The Hidden Cross
Contents
Chapter 1 - 1067: The Body on the Beach
Chapter 2 - 1082: The Bishop's Move
Chapter 3 - 1092: A New Emperor
A story set in the Byzantine Empire. The game was begun as the County of Corfu, ruled over by the Bryennios family starting in 1066. To give added flavour I will use the name Korypho which, I am informed by Wikipedia, was the Byzantine form of the name Corfu. I am playing Deus Vult 2.0 on Normal/Normal.Contents
Chapter 1 - 1067: The Body on the Beach
Chapter 2 - 1082: The Bishop's Move
Chapter 3 - 1092: A New Emperor
This AAR is one of my periodic departures from comedy, so I am starting it with some trepidation. However here is the formula I have worked out to try to make it as easy as possible for me to actually complete the AAR! I will play about ten years at a time, making copious notes and screenshots, then I will select a screenshot at random and tell the story of what happened around that time with an emphasis on developing some of the characters in the game. For me, bringing the in-game characters to life is by far the biggest motivation for writing a CK AAR. After writing up part of the game it is always fascinating to go back to playing and suddenly seeing those rulers and courtiers in an entirely new light.
In addition there is an overall plotline which I will develop as we go along, each of the randomly selected screenshots showing something that will turn out to be significant for the plot. In other words, although I know vaguely where the plot is leading, I don't really know how it will get there in detail - that's part of the fun!
Does this formula sound a bit hare-brained? Well perhaps, but I have now played twenty years (i.e. two chapters' worth) and so far I'm pleasantly surprised by the results. As far as illustrations go, I think I will limit screenshots to the one randomly selected for each chapter, but may make use of other graphics that help to give a Byzantine flavour to the story.
So here we go, Chapter One will be arriving shortly…
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