If with evil you punish ...

Stuyvesant said:

What's Hassan's message this time? And does he ever deliver any messages without spilling blood, just to make a point?

Why would Hassan be interested in Yusuf? Back the underdog, sow more chaos in the Seljuq Empire? What does he stand to gain in the long term, I wonder?

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Well no one said that Hassan was behind that little incident. He's not the only one prepared to negotiate using the blood of those who just happen to be nearby ..

Part 2: War

One threat is removed



Esfahan was in a state of panic. All knew the Royal army would arrive too late to defend the city from Yusuf. Even the Imperial court seemed deserted. Many had found reasons to visit cousins or family estates elsewhere.

The petitioners were even more desperate, seeking to resolve their personal affairs before the town became a battleground, before the horrors of siege were imposed.

Ismail and Saim threaded their way through the attendendents, deflecting those who sought to claim their attention.



"So why will he agree?"

"He is depressed at the failure of Duqaq to help. His forces would have given us the strength to retake Iraq"



"You know I do not ask about the Sultan"

Ismail turned to look at his friend, now the only person he felt able to trust.

"... later"

Again they moved down the small corridor, as the door shut, Saim repeated

"Why should he agree?

He is ... what ... 2 weeks march away, he outnumbers our force, he can take the capital before we can respond ... So, ... brother

I ask again, why should he agree?"



Ismail responded, unwillingly

"I think he has found the price of negotiations higher than he originally hoped for. It may be that he finds the simple life of ruling in his own small realm more attractive than aiming for Empire"

"The massacre .... ?"

"It may have helped him to realise he should settle for less"

Specialist290 said:

Well, that's certainly one way of dealing with things.

Of course, it also means you get to face the other rebels, who are now probably quite grossly outnumbered, with fresh forces, and I'm betting you still have de jure claims on all of Yusuf's lands.

EDIT: Previous speculation removed for being based on a misinterpretation of the screenshots.

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Well I am not forgetting about him. But his was the largest single rebel contingent and large enough to have taken Esfahan (& to have been near impossible to dislodge given the mountain terrain). With him gone, I'm marginally outnumbered, but both sides are badly scattered so I now have time, and the capacity to organise so as to clear out some smaller threats and then concentrate.

Stuyvesant said:

To be fair, I did say that Hassan was behind it - and I was blindingly wrong, as is usually the case when I speculate.

I want to say 'Nice' to Ismail's style of problem-solving, but it is quite ruthless. More lives might have been spared, so we can wax philosophical about the Greater Good, but it remains a nasty way to settle an issue. I see Hassan and Ismail are more kindred spirits than I initially thought, even if their final goals might be miles apart.

With the heart of the rebellion crushed (hmm, that analogy doesn't quite work, since Yusuf gains his independence), the other, petty, revolting lords should fall pretty quickly. And I'm sure that a visit to Iraq is being planned by Ismail as we speak. It just remains to be seen what Hassan will decide to do to interfere with Ismail's efforts.

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I'm playing in 6 month batches then chopping the events around to produce the narrative, so this is sort of game event driven but reported as suits my purposes. By the end of 1099, the war is still in balance, but Hassan has made several moves, one very astute, one that might be the longer term cause of his downfall. Its fun keeping a close eye on the doings of an AI faction that is utterly out of your own control.

robw963 said:

I'm not sure if this is a compliment or not, but last night I had a dream about a mutilated concubine and a screaming dis-embodied head. So...thanks for that! Clearly this AAR is going to be a gory affair. I may need to stop reading it just before bedtime but you can be sure I won't let that stop me from finding other times to squeeze it in. Now I'm worried who's next?

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Well the next scene is a small change of pace and focus, at least nobody new dies in it ... :ninja:

Part 2: War

Friends fall apart



Returning to Esfahan may have been mistake

Accepting his unknown saviour into his household might be a mistake

Arguing with Ismail had been a mistake

Still there were compensations.

For who returned to a city when those who could were fleeing? Who in these troubled times allowed a stranger into their household? Who argued with their best friend and protector?

The argument had not been planned. It had taken several days after his return to Esfahan to arrange a meeting. In that time had come the news that Yusuf had turned around, accepting independence rather than taking the Sultanate.

In that time, rumour had spread in the taverns as to how Ismail had convinced him. Many found this worthy, an act of a true and subtle statesman. Some, gloried in the telling, how they had been ordered to murder only a few, the most innocent and as brutally as could be managed in a short period.

When they met, Omar had accused his old friend. Not of statescraft, not of avoiding the death of many by sacrificing a few pawns, but of using methods that even Hassan would have rejected.

Sighing, as sleep refused to come to him, he knew this had been unfair. He knew there were no methods that Hassan would reject. He knew that Hassan's creative mind would find methods that other men could never even dream of.

Still the damage was done.

But he would not leave Esfahan again. Here he could work and write. Here he could live in some comfort and some safety.

Here he could see Arzu.

With this he settled against her sleeping form. Even in times of trouble, men could enjoy simple pleasures.

Stuyvesant said:

That's a particularly melancholy verse to end this vignette with. The matter-of-factness of ' -- and then no more of thee and me' is... well, I don't quite know how to phrase it. I was thinking of 'jarring', but that doesn't really capture it. To me, it suggests how easily things can end. Little things, great things - they all can end very easily, whether we want to or not. A disturbing thought that reverberates somewhat beyond the AAR into that uncomfortable area known as Real Life.

Now to speculate: what will there be no more of? Is it the friendship between Ismail and Omar, or Ismail's protection of Omar? Will it be Arzu, the one who Omar clearly cherishes above all others? The unknown savior Omar mentions is an Assassin, I'm fairly certain, so in Omar's very household there is present the triangle of Omar, Ismail and Hassan. And Arzu. Since Ismail and Hassan both seem to find Omar useful, for one reason or another, I fear that Arzu is the most vulnerable person present.

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a lot of his lines of poetry are ... they start restful, a mediation on life, love or pleasure and then shift at the end. As you may have spotted from other AARs I am quite a fan of Emily Dickinson and I find structurally a lot in common in the way both use short verse with often rather jarring endings.

oh there will be more, but at this moment Hassan and Ismail are sparring for greater (seemingly) prizes than Omar, so for now he is safe

TheCinephile said:

Well this is just delightful! Great reading and I really like the multiple POV approach. Pretty new to all this myself, but I keep finding new and really creative AARs, and this is definitely one of the best. If I ever get around to it, I'd really like to do an AAR using this approach but in the Game of Thrones mod.

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I'm glad you like it. The three voice model is based on a book that is mostly set in this time period and I liked the way they see the same thing differently or indeed don't even see something the other thinks is important. I was also partly taken by the narrative of Yimou Zhang's Hero (if you ignore the rather dubious ending) as again letting the narrative unfold from a variety of viewpoints

robw963 said:

No mas! No mas! You're now writing verse...the AAR equivalent of going nuclear. You had me wondering if the rest of your last update was written in iambic pentameter (it wasn't...but I wouldn't put it past you). I had a slightly different interpretation than Stuyvesant of the closing verse. I saw passion, love and longing in it. My theory is that kind of passion and worry will translate into activating Omar into actions that will push him closer to love and further from violence. Of course, I'm frequently wrong in such things.

The interesting thing about these richly written yet sparse updates is they can leave a lot open to interpretation. I re-read maybe 3 or 4 times...and I'm still not sure. Clever that.

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I am playing about with words. I write very precise stuff (or at least that is the goal) and most of my AARs have been either history book or game play where I think the goal is to make things clear for the reader. While I'm not aiming to confuse or obscure, I am not adverse to ambiguity, especially around Omar. In terms of the game he is a blank sheet - he doesn't exist, so that makes writing his updates both difficult and rather fun ... he can become what I need.

At the moment I tend to the opting out but I can see how in the end Ismail's view is closer to him than Hassan's and that might influence his decision at a critical stage.

Part 2: War

A Man Divided



There were times he needed advice. Despite their fight, he missed Omar.

In some ways the war was going well. He had bought time for the Sultan’s army to muster. Yusuf was out of the war and, in the north, the war was stalled with another wing of the enemy’s army held up at Galpan.



So why, now did the Sultan’s half brother decide to start making demands?



Another competent, loyal, official had been removed at the whim of the Sultan. All of a sudden he was talking about the importance of blood as the bedrock of loyalty.

Well there would be enough blood soon enough, but first the need was to ensure that Mohammed did not reach higher.

Well maybe he could satisfy his ambitions, Court Architect in the midst of a war that could easily destroy the Empire was a safe option.

After all, what damage could he do in that role? And it would give him cause to doubt.



Mohammed sat back.

So far everything he had been told had been … or more importantly … had become … true.

His new advisor had been right. For him, the Sultan’s half-brother, to have no formal role was wrong, it was an insult. Clearly Ismail had plotted against him, tried to keep him from the council of state. Tried to minimise his influence over his half-brother.

Mohammed sat forward and brought his fist down on the table.

If so, this, was either proof of Ismail’s schemes or … proof that he had been misled by his new advisor.



But he was not sure who was to blame.

Next time he would act on his own initiative. Damn the whisperings of advisers, too many served themselves.

Round 3 of the ACAs

Just a reminder to any readers to please go and vote in the Aarland Choice Awards (ACAs), the link is here:

TheCinephile said:

You've got my vote sir. I just realised that your tale reminds me of Orhan Pamuk's "My Name is Red", not sure if you've read it, but it has a similar feel.

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thank you. Yes I have read it and I really liked that sense of constantly moving around the focal point but not quite seeing it clearly (I;m also often very taken by books with unusual narrators). Must confess it wasn't in my mind when I started this though.

Stuyvesant said:

Mohammed doesn't strike me as a character who will act on his own initiative - easily spurred into action by his new, shadowy 'advisor', easily - albeit it only partially - placated by Ismail's bestowing of the honorary title upon him... Mohammed strikes me as a petty man, a little bobbing boat adrift on the waves of history. Finally, Mohammed strikes me as a pawn - Hassan just made his move, Ismail countered: Mohammed himself hardly figures into it.

A shame that Ismail doesn't realize the threat yet, but then he must not know of the Prince's dangerous advisor, otherwise he'd be more alert.

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Yep, you've Mohammed well nailed, but his ambitions, though easily met will become a major sub-theme for a while. He now has a taste of apparent power and influence and he maybe a bit too random for either of Ismail or Hassan to control.

On which subject ....

Part 2: War

The manipulator of Men's dreams



Hassan sat in the semi dark. He had already read the dispatch from Mohammed’s court. Now was the time to think and plan.

These princes seemed so easy to manipulate, so vain, so unaware that the right words whispered in their ears led to them acting as pawns on a chessboard.

Even if Mohammed would not directly challenge Ismail, he was now convinced of his own entitlement. He was bound to be a further source of discord in the Seljuk court.

At this, Hassan smiled.

And Bohemond. So easy it was almost not fair ... well almost. But the man was a fool.

Once he had received the news of his brother’s victory he had been easy to convince that now was a good time to take advantage of the chaos in Syria.



He had so readily believed that it would be so easy to seize some new castles with the local Emirs either at war with the Georgians or caught up in the Seljuk civil war.

Well not all advice was correct.

No that was not true, advice given by his men was always true, just not always to the benefit of the recipient.



Well he would probably keep Antioch and with a much diminished army he would not be tempted to demand the return of Masyaf.

Hassan sighed.

A pawn … little but a pawn, to be moved around the chessboard until he had served his purposes.

All was going to plan. The Seljuks ripped each other to pieces, trading their lands for partial peace. Now maybe was the time to pay attention to some minor matters.

He clapped his hands and two of his men were ushered into the room.

Stuyvesant said:

I didn't realize Hassan considered anything 'minor' - as a puppet-master, I would've thought every single thing was important to him. Ah well.

Hassan is clearly having a good stretch, as he himself observes. I wonder if all these successful manipulations, small and large, will go to his head, or if he has the self-discipline to stay focused.

I don't like Hassan much, and not just because he manipulates people and has them murdered at the drop of a hat - so does Ismail. I mostly dislike him for his disdainful attitude and the fact that I can't tell what good is supposed to come from his manipulations - except that it all seems to be for the greater glory of Hassan himself. It all seems so negative, lacking anything like a positive vision of what the end result should be. At least with Ismail, I feel like he's struggling to achieve something. His methods might be questionable, his goals might not be right, but at least there's the sense that the man feels like he is acting for some better cause, something beyond himself.

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minor in the sense of something that can be put to one side for a while ... like the fate of one man in the midst of a civil war.

You'll be pleased that Hassan may just be on the verge of over-confidence in making an open grab for more land. But we'll come to that soon(ish).

From my limited reading, its hard to understand what Hassan and his 3 successors were up to. I don't know enough to get into schisms within Shia Islam but the sect he originally came from was a militant branch that believed fervently in the hidden Imam, and that by their actions they could speed up the moment of his return. Quite how that matched spreading murder and mayhem across a region already awash in murder and mayhem is a bit less clear. Here I've decided to present him as you are reading it. Him and Ismail are as ruthless as each other, each hankers after the peace that they believe can come out of their actions (hence Omar), but Ismail has a recognisable goal.

It also reflects how I am playing the underlying game. I have no access to, or control over Hassan, so I tend to present his actions and not his goals.

Anyways, back to the murder and mayhem ... and as a bonus for the gap ... to be folowed by a game of dice.

Part 2: War

The fruits of victory



There were few worse sights than a 3 day old battlefield. But not many, and, to be honest, he really did not want to see them.



It wasn’t even quiet. Scavengers, human and animal, worked the foul crop that now lay in these fields. He glanced down at the nearest corpse. In life maybe he had been vain, a drunkard, a cheat, or maybe he had been pious, living by the law. In either case someone had chopped off three of his fingers so as to more easily remove his rings.

At least the winter snows would soon cover the carnage.

But of course it was a great victory. Added to Yusuf’s defection it effectively ended the rebellion in the south.



The Sultan’s army could take some of the main forts and then rejoin the rest of the force. By next summer [1], the Sultan’s army could be united and sweep into Mesopotamia.

The rebellion would be crushed, order would be restored.

And this man would never see his family again.

Ismail shook his head. He had a job, a role, more a mission.

He believed in Empire as the means for stability, and that stability as a means to serve both God and man … but he wondered if the chaos needed was too high a price.

This man, he again glanced at the corpse, the others who lay in this field or still fought for the Sultan. They were pawns on the chessboard, not to be sacrificed lightly but to be sacrificed as a means to win.

He muttered to himself

All very well but why then come out to look, the battle is over, the pursuit has started. Was it really necessary to drag his noble prisoner to watch his hopes rotting in the winter sunlight?



Perhaps this war was making him too ruthless?

[1] – this battle ended on 14 November 1099.