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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dogface" data-source="post: 330330" data-attributes="member: 6970">Allow me to toss in some amusing monkey wrenches to the very neat and tidy model so far generated.I'm an Orthodox Christian (as in shouting "Xristos Anesti!" every Pascha--that's "Easter" for you English-only types) with an interest in the history of my Church and its interactions with the West.  What we are taught about the Crusades over here in the West is extremely limited and one-sided, and I'm not talking about the representation of the Muslims, either.A tiny detail that is conveniently overlooked is that there were already a very large number of Christians native to the Holy Land.  They just weren't adherents of Rome or of Roman Christianity. Indeed, throughout the entirety of the Crusade era, there was a Christian Empire in the east, and it did not agree, neither theologically nor ecclesiologically with the Ferengi (that's the word applied by the native Christians to the Crusaders) who came pouring over from the West under the banner of the Pope.Likewise, it should be noted that there was no shortage of Christians living peacefully in cities held by Muslims--they just weren't Roman Christians.  The story of the First Crusade is an excellent illustration of the difference between the attitudes of the two groups.The Vasileon Rhomaoi (Roman Emperor, what those cursed with a poor education call "Byzantine") wanted some mercenaries to help him fight a war against his cousin, the Turkish Sultan (who was, of course, Muslim).  He had a message sent to the Pope of Rome of that day (there traditionally and from the beginning of the Church being two Popes--the Pope of Alexandria being the elder position) requesting military aid.The Pope of Rome leaped upon this as an excuse to extend his authority and bring some sense and order to Europe, calling upon all Christians to form a vast army to re-take the Holy Land.  Needless to say, the Vasileon was not exactly thrilled to have a horde of smelly Ferengi appearing on his doorstep, so he had them swear fealty to him and just set them loose across the Bosporus.  Unfortunately, they did better than he thought they would, starting that whole nasty business now known as the Crusades.The religious differences between the East and the West might or might not influence how one runs a campaign, but I'll leave off on them until later.</blockquote>

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