>>21680615

>Find Sergio

"Sergio! Damna those wallss, what more can you do? Are you telling me this is all you got?"

Then

>Find the Goddess of Battle

"So you still gonna keep your deal and give my men the edge they need to survive?"

Then

>Find Captains

"Suggestions? Any idea what we can do to further along our victory?"

And these are in order of importance. If only one can be taken, then to Sergio it is to discover what's the matter with his siege works.

FUCK YES.

>>21680650
Belay this, we have more scheming to do than that.

>>21680682
Someone is happy!

>>21680690

Your suggestion?

If w're going to scheme, we'd first need Marie to pour us all a cup of tea.

I'm more worried about this siege than anything esle, but if you have something in mind...

Time to get automatic, repeating roman artillery. We want one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybolos

"a [ballista] catapult that like a modern machine gun could fire again and again without a need to reload"

Here's how we get it:

We find the Goddesses and take them aside, and we tell them the following:

"You know by now that I am capable in the field, and of a useful cast of mind. I know that you have knowledge beyond my ken, and I will need some of it here. So I have the following proposal for you."

"I will do my utmost to make Damascus shine like a jewel in bright dawn. I will organize her craftsmen together and bring prosperity and good fortune to her people, invite sages to settle within her walls, and perhaps even make things safer for your worshipers than they have ever been - provided the sages I bring to your doorstep do not tell me to run from you lest I burn in brightest hellfire. I will build foundries to arm soldiers with Damascene steel that they might break the back of Turk and Arab. I will raise such a workshop for the crafting of silken goods as has not been seen in all of Christendom, and the Emperor of Constantinople and his weavers be damned. And I will bring sages and monks and establish a fine hospital, to better the commoners."

"But for this I will need a true edge on the field of battle, and so I will ask you for your strange knowledge of the Roman arts. Show me how to build their engines of war - show me how to break the walls of the forces of the enemy - or this will not be so easy. Give me a way to penetrate their armor, or I will be stuck here too long and my men will die. And recall - speed is of the essence when fighting hordes of desert horsemen.."

File: 1353478314333.jpg-(1.21 MB, 2400x1600, Ancient_Mechanical_Artill(...).jpg)

>>21680796
Pic related is a polybos.

A few blueprints of pieces of superior roman siege machinery like catapults would be pretty awesome, though.

>>21680796
>repeating ballista artillery
>extremely powerful stone-throwing artillery too

Daddy wants ten. Go proposition us some goddesses.

>>21680796
>>21680825

well since we're already raping the history of the second crusade and there are magic women around claiming to be the wife of the holy trinity...why not

Penny for your thoughts, Ridire? If you're kind of hating it because you think it'd be overpowered, I can only say that the Crusader states do such a good job of fucking themselves over that the instability alone balances it out to some extent, but if you need more justification than that there's also the fucking insane amount of enemy power around with the Turks, Persians, and Arab powers present.

Plus the mongol invasion isn't too far down the road. If this quest lasts throughout MacMahon's life, Roman repeating ballistae won't be enough against hordes of a hundred thousand enemy horsemen.

File: 1353482132206.gif-(333 KB, 520x375, abd.gif)

OP, if you're not posting because you don't want to deal with idiocy you can just say that the idea is stupid or unwelcome within the scope of the quest or whatever

bump for crusadan

>>21681515
AH, no. I fell asleep. Yeah, I definitely suck.

>>21680615
Asherah was around when the Romans were. Asherah helped the Celts forge swords to kill them. Asherah will help YOU build Roman weapons to destroy the walls of Edessa, to help YOU kill Saracen scum.

You find her gambling with a group of Irishmen. They speak a barbaric language, smell awful, and they ignore you. "The Romans had repeating catapults. You know I'm good in the field, and intelligent. I know that you know stuff beyond what I might ever learn. I need some of that now. So let's make a deal. I'll make Damascus the new Rome, the new Constantinople. A center of trade, industry, learning, and culture. But to do that, I need an edge here. An edge like... the polybos."

She looks at you like you're an idiot for a moment, before nodding. "I'll go talk to... Sergio? Sergio. For an Italian he knows his business."

(1/?)

>>21684160
That done, you head for where the cooks hold court, and after rounding up a group of men, you lay siege to their tents, demanding roasted beef. After a battle of thrown rocks, the head cook capitulates, and allows your party to make off with the beef shoulder. Celebrating your victory, you're about to find some wine, when Philip runs into you. He calls you 'frere', despite your not being married to his sister yet.

"Frere William! Frere William! The Edessans have sent an emissary asking for you! Since his kingship Baldwin the Ugly is sick, they're coming to you!" Thanking him, you send Philip off to harass Aine. Philip will bring Glorious French Harassment to Aine and keep her distracted for you. After ramming your food down your throat like a starving wolf, you pilfer a wine skin from a Scottish tent, down it, and head back to your tent to dress to properly receive the Edessan envoy. That means armor, which means your squire, another of your father's illegitimate sons, and he helps you get it on. Thanking him, you fasten your sword belt, and go to meet the envoy.

All Saracens or Turks, they greet you as a conquering lord, which, you muse, is only right. For are you not the man that took Damascus, when Kings and an Emperor were willing to surrender, and march elsewhere? You are.

You receive the envoy and his escort in your command tent. They praise you, you greet them, they praise Allah, you nod, they sit down, and they promptly ask to surrender.
(2/3)

>>21684319
"Oh noble Emir of Damascus, blessed peace be upon you. We ask that you allow the city of Edessa to surrender, and thus save itself from the horrors of a sacking, the terrible likes of which you most gloriously inflicted upon Damascus. We humbly promise to pay tribute of ten thousand Italian florins every six of your months, and we shall open our doors to all noble Frankish Crusaders such as yourself."

>Do you accept?
>Do you want tougher terms?
>Do you say "No," and send your knights through the gates while they're open?

>>21684324
holy shit, it lives

>>21684810
OP was a faggot and fell asleep in the middle of his post.

>>21684817
Don't worry about it so much.

I just got up, so I'm going to get some hot caffeine to pour into myself and then post.

like fuck letting these greasy motherfuckers hold onto a christian conquest, what do they take us for?

>>21684324
So let me ask a quick question here, are the gates actually open?

What would be the likely consequence of running in while they're open, would people see us as a dishonorable motherfucker and refuse to treat with us, instead foregoing diplomatic solutions to try to murder the shit out of us?

Just how pissed would other muslims be if we loaded catapults full of dead pig chunks and launched the 'instant-damnation' animals at their mosque district?

>>21684918
The gates are open. People would be all "Wow, what a fucker. But he got shit done."

The Muslims... would be so pissed. All of the pissed. Like, we're talking Jihad aimed at Damascus or Edessa levels of pissed.

>>21684817
Good morning, OP! I'd post a suggestion, but I'm still archive bingeing your quest.

>>21684933
And what a glorious morning it is. I've got half a pot of coffee I can warm up whenever, as well. I start feeling tired, I will be all over that like white on rice.

>>21684925

It's time for some serious trolling.

"It seems God does not smile on your undertaking, then, envoy. I should like twice that amount, since you find yourself so willing to pay."

[If he agrees:]

"Pardon, envoy, your words are difficult to gather through the thickness of your accursed heathen accent. If I understand the amounts correctly now, it will take five times the sum, and every three months."

[If he still agrees:]

"Truly yours is a useless tongue, envoy, but you may have the honor and pleasure of telling your master that he must pay a hundred thousand florins each moon, if he is to have peace."

[When they balk/ask you why you're being unreasonable:]

"Oh, you do not understand, warrior of the desert? And what is the customary tribute for the cowardly conquerors of land in your Mecca? Go tell your foolish master that, and that if he will fight me now before his city in the open field I will spare him the indignity of destroying the sons of his line."

Battle-plan and strategy next post.

>>21685037
Continued.

We'll wait until we've got some roman weapons on the walls first, then. And much as I'd love to, marching knights in through the gates would probably get them slaughtered because of fun things like murder holes.

Ask the other goddess to make the garrison ill with her witchy nature powers in the meantime - maybe something in their fucking tea, that should keep the Christians inside from getting it.

In addition to the polybus, which was an advanced version of the ballistae launcher (the name catapult is confusing, because the romans seem to have used it as a catch-all for 'things that throw shit at people') the armies of the roman empire had advanced stone-throwing artillery for breaking down walls. Hopefully modifying our existing stone-throwers toward the Roman standard will be relatively quick and easy. If we can prototype a bunch of repeat-ballista to mount on carts with a universal joint that allows the ballista to pitch up and down as needed, we'll be able to have a decent advantage as well as mobility.

Continued below.

>>21685066

As it is, while we're making all that shit use the counterweight trebuchets to weaken or breach a wall, have our crossbowmen do the continuous fire trick to discourage defenders, and get men with hand trebuchets (big fucking poles with huge slings on them, pretty nice) to advance under the cover of crossbow fire until they can throw stones at the fuckers, maybe ceramic pots of oil, pitch, or naptha at them too, then flaming arrows to set it the fuck on fire.

Diversionary attacks with ladders and so forth would not go amiss here, but try to move quickly and strike locations they don't expect to have to repel youfrom so as to avoid getting rocks and flaming oil thrown at your men; if anything, use ranged weapons to suppress the assholes on top of the walls you're trying to take with ladders.

After using crossbowmen and the hand-trebuchet guys and possibly fire to scatter the defenders, run in your knights, take the walls, get more crossbowmen and hand-trebuchet guys on said wall, take over the gatehouse, and go for the centers of power in the city. If we have to burn down the barracks we will. If we have built models of the polybos by then, especially cart-mounted ones, get them inside after opening the gates or possibly get them on the walls.

If we succeed, try to limit the looting to the stuff of immediate value, the wine, smaller hoards, the treasury, etc. We're going to need the fucking heathenous writings.

I can roll some dice if you want, by the way.

>>21685067
What do if the guy in charge of Edessa DOES accept our challenge? Lay terms out? If he loses, we take the city, if we lose, we march away?

>>21685087
If he loses we kill his male heirs, if he wins we don't. We're not walking away from the siege.

The point of the trolling was that this is the Holy Land, and they're the stupid fucks that are doing the equivalent of a Crusader trying to hold Mecca as a conquest, and that it offends us so hard we're going to hold them all down and shit in their mouths.

Also, the male line of descent is huge with the muslims. The strictest traditions hold that if someone (usually a woman) in the family dishonors the family, then the father sacrifices his life and his soul in the attempt to undo that dishonor (usually by killing the women, if the form of Islam is strict enough) so that the sons can go on to live unstained lives in the eyes of Allah. The father basically damns himself to the lowest circle of hell, in Christian terms. We're double-trolling him, in essence.

>>21685107
Since no one else has posted, I shall begin work posthaste.

>>21685143
Thank you kindly.

>>21684324
You think this over... And come to a simple conclusion. "It seems God does not smile on your undertaking, then, envoy. I should like twice that amount, since you find yourself so willing to pay." After a sputtering refusal, which you pretend to not understand, you're grinning on the inside as you go on.

"Pardon, envoy, your words are difficult to gather through the thickness of your accursed heathen accent. If I understand the amounts correctly now, it will take five times the sum, and every three months." Still outraged, they demand you reduce the price. And you pull your trump card.

"Oh, you do not understand, warrior of the desert? And what is the customary tribute for the cowardly conquerors of land in your Mecca? Go tell your foolish master that, and that if he will fight me now before his city in the open field I will spare him the indignity of destroying the sons of his line. I might even allow them to be my sons, and still let them practice your heathen religion.

>>21685224
Damn, nice touch.

>>21685224
should keep them from finding a political solution to fuck us over with later

lets see what the garrison commander is made of

>>21685224
>>21685234
>>21685259
Who's in there, though?

Zengi's been dead since 1146 because some slave stabbed him. Nur ad-Din would be the likeliest option because he retook the city at least once between 1146 and 1148, but we went and captured him. Is it his brother? Or some turk from the Sultanate of Rum?

>>21685305
It couldn't be his brother, the older one is overlord of Mosul which is way off in Iraq. Possibly it could be his younger brother, but this is not that likely either.

Let's see what OP comes up with.

>>21685224
It takes the envoy four hours from the time the two of you part to come back with an answer, but finally you have one. The Emir of the city will meet you on the field of honorable battle before the city. You will fight with arrowshot of both sides, so as to minimize any cheating. Which you will be doing a lot of, despite the lack of honor to it. The duel is set for dawn tomorrow, and you spend the rest of the day trying to find out everything you can about the Emir of Edessa.

Turns out, he's the older brother of Nur ad-Din's wife, and commanded a group of cavalry during the battle that defeated the Crusader army. You've got about two hours before sleeping time.

>Do you talk to X?
>Do Y?
>Find X, do Y with X?

>>21685361
We'll be fighting on the ground, and if we can get him to withdraw in a draw that'll be about enough for us. Impeding their command structure during the siege is the prize here.

If the goddesses are available, ask them to do some spying/tell you about this asshole. Otherwise, check on the siege operations and how the new fortifications are coming, see what Sergio says about how long it'll take to fabricate them.

And line up some spectators for tomorrow.

>>21685361

You have 3,000 captured muslims still right? Some might have been under his command. Question one of them to learn of his abilities when fighting on the ground and perhaps learn how he fights so you can best prepare.

>>21685402
>if we can get him to withdraw in a draw
Hurr. If we can wound him and get him to withdraw in a draw

Or knock him out. I ain't picky.

>>21685411
And do this, too, assuming the muslims are around at all. Probably they're back home in Damascus or they've already been ransomed, but a man can dream.

Also, polish the fuck out of your armor and hide it under a tabard. Make sure the battle is fought at high noon or something. Then rip the tabard off. It's difficult fighting a knight when the sun makes him look like a lightbulb.

>>21685443
This. We're gonna shine ourselves up like a boy-scout.

>>21685443
Also make sure to position ourselves upwind from upwind from the Emir, any little advantage will help.

>>21685361
Would it be considered to dishonourable to try and get our hands on some poison?
Little bit of the stuff on the arrow and all we need is nick and the Emir is a deadman.
Hell even if we cant, lets let the arrow tips soak in feces over night.

>>21685558
Considering the Assassins have a fortress within a hundred miles or so of Edessa and think that poison is beneath them and dishonorable, I think it's fair to say that toxins are out.

It would actually be preferable not to kill him, but to have him incapacitated enough to screw up the enemy chain of command. We don't need another martyr, just a badly shaken army.

>>21685558
>shit-arrows
Nah, bro. Even if that weren't fucking disgusting, the bowmen on our side would be behind us. We're not getting any arrows, those are going to be for the enforcers on both sides who make sure to fire arrows at the dueling combatants if obvious cheating goes down.

>>21685589
Which is why the causing the guy to come down with sickness is perfect, he might die or he might survive either way he's not a martyr he's a heathen who died of dyssentry.
We simply dont use toxins, Im still for shit arrows though.

>>21685361
You find Asherah, once more. Now you're harassing her! How times have changed! Gleefully, you poke her in the back of the head while she tries to show Philip how to use a sword, while your ward giggles helplessly.

"Asherah. Asheeeraaaah. What do you know about the Emir of Edessa?"

"For the love of... MacMahon! Stop poking me! This isn't the time, nor the place! By your Christ, MacMahon, stop!" Giggling insanely, you finally subside and allow her to speak. "He's, hold on... He's forty-ish, and fat. That doesn't necessarily mean he's unfit, but... He's more concerned with the pleasures of the flesh than honing the mind, body, and soul to be killing machines. Like you Hospitaller Knights have." Thanking her, and directing Philip to return to his practice, you wonder how Asherah knew that. You really need to write that letter to Hildegard, you decide.

You've also formulated your plan; you're going to polish the shit out of your armor, then take off your surcoat and wreck his shit lit up like Rome on a feastday. Unconcerned with the siege, as you've let Robert know what you want done, he'll get it done for you.

>Now what?
>Find X person?
>Do Y thing?

>>21685558

No poison. That's just cruel. I was thinking maybe tell him that we killed a pig with our sword right before the battle. Since pig blood is viewed as unclean, it might freak him out if the sword starts touching him.

>>21685624
He's still Nur al-din's brother in law. I don't think we should fuck him up too badly if we can get any mileage out of Nur al-Din somehow.

>>21685638
That might be as bad as poison, really - they think it basically destroys their souls, IIRC.

>>21685607

Ah, my bad then.
Then we simply use shit soaked swords.

>>21685626
All right, guys. I'm going to shower. Keep up the discussion. We ARE going to cheat like fuckers, though, to win. It just needs to not be obvious.

Yes, Captcha, for Uaressa.

>>21685651
Well the obvius thing is get a pouch full of sand that we can easily loosen and toss in his eyes.

>>21685626
>You've also formulated your plan; you're going to polish the shit out of your armor, then take off your surcoat and wreck his shit lit up like Rome on a feastday.
>wreck his shit lit up like Rome on a feastday

I like your style, OP.

>>21685644
>draw sword
>sword caked in shit
>stuck in scabbard
>get killed by fat fuck emir
>fucking raghead gets a whiff, tells entire army you smell like a peasant
>father does not recognize us as his heir after all

Nice going.

>>21685644
Um, what is it with you and shit?
What next, we cover ourselves in fecal armour?

>>21685626

You could be all suave and subtle if you want to troll the fuck out of the sisters. What you can do is say that you want to plant an orange grove or something to one of your subordinates somewhere so that Aine can hear, then continue acting like a jerk to both.

As for right now I would read a little more of that book. The more you know about these two the easier the problem will be to solve.

>>21685674

Then a knife wrapped in clothat our belt. We can draw it when we close in and use our superior armor against the fat raghead.

>>21685660
I think everyone would see that.

The obvious thing would be to run circles around fatso and then stick sharp pieces of metal into his greasy, wheezing sides like a fa/tg/uy being corralled by jocks.

Come on, /tg/, you should know all about this kind of shit.

>>21685693

Im in with that, anything that trolls AIne and Im onboard.

>>21685698
That means no shield, but we should strap on a knife and have it at the ready just in case.

>>21685693
How does this troll them exactly? I mean, you have effectively told her you're doing something nice, but still left her feeling like you're insufferable.

She'd probably just avoid interpersonal interaction with you and be glad of the grove.

File: 1353517445394.jpg-(38 KB, 640x488, the-golgothan-shit-demon-(...).jpg)

This is what I think the Muslim will think he is fighting if we follow through covering ourselves in shit.

>>21685644
>>21685558
>>21685730
Freud was right about that anal fixation, I guess.

>>21685718

It confuses the hell out of them. I think confusing the hell out of someone by acting in ways outside of what they think of you constitutes as trolling, especially if you do it to confuse them in the first place.

>>21685626

Can we find out from people what this Emir guys soft spots are.
Like what we could potentially call this guy in the middle of a fight to get him angry or make him stumble.
Something like:
"So I heard what you and your sister got up to that one time in Antioch, so is she a screamer?"

>>21685897
Are you kidding? He's a Muslim getting taunted by a more physically apt Christian in the holy land.

Just confront him with horrifying religious thoughts anytime you want, like 'perhaps I have coated this sword in pig's blood? Perhaps its touch will damn you to hell, or already has.'

As it is, we've succeeded in scaring the shit out of him with the stuff about his sons - why else would a fortified cavalry commander leave the walls and face a knight in a ground duel, with no chance of turning back the siege? The best outcome for him would be to kill you, but he's too fat for that.

All we need to do is tell him we're changing the names of his kids to Jack and Bob.

>>21685758
Not really. They already know you're a wanker and are trying to troll them, it's factored in.

>>21685928

So more like :
"I believe that once i have disgraced you infront of your entire host, I will rename your sons in the christian fashion. Maybe Peter and Michael? After I geld the ofcouse."

>>21685963

Rename them Billy and Alec, then have Baldwin III take care of them.

>>21685963
Emphasis on the gelding!

>>21686003
>>21685963
>>21685977
You guys do realize that he's already probably shaking in his fucking boots?

The city was ready to surrender from the start, after all.

File: 1353519610147.jpg-(95 KB, 500x950, Hospitaller2.jpg)

>>21685626
You are William MacMahon,Lord of Damascus, Knight Hospitaller, Warder of Philip, Count of Flanders, betrothed to Laudette of Flanders, and you have two goddesses on your side.

The day is dawning, and you're standing out side the gates of Edessa, waiting for the Emir to arrive. Your captains, Philip, and Robert, your vassal, are arrayed in a line behind you, while two hundred of your best foot soldiers line behind them. Philip is garbed in chainmail found in one of the armorer's carts meant for a woman. His surcoat and shield bear the arms of the Hospitallers, because he didn't have them in the colors of his own holdings.

Each man is bearing a torch, in order to glint off your polished, shined, and slicked armor. Hopefully, glancing blows will slide off, instead of bruising you.

Your sword has been dripped with pig's blood, you've sharpened spikes in the toes of your boots, a one time thing, as it's uncomfortable, and there are spikes in each knee and elbow piece.

The Emir rides out slowly, dressed in his own finery. You bathed and said confession the night before, so that if you do die, you'd be clean, physically and spiritually on your arrival in Purgatory. Asherah has granted you her 'blessing', Aine did the same, but with a quick hug, and Marie wished you luck with a kiss.

Placing your helmet upon your head, you turn and nod to the men behind you, they nod back, and you stride forward to meet Zal-al ad-Din a Ibrahim.

He hails you in his language, and you return the favor in the language you learned at your mother's knee, Gaidhlig. (Gaelic.) Now that you're both suitably barbaric sounding, he dismounts and draws his sword, and you draw your's. (1/2)

>>21686148
Man, did we ACTUALLY dip our sword in pig-blood? Quick, wash it off, that kind of affrontery will only get us targeted if we do more than posture.

>>21686148
f5ing hard

knock that bitch on his fat ass

>>21686148

Do the last thing he expects.
Step forward and embrace himlike a brother.

>>21686148
(2/2)

Grinning to yourself inside your helmet, you circle him just outside the reach of sword point. He follows your movements, but seems unwilling to expend himself this early in the fight. No one but you knows you dipped your sword in pig's blood; you meant it as a mental edge, but you find it strangely comforting now.

In a phrase you learned specifically for this fight, you speak to him. "Turkish scum. After I gut you like the fat, whoring pig you are, I shall rename your sons after God's angels in His High Heaven." Turning towards you, he swings downward with a powerful attack, hoping to catch you off guard. Instead, you catch it with your shield, drop your sword, and embrace him, whispering, "I'm not sorry, brother." You draw your dagger, and slip it between the plates of his armor, going through the clothing, skin, fat, and muscle. It finally hits his heart, and he gasps in pain, exhaling one of his last breaths. You twist the dagger as the light of life goes from his eyes, and set him gently on the ground, before picking up your sword and resheathing it and your dagger. Silence has fallen on the field now, and the only sound to be heard is a wail from the top of Edessa's walls. The gates don't close, as they know what you'd do to the city, and your men begin marching inside.

Edessa is yours.

>Now what?

>>21686371
Secure the city.

Contact the Count of Edessa and tell him that you want a meeting to sort out precisely how you're going to make sure he doesn't lose his holdings quite so easily in future, including the possibility of a contingent of Hospitalliers in a fortress around here somewhere.

Go loot the libraries for whatever richly decorated, gold-embossed qurans they have and anything that looks like it might be correspondence from which you can learn the enemy's movements. Hell, just take every single document that looks the least bit official and is written in their weird language.

Send a runner or a homing pidgeon or whatever the fuck to the Kings or to Queen Melissande in Jerusalem, and inform them that the other objective of the crusade, for the moment, is complete and that fortifying the County of Edessa is going to require a collective effort.

Now we capitalize on the gains made to take advantage of the spice and silk trade to bankroll more conquests. We may even contact the Coptic Church and take Mecca, though we'll have to go through the red sea first and that means a confrontation with Egypt, Venetian political maneuvering, etc.

>>21686371

You, you actually did this >>21686287
Nice one OP

>>21686371

We are a horrific bastard
...
Im not complaining, im just stating a fact, William is a horrible person doing horrible things for horrible reasons
We really do no deserve the success we are enjoying

>>21686570

Two words, man.

Deus Vult.

>>21686570
Such is history. What do you want, a machiavellian crusader or a fanatical crusader? Because those are the kinds that succeed in the Holy Land.

>>21686503
And clap the fucking Turks in irons to sell to the Venetians to row their galleys. Because that's how we do it LEVANTINE STYLE.

>>21686577
How about Assalamu Alaikum

>>21686606
>>21686503
seconding

what did our father think of our diplomatic outreach to the other knightly orders, op? what does our bride to be think of us, have we heard anything from her?

>>21686614
We'll be receiving those letters this post. One from dear Dad, one from Laudette, and a generalized reply to all the letters sent to the other orders.

>>21686606
>>21686614

Against
Instead we should decimate(roman style) them and then marcht hem into the desert without equipment and only a pair of sackcloth pants
Let god decide from there

>>21686612
Tell that to the Seljuk turks invading Christian lands and enslaving them, or to the moors in their conquest of Spain, or the muslims converting the Mongols. There's also the fucking Arabs that invaded Christian Persia and suppressed the church there.

Peace is pretty fucking hard to ask for given what they've done.

>>21686635
We have use for them in the next campaign. God can decide the matter over a bank of oars just as well as he can in the desert.

>>21686635
what would be the point of decimating them then? at least galley slaves are useful

>>21686667
Because it would be fun to watch

>>21686606
Nah, lets kills their women and rape their soldiers

>>21686685
You can watch them being forced to row all our shit across the Mediterranean instead, to the tune of six knots. That's also the sight of us making some fucking money.

Do you know how expensive all this shit is? We need cash if we're going to crack Egypt wide open like the golden lockbox that it is.

>>21686723
how about no

>>21686729

Why don't we politely inquire about trade agreements then?

Why not give the prisoners the option of publically denouncing their heathen gods, be baptized and "voluntarily" be branded with a crucifix so that God will never leave their side.

And then "free" them so they can do something slightly less horrific than rowing galleys.

>>21686744
Trade agreements.

With the Turks, who do things like send Mongol envoys inquiring about trade back in pieces and provoke huge wars.

While lord of Damascus, sitting on the end of the Silk Route, which barely goes through Turk or Arab territory.

While allied with Jerusalem, which holds a seacost on the Red Sea that we can use as a port to get in on the spice and silk trade and circumvent half of the Islamic world for massive profits.

While all of Christendom would buy our swords and textiles and wood.

>>21686371
You are the taker of Damascus, a Knight Hospitaller, taker of Edessa, and you are 21. You are William MacMahon.

It's been four days since you took the city of Edessa from the Moslem scum. Your first order of business was to request reinforcements from Queen Melisandre of Jerusalem and your father. You've contacted the Count of Edessa, and requested a meeting in order to secure Edessa against future attacks. You've had the libraries and governmental places looted for books, scrolls, letters, and plans, and you've got a bunch of priests that read and speak the infidel tongue translating feverishly. You send pigeons to the Pope and the Kings of Europe, informing them Edessa has been captured by Christian arms once again. You're already laying plans to capture and take Medina and Mecca, in order to shatter the strength of Islam in this world, but that's years away.

You're sitting in your office, having sold every Islamic Turk that wouldn't convert, save the Emir's family, to the Venetians as galley slaves. A letter from your father has reached you, joyful to know of your outreach towards other knightly orders. He promises he'll do the best he can to make agreements with them. A letter from Laudette has reached you. In it, she describes sorrow at her father's death, and an anticipation in meeting you.
(1/?)

>>21686787
Because there's no audience save for themselves - Edessa is latinized or neutral enough not to give a shit one way or the other.

Also because plenty of Christians are still forced to fight the crusaders in the armies of the infidel. These fucks would at the very most be a risk, they're least dangerous to us as labor.

>>21686812
The Christian Turks have accepted your rule gladly, and are currently taking over the Muslim Turks' businesses and farms. You've begun cracking the Templar banking hold by offering better rates than them; so far, it's been going well, despite a Templar complaint to the Pope. Leaning against the back of the chair in your office, at your desk, reading more of that book about the goddesses, when Philip bursts into the room, pursued by Marie, Asherah, and Aine. Philip slides under your desk, knocks you out of your seat, and runs back out of the room while Marie, Asherah, and Aine tackle you, having seen Philip go by you.

>You're covered in women.
>What do you do?

>>21686812
Have we already sent a gift of Damascene steel and a contigent of smiths to Toledo? If not, they ought to be dispatched to get Toledo steel and some smiths back, assuming the orders and guilds and shit agree to a relationship.Should take only about six weeks to get there, an another six weeks to get back. Send money and the prospect of a knightly alliance to the three or four orders over there as an incentive.

Have we had success in organizing the smiths and other swordmakers (there's like five surrogate professions for everything from wrapping the pommel to testing the ore bought from merchants) in Damascus into a guild or foundry? That should be done ASAP.

>>21686882
Demand booze, of course. Possibly also song.

>>21686889
Both were done, yes. That was one of the things taken care of by Robert in Damascus for us. We told him we needed it done, he got it done. Good thing about vassals? They're like secretaries, sometimes.

>>21686882

Revel in it, just revel

>>21686889
We also need to write Hildegarde and probably also Peter the Venerable, who is a brilliant abbot, extremely good at translating Islamic languages, and a rival to the Pope's puppetmaster Bernard of Clairvaux (they'vemostly made peace by this point, but the Pope and Bishop Bernard would probably appreciate having Peter the Venerable away from them as much as he'd like to sink his teeth into all the crazy shit in the Holy Land). Getting Peter the Venerable to move here from France would likely be as simple as telling him that you're trying to establish a court in the style of that of Roger II of Sicily except for the religious strife, though if he wants he can also have an abbey and maybe even a cathedral built for him in Damascus (the pope may be willing to promote him to move him out from underfoot).

We can also ask him to bring the wife and son of another freakishly smart guy named Peter Abelard. Abelard was a genius who anticipated the writings of the church, setting down theology in logical terms, but this irritated the twelfth century catholic priesthood even though they'd later turn to exactly his methods. He later became one of the most famous priestly teachers in Europe, but seduced an (also freakishly smart) woman named Heloise while teaching her, knocked her up, and had a kid in secret. In response, her uncle had Abelard attacked and castrated, which fucked up their marriage. Abelard died not too long after, but both his wife and son became part of the church and were brilliant thinkers. His wife was such a goddamn nerd she named their kid Astrolabius after the astrological slide-rule thing. He'd be about William's age now, if not a bit older, and working as an administrator in Peter the Venerable's abbey.

Both letters should take about two months max to reach their destination, maybe four months to return.

File: 1353524289266.png-(128 KB, 984x780, AqabaComposite.png)

>>21687043
I think Hildegarde is about to decide that she needs to move out of her town anyway, incidentally. Getting the Pope to create a bishopric of Damascus will likely take some wheeling and dealing, but it can be done, possibly over time.

We need to contact Baldwin and Melisande and ask them if they are opposed to a hospitallier-bankrolled fleet in the Gulf of Aqaba, the chunk of the Red Sea between the Sinai Peninsula and Arabia. Pic related is a map of the relevant towns, Eliat would be the ideal seaport, even though the Kingdom of Jerusalem currently controls Aqaba. There are roman roads, extensive docks, and a number of copper-smelting workshops there.

We should write the Pope and ask if we can use the island of Corsica (it's northwest of Sicily in the mediterranean, the Papacy's owned it since the eighth century) as a naval base. We'll have to make a deal with the Spanish as well, but we can probably manage to work that into the whole metal and swords trade and knightly alliance.

Since the Hospitalliers answer directly to the Pope and nobody else, he can give us permission right then and there.

>>21687161
The only other matters are correspondence with certain people in the Byzantine Empire and the court of Roger II of Sicily, which is going to be pretty fucking weird diplomacy.

We should honestly visit both.

For now, we should meet the Count of Edessa, build roman siege weapons like the terrifying repeat ballista on a cart, and plot to fuck over the Templars some more.

>>21687187
Oh, fuck, nearly forgot.

Send like two dozen good french Hospitalliers to Flanders with gifts of silk and cypress-wood for Philip's mother to express your condolences and contribute to securing her lands. We've probably heard by now that the neighboring nobility are pretty rowdy jackasses and we likely know that unrest in Europe has risen with the shift of so many forces to the Holy Land. What we don't know is that she's in the middle of a slap-fight with neighboring nobility that'll turn ugly while she's pregnant, so this will probably get her to like us more; however, sending more than like 25 guys would be cheesy meta shit because we wouldn't have any idea just how crappy things are in Flanders right now.

As for the Templars and banking:

What the Templars do is, they give Pilgrim Joe a chance not to carry around a shitload of cash and valuables in the Holy Land and around Europe when travelling there.

They capitalized on their duty as protectors of pilgrims by noting that if the people travelling to Jerusalem would deposit their money with badass, tough motherfuckers like, say, the Templars themselves, the pilgrims (who were usually weedy and didn't have enough cash to hire bodyguards) would not get beat up for their shit.

Then, the Templars kept track of the deposited funds and let pilgrims keep a receipt that could be presented to a templar house to make a withdrawal; the Order's clerks would keep a running tally of the available funds and move money around securely.

They then charged rent on the storage space in proportion to the value of the goods at outrageous rates (since they couldn't directly charge interest because that's against the faith).

We can compete with them there, but in the end you can only undercut so hard before it becomes unprofitable. We need other opportunities to make a buck.

>>21687339
One opportunity is with the coinage being exchanged in the Holy Land, which comes from a shitload of sources.

We're especially well-positioned to be moneychangers, as the trade routes near Damascus are pretty rich and diverse in their sources so the money will be very varied. Getting some clerks together for that is a good idea.

We can also take advantage of the new coinage being created in Sicilyby Roger II, the Ducat. Its denominations are small enough to allow for great precision in trading, and the price min-maxing was so effective at squeezing profits out of the Sicilian worker populace and translating them into long-term trade profits that Roger was hated for it all over Italy, like any good taxman. Its shifts in value over the next few years will be very useful.

On top of this, there is the possibility of setting up a courier system and mail fleet to move parcels and goods for money. If we set up ports in places like Corsica and make friends with Roger II, among others, this will be a snap on the sea. If we do the same thing on land between different inns and crusader houses along pilgrim roads, we will have formed the first public mail courier system in Europe, ten years before the German Princes do the same with the Hanseatic Leage of merchants.

So that should get us a fair amount of swag.

>>21686882
"Ladies.... Despite enjoying this immensely... Get out." Your voice, normally calm and welcoming, is cool and most decidedly unwelcoming. Asherah and Aine pick up Marie and hurriedly exit your office. You return to your business, unable to read anymore. This consists of a letter to the Pope, requesting a bishopric of Damascus, to be given to Peter the Venerable, and you request the isle of Corsica to be used as a base for the Hospitallers, a letter to Hildegarde, requesting her presence in Damascus, promising her an abbey and cloister, a letter to Peter the Venerable requesting his presence, and for him to bring the wife and child of Peter Abelard. That done, you turn to a couple of final pieces of business. You send a letter to Baldwin III, asking about a Hospitaller bankrolled fleet in the Gulf of Aqaba.

And you send 25 of the Hospitallers that have been with you since Damascus to Flanders, along with Damascus silk and swords to Philip's mother in Flanders. You know the political situation in Europe has gotten antsy, what with so many troops being shifted to the Holy Land, and you hope they'll hope. You send your condolences and consolation as well.

>>21687407
All right, gentlemen. I suspect I'll be running Chapter Six sometime tonight, probably in about four, five hours. Does timeskipping about seven months sound okay to you gentlemen, in order to get us back in Europe, to visit Sicily, Byzantine, and Spain?

>>21687440
Two months is enough to get anywhere in Europe, but seven is fie if you really want.

With a good wind or energetic rowers, you can cross the mediterranean in two to three weeks going the long way. North and south runs should be fairly short.

With good horses and fresh ones at the next inn, you can get across the entirety of Europe in three to four months if you go lengthwise.

But yeah, we can do that. If we can do so, bring Nur al-Din to the court of Roger II, he'll be useful.

>>21687440
sure, man

bring on the scheming so we can roll boats across the desert and kick ass in the red sea

>>21685698
>shit
>shit shit shit shit
Peopel didn't actually do this you retard.
Rad less comics.

Blood flowing out means that the shit isn't going in.


And if you're in a position to stab someone, you can just kill them NOW.

Third, wound cleaning wasn't entirely unheard of. People just didn't have things like reliable medicines to go with it.
Fourth, he's goign to be well armored enough thatany blow will either A:
Be into his fucking face and fatal
b: Be a fatal srike through maille and inflict a wound that's already going to be lethal
c: Break bone through maille and not get anything into his blood.

bumpan

you asleep, OP?