The Eastern War- A Sicily AAR

[TalesOfConquest]

Hi! I'm relatively new to this and decided to try writing my first AAR. I'm playing Stainless Steel 6.4 on VH/VH. I've already played a fair bit of the campaign and am currently at the year 1137. I decided to alternate chapters between textbook style historical chapters (mostly as a way to explain what has happened so far) and ASOIAF style narrative viewpoint chapters. I've finished about 3 and a half chapters and would like some constructive criticism about how to improve. I tend to be very lax about taking screenshot and am also terrible about save-scumming (a habit I'm trying to kick). Anyway, without further adieu I would like to prevent my first textbook-style chapter (which is mostly a source of exposition to explain what has happened so far.

Chapter 1 From a chapter in a book about the rise of the Kingdom of Sicily
One of the bloodiest conflicts of the medieval period was known as the Great Eastern War. With the decline of the mighty Byzantine Empire, the surrounding states, while individually inferior in military power and wealth, found that they could seize pieces of the Empire through conquest. The Venetians began attempts to claim the castle of Durazzo while an alliance between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Norman rulers of Sicily formed, aiming to strike at the Orthodox holdings in Greece from two fronts. The most spectacularly successful of these states was the Normans, who were led by the mighty king Ruggero II (often anglicized as Roger). Having consolidated his rule over Naples in a bloody but relatively one-sided civil war against rebel barons, King Ruggero turned his gaze eastward, quickly seizing large portions of Greece in a brutal campaign orchestrated with the help of his brother, Prince Simone. Even before the Byzantine conflict began, the new Sicilian kingdom had been engaging in additional westward expansion, seizing the island of Corsica. Following this was a brief conflict with the Iberian kingdom of Aragon, which landed a small army to overwhelm the garrison at Corsica. The Sicilian forces quickly retaliated to escalate the brief skirmish into what became known as the Corsican War, with a number of increasingly large scale battles being fought between the two sides. Ultimately, a peace treaty was signed with Sicily retaining Corsica and even using the opportunity to launch a crusade against the Moors.

The Western Crusade was a simple affair for the Norman forces, with the German Baron Hohenstaufen (newly married into the Sicilian Royal Family) easily taking the city of Grenada. In a masterstroke of diplomatic brilliance and blatant economic opportunism, Ruggero ordered that the city be sacked, looted of all treasures, and returned to the Moors for a large sum of money and a favorable peace treaty. The additional benefit of this crusade was the drawing of the Iberian kingdoms into a conflict with the powerful Moors, leaving Ruggero able to pull his forces east and renew efforts against the Byzantines. The Eastern war, however, was not without loss to the Sicilians, especially as Prince Simone was killed in an incredibly bloody battle against several Byzantine legions. In a testament to the Sicilian resilience, the army kept fighting after Simone had died as a young captain named Bernardo Maniscalo managed to take command of the embattled army and lead it to victory, surviving even a second Byzantine onslaught which came immediately after the battle. Still, even as the Sicilians won more and more spectacular victories, the Byzantines showcased their immense resources and sent seemingly endless numbers of troops to fight in Greece.

The Byzantine Co-Emperor Symbasileus Mavrikeos had served the Komnenoi with distinction in this time of crisis and was named heir to the Imperial throne. He led a brilliant campaign against the Kingdom of Hungary and was instrumental in defeating the Venetians and driving them back from Durazzo. Now tasked with reclaiming Greece from the Sicilians, he arranged a two pronged attack on the cities of Arta and Athens. Leading the latter assault on Athens, he expected the Sicilians to be exhausted and unable to match the numbers of the Byzantine forces. He proved sorely mistaken as the Sicilians were able to mobilize armies that outnumbered the Byzantines in both cases. The Battle of Arta, though much larger in scale than what occurred at Athens, is not as well known. It proved an easy victory for the Sicilians, who were led by the same Bernardo who had once served in Simone’s army. At the battle, the large Byzantine force was quickly routed with the aid of the garrison in Arta. The much more famous Battle at Athens was noted as it pitted Symbasileus against the army of the young Sicilian Prince Martino, who proved to be as capable a military commander as his father was. The stakes were especially high for the young prince as his brother Tancredi, the new Duke of Athens, was holed up inside the city. With such high strategic and personal stakes, the Battle of Athens would prove to be the especially decisive engagement of 1137.

[Merchant of Venice]

I really, really like the premise of your idea of combining a history book AAR with a more narrative driven story. I feel it has a lot of potential. Furthermore your first chapter really set the scene for the rest of your AAR.

Just a little bit of feedback and possible suggestions for your story moving forward. You have a lot of potential in your history book AAR style. I think what would make it even more interesting was if it was an actual history book, be it one from the 20th or 21st century, or from Victorian times or even one from the Medieval Ages, like a massive book laboriously hand written by a monk as the events unfolded around him. I definitely think you should call the book something, like you have already but more specific. Furthermore, perhaps your history book section could come from different books entirely. Also, I think you're history book sections should serve two functions. One, to provide a greater scope, like zooming out on a battlefield or a campaign map. And two, as I sort of prelude to your narrative driven sections. For instance, before a battle, you could write an 'excerpt from a history book' which describes a part of the battle or praises one of the leader's military tactics. It could be a short paragraph, like a quote, and I feel could only add to the importance of the event because you have shown that centuries later it is still being written about.

I am also intrigued into how you will deal with your narrative driven sections, but I guess I'll just have to see. If you want anything else or have any questions feel free to PM me or just post them here and I'll do my best to respond.

Merchant of Venice

[Alwyn]

Clearly it is a big mistake to under-estimate the Sicilians! Welcome, Teabagger69420. I like reading history books and I hope that this will be the first of many chapters in this story.

Merchant has already offered you excellent feedback. I would like to know more about the crucial battles. What made them so important and what tipped the balance in favour of the winning side? Did the choices of the generals, the quality of the soldiers' equipment (or their supplies) or other factors play a part in deciding the outcome of the battles?

You might be wondering how to attract new readers to your AAR. I made some suggestions for someone who previously started a first AAR here. If you are wondering how to do things such as edit posts, I recommend Shankbot's unofficial guide for new members.

[TalesOfConquest]

Thanks to everyone for the excellent feedback. I already wrote the first few chapters a while ago, but I will definitely take the advice into consideration when I'm working on the newer chapters. Here is the first narrative chapter, though looking back I do feel like the writing is quite weak and could use some work. Still, I would like to present it and get some feedback on how it could be improved.

Chapter 2 The young Duke Tancredi awaits the coming battle and remembers speaking with his father.
The city was quiet and Tancredi found himself astonished at the thought. For the first time since he’d arrived in the months before, he could think in peace. He remembered the last time he’d seen his father sitting on a makeshift throne in Corinth. From the glow of the fireplace he could see the age that was beginning to take effect on his father. Under a simple crown of iron, his father’s hair, where it could be seen, was turning grey. Even the scars on his father’s face were being overtaken by wrinkles. His father did not have many battles left in him. Outside, a light rain had begun to drizzle down over the Greek countryside.
“This task I give you is one of the most important in the kingdom. Athens will one day be the new capital.”
“Not Constantinople?”
“That will not be in my lifetime. You and your brother will have to work to make it so.”
“But father,-” he was cut off by a stern look from his father.
“I am getting old son. Soon my arms will be too weak to lift a sword. My body’s taken many a wound but I fear another will put me in the grave. You and your brother are going to lead the next phase of this war. And from what I’ve seen of you both, our victory will come swift.”
“Father, you are not nearly as old as you make it sound. You have at least another decade of fight left in you.”
His father chuckled briefly.
“You are of course, right son. But I need to see that the next generation of kings will be ready to lead.”
“I have yet to prove myself worthy in a real battle”
“Then do so. Think of who you’re descended from. Think of the blood that you share with your brother. Think of the training you have received. You will be fine. Besides, I ask you to govern a city and not to lead an army. It’s true that Athens may come under attack, but the walls are strong and the garrison is seasoned. You need only hold out until your brother comes to relieve you. Go serve as Duke of Athens and bring pride to our name.”
“I am to be made a Duke?” Tancredi was incredulous. “But surely there are others more suited to the task.”
“I believe that the next decisive battle will be at Athens. In the case that your brother is not leading the army to strike down the Byzantines I want someone of my blood to be there. Even if he is there, I want you to, as you say, prove yourself worthy in battle.”
“What makes you think the Byzantines will strike at Athens?” Tancredi asked.
“Come with me.” The king stood up and began to walk to the war room.
Inside the war room was a map of Greece with Hungary to the north, Ionia to the east, and Italy to the west. Spread over the map were colored figures representing the different armies fighting in Greece; with purple being used for the Byzantines, silver for the Sicilians, pink for the Hungarians, and red for the Venetians. One of the figures had a crown drawn onto it and was placed to the north, with the pink armies around it scattering. Two crossed swords were drawn on the map just outside Durazzo with a purple figure standing over it and a red figure pulled back west.
“I have heard reports that the Byzantine Co-Emperor has proved a most capable warrior. He has defeated both the Hungarians and the Venetians in two decisive campaigns. He is currently one of the most dangerous generals that the Byzantines have in the field. He will soon set his sights on us, and seek to reclaim the infidel holdings in Greece. This is good as we have an important advantage.”
“And that is?”
“He thinks us weak. He does not know about our reinforcements sailing east from Sicily, or of Baron von Hohenstaufen’s return from crusade. He also does not know that we have already reached out to the local mercenaries and recruited them to our cause. If he can be lured into an assault against our castles and cities, he can be surrounded and overwhelmed with strength of numbers. And if he is dead, there will be little to stop us from advancing even further west.”
“So we can then trap him and kill him.”
“But only if the garrisons can hold. Which is why I need you in Athens to ensure that the city stays in our hands. You my son, will be the key to victory.”

As the memory gave way to more pressing fears, Tancredi returned to his own makeshift war room in Athens where his council was gathered.
“We have received some good news my Lord.” One of the councilors began. “Bernardo Maniscalo has won a grand victory over the heretics outside the castle of Arta in the west. Soon a push on Durazzo will be feasible once further reinforcements arrive.”
“Will that not anger the Venetians? We have no alliance with them. Surely they will see us taking Durazzo as a provocation.”
“The Venetians are spent. They have dashed so many of their forces against the walls of Durazzo that they are now weak and vulnerable. If they come, let them come and we will finish the task of crushing them that the Byzantines began. Besides, any conflict with Venice will put us in good graces with Genoa.”
“And annoy the Pope to no end.”
“That may be true, however it is not the affairs in the west that are the primary concern of this meeting. Your brother has encamped with his army of sellswords just west of the city and we believe he may attempt to initiate the battle tomorrow.”
“Will the garrison be ready to join in the battle if that is the case?”
“Yes, we believe that the Byzantines will be forced to abandon much of the siege equipment in order to fight with your brother. We should be able to easily fight our way out of the city and join forces with the sellswords. Perhaps, we may even be able to attack the Byzantines in the rear if they are foolish enough to not establish a rearguard.”
“Then let us get some food in our bellies and a good night’s sleep. For tomorrow we strap on the armor and bathe in infidel blood.”
Following his own advice, he dismissed the councilors and set off for the kitchen to wolf down a bowl of porridge. When he made his way to the bedroom, he found his wife Margherita already asleep, her belly was swollen with child, rising and falling with every breath. He quickly changed and found his place beside her, quickly joining her in a deep and dreamless sleep.

[Alwyn]

I like the idea of a chapter about a father who is getting too old to fight but not too old to advise his sons. The Byzantine Co-Emperor sounds like an interesting threat for Sicily to face. You provide a helpful picture of the strategic situation and set the scene well for the battle to come.

You asked for feedback. I wonder how much you want to make the story about the characters. Perhaps you would like to think more about the personalities of Tancredi, his brother, his father and his main enemies (such as the Byzantine Co-Emperor)? If you are interested in this, there are Critic's Quill articles about writing characters which might interest you, such as A Brief Look at the Character Dynamics of a Story in Relation to its Plot by Aquila Praefortis, What makes a Character? by Tigellinus and Lortano's The fairer side of life: Writing Women in CW and AARs.

If you would like more suggestions, then I suggest adding spaces between each paragraph and each quote, to avoid the appearance of a 'wall of text'.

I look forward to reading about what happens in the battle with the Byzantines - will the Byzantines abandon their siege equipment? Will the Sicilians be able to join forces with the sellswords? Will the Sicilians achieve their goal of attacking the Byzantines in the rear, or will they have to change their battle plans as the Byzantines react to them?

[Merchant of Venice]

Good work Teabagger, I liked the use of the flashback to convey some of the backstory just before a big battle is about to happen. I second Alwyn in that if you want to write a narrative AAR then it would be wise to work out who you want each of the characters to be now before you get sucked in to a messy whirlpool and self-contradiction. I also advise entering the MAARC here, it is a great way to gain publicity and get more readers. Don't be scared of the competition, the majority of them have moved past the biting phase.

[TalesOfConquest]

Hi all, and thanks for the great advice. I will definitely enter into the monthly competition. In response to the advice I've received about building up the backstory of some of the characters, I am pushing up one of the more historical chapters, which is about the early reign of King Ruggero II. The chapter roughly covers how the first few turns of the campaign went for me (hint: there were some pretty unexpected events). I am currently envisioning Ruggero as a Tywin Lannister type character, who even though he is aging (he's in his late 50s at this point in the campaign) is still quite badass and feared. He also ended up playing a large part in the Battle of Athens (due to repeated failed attempts and save scumming, I decided to move him in from Corinth to leading the army). Anyway, here is the next chapter.

Chapter 3: The Early Years of King Ruggero II
Before the rise of King Ruggero II, Sicily was still a County, and had not yet been declared a kingdom. After the conquests of the 1000’s, much of Southern Italy was under Norman rule. The last Count, Ruggero I proved a capable administrator and feudal lord, winning several battles early in his youth. Late into his reign, the Norman holdings in Naples rebelled, triggering a civil war. Ruggero, then in his late sixties, called up his armies to begin the trip to reclaim the castle of Bari, which had once belonged to the Byzantine Empire. His march was hastened out of fear that the Byzantines would use the opportunity to reestablish a foothold in Southern Italy, using the excuse of putting down a rebellion to claim territory without going to war with the Sicilians. Indeed, there were sightings of a small Byzantine armies landing in Italy, which drove Ruggero to hurry and lay siege to the castle of Bari, leaving his sons to govern in Sicily. It seemed like this would be a simple war, as the Sicilians appeared to have an overwhelming advantage, which was evidenced when the rebels fled from every potential engagement with Ruggero’s army. However, an unexpected event shocked the early Norman enclave, and drastically changed the course of the war.

Ruggero, despite his old age, was seen as a vigorous and virile man. An experienced military commander, it surprised no one when he chose to personally lead the army into battle. Now, it is unknown whether the rigors of war or the simple test of time felled the great Count, but Ruggero was found dead in his tent by his servants about a year into the siege of Bari. There have been numerous theories about whether Ruggero had been engaging in vices that may have prematurely ended his life and whether or not he only gave the appearance of good health. There has even been some speculation that Ruggero may have been an alcoholic, with his death coming after a bout of hard drinking. As mysterious as his death was, the immediate effects were well-recorded and proved potentially catastrophic for the young County of Sicily. The rebel leaders seemed to have learned of Ruggero’s death and immediately sent envoys to the now leaderless army to encourage a mutiny. These efforts proved successful and the army switched sides to take up the rebel banner. These events have also led to further theories that Ruggero had in fact been assassinated by soldiers conspiring with the rebels, however, this betrayal appears to be more an opportunistic action rather than the result of scheming. To make things even more alarming, the Byzantine Emperor himself, Alexios Komnenos, had landed in Italy. Now with two potential enemies in the area, the new Sicilian leader Ruggero II found himself under immense stresses. With his brother campaigning with the rest of the Sicilian forces in Corsica, Ruggero II began frantically raising a new levy.

The delay with the Sicilian response proved to be especially fortunate. Immediately after the mutiny, the now-rebel army marched on the Byzantine forces and drove them back out of Southern Italy. It is widely believed that the Byzantine presence was the reason for the betrayal of the army in the first place, as the rebel leaders convinced the officers that fighting off Byzantines would be of much greater importance than fighting fellow Normans. The battle itself was swift and brutal, with Emperor Alexios being hacked to death after roughly an hour of fighting. With the Emperor lying dead on the battlefield, the rest of the outnumbered Byzantines quickly fled back to the ships and returned home to Constantinople to bring back the news about their Emperor. The rebel campaign against the Byzantines gave enough time for Ruggero II to land with a small but well-trained army and begin the push to reclaim Naples. His force was only intended to establish a beachhead for the much larger army being led by his brother Simone to land following the conquest of Corsica. However, the young leader sought glory on the battlefield and pressed on to fight rebel armies that were much larger than his own. Displaying his brilliance as a military thinker, he built upon Alexandrian cavalry tactics to defeat the larger rebel armies displaying the power of the Norman heavy cavalry that would later prove so dominant in the war against the Byzantines. In the decisive battle against the army that had once belonged to his father, Ruggero is said to have easily scattered the weakened but still numerically superior force, losing less than sixty men in the entire engagement. When Simone finally landed in Naples, he found his brother already laying siege to the final rebel castle at Bari, which he joined with haste. After a desperate but surprisingly half-hearted attempt to drive back the besieging forces in a sally battle, the rebel leaders surrendered, effectively ending the rebellion. The victorious Ruggero returned to Sicily with the rebel leaders in chains and a new title: King of Sicily.

[TalesOfConquest]

It's finally time to present the battle itself. I'm not sure if I'll continue to use the Ragnar character as a lot of time passes between the next major battle. I'm currently about five or six turns ahead of my last chapter, so a lot of time has passed in game between these battles. I'm not sure how to handle the fact that Medieval 2 has a year per turn, and even though I changed the time to half a year per turn the characters still age at the same rate. Also, any tips on how to use screenshots would be helpful. Anyway, here's the Battle of Athens.

Chapter 4: The Battle of Athens
Ragnar could barely remember being dragged off the battlefield. With only the dim firelight pathetically stabbing out into the pitch black night, he had to focus on his other senses. He could feel the pain throbbing in his leg, wrapped as it was in a bandage stained red with newly-dried up blood. The weight of the chains around his wrists and ankles protested against his every movement as he forced himself to sit upright. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could make out the figures of at least a half dozen other men that he knew, all chained up like he was.
The Varangian Guard, he thought grimly, The Emperor’s finest.

As the memories came flooding back, he remembered the sharp pain of the spear thrust to his leg, the blood dripping off of his axe, the sheer terror of hearing the thundering of the Norman cavalry smash into the ranks behind him. Surrounded, with a storm of arrows flying over their heads, the Varangian Guard continued to fight, using their long battle axes to pull Norman knights off of horses and smash the skulls of Italian spearmen. Ragnar remembered talking to a Saxon whose grandfather had been at Hastings.

“The knights, my grandfather would say. There was nothing more terrifying than a Norman knight barreling towards you.”

Ragnar could see it then. He had pulled his axe out of the broken body of a spearman and as he turned, he saw a knight clad in steel atop a warhorse. Blood stained both the man and his mount, and all around him were the mangled corpses of both sides. Ragnar ran for the knight swinging his axe wildly, but he felt a sharp pain in his leg. Looking down, he saw a wounded Italian crawl away, leaving behind his bloodied spear. As Ragnar fell to knees the knight rode up to him at a gallop and the last thing he could remember was the flat of a blade smashing into his face.

The pain of his skull, which he was sure had been cracked, brought him to the present day. A mailed Norman walked by the chained prisoners and spat onto the ground before them. The groan of a dying Dane was the only sound that accompanied the cackling fire. The Norman unsheathed his sword and slid it into the dying man’s throat. As he pulled out his sword, a stream of blood poured out of his throat, as the groans gave way to gurgling to silence.

“Mercy” the Norman said quietly, and walked back to join the other guards.
These men share common ancestors with us.
Lowering his head back onto the dirt, he let sleep overtake him.

***
“The King has come! The King has come!”

The Normans cheered as hundreds of horsemen thundered across the battlefield, moving like a wave of death towards the Byzantine lines. From his position overlooking the field of mangled corpses and scattered weapons, Symbasileus knew it was over.

That butcher-king. He was supposed to be in Corinth.

“Your majesty, we must flee!” the noble was terrified beyond reason. Symbasileus made a note to himself to use this against him back at the Imperial court, should they both survive.

The flanks were crumbling and the infantry were being surrounded. Only the Varangian Guard continued to fight, and they too were becoming encircled. From behind him, Symbasileus could see the reinforcements from Athens moving to hit the Byzantines in the rear. The young prince Tancredi was no doubt leading them. Better that boy than his father.

“Come, let us bloody the whelp’s nose.” he rallied his guards and turned the cavalry formation around to face the threat.

Leaving the slaughter behind him, he led the charge against Duke Tancredi’s position. The two cavalry formations crashed into each other as Symbasileus swung his sword at a Norman knight, striking with such force that it nearly broke through the knight’s mail. Taking advantage of the weakness in the man’s armor, he guided his sword into the knight and felt the familiar crunch of bone and flesh as he pulled his now-bloodied sword out of the man’s body. The knight slumped over and fell off of his horse, trampled under the hooves of Byzantine and Norman horses. The young Duke pulled away from the fighting, and the rest of the Normans withdrew from the combat. Wheeling his formation around, Symbasileus withdrew with what was left of his bodyguards and observed the rest of the battlefield.

The Byzantines were in full retreat, and even what was left of the Guard was running in terror from the battle. The Norman cavalry was mopping up what was left of the army that had once stood a thousand strong, and Symbasileus knew it was finally time to leave. Battered and bloodied, he set his horse into a full gallop and the remnant of his personal guard followed him away from the killing grounds, leaving the horror of the day behind.

[Alwyn]

An enjoyable chapter! I like the comment about a Saxon whose grandfather had been at Hastings - those kinds of details can make characters feel more real.

You wrote about the speed of characters ageing more quickly than you want them to, even if you change the number of turns per year. On this, I recommend the advice of Shankbot de Bodemloze in his Critic's Quill article When Life Gives You Lemons, where he discusses the options for an AAR writer when a character dies, particularly this bit:-

Pretend it never happened - "Ignorance is bliss"
Yes, you are hearing me right - continue the game as you would even though your character is dead. The readers don't have to know, and you don't have to include pictures of him/her, heck you could use older ones but remove the traits/age section. This is, surprisingly, the least disruptive in terms of the writing, as you can just keep moving it forward until a more convenient place of death - of course you could be really clever and save the death notification pic that appears until a time when you need it. Some of the more crazy of you may indeed go for keeping him alive in the story until the end, ignoring the death completely! Whilst in the short-run this may seem the best course of action, you may find it difficult to keep getting inspiration for the rest of the story.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

This is great. Like everybody else, I particularly like the idea of the alternating chapters, with some history-book and some character-based. If Ragnar lives long enough, it would be interesting to know what happened to him after the battle.

I'm not sure exactly what sort of advice you want about screenshots. Is it how to post them? Or how to take good ones?

How to take good pictures is a slightly tricky question, because people like different things. Zooming in quite close is often good, and cropping out the UI is almost always good. And if you can manage not to show in the picture which unit(s) you've selected, that helps a lot. (I think I've seen posts about how to do that, but I can't remember where. If I find one, I'll add a link to this post. If not, maybe someone else will be able to help...)

How to post screenshots is much less subjective, but might take a while. First of all, let me say that IneptCmdr tells me you can't post more than 10 images in one post until you've made 25 posts. So don't try to post more than that just yet!

There are two ways of posting images. The first is to post them as attachments. To do this, when you're typing (or pasting) in your post, click on "go advanced" and then click on "manage attachments" and go from there.

However, most people prefer the second method of posting images, which is to use an external image-hosting site. (IneptCmdr reports that this often works better than using attachments. I haven't tried using attachments, but I've had no problems using an image-hosting site.) I posted on a different thread to explain the way to use an image-hosting site. If that would be helpful to you, the post is here. If you need more help with this, or if you have more questions - or, of course, if I haven't answered the right question yet - just ask.

[Merchant of Venice]

Caillagh has given some solid advice on the matter of screenshots. I wouldn't add much because they are definitely the musts for any good pictures and past them it really comes down to creativity and what you want from the shot. Also, quick editing with photoshop or GIMP can really make your photos come alive, even if it just stuff like contrast and brightness changes. I would add you should avoid aerial shots unless they're from like castle walls or something or unless your characters have invented helicopters. Campaign shots are up to you, personally I don't like them; they break immersion for me but other people do. For image hosting sites, photo bucket works well for me.

There is a solution for changing how long character's age. Ask one of the developers of one of the bigger mods and they should know. I used to be able to do it but I haven't done any medieval 2 scripts in quite some time. You could look at how Stainless Steel does it compared to the vanilla, that might help.

Anyway, I am really liking your execution of the history book and story dichotomy. Also, I always love some Vikings, so can't wait to see more from Ragnar the Varangian.

PS; I nominated this for this month's Monthly AAR Competition (MAARC) if that is alright with you.

[TalesOfConquest]

Hello everyone, thanks for the advice and for entering this into the monthly competition. I hope everyone had a good Halloween and as I'm recovering from mine I'd like to post up the next chapter. I am currently deciding whether or not to write a chapter about the Venetian war or maybe another Ragnar chapter next, in which case I might decide to use screenshots from other games such as Skyrim or Mount and Blade as I'm likely to have him travelling around the war-torn lands. Any ideas on what would be preferable would help, but anyway, here's the next chapter.

Chapter 5: The War Grinds On

The battle at Athens decisively ended the Byzantine counter attack. With the surprise appearance of King Ruggero II to lead the Norman forces to victory, the Byzantine Co-Emperor Symbasileus Mavrikios was sent into full retreat. Out of an army that was once a thousand strong, fewer than one hundred survived to limp back to Byzantine territory. Although the time seemed ripe for the Sicilian armies to go on the march and conquer the rest of Greece, it soon became clear that even an empire that had suffered defeat after defeat could still raise the numbers to continue fighting. The Norman nobles must have been astonished at reports of even more legions being led by a member of the Komenoi to the west of Durazzo laying siege to the Venetian stronghold of Ragusa. Additionally, there was one further Byzantine army that stood between Arta and Durazzo. The young noble Giulio d’Ottoviano led the victorious forces from Arta north to seize Durazzo, leaving Bernardo Maniscalo to plan an island-hopping campaign against Iraklion and possibly Rhodes. It seemed like the next bloody phase of the war would conclude with further Sicilian victories and conquests, but this proved not to be the case. Giulio d’Ottoviano defeated the Byzantine legion guarding Durazzo in a bloody battle, but was unable to continue onwards due to both the losses sustained in the battle and the appearance of the Byzantine legions that had previously been attacking Ragusa. The Imperial Court had decided that defending Durazzo from the Sicilians was more important than driving the Venetians out of the Illyria. Marching south towards Arta, the legions appeared set to overwhelm the Norman defenses, but the timely arrival of the reinforcements from the Western crusade tipped the balance. The two sides faced off in a stalemate, with both commanders reluctant to engage in what would certainly be another bloody battle outside of Arta.

While the Western front was locked into a stalemate, the naval war continued unhindered. Taking advantage of their sheer advantage in resources, Byzantine fleets were able to trap and destroy several small Normal fleets in demoralizing but inconsequential battles. Another important event occurred when Bernardo Maniscalo landed at Crete, beginning his march to the city of Iraklion. He began establishing siege works, intending to secure the area before linking up with reinforcements being led by Prince Tancredi, the newly victorious Duke of Athens. The city garrison of Iraklion sallied out and engaged with Maniscalo’s small landing force. To the astonishment of all both sides, the Normans easily defeated the garrison and managed to convince the council governing the city to surrender. With the island of Crete secured, Tancredi turned his fleet around and began sailing towards the city of Thessalonica, where the current Emperor was residing as Symbasileus Mavrikios was stationed outside of the city with the remnants of his army. After more than a decade of war, it looked like both sides would further expend their forces in the next bloody phase of the war.

In the period immediately after the Battle of Durazzo, peace talks began between the two war-weary sides. Despite some initial progress, the Byzantines refused to give up the castle of Durazzo that the Sicilian Court insisted would be necessary to defend the western territories of its new empire. Following the campaign of Bernardo Maniscalo and the threatening presence of Tancredi’s fleet approaching Thessalonica, the Imperial Court found itself under pressure to end the war. The year 1145 marked an important year for the Byzantines, as it managed to negotiate peace treaties with both Venice and Sicily, negotiating from a position of strength in the case of Venice and weakness in the case of Sicily. In exchange for a small amount in war reparations, the Sicilians managed to gain control of the strategic fortress of Durazzo. The Byzantines used the opportunity to send the regional forces north to face the Hungarians. In addition to this, a war with the Seljuk Turks in the east broke out, further reinforcing the need to produce more armies. The Sicilians used the reprieve to begin rebuilding the war-damaged economy and begin replenishing its armies. Although peace had been declared, a Byzantine legion remained around the Venetian holding of Ragusa, facing off against the new Sicilian garrison at Durazzo. Additionally, a shadow war continued to be waged against the Byzantines, with key nobles and bishops being assassinated by what are widely believed to be Sicilian agents. With peace being secured in the east, the aging King Ruggero II turned his gaze westward, aiming to take advantage of the new situation and launch a lighting campaign against the weakened target of Venice.

[Merchant of Venice]

Ooohh the humanity, not Venice!!!

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

Well, Merchant, obviously I don't know what will happen, but if it all goes wrong for Venice, we'll help you rebuild.

You've got some interesting stuff happening there, Teabagger69420. I'm intrigued to see what happens to the stalemate - will everyone just end up walking away, knowing it's an unwinnable fight, or will the battle break out again in a while, once reinforcements have turned up for one side (or both)?

Merchant's right to say that GIMP (or Photoshop) is very useful. I've been surprised how often I've needed to tweak my screenshots slightly to make them work well in my AAR.

Oh, and I obviously think Skyrim screenshots are a good thing - Mount & Blade would be good too. Use whatever tells the story best, I think.

[Alwyn]

Since a 'shadow war' is going on, it sounds like Sicily could be at war with the Byzantines again soon. I hope that Sicily's attack on Venice won't leave other Sicilian lands vulnerable to a surprise attack from the Byzantines or another faction.

[TalesOfConquest]

Hi all, I hope everyone is having a good Veteran's Day. I just finished the last Ragnar chapter and was hoping to add in a Tancredi section too, but it was already getting to long as it was, so the next chapter will also be a story section. Both my Skyrim and Mount and Blade games are non-steam, and I kept trying to take screenshots using the print screen button but it didn't work in either case, so any advice on how to make that happen will be welcome.


Chapter 7: Dyracchium
Dimly lit as they were, the torches planted outside the inn’s walls shone out like a beacon. Ragnar, could just barely walk normally, his cheap boots scraping along the cobblestone road. He walked up to the door of the inn and pushed his way in. The Greeks stared at the towering Dane who ducked his head under the door frame as he entered. He thought about how he had left Constantinople clad in armor and wielding a great battle axe. Now he had no arms or armor and only wore a rough wool tunic and leather trousers. In his best Greek, he ordered a room for the night and a bowl of whatever stew was available. He fished several coins out of a small coin purse given to him by one of the kinder Normans when he’d been set free. Although the Imperial Court saw fit to pay a ransom for the prisoners from Athens, the Varangians were so few in number that Mavrikios chose to disband them rather than keep them in his service. Deep in Sicilian territory, Ragnar thought it would be prudent to move west towards Dyrrachium, which remained in Byzantine hands. His journey west was rough and lonely. The war had torn Greece asunder, and he joined a long trail of refugees who were moving away from the fighting, most of them going east towards Constantinople. Although he missed the luxury of Constantinople, he longed for home. At Dyracchium he could recover, and perhaps buy a horse to ride through the German lands and home to Denmark. In the center of the inn was a set of benches around a small fire. He sat down at one of them to warm himself around a fire. A stout Greek stared at him from the bench on the other side of the fire. He looked like he must have served in the legions in his youth.

“Were you a Varangian?” the Greek noted.

“Aye.” nodded Ragnar as he accepted a small bowl of ale from a serving wench.

“You were released from service?”

“Aye. I journey to Dyracchium.”

The Greek shook his head slowly. “There is only death that way”

“What do you mean?”

“There was a great battle on the road to Dyrrachium. The dead of both sides choke the land. Only bandits and looters rule there.”

“What happened there? Does it still stand Roman?”

“For now. A battle broke out between the Normans and one of the legions. The Normans saw victory but at great cost. We have legions returning from the west, it seems like the Normans are on the retreat.”

“The Normans are great warriors, I faced them at Athens. They were like no other enemy.”

“I never had to face them in my day. Only rebels and Turks fell to my spear.”

“Then let us drink to dead Turks and rebels.”

He raised the bowl of ale to his lips and drank deeply. A loaf of stale bread came with his stew, which was hardy passable as food. He still ate it as though he was at the finest feast in Constantinople. After a good hour of talk, the Greek retired for rest as he had would be continuing his journey east. Ragnar thought about his words, but he knew that with battle came opportunity. In his past he would have frowned at the thought of looting from the dead on the battlefield, but he was no longer in a state to sell his sword. Perhaps he would find something useful or valuable. With his plans formed, he made his way to bed and succumbed to exhaustion.

The field was littered with the dead and the dying. Swords, spears and arrows stuck out of the hard earth. Ragnar held a cloth up to his mouth and nose to block out the smell. Although the sight was a familiar one, he feared that his leg would not be useful enough in the event of a fight. Even from his vantage point he could see the mangled corpses stretch across to the other side of the field. He began to navigate his way down towards the battlefield but the sound of a sword being unsheathed behind him caused him to wheel around. A ragged Italian stood before him, his face stained with dirt and blood. Ragnar could see that he carried no shield.

A deserter. he thought.

The Italian lunged at him, causing Ragnar to tumble down towards the battlefield. Facedown in the dirt, he looked up to see a dead Norman, sword still clenched in a mailed fist. Several arrows stuck out of the rotting corpse. Trying as he could, Ragnar could not pull the sword out of the dead man’s hand, as the Italian came down, he spied a dirk strapped to the dead man’s belt. He drew it and managed to slice at the Italian’s leg, drawing blood. As the deserter reached to grab at his wound, Ragnar managed to push him away and looked frantically around for a more suitable weapon. He spotted a short sword stuck into the dirt several yards away, but the Italian was close enough to strike him down if he tried to reach it. Throwing the dirk as he would a dart, Ragnar managed to lodge it into the deserter’s shoulder. As the wretch howled in pain, Ragnar ran to the sword and wrenched it out of the earth. When he turned to face his attacker, he saw that the Italian had pulled the dirk out and advanced towards him with sword and bloodied dirk in each hand. Ragnar parried the first sword blow and ducked away from the deserter’s second thrust with the knife. Spying an opening, he sprinted towards the Italian and ran him through, bellowing all the way. As the deserter joined his fallen brethren on the battlefield, Ragnar steadied himself.

I must go.

He staggered away from the spot where he had taken yet another life and began the lonely walk towards Dyracchium.

[Alwyn]

Good chapter, I enjoyed the description, the dialogue and the action.

Sorry to hear about your difficulty with taking screenshots. I use the free software fraps, which you can find and download by searching for it online. If you install fraps, then you just need to start fraps before you start the game; then you can take pictures while the game is running by pressing f10. My computer stores the screenshots in C:/Fraps/Screenshots.

[TalesOfConquest]

Just downloaded it, thanks!

[TalesOfConquest]

​
Chapter 8: Feast
Martino tore into yet another hunk of meat, washing it down with wine. All around him were lords and ladies, troubadours and whores, laughing knights and servant girls. In the mirth of the feast, his father sat at the head of the table, his grim, wrinkled face lit with a smile.

Peace, he thought, for now.

Across the table, his brother Tancredi silently sipped at his wine, eating nothing. Margherita sat beside him, looking equally grim. Ever since the peace with the Byzantines was announced, it looked like both Martino’s brother and father were withering away. Athens seemed alive with jubilance, as weary men returned home from war.

“Greece is ours now, soon we will have the treasures of Venice filling our coffers.” Even at seventy, King Ruggero talked of war.

“Who will lead the attack, father?” Martino had little interest in more war, Athens had sated any thirst he felt for battle.

“The lad, Francesco de Taranto. Even now, his army readies for a march on Ragusa.”

“Cousin Francesco? We were all children when I last saw him.” Tancredi speech was slowed with drink.

“I remember that, back in Sicily. He got into a fight with the stable boy and was beaten so bad he pissed himself.” Martino remembered how Francesco had cried that day.

“Yes, he came crying to father, saying Uncle! Uncle! The stable boy made me piss my breeches!” With Tancredi’s words, the whole table bellowed with laughter, some of the nobles spilling wine on the table.

Martino could not help but smile to see his brother laugh. It must have been the first time he’d seen him laugh in years. Martino had been at Crete for the last five years of the Byzantine War. Travelling between there and Athens, he’d learned the finer arts of politics. He knew he was no warrior.

Son, you were almost killed at Athens, his father had told him. Such recklessness is un-Kingly, and while there is a time for courage, it must not be suicidal. A Byzantine sword had nearly claimed his life, but a quick thrust from his bodyguard saved him. After Athens, he was sent to Crete by his father, who told him one cannot hope to govern a kingdom if he cannot even govern an island. On Crete, you alone will rule and you will learn to administrate. Martino knew that his father was anxious over succession. Both he and Tancredi produced only daughters, and though they loved them greatly, daughters could not inherit the throne. It was no secret that his father was dying, Martino knew that he could at least name his brother heir upon becoming king, but he knew that in the coming decade there would be nobles plotting to steal his throne, and at the very worst, a civil war. He was told stories by his father about the civil war in Naples, and how vulnerable it had made Sicily.

Foreign war is always a good distraction from the schemes of nobles. Martino knew that the war with Venice would solve that problem. He also knew that the coffers from the Venetian war would allow the armies to rebuild and allow for another march against the Byzantines.

By night’s end, the feast was over and most of the guests had run off with whores or lay in the feast hall in drunken sleep. Martino left his wife sleeping in their chamber and walked out into the hallway of the palace. He waved away his guards and made his way to a storage room. He gave three sharp knocks and opened it to find his brother. The candle Tancredi was holding filled the room with a dim light, which was just bright enough to show the ragged look on his brother’s face.

“Whatever I tell or show you must not reach father’s ears while he is still on this earth.” Tancredi began. “I will seek his forgiveness when I join him in death, but he cannot spend his last days in pain. Promise me this.”

“Aye, brother.” Martino nodded. “What did you call me here for?”

“I do not know what I have done to displease the Lord.” Tancredi set down the candle on a table. “But whatever my sin was, it will harm the realm.” He moved his hand over the fire.

“Brother, your hand!” Tancredi did not move his hand.

“There is no pain.” As Tancredi slowly pulled his hand away from the fire to examine the burn, the realization set on Martino.

“You are…a leper?”

“Yes brother, I will not be able to inherit the throne. When war with the Byzantines begins again I wish to be on the frontlines.”

“Are you sure it’s leprosy?”

“The healers are sure of it. I am an aberration in the eyes of God. I will must die fighting heretics.”

Martino mulled on what this would mean for the family, the kingdom. When this became known, the house of Ruggero would lose the throne. Only one word escaped his lips.

[Alwyn]

You conjure up the sights and sounds of the feast very effectively. It sounds like Tancredi's discovery of his condition will have significant repercussions for himself and others. I look forward to more.