To new readers:
I know it might seem intimidating to begin reading an AAR already spanning several pages (reaching the seventh as I write these lines). But I want to insist on this: even if you have any comment to make about an old post, do not hesitate to do so! Just mention the post number and I would happily answer even if that's old work for me. All the more since a few details I've placed here and there have not been noticed by my wonderful "old" readers...
Please, also note that my English writing skills have been improved by this work. That's why the first chapters (particularly the first one) may not be very representative of the whole thing.
In any case, and even if you decide to remain a silent reader: WELCOME ONBOARD!
The three following sections might contain spoilers, but I've thought they would come in handy.
========== Table of Contents ==========
1a : Serbia, February 1419 AD2a : Byzantium : March 1419 AD
3a : North Lake Shore Drive, Tuesday
4a : Central Judiciary Administration Tower, later on Tuesday
4b : LaSalle police station, still later the same day
5a : Serbia, April 1419 AD
6a : Cozy Cat Club, Wednesday in the evening
6b : Cozy Cat Club, continued
6c : Cozy Cat Club, continued: newspaper
6d : Cozy Cat Club, continued
7a : Byzantium : July 1419 AD
7b : Byzantium : two weeks later
8a : Serbia : October 1419
8b : Serbia : October 1419, continued
8c : Serbia : October 1419, continued
8d : Serbia : October 1419, continued
8e : Serbia : October 1419, continued
9a : Heebom Tower, later on Wednesday
9b : Heebom Tower (continued)
9c : Hitchgins' apartment : later the same night
9d : 357, North Lake Shore Drive, later the same night
9e : LaSalle Police Station, Thursday in the morning
10a : Byzantium : April 1420
10b : Byzantium : April 1420, continued
11a : Good Hope Hospital, Thursday, late afternoon
11b : In front of Good Hope Hospital, Thursday at dusk
11c : Mario and Luigi's tagliatelle, Thursday at dusk (continued)
11d : Newspaper
12a : Udbina : June 1420 AD
12b : Udbina : June 1420 AD (Continued)
13a : A la Tante joyeuse, Friday, soon in the morning.
13b : A la Tante joyeuse: Friday, soon in the morning (Continued).
14a : Alexandria: September, 1420
14b : Alexandria: September, 1420 (continued)
14c : Alexandria: September, 1420 (continued)
14d : Alexandria: September, 1420 (continued)
14e : Alexandria: September, 1420 (continued)
15 : Hitchgins' place, Friday in the morning
15b : French Connection's headquarter, Sunday in the morning
16a : Byzantium: May, 1420 AD
16b : Byzantium: October, 1420 AD
16c : Byzantium: October, 1420 AD (continued)
16d : Byzantium: January 16th, 1421 AD
17a : LaSalle Police Station, Monday in the morning
17b : LaSalle Police Station, Monday in the middle of the afternoon
18 : Crete, March 1421 AD
19 : In front of LaSalle police station: Tuesday, early in the morning
20 : Venice, April 1421 AD
21 : Southern docks, Wednesday in the morning
21b : Southern docks, Wednesday morning (continued)
21c : Central Judiciary Administration Tower (Wednesday morning)
22a : Constantinople, May, 1422 AD
22b : Constantinople, May, 1422 AD (continued)
23 : Southern docks, Wednesday morning (continued from #21)
23b : Southern docks, Wednesday morning (continued)
24 : Venice, January 1423
25 : Matt is in trouble
25b : Matt's apartment - Thursday, early in the morning
26: Constantinople, November 1423
...
====== EU2 timeline characters ======
Lord Gimnec: An old Serbian baron with a big scar. Mentioned in #1, #5, #8b, #8c, #8d, #8e.Piotr: Lord Gimnec's son. Mentioned in #1, #5, #8e.
Lena: Lord Gimnec's servant. Mentioned in #1, #5, #8e.
Father Gorny: Orthodox Priest of the village officially ruled by Lord Gimnec. Mentioned in #1, #5, #8a, #8b, #8c, #8d, #8e.
Milan: A young Serbian peasant from Lord Gimnec's village. Mentionned in: #8a
Biljana: Father Gorny's wife. Mentioned in #1, #8a
Coskun: a kapikulu officer who has commanded Lord Gimnec's during the 1390's. Mentioned in: #8c, #8d, #8e.
Arzu: Coscun's daughter, and Piotr's mother. Mentioned in: #8c, #8d, #8e.
Alexios: a successful Byzantine merchant with a knack for profiting from various situations. Mentioned in : #2, #7a, #7b, #16c, #18, #20, #22a, #22b, #24, #26
Maro: Alexios' young, talented and ambitious associate. Mentioned in : #2, #7a, #7b, #18, #20a, #22b, #24
Eustathius: Alexios' son. Mentioned in : #7b, #20, #24
Ilhami: a turkish woman who owns a bakery in an Ottoman port and deals in various unofficial trades. She has unclear relations with Maro. Mentioned in : #2, #22b, #26
Verina Ospinas: the naughty daughter of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Mentioned in : #2, #16b, #16c, #22a, #22b, #26
Paulos: A courtier of Constantinople. He's an incompetant go getter. Alexios and him hate each other. Mentioned in : #16b, #16c, #18, #22b, #26
Bjorn: a rather brutal varangian guard. Mentioned in #10a, #10b, #12a, #12b, #14a, #14b, #14c, #14d, #14e
Tzourillas: a bogomyl preacher. Mentioned in #10a, #12a, #12b, #14a, #14b, #14c, #14d, #14e
...
======= Probably not Chicago characters =======
Sergeant Hitchgins: A crooked but rather perceptive police officer with a personal accent. Mentioned in : #3 , #4a, #4b , #9c, #9d, #9e, #11a, #11b, #11c, #13a, #13b, #15, #17a, #17b, #19, #21a, #21b, #23, #23b, #25, #25bAgent Matt Bredin: A young cop who has the infortune of being Hitchgin's assistant... Mentioned in : #3 , #4a, #4b, #9d, #9e, #11a, #11c, #17a, #17b, #19, #21a, #21b, #23, #23b, #25, #25b
Emily: Matt's girlfriend. Mentionned in: #9d, #25b
Kallistos: a Greek mobster who's been powerful but is now in trouble. Mentioned in : #3, #4a, #4b, #6a, #6b, #6d, #9d, #9e, #11c, #21c
Judge Peter: He's a judge called Peter. Accrding to Stuyvesant, he could be described as "a tall, dark figure, menacing and just a little (okay, a lot) insane. Don't know about the insanity yet, but Judge Peter sure is a menacing presence." Since he's a great read-only member, I trust his judgment Mentioned in: #3 , #4a, #4b, #6a, #6b, #6c, #6d, #9a, #9b, #9d, #9e , #11b , #11c, #11d, #17a, #19, #21c, #23b
Betty: Judge Peter's secretary. Rather cute but with a steel temper. Mentioned in #4a, #21c.
Michaels: The police superintendant, a friend of Judge Peter. He's a big loaf of red meat that would dwarf the governor of California. Mentioned in: #4a , #11c
Mary: She's the owner of the Cozy Cat Club. She's an independant woman, even though she has or had close links with both Kallistos and Peter. Mentioned in: #6a, #6d, #11d
Mayor Pill: The mayor... Nicknamed "Big Pill". Mentioned in #6c, #11d
Dr Barachiel: Director of the Miskatonic Sanatorium, specialist of mental disorders induced by drugs consumption. Mentioned in #6c, #11d, #17b
Mr Voltshead: The spokesman of the Zero Tolerence Movement and Vice President of the Clean Streets Clean Hands Party. He's an ambitious populist politician. Doesn't like Judge Peter. Mentioned in #6c, #6d, #9b , #11c, #11d
T. A. Dass is the president of the Clean Street Clean Hands Party. He's a moderate for his party and tries to keep is Vice-President in hand. Mentioned in #6c, #9b , #11c, #11d
Johan Usse: an assassinated journalist. He has officially been a victim of his own involvment with crimals, but Voltshead has publically accused Judge Peter of being behind this murder. Mentioned in #6c, #11d
Commander Pinelvy: is in charge of LaSalle Police Station and is thus Hitchgins' boss (they hate each other). Mentioned in #4b, #9a, #9b, #9c, #9d, #9e, #11c, #11d, #17a, #17b
Judge Cariotte: A judge of lesser ranck than Peter. He's politically opposed to him and considered as a kind of balance of power in Central Judiciary Administration. Of course, he may not feel at ease when risking direct confrontation... Appears in: #9b, #11d
Charles: A rather bon-vivant French-born bartender. Appears in: #13a, #13b
...
< O >
========== Warnings ==========
Aaaahhh. Let’s begin with a big list of warnings. Feel free to skip them (or come back to them later), but do not come later saying you’ve not been warned. You’ve been warned. So here it is :
1. This is my first attempt at an AAR or anything similar. Never done such things before, not even in my native language, even if I happen to have a big project in french (this kind of big projects that remain that forever, if you see what I mean, but nothing to do with Paradox or video games, so better leave it out of here). Therefore, I would be over optimistic if I promised anything regarding the quality, quantity or frequency of updates. You’ve been warned.
2. My skills in english are quite limited (check my sig), which will obviously reduce my possibilities literary speaking, and make it looong to write updates. You’ve been warned.
3. This AAR is actually based on a game, in case anyone happens to wonder at some point (AGC-EEP 1.5, IIRC, on normal/normal)
4. I don’t plan to shock anyone here, but knowing how sensitive some religious freaks could be, I’d rather recommend not to read this if religion is the most sacred thing in the world for you and you’re the type of launching a fatwa / crusade or whatever for a few words or drawings. Hey, I wanna keep my head, although I ain't always happy with what gets out of it (or doesn't get out) . If you’re just the average sensible believer however, everything should be ok. You’ve been warned.
5. I’m not accustomed with many internet aspects, like finding and posting interesting pictures since my home connection is recent (and quite unstable) and I wasn’t exactly bothering with that at work. So, such features might come progressively later. You’ve been warned.
6. I would appreciate comments, critics and corrections on any aspect of my work. One of my goals here is to improve my crafts and do better updates along the road, so anything would be great from basic english to storytelling. Even insults would do. Not that I would really like it or find it very constructive, but hey, that would be a strong message though (not to mention that I would most probably learn some of these insults in the process, could prove handy in the future ).
7. I started with an intricate plot and a general guideline. Then I’ve re-read it all and my first thought has been : "how the hell will I get through that thing. " The second has been : "the whole thingy sucks big time". The third has been : "okay, I give up, no AAR". Finally, I’ve taken a few months to realise that I wouldn’t ever do anything at all with such an attitude. So, scrap those notes, plots and headaches, I’ll just start at the beginning with a vague idea of where I want to go. The game itself is played up to 1557 though. It might be the end date for the AAR as well, given the special in-game situation, quite not sure yet.
8. I didn’t know what to use as a title. This one doesn’t make much sense, but is certainly not worse than any other one I’d have found after a few more weeks of brain leaking. And given the creamy consistence this brain of mine has developed by now (almost 5 A.M. here), I’ll shut off my computer and go to bed as soon as this couple of posts is on the forum. Do not expect me back before this afternoon (well, afternoon here, french time, that is…).
9. This is by no means an "historical" AAR. I don't have the knowlege nor the will for it. Which doesn't mean I haven't done some investigations on the topic, of course. Besides, there are already several documented AARs about this area and timeframe (I should read them to steal ideas and references, and to support their authors, of course. But I've just got time to quikly browse through them so far). So your comments about history or historically weird things in my story are very welcome, but I don't feel bound to such things anyway. You’ve been warned.
I probably forgot a few, but they might come later. And you’re certainly fed up with those warnings, if only you had the patience to read them all, of course . In short I hardly know better than you what to expect of this.
In conclusion, guess what ?
You’ve been warned.
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