A New Alexiad: Tarkhaneiotes Triumphant
- Thread starter Eparkhos
- Start date
Well that campaign was kind of a bust, at least it wasn't completely fruitless for the Rhomans though. Though he probably could have waited a bit more for when Nikoyla returns and coordinate a war togheter.
I actually enjoy it a lot actually. Though I wish it were more narrative oriented. Maybe you could have a chronicler show the perspective and motivations of the Latins and the Romans. In some ways it features like an AAR (An after action report) which has its own benefits and disadvantages.
I feel like some chapters detailing the profiles of each historical figure would be a nice touch. This would give readers insight into the mindset and strategy of the Tarcheneiotoi. I think it would be really cool to explore the politics behind the scenes. After all the Palaiologian Renaissance and Restoration of the Empire was severely hindered by the Pronoia system especially because Michael VIII made the pronoia hereditary. The Palailogian renaissance created a culturally rich Empire overall, but the State was severely impoverished and bottle-necked due to the loss of tax revenue. This issue came to a head during the 2nd Palaiologian Civil War which doomed the Romans to be effectively a rump state. The aristocracy would likely want to guard their land rights and would not want to support the Emperor if they see them as threatening their interests.
What's the status of the Anatolian frontier? I feel like this would be critical for the Empire to focus on rather than the Balkans as their military and economic apparatus ever since the days of Heraclians had been tied to this region.
The Turks also seem to be unified now which poses a threat to the Empire's Anatolian holdings as the now have a coastline into the Ioanian Sea. Are Turkish Raids going to be increasing now with the Romans seemingly focusing on the European frontier.
What are the internal politics like for that massive brown blob of a state (The United Kingdom of Poland, Hungary, and Bohemia)? Are the nobles in each state competing for their own interests? Is the state unified under the monarch? A state like that is both a massive threat and a potential boon to the Romans. Its size alone makes it a rival for the HRE.
The Holy Roman Emperor historically saw his authority heighten when there was a massive threat on its doorstep forcing the other German princes to rally around him for protection. If that massive state on their border stays intact along with the HRE, wouldn't that serve as an impetus for the HRE to centralize into a nation state. France's national identity only really became prominent after the Hundred Years War where the beat invasions by the English.
Also @Eparkhos_Ton_Trapezous, Happy Thanksgiving!
Eparkhos
Banned
@Basileus_Komnenos
First, Happy Thanksgiving to you too.
In response to the first question, I'm toying with doing A New New Alexiad after Alexios VI kicks the bucket, and if I wind up doing it it will be primarily narrative. I'm also considering just doing a complete stylistic overhaul, with character updates, battle updates and maybe narrative bits. I've been trying to come up with a way to show palace intrigues without breaking with my previous method, so if I do an overhaul then that will be very prominent (In 1314 alone, Sabbas and his hormones nearly started a pan-European war.
In response to the second question, the interim between 1304 and 1314 had been fairly peaceful in Anatolia. What few raiders crossed the border were quickly driven off by akritoi companies. The major coastal cities (Ephesos, Smyrna, Nikomedia, Pontoherakleia, Sinope & Trapezous) have become centers of trade, many hosting Ankonan trade posts and bringing in a pretty penny for the Empire in trade tax alone. The major cities of the hinterland (Philadelphia, Proussa, & Nikaea) have become garrison towns, with the influx of noble officers and their servants creating a population and economic boom.
Alexios hasn't really been focusing on Europe, it's just that the last decade has been very quiet in Anatolia, with the Amytzantarioi rising being the only major martial event.
In regards to the Turks, there will be both more raids and more migrations, as Nikolya starts pressing in from the east. However, unlike OTL, the local Rhomans will be able to remain in place and either assimilate the new migrants or create a hybrid culture, I haven't decided yet. In regard to the Ioanian remark, Mesut actually has been building a fleet, with over two dozen ships on the slips in Antalya and Silifike, the Sultanate's primary ports. However, they don't have a very strong maritime culture, so it'll take a couple years for them to make good use of them. And even if they can get an operating fleet soon, it may be to little use...
The internal politics of the Slavano-Magyaric Union (My working name for the Hungary-Bohemia-Poland-Croatia) are... insane. The oligarchs in Hungary are tearing each other to bits to determine who will be the next to launch a failed insurrection against Vaclav, the Poles are trying to expand their own power at the expense of both Vaclav and each other, the Bohemian nobles are running roughshod over the rights of the peasants as Vaclav had been forced to give them more rights so they didn't screw up the Hungarian war, which is causing peasant rebellions to spark up in Moravia. Oh, and the Croatians have converted en masse to militant Bogomilism, and are currently preparing for a holy war to either kill or convert everyone else on the planet.
The HRE is still dis-unified, as the German nobles have correctly identified the SMU as too weak to pose a serious threat are currently going about their merry civil war ways. If Vaclav is able to get his kingdoms together, then they might start to unify.
First, Happy Thanksgiving to you too.
In response to the first question, I'm toying with doing A New New Alexiad after Alexios VI kicks the bucket, and if I wind up doing it it will be primarily narrative. I'm also considering just doing a complete stylistic overhaul, with character updates, battle updates and maybe narrative bits. I've been trying to come up with a way to show palace intrigues without breaking with my previous method, so if I do an overhaul then that will be very prominent (In 1314 alone, Sabbas and his hormones nearly started a pan-European war.
In response to the second question, the interim between 1304 and 1314 had been fairly peaceful in Anatolia. What few raiders crossed the border were quickly driven off by akritoi companies. The major coastal cities (Ephesos, Smyrna, Nikomedia, Pontoherakleia, Sinope & Trapezous) have become centers of trade, many hosting Ankonan trade posts and bringing in a pretty penny for the Empire in trade tax alone. The major cities of the hinterland (Philadelphia, Proussa, & Nikaea) have become garrison towns, with the influx of noble officers and their servants creating a population and economic boom.
Alexios hasn't really been focusing on Europe, it's just that the last decade has been very quiet in Anatolia, with the Amytzantarioi rising being the only major martial event.
In regards to the Turks, there will be both more raids and more migrations, as Nikolya starts pressing in from the east. However, unlike OTL, the local Rhomans will be able to remain in place and either assimilate the new migrants or create a hybrid culture, I haven't decided yet. In regard to the Ioanian remark, Mesut actually has been building a fleet, with over two dozen ships on the slips in Antalya and Silifike, the Sultanate's primary ports. However, they don't have a very strong maritime culture, so it'll take a couple years for them to make good use of them. And even if they can get an operating fleet soon, it may be to little use...
The internal politics of the Slavano-Magyaric Union (My working name for the Hungary-Bohemia-Poland-Croatia) are... insane. The oligarchs in Hungary are tearing each other to bits to determine who will be the next to launch a failed insurrection against Vaclav, the Poles are trying to expand their own power at the expense of both Vaclav and each other, the Bohemian nobles are running roughshod over the rights of the peasants as Vaclav had been forced to give them more rights so they didn't screw up the Hungarian war, which is causing peasant rebellions to spark up in Moravia. Oh, and the Croatians have converted en masse to militant Bogomilism, and are currently preparing for a holy war to either kill or convert everyone else on the planet.
The HRE is still dis-unified, as the German nobles have correctly identified the SMU as too weak to pose a serious threat are currently going about their merry civil war ways. If Vaclav is able to get his kingdoms together, then they might start to unify.
Mesut III: A Profile in Pragmatism
Eparkhos
Banned
Mesut III: A Profile in Pragmatism
A painting of Mesut, created by the Nekayan court painter Konstantin Kapıdağlı in 1807.
Mesut III Menteshid is one of the great figures of both Turkish and Nekayan history, ranking alongside Alp Arslan and Kayqubad I. During his remarkable life, he raised himself from the co-ruler of a minor tribe in Karia to the resurrector of the Sultanate of Rum as a cohesive political state. He also reformed the Rumite military into a fighting force capable of fighting the Il-Khanate on equal footing and fending off the Eleventh Crusade, leading to the re-emergence of Rum as a force to be reckoned with on the geo-political stage.
He was born the sixth of seven sons to Menteshe, the Bey of Karia. However, through a combination of guile and a willingness to reach out to outside forces, he was able to dethrone his brothers and rise from Governor of Finike in 1282 to Bey of Karia in 1292. Twice during the civil wars, he allied himself with the future Alexios VI, in his role as Strategos of the Thrakesion, and used Genoese converts to create a small fleet, but still one strong enough to defend his port cities.
Between 1292 and 1296, he used his famous charisma and guile to convince the Oghuz peasants of much of the south-west to revolt against and drive out their Turkmen overlords, inviting Mesut in in their place. With such a power-base secured, he was able to compete on an equal footing with the Karamanid and Canikid Beyliks during the civil war following the death of Mesut II and the extinction of the Seljuk dynasty in 1296.
Mesut is as cagey as ever, striking quickly overland and sweeping aside the two armies sent against him before reaching the Canikid capital. Then, when both a Canikid army and a force of Turkmen exiles trap him a few miles to the west, he is able to play them off each other and escape with few casualties. Mesut is then able to use this disaster to gain a level of Rhoman support, ceding a small strip of land in Karia in exchange for being able to use the Rhoman border to circumnavigate the defenses of the other warring beyliks. He then turns and drives the Karamanids back over the border before beating both the Canikids and Karamanids into submission by the end of 1299, securing his position as the chief power broker in Anatolia. He is crowned Sultan Mesut III of Rum before that year is out.
When the Il-Khan invades in 1301 to install his own man upon the throne of Rum, Mesut is able to conserve Rumite strength by bringing the Rhomans to fight his battles for him. Even after his capture, he is able to convince the Il-Khan to spare him by showing himself as the only thing holding Rum together, resulting in him avoiding the executioner's blade and instead being imprisoned longitude Tarkhaneiotes in Tabriz.
After Arghan's death in 1304, both escape and flee back to Anatolia. Mesut and his son play the ghazis off of both each other and the Rhomans, allowing the Sultanate to stabilize. He also began reforming the army from a force of aristocratic mounted archers to a meritocratic force composed of both mounted archers, heavy cavalry, and mounted infantry; This was supported by a system of taxed, non-hereditary land grants based off of the old Seljuk ziamets: However, unlike the Seljuks, this system was used to support different classes of soldiers rather than just provincial governors: Officers were given ziamets in exchange for maintaining companies of 100 men; timars for 500 and hassi for 1,000. These groups were to be composed of 1/10 heavy cavalry, 4/10 mounted infantry and 5/10 mounted archers.
This system was able to maintain a cohesive army even through the Rhoman invasion of 1314, putting several hosts to flight and nearly winning the war at several points through-out the seven year conflict: In fact, most historians believe that if were not for the creation and deployment of the Kapnodokhoi in 1318, the Rumites would have eventually won the war. Even when the string of defeats between 1319 and 1321, culminating at Konya in August 1321 forced him to surrender, he was still able to able to retain most of the border lands and lose only the plains around Attaleia.
Mesut then set about building a navy to secure the Rumite coast, using similar methods to the genesis of his earlier fleet in Karia. However, he passed before this could happen, dying in 1321 a week after his great counterpart did. He was succeeded by his equally competent son, Orhan I; however, he died in 1324 and was succeeded by the minor Mesut IV, whose regent set about undoing the achievements of Mesut.
In conclusion, Mesut III was one of the great figures of Turkish history, using his cunning and skills to rise from a minor governor of a single city to the Sultan of Rum. He then used deception to weaken the pre-existing nobles, created a new class of military warriors that supported him personally, reform the army into a fighting force the equal of any in the Islamic world. He was able to remain independent from Rhomaion even when the odds seemed dramatically against him. His ability to play others, his quick mind and above all his pragmatism allowed him to better both himself and his country.
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@Basileus_Komnenos - Is this what you had in mind in terms of leader profile?A painting of Mesut, created by the Nekayan court painter Konstantin Kapıdağlı in 1807.
Mesut III Menteshid is one of the great figures of both Turkish and Nekayan history, ranking alongside Alp Arslan and Kayqubad I. During his remarkable life, he raised himself from the co-ruler of a minor tribe in Karia to the resurrector of the Sultanate of Rum as a cohesive political state. He also reformed the Rumite military into a fighting force capable of fighting the Il-Khanate on equal footing and fending off the Eleventh Crusade, leading to the re-emergence of Rum as a force to be reckoned with on the geo-political stage.
He was born the sixth of seven sons to Menteshe, the Bey of Karia. However, through a combination of guile and a willingness to reach out to outside forces, he was able to dethrone his brothers and rise from Governor of Finike in 1282 to Bey of Karia in 1292. Twice during the civil wars, he allied himself with the future Alexios VI, in his role as Strategos of the Thrakesion, and used Genoese converts to create a small fleet, but still one strong enough to defend his port cities.
Between 1292 and 1296, he used his famous charisma and guile to convince the Oghuz peasants of much of the south-west to revolt against and drive out their Turkmen overlords, inviting Mesut in in their place. With such a power-base secured, he was able to compete on an equal footing with the Karamanid and Canikid Beyliks during the civil war following the death of Mesut II and the extinction of the Seljuk dynasty in 1296.
Mesut is as cagey as ever, striking quickly overland and sweeping aside the two armies sent against him before reaching the Canikid capital. Then, when both a Canikid army and a force of Turkmen exiles trap him a few miles to the west, he is able to play them off each other and escape with few casualties. Mesut is then able to use this disaster to gain a level of Rhoman support, ceding a small strip of land in Karia in exchange for being able to use the Rhoman border to circumnavigate the defenses of the other warring beyliks. He then turns and drives the Karamanids back over the border before beating both the Canikids and Karamanids into submission by the end of 1299, securing his position as the chief power broker in Anatolia. He is crowned Sultan Mesut III of Rum before that year is out.
When the Il-Khan invades in 1301 to install his own man upon the throne of Rum, Mesut is able to conserve Rumite strength by bringing the Rhomans to fight his battles for him. Even after his capture, he is able to convince the Il-Khan to spare him by showing himself as the only thing holding Rum together, resulting in him avoiding the executioner's blade and instead being imprisoned longitude Tarkhaneiotes in Tabriz.
After Arghan's death in 1304, both escape and flee back to Anatolia. Mesut and his son play the ghazis off of both each other and the Rhomans, allowing the Sultanate to stabilize. He also began reforming the army from a force of aristocratic mounted archers to a meritocratic force composed of both mounted archers, heavy cavalry, and mounted infantry; This was supported by a system of taxed, non-hereditary land grants based off of the old Seljuk ziamets: However, unlike the Seljuks, this system was used to support different classes of soldiers rather than just provincial governors: Officers were given ziamets in exchange for maintaining companies of 100 men; timars for 500 and hassi for 1,000. These groups were to be composed of 1/10 heavy cavalry, 4/10 mounted infantry and 5/10 mounted archers.
This system was able to maintain a cohesive army even through the Rhoman invasion of 1314, putting several hosts to flight and nearly winning the war at several points through-out the seven year conflict: In fact, most historians believe that if were not for the creation and deployment of the Kapnodokhoi in 1318, the Rumites would have eventually won the war. Even when the string of defeats between 1319 and 1321, culminating at Konya in August 1321 forced him to surrender, he was still able to able to retain most of the border lands and lose only the plains around Attaleia.
Mesut then set about building a navy to secure the Rumite coast, using similar methods to the genesis of his earlier fleet in Karia. However, he passed before this could happen, dying in 1321 a week after his great counterpart did. He was succeeded by his equally competent son, Orhan I; however, he died in 1324 and was succeeded by the minor Mesut IV, whose regent set about undoing the achievements of Mesut.
In conclusion, Mesut III was one of the great figures of Turkish history, using his cunning and skills to rise from a minor governor of a single city to the Sultan of Rum. He then used deception to weaken the pre-existing nobles, created a new class of military warriors that supported him personally, reform the army into a fighting force the equal of any in the Islamic world. He was able to remain independent from Rhomaion even when the odds seemed dramatically against him. His ability to play others, his quick mind and above all his pragmatism allowed him to better both himself and his country.
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Eparkhos
Banned
The SME (Slavano-Magyaric Empire; Poland, Hungary, Bohemia & Croatia) has enough problems for Vaclav to pretty much ignore the Adriatic in favor of trying to keep the Livonians out of Pomerania. The cities of Dalmatia have been left to join either the Dalmatian League (Ragusa's de facto vassals) or fall under the control of the Croatian nobles.