In the Shadow of Certain, Painful Doom: Abyssinia

Athalcor said:

I wonder, what will the Basileus do with all the levies in the prison?

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He has a regent operating the realm in his absence, so the troops are still quite active.

aldriq said:

I wonder, who will the basileus impale if he ever gets out of prison...

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I guess as emperor he could impale anyone he wants. Staying on his good side is probably a good idea.

Athalcor said:

I wonder, is there anybody else wondering about the Basileus?

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tnick0225 said:

I'm wondering about him I have a suspicious feeling the way this has been going that the Basileus will end up living till he's in his 80s in prison

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Yes I have the feeling you are right--the evil ones always seem to live longest. I guess impaling keeps you young.

InnocentIII said:

Hey, if he imprisons you, do you join him or go to a different prison? Not that I'm saying that'll happen, or anything, I'd just love to see the Emperor say to his jailer "set two more places, I'm expecting guests".

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Unfortunately he's in a foreign infidel prison, so it would be seperate prisons. I wouldn't want to be imprisoned with "the Impaler" though.

Chapter 42



Marshal Stephanos wants to brief me on the wars we will engage in, and as ruler sending my men to risk their lives, I should probably know what all the fighting is about. Plus Stephanos promises that it involves some interesting brotherly rivalry. It turns out that while Prince Konstantinos, Doux of Crimea, and Prince Hypatios, Count of Lesbos, are both brothers of my liege (whom I will call “the Impaler” until popular consensus gives me another nickname), they are also independent rulers. And both of their war aims are for the County of Chaldea.

So what is so special about Chaldea County? Stephanos tells me that it is just an average county in the middle of Byzantium on the coast of Kolkhida. The two brothers’ mother was the second wife of “the Drunkard”. When she died, she passed on her claim to Chaldea to her sons, but the county went from her father to her brother, the (now) Count Alvedis, uncle to the two young princes. Count Alvedis is a vassal of the Impaler. So they are not after all really seeking to attack the Byzantine empire. They want to attack Count Alvedis to oust him from the county and attack each other to keep it for themselves. Unfortunately a little thing like massive armies defending the Byzantine Empire is going to cause them some trouble.





So I will be attacking a Doux and a Count. My first target is Prince Konstantinos’ demense—the Duchy of Crimea. It will take the longest to reach, which will at least allow the Byzantine Imperial Army to soften up the opposing forces for me. By “softening up” I mean I hope they completely crush the Doux’s armies before I get there.

Doux Konstantinos has high hopes if he thinks he can take his prize while holding off the Byzantine armies. He must know that his brother will take some of the heat as well. If his brother is a mighty ruler as well, perhaps together their forces might have a chance if they choose not to try to kill each other. Stephanos then briefs me on the brother.





Prince Hypatios’ demsense—the small county of Lesbos. These brothers are not very bright, are they? I’ve seen enough. I give the orders for the army to move out. I’m hopeful that they return carrying much Byzantine plunder.





We hit a problem right away. Apparently I am the only available noble who can lead the army abroad. That is not going to happen. Let’s see…





I quickly authorize a search through my domain for a noble to bring to my court. Tiberios is found. He has almost nonexistent martial ability. Oh well, that will be good enough. At least he’s a Monophysite Greek like me. You don’t find a lot of those around.





Within just a couple of weeks out of Sennar, though, Tiberios dies of syphilis. I suppose if you have low standards you must tolerate this sort of thing. I invite a new noble, Staurakios, to my court and make him general of the army. His martial abilities are a little better than Tiberios anyway (3 versus 2). Now on to war!

Principiis & tnick0225 – Yes, that it will go poorly is a given. Just how poorly it will go is the only thing we don’t know until he executes his plan.

Athalcor – I checked out a description of the movie Agora. Thanks for mentioning it, it sounds interesting!

Aldriq – Not yet, but Tefaye is getting up there in years. I keep expecting to see the “dead ruler/new ruler” screen. I will be sad to see him go, even if the Byzantines will not.

sarevok2, jaearess, LordCowles, Thandros, & InnocentIII – LOL. When CK2 threw Tiberios at me and then killed him a week later from syphilis I certainly had to laugh, but I didn’t know what love he would get from instant fans in the AAR forum! Let me know if you want me to devote a post to build out a side story that features him utilizing his martial “genius”.

Holy.Death – It certainly felt like the game wanted Tesfaye to lead the army, putting him in there with no replacements and then killing the first one I put in. Dying in combat would be so unlike Tesfaye, though… unless he died in one of those “800 versus 16, leader dies” abominations. That would be keeping in line with cosmic justice, I think.

SaintEsteban – Thanks! And thank you also for the information on why the dead change stats. That makes a lot of sense.

InnocentIII & SaintEsteban – Yes, Tesfaye’s court would probably want to announce his death immediately to take advantage in the boost of public morale.

Chapter 43



It is fortunate that I assigned the spymaster position to somebody competent at the role, for Spymaster Iskinder has discovered that there is a plot on my life. My grandson conspires to murder me. Watching his wife rule her demense has given him the taste for his own power, and he seeks to fulfill it by ruling the County of Sennar. The fool! Currently he lives in sophisticated Byzantium, protected by the Basileus’ hosts of soldiers on all sides. If he does kill me, he will have to live down here in arid, isolated, backward Sennar. He will deserve his fate.





I quickly send my grandson an “impromptu” gift, hoping that this improves our relation to the point where he does not want to murder me. While he enjoys the gesture and even likes me now, he refuses to end his plot on my life. The only thing I can do is stop the plot backers within my own demense. My Steward absolutely hates me, so he has happily joined the plot. He hates me largely because I took his landed title of mayor or bishop from him. Apparently I also fired him from the council at some point. And I refused him another council position. Well, in any case he agrees to drop it immediately. If he backs the plot again I will get a new steward, and it will probably be wise to leave him in no shape to be a steward ever again.





My armies slowly crawl across the map. Not surprisingly, Lesbos falls almost immediately to the Byzantine armies. The Duchy of Crimea is taking a little longer, but it looks unlikely my army will get there in time.





The post-public office curse is still hovering over Sennar. Only a short time since I fired Melesse from the spymaster position she dies a natural death. While sad, she did live a full life. (“Full,” as in “many years”—living in Sennar cannot really qualify as “full” in terms of a richly-lived life by any means.) She had the highest moral standards and embraced everything she did with gusto, such as her beloved spymaster position. Melesse will certainly be missed.

Propriety would perhaps dictate a mourning period before I remarry, but my own life must be running to the last of its thread, so I will remarry at once. It is important for my dynasty. And I have big plans on who will be my next wife.