Records: Byzantine Treaty Extension

## **The Crossroads to Asia Minor**

Aquitaine (quietly), then the Noble Plantagenet (officially), had owned Galata, the Genoese quarter of Constantinople, for nearly a year and a half (since late July 1379). The NP had assumed the same role of the Genoese, including the major non-Turkish logistics coordinator for the city.

In that last year and a half, a full Galata Regiment had been built and equipped. The *Noble Guard* were company-strength, and given their training and magical materiel, even that was overkill. The connection to assuming the Genoese strongholds was well known in both Constantinople and Istanbul across the strait.

There was even a quiet rumor of western influence in the Levant. Not a crusade, exactly, but something that spoke of unspeakable power. Turks and Mamluks alike spoke of rumors, whispers and shadows that left *change* in their wake. It wasn't bloodshed, it wasn't war, it was far more powerful.

The foreign rumors were minor in comparison to the impact the NP already had, Galata notwithstanding. The slave markets of Constantinople had mostly dried up – thanks directly to the Plantagenet presence around the Black Sea. They hadn't cut off *all*the sources, but even where they hadn't, they made it clear the practice was ending.

### **The Remains of an Empire**

The Byzantine Empire, named after the city that was the capitol before it was renamed – Byzantium – had already all but collapsed. They'd been vassals of Murad for nearly a decade now, and their few extended holdings were tenuous at best.

It was now painfully clear as the word of the fall of Morea reached the House of Palaiologos. Prince Edmund of the Peloponnese now controlled the entirety of the peninsula, and it wasn't even a decisive, bloody blow as they were used to. It was a "retirement" to live in the jurisdiction of the Magna Carta.

The 18-month treaty once offered by Edmund, and taken with some reticence – *was now expired*. John V Palaiologos lobbied for an extension, but as they were vassals of Murad, the frank conversations were happening out of court, behind closed doors.

### **The Future of the Palaiologos Family**

There was little doubt that Byzantium itself was about to fall. Surprisingly, it would not fall to the House of Osman. Given the recent history, this was a saving grace of sorts to Greek pride. While Prince Edmund was not Greek, most of his cabinet was.

For that matter, it was only a matter of time before the House of Osman fell as well: genocide was not a valid political strategy. They had a Treaty with the Noble Plantagenet as well, and Edmund was in no hurry to renew that one, either.

While Murad was fielding a viable military force, that was a strictly relative description. If they were a true strategic threat, the NP would shift Regiments from stable Western Europe and sweep through. As it were, and on Edmund's authority, the Galata Regiment alone could expunge the House of Osman from Europe and Anatolia in one large figure-8.

Given the ethnic cleansing Murad had ordered in Bulgaria (and elsewhere), ridding the earth of him and his army were very real possibilities. It was not, however, the Plantagenet way.

These were conversations between Edmund and John Palaiologos behind closed doors. The real negotiation was: *what would become of the Palaiologos family after the transition?*