The Eternal Exile: A Nation Hopping AAR

Thank you all for your comments. I think that it would be cool to do the American approach, and since we are in agreement, that is what I shall do!

Eber It's not at that stage yet (by 1500). In fact, it's becoming very interesting. I hope eventually to go back to Europe, play one side in a great war, then take control of their rivals and redress the balance.
Dewirix Excellent, we are in agreement!
CatKnight Good thinking there. My thoughts are that her journey backwards put this universe into a 'Sliders' like alt history. However, the historical nations rose to power because they were very powerful anyway in 1399. I'll stick with historical for a while longer and then see. Thanks for reading!
Keinwyn Oh, no doubt...but not as pretty as hers! I have a fancy that I might come back to the Golden Horde eventually if they still exist and try to do a Timurid style reconquest. We'll see!

Thank you all for reading! Another update will be on today.

Felipe of Castille Part 4/4

FELIPE OF CASTILLE PART 4/4

xxx

(Voice log of Captain Talena Mazari, 14141116.)
The way to Toledo is open! I thought it was all over for us, there was this huge army of the King’s men blocking the way just along from Talavera. I put on the armour, and it was uncomfortable. Not like my stuff I wore when I arrived here. It worked though. I’ve gotten better at fighting on a horse and using a sword. I didn’t get to do much today. There was a battle, and it looked like we were stuffed. Then suddenly the Dukes of Seville and Salamanca turned traitor on the King’s army and helped us! I bet that’s who the Valeriano was talking to last night, I could hear them.
As we marched we could see more and more devastation. The King had ordered Burgas burnt for disobeying him. I guess we’ll see what happens when we arrive at the capital. That’ll be in a couple of weeks now.
I feel...excited. I didn’t know a thing about Spain before I came here, and didn’t care a thing. But now I feel like I’m really doing something...useful!




(Voice log of Captain Talena Mazari, 14141223.)
I can see it! From the old fort on the other side of the Tagus I can see Toledo waiting for us! The army is now huge, and there aren’t many defenders left. We go in, we find the King and get rid of him. Seems the Duke’s been making promises to all and sundry about positions once he’s King. Yeah...he’s up for it. No one else available, I guess.
Weird, I got a cheer this morning as I rode along in my armour. It’s like I’m Joan of Arc or something. Now that I think about it though history must be getting pretty messed up. I mean, I know for a fact that Henry V died last year, so they’ll be no Agincourt. I sure as hell know there’s no Spanish Joan of Arc in this time. Am I changing things or is this an alternate universe? Fifteen years...well, I guess I’ll find out eventually.

On Christmas Day, 1414, Duke Valeriano led forward a force to the gate which El Cid himself had once entered centuries before. Due to careful work with bribes, and the unpopularity of the King, it was unguarded, and the way into the palace was open.



xxx

They were coming for him.

Felipe knew it to be true. Not just the soldiers and the mobs...they were of minor importance to him. No, he knew that THEY were coming for him. Everywhere he turned he saw them. That accusing, horrified look on Ramona’s face, the piercing scream of the baby, the blood...everywhere was blood. He had tried to wash the blood off his hands for years, but it had never worked. The harder he tried the more appeared. Even an armourer’s file or a grater from the kitchen hadn’t worked. If he could remove the blood...then it would never have happened! But he couldn’t.

He held up the mangled stump of his right arm and let it drop. He was alone now, even the servants had fled. The traitors! He was King, by right and by divine ordination. How dare they rebel against him!
Some last instinct made Felipe leave his throne room as the sound of shouts and hammering came from below. In a dirty robe the King headed down the stairs to the cellar, passing a handful of looters as he went. He ignored them, and they ignored him. He had the knife...the cursed knife...in his left hand as he staggered down into the vaults below the palace.
He was near to that place...that wall where they were waiting for him. The fresh bricks looked unnatural and red in the dim place.

Shouts, voices, footsteps. Light! There, at the top of the stairs were men in armour. Men...and a woman! Felipe peered closer. She looked more than a little like his Ramona. His poor, poor Ramona.
“It’s him!” the woman shouted.

Felipe rocked back and raised the knife. The walls spun, the colour seemed to fade from the world.
“I’m sorry...sorry...sorry,” Felipe said. He looked at the knife in his hand, up to the soldiers now advancing, to his right hand. Slowly, with some flair, he collapsed to the ground, and died.

When Talena bent over him cautiously she found that aside from his festering right hand he was untouched and yet still dead.
“He’s dead,” she told the soldiers with her.
“Praise God, for he has delivered us,” one soldier said.
Talena couldn’t argue with that as she turned from the mad King, dead in his own palace cellars.

xxx

Range: Sorry I didn't reply to you before! Thanks for commenting, and I hope to have your input next time!
Boris: Thanks, I really enjoyed writing it!

Now, a picture of Talena taken from my Mass Effect 2 character.

Dewirix: Heh, sadly there's no rest for the wicked! And yes, I was just thinking that about the ammo! Certainly make things easier!
Blxz: Thanks mate! We Aussies need to stick together.
Zozo: Thanks. I'll keep that in mind for when I come back to France eventually. I'm always happy to be corrected as then I learn things! Please do point out anything you see, especially when I move into areas of the world I am less familiar with.

Intermission #1

(I will be doing narrative intermissions between each new country from now on to explain why she is going to a certain place and how.)

INTERMISSION

The day after Christmas was quiet in the palace. The celebrations and excitement of the day before had faded. Now, early in the morning there was a chill in the air, and the sun slowly rose over the distant mountains, Talena leaned on the parapet and stared out.
“I would like to say thank you for your assistance,” Valeriano said from behind her.
She turned and nodded. “Thank you. So is it official yet?”
“It is. The Council of Regents has decreed that I am to be crowned king since the line of Enrique is no more.”
Talena nodded. “You deserve it. Well done. I guess I should settle in for the long haul.”
The Duke turned King looked uneasy, almost shifty. “It is about that which I wish to talk. The Council had some conditions upon which I am to be accepted. In addition to making my nephew Juan heir, and restoring certain lands taken by the former King, they also mention you.”
“Me?” Talena asked, eyes narrowing.
“Many members of the Council, including the Cardinal of Seville and the Prince of Asturias, feel that you represent a...problem. They feel your example, while noble, sets a bad precedent, and is against both church and the King’s law. They wish you to leave the palace...and Castille.”
“Oh is that so?” Talena fumed. “What do you think? You’re the King now, you make the laws! That’s why you’re King!”
Valeriano offered a shrug as answer. “I cannot dictate to the church. And besides, while you have helped me, I must agree with them.”
“So you’ll do anything for power. Everything for the crown.”
“Be careful, Talena,” Valeriano said sternly. “I have an offer to make to you.”
“And you think I’ll agree to anything you say?” Talena demanded angrily.
“That is your choice, not mine. Do as you wish,” the King retorted. “But I am sending an ambassador to Rome to see the Pope. If you wish you can go with him.”
“Where they will be so much more understanding and open minded?” Talena asked.
“That is my offer, take it or leave it. Either way, you are to be out of my domain by the end of January.”

Talena watched the man go and felt very, very angry. “You’re still living in the Dark Ages, you sexist pig!” she shouted, but fortunately he was gone. And, of course, it was literally true. That only made her more angry.
“I bet if I was John bloody Smith in my place I’d have been made a Duke and given a palace. But oh no, women should stick to their sewing and popping out babies. Well I come from a place and time where more than half the world gets to leave the house!”
No one was listening to her diatribe, which rather annoyed her as well. How could she get properly angry by herself?
Talena rummaged in her pocket and pulled out her voice recorder. It was small and sleek, able to hold hundreds of hours of data in optimal conditions. She weighed it in her hands, as if wanting to toss it away into the gorge. But then, without using it, or anything else, she put it away.
In her own language; a dialect that would exist for centuries, she spoke distractedly. “God damn it. I’m stuck here. Going around and around the world forever like a ghost. Fifteen years...how many more is it going to be?” She stopped. “And I’m talking to myself.”

Going to her pack she pulled out the pistol. She cleaned it every week, and the nine bullets she had left were also checked. It was one of the few things she had left, one of the few things that told her that her childhood was not just a dream.
She toyed with it for a moment. Nothing like this would exist for twelve centuries. It could put a hypersonic slug through an inch of concrete at half a mile. There was a solution to her exile of course...it’d only take one bullet.
“No,” she said aloud, back in Castilian again. “I’m not that desperate,” she decided.
Talena packed the weapon away and headed down into the palace to begin her preparations for the journey to Rome....

Keinwyn: You almost make me regret I didn't do that! However, fear not...attempted molestation will occur...and be punished.
Boris: To Rome!

Blxz That's an interesting idea...and one I had planned to use! Good thinking there!
Dewirix: You'll be interested to know that as of 1500 Granada still exists! I might go in eventually and force their release...we'll see. As for the other parts, a very interesting point. Unfortunately I am only skimming the surface of things to keep moving. I don't have the time or space to get down into too many details.

Actually, I reckon I could write a novella at least for every one of these countries she goes to. There's so much I can do that 5000 words for each just doesn't cover. Maybe one day when the AAR is over I might come back and add to these things. I know though that if I try to do too much I'll never get this finished.

Thank you all for reading, I really appreciate your support. And thank you for your comments Dewirix...they are a great encouragement for me.

Pope Clemens VII Part 1

Range: Ah, you shall see! Eventually someone's going to realise history's getting buggered up.
Dinofs: Onward indeed!

POPE CLEMENS VII PART 1

xxx

The ship surged through another wave as the brisk winter wind pushed it on. On the main deck of the ship Talena Mazari was reflecting how much she hated sailing. She’d only done it once before, at an amusement park when she was young, and she hadn’t liked it then. She liked it even less now as the ship surged and heeled through the waves as land got closer. Whatever strange power was keeping her alive and healthy sadly didn’t stop the feeling of sea-sickness, though she was thankful not to have been badly affected.
The crew had avoided her like she was some sort of bad portent. Superstition, she knew, was a powerful thing.
There were footsteps behind and the priest who the new King had sent to Rome appeared. He was an old man, though as Talena moodily thought, he actually was about the same age as her. The difference was that he looked old, while she literally looked the same as she had done when she had arrived.
“Lady, we should be arriving today,” the Priest said. His name was Father Sanchez, and he had been the only man who had talked to her the whole time for more than a few words.
“Thank you. Have you been to Rome before?”
“Sadly not. But I trust that this first time will be provident for me and the Holy Father. And what of you, Lady? Do you wish to stay in Piazza Carrigonne with me? It is quite modest, but it serves our needs.”
“Yes, that would be nice. Thank you.”

The ship was coming into the harbour now, and the great fortress guarding the harbour came into view. The symbol of the Papacy flew on many banners over the harbour, and stern looking guards interviewed every arrival.
“Father...do you believe that everything is pre-ordained by God?” Talena asked suddenly. She’d not even meant to say it aloud, but the sight of a magnificent church made her think it.
“That is not a simple answer, Lady. God gave us free will and reason above that of animals, but it is he who guides and shapes events. Why do you ask?”
“So do you believe that everything that happens has a purpose? A reason for happening?”
“I believe so, yes. Those reasons we cannot always see, or perhaps do not wish to. However, the Lord protects us all, Lady Talena. Were you referring to yourself perhaps?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. It’s complicated. I don’t know what’s happening to me sometimes, or why. But maybe there is a God, maybe all this is happening for a reason. I wish I knew it.”
Sanchez nodded. “Before I joined the church I was married, but my wife died in labour, and I realised that it must have been for a purpose. God’s purpose is not supposed to be known to us. We must simply do as well as we can in the time He gives us.”
“Yes...I suppose you’re right. I guess it can’t hurt to try.” After all, she reasoned, she wasn’t building a time machine herself, so maybe some divine intervention might be nice. Talena had always been agnostic, but she also backed the winning side.

xxx

Pope Clemens VII had been elected to the Holy See in 1404, and since then had presided over a time of growth and peace throughout Italy. He had overseen the integration of all Umbria under the control of the Papal States, and through diplomacy had brought peace to the peninsula.



However, his peaceful, reforming ways did not go down well with many both there and abroad. A succession of states jockeyed to gain the ear of the Pope, and each of them wanted something that could not be given. The result was a lessening of the view of the Papacy as a whole.




(Voice log of Captain Talena Mazari, 14150218.)
OK, so I finally bit the bullet and went to a service today. I’d been making excuses since I arrived, but this was the first time I’d actually done it. I’d never been religious in the past. The cults at home and the temples and churches had never interested me. I guess...well, I talk to myself anyway so I might as well talk to an invisible friend. If he turns out to be real then I guess I’ll make my peace then.
Otherwise, I’m settling in. At least the Pope isn’t a loony, and apart from that first day, I’ve really not had much to do. I went for a walk around the city yesterday, past the colosseum and hippodrome. It’s just like the old pictures I saw of how Rome was back in the 22nd century...though less ruined of course. And yet, it was also quite sad – everything goes in cycles.
I got no idea what I’m going to do next. I think I might go and travel Italy for a while. I need money though. Maybe I should put some in a bank and collect it in three hundred years! Ha ha. If I’m still around by then....




However, the tranquillity did not last for long. In mid 1416 the powerful Milanese Kingdom to the north started to eye Rome covetously. They had failed to get their bishop into the Curia council, and now they looked to take more direct action. After negotiations failed a Milanese army of 10,000 massed in Sienna and Pisa, and in October they declared war on the Papacy....