The Chronicles of Athens

[Kurek]

The Council of the Hellenic League

The Hellenic League was created by the Duke many years before, it was used so that the Duke could exert even more controll, the council was made up of his own trusted advisors, and they offically only met twice a year, although the council was called upon many times if it was in the best intrests of the Duchy, and now was one of those times...

The League was made up of the officials of the cities dotted around Hellas (all selected by the Duke of course), an extra seat was added for the Viceroy of Morea.

The Duke had called this meating in response to the lack of any help or aid or anything from the Kingdom of Tuscany
Yet the Tuscans still demanded money from Athens.

The recent conquest of Morea had shown the world that Athens could stand on its own two feet, she did not need other countrys claiming vassalage on her, she wanted full indpendace.

And so the Duke and the Hellenic League agreed to cancel the Vassalge.

The Empire of Athens was born.

 

[Kurek]

(O.C.C) Okay, maby in the game im still called Duchy of Athens, dammit, I want my Empire! And from now on I wont be using much of the names that apear in the game for Army names, General Names, and Leader names, I'm kinda inventing my own history from now on, and the fact that I dont know much about the history of this area of Europe doesnt help much anyway...

Once again I'd like to thank all you guys for your support, I appreciate it alot, without your support I would of packed this in a while back.

The Quality of the writing in this forum is simply amazing, one day I hope to be able to develope my writting as well as them, looks like a long vacation to the SolAARium methinks...

 

[Syt]

Happy birthday, Empire!

Congratulations for the Weekly Showcase, it's well deserved that this AAR is moved into the spotlight.

 

[Kurek]

A month long celebration was orderd, parades and great parties, and giant street festivals.
Finally the Greeks had there own country, after being ruled by other Imperial powers.

There was also some dissent spread, followers of Georges Nikandros became more vocal, they demanded that the Emperer should stand down, that a Greek should take his place, they wanted an end to the "Mad Duke"

The movement gained more support, and stability around the country suffered, it would take years for the newly founded Empire to recover.

 

[Kurek]

Morea

The lands of Morea consisted mostly of the "evil" Orhtodox Church, the Emperer decided that these "satanic rituals" should be banned.
It was ordered that all citizens convert to the Catholic Church, to baptise their souls and cleanse there soul of Satan.

The Emperer did not have the funds to enforce these new laws, as most of the countrys funds were aimed at regaining stability and ending the Nikandrosian Heresey.

The Orthodox ways were still being practiced in Morea.

 

[Kurek]

The years passed without much excitment in Greece, the dissidents were gradually put down, the country managed to pay off its loan finally and new trade reforms were announced.

Late in the year of 1427 the Emperer's policies towards the Orthodox church took a U turn, he no longer claimed that the Orthodox were in league with Satan, his new target was the Muslims, they were obviuously evil in his eyes, and Turkey had to be erradicated to save Europe, and he also wanted Macedonia for himself.


The Emperer's mental health was slowly disolving, 1428 was the year of madness.
Erly in the year the Hellenic League was dissolved in a fit of rage, the Emperer decided that he could handle full controll of the country, he also suspected his councellers of plotting his downfall.
For 2 months he happily issued edicts and decrees, most of them were ignored, as they made little sense.

The Emperer, even in his madness, saw that he was loosing controll of the country, so he set up a new council to run the country, The Council of Olympa.

The many regions of Greece were ruled by local Barons, there were 40 Barons in Greece at this time and they were called to form a council to advise the Emperer in matters, also the Church had 4 representatives and the Generals of the Army and Navy were present in the council.

This council restored order to the land, repealed many of the emperers more insane laws, by the middle of 1428 it was clear the emperer could not run the country anymore, he sat in his chair babbling to himself, usually in lartin, and rocking back and forth, now and then he would shout something and then return to his previous state.

Many of the central and west European familys that had had high positions in Greece for many years were unsettled by the "Mad Duke" and most departed to there homelands.
The power void of the old Europeans was filled in by predominant Greeks.

The new mostly Greek Council of Olympia decided to run the country themselves, and that the Emperer could retain his title but that was all.
The emperer still carried on issuing orders and laws, these were ignored, he reigned only in his own mind

 

[Storey]

Originally posted by Kurek
the country managed to pay off its loan finally

his new target was the Muslims, they were obviuously evil in his eyes, and Turkey had to be erradicated to save Europe, and he also wanted Macedonia for himself.

Good. I'm glad you got the loan out of the way! Yes the Ottomans are going to have to go but it won't be easy.

Joe

 

[unmerged(11825)]

Originally posted by Kurek
The new mostly Greek Council of Olympia decided to run the country themselves, and that the Emperer could retain his title but that was all.
The emperer still carried on issuing orders and laws, these were ignored, he reigned only in his own mind

This is fantastic. The utilisation of a mad duke give the story some colour. He reminds me vaguely of.. ..well, an insane former black metal icon whose name i can't remember, and it probably wouldn't be kosher to mention him anyway.

 

[Judge]

May your empire live a long happy life

 

[Kurek]

October 28th 1428

Byzantium declares war, again, after the Emperer issued a edict stating that the Eastern Orthodox Church was a puppet of Satan.

The Venetians dishonored the Alliance, we must stand alone.

May God Have Mercy


Alexander Elis

Duke of Sparta

 

[Kurek]

In the months of November a panic spread across the land. The local people feared being ruled by foreigners again, they saw this war as hopeless, taxes were raised and loans were ordered.
More and more troops were conscripted into the Amry, and new Ships were being commisioned, this time the Greeks couldnt rely on the Venetian Navy to help them.

In January a small Byzantine fleet was spotted off the coast of Hellas, the Athenian navy was dispatched.

The ensuring naval skirmish was victoriuos for the Greeks.

That was the only combat for two years now.

The Greek army now stood at 20,000 troops and a small Navy patrolling the coast.

Reports of a 50,000 strong Byzantine army worried the commanders, but for now they had done nothing.

The country had existed for 6 years now, was this going to be the end?

 

[Kurek]

I'm going to have to put this AAR on hold for a while.
My moniter packed up and I'm using a old VGA monitor that only goes up to 640x480, and EU2 only goes down to 800x600.

So until I get a new monitor, I can't play the game.

Any comments, Conscrutive criticism on my AAR is gladly welcomed, as I can't post any new stuff, I might be able to play around with some of the old posts, maybe add more or take away some of the worse stuff.

Kurek

 

[Lofman]

Hope you will get a new monitor as soon as possible, so that you can continue with this very enjoying AAR.

 

[unmerged(14697)]

Athens forever

Very nice report. Have you thought about the possibility of allying with Hungary and /or Genoa instead of the Carnival makers? Maybe if you survive for some years Naples is a good option, because they will finally be swallow up by Aragon and the catalan fleet is not bad at all in the Mediterranean.

 

[unmerged(11825)]

A monitor that prevents the play of EU2 is a sad excuse for a monitor. I hope you have a compatible monitor again soon.. looking forward to the next installment.

 

[Kurek]

Duc de Cardona : I have not considered allying myself with the nations you sugested, my main reason for allying myself with Venice was that the leader of Athens, Antonio, was himself a Venetian(well according to my research) and any allicance now would play against his madness that i have invented for my story but a alliance with hungary would be advantagous...

C444Lockhart : I think I may have found a monitor, then again It might be dead, anyway, I shall try this and hopefully I'll have a new post up by either tommorow night or tuesday, if the monitor I found doesnt work, well, it might be a long wait. Damn I miss EU2


And now a ask for help.
Does anyone know where I can find information on the Duchy of Athens c.1419? All I can find is footnotes and the such, I found info for a century earlier, but it would be nice to find info about the times im writing about.
Thanks

Kurek

 

[Kurek]

Wow I managed to find pieces of the history of the Duchy of Athens, from 1170, to 1365, and small bits bit info about years later, hmmmm, I wonder, I might write a small history of the Duchy, a history book perpsective and then add my own AAR into it... I'm just going mad, I cant play EU2 and I want to carry on this AAR! :'( need to do something.

 

[unmerged(3438)]

Sorry your EUII addiction is giving you so much trouble because of a monitor, hope you'll get thix fixed soon.

On the game front, if you're thinking on tackling the Ottomans you'll certainly need some more allies than the (dis)honorable Venitians. Btw I hope you're aware they probably still have military access through Byzantium if the Emperor is still around, so they don't need a navy to bring reinforcement from Anatolia.

I can't help you much about the history of the Duchy, as far as I know they probably had regular wars with the Byzantines till they got swallowed by the Ottomans. If I remember correctly they were originally formed by sicilians invaders at the same time the Venitians hijacked the umpteenth crusade to take on Constantinople or roughly thereabout, and they managed to survive a few centuries. I don't even know if I'm completely mistaken so if you add true historical facts to your story I will be happy to learn (history is a hobby of mine and probably a great many people on this forum).

 

[Kurek]

Yeah, I'm finding out a load of stuff about the Duchy of Athens now, later on I'll try and piece together some history and in the later years add my story in, in the style of a hostory book, it will keep me ocupied till i get a new moniter hopefully... expect posts soon!

 

[Kurek]

The History of The Empire of Athens

Official History of The Empire of Athens

Witten by Andreas Diodorus, Offical Imperial Chronologist

In the year of our Lord One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty, our glorious Empire celebrated it's 5th anniversary, to Comemorate this the Glorious Emperor Antonio Acciajuoli ordered that a official history of our lands should be created, and I was given this prestigious honor.
I hope to enlighten you on many of our lesser known parts of history, as well as the more well known aspects of our past.

Andreas Diodorus

{O.C.C} Okay, this history book is going to be from a 15th Century perspective and not a 21st. so some "facts" may be false etc...
I dont know whether to include some ancient greek history or just start at the fall of the Byzantine Empire... hmmm, the next post might be up later or tommorow.