First, wow, the response to this has been amazing. Thank you all for reading!
Second, an observation. To be blunt, the Doukas dynasty (or the Byzantine Empire itself) are far too powerful. Yes, there's a civil war in the reign of Michael, but in the three games I've played into the 12th century, despite multiple civil wars all that happens is the throne is tossed amongst members of the Doukas family. No one, despite the Komnenoi, the Agyroi and the Palialogi having claims to Byzantium, has even gotten the plot event to try to depose the Doukas Emperor. Maybe that plot event needs to spawn far more often... :/
Anyways, to the story of Alexiea Komnenos (not Anna, as I misreported):
Duchess Alexeia I (through 1144)
Duchess Alexeia's reign began almost immediately with a hail of assassination attempts by the mother of her cousin Kyrill in Antioch. These were successfully deflected, though one assassin came close enough to wound the little girl. This experience and others left her with a very cynical view of the world. Despite this, she grew into a very brave, blunt woman, not renowned for her diplomacy but her bravery on the hunt. She often complained that she regretted being a proper noblewoman of the Roman Empire, otherwise she would have donned helm and mail and went to war herself.
On reaching adulthood, Alexeia martilinearly married Nikolaios Synadenos, second son of the Doux of Dyrrachion. The couple would enjoy a joyous marriage, having sired so far three sons and two daughters. Nikolaios was also gifted in the field of diplomacy, and to this date has served faithfully as her chancellor.
But, we did not come to discuss marriage, did we? As soon as Alexeia reached adulthood and sired her firstborn, named Andronikos, the wife of her cousin Kyrill hatched a plot to assassinate the young boy. Alexeia found wind of the plot, and assassinated the terrible woman. A few months later, in 1131, Alexeia’s resourceful spymaster scored another coup, and got her a claim on the County of Thrake. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect—the Empire was at war, and all of the Countesses allies were in the field. Alexeia mobilized the 7,000 men she had available, and quickly stole the county. The nobility did not remain quiet in the face of this aggression—the Countess of Monemvasia began plotting to send assassins after Alexeia’s husband. The good Duchess responded in kind, killing first the Countess’ husband, and then her for good measure. About this time her poor spymaster literally ran himself to death crisscrossing the empire setting up spy networks (He died suddenly at a young age, probably from overwork!
)
Thus Alexeia and the Komnenoi stood paramount amongst the nobles of the empire—save one, Doux Grgur Doukas of Thrake, who ruled Adrianopolis and Kalliopolis, as well as having the titles Doux of Armenia, Alania and Coloneia. His lands were vast, and literally bracketed both sides of the Komnenoi realm. Additionally, he had ducal claims on both Thrake and Byzantion, both cash cows for the Komnenoi purse. When his chancellor began pursuing claims in Byzantion, Alexeia decided to hatch a plot to kill him. The plot itself got nowhere—few nobles were interested in outright assaulting a member of the Doukids. So Alexeia hired assassins and did the dirty deed herself, ensuring those powerful lands were inherited by a two year old boy.
Yet the nobility weren’t done with the Duchess. Kyrill died at a young age, and his sister conveniently inherited his lands. Instead of sending assassins, she sent the Church, convincing Ecumenical Patriarch Charion I to excommunicate Duchess Alexeia. This evil deed could not go unpunished, and Duchess Eunike of Antioch quickly was drowning in her own blood. Alexeia resolved to end that dispute once and for all, and a hail of assassinations whittled the Antioch branch of the family down to one—the youngest sister of Kyrill who had no claim to the northern lands. In addition, she was conventionally married outside the dynasty. To seal the peace, Alexeia handed her the County of Tortosa, part of her ducal lands, the moment it rose up in rebellion.
The source of the excommunication dealt with, Alexeia then turned back to the Church to try and overturn the excommunication, only to discover that Emperor Daniel I (son of the Konstantinos XII “the Great” mentioned above) had imprisoned the poor man. Alexeia nervously waited for two years before the Emperor released the shepherd of the Orthodox, and her excommunication was overturned in 1139.
Alexeia meanwhile continued her father’s extensive building program, building a new castle at Haymana in Ancyra province, as well as making numerous additions from Constantinople to Sinope. However, her bid to follow her grandfather’s footsteps and undo gavelkind succession has so far fallen away. Emperor Daniel altered crown authority on his succession. With three sons, Paphlagonia will go to one, Armeniacon to a second, and Byzantion and Thrake to a third. This clearly is unacceptable…
Screenshots will be forthcoming.