Constantinople, Byzantine Empire
Emperor Basil I, founder of the newly minted Macedonian dynasty, stood near the intricately carved balustrade.
With the turbulent, erratic failures of the preceding Amorian dynasty finally buried, Basil had spent the last several years executing a ruthless, step-by-step reconstruction of the Byzantine state.
The problem he had inherited upon taking the purple was a severely fractured economy and a military entirely dependent on expensive, disloyal professional mercenaries. The Amorian emperors had bled the imperial treasury dry attempting to hold the frontiers through sheer financial brute force. To solve this systemic decay, Basil had engaged in a rigorous internal deduction. A state could not purchase loyalty; it had to cultivate it through economic dependence and territorial pride.
