A messenger dressed in black enters the court and delivers a note to the Roman ambassador. With a grieved look on his face, the ambassador addresses the court:

Three days ago, our beloved Basileos, Manuelos Megas Komnenos passed away in his palace in Jerusalem. His body is being exposed at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and it will then be returned to Rome to be buried with his illustrious ancestors.

Manuelos Megas Komnenos truly was one of the greatest rulers of our time and even one of the most accomplished man of the long and glorious history of Rome. He defeated the warmongering Sultan Kilij Arslan II at the Battle of Amorion, entered Ikonion and Jerusalem in triumph and oversaw the return of Krimeia, Judea and parts of Cilicia to the Empire. A week of mourning was declared in Konstantinopolis by the new Basileos, Alexios Komnenos.

Of course, stray factions within the Empire have seized the occasion to push their own agendas, but those rebels are being put down as we speak.

All hail Basileos Alexios Komnenos! May his reign be as long and as glorious as his father's!


(OOC: I've got some adopted children to send to the slaughter to get the prince I want )