The Magnaura

[TinCow]

*The Protoasecretes rises slowly from his chair. The seemingly endless list of deaths seems to be having an impact on him.*

It is with great sadness that I announce the deaths of Basileus Ioannis Komnenos and Caesar Methodios Tagaris. The former is reputed to have died of scurvy, while the latter has expired from old age. Basileus Ioannis Komnenos died first, thus making Caesar Methodios Tagaris the Basileus for the last few days of his long life. In that time, I have been told that he made his own son, Ioannis Tagaris (TheFlax), the new Caesar. With Methodios' death a few days later, Ioannis Komnenos has now become the new Basileus by law. The Basileus Ioannis Komnenos' younger brother, Andronikos Komnenos (woad&fangs) has claimed the title of Caesar, though I do not know how or why.

When Basileus Ioannis Komnenos died, he left the following will:

All the provinces I own on my death, excepting Constantinople, will pass to Arintheos Voutoumitis. Constantinople itself shall pass to my nephew and successor, Ioannis Komnenos. I will also pass my Veteran Warrior on to him, while the rest of my retinue shall enter the service of Arintheos Voutoumitis.

As such, Constantinople is now the property of Ioannis Komnenos III (Ignoramus). Megas Arintheos Voutoumitis (Zim) has in turn inherited Nicaea, Dardanellia, Arta, Scopia, Benghazi, Amida, and Dyracchium.

At the time of his death, Methodios Tagaris wished all of his lands to pass to his son, Ioannis. Accordingly, Basileus Ioannis Tagaris (TheFlax) has inherited Cairo, Gaza, Jerusalem, Solomeia, and Alexandria, though I do believe that Alexandria and Cairo have fallen into the hands of rebels during the recent rioting.

Though these deaths have been most unexpected and inconvenient for the governance of the Empire, with Basileus Ioannis Tagaris' ascention to the throne, the Tagarian Rebellion is now a thing of the past. The Egyptian lands are once again an integral part of the Empire and all hostilities due to that secession have ended. It is my great hope that this new peace will be used as a building block for further cooperation in the Empire. As a new Basileus now reigns, I would like to take this opportunity to remind all Senators of their duties of loyalty to him. Basileus Ioannis Komnenos himself created Codex Amendment E3.2 a great many years ago:

CA E3.2: Upon their elevation to the position of leader of a house, the senator must swear an oath of fealty to the Basileus.

By all rights of Byzantine law, all House leaders must now swear an oath of fealty to Basileus Ioannis Tagaris.

[Zim]

Arintheos casts a wary look at the Protosecrates before addressing the Senate.

The deaths of our beloved Emperor Ioannis Komnenos and the lowly traitor Methodios Tagaris seems to have left us in some confusion regarding the succession. I can only hope that it is resolved and a proper claimant ascends the throne.

As for you, Erotikos, the blood of Damascus lies on your hands. Your and your lackey's abandonment of the Levant left the Order too weak to defend the city from the Turks. The blood of thousands of good Romans was lost because of your greed and ambition.

There is no good reason to steal two armies from the Order and then march on a beeline for the Empire's capital. Were you to trace the man or men who killed Armatos, there should be no issue having those responsible arrested and brought to justice. Even if an army were required, abandonment of the Levant to the Turks would not be. I could easily have recruited an army, or used my own or asked another to use theirs.

There is every reason to regard your actions as suspicious, and not a single reason not to. They have already resulted in the deaths of many Romans, and I fear will result in even more if your intent is what I fear it is.

I ask again what you mean by taking two Order armies and marching into the Empire's until recently weakly defended heartland.

[flyd]

I am deeply saddened by the loss of my brother. We were not close and I opposed him much more often than supported, but I am willing to admit, though it be at this too-late of a stage, that I had done it unjustly. He did not turn out to be the tyrant some among us feared he would be. History may judge him a controversial figure, but he was no more polarizing than some of his opponents. Despite much posturing, the bloody civil war never came, and the Empire remains united, more or less. If I could, I would also thank him for leaving Constantinople to my son Ioannis, who may turn out more like his uncle than his father, and when I say that I do not mean it as a bad thing, possibly for the first time in my life.

I also mourn, as we all should, Methodios Tagaris. Over the years, his conquests have benefited the Empire greatly. There is no need to judge a man by his last act, ignoring his entire body of work. I would say that he has brought more to the Empire than he has taken away, and for that he should be commended. I commend him, and offer condolences to his son and the rest of the family.

As for the son, Ioannis Tagaris, I hope he can be a force for unity at this critical time. I look forward to hearing what he has to say.

Now to move on to other matters, and if you will indulge me, I will take an indirect path there. The ancient Romans had a old custom that no armed soldiers were allowed within the city of Rome. Once the Roman Republic expanded outward, no standing army was allowed in Italy. While some of the justification for these rules had their basis in tradition and their pagan religion, there was also a real security benefit: the Senate and the magistrates in Rome could operate without the threat of violence. The Romans of old did not believe that coercion and violence should be a part of politics.

When Caesar entered Italy, the war was on. Everyone knew it. He did not try to claim, nor would anybody have believed him, that he was merely trying to take the fastest route to Sicily. Marching an army on the capital is a clear act of aggression. And acts count for a lot: if a dog growls and barks at you, do you assume that he means you no harm, because he has not articulated that fact and provided his reasons? Do you assume that Caesar is in Italy under arms because he wants to see the sights?

No satisfactory explanation has been provided for why Ioannis Erotikas and Kousinos Sophianos have brought armies to the interior of the Empire. Anyone wishing to switch theaters from the east to the west would announce such innocent intentions, and if he were really polite, he would go around. All we have gotten out of these two is empty rhetoric. They have not even stated who the killer of Armatos is; if they do this for the element of surprise, they have done well, because now nobody knows who the killer is, except them, and the killer. I'm sure he remembers doing it. The rest of us may be aiding the killer unknowingly, but that's a small price to pay for the great suspense. Maybe we should start a guessing game? We have also gotten pointless ranting about 'greater crimes', which is just $#@%. Really.

I agree with Megas Voutoumitis' assessment that these men are responsible for abandoning the Turkish front, which is in dire need of troops, and complicit in the extermination of the good people of Damascus. I further charge that they have crossed the Rubicon, so to speak, and that they threaten the peace and prosperity of the Empire. Whomever they wish to attack, it is not acceptable. Finally, I hold that we do not accept their self-nomination as judges, and that the matter of Armatos' murder can only be settled in the open, and that no one can be convicted without any evidence.

It is the duty of every Senator who believes in peace and justice to oppose these brigands. War has already been declared in effect, and I do not wish to wait for them to make the formal overture of declaration when it is most strategically convenient for them. Therefore,

I declare war on Ioannis Erotikas and Kousinos Sophianos.

I hope the Empire will have peace soon.

Isaakios Komnenos, son of Alexios Komnenos.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

A message from Theo Petzeas...

Isaakios Komnenos,

I welcome your Declaration of War against Erotikos although Kousinos Sophianoscould just follow him because he knows not Erotikos' real plans. But perhaps that's just me as his Liege talking here.
I also hope that perhaps we can leave our differences we had decades ago and join together against Erotikos!
So, I propose peace to Isaakios Komnenos!

Theo Petzeas

[flyd]

Senator Petzeas,

It does indeed seem that a time has come to end our "war." The ship incident was a long time ago, and I do admire your vigilant stand against the Turks. You are also now the enemy of my enemy.

Unfortunately, you are also the lord of my other enemy, which makes the legal situation a little complicated. I will tell you that if you are right about Senator Sophianos, and if he follows Erotikas in error, and if he drops his support once the true plans are revealed, I will not attack him. But for as long as he follows Erotikas, he is subject to an attack, and any man who follows a leader whose intentions he does not know is a fool.

So it is for the moment that I wish to remain at war with Sophianos, while accepting your proposal of peace. That requires a look at the rules. Apparently, I was already at war with Sophianos, since he is your vassal. Although he made his oath after my declaration of war, he still entered that war upon taking his oath (Rule 5.1). If I accept your peace, it will also end the state of war between him and me, since he is your vassal (5.3). But that is fine, since what I wish can be accomplished simply as follows.

I accept Senator Petzeas' offer of peace.
I declare war (really, this time) on Senator Sophianos

Now I am at war with Sophianos but not with Petzeas.

Interestingly, by the same rules, Sophianos, being the vassal of Petzeas, is also at war with Erotikas. I do not see a statement of neutrality entered in the official Civil War records. I do hope that, due to this new revelation, Sophianos and Erotikas decide to attack each other.

[Zim]

Arintheos stands.

Isaakios Komnenos is right. For years now we have given Erotikos and Kousinos the chance to explain their actions. Their march on Constantinople has forced me to beef up it's defenses, worsening our debt. They have offered no reason for their insistence on bringing an army to our capital, except the feeble one of looking for Armatos' killer. Erotikos himself has shown no evidence that he is actually looking for the killer, nor any reason that an army is required to do so. If he really had cause to need troops tp subdue the murderer I could have recruited them for him and the Levant would retain the forces needed to be defended from the Turks. In this way the slaughter of Damascus might have been avoided, and the blood of the Romans that died there remain on the hands of Erotikos.

As their forces are far greater than those of Isaakios, I find myself compelled to take action. I declare war on Ioannis Erotikas and Kousinos Sophianos. I have no intention of engaging them in battle unless they refuse to turn from their apparent course of action, but I will act to defend Constantinople, and Imperial city, or the brave Isaakios Komnenos from them.

Should they provide a believable explanation for their actions, and proof of their good intentions I may withdraw my declaration. Until then I am forced to consider them rebels and enemies of the Empire.

[Cecil XIX]

A letter arrives in the Magnaura from Kousinos Sophianos. It is read aloud by the pages in the Magnaura, and later copies of the letter are distributed to those senators who were not present for the reading.

Senators of the Magnuara,

As has been noticed by members of your august body, both myself and Senator Erotikas are marching towards Constantinople. My subordinate has told you that we are doing so in pursuit of the killer of Armatos ek Naksou. This was the truth.

We came to the conclusion that no less a man than the late Basileus Ioannis II was the one responsible. Naturally we wanted to wait as long as possible to announce our findings, as we did not want to provoke more fighting than would be necessary to attain justice.

How ever, none of that is important now. Indeed, the pursuit of Armatos’ murderer was of secondary concern to us.

You see Senators, the truth is my name is not really Kousinos Sophianos. Though I did not know it until recently, my true name is Constantine Ksanthopoulos.

I am the son of Anna Komnenos and Makedonios Ksanthopoulos, and I have come to claim the title of Roman Emperor that has been bestowed upon me by the Lord.

In order to seize what is mine, namely the Imperial Throne and the city in which it resides, I hereby declare war on Basileus Ioannis Tagaris, Caesar Andronikos Komnenos, and Ioannis III Komnenos.

I urge all Senators to recognize my sovereignty forthwith and submit to me. Though it is divine mandate that I become Emperor, it is up to each of us to choose how that is to be so.

Good day to you all.

-Constantine XI Ksanthopoulos
Basileus Romaion