Neretzes' Folly
Year 1077
Chapter 1 – The Senate
'Disaster,' was all that came to Emperor Drosios Neretzes' mind while the Senators squabbled. 'That's what this is. Disaster.'
"The filthy barbarians have burned Gersegos and Montos! Marathea was pillaged! Citizens were butchered in their homes, their property stolen or destroyed! How can we sit idly by as the Battanians grow ever bolder? Next, they'll seek to take Gersegos castle, or worse, Epicrotea! Lageta! A true son of Calradios would avenge this wanton violence!" Desparion ranted and raved. It was understandable, really. Particularly since he hailed from Rhotae, a city so very near the border with Battania.
As the seething senator took his seat, he was followed by shouts of support.
"Caladog murdered King Aeril, his own father!"
"He wants war!"
"Then war he shall have!"
"They broke the truce!"
"War!"
Drosios brought a hand up to rub one of his temples. He could already feel another headache beginning. This assembly in the Curia was shaping up to be a passionate one. It didn't help that, as Emperor, he was seated upon his throne near the presiding consul. And they were quite fond of projecting their voice.
"The Chair now recognizes Senator Apys Varros, to call for war!" The Consul Porphalios Serapides proclaimed.
Idly, the Emperor mused about replacing the boisterous consul with Lucon. But as Varros rose, the Emperor's eyes narrowed and he dismissed the cursory thought. Varros, this was one of the richest men in the Empire. Although his wealth, more often than not, came from contemptible means. It is widely believed the man bought his way into his judicial appointment. Drosios had tasked his staff to investigate him for corruption but, as of yet, they've found nothing conclusive.
"Friends! Colleagues!" Varros began, gesturing across the assembly. "You know we must respond. To not do so would only invite further death and destruction. The cost of letting the Battanians go free is too high!" He paused to gauge the crowd.
"Death to the bastards!"
"The time is not right, delay! The legions are not-"
"To hell with traitors and oathbreakers!"
"It's obvious we must strike back!" Varros yelled, throwing a fist in the air. "Blood for blood, that's all the Battanians will understand. I propose we assemble the legions immediately, and place them under the command of our most talented general, Garios Comnos."
And the Senate erupted in shouts once more, but this time enraged over the controversial choice.
"No!"
"Garios is not right!"
"Varros wants his little pet in charge!"
Varros developed an only partially suppressed sneer. "You all know he is a man of talent! Garios has fought the Battanians with success already, he won the battle of the Gavys Valley. He is hailed as the Guardian of Lageta! It was he who secured the western frontier from the Battanians in the past."
"Not for very long, it seems." Came a voice from the crowd.
"The cost of war is too high!"
"And in addition to appointing such a fine commander," Varros continued, "I propose we attach the proposals for the veteran land grant and the soldier's pension to the vote!"
A chorus of contempt drowned Varros out. Drosios could see, Varros and his never did miss a chance to throw a bone to the soldiery. Even if the rest of the Senate weren't going to allow anything to be made of it.
"Hear, hear!" Senator Milos called out. He was always one to back such proposals.
"Give the troops something to fight for! Have them led by someone they want to fight for!" Varros raised both hands. "Garios knows the army, and he knows the enemy! Support our troops now with the veteran land grant, and what land they take from Battania shall be folded back into the Empire and settled and protected by good, fighting men. The veterans of the Empire will see that land stays in the Empire!"
The discussion dragged on for a short while, but the proposal was largely dismissed, as Drosios knew it would be. However, it was rather unnerving, the growing support that Garios was gathering in the Senate. It was always an easy and popular rallying cry, supporting the troops, and Garios had certainly made it part of his brand. It was clear the man was an ambitious sort. Should he grow anymore in popularity, and became a threat, then perhaps he would need to be dealt with. Istiana should be able to handle Garios and his paymaster, men die on campaign all the time. Soon though, came the inevitable time to discuss the alternative to the proposal of war.
"The Chair recognizes Senator Arenicos, Archon of Onira, to voice for peace!" Porphalios called the next speaker forward. There was a rumble from the crowd. This new figure was indeed a popular one, but the man had risen to speak on an unpopular position.
Ah, Arenicos. The general of the East, savior some say. He's a famed soldier, and an even more famed leader. Drosios had placed him at the forefront of confrontations in the southeast of the Empire. It had proven a wise decision, as Arenicos soon proved himself in battle with the desert raiders. Of course, the Archon's marriage to the eastern woman, the daughter of the old Padishah no less, was likely at the root of the long peace. That had been quite the scandal back in the capital. Even now, that political alliance made by one of the Emperor's more powerful subordinates, without his leave, still worried him. That one was a great threat indeed, but Drosios had stayed his hand in acting against the man to date. Arenicos had been too useful to the Empire to eliminate without good reason and, for the moment, he had not made any move that would bring harm to the Empire.
"My most noble lords and fellow senators. Let us not rush into war with Battania, doing so rashly would condemn more lives to slaughter-" Archon Arenicos began, but was cut off with an uproar in the Senate.
"Coward!" Came a shout from among the assembled.
"Traitor!" followed another.
"Hear me!" Arenicos continued, shouting over the discontents. "Peace must be maintained, now more than ever! The Sturgians already threaten us from beyond Lake Laconis."
"The Sturgians mean to align themselves with the murderer, Caladog!" A shout from Desparion interrupted Arenicos. "All the more reason to march! Epicrotea must be defended!"
"If the two are not yet aligned, marching now will only usher them into bed with one another! It has always been the good practice of the Empire to keep our foes apart, not bring them together!" Arenicos argued back, addressing the Senate while gesturing towards Desparion. "And what's more, Desparion would have us turn our backs to the Khanate! We must guard our borders, but even more must we do our utmost not to provoke open war or be drawn into Battania itself!"
Indeed, the frontiers of the Empire, both east and west, had been troublesome for many years. The Battanians, never truly conquered, periodically raided and warred on the Empire. But things changed after the Great Collapse a century ago. The interregnum and anarchy of those years plunged the Empire into an ever-worsening crisis, and the Empire's foes were quick to take advantage. The Vlandians, following Osrac Iron-arm, declared their independence and seized the western empire during that terrible time. They stole away the ancient western capital of Baravenos, founded in the very days of Calredios the Great. Even the name of that noble city was stripped from it, bastardized by the Vlandian tongue into Pravend. And when the Empire was finally getting a handle on the crisis, and began to return its attention to the western empire, it ran into another threat coming out of the east. The Khuzaits had united the steppe tribes, and their hordes descended upon the Empire's eastern provinces.
"Wars have often been more costly than any tribute." Arenicos continued. "Let us pay them off to give ourselves time to shore up our defenses. To give us time to gauge this new King of Battania, and his support."
"Naïve fool!" Someone threw an insult at Arenicos. "You would have us pay those who would slit our throats!"
"The barbarian's greatest advocate!" Another mocked him. "The coffers will run dry with these tributes."
"War now!" Came a chorus of voices, further cutting off Arenicos' speech. "Vote now!"
"We must put such a weighty decision before the people!" Came another shout, which could not doubt belong to the agitator Milos. "I move for a popular assembly to be held!"
Another roar stirred among the Senate. Popular assemblies had not been invoked for many years, and the idea was ill regarded among the old families. Supposedly, the people did not have the knowledge to make the decisions of government. Often now though, Drosios thought the old families were just wary of losing their power.
"Order! Order!" Shouted Porphalios, to little affect. They were all drowned out by the riotous senators.
"The Khuzaits!" Arenicos tried to marshal back his time. "If we get bogged down in a war with Battanian, or even the Sturgians, then the East will be left vulnerable! The Khuzaits will take advantage of such an opportunity!"
Emperor Neretzes raised a hand to halt the proceedings, the Consul banged his gavel furiously, attempting to quiet the Senate. Drosios tried to will the ache in his head to ease, it did not work. Once the senate chamber had quieted, he stood. "The Khuzaits are not a concern for the moment."
Indeed, they were a concern, for it was merely two generations ago the Khuzaits overcame imperial efforts to keep the steppe tribes disunited. And the horse lords fell upon the eastern provinces, seizing everything east of Lake Tanaesis. But Emperor Neretzes considered it among his greatest accomplishments to have normalized relations with the Khanate, and he would not have this peace threatened by the ever-shifting priorities of the Senate.
"I promised all of you, that the lands and prestige of our great empire would be restored to that of its glory days. The burden of this task was bestowed upon me in this very room, so many years ago. The time has finally come. I shall call upon our hard-won defensive pact with the Vlandians, and appropriate pay shall be delivered to the Aserai and Khuzaits for peace and any fighters willing to join us. The East is safe, and so I shall marshal the power of Empire and humble the Battanians. If the Sturgians think to join them in their fate, then so be it! It's time the West was returned. It's time the Empire, once more, became the unquestioned power on this continent! I shall raise the Dragon Banner! I call for an end to the debate, bring the matter of war to a vote! Vote now!"
With the majority's cheers, and the minority's shouts of frustration, the vote was quickly concluded. The Legions were gathering, the war had begun, but a fury of doubts continued to storm their way through Neretzes' troubled mind.
There's the first chapter of a new fic. A bit of a power struggle brewing within the Empire. A few ambitious players are beginning their rise, and the attack coming from the Battanians is just the catalyst to get things moving.
I've been off on a Bannerlord binge for the past couple weeks, so I've been playing around with the Neretzes' Folly quest. I'm thinking of keeping this one to a few short chapters from differing points of view, try and get various perspectives of the battle out. Start with the lead up to the climactic battle, maybe have a short epilogue after.
I like the idea around this, the tragedy of the Empire and so many other factions within the game. Neretzes' Folly, the Battle of Pendraic, set the stage for the conflict of the whole game. Imo, Neretzes is kind of like an Emperor Nikephorus sort of figure. He had a lot going for him, but one bad mistake and an ambush later and all of a sudden the entire Empire is in dire straits again.
I haven't seen other fics lay out the whole sequences of events, so I thought it'd be cool to give it a shot. I hope everyone enjoys!
