You’ve Been Canonized!: English Patriot
Good evening and welcome everyone to this edition of You’ve Been Canonized! our weekly interview segment here on Timelines where we take a patron author and get to know more about them , about their thoughts on the AAR here , and about their current AAR or project ! If you’re new to the programme , I’m your host canonized author of
Timelines: What if Spain Failed to Control the World? and today’s guest is our new friend English Patriot author of
The Rebirth of England – Woodhouse Dynasty Part II ! Interview Questions , Starto !
Part I: Putting the Riot in Patriot
English Patriot and I discuss a little bit about himself .
canonized: First , I wanted to welcome you on our programme and thank you for honouring us with your participation ! Could you briefly introduce yourself and tell us how long you've been on the boards and writing AARs ?
English Patriot: Thanks for having me! Well, my real name is Bevan I am of course an Englishman, Twenty years old and so on, I've been on the boards for about three years now, I've only been writing AAR's for about six months or so, I've wanted to for ages but always found it hard to begin with.
canonized: Ahh , a relatively new writer ! What would you say has been your greatest challenge so far ?
English Patriot: For me it was starting, there were and are still a lot of really good AAR's and I'd often think to myself, can I do something as good as that? Will it entertain people as well as the other AAR's. That and carrying on, I have a terrible memory sometimes, which means I may stop, put the AAR off for a while and then get worried about coming back to it, thankfully I've managed to so far!
canonized: Haha , well thankfully for us as well ! I’ve noticed from our talks earlier that you've placed many family names from your own tree into your works . This family connection ; why does it come to the forefront of your pieces ?
English Patriot: Well I am an absolutely enormous family man, I'm very proud of what I'm apart of, and for me it really ties me to the game, I find everything's a lot more important and exciting when its your descendants trying to hold on to your Empire
canonized: Was this what first attracted you to play CK and write in the CK portion of AARland ?
English Patriot: It definitely was, I love CK for the Roleplaying aspect, your countries become very personal, your King has a personality, as do their wives, their children, their courtiers, CK for me is a very lively game. And for me it begs to be made into an AAR, I even write them in my mind while I play it’s that natural!
canonized: What do you think of EUIII in comparison to your CK experience ?
English Patriot: EUIII for me requires a lot of work: although I love the game—for me—it doesn't have the dynastic edge that CK does; you feel almost detached from the game. With CK you had childhood experiences etc and the characters really grew. With EUIII, its monarch after monarch so you really have to work to make them different.
canonized: Your current writing style combines elements of historical biographical writing and gameplay . Why did you choose this avenue of expression in your work ?
English Patriot: For me it flowed easier, I wanted the piece to be a sort of Encyclopaedia Britannica, although I would very much like to do bits of it in a narrative style, I am thinking of doing little bonus parts, much like a merger of Timelines and JimboIX's House of Obertenghi
canonized: Oh that sounds interesting ! As a relatively new writer but a long time reader , what kind of advice could you give to anyone who might be interested in taking a stab at AARs ?
English Patriot: I would say: do it because the game needs to be shared, and just jump in there. I've always found it hard to begin, but once you do everything gets a lot easier and a lot more rewarding
Part II: Fan and Guest Author
Some thoughts on English Patriot’s guest authorship on Timelines and what he thinks of the piece.
canonized: You've only recently made yourself known as a reader on our thread , but you've been reading for a good while now ; how has your reading experience of Timelines been in general ?
English Patriot: Brilliant. It’s a very involving piece of work. The concept is very unique and I'm a big fan of alternative histories already so Timelines really interested me.
canonized: You've also been one of our guest authors to provide a bonus section for us recently ! We're very honoured to have had you ! What do you think made the Timelines storyline so accessible for you to participate in ?
English Patriot: The Honour is mine! I find there's a lot of space, like real history, even though you've given us the main stories to read there are still so many to write. Timelines feels like a big world, one you could really hide in, and the general setting is a very fertile one for imagination
canonized: As a strong family man as you mentioned , I can imagine that you have an appreciation for the continuing 'dynasties' so to speak between the past and present time frames of the story . How has the experience of seeing ancestors and descendents moving about the world in each chapter been for you ?
English Patriot: Very interesting, I love that part and the past and present concept was what first really interested me. It gives Timelines a real grounding; you could almost believe that Spain is ruling the world. Seeing the genes carry on through time and how families change over time is a very intriguing idea to me
canonized: Any particular gene set that caught your attention ?
English Patriot: Obviously watching De Witt family move from Cardinals to shady agents is fun to see, and of course the Lions of Meissen organisation, as a none-gene example
canonized: As mentioned earlier you participated in our inter-season showcase with your own Bonus offering ; what are your thoughts on the different bonuses we've had so far on Timelines ranging from movies to pictures to other narrative pieces such as yours ?
English Patriot: I think it’s a real tribute to both the participants and to you obviously that Timelines inspires people to create a range of different contributions that really expand the Timelines world. I'd really love to see it more in other AAR's, and maybe someday I could give it a shot in mine. It’s a real enjoyment to see different interpretations of Timelines.
canonized: Is there a part of the Timelines universe you feel as if you wished there was more spotlight on ?
English Patriot: I'd like to see more of the bigger picture and perhaps more high level diplomatic stuff, if you get my meaning, but as far as I'm concerned it would just be extra layers of icing on a very sweet cake!
canonized: Thank you ! So any guesses on what the Timepiece is , does or what its purpose might be ?
English Patriot: Ha! Not a clue, at least not a real one, perhaps the Timepiece would restore the world to our history, or to another, maybe it’s just a red herring and Spain is meant to rule the world!
Part III: The Same Dynasty; A New Face
English Patriot and I talk about his current continuation of his AAR megacampaign.
canonized: First thing one will notice if they begin to read your EUIII offering is that it's a megacampaign . We talked briefly earlier about your love for CK , but why did you choose to go down the megacampaign route and will you continue to Vicky and HOI2 also ?
English Patriot: I think what would be interesting to see is how the Woodhouse Dynasty changes to Crusader Kings of England to the Monarch of a United Constitutional Monarchy, if that! Who knows? Maybe they'll stay an absolute monarchy. But Vicky and HOI2 just bring yet more possibilities to confront, and that’s what I love about Paradox games.
canonized: If I recall correctly , you also did the modifications and conversion yourself . How was that experience ?
English Patriot: Oddly satisfying, when I converted my CK game, Hallstens converter wasn't finished, still isn't *nudge nudge* so I had to convert it myself. Then I wanted to make my England unique, we had the redcoats because of the overwhelming amount of red in our countries heraldry, but what if, like my Coat of Arms, the major colour was black? So I gave them black uniforms, I changed my shield to one that made more sense and at the same time more unique.
canonized: Biggest challenges in the game itself ?
English Patriot: For Crusader Kings, it was my vassals! Ingrates the lot of them! But oddly enough, fighting the first civil war was very enjoyable; it had a sort of Gotterdamerung feel about it. In EUIII, it was maintaining the Empire when the knowledge slowly dawned on me that we were the old man of Europe: our armies were huge, but behind on technology; our economy was unremarkable. And then it was a matter of keeping the young bucks down in Europe and supporting the ones you liked.
canonized: As it is right now in the story , you've signed the Neapolitan Act and released several vassals . One of the things that I really enjoyed from reading was the attention to the details of each in-game move to rationalize it . What kind of system do you have to address in-game events ?
English Patriot: First of all I take into account the monarchs stats, more diplomatic ones can afford to be more autocratic and sign things to their liking according to traits I give them. Others, like Empress Eleanor, will have the Senate or Parliament walk all over them. Often the Parliament is very Britain centric and quite hostile to Europe, whereas until lately the monarchy has been more continental
canonized: Well you've certainly done a great job in adapting the personalities to the statistics given and you've also illustrated innovative elements into your English lore such as the Anglican plutocratic movement (if I can call it that haha) . Where did you come up with interesting unique ideas such as this one ?
English Patriot: I'm not quite sure really, it just seemed to evolve out of the circumstances, at the time we were really making a lot of money through merchants and so on, and the middle class was really on the rise. However, England was still very aristocratic and continental; a lot of the Kings seemed more French than English, the Anglicans were a sort of Middle class backlash against the Old money as it were, and I like the sound of the Anglican plutocratic movement.
canonized: One of the aspects of your re-envisioned Britannia and Great Britain is its fidelity and protection of Catholicism . Although probably for practical reasons , the concern of religion was a real one especially in this age . Will the new Empire remain with the Faith or will the forces of history spawn the Church of England ?
English Patriot: For as far as I can see into the future I can safely say Britain will still be the Catholic Bulwark of Europe. The Papal Curia, last time I checked was stocked with only Britannic Cardinals and the Deus Volt! National Idea has stopped Protestantism in its tracks at the border. There is little reason to change as far as I can see.
canonized: And lastly , what AAR plans do you have for the future ?
English Patriot: Well, obviously I really want to see the Woodhouse dynasty right into the 1950's, but I'd also really like to try a narrative AAR. JimboIX's House of Obertenghi really brings the spirit of CK alive and I'd love to give it a shot
canonized: I think you'll do well in it if your bonus for us is any indication ! We thank you again , English Patriot for being on the programme and I’d like to thank our audience once again for tuning in this week for our interview segment ! Please keep supporting our wonderful authors out there ! Next week’s guest will be announced during the course of the week so please look out for that on the thread ! Have a good week , everyone !