Here's the first bit of lore. Sorry if it's a bit long, I included a TL:DR at the beginning. It details mainly with the Komnenian restoration, specifically on the reign of Emperor Manuel II. The rest of the lore won't be so in-depth; I intend to paint the rest of the history a lot more broadly. The OOC is about ~30% done, and I expect to finish that and the rest of the lore by tomorrow. 

[hider=Komnenian Restoration]
TL;DR - Komnenian Restoration began in 1081, ended in 1180. Significant financial & military reforms occurred. Emperor Manuel II would regain southern Italy, the Balkans (Illyria, up to the Danube), Anatolia, and the majority of Syria/Levant/Egypt through several campaigns. His most famous battles were at Myriokephalon against the Seljuk Turks and at Damietta against Saladin (Fatimid). Crusader states were mostly vassalized. 


Taken from Edward Gibbon's [i]Revival of the Roman State[/i]

[hider=Early Reforms & Western Expansion]
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The tale of the Eastern Roman Empire's revival is one seminal uniqueness; there are very few nations in history who have managed to endure such catastrophic events in such rapid succession as the Byzantines did in the latter half of the 11th century, let alone continue their expansion mere decades later. Perhaps an even more impressive testament to the resilience of the eastern romans is that their cultural and national identity survived relatively unchanged. Indeed, had any other medieval society at the time experienced such a disastrous defeat as the Empire did at Manzikert, the result would have almost assuredly been abject capitulation. I will leave the detailed analysis of Manzikert for other historians, however; suffice it to say that the Romans had not seen a worse defeat since Cannae or Arausio. 

The power struggles after Manzikert amongst the Empire's elite eventually resulted in the Komnenos dynasty ascending to the Imperial throne, and it was under their rule that the Empire took its first steps towards restoration. This period of nearly one-hundred-years, from the beginning of the reign of Alexios I in 1081 to the end of Manuel II's in 1180, is now popularly known as the Komnenian restoration. It eventually resulted in the near-complete recovery of Imperial territory in the East, as well as radical financial and military reformations to the Empire. 

Most notable among these reforms were Alexios' decision to instigate the Catholic Crusades and John II's restructuring of the Imperial tagmata, both of which laid the groundwork for Manuel II's stunning military victories against the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia, as well as his near-miraculous campaign against Saladin in the Levant. This account, for now, will focus on the military successes of Manuel II, as I rate it the primary reason for the reversal of the Empire's fortunes in the high middle-ages. 

Manuel II was coronated in the spring of 1143, and through a series of campaigns in Anatolia and Cilicia, forced the Sultan of Rum to sign a favorable truce. With his borders in Anatolia secured, Manuel turned his attention to the nascent crusader states in the Levant; in 1147 conducting the passage of the Second Crusade through his dominion. The crusaders suffered a close defeat at the Second Battle of Harran at the hands of a resurgent Seljuk jihad, and were forced to call upon Manuel for aid. He accepted on the condition of Edessa and Antioch's vassalation, and together with the remaining crusader forces won a decisive victory at the Battle of Turbessel. 

The death of King Roger II of Sicily drew Manuel's attention to the West, where many Norman barons had rose up in revolt against the new King. He sent an expedition to Italy in order to take advantage of this situation, supported by Papal troops under the promise of a union between the Catholic and Orthodox church. Once there, his general Michael Palaiologos achieved stunning success, quickly capturing much of southern Italy. In the autumn of 1156, Michael defeated a sizable Norman army under the command of King William I of Sicily at the Battle of Bari, and the rest of the country quickly capitulated. Sicily and much of southern Italy now belonged to the Empire.

Talks between the Pope and Manuel II, however, quickly broke down afterwards, and the dream of a reunified Christian church once again failed.

A joint Serbian and Hungarian incursion in 1158 shocked Manuel, as the relations between the Empire and the two countries had been though favorable beforehand. He marched to meet the combined armies, and inflicted severe casualties on the alliance in a series of skirmishes which forced them to attempt to cross back over the Danube. However, Manuel brought them to battle at Sirmium, where he won a decisive victory and made the Hungarian-Serbian alliance sign a favorable peace in 1160. Hungary ceded much of its territory in Illyria, and the Serbians were vassalized. Much of the Balkans were now under Imperial dominion.
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[hider=Campaign against the Seljuk Turks & the Battle of Myriokephalon]
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A period of relative peace and stability followed the Balkan campaign for some six years while Manuel dealt with some minor domestic reforms. In the year 1167, the Seljuks annexed parts of Cilicia formerly belonging to the Danishmends, a Byzantine tributary. Manuel apparently decided it was time to deal with the Turks once and for all. He gathered an incredible force of 35,000 men and marched on Iconium.

Outside of the pass of Myriokephalon, Manuel nearly made a serious tactical blunder by not properly scouting the path ahead. He was saved from this mistake by Michael Palaiologos, who insisted on sending a detachment of Vardariotes to do so; they quickly discovered a large force of Turks lying in ambush along the walls of the pass, and returned without alerting them. Using this information, Manuel ordered Michael to circumvent the pass and bring a large force upon the Turks unguarded flank, while he marched through in loose formation and triggered the ambush.

The result was a classic pincer attack, and one of the greatest victories in Roman history. Manuel completely destroyed the Turkish army as an effective fighting force, with Turkish casualties estimated at some 15,000; Michael's force was able to capture another some 8,000 Turks, including members of some of the Seljuk's highest nobility. The Romans suffered perhaps 3,000 casualties amongst the entire army. Even Manuel was surprised at the depth of his victory, having anticipated a brutal slugging fest in the pass; the Turks had not anticipated any sort of flanking maneuver, and thus were caught in a double-envelopment between Michael's flanking force and the main Byzantine body under Manuel.

This victory opened the gates to the rest of the Anatolian plateau, and over the course of the next two years Manuel recovered nearly the entirety of former Imperial territory in Anatolia, and unilaterally expelled the Turks from Asia Minor. 

Exultant over his success, Manuel proclaimed that he had "completely reversed" the effects of the disastrous Battle of Manzikert, and returned to Constantinople in triumph. The effect of Myriokephalon cannot be understated; in the West, his success over the Seljuk Turks elevated Manuel to be seen as a true Emperor of the Romans, instead of a mere King of the Greeks, and regained some of the authority the Byzantine Empire lost after Manzikert.
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[hider=Campaign in Egypt, the Battle of Damietta & Death]
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It would not be until 1174 that Manuel would again launch on a serious military campaign. Fearing the growing threat of the great Sultan Saladin reuniting the fracturing Fatimid Sultanate, the crusader states in the Levant requested Imperial aid in order to invade Egypt. Manuel, sensing the opportunity to fully restore the Empire's control of its former breadbasket, immediately gathered a large expeditional force and sailed from Constantinople to Jaffa. There, he sent his general Michael Palaiologos with a force of 10,000 to siege the city of Tyre, accompanied by a small Tripolitan army of roughly 2,000.

Manuel took the rest of his army of some 15,000, along with the remaining allied Crusader armies of roughly 8,000 under King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Prince Bohemond III of Antioch, and marched on Damietta. Unbeknownst to Manuel or his allies, Saladin had gathered a massive host of some 35,000, and was marching toward Damietta as well in order to preempt a siege.

The two armies met on the outskirts of Damietta on the 4th of July, 1174. Intense skirmishing erupted between the Imperial Vardariotes and Muslim horse-archers and continued for much of the morning before both forces retreated, with neither having been able to gain the upper-hand. The two armies would continue to form up and maneuver against each other for the next two days, but would retire before ever joining battle.

Finally on the 7th of July, Al-Muzaffar Umar, Saladin's nephew and commander of his army's right flank, launched an ill-advised attack against Emperor Manuel's left flank. This side was mostly populated by the allied Crusader armies, and they inflicted severe casualties on Al-Mazaffar's command, forcing him to withdraw. Sensing his opportunity, Manuel ordered a general advance. The two armies clashed, and Saladin's demoralized right flank was immediately under heavy threat. Saladin was forced to commit most of his reserves in order to stabilize it. 

Even with this advantageous opening to the battle, the Romans were heavily outnumbered, and slowly pushed back. Their camp was captured by the end of the afternoon, and Saladin's son al-Afdal was said to have exclaimed "We have beaten them!" upon entering the Roman tents.

However, Manuel managed to disengage and reformed the army into thinner lines to match the length of the Egyptian's, then advanced in staggered formation. He placed his elite Varangian guard at the fore, where the battle would be most ferocious. As Saladin advanced, his right and left flanks supported his center and focused on the Varangians; the Norsemen were said to have later faced the brunt of much of the Egyptian army for nearly ten minutes, and did not break. Manuel's left and right flanks then engaged with their Egyptian counterparts, and the Egyptians, disheartened, gave ground. With the Romans threatening to envelope his army, Saladin once again attempted to breakthrough the Varangian center, and failed. 

Manuel finally ordered his reserve heavy cavalry to charge, and they routed the Saladin's disorganized Mamluks before striking Saladin's army in the rear. The result was catastrophic for the Egyptians. Saladin's right was almost immediately routed, and the rest of his forces were killed practically to a man.

Manuel had once again achieved a historic victory.

Nearly 20,000 Egyptians were killed, and another 10,000 or so captured. Roman casualties were comparably light, but still substantial: some 7,000 Byzantines, and roughly 3,000 from the allied Crusader forces. Saladin himself was captured, along with many of his most trusted lords. 

The ramifications of the battle, much like Myriokephalon, were profound. The Fatimid Sultanate died with Saladin's defeat, and over the next three years the Byzantines, along with the Crusader states, conquered much of Egypt, Syria, and the Levant in the ensuing power vacuum. The majority of the Crusader states became vassals of the Empire, with the Kingdom of Jerusalem being the sole exception; it instead became a protectorate.

Emperor Manuel would return to Constantinople as the recipient of another triumph, and die peacefully in the capital six years after the Battle of Damietta. His legacy rivaled even great Justinian, having nearly entirely restored the Empire's original borders in the East and having made significant progress in the West. 

The future of the Empire was bright.
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