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Ambition - A Stateless General's AAR

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Dewirix said:
Ouch! It's not that I mind seeing Britain lose, but losing to the French is too much to bear.

Beating the UK is a fitting way for Halen to go out though.
Click to expand...

See it as losing to Halen, not as losing to France.

Also, thank you for responding only minutes after I published the chapter, therefore vindicating my staying up late into the night to finish it.
 
Impressive post! That's really the way to go out for Halen. Though I had a bit of hope of seeing him in the American Civil War...

Looking forward to the epilogue, to have a look at the world Halen reshaped

edit: Also, congratulations on your double award, truly deserved!
 
Just read through the entirety of this AAR, and just wanted to say: thank you for that awesomeness :cool:

Looking forward to the epilogue.
 

Epilogue: Halen’s World​


I was with my friend when he died. Unfortunately, I cannot say that his end was comfortable. He was feverish and had trouble breathing towards the end, and in the last days of august the doctors finally admitted there was nothing they could do. Halen, they said, would die. He drafted his will at that time. He left three-quarters of his worldly fortune (which, though Halen was never a lavish or greedy man, had become quite considerable) to establishing a world prize for peace in his name, to be awarded once annually. Another twenty percent he stipulated should be distributed amongst HO Rifles. He left the remaining five percent of his wealth and all his worldly possessions to me and named me as the executor of his estate - my last charge as his adjutant.

In the moments before he died, his breathing broken and irregular, I asked my friend why he had never become an Emperor. With his genius, I said, he could have become the greatest Emperor Europe had ever seen -- greater than Alexander or Charlemagne or even Napoleon. He smiled, and with visible effort he rasped: “After all these years, Louis, do you still not understand? There are no more Empires. I have destroyed them all, so that all men might be free, as their fathers were.” These were Halen’s last words. Whether this was a declaration or a prediction, I still do not know.

Halen wished to be buried in Geneva, but Emperor Louis-Napoleon insisted that his funeral procession begin in Paris, at Père Lachaise Cemetery, so in October we transported Halen’s body to France, where the funeral started. Half a million men made Halen’s honor guard, as soldiers from more than twenty nations - France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, the Papacy, Germany, Scandavia, Poland, Ukraine, Austria, Greece, Ireland, Yugoslavia, and even such far-flung countries as Chile, Argentina, India, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Peru sent thousands to pay Halen their last respects. These half-million men lined each side of the 550 kilometer road from Paris to Geneva.

We, the soldiers of HO Rifles, served as Halen’s pallbearers. The honor could go to no others. His casket, draped in his own gray flag, was placed in limbers and caissons and drawn by HO Artillery, while HO Guards, marched in lockstep in escort, firing three-volley salutes at many points, with the Dragoons on their flanks. Belli, Halen’s last mount, served as the riderless horse behind the casket. I myself led Belli down the entire length. Our band marched behind us. The procession took two weeks and millions came to see it.

When we reached Geneva, where Halen was to have his final rest, we advanced towards the burial site. Pope Pius IX met us there, where he personally served as Halen’s chaplain. The lone buglar played and our artillery fired a 21 gun-salute with forty pounders as my friend’s final salute. Then, at last, we lowered his casket into the earth, and every officer in HO Rifles helped to cover the coffin. I was given the honor of ending the burial with the last stroke of the shovel. It was the only time I have seen the hardened soldiers of HO Rifles cry - I myself was weeping against all demands of decor and honor.

In accordance with his last wishes, no monument was erected in Halen’s honor at his gravesite, though Halen’s own flag was flown adjacent to the site, eternally at half-mast. His tombstone, though large and made from marble simply reads: “Halen.”

After that, HO Rifles dissolved. We never held a meeting or gave an announcement - every man simply knew that our army had finally reached its last day. We had been Halen’s Own Rifles. Halen was dead. What else could I say? Every man was given his final wages, plus Halen’s bequests, in October, and then our Rifles simply ceased to be. I announced the dissolution of the company and the return of the leased bases to Switzerland and the appropriate Cantons, then I returned to Paris. I would never take to the field again.

Halen’s last words have hung heavily on my mind all these years. Of all the men in HO Rifles, I was the only man remaining who had followed Halen all the way from Cancha Rayada -- forty years and a lifetime away in 1818. I often wondered if he claimed, in his last moments, that he had destroyed all Empires - which he had very nearly done - thereby ensuring global freedom in his own time, or if he meant that this was the future. In 1860, we saw A House Divided across the Atlantic, and in the bloody contest that followed slavery was abolished in the civilized world, and colonies were reduced to a few minor islands and slivers of Africa. Halen’s death was not merely his own end: it was the End of Empires. In one of my last functions in service to Halen, I served on the board of the Halen Peace Prize. I would give a famous speech to our first committee in Geneva, saying that I believed war in the cause of peace was just - a concept I called the Mandate of Halen. The American President, Abraham Lincoln, would be our first recipient - a man of peace, I said, forced into a terrible war.

I have never properly described Halen or his command style in this book. This is because I do not think I can do it justice, but as I now remember him, I will make the attempt. He had a fire burning in his eyes that could light a cannon-fuse at distance, and his spirit was so immense that his allies felt it like a boon and his enemies like a weight. His voice was steady and calm, even in the worst and bloodiest of times. He was quiet and thoughtful, but his every word was a pearl of genius and carried the force of all he ever was. At his breath, armies would move, and men would live and die.

These qualities were more important than his height or his eyes or the color of his hair, and it was these qualities that allowed Halen to leave the world a much-changed place. Some have told me that Halen is gone. Halen will never be gone. He is remembered in memories and song. Whenever you look at a map, you see the work of Halen.

One man can change the world, I said. One man did.

-------------------
Final Remarks:
And that’s it. I’ll post a little later with some screens.
 
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Beautiful. A Tour De Force.

I am a bit miffed Halen felt the need to so thoroughly screw Britain. At least the last empire that can now rise to rule the world is the Empire of Liberty.
 
((I don't come across many AAR's with a story like that, nor an ending that had me enticed by a man I could feel was real. This is truly one of the greatest AAR's yet to be written, and I believe this should be published immediately as a short story.))
 
Da*n It, You made me cry at the ending!

A brilliant story, and one that i enjoyed.
 
Red Cesar said:
((I don't come across many AAR's with a story like that, nor an ending that had me enticed by a man I could feel was real. This is truly one of the greatest AAR's yet to be written, and I believe this should be published immediately as a short story.))
Click to expand...

I will certainly make it available in PDF or Ebook format. However, the AAR is actually just under novel length and is much too long for a short story. I may query someone over it, or I may self-publish and make it available for free online. We'll see.

EDIT: I just clocked the length at 36,000 words and more than a hundred pages, which is well too long for a short story. 50,000 is typically the novel threshold.
 
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This was a superb AAR; I normally don't care for ones without pictures or screenshots, but you did an excellent job.
 
well the ending was worthy of the rest .... and I agree with Avindian its a real challenge to deliver a solid text based AAR that people read properly - in fact screenshots would have broken the mood

really impressive and well worthy of all the awards its garnered
 
This was a great AAR and narrative piece. My only complaint (not to be that guy) was that Halen was just too perfect.
 
Well this is possibly one of the best AARS I have evr had the pleasure to read.

And in spite of the irony given what Halen did to the empire, I award you
a Lord Strange Cookie of British Awesomeness ●

as a symbol of the superb writing of a fascinating idea. This whole story was frankly perfect.
 
Ah, quite right. I keep forgetting I have the power to bestow knighthood.

ThunderHawk3, I dub thee Sir ThunderHawk3, OLIR, Knight of the Order of the Large and Intimidating Robert.

You'll be added to the member list, and may add that fancy new title to your sig.
Honorary knighthood also bestowed posthumously to the character Halen, for acts of awesomeness.
 
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