Table of Contents Introduction: Time and Tide ..................................... 5 Fall of the West ............................................ 25 The Aegean by Night ......................................... 6 Plague and War ............................................ 26 The Frankokratia ............................................ 6 The Quiet Centuries .................................... 26 Scions and Crusaders ...................................... 7 The Emirate of Crete ................................... 27 Words and Lore .................................................. 9 War in the East ............................................ 28 Lexicon ........................................................... 9 The Fourth Crusade ..................................... 28 Prince and Basileus ....................................... 10 The Frankokratia ......................................... 29 Greeks and Hellenes ..................................... 11 Geography ........................................................ 30 Using this Book ................................................ 11 Mountains and Seas ..................................... 30 History and Continuity ................................ 12 Travel ........................................................... 30 Historiography .............................................. 12 The City ....................................................... 32 Chapter 1: Geography of the Aegean ....................... 15 The Cainites of Athens .................................... 34 The States of the Aegean ................................. 16 The Academy of Dionysius .......................... 34 Mapping the Aegean ........................................ 18 Politics and Power ........................................ 34 Reading Area Maps ...................................... 18 Further Afield .............................................. 36 Reading Location Maps ................................ 19 Chapter 3: Elsewhere in the Aegean ......................... 47 Chapter 2: Athens by Night .................................... 21 Bodonitsa and the Latin Marches .................... 48 Athens, Fortress of the Franks .......................... 22 Lebadeia and the Oracles ................................. 50 Theme........................................................... 22 Appendix: Key Dates ................................................ 53 Mood............................................................. 22 Emperors in Constantinople ............................ 54 Using Athens by Night ................................ 23 Lords of Athens ................................................ 54 SampleHistory .............................................................. 24 Key Dates in the History fileof the Aegean .......... 55 The Birth of Constantinople ........................ 24 Index ........................................................................ 56 The Song of the Aegean 3 Sample file The Song of the Aegean 4 INTRODUCTION: or the people of the Mediterranean, the sea has an importance which Fis hard to underestimate. Those who live on the coast see its waters not as a barrier, but as a thoroughfare, linking cities thousands of miles apart, and connecting the peoples of distant ports. The sea is both familiar and capricious. The winds of the Mediterranean are so regular that they have names; those who reside on its shores will talk of the wild and dangerous Bora, the gentle Levanter, and the dry, relentless, Sirocco. Yet, one cannot rely on the sea being safe and peaceful; it may provide wealth and opportunities, but can swallow ships, and leave widows and orphans in its wake. A person might rely upon the sea, but would be foolish to trust Sampleits waters. file 5 he peaceful rhythms and occasional violence of the 1204, a falling out between the Crusader leadership and T sea is mirrored in the social and political lives of the Byzantine Emperor, Alexios Doukas, led to open those who live upon the shores of the Mediterranean. conflict. In a humiliating defeat for the Byzantines, first There are many people whose lives are barely changed Constantinople, and then much of the empire’s from those of their ancestors, a thousand years before. territories, were conquered by Crusader armies. The Bound by the seasons and tides, they lead lives which events of 1204 would represent a decisive shift in power, barely extend far beyond the boundaries off their which would permanently transform the region. villages. It would, however, be a mistake to assume that this is an unchanging world; a coastline might exist untouched for centuries, before being ravaged by war or The Frankokratia pestilence. The Mediterranean is not a region which see In the years after 1204 the armies of the Fourth Crusade were diverted into a war of conquest, claiming the steady change, but is a place which has long periods of peace, before being transformed by catastrophe. territories of the Byzantine Empire for Baldwin of Flanders, the Catholic emperor in Constantinople. Without unified leadership, the cities of Greece soon The Aegean by Night fell to the Crusader armies and, by 1215, most of the The Song of the Aegean is a sourcebook describing the Aegean recognised the authority of Henry of Flanders, Crusaders states of Southern Greece for Vampire: the Baldwin’s successor as emperor. These conquests Dark Ages. The various chapters which follow contain marked a profound shift in power in this region. general information on the Aegean, as well as The people of the Aegean call the current era the information on some of the more notable domains Frankokratia; the term roughly translates as ‘rule of the found within the region, including details of the Franks’, referring to the nationality of many of the prominent Cainites who dwell within these places. The Crusaders involved in the conquest of the region. material within this book in intended to support the Whilst the states established by the Frankokratia work of a Storyteller who wishes to set a chronicle recognise the Latin Emperors of Constantinople as their within the Crusader states of the Aegean. feudal overlords, imperial power is limited and In the year 146 BCE, the army of the Roman diminishing, and the states of the southern Aegean Republic defeated the forces of the Achaean League at enjoy considerable autonomy. a clash that would become known as the Battle of As of 1242, the Latin possessions in the Aegean are Corinth. In the aftermath of this conflict, Greece was divided between six states. These are: organised by the Romans into the Province of Macedonia. Over the following thousand years, the o The Principality of Achaea: The largest of the Roman state was affected by many changes; the republic Latin states, the Principality of the Achaea would become an empire, growing in strength until it covers almost all of the Morea. With the would dominate Europe. In time, Christianity would destruction of the Kingdom of Thessaloniki in come to be the dominant religion, and Constantinople 1224, the Princes of Achaea have assumed a role would displace Rome as the greatest city in the of leadership in Southern Greece, acting as Mediterranean. Whilst the western parts of the empire nominal overlords of the rulers of the other would be beset by threats from beyond its borders, and Crusader states. would eventually fall to the Goths, Franks, and Vandals, o The Lordship of Athens: Covering Attica and the Eastern Empire would endure. Over the following Boeotia, the Lordship of Athens is a relatively centuries it would endure against the aggressions of its wealthy and populous state. Its ruler, Guy de la neighbours as the Byzantine Empire, a bastion of Greco- Roche, is a close ally of the Prince of Achaea, and Roman culture in the Eastern Mediterranean. is the feudal overlord of the Archaean towns of The final decline of the empire would begin in 1203, Argos and Nauplia. when the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade came to the city of Constantinople. Whilst the Crusaders had expected o The Lordship of Negroponte: Better known as support and, ultimately, payment from the emperor, the Triarchy of Negroponte, this state is a close decadesSample of conflict with the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia ally of the Republic of fileVenice, the result of a had left the finances of the empire in poor condition. In failed rebellion against the Latin Emperors of The Song of the Aegean 6 Constantinople in 1209. Power in the Lordship domains. The last thirty years have seen a revival of of Negroponte is divided between a number of trade and growing urbanisation. This has been assisted Lombard barons, known locally as the hexarchs. by the Latin insistence on protecting their holdings, which has led to the construction of fortifications across o The Duchy of the Archipelago: Also known as the region. The Latin states are now well-protected the Duchy of Naxos, this state was created as a from the corsairs who, for centuries, had threatened private venture by its first overlord, the Venetian coastal settlements. This militarisation and fortification adventurer Marco Sanudo. Whilst the Duke of the Aegean has allowed this region to prosper. nominally rules from the island of Naxos, many of the larger islands function as the private domains of their lords, often the descendants of Scions and Crusaders the Venetians who assisted with the conquest of The effects of the Fourth Crusade were not confined to the archipelago. The Duchy of the Archipelago the mortal world. For a thousand years, the