Theo mumbles something..
Good race...
And continues to sleep with his jaws wide open...
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Theo mumbles something..
Good race...
And continues to sleep with his jaws wide open...
Nikiphoros, who'd been in the stands watching the race, runs down to the stables, no doubt to congratulate Longinius Nicerite.
The Basileus stands in the Kathisma and speaks.
An entertaining race, but one marked with deceit and cheating. Senator Michail Arianitis has sullied the Hippodrome by ordering his driver Magnentius Ferro to whip a fellow driver and temporary team mate, ensuring both would lose. While it seems Senator Manouelitis had no part in this, I have no choice but to invalidate the results.
The issue of Scopia is still in doubt, it will be resolved later.
The crowds are gathered once more, before the races they are greeted with a special presentation.
Racing into the centre of the ring are the bodyguards and colours of the House of Asteri, a few recognize the would be Megas Nevoulas ek Philadelphius in the middle of the bunch clutching a stake with a bag bouncing on the back of his horse.
Reaching the centre the nobleman climbs up a make shift podium and announces:
People of Constantinople, I greet you. My name is Nevoulas ek Philadelphius, lord of Markinople and Belgrade. I know that some of you may not know of me, but believe me I have Roman blood pumping through my viens as much as the rest of you.
The crowd mocks Nevoulas at this pandering. Nevoulas expecting this smiles broadly.
You are correct to doubt, even now you have the enemy at the gates, what can an unknown senator do for you eh?
With that Nevoulas lifts the stake an smacks it into the ground with a force reaches into the bad carried in on his horse and reveals a decapitated head.
The crowd gasps....
I present you the Sheikh Malik al-Hussian leader of the Fatamid Jihad, killed at the hand of the Asteri.
Soon I will present you with the head of the Moorish Jihad pounding against this walls.
For the GLORY OF ROME.
The crowd roars in approvement, as Nevoulas rams the head onto the spike, mounts his horse and rides back out of the hippodrome.
The Hippodrome was a noisy, busy place. With the Senate in session every imaginable huckster had crawled out of the woodwork to try to drum up some business, and it seemed like all of them were praising their own goods at top volume. Wandering through with some care Stephen, loyal retainer of Vissarionas ek Lesvou, sought some place from which he could give a decent speech. It wasn't easy, there were stalls set up all over the place, even a few crudely constructed ones taking up space on the stairs. At last, in frustration, Stephen quietly hired on some street kids and gave them clear instructions, then climbed up on a nearby pedestal which held an especially ugly statue of an ancient racer.
From an alley one of the young men rushed out into the crowd with a streak of red running down his face, grasping in faux desperation at the shirts and clothes of passersby, 'and probably harvesting a few purses on the side,' thought Stephen. Reaching a position below Stephen he let out an amazingly loud screech, and cried, "Save me!"
Four more boys now raced out of the same alley and siezed him, prompting the victim to wail once more, "Someone save me from the Brotherhood! Protect me from the Muslims!"
The boys holding the little screamer, having attracted considerable attention from the locals, began to hoist him over their heads, but Stephen leapt down among them exactly as they'd been told to expect and they scattered. Drawing his cavalry saber Stephen brandished it at the nearest boy and said in a loud, heroic voice,
"Who sent you to carry out this dark deed child! Answer and you may yet be saved!"
The boy who had been singled out silently mouthed his line before trying a response with his voice, but the crowd watching Stephen's show hardly seemed to notice. At last he stuttered out,
"It was the Brotherhood of Secret Muslims Lord! Please Lord, take pity, they've got my Mom!"
"You need not fear my wrath, but I cannot allow you to take this child. Go now in peace and pray for God to forgive you and preserve your mother. Aid the infidel no longer boy," Stephen added in a warning tone, before thinking, 'don't let them drift off now!'
As the four boys fade away back into the alley two of them turn back and yell out, "Allar-abkar!"
'Close enough,' Stephen thinks, and then jumping back up to his perch he addresses the crowd quickly, before it can fully disperse.
"Friends, Romans, Byzantines! Hear me! There is a black threat striding our streets so openly that it no longer even hides it's evil acts! The Secret Brotherhood of Muslims, having stolen away the throne of the Empire, now abducts good Orthodox boys from our very streets for their nefarious purposes! Oh what fell fate has befallen the heirs of Rome that they do not even question the presence of a Secret Muslim on the seat of Aleksios the Bold!"
It was a calculated risk to simply resume where Isaeus left off, assuming that there would be some among them who remembered his speeches, but it would add to the cache of the speech as well. Those few who did remember could strut their knowledge before their fellows, making a sort of bragging point of it.
"Open your eyes citizens of the greatest city of the world! Does not strike you strange that the infidels, who continually attacked our Empire during the reign of Aleksios and even lay siege to this very city, have now withdrawn? Is it not strange that their armies, which once moved through our lands like they were their own, no longer threaten the core of Byzantium? Is it not worthy of note that only the false Emperor's opponents, the Order of St. John, still face assault from the vile hordes of Islam?"
"It is because they have won already! Our Empire sits peacefully under their control. Oh some few great men, some heroic few, carry on the war to destroy the enemy's distant outposts, but while the battles continue at the fringe the war itself is nearly lost here at home! Who will speak against the false Emperor? Who will reveal that an avowed Muslim heads his Privy Council! An avowed Muslim who has been granted title to a Byzantine city itself!"
Stephen notes that the buzz has reached it's pitch around him, carry on too long, explain too much, and that buzz will evaporate. Better to leave them asking questions, so he makes a subtle gesture with his hand at his side which causes two large men, dressed in an approximation of a royal guardsman's dress that would not pass any close inspection, emerge on the edge of the crowd carrying pikes.
"And that is not all noble fellows, this false Emperor, this fake King, gathers ever more power to his side. Word has come to me just today that he is plotting..."
On cue the fake soldiers raise their voices together, "Silence dog! In the name of the Emperor, take that man!"
The startled crowd turns to look at the men at the edge. Stephen cries, "God preserve me! I must flee, but hold my words close to your heart good men of Rome and be wary!" So saying Stephen leaps down from his perch once more and races for the same alley the boys vanished into previously.
The two men dressed as guards batter a way through the edge of the crowd roughly, unecessarily, slowing their path and painfully pushing aside as many people as possible. At last, as Stephen has clearly gotten away and the guards race off after him, one of them yells, "In the name of Allah, stop!"
:egypt:
It seemed as if few Senators attended the Hippodrome races anymore, although the common people continued to fill the stadiums. That streak would change this day, however, as the Megas himself, Arintheos Voutoumatis arrive. Trailing behind him were what appeared to be a Latin knight and a grizzled looking soldier, both known to have formerly been in the employ of the Basileus Ioannis I. The three of them sat down, all but the knight ordering a glass of wine. There seems to be an air of expectancy about them, although why is uncertain. There is no race today...
Andronikos stands atop a raised platform in the middle of the Hippodrome. A large crowd has gathered in the stands, having heard by word of mouth that Andronikos Komnenos is about to deliver a speech. Their curiosity is even further stirred by the veteran soldiers ringing the speaker's stand and patrolling the nearby streets. All of whom wear a dark green cloak over their armor. Andronikos raises his hands for silence and proceeds with his announcement
Citizens of Constantinople! Heirs to the Roman legacy! Beware the false Basileus with the serpent’s tongue. He is no ruler. He is no noble. He is no Methodious.
One is either born a king or born to become one through conquest. Methodious achieved the latter, if but only for a day. His son achieved neither. While I marched ‘cross towering mountains, fought ‘side blood-stained rivers, slept on cold and lonesome ground; the boy sat and polished his fathers armor.
During my campaigns I met a wise monk atop a mountain. He spoke to me of power, and of the divine rights of kings. He spoke words which all wise men shall agree with. He said, “It is not the task of the king to follow the crown, but the task of the crown to follow the king”. The Empire goes where its ruler goes and I return now to the east. In the east I shall abide and there too shall the Empire stand.
Let all those who look upon me from this day forward, bow their heads and say, “There stands Andronikos! Ruler of Pontus and Armenia! True Basileus of the Byzantines!”
OOC: Andronikos Komnenos Secedes from the Byzantine Empire. Tbilisi will be his capitol. I believe that the contiguous holdings of me and my vassals are Baku, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Amina(formerly Dyarbakir), Trebizond, and Sinop.
Sergios quickly walks up the same platform as Andronikos, a look of grave determination upon his face and deep enmity. However, instead of acknowledging Andronikos, he turns to the crowd and spreads his arms before breaking into speech.
"FRIENDS! ROMANS! FELLOW COUNTRYMEN! Brothers in arms, honourable men who are loyal to their people, their glorious leader, and to the ideals of justice, honour, and freedom!"
"Here we stand at a crossroad of life. There are selfish, greedy, and powerful dark forces on the rise against the legitimate leader of the Empire! This selfish, traitorous man seeks that which he does not rightly deserve, and did not rightly earn!"
"Kousinos Sophianos, who deserted the holy lands and let the Levant go to ruin, now seeks to ruin the entire Roman way of life! He is a traitor and an outlaw, one who seeks power through illegal and non-traditional ways. We Romans are a proud people, the only TRULY civilized nation on earth, and this barbarian scum wants to rule over all of us and send us to our deaths, tearing from our families our lands, titles, wealth, property, and livelihoods, and remake the empire in his own image."
"He claims that he will bring back the Era of greatness of Aleksios Komenos, who held the Empire together and brought strength from unity! But the coward has done nothing but bring us strife and cause more and more territories to rebel, and not even to his cause!" Sergios takes an moment to glibly gesture to Andronikos with a steely gaze, before turning back to the crowd. "His opportunism and greed spread like a plague to all corners of the Empire, and it is up to us, good citizens of the Roman Empire, to halt this cancer before it consumes us all!"
"This is a most grave time for the Roman people. We have stood as a beacon of civilization for over a millennium. This foul creature will not be the next leader of the empire so long as I draw breath. There is no time to stand on the sidelines, now is our moment when we must strike at the very heart of the enemies of the empire. The Venetians and Turks can wait, and unless our empire is whole, we are vulnerable."
"WE MUST STAND UNITED AGAINST TYRANNY AND DIVISION! Can you honestly say our Emperor is a tyrant, who wishes to gain power through despicable means? Has he tried to divide us, make us weak, in a lust for power while we have enemies beating down upon our gates? No! He wishes to lead us to greatness, as has his entire family before him. Now this... stunted slimeball... seeks to destroy all that we have made together. It is you, good citizens and soldiers of the Empire, you who have laid the stones that created this Empire, it was you who bring out the greatness! Yet this man Kousinos seeks to claim the throne, and take away what you worked for! Will you stand for that?!"
"The time for speeches and debates is over. Now we must defend the Roman empire, together, as brothers in arms, seeking justice. IF WE DO NOT CRUSH THIS REBELLION NOW, IT WILL BE THE END OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE!!!"
"A wise man known as Efstratios Monomachos said that Romans fighting against Romans would lead to our downfall. He is most prophetic, for now we are seeing his prediction come to pass. But it does not have to be so, and I will not let that stand!"
"JOIN ME in supporting the LEGITIMATE RULER OF THE EMPIRE, and I am certain the rewards will be greater than you can imagine, and you will have your honor intact. You will have the gratitude of your fellow countrymen, of the Empire itself, and that of the Basileus!"
"I trust my honorable brothers more than I trust rebels and outlaws who want to steal an empire instead of build one themselves. Let us now sally forth and AND FIGHT IN THE NAME OF THE EMPIRE!!!"
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Avgoustinos Cavasilis had come to the Hyppodrome to get away from all the politicking going on in the streets of Constantinople. With the Empire falling apart, every senator and faction trying to grab a piece of it to call their own, the races had been generally abandoned by the upper classes and it seemed as good a place as any to free one's mind from the pointless backstabbing and bickering that had become all too common. Little did he imagine when he absent-mindedly sat down at his usual seat that he was giving himself a front-row view to more of the same nonsense.
An Empire in Armenia! That was a good one. Backwater place if ever there was one.
And the capital, Great Constantinopolis itself was now part of it's own little despotate. Ironic.
Pfeh! Time to travel a bit. See if opportunities arise. But before, let's take care of some business.
Calling a scribe, Avgoustinos orders a brief message be sent and read before the new senate in Jerusalem.
Sergios, as much as I loath that pauper you bow before, I believe we are in agreement about Kousinos Sophianos. If he desired only the throne, I would be content to laugh him off as a drunken fool. However, he has besmirched the good reputation of my sister and for that he shall pay penance. I challenge him and his lackey to battle outside of Adana. I am more than willing to test my generalship against theirs. I believe they will find commanding an army to be very different from murdering noble senators in the night.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Two spectators pass by. One remarks to the other.
Perhaps the Prince is unaware that the Marshall of St. John has forbid fighting in the Order's lands...
A man sitting to watch the races can't help but overhear the spectators.
I suppose they could meet just past the borders of Adana's province. But then, with the way Erotikos and Kousinos ran off from a confrontation at Constantinople I guess they'd just flee again.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
A hired speaker arrives in the Hippodrome to deliver an announcment.
"Lords of the Roman Empire, unite behind your true Basileos! I, Constantine Ksanthopoulos, declare my candidacy for Megas Logothetes!"
A very tired looking Voutoumatis steps into the Hippodrome. Throwing Sophianos' messenger a bemused glance he makes a beeline for the nearest spot wine is served, downing a glass and ordering another.
Since the game is wrapping up, I thought I'd post my system for figuring out chariot races. As with all rule systems I write in the Throne Room, I consider this 'open source' and anyone can use it for anything they want. Formating is a bit off, since it was written in Word, but it looks legibile to me. Feel free to ask if you have any questions on how this works.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
And here are the races that I ran:
Race 1:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Race 2:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Race 3:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
I'm impressed, Tincow.