When the Night Gets Dark

[HistoryDude]

Because something means that I must have a lot of AARs going on at once.

Anyway, this AAR is set in the same universe as Rise of the Romano-Mongols, and it covers an incident in their history.

As for what the style is, well it's... very poetic, shall we say.

 

[HistoryDude]

And here's the first update!


Sing to me, O Muse, of that emperor
Who slipped into madness
Due to the stress of ruling a nation at war
That brought an empire into a long sadness

Sing of the fall of Rome’s last legacy
Of the destruction of the last Huns
Sing of their foes’s ecstasy
And their last run

There was always a renewal after defeat
But there was not after this
The Romano-Mongols were no longer a state after this defeat
For they were dismissed

The annals of history alone remembered them for eons
But their descendants didn’t forget past glory
As their ancestors, the Achaeans,
they remembered their past but they were wary

For their glory days were not without flaws
Revolts ruled as much as the Romano-Mongols did
Dissent reigned as much as rule of law
And many revolted unbid

Such was the state of the Empire
When Dristar assumed the throne
For the Romano-Mongols still had fire
In their hearts and wouldn’t be overthrown

But that was not their decision to make
For governing a realm wasn’t easy
And ruling could break
A man’s sanity

Sing to me of Dristar’s broken sanity
And of his heir’s desperate stands
For the annals of history
Remember and they preserve in their vast sands

Sing of the ruptured peace
And of the undoing of conquest
For revolts never did cease
Even if world domination was their quest

 

[HistoryDude]

Haixi was the the first nail
But it would be far from the last
The revolts would increase in scale
Until the Romano-Mongols were an empire of the past

Dristar wasn’t a military commander
But he attempted to lead anyway
Unfortunately, his men had no candour
So others had to keep his decisions at bay

The Haixians had revolted during an invasion of China,
The Romano-Mongols’s great enemy
Which would be the final
Invasion of that archenemy

That campaign had begun well
But that glory was short lived
Soon the bells
Would ring as doom arrived

Dristar quickly realized that war wasn’t his specialty
And so he retreated into governing
And gave his men command, especially
Those who were comforting

They whispered honeyed words into his ears
But nothing came out of that
As those who freely volunteered
Advice were also those who were rats

This contributed to the early failures
In that great conflict
Dristar caught on to their behavior
And quickly made his policy on advice more strict

Still, defeat followed defeat
In the Middle Kingdom
The Romano-Mongols were forced to retreat
And Dristar sought out his advisors’s wisdom

His advisors told him to take command directly
Or to at least get in correspondence with his generals
Which was how war was waged correctly
According to the annals

Dristar listened
But his heart knew that this was a bad idea
And the stars glistened
In the moonlight, the Emperor was visited by Sophia

 

[HistoryDude]

She advised him not to lead
For he knew not the ways of war
Instead, he let his duties accede
Onto his heir

Alp was that heir’s name
And he would be the penultimate ruler
His campaigns would receive great acclaim
And his glory was ocular

Still, Alp wasn’t the only military leader
In those glorious days
Before the cross of cedar
Was destroyed in a glorious blaze

His peer was
Not royal
But he isn’t as well known because
He was loyal

Dristar slipped out of sanity
And his reign suffered
Ultimately, the Council in their vanity,
Respite offered

They reigned
Over the great empire
But they had not gained
Anything higher

Alp seized the day
And he made peace
Which kept some rebels at bay
But they didn’t completely cease

War continued
Until the Romano-Mongols could fight no more
Alp issued
His end to war

Unfortunately, that end was destruction
And the realm perished
That was the direction
That had to be taken to gain what was so cherished

END OF BOOK 1

 

[HistoryDude]

Dristar had just ascended
And he dreamed of glory
He dreamed of sitting on that splendid
Throne in Chinese territory

War was thus declared
And a messenger sent to the Ming
Who were caught unprepared
And this was during spring

Dristar rode out toward
Great Beijing
For he hoped to record
Its fall as a king

He stopped
In subjugated China
Which had begun to adopt
The ways of their empire’s messiah

In those twin provinces
He gathered men
Who were given promises
Of their freedom again

A man refused
And Dristar made it clear
That this wasn’t an offer easily excused
He knew of the motivations of fear

Fear is a good motivator
And many agreed and served
As human labor
If only because that was what they deserved

From the lands of the Shun
Dristar moved east
Where he intended to have the war be won
And his prestige be increased

 

[HistoryDude]

Beijing lay undefended
For the Ming ruler
Intended to leave his capital undefended
As bait for the Romano-Mongol Emperor

The Ming Emperor wanted
To go on the offensive
Shun was where he started
His counteroffensive

News of this quickly reached Dristar
But he did nothing
It was too far
To do anything

Or so Dristar thought
But another reason also existed
Dristar enjoyed paths fraught
With peril, so he insisted

Few men deserted
For they feared Dristar’s wrath
But many wanted their attention diverted
From the long path

That path was long
And full of danger
But the Romano-Mongols were a strong
People - they would endure dangers

And so the war became a race
To see who could capture land quicker -
Specifically, the base
Of their enemies’s flickers

Beijing fell first
And Dristar celebrated
But the Ming had a thirst
For blood and they hated

Hate left to fester
Was a terrible thing
And ignoring a messenger
Was a foolish move, even for a king

The Ming took Shun easily
And then they headed toward Beijing
Dristar dismissed this news breezily
After all, what threat could the Ming bring

Dristar thought the Ming broken
And that was his folly
But the Chinese people remained unbroken
And there deaths wouldn’t occur calmly

Dristar faced no resistance
As he had south of the Ming capital
Only a token force was left in Beijing, as Dristar wished for assistance
In his sieges, and the Ming ruler was proving unflappable

The Emperor of the Romano-Mongols thought nothing of
The lack of Ming opposition
He assumed he was being assisted by forces above
And the invasion was keeping to tradition

This was a bad move
For the Ming were really preparing
To remove
His allies through an act of daring

 

[HistoryDude]

Dristar suspected none of that
And he occupied his time sieging
Occasionally, he would have a chat
Or two with his men about their feelings

A few were honest
But most were not
No one was at their calmest
Around the emperor, and truth wasn’t found in that spot

That would prove disastrous
As most of China’s North was subdued
No one had that trust
That often kept emperors out of feuds

Dristar’s paranoia was nonexistent
At the time where it was most needed
It was yet distant
But that was when it should have been seeded

The Ming marched toward their capital
And the Romano-Mongols were busy dealing with their own conquests
Normally, the Ming soldiers were implacable
During the wars aimed at their conquests

Now, however, they fought angrily
For they despised the Mongols
Dristar didn’t understand that satisfactorily
So he went about his war from all the wrong angles

Still, neither side had reached the other
Dristar had no reason to expect defeat
He had no idea that he was to be Marcellus, rather
Than Attila, ruler of an empire complete

Actually, to an extent, he was Attila
He would lose an empire through poor planning
He couldn’t know that he was trapped between Charybdis and Scylla,
Of course, so he spent his time, for his victory, planning

 

[HistoryDude]

But he didn’t look to secure said victory
And that is why he isn’t known
Or remembered by history
His faults were shown

Still, he wasn’t totally incompetent
For he did have messengers
Where the Romano-Mongols were dominant
One came toward him, then, bearing messages

These messages told of an attack on the Chagatai Khanate,
But they were dismissed.
“The Chagatai Khan believes himself Genghis Khan incarnate,”
Dristar said. “They should be able to resist.”

His sieges continued,
And the Romano-Mongols grew complacent
Soon, Dristar didn’t even send out scouting retinues
He believed his victory to be nascent

Luckily, his advisers convinced him this was a bad idea
As the Ming could use it to gain the element of surprise
And that would be a
Huge shame, losing due to the enemy knowing how to surprise

Dristar reluctantly obeyed them
But he made it clear that he was the ruler,
Refusing to let them condemn
His decisions, for his word was law as the Emperor

As such, he got new advisers
After this debacle
These men allowed him to be their supervisor
And to not allow his reign to topple

The Ming didn’t arrive,
And the men began to get restless,
But they wished to remain alive,
And they weren’t headless

Due to that, their complaints were infrequent,
For Dristar’s temper was legendary,
So they allowed the sieges to go on sequent,
As everything was, to their lives, secondary

 

[HistoryDude]

Dristar waited
And, then, he received news of the Chagatai capital under siege
The Chagatai were hated,
But he was still their liege

Dristar disliked it,
But he decided to send token reinforcements
He expected that to be the end of it
But the Ming had informants

They quickly got wind of this new development
And the Ming returned to the vassal Khanate
When the reinforcements arrived, they quickly learned of the envelopment
Of the Chagatai army in their capital city but this they did not hate

No, they wished to bleed the Chagatai dry
For they had been at odds for years
And the Romano-Mongols had no wish to see the Chagatai Khan fly high
Even if it was only in the eyes of his peers

 

[HistoryDude]

The Chagatai sent Dristar a message
A demand for aid
Dristar left them to become a wreckage
They were insolent, and the debt of that had to be paid

Dristar smiled a terrible smile,
Indeed, a cruel smile at that
And his men knew that the war would still last awhile
But orders still emerged from Dristar’s lips were at

And no one was willing to disobey their monarch
Lest their disobedience become a flame
For no one liked Dristar, and any act of disobedience would be a spark
And that act of disobedience would force the man who did it to bear the blame

Dristar knew, however, that he wasn’t loved
So he called one of his generals into his camp to receive orders
Who wasn’t completely unloved
And, for many years, had defended the borders

His name was Olkhunut
And he fought with distinction
Still, trust was something he had, but
The Emperor needed someone who could keep his culture from being forced into extinction

He ordered this general to quell local unrest
For the Empire had to be stable while it was conquering
They’d fought against their subjects and foreigners before, but that was under the Empire’s best
And Dristar couldn’t be offering

Such an ambitious campaign
When his talents were unknown
Ambition was many rulers’s bane
And this campaign couldn’t be blown

 

[HistoryDude]

Therefore, the campaign was entrusted to Olkhunut,
Who Dristar knew he could trust
He was a man who wanted glory but
He believed in the Romano-Mongol state - he wouldn’t fall to power’s lust

Dristar stayed
For Beijing couldn’t be lost
And it wouldn’t be unless Dristar was faced with a blade
For his death would be too high a cost

Beijing was leverage
Leveled right at the Ming Empire’s heart
It was no city that was average
For capitals were cities that were apart

The Ming Emperors lived in Beijing
And the city was a symbol of their rule
To lose it could bring
Their entire regime into war’s whirlpool

Unfortunately, the Forbidden City had yet to fall
But it would eventually - if only it remained under siege
Its fall would call
To the Emperor and battle would be joined between the lieges

Olkhunut, meanwhile, moved north
His path was initially unimpeded
It seemed as if the rebels refused to come forth
Thankfully, a battle wasn’t strictly needed

If the rebels were cowards,
Then they couldn’t take any cities.
Their rebellion’s morale would plunge ever downwards,
And their influence would be reduced to that of mere committees.

It seemed, however, as if the rebels realized this,
For they began to raid Olkhunut’s camps
They stole supplies and generally ended Olkhunut’s bliss.
As a result, Olkhunut’s strategy had revamps.

 

[HistoryDude]

Olkhunut knew that the rebels knew the terrain better than he did
They had the advantage if the war continued as it had
So he decided that he do as he was bid
By raiding their camps - the camps of his former comrades

Truthfully, that was why he refused to engage in open battle
Many of the rebels had been his comrades, and he felt betrayed
But not enough to treat them like chattel -
That which existed only to be butchered on his blade

They could still be useful -
Once defeated, they could be pointed at the Middle Kingdom
They were currently neutral
Although they posed a distraction to the Romano-Mongol dominion

Deep down, Olkhunut knew that was an excuse -
But it was a good excuse that Emperor Dristar would believe
Besides, this way it would be easier to negotiate a truce
If it came about that that was the only way for their goals to be achieved

But Dristar refused to listen
He hated the rebels almost more than the Han
From a letter his refusal glistens
At Olkhunut, who sees a missive added on

This missive orders him to engage the rebels first
Dristar promised to handle the Han in their capital
Olkhunut knew that this was a mistake of the kind worst
But this doesn’t show, for Olkhunut was unflappable

So he marched his men to the North
Hoping to catch the rebels off guard
But he looks back and knows that, thenceforth,
The war would be far harder in his regard

 

[HistoryDude]

Orders were orders, after all, regardless of how much of a mistake
They were known to those who must carry them out
Olkhunut decided to engage at daybreak
Where he hoped to gain clout

Oh, yes, Olkhunut was loyal
But that didn’t preclude him from having ambitions
Even if they weren’t royal
He would like to control his own missions

That could also, mayhaps, prevent bad orders
Which would be the best for the Romano-Mongol Empire
Which also needed to defend its borders
Before it could have ambitions higher

That was what Olkhunut thought, anyway
As he thought Dristar was incompetent -
Someone more suited to a capital buffet
But he didn’t decide the throne’s occupant

Of course he could
But that would probably end with him on the throne
Which he considered was not a role he should
Have - he was something of a Romano-Mongol drone

At least according to the Imperial Court -
Those lazy people who know nothing of the front
Few have ever even lived in the border forts -
Of course, they were also grunts

Only the Imperial Family truly mattered
The Romano-Mongols had an absolute monarchy
Their rulers had to be flattered
By people who wished to advance - even at the expense of honesty

The army might also have been made up of drones
As well - so it might not be possible to overthrow the Imperial Family
Many Romano-Mongols’s loyalty was such that they would let their bones
Run cold if they were never given amnesty

For a crime that they might have committed
This helped ensure that the Empire remained together
And only the army was permitted
To have weapons altogether

Olkhunut frowned when he remembered this
That should make this war easy, right?
This slightly increased his bliss
Easy wars were good, alright?

 

[HistoryDude]

So they marched towards the homeland
The Empire seemed to be collapsing
But the rebels still hadn’t formed an alliance grande
Despite the fact that the conquests were relapsing

The timing could’ve been better
But such was the way of things
Dristar had forbidden peace letters
Of course - no negotiations with rebels - even those that lived like kings

How was that, anyway?
Olkhunut wondered.
There shouldn’t be enough weapons to allay
The rebels - especially not these hundred

Still, they couldn’t be good weapons
And an easy war would allow China to be subjugated
In time - the Romano-Mongols would have the Mandate of Heaven
As Tengri had clearly fated

The capital was in no danger of falling
Which meant that the rebels had no leverage
To enforce their callings
Some of which were by ancient reference

Folly -
Opposing the Romano-Mongols was the height of
Folly
Their technology was above

Almost all others - they reigned for a reason
Empires were hard to undo
Especially for those who weren’t convicted in their treason
The Empire had not yet bit off more than it could chew

When Olkhunut arrived in occupied territory
These initial suspicions were confirmed
He would win some easy glory
But this was just his preconceptions being affirmed

The first battle was not difficult
But a book should never be judged by its cover
Future battles would be different
As the general would soon discover

 

[HistoryDude]

This wasn’t initially obvious
Because the rebels seem to have retreated
Olkhunut, in his cockiness,
Assumed that the rebellion had been treated

The army marched across the far western reaches
Of the Romano-Mongol Empire
Which actually had a few beaches
Although they were emptier

Than one might’ve expected
Empty of resources - and of people
This was likely why the rebels left them unprotected
Although sympathies might’ve remained among the townspeople

Olkhunut could get nothing from the locals
When he interrogated them
Their silence was total
And he was somewhat dumb

As such, he believed that this meant that all of the unrest
In this vast area was gone
Despite the fact that the Turks here were still oppressed
And there wasn’t much subjugation by brawn

Olkhunut’s army was able to get to the Aral Sea
In the far west - lands that were once ruled by Genghis Khan
Dristar and the ruling council agreed
That this land was rightfully territory of his spawn

That is - Dristar himself
A recurring claim of the Romano-Mongols
Who were clearly the rightful heirs of the Mongols expelled
From their lands by foreign mongrels

The locals pretended to agree
To this but their minds were always traitorous
They wished to be free
Which made them very dangerous

But Olkhunut wasn’t one to dwell
On these things
So he noticed none of these mind steles
Especially not those of would be kings

 

[HistoryDude]

That didn’t make them nonexistent
And the rebellion resumed as soon as Olkhunut left
But the rebels were inconsistent
So Olkhunut initially didn’t notice their theft

It was subtle at first
As Olkhunut moved away from the Aral
But the rebels’s blood-thirst
Was unquenched - in that, perhaps there was a moral

Don’t make your move too early
Lest you alert your enemies of your plans
Making their life less than pearly
Rebellion couldn’t be tracked by scans

So alerting enemies of your ideas
Was a terrible move
That could cut a plan to pieces
And throw a rebellion off of its groove

Of course, this rebellion was successful
But, then, they got a million second chances
Olkhunut’s work was very stressful
And that made him less adaptable to circumstances

So Olkhunut marched towards his capital
While his enemies plotted revenge
They were, after all, fallible
Not saints, despite what claims those who wish to avenge

Them say - history is written by the victors
And legend by the storytellers
Painted by men’s mental pictures
That had been what made them sellers

In the capital, riots abounded
For war was unpopular even then
The bloodshed shouldn’t have astounded
As warlike a people as the Romano-Mongols, especially not again

Alas, memories are short
And glory shorter
Rage came upon the court
For their status as war supporters

 

[HistoryDude]

In the beginning, there was no true threat
Capital riots were uncommon, yes, but they weren’t unheard of
The death knell to the Romano-Mongols hadn’t happened yet
This could be solved with the velvet glove

It wasn’t, and that might not have been wise
But it cowed the capital’s people
It brought silence to their cries
But the rebellion was far from a creeple*

Olkhunut thought his work done
And he looked forward to aiding Dristar
To make this war won
He would return to his home as the big star

Yes, his motivation was glory
And he was on the cusp of it
His friends would be congratulatory
And perhaps this would allow him to gain government a bit

These hopes were quickly dashed
As news finally reached him of the actions of his old Western foes
This news made Olkhunut abashed
But he now had to decide whether or not this needed to come to blows

Dristar was still besieging the capital of the Ming
And, therefore, could give no orders except by raven
And the wind would bring
None of those - superior orders wouldn’t be his haven

This left him with a choice - the choice
That may have decided history
Of course, he didn’t then know what power his voice -
Would hold - what great mystery

He would have future generations unravel
He ordered his tired troops to march west
Upon harsh old gravel
And discontent rose among those he addressed

*Author's Note: this is an antique word for cripple. I used it for the rhyme scheme.

 

[HistoryDude]

Still, it was weak discontent
So the march went on without a hitch
The army structure wasn’t even so much as bent
The peace calls were still from a fever pitch

Olkhunut wished to crush his enemies
So he attempted to use trickery
By making rebels suffer harsh penalties
And he would be as uncompromising as Hickory

When they inevitably begged for his mercy
The risks to rebelling must be made to outweigh the risks
Sure, that decision might cause controversy
But it would also eliminate many risks

Besides, the Empire wasn’t answerable to its people’s every whim
He could get away with taking harsh measures
Even if many thought that idea very grim
As it could all too easily kill their pleasures

Apparently, Olkhunut failed to consider that reprisal invites rebellion
And that those who expect no mercy will fight longer and harder
Many expected defiance to be rewarded in heaven
And harsh measures only increased that ardor

He crushed a massed rebel force
On the Aral Sea’s shores
But, contrary to his expectations, this didn’t affect the revolt’s course
The rebels knew better than that - they still had many more corps

An idea cannot be killed
And Olkhunut initially forgot that
Which likely led to the wishes of some rebels being fulfilled
They faded into the countryside, but they were as rats

Easy to kill, impossible to exterminate
But the great general now had other problems
The rebellion would prove its enormous growth rate
Rebellion was quick to blossom

This is, of course, a common issue
Across all multi-ethnic states
Once a collapse had begun, it would always continue
Until it reached its inevitable end dates

 

[HistoryDude]

Whether or not the collapse had begun
Is not to be debated here
What’s done is done
And nobody then was a seer

The rebels now adopted a strategy of guerrilla warfare
Denying everything of value to the imperialists
But Olkhunut was not aware
Of that yet - he believed the rebels mere materialists

If they were defeated and denied their pleasures material
Then they would do anything to get those back
The rebellion would have been trivial
A sign of a crack

But nothing more
But Olkhunut misjudged those he was fighting
They fought for
Many reasons, but the highest of those was freedom - inciting

The meek to higher heights
And cursing the bystanders for doing naught
There were many rights
That through bloodshed could be bought

A novel idea
But one that pervaded the psyche in the West
Interestingly, it spread asea
But it never caught on there - monarchy remained that region’s best

Eventually, the great general realized that his men were starving
And that he could find no food
The disloyal elements might be carving
Up the loyal ones in his army’s brood

Was Dristar’s only reply
To the message Olkhunut sent him requesting aid
The Emperor was no ally
Here - he didn’t wish to live in his general’s shade

This put Olhunut in a pickle
He could let his army starve
Or he could let his army get even more fickle
Which could cause their loyalty to swarve*


*This is another archaic word - it means to swerve.

 

[HistoryDude]

He went with the lesser of two evils -
He risked the locals’s loyalty for his soldiers’
And, though he knew that this would lead to upheavals,
He still felt as if a harsh weight had been lifted off his shoulders

And then his army got ambushed
And he could consider his choices no more
And his army was very bushed -
They had to focus all of their attention on fighting and many swore

Those who let themselves get distracted died immediately
Life was not kind to the weak
Especially those who merely followed obediently
It didn’t matter how much of an obedient streak

A person had - if they so much as blinked,
They died - especially in an ambush
The people who were distinct
Often survived - they had that extra push

Olkhunut slashed at his attackers
And many fell to his harsh blade
But more appeared - if he was freer to think, he would note that they must have had backers
But he was not a man as high and free as the Ace of Spades

Many fought, but some fell into the sea
For they were focused only on the clash of swords
As were those that crashed against the trees
The ambushers seemed to be endless hordes

The clashing lasted long -
Passing noon and going long into the night
Although it was quite unlike a song
Many of the ambushed went on a great flight

They would rarely be heard from again -
And, when they were, it was rarely due to their loyalty
Blood sprayed like rain

The ambush was mostly dealt with by dusk
But the battle was far from over
And many soldiers from then were already lifeless husks
But that wasn’t new - the military was a profession with a high turnover