Recaps

Vitus drove Haji Giray’s forces from the peninsula and began securing the Perekop Isthmus while organizing freed Rus men into a potential new infantry force. With the peninsula stabilized, he assessed its poor farming conditions and offered soldiers prize money or land, finding that most veterans preferred cash or farmland in their hometowns.

• Haji Giray retreated from the peninsula ahead of Vitus’s advance, losing most of his baggage and livestock as Vitus’s army reached the Perekop Isthmus.
• Vitus ordered Marcus to fortify the isthmus with infantry, auxiliary troops, artillery, and prisoners tasked with digging trenches.
• Vitus subdued the remaining tribes, seized livestock and supplies, freed thirty thousand Rus slaves, and recruited five thousand young Rus men for military training.
• Vitus assessed the peninsula’s dry grasslands and offered soldiers prize money or sixty stremmata of land, but most veterans chose money or farmland near their homes.

Vitus worked to rebuild and develop the Crimean Peninsula while allowing an Italian merchant to offer regulated agricultural loans to settlers. He negotiated with Genoa, agreeing to let it retain Caffa and two nearby strongholds, and expected the peninsula to reach fiscal balance by 1436.

• Vitus returned to Chersonesus and requested civil officials and clergy to rebuild the peninsula's administration, while the Church sent personnel and funded churches.
• Agnes planned to send workers from the Peloponnese to Chersonesus to make woolen cloth from steppe wool for sale in Constantinople and the steppe.
• Vitus permitted Maurice Lupotaz to issue regulated agricultural loans to free people, but workers ignored Maurice's efforts to promote his bank.
• Genoa's envoy negotiated with Vitus after the Empire's occupation threatened Genoese interests in Crimea.
• Vitus agreed that Genoa could retain Caffa and two nearby strongholds in exchange for returning the Kerch Peninsula and most of the southern coastline.
• Vitus marked the new borders on a map and estimated that the peninsula could reach fiscal balance by 1436.

Vitus led Vincenzo and a mining team to survey the abandoned iron deposits in the Kerch Region, where they found ore suitable for large-scale extraction. After arranging the mine’s development and protection, Vitus returned toward Chersonesus by way of the Crimean Mountains to inspect the southern coast.

• Vitus brought Vincenzo and a light cavalry battalion to the Kerch Region to survey an old mining district.
• Vincenzo determined that the abundant limonite deposits could supply Tauris Province if the mine used improved furnaces.
• Vitus appointed Vincenzo supervisor and ordered the mine to open by the end of the year, with a charcoal camp, port, and Rus militiamen for support.
• Vitus returned toward Chersonesus along the southern foothills to inspect the recovered coastline and its inhabitants.

Vitus investigated unsold Crimean wine and developed a plan to distill it into strong spirits for trade in Eastern Europe, but he needed access to Lithuanian trade routes. Meanwhile, reports showed Skanderbeg winning rapid victories against Venice and Serbia, leaving Vitus astonished as the Balkan war continued.

• Vitus learned that wine from the southern Crimean mountains was going unsold after Constantinople’s population and demand collapsed, and that the Rus and Tatars disliked its low alcohol content.
• Vitus distilled the wine twice, and Rus construction workers eagerly drank the resulting strong spirits, prompting him to plan a distillery.
• Vitus realized he needed the Grand Duke of Lithuania’s permission to trade along the lower Dnieper, and he barred merchants from selling firearms to steppe tribes.
• Vitus received news that Skanderbeg had retaken the northwestern coast and captured six thousand Venetian mercenaries.
• Vitus later learned that Skanderbeg had defeated Serbia’s main force and captured Otto Dragases.

Vitus returned to Constantinople, reviewed the empire’s finances and assessed how the war between Albania and Venice might affect Roman ambitions. He and John decided to stay neutral while seeking to ransom Otto Dragases and relocate Macedonian refugees to Crimea.

• Vitus returned to Blachernae Palace and discovered Agnes had bought a fake yellow-glazed Ming porcelain vase.
• Vitus read the annual fiscal report, which showed the empire had earned 800,000 Florins and spent 820,000, and considered France’s and Venice’s finances.
• Vitus concluded that a war in North Italy could weaken Venice and create an opportunity for the Eastern Roman Empire to reclaim Aegean islands.
• John asked Vitus about the war between Albania and Venice, and Vitus praised Skanderbeg’s command while judging Albania unable to become a major empire.
• John and Vitus decided to remain neutral, send an envoy to ransom Otto Dragases, and move Macedonian refugees to Crimea.

After Skanderbeg released Otto, the Serbian noble traveled to Constantinople and complained about his defeat at a banquet with the imperial family. Vitus discussed border security and Crimea’s need for laborers, then learned that the Crimean Khanate had collapsed into infighting after Haji Giray disappeared.

• Skanderbeg released Otto, who traveled with the Eastern Roman envoy through Macedonia and saw refugees being gathered for resettlement in Tauris.
• At Blachernae Palace, Otto complained to Thomas about Skanderbeg’s tactics and the failures of his allies before drinking himself unconscious.
• Thomas asked John and Vitus how to handle smugglers in Northern Thrace, and John proposed punishing the worst offenders while tightening border controls with Wallachia.
• Vitus advised Thomas to send captured bandits and rebels to Crimea as laborers, where the population had been devastated by the Tatars.
• In mid-February, Vitus learned that Haji Giray had vanished and that commanders of thousands were fighting over the remnants of the Crimean Khanate.

Vitus relocated refugees to Chersonesus, inspected the Perekop Isthmus, and established a supervised market for nomadic tribes fleeing the Crimean civil war. The market expanded as Tucha chose to trade Greek goods across the steppe rather than join a faction.

• Vitus arrived in Chersonesus with four thousand refugees and learned that oak barrels had turned some grape liquor pale gold and improved its flavor.
• Vitus inspected construction at the Perekop Isthmus as Marcus reported that Haji Giray was presumed dead and the Crimean Khanate had split into five warring factions.
• Varro proposed a supervised market for nearby nomads, and Vitus ordered regular trade while forbidding the export of weapons, armor, and gunpowder.
• Tucha registered the Gray Antelope Tribe for the first market and traded livestock for barley, salt, and ironware as ten tribes visited the trading ground.
• Vitus confirmed that he wanted nomads to resell cheap cloth and strong grape liquor into the steppe, and Tucha later chose that trade over pledging allegiance to a civil-war faction.

Vitus returned to Chersonesus after the trade fair and arranged more funding to finish the city walls. Ratmir used his savings and a bank loan to join a reclamation team, which settled on grassland near Sufulion Town and began building a village.

• Vitus reviewed the construction accounts and allocated more money to complete the walls by autumn.
• Ratmir collected his wages, bought sixty stremmas of land, and registered for a reclamation team despite the clerk's warning that he lacked supplies.
• Maurice Lupotaz verified Ratmir's identity and gave him a seven-Florin loan, which they formally recorded at city hall.
• Ratmir resigned from construction work, joined the team, and helped prepare food, tools, wagons, and livestock for the journey.
• The reclamation team left Chersonesus on April 10th and reached elevated grassland near Sufulion Town two days later.
• Town supervisors organized the farmers to clear land, construct their homes and communal buildings, and build a watermill by the stream.

Ilya completed the handover of Thistle Village to Ratmir and a parish priest after overseeing its settlement and construction. In Chersonesus, Vitus received news that the Golden Horde had reclaimed the Crimean Khanate and might clash with Lithuania while pursuing rebel leaders.

• Ilya praised Ratmir’s work as foreman and offered him the village chief position, but Ratmir declined because he could not read or handle legal matters.
• On June 18, Maurice Lupotaz’s convoy arrived with goods and livestock, and Ilya verified the identity of the accompanying priest appointed to Thistle Village.
• Ilya briefed Ratmir and the priest on taxes, town services, and village responsibilities, then signed documents handing the village over to them and departed.
• Ilya observed villagers clearing and plowing land for rye, estimating that the first harvest would not provide enough food for their needs.
• On June 20, Vitus inspected a coal shipment at the Chersonesus docks and sketched designs for more efficient coal use.
• A guard reported that the Golden Horde had reclaimed the Crimean Khanate and that two fleeing leaders had entered Lithuanian territory; Vitus anticipated a possible war between the two powers.

Vitus learned that the Golden Horde was advancing on Tauris Province and prepared Eastern Rome’s forces to defend the Perekop Isthmus. The Horde’s vanguard arrived, found a gap in the wall, and camped nearby after Vitus rejected its demand for surrender.

• Tucha told Vitus that Qichihe had chosen Tauris Province because he considered it an easier target than Lithuania.
• Vitus ordered the troops to prepare for war and inspected the military horse farm, which could provide 803 reserve warhorses.
• Vitus received reports of the Horde’s advance, brought auxiliary troops to Perekop, and refused three tribes permission to join the battle, allowing them to shelter inside the wall only after surrendering their weapons and horses.
• On June 29, the Golden Horde’s vanguard reached Perekop and discovered a two-kilometer gap in the unfinished wall.
• Vitus observed the Horde’s cavalry, infantry, and khan’s banners, then answered its surrender letter by ordering a cannon fired.
• The Tatars made camp five kilometers from the trench as night fell, with the khan’s golden-topped tent at the center of their camp.

The Golden Horde repeatedly sent Rus servant soldiers against Vitus’s artillery before launching cavalry attacks on both wings. Vitus’s army broke the servant army, which fled north, while the Tatar assault on the wagon laagers was forced to end.

• The Golden Horde’s first two assaults with servant soldiers collapsed under cannon fire, and the Tatars reorganized before trying again.
• Vitus’s army advanced toward the Golden Horde while small infantry detachments repelled cavalry harassment.
• Vitus bombarded the Tatar center and ordered four infantry battalions and two auxiliary battalions to attack the Rus servant soldiers on the western side.
• Qichihe sent nearly ten thousand cavalrymen against the Greek left while Tatar cavalry attacked the wagon laagers on the eastern side and rear.
• The Second Auxiliary Battalion’s Rus infantry and Greek ranged troops held the far-right laager until Tatar cavalry casualties forced both flanking attacks to stop.
• Vitus’s six infantry battalions broke the remaining twelve thousand servant soldiers, who fled north.

Vitus defeated Qichihe’s central army, captured its camp and supplies, and returned to rest before inspecting the Khan’s tent complex. After nightfall, thousands of nomads gathered outside the trenches to swear allegiance, leaving Vitus to decide what to do with them.

• Vitus sent infantry and Marcus’s battalions against Qichihe’s central army, whose cavalry and archers failed to break the Roman formations.
• Qichihe ordered a retreat as his elite tumen fell to forty percent strength, and Vitus seized the camp while forbidding pursuit of the enemy cavalry.
• Tucha and two other chiefs asked to swear allegiance, while Vitus assigned Krezer command and returned to his lodgings to rest.
• The army captured seven thousand mostly Rus prisoners, three thousand camp attendants, and a large haul of supplies and equipment.
• Vitus inspected Qichihe’s dismantled Golden Horde tent complex, then wrote a battle report to Constantinople.
• Vitus woke to learn that six or seven thousand nomads had gathered outside the trenches to swear allegiance, and he climbed the watchtower to examine them.

After Qichihe’s death sparked rumors that Vitus had killed the Khan, the nomads swore fealty to him, forcing him to plan a campaign against Sarai to prevent future retaliation. Despite limited support from Constantinople, Vitus assembled an army and marched north in early August.

• Vitus learned that Qichihe had been killed by a Tatar noble’s arrows, but the nomads credited Vitus with the deed and swore fealty to him.
• Vitus decided to march on Sarai, break the Khanate’s power, and establish an auxiliary cavalry brigade under Tucha, Kazhuo, and Sanggebu.
• Varro Santis registered the tribes that Vitus planned to settle in the steppes north of Tauris Province, while Vitus requested funding, weapons, ships, and personnel from Constantinople.
• John warned Vitus against a prolonged steppe war, and Constantinople sent only twenty thousand Florins, thirty-two light galleys, and one-third of the requested equipment.
• Vitus set out in early August with eighteen thousand men, including three thousand steppe cavalrymen and the newly established Varangian Legion.

Vitus led the expeditionary army north along the Don, recruiting Cossacks as mercenaries and gathering intelligence for Rome’s future dealings with the steppe. On August 20, the army drove back Tatar cavalry and began crossing the river on a pontoon bridge toward Sarai.

• Vitus hired guides from Tana and led the army along the Don’s western bank.
• Roman scouts encountered Cossacks, and Vitus agreed to recruit them as mercenaries for intelligence gathering.
• Vitus organized four hundred Cossacks into a cavalry battalion, allowing them to elect their own officers.
• Vitus told the Cossacks that the army would cross the Don and attack Sarai.
• Tatar cavalry tried to block the crossing, but Roman ships fired on them and forced them away from the riverbank.
• The Mountain Battalion and engineers built a pontoon bridge, and infantry began crossing as the river fleet guarded the passage.

Vitus’s expeditionary force survived a Tatar night raid, crossed the Don River, and advanced toward Sarai despite repeated cavalry harassment. On August twenty-third, the force reached the city’s western outskirts, where Sarai appeared disordered and poorly fortified.

• Vitus watched the defenders repel a fierce Tatar night assault on the eastern palisade, and the Tatars withdrew after leaving around twelve hundred corpses.
• Vitus rested while the remaining cavalry and artillery crossed the Don River, then led the main force east and left two thousand men to guard the camp.
• A Genoese guide described the cultivated fields and explained that Rus slaves and Bulgars farmed the Khanate’s core territories.
• Tatar cavalry repeatedly harassed the expeditionary force as it approached Sarai, but the Khanate lacked the strength to stop its advance.
• On August twenty-third, Vitus and the expeditionary force arrived on Sarai’s western outskirts and saw its low walls, disorderly buildings, and surrounding tents.

Vitus’s expeditionary force captured Sarai, freed its slaves, and seized supplies and valuables while securing the surrounding estates. With the city stabilized and local crops being harvested, Vitus began planning attacks along the Volga to destroy the Golden Horde’s remaining power.

• Vitus’s forces bombarded Sarai and stormed its defenses, driving the Tatar troops toward the congested pontoon bridge as nobles set it ablaze.
• Rus infantrymen cleared livestock and baggage from part of the bridge before withdrawing, and the expeditionary force took control of Sarai by one in the afternoon.
• The emperor declared the city’s slaves free, and they helped the soldiers search Tatar nobles’ residences for valuables.
• Financial Officer Ilya collected spoils from a noble’s residence, discovered an elderly slave’s false claim about hidden treasure, and sealed the residence for the freed slaves and captives.
• Vitus sent troops to seize nearby estates and ordered freed slaves to help harvest crops, then considered further attacks along the Volga.

Vitus transported twenty-nine oared sailing vessels from the Don River to the Volga, then led an army north and faced Khan Ulu’s forces without fighting. After returning to Sarai, he assessed the northern lands as poor for agriculture and considered their climate compared with Greece and East Asia.

• Vitus’s engineers hauled twenty-nine vessels overland from the Don River to the Volga, completing the operation on September 2.
• Vitus led thirteen thousand soldiers north while the Varangian Legion remained in Sarai to harvest grain, maintain order, and move supplies and prisoners.
• The expeditionary army captured twelve settlements before scouts warned that more than ten thousand enemies were approaching.
• Ulu’s envoy offered livestock in exchange for Vitus halting his advance, and the two sides withdrew after Ulu’s forces presented six thousand cattle and sheep.
• Vitus proposed future trade with Ulu, offering ironware and textiles in exchange for northern livestock, furs, amber, and timber.
• After returning to Sarai in late September, Vitus concluded that the north was poorly suited to farming and compared its climate with Greece and East Asia.

Vitus’s expeditionary army captured Astrakhan, destroying the last major stronghold of Qichihe’s remnants, then began its journey north with spoils, livestock, and freed slaves. Vitus rejected the Genoese merchants’ offer for the goods, planning to sell them in Constantinople instead.

• After learning that the Nogai Tribe had sacked Old Sarai, Vitus continued down the Volga and reached Astrakhan on October 8.
• Vitus sent troops to gather ships and information, then planned an assault after Marcus reported that Astrakhan had roughly four to six thousand defenders.
• Marcus led the landing force against repeated Tatar cavalry attacks and advanced through the outer city with cannon support.
• When Qichihe’s nephew fled, Marcus continued the assault; engineers blew open the inner-city wall, and Vitus’s army occupied Astrakhan that evening.
• On October 15, Vitus left Astrakhan with the army, its spoils and livestock, and five thousand freed slaves migrating behind it.
• Varro Santis objected to the Genoese merchants’ offer of forty thousand Florins, and Vitus chose to transport the seized goods to Constantinople for a better price.

Vitus withdrew his forces from Sarai and waited in Tana while the former Golden Horde fractured into rival khanates. He offered sixteen nomadic chieftains land along the lower Don in exchange for conversion and allegiance to the Empire, and they agreed to settle there.

• Vitus hired Genoese merchants in Tana to transport supplies stranded on the Don's eastern bank, then withdrew his troops as rival steppe forces gathered near Sarai.
• Vitus's rearguard burned the camps and pontoon bridges before leaving, and Vitus arrived in crowded Tana to await a ship back to Chersonesus.
• Vitus learned that the former Golden Horde's lands had divided among the Uzbek, Kazan, Nogai, Astrakhan, and Qasim Khanates, and he marked a proposed settlement area along the lower Don on a map.
• Vitus invited sixteen nomadic chieftains to dinner and offered them land and imperial citizenship if they converted to the Empire's faith.
• Tucha pledged the Gray Antelope Tribe's loyalty first, and the other chieftains followed by swearing allegiance and agreeing to convert.
• Vitus announced that the chieftains would sail to Constantinople for baptism before he assigned their tribes land on the lower Don and arranged for churches and clergy to support them.

Vitus secured Lithuanian permission for Greek merchants to trade along the Dnieper and planned further development and military recruitment in Tauris. After returning to Constantinople, he brought nomadic chieftains to the capital, apologized to Helena for Romanus and Anna’s garden mishap, and found the imperial council still in session.

• Vitus received a Lithuanian envoy and sent porcelain to the Grand Duke after securing permission for Greek trading posts along the Dnieper.
• Vitus oversaw construction across Tauris and drafted an edict allowing Cossacks to settle in Outer Tauris in exchange for wartime cavalry service.
• Vitus sailed to Constantinople with Tucha and sixty-one other nomadic chieftains and arranged for Varro Santis to house them.
• Agnes told Vitus that Romanus and Anna had damaged the Dowager Empress’s garden, so they had been assigned to restore it.
• Vitus apologized to Helena with gifts, then visited Romanus and Anna as they worked in the garden.
• Vitus passed Alexius Hall and discovered that the imperial council had been meeting since morning.

Vitus reported his victory over the Golden Horde and laid out his plans to take Circassia, while the court discussed the empire’s finances, foreign ties, and future expansion. The meeting ended with officials debating how to govern the nomads along the Don Frontier, with the minister of administration advocating a divide-and-rule system.

• Vitus recounted how he defeated the Golden Horde, announced his plan to seize Circassia, and repaid the treasury’s twenty thousand Florins from the spoils.
• John explained that victories over Qichihe and the capture of Sarai had prompted celebrations across the empire and congratulations from rulers abroad.
• Vitus dismissed the Montferrat marquis’s overtures and explained that the empire should avoid entanglement in Italy, the Balkans, and other risky fronts for now.
• The Patriarch urged the court to convert the Don nomads and restore the Orthodox faith in the region.
• The minister of administration recommended dividing the Don chieftains’ power by appointing one as governor and assigning the others official posts, then moving former governors to positions elsewhere in the empire.

Vitus celebrated the Roman victory over the Golden Horde and organized the Don Frontier under Tucha, while planning to settle and assimilate its nomadic population. Theodore arrived in Constantinople with news that Prince Henry had diverted his investment to the war in Morocco, leaving him unsure whether the promised exploration route would ever earn a return.

• Vitus led a triumphal procession through Constantinople, and the Patriarch baptized Tucha and sixty-one other nomads before the chieftains received their imperial investitures.
• Vitus appointed Tucha governor of the Don Frontier and urged him to build defenses, develop trade, and govern the tribes alongside financial officer Ilya Elatini.
• Vitus considered converting the nomads and sending clergymen to Cossack settlements to strengthen Constantinople’s ties with them.
• Theodore arrived in Constantinople after learning that Prince Henry had diverted his eight thousand Florins to military expenses in Morocco, and he went to seek Vitus’s advice.

Theodore learned that his investment in Portugal’s campaign against Morocco was unlikely to benefit exploration, then heard the Empire still faced a deficit despite rapid population growth. The Imperial Council removed Thomas from his post after he pursued smugglers into Wallachia and appointed him chief envoy to Eastern Europe.

• Theodore watched Italian painters argue with two noncommissioned officers over how to depict the Battle of Perekop, then considered opening taverns in the golden tents.
• Theodore asked Vitus whether Portugal’s victory over Morocco would aid exploration, and Vitus judged Portugal’s risky inland campaign had only even odds of success.
• Theodore accepted the loss of his investment, and the next day he learned the Empire had an eight-thousand-Florin deficit despite a growing population.
• The administrative minister reported that Thomas had crossed into Wallachia after smugglers, killing one hundred people and seizing 230.
• The Imperial Council stripped Thomas of his post as garrison general, and John proposed making him chief envoy to Eastern Europe until the dispute subsided.

Thomas traveled north through the muddy settlements along the Dnieper after learning that his dismissal had ended his military command. As the delegation continued toward its destination, he endured local hospitality and read about the history between the Empire and the Rus people.

• Thomas complained to Varro Santis that the Imperial Council had dismissed him despite his successes against northern smuggling.
• After learning that spring floods would prevent river travel until April, Thomas decided to wait a few days and continue overland.
• On March 5, Thomas and the delegation rode north through muddy roads while Varro Santis gathered information about local towns and promoted timber exports.
• Thomas accepted invitations to banquets and read about the history of relations between the Empire and the Rus people.
• Thomas criticized Basil II for marrying his sister Anna to Grand Prince Vladimir and sending her to Kievan Rus.

Thomas reviewed Lithuania’s history and strategic position before signing a report on the Dnieper region. In Chersonesus, Ratmir helped arrange caravan labor and delivered villagers’ purchases back to Thistle Village, where currency confusion left him unpaid and his wife complaining.

• Thomas read about the succession system and history of Kievan Rus, then concluded Lithuania faced no immediate geopolitical threat.
• Varro Santis brought Thomas a report on the middle and lower Dnieper, and Thomas signed it without reading it closely.
• Maurice Lupotaz hired twenty Rus villagers for caravan work, while Ratmir stayed behind to organize farming and accepted a wedding gift from Maurice.
• Ratmir bought supplies in Chersonesus and returned to Thistle Village by cart, where villagers were reclaiming farmland and a retired soldier served as militia captain.
• Ratmir distributed the villagers’ purchases and change with help from the priest and militia captain, but changing coins and exchange rates left him with no earnings.
• Ratmir returned home and told his wife he would not take another commission like this.