Constantinople By Night

Timeline:
AD 842-867 - To Restore order, Michael rules directly as Emperor Michael III.
AD 888 - The Dracon leaves Constantinople
AD 890 The Fifth Council is held and recognizes Gesu and Symeon as leaders of the Tzmisce. Michael begins to feel the pull of madness and torpor, leaving nightly tasks to Petronius.
AD 1001 Septima Dominica is destroyed by witch-hunters.
AD 1071 - The Seljuk Turks defeat the imperial army at Manzikert, stripping Byzantium of most of Asia Minor.
AD 1073 - The Sixth Council is held and Belisarius returns to a position of power.
AD 1081 - The Seventh Council is held. The family of Narses of Venice is made a Scion of the Ventrue and is given trading privileges. The Baron's Gangrel become scions of the Tzimisce. Alexius I Comnunus becomes emperor.
AD 1090-1125 - Narses' childe Alfonzo serves as a Lasombra priest in Constinople.
AD 1096 - Soldiers on the First Crusade travel through Constantinople.
AD 1140 - The Salubri Achmet begins his journey to Constantinople. He contacts and makes connections with vampires in the city towards some specific goal.
AD 1143-1182 - Latin influence mounts under Emperor Manuel Comnenus.
AD 1153 - Ducas Embraces former princess Anna Comnena.
AD 1140-60 - A series of attacks and deaths occur as a plot is engendered among the Ventrue towards destroying their own sire, Antonius of Gaul. The plans fail and a blood hunt is called.
AD 1160 - 80 - Tensions rise and high clans are strained. Lower clans leave or move into secret locations to weather the storm. Michael retreats from the night court. Antonius takes strict control. The Dracon leaves to Romania for a time.
AD 1185 - Riots targeting Latin residents break out in Constantinople. All Latin Cainites in the city are destroyed save for the Genoese Lasombra Gabriella and her mortal protege Lillian, who are sheltered by Symeon. The Eighth Council is held and the Ventrue Apirus and Brujah Tribonius are destroyed independent from the rule of the Trinity and is placed under the dominion of Bishop Alfonzo of Venice.
AD 1185-1197 - Cainites from across Europe begin to arrive at Constantinople, crowding the Latin Quarter. The Dracon returns placing edicts and kicking out cainites. Laws are put into place regarding city guesting, city membership, and siring. Michael is seen again in support.
AD 1186 - The Nosferatu Fra'Raymond and his brood arrive from the Crusader States and are hidden by the Malachite Nosferatu.
AD 1187 - The Ventrue Basil of Thessalonika and the mad Caitiff prophet Stanislav arrive from the West.
AD 1188 - The Assamite Shabah arrives as an ambassador from Alamut. She remains in hiding due the extreme situation and is contacted by Achmet of Salubri.
AD 1190 - Theresa Kymena, a rogue Tremere, arrives to prepare for Achmet's arrival. Horus of Set arrives to beseech the city for membership.
AD 1193 - The Brujah, Gangrel, and Nosferatu of the city form the Covenant of Three to defend it.
AD 1195 - Alexius III Angelus becomes emperor by blinding and deposing his brother Isaac II.
AD 1196 - Lillian, now Symeon's lover, is Embraced by his brother Gesu. Tereza of Ravnos and her sire arrive by caravan to the city for deliveries. The Crone suggests staying for a time. Tereza is introduced in court. Maeve of Malkavian and her sire arrive and are introduced in court.
AD 1197 - Gabriella of Genoa is kidnapped by Shabah. ADVENTURE BEGINS late summer 1197.


History of the building:
Constantinople was built over six years, and consecrated on 11 May 330.[7] Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis for inciting the riots; the Latin Quarter is made


Maps:
- Byzantine Period

MAP from the by night book: https://2img.net/h/i935.photobucket.com/albums/ad200/fiferfire/avatars/constantinople.jpg

MAP from history, similar: http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/cities/turkey/istanbul/istmap1.jpg

Domains

Region 8 - Slums
This is a place of residences and fear. Many dead are found, and people lost.
There is a slight to no guard presence in this area of the city.
If your character lives in squalor or near it, this is your section.

Region 7 - Port/Low Class
This is a place of numerous caravan yards, merchant shops, and inns of "ill repute".
Numerous options are available for low class domains, businesses, and more.
It has a working port and a couple good sized roads.
There is a guard presence, and dark deeds done.

The Hippodrome was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire.





The Great Palace of Constantinople (Greek: Μέγα Παλάτιον, Latin: Palatium Magnum, Turkish: Büyük Saray) — also known as the Sacred Palace (Latin: Sacrum Palatium, Greek: Ιερόν Παλάτιον) — was the large Imperial Byzantine palace complex located in the south-eastern end of the peninsula. It served as the main royal residence of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine emperors from 330 to 1081 and was the centre of imperial administration for over 800 years.

From the early 11th century onwards the Byzantine emperors favoured the palace of Blachernae as an imperial residence, though they continued to use the Great Palace as the primary administrative and ceremonial centre of the city. It declined substantially during the following century when parts of the complex were demolished or filled with rubble. During the sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade, the Palace was plundered by the soldiers of Boniface of Montferrat.

Of perhaps greater interest is what Liutprand tells us about the devices the Byzantines used to impress foreign visitors. He is describing an ambassador’s reception by Constantine VII a number of years earlier.

"In front of the Emperor’s throne was set up a tree of gilded bronze, its branches filled with birds, likewise made of bronze gilded over, and these emitted cries appropriate to their different species. Now the Emperor’s throne was made in such a cunning manner that at one moment it was down on the ground, while at another it rose higher and was seen to be up in the air. This throne was of immense size and was, as it were, guarded by lions, made either of bronze or wood covered with gold, which struck the ground with their tails and roared with open mouth and quivering tongue." (Creations of Gregory of Ravnos)





Hagia Sophia is the home of Michael the Patriarch. Hagia Sophia (/hɑːɨə soʊfiːə/; from the Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία, "Holy Wisdom"; Latin: Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia; Turkish: Ayasofya) is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261 (Death of Michael), when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire.





Language

The original language of the government of the Empire, which owed its origins to Rome, had been Latin, and this continued as its official language until the 7th century when it was effectively changed to Greek by Heraclius.

Apart from the Imperial court, administration and military, the primary language used in the eastern Roman provinces even before the decline of the Western Empire had always been Greek, having been spoken in the region for centuries before Latin. Indeed early on in the life of the Roman Empire, Greek had become the common language in the Christian Church, the language of scholarship and the arts, and, to a large degree, the lingua franca for trade between provinces and with other nations.

Many other languages existed in the multi-ethnic Empire as well, and some of these were given limited official status in their provinces at various times. Notably, by the beginning of the Middle Ages, Syriac and Aramaic had become more widely used by the educated classes in the far eastern provinces. Similarly Coptic, Armenian, and Georgian became significant among the educated in their provinces, and later foreign contacts made the Slavonic, Vlach, and Arabic languages important in the Empire and its sphere of influence.

Aside from these, since Constantinople was a prime trading center in the Mediterranean region and beyond, virtually every known language of the Middle Ages was spoken in the Empire at some time, even Chinese. As the Empire entered its final decline, the Empire's citizens became more culturally homogeneous and the Greek language became integral to their identity and religion.