[RFC:E] . The Roman Emperors

[Danger Bird]

Letters from military men and soldiers on the eastern front were collected by a Alexandrian trader in the years after the chaos of 641. They give some clues to the events during the reign of another short-lived emperor, Heraklonas.


Heraklonas, son of Heraclius and Martina, rejects Arab demands.

From a captain in the travelling detachment of the excubitores (the emperor's guard), writing from the provisional military capital of Antioch, to a co-conspirator, a fellow captain in the 1st Tyre Tourma:

...

So the Arab is infuriated by the response that Heraklonas gave him. I care not for that. We were not to be friends anyway. But the fury the Arab has for Heraklonas is nothing like the fury I have towards him. The new emperor, if that is what we have to call him, is a tool of his mother. I am certain there was foul play in the simple Constantine's death. And I am certain that it was one or both of that depraved pair, mother and child.

I am not afraid to say this; I have now joined your Asia Defence faction; I had a meeting with one of your captains last night. I will be part of the operation to bring the army over to Pogonatos. It is his right: he is young, but the proper Heraclian line must be restored, not the incestuous line started when Martina bewitched our old emperor (may he rest in peace). And it will be done: the Senate and Patriarch have sent word that they are with us, and the soldiers are brave and sensible men. We will fight the Arab, but we will fight him on our terms. We will not run madly into his arrows.

I hear that you have been put in charge of the circle that will scout out Aleppo. Good speed to you; I know we will raise the cross there when the time is right. Not these silly icons that the vile screamer, Martina, carries about, but the simple cross of our orthodox faith. And the ungrateful scum of Lebanon and Palestine - you will know better than I whether I speak truthfully - will pay for their treachery too. Let them fall now. We will be back. We need to regroup, but we will show them what an organised fighting force can do. Not the foolish bravado of Heraklonas, but the disciplined Roman army, will bring the Holy land securely back into Roman arms.

Your servant,

Niketas

From a soldier of the 1st Tyre Tourma, encamped near Antioch, writing to a certain Joseph, apparently an old Greek friend from Tyre and now a refugee in Antioch:

...We are now also near Antioch, but we can't go into the city yet. We are ordered to return to the forests after every mission. This might be the last postbag into the city for a while.
They say for certain the plague is about to break out in the city - so many people crammed together, unsafe the take the refuse out - so I would advise you to move to Tarsus, as you said you might. They say the people are largely against us in Syria and Palestine, and there is the black magic of the Muhammadans, so I think that is why we are not returning there right away, but we feel very strangely about it, we should be defending our walls there. But if our commanders have decided that staying there is a fool's gesture, who am I to contradict them. Some of the limitanei stationed in those southern areas, that we thought loyal, have not been heard from - either slain or defected - probably joined the Arabs. We should have known, those locals are not soldiers, and their ranks were full of Monophysites and Jews. Silly people, even some of them we counted as good neighbours, if they think the Muhammadans are their friends.
In a few weeks we may be breaking camp, going east. If you are able, and decide to leave for Tarsus, could you also take my goats? If you have room to keep them that is. I'm afraid they'll be the first victims if they are left in Antioch and the plague comes. They are with Nikolaos in the barrel market. I have money with him. K.

The 1st Tyre Tourma arrives in the north, reporting that the garrison at Tyre has defected to the enemy.


Jews and Monophysite Christians in Syria and Palestine welcome the Arab invaders.

 

[Tigranes]

I think it means how much of a discount you get on the tech. In this case you are not getting an advantage. When there is a negative percent, you receive that percentage off the tech. As more people research a tech, the lower the percent drops and the discount increases.

I am not sure if it has to do with the number of civs knowing the advance only. There are historical dates for discovering any advance (the corresponding info file is in RFCE package).

RE Mercenaries: I was able to hire Avar Horse Archers right after I researched the tech. It is strange you don't have any yet...

 

[Tigranes]

Part of the reason I always agree on flip is that Arabs get some units in southern Egypt (not sure if that was fixed in Beta 13). It is easier to reconquer Tyre and Jerusalem, rather than give Arabs more troops.

 

[hoplitejoe]

I think a Byzantium game might make me rage quit.

 

[christos200]

Great update.

 

[Tigranes]