Best Character Writer of the Week: Lord Durham

[Enewald]

She'll kill you all!

Not me coz' I say 'gratz!'

[canonized]

Congratulations Actinguy !

[Actinguy]

Actinguy sits in the lobby's bar, drowning his sorrows in a glass of stale pretzels, when he hears through the venue's speakers:

"AND THE WINNER OF BEST CHARACTER WRITER OF THE WEEK...ACTINGUY!"

Actinguy takes another sip of pretzels, choking momentarily. "Hearing things, I am," he thinks in his best Yoda-impersonating-voice-within-his head.

"Too salty, this drink is," he adds as an after thought, thinking afterly.

"ACTINGUY! COME ON DOWN!"

"Talking to you, he is."

"Oh...OH!"

Actinguy leaps from the bar stool, accidently spilling his pretzley drink into a portly man's lap. He apologizes profusely, attempting to mop up the mess with a napkin, before the event's ushers locate him and drag him towards the stage.

"Uh...uh, boy. Wow. Thank you! Thank you everyone! I'd like to thank my commenters, of course...to name a few...uh...

"Enewald. His hatred of verbs brings joy to us all. Phargle, who's recent parody of The Butterfly Device in his AAR surely brought us a tiny fraction of his bajillion readers. Slinky, who as I speak, is even now helping me craft better action scenes. Qorten, who continues to read despite my best efforts to banish him. The Executer, who actually comes to our tale for incestual advice. Our two royal readers, Prinz Willhelm and Lord Cowles. And, of course, Snugglie. Through him, all awards are possible. And, I can't forget...uh...really? I only have eight readers? Are you freaking kidding me? Why am I writing this crap when I only have..."

Hehe. Thank you all so much! I see tradition has us talk a little about our AAR, especially the characters. Fun!


"The Butterfly Device" is a time-travel tale...but (I hope) with a twist. When the lead designer of a time-travel device, intended for the tourism industry, disappears into the past, the rest of his team is forced to turn to the American government for funding in an attempt to find him. This, of course, will cause major problems later in the story.

In an attempt to learn more about the past, the team sends back a butterfly, with a microchip that can gather data about the time-travelling trip. Unfortunately, this butterfly appears at exactly the wrong time, causing the French County of Guines to enter a (sometimes comical) trail of tragedy.

A bit about some of the main characters seen so far:

Baldwin de Guines - The Count of Guines at the beginning of the story. The butterfly causes him to strike his head, when he hears a voice prophecy "She'll kill them all." His attempts to stop the prophecy from coming true see him betrayed, dethroned, and locked away in a dungeon by his own wife and brother.

Reinel de Guines - Baldwin's brother, forced to lock away Baldwin for his own good and the good of the county. But he is backed into a corner by Baldwin's marshal, which has a tragic result.

Osbern de Guines - Just ten years old when he inherits the throne, Osbern has known much tragedy in his life...yet he attempts to keep a bright outlook on life and insist the prophecy isn't true...despite the fact that he has lost an ear, had his throat slit, fallen into a fire, been garottined, was stabbed in the heart, and had his entire castle literally collapse on top of him. So far.

Annelies of Yperen - The tragic bride of Count Baldwin. A misunderstanding causes Baldwin to believe Annelies is the prophecied killer...but she thinks it could be Matilda.

Matilda le Blount - Osbern's young cousin, who is deadly with a blade...and even deadlier with her mind. Her motivations have not yet been revealed, but she definitely has her own thoughts about the string of deaths in Guines. She worships Annelies, but has a love/hate relationship with Osbern.

Robert de Guines - Osbern's young brother, currently lost at sea after having fought off a pirate attack AND a shark. His is a journey of growth, seeing the world from a unique perspective, as the only main character who has never heard of the prophecy.

Juvenal Quentis - The lead designer of The Butterfly Device, he insisted he would be the first to try it out...only to discover there was no way to get back. Little is known so far about Juvenal, except that he is cunning, strong, and can think on his feet. He was last seen using both ancient and modern information in an attempt to find the Holy Grail, so that he could gain immortality and live until 2014 (his home time), but literally disappeared on a ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.

Anyhow, thanks again to Snugglie and the rest! And I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter of...

THE BUTTERFLY DEVICE

[Qorten]

Extrememly many very deserved congrats Actinguy!

[Enewald]

Hehe, the best speech so far seen!

8 readers, 8 loyal knights in the service.

[robou]

Why couldn't Yoda make the speech? Congratulations Actinguy!

[phargle]

Hooray for Actinguy!

It must be noted that he has an unfair advantage in character writing. Killing off characters over and over gives you more characters to write.

[comagoosie]

congratulations Actinguy. I have personally ventured into your AARs, and I do agree with the deserved award.

But now I need a constant reminder to read snugglie's or I may forget!

[Snugglie]

congratulations Actinguy. I have personally ventured into your AARs, and I do agree with the deserved award.

But now I need a constant reminder to read snugglie's or I may forget!

I can send you a reminder every week if you want.

Nice speech Actinguy! Now enjoy your week!

[Woody Man]

Congratulations!

[Hardraade]

Congratulations, Actinguy!

[Lord Durham]

Congratulations Actinguy! (must stop placing an 'o' between the 't' and 'i'... must...)

[Fiftypence]

Congrats Actinguy.

[likk9922]

Many congratulations, Actinguy.

[Lord E]

Congratulations Actinguy

[Capibara]

Congrats!

[Actinguy]

And thus ends the most prestigious week in the history of Best Character Writer of the Week.

Thanks again to everyone for the congratulations, especially those who have stuck around even when I stopped killing off characters for a brief period. ;c)

Anyhow...choosing a successor was very difficult. I only read a few AARs...for I hold other authAARs to a much higher standard than I hold myself. Unfortunately, each of these AuthAARs has already won a half dozen awards each, so I set off to find an undiscovered authaar.

I went through pages of Crusader Kings, Vicky, EU, HOI, Rome...I even ducked my head into the apparently abandoned AARs from Diplomacy.

Yet, no matter where I looked, I found myself returning to the same story time and time again, unable to get enough of the characters within. So...although he has already won the award before, I would like to congratulate the super best character writer...not just of the week...but, indeed, of the world:



Actinguy, for his "The Butterfly Device."


Congratulations, me!

[robou]

A little nagging in my Brain somehow things that might be against the rules

[Actinguy]

What? I'm not allowed to do that?

You should really specify that in the rules. Otherwise, it just doesn't seem fair.



Hehe. Anyhow, as I was saying, there are few AARs that I read dedicatedly (fun new word!), and these are truly the best of the best. But each offers something specifically unique. One, I read for the off-the-wall humor. One I read for the crazy amounts of research. One, frankly, I just look at the pretty pictures.


But only one makes me return and return to see what happens next for the specific characters.


And that authaar...despite having won the award twice already...is General_BT for "Rome AARisen: A Byzantine AAR".

Congrats, General!

[canonized]

Congratulations ! Very well deserved !