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Anyway guys here is a version two due to many grammar mistakes and errors in the previous tl. I hope new readers will be interested i seing this tl. the opening post is long because it covers everything which happened so far so bear with it The Kommenid Dynasty rules for 1mellenia 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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The Year is 1083 the Brilliant general Nikepheros successfully landed on the shores of Calabria, with an army of some 15000 Roman soldiers. Their mission retakes Byzantine Sicily. The Sicilians suffered many disadvantageous due to the current ruler and his heir who was dead a civil war was raging. This greatly weakened the Sicilian kingdom and by 1095 Apulia, calabria, Abruzzi had all fallen to Roman soldiers. Finally after a bitter siege on August 5th 1096 Napoli surrender
ed. However Nikephoros knew that it would be impossible for Byzantium to keep ll this land and it would be better to create a buffer state in Sicily that would be a puppet of the Romans and act as a buffer against the HRE and the other Italian states. So on December 14th 1086 the treaty of Napoli was signed in which Sicily would be a separate kingdom which was a vassal of Byzantium under Nikepheros and the Melissenos family by the royal decree of Alexius. With the war in the west settled Alexius turned to more pressing matter at hand. The Seljuk Turks.
Soon the Byzantine army of 10000 veterans who participated at Dyrachium and the
Italian campaign were recalled to Constantinople where using all available soldiers an army of some 30000 was raised. This deeply depleted the Byzantine treasury but Alexius was making a gamble, he would invade Turkish controlled Anatolia and wit his massive army retake most of Anatolia, it was a risky gamble because if he failed here his Roman empire would be in heavy debt and completely screwed. Alexius alongside Georgios soon headed the force; Venetians sent Conrad Montferrat of Italy who at the time was working for the Venetians with a token Venetian force of some 4000 troops. Basically Alexius signed even more treaties with Venice in which Venetian merchants would have trade with Byzantine goods at much lower prices than with the Genoa’s. This was invaluable to Venice because the Venetian merchants now had the leverage to out compete the other Italian states, plus the Romans proclaimed Venice a guarantee of its independence as long as it remained a close ally of Roe. This deterred the HRE from making any sort of moves on the republic of Venice. So of course the Venetians readily offered help to the Romans. The Venetian fleet soon engaged the Turkish fleets at sea, the Venetians were much more experienced and veterans at sea than the Turks so the Turkish fleets were soon destroyed at Marmara, of the coast of Rhodes, Crete, Cyprus, and the Bosphorous Venetian fleets completely destroyed the Turkish fleet, with the Turkish fleet destroyed Alexius and his army could march without fear of a Turkish assault. So on January
6th 1089 Alexius, Georgios, and Conrad marched against the first main city under Turkish control Iconium. The massive roman army soon crushed the various petty Turkish forces stationed in Anatolia. Toghrol III tried desperately to hold off the Romans but it was futile the Romans simply outnumbered the Turks and had a superior military, unlike Romans and his incompetent army, Alexius had recently reformed the roman army and this new army was being tested, to also help the Romans were the ten thousand strong veterans of the Italian and Balkan campaigns who for years fought against the Sicilians and waded through fierce territory, were extremely well trained and drilled by Nikepheros. With these insurmountable odds the Turks soon lost city after city and at the battle of Caesarea Toghrol III was killed. With the death of Toghrol the Turkish resistance crumbled and by 1099 most of Anatolia was regained by the Byzantines. To make matters worse a civil war had broken out in the Turkish domains. With Toghruls death various claimants soon tried seizing the throne and in the process various parts of the empire broke off, chief parts were it s Persian domains, Levantine Domains, and the heartland of the Turks was in a war to seize the throne, and so due to this split Anatolia was retaken. However Alexius did not stop their, he haled his troops at Dulkadir where he soon allowed rest for his exhausted army.
However what saved Alexius and the invasion force was the civil war, had their been no civil war the exhausted Byzantine army that campaigned for years would have been overwhelmed by the Turks and so Alexius had lady luck on his side at this time. By 1101 the civil war heated up as the Levantine pretender left with his army to fend off the Persians. He knew the Romans were exhausted and would not attack yet to be cautious he fortified his borders at Aleppo and Antioch. However it would prove to be fatal mistakes on his part, By 1102 after the much-needed rest the refreshed roman army launched the invasion of Antioch. The fierce siege lasted for close to 10 months and finally Antioch gave in. Likewise Aleppo also put up a tough fight but it too fell, With Aleppo and Antioch secure the Romans launched a recon quest of the Levantine lands and soon Sidon, tyre, acre, and Jerusalem the holy city fell to the refreshed and rejuvenated Byzantine army. In 1104 the Turks who finished their civil war had the new leader Alp Arslan II sue for peace in which he gave up the Levant and Anatolia to the Romans. The treaty of Antioch was signed…. However Alexius was not an idiot and he knew the Fatimid’s of Egypt were eying at
his vulnerable army so he decided to create a buffer state, it was known as the Duchy of Jerusalem encompassing the Levant up to Antioch. With this work finished Alexius fortified his borders and returned to Constantinople with a hero’s welcome. In order to pay off his debt Alexius had looted a lot of gold from the provinces he sacked, and in the peace treaty the Turks gave 5000 Talents to the Romans and with this newfound wealth Alexius paid off the debts he had incurred. Conrad of Montferrat and Alexius had grown extremely close during this time and so Conrad was awarded by Alexius the city of Aleppo in return for his loyalty to the Byzantines and his promise to aid the Byzantines as a valuable ally. Once again Alexius did this to create a buffer between the Turks and the Roman lands. After returning to Constantinople Alexius Ordered great celebrations over his stunning victories against the infidels. In the year 1112 Alexius married Cecil of France to cement an alliance between the two Kingdoms because in the HRE the emperor was becoming a major threat too Byzantine borders and likewise for France The HRE was getting to powerful and Phillip feared a superpower German empire and to keep the German empire in check an alliance with the Romans ensured the balance of powers.
Alexius now turned to internal matters.
In the year of our lord in the year of our lord 1147 John Kommenos and Cecile had given birth to 6 children, 4 girls and 2 boys named Anna, Michelle, Julianna, Maria, Basil, and Manuel. These children were by this time aged 20, 16, 15,16,14,12 respectively, so Anna was of Mari able age, so she was married to George III of Georgia, next Michelle was married to Bella II of Hungary to secure an alliance with the Hungarians as a check to the HRE, next Julianna married the Doge of Venice fortifying the already friendly alliance between the two powers. Basil and Manuel were proclaimed Caesar and Co Caesar. This was the marriage life of John and Cecil.
OOC See I told you she was a sneaky and pretty person (Even at 40) who almost overthrew John in otl)
Now in the year 1139 while her brother was away at wars Anna and her husband Nikephros were finding a tough time putting down the various revolts. You see eastern Anatolia was full of Islamic Turks who greatly resented Roman rule. Now it would be impossible to get rid of them without cleansing so Anna had to use force as she put down various rebellions. It was the Anna and Nikephros were always in a bad mood, but you couldn’t blame them when every other week some fanatic Islamic cult or some crazy revolt occurs. It greatly exasperated Anna who was growing tired and weary of the constant bombardment. Meanwhile a man named Stephan had undertook a massive revolt in the Byzantine province of Albania, apparently the Albanians thought that with John focused on wars it was the perfect time to rebel. Nikephros of Sicily crushed the revolt but it was annoying because although Nikephros had defeated the Albanians dissidents would rise up in Sicily!!! So if Nikephros was In Albania dissidents rose up in Sicily and the exact opposite happened while he quelled Dissidents in Italy, however the man who got the worst treatment was poor Duke Georgios Paleologai of the Duchy of Jerusalem. For it turns out that most of the people in his lands were ether Jewish, heretical Copts, or Islamic fanatics so he had a very unruly populous that he tried desperately to quell and he always stared warily to the south where the Fatamids and their vast lands lay or to the east where the massive Persian empire stretched, indeed things were troublesome everywhere, even the duke of Aleppo Conrad was in deep trouble due o unruly populace. So for the next decade Byzantium focused on consolidating their gains so far, In 1149 John Kommenos died of old age, and likewise his sister Anna, died a few hours later, and likewise Nikephros, Georgios, Conrad, The other Nikephros, soon died of old age in the following years. So the successors should have rule right well…
The Roman successors were an interesting bunch, frankly after John Basil was crowned Basil II but he was a womanizer, a party type of guy, and a carefree emperor. His relations were no better, for example Anna the eldest was what one would call a scholarly bookworm who detested wars and believed in the art of pacifism, Manuel was a man who was extremely absentminded, obstinate, adamant, and unfortunately lacked no military skills, in fact the poor boy couldn’t even fire an arrow properly and was just plain stupid because he couldn’t even answer simple logic questions or differentiate on a map between land and water which he thought looked the same, Julianna was a flirtatious brat, who always hung out at court and was very talkative yet she was very stupid and dumb, oh did I mention she was a blonde…. Yeah she couldn’t even go to the toilet properly without servants, or even understand what she was told, she had the attention span of a 5 year old that although looked extremely pretty and charming had nothing else. The sole survivor of this idiocy was Maria, Maria was talented, loved by her husband, a brilliant strategist could easily ride horses and even lead armies, well educate, scholarly, studious student who studied the arts, military strategy, Astronomy, Chemistry Mathematics, was loved by both the poor and the rich, knew how to throw balls, was extremely at tentative and very beautiful. So she was what one would call the smart one in a bunch of misfits. During Basil’s 23 year reign nothing was accomplished except he managed to win the favors of most of the main leaders of various provinces due to his extravagant lifestyle, carefree manner, and many enjoyed his company and were taken in by him, otherwise he did absolutely nothing.
Maria was married to the current king of Jerusalem Giorgio I paleologaie Kommenos, apparently the Paleologaie were forced to change their names into Kommenians at the end because John did not like it if a successor was a non Kommenian, so Giorgio and Maria’s son would become a Kommenian. Giorgio should have been the King but it was evident Maria was in complete control, she ran day to day affairs brilliantly won the populaces hearts by throwing festivals, and during minor order skirmishes destroyed the Fatamids and she also heavily fortified her borders projecting her power to the Fatamids warning them that If they tried to step foot anywhere near the territory she controlled they would be instantly killed and during a meeting with the Fatamid ruler, the ruler was to have said she was a terrifying woman who should have never been born. So of course as Maria saw her brother acting stupidly she grew mad one could say because she was the exact opposite of her brother. However she got the worst because she was the youngest of three daughters so she got the least attention and was put in charge of a bunch of mud huts in Jerusalem. This greatly infuriated her who thought she could accomplish so much more and so she did the next best thing she revolted and so the first Koimmenian civil war began Maria, faced off against Basil II (Giorgio was not mentioned because the poor king had virtually o power and he knew it.) The first civil war to rack he Kommenians began in the most strange of circumstances, Maria finally blew her head when Basil insulted her and made a fool f her at court, she was said to have walked out muttering “ Why am I surrounded by such stupidity” So she decided to teach her brother a lesson she thought she could be an empress like Zoë whom she read up on, and decided to revolt, she soon secured support of her other brother the clumsy Manuel who was completely in his sister’s influence and so she secured the support of Anatolia and Jerusalem and so she revolted.
Basil was stunned when he heard the terrible news and was said to have muttered, “ Why does my sister have to be such a spoilsport.” You would think the other Kommenians would help but poor Basil II was on his own because the other Kommenians who were a bunch of Misfits had no clue what was actually happening right under their noses. So the fierce civil war started and would end in the crowning of the second empress of the Romans Maria I Kommenos. Jerusalem
Giorgio met with Maria at the bedchamber he was planning to put that woman in her place. “Maria you seem to be having too much power I am the king right?”
Maria smiled wickedly “Yes your King my lord but that is all”
“W-ell you—see I want you to behave normally.”
Maria frowned “What did you say I’m not good enough Giorgio.” She gave him a piercing stare that shook him to the core “Of course my love you are the true leader you’re the best and I love you very much.” Giorgio stuttered. Maria smiled “Good now I plan to revolt against my brother but it will be a bloodless revolution. You see I keep tallies on everywhere and everything my family does, I know the movements of nearly everybody from the Fatamids to Damascus to Mesopotamia I know exactly what’s going on I have spies everywhere.” Giorgio grew scared “Ha ha so are you stalking us” Maria smiled pleasantly
“ Maybe my love, anyway I have a plan to overthrow my brother. Let me explain, as you know my brother use a port potty which is private daily, so I want you to hide underneath it and then stab him in the anus and stab him in his Wang.” Giorgio grew stunned
“But its yucky I don’t want to”
Maria smiled wickedly “ You don’t well we can change that cant we I could always send someone else.” Suddenly the guards closed in around Giorgio “ Very well Maria I shall do the deed. “ He walked out with sweat pouring profusely out of his body.
1455
Constantinople
Porta potty
Basil left for his daily relief at the port potty, as he sat down he heard a grunt shocked he looked down and saw Giorgio covered in poo. “ Giorgio what the hell are you doing down their?????”
Giorgio sobbed:” I’m sorry my lord but Maria is the new empress goodbye he soon lifted his sword and struck it through Basils Anus. Before Basil could even utter a sound a dagger was struck into his Wang. Basil screamed and death was instantaneous. Georgios ran out n fear but was covered in poo, seeing this a crossbowmen thought he was a nut job and shot him with the crossbow. Poor Giorgio died. The next day the people realized that Giorgio king of Jerusalem was dead and a few minutes later fond Basil lying dead in the porta potty. From that day forth the port potty was known as the porta potty of doom. SO when the will was read in March it turned out mysteriously Basil wanted Maria to be his successor. In the will of Giorgio Maria was bequeathed the Kingdom of Jerusalem. At her husband’s funeral Maria should have wept but many remarked she gave false tears, however Maria knew that Maria had paid the crossbowmen to shoot a guy covered in poo and had ordered her husband to kill Basil and forged the notes of wills. So on April 14th 1456 Maria was crowned Maria I Kommenos empress of the Romans, Queen of Jerusalem, Queen of Bulgaria. Mara would be known as Maria the Great. However Maria had one problem she was a schizophrenic, Bipolar disorder so throughout her reign she would marry husbands who would soon die horrible deaths in the most gruesome manner, woe to those who became her husband.
The Kingdom of Bulgaria had declared its independence from Rome. Basically Basil had crushed the Kingdom yet after his death the series of incompetents led to Bulgaria breaking loose from the Romans. Now When Maria came to the throne she did not like this. She knew hope basil was known as the Bulgarslayer and wanted a fancy title for her. So she decided to do the next best thing, on March 1157 the Romans declared war on the Bulgars under the pretense the Bulgars were nominally part of the Byzantines. However as we learned from previous chapter Maria had many spies placed across Eastern Europe so likewise these spies reported every movement of the bulgars. Spies were useful to Maria who used them extensively creating an intelligence agency in Constantinople. However she also hired assassins and even started the Holy order of Orthodox, basically these dudes were assassins skilled in their arts who offered services to the Byzantines in return for money (Think the Hasshashene) Sob one such assassin was sent to execute the king. Now you see The Tsar of Bulgaria liked to go hunting, hat the assassin did was replace the docile boar that was to be realized with a hungry vicious mean boar, which he released. Tsar Stefan was hunting down the boar when he caught site of it, already assured beforehand the fat king walked up to the boar with a sword. Suddenly the boar lunged at him. He screamed as the boar’s tusks pierced through his body, he was soon stamped o by the bore that tore away his flesh, the king managed to escape with heavy injuries, and the boar was killed. However the poor king did not know it but the assassin disguised himself as a servant and left a deadly poisonous snake in the king’s bedchamber. The King was finally healed and he decided to sleep with his wife and the two lovers went to bed. However what happened next was terrible, the snake soon lunged at the two and bit both the Tsar and his wife. The two soon died painfully o deadly poison. The Assassin also poured deadly phosphorous into the pitcher of water, which the heirs drank. SO at the late diner or morning the heirs drunk the water from the pitcher and soon died of phosphorous. This debacle left the Bulgars with no dynasty because the dynasty suffered horrible death. By 1159 Bulgaria surrendered to Maria, who then ordered the mass slaughter of every single Bulgarian aristocrat who would all be boiled alive in a vat of hot oil and after they were boiled alive she looted all their money and put the plunder into the Byzantine treasury. Shocked at the act of terror Maria was known as Maria the Bulgarslayer JR. With such a debacle the populous was cowered into fear and soon they gaudily supported the Romans.
This is how Bulgaria became a part of the Roman Empire…. The year is 1170 and Maria has had a total of 3 kids 2 boys and 1 girl. Who were all by this time around 16, 17, and 19 respectively? However you see each kid disliked the other. Their names were Alexandra, Michael, and David who all hated and despised each other. A really bad sign for Maria yet by now due to all the wars has grown weary her husband died and apparently she was suffering from a disease. She had contracted smallpox and in 1172 at the age of 52 Maria passed away forever to be remembered as Maria I Komnenos The Great/Tyrant/jr. Bulgar-slayer/terror of the east. At her mourning all provinces rejoiced that the scary empress was dead at last. However the Assassins and the royal guard knew the internal family problems and realized they were ****Ed and in deep shit because with three angry siblings aiming for the throne they knew loyalties would be split. So the Assassins and the royal Varangians banded together and soon took shelter at Constantinople. Basically the Varangians and assassins offered their services to all the siblings provided they were not sent against each other and they chose Constantinople because it was a fortress because it was easy to defend and in case they got in trouble they could fall back to it, because since the three kids could not decide on how to split Constantinople the assassins, and varangians took up residence and Constantinople became a Mercenary city from which the various Kommenian rulers hired assassins, bears, people, etc and the two groups grew very rich and powerful. The three kids decided to come up with a simple plan to settle disputes; basically Alexandra was given possession of the Western territories. Manuel got the Kingdom of Syria and Jerusalem, while David ruled Anatolia. Thus the three ruled three separate Kingdoms, but all the siblings held the title of Emperor of the Romans jointly shared all. It was the saddest day ever, but none prevented it. Instead the other countries heaved a sigh of relief at a split Byzantium but they did not realize one thing. Literally these three kingdoms now could expand in any direction they wanted each with personal armies and etc meaning although Byzantium wasn’t united the three kingdoms could still easily expand and conquer territory but unlike before now the chance of overextension was greatly decreased. It is what led the Great Fatamid-Jerusalum- Anatolian-Persian wars between the Kingdoms of Anatolia and Jerusalem vs. the Fatamids and the Persians a century later. However for now these new demesnes rule separately but all still were allies and were closely related promising to come to the aid of each other becoming essentially a sort of commonwealth system. The year is 1173 and Queen Alexandra was the queen of the west Rhomanoi. She was what one would call a horrible military leader, however she was a brilliant statesmen, economist, politician, chancellor, well versed in arts and sciences, and was a reformer of society. She was brilliant and intelligent. So she knew quickly the state of her affairs. In the year 1173 Alexandra started ordering construction of roads and bridges to connect all parts of the Kingdom. She urged merchants and Burghers to make new in vestures, became a patron of the arts, and even improved working conditions of Serfs and peasants. However she also made other improvements such as building bathhouses, aqueducts, forums, and even a coliseum. You see she was an avid lover of roman architecture and engineering and she wanted such feats of marvel in her empire. Yet the major difference was she did not have the beautiful stone roads because she could not afford them nor was her construction projects as beautiful as the romans due to the lack of technology. Soon she created justice systems, naval shipyards, and encouraged immigration. In fact it was said many people from impoverished Italian countries fled to her Kingdom to become immigrants and soon Villages and towns started to grow. By 1076 many villages were bustling with activity, the burghers were making new investments, while the peasants were all happy.
However Maria knew there was a drain on her treasury, which was half depleted. So she did the next best thing, she hired pirates to loot and terrorize the Italian coast. Within months churches were looted, whole villages were plundered, in fact the Venetians tried desperately to stop these pirates but they could not, why, because they feared the assassins. However after the Pope sent angry warnings to her empire Alexandra quickly halted the piracy and instead turned to a better source of plunder, she had her pirates raid and lot the rich Muslim princedoms of the coast of Spain. It was said that these mysterious pirates attacked many coastal towns and looted a lot of plunder. Soon the pirates grew in size all hired by Alexandra who soon started terrorizing the med. Of course the Christian countries and her brothers kingdoms were unaffected, but these pirates were attacking the Muslims. The Pope was said to have been overjoyed at what was happening. However by 1080 the Muslims soon beat back the pirates and within a couple years pirates stopped appearing. Why they stopped, well it turns out Alexandra was filthy rich thanks to all the rich plunder and so the economy of her kingdom stabilized and she had the pirates who served her captured by the assassins who soon handed them over to the Muslim princes. In this way Alexandra got rid of the poor pirates who had looted for so long the same lands which they were cast into facing a very angry and furious populace. You see the Pirates had gone unruly and were terrorizing Alexandra’s lands as well so she threw them to the dogs. Many historians do not know what kind of tortures those pirates went through. Yet with her economy stabilized to the common man she was loved, to the Muslims she was a nice infidel because she got rid of the pirates for them (Most countries had no idea where the pirates came from in the Islamic world) While the Pope was announcing that the orthodox heretic Queen was actually an ally and good relations were kept between the West rhomaoi and Western Europe and Italy. By 1082 many of her construction projects were completed and the Balkans was known as the Jewels of the east, next of course to the beautiful city of Constantinople, they were considered very beautiful cities that followed the old roman tradition. But most of all they were the most stable places to live in all of europe...
The year is 1180 in the city of Aleppo part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Aleppo had always been a loyal vassal of the Rhomanoi since the time of Conrad de Montferrat; the current ruler was also extremely close to Michael. However troubles were brewing in the east. The Abbasid Caliph was extremely infuriated with the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Holy land should be Islam’s as he claimed and if the infidels do not return those lands that would mean war. Unfortunately the Caliph had no way of opposing the Jerusalem Kingdom because he had no army to speak off. All that changed in 1184. A new leader was emerging in the east, his name Imad din Zhangi the sword of God. Imad was a brilliant general and capable strategist who viewed the current Islamic world as corrupt and preached that only if Islam was united would Christianity falls. Soon his preaching’s and acts of velour gained him much support across Abbasid lands yet they were resisted by the Abbasid Caliph Abdullah Nasir din who feared the growing power of Imad and wanted him dead. But Imad would not die because he had a large following. Soon tensions flared up as most of southern and Northern Persia broke away in support of Imad. The Abbasids declared war. However the Abbasids were long past their glory day and were a mere shell of their former self. Imad won a string of victories as the major Abbasid cities fell and by 1087 Baghdad was taken after a bitter siege. The Abbasid Caliph sued for peace in which he recognized Imad’s new Sultanate up to Baghdad. It was a horrible blow for the Abbasids who broke into a civil war thereafter. Imad soon consolidated his grip on the east and had successfully executed the sultan of the remnant Seljuk Turks and declared himself Sultan of the Great Seljuk Sultanate. It also helped that Imad’s father was very prominent Turkish prince respected throughout the Islamic world. However Michael who realized should the new sultanate invade his kingdom viewed these events with horror would be in trouble.
Let us now look at the Kingdom of Jerusalem throughout Michael I’s reign (1172-1205) Jerusalem was in a precarious position, it was surrounded by hostile Islamic powers. To the east were the Abbasids and the Turkish Sheikdoms and Emirates, while o the south laid the might kingdom of the Fatamids. To the southeast lay the hostile Arabs. So as you can see Jerusalem was surrounded and to make matters worse had a large Jewish and Muslim population. Definitely not a good sign when your ruler is Orthodox Christian. So Michael knew he had to make an agreement among the Multi ethnicities in his Kingdom and realized if he forced conversions then revolts would break out across his kingdom. But first he had more pressing matters at hand; using the wealth form Jerusalem and the holy cities Michael constructed many roads across his Kingdom. He built forts at the outskirts and he also built military academies for training in the military arts. Jerusalem also received man pilgrims from across Europe and the Holy land. So you see it was in a very stable position. Michael however knew the multi ethnic divide was bad but could do little to stop it and he always looked in constant fear of the outside Islamic Powers.
The year is 1179 and David was the King of Anatolia but you see he had a peculiar weird side to him. He was a pagan. Yes in reality he hated Christianity and instead created his own cult known as the cult of the emperor. This was the god emperor he said that ruled over all. This man determined whether you lived or died. He even came up with a code of rules for this religion and soon made it the state religion of the Kingdom of Anatolia. You see every Friday-Sunday was a weekend in this religion. Those who followed the God emperor received the gift of eternal life after death to live in happiness and those who misbehaved could save their souls by making monetary donations in faith to the god emperor. Their was many holidays, festivities, and was a religion for all. You were allowed to attend special meetings had special ceremonies but mostly hey were parties. Soon this cult won widespread support much to the dismay of Islam and Catholics. In it Woman were treated equally to men, any could serve in positions, none had to go to church and dress up every Sunday, less work hours, more enjoyment and happier lifestyle. It offered a way of delight to many and soon found many converts especially in woman. The Patriarch of Constantinople was enraged but could do little as he watched helplessly Anatolia turning into a heathen land. Even the Abbasids were angry but given they just got their asses handed to them by Imad they did nothing. While his siblings supported the religion jus for fun… He soon built schools where you learned about the God emperor, free education for kids, it was a happy place indeed. Soon many flocked to its banners and special incentives were offered for new recruits and soon temples sprang up all worshiping the god emperor. How did David come up with this? Well you see David was slightly retarded and was a schizophrenic ho heard voices in his head. He was lonely, bullied throughout his childhood, had no friends whatsoever, hated school, hated dressing p to go to Church, hated formalities so he got the idea to create a religion where such things did not exist and so his imagination went wild and he came up with the God Emperor. Throughout his reign roads were built, a university was constructed, defenses fortified ad n reality David was a pretty decent emperor loved by the people. However the best part about the religion was that you could have multiple wives or multiple males for marriage to interested men and woman and due to biological lust many were drawn in and promised passage to the happy land of the god emperor. Thus you see the situation in Anatolia was quiet weird. In the year 1095 the leader of the Kievien Rus Vladimir VI was receiving strange new from his roman neighbors. The King David sent an emissary ordering him to convert to the god emperor. Now this religion was kind off weird but strangely appealing to Vlad as he saw how interesting the religion was and all the perks with it. He was also told that if he did not convert Romans would cut off all trade, which would seriously hurt business. His wife loved this religion for some strange reason and he too liked it because now he could marry his favorite concubines who gave him such pleasure. In fact much of the seacoast had already converted to this religion.
SO in the year 1196 Vladimir VI officially converted to the religion of the God Emperor proclaiming it the one true faith. Soon Rus soldiers enforced this religion across the land as they looted the Christian churches and instead built statues of the God emperor who all worshipped. In fact all the treasure taken from the churches soon filled up the coffers of Vlad and the Rus so he saw the religion as a good benefit. By 11000 the religion had widespread popularity across Novgorod, Muscovy, Tver, Ryazan, and all the Rus principalities. In fact the Princes of Moscow adored this religion and soon converted and in a few years Moscow became the center of the new religion that appealed to many. The Patriarch just grimly watched the horror unfolding and soon millions followed David and his religion. In Crimea the religion thrived greatly and was soon won widespread support. The new religion took Russia like a storm. David was overjoyed at this widespread love of his religion. He soon created a whole cult around the one god emperor.
How the religion worked:
[FONT="]At the top was the god emperor who all worshipped. Below him was death that would determine whether you went to happy heaven or terrible hell where Mordar the lord of the underworld lay. There were many demigods of various elements who controlled the earth, etc. Nymphs who protected wildlife, There was also The Great knowledge keeper [/FONT]These all made up the religion which had temples for each deity and also to top it all off the priests wore shamanist clothing and instead of dressing up fancy for church you could come in any look and receive preaching from the holy god emperor book which dictated life.
Ahh the year is 1200 A.D On his requonquista the sultanate of the Almohavid Berbers led a decisive victory at Granada over Christian forces and King Alfonso, King Carlos of Aragon, and King Manuel of Navarre all died on the battlefield. Mow with the Kings death the Iberian resistance crumbled and soon Yusuf Ibn Tashiban known as the sword of god captured city after city and soon Castile was besieged and fell to Moorish forces. Following this defeat Leon also fought bravely but the 180,000 Moorish army tore the Spaniards to pieces. Navarre fell and soon the Iberian kingdom was under Moorish control. The Royal families were executed and their lands seized by the moors. Yusuf was not satisfied as he set his sights on Portugal and mustering every available Military force he gathered some 200000 moors who marched on Portugal. The Portuguese stood no chance and by 1244 all of Iberia was under the control of Sultan Yusuf Ibn Tashid of the Almohavid Berbers. But this kingdom would not last because you see holding this vast empire was yusuf who was its flesh and blood, when he died in 1249 the empire broke into a civil war and soon many states declared independence. The empire broke apart like a house of cards but it had left a profound impact in Spain, the royal Spanish family was dead, the nobility either dead or converts to Islam, churches looted, priests turned into Imams or were put to death it was sadly the end of Christian Spain as we know it. So Emir Abdullah I became Emir of Castile and Leon now under firm Moorish grip. In France these events stunned the Capets but the Capetians could do little because they were embroiled in a civil war with England over who rules the French crown. In The North King Harold of Denmark suffers an untimely death as he leads his forces to fight the Chiefdom of Mecklenburg and with his death and his son, who dies of pneumonia, Denmark falls apart and a new King arises to the throne King Harold Coleslaw Herman a pagan Viking. Thus Denmark turned back into a pagan country; the last bastions of Christianity remained in Italy, Germany, France, Western Rhomanoi, and Jerusalem. The Pope was flabbergasted and soon fell ill. Well we have arrived at the year 1220 New Komenians have taken the thrones. Michael Kommnenos son of David has become the new emperor and a pious pagan like his father. Manuel has become King of Jerusalem after the death of his father Michael, and Andronikos is the King of the west after his mother Alexandra died. But soon a terrible plague would appear in Europe, they were the Mongols. The Kwarezemid shah had insulted Genghis Khan Great Khan of the Mongols. The Kwarezemids had fought the Sultanate of Great Seljuk in a bloody war, which ended in Seljuk defeat and annexation. However a new enemy approached the Kwaremizids. In the East a man named Genghis Khan had created a massive empire in Asia and was now marching his forces on the heartland of the Karemizid. Within a short time the Kawarazemids were completely destroyed at the battle of Indus and soon the shah was dead and the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1226, however Genghis heard of the rich Roman Empire. However Genghis died and his son Guyuk Khan was the Khan of the newly created Iikhanite, while 4 other Khanates were created, all were under the rule of Great Khan Ogedei.
In Anatolia King Michael I of Anatolia had heard of the arrival of the Mongols, he knew the Mongols were a threat so he decided to ally with them instead. Emissaries were sent to Guyuk and his court, with the emissaries were monks who followed the religion of the god emperor. At first Guyuk was suspicious but soon he realized that this Anatolian ruler was the Greatest King in the west. He was told the King had many soldiers’ massive armies and the whole west bowed before him. He was the supreme ruler of the west. However he offered to form an alliance with Guyuk. Guyuk realized this alliance could be beneficial so that when his brothers who ruled the other Khanates attacked his khanate he would have allies. Soon a deal was struck between Anatolia and Guyuk in which Guyuk would marry the Princes Rosalyn Kommnenos daughter of David. But Guyuk had also come upon a new religion. At first he did no know quite what to make of it but soon found I a very wonderful religion. It was centralized and did not ban polygamy in fact it encouraged Polygamy, the perks involved were superb he decided to meddle in this new religion. Soon priests came into Persia by the droves and soon Guyuk ordered a massive forced conversion of his lands to the God Emperor religion. Soon millions of people throughout Persia converted to the religion, the Abbasids were overthrown and soon nearly 60 percent of Persia was practicing the religion of the god emperor by 1240. Guyuk and Rosalyn had many children and the alliance between the two kingdoms prospered….