SuperBeaverInc.
Groucho
Chapter XIV - Mr. Smith Goes to Byzantium
September 25, 1041 to November 9, 1059
September 25, 1041 to November 9, 1059
After a bit of an absence from updates, the intrepid Abyssinians are back. And they are expanding in the west. The Duchy of Tunis tends to be a problematic one, as it is a fairly powerful duchy. So when the Duke of Tunis tried to grab Kabylia, the Emperor would have none of it. Instead, he sent his own army by boat and conquered Kabylia for himself, with the exception of Tell Atlas, which the Tunisians managed to grab. But it denied Tunis the opportunity to become too powerful, so thats good.
In the meantime, the heir to the throne, Prince Yonas managed to go and make himself a kinslayer. Its been a while since I played it, so I don't really remember who he murdered, possibly a brother. But this is just a classic example of CK2 screwing with your plans. The last thing I wanted on the man that was going to inherit Abyssinia and Byzantium was a hit to his diplomacy rating like this.
Continuing the apparent tradition of Abyssinians marrying Italian princesses, Prince Yonas is married off to...an Italian princess. Her stats may not be the greatest, but she is a princess, so she will provide him with some nice prestige upon their marriage. And Yonas needs as much prestige as he can get so as to avert any revolts when he takes over. The last thing I want is for the united empires to fall apart as a result of rebellious dukes disliking the new emperor's lack of prestige.
The first son is born of Yonas and Silvana, and he is clubfooted. As he is the current second in line, he is not ideal.
Emperor Abebe dies at the age of 66, leaving Yonas as the new emperor. This works out perfectly, as it will give Yonas time to consolidate his power in Abyssinia while awaiting his inheritance of Byzantium from his mother. The Greek vassals will be rebellious against their future foreign heretic ruler, so he needs as much support as he can get.
Two more children are produced. Amare and Negasi, both of whom have a noted advantage over their older brother Yonas in that they do not have club feet.
After several years of peace in Abyssinia and the dukes having shown their loyalty to Emperor Yonas, it is decided to fulfill all these decades of schemes to unite the empires. Yonas has already shown that he is a rather shady character what with the kinslaying, so it really is no big deal to him to make sure that his mother has a little fall.
With the death of Basilissa Dorothea, Yonas inherits the title of Byzantine Emperor. And he also inherits a bunch of Greek Orthodox vassals. This naturally can only mean one thing. The next update will be about everyone's favourite subject; micromanagement!
