[RTR AAR] My Life - Character Story

For a first step, I'm just copying it here from the RTR AAR forums. For the original Thread click my sig.



... I guess I should call it home. After all I had never seen any other place in my life.
My life - twelve years in the streets of this town, seeing the good and evil, the wealthy and poor. I had spent some time trying to find my way into their world.
Without guidance and at least some persons to trust, to share my thoughts, wishes and fears with - impossible.
The times when I had parents or somebody who cared for me were long gone and fell into oblivion, surpressed by the task to survive every upcoming day on my own.
This task forced me to remain cautious and observant, looking for lost coins on the ground or dropped remains of "food" ,watching out for violent men that wouldn't even stop if their target was a kid.
Soon I began to realize that many of the peasants around me, hurrying through narrow lanes, plodding in blacksmiths, tanneries, labouring on the fields and forrests, had their focus on their work at daylight, on beds or taverns at night.
They were blinded by their work, forcing their way through the streets in order to get to the place they belong to.
The huddled masses were used to run into eachother, to jostle someone, and so they didn't even perceive when someone touched their arm or streaks their clothes when passing by.
Opportunities opended up for me. For the time being I helped out with simple errands, or helped the occupied persons in carrying their pockets further.
Good for both sides of course, I had their money and they got rid of the enourmous weight of the pocket, dragging them down, detaining them from getting to work as fast as they could.
A pickpocket - yes, but who cared? I did not, and someone else wasn't relevant.






The ordinary citizens, when returning home in the evening ,always in fear of unknown, cruel looking, dangerous criminals waving three or more knifes about, that only want to cut out their vital organs. A twelve year old, skinny boy surely does not look dangerous to them.
The drunken soldiers leaving the tavern late at night singing songs about female body parts, loosing their balance every two steps, drooling, puking. The next morning they would certainly not remember how much money they had left from the orgy last night.
The nobel men. Overconfident, covered in expensive cloth or shining armour, contemptously smiling and ignoring the scum of the streets and eventually passing through them without bodyguards.


They were all the same. Easy to trick. Easy to deceive.


By now I had collected enough experience to supply myself and could relieve some of the pressure the daily "survival trip" caused. This gave me the possibility to reconsider my vicinity.
Wandering through the nature outside the city, I noticed that this place was of a certain beauty.



Maundering along the beach, gazing at the mountains, I started to feel an urge to know what was beyond the places my eyes spotted.





Where is this landscape, this town the people here call Salona, exactly? Are there more towns of Illyrians, how the people here call themselves?
What lies in all those different directions my eyes can see?
Behind the mountains, the valley, the sea?
There was not one single man I could ask all those questions that suddenly spread in my mind.


I spend a few days exploring the environment, found a wooden buckler on the edge of the forest and after some sights of wild dogs and foxes, I made a sling out of an old piece of cloth that was lying in the mud on the side of a street.
Then I practiced with stones that I had found at the beach.



The sun slowly went down and I returned to the town. Looked around. Something had changed. The streets were empty.
Passing a tavern, the noise of laughter, shouts and crashes missed.
The only sound that was clearly noticeable was a crashing hammer on an anvil in a blacksmith located not far away.
A feeling I had not experienced for some time now crawled up my spine.
Something changed and I was unaware.
Insecure!
I headed to my bedding behind an old house, hidden between some piles of wood.
After coming to rest, I could not draw my attention to anything else but the fact that my life would change.
Few days ago my thoughts went in unknown directions - In the same time unknown incidents occured that obviously affected everyone.
I may not belong to them, but I am a part of this town.
Listening carefully to the nightly sound of a town falling into a light sleep, I drifted away at last.

I awoke with a start. Shouts and the pattern of hundreds of feet penetrated my ears. And my clothes were wettish thanks to a slight rain that poored down from the grey sky.

Must have slept too long, the town's already too busy.
Hell, that was one strange yesterday..

I decided to stay in the town for today to find out what happened in this place that scared the people so bad the past evening. Socializing - just a little bit...
The sun stood high enough to tell it was about noon, that would explain the masses on the streets.
The townsquare besides the townhall was certainly the best place to go. At this time of the day it was nearly overcrowded and there would certainly be some conversations worth listening to.
Strolling in this direction I already caught up some information from those women, very busy in blabbering all day about the weather and the wool quality, when they felt secure even whispering: "He came home long after midnight, shouted and slapped me..[..]"
Nothing of interest to me or anyone else, but the word "Scodra", which was a likely the name of a town, was mentioned pretty often in other cases.
Finally I arrived at the townsquare with its marketstands and folks, listened, searched.
There was it again. A pair of women talking to eachother - I moved closer..

- "..hold on a second, they left Scodra? Why?"
- "I don't know! The merchant from Scodra just told me that these men were heading towards the ships."
- "But... how many are they?"
- "He said something about two thirds of the local garrison... after all the different years... they just can't stop!"
- "Two thirds?! Glava, don't tell me the High King is in Scodra! It just can't be! He changed everything!"
- "Agirrus campaigns in Delmatia - I don't think he even knows.."
- "Our capital is without his leader and instantly they went braindead, Armatus help us!"
- "Slow down! We just don't know what they're up to yet!"
- "... I hope the sea is wild enough to force the boats to stay inside the harbour.."
- "Now turn your mind to something else girl! Lunch is not made by talking!



That was ... enough. Enough for me now, soldiers - Delmatia - boats - OUR? high king - capital? Eh?
So it was true, I clearly felt it. It wasn't just me, a little town, and the sea. There was more, much more..
Of course it had been obvious that there WAS more, but until the few past days it had never been of any importance to me.

I spend some time working on the things just heard, leaning on a tree in the shadows one of the trees spent until the sun slowly went down.
My stomach told me that he didn't recieve anything for this day, moreover had I run out of money to buy something.
So it was time for a little trip through the streets...

Heading off from the townsquare suddenly I recognized him -





Black feathers on his helmet, shining breastplate, a gigantic shield, a fine sword at his belt and a surprisingly light walk.
No doubt this man was a noble. His equipment must have cost a fortune.
As I examined him, it came to my mind that I had seen these 'black helmets' this day in the masses. But they were not attracting my attention though there outer appearance was authoritative.

This one must have something valuable with him.
The question for food will soon be solved. He's just another of those arrogant nobleman.

I followed him, slowly reducing the distance between us.
Then, in a narrow street with some people coming our way and passing being diffcult, I sneaked up on him.

There it was. A little bag on his belt.

With my experience I felt secure.
Made a grab.

As my hand got closer to the bag, I felt a stunning tension that filled his body.

My hand reached the bag.
This tension...



No!




"This is not for you boy."

His eyes were deep and dark, his hand had an enormously strong grip - around my hand.

"Please my lord, don't tell the guards! I'm hungry!" I pleaded.

"You have got talent, boy. Nobody got so close to me before..." His hand still pressed my wrist. It began to hurt seriously.

"Please! What do you want from me?!"

"The times that are to come have a need for such gifted persons like you...
If you have grown tired of how you live, come with me for I will show you something different."

The pain! I yelled out:

"Let go of me!"

"As you wish. But take a look at the skies and you'll know what is to come." He turned around and walked away.


The sky? He had seen it too?
The recent days the clouds and sky were painted red.





I got a strange feeling. A feeling that this was a crucial moment.
He made an offer to me.
He had seen what I have seen.
He knew what I knew.
He knew what I wanted to know.

Trust? - maybe?



I caught up with him just before he disappeared behind the next edge and followed him through the night.





---------------------------
This intro was a homage to a great game series (next to total warrr ) , just in case somebody notices.

He told me everything.

My life in this town has restricted myself.
There hasn't been any way of asking questions, of learning. No chance to understand all that surrounding me.
Not that I really tried though...

But now was the time!
I asked, he aswered.
After telling me the answer to my question, he would extend on the topic,
unlocking loads of information to me, the "inquisitive ignorant".

His hut was located a bit off the outer housing ring. Far away from the crowded streets and the noisy marketsquares.
A site that wasn't attracting attention.

The setting of the interior was comfortable, with many pelts and furs covering the ground or decorating the wall.
Other than that it was rather simple and tidy. Here I spent the following days after we had met.

He was a soldier, though at first sight I had described him as a noble.
Judging by his equipment it had seemed that this man was rich, the place where he was living made me think different.
But in fact, he was an elite soldier - that would explain why I haven't seen this kind of armour before.
The "elite of our people", my people, the Illyrians.
Illyrians - after he had mentioned this word, I inquired of him to tell me about our people and who else was there too.
To my surprise he showed me an old parchment and as he explained to me what the artful drawings upon this dusty piece actually ment,
the fog surrounding my hometown slowly vanished.



"A map of the Illyrian lands and its surroundings. We are ... here: Salona, a coastal town significant for sea trade and a safe harbour.
Down the coast to the east there lies the city of Scodra - our capital city, well developed and rich -
of which you should have heard the recent days. I will show you what has happened.."
He began to scribble in the area between Scodra and the coast.
"This army gathered in the capital and is moving to our fleet stationed in the grand harbours of Scodra.
No one here knows what they're up to, even me.." He made a break.

I took the initiative: "I heard about it already. Why is Scodra so important? What makes it our 'Capital'?"

"To explain this I have to reach out quite a bit - look..."
I was told about the different cultures around:
The roaming hordes of Swordsmen to the Northwest, too stubborn to enhance their ways of living and fighting.
To the Southeast the proud 'Greeks', as they call themselves, with heavvy armoured inflexible blocks of soldiers carrying long spears and a people that consider themselves as the most intelligent and most wise of all.
And to the Northeast ferocious Thracians, experienced looters and pillagers, a people of war with dangerous weaponry,
a thorn in the side of all their neighbours, but caught in neverending fights - even their tribes are in conflict with eachother.

"Decades ago we acted in a way similar to the Thracians:
Fighting our little tribal wars and pulling off sea raids into the north-eastern realms and the greek provinces.
Scodra was located next to the Greek boarders and was surrounded by rough terrain,
thus the constant raids southwards brought a certain wealth,
foreign knowledge and technology and in particular strenght to these people thus they managed to hold off greek retaliation.
Ambitious leaders proceeded to unite the villages and towns to the North and west of Scodra that shared almost the same culture,
as for example Salona.
With the Illyrian tribes forming a confederation, military techniques and experiences from one end of our lands to the other were shared.
We kept the high mobility of the light forces and adopted the greek tight blocks equipped with large shields and spears,
occasionally equipped with heavvy armour instead of light.
With this reformed army we managed to keep all the invading forces at bay.
I had become a soldier when I was a young men and the fights already went on for many years.
...It shaped a real man out of me in those years, becoming stronger and more respected after each battle survived.
When they accommodated me into the elite ranks of heavvy spearmen, I had already grown weary of warfare...
Nevertheless I fought back-to-back with my comrades, surrounded, outnumbered, covered in blood, sweat and other materials."




He told me everything.
If I had suspected some of the horrible things he had described to me, I would have felt a bit better afterwards...

"[...] The attackers slowly respected the Illyrian power over the years.
The number of fights decreased, all participants have had enough of war.
Our leader then put effort into organization of peace, holding back the warmongers, building up foreign relations - creating a time of relief.
Since then peace is lasting unto today." A certain bitterness lay within this sentence.



After some days of education I was lying on my bedding in Verzo's hut, doing something I missed out recently:
Thinking about my situation.
Suddenly I realized how rapidly all these strange things happened:
Getting caught red-handed when robbing a man, only to find myself sleeping in his hut, eating his food the next day...

What did he want from me? Why is he doing all this for me?
I had asked him all kinds of questions but these - no reason to rush or risk something. After all I owe him.
In time he will tell me, but still -
It's unpleasant to have no clue about one's own destiny.




I was shaken out of my sleep by strong hands and Verzo's voice.
"Get ready! Your training begins."
Unable to react in any other way than blinking disbelievingly my mind slowly learned a lesson from my eyes and got into service.

Few minutes later I followed him out of his dwelling.

"Where are we going?"
"Just a bit off the town..."

He stopped when we reached a relatively plain meadow. I grew more and more eager to know what he was up to.
Verzo turned around. He was wearing his complete equipment, spear and shield.

"Have you ever held a weapon in your hand?"

I stared at him. His face missed any expressions.

... Anyway - to say the truth: "Yes, I did."

Waiting for him to say something, he didn't react. HE was waiting.

Almost casually I said: "A sling... I owe a sling."

His left eyebrow lifted a bit.

"A sling can hardly be described a weapon. It's more like a toy for hurling little stones around..."

A toy?
I am neither a baby nor a grown man! What was he expecting?

I shouted abruptly though that hadn't been my intention:

"I am not a soldier like you! Why should I run around with a big sword or spear that rather drags me down than it is of any use for me?!"

Verzo was slowly closing up on me and seemed a bit... testy.

"Boy don't give me that! You know that dark times are to come and so do I!
This army from Scodra did not assemble to play hide and seek in the mountains -
whatever they will do - it will have consequences that will affect us, you and me,
it is every single one's duty to be prepared for the worst!
You are a boy but that won't spare you - and your little sling could not even stop an attacking wolf. Get back to reality, 'boy'.
This isn't a world for dreamers maundering like there wouldn't exist anything bad to happen!"

Suddenly he drew a short sword, dropped it in front of my feet, turned around and walked away slowly.

Who did he think he was? An allmighty omniscient god walking on earth? T
he way he looked down on me and treated me like a dumb little boy really began to provoke me.
My hands moved slowly to the bag at my belt.
'and your little sling could not even stop an attacking wolf' - well 'old man',
it actually could. Now that's something you dont know, eh?
Time to teach the 'old man' a lesson!



I don't know exactly what I hit, but Verzo's scream and the fact that went down told me enough. Satisfaction!
I felt strangely eased, guess it had been time to let off steam...
After standing idly, with a grin in my face, for a moment, I was astonished to see Verzo rising from the ground.
He turned around smoothly and -

began to run! He speeded up more and more as if nothing had happened! He raised his shield and speer -
fear crawled up my spine! What had I done?




My view fell upon the short sword lying in front of me...
Maybe? Maybe all this happened on purpose?
It was worth a try - he wouldn't kill me.
I hoped.

There was no time for thinking. I picked up the sword.

Just in time to see him swinging his spear like a club, instead of stabbing, so that the shaft dashed heavily against my left side.

The pain took my breath away and I stumbled backwards. Blood rushed in my head.

"Defend yourself!" I barely heard his shout while trying desperately to keep my balance.

For a moment my feet seemed stable - I tighted my grip around the hilt and stabbed almost randomly in his direction.




The peak crashed against his shield which pushed my whole arm aside, so that my chest was exposed.
I was stunned for a few seconds.

Enough for Verzo to advance and knock me down with a blow from his right shoulder.


Lying in the grass I had my eyes closed and was catching my breath.

He was breathing heavily too.

"That's enough for now." His voice had a warm tone.
"You're brave. And that... is a good start." Silence.
"Quite emotional too. I hope you forgive me, I was just testing you..."

Well, old man, I am more smarter than you think.

"Err... good shot. For the rest of the day it will be painful for me to rest my bottom." He started laughing.
And I had to smile too.



After a break my basic training began.



The sun already went down as we returned home. The physical training was hard for my body wasn't used to it but I was feeling good.
It was good to have a teacher, someone to ask and listen to, and someone who knew the right 'methods' for teaching things.
Being that active made me thinking better and better of my live.


Arriving at Verzo's hut I was exhausted, tired and longing for my bedding.
As I lay down, the steps of Verzo came closer.

"It is not over, young man."

What? I turned my head in his direction. "What do you mean?"

"Your training for today isn't over yet. Now follows the next part."
Oh man! My mind and muscles were begging for a rest.

"More weapons? Please, let m..." I had to yawn.

"No, no weapon training. I shall teach you in a business you already know pretty well."

Considering it was night outside and his last sentence I sensed what he meant. After all we met when I tried to pickpocket him.



He would introduce me to the world of shadows.

He would open up the world of sound and silence for me.

He would teach me to examine nature, cities, towns, villages, houses, huts and how to act there - if I wanted to move unseen, invisible.



The moon stood high when I had the permission to return to my bedding. I was done for this day.
Who is this man, who seems to be a soldier, a thief, and a wise man at the same time?

As we were both ready ourselves to sleep, I turned to Verzo. I was so tired everything seemed indifferent to me.

"What do you want me to do? Steal from people?"

Verzo looked up, returned my gaze but remained silent.
Then he turned his eyes away and said slowly:

"Yes..." He hesitated...
"I want you to steal from people."


I felt that this was

- a lie.

Without looking at me again he went to his bed, and so did I.
In this night strange pictures haunted my dreams.




----------------------------------------------
I am not a history prof. The story about the factions and tribes are all made up so don't be surprised.
This AAR will compete in Power Wizards great AAR Contest!

*phew*, this is truly a masterpiece as AARs go... If the text was more fleshed out, you could make it a book. And one that I'd read, to boot!

Originally Posted by Jingle_Bombs

If the text was more fleshed out, you could make it a book

Well that's my prob. My language and colloquial skill in english can't match other AARs. It takes a heck of a long time for me to write these chapters (especially the last one, duh) as I'm not used to write and invent a story anymore.

Furthermore I always had so sum up some passages coz otherwise the text would become REALLY long and it would take too much time to write all this.

But of course I'm very happy about the positive and motivative comments - feel free to release some criticism also.

Originally Posted by mollsomg

Well that's my prob. My language and colloquial skill in english can't match other AARs. It takes a heck of a long time for me to write these chapters (especially the last one, duh) as I'm not used to write and invent a story anymore.

Furthermore I always had so sum up some passages coz otherwise the text would become REALLY long and it would take too much time to write all this.

But of course I'm very happy about the positive

It's bloody brilliant, !

and motivative comments

G'WAN SON! PUSH IT SON! HARDER SON! YOU CAN DO IT!

- feel free to release some criticism also.

You're too bloody good.

Seriously though, I love this AAR, keep it up and don't let it die!

super!!!!
i already read the start in the original topic, but i'm happy to have read the rest now
keep it up man

i always wonder how you manage to have only 1, or 2 guys on your pic??

Regards!

Valerius Tiberius

ps: may i advice you to put your banners off like in the last pic, that little banner makes it look less nice
so for later screens, plz put it off

Originally Posted by Valerius Tiberius

super!!!!
i already read the start in the original topic, but i'm happy to have read the rest now
keep it up man

i always wonder how you manage to have only 1, or 2 guys on your pic??

Regards!

Valerius Tiberius

ps: may i advice you to put your banners off like in the last pic, that little banner makes it look less nice
so for later screens, plz put it off

haha valerius I just love your "super!!! " 's

about the 1-2 man on battle screenshots:

Movie_cam is the order of the day and a lot of patience. The pic where our nameless hero stabs Verzo's shield was bloody hard to take. Unit size 80...

I guess you're german?

Originally Posted by mollsomg

about the 1-2 man on battle screenshots:

Movie_cam is the order of the day and a lot of patience. The pic where our nameless hero stabs Verzo's shield was bloody hard to take. Unit size 80...

You can always lower the unit sizes in the Video Options menu, or if you really need to get them down, you can edit EDU.

But really man, don't kill this. It's a great (and, dare I say, revolutionary) AAR.

guess you're german?

hell no now why you think that?
i'm Belgian btw

but, i won't spam this topic with a wonderfull AAR sorry

Great AAR! Best yet.
Prediciton: Verzo is really training him to be a Assasin.
Tha'ts what I think, with the "invisible" and the "weapon" training. Even the part where he lied about stealing made me think this.

like i said in the original thread, amazing work with this.
its a breath of fresh air.
i loved the picture that shows flaming arrows falling behind raised spears, it's like something out of a movie. i wonder how you'd go about portraying a full battle.

Prediciton: Verzo is really training him to be a Assasin.
Tha'ts what I think, with the "invisible" and the "weapon" training. Even the part where he lied about stealing made me think this.

nah, he's training him to become one of the elite soldiers, like he is/was, so he can stop the enemies

Originally Posted by Valerius Tiberius

nah, he's training him to become one of the elite soldiers, like he is/was, so he can stop the enemies

I think he's training to become an assassin as well, and the whole "elite soldiers" is just a cover.

If there was to be a REAL twist, Verzo is only training him in order to gain his trust, so that eventually, Verzo will be able to send him on missions to kill members of the Illyrian ruling family to either weaken the country so that enemies can invade, or so that Verzo himself can take control. The hero will eventually realize that Verzo has betrayed him and will be forced to confront him.

Jesus christ! It's a great feeling when ppl debate about one's own story
Thank you mofos for your support!

Aye aye, you're very lucky,

Now spare us more waiting and give us the update!

hopefully your not influenced by our debating
just keep your own story line and we'll see what it becomes
waiting for a next part!

So anymore chapters yet?
I'm dying!

Originally Posted by anelious phyros

So anymore chapters yet?
I'm dying!

You seem pretty alive

I'm starting to write right now!

Originally Posted by mollsomg

You seem pretty alive

I'm starting to write right now!

Hurry Mr.Bannana! We not have much time.
Can't wait though. One thing you should have is a Lakedonian Diplomat called Anelious Phyros, that would make the story perfect.