The Achaemenids have to be the centre of attention. No quiet wallflowers in that dynasty.
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The Achaemenids have to be the centre of attention. No quiet wallflowers in that dynasty.
The Time of Tumult (1150 AD – 1209 AD)
The Time of Tumult (1150 AD – 1209 AD)
The instability ushered in by Zakariyah with his dream of union and the creation of the universal church was exacerbated by his untimely death. Having sat on the throne for only 10 years, he only enough time to kick the hornets nest but not enough to clear it out. What happened after is a replay of succession crisis that the Achaemenids had experienced every so often in its history.
His oldest son, Dragshan was murdered a year before Zakariyah’s death, and his older child, Hristina, was too young to voice her claim. The throne passed to Ivan, Zakariyah’s second son, a boy of five but he lived for only two years before a childhood illness claimed his life. The throne then passed to the third son, Svetislav. Again the boy died young, but the records do not comment on the manner of his passing but we can ascribe foul play as the most likely scenario.
With the male line ended, the daughter of Dragshan was next in line. Now old enough to find supporters, Hristina’s regent advisors established a modicum of stability within the empire. The years 1150 AD to 1186 AD when Hristina’s son attained maturity are marked by dynastic infighting within the Achaemenids as powerful aunts and relatives tried to gain control on the succession of young rulers.
Technically, the empire was smaller and theoretically easier to manage than it was 50 years ago. Darius V had given the lands of Carpathia, Croatia and Dacia to his second son, Stracimir to rule and his sons founded a new house, Radomir, that fought for influence in this offshoot of the empire against the Rev Mehrans of Dacia and Demos. Combined with the loss of Anatolia and the erection of the Sultanate of Rum, the empire had shrunk back down to the Balkan and Greek core of Hormazd’s day and several overseas exclaves. Despite the smaller empire, religion was tearing apart the realm as neighbouring dukes and boyars chose religious factions that furthered their interest or justified their predations on their neighbours. Big picture, the unionists were slowly winning at the courtly level. It was more difficult to decipher how the religious strife was received among the peasantry though judging by later actions, the idea of communion with Rome was only skin-deep for most village priests or isolated bishop.
Tsaritsa Hristina would attain her majority a year after succeeding Svetislav in 1155 AD and attempted to reduce the influence of her minders. Partially successful, her marriage to the Momchils of Adrianople ensured security for her capital from any lord looking to lead an army to the City to overthrow her. She was pro-union and attempted to uphold her grandfather’s wishes but found that the reach of Achaemeniyya had grown short in the tumultuous past few years. Beyond the Thracian heartlands and Greece, the Khodadins held sway over hearts and minds in Bulgaria and the northern territories. Her 17 years of rule are marked by continual exchanges with the Vatican on the state of the union and the request for more preachers and evangelists to assist in the proselytizing of the Bulgarian people.
Culturally the empire had developed into three distinct demographics across its geography. In Thrace, the old Perso-Greek Byzantine culture had merged with the Bulgarian influx to create a new hybridized culture that spoke Greek, dressed in the Bulgarian style and upheld fossilised Persian practices. This Byzantine-Bulgar culture was the culture of the court and the nobility. In the north, along the Danube, the traditional Bulgar culture dominated all the way to the Balkan mountains that separated it from Thrace. Here, the people held to many old traditions such as the passion for horse-rearing and hardiness was a valued skill. Citizens of the capital often viewed them as backwards, referring to them as “old-country Bulgarians”. Despite their resistance to change, prosperity and progress had seen younger and younger generations give up the old ways and seek to make their fortune in the City. Here, union vs patriarchate divisions seemed to orientate around age lines as the elders tried to retain the faith that brought them empire and fortune. In the south and Greece, Greek culture predominated. With its stability and relatively coherence as unified geography for most of its existence, Macedonia and Greece had held long to ancient Greek culture. Even in the 12th century, many still bore the name of ancient Greek heroes such as Xenophon and Kassander. The long Achaemenid rule had fossilised many of these people’s practices and they felt little need to evolve like the Romans or Egyptians who faced invasions and regular influxes of new cultures that disrupted the status quo. They had grown wealthy from trade in the Mediterranean and had the most to gain from closer ties to the West with the way East now blocked by zealous fedayeen of the Nizari, and so were most open to union.
Hristina’s reign would last for 17 years and the empire changed little in the period. She would not survive the birth of her third child, Dragshan, and the empire was now bequeathed to her older son, Konstantinos.
Konstantinos the Shatterer (1172 AD – 1209 AD)
Depending on which side of the union debate you stood on, you would either revile the new Tsar or celebrate his piety. Konstantinos was only two years old when he was crowned Tsar of the Achaemenid Empire. We can only imagine the sight of a toddler drowning in the imperial regalia trying to not fidget before the Catholic Patriarch of Achaemeniyya could crown him and the men kneeling behind to hold it up instead of enveloping the child Tsar’s head.
The court apparatus took care of his education and training to be Tsar but the Master of Whispers, Kalojan Sliven, took a special shine to the boy and saw in him someone talented at the darker arts. Sliven himself held no lands but was feared and respected by all for his abilities since he had been brought in during the reign of Hristina. Often Konstantinos could be seen breaking bread with aged Sliven and engaged in long whispered conversations. It was no surprise that Konstantinos would grow up with a preference for intrigue and subterfuge in his dealings. What was a surprise was that Kalojan Sliven was a patriarchate supporter and had done his best to see the Tsar come to his viewpoint.
Throughout his childhood, control of the court was a prize to be fought over. Initially, his father’s brother, Kresimir, acted as regent, ruling out of Selembria. He was a harsh but fair taskmaster who seemed to be working towards the greater good of the empire and tried to end the schismatic conflicts without favouring a side but in 1178, he was imprisoned by the scheming Donka Achaemenid, sister to the late Tsaritsa Hristina. From her base in Veneto in Northern Italy, she began to direct imperial matters while leaving the boy Tsar alone in his capital.
When he came of age and egged on by Kalojan Sliven, Konstantinos sought to end his regency forcefully. The Tsar had developed a sadistic streak and he had the imperial guard sail to Veneto to arrest his aunt and deliver her to Achaemeniyya in fetters. His treatment for her was not kind and the scars she suffered ran deep. Donka was a die-hard believer in Union and as Konstantinos steered the realm away from the Pope, her anger and outrage swelled. She kept it bottled in though and bided her time for revenge. Donka’s imprisonment would last for five years before Konstantinos released her, viewing her threat as non-existent.
In 1190 AD, Konstantinos declared himself a believer in an independent Patriarchate that served the needs of the people of the Achaemenid Empire. Across the empire, the pendulum of power swung violently in favour of the oppressed who exacted their revenge on those who refused to recant their statements on the primacy of the Pope and the articles of union. Konstantinos himself would exile many members of his own court who refused to follow his imperial directive. Aided by the powerful Sliven, there were many nights where well-off courtiers and officials were dragged out of their homes, never to be seen again.
The Catholic Patriarch, Nemosios, was tarred and feathered before being forced to recant his belief in the Union. The people of the city cheered and laughed as Konstantinos made the most of the political theatre. The response in Western Europe was outrage and anger, and many lords beseeched the Pope to call for a crusade on the heretics of the Achaemenid Empire. When Konstantinos raised his banners and had the restored Khodan Patriarch declare a crusade for Valois, intended to break the morale of Catholicism, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Khodadin men in the thousands took up the cross in order to kill and murder Christians whom they felt had oppressed them and forced them into sinning against the tenets of their faith. Within the empire, many lords had converted but it was hard to tell how fervent or superficial their conversion was. Konstantinos would sail with his men to the lands of the Franks, unaware of the disaster about to befall him.
Pope Nicolaus would give in to the outrage of Catholic Christendom and call a crusade to displace the Achaemenid Emperor and restore the Articles of Union in Achaemeniyya and Nemosios to his seat.
In 1199, a fleet would set sail from the harbour of Veneto with the blessings of Lady Donka. Throughout the realm, secret Catholics (essentially any lord who did not sail for Valois) rose up in rebellion and declare themselves supporters of the Pope. Caught flatfooted by this rebellion, Konstantinos can do little – he has to defeat the Catholic armies in Valois in order to move his soldiers home safely or face continual harassment. He subdues Valois and chooses a distant relative, Jerolim Kozman to rule Valois and prepares for the long voyage home. Its already March 1203 and he has received reports that the Catholic Betrayers are laying siege to Achaemeniyya but the winds are not favourable to travel south through the Atlantic.
The city falls not with a bang but with a whimper in August 1203 as the undermanned sea walls are breached by the sailing siege towers of the Veneto fleet, aided by the intelligence of Donka. Catholics stream into the city. The Franks and Latins pillaged the Khodan churches and accidentally set fire to large sections of the city.
Konstantinos receives word of the loss of the city wordlessly and retreated to his cabin on the flagship Leontophoros. The next morning, he ordered the fleet to sail for Crete. With the loss of the crownlands and the treasury, Konstantinos knew he did not have the resources to reconquer the Latin Empire that the Catholics had established. He would fall back on the tools he loved best, intrigue and murder. A cold war would escalate for the remaining six years of the Tsar’s life between the exiled Tsar and the Catholic forces overturning the old order in Achaemeniyya. Death would beget death and Konstantinos was partially successful in breaking up the Latin Empire and engendering rumours of dissension and betrayal in the ranks. Donka herself would escape his wrath, dying peacefully of old age, six months after the sacking of Achaemeniyya. The Latins were not silent either and assassins hired at great cost from Rum would eliminate the Tsar in 1209.
The scattered holdings of the Achaemenid Empire with its capital in Crete in 1208 AD after the success of the Great Catholic Betrayal. Note that the Latin Empire began disintegrating shortly after its formation as the powerful Catholic Macedonians and Greek lords refused to accept the rule of the Latin Emperor, Boudewijn Gravesen.
The instability ushered in by Zakariyah with his dream of union and the creation of the universal church was exacerbated by his untimely death. Having sat on the throne for only 10 years, he only enough time to kick the hornets nest but not enough to clear it out. What happened after is a replay of succession crisis that the Achaemenids had experienced every so often in its history.
His oldest son, Dragshan was murdered a year before Zakariyah’s death, and his older child, Hristina, was too young to voice her claim. The throne passed to Ivan, Zakariyah’s second son, a boy of five but he lived for only two years before a childhood illness claimed his life. The throne then passed to the third son, Svetislav. Again the boy died young, but the records do not comment on the manner of his passing but we can ascribe foul play as the most likely scenario.
With the male line ended, the daughter of Dragshan was next in line. Now old enough to find supporters, Hristina’s regent advisors established a modicum of stability within the empire. The years 1150 AD to 1186 AD when Hristina’s son attained maturity are marked by dynastic infighting within the Achaemenids as powerful aunts and relatives tried to gain control on the succession of young rulers.
Technically, the empire was smaller and theoretically easier to manage than it was 50 years ago. Darius V had given the lands of Carpathia, Croatia and Dacia to his second son, Stracimir to rule and his sons founded a new house, Radomir, that fought for influence in this offshoot of the empire against the Rev Mehrans of Dacia and Demos. Combined with the loss of Anatolia and the erection of the Sultanate of Rum, the empire had shrunk back down to the Balkan and Greek core of Hormazd’s day and several overseas exclaves. Despite the smaller empire, religion was tearing apart the realm as neighbouring dukes and boyars chose religious factions that furthered their interest or justified their predations on their neighbours. Big picture, the unionists were slowly winning at the courtly level. It was more difficult to decipher how the religious strife was received among the peasantry though judging by later actions, the idea of communion with Rome was only skin-deep for most village priests or isolated bishop.
Tsaritsa Hristina would attain her majority a year after succeeding Svetislav in 1155 AD and attempted to reduce the influence of her minders. Partially successful, her marriage to the Momchils of Adrianople ensured security for her capital from any lord looking to lead an army to the City to overthrow her. She was pro-union and attempted to uphold her grandfather’s wishes but found that the reach of Achaemeniyya had grown short in the tumultuous past few years. Beyond the Thracian heartlands and Greece, the Khodadins held sway over hearts and minds in Bulgaria and the northern territories. Her 17 years of rule are marked by continual exchanges with the Vatican on the state of the union and the request for more preachers and evangelists to assist in the proselytizing of the Bulgarian people.
Culturally the empire had developed into three distinct demographics across its geography. In Thrace, the old Perso-Greek Byzantine culture had merged with the Bulgarian influx to create a new hybridized culture that spoke Greek, dressed in the Bulgarian style and upheld fossilised Persian practices. This Byzantine-Bulgar culture was the culture of the court and the nobility. In the north, along the Danube, the traditional Bulgar culture dominated all the way to the Balkan mountains that separated it from Thrace. Here, the people held to many old traditions such as the passion for horse-rearing and hardiness was a valued skill. Citizens of the capital often viewed them as backwards, referring to them as “old-country Bulgarians”. Despite their resistance to change, prosperity and progress had seen younger and younger generations give up the old ways and seek to make their fortune in the City. Here, union vs patriarchate divisions seemed to orientate around age lines as the elders tried to retain the faith that brought them empire and fortune. In the south and Greece, Greek culture predominated. With its stability and relatively coherence as unified geography for most of its existence, Macedonia and Greece had held long to ancient Greek culture. Even in the 12th century, many still bore the name of ancient Greek heroes such as Xenophon and Kassander. The long Achaemenid rule had fossilised many of these people’s practices and they felt little need to evolve like the Romans or Egyptians who faced invasions and regular influxes of new cultures that disrupted the status quo. They had grown wealthy from trade in the Mediterranean and had the most to gain from closer ties to the West with the way East now blocked by zealous fedayeen of the Nizari, and so were most open to union.
Hristina’s reign would last for 17 years and the empire changed little in the period. She would not survive the birth of her third child, Dragshan, and the empire was now bequeathed to her older son, Konstantinos.
Konstantinos the Shatterer (1172 AD – 1209 AD)
Depending on which side of the union debate you stood on, you would either revile the new Tsar or celebrate his piety. Konstantinos was only two years old when he was crowned Tsar of the Achaemenid Empire. We can only imagine the sight of a toddler drowning in the imperial regalia trying to not fidget before the Catholic Patriarch of Achaemeniyya could crown him and the men kneeling behind to hold it up instead of enveloping the child Tsar’s head.
The court apparatus took care of his education and training to be Tsar but the Master of Whispers, Kalojan Sliven, took a special shine to the boy and saw in him someone talented at the darker arts. Sliven himself held no lands but was feared and respected by all for his abilities since he had been brought in during the reign of Hristina. Often Konstantinos could be seen breaking bread with aged Sliven and engaged in long whispered conversations. It was no surprise that Konstantinos would grow up with a preference for intrigue and subterfuge in his dealings. What was a surprise was that Kalojan Sliven was a patriarchate supporter and had done his best to see the Tsar come to his viewpoint.
Throughout his childhood, control of the court was a prize to be fought over. Initially, his father’s brother, Kresimir, acted as regent, ruling out of Selembria. He was a harsh but fair taskmaster who seemed to be working towards the greater good of the empire and tried to end the schismatic conflicts without favouring a side but in 1178, he was imprisoned by the scheming Donka Achaemenid, sister to the late Tsaritsa Hristina. From her base in Veneto in Northern Italy, she began to direct imperial matters while leaving the boy Tsar alone in his capital.
When he came of age and egged on by Kalojan Sliven, Konstantinos sought to end his regency forcefully. The Tsar had developed a sadistic streak and he had the imperial guard sail to Veneto to arrest his aunt and deliver her to Achaemeniyya in fetters. His treatment for her was not kind and the scars she suffered ran deep. Donka was a die-hard believer in Union and as Konstantinos steered the realm away from the Pope, her anger and outrage swelled. She kept it bottled in though and bided her time for revenge. Donka’s imprisonment would last for five years before Konstantinos released her, viewing her threat as non-existent.
In 1190 AD, Konstantinos declared himself a believer in an independent Patriarchate that served the needs of the people of the Achaemenid Empire. Across the empire, the pendulum of power swung violently in favour of the oppressed who exacted their revenge on those who refused to recant their statements on the primacy of the Pope and the articles of union. Konstantinos himself would exile many members of his own court who refused to follow his imperial directive. Aided by the powerful Sliven, there were many nights where well-off courtiers and officials were dragged out of their homes, never to be seen again.
The Catholic Patriarch, Nemosios, was tarred and feathered before being forced to recant his belief in the Union. The people of the city cheered and laughed as Konstantinos made the most of the political theatre. The response in Western Europe was outrage and anger, and many lords beseeched the Pope to call for a crusade on the heretics of the Achaemenid Empire. When Konstantinos raised his banners and had the restored Khodan Patriarch declare a crusade for Valois, intended to break the morale of Catholicism, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Khodadin men in the thousands took up the cross in order to kill and murder Christians whom they felt had oppressed them and forced them into sinning against the tenets of their faith. Within the empire, many lords had converted but it was hard to tell how fervent or superficial their conversion was. Konstantinos would sail with his men to the lands of the Franks, unaware of the disaster about to befall him.
Pope Nicolaus would give in to the outrage of Catholic Christendom and call a crusade to displace the Achaemenid Emperor and restore the Articles of Union in Achaemeniyya and Nemosios to his seat.
In 1199, a fleet would set sail from the harbour of Veneto with the blessings of Lady Donka. Throughout the realm, secret Catholics (essentially any lord who did not sail for Valois) rose up in rebellion and declare themselves supporters of the Pope. Caught flatfooted by this rebellion, Konstantinos can do little – he has to defeat the Catholic armies in Valois in order to move his soldiers home safely or face continual harassment. He subdues Valois and chooses a distant relative, Jerolim Kozman to rule Valois and prepares for the long voyage home. Its already March 1203 and he has received reports that the Catholic Betrayers are laying siege to Achaemeniyya but the winds are not favourable to travel south through the Atlantic.
The city falls not with a bang but with a whimper in August 1203 as the undermanned sea walls are breached by the sailing siege towers of the Veneto fleet, aided by the intelligence of Donka. Catholics stream into the city. The Franks and Latins pillaged the Khodan churches and accidentally set fire to large sections of the city.
Konstantinos receives word of the loss of the city wordlessly and retreated to his cabin on the flagship Leontophoros. The next morning, he ordered the fleet to sail for Crete. With the loss of the crownlands and the treasury, Konstantinos knew he did not have the resources to reconquer the Latin Empire that the Catholics had established. He would fall back on the tools he loved best, intrigue and murder. A cold war would escalate for the remaining six years of the Tsar’s life between the exiled Tsar and the Catholic forces overturning the old order in Achaemeniyya. Death would beget death and Konstantinos was partially successful in breaking up the Latin Empire and engendering rumours of dissension and betrayal in the ranks. Donka herself would escape his wrath, dying peacefully of old age, six months after the sacking of Achaemeniyya. The Latins were not silent either and assassins hired at great cost from Rum would eliminate the Tsar in 1209.
The scattered holdings of the Achaemenid Empire with its capital in Crete in 1208 AD after the success of the Great Catholic Betrayal. Note that the Latin Empire began disintegrating shortly after its formation as the powerful Catholic Macedonians and Greek lords refused to accept the rule of the Latin Emperor, Boudewijn Gravesen.
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The Achaemeneh are slowly drifting further and further west. Are they eventually going to become this timeline's United States, before hitting China and ending up right back where they started?
Also Rome seems to be rebounding and doing better now than they did in antiquity.
Also Rome seems to be rebounding and doing better now than they did in antiquity.
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Let me go fanboy over Darius V and his plus 200 stats. Did you play as Rum and switch back to create a challenge? Thanks
Some might say that every time an Achaemenid is born, god flips a coin.
The empire has fallen - again.
Tis but a scratch, I've had worse
Yes, I played as the Nizari for a bit. Not necessarily as a challenge for the Achaemenids but for myself. Playing since 476 AD in CK3 is an awfully long time and I was running out of things to keep my interest so I took a small count in Crimea and saw how fast I could grow him. Did the swaps with the Mihran before and then blew everything up to give Attalus and the Achaemenids a fresh start. I will probably never do a megacampaign starting with I:R again to avoid trudging through 900 years of gameplay. After the first two centuries, you have enough dynasty legacies to make even the worst disaster a hiccup to recovery.
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Missed this - heh, yes, the Achaemenids seem to be slowly being pulled into Europe's orbit. It was not intentional but the success of the Muslim invasion in taking Anatolia meant that the Bosphorus became a natural border between East and West.
Rome has rebounded itself but it's not the autocratic rule of antiquity. A more feudal arrangement has surfaced in Italy but it's nothing to compare to what comes next for the Roman Empire.
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Rome never really got far in antiquity. They'll be impressive if they get larger now of course but they aren't yet momentous anywhere yet. Not even unified the peninsula at any point, I don't think?
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The Latin Domination (1209 AD – 1300 AD)
The Latin Domination (1209 AD – 1300 AD)
Boudewijn I hailed from the van Gaverens of Friesland. His ancestors had been Norse Vikings that had settled the lands and assimilated with the local Batavo Dutch people. Over time, the Gaveren had built up their wealth and holdings until they were one of the riches families in all Holland and Friesland. Boudewijn taking up the cross to destroy the Achaemenids was driven more by materialistic goals than any religious zeal he felt deep down. Despite the wealth his family had made, he knew it paled compared to the riches of the Mediterranean where trade thrived and the transfer of goods from East to West on a single convoy of ships could make a man richer than a lifetime of collecting rent from farmers in Friesland. He would leverage much of his holdings and borrow even more to become one of the principal sponsors of the Achaemenid Crusade (as it was known in the West). Along with him, he would recruit as many Dutchmen as were willing to volunteer and set sail for Greece. All told, Boudewijn brought with him 8,000 Dutch and they would be the nucleus of the Batavo-Greek peoples that will form in Epirus during the Latin Domination.
With the capture of Achaemeniyya, there was debate on who should lead the newly created Latin Empire. The Pope distrusted the Greeks, Byzantines or Bulgarians that professed the true faith and several of the other Latin leaders of the crusade had fallen along the way. With few options, most accepted Boudewijn as the new Latin Emperor of Achaemeniyya. Initially, all of his dreams had come true, finding the wealth of the city surpassing his wildest expectations. He would focus on restarting the Black Sea trade and replacing the population of the city with Catholics, establishing an Italian quarter for the merchant princes of the peninsular to establish their trade companies.
But beyond the city, his control grew tenuous. Many of the crusaders had plans to return home now that the mission was accomplished, reducing the number of Catholics whose loyalty was not in doubt. In Macedonia and Greece, the Achaemenid Houses of Hriz, Achaemenid-Goritsa, Jamshid, Momchil and Komitopulov chafed at paying obeisance to the Latin usurper. They had overthrown their Khodan Tsar for freedom, not to be lorded over by a Dutch bumpkin. Within a year, the Latin Empire began splintering aided by whispers of Konstantinos. Greece and Macedonia would break away, tearing away large chunks of the empire who preferred supporting their fellow countryman than the man designated emperor by the Pope. Boudewijn would attempt to quell the rebellion but he was severely injured at the Battle of Voden and died from his wounds.
He was succeeded by his daughter, Joan the Hideous in 1205. The poor girl was only 6 years old and she would be stricken with typhus in her early teens, destroying her beauty and leaving her lame in one foot. The regent council that was established proved competent enough to hold things together but not competent enough to pull the Eastern Houses back into the fold. Her marriage to Duke Aemilius Alcaceris-Varese of Carinthia would bear only a single child before she passed away in 1224 from fatal apoplexy, aged only 26.
Aleid van Gaveren (1224 AD – 1281 AD)
That child, Aleid van Gaveren became a mere figurehead for the regime. Only four years old, she would be moved from stronghold to stronghold as the Achaemenids reconquest gathers speed. In 1227 AD, Arda, daughter of Konstantinos captures the City in a swift and brutal night raid. The Empress is smuggled out before the Achaemenid forces could reach the palace. In the coming months, much of Bulgaria and Thrace reverts to Achaemenid rule as loyalist locals force out the local Latin garrisons. Tsaritsa Arda was restored to her seat at Achaemeniyya and swore to destroy the crumbling Latin Empire.
Over the next decade, Aleid and the Latin lords face continual loses in Bulgaria and Macedonia, losing Vidin, Moldavia and Wallachia progressively as Arda works to restore the empire. Eventually, the Latin Empress finds a modicum of respite in Dyrrachion. Protected by mountains and sea on all sides, Epirus becomes their base. Close to allies in Italy, the Latins begin building up a robust network of trade and support to keep the regime alive. Aleid herself has reached adulthood and marries Slavan Achaemenid-Goritsa, a scion of the splinter Achaemenid house that controls Greece. The marriage establishes a needed alliance and she hopes become the starting point for her dynasty to lay down roots in the region. The remaining Dutch soldiers are encouraged to take wives from the local populace and this will eventually establish a mixed Batavo-Greek identity in Epirus and the surrounding regions. Ethnically Greek but Dutch speaking, the Batavo-Greek will become one of the stranger remnants of the crusading era to survive into the modern age.
Over the following decades, both sides, Achaemenids and van Gaverens rebuild their strength in preparation for the conflict they know is inevitable to decide the destiny of their Empires. By the end of Aleid’s life, the Epirote coast is lined with fortresses and had become the primary port of call for Italian and German merchants, bringing new wealth to build a new army ready to take on the Achaemenids and their heretic followers.
Tsaritsa Arda Achaemenid (1209 AD – 1271 AD)
After succeeding her father, Arda focuses on controlling the sea lanes in the Adriatic and Aegean – necessary before she can launch any assault on the mainland. Her younger sister is tasked with overseeing the largest extant the Achaemenids control in Illyria and Croatia. As mentioned earlier, she captured Achaemeniyya in 1227 AD and finally has a secure base to capture or damage the Catholic betrayers in Macedonia and Greece. This will consume her life for the next four decades and she makes gains steadily but never as fast as she liked.
She would marry a Kozman, the son of King Jerolim Kozman, who had established himself in Valois after Konstantinos left the region. Their children would grow up in France to keep them safe from the threat of the van Gaverens and their Frankish nature would prove to be a detriment to ruling the Achaemenid Empire.
The Kozmans had established an independent patriarchate in Paris. Surrounded by Catholics, they knew that survival hinged on compromise and finding acceptance. Dialogue with the Archbishop of Canterbury helped them find a solution that the Pope in Rome could accept – they recognised Rome as one of the five seats of the pentarchy and condemn the Khodan patriarchs for their heresy. In effect, the Kozmans declared that the last three centuries of Khodan church theology never happened.
Arda accepts her husband’s reason on the matter of church. Her great fear is reigniting a new crusade against her and understands that compromise is the only way forward. Her long life and events in France will prevent a smooth integration of the two thrones. In France, the Kozmans are distracted and decimated by the wars with Muslim Aquitane. The Caliph of Iberia had made great gains across the Pyrenees pushing back the Romans, Gauls and Franks back and establishing a new kingdom in the south of France. Arda’s son would fall in one of the battles against the Muslims and her grandson was next in line for the throne in Valois and the Empire. The boy had never been to Achaemeniyya and despite his Byzantine name, Konstantinos spoke only French and Latin.
Arda would die in 1271 AD, too busy to give thoughts to the succession and word was sent for Konstantinos II in Paris to take the throne of Achaemeniyya. And this is where things fall apart for the Achaemenid Empire.
It would take a better part of a year for Konstatinos II the Frank to reach Achaemeniyya and he was promptly assassinated on his arrival. The list of suspects was long – the van Gaverens, Khodan zealots, the greater Achaemenid dynasty – but no one could be called out.
His daughter, Gotberga, was promptly placed under the control of a regency council of the good and the great of the empire at the age of 3 and was left powerless until she reached 16 and then promptly murdered in 1285.
His second daughter, Cesaria, is at least old enough to challenge the regency, aged 15 and takes power. The girl Tsaritsa has at least been raised in Achaemeniyya and knows the games of the court and how to survive but the van Gaverens have done much to capitalise on the weakness of the throne during the intervening period.
Emperor Gerolt the Lucky / Restitutor Orbis (1281 AD – 1307 AD)
Some say Gerolt was born under a lucky sign, some say he was sent by god to do his will. However we look at it, Gerolt did the seemingly impossible by uniting Catholicism under a single ruler and he came close to uniting all Christianity before the fates intervened.
Gerolt was the grandson of Aleid. His father had perished in battle and he was now the heir to the Latin Empire. On Aleid’s death in 1281 AD, Gerolt was crowned emperor. His grandmother had already subjugated portions of Macedonia and Greece later in her life during Gotberga’s regency and he would capitalise on these gains to strike for Achaemeniyya. He would win a famous victory at Heraclea Perinthos, defeating the flower of Achaemenid nobility in a masterful display of strategy. 70,000 Latin forces faced 120,000 Achaemenid soldiers but Gerolt’s general, Lucius De Hauteville, outmanoeuvred the enemy who littered the field with 50,000 dead. With the Achaemenids crippled by the disaster, taking the city proved easy enough. Supported by a new invention, bombards that could shatter the Darian walls, Gerolt took the city in 1286 AD. With the lost of their capital, the Achaemenids retreated to their Bulgarian heartlands to regroup.
The prestige of his victory reverberated through Europe and many German lords pledged themselves to serve the Latin Emperor. We aren’t sure what drove so many of them to suborn themselves but perhaps the idea of a German-Dutch ruler appealed to a nascent sense of patriotism. Who better to rule Germany than a van Gaveren – enough of Italo-Roman tyrants lording it over Germans? Whatever the case, something spectacular happened over the next twenty years. Gerolt had most of central Europe accept his rule. There were a few hold outs such as the Kingdom of Ascibirgia but they were subjugated in short order.
With Achaemeniyya defeated, Gerolt increasingly turned his focus West. Now that he had Germania pledged to him, a new idea began to take shape in Gerolt’s mind. There was still a Roman Empire but the Imperator was seated in Sardinia and the empire itself was more of a collective than a unified entity. Gerolt would begin to encroach on Roman territory, pledging to be the protector of all Latins against heresy and heathens. With his credentials burnished by capturing Achaemeniyya and the loyalty of the German people, Gerolt would soon conquer or see large parts of Italy pledged to him, abandoning the rightful Empress Emilia of Sardinia. Eventually, even the Pope could see how the winds were blowing for this one man and in a grand ceremony, pronounced a new Holy Roman Empire was established and Gerolt as its first Emperor or Kaiser as the title came to be known in Germany.
Gerolt came so close to pulling in the Eastern Christians too in his new world order. His son was pledged in marriage to Cesaria Achaemenid. The match had been arranged by the court of Achaemeniyya and conditioned on the return of their capital to their control. In return, they would accept Church Union. War had been ravaging the lands for a century and the cries of peace were growing louder and louder as a new threat seemed to be developing in the East. Unfortunately, it was not to be as Cesaria was lost in the wilderness in 1300 while out hunting, six months before the planned marriage. It’s unknown if it was foul play or a simple mishap. We can only imagine what impact a unified Christendom would have created in the coming centuries.
With the loss of Cesaria, a succession war broke out within the Achaemenids. Mundulf had the strongest claim as a patrilineal cousin to Cesaria but the forces in-situ in Bulgaria preferred Dragoman, a more distant relative, descended from Konstantinos I’ sister, Lilyana.
The Achaemenids were left to their civil war, forgotten as new developments took over the world. Gerolt as Holy Roman Emperor would move his seat to Rome and placed loyal vassals in the Balkans while a new threat grew in Anatolia, the Osmanaglu.
With the capture of Achaemeniyya, there was debate on who should lead the newly created Latin Empire. The Pope distrusted the Greeks, Byzantines or Bulgarians that professed the true faith and several of the other Latin leaders of the crusade had fallen along the way. With few options, most accepted Boudewijn as the new Latin Emperor of Achaemeniyya. Initially, all of his dreams had come true, finding the wealth of the city surpassing his wildest expectations. He would focus on restarting the Black Sea trade and replacing the population of the city with Catholics, establishing an Italian quarter for the merchant princes of the peninsular to establish their trade companies.
But beyond the city, his control grew tenuous. Many of the crusaders had plans to return home now that the mission was accomplished, reducing the number of Catholics whose loyalty was not in doubt. In Macedonia and Greece, the Achaemenid Houses of Hriz, Achaemenid-Goritsa, Jamshid, Momchil and Komitopulov chafed at paying obeisance to the Latin usurper. They had overthrown their Khodan Tsar for freedom, not to be lorded over by a Dutch bumpkin. Within a year, the Latin Empire began splintering aided by whispers of Konstantinos. Greece and Macedonia would break away, tearing away large chunks of the empire who preferred supporting their fellow countryman than the man designated emperor by the Pope. Boudewijn would attempt to quell the rebellion but he was severely injured at the Battle of Voden and died from his wounds.
He was succeeded by his daughter, Joan the Hideous in 1205. The poor girl was only 6 years old and she would be stricken with typhus in her early teens, destroying her beauty and leaving her lame in one foot. The regent council that was established proved competent enough to hold things together but not competent enough to pull the Eastern Houses back into the fold. Her marriage to Duke Aemilius Alcaceris-Varese of Carinthia would bear only a single child before she passed away in 1224 from fatal apoplexy, aged only 26.
Aleid van Gaveren (1224 AD – 1281 AD)
That child, Aleid van Gaveren became a mere figurehead for the regime. Only four years old, she would be moved from stronghold to stronghold as the Achaemenids reconquest gathers speed. In 1227 AD, Arda, daughter of Konstantinos captures the City in a swift and brutal night raid. The Empress is smuggled out before the Achaemenid forces could reach the palace. In the coming months, much of Bulgaria and Thrace reverts to Achaemenid rule as loyalist locals force out the local Latin garrisons. Tsaritsa Arda was restored to her seat at Achaemeniyya and swore to destroy the crumbling Latin Empire.
Over the next decade, Aleid and the Latin lords face continual loses in Bulgaria and Macedonia, losing Vidin, Moldavia and Wallachia progressively as Arda works to restore the empire. Eventually, the Latin Empress finds a modicum of respite in Dyrrachion. Protected by mountains and sea on all sides, Epirus becomes their base. Close to allies in Italy, the Latins begin building up a robust network of trade and support to keep the regime alive. Aleid herself has reached adulthood and marries Slavan Achaemenid-Goritsa, a scion of the splinter Achaemenid house that controls Greece. The marriage establishes a needed alliance and she hopes become the starting point for her dynasty to lay down roots in the region. The remaining Dutch soldiers are encouraged to take wives from the local populace and this will eventually establish a mixed Batavo-Greek identity in Epirus and the surrounding regions. Ethnically Greek but Dutch speaking, the Batavo-Greek will become one of the stranger remnants of the crusading era to survive into the modern age.
Over the following decades, both sides, Achaemenids and van Gaverens rebuild their strength in preparation for the conflict they know is inevitable to decide the destiny of their Empires. By the end of Aleid’s life, the Epirote coast is lined with fortresses and had become the primary port of call for Italian and German merchants, bringing new wealth to build a new army ready to take on the Achaemenids and their heretic followers.
Tsaritsa Arda Achaemenid (1209 AD – 1271 AD)
After succeeding her father, Arda focuses on controlling the sea lanes in the Adriatic and Aegean – necessary before she can launch any assault on the mainland. Her younger sister is tasked with overseeing the largest extant the Achaemenids control in Illyria and Croatia. As mentioned earlier, she captured Achaemeniyya in 1227 AD and finally has a secure base to capture or damage the Catholic betrayers in Macedonia and Greece. This will consume her life for the next four decades and she makes gains steadily but never as fast as she liked.
She would marry a Kozman, the son of King Jerolim Kozman, who had established himself in Valois after Konstantinos left the region. Their children would grow up in France to keep them safe from the threat of the van Gaverens and their Frankish nature would prove to be a detriment to ruling the Achaemenid Empire.
The Kozmans had established an independent patriarchate in Paris. Surrounded by Catholics, they knew that survival hinged on compromise and finding acceptance. Dialogue with the Archbishop of Canterbury helped them find a solution that the Pope in Rome could accept – they recognised Rome as one of the five seats of the pentarchy and condemn the Khodan patriarchs for their heresy. In effect, the Kozmans declared that the last three centuries of Khodan church theology never happened.
Arda accepts her husband’s reason on the matter of church. Her great fear is reigniting a new crusade against her and understands that compromise is the only way forward. Her long life and events in France will prevent a smooth integration of the two thrones. In France, the Kozmans are distracted and decimated by the wars with Muslim Aquitane. The Caliph of Iberia had made great gains across the Pyrenees pushing back the Romans, Gauls and Franks back and establishing a new kingdom in the south of France. Arda’s son would fall in one of the battles against the Muslims and her grandson was next in line for the throne in Valois and the Empire. The boy had never been to Achaemeniyya and despite his Byzantine name, Konstantinos spoke only French and Latin.
Arda would die in 1271 AD, too busy to give thoughts to the succession and word was sent for Konstantinos II in Paris to take the throne of Achaemeniyya. And this is where things fall apart for the Achaemenid Empire.
It would take a better part of a year for Konstatinos II the Frank to reach Achaemeniyya and he was promptly assassinated on his arrival. The list of suspects was long – the van Gaverens, Khodan zealots, the greater Achaemenid dynasty – but no one could be called out.
His daughter, Gotberga, was promptly placed under the control of a regency council of the good and the great of the empire at the age of 3 and was left powerless until she reached 16 and then promptly murdered in 1285.
His second daughter, Cesaria, is at least old enough to challenge the regency, aged 15 and takes power. The girl Tsaritsa has at least been raised in Achaemeniyya and knows the games of the court and how to survive but the van Gaverens have done much to capitalise on the weakness of the throne during the intervening period.
Emperor Gerolt the Lucky / Restitutor Orbis (1281 AD – 1307 AD)
Some say Gerolt was born under a lucky sign, some say he was sent by god to do his will. However we look at it, Gerolt did the seemingly impossible by uniting Catholicism under a single ruler and he came close to uniting all Christianity before the fates intervened.
Gerolt was the grandson of Aleid. His father had perished in battle and he was now the heir to the Latin Empire. On Aleid’s death in 1281 AD, Gerolt was crowned emperor. His grandmother had already subjugated portions of Macedonia and Greece later in her life during Gotberga’s regency and he would capitalise on these gains to strike for Achaemeniyya. He would win a famous victory at Heraclea Perinthos, defeating the flower of Achaemenid nobility in a masterful display of strategy. 70,000 Latin forces faced 120,000 Achaemenid soldiers but Gerolt’s general, Lucius De Hauteville, outmanoeuvred the enemy who littered the field with 50,000 dead. With the Achaemenids crippled by the disaster, taking the city proved easy enough. Supported by a new invention, bombards that could shatter the Darian walls, Gerolt took the city in 1286 AD. With the lost of their capital, the Achaemenids retreated to their Bulgarian heartlands to regroup.
The prestige of his victory reverberated through Europe and many German lords pledged themselves to serve the Latin Emperor. We aren’t sure what drove so many of them to suborn themselves but perhaps the idea of a German-Dutch ruler appealed to a nascent sense of patriotism. Who better to rule Germany than a van Gaveren – enough of Italo-Roman tyrants lording it over Germans? Whatever the case, something spectacular happened over the next twenty years. Gerolt had most of central Europe accept his rule. There were a few hold outs such as the Kingdom of Ascibirgia but they were subjugated in short order.
With Achaemeniyya defeated, Gerolt increasingly turned his focus West. Now that he had Germania pledged to him, a new idea began to take shape in Gerolt’s mind. There was still a Roman Empire but the Imperator was seated in Sardinia and the empire itself was more of a collective than a unified entity. Gerolt would begin to encroach on Roman territory, pledging to be the protector of all Latins against heresy and heathens. With his credentials burnished by capturing Achaemeniyya and the loyalty of the German people, Gerolt would soon conquer or see large parts of Italy pledged to him, abandoning the rightful Empress Emilia of Sardinia. Eventually, even the Pope could see how the winds were blowing for this one man and in a grand ceremony, pronounced a new Holy Roman Empire was established and Gerolt as its first Emperor or Kaiser as the title came to be known in Germany.
Gerolt came so close to pulling in the Eastern Christians too in his new world order. His son was pledged in marriage to Cesaria Achaemenid. The match had been arranged by the court of Achaemeniyya and conditioned on the return of their capital to their control. In return, they would accept Church Union. War had been ravaging the lands for a century and the cries of peace were growing louder and louder as a new threat seemed to be developing in the East. Unfortunately, it was not to be as Cesaria was lost in the wilderness in 1300 while out hunting, six months before the planned marriage. It’s unknown if it was foul play or a simple mishap. We can only imagine what impact a unified Christendom would have created in the coming centuries.
The Achaemenids were left to their civil war, forgotten as new developments took over the world. Gerolt as Holy Roman Emperor would move his seat to Rome and placed loyal vassals in the Balkans while a new threat grew in Anatolia, the Osmanaglu.
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They had all of Western Europe painted Roman Red by 150 AD and held it all until they collapsed in the early 6th century. A pale imitation that called itself the Roman Empire was established in the 8th century but it grappled with strong Popes for most of its existence and never ventured too far beyond the peninsular in the next few centuries.
As a commentary, the German states accepting vassalage happened organically in game and from there, it was just a matter of taking the Roman Empire title through claims (Gerolt's and vassals)' to get the majority of Italy to usurp the title and proclaim Roman Empire. Not sure why the Germans were so willing to unify but i'm not going to lookna gift horse in the mouth.
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So on one side we have a united Christendom (more or less) on the other side a resurgent Islam. Great. Surely this will be a perfect opportunity for the Achemenids to revive themselves. Right? RIGHT?
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I've one more update post and then maybe a review of the world before we move over to EU4. The timelines are going to be a little loose but we will get to 1400 AD and the EU4 continuum with the world in a pretty nice place and finely poised for a new era of conflict to break out.
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I had a lot of catching up to do, but finally made it.
The Achaemenids need some time to sort out their priorities. The Mongols certainly aren't going to help things.
This religious strife is going to be your basis for the Reformation in EU4, isn't it?
The Achaemenids need some time to sort out their priorities. The Mongols certainly aren't going to help things.
This religious strife is going to be your basis for the Reformation in EU4, isn't it?
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Islam and Christianity are both resurgent as we enter the early modern period. The Achaemenids on the other hand are going to find themselves isolated. Their attempts to straddle both worlds but refusing to choose a side has left them caught in the middle and Eastern Europe looks to be the battleground of religious conflict in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Unfortunately, the Mongols didn't pan out. They broke up after conquering Central Asia and most of the Russian Steppe so did not have a role to play in this narrative.
I've no idea how EU4 is going to pan out. The deepest I've played that game was around 1500 AD so I'm looking forward to everything being a surprise, including the reformation. Unlike the CK3 start, I'm trying to keep the playthrough relatively in-sync with the updates so readers can follow along and experience it with me. So there's definitely no in-media-res opening previewing the future and we'll see how the reformation shakes out. Specifically here, I was hoping to show how a shared religion divided along a far more severe cultural division can lead to outcomes far more intransigent and hostile than OTL's Great Schism.
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The Achaemenid Recovery (1300 AD – 1400 AD)
The Achaemenid Recovery (1300 AD – 1400 AD)
Mundulf Kozman VS Dragoman Achaemenid
While Mundulf Kozman was the rightful Tsar by all rights of laws and religion, much of the realm refused to accept another Frankish Kozman to sit the throne after the failures of Konstantinos II, Gotberga and Cesaria.
Mundulf’s strongest base of support was in Croatia and his native land of Valois while Dragoman ruled in the Bulgarian heartlands. The initial clashes between both sides were inconclusive and only led to suffering for the peasantry along the Danube who bore the depredations of soldiers. Mundulf was already an old man and he missed his native France, hoping to meet his end in his manor on the outskirts of Paris. So he proposed a solution to the Bulgarian factions of the empire – a division.
In return for abdicating the imperial throne, Mundulf would take up the Kingship of Valois. The Illyrian crownlands that belonged to him personally would be retained but he would allow any Duke or Count in Croatia to choose who to pay their allegiance to. The Achaemenid faction eagerly accepted the proposal in order to focus back on their fixation – retaking Achaemeniyya.
The Khodan Reconquest
In a historic ceremony in the old capital of Tarnovgrad, Dragoman was crowned Tsar of the Achaemenid Empire, of Bulgaria, Old Moesia, Asia, Macedonia, Croatia and Africa, Master of the Aegean and Black Sea, formally declaring his intent to rebuild the empire and save it for the true Orthodox Khodan faith. With Gerolt I still in power in the HRE, he knew it was a fool’s errand to attempt to attack the city directly. Instead of striking directly for their enemies, the Khodadin needed a softer target to show that they were still favoured by God.
Thus the Crusade for the Bosporan Kingdom. These lands had been overtaken by Muslims and owed loyalty to the Eranian Khagan Rostam in Tblisi. The war was personally led by Dragoman and his father, Viseslav and it proved, at least to the Bulgarians, that they were still a force to be feared, despite the chastening defeat at Heraclea Perinthos twenty years ago against the Catholics.
Viseslav was installed as the ruler of the Kingdom in Dragoman’s stead with the throne to pass to Dragoman’s second son in the death of Viseslav. The convoluted succession mechanics was driven by the demands of the increasingly influential nobility. Dragoman’s personal lands were small and limited to holdings in Tarnov and Silistria, having given up the crownlands in Croatia to Mundulf and the Thracian crownlands were under Roman control. Combined with the fact that he was acclaimed Tsar as opposed to inheriting the title, Dragoman had few cards to play. In effect the nobility had an increasing say in how the empire should be run and had a vested interest in keeping the Tsar weak – a weakness that would persist for the next century and a half.
Despite these weaknesses, Dragoman and his allied nobles were aligned on the reconquest. They would slowly push back against the Catholics but would await the right opportunity. The chance came with the death of Gerolt I. His grandson, Gerolt II, was acclaimed Holy Roman Emperor and he was distracted by the need to impose control on the fractious German lords in the North. The Eastern portions were left to their own devices and soon broke with Rome. With independence came the Achaemenid wolves who began to push back against them in Thrace. Allied with the Achaemenid-Goritsa Kingdom of Melita, they would lay siege to the capital, adapting the bombard technology that the van Gaverens had first used to take out the Darian Walls. After a four-month siege, they finally breached its walls and stormed the city, slaughtering any who they identified as Catholic.
The City and the Hagia Sophia were reconsecrated to the Khodan faith and the blessed Icons restored to their rightful places. Despite the anti-Catholic feeling, the initial bloodlust gave way to pragmatism and the Italian trading quarter was left to rebuild itself – the city had grown reliant on trade with the West and needed to maintain good relations with the Italian merchants.
Further conquest was put on hold by the assassination of Dragoman in 1331 AD. This was no Catholic vendetta but an aggrieved Khodan lord. Pachomius of Krain had grown angry by the high taxes needed to sustain the military campaign and the rejection by the Tsar for leniency and subsidies in Croatia. Pachomius would escape repercussions, safe in his hinterland and the other nobles forced the new Tsar, Attalus II, son of Dragoman from pursuing the matter. The crown was still weak and feared rebellion if he pressed the matter.
Attalus II was 26 years old when he took the throne and the responsibilities of power would wear on him. Ironically nicknamed “the Stout” for his gaunt frame, he would often refuse to eat as he pored over missives from across the realm and strategized with his generals for the next campaign. In his lifetime, he sought to rebuild the crown’s power, and made further inroads into Greece, capturing Thessaloniki in 1337 AD and forcing Melita out of Thrace in 1341 AD. The Roman territories in the East began splintering as Kaiser Gerolt II looked West to stop the Iberian Caliphate from making further inroads into Europe. Dalmatia, Macedonia, and Greece would begin warring among themselves and Attalus hoped to capitalise on their conflicts. But their hostilities were always put aside against the greater threat of a resurgent Achaemenid attack and the reconquest stalled out with only Bulgaria mostly recovered.
The Turkish Threat
In Anatolia, the Osmanaglu Turks had been growing in power. Migrating with a hundred other Turkish tribes after a conflict between Al-Anatolia and the Achaemenids had weakened the strength of the Byzanstanis and allowed Turks free entrance to the Anatolian plateau. While many of the Turks had gone into service for one taifa or another Khodan principality in the intervening century, the Osmanaglu had retained its independence. With the establishment of the state of Rum, they had served as mercenaries defending the Western border against Christian attacks. During the time of Gerolt the Lucky, much of Bithynia and the Meander Valley was lost to Christian crusaders Establishing their Principalities of Opsikion, Nicaea and Lydia, they were a dangerous irritant to the Nizari of Anatolia. The Osmanaglu Turks saw the weakness of Rum and seized the remaining holdouts of Rum along the Western coast to begin their ascent to power. In the sixty years since, they had expanded across Eastern Anatolia, pushing the Rum state into Syria and becoming the principal opponents of the Christian crusader states of Anatolia. Their focus on Rum instead of Christians can be put down to the fact that they aligned themselves with Sunni Islam in direct opposition to the Shi’ites of Rum and Jerusalem.
With the HRE no longer paying attention to Eastern Europe, the crusader states were in an increasingly perilous state and looked for a new patron – the Achaemenid Empire. The Empire, eager to rebuild its prestige, welcomed them to seek protection under its flag. Unable to proceed with direct annexation, the Achaemenids sought soft power, influencing them to switch to Khodan Orthodoxy and letting them establish trade embassies in the slowly rejuvenating capital of trade in Eastern Europe.
In 1073 AD, the first challenge by the Turks against Christian power was raised. The Achaemenid had held on to many important Aegean islands during the Latin Domination but they were increasingly isolated as Turkish piracy from the Anatolian coast grew. Iollas Osmanaglu, the Sultan of the Ottomans would launch a conquest of these islands. The Achaemenids had not been a naval power since their zenith in the 2nd century AD and they were hard-pressed to defend these last holdings in Anatolia. In a three-year war, the Turks took Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios from the Achaemenids.
The End of an Era
The next decades would pass relatively peacefully with Attalus II eventually passing on in 1389, physically worn out by his exertions in rebuilding the Empire. He had achieved much but there was much more to be done and it was the task of his successor and grandson, Tsar Dominik to continue the mission.
The Achaemenids had lost much during the medieval age, seeing so much of their empire stolen by the Muslims. Even their entire cultural identity had transformed, turning their backs on their Persian descent and developing a European-centric Bulgar-Byzantine identity, firmly rooted in the lands they resided in for over a millennium. Reduced from a superpower to merely a powerful state, they would now have to navigate a world where others could challenge them and the influx of new ideas and technologies threatening to upend the old order.
Will this relic of the past survive or is the doom of the Achaemenid Empire imminent?
Mundulf Kozman VS Dragoman Achaemenid
While Mundulf Kozman was the rightful Tsar by all rights of laws and religion, much of the realm refused to accept another Frankish Kozman to sit the throne after the failures of Konstantinos II, Gotberga and Cesaria.
Mundulf’s strongest base of support was in Croatia and his native land of Valois while Dragoman ruled in the Bulgarian heartlands. The initial clashes between both sides were inconclusive and only led to suffering for the peasantry along the Danube who bore the depredations of soldiers. Mundulf was already an old man and he missed his native France, hoping to meet his end in his manor on the outskirts of Paris. So he proposed a solution to the Bulgarian factions of the empire – a division.
In return for abdicating the imperial throne, Mundulf would take up the Kingship of Valois. The Illyrian crownlands that belonged to him personally would be retained but he would allow any Duke or Count in Croatia to choose who to pay their allegiance to. The Achaemenid faction eagerly accepted the proposal in order to focus back on their fixation – retaking Achaemeniyya.
The Khodan Reconquest
In a historic ceremony in the old capital of Tarnovgrad, Dragoman was crowned Tsar of the Achaemenid Empire, of Bulgaria, Old Moesia, Asia, Macedonia, Croatia and Africa, Master of the Aegean and Black Sea, formally declaring his intent to rebuild the empire and save it for the true Orthodox Khodan faith. With Gerolt I still in power in the HRE, he knew it was a fool’s errand to attempt to attack the city directly. Instead of striking directly for their enemies, the Khodadin needed a softer target to show that they were still favoured by God.
Thus the Crusade for the Bosporan Kingdom. These lands had been overtaken by Muslims and owed loyalty to the Eranian Khagan Rostam in Tblisi. The war was personally led by Dragoman and his father, Viseslav and it proved, at least to the Bulgarians, that they were still a force to be feared, despite the chastening defeat at Heraclea Perinthos twenty years ago against the Catholics.
Viseslav was installed as the ruler of the Kingdom in Dragoman’s stead with the throne to pass to Dragoman’s second son in the death of Viseslav. The convoluted succession mechanics was driven by the demands of the increasingly influential nobility. Dragoman’s personal lands were small and limited to holdings in Tarnov and Silistria, having given up the crownlands in Croatia to Mundulf and the Thracian crownlands were under Roman control. Combined with the fact that he was acclaimed Tsar as opposed to inheriting the title, Dragoman had few cards to play. In effect the nobility had an increasing say in how the empire should be run and had a vested interest in keeping the Tsar weak – a weakness that would persist for the next century and a half.
Despite these weaknesses, Dragoman and his allied nobles were aligned on the reconquest. They would slowly push back against the Catholics but would await the right opportunity. The chance came with the death of Gerolt I. His grandson, Gerolt II, was acclaimed Holy Roman Emperor and he was distracted by the need to impose control on the fractious German lords in the North. The Eastern portions were left to their own devices and soon broke with Rome. With independence came the Achaemenid wolves who began to push back against them in Thrace. Allied with the Achaemenid-Goritsa Kingdom of Melita, they would lay siege to the capital, adapting the bombard technology that the van Gaverens had first used to take out the Darian Walls. After a four-month siege, they finally breached its walls and stormed the city, slaughtering any who they identified as Catholic.
The City and the Hagia Sophia were reconsecrated to the Khodan faith and the blessed Icons restored to their rightful places. Despite the anti-Catholic feeling, the initial bloodlust gave way to pragmatism and the Italian trading quarter was left to rebuild itself – the city had grown reliant on trade with the West and needed to maintain good relations with the Italian merchants.
Further conquest was put on hold by the assassination of Dragoman in 1331 AD. This was no Catholic vendetta but an aggrieved Khodan lord. Pachomius of Krain had grown angry by the high taxes needed to sustain the military campaign and the rejection by the Tsar for leniency and subsidies in Croatia. Pachomius would escape repercussions, safe in his hinterland and the other nobles forced the new Tsar, Attalus II, son of Dragoman from pursuing the matter. The crown was still weak and feared rebellion if he pressed the matter.
Attalus II was 26 years old when he took the throne and the responsibilities of power would wear on him. Ironically nicknamed “the Stout” for his gaunt frame, he would often refuse to eat as he pored over missives from across the realm and strategized with his generals for the next campaign. In his lifetime, he sought to rebuild the crown’s power, and made further inroads into Greece, capturing Thessaloniki in 1337 AD and forcing Melita out of Thrace in 1341 AD. The Roman territories in the East began splintering as Kaiser Gerolt II looked West to stop the Iberian Caliphate from making further inroads into Europe. Dalmatia, Macedonia, and Greece would begin warring among themselves and Attalus hoped to capitalise on their conflicts. But their hostilities were always put aside against the greater threat of a resurgent Achaemenid attack and the reconquest stalled out with only Bulgaria mostly recovered.
The Turkish Threat
In Anatolia, the Osmanaglu Turks had been growing in power. Migrating with a hundred other Turkish tribes after a conflict between Al-Anatolia and the Achaemenids had weakened the strength of the Byzanstanis and allowed Turks free entrance to the Anatolian plateau. While many of the Turks had gone into service for one taifa or another Khodan principality in the intervening century, the Osmanaglu had retained its independence. With the establishment of the state of Rum, they had served as mercenaries defending the Western border against Christian attacks. During the time of Gerolt the Lucky, much of Bithynia and the Meander Valley was lost to Christian crusaders Establishing their Principalities of Opsikion, Nicaea and Lydia, they were a dangerous irritant to the Nizari of Anatolia. The Osmanaglu Turks saw the weakness of Rum and seized the remaining holdouts of Rum along the Western coast to begin their ascent to power. In the sixty years since, they had expanded across Eastern Anatolia, pushing the Rum state into Syria and becoming the principal opponents of the Christian crusader states of Anatolia. Their focus on Rum instead of Christians can be put down to the fact that they aligned themselves with Sunni Islam in direct opposition to the Shi’ites of Rum and Jerusalem.
With the HRE no longer paying attention to Eastern Europe, the crusader states were in an increasingly perilous state and looked for a new patron – the Achaemenid Empire. The Empire, eager to rebuild its prestige, welcomed them to seek protection under its flag. Unable to proceed with direct annexation, the Achaemenids sought soft power, influencing them to switch to Khodan Orthodoxy and letting them establish trade embassies in the slowly rejuvenating capital of trade in Eastern Europe.
In 1073 AD, the first challenge by the Turks against Christian power was raised. The Achaemenid had held on to many important Aegean islands during the Latin Domination but they were increasingly isolated as Turkish piracy from the Anatolian coast grew. Iollas Osmanaglu, the Sultan of the Ottomans would launch a conquest of these islands. The Achaemenids had not been a naval power since their zenith in the 2nd century AD and they were hard-pressed to defend these last holdings in Anatolia. In a three-year war, the Turks took Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios from the Achaemenids.
The End of an Era
The next decades would pass relatively peacefully with Attalus II eventually passing on in 1389, physically worn out by his exertions in rebuilding the Empire. He had achieved much but there was much more to be done and it was the task of his successor and grandson, Tsar Dominik to continue the mission.
The Achaemenids had lost much during the medieval age, seeing so much of their empire stolen by the Muslims. Even their entire cultural identity had transformed, turning their backs on their Persian descent and developing a European-centric Bulgar-Byzantine identity, firmly rooted in the lands they resided in for over a millennium. Reduced from a superpower to merely a powerful state, they would now have to navigate a world where others could challenge them and the influx of new ideas and technologies threatening to upend the old order.
Will this relic of the past survive or is the doom of the Achaemenid Empire imminent?
END OF PART 2
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A Quick Snapshot of the World in 1400 AD
A Quick Snapshot of the World in 1400 AD
I plan to do a more detailed overview in the EU4 start but felt it was right to show off the kingdoms, religions and cultures of the world in the CK3 context. I'll answer questions about the state of world if you're curious here though.
The State of the World in 1400 AD
Map of Europe and the Middle East in 1400 AD. The greatest powers in the world are the HRE, the Caliphate of Castille, the Imamate of Jerusalem, the Achaemenid Empire and the Eranian Empire
Religions in 1400 AD
Yes, there is a pagan religion that survived to 1400 AD in Ireland and Scotland. Christianity has a stronghold in Europe but the rest of the world is dominated by Islam until you get to the Hindu fortress of India. There's also the strange Hellenic state of Yugra in the Siberian wastes.
Cultures in 1400 AD
Yes, I know this map is a mess. It's the natural development of taking a I:R game into CK3 and having it undergo a 1000 years of cultural drift.
Development in 1400 AD
The richest states are in found in the Mediterrenean and the Middle East. The Europeans states are slowly developing their potential as the early modern era arrives (at least the mainland is). Brittania is still a backwater.
I plan to do a more detailed overview in the EU4 start but felt it was right to show off the kingdoms, religions and cultures of the world in the CK3 context. I'll answer questions about the state of world if you're curious here though.
The State of the World in 1400 AD
Map of Europe and the Middle East in 1400 AD. The greatest powers in the world are the HRE, the Caliphate of Castille, the Imamate of Jerusalem, the Achaemenid Empire and the Eranian Empire
Religions in 1400 AD
Yes, there is a pagan religion that survived to 1400 AD in Ireland and Scotland. Christianity has a stronghold in Europe but the rest of the world is dominated by Islam until you get to the Hindu fortress of India. There's also the strange Hellenic state of Yugra in the Siberian wastes.
Cultures in 1400 AD
Yes, I know this map is a mess. It's the natural development of taking a I:R game into CK3 and having it undergo a 1000 years of cultural drift.
Development in 1400 AD
The richest states are in found in the Mediterrenean and the Middle East. The Europeans states are slowly developing their potential as the early modern era arrives (at least the mainland is). Brittania is still a backwater.
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Thank you for that @kakom !
Link to Part 3 can be found here: A Relic of the Past - The Achaemenid Megacampaign Part 3
I'll be putting up more content on the state of the world soon but there's an introductory post to recap the general tide of history that afflicted the empire.
Link to Part 3 can be found here: A Relic of the Past - The Achaemenid Megacampaign Part 3
I'll be putting up more content on the state of the world soon but there's an introductory post to recap the general tide of history that afflicted the empire.
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Well done on doing this huge undertaking! Have enjoyed the ride a lot so far, and looking forward to the EU4 portion!
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