The Eternal Exile: A Nation Hopping AAR

[Aliasing]

Aliens

[Boris ze Spider]

Nicely done, i wonder who know who she is, is it that blond girl?

[blsteen]

Aliens

Bah Humbug,
Talena herself put it there but only a future Talena from after she defeats her enemies and is freed from this time
and is ready for some hot lesbian action on the big station TIMEwhateverthingamajig...
Well we can hope.

[Chicken]

Bah Humbug,
Talena herself put it there but only a future Talena from after she defeats her enemies and is freed from this time
and is ready for some hot lesbian action on the big station TIMEwhateverthingamajig...
Well we can hope.

Moar pleaz.

Great Update!

[Sather]

I admit that I am not to big a fan of plain historical sightseeing, without the game as backround is this even an AAR anymore?
However, I still like your style and of course Talena, so I am not abandoing this now.
And to nitpick: Why does everyone assume a nearly naked woman found on a beach has to be a "lady" of any sort? Good catholics they seem to be, they still would help her. ;-)

@Boris
To early, I guess we won't see that blonde one for a while.

[Dewirix]

A Spanish count is somewhat high-ranking to be cruising along the California coast. Wiki tells me that the first Viceroy of New Spain was a count. The conquistadors tended to be somewhat lower down the social scale, or the ever-ambitious second sons who weren't going to inherit in the first place.

Anyhow, nice to get straight into the action. The fact that someone in the Spanish party has access to a translator can surely be no coincidence.

[Ashantai]

Aliasing: Hmm...no, not aliens. Well, not technically.
Boris: No...Lucille won't be around yet. It'll be a whole before she appears!
blsteen: Oh my....I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to write that here anyway! Anyway, the good news is that I do plan to have them meet up. We'll see how that goes!
Chicken: Thanks!
Sather: That's a good question. See my comments at the end of this post.
Dewirix: Spain was highly prone to a mix of extended nobility and extremely poor regions. Thus it seemed fitting to me that rather then have a mere adventurer to have a man of quality. Of course, it could be he was merely claiming a title...I mean 3000 miles away from Spain it's hard to check!

Having thought on what Sather has said, and by coincidence where I'm up to in the writing I have a genuine choice to make now! The two choices are:
- Continue as a sort of historical novel in the game's setting.
- Start playing the game and do this as I did in part 1.

I think that I will do the second, since I am coming to an event that genuinely breaks the historical timeline. After all, this is an AAR, and it's easier to play the game than follow real history.

So yes...you'll know the break when it happens!

Apologies for the confusion, I'm still finding my feet in this. Plus I've found that it actually takes longer to write these historical-ish ones as I need to do more fact checking.

[Sather]

Take your time, as said before I (and I think the others too) prefer to wait a little more to get a good story, instead of rushing you to do a story you feel uncomfortable with.

And without ever doing something like this I totaly agree: Fact checking for a historical novel must be hell.
Especially with readers like me, who tend to recognise the mistakes.

[Boris ze Spider]

Yes, im with Sather on this one.

[Aliasing]

NO WAIT. Time Paradox

(Or a dream within a dream within a dream)

[Ashantai]

It's cool. This is the right way to go. Still got plenty of updates...so all's well.

[Tallfellow]

Awesome AAR, just finished reading it. And i it's awesome, i never got the idea on switching nations while playing.. Could be fun to try at some point.

[Ashantai]

Tallfellow: Thanks for the feedback!

Chapter 3 – The Revelation

9/4/1532

Talena exited the tent as the sun neared its peak. All around her people moved about with purpose. Many of them were dismantling other tents and putting out fires. Soldiers with crossbows and the occasional arquebus stood guard as sentries at the perimeter. It was a fine day.
“Ah, you’re looking much better now!” Rodrigo said, approaching.
“Yes, thank you,” she said, tapping into his words to use a much more accurate and modern Spanish. “It is a nice day, yes?”
For a moment Rodrigo seemed surprised, but smiled. “Excellent! God has been good to us this day. We pulled into this bay to avoid a storm – the storm you ran afoul of I suppose! Now we will return south.”
“May I come with you? I don’t wish to be a burden, Lord,” Talena said, smiling at him.
It worked. “I would not abandon you, having just found you!” he replied gallantly. “Besides, you must tell me about what happened.”
“Of course, of course.”
“My Lord, we are prepared!” a soldier called from a longboat by the shore.
“Come, Talena. My fiancée and most others are already aboard.” He called to the last sentries, and they filed down to the boat to take the oars.
Above Talena an unfamiliar flag flew. It was a white field with two diagonal red lines intersecting, the lines jagged. To her it reminded her very much of the flag of Burgundy from all those years before when she worked with King Louis of France. Still, it was best not to mention it, since it would raise suspicion if she didn’t even know the flag of her own supposed country!


Once aboard the galleon Talena was led to the rear of the ship where a small room had been made available for her, and she was invited to dine with Rodrigo and the others. It was an occasion that Talena was both expecting and dreading. She had been gone from Europe for many long years. She had heard no news of Western Europe since her time in the Ottoman Empire almost a century before.



At the table the priest was already waiting with a naval officer, likely the navigator.
“Ah, come in, Talena,” Rodrigo said, sitting her opposite his fiancée. “This is Lady Isabella, I know you met briefly before.”
“Pleased to meet you, Lady,” Talena said politely. She figured that it’d be wise to keep in favour for as long as possible.
“And you, Talena. I am sure that the Count was certainly not expecting to find anyone in the wilds of this heathen land. You are Spanish, yes?” she asked.
Talena did a few quick calculations. It was likely better to be a little foreign, but not too much. “I come from near Naples,” she said. She hoped that she looked the part. She had actually briefly been to Naples while she was in Rome, but not for long.
“A fair city. I passed through there with his Majesty on the way to fight the French,” Rodrigo said. “Were your parents badly affected by the war?”
Since Talena had no idea which war he meant she shook her head. “Not badly, thank you. When did you pass through there?”
“It must be…almost ten years ago now. I was just a young man then of course, but my father was killed at Pavia, so I became the Count.”
“I’m sorry,” Talena said.
“He was a brave man, led the charge that captured the French pig King.” Rodrigo lapsed into a daydream for a moment.
Isabella meanwhile was looking curiously at Talena. “Perhaps Talena would like to raise a toast to our great King, beloved of God?” she said.
Talena coughed slightly. She was in a bind, since she did not even know which country she was in the ship of; most likely Castille she thought, but it could just as easily be anything.
Unexpectedly the priest came to her aid. He raised his hand and made the sign of the cross. “To his most Christian majesty Carlos, King of Spain, Emperor of the Romans, and Archduke of Austria.”
Talena raised her glass in relief. Instantly she grasped points to cling to. A united Spain, a Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of Austria. This was indeed significant, as it spoke of great changes from her own time.
Finally Rodrigo stood. “I believe the tide is good, and we should leave. Let us go.”



Finally Talena was left alone and headed back to her cabin. Sitting on her bed was a book. It was a printed work by a ‘Juan Cesar’, and was entitled ‘The History of Spain and Christendom’. She read it as best she could. It was not easy, but by saying the words aloud her translator helped her out.
But as she read Talena begun to see that something was very wrong. Among tedious accounts of biblical history, much of it plagiarised, and rambling diversions about the glories of Spain she saw oddities.
One page caught her eye, and she read it several times. ‘1453 – In this year the cursed Mohammedans took the city of Constantinople, ending the Greek Empire.’
She shook her head. “No…that’s not what happened. It’s what happened once…in my world. But no…no I was there, I saw it.”
She read a few pages back. ‘1406 – In this year King Enrique III of Castille died, replaced by his son Juan, the second of that title. King Juan ruled long and gloriously until taken by God in 1454.’
“No!” Talena said, dropping the book onto the deck. “He died…Felipe became King. That monster…I was there when he died!” she said. “It’s a trick, it must me,” she said aloud. She had been given the translator, so clearly someone knew about her original history, a history she could barely even remember now.



“Is everything alright, Lady?” Maria asked, appearing at the door.
Talena looked up at her. “Did you put this on my bed?” she asked, pointing to the book.
“No, Lady…I cannot read,” Maria said stated.
“I see…thank you. Sorry,” Talena said. She scooped up the book and laid it aside. Something very weird was happening, and she wanted answers even more now!

[Sather]

Nice chapter and once again a priest is somewhat suspicious in a story.

[Range]

Your writing is excellent...you have a way of keeping the reader interested. It's almost as if the reader is actually there. I'm looking forward to the continuance of the AAR. And, the choice of The pictures really add a lot to the tale.

And, yes...it's almost impossible to follow history...as the game forces an alternate history on the player.

[blsteen]

indeed, suspicious is the word. This world is not the world of...whatever. I sense a disturbance in the force.

[Boris ze Spider]

That was cool, i like how she realized it.

EDIT: not realized

[Chicken]

Excellent!

One question though... Are we going to have the way things reverted back to actual history explained to us? I understand that it's a transition from an ahistorical position to a historical one, but I'm not clear on the reader's perspective. (As in, should I understand what happened yet?)

[Ashantai]

Sather: Indeed! Always watch the priest....
Range: Thanks! Yes, it wouldn't be fun to just follow history.
blsteen: Very much so. The Dark Side probably!
Boris: Yeah...it's interesting to see her reaction for sure.
Chicken: No, you shouldn't understand what's happened yet. You will...you'll learn at the same time Talena does!

Thank you for all your kind words. I am busily writing more so there will be an update tomorrow as always.

[Ashantai]

Chapter 4 – The Truth Revealed

18/5/1532

Talena’s opinion of the sea had not improved. As they passed around one cape they had hit another storm, and she had stayed on deck, if only so she wouldn’t be trapped again if the ship sunk! It was as the ship was tacking into the fierce wind that Isabella joined her at the rail. The Countess-to-be was drenched, and her fine dress dripping with spray and rain. Otherwise she seemed quite unperturbed by the rocking though, while Talena was gripping the rail like a limpet.
“I would have thought you’d seen enough of storms,” she commented above the wind.
“I have! But I don’t want to go down with the ship!” Talena called back.
“Come inside. This is just a minor squall. See? The Captain’s not worried.”
Talena finally relented and went inside. They sat inside the now abandoned rear cabin, as lightning flared across the sky.
“So tell me, Talena, what ship was it that was wrecked so far to the north? I was not aware that any vessel had gone that far.”
She looked at the woman. She said nothing.
“I have no doubt that you were washed up on that shore, though I wonder from where?” Isabella continued.
“It’s complicated,” Talena muttered.
“Apparently so. I noticed you had borrowed by book on the history of Spain. Did you find it enlightening?”
“I didn’t borrow it. It was put in my room,” Talena said slowly. Was this woman teasing her? “As for enlightening…it was surprising.”
Isabella still had an amused expression, like she knew something Talena didn’t. “Do continue.”
How did one continue at this point? Someone had put the book into her room for some reason she couldn’t understand. Was it Isabella or someone else?
“I didn’t realise some of those events happened like that,” she said evasively.
“History is a great surprise to many, I know. So many…odd things have happened.”
Talena realised that over the past century and a half she had changed a lot. As her link with the future vanished she became more and more involved with her present, forgetting what had once happened. One thing that had remained though was her impatience, even impetuosity, especially of wrangling about words.
“Is it all true? Did Constantinople really fall in 1453? Was there really a King Juan in 1410? Is this book true?”
Isabella raised an eyebrow in polite amusement. “I think that Senor Cesar may have taken liberties with the truth, but broadly it is true. You expected something different? The past is the past.”
Talena was about to speak, but Maria the maid entered, bringing a blast of wet wind through the door.
“Oh, sorry, Lady. I was coming to make sure you were not ill.”
Talena gratefully took the distraction to hurry to her cabin, leaving mistress and servant alone.



Talena retreated to her cabin, now seriously disturbed. Now she had confirmation that the time she was in was the very timeline that she had started from. The very one that she had broken that first night by inadvertently killing the King of France.
“How has this happened?” she asked allowed. “Why…why?”
“You seem troubled, my dear.” It was the priest, Father Alava. “I heard your voice and thought I might be able to help.”
“Thank you, but I don’t think there’s any help for me.”
“Do not say that, for God is always with us, even in our darkest hours.”
Talena smiled grimly. “Is he? I used to think that. I used to think I was here for a purpose…but I don’t know any more. I was never a very good Christian back home. It was something that was ignored. It was something that we paid lip-service to. But when this all started I thought ‘there must be some reason’. But now…I learn about this.” She pointed at the book. She was rambling, but it didn’t matter.
“It is all in God’s hands, Talena. Everything is here by His divine will. He sees all…what is it that has caused you to doubt yourself and your faith?”
Talena laughed bitterly. “You have no idea, father.” She was silent for a moment before deciding that she would continue. Why? Partly to shock the priest, partly to relieve her burden by speaking to someone.
“I ask you to listen to my story is finished before interjecting. No doubt you will not believe it.”
“I will listen. I have learned that the best way to understand and reach wisdom is to listen more than talk.”
“Smart. Well, I come from the future, a time far in the future. In that time women are not all home bound baby-makers, but at all levels. I was a soldier, a good one I think. And then I found myself back in time, in 1399. I saw many things happen, and now I learn that it was all for nothing, that history changed back to how it was before. All that I did, all that I suffered, triumphed and lost…all gone. And now…I’m…hell I’m 151 years old. Do you realise how that feels?”
Alava was giving her what could only be described as a bemused look. “I don’t think I do, Talena.”
Talena sighed and picked up a sharp piece of metal and dug it into her arm. “Relax, priest,” she said wearily as he stepped forward. She held out her arm, and the cut faded, leaving the drying blood on the unblemished skin.
“By the Lord…” Alava said.
“I’m just so very tired of it all. To think I wasted a century…to have it snatched from me. If there is a God then surely there must be a reason for this.”
The Priest finally nodded. “I think there is a reason and a path – but it is one you must choose, Talena. God has put you here, of that I have no doubt. But it is your choice, as with all people whether to use your powers for good and the service of God, or evil and the ways of sin.”
Talena laughed humourlessly. “I think, Father, that you get to a point where all choices become the same.”
“But only if you choose not to control your destiny. If you were Count Sanchez would you merely let the ship drift with no guidance? God gave us the will to choose our path. Through good works to become closer to Him, and through bad to slide from Him.”
She nodded. “I will consider what you said. Now, I must go to sleep.



A few days later they arrived at the Spanish fort and settlement of Acapulco.