REPORT ON THE STATUS OF THE EMPIRE, 1508

The Committees of State have compiled a collection of useful documents regarding the current status of the empire. Click here for our country panels and selected ledger pages.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES

THE VARANGIAN COMMITTEE
Defending Our Empire

The state of the imperial military is strong. We are among the most technologically advanced militaries of the Near West, and– under favorable circumstances– can beat Sinicized forces such as those of the Lai Ang.

While we recommend allowing our manpower to recover further before any offensive actions, we have more than enough in reserve to replenish losses in the event of an attack by a foreign power.

Should France attack us, however, we’re still pretty much doomed. With our manpower reserves and superior numbers, we might win against Da Qin. Outlook unclear.

One other cause for concern is a lack of quality Roman generals. None of the greatest generals of the world are Roman.

THE VENETIAN COMMITTEE
Silver Rules The World

The Venetian Committee is the current leading faction of the imperial civil service.

We are currently allied with Lombardy, Hungary, and Poland. Poland’s assistance has proven particularly valuable.

We are currently rivals with France, Da Qin, and the Papal State. France is by far the strongest of these states; however, they do not currently share a land border with us. The Holy Roman Empire was so thoroughly beaten by France in a recent war, and lost so much of its military, that they were no longer considered a valid rival to a nation of Rome’s stature. Goodbye, Holy Roman Empire.

Our main trade port is Constantinople. We are steering trade towards it from Crimea and Alexandria. Our trade fleet is currently protecting trade in Alexandria; however, Da Qin is still the leading trade power in that trade node.

Ragusa is our only remaining vassal nation.

We are considered the third greatest of the powers of the world. We lag far behind France and the Ming, however. Also of note is that the Holy Roman Empire, decimated by France, has slipped far amongst its peers, leaving Pommerania– arguably– the dominant power of Germany.

THE PHANARIOTE COMMITTEE
Technology, Infrastructure, and Administration

(this ledger page only includes nations we’ve discovered, hence the absence of Ming, Silla, et al)
Thanks to Empress Theochariste’s devotion to all things military, we are keeping pace with our peers in military technology. Our diplomatic technology is adequate. However, our administrative technology is rapidly becoming untenable for the administration of such a large empire and has lagged far behind that our neighbors, eastern and western alike.

On the other hand, the administrative attention we have paid to developing humanist institutions has done much to stabilize the empire and protect our religious and cultural minorities.

THE COMMITTEE OF ST. VALERIA
Christendom’s Primer Inter Pares

Thanks to our superb humanist institutions, we have very little to worry about from the empire’s Sunni minorities. Christian heretics such as the remaining adherents to the false Pope, however, are having a much more difficult being productive Roman citizens.

Within the Orthodox Church, we see absolutely no cause for concern. Constantinople’s status as first among all the patriarchates of Christendom is uncontested. The theological outlook of all Europe bends to the Ecumenical Patriarch– and, therefore, the imperial government’s– will. We have taken every step to stop the Patriarchate from exercising any sort of independent authority or forming a rival center of power within the empire.

Most importantly, tithes flow from lay members to their churches, to their bishops, and thence to ecumenical institutions such as the Order of the Sainted Emperors and, ultimately, to the Ecumenical Patriarch. We see no reason to expect commoners to alter this arrangement; they are willing to pay the price for the peace of mind that comes with leaving their salvation in the hands of their betters.

We’re definitely sure this is what they think.

Kiev has claimed nominal status as defender of the faith, but their pretensions to leadership go unheeded.

We’re sure.

THE COMMITTEE FOR IMPERIAL INTEGRITY
Security and Continuity of Government

Following the successes of Theochariste’s military campaigns, the people are confident in the direction of the empire and we are enjoying a period of relative stability.

However, certain malcontents within the Orthodox church are openly expressing dissent with established doctrine and, more importantly, with their place in the empire.

There is a vague sense of discontent among the serfs, but they’re of no account.

The current Discordian Pressure of the Roman Empire is 5.



The Senate Session is now open. Currently, Senators are deciding which party to join or renew their allegiance to.

To join a party, post ##Join (party name) and your chosen party’s icon. Except for sitting party leaders, party leadership does not roll over from session to session. This is to prevent inactive senators from clogging the rolls! So if you joined a party in the last election, you’ll need to join it again.

THE PARTIES OF THE BYZANTINE SENATE

I realize that some parties are changing leaders, so please consider the leaders listed to be acting leaders. For a party to change leaders, the current leader needs to ##Transfer Party Leadership to the new leader. Theoretically, a party leader can just unilaterally transfer leadership to any random person on a whim, although presumably you’ll want to adopt some kind of internal procedure.

MONTERNOS PARTY

StrifeHira posted:

The Monternos Party was founded as a party dedicated to making sure the Roman Empire of the 15th century and beyond was not a Rome stuck in the past, but a Rome looking to the future. A “modern” Rome. As such they support and propose anything that can be used to update the current state of Rome, looking both to nations that have gained a technological edge as inspiration and to possible applications of existing technology within the state. New advances in warfare, seafaring, science, theology, and so forth are all supported by the Monternos Party.

LEADER: Senator S. Emilia Hira (StrifeHira)

ADVENTURER MERCHANTS

Funky Valentine posted:

The patricians of Venice have unfortunately all died in a tragic manure explosion (marked “From Yaroslavich”, hm) and have been replaced by a younger, more outgoing group of glorified bankers. They’ve come together to found THE ADVENTURER MERCHANTS^tm, a party based around “THIthe following principles:

– To boldly go and seek out new lands
– To boldly go and exploit the shit out of these new lands
– To explore the whole world, and make all the money within it

The realms of Europe and Asia are boring! Get on a boat and find new realms! Join THE ADVENTURER MERCHANTS^tm today and get a free eyepatch!

LEADER: Senator Enrico “Moneybeard” Valentinius (FunkyValentine)


Fraternalists
Rejected Fate (LEADER)
LEADER: Senator Constantine Ischyrós (Jimmy4400nav)

Mongols and Merchants
LEADER: Senator Metiga Sallajer (Blackunknown) (LEADER)

Roman Enotita
LEADER: Senator Abydos Felicious (AdventFalls)

Craftsmen’s League:
LEADER: Senator Matthias Vounómou (Meinberg)
Arbitrary Coin

NEW MARIANS

NewMars posted:

The New Marians were originally a cross-party faction devoted to the restoration of Roman standing armies. Now that this is accomplished, they are here to keep the army strong and the nobility weak. They are no jingoistic throwbacks, but men (and women, remember that we started with the gender equality mod on!) who seek to sustain the state through means military, which means taking all who will stand for Rome. To a lesser extent, they tend to harbor all sorts of republican dissidents, due to the Mars family’s personal beliefs.

LEADER: Mars family (NewMars)

NEO-MILVIAN COALITION

AJ_Impy posted:

Adopting the banner of the Komemnian-era Milvians as a sign of their common cause, The Faithful, Unitas and the Ecclesiastical Movement pooled their resources in a mutual coalition to further the interests of the One True Church.

The Faithful
LEADER: Theophilus AJ Impy (AJ_Impy)

Unitas
LEADER: sniper4625


Ecclesiastical Movement
LEADER: YF-23

INCLUSIONIST PARTY

TheMcD posted:

What we want is a truly peaceful, stable and tolerant state. As such, we oppose any sort of expansion, be it diplomatic or militaristic (even diplomatic expansion brings turmoil to the realm). However, we would be open to this new practice called “colonization”, if we were to find some sparsely populated land somewhere. We also oppose the expansion of the army, but aren’t blinded so much that we don’t realize that keeping an armed force around is necessary considering the dangers coming from abroad. Similar measures apply for the Black Chamber – aggressive intrigue is opposed, defensive intrigue for the stability of the realm is accepted. A certain focus on technological progress is accepted, but stability must come first. As for tolerance, we wish to support any and all other cultures or religions within the realm that aren’t the “official” one and allow them to keep all their traditions and practices.

LEADER: TheMcD

THE DISCORDIANS

Some senators don’t play well with others. With Yaroslav’s old committee system dissolved, malcontents are again free to flock together and plot the downfall of the whole rotten system– to roll the dice of fate, and hope Fortuna provides them with something better, something brighter, something new.

In addition, certain events (“events” in the sense of “things that happen in the thread or in-game”, not the game mechanic of “events”) may increase the pressure on the existing institutions of state. Think of it as a sort of meta-stability, maybe?

The total number of Discordian senators plus the current pressure is the Discordians’ strength. If the strength is ever greater than the ruling party (or caucus of parties– you might want to consider banding together if things get bad) the current system will fall apart and something different will happen.

Press button to blow up empire.

LEADER: NONE
PRESSURE: 5

Going ahead and ending the session because I’m really excited about getting back to playing EU4! Since some neat stuff is coming up.

It was a long session, and there was way too much bickering, and the discordians almost collapsed the state more than a century earlier than I planned on them being able to, but in the end you produced some pretty good bills! So the system works.

Coalition for Roman Stability
Monternos: 16
New Marians: 11
Neo-Milvians: 8
Total: 34

Others
Adventurer Merchants:9
Inclusionists: 9

Discordian Strength: 18



The following bills were ##submitted:

Joint Coalition Bills
The Janus Act
The Empire will at the next opportunity unlock Defensive Ideas in order to better secure our threatened borders, as well as change the national focus to administration tech as we badly lag behind there and must needs catch up.

Monternos
The Big Trouble Act:
Rome shall consider Da Qin a hostile power and rival. Rome shall seek to weaken Da Qin, and if the opportunity arises will attempt to draw them into favorable conflicts.
The An Ounce… Act:
Rome shall consider France a hostile power, rival and currently the greatest threat to the Empire’s security. Rome shall build forts along the border with France. Rome will seek strategic allies to counter the French threat.
The Education, Education, Education Act:
The education system in the Empire will be reformed to give further opportunities to commoners. The Imperial bureaucracy will be reformed to allow for meritocratic advancement regardless of birth.

New Marians
New Marian Reforms
-Noble heritage is no longer automatically grounds for a commissioned rank and cannot be used as an appeal in military tribunals.
-The Quality idea group is to be acquired as soon as possible.
-As the armies of the doux have been dissolved permanently, the time for a general reorganization of the army has begun. The armies of Rome are now proper legions, loyal to commanders who are loyal to the Empress/eror and to be referred to as such, including military legions temporarily hired on to supplement our ranks.
-The core of these armies are not to be drawn from peasant levies, but a corps of professional soldiers, if at all possible, though desperate times may necessitate widespread conscription.

The Olympic Revival Act
-The military and state shall sponsor sporting and shooting competitions to raise public spirits and to promote fitness and health among the citizens and soldiers of the empire.
-A new competition shall be held in Olympia every four years, bringing together the greatest athletes of the empire. This competition shall be open to all and shall be named the Olympics after the great competition of old. Games, of course, shall include the footrace, the javelin throw, archery, the new sport of skeet, pankration and the sport of emperors: the chariot race.

Neo-Milvians
The Brotherhood of Orthodoxy Act
Relations should be improved with our orthodox neighbors
Patriarchic Authority should be raised to at least 50% and brought no lower

Adventurer Merchants
The Practical Management Act
*The total numbers of the Roman army and navy are not to exceed the appropriate force limits.
*In times of absolute necessity, mercenaries may temporarily be hired to exceed this limit, but are to be fired at the end of the war.
*This statute is to remain in effect until Rome has a monthly surplus of at least fifty ducats.

Inclusionists
Department of Cultural Protection and Representation Act
• A bureaucratic agency will be created with the purpose of overseeing the protection of the traditional rights of our cultural minorities, as well as being a convenient place for said minorities to file complaints. The agency will advise the Empress on necessary changes to better accommodate our minority citizens.
• All administrative efforts will be put towards achieving the Cultural Ties idea in Humanism.
• Finishing the rest of Humanist ideas must remain a major priority, but the Empress may take her time once Cultural Ties have been acquired.
• Once Policies are acquired, one Humanist-tied Policy must be in place at all times. As what policies we will have access to will depend on our later idea groups, the choice of Policy is left to Imperial fiat, at least until future legislation is made.
Spirit of Athens Act I.
– The Douxes have been weakened, however, their influence is still there, and it should be further removed.
– The way the removal shall take place is through reform – change the succession of the douxes to an elective format. All future douxes shall be elected from the local populace.
– Eligible for election shall be all local citizens that have achieved a certain level of education. The Ming have a good idea with their exams and whatever else they have, and we can apply this to our own education system.
No One Stops My Party Act
– The Byzantine Senate shall, at all times, have an open bar.
– Any member of the Komenenos family may use this bar, regardless of membership in the senate, unless a vote is currently taking place.
– Of the signature cocktails of this bar, one shall be named for Consul Scruffles. The specific recipe for a Scruffles are open to debate.
Revised Black Tortoise Act
– Buildup and repair of border forts shall be given a higher priority than rebuilding the army itself.
– Homeland administration resources shall be invested in further improving the frontier provinces.
– Consideration should be given to taking the Defensive idea set.



In the events of conflict, coalition bills take precedence over outside bills. Within the coalition, larger parties take precedence over smaller parties. If you’ve submitted more bills than you have slots, a bill is selected by imperial fiat (for the Inclusionists, I’ve respected their major/minor bill divide). If you hadn’t used all your slots, then, well, sorry. I gotta get started on the next update!

The following bills were enacted.
The Coalition: 1 (Janus Act)
Monternos: 3 (Big Trouble Act, Once Act, EEE Act)
New Marians: 3 (New Marian Reforms, TOR Act)
Neo-Milvians: 1 (BOO Act)

The Others
Adventurer Merchants: 2 (The Practical Management Act)
Incusionists: 2 (DCPR Act, SOA Act)