Wow, the Curse of Sennar sure is strong! Once you get there, there´s no way of leaving, no matter how hard you try!
In the Shadow of Certain, Painful Doom: Abyssinia
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I'm loving this AAR. I read the whole thing in almost one sitting and I regret nothing. Subbed.
I predict that the holy knucklebone will not be found until a Monophysite scion of the house of Yagwe once more sits on the throne of Gondor. (Pigs will probably fly first.)
If the count can save Armenia from being usurped, he might consider instituting some inheritance law changes... something that might unify Armenia with Sennar.
Yes, the baboons know there is no hope of escape.
The Sennarians are a rough crowd for those needing ego-boosting adulation and adoration.
Yes, that's a good plan. While it seemed bad to have Syria erupt in rebellion just in front of the Count's army, even worse would have been while they were in the middle of Syria.
LOL. I'm not sure how the count views his daughters. He seems to like being at war more than being around his family.
Nope. Once it's got you, you might was well learn how to de-crust a well, because that one just south of town will be keeping you, your children, and your children's children busy. Except for the children that go off to die of typhoid fever in some sophisticated place, that is.
Thank you! I'm glad you like it! Welcome to Sennar!
On that day, the Curse will be lifted, and Sennar will shine as the Eden that many Medievals thought was accessible through Abyssinia. No, you're right. Pigs will probably fly first.OMG! You're right, that might heal the schism that the Count's lustful ways has caused! Thanks!
Chapter 63
We will make the time-consuming trek around Syria, to avoid getting entangled—who am I kidding?—to avoid getting destroyed by the rebel Doux. Each week increases the danger to my daughter’s hold on Armenia, so I spur the men on to march faster. I think the sight of their Caesar galloping up and down the line should raise their spirits nicely.
Oops! Heh heh. That will probably come back to bite me.
I receive news that my adulterous affair has produced a male offspring. I will recognize the child as mine, but not make him eligible for inheriting any lands. I want to consolidate my dynasty’s holdings into one person, not spread them around.
The only thing my wife is good at is her hobby: killing things.
My wife, who now hates me, wants to become spymaster. That doesn’t seem prudent. Now that I am thinking of my wife’s abilities, however, it occurs to me that when she was younger I remember seeing her practice with a sword. Her father was an old general who wanted all his children to be able to defend against infidels if need be. Her skills with the sword were better than mine or most of the men I know. Her knife skills were better too. Now that I think of it, she once boasted she had wrestled a young mountain lion with her bare hands. … Perhaps I should try to be more discrete with my little "side adventures"… Or perhaps I could stay out to war indefinitely.
As we approach Armenia, I hold a war council in my tent to explore our options. I try to avoid holding such councils frequently as I then need to allow some of the petty officers into my tent, and small valuables usually disappear. I usually find small totems, too, left behind to bewitch me I presume. Oftentimes they are fashioned into the shape of a bone knuckle of some sort from a pig or some other animal. Only the Two-Natured God knows what these savage Monophisites do in their unholy ceremonies and why.
In the war council I recommend a direct attack on the rebel count’s army, which should raise the morale of both our armies and the armies of our allies. Smirking, Laurentios compliments me on my sage military strategy. Then he begins to thrash one of the petty officers, telling him that I was testing them to see if they could recognize a bad idea, and the officers had failed. “The correct strategy that our peerless Caesar holds is not some moronic frontal attack that gives the enemy the benefit of defending in the mountains. No! It is instead to attack the enemy’s home county and force them to attack us while we defend in mountainous terrain.” A siege in the rebel count’s home territory will probably draw the rebels to us and give us the defensive advantage (and also let my daughter rally her forces unmolested). Even if they don’t bite, he concludes, we will still be weakening them by attacking their lone county. He is right, so I simply nod, though of course I had said nothing of this to Laurentios. He is playing a dangerous game.
We will make the time-consuming trek around Syria, to avoid getting entangled—who am I kidding?—to avoid getting destroyed by the rebel Doux. Each week increases the danger to my daughter’s hold on Armenia, so I spur the men on to march faster. I think the sight of their Caesar galloping up and down the line should raise their spirits nicely.
Oops! Heh heh. That will probably come back to bite me.
I receive news that my adulterous affair has produced a male offspring. I will recognize the child as mine, but not make him eligible for inheriting any lands. I want to consolidate my dynasty’s holdings into one person, not spread them around.
The only thing my wife is good at is her hobby: killing things.
My wife, who now hates me, wants to become spymaster. That doesn’t seem prudent. Now that I am thinking of my wife’s abilities, however, it occurs to me that when she was younger I remember seeing her practice with a sword. Her father was an old general who wanted all his children to be able to defend against infidels if need be. Her skills with the sword were better than mine or most of the men I know. Her knife skills were better too. Now that I think of it, she once boasted she had wrestled a young mountain lion with her bare hands. … Perhaps I should try to be more discrete with my little "side adventures"… Or perhaps I could stay out to war indefinitely.
As we approach Armenia, I hold a war council in my tent to explore our options. I try to avoid holding such councils frequently as I then need to allow some of the petty officers into my tent, and small valuables usually disappear. I usually find small totems, too, left behind to bewitch me I presume. Oftentimes they are fashioned into the shape of a bone knuckle of some sort from a pig or some other animal. Only the Two-Natured God knows what these savage Monophisites do in their unholy ceremonies and why.
In the war council I recommend a direct attack on the rebel count’s army, which should raise the morale of both our armies and the armies of our allies. Smirking, Laurentios compliments me on my sage military strategy. Then he begins to thrash one of the petty officers, telling him that I was testing them to see if they could recognize a bad idea, and the officers had failed. “The correct strategy that our peerless Caesar holds is not some moronic frontal attack that gives the enemy the benefit of defending in the mountains. No! It is instead to attack the enemy’s home county and force them to attack us while we defend in mountainous terrain.” A siege in the rebel count’s home territory will probably draw the rebels to us and give us the defensive advantage (and also let my daughter rally her forces unmolested). Even if they don’t bite, he concludes, we will still be weakening them by attacking their lone county. He is right, so I simply nod, though of course I had said nothing of this to Laurentios. He is playing a dangerous game.
I should add that several of the AAR writers have been asked to mention the AARland choice AwAARds 2012 (Round 2), the voting of which ends on the last day of July. If you are interested, you can reach the voting thread by clicking here. Happy voting!
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I'm pretty scared of Tesfaye's wife there. She may not be the brightest tej in the mud, but by the looks of that martial skill, she's been wrestling some Gelada baboons. He should have settled down with a nice Monophysite girl, but no...
Would it not be possible to revoke your bishop and give the church slot to your legitimate son? That usually eliminates them from succession. Works with Catholics but not tried it with other religions. Could be the way into Armenia and your daughter could always restore him to a countdown or a barony after she takes control of Sennar. Just a thought.
ps voted for you in the AARland choice awards. A well deserving AAR mate.
ps voted for you in the AARland choice awards. A well deserving AAR mate.
Inspired? By you? In Sennar? You must have been having that 'special' tej too much!
Oops! Heh heh. That will probably come back to bite me.
I receive news that my adulterous affair has produced a male offspring. I will recognize the child as mine, but not make him eligible for inheriting any lands. I want to consolidate my dynasty’s holdings into one person, not spread them around.
Good thing the courtier being cuckholded is in prison (for some reason). Now about the wife...
The best part is the dream of reclaiming even just Abssynia is looking more likely to never pass.
Once Sennar got you, it would never let you go.
I still suggest trying to convert to Nestorian or something. You have nothing to lose! Well besides what you normally lose anyways
Once Sennar got you, it would never let you go.
I still suggest trying to convert to Nestorian or something. You have nothing to lose! Well besides what you normally lose anyways
Yes, I agree. Unfortunately our current count picked his own bride while living in Armenia when we were still following his grandfather's exploits. It is not exactly the bride I would have picked for him. (If I would have even picked a bride for him.)
I don't know why Tesfaye married her, to be honest. I can only assume her extreme martial skills were fascinating to him, and he didn't put together those skills and his own lustful (and adulterous) nature in his mind.
Thank you for the vote! Regarding the bishop position, this is a good idea, but I believe it works differently with the Orthodox than with the Catholics, so you can't get rid of successors that way. I'll have to check this. But in any case, even with the Catholics, you can't get rid of your very next-in-line successor this way.
Thank you!
Tesfaye is indeed devoted to tej… and also to the image of himself as an inspiring leader.
Yes, it takes a special kind of someone to cuckold a man while he is in prison, especially when he is in prison from religious prosecution.
@ MI24th, Gedierond, & Kanin_Usagi. LOL. Exactly.
Yes, although with Nestorianism there is no sacred relic tied in with Sennar, biding its time in hiding until conditions are just right… for its triumphant return to power.
Chapter 64
We are sieging the count’s only county. Surely he will have to try to rescue it? My daughter’s very small army is large enough to siege the county of hers that is now occupied by the rebel count. So we are sieging two counties to his one. Unless a new wrinkle occurs, we should be able to win this.
The Dual-Natured God has blessed me with another daughter. May her older brother live long and have his own children, so she never is tied to Sennar.
An old goat-herder arrives from Sennar and demands that he has something important for my eyes only. Normally I would not entertain such insolence from the peasantry, but the man walked all the way from Africa to Armenia. My curiosity is certainly piqued. He hands me a package that he claims is from my Great-Aunt Ganet (the same Great-Aunt who is not on my favorite list for her murder of my recent excellent spymaster). He then turns and leaves without a word. I consider having my guards detain him for further questions, but my guards seem to regard the goat-herder with a bit of fear. Besides, he smelled. In the package is a letter and a journal. Great-Aunt Ganet’s letter claims that she has always held me in the highest esteem. She says that she soon will be with the One-Natured God, and she needs me to understand an unseen war centered on Sennar whose outcome is directly tied to the fortunes of the Zagwe dynasty. It is also a secret war, according to her, that has put me in danger, both to my life and my soul. I skim through the journal, noting references to alchemy and mysticism (Ganet’s obsession), events in Sennar, meeting with strange people in Russia while she was married to a count there, some kind of search for a holy knucklebone, and theology on Monophysiticism. I should probably read it in case something of genuine value can be found, but reading has never been one of my strong interests. I put it with my other personal effects, to read later.
I take the castle, but I lack the troops to take the city. Why does not my daughter’s army help us? I send a messenger to whomever is the general of my daughter’s army, requesting them to link up with us and conquer the remaining rebel count’s holdings.
My messenger comes back to repeat this insulting message from the landless Melek Pahlavuni, who is leading my daughter's army: “It is more proper for the African heretics to join with us.” And as if this general thought this was too subtle for me, the message concludes, “Your riffraff should be cleaning our horses, not fighting alongside us.” This man has strong claims on two counties, but he is not himself a count, so the impertinence is intolerable. Honestly, though, I cannot figure out how he is leading an Armenian army. His liege is the Count of Tiberius, to the southwest, bordering Jerusalem.
Now this is more like it.
Alexandros of Xantheia, a famous Byzantine writer, wishes to write the chronicles of my dynasty. Apparently he has heard of my recent elevation to Caesar and investigated the history of my dynasty. This is just the kind of attention that Caesar expects. I am happy to support him financially to do this, but I instruct Alexandros to make the dynasty solid orthodox believers and not mention Monophysites.
I receive news that my Great-Aunt Ganet has died. The report notes that she was often working on “experiments” in her personal quarters that emitted strange smells and sounds. One morning a roaring sound “as like a hundred lion and a hundred Gelada Baboons before battle” could be heard throughout the castle, coming from her quarters. Servants found her doorway engulfed in flames. A bucket brigand was quickly formed to douse the flames. By the time the flames were put out, everything in her quarters had been completely destroyed. Her body was completely unrecognizable and could be identified only based on approximate height and that nobody else had a key to her quarters.
I find out that my 13-year old daughter’s guardian is Dionysia Kometopoulos, daughter of Georgia KhorVirap, the very same Georgia that is continually plotting to murder my children to make way for Dionysia’s strong claim on the duchy of Armenia. If my two daughters with Theophano die, Dionysia is Duchess. I feel a little better after reviewing who is the current regent for my daughter. Mayor Bagrat of Dvin is spymaster for Armenia, but he is an uncharacteristically kind, humble, patient, and just spymaster. He is paranoid, too, but that is a survival trait in the Byzantine Empire. He is also my co-conspirator in the plot on Georgia’s life. After this war I will request a different guardian for my daughter.
In any case, lovely as Dionysia is, if my older daughter dies, Dionysia will have to go, too, to safeguard the life of my last heir to Armenia. My hope is, though, that once Georgia is dead, the less ambitious Dionysia will let things go their natural course. I write to Mayor Bagrat asking why nothing has happened in the Georgia plot for a couple years now. What is he waiting for? To keep the letter secret, I hide it in a case of tej that I send as a gift.
Tej is a bit more alcoholic than people realize.
Perhaps I should have done nothing. Mayor Bagrat finds he loves the tej, and only discovers my letter after becoming completely drunk. He then ends up bragging to everyone he can find all the different schemes he could employ to murder Georgia at the behest of Count Tesfaye of Sennar. As he is regent and interim ruler, Georgia does not have much she can do except hope this is just a threat, but this does not help our chances. The worst would be if Georgia fled to another court beyond our reach, and yet continued plotting on my daughters’ lives.
Chaplain Gosdantin dies a natural death, according to the peasants whom he was trying to convert. Reports are sketchy, but apparently his cause of death resulted from the “earth opening its giant maw, whereupon the good Chaplain Gosdantin fell in screaming. With a great screeching sound, the chasm then did close up upon the chaplain, and no more could be heard from him. The ground was too rocky to dig, and besides, it was late in the day and the time we typically enjoy tej in the square, talking with folks and not bothering anybody. We didn’t kill him.” I will have to investigate this in more detail when I return to Sennar.
The rebels are moving from Karin to Vaspurakan on Nov 28. Laurentios recommends that we should try to catch them in the mountains there before they can escape. We should lie in wait without advancing to avoid scaring them away. Time is against us, though—with each passing week war weariness increases on our side and puts pressure on Regent Bagrat to capitulate. We need some victories to keep the war alive, otherwise my dynasty will lose its hold on Armenia forever.
We are sieging the count’s only county. Surely he will have to try to rescue it? My daughter’s very small army is large enough to siege the county of hers that is now occupied by the rebel count. So we are sieging two counties to his one. Unless a new wrinkle occurs, we should be able to win this.
The Dual-Natured God has blessed me with another daughter. May her older brother live long and have his own children, so she never is tied to Sennar.
An old goat-herder arrives from Sennar and demands that he has something important for my eyes only. Normally I would not entertain such insolence from the peasantry, but the man walked all the way from Africa to Armenia. My curiosity is certainly piqued. He hands me a package that he claims is from my Great-Aunt Ganet (the same Great-Aunt who is not on my favorite list for her murder of my recent excellent spymaster). He then turns and leaves without a word. I consider having my guards detain him for further questions, but my guards seem to regard the goat-herder with a bit of fear. Besides, he smelled. In the package is a letter and a journal. Great-Aunt Ganet’s letter claims that she has always held me in the highest esteem. She says that she soon will be with the One-Natured God, and she needs me to understand an unseen war centered on Sennar whose outcome is directly tied to the fortunes of the Zagwe dynasty. It is also a secret war, according to her, that has put me in danger, both to my life and my soul. I skim through the journal, noting references to alchemy and mysticism (Ganet’s obsession), events in Sennar, meeting with strange people in Russia while she was married to a count there, some kind of search for a holy knucklebone, and theology on Monophysiticism. I should probably read it in case something of genuine value can be found, but reading has never been one of my strong interests. I put it with my other personal effects, to read later.
I take the castle, but I lack the troops to take the city. Why does not my daughter’s army help us? I send a messenger to whomever is the general of my daughter’s army, requesting them to link up with us and conquer the remaining rebel count’s holdings.
My messenger comes back to repeat this insulting message from the landless Melek Pahlavuni, who is leading my daughter's army: “It is more proper for the African heretics to join with us.” And as if this general thought this was too subtle for me, the message concludes, “Your riffraff should be cleaning our horses, not fighting alongside us.” This man has strong claims on two counties, but he is not himself a count, so the impertinence is intolerable. Honestly, though, I cannot figure out how he is leading an Armenian army. His liege is the Count of Tiberius, to the southwest, bordering Jerusalem.
Now this is more like it.
Alexandros of Xantheia, a famous Byzantine writer, wishes to write the chronicles of my dynasty. Apparently he has heard of my recent elevation to Caesar and investigated the history of my dynasty. This is just the kind of attention that Caesar expects. I am happy to support him financially to do this, but I instruct Alexandros to make the dynasty solid orthodox believers and not mention Monophysites.
I receive news that my Great-Aunt Ganet has died. The report notes that she was often working on “experiments” in her personal quarters that emitted strange smells and sounds. One morning a roaring sound “as like a hundred lion and a hundred Gelada Baboons before battle” could be heard throughout the castle, coming from her quarters. Servants found her doorway engulfed in flames. A bucket brigand was quickly formed to douse the flames. By the time the flames were put out, everything in her quarters had been completely destroyed. Her body was completely unrecognizable and could be identified only based on approximate height and that nobody else had a key to her quarters.
I find out that my 13-year old daughter’s guardian is Dionysia Kometopoulos, daughter of Georgia KhorVirap, the very same Georgia that is continually plotting to murder my children to make way for Dionysia’s strong claim on the duchy of Armenia. If my two daughters with Theophano die, Dionysia is Duchess. I feel a little better after reviewing who is the current regent for my daughter. Mayor Bagrat of Dvin is spymaster for Armenia, but he is an uncharacteristically kind, humble, patient, and just spymaster. He is paranoid, too, but that is a survival trait in the Byzantine Empire. He is also my co-conspirator in the plot on Georgia’s life. After this war I will request a different guardian for my daughter.
In any case, lovely as Dionysia is, if my older daughter dies, Dionysia will have to go, too, to safeguard the life of my last heir to Armenia. My hope is, though, that once Georgia is dead, the less ambitious Dionysia will let things go their natural course. I write to Mayor Bagrat asking why nothing has happened in the Georgia plot for a couple years now. What is he waiting for? To keep the letter secret, I hide it in a case of tej that I send as a gift.
Tej is a bit more alcoholic than people realize.
Perhaps I should have done nothing. Mayor Bagrat finds he loves the tej, and only discovers my letter after becoming completely drunk. He then ends up bragging to everyone he can find all the different schemes he could employ to murder Georgia at the behest of Count Tesfaye of Sennar. As he is regent and interim ruler, Georgia does not have much she can do except hope this is just a threat, but this does not help our chances. The worst would be if Georgia fled to another court beyond our reach, and yet continued plotting on my daughters’ lives.
Chaplain Gosdantin dies a natural death, according to the peasants whom he was trying to convert. Reports are sketchy, but apparently his cause of death resulted from the “earth opening its giant maw, whereupon the good Chaplain Gosdantin fell in screaming. With a great screeching sound, the chasm then did close up upon the chaplain, and no more could be heard from him. The ground was too rocky to dig, and besides, it was late in the day and the time we typically enjoy tej in the square, talking with folks and not bothering anybody. We didn’t kill him.” I will have to investigate this in more detail when I return to Sennar.
The rebels are moving from Karin to Vaspurakan on Nov 28. Laurentios recommends that we should try to catch them in the mountains there before they can escape. We should lie in wait without advancing to avoid scaring them away. Time is against us, though—with each passing week war weariness increases on our side and puts pressure on Regent Bagrat to capitulate. We need some victories to keep the war alive, otherwise my dynasty will lose its hold on Armenia forever.
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