-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Well a fun read here it would seem i usually don't reply in these threads for i myself would prefer reading the stories mostly. but will say am reading this quietly here and enjoying it.
Jim
Jim
you seem to be turning naryishkin into more of an evil character than what he was at the start any reason for this or has naryshkin just realized what is required and elevated or lowered himself to his opponents level? this has really been quite engrossing suvorov and remember if you need any help at all on russia at any period events, leaders etcetera then feel free to ask
@Estonianzulu: You'll have to wait and see... 
@HJ Tulp: Please, this isn't "Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden"
@Mellow: Glad you are reading (and posting).
@cassa61: No, Naryshkin isn't going over to the Dark Side, he just had to scare Julia enough to make sure she would understand no screw ups will be accepted.
@Steele: I hope you liked the other lines too. As good as it might seem, I am constantly reminded of the fact that English isn't my mother tongue. Some of the other AARs are so much better...
Update later today
@HJ Tulp: Please, this isn't "Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden"
@Mellow: Glad you are reading (and posting).
@cassa61: No, Naryshkin isn't going over to the Dark Side, he just had to scare Julia enough to make sure she would understand no screw ups will be accepted.
@Steele: I hope you liked the other lines too.
As good as it might seem, I am constantly reminded of the fact that English isn't my mother tongue. Some of the other AARs are so much better... Update later today
Chapter VI
Naryshkin strikes back – part 1
June 23, 1835, St. Petersburg
Everyone in the room got up from their seats. Naryshkin had ended yet another meaningless session of the Commission of Economic and Military Development. With Trepov watching his every move, Naryshkin could do little to steer the discussions in the needed direction. Instead, the Commission wasted its time with trivial matters, matters that didn’t come close to even scratching the surface of the various real issues the Empire was facing. He sighed, mechanically arranging, then collecting the documents spread out before him. As Naryshkin looked up, he noticed everyone had already left the room. Everyone except Trepov, who sat behind the table feigning boredom, obviously waiting for the right moment to say something. With a tired Naryshkin looking him in the eye, that moment had come.
“Again, you did a magnificent job, chairman,” Trepov cynically remarked. “Under your guidance, the Commission is truly doing very important work.”
He leaned back in his seat, his arrogant grin full of unfounded confidence. To Naryshkin it was like a red rag to a bull. However, he kept calm. He knew he would get his revenge. He knew Trepov wouldn’t be grinning for much longer. Naryshkin’s brain was quickly freed from the suddenly appearing poison of blind anger, which could jeopardize his whole plan, by the best antidote available – that of reason. Instead of lashing out, Naryshkin answered in a submissive tone:
“I thank you for your compliment, master,” matching Trepov’s cynicism with feigned acceptance of his status as a puppet.
Trepov smiled after hearing being referred to as ‘master’. He chose to ignore the cynicism Naryshkin’s words were soaked in. Why ruin a perfectly decent submission to him by a former enemy? To Trepov, it was all a game, a game in which he held all the trumps and in which his opponent was already beaten. Let him have his cynicism, for that is all he’s got left.
If this was the case, someone had forgotten to mention it to Naryshkin. In two days time, when Trepov would be away, accompanying the Czar on an inspection trip of the coastal fortifications at Reval¹, the plan to topple Trepov would be set in motion. Trepov would leave St. Petersburg as the trusted head of the Third Section, but, if all went well, he would return to the capital as a traitor. Naryshkin could almost feel the sweet taste of revenge already, and faintly smiled. Almost immediately, though, he put his submissive mask, the one he knew Trepov loved seeing so much, back on. Trepov might be blinded by his ‘victory’, but there was no need to take any chances.
“I think it would be best if we would cancel the next few sessions of the Commission given the fact that you will be in Reval with the Czar,” Naryshkin said to Trepov, giving him an extra dose of the victory drug he was on by making him feel indispensable.
“But Pyotr Aleksandrovich,” Trepov answered, “do you think that I don’t trust you? I just complemented you on how well you handle chairing the Commission! I’m sure that, even though I’m away, you have it in you to direct the work of the Commission in a satisfactory way. You should have a little more confidence.”
It was Trepov’s usual charade, accompanied by his equally common cynical grin. He really liked this game.
“OK, we’ll let those sessions take place then,” Naryshkin ended the discussion. He took the documents lying before him under his arm and walked away from the table, towards the door. After Naryshkin had reached it, he halted and turned around.
“I’ll see you after your return from Reval, then,” he said to Trepov while holding the door open with his right hand. As Naryshkin walked into the hall, he silently added to himself: “…in a nice dark cell that is, you filthy little rat!”
Behind him, he heard Trepov yell: “Yes, see you then, Mr. Chairman!” A loud laughter filled the halls of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, rolling down the walls and echoing in Naryshkin’s ears. How he wished it was next week already.
-----
Notes
¹ Reval is now called Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.
Last edited:
ooh i am getting all tingly in anticipation, this is some nice story telling suvorov i look forward to seeing some more
and your saying he isn't going to the darkside?suvorov said:
Great Story
Well I usually don't post in these forums since I'm still learning how to play Victoria, but have read tons of the Victoria and HOI stories. Just finished reading through this entire story in little more than a hour's time, can't wait for the next update
Well I usually don't post in these forums since I'm still learning how to play Victoria, but have read tons of the Victoria and HOI stories. Just finished reading through this entire story in little more than a hour's time, can't wait for the next update
@stnylan: Thank you!
@cassa61: No, no Dark Side for Naryshkin. He can defend himself, can't he?
@C.N.: The good parts of the story? So, what have I been writing until now?
@Park: Welcome! Thank you very much for reading and posting! Next update coming up!
@cassa61: No, no Dark Side for Naryshkin. He can defend himself, can't he?
@C.N.: The good parts of the story? So, what have I been writing until now?
@Park: Welcome! Thank you very much for reading and posting! Next update coming up!
Chapter VI
Naryshkin strikes back – part 2
June 26, 1835, St. Petersburg
Naryshkin stood in front of one of the large windows in his office, looking out over the canal and the embankment, with his watchful eye following random people as they walked by. He had always liked observing people going about their business. He was fascinated by the fact that these people all lived their own lives, molded by their own specific experiences, troubled by their own specific worries and dreaming their own specific dreams. How little did people know, or care, about the lives of the people they accidentally bumped into in the street.
A knock on the door returned Naryshkin to the matters at hand, to his own specific worries. As Naryshkin expected, the servant announced the arrival of Ober-Polizmeister Aleksej Evgenievich Adlerberg, head of the St. Petersburg police, who had been summoned to his office earlier that day.
“Good day, Your Excellency,” Adlerberg greeted his superior.
“A very good day to you too, Aleksej Evgenievich,” Naryshkin returned the greeting, “I am very glad you could come by at such short notice.”
As he took a seat, invited to do so by a movement of Naryshkin’s right arm, Adlerberg said: “I got the impression that you wanted to discuss a matter of great importance, so I came as soon as I could.”
Naryshkin, who had also taken a seat and now sat opposite Adlerberg behind his desk, nodded: “You’ve gotten the right impression, then. How could I expect otherwise from an Ober-Polizmeister?”
As Adlerberg produced a faint smile to show he appreciated this small compliment, Naryshkin continued: “The reason I summoned you here has to do with Trepov, who is, as you know, in Reval at the moment, with the Czar. One of Trepov’s subordinates, Obolenskij, came to see me yesterday. By one of his agents, Obolenskij has been informed that some Jewish prostitute named Julia Eichenbaum is claiming to be having an affair with Trepov. Of course, such a scandalous accusation against one of the highest officials of the Empire can’t be tolerated and shouldn’t go unanswered. The dignity of the Czar’s government, and thus of the Czar himself, is at stake here! However, since there also might be a slight chance she is telling the truth, Obolenskij and I have decided that it is vital that this matter will be dealt with in complete secrecy.”
Naryshkin paused, his eyes moving over Adlerberg’s face, searching for anything out of the ordinary. There was no reason to distrust the Ober-Polizmeister, it was just a force of habit. Adlerberg was a fine policeman and a loyal subordinate. He had to be, otherwise he would have never occupied the post he did. Adlerberg had a strict sense of duty and a great love for the Czar. No one would suspect Adlerberg of scheming against a trusted aid of the Czar. His reputation was speckles and he was valued highly by everyone, even by Trepov. This made Adlerberg the perfect pawn to execute Naryshkin’s plan. He just needed to be steered in the right direction.
Naryshkin continued: “I want you to send some of your finest policemen, men you wouldn’t only entrust with your own life, but also that of your mother, to pay her a visit and ‘ask’ her to come with them to the nearest police station for questioning. No yelling, no violence, nothing that could attract unwanted attention. Also, these policemen should be dressed in civilian clothes. This is a very delicate matter and I don’t want a scandal. If Ms. Eichenbaum isn’t home, they should search her room and wait for her to arrive. Tell them to make sure no one leaves the premises, so she can’t be warned.”
Naryshkin saw Adlerberg listening to him with much attention. The look on his face was a serious one, he fully understood the great responsibility his task entailed. Ironically, he didn’t have the faintest idea about what his task really was.
“Are there any questions?” Naryshkin asked.
“No, everything is perfectly clear, Your Excellency,” Adlerberg said, “I assure you this matter will be solved swiftly and silently, as you requested.”
Naryshkin smiled. He greatly admired the bravery and sense of duty found in men like Adlerberg, but at the same time loathed them. Men like that didn’t think for themselves. They were so easy to manipulate; all you had to do was give them a ‘higher’ goal and they become like wax in your hands. In all fairness, though, Naryshkin had to acknowledge that this wasn’t one of those cases. If Adlerberg couldn’t rely on the information his superior provided, what could he rely on? Still, so Naryshkin thought, it was ironic to say the least that he was going to use a man that considered it his sacred duty to stop a prostitute from tarnishing the reputation of a close aid to the Czar, to do exactly that. After Adlerberg’s men would have done their work, Trepov’s reputation would be tarnished without repair.
After Naryshkin had given Adlerberg permission to leave, he walked to the window again, going over the meeting in his mind. Naryshkin was very pleased with how he had handled it. All this talk about secrecy and the delicacy of the matter clearly ‘proved’ he meant well. Also, Naryshkin, so he had told Adlerberg, had only acted because of Obolenskij’s ‘reports’, he hadn’t instigated the whole thing himself. That this was far from the truth was beside the point. He would let Obolenskij take all the credit for finding out about Trepov’s ‘treason’. Since as a result of this the Czar would surely make him the new head of the Third Section, Obolenskij wouldn’t oppose Naryshkin depicting the events in such a way.
If, for some unexplainable reason, at some time in the future the scheme would be uncovered, there would be nothing to connect him to it. Julia Eichenbaum had never seen him and had already left St. Petersburg. She now called herself Ol’ga Bronstein. Obolenskij, by not contesting Naryshkin’s version of the events when being applauded as the one who discovered Trepov’s ‘treason’, would be seen as the logical instigator of the plan to topple him. Obolenskij’s position would be worsened by the fact that it were documents of the Third Section found at Julia’s place. How difficult would it be for a high official of the Third Section who, as everyone knew, was no friend of Trepov to plant those documents in an ‘inconvenient’ place?
He would kill two birds with one stone. Not only would he get rid of Trepov, he would also gain a strong position vis-à-vis Trepov’s successor. Naryshkin could always use Julia Eichenbaum as a weapon against Obolenskij, exposing Trepov’s ‘treason’ as a charade orchestrated by a disgruntled subordinate. This would ensure none of the tricks Trepov tried to pull on him would be repeated by the new head of the Third Section.
Naryshkin was delighted with himself, absolutely delighted. It all fit together perfectly. He grinned, again observing the people walking along the canal. The fact that he was looking down on them made him feel like a god. How ignorant they were! They didn’t have a clue about what was going to happen. They didn’t have a clue about the plans he had been making and, most of all, they didn’t have a clue that he could, and would, take out the head of the Third Section with impunity. He slowly turned away from the window and walked toward his desk. This called for some cognac.
yes i realise naryshkin can defend himself, i used the wrong smile, i was being sarcastic and am actually reveling in this naryshkin character you have created, althoug i wonder if he is based on a real person? anyways this is some gripping stuff suvorov it is probably the best aar i have read in a long time so i am glad that you are still going and haven't given up like some other aars i could mention
Suvorov said:@C.N.: The good parts of the story? So, what have I been writing until now?
Teasers. Buildup for the good part, where the enemy is kneeling before you lamenting their misfortune.
Last edited:
@cassa61: I'm not giving up. I still like it very much, although I'm a bit worried by reports 1.02 makes industrializing very tough. That could mean a boring first 10/20 years. Could anyone give me some advice on which patch I should use once I get the game?
@C.N.:
@C.N.:
I like
One feels that perhaps Naryshkin ought to stop looking over balconies if he starts getting feelings like that. Could lead to dangerous miscalculations
One feels that perhaps Naryshkin ought to stop looking over balconies if he starts getting feelings like that. Could lead to dangerous miscalculations
Chapter VI
Naryshkin strikes back – part 3
That evening, Dmitrij led three other policemen, dressed, like himself, in civilian clothes, up the stairs of a damp old house in a less than desirable part of town. It was dark and the staircase smelled of urine. Although it would be better to keep one hand pressed against the wall in case he would trip over something, he didn’t dare doing so. Dmitrij could only imagine how dirty the walls had to be. Maybe the darkness wasn’t even a bad thing.
As they reached the top floor, where a dim light from one of the apartments shone into the hall, Dmitrij turned around towards his men: “OK, so remember, no scandal! I’ll do the talking, you guys don’t do a thing unless I say so. Is that clear?”
The three men nodded. They had had quite a speech from the Ober-Polizmeister about the importance of this assignment, although they hadn’t been told why it was so important. That, however, was quite common and they suspected some high ranking official had gotten himself in trouble again. These sort of things always needed to be straightened out in secrecy, with “full understanding of the delicacy of the situation”. If those damn guys could just keep their pants on…
“So, where is apartment 15?” Dmitrij murmured as he turned around again, searching for the numbers that should be hanging on every door. He found none. “OK, I’ll just try this one then,” as he walked to the door closest to him.
After knocking on it, Dmitrij saw the door being opened by a small, elderly man who had obviously been drinking far more than he could handle. He smelled terrible and looked dazed.
“What do you want?” the drunk almost shouted, leaning on the latch to keep himself from falling. He barely managed and because he kept shaking, he was constantly trying to maintain his balance. He didn’t have the strength to keep his head up, though, and therefor kept staring at the floor.
“Sir,” Dmitrij started, immediately realizing that ‘sir’ was a totally inappropriate way to address this… man, “could you tell me where I can find apartment number 15?”
“Fifteen?” the drunk repeated, “What do you need fifteen for? You come for those filthy whores, huh?” Since he noticed himself slipping away, the man paused to regain his firm position. After that he started shouting at a door on the far end of the hall: “Yeah, whores! Filthy rotten whores! They will all burn in hell! They will burn, I tell you! Burn!” The energy that he used to fuel this outburst was seemingly directly taken from the energy he needed to keep standing, because he promptly fell forward, being saved from falling face down on the floor by a stunned Dmitrij.
Dmitrij, disgusted by the horrendous smell produced by the alcohol and the fact that the man probably hadn’t seen a bath in more than half a year, made the drunk sit up against the wall as quickly as he could. After he had gotten up again, Dmitrij started walking in the direction the man had been shouting in, signaling his men to follow him. On their way to apartment 15 they were accompanied by the drunken man’s shouts about how the women living there would all burn in hell.
As he reached the apartment at the end of the hall, Dmitrij knocked on the door. Behind the door, he heard someone walking towards him. Then, a female voice asked: “Who is it?”
Dmitrij answered: “I am from the police, madam. I would like to have a word with you. Please, open the door.”
First, Dmitrij heard a wide variety of curses, after that the unlocking of several locks. The door opened. Before him stood a woman of approximately 35 years old. She was rather tall for a woman, had blond hair and intelligent blue eyes, lightening up in her round Slavic face. She wasn’t what you would call pretty, but still she had an unexplainable kind of non-classical beauty over her.
Seeing the four men dressed in civilian clothes standing in the hall, she said: “You guys aren’t cops.”
Dmitrij smiled and showed her his ID: “Yes, we are, madam. We just didn’t want to disturb the neighbourhood.”
The woman cynically remarked: “Well, that’s a first!” She turned around, inviting the men in.
Dmitrij told one of his men to close the door and stay there. The other two were told to search the apartment.
“Are you the only one who’s home at the moment?” Dmitrij inquired.
“Yes,” she answered, “the others all went out this morning.”
Dmitrij’s brain was quickly digesting the first bits of information about the apartment it had received from his eyes. It wasn’t a pretty picture; dark, damp and way too small for seven. There were clothes, or better rags, being dried everywhere and as he walked through the hall, Dmitrij found himself constantly ducking to avoid contact with the laundry.
As Dmitrij followed the woman into a room that obviously served as the kitchen, he asked: “Madam, we have some questions for Ms. Eichenbaum who is also supposed to be living in this apartment. Do you know when she will be back?”
The woman shrugged: “I have no idea. She left with her three little brothers early in the morning. Don’t know where she is, don’t know when she’ll be coming back. And, please, call me Natasha.”
Dmitrij smiled: “OK, Natasha. While we are waiting for Ms. Eichenbaum, would you mind if I would ask you some questions?”
“I guess not, no,” she replied, sitting down behind the small wobbly table in the middle of the kitchen. Dmitrij followed her example.
“OK then. First, I would like to ask you if you have noticed anything strange about Ms. Eichenbaum the last few weeks.”
Just as Natasha wanted to answer that question, they were interrupted by a shout coming from an adjacent room.
“Sir, sir, come over here! Look what I found!”
@stnylan: He just got caught in the moment.
Last edited:
Come the moment, come the man?
Nice gritty description there.
Incidentally I just realised how good your colour-coding in your sig is. I know, I'm slow....
Nice gritty description there.
Incidentally I just realised how good your colour-coding in your sig is. I know, I'm slow....
Yep, in my village I'm world famous for my colour-coding!
I'd like to inform my readers that there won't be any more updates this year. Tomorrow, my gf will be coming over from St. Petersburg for a week and a half and I'll, hopefully, have better things to do...
So, I'd like to wish all you guys a Merry Christmas and an absolutely fabulous New Year! Have fun!
I'd like to inform my readers that there won't be any more updates this year. Tomorrow, my gf will be coming over from St. Petersburg for a week and a half and I'll, hopefully, have better things to do...
So, I'd like to wish all you guys a Merry Christmas and an absolutely fabulous New Year!
Have fun!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too you Suv
Just don't blow your fingers away
Just don't blow your fingers away