It looks like a tropical jungle with a boat under Russian flag. It seems rather unusual choice. Is there any story behind it?
HoD intro picture
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I believe it's a homage to the well-known book of the same name. From what I've heard, it's one of the best books of the 20th century; I intend on reading it at some point.
From Wikipedia:
"Heart of Darkness is a short novel written by Joseph Conrad, written as a frame narrative, about Charles Marlow’s life as an ivory transporter down the Congo River in Central Africa... The story is a complex exploration of the attitudes people hold on what constitutes a barbarian versus a civilized society and the attitudes on colonialism and racism that were part and parcel of European imperialism."
"Joseph Conrad has acknowledged that Heart of Darkness is in part based on his own experiences during his travels in Africa. At the age of 31, he was appointed by a Belgian trading company to serve as [a crew member] of a steamer on the Congo River in 1890... While sailing up the Congo river from one station to another, the captain became ill, and Conrad assumed command of the boat and guided the ship to the trading company's innermost station. He reportedly became disillusioned with Imperialism after witnessing the cruelty and corruption perpetrated by the European companies in the area, and the novella's main narrator, Charlie Marlow, is believed to have been based upon him."
What Garothian wrote, but he omitted that Joseph Conrad was born a Russian subject. Hence the flag, I guess, even though both Conrad and Marlow (the British protagonist of the novel) traveled up the Congo on a Belgian steamer.
"Joseph Conrad" is an anglification of his real name Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski.
The book is quite nice, actually, if you enjoy that sort of thing. I did, although I have to admit that the only reason I read it in the first place was because of the HoD expansion.
"Joseph Conrad" is an anglification of his real name Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski.
The book is quite nice, actually, if you enjoy that sort of thing. I did, although I have to admit that the only reason I read it in the first place was because of the HoD expansion.
As said before, the name comes from the book from J. Conrad.
The flag is actually Belgium and the river is in Congo. This all relates to the book. It's the book that inspired the film Apocalypse Now btw. It's about facing the darker side of human nature. In the film the context is the Viet-Nam war, in the book it's the scramble for Africa and its resources (imperialism, racism and colonialism). It's about a man hired by a belgium trading company (hence the flag) to find a man responsible for establing commercial contacts... but he's gone rogue...
This is actually a good book, but not a jolly happy one
One always learns something new...
That's what I was assuming until I've actually looked at the picture
It can't be.
The flag in the poster is black, yellow and white. Even if the white is some sort of incredibly washed out red, the stripes are horizontal and not vertical like in the flag of Belgium. Even if we take into account the flag of the Belgian Revolution, the order of the colours are wrong.
No, it is the flag used by Russia at the time.
Russian Empire:
Belgium:
Flag of the Belgian Revolution:
HoD poster:
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dear gods I can't believe some of you guys actualy enjoyed that book...one of THE worst books I've ever encountered during my high school years. Absolutely could not finish the book. Literally made me sleep every other page.
Definitely Russian. Those guys in the front of the boat look like KGB to me.
You. Gulag. Now.
It's probably not Belgian. All startup screens of victoria 2 have shown alternative historical events, presumably to signify the games main sellling point.
Here's Lee leading the CSA against the British
and here's London being bombed by the US navy
I'd say the current startup screen is rather clever and subtle.
Completely agree on the book, by the way. It's either pretentious or badly written, but it has so many layers of symbolism caked on, there is hardly a literal description in it. Not unsuprisingly it is also the dear of many English teachers who like to analyze it to death and therefore not a good candidate if you want to choose a nice and short book for that last minute book report.
Here's Lee leading the CSA against the British
and here's London being bombed by the US navy
I'd say the current startup screen is rather clever and subtle.
Completely agree on the book, by the way. It's either pretentious or badly written, but it has so many layers of symbolism caked on, there is hardly a literal description in it. Not unsuprisingly it is also the dear of many English teachers who like to analyze it to death and therefore not a good candidate if you want to choose a nice and short book for that last minute book report.
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The boat is the Roi des Belges, it is the boat Joseph Conrad commanded. A blue and black flag could work as the Flag of Congo Free State?
You can also see in the picture that they're hauling ivory. I love the book, it's scathing without being didactic. It has no sentimentalism and is oh so atmospheric.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you on this. I tried to read it as an adult and I think I tried twice but I couldn't get beyond the second chapter, although I have a policy of giving a book the chance and usually refuse to put it down until after at least 50 pages. To be fair though, it is probably more a reflection on me rather than the book, just not my thing.
I wanted something to give the feeling of exploring the unknow dark jungles of africa (in this case Congo), and perhaps also to tie in with Heart of Darkness by Conrad, so a river boat felt perfect. I also like our V2 screens to be alt history so i asked Darkrenown "which major power DIDNT colonize africa?" and he said Russia so we went with that
Fun fact: The russians did have a small colony historically but got driven off by the french: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagallo
Fun fact: I tried to photoshop in a raptor dinosaur that would sometimes take the place of the panther randomly but my photoshop skills could not match up to Adrenaline's epic art so I removed it
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I think these alt-history main screens are great, looking much better than the the loading screens actually.
I wish there were more pictures like theses in PDS games
I wish there were more pictures like theses in PDS games
Another treat, a loading screen draft that was never completed for A House Divided:
Seriously? It was one of the few books I enjoyed. It did take some effort, though.
It's a 'fact' that any books you are forced to read/recite at school you will end up hating with a passion, and it's not until later in your life you start to appreciate them. 20 years later, I'm only now discovering the delights of Peter and Jane.