Basileia tôn Rhōmaiōn - Chapter II - 870 CE - 872 CE

BASILEIA TÔN RHŌMAIŌN

CHAPTER II

NIKEPHOROS IN THE HOUSE: 870 CE - 872 CE

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Puts on anime narrator face.

LAST TIME on Basileia tôn Rhōmaiōn, Emperor Basil knocked out the Aghlabids from Roman Sicily, only to find somebody had knocked up his wife Eudokia. Meanwhile, an assassination plot against the Emperor ended in failure as Strategos Ioannes rescued Basil from near certain death. Now, as the specter of smallpox looms over the southeastern corner of the Empire, can Basil the Macedonian finally secure his holdings over the Empire and deal with the corruption within it? Find out today on Basileia tôn Rhōmaiōn Z Kai!

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At least she'll be safe from the pox!

 At this point, I am one hundred and ten percent done with Eudokia. She's cheated on me _twice_ with two different men, with both rendezvouses ending in pregnancies. She's gotta go. As such, I'm doing three things.

1). I'm getting a divorce. It's not you, Eudokia. It's everybody you've been screwing except for me.

2). I'm requesting an excommunication from the Ecumenical Patriarch, Loukas. Eudokia has not exactly shown upstanding Christian values.

3). As the above screenshot shows, I'm throwing her apparently-attractive-enough-to-risk-pissing-off-the-Emperor butt in prison, where she can think long and hard about what she's done.

You may think, hey, isn't this a bit excessive? To which I say, it's 870 CE, she's lucky I'm not ordering her beheaded.

Which I'm not.

Yet.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

 While some angry Sultanate or something decides to invade my lands, I've noticed now that I've got a lot of titles under my belt and I just don't have the time to manage all of them. I need some delegation. Thankfully, my empire currently three possible kingdoms inside of it. All I've got to do is form those kingdoms, make them vassal states and easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy, I've got a lot less work. I'll form the kingdom of Greece first, then Anatolia before finally forming Trebizond. For those wondering, Greece is the dark purple, Anatolia is light purple and Trebizond is that tiny green place up in the northeast. 

Look at it. It's so cute.

For those wondering, I'm giving the Kingdom of Greece to Strategos Nikephoros, the guy who led the defense of Constantinople over the last three years. He'll prove a capable leader, I'm certain. I've given him a place on my council as well, and I've placed a man named Tryphon as my new marshal. Hopefully nothing goes wrong. Nikephoros is a powerful vassal and I don't wish to anger him. I'm considering marrying into his family so I can have some family ties. His granddaughter seems like a good choice, though I may wish to have her betrothed to my son, Leon.

Occupation: Viking

One misclick political arrangement later and I suddenly have a lot of very happy Vikings loyal only to me for the low, low price of a crapload of money and some of my prestige. They'll serve as my personal guard and as shock troops for my empire.

Not pictured: Varangian guards.

If nothing else, I should now have a nice line of defense against uppity counts wanting to assassinate me.

This summer, Jackie Chan is: The Prince's Teacher. Rated PG-13.

Hey, a traveling scholar has come to town to give my kid some thoughts in that brain of his. For a low price of 81 gold, I was able to squeeze some extra brainpower out of the kid. Not bad, though I really need to get my income up higher if I want to keep making big purchases like this. I decide to put forward legislation to my council that promises to make the nobles pay more in taxes in exchange for providing fewer levies. With an army as big as mine, I can afford to lose a few soldiers.

I say this, knowing that as soon as I do, I'll start getting invaded by every single grumpy sultanate, caliphate and kingdom within arm's reach. God forbid some Mongols or something show up.

GEE WHO COULD'VE SEEN THIS COMING

THANKS NIKEPHOROS. I MAKE YOU DESPOT OF GREECE, AND THIS IS THE THANKS YOU GIVE ME.

For those who can't tell, Greece, my vassal, has declared war on a neighboring country. Technically, I could just ignore this, but I know if I don't nip this in the bud now, I'm getting screwed later on. So... Uh... Romans, to arms?

I love the smell of Greek fire in the morning!

The plan as of now is to start in the western part of the Barnunid Emirate, the county of Tarsos, and move my way east to Iskandarun. Hopefully, I can do it without losing, like, all my army.

R.I.P. Nikephoros.

Despot Nikephoros is dead. Long live Despot Eustathios.

Romans - 2. Various Islamic states - 0.

Despite the death of Nikephoros and his son's rather cold disposition towards me, we still managed to eke out a victory against the Emirate. Doliche and Adana were ceded in full to the Empire, while all but one city in Tarsos was brought under Roman rule. I gave control of Thrake to my son, Constantine, and I gave control of Adana to Eustathios to help pacify him. I also gave Loukas, the Patriarch, control of the various Bishoprics around the region, because I'm a pious guy.

Oh, and Eudokia died in prison. Good riddance.

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With the Barnunid Emirate pacified and the Kingdom of Greece under total Roman control, Basil I is well on his way to finally stabilizing the region. But with increased pressure from his nobles getting in the way of real reform, and a series of devastating wars with neighboring countries angering his vassals, can the Emperor successfully navigate the twists and turns of political life and finally secure his position on the Imperial throne? What new challenges await Basil as he passes his five year anniversary? Find out next time on Basileia tôn Rhōmaiōn Z Kai!