Stories Thread

[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

[AussieGiant]

Cairo 1124

Apionnas sat at his desk scanning the work he had completed to date. The place was a hive of activity as usual. It was a fully operational field headquarters now and had been operating as such for well over a year.

Years of infiltration, bribery, interrogation, observation and direct contact with members of his former regiment and the new Amir himself, had resulted in no direct evidence.

He could not prove to his lord what he had been sent to find out.

But, there was certainly more than enough evidence to confirm a number of things.

He had in his possession a copy of a letter sent directly to the Caliph. It clearly proved that the harsh and out of character response by the late ruler against all Christians was in fact a direct reaction to outside influences. The latest discussions with his former Amir had been revealing enough. Some sections of the Caliph's council and the Grand Vizier himself had privately warned against religious attacks and that such actions could be a trap as part of a wider plot. Unfortunately that had not stopped the command being given and the deaths of thousands.

He had not been able to determine what that influence was, but Vissarionas ek Lesvou had been identified as living in Cairo for many years as was clearly implicated in the events leading up to the back lash against the Christians in the area and the subsequent Orthodox Crusade. He had multiple eye witness accounts and direct interviews to prove that.

The prodigious amount of money made available to him had allowed a vast network of informants and spies to report back to him on nearly everything that was, and had, gone on in the city all those years ago. The amount of back ground information was damning to a great extent, but most of it was just that, background information.

Ignatios, had also been partially successful. The Organisation was certainly here. But in what capacity and to what extent was still unknown.

Now, there was another threat. Slowly but surely it was clear that another group was tightening its grip on them. First it was simply a few scuffles. Local thieves and thugs was the assumption. However recently the situation had became far more dangerous. Some of his agents were now being found dead and there was real pressure being placed to counter their work here. That in itself proved beyond doubt that they were getting closer. He had not made his thoughts known to the others, but it was time to leave before all their work was destroyed.

Temptation. Stay and risk everything they had collected to date, or leave, but with the job still incomplete.

Apionnas leaned back in his chair gazing up at the ceiling.

After a few moments he stood. The decision made. It was time.