Wow - I don't know where to begin.
I bought Victoria II somewhat on a whim - having decided that I'd heard and seen a lot about Paradox games, I picked up VII on digital download - and have never once looked back. I'd planned to write an AAR for some time, and when I saw Alexspeed's contest, I figured I'd write for it - and when I got exposed to AARland, it stuck like crazy. There's something inspiring about this community, it's friendliness, and the sheer amount of good content I see. I'd never really expected too many people to read my stuff - I just write because I like doing it, and hopefully to make a few people introspective and cheerful about human potential, things like that. Meeting some truly wonderful people has helped solidify my beliefs in regards to this, and I hope that I've managed to make everyone's day a little bit better, too.
This sunday'd been pretty awkward for me - not me personally, but someone had accused my sister of something she would never do. Things turned out fine, of course, but it'd really shocked me - and so between it and my usual business keeping me from here, it'd been a bit of a week. To log and see this - well, I cannot thank you enough, Alexspeed, and I hope that I uphold the job well! To clarify with all previous fans - I pass the torch on Sunday, right? Well until then, may I keep it burning brightly.
Even though I mostly lurk around the Victoria II forum, I'll try to find some truly superlative AARs and writers to share with everyone over my week here - for now, I'd highly recommend
Let the Ruling Classes Tremble, and
Onze Plaats in de Zon: The Rise of Frederik de Grote (van Holland), by Tommy4ever and Tanzhang respectively. Let the Ruling Classes Tremble is an incredible AAR that redifines reader paarticipation while embroiling said reader in the depths of revolutionary intrigue and politic. I have not been able to comment nearly as much as I like - given my slightly (hah, VERY) erratic schedule, it moves too quickly. But I'd heartily urge you to take a look! It'll be worth your while!
Onze Plaats in de Zon is an AAR that has incredible use of historical characters and events wrapped around a point of divergence that'll grab you in from the very first chapter. Rich political updates and use of language to describe the rise of Frederik the Great and the challenges he faces are just one of it's many charms. If you like historical AARs, then you'll love Onze Plaats in de Zon.
There's a million more AARs I'd like to recommend, but figure I'm probably rambling already. Thank you to everyone who has said their congratulations - again, I'm honored to be here. Thank you so much for the nomination, Alex - I doubt I'd be here today if you hadn't started such an excellent contest. Keep on shining, AARland!
You're made of stardust!
Edit: Also, how did I not know about these forums until now? I vaguely remember them from something, but geeze! Seems I'm pretty spacey, heh.
Other AARs I'd like to promote: Scholar's
The Genghisid Imperial Family. I've just started reading this, but it's incredibly enjoyable, feeling a lot like a family dynasty for one of the most chronically underchronicled bloodlines in history; my only conceivable complaint would be that I like it romanized as Chinggiz due to how the modern Mongolian alphabet uses Cyrillic.