Husker98
02-16-2009, 14:33
Restoring the Empire
An AAR by Husker98
Here’s the quick rundown on this AAR difficulty settings are both on Medium. I attack no one unless A. they attack me B. they are the enemy of my allies or C. their country is about to get wiped off the face of the earth and I can easily gain territories I want. A couple of quick backgrounds on the story before we enter it, Antiochos Syriakos gave up the crown of the Seleucid empire several years before in favor of a modified democracy, only difference in this democracy is that the ruling body, the Assembly, are all either governors or high ranking military officials, the Seleucid empire is in effect ruled by the army. Rulers are elected by the assembly, the individual elected holds the office of Emperor till death…..and if the assembly thinks he sucks he will be removed by assassination.
I accidentally deleted all of my pics for the first 3 or 4 chapters so we are gunna have to use our imaginations for now sorry.
Chapter one the Reign of Antiochos Syriakos
Antiochos sat on his marble throne deep in thought. The day’s meetings regarding the economic and military situation through out his vast empire had been long and grueling and were set to resume after Antiochos him self had called for a break so that his mind could rest. Antiochos was old despite what his heart and mind told him. His body ached from years of war, and ruling the empire his father carved out in the dark day’s following the death of Alexander the great. For too long he had traded blows with those deaf and dumb Ptolomies to the south, and those Parthian cowards north of Ariana, and he still mentally hadn’t recovered from the horrors of the Barbarian war in Anatolia. The constant flashbacks of the death of so many barbarian men, women and children in that campaign haunted him to this day, his only comfort, that fact that did what had to be done to save the Anatolian provinces of his empire from the same fate he bestowed on those Barbarians. Defeating their “Migration” had earned him the title Antiochos Soter, Antiochos the savior, by the locals. His nickname stuck and his victories earned kept him on the throne, but in a surprise move he relinquished his crown and formed the “Assembly”, the ruling body of the Empire comprised of high ranking military officials and influential governors. He wanted to retire but to Antiochos surprise the newly created assembly begged him to stay on the throne till the assemblies authority was stronger, this was not what he wanted, but again he did what the empire asked of him.
The door at the end of the large assembly room bursted open as the hundred generals and governors filed back in. After a couple minutes the noise and commotion subsided and all eyes focused on the small grizzled grey haired Emporer of the largest empire on the face of the known world.
Antiochos inhaled deeply and spoke “before we took our meal break we were debating on what we should do with our extreme north eastern provinces, namely the provinces of Sogdiane and Dayuan, the army is overextended and in some regions non-existent making the provinces difficult to defend against the rising power of Saka Rauka, and those rebels in Baktria, as well as those cowardly Pahlavians. Are there any reasons why we should keep control over these satrapies?” There was a second of several different men giving their opinions before Antiochos raised his hand and all noise ceased. “General Achaios my old friend you are in command of the army of northern Ariana you would know the situation better than any of us please share your experiences”. Achaios, a slender old man covered in scares, stood and croaked “ I have fought Pahlava for decades now and with the arrival of the nomadic Saka Rauka I fear these Satrapies cannot be defended by what few men I have, nor can they defend themselves.” “thank you for your advice Achaios, any opposing opinions?”. “ I do my lord!” a man in the far back jumped to his feet with frown upon his face. “Dammit can’t we all agree over something without someone having to dispute everything? This would all get over quicker” Antiochos muttered under his breath as the man with the frown, Cassandros, royal treasurer and overall manager of imperial finance began to speak. “ Losing these provinces could put a dent in our expected tax revenue in northern Ariana and maybe even cut agricultural produ….THEIR A BUNCH OF NOMADS YOU IDIOT!! THEY HAVE NOOO MONEY IN WHICH TO PAY TAXES AND HERD GOATS FOR A LIVING” roared Achaios from across the room silencing Cassandros immediately and awakening Antiochos who had dozed off. Cassandros, stunned by Achaios sudden interruption sat down promptly as his ears turned bright red.” Well I think that settles it gentlemen the satrapies of Dayuan and Sogdiane are to be abandoned and their garrisons transferred to Achaios’ command at Antiochea-Morgiane, any objections?” The room stayed silent, either because they all agreed or because they feared that Achaios may rip their head off, either way with that issue resolved Antiochos could move on too more pressing matters at hand.
“ Our next order of business gentlemen again regards the troubled satrapies of northern Ariana to inform us of the issues there General Achaois will have the floor.” Achaios rose and slid through the seated generals into the isle and trotted down the isle steps to the wall just too the left of Antiochos, there a gigantic mural map of the know world was brilliantly embedded in the wall. Antiochos repositioned himself in his seat so that he could see what he knew would be a fast and furious presentation. “ Alright” Achaios barked “ my current situation is currently bleak, the army of northern Ariana is a bunch of untrained garrison troops that should never see a battlefield. We are confronted with a serious threat in the Pahlavains they have been busy the past couple years raising new forces and conducting raids against Asaak and Zadarakata. A year ago I rode out to confront a large band of Pahlavians, I hired some local mercenaries to help me persuade them to go home. What I thought was a large raiding force was actually a siege force that attacked Asaak. Luckily before I could arrive that arrogant goat Nessos and his men killed them all. Upon my returned home I constantly received reports of sightings of Pahlavan military forces maneuvering near our border for the next year. I request the creation of an actual army to combat what I think will be an immanent invasion.” With that Achaios walked back to his seat. “Thank you Achaios” Antiochos said with a nod “ let us vote on the creation of a new Army of Ariana. All those in favor raise your hand and say aye, those not in favor remain seated.” The majority, roughly 70-80 men stood and raised their hands while saying aye. “the measure is passed I am appointing Achaios to oversee the creation and training of this army.” “And on too our last bit of business, while we are on the subject of the creation of armies lets discuss the creation of the army of Syria. We voted to create this army in our last session, how is it coming along?” Phillip, the strategos responsible for the training of the army of Syria was a tall scrawny man with dark black hair and a sunken face, he stood and spoke. “We have had success filling the ranks, seven Phalangitai battalions and two Cavalry have been formed and are currently undergoing training, we are currently recruiting the poor to fill our skirmisher battalions consequently cleaning up the streets of Antioch my lord.” Phillip than promptly sat down as Antiochos spoke. “ Impressive but not good enough we need that army to combat the Ptolomies in Sidon and Tarsos NOW. These towns are within a weeks marching distance of Antioch and must be captured to negate the Ptolomies any chance of linking their Anatolian provinces with their Syrian ones, this is their goal and we must stop them understood?” “yes my lord we will double our efforts” replied Phillip. “You had better have this army ready by next campaign season or you will be replaced” Antiochos growled. Antiochos didn’t like this man, he looked lifeless and appeared to have no motivation in life other than to be a pain in Antiochos arse. Antiochos had designs for an invasion on Judea and southern Anatolia, but this moron’s inability to gather and train sufficient fighting force had put his plans on the shelf for at least another season or tow, he had hoped to be able to appoint a commander of the army today but that will have to wait till next assembly.
“Unless there is some other form of business I may have overlooked I believe we are done here gentlemen may the gods bless your families, your troops, and our empire.” with that the assembly stood and filed back out of the assembly hall back outside with Antiochos in toe. A beautiful sunset was shrinking in the distance as Antiochos gazed out over Babylon, the second capitol of the empire and home of the assembly, Antiochos strolled along gazing upwards admiring the pillars that held the roof high above him and enjoying the breeze that blew lazily through the building winding through the pillars and people. The building had been constructed several years ago at his orders to house the newly created Assembly, it was a tall building mimicking the Parthenon in Greece except that the internal chamber was considerably larger. The building was conveniently positioned only a short walk away from his palace in Babylon which was good given his achy joints made walking to far nearly impossible. “Where is the Emporer!!!” Cried a voice from among the crowd. The cried snapped Antiochos out of his trans and focused his attention on a young man running towards him, the man was clearly an imperial courier as he was dressed in light leather armor and a shinny bronze helmet upon his head. “Sire I bring news from Zadarakata!” the courier gasped. “What news kind of news courier?” “War sire the Pahlavans have besieged and taken the city my lord.” Shock overwhelmed Antiochos temporarily, he couldn’t believe it. Yes Acheios had just warned them of the situation there but not during his reign he hadn’t actually lost a city to these sub humans. “Courier bring me general Acheios….NOW” “Yes my lord” and with that the Courier ran off into the crowed searching for Acheios. Antiochos stood stunned, beside himself with rage and sorrow, he couldn’t understand how Pahlavans, a nomadic people, even had the technology to wage siege warfare let alone take a city of like Zadarakata with a garrison of 1400 men. General Acheios had arrived maneuvering in between the crowded pack of people surrounding the Emperor. “What is it my lord?” croaked Acheios. “Zadarakata has fallen to Pahlavians.” hissed Antiochos. “So I have heard my lord shall I ride back to my post to gather a retaliation force?” “Yes Acheios I would do that and I would leave now, and when you get there I would execute whoever you left in command because 1400 imperial troops are dead and an imperial city is currently being raped by mindless barbarians!!” The entire court spread amongst the pillars instantly fell silent, their gazes and worried looks now upon Antiochos and Acheios. “Go….NOW…and bring me the head of the infidel who captured the city and don’t return until you’ve done so.” “Yes my lord it will be done.” with that Acheios turned and jogged with his senior officers and body guard out of the shade of the complex into the fading light of the day.
An AAR by Husker98
Here’s the quick rundown on this AAR difficulty settings are both on Medium. I attack no one unless A. they attack me B. they are the enemy of my allies or C. their country is about to get wiped off the face of the earth and I can easily gain territories I want. A couple of quick backgrounds on the story before we enter it, Antiochos Syriakos gave up the crown of the Seleucid empire several years before in favor of a modified democracy, only difference in this democracy is that the ruling body, the Assembly, are all either governors or high ranking military officials, the Seleucid empire is in effect ruled by the army. Rulers are elected by the assembly, the individual elected holds the office of Emperor till death…..and if the assembly thinks he sucks he will be removed by assassination.
I accidentally deleted all of my pics for the first 3 or 4 chapters so we are gunna have to use our imaginations for now sorry.
Chapter one the Reign of Antiochos Syriakos
Antiochos sat on his marble throne deep in thought. The day’s meetings regarding the economic and military situation through out his vast empire had been long and grueling and were set to resume after Antiochos him self had called for a break so that his mind could rest. Antiochos was old despite what his heart and mind told him. His body ached from years of war, and ruling the empire his father carved out in the dark day’s following the death of Alexander the great. For too long he had traded blows with those deaf and dumb Ptolomies to the south, and those Parthian cowards north of Ariana, and he still mentally hadn’t recovered from the horrors of the Barbarian war in Anatolia. The constant flashbacks of the death of so many barbarian men, women and children in that campaign haunted him to this day, his only comfort, that fact that did what had to be done to save the Anatolian provinces of his empire from the same fate he bestowed on those Barbarians. Defeating their “Migration” had earned him the title Antiochos Soter, Antiochos the savior, by the locals. His nickname stuck and his victories earned kept him on the throne, but in a surprise move he relinquished his crown and formed the “Assembly”, the ruling body of the Empire comprised of high ranking military officials and influential governors. He wanted to retire but to Antiochos surprise the newly created assembly begged him to stay on the throne till the assemblies authority was stronger, this was not what he wanted, but again he did what the empire asked of him.
The door at the end of the large assembly room bursted open as the hundred generals and governors filed back in. After a couple minutes the noise and commotion subsided and all eyes focused on the small grizzled grey haired Emporer of the largest empire on the face of the known world.
Antiochos inhaled deeply and spoke “before we took our meal break we were debating on what we should do with our extreme north eastern provinces, namely the provinces of Sogdiane and Dayuan, the army is overextended and in some regions non-existent making the provinces difficult to defend against the rising power of Saka Rauka, and those rebels in Baktria, as well as those cowardly Pahlavians. Are there any reasons why we should keep control over these satrapies?” There was a second of several different men giving their opinions before Antiochos raised his hand and all noise ceased. “General Achaios my old friend you are in command of the army of northern Ariana you would know the situation better than any of us please share your experiences”. Achaios, a slender old man covered in scares, stood and croaked “ I have fought Pahlava for decades now and with the arrival of the nomadic Saka Rauka I fear these Satrapies cannot be defended by what few men I have, nor can they defend themselves.” “thank you for your advice Achaios, any opposing opinions?”. “ I do my lord!” a man in the far back jumped to his feet with frown upon his face. “Dammit can’t we all agree over something without someone having to dispute everything? This would all get over quicker” Antiochos muttered under his breath as the man with the frown, Cassandros, royal treasurer and overall manager of imperial finance began to speak. “ Losing these provinces could put a dent in our expected tax revenue in northern Ariana and maybe even cut agricultural produ….THEIR A BUNCH OF NOMADS YOU IDIOT!! THEY HAVE NOOO MONEY IN WHICH TO PAY TAXES AND HERD GOATS FOR A LIVING” roared Achaios from across the room silencing Cassandros immediately and awakening Antiochos who had dozed off. Cassandros, stunned by Achaios sudden interruption sat down promptly as his ears turned bright red.” Well I think that settles it gentlemen the satrapies of Dayuan and Sogdiane are to be abandoned and their garrisons transferred to Achaios’ command at Antiochea-Morgiane, any objections?” The room stayed silent, either because they all agreed or because they feared that Achaios may rip their head off, either way with that issue resolved Antiochos could move on too more pressing matters at hand.
“ Our next order of business gentlemen again regards the troubled satrapies of northern Ariana to inform us of the issues there General Achaois will have the floor.” Achaios rose and slid through the seated generals into the isle and trotted down the isle steps to the wall just too the left of Antiochos, there a gigantic mural map of the know world was brilliantly embedded in the wall. Antiochos repositioned himself in his seat so that he could see what he knew would be a fast and furious presentation. “ Alright” Achaios barked “ my current situation is currently bleak, the army of northern Ariana is a bunch of untrained garrison troops that should never see a battlefield. We are confronted with a serious threat in the Pahlavains they have been busy the past couple years raising new forces and conducting raids against Asaak and Zadarakata. A year ago I rode out to confront a large band of Pahlavians, I hired some local mercenaries to help me persuade them to go home. What I thought was a large raiding force was actually a siege force that attacked Asaak. Luckily before I could arrive that arrogant goat Nessos and his men killed them all. Upon my returned home I constantly received reports of sightings of Pahlavan military forces maneuvering near our border for the next year. I request the creation of an actual army to combat what I think will be an immanent invasion.” With that Achaios walked back to his seat. “Thank you Achaios” Antiochos said with a nod “ let us vote on the creation of a new Army of Ariana. All those in favor raise your hand and say aye, those not in favor remain seated.” The majority, roughly 70-80 men stood and raised their hands while saying aye. “the measure is passed I am appointing Achaios to oversee the creation and training of this army.” “And on too our last bit of business, while we are on the subject of the creation of armies lets discuss the creation of the army of Syria. We voted to create this army in our last session, how is it coming along?” Phillip, the strategos responsible for the training of the army of Syria was a tall scrawny man with dark black hair and a sunken face, he stood and spoke. “We have had success filling the ranks, seven Phalangitai battalions and two Cavalry have been formed and are currently undergoing training, we are currently recruiting the poor to fill our skirmisher battalions consequently cleaning up the streets of Antioch my lord.” Phillip than promptly sat down as Antiochos spoke. “ Impressive but not good enough we need that army to combat the Ptolomies in Sidon and Tarsos NOW. These towns are within a weeks marching distance of Antioch and must be captured to negate the Ptolomies any chance of linking their Anatolian provinces with their Syrian ones, this is their goal and we must stop them understood?” “yes my lord we will double our efforts” replied Phillip. “You had better have this army ready by next campaign season or you will be replaced” Antiochos growled. Antiochos didn’t like this man, he looked lifeless and appeared to have no motivation in life other than to be a pain in Antiochos arse. Antiochos had designs for an invasion on Judea and southern Anatolia, but this moron’s inability to gather and train sufficient fighting force had put his plans on the shelf for at least another season or tow, he had hoped to be able to appoint a commander of the army today but that will have to wait till next assembly.
“Unless there is some other form of business I may have overlooked I believe we are done here gentlemen may the gods bless your families, your troops, and our empire.” with that the assembly stood and filed back out of the assembly hall back outside with Antiochos in toe. A beautiful sunset was shrinking in the distance as Antiochos gazed out over Babylon, the second capitol of the empire and home of the assembly, Antiochos strolled along gazing upwards admiring the pillars that held the roof high above him and enjoying the breeze that blew lazily through the building winding through the pillars and people. The building had been constructed several years ago at his orders to house the newly created Assembly, it was a tall building mimicking the Parthenon in Greece except that the internal chamber was considerably larger. The building was conveniently positioned only a short walk away from his palace in Babylon which was good given his achy joints made walking to far nearly impossible. “Where is the Emporer!!!” Cried a voice from among the crowd. The cried snapped Antiochos out of his trans and focused his attention on a young man running towards him, the man was clearly an imperial courier as he was dressed in light leather armor and a shinny bronze helmet upon his head. “Sire I bring news from Zadarakata!” the courier gasped. “What news kind of news courier?” “War sire the Pahlavans have besieged and taken the city my lord.” Shock overwhelmed Antiochos temporarily, he couldn’t believe it. Yes Acheios had just warned them of the situation there but not during his reign he hadn’t actually lost a city to these sub humans. “Courier bring me general Acheios….NOW” “Yes my lord” and with that the Courier ran off into the crowed searching for Acheios. Antiochos stood stunned, beside himself with rage and sorrow, he couldn’t understand how Pahlavans, a nomadic people, even had the technology to wage siege warfare let alone take a city of like Zadarakata with a garrison of 1400 men. General Acheios had arrived maneuvering in between the crowded pack of people surrounding the Emperor. “What is it my lord?” croaked Acheios. “Zadarakata has fallen to Pahlavians.” hissed Antiochos. “So I have heard my lord shall I ride back to my post to gather a retaliation force?” “Yes Acheios I would do that and I would leave now, and when you get there I would execute whoever you left in command because 1400 imperial troops are dead and an imperial city is currently being raped by mindless barbarians!!” The entire court spread amongst the pillars instantly fell silent, their gazes and worried looks now upon Antiochos and Acheios. “Go….NOW…and bring me the head of the infidel who captured the city and don’t return until you’ve done so.” “Yes my lord it will be done.” with that Acheios turned and jogged with his senior officers and body guard out of the shade of the complex into the fading light of the day.