Tyranny of Steel

Emperor Vetranis Palaiologos sat in the confines of his throne room. Standing before him were his greatest advisors. Strategos Palladius from the Balkans, the first Prince Quintus, and several other military advisors. In recent days, Prince Quintus had unknowingly been influenced by German operatives to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the holy land. 

Quintus was a spiteful man, despite his peace-loving appearance. After being outdone by a foreign monarch in his area of expertise, he wanted nothing more to shatter Berengar's peace between the Orthodox and Catholic worlds. To do this, he needed to find a way to establish a peace with the Crusaders, while abandoning the Timurids to continue the fight. Unknowingly, this spiteful nature of his was what allowed him to be played by Berengar like a fiddle. 

The Byzantine and Timurid Empire had suffered defeat after defeat since this crusade began. However, recently their losses were monumental, and this was because Berengar secretly began leaking rifling technology and gunpowder to the opposition.

By now the Catholic Church was wielding a mixture of arkebuses, matchlock smoothbore muskets, and matchlock rifled muskets. There was also an increasing supply of drake cannons being introduced; because of this, the enemy of the Byzantine and Timurid Empires had a superior range with their weapons. 

Though France's army was broken, and they were forced to withdraw back to their homeland. The remaining Catholic states still supported the Crusade, and gained even further ground, pressing the Byzantine and Timurid forces out of Syria, Palestine, and extending the length of their territory to the borders of Egypt. 

Vetranis was practically pulling the hair out of his head as he sought to find a solution to this crisis. He had fought for many years to reconnect the borders of the Eastern Roman Empire to the state they were in during the split of Rome back in 395 AD, and over the course of a year, he had lost Syria-Palestine. This could not stand, and thus he was quick to voice his discontent towards his military advisors. 

"How did the Catholics get their hands on rifling technology? More importantly, where are they getting their gunpowder? Does anybody know the answer to this question?"

Palladius, who had the largest spy network in the Byzantine Empire, was quick to voice the conclusions he had come to after investigating these matters. 

"Our contacts in German intelligence inform us there was a mole who leaked the technology to the Catholics. He has since been dealt with. As for the gunpowder, we believe it is coming from India and is being transported by the golden horde. So unless you want to open up a northern front into this war, I suggest we accept the circumstances for what they are."

Vetranis had a hard time accepting this news, but all he could really do was sigh in defeat. It was at this moment that Quintus voiced his concerns. 

"Father, our forces are depleted, and unless we want to take soldiers from the Balkans, it is unwise to continue fighting this war any further. We need to come to a peaceful solution to this problem. I suggest we open negotiations with the Papacy, so that we can come to some form of agreement on the holy land. If we continue to fight this war, not only will we be bankrupted, we will also lose so much more than we have already lost."

Upon hearing the word bankrupted, Vetranis immediately shivered in fear. He knew that he was emptying the Empire's coffers at a rapid rate in order to pay for this war effort. Hell, most of the weapons and armor his troops were equipped with came from Germany, and though they received a discount, the cost seemed to be a never ending pit of money. 

Palladius wanted to counter this point, but he was already in a secret alliance with Berengar, having the objective of placing Alexandros on the throne. He knew full well what the Kaiser's plan was and allowed Quintus to convince his father to agree to a disastrous treaty.

Thus, he sat back and sighed, knowing that he would be damning the Empire for a few years in the hopes that a true leader could rise from the despair and lead them to their former glory. Upon noticing Palladius' silence, Quintus continued to convince his father to negotiate with the Catholic Forces.

"Father, heed my words. Further conflict will only prove to ruin the Empire. We must negotiate! Even if our Timurid allies wish to continue the fight!"

Vetranis was slightly concerned that the Sultan Salan would not agree to peace, and would continue to fight against the Crusader armies until his forces were completely exhausted. However, what Quintus said was true. They were already at the breaking point financially. If they continued this war, they would have to go into debt to their German Allies, and that was something that Vetranis would never do again.

Berengar was a scheming bastard, and Vetranis knew this all too well. The last time he went in debt to the Kaiser, the devious cunt had trapped him in debt, and made outrageous demands of him in return for cancelling a portion of it. It forced Vetranis to give up his daughter's hand in marriage to the polygamous scoundrel, not to mention land in Egypt.

He feared what demand the man would make when the Empire was incapable of paying off its debt this time around.  If it was between going into debt with the Reich, or surrendering the Holy Land to the Catholics, then Vetranis would rather do the latter. After all, he could always get back the land the Crusaders took from him in a few years.

The Byzantine Emperor did not know what his German counterpart wanted from him, but whatever the Kaiser would demand in return for cancelling this debt, he knew in his heart it would be too much for him to agree to. Thus, he could only sigh in defeat and agree to his son's request for a peaceful solution to the conflict. 

"Very well, I shall send word to the Pope, expressing my intent for peace. We will meet in neutral ground and thoroughly discuss an end to this war. We can't afford to go into debt to the Reich once more. Instead, we will suffer this loss, and slowly build back our military strength until we can reclaim the holy land from those catholic bastards!"

Quintus was pleased with this arrangement, and Palladius merely nodded his head in agreement. Internally, he knew that the peace accords would end in a disaster for the Byzantine Empire. The Pope was listening to whispers by Berengar's agents about a vengeful peace towards the east. Naturally, this idea was touted as a means of propaganda to show what happens to those who side with Germany.

By the time Vetranis officially surrendered, the Byzantine Empire would be in debt to the Papacy, their armies would be limited, and the crusaders would confiscate their lands south of Anatolia. This would cause destitution among the people, as many refugees fled the former boundaries of the Empire and into the enclave that was formed in the Balkans and Asia Minor. 

Undoubtedly, Decentius and Vetranis would be held responsible for this abysmal treaty, and by the time the current Emperor passed away, there would be demands for someone other than Decentius to claim the throne.

When this happened, there would only be two candidates. One would be Quintus' womanizing drunkard of a little brother, which nobody supported. The other was the offspring of the beloved Princess Honoria, and her husband, who was a man renowned for leading Germany to new heights. It was a no brainer who would be selected, but just in case, Palladius, with the support of the Reich, would gather both his faction, and the hawks, to support Alexandros when the time came. 

With Berengar's support, Decentius' reign as the Byzantine Emperor would be short-lived, and after a successful coup d'etat, Alexandros would be given the throne. Palladius could only admire the level of scheming Berengar had gone through to make this future a reality. After all, a debt trap would not compel Vetranis to name Alexandros his successor, especially now that he was growing paranoid about the prospect of being overthrown by the Kaiser. 

The death of Hasan, and the inheritance of his kingdom by Berengar's son Ghazi, made Vetranis wary that the same thing could happen to him. After all, he had married off his only daughter to the Kaiser via a matrilineal marriage. At first Vetranis did not understand the reason why Berengar was so eager to give up his offspring with Honoria to their mother's dynasty. However, with the recent events in Iberia, he now understood Berengar's true intentions. 

Naturally Berengar had calculated this Paranoia, and thus he did not attempt to negotiate via debt trap diplomacy like he had done in order to ensure his marriage to Honoria. Instead, he chose a more fiendish approach, one that even Vetranis in his Paranoia would not expect. 

With this meeting adjourned, the Byzantine Emperor would soon meet with the Pope and unwittingly knock over the first domino that would eventually establish Alexandros as the future Emperor of the East. As for Quintus, he had played his part perfectly. All Berengar had to do now was wait a few years and reap the harvest of his schemes.