In the Shadow of Certain, Painful Doom: Abyssinia

[Kaiser Ludwig]

Erm, just noticed that Basilissa Eudokia declared Holy War for Galilee. Was it conquered while you were gathering plotters to kill its duke, or is Ioannes duke of Galilee just in name without having actual control over that dukedom / its namesake county?

There's probably a county currently in the hands of a rebelling sheikh which belongs to the De Jure Duchy; holy wars can be called even for a single county, though their scope is the duchy itself.

 

[Philo32b]

What's Princess Gyla up to I wonder... and what was Eugenia up to? And where are the Goatherders? Have they forsaken Dionysia in favour of another? The mystery thickens... Excellent update anyhow.

Thanks! The mystery will get thicker before getting clearer, I'm afraid.

Hooray for drugging your employer on your death bed!

LOL

Huzzah! The Zagwe's return! :laugh:

I (almost) hate to say it, but I am wondering if the time is coming when it would be more useful for Dionysia to pop clogs before (the Zagwes being the Zagwes) something catastrophic happens and this multiple duchy inheritance scheme blows up in her face.

Yes, that's exactly what happened with her father. It was fortunate for the dynasty that he died when he did. I'm not sure that that point has been reached with Dionysia, because her sister-in-law duchess is still alive.

Well... it is all starting to make sense. The Drunkard outdid himself it seems. The reason Byzantium is seeing endless civil war is because he or his successor must have decided seniority (or open elective) was a kick-ass form of succession. That or I missed a civil war somewhere that enforced that brainless law. I fear that the Zagwe clan is due another million civil wars, assassinations of leaders, and other strife for as long as the succession law is not closed elective or primogeniture. She'd be best to hitch her horse to a strong primo faction to try to force your old biddy. childless, mostly mad Basilisa to change her succession laws. She will not attempt to change it herself as her whole line is about extinct and childless and thus everyone's successor is without a close heir. I expect the Zagwe family is about to see a flair-up from a minor branch of the Doukas family as soon as the current generation dies off. Cue Syrian Independence League. Dionysa'd be smart to see about establishing a kingdom title 'for she keels over and the Empire comes off ol' biddy life support. Either that or plot to put your dynasty on the throne. That'd be a treat.
For some reason, Byzantium tends towards craziness within the first two hundred years of the game as if they want to make themselves as open to sacking by the Ilkhanate as possible. Can't wait to see what sort of byzantine (small b) machinations are in-store to deny the Zagwe's yet another claim to glory.

Interesting points. The Doukas do seem to have a lot of childless people lined up for the throne. And the Despot of Syria is keen on breaking free (or at least causing as much discord as he can, regardless of the consequences).

Cool, the Zagwe's dynasty tree! Thanks for posting it Philo32b, everything is much clearer now.

Thanks, I'm glad it helped.

The marshals are playing a swapping game! The next one will be called Van, believe my words .

I've finally caught up! It's been an excellent read.

And it makes me a little ashamed of giving up so easily on my first AAR.

Thank you! I'm glad you like it.

Gyla possibly poisoning Eugenia?

Euphemios is around?

Purple smoke and odd incense?

...just what the hell is going on? Is this like some nightmare realm?

Yes, some strange stuff is certainly going down.

Such suspense!

Also nice to get an overview of your dynasty. How would you deem your heir's chances to actually inherit the lands in Cyprus as well? Eugenia's hold of Cyprus seems a bit shaky...

Yes, it seems very shaky. IIRC this is the second time Dionysia has had to intervene in order to keep the status quo from changing. At least if the Zagwes get one of the two duchies from Duchess Eugenia, that would be progress.

Just finished this; and it's marvelous. I kinda miss Sennar though. If these civil wars eventually stop flowing, get to liberating!

Thanks! Yes, I miss Sennar too. It had a lot of character.

Nice dynasty catch up, it's a bit easier to see a way to glory for you. Still gonna be bloody difficult for you. Zagwe's as emperors would be just reward for sticking with it this far.

Also what's all that purple smoke about, I am intrigued

It does seem as though for every opportunity there is a chance to slid backwards as well. The low Crown Authority especially has shaken things up, for good or ill.

Yeah, good old vanilla and her low penalties from bad traits

Two things you might want to edit in your last post:
- the correct term is matrilineal marriage, not matrimonial (which is the act or state of being married) marriage ;
- the name of the duke of Galilee as shown in your screenshots appears to be Ioannes, not Ioanna (unless "he" is a woman impersonating a man ).

Apart from this, great story as usual, looking forward to the next entry in the Zagwe saga!

Thank you, Koson. I very much appreciate your catching those errors so I could correct them across the post. "Matrimonial marriage" was particularly embarrassing!

Surely another Doux within the Empire would like to see Ioannes dead enough to join your plot.

You would certainly think so. This is Byzantium, after all.

Nothing like a good holy war to make things right in the empire again!

(and do some backwork assasination while at it...)

Absolutely!

Erm, just noticed that Basilissa Eudokia declared Holy War for Galilee. Was it conquered while you were gathering plotters to kill its duke, or is Ioannes duke of Galilee just in name without having actual control over that dukedom / its namesake county?

Yes, I didn't even notice that. Thanks for pointing it out. Kaiser Ludwig, below, is onto the answer.

The plot thickens... in more ways than one. I love this AAR—keep up the beyond awesome work!

Thank you! I appreciate your feedback!

There's probably a county currently in the hands of a rebelling sheikh which belongs to the De Jure Duchy; holy wars can be called even for a single county, though their scope is the duchy itself.

Yes, as I mention in today's post, a sheikh does hold the last non-Byzantine county of Galilee Duchy, so the Holy War is to get that one county for Byzantium.

 

[Philo32b]

Something Miraculous Happens​

Chapter 93


Characters

Spoiler

• Alexandra of Singidounon, Countess – Full-blooded sister of Duchess Dionysia. Alexandra is married matrimonially to Count Georgios Doukas, who had been Doux of Galilee before his vassal rebelled to put one of Georgios’ landless brothers into the ducal title.
• Apollonios of Saint Symeon – The now dead last of the conspirators that successfully plotted to murder Duchess Dionysia’s beloved father. Apollonios fled Dionysia's court to save his life, and his career subsequently took off until his humiliation at the hands of Princess Gyla. He died of grief.
• Arsenios Komnenos – Son of Duchess Dionysia Zagwe. He would have inherited her duchy on her death but for her changing of succession laws. He seems remarkably at peace with the change, however, and is his mother’s spymaster. He is betrothed to matrimonially marry the 10-year-old niece of Duchess Dionysia, Antipatra Zagwe, which would funnel his father’s duchy eventually to the Zagwe dynasty.
• Bartholomaios of Suenik, Count – Duchess Dionysia’s only count vassal. He has always been smitten by his liege. A second-rate steward, he is kept on the job to keep him happy, the only one of her subjects who could in all reality rebel.
• Basileios Komnenos, Doux – Shy husband of Duchess Dionysia. His sad attempts to learn to duel put his own life and anyone nearby in peril. Inheriting his own duchy, he no longer needed to spend his nights in Duchess Dionysia’s spare library. He hates his wife for her twisting succession law of Armenia and moving the inheritance of the Duchy of Armenia from their children—not of the Zagwe line—to that of Dionysia’s half-brother Neophytos, a Zagwe.
• Dionysia Zagwe, Duchess – Daughter of the last Count Tesfaye (who was assassinated in his carriage in a plot that was started by his wife). Our current main character.
• Eudokia, Basilissa – Inherited the Byzantine throne after the death of Empress Maria Doukas by natural causes. Eudokia then allowed Duchess Ioanna “the Great” Doukas to die of starvation in prison to put an end to the raging civil war.
• Eugenia of Cyprus, Duchess – Wife by regular marriage of Duchess Dionysia’s half-brother Neophytos Zagwe. On her death Duchess Dionysia’s two duchies will pass to her children, heirs in the Zagwe line.
• Eugenia Spartanos – Duchess Dionysia’s half-sister from Count Tesfaye’s adultery. She died of pneumonia after some strange dying rites. She was obsessed with tales of Africa. She disappeared from Duchess Dionysia’s castle when it was under siege by rebels against Basilissa Ioanna. When she returned she was very mysterious and condescending. She claimed she had special powers revealed by a Secret Coptic Order in Sennar, but apparently they were not strong enough to not die from illness.
• Euphemios, Mayor – Mild-mannered city administrator during peace, but during war against the infidels he was transformed into a bloodthirsty general who did not hesitate to push his men into slaughter if it would result in a greater loss for the infidels. He died of natural causes, but then was apparently seen by Duchess Dionysia in Princess Gyla’s quarters, which must have been a mistake because that is absurd.
• Ganet Zagwe, “Aunt” – Strange woman who was responsible for several deaths before purportedly dying in an explosion in her quarters. (The body found in her quarters was burned beyond recognition, but of her general height and body type. Anyway, Ganet was never seen again, so it was probably her.)
• Gyla, Princess – Swedish widow of Spymaster Innokentios, she had been the unofficial marshal of Armenia and the official badass before becoming very reclusive to her quarters. Perhaps she is mourning the death-by-explosive-flames of her husband.
• Ioanna “the Great”, Duchess – Daughter of The Impaler, granddaughter of The Drunkard, and great-granddaughter of The Lame—truly a line of great nobility. Reduced from Basilissa to Duchess at the conclusion of civil war. Died of starvation in a subsequent civil war when Basilissa Eudokia boarded up the prison tower.
• Innokentios Branas – Former spymaster for Duchess Dionysia, he was never really very good at his job, but survived in that role for some time by virtue of his not being on Dionysia's death list of revenge targets for her father’s murder. Married to the Swedish princess, Gyla. Died in some kind of flames or explosion in his and Princess Gyla’s quarters.
• Maria Doukas, Empress – Aunt of Basilissa Ioanna, her father died when she was very young while he enjoyed the hospitality of Basilissa Ioanna's grandfather in his prison. This did not endear the family relations with each other very well ever since. She reined as Basilissa for a short time, her rule marked by civil war and aggressive factions against her.
• Neophytos Zagwe, Duke – Half-brother to Duchess Dionysia Zagwe and heir (by elective succession law) to the Duchy of Armenia upon Dionysia’s death.

​

Last chapter: “The Last Moral Spymaster in Byzantium”​

The Byzantine Empire’s holy war is against the Yousifid Emirate, or Emirate of Damascus. They are fairly small and no match for the might of the Byzantine Empire. They are holding the only non-Byzantine county in the Galilee Duchy.





The Emirate has 5% of the soldiers the Byzantine Empire does. Of course, if large Muslim kingdoms intervene, that could make it a much fairer fight very quickly.





Mayor Chrysogonos of Tercan requests an audience. Normally I don’t drop everything to hold audiences with lowborn mayors who usually only want to whine about the taxes they pay. This whining is doubly annoying because sometimes these mayors have more wealth than I do. So I was reluctant at first to have the man admitted. But then I recalled that I had just read a text on the proper construction and maintenance of city sewer systems, and it occurred to me that I could speak with the mayor and give him instructions on how to do his job better. For example, this author makes the argument that if everyone on the east side of the city used the water and plumbing on even days of the month, and the west side on odd days, a city could remove the need to enlarge the public sewer system for years even if the city is growing. Granted, this author had subsequently gone insane after writing the book—he seems to have thought he was a chicken—but logic demands that we ignore the author of an argument and attend to reasoning solely on its own merits.

When we meet, the mayor and his scribe nod much and say my advice sounds brilliant. I notice though that the scribe was not taking down my instructions on their sewer system. And Chrysogonos did not tell the scribe to write these things down, even when he pointedly looked to see if the scribe was recording my words or not. I suppose he expects to easily remember such revolutionary ideas without the need for a mental crutch.





After I finish edifying my audience, Mayor Chrysogonos brings up his subject of interest: he wants to be marshal. His martial abilities are not the lowest in my duchy by far, but he would certainly be a step down from my current marshal. He asks me to hear him out.

Chrysogonos spreads out the map of the de jure duchy of Mesopotamia. The title for this duchy is currently not held by anyone. He reminds me that I would need three of the five counties in order to be able to create the title myself. I do already have Karin, one of the counties, and I also have a strong claim on the county of Mesopotamia. “Ah yes,” I interrupt. “I can certainly appreciate your desire to expand my holdings. But due to Byzantine conventions on such things, I can only declare war on someone who shares the same liege as myself. And the Count of Mesopotamia is himself a vassal to another doux while I am a vassal to the Basilissa herself.”

“Yes, my liege. But that is where things have gotten very interesting of late.”





Formerly Count Innokentios of Taron, who holds Mesopotamia County, was himself a vassal of Duchess Eugenia of Thrace, which shielded him from my attack. But Mayor Chrysogonos informs me that he has heard through some merchants travelling through his city that recently Count Innokentios has rebeled against his own liege. While he is at war with her, his new liege is Basilissa Eudokia the Just… who is also my liege. I can now declare war on him for Mesopotamia County.

Chrysogonos admits that all my expense and efforts could be in vain if Count Innokentios agrees to a peace with his former liege and reassumes his role as a vassal to Duchess Eugenia before he can be goaded to surrendering Mesopotamia County to me. But if I am quick I might just be able to snatch it away from him. This does sound intriguing. I tell him that I will indeed invade. To reward his bringing this to my attention I will award him the position of general in the army that will wrest the county from our rival. Chrysogonos looks slightly underwhelmed at this appointment. Perhaps he was thinking I would make him marshal after all? Silly mayor. I am not the overly-kind person I once was.





I send a message to my husband, calling him to arms to support my campaign. Poor man. No matter how much he dislikes me, it would be a grave dishonor to refuse to honor a call to arms from a spouse. He accepts.





Count Innokentios manages to scrap up 1,700 men to defend against me, versus my 2,100 and my husband’s 2,400 men. Despite our numerical advantage, I worry though about Innokentios making peace quickly with Duchess Eugenia, so I hire some mercenaries.





I hire the cheap Bulgarian Company, lead by Vojnomir. The mercenaries are composed of 4,770 infantry, archers, and light cavalry, which will nicely round out my own forces. For 150 gold up front and 16.69 per month maintenance, I will be able to hold them for some time before getting into financial trouble.

The 53-year-old leader of the mercenaries, Captain Vojnomir, is an interesting character: trusting yet cruel, proud, envious, diligent, and finally craven. He has only 9 gold to his name. He is also stressed. I guess you get what you pay for.





As promised, I assign Mayor Chrysogonos to command one of the main army flanks. The County of Mesopotamia is unguarded at the moment.





With much more than 10 times the defenders’ forces, we assault their castle, quickly overrunning the enemy troops. On the morning of battle Mayor Chrysogonos distinguishes himself. Not in battle, though. The craven Captain of the Bulgarian Company mercenaries was refusing to leave his tent on the grounds that he was too ill to move. This caused some anxiety about the mercenaries participating in the day's battle. But the ambitious Mayor Chrysogonos did not want to leave anything to chance: He lit the captain's tent on fire. When the captain ran screaming from the tent--apparently quite physically capable after all--he was forced to participate in the battle. After taking the county's castle, the army went on to siege the large city and then assault the remaining two church holdings, taking the entire Mesopotamia County.





My army then advances on the County of Taron, where the Count’s forces have stood completely frozen throughout in apparent shock and confusion.





The ambitious Mayor Chrysogonos sends me a letter. He is shocked that I have a heretic on my council. His righteous indignation is a bit self-serving, however, as the heretic is holding the council position that the mayor himself aspires to.





We go on to conquer all of Doux Innokentios’ holdings in Taron.





To my surprise, I learn just after my army has conquered the last holding in Taron County that Basilissa Eudokia has created the title of Doux of Mesopotamia herself and bestowed it on Count Innokentios. I am now at war with Doux Innokentios. It appears that she has also given him as a vassal the Count of Amida. I am delighted to learn all of this. As a doux, unless I am mistaken, Innokentios will now of necessity stay a vassal of the Basilissa herself. He cannot now revert back to being a vassal of Duchess Eugenia. So this removes my one great concern—that they would accept peace between them, which would invalidate my war against him.





My forces go on to conquer all the holdings of Innokentios’ vassal, the Count of Amida. Stubbornly refusing to yield until my army has vanquished everything, finally Innokentios does sue for peace. I have completely conquered him. We are victorious. I can scarcely believe it—the first acquisition of land through force of arms in my dynastic line back to King Yemrehana Krestos the Old, ruler over Abyssinia! This is nothing short of miraculous.





My new demesne. With 19 holdings I am now tied for the third largest collection of holdings amongst the 29 doux (including the Despot of Syria as a doux). Before I was spread a bit too thin to administer all the counties in my realm, but now I certainly have too many counties under my direct rule. I will have to assign a county to a subject as a vassal. But of course problems associated with growing your land are good problems to have.

 

[Remitonov]

My god, what heresy is this!? You actually WON!? :< (Good work, by the way)

 

[Kaiser Ludwig]

Nice!!! It truly is a momentous occasion. This might be a proof that the Zagwe curse is only passed on to males.

Also, doesn't this mean that your claim to the Duchy of Mesopotamia is valid once again? The war ended inconclusive once before when the duchy was destroyed, but that doesn't affect your claim... so... if you don't fight for it as the claim itself has been fought for it should be inheritable so even if the Doux of Mesopotamia doesn't die first and allow you to claim the duchy for Dionisya, your heir should be able to get it.

Nice!

 

[grumphie]

BLASPHEMY! zage's CANT win wars. these screenshots MUST be photoshopped.

the curse of sennar prevents everyone from conquering lands. everyone who ever owned it, shall be struck down by doom. now the coptic goat herders are forced to bring you down.

 

[SirkTheMonkey]

This is not right. This is just not right. Clearly some sort of fault happened on your hard drive and your copy of Crusader Kings 2 was swapped with that of nega-Philo32b and now everything is playing wrong. What next? The Jimena dynasty getting along and keeping their kingdoms separate? The Holy Roman Emperor taking tea with the Pope and agreeing on everything?
False hysteria aside, that was a good victory. I hope the situation remains stable enough for you to consolidate. How far away would a possible Kingdom title be?

 

[Aardvark Bellay]

Now if only he inheritances will work out, there'snothing to stop you now..........besides the Order of the Goatherders or whatever their name was.
Thanks for the update. What patch version are you playing on currently ?

 

[Koson]

And the matrimonial marriage strikes again!
Check out your auto-correct settings (and add matrilineal / matrilineally to the dictionary), most likely it is what's causing this recurring issue.

 

[CzokletMuss]

Come on guys, we all know what's going to happen sooner or later.
Or if you do not know - the Mongols are coming. So I will say that new lands in Mesopothamia won't really help in the long term.
The Zagwe's curse is still kicking I'm afraid - but nevertheless, good job. Victory in a war, hard to believe it...

 

[Crushric]

*Slow Clap*

 

[DC123456789]

Well, if you do get Cyprus you should be relatively safe from the Mongols (in terms of surviving, anyway)... right?

 

[LordSeti]

Mark my words, this victory will be the beginning of the end of the Zagwes.

 

[Kaiser Ludwig]

Or if you do not know - the Mongols are coming. So I will say that new lands in Mesopothamia won't really help in the long term.

If Byzantium doesn't degenerate and splinter, it should be strong enough to halt the Mongols after they've been blooded by the Seljuks, so while Independence would be inadvisable, a vassal of Byzantium isn't in such a bad spot.

 

[Surt]

Its the heretics fault that you won! you must burn him on the stake immediately as we can't have winnings though anything but backstabbing

 

[Finganforn]

Thanks for this AAR. I read something like 30+ pages in one run the first time I discovered it, the horrible story of the Zagwes was fascinating, I especially liked the first Tesfaye. I even re-read the whole thread a few weeks ago.
Dionysia has been a little bit too sucessful for my taste, but then again, if she kept up the Zagwe way, the AAR would have been over long ago! I'd rather have a relatively successful Zagwe than see the story end.
Don't worry about schedule, post updates when you have an update you are proud of, whether it takes 3 days or 3 months.

 

[BogMod]

This good luck seems...suspicious. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 

[Athalcor]

This is blasphemy! What will you do next? Conquer Ethiopia? Pff.

 

[richvh]

What will we do tonight this generation, Brain young Zagwe?

The same thing we do every night generation, Pinky goatherd. Try to conquer reconquer the world Abyssinia!

 

[Gabriele Riva]

What will we do tonight this generation, Brain young Zagwe?

The same thing we do every night generation, Pinky goatherd. Try to conquer reconquer the world Abyssinia!

Ahahahah!!

Just asking, but the very-long-term goal of reconquering Abyssinia is still in the big plan, right?

As for the game world, how are the Bagration in Georgia? They can be good allies (great fortifications in the mountain, if Kingdom of Georgia has at least 5 or 6 provinces, can hold to the Mongols)