User made stories about their reign..

[MasterM!nd]

I dont know how many of you ever played Europa Universalis 1/2, how many of you ever lost your way to their forum..

But in one of their section they got a story telling thing going on, where ppl can post a kinda history about their game. Not only like "1000 men slaughtered the Scots today" but also quite deep going stories, where did make up the everyday life of their king etc etc...
Most of em are a great read, just wondering if something like that is possible with MTW due to it rather short playing time compared to EU 1/2...

[solypsist]

Nothing beats a good story. In fact, we once had a user known for his Shogun stories; it even garnered him a personal icon.
Just as long as all stories are retained within one or two threads.

[MasterM!nd]

Sadly I utterly fail when it comes to writting stories, but I did (and do) greatly enjoy reading such stories..

That user you mentioned isnt around anymore or what, I'd really like read a STW or MTW story http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Btw I think STW and MTW have an advantage towards EU 1/2 cos here you can actually replay the battles which are descriped in the story.. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Kraellin]

maltz was our resident storyteller for stw/we/mi. we havent seen him in a long while, however. he is missed. he wrote the stories and used screenshots within them. i dont know if these are still archived or not.

if anyone else wishes to take up the mantle i'm fairly sure they would be well received.

K.

[MacGregor]

I always start out writing stories, and timelines, and lists of Emperors and their reign, but after 200 or so years I just want to get the campaign over with and start to drop off.

[Kraxis]

The Survival Wars

In the year 1105 Emperor Conrad II died after having suffered from a prolonged illness, it was suspected subterfuge was involved, but no proof was found.

His eldest son, Prince Conrad became Emperor Conrad III. He was a most Ambitious Emperor who during his days as a prince had won fame as a Great Leader. His men were willing to die for him, both due to his skills as well as his social abilities, for spent a lot of time being Dead Drunk with his men.

The Empire he inherited was prosperous and powerful, his father had expanded the border to the east at the expense of the Poles, and built many great improvements in the Empire.

Across the border of Lorraine his halfbrother, Philippe I of France had enherited the kingdom from his father as well. His father had waged several bad campaigns against the English and Aragonese, and now the young Philippe wanted to make his impact on the world.

To the north, the old and sneaky king of Denmark ruled, he had been angered by Emperor Conrad II, when he had lost his oldest son in defence of his country from the Empire. He had vowed revenge for this, but for the time he kept his place as not to be invaded by the mighty Empire again.

To the south the young Italian Doge Vitale III, his father an old friend of Conrad II, had taken up command a few years prior. He had proved himself in single combat during several tournaments in France, he was a known Mighty Warrior and tactical Expert when setting up his forces on homeground.

A few years after the momentous year 1105, Philippe was getting more and more worried. He had finally managed to get a peacetreaty with the two impossible allies England and Aragon. He had worked feverously to get the treaty as he noticed the buildup of Imperial troops in Lorraine, Friesland and Provence.
He knew time was short, he might suffer from a massive attack.
So when he heard about the impending Imperial campaign against the Pommeranians he knew he had a golden chance to get a better defensive position.
In 1108 he attacked in full force against Lorraine, he let his oldest son command the attack, reckless young man not known for his Valour in battle.

The weakened Imperial garrison was overwhelmed after a furious fight in the battle for Ballon de Alsace where the prince ran like a small girl when he was opposed by Imperial Spearmen. His reputation seemed to have been correct.
Conrad III was now faced with the prospect of a French attack in depth as he had few forces to stop further attacks into Swabia. Despite his troubles he let his campaign in the north run as planned and Pommerania was taken.
Conrad himself was still sitting in Austria, knowing well that his drinking habits had made him a bad warrior, and to keep an eye on the Hungarians who had rejected all overtures of friendship.
Using a mix of forces from Burgundy and Swabia Conrad sent the relieving force out.

Philippe, seeing how weakened the Empire was from the loss of Lorraine sent his son to probe futher into Swabia, gaining control of one of the important junctions in the Empire.
After the victory in Lorraine Philippe was sure of himself, and seeing Imperial forces move out of Burgundy, he sent in his personal Guard from Ile de France to attack the weakened position. He might topple the mighty Empire he thought. At the same time he sent in another of his son to bolster the defences in Lorraine.

The probe into Swabia proved to be a great success for the French forces, sweeping aside the garrison.
But they were now cut off as the prince in Lorraine was killed in the battle of Colmar and his forces sent running into Champagne. Because of the aggressive actions launched by the Empire the Pope intervened on behalf of the French, this made Conrad even more determined to get rid of the French. He couldn't care less for the Pope. This would come back to haunt him later.
Philippe had not known that Conrad had reinforced Burgundy from his forces in Tyrolia and the Cantons of Switzerland.
The battle of Brigantine Hill was very bloody as the Imperial forces managed to stem the tide. Philippe reluctantly issued the call for a retreat, when he realized the Imperial position was too good to be overrun.

In Italy and Denmark the two rulers looked on in great interest as their ally Philippe fought a valuable diversionary campaign, from their point of view. Philippe didn't see the fight as valuable anymore, his losses in Lorraine and Burgundy had been very heavy and his retainers demanded heavy payments to support him with more men.

Conrad, went into a steaming rage when he heard about the pillaging of his central governmental hub, his Royal Palace had been burned to the ground. He told the generals assembled before him that if they did not oust the invaders at once he would have them hanged for treason.
So the generals launched an attack on the weak raiders, and in a brilliant move they killed the prince in hail of arrows while he was fighting the local levies of Spearmen in an action outside the village of Hammerech. The Pope then went ahead and delivered the Excommunication to Conrad, a totally new situation for the new Emperor as the population took te news very badly, recenting the Emperor.
Feeling the threat from France was greater than it really was Conrad contemplated on an attack from Friesland into Flanders, so he moved troops from Saxony to bolster the troops in Friesland. This left Saxony heavily depleted and weak as the forces in Pommerania could not leave until they had finished the subjugation of the people there, who were largely still pagans and very angry from losing their independence.

King Olaf noticed the weakened border with joy, he reportedly embrased the messenger and gave him five gold coins afterwards he called for a big banquent "Tonight we feast in celebration of the coming revenge."

Vitale looked very pleased when get the news of the Imperial successes against the French. "I know they are our allies, but this forces Conrad to move his troops further away from our borders. The time has come to help our allies and get some of the money Conrad is hoarding for himself." He began to plot the offensive into Imperial lands with his senior generals.

So both Tyrolia and Saxony was attacked.
In Saxony Olaf and his sons cut drown drowes of mercenary Nubian Spearmen when they crossed the bridge over the river Techeln. The local commander ran in fear when he saw the successful Danish invaders, seeking refuse in his Fort, leaving a unit of archers to support the frightened levy Spearmen. The fight was short and bloody, where the archers managed to kill one of Olafs younger sons, but the knights simply rolled over the spearmen with some support of the following militiamen.

In Tyrolia the battle for the Veneto-pass was equally short and bloody, the garrison had been reinforced by Bulgarian mercs armed with bows, and these along with the Swiss Archers took out a whole lot of the Italians, killing one prince and depleting several formations. Despite the great position of the troops and the good work on behalf of the archers the infantry got scared of Vitale on his bright white steed in his shiny armour. They were cut down in the hundreds.
After the battle Vitale looked very pleased. A cheap victory with heavy losses to Conrad.

The ransom for the Tyrolian forces was light as Doge Vitale was busy plundering the landscape, so the ransomed troops bolstered the very weak garrison of Switzerland so that the Italians were discouraged from further attacks.
Conrad himself was now embroiled in a threefront war, something he could not continue with. He knew he had to strike at his enemies while he still had the strength to mount any offensive operations.
In the castle of Austria Conrad called in his general from Pommerania. There he outlined his plan for an attack on the Danes in Saxony, taking advantage of the disgruntled peasants in the area Conrad hoped for a massive uprising from them.
While moving troops from Lorraine to bolster the garrison in Burgundy so the main forces there could be shifted around and make up forces for the counteroffensive in Tyrolia, Philippe once again made a totally comitted attack against Lorraine.
This time it looked like the Imprerial forces would hold the line as the French general lost heart during the second battle of Colmar when he was surrounded by Militiamen, but in time the supperior numbers of French Archers managed to whittle away the Imperial Men-at-Arms... ultimately the French payed dearly for their victory, but now the Holy Roman Empire was in very dire straits having lost on all fronts, and having lost large numbers of the cream of the armed forces in the Empire.

Conrad managed to scrape together what meager force he had and attacked in all three provinces, hoping to surprise the Allies, as they were sure the French once again would take the full brunt of the Imperial fury. Swabia had a Bandit uprising, causing terror. While Pommerania was almost left to itself again.
Conrad had gambled and had used up all his reserves of troops and then some.

In Saxony Olaf, the old king of Denmark was in the middle of pulling his forces back to Denmark when he suddenly desided to stop near a small town close to the Pommeranian border, he had said: "I haven't felt like this since..." then he swirled around on his horse and rode back to column and put up in a defensive position.
The Pommeranian army marched on, expecting to meet the Danish army in the flatlands further in the province.
The battle was a surprising affair for the Imperial troops, they basically stumbled onto the Danish army and was completely routed, in the surprising encounter. The Danish Archers proved themselves very deadly in melee and beat back several attacks on them. Only Prince Lothar made a good account of himself, engaging Olaf and his Guard, but eventually he was disheartened by the retreating friends all around him.
In Lorraine another battle was fought near Colmar and the Imperial forces managed to rout the French and capture their general. Again Philippe's plans had been foiled, but he had yet to lose any land or any great money, and he had now begun to crank out Men-at-Arms in Ile de France, hoping to finally beat Conrad.
In Tyrolia the Italians had settled down to starving out the garrison of the castle and had moved home a lot of troops, so the local commander wisely retreated in face of the superior enemy.

The strain on Conrads forces was visible now, his forces were tired and beaten up by the constant fighting with the French. Only Switzerland and Burgundy was still able to produce any quality troops and Conrad had been forced to lower the taxes in almost all provinces to keep the people from revolting due to being disgruntled about the Excommunication, so the Imperial coffers were depleted as well.

Philippe knew the trouble Conrad was in and launched one last attack into Lorraine and was once again able to overcome the army sent to oppose them during the battle of Hartenrell.
Olaf, though he had won the battle of Zimmerbach with great skill and had recieved a lot of money from the ransom, was forced to stay defensive due to the losses he had suffered. Saxony was on the verge of exploding into his face, so he was just waiting for Conrad to come and talk terms of peace so he could leave the war.

Conrad getting tired of the constant warfare in wartorn Lorraine, launched a punitive attack into Genoa from Provence with a faily small force, while he reinforced the army in Tyrolia.

Vitale played into the hands of Conrad by attacking into the prepared defenses in Tyrolia and running from battle in Genoa. The Italians suffered a great loss in Tyrolia when they stumbled upon the prepared defenses in the Dacario-pass and Vitale began to think about the wisdom of further warfare, but as with Olaf he waited for Conrad to yield first as he had a large army stationed close to Venice. He did fear the Imperial attack in Genoa would carry on into Tuscany where he had no forces able to oppose them, so he called for Philippe to help out.

Philippe was thrilled to know that Conrad had attacked Genoa, now he could take Provence. He was quoted to have said "Finally the end is near, this is going to be the decisive action of the war"
He could not know how right he was.

Conrad had never intended to go into Tuscany, he needed all his troops for defensive purposes and pulled the raiding force back from Genoa when they had pillaged enough.
This force managed to catch up with the main army near a brigde across the Adeche river after a forced march, it was not a second too early, as the French forces crossed the ridge on the other side of the river a few minutes later.
The battle was onesided despite the spirited charge across the bridge by the French general and his Feudal Knights.

Now it was time for Conrad to take the battle to the French, and he quickly hired a mass of mercenary forces and attacked deep into Tolouse where the French were finally defeated in the desisive action at Gracon bridge.

Now the sides look wearily at each other, looking for any chance to pound at any weakness. Philippe is becoming more and more obsessed with attacking Conrad and getting the victory he needs to soothe his ego. Vitale is licking his wounds from his last massive loss in Tyrolia. Olaf is content with his holdings in Saxony, where he can build up and perhaps go on the offensive again if Conrad is so foolish as to attack Philippe too much.
Conrad himself has become a man of stength, being able to keep his head cool when confronted with great dangers. Several times his commands went against the better knowledge of his generals, but they secured the survival of his Empire.

[Kraxis]

The Fall of Philippe

The close to insane Philippe managed to get an informal cease-fire with the Empire. Formally they were still at war.

In the year 1119, the time had come for what became known in the aftertime as The War of Bloom.
Philippe, still enraged from him defeat in the Survival Wars, had built up his forces again, this time with many quality troops.
Obsessed with the fertile lands in Lorraine, and feeling the need to remove the blemish from the Survival Wars, he sent in his army under the command of his only living son who had come of age.

Conrad had not spent the last few years idly and had boosted the defense with more and better troops, but most importantly he had sent Lord Coucy, a man with potential towards commanding troops (Rank 4), to replace Lord Hermann who was thought to lack the nerve on the battlefield.

Prince Charles and his army met up with Lord Coucy's forces in the hills outside Dijon.
The battle was a protracted affair where Charles himself led a charge into the Imperial Men-at-Arms when they had engaged his forces. His troops suffered great losses but the Men-at-Arms were the backbone of the Imperial army, and if they broke the others would soon follow. Charles played a high game.
The Imperial Elite troops began to waver, but the timely arrival of a local Militia force stiffened their resolve.
In face of the Militia attacking his rear, Charles courage failed him and he began to run but he was blocked. A brave Militiaman tripped the horse with the shaft of his polearm. Charles fell soundly to the ground, but managed to get to his feet just in time for a Man-at-Arms to strike him over the head with his sword, the helmet flying off. Dazed Charles fell back onto a rock and killed himself on it.
The French forces near the left flank witnessed this, and soon lost all hope of victory.
Hundreds of soldiers were taken prisoner that day, and the exhausted Imperial troops began the task of naming the losses they had taken, nearly 60% on this day. Charles had indeed been a capable commander and a worthy successor of Philippe had he lived.

Philippe sitting in his castle in Paris had gotten a bad cough during the last few weeks. He knew time was running out, but at least he would die knowing his son had won a great victory over the hated Germans.
The mailedcoated messenger entered the great hall with long strides and stopped at the kings feet, dropped to a knee, bowed his head while presenting a sealed letter.
Philippe smiled and took the letter, knowing it was his son describing the campaigns progress in Lorraine. As he looked at the seal he was horrified... It was the seal of Lord Coucy... Philippe opened the letter with shaking hands:

"Your Majesty,
during the battle with Thyne forces We managed to capture a number of Thyne retainers, including Lord de Nogaret.
We demand 956 florins for their safe return.

It has come to my mind that it was Thyne son prince Charles that lead the army. I'm sorry to tell You, Your majesty, that he fell in combat with Our forces. We can arrange for his body to be sent along with the prisoners if You so choose.

Lord Coucy, Commander of the Lorraineian Imperial Army."

Philippe folded the letter, sighing... He lifted his arm to call his advisor forwards.
"Pay the Imperial swine the money... no need to let the men suffer because of this."
He got to his feet staggered a few steps and fell over caughing violently.
Philippe died three days later due to a Tuberculosis infection.

With the death of their king and no clear successor the french generals carved out their own small kingdoms and duchies.
Thus was the end of Philippe and his kingdom, France.

Undoubtedly during his last few hours, Philippe thought about his reckless orders to his sons, the orders that cost them their lives.

[Mr Durian]

Great Story. Damn I want to make a story that well about my Byzantine Empire but I lack the initiative.

[kataphraktoi]

Here's mine"

It is not like Kraxis's story with a fluid narrative its more of a chronicle though some earlier details are scarce

A history of Late Byzantium 1220 - 1453: The eight Emperors

Constantine XI 1220 - ?
Scythoctonus (Turk Slayer)
His reign was a difficult one destined to end its days fighting the one enemy that has profited form its steady decline after the Latin scourge of 1204.
Constantine XI was blessed with a diplomatic gift
and was sought after by the various princes and kings of Europe, despite Byzantium's shrinking borders the lively character of the Emperor and his energetic personality made it easy to accomodate strong relationships.
His wars with the Turks began in earnest when their forces were massed in Anatolia, the ability of the Turks to mass a large army quickly alarmed Constantine XI to the hostile situation and resolved to meet it head to head, fortunately his domestic policy had made it a priority to attract mercenaries to his empire. Gathering mercenaries in a systematically in Nicaea, Lesser Armenia and Georgia Constantine XI initiated the Turkish war and forced the Turks out of Anatolia by defeating them ignominously on the outside of Ankara. Not wanting to be complacent Constantine strucka gain into th heart of the Turkish empire and occupied Rum putting the Sultan under siege. Rum fell but not without a desperate attempt by the Sultan to turn the situation around, his remnant forces gathered in Rum for another decisive battle, again the result was the same as was in Anatolia - defeat and shame for the Turks. Rum was now imperial territory. Of the proud Turkisj empire only Armenia was left but it wasn;t an easy task to drive the Turks out, the last decade spent on regaining Anatolia and Rum had cost the Empire dearly in florins, the treasury was in deficit and needed to be repaired before a final assault could be made, the Sultan can lick his own wounds in safety while the Emperor gave him a respite. While repairing his economy he found the time to conquer Trebizond from the separatist Trapezuntines and united the disparate Byzantine Empire.
The end was near for the Turks when Constantine invaded Armenia, under a pitched battle near Mt Ararat the Sultan was captured and executed. Eliminated and destroyed the Turkish Empire was now Constantine's empire, Asia Minor was now Roman and Christian once again. Throughout his lifetime he dreamed of regaining Constantinople but just as the end was near for the Turks so was the same with Constantine, the Turkish wars lasted nearly his whole life, before he could launch the attack he died a year before his dream could come true. He died leaving a strong empire with a strong ecomic base. The greatest of the 8 Emperors of the Late Byzantium.

Constantine XII ? - 1276
Restorer of the World Restitutor Orbis
Like his father before him he dreamt of recapturing Constantinople from the Latin dogs, although doing this would prove to be quite hard. The Italians had already created a sprawling empire over the dead carcass of the Byzantine empire's former territories and were now in a powerful position to resist any invasion but for the tenacity of Constantine. He invaded Constantinople but had to make several attempts since the Italians had firmyl resisted the byzantine invasion, meanwhile the Byzantine fleet with renewed vigour destroyed the Italian fleet in thr Marmara and the Aegean Sea. Finally the Italians capitulated and gave up Constantinople, Constantine quickly raised a new army to defend the new capital and fought many a battle in the Thracian countryside sending the Italians packing off to Greece. With his dreams fulfilled he died in the year 1276.

John III 1277 - 1290
Acumenic ruler
His reign witnessed no new conquests but tame his reign wasn't, his time was spent consolidating the territories of his empire into an economic machine, this often meant wars with the Italians which he won successfully, he also raised a new imperial fleet which successfully kept the Italians out of the Byzantine's backyard. His 13 year reign saw a great increase in the Byzantine treasury auguring well for the future ahead.

Alexius III 1278 - 1329
Military genius and brilliant statesmen
The prosperous reign of John III ended in peace but the beginning of Alexius's reign was disastrous, a conspiracy by his brother suceeded in breaking the provinces of Trebizond, Armenia, Georgia, Rhodes and Rum. Alexius subdued the civil war skillfully combining bribery and ruthless military action, all rebels were executed and given no quarter signalling his intention to tolerate no opposition. The experience of being betrayed turn this once gentle ruler into an iron faced one. All provinces returned to legitimate rule except for Armenia, Rhodes and Georgia occupied by the Egyptians, French and rebels. With his Eastern frontiers secure he turned his attention to the west, for many years the Italians had attempted to recapture Constantinople while his back was turned to the civil war.
Revenge was sweet as his armies trampled over Greece and Bulgaria expelling the Latins from the mainland, the Balkans once again was Byzantine.
His reign is noted not only for the ability ro survive a civil war but also to add territories to the Empire afterwards as well as holding the economy together. A brilliant ruler who died in 1329 bequeathing a heavy legacy of what is expected of all Byzantine Emperors.

Nicephorus IV 1330 - 1368
Militant adventurer
Aggressive, warlike and ruthless Nicephorus spent his
entire reign fighting the Hungrarians and the Italians, Serbia was the first conquest Nicephorus initiated, the Italians furious that they lost a valuable province mustered their strength and launched amphibious attacks. Scorning the Latins Nicephorus cut them to pieces adding a Doge's head to the equation in the mountains of Serbia.
As the ally of Italy the Hungrarian King broke neutrality and invaded the empire occupying Bulgaria, Nicephorus in his usual self took up the challenge and crushed the Hungarians near the Morava river. In an act of daring Nicephorus invaded Hungary itself and put the capital under siege, the shaken ruins of the Hungrarian army escaped into the Empire and plundered Bulgaria and Thrace putting Constantinople under siege. Unaffected by the news Nicephorus continued the siege until Budapest fell and sacked the whole province leaving not a building standing as an insulting gesture, the Hungrarians within the empire shuddered at his approach, in a desperate battle in Thrace the remnant imperial hungrarian army was captured and executed. Still the Hungrarians did not cease hostilities and therefore were taught a lesson when the Emperor invaded the capital two more times and sacked the region mercilessly. Pleased with the taming of the Hungrarians he turned his attention East towards Georgia, the last remaining rebel state, easily enough Georgia bowed to the might of Nicephorus.
Looking back at years of uninterrupted success he embarked on his last campaign in Croatia which he failed to hold due to an early death. The treasury in his time remained stable but did not growth, much of the profit went to raising an army and maintaining it. Died 1368

Alexius IV 1368 - 1398
Peace maker
A contrast to his father his whole reign was uneventful except for his attempts at securing peace with remarkable failures. In short a docile and weak ruler.

John IV 1399 - 1449
Active ruler
Byzantium was in decline around his reign, the economy had become stagnant and enemies were more numerous and dangerous, the Almohad Empire has overrun Europe and was now focusing its attention on the Italian peninsular. An alliance was offered by John to the princes of Europe only to be rebuffed, the puzzling response was soon forgotten when the Emperor broke its alliance with the Almohads and waged a land and sea war to save what was left of Christian Eurpe while the Christian Princes fought each other uselessly. The byzantine fleet kept the Almohads at bay until weight of numbers won the day for the Africans, but the byzantines did however secure a defendible zone in the Aegean Sea, the Western Mediterranean Sea belinged to the Muslims. Regaining their former strength the Hungrarians invaded Serbia but was repulsed and sent packing backt o Hungrary, the Emperor followed his grandfather's example and sacked Hungrary.
Died in 1449

Nicephorus V 1450 - 1453
Inherited the Almohad Wars from his father and waged an undecisive war.

What happened to the Empire after 1453?
Almohads conquered it, Nicephorus died a heroic death defending the capital. Civil War. Trebizond, Nicaea and Anatolia form the Nicopezuntine Empire and lasts till 1499 when the Almohad general Ilmutish killed the last Emperor outside Trebizond. Again a remnant empire is formed in Georgia in alliance with remaining french forces and reconciled hungrarian forces to fight a decisive battle off the coast of Asia Minor, Almohads lose battle and flee back to Europe leaving Asia Minor open to the Byzantines to recover western provinces back.
Turks rise up again and destroy the Byzantines once more - survivors escape to Russia.

[ShadesWolf]

I love this idea....

Screen prints, save games will all help to expliot a great story.

[Exile]

Very good stories. Perhaps I'll try one myself someday http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[ShadesWolf]

## Im still thinking of a title for it ## http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

An AAR By shadesWolf


INTRODUCTION

Emperor Constantine XI, with his two young sons, stand on the deck of the imperial war galley, as it sails away from the once mighty city of Constantinople. He looks back and tells his two young sons, that he will make the Crusading knights pay for the arrogance.

At the age of 35, Constantine finds himself on the thrown of a dying empire. The Byzantine capital, Constantinople, had just fallen to the Knights of the Fourth Crusade. The year was 1204, and these western knights went about breaking up the Greek part of the empire amongst themselves. Baldwin of Flanders was elected as leader of the new government in Constantinople. The western lands were split into a number of provinces: Achaia, Epirus and Salonica. The area around Byzantium was renamed The Latin Empire(It was also known as Romania.)

Not all of the empire actually fell into the Latin’s hands, pockets of resistance remained. Mainly in the areas of: Nicaea, Lesser Armenia, Rhodes and Georgia. It was far to say this was now the Byzantine Empire. The province of Trebizond has declared its independence and renamed itself the empire of the Trapezunites.

After a few days sailing the ship finally found port at the city of Smyrna, in the Province of Nicaea. As the royal party disembarked the ship, Isaac Stratiocus, captain of the Varangian Guard and the emperors most trusted officer, met them.

‘ My Emperor I have terrible news.’

Constantine looked at his loyal servant and told him that he would not talk of such things on an empty stomach, and that he was not the mention it again until he had dinned. Later than evening in the security of a room in the local inn, Isaac advised the emperor on what he knew of the lands that were once his Byzantine Empire and the surrounding countries that border those lands.

In brief…….


TO BE CONTINUED…

[Kraxis]

Ok, this is not really a story from a campaign.


The short nobleman Lord Scrope sat at his table in the Inn provided for him and his men. With a sigh he began a letter.



"To the UN (United Nobles) in Geneva, Switzerland:

25th of August, 1353.


My Lords, this is my preliminary report on the Italian weaponsprogram.

At first it seemed as the Italians were willing to cooperate with us. They showed us all their stables and armourers within the first week of coming here to Venice. From what we saw we were assured they could not produce the armour or breed the horses needed for anything above Feudal Knights.

Our inspections took us further into the land, where we witnessed the destruction of a Bowyers Workshop, as acording to Your charter. In Genoa we saw the burning of all the ships above the level of normal Galleys. In Tuscany we inspected their spearfacilities and found nothing that was outside their range of accepted weapons.

But after two years we have now begun to doubt the Italians commitment to the downscaling of their armed forces. Just yesterday I myself literally stumbled over some platemail in an armourer. I wonder if they are hiding their abilities to produce good armour and weapons.

Doge Giovanni has recently been very aggressive politically, he have been forcing masses of people to stand before his castle as he has been yelling insults at us. We have been called lakeys of the Holy Roman Empire. He has also been quoted for asking "Why can the HRE have Gothic Knights while we can't? It is not like they have been peaceful, pressing their ideas onto the rest of the Catholic world."

So my Lords I can only say that we need more time."



Lord Scrope rose from the table and sat on his bed, feeling the lump on his forehead from where he had been hit by the falling Gothic shield.

Just then one of the other inspectors, Lord Argyrus, humped in. Lord Scrope looked at his shin. The poor man had slipped and fallen onto a Gothic mace.

"Yes what is it?"

"Well Don Sanches can't get up today. Yesterday he demanded to ride a horse he thought looked a little too big for being a Feudal warhorse, now his hips and back are hurting."

"Ahhh... anything else?"

"Yes, I saw a man in platemail today."

"So..."

"Well our political liason Sicco Medici said it was only part of a play."

"There you go, it was nothing. Now leave."

"Yes, Master Inspector."