Stories Thread

[Privateerkev]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Co-op with Cecil.

Antioch 1114:

Armatos walks into Makedonios's command tent after the battle. The Grandmaster is yet again stuck in bed. Coughing into a napkin, he looks up as Armatos walks in and smiles.

"Ah Armatos! That was amazing work out there! We've yet again saved the city. I don't think the Fatimids will be sending raiding parties around here anytime soon."

Armatos saluted. "Thank you, Grandmaster." His features soon softened, and began to show signs of concern. "Grandmaster, were you injured in the battle?"

Makedonios shook his head in exasperation. "No, it's that dreadful sickness again. I never spent enough time resting." He coughs into a napkin.

"I've been thinking. I really need to take some time off. I've got to get over this once and for all. I want you to take over the army. I'm going back to Antioch to get some more rest. You basically have 2 choices. Either, this will remain my army and you'll simply command it. Or, this can be your army and the new one will be mine. It really doesn't matter which as long as we both have the paperwork clear. Because of the Caesar's naval movements, the new army won't be delivered for a few years anyways."

He pauses as he coughs again. "Your fully supplied. It's time for you to have your own command anyways. Which option do you want to do?"

Armatos thought for a moment.

"It would be easier for both of us logistically if this became my army. As for targets...

I'd like to weaken the Fatamids by marching to Gaza. Damascus is too full of heathens to be occupied without risking riots and other losses of life, and you'd be able to get back into the field quicker if you were looking northwards."

Makedonios nodded. "Then your army it is. Update your 'status and orders' to reflect this. I'll do the same. The army is now yours. The one that forms will be mine. As for orders, we have rebels up in north-east Antioch that I'd like to see dispatched. With the rumors of Jihad coming, I'd like to keep you close to Antioch for now. Send Nathanail and a horse archer unit to Antioch. Take the rest and go after those rebels."

Armatos saluted. "As you command, Grandmaster."

Makedonios nodded. "Dismissed. God be with you and good luck."

[Smowz]

Nevoulas the archaeologist

Whilst the empire was battling rebels, launching blistering campaigns against the turks and moving swiftly on, little has been heard of the emotionally torn Nevoulas ek Philadelphius .

Following the hard fought political votes in the second senate, Nevoulas simply vanished completely from the political sphere. His reasons are clouded, never one to toast the spotlight the desperate (and in truth hasty) plea to attack the Seljuk sultanate had one him friends and enemies in equal measure. Nevoulas had returned to his now homelike Rhodes a confused and conflicted fellow.

Still doubts struck his mind... questions racked through his head and they were not the kind he could answer or discuss with any soul....

Nevoulas love and link with the empire was jaded, doubts racked him at every turn. Could the empire be so great when he saw such evil and treachery at every turn? Was this what had caused his brother to turn? The incompetancy that had led to the death of his father was still so prevelant?

He needed time to think... or maybe to withdraw from the public eye... his mind raced to the old ruins near the port of Rhodes dilapidated and untouched he had become quite taken to wandering through the area at his troubled times.

It was a travesty that such articles were left to rot and he decided to spend some time digging through and properly excavating such places.

As time passed, Nevoulas grew more and more withdrawn from the events of the empire and more into the ancient artifacts he was finding, records from years passed and stories of the old greeks fascinated him more than the events of real life. Indeed real life was proving more and more bothersome, he started to take actions that would result in Rhodes effectively being cut off from information from the mainland. To ensure no distractions, Nevoulas made the communities of Rhodes entirelly self sufficient and directed fishing vessels out into its own waters. Monies would be paid ontime, but he would accept no information or indeed incoming vessels.

At first there was concern that the Comes Hypatios who had been given charge of the isle would return. Fat chance of that thought Nevoulas.

Years passed... Nevoulas allowed his beard and hair to grow freely and his soldiers took wives and enjoyed their peace. Nevoulas never indulged himself as some of his guardsmen had but indeed was now completely involved in the complete excavation of the ruins of Rhodes.

Events of the empire though would one day put a halt to this as Nevoulas most faithful bodygaurd came to see him. Nevoulas was very reluctant to accept the incoming information but he knew his bodyguard would only interrupt him if it was something really important.

"Well then, what is it?" Nevoulas exclaimed "Nothing short of the Basilues visiting asteri's isle of wonder itself should interrupt me"

"My lord, thats just it, Rhodes is no longer the possession of the House of Asteri"

Nevoulas had a look of shock on his face... that snivelling little Hypatios...

"What has happened for this to be so?"

"The details are unclear but we recieved message today from Athens that the colours of the Asteri are to be taken down at once"

Nevoulas let out a sigh and turned to look at the ruins... he had barely scraped the surface of what he hoped would be his life's work. He knew Hypatios would come to Rhodes soon enough and he tremored to think of what he would do to the isle... one things for sure he did not want to be here himself when that happened.

"Call the guard together, we leave at dawn"

"But sire...."

"I admit it is troublesome, but fate has forced our hand we must leave!!!"

[AussieGiant]

Egypt 1120

The journey had gone far better than expected. The preparations, the ship, making contacts with old friends and acquaintances.

Now a few months later here he was suddenly standing on the Egyptian shoreline squinting inland, his piercing blue eyes surveyed the desert in front of him. The Keffiyeh and dark flowing robes hid the red jerkin of armour he wore under his the Arab clothing.

It was good to be home.

Glancing back he observed the score of heavily armed men pouring from the fast sloop he had purchased specifically for the trip. They were already making preparations to get underway. It seemed they still knew their trade, at least that would make the mission that much easier he thought.

[flyd]

The following speeches are being given in public places in Constantinople to anyone who will listen. Written copies are being distributed throughout the Empire.

Against Makedonios Ksanthopoulos

So we hear the Order of St. John has suffered an inglorious defeat at the hands of our Saracen enemies. But did any reasonable man expect otherwise? To this day all they have accomplished was to take a few ill-defended settlements, and to complain incessantly about their situation. That Makedonios Ksanthopoulos has complained and complained about not getting his armies to defend the frontier, but why would the Ceasar have given him a good army, if it has now been proven that he and his followers are incompetent military commanders? If they had any troops of any quality at all, they would have only been sent to a pointless slaughter. It is clear to see.

It is clear to see to us now, but the mighty Caesar has always seen it, for there is no man so well versed in the strategy of war. Surely, he is the offspring of Julius Caesar and Megas Alexandros, if one of them were a woman... probably Alexandros. For it is as we speak that he campaigns in the enemy's heartland while the Turk is distracted in his Jihading through Pontus and toward Constantinople. He marches on the enemy cities, the forests themselves part in front of him, the ground flattens and bows to him, the furry forest creatures sing him hymns of praise! Unlike the most useless Ksanthopoulos, the blessed Caesar Ioannis, may his name never be taken in vain, attacks and has captured the mighty fortress of Tibilsi, the stronghold of the hated Georgians! Caesar's followers now attack the pan-glorious city of Yerevan, seat of the damnable Armenian scum, our greatest enemies! Its streets are paved with gold, its buildings made of marble, and it rains sapphires the size of Caesar's manhood!

Thus, when the pan-glorious city of Yerevan is sacked, it will be a great boon to the faltering treasury, and all part of Caesar's masterful plan. Did ye of little faith really think the Caesar would run the treasury into the ground without having conceived a perfect and exceedingly masterful plan? And what has Ksanthopoulos done? He sits in Antioch, allows the Jihadist armies to pass, and sends his followers and their rag-tag army to get defeated while only destroying some fraction of the enemy army, the remains of which still march on Constantinople. He has done almost nothing to protect the city or the Empire. His army was destroyed, and he will only use that as an excuse to complain for more reinforcements, while the tatters of the Jihad still march on our Constantinople!

Put your faith in Caesar! Put your faith in Caesar! Listen not to the mindless complaining of Ksanthopoulos. The Caesar will bring prosperity to the Empire, like which has not been seen since the days of Emperor Heraclius, defeater of the Persians. Not a single war with the Persians did we have since, and exactly so it will be that the Turks will be defeated by Ioannis when he is Emperor!

Demosthenes, Friend of the Roman People.

***

Against Alexios ek Ikonou

Grave, grave, grave times are these. Grave they are when the Peloponnese has to be defended by such men as Alexios ek Ikonou and Savvas ek Militou. Men who are such cowards that they have been in no major battle. Not even when the entire world revolted, no where near glorious battle did they find themselves. Ek Ikonou has spent his life in Corinth, and ek Militou's crowning achievement is that he watched the Germans as they harmlessly passed by.

But the Caesar's generosity knows no bounds! When he walks on the streets, he gives jewels off his crown to homeless bums, and gives them the clothes off his back, and the food from his mouth! So it was in his boundless generosity that he has allowed the Egyptian fleet, so small it was that it sank by attack of two German ships, to pass by unimpeded by the mighty Imperial fleet, and to land its troops on the Peloponnese. Yes, great act of generosity it was, for it was to give these useless persons in the Tagmatan house an opportunity to win glory in battle!

But he did not give them an army, no! How dare you suggest that the Caesar would be so foolish, when, in fact, he is a wiser wiseman than most other wisemen. Even two of the three wisemen, in that if he lived in those times, he also would have also given gold to Jesus, if any was left in the treasury, for gold can be used to purchase other things. So it was in his great wisdom that he saw that these incompetent men would not know what to do with an army. The Caesar sees it all. Some say he can see if a cow's udder is full of milk from half a mile away. But he is not just a seer, he is a doer. He wouldn't just look at that cow, he'd milk it, if it needed milking. He'd milk it 'till no more milk came from its teats, but was all in some sort of a bucket. Then he'd drink the milk, 'cause he never leaves a job half-finished!

Anyway, as it was, the Caesar saw that these men would be incompetent in command, so he left them without a proper army and only to do with what garrisons there are. Meanwhile, he has used what money there is to fortify mighty Dardanellia, so that the Jihads marching on Constantinople don't change their minds! Certainly, the scarce gold of the treasury would have been a waste on the likes of ek Ikonou and ek Militou. The Caesar has seen this, for he does see all, and he is a great administrator, peer of Caesar Augustus himself! Not just peer, he excels him too! In those times, they would have called him Caesar Super-Augustus Magnus Maximus!

So, hail Caesar! Hail him all day! Hail him all night! Hail him 'till you have exhailed yourselves! Hail him 'till the cows come home! And when they do, they will have already been milked! No cow remains unmilked when Caesar Ioannis, blessed be he by all the Saints, is around! Hail him, damn you!

Demosthenes, Friend of the Roman People.

[AussieGiant]

East of Alexandria 1120

Moving between the two crusading armies was a gamble, but one that had to be taken in order to reach Cairo before the approaching Byzantine forces.

They had nearly been caught between the outlying pickets of Senator Mavrozomis force besieging Alexandria and scouts from the advance parties of Senator Ksiros army to the east.

In the end a sand storm had forced Ksiros's outriders to withdraw closer to the rest of the army in fear of being ambushed in hostile land.

More than one of his men had look at him strangely due to his behaviour at ensuring they were not seen by the Byzantines. He had not told them anything about the mission and now they were all clearly wonder just what they had gotten themselves into.

It didn't matter what they were starting to believe he thought, as long as they followed orders that was all that mattered.

Ignatios on the other hand was another issue. He had been brought along to ensure part of the mission was a success and his previous experience and affiliation would certainly confirm or deny the involvement of various elements back in the Empire. His furiously whispered argument had not helped at all in calming the men before the most dangerous and nerve racking part of the mission. In the end threats and force had to be used to ensure his compliance. He was certainly equipped for the mission and his various skills had already been used a great deal in getting them this far. The only problem was, his over inflated sense of religious beliefs.

In the end contact had been made with one of the officers of his former regiment, and now they were making good time in reaching the agreed point where they would meet with the current Amir on the outskirts of Cairo.

Time was of the essence.

Reaching Cairo ahead of everyone else and determining what was really going on was critical.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

The Sea near the Egyptian coast, 1122

Efstathios sat on a barrel on the deck of his ship. He looked into the empty distance. The message of the Kosmas Mavrozomis' death shocked him a lot.

Kosmas was his Lord but also someone he could count on. A great man who have died too soon just like Markianos Ampelas.

"This can't be coincidence!" Efstathios said to himself.

"Two men from the Asteri have gone. Both of them after I joined the Crusade. Both of them died after I first ordered a sabotage against a fellow Crusader."

"This can't be coincidence," He said again.

Some sailors passed him and were looking him as people look the persons who talk to themselves. They were sure that a long voyage on the sea finally taking his mind.

But Efstathios didn't care what people thought about him. He blamed himself in those deaths that took two great men from their families.

"God is punishing me! He knows that I joined the Crusade only to revenge of the death of my father. God knows this! I must redeem myself!"

He stood up and sayd with a strong voice..

"God if You hear me then know this! I promise to bring peace and prosperity to our people. I will forgive to the people who have hurt me and my family! I feel no grudge against them anymore! To the end of my days I promise to be a good Christian who respects life! Yes, this I promise!"

After saying that he looked around him and people on deck saw something different in his eyes. A changed man.

[Askthepizzaguy]

THE ROMAN IMPERIAL SENATE, 1122 AD

Makedonios, Senator of the Roman Empire, rises in the Imperial senate to argue for the impeachment of the Roman Caesar.

Well, the complete lack of building in Order and Asteri settlements is unsettling. The lack of priests in this area of the world to spread the Word. The lack of merchants to make money. The lack of a stable navy in these parts. The lack of roads. The lack of watchtowers on our borders. The sinking of our resources into one corner of the Empire and a shiny new army for the Caesar while the rest rots from neglect.

So no, the criminal neglect of our armies is not my only concern. It is my most dire concern however since without proper armies, we can not defend the Empire or even our subjects in the Levant.

I will say that the Order served exactly the purpose I promised it would back in 1081. We were the flank of the flank. We met the Fatimid Jihad and kept them from the great city of Constantinople. While House Asteri generously offered to help us, we were able to do without it which freed them up to retake the settlement of Caesarea.

Unfortunately the wily Fatimids showed us that they can sail across the sea and strike at our heartlands. Comes Savvas was able to defeat the Fatimid Prince but he had to do so without a proper army. He had to scrape together various militias and units from other settlements.

My point is, we've all had to make due with what little we have while the Caesar makes his House fat and rich. And while we have been successful, that is not a strategy for governing an Empire. That is basically rolling the dice. The Caesar gambled that he could pursue his personal agenda and that the rest of the Empire could basically just "hold on."

Our subjects deserve better...

________________________________________

The previously nameless senator from Durazzo, Taranto Giovinazzo, simply rolls his eyes at the one known as Makedonios. Finally, he speaks.

"Such partisan grandstanding flows easily from one who does not bear the weight of leadership, and stands only to gain from undermining a leader, purely for his own political career."

Makedonios eyes the "senator" from Durrazzo curiously.

"Who are you?

As far as I know, the Senator from Durrazo is Efstratios. But he had a tirade over the Crusade and left.

I have no idea who you are but your sitting in his seat. Now, if your his aid, that is one thing. But your basically trying to be a Senator yourself. Sorry, but I do not recognize your authority and therefore will not be answering your questions. I talk to Senators and the aids and guests who know their place."

Looking at the Emperor.

"I ask that Taranto Giovinazzo be removed from the premises. He is not a legal Senator of the Magnaura. Efstratios or his representative belong in that seat, not some random peasant who feels like pretending he is a Senator."
_______________________________

Narrator-

"Taranto Giovinazzo, the impostor Senator, spy of the Kingdom of Sicily, is exposed by Makedonios for the fraud that he is, and the guards close in on him.

Just as they are about to capture him, Taranto Giovinazzo reaches inside his cloak and produces a grappling hook attached to a very long and sturdy rope. He whips the hook as hard as he can and it catches on one of the beams that run across the grand structure. With a jolly "ho ho!" the Sicilian spy swings over the palace guards and flips a full seventeen times in the air before landing on his feet.

The incredibly over-the-top and entirely unrealistic manner of his heroic escape has left him horribly, horribly dizzy and nauseated. Instead of rushing out of the senate to his inevitable freedom, he trips over his suspiciously large shoes and smacks his head against the stone floor. As blood pours from his forehead, Taranto attempts to regain his footing, but he is seeing stars, and lurches forward to vomit profusely.

Slipping in a puddle of his own abdominal spillage, he once again slips, this time landing on the back of his head. Blood pouring over his eyes, he struggles to turn over onto his stomach, but the slick stone floor prevents him from making any progress. He winces and cries out from the pain, and once again tries to get up. After several concussions and much blood loss, and twelve attempts to stand, Taranto finally rises to his feet and staggers towards an open window to escape.

Along the way, Taranto's mind begins to clear, and all the secrets of existence seem to be revealed to him. The severe brain damage he sustained against the floor somehow made the world seem simple and easy to understand. The meaning of existence, after centuries of discussion, is revealed simply to be the the logical, mathematically defined exception to all of the long odds against it's own being. For however unlikely is the birth of time and space and matter into existence, from nothingness, the mere fact that it is possible means that it is a mathematical certainty, given the infinite nature of nonexistence, that existence is possible. As for the meaning of life, it seems clear now that the purpose of human existence is to examine and document, as well as experience, the incredible and entirely unlikely possibility of the universe itself; to gain understanding over the nature of reality, metaphysics, mathematics, and harmony, and to take the lessons learned from that and apply it to one's personal code of ethics and philosophy, that one might bring reason, understanding, peace, harmony, and even life itself to other sentient beings, to help civilization discover more about this fantastic exception to the rule which is our very existence. The miracle of truth allowing the distinction between real and imaginary to generate the very fabric of our being, to allow for the concept of the laws of physics, of logic, of universal constants and the motion of time and space and energy, all while providing this existence with a form of justice.

As Taranto pondered whether or not a divine entity caused this great exception to nonbeing, and all the other metaphysical questions that have caused mankind to theorize and debate, and just as he was about to reveal to everyone in the Roman Imperial Senate the very truth of their existence, Taranto suffered a fatal burst of flatulence which caused him to explode, and the oil-fuelled lighting fixtures which provided light for the Senate chambers caused that gas to ignite into a massive fireball.

And so all that remained of Taranto Giovinazzo was a large spill of blood and vomit on the senate floor, and a large floppy clown shoe.

And a decidedly unpleasant odor."



__________________________________

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Written by PK and ATPG