Chapter VI - I Have A Dream
Thomas Andronikos Palaiologos, painted around 1400 to commemorate Emperor Thomas's long reign.
Thomas has not even spent one year ruling on his own before his father's allies in Milan require the Empire's help with their trade war with Venice. Thomas reluctantly accepts and hopes for another quiet 'war'.
Demetrios Kydones,
Mesazon (prime minster) under Ioannes V, manages to fabricate a claim on the Serbian province of Vlore. Thomas has great plans for Byzantine restoration and he rewards him by raising him to the position of
Kanikleios (keeper of the imperial inkstand) as well.
Our land technology improves slightly (always a plus) and our teenage monarch is painted as a ruthless power-monger. Between drunkenness and ruthlessness, some of the Byzantine court really don't seem to like their new Emperor!
The Eretnid people finally accept the worship of
Kristos Pantokrator ("Christ, Ruler of All") and convert to the Orthodox faith. We are then somewhat inexplicably told that spies have
succeeded in infiltrating our administration. If they're even halfway decent, how do we know that they're there?
In other news, Aragon wails on the Papal State and the Chobanids beat up the Kartids. If they're not focusing on Byzantium, all the better!
The same day, the newly Christianised Eretnids reaffirm their alliance with us, but this does have the unfortunate side-effect that they can now have Holy War called against them by their neighbours as well.
Our old enemy Venice is forced to cede a province to Aquileia, which interestingly doesn't affect our on-going war alongside Milan against them.
A major revolt occurs throughout Greek Candar in autumn 1375 which needs to be put down as swiftly as possible.
Unfortunately, whilst this is going on, Armenia is having its arse handed to it by the rampaging Mamluks. They are the terrifying monster that is used to scare Byzantine children to sleep - "if you're naughty, the Mamluks will get you!"
Under the command of
Megas Doux ("Grand General") Konstantinos Phouskamaki, the Byzantine navy hands the remaining Venetian ships another defeat. The final insult, however, is when Milan's armies triumph over La Serenissima and take the city of Venexia for their own.
He might be rumoured to be a drunken power-monger, but Thomas is certainly no slouch in the bedroom department, fathering his first child, Manuel, at the tender age of seventeen and a half. To distract from these wild rumours, Thomas takes for himself the common moniker
Porphyrogennētos ("born in the purple"), indicating a royal child of a reigning Byzantine Emperor.
Yeah, another of the Byzantine bugbears has decided that they want Eretnid land for themselves, though Milan, Trebizond and Wallachia come to our aid. Our alliance policy is finally working in our favour!
Despite the Ottomans rudely interrupting the Christmas festivities, the planned royal marriage with the Eretnids takes place on schedule the day after Epiphany. If previous experience is anything to go, these wars tend to drag on for a long time.
It's only a small victory, but now we've proven that we can hold our own in naval matters against the feared Ottomans.
Despite a year of fighting in and around Anatolia, the talented advisers that Thomas inherited from his father and the council of regents has led to an increase in the middle classes and greater financial stability. Success!
Another year passes and Byzantine technological improvement continues apace, despite the long months of blood and tears outside Konstantinoupolis's high walls.
An almost-year-long siege of the Izmirian fortifications by our Wallachian allies concludes successfully.
A view of the battle theatre two years into the war, just prior to the fall of Izmir. The Ottomans have seized much of our eastern holdings, but our allies are keeping them busy in the west. Byzantium proper remains untrammelled by war as yet.
Thomas Porphyrogennētos
Anno Mundus 6886
Θωμάς πορφυρογέννητος
Autocrat and Emperor of the Romans
Strategos-Autokrator of Konstantinoupolis