Megas Logothetes' and Senators' Reports

[flyd]

http://mizus.org/files/pbm/LOTR-1113-3.zip

Besieged Caesarea, MotH offer still up.

[Andres]

Taking the save.

[Andres]

Here it's back:

http://mizus.org/files/pbm/LOTR-1113-4.zip

MoTH offer is still there.

Savvas is going back to Arta; spotted a small army of rebels, will probably make a detour to get rid of them. Can the Megas put taxes in Arta lower, since the inhabitants of the settlement are getting angry ("red" face, my SOT asks for "blue" face).

[TinCow]

Taking the save to deal with the Crusade.

Andres, you are free to manually adjust the tax rate of any settlements you own, there's no need to wait for the Megas to do it. I'll bump the taxes down for you while making my changes.

[TinCow]

http://mizus.org/files/pbm/LOTR-1113-5.zip

As every Crusader army is under 6 units, I am not going to bother with the +1 bonus roll calculations. Instead, I will simply remove no movement at all as a possibility from a die roll.

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Vartholomaios Ksiros (Rowan) and Kosmas Mavrozomis (Zim) left at the break of dawn and have sailed with the utmost vigor and skill. Both have made excellent time, exceeding even the expectations of their own experienced sailors. The two men are within sight of each other, southwest of Smyrna, and within reasonable distance of Rhodes.

Methodios Tagaris (Tristan de Castelreng) was not to be left out of this race, and he too left port early. However, his sails were less expertly managed and he could not keep up with the pace of the other two once they reached top speed. As they receded over the horizon, Methodios found himself alone in third place, directly west of Smyrna.

Stavros ek Amarinthou (Knights_of_Palma) woke up late and went about his duties in a leisurely fashion. Slow and steady may win the race, but they may not be good enough to reach Egypt first. He is in fourth place, northwest of Smyrna.

Shortly behind, and within visual distance, of Stavros is Efstathios Laskaris (Ibn-Khaldun). The delay in boarding his ships caused him great harm, but he made up for it by driving his team with a tremendous effort, milking every last bit of speed out of them. If he can keep this rate up, he will soon overtake some of the Crusaders in front of him.

Vissarionas ek Lesvou (Ramses II CP) is not an experienced sailor, and his progress has demonstrated it. Everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong, though there is no one to blame for most of it but the fates. Knots were tied wrong, sails flapped in the wind, bad weather forced him to take shelter in a cove for a short while, and a seagull temporarily blinded the helmsman with some impressive aerial bombardment. Poor Vissarionas is happy to simply be nearing the southern end of the Dardanelles.

Yet he is not in last place. That inglorious spot falls to Annios Solomon (woad&fangs). He was making fabulous time, comparable to that of Methodios Tagaris. However the terrain soon began to look strange. After a few days of sailing, the walls of Constantinople appeared before him and it became apparent that they had been sailing in the wrong direction! After a brief investigation, it was revealed that some villain had stolen Annios' sea charts and replaced them with forgeries designed to lead them in the wrong direction! The identity of the malefactor could not be discerned, though all crewmembers are looking cross-eyed at each other now. After stopping in port in Constantinople, Annios was able to obtain new charts and set off in the proper direction. He managed to reach his original starting point before the year was up, resulting in no progress at all.

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Note: The treasury is currently in the red. This is not the fault of the Crusade. I have double checked the upkeep for all Crusade fleets and armies, and the previous calculations were correct. The money I added to the treasury last turn included the sums for this turn as well. I specifically noted that in my post. I cannot tell what all this money was spent on, but it was spent on something without regard to the fact that the treasury is losing money each turn. As such, the current debt has nothing to do with the Crusade, since all sums for 1110, 1111, and 1113 have already been given to the treasury through the console.

From now on I will only add money to the treasury retroactively on the turn that I do the editing. This means that the sum for 1114 will not be added until next turn, which will be prior to the Megas making any investment for 1114 anyway, since he takes the save last. Thus the treasury will remain in the red for the rest of this turn. Next turn I will give it the total sum of the Crusade, which is 7,320 florins. The current projection for next turn shows -5692, which means that less than 2000 florins will be left in the treasury after I add in the extras. Be aware that this means that treasury spending is currently nearly outstripping its income. If this is not dealt with promptly, Byzantium may find itself in crippling debt.

[Privateerkev]

taking the save.

[Privateerkev]

LOTR-1113-6

Moved Nathanail to Antioch to resupply per Bananabob's instructions. Moved Mak next to the Egyptian raiding party in Antioch but did not attack it.

Also, a lot of the avatars still have near/far loyalty. Hypatios still has the Iconium title.

[TinCow]

It appears that Ignoramus decided not to use the save where I had fixed all problems before advancing to 1113. I will thus have to re-do all the changes. This annoys me greatly, but at least it explains why the treasury is in the negative.

Taking the save.

[TinCow]

http://mizus.org/files/pbm/LOTR-1113-7.zip

Changes Made:
(1) All Near_Loyalty and Far_Loyalty traits have been removed from ALL avatars. This generally resulted in a small increase in loyalty for most people, though it dropped 1 or 2 points for a couple people. In every instance of a loyalty drop, the avatar already had high loyalty, so no one is risking a 'natural' revolt as a result of this change.
(2) Iconium retinue title moved from Hypatios Machonios to Ioannis Kalameteros. Machonios was still in Asteri when he took the city, and thus it was instantly the possession of Kalameteros, who is the highest rank in their feudal chain.
(3) 19,260 florins added to the treasury. As before, this is to compensate for the cost of the Crusade. As a result the treasury is now at 16,263 instead of being in the red.
(4) Ioannis Kantakouzinos has been adopted by Ioannis Komnenos.
(5) Ioannis Kantakouzinos has been moved towards Constantinople.

[OverKnight]

Taking the save.

[OverKnight]

http://mizus.org/files/pbm/LOTR-1113-8.zip

Move Aleksios and company to Sofia.

[Ignoramus]

Taking the save:

[Ignoramus]

Report for 1113:

http://rapidshare.com/files/133813985/LOTR-1114.zip

The German Crusade has ventured further into Anatolia. They are currently east of Nicaea.

We have negotiated trade rights with the Kingdom of Leon. We have also, through modest gifts, have improved relations between our two realms.

The French and Normans of Sicily are now at war. The result of the struggle will greatly impact the position of Italy.

We are now at war with the Fatimids, as required by the Magnaura. The Fatimid army south of Antioch did not attack, but has remained in the vicinity of the city.

A large Turkish army is near Adana, but reports suggest they are headed for Iconium, not the Cilician city.

A priest, while attempting to denounce a heretic in Anatolia, lost his faith and joined the heretic. Both, however, have been denounced by others more faithful to the Word.

Markonnias Ampelas has been married. I congratulate the newly weds.

The current treasury is around 560 florins.

[Kagemusha]

Taking the save.

[Kagemusha]

Here is the new save: http://mizus.org/files/pbm/LOTR-1114-1.rar

Moved south towards Constantinopol.

[TinCow]

I am using this thread for this post as this is an official announcement that needs to be considered public, yet it doesn't belong in any other place.

Byblos has missed the last two Senate sessions and has not logged onto the Org for over a month and a half. He is now considered an inactive player. His avatar will remain alive for the time being and will simply stay put in Constantinople in case he returns, at least for now. However, I now consider him to be a completely neutral Senator and am declaring his oath to Ioannis Komnenos and the House of Komnenodoukai to be broken. If he ever returns, he can renew his oath and rejoin very easily. On a practical level, this doesn't make any difference to anyone in the game at all, since he was just a Strator.

This post also serves as notice that the same thing will be done to The Lemongate if he does not reappear before the end of the next normal Senate session. If he again fails to vote, under the rules his land (Belgrade) will be automatically given to his Lord (Kosmas Mavrozomis). I will then remove his oaths and move him to the unaligned and inactive section, along with Byblos. This will result in the loss of a landed Senator for the House of Asteri, which could potentially cause havoc with ranks. If this occurs Kosmas Mavrozomis (Zim) can immediately give the land to someone else. If this is coordinated properly and done in a timely manner, it will not result in any loss of rank for anyone.

[Privateerkev]

taking the save.

[Privateerkev]

LOTR-1114-2

I moved everyone from Antioch to Mak's army. (SOT entries allow this.) Fought the battle. Since the army was not near a friendly territory, I got no prisoner treatment options. I moved Mak and 2 militia back to Antioch and left Armatos in command of the army.

There is one little matter however. Mak got a MotH offer. I will send an IC PM to the recipient. At the very least, it should provide for some entertainment...

*edit*

Please make sure the offer stays up when you do your moves until this is resolved. :D

[Andres]

Taking the save.

[Andres]

Here it's back:

http://mizus.org/files/pbm/LOTR-1114-3.zip

Defeated a tiny army of rebels on the road to Arta. We suffered no losses.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A honorable mention for Kristophoros who has slain the captain of the rebels:

[flyd]

Taking the save.

[flyd]

http://mizus.org/files/pbm/LOTR-1114-4.zip

Phew. Pointless, lenghty and inconclusive shootout, followed by a five minute fight at the gate vs. the Sultan's bodyguard that took out half my army. In retrospect, should have attacked two gates, but was being lazy about the whole thing. Caesarea sacked for 6000 florins.

[Warmaster Horus]

Taking the save.

[Warmaster Horus]

http://www.mizus.com/files/pbm/LOTR-1114-5.rar

Moved Manouelitis west, in general direction of Belgrade.

[TinCow]

Taking the save for Crusade stuff.

[TinCow]

*7,320 florins have been added to the treasury to compensate for the Crusade costs of 1114.*

http://www.mizus.com/files/pbm/LOTR-1114-6.zip

Kosmas Mavrozomis (Zim) has continued to sail very well, taking advantage of good wind and favorable weather. A storm grew behind him, but he sailed fast and avoided it, proceeding at top speed, and is now well south of Rhodes. With that island receding behind him, Egypt will be the next land mass his eyes see.

Vartholomaios Ksiros (Rowan) was sailing well besides Kosmas Mavrozomis, but the fates turned against him. A large rip appeared in one of his sails, forcing him to put to and repair it. While doing so, a huge storm came up and battered the small Crusader fleet. Ksiros and his men managed to repair the ship and proceeded west to take shelter along the Anatolian coast south of Smyrna. There progress this year has been almost negligible.

Methodios Tagaris (Tristan de Castelreng) was also caught in the same brutal storm as Ksiros. He similarly diverted east, towards the coast off of Smyrna for shelter. His ship suffered great damage in the storm and most of the year was spent making repairs. Egypt is not much closer this year than it was last.

Stavros ek Amarinthou (Knights_of_Palma) managed to avoid the storm and found the sailing conditions to be excellent. His crew did not encounter any problems and sailed to the best of their skill. He is now south-southwest of Smyrna and is essentially tied for second place with Vartholomaios Ksiros.

Efstathios Laskaris (Ibn-Khaldun) sailed well, but not quite as well as last year. His sails spilled wind here and there and the remnants of the terrible storm battered him for a short while. He is now west of Smyrna and within striking distance of many other Crusaders.

Vissarionas ek Lesvou (Ramses II CP) also had superb sailing session. His men got their act together and worked in harmony and to the utmost of their skill. Before they knew it, they were pulling up besides Efstathios Laskaris and the two fleets are now within shouting distance of each other, west of Smyrna.

Annios Solomon (woad&fangs) recovered decently from the sabotage of the previous year. He sailed well and decently, without more than the usual minor problems... until three days into the voyage. One morning, one of the sailors noticed a strange looking knot on the mainsail. After further examination, it was discovered to be a complex slipknot that would slowly loosen over time. Had it not been discovered, the whole sail would eventually have collapsed, potentially causing massive damage to the ship. One thing is certain, whoever attempted this heinous act is still on board the ship. Despite this sabotage attempt, Solomon and his fleet managed to sail decently, and they are within striking distance of Crusaders Laskaris and ek Lesvou.

[Ignoramus]

Taking the save:

[Ignoramus]

Only TC may take this save in order to adjust things concerning the Crusade:

http://rapidshare.com/files/134210022/LOTR-1114-7.zip

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I think TC already made all moves concerning the Crusade..
Look the posts above..

[Kagemusha]

I have to respectfully decline the offer of adoption of Makedonias, purely out of IC reasons.