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GreatWyrmGold · 08-15-2018, 12:05 PM

Nika-2

Emperor Justinian of the Eastern Roman Empire was a man of dreams and talent, but no man rules alone. He had a wide variety of other talented men at his side, from Belisarius (the general who destroyed the Vandals, recaptured and held Rome with just a few thousand soldiers) to Tribonian (who turned a millennium of disorganized, byzantine laws and legal decisions into a few dozen volumes, the Corpus Juris Civilis, which is still the basis of civil law for essentially all vaguely Western cultures). Unfortunately, many of these men were...shall we say...quirky. For instance, Tribonian was openly pagan and rather corrupt.
Let's add another man to that list, a diplomat who was good at suing for peace but less good at maintaining it. Let us call him Julius Asianus [probably sic], for his greatest deeds were in Asia, most notably getting a peace with the Persians both sooner and more favorable than in OTL. He was quite convincing in a position of unquestionable power, but didn't really develop any other way of talking with people. At home, this lead to angering both high-ranking members of the demes (sort of a cross between sports clubs, civic groups, and political parties, but more violent) and some of Justinian's generals, including Mundus (a German who had long defended the northern border of the Empire).
But then, around 530, Julius Asianus is sent to the Vandals in North Africa. Julius, abrasive and arrogant as ever, treats the Vandals as he did the Persians, which eventually pisses off King Hilderic and his court enough that he has the "diplomat" either killed or maimed and sent home. (Alternatively, his cousin Gelimer leads an Arian faction who kills Hilderic and Julius alike, much like in OTL except a few years sooner.)
Regardless, Justinian has a casus belli. Hilderic had been a friend of Constantinople, far more accepting of the Empire's trinitarian Christianity than his relatives, but Justinian was unlikely to see him this way after killing/maiming one of this diplomats. So, the reconquest of the Western Roman Empire begins. Belisarius is sent to Africa, and as in our timeline, he kicks butt. But then, the Nika Riots come.

History lesson:

Spoiler:

In our timeline, the Nika Riots were the first and last challenges to Justinian's reign. It all started when the demes got really violent in late 531. After a chariot-race, the normal post-race revelry grew even more violent than usual, culminating in some murders. (I have been told that this is uncommon among fans of both chariot-racing and soccer.) Seven leaders in this particularly violent riot were identified and set to be hanged on January 10th. Two survived by what some interpreted as a miracle, their ropes breaking before their necks, and were rushed to safety in a nearby church before the local officers of the law could decide what to do about it. And as fate (or any fantasy author) would have it, the men came from the two most prominent and powerful demes.
On the 13th, another race was scheduled. It started like any other, but by the end the normal cheers and jeers for or against favored racers were replaced with unified cries of "Nika!" ("Victory!") The demes were united in favor of the two surviving riot-leaders, and hence against the law. Some senators are believed to have intervened at this point, influencing the leaders of what was quickly becoming a destructive mob for their own political agendas—replacing Justinian and his advisers with an emperor and court who would reverse Justinian's tax codes and legal codes (which, respectively, successfully got rich people to pay their taxes and made it harder to influence courtrooms).
In OTL, Justinian was on the verge of accepting the crowd's demands until it became obvious that they had been primed and that they wanted to depose him. At that point, he was on the verge of fleeing with his advisers and treasury before his wife Theodora called them out on cowardice and convinced her husband to fight back. (Incidentally, this is only the first of many times Theodora intervened to help Justinian stay in power.)
Luckily, two of his generals—Belisarius and Mundus—were in Constantinople with their personal legions, waiting for assignments. With them and the royal guard (and some bribes from a trustworthy eunuch to the deme Justinian supported), Justinian managed to stop the rioters. It was bloody, compounded on the blood and fire brought by the rioters. Tens of thousands of rioters were killed, along with many others slain by rioters and the fires that consumed a quarter of Constantinople. It took a long time to rebuild, but Justinian did rebuild a greater Constantinople and a greater still Roman Empire.

But all that was in our timeline. Paying attention, you'll notice that the two generals Justinian had in OTL's Nika riots were Belisarius and Mundus. In this timeline, one is currently fighting Vandals in Africa and the other is rather irritated...as are others in the military and the demes.
Let us say that one demagogue in particular brings the leaders of the demes together with a dream of a new Roman republic. Let us say that he is Avitus Albus, the leader of the relatively small and insignificant White deme. (I haven't found any information on the demes' organization or leadership, so I'm kinda making it up as I go along.) Avitus said the Roman emperors brought misery and corruption to the fine Roman Republic, which prospered and grew as it never had under the rule of its early kings or recent emperors. Surely, we should see this as the sign it is, and return the Republic to its former glory?
The Senators backing the riots were hardly going to disagree with someone who wanted to increase the Senate's power; indeed, they got more senators onboard. Moreover, they convinced Mundus to join them. The soldiers who remained loyal to Justinian fought valiantly, but were ultimately defeated; the survivors fled with Justinian and some of Justinian's court, taking to the seas.
Where would they go? Well, at this time Belisarius was doing well in Africa. When the Emperor arrived, he was swiftly brought to Belisarius and the two of them sorted out a plan of sorts. Belisarius had enough men to capture and hold the Vandal kingdom, but probably not enough to defeat this so-called "new Roman Republic". And so, that is what they did. The Senate in Constantinople was quite happy without an emperor, but saw Justinian as no threat and included enough Justinian sympathizers to halt any attempts at retribution.

And so, two successors to the Roman Empire had formed. One continued the Imperial tradition, ruling from Utica; the other, which would one day be deemed the "Nika Republic" by historians, was governed by a mishmash of traditions; the old Republic, bits of Imperial tradition (including some of Tribonian's clarifications and reforms), and new ideas from Avitus and other deme leaders.
The deme leaders played a large role in writing the new laws of the Republic; after all, they had the people behind them, and the people were willing to be violent. This lead to a republic that, while repugnantly non-egalitarian by modern standards, was less openly biased towards the rich than the original Republic. The demes gained semi-official status, not entirely unlike modern political parties; the sitting Senators added the ability to create new demes if a candidate did not agree with any current demes, and then used this ability to do exactly that. Despite these reforms, they were still Roman at heart.

This is a good time to discuss Justinian's legacy in OTL. He reconquered Africa and Italy for the Roman Empire, becoming the last Roman Emperor to actually rule Rome (with the arguable exceptions of some Holy Roman Emperors, back when they also controlled bits of Italy). But in doing so, he overextended Roman resources; it has been argued that he accelerated the decline of Rome. It has also been argued that, had he not done that and consolidated his gains in Africa, the Empire might have been able to recover properly.
I'm not going to go quite that far. Justinian never forgave the "mob republic," but his nephew, Justin II, reached out an olive branch to the Republic; further emperors strengthened the ties between the Roman states, turning them into allies. Eventually, the African Roman Empire and the Nika Republic unify into a new Roman Empire, with the Emperor retaining governorship over the African provinces but otherwise serving as little more than a figurehead and debate-coordinator to the Senate, not to mention having his successor chosen from among his heirs by the Senate (not unlike the ancient Roman kings).
[cont. next post]

08-15-2018, 12:05 PM	#3526
GreatWyrmGold Join Date: Oct 2011	Re: New Reality Seeds Nika-2 Emperor Justinian of the Eastern Roman Empire was a man of dreams and talent, but no man rules alone. He had a wide variety of other talented men at his side, from Belisarius (the general who destroyed the Vandals, recaptured and held Rome with just a few thousand soldiers) to Tribonian (who turned a millennium of disorganized, byzantine laws and legal decisions into a few dozen volumes, the Corpus Juris Civilis, which is still the basis of civil law for essentially all vaguely Western cultures). Unfortunately, many of these men were...shall we say...quirky. For instance, Tribonian was openly pagan and rather corrupt. Let's add another man to that list, a diplomat who was good at suing for peace but less good at maintaining it. Let us call him Julius Asianus [probably sic], for his greatest deeds were in Asia, most notably getting a peace with the Persians both sooner and more favorable than in OTL. He was quite convincing in a position of unquestionable power, but didn't really develop any other way of talking with people. At home, this lead to angering both high-ranking members of the demes (sort of a cross between sports clubs, civic groups, and political parties, but more violent) and some of Justinian's generals, including Mundus (a German who had long defended the northern border of the Empire). But then, around 530, Julius Asianus is sent to the Vandals in North Africa. Julius, abrasive and arrogant as ever, treats the Vandals as he did the Persians, which eventually pisses off King Hilderic and his court enough that he has the "diplomat" either killed or maimed and sent home. (Alternatively, his cousin Gelimer leads an Arian faction who kills Hilderic and Julius alike, much like in OTL except a few years sooner.) Regardless, Justinian has a casus belli. Hilderic had been a friend of Constantinople, far more accepting of the Empire's trinitarian Christianity than his relatives, but Justinian was unlikely to see him this way after killing/maiming one of this diplomats. So, the reconquest of the Western Roman Empire begins. Belisarius is sent to Africa, and as in our timeline, he kicks butt. But then, the Nika Riots come. History lesson: Spoiler: In our timeline, the Nika Riots were the first and last challenges to Justinian's reign. It all started when the demes got really violent in late 531. After a chariot-race, the normal post-race revelry grew even more violent than usual, culminating in some murders. (I have been told that this is uncommon among fans of both chariot-racing and soccer.) Seven leaders in this particularly violent riot were identified and set to be hanged on January 10th. Two survived by what some interpreted as a miracle, their ropes breaking before their necks, and were rushed to safety in a nearby church before the local officers of the law could decide what to do about it. And as fate (or any fantasy author) would have it, the men came from the two most prominent and powerful demes. On the 13th, another race was scheduled. It started like any other, but by the end the normal cheers and jeers for or against favored racers were replaced with unified cries of "Nika!" ("Victory!") The demes were united in favor of the two surviving riot-leaders, and hence against the law. Some senators are believed to have intervened at this point, influencing the leaders of what was quickly becoming a destructive mob for their own political agendas—replacing Justinian and his advisers with an emperor and court who would reverse Justinian's tax codes and legal codes (which, respectively, successfully got rich people to pay their taxes and made it harder to influence courtrooms). In OTL, Justinian was on the verge of accepting the crowd's demands until it became obvious that they had been primed and that they wanted to depose him. At that point, he was on the verge of fleeing with his advisers and treasury before his wife Theodora called them out on cowardice and convinced her husband to fight back. (Incidentally, this is only the first of many times Theodora intervened to help Justinian stay in power.) Luckily, two of his generals—Belisarius and Mundus—were in Constantinople with their personal legions, waiting for assignments. With them and the royal guard (and some bribes from a trustworthy eunuch to the deme Justinian supported), Justinian managed to stop the rioters. It was bloody, compounded on the blood and fire brought by the rioters. Tens of thousands of rioters were killed, along with many others slain by rioters and the fires that consumed a quarter of Constantinople. It took a long time to rebuild, but Justinian did rebuild a greater Constantinople and a greater still Roman Empire. But all that was in our timeline. Paying attention, you'll notice that the two generals Justinian had in OTL's Nika riots were Belisarius and Mundus. In this timeline, one is currently fighting Vandals in Africa and the other is rather irritated...as are others in the military and the demes. Let us say that one demagogue in particular brings the leaders of the demes together with a dream of a new Roman republic. Let us say that he is Avitus Albus, the leader of the relatively small and insignificant White deme. (I haven't found any information on the demes' organization or leadership, so I'm kinda making it up as I go along.) Avitus said the Roman emperors brought misery and corruption to the fine Roman Republic, which prospered and grew as it never had under the rule of its early kings or recent emperors. Surely, we should see this as the sign it is, and return the Republic to its former glory? The Senators backing the riots were hardly going to disagree with someone who wanted to increase the Senate's power; indeed, they got more senators onboard. Moreover, they convinced Mundus to join them. The soldiers who remained loyal to Justinian fought valiantly, but were ultimately defeated; the survivors fled with Justinian and some of Justinian's court, taking to the seas. Where would they go? Well, at this time Belisarius was doing well in Africa. When the Emperor arrived, he was swiftly brought to Belisarius and the two of them sorted out a plan of sorts. Belisarius had enough men to capture and hold the Vandal kingdom, but probably not enough to defeat this so-called "new Roman Republic". And so, that is what they did. The Senate in Constantinople was quite happy without an emperor, but saw Justinian as no threat and included enough Justinian sympathizers to halt any attempts at retribution. And so, two successors to the Roman Empire had formed. One continued the Imperial tradition, ruling from Utica; the other, which would one day be deemed the "Nika Republic" by historians, was governed by a mishmash of traditions; the old Republic, bits of Imperial tradition (including some of Tribonian's clarifications and reforms), and new ideas from Avitus and other deme leaders. The deme leaders played a large role in writing the new laws of the Republic; after all, they had the people behind them, and the people were willing to be violent. This lead to a republic that, while repugnantly non-egalitarian by modern standards, was less openly biased towards the rich than the original Republic. The demes gained semi-official status, not entirely unlike modern political parties; the sitting Senators added the ability to create new demes if a candidate did not agree with any current demes, and then used this ability to do exactly that. Despite these reforms, they were still Roman at heart. This is a good time to discuss Justinian's legacy in OTL. He reconquered Africa and Italy for the Roman Empire, becoming the last Roman Emperor to actually rule Rome (with the arguable exceptions of some Holy Roman Emperors, back when they also controlled bits of Italy). But in doing so, he overextended Roman resources; it has been argued that he accelerated the decline of Rome. It has also been argued that, had he not done that and consolidated his gains in Africa, the Empire might have been able to recover properly. I'm not going to go quite that far. Justinian never forgave the "mob republic," but his nephew, Justin II, reached out an olive branch to the Republic; further emperors strengthened the ties between the Roman states, turning them into allies. Eventually, the African Roman Empire and the Nika Republic unify into a new Roman Empire, with the Emperor retaining governorship over the African provinces but otherwise serving as little more than a figurehead and debate-coordinator to the Senate, not to mention having his successor chosen from among his heirs by the Senate (not unlike the ancient Roman kings). [cont. next post]