Western Europe was also constantly plagued by wars and succession crises, and every soldier staying with the landed elite is one less soldier fighting our enemies on the front-line. Feudalism doesn't magically give more defensive troops.
Aye they were fighting like mad dogs. But they were not trying to grab the crown for themselves, and most of thier conflicts didn't involve the crown. And any invader had to win over the nobility, the cities and any other feudal power if he didn't want to get harassed or fought to high hell. Whilst in byzantium, if you destroy the army, there's absolutely nothing else to worry about.
Each aristocrat had his retinues, the west had hordes of superbly armed and trained men that they didn't have to pay a dime for. And whilst getting them to join offensives is difficult, you don't even need prodding to have them howling at invaders (unless they had claim)
As for succession crises, those mostly occurred when heirs ran out, and so the cadet branches struck their claims. It wasn't the annual fuck fest of byzantine succession were every man women and child is sharpening knives.
By being pragmatic and taking a page from history.
Power and influence are ephemeral, not absolute values. You can cut in one era and another will flourish. And it's all based on appearance.
The emperor empowering the nobility by his own will, increases his standing rather than decrease.
If giving then power is negative, it when they force us into it, not the other way around.
Power is not just what legal right you hold. Its how highly are you esteemed, how influencial is your word, how deep you coffers, how pristigious your regard.
I just don't believe we should grant such powers during a crisis. Mainly because it skims too closely to being forced into giving power.
When we've repelled the Normans, when we're enticing territories lost to the Ottomans to return to our fold, those are good moments. Especially if we can get other concessions, like support in bringing the church to heel, using our sister-in-law as a pretext to install our brother on the Georgian throne(and ideally having him swear fealty to the purple as King of Georgia but the shared dynastic prestige is also a good reward) or sending their heirs for us to raise(and to ensure good behaviour as hostages).
The legal rights you hold are a tool to power. It allows one to mitigate the loss of esteem and influence when extracting concessions and power from your rivals by simple virtue of it being 'your rightful due'(especially when these rights are old and embedded into the minds of your vassals).
I think we can all agree that our current system as it is is untenable and basically the worst of both worlds between feudalism (decentralized authority) and autocracy (centralized authority). We have dejure but not defacto power in many cases but still have the issue of corrupt administrators and a central weakness. From people are saying there are basically to ways out of this.
The first involves increasing our central authority and bringing our nobles into line, this would involve a stronger central civil service and a professional army while reducing the authority of the nobles. This has advantages such as increasing our personal power and allowing us the players more leeway, it also concentrates the power of the state allowing organized central allocation of resources. This approach does have significant downsides as well though since every step of the way would be opposed by the nobility (which is an issue considering we have an enormous number of external threats), will potentially slow responses to regional problems, make regional administration less efficient and also makes the state more brittle, if the emperor is killed, captured or just incompetent everything goes down the drain.
The second option basically involves giving the nobles both more power and more responsibility, decreasing the monofocus on the emperors position. This has several potential benefits the first is that the nobility will love getting more privileges and power, enough so that for each bit we give them we can probably get serious concessions out of them while also increasing their investment into the empire and how much they like us. Some other advantages are a more flexible administration that is able to respond more quickly to smaller regional problems and will be more invested in their administrative area. This option also reduces the costs we have to pay directly for quality troops since we avoid the inefficiency that direct payment has in this area by essentially paying in land instead. What is also important to note is that not having a central army loyal primarily to the person currently leading and paying it means that it becomes much more difficult for a successful general to simply take over if he can convince the army to support him(something that happened a lot in the roman empire) The downsides to this option include decreased authority for us and decreased central revenue.
Considering how important the decision about which system to go with is going to be for the rest of the game I'd be interested in hearing people opinions about where exactly they see their preferred option going.
Considering how important the decision about which system to go with is going to be for the rest of the game I'd be interested in hearing people opinions about where exactly they see their preferred option going.
Into immediate survival
Like, the goal of this quest the way I see it is surviving next year then surviving next 5 then next 10; plans which are willing to sacrifice short-term advantage for long-term gains are suicidal.
So if the Byzantium will have problems from centralization 100 years later but it will drive nobility away from plotting against us in the short term - it is a wonderful and worthwhile trade. We are one misstep away from TPK and will be here for a decade or more.
[X] Plan: Calculated Obligations -[X] The Dynatoi -[X] The Archontopouloi -[X] Micheal Doukas -[X] The Silk Quarter -[X] The Fall of The Rus -[X] The Empress
[x] plan lets do things via italy
[x] The Latins: lose some trade but it keeps the war of us [x] The Varangians: let babarians kill other of there kind [x] Constantine Dalassenos: trow a bone to mother [x] The Doukai: for the wife [x] The Norman Lords: lets see just how good his spy master is [x] The Empress: happy wife is happy rule
On John Doukas and Manzikert, Byzantium: The Apogee.
"Even after defeat, long term consequences might have been avoided by judicious diplomacy. But those in power in Constantinople, led by Ceasar John Ducas and inspired by the odious Michael Psellus, systematically refused to take the steps that were so obviously necessary. Blinkered by their own smug intellectualism and obsessive personal ambition, they made every mistake, threw away every opportunity offered to them. In doing so they martyed a courageous and upright man who, though no genius, was worth more than all of them put together and could, with their loyalty and support, have saved the situation; and they dealt the Byzantine Empire a blow from which it would never recover."
Well that's a pessimistic outlook. The Roman Empire wasnt doomed since infancy, when the empire grew too large to be administered from one capital that didn't automatical sign the death warrant
Well that's a pessimistic outlook. The Roman Empire wasnt doomed since infancy, when the empire grew too large to be administered from one capital that didn't automatical sign the death warrant
Alright then, votes are CLOSED. The winning vote is [X] Plan Greek Snake. Turn results will be up in a bit, and then on to Turn 2--and the beginning of the Norman Invasion.
Alright then, votes are CLOSED. The winning vote is [X] Plan Greek Snake. Turn results will be up in a bit, and then on to Turn 2--and the beginning of the Norman Invasion.
Well, even though greek snake does pretty much give us the many negatives of both sides with few of the positives of either, at least it's better than letting max's plan win. Salted sheep does sound rather good about now...
In all honesty, I only just realized I needed to get the update out this afternoon due to school stuff which would prevent me from doing it for the next day or so. My infallibility only extends so far, and my grim powers hold no sway in my British Lit class.
However, in hindsight, I do realize that might have been more than a bit abrupt, and I like allowing voters to make closing arguments/final votes so I'll try to issue warnings two/three hours beforehand in the future.
In all honesty, I only just realized I needed to get the update out this afternoon due to school stuff which would prevent me from doing it for the next day or so. My infallibility only extends so far, and my grim powers hold no sway in my British Lit class.
However, in hindsight, I do realize that might have been more than a bit abrupt, and I like allowing voters to make closing arguments/final votes so I'll try to issue warnings two/three hours beforehand in the future.
[X] Plan Greek snake.
-[X] The Turks
-[X] The Archontopouloi
-[X] Tatikios
-[X] The Silk Quarter
-[X] The Anatolian Lords
-[X] The Empress
Turn I Results
You and your Council debate the idea for days, with your mother offering stubborn resistance to the last. While Constantine, your co-emperor and the most powerful of the Doukas after his uncle, is pleased you followed his recommendation, even he is on edge after the final decision is made. You understand how he feels--for over half your life you have fought against the Turks, have led armies to bleed and suffer and die against them. You earned your glory and your prestige in the battlefields of Anatolia against the Turkish sultan Suleyman and his cousin Malik Shah, emperor of Persia.
To ask the hated foe for aid now, in your darkest hour, leaves the bitterest of tastes on your tongue. It is hell, those long weeks that stretch into months, spent waiting--hoping--for a response from those you have so long defied, and so you busy yourself with other matters. First and foremost among these is the creation and training of the first regiment of an Imperial Army, upon which your authority and might shall rest.
In the weeks after your ascension, you scour the empire for the orphans of the Battle of Manzikert. Tatikios, newly appointed to the position of Domestikos ton Scholai, personally leads the search, gathering boys and young men from halfway houses and orphanages across the empire. They come in all shapes, races and sizes--some are men as old as twenty-five, some boys as young as thirteen. All share one unifying trait: each and every one of these men was the son of an officer or commander who fell to the Turks at Manzikert, a living echo of those who gave their lives for the glory of Rome. As such, many received military training from their fathers when they were younger, and some of the oldest even accompanied them on campaigns, and have been marked in battle.
It is Tatikios who seizes upon this fact to begin building up the leadership of the Archontopouloi, over which you have given him full command. Those orphans who can prove their skill and knowledge are promoted to leadership positions over those who cannot, and instruct their younger or less-knowledgeable brothers-in-arms. The son of slaves, he pays little heed to name or title, to the annoyance of those of noble birth. In the new regiment, skill and intelligence become prized over blood or name, as they were in Rome of antiquity. In a matter of months, Tatikios has weeded out the weakest of the strong to form a capable and intelligent officer corps for the regiment, capable of matching some of the empire's most esteemed commanders.
When you were a boy, you marched with your own father on his campaigns as a general of the Empire, so you knew many of the officers who died at Manzikert. You ate with them, laughed with them, and fought with them. You watched them all die, the swords of the Turk before them and the blades of the Normans behind them.
Now, watching the regiment, 5,000 men strong, march and train with clockwork precision in the barracks of the Imperial Palace, you see those men's faces once more, reflected younger and fresher in the faces of their sons, as if they have been reborn to die for Rome again. This is the first regiment of your new army. These are the sons of those who came before. These are your Archontopouloi.
Diplomacy: The Domestic of the Schools
1d100 + (Diplomat: Anna Dalassnos) + (Diplomat Modifier: The Empress Dowager) - (Modifier: A Slave Over Lords) = 83
Needed: 80
Result: Close Success.
Your mother, however, is not as impressed by your new forces as you and many of the nobility seem to be. While able and competent, she insists, Tatikios is an insult many of the dynatoi will not simply take lying down.
The very day you make his appointment official, she holds no less than twelve meetings with powerful nobles within the city, as well as several generals who now feel they have been overlooked or spurned. You have seen your mother hard at work forging alliances and diplomatic deals, but never like this. Her voice is like a dagger wrapped in the softest silk, luring her foes off guard, and then jabbing for their hearts. Even those of the dynatoi most soured by your appointment of Tatikios are somehow brought around to her way of seeing things, and indeed, one or two even throw their support behind him. It is a close thing, but in the space of a single fortnight, the majority of the dynatoi of the city have put the appointment of Tatikios behind them. An issue that under a stronger emperor might have still been cause for dissension, if not open rebellion, has vanished or been contained within a matter of days, and you have only one person to thank, the same person you have to thank for your life and your throne.
Your mother is not as easily mollified as the lords she has so recently worked her magic upon, however. You have ignored her advice in both the matter of the Turks and with Tatikios, and now you are treated to stares like knives from across the Council Chambers, and frigid silences that say more than a thousand words. Your mother has always gotten her way, always, with her husband and all of her children, and it is beyond clear that she does not believe the Imperial office has changed matters.
I'm evil, so I feel fine telling you you weren't supposed to win that. The Slave Over Lords Modifier was -25. Anna's monstrous (and historically accurate) diplo skill of 35 (half of which is her modifier for diplo rolls) carried the day, and then some.
Your co-emperor, Constantine, busies himself with the task of righting your Empire's falling finances. With your trade routes under attack from both the Latins and the Turks, it is imperative to pump up the production of those commodities over which the Empire has a monopoly. The most lucrative of these commodities has always been Roman Silk. Centuries ago, silkworms from the far East were smuggled into Constantinople, and in the millennia since, they have become the heart of a booming silk trade centered on the city. In recent years, the trade has declined, as a rapid sequence of wars and succession crises centered around the City have drained it's resources.
Under your command, Constantine invests 10,000 coins from the Imperial treasury into the redevelopment of the Silk Quarter, the vast array of buildings and shops where the silk merchants ply their closely guarded art. With the loan, the silk weavers can purchase new equipment to replace their old or outdated pieces, enabling the production of higher quality silk at a faster rate. Silk is the sign of royalty the world over, and as word spreads that Byzantine silk is becoming more and more readily available at cheaper prices, there is a veritable boom in silk trade.
With silk, however, comes gold, with gold comes power, and with power comes those who would control it. A group of silk merchants and traders, finding themselves in a position of newfound importance, have come together to form a powerful group which they call the Prinkapes ton Metaxion, the Guild of Silk. They are led by an ambitious merchant from the Silk Quarter, born with the name of Herakleos Lazaroupolos and known better as Kyános (lit. The Blue)--so called for the magnificent robes of cerulean silk he routinely wears. This new group claims to represent all the silk traders, or at least those which matter, and seeks to air their concerns, grievances, and requests before the Emperor. They have used the trade to grow in power and influence, and, Constantine warns at a meeting of the Council, will soon be a power to reckon with.
Intrigue: The Anatolian Lords (Turn 1 of 6)
1d100 + (Spymaster: John Doukas) + (Modifier: Byzantine Intrigues) + (Modifier: On Greek Neck, A Turkish Yoke) = 107
Needed: 60
Result: Critical Success
Reports from agents of the Skrinion ton Barbaron in Asia Minor, the former eastern possessions of the Empire, are overwhelmingly positive. Having expanded so quickly and so rapidly into the Anatolian themes, the Turks were forced to preserve many of the local governments and organizations in order to prevent a collapse into lawlessness. Agents within the borders of the false Sultanate of Rum, as the Turks style themselves, say that those Greek and Christian peoples who remain call themselves still Romans, and that many, from the lowest farmer to to the wealthiest lord, keep hidden arms close by in hope of rebellion, and pray each and every night for the restoration of their lands to Imperial rule. Some, however, have taken it upon themselves to do even more. In Nicaea, the most populous city in Anatolia, which the corrupt Emperor Botaniates sold to the Turk for aid in his wars, resistance is greatest and fiercest. For centuries, Nicaea was a religious and cultural center for the Empire, second only to Constantinople itself, and though the Turks have made it their capital in Anatolia, it's people are still Romans, through and through.
By contacting and encouraging political dissidents and malcontents in Nicaea, the Skrinion ton Barbaron has essentially tapped into a ready-made spy network of loyal Romans across all strata of society, from lowest slave to mightiest lord. Your Caesar, John Doukas, boasts that with a little work, he could know what the Sultan had for breakfast before the Sultan himself. Of course, boasts aside, he warns, you must take care. Building this spy network is simply the first step in making inroads with those few Greeks who remain in positions of influence or power within the Empire. Any overt action on the Empire's part could bring it all crumbling down.
Nevertheless, it's very existence is a masterstroke of political intrigue, and you reward your Caesar with a small monetary sum and a title of middling prestige for one of his grandchildren.
Personal: The Empress
2d100+(Diplomatic Skill)+(Modifier: Patient)+(For Both Our Houses)+(Both Zealous)= 77
Needed: 60
Result: Moderate Success
Affairs of state and war aside, even in this time of crisis, you understand that you must make time to spend with your wife. The alliance with the Doukai, upon which your throne so precariously rests, hinges on your marriage and the children it is hoped to bring forth. Apart from that, the Empress is customarily the Emperor's regent when he is away at war, and his chief diplomatic officer. While both such positions are currently taken by your mother, establishing a greater trust with your wife could be the first step towards breaking your mother's diplomatic stranglehold.
To that end, you begin to pay her visits during your rare moments of free time. Accompanied only by a token guard of Varangians and a dozen or so of her handmaidens, you walk through the flowering Gardens of the Imperial Palace, along the shimmering waters of the Bosporus. Surrounded by plants and trees brought from the furthest corners of an Empire that once stretched across the known world, you get to know your wife.
Though she is young and softspoken, you quickly find out that her initial shyness hides a wellspring of knowledge and opinion. She is intelligent and well-educated in many of the classics, often quoting Cicero and Marcus Aurelius in your long, wandering conversations that stretch from history to theology to politics and back. When it comes to those subjects that, due to her youth, she lacks knowledge in, she is more than eager to listen and learn. Perhaps the foremost of the traits which she expresses to you during these meetings is a love of books, and of the written word in general. After one of your walks, you assign a eunuch to her Quarters in the palace to retrieve her whatever books she wishes from the Palace Libraries, at any hour of day or night. While she says nothing of it aloud, on your next walk she greets you with a soft kiss to the cheek.
Time flies as you get the first affairs of your reign in order. Days become weeks become months, and in time the days grow shorter, the nights grow longer, and one chilly morning, you wake to the sight of Turkish galleys, black and batlike, floating in the Bosporus. The shadow of their sails falls darkly over your small trading ships, like the shadow of their empires over the remnant of Rome. There are only seven in all, and they fly banners of peace and parley as they near your docks. With a heavy heart, you send your Caesar, John Doukas, to the docks to receive them, and it is he who escorts the Turkish delegation to your throne room in the Imperial Palace.
The leader of their group is a tall Turk with a shaved chin and hair cut short in the Greek style, an aberration among the long-braided Turkmen he leads. His peculiar appearance sparks a memory in your mind, but you remember after a moment's thought where it is you know him from. Of old, he was a soldier in the court of the Emperor Botaniates, who won laurels and glory in his service. After you rose to power, he fled Constantinople along with many of the former Emperor's closest allies, and must have returned to the service of his native people. His fellow Turkmen call him Chaka Bey, but you know him by his Greek name: Tzachas.
He is the envoy of the great Sultan of Rum, Suleyman Seljuq, and he comes bearing a message from his lord. The Turks of Rum have heard the call of the Greeks for aid, and, he says, who is Suleyman of Rum to deny the King of the Greeks? His son, Kilij Arslan, marches from Nicaea, across the Bosporus Strait, with 10,000 men to aid against the Norman infidel, while Tzachas himself shall take command of a Turkish fleet of 300 and throw them back into the sea.
Thinly-veiled insults aside, Suleyman has made steps to ease your worries. The Sultanate of Rum can muster perhaps 20,000 men in it's eastern territories, roughly the same amount as the entirety of the Basilea Romaion. By sending 10,000 of that force to fight alongside you, he leaves that frontier open, yet not defenseless--as you will leave your own borders open when you, by necessity, pull all your forces from the themes to battle the Normans. With his western territories busy fighting against his Turkish cousins in Syria and the Levant, it is essentially impossible for him to invade Byzantium without leaving himself open to attack from other sides, just as you could not invade him now without risking attack from your other enemies.
For now, at least, the Turk and the Greek are uneasy allies, and not a moment too late. A mere week after Tzachas arrives and you send out the orders to rally the themata, news arrives from Italy. Robert Guiscard has finished assembling his army of conscripts and mercenaries, and unified his squabbling lords towards a single purpose--the fall of the Basilea Romaion.
Aww.
