Legacy of the Hun - HIP Old Gods AAR

[siempie78]

Legacy of the Hun - HIP Old Gods AAR




-The infamous "Rape of Konstantinápoly". Király Álmos probably enacted this atrocity because he felt that "Romá's" capital had to be ravaged for his people to be secure. Actually annexing it was probably never his idea.-

Systematic study of the empire of "Etelköz", the Magyar (or "Hungarian", for those Occidentals who are interested in my history) name for the current Ummah, which started out originally as a state with a strong secular character, has long been impopular. While, certainly, the Magyar were the gatekeepers of Iszlám, and were certainly loyal to Allah, the fact remains that historians have always been a bit embarrassed by the indulgence of their emperors and thus never bothered to give a history as to regarding these leaders of the state. Rather, individual acts of prowess have been examined, and never the leadership in the capital that has so long been decisive to their conquests.

I plan to rectify this by submitting a popular history of each and every leader of the state that some hate for "polluting Iszlám with heathen words and heathen ways" and that others love for "saving Iszlám from the Christian infidel."​

P.S Just like any of my AARs, this will probably die at some point. Still, I hope I piqued the reader's interest! I can offer you HIP's beautiful maps and a work of alternate history...

P.S.S: In this story, Ibadism is made into a very seriously heretical form of Islam: this is purely fictional and does not represent any personal beliefs. Any lack of theological knowledge on my part will have to be excused ​

 

[siempie78]

Chapter I

Király Álmos - c. 810 - 877

Conquest of Bulgaria and "Rape of Konstantinápoly"

Voievod of Havasalföld (Wallachia)
Király of all Magyar
Gatekeeper of Iszlám - Posthumous Title




Álmos, legendary king of the Magyar confederation, never had any paintings made of his likeness (a luxury only afforded to those who fraternized with conquered Greek artists). Instead, the above picture is an example of the amusing romanticizing of the Magyar past by fascists in the early 20th century. The fascists usually depicted him as a man of "strength", a virile slavemaster who conquered the Magyar nation and laid the groundwork for the oppression of minorities and a Magyar hegemony the likes of which the world hadn't seen since the Román empire. The event depicted here is the so-called "Chaining of Tadmut" after the sacking of Ghadamés, which is supposed to symbolize how, through dominating an Iszlámic woman, Álmos set a precedent for his successors to eventually dominate all Iszlám. A fascist delusion: the Magyar never claimed to be rightful caliphs of the Ummah until the late 15th century...

Fascist notions aside, Álmos certainly was a barbarian the likes of which the people of his time had never seen before. While praised for incorruptibility when dealing with crime, even the Greeks he lorded over (!), the fact remains that he entered the Balkans sacking innumerable villages and ravaging Bulgarian lands. (Probably fleeing the rival Pecheneg tribes.)


-A brilliant strategist, Álmos lured Boris' main army out of the forest it was hiding using light cavalry, onto the plains of Lovech, where thirteen thousand archers awaited them. Álmos is said to have called the slaughter "indescribable."-



Byzantine historians write of terrified Bulgarians fleeing into their empire: these were the lucky ones. In the early days, the Magyar had to ensure their authority over their new subjects and did so by slaughtering and enslaving the natives. Only in the western mountains did Boris manage to make a stand: but so reduced was his realm, that it seemed to be only a matter of time before the Greeks came knocking on his door. Álmos, however, must have known this as well. He had to quickly take out rivals now that the horde was strong, before the Christians would all gang up on him. Historians attribute the following sentence to him, said to a Greek emissary:

"your Great King of the South is powerful! Many are the stories of his land and treasure! Why should I bother negotiating with him when I want what he can not give me, his power, his land, his treasure?"

And so it was that he entered the Eastern Roman Empire. I will not bother you with the war that followed: it was thoroughly one-sided. The emperor had just been fighting Iszlámists and couldn't return in time to stop the sack of his capital city, then called "Constantinople", but eventually renamed "Konstantinápoly". It had always resisted invaders, but the Magyar horde could not be held back: in a short, but brutal assault, the main walls were taken. The ensuing sack took three days. However, prince Árpád, Álmos' only son, convinced the king not to burn the city to the ground and to spare the cathedrals. Álmos is said to have turned to him and ask:

"Why would you spare this place of power, son? We should end the old, take the gold, burn the writings... in the blood of the Romans we shall start a new kingdom."

To which Árpád replied: "we can not hope to rebuild the splendour we are here destroying. Let us work with the Romans. Let us favour them above the other subjects. Let us take their lands. And their splendour shall be ours."

And Álmos finished: "Fine. One day, you shall be king, and I leave it to you as to what you shall rule. As for taking what is theirs... fine. I will take what is the Emperor's."


-Emperor Basil's wife Eudokia was still in the capital at the time of the sack, fearing demoralization of the troops if she fled. Now, she paid the price: Álmos' men captured her and carried her off to the king.-

​

 

[siempie78]

Chapter II

Király Álmos - c. 810 - 877

The Magnificent Plunder

Voievod of Havasalföld - (Wallachia)
Király of all Magyar
Gatekeeper of Iszlám - (Posthumous Title)

-The period in which the Magyar left prehistory has been chronicled as "the Magnificent Plunder" by the Greek "Collaborator Historian" Eudaxes.-

After the conquest of Konstantinápoly, Álmos didn't linger a very long time. He desired the complete defeat, humiliation and "castration" (a term of the time) of the Byzantine state. To be conquered were the vital population centers that Basil derived his troops from: if these were lost, the Magyar would have access to a larger pool of men than the Eastern Romans. European powers were aware of the threat at the time, but they did not much care seeing the Byzantines weakened (at this time, the pope was said to have remarked that "if the heretics and imposters lose their land, they might be more compliant after we reconquer it for them"). Some kind of massed armed warfare was prepared, but much too slow for it to be of help to anyone.

The empire was also suffering from disastrous civil war: Basil's failure to protect Constantinople had many deem him a failure. The southern "Doux" rose up, supported by a goodly portion of the military. Thus, Basil was powerless to stop Álmos taking the Anatolian North-West. As the empire fell into chaos, Álmos recalled his troops. Greece itself was to fall into his hands (par its rebelling provinces... taking these would Basil a critical edge.) Athens, Epirus and Sparta were quickly taken and sacked.



-Note how the Magyar did not bother taking any isles. A lack of experience with fleets and building was probably the cause of this.-

Raids and conquest on Anatolia's northern coasts continued, however, and then, finally, Basil's emissaries came begging for a peace treaty. This was not, however, before his eldest and only son Konstantinos had been found hiding in the countryside. The boy was brutally beheaded.



-Independent tribes were established, their names derived from vulgar Greeks to appeal to oppressed peasants: Armeniacon, Trebizond and Achaia. Achaia seems to have functioned as a proto-democracy, inspired by legends of Athens!-

There was a problem. Greek lands were devastated and depopulated: there were scarcely people left to work the land. Álmos' son, Árpád, ever hasty to establish some kind of administration and to not leave these new lands, seems to have urged his father on to embark on slave raids. To compromise with the Greeks, they settled on a mighty raid against the "Muzulmán" to the east. Slaves and gold could be found there, it was said, in contrast to the poor European lands. And so it was. The inlands of Anatolia were finally subjected to a sacking, after which Álmos proceeded to sack Jerusalem, Qairo, and Tunis. The terror he subjected the Muslims to traumatized them: the Caliph in Baghdad is said to have considered buying Álmos off with one of his most precious daughters just to keep the unstoppable heathen away from his lands!

But in the end, it was not to be. Curious about the inlands of Africa, Álmos decided on a little detour, immortalized by Eudaxes, the great historian accompanying him. Apparently, he "was curious about the state the infidels dwelled in" and certainly "not very keen on returning to his new lands". As such, he journeyed into the Sahara to the small keep of Ghadamés, where he "came forth to the guardian of the Qasbah, of whom he demanded food and protection. The guardian, of course, could not afford enough food for Álmos' entire army." The result, Eudaxes describes, was "the glorious and complete sack of everything that barely resembled civilization. Only in this way was enough food gathered for the trek north. Álmos himself was quite enamored of a native woman, whom he kept for himself after the usual orgy."



This woman, Tadmut, was quite the character. She was a beautiful woman of considerable vice, described as "possessed of an exotic attraction no man could resist." with a love for protracted orgies, parties and power, that had never been allowed her when she was not in Álmos' "care". While she did not enjoy him, a wrinkly old man who had kidnapped her, she definitely worked his son Árpád (whom she probably had genuine affection for) into Iszlám, as she possessed some serious knowledge about its laws and theology. It was, again, the effort of Árpád to convince Álmos that organized religion was the only way to keep both the people and the tribes in check, and as such, Álmos converted to Iszlám in little time. The current fascist portrayal of her being "chained" by Álmos is highly amusing, because it was more the other way around: Álmos was completely under her spell and even demanded his vassals convert just to please her. At Álmos' time of death, the ruling classes (both Greek and Magyar) were hesitantly Iszlámic. No one but Tadmut and Árpád enjoyed this: the branch of Iszlám the Magyar followed now was deemed heretical by almost everyone. When Álmos' died, he was posthumously awarded the title "Gatekeeper of Iszlám" by the new king, Árpád Álmosfi.




-Until death, Álmos was probably never a very convinced Muslim. As the lower classes say, he converted mostly for Tadmut to be more willing for him to "get into her pants" and not constantly resist him. Of course, this idiom did not yet exist at the time.-
​

 

[siempie78]

Chapter III

Császár Árpád I 'The Lionheart' Álmosfi - c. 845 - 14 October, 919

Vice and Competence

Császár of Etelköz
Király of Bulgária
Király of all Magyar

"Oh, Árpád, Founder of the State!
Yes, Truly, you exemplarize that what is great!
Courage, justice, all ever prevail!
For you, your land, shall never fail!"




This rather cheesy little rhyme was composed by Frigyes, 10th Császár of Etelköz, the realm that the Magyar had created. Avidly interested in the imperial past, he was the first to demand character sketches of his predecessors. He was most impressed by two: Árpád I and Oszkár II. The second was to preside over a defensive war that would cost the lives of half a million soldiers, which created mass starvation killing millions, facing numbers many times the size of his army... and still won. Who was the man that could top such achievements? It was Árpád, the man who effectively created the Magyar state and ended the Legacy of Rome in the east by destroying the Byzantines.

It wasn't that Árpád was just capable: it was that he was visionary. Within days, he had moved his entire court, many still half-pagan, to Constantinople, reinhabiting the imperial palace. He quickly freed the thousands of muslims captured (that he had been the instigator behind enslaving in the first place (!) ) and settled them among the Greeks. This compliant lower-class minority helped to introduce Ibadi Iszlám to the natives and certainly aided in their conversion!



The Tsar of Bulgária was trying to garner support to regain his former lands: and the worst thing was that the Pope was listening. Rumors were brought to Árpád of words of armed pilgrimage to Constantinople itself, in which Bulgária was to be retaken! He decided that the only way to defeat this faction in the West was to strangle it before it was born. The Bulgarians were attacked and destroyed, and Árpád declared himself to be the sole king of all previous Bulgarian domains. This can be seen as the effective root of Magyar ruling class ideology: conquering many different people and showing them that peace was very much possible if they were placed under the aegis of Magyar rule. Ibadism certainly helped, as it is a tolerant religion.

He also married Tadmut, a woman he was still deeply in love with, after his father died. Since there was a complete lack of clergy at the time (this upper class still had to be formed from scratch), and morality was still largely pagan, nobody cared. Their passionate love affairs are the subject of many a badly researched erotic novel or speculative fiction, to name a few: "Emperor of Passion", "Southern Delight" and "Divine Fire". While the historians certainly were ashamed of the Árpád dynasty's "Warrior Vices", the people love them to this day, and I myself admit my girlfriend (and me, a little) loves these books.



-My personal theory is that Árpád combined looks and lavish gifts (that his other wives never got) to win Tadmut over. It worked.-

While Árpád could be brutal towards those that stepped the line into soft debauchery (even executing his very own son Csaba for soft living to set an example) his actions were always aimed at promoting the stability of a state that was supposed to protect everyone. His motivations, as far as I could find out, where largely secular: while he was a "true" believer, his goals were planted firmly in the real world. It was not to the end of being able to wage divine war undisturbed, but keeping the realm stable that he enforced some cohesion by forbidding internal warfare.



It was because of the fervour he inspired that his vassals largely went along with the scheme: there seems to have been, as good old Eudaxes describes it: "a very real belief in transcending old tribal allegiances and forming a single front against the natives that all ruled. People were unified in their need to have some sort of structure to work with in retaining control over our different culture, of which only the wealthy and powerful wanted to convert to the new religion."

And such cohesion was very much needed. On the last day of May, Pope Severinus II announced the need to stop the Magyar horde from gaining more land (his concern primarily for the threatened catholics in the north, then, not for the oppressed Greeks). A destructive time was approaching, and Árpád would be so decisive in this time people, friend and enemy, would whisper that this man had the heart of a lion. Certainly, Tadmut spurred him on his entire life! As a pair, they were lion and lioness, and once separated both were "much diminished in temperament". For now, though, Franks and Germans, Anglo-Saxon and Castilian, all amassed, waiting to strike at a man deemed to be in an insecure position, ruling a population that hated him. They were wrong, but for now, Christianity appeared soon to be resurgent. Twenty years, and hell would erupt over the Magyar.



​

 

[siempie78]

Chapter IV

Császár Árpád I 'The Lionheart' Álmosfi - c. 845 - 14 October, 919

Ibadi Iszlám

Császár of Etelköz
Király of Bulgária
Király of all Magyar



What Ibadist Iszlám? It is a current of Iszlámic though distinct from both the Shi'ite and Sunni'telite currents of thought. Ibadism developed out of Kharijitism, a sect saying that any Muslim commiting grave sin is practically an infidel and that such people are apostates who deserve the normal capital punishment all apostates receive. Ibadists, however, simply believe that true muslims are only to be found among members of their own sect. Unbelievers are to be dissociated from. Western observers noted however that 'this “dissociation,” however, is usually an internal attitude of withholding “friendship” (wilaya), rather than outright hostility' and that 'Ibadis are the least fanatic and sectarian of all Muslims, and openly associate with people of all faiths and pray together with Sunni Muslims. Hostile action is reserved for one type of person: the unjust ruler who refuses to mend his ways or relinquish his power'.

At least, this was the state of Ibadism until the Magyar got their hands on it. Shortly after Álmos' conversion, however, Ibadism's main holdings in Africa collapsed. The Magyar were alone completely separated from others: both Sunni and Shi'ite viewed them as heretics and there was no clergy to speak of to 'guide' the Magyar into the proper path. As a result, Árpád turned to the Greeks. Some path had to be found to establish a theological line: and what he desired was some kind of compromise between paganism, christianity and Iszlám that would satisfy both his spiritual leanings and the Greek population. He and the top clergy convened at the so-called 'Council of Konstantinápoly' to establish some kind of line.

Árpád's demand:

1. Allah is One and Incomparable. Jesus can therefore never be a part of him.

Pagan demands:

1. Hell cannot be eternal, as this is not fitting for a merciful god! Rather, the "Great Punishment" as described in the Qu'ran should be interpreted figuratively. Those that turn away from Him are simply to burn in the knowledge of turning away from kindness and goodness, and this "Fire" is only eternal for those that do not repent in the 'burning state'.
2. Ibadist bans on holy wars are nonsense as the entire world is out for their blood. It is proposed to make literal the description of unbelievers as those who 'do not yet believe'. It is ibadist duty to either dissociate from or bring all unrepentant unbelievers, whether muslim or not, into the fold.

Greek demands:

1. The special state of Jesus must not be denied.
2. Religious art is not idolatry.

In the end, after 'several threats from the part of the emperor' a compromise is reached: Jesus is not a part of God's nature, but rather created at some point after the beginning of time. While more radical than Arianism in saying that Jesus in not that special (Arianism posits that Jesus was created before the beginning of time) this still denies Jesus a divine nature and was deemed appropriate by the nobility. Also, it was declared that Christian religious art was not Muslim art, and since Christians had to be tolerated, their Icons had to be tolerated as well, and forever. So heretical was the council, that the following anecdote has been given by Árpád's eldest son Linütika:

"I think we were all very much drunk with power at that moment. Millions of people had to follow the lines we proscribed, and we knew very well nothing much of it was actually in the Qu'ran. But we did not even have reliable Qu'rans with us at the time and we just wanted to create something that seemed sensible! But I do think that we made the right decision in the end. If God is deserving of our worship, he will be so kind as to forgive us any mistakes."

Indeed, this was to become a main principle of what Árpád called 'rejunevated Iszlám': as God is kind, he will forgive unless his kindness is rejected outright after judgement.

This council was decried by both Sunnite and Shi'ite scholars as 'massive fraud'. Árpád didn't much care. In preparation of the crusades, he invited the pretenders Aarif ibn al'Mutazz and to his realm and Ma'sud to his realm and made them convert to the new ways. Then, he attacked, just the Eastern Romans lost the right to call themselves 'Romans' in the eyes of the world for failing to take Rome. (For now, I will refer to Basil as the 'Despot' or 'King' of Iconium).



Only days later, Abbasid fears of an outright invasion of Arabia proved to be correct.






​

 

[trekfan]

Following with interest

 

[siempie78]

A COMMENT!

*Masses of hysterical people rejoice*

 

[Crimson Drakon]

I am reading with interest as well!!

Looking forward to how the Hungarian Ibadi Invasion goes.. will the Magyars one day restore the de jure Empire of Arabia?

 

[DKM]

If you're a King, who holds the Empire?

 

[siempie78]

@DKM I've called him the emperor, but that's because he becomes the emperor in his lifetime . Right now, Árpád is a simple king dreaming of something bigger.

Actually, @Crimson Drakon, Magyar conquests are always very much focused on Europe, as we shall see! (So much that they usually give up conquered land east of Anatolia. Overextension is an eternal problem and the empire simply can't afford to have isolated provinces.)

 

[siempie78]

Chapter V

Császár Árpád I 'The Lionheart' Álmosfi - c. 845 - 14 October, 919

The Crusade for Konstantinápoly

Császár of Etelköz
Király of Bulgária
Király of all Magyar

-The First Crusade would be but a skirmish compared to the Sicilian Crusade, but would still cost the life of thousands and the devastation of Greece. It also drove the Greeks into the hands of the Magyar, who protected them from pillaging hordes of catholic zealots.-


The war against Caliph Uways was swift, and decisive. Having already seized the holy city of Jerusalem, Árpád personally visited it to pray to Allah. But he knew that the hearts and minds of Iszlám could not be won unless Mecca and Medina were controlled by a man loyal to the doctrines he had set down. He and Aarif had already agreed that the caliphate was not to have too much worldly power: humiliating terms for a Sultan, but not for a claimant who would pretend to be one. Indeed, Uways never managed to gather enough troops to resist. After Mecca and Medina were taken, he fled for the north and accepted a voluntary subjugation to a man who quickly declared the caliphate dissolved: Aarif. However, Aarif would soon declare himself the Ibadi caliph.

The Christian and the Muslim world recoiled in shock. Control of three holy sites of the faith meant that Ibadism suddenly looked a lot more legitimate in the eyes of the faithful than before! Indeed, the reaction to the rise of Ibadism was both sudden and utterly violent.


-The Crusade took place amongst great unrest in Europe: nobody seemed quite sure as to what Árpád's intentions were and the vested interests wanted him removed.-

The Pope took unprecedented measures to ensure that the Sunnites would stand back as he destroyed the Magyar: he sponsored a large revolt against then-emperor Aarif (who had not deemed it fit to declare himself caliph yet), restoring the deposed Uways to some lands in the north and clamoring for his restoration to the caliphate! This two-pronged attack on Ibadism seemed orchestrated to wipe it out and restore the old status quo... Formosus, the new pope, had done most of the planning. A giant force of crusaders was to assemble at Rome and march through Great Moravia, into the old Bulgarián lands, which were to be restored to some Balgarsko claimant who had sworn loyalty to the pope. After that, Greece was to be occupied partially, with a crusader state to be established that would be the 'new' Roman Empire. My source in this is his own private correspondence with the king of Lombardia!

What was problematic, however, was that the crusade was not as popular as originally hoped. After the initial shock, the wordly powers of the world, like the German emperor, decided that a weakened Byzantine Empire was not all that bad. After all, had not the Greeks regained their strength? They and the faithful could bleed one another dry, as much as they cared, and if they distracted the pope while at it... all the better. This early failure to see that the Magyar were already gaining the loyalty of their subject peoples and were about to declare the All under Iszlám doctrine that would pacify the population greatly, would soon see Germany, Italy, Andalusiá, France and Russia burn in the fires of religious war. But, for now, the crusade.

As I was saying, the lack of support from any crown caused the pope to be dependant on zealous dukes and counts, who distrusted one another in dividing the spoils of war, but who couldn't many an effective force by themselves. The result was that many small armies traveled to Greece by themselves, and were slaughtered in complete isolation by Árpád's organized and experienced forces just returning from Arabia, motivated by recent victories, perceived divine favour and the defence of their 'homeland'.



-



The first battles were brutal. The forces of the Occident, finding themselves in an odd country, had been terrorizing the Greeks. As a result, their guides fooled them, separated them, and were gone when they were lost. Two isolated armies were destroyed before the Crusaders finally got around to killing their guides and torturing the needed information out of village elders they came across. They started to converge at Mosnypolis, a small village on the Northern coast of Greece. With his forces too impotent to take Bulgaria by land without royal support, Formosus had changed tactics. The dukes now arrived by sea, carried by the ships of the republic of Pisa (which demanded heavy prices for the crossing, of course).

Árpád knew the situation was critical. If enough troops gathered, they could take Konstantinápoly itself without him being able to attack! With Aarif getting around to crushing the revolt that was harrying him but still unable to lend any meaning aid, he had to strike now. He attacked, knowing full well five thousand Papist reinforcements were nearing from the north and relieve their beleagered allies, but there was no time.



Victory was total, as the Greeks auxiliaries proved faithful to Árpád and helped him crush their fellow Christians who had been pillaging their land, and was followed by the ensuing slaughter of any Crusaders left in Greece. Árpád did, however, begin to exhibit signs of gonorrhea, the disease that would plague for 8 years until it finally got the better of him. In Ohrid, Árpád's son Linütika died, passing on the Dukátus to his imbecile son Oszkár. Nobody had any time to be worried or to grieve, however.



-


-If there was thing that the crusade was good for, it driving the Greeks into the arms of the Magyar as the losing Crusaders commited ever greater atrocities while fleeing from the vengeful Magyar hordes.-


This could not last. God had let down the catholics, and the pope knew it. Apparently, the Greeks were too wretched in their heresy to be saved and a depressed Formosus finally called off the crusade.



All was not well, however. With Linütika dead, the most powerful successor was a drooling idiot and the Iconians had conquered Achaia while Árpád had been slaughtering christians. He sent men south to liberate Achaia, restored it as a republic (under his rule, of course), but the strain of managing another war would soon prove too much. As one of his last acts, he proclaimed himself 'Császár' of 'Etelköz', but he was clearly unable to know what he was talking about, already slipping into senility. Etelköz as a state existed now, in name, but would only be created in reality by his Great-Grandson Császár Tádor I.



Only 14 October 919, a delirious Árpád mumbled he would only die if God took over his capital and took him from his deathbed. To the murmurs of the court, one of his wives gently called him her 'old boar with the heart of a lion', word of which quickly spread. As Várispán Bonuslo of Claudiopolis excitedly entered the throne room to tell his dying liege that the Greeks in the capital had converted to Allah in the honour of Árpád, whom they viewed as a righteous savior, his last breath left his mouth. As his frail body was carried outside, the gathered people whispered that the lion's heart had stopped beating... and so it was. Truly, Árpád was one of the greatest leaders the Magyar people have ever had, and he saved them all from an inglorious destruction by marauding forces from far-away lands. While that would have been poetic justice, truly, Árpád was a piece of poetry on his own that has served history far better.



-

​

 

[siempie78]

For who's wondering, Árpád looks so young because 2.2.1 HIP doesn't properly handly facial portraits of early medieval europe, apparently . When we enter 950, this problem is solved.

 

[trekfan]

Hopefully Oszkár will be able go maintain control of the realm.

 

[siempie78]

Perhaps he'll drool his way to victory

 

[trekfan]

Perhaps he'll drool his way to victory

You never know

 

[siempie78]

Chapter VI

Császár Oszkár I Linütikafi - c. 892 - 23 April, 920

A Realm in Chaos

Császár of Etelköz
Király of Bulgária
Király of all Magyar



-After Ohridian forces seized Konstantinápoly in the name of Oszkár and installed him on the throne, descendants of the deposed Greek senators rallied to prevent this outrage. Using white cloth, with a quickly painted purple line on the side, they created improvised togas, to draw a parallel between them and the murderers of Julius Caesar. They drove him from the senate building, lightly wounding him. The moronic emperor fled for the countryside in a carriage offered to him by Greek civilians. He seemed to be safe, for now... (the painter's addition of a stature of Pompeius Magnus and a purple toga for Oszkár might be going a tad too far, but the painting sure is nice to look at!)-


After Árpád's unfortunate death, the capital was in uproar. Both Magyar and Greek wanted a different man on the throne than the imbecile Oszkár: but he was a powerful man and powerful interests sought him installed. The court was deemed too Hellenized by the northern Magyar, and they urged Oszkár's council to take power for 'him' and purge Konstantinápoly of Greek influence. So it was. Árpád hadn't been buried before Ohridian soldiers seized the capital, supported by troops from the powerful dukes of Csánád, Tarnovo and Karvuna. Oszkár was put on the throne, proudly declared 'Oszkár I', and was ordered to produce an heir.

In response, the dukes of Achaia, Hellas, Strymon, and Thessaloniké declared their intention to secede if a proper ruler wasn't installed. They were accused of being 'Greek traitors', clearly a lie: at this time Hellenization was very much a symptom in the capital only. It was against this background that Innokentios Anakedon, grandson of an influential senator, decided that Etelköz was something worth fighting for. He gathered fellow countrymen and proposed to restore the Imperial Senate, offering support to the notion that Etelköz might be a 'New Rome'. This Senate would be a rival Senate to that in Iconium. The idea was received which much enthusiasm. Under Basil, the Senate had been stripped of much of its power and turned into a glorified Imperial Court. But what if the senate seized the city and invited the southern dukes into the capital, deposing Oszkár and installing one of his baby sons? It was the perfect plan.


-Innokentios Anakedon (left) has been much romanticised as the savior of 'Basileia Rhomaion' by Iszlámist Greeks and Magyar alike, and why not? The man showed courage and conviction where others didn't and helped Magyar and Greek to draw closer and find a mutual identity in the 'Róma a Iszlám'.-


And for once, a perfect plan worked. Pompously, the senators invited Oszkár to the senate, and when he arrived they drew their swords and screamed that Rome had been restored. They turned on him, tore off his clothes and drove him from the city, taking custody of his baby son Tádor, supported by both Greek and Magyar citizens who promptly rose up in support of having some effective, stabile leadership. The northern dukes, thinking the Greeks were revolting, prepared to crack down on these traitors, while the southern dukes were willing to negotiate. Weeks later, they entered Konstantinápoly unopposed and agreed to restore the Imperial Senate and respect the rights of the Greek population in light of a 'shared destiny'. Oszkár, fleeing north, was the final hurdle to peace.


-Whether Oszkár died in an accident fleeing north, whether his driver was bribed by southern dukes, or whether the northern dukes decided against civil war and discreetly killed him, we'll never know. All that we do know is that he was found dead in a ravine in the wreckage of a carriage, his body completely mangled.-

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[trekfan]

How old is the new emperor?

Also, is it bad that when I see Iconian, or Iconium, I automatically think of these guys?

 

[Enewald]

Nice, HIP, nice.
Are you making some rulers lucky, for greater challenge?

 

[Nikolai]

I really like your writing and graphical style for the updates. Subbed.

 

[siempie78]

@trekfan, I think 3 years old, not sure . I know I can forgive an obsession with aliens XD.

@Enewald, not as of now, no! Maybe I should...

@Nikolai, thx for the compliment!

Got week of exams coming up, so there won't be updates for a while!