Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XXXX)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alwyn
Congratulations on over 10,000 views! I agree, your screenshots in "Like Jericho's Walls' are stunning. Are you going to enter one of these in the Picture of the Week (POTW) competition, if you haven't already done so? I imagine that you might feel torn between entering the MAARC and the POTW.
Well, I actually thought to join both, just I don't have much time to look into rules etc to make clear if it's doable. Anyway, yeah, I was considering submitting the one outside the city walls, it's my favourite, but around there there's quite a lot of edited screenies which would just shadow mine. Is there a competition for "unedited" only?
Anyway, thank you really much for the appreciation - this refers to quite anybody who read this - I'm actually wondering how to continue with it, if it is feasible. Perhaps we could go on...I've got another chapter more or less ready. Don't know yet when I'll find time to post it though :/
June 08, 2015, 02:43 PM
waveman
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XXXX)
Don't leave us in the dark! And I could be wrong but I think there is an unedited picture competition
June 12, 2015, 12:28 AM
Ser Gareth
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XXXX)
I just found this and spent the last 8 hours reading it all. It's incredible man, that's all I can say cause it just makes me wanna play another byzantine campaign myself.
June 12, 2015, 03:27 PM
Roman Heritage
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XL)
Thank you all guys for your nice responses, and attachment to the AAR! As always, it's amazing to see people returning to Medieval II or a particular campaign after reading this - is truly is amazing to me, a real achievement I'd say - or just asking me to go on. Unfortunately maturity exams are taking their tolls over my freetime, yet I think I might be able to update tomorrow, if everything goes as planned - stay tuned, this one will be about the aftermath something I bet all of you are curious to know about!
June 13, 2015, 09:44 PM
waveman
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XL)
Just wondering, but how long do your exams last? Mine were rather hellish but only lasted for a week
June 15, 2015, 09:12 AM
Caillagh de Bodemloze
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XL)
I haven't had much chance to read AARs for a while, but at last I'm starting to catch up. I'm relieved to see you're still going strong, Roman Heritage. :) I enjoyed those last few chapters. I particularly liked your handy historical summary in the most recent chapter - it's interesting to look back and see how much has happened! I hope the end of the Komnenian Era won't be too big a disaster for Byzantium.
June 16, 2015, 07:01 AM
Roman Heritage
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XL)
Hello all guys, thank you for your kind responses! Always nice to see people still follow this AAR :whistling
Quote:
Originally Posted by waveman
Just wondering, but how long do your exams last? Mine were rather hellish but only lasted for a week
Well, to say the truth...they're yet to begin. I'm starting tomorrow and Wednesday with two written tests, then Monday I'll have another, then in a matter of a week I'll have to undergo an oral exam. The fact is I spent the previous month by studying for end year tests and orals, and then for this new series of exams....Italian school is Italian school :( Anyway, there you go with our...
Chapter XLI - An usurped Legacy (1260-1261 AD AD)
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
In Constantinople, news of Leo's defeat and death at Adrianopolis led to the outbreak of an ensuing wave of chaos, and desperation. The common folks feared what would happen next, while the aristocrats and clergy reacted with contradictory and schizophrenic feelings. Some fled from the city, others entrenched within it, boasting their loyalty to Leo's heirs, infant Arkadios and his sister Efphimia. Many more, uncertain on whom to swear their alledgiance, chose to mantain a neutral behaviour, waiting for the situation to get clearer, while some even went as far as claiming their alledgiance to self-proclaimed Lidas I, organizing their forces to support him in claiming the capital. On 7th September - more or less two weeks after the battle - said Vriennioi supporters, led by former Megas Logothethes Neophitos Tzimisces, launched an unsuccessful, but bloody attempt to get rid of the Komnenoi supporters from their positions.
In the mid of this chaos, the loyalist rallied around the figure of Megas Logothethes Ioasaph Kallergis, and young Arkadios Komnenos. With the aid of the Varangian Guard and the Spatharii, Ioasaph tried to neutralize and eliminate the Vriennioi partisans, giving birth to a bloody urban guerrilla which caused the deaths of thousand of civilians, and soldiers. The tagmatas, led by his son-in-law and merarches Phokas Machonios, switched to Tzimisces' side, strenghtening the rebels' positions to the point of allowing them to completely seize the north-western half of the city, including the Latin quarters of Galata, and tighten their hold onto the Bukoleon Palace, where Kallergis and the royal family stood. When Lidas' army finally approached the city's outskirts, the tensions within its walls had now reached an unsustainable entity, featuring day and night fights through the streets and alleys of the Queen of Cities. The Vriennoi supporters - strenghtened by those who had not yet took positions and were now jumping on the winner's wagon - opened him the Circus' Door, allowing his troops to sweep into the capital and slowly push back the meagre defending forces.
With the loyalists' hopes fading with each passing hour, Ioasaph Kallergis resolved to smuggle Arkadios and Efphimia out of the city, embarking them on a swift and reliable vessel, which crew and captain were ordered to head towards Cilicia, where ruled one of Leo's old companion in arms and closest friends, Markianos Kantakouzenos, thus saving them from what would happen next.
Sustained by the tagmatas and his partisans, Lidas' forces quickly took control of the greater part of the city, reaching in short time the Bukoleon, where Ioasaph and Empress Isibel of Norway had entrenched along with the Bulgarians and Varangians. Betrayed by the Spatharii, the mercenaries were all slaughtered while defending the entrances and halls, shedding the rebels' blood all over the marbles and carpets of the Palace where Alexios, Ioannis and Zakarias had ruled. In the end, Kallergis was captured during the last phases of the defense, and Erotikos' magyars were the first to enter the Empress' private apartments, brutally assassinating her and those who had found refuge there. With Isibel's death - and, some dare to say, rape, at the hands of these barbarians - it all ended. Constantinople had fallen.
Three days after the end of the fightings, Lidas was crowned as Basileus by a depressed Patriarch Appollonias, who shortly thereafter chose to retire in the Pantokrator Monastery, where, in the meanwhile, Leo and Isibel had been buried side by side with their glorious predecessors. Ioasaph was dismissed and exiled, his title lended to the ageing Tzimisces, whom had been deprived of the office fourteen years before. Leo's supporters were all held under process and sentenced to exile or execution, even though Lidas, in a spirit of chivalry, conceded many his pardon.
The usurper wasn't, in fact, a cruel man, as many could instead deduce from his and his troops' behaviour. Throughout his life, Lidas had been first marked as a bastard - being Veniamin's fourth, and illegitimate son - and then, after Kekavmenos' attempt to spoil Zakarias I of his birthrights, as an exponent of a decayed and unreliable House. Throughout his life, he had worked to restore his House's - and his own - prestige, serving within the army's ranks, actively participating in the political life, skillfully ruling over the thema of Galatia from his seat of Ankara. With his entitlement as Exharc in 1248 AD, and his subsequent marriage to Kievan princess Akoulina Yaroslavich, Lidas was the author or the Vriennioi's return to the political scene. Despite what he owed to Leo, however, he did not feel satisfied with his gains: during the 180 years of Komnenian rule over the Empire, the Vriennioi had always had an peculiar disposition towards the attempts to overthrow the legitimate rulers and establish a new dinasty. Through his deceivings, plots and briberies - all done for a better cause, he thought - Lidas, along with his brother Theodosios, finally realized this dream, thus becoming - he, born as a bastard - the author of the Vriennioi's arise to the throne.
Anyway, it was now time to consolidate his power outside of the capital. In the battle of Chrysopolis, Slavoupoulos and Erotikos, the latter now entitled as Lidas' Megas Domestikos, successfully dealt, at the head of a host largely made up of slavs, with the filo-komnenian forces led by alan hetairiarches Areovindos and Greek merarches Pamphronios. The battle marked the end of any opposition in Thrace, and, paradoxally, the beginning of the dissolution of the Empire. In the aftermath of the battle, in fact, Lidas, in order to reward Slavoupoulos for his help - which had proved fundamental for the success of the revolt - lended him the title of Despot of Serbia, which he had to share with Lidas' brother and Symbasileus Theodosios, giving them authority over a large vassal State encompassing Serbia, Dalmatia, Vardaska, Albania and parts of Macedonia. It wouldn't be, however, the first power to rise - or fall - from the ashes of the Komnenian Empire.
Outside of Constantinople, in fact, reactions were strong.
The strong opposition to Lidas' rule was in fact strumentalized, in Achaia, by Strategos Romanos Servopoulos - the same man who had failed in keeping Lidas in check - who took advantage of the chaos and claimed his independence from the Crown, establishing the Despotate of Achaia, with Athens as its capital. From there, he and his lieutenants would have enlarged the Despotate's borders to the point of encompassing the whole of Peloponnesus, Attica, the Greek Isles and Crete, thus becoming a force to be reckoned with.
In the Levant, news of Leo's death and Constantinople's fall prompted Megas Domestikos Konstantinos Anargyros, whom was busy fighting against the Fatimids, to abandon the Franks to their fate and seize Cyprus, from where he meant to support Markianos in his struggle against the usurper. Nothing was known about the young Komnenoi's fate - until Kallergis' flotilla desembarked at Adana, Kantakouzenos' see. While Anargyros and Kantakouzenos rallied their forces around the exiled princes, Caliph Sahl the Malevolent launched the last, finishing stroke against the Royaume d'Outremer. Deprived of the support of their far stronger neighbour - now truly on the verge of fragmentation - the meagre forces of the Royaume could not resist the saracen onslaught. In front of the overwhelming Fatimid pressure, Tortosa was the first of the last Frankish enclaves to fall, followed shortly thereafter by the Krak des Chevaliers, Homs, Aleppo and Laodicea. In June 1261 AD, six months after Anargyros' departure from the exchequer, the last act of Outremer's resistance took place on the battered walls of Antioch, the first of the cities to fall in front of the First Crusade. The defenders were slaughtered, the population enslaved, the churches burned to the ground. The infant King Baldwin VI was captured and brought to Egypt, where he would die a decade later, during an epidemy of tiphus. Along with the Komnenian dream, died Europe's dream of Outremer, too.
However, Sahl would not enjoy for long his success, and the glory derived from having surpassed even his father, the great Caliph Hamdun's, deeds. He died shortly after the sack of Antioch, assassinated by his mamluk guards, who installed on the throne his cousin, the ambitious and cunning Amr. Ironically enough, two arch-enemies - such as how Leo VII and Sahl had been - lost the throne in similar circumstances, thus creating fertile ground for later historians to establish comparisons between both rulers and States, sublimed into Appollonas Veriotis' masterpiece, Life of two rulers, the Lion of Komnenoi and the Eagle of Egypt, written during his retirement in monastery, a major source for the late years of Zakarias' reign and the whole of Leo's rule. This would not be, sadly, Appollonas' only work, as the Epistola Bello Civili, his own collection of witnesses and testimonies, focuses on the events of Lidas' usurpation, and the spiral of brutalries, betrayal and corruption in which the Empire fell, as a conseguence.
June 16, 2015, 08:40 AM
Treaper
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XLI)
Wow, chapter full of deaths and destroyings. Simple amazing :P Now there is another civil war for throne, I am courious about solving this problem :)
And, once again, good luck to your maturity exams :thumbsup2
July 03, 2015, 04:50 AM
Roman Heritage
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XLI)
Hello all, guys! I'm proud to finally upload this chapter - and to tell you exams are over, had the oral exam yesterday, passed it brilliantly! From now on, expect a little bit more frequence in updates, even though I'm still wondering about what to do next. I don't think I'll play the campaign to complexion - recreating the whole of the ERE at its peak - but rather try to exploit the situations in which I myself have put the Empire to write some more chapters. Anyway, I thonk we're coming to an end, simply because of some mistakes I did in the beginning - for example, choosing medium unit scales, which is actually killing gameplay a bit - and the fact that EB 2's summer release is coming, and I'll gladly jump on that - but dare not be sad, for you'll probably get to see me again writing on these forums, as I've got some plans for an ancient Roman AAR! :laughter:
Chapter XLII - An ablazing Fire (1261-1263 AD)
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Despite Lidas' undisputed skills and good intentions, his reign is often seen by scholars and historians as a major point of decay in Byzantium's history, and this because, after the successes gained by the Komnenian Restoration - the consolidation of the Roman army and State, the re-establishment of imperial authority over long lost tettitories, and the expansion in Europe and Anatolia -, the turmoil provoked by Lidas' accession to the throne and later events coincided with the vanification of the greater part of such deeds.
As we've seen, in fact, Lidas' accession to the throne was not uncontested. Apart from the obvious resistance within the capital - with which Erotikos and Tzimisces had dealt by deploying their magyar and bulgarian auxiliaries against the few remaining filo-Komnenians -, the chaos provoked by the collapse of the Komnenoi determined the beginning of a long series of internal strife and conflicts. In Achaia, Romanos Servoupoulos' forces, after the establishment of the Despotate, were successful in expanding its borders over much of former Hellas, seizing Boeotia, Etolia and Thessaly from the Despotate of Serbia. The latter, despite the power being shared between Serbian noble Slavoupoulos and Lidas' brother, Theodosios, was far more independent than how Lidas first thought. The rivalries which were forming between the two brothers, however, had to be put aside with the spark of the umpteenth Bulgarian uprise.
From the times of Alexios Komnenos' annexation of the Country in 1103 AD, Bulgaria had gave birth to a long series of attempts to regain freedom, the first taking place in 1110, seven years after its first submission. In 1151, the whole of the Country took up arms in what is known as the Great Bulgarian Uprise, during which Khan Peter Kaloyan was defeated and killed by the glorious Ioannis II in the battle of Sofia. Ioannis' mercyful treatment of the rebels' - and the huge casualties suffered during the rebellion - had proved sufficient as to restore peace in the region for the following hundred years, until 1243, when part of the nobility uprose against his descendant Zakarias I the Killer. It was, however, an uprise of negligible entity, which the fearsome Emperor crushed in the matter of an afternoon.
The uprise which took place in 1262 AD, however, was all of another matter, a true legacy of the one which Ioannis II had faced. In May, inspired by the difficulties met by Lidas in establishing his authority over the Basileia, the commander of the magyar garrison of Sofia, Bonyak, slaughtered his Greek comrades and proclaimed the rebirth of the Khanate. Tens of thousand of men took up arms in the name of self-proclaimed Khan Bonyak, annihilating the meagre Roman garrisons and taking control of many strategically relevant positions. Within the end of April, the whole of Bulgaria was under the rebels' control, the whole of the population supporting Bonyak's claims for the Crown and freedom.
Surrounded by potential enemies - and with talks about an imminent invasion of Anatolia by filo-Komnenian forces - Lidas had to take swift decisions. With his power onto the Straits not yet consolidated and Anatolia in turmoil, the Basileus resolved to lend field command to his Megas Domestikos, Marianos Erotikos, whose support at Adrianopolis and Chrysopolis had proved fundamental in establishing Lidas on the throne. Marianos was therefore supplied with a large, but highly turbulent and cosmopolite force of 15.000 men, in which regiments of magyar, Serbian, pecheneg and croatian mercenaries supported a small, well trained chore of Roman troops. Along with the dinasty itself, in fact, Lidas' uprise and the events it had provoked was also determining the dissolution of that military jewel which had been the Komnenian army, as the infightings and unrest had severely eroded the manpower base on which the army itself founded.
Anyway, Erotikos led this unreliable force north, crossing the borders of Bulgaria within June, letting his turbulent auxilaries free to raze and pillage at their leisure. Their advance was uncontested, as the Roman army marched without any opposition whatsoever for whole miles, leaving nothing but scorched earth behind it. Erotikos' Greek officers started to complain about the auxiliaries' mistreatment of civilians, arguing that, in war, one has to fight the enemy's soldiers, not its population. To this, Erotikos is said to have replied: "From the moment they've acclaimed their King, they've harmed out Emperor. Now let them cry for their King's help". It should be said, however, that apart from his treachery, Erotikos wasn't known neither as a cruel man nor as one particularly chivalrous: it is thought that such harshness was due to Bonyak's usurpation of his lands, and him being actually dauntless and fine with blood.
And soon there would be plenty of blood spilling, as, on 22nd June - the twentieth day from the beginning of the invasion - Bonyak's forces suddenly blocked the Domestikos' advance at the height of Plodviv, the Greek Philippopolis. There, wannabe Khan Bonyak had led an host said to be of around 30.000 men, even though the most reliable esteemes bring the toll down to 15.000/20.000 men. The latter estimate, furthermore, would also give us an explanation about the reasons which brought Erotikos to attack - as he probably wouldn't have done so, if severely outnumbered -, even though some historians also argue about the extreme unrulyness of large part of his troops, and the difficulties he might have faced in managing such a cosmopolite army on the long term - which could then have brought him to try and achieve victory in the shortest term possible.
Whatever the reasons, and the sources read, only one thing stays for sure: it did not end even remotely well. The magyars and pechenegs, which Erotikos meant to open gaps in the enemy formation, were utterly annihilated by the Bulgarians' superior bowmenship and skills. After having suffered bitter casualties with little gain, the horse archers left open field to their foot comrades, which, led by the small chore of experienced scoutatoi, clashed with no appreciable result onto the tips of the rebels' spears. While the Greek forces attempted to open a breach within the enemy formation, the Bulgarian horse archers and lancers slaughtered Erotikos' stratiotai with a feigned retreat, then exposing the enemy flank and enveloping the footmen. Erotikos was forced to retreat with a mere half of his army, continuously harassed by the Bulgarian riders and betrayed by his own horse auxiliaries, which preferred opening negotiations with their fellow slavs rather than rejoin with the defeated army. On the bloody and misty field of Plodviv, born the Third Bulgarian Khanate.
After an humiliating return home, Erotikos made its best to convince the Emperor to lend him the means and resources with which to re-establish Imperial rule over Bulgaria. A second invasion was being planned, but it would never take place. In May, 1263 AD - less than a year after the disaster of Plodviv - upsetting news came from the asian shore of the Bosphorus, bringing awe and astonishment among the Vriennioi's supporters: Anargyros and the Komnenians had desembarked on mainland Anatolia!
July 05, 2015, 01:55 AM
Alwyn
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XLII)
It's good to see your story continue with such dramatic events. Those Bulgarian horse archers and lancers sound like a powerful combination.
July 07, 2015, 03:23 PM
Treaper
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XLII)
Don't know what to say, once again, interesting events :) Hope the next chapter will be there soon
August 12, 2015, 03:03 AM
Treaper
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XLII)
Hi there, how does it look with new chapter?
September 15, 2015, 04:47 PM
Roman Heritage
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XLII)
Hi all, guys! Hope you don't feel abandoned. I'm quite sure I would, if I were you, yet...I hope you don't.
Let me offer you my most sincere apologies for having been absent for this hella lot of time. I had university preparation exams and - overmore - my internet connection just shut off for a whole month. Yet, it is not everything yet...there's something more.
Once I finally managed to restore my connection, and then thought - Ok, let's see where did we stop last time - I discovered that...my savegames were gone. Plain gone. I honestly don't know what happened; what I do know, is that I simply can't continue without such savegames. And I apologize about it, because coming to know this after a month or so of wait for a chapter, must be rather disappointing. I honestly apologize.
But let me thank you for this wonderful time spent together, in this very AAR. You really made me feel as if I was writing good stuff, something people liked to read. Damn, let me thank even you lurkers :P It was such a good time. I'm just sad it has come to end this way...but perhaps, sooner or later, you'll see me writing again on here. Perhaps we'll be having some more nice times, perhaps you'll like my stories, or not. Just let me say, thank you guys - and sorry for the unexpected "drama".
Kyrie Eleison!
September 16, 2015, 11:48 PM
waveman
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XLII)
I'm sorry to hear that, but it was quite the run and a great tale. I'd look forward to anything you chose to write after this
September 17, 2015, 12:59 AM
Alwyn
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XLII)
Sorry to hear about the lost save games (for what it's worth, some people continue an AAR in similar circumstances by starting a new campaign, following the same strategy, and then continuing the AAR when they catch up with the point they reached before. The only problem, of course, is that AI factions might make different decisions in your new campaign, so for example a faction which was eliminated in your first campaign might still exist in the second one.)
I hope that you either continue this or write something else. Like waveman, I'd look forward to anything you write.
September 17, 2015, 06:56 AM
Caillagh de Bodemloze
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XLII)
I'm going to join in with everyone else and say how sorry I am you lost the savegames. I, too, hope you will write something else for us at some point.
September 17, 2015, 10:49 AM
Treaper
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XLII)
Oh, that really is a pitty. But good luck to your future writings, you truly are a great wiriter.
September 17, 2015, 07:45 PM
Lugotorix
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XLII)
Great work. Thankfully, I have some catching up to do. If it's any consolation, nothing lasts forever, not even the Byzantine Empire. :/
September 18, 2015, 07:01 AM
Roman Heritage
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (UPDATED CHAPTER XLII)
Thank you for your kind replies, guys! It is indeed strange to see that, this time, Byzantium wasn't wrecked by a civil war - ok, it was close to being so - invasions, or economic crisis, but rather...lost savegames. Ouch :laughter:
Anyway, for those of you who are interested, I started considering writing a new project. It won't come too quickly, however - I first want to catch up with some AARs I stopped reading a while ago, and adapt the mod I chose to my preferences. Just to let you know something new might come out of my PC :whistling
Have all a nice day!
October 22, 2015, 06:16 AM
Lord_Imrahil
Re: [SS 6.4] CHRONIKON TON BASILEION - Byzantine, Early Era, AAR (Ended because of lost savegames)
Great AAR. First one I ever red. To bad it had to end.