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The Glory that is Sparta - A Morea AAR

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Lalalilo

Lalalilo

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Apr 24, 2004
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Prologue

The Thermopylae pass 13th of August 480 B.C.​


The third day of battle
Morning

It had been over an hour since daybreak. The crimson-coloured sky slowly gave way to a more blue tone. It was the the beginning of the third day that the Spartans had held the pass. The whole might of the persian army who numbered in hundreds of thousands stopped by about 300 Spartans and 4000 greek allies. The air was heavy with the stench of rotting corpses and drying blood. Two crows were fighting for an eyeball of a persian grunt's head which had been cut off from his body when suddenly they took to the skies leaving their catch behind. The young spartan Euklies who was on guard duty that morning was running to King Leonidas while trying not to step on the bodies of the dead for it was said to attract bad luck. Most Spartans laughed at Euklies superstitions saying that the only thing a real Spartan has to fear is a coward's death. "One can never be too careful" thought the young warrior as the closer he progressed to the Laconian camp the more corpses he had to dodge. Finally he arrived at the King's tent. He ran right inside ignoring the guards. The King was sitting on the ground inside surronded by maybe a dozen men. It seemed he intruded on a war council. With swiftness Euklies kneeled. Trying hard to catch his breath and gasping for air he said:
- The Phocians have not sent a messenger.
The Kings face showed no emotion. He looked at Dermios probably the oldest spartan in the pass.
- The path is taken - said the battle-hardended veteran.
- As we thought... - replied the King.
- They probably surrendered or ran away at the first sight of the Persians. Damn Phocian cowards if only we... -Conlides heir to a very rich Spartan noble who died a few months earlier stopped in midsentence because the King was staring at him with scolding eyes.
- This was to be foreseen that the persians would find the route around the pass. We were lucky that it took them 2 whole days during which we have managed to give Hades whole armies of ghosts. But our time is up. Today we take our final stand. We do as was planned...

The council ordered that all the greek soldiers are to withdraw except for the 300 Spartans who had taken a pledge to fight to the death and to give the withdrawing soldiers time. Also Demophilus general of the Thespians ordered 700 of his men to stay saying "We have fought together and we Thespians shall share glory with the Spartans". King Leonidas remarked "All we shall share is death but I welcome you to it".

At dawn the persians had begun their advance . The battle was fierce and bloody. For every downed Spartan five Persians fell. Despite the immortals arriving from the rear the Spartans lost nothing of their fury. They fought until their spears broke and then they hacked away with short swords. King Leonidas stood backed across a mountain of persian bodies. The persians gutted him with a spear but before succumbing to Hade's hold he managed to cut down two persians with a final sword strike. Dermio's body was full of arrows while general Dempphilus fell with his Thespians while fighting the elite immortals. Finally a handful of Spartans remained among them was Euklies and Conlides. Backed against a wall with only short swords they were preparing for a last charge at the despot's army. But before they could begin they heard a sound like the wind delicately blowing. When the Spartans looked up into the sky a rain of arrows fell from the sky ending their stand. Surrounded by the corpses of their brothers in arms Euklies and Conlides lay bleeding on the ground with bodies pierced by arrows, each breath bringing them closure to death's hand.
- All this... for what???... we don't even die... on Laconian... soil at home- Conlides said with a snear throwing up blood all over his chin as the life in his body vanished.
Euklies was just next to him. He had lost all control of his body but heard Conlide's dying words. Unable to move his head he was staring down into the ground. His body was ridden with arrows. Every new breath he took hurt more than the last one. Euklies saw his blood gently flowing on the dirt. He thought to himself as he inhaled his final breath "You are wrong, my blood drips on home soil because Greece... is my home..."


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Leonidas at Thermopylae 480 B.C.
 
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Historical Commentary - A brief look into the history of the Peloponnese
Outtakes from chapter 2 of the book "Greek impact on the history of the world" by Georgios Fysekis​

To fully understand the impact that greek culture and philosophy had on the history of the world one must understand a bit of it's rich and interesting history. Of course the aim of the book you are currently reading is far different from giving a comprehensive history lesson. Nonetheless I have enclosed in this book a brief description of the most important events. For your reading comfort I have divided them according to geogrphical regions. [...]

[...]A brief look into the history of the Peloponnese

The name Peloponnese is derived frim the name of Tantalus's son Pelops. In direct translation it means "Island of Pelops". During the middle ages the region was known as Morea because it had an over obundance of Mulberry trees.[...]

Mulberry_larger.jpg

A mulberry tree

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Pelops riding a chariot


[...]During the antiquity period, it was the site of the cities of Sparta and Corinth who fought for power and hegemony over the pennisula and Greece. The Spartans played a vital role in the Persian Wars and the penisula was the scene of the Peloponnesian War where Sparta managed to defeat Athens in a bid for dominance over the greeks and established itself as the leading power in the Peloponnese and the hellenic world . The Penisula fell to the expanding Roman Republic in 146 BC and became the province of Achaea. In the 4th century A.D. the Huns and Goths overran the roman province and burned Sparta to the ground.

[...] Until the middle ages the Peloponnese peninsula was subsequently ruled by the Byzantine Empire up until the fourth crusade in 1204 after which the Franks and the Venetians formed the Principality of Achaea. It lasted for over 150 years [..].

85px-Armoiries_Acha%C3%AFe.png

Coat of Arms of Achaea


[...]In 1350 the Byzantine emperor John IV formed the Despotate of Morea for his son Manuel Cantacuzenus. The rival Palaeologus dynasty seized Morea after Manuel's death in 1380, with Theodore I Palaeologus becoming the new despot of Morea in 1383. Theodore I was an avid historian who was fascinated with ancient Greece. One of his first decrees was to rebuild the city of Sparta. In 20 years time the city which was in ruins and uninhabitated had reached a population of 2000 people. In 1405 the Despote moved the capitol form Nafpilo to Sparta. He split the administration and court of his Despotate between the two. This allowed for Sparta to have a port despite being an inland city. After Theodore's death in 1407 his son Theodore II Palaiologos came into power. He continued his father's rule. In 1419[...]

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The Despotate of Morea in 1419
 
In case anyone is wondering this is going to be a Morea AAR played with the AGCEEP mod on a 1.09 patch(i think it is the most recent one) on a normal/normal setting beginning in 1419. This is my second AAR. I'll to do this one a bit differently. Apart from the normal gameplay post I will also try to include different texts describing some events in greater details, talking about a specifc in-game situation and so on. Oh and note that I' don't play to win so don't be suprised if I happen not to start BB wars, slide the ledger to full on one technology or any other thing that allows me to show you how great I am controlling half the world. My AAR about Poland is a good example of this. I wil also toy a bit with greek history, mythology and probably names. So in case you're Greek/have a degree in greekology (Yes I know I probably made this word up) take a deep breath or stop reading now because I will tamper with all sort of facts. In concept this AAR will be full of pathos. It's meant to be this way. I will also try to add some historical flavor to my AAR so if you are from any specific country/religion/region and so on please don't feel offended by this AAR it's only a game or stop reading now. If you do decide to read this AAR I hope that you will enjoy it and think that it was worth your time to read and maybe even perhaps reply. Thank You.


And does anyone know where I can change the name of the city in a province???
 
Lalalilo said:
And does anyone know where I can change the name of the city in a province???
Click to expand...

open the province.csv scroll down to the desired province and then scroll across to find the city name and change it.
 
The Swert said:
open the province.csv scroll down to the desired province and then scroll across to find the city name and change it.
Click to expand...

Or, if you've already got a game off the ground, you can simply open up the save file, search for the city name, and bobs your uncle.
 
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