Caught up now! Has been extremely entertaining, and captures all of Ars Magica in ways I find satisfying! History mixed in with Hermetic shenanigans, intrigue all throughout. This write up even includes a reading list, good show.
Eagerly await any further adventures you choose to share.
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Thank you! I'm glad to hear you've enjoyed reading the write up. 
I do include some sources, but if you're curious about which particular books I found the most helpful, I'm happy to share.
Eventually, the rest of the Order will hear about the successful "Holy Pilgrimage." However, this will be through mundane sources, initially. Once the Archmage Mahla returns with her protege and their apprentices, they will be probably control the narrative on how the rest of the Order interprets the hermetic actions for the Holy Pilgrimage for some time. Once the Quaesitors come to the levant with their Hoplite enforcers, things will become very different in the new Levant Tribunal.
Good question. The Great Seljuk sultans (Muhammad Taper by the time of the actual reaction) only responded to the original First Crusade in 1110-1115, after years of calls for help and protests in the mosques in Baghdad. However, one can assume that in your case the magnitude of the crusaders' success would make these cries for help all the louder and come much earlier. That said, the Seljuks would, in my opinion, still be more likely to command that counter-attacks be sent (from Mosul or thereabouts) rather than take part themselves, wanting their own conflicts to be resolved first. Or maybe I just have a poor opinion of the Great Seljuk sultans. 
On the Fatimid side, there is bound to be someone waiting in the wings to take over from al-Afdal. Generally what dictates how long one remains the Fatimid vizier is how far one has the loyalty of the army, and how far one can survive assassination attempts (it wasn't the first attempt that killed al-Afdal in 1121). So someone in the Fatimid court would be likely to step in, though I'm not aware of any obvious candidates at this point; al-Afdal's sons, who were suspected of his eventual assassination, would be too young, and likewise al-Bata'ihi, his eventual successor. So I recommend making someone up!
Rebellions against Fatimid rule are unlikely, though. At this time what was going on at court didn't really affect the daily lives of most Egyptians. The Fatimids weren't even seriously promoting their form of Islam among the general population.
I think you're right about accelerating the Egyptian decline, however. The Egyptians would be likely to make a truce, then look to rebuild gradually. Meanwhile, given their success, some crusaders might see Egypt as ready to be invaded, if they can move fast enough...
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This is very helpful @niallchristie! For the Fatamids, I was actually thinking of the Ambassador from many sessions ago, "Mudrik Al-Hussein" could be the next Vizier, if a bit reluctant. Having seen the Crusaders in the field at Arqa, would be leading the 'Peace' faction. He may not live too long, and his replacement will likely not be interested in maintaining a Truce.
My understanding of the Fatimids is that it was a military dictatorship/occupation, and so were concerned about maintaining large garrisons in case of rebellion. That said, if they weren't doing much to cause one, (i.e. high taxes, religious repression) than perhaps it was more of an issue of paranoia.
Well, yes and no. The general population weren't a major threat to the Fatimids, but other potential claimants to the vizierate were. Thus viziers would maintain large garrisons with this in mind. If Fulan ibn Fulan decides he wants to be vizier, then it's helpful for the current vizier to have an army on hand to help prevent that.
It's worth bearing in mind that a number of the Fatimid viziers weren't even Isma'ili Shi'ites. Even Christians managed to become vizier occasionally.
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Hi all. This game is still ongoing and ~90 sessions in or so to this date. I'm starting to write up the old sessions and will be posting updates about 1/week. Between the definitive edition coming out, and the actual play forum seeing low traffic, it made sense to bring my thread back to the main ars magica forum. I'm hoping that this thread can show how Ars Magic can handle a military campaign focused Saga instead of a "traditional" covenant. Some of the memes I shared in the meme thread were directly inspired by this game.
Ascalon II, April 30th, 1098
The reduced Crusader Armies of Prince Aubert (3000 infantry, 1050 mounted sergeants, 1150 knights and Raymond (7500 infantry, 2500 mounted sergeants, and 2450 knights), also including mercenaries, (2700 infantry, 1000 mounted sergeants, 700 knights), had looted considerable supplies from Al Afdal's camp: Thousands of horses, hundreds of camels, mountainous tons of fodder & food, thirty siege weapons, melee weapons, bows, armor among many others had to be sorted and organized before they could depart from Ascalon to lay siege to Jaffa. Not to mention the numerous deconstructed ships of the Fatimid navy to use for future seiges northward along the coast.
The player and I roleplayed and rolled for Aubert's and Raymond's deal on territory, the result (in the player’s favor for RPing and rolling better than Raymond): Aubert traded Tiberias, Nazareth, Hittin, Forbelet, Saforie, Belvoir, Bethsan, Nablus, St. Gilles, and Jericho, and other inland conquests West of the Jordan river to Raymond. In their proposed list of future conquests Raymond would get Jaffa, Ramla, Arsuf, Caeserea, Haifa, and Acre. Aubert would get Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Byblos and Tripoli, the last two which Raymond had already agreed to.
Raymond was upfront that he expected them to make it to Tyre at best, trying to curb Aubert’s exuberant youthful ambition. Having seen the large coastal fortresses on his march to Jerusalem, he warned Aubert that without serious naval support, the cities would not fall quickly, if at all. Unsaid was that Raymond planned on reneging, or changing the deal at a later date if possible.
Realizing this weakness, Aubert scoured the members of the Holy Pilgrimage to find those who could crew ships. He found enough to crew five ships. Two of these were massive supply ships, which were used as mobile warehouses to keep other vessels supplied.
The dividing line between Prince Aubert’s and King Raymond’s territory would follow natural features as much as possible. This meant that (1) Raymond would get conquests first and (2) the joint army would be smaller by the time of Aubert’s conquests due to garrisoning earlier conquests.
On the Hermetic side, of the surviving twenty magi, eighteen stayed.
Breseis and her followers mentioned searching for a magical regio discovered in Tancred's new County of Homs.
Archmage Kenrick ex Tytalus and followers made a deal with Raymond to investigate his new conquests for a suitable location near Jerusalem or Ascalon.
Hieronymus ex Flambeau, Haveror ex Tytalus, and Isabella ex Jerbiton and her two great grandchildren apprentices, stayed behind in Damascus to set up the new covenant, and keep their eye out for Sahir shenanigans.
Archmage Æþelbeorht ex Jerbiton, Polyhymnia and Norah ex Flambeau, Njall and Veceslav ex Tytalus agreed to accompany Kaldas with Prince Aubert's and Raymond's armies.
Goodbyes were said, the Magi separated each their own way. Onward to Jaffa!
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Jaffa I, early May
After a week they set out from Ascalon for the day's march to Jaffa. Prince Aubert’s small new fleet of 5 ships attempted to blockade the port with mild success.
The local Emir, Nasr ibn Navid, tried to buy the Frankish army off, but was refused. The siege lasted all of a day. Upon the sight of the erection of a 10 siege towers (from the 40 surviving main masts of the 50 beached ships), and the deployment of all 30 of al Afdal's siege weapons, the defenders lost heart. With the Fatamid Vizier Al-Afdal recently slain, and the Fatimid army and navy recently defeated, Jaffa had little hope of a relief of any form. The Emir Nasr sent a messenger to arrange the surrender.
The terms were simple: Nasr and his family would flee to Egypt, and the citizens of Jaffa would pay a significant bribe to the Frankish army, and no looting would happen. Aubert also demanded a seaworthy ship and crew as part of the deal and received it. Raymond continually teased Aubert for his fixation on ships, however Aubert (and the player) held fast, wanting to build a navy. The army stayed a week for Raymond to make administrative arrangements before setting out to Ramla.
Similarly, by Mid May, Ramla and Arsuf surrendered before the Frankish army even arrived. This was Ramla and Arsuf’s best chance to negotiate the terms for themselves. Also they did so with confidence, due to Aubert’s established reputation for being merciful towards cities who surrendered quickly. Large bribes ensured no looting. In each case Aubert recruited from the Christian community to join with his navy, baggage train, or as mercenaries. However, each city required a week's stay for Raymond to establish a garrison and basic administration, such as setting up new bishops or Arch Bishops.
(Historical Note: While I’m aware Bishops and Archbishops at times played a significant role in Crusader politics, I lack both the interest and knowledge of key figures as to how this might play out. Because of this, I’ve largely left the Church politics to the side, there’s only so much time in our sessions, and this is already a High Research Saga.)
Caesarea I, late May
Just as the army finished their approach to Caeserea and set up their initial camp, The red Star in the North helped them see in the distance a large relief fleet arriving from the North. Aubert didn't waste any time, and a quick Guile roll later Kaldas emerged to deal with the problem: Summoning his Air Ifrit from the bottle of Solomon, Kaldas ordered the entire fleet blown onto shore hard enough to beach the ships and not let them escape.
A large magical storm erupted to the north of Caesera, roiling the sea, capsizing a few ships, blowing some to shore, others were dashed onto unseen rocks beneath the waves.
After another (successful) Guile roll, Aubert emerged with a plan, since the eastern Mediterranean tides were of little concern, as soon as surviving ships beached they should be attacked and looted, before the crew and soldiers had a chance to group and make formation into an army. Aubert led a formation of 500 knights to harass the crews while lieutenants organized archers to shoot the crews who tried to leave the ships.
This worked well, with crews and soldiers picked off piecemeal. Some survivors ran north to Haifa or Acre. Some beached ships ended up on fire 
, but most were looted, with prisoners ransomed or sold into slavery. One particular ship put up a significant fight. Later when looting it, Aubert found the captain's room quite odd. Multiple Sahir trinkets, journals written in an Arabic cipher, and a far too ostentatious captain's logbook written in a strange language from his dreams of Seswatha: The secret, unknown language used by the Unholy Consult. Aubert is not particularly aware of the veracity of his Master Hyperiax’s claim, but has little reason to doubt it.
Aubert's player passed a significant Guile roll to pocket as many of the books (shoved underneath his chainmail) and play dumb when his men entered, he then ordered the ship burned.
Seven ships were serviceable as new ships, Aubert and Raymond ordered the rest of the dozens of ships stripped down into parts for Siege Towers.
At the sight of the rescue fleet dashed upon rocks, blown into the beach and looted, a small blockade of now seven ships, and the sight of several siege towers under construction the Emir of Caesarea lost heart. Similar to other Emirs, safe passage was guaranteed to Egypt and a large amount of booty provided by the Emir and the townsfolk to avert a sack. Between the Emir suing for peace and Aubert’s desire for ships, he demanded crew for the seven new ships from the Christians of Caeserea and received them.
Soon after, Aubert gathered the crew of his new and current ships. In Arabic and Greek he explained his plan for a larger naval force to his new crews. His vision: a force that would in the short term help take the Palestinian and Syrian coastal cities, and in the long term an anti-piracy fleet, along with arranging for shipping to Constantinople. He offered a large salary, a pension equal to half salary, along with a generous share of profits from captured (enemy or pirate) ships and future merchant ventures. Combined with a decent Leadership+Presence roll, Aubert has the foundations of his navy! He has a mix of massive Fatimid cargo ships, war galleys, and coastal trading ships.
The “Holy Grail” of Caeserea was found, Aubert made no motions towards retaining the holy artifact as it was part of Raymond’s spoils. The Holy Grail significantly boosted the combined army’s morale, bringing a sense that by returning this artifact to the Christians, they were doing God’s Work. (OTL: The artifact is a great example of Roman glassware.)
Within a week, the army made it’s way to Haifa.
Haifa I, early June
The approach to Haifa was beset by problems: Bedouin raids which were fended off without causing a delay of the armies… However raids by restive Jinn caused the army to slow down, and required priests in the army to lead them through cleansing rituals and prayer (which increased the divine aura of the army) to drive away the power of satan (i.e. magic/faerie Jinn for the most part).
Kaldas went with the magi to scout ahead, as local guides warned of a narrow path that “bandits” or otherwise would be keen to lay a trap. Such bandits were easy to deal with by Kaldas and the accompanying magi. In the aftermath of the short but lethal battle, they continued their approach to Haifa on foot.
Soon after, they were approached by a lone elderly man with a walking stick, a Jew from the way he dressed. Said man introduced himself as David El-Baz in Arabic to Kaldas, saying he had had a dream, and was here to meet the new visitors.
Upon a quick Int+Parma Magica roll, I informed the player that Kaldas’s parma was reflecting the effects of the Gift. Discussion ensued - David was a leader of the Lions of Zion, a very tiny group of Jewish Magi that protected the town of Haifa from dangerous Jinn or malicious magic users. Kaldas gave a brief introduction on the Order of Hermes, did a good job of selling David on the Order’s protection of its members and privacy.
Archmage Æþelbeorht, sensing an opportunity, offered to sponsor their membership in the Order of Hermes via joining House Jerbiton. A short explanation of what passed for mundane interference, and David said that as leader, he would very likely be able to convince the rest of the Lions of Zion to join the Order. David appreciated that the Order would respect their privacy, secrets, and Æþelbeorht’s would support them adapting Hebrew to Hermetic magic so long as they learned Latin first. The Lion’s of Zion agreed to this so long as they could learn the secrets of Parma Magica.
Kaldas also mentioned the undefeated Frankish army’s approach, and that their enemies were the Sahirs, not Jewish wizards. He asked if David would be able to help negotiate an agreement to join Raymond’s new Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Said negotiators from Haifa, were not only the Emir of Haifa, but Jewish notables of the city. Even Raymond from the cosmopolitan southern France found this rather bizarre, however, found an equitable solution with Aubert’s help. A bribe was paid to the army, the city would have a Christian Governor under King Raymond, but much of the day to day management of the city would stay unchanged, and the Emir and the disarmed fatimid garrison would leave to Egypt.
Archmage Æþelbeorht’s and Kaldas’ negotiations with the Lions of Zion continued in the background. The result was six magi and two apprentices joined the Order of Hermes provisionally as members of House Jerbiton. Unfortunately, this also means Æþelbeorht stayed behind to train the new Magi in Latin and Parma Magica.
Prince Aubert recruited very successfully in Haifa, in part due to the Lions of Zion working in the background to support their new mundane overlords. Due to this, Aubert was able to take advantage of the Jewish shipyards of Haifa, who gave him two new ships and crew as part of the peace deal, for a total of 16 ships of various types.
As well, Aubert was able to hire a significant number of Jewish tradesmen to help support future siege operations. Again, this was also a result of the deal with the Lions of Zion and Kaldas.
(OTL Note: Tancred captured and sacked Haifa in 1100, his soldiers slaughtering the inhabitants and destroyed much of the city. It was reduced from a thriving city to a coastal fort and fishing village. I wanted to encourage the player to try to find non-violent solutions, so rewarded him for successful diplomacy with the city.)
News also arrived by trade ships from the North - Emperor Alexios of the Romans had arrived in Antioch! Rumor has it he is preparing to depart eastward to fight two incoming Seljuk armies, each from a different faction of the succession crisis after the death of Malik Shah in 1092. Rumor has it that Berkyaruq and his half brother, Mohammad I Taper, each lead an army, eager to crush the Romans and seize Antioch and Aleppo in their near decade long feud for advantage over each other.
Acre I Late June
Acre is only a few kilometers north of Haifa, see the map below. Given Haifa’s successful treaty with Raymond, and the recent defeat of Al-Afdal and the local fleet that tried to bring men and supplies to Caeserea, the Emir of Acre also negotiated a surrender before the army could even lay a siege. The army stayed a brief time for Raymond to make political and logistical arrangements.
News and rumors arrived of the Romans! Emperor Alexios and his army had arrived in Antioch! (OTL: Alexios turned around, despairing the the siege of Antioch had failed in June of 1098. In this timeline, due to the faster crusader Victories, Alexios arrived earlier to Antioch.) However, instead of marching south, Alexios marched east to Aleppo, as news of not one, but TWO armies of Seljuk’s were closing in on the city.
One army led by Barkiyarug, and the other led by Muhammad I Tapar - both representing separate factions against each other and Ahmed Sanjar in the three way succession crisis since Malik Shah’s death in 1092. Barkiyarug, and Muhammad I Tapar, fearful the other siding with the Alexios, agreed to temporarily set aside their differences and defeat the Roman army first.
(Out of game: Having no firm idea of what should happen next and lacking a firm knowledge of Seljuk history, I assigned some probabilities to events and consulted the Dice Gods. The above events are the result of some rather extreme rolls, interestingly enough.)
Aubert using Bartimaeus scoured for information and spies for the next big conquest: TYRE! The largest, most massive fortress city on the Syrian Coast, with only a thin land mole connecting it, and TWO ports. It is one of the most defensible cities on the entire region outside of the Antioch and Raqqa. (At least in my opinion.)
As always, comments are very welcome.
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TYRE! I
King Raymond warned him that the city of Tyre has magnificent, huge defensible walls that would require a lengthy siege. Aubert heeded these warnings.
The travel to Tyre did not go without incident. Bartimaeus warned Kaldas that Tyre was a formidable adversary, and would not be an easy foe. Bartimaeus also warned that Tyre had ample time to set up defenses and prepare for their arrival. As “Prince Aubert” they included lots of military scouting, and Kaldas suggested to the accompanying Magi to scout for supernatural ambushes.
Both did not disappoint - Aubert and Raymond’s combined forces were beset by a massive Bedoin raid supported by Turkish Horse Archers, along with Air, Fire and Earth Jinn and Ifrits. However, their forces were at least ready for the attack instead of being ambushed due to successful scouting.
Kaldas ordered Bartimaeus to impersonate him as Aubert, and joined, Polyhymnia and Norah ex Flambeau, Njall and Veceslav ex Tytalus to fight the supernatural forces while “Aubert” and Raymond marshaled their forces to fight the Bedoin. Their army and magi managed to win, but not without being bloodied. The army had to stop to recover for a few days to handle all of the wounded.
Passing a river, Kaldas and Nora of Flambeau along with the russian Tytali did battle with a large Water Ifrit demanding payment to cross his river. Eventually they killed the Ifrit allowing them passage through.
As they closed in on Tyre, the Emir of Tyre did not offer a surrender. On the contrary, Tyrian light horse began raiding the erstwhile Frankish army as soon as they were in the limits of Tyre. Contrary to Aubert’s earlier clashes that were often lopsided victories, raiders proved difficult to turn away and fend off. Not to mention their leader, a very handsome youth, who would shout the slogan “BY THE POWER OF YOUTH!” during battle.
After previously having such an easy time, Prince Aubert did not expect the resistance of the city of Tyre.
The Youthful raiders were not able to inflict the damage to the Frankish army’s baggage train they hoped, nor were Aubert and Raymond able to decisively defeat the Tyrian raiders in the field, only able to drive them away. (In game terms: Both sides rolled well and had an equal result. Historically, the Youth of Tyre were an impressive force that caused Frankish besiegers no end of headaches.)
The Tyrian light horse shadowed Aubert and Raymond’s armies, forcing them to slow down as they had to maintain their vigorous fighting march formation to protect their extensive baggage train.
On arrival at Tyre, the Frankish army began their preparations. The city of Tyre had three trenches dug around it that would need filled in first before any siege towers could approach the massive walls.
With the Jewish Carpenters and other tradesmen that Aubert brought from Haifa, the construction of four exceptionally large siege towers began. Aubert’s small navy divided into two, so eight ships each blockaded the Sidonian (North) and Egyptian Harbor (South) respectively. Kaldas conveniently used his Air Ifrit from the bottle of Solomon to create storms to the North and South of the city to assist the block of naval traffic and relief forces.
Bartemaeus also explained to Kaldas some of the history of the geography of Tyre: Originally it was an island not even a kilometer off the coast. A couple thousand years before the Babylonians sacked and burned the mainland city of Tyre, leaving the Island city alone. Alexander the Great in 332 BC built a mole connecting it to the mainland to the island of Tyre to conquer it. In the centuries since, sand and silt built up around the mole vastly expanding the coast line.
Upon the setup of the Frankish army to the east of Tyre, the same youth, announcing himself as Khoded al-Irani, leader of the Youth of Tyre, explained his “springtime of youth” gave him “radiant youthful powers” and demanded a 1-1 duel with Aubert or Raymond to prove their “youthful vigor for the right to even besiege Tyre at all.”
Aubert threw a pebble at Khoded’s head, knocking him off his horse, to the laughter of the Franks.
Not to be deterred, the youth of Tyre lead raids each night. The ships blockading the harbor? Multiple attempts to capture them, fended off by dumb luck more than any actual competence. (OOC: The youth kept rolling 0’s, but not botching) The youth managed to set one of the siege towers on fire, Aubert and Raymond managed to only save the other three.
Once the siege towers were big enough to move, the city of Tyre used deconstructed ships in their harbor to build COUNTER siege towers, even higher than the Frankish siege towers! The Franks with great difficulty managed to use their Fatimid siege engines to knock one down to attempt a frontal assault.
The night before the Franks went to do a full assault with all three siege towers, the Youth of Tyre dug a fourth trench around the walls, while distracting the Franks with light horse raids on their eastern flank. This was possibly with magical aid, the magi had inconclusive intellego results. Either way, the Franks had to spend a couple days filling it in before they could move their siege towers closer.
The assault did not go as planned. The defenders of Tyre used grappling hooks to pull apart the battering rams in the bottom of each towers as the assault went on and begin to light them on fire. It was only due to Kaldas ordering a lightning storm from his air elemental that saved more lives, as the defenders of Tyre had to clear the walls due to the lightning strikes. This allowed the franks to put out the fires, (which hermetic help) withdraw and recover their broken and damaged siege towers. Due to the high quality of craftsmanship, the siege towers were repairable but not critically damaged. (OOC: No idea if it’s realistic, but they’re magical craftsmen and they rolled well for their construction check, and the damage was low.)
In the meantime, Kaldas had ordered Bartimaeus to penetrate the city’s social networks to figure out an opening. This revealed much. Tyre officially had the typical factions across religious and ethnic lines common to the regio. Unofficially? The city was beset by infighting factions across counter intuitive religious lines:
- A core of Fatimid Shi’ite muslim loyalists
- A mystery cult called “The Earthshakers” with followers who worshiped the Abrahamic God by day as a Muslim, Christian or Jew, by Day… But secretly worshiping Poseidon by night.
- A new faction literally called “Youth of Tyre” of which almost every young man in the city was a member of.
- A small strange and dark cult that seemed to like to do human sacrifices, secretly causing terror throughout the city.
The siege ground on for two weeks with no big movement as the Franks and Tyrians dug in and recuperated from the early events of the siege. Kaldas ordered Bartimaeus to set up a meeting with Khoded Al-Irani to see if there was a diplomatic solution to the siege.
During this time, Kaldas had to use his other Ifrit to do battle with what he believed Koltarra’s influence: She had three Air Ifrits attack Kaldas’s single Air Ifrit. Loosening his fire Ifrit helped chase them away, along with Kaldas flying in on his looted Sahir’s flying carpet to attack them single handedly.
The pre-dawn meeting took place on the drowned islands south of Tyre that have slowly sunk over the centuries due to the earthquakes. There were considerable ancient ruins below the bright aqua colored water.
Aubert and Khoded barely got a word out before they were attacked by not one, but two different groups of supernatural beings: Aquatic mermen from the west and strange and mutated zombies from the east. Both Aubert and Khoded had swum there, and were without armor. With only a couple loyal retainers, the two groups had to join together to fight off.
Naturally, Aubert used his Wizard’s Leap spell mastery gained during Twilight from fighting the Great Malik from the city of Brass to save them. (Recall this lets him effectively kill 5 opponents per round). This greatly, profoundly impressed Khoded who said, “Aubert, you will never be this young and full of vibrant youth ever again! Youth such as us should never be fighting and only be allies.”
Diplomatic negotiations commenced quickly: Khoded explained his faction was fighting much evil in the city of Tyre, and how their Dreamtime of Eternal Youth was quickly chasing nightfall. In exchange for causing riots in the city and distracting the Fatimid soldiers in exactly two weeks, Aubert would join, JOIN the cult of Apollo and become a member of the Youth of Tyre. (OOC: Aubert would gain a 2nd virtue of Self Confident for a confidence score of THREE. {Never seen this before in any of my games, no player cared enough to try.} In exchange, his Overconfident -1 flaw would expand to an Overconfidence -3 flaw. )
During the two weeks, the largest of Aubert’s ships, a large cargo/supply transport had “problems” and was beached. The Franks began construction of two (out of the three surviving) exceptionally large siege towers to distract the Fatimid sentries. The rest of the wood was used on the ship to construct a massive ladder apparatus to scale the walls of Tyre from the sea in an amphibious assault on the Fatimid Citadel, which was on the western Ocean wall.
The Youth of Tyre fomented division and discord in the city in the meantime, culminating in a large riot in the city two weeks later at the appointed time. It was then the Franks under Raymond began the opening of an assault on the walls with the two massive siege towers.
Meanwhile Aubert snuck in using a ReHe spell with vis on the supply ship with it's massive ladder apparatus to make it go a bit faster, and the assault on the city of Tyre was a massive success: by the time the rest of the Franks were even at the walls, Aubert had already captured the Fatimid citadel, located against the ocean walls. (No idea if historically accurate, I just decided.)
With Aubert’s colors on the wall, the Youth of Tyre turned on the Fatimids and the city was his before the Franks even came in. This kept the city from being looted. Prince Aubert of Damascus now holds Tyre!