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Raserys posted:
 Do not think that we have forgotten that the Ming you so idolize attempted to leap on us in our moment of weakness. All shall receive their just rewards in due time, and the memory of Rome is long.
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Jul 30, 2014 21:54
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  Would we not have done the same, were our positions reversed? I have no love for the actions of the Ming, it is their design that I admire. I am Roman and Chinese both, but so long as I am a member of the Roman Senate, my loyalty is to Rome, and if Chinese values aid in our survival, then I see no reason not to embrace them. / 
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Jul 31, 2014 00:02
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  Personally I'm all for the Radziwill (or Radvil if you are one of those mad old roman types who speaks only in Latin and owns a vacation villa in Firenze so you can be closer to Rome) dynasty taking over. The Empire has shown itself to be nothing if not accepting of foreigners and having a dynastic tie to Poland will be useful to us in the west, where our interests in the Italian peninsula are threatened by France and the German states and in the east, where our interests in the Black Sea are a possible bone of contention with Kiev (I refuse to call them The Third Rome as they would have it, in my honest opinion I think one is plenty!). It is unfortunate that the esteemed de Mowbray line has lost the throne, but Rome remains and so we shall all due our duty to the new Empress. Long live Empress Theochariste I Radziwill!
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Jul 31, 2014 03:08
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 Praise be to the Blood of Caesar, the Empress, and her righteous succession. It is my opinion and plea to the other senators and our blooded Empress, praise her, that France, no matter how barbaric they may be must be made into an ally. Orthodoxy must unify to first crush the heretical Catholics and the depraved fornicator they call a pope. Second? To stand against the tide from the east and eventually crush it under Roman heel.
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Jul 31, 2014 03:38
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Vagon posted:
I wholeheartedly agree with this plan. We will need allies in the days ahead.
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Jul 31, 2014 03:40
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Hear, hear! Let us make allies where we may, that we may better act on the international stage.
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Jul 31, 2014 03:43
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 My only issue, and I assume it to be the issue of the other mercantile parties, is that the new empress's name doesn't look good on the coinage. Can we get some Romanization here?
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Jul 31, 2014 03:52
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Senators, I could not be more pleased hearing this! Orthodoxy is besieged, surrounded by heathens, heretics, and other vile filth. We must stand with our great brother in faith, France, to combat these enemies of God. We must work together, because we will fail apart. Christendom must be restored, and we must do anything to see that restoration! Death to Ao Di Li, death to Da Qin, death to the Hapsburgs, death to the abomination in Spain, death to Scotland, death to Norway, and death to the Papacy!
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Jul 31, 2014 03:53
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Lord Cyrahzax posted:
I too support the destruction of our only decent trading partners.
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Jul 31, 2014 03:55
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Funky Valentine posted:
While Jesus may have advocated that one turn the other cheek, we are but mortal men. Ao Di Li must be punished for its cowardly attack, and Da Qin for supporting it. Though the De Mowbrays no longer reign, our English brethren should not be ignored in their struggles against the Scottish onslaught. Need we say anything more about the fiend of Ortobello? There are plenty of opportunities for trade, but let not Roman gold enrich our enemies!
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Jul 31, 2014 03:57
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Funky Valentine posted:
As our borders grow, so too does the list of possible trade partners. Nor should you take pride in trade with the Papacy.
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Jul 31, 2014 04:00
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sniper4625 posted:
"Punished"? Senator, you do not go far enough. Ao Di Li is an abomination, formed by German traitor-aristocracy too vile or stupid to see that such heathenry's time in Europe was at an end. They continue to oppress the faithful that remain, they antagonize every nominally Christian power around them, and gleefully work with Da Qin, our greatest foe. Senator, Ao Di Li has never had any right to exist: it must be destroyed, and its heathen rulers purged. Austria must be freed!
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Jul 31, 2014 04:12
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Lord Cyrahzax posted:"Punished"? Senator, you do not go far enough. Ao Di Li is an abomination, formed by German traitor-aristocracy too vile or stupid to see that such heathenry's time in Europe was at an end. They continue to oppress the faithful that remain, they antagonize every nominally Christian power around them, and gleefully work with Da Qin, our greatest foe. A proper Orthodox monarch on the Austrian throne would be glad tidings indeed. A long term project, considering our current situation, but a righteous cause. Austria Debet Liberari! Austrian can be replaced by any non-orthodox polity, of course. sniper4625 fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Jul 31, 2014 |
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Jul 31, 2014 04:14
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Between the strength of the Chinese and the decimation of our armies, a march on Austria will not be feasible for a long, long time. But when that time comes, of course I will support it, wholeheartedly. Pulling down the Chinese ruling class in what they call the Near East is a cause that I will always raise my banner for.
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Jul 31, 2014 04:36
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FYI, there will be one (hopefully short to play and write up) further update before a fresh Senate session opens up. Party leaders: if you're planning on changing leadership, please start getting that sorted out. You also might want to start working out how your party wants to formulate its legislation. In the Senate session, each party will submit a slate of legislation, and a number of bills from each party roughly corresponding to what place it comes in the election will be enacted. You'll have plenty of time to write the bills themselves in the actual session, but how your party decides on bills to submit (internal votes, party leader picks bills written by members they like, party leader just decides on bills themself and everyone else deals with it, etc.) is solely at the discretion of the party leader. So you might want a plan! Edit: Special Note to the Neo-Milvians: By default, I'm going to assume that anything any two of the subparty leaders agrees to goes. If you'd rather handle the coalition differently (require unanimous decisions, appoint one spokesperson, etc.) please let me know! Empress Theonora fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Jul 31, 2014 |
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Jul 31, 2014 04:55
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Neo-Milvians, hit me up on Skype.
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Jul 31, 2014 05:01
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As fun as this has been, now is the time for me to officially step down from my position as party leader. Fellow Monternos members, those of you who wish to take up this position should present your cases. Here are our agreed upon guidelines. As a reminder of our party's stances: StrifeHira posted:The Monternos Party was founded as a party dedicated to making sure the Roman Empire of the 15th century and beyond was not a Rome stuck in the past, but a Rome looking to the future. A "modern" Rome. As such they support and propose anything that can be used to update the current state of Rome, looking both to nations that have gained a technological edge as inspiration and to possible applications of existing technology within the state. New advances in warfare, seafaring, science, theology, and so forth are all supported by the Monternos Party. Now let's bring Rome forward into the future! 
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Jul 31, 2014 05:31
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New Marians, in the trying times to come, I suggest we re-familiarize outselves with the legislation by which our party abides. Here are our procedures and laws. Personally, I still feel ready to lead our party, but if the call comes, I will gladly step down. Oh, and of course, here is a restating of our party outlook. quote:The New Marians were originally a cross-party faction devoted to the restoration of Roman standing armies. Now that this is accomplished, they are here to keep the army strong and the nobility weak. They are no jingoistic throwbacks, but men (and women, remember that we started with the gender equality mod on!) who seek to sustain the state through means military, which means taking all who will stand for Rome. To a lesser extent, they tend to harbor all sorts of republican dissidents, due to the Mars family's personal beliefs. Gentlemen and women of the Varangian Commission, soldiers of the Roman Legions and Senators all, let us protect Rome and it's beating heart, the People, from now until the end of all things.
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Jul 31, 2014 07:15
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  The Faithful stand with the Ecclesiastical Movement at advising our Empress to treat the One True Church with more respect, and avoiding a repeat of that particular barbarism. It may be that we need to re-absorb the Metropolitan Exarchate to ensure our zeal is undimmed. We likewise stand with Unitas in calling for an alliance with France, our Orthodox brothers and a counterweight to the vile papists between us. Negotiations are ongoing as to our communal platform and legislation.
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Jul 31, 2014 07:26
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I would just like to say, that while I think that France may be more then recalcitrant to ally with us, I would definitely like to see them on our side.
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Jul 31, 2014 07:33
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 Echoing the party line, an alliance with France would be a very good thing for our new Empress to pursue, as the Church must build strong ties with our fellow practitioners if we are to truly enlighten the world.
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Jul 31, 2014 07:44
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I would note that as of a few updates ago, France is one of our enshrined archenemies. Further more, they hold the same view of us. (since then the Habsburg empire has been added as a third, but nothing has indicated the other two have changed - unless, of course, it has and the later updates just did not note it.)
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Jul 31, 2014 07:49
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OOC: hence my point about them being recalcitrant. Yeah, there's no realistic chance of getting them to ally with us inside game mechanics.
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Jul 31, 2014 07:52
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NewMars posted:OOC: hence my point about them being recalcitrant. Yeah, there's no realistic chance of getting them to ally with us inside game mechanics. (Which is not necessarily an impediment.)
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Jul 31, 2014 07:54
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StrifeHira posted:
Would it be too late to join your fine party? If not then I, Maryam of the godly and noble Osman family wish to join your party. I feel your party will create a golden age for the world. An age where we leave behind the evils of the past and will move for a better tomorrow. 
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Jul 31, 2014 08:17
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AJ_Impy posted:
I think I'm still part of this party? This is good.
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Jul 31, 2014 10:22
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Rincewind posted:FYI, there will be one (hopefully short to play and write up) further update before a fresh Senate session opens up. Party leaders: if you're planning on changing leadership, please start getting that sorted out. You also might want to start working out how your party wants to formulate its legislation. In the Senate session, each party will submit a slate of legislation, and a number of bills from each party roughly corresponding to what place it comes in the election will be enacted. You'll have plenty of time to write the bills themselves in the actual session, but how your party decides on bills to submit (internal votes, party leader picks bills written by members they like, party leader just decides on bills themself and everyone else deals with it, etc.) is solely at the discretion of the party leader. So you might want a plan! We Neo-Milvians had conferred the established a protocol for legislative sessions more than a month ago. If Impy and Sniper think that protocol does not sufficiently cover the needs of a political coalition in the modern Byzantine legislative environment we can discuss, amend, or add to them. AJ_Impy posted:
Thank you, senator Impy. I believe our Unitas colleagues will also agree with supporting the Church in this, and frankly if it's the least a coalition with "Milvian" in its name should be agreeing on. With regards to France, I honestly do not see an alliance as being realisable. We must make amends for sure, but we have wronged them, and they have won so they won't accept something like that unless they feel threatened. We should repair relations with them as we can, but if we want to put our focus somewhere, it is my opinion that that should be either Scandinavia or Britain - both places where the Latins are in a position of strength and threaten to undo the true Church's infuelnce. Unwise_Cashew and HiHo Chi Rho, it would help Neo-Milvian organisation if you joined us on skype - you are the only party members not in the channel. My skype name is yfxxiii.
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Jul 31, 2014 10:32
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I would if I could. The best I can do is later tonight when I get back from work.
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Jul 31, 2014 13:24
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Hoo boy, time for organization. For the sake of simplicity and "we need to get this poo poo sorted out", I'm going to call a fiat as party leader here and set up a base organization for the legislation. If somebody from the party has a big problem with the way I've set it up, give a complaint here in the thread and I'll see what I can do. Once the baseline is set, it should be possible to decentralize as much as possible. First off, a definition of "bill" as it concerns this setup: A bill is a single directive for the Imperial Government. It can be as general or as direct as it wants to be. Examples of bills: - Build up relations with Chinese Austria. - Construct a courthouse in the province of Athens on the 15th of January, but only if we don't have a military advisor and less than 20 Light Ships. The Inclusionist slate of legislation will be made up of the following: - Potentially one bill from each of the minor parties associated with our party, should they wish to make one. - Bills from core Inclusionist members, potentially the same amount as those from minor parties. - Two fixed baseline bills, which are as follows: --- Avoid any and all aggressive war. --- Improve the Imperial stability. Now, on to how these bills will be created. "Core" bills: - Bills shall be suggested by any core member of the Inclusionists. - Bills shall then be either added to the slate or disregarded via a simple yay or nay vote from core Inclusionist members. Majority rules. - "Core" bills can be created and approved "in advance" in the session and then later added to the slate once "minor" bills start being added. "Minor" bills: - Organization for the bills from minor parties shall be handled by the minor parties themselves. Given that they're usually rather small, it shouldn't be that hard for them to figure something out rather quick. - Whatever bill the minor party comes up with and agrees on is then added to the slate. After all the bills have come together, the slate is considered created, but not finalized. To finalize the slate, the leader of the Inclusionists will go over the slate and potentially throw out any bills he can argue directly contradict the Inclusionist charter (abridged version: Peace, Stability, Progress, Tolerance). Nothing vague here, it has to directly contradict one of the tenets, and as such shouldn't really be subject to many arguments. However, should somebody believe this culling was in error, he can engage in an argument with the leader and potentially change his mind. Personally, I can say that I'm not really interested in getting in big arguments, so I'm fairly likely to quickly cave. After the slate is finalized, it is then submitted to the Imperial government.
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Jul 31, 2014 13:47
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I'm in a similar boat to HiHo ChiRho, late night (MST) is about all I'm available for
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Jul 31, 2014 18:20
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Depending on how late night you're talking about that could be the same time I'm awake the next day (I'm GMT+2) so it can work out. Otherwise you can add sniper but in any case having access to the channel at all is a good thing - we'll probably make most internal decisions there, and it will give you a window to voice yourselves in regard to proposed legislation before it goes live.
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Jul 31, 2014 18:39
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YF-23 posted:Depending on how late night you're talking about that could be the same time I'm awake the next day (I'm GMT+2) so it can work out. Otherwise you can add sniper but in any case having access to the channel at all is a good thing - we'll probably make most internal decisions there, and it will give you a window to voice yourselves in regard to proposed legislation before it goes live. Yeah, feel free to add me for an invite. Same username.
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Jul 31, 2014 18:44
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 Hellenistic Restoration Don't forget about joining the best party!
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Jul 31, 2014 19:09
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LordGugs posted:Would it be too late to join your fine party? The Monternos party is always ready to welcome innovators. Feel free to join, just remember to state such again the next Senate caucus.
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Jul 31, 2014 19:25
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 PART THIRTY-EIGHT: RADZIWILL THEY OR RADZIWON'T THEY (1491-1508) While the archives of the Black Chamber contain various personal writings or correspondence of emperors or empresses dating back to that organization's origins in the High Byzantine era, it was Empress Theochriste I Radziwiłł who apparently began the tradition of depositing sealed personal accounts of their reigns into the chamber's vaults. Of course, even these 'secret' or 'true' histories were profoundly political documents, and many of the rulers who even bothered to write these stories made only perfunctory efforts. Nonetheless, we believe that the Secret Histories of the Black Chamber can lend substantial insight into the Roman Empire of the early modern era. Don't let 'em say I was born with a sword in my hand.  That's become a cliche of recent histories of the reigns of empresses like Iouliana the Great, Valeria the Apostle, Valeria the Saint, and all those other warlike Komnenoi now starting to gently fade into a sort of semi-legendary Matter of Rome. There's always some preternatural association with swords. Maybe their childhood tutors taught them how to stick 'em with the pointy end. Maybe they impressed their father when they picked up a toy sword instead of a doll. Maybe they stole a sword from an imperial blacksmith and snuck out at night to practice in the yard. A whole world of sword-related apocrypha to choose from. Anyway, I mistrust this sort of history and hope that the storytellers of the future never indulge in it with respect to my reign.  It's not that I reject the martial. The military is Rome. Without well-defended borders, the empire will fall. Without expansion, our borders will be indefensible and our strategic situation untenable. It's more like this: 1.) The recurring image of swords in folkloric accounts of imperial reigns tends to just be foreshadowing for a dramatic battlefield death in a duel at the hands of some dishonorable opponent. The other day, a troubadour came to my court and sang a tale of the reign of Iouliana the Great. Wonderful singing voice, but does he really expect me to believe that Iouliana was killed at the Battle of Moesia by somebody named Zenon the Wicked? That's so made up sounding. Obviously she was just shot with an arrow or killed by some anonymous pikeman or something. That's how things like that always went. Life isn't like stories. But it's also like this:  2.) The world is changing. Has changed. In the future-- in the far future-- historians will just look at the whole era in between the exile of Romulus Augustulus and the victory of the Hongwu Emperor over the Yuan as a kind of extended era of obscurity, a Dark Age of no particular significance to anybody but people particularly interested in Mongol horse archers, severe-looking mosaics, and defunct kingdoms like "Castile" or "England". The sword is but a relic of this age of obscurity. It's imprecise, barbaric, and the use of it tends to be extremely hazardous (due to factors like, e.g., the proximity to enemies who also have swords, accidentally hacking one's own limbs off, etc.) So if I am to be remembered in association with a weapon, let it be the arquebus. Modern. Precise. Dangerous. And if somebody shoots one at you it's already too late to do anything about it.  Oh, of course I felt some discomfort piling onto the Holy Roman Empire when France was already ravaging their lands. Even if they were Catholics, weakening them directly strengthened France. But controlling the Adriatic and securing a land connection between Italy and the rest of the empire was essential for Italy to be defensible from any future French onslaughts. We all remember how the Savoyard war turned out. Confessional unity is bunk, anyway. The Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire. Kiev, Third Rome. The Papal State (capital: Rome). A war of Romes. All we needed was Da Qin and we'd have the full set in one war.  The Habsburgs were quickly losing ground in Germany proper. French armies had shattered their lines, and our Polish allies were ready to slip into any gaps.  Verona was still garrisoned by a fairly sizable force. I'm not sure if they were there to defend against a surprise attack by Rome, or if they were just trying to hide from the French.  Either way, General Julian Nevsehirli slaughtered 'em.  The Papal State was of some concern. We easily bested them at sea, and their standing armies were far outnumbered by ours, but they were close at hand and had tremendous manpower to draw from.   Whenever we defeated a Papal Army, four more rose to took its place. Occupying the whole of the Papal State would have tied up a greater portion of our army than I was willing to commit to that theater-- we had to put pressure on the Habsburgs, enough pressure to get them to give up on Verona. We couldn't do that if half our army was guarding our siegeworks.    We were further hampered by an unexpected loss to Trevisan rebels-- it seems they had Hui officers. And Hui guns. Fortunately, that still wasn't enough to defeat 19,000 Poles. Thanks, Poland.  And the Kievans still lurked in the north, too timid to launch an offensive, but pouncing on any auxiliaries from Ragusa or Kartli who strayed too near.  Really, though, I'm overselling the difficulty of our war on the Habsburgs. The only real challenge was finding a part of the Empire the French hadn't already laid waste to, so we could convince the emperor we could cause enough trouble to make it worth it for him to just hand us Verona and get us out of there.  Most of the Roman Empire scarcely noticed we were at war.  It helped that Ragusa and Poland picked up the slack occupying Papal territory, granted.  Ultimately, we arrived at the gates of Hanover itself.  And the Holy Roman Empire paid the price we were asking to go away.   Quick, dangerous, and precise. A much more efficient war than that business Hugh de Mowbray tried to pull in Ferrara. I'll say this about the Holy Roman Empire, though: They sure didn't make it easy to set up a permanent government in Verona. Integrating the province into the empire took a substantial investment in administrative resources. But what else were we going to use them for?  With the German Habsburgs on the run, the Scottish Habsburgs tightened their grip further on the hearts and minds of the British. I wonder if they realized they'd chosen the wrong side of history, bet on the wrong church. I assume it's all political theater, anyway. It can't possibly be theology.  Can it? Could Fiona von Habsburg really be willing to end up in splendid isolation over what kind of hat her priests wear? Then again, much of the Near West remains hidebound in the old ways. They look at our armies, our civil service, our arquebuses, our humanist values, and they see the future. They don't like it.  But the future is coming. Catch up or die.  As predicted, the military collapse of the Holy Roman Empire put France closer than ever to our borders. Just a thin slice of Papal State (carefully balanced on the ruins of New Bulgaria, which was itself a shanty built over the smoking crater of the Republic of Genoa) separated us from them. But we wouldn't win a war fought with France over Italy if we had to move our whole army around on boats.  We were still seeing the consequences of letting France win the last time they attacked Italy.  The Church continued to overestimate its role in the governance of the state. We continued to put them in their place. Orthodoxy is just another oil that keeps the wheels of governance running, another way for silver to make its way from over there to over here.  Kartli, I decided, was not pulling its weight as an autonomous vassal. Their contributions to our wars were insignificant compared to those of Ragusa. Also, letting all the church malcontents and troublemakers congregate in one spot in the empire's remotest frontiers was actually a profoundly stupid idea.  The merchants recognize their role in the empire. Why can't the churchmen? It's quite tiresome.  A small victory over Da Qin:  I still severely doubted that we could win any military struggle against Da Qin. This was something of a problem: We needed the province of Görz to connect the Roman Italy to Ragusa. We were more than a match for Ao Di Li, but their alliance with Da Qin was still in full effect. Then, once more, French aggression created an opportunity for Rome.  Styria was quite a curious country. Somehow, somewhere, France dug up a von Habsburg to place on the Styrian throne. The nation considered itself thoroughly Western-- and Austrian-- but they still held to the Sunni beliefs brought to central Europe by the Hui. The one von Habsburg in the world who's not a Catholic is Muslim. It's almost kind of inspirational.  We were still going to crush them, of course.  And I suppose their religion perhaps played a role in the willingness of our allies to participate in a war fought for, let's face it, blatant expansionism. On the other hand, everyone hates the von Habsburgs.  Styria was not left to face Rome and her allies alone, however. I tend to get the impression that most of the Ming Frontier Army's successor states are fairly indifferent to religion. They are nominally Sunni, partly because that was the religion of Chang Yuchun and the Hui people, and partly just because the greater part of their population adhered to that religion long before they showed up. I have heard that the Christians of Antioch, Jerusalem, Cilicia, and other formerly Byzantine territories now in the hands of Da Qin have been left to practice their faith in peace, just as the Sunni residents of Anatolia have been within our borders. Lai Ang was different. Iberia, long before the Ming showed up, was sort of the religious trash compactor of Europe. After the likes of Castile, Portugal, Galicia, and Aragon all fell, you just had Anadalusia and Mauritania slowly pushing León into the ocean. People in Iberia cared about religion, and the Sunni faith became a major unifying factor in Lai Ang. When the rebellious de León kings converted to Islam, their Hui handlers took this as a genuine atonement for their crimes and allowed them to keep their throne, if in name only. I would have just shot them all, frankly. And so Lai Ang proclaimed itself the Sunni defender of the faith. And they rose up in defense of Styria, an Austrian country forcibly separated from the once extremely anti-Frontier Army Ao Di Li by the French, and which furthermore had only existed for about a month. Religion is a strange thing.  So-- the war for Görz would be substantially more challenging than simply marching into Styria, shooting all their soldiers, and blowing holes in the sides of their cities with cannons. But not fundamentally unwinnable in the way war with Da Qin and Ao Di Li would have been. Iberia was all the way over there. And we had enough money in the warchest to keep life in the empire good while our armies were in the field.  We made short work of the Styrians themselves, naturally.  Lai Ang attempts to land troops in Italy were stymied when they made some extremely poor navigational choices.   Hungary, seeing the good work we were doing fighting one of the Frontier successors, and seeing that unlike Basillike Yaroslavovna and Hugh de Mowbray I am not an idiot, offered to once again form an alliance with us. They declined to enter this particular war, but the thought was appreciated.  Kartli was fully integrated into the empire in the midst of this war-- as it was largely fought at sea or on foreign soil, such ordinary state business could continue. I instructed the Black Chamber to keep a careful watch on the Kartlian priest now dispersing throughout the empire. They're there to keep the tithes flowing, not to think.  We also took steps to make sure they didn't get any ideas trying to convert our well-behaved Sunni Romans, who always pay their taxes on time and don't expect the state to support their religious authorities instead of the other way around.  With Styria totally occupied, and Ragusan, Lombard, and Polish soldiers standing guard in case of an uprising, we began to consolidate our forces for a landing in Iberia itself.  Which is not to say we were neglecting our defenses...  And, of course, we were well aware of the dangers of facing a Sincized army on their home soil, and took steps to make sure our armies had the best training and equipment we could manage.  And then... we were off.  The steady advance of technology discomfited some. I'd like to see them plan an amphibious assault on the westernmost bulwark of Sinicized civilization with a bunch of peasant levies and cataphracts. The imperial government told them where to stuff it, in other words.  While we landed at Alicante, the Ragusans protected the south from being reinforced by the banu Ya'las, who had joined the war with their co-religionists.  Lai Ang decided to attack this vulnerable rear-guard. We rushed to reinforce them, hoping to end the war in one grand battle, but the Murcians refused us access to their territory, and we had to go the long way around...  So instead of joining the Ragusan auxiliaries in a spirited defense, we instead found a Lai Ang army dug in and ready to defend themselves from an assault.  We lost, of course. They had more guns. Bigger guns. Better guns.  As our navy had been recalled to defend Sicily against any possible landings from the banu Ya'las or banu Riyahs, our army could not withdraw, and had to make a stand at Alicante. But then a curious thing happened.  Inexplicably, the Lai Ang army split in half, and attacked in two separate waves.   Did General He Fang have some kind of disagreement with King Dahai César de León? Either way, the Lai Ang just threw the war into the garbage for no reason. Of course, news of our defeat in the south reached the Roman markets before that of our victory at Alicante...  And the Lai Ang armies defeated at Alicante were hardly the only ones Lai Ang could field. But we were able to split their remaining armies in two, preventing them from uniting into a single army capable of defeating us.  They decided that half their navy being sunk and half their army being killed was already enough to satisfy their duty to the Styrians, and ceded Görz to us. The Adriatic was ours. You could now walk from one end of the empire to another. Well, you'd still need a boat to get across the Bosphorous, but you know what I mean.  Which was good, because France continued to wax in power, and the threat they posed to Italy grew ever greater.  The decline in power of the doukes seemed to have given some of the peasantry the mistaken impression that they were people.  We couldn't have that.  Fortunately, commoners are so easily distracted. That's another use for religion, I suppose: A useful lightning-rod for discontent.  When Rome claimed the mantle of the defender of the faith of Orthodoxy, it was dragged into an unnecessary war against the Catholics on behalf of some tiny petty kingdom and got all its soldiers killed for no reason. When Lai Ang was the defender of the Sunni faith, it was dragged into an unnecessary war against the Orthodox on beahalf of some tiny petty kingdom and got all its soldiers killed for no reason. What I'm getting at here is that the Yaroslavoviches in Kiev, Third Rome, are just filled with great ideas that will work out really well for them.  The paperwork on our annexation of Görz finally went through on June 3, 1508.  So much of our administrative resources have gone towards the bloody business of empire. Setting up governments in conquered provinces, restoring stability to the empire when those conquests don't go so well, etc. The introduction of new humanist ideas to our administration is more positive, but still saps resources from the core advancement of our administrative techniques. If we hadn't done any of these things, the empire would be ungovernable at best and a smoking ruin at worst. Still, the fact remains that while our armies perform... well, adequately... our administrative technology lags far behind that of Da Qin. And so I find myself contemplating a rather drastic course of action.  WORLD MAP, 1508  (i can't loving believe fujiwara got owned like that. i'm so distraught right now)  SPECIAL SENATE VOTE Before the Senate session proper begins (so everyone still has more time to sort out their party leadership), there is a special vote on whether or not we take advantage of the fact that I've been bleeding ADM everywhere and Sinicize. This vote is open to everyone, whether or not you've joined a party. Everyone who posts in the thread can be assumed to be a member of the Senate, even if they're not aligned with anybody yet.  ##Vote A to Sinicize.  ##Vote B to... not. Sinicizing will be a fairly difficult process, slowed down due to our high base tax, but not as bad as it could be since we're already at 120% tech. If it succeeds, we'll be in the Chinese tech group and have 100% tech speed. However, in this ghastly post-Wealth of Nations dystopia, we'll still have Western units. Which aren't awful or anything-- depending on the tech level, they're about even with or maybe a bit worse than Chinese ones. But since that's something that changed from earlier EU4 patches (and EU3!) I thought I should draw attention to it. However, far more important than the gameplay considerations is the huge impact this will have on the narrative, and on what kind of place our Byzantine Empire is. What you vote for here will have a profound impact on the future direction of the empire, what kinds of events I mod in to throw curveballs at everyone, all the way down to how things are set up in Victoria 2. Most immediately, it will drastically affect the character of the upcoming Senate session, which is why I'm having this vote first. If it passes, your legislation will be the foundation of a new Byzantine system of government, different from anything before seen in all of Roman history. If it fails, the incoming Senate will be the stewards of centuries of Byzantine tradition and advocates of a uniquely Near Western form of governance. Either way, the future stretches out before the Senate, and this is your opportunity to be its architect.
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Aug 1, 2014 06:35
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B, B, B, a thousand times B! We are Rome, and we have spent the last 400 years developing a proud and independent tradition. We must not cast it off so readily for favors from the Orient!
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Aug 1, 2014 06:36
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##A Sinicize Let me tell you gentlemen a story: The Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars #13 posted:When Lu Ji was six years old, his father Lu Kang once brought him to visit Yuan Shu. Yuan treated his guests to mandarin oranges. Lu took two and hid them in his sleeve. While Lu and his father were preparing to leave, the oranges suddenly rolled out of his sleeve. Yuan laughed, "You came as a guest. Must you hide the host's oranges when you're leaving?" Lu replied, "My mother likes mandarin oranges so I wanted to bring them home for her to try." Yuan was very impressed with Lu's filial piety. We all, every one among us, loves our mother Rome and our empress, the Daughter of Heaven as much as the Celestial Emperor in Beijing is the Son of Heaven. In the last century, we have encountered the wisdom and power of a civilization even more ancient and mightier than our own. Some of you rush to defend mother Rome from such an affront, but I say, look at what wondrous mandarin oranges the Ming court has! Scholarship, sensible administration, military prowess, the wisdom of sages who make Seneca look like a child, and such produced goods! I see a great many of you gentlemen wearing senate robes of imported silk, and I know a good many of you have porcelain at home. What have we to compare to this? Let us take the mandarin oranges of Chinese wisdom, technology, writing, and manners, not for our greedy purposes, but because mother Rome hungers for them so.
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Aug 1, 2014 06:46
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Patter Song posted:##A Sinicize And what of the mandarin orange of betrayal? The attacks of the puppet regime of Ao Di Li and our hostile neighbor Da Qin was not that long ago, and we are still rebuilding from their assault. You would throw away our identity to take that of our foe? Shameful. You may idolize Chinese scholarship, poetry, and sagacity, but I hold that the thinkers of the Greeks, the thinkers of the Romans, the thinkers of our Rome; these are men worth admiring! We may take elements from the Ming, but by the Lord, we are Roman! sniper4625 fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Aug 1, 2014 |
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Aug 1, 2014 06:48
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Patter Song posted:##A Sinicize ##Vote B! Your every word brands you a traitor, to your faith, to your people, to your ancestors! The eastern filth are a great test, one we will never by pass by submitting to them! What you would have us do is no different from surrendering to Da Qin, from selling every drop of blood and pride from Aeneas to St. Valeria for baubles! We are Rome! God's chosen empire, and our Empress speaks with Christ's voice, as His regent on earth! We need only our own ingenuity, our own might! Anything else is suicide.
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Aug 1, 2014 07:00
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| # ? Jun 9, 2024 06:44 |
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##A Forward onto the future! Those who stand against this would have us simply crawl back into the Dark Ages, weeping children too afraid of the unknown to taste greatness. But, we are not children. We are adults, standing tall on the backs of those who came before us. And we shall reach out and grab the fruit of greatness, whether it come from the East or the West!
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Aug 1, 2014 07:10
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