Chapter 8.1
Alexios Palaiologos, Early Reign
In many ways, Alexios Palaiologos had a nearly impossible task ahead of him, upon ascending the throne. Certainly, he was far from ill-prepared for it. He and his brother had both been trained, almost from the moment of awakening in Arcadia, to potentially take the throne. Constantine had known he would have no children. He had prepared for it. However, no amount of preparation would be enough to change a simple fact. Alexios would have to take the throne from a man so beloved, he was already being venerated as a Saint before the Church officially declared him one. The man who had saved the Empire from certain death and destruction, and created so many of the morals and beliefs it would thrive on, in this New World. Was it, indeed, any wonder that Alexios felt the pressure of such a task?
For all of this, he rose to the occasion. Perhaps he was well-trained enough to succeed. Perhaps he was the right man for the time. Perhaps, in the end, he got lucky. Continued exploration and consolidation meant continuing the practices and goals of Constantine. It would not be Alexios, who turned away from that. It would be Alexios who continued what his Uncle had begun, and forged the Empire into a state that could weather anything thrown at it. If Constantine saved the Empire from destruction...his Nephew was the one who lay the foundations for what it would, one day, become...
--From 'The Emperors of Rome in the West, 1453-1900'. 1962, Dragases University Press.
Alexios Palaiologos was never intended to become Emperor. He was in the City mostly for studying, and because of the Siege preventing any possibility of returning to his family in Morea.
[1] He was never anything but the nephew of the Emperor. A nephew who came from an even lower position than most, as his father was not even second or third in line for the throne, after Constantine. In the event that Constantinople had continued on as it had, a restless- though nominally independent -vassal of the Turkish Sultans...it was entirely probable he never would have seen the throne. Constantine would have married the Georgian princess, and sired children of his own. Alexios would have returned to Morea, and perhaps, lead a life of a soldier or a scholar. Or any number of things.
Instead, the City was saved, and Constantine would never produce a proper heir. Alexios would, by virtue of being the next oldest child of the Palaiologos Dynasty, be designated heir by his Uncle.
Upon the death of his uncle, Alexios was a man in the prime of his life. Nary more than thirty years of age, he was substantially younger than his uncle had been upon
his ascent to the throne. A younger man, though a less ambitious man. Growing up in the shadow of Constantine had given Alexios something of an inferiority complex. He believed, not incorrectly, that he would never live up to his uncle's grand legacy. It would have been foolish to even try, as it may have done more harm to the Empire than good, to try and overtake such an illustrious life. No. Alexios, whatever his personal feelings, was concerned more with
preserving his uncle's legacy, than with
surpassing it.
[2] It was, in this line of thought, that the new Emperor focused on consolidating Rome's grip on Elysium Bay and on expanding yet further. The practices of integration would continue, in regards to the scattered tribes of Natives. The far-reaching exploration of men such as Cappelli would continue under his reign.
In many ways, Alexios would
encourage these explorations, more than his uncle had.
Constantine, forever locked in the mindset of the Siege and the Miracle, had been a man obsessed with safety. He worked tirelessly to create a safe haven for the Romans- and, eventually, the
Ohlone and other smaller tribes. When he sent expeditions out, it was to make sure that there were no Turks lurking in the distance. That his City had truly moved to a new Eden, a new safe haven. Exploration, to Constantine, was always about
safety and
discovery. To Alexios, exploration was about
expansion. To push the borders of Rome further and further, to find resources and to preserve the work his illustrious predecessor had begun.
During the early days of his reign, Alexios would go on many of these expeditions himself. He had, in his youth, married a scion of the old Laskaris line and had already produced an heir. Unlike his uncle, he saw no problem in leaving the City, if necessary. He had secured his family line. Now it was time to secure the Empire they lived in, and for that, he felt that it was necessary to see the land himself. He ventured among the declining- if slowly recovering -
Ohlone population. He became close friends with the son of a Chieftain of the
Mutsun tribe. This friendship, and the more adventurous nature of his youth, saw Alexios explore the forests on the southern portion of Elysium Bay. It was the Emperor, in point of fact, who founded several fishing settlements on this portion of the Bay. He was more familiar with the land of his Empire, the core of it, than many of the famous explorers.
It was largely the efforts of his brother, Basil, that prevented him from going on the voyages of Cappelli and the other famous explorers.
Exploration and consolidation aside, Alexios- in his early reign -is also famous for codifying many of the laws relating to interaction with Native people of Arcadia. Constantine operated primarily on the love of his people, and his seemingly divine mandate of civilizing the primitive people he had discovered. No one would dare say no to him. Many believed he was in the right, in what he did. Alexios was one of them, however, he knew that when the first generations had passed...that feeling may well fade away. Would a Roman born in the next century, care as much about what Constantine had desired? Would a Roman who had been raised in a society with Natives already integrated, believe there was a pressing need to integrate more? These questions haunted Alexios, after he returned from an expedition, and after he met many Natives on his own time. It was this, and his friendship with the
Mutsun boy, that pushed him into the 'lawmaker' role.
It should come as, relatively, little surprise that the 'Alexios Codex' was put together, entirely for this purpose.
[3] Alexios would codify the actions of Constantine, the fears the previous Emperor had put into his journals, and the support of the Church, into a set of laws. Laws that called for the protection of Native populations, and the punishments for those who attempted to murder or steal their way into controlling Native land. Natives were to be treated as any other citizen of the Empire, and if they happened to be a tribe
outside of the Empire, all actions must be taken to bring them
in. None of this was new, of course. Alexios merely...made it official policy, that it would take a similar act of an Emperor to dismantle. Even then, what Emperor would go against Constantine's wishes? What Emperor could expect the people to follow him, if he did so?
Furthermore, Alexios worked with the Patriarch to settle a dispute on how to convert the Natives, and what role they should play in the Church itself. With the overtly religious nature of Constantinople's relocation, it was little surprise that the Church pushed for more power, once Constantine had passed. There was a certain desire, by the Patriarchate, to have full control over how to treat Natives. Alexios was willing to grant that, with the promise that persecution would be minimal. Converting by the Sword may have worked, for the Latins, but it would not do for the Arcadians. If the Rus could be converted by their own rulers, then Alexios saw little reason why the Natives could not do the same. They must
want to become Christians, before they would be
forced to become such.
These are, of course, just two examples of the Codex. Alexios put equal effort into reforging the Roman military and civil services.
All of these early efforts would, naturally, come to pay off when Alexios began to near the later periods of his reign. As he grew older and wiser, he continued to consolidate and expand the Empire. It was, in fact, in the process of doing so...that the Romans would first meet the people's of the South. People who would fascinate, and disgust, the Romans in equal measure.
"They worship the Devil, truly. As good Christians, how are we supposed to react to this? Should we let them be, to rot in their own damnation? Or should we attempt to save them, as we have saved so many others?"
Alexios spoke those words, when Cappelli returned from a voyage to where he had first seen the strange people, on the coast of an even stranger land. The first contact with people who would become some of the first enemies of the Empire in Arcadia...and some, who would become steadfast allies.
1. When contact was regained with Europe, the descendants of Alexios were quite curious of what happened to their family in Morea. They would be shocked when they found out.
2. Some believe that Alexios always labored under the annoyance that he would never, ever, be as well known as his Uncle. Others that he was not prideful enough to care, and quite content with the lot he had been given. All agree that the Emperor threw everything he had into preserving what Constantine had begun, through both the Codex and his actions on the fringes of the Empire.
3. The 'Alexios Codex' is a set of laws that continue to be followed, if in modified form, to this day. The codified methods of working with the Natives. The reorganization of the Roman Military. The Civil Services set up by the Codex. The relation between the Crown and the Church. All of these had their basis in the actions of Alexios, in many ways.
AN: Admittedly, not a whole lot of new stuff here. However, I felt that Alexios would basically go for 'consolidate and codify' for his early reign. He needs to make certain that what Constantine did on his 'divine right' would not be torn away, by mortal men. Thus, the stuff with the natives and all that.
Also, I didn't drop that hint about Cappelli seeing natives in 'Mexico' for no reason. 
Next chapter will be the promised one for him, and then after that, part two of Alexios. All three will be sub-parts to the greater 'Chapter 8'. Which is why this is Chapter 8.1.
