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DentedLamp posted:"the senator" What was it ever but a bunch of squabbling fools? Hell, I came here attempting to bring it down and ended up so deep in this poo poo I can never get out. My hands have been stained with so much blood the past decades I don't remember what color they once were. It's time I threw back the curtain. You whitewashers wanted to see the Black Chamber with your own eyes? Here you go. I denounce the title "Speaker of the People" and formally announce my allegiance to the Black Chamber. Loyal not to the throne, but to the Empire itself.  Η Μαύρη Επιμελητήριο Μέσω των δράσεών μας θα ζήσουν σε Ρώμη για όλη την αιωνιότητα EDIT: Rincewind posted:Claiming to have assassinated the empress is a bit presumptuous... (OOC: I had been waiting for a kid to get assassinated just so I could use that line from Die Hard, just so happened to happen to our own empress)
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Apr 16, 2014 22:23
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Hitlers Gay Secret posted:It's time I threw back the curtain. You whitewashers wanted to see the Black Chamber with your own eyes? Here you go.  Guards! Someone throw this man away into jail! The gall of it all! *takes a sip from his wine glass, immediately falls over into convulsions. *is dead*
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Apr 16, 2014 22:32
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Hitlers Gay Secret posted:What was it ever but a bunch of squabbling fools? Hell, I came here attempting to bring it down and ended up so deep in this poo poo I can never get out. My hands have been stained with so much blood the past decades I don't remember what color they once were.   The fact that I can't tell whether you're telling the truth or you're just an angry, yet strangely coherent drunk scares me. ThatBasqueGuy posted:
...scratch that, there's a lot of things that scare me a lot more right now. While I don't drink, odds are that won't be a problem.
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Apr 16, 2014 22:36
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 Pyroi posted:Did we expand too quickly? Kill too many? Perhaps we killed too few... Welcome, friend. There's plenty of excellent wine in the barrel behind me, guaranteed free of poison. One of the lovely things about sitting on the sidelines throwing peanuts is that almost no-one takes you seriously enough to murder. Anyhow, don't fret. For the Illuminated, troubled times are to be celebrated. In change -- in Chaos -- there is always rebirth. Opportunity, too. "Can't make an omelette without killing a few people," as my dear old Uncle Croup used to say.
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Apr 16, 2014 22:46
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Ghostwoods posted:Perhaps we killed too few...
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Apr 16, 2014 22:56
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  None of us seem to have any short-term solution to the problem o doukes, so here's mine: I recommend that we excommunicate and imprison every doux with more than one title. This way, even if they escape, they can be defeated one by one, and all their themes can be taken with no fuss. Those with no heirs can be castrated and removed by the Black Chamber. The titles of non-Romans can also be given to proper Greeks. Victory for us all!
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Apr 16, 2014 23:03
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OOC: Gabrielia is Valeria II's sister, right?
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Apr 16, 2014 23:07
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Lord Cyrahzax posted:
Hear hear! Leave the doukes weak and divided, they are a decadent rabble.
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Apr 16, 2014 23:18
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ninjahedgehog posted:OOC: Gabrielia is Valeria II's sister, right? Correct. I also kind of suspect her of killing Valeria III, but I guess I'll never know.
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Apr 16, 2014 23:33
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Rincewind posted:Correct. I also kind of suspect her of killing Valeria III, but I guess I'll never know. (OOC: If there wasn't an event telling you that the assassination was successful, then she didn't order it. Which probably makes it that Bérard dude)
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Apr 16, 2014 23:44
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Hitlers Gay Secret posted:It's time I threw back the curtain. You whitewashers wanted to see the Black Chamber with your own eyes? Here you go. Now that's something I can agree with.
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Apr 16, 2014 23:49
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Hitlers Gay Secret posted:
 The New Byzantines Steppes and Republics A valid point fellow senator. (OOC: And may be more relevant in the future maybe.)
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Apr 17, 2014 00:29
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Can the Catholic Church retake its position as not being heretical?
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Apr 17, 2014 00:32
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Readingaccount posted:Can the Catholic Church retake its position as not being heretical? Technically, using the new heresy mechanic of "when the heresy overtakes the orthodox (that is orthodox, not Orthodox) religion in size (by 5 provinces), the two switch places". Looking at the situation, nah, they're hosed.
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Apr 17, 2014 00:35
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I to swear my fealty to the Black Throne, the Empire must succeed, no matter the costs, and we will do what is necessary, regardless of what others may think of our actions.
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Apr 17, 2014 00:35
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TheMcD posted:Technically, using the new heresy mechanic of "when the heresy overtakes the orthodox (that is orthodox, not Orthodox) religion in size (by 5 provinces), the two switch places". Looking at the situation, nah, they're hosed. Thanks. And yes, this sounds fun.
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Apr 17, 2014 00:40
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...so we have four senators now openly acknowledging their allegiance to the Black Chamber. Well, maybe three and a half - I believe the "The People" party was always kind of a grey area. Just showed up, started protesting, and never filled in the proper paperwork - but that's beside the point, the point being that we now have four assassins in our midst that openly admit they're out to kill, and odds are the numbers will only rise. When the Black Chamber takes over the senate - through sheer numbers or strategic murder - what will become of the institution? ... I'm not sure what the fact that I'm worried about the senate first and my own rear end second says about me. And considering I'm (I can basically talk of the Inclusionists in first person, considering they pretty much only consist of me as a primary member right now) diametrically opposed to the Black Chamber, I really hope this doesn't end with me sleeping with the fishes - forever - or in a ditch - forever - or in my bed - forever - or in the senate during a boring speech - forever - or... AUGH, it pains me to just think of it! I need to get the hell out of here! OOC: I'm getting seriously reminded of Flamboyant Schemers right now. Powerful institution working to keep the Empire stable actually ends up de facto running the Empire behind a puppet emperor... this could very well be our future as well, and it sounds surprisingly interesting.
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Apr 17, 2014 00:52
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I for one approve of this new political party. I switch my allegiance to them.
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Apr 17, 2014 00:58
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Lord Windy posted:
 You're a Komnenian, a member of the party sworn to defend the interests of the Imperial Family, and now you have turned your back on it in such a boldfaced way? How dare you! My grandfather, God rest his soul, would be ashamed.
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Apr 17, 2014 01:05
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Is the Black Chamber not an extension of the reigning Emperor? This is a move to consolidate Imperial authority. The experiment of Alexios is coming to a close. Still, Unitas will never end its fight for true Imperial unity, and will be available as advisers at the new Empress's discretion.
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Apr 17, 2014 01:10
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 New Byzantines -/- Phanariotes -Berat Qutuzid, brother of Aslan "the Poet", Eunuch, Senatorial-Speaker and Regent of Tachat II Qutuzid, age 3 You may wonder what happened to my brother, Aslan. He currently sits in his mansion, drinking himself into madness. He and his closest family were in Azov during the Mongol invasion, looking over their interests in the newly established markets there. He survived, yet his fate was the worst of the entire lot. His sons, my nephews, were tortured and slowly slain before his eyes. His daughters, my nieces, kidnapped and brought to God knows where. I trust I don't have to bring up the details of what I feared happened to them. The citizen was murdered if they were lucky, the city itself was pillaged, and now a Mongol monster with more decapitated heads in his chamber that there are Senators in ours reign over it. And all because even the Varangian guard itself was busy chasing down bleeding bandits outside of Constantinople, and they weren't even paid for their loyalty. Aslan survived by pure luck, when the new ruler wanted him to spread the word of what had happened there. His last surviving heir, Tachat II, weren't even born when it happened. Is this what you wanted? Spain is all but lost to the Muslims, the Scottish Catholics wage a successful war against the true Christians of Britannia, the Mongol hordes advance upon us from the north, and Muslim raids against Alexandria and Jerusalem is increasing by the week, and the lot of you sit here squabbling, claiming we should continue on the same course as if it would be any different? Europe is in flames as brothers of faith squabble against one another, and you claim this to be the start of a Golden Age? What about the merchants on the streets, barely being able to get food on their table? What about the traders, having to fear pirate attacks now that the Imperial Navy is barely able to pay their own sailors? The tailors can't get their cloth, the bakers can't get their flour since the millers can't get their grain. Constantinople is crumbling, and "the Saint" focused on looking good in scriptures and paintings! Without structure, without order, without the Romans, what is Rome but a miserable pile of marble? The Hashshashin of the Black Chamber now reside within these walls, the Old Romans and the Milvians more or less claim things turned out the way they were supposed to, and the only ones of you reasonable enough to see what is actually happening is being openly mocked by the rest. Aslan was right. The only winners of war are those who fell.
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Apr 17, 2014 01:26
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Θάνατος στους προδότες, δόξα της αυτοκρατορίας I announce my allegiance to the Black Chamber and the Empire. Glory to Rome.
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Apr 17, 2014 01:31
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There is a difference between the Black Chamber that that the Empire uses and the party that follows the ideals of the Black Chamber. The party is a group of senators that are united under the idea that the Empire is most important, not a single ruler, not a faith, not ideals, the state of the empire. And we will act to ensure that the Empire is strong, whatever is required by us to ensure that it is so.
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Apr 17, 2014 01:34
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While I am still a New Byzantine at heart, I offer my support for the Black Chamber, for they have long supported the Empire. It is my sincere hope that we can work together to further consolidate power in the Empire and work toward the elimination of the vile doukes and various other maladies that seek to plauge our fair Empire.
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Apr 17, 2014 01:42
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Amnistar posted:
Or so they say...  I'm still wary of a group of murderers that just so happens to have the one thing most senators can agree on as their main advertising tenet. In fact, I'm not even here anymore. You're listening to an eunuch that looks surprisingly similar to me. Cost me a good penny, that guy.
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Apr 17, 2014 01:45
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TheMcD posted:
Well, I, personally, beleive our focus is currently on removing the undesirable elements from within the empire first, and then the undesirable elements from without the empire.
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Apr 17, 2014 01:47
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A Qutuzid eunuch! If only there were more in the world. But, really, are we to take your wailing seriously? Your brothers are dead, slain by the vilest of heathens! How can you not yearn for vengeance? "The Poet" was a fool, but he was a Roman, no matter how much he denied it. I would see ten thousand dead Mongols in his place. And, uh, could the Black Chamber Party (?) give a more thorough dossier on their beliefs? What exactly constitutes an "undesirable"?
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Apr 17, 2014 02:06
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Lord Cyrahzax posted:
Clearly the doukes.
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Apr 17, 2014 02:12
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If the Black Chamber gets a majority in the senate, I will be proposing a law that any leader that rebels against the Empire be turned into a Eunuch for their first offense, and executed for their second.
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Apr 17, 2014 02:26
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*leans forward in her seat and places her face between both palms, shaking it* So let me get this straight. The old Pope gathered drat near every Catholic left that could so much as wield a weapon and managed to get all of them in Rome without any real warning. Our late old Empress was forced to hand over territory to the Mongols without actually managing to fight them. Our late young Empress had to have the routine Doux-smashing but was assassinated during her hunting trip. And now people are flocking, to use a French phrase, en-masse to support the Black Chamber ITSELF. ...  I'd ask for justice but I'd probably find myself being given justice "from a certain point of view." I'd ask for a drink but I'd probably get what the Germans call a "Gift" instead. I'd ask for sanity but I'd probably be told that the inmates gained control of the asylum. So I ask for this: caution. You don't have to be sane to be cautious. You just have to be aware of the fact that these are dangerous times. Let us focus on building up the Empire and letting things settle down before we lose ANOTHER Empress in the process. A final thing, if I see any of you folks claiming support for the Black Chamber gathering under a banner with an axe tied to a bundle of sticks, don't be surprised is some crazed, frothing mad woman bolts down there with a cheirosiphon and demonstrates the true meaning of the word "kindling." (OOC: "Undesirables?" Really? Let us at LEAST wait until we get to the late 18th century before we start this...)
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Apr 17, 2014 02:28
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Amnistar posted:
This kid's got spunk! The Byzantines are toothless, the Romans are listless and the Milvians are witless, so I'm throwing my lot in with the ruthless.
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Apr 17, 2014 02:31
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StrifeHira posted:(OOC: "Undesirables?" Really? Let us at LEAST wait until we get to the late 18th century before we start this...) Unfortunately once we get into EUIV the ability to do such things becomes almost non-existant within classic gameplay.
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Apr 17, 2014 02:33
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Clayren posted:This kid's got spunk! The Byzantines are toothless, the Romans are listless and the Milvians are witless, so I'm throwing my lot in with the ruthless. The Black Chamber Steppes and Republics I to shall throw my lot in with those who stalk the shadows.
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Apr 17, 2014 02:47
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StrifeHira posted:A final thing, if I see any of you folks claiming support for the Black Chamber gathering under a banner with an axe tied to a bundle of sticks, don't be surprised is some crazed, frothing mad woman bolts down there with a cheirosiphon and demonstrates the true meaning of the word "kindling." And what is wrong with the fasces? It is a proud symbol of Roman authority, I doubt anyone could somehow defile the symbol in the way I believe you suggest.
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Apr 17, 2014 03:04
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Amnistar posted:Unfortunately once we get into EUIV the ability to do such things becomes almost non-existant within classic gameplay. And we are ALL the better for it. Leave that poo poo in Vicky and above.  Raserys posted:
Foresight. Re-appropriating such a symbol of power and authority for a party that believes itself in league with those above the Emperor or Empress? That's more than just presumptuous. That's treason-talk. Doux-talk. Have you noticed all those little rebellions? Have you ever thought about WHY they happened? Because the Douxes thought they could win. They thought they had more authority, moral or lawful, than the ruler of the Empire. Now where is that cheirosiphon...
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Apr 17, 2014 03:33
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JT Jag posted:
I am sorry Senator, my family has been staunch Komnenian's for years, and I will remain loyal to the family itself. But I think the family needs a new, firm hand to ensure it's survival. Too often our brilliant heirs die, and every new Empress and Emperor must go through a baptism of fire before leading. The Black Hand is the hand they need now.
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Apr 17, 2014 04:00
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PART TWENTY-FIVE: The Fall of the House of Komnenos (1242-1257) Serious Byzness: A Byzantine History Blog http://seriousbyzness.tumblr.com Okay, so, Valeria III, lovely teen and expert rabbit hunter, just totally got her rear end killed. Nobody's really sure who did it. Like, we still don't know? You can find serious historians arguing that it was Bérard of Modena, the Black Chamber, the last gasp of the Hashshahshin, the Golden Horde, the Pope, Hypatia di Pistoia (step 1. kill the puppet empress who is the entire basis of your power step 2. ???? step 3. profit), the Gauhar Ayin, and who knows how else. But many fingers pointed at the new empress Gabrielia I Komnene, sister of St. Valeria herself. She certainly had the most to gain from the sudden death of Valeria III, anyway. She was known to be cruel and cynical, so it wasn't a big leap to assume that she was a kingslayer alone. (Historical footnote: We've already gone over Princess Iouliana's death in battle, and how Gerasimos Komnenos removed himself from the succession by becoming a creepy monk who worshipped his own mother as a living saint, but for the record, Valeria II's other two daughters died of pneumonia and childbirth, respectively, in the 1320s, which is why Valeria's 47 year old sister was suddenly empress)  Gabrielia's husband was Tsar Sudislav the Great of Kiev. His dynasty-- then known simply as "of Yaroslavl", although they later adopted the name "Yaroslavovich" in honor of their most famous dynast-- began relatively humbly when the bastard son of a Ceska Lipa (wow, those guys really get around) noblewoman was granted status as a nobleman in his own right. His son married the Rurikovich Grand Duchess of Kiev, and Sudislav III became the first Yaroslavovich (well, they weren't the Yaroslavoviches yet, but you know) ruler of Kiev. St. Valeria, eager for warm bodies to send into her various wars, married her sister off to Sudislav the Great, and he duly sent thousands of peasants off to be killed by the Mongols. But now his wife was the empress of the Byzantine Empire, so it all worked out rather nicely.  Gabrielia and Sudislav were one of the power couples of the middle ages. Contemporary sources called them "the Orthodox Monarchs". Sudislav readily agreed to intervene against the Modenian League's revolt.  The war had already more or less been won after the loyalist victory at Bobbio, though, so she was able to conclude a white peace with Bérard before the Kievans could arrive in the empire. She likely could have kept fighting for better terms, but she was anxious to restore unambiguous imperial authority to Rome before the Pope successfully sniped it.  With the empire enjoying an uneasy peace, she decided it was time for a fun vacation and went on the traditional Komnenos pilgrimage. She decided she'd swing by Jerusalem, though, in honor of her sister's conquests. Or, you know, the big pile of rubble known as "Jerusalem" after it had been pretty much destroyed after dozens of crusades, jihads, holy wars, massacres, etc.  Sudislav was all like, hey, since we totally helped you with your civil war, you should help us mop up what's left of Novgorod. Gabrielia was all like, fine, but I'm still packing my bags.  Hypatia di Pistoia was appointed regent during the empress's absence.  She provided the, er, moral support Kiev needed to defeat Novgorod, and the war ended before Gabriele was back in Constantinople.  The Black Chamber, which had kind of been on the outs since the reign of Trajan II, started to enjoy imperial favor again.  Meanwhile, she sent her ecclesiarch to try to teach the pagan Mongols to stop worrying and venerate a bunch of dead sainted emperors. You know, like civilized people do.  The Old Roman/Milvian coalition continued to dominate the Senate-- well, for now, anyway. The sticking point was Italy. She still had a mandate from the Senate to finish the conquest of Italy, but the Pope in Orbetello represented a nearly insurmountable roadblock to claiming the duchy of Latium, what with his ability to wave his little Pope hands and conjure up 100,000 fanatical Catholic mercenaries with nothing to lose.  The other problem was that the nobles of Italy were, like, not really super huge fans of being part of the Byzantine Empire? Of particular concern was that the de Toulouse family— who'd ruled the Kingdom of Sicily back when it was independent-- had managed to reclaim their crown, and Gundrun de Toulouse established herself as the vassal queen of Sicily. And she totally hated Gabrielia, like, a lot. Trajan II was probably spinning in his grave, since, like, he spent half his reign trying to destroy all vestiges of the old Sicilian Kingdom and create a nice orderly system of themes directly responsible to Constantinople. And now not only was all that undone, but the de Toulouses were back.  Gabrielia made the best of it, foisting various lovely doukes she didn't like onto the de Toulouses. This simultaneously improved the queen's opinion of her empress, and meant that instead of having to placate a whole bunch of greedy vassal, she only had to placade one greedy vassal. But it was a far cry from the highly organized theme system of Trajanic Italy.  Theological debates between Catholics and Orthodox continued to rage throughout the halls of power in the empire. Meanwhile, in the rest of Europe, Catholics were being persecuted out of existence all over the place. Wow, thanks a lot, St. Valeria???  The empire seemed to be enjoying a period of stability after the rolling crises of the later years of Valeria II's reign, and the civil wars of Valeria III's. But there was a kind of foreboding in contemporary literature, a gloominess in art that you didn't really see in things they were making during the Komnenian Golden Age. There was a growing sense that the good times were coming to an end.  Some members of the royal family started trying to find escape routes from public life. Gabrielia was all like, nuh uh, you take off that nun's habit and put your shiny crown back on right now, young lady.  Medieval Catholicism was plagued by heresies, but with Orthodoxy assuming the position of leadership in Christendom, many sects started targeting that church instead. Gabrielia dealt with these heretics harshly.  Sudislav was all like, hey, Gabby, want to go beat up some pagans? And then Gabrielia was all like, sure, your place or mine? And so the Orthodox Monarchs marched off to war together.  Off to the east, the Seljuks made yet another desperate stab for relevance by trying to overthrow the Gauhar Ayin Empire. It did not go very well for them. Especially when the Ilkhanate entered the war on the Gauhar Ayin side.  Wouldn't it be nice to have Mongol coreligionist allies? Unfortunately, that wasn't really going to happen with the Golden Horde.  At least Kiev and Byzantium managed to defeat mighty pagan Karelia, anyway.  With that taken care of, Gabrielia turned back to her little pet project in Italy. She knew she couldn't hope to beat the Pope, but she could at least push around Pisa, the other remaining Catholic power in Italy.   It was a bit of a gamble— if the Papal State decided to intervene on Pisa's behalf, Byzantium and Kiev were probably boned. Fortunately, although a few kingdoms came to Pisa's aid-- most notably Croatia-- Orbetello remained silent.  While Pisa was unable to put up much military resistance, the war effort did put a strain on the empire's pocketbooks, and it had to once again go into debt to keep the armies paid.  Finally, in 1347, the Doge surrendered.  This actually helped out Gabrielia in a bunch of ways. Like, it was nice enough to kick around the Catholics without that stupid stinky Pope getting in the way and get a bunch of new territory-- but it also meant that there was now a land connection between Lombardy and the rest of Byzantine Italy, hopefully making Lombardy less of an isolated enclave of treasonous rebels. Hopefully.  She then organized her new territory into the theme of Tuscany.  Instead of passing this off to a doux, though, she decided she'd rule it personally, giving the throne a direct presence in Italy— and, with any luck, a foothold the next time there was a big, stupid, pointless civil war. Instead, she gave up the theme of Thessalonika, passing it to a loyal noblewoman. This was probably not a terrific idea, since Thessalonika had been built up by centuries of Komnenos building projects, while Tuscany was a recently conquered smoking wreck of a theme. But Gabrielia was pretty pleased with herself.  Now that Sudislav had helped Gabrielia conquer Tuscany, the baton was handed off and Gabrielia went off to go help Sudislav conquer Podlasie. It'd be kind of romantic if all these wars didn't kill thousands of people... I guess?  Lithuania, which had long been die-hard Baltic pagan holdouts, had by this time converted to Orthodoxy. But the Orthodox Monarchs decided to beat them up for their lunch money anyway.   Meanwhile, the Pope had apparently beaten the entire kingdom of France in a Holy War. Yiiikes, dudes.  Gabrielia wasn't having any of that, no siree. So the Black Chamber totally killed Celestine III. This didn't really solve anything, since the next Pope still had the nearly limitless wealth that enabled the Papal State to be one of the most potent military forces in the entire world, but it probably made Gabrielia feel better.  Hot on the heels (well, relatively speaking) of Markos Polo, some Chinese merchants decided to come see what was what on the other end of Silk Road. They were pretty jazzed about the prospect of overthrowing the Mongols who had conquered their nation. Gabrielia, remembering the defeats dealt to her empire by the Golden Horde late in her sister's reign, perhaps allowed herself a certain degree of cautious optimism.  "Wanna go beat up Novgorod?" "Wait, I thought it was my turn to start the war!" "Whatever, Tuscany's nicer than Podlasie, so I should get two." "Well, okay, sweetie. Let's go kill some serfs!"  And then on her way up to Novgorod Gabrielia found some nerd and dumped her books, probably.  Then she persecuted some heretics and did a kickflip on her skateboard.  She also realized that she really should try building some infrastructure in Tuscany, now that she had made it the second most important part of her demesne, second only to Thrace.  Gabrielia wasn't anywhere near the sort of general St. Valeria was, but she was a strong believer in faking it 'til you make it, so she personally led her army through Kiev to besiege the rump Novgorod kingdom.  It was probably... good practice? Or something?  And then when she got home she yelled at her daughter and killed a baby, I guess.  "That last war was pretty fun! What've you get next, Sudislav?" "Estonia?" "I'll pack my favorite peasant killing sword and see you there!"  I'm probably being a bit too flip about Byzantine helping Kiev out with all these random wars of conquest. Gabrielia and Sudislav's son was the heir to both Byzantium and Kiev, so-- from Gabrielia's perspective, anyway-- this was all for the long-term benefit of her empire. Which is debatable, in hindsight. But I guess when you've (probably, maybe) murdered your way to the top of the line of succession, you'd like to think you're doing the right thing when you're empress.    Meanwhile, France decided that the assassination of Celestine III meant that they might have another shot at conquering Latium. This was a very bad plan, and all of France's dudes got killed. RIP in pieces, France.  Gabrielia's plan to hang onto Italy by prioritizing keeping the Despot of Sicily happy turned out to be a reasonably better plan, since discontent Italian nobles decided to take out their aggression on the despot, rather than the empress.  On March 14th, 1355, Tsar Sudislav died, and Gabrielia's son Yaroslav inherited the throne of Kiev. This meant that the joint heir would spend several years as the Tsar of Kiev before he inherited the Byzantine Empire. This is very important to keep in mind moving forward. So, like, make a note of that, okay?  Gabrielia's main ambition in life was to make a mark on history comparable to that of her sister Valeria. She wanted to leave a mark on posterity so that people would point to her and say, "Yes, that's what Empress Gabrielia did, that's the accomplishment she was known for." And now we call her Gabrielia the Cruel. So, it worked, I guess?   She decided she had one more bullshit war of expansion in her before she closed her eyes and became one with Since the loss of most of the Adriatic during the run-up to Byzantium's war for Venice, Croatia had been, like super unstable, with feuding monarchs variously claiming the title of Croatia, Serbia, and even (occasionally) Bulgaria (!). And, within this Croatia/Serbia/Bulgaria thing, there was a duchy of Bulgaria. And all of that is separate from New Bulgaria, which is what the Bulgarian Band decided to call it when they killed like half of Genoa because their paychecks bounced. Anyway, Gabrielia decided that, since she was getting old, her final mark on posterity would be a more attractive northern border.   "Sure, I'll help you conquer Bulgaria, Mom! When do I start?" "Oh, Yaroslav..." "What's wrong?" "It's just that your father and I always used to do this together.  " It was not a very long war.   That just about wraps it up for the Hashshahshin, I guess.  In recognition of her fine work in not revolting against the empire, Queen Basillike of Sicily was given the title of Caesar.  She also blew up the Pope, just for old time's sake.  This would be her last act as Empress, because in the December of 1357, the old empress died in her sleep.  The unbroken line of Komnenos emperors and empresses who had ruled since 1081 had ended.    Assassination Scorecard: Tsars Killed: 2 Badshahs Killed: 2 Sultans Killed: 7 Nosy Chancellors Killed: 2 Katepanos Killed: 1 Mad Bishops Killed: 1 Adventurers Killed: 1 Popes Killed: 2 Battle Scorecard Badshahs Killed: 1 Sultans Killed: 1 Katepanos Killed: 1 That guy who killed our genius heir: 1 World Map, 1357 (Before the death of Gabrielia the Cruel and the beginning of the Union of Kiev-Byzantium) 
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Apr 17, 2014 04:19
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It beginnns
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Apr 17, 2014 04:27
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sniper4625 posted:It beginnns Uh, actually it ends, pay attention sniper.
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Apr 17, 2014 04:30
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And now we see why loyalty to a specific family is not enough to maintain the Empire. Though the name of our ruler has changed, the empire lives on, and we shall maintain it, regardless of the cost. Of course, if the Komnenos wish to be placed in power again...simply support the Black Chamber in the Senate, and we will ensure that the heir to the throne bears that name.
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Apr 17, 2014 04:33
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