Timelines: What if Spain Failed to Control the World?

Panzerkardinal said:

Another good update ! The secret meetings remind me of the good ol' days for some reason. xD

I'm looking forward to hearing about the valiant Antonio's past. Perhaps there's more to him than meets the eye, hmm?

No one suspects the Inquisition ! :rofl:

The title for the next installment's got me all aquiver. I wonder what juicy new details await ?

Keep up the good work !

Click to expand...

Thanks buddy ! Unfortunately I'm going to have to keep ya'll guessing on the past department for a bit more ! XD XD

P.S. new update up !

Fiftypence: Thanks ! I'm glad you picked up the reference too ! Thank you for your patronage !

Panzerkardinal: I really wanted to channel how useful uplifting and necessary the sacrament was with my allusion , i'm very happy you picked it up =) And thanks again for your continued support , old friend !

Status Report: Grandpa's going back home so things should be returning normal here on the home front . Expect the usual Update/Bonus combination to ensue ! Furthermore I've decided for the sake of readers wanting to catch up I'll be formalizing the "Saturday Break" meaning that there won't be any updates on Saturday instead we'll be promoting the You've Been Canonized! Section each Saturday as usual as the main update for that day . That'll give the readers something to look at on Saturdays and to comment on , give the new readers and those catching up extra time to read , and also to give me a little weekend break !!! Hope you all like it !

P.S. 2 days left to vote in the AARLand Choice Awards ! Hope you all go out there and support your favourites !

Doxy said:

Nice Update Armi!

Click to expand...

Thanks , Dear XD . Now to get the interview up for this week ! It'll be up in a few minutes

Welcome once again everyone to this week’s installment of You’ve Been Canonized! where we take an patron of our AAR who is also an author and get to know more about them, their thoughts on our AAR, and of their current work! If you’re new to the programme, I’m canonized author of Timelines: What if Spain Failed to Control the World? and today, our guest is a good friend and another great author to the AAR scene, thrashing mad author of History of the White Eagle - Poland - Megacampaign AAR - part 2 EU3.

Part I: The Polish Pen
Let’s ask thrashing mad a few questions about himself and his Authorship !

canonized: First of all , thank you for agreeing to this interview ! It's a pleasure to have you on the programme . Could you tell us a little bit about yourself ? We know , for example , that you're a native of Poland , what else could you tell us ?

thrashing mad: Ahh, after high school, I went to London for a year, then to the Polish Navy for 9 months, and now I’m starting my own small business. My interests include Paradox games, history, heavy metal (playing as well as listening), and books.

canonized: How long have you been writing AARs now ?

thrashing mad: 5 months.

canonized: You've only been with us for a relatively short amount of time ; what are your impressions so far about the AAR hobby and the community ?

thrashing mad: Well, I’ve always loved alternative history, maps, and stories - everything can by found on this forum. It’s also great that there is such a wide range of styles. And it’s great fun to write and read along with other forum members.

canonized: Speaking of reading and writing , your works not just encompass items to be read , but items to be experienced -- moving pictures , movies with music . It's not that common in the forum ; could you comment a little bit on that aspect of your writing , why it appeals to you , and what your purpose with it is ?

thrashing mad: Well it’s purpose is simple - I wasn’t confident about my skill with English, so I decided to put nice graphical stuff, along with a rather compressed story. I’m kind of a perfectionist, so I wanted my first AAR to be precisely thought out.

canonized: And I must say your graphics and movies are impressive and unique . You also integrate elements from other games into your presentation which gives your works many, many dimensions . How did you come up with this innovative presentation style ?

thrashing mad: Honestly - my AAR is highly influenced by many works, mostly by Veldmaarschalk’s AAR. The rest is my own improvisation and spontaneous ideas. About the movies, MTW2 has such great graphics, that I decided to add them.

canonized: I think your works have also gained a popularity of their own and your own specific style that makes it stand out as excellent works . In fact , your AAR is one of the fastest growing on the EU3 boards , what do you think has helped your works to become so popular ?

thrashing mad:
Well, a few things: this is a mega campaign so I had some readers of part I come from the CK forum. I also think that the movies and graphics are a huge factor. Because my AAR isn’t one of world conquest, the story is dynamic and quite interesting. At least I hope so.

canonized: It is very dynamic and very innovative not just in the graphics but also in the game factors you've engineered . I also know that you think that one of your greatest challenges is your English , but I think you've done an excellent job with your writing so far ! What would you say to those non-English native speakers who might be discouraged to do an AAR because they might not be the best at writing in English ?

thrashing mad: Well, first of all, give a try. I, myself, vastly increased my English skills by writing my AARs. So try; it won’t hurt.

Part II: Patron and Friend
Now for some questions on thrashing mad’s views on our AAR.

canonized: First off , I wanted to thank you very much for doing the bonus swap with me the other week . Your movie you made for us was great ! What do you think of the bonus sections so far offered by Timelines aside from the main story ?

thrashing mad: It is a great addition - especially interviews. Such activity really gives life to the forum community, and allows readers to better know each other. The graphical bonuses were also a very nice touch.

canonized: Thank you ! I know that you've spent some time catching up to the story , what are your comments on how the storylines are unfolding so far and on how Timelines moves from a past and present storyline ?

thrashing mad: Well I have to say that you have the necessary skills to pull it off. The way you’ve tied past and present, and each chapter with each other is excellent. Historical insight into the second plane characters was very good move - there are a lot of AARs describing only monarchs. Also, the life of Tom being on track with the mysterious history is very exciting.

canonized: Indeed , Timelines is different from most other AARs in those respects with the focus on the people behind the throne and also on a dual storyline . Do you find it hard , however , to follow the many different twists and turns especially among the 2 timelines ?

thrashing mad: No, not at all. You write the story very clearly. I wasn’t confused at any single time so far.

canonized: Aside from its complexity, Timelines is also a bit of a long work ; did you feel comfortable with the length of the updates and the length of the story so far ?

thrashing mad: Well, good quality stories should be long. About the chapter lengths, for me, it’s neither too long, nor too short. Along with your graphical illustrations/logo, it’s pleasant to read it.

canonized: Right now we're in the midst of the Chinese campaign while at the same time lots of things are going on to reveal the pasts of the characters ; is there a place or situation you'd like to see happen or where the story should go ?

thrashing mad: I’m interested to see what would happen when almost all of the world is under Spanish control. Would there be rebellions or civil wars? The early days of a worldwide empire should be very interesting.

canonized: Lastly , do you have any guesses on what the mysterious Timepiece mentioned and sought after throughout the story is ?

thrashing mad: I have no idea. Maybe some long gone artifact related to religion? That’s the great mystery so far.

Part III: The Flight of the White Eagle
We shall now take a peek into thrashing mad’s ambitious mega campaign as it goes through its EUIII phase !

canonized: As many people know , your current AAR on the EU3 section is a continuation of your CK AAR , how does it feel to be on such a long path of history ?

thrashing mad: Well it feels like I’m making something epic - successfully or not - readers can decide. When I searched for completed mega campaigns in librAARies, I found only two completed. I hope to have inspiration till the HoI2 times.

canonized: I think that's excellent . I myself also wish to make it to HOI2 and then write a prequel in the CK era so I wanted to give you my full support . For those in the EU3 forum who may not have read your CK work , could you summarize what your current AAR is about if they are interested in reading it ?

thrashing mad: It’s a long road for the Kingdom of Poland and for the Piast dynasty through the ages. There are moments of glory, defeats, betrayals, and wars. Finally, part I ended by conquest of our weakened kingdom by the invincible Mongols. In part II, Poland starts as one of the many weak Mongol vassal states, but seizes the opportunities to throw off the yoke of Khans.

canonized: Certainly it's been quite the exciting ride . Epic battles abound, but you also spend a good amount of time illustrating your monarchs which is one of the best things I find about your AAR ; the Dynasty . I know that the dynamicism of CK and EUIII helped make this possible ; what are your thoughts on your family trees in your AAR ?

thrashing mad: Well the Dynasties are nothing special, I actually made only one family tree. After the end of the CK part, the family relations of EU3 are, of course, made up. I think it’s quite clear and good looking, but there are more detailed and refined trees in other CK AARs.

canonized: You also have an innovative dice system to figure out traits for your monarch . Although this is not necessarily in the game , adding this creates a whole new dimension to your AAR that makes it stand out as a work that does not grow stale over time . How did you come up with this idea ?

thrashing mad: Well, since EU3 monarchs lack traits, I had to find a way to make them more interesting and different. I was a paper RPG game master for a couple of years, so it’s a kind of 'quick character creation table' to make each monarch unique by role-playing rolled character traits.

canonized: Fascinating ! I also wanted to draw attention to the fact that even though this is a mega campaign, Poland is having lots of troubles and sometimes many reverses . I think this adds great depth to the AAR as a realistic work and I think it really shows the spirit of Poland as being a state wishing to be a land free of oppression . Tell us a little bit about your home country and why you chose to write about her ?

thrashing mad: It’s my home country and I have good historical knowledge about Poland so it was obvious choice for first AAR. Well, one may think that Poland is just gray, boring, poor post-Soviet, eastern European country but that’s disingenuous. We really have made huge progress since 1990. I lived in London for one year, and there is no big difference. I also wanted to invite everyone to the European Football Championships, because Poland and The Ukraine have been chosen to host it in 2012!

canonized: Excellent ! I wish Poland luck ! Speaking of the future , what can you tell us about how the Vicky and HOI2 eras will be like ? Any previews to the kinds of styles or tones you will use ?

thrashing mad: I have no idea. The whole game is just improvisation. The Vicky era would put more emphasis on cabinet politics, social classes and their dynamics etc. HOI2 would be, of course, about epic wars. The style could be really various, maybe even narrative bits. I’m also looking for games from which I could made movies for those eras.

canonized: Thank you again for having this wonderful interview with me, it’s quite an honour! I hope everyone enjoyed it as well and I’d like to thank our audience for tuning in again this week. I’d like to remind the audience that it’s the last few days of the AARLand Choice Awards 2007 Q1 so please support your favourites! We hope you all keep thrashing mad and myself in your considerations when you vote! Please tune in next week when we’ll have forum moderator stnylan on the programme!

thrashing mad said:

Thanks for fixing those "few" grammar mistakes -

Click to expand...

glad to have had you on !

rcduggan said:

great interview!

Click to expand...

Thanks ! It was a pleasure interviewing thrashing mad he's a good friend to this thread !

Doxy said:

Love the interview! <3 Go Armi!

Click to expand...

Thanks Darling ! <3 Hope you're having a good weekend !

grayghost: GOOD ! Updates are always a boon ! I'll be working an update for tonight also !

stnylan: thank you ! Looking forward to interviewing you this upcoming week !

Fiftypence said:

Good interview there.

Click to expand...

Thanks ! Glad you enjoyed it ! Update coming in about 10 -12 hours from now !

Little Status report:

Alright so I said i'd have an update in by 10-12 hours . Unfortunately , I ended up having an all nighter philo-economic-sophical discussion with a friend and I only got the first page done on the update so far !

Well that and I had the best game of DotA ever (I had 8 kills in a row out of a total of 14 , highest in the match !) and playing some online Diplomacy . Ach ! Don't worry , I've been updating 3-4 times a week and I haven't failed you yet , dear audience so expect one later tonight and the other two will come as per usual 2 day schedule !