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I would recommend removing the Legionary Cohorts and First Cohorts with the Lorica Segmentata, although I am sure there are people who wold differ with my opinion there. It is rather anachronistic for the time period as there is no evidence for it being used any earlier then the last few years of the game, and even that is dubious.

Apologies for the lack of an update, all you Exilianses. Thanksgiving break has not been much of a break at all, as far as getting away from work goes. I should have another update up fairly soon though, so you needn't give up hope. 

Yay, people liked it!
It was a bit of an intro, the gameplay will be coming up in the next chapter, along with plenty more story.

Rob: Never fear, the screenshots will be a lot nicer next time.  I misread the info for the image-hosting website I was using, and thought they allowed editing after upload. Clearly however, they do not. Next time I will be less lazy, and do it before uploading. 

Khan: Do it! I am of the opinion that Exilian (or, for that matter, any forum) could use a lot more writing of any sort. And AOE2 is quite easy to use for it too. I spend around half my childhood telling stories with that scenario editor.

The Seventh, apparently.
The description fits oddly well and he occasionally fights people with an umbrella, so I am alright with this.

You're a wily one. You don't always say what you really mean, your intentions are not always obvious and you occasionally mask your feelings with sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors.

You may know that you are acting for the betterment of everyone you care about but do they?

That said, while it sometimes takes a little time for people to grow to trust you, despite your obvious charisma and whimsical way with words, when they do, you never let them down.

Pentagathus: As mentioned before, I am fairly bereft of cash at the moment. Or, at least, bereft of cash that is not already set aside for a particular purpose. I will certainly look into that though. Especially if it is cheap. 

As for everyone else..
I happen to have been going through my correspondence today, and found an old historical essay that our old friend, the Lord Bladdmor, sent us. Here are some selections from it, for your reading pleasure.

-A small, rather sloppily bound, book. It is written in an almost impossible to read scrawl, illustrated with a tendency towards gory and macabre imagery, and the margins are full of tiny, and almost illegible, notes.-

... But turning aside from these debates on their origin, we look again to the arrival of the Blaiddmor (pronounced blai-th-more) family in their ancestral home. The exact date is unknown, and most of the details that come down to use from those days are cluttered with myths and tales that are sprinkled with magic, creatures of darkness, and feats of bravery that would seem excessive if attributed to a god. However, with the aid of other established history and a logical approach to the myths, some facts can be ascertained.

It is known for certain that the Blaiddmor family were sea raiders of a sort, although it is unlikely that they are in any way connected to the more famous Nords or any of the other assorted clans of the Nordlands. It is also known that the family takes its name from the infamous Blaiddmor who first arrived in the highlands they call their home. His complete name is lost to history, and he is known only by his now-famous nickname, meaning, in the original language of his tribe (The same as the High Speech that is still spoken among members of his family), "like the wolf".


Famous painting of the landing of Blaiddmor and his clan, at the famous Mynyddcyrae. Painting reproduced by permission of the Historical Society of the University of Fleichsiddae.

Also known, is that the Bladdopl (pronounced bla-tho-pal), the fanatically loyal warrior class in most nations ruled by a member of the family, are almost exclusively descended from the notoriously devious and bloodthirsty clan that originally came over the sea with the first Blaiddmor. In a similar fashion, most of the nobles are descended from either the original clan council, or other members of the Bladdopl who were raised to the nobility during the meteoric rise of the Blaiddmor family several centuries later.


A painting of the crowning of Blaiddmor at the Blaiddgraig, supposed site of his semi-legendary encounter with a wolf pack. Painting reproduced by permission of the Historical Society of the University of Fleichsiddae.

Regardless of how it was founded, the rule of the Blaiddmors remained fairly local for many years. Some historians believe it took nearly two centuries for them to take any sort of notice of the outside world, and the event that was to propel them into the spotlight was an event no one could possibly have predicted...

-Here the writing changes abruptly to a discourse on Haelmarian cheese-

Ahhh, I appear to have switched a few chapters around, when all those manuscripts came out of their binding..
I'll take a look through the Cheese section of my library, and I should have the next chapters for you soon.

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the pants." - Archimedes

"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two pants." - Aristotle

"The greater the pants, the more the glory in surmounting it." - Epicurus

"Wisdom begins in pants." - Socrates

Skull: More potential than Crusader Kings? I would be quite astonished if a game ever came along again that was quite as perfect for story-telling as that game. It will be going on the to-buy and to-play-and-use-as-a-storytelling-device lists however. I plan on making a habit of posting fairly regular AAR's on here, so when I get it, I will be sure to inform you so you can watch my newbish struggles. 
On the subject of "Byzantine", I would have to agree with Jubal. Referring to at as the Roman Empire in normal conversation would cause needless confusion to people who were either unfamiliar with the time-period, or didn't know what was being discussed.
Although in this as well, I am less than consistent. I do often find myself dramatically referring to Byzantium as "The Heart of The Eternal and Glorious Realm of the Romans, and The Queen of Cities" in ordinary conversation, rather then use her new name. 
It has gotten me some odd looks when I say it in public, believe me.

Jubal: Ehhh, quit being so convincing.  You make valid points though, and ones that I can not think of a way to effectively counter, so I'll just subtly change the subject so I don't have to admit the hypocrisy inherent in my position. >.>
I will admit that I don't find them nearly as annoying as the Greeks, the most spectacularly overrated people in human history, by a considerable amount.

Also, I am eager to get to writing, so I shall probably start soon and hopefully have something up by tonight or tomorrow. 

Jubal: A rematch at Carrhae, perhaps? 
Logically speaking, I should love Carthage, because I also normally love obscure nations, and Carthage was a pretty fascinating place. But the whole baby-sacrificing thing, and the fact that almost every tale of the Punic Wars makes Hannibal out to be a demi-god, and downplays the bravery of the Romans involved, both sort of irk me.

Skull: I have never heard of that, and it looks like an awesome game. Probably won't get my hands on it for a bit though, as I am saving my gaming money for Europa Universalis IV. Priorities. 
As for Carthage, I might as well change my name to Cato. 

Jubal: I was kind of hoping someone would vote for AOE. It was the very first strategy game I ever played as a kid, and the lack of interesting writing for it, especially compared to Paradox or Total War games, has always saddened me a bit. And also, Byzantines! 
I have sadly never played Civ II, or any Civ game besides Civ III a few times. It makes me feel a bit inferior as a strategy fan.

Well, my life is relatively devoid of serious occupations at the moment, and I have been wanting to start a serious AAR for... well, a very long time now. And, since the Paradox, Taleworlds, and Total War forums are drowning in AAR's, I figured I might as well bring my story-telling talents (if talents they be) to you lovely citizens of Exilian.

I am open to suggestions as to games, prospective strategies, narrative styles, nations to rule, and anything else yall can come up with. A list of games that are available to me on my present, somewhat rubbish, computer, will be stuck at the bottom of this post.

Oh, and I hope thread titles can be changed after I settle on a game and suitably awesome (or ridiculous) name, or else I am going to feel rather silly.

Games:

Age Of Empires II: It might be a bit odd to do an AAR of it, but it would be possible, and potentially interesting.

Medieval Total War: Viking Invasion. A delightful classic, even with its tendency to crash and corrupt saves if I so much as breath wrong.

Rome Total War/Barbarian Invasion: Playing the Western Roman Empire in BI was the single most stressful event in my childhood.

Civilization III: I haven't actually tried it on this computer, but it is probably old enough to work.

Crusader Kings: If this is chosen, it must be admitted that I sort of suck at it. Which could end up being very... exciting.

Europa Universalis II: All those nations. So many choices.

Victoria: I once laboriously kept Austria-Hungary from dissolving for the entire game. I am excessively proud of that.

Hearts Of Iron II: Nothing to be proud of here. The one time I played, I rather spectacularly lost the war for the Allies..

Two Thrones: I have literally never played this game. Got it in the Strategy Pack, with my other Grand Paradox games.

Crowns Of The North: Same as Two Thrones. I don't even know where these are set.

The Operational Art Of War III: Bit of a lesser known game. Never seen any AAR's for it, but I think I could coax something from it.

--------------------
These are all I can think of, off the top of my head.
Here's hoping for some audience participation. 

P.S. I reserve the right to refuse to play Carthage or the Turks.
Carthago delenda est, and the other burnt my beloved Byzantium.

Well, I am not going to get the chance to mod much, as the only computer I own that can handle the Floris Mod, has gone all screwy. The internet for it quit working, and until such time as I buy a flash drive to move the modded files around, or I fix the computer, I won't be doing any uploading anywhere. :/

The Khan: Well, I played around with adding the map to Floris, and it loads up the map perfectly well. Although it is somewhat amusing, seeing King Ragnar holding his court in the Duck and Spackle Tavern. I'll probably be fiddling around with adding the scenes and whatnot, over the rest of tonight. Do you want me to upload Floris with the SR map somewhere? I am not sure where I would upload it..

The Khan: It would be pretty awesome if you did though. I may actually mess around with it some too, it would be nice to have a project to work on, even if it is way out of my skill range.

debux: Thanks for the hello! And I am pretty sure I posted an in character introduction thread, which should be somewhere in the introductions. I'll fish it out later for ya.

Thanks to all of you, for your welcome.
I feel so loved. 

Scarlet and Rob: Glad it was enjoyed, and yes, the good Lord himself may pop out of retirement eventually. I have been rather drowned in college and such things, that I haven't been able to get to the pile of letters I have from him and his embassy. Oh, and glad you like the name, Rob, I am switching over a lot of my internet things to it, as it is a bit more stylish then anything I went by before.

Pentagathus: I am going to forever picture you as grumpy cat now, whenever I see you post. Sorry.
You are right though, people are pretty dang nice here. I have always been confused as to why so many newcomers don't stick around.

The Khan: I am partial to Myth myself. 
And I remember when I saw Southern Realms too... I almost sobbed when I realized it wasn't for Warband. The mod itself is utterly fantastic, but I can never seem to get used to the original M&B animations.
I might just drop by the Beer Celler, college is slacking off a bit now, so I might have the time.

P.S. In case no one could tell, I like posting walls of text, even when not in character. The curse of being a writer.