The fall of Edessa to Imad al-Din Zengi sparks the Second Crusade.  Two great crusading armies assemble in Western Europe - a German army led by King Conrad III and a French army led by King Louis VII.  As the crusading armies converge on Anatolia, seeking passage to the Holy Land, the Emperor of the Romans and the Sultan of Rum join forces to oppose them.  The German army decides to march along the route taken by the First Crusaders, and Sultan Mesud seeks redemption on the plains of Dorylaeum...

Following the death of the Danishmend King Muhammad, Mesud is finally the pre-eminent Turkish potentate in Anatolia.  With the Sultanate of Rum rejuvenated, he now sets out to conquer.  Meanwhile, a new Emperor dons the purple in Constantinople, and goes to war with the new master of Turkish Anatolia.  And yet again, an army of invasion begins mustering in the West...

The messengers from the Caliph in Baghdad and Sanjar, the Great Sultan of the East, arrive in Kastamonu to find that Emir Ghazi has died before they could proclaim him as King.  Instead, his son Muhammad is granted the title - inevitably leading to conflict between this new King of the North and the Sultan of Rum in Konya.  War erupts between and among a shifting web of alliances of Turks, Greeks, Crusaders and Armenians.  And Sultan Mesud ultimately emerges as the leading power of Turkish Anatolia.

With Mesud installed on the throne of the Sultanate of Rum in Konya, his father-in-law, the Danishmend Bey Emir Ghazi rises to become the overlord of Turkish Anatolia.  Emir Ghazi brings the Danishmend beylik to the zenith of its power, but in doing so clears the board of potential rivals to Mesud and provides stability and security to his vassal in Konya.  And as imperial authority in the Western half of the Great Seljuk Empire melts down, the Caliph in Baghdad and the Great Sultan of the East dispatch messengers to Anatolia...

Following the peace treaty signed with Emperor Alexios Komnenos, the Sultan of Rum Şahinşah begins marching back to Konya.  But he does not make it far before being confronted by his half brother Mesud, who rides West with Danishmend support.  A new Sultan comes to the throne in Konya, but one who owes his throne and his loyalty to the Danishmend Bey Emir Ghazi - just as a new Emperor dons the purple in Constantinople.

Following the death of Kılıç Arslan, the Sultanate of Rum falls into disorder and becomes eclipsed by the other beyliks, in particular the Danishmend Beylik to the east ruled by Emir Ghazi.  The Sultanate becomes divided between the sons of the dead Sword Lion - the brothers Mesud and Melik Arap in central Anatolia, the young Tuğrul Arslan in Malatya as a puppet of his mother and new stepfather, and Şahinşah in captivity in Iran.  Eventually, Şahinşah returns from the East and faces off against Alexis Komnenos in the aging Emperor's final campaign.  And the stage is set for the arrival of the next great Roman Sultan - Mesud I.  

As the western half of the Great Seljuk Empire continues to collapse, a string of fortuitous events dramatically improves Kılıç Arslan's position.  Like his father before him, the Sword Lion decides to take the ultimate gamble, and sets out to the East.  And, also like his father before him, he takes with him his young son...

Following the Turkish victory over the Crusade of 1101, Kılıç Arslan's position as the leading Turkish potentate in Anatolia is secured, and the Sultanate of Rum is re-established.  But the rebirth of the Sultanate of Rum in Konya and Kılıç Arslan's rise from the ashes cause great tension within the Turkish alliance that won the war, in particular, with Gümüştegin Ghazi, the Silver Prince, the leader of the Danishmend Beylik and the strongest member of the alliance.  And conflict and even war soon erupt between the Sword Lion and the Silver Prince. 

The Sultanate of Rum lies in ruins following the destruction of the First Crusade and the loss of Western Anatolia to the Byzantine Empire.  The Danishmend Beylik led by Gümüştegin Ghazi takes up the mantle of the leading Turkish state in Anatolia, and scores a key victory against the Norman Crusaders in Outremer.  And yet more crusaders arrive from the West - both threatening the Sword Lion and providing him with an opportunity to restore his reputation and renew his leadership...

In the aftermath of the catastrophic Crusader invasion of Anatolia, while the Turks are in crisis, Emperor Alexios Komnenos launches a reconquest.  An army led by John Doukas retakes the Aegean coast and Western Anatolia, an army led by Theodore Gabras retakes the Black Sea coast, and the Emperor himself marches out of Pelakanon and into the center of Anatolia.  But the Turks rebound and begin to mobilize a response.  And the Emperor stops at Akşehir, then called Philomelion, to consider his options.