Chapter 3

The Great War

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The Emperor privately deliberated for few days on which course he should take. Should the Emperor please his allies and attack Venice, or secure his homelands and return vastly more land back to his people. In the meantime Sir Sphrantzes was personally sent to Cairo in order to secure the Mamluks wouldn't intervene in which course the Emperor chooses. Without calling to the court in session the Emperor gave an imperial order to have a public gathering the palace square.“My fellow Romans as you may well have well known there are other Romans who are governed not by the Heathens who worship a bastardized version of our holy lord and who seek to spread the word of the devil to misguide you and our fellow brothers. However there are those who are follow our faith, be it perverted also rein over our people. Some of these people have placed our people under the sword for wishing to practice the true faith and let them live their daily lives. And for that we must send Venice a message that they can't oppress the Roman people, and for this we will liberate our people from the clutches the evil dictator of the Venice menace.” Said the Emperor resulting in crowds with enthusiasm fervor similar to the manner since the return of the liberation of Trebizond province, as nothing could compare to return on the Victory of Cyprus.The proclamation angered the Turkish diplomat who claimed that Ottoman Empire will march on Constantinople if we go through with the war and was promptly escorted to the Edrine border, but with the expected Austria and Aragon aid no formal war was declared by Turks despite what the Turkish diplomat feverishly defended would happen. As per usual the army was loaded onto our transports with crowds gathering at the docks see their love ones, this time with much more enthusiasm as the past victories seem to calumniated and there was there was optimism that this campaign will be like the others with a returning army triumph; little did they know this will be the last time most of the will see their love ones again.Since this time is the first time the Navy will be facing a proper Navy in a long while and the collation of captains during the invasion of Cyprus would be disastrous against Venice. The fleet sailed towards Athens where the invasion of the Naxos which provoked the war occurred which promptly crumbled. Following the success of the invasion of Naxos a small contingent was left behind and boarded to the destination of Crete. This is where the Navy faced its first lost since the rising of the Morning Sun on the Empire.A prompt response sent by the Venice Navy to protect their claimed lands in the Eastern Mediterranean. The two Navies engaged each other as the Amry was landing on Crete and as response the Admiral called off the landings. Once the troops were safety secured back onto the transport cogs a retreat was called to Moera. Limping back to port many ships were damaged including the cogs that transported the Army, and despite defeating the our Navy and a chance to destroy our military force while still in the sea the Venice Navy instead decided to engage targets of opportunity elsewhere. The Venice Navy was sinking ships all across the Mediterranean all while our fleet repaired and discussed strategy of both our enemies and allies to learn from them.This rethinking of their strategy paid off as the Venice fleet picked their armies in the Balkins in order to regroup their armies in their homelands and break through a blockaid. Seeing this our Navy sailed towards Venice despite not finishing the repairs on many of our ships. When our fleet linked up with our allies the Venice Navy was on the verge of winning, catching the Venice navy off guard our ships managed to destroy the entire Venice breakthrough fleet and as result ten thousand men died. With the victory over the Venice navy, Provence promptly sued for peace and in the confusion of war our army promptly invade both Crete and Rhodes, however negotiations for Corfu broken down as Naples handed over to parent nation of Aragon. Soon after the sieges was completed on the various Roman islands and various lands on the Venice home lands the Treaty of Byzantium of signed by Venice, Aragon, Austria and Roman Empires ceding Crete, Rhodes and Naxos to the Roman Empire, while two provinces are ceded to Austria. A painting of the treaty commissioned in Venice and sent Constantinople, though the painting was slightly damaged on transport.Fresh off the success with the victory of the Roman Navy the nobles decided to cut back funding of the Army which was the start of the disastrous chain of events. Without consulting with the Army nor Sir Sphrantzes in Cairo, the Emperor declares war with the Turks expecting Aid from Hungry, Serbia and Aragon in a joint effort against the heathens. However lacking the diplomatic tongue of Sphrantzes only the Aragon answer the call in a token gesture whom mostly closed their borders to Turkish merchants. Nevertheless optimism remained high even as the Algiers and Crimea as majority of the Turkish army was engaged with the Polish army or in Anatolia. The Navy promptly positioned itself in a defensive position near Constantinople harrying any troops attempting to cross the straits. The Roman Army quickly spread about to siege the homeland of the Ancient Greeks to recover the lands of our Roman brothers.In response the Turks called of contingent of troops to deal with our besieging armies hoping for a quick victory. Hoping to catch the Turks off guard a trap was set in Macedonia. Many of the army waited to reinforce what the Turks would believe would be engaging only a small number of troops. This plan backfired as the better equipped and trained Turkish Army managed to decimate the Roman Empire Legion reminding the public how credible threat the Turkish Army remained. The army retreated towards Moera. A desperate aid was called for Aragon to help as Sir Sphrantzes recalled from the Mamluks. As Sphrantzes arrived he was shocked by the events and that it was a huge blunder the Emperor has performed as even with the Arival of the Aragon they only landed in Anatolia in a strange events which Turkish forces have largely left undefended as the proper Turkish army and reinforcements marked around the Crimea. In the meantime the remnants of the Roman army that was still recovering was force to march to avoid contact with the Turkish Army in Greece. Despite all his effort the hero of Cyprus General Matthaios Akroplites only managed to anger the Turkish Army who became fed up with unable to engage the Roman Army broke off and instead marched to Constantinople while receiving orders to intercept Turkish army before they reach Constantinople, the General to have decided to ignore the orders and remain in Albania for the following month Constantinople to its fate. As most nobles flee the City the Emperor deiced to remain with his people, and two months into the siege on the 3rd of March 1455 AC the Emperor died in his sleep as the walls of the city crumbled after repeated battering by the Turkish forces. A noble who remain behind commissioned a painting of the Emperor's death though a bit dramatized.