2010
Constantinople
ERE
Imperial palace of the Kommenians
Constantine XXI Komnenos was hurriedly packing his clothes He had to escape soon or else he would be killed. His sister Maria Komnenos had staged a coup after bribing the Varangian guard and was now marching on the palace. Constantine was about to flee when suddenly he heard the door opening. He was too late.
Maria Komnene had been plotting to take the throne aged 22 she was pretty and evil who wanted to be an empress rivaling the Empress Zoë Komnenos who in the 17th century expanded Byzantine borders into east Africa. She had around her the Varangian guard who soon surrounded Constantine. “ SO Brother it its a pity that I have to kill you”
“ Maria sister why empress” Constantine tried stalling but it was futile. Maria rose her hand “ Shut up brother, guards shoot him.” The Varangians opened fire with their M16 assault rifles. Constantine soon slumped to the floor with multiple bullet wounds across his body. Maria smiled as she seized the Rhomanoi throne as Maria IV Kommneos. However in a couple years she too would be overthrown.
Now I am the Historian Lysandros Attianus and I would like you all too know that the Kommenoi by around the 1800s were a intriguing bunch who plotted, schemed, and really just tried overthrowing each other because they wanted the throne for themselves. As of now we are the last Absolute Monarchy and Byzantine lands are vast with relative peace and prosperity except of course for the recurring coups that occur. Most people have gotten used to the life and the patriarch prays for the goodwill of the new emperor or another Kommenian even though he knows the poor chap will overthrow empress. This occurs mainly because the kommenoi married into many royal houses like Angeloi and Doukas, so you get a lot of Kommenoi dynasty branches running around and in each branch there is always some schemer who wants the throne for him or her. Another reason is that the Byzantine policy was relatively lenient, whenever they conquered some country or Kingdom they would immediately marry some Kommenian to that countries princess, prince, or leaders daughters and guarantee Roman citizenship for that country.. So in such a way you have various royal house I myself have lost track but there is an Indian Kommenoi branch, American royal branch, South American branch, various central American branches, southeast Asian branches, Chinese branches, many Africans branches and so you have many Kommenians who all vied for the throne so since the 1500s some poor Kommenian emperor takes the throne and in a couple years gets overthrown by some other Kommenian whether it is sister, brother, cousin, distant relative, etc, Basically the only people who benefited were the Varangians. Usually most would be emperors promised lots of power and bribes to Varangians and if you secured the Varangian loyalty you were guaranteed the Roman throne. However you couldn’t be an idiot to seize the throne so although various coups occurred usually the people who threw the coups had special talents and were extremely cunning and wise so technically the coups were a good thing because they kept an endless supply of Scheming, smart, cunning, and sometimes brutal emperors and empresses. Anyway I will tell you how it came to be but we must go way back to about a millennia ago, During the reign of Alexius I Kommenos the first true Kommenos who truly kick started this whole dynasty which has ruled Byzantium for nearly 1000 years, and the Kommenoi are one of the oldest surviving European dynasties.
In the year of 1081 at the fierce battle of Dyrrachium the Normans under Robert Guiscard and Bohemund received a crushing defeat at the hands of the current emperor of the Romans Alexius I Kommnenos. In the night when Alexius held meetings with his senior officials George Paleolougaie who had escaped the city warned Alexius to caution something the other Rhomanoi officials agreed with. Alexius heeded their word and soon the Byzantines waited. The Normans were given false news that the Byzantines would attack from the rear so Guiscard and Bohemunnd launched an assault at Alexius camp from the flank. Alexius revised his battle plan and split his forces into three divisions. However the battle would end in his favor. Under the brilliant leadership of Nikepheros Mellisenos the Byzantine flank completely crushed Bohemund’s force and Bohemund himself was killed in the ensuing battle. The other two fronts were full of Byzantine skirmishing in which George beat back the Normans. The varangians who knew what was occurring were cautious instead of charging with their battle-axes they soon held ground. Guiscard saw Alexius in the center of the army with an open flank and soon charged with his knights however the Varangians had been in battle positions yards away form Alexius. At the order of the head varangian the Varangians charged swing heavy battle-axe that soon overran the Norman knights and Guiscard himself was beheaded. With both Bohemund and Guiscard dead, Bohemund’s wife who was trying to rally the troops had her head taken off by an arrow. With the leaders of the Normans dead the Norman army broke rank and soon Dyrachium ended in a complete Byzantine victory. At sea even greater news reached Byzantium; The Venetians who were allies to Byzantium and had been promised many royalties soon had their fleet engage the Sicilian fleet, which was soon sunk by superior Venetian tactics at sea. Thus the Norman invasion was a complete failure, However Alexius knew he could not attack Sicily himself and instead left that task to Nikephoros while he left for Constantinople to prepare an invasion against the encroaching Turks. Soon the Byzantine invasion of Sicily under Nikephoros began.
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In otl the battle was a complete loss for the Byzantines but in this tl Alexius listens to his generals advise and the varangians don’t charge stupidly and get too far away from the main force only to get cut down by Guiscard and his knights. So what do you think…..