The Komnenian Restoration: A Legacy of Rome ARR
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Read this over the past few days. Excellent work so far. It'll be interesting to see if your son starts any trouble with the succession.
Since i usurped Egypt from the Fatimid's he is the heir to that kingdom, giving him a sizable amount of troops to play with. Course, there are still infidels to remove from his kingdom...
I haven't commented in a while, so I just want to say that your still upholding the high quality of writing in your AAR. It's a great read.
I'm also considering eventually converting my AAR over to EUIV; I too will also have to learn the game first.o
yea, will defiantly have to play a few games as a larger nation until i get the mechanics down. I will probably also make any kingdoms outside the old Roman Empire independent at start, just to make it more interesting. Have to conquer them first though
I was amazed how well she turned out myself, usually the kids don't get so many traits during education. If she had gotten Grey Eminence it would have been overkill
I love Google Maps. That was a picture from the current day province in Egypt.
I have to say,this AAR is great.I especially like how you really expresed Constantinople,i think that is my favorite part of the AAR as your expression was so throughout it really made it come alive.
Love this. Just read it in one sitting, can't wait for more. Long live the Emperor!
Its amazing what you can learn on Wikipedia. Just using a street map of ancient Constantinople and some creativity on my part and it works out great.
Manuel has lasted longer than both my previous Emperor's. But Sophia will probably die after 5 days on the throne, just because. Also, i added the Med Portrait pack, but since ive married so many Scandinavians the Royal family will look the same, albeit with better clothes options for their culture. The result with Norse Portraits enabled was..... interesting
Just noticed that we have passed 40,000 hits on this AAR. It's that and the positive comments I get that keep me motivated to continue writing, for that I say thank you. Going to write my next chapter tonight/ tomorrow, so expect it around Monday.
A genius Empress is okay but for ultimate stability nothing beats an attractive Empress
A genius Empress is okay but for ultimate stability nothing beats an attractive Empress
View attachment 87435
Ill see your 17 diplomacy and raise you 27
Ill see your 17 diplomacy and raise you 27
I'll see your 27 diplo and raise you 29 martial
Mods don't count
I win by one point
, although the child of Konstantinos and Sophia would probably have a diplo score of like 60
Chapter VIII: Battle in the Sinai
With the celebrations of his victory and his daughters wedding concluded, Manuel now turned to the ongoing Fatimid incursion into Egypt. Though no longer officially Sultan, Caliph Akbar still commanded the loyalty of the remaining infidel lords of Egypt, and they had all answered his call to reclaim what they saw as rightfully theirs. There army was far larger than the local Imperial forces could hope to face, so the Emperors Legion once again sailed from Constantinople, their Emperor himself in command. Arriving in Alexandria, Manuel took stock of the situation. The Fatimid forces were divided in two, with the main force from Petra attacking the Imperial forts in the Sinai, and a smaller force of former vassals besieging Gizeh south of Cairo. Manuel immediately ordered his son Alexios to assemble all available soldiers in the province and march to Suez, to prevent any reinforcements’ from Arabia from entering Egypt.
The legion crossed the Nile Delta swiftly, joining with the forces of Alexios in Farama, just inside the Sinai desert. Manuel had learned that the Caliph himself was leading his forces in the Sinai, which presented a chance to end the war quickly before any further Moslem lords decided to join the struggle. Marching swiftly through the desolate terrain, they encountered no resistance. The empty sands that Moses had walked deeply touched the aged Manuel, who had begun to feel the weariness of age upon his bones. He had ruled the Empire for over thirty years, leading it to its greatest heights since before the Muslim conquests. His wars against the infidel had raged seemingly without end, but now victory was almost within reach. Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia had all been reclaimed for the Empire, and the once mighty Persian Sultanate had devolved into perpetual civil war. Once the Fatimid’s had been defeated, all of Egypt could be quickly subjugated, leaving the Empires eastern flank secure for the first time in centuries. But first, the Fatimid army had to be crushed, and for that Manuel would need more than the eight thousand men he had brought from the City. Levies from Palestine had been ordered to assemble in El-Arish, and with the additional five thousand men Manuel now felt confident of victory.
Marching into Eilat in December 1159, the Imperial forces expected the much smaller force of the enemy to turn and flee. These expectations at first seemed to have been well founded, for all they found of the enemy was abandoned camps and hastily buried corpses. Manuel decided to ride out with his vanguards, who were marching to secure a nearby hilltop and hopefully spot the enemy’s dust cloud. Upon topping the ridge, they discovered that their enemy had not fled, but as charging straight at them! Quickly a line formed in front of the Emperor, and horn calls rang out to summon the rest of the army, but the Moslem cavalry swiftly surrounded the small vanguard. Manuel looked on as the cries of the infidels rang in his ears, their arrows falling all around him. Suddenly a large force of heavily armored cavalry charged into his men from the side, breaking inside the circle of men to within a stones throw of the Emperor.
It was then that Manuel saw him, a comically short figure garbed in a magnificent turban. This could only be Caliph Akbar, who shared the short stature of his uncle Akbar that Manuel had had murdered years before. Manuel drew his sword and bade his horsemen follow as he charged into the midst of the enemy, seeking to slay the little daemon quickly. The Caliph, realizing his danger, threw his short spear in the general direction of the charging men and then fled back to his lines, only to find that his lines had disintegrated as the cataphract’s charged up the hill. Cursing his ill fortune, the dwarf spurred his horse and sped into the deserter, his honor guard in hot pursuit. All the Romans broke into a cheer at the sight of such a spirited retreat, and the rest of the Caliphs army was swiftly cut to pieces. But then a great cry was heard from the summit of the hill, and all turned to look. Alexios himself stood there, holding a spear limply in his hands, staring down at a prone figure. The Emperor lay there, his hand grasping his chest, blood pooling beneath him. Alexios knelt by his father, imploring him to hold on for the surgeon. Manuel coughed, blood coming from his mouth, and tried to raise himself up. He could not, and began whispering to his son.
The diary of Alexios recounts the scene
“My father again began to speak, but I could not hear him over the noise of the battle below. I knelt, putting my ear almost to his lips and heard him say ‘I go to God now my son…I beg you….. do what is needed for our people’ I looked at his face, which before had held a look of such pain that my heart nearly broke, but now it implored me to head him. He grasped my hand, tried to speak again but collapsed into coughing. Finally he simply smiled at me, and began to raise his hand to my face. It stopped, then fell limp too his side. My father, Manuel Komnenos, Emperor of Rome and Defender of the Faith, was dead. I am ashamed to say that I raised my head and split the air with a cry of anguish. The men around me shared my sorrow, and all at once they fell to their knees before my father’s body. As the sound of battle faded I looked up, seeing the entire army kneeling as one to me. Now I felt a strange thrill in my heart. A voice seemed to say to me ‘The men are your Alexios, they will do as you ask. Proclaim yourself Emperor and lead them to glory!’ My father’s generals now approached, asking for further orders. I looked at them, and asked ‘What orders would you obey from me, now merely the brother of the Empress?’ The generals looked nervous, until Alexios smiled and said ‘No brothers, I am not asking you to follow me to the City. My father bade me do what is best for the people, and supporting my sister is what is best. Now let us retire from this field my brothers, and bear my fathers body back to the City….”
Meanwhile in Constantinople, a sudden storm broke over the city, plunging all into darkness. the cry of Prince Gregorios woke Sophia, and she hurried to hush her infant son. But now Sophia felt a great sense of unease, feeling that something terrible had happened. Her new husband, being more used to storms of this caliber, told her to relax. Sophia ignored him, instead going to her balcony and staring south into the stormy seas. She starred into the blackness for hours, oblivious to the wind and rain lashing down at her, utterly convinced some great doom had befallen the Empire. When word arrived a few days later of her fathers death, she seemed to already know, and wasted now time grieving for his soul. She was crowned Empress before the New Year began, and her first order of business was to seek bloody vengeance on her fathers killers...
With the celebrations of his victory and his daughters wedding concluded, Manuel now turned to the ongoing Fatimid incursion into Egypt. Though no longer officially Sultan, Caliph Akbar still commanded the loyalty of the remaining infidel lords of Egypt, and they had all answered his call to reclaim what they saw as rightfully theirs. There army was far larger than the local Imperial forces could hope to face, so the Emperors Legion once again sailed from Constantinople, their Emperor himself in command. Arriving in Alexandria, Manuel took stock of the situation. The Fatimid forces were divided in two, with the main force from Petra attacking the Imperial forts in the Sinai, and a smaller force of former vassals besieging Gizeh south of Cairo. Manuel immediately ordered his son Alexios to assemble all available soldiers in the province and march to Suez, to prevent any reinforcements’ from Arabia from entering Egypt.
The legion crossed the Nile Delta swiftly, joining with the forces of Alexios in Farama, just inside the Sinai desert. Manuel had learned that the Caliph himself was leading his forces in the Sinai, which presented a chance to end the war quickly before any further Moslem lords decided to join the struggle. Marching swiftly through the desolate terrain, they encountered no resistance. The empty sands that Moses had walked deeply touched the aged Manuel, who had begun to feel the weariness of age upon his bones. He had ruled the Empire for over thirty years, leading it to its greatest heights since before the Muslim conquests. His wars against the infidel had raged seemingly without end, but now victory was almost within reach. Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia had all been reclaimed for the Empire, and the once mighty Persian Sultanate had devolved into perpetual civil war. Once the Fatimid’s had been defeated, all of Egypt could be quickly subjugated, leaving the Empires eastern flank secure for the first time in centuries. But first, the Fatimid army had to be crushed, and for that Manuel would need more than the eight thousand men he had brought from the City. Levies from Palestine had been ordered to assemble in El-Arish, and with the additional five thousand men Manuel now felt confident of victory.
Marching into Eilat in December 1159, the Imperial forces expected the much smaller force of the enemy to turn and flee. These expectations at first seemed to have been well founded, for all they found of the enemy was abandoned camps and hastily buried corpses. Manuel decided to ride out with his vanguards, who were marching to secure a nearby hilltop and hopefully spot the enemy’s dust cloud. Upon topping the ridge, they discovered that their enemy had not fled, but as charging straight at them! Quickly a line formed in front of the Emperor, and horn calls rang out to summon the rest of the army, but the Moslem cavalry swiftly surrounded the small vanguard. Manuel looked on as the cries of the infidels rang in his ears, their arrows falling all around him. Suddenly a large force of heavily armored cavalry charged into his men from the side, breaking inside the circle of men to within a stones throw of the Emperor.
It was then that Manuel saw him, a comically short figure garbed in a magnificent turban. This could only be Caliph Akbar, who shared the short stature of his uncle Akbar that Manuel had had murdered years before. Manuel drew his sword and bade his horsemen follow as he charged into the midst of the enemy, seeking to slay the little daemon quickly. The Caliph, realizing his danger, threw his short spear in the general direction of the charging men and then fled back to his lines, only to find that his lines had disintegrated as the cataphract’s charged up the hill. Cursing his ill fortune, the dwarf spurred his horse and sped into the deserter, his honor guard in hot pursuit. All the Romans broke into a cheer at the sight of such a spirited retreat, and the rest of the Caliphs army was swiftly cut to pieces. But then a great cry was heard from the summit of the hill, and all turned to look. Alexios himself stood there, holding a spear limply in his hands, staring down at a prone figure. The Emperor lay there, his hand grasping his chest, blood pooling beneath him. Alexios knelt by his father, imploring him to hold on for the surgeon. Manuel coughed, blood coming from his mouth, and tried to raise himself up. He could not, and began whispering to his son.
The diary of Alexios recounts the scene
“My father again began to speak, but I could not hear him over the noise of the battle below. I knelt, putting my ear almost to his lips and heard him say ‘I go to God now my son…I beg you….. do what is needed for our people’ I looked at his face, which before had held a look of such pain that my heart nearly broke, but now it implored me to head him. He grasped my hand, tried to speak again but collapsed into coughing. Finally he simply smiled at me, and began to raise his hand to my face. It stopped, then fell limp too his side. My father, Manuel Komnenos, Emperor of Rome and Defender of the Faith, was dead. I am ashamed to say that I raised my head and split the air with a cry of anguish. The men around me shared my sorrow, and all at once they fell to their knees before my father’s body. As the sound of battle faded I looked up, seeing the entire army kneeling as one to me. Now I felt a strange thrill in my heart. A voice seemed to say to me ‘The men are your Alexios, they will do as you ask. Proclaim yourself Emperor and lead them to glory!’ My father’s generals now approached, asking for further orders. I looked at them, and asked ‘What orders would you obey from me, now merely the brother of the Empress?’ The generals looked nervous, until Alexios smiled and said ‘No brothers, I am not asking you to follow me to the City. My father bade me do what is best for the people, and supporting my sister is what is best. Now let us retire from this field my brothers, and bear my fathers body back to the City….”
Meanwhile in Constantinople, a sudden storm broke over the city, plunging all into darkness. the cry of Prince Gregorios woke Sophia, and she hurried to hush her infant son. But now Sophia felt a great sense of unease, feeling that something terrible had happened. Her new husband, being more used to storms of this caliber, told her to relax. Sophia ignored him, instead going to her balcony and staring south into the stormy seas. She starred into the blackness for hours, oblivious to the wind and rain lashing down at her, utterly convinced some great doom had befallen the Empire. When word arrived a few days later of her fathers death, she seemed to already know, and wasted now time grieving for his soul. She was crowned Empress before the New Year began, and her first order of business was to seek bloody vengeance on her fathers killers...
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Woot woot, a very splendid AAR!
It's been some time since I've had this good Rhomaion AARs!
It's been some time since I've had this good Rhomaion AARs!
Long live Basilissa Sophia I!
Despite what Alexios said to the generals, I still can't help but think that he'll cause trouble later on.
Despite what Alexios said to the generals, I still can't help but think that he'll cause trouble later on.
Lets see if Sophie can use that big brain of hers to mend the schism and force the Pope on his knees. Sophie may be a genius my can she beat my girl Zoe in arm-wrestling
He died a soldier, fighting with honor... all Roman Emperors should have the same fate