06/02/2008
Hello, readers old and new.
This is the second part of my intended Russian megacampaign, which will see the slow development of my plucky Kievan state into a modern Empire.
One important thing to keep in mind that although I call my AAR nation "Russia", it is not Russia in the modern sense, because the centre is still around Kiev rather than Moscow; but neither is it Ukraine, because the Byzantine influence that really defines a lot of Russian tradition in the EU timeframe has been thoroughly ingrained in all of the Rus states due to the events in A Year's Education.
This part of the GC is a crucial one; I will rise to greatness here, or I will not at all. This does not mean I will be conquering Europe, but Asia need not be so lucky.
The first section of the AAR's updates is a preview of the world the following parts take place in; this world, in some indefinite future, will be represented by a custom modification, either scratch-built or MEIOU-based, as I find more likely, to make sure it's HTTT-compatible.
The subsequent parts will be a variety of narrative, episodic tales of interesting lives, grand or humble, that take place in that world in the game timeframe, 1393-1836. They may be intersperced with asides, overviews, or simple gloss-overs of large parts of history to focus on a period where many characters can coexist at once. This is my first narrative AAR, so, please, leave comments as to the quality. I probably have nowhere to go but up.
This part is now no longer current
The EU3 part, much like the CK part (A Year's Education) that preceded it is a fiction within a fiction. The format for the main narrative will be a textbook that draws upon three major historical work to give an overall picture of Russia during the period of 1393-1836.
This will be played on my own, quite involved, modification of NA 2.2/MMG 1.79. Difficulty and aggressiveness level will be set arbitrarily when I actually complete the conversion.
This part of the GC is a crucial one; I will rise to greatness here, or I will not at all. This does not mean I will be conquering Europe, but Asia need not be so lucky.
One important thing to keep in mind that although I call my AAR nation "Russia", it is not Russia in the modern sense, because the centre is still around Kiev rather than Moscow; but neither is it Ukraine, because the Byzantine influence that really defines a lot of Russian tradition in the EU timeframe has been thoroughly ingrained in all of the Rus states due to the events in A Year's Education.
Here's a quick guide to the layout of the entries:
Book Title
This will be one of the three "Historical" books that our "students" will be examining. One will be written by a lovesick courtier for his Queen; one will be written by a secretary in the Siberian Cossack host, who is less simple than his diction would suggest; and one will be written by the captain of one of the naval vessels Russia will use by the end game to explore, colonise and control the Pacific.
Chapter Title
I'll try to make it clever but sometimes I just can't do that.
The updates will come in pairs: one is essentially a longish passage from our "source", the next one is an examination of the passage's context and historical significance.
"A quote" - or two - these are real, our-timeline quotes. They're not necessarily indicative of what happened in the fictional timeline but they're often fun. Or I think they are.
Then the text intermixed with images. I've saved a whole lot over the recent months so hopefully you'll get eyecandy by the photobucketload.
In the "Explanation" updates one or more image is always going to be a map like thrashing mad's excellent [thread=278786]Poland GC[/thread].
However, this is for when the conversion is complete. Until such time as it is, I will be posting a detailed overview of the World in 1393, and a step-by-step guide to my conversion of the game files. When I'm done, hopefully the mod will be uploadable.
Although part one of this Megacampaign is technically complete, it will still be active with updates in a different format; plus it doesn't hurt to get acquainted with the time leading up to 1393 in more detail than an overview will be able to give you.
So go drop by and enjoy the read, or at least the pictures.
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