Blood in the Bosphorus: A Byzantium Paradox Mega-Campaign

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Lustful Man Hugs: Jul 18, 2010

What year does CKII go until? Is it 1399?

# ? Apr 17, 2014 20:46

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# ? Jun 9, 2024 18:44

GenderSelectScreen: Mar 7, 2010; I DON'T KNOW EITHER DON'T ASK ME; College Slice

ChaosSamusX posted:

What year does CKII go until? Is it 1399?

1453 I believe.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 20:48

Lord Cyrahzax: Oct 11, 2012

1453.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 20:48

Skyfinder: Dec 28, 2012

The Emperor wishes for more proposals from the Varangian Committee. Seeing as how my first was against the rules, I thought of a new one in my time to ponder.

The Pope is a stubborn enemy. Having robbed drat near every cathedral of its wealth before the mending of the Schism, he's left himself a tidy horde with which to hire mercenaries. We can't take him by ourselves yet.

But, that's why I ##Propose A Franco-Roman Alliance

Just as the Rus-Roman alliances have assisted us in the past, allying with the Gauls while they're out of our reach, for the moment, would greatly bolster our military ability in Italy. The enemy of our enemy in Italy, the Pope, is our friend.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 20:59

Empress Theonora: Feb 19, 2001; She was a sword glinting in the depths of night, a lance of light piercing the darkness. There would be no mistakes this time.

Pester posted:

The Pesterios line of senators has been quiet, obediant, and content. Only one proposal worth speaking of was ever made by my family, generations in the past-

A King would never consent into marrying out of his dynasty, so that lone proposal, and a run of dynastic misfortune, proved to be the undoing of the Imperial Komnenos line. Now a new time is upon us, a nascent dynasty. New polticial parties for all of us who have for generations remained loyal to factions that no longer exist. It is time for the senate to take on a new identity. And, in the name of fairness, I humbly request that the emperor do the same.

## Propose The Imperial Hyphenation Act
If I may humbly address the Imperial Tsar himself, I wish to observe that his dynasty is brand new. Although he is born of the noble lines of both Rurikovich and Komnenoi, neither of them believe him to be family. It falls to It won't make any difference to the doukas and the nobles, but to the senate, to Milvan, Old Roman, New Byzantine, and especially Komnenians. It falls to Yaroslav Yaroslavovich to be the Alexios Komnenos of his dynasty, the one who, although not the first, is the one to remembered at the birth of a new beginning. You speak of the many times Kiev came to the aid of Byzantium in the tenure of your mother, but just as many times she and Byzantium came to the aid of Kiev. Your parents were equal in valor, equal in power, equal in piety, and equals in war, I submit that their dynasty- yourself, your sisters, and your children, reflect this. Become Yaroslav Yaroslavovich-Komnenos. The names of senate committees, the name of our Empire herself has changed in your tenure, to reflect this union. I only request that you do the same. Today, I am no longer a Milvan. The name has changed, but my duty to church of your sainted aunt remains.

OOC: I haven't been completely caught up lately, so this is a bit in the past, but doesn't the charinfo console command show who murdered a dead character? It's all moot, but I'd realy like to know who killed Valeria III.

I totally forgot charinfo lets you do that! Let me go look it up, since it's too late to do anything about that, and in character everyone assumes it was Gabrielia, probably.

CK2 goes until 1453, but EU4 begins in 1444, so that's when we're stopping. Less than a century to go!

# ? Apr 17, 2014 21:13

Lost Season: Nov 28, 2013

The Varangian Committee

Fellow senators, the way forward for our empire is, as always, to centralize and expand the military. A force loyal to the office of the Tsar, not to the various capricious doukes, is of the utmost importance in asserting dominance over those who already claim to swear fealty to this Empire of Romes. In light of this I will re-emphasize Senator StrifeHira's Military Expansion Act and Senator beefart's Centralize our Military Act, as both provide different opportunities for the strengthening of the army.

Additionally, I take umbrage with the fact that the Committee of St. Valeria gets sole fiat over the declaration of holy wars. Sure, as the governing body of the various Christian holy orders and the religious heart of the senate it's understandable that they be the arbiters of how religion is used to justify conquest, but when the current situation stabilizes and we can once again declare holy wars I'm sure the Committee of St. Valeria expects the entire Roman army to support them, not just those knights who have dedicated their lives to defending the faith. As such, I would like to ##Propose a new Senate Rule wherein any and all holy wars proposed by the Committee of St. Valeria must be seconded by the Varangian Committee before they can be enacted into law. This measure is to ensure that the military is capable of taking on the proposed war, as the Varangian Committee is responsible for the maintenance of the military and therefore will know what the military's present state of readiness is.

On a personal note, I question the selection of white for the colors of the Varangian Committee. I imagine they'll quickly get stained with blood.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 21:26

AdventFalls: Oct 17, 2012; When do we learn head explosions?

Oh my! Our new Emperor has inherited quite the land! I pray that his reign be long and glorious!

#Propose The Pent-Lingual Literacy Act

The Tri-Lingual Literacy Act ensured that Byzantium was the epicenter of scientific discovery during our return to glory and power. With the new swaths of land and in honor of our Emperor's lineage, I propose that the original act be amended to add Russian and Ukrainian to the original three.

OOC: I know Ukrainian does not appear as a canonical culture in CK2 and doesn't appear in imported EU4 games. Given that the land was ruled by Greeks and Mongols for a while, I would assume that some cultural diversion would have occurred.

#Propose The Cultural Preservation Act

We are a nation of many peoples and histories. While we are one under the Roman purple, we must not lose sight of what makes us Greek, Russian, or even Armenian or Turk! Let us try to foster acceptance amongst those of us who are not Greek or Russian.

OOC: This is an attempt to get us multiple accepted/primary cultures while not doing questionable ethnic stuff.

AdventFalls fucked around with this message at 21:50 on Apr 17, 2014

# ? Apr 17, 2014 21:46

Triskelli: Sep 27, 2011; I AM A SKELETON
WITH VERY HIGH
STANDARDS

As a fellow senator has pointed out, despite the adoption of Orthodoxy across Europe, the religion is still divided into the East and West, with a Patriarch in Rome and one in Constantinople. This is the situation which allowed the Schism to occur in the first place! Therefore I suggest the ##Regional Patriarchy Act, whereby a patriarch will preside over and shepherd each orthodox nation (or wider cultural region if the case requires) towards the purposes which God intends for them. This also has the benefit of keeping the power of the individual Patriarchs in check by marshalling the rest of the christian world against any one that falls into heresy or seeks to make themselves ruler over the world, as the wretched Pope aspires to do.

E: And to anyone who thinks this foolish, simply look at the map!

Triskelli fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Apr 17, 2014

# ? Apr 17, 2014 21:57

Arbitrary Coin: Feb 17, 2012; Cat Army
2nd Battalion

Pester posted:

## Propose The Imperial Hyphenation Act
If I may humbly address the Imperial Tsar himself, I wish to observe that his dynasty is brand new. Although he is born of the noble lines of both Rurikovich and Komnenoi, neither of them believe him to be family. It falls to It won't make any difference to the doukas and the nobles, but to the senate, to Milvan, Old Roman, New Byzantine, and especially Komnenians. It falls to Yaroslav Yaroslavovich to be the Alexios Komnenos of his dynasty, the one who, although not the first, is the one to remembered at the birth of a new beginning. You speak of the many times Kiev came to the aid of Byzantium in the tenure of your mother, but just as many times she and Byzantium came to the aid of Kiev. Your parents were equal in valor, equal in power, equal in piety, and equals in war, I submit that their dynasty- yourself, your sisters, and your children, reflect this. Become Yaroslav Yaroslavovich-Komnenos. The names of senate committees, the name of our Empire herself has changed in your tenure, to reflect this union. I only request that you do the same. Today, I am no longer a Milvan. The name has changed, but my duty to church of your sainted aunt remains.

While I agree with the sentiment that our leader should take on a name that reflects the glory and majesty of two royal lines that flow in his blood, just hyphenating the two seems a bit too inelegant. Not to mention it reeks a bit of trying too hard to grasp at past glories rather than learning from them and moving forward. Could any linguists come up with a better portmanteau or something?

While my main focus has always been curbing the powers of the doux, I believe my fellow senators already have that covered, so I will just through my support behind stripping the titles of any doux that joins a rebellious faction and trying to keep them imprisoned while voting against castrating or killing them. The latter two don't really do anything besides give a sense of satisfaction and as nice as that can be, letting go of petty retribution in favor of more practical solutions is definitely needed here.

And since the emperor suggested it, I too will join the

Varangian Comittee

The past has shown that in the end it is the power of the army that keeps the empire in line. I propose the ##Cataphract Maintenance Bill I propose that at least 50% of our retinues still remain Cataphracts. While the King is rightly proud of Slavic heritage, the fact is that a new ruler of a new dynasty from a place different than those of previous rulers is not the time to completely reform the army. Also I'm sure the Emperor has seen how well Slavic and Greek armies combined can work together through the efforts of his parents. Also if possible I would say to maintain any previously built Cataphract training grounds. There's no point in tearing down buildings that have been maintained and built upon over centuries and proven time and time again to work.

OOC: The entire "culture swapping just DESTROYS any cultural buildings thing" always annoyed. Sure I could get not being to build on them anymore and having to tear them down if you wanted to build another culture's thing but theres no reason to have them torn down immediately . Also, how is the state of our current retinue and would it be possible/would Rincewind be willing to mod it so that Cataphracts still remain available? From a story perspective I could see the new Emperor being okay with having them since he's probably still seen them in action a lot.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 21:59

Lord Cyrahzax: Oct 11, 2012

I must speak out against this so-called Cultural Preservation Act! Acceptance? Really, I know what you want: a zoo. It is our duty to uplift all the conquered, and that means Romanization! Roman and Orthodox doukes must administer the provinces, encouraging peaceful assimilation! This Act will only keep the people of Empire divided and disparate! Ultimately, it will lead to resentment and rebellion! No, it is far better to make them into Romans.

I recommend that the Emperor consider the Divided as One Act of Senator Blackunknown, which accomplishes cultural unity in a far more united way.

Also: castrating doukes without heirs makes sure that the Crown gets the land. There is no other reason to do it.

Lord Cyrahzax fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Apr 17, 2014

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:03

Empress Theonora: Feb 19, 2001; She was a sword glinting in the depths of night, a lance of light piercing the darkness. There would be no mistakes this time.

Triskelli posted:

As a fellow senator has pointed out, despite the adoption of Orthodoxy across Europe, the religion is still divided into the East and West, with a Patriarch in Rome and one in Constantinople. This is the situation which allowed the Schism to occur in the first place! Therefore I suggest the ##Regional Patriarchy Act, whereby a patriarch will preside over and shepherd each orthodox nation (or wider cultural region if the case requires) towards the purposes which God intends for them. This also has the benefit of keeping the power of the individual Patriarchs in check by marshalling the rest of the christian world against any one that falls into heresy or seeks to make themselves ruler over the world, as the wretched Pope aspires to do.

E: And to anyone who thinks this foolish, simply look at the map!

This is a very good idea, but I'm not really sure how I'd go about fixing that.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:18

Blackunknown: Oct 18, 2013

Rincewind posted:

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.

(OOC: Is this apart of the mod being used or do I really need to replay CK2?)

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:28

DentedLamp: Aug 2, 2012

Lord Cyrahzax posted:

Well, Unitas will always remain in my heart. _{Thank you for not executing me}.

Worm. So readily do you dispense of dignity and honour.

Our new Emperor-Tsar has indeed shown himself to be decisive and formidable in speech. But it remains to be seen whether this strength extends beyond his words so heavily tinged with that foul barbarian accent, even accounting for his "noble" and so very politically adroit move of executing harmless politicians.

The current reformation of this body holds that no new proposals for conquests of territory may be brought forth, but he will never truly earn the respect of the Roman people and government without first proving himself to be as great a conquerer and administrator as Alexios or Iouliana or the Anointed Valerias. He condemned his predecessors for not succeeding against the Papal menace on our borders -- why, then, does our "illustrious" leader not take care of the issue himself? Why does this cowardly upstart not prove his worth to Rome, instead of fawning over this body he so readily spat upon a short moment ago?

Perhaps it is because he is not worthy of his position.

Lost Season posted:

On a personal note, I question the selection of white for the colors of the Varangian Committee. I imagine they'll quickly get stained with blood.

All the better to display Rome's strength and our own glory.

DentedLamp fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Apr 17, 2014

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:34

Adept Nightingale: Feb 7, 2005

Your words ring a little less, DentedLamp, while you're wearing the colors that our Honorable Tsar gave to you.

"Harmless politician" is an excellent description for you.

How often in these halls did we hear the words-- loyalty to Rome, not to simply Komnenos? And how quickly have the fallen hollow? I see before us today glory. Yes, glory, if you can all cease your bickerings and moanings at the executions of traitors. Look at our domain! Look at the lands that now encompass our great union, with not a single drop of blood spilled!

This is the dawning of a new age, and the Yaroslovovich Golden Age will shine far brighter than the Komnenoi ever did.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:40

Triskelli: Sep 27, 2011; I AM A SKELETON
WITH VERY HIGH
STANDARDS

Rincewind posted:

This is a very good idea, but I'm not really sure how I'd go about fixing that.

drat. How did Poland, the HRE, etc. establish their patriarchs?

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:41

Amnistar: Nov 6, 2008; I am a wizard, not a poet.

Triskelli posted:

drat. How did Poland, the HRE, etc. establish their patriarchs?

Orthodoxy works in a realy wierd method of heads of religion.

There are the Pentarchs, and then each King gets their own Patriarch, just by being a king. Or somethign along those lines, I never understood how it was supposed to work.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:45

JT Jag: Aug 30, 2009; #1 Jaguars Sunk Cost Fallacy-Haver

Amnistar posted:

Orthodoxy works in a realy wierd method of heads of religion.

There are the Pentarchs, and then each King gets their own Patriarch, just by being a king. Or somethign along those lines, I never understood how it was supposed to work.

Yeah, but France and England are kings and they haven't made autocephalous patriarchs yet. It's kind of odd.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:47

Rejected Fate: Aug 5, 2011

JT Jag posted:

Yeah, but France and England are kings and they haven't made autocephalous patriarchs yet. It's kind of odd.

I believe the Pentarchy have some predisposed zone of authority.

For one thing, the Ecumenical Patriarch has control of Kiev and always has done - despite Kiev being a king level title now. Presumably France is considered in the same way for the Patriarch of Rome. One might note that this is true of Sicily too.

Perhaps one could change the definition of control in the files? I don't know where in the files they would be, though.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:50

Mygna: Sep 12, 2011

Each independent orthodox kingdom gets its own autocephalous patriarch, except those which are assigned to a specific member of the Pentarchy instead, via an entry at the start of their respective file in 'crusaderkingsii\history\titles'. For example, the first lines in k_sicily.txt are:

code:

100.1.1=
{
	pentarch = b_roma
}

Simply deleting those lines should give that kingdom its own patriarch.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:54

Amnistar: Nov 6, 2008; I am a wizard, not a poet.

ACcording to the CK2 wiki it is the following:

The 5 historical pentarchs (baron-tier bishops of the historical episcopal sees) will always act as autocephalous patriarach of rulers in their respective de jure kingdom, and others:
Patriarchate of Rome: All of Western Europe except Andalusia, Brittany, Galicia and Scotland (Kingdoms of Italy, Aquitaine, Aragon, Asturias, Bavaria, Burgundy, Castille, England, France, Frisia, Germany, Ireland, Le�n, Lotharingia, Naples, Navarra, Portugal and Sicily)
Patriarchate of Constantinople: Kingdoms of Greece and Anatolia
Patriarchate of Jerusalem: Kingdoms of Jerusalem and Arabia
Patriarchate of Antioch: Kingdoms of Syria, Armenia and Mesopotamia
Patriarchate of Alexandria: Kingdoms of Egypt, Abyssinia, Africa and Nubia
Usually the Orthodox religious head, the Ecumenical Patriarch, holds the Bishopric of Constantinople and is therefore also Patriarch of Constantinople. However, the two patriarchates are technically distinct; any Orthodox character not under a Pentarch or an autocephalous patriarch has the Ecumenical Patriarch as their head, whether he holds the Bishopric of Constantinople or not

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:54

DentedLamp: Aug 2, 2012

Adept Nightingale posted:

Your words ring a little less, DentedLamp, while you're wearing the colors that our Honorable Tsar gave to you.

"Harmless politician" is an excellent description for you.

How often in these halls did we hear the words-- loyalty to Rome, not to simply Komnenos? And how quickly have the fallen hollow? I see before us today glory. Yes, glory, if you can all cease your bickerings and moanings at the executions of traitors. Look at our domain! Look at the lands that now encompass our great union, with not a single drop of blood spilled!

This is the dawning of a new age, and the Yaroslovovich Golden Age will shine far brighter than the Komnenoi ever did.

I wear these colours because he is my lord; I shall be faithful to him in all things, servant that I am to the throne of Caesar and to all of Rome, and adapt in any form that he so commands. But he has not earned our respect, and it is a great crime that any should blindly admire him before he does. You are a sniveling mite, latching on to any newcomer to power, and shoveling thus forth your meaningless praise unto a man that presides over this empire only for the circumstance of his birth by two far greater than he. Any new age under one so unproven would be an age filled to bursting with other bloodsuckers like yourself; may you gorge yourself on the favour of this emperor until he grows tired of you and you burst into oblivion.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:56

Rubix Squid: Apr 17, 2014

Adept Nightingale posted:

Your words ring a little less, DentedLamp, while you're wearing the colors that our Honorable Tsar gave to you.

"Harmless politician" is an excellent description for you.

How often in these halls did we hear the words-- loyalty to Rome, not to simply Komnenos? And how quickly have the fallen hollow? I see before us today glory. Yes, glory, if you can all cease your bickerings and moanings at the executions of traitors. Look at our domain! Look at the lands that now encompass our great union, with not a single drop of blood spilled!

This is the dawning of a new age, and the Yaroslovovich Golden Age will shine far brighter than the Komnenoi ever did.

Give the man a break. The loss of Rome to the heresiarch is a biting loss to us all and you shouldn't begrude the more militant senators chomping at the bit to take it back. That said, Senator DentedLamp should realize that we have more pressing internal issues that require the Tsar's attention, such as the regularly scheduled uprising of the doukes.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:57

Grizzwold: Jan 27, 2012; Posters off the pork bow!

Well, that was certainly a thing.

At any rate, as a new member of this senate fresh from the glorious homeland of the Tsar, I would like to make a proposal. However, I am unsure which committee to join in order to propose it, so I think I'll just tell you what it is and you can tell me what color my coat should be.

I'm sure you are aware, senators, that even before the union of our crowns, Kiev was BIG. Byzantium was also BIG. Kiev-Byzantium, therefore, is even BIGGER. The Tsar rules over a vast amount of land, and obviously there is a need to get from one part of it to the other safely and quickly. I would propose then that we build a road system that is large enough to allow for faster travel between the most important parts of the empire. This would aid not only ordinary travelers and merchants, but in times of war it would be far easier to bring together our armies in order to use our enormous manpower pool to its fullest. The question I would ask of you, fellow senators, is whether I should make this proposal with the Venetians or the Varangians.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 22:59

Adept Nightingale: Feb 7, 2005

DentedLamp posted:

I wear these colours because he is my lord; I shall be faithful to him in all things, servant that I am to the throne of Caesar and to all of Rome, and adapt in any form that he so commands. But he has not earned our respect, and it is a great crime that any should blindly admire him before he does. You are a sniveling mite, latching on to any newcomer to power, and shoveling thus forth your meaningless praise unto a man that presides over this empire only for the circumstance of his birth by two far greater than he. Any new age under one so unproven would be an age filled to bursting with other bloodsuckers like yourself; may you gorge yourself on the favour of this emperor until he grows tired of you and you burst into oblivion.

Nonsense! The man comes to the throne with far more experience than any other emperor or empress we have ever had upon their ascension to the purple! Has he not ruled as Tsar in Kiev already for years?

Did you expect Valeria II to 'earn' your favor before you would cease uttering treasonous words in the hall she let you stand in? It is nonsense. Utter nonsense.

Edit: *ahem* And I would suggest, senator Grizzwold, that public works better fit the Venetians.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 23:01

DentedLamp: Aug 2, 2012

Adept Nightingale posted:

Nonsense! The man comes to the throne with far more experience than any other emperor or empress we have ever had upon their ascension to the purple! Has he not ruled as Tsar in Kiev already for years?

Did you expect Valeria II to 'earn' your favor before you would cease uttering treasonous words in the hall she let you stand in? It is nonsense. Utter nonsense.

You besmirch my honour; from this day forth, we are enemies. Would that I could only duel you for your impudence and for your head.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 23:04

Amnistar: Nov 6, 2008; I am a wizard, not a poet.

DentedLamp posted:

You besmirch my honour; from this day forth, we are enemies. Would that I could only duel you for your impudence and for your head.

...I support entirely the idea that Senators that are too stupid to keep their mouths shut be allowed to execute themselves by asking for a duel against a member of our party.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 23:06

DentedLamp: Aug 2, 2012

OOC: No, but y'see, this is actually a romantic comedy! or something

# ? Apr 17, 2014 23:10

Punished Chuck: Dec 27, 2010

As a new member of the Senate, I would like to formally declare my allegiance to the Venetian Committee, and, as my first official senatorial act, would recommend an ##Imperial Subsidy Act. A small donation of gold from Imperial coffers to the heads of the various merchant families within our borders would allow them to invest in new posts, upgraded mansion headquarters, and mercenaries to protect their shipping. They may be doing this already with the money they earn through their current trading activities, yes, but extra funds allow for extra trade, and a temporary dip into the treasury now will lead to an increase in income for the entirety of the foreseeable future. Thank you, and may God forever be with the Empire, whatever the name of the dynasty that rules for now.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 23:13

Jazerus: May 24, 2011

My fellow Old Romans, we must not abandon our ideals simply because the emperor commands it to be so! As you all know, our goals have not been accomplished, nor are we obsolete (or no more so than ever, in any case). Holding Rome, while certainly a stepping stone to accomplishing our purpose, is not the fulfillment of it - the majority of the old Empire still lies outside of our grasp, and the addition of the noble men of the North to our state has not changed that fact. Indeed, it has strengthened the urgency of our task - the Northmen are strong, and with proper Roman discipline will prove the scourge of Islam and Catholicism, a hundred Varangian Guards upon the field. Once matters of internal stability are taken care of, we will be capable of enforcing the iron will of Rome upon the world.

I urge you, fellows, retreat not to your Italian villas for contemplation of what was - well, you can do some of that, we'd hardly be Old Romans otherwise - but rather think of what was and will be, and remain in the Senate house to provide the iron backbone of our cause.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 23:19

GenderSelectScreen: Mar 7, 2010; I DON'T KNOW EITHER DON'T ASK ME; College Slice

Amnistar posted:

...I support entirely the idea that Senators that are too stupid to keep their mouths shut be allowed to execute themselves by asking for a duel against a member of our party.

Sounds like my act might be the right choice. :v:

# ? Apr 17, 2014 23:36

Sleep of Bronze: Feb 9, 2013; If I could only somewhere find Aias, master of the warcry, then we could go forth and again ignite our battle-lust, even in the face of the gods themselves.

ἀκούω, Ὠ ἄνδρες βουλευταί, πολλούς ὑμᾶς ἐκληθάνομενους αὐτούς. ἐκκλησία γάρ βοηθοῦσα τῇ ἀρχῇ ἐσμεν, βουλεύουσα καὶ οἰκοῦσα τα μείονα τοῖς ἄρχουσι ἢ τοῖς Καίσασι� ἄν ἡγοίμεθα αὐτον ἀλλ᾽ οὐ κρίνομεν ἄρχοντα πότερον ἀνάξιον ἢ ἀνάξιον, ἦ μῆν οὐ τολμῶμεν ἀπειθεῖν νόμῳ! Ὠ νήπιοι, ὁρμᾶτε ἀστάθμητον τε καὶ ἀσθένειαν εἴσ᾽ ὑμετέρας ἀρχῆς! ὡς αἰεί, ἐξ οὗ τὸ πρῶτον οἱ βουλευταί ἐδίκασαν στάσιν ἀγαθόν ἐπαινετόν, μᾶλλον κακόν μιαρόν. δῆτα ἐχρῆν ὑμᾶς ἐπιμέλεσθαι τῆς τῆς χώρας ὠφελίας, ἀντί τῶν συνόδων� ἐνόουν μόνον εἶναι μέτρον τῶν φροντίδων τῶν τῶν ἀριστῶν οὐδ᾽ ἀνοσίους ὄχλους, ὧν οὔποτε κῶλα ἀλλάσσοντ᾽ ἢ καὶ νεωτερίζουσι.

εἰς καιρόν, Καῖσαρος κελεύοντος νεμῶ πρεσβυτέριον ὅν οἰκεῖον ταῖς δυνάμεσι καὶ τοῖς πράγμασι ἐν τῳ παρόντι� οὐ μᾶλλον. ἐν τοῦτῳ, μόνον αἰτέω πάντες βουλευταί ὀμνύναι ἀληθῶς ὅρκον τῇ ἄρχῃ. οἱ οὖν προδόται φαινέσθων εἶτ᾽ ἡμίν καίσαρι τε σιγᾶς ἕνεκ᾽ εἶτε Θεῳ ἐπιορκ᾽ ἕνεκα, ὡς ἁλισκόμενος εἰς Ἅιδου.

I hear, O senators, that many of you forget yourselves. We are an Assembly to grant aid to the Empire, to advise and to administrate on matters Emperors or Kaisars have no time for; we may guide but we do not judge an Emperor as either royal or unworthy and we certainly do not presume to revolt against his rule! You encourage instability and weakness in your own Empire, fools! It has ever been so, since our senators first decided that factionalism was a good to be praised and not an evil to be despised. You should have cared for the good of our country instead of your parties: they were only to be a measure of the concerns of the noble men, not incestuous gangs with lists of members set in stone and which even fomented rebellion.

In time, I shall assign myself to a committee as the Kaisar orders, one reflecting my competences and concerns at this current moment - no more than that! For now, all I ask is that every senator give his true oath of loyalty to the Empire. Let traitors either be known to us and the Kaisar by their silence, or else be known to God by their perjury and condemned to Hell.

(Fun fact: 'royal' and 'unworthy' are homophones. One is anaxios because it's an adjective from anax, king; the other is anaxios because you add an a to negate the adjective axios, worthy, but aaxios is hell to pronounce so you slip an n in there, just like a king and an emperor in English.)

I'll see about recording it later, maybe.

E: poo poo, left Latin colons in the Greek.

Sleep of Bronze fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Apr 17, 2014

# ? Apr 17, 2014 23:46

DentedLamp: Aug 2, 2012

Sleep of Bronze posted:

but aaxios is hell to pronounce so you slip an n in there

Couldn't you just put in a glottal stop?

# ? Apr 17, 2014 23:51

Sleep of Bronze: Feb 9, 2013; If I could only somewhere find Aias, master of the warcry, then we could go forth and again ignite our battle-lust, even in the face of the gods themselves.

DentedLamp posted:

Couldn't you just put in a glottal stop?

Intervocalic nus (which I suppose this strictly is) do slip in and out of various Greek words diachronically but it would be irregular. Again, it's like wondering why the English indefinite article isn't always 'a' and an added glottal stop whenever there's a difficult vowel afterward. Lots of human languages like to be careful with vowels that don't form a dipthong side by side.

# ? Apr 17, 2014 23:55

Lord Cyrahzax: Oct 11, 2012

DentedLamp posted:

Worm. So readily do you dispense of dignity and honour.

DentedLamp posted:

You besmirch my honour; from this day forth, we are enemies. Would that I could only duel you for your impudence and for your head.

If your honor is besmirched, mine is doubly so, dog. Your foolish barking reveals only that you are diseased and ready to be put down for the good of the rest of us. I would never deign to duel with one as lowly as you, lest a catch a disease myself, but I will have a wager: how many days until you are executed?

# ? Apr 17, 2014 23:57

DentedLamp: Aug 2, 2012

Lord Cyrahzax posted:

If your honor is besmirched, mine is doubly so, dog. Your foolish barking reveals only that you are diseased and ready to be put down for the good of the rest of us. I would never deign to duel with one as lowly as you, lest a catch a disease myself, but I will have a wager: how many days until you are executed?

I should hope they are few, if only to escape from your prattling and simpering.

# ? Apr 18, 2014 00:06

Empress Theonora: Feb 19, 2001; She was a sword glinting in the depths of night, a lance of light piercing the darkness. There would be no mistakes this time.

Laws of the Empire posted:

Tri-Lingual Literacy Act (Make Greek, Latin, and Arabic co-equal as the languages of science and scholarship. Get a cool national idea based on this in EU4!)

PHANARIOTE
Imperial Wisdom Act (All children of the imperial family shall receive scholarly educations)
Senatorial Kiev-Experience Act (Senators will go on a team-building exercise in Kiev)

VALERIAN
Universal Ecumenism Act (keep trying to convert heathens with our chaplain, RIP)
Regional Patriarchy Act (Allow the Orthodox kings of Western Europe to be autocephalous)

VENETIAN
Looking Eastwards Act (Get in touch with the Chinese)
Imperial Subsidy Act (Send gifts to patricians to get them to build stuff)

VARANGIAN
Centralize Our Military Act (Maximize cataphracts (lmao we're loving russian) and only build improvements in our own demesne)
Franco-Roman Alliance (Try to ally with France)

SECURITY
Test of Loyalty (Senators may switch factions in a session if they haven't submitted legislation, or if they withdraw their legislation.)
Imperial Consolidation & Prosperity Act (Limit demesne to two duchies, work on adding more holdings to these) w/ a special exception for Kievan titles since those are all vanishing down the gavelkind hole anyway)

Rules of the Senate posted:

Creating new parties is forbidden.
Submitting proposals to more than one committee is forbidden.
Laws are passed by imperial fiat.
Two proposals from each committee will become law every session.
No voting. All committees of state are equal, regardless of the number of members they have.
Senators may switch factions in a session if they haven't submitted legislation, or if they withdraw their legislation.

: While the conduct of many members of the New Senate continues to gravely concern me, I am pleased that in aggregate you have produced many worthy ideas. Indeed, for several committees, it was very difficult to choose only two laws! I hope that the next session of the New Senate will continue to give thought to issue of Russian, Turkish, and other languages spoken by the peoples of Kiev-Byzantium.

: By imperial fiat, I am making one amendment to these laws: The Imperial Consolidation & Prosperity Act shall apply only to the lands and titles attached to the office of Roman Emperor, as my Kievan holdings exist under the gavelkind crown law and shall be separated from my Roman holdings upon my death in any case� I refuse to break up the rightful inheritance of my children.

: In any case, while I am Tsar of Kiev and hold several counties, I hold no Kievan duchies. So it's within the letter of the law.

(OOC: The two "imperial duchies" I'm applying this law to are Thrace, our main holding, and the Tuscan vacation duchy we've recently picked up. I've also taken the liberty of making the Test of Loyalty act a bit more flexible.)

OOC: While we're at it, let's lay down some ground rules for what happens in other game over type situations.
If we get a game over due to somebody of a different dynasty inheriting the throne, we will play as the new ruler of e_byzantium.
If we lose the throne (e.g., if we lose a civil war to a claimant) I will try to regain the throne or become independent for the rest of that ruler's life. If we fail, the narrative will move back to the real emperor or empress of e_byzantium.
If e_byzantium is destroyed (which, at this point, is vanishingly unlikely, but you never know), I'll have the thread vote between various successor states to play as.

These are all pretty arbitrary, but it's good to have a plan in place, since when I got that game over it took me a while to figure out how to deal with it for the LP. :v:

# ? Apr 18, 2014 02:19

TheMcD: May 4, 2013; Monaca / Subject N 2024
---------
Despair will never let you down.
Malice will never disappoint you.

Rincewind posted:

(lmao we're loving russian)

I loving knew there was something wrong about that proposal that should have been considered, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

EDIT:

Rincewind posted:

Imperial Wisdom Act (All children of the imperial family shall receive scholarly educations)

Wait, that poo poo passed? Aw gently caress, this should be interesting.

TheMcD fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Apr 18, 2014

# ? Apr 18, 2014 02:23

Empress Theonora: Feb 19, 2001; She was a sword glinting in the depths of night, a lance of light piercing the darkness. There would be no mistakes this time.

TheMcD posted:

I loving knew there was something wrong about that proposal that should have been considered, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Well, the bulk of it (where we built our improvements, maximizing heavy cavalry, etc.) still applies, so it's not like the act doesn't have any impact.

I think that because of the merger of Byzantium's retinues and Kiev's we're way over the retinue cap anyway so we aren't missing out on many cataphract building opportunities in the near future.

# ? Apr 18, 2014 02:27

monster on a stick: Apr 29, 2013

OOC: next time we go after the Pope, assuming we've saved up the cash, can we hire most of the mercenaries first, so the Pope can't hire them? Or at least enough to tip the tide of battle.

# ? Apr 18, 2014 02:28

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# ? Jun 9, 2024 18:44

TheMcD: May 4, 2013; Monaca / Subject N 2024
---------
Despair will never let you down.
Malice will never disappoint you.

monster on a stick posted:

OOC: next time we go after the Pope, assuming we've saved up the cash, can we hire most of the mercenaries first, so the Pope can't hire them? Or at least enough to tip the tide of battle.

Yeah, that should work.

Should being the key word there - if losing a holy war to the Pope sends us into deep bankruptcy, hiring enough mercs to de-fang the Pope's potential army would turn us into an economical wreck and would lead to most of the companies deserting anyway - and when they desert, they either simply leave, allowing the Pope to hire them (bad, waste of money) or directly invade us, which can take some serious chunks out of our empire (even worse).

EDIT: Oh gently caress, I completely forgot about mercs being split by religion. Yeah, we're SOL.

TheMcD fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Apr 18, 2014

# ? Apr 18, 2014 02:32

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Blood in the Bosphorus: A Byzantium Paradox Mega-Campaign

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