BASILEIA TÔN RHŌMAIŌN
CHAPTER III
KING OF GREECE : 872 CE - 878 CE
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| Alas, poor Eustathios. I knew thee poorly, Leon. |
Making Greece a vassal kingdom was a big mistake. I see that now. Eustathios is barely kept at bay. I need to make sure he never bothers me again. But how? Simple. Leon, the bastard son of Michael and Eudokia, is my way into the house of Eutathios.
Leon is betrothed to Princess Anthousa, the daughter of Despot Eustathios. If I can destroy the Maleinos dynasty completely, I can make sure she rises to the throne of Greece and, by extension, make Leon King of Greece, bringing the title back into the Makedon dynasty. First step: Kill Eustathios. Destroying him first will help secure my power in the region.
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| Not great, but not bad. |
I've assembled a veritable army of courtiers in Eustathios's court. It's not perfect, and I wish I had some more allies, but it should work well enough.
Speaking of, I've formed the Kingdom of Anatolia, and no, I'm not giving up that title. At least, until Basil dies. Constantine is the heir to that title, but I have plans to fix that soon enough... Just you want, Constantine.
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| Traitorous! |
Holy crap! There are people who are against the Emperor! How unexpected?
Strategos Tiberios wishes to increase council power. Count Theophylaktos wants to institute a new kind of succession into the Empire. To both, I have only one thing to say.
Into the prison with both of you. Perhaps a nice stay in the Imperial Dungeon will straighten you out. If not, there are always... alternative methods.
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| Oh, crap. |
Yep. Some sultan or emirate or whatever has decided that the Roman Empire is far too threatening to be allowed to live. As a result, he has formed a defensive pact against me. This isn't good.
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| Bow-chicka-bow-wow! |
On the other hand, this is excellent news. Richeut, while not politically significant, is a great steward and will seriously help out my bank account and my realm's management. Thanks, Richeut!
Oh, and I guess there was a civil war in China or something, but that got dealt with... apparently. I'm sure that'll work well for-
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| Oh. |
Well... Crap. The good news is that these guys shouldn't prove too much of an issue for me, since they're stuck at the far east border of the map. But, should they grow to the size of, say, an empire, I could be in some deep doo-doo.
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| I believe I can flyyyy! |
So, recently, I set Basil on a more... educational path. He's going to build himself a flying machine. I'm certain nothing will go wrong there, I know it.
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| Viking idjits. |
Oh. Great. Thanks, Esklid. Now, thanks to you, my plans are screwed. Ugh... Why did I let you in on this plot? Oh well. Guess I'll have to refocus my efforts. To make matters even worse, my flying machine didn't work, everybody from Armenia to Venice is joining a defensive pact against me, and several different factions have sprung up against me. My day is not going well.
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| Oh, great. |
So, while the last five months have had basically nothing happen, I realize that one of my vassals has joined a faction against me. Being a wise Emperor, I took appropriate action and revoked his title. As you can probably see, that didn't go so well. Theodoros here thinks he's better than I am. Therefore, I've decided he's gotta go. I'm summoning a small force to get rid of him.
But, hey, at least the defensive pact against me disbanded!
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| GOD DANG IT EUSTATHIOS |
I'm nearly done with the revolt against me, and you, Eustathios, have to go and declare war on one of our neighbors? No! Stop that! You're gonna get this empire killed! Ugh... Romans, to arms, I guess.
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| And another one bites the dust. |
In other news, the war for Antioch has ending in victory. I'm sure Eustathios will be eternally grateful the help I've given-
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| Huh. Well, with a title like "Despot," I can't really be too surprised. |
Oh boy, Eustathios. You done goofed, and you done goofed hard. You know what we do to people like you? We throw them in the dungeon. AWAY WITH THEE!
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| GEE NOW WHO COULD'VE SEEN THIS COMING |
Oh boy. I done goofed, and I done goofed hard. Welp, time to go to war again. Romans, to arms! Against the other Romans!
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| Oh hai Eustathios. |
My armies are drained from both Theodoros's revolt and the wars in Cicilia and Antioch, but so is Eustathios's. I think I've got just enough troops to take on Eustathios head on. I'm diverting half of my army to his 1,500 in Greece and another half to the 2,000 in Anatolia. Hopefully my army is large enough it'll overwhelm him and force him into surrender.
Oh, and because I have Antioch back under my control, it's been restored as one of the Episcopal Sees of the Orthodox Church. Good job, Basil.
Now historical records in this time period are limited due to me continuously missing the screenshot button it being a turbulent time in Roman history, so to sum up the war, after an initial success in northeastern Greece, my army was pushed back to Constantinople after Eustathios moved his army northwest through Anatolia following my successful attempt to knock out the Greece fortifications in Adana and Tarsos. My armies coalesced back in Constantinople and, after knocking out a counter attack in Adrianopolis, we chased Eustathios east all the way back to Adana and Tarsos, where a series of rather ridiculously pitiful sieges ended in the Byzantines securing complete control of the region. Finally, Eustathios surrendered and was placed in prison.
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| Snip snip! |
A few title revocations, a "strategic" castration, and one banishment later and now Eustathios will no longer be a threat to me. Ever. That just leaves us with his son and daughter, who I have my own plans for.
Heh. Heh heh. Ha ha ha!
MU-HA-HA-HA-HA-cough hack wheeze
Oh, and in other news, I have two new sons named Daniel and Nikephoros, Nikephoros, Richeut and Anastasia have what I believe to be measles, the old Ecumenical Patriarch died, and I think the Earth might be round or something. It's all a lot to take in.
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