Tommy4ever – Thank you for the nomination!
Six times nominated is a humbling thing. As always, I’d first like to thank all of you who read, comment, or share ideas—it’s my fervent belief that most of the characters wouldn’t be half as interesting without all the reader feedback that goes on in AARland! Thank you!
As for the French, Andronikos et al
think it’s too large for Scotland. Andronikos et al have
no idea there’s a Komnenid presence in “that desolate country.” Perhaps Gaston is telling his brother to be extra cautious? Or are the French up to something more sinister? Or is
everyone wrong and Hugues is simply making another go at Burgundy, with or without his brother’s approval?
TC Pilot – The Caliphs by the 13th century acted as if they had power that they’d effectively lost back in the 10th century. I’m sure the last Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad felt as if he had the authority and pull to rally the Muslim world to his defense—his belief was just somewhat delusional…
Leviathan07 – Those would all be reasonable things to expect the Caliph to do… if he had the resources to do so. Perhaps the Caliph is grasping at straws here, but the Abbasid Caliphate is in a precarious state. The Caliphs have basically been on the run since Baghdad fell almost 50 years before—they’ve been all over the Arabian peninsula and are now living in Balkh. I can imagine that they don’t have the best relations with their Turkish hosts either—the Turks are Roman allies, and the Caliph is no doubt constantly haranguing them asking them to retake Baghdad for him. I have no doubt the Turks are quite eager to see their ‘guest’ leave—perhaps they fed him false confirmations when they found out about the letter? We’ll have to see.
Nosnits – It’s a lengthy, lengthy tale. Thank you for being brave enough to start it! Let me know what you think as you read along!
Kirsch27 – It wouldn’t be much worse than killing a pope in terms of outrage and rebellion, but Persia is only one part of the Empire—and I doubt it could stand the mass revulsion and fury that would grip the Muslim world if a Caliph was killed. Besides, it wouldn’t be a politically smart move. Alive, the Caliph is a symbol, but dead, he’s a martyr…
As for pretty purple cloaks, aren’t they just as conspicuous as the purple boots an emperor is expected to wear on the battlefield?
Antoku – A politically astute Caliph might leap down that road you’ve laid out. It could simply be the Caliph thinks this is a win-win situation—either he gets back to Baghdad, or he starts chaos that could very well lead him back into Baghdad, perhaps with an army and political authority to match his spiritual power. That counts on this Caliph being clever on the level of the Komnenids—in real life, contemporary Caliphs were not. Rome AARisen, however, isn’t necessarily historically accurate!
Frozenwall – Even just showing up at Persia’s doorstep can be potent—and Gabriel being distracted by Konstantinopolis and the Mongols likely isn’t exactly a secret…
Qorten – Wicked and devious? Yes. Expect more of that from Andronikos. Will his plan’s
succeed however? That remains to be seen….
Calipah – Yup… the
Nizaris and
Ismailis fled to Egypt in the late 1230s and 1240s. Egypt is currently the
Shi’a hotbed…
Enewald – Off the top of my head -- Mosul, Shirvan, Derbent, Tabriz, Karbala, Basra, Luristan, Hormuz, Isfahan, Mazadaram, Khozistan, Hamadan—that’s 11 I can think of… as for the Immortals, the main empire already has them—the
Athanatakoi tagma.
Athanatakoi, both in the AAR and historically, were the Empire’s attempt at creating a copy of the ‘Immortals.’ The name itself is a Greek translation…
Nehekara – That would depend on how many provinces there are in the
Turkish lands.
Vesimir – Why does it have to be pleasant? Cold, detached arranged marriages are just as common as ones where the couples learn to love each other. But, we shall see. Perhaps she’ll put up with his shenanigans, perhaps he’ll put up with having to ‘visit’ her sometimes. And I wanted this update to get a chance to show the double-side of Andronikos—he’s very very cold hearted and ruthless, but he loves Cecilia and his kids to death…
asd21593 – Does deliciously evil taste like white chocolate? If so, I’m in!
RGB – Since when did Andronikos need a
casus aggraves?
First, hopefully soon we’ll have an update from Scotland on Lord Protector Antemios made by our very own AlexanderPrimus! He’s been feeling under the weather so it’s been pushed back some, but I am sure it will be well worth the wait!
To tide us over in the meantime—I went and finally did it.
After months having the information sitting around, gathering dust, I decided to compile the Komnenid family tree as it stands in 1271. By necessity, there are many branches that have been pruned—families that become irrelevant, or shift back into courtierdom, are cut off. But, in terms of where the families are, and who the movers and shakers are, this should, I hope, help satisfy people’s curiosity. Be forewarned, the family tree files themselves are
large—much larger than the forum allows, so I merely linked to them. That said, enjoy, and click on each image below to see the family tree of the initial Komnenid family, as well as the major branches that followed…
EDIT: A couple notes for helping people navigate through this behemoth:
1 - With the exception of marriages that were either a) important dynastically (Sophie marrying Basil, Anastasia marrying Alexios), or b) marriages I'd like for my own reference going forward (Orsinis, etc.), marriage and distaff families aren't represented
2 - A black line indicates primary descent.
3 - A gray line is a marriage
4- Bastards that were unlegitimized, with the exception of Malhaz and his descendants, are not included.
5 - Almost all the major Komnenid families (with the exception of House Antioch) trace their descent from either Emperor Manuel (Basiliene, Eudoxene-Egypt, Leonene-South Italy), or Demetrios Megas (Christophorene, Malhazian).
6 - With the exception of Leo's brief Italian realm at the start of the 13th century, all the Emperors from 1189 onwards have been descended in some way, shape or form from Basilieos III Komnenos.