The lilies of France

[Lord E]

The lilies of France

Prolouge


Somewhere in Southern-France
1642


The Cardinal looked old. His face was pale, his hair grey and his eyes had lost much of their hardness and famous strict, staring look. Now the cardinal instead looked like an old man having lost much of the purpose of his life.

In the valley beneath the thick, dark, black smoke was raising from the city. In some parts of the city the flames could still be seen as they licked the dark sky and burned down yet another building. Although the cardinal and his men were far away the screams from the city could still be heard. The screams from people getting burned alive or killed by the invaders, the sound was horrible for all who heard it. It was the signs and sounds of horror.

The cardinal was sitting still on his horse with his head lowered praying in a low voice, not noticing the people around him just uttering forward the words of his prayer.



“Your Eminence, we can’t stay here. We should leave now.”


” Deus, cui omne cor patet et omnis uoluntas loquitur, et quem nullam latet secretum: purifica per infusionem sancti spiritus cogitationes cordis nostri, ut perfecte te diligere et digne laudare mereamur, per dominum nostrum iesum christum.
Amen.” *


“Your Eminence?”

"We must leave now!”


”Yes… Yes, thank you general…”


Lowering his head once more the cardinal nods to the men around him. For some seconds his eyes rest on the banner, the banner with the French lilies, the fleur-de-lis. Then the cardinal kicks his horse and rides north leaving the burning ruins behind.

...................

*Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known and from you no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name, through Christ our Lord, Amen.

[stnylan]

OK, that sounds like everything in that particular region has fallen apart. A wonderful way to picque my interest!

[J. Passepartout]

Good, a new Lord E AAR. And it looks like a fun time, a messed up Thirty Year's war or religious war of some sort. Excellent.

[Snake IV]

What a most awesome start! It was not long that might scare people away, It used picutres fonts and clours very nice, and it chanced the interest of the reader very quickly. Just awesome.


I also want to note that subscribing to the EU3 Library Update Thread is a very good way to get to know about that the good AARs start before they even has reached thier first (sometimes second) page. Big thanks to Duke for that one.

[Rensslaer]

In medias res!

Lord E, great to see you starting up! And what a way to begin the story.

That picture was perfect!

Rensslaer

[Veldmaarschalk]

A very nice start indeed

[Chesterton]

Yes, a very nice start.

[Dysken]

As stated above several times a truly magnificent start.

[GeneralHannibal]

Started well, and I'm eager to see what happens, and why there is such trouble.

[coz1]

About time somebody did a France AAR for EUIII. I would have assumed one earlier. But I might not have assumed it would start as fine as this did. Very nice, Lord E! Looking forward to where this story goes.

[Lord E]

stnylan Well things might indeed have gone wrong… but before we get to know that we will return to the start of the game in 1625. I am working on the “real” beginning now, and then the story will develop and in time we will arrive in 1642 and see what have happened…


J. Passepartout Thanks. I guess you can say it is a little of both


Snake IV Thank you. Yes, I wanted the start to make people get interested but at the same time not scare them away wit huge amounts of text, so I am glad that you think it works Also your idea about subscribing to Duke’s EUIII new AAR thread is a very good idea


Rensslaer Thanks. Yes, I wanted to start the story directly so as you get you all interested…


Veldmaarschalk Thank you.


Chesterton Glad you like it


Dysken Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Working on the next update now


GeneralHannibal Thanks. Well as I said this is actually several years into the game, so we shall soon return to 1625 when the game and story begins. I guess you can say I borrowed the way of starting to story from Mett’s AAR “Eagles of Avalon” also there the first post is far into the story…


coz1 He he yes I guess it was about time, I was actually surprised not to see one earlier… Great that you enjoyed it, I am working on the next post now.


All Thank you for all your comments. I am very glad that you enjoyed the beginning of the story. As I have stated in the game and the story actually being in 1625 on April 1… I borrowed the way of beginning to story from Mett’s AAR “The Eagles of Avalon” beginning with the prologue far into the game and then returning in time to see what have happened before.

So just now I am finishing the next update, the update that will actually begin the story and move forward to tell the tale why things went as they went and why the cardinal in 1642 is watching a burning town…

I need to find a picture for it, and the make sure to remove at least some of the spelling mistakes But in a couple of hours I will have it ready. And I hope you will enjoy it….

[Estonianzulu]

Interesting; surprising burning towns always do grab my interest

Looking foward to the first update.

[Lord E]

Interesting; surprising burning towns always do grab my interest

Looking foward to the first update.

Good that I have managed to catch your attention. The first real game update will arrive next…

[Lord E]

1st of April 1625
A small village in the Guyenne region, Southern-France





The small village was situated in a valley. On the west side of the village one could see the Atlantic Ocean and to the east there was first a hill and then plains and woods for several miles. Out in the Atlantic huge dark clouds were gathering, building up for the storm that was approaching France.

In the outskirts of the village stood two men, one of them a young man just turned 17 with dark hair, fair skin and dark, clear eyes, the other his father, the lord of the castle, an aging figure with hair turning white and a skin scarred from many wars in the service of France. The old man hands his son a letter and smiles.


“Remember lad when you now follow in the footsteps of your father and grandfather, dieing is a great sacrifice to France, but an even larger sacrifice is living. If you live you can do good again and again, if you die you have given your life, but you will not be able to do good again…. Stay alive my son.


And remember when you meet the Baron, you hand him my letter. I have already written to him and he has been kind enough to accept you in his company. So you listen to him and follow his orders, you hear! That man saved my life once.”


“I understand father. I can’t wait to go and fight for France…”


“Now, now war is not a game. War is horrible my son, you do well in remembering that. People die in wars, and I don’t want you to be one of them.”


“Yes, father I understand.”


“Good. You will leave for Bordeaux now. The Baron will you meet you there.
Oh and Jean you will walk. I need all the horses here, so I have asked the Baron to find a horse for you in Bordeaux. “


“Walk? Why?”


“As I said I need all the horses here, but even more importantly if you meet any thieves or Huguenots they won’t rob you if you don’t have a horse. You will just look like a peasant walking on foot, not a man of good family and soon to become one of His Majesty’s soldiers.”


Nodding to signal he has understood Jean then turns his attention to the village, casting one last look at it all. Then suddenly a man comes running against them. As he approaches they can see it is the old mercenary that lives in the village. He had served as mercenary in several wars in his youth and it was known that he supported and had a soft spot for Protestantism after having served in Northern-Germany for several years. There were even some who thought him to be a Huguenot or an English agent. Still most of the people in the little village liked the old man and respected him, although the young priest disliked him and had written about the man to the bishop several times.




”Monsieur, monsieur… I hear you are going to Bordeaux, oh monsieur do me a favour and bring this letter to my friend there. It must be delivered to him personally. Can you do that monsieur?”



“Certainly, sir. I can take your letter to Bordeaux.”



”Oh thank you monsieur. It must be delivered to monsieur Dufour personally, no one else. Once again thank you monsieur.”




Quickly the old man hands Jean the letter and then just as fast as he came he has disappeared in between the houses again. Jean stands there with the letter in his hands staring at it. It looked like a fine letter, it contained no address just the name Dufour on the front side, and on the back it had a huge red seal not similar to any thing Jean had ever seen. His father also looked at it and then shook his head.




“I don’t think you will enjoy carrying that letter Jean, I have never seen that seal before, but I know this one thing, that is not the seal of some peasant or low ranking noble, and it is certainly not the seal of that old fool… This seems like the seal of someone important.”


“Well father we can’t just open the letter and read it can we. I have said I shall take it to Bordeaux and that I intend to do.”


“My son, still the stubborn boy you have always been. Farewell Jean, and remember… come back alive!”



Leaving his father behind Jean walks out of the village.

The dark clouds are approaching, getting darker and darker and as he casts on last look out on the Atlantic he can see the rain and the lightning as it approaches the land. Quickly making sure the letter and his father’s note to the baron are safe under his clothes, he pulls his cloak closer together and then after taking one last look at the village he moves over the top of the hills, walking north towards Bordeaux.

Had he turned back one more time he might have seen the two horsemen dressed in red cloaks that came out of the old mercenary’s house, one of them wiping the blood of his sword in the grass and casting a look up the road just as Jean moves over the hill. Pointing towards Jean he nods to the other.



” We were too late, the old fool gave the letter to a boy to bring it to Bordeaux. Killing one more peasant shouldn’t be a problem… Are your bastards ready?”


“Yes, sir”


”Good, we will intercept him just before he arrives at their position then… We need that letter…”




As he utters the last words the man mounts his horse and seconds later also the second rider has mounted his horse, and they both took the road north out of the village, north towards Bordeaux.

[Estonianzulu]

Interesting; ill tidings seem in the future. I imagine Jean will need to keep his wits about him when the red cloaked men catch up with him. Though I wonder if they will be surprsied to discover he is no peasant.

[coz1]

I was all set to suggest that we might see a great journey ahead, but if so, it starts with some bad fortune. I hope he will be alright.

[J. Passepartout]

I just knew something bad was going to happen when the old man came running up. My guess is that Jean will lose the letter to these men, but survive and attempt to regain it. There are several other strong possibilities but this is the one I think will happen.

[stnylan]

Ahh, intrigue begins to stir and sneak out its delectable tendrils through the tale. Or something

The young man is entirely too trusting.

[GhostWriter]

excellent start ! !

[Lord E]

Estonianzulu Yes, ill tidings seems to be in the future, things might indeed go very bad, you shall soon see…
Oh I think they might be surprised to see that he is not peasant, but as you shall soon see they do not intend to take care of that little problem by themselves.


coz1 Well I have an outline in my head and my notes saying that it should indeed be a great journey, but one can’t just be lucky in life. There are ups and downs and I think this journey might start worse than Jean had intended….


J. Passepartout well you shall soon see, there are more to all this than can be seen on the future Old men usually mean trouble you say, that might indeed be correct…



stnylan Well you must remember that he is still a young man with little understanding of the outside world, I guess this will show even clearer in the next update, but I can assure you I think he will gain a lot of wisdom very quickly.


GhostWriter Thanks, good to have you onboard. I have more coming up soon…


All Thanks for all comments. I am also looking forward to see the journey begin and although I have some parts of it ready it might take several turns in the years to come. But first of all I guess we have an update waiting with Jean, a road, two horsemen and some other people waiting… I am finishing it now, and should have it posted pretty soon.