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Hassan will venture out himself? That's bad news for Ibrahim - Ibrahim doesn't know where he stands with Hassan, which will mean at least some hesitation. Hassan will clearly not hesitate...

Then again, Hassan is of an advanced age. He might have to kill with subterfuge, rather than stabbing Ibrahim on the spot of their first meeting. If so, Ibrahim has a slight chance. Perhaps he will be wary enough that it will take Hassan a while, which gives time for error or outside intervention.

My personal preference? Arzu cottons on to Hassan and stabs him dead while he is completely not expecting it. Perhaps while he's not even aware she's there, while he's amiably chatting with Ibrahim, trying to deceive the latter as to why he is coming to visit him. Yes, that would be nice. :) Highly unlikely to happen, but nice.
 
Dramatis Personae:

Omar Khayyam, poet, philosopher, astrologer, drunkard

...

Well the solution was easy. The next one sent must expect to meet Ibrahim. Only one person in his world met that criteria.

Well it was maybe time to leave Alamut. It would be good to visit old colleagues in Esfahan. Perhaps he could repay some other debts at the same time.

I could be horribly wrong (I likely am), but considering Omar is listed as one of those involved in this update, and considering the ties already noted between himself and Hassan, I have to assume he will be somehow involved in Hassan's plot to kill Ibrahim. Very intriguing. I've no idea what Hassan has planned, but hopefully his attempt fails.
 
Hassan will venture out himself? That's bad news for Ibrahim - Ibrahim doesn't know where he stands with Hassan, which will mean at least some hesitation. Hassan will clearly not hesitate...

Then again, Hassan is of an advanced age. He might have to kill with subterfuge, rather than stabbing Ibrahim on the spot of their first meeting. If so, Ibrahim has a slight chance. Perhaps he will be wary enough that it will take Hassan a while, which gives time for error or outside intervention.

My personal preference? Arzu cottons on to Hassan and stabs him dead while he is completely not expecting it. Perhaps while he's not even aware she's there, while he's amiably chatting with Ibrahim, trying to deceive the latter as to why he is coming to visit him. Yes, that would be nice. :) Highly unlikely to happen, but nice.

I think we can see Hassan's decision as a wierd mixture of need (he is left with no-one he can trust with the truth), a desire to complete something that is personal and perhaps a desire to prove to himself that age has not undermined his capacity for personal action. But rest assured, even if he has decided to act, that does not mean he is still not weaving complex plots with long term goals.

I could be horribly wrong (I likely am), but considering Omar is listed as one of those involved in this update, and considering the ties already noted between himself and Hassan, I have to assume he will be somehow involved in Hassan's plot to kill Ibrahim. Very intriguing. I've no idea what Hassan has planned, but hopefully his attempt fails.

I think we can assume that if Hassan is to carry out the murders he has now planned he needs to separate Omar from his protectors (the first stage being in the next update) and to separate Omar from Ibrahim (using Ali's report)
 
Part 4: Hubris

An unwelcome child



The Sultan and his half-brother reclined, awaiting news of the birth.

“My son will be a warrior who will place Alp Arsalan in his shadow”.

“Your son will be a scholar of such refined wisdom as has never been seen before”.

As they boast, Arzu passes from the Sultana’s chambers into the corridors.

Saim approaches



“Is he safe?”

“The baby?”

“Who else?”

“Yes, She is”

“She?”

Saim stepped back. “Then I leave it to you to deliver the joyous news to the Sultan”

Arzu entered the room

“Sire, your first born is safe and well. She will bring great beauty and great renown to your house”

“She … I have no daughter I have a son, it was foretold”

Arzu raised her eyes

“my Lord, you have a daughter”



The Sultan rose slowly from his divan.

“You, you have bewitched my court with your spells and potions. You and that astrologer you pleasure have brought evil into the heart of my Empire”

The Sultan reached for a ceremonial sword, too heavy for him to wield.

“Go before in my righteous anger I have you slain on the spot. Go to the liar you nurture … tell him to leave my realm”
 
Part 4: Hubris

The net tightens

Dramatis Personae:

Hassan, now in Esfahan
Saim, the Sultan’s Qadi
Ibrahim, onetime disciple of Hassan



Two days later



Saim has gone to preach the Friday prayers at an obscure Madrassa on the north of Esfahan. As his theme he stressed loyalty to the Sultan, the Sultan’s benevolence, the recent triumphs of the Sultan’s army, the victory over the Shiite rebels in Bukhara.



The latter was a theme he returned to many times. How this showed the heretical nature of that sect, how it was bereft of God’s grace given how easily its armies were scattered.

For some reason most of his speech as received in sullen silence. For some reason this did not seem to worry him.

At the end he turned to go, heading as if to leave from the rear of the building. There, instead, he turned into the dusty maze of corridors, climbed the stairs and finally entered a small room. There sat a hooded man, settled back into the shadows

“Have you done as asked?”

“Of course”

“So Ibrahim is dismissed?”

“It was almost too easy. I arranged for Omar to find out that Ibrahim had strangled Baha in order to avenge Baha’s assault on Omar. Well he reacted as you would expect”.

“And Arzu?”

“Not seen at court since, the Sultana is rumoured to be trying to please the Sultan so as to save her daughter’s life”.

“Good. Soon Omar will turn to us for protection. But first you must undermine Ismail. Let us ensure the Sultan comes to rely on you for advice”.
 
Hassan, Hassan, Hassan... This is all rather despicable. Tsk, tsk.

I'm thinking (hoping) that Hassan is making an error of judgment here, though: Omar might have dismissed Ibrahim, but that is no guarantee that Ibrahim has really gone away. He could still be watching from the shadows. Surely Ibrahim must wonder who knew that he killed Baha and why that person would choose to inform Omar?

Arzu being dismissed from the court is not good news, but again, it doesn't mean the lady is out of the picture. She's a formidable lady in her own right. I hope that the combined underestimation by Hassan will be enough to do him in.
 
I'm trying to work out how to resolve some of these issues. You are right about Ibrahim, his loyalty to Omar is profound in that having turned against Hassan he has little choice in any case. Hassan and Saim are working hard to isolate Omar (and Ishmael) from the court. I suspect that Hassan is going to win, but may find it a rather hollow victory ...
 
Part 4: Hubris

A domestic dispute

Dramatis Personae:

Omar Khayyam
Arzu – his lover




For two days since fleeing the palace Arzu has remained in her room. Finally she emerges to challenge Omar.

“Why”

Omar looked up from his books and charts and smiles …

“come, I have missed you”

“you have killed me … your books … these things you play with … they have doomed us”

“how”

“your horoscope promised the Sultan a son”

“no, what I sent, promised a daughter”

Omar settled back.

“I had met with the midwife and she was sure”

“Well what the Sultan received was a promise of a son”

Omar frowned.

“Then someone changed the charts I sent to Ismael. Someone bearing us malice”.

Arzu, turns to leave.

“Stick to your poetry and mathematics – leave us alone who live in this world.

Now we must flee this place, where is Ibrahim?”

“I dismissed him”

Arzu, looked back, half turned, then walked out the door.
 
Oh deary me... Not good for Omar. Having the charts switched is bad news, but then we already knew he had fallen out of favor at the court. Right now, it looks like Arzu might be ready to abandon him, after hearing of his dismissal of Ibrahim, in which case he's truly lost. She's the one who tethered him to the real world, who shielded him from its unwelcome intrusions while Omar kept busy drinking, writing and stargazing (astrologizing? That doesn't sound like a proper verb).

On his own, he won't stand a chance. Regardless of who comes after him - Hassan, the Sultan, or even an ordinary street mob or a simple robber - I don't think Omar can save his own hide.

This scene can either be a flash in the pan, or it can be the beginning of a very grim episode in Omar's life. Possibly the final one.
 
A sort of an epilogue and apology

I'm going to leave this AAR at this stage. Various reasons - in part I can't work out how to resolve the various plot lines (I know how it is meant to end but breaking that down into who does what where is painstakingly slow ... and that is before update writing) and in part this is a very time consuming project and its a wee bit hard to motivate myself with limited feedback and so on. I apologise for this, in that I hate leaving something uncompleted, but ... . I'd like to thank all those who have left comments and anybody who has read it, and especially to Philo32b for the Character Writer of the Week award, as ever such recognition is very appreciated.

Now so as not to leave too many loose ends, below is a very rough sketch of who ends up where.

In game there are 3 main events - the main Seljuk army wins a series of battles in the Caucasus and by late summer besieges Kirkut. A small (2000 or so) rebel army attacks Esfahan and routs a force led by the Sultan (but I have enough money to raise a new mercenary regiment and the army that beat up the rebels in Bukhara is back in N Iran in any case). I use a game event to engineer Ismail's dismissal.

The plot roughly, is that I want Ibrahim to be wounded either protecting Omar from an attack or in the battle with the rebels (he joins the city guard to find a means to stay so as to watch over Omar). Wounded he is hunted and killed by Hassan.

Ismail's dismissal is engineered by Saim and he is replaced by another of Hassan's 'agents'. Ismail retreats to his family estates (its not that safe, they are one of the first provinces the Mongols will take). Unprotected Omar flees (I can't make my mind up if Arzu goes with him or not).

I want Hassan to be badly injured. I can't work out if this is in a fight with Ibrahim or by some other means. One option is he is wounded by Ibrahim, but weakened approaches Omar and Arzu stabs him again. Anyway, he makes it back to Alamut, locks himself in his chamber and dies. New ruler of the Assassins drops the religious overtones and sets out to use the weapon and threat of the Assassins for good old loot, prestige and safety.

The link between Omar and Hassan is that Hassan studied under Omar at an earlier stage. Omar introduced Hassan to Ismail and Hassan married Ismail's daughter by his first wife. So when Ismail ordered the death of Assad, he was (unknowingly) killing his own grandson. Again have been playing with various options such as Hassan being blamed (unfairly) for the death of his wife and having to flee. Hence the convoluted lines between the three main characters.

In game turns my original plan was to tag switch to something like the Orkneys and let the AI run the Empire for 10 years, to reflect the loss of the experienced counsel and advice. That would have formed a natural epilogue with a final endpoint being the Mongol invasions.

So thanks to all who have read/commented. Sorry this is such a short conclusion but as you can probably work out there is a lot of confusion in my own mind as to how to fully develop this to a conclusion.