Venetia - An history-bookish venetian aar, 811-1900s

[Dari L. Benetka]

VENETIA
A history-bookish Venetian aar
811-1900s



Table of Contents
Introduction

Preamble – Of the Venetian people and the history thus far

Act I – Of compromises and astuteness
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Act II - Of power and need
Part 1

[Dari L. Benetka]

Introduction:
Hello to you all, readers! I'm Dari Benetka and this is my first aar. First of all, I hope you'll forgive me some mistake because I'm not from an english speaking country so my speaking level is not perfect. Second, I will be playing as Venice using the Steppe Wolf mod (airotciV), from the year 811 untill my computer permits it (if the game keeps crashing, which usually happens when I play in the 21st century, or if the save file is corrupted... and so on, I'll end the gameplay). I have already played till 976 and it's been pretty interesting.
The aar will be divided into different Acts (main historical periods) which in turn will be divided into different Parts (secondary historical periods). Maybe there will be a few insertions about culture or facts of the alternative world, but this depends on how the world will develop in the gameplay. I hope you'll enjoy this little creation of mine as I mostly enjoy playing Europa Universalis III and writing!

[Ashantai]

Good luck! This looks very interesting!

[Selvetrica]

Good luck i havt been followng steppwolf that much anymore but i do rember that africa and basicly anywhere you colonize became messes is that still true in your game?

[Zzzzz...]

I'll take a closer look at this.

[Dari L. Benetka]

Thank you everyone!
@Selvetrica: basically yes, once I got an Egypt that colonized all of Africa, not a province missing. I didn't go on with that game, but I guess that if it imploded then the map would have been... pretty weird. In another game I was playing as Dalmatia, and in the first half of the 12th century the papal states reached the Atlantic coast of Sahara ò_ò I hope nothing like this will happen in my current game, anyway I will probably "change" the name of some countries to make them sensible to exist (For example a Barcelona that doesn't own the city of Barcelona will change its name in the one of its capital, if possible).

Anyway, here is the first update!

Preamble – Of the Venetian people and the history thus far

”Παφλαγόνων δ᾽ ἡγεῖτο Πυλαιμένεος λάσιον κῆρ
ἐξ Ἐνετῶν, ὅθεν ἡμιόνων γένος ἀγροτεράων,
οἵ ῥα Κύτωρον ἔχον καὶ Σήσαμον ἀμφενέμοντο
ἀμφί τε Παρθένιον ποταμὸν κλυτὰ δώματ᾽ ἔναιον
Κρῶμνάν τ᾽ Αἰγιαλόν τε καὶ ὑψηλοὺς Ἐρυθίνους. “

“And the Paphlagonians did Pylaemenes of the shaggy heart lead from the land of the Eneti, whence is the race of wild she-mules. These were they that held Cytorus and dwelt about Sesamon, and had their famed dwellings around the river Parthenius and Cromna and Aegialus and lofty Erythini. “
(Iliad 2, 851-855)

The Venetian people is nowadays known for its long history and great influence over the middle ages and the following periods. But where does it come from?
There are many sources, writings of ancient historians and poets, and all agree with one only theory: the Eneti^[1], as the Venetians were originally called by the Greeks, once lived in Asia Minor, in a region known as Paphlagonia, on the southern shore of the Black Sea. Homer tells us that the Eneti took part to the Trojan War, allied with the Trojans themselves, but after the defeat they were obliged to leave their native lands and relied to Antenore, a great chief who knew how to take his people to another home. He led a few thousands men from the coasts of the Black Sea through the Bosphorus and the dardanelles, down in the Aegean, north of Crete and then north across the Adriatic. He landed in modern day Padua, in the lands once belonging to the Euganei, that he drove out, and established his own kingdom with its capital, Padua, founded in the year 1183 BC.

Antenore and his Eneti's migration from Paphlagonia (red) to Eugania (green). The travel's route is in red.

The Veneti (a later Roman translation for Eneti) have been living there since that historical moment, while the Euganei were pushed in modern days Verona, Trent and Belluno, in the mountains, where they mixed with the local people.
After a few centuries, the Venetians were peacefully conquered by the romans and started to share their culture and to use their language (Latin, from which modern Venetian comes from), and from that moment on it wouldn't reach independence until the 8^th century.
The transition between the 8^th and the 9^th centuries was crucial in the history of Venice: the sources tells us that a group of tribunes, military leaders, started to elect a Duke to guide the semi-autonomous province with its capital in Malamocco. The newborn state was under the influence of the Frankish Empire and Byzantium, but in a few decades the dukes managed to gain a formal total independence from the two greatest powers in the world. The dukes ruled until their death, which was often caused by other nobles and pretenders, but in the year 811 AD the first Doge was elected, the capital was moved to the Isles of Venice and it was set that the next elections should be after 4 years and so should be for the rest of the republican time.

Continental Europe and the Mediterranean in 811 AD. In green the Abassid Caliphate, Yellow in Iberia are The Asturias. Minor Italian states: the Papal States in grey, San Marino in deep blue and Urbino in lighter blue. The autonomous province of Venice is shown red. In Scandinavia rules the Vikings, in the British Isles rules several Anglo-Saxon kings, while in the east live the Proto-Finnish, Magyars and Khazars.

Our Venetian History starts here, with the election of Agnelo Parteciaco or Participazio, which was a great revolution: for the first time in many centuries, a country could call its government a Republic. Here begins the story of the Venetia, made of greatness and glory, of human baseness and height, of wealth and poverty, of troubles and luck, of power and need, of compromises and astuteness, through the Middle Ages and beyond.

---

Notes:
^[1]"Worthy of praise"

[videonfan]

Looks nice,will follow but why don't the pictures work?

[Dari L. Benetka]

I don't know They were working a few minutes ago ò_ò

EDIT: It should be all ok now. I still have problem with posting pictures in this forum, sorry

[loki100]

I don't know They were working a few minutes ago ò_ò

EDIT: It should be all ok now. I still have problem with posting pictures in this forum, sorry

Looks a good start.

I've had a look at the code for your images and its best not to use uploading directly to this site. Not only is the capacity very limited but you are restricted in how they show. Far better to sign up to one of the free(ish) image hosting sites - photobucket/image shack et al - load the image there and copy across. If you want more info on uploading etc, check out the AARland FAQ - there is a link in my signature

[Dari L. Benetka]

Looks a good start.

I've had a look at the code for your images and its best not to use uploading directly to this site. Not only is the capacity very limited but you are restricted in how they show. Far better to sign up to one of the free(ish) image hosting sites - photobucket/image shack et al - load the image there and copy across. If you want more info on uploading etc, check out the AARland FAQ - there is a link in my signature

Thank you! The problem is, I used an Italian site were you can upload images (It has always worked), but clearly there's something that disturbs the process in this forum. I'll try with imageshack next time

[videonfan]

How are you gonna survive the franks?i think in Steppe wolf there is no canal to block them.Anyway good luck

[Dari L. Benetka]

I thought it would be very difficult, but at the end it has been easier than the expected. It was a matter of compromises and astuteness, everything is explained in the next update. Venice had other enemies to protect from

[The Messenger]

At long last, a History book AAR of Venice. I've been waiting for this for a long time. I wish you good luck and a joyful game.

[Top hats daily]

My record time in Steppe Wolf before it crashes: 300 years
I hope you have better luck, good luck!

[Ashantai]

Here's hoping your Steppe Wolf survives longer than my games do without crashing! As I said before, this looks a lot of fun.

[Dari L. Benetka]

@The Messenger: I'm happy to be your "first venetian history book aar" I hope you enjoy it
@Top hats daily: I seem to be lucky, because the game crashed only after the 20th century, or sometime when I had been playing for many many hours in a row

Thank you everybody, I'm working to Part 1 of the 1st act, but these days I'll be a bit busy so I hope to post the update for Saturday/Sunday

[videonfan]

So you have played up to the 20th century? :O

[Dari L. Benetka]

Noooo, not with Venice! I was trying to say that if I play with any nation around the year 2000, then Steppe Wolf crashes after a few months of slow, extremely slow gameplay. In my game as Venice I'm currently in 976

[humancalculator]

Subscribed.

[Milites]

I'm a big fan of history book AARs and this one looks like it's got potential. Keep it up