road

I believe I'll achieve number 1. before 1500, unless something drastic happens, and hopefully number 2 by 1550, 3 is a hopeful idea, more for the story than personal ambition, and 4 - Will be DAMN hard, and dependent (in the case of the med) on 1 and 2, and how many colonists I can get - if anyone knows how to increase colonist amount besides NIs, COTs, nomads and Modding.. please, pray tell! 5 - Alexander can't have all the fun :p

I intend to have this as a largely narrative/history AAR, mixture of lectures, history textbooks and other sources, with a spattering of gameplay throughout. I'll let update size be dictated by events and try to do a summary of each ruler, and a state of the empire as appropriate.

Sorry again to those who saw the first version, but I figured this was a better idea than sticking with the old one.

Enjoy!
 
Last edited:
Good luck.
 
The Rise of Manuel II and the Marmara Campaign

HIS 1032 : Imperial Dynastic History – Week One

Epidamnos University Dyrrhacion, 1980

“God my head hurts.” Natasha complained. “Why did you buy that much sambuca Basil?”

“I don’t know, felt like a good idea at the time, I enjoyed it.” His obnoxious grin plastered across his face.

“I hate you... why don’t you get hangovers?”

The pair of them sat down in the front of the new lecture hall. The university had just been built at the behest of a donation by a rich merchant, and it was really spectacular, just in the history building they had restorations and replicas of old busts, filling a neo-classical building.

The lecture hall itself was somewhat less grand, whilst the acoustics meant that you could hear absolutely everything, it was filled with seats that flipped back up, like in a cinema, and long wooden shared desks.

Natasha and Basil had known each other since they were seven, and now at eighteen they were studying history together, thick as thieves. Natasha was from an old Russian family, the Rurikovichs, but defied the stereotype of alcohol immunity, whilst Basil was from an even older house, the Greek Laskaris, and was the designated heir to a rather fantastic estate in Italy, but you’d never know it looking at him. Whilst she was bedraggled due to her hangover, he was sitting there with an obnoxiously large mop, and was twitchy and hyper as a twelve year old.

The room filled up, dozens of people from every part of the world, Berbers, Athenian, Farsi, even a couple of Japanese students were there. Just behind them sat a couple of lads, an Italian and Turk by the looks of them, the Italian folding a paper airplane and the Turk getting a laptop out.

“Hey, nice laptop, Britannia 320, not a bad machine” Basil instantly started to prod the Turk about his laptop, the specs, complaining about the weight. “Name’s Basil by the way, you’re...?”

“Mehmet of the Persian branch of House Osman.”

“Wow, I’ve heard of your family, didn’t you just make a fortune with Opium or something?”

“Yes, but, I don’t like to talk about it, I’m not really interested in Pharmaceuticals.”

The Italian burst out “Wait, you’re one of the Persian Osmans? My dad works for you guys, name's Antonio, of House Garibaldi.”

“Umm, hi.” Natasha piped, how’re you?”

She noticed that the lecture room was oddly silent, turning to see astern faced, dour man frowning at the four of them.

“As I said, this module is about the Imperial Dynasties of the Empire, and what each of
their rulers did. There will be two lecturers, myself, and Dr. Oxley. She shall teach you those dynasties upto the Dukids, whereas I shall teach after them, the Komenids, the Palaiologids etc.”

He paused, turning towards Natasha “My name, for those of you who weren’t listening, is Dr. Angelos. Now that introductions are dealt with.”

He began writing onto a tablet on the table, picking it up, and as he did so, the words ‘What is the Byzantine Empire’ appeared on the board. He looked around the room, no hands, and so turned to Natasha.

“You, girl with the purple hair, what is the answer?”

“Umm, the, the Empire in Greece?”

“Close, it was the empire that survived that of the West, truly it was the Eastern
Roman Empire, but it was the period that was after the Empire of Nicaea that we define as the Byzantine. This empire that we now live in is the same state legally, however, it was very different then, due to the fractious nature of the themes, that without the Palaiologid Renaissance, the Empire may well have fallen in 1453. Does anyone know whom to?”

“Mehmet II Osmanli” said Mehmet.

“Pardon? Please speak up.”

“The Sultan of the Ottoman Turks, Mehmet Osmanli II.”

“Correct, I was not expecting an answer, but well done. Yes, now, I am going to end this lecture here, and set your first assignment. The Komenid period is easy enough to write about, and that will be seminar work later this week, however, for that seminar next week, I would like an essay about the reign of Manuel Palaiologos II, upto and including his Triumph, you are free to choose a title, and I will award marks for accuracy, literary flare, and maps. Dismissed.”

The Rise of Manuel II and the Marmara Campaign

Natasha Rurikovich

Feburary 16 1391 saw the death of Ioannes V Palaiologos, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, and Head of House Palaiologos, shaming his son Manuel, due to his public conversion to Catholicism, as well as submitting to Ottoman suzerainty. It was his son, Manuel II The Stalwart, Pillar of Rome who is the focus of this essay.

The beginning of his reign saw the realm weak and subservient to the Turk, as well as his personal position weak in comparison to his nephew Ioannes, whom was favoured by Sultan Bayezid I of the Ottoman Sultanate. Whilst Ioannes was a marginally greater administrator and marshal, it was Manuel who held the city.

Manuel Stats Admin 5, Diplomacy 6, and Military 5

Ioannes Stats Admin 6, Diplomacy 6, and Military 6

After garnering support from Bayezid, claiming to be the elder as well as more direct successor, and another offering Ioannes the position of Kaisar ahead of his own son. Granting Ioannes the Kaisarship as well as the position of Megas Doux led to Bayezid demanding first Manuels head, but later only a mosque and a Turkish quarter in the Queen of Cities as punishment for what Bayezid considered insubordination. Refusing all demands and even contact with the Sultan, Konstantinopolis soon found itself under siege.

Two years later in 1396 the Crusade of Nicopolis granted a period where the siege was broken, and whilst it was unsuccessful, it would leave Bulgaria open for conquest from the Turk, as well as inspiring the writing and distribution of the controversial but influential text – “The Strengths and Weaknesses of East and West”, which argued that whilst Roman ethics, law and culture was superior, the Latins were developing new technology and recovering lost knowledge much faster than the East. These and other theories in the text proposed new military organisation, and the popularity of the book spread the concept virally throughout the nobility, clergy, army and populace.

The book was supposedly researched whilst in the west seeking assistance, and whilst England welcomed him warmly, there was ultimately no response from the Franks, and when Emperor Manuel returned in 1403, after absorbing the despotate of Morea in the process, and receiving the gift of a loyal Kaisar, a Konstantinopolis not under siege, the addition of Macedonia and Thessalonica to the lands of the Empire, and non-aggression pacts from the other Christian powers of the Balkans “for as long as the Turk or Saracen controls the lands between Serbia and Armenia.”, he fathered the concept of Roman Jingoism.

i2rjo2.jpg


Increased Centralisation, which luckily only destabilised me

With the interregnum overwhelming the Ottomans, Manuel II had arrived with a plan for succeeding where the Crusade of Nicopolis had failed, but may have arrived too late.

e0ic0p.jpg


11hv1w6.jpg

The interregnum was drawing to a close during 1405, in preparation for an invasion in December, Manuel recruited a large army, expanding the 7000 Roman troops to a massive 21000, larger than it had been for a long time, with no mercenaries, simply mercenary trainers, such as the successful Prokopios Batazes, as well as implementing some drastic religious and economic changes, with a highly regulated mint under Palaemon Diogenes and granting some state powers to the new Patriarch, Stefanos Zarides, in order to eliminate any spies, with the unintended effect of increased religious intolerance.

qq9uex.jpg

On the international scene the Basileus and the Kaisar worked Ioannes was told that as Kaisar he is in charge of working on trade, leading to expansion of Genoan and Venetian trade, whilst the Emperor gathered alliances with the Serbs and Wallachians, and offering marriages between members of House Palaiologos and the royal houses of Eastern Europe.

The war began, within weeks of the interregnum ending, with the Roman alliance consisting of themselves, Serbia and Wallachia, versus the Ottomans and their distant allies of the Jalayirids, with the later addition of a Bedouin realm known as Najd. In effect the war turned into a direct battle between the Ottomans and Romans, and the idea of freedom from Ottoman Suzerainty.

mlkvg4.jpg

The first conflict was typical of the war, Romans swarmed by a disorganised host of Turks that largely outnumbered them. After a retreat to Edirne, the following battle routed the turks, with unfortunate results for the remaining turk forces for the remainder of the war.

Was attacking a smaller number, and a stupidly huge number of 1000 man armies attacked me till I was outnumbered – had to run just in case, but they split their army into 3 smaller ones, so I just took them out one by one – easy victory. :p

It would be so demoralising for the Ottoman Alliance that despite the entrance of Najd, the Jalayirids offered peace in September 1406, whilst Manuel sent troops to besiege Anatolia, whilst chasing down Mehmet II.

It was shortly after in October that Manuel ordered an expansion of the bureaucracy, in order to create a loyal management to mirror the dynatoi, in a similar manner to the Governors of the Republic, in order to balance their personal power and that of the state, which was under threat till the defeat of Mehmet distracted the Princes and remaining nobles, so much that when some local Turks were accepted into high office after the war, it was accepted without complaint, this may have been attributed to their outrage at the failures of Serbia and Wallachia to fight in the war.

I.e. in early 1407 that the alliance began to break apart, with Wallachia taking Silistria in a personal peace, and Serbia taking control of Nis and the Morava River.
It would be after several fateful battles for the Ottoman fleet, being forced from port to port for the Ottomans to offer peace, and unfortunately an injury in battle finally caught up with Manuel in July 1408, followed with a peace treaty that granted the entirety of Ottoman Europe, as well as all Anatolian ports besides Bursa.

Ioannes VII would send out several requests for marriage between his children and the east European Royalty, the family prestige greatly increased by the successes of Manuel II. Part of the treaty helped to pay for the Triumph of Manuel, built as a gateway through the ruins of the Anastasian Wall. Its use as both Triumphal Arch and fortification was unprecedented, but more surprisingly was the discovery of his mausoleum underneath the road in 1833, with the inscription of

“Here Lies Manuel II Palaiologos, Roman Emperor.”
There is a later addition, a polished granite obelisk, inscribed in Latin, Greek, Arabic and Farsi.
“A Pillar upon whom rests the World.”

Believed to be a symbol of how the Roman people revered him (as the pillar is currently undated), it was matched by the policies of the new Emperor Ioannes VII, who would shift his attentions from Europe to Anatolia and the Asia Minor coastline, publicly announcing that Manuel gave his life for Europe, and Anatolia would recompense the Roman people for taking him from them. This call for vengeance would drastically change the Eastern Mediterranean in the following years.

Addendum – State of Eastern Mediterranean on the Death of Manuel II

f9dyjl.jpg


The shift in power between the Ottomans and the Romans is obvious, however the Ottomans are still one of the largest powers in Anatolia, comparable to the Ak Koyunlu (I think that is how it is spelt) to their east. An interesting event was the Trezbizond Komenids inheriting Epirus. Serbia is currently being overwhelmed, at war with Hungary, and haven't made a call to arms, and Wallachia have Silistria, leaving the small province of Dobrenegia isolated in the north :(

Otherwise, there are still a number of fractious Beyliks surrounding the Ottomans, as well as the Crusader states. However, it does seem that naval power will be a fight between the Mamluks and I.

Anyway, here we go (again) and hopefully I will get the next one up in the next couple of days, after playing it - lots of war, and possibly a bit of Komenid history to boot!
 
good luck! You need more ouzo though
 
@maver1ck - I just finished a Byz-> Roman Empire game. It was awesome. I destroyed the HRE, retook Britannia and Hispania. Then I quit because it was 1700 and there was no challenges left.
 
I presume that you started with a 1405 start date again?
 
I like where this is going. I've always liked AARs that reform the Roman Empire. Just have to ask if this is DW, and if the mod gave you more provinces. But I am enticed and subscribed
 
Deus Eversor Thank you! and thank you!
eliphas8 :D <- This, this is my happy face! You made it!
ve3609 That has been a problem for me, hence why one of mine went nuts with infamy and shizzle, I did arbitrary stuff for the giggles, 100+ Infamy is not.... unchallenging, to put it mildly.
Arakor Indeed - Sorry, I probably should have mentioned that... but, oh well, but yes - it is where I like to start, opportunist it may be, but if I want to steer an alternate theory... doing from then makes more sense, pragmatically, to me at least
generalolaf Thanks :)
BearJuice67 Just as Sihulm said, and yes, I'm much larger due to the 1405 start, and the provinces are the Mod.
Sihulm Thanks again for this mod - tis fantastic

Anyway, the main reason for this post, besides replying to you all, is to say that the next post WILL be up tonight, if I can get it within the picture limit! P.S. Thanks for reading/subscribing!
 
Ouzo, Vulcans and Beautiful Women
Three Roses Pub – Dyrrhacion, 1980

Mehmet leaned against the counter, drinking a ‘Vulcan Mind Probe’. This was his third since they entered the bar an hour ago, and the woman behind the bar was either flirting with him a whole lot more, or he was getting smashed. They’d come for a bit of fun, as Natasha, Antonio, Basil and Mehmet had chosen Ioannes VIII as their choice for the seminar on Monday, and it being Saturday, of course they’d done no work on it, and of course they’d work harder after a night of drinking. Right, Basil would be irritatingly chipper, Antonio wouldn’t get out of his bed till 11, or kick the new dumb blonde out till 1, he’d be half-dead after only managing to sleep after said blonde had finished having the ‘Garibaldi Experience’, whilst Natasha would be nursing a hangover made of a thousand Gremlins.

They were screwed. He downed his current drink and was about to order another when Natasha sidled up next to him.

“Hey Memmy, you ok over here?” Natasha turned up next to him, “You’ve been here since we got in, don’t you want to come and join the debate?” She pouted. Mehmet was a bit surprised, but not exactly unhappy, Natasha was a fun, intelligent girl, with a pair of fantastic legs that she was showing off to the world in that purple dress. The matching hair was a bit bizarre, as was the lip piercing, but that dress, and her pouting, was rather distra...

“Memmy? You alive in there? You went blank on me.”

...cting. “Oh, I did? Sorry. Must be the booze.

“Drunk.” She sighed, “You going to come join the debate, we’re going to start when I go back, thought you’d be game. Considering it being about your family, we’re down one man on the Pro-Threat side.”

“Pro-threat?”

“Oh, it is ‘The Rise of House Osmanli in Anatolia – Threat to Europe or Blip in Roman Hegemony’. Figured you’d know a fair chunk.” She had to admit, she could have asked anyone in their group onto the team, if they really needed anyone, she just enjoyed listening to him talk about the Turks, his eyes lit up whenever they had a lecture on them, the Manzikert lecture had him grinning like a two-year old, and she found it infectious.

On the other hand, Mehmets mind was spinning. He could barely keep his eyes above her chin, debate? She must be mad! Or drunk! Probably both! Before he could stop himself however he bargained “Buy me a VMP, and I’m yours.”

“You undersell yourself sir.” She smiled, on just one side. “Anyway, I asked for debate help, not dinner.” She ordered the drinks.

“Oh God. Uh, umm.” He stumbled over his words, not quite sure WHAT to say, just knowing he had to say something.

“Relax!” Natasha burst out laughing. “Relax Memmy, I was playing!”

“Oh, right.” The barmaid brought the drinks. Natasha passed him his, took a sip, and slauntered over to where the others were sat. Mehmet couldn’t help but watch, for a second.

“You coming or what?”

“Coming!”

Ioannes VIII and the Anatolian Reconquest

Basil Laskaris​

After the wars with the Ottoman Sultanate, Byzantium sat tall and powerful, dominating the eastern Balkans and the Northern Aegean. Ioannes VIII had made a call in September 1408 to invade the lands outside of the Ottomans.

The response in the Roman people was one of jubilation, fresh off of the victories of Manuel II, a wealthy noble, Ambrosios Choniates donated a substantial sum of money to build the Triumph of Manuel (National Epic to Manuel), embedded in the Anastasian Wall, and was granted the privilege of being named Hypostrategos , to serve as the commander of the armies of Konstaninopolis on behalf the Emperor in those locations he could not be. Together he and Ioannes VIII were responsible for planning the invasion.

2ikte7r.jpg

The goals of the campaign were publicly to conquer the coast of Asia Minor to avenge Manuel, whereas the Ioannes VIII planned to reach Lake Van. The initial plan would be to split the armies and overwhelm the smaller Beyliks that surrounded the Ottomans, marching on the Ak Koyunlu to conquer much of their land under the claims of Holy War, before turning back to prepare to fight an Ottoman Sultan after the truce ended.
In 1409 the combined forces of Candar, Saruhan and Mentese declare war on the Ottomans. This unexpected event lead to the invasion of the Saruhan by the Moroccans, and the Candari and Mentese taking 2/3rds of the Ottoman lands, leaving only Angora and Bursa under Ottoman control by August.

678j2b.jpg

This delay had bought the Romans some added time, to re-arm troops, and to build up a substantial war chest, and the expanded armies, two of 12000 men each marched into Saruhan and Candar, just outpaced by the declaration of war sent by messenger pigeon to every state involved in a possible invasion.

ay7c52.jpg

Declared war on all but Ak Koyunlu as reconquest, and Ak Koyunlu as Holy War – I plan to take more than cores, so reconquest would be more expensive(in infamy) – not nice
No calls were made to either Serbia or Wallachia, due to their actions or lack thereof in the case of Serbia, in the campaign of Manuel II. Serbia even received a message warning not to request or expect aid from Konstantinopolis.

‘We regret to warn you that we will not be asking for your aid in the war against the heathen, and wish you the greatest singular glory against Hungary, and regret that we shan’t be able to offer aid, as we are preoccupied with the Greater Glory of God.
Emperor Ioannes VIII.’


The invasions would begin with great successes, exactly to plan, with victories against Candar and Saruhan in October, the latter complicated by Moroccan forces in Smyrna. However, Ambrosios, despite his wealth and academic understanding of strategy, would fail to keep control of the Mentese, whilst he defeated the reserve forces in November, he had to split his forces in order to pursue a Mentese force laying siege to Konstantinopolis. Karaman, currently not under immediate threat, called a large amount of Arabia, the Hedjaz, Yemen, Najd, and through them, Oman.

1410 saw the initial plan changed, with Ioannes having to stretch his forces to defeat and occupy Karaman, whilst the Ak Koyunlu amassed a large army in Sivas. It is unsure what stayed the warhost, fear, shock, the belief that the show of strength would cow the Romans, but the force would expand to 20000 men over time, far larger than the sum of the Roman forces on the border till June.

3538ui0.jpg

This did however drive Ioannes into greater action, he called for every man that could be spared to be sent to Yazgod to combine with him, ready to fight the Ak Koyunlu, whilst sending a token force of engineers and guards to aid the Moroccans in Smyrna, to aid in the siege, offering to let them take the wealth of Smyrna in exchange for not taking the territory, paying off in June as the Moroccans left, however local loyalists hired sought to keep the Romans out, leading to another siege.

x1nm77.jpg

The Ak Koyunlu, who had until now stood in Sivas to oppose the Romans, retreated in July to deal with an invasion in the east. Ioannes took advantage of this by marching to Erzincan, leaving only small siege forces behind him, whilst all other Roman field troops besieged Erzincan, setting up a small city of soldiers in the area. From this ‘city around a city’ rose the temporary capital of Gyropolis (For those who don’t speak my butchered Greek, that is roughly Around City). With the capital came the legal annexation of Candar, Karaman and Saruhan. Ioannes also managed an issue with a large number of Turks abandoning their serfdom in order to move to Konstantinopolis. Despite the anger it caused in the region, as well as other conservative members of the nation, he granted them the right to settle in the city.

zl3rz4.jpg

The hiatus would end six months later in April, when after the lack of resistance, and ability of the Ak Koyunlu to fight them, Ioannes felt it time to send 10000 men under Ambrosios is sent to prepare to invade Ramazan, which would later be delayed by the entry of Dulkadir into the war. This was due to the Hedjaz claiming to lead the alliance from the invasion of Karaman, and with Gyropolis and Erzincan secured as a temporary capital, a full 140000 men would overwhelm Dulkadir, before turning to take advantage of a protracted battle between the Qara and Ak Koyunlu nearby. The following battle would shatter the Ak Koyunlu with a small fraction of Roman losses, and a large number of Qara Koyunlu losses.

2vcxcoo.jpg

As the wars continued, with a rapid invasion of Ramazan by Ambrosios, the inclusion of the Jalayirids in the Karaman War, moving eastward to besiege the remains of the Ak Koyunlu cities, there was the intervention of the Hafsids in the Morea, requiring a naval mobilisation under Paylos Angyos, as well as the rapid legal annexation of the Mentese before any help could land.

9fs77k.jpg

Outside of the war, back in Konstaninopolis in April, after consulting the Emperor via pidgeon, Palaemon Diogenes set up a National Bank, encouraging usurers and lenders to come to the city, leading to a drastic uplift in the wartime economy. In order to appease the church however, their chosen Patriarch, Andreas Angelos demanded further conversions to the faith, causing a rebellion in Sinope, compounded by the drastic measures of the new fundamentalist Patriarch, who encouraged the annexation of Dulkadir in July, despite the infamy it would cause the young Emperor, in exchange for his efforts to ‘pacify’ the church. Unexpectedly however, the territory to the south was claimed by the Qara Koyunlu, who considered Dulkadir their raiding ground, leading to a few minor battles in the following months as Ioannes set a stranglehold on the Ak Koyunlu whilst they fought in the Qara Koyunlu region.

23hqbgz.jpg

July saw the wars beginning to close in Anatolia, with Ramazan annexed, all that was left out of the Roman Empire in the region was the Ak Koyunlu territories. With that front closing, the collected crowns of the Anatolian Beyliks were gathered, melted together, and sent to the Hedjaz in Mecca, a peace offering, and an Ioannic statement to Arabia to cease fighting. It was accepted.

In this timeline, to be Ioannic, is to make a powerful graphic statement in order to enhance a threat or demand, or to turn a request into a demand. Whilst certainly aggressive, it showed the Ioannes was not a man that could be cowed, he made people cower.

2ibco7s.jpg

This statement would cause trouble, not only did it make the Hafsids fight harder, managing to land in Morea, news of it in Europe ‘greatly offended’ a Papal Ambassador. This would later be discovered by historians to be a Papal objective, worried that if he would threaten an entire region, and the source of Islam, and show himself capable of such feats as in Anatolia over the slaying of an Emperor and Manzikert, what would he do to the people who called and performed the 4th Crusade?

2m6q49j.jpg

1413 saw the closing states of the war as the Ak Koyunlu and Qara Koyunlu were brought to the peace table, with the Ak Koyunlu ceding all occupied territory, freeing Ioannes to head west to deal with a Hafsid landing in Morea, which would be followed by an invasion of Tunis. He also elevated his son Manuel to Strategos, where he lead half of the Roman army to intercept and pursue the Jalayirid forces back to their homeland. This lead to the payoff of the Jalayirids, which combined with Ioannes invasion in Tunisia, created a brief peace by June.

August saw the truce finally end, with Manuel and Ioannes invading the Ottomans, with a small force under Ambrosios handling a local rebellion. The Ottoman Sultanate, and a Turk-Dominated Anatolia ended in December. Mehmet attributed with saying “Not a man in Anatolia does not serve the Roman, besides Ioannes and I.” He was led through city in chains, for Ioannes own Triumph, where he was raised on a wooden platform an executed to the announcement – “With the blood of this man, and Anatolia, Manuel II is avenged, Manzikert is avenged.” Ioannes later announced his new aim, stating before the dynatoi and the mob “I am Basilieus ton Romanion, and as long as I live, I shall seek to repair the damage done by the Franks, the Latins, the Venetians. Greece shall be ruled by Greeks once again!”

2cyjhpt.jpg

Addendum
2a7fzid.jpg
The wars were not the only event, there is the National Bank, more conversions to perform, and of course, the shattered state of Serbia. Lovely and poetic from a Roman perspective.. ok, mine.. This obviously means that I share a lovely border with both Hungary and Transylvania. On the black sea, is a small Zaporizhia that has set up in Azov - the little grey splodge, and that the Golden Horde are pushing through into Georgia, which could end interestingly, and expensively for me now that I share a border with Georgia. I am bordering the Qara Koyunlu as well, so I already have a nomad neighbour, I don't want a second.. yet... but more interesting is the Mamluks to the south, they are trying to control a large amount of the Qara Koyunlu turf, which if they get much stronger could be a serious problem.

Oh, and REALLY big, is that Poland has annexed Moldavia, which means that unlike previously where they couldn't colonise the GH, they now can - this is what I call a problem.

Though, just realised.. why don't Paradox allow you to colonise horde turf if you have a direct route via the sea? Otherwise how could Genoa have set up?... *waves fist at Paradox* so many problems could be solved....
 
Two more questions. Is this mod compatible with HttT, and where can I find it?
 
eliphas8 - I tend not to, I can see why, but with a 1405 start there is already the alliances in Greece that make it REALLY hard to take on all the Italians that inevitably protect them (normally). However, this is the order I got the missions, and it worked really well the with way the turks fought themselves.

BearJuice67 - I don't think so - and just Google Death and Taxes EU3 - should turn it up - I believe it requires DW and the 5.1b beta patch - though... I would get the expansion for the mod, oh, and because the expansion itself is rather spiffy and pretty :)
 
I wish I had the right video card for it. But anyways, I think you can take on Venice now that you have All of Asia Minor and most of the Eastern Balkans. They won't pose much of a threat to you. The only problem I see is their navy and not being able to hit Venezia for a trump card
 
This is a pretty awesome idea; I found this because of the mod, and I'd love to see how it turns out. Subscribed!