Great Detectives, Spies, & ? Through History: Book II

I will second the current concensus - spy/Europe and the later period 1722 to 1820. Interested to see what the story becomes.

coz1 said:

I will second the current concensus - spy/Europe and the later period 1722 to 1820. Interested to see what the story becomes.

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I have to agree it's a good time period for a spy story

Joe

Spy Italy Napoleonic Wars, as I have said.

Just to re-log my vote, Spy, Europe,* 1722-1820.

*Specifically BADEN!

Same here: spy, 1722-1820, Europe.
Specifically the French Revolution, but anything really messy would do as well...

Good news there.

I would say use a Badener as a character but you did that last story and CatKnight did it, so maybe more would be repetetive in a non-Baden story. So, instead, I will suggest that somewhere down the line, if and when you do use Baden, the time period be the Thirty Years War, since that seems much cooler for a story about dear Judas' favourite country.

Or we could have a story about Judas Maccabeus fighting the Persians in Israel at the head of Badener mercenaries.

Amric said:

Hm, what do I get, JM, if I DO use Baden?... If, and I do say if, I use Baden I will have to do some relatively heavy research about Baden for the time period.

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How about mashing those two together--If you do BADEN! ( ), I can help you considerably with the research.

Though I wouldn't complain about France in this time period, either. Heck, with your writing ability, I wouldn't complain about any combination.

Sa-weet!

Great news on the new job, by the by!

Works for me!

Any particular reason you picked Venetians?

Draco Rexus said:

Works for me!

Any particular reason you picked Venetians?

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Well, Venetians are decent, good folk--we need somebody to be a contrast for Napoleon.

Of course, Badeners are the best folk of all, but that's my incredibly ridiculously slanted position on the matter.

Some things which could come in handy:

Map of Baden, 1800. It's wonderfully detailed, and has a nice map of when Baden came into posession of various areas. Good if you need more than just the city of Baden itself.

Map of major wine-growing areas of Baden.

Actually, the entire Badner Land website is good for some basic information, depending upon how much German you know. Mine is spotty at best, so don't ask me to help.

Map of Baden, from the city's official website. It's a modern map, but like most European cities, Baden's street layout (and many of the names) reflects the medieval town. You just have to be careful.


Some places around in the early 1800s:

The "Löwen Friedrichsbad" hotel (now "Am Friedrichsbad") which has been around for centuries.

The Cistercian abbey at Lichtenthal (site only in German and French). Good if you have any religious people showing up.

The New Castle, residence (in Baden) of the Grand Dukes of Baden (they became such in 1806; they became electors in 1803. All of this was Napoleon's work.)

The "Badischer Hof" is another hotel, about two years old in 1807.

I'll be back with some more later.

Amric said:

Interesting so far, JM...the one in only german and french won't do me much good. I'm a crass American....

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So am I... but I'll try to blunder through the German for as much as you need.


A couple more things about Baden:

The city itself would still be known alone as Baden; the double usage would come later.

Of course I forgot this, but it's important: Even at this point, the city should be known to some extent for its baths and spas. Not nearly as much as the 19th century, but somewhat.

A biography of Großherzog (Grand Duke) Karl Friedrich. There isn't much, but it works.



Now, to the other major city of the Grand Duchy, Karlsruhe:

Note that while I noted earlier that the Grand Duke had a residence in Baden, he spent most of his time in Karlsruhe, and much of the governmental duties were stationed there.

Street map of Karlsruhe. Same caveats apply as to the Baden maps.

Karlsruhe timeline. Note especially 1797; the rebuilding was still ongoing and would be for some time.

The city's Evangelical church at the time was the Konkordienkirche on the Market Square; the current municipal church had just begun contstruction in mid 1807.

There was no Catholic church at the time, although Karl Friedrich granted a plot of land for the purpose in 1807 (construction on St. Stephen's began the next year).

There was also the Reformist church, still around today and newly completed at the time. More info here.

Information about the Grand Duke's palace.

The Augustenburg, used as a prison for captured Russian and Austrian soldiers after the battle of Olmütz in 1806; also used as a military hospital.

The town hall was becoming crowded at the time, and construction had begun on a new one. The old one would be later torn down.



Sorry I haven't been much (or any) help as far as taverns go, but that isn't easy information to find by any means. The only tavern I know about (other than a few modern ones) was around in the 1910s, but I can't say for any certainty farther than that, nor could I tell you it's name; all I know is that relatives of my great-grandfather owned it (we used to a picture of them standing in front of it wearing those sterotypical pointed helmets ).

Okay, for the second one there... go to the city's main page (which could come in handy anyway), and go to "Townmap".

As for the other two, I don't know why the Karlsruhe street map link isn't working (it was working earlier), and the 1800 Baden map is still working fine for me.

EDIT: The Karlsruhe street map is a site problem; the Wikipedia link I used to find it in the first place isn't working either.

EDIT2: With the Baden-Baden map, only the German version appears to be working correctly. It shouldn't be a problem, though; just click on the German flag, go down and click on "start", and the interface of the map itself is graphical.

This is looking very interesting, I can't wait.

Joe