Vilageidiotx

2015 summer hyp

<Snipped quote by Vilageidiotx>

Get on Steam nigga so I can open a chat with you and not use it.

@Dinh AaronMk

I am trying too, but I am shy so it take s a while to work up the confidence.

Random shizzle

I will not participate in this.

2015 summer hyp

I don't know what this is and I feel sort of generally superior for not knowing.

The Creative Announcement of Pregnancies by Crafty Housewives Showdown

But where are the feet? This is some spooky shit.

Why do you RP?

Shits and giggles, mostly.

I, Arabicus: An alternate history RP set in Late Antiquity

We are up!

Remember to repost your apps in the character tab so everything is nice and tidy.

I, Arabicus: A story of Rome and the rise of Islam

APPENDICES

Here is where I will post extra info. Mostly it'll just be explanations that are given in the OOC when people ask for them.

THE WORLD MAP!

THE APPENDICES

The State of Religion (Vilageidiotx)

The big schism, the division between the Catholic west and Orthodox east, would not happen. That evolves out of head-butting politics between the Papal sphere of influence and the Imperial sphere, but in this world the two spheres would be more or less one and the same. You would probably get uppity Popes from time to time trying to insist their word comes before the other patriarchs, but with Imperial power present in the west it is unlikely any Germanic kingdoms would accept Papal primacy since it would do them no good. Remember, accepting Papal primacy was how Charlemagne got made an Emperor.

That means that the worlds "Catholic" and "Orthodox" will be interchangeable words for the Chalcedonian dogma.

However, as Aaron said, there was a Monophysite split between Alexandria and the Orthodoxy that would have happened regardless, and they became very popular on the eastern fringes. You'd see it entrenched in Egypt and East-Africa, popular in Armenia, and influential in Syria. Also in Syria, particularly deeper in Christian parts of the otherwise Zoroastrian Persian Empire, you would have the Nestorians. Historically many of the Germans were Arian as well, though whether or not Arianism would have lasted in this situation is hard to tell. Miaphysitism happens later, and represents the moderation of the Monophysites.

Now, the meaning of these terms seems really petty to me and probably most modern people, but it was important to people in this time period. I will try to explain them though.

The Orthodox position is that Jesus was both divine and human at the same time, and that this divinity and humanity were distinct but acting in tandem.

The Monophysites held that Jesus was divine and that was that. One nature, not two.

The Miaphysites who later evolve from the Monophysites and represented by the modern Coptic churches held that Jesus had one nature, but that this one nature was some sort of mix between divinity and humanity.

The Nestorians, who are the Syriac christians of the modern day, believed that Christ was bother divine and human but that these two aspects were completely separate. They are different from the Orthodox because the Orthodoxy saw the humanity and divinity as being equally present, the Nestorians saw Jesus as a human with divinity inserted post-production.

The Arians believed that Jesus was the son of god, but that he was not divine, but was a separate subordinate human son kind of like a Greek demi-god.

There is also the Donatists, who you will see mentioned if you research this stuff. They probably would not be present in the RP, as they were mostly worried about the nature of apostasy, which wouldn't be common in the 7th century. They were popular when large parts of the western world were still hostile to Christianity, and they represented the faction that believed that anybody who renounced Jesus, even under duress, could never be forgiven or allowed to receive the Eucharist. It is possible this idea might resurge in the face of Islam.

Now, if there is anybody better at theology than me, please speak up, because the theological divides make very little sense to me and I don't understand why anybody could ever have cared. This was shit that nearly brought the Empire to civil war several times, and it would have divided everything from rival street gangs to aristocratic families. And that I truly don't get.

Arians (Dinh AaronMk)

Aesthetically as well: Arians were probably much more "humble" than their Catholic/Orthodox counterparts. I think the big effect of preaching Jesus as being more human than he was spiritual didn't mean there was a lot of emphasis on trying to present some maddening image of heaven you'd get in richer Orthodox and Catholic churches/cathedral (especially later period, but Arianism was also dead by the time the romantic image of the "gothic" cathedral arose). Arian aesthetic would be more about the approach-ability of Jesus and possibility the divine as being human in many respects, and not some major divine hand of God and he needed to be that much.

Though Jesus WAS created according to Arius, he is not the son of God in the same way the mainstream church viewed him. This kind of falls into line that God is one and only, and any attempt at shoe-horning a trinity into God's nature is a half-assed attempt at being polytheistic while claiming it's still monotheistic by claiming the Son, the Father, and the Holy Ghost is one the same. So that might be the focus of the theological debate. Aesthetic argument might boil down to, "That church is too rich, you could have spent the money you got on alms for the poor"; but not as extreme as the Lollards (whoever thought it was amazing to be poor) or whatever.

Recommended Reading (Vilageidiotx)

The History of Rome

This played a part in why I wanted to do a Roman RP in the first place. Back last fall, I started to listen to these while I was at work. It's an amazing overview that everybody should listen to if they call themselves history fans, and covers everything up to the fall of the Western Empire. There is a continuation of it done by somebody else about the Byzantines, but I haven't listened to it so I cannot say anything about it.

Count Belisarius

This is what I am reading right now (albeit in text format, so I didn't spend no twenty bucks =p. If you can find this at the library, that would be great). Pretty good overview, the narrator explains a lot of the small cultural details of the time, like the religious differences.

In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire

Admittedly, this one forms the foundation of what I know about the rise of Islam. It wasn't a subject I had much knowledge in at all until this year. Pretty good overview of the events that caused it all to happen.

I, Arabicus: A story of Rome and the rise of Islam

Jabiya, Ghassanid Syria

There was a profound quiet over barren Syria. In the moonlight, the hills were blue, and it was so pretty that the idea a war should ever be fought here seemed blasphemous.

"Duke." Anastasius heard himself called by his title. He looked around and saw a nervous Cataphract - a Roman knight - approach. He was dressed for sleep, wearing a simple red tunic and a single dagger at his belt. "If you think we're are to fight tomorrow, then you should get some sleep."

"Yes." Anastasius replied. He was dressed for battle, with a heavy coat of chain-mail covering much of his body and the red cape of office flowing from his shoulders. At his hip was a Spatha, a kind of long sword. "I cannot sleep. Not with the Saracens out there, and Arabicus."

"Arabicus." the Comes mouthed. "Yes, but you cannot see anything at night. How can you help the young prince this way? Surely what he needs is a second in command that is capable of action when it comes time to rescue him. Tomorrow. That is when it will happen."

"I cannot sleep. I do not say this out of duty, I say this out of ability. Sleep will not come to me tonight." His breath felt cold in his throats, and his lips trembled. "The augers are not in order."

For a moment, there was nothing but the silence of that desert, the thin clean air, and the light of the moon.

"Do not blame yourself for what has happened to Arabicus." the Knight finally replied.

"I do not blame myself." Anastasius snapped. "What are the men saying? What do they think?"

"They don't blame you, sir." the Knight replied quickly. "They do not think that... honestly, they do not know what to think. The Saracens... they fought like Huns. It was unnatural. They kept coming."

It was true, Anastasius agreed with everything the young Knight was saying. Before yesterday, Saracens had always fought like dogs at a garbage heap. When their enemy first gave way, they would help themselves to whatever morsels of treasure they could find in their camps, and then they would ride off into the wasteland from whence they came. They were fierce warriors, and like most barbarians always loyal to their ancient family names, but they were not soldiers. There was no discipline aside from loyalty, and victory to them was only booty.

But these new Saracens, this tribe that was springing endlessly from the desert, were a different breed. They were not raiders. This was a war. They were fighting for domination.

When the enemy was first turning back the Roman line, Anastasius had pleaded with Arabicus to fall back behind the camp and wait for the enemy to lose their cohesion, but Arabicus refused. Cowardice is what he called it. He was the classical arrogant princeling, another Commodus or Domitian, and he thought in terms of perceived strength rather than tactics. However, when Arabicus did finally agree to the ploy, it did not work. The Romans fell back, and the Saracens continued the chase. A tactical fall-back became a route. And in the chaos, Arabicus disappeared.

"Can you find the Empire of Attila today?" Anastasius grumbled. "These nomads, they are not like the Germans. No. They are not looking for a place to settle anymore than the Huns were. They want riches. What matters is how we carry ourselves. God has saw fit to test our resolve, and I assure you that the Christendom will come out triumphant."

"Yes." the knight answered humbly. "If we have gave the Lord no reason to punish us."

As they stood there talking, an arrow landed in the sand at Anastasius' feet. It came so softly that he did not fear at first, as if it were a songbird that had chose to nibble at the ground beneath his shadow. But realization came quickly, and as he understood, horror set in. A second arrow whistled through the air between him and the knight.

Then they ran.

They ran across the dunes, shouting at the top their lungs to wake the soldiers. The Romans were encamped on a hill overlooking the tent-city of the Ghassanids. Their camp was surrounded by a ditch, behind which stood a wall of thin stakes carved from the wiry desert trees that grew nearby. They had not been able to find the wood to build the watch towers or gates, so the men would have to fight them hand to hand at the entrances. This place was as defensible as they had time to make it, but it was manned by the battered soldiers that had survived the disaster of the first battle.

When they reached the camp, men were beginning to stir. Torches filled the blue night with an orange glow. When Anastasius saw a boy, one of the servants that followed the army to aid with supplies, he grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around.

"Boy, do you know how to ride?" he asked. The boy nodded. He took him to where the horses were kept and placed him on top of his own white stallion. "Go to the Visigothic Camp and rouse them, and then go to Jabiya and warn the Saracens there that their faithless brothers are on the attack. Bring them quickly, because without them we are doomed."

The boy, too stunned to speak, nodded and rode off into the darkness.

Whistles were being blown and lines formed. The Cataphract knights were putting on their scale mail and being helped onto their horses by their servants. The only signs of the enemy were the distant thunder of hooves and the few arrows that fell on the camp. As the men came together, Anastasius could see the fear in their eyes. They had seen this enemy before, and they were terrified.

These Roman soldiers here were not the soldiers of Julius Caesar's Empire. These men wore coats of chain-mail and held oval shields painted with christian symbols and the likenesses of saints. Some wore long beards in the Persian style, or long hair in the Hunnic style. They came from all over the Empire; Greeks and Italians, blond haired Germans, olive skinned moors, and pale faced Slavs, all brought together to fight in the names of Christ and the Emperor. They had traded their ancient javelins for small lead-weighted darts, which they hung from loops built into their shields. The professional training and pride that went into the old armies was not completely present in the modern ones. Many of these men were conscripts, while others came from beyond the Roman borders. Rome had vassals amongst the Slavic and Moorish tribes, and some German Kings around the Alps still payed tribute to the Empire in terms of both gold and fighting men.

Anastasius had sent his horse away with the messenger boy, so he elected to lead on foot. He pulled his sword, and torchlight played across the polished steel as he faced his men.

"No Saracen army has defeated a Roman force twice in a row!" he shouted. His voice sounded more angry than comforting, and though this came from frustration it seemed to have a good effect on the men. He could see in their eyes a stirring rage as the indignant passion of fear was switched for the other extreme. "They fight under the light of a full moon, because they are Pagans and witchcraft rules nights like these. So pray, and hold fast to the powerful signs of Christ that surround you now, and the banners that show the angels and the faces of the saints, because no witchcraft can harm a faithful army of the Lord!"

The Romans formed along the palisade walls and looked out at the coming foe. Shadowy riders circled the camp from afar, firing arrows or shaking swords that gleamed in the moonlight. From the side where the enemy footmen approached, it looked like the desert itself was shifting toward them, as a wave moves across the sea. Anastasius stood at an entrance to the camp and waited. From the far end, the Cataphracts thundered out of the camp to do battle with the horsemen.

The Saracen footmen stopped short in their charge, and they mulled around uncertainly. These were dirty looking men, bearded and covered in dust from a hard march. Archers shot arrows at the Roman line, and they bore into shields and buried themselves in the bare earth. One of the men were hit in the neck by a chance shot, and he fell to the ground gasping as his life-blood soaked into the dirt. The Romans did not reply. Some of the men in the back of the line fingered the fletching on their darts. Soon more arrows came, and then more. They were burning now, and they fell on most of the camp. Canvas tents were set ablaze, and the crackling of fire mingled with the other battle sounds. The Romans, helpless, held their shields above themselves and waited.

Soon enough, the enemy charge was resumed. They came at the Romans with swords and spears, with rounded shields and stolen pieces of armor, and they shouted in their incoherent, crude language. The Roman line held at the entrance. Where the Saracens charged the Palisades, Romans awaited their approach and pelted them with darts when they tried to cross the ditch.

It was a bloody affair. The Saracens did not fight in neat shield walls tonight, but they fought fiercely, and the Romans were severely outnumbered. More fire arrows fell on the camp until everything was burning, and Anastasius realized that they could not hold this ground.

"Push forward!" he ordered. "Push!" The Romans responded, smashing the weight of the Saracen charge against itself. The goal was to break out, to cause a temporary retreat amongst the enemy so that the Romans could regroup. Along the wall, the Roman soldiers broke out of the palisades and ran shouting at the stunned Arabs in the ditch. It seemed to be working. The Saracen charge had came too fiercely, and now the pressure of their attack was hindering their ability to move or fight. They were dying quickly now, sliced down easily by the Romans. The confusion caused the enemy line to break, and Anastasius rejoiced.

Outside of the walls, he could see that the Roman Cataphracts had been joined by the Visigothic Knights. They were outnumbered by the enemy, and the Arab riders moved quicker than their heavily armored counterparts. Anastasius could not see how their fight was playing out.

Where the Arabs broke, the Romans began to reform. They pulled out of the camp, now an infernal bon-fire who's vicious heat caused nearby brush to burn. The open desert would not bake them alive, but there was another obstacle out here. Without the walls, they were truly outnumbered, and there was no way to protect their flanks. The Roman army began to take the shape of a bow who's ends were kissing the burning palisades of the former camp.

Anastasius walked the line and joined in the fight wherever his men looked like they were weakening. At the edges, the Romans were beginning to recoil. If this line was a bow, it was beginning to look as if it were being pulled.

Out of the hateful Saracen darkness, an arrow came at Anastasius. He watched it suddenly appear until it was on him, and when it imbedded in his eye it felt as if he had been kicked by a mule. Before he could think, his face seered with agony. It was a horrible, burning pain, and he fell back rubbing his face. Blood trickled down his cheek, and he began to scream

The Roman line was starting to collapse. He felt faint. Along the distant hillsides, he could see the horsemen riding. At first, he thought the enemy riders had begun to fight amongst themselves, and then he remembered the Ghassanids. They had arrived on Saracen steeds just as swift as those belonging to their pagan brothers. His vision grew darker. The horsemen's swords glowed so that the battle of the riders look like two glittering streams of silver stars converging upon each other in the moonlit sky. It was beautiful, like... music.

And with that thought in his mind, Anastasius perished.

I, Arabicus: A story of Rome and the rise of Islam

I, Arabicus: Rome and the Rise of Islam

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When the Saracens appeared in Syria, Emperor Marcellus was fighting the Lombards in Italy
So the task was given to Marcus Priscus Caesar, the third son of the Emperor.
He set out from Rome in Anno Domini 633 with one third of the Palantini.
And a host of Visigothic knights sent in friendship from their King.

What is known about the career of young Priscus in Syria is very little.
But I will tell you what news came back to the Imperial Court.
In November of that year, he arrived in Antioch.
He rested there until March of the next year, Anno Domini 634.
The army of Priscus Caesar arrived in Jerusalem to pray.
There they heard news that the Ghassanid Saracens were failing.
The Saracens from the south were rapidly overtaking them.

In April, a small contingent of Saracen scouts were captured.
And they were brought to Priscus Caesar in Jerusalem.
There he ordered them executed on the steps of the barracks.
Their crime was demon worship in the city of God.
After this incident, Priscus Caesar declared a victory.
And he gave upon himself the title "Arabicus"
For he claimed to be the conqueror of the Arabs.
And so he became Marcus Priscus Caesar Arabicus.

At the waning of April, his army marched out to meet the enemy.
Arabicus was welcomed by the Ghassanid Saracens.
Who had carried the brunt of the War.
There was a battle, and Arabicus was lost.
Little is known, but his army was destroyed.

-Linus Pious, Pontiff of Rome and Imperial Historian

WELCOME TO THE ARRPEE!

It is the year 634 AD, but events have not transpired in the way they did in our world. Urged on by his mysterious Aksumite wife, the General Stilicho overthrew Emperor Honorius and seized power for himself. A series of strong Germanic Emperors ruled in the 5th century, keeping the Western Empire together at the loss of Britain and Soissons.

Further losses would take place as the rising Barbarian Kings in Francia and Visigothia pushed their territorial rights whenever they saw weakness. When Emperor Remus died in battle against the Visigoths in 598, it looked as if the Western half of the Empire up to the Italian border would be lost in its entirety. A young nephew of Remus, Marcus Marcellus Priscus, was declared Emperor by his soldiers and proved his worth by pushing the Visigoths back in Hispania. He was crowned Emperor Marcellus, and the few feeble opposing claimants were assassinated before he reached Ravenna. When the old ruler of the Eastern Empire died childless, Marcellus moved to take control and proved himself again in a skirmish with the Sasanians. And so the Empire was unified.

The Sasanian threat grew larger when the Shahanshah Bozorgmehr made a shaky alliance with the White Huns. He had expected an exiled Roman prince in his court to be elevated in the Eastern Empire, and he saw the rise of Marcellus as a threat. Confident he could get the Eastern court to support his claimant, the Shahanshah invaded. Off and on wars between the two great powers followed, continuing for nearly thirty years and only ending when Bozorgmehr died. With his other sons lost on the battlefield, the Persian Empire came under control of a three year old boy, the new Shahanshah Mazdak.

In Constantinople, Marcellus split the Empire in two so that his son Flavius Marcellus Pulcher could rule the west and be prepared to control a unified Empire. Pulcher placed his capital in the young port city of Venice. In 630, German incursions through the alps became so intense that both father and son were called to fight on the border.

So when reports of increasing Saracen raids reached the Emperor, he decided to send his second son, Marcus Priscus Caesar, who would prematurely declare himself "Arabicus" before disappearing as his army was destroyed in the deserts of Syria.

Emperor Marcellus and his son, Emperor Pulcher, fight the Germans on the borders of Italy. The second Imperial son, the self-named "Arabicus", has went missing after a defeat, and an eight year old boy named Mazdak sits as Shahanshah of Persia. Blood on both sides have been spilled, and the borders of the two Empires are exhausted from thirty years of hard war. Will they be able to defend against the Saracen threat, or will the world's great civilizations fall to the Arabs and their strange new religion?

SO WHAT DO WE DO?

So I've been reading up on late antiquity quite a bit recently, and I've taken an interest in writing some stuff based on the time period. I've also wanted to experiment with the Nation genre and blur it into advanced character RPing a little more by adopting a smaller, more local-scale story. For reference, here is the base-map.

Warning: It's a map

The first thing you will probably notice is that I am an uninspired map maker. The second thing you will notice is that the region is not divided the way it historically should be for an NRP. That is because I've chosen to scale down to local governments. In some cases, like in Africa, the traditional regional nation-states are still up for grabs in their full power. The three central empires however (Rome, Persia, Islamic Arabia) are divided into their respective types of regional government. The Roman Emperor will be a hands-off NPC who I will avoid using as much as possible, and this will be explained by wars in the west that keep him occupied. The Shahanshah of Persia will be handled much the same way, though I think I will most likely explain his absence by incapability, either through extreme youth or through extreme old age. The exception will be the Caliph, who will be RPed by Dinh AaronMk. That does not mean that Aaron will have absolute control of the Arabs, as others will be allowed to control smaller Arab tribes and clans either in support of Aaron's Caliph or in spite of him.

To further explain, here is a map clarifying borders.

Warning: It's also a map

Africa, the Caucasus, and the Eastern Steppe nations will be one shade per country, whereas the shades in the three major empires represent their subdivisions. In the case of Rome, you will be RPing local appointed officials that belong to important families throughout the Empire. In Persia, you will RP the hereditary noble families and the lands they possess. In the case of the Arabs, as I said above, you will control a tribe or clan.

A third map for further explanation.

Warning: It's also a map too

THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU WILL BE LIMITED TO THE SECTIONS ON THE MAP

Rather, if you wish to be a governor or major regional political power you will be limited to those sections. If you want to play an individual, a lesser government official or local tribe, or a foreign army from somewhere else in the western world fighting as mercenaries in the east, you will be allowed to do so. If you want to be a Visigoth, or a Briton, or a Khazar, you can so long as your story remains in the middle east and you respect your limits as a stranger in a strange land.

Also, if this RP succeeds, i'd be fine with expanding the map and the storyline to cover a larger area. Hell, if we reach Precipice of War level success, we could include the entire world.

APP?

If you want to apply as a larger government of some kind, you will have to join as one of the above areas. Just one, you cannot mix and match. With the Caucasian, Turkish, and East African powers you will be a monarch. For Persia, you will be a local noble of some sort. With Rome, a local official. With the Arabs, a clan or tribe.

So long as you start within the above map area, you can also join as a smaller unnamed faction. This could be a military leader, a mercenary, or a smaller polity like a city or small desert tribe. You can also elect to RP a single person if you so chose.

Fill out what is relevant to you. Make sure to have a bio of some sort, as I need those for deciding whether or not you can fit into this world.

Leader Name:

Faction Name:

Map Province:

History/Bio:

CURRENT PLAYERS
&
CLAIMED TERRITORIES

Vilageidiotx - Diocese Oriens
Dinh AaronMk - Quraysh (Caliphate)
babbysama - House Karen-Pahlav: Media
Nerevarine - Sigbjörn "Bláserkr" Ivarsson: The Blue-Shirt Army (No Provinces)

I, Arabicus: An alternate history RP set in Late Antiquity

That does sounds interesting? Is there space for another player in Persia?

@Drunken Conquistador

Yes.