What do postal service routes have to do with the national spy network, and how can it improve your worldbuidling? Find out this week as we conclude the Secret History of Byzantium! We conclude this epic text with a few final tales of vice, corruption, and an epic heist that you can set up for your players, too.

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The Secret History and another version

Wikipedia: Byzantine Coinage

Prices and Wages in the Byzantine World by Erion Hoxha - Link

A secret assassination by the empress against her husband's wishes... A giant cryptid whale that terrorizes the coastline and kills sailors... We adapt Prokopios' Secret History of Byzantium for your next TTRPG.

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Danse Macabre: find it on DriveThruRPG here or at Stillfleet Studios here!

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The Secret History and another version

The Byzantine world continues to make for a perfect D&D setting! In this episode, Justinian outlaws astrology, while he and Theodora pretend to be an the embittered couple in order to play both sides of the sport-fans-turned-rioters, and "Pumpkin," the city prefect, is ousted from power by these sports fanatics. What could possibly go wrong?

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Prokopios continues hyperbolizing this week, thereby compromising his account of Byzantine history. Highlights include Justinian being bad at war because he keeps thinking about the nature of god, barbarians nobody has ever heard of before showing up in Byzantium because they heard the emperor was giving out free money, and the Great Grain Embezzlement.

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The Secret History and another version

Prokopios is back at it with bad takes in his Secret History, spouting off what should only be found on Byzantine Twitter. Dive into his absurd takes on why the emperor is actually a demon, and why his wife is SUPER into him. Plus, explore the possibilities of actually having a demon emperor in your TTRPG game, and the complications of a nosy court historian for your players.

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The Beastiary Challenge! (<-- Don't miss it!)

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Looking for a new political-intrigue campaign, but don't want to compromise on combat and craziness? Join us this week as we explore the Nika riots, where sports fans create a gang war that nearly brings down the Byzantine empire. With unique faction styles, a political coup, and a pretender emperor, the Nika riots are the perfect ground for a successful city-wide campaign or one-shot!

Check out the Kickstarter here!

The Beastiary Challenge! (<-- Don't miss it!)

Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Check out our merch!

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Citations & References:

The Secret History and another version

Check out the Burgs & Baliffs Poor Pilgrim's Almanack!

This is the vibe of the Prokopios text that we're doing a series of podcast episodes on currently. Hard to say how accurate it is to actual events, but this is more or less how Prokopios wants us to see Empress Theodora. (He means it in a derogatory way, to be clear. I keep forgetting that though.)

I know I put this same screenshot over Freydís Eiríksdóttir like a year ago when we were doing Greenlanders' Saga, but I think it fits Theodora better, so she gets it now.

Anyway, if you want some context, we do kind of an introduction to the text (featuring an expert) here:

And we get into reading the text here:

New episode! I thought this material was pretty interesting in that we get an (admittedly limited & biased) view of what sex work was like in Byzantium. There are more birds involved than you might expect.

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This week, we're delving into Empress Theodora's early life and rise to power as empress of the Byzantine era. From her breathtaking performances as a prostitute to her love-at-first-sight romance with Justinian as a young guard, we gather that Theodora was one hell of a woman, regardless of Prokopios' distaste for her.

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Also, check out Gals and Goblins podcast here, and check out their TikTok and other cool content here! They've been gracious enough to share the pod and Kickstarter with their audience, and we're sharing the love - their actual play is goofy, lighthearted, and fun to listen to on commutes, in the kitchen, or while pruning your garden of poisonous plants you're planing to use to poison your evil overlord.

Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Check out our merch!

The Beastiary Challenge!

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