The Eastern Roman Empire resurgant a TL

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Elfwine,I am not in the habit of comparing apples with oranges like you do;The Ottomans were land oriented people and the Greeks were sea oriented;think about it!

The Greeks may or may not have been "Sea oriented". The Romans, or if you insist, the Byzantines, were land oriented.

Fred: Why the hay are they suddenly possessed by such unbyzantine ideas?

I think you could make a very interesting scenario where the aristocracy's desire to break the power of the Emperor runs out of control, but this isn't it.
 
Frederick,the emperor of Byzantium unable to control the army?never happened before and as far as I know generals could revolt,yes,but not succeed in such a coup de main because the generals were very antagonistic and didn't trust each other.
Someting else:generals aren't exactly politicians or diplomats;how could they manage to administer the empire with so many diverse political and economic issues as well as a complicated and "Byzantine" foreign policy?
Thats the thing they cant. Their is an emperor on the throne but he is a puppet of the military. The Psellians administer the empire and deal with foreign policy but the generals have a say in the matter. basically they tell the emperor okay we dont like it if you do this so do this and the emperor has to do it. Plus the emperor wasn't unable to control the army, simply put Andreas is seen as a pawn of the military and so they launch a cou ad replace the ruling family with another one. In this case Andreas who as you will find out already had plans for the throne would strike a deal with the strategoi that if they let him be emperor then he wouldn't control what they did in Anatolia and Arabia and let them run roughshod wherever they wanted. This is why the military decided to go through with the cou. Not that they trusted each other but because Andreas already wanting the throne for himself and his family was willing to become their puppet to get this achieved. So they went along with it and Andreas won the support of the army which allowed him to overthrow the emperor because the army now proclaimed ANdreas as emperor and declared Alexius to be deposed.
In the next unit you will see their were Komnenian supporters and thier will be a civil war. But right now at least temporarily Andreas has siezed power with tthe support of some elements in the military itself.. Pleas dont tell me that never in Byzanrtine history has the military turned against the emperor, remember the rebbelion of Thomas the slav who won the support of all the Anatolian themes, except he failed but here Andreas succeeds.
 
Thats the thing they cant. Their is an emperor on the throne but he is a puppet of the military. The Psellians administer the empire and deal with foreign policy but the generals have a say in the matter. basically they tell the emperor okay we dont like it if you do this so do this and the emperor has to do it. Plus the emperor wasn't unable to control the army, simply put Andreas is seen as a pawn of the military and so they launch a cou ad replace the ruling family with another one. In this case Andreas who as you will find out already had plans for the throne would strike a deal with the strategoi that if they let him be emperor then he wouldn't control what they did in Anatolia and Arabia and let them run roughshod wherever they wanted. This is why the military decided to go through with the cou. Not that they trusted each other but because Andreas already wanting the throne for himself and his family was willing to become their puppet to get this achieved. So they went along with it and Andreas won the support of the army which allowed him to overthrow the emperor because the army now proclaimed ANdreas as emperor and declared Alexius to be deposed.
In the next unit you will see their were Komnenian supporters and thier will be a civil war. But right now at least temporarily Andreas has siezed power with tthe support of some elements in the military itself.. Pleas dont tell me that never in Byzanrtine history has the military turned against the emperor, remember the rebbelion of Thomas the slav who won the support of all the Anatolian themes, except he failed but here Andreas succeeds.
So Andreas got the throne by leting a bunch of blood thirsty idiots to give him and the Empire a bad name and pile enemies to His empire? you need a unique congregation of psychos to achieve such a senario...
As for the case of Thomas the Slav you are right,he won the Anatolian Themes with their admininistrative machinery to back him up not only the generals....
As for the military rising as a body against an emperor never happened in the past;Thomas was defeated by generals loyal to the emperor.Single generals staged revolts frequently(example Nikiphoros Vryennios,husband of Anna Comneni, against Anna's father Alexios I comnenos),but never the generals as a body(college of generals).Of course that may contribute to an interesting scenario ATL...
 
So Andreas got the throne by leting a bunch of blood thirsty idiots to give him and the Empire a bad name and pile enemies to His empire? you need a unique congregation of psychos to achieve such a senario...
As for the case of Thomas the Slav you are right,he won the Anatolian Themes with their admininistrative machinery to back him up not only the generals....
As for the military rising as a body against an emperor never happened in the past;Thomas was defeated by generals loyal to the emperor.Single generals staged revolts frequently(example Nikiphoros Vryennios,husband of Anna Comneni, against Anna's father Alexios I comnenos),but never the generals as a body(college of generals).Of course that may contribute to an interesting scenario ATL...
Well man of the military generals are psychos have you seen what they did in Anatolia and the Levant......
Also rememeber this is the era of the pronoair system(sorry for misspelling), That is why by having the support of the strategoi, many of whoom are landowners he already has the adminstrative backing.

Yes the military rising as a body has never happened before but here it will. It makes an interesting tl no, something that has never occured before. Its a good plausable scenario never attempted before.
 
Well man of the military generals are psychos have you seen what they did in Anatolia and the Levant......
Also rememeber this is the era of the pronoair system(sorry for misspelling), That is why by having the support of the strategoi, many of whoom are landowners he already has the adminstrative backing.

Yes the military rising as a body has never happened before but here it will. It makes an interesting tl no, something that has never occured before. Its a good plausable scenario never attempted before.
OK thanks for answering,we have to wait and see how that turns out...
 
Chapter IV Part A: Ascension of Andreas to the imperial throne and the rise of the military aristocracy.



By 1100 relations between Alexius and his generals were deteriorating rapidly. Many of the younger officers and strategoi in Anatolia viewed the emperor as someone who was in thier way to spread Orthodox Christianity to the heathens and destroy the arabs who had caused so much trouble for thier empire. The chief head of this faction was Andreas Psellus. Andreas was a war hero who had won many victories during the crusade and was one of the youngest Strategoi aged only 29. He was also half gypsy due to the fact that while his father was greek but he had a gypsy mother.
His father was Nikephros Psellus a member of house Psellus a powerful Rhoman noble family, however his mother was a gypsy servant. they had a romantic relationship and he was born. However his mother died in childbirth but Nikephros had already been married to a noblewoman and so Andreas was in reality an illegitimate child better known as a royal bastard. Nikephros took pity on the boy and decided to raise him in the family. The wife agreed after much convincing. Afterwords, Nikephros had another son. Now Nikephros was a very busy man and so he focused his attention on the younger son who was legiiamate. Andreas realizing he could recieve no more attention from his father, he decided to spend his time while livng in the palace at he library. here he would read books on theart of war, and military studies which greatly interested him. By the time he was 18 he was a very accomplished military tactician and strategist who read the works of all the great heroes(provided by his families extensive library). In 1094 he joined the University of Constantinople military academy after scoring the highest marks on both the written and the physical tests. According to his Professors he was a charming man who got along with his classmates and even made them listen to him and was unbeatable when it came to mock battles. Andreas was so good that by 1097 he had graduated from the Academy when normally it would have taken 4 years of study with glowing recommendations and excellent credentials.

He was then granted by Georgios Paleologs the veteran general the rank of assistant strategoi of the Trabzon thema. He now was a junior office who helped the commander of the Trebizond army and soon participated in the great anatolian campaign.

Now Andreas had a friend who had stood up for him at the university. In 1095 both he and his friend Nikephros were caught by turkish raiders and imprisoned. The raiders planned to kill him but decided they would kill his friend in the most brutal way possible before his eyes to make him suffer and then ransom him off. The turkish raiders who had ambushed his soldiers and kidnapped him soon built a vat of boiling oil. They took his friend nikephros and before Andreas eyes they boiled him alive. The experience would further traumatize Andreas who had already been traumatized by birth and ridiculed by many. We know that this was the underlying cause of his hatred of the turks and why he committed those atrocities. He had lost his sanity during childhood but at the same time he was a competant general. Suffice to say Andreas soon was saved by his soldiers lead by his general who destroyed the turkish encampment and soon alongside his head Strategoi won fame as he destroyed many turkish soldiers and sacked many turkish cities.

In 1099 after the successful crusade and him pillaging and destroying the muslim populations, he heard that the emperor was planning to move against him. However the General Georgios Paleologos was impressed by the boy and his credentials and his valour in the battlefield. he ha done remarkably well serving under the Strategoi fo the Trabzon forces and even the Strategoi himself recccomended the boy to be promoted. SO after much deliberation Andreas became one of the youngest ever Strategoi as he was raised to that standard. However even as a strategoi who commanded only a small force and was inferior to all the other Strategoi who were older than him.
This was the last straw for Alexius who planned to move against him. He immediately outmaneouvered Alexius turned to help from his fellow generals.

Now Andreas had won the respect of many anatolian junior officers during the campaign who now looked up to him. After he was appointed Strategus many of these officers soon became his followers and he became thier idol.

In 1100 Andreas called forth a meeting beetween the other strategoi who had participated iin the great butchering of the Turks and arabs to discuss how to stop the emperor from overthrwoing him. He told them how if he was sacked then they too would lose thier positions because they too like him massacred so many innocents. This frightened many of the Strategoi. He then told them that he was planning a revolt and asked for thier support. At first the Strategoi was hesitant to support him and many were not too pleased at the fact that he wanted to be an emperor. Many of the Strategoi belonging to the upper nobility refused to support him althougether due to his but promised they would not intervene if he did revolt. Andreas was angry but realzied he was on his own if he wanted to overthrow the emperor. He did however win support among other Strategoi who werent as disgusted by his background and they agreed to support him with thier armies.

Now how could Andreas fight for a throne that he had no ties to...w ell it was because of Rhoman law which stated that regardless of who a person is, as long as they are orthodox Christians they have the right to become emperor or seize it from the ruling dynasty. This was what the generals used as their pretext for justifying the revolt.
In 1102 ANdreas and his officers staged the coup. They had all the senior generals to meet with them to discuss how they should run Anatolia and the Levant. At this meeting Andreas struck and he had the wine poisoned and soon many of the senior officers were poisoned and died. He then had some of the other officers forge wills left by the generals which all said that should they die then thier armies would follow Andreas whoom they trusted and would obey his every command regardless of how outrageous it was. Now many of these fake wills were susppicous to the soldiers of the dead generals but they accepted them. Andreas replied to many of the unconvinced soldiers that they were poisoned by agents of the turkish emirs in Melitle.This shocked many of the soldiers but then a hashsasheen member confessed that he had poisoned the wine after he had been caught and "dealt wit" by Andreas men. This was sufficent and soon the soldiers of the senior officers pledged thier loyalty to him and before the church swore that regardless of what he did they would support him. With this vow taken he told them that they had to march to Constantinople for the emperor wanted to review the soldiers. Many sldiers believed this and soon Andreas and the armies marched to COnstantinople and arrived before its gates. Alexius was stunned at seeing the army come before constantinople and was furious. He along with his retinue opened the gates and met with Andreas to ask him what in gods name happened. At this moment Andreas struck. He slipped sleeping powder into the drinks and offered them to the Varangoi and the emperor who drank it. Before this Andreas charmed Alexius and talked many things with hi and apologized even for killing so many people. He promised if Alexius let him remain strategoi he would mend his ways. Alexius impressed by this man agreed and decided to not sack hima fter all. The two then toasted to good health. However the drink was drugged. The varangoi too drank at roughly the same time as Alexius and soon found themselves falling asleep. Alexius last thoughts were dammit.

When ALexius woke up he saw that he was tied and was in a small room. Andreas had his sword pointed at Alexius throat. " what is the meaning of this Andreas." Andreas smiled and said " my dear Alexius you see, i have ambitiona and have had plans to sieze the imperial throne." Alexius shouted " thats treason and prepostrous do you know what you are doing. " I do Alexius, that is why i will give you a chance." We can pretend this never happened and oyu can keep the throne. But I want you to let me marry your daughter Anna and proclaim me a Protosebastokrator. Alexius was shocked. He replied with " how cna I give such an esteemed rank and my daughter to you." Andreas smiled and said " Alexius if you dont' listen to me I can kill you right now and blame it on a turkish assasin. Also
if you turn against me and kill me then you will cause a civil war. I have many supporters who will stage an uprising that i know you will no doubt put down but it will greatly weaken the rhoman state and make it fall prey to foriegners." Alexius repleid
"why do you want to marry my daughter and become Protosebastokrator." Andreas replied with a smile
" throughout my life I've been looked down upon due to my rank as a bastard and a half gypsy. However I want that to change. I also want to help this empire become the greatest empire ever. Unfortunately at my current position I cant do that. You know my military capabilities and all thhat I can do but alas I cant accomplish this feat. I only I had your backing and had a powerful enough rank could I prove myself that although I'm a gypsy and a bastard that doesn't mean I am no fit to command large armies."
Alexius was struck by these words deeply and viewed this noble man who given his rank wanted to do so much. Alexius realized that it would be bad if he killed this boy who had so much potentiol. He could eventually be his most capable aid and help him. Alexius decided that he would compromise.
He then told ANdreas " Listen boy I will make a deal with you. I will make you a Protostratior. It is one of the most esteemed and highest military positions int he empire. As for my daughter, I am very unsure whether to marry her to you or not. I have other uses for her. But I will think about it so just give me time. In return for me awarding you this rank you release me and proclaim your complete and utter loyalty to me and promise to neever raise your sword against me. Traitors are usually killed but I take pity on you and will pardon you. Do you agree."
Andreas smiled " I will but I want your daughter and then I will agree to your demands and change my ways."
Alexius sighed " very well Andreas I will bathroe you to my daughter. I'm slightly against it but because you wont release me otherwise I will have to accept."
Andreas grinned and untied Alexius ropes. He then got down on his knees and swore a blood oath to always protect and side with Alexius and proclaim his complete loyalty to the emperor and state. After this Alexius and he walksed out. The next week Alexius raised Andreas to the rank of Protostratior which stunned many people in the empire. He then bethroathed his daughter to Andreas amidst public outcry and soon Andreas and Anna married. It soon became the gossp that the half gypsy bastard son had become Alexius closest supporter. But not many complained because Anreas military exploits spread and soon eh came to be viewed in COnstantinople and other places as a dashing valient hero who although a bastard was a great person who had a lot of potentiol. he was also charming and well liked by many people.
However his stepmother objected but her objections met to deaf ears.

Now how did the Psellians take power and the military aristocracy sieze the empire. Well the events that followed would lead to this outcome.
 
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Chapter IV Part A: Ascension of Andreas to the imperial throne and the rise of the military aristocracy.



By 1100 relations between Alexius and his generals were deteriorating rapidly. Many of the younger officers and strategoi in Anatolia viewed the emperor as someone who was in thier way to spread Orthodox Christianity to the heathens and destroy the arabs who had caused so much trouble for thier empire. The chief head of this faction was Andreas Psellus. Andreas was a war hero who had won many victories during the crusade and was one of the youngest Strategoi aged only 21. He was also half gypsy due to the fact that while his father was greek but he had a gypsy mother.

So the "somehow, God only knows why, the Byzantine generals become rabid crusaders" trend continues. Ugh. Also, the chief of this faction is a twenty one year old?!

His father was Nikephros Psellus a member of house Psellus a powerful Rhoman noble family, however his mother was a gypsy servant. they had a romantic relationship and he was born. However his mother died in childbirth but Nikephros had already been married to a noblewoman and so Andreas was in reality an illegitimate child better known as a royal bastard. Nikephros took pity on the boy and decided to raise him in the family, however his wife was completely against Andreas. She would torture the boy, feed him little food,and when her son was born his father paid more attention to the legitimate child and Andreas was ignored. We know now that during his childhood he was heavily beaten, starved, tortured, and virtually ignored by everybody and lived not in the palace but in the horse shed.

If Nicephorus sees him as part of the family, then there's not going to be any chance for his wife to mistreat him. And even if he pays more attention to his legitimate children, he's still "a" son and going to be raised accordingly - or if he is dropped like a hot iron, sent away.

In order to escape this terrible life Andreas turned to books and soon read many works on the art of war. By the time he was 18 he was a very accomplished military tactician and strategist who read the works of all the great heroes. In 1094 he joined the University of Constantinople military academy after scoring the highest marks on both the written and the physical tests. According to his Professors he was a charming man who got along with his classmates and even made them listen to him and was unbeatable when it came to mock battles. Andreas was so good that by 1096 he had graduated from the Academy when normally it would have taken 4 years of study with glowing recommendations and excellent credentials.

Books he's acquiring from where? And an eighteen year old in these circumstances being "a very accomplished tactician and strategist"? What is this, Garios Stu?

This whole section needs to be entirely rewritten.

He was then granted by Georgios Paleologs the veteran general the rank of Strategoi of the Trabzon thema. He now commanded an army and soon participated in the great anatolian campaign.

What. Why in God's name is Palaelogius granting a 21 year old bastard this high a rank?

Now Andreas had a friend who had stood up for him at the university. In 1095 both he and his friend Nikephros were caught by turkish raiders and imprisoned. The raiders planned to kill him but decided they would kill his firend in the most brutal way possible before his eyes to make him suffer and then ransom him off. The turkish raiders who had ambushed his soldiers and kidnapped him soon built a vat of boiling oil. They took his friend nikephros and before Andreas eyes they boiled him alive. The experience would further traumatize Andreas who had already been traumatized by birth and ridiculed by many. We know that this was the underlying cause of his hatred of the turks and why he committed those atrocities. He had lost his sanity during childhood but at the same time he was a competant general. Suffice to say Andreas soon was saved by his soldiers who destroyed the turkish encampment and soon won fame as he destroyed many turkish soldiers and sacked many turkish cities.

Okay, yeah, he's a f--king Sue. Kill this with fire now for the love of all reason, man.

However during his campaigns he was always watched by the emperor who hated him. In 1099 after the successful crusade and him pillaging and destroying the muslim populations, he heard that the emperor was planning to move against him. He immediately turned to help from his fellow generals.

Now Andreas had won the respect of many anatolian strategoi, plus his piety to the orthodox faith lead to him being backed by the church. Many of the generals in turn supported him and agreed with his policies. In 1100 Andreas called forth a meeting beetween the other junior strategoi to discuss hw to stop the emperor. He told them what was happening and made them fearful that if he gets sacked then it would serve as a precedent to sack them. This frightened many of the junior generals who were at the meeting. However he told them of a plot. They would rise in unison and overthrow the emperor. At first many junior officers were shocked and many were suspicious and nearly all of them started accusing Andreas of treason. However Andreas replied back that if they could unite and launch a successful revolt, then it would be they who would dictate the policy of the empire. He told them that if they supported his bid to becoming emperor then he would let them have free reign in Anatolia and have them advise him on how to run the state.

Um . . . what.

Many generals were suspicious of each other and didn't support one another but he convinced them that the revolt could only succeed if they acted in unison. he told them how in the past generals had revolted against the empire but most of the time it was only one or two generals. So they were crushed. But if 13-14 generals and thier armies revolted then they would have a greater chance to defeat the emperor. This was revolutionary and many of the generals agreed that if they united they could overthrow the emperor. Plus Andreas was giving them a great deal by having them rule. One must remember that most of these generals were in their 20s or early 30s and all wanted glory and greatness. They were also very ambitious and didn't want to pass by an opportunity by which they could expand their powers. After much deliberation the other junior strategoi agreed to revolt. Although many of them were suspicious of each other they decided that ones territory was his own and he should rule it as he sees fit. They promised not to interfere with another generals territory and partition the empire into various provinces governed by them but all loyal to Andreas who in turn would let them do as they wished.

. . . I don't even know where to begin here.

Afterwords Andreas met with an assassin and hired him to slay the emperor.

Now Alexius was a relatively open man who didn't fear anybody and liked to take strolls at night through the palace gardens.
On may 5th, Alexius as usual was taking a stroll through the gardens with his wife and was enjoying them when he came across a gardener. He was at first surprised to see a Gardner at this late in the night but didn't worry too much. Alexius had no bodyguards with him at the time either. After all he was walking in his own garden. The Gardner suddenly took out a knife and attacked Alexius who failed to react in time. The Gardner slit Alexius throat. The emperor fell to the ground and his wife shrieked. The noise alerted the guards who immediately slew the gardener but it was too late. Alexius had died. The emperor was dead. The next day a funeral was held for the great emperor who many revered for what he had done. Alexius had lead the empire through a time of great crisis and restored much of its power. However his son John was still not old enough to rule so a regency was proclaimed.

There is no chance that any Emperor of the Romans who enjoys living is going to stroll through his gardens, alone, at night.

At this moment Andreas struck. In Anatolai the junior officers soon turned on the senior officials whom they slew. Andreas called the senior officers lead by veterans Georgios Paleologs and Nikephros Melissanos to convene with the junior officers to discuss what they should do now that the emperor was dead. That night wine was brought in which was poisoned. Soon this poisoned wine was given to the senior officers including Georgios Paleologos and Nikephros Melissanos. Now the junior officers respected the senior officers and viewed them as heroes but to many junior officers, if the senior officials and high commanders were killed their positions would open up to the junior officers. By next morning the senior officers were dead killed by poison. When news reached Constantinople of the death of the senior officers the regency lead by Empress were stunned. Immediately a weak later they received news that the junior stategoi had taken command of nearly all the roman forces in Anatolia and had revolted against the empire. They declared that the Komnenoi were not good Christians and very un pious as their pretext and proclaimed Andreas as being a true Rhoman emperor.

Suspension of disbelief left a long time ago. This sounds great - for what Andreas believes will happen.

Now how could Andreas fight for a throne that he had no ties to...w ell it was because of Rhoman law which stated that regardless of who a person is, as long as they are orthodox Christians they have the right to become emperor or seize it from the ruling dynasty. This was what the generals used as their pretext for justifying the revolt.

. . . what.

Never before had multiple officers revolted at the same time and put up a united front against the empire. After many skirmishes by 1102 the royal forces were crushed by the revolters who were all very competent military commanders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_I_Komnenos

By 1103 the revolters arrived at the gates of COnstantinople. Here they bribed some of the guards who opened the gates for them and they stormed Constantinople. They soon arrived at the palace and executed the Komnenoi family members. They killed the boy emperor John Komnenos and the empress was exiled to a monastery as a nun. The regency fell apart and John Doukas who was one of the leaders of the regency realized the Komnenoi were doomed and so surrendered to the Rebels lead by Andreas who spared him. On May 6th 1103 in Constantinople at the Hagia Sophia the Patriarch crowned Andres Psellus as the new Emperor of the Rhomans and Andreas became known as Andreas I Psellus emperor of the Rhomaion.

Man, the loyalists are the most incompetent fools ever.

Now Andreas was a half gypsy and he was also a bastard who had become emperor. Although their was much opposition among the aristocracy to Andreas becoming emperor the aristocracy in thrace was held at swordpoint by the junior officers who had taken the city. Immediately after his coronation Andreas awarded these officers high positions in command, administration, and other such prominent positions and loaded them with titles. Due to these acts they supported him even more. Andreas then turned to the next business what to do with his former family. He had his stepmother dragged to the Blachernae palace along with his father and forced them to grovel at his feet and acknowledge him as emperor. He had suffered terribly in childhood and he had no mercy for his stepmother who was blinded and sent off to a monastery. His father pleaded with him to be spared but Andreas simply replied " where were you when my stepmother tortured me, where were you for the most of my life, why was i neglected by you so much, i detest to call you my father". He soon had his father blinded as well and sent off to a monastery.

Yeah, Andreas's fantasy world is well detailed and all, but this is not going to work.

Within the next couple weeks Andreas was acknowledged by the rhoman nobility as being the emperor. Many of their sons were junior officers and because of their convincing the families agreed to recognize Andreas as emperor.

In order to solidify his rule Andreas married Anna Komnena the daughter of the previous emperor aged 16 years, With this marriage he legitimized his role as the emperor. He soon agreed to the terms set by his fellow strategoi and allowed them freedom to do what they wished, how they wished,and what they wanted to do in Anatolia and the levant as well as advise him on key issues.

One remarkable thing about Andreas was that he was a half gypsy emperor. Never before had a person with gypsy blood become a Rhoman emperor. He was also a bastard child.

Now Andreas reign would last 25 years during which great changes would take place in Rhoman society.
Comments in this color.

Start over from the beginning. Andreas the bastard son of a gypsy and a prominent member of the aristocracy is an interesting idea. Where you went from there is utterly implausible on multiple counts.
 
Comments in this color.

Start over from the beginning. Andreas the bastard son of a gypsy and a prominent member of the aristocracy is an interesting idea. Where you went from there is utterly implausible on multiple counts.
thank you for telling me I will delete that post above and fix it:eek:
 
Chapter IV Part A: Ascension of Andreas to the imperial throne and the rise of the military aristocracy.



By 1100 relations between Alexius and his generals were deteriorating rapidly. Many of the younger officers and strategoi in Anatolia viewed the emperor as someone who was in thier way to spread Orthodox Christianity to the heathens and destroy the arabs who had caused so much trouble for thier empire. The chief head of this faction was Andreas Psellus. Andreas was a war hero who had won many victories during the crusade and was one of the youngest Strategoi aged only 29. He was also half gypsy due to the fact that while his father was greek but he had a gypsy mother.

Still rather young, but more believable. Alexius was either 25 or 33 when he became Emperor OTL, so 29 sounds good for an exceptionally talented young general.

His father was Nikephros Psellus a member of house Psellus a powerful Rhoman noble family, however his mother was a gypsy servant. they had a romantic relationship and he was born. However his mother died in childbirth but Nikephros had already been married to a noblewoman and so Andreas was in reality an illegitimate child better known as a royal bastard. Nikephros took pity on the boy and decided to raise him in the family, however his wife was completely against Andreas. She would torture the boy, feed him little food,and when her son was born his father paid more attention to the legitimate child and Andreas was ignored. We know now that during his childhood he was heavily beaten, starved, tortured, and virtually ignored by everybody and lived not in the palace but in the horse shed. However his father who ignored him felt the pains of the boy whoom he still pitied but was held back from helping by his wife who wanted him to take care of thier legitimate child. So Nikephros started giving the boy books to read and pass his time. He realized the only way his illegimate son could rise to prominence was if he joined the army. So he sent many books on the art of warfare and military tactics to the boy.

. . . we're still in the fantasy realm. Try again.

Either Nikephoros (the spelling I think you're aiming for) is raising Andreas as his son, in which case him learning about this makes sense, or he isn't, in which case he's hardly going to be sent books on the art of war or anything like that.

I don't think it really helps for him to be abused by his (in essence) stepmother - it adds pathos but greatly weakens plausibility.
 
Either Nikephoros (the spelling I think you're aiming for) is raising Andreas as his son, in which case him learning about this makes sense, or he isn't, in which case he's hardly going to be sent books on the art of war or anything like that.

I don't think it really helps for him to be abused by his (in essence) stepmother - it adds pathos but greatly weakens plausibility.
okay will fix that part
 
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