History Fanfic / IAmSkantarios

* {{Expy}}: Skantarios is essentially [[CodeGeass Lelouch Lamperouge]] born several centuries early.

* {{Badass}} / {{Determinator}}: Both meta- and in-universe example - Skantarios the character ''and'' Skantarios the author. Look, if half the world hates you, your army is starving and close to desertion, and your only major city is besieged from the get-go, you have to be both of the above to even survive, let alone turn the table. The author gets plus-points for being the one who actually plays in that impossible setting.

The year is 1450 AD. The ByzantineEmpire - henceforth refered to as Basileia ton Romaion, "Kingdom of the Romans" - the last remnant of the glorious Roman Empire of the age past, is on its last legs. Surrounded by hostile neighbors who can crush what little land it has left and put an end to the lingering legacy of Rome for good, it seemed that there is little the the Basileia can do except for [[VestigialEmpire surrendering its arms and step down...]]

* StopHelpingMe: InUniverse. Genessios and Vitos do ''not'' appreciate Vasileos getting the Pope to order a Crusade against the Mongols when they'd done most of the work already, and finish off their empire before they arrive to prove their point. The Hungarian king, aware of the dissension between the two, tells Genessios that as an ally of the Romans, he will not stand in his way if he makes a bid for the throne.
* TemptingFate / FamousLastWords: Really, [[spoiler:Ioannis]]? Calling yourself "the Invincible" in battle against Genessios?

Look for this completed work [[http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=320711 here]] at TW Center.

* ThePope: Several popes take a role throughout the story.

* ArtificialStupidity: A few battles were won owing to this, including many of the countersieges of Constantinople. Getting their men fried by [[KillItWithFire Greek Fire]]? Forgivable. [[IdiotBall Charging cavalry through a row of stakes]]? [[TooDumbToLive No excuse]].

* KillItWithFire: The Byzantines have Greek Fire, and use it to devastating effect.

* FailOSuckyname: Skantarios says that "ibn Mahbub" (the name of a Moorish general) is "more of a joke than a name".

* AllohistoricalAllusion: The Roman empire is finally ended in the 19th century by a Roman general by the name of NapoleonBonaparte, who took it over and was killed shortly after.

--> '''Skantarios:''' I ask my interpreter with some curiosity if this is how you write "Constantinople" in Arabic. He looks at the sign for some time and shakes his head.
--> '''Skantarios:''' He says, "No... The rough translation is: 'The land where Muslims go to die.'"
--> '''Skantarios:''' I think that is as fitting an epitaph for the Jihad as any I could write.
-->- page 8: "Picking up the Pieces and the End of the Jihad" - February, 1492 AD

-->The emperor strode out before them and spoke in a clear, calm voice:
-->“You have all been judged and sentenced to death.”
-->A murmur of incredulity rose up from the ranks. Numerous whispers could be heard from the ranks: “Why?!?” “For what?” Was it a joke? Had they not heard him correctly?
-->Theodoros continued, thundering now above the murmurs: “You may be asking yourself for what crime you are accused and then sentenced. Your ‘crime’ is being born a man and being conscripted into this army. Your crime is that you belong to a nation at war. There is no judge, procedure, or appeal to this sentence. This sentence is final."
-->“There is hope, however. You can gain clemency by defeating your foe. Pass your sentence onto the enemy. Buy your life by taking his…for yours is already forfeit. By crushing him and driving him back to the steppes that spawned him. For, if you fail, you are dead. If my own men don’t kill you, the enemy surely will. If you fail, you not only condemn yourself to death, but your wives, your children, and all that you hold dear. Death, enslavement, and ruin are all that await you should you falter or fail today. The enemy will have no mercy and neither will we. Better to die here than to run."
-->"Make no mistake, there are no other alternatives. Win today, or die today. It’s an easy choice. You are already dead. Today, tomorrow, ten years from now; we all wind up in the same place. Buy your life today and that of your family. "
-->"Win."
-->- page 1: "War with the Turks Begins" - June, 1455 AD

-> Efthymios: I cried many tears that day. Tears for my brother, for father, and for the thousands of valiant soldiers led astray to their deaths. Mostly, I cried for our great failure to live up to Skantarios’ dream. If Skantarios had been here, I know he would have wept with me.

* AlternateHistory: This ''is'' [[TotalWar Medieval II Total War...]]

The author also made a sequel, called [[http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?382915-SS-AAR-The-Legacy-of-Skantarios-Restoration-of-the-Roman-Empire-**COMPLETE**-(With-Compilation) Legacy Of Skantarios.]]

* AnticlimaxBoss: The final confrontation between Skantarios, representing the Orthodox Church and the Pope is... underwhelming, to say the least.

-> Efthymios: I cried many tears that day. Tears for my brother, for father, and for the thousands of valiant soldiers led astray to their deaths. Mostly, I cried for our great failure to live up to Skantarios’ dream.
If Skantarios had been here, I know he would have wept with me.
* StopHelpingMe: InUnverse. Genessios and Vitos do ''not'' appreciate Vasileos getting the Pope to order a Crusade against the Mongols when they'd done most of the work already, and finish off their empire before they arrive to prove their point. The Hungarian king, aware of the dissension between the two, tells Genessios that as an ally of the Romans, he will not stand in his way if he makes a bid for the throne.

The author also made a sequel, called Legacy Of Skantarios.

* AlternateHistory: This is [[TotalWar Medieval II Total War...]]

** LeaveNoSurvivors: Executing [[strike: pretty much]] all of the prisoners he captures to ensure that he doesn't fight the same units twice. On the rare occasions he ''doesn't'' do this, it's usually because he's using them as bait for another enemy force.
** IShallTauntYou: Taunting enemy soldiers, particularly Muslims, to get them to sally out and attack. At one point he presents what he claims to be [[spoiler: the ashes of the Prophet]] to a Turkish garrison, and [[spoiler: puts it inside a pig's corpse]]. The Turks go ''berserk''.

** WeHaveReserves: Mercenary units are deliberately used to draw out enemy soldiers, take hits from enemy arrows, block cavalry charges, and to wear down enemy numbers prior to elephant assaults.

* FemmeFatale: Arguably Anna Laskaris. Although she is far, far more patriotic than your average Femme Fatale has any right to be.

*** Unsurprising, considering that the fact that Constantinople had never fallen to enemy arms was used to justify its status as a holy city, moreso than Jerusalem.

* HotBlooded: Skantarios shows many signs of this.

* BadassGrandpa: Skantarios continues kicking ass well into his sixties.

* NotMeThisTime: Skantarios first suspects the Byzantine nobility in is Father's assassination ( which makes sense, considering they'd been involved in many intrigues throughout Byzantine history), but he realizes they're blameless when the Egyptians start celebrating their success.

** Also, during Skantarios's raid into the Egyptian heartland, he doesn't know what's going on in the rest of the world, unlike the games the series is based on Of course, you'd expect that from going behind enemy lines in the days before modern communication.

** His story started in 1450 AD, this means [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld he lived to be 113]] and still rode his horse in the last day of his life.