p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Chapter 1/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Near Jerusalem July 23 1187/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"As he walked through the shifting sand dunes he realized, he was all that was left of the once grand army led by noble princes and kings of a most holy disposition tasked by the great and kind pope to take and subsequently keep the holy land for the sake of Christianity, to create a safe haven for eastern Christians and bring an end to heathen incursion into Europe, "it started out well enough but ultimately became another wasted effort just like all the other bloody crusades" thus had described his older peers this crusade, they were obviously sick of war and most had a gaze hard and cold permanently fixed upon their brows having seen many battles and things no man should ever see, but such things were not his concerns, he had more pressing matters as of late as he had neither food nor water or shelter because as far as he could see there were only the sand dunes shifting constantly blurred by the rays of the sun creating an almost blinding visage, while to his back beyond the horizon the black ashen smoke from the city seemed to mix with the golden sands upon which the sun brilliantly shone creating the image of a waterfall of blackened gold which dripped from the horizons, this eerie image in mind he resolved to keep walking even if he would find nothing, he had come all the way here along with his now dead brethren, brothers in all but blood who had set out to find their future among the sands of Anatolia, and although he was all that was left of the group peasant boys he swore that and he would accomplish his and his brothers dream to create a safe haven for his fellow Christians even if he would have to do it singlehandedly although he would always the lords protection, and even should he fail in this endeavor his salvation was assured. He would be the savior of all Christians of this land or a martyr for any future saviors to come./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Jerusalem?/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Now I walk through those city walls once again and I wonder what it was all for. I begin walking down a particularly shaded part of the street where I lay to rest. A short while later the smell of sweet wine intruded upon my senses scrambling all my thoughts and pointing all my priorities to one thing, finding where that smell is coming from. A short walk later and I ended up entering the local pub where I ordered a cup of wine and began conversing with some of the local patrons, Jews, Muslims, Christians all together trying to wash away their sorrows with booze, it was a heartwarming sight./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"A few cups later I had a young man sit next to me clearly drunk, he asked me if I the old man that I was had a reason to be here so I thought I would regale the people with my slightly embellished tales of valor and bravery./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Acre, January 3 1188/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"He had thought it a miracle that he found that travelling caravan when he did, although he thought it a greater miracle that he had found it so soon after fleeing otherwise he would not have been able to kill the caravan leader and take his goods as he had already felt his strength draining not too soon after leaving the blazing bonfire which used to be a city, the poor fool likely thought himself safe in the recently conquered land but Franz had proven him wrong and now he enjoyed his newly collected spoils, he had been able to sell his old rusty mail in favor of a lighter garb of cotton, he had also purchased himself a camel and a few more packs of food for his trip, he had been slowly gaining more knowledge of the land, and had heard good things about the north, well as far as insubordination was concerned, and so he waited preparing for his next move although he still had no men nor did have much coin with which to pay them, he could likely start looting any nearby caravans although that still meant that he would need to find men capable of killing fellow men, looting and pillaging anything and everything all to achieve something as foolhardy as a rebellion against the sultan, he silently pondered if he even had any hope of recruiting anyone to his cause. /strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Near Jerusalem May 2 1190/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"He had spent two full years recruiting every and any Christians that would join him and his cause promising salvation, fame, gold but what had really convinced them had been the opportunity to kill Muslim men and possibly the Muslim sultan himself as apparently the relations between the sultan and his subjects was fairly hostile, proven by the fact that more than one man had joined him simply because it would cause the sultan grief. Though very difficult his labor had now born fruit as he now had a force of 450 recruits which he now had to feed and arm. And although his was a holy mission, the methods of funding it had been less than such, as he had been forced on more than one occasion to rob passing caravans of their goods and either kill or ransom their merchants, what had surprised him though was that banditry was almost a part of daily life in this place now as no one was capable of keeping the peace in their lands and local warlords held more power than the governors appointed by the sultan, although these methods were less than savory they had proven to be effective as now almost half his troops were armed with decent weapons, though he wondered if his current men would even stay loyal or perhaps they would turn to a life of permanent banditry after beheading him and putting his head on a pike, all doubt aside he knew the next goal on his list was to find a base from which to base his campaign, prospects looked grim but he was sure things would look up for him./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Batumi December 5 1200 (28)/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"He felt like he was back home once again, he was in Batumi a former city of the Georgian kingdom who had been conquered by the Rum sultanate in a supposed show of power though the populace had proved to be quite determined to keep their lands as they had fought the conquerors long after the king had fled in the mountains. He looked at the humble city whose archaic architecture and semi-poor populace for some reason reminded him of the Austrian cities he had visited as a child, he had just been meeting with a group of potential allies in the form of the leaders of the Georgian separatists and although they had not reached an full agreement they had at least swore that, in their own words "The Georgian people would ally to any Christian leader powerful enough to shake off from them the shackles of oppression brought by the Turks, the people of this land would rather die than spend another year under the heel of the Muslim sultan or any infidel for that matter", this assurance had given him at least semblance of hope after such a long time in grief. He stepped outside and saw that a thick blanket of snow covered the area reminding him even more of his home near the mountains, as he looked around he thought he saw himself, running with his friends in the snow, playing the games that had given them all the joy they had needed as children, only to realize it he had only been looking at the Georgian children whose innocent cries of joy touched his soul, he pondered of his family back home in Austria what would they be doing now, would his father be dead now?, would his brothers and sisters have left the farmstead to search for glory as he had? He remembered the time when they had visited Tyrol to sell their wares and he had almost gotten lost in the large town as it had been his first time outside the village, he had seen all sorts of knights, in mail and plate some with decorated swords to mark their status as nobles others with only a simple mail shirt and dirk at their belt, it had all been so surreal at the time, but unwillingly he had been taken out of his daydreaming by one of his commanding officers, a jovial man named Johann a man whose simple nature and good humored personality made him very approachable and a very easy person to talk to, it was hard to believe that he was now in need of officers for his troops which now numbered close to 12000 men. During the years he had filled his numbers with infantry both light and heavy numbering close to 9000 and bowmen along with a few crossbowmen numbering close to 3000 he had never spared cavalry a second thought because as Johann had put it best " not much use to have horsemen around if their horses are bound to die before their rider even sees the sight of battle, though they do make for good food on long marches" the mountains were also not a place for any animals other than the mules that carried their supplies, they were also too expensive to get a good use from although a few of his commanders argued that not keeping horses around but keeping trebuchets and engineers who he paid twice the wages of his own troops was "less than cost effective" to put it lightly./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Near Jerusalem July 23 1187/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"As he walked through the shifting sand dunes he realized, he was all that was left of the once grand army led by noble princes and kings of a most holy disposition tasked by the great and kind pope to take and subsequently keep the holy land for the sake of Christianity, to create a safe haven for eastern Christians and bring an end to heathen incursion into Europe, "it started out well enough but ultimately became another wasted effort just like all the other bloody crusades" thus had described his older peers this crusade, they were obviously sick of war and most had a gaze hard and cold permanently fixed upon their brows having seen many battles and things no man should ever see, but such things were not his concerns, he had more pressing matters as of late as he had neither food nor water or shelter because as far as he could see there were only the sand dunes shifting constantly blurred by the rays of the sun creating an almost blinding visage, while to his back beyond the horizon the black ashen smoke from the city seemed to mix with the golden sands upon which the sun brilliantly shone creating the image of a waterfall of blackened gold which dripped from the horizons, this eerie image in mind he resolved to keep walking even if he would find nothing, he had come all the way here along with his now dead brethren, brothers in all but blood who had set out to find their future among the sands of Anatolia, and although he was all that was left of the group peasant boys he swore that and he would accomplish his and his brothers dream to create a safe haven for his fellow Christians even if he would have to do it singlehandedly although he would always the lords protection, and even should he fail in this endeavor his salvation was assured. He would be the savior of all Christians of this land or a martyr for any future saviors to come./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Jerusalem?/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Now I walk through those city walls once again and I wonder what it was all for. I begin walking down a particularly shaded part of the street where I lay to rest. A short while later the smell of sweet wine intruded upon my senses scrambling all my thoughts and pointing all my priorities to one thing, finding where that smell is coming from. A short walk later and I ended up entering the local pub where I ordered a cup of wine and began conversing with some of the local patrons, Jews, Muslims, Christians all together trying to wash away their sorrows with booze, it was a heartwarming sight./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"A few cups later I had a young man sit next to me clearly drunk, he asked me if I the old man that I was had a reason to be here so I thought I would regale the people with my slightly embellished tales of valor and bravery./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Acre, January 3 1188/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"He had thought it a miracle that he found that travelling caravan when he did, although he thought it a greater miracle that he had found it so soon after fleeing otherwise he would not have been able to kill the caravan leader and take his goods as he had already felt his strength draining not too soon after leaving the blazing bonfire which used to be a city, the poor fool likely thought himself safe in the recently conquered land but Franz had proven him wrong and now he enjoyed his newly collected spoils, he had been able to sell his old rusty mail in favor of a lighter garb of cotton, he had also purchased himself a camel and a few more packs of food for his trip, he had been slowly gaining more knowledge of the land, and had heard good things about the north, well as far as insubordination was concerned, and so he waited preparing for his next move although he still had no men nor did have much coin with which to pay them, he could likely start looting any nearby caravans although that still meant that he would need to find men capable of killing fellow men, looting and pillaging anything and everything all to achieve something as foolhardy as a rebellion against the sultan, he silently pondered if he even had any hope of recruiting anyone to his cause. /strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Near Jerusalem May 2 1190/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"He had spent two full years recruiting every and any Christians that would join him and his cause promising salvation, fame, gold but what had really convinced them had been the opportunity to kill Muslim men and possibly the Muslim sultan himself as apparently the relations between the sultan and his subjects was fairly hostile, proven by the fact that more than one man had joined him simply because it would cause the sultan grief. Though very difficult his labor had now born fruit as he now had a force of 450 recruits which he now had to feed and arm. And although his was a holy mission, the methods of funding it had been less than such, as he had been forced on more than one occasion to rob passing caravans of their goods and either kill or ransom their merchants, what had surprised him though was that banditry was almost a part of daily life in this place now as no one was capable of keeping the peace in their lands and local warlords held more power than the governors appointed by the sultan, although these methods were less than savory they had proven to be effective as now almost half his troops were armed with decent weapons, though he wondered if his current men would even stay loyal or perhaps they would turn to a life of permanent banditry after beheading him and putting his head on a pike, all doubt aside he knew the next goal on his list was to find a base from which to base his campaign, prospects looked grim but he was sure things would look up for him./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Batumi December 5 1200 (28)/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"He felt like he was back home once again, he was in Batumi a former city of the Georgian kingdom who had been conquered by the Rum sultanate in a supposed show of power though the populace had proved to be quite determined to keep their lands as they had fought the conquerors long after the king had fled in the mountains. He looked at the humble city whose archaic architecture and semi-poor populace for some reason reminded him of the Austrian cities he had visited as a child, he had just been meeting with a group of potential allies in the form of the leaders of the Georgian separatists and although they had not reached an full agreement they had at least swore that, in their own words "The Georgian people would ally to any Christian leader powerful enough to shake off from them the shackles of oppression brought by the Turks, the people of this land would rather die than spend another year under the heel of the Muslim sultan or any infidel for that matter", this assurance had given him at least semblance of hope after such a long time in grief. He stepped outside and saw that a thick blanket of snow covered the area reminding him even more of his home near the mountains, as he looked around he thought he saw himself, running with his friends in the snow, playing the games that had given them all the joy they had needed as children, only to realize it he had only been looking at the Georgian children whose innocent cries of joy touched his soul, he pondered of his family back home in Austria what would they be doing now, would his father be dead now?, would his brothers and sisters have left the farmstead to search for glory as he had? He remembered the time when they had visited Tyrol to sell their wares and he had almost gotten lost in the large town as it had been his first time outside the village, he had seen all sorts of knights, in mail and plate some with decorated swords to mark their status as nobles others with only a simple mail shirt and dirk at their belt, it had all been so surreal at the time, but unwillingly he had been taken out of his daydreaming by one of his commanding officers, a jovial man named Johann a man whose simple nature and good humored personality made him very approachable and a very easy person to talk to, it was hard to believe that he was now in need of officers for his troops which now numbered close to 12000 men. During the years he had filled his numbers with infantry both light and heavy numbering close to 9000 and bowmen along with a few crossbowmen numbering close to 3000 he had never spared cavalry a second thought because as Johann had put it best " not much use to have horsemen around if their horses are bound to die before their rider even sees the sight of battle, though they do make for good food on long marches" the mountains were also not a place for any animals other than the mules that carried their supplies, they were also too expensive to get a good use from although a few of his commanders argued that not keeping horses around but keeping trebuchets and engineers who he paid twice the wages of his own troops was "less than cost effective" to put it lightly./strong/p