Last Act in Palmyra

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Note: Whoever can guess where I got the title of this AAR from, well, I'd be very impressed.

Difficulty: Easy (This is my third game)
AI is aggressive.

Sixteenth of February, in the Year of Our Lord 1066

My dearest Sophia,

I am very sorry that I have not been able to write to you, but I hope you understand as I have been asked by Prince Leon to join his court as his chancellor.
Imagine me in a court of a prince! I feel very happy and nervous that I was given the honour at my such young age and out of Prince's court of 40 (I shit you not) well deserving nobles. It feels that only yesterday you and I were giggling at something Theodosius of Antioch said during his lectures at your father's study.

My first responsibilities were to handle approaches by various Byzantine nobles arranging marriages for few of the members of the court. Two of them were married to Count of Lesbos and oh, some other Byzantine count! It has been very hectic last months or so, trying to advise the Prince on whom to select for position of Spymaster, Steward and Marshal and handling the marriage negotiations.

Last night, my lord the Prince asked to see me and Simonis of Palmyra, the Spymaster in his study. As always, he was to the point.
"Lady Theofano, Lady Simonis, I have a new task for you. I am 35, yet I am without an heir, my real unsecure. You two are to find me a suitable bride of Christian breeding."
I asked him, "What are the qualities you are looking for in your bride, my prince?"
He said gruffly, "I do not particular care, as long as she is of child bearing age, preferably as young as possible. Oh, and she has to be a Christian. Orthodox or Catholic, I do not care. I can marry off some of the members of my court if I need a better servant from another court."
"Very well my prince," I said. "I will get on this task immediately."
I bowed, and turned to exit, but the Prince stopped me. "No, I need to speak to you alone, my lady. Lady Simonis, please leave us." Simonis left.
"How can I be of service, my prince?"
He led me to the map of the known world on the wall. "This is the Byzantine Empire." He pointed to the still the largest empire of the world. "But it is weak. Maybe in five or ten years, I forsee that Constantine Ducas will start losing his grip on his unruly nobles." He looked at me with his piercing eyes.
"Do you understand what my desire is?"
"You see to create a new kingdom from fragmented Byzantium."
"Good. Perhaps I may even be the new Byzantine emperor, or my son will be."
He pointed down to the Holy City of Jerusalem, alas, still in infidel hands. "That city must belong to Christians."
I did not know he had a zealous streak in him, as he had accepted fielty from 3 Muslim sheiks of Hama, Homs and Archa and allowed religious freedom in his realm among his subjects.
"My prince, but you never did anything to promote Christianity in your kingdom. I beg your mercy, but among some of the clergy, they say you are secretly an infidel because you do much in favour of the muslims."
He gave me that piercing look again. "Do I look like a fool? Do I look like I want Fatimids or Abbasid hordes trampling my realm?"
I bowed abjectly. "Of course not, my prince!"
"The muslims are allowed to live in their infidel ways because I have no choice. The sheiks are allowed to keep their heads because they are loyal to me so far. But when I am strong enough... the Holy Land shall be Christian again."
I admit I was a bit scared as the prince never spoke so openly to anyone. But I understood why.
"Yes, my lady Theofano. Palmyra will be strong... Now, I believe you have work to do."
I bowed again, and left the study.

My dear Sophia, I tell you this because as our ambassador to English king, you must know what the prince wishes. If you do find a suitable bride for our prince, you are authorized to enter negotiations on behalf of the prince.

I will be heading to the court of the Byzantine emperor myself.

I miss you terribly.

Lady Theofano of Palmyra, Chancellor to Leon, Prince and Count of Palmyra and Count of Aleppo

 

[frogbeastegg]

Note: Whoever can guess where I got the title of this AAR from, well, I'd be very impressed.

Lindsey Davis' Falco series has a book by the same name, is that it?

 

[Judge]

Good start but break up the text please, its difficult to read. Palmyra isn’t the easiest country to play exactly so this will be interesting to follow

 

[Mike von Bek]

Palmyra should be interesting, considering all those Moslem vassals you control. As far as Im aware they wont spontaneously convert to Christendom, so at some point youre going to have to 'deal' with them. Im looking forward to how you deal with that particular problem.

Also, could you crop the pics a bit? They are a bit wide, and text scrolls off the screen - keep on having to scroll across!

 

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Lindsey Davis' Falco series has a book by the same name, is that it?

Yep. I'm quite impressed.

 

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Sixteenth of May, in the Year of Our Lord 1066

My Dearest Sophia,

Another year has since I wrote to you!

Things are still very busy here in Palmyra and sometimes I feel like I have no absolute time on my hands. I have been travelling around the courts of Byzantine Empire trying to find suitable brides and husbans for various Palmyran courtiers. Well, at least the younger ones anyways.


The Prince's castle in Palmyra is once again full of courtiers, full of young people laughing and enjoying themselves. There are still some older members who disapprove of the Prince's ways and indulgence in fun activities as he is an avid hunter and lover of poetry. But he works so hard going around the counties in his demesne. He has started forestry in both Aleppo and Palmyra. Lady Xanthe, the Steward, looks forward to much income.


I did manage to find a suitable bride for our Prince. Her name is Eudoxia di Santarosa from Genoa and already she has provided Prince Leon with a son named Imbert. He is the pride and joy of our Prince and I've never seen him so happy.


I also got married. I had many suitors, especially the Count of Korinthos who seemed smitten by me during his visit to Palmyra and he kept asking for my hand! I had to refuse him as his court is far away and I am needed in the service of our prince and besides, he looked like rump arse of a donkey anyways. In the end, I choose Patrikos of Nikodemeia and he's been very supportive in my travels. No, I don't have a child yet, but it's not lack of trying!


Now that I have only one more member of the court to find a bride for. Dragos of Palmyra has just came into prominence as a military commander and the Prince, on the recommendation of Michael, commander of the Household Guard, has made Dragos the Marshal of the Principality! Such honour age 16! Some courtiers criticized the Prince for using too young of courtiers at key positions, but he puts very much faith in us. I hope that we do not disappoint him.


Last December on his birthday, Prince Leon called all members, including the 3 vassal sheiks. The prince made the Sheiks of Hama and Homs kneel and with a guard with sword drawn just above their necks, ordered them to turn over the keys to their counties. They were furious!

Sheik of Hama, with fire in his eyes replied, "My Lord Prince, all my life I have been faithful to you and to the realm. What have I done to displease you?"
The Prince answered him, "Some has told me that you said you favour a Muslim overlord instead of me."
The Sheik was furious, as it was very evident. "Who says such lie! I have never been false to you, my prince. If you doubt me of my loyalty, cut off my head right now."
There was no expression of Prince Leon's face. "Maybe I shall."

Sheik Jalahaddin of Homs spoke. "My prince, I have been in a member of your court since you were young. I have been one of your tutors before your father granted me Sheikdom of Homs as reward for my years of service. Of all people in this court, yourself should know me and my character the best."

The prince look grim for a second and turned to Sheik of Archa. "My lord, these men say they are loyal. Should I believe them?"
The Sheik of Archa calmly said, "As my lord of Homs says, you know these men the best."
The prince nodded and said, "Arise, my lords. I am sorry to having to put you to such unlikeable acts, but I did hear things and I had to find out. As I look into your eyes, I can see that indeed both of you are loyal and faithful to me and the realm and I apologize for this."
And all in the court were amazed, as it was unspoken rule in all courts that a ruler should never admit their failings. But it seemed that the Sheiks at least loved him for it, as he shows he is mere human.

The prince ordered the food to be brought in and there was much merriment. The Sheiks were given the 3 seats closest to the Prince and they were also given much gifts and honour that night.


Later that night, the Prince asked to see me.
"My prince, how may I be of service?" I asked.
"My lady Theofano, thank you for coming." The prince was courteous to everyone, even the lowest of servants.
"So, what did you think of the events of tonight?"
I said, "You mean the sheiks, my prince? They were always loyal, but I did not know why you put them to such test."
"My lady, I have told you that I will capture Jerusalem again for Christendom. In the end, they will have to choose between loyalty to me or loyalty to their Allah. Most of the time, their faith seems stronger than their faith to their liege." He turned to stare at the palm springs outside his castle. "But that was not the reason. Lady Simanis tells me that I can claim to Prince of Homs, if I had either counties of Hama or Homs as my personal demesne. I do not have enough prestige among the courts of Christendom yet."
"I see, my prince."
He grunted. "Well, there goes that. My lady, we are changing our policy regarding our relationship to our vassals to 'Feudal Contract'. That will keep the Sheiks loyal."
"Of course, my prince."
"Now, regarding our future improvements of my realm..."
He talked about his plans for the realm for the rest of the night.

I am so busy and my head hurts from thinking too much. But it is part of being the chancellor, I suppose.

The prince also sends you his thanks for your efforts on his behalf. Enclosed with this letter is a turquoise ring of some rarity that the prince sends as a token of his thanks.

I hope you can come visit me sometimes as I miss you more everyday.

Theofano, Chancellor to Leon, Prince and Count of Palmyra, and Count of Aleppo.

 

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Twenty Sixth of September, in the Year of Our Lord 1069

To Michael of Palmyra, Ambassador to Byzantine Court

Greetings

I am glad to hear that your wife is with child again and that you are over miscarriage of your wife's last child.
The court is lively with courtiers all having children now. Even Theofano has two daughters of her own, both of them being Maria. She explains to me that the elder one is Maria Euphrosyne and the second one is Maria Simonis, but really, I think she came up with that explanation as she was too happy with the birth of her child and simply forgot that she already had a Maria. You know how she can be, my dear mentor.

The Prince now has two sons and a daughter, Imbert, Nikotes and Giulia. He seems less gloomy than before. He is still energetic, supervising improvements all over his demesne. Palmyra now has sawmill and brewery and the prince plans more improvements to be built.

With all the children running around the court's nursery, sometimes I wish for children of my own. Theofano tells me that she's really trying to find me a decent match, but I do not know when she will find me a match.

I try to keep myself occupied with matters of military. With handaxes now being provided for our infantry, they can fight a bit better.

The prince is still waiting for the rebellions in Byzantium as you told him. I do not have to tell you, but keep a sharp eye out. You are our ears and eyes there and we do rely upon you a lot.

When this is all over, perhaps we can talk of old times over some Palmyran date wine. I know you miss it.

With respect,

Dragos of Palmyra, Marshal of Principality of Palmyra

(The court is getting to rather ridiculous size. With all the kids and few more courtiers showing up, I wouldn't be surprised if there is more than 60 courtiers)

 

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Tenth of October, in the Year of our Lord 1071

To Michael of Palmyra, Ambassador to Basileus of Roman Empire

Greetings

I write you in haste, as I am to leave next morning and there is still much to be done.

Acting on your information, the prince laid claim to County of Alexandretta which is Michael, Prince of Antioch's only demesne. The Prince reasons that now that Prince Michael is in rebellion against the Byzantine Emperor, he has no great army to call upon. According to Lady Simonis, Prince Michael can field around 950 of his levees while our prince's personal army of 4000 are ready to strike. By the time Prince Michael calls upon his vassals, the battle for Alexandretta will be over and if his vassals refuse to retreat, they will join the graves of Prince Michael's men.

The Prince unfortunately is not strong enough to lay claim to Principality of Antioch itself, which would have been better as if Prince Leon becomes the Prince of Antioch, he can command loyalty of 3 other counties. But he plans to lay claim to Prince of Antioch soon enough, even if he will not be able to command loyalty of 3 counties.

I admit I am apprehensive as this will be my first time leading men into battle, other than in exercises. I pray that God will be with me and the Prince lead us into victory.

I hope to see you again.

Dragos of Palmyra, Marshal of Principality of Palmyra

PS: I am a father again, as my wife Eldrid has given birth to my daughter Theofano. Yes, we did name her after our dear Chancellor, who is still absent minded sometimes.

 

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Twenty Eighth of February, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand and Seventy Two

To Michael of Palmyra, Ambassador to the Basileus of the Roman Empire

Greetings

Only now can I take a moment to write to you of what has happened since my last letter, although I'm sure couriers have sent you brief details of what has occurred.

The battle against Prince Michael's army went well. Prince Leon saw the numerical superiority he had, so he detached his knights and light cavalry to flank Prince Michael and that was the battle. I have to say, Antiochians died rather well, even if they were destroyed to almost last man. Their relief force of their vassals arrived too late for the battle and the prince laid an ambush for 500 or so men that came. It was a total victory, God be praised.

After the battle, the Prince saw that Sheik of Hama was ailing and without an heir, therefore met with the Sheik and had a talk with him. According to Theofano who was there, the Prince consoled the man who was afflicted with some unfathomable disease and gave him leave to make a hajj to Muslim holy city of Mecca. The Prince is now also Count of Hama and within days, he proclaimed himself Prince of Homs.

Beginning of February saw the fall of Antioch and Prince Michael was dragged to our prince's feet and where Michael of Antioch was stripped of his titles as Count of Alexandretta and left the city in disgrace. The Prince then sent letters to Prince Michael's former vassals asking for their fealty but only Count of Teluch has wisely accepted the prince's protection.

Prince Leon comments that, 'Well, the Muslims will have our friend the Bishop and Count of Tortosa wish that they accepted my protection.'

Principality of Palmyra now commands loyalty of seven counties, making it rather formidable power to recognize with, God be praised.

It is my sincere hope that I will be able to see the capture of Jerusalem as our prince plans.

By my own hands

Dragos of Palmyra, Marshal to Leon, Prince of Palmyra and Homs, Count of Palmyra, Hama, Aleppo, Alexandretta

 

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Well, 1.02 has arrived so I'll try a new Palmyra game with that.

Thanks to those who read this AAR.