Crimea, formerly known as Tauris, received its current name from the Tatars, who called the region "Krim" (qr in Turkic, meaning 'moat'), which later evolved into Crimea.
After the 1st century BC, Crimea was ruled by the Roman Empire.
When the Goths rose, Roman rule began to shrink to the south, but it still maintained the Cherson military district as an administrative unit.
Those Goths who were unwilling to join Theodoric's westward campaign were settled in the south by the Eastern Roman Empire, gradually forming the Crimean Goths community.
They intermingled with the Greeks who had migrated there and became completely Hellenized culturally.
However, after the disaster of 1204, Southern Crimea broke away from Roman rule.
The remaining Romans established a small Goth Principality in the south, loyal to the Empire of Trebizond: Theodoro (Αυθέντα Θεοδωρο και Παραθαλασσα).
But with the decline of Trabzon, the Emperor of Trebizond finally relinquished all control over Theodoro in 1364, and their lord-vassal relationship became purely nominal.
Theodoro had already pledged allegiance and paid tribute to the Golden Horde long ago to survive the Mongol westward expansion.
And now, in February 1427, the last remnants of the Goth nobility, the descendants of Rome in Crimea, the weak claimant to the Byzantine Empire, the Crown Prince of Theodoro—
"That's me!" Pen in hand, the 15-year-old black-haired, brown-eyed youth, Manuel Gavras, angrily threw his pen to the ground, stomping his foot and cursing:
"Why is it that when others revive Rome, they are either monarchs, or imperial Crown Princes, or have heaven-defying divine equipment, or are noble direct descendants of royalty, but I'm just the Crown Prince of a small Principality that doesn't even control all of Crimea, and even the barely usable seaports are in the hands of the Genoans?
It's hard enough just to survive; how am I supposed to revive Rome?!"
After venting, Manuel sighed, tidied up the manuscript he had written, pulled out the few Chinese pages and burned them, then slumped into his chair and continued to write furiously.
Yes, Chinese.
Manuel's soul did not originate from this era.
In his previous life, he was named Chen Bai, a Chinese history enthusiast who loved Rome.
On the winter solstice of his freshman year, due to lack of sleep, he stumbled on an overpass and accidentally fell into the bustling traffic, meeting his end.
When he woke up again, a pink-haired beautiful girl wearing a gray-white toga stood before him.
"Are you the goddess in charge of reincarnation?"
"Yes," she smiled, "because your death was so tragic, I've specially allowed you to retain your memories."
Damn it.
At this point, she paused and smiled, "May I ask, do you wish to revive Rome?"
"Yes, I really do!" As soon as the words left his mouth, Chen Bai felt something was off and quickly added, "Of course, I'm not interested in the certain death scenarios from after Varna to 1453; with my abilities, I definitely couldn't make it work."
"Don't worry, I swear by my professional ethics as a goddess that I will absolutely not send you to such a time." The pink-haired goddess smiled slyly, "I will also grant you 3 special character codes to save your life, and you can even choose the content of these character codes~~~"
"Why do I have an ominous premonition… Which era is it?"
"You will be reincarnated into a war-torn region called Eastern Europe.
Here, various people will become national monarchs, leading the future of their countries.
You will become a leader of a nation, meeting people of diverse personalities and abilities throughout a tumultuous life, loving and fighting alongside them, revitalizing your country and civilization—and, at the same time, gradually uncovering the truth of 'Rome.'"
"Be a good person, Kamisama (meaning: God, Sir)!"
And then he was inexplicably reincarnated into this era, carrying 3 strings of characters, though he currently couldn't find any use for them.
Getting angry was useless.
As the Crown Prince of the Principality and a devoted Romanophile, he at least had to find a way to keep this weak state alive for now, after all, Theodoro was also Rome.
The Principality's official history states its demise in 1475 at the hands of the Ottoman, and while that's a matter for the next generation, every time he dreams of the Ottoman declaring war on Theodoro, he feels extreme cardiac arrest—
Dong dong dong, the despicable and vulgar Ottoman declares war on us;
Deng deng dong, the bastard Ottoman declares war on us;
Deng dong dong, the treacherous Ottoman declares war on us…
Thinking of this, Manuel sighed deeply, tidied up the manuscripts on the table, and then muttered to himself, "After I finish organizing these today, this standardized Gothic dictionary should be ready for publication."
That's right, he was currently organizing the Crimean Goth language, a task he had been working on for 3 months, finally nearing its end.
He did this partly to improve his knowledge and partly out of pity for the fate of the Crimean Goths in another timeline.
After the fall of the Principality of Theodoro, vast numbers of Tatars and Turks flooded into Theodoro, assimilating these Goth descendants and the local Greeks, either gently or forcefully.
The Gothic language eventually died out at the end of the 18th century, and with it, all traces of Rome in Crimea vanished.
The once-hostile Goths had long ago made peace with the Greeks centuries prior, but under the scimitars of Ghazi warriors and the bows and arrows of the Tatars, some rose again, scarred but resilient, while others fell and never returned…
"Although I may have done nothing in the past, present, or even future, no matter what, I must at least leave something behind." Manuel muttered as he elegantly wrote his name on the first page of the manuscript, "Even if it might mean nothing."
"No, my child, 'whatever he does will prosper.'" At that moment, a powerful middle-aged man's voice sounded behind him, startling Manuel.
He turned around and exclaimed,
"Father, why are you here?!"
Note: The protagonist's prototype is the fifth historically recorded monarch of the Gavras Dynasty of the Principality of Theodoro, Olubey-Manuel Gavras, who reigned from 1446 to 1458.
His birth year is unknown.
In official history, although he was not the eldest son, he inherited his father Alexius's title due to his outstanding performance in the war between Theodoro and Genoa, earning recognition from both nobility, commoners, and Trabzon.
The first part of his name, "Olubey," might be a Turkic name, while the latter part, "Manuel," should be his given name and Greek name.
His son, Alexander Gavras, was the last ruler of Theodoro.
Based on his son's age when he was executed by the Ottoman, it is estimated that Manuel might have been less than 50 years old at the time of his death in official history.