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Miaphysite Tutorial
Part 23: The Karling Faction Is Displeased (1039-1052)
The long sieges to the heart of Africa took their toll on the Sultanate, eventually forcing an unconditional surrender to the Byzantines. Begrudingly, some of the Greek dukes begin to acknowledge that perhaps Vladislav is a true Roman!
The war took three years. Without ever getting a decisive battle I had to go for the occupations.
No sooner than had the Emperor called in random courtiers in to govern Tunis (taking Tunis itself for himself) than had a lowly bishop declared that he had united the Emperor?s vassals during the war in opposition to the centralization of imperial power.
It seemed the Empire was going right back into war ? with itself as the prize.
Your eyes do not deceive you. This faction is in headed by a bishop of one county. I?m flabbergasted that they thought this was a good idea. Not for timing or for effort. His faction has nearly 200% of the levies I can call up right now.
What I can fault him for is thinking that my retinue deathstack is going to sit pretty in Tunis. Retinues don?t show up in these calculations.
Let this be a lesson on being careful to joining factions.
Two years, the bishop had promised them. The remaining Orthodox dukes could break the emperor?s power in two years and begin righting the wrong of Miaphysite rule. They could bring religious unity back to the land.
The irony of his forced surrender at the two year anniversary of the war did not escape him. Neither did the fact that his collaborators were all forced to be re-baptized inside a Miaphysite church. He had succeeded in bringing unity but in the wrong direction.
The key vassals in the revolt were in fact the ones I couldn?t convert to the Miaphysite sect. Since they?re imprisoned I can fix that.
The Emperor was young and rich. He had an empire that his ancestors would gawk at. But his eyes had rested to the west ever since the end of the Tunisian War.
Rome. A return to Rome, a return to civilization! Perhaps one day, his descendants would rule from there and not Damascus. His advisers warned him to bide his time.
The Catholic Pope was rich, richer than even God himself it was said. And he was a scion of the Karling line, a dynasty that still stretched from the Atlantic to the Baltic. If the Armenians declared war, it would be one against the entire Karling dynasty.
But Vladislav was not convinced. The Pope was already in the midst of a war! Lotharingia had called the Pope to war, and the Pope had expended many favors. He reasoned that now was the time to strike.
Under the Allies tab on a character screen, you can see who a ruler can call into war and for what reason. The Karlings all still rule their starting kingdoms, though the initial scurry of title-swapping in any Old Gods start did not result in a HRE formation. East Francia could never get its hands on the right land to do either of the decisions.
I could wait for the Pope to die. He is 62 and by all rights will die within ten years. I am 24 and would not only outlive him but outlive his alliances.
This is a rare opportunity though. He can?t call in the Karling blob. It?s either now or I wait for the next Pope.
The Pope cursed the Armenians when Vladislav declared that he had come to reclaim Rome, announcing the excommunication of Vladislav and his entire family as well as all Miaphysites. It was one thing to double-cross the Pope but it was another to do so whilst he was defending another nation in the name of God!
Since the Pope is in the middle of a Holy War, it costs 100 extra Piety to declare war. For lower level characters this is a problem.
I am the goddamn Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, I just beat up the Africans for fun and I have 1.7K Piety to burn. I say fuck the Karling Pope.
News of the North from the Varangian Guard intrigues Vladislav. The many Norse peoples have united at last into a single Empire under Odin?s rule and stand resolute against the crosses of Catholicism.
Scandanavia has been formed! Unfortunately for them, their Moral Authority is sitting at a miserable 19. To make matters worse the King of Denmark is of the Suomenusko faith and will win an Independence revolt within the year.
The long scorned Princess Apollonia, long ridiculed by Vladislav?s regent, is not treated any better by Vladislav.
This is why I wanted to win a revolt and enforce demands ? I get to convert more Orthodox Christians.
Also check out all those effing boats docked in Rome. I?m not sure if the Pope hired a bunch of mercs and they marched around the Mediterranean to siege my land ? which some of them did ? or I just stomped them back into unemployment.
One year of sieges are all it takes for the Catholic Pope to be forced from his estates.
Take note of who?s in this war. Aquitaine and Italy both joined in towards the end but it was over before they made a difference. They could join in because the timer on calling the Karlings to war was starting to expire for the Pope.
I?m going to be honest. I can take on a lot of people right now. Muslims. Pft. Persia? Please. But the entire Karling blob? Now THERE is a challenge.
I am going to have to dismantle the blob somehow, and I?ll need claims to do it. As a Miaphysite I can?t farm the Pope for them because who the fuck cares about what the Coptic Pope says? Speaking of which.
A mere technicality prevented Vladislav from proclaiming what all knew was true: that the Pentarchy was almost restored. Only the Pentarch of Constantinople ironically remained elusive.
I have owned every single Holy Site for Miaphysites ever since I started converting Byzantine dukes; Rome isn?t one of them. What?s cool is that with Rome ours the Pentarch is restored. I haven?t revoked the Bishophoric of Constantinople yet and I won?t realize what I need to do for some time.
But I digress. Look at the list of modifiers for Moral Authority. See where it says ?Coptic Pope has a bad reputation?? Well?
Only the excesses of the Pope prevent the resurgent Miaphysite sect from being unquestioned. Jokes about the Coptic Pope fucking a donkey on an Alexandrian balcony are well known much to Byzantine chagrin.
Our Pope has the ?Wicked Priest? trait. There are versions of this for every religion ? Caliphs can get it too. There?s a Steam Achievement built around getting a Catholic Pope with the Wicked Priest trait. There is no good reason I?ve yet discovered for having a Wicked Priest as a Pope or the head of your religion because of that major hit to MA. Unless you want heresies.
For reference I would be at 100% Moral Authority without this problem.
The dethroning of the Pope seems to bring a new era of hope to the empire. The Emperor himself touts his family?s holy relic, proclaiming a bountiful harvest in Baghdad this year.
When such a harvest DID occur, people whispered about whether he was more than a mere mortal.
Nice event for Sons of Abraham owners! Someone asked why I gave away the Holy Relic the first time, and it was because I didn?t need the piety. But events like these are a good reason to keep it even if you are shitting piety or beating up on heretics.
Vladislav?s next child was an unfortunate one. Unfortunate in being born a bastard, even though he was acknowledged to be Vladislav?s. Unfortunate in being born with a bad back, which some priests say was a punishment from God for the Emperor?s infidelity.
Seems like Vladislav?s gotten around. I eventually legitimize Hamdan.
While looking for claims on Italian land, Vladislav is confronted by the Pretty Borders faction once more. The target this time: Galilee. He accepts, getting a shrewd idea...
I?m showing more of this picture because I just discovered that the Ethiopians have conquered Mecca and Medina AND Nubia. Holy shit, the Abyssinian Empire might form this game. If the Arabian Empire or some Muslim doesn?t have that site then Islam might be TOAST in this game.
The Abbassid Caliph upon surrendering was seen stomping his foot in anger at surrendering yet more land to the damned Byzantines. Why did Allah not smile upon his people? Why could he not smite the damned power-hungry Armenians?
It is upon victory that Vladislav addresses the Byzantine Senate.
Nothing to see here, just stabbing a foe while he?s down.
?My Senators, long have you complained about the Holy Land being in Mohameddean hands. While we hold the Holy City of Jerusalem ourselves and boats exist if you really hated the Muslims, there has been complaint after complaint.
?Complain no more. I announce that an autonomous kingdom shall be formed, the Holy Kingdom of Jerusalem in the mold of Egypt and Armenia!
?My son and heir Athom shall be its first king. All heirs to the Byzantine Empire shall be Kings of Jerusalem as long as I have anything to say about it!?
Look at that special creation effect. 5K Prestige and 2K Piety for forming Jerusalem! And there?s no Catholic requirement, just Christian! Jersualem is going to be my new heir playground and this time there won?t be Purple problems to deal with. Athom was Born in the Purple.
And yes, there is still one province in the kingdom I don?t control. I?ll deal with it later.
The Emperor surveyed his men as they continued to study the arts of war. He grinned. Now, he told himself, all shall know our divine fury.
Military Organization 4. In Old Gods starts, this is one of the most important technological benchmarks. Forget about increasing your tax base or demense limit or vassal opinion.
Remember how I took a shitton of attrition earlier on when fighting the Tengri and Slavs? Well, that?s a defensive bonus pagans get to help them survive long enough to either reform of convert. Once Military Organization 4 is hit, that kingdom/duchy/empire no longer suffers that attrition penalty.
I could really fuck up Cumania if I wanted. Ruthenia too.
The Armenian enclave in Mesopotamia continued to grow with internal immigration laws and Armenian rule. Unofficially, the Emperor announced the establishment of Nor Armenia, stretching from Damascus to his holdings in Baghdad.
Province culture flips continue within my demense, and now the capitol is completely Armenian. I?ll show off a culture map next SotW. Also that?s the best translation of ?new? I could get off Google in Armenian.
A quick war with Egypt results in a stunning rediscovery. The province of Cyrenacia was ones part of the old Roman Empire! The restoration of the old province results in a celebration not seen in Constantinople since the fall of the Orthodox Emperors.
Generally when you ? as the Byzantine Empire ? retake an area the Romans used to hold, you get a cool fluff message like this and 100 Prestige. It?s a cool thing Legacy of Rome added.
The Sultan of Egypt and Arabia was the ruler of Egypt in name only. With Cyrenacia back in Byzantine hands, Vladislav named Duke Mushegh II of Alexandria ? a kinsman ? as King of Egypt. And one of his vassals would be the newly named Duke of Cyrenacia , Vladislav?s legitimized second son Hamdan.
Usurping Egypt was more of a cold political move to weaken the Muslims more. Plus Alexandria is the home of a successful Bagrationi cadet branch, so I like to reward where I can.
Apollonia continued to betray the empire at every turn, and Vladislav had had enough. Venezia, her last holding, would be stripped from her. Only her stores of gold would serve as her children?s inheritance. He felt bad for backstabbing his kinsman King Gurgan like that but his regent had instilled one lesson into him all these years.
Fuck Apollonia.
I do feel kinda sorry for her. Her father dies in his prime thanks to a coma, her brother is shoved off the throne of the Byzantine Empire by her husband?s father, her husband is denied the throne due to succession laws, her husband dies from war injuries, and her husband?s brother and regent proceed to strip her of every bit of land to her name.
She might make the good subject of a soap opera.
The reason I strip the county and not the duchy is simple ? she is completely delanded if I take the county whilst she retains land with the duchy. Plus, I have a plan.
Apollonia is not even on the boat off of Venezia before the Emperor declares the rebirth of the Venetian Republic under Byzantine rule, its first doge a member of his bloodline. Aboughamr declares his intent to restore the title of ?Most Serene Doge?...
I had originally tried to make a Republic of Capua into this situation, but the dynasty member I put into place died before I could form the Duchy title.
Obviously from this screenshot it is possible to create a vassal republic with your dynasty as one of the patrician families. You do however, have to time it carefully.
Step 1: Land your future doge with a city and a county at minimum. Hopefully your kinsman already has a kid, as dying without one means his ?house? goes extinct. The more you give him to work with the better his house has a chance of becoming dominant.
Step 2: While the kinsman is still alive, create the relevant Duchy title and give it to him. If all goes well, you have just created a vassal republic with a patrician cadet branch to your family.
Venice makes the third republic in the empire. I?ll add maps of their trade influence on the next State of the World.
Next Time: Trying to Break Italy