Diaries of a Heretic

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Diaries of a Heretic

14 October, 1529
West of Rostock, Mecklenburg​

The sun rises on a shantytown of tents and pavilions. As dawn breaks over the hills, the sounds of some five thousand people awaking begin to be heard. Distinct among these is the harsh sound of metal grating on metal, of swords being sharpened and sheathed. If one were standing on the hill half a mile away, they would be able to hear the distance-quieted conversations around small campfires. People begin to file away from the campfires, to a small plain on the other side of the camp. They begin to separate into groups, about five large columns of one thousand each. There are three horsemen at the head of each column, and at the head of the whole assembly there is a group of about one-hundred mounted knights.

One of these men rides forward. He raises his sword, and all motion in this army ceases, as does all noise. His arm drops, and all eyes remain on him.

He speaks.

"Men! My brethren in faith, my guardians, my friends. Long enough have we been oppressed. The ruler of our beautiful country of Mecklenburg, King Heinrich, has brutally stripped the followers of our faith of rights, property, and dignity. It is God's will that this be changed. And since Heinrich is obviously disconnected from the good Lord, it is necessary that we bring our fair land back into the fold of the true faith, lest God's wrath be visited upon innocent souls.

And so it is our duty, our holy task, to force Heinrich to acknowledge the true faith! We must not waver in our dedication! We must stay strong! The longer it takes Heinrich to realize his mistakes, the more souls are condemned to the fires of eternal damnation. We must act now, before it is too late! Our task has been handed down to us from the Almighty himself. God's will be done! We march for Rostock, and from there, on to Lübeck, to Heinrich's palace itself. Go forth, and may God protect you, my brothers."​

The man, whose name is Friedrich Reinhard, turns his horse around. He marches through the other hundred horsemen, who part to let him pass. Once he is ten feet in front of them, the follow, in ten rows of ten men, perfectly disciplined, perfectly in step. The rest of the army begins to march, slowly and in a disorganized manner at first, but then it starts to regain cohesiveness. The lines tighten and the pace increases. The clanking of shields and sheathes on armor is clearly audible from quite a distance. Five knights on horseback charge their horses up ahead of the column, obviously the scouts. They begin to search for any early obstacles to this self-styled "army of God". They will report back with any problems, but the zealous believers will stop at nothing to attain their goals.

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Next: A Look Through the Eyes of A Believer

 

[unmerged(81979)]

Wow! Intriguing start... Now, I wonder of what faith this 'Army of God' is... It can either be protestant of Catholic, though based on the title of the AAR, it seems to be a Protestant army. Keep it up!

 

[Capibara]

Very interesting start, I wonder what the Army of God will be capable of, whatever religion they are from, I'll certainly be following!

 

[canonized]

Hmm this looks interesting I'll similarly be keeping an eye on it XD

 

[Terrifying Effigies]

Religion always makes for a good narrative, there's so much material to work with. 1529 was certainly an interesting time in Germany. Hopefully Reinhard doesn't take after Jan Matthijszoon, and lead his followers to total destruction.

 

[EUROO7]

The religious turmoil of the early sixteenth century.

What a magnificent setting for an AAR!

I'll be reading this one!!!

 

[Enewald]

God shall protect your AAR as long as I am reading it.

 

[comagoosie]

I find the start to be very interesting.

Though I must say that I am disapointed that an army is marching towards Mecklenburg. Hopefully they will be defeated

 

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@ Democratickid: You'll just have to decide that for yourself. I don't think I'll reveal it, at least not in terms/religions that we would recognize.

@ Capibara: Yes, we will see.

@ Canonized: I am honored to have a master such as yourself reading my story.

@ FYROM: I'd never heard of that guy. Thanks for the name, it provided a nice afternoon read of Wikipedia. xD

@ Enewald: Why of course.

@ Comagoosie: We shall see. I haven't decided in which direction this story shall go. Will it stay an insurgency or will it take control of Mecklenburg? I don't even know. xD

Well. I am going to go take a shower, but then I shall come back and write a new update!

 

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Part 2: Through My Eyes​

21 October, 1529
Steps of the Governor's Palace
Center of Rostock​

His sword bounces off my shield, and the shock travels up my arm. The metal of the shield splits almost in two from the force of his blow, and I toss it aside. He swings his sword downwards, and I dodge to the right. I bring my free elbow down hard on his wrist, and he drops the weapon. My sword flies through the air, and a split second later there is a space where my opponent's arm used to be. Blood gushes out of the hole, and he falls to the ground screaming. I finish him off with a decapitating strike. The screams quiet, but the street around me is still teeming with shrieks of pain, grunts of exertion, the noises of a pitched battle.

We reached Rostock on the 16th, five days ago. We had a man inside who opened the gates for us on the 19th, after three days of siege. Perhaps not the best idea, as the enemy was still well rested and supplied. However, I am not one to question my commanders or make battle plans. And so on the fourth night of the siege we surged through the gate, making it almost to the city center. The streets are littered with bodies, mainly of the defenders, but also my brothers in faith. We started out with around five thousand soldiers, and now I believe we are down to about four thousand and three hundred or so. However, the enemy has suffered even greater losses: out of six thousand troops, three thousand of whom were originally garrisoning the city, they have lost five thousand and five hundred. The last of them are protecting the governor's palace, where the governor and head bishop of the city have taken refuge. All of the fighting for the last twenty-four hours has taken place on these steps. Soon we will surge through the last of the enemy, and take full control of the city.

Now another man steps before me, wielding a battle axe. He swings horizontally, and I duck. I stab my sword towards him, but he parries it with the shaft of his axe. He punches me in the face, and I fall backwards. My sword is still in my hand, and as he raises the axe above his head to make the killing blow, I chop his feet out from under him. He falls, howling in pain. I make my final strike quickly. Suddenly, I hear a shout from the front. One of my friends is announcing something to the crowd.

"They have fallen! The palace is surrounded! Come brothers, onwards for our Lord!"​

I notice that there is a huge hole in the enemy's lines, and we surge through. I can see the despair on their faces as we surround them and then push forwards to the door of the palace. They are shown no mercy. We bash open the heavy wooden door, and force our way inside past the few remaining soldiers, and the palace is ours.

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Several days later, Rostock is fully under the control of the new army. Friedrich Reinhard, the leader of these zealots, has set up a new administrative center in the old governor's palace. The fifteen thousand inhabitants of the city are happier already, as Reinhard has already dismantled the old taxation system in favor of a new one. Some claim that this is just a ploy to gain the support of those not already following the faith of Reinhard's army, but he maintains that it is out of sincere sympathy with those living under his control. Much of the city has already converted to the new faith, which Reinhard has christened "Adlerism." Reinhard was making many efforts to convince the rest of the city to join his religion, which would give him a much larger manpower for his coming conquest of Lübeck.

His faith alone would not be enough for the challenge ahead of him.


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Sorry FYROM, I couldn't think of any religion names, so I copied the one from your AAR. D:

 

[Capibara]

Excellent update! Your description of the battle from the point of view of the soldier was just magnificent, very well done!

 

[comagoosie]

I like it!!

So this one man is trying to convert the region to his religion. Sounds tough, but with the professional army behind him, I think he might just do that.

Please, do continue!

 

[Eber]

Great start! I really like how you decided to tie in religion as a main focal point for your story. Kudos to you for that!

 

[Terrifying Effigies]

Sorry FYROM, I couldn't think of any religion names, so I copied the one from your AAR. D:

Oh no Adelerists! They're taking over, must beat them back with some good Justification! Coming up with movement names is hard, took me a while to finally decide on Justifiers, and I only managed to come up with Mayennes after randomly coming across a Wiki article on the medieval "Mayenne-et-Loire" region.

Although to be honest, at least in my AAR "Adelerism" started out as a derogatory term by critics, much like "Lutherans," "Picards," "Calvinists" and "Anabaptists" did in real life. It was simply the name of the first chief leader of the movement. Depending on what sort of movement Friedrich Reinhard is running, his followers would more likely call it something like "Brotherhood of the Faith" or "the Rostock Brethren" or "the Family of Christ." Or they could always be Reinhardians (Reinhardites?). I'm quite curious to see what their motivations and grievances are

 

[canonized]

Hmm very interesting indeed ! The destiny of a charismatic leader and its effects around them . Let's see how this new religion goes XD

 

[Lord Valentine]

Interesting start! I will be following this! But you should tell us a bit where "Adlerism" stands theologically. I am dying for some information on that subject.

~Lord Valentine~

 

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@Lord Valentine: Yes, I think that will be the next update. All we be revealed in time. xD

 

[Enewald]

again adelerists! :rofl:

Hehe, but more manpower allways helps

 

[unmerged(82846)]

@ all: I'm leaving for Michigan tomorrow, so there might be a lack of updates. My grandfather has satellite (a.k.a. "ridiculously slow") internet. But I will at least try to get online and post some updates.

 

[unmerged(61606)]

Radical Protestants who murder the ruler? How much support is the nobility going to give them? Also, Lubeck was pretty powerful (more so than Mecklenburg) in OTL 16th century (I think), but of course in the game it could be different.

But it was a very good start, I like the style. I will be waiting for updates to continue when you return.