Heresson's scenario news

[Heresson]

Well. just to inform that while I need (from several months...) very little to finish Heraclius, I'm working over Muslim-playable version of it. It will use the same artwork mostly, but will have all the files separate.
So, generally, it'll be a scenario about the rise of Muslim empire, from 622 to something like 750: Muhammad, the first 4 caliphs, and the Umayyad dinasty.
When I finish it, and it's not all that much work, I'll probably do a Persian-playable version of Heraclius, about Chosroes Parviz. I count on once-promessed help of Stefan...
The differenc between Heraclius and the Muhammad scn will be big, as in Heraclius You defend, while in Muhammad You conquer. My main problem right now is up till now, after several days of work, the scn is playable already, but to conquer, You need to use just one type of unit actually, and it's a bit boring. Siege engines later may be nice, but i need something to make cavalry worth using, except for camels. Perhaps i;ll give it ignore-city-walls flag.

[Stefan Härtel]

I count on once-promessed help of Stefan...

Right here!

[Heresson]

Who's Eddie?
Any suggestions for the task?
I'm not going to spend too much time over it.
I'll use the graphics from Heraclius, perhaps You can suggest some more Persian wonders except for Persepolis and Ctesiphon. And tell me where the heck the Dastagird or whatever is located. The capital that Heraclius took. Can't find it on maps. Perhaps it has some other names.

[fairline]

Excellent The expansion of Islam has been neglected in scenarios

[Justinianum]

Originally posted by Heresson
And tell me where the heck the Dastagird or whatever is located. The capital that Heraclius took. Can't find it on maps. Perhaps it has some other names.

Dastegird (Dastagerd in my byzanthine history book) was the defenseless royal family residence. I don't know too where it is, but since Eraclius won the battle of Niniveh in december 627 and entered in Dastegird shortly after christmas, I guess it's not so far from Niniveh. Sorry, but that's all I know

[Stefan Härtel]

Who's Eddie?

The mascot of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden; this guy.

Any suggestions for the task?
I'm not going to spend too much time over it.

An initial idea would be to rename Persian factories or manufactory plants into "Christian communities". Persian Christians were quite hard-labouring, which is partly due to laws of that time. Many were treated almost like slaves in Persia. I suggest you email me at shaertel2000@yahoo.NOSPAM.co.uk (without the NOSPAM bit) so we can talk about this in detail.

perhaps You can suggest some more Persian wonders except for Persepolis and Ctesiphon.

The most important would be Takht-e-Soleiman, where the biggest and most important Persian temple at that time was. Some other ideas would be Naqsh-e-Rostam, Behistun and others like Persian heritage or Mazdak's teachings.

And tell me where the heck the Dastagird or whatever is located.

Dastagerd is a bit north of Ctesiphon (between 1-3 tiles, depending on the size of your map).

[Heresson]

Originally posted by fairline
Excellent The expansion of Islam has been neglected in scenarios

That's true, I think only a scn by Aleksy Andriewski and one Cross&Crescent (no, not Bebro's!) covered it. It's very suprising, especially all the fuss around islam lately

I'll mail You, Stefan

[Heresson]

And Thank You all

[Heresson]

ekh, but don't think it'll all come quick. Right now I have a lot to read for my biggest exam this year. But I'll be working between books. But I'm gonna have enough time to finish all in september i think.

[Valuk]

Looking forward to it. Keep up the good work!

[Heresson]

Thanks

[Heresson]

Hi!
I'm back to work
Anybody wants to help me?
Playtesting, help with the tech tree...?
Do You have any ideas for wonders or techs of the times of Mauritius, Heraclius and VII century?

[Exile]

Commentary

Heresson, one of your comments above piqued my attention and triggered a memory of something read recently in the Columbia World History;

"For all of the hypothetical 'exhaustion' of Byzantium and Persia, or the 'fanaticism' of the Arabs, it remains difficult to explain the Muslim blitzkreig, and particularly the rapid capitulation of such formidable fortress cities as Alexandria, Damascus, or Ctesiphon to small, poorly-equiped Arab detachments, untrained in siege warfare, and facing sophisticated fortifications and highly skilled professional armies, unless we postulate some degree of fifth-column activity on the part of disaffected native religious minorities, such as the Jews, and particularly the Monophysites, whom Justinian's legislation had reduced to second-class citizenship."

And yet, I have difficulty believing that religious minority communities within the Byzantine empire could have subverted the defenses, especially when one considers carefully the strengths of Heraclius' armies and the long heritage of imperial occupation of Syria, Egypt, Palestine, and north Africa. And then there is this, more pithy analysis from an obscure, yet intrigueing work of fiction;

"There is an absolute mystery covering all the early Islamic expansion and military conquest. There is no possible way these things could have happened. Circumstances sometimes put forward to explain these happenings are in fact later circumstances created by these same happenings. The clear truth is that the desert Arabs were absolutely inferior to all their neighbors in wealth, numbers, technology, health, ability, intellect, location, ambition, sophistication, weaponry, organization, transportation and experience in warfare. Their victories could not have been won in reality. It had to be a subjective religious rapture to make it seem to the Arabs that they were conquering. But how was the exterior world and its peoples conned into authenticating these subjective experiences of the miserable Arabs? Moreover, Islam was not then a rapture religion--it did not become so until two centuries later. Nor was Islam then a militant religion--it became so only after the completion of those astonishing, early world-shaking conquests."

These comments about the appearance of the Arabs on the international scene are only a sample of what I've seen on this subject. It remains mysterious to me, and, apparently, to others as well.

[curtsibling]

I put their early triumphs down to mutant camels, created by Aliens!

[Heresson]

Re: Commentary

[SIZE=1]
And yet, I have difficulty believing that religious minority communities within the Byzantine empire could have subverted the defenses, especially when one considers carefully the strengths of Heraclius' armies and the long heritage of imperial occupation of Syria, Egypt, Palestine, and north Africa.

There are several factors that have to be taken into consideration.
First of all, Heraclius himself.
He almost didn't try to defend Syria, to the extent that Muslim tradition made a Muslim out of Him. It was because of his age, and because of his commonly criticised marriage with his niece, Martina.
He died soon. That's a case when it comes to Syria.
When it comes to Egypt, things are even more complicated. As Heraclius died, the state was in complete chaos, and when Arabs came and defeated Romans under Babylon fortress, it agreed on a peace signed by orthodox patriarch Kyros, which gave entire Egypt into Arab hands. Worth saying that Kyros, as melkite patriarch, was the chief of secular administration too. He was accused of treachery. It is assumed that He thought He would keep his position in Egypt after accepting Muslim dominance - which would make Him a separate ruler of Egypt, while this dominance turned into a direct rule immediatelly
Africa defended well for a long time; if I remember it well, the final fall of it was due to a civil war, when a Roman African fleet protecting the cities moved east to participate in it, and Arabs took the chance.

WHat might have influenced Heraclius' decision of abandoning Syria was perhaps that his politics of monotheletism didn't gain a wider acceptance, that the Roman forces were defeated several times, and his brother, Theodor, has died during one of the battles;
what was the most important was that Banu Ghassan Kingdom was destroyed. It is fact of a great significance.
It's been a great Arab kingdom with center in Hawran I think, it was - like Banu Lakhm kingdom when it comes to Persia - a center of Arabic culture, and it was on a much higher level of civilisation than early Muslim. They were Christian too. The fall of this kingdom made Syria opened for Muslim invasion, just like the troubles of Lakhm kingdom invited Muslims into Mesopotamia.
The army that fighted the early Muslim invasions in Syria
was largely Christian Arab. I've read they simply weren't paid, so they abandoned Romans and joined Muslim army (not changing their denomination, though)


I don't understand this tuff with rapture religion?

Nor was Islam then a militant religion--it became so only after the completion of those astonishing, early world-shaking conquests."

Oh yes it was