Death, Taxes and Glory - A Roman Death and Taxes AAR

I'll try and get the post up tomorrow - replies and all! It has just been hectic starting a new uni course.

I do have to apologise, I know I said I'd have it up monday, and I've got it nearly half written... so I'll just spend some time replying to posts

BearJuice 67 - Ack, well that sucks Well, I considered that, but with the way I've been imagining Ioannes does war, I doubt that it will be as simple as that

Avindian - Woo! Why thank you

08jzdunek & Rockingluke - yeah, I started in 1405, but with 3.4... no way to blockade the Marmara - making it a good chunk more challenging than in vanilla.

James Beil - Why thank you!

Ilovecheese - when I've got an empire this size... I find that trade tends to be difficult, especially with the infamy I've been building up making it more complicated. I assume you mean the Emperor? You'll love the next post then

Of Gremlins and Bad Memories
Angelos Building, 3rd Floor

“Bloody Gremlins....” Natasha paused for second, seeing the state her room was in
“What.. happened last night?” she began to mutter to herself “W-why do I have pocky in my shoe?” she began to rub her head from the pain only to discover pocky in her hair. She crawled out, grabbed a towel and began to stumble to the shower down the hall.

The Angelos Building was the most clinical dormhouse on campus, with rooms consisting of a single bed, a desk, and communal bathrooms and kitchens between another eleven tenants. It also happened to the building where all the History and Classics students were housed, meaning that Mehmet was three floors up, next-door to Antonio, whilst Basil was the just below her on the second floor.

She sighed as the water hit her as she started to recall the night. They’d been in, was it her room? No, of course not, it Mehme.. no, Basils.. no... L... Lu... Lucy? That must be it. They’d met up after lectures, she’d met them through Basil, they were both looking at some old sword at the Museum of Constantinople, archaeology student-turned-lecturer. They all met up to play some board games, watch some animé, and.. what else?

“Gah!” She stomped throughout her room, drying off with her towel, stepping and nearly tripping over the various piles of clothes, collapsing into her desk chair to put on some music, only to discover that her email was open, with an invite to a massive party. EUNS – Epidamnos University Nerd Society – Presents : An Introduction to Studio Baja.

It began to clear up in her head. The tables of people playing ‘Mali’, the projector screens with animé playing, it was fantastic! Mountains of food, drink... that... that would be why she couldn’t remember so well... those damn vulcans she’d been drinking with Mehmet.

“Oh God.” It was like a light being turned on, they’d... been rather drunk, and came back early. She remembered going into his room, but after that... nothing. She threw some clothes on, grabbed a coat, and almost flew up the stairway, her purple coat trailing off her shoulder, as she hurriedly put it on mid-run.

“MEHMET!” She began thumping on his door. “I know you’re in there! Let me IN!”.

“I’m over here.” She turned to see him standing wet in a towel, just out of the bathroom. “What’s up?”

“Oh.. uh”. She had been entirely ready to rail at him, accuse him of taking advantage of her, getting her drunk so she’d be more pliable, but.. she couldn’t, she stammered, he didn’t look like he’d ‘gotten any’ last night, more confused than anything else.

“Are you ok Tash?”

“I’m not so sure...” She rubbed her head “What happened last night? I.. I can’t remember what happened after coming back.”

“You want to step inside? I’ll bring you up to speed.”

“Please.”

He fumbled around, nearly dropping the towel when he fumbled with his keys, he couldn’t, wouldn’t. He wouldn’t do that, she could not handle that, not again. She sat down on the bed, his room far tidier than hers, laptop open, already started writing up the ‘Crusade of Ioannes VIII’ assignment. Damn workaholic... He sat down on his chair, turning to face her he passed her a box of pocky.

“You left this last night. How you can stand that strawberry stuff I’ll never know.” She just rolled her eyes at him.

“Mehmet.” She glared at him, unimpressed by the humour.

“Alright, alright.” He put his hands up “I, I asked you out last night. You never answered, but instead told me about Eric...”

“Shit. I’m sorry, I.. I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“It was... dark, I’ll admit... so... “ He glanced down. “... I’ll leave it be, I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

“Thank you. Uh, I know it is a bit.. non-sequiter, but could you come help me later? I haven’t even started the ‘Crusade’ assignment, can you help me out with it?”

“Sure, I’ll just get dressed and bring my laptop up.”


In 1414 the Empire sat proud once again with the entirety of Anatolia under Roman jurisdiction, and crawling with missionaries. The Most August Emperor Ioannes VIII was perhaps the single most observed man in Europe. He was the single greatest source of terror for the Middle East. From Georgia to Egypt, Alexandria to Oman, none dared to threaten the Romans for fear of him. The Anatolian Crown, sent to Mecca, was soon to become the image for a resurgent ‘Cult of the Emperor’ declaring Ioannes to be

“The Sacred Thanatos Incarnate, who purges the weak of faith, and the heathen. Reborn as Fire.”

The central idea behind the cult was that the dramatic rebirth of the Empire was nearly miraculous to a nation that had felt it was on the brink. It took the Greek daemon Thanatos, and combined him with the Destroyer of the Old Testament, a symbol of both vengeance and righteous judgement.

This wave of hero-worship helped to sooth concerns of an immediate war due to the rapid expansion of the army that Ioannes called for, headed by the new Strategos Michael Melisinos, who whose military knowledge and political acumen impressed Ioannes and lead to the relegation of the Hypostrategos Ambrosios to a small force on the eastern border with Georgia and Trebizond.



Alongside the expansion of the army came a huge naval rearmament. This is highly likely to have been done due to the failings of the frail navy during the 4th Crusade. Whilst the Rus’ and the Arabs had been defeated when the navy was substantial, during the 4th Crusade it was not, and with a navy could very well have stood against the invaders. This expansion was dramatic, and instead of the traditional galleys of the past, carracks were built, armed with both cannon, and the incredibly dangerous ‘Liquid Fire’ or ‘Greek Fire’.

The combination of heavier ships with the variety of heavy weaponry meant they did not have the limitations of previous fleets that were restricted to the coast, sacrificing their in combat movement for durability, long range movement, and incredible firepower. Rather than just the typical siphons at the ships front, the navy built by Ioannes had those imposing siphons, but took the cannons used in 1396 and mounted them in the heavy ships, and using them to launch canisters that usually exploded on impact with enemy ships, due to the frail state they were in after already surviving a launch. Occasionally these would explode on firing, leaving a huge trail of fire, however, by adopting the Arab technique of ‘hiding’ the ships, very few of these ships would set fire to themselves, making them a terror on the Mediterranean.



Despite all this incredible spending, Ioannes had managed to pull a financial masterstroke throughout the long wars, with a huge financial reserve, that would be boosted further due to profits made through the National Bank. This incredible wealth was seemingly being poured into patronising military research, leading to the conflict between conservative and innovative strategists. With the dramatic shops changes, it was characteristic to see Ioannes take advantage of the situation to diversify the armies.
With his large military expansion and financial reserves, it seemed that Ioannes VIII was trying to turn those western countries that did not directly aid the 4th Crusade, which largely included all of those that lay around the Adriatic Sea, with marriages, and alliances across the peninsula, seemingly to try and pry them out of their guarantees over Greece. This is often noted as remarkably unusual tactic for Ioannes, whose policies tended to lie with intimidation, not regular diplomacy. Some link it to the recent developments in Balikser, where the perception was that with the legal changes, and the dominance of Greek culture in the Empire, that the local culture was more closely resembling that of Konstantinopolis.



Regardless, it would be the end of 1415 that Ioannes would end his peaceful period, seeing the Romans invading the Komenid state of Trebizond. The war would take place on both the east and western borders, with Wallachia and Naples assisting Konstantinopolis, whilst Serbia and Georgia would assist the Komenids. The year-long war would lead to bringing the Komenids into the Empire, as dynatoi in control of their previous territories, as well as the annexation of Serbia. It would be the end of King Stefan Lazarevic of Serbia. According to plausibly accurate accounts, the two rulers would spar atop a tower in Beograd (Belgrade), where upon his victory, Ioannes smashed the Despots crown, declaring that he had no need for Foederati in his empire, before kicking him off the tower. Whether or not this is true, it was rapidly spead across Europe, the infamy of the ‘Despots Tower’ event is likely to have been responsible for Georgia offering peace. Ioannes accepted a peace, and strengthened it by marrying together minor Bagratids and Palaiologids. With the defeat of Serbia and the majority of Greece under control, Ioannes would reinstitute the Theme System greatly increasing the pool of recruits for the army.



The following months were spent moving the greatest part of the army west into Greece and the Balkan region. The first half of the fleet had been finished, and feeling confident of its abilities, Ioannes declared war, in June 1417, on Venice, Achaea and Athens, in a similar manner to the cross-territory declaration he made in Anatolia. The alliances would split between a number of Italian states protecting Achaea, and the larger states protecting Venice.

This would be the largest conflict in Europe at the time. From Greece to Italy, through Hungary to Brandenburg in Northern Germany, soldiers poured as fast as they could into Serbia from the northern states, whilst the Italian states send their troops into Bulgaria by sea, due to the overwhelming size of the enemy fleet.



The war showed off many of the finest generals of the period, mostly on the Roman side with great victories for Ioannes, Manuel, Michael and even Ambriosios who turned the tide in the later days of the war by coming over from the eastern border with another twelve thousand men to clear the Italians out of Bulgaria. In recent years historians have placed greater value on the Polish Invasion that overran northern and eastern Hungary, forcing the Hungarians into a ‘rock and a hard place’ situation.

However, despite the major victories, the first territorial gains were made in Corfu, Crete and Naxos due to the funding of patriots by the Roman State. However, despite the reclaimation of Greece, and these territories, it would battles in Albania and Serbia that would claim Ioannes VIII in late 1417. His son Andronikos would be placed on the throne, assisted by the Recency Council, consisting of Ambrosios, Prokopios Komenos, Manuel Palaiologos and incredibly popular Michael Melisinos.
This council would be less than ideal for reducing Roman infamy, all being major generals in the army. Whilst the fighting would continue fiercely across the next two years, it would finally lead to a final peace in Feburary 1420. The council demands the annexation of Urbino, to be granted to Melisinos due to his efforts in subduing the leader of the Italian Alliance. This would turn out to be a political move to weaken a major political force, effectively exiling him to the unruly Italian region., Albania as a former imperial territory would join with little bother, the same with the Hungarian province of Kosovo, effectively uniting the former Serbian realm under the Regency, with the additional annexation of Bulgaria, the Regency had truely become the single most infamous political body of the time.

The following years were undoubtedly going to be difficult, considering how infamous the Regency Council, combined with the Eastern and Serbian Annexations had made the Empire. However, with the victories in Greece, the Empire stood stronger than it had for centuries. Only small regions that the Empire claimed lay outside of its control – Azow, Silistria, Rhodes, and Cyprus. However, with no legal figurehead old enough to lead in battle, the Empire would bide through its first true peace since before Manuel returned from the West.


In the year 1420, Ioannes VIII was dead, as were all the wars that he begun, after taking the Roman Empire from the brink of destruction, to controlling territory from Georgia to Serbia, and across the Adriatic back into Italy. Their armies stood in sight of Rome, with their most talented general and statesman both isolated from usurping the throne, and serving the Empire in the process. Later discoveries would show that despite the worries of the Council, Melisinos was never intending to usurp the throne, and odd belief at the time due to the public knowledge of his membership in the Cult of Thanatos.


East of the Empire
Outside of the Empire there were several interesting events. Just east were the Georgians; who, despite being at war with the Qara Koyunlu, the Timurids, and the Golden Horde, were settling new territories around their Ak Koyunlu conquests.

Mediterranean
With the most dramatic change being the unification of Anatolia and Greece under the Romans, it is easy to overlook the other changes that had happened. The Mamluks and the Hafsids would be at war, now that the Hafsids had lost ground to Britanny. The Italian states have felt the force of Konstaninopolis, but also the force of Milan and Austria, who have expanded into the mediterranean, and northern Italy respectively.

Eastern Europe
The largest change would be the further rise of Poland, who had both annexed Moldavia, annexed parts of Hungary, and pushed into the Crimean region under the Golden Horde. The only other change of interest would be Azow, which has declared itself an independent Tartar city state. The Muscovites are also expanding at the expensive of the Golden Horde as well as the other Russian States.

Western Europe
France and England remain locked in war over Aquitaine, perhaps buying the Bretons time to expand in Africa, whilst Castille takes Valencia from Aragon. It is at this point in time that Wales received its independence.

So, there you all go! The belated and suitable end to Ioannes VIII, and the establishment of Konstantinopolis as Queen of the Mediterranean once more, time for a calm enjoyable regency – and then we can have fun with Andronikos ‘Silversword’.

BearJuice67 - It is a fantastic point to start Best of luck, feel free to post some Empire stuffs here (and on the D&T Empires thread too... but I am interested sah)

@eliphas8 - My apologies for the delay, mixture of university, almost-former internship and generally life has delayed me from even playing till tonight - I shall endevour to get an update for thursday (friday at the latest)

@FromasterG - thank you!

Quick update- have played the entire life of the next emperor... shall be working on the first update of his reign soon.

It will arrive... soonish, sorry, entirely distracted due to

First - Uni Work
Second - internship work
Third - ... skyrim

But there will be an update for monday, I swear! ...

Thx for the stealth bump

My apologies to those who have read this AAR

Despite its.... brevity, I no longer have the time for posting AARs due to university work.

Thank you for all the kind comments, but I'm declaring this AAR on long-term hiatus

If I do find time, I'll probably make a post, but I figured I ought to say as much on here.