SELECTIONS FROM THE EPISTLES OF MEGAS DOMESTIKOS PRYTANEIOS MUKRIOTOS

Excerpt from a letter written in 1015 VTE, the 4th year of Ioannes V Euphorbenos' reign. Letter is numbered 08.07, as it comes from the 8th 'volume' of Prytaneios' writings, and is the 7th surviving letter in that grouping from which we have anything cohesive. It is widely suspected that Prytaneios knew he'd be writing for historians and students seeking some kind of first-person perspective on key events of this period, and that is why he provides so many unnecessary details his contemporaries were sure to know. Air-tight chests found buried containing the colors of enemy companies, sundry but low-value belongings of Prytaneios' associates, along with quick notes on parchment about why things were included in these chests certainly support that notion. Often times these informational writings, numbered in this collection as CC.XX do not match up with official court-sponsored accounts, seemingly on accident, but he took great care to make sure his writings properly matched contemporary material culture. It is thus possible for historians to do things as varied as track fashion trends in border cities, reconstruct troop movements down to the meter and squad level, accurately map out supply chains for key luxury goods and foodstuffs, and even separate pottery styles from culture and language--he obsessively catalogued where vessels came from and how certain people groups came to manufacture specific styles.

My name is Prytaneios Mukriotos, the Eparch of Heliopolis and also named strategos of the Loumikonian Tagma. I was originally born in the Empire of Ayakkayoli, to an ancient family whose roots were drawn primarily from /wvt/ and Haachama--ancestral tales boldly claim ancient ties to the early priestly orders of both Haato and Natsumi Moe, but details so specific are sparse. All I can confirm of my bloodline's primordial origins is that we lived on the periphery of heartland culture under the globe-spanning Kizunite Empire like most of today's prominent families did, and that we made...some attempts to connect to the sage cultures connected with both Moe and Mirai Akari, but no indication of success has emerged, and most attempts to connect with the origins of Haaton civilization seemingly fell just short until the decades immediately after the great plague which crumbled the already decaying Kizunite Empire from within. Nevertheless, we survived, and the Mukriotos clan somehow grew from a traveling merchant and innkeeping family to a decently-sized local landholding tribe in the northern coastal areas of Ayakkayoli.

In hindsight, though, leading my family and two entire themata into defection should not come as a surprise to the reader. We had already sent cadet branches to settle in Lagoseia with mild success, and Arkouda, which did not go nearly as well as planned. We still had local contacts, however, and eventually, my grandfather came with the bulk of the family to settle in lands near the Ayakkayoli/Syndoneia border, as it was back then, not long after the establishment of Ayakkayoli's Canichoriote province. The decision proved prescient. By the time I had become the equivalent of a tourmarch in the armies of Ayakkayoli, my family had become in a way Syndenized. The culture was wealthier, the language held more pull, technology was advancing faster, and more doors for international commerce were open to those fluent in the ways of Syndoneia. When Basileus Phillippos III began integrating the two realms into one, I immediately began integrating leading the higher officers of my tagma into the main Syndeoneian command structure, and after the death of Strategos Arapis Lampsi's hastily-chosen deputy during a punitive expendition against the Monoemachos tribe in VOMs, I was acclaimed strategos in his place. Philippos did not care--he knew I was his man, and he knew I would seek to make sure as much land as possible would remain in Syndeoneian hands after the conclusion of his reign.

Once again, my luck was obscene--due to being on a critical front during the three-way scrum between Georgios, Andronikos, and Ioannes, I was not forced to declare loyalty to any of the three, and simply broadcasted my crushing defeat of a numerically superior Aetherian-VOMs army outside of Nikeia not too long before Ioannes was deemed the true survivor of the Time of Troubles. Perhaps I am a coward, an opportunist, or a true traitor. It matters not, I'm aware of my own character failings and that's all that matters. I simply concern myself these days with dispatching old allies-turned enemy brigands when their raids spill over the new border.

Excerpt of 08.15, concerning Prytaneios' recounting and cursory analysis of Third Nikeia's impact on the Time of Troubles. Part of a much longer letter, and some believe 08.15 and 08.34 should be placed as part of a short series of separate letters, designated 08M.XX detailing the personal history and thought processes behind what Prytaneios titled the Ironheart Plan, Iteration 4 that drastically overhauled military matters within Syndeoneia. This excerpt is therefore taken from 08M.02, with 08M.01 being a letter of the VOMs campaign where Prytaneios rose to strategos rank, that has had to be rebuilt from no less than 12 separate fragments discovered at different times.

Many people are no doubt seeking an account of Third Nikeia, as it is more compact and exciting than the preceding two. As many know, First Nikeia was actually a six-month guerilla campaign that spanned the lowland forests between Amaseia, Herakleia-in-Amareias, and Nikeia itself. Second Nikeia was a grueling year-long siege battle that saw many of the city's defenses in disrepair after Arapis' successor's defensive lines collapsed several months after First Nikeia. A year after this, and by the time the civil war was winding down, I had to march the shattered remnants of the Canichoriote, Amarikiyan, Klephtikan, and Tsipouran tagmata north to relieve the city once again. I had just shy of 30,000 men under arms, with their equipment far from standard, a tenuous supply situation, and lots of open terrain at their backs. Facing my cobbled-together force were five full-strength Aetherian tagmata and a further 8,000 hand-picked warriors from VOMs. 68,000 regulars with comparable elan and technology to my force. The Alchemillan, Utanopeian, Mavrikoukleiote, Touavgonian, and Oumiyan tagmata were arrainged in full kit. They were led by Nychxtos Soras, the Mavrikoukleiote strategos--a competent and respected commander, but one whose combination of ambition and tendency towards logistical myopia worried many inside and outside the rebel army.

Unfortunately, I had nowhere else to fight. Nikeia is the most critical of Syndeoneia's northern fortress belt, everyone knows this. If my army collapsed here, or even I failed to cut down the opposing force enough in the course of my defeat, it was likely the massive Ayakkayolite army could have rampaged for months unopposed in the Empire's most fertile stretches of coastline...and perhaps forced a long-term border fixture as far south and east as the Demetrian river.

I had two clear advantages, though--my artillery was, on average, smaller and more numerous than theirs. I had dozens of bastard falconets, many swivel culverins, and even ten Coffee Mill Guns--infernally complicated pieces that would fire canister ball-sized shot from twenty barrels rotated by a hand-crank. They took a very long time to load, but when mounted on a swivel, were superior to earlier ribauldequins at systematically and precisely cutting down entire ranks of infantry in rapid succession. Loading, building earthworks for, and repositioning my guns would thus be easier, with more replacement pieces for inevitable losses during the pre-skirmish gunnery duels. My second advantage was that I also had unfettered access to the irrigation systems outside the city, and had my combat engineers rig up systems that could pump water from nearby streams and canals directly over and onto leather wrappings surrounding each culverin, enabling longer firing periods without forcing the guns to cool down. I could use my artillery as a force multiplier more easily than the enemy could. Our cavalry was mostly equal--VOMs had far better light cavalry and their contingents were more mobile. Mine had heavier armor, better carbines, and better artillery support.

Frankly it was a slaughter. Knowing how the enemy army would fight, I unlimbered and fired my Mill Guns at a key moment when the enemy tagmata sent forward several tourmai of elite shock troops to try and breach our main firing lines. Thanks to the intense close-range fusillade plus my shorter but 8-deep lines firing at precise intervals, the 5th Alchemillan, 1st Utanopeian, 3rd Mavrikoukleiote, 9th Touavgonian, and 1st Oumiyan tourmai came close to literally melting away in the battle's opening phase, with battle honors stretching back as long as six centuries no longer having anybody to hold them proudly aloft. Perhaps a stroke of luck, but under pain of death, my lines held back and began reloading while my close combat specialist infantry moved forward to corset the left flank--I had more of them than my opponents did, somehow, 2400 to 1000, consolidated many of my heavier armor suits onto these men, and sent them off to break stalemate in the upcoming musketry slog. Whilst my specialists acquitted themselves well and concentrating them helped roll up the enemy right several hundred meters, they had to stage a fighting retreat when a mere 640-odd men were left after the full force of the Aetherian cavalry reserve bore down on them and successfully closed. At least the enemy's pike and greatsword contingents were practically wiped out, giving them a decidedly suboptimal siege vanguard for future battles.

As the armies pulled back to lick wounds, I had lost 25 cannon, took just under 3000 casualties (nearly a tenth of my force), nearly all from the previous melee, whilst the enemy army suffered over 6500 casualties, a significant portion of which came from their "grenadier" tourmai, and their medium horse. I had disabled perhaps 40 cannon as well. Another round like that, though, and I'd possibly be forced to retreat. Few armies, no matter how desperate, can take 25% or more casualties and remain cohesive. My cavalry was in better shape comparatively, though, but they still had enough VOMs warriors to screen effectively. My own elite tourmai were more experienced than theirs, but marginally so, and had taken exactly zero casualties--their initial charge was primarily absorbed, and very well too, by greener troops, many of whom had been drawn from regional militia, garrisons, and new recruits on my march east from Pipomisa.

The stalemate had to be broken. Mounting up 300 of my sharpshooters, my remaining close combat specialists, and screening them with a further 500 of my light horse, I began using my camp followers, supply personnel, and other non combatant staff to begin kicking up dust, banging pots and pans, and generally making enough noise and commotion to inflate the size of my reserves and create the impression of more frantic troop movements in preparation for a counter-attack...or last-ditch defense amongst my fieldworks. The gambit paid off--the distance their lines advanced closed the gap between the armies by a third, including their cavalry, thanks to my entire mauroi contingent trading even honors for an hour with their own ranged cavalry. That screened force from earlier managed to outflank the entire enemy army. Somehow, going around the stronger left flank since more attention was paid to the recently-ravaged right. Nearly 1700 light cavalry pouring into your backline and camp was not a fun time for the Aetherian forces, especially not when two-thirds of them dismounted and began torching supply wagons, picking off gun crew captains with rifles, and cutting apart bodyguards for key officers, plus random small cavalry picket skirmishes designed to cause havoc while my mounted infantry caused 5 minutes of unbridled chaos before pulling out mostly untouched. Pulled between two play actions, the enemy could not respond when my own elite 1st Tourmai, all 4000 crack picked soldiery, slammed into their front, not with their standard muskets, but sawn-off pieces modified with wider barrels to fire buck-and-ball at close range for devastating effect. The front rank and rearmost rank of the charge also carried maces for crushing the legs of enemy horses and any officers still left in full plate.

Victory was total, and the 1:3 casualty ratio I eventually managed to draw out on the field, plus the destruction of a year's worth of Aetherian artillery production, helped minimize Ioannes' concessions to 2434 at the negotiating table. Even then I was surprised--where the hell did Ioannes' second son, Telemachus, come with a reinforcing column of an extra 5000 horsemen, to slam into the Aetherian flank at a critical moment of the battle? Obviously he was sent to secure my loyalty, but when did he spare those troops? I'm grateful, obviously, but it puzzles me to this day. With two intact field armies of 30,000 and 45,000 each tacked onto myself and Ioannes respectively, the opposing side chose not to push before we could consolidate and go for one last fuck you and seize, permanently, a third Aetherian province or take more key borderland in VOMs.

Excerpt from 08.31, a short rumination on the ways Prytaneios would like the empire to conduct diplomacy. On this front Prytaneios was less successful in petitioning the court, but he always knew he was a poor elbow-rubber.

As we recover, however, we need allies. After the recent wars and the exhaustion of much of our native military might (at the gain of two key provinces and the shortening of our natural border, though), /vsj+/ has clearly become the dominant power on the continent, especially with a massive injection of manpower from /rumina/ and /kson/ immigrants/mercenaries. It seems we need allies abroad--especially as a bulwark against VShojo's potential aggression, especially towards our now navally-vulnerable southern ports. The situation worsens when you realize that Theophilos is still at large in /vsj+/, but he and the nominal Basileus of Aetheria are both bickering endlessly over who deserves more support for an invasion of our lands.

Specifically we are looking to establish a relationship between equal empires with the following: /pkg/, /yeah/, and /rose/. /vsinger/, /hag/, and /hirys/ are on our shortlist of favored trading partners as well, if they choose to accept. We are also willing to sponsor some consolidations of power within the schizo wastelands, and take in members of tribes from there who are not wanted by our sponsored entities/chiefs. We are also hard at work Syndenizing culturally dissonant peoples from the new provinces, it will take some time and a pretty penny, but this is worth it. Whichever country the friends of Delutaya frequent, we would also like to extend favored nation status to as well, since we have received word that you are the target of an entirely unnecessary diplomatic and espionage attack from both Rumina and /vsj+/. We'd like to help counterweight.

Excerpt from 08.34, a detailed explanation sent to Megas Domestikos at the time, Uropos Ecumenalis, about his proposals to streamline the army, especially infantry and cavalry. Recognizing the difficulty of creating an artillery program that will have an avantage on most fields, Prytaneios leaves the matter for a latter communique. Most of these changes were implemented. Many units founded in these times have a direct descendant today. Alternatively numbered 08M.04.

I continue to launch a new wave of military reforms, but this time we will better acknowledge the in-flux logistical situation by creating new equipment grades for the regular army. Until the military warehouse system can be restored and the necessary equipment provision contracts awarded, older firearms and more close combat weapons will have to remain in use, but we're almost done modernizing our artillery and have issued rifled muskets to a fifth of our regulars. In conjunction with the Office of the Imperial Inkstand (known otherwise as the "Chartoularios tou Kanikleiou", which retains this name for obvious reasons), military manuals are being revised, brigand groups are being brought into the fold or resettled on vacant plots, roads are repaired, and families with multiple children are granted some tax exemptions. We're still taking immigrants from friendly nations, though, feel free to send undesirable minorities over to us, they can settle in the heartland while we send loyal and fully Syndenized people to frontier districts for better defenses. Until more money is found, though, bolstering our northwestern fortress belt will have to wait.

The new infantry types should be organized as follows:

Armatolismoi, lightly-armed troops drawn primarily from rural populations and itinerant families/caravans. Many old muskets and sub-par military surplus have found their way into semi-irregular forces and brigands. Incorporating the more palatable ones into the army should yield a fierce force of motivated soldiery loyal thanks to selective easing of tax burdens, better clothes, and new equipment. They should be issued with the backsword and a buckler plus any firearms they can furnish, weapons formerly characteristic of lower nobility serving in the heavy infantry. Their uniforms should be a pale midnight blue.

Oplitai, well-armed professionals drawn from the urban commons, paid a regular wage, and wearing half-plate. The better regiments MUST be issued rifled muskets post-haste, but most will be effective enough with whatever the accepted standard modern breechloading musket will be when these reforms become implemented, plus a bayonet and a long knife. Many should have some kind of pistol or revolver as well. Sharp and smart black and white uniforms with an open-faced zischagge, cuirass, fauld, and greaves is the look.

Koraki, skilled volunteer riflemen and sharpshooters used much as these troops should be. Firearm advances in Lagoseia's backwoods have yielded a number of bespoke long-rifle models with enhanced accuracy, range, and improved reload times, plus hundreds of unlikely but highly-skilled craftsmen willing to create them for Imperial warehouses. It is my hope that the longer these pieces are in possession of their owners, the more modified and effective each one becomes in the family that is responsible for the gun. Kelly green uniforms with wooden buttons and canvas-colored tricorns.

Angeloi ton Aimatos, close-combat specialists dressed in crimson uniforms armed with an axe, a long knife, a pistol, and heavy armor, also enameled crimson. Officers must be expected to wield a polearm and lead the effort to break a push of pike from the front with their halberds and partisans. The most meritocratic, if vicious troop type in the tagmata. They will be trained intensively to run, move, shoot, and slash with sacks of rocks around their ankles and specialized wooden yokes around each shoulder that gradually increase in weight as the soldiers' conditioning improves. The soldiers who exhibit the greatest combination of bravery and mental discipline should rise high irrespective of birth, though I suspect that the best Aimatos tourmarchs will decline promotion to strategos since they're too enamoured of getting stuck in the mud out front.

The new cavalry types should be organized as follows:

Stratiotai, lightly-armored cavalrymen with a steel-hafted lance secured by a shoulder strap, a saber with a curved blade, and a pistol. We're getting to the point where everyone is beginning to use Hussars, I guess. To hell with that, while we WILL call other nation's standard cavalry troopers "Oussaria", we will retain our old designations.

Palatinai, heavy shock lancers who retain centuries' worth of built-up elan and tradition from our origins and influences as an "eastern" people originally. Intricate harnesses of plate for the horses may slow the soldiers down, but the thin silver line is meant to engage an enemy who has fixed his lines out on the field, so the cavalry can actually hit 'em. Obviously unlikely to be used against enemy cavalry, unless we're fighting the enemy's own elite armored steppe nomad-esque lancer corps. I would not be surprised sometimes wield a blunderbuss or other specialized buck-and-ball arms against enemy cataphract/cuirassier-types to bust up their formations before the charge--but this is risky, as not every member of one's unit will have horses that can withstand the noise of the gun's discharge.

Mauroi, because black riders are obviously too culturally widespread to FULLY pass up for their name. Direct descendants of the old Doryphoroi corps, they should retain their two-shot carbines and equipment, but their uniforms are now black and white, they wear steel helmets once again, they have a cuirass and greaves, and they now practice more frontal assault tactics in support of the Stratiotai, providing both more firepower and flanking forces of similar unit mass. The elite will still named Doryphoroi under my system.