As I said, this will be a prelude to the new mod by myself, yourwostnightmare and Miikhali- the Anatolian Wars Mod, which is very near completion.
I know most other Mods haven't actually done this before, but I thought it would be quite fun and would make an interesting addition to what will become a great mod, I hope
Anyway, this is just going to be a load of small stories, rather like AARs, but introducing the leaders of the nations involved in the Anatolian Wars and a small story about what they think might happen and suchlike. So I suppose it's a BAR (Before Action Ramble) really.
I know someone should say that this should be in the AAR section, but the point is that it isn't an AAR- mainly because the mod hasn't been played yet- and is also directly linked to promotion of the Anatolian Wars Mod, so perhaps this is the best place to put it.
This is really for myself, Miikhali and Yourworstnightmare to do, but if anyone would like to do some themselves if they've been watching the development of our mod, then feel free to do so by all means. Or just have a read or give some comments.
Just one thing: please no stuff about the Armenian Genocide, Safyo (Assyrian Genocide) or Pontine/Hellenic Genocide. The Holocaust probably isn't allowed to be officially talked about in a mod, and neither should these.
Mainly because there still is a lot of tension about these events and I really don't want a Greek/Armenian/Assyrian thread attacking Turkey or vice versa.
That said, I'd like to begin my chapter of this:
Chapter I: Pontus
HRH Prince Eugen II Comemnus
His Royal Highness Prince Eugen II surveyed the historic city of Trebizond from the windows of his stately residence on the hills above. Smiling to himself as he saw the Pontine flag fluttering in the wind outside, he recalled how long it had taken to secure his leadership of this troubled nation.
How long had it been since the Comemnus family had ever ruled the shores of Asia Minor? That fateful day in 1461, the Empire of Trebizond had fallen right here, beneath his very feet, to Ottoman Forces and with one fell swoop, the 'Last Greek Empire', as it had become to be known, had collapsed.
Now he, Eugen II of the House of Comemnos, would not allow this to happen again. Never, the prince had pledged to the people of Pontus, would Trabzon fall into Turkish hands. Be they Ottoman or Kemalist.
Eugen knew how precarious his situation was. The Soviets could well have made Pontus their puppet state. Why that madman Stalin had not, nobody could tell. Perhaps he was biding his time?
The hammer and sickle flying over the towers of Trebizond? He shuddered at the thought. The Armenians could very well have had the city as well, had the American, Wilson, had his way with their borders.
The corner of His Highness's room flickered in the candlelight, illuminating the splendid icon of St Eugenius of Trebizond given to him by the Metripolitan of the city not a few months before. Surely Haghios Eugenios could protect the city from the Turks, Soviets, or Armenians?
Pontus needed all the help it could get. For years, the rebels in the mountains to the South had held out in their strongholds against the Ottomans. The Pontines barely even had a modernised army. A few AA guns around Trebizond and some gunboats brought off the Greeks or seized from the Turks were all their navy consisted of.
The prince remembered his first encounter with Vagellis Ioannides, one of the rebels. An uneducated man, yet strong willed and charismatic. Most other monarchs would have called him a thug, but Eugen was wiser. Such people were useful- Ioannides was one of the few competent commanders, needed sorely by the Pontines. As Venizelos had pointed out to him and his court during a state visit, the Pontines had the mountains, whilst the Greek front line was in the flat plains of Western Anatolia.
Eugen recalled a joke about Stalin he'd heard one of his staff telling after a briefing- 'How do you tell when Stalin lies? His lips are moving'. One of the other attendants to the briefing had pointed out that Stalin had a moustache, but he was promptly told to shut up.
Humour aside, could the same thing apply to Venizelos? If he had really cared about Pontus, he would have tried more than a half-hearted excuse about Pontus's mountainous terrain. Mountains don't do much good when the navy can shell you from the sea and the airforce can bomb from the skies.
What if all Venizelos's talk of Pan-Hellenism and the 'Megali Idea' was to prove utterly false? After all, Pontus had become independent mainly thanks to the Turks being occupied with attempting to quell the Armenians and Assyrians. Could the Greeks resent that?
Casting his mind back to their meeting after the Battle at Polatli had been won in 1923, the Prince remembered their difficulty in communication with the Hellenic Greeks. They practically didn't speak the same language!
The harsher tones of Hellenic Greek seemed strange to the Pontines, who sometimes needed to use a French or Turkish word to convey what they meant if the two sides could not understand one another.
Then again, there was their symbolic act of prayer at the Sumela Monastery, high up in the mountains near Trebizond. The ritual did show that, despite certain cultural differences, they were both Hellenic peoples and nothing could change that. Greek Orthodoxy was a large bond between them.
Even now, Pontus's Head of Government and Foreign Minister were both in the clergy. Tactful though they were- HH Bishop Chrysanthos had played off the Russians very deftly during their occupation here in the First World War- Greek Orthodox clergy as government ministers maybe did not send off the right message to the minorities in Pontus.
One only had to visit the mountain valleys to the East and there were Hemshins, Lazuri, Georgians, and Armenians. The Armenian Nation would use any excuse to win over some land from Pontus using that as an excuse- and they would claim that Woodrow Wilson had given them the right back in 1919. As for the Laz... the Turkish saying 'The Laz talks through the barrel of a pistol' would be enough. Perhaps he should visit the valleys some day?
Some day. In these troubled times, there was little time for anything else but work, work, and work. Eugen had a job to do- to build Pontus up again from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
This was 1936- and it wouldn't be a repeat of 1461 all over again. This time, there'd be a lot more than rusty cannons and weak mercenaries to meet the Turks at the gates of Trebizond.
I know most other Mods haven't actually done this before, but I thought it would be quite fun and would make an interesting addition to what will become a great mod, I hope
Anyway, this is just going to be a load of small stories, rather like AARs, but introducing the leaders of the nations involved in the Anatolian Wars and a small story about what they think might happen and suchlike. So I suppose it's a BAR (Before Action Ramble) really
.I know someone should say that this should be in the AAR section, but the point is that it isn't an AAR- mainly because the mod hasn't been played yet- and is also directly linked to promotion of the Anatolian Wars Mod, so perhaps this is the best place to put it.
This is really for myself, Miikhali and Yourworstnightmare to do, but if anyone would like to do some themselves if they've been watching the development of our mod, then feel free to do so by all means. Or just have a read or give some comments
.Just one thing: please no stuff about the Armenian Genocide, Safyo (Assyrian Genocide) or Pontine/Hellenic Genocide. The Holocaust probably isn't allowed to be officially talked about in a mod, and neither should these.
Mainly because there still is a lot of tension about these events and I really don't want a Greek/Armenian/Assyrian thread attacking Turkey or vice versa.
That said, I'd like to begin my chapter of this:
Chapter I: Pontus
HRH Prince Eugen II Comemnus
His Royal Highness Prince Eugen II surveyed the historic city of Trebizond from the windows of his stately residence on the hills above. Smiling to himself as he saw the Pontine flag fluttering in the wind outside, he recalled how long it had taken to secure his leadership of this troubled nation.
How long had it been since the Comemnus family had ever ruled the shores of Asia Minor? That fateful day in 1461, the Empire of Trebizond had fallen right here, beneath his very feet, to Ottoman Forces and with one fell swoop, the 'Last Greek Empire', as it had become to be known, had collapsed.
Now he, Eugen II of the House of Comemnos, would not allow this to happen again. Never, the prince had pledged to the people of Pontus, would Trabzon fall into Turkish hands. Be they Ottoman or Kemalist.
Eugen knew how precarious his situation was. The Soviets could well have made Pontus their puppet state. Why that madman Stalin had not, nobody could tell. Perhaps he was biding his time?
The hammer and sickle flying over the towers of Trebizond? He shuddered at the thought. The Armenians could very well have had the city as well, had the American, Wilson, had his way with their borders.
The corner of His Highness's room flickered in the candlelight, illuminating the splendid icon of St Eugenius of Trebizond given to him by the Metripolitan of the city not a few months before. Surely Haghios Eugenios could protect the city from the Turks, Soviets, or Armenians?
Pontus needed all the help it could get. For years, the rebels in the mountains to the South had held out in their strongholds against the Ottomans. The Pontines barely even had a modernised army. A few AA guns around Trebizond and some gunboats brought off the Greeks or seized from the Turks were all their navy consisted of.
The prince remembered his first encounter with Vagellis Ioannides, one of the rebels. An uneducated man, yet strong willed and charismatic. Most other monarchs would have called him a thug, but Eugen was wiser. Such people were useful- Ioannides was one of the few competent commanders, needed sorely by the Pontines. As Venizelos had pointed out to him and his court during a state visit, the Pontines had the mountains, whilst the Greek front line was in the flat plains of Western Anatolia.
Eugen recalled a joke about Stalin he'd heard one of his staff telling after a briefing- 'How do you tell when Stalin lies? His lips are moving'. One of the other attendants to the briefing had pointed out that Stalin had a moustache, but he was promptly told to shut up.
Humour aside, could the same thing apply to Venizelos? If he had really cared about Pontus, he would have tried more than a half-hearted excuse about Pontus's mountainous terrain. Mountains don't do much good when the navy can shell you from the sea and the airforce can bomb from the skies.
What if all Venizelos's talk of Pan-Hellenism and the 'Megali Idea' was to prove utterly false? After all, Pontus had become independent mainly thanks to the Turks being occupied with attempting to quell the Armenians and Assyrians. Could the Greeks resent that?
Casting his mind back to their meeting after the Battle at Polatli had been won in 1923, the Prince remembered their difficulty in communication with the Hellenic Greeks. They practically didn't speak the same language!
The harsher tones of Hellenic Greek seemed strange to the Pontines, who sometimes needed to use a French or Turkish word to convey what they meant if the two sides could not understand one another.
Then again, there was their symbolic act of prayer at the Sumela Monastery, high up in the mountains near Trebizond. The ritual did show that, despite certain cultural differences, they were both Hellenic peoples and nothing could change that. Greek Orthodoxy was a large bond between them.
Even now, Pontus's Head of Government and Foreign Minister were both in the clergy. Tactful though they were- HH Bishop Chrysanthos had played off the Russians very deftly during their occupation here in the First World War- Greek Orthodox clergy as government ministers maybe did not send off the right message to the minorities in Pontus.
One only had to visit the mountain valleys to the East and there were Hemshins, Lazuri, Georgians, and Armenians. The Armenian Nation would use any excuse to win over some land from Pontus using that as an excuse- and they would claim that Woodrow Wilson had given them the right back in 1919. As for the Laz... the Turkish saying 'The Laz talks through the barrel of a pistol' would be enough. Perhaps he should visit the valleys some day?
Some day. In these troubled times, there was little time for anything else but work, work, and work. Eugen had a job to do- to build Pontus up again from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
This was 1936- and it wouldn't be a repeat of 1461 all over again. This time, there'd be a lot more than rusty cannons and weak mercenaries to meet the Turks at the gates of Trebizond.
