@Babyrage: Important thing to note about those troops from Georgia-they have to march across the entire breadth of the Empire, something like 1700+km. That’s two months minimum, more likely three months, of marching. Since they’re not moving out in winter, they can only get going in spring. So they couldn’t be a factor in Europe till end of summer 1634 at the earliest.
To be fair to the Hungarians, Demetrios II Drakos was supporting Serbian rebels. The Hungarians are at fault because they escalated things to war, but the Romans aren’t exactly innocent here. Plus people tend to resent losses in war, even if it is in a war they started. See France and Alsace-Lorraine after the Franco-Prussian War.
It is a bit of a jab at the Wittelsbach status ITTL. But I find it interesting to think how their status would lead to a reputation ITTL, and thereby affect others’ actions toward them.
@HanEmpire: I feel bad for Elizabeth.
Theodor’s relying on Vidin, still under Allied control, to guard his flank while he’s still in Serbia & Upper Macedonia. If the Allies break into Lower Macedonia, the Romans could sweep in and take Skopje back, but Lower Macedonia is fertile and developed enough that the Allies can live off the land for a while without having to worry too much about supply lines. And the idea behind his plan is that taking Thessaloniki triggers a pro-Theodor coup in Constantinople which flips the Empire to him (after all, he who is lord of Constantinople is lord of Rhomania, usually).
@ImperatorAlexander: I wanted there to be a bit more substance to Theodor. Still not the sharpest spoon in the drawer though.
The Germans are at least semi-aware of what’s going on in Constantinople, although Theodor’s looking at everything with rose-tinted glasses. Their information on the eastern front though is pretty vague.
@Lascaris: Pretty much, although as of now Vidin is still under Allied control. It’s the only Roman fortress on the Danube they still have. And you’re right that Theodor especially doesn’t really get sea power, although he’s Bavarian so that’s not too surprising.
@InMediasRes: They should, although an important point is that neither side is particularly well informed about the status of the other’s front. Which will affect their actions.
@Grammar Kaiser: Yeah, while Elizabeth is the smarter of the two, Theodor is right that stopping now isn’t really an option. Plus Elizabeth was underestimating how amenable Demetrios would be to peace talks.
Theodor’s familiar with ‘civil war’, but he does plan on making concessions to win over the Romans once he’s on the throne, restoring the pre-Demetrios III tax scheme (no tax brackets), marrying a prominent Roman noblewoman, and leading a combined army to avenge Mashhadshar. If he wasn’t a foreign barbarian Latin Catholic in Roman eyes, those concessions would probably be enough.
@minifidel: Assuming they get to Lower Macedonia, that area is fertile enough to support even a large army for a time while having to deal with long supply lines, but cutting off communication and retreat lines with Allied territory presents a major problem.
@nlucasm: Good. I want to rehabilitate her; she’s going to be very significant in the coming years.
@Ain: Only time will tell…
@Khaine: That would probably be a record, of some kind.
@Donald Reaver: There’s no need, but it’s not as much fun…
@Curtain Jerker: Very well said. I wish I could like the post more than once.
I think that’s unfair to Theodor. The dynastic mindset isn’t just medieval. Just look at Charles I/V, the ultimate in dynastic land collection, and the number of ‘war of the [x] succession in the 1700s’. In Latin Europe, his rightful claims would carry a lot of weight. His problem is that he keeps thinking of Rhomania like it is part of Latin Europe.
@Prometherion92: Pre-war population was 35,000 (war has caused some substantial fluctuations because of refugees). It’s a mixed population; I’m going to say 60% Greek and 40% Slav. There’s a TTL Greek name for it coming up, but I hadn’t come up with it until after I’d already finished writing this update.
@RogueTraderEnthusiast: I’d imagine marriage is all church, not a secular affair, although I’m not sure if the Byzantines IOTL had a form of common law marriage. During most of the Middle Ages, the church was surprisingly uninvolved in marriage. But I can’t see polygamy becoming an official thing; monogamy is too big a part of Christianity. The unusual nature of Demetrios and Jahzara’ marriage is a product of their ‘unique’ relationship.
There are Prostitutes Guilds in the big cities, which I’d assume cover a broad range of sex workers. While I’ve never said so outright, I’ve always pictured Eudoxia as a type of courtesan, educated and cultured.
@5000 Cows: Yes, I did mention that…
@TheCataphract: Exactly. Rhomania is similar in many ways to the states of Latin Europe; it’s different but not completely so like the Ottomans or Chinese, for example. It often acts like a dynastic state. Andreas III had a personal union with Rhomania and Sicily when he was alive. The Laskarid, Second Komnenid, Drakid, and now Siderid dynasties are all related to each other in some form. Alexandros Drakos was considered a serious contender for the throne, not because of his power base, but because of his incredible dynastic pedigree. So someone who knows about Rhomania, but isn’t an expert, could very well treat Rhomania like just another dynastic state.
@Cryostorm: I’ve never played CK2. I have CK1, which I tried to like, but I kept having issues with it so I never got into it. One of my beefs, albeit not the most important, was how Byzantium was just another feudal state (although if I remember correctly, being Emperor did give a boost to the number of provinces you could rule personally).
@JohnSmith: Oh, they’re totally real. There’s always a few disgruntled rich people who will sell out if it means more profits or less taxes. There’s always a few traitors. Theodor though is in full confirmation bias mode, seeing it as an undercurrent that he can harness with the right concession, namely going back to the old tax system, rather than just a few malcontents that the people of Constantinople are quite happy to see mutilated and their heads stuck on pikes in the Forum of Constantine.
I think it might take a while, if it ever happens, precisely because Demetrios’ skill-set is not military. It’s administrative/bureaucratic; it’s not sexy; it doesn’t grab attention. He’s the ‘quiet nerd’. Even if he’s a genius, he’s not the person people notice.
@Tirion: Glad you like it. There is a lot of that. “I’ve received letters of support from 10 disgruntled dynatoi. That means a city of 320,000 will rise up in my name!”
For the Romans, Demetrios’ curses are on the level of ‘widespread but unconfirmed rumor’. Casimir would, assuming he knows and cares, scoff at it; it’s just more proof that Demetrios is a godless heretic. The curse isn’t considered an order; any Roman that has a shot at Casimir takes it. Alexandros Drakos came really close to killing him at Second Ruse.
@chrnno: The dynastic mindset runs by a different logic. Just look at the collection of domains through Habsburg history, or the borders of Prussia throughout most of its history. From a purely geopolitical level, those borders are absurd, but the states exist because that’s what dynastic strategy netted the family in question. To be fair to the Habsburgs, Charles I/V realized the unsustainability of his dynastic collection and split it up, but Theodor doesn’t have that example.
@catconqueror: It is elective on paper, but the Wittelsbachs have been getting elected since sometime in the 1300s, so the ‘elective’ part hasn’t been meaning much.
@Rui: That is a possibility. One thing hampering the electors’ is that most don’t have much in the way of military force, so despite their high rank it’s not that hard to ‘lean’ on them.
@Evilprodigy: Co-rulership seems to have been a fairly common practice in the Middle Ages. I know the early Capetians did it also to have an orderly succession between generations. It seems later on though, probably with the growing centralization of monarchial power, that the tradition faded away to ‘there’s only one king at any one time’.
The HRE ITTL should be an interesting place that I could develop more. The Golden Bull of 1356 got butterflied away and the OTL electorates of Saxony and Brandenburg are both Wittelsbach possessions at this point.
Theodor isn’t married yet because he hopes to wed a high-ranking Roman noblewoman as a conciliatory gesture, and his own sibling is Elizabeth. She could be a ‘Wittelsbach Maria Theresa’, at most, but you’re right that she can’t rule in her own as Holy Roman Emperor.
@Oda: RogueTraderEnthusiast covered it. To add a bit more though, in Latin Europe most of the population really doesn’t care about how their lord is. The new boss is the same as the old boss; you have to pay taxes to both so who cares? What he doesn’t realize is that the Roman populace does have a budding nationalism which is predicated on being anti-Latin, so here the populace does see a difference between the old and new boss, and cares about said difference.
@andry2806: Very on-the-nose point about Theodor.
An Age of Miracles, Pt 12: Dreams and Promises, 1626-1630 has been posted on Patreon. This brings the PDFs up to the current section of the TL proper, An Age of Miracles, Pt 13: The War of the Roman Succession. If I keep to my outline, there will be 7-10 more updates before Part 13 concludes. The PDFs will be continued to keep up with the TL sections as we move on in the future.
But that means I’m now moving on to the special updates for the Megas Kyr patrons. The main focus will be on A New and Ancient World, although with some side stories set in the 'real' Age of Miracles world. There will be a special update each month, although I haven't yet scheduled when in the month those will post, probably in the middle. These updates will be at least comparable in size to an average regular update, with the possible exception of March. I'll be on vacation for a good chunk of the month which may, but hopefully not, affect my writing schedule.
I hope you'll enjoy what's coming and thank you again for your support.