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Ashantai

Lost in Time
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Aug 4, 2009
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Z0Downfall.png


Introduction


Welcome to my latest AAR, a narrative set in a world very different from what we know. After the success of The Eternal Exile and The Grey Eminence I am looking to continue my forays into narrative writing. I believe I’ve learnt some important lessons from both of them, and I hope that this tale will be interesting.

From the start I wanted a very different game from either of my previous stories. While Eternal Exile detailed the adventures of a lost soul across the world, Grey Eminence was the story of a woman seeking to guide a nation prudently and moderately. If anything Eternal Exile suffered from a lack of focus in the narrative, while Grey Eminence’s story was secondary to the plausible historical evolution of a British state. That latter story was quite optimistic in tone, with a great but not tyrannical British Empire holding sway over much of the world (mostly) benevolently. If any themes could be gotten from it, it was that people can overcome their weaknesses to believe in the greater good, and that consensus rather than despotism could be an alternate method of rule.

For this story though I want to examine another, possibly darker side. In this game I took Byzantium from a five province minnow to one ruling more than half the world and having seven times the income of the next nearest, and thirty times the third placed entity. While I argue that the Britain of Grey Eminence was possible (if extremely unlikely), the reborn Roman Empire of this tale should not be. The inherent contradictions of this will be made clear in the story. If there is any themes I hope this story to have, it is that power corrupts, and that the best intentions often turn out for the worst. This story will lack the inherent optimism of Grey Eminence (and even Eternal Exile), and I hope will deliver an interesting contrast.

As for how this will be arranged, I’ve decided not to do the simple two way split of the previous tales. Instead the main focus will be in the ‘present’ of 1820 and the narrative tale there. Every second episode will be focussed on other ‘sources’, including diaries, inscriptions, newspaper articles and other such items from this world. While extensive use will be made of game screenshots it will not be divided into a strict, linear timeline, but cover themes or events. They will also feature what I call ‘Echoes’ which present certain narrative scenes from the past.

Anyway, enough pontificating. The game was played with no inflation, no lucky nations (though the historical ones get substantial bonuses equal to the this) and other modifications. The big one is that starting in 1500 I made each level of buildings free of magistrates every fifty years, up to level 4 in 1700. It gives one something to do!

One other important point to stress; when a province converts to Orthodox I’m not saying it does this literally, but that it aligns its population to the Imperial rather than the Roman church, or that Christian religious authority has taken control.

I am a native English speaker, so my treatment of other languages is patchy at best. Please be forgiving of any mistakes I make and offer corrections so I can improve.

I hope you enjoy. Please do read and review, I will be aiming to post on a strict schedule of every second day. The game is finished, and I will be several posts ahead so hopefully this schedule can be maintained.

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well consider me well and truely excited. I like the premise and the sport to be had on the dark side of Empire. And I do like AARs that take liberties with the linear time line of the game to stress the thematic evolution of ideas and events
 
Tufto: Thanks! :) Welcome aboard!
Loki: Glad to have you here! You know how much I enjoyed your AAR! One thing that's always interested me is that people create these vast empires...but what would the people of that world think? How would such an empire operate? It's something I'd like to explore here.

Prologue – The Book


The book was old and much worn. Some of the pages were scorched as if by intense heat, or warped from damp. Yet this book with its cracked pages and often illegible script contained information that was both incredible and impossible.

Gently the book was laid on a table and opened. The hand written ink was faded but much of it could be read. The reader considered the first page.


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I am Melissa Nolan.

That is my name. Have you heard it? I doubt that fewer than a dozen know it in all the world, yet my name should be remembered as someone who changed the world. Why? Look around you, dear reader; everything you know is a lie, a forgery, a sham. I know what so few do; that there is a secret behind the very course of your history. How is that possible? You must think I’m mad. I am not. I alone will reveal the truth here.
I write this not just to inform you about the past, but also as an aid for myself in case all memory should fail and I will forget even that which is most important to me. Time passes, but it does not affect me as it does others. I have witnessed four hundred years of triumph and tragedy, and I must record it so that the secret does not ever become lost.

So are you ready to learn the truth of your history? Read on, but do not cast this aside as fiction or as impossible, it is all true…to the best of my memory. I must try and (sentence crossed out) now.

Let me tell you a story, dear reader, one you may have heard parts of, but which the full tale is known only to two. If you are reading this, chances are that you live within the Empire or its satellites. I need hardly explain which Empire, do I? The Basileia Rhōmaiōn, the Roman Empire. That is its name, though some call it Byzantium, even now. A silly exercise.

The Empire. For generations it has ruled the world, bestriding it like a colossus. Yet it was not always so. The year 1400AD was a time of chaos and confusion in the world. Europe was divided into a hundred competing states, and the residents of that expanse paid no heed to the ‘Roman Empire’, with good reason. By this time the ‘Empire’ was barely a barony in size. All it consisted of was the much depleted city of Constantinople and a few possessions in Greece. It seemed likely that the Empire would fade away entirely and be remembered as a remnant of the ancient world. And while this would doubtless be tragic, it would hardly be considered untimely. Indeed in 1399 the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid besieged the city, and many suspected it would eventually fall.

A01399Situation.png


But in the depths of despair two things happened. Before I mention how it happened and my part, let me explain what happened, so you might appreciate how incredible it was. It all started (line smudged) 00AD.
First of these things…events I guess. The great conqueror of the steps Timur, or Tamerlane as some know him, is barely remembered these days, but he came from the steppes of Persia like a storm. His army smashed all resistance and invaded Anatolia. There, the Ottomans under Bayezid were crushed, and the Empire had a breathing space. Chaos engulfed the Muslims, and they fought amongst themselves. Doubtless the Empire might have made some gains from this, even gained a little bit of Greece, but most likely they would in the end have been overwhelmed. That’s where the second point comes in.
Second…well, that’s where I come in, but I’ll save that for later. Read on for what happened though.

In 1405 the Empire suddenly declared war on their divided Turkish opponents and defeated them. The three contenders for the Ottoman throne were divided and wiped out. The last stocks of Imperial currency and credit were expended, but the results were profound. In a stroke many European lands were recovered and large areas of Anatolia reconquered.

A11409OttomansDefeated.png


Western Christendom rejoiced; the infidel had been thrown back and the Queen of Cities saved! Of course, most of the hypocrites praised God for the victory even though they had selfishly done nothing to help. Still, most of them expected this victory to be followed by decline as the ailing and bankrupt Empire contracted again.
It did not.
Using the plunder of this war the Empire hired many Turkish warriors and others and engaged in a bewilderingly successful campaign in Anatolia. In just a few years all the Turkish emirs were reconquered. Again the smug Latins praised God for this victory, but did nothing to help. They were quite happy so long as their stolen fiefs in Greece remained intact.
But then the Empire turned their attention to these lands and conquered them all, one by one. Indeed, by 1430 all of Anatolia and Greece was in Imperial hands for the first time in four centuries.
Oh, how the Latins frothed. The Venetians and Aragonese sent their fleets to teach these ‘Greeks’ a lesson, only to be utterly defeated. Imperial control was now total and would never be challenged again.

A21430AnatoliaReconquered.png


Worse was to come. The Empire, not content with defeating these pitiful efforts, invaded southern Italy and Sicily. In just a few years all those lands were theirs. The Pope in Rome quailed as the Imperials now controlled lands just twenty miles from the ancient city of Rome. He called for a grand campaign to defeat these presumptuous Greeks again, only to see it fail utterly.

A31436NaplesConquered.png


Now the Emperor Ioannes VIII mounted a campaign against Rome, and to the utter horror of all the Latins the city fell. The Pope was sent fleeing, forced into exile in Germany under the thumb of the ‘Holy Roman Emperor’. His defeat marked a turning point, because after that point Papal authority became more and more debased.

A41444FallofRome.png


The real turning point came when the Empire faced its greatest challenge yet; the Mamluk Sultanate. Those Arabs were so confident that they rode to battle with spare manacles for all the Christians they expected to enslave. They were sorely disappointed. In a tremendous battle the Empire crushed them, and soon all Palestine fell into Imperial hands. It was a stunning triumph. The date of this victory, 29th of May 1453 I expect means nothing to anyone except me.

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Just twenty years later the Imperials defeated the Mohammedans in their home and conquered Mecca and Medina. Just what could stop the Empire now?

A61477MeccaConquered.png


It turns out nothing. Claiming that the Christian church was restored, Empress Selene declared that the Papacy had lost its authority over Christendom, and that henceforth the Pentarchy was restored. The Catholics were determined to fight this, and soon there was war.

A71488Pentarchy.png


In two massive wars the King of France and his train of allies vainly attempted to overthrow this settlement, and it was here that the Empire triumphed and ensured it would never be overthrown again. These wars led to the end of France as a dominant power, and moreover they caused the outgrowth of a movement in Western Europe called the Reformation. Desperate to explain their failure to the defeat the Empire many of them turned from the Catholic and Orthodox faiths and tried to create traditions of their own.

A81494WarwithFrance.png

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Conquest followed conquest until by 1550 the Empire stood forward to throw down the pretender to its title, the Holy Roman Empire. In a titanic war this usurper to the title was defeated, its last ‘Emperor’ slain and its power broken. The Germans fought amongst themselves in despair or were consumed by the Empire, and never did they check its advance for long.

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By 1650 only England was capable of resisting the Empire’s total dominance in Europe and the world. Yet alas despite its best efforts it went down to crushing defeat. King Charles III, a valiant yet tragic King, was slain in Ireland as his lands were taken. So great was the victory that with him died any realistic hope of resisting the Empire’s dominion of Europe.
A121671EnglandCrushed.png


New weapons, new innovations, new organs of state gave the Empire a reach beyond that of any previous state in history. When the last Jagellion Czar of Russia died he put his realm under the protection of Emperor Romanos V. A few decades later the Normans, in a Personal Union with the Empire for a century submitted to direct rule and all of South America passed to them.

A131683PURussia.png


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So great has the Empire become that when faced by the armies of China and India they could exterminate their enemies by the tens of thousands with almost no damage in return.

A151737ChinaDefeated.png


And so now the world is under the dominion of the Empire more completely than any other nation or people in history; even Genghis Khan or Alexander of Macedon.

(Considerable crossing out, some of it so deep that it has scored the page)

So what?

So what?! What you see above is not right, not normal. Empires rise and fall, bad and good rulers mix, and nothing lasts forever.
So you would believe, but it has not happened in this case. Why? I’ll tell you; because there is a deathless man standing behind every Imperial throne, and to my great shame, I helped him. Yes, I am over four hundred years old. If you would truly learn why the inadequate summary above happened and how, then read on, dear reader.

Have no illusions though. If he is not removed by some means or other then the Empire will have dominion over the world even unto the ending of this millennium and beyond.

A161820WorldMap.png


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I can throw a subscription here as it is a byzzie-aar :)

edit: (since your update came along with my post)
woah, i didn't know Chuck Norris had an aunt :p :D
also, with the conquests, but mostly with their descriptions... so damn cocky...
well, taking over half of europe, then americas, then pu with russia and conquest of more of europe is ok, but conquest of asia i feel is an overkill... since by that time, all that would have sufficed is mass world-wide vassalage
 
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Obviously, something horrible is about to happen to the Byzantines, but I have no idea how you'll work it into the game with so little time left.

I am intrigued, to say the least.
 
Loki: Thanks! We shall see what horrors can befall it.
Avindian: Excellent! Welcome aboard!
Deus Eversor: Right, it felt almost wrong to attack people with Land Tech 70 armies and 150% discipline when they were 40 techs behind!


Chapter 1 –The Prisoner and the Pit


January 2nd 1820

It was a cold winter’s day in London, capital of the Imperial Exarchate of Agklia.

The Tower of London, once the home, fortress and prison of the English monarchy, now served a different master. From the battlements the two headed eagle of the Empire flew, while heavily armed soldiers with the same badge guarded all the entrances.

Down below in the cells, the prisoner was woken by a guard banging the bars with his rifle butt.
“Hey you, wake up!” he shouted. By his accent he was English.
The prisoner sat up. She looked a mess, with dark tangled hair and dirty clothes, but her bright blue eyes fixed on the guard. “What is it?” she asked.
“You’re wanted. He has arrived.”
Guards entered and grabbed her, securing her wrists behind her back before dragging her out into the corridor.
Through the subterranean passages she was led until she was brought at last to a large stone chamber with what appeared to be a well in the middle of it. There, more guards were waiting…and the man she had not wanted to see. She faltered in her steps and the guards picked her up and dumped her down before him.

A36Basement.jpg


The man stood in expensive dark robes, watching her for a long moment. Finally he reached down and pulled her to her feet.
“Mel, I am disappointed in you,” he stated.
Melissa looked up at him, for he was a good six inches taller than she. “Jacob…” she said softly. They both spoke a language unknown to anyone else in the world, a language which kept them from being overheard by anyone else.
“Now, now, you know that I am Lord Kyros now and the Emperor’s Chancellor.”
She shook her head. “How many did you kill to get that position?” Melissa asked bitterly.
Jacob’s eyes narrowed. “Says the rebel and traitor? I was given the position freely by his majesty for my actions. Those actions involve trying to bring peace and stability in spite of your criminal band of rebels. You, Mel, stirred up these traitors, and now hundreds, thousands have died, and it’s all down to you. And you speak to me of killing!” he hissed.
“The Empire has gone too far, Jacob. When will you be satisfied? Will your lust for conquest never end?”
“We all have our path, my dear. Mine is to bring order to this world, and the Empire is the tool to do this; Yours is to try and cast down all my efforts. I wonder though what it is you and your rebels hope to achieve?” Jacob waved his hand expansively. “Overthrow the Empire, cast down the tyrant…and then what, Mel? I have brought stability and order to Europe such as it has never experienced. It has been three centuries since an army fired a shot in anger in Greece or Anatolia.”
“People should be able to choose their own fate,” Melissa replied.
“Their fate if the protection of the Empire fails is to die in civil war and strife,” Jacob retorted.
“I think not. Self-determination is possible, desirable!”
“Your naïveté shines through once more, Mel. All people desire power, and if given a chance they will not stop until they have it, or are destroyed. That is why the Empire, and I, are needed.”

When she made to answer he waved his hand. “Regardless, your experiment will not be put to the test. For all your idealism I do not underestimate you, but now you are here, my prisoner. When I heard you had been captured I took the airship immediately from Constantinople because I knew you had to be dealt with once and for all.”
Melissa stared at him. “What do you mean ‘dealt with’? After all I’ve done for you? After all we’ve seen? You would try and kill me? Have you forgotten our ‘gift’?”
Jacob smiled unpleasantly. “I am well aware that neither of us can die through conventional means, but then…I had a stroke of luck. You were wise to try and be rid of this, but I still found it.” “Hold her,” he ordered the guards in a language they understood. From his robe he produced a small folding knife, meticulously cleaned and maintained, yet very worn.
The effect was astonishing. Melissa’s eyes widened and she fought to get away and it took three of the guards to hold her.
Jacob unfolded the blade and weighed it in his hand. “After all you’ve done for me, Doctor Nolan? Well it’s true that neither of us would be here were it not for you. I’m not sure if I should thank you for that or not. However, yes, you have been of great assistance to me in the past. However you have let yourself get deceived by the lies of rebels and traitors. You have tried to thwart the Empire, and you have failed. For anyone else this would carry the penalty of death. However, I think that death would be less of a punishment than the one I have devised.”

Jacob pointed to the well, and guards unlocked the barred top revealing a deep, dark shaft. Melissa fought with all her strength, but there were too many, and she was forced to the brink.
“You choice now is to accept life imprisonment…or die.”
Melissa looked at the blade in his hand. It was so small, yet it was the only thing in this whole crazy world she knew would kill her. Many other things had attempted the feat but never succeeded. Watching the blade her courage failed her, and she shook her head.
“The pit it is then. But first…a reminder for you.”
The guards forced her head on the rim of the pit and held her there as the blade inched closer. Jacob trailed the razor sharp blade down her cheek, starting a line of blood down her face.
“Remember, nothing lasts forever, Mel.” He looked at the guards. “Throw her in. See that she is treated with every courtesy and given good food, clothes and bedding…but on pain of death she is not to escape, or receive any visitors.”
“Jacob, please!” she called, wincing at the pain on her cheek as she spoke.
“You reap what you sow, my dear. Goodbye. I will come and see you again…eventually.”

Helpless to resist, Mel was forced head first into the hole, and then she was falling. The impact with the stone floor should have been far more serious than a little cut on her cheek, and yet she had staggered to her feet in mere moments showing no ill effects. Her cheek though continued to bleed.
“Can you at least undo my wrists?” she called up.
A key dropped down and landed on the stone, followed by some blankets and pillows.
While Melissa scrabbled around for the key she looked about her new prison. She was deep underground in the darkness, and only the hole above provided any light. However her dungeon was quite large, though cold and barren.
When she finally freed herself she managed to stem the bleeding to her cheek, and then slumped to the ground. She was trapped, helpless, imprisoned for life. Knowing her current condition that might be a very long time!

Z5Oubliette.png


(There are pictures attached, but Photobucket is being mean this morning.)
 
Rauchen: Thanks! You know how highly I think of yours.
Zzzzz: Welcome! Hope you enjoy.
Quicksabre: Thanks! The rules are the same across all the stories, which I think helps me writing them. Look out for references to previous stories, there's been a few already. A cookie if you find one. :p
Loki: Cheers!
Deus Eversor: No...but I'd like to be some day.....


Chapter 1a – Departure

Extract from the account of Melissa Nolan

Who am I?

I’ve already said that my name is Melissa Nolan, but what does that mean? I will tell you who I am, though I am sure no one will read this but me. Perhaps it will serve to help me remember my own past lest it fade from memory entirely. Even now I have forgotten so much so it seems a dream of an impossible time.

I was born in the year 1982 in London. Yes, I was born in the future. Do you now grasp how strange my situation is? It gets worse. I was born into a very different world from what we know now. There the ‘Empire’ was long dead, nothing but a memory to students of history and antiquities. I barely had even heard of the Byzantine, or East Roman Empire. I learned of Rome of course, of Caesar, of Augustus, of Hadrian and Constantine, but that history had ended in 476AD, and then I’d just gone on with my life.

My real passion was science. Not the tame and controlled science I see here, but the unpredictable, emergent sciences of physics, chemistry and mathematics. I remember (crossed out) Doesn’t matter now. So many wonderful things of my life I took for granted. Machines that flew which were not airships, engines that travelled on wheels at great speeds, handheld devices that let us talk to someone on the other side of the world. All these things, and more. One day they might reappear here. One day. Great progress has been made, far faster than at my home, but I still yearn for it. Sometimes I dream I was still in my home, I can see myself graduating from university. I see my family. They’re all dead now or never existed or have yet to exist. (Much crossing out makes this next section unreadable)

So how did I came here? How am I still alive? Why? I was friends with a man two years older than me. His name was…is…Jacob Angelos. We met at university and we became friends. I liked him. He was smart, funny, charming. He’s changed now of course. Yes, he’s still alive, like me. He came from my future, but now he calls himself Lord Kyros, and sits in Constantinople like a spider at the centre of a web. He has (crossed out) I once told him (crossed out vehemently) …night in Athens.

We were in Istanbul as Constantinople was renamed to in my world when the Muslims conquered it. Seems so unlikely, doesn’t it?
Anyway, we were there for a conference, a science conference. I can’t even remember what for. I was excited, I remember that. It was secret, only a few people were invited. We were taken to see the device they had been building. A proton accelerator? Particle? These words still fill my head, but I cannot remember their true meaning now.
Something went wrong. There was blinding light…so much pain. I thought I was dead, but then I woke up. I woke up, and Jacob was there, and we were in a city. People were screaming and running from us, because we’d appeared in an open area in flames. They thought us demons or angels or something. I knew enough to know they were speaking Greek. I had learned to speak it from my time in Athens and from Jacob whose family was Greek. Jacob took charge in a way I’d never seen before….

~*~

4th July 1405

Melissa Nolan opened her eyes. Above her were bright stars and a full moon. Instantly her mind was assailed with confusion. Where was she, what had happened, how had she gotten outside? The last thing she could remember was a blinding flash of light, pain, and then herself falling…and now she was here. It was warm, too warm actually. She forced herself to her feet and found that the ground had briefly been seared black by flames. To her increasing alarm her outfit was burnt and torn, but she didn’t feel hurt.
Naturally, dark thoughts come over her. She wondered if she’d been attacked, molested. She tried to get up, but could only reach so far as her knees.
“Mel?” a voice asked.
Turning, she saw Jacob nearby. His clothes were likewise burnt, but he had managed to get to his feet, though was swaying. He came to her and hauled her upright.
“Jacob, what happened? Where are we?” she whispered. She was in a bit of shock, couldn’t really take in what might have happened to her.
Jacob held her close, looking around. “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” he commented wryly.
Mel stepped away from him and looked around. They were in a city, in a wide open plaza lined with buildings. A large column adorned the centre of this one. Torches were alight everywhere around.

It was then that Mel saw the people. Hundreds of people were watching them. Their gazes were not pleasant and an angry murmuring was clearly audible.
Finally a priest stepped forward. “Begone from here, foul minions of Satan!”
Others cried aloud. “They are witches! Seize them!”
Mel understood what they said in Greek barely. She was terrified. She had no clear idea what was going on, but she saw that something very strange had happened, and they might well be lynched. She tried to form words to appease the crowd, but nothing would come out.
It was then that Jacob stepped forward. Though he showed no fear he clearly was trembling slightly. “Stay! We are not devils, we are sent to aid you!”
This predictably did not have the desired effect.
“Do not believe their lies!” the priest shouted.
Jacob looked around for an avenue of escape, but found none. He moved quickly and drew from his pocket his cell phone. The procession to wherever they were had not damaged it much, and he turned it on, activating the flash on the camera. To people who had clearly never seen such a thing before it was dazzling, even terrifying.
“I am an agent of your Lord God, do not defy me! Take me to your Emperor!”
There was uncertainty, but then Jacob used the flashlight mounted near the camera. This light shone into the astonished eyes of the crowd as if his hand was emitting a heavenly light.
“Follow me,” the priest said, still clearly suspicious.

As they walked away, Melissa leaned close to Jacob. “What are you doing? What do you mean, Emperor?”
“They are speaking in Greek, Mel. When was the last time Greek was spoken here; when there were Emperors!”
“What’s your plan?”
“I don’t have one yet. I need to find out what year it is.”
“So you think we’ve gone back in time?”
“Can you think of anything else it could be?” Jacob looked around. “I always wanted to see Constantinople at its height. I guess I got my wish.”
“I just wish I could go home,” Melissa said unhappily.
Jacob touched her shoulder. “Trust me…and pray!”

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perhaps instead of gracing us with this heavenly light of creativity, you should have wrote your novels in a book and then get it printed... then you would be a proffesional writer :p :)

anyway i like the reading, it's quite comfortable to do so.
 
I love the intro of the aar and because of that and only that i will read the other aars when i finish some others i have to read :p
Consider me following
 
Wohoo, Ashantai AAR. :)

“We’re not in Kansas anymore,”
So they are going to see the wizard now? :D

And this story feels like a set-up for a philosophical discussion over the pros and cons of (political) self-determination and dictatorship, but let's see how much the empire dictates the private life before we start the discussion. :D