[BTS] [RFC/DoC] The Legacy of Byzance: An Eastern Roman Tale

[Gruekiller]

1.0 - Introduction

We Romans are the oldest and proudest race of Europe. From the cradle of our civilization in the hills and valleys of Latium, we rose to become the princes of the universe. For over half a millennium, all of the Mediterranean world, from the moors of Caledonia to the desert of Aegyptus, answered to Rome. Glimmering Roma itself became the throne of all the earth, an Eternal City. But inevitably, entropy took its course, and our empire began to crumble. We lost rich Gaul, stately Britannia, and, most painfully, Italia itself.

And yet, we persisted.

In the East we endured, the Queen of Cities taking up the mantle of a New Rome. In the name of Christ, we rose again to new heights.

But now, wolves are at the gates, and the bowels of deepest Hades threaten to swallow our Empire once more.

Lesser states would surrender. Lesser states would relinquish their legacy.

But we still remember what we were before: masters of Europe and kings of the earth. It may be that we will never achieve such glory again. But outnumbered, surrounded, and battered though we are...

... the Roman legacy will never die.

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Part One: Rise
(600 - 1722 CE)

Spoiler Chapters :

1.0 - Introduction
1.1 - Beginning the Seventh Century
1.2 - The Rise of Islam
1.3 - Stemming the Tide, and a New Dynasty
1.4 - Peace with the Caliphate
1.5 - The Conquest of Dacia
1.6 - Iconoclasm
1.7 - The Hierocleiad
1.8 - The Thirty Years' Anarchy and the Rise of the Doukids
1.9 - Trouble Across the Sea and Dynastic Upheaval
1.10 - The Coming of the Seljuks
1.11 - Eastern Tidings and Terrors
1.12 - The Third Triumvirate Faces the Mongols
1.13 - Crisis Point
1.14 - Alexios the Great
1.15 - The Long Thirteenth Century
1.16 - The Komnenid Restoration
1.17 - Gracious and Just
1.18 - Years of Dread
1.19 - The Christmas Coup
1.20 - Reconciliation
1.21 - Alexander the Grand
1.22 - The Lion's Roar
1.23 - Indian Fever
1.24 - Perihelion

Part Two: Fall
(1722 - 1863 CE)

Spoiler Chapters :

2.0 - Intermezzo
2.1 - Empire in Decline
2.2 - The Day of Fire

Part Three: Renewal
(1863 - 2017 CE)

Spoiler Chapters :

3.0 - Ashes
3.1 - What Remains, Part One
3.2 - What Remains, Part Two
3.3 - What Remains, Part Three
3.4 - What Remains, Part Four

Afterword

Spoiler Chapters :

X.0 - Afterword

​

 

[hoplitejoe]

Ew Byzantium.

 

[Gruekiller]

What? I like Byzantium.

This is probably a good choice on my part, since not only are they my favorite civ, but I'm highly knowledgeable about their history as well. It'll make writing easier.

Oh, and, uh, first update coming.

 

[Gruekiller]

1.1 - Beginning the Seventh Century​

The sun rises on the year 600 of the Common Era, reckoned by the Romans as 6109 years since the creation of the world. The age of conquests for mighty Rome, master of Europa, has long passed. Justinian is long dead, and the Eastern Empire has diminished. Already, significant parts of Hispania, Africa, and Italia have escaped Imperial rule. It is into this world, briefly after the collapse of Sassanian Persia, that is thrust a soldier named Phocas.

The Empire in 600 CE.​

Now, the Emperor at this time was a man named Maurice. Maurice was a deeply pious Emperor, who had taken great pride in defeating the heathen Persians some years before. With the Sassanians shattered forever, he was flexing his military muscles. He now turned his ire upon the Avars, a barbarian tribe of the north who had occupied Dacia and other formerly-Roman Transdanubian regions. Determined to prove the might of the Empire even further, a host of soldiers was sent north to enforce Roman authority over the north.

The Emperor Maurice in coin effigy.


The army beyond the Danube, near modern Serbia.​

Among the soldiers was a man called Phocas, from a Thracian family, who was held to be a well-respected and high-ranking individual by his fellow soldiers. When the army was forced to winter north of the Danube, far from home, Phocas took it upon himself to try to reason with the government, but he was rebuffed and humiliated. Infuriated, the army immediately revolted and declared Phocas Emperor, and marched on Constantinople.

The resulting civil war sapped Roman manpower and gold, but thankfully, the capital was spared a pitched battle by treason from within when one of the guards threw the gate open for Phocas' army. Maurice was slain, and Phocas' rule over the Empire assured.

The Emperor Phocas, portrayed in bronze.​

It did not last long, however. Despite having several years to rebuild his legions, Phocas was taken by surprise when the son of the governor of Africa, Heraclius, led an army across the sea to Constantinople. In 610, Heraclius' forces defeated Phocas, and the Emperor was brought before Heraclius himself.

The Emperor Heraclius.
​

The new Emperor is said to have sneered at the captive Phocas, "Is this how you have ruled, wretch?"

Snide to the last, Heraclius' captive replied, "And will you rule better?"

Phocas was beheaded on the spot, and Heraclius ascended to the throne. Little did he, or anyone know, that the executed man's words would prove to be hauntingly prophetic in the coming years of Heraclius' reign.

 

[Gruekiller]

Criminey, three Emperors in one update. Let's hope this doesn't become a trend.

 

[hoplitejoe]

What version of DoC are you on?

 

[Gruekiller]

I started the screenshots for this AAR right before 1.9, so I had to keep going in 1.8. Just my luck, eh?

 

[christos200]

Subbed.

Byzantium # 1

 

[Daedwartin]

Soon, though, your true test begins, as the game proceeds to spawn all the Islamic nations. The Roman empire might have been reduced to only control New Rome (what Constantinople translate as) and the eastern sections, but this has not destroyed our resolve. We must put down the rebellions in Burgandy, Iberia, Cathage, and Brittannia, and reclaim Rome from the barbarians! THEN, we must continue to ensure the empire's survival by uniting ALL OF EUROPE! Who knows, there may be lands across the seas we have never seen! We shall make them provinces as as well. The entire world will be united under our banner.

FOR ROME

historically the Byzantines, and everyone else at the time, including the Islamic world, considered them selves to be the Roman Empire. In truth, the empire only truly fully collapsed in the 1500s, almost 2000 years after The City of Rome is believed to have founded.

 

[Tambien]

In aeternam imperium nunquam! Benedicite Focatis, et malediceret Heraclius!

Spoiler :

The Eternal Empire shall never fall! Bless Phocas, and Curse Heraclius!

 

[Gruekiller]

Soon, though, your true test begins, as the game proceeds to spawn all the Islamic nations. The Roman empire might have been reduced to only control New Rome (what Constantinople translate as) and the eastern sections, but this has not destroyed our resolve. We must put down the rebellions in Burgandy, Iberia, Cathage, and Brittannia, and reclaim Rome from the barbarians! THEN, we must continue to ensure the empire's survival by uniting ALL OF EUROPE! Who knows, there may be lands across the seas we have never seen! We shall make them provinces as as well. The entire world will be united under our banner.

FOR ROME

historically the Byzantines, and everyone else at the time, including the Islamic world, considered them selves to be the Roman Empire. In truth, the empire only truly fully collapsed in the 1500s, almost 2000 years after The City of Rome is believed to have founded.

Quite! Beyond the story, even, Byzantine history is worth a read in its own right. A millennium of intrigue, war, and drama. You can't go wrong with that.

In aeternam imperium nunquam! Benedicite Focatis, et malediceret Heraclius!

Spoiler :

The Eternal Empire shall never fall! Bless Phocas, and Curse Heraclius!

Pft, Phocas was a terrible emperor.

 

[SouthernKing]

good so far, subbed

 

[Gruekiller]

1.2 - The Rise of Islam​

The early reign of Heraclius was rife with controversy due to his decision to wed his niece, Martina, in 613. The incestuous relationship was very unpopular amongst the citizenry, and the Patriarch himself tried a few times to have the marriage annulled, to little success. When he wasn't combatting his political rivals in Constantinople, Heraclius largely busied himself with trying to repair the schism between Chalcedonian and Monophysite Christianity, eschewing the more martial goals of his successors. For once, the Empire was at peace, and had no serious enemies at any front.

7th Century icon of Saints Sergios and Bacchos.
​

Sadly, this could not last forever.

Even as Heraclius cemented his rule, new and alien forces were brewing in the distant deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. A man named Mohammed, taking up the mantle of a Prophet, had unified the Arabs under the new, Islamic faith. As Muslim warbands were spotted at the Empire's borders, discontent among Arab minorities in the Levant and eastern Egypt roiled.

The Empire's southern provinces burst into chaos on the eve of the Arab invasions.
​

Battle was finally met in a conflict between the Ghassanids, confederates of the Romans, and the Arabs at a place called Mu'tah in the trans-Jordanian frontier. The battle was brief but fierce, ending in a draw. It would not be the last the two empires met in battle.

The castle at Karak, site of the Battle of Mu'tah.
​

In early 636, Muslim forces under 'Amr ibn al-Aas crossed the frontier into Roman Egypt, cornering the Roman army in the fortress at Babylon. After a lengthy siege, Babylon and Memphis surrendered to the Arab forces, who moved north on Alexandria and put it under siege as well. The city fell in December, leaving all of Egypt under Arab rule by the year's end.

Egypt, conquered by the armies of Islam.


The Mosque of 'Amr ibn al-Aas, built in 642 in what is today Kairo.
​

In 640, Damascus, capital of Roman Syria, likewise fell before the Arab onslaught. Constantine, the son of the Emperor, was present, and perished in battle.

Damascus falls to the Caliphate.
​

The heartbroken Emperor died hoping that Holy Jerusalem would hold out against the Arab assault and the lost lands would be reclaimed, but it was not to be. In 650, the True Cross was removed from Jerusalem to Constantinople by sea, and the city itself fell in 656.

The Holy City of Christianity finally falls in 656 CE.
​

Heracleonas, the Emperor's younger son, ascended to the throne briefly after his father's death, only to be toppled and exiled by his nephew Constans later in 641. Constans would preside over the final halt of the Arab advance in Anatolia, and a brief reversal in Imperial fortunes.

A solidus, the short-lived Heracleonas on the left.


Constans II, Roman Emperor, in coin effigy.​

 

[Lone Wolf]

Criminey, three Emperors in one update. Let's hope this doesn't become a trend.

Good luck with the Seven Coups of late 7th - early 8th century

 

[Gruekiller]

Oh, I plan to have history diverge before that point. You'll notice it already has, and Constantine III and IV will never be emperors.

 

[Tambien]

I still cant wait for the Intrigue that is Byzas.

 

[Gruekiller]

Oh, I'll ramp it up to the max. Just because I skirted over/butterflied away the intrigue between Constantine, Heracleonas, and Martina after Heraclius' death doesn't mean there won't be plenty more where that came from...

 

[Tambien]

Oh, I'll ramp it up to the max. Just because I skirted over/butterflied away the intrigue between Constantine, Heraklonas, and Martina after Heraclius' death doesn't mean there won't be plenty more where that came from...

Sounds fun! Are you going to include Justinuian?

 

[Gruekiller]

Sounds fun! Are you going to include Justinuian?

Afraid the fellow's long dead by the time the story starts. That isn't to say that there won't perhaps be more Justinians, however.

 

[Tambien]

Afraid the fellow's long dead by the time the story starts. That isn't to say that there won't perhaps be more Justinians, however.

Woops, probably should have specified. I mean Justinian II, Heraclian dynasty. I want to know whether he's the last here as well, or if the dynasty ends before him, or if he has kids and they become the Emporer. I NEEDS TO KNOW!

EDIT: I never new wikipedia could be this entertaining! I looked up the list of Emperors to try and guess where you'd go with this, and it felt like I'd opened an intrigue novel! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Byzantine_emperors