HOME | DD

Description
Another man there was who claimed to be the restorer of the world, and in the end all he did was break it. Sergios Melinaeos may very well have broken the east, but at the end of his reign his Empire was glad of him and stronger than it had been in years.

A mild-mannered noble whose possessions and property had been lost in the Kaugic invasion, Sergios was not expected to be a success. He was expected to manage the decline and, perhaps, hold on until a better candidate arose. Unfortunately for his backers, his definition of managing the decline differed from theirs. He looked upon Mesoskomos' elite, judged them, and found them wanting. And with the support his handpicked mercenaries (paid for, ironically, with the funds of the soon-to-be-purged Eastern Hierophant) he cleansed Great Cora of its parasites and leeches.

Then immediately had regrets, for it turns out that an Empire rather needs its generals, officials and lords; however useless they may seem to be. Filling ranks as best he could with men plucked haphazardly from across his realm's still vast domain, he managed to prevent further chaos by loosening Mesoskosmos' hitherto iron grip on its surviving provinces. While not quite establishing a chain of feudal ties as had been done in the long fallen west, he was able, and forced, to return some local control to local officials. And if those local officials were the richest and most powerful men locally, then so much the better! They would be loyal. Grateful. And he'd know where they lived. That was the theory, at least.

In practice, he had other things to worry about. Mercenaries served their purpose, but there wasn't enough of them and with the rich lands of the east lost to him he couldn't afford to hire more. His empire was hemorrhaging gold and silver in every direction, much of it going to keep his city from starving. He needed help. He needed men. And so he went west and, in an act that would have been an abject humiliation had it not succeeded, he asked for it.

Some may say that he, like the usurper, broke the world he claimed to rule as Kosmokrator when he invited the crusaders east.

He would say that that was the price the east needed to pay for its heresy and its rebellion. His oath was to uphold the Empire, and he went to Father Sun and Mother Moon knowing that he had done that, and done it well.

Description
Another man there was who claimed to be the restorer of the world, and in the end all he did was break it. Sergios Melinaeos may very well have broken the east, but at the end of his reign his Empire was glad of him and stronger than it had been in years.

A mild-mannered noble whose possessions and property had been lost in the Kaugic invasion, Sergios was not expected to be a success. He was expected to manage the decline and, perhaps, hold on until a better candidate arose. Unfortunately for his backers, his definition of managing the decline differed from theirs. He looked upon Mesoskomos' elite, judged them, and found them wanting. And with the support his handpicked mercenaries (paid for, ironically, with the funds of the soon-to-be-purged Eastern Hierophant) he cleansed Great Cora of its parasites and leeches.

Then immediately had regrets, for it turns out that an Empire rather needs its generals, officials and lords; however useless they may seem to be. Filling ranks as best he could with men plucked haphazardly from across his realm's still vast domain, he managed to prevent further chaos by loosening Mesoskosmos' hitherto iron grip on its surviving provinces. While not quite establishing a chain of feudal ties as had been done in the long fallen west, he was able, and forced, to return some local control to local officials. And if those local officials were the richest and most powerful men locally, then so much the better! They would be loyal. Grateful. And he'd know where they lived. That was the theory, at least.

In practice, he had other things to worry about. Mercenaries served their purpose, but there wasn't enough of them and with the rich lands of the east lost to him he couldn't afford to hire more. His empire was hemorrhaging gold and silver in every direction, much of it going to keep his city from starving. He needed help. He needed men. And so he went west and, in an act that would have been an abject humiliation had it not succeeded, he asked for it.

Some may say that he, like the usurper, broke the world he claimed to rule as Kosmokrator when he invited the crusaders east.

He would say that that was the price the east needed to pay for its heresy and its rebellion. His oath was to uphold the Empire, and he went to Father Sun and Mother Moon knowing that he had done that, and done it well.