Thank You very much! Your special episode is coming!
Keep it Quiet or else everything will want some!
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Everyone and especially @37th Armoured div, thank you for this great honor. I have felt like a fraud being a two time winner as well as having a featured AAR for work that I did not necessarily consider great writing. This week, I have pondered the question 'what is writing'. My answer as of this morning is that writing is entertaining and/or enlightening by the use of words. This can be in older times, traders and minstrels bringing news and stories from afar. It can be a child entertaining oneself by imagining different things. I even gave my wooden blocks different personalities, so maybe I was writing before I could even read a book. I thought about how Avon is several layers. It is part investigative journalism and part short narrative adventures. The narrative adventures are several layers deep as I combine popular culture, the readers, friends and characters from my CK game. A college drinking game could come from finding all of the Easter eggs in my little adventures. One paragraph recently had a Bonanza/Little House on the Prairie crossover moment and a Bonanza/A-Team/Battlestar Galactica. My Dino the Dinosaur was a Flintstones reference as well as a reference to the Rat Pack, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis (dinosaurs were Dino, Franko and Samo). When I use the readers (I may have used a few), I try to use something that is known about them or their AAR (I have given a few shout out to AARs). Examples include @Wraith11B (from VA) being a Virginia Militia Colonel and @The Number 9 (from France) being a French General or adding dragons to salute the writers of AGOT works.
I first started reading AARs to pick up game play tips for EU4. For several years I lurked before I even joined just to be able leave likes. I would like to be able to personally apologize to each writer for not telling them how much I enjoyed their work but I only remember three and none were of the game play style that I initially desired. Thank you @JerseyGiants88, @stnylan and @volksmarschall. Please forgive me. @JerseyGiants88 has a wonderful narrative in Italy (Florence, I think) that was my introduction to adding characters and fleshing out the basic game. @stnylan took me into Africa and was writing 3D chess while I was reading checkers. @volksmarschall used a fall and a decline to teach me college level history. Gentlemen, if you do not object, I would like to use you in Avon's final adventure. Thank You again and please forgive for not saying it sooner. In March 2000 as the world turned inside out, I found that CK2 was free to download and to avoid boredom and depression, I started to play. I turned to my friend the AARs for tips and entertainment. Divine Providence smiled at me and @Bullfilter's Rurikids sat atop the queue. I happily hitting the like button until @Bullfilter thanked me. This started a wonderful friendship. My Friend, THANK YOU! (Some may condemn him for unleashing my 1000+ comments over the past year on the forum.) When I got caught up, I found another 3yo masterpiece at the top of the queue, @JabberJock14's Plantagenets to be. Besides being Michener quality historical forum, he taught me to care about characters great and small. I found the Tin Duke and the beautiful but forbidden love story between King Geoffrey and Agnes. He also taught me to look at children's birthdates as a simple paternity test. (I have found that the birthdates will remain consistent over multiple marriages and even is death date for mother if by natural causes.) My third AAR to read was @Eurasia's Greek Buddhists in India. As much as I love Lord Meow-Meow, the biggest joy for me was his teaching me to look around the world and not just at my own little realm. THANK YOU, and thank you to every writer who has entertained me over the last year.
Before I choose my successor, I have two more writers to salute who have pushed boundaries. @filcat, like @stnylan, is writing 3D chess. It is so good but it would make William Faulkner proud. @Thaiga is using the AGOT mod. But what most pushes the envelope is the glorious artwork. He may know more about AGOT family trees than GRRM. My successor has combined Stellaris, X-Com and probably Lost in Space. He has not only written a million word opus but also uploaded narration on YouTube videos so that one can listen to his work while doing something else. I would like to introduce as our newest writer of the week, @Macavity116. A box of fresh baked virtual oatmeal raisins cookies are traveling the cyber highway to you.
I first started reading AARs to pick up game play tips for EU4. For several years I lurked before I even joined just to be able leave likes. I would like to be able to personally apologize to each writer for not telling them how much I enjoyed their work but I only remember three and none were of the game play style that I initially desired. Thank you @JerseyGiants88, @stnylan and @volksmarschall. Please forgive me. @JerseyGiants88 has a wonderful narrative in Italy (Florence, I think) that was my introduction to adding characters and fleshing out the basic game. @stnylan took me into Africa and was writing 3D chess while I was reading checkers. @volksmarschall used a fall and a decline to teach me college level history. Gentlemen, if you do not object, I would like to use you in Avon's final adventure. Thank You again and please forgive for not saying it sooner. In March 2000 as the world turned inside out, I found that CK2 was free to download and to avoid boredom and depression, I started to play. I turned to my friend the AARs for tips and entertainment. Divine Providence smiled at me and @Bullfilter's Rurikids sat atop the queue. I happily hitting the like button until @Bullfilter thanked me. This started a wonderful friendship. My Friend, THANK YOU! (Some may condemn him for unleashing my 1000+ comments over the past year on the forum.) When I got caught up, I found another 3yo masterpiece at the top of the queue, @JabberJock14's Plantagenets to be. Besides being Michener quality historical forum, he taught me to care about characters great and small. I found the Tin Duke and the beautiful but forbidden love story between King Geoffrey and Agnes. He also taught me to look at children's birthdates as a simple paternity test. (I have found that the birthdates will remain consistent over multiple marriages and even is death date for mother if by natural causes.) My third AAR to read was @Eurasia's Greek Buddhists in India. As much as I love Lord Meow-Meow, the biggest joy for me was his teaching me to look around the world and not just at my own little realm. THANK YOU, and thank you to every writer who has entertained me over the last year.
Before I choose my successor, I have two more writers to salute who have pushed boundaries. @filcat, like @stnylan, is writing 3D chess. It is so good but it would make William Faulkner proud. @Thaiga is using the AGOT mod. But what most pushes the envelope is the glorious artwork. He may know more about AGOT family trees than GRRM. My successor has combined Stellaris, X-Com and probably Lost in Space. He has not only written a million word opus but also uploaded narration on YouTube videos so that one can listen to his work while doing something else. I would like to introduce as our newest writer of the week, @Macavity116. A box of fresh baked virtual oatmeal raisins cookies are traveling the cyber highway to you.
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Congrats @Macavity116 ! The reign of Stellaris continues! For someone with (relatively) limited time and no knowledge of your works, where would you recommend to start reading?
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Just when I thought we escaped the Stellaris pit, we get dragged back in!
Congratulations @Macavity116 your prolific efforts justly rewarded.
Congratulations @Macavity116 your prolific efforts justly rewarded.
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Wow, I'm blown away! Thank you so much. I'm not sure if I'm remembering right, but I think this means I've now received every weekly award at least once. I'm so honored!
Many thanks, and if you want to give the Stormbreaker Universe a try, you could start with After Everything - A Stellaris Story. The chapters are much shorter than what I normally do and the whole tale is easier to follow due to its position as the beginning of the story.
Thank you so much!Just when I thought we escaped the Stellaris pit, we get dragged back in!
Congratulations @Macavity116 your prolific efforts justly rewarded.
Whatever was, shall be.
Whatever shall be, was.
You can't escape the Stellaris worm!
Many thanks!Congrats @Macavity116!
Many thanks to all. It's always a pleasant surprise when this happens. As usual, my house rule has gone into effect (for the second time in a month) and a new chapter of All Our Sins Remembered will be released as soon as possible. I ask you to forgive the delay because creating these YouTube videos is a time consuming process.
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Thanks, that looks like a perfect place to start!
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SpeakAAR, you say? Now I'm suddenly picturing myself as a certain spokesman of the alien occupation. Longtime readers of the Stormbreaker Universe know who I'm talking about...
Thank you! It means a lot.
Warmest thanks!
Thanks! I know the feeling of having to catch up. I've fallen behind on many an AAR and I know for a fact that I've caused people to fall behind on my own stories.
You're welcome, enjoy as much or as little of the story as you like.
While I've got the spotlight, maybe I can help out any prospective future readers of my Stellaris Stories.
For the new/uninitiated, ALL of the AAR's and fanfictions I post to these forums are part of the same series: The Stormbreaker Universe. However, each of my stories are (mostly) self-contained, meaning you should be able to read them in any order you like.
Now if you want to read the stories of the Stormbreaker Universe in a specific order for maximum lore, then there are actually two different reading orders you can follow. Reading the Stormbreaker Universe in either of these orderings should give you the immersive, lore-filled experience you're looking for:
- Order of Publication: This is the order in which each of my AAR's appeared on the internet for the first time.
- Chronological Order: This is the order in which the events of the story actually play out.
- My Sistership and Childhood Memory are both contained within the same forum thread: DosiAARs - Prelude to the Stormbreakers
- All Our Sins Remembered is currently ongoing, I expect this story will be finished in September of this year.
- The Legend of Whetu Kealoha and My Father's War are both located in the Off Topic forums. You must have an account on this website to visit the Off Topic Forums.
- There is a brief moment of disturbing content in a specific chapter of My Father's War. Specifically, it is strongly implied that one of the major characters became the victim of an unseen sexual assault. You will see a bright red content warning long before you reach the potentially upsetting content, and you will be able to skip the chapter via an embedded hyperlink.
If you've recently decided to give my Stellaris Stories a try, I hope this helps.
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This week has been fun in more ways than I was expecting. I received this award mere days before my Stellaris AAR series grew to over one million words in length, an achievement I was planning to spend the whole weekend celebrating. So this whole thing just added to a very good few days, and the AARland community as a whole has my gratitude.
Normally, recipients of this awAARd pass it on the following Sunday, but I have a very long-running habit of giving up the awAARd early. So let's take inventory of what I've been reading lately and see who deserves to be WritAAR of the Week for eight days instead of the customary seven:
Stellaris:
The Stellaris story I'm currently writing is extremely dark, so I'm always happy to find stories that dive headfirst into moments of lighthearted humor. To that end, I'd like to nominate someone who has been writing an enjoyable story that never fails to get a laugh out of me and lift my spirits.
Your new WritAAR of the Week: @Peter Ebbesen!
Normally, recipients of this awAARd pass it on the following Sunday, but I have a very long-running habit of giving up the awAARd early. So let's take inventory of what I've been reading lately and see who deserves to be WritAAR of the Week for eight days instead of the customary seven:
Stellaris:
- Songs of the Saiiban- A Poetic AAR by @Chilango2 - A long-running AAR about some musical avians who have healthy love of science. The author is either a talented poet or taking full advantage of my ignorance of modern music. Either way, this is a fun read, especially with your music streaming app of choice nearby.
- Stellaris Wars: A Nemesis Ironman Saga by @Arithmetician - Star Wars and Stellaris together is already a good match, but the author has included elements from what I can only assume are the extra story points you can get from sources other than the nine movies of the Star Wars franchise. @Arithmetician has incorporated these expanded universe details so well that I (a person who has seen only the movies and nothing else) am struggling to tell which plot elements are original and which come from the wider Star Wars cannon. For that, the author has earned my praise.
- One World is not Enough- Normans in Space by @hjarg - What happens when a Crusader Kings player runs out of lands to conquer? They embrace their inner Galactic Emperor and subjugate everything that has ever dared look up to the stars.
- Born to Breed: House of the Prophets by @Peter Ebbesen - What I really adore about this AAR is how the author shifts their writing style to accommodate changes in the point-of-view. I'm specifically thinking of a chapter that takes place entirely from the point-of-view of a seven-year-old Prince. (Who is also a genius, this is very important.)
The Stellaris story I'm currently writing is extremely dark, so I'm always happy to find stories that dive headfirst into moments of lighthearted humor. To that end, I'd like to nominate someone who has been writing an enjoyable story that never fails to get a laugh out of me and lift my spirits.
Your new WritAAR of the Week: @Peter Ebbesen!
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A non Stellaris winner! @El Pip will be delighted and/or in coma from shock.
Also a well deserved win for @Peter Ebbesen !
Also a well deserved win for @Peter Ebbesen !
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If @El Pip had a nickel for every time I picked a non-Stellaris winner, they'd be stockpiling for the apocalypse.
Many congratulations for @Peter Ebbesen!
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A non Stellaris winner! @El Pip will be delighted and/or in coma from shock.
Also a well deserved win for @Peter Ebbesen !
But they picked a CK3 AAR, which as Pip will tell you, the CK2/3 board is just as much of an awards blackhole as Stellaris.
That said, I don't begrudge them, most of the works there are amazing! Congratulations to @Peter Ebbesen
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