This Is Madness - Story Of The Crumbling Europe [House Angelos]

[ParrotGuy]

Those of the Jews who remain loyal to the Throne and prove themselves useful have nothing to fear - if they convert to the True Faith. The rest of them however... There aren't many of them left in Europe but one should never forget that they were the ones who killed Our Lord. They are guilty of deicide - the greatest possible sin. Great is the love and mercy of Iesus Kristos but it's a duty of every good Christian to keep in mind what their fathers have done. The Jews are not to be trusted. They are destined to be fugitives and wanderers upon the earth until the Second Coming of Our Lord and the End of the World. Then, on the Day of Judgment, their fate shall be decided by God.

BTW I continue to be amazed every time some not-so-common language pops out in this thread - just how well educated are you guys? Truly paradoxplaza forum is a unique place

Well, I live in Israel, so having a good English is considered more educated than knowing Hebrew, but thanks

 

[CzokletMuss]

Yay! And first!
Heretics! Heretics and Xenoi!
They must end!

The brave soldiers serving in the glorious Imperial Army are working on this, citizen. Enlist today and join your Roman brothers on the field of battle against barbarians - or else.

I just glanced at the map. Wow, Mali really is just chilling down in west africa while the world burns. Must be nice to be them.

I love how Mali is completely indifferent about everything that is happening, their border with the Xenoi must be like the border between North- and South Korea.

How is Mali, Scotland, and Ireland still alive? It seriously baffles me. The only I could even begin to think for Scotland and Ireland is if the two aid each other. As for Mali... I got nothing.

Haha, I was actually thinking about them as a weird equivalent to North Korea in this world. Story-wise things are different of course - since the Yazidi are effectively cut-off from the world for almost 200 years, not much is known about their current state of affairs. Many mysteries remain hidden in the sultry jungles of Africa...

As for Scotland and Ireland - well, the Roman Empire never conquered them because there was nothing of interest to the Romans.

Sparsely populated, desolated land with little natural resources, harsh winters and unforgiving terrain, perfect for ambushes. Of course one can argue that xenoi conquered effortlessly Spain, France, Germany and whole Scandinavia, so there's no real reason why they shouldn't invade Scotland. By the way it's not like the heretics are going anywhere - they are effectively trapped in Hibernia and Scotia. I will explore this subject more in EU4 - game-wise it's just AI silliness but story-wise... you'll see

Damn, I actually felt really bad for the Teutons. I know they are heretics but surely such valiant warriors fighting for a hopeless cause could find refuge in the Imperium? After all, are you not in the same position as they are?

Bah! Had they truly been worthy of deliverance, they would have repented of their heresy and thrown themselves before the mercy of the wise and just Angeloi. Do not confuse the desperation of those who have hardened their hearts against the truth with the righteous and selfless valor that inflames the heart of every true Roman soldier.

But seriously, CzokletMuss, nice to see a new update as we enter the home stretch of the first part of this AAR. Let's hope those initial defeats are quickly reversed, and that the xenoi can be battered back beyond the Basilea's borders once again.

Not at all - after all, they were heretics who for two centuries remained stubborn in their blasphemies. They didn't repent nor they ask for mercy - and they got none. Citizen Specialist290 explained this well.

Thanks!

"GASP" The Angeloi have acknowledged the German Kaiser Pretenders as true ROMAN EMPEROR'S! HELP!!!! The Xenoi have used their Demon tricks to befuddle the Emperor's mind!

The alternative was "Realm of treacherous Germans led by usurper and so-called kaiser who in fact is nothing more than a former puppet of accursed Pisans" but it was a little too long

I think by that time either any dynasty would take the name Angeloi once in power, or the Imperial ministry of Truth will proclaim that Empire was always ruled by "dynasty name here" and Angeloi never existed.

- We must defeat the Horde! Together with our proved allies from Kingdom of Poland we shall finally destroy our longtime enemy who-
eunuch enters the room carrying the message to strategos
- Hmm... Ahem. We must defeat the barbarian Slavs! Together with our trusted Mongol auxilia we shall at last deliver a final blow to accursed Polish kingdom!

Well, it's the roman empire we're talking about so if all fails, the Angeloi can always revive the roman tradition of adoption, where the adopted is seen as equal to a blood relative. It was even done for emperors, even great ones like Trajan, Hadrian or Marcus Aurelius where adopted. Surly the one and true roman empire can always fall back on the mos maiores.

Meanwhile, in Tenochtitlan...

A truly horrifying vision.

Well, I live in Israel, so having a good English is considered more educated than knowing Hebrew, but thanks

Ha, silly me - for some reason I assumed this was Hebrew from Middle Ages. Sorry!


I gave you the 1444 map yesterday but I think it would be good to have a little context to it:

Year 1264 - "This Is Madness" begins

Year 1353 - all Christians acknowledge that the Imperium is the Roman Empire and denounce German usurper

Year 1444 - "This Is Madness" ends

I wanted to give you two updates this weekend but as it turns out writing both chapters at once is a bad idea, which combined with... other activities necessary or, dare I say it, required for the EU4 part of the story (wink wink nudge nudge) made it impossible to deliver what was promised. I'm really sorry guys! But hey, with only two chapters left I prefer to concentrate on the quality than to rush things, especially considering that I was waiting for a long time to finally write these two, and with "Art of War" still on the horizon I don't really have to hurry. It's not like I'll start the second part of this AAR next week - did you know that dorimi updated his Purple Phoenix Arise mod? I'll have to mess with the converted save again.

Anyways, expect the next update any moment now. And I can assure you it will be spectacular...

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

1. No rush on updates. I don't mind waiting for a masterpiece.
2. You have a plan for Scotland and Ireland. Is there a planned narrative for Mali? I'm interested in them because the AI never seems interested in fighting them in my games.

 

[Attalus]

An icon from St Markos... Markos III would surprise his ancestor ?

 

[CzokletMuss]

1. I'm glad to hear that
2. Yes. But remember that this is not a book: I have to adapt to whatever craziness RNG gives me to deal with, so some of my ideas may never find their way to what is released. AI behavior in EU4 in such unique setting (comparing to vanilla start) remains a mystery to me and I have no idea what is going to happen - and that's great!
By the way, the most time-consuming part of writing this AAR is preparing images - there is so much going on in Crumbling Europe (or should I say Greekfire 7k) that it's always hard to chose 20 images from 80-100 screenshots. It's a shame that some of the juicy details concerning both what's going on in the Imperium and beyond limes have to be skipped but that's how it has to work.

An icon from St Markos... Markos III would surprise his ancestor ?

I'll clarify - next release is the last part of "The Chronicle of the House Angelos", so I think you can easily guess what will be the subject of this update

 

[Attalus]

1. I'm glad to hear that
2. Yes. But remember that this is not a book: I have to adapt to whatever craziness RNG gives me to deal with, so some of my ideas may never find their way to what is released. AI behavior in EU4 in such unique setting (comparing to vanilla start) remains a mystery to me and I have no idea what is going to happen - and that's great!
By the way, the most time-consuming part of writing this AAR is preparing images - there is so much going on in Crumbling Europe (or should I say Greekfire 7k) that it's always hard to chose 20 images from 80-100 screenshots. It's a shame that some of the juicy details concerning both what's going on in the Imperium and beyond limes have to be skipped but that's how it has to work.


I'll clarify - next release is the last part of "The Chronicle of the House Angelos", so I think you can easily guess what will be the subject of this update

Well I think I'll just go hide somewhere for some times for my mistake

 

[ParrotGuy]

Really, there's no rush for updates- this is a great AAR, and what makes it greater is that chapters aren't relesed every other day. That way, when you release a chapter it makes the day better
Btw, I don't think that there's a huge difference between modern Hebrew and old one- of course, many words that just didn't exist 3000 years ago were added (like ice cream and computer), but I do know that I can speak bible hebrew - so I guess it's similiar to the medieval Hebrew?
Oh, and how do you make those pretty maps?

 

[CzokletMuss]

Really, there's no rush for updates- this is a great AAR, and what makes it greater is that chapters aren't relesed every other day. That way, when you release a chapter it makes the day better
Btw, I don't think that there's a huge difference between modern Hebrew and old one- of course, many words that just didn't exist 3000 years ago were added (like ice cream and computer), but I do know that I can speak bible hebrew - so I guess it's similiar to the medieval Hebrew?

Thank you very much

Really? So you can just open some medieval source text and start reading? This is fantastic! For example, first written sentence in Old Polish (from Liber fundationis claustri sanctae Mariae Virginis in Heinrichow, year 1270) is "Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai", which has little in common with modern "Daj, niech ja pomielę, a ty odpoczywaj" and there is no way for a normal person to understand writings so old. I envy you now

 

[ParrotGuy]

Thank you very much

Really? So you can just open some medieval source text and start reading? This is fantastic! For example, first written sentence in Old Polish (from Liber fundationis claustri sanctae Mariae Virginis in Heinrichow, year 1270) is "Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai", which has little in common with modern "Daj, niech ja pomielę, a ty odpoczywaj" and there is no way for a normal person to understand writings so old. I envy you now

Well, Biblical Hebrew I can understand with not a lot of problems, but I don't know about medieval- if it's like the biblical Hebrew, and I can guess it is, then I can understand it.

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

Can we make the official name of this Greenfire 7K? I ask simply out of love for title.

 

[Zqrfmb]

Huh, this AAR has a tvtropes page.

 

[Enlil]

Why don't you come on down to Mali,
safe from the Mexicali,
were hordes will both you no more,
come on down, if feeling sad
as this nightmarish death-scape is looking pretty bad,
come and worship great Melek Taus,
he is the only god in our holy house,
Others may call us heresy,
but we don't need no prophecy,
to see divine favor's on our siiiiiiide!
So come on down to West Africa
Here you'll be no anathema,
If your Cathar, Pagan, or Ibadi
We welcome you down into Mali,
Where the hordes will bother you no moooooooorrrrrreeee!!!!

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

You may be a heretic, but that is clever!

 

[Enlil]

You may be a heretic, but that is clever!

I am convinced that the Yazidis are the One True Faith, such prosperity they have enjoyed while the world burns. I hope the Angeloi see the errors of their ways, convert to Yazidi, and create the religious head, allowing the Angeloi to truly rule the faith.

 

[scelestus13]

 

[DKM]

Is it weird that for about 5 seconds, I thought the above picture was the bishop from Notre Dame dressed in a general's uniform?

 

[Halocon720]

HELLFIYAH!

Also, the De- Imperial Poets' Society has this short piece, to be delivered to the Augustus:

The hordes of east worship Allah
and Father-of-the-Sky.
The demons from the west worship
the Lord of Near and Nigh.
The people of Mare Nostrum follow
the One True Faith.
Let Saint Markos and Khristos
save them from a bloody fate.
A shining light in darkness, when there is nothing left
Now all the world shall finally know The Angeloi Protect!

 

[Leandor]

Ohh, that's true! This Is Madness has a tvtroop page! I love that page, and I have lost a lot of time everytime that you people remember me the existence of that web.

 

[Specialist290]

I have to admit that the TV Tropes page (or at least in its current iteration; there was a previous one that got cut for being a stub) is my own work, at least so far. I've got it on my watchlist on my account there and have sort of appointed myself as an unofficial "custodian" of the page just to make sure everything's up to code according to the site guidelines, but if any other readers have an account there as well, feel free to help me flesh it out.

(Courtesy link for those who have no idea what the rest of us are talking about. Warning: TV Tropes May Ruin Your Life.)

 

[Zqrfmb]

hang on, how did the xenoi even GET that one county near Venice?