[hider=Bulgaria->Romania] [b][i]Army Name: Thema Konstantinoupoli [/i][/b] [b]Current General:Emperor Alexios Komnenos[/b] [b]Location: Bulgaria[/b] [b]Morale:[/b] 100% [b]Strength/Unit Breakdown:[/b] [indent] - Skutataroi (Professional Heavy Infantry)/5,000/Well Trained - Tagma Ton Varangon (Elite Scandinavian Guard)/5,000/Well Trained, Physically Large, Fierce - Kataphractoi (Professional Heavy Cavalry)/2,500/Well Armored, Well Trained - Hetairoi (Elite Heavy Cavalry)/2,500/Well Armored, Well Trained, Ferocious Charge -Doryphoroi (Guard Cavalry Archers)/5,000/Well Trained - Pronoaia(Spearmen Levy)/<15,000>/Thematic - Toxotai(Archer Levy)/5,000/Thematic -Sphendanotai/(Slinger skirmishers)/Thematic -Vardariotai(Light Cavalry)/5,000/Thematic -50 Siege weapons[/indent] [b]Current Action:[/b] March to Romania [/hider] [hider=NorthernAnatolia->EasternAnatolia] [b][i]Army Name: Thema Trebizond[/i][/b] [b]Current General:John Palaiologos[/b] [b]Location: Northern Anatolia[/b] [b]Morale:[/b] 100% [b]Strength/Unit Breakdown:[/b] [indent] - Skutataroi/5,000/Well Trained - Kataphractoi/2,500/Well trained, Well Armored - Tagma ton Toxotai (Guard Archers)/2,500/Well Trained - Pronoaia/5,000/Thematic - Toxotai/2,500/Thematic - Vardariotai/2,500/Thematic[/indent] [b]Current Action:[/b] Marching on Eastern Anatolia. [/hider] [hider=Reserve Army] [b][i]Army Name: Thema Limitanei[/i][/b] [b]Current General: David Komnenos[/b] [b]Location: Constantinople[/b] [b]Morale:[/b] 100% [b]Strength/Unit Breakdown:[/b] [indent] -Skutataroi/5,000/Well Trained - Kataphractoi/2,500/Well trained, Well Armored - Tagma ton Toxotai (Guard Archers)/2,500/Well Trained - Pronoaia/5,000/Thematic - Toxotai/2,500/Thematic - Vardariotai/2,500/Thematic [/indent] [b]Current Action: Praying for salvation in Constantinople[/b] [/hider] [b] The Second Alexiad[/b] PREFACE: As I begin to pen this work of mine, I recall similar sentiments by a distant, ancient relation of mine: “Time, in its unending flow, carries away all Creation and drowns them in the depths of obscurity, irrespective of whether they be irrelevant and trivial, or the most significant and important. As the Tragedian says “He brings from the darkness all things to the birth, and all things born envelops into the night.” But the tale of history forms a very strong bulwark against the stream of time, and to some extent checks its irrestible flow, and, of all things done in it, as many as history has taken over, it secures and binds together and does not allow them to slip into the abyss of Oblivion.” This my record I painstakingly etch into an alloy of copper and gold (predominately copper, as the state cannot part with very much gold at present) as a preventative measure against another obscuring force, that of nature. I have no expectation that civilization will survive any longer than I will, and so I cannot entrust maintenance of it beyond my own life, which I perceive shall be very short. When the time comes, I hide it somewhere deep in the Macedonian mountains and seal it up, so that the creatures which now afflict us may never find them. I write this, a record of my own life combined with copies of the Bible, various Roman treatises on laws, morals, religion, et cetera and technical manuals on such innovations as the Trebuchet, medicine and crop rotation, because my own pessimism does not extend infinitely. Man is irrepressible, and God has given us dominion over the all the animals of the Earth. It is only a matter of time before, with His help, we throw off these oppressors and resume our natural station in the order of things. With this record, I intend to facilitate that very restoration. In effect, I am composing the manual for civilization. My purpose in including my own life is to fulfill the words of Isaiah the prophet, when he wrote “And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust”, and to show courage to my descendants, if I shall have any, that they shall know their forefather stood against all the legions of Hell in man’s darkest hour and did not relent, but died as a Roman. I am not so naive as to believe this is the final time humanity shall be tested, that this marks the end of the world. There are many signs yet in the Bible that have yet to be fulfilled, and therefore I cannot believe that some horrific tribulation will not fall on some future generation. I hope they may find inspiration and solace in this account. [b]CHAPTER I: DACIA[/b] My father Manuel is dead. His father, Andronikos is dead. Their murderer, that accursed Angelos, is also dead by my hand. I am only 19 years of age, placed upon the throne for no better reason than that I bear the exact name of the last man to save Rome, and the rest of my court is painfully aware that I am woefully inexperienced. Yet, how old was Alexander when he began to fight Darius? Was not David a boy when he took naught but a sling to save Israel against Goliath? I feel ever like Solomon, for daily I prostrate myself and call upon the Lord who is mighty to save for wisdom. With the right hand of His omnipotence, I cannot fail, without it, I cannot succeed. The Empire is in turmoil, and against all logic and reason the minor lords of Orthodoxy refuse to unite against a common foe. I am forced to wonder if they have not been made lunatics by the stress. Am I alone in my rational resistance against these beings? It does not matter to me. The lords of Serbia and Dacia for too long have been neglecting their obligations to the Roman Empire and now more than ever they deserve a stern reminder. I hope I shall not lose too many fighting men in so doing. For the purpose of military instruction to those future generations, I shall write my long term ambitions: ~To the North, in the land of Kiev, the weakest of Beelzebub’s kingdoms sits. It is wedged between our allies, the Rus, and ourselves. Up until now, we of the true faith, the Orthodox, had been spared these monsters, and I thank God every day for it. Ordinarily I would prefer to continue my work of uniting Christendom and the delinquent territories of the Empire so as to buy time for us adaptable humans to figure out SOME effective means of resisting these beings with nature at their command, the opportunity to crush the insects before they grow too strong is simply too good to refuse. To that end I send a simply massive force of 15,000 tagmata and 25,000 thematic soldiers into Dacia. In the interest of securing eastern Anatolia, which shall be an easily held possession as it seems no hostile nation is to our east, I send 10,000 tagmata and 10,000 thematic soldiers, leaving approximately 10,000 tagmata and 10,000 thematic troops to defend the current territories of this Empire, which I deem sufficient to satisfy an irritating necessity brought about by the condition that the entry of these creatures into our world cannot be predicted. I make also entreaties unto the Latin Emperor, our brethren the Rus', and the Saracens that we might put aside our differences (in the case of the Latin Emperor and the Saracens) and cooperate. To the Rus', I will also ask that they mass troops in their lands by Ruthenia (OOC: Ukraine) so as to forfend a possible invasion by the inhabitants thereof. May God lead our armies to victory!