u/Ouralian

In actual history, The power and influence of religion and how it shapes every aspect of life in the past, but especially in the Medieval Era can't be understated.

While there are people,including some Kings who use religion as instrument of power and rule, many people at the time are truly devout that modern people of our time couldn't comprehend their actions unless they understand the huge impact of religion, especially Christianity and Islam. For Christianity and Medieval Europe, Everything they do is some how or another rooted in their believes, it had a different law system that often got against the local laws. Religious orders, the pope, many bishops, abbots and abbesses were politcal and economical players on their own, sometimes for their own gain, sometimes for their family, sometimes for the church.

However, this cannot be said for historical fiction set in the Medieval Era, even some that claim to be striving to be realistic as possible. The glaring case for this is A Song of Ice and Fire, most characters are sceptics and atheists themselves, with faith or even existence of God or Gods frequently being questioned or even denied and even among peasants, the Faith of the Seven (the Catholic Church-equivalent) lacks the influence it has on the masses.

I'm genuinely curious if there are any historical fiction that treats how important and influencial religion was in the Medieval Era.

Somehow Jiang Wei managed to not only avoid suffering the same fate as Zhuge Ke but also managed to keep having control of Shu-Han's military up until Shu-Han's fall at the hands of Deng Ai and Zhong Hui.

It's even more significant when Shu-Han has the lowest manpower of the Three Kingdoms and can't afford such losses yet Wu punished Zhuge Ke for one failed campaign inspite of his stellar success before Hefei and Wu being in a better state than Shu-Han.

This has been nagging me for a long time and with that I decided to make a post about it here to not only find out the topic at hand but also provide discussion and debate about that topic for other knowledgable users.

Did Anna Komnene really attempt a coup against Emperor John II Komenos and try to install her husband Nikephoros Bryennios, only for the later to expose her conspiracy and her brother the Emperor to force her and mother into exile via monastry?

I've never seen any posts regarding that topic on this subreddit but whenever someone mentions Anna Komnene's coup, there's always responses that it's a myth and Professor Leonora Neville has conclusively proven that the Eastern Roman Princess did not desire the imperial throne nor attempted a plot against her brother.

This would be good except that only Leonora Neville has made these conclusions and that from what I've seen online so far, I haven't seen that Anna's coup attempt is a myth is conclusive (it's only called supposed or alleged but never a myth) nor has there been any other modern Eastern Roman historian that agrees with her and arrived with a similar conclusion nor has there been a debate whether her conclusions are validated or no. I'm quite wary about one-sided historical views that seemly are taken as the truth.

Anthony Kalldelis, in comparison, received pushback and criticisms for his more controversal views, inspite of his book being quite insightful and bringing a new look at Eastern Rome.

John Katakouzenous VI making alliances with Serbia and the Turks to win against the Regency of John V Palaiologos but ravaging the Eastern Roman Empire beyond repair takes the crown but there are honorable mentions.

>Alexios III requesting aid of the Sultanate of Rum to attack the Nicaean Empire just because Theodore Laskaris rightfully refused his authority.

>Andronikos IV Palaiologos giving Gallipoli to Murad I and the Ottomans, allowing him to easily attack not just the Empire itself but also the rest of Eastern Europe.

I'd like to know if there are more incidents in Eastern Roman History beyond these.

Obviously, the idea that Rome would turn the city of Punic Carthage into a Roman state with it's people and infrastructure intact someday like it did with every other tribe, city and state it fought is impossible given it's historical circumstances but I'm genuinely curious if there are any faintest evidence that this could be possible?

The moment Cleobulus was killed by Dimitri, Thales should known how dangerous he is and just nuked him and the The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus.

Instead, he stupidly risked his life by leading the attack on Claude and Alliance and had the indignity of dying to Dimitri without him realizing he was responsible for his suffering and the Silthers being an irrelevant factor in the final stages of the Faerghus and Adreastia conflict.

Usually, a knightly charge (the couched lance) considered far more devastating when compared to other non-knight heavy cavalry like Eastern cavalry like Byzantine Cataphracts but is that really true?

Even without a lance, you still have the momentum of the rider and the horse capable of impaling or knocking a person away at a considerable distance.

Even if Imu is forced to retreat due to some unknown limits when he goes outside of the Holyland, what's stopping him from coming back or sending even more Holy Knights to force Elbaf into submission after the Straw Hats will inevitably leave?

Gunko is the key to resolving the conflict, it might be likely that her unknown eye ability might be able to remove the portal that Harald created in the castle in order to banish Imu and permanently prevent any more attempts by the WG to conquer Elbaf. Imu is too busy with Luffy and Loki to deal with her and he is physically present and thus cannot possess her.

Before that happens though, Imu needs to be weakened for a bit as he's throughly beating both Loki and Luffy and that will be accomplished with Zoro and Sanji using Advanced Conqueror's Haki to finish off both the Holy Knights Sommers and Killingham. This prevents Imu from being anticlimactically beaten too early or made to look like a pushover but sets the stage for his inevitably downfall in the final arcs to come.

Gunko will likely have her immortality removed by Imu but since she was young when she became a Holy Knight, she'll only revert to her true age as an old woman and have enough character interactions with Brook and reveal more lore about Imu and the Holy Knights.

What do you think?