Mantilaus Breetro

Mantilaus is the overall commander of the Byzantine Empire Army in the Greece region, and the leader of the Sicilian Population within the Empire of Byzantine. Mantilaus has become a high ranking military commander, but above this he has been named the governor of the island of Lemnos where he dominated the power structure of this island and its people.

Mentilaus Breetro was born in the Italian island of Sicily making him a Sicilian in an Empire that is blatantly Italien. His heritage has never caused a problem as he always portrayed himself as a pure blood Italian with no such Sicilian blood in him. When he arrived in Constantinople he discovered the level of Italian Nationalism that was rampant throughout the city, and he wondered whether he would have a place in such a city. He would join the military of Byzantine and would be sent to the island of Lemnos where he was to put down a rebellion against the Empire which was being led by a group of Sicilian Rebels. When he arrived he would work tirelessly diplomatically with them so that their would be no violence and he was able to do this brilliantly and make himself their leader of sorts. His promotion following this brilliant work would put him in line for the command position during the Invasion of Greece. He was the man that led the Emperor's campaigns against the nation of Athens, and was highly successful in these actions. He was able to defeat a force sent by Athens against the Spartan city of Halex, and following this victory he fought and won three more victories against the forces of Athens before he finally reached the city, and forced it to surrender to Byzantine. He would be injured during the initial counter-attack by the Romans and thus would be sidelined for the remainder of the Greek campaign but he would heal up on his island holdings of Lemnos and his reputation was in the skies at this point. His victories and overall loyalty has made him into a highly trusted member of royal court of Byzantine.

History

Early History

Mentilaus Breetro was born in the Italian island of Sicily making him a Sicilian in an Empire that is blantenly Italien. His heritage has never caused a problem as he always portrayed himself as a pureblood Italian with no such Sicilian blood in him. When he arrived in Constantinople he discovered the level of Italian Natanalism that was rampant throughout the city, and he wondered whether he would have a place in such a city. He would join the military of Byzantine and would be sent to the island of Lemnos where he was to put down a rebellion against the Empire which was being led by a group of Sicilian Rebels. When he arrived he would work tirelessly diplomatically with them so that their would be no violence and he was able to do this brilliantly and make himself their leader of sorts. His promotion following this brilliant work would put him in line for the command position during the Invasion of Greece.

Turkish Night of Tears

The Turkish Night of Tears You Children of Constantine are not freedom fighters. Your just monsters. Uneducated Monsters.

“She was the cause of all this. She poisoned his mind. Turned him into a monster.” — Theodora Constantine One of the moments that the Sons of Constantine had been waiting for in order to move forward on their plans was the departure of several prominent Generals in Constantinople of whom were very loyal to the Emperor, but through manipulation they were sent alongside Mella Constantine when she traveled to Greece on official business. It would be Antonio Constantine IV. who would travel through the Palace Grounds of House Constantine accompanied by his friends Theodosius Leonid,and Phocus Justinian of whom together with several knights of the Sons of Constantine arrive in the Gardens north of the Palace where they meet with David Bagrationi the Georgian King of whom has come to assist in the Turkish Night of Tears. Joining up with the rest of the Sons of Constantine command structure they begin lighting fires at the peaks of prominent buildings including the Hagia Sophia where the Orthodox Priests there side with the Sons of Constantine for the massacre to follow. Personally leading the Georgian troops alongside his friend David they go to the estate of House Saglik a prominent Turkish household he joins his forces in going house to house at the estate anihilating the noble family. As he leads the Sons of Constantine in a city wide attack on the Turks leading to the Night of Turkish Tears the killing continues throughout the night with only the screams and brutality of it alerting the non-Sons of Constantine Guards of whom alert the Emperor of Byzantine in the form of Julian Constantine III. of whom intervenes stopping the massacre from being complete. Tony is brought before his father and the entire Court of Constantinople where he is forced to anwser for his actions, but instead of apologizing or make excuses for what happened he plays to the crowd and gains influence amongst the court by continueing to argue for the killing of the Turks. When several Turks of the court (most noteably Akkin Ilhan of whom would yell out at Tony causing Tony's father to end the meeting.) would react angrily to this the fighting in the court begin eventually leading to the end of the meeting and Tony becoming the most popular member of the Italian Nationalist movement in Constantinople. Following the confrontation in the palace grounds it was Julian Constantine that would make the decision to turn against his son Antonio believing that now Antonio was no longer fit to rule in his stead and he would make the unfortunate mistake of making this decision known to his wife Mella Constantine of whom supported him but was accompanied by several handmaidens of which most critically Natashia Constantine was among. With Julian, and Mella unaware of the relationship between Antonio and Natashia they were unaware of the consequences and fearing for her lover Antonio Natashia would poison the cup of Julian which led to him becoming very sick and unable to call for the arrest of Antonio as he had been planning. Julian would find himself on his deathbed nearly dying from this poison but through the work of the High Priest of Constantinople he would survive the poison but was left near comatose at his bedside where he was cared to by Mella and her handmaidens including Natashia. With Julian lying in this near comatose state the violence of the massacre of the Sons of Constantine were left to fester with no reprisals or punishment and this led to many violent street riots between Ostrogothic citizens, and Turkish Citizens of which the army of Constantinople stayed out of allowing the near two days of lawlessness in the streets before on the third day the return of Antonio to the palace would push things into an entirely new direction. Conversation Incoming I cannot believe it has come to this. When I was a child the Roman Empire stretched from Hispania in the west, to parts of Francia in the north, to Africanas in the south, and pieces of Greece in the east. First Africanas had fallen, and we looked around and thought to ourselves that we still stood triumphent. What was Africanas. A land of savages we thought. I must admit that even in my own heart I thought that. Thousands upon thousands had fallen but it was so far from our home that what real danger could the Orcs pose to us here in Rome. It wasn't until Hispania fell that I actually think we saw what was happening to the Empire. When Hispania fell I think you noble Senators felt it in your pockets as well. The gold wasn't flowing as it once had to your endless pockets. But still you stood. Still you did nothing. How has it come to this that we now stand fighting for our lives in Italia itself. We have allowed ourselves to become corrupted by greed, and hatred of things, and in this failure we have let the monsters through the door. We have allowed those creatures of the night that once would not have dared to come to Rome to come right inside. Here we stand. Rome itself is burning. The entire empire is bleeding. This is where our failure has brought us. "Prince Constantine the fourth you are brought here today to anwser for the crimes of the previous night." "Perhaps you should enlighten me to the crimes of which you speak. I had a very busy day." "You stand accused of leading the killings of hundreds of innocent citizens and the targeted assasinations of several prominent noblemen, and their families." "If you are speaking of those filth, then I do not accept your calling of them citizens." "Son this is "What do you want me to say father?" He continued to stare at me without any real emotion. "Do you want me to tell you and the Council that I am sorry?" "I want you to explain why you would do this." "I did this father because these men." I pointed at Akkin Ilhan of whom Natashia had told me all the disgusting things he had done to the children of this city. "People like this man do not deserve to live in Byzantine." There was a gasp as I spoke the words from many of the Councillors, but also rising from the low whisper before came the cries of agreement from many in the chambers. "Lord Ilhan is an honored and trusted member of the Senate here. You have no reason to question him in these halls." "Everyone in this room knows the truth of the monster that the Ilhan's are." I looked away from my father speaking to the assembled senators. "My father wants you to continue playing the role of the idiot. He wants you to ignore the truth we all know about this man." With the sickness of the emperor several prominent members of the Byzantine Empire would be recalled back to the capital with Julian having his son Phillipicus Constantine III. recalled to the capital and he planned to name him the new heir of the empire, while he also recalled his brother Damian Constantine of whom he had always appreciated the advise of and realizing the situation he was in he knew his brothers advise would be very important. While this was happening it was Antonio that spent time with the brothers of his lover Natashia and the three of them alongside David Bagrationi would join the rioting and during this Antonio would witness the violence of Natashia's brothers when they raped the daughters of a Turkish family, and this would be a shocking moment for Antonio of whom could not stand the violence against women. Killing of Toygar Ilhan “I remember the quiet boy who used to show his sister how to sail. How did you fall so far brother?” — Theodora Constantine It was days following the confrontation at the Imperial Senate when Antonio finally returned to the Imperial Palace and upon his arrival he found his father was extremely sick, but refusing to see him despite his mother pleading with Antonio to see his father, and thus ignoring his father he was confronted by his two sisters Nella Constantine, and Theodora Constantine of whom verbally attacked him for his racism. During this argument his sister Theodora would reveal to her brother that she was romantic with Toygar Ilhan of which led to him storming out of the Palace Grounds and then accompanied by several Palace Guards, and several of his close friends he went to the Turkish Market where he would find Toygar Ilhan working one of his fathers stores. Confronting Toygar on this there was little conversation as once Toygar admitted to the relationship it would be Antonio of whom would kill Toygar decapitating him in front of his mother and then leaving him dead in the street, and this caused fighting at the market which led to the deaths of nearly a dozen people in the market as they were cut down by the Palace Guard trying to protect the heir. Fighting there way out killed well over a dozen more but they got out of the Turkish market where fighting then broke out between the Turkish people following Antonio and Ostrogothic citizens who begin fighting in the streets. The fighting would burn down much of the western section of the Turkish Market and killed hundreds by its end, with the army of Constantinople forced to move in and seperate the two rioting factions. “Do you wait for me to say I am sorry father. I shall not apologize. I am going to cleanse this city of the mistakes your reign has allowed to grow within it.” — Antonio Constantine IV. The rioting went on for three days with even the Constantinople army unable to stop it from spreading, and during this time the now increasingly popular Sons of Constantine were responsible for nearly a thousand more deaths just on their own with the rioting killing twice that number of citizens with Turks bearing the supreme brunt of these deaths. Conversation Incoming I cannot believe it has come to this. When I was a child the Roman Empire stretched from Hispania in the west, to parts of Francia in the north, to Africanas in the south, and pieces of Greece in the east. First Africanas had fallen, and we looked around and thought to ourselves that we still stood triumphent. What was Africanas. A land of savages we thought. I must admit that even in my own heart I thought that. Thousands upon thousands had fallen but it was so far from our home that what real danger could the Orcs pose to us here in Rome. It wasn't until Hispania fell that I actually think we saw what was happening to the Empire. When Hispania fell I think you noble Senators felt it in your pockets as well. The gold wasn't flowing as it once had to your endless pockets. But still you stood. Still you did nothing. How has it come to this that we now stand fighting for our lives in Italia itself. We have allowed ourselves to become corrupted by greed, and hatred of things, and in this failure we have let the monsters through the door. We have allowed those creatures of the night that once would not have dared to come to Rome to come right inside. Here we stand. Rome itself is burning. The entire empire is bleeding. This is where our failure has brought us. "Stop being a fucking idiot Tony." "I'm not being an idiot sister. All I am doing is finally be honest about these people." "That witch has whispered into your ear lies brother. You are a good person Tony. You know all of this violence is for nothing. You don't want to do this." "I remember the quiet boy who used to show his sister how to sail. How did you fall so far brother?" "I woke up Theodora. I woke the fuck up." I stormed away from her no longer wanting to see the look of disappointment in their eyes. I could hear the crying of Nella as I stormed off, and I felt a tear run down my cheek. Were they right? Natashia had finally told me the truth and now that I knew this was the only answer. If father refused to see me then I would find my mother. My mother was the one person who I knew would tell me the truth of it. Was I the monster my sister's told me I was? Or was I the hero Natashia and everyone else told me I was becoming. "You call yourself the children of Constantine. Your like to believe that somehow in all your violent rhetoric that you are freedom fighters. You Children of Constantine are not freedom fighters. Your just monsters. Uneducated Monsters." "You speak words, but do you know what I hear from you?" "What?" "The last words of a dead man." No more words were needed, as I pulled the sword from my side and raised it up. For a moment I saw his eyes as he realized what was coming. There was a shock to him. Whatever he believed me capable of it surely wasn't this. As the sword struck his neck clean through his head flew aside hitting his father behind him causing a scream to go up from his mother, and sister. One of the Turkish guards went for his sword but I stabbed him through the chest before he could get it out of his scabbard, and he fell dead. As the other guards unsheathed their swords they were struck down by my own guards, and with their deaths the entire street was nothing but screaming. As the fighting continued it would be Natashia's brothers Vitiges Ermanaric, and Mitiges Dermaric that would continue the works of their sister when they led their own personal force which they had been expanding for years through the assistance of their sister and they targeted Turkish politicians, and generals throughout the city in targeted assassinations leading to a serious loss of both Turkish intellectuals in the city but also Turkish military strategists in the city. Marriage “I do not agree with your decisions brother. I do not think the road you are going down leads anywhere but death. But. You trusted me when no one elce did. You believed in me when no one else did. I will follow you now. I will trust you now.” — Nella Constantine Antonio avoids the calls of his father to see him at the Palace as the hooks of Natashia have gone so far that the two are now planning a wedding and with the Byzantine Orthodox Church supportive of the Sons of Constantine the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church in the form of Photius Corelius I. would invite him to pray with him at the Saint Sophia and accepting this he went there with Natashia and the top tier of the Sons of Constantine providing them a safe place while the rioting died down in the streets. Before the wedding Antonio would attempt to involve his family and after his mother agreed to come to the wedding he would meet with his sister Nella of whom he had always been very close with, but he was quite conserned that she had been turned against him by his sister Theodora. Arriving at Nella's room he would find her staring out the window at the boats in the dock and taking her back to their childhood he was able to push through the recent events and bring Nella back to his side convincing her that everything he had done and planned to do was for the betterment of the people of Byzantine, and trusting the brother who had been her best friend for years she would also agree to go to the wedding and also agreed to support his brother in all things. Photius would bless the marriage of Natashia and Antonio despite the Emperor himself being the one who should bless the marriage, and thus with a blessing Natashia and Antonio were married in the Saint Sophia. Antonio following a blissful night with Natashia falls asleep knowing that things are going very well for him, but despite this a tears runs down his cheek as he thinks on all the violence, and also the distance between himself and his family.

Byzantine Expansion

The Expansion of Byzantine It was of vital importance to the long term strength of the Empire that we controlled the coast lines. The Empire of Nehekhara may be unaproachable on the ground, but it would be interesting to see long term how they did if we cut them off at every one of their ports, and starved off their trade routes.

The Byzantine Empire had once stretched across all of Greece and into parts of Croatia, but over the years revolts, and rebellions had led to all of Greece falling out of the hands of Byzantine. “My father was a great man. He should be remembered as a great emperor. His legacy will be this moment right now. I owe him everything and I will make sure everything I do from this point forward only adds to his legacy.” — Antonio Constantine IV. Having crushed the Turkish Rebellion and been crowned the emperor of the Byzantine Empire the control of the empire and all that meant was firmly at the palm of Antonio Constantine IV. When Constantine IV took power there was a general sense that this man was someone who was very expansionist, and almost an extreme nationalist in his leanings. For the powers in Constantinople this was great, as they always wanted more. But when he did come to power and was in place for good, the nobles of Constantinople begin to realize that they were dealing with a very calculating leader, who was extremely charismatic, and intelligent. In his early days he begin several high profile meetings with the power bases in the Empire in an attempt to galvanize support for the campaigns he was planning to undertake. For thos being met with it became clear that you were either with him, or very much against him. He proved this point when he had the third most powerful house in Constantinople completely destroyed after they were involved in a plot against him. With this action it became clear what he was capable of and the rest of the nobles fell quickly into line. With his powerbase under control, he went about planning for his expansion into the surrounding regions. Constantines desire to expand the Empire led him to many expansionary strategies, of which the first stage of which was the control of the eastern Mederateranian. Expansion “The control of the Empire of Nehekhara had gone unchallenged for far too long, and I was going to make sure that they understood this wasn't their land.” — Antonio Constantine IV. Tony Constantines desire to expand the Empire led him to many expansionary strategies, of which the first stage of which was the control of the eastern Mederateranian. In this regard he pushed his internal allies very hard to build up their strength, and he built up a large navy which he knew would allow him to gain the initiative in the area. His other goal during this period was the growth of the Ostrogoths in Anatolia of whom he was preparig for his eventual movement into the lands of the Empire of Nehekhara. In order to do this he sent in a large number of his intellectuals into the region of Anatolia where they proceeded to even further advance the urban growth of the Ostrogoths, and in this way also increased their industrial properties allowing them to make their military forces stronger then what they were at the time. So as the expansion prepared to move forward it was with complete shock that the surrounding kingdoms had no idea that any of this was even going on. Western Expansion “The Greeks were so foolishly devided that you told one of them the other one hated him and they just killed eachother without even checking.” — Antonio Constantine IV. In order to do this he went about campaigns against the Greeks and the Bulgarians. Moving large forces to these borders he used a strategy of infiltrating the goverments of these areas to turn their own forces against themselves, to the point that they were fighting themselves more then they were fighting the encroachment of the Byzantines. In only 2 years he pacified greece and expanded his holdings in Bulgaria to the point that he was heralded in the streets for the largest expansion of the Empire since the Civil War.

The First Byzantine-Nehekhara War

Main Article : The First Byzantine-Nehekhara War

The First Byzantine-Nehekhara War The Parthians have distracted them. The time is now for us to deal a blow to Nehekhara which will even the odds between us. We are the true nation of Jesus, and tomorrow we shall show them that.

“Quote” — Person Invasion of Armenia Hattian Uprising Main Article : Hattian Uprising Laknasu Antulu would instigate his years of planning as the Byzantine attacks on the western Armenian forts achieved success and led to the Armenian forces moving to reinforce the front line, and as his plan moved into its start he mobilized thousands of the most elite of his Hattian forces for the event known as the Hattian Coup of Armenia. During the Hattian Uprising it was Laknasu that would lead the butcher of the town of Talin which stood as his birth place but had become the site of his hatred of the Armenians and during this massacre he started the total war attitude that would permiate the Armenian front when he ordered the killing of men, women, and children leaving no quarter. Inna Kalanth would lead one of the most brutal actions of the Hattian Uprising when she led the assault on the city of Satik where having eliminated the military garrison in a series of brutal killings and ambushes she would be present when they unconditionally surrendered, but as per her orders she would execute all the Armenians in the city leaving none alive. Fall of Talin Elise Balabanian would be in the Armenian city of Talin during the Byzantine-Nehekhara War and when the Byzantine forces surrounded the city she took command of the defense after much of the Hattians in the city begin rioting but once she did this the hattians showed the rioting was just to show who would take control and Elise would be killed alongside the entirety of the Armenian leadership of Talin. Treaty of Antioch Bartev would be sent to Sirat following the collapse of western Armenia by his father who wanted Bartev to convince the Wiras of Turkey Ediz Sokmen to force the Musir of the Nehekhara forces fighting the Byzantines that the fight was over and to sue for peace. Arriving at Sirat it was Bartev that brought the letter of his father to Ediz and he found Ediz was in a state of panic as the Byzantines had been able to capture the fortress of Antioch and fearing his own position at Sirat it was Ediz that supported the call for peace from Garen Manvellian and would travel alongside Bartev to Aleppo where Nadir-Musir Ugurlu was leading the defense of Aleppo.