The Beautiful Girl and the History Class

Specialist290: It certainly is an incredible story. In my Brit Lit Post 1900 class, we were supposed to discuss it and another short story one class period. Instead, we wound up debating Hungry Stones the entire hour and 15 minutes. It captivated me so much that I wound up writing two papers on it, taking different vantage points on it in each one.

Caveman as Meher Ali seems to be a popular theory, but whether or not that's the case or indeed if there even is a Meher Ali figure in this story remains to be seen.

Yves will appear in the next update.

J. Passepartout:

GhostWriter: Thank you! Although predictable isn't a bad thing, especially in a story like this which has a lot of cliffhanging elements to it. As I noted above, gameplay update will be the next one.

JimboIX: Rabindranath Tagore is one of those writers who's gaining an incredible amount of popularity and research with the pendulum shift towards postcolonialism in the past several years in literary theory. I'd read Home and the World, one of his novels, for an Anglophone Literature course before and I'm impressed with the man's writing ability.

I also intend to read more of him when I have time, probably when I get back from Spain in December (I'm on a major Dumas kick this summer).

Interesting theories on Nick and I agree that the parallels in the relationships are obvious right now, though deceiving is an intriguing word choice. As for Melody's father... well, we'll just have to see.

Tem_Probe: Nick and Melody is certainly the most popular half of this twin story, but I like that people enjoy the gameplay/lecture updates as well.

I'm out of town for the weekend starting tomorrow afternoon and I can't sleep, so I may see about an update yet tonight, especially as I'm having major problems getting a certain girl out of my mind and maybe it'd help to focus on the troubles of the de Semurs.

It was late when I fell asleep last night, so the NyQuil is still casting a fog about me this morning as I walk into class and take a seat more towards the back. Melody's sitting up near the front, but it's something I only half register.

My dull eyes will only look at Morengay and whatever notes I scribble down this lecture, even though they'll probably be incoherent.

Our professor puts up a map on his overhead and begins his speech.



"This is the state of Italy-Croatia's European possessions after the war with Apuila. My apologies for the uneven outlining, but my red marker was running dry, so I had to hurry to mark the boundaries for you.

As you can see, almost the entire Italian peninsula was now under the control of Mad King Yves I.

This did not mean, however, that the possessions were guaranteed to hold. As I told you last time, Italy-Croatia, having just ended the fight with Apuila, was now in conflict with Karten and the Kingdom of Egypt.

The battle against Karten was going extremely well as the winter months and spring of 1128 arrived, with Krain falling to Yves' forces and the Duchy looking to be on the point of surrender quite soon.

Egypt, however, was proving another matter entirely.

The Caliphate of Egypt, as I said last time, though weakened, was still a prominent force and they were sweeping through the Italian-Croatian Middle Eastern territories with the greatest of ease. In fact, the dual kingdom's soldiers, comprimised largely of the indigenous Arabs of the reason, voluntarily joined Calpih Najmaddin in his crusade, compounding the problem of too few troops in the area for Italy-Croatia.

Even more troubling, the Countess of Taranto and the Bishop of Reggio were the latest to join the anti-Yves cabal, calling for a change in the succession laws to better benefit them. The king quite naturally refused the demand, but it was another sign of tension in the Italian peninsula.

Yet, this was not the worst of it, for rebels in Messina, that troublesome county in Sicily, had actually succeeded in repulsing royal troops sent to put down the insurrection. This emboldened the hearts of those furious with the de Semurs and Yves was forced to summon fresh regiments to squash the rebellion before it could spread further.

Enraged at King Yves's refusal to give in to the demand for succession laws to be changed, Countess Judith de Hautville of Taranto declared war against her liege, swearing that she would rather die than be forced to serve her family's mortal enemy.

By April 1128, Karten was almost defeated and the Caliphate of Egypt had re-taken Jaffa, Ascalon and Beersheeb, putting themselves in a much stronger position to again be a Middle Eastern power and they continued to march down towards Cairo, the de Semur crown province in the region.

Unfortunately, Taranto was still at war against the de Semurs and towards the end of the month, the Archbishop of Toscana, originally one of King Yves I's greatest supporters and strongest vassals militarily speaking, joined the Countess of Taranto in open rebellion.

May brought open revolution from the Archbishop of Modena and the Duke of Lombardia. Control over the peninsula was running extremely low and Yves didn't have anywhere near the number of soldiers to deal with a kingdom that was quickly collapsing all around him. In addition the province of Zeta was in revolt.

The hot days of summer brought no respite for the de Semurs on any front, for the Duchy of Karten held out longer than expected and the Republic of Genoa joined those vassals who sought to crush Yves. In desparation, the monarch appointed the Hauteville Count of Consaza the new Duke of Apuila, but the gesture did little to quell the inferno that was raging across Italy.

Alas, the final death knell seemed to be rung late in July when Ludwig de Semur, the Duke of Calabria and Count of Siracusa, declared for civil war as well. Now his own family was turning on the beleagured king who still believed in his own divinity and he was powerless to stop it.

Modena fell to the Archbishop of Toscana in August and the troops sent to Zeta to put down the rebellion were ordered sent home by the Pope in Rome, who had long since ceased to regard King Yves I as an acceptable ally.

A small silver lining appeared in November, when the Caliphate of Egypt, beset by succession difficulties, offered a white peace. King Yves immediately accepted, but by this time, Cairo and Gizeh had come under Egyptian control and the capital province of Bologna itself was beseiged by the Archbishop of Toscana.

Bologna fell just before Christmas 1128 and it was a gloomy holiday season for Yves and what few of his loyal followers remained. Forced out of the capital, what was left of the court retreated to Croatia and hid there while awaiting the outcome of the war, an outcome that looked increasingly worse and worse for the de Semurs still allied with the monarch.

Ferrara and Mantua fell to the Archbishops of Toscana and Modena respectively before January was done and the court decided to begin making offers of peace behind Yves's back.

But what those were and their outcomes... will wait until Friday!"

I'm utterly depressed as I leave the room. First Melody, now Yves.

Does anyone ever achieve victory when its most important, or is the best that we can hope for to have joy for a little while and then lose it?

My head's starting to hurt. I think it's been 6 hours.

More NyQuil, then.

Chief Ragusa: Uncanny indeed. It's almost like the game is reading my mind and molding the CK half to follow along with what's happening in the Nick/Melody part.

JimboIX: Hard telling what's going to happen as far as Yves goes. Right now things are looking about as bad as they do for Nick, but the Mad One has shown a certain caginess before....

I'm a little concerned that Morengay's a little -too- highlighter happy, but again, this is from Nick's POV, so they could be his short-hand notes as was discussed earlier.

I haven't read anything by Tagore other than Hungry Stones and Home and the World, but I liked both, HS in particular. We'll see if I still like him when I read more of his stuff next winter and spring in my spare time (if I have any).

Fulcrumvale: Yes you can, but as Jimbo points out, it's not advised. You go into a very pleasant numbness that takes the edge off of whatever emotions you're feeling, but it's playing roulette with your body and you fall asleep semi-quickly in most cases.

Specialist290: Awesome theories, similiar to what Chief Ragusa's raised in a few earlier posts. Nick as a von Franken would be amusing. It just occurred to me that Nick's never given his last name so far.

J. Passepartout: But is the victory phyrric in nature? Keep in mind, we still don't know the results of the peace negotiations the rest of the court sent out behind Yves's back.

Hajji Giray I: Yes, it does, but NyQuil has a ton of crap in it, some of which contradicts one another which is why it isn't a good source for getting high (believe me, I know some people who have done it... It's the dextromethorphan buzz they're after, which is better obtained from Robotussin, which is a much purer form).

What, you haven't been reading the gameplay parts? For shame.

JimboIX: Red Bull as a mixer makes for some mighty interesting times. I used to drink Jagerbombs some back in the day.

GhostWriter: At this point, the revolution isn't looking so bad for those who've decided to take part in it. And yes, I know it was Friday, but I was out of town visiting relatives before I go to Spain for 4 months at the end of the month and hence, no comp and no Net access.

Gentlemen,

When you haven't fallen in love in 3 or 4 years and you think love has just become a memory that you knew once, when you feel yourself starting to fall again, run.

Run as far and fast as you can, but don't let yourself fall in again, whatever you do.

I'm not sure when the next update will come... life has decided to imitate art in the nastiest of ways and though no words have been exchanged to that effect, it's an innate knowing that I've never, ever been wrong on.

I just hope the pain eases at least somewhat by the time I leave in 3 weeks.

Thanks, guys.

I'm hoping the shell-shocked state will pass soon... Trying to concentrate on writing samples for MFA applications, only to discover that genre samples are discouraged.

Hajji, Jimbo, would you guys say the rough drafts I've started are genre pieces? My concern is that they'd be considered romances.

WRT this AAR, I had the next story update written in my head, but I may delay it in favor of another game-based update.

Oh well, at least I'm cutting my losses and disappearing without making my feelings being known... so it'll be a case of "I wonder what happened to him" and good memories, rather than some drawn out melodrama that ruins everything in the end.

I've done that before and I hate it.

Thanks, Jimbo.

I talked to the girl tonight and said that I wasn't sure when I'd be back on again. She asked when I left and I said the 28th, which led her to ask why. I said because I sensed a distance and it was bothering me, so it was best if I stay away.

She then got the impression that it was me who was feeling distant to her. So we basically talked about some stuff that'd been bothering me, etc and I found out that a lot of what was bugging me, there was no reason that it should be.

So things are improved again. We're still not in a relationship or anything like that, because she doesn't have time for one and so prefers the free spirited lifestyle, which I already knew and understood.

It helped to be able to get that out of my system... I just have to remind myself when I stress out about the situation concerning her that if she was losing interest in me either for conversation or other things, she would tell me.

Hopefully I'll be able to update again before I go to Granada.

I'll go post on the other forum now.

I pass in and out of a fog over the next couple days, using my clear moments to get my schoolwork done, the hazy hours to lie on my bed and stare blankly at the ceiling. I'm getting as bad as Caveman, but then again, I've never allowed myself to wallow in sorrow, not even when my grandmother died.

It only seems right to do that now.

Wednesday morning finds me alert after going to bed at 7 the night before. I'm glad for it, because the last thing I want is for Melody to see me acting out of it.

Morengay begins and my wandering thoughts end.

"When we left off last time, I mentioned that the council determined to make peace offers without Yves being informed of the matter. More specifically, parley requests were sent to the Duke of Karten and the Archbishops of Toscana and Modena.

The Archbishop of Toscana accepted peace, agreeing to preserve the status quo. In attention, the Archbishop of his own iniative agreed to pay the Kingdom of Italy-Croatia 729 florins to pay for war damages as a gesture of piety and goodwill. This noblesse oblige did much to raise the people's opinion of Ramiero Montefeltro, who was the Archbishop. Remember kids, to win friends and silence your enemies, flash the cash!"

The professor continues after the appreciative chuckle that passes through the class.

"Of course, I should add that the raising of the Duke of Spoleto and Roger Borsa de Hauteville's armies in favor of Yves did much to make the Archbishop eager to end the war. Those forces marched under loyal banners were the ultimate irony of the civil war: A German Duke and a Norman Count were supporting a French king who ruled Italians and Croatians.

Less accomodating were the Archbishop of Modena and the Duke of Karten, who refused the peace offers outright, leading to a continuation of the conflict.

In March, the Bishop of Reggio declared war on Yves as well, but the embattled king resolved to fight on. Privately, the court requested aid from the Dukes of Slavonia and Rashka in the Croatian lands and they readily agreed to support their liege, marching their troops towards Karten.

This happy news was counterbalanced by the Diocese Bishop, Fadrique de Semur, denouncing King Yves I as a crazed heretic, a lunatic who would burn in hell before a throng of religious faithful in Bologna. He left the capital that very day and found asylum with the Bishop of Orbetello, preferring to be in the Pope's lands than serve one who believed himself to be the Messiah.

It was the second major family defection, but this did not trouble the king, for he simply dismissed Fadrique as a traitor to the House of de Semur and he himself as the head of it. 17 year old Guillaume Babone, already considered a genius in ecclesiatical circles even at a young age, who would go on to have a brilliant career, was appointed the new Bishop of Italy-Croatia.

In April, the combined armies of the Duke of Spoleto and Roger Borsa de Hauteville recaptured Taranto and Yves regained the county in the peace negotiations that followed. The two men then marched on to Reggio, hoping to suppress the rebellions in the south entirely.

Peace offers came from the Archbishop of Modena in that same month, but they were little more than extortion demands that ordered the de Semurs to pay the entireity of the treasury in order to end hostilities. Not even the decidedly doveish court would go along with this and so the offers were rejected out of hand.

Also, Palermo fell to the 8,200 strong army of the Republic of Genoa in April and the Duke of Karten proposed to yield the claims he had on Yves's land and in addition to pay reparations. This time, the court sided with the angry monarch, as eagerness to punish Karten for its earlier refusal consumed Louis Castle.

May brought the fall of Messina to Genoa and an emissary from the Pope who demanded that Yves repent of his heresy and renounce himself as the Second Coming. Although initially inclined to "hang the traitorous dog from the false Pope, when I -am- the true Christ, Vicar and all!", the more reasonable members of the court convinced the furious king to put in an appearance at the most prestigious church in Bologna, for they feared what excommunication would mean to Italy-Croatia's already precarious situation.

Apparently this answer did not please God, for the day after the messenger was sent away, May 30th, 1129, King Yves I was found dead in his bed.

A regency council was now formed around the 9 year old Louis de Semur, who would not be allowed to take the throne for another 7 years, because just like getting your driver's license, you couldn't be king until you were 16."

Another laugh ripples through the class and for the first time in days, I join in. It's not really all that funny, but we need to laugh, because this is one depressing story.

"King Charles of France sent an alliance offer to the regents and they immediately accepted, wanting the protection of a powerful friend in case things got worse, which they looked ready to given the civil wars already raging.

Two days after Yves I's death, the Duke of Karten sent another offer of peace, including the County of Istria in the settlement. While the council would have preferred Veglia, which directly bordered the Croatian half of the kingdom, the regents recognized that they needed to reduce their enemies as much as possible and so they accepted the deal.

Two weeks later, Marshal Louis Grimbraldi scored an unexpected victory, routing the Archbishop of Modena's troops in their capital province of Parma despite being outnumbered 400 to approximately 1,000. News of this triumph spread quickly throughout the two kingdoms and the people began to believe that with the death of Yves, peace and glory were at last on the horizon for Italy-Croatia again.

The joy was short-lived, however, for shortly thereafter, the Duke of Spoleto and Roger Borsa suffered an embarrassing defeat against the Bishop of Reggio, which led the Bishop to ask for a white peace. The regency council reluctantly agreed, still aware of the 8,000 Genoan troops running around.

By October 1129, the Archbishop of Modena was defeated and stripped of all titles and funds in the most punative peace settlement yet.

But there were still more rebels to deal with, in particular the mighty Republic of Genoa.

Fortunately, the Kingdom of France had declared war on Genoa in support of Italy-Croatia and were making major headway in Genoan territory, so the troops freshly victorious in Parma marched on Genoa proper, intent on ridding the kingdoms of the republic Louis I had hated so much.

In December, the turning point of the civil war was reached when a combined French and Italian-Croatian soldiers, numbering over 15,000 troops altogether, captured Genoa proper. The Republic was now in deep danger.

At long last, on May 30th, 1129, Genoa was defeated, wholly and completely. The Governor of Genoa surrendered all of his provinces to the regency council, who in a surprising bit of generosity, allowed him to still style himself the Governor of Genoa in recognition of the heroic campaign he'd fought before being caught between France and Italy-Croatia.

There was still the Duchy of Calabria to contend with, but that was only a minor difficulty.

A far greater task lay ahead for the dual kingdoms and the de Semurs: To re-organize the feudal heirarchy and restore the boy Louis's reputation before he assumed the throne.

And that comes..."

"Next time!" chants the class.

"Right! See you Friday!" Morengay beams.

Wow. What an incredible ending. The de Semurs pulled it out, even though it seemed to take Yves dying to do it.

Maybe there's hope for me after all.

Deciding to be a little more like my old self, I nod to Melody on the way out.

She turns away.

A pang shoots through my heart.

Not today.

Will there ever be a day?

I don't know. I hope so.