Part 3: The road to demise
The last part of the story saw us raising our kids and building up to a great future. Also, we are in the middle of the Turkish invasion and might be seeing the end of the war.
Today, this story continues. Some good and bad news reached the court.
While the armies of the Sultan and the Basileus keep sieging back and forth, my second son Ligos showed some good signs in his development.
He gained the Charitable trait and some extra Diplomacy. I am a very happy father.
The Basileus decided to engage the Turks in the county of Taron. I can't help but expressing my disgust about this decision, because he had to consider two (!) tactical disadvantages.
His armies had to cross a river in battle and the Turks have the advantage of fighting in mountainous lands. I fear Barney will be crushed.
More bad news, my eunuch is apparently not very popular with the local peasants. His ways of taxating weren't appreciated. Even worse, my relations with my vassals in Khliat has deteriorated.
Damn you, Barney. All witnessed your weakness in tactical decisions, see what you have done, fool!
The recent changes have had a bad effect on my mental life. I'm getting more and more cynical about life. As of late, my courtiers seem to agree with me.
Just when you thought things couldn't possibly get any worse...
Basileus Konstantinos X decided to die on his empire, the moment his vassals needed him most. May his old, clubfooted body rot in his coffin and his soul burn in hell!
The new Emperor looks a little unready for the task at hand. Not only will he have pretenders willing to claim the throne, but bad relations with almost every vassal in the Empire because of his young age and short reign will destroy his ability to raise levies and fight the Turks back.
This boy is a disaster for Armenia.
In the meantime, my own boy was getting ugly on the playground. My Cynical and Envious son decided no one deserved his toys but him.
I tried to lecture him and get him back on track.
With the Imperial forces chased out of Armenia, the Turks now have their hands free to siege our beautiful holdings.
In about a month they succeeded. This is looking pretty bad, although good news is always round the corner.
The army is annihilated, our lands are occupied. What will become of us? Can the boy emperor turn things around, still?
News of a reborn force from the west reached our court. Also, a messenger arrived describing a succession in the duchy of Armenia.
Apparently, the Bulgarian died and his Greek son is now on his throne.
What a disgrace it was, to see my fourth son being born under Turkish occupation.
In september, the remaining Imperial soldiers engaged the infidels in Melitene.
Alas, they failed.
To my inexpressable irritation, those troubadours arrived in our village again.
My bishop seemed to like them, so I swallowed my pride and didn't make a fuss.
Finally, some good news again. My eunuch has convinced the peasants I need money to survive this ugly times.
While the Seljuk army sieges more Imperial holdings, the war develops in our disadvantage at best.
My third son, Varazdat, needs a guardian. Since I already have my first two sons under my guardianship, I'll have to choose someone else.
My wife has the best attributes (11-10-8-18-7) and a level 4 Intrigue education trait (Elusive Shadow). She'll make a good guardian.
Seven years of war left Armenia beaten, sieged and wounded. My heart is filled with sorrow.
My son has a tendency to punch at things he doesn't like. My time with him has made me sad and I don't think I like him anymore.
Luckily, I could divert his aggression elsewhere and he lost the Wroth trait.
My other son eats away his sorrows. I can't accept this, I will raise fit and healthy boys. Not fatties.
This war is not yet over! The boy Basileus rallied some more troops from I really don't know where and is nearing the enemy! Will this be the last battle or a turning point in this nightmare?
He lost, again. I guess all hope has perished. Even another pregnancy couldn't cheer me up.
The remaining parts of our once strong and great Imperial army are being mopped up by those wretched muslims. Our liege has failed us big time.
And so ends the potentially wonderful story of the Varajnuni family.
Our ambition to be king of Armenia is crushed and Vahram Varajnuni disappears in obscurity.
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What a horrible game, and before an audience! :-p
This is the first game I played where the Byzantine Empire didn't survive the initial invasion. I guess we just had a stroke of bad luck.
On the positive side, I have learned a bit about taking screenshots and writing for a LP (although it was a short run) and it was rather hard to motivate myself for this episode since I lost and was very dissappointed.
Now, the people, what to do?
Shall we retry the same game (which I'm a bit demotivated about) or shall we try something different?
I would like to play this forum game just like I play CKII, the inevitable way. So I'm viewing this as a succession crisis.
Mesopotamia is dead, long live the new LP!
Some ideas are still left over from the voting rounds, namely Duklja and a republic.
Both are pretenders, only one can win.
Duklja should be a bit less terrifying game than Mesopotamia.
A Republic could be interesting, because of the very different game mechanics. If this is to be played, we could choose between one of the Italian Republics (which will make things very crowdy and interesting)
and the northern Republic of Gotland. The latter will be less crowded with republic, but that means we can concentrate on the surroundings feudal lords more.
The Hansa is also a possibility, they are available from the 1241 (Mongols) starting point.
I guess for me this is the most interesting start, as I live in northern Europe and the Hansa is a very important part of our history.
So, what will it be? Duklja, Gotland, Pisa, Genoa, Venice or the Merchant Republic of the Hansa (of which AFAIK a LP does not yet exist).
Speak, Codex citizens!
