The Thanasiad [CKII LP] [NO 56k]

[Thanas]

First an update, then I will address the other things.


Sankt Manuel.


This is us. Our German heritage is showing.


To celebrate the start of our reign, we took back Cairo....

..and Modena.


It was the usual way of conducting war.


Let the hens have their cock, for we prefer not to eat cock.

The north African coast must be ours.


A victory we celebrated in a very Greek way:



Thanks to the effort of our religious thugs brave and virtuous knightly order of the Holy Sepulchre, conversions among the local populace had never been higher.


As we were celebrating this, a courtier hastened to inform us that a claimaint on our titles had raises a huge army. Said claimant was our younger brother. We just shrugged it off, considering that adventurers had always gotten smashed.
"....Your majesty, you do not understand. He has raised his army here. In Constantinople."

Well, that sure proved a very smart idea. If I had not kept my retinues at home he would have quickly overrun the capital. As it was, he was greeted by the Varangians and the revolt was quickly over.

AAAARRRGH.

"Oh come now, if you were attached to your eyes you should not have tried to take my throne."
We kept the now eyeless pretender in the court as a warning to all others.


More territory in Africa was taken, allowing us to create the kingdom of Africa where we installed one of our own family members. The Thanas Dynasty now held 60% of all the larger titles in the Byzantine Empire.


Pacify the peasants with the fingers of some skeleton? Sure thing.

The reaction to our conquests was immediate:

...
Well, thank god our guards are varangians.


...WHAT? (Apparently the order was created and then less than two years later it ceased to exist).

Relevant soundtrack for the next part:



With us being allowed to breathe easier, we took Alexandria.




THE PENTARCHY WAS RESTORED. GLORY TO THE ONE TRUE ORTHODOXY.


It was time to end the division that had plagued the empire for so long.



ALL HAIL SAINT MANUEL THANAS, RESTORER OF THE ONE TRUE CHURCH.

(to be continued below)

[Thanas]

(continued from above)


There now was a common book of prayer, modelled on the Orthodox one. There also was no longer a theological dispute about whether the Emperor or the Pope was the head of the church (it was the Emperor) or whether Rome had primary over the other five ancient episcopal seats (it had not, it was one of five equals).

The effects were immediate. Most Bishops renounced the Papacy and converted to Orthodoxy. This was especially true in the HRE, for it had always had a heavy religious connotation. Soon, the power of Orthodoxy swept across the western lands.


However, this was not met without resistance. Especially the Saxons, Czechs and Lotharingians remained fervent Catholics and soon declared a massive revolt against the Holy Roman Emperor, who had converted to Orthodoxy without resistance.

The leader of the revolt had the apt name "Priest-Hater".

In the revolt, the HRE lost about half its territories.

The freed kings started to throw out the rightful faith and returned to Catholicism.
France even turned into a catholic theocracy where Orthodox citizens were burned at the stake.

Meanwhile, we flourished in Africa...

Spreading the word of our Lord with fire and sword.

Meanwhile, another palace revolt happened.


"Hello. These are my retinues - 1 Pike legion of 6000 Men, 2 Archer legions of 12000 men, 1 heavy infantry legion of 6000 men, 2 Cataphract units of ~3k and the Varangian Guard of ~4k men. You think you will manage against them? That's cute."



This time, we went a step further. First we castrated the pretender....

and then...


This was the end of revolts for this ruler.

Meanwhile, the Sunnis revolted...

...and suffered the same fate as the previous 8 times.


We are not just a Saint, apparently we are the Patron Saint of Hummus makers, cock procurers and bakers.

Well, you know where delicious pastries are found? In Italy.

The Lombard king kicked the bucket, we welcomed the ascension of his son by taking more territory from him.


AFRICA IS OUR LAND.



One can almost already see the outline of the Justinian borders.


A saint does not swear. Everybody in the court is executed to prevent this from getting out.


The Nile is not just a river in Egypt, it will be our river in Egypt all the way to Nubia.


That's right, you inferiors, abandon your inferior culture and become glorious Romans.


The Lombard king converted to Catholicism.
This would not be a problem for him if most of his vassals were not orthodox - and he then tried to revoke their titles. The result was a massive revolt.
Which we took advantage of by conquering Piemonte - and thus securing the first part of the Alps.


Borders look better now


ALL THE EGGS R BELONG TO US.


We are not only a Saint and Restorer of the Orthodox Church, but also a real friend to the Jews...


More of the mauretanian coast for us. Rather bleak lands filled with desert and sand, but maybe we can eventually restore the agriculture of our forefathers there....


Meanwhile, our uncle, who held all the duchies in Egypt, called upon the power of family and soon crushed the Sultanate of Misr (Egypt) under the heel of the 200k troops he called in.

EGYPT WAS SECURE.


Song and dance, hurrah. Our german heritage demands german songs.


More soldiers are always good.


There was a massive revolt in Muslim Spain as the remaining catholics revolted. We quickly thought about jumping in there...

....but suddenly, we felt a pang in our chest. The Lord was calling us home....


That's right, our blonde definitely German looking son is named Julius. He will do great things, I am sure.

End of this part.


TL, DR:
- Schism is mended
- Surprisingly no revolt here. Maybe the policies of terror pay off, or we just had so much prestige nobody bothered? Or maybe it is due to the improvements made in our demesne which increased our own levy? We'll see how much of that is true in the next playthrough.

[Thanas]

So with regards for further playing now that the schism has been restored (see above update):

- I think I might stop expanding into the other European christian kingdoms once Lombardy is conquered and a land route to rome has been secured. This might stop a total reconquest of the Roman Empire but I'm thinking of saying Germany, France and England for EUIV as otherwise colonization would be a bit boring.
- I will start using other foci even though they don't give a lot of benefits. For example, the theology and learning focus is one I'd like to try just to have done every focus available.
- I will start revoking kingdoms and hand them out to family members to increase the power of the dynasty and get more of my own kin in power.
- With us being this powerful, I would suggest it is time to scale back the Imperial power in reforms. For example, we really do not need that many realm levies.
- Maybe look into passing some reforms like "Internal peace" to stop vassals fighting. This would be a bit more challenging.
- Of concern are the Spanish Muslims - they can throw out forces of 100k and more and might just beat up on France and other western nations. Maybe I should marry into some to give them an ally and act as defender of christendom (though that would not work against France who are now a theocracy).

[ray245]

Are you going to take all of Spain? I think at the least you could try taking parts of southern France, especially Marseilles given its historical importance to the Romans.

[Tribble]

I think it would be more interesting if you let Spain remain under Muslim control for the time being. You should have enough military power to contain them there, especially if you have allies. I wonder what would happen if it stayed that way all the way to EU IV?

[Thanas]

I think it would be more interesting if you let Spain remain under Muslim control for the time being. You should have enough military power to contain them there, especially if you have allies. I wonder what would happen if it stayed that way all the way to EU IV?

I don't think I will take Spain unless they become too powerful and start crushing France and Aquitaine.

[Flagg]

You must take Spain. If only to avert the lisp!

[Steve]

How could you stop when Hispania and Mauretania cry out for restoration to the Empire?

[Thanas]

The Dream of Imperium


This is us.
Pay no attention to the eyes, the colour of the beard and the propensity of our ancestors to marry northerners.
We are definitely a true Greek.
Trust us.
Really.


Trying out another focus. This time it is carousing.


.....yeah, definitely a true carouser.

We took another county from the Lombards.



Our realm.

It was time to secure the remainder of Cyrenaica...


Another Roman province was fully restored now.


We took Tangiers...


And then we had to do a bit of cleanup. For one of the muslim holy orders had built several holdings in Africa and Egypt and we had to clean them out.

This was a heavier fight than expected. Due to the outrageous wealth of Holy Orders they could afford to hire 12k of battle-hardened mercenaries. It took the combined levies of Sicily and Africa to crush them.

With this victory, the breadbasket of the Empire was ours.



Shortly thereafter, Julius had a dream:

We vowed to make this dream a reality.

But first, we had to do some real work. For what is an empire without its buildings.




Less hummus? Oh noes....

We tried to test our focus. One main feature is that you can invite people to small feasts. This doesn't really do much except give you a temporary boost in their opinion - or a temporary malus if the RNG is not in your favour.






But all this feasting gave us an idea.

Of course, we would be a glorious and honourable ruler.

And what could be more glorious to reconquer more lost territory?

Or more honourable to crush an enemy in battle who blindly attacked into forces three times his size?


GLORY AND HONOUR TO US.

The master of that muslim order that had holdings in our territory had changed. Presumably the last one was dismissed for incompetence.

The new grandmaster decided to express his competence by expelling his jewish bankers.
But without loans, he could not hire as many mercenaries as before.

So he lost his his bankers due to his incompetence, his territory to us and his money to us as well (ransom).

Meanwhile, as carouser, we decided to hold a grand feast.

(Apologies for messing up the screenshot)

Only the best would suffice.

Can't hold his liquor, eh?

....nope. Why nope? Because the woman in question is our niece. It is like the game has no regards for that stuff whatsoever. I mean, it would be one thing if you would roleplay an arsehole (I mean, besides the usual slaughter) but unsolicited prompts for sex with the niece of the character you're playing? Nah.
So, nope.
(Also, why does it cost 5.00 prestige to refuse to fuck your niece? Are my vassals all in favor of niece-fucking? Further castration of vassals is needed)

On to srz business.

Oooh? What title could that be?

A single county in northern Italy? No thanks. Not worth breaking guest right for.


Thank you. Nice to know somebody appreciates it.

*hic* "You're.....my....bessht friennnd...*burp* *vomit*

We decided to do our new best friend a favor and tried to retake more parts of Mesopotamia.

This actually was an interesting war. The Persians struck first, besieging parts of our holdings.


Though we won in the end, attrition cost us over 50k in soldiers. Thankfully, we did not need the eastern levies for our wars in the west anymore. A smaller empire would have been wrecked by a war like that.


I AM THE MASTER HEAD TILTER. FEAR ME. FOR I TILT MY HEAD LIKE AN IMBECILE.

Apparently, head tilting attracts bears. Or prevents one from seeing one approach.


We decided to improve the universities in Constantinople and rome and spent around 20k Gold in total to upgrade/built 8 universities and other buildings.


We gained the trait of socializer and a new wife from the HRE. No no, this will definitely not make us any more German. We are a true Greek.


Yes yes, you peasants, look at the magic rattling bones and be blessed. BE BLESSED I SAY.

Speaking of blessed:

Orthodoxy was both on the rise as well as being contained. While missionaries had succeeded in the north (especially England) the Theocracy of France had by now nearly stumped out Orthodoxy in its lands, just like the Sunnis of Spain had nearly crushed Catholicism and orthodoxy in their counties.

(to be continued below)

[Thanas]

(continued from above)


Who doesn't like pebbles?
(though honestly I am a little disturbed drinking from a stream near Constantinople. I mean, it is a city of 1 mil by now for sure).


Paintings.

The last bit of Northern Africa was bound to be ours.


Another province was restored.


And one of our vessels had inherited a strong claim to Lombardy.

As Lombardy by now only had three duchies and two merchant republics, it was ripe for the taking.

And taken it was.

Italy now belonged to its rightful Roman Masters.

We used the glory and prestige from this event to push through further reforms.

We must be centralized to properly control such a large empire as ours.


Satisfied, we went to sleep....

...and dreamed.

But this time, we had the power to turn the dream into a reality.




On the 10th July of the year 1134, 658 years after a Germanic commander names Odoaker had deposed the last Western Emperor and sent the unused regalia of the Augustus to Constantinople with a statement that they were no longer needed, the Imperium Romanum had been restored.


No more purple. We returned to the Imperial crimson red, the proper colour of the Roman Empire.

With the Empire restored, we commissioned a new administration to help us control the large mass of land more efficiently. This included handing out a lot of kingdoms.

The new provinces were:

1.The kingdom of Serbia...



2. The kingdom of Cyprus



3. The kingdom of Cilicia



4. The empire of Nicäa (a kingdom in rank but with the address of Empire due to the historical significance of the territories included, namely Nikomedia and the Asia Minor cost)



5. The empire of Trebizond (kingdom in rank, empire in title)



6. and finally, the kingdom of Epirus


We ourselves returned to the old, proper title for an Emperor - Augustus.

And our feat of restoring Rome earned us the appropriate cognomen "the glorious".


ROMA AETERNA. IMPERIUM AETERNUM.

And yet, barely a year later, our beard apruptly turned grey and we died a natural death.

Our successor Belisarius would have to do much to live up to his namesake.


Summary:
ROMAE EST IMPERARE ORBI UNIVERSO.

(with no apologies to the Hapsburg)

[LaCroix]

Of course, you would be building universities...

[FaxModem1]

Let Pax Romana be reborn.

[Thanas]

So about further playthrough:
- There needs to be something done about spain, because France cannot be allied with me (theocracy) and they gobble up french territory like nothing else goes. I can't even take duchies from them at the same rate as they do take them from France. So Spain needs to be dealt with.
- After Spain, I suggest taking Kärnten and smooth out some borders and get the land route from Italy - Dalmatia and Italy - Spain.
- After that, I suggest only expanding to the east. Because the muslims are some challenge still.
- Oh and grab Dacia from the Hungarians.

[Esquire]

Maybe conquer Spain then release it as an independent kingdom? Can you do that in CK2?

[Tribble]

Maybe conquer Spain then release it as an independent kingdom? Can you do that in CK2?

Yes I'm pretty sure that you can.

Sire, if you are going to reconquer Spain why stop there? Surely after suffering through centuries of poverty and barbarism, the French and English people must be begging out to rejoin the EU Roman Empire. Are we to turn deaf ears to those who cry out in need? Must we allow the evils of Catholicism to endure, right on our very doorstep? Oh Sire, our people will not rest until the full might and glory of Rome has been restored!

[LaCroix]

I'd also think it could be nice to unify europe, and then have a go at asia. By the time you got through Russia, china/japan might be interesting.
(I think I never saw a game that ended in a complete world domination of ROME before...)

[Thanas]

I'd also think it could be nice to unify europe, and then have a go at asia. By the time you got through Russia, china/japan might be interesting.
(I think I never saw a game that ended in a complete world domination of ROME before...)

I think it might be best to leave some parts of Europe for EUIV and V2. Maybe if I finish off the muslims and got nothing else to do for over a century....

[LaCroix]

I'd also think it could be nice to unify europe, and then have a go at asia. By the time you got through Russia, china/japan might be interesting.
(I think I never saw a game that ended in a complete world domination of ROME before...)

I think it might be best to leave some parts of Europe for EUIV and V2. Maybe if I finish off the muslims and got nothing else to do for over a century....

Sounds like a plan.

Still, Urbi et Orbi, Thanas...

[Steve]

The peoples of Hispania cry out for the Pax Romana!

[Purple]

I'd also think it could be nice to unify europe, and then have a go at asia. By the time you got through Russia, china/japan might be interesting.
(I think I never saw a game that ended in a complete world domination of ROME before...)

I think it might be best to leave some parts of Europe for EUIV and V2. Maybe if I finish off the muslims and got nothing else to do for over a century....

Honestly I think it might be more fun to leave the Arabs to it. Leaves you with a bit of competition once you make the switch.

[Thanas]

Well, I gotta say, Belisarios was awesome to play, mostly due to the challenging Spanish AI. This really was a fun ruler. Update in two Parts.

Belisarios I, The Conquering Scholar



This is us. This time we chose scholarship, which is a really fun focus. In fact, the ones the most fun have been seduction and scholarship.


We started the Roman Reconquista by attacking a province that was easy to reach by sea. This time, the AI was rather passive - we sieged through all wargoals before anything could happen.


In the east, we followed the example of our namesake and pushed into Mesopotamia.


Our focus allowed us to built an observatory. Yes, we are stargazing.



(Insert historical quibble how a lot of people knew that in Byzantium already)

We took a break from our studies to break the Hungarian hold on Dacia.





The Patriarch is an anti-scientific dickhead.


AWESOME.
(insert historical quibble about this being known since Antiquity).
We published our findings, causing a -20 opinion with the church.
So the church now hated me for the remainder of my reign, but hey, who cares about them anyway?
I gotta be honest, this really felt like the Character I was playing accomplishing a lot. Paradox did a good job with this focus.


More territory in Spain. At this point I was trying to catch the Spanish AI which had now caught a rabid dose of expansionism and expanded into France and Aquitaine at will.


Awwww.

Yeah....I got nothing.


The no-longer-Holy, definitely-not-Roman "Empire" disintegrated.
It ceased to exist with the death of its last Emperor in battle. The territories up north now lacked a unifying leader.
Something the Spanish immediately exploited as it conquered the Arles Region and parts of Savoy.

In response, we launched the reconquest of Navarra.

This....didn't go as planned.

We had landed the Lombard levy of 20k in our territories in Aragon, thinking the mountains would make a great place to gather forces.
The Spanish muslim AI however said "screw that", gathered ~70k forces and attacked in waves, disregarding attrition and our favourable terrain.
Frantically, we tried to reinforce with our African and Sicilian levies, but the advantage was too much. It didn't help that both the Commander of our Holy Order and our cousin, the despot of Africa, got both slaughtered in the battle, causing widespread panic and morale losses.

It was a devastating blow which eliminated our armies of the west. The muslims started besieging our territories in Aragon.

However, we had the eastern levies to call upon and soon, we gathered a 70k army from our greek and middle-eastern territories.

This time, we were successful.



Has the church cursed me? We have to find out.

Unsettled by the dream, we decided to take it out on Aquitane to finish off the reconquest of Navarra.


The Pope (in his stinking bishopric of Fulda) proclaimed a crusade against the Spanish Muslims. This crusade failed easily as the 5k Catholic Army was greeted by 70k muslims.

Meanwhile, our vassals in Africa had conquered every bit of Mauretania.

That's right, like our namesake we conquered Mauretania. This time, we will hold on to it.


We are a good friend.


MESOPOTAMIA MUST BE ROMAN.


The Empire is growing.

In response to the threat to Muslims by us, the child-caliph called for a Jihad.


Let me tell you a tale. Caliph boy sends his forces into Judea.

They run into the Judean Roman Army.
The end.

Well, at least he grew up, didn't he?

The reconquest of Mauretania and Mesopotamia called for one thing:



However, it would be the last time such a triumph would be held at Constantinople, for...

ROME IS THE CAPITAL AGAIN.
Honestly, this was one of the most satisfying clicks I ever made in a game.

(to be continued below)

[Thanas]

(continued from above:


More territory for us in Dacia.

This called for a feast:

Honestly, deviled veggie eggs are awesome.


The race with the Spanish AI for territories continued.


Okay?


Time to throw out the Persians. Mesopotamia is ours.
This actually was a more difficult war than expected but for some reasons I forgot to take screenshots. Sorry. We won with the loss of three quarters of our eastern levies.


Pfft. Earplugs.

The expeditio hispaniae

At this time, it became clear that waging constant war for one duchy-sized target in Spain did nothing to check the Muslim expansion.
(When I started the reconquest Spain had nothing above the Pyrenees)

It was therefore time to consider other options.

Spain was ruled by a mix of three families. We had previously conquered and converted part of the family to Orthodox in our reqconquest of Aragon and Navarra. Some even had a strong claim to the throne. We quickly married one of our daughters to such a pretender in a matrilineal marriage. We then waited until the Sultan died and then...


Pressed the claim.

From A chronicle of the deeds of the Emperor Belisarios, 1845:
"The Roman attack into spain was the most difficult and well-planned invasion of its day. From all across the empire, fleets were gathered and armies assembled for one purpose - to put a puppet on the throne of the Spanish Sultanate of Al-Andalus.


And a truly mighty armada it was, 711 ships carrying over 80.000 men. Not ever since the failed expedition of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires against the vandals in the 5th century AD had ever such a force been assembled.


It had been decided to split the armada and attack two sides at one. Half the force, commanded by the Megas Domestikos of the Varangian Guard, was ordered to make landfall at Isbil, to besiege and encircle the Spanish Capital.



The other half, consisting of the Lombard, African and Sicilian levies and commanded by the Despot of Corsicae and Sardinae, was ordered to take up blocking positions in the Pyrenees to prevent the northern and southern part of the Sultanate to join forces and most importantly to prevent the Sultan from recalling his armies from France to threaten the Siege Operations at Cadiz.


Losing more than 2000 men in the Process, Cadiz was taken by Storm.


In the north however, the situation was more critical. Recognizing the severity of the situation they found themselves in, the capable Generals of the Sultan managed to outmaneuver the Roman Army. Already two Armies corps had slipped by and started to move south.


In desperation to accomplish anything, the Despot ordered an attack on the third Spanish column near Toulouse. The Forces met at the small town of Lombérs

The Battle of Lombérs



From A chronicle of the deeds of the Emperor Belisarios, 1845:
It quickly became apparent that the Spanish Generals had outmaneuvered the leader of the Northern Roman Army. For while the skirmishers of the Column near Toulouse delayed battle for several days, the two Spanish armies who had already broken through to the south suddenly reversed course. What had appeared to be an easy victory soon turned into a fight between two equal armies, with the Spanish side claiming a slight numerical advantage.


Surprised by the sudden muslim attack, the Roman forces tried to stand fast in shieldwalls - defensive positions. However, the Spanish right flank, on where the flower of the Sultan's Army had been concentrated, quickly closed range and launched a heavy attack on the forces of the Despot of Sicily. Soon, the Romans there took more than double the casualties they inflicted, mostly due to the incessant attacks of the 12k of light spanish horsemen, who always had been ranked far above others in their prowess.

(Seriously, I love how the mod and the base game model the different characteristics of the fighting styles and people you are fighting. In case I haven't mentioned it yet, but forces from the balkans will have larger light infantry due to the slavic way of waging war whereas forces raised from Egypt will have camel cavalry and forces from the Lombards and Germans/French will have more heavy infantry and a lot of knights)


Things went better in the Center, where the heavy Lombard infantry and cavalry launched its own attack and the Lombard archers proved to be surprisingly good. This was later attributed to the heavy training archers and crossbowmen received in the towns of Northern Italy, especially the merchant republics of Genua, Florence and Pisa.

After three days of fighting, the situation had changed for the worse for the Romans. While the center and right flank had held on and inflicted heavy casualties on the muslims, the Sicilian right flank was close to collapsing.

Eventually, the Sicilians broke and were chased away by the thousands of light horsemen. Then, they started peppering the center with their javelins. Now followed the valiant stand of the Lombards. They did their Germanic heritage and their Roman officers proud, for they refused to yield even while losing close to 750 people an hour. Their sacrifice in holding off both the enemy center and the enemy right flank allowed the Roman right flank to rout the enemy and then attack and rout the center. It should be noted that at that point of time, 16k Romans were fighting 20k Iberians.


The battle now turned into a case of the nearly untouched Iberian right flank attacking the exhausted Roman centre and nearly untouched right Roman flank. This time, the Romans concentrated their Catphracts, armored horse archers and Lombard knights and charged. The Iberians tried a skirmish tactic, but the Roman heavy forces connected. This moment, known as the charge of the Lombards, has been a favorite for painters ever since.

To their credit, the Spanish horse fought valiantly.

In the end, though the Spanish had to concede the field, it would be better to call this one an inconclusive battle. For the Roman Army had to hastily retreat to the Pyrenees as it took heavier losses in morale and was no longer in fighting shape, especially with the fear of further Iberian reinforcements arriving.

While the Romans retreated, the Iberians regrouped in good order near Toulouse.


However, strategically this had been a huge victory for the Romans, for it had prevented a breakout to the South. A year later, the Roman Northern Army once again ventured forth from the Pyrenees, the Sicilian levy having been disbanded and its place having been taken by large numbers of Croat skirmishers.

The Iberians, at this point desperate for any way to the South, attacked again - into the mountains, against prepared Roman positions. It was a slaughter, unworthy of the name battle.



The Croatian light infantry and the Genoese archers proved too much for them. In the mountains, the flower of the Iberian army withered and died

Yet one should not see this as a move borned out of ignorance, but rather out of deep desperation. For the southern Roman Army had by then conquered all of the southern territories and every soldier must have heard of the tragedies that befell the towns which resisted. For the Egyptians and Bulgarians knew no mercy.


With himself being chased by Roman cavalry patrols, town after town falling into the hands of the Romans and the Iberian Army having ceased to exist, the advisors of the young Sultan forced him to make peace. Thus ended the Roman reconquest of Hispania.




Our puppet proved to be a loyal puppet.


We restored the kingdom of Portugal.


The conquest of Hispania was easily the single biggest addition to the Roman Empire that ever happened due to a single war.

Yet there was some housekeeping to do, for islamic holy orders held parts of the country and refused to swear fealty.


And the Catholics and Muslims of Spain did not take kindly to their new overlord, our great puppet.



Disorganized, they were easy prey.


From A chronicle of the deeds of the Emperor Belisarios, 1845:
There has never in the history of Humankind be such a change in a society as the population of the Iberian peninsula was subjected to. The puppet ruler of Hispania, with the support of the Empire behind him, dedicated his life to converting the majority Iberian and partly-arab population. Arab rulers who refused to convert had their titles revoked and belongings confiscated. Over the course of the rule of Belisarios and his successor, Julius II, the Arab leadership of Spain was either converted or replaced by Iberians who embraced the true faith more readily. As a result, had Islam appeared triumphant in Spain and southern Gaul at the beginning of the reign of Belisarios, nearly fourty years after the puppet had been placed on the throne, it was almost extinct and the populace had reverted back to the Iberian cultures who had existed in the place for centuries. With the Iberian dynasty belonging to the house of Thanas (due to the matrilineal marriage) the Emperor could now call upon an Iberian levy of around 40.000 troops, worthy successors to those who had put up such a valiant fight against the legions.

The Spanish Army, as it was now called, soon became known for the quality of its light horse and pikemen. Indeed, some historians believe that the Spanish style of fighting, which came to dominate Europe in the following centuries, has its origin in this army....



Belisarios meanwhile celebrated what his famous namesake had tried to achieve over 5 centuries ago - the successfull reconquest of Hispania, Mauritania and Mesopotamia. Ever since the fall of Western Rome, no Emperor had added that much land to the Empire.

The remainder of the life of Belisarios was spent by supporting the trade in the Mediterranean. With Rome now once again being in control of all the land surrounding the Mediterranean, it was once again mare nostrum


A small exception from this was the conquest of Arabia, which was taken to provide a buffer zone against the Caliph and to get more control of the Spice trade with India. The conquest was aided by some parts of the province having converted to Orthodox after the failed jihad.



Augustus Belisarios died in his sleep at the old age of 65. He was succeeded by his son. Soon after his death, tales started appearing of the Emperor having gone to a secret study in the Alpine mountains. There, under the largest mountains, he spents an eternal life of study, always ready to appear in the dreams of future Emperors to guide them. Legend further has it that whenever the provinces of Hispania and Portugal were threatened, he would appear at the head of a large army of ghosts to protect his conquests.

Rome's famous Belisarius university of Geography and Natural Sciences is named after this Emperor who first proved (or rediscovered) the correct motion of the planets and the alignment of the stars and who - despite church opposition - published his findings and made sure they were known to the wider public.


TL, DR:
This emperor was awesome and a lot of fun to play. I really have to congratulate the mod team and Paradox for programming the great Spanish AI and the scholarship focus. I was especially impressed by the way the AI manoeuvred its forces to create the trap and though it was unsuccessful overall, I couldn't have done better in its position as a human. The battle of Lombérs had me at the edge of my seat and glancing at the numbers. It could have gone either way - which would have been a huge disaster for me as my forces were far away from home. Had my center not held out that valiantly the battle would have gone the other way easily.

So yeah, the Conquest of Spain has to rank as my favorite war so far.

[Flagg]

Jihad on me?! No dick on you! Why didn't you castrate the little bastard?

[Thanas]

Jihad on me?! No dick on you! Why didn't you castrate the little bastard?

Because I never caught him?

[Flagg]

Jihad on me?! No dick on you! Why didn't you castrate the little bastard?

Because I never caught him?

You can take Spain but you can't catch a child? What is this, 'Rome'?


But for reals, it was sweet the way the AI almost ended half your army, but you still won.

And 'Rome' kicked ass, history and never aging children be damned!