Car-sader Kings - Medieval Motor Tycoons AAR

[uhhhscizo]

Welcome to the Car-sader Kings AAR. In this thread, you will hear tales of Motor Company Tycoons time travelling far into the past, having their souls reinCARnated, travelling across PLANES of reality, and other similar shenanigans. My main goal is to be entertaining and educating, as well as make an AAR, something I have never done before.

Obviously, this will not be very serious, though it may dip into being serious if its thematically appropriate.

I do have a few mods enabled, though most of them are cosmetic mods. Besides that, I also have the VIET Events mod.

Enjoy.

 

[HistoryDude]

An AAR based on car puns? This sounds like it could be amusing. Subbed!

 

[NarcomancerPL]

You bought me already. Can't wait for the first part ^^

 

[uhhhscizo]

John DeLorean Preface

John DeLorean was, in our timeline, the founder of the DeLorean Motor Company. I know very little about this man, excluding that fact.

In 1975, John DeLorean founded the DeLorean Motor Company, which produced (fairly low quality) sports cars, some of which were prominently featured in the famous Back to the Future franchise. In 1982, he was implicated in a sting operation by federal agents, to buy 6.5 MILLION dollars worth of cocaine. He was later acquitted, after it came out that he was set up, but his business never recovered. (By the way, he DID still commit a crime, even if he WAS set up.) He died in 2005.

In 1995, a British man, by the name of Stephen Wynne, revived the company, and purchased the trademarks, as well as other logos, from the old DeLorean Motor Company, though this is almost completely unrelated.

However, in this timeline, we can imagine a certain degree of divergence from the "base timeline". For whatever reason, sometime after 1985, DeLorean funneled what remained of his fortune after the trial into researching de-aging technology, as well as time travel technology. This was in an attempt to start his company sooner, and not make such a gigantic mistake. This culminated some years later in the first successful instance of time travel, in the DeLorean Time Machine™ (modelled after the time machine from Back to the Future, nonetheless), travelling from 1988 to 1966. DeLorean had the foresight to install the de-aging technology into the vehicle, as well, so he (very painfully) de-aged 22 years, and became a 41 year old man. In a fit of rage, he violently destroyed the de-aging technology, before hiding his car behind a sign.

DeLorean made an attempt to accomplish this goal, of starting his company much sooner, but he was unable to do so. There was simply not a market for sleek, silver, poorly designed, "aerodynamic" sports cars, it seemed. After this, DeLorean fell into a deep depression, and booked a trip to Switzerland, bringing his car with him. Here, he fell in love with money, and became very greedy. He spent the rest of his money on buying the purest gold he could, and went heavily into debt to finance his gold addiction.

Eventually, though, DeLorean learned the hard way that the Swiss took these things very seriously, as the debt collectors came knocking on his door... Luckily, DeLorean still had his time machine, so he collected his things, snuck out the back door, got in his car, and drove far, far away. 1100 years away, into the past, to be exact. He had ended up in the year 866. John DeLorean had gotten away! Unfortunately, the road on which he drove did not yet exist in the year 866, so both he and his time machine plummeted into the canyon below. His time machine was destroyed, but he had escaped. DeLorean gathered his things into a bag, and travelled to the closest city, Geneva.

Here, DeLorean became a local celebrity. The local people believed him to be a foreign prince, come to town to show off his vast wealth. They would grovel at his feet, for even a speck of gold from his bag. Occasionally, he would file a tiny bit off, and give it to the man who groveled the hardest. Of course, he couldn't understand a word that came out of their mouths, so he hired a priest to teach him. This was very difficult, as the language he spoke would not exist for another 600 years, though he pushed through, and learned Old French.

Many months later, DeLorean's reputation reached the Duke of Upper Burgundy, and he was summoned to the duke's court. The second he arrived, the duke stood up, and bowed before him, begging to share in his wealth. As it turned out, the duke was a gluttonous hog of a man, who had fallen on some hard times, after his appetite ate through his wealth as well. He was now heavily in debt, and offered DeLorean anything within his power, if he could bail him out.

"Anything?" DeLorean asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Anything." replied the duke.

Soon, DeLorean was the new duke of Upper Burgundy. This was met with great fanfare from the people of Geneva, and great confusion from everyone else. The old duke was very upset with DeLorean, but he had little choice, so he accepted DeLorean's deal, and left for his family's estate.

DeLorean was ecstatic. He had real power once again, and put it to use immediately. He reorganized the Duchy of Upper Burgundy into the DeLorean Wagon Company, and would soon put the duchy's resources to work on building fancy wagons, and breeding horses, which he had sold across Italy, and even beyond. By the beginning of the next year, 867, DeLorean had spent a sizable portion of his wealth on this endeavour, as well as converted to Catholicism out of obligation. Now, with his company thriving so far in the past, how will he change history?

Now, unfortunately, I timed this very poorly. I will be going on vacation over the next week, and therefore, I will not be able to write for a week. I am sorry, though I promise I will return and make more. For the time being, enjoy this preface.

 

[HistoryDude]

Hahaha! Time traveling to escape debt collection from the Swiss!

Will the DeLorean Company expand by conquest? Or debt?

 

[Neoteros]

Fucking hilarious.

 

[AtticusKrass]

Will be following! Great concept.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Bravo, Sir. I admire the courage of anyone whose first post is the beginning of their AAR. I have several recommendations to increase readership: 1) Provide a link to your AAR in your AAR. 2) Comment on other AARs. (This will get your link seen.) Congratulations on @AtticusKrass naming you as writer of the week. (You will need to nominate a successor when your return from vacation.) Have a happy vacation and good luck on your AAR.

DeLorean was a fascinating man. He was GM's boy wonder of the 1960s and a major figure in the development of Pontiac's GTO and Firebird. He was the celebrity of the car companies as he was married to model/actresses Kelly Harmon (daughter of Tom, sister of Mark) and Cristina Ferrare. Both ladies were over 20 years younger than John and in their early 20s when DeLorean married them. Ferrare faithfully hung on DeLorean's arm during the trial, but within eight months of the not guilty verdict, she had divorced DeLorean and married another man. Hungary would have been a nice setting as DeLorean's parents were immigrants from Hungary (father was Romanian).

 

[uhhhscizo]

(You will need to nominate a successor when your return from vacation.)

Is there a specific way I would go about that? I’m sorry, I don’t spend much time on the paradox forums.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Step #1: Go to AARs, LPs, and Fanfiction - General Discussions (button between Fun Forums and Crusader King 3 AARs above your title)
Step #2: Drop down to normal threads, WritAAR of the Week: AtticusKrass (or when page gets bumped, your name)
Step #3a: If you have someone in mind, go to 1st page of thread and see when they received the award (avoid naming someone who has won in the last six months. If they are not a recent winner, start a post on the WritAAr thread, naming the person and the work.
Step #4: Go the work chosen, and notify the person that he/she won the award.
Step #3b: If you do not feel comfortable choosing someone, leave a post on WritAAR that you would like to open the thread to nomination. (I think that either @Qorten (moderator) or @coz1 (thread manager) will officially open the thread.)

Typically the award runs from Sunday to Sunday, since you were late selected and on vacation. You will probably have several day grace period before @Qorten or @coz1 call for a response from you.

If you any more questions, feel free to send me a private message. I can remember the DeLorean court case as it was the celebrity case of its time period.

 

[uhhhscizo]

Duke John DeLorean, of the DeLorean Wagon Company
Born 1925, Died 890
Ruled from 866 to 890

Though DeLorean was many things in his time, a wagon seller was definitely not one of them. During the first few months of 867, DeLorean created a "Research and development team", the first of its kind, made up of the finest minds within his domain. In essence, though, this team functioned in an almost identical manner to any other feudal council of its time. He put this team to work on researching and developing the local economy, so that he could put his vast business acumen to work in his strange, new homeland.

DeLorean's research into the matter went very smoothly, though there were a few bumps in the road. At first, DeLorean sought to do what he did best, and tested a few specially-designed horseless wagons on large, open plains, though he quickly found that such places were difficult to come by. As well, most of the wagons were extremely unwieldy, and often dangerous, resembling bicycles more than anything. Besides, nobody wished to buy them. For this reason, these horseless wagons were scrapped, and their parts sold in the local markets.

Instead, DeLorean decided to refocus his efforts, and dedicated his resources to more practical matters. Soon, the R&D team was focused on creating aerodynamic wagons. These worked very well, and it was found that they were capable of very slightly increasing the speed of the horse pulling the wagon. These new wagons, known as the "DWC-I", were very cheap to make, and soon, they were being sold in markets all across Italy and France. DeLorean became rich from this, and the R&D team was paid well for their efforts.

Soon, word of DeLorean's endeavours had reached the king of Italy, Louis II, and a messenger was sent to Geneva, at his behest.

DeLorean was formally invited to sit on the king's council, to work as a steward, as well as travel to the capital city, Turin, as soon as possible. This was surprising, though not entirely unexpected, as even DeLorean's own steward commented on how good he was at stewardship. DeLorean told the messenger to relay the message that he was honored, and would accept the position. Soon after the messenger departed, DeLorean prepared to take a trip to the capital city of Italy to accept his position, as well as pay homage to the king. Later that week, DeLorean arrived in Turin, to great fanfare from the local people. His wagons had been especially popular here, it seemed, as many people thanked him directly. Quickly, though, DeLorean found that the king was not in residence. After speaking with the Archbishop of Italy, the only councilman in attendance, DeLorean was informed that the country was at war, and the king was away.

There was little he could do, so DeLorean returned home to Geneva to wait for the king's return. In the meantime, he resumed his studies of stewardship and the local economy. Additionally, DeLorean began buying out pasturelands across the region, which were quickly rededicated to the DeLorean Wagon Company's horse breeding program.

Over a year later, on Christmas Day, 868, the war was won. Only two days later, on the 27th, DeLorean departed for Turin once more, to pay homage to his king. This was a large ceremony, with many men in attendance to observe the event. Though the Italian king found it unorthodox for a merchant company to rule so much land, he had no issue with the arrangement, and accepted DeLorean's oaths.

After DeLorean returned to Geneva, he quickly found that his bishop, Ceolnoth, had begun spreading rumors about him to the other members of the council. Ceolnoth was a Saxon, from Canterbury, and so he was displeased to see a "Frenchman" administrating the land that his bishopric was within. Though his words meant little to most, they did bring down the mood whenever DeLorean called his R&D team together, so something would have to be done about him. DeLorean was well aware that few would bat an eye if the old, crotchety bishop ended up dead one day, perhaps at his hand, though he was also well aware that this was not something he had the stomach for. DeLorean devised a much better plan, to simply make the bishop a friend of his.

Around this same time, something struck DeLorean. While testing out the new "DWC-II", one of the horses ran directly into DeLorean, knocking him over. This injured him greatly, and he was bedridden for a month. During his time in bed, the members from his R&D team all approached him individually, asking him who he would appoint as his successor. This made DeLorean realize something: he was unmarried, had no children, and therefore, had no one to pass his company to when he died. As soon as he was able to leave his bed, he dedicated his R&D team to something different; they were to search Europe, and find him a wife.

After some weeks of searching, the R&D team found a 22 year-old Catalan noblewoman from French Barcelona, by the name of Ermessenda, and suggested that they marry. DeLorean figured that this was a wise idea, and a marriage was arranged through the woman's brother, one Count Guifré 'the Hairy' of Urgell. Though the woman initially did not like him, for being a poor diplomat, she came to appreciate the bond they shared, if merely so that she could lead a happy life with the one she would spend the rest of her life with.

Over the next few months, DeLorean sought to please his wife, so he purchased for her a fish pond in Geneva. Ermessenda appreciated the gesture, and so, by the beginning of the summer of 870, she had become pregnant with DeLorean's child.

Later that year, on the 22nd of December, DeLorean's first daughter with Ermessenda was born. He named her Catherine, after his other daughter, with his other wife. She had divorced him before he travelled back in time, though, so DeLorean was in the clear, with God, at least.

With his succession secured, DeLorean returned to his company, and began investing in the local pasturelands once more. DeLorean would give the land to trusted horse ranchers, who would live and work the land, and in exchange for sending the strongest horses to the capital, would be allowed to pass their knowledge and lands down to their children.

Similarly, DeLorean decided to dedicate his R&D team to developing Geneva's infrastructure. This was a gigantic pain, as the city had been built before the discovery of City Planning. Coincidentally, City Planning had not been discovered yet. DeLorean attempted to explain the concept to the R&D team, but they were wholly incapable, or perhaps unwilling, to understand what he was talking about, so he abandoned the idea. This only made developing the city more difficult, and more of a hassle, as DeLorean was forced to make most of the plans himself.

Around this time, DeLorean also decided that it was time to expand the reaches of his company, so he began searching the Italian countryside for prime land to expand into. After sending his spymaster, Perinne, he found that there were prime pasturelands just south of the county of Savoie, in the Forcalquier. At first, DeLorean sought to purchase the land directly, and sent a letter to the Duke Angilbotto of Provence. Negotiations quickly fell through, though, once his messenger was sent back home with nothing more than a hearty laugh. DeLorean took this insult personally, so he sent Ceolnoth to justify war upon the duke.

Unfortunately, around this time, DeLorean found that his young daughter Catherine had been born with a poor physique, and many of the nurses that attended to her worried that she would not make it past her first birthday. As the days passed, and it became increasingly clear that she was not getting much better, DeLorean spent less time with his R&D team, and more time at home, with his daughter.

This turned out to be in vain, however, as by that fall, Catherine had taken her last breath, and was buried just outside of a churchyard, in Geneva.

This deeply, deeply upset DeLorean. He no longer had an heir, yes, but he had also lost a child. This was a grief he had not experienced before, and would never wish upon even his worst enemy, whoever that may be. He confided in his wife about the truth of his origin, and told her not to reveal these secrets to anyone else. She did not, mostly because she did not believe a word that came out of his mouth, but she was still able to calm him, if even just slightly.

DeLorean was still unable to shed his grief, so he spent a large amount of his money on holding a multi-day feast, hoping it would take his mind off of the matter, if even temporarily. He encouraged the richest men and women within the company's territory to attend this feast, which was not a difficult task to accomplish.

More than a week after the feast began, someone pulled a prank. By putting a still living peacock to sleep, the prankster was able to cause quite a ruckus, when the peacock awoke and attacked Guntbert, the mayor of Susa. After this, Duchess Ermessenda chased the creature away into the night, and the feast went on as planned.

More than a week after this, the feast came to an end. DeLorean thanked everyone for coming, and returned home. His plan had been a success! He had managed to get his mind off the death of his daughter long enough to calm himself down, and was able to return to his duties as the leader of the DeLorean Wagon Company.

On the 15th of February of the next year, Ermessenda gave birth to a healthy baby boy, named Jean. This was a surprise to DeLorean, as he had never even noticed that his wife was pregnant. He found that Ermessenda had known that she was pregnant, but had declined to tell him because it "was not the time". Either way, DeLorean had an heir to his company once again, and made sure that the child was well taken care of, and given the highest quality of medical care that the company could afford.

A few months later, Ceolnoth had finished justifying war upon the Duchy of Provence, and this war was quickly declared.

DeLorean called together the "private army" of the DeLorean Wagon Company, and placed his marshal, Bertrand, in command of the army.

The army marched directly to Forcalquier Castle, and the county was placed under siege. By middle May of the following year, the castle was occupied, with minimal casualties, and 25 men were sent in to garrison the castle. At the same time, though, the levy of Duke Angilbotto had rounded the Alpine slopes, and travelled to Moûtiers Castle, in the county of Savoie.

The army was immediately sent back to the company's territory to combat this threat. When the army arrived on July 21st of 873, a fierce battle begun. For a month, the battle raged, with heavy casualties inflicted on both sides. The battle was won, though, on August 27th, and in the process, Erlulf, Duke Angilbotto's son, was captured. He served as a key bargaining chip with the Duke, and the war was soon over.

With this out of the way, the army was sent home, and the County of Forcalquier was integrated into the DeLorean Wagon Company's territory. Bertrand was sent to quell rebellion in the newly gained territory, and helped local leaders transition into their new lives within the company. For his service, Ceolnoth was granted the Bishopric of Embrun, in the newly gained territory. DeLorean wasted little time, and invested in the pasturelands of Forcalquier, as he had in Geneva.

On February 5th, 874, Ermessenda gave birth to twin daughters, named Ermessinde and Stéphanie.

Over the next year, DeLorean would return to the development of the "DWC-II". He decided to scrap the old design, and focused on military uses for his wagons. He started by having his R&D team focus on researching chariots, and charioteers. After some weeks, it was decided that the most effective way to accomplish this goal would be to emulate Roman chariots, and include protruding spikes at the ends of each wheel. Even further, it was decided that very strong horses would be bred specifically to pull the DWC-II. Some months later, a prototype was developed, and soon, the DWC-II was being produced en masse, and the blueprints sold to wealthy noblemen across Italy. They would have been sold even further beyond, though at the king's behest, this technology was kept away from the eyes of foreign dukes and kings.

DeLorean was so proud of these new chariots, that he had 200 of them integrated into his own army. They were horribly ineffective, and even dangerous in the mountainous Alpine environment, though the "DWC-II Chariot Division" would remain in the DeLorean Wagon Company's army for a long time.

As young Jean aged, it was found that he rarely played with the others, and would often retreat inside, to think. He would often sit around others, and listen quietly as they told stories. He also rarely spoke. This began to worry DeLorean, as he didn't wish for his son to grow up meek, though Ermessenda assured him that this was just the way of things, and that some children were simply born with a bookish temperament.

Later that year, on September 28th, 875, Ermessenda gave birth to another child, a girl, named Sarah.

That December, DeLorean's R&D team met together, and suggested that the Moûtiers quarry, which regularly brought in stone for the local economy, be developed into an ore mine. They theorized that such an endeavour could help speed up any construction efforts within the region. The project was immediately greenlit, and a letter was sent to the local architectural team to begin.

In January of the next year, a sculptor arrived in Geneva, seeking an audience with DeLorean. After some discussion, it was found that this man was responsible for creating many public works of art, for free, nonetheless, within the company's territory. Most of the statues were of fairly low quality, but they were free, which was what mattered. Either way, this man offered to make a sculpture for DeLorean, for a sizable fee, of course, in order to display his pious nature.

DeLorean accepted the man's offer, and soon, he was given a statue of an indistinct holy figure.

The statue was place in DeLorean's garden, where it would stay for many, many years. DeLorean would eventually come to regret spending so much money on such frivolous matters, however this was a secret he kept to himself. A year later, in January of 877, the quarry, at the behest of the R&D team, was fully developed into an ore mine. Almost immediately, the reports came in of cartfuls of iron being delivered to Moûtiers. As well, new industries sprung up in the region to make use of the new resources available. These industries were allowed to prosper within the company's territory, so long as they went through the proper channels to sell their goods, and became subsidiaries of the larger DeLorean Wagon Company.

Merely a few days later, the ancient Bishop Ceolnoth died, and the new Bishop Gaucelin was placed in charge of the company's churches. Gaucelin, unlike Ceolnoth, was a Frenchman, and so he liked DeLorean already. DeLorean liked him, as well, as he knew he wouldn't cause any trouble.

Immediately, Gaucelin was put to work. DeLorean wished to expand the company's territories once again, so he sent his spymaster, still Perinne, off into the countryside to find good land which they could purchase. She searched for many months, but could find no land greater than Genoa. The offer was made to the Count of Genoa, Ansaldo, to purchase his land for a large amount of money. Once again, the messenger was laughed all the way back home to Geneva, and DeLorean had Gaucelin justify war against the count.

The following year, on Jean's sixth birthday, he asked his father for an education. DeLorean had long known his son to be the bookish sort, after all, he spent most of his days listening to stories, so he agreed, and began to educate his son in the scholarly arts.

Unfortunately, DeLorean himself had little scholarly knowledge, so he secretly began to educate himself about such things. Luckily, this arrangement benefitted him in more ways than one. Not only would he make a scholar out of Jean, but also, much of his own research often turned up old Roman ledgers, which he was able to apply to develop new infrastructure for his cities.

One day, a messenger came to Geneva, bearing a surprising letter. Duke Angilbotto, DeLorean's old enemy, wished to be peaceful, and sought to forge an alliance with him. DeLorean found this to be admirable, to be able to forgive ones enemies, so he accepted. After all, he would be going to war soon, and the extra men couldn't hurt his cause.

On June 9th of 879, Ermessenda gave birth to a baby boy, named Archimède.

Later that same year, on the 9th of November, Bishop Gaucelin presented a letter to DeLorean, informing him that they were now well within their right to go to war with Genoa. As it turned out, the ancient founders of the city of Genoa had actually intended to settle in ancient Geneva, but missed by a longshot. For this reason, Gaucelin figured that the city should belong to them. This was, of course, a complete fabrication, a folktale made up by Gaucelin himself, however, DeLorean figured this to be as good a reason as any, and declared war.

Once again, Bertrand, the marshal, was placed in command of the company's army.

A letter was sent to Duke Angilbotto, asking him to honor the newly formed alliance, and join the war against Genoa. Despite being the one to offer the alliance, the duke declined, citing his poor opinion of DeLorean. This made him furious, and DeLorean immediately dissolved the alliance. Instead, DeLorean would find an ally in his brother-in-law, Count Guifré 'the Hairy' of Urgell. He accepted the call to arms without a second thought, and gathered his men to fight alongside DeLorean's army.

Soon, the company's army had crossed the Alps, and was en route to Genoa. The army made a brief stop in Savona, a small city held by the church within the County of Genoa. The city was undefended, so there was little fighting. Here, they set up a base of operations within the county, and sent scouts ahead of them. Within the day, they received word that the Genoan army was fleeing eastward, into the country, and that the city itself would be open for attack.

Bertrand seized this opportunity by the horns, and marched his army into Genoa. It was found that this was easier said than done, however, as though the Genoan army had abandoned the city, the people of Genoa had not, and took up arms to defend their home. This would be a difficult task for Bertrand.

A little less than a year later, the siege was finished. The people were driven from their positions atop the famous Walls of Genoa back into the city, and the city gates were breached, leaving the city open for occupation. In the meantime, though, the Genoan army had circled the Apennine mountains to the north, before heading west, and regrouping in the port city of Monaco. Once the company's army had received this news, they departed from Genoa, and headed west, in an attempt to ambush the enemy army.

This attempt was unsuccessful, however. The Genoan army was dug in, and well prepared to defend against the oncoming attack. In contrast, Bertrand figured that this battle would be easily won, and had grown haughty from his previous victories. It was shown just how ineffective the DWC-II Chariot Division was in such rough terrain, as they were wholly unable to do much of anything in the battle, arguably holding the rest of the army back. This was realized far too late, and though Bertrand sent the Chariot Division away, the damage was already done, and the battle was lost. The company's army was forced to retreat, and in the ensuing chaos, Bertrand himself was almost killed by a pursuing pikeman.

At the same time, Jean's education continued. As it turned out, a rowdy little blonde girl had gotten a little too comfortable around him, taking his things, breaking his things, and punching him. Jean asked his father to have the girl executed, but obviously he would not do that. Instead, DeLorean attempted to turn this into a lesson about power. DeLorean attempted explained that since one cannot avoid confrontation, one must be willful and powerful to take care of themselves. Unfortunately, all Jean heard was that "one must be willful", and became a very arbitrary sort of person. This was a trait he would maintain throughout his adult life, much to the chagrin of his peers.

The company's army retreated to Geneva. Upon their return, Bertrand left the army to speak with DeLorean. He explained the loss they had just faced, and suggested that DeLorean take action, by calling together the army once more, with a stricter eye. Unfortunately, they were only able to find about 60 men that had not already been accounted for, so they were rounded up, and placed within the army.

It was suggested, then, that DeLorean hire men from one of the various merchant companies across Europe. It took some convincing, especially considering the large amount of money he would have to dish out for such an endeavour, but he was convinced, nonetheless. A group of men were found in the border regions between Italy and Bavaria, known as the "Hammer bearers". Despite their name, they fought with bows, and arrows. This was not something to get caught up on, so the money was sent, and within the week, the Hammer bearers were in Geneva.

Soon, though, the army had departed again, for Genoa. Bertrand did not return to command the army, so the Captain of the Hammer bearers, Vetko, prepared to lead the army in his stead.

At this time, DeLorean came to suffer a bout of irritability, stemming from his attempt to not lose face, and be seen as dishonest, or greedy. DeLorean was already a wrothful man, however he often used this to his advantage, using fiery words to get people to do what he wanted. This time, though, everything was going well, they were doing what he wanted, so why was he so mad? DeLorean broke down one day, and began swearing (in English, and French) at every man, woman, and child he came across.

This all came to a head when DeLorean received a letter from King Louis II of Italy, informing him that he was no longer the steward of Italy. Instead, the Count of Brescia, one Berthari Brescia, would be granted the position, despite being poorer at stewardship than DeLorean. Unable to handle it anymore, DeLorean charged off to Turin, and challenged the king to personal combat. Nobody appreciated either of them doing this, but it was done anyways.

Upon arrival at the battleground, DeLorean immediately reached to his waist, and threw a heavy bag of silver coins at the king. This was only barely effective, as though it did halt the king for a mere moment, it was still just a mere moment, and in a fit of rage, the king attempted to cut DeLorean in twain.

DeLorean made another attempt to attack the king, by doing strange and silly things, such as attempting to convince the king that he was insane, and was not a man to be trifled with. This, again, only succeeded in making the king angry, and DeLorean was almost cut in twain, again.

DeLorean made another attempt, this time, going much better than before. DeLorean lifted his sword high, and with a powerful cleave, drove the king back. Now, he was getting somewhere. To defend against this, the king dug his heels deep into the soil below, and held this sword in a defensive position.

DeLorean came to realize something. He would almost certainly not be winning this fight, so he resigned himself to fate, and simply tried to cause and much chaos and have as much fun as possible while he still could. By some miracle, this combination of haphazard swinging and wild sword dancing swept King Louis off of his feet, and onto the ground. The fight was won.

Returning to the war, Captain Vetko lead the company's army into the city of Genoa. In the time it took the men to arrive, the Genoan army had managed to take the city back from the company's control. Notably, the Genoans' stubbornness to retake the city left their army exposed, and unable to flee from the now much larger army approaching their position, and soon, a battle begun.

The battle was an utter and absolute slaughter. All but 69 men were dead by the end of the battle, and Genoa was placed under siege by the company's army once more.

By that summer, the siege was won, and the army departed for the port city of Monaco once again. Some of the men swore up and down that they had vowed never to return to Monaco, something that ticked Captain Vetko off, however someone had to stay behind and garrison the city. During all of this, the remains of the Genoan army retreated around the Apennines once more, and travelled to Monaco. Perhaps, they did in an attempt to regain their past glories, though Captain Vetko would teach them that there was no glory in fighting for a lost cause. They were slaughtered to the last two men, who were taken prisoner.

Monaco was put under siege, but it was hardly a contest. By the end of the year, Monaco was occupied, and the war was won.

After the war, a few soldiers were sent to occupy the new territories, to make sure that they did not immediately revolt, but the majority of the men returned home. The Hammer bearers returned to Geneva, to fulfill their three year contract, and spent the rest of their time drinking and partying away their wealth, before returning home to Bavarian Carantania. For his service, Gaucelin was given the temple city of Savona.

During this time, Jean developed a great interest in the Knights that had begun to stay in Geneva after the war. He had always been the sort to enjoy their stories, however it was only recently that he ever wished to be one, to live the lifestyle of a knight. DeLorean took his son to see one of these knights, and the knight imparted these words onto young Jean DeLorean:

"You know, if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."

Jean took great heed to the knight's words, repeated them to himself whenever he was in trouble. DeLorean took this opportunity to teach his son about the virtues of diligence, and how it can bring one far.

On the 16th of September that very same year, the famous Bertrand succumbed to his wounds, and died. This personally grieved Jean, as Bertrand was a hero in his time, a paragon of knightly virtue. The greatest knight in his time, filled with righteous fury, but in the end, humble, Jean felt that they had truly lost an amazing man. This only drove Jean to continue seeking the life of a knight. For DeLorean, though this was a tragedy, the more pressing matter was that a member of his R&D team had died, and he would need to find a replacement.

DeLorean sent out a call, that he was seeking powerful and skilled knights. Over the next year, three men arrived in Geneva, two French, and one Occitan. DeLorean had his pick of the bunch. After intense interviews with each of them, the Occitan man, Dàvi de Villaret, was found to be the most fit for the position, and the title of "Marshal of the DeLorean Wagon Company" was given to him, as well as a seat on the company's R&D team. Soon, he was sent off to Forcalquier as well, to finish the job that Bertrand had started.

One day in the summer of 885, DeLorean took Jean down to the castle town. Jean took an almost disturbing interest in the punishment of criminals. He would walk over, and attempt to illicit a response from one of the criminals, before deliberately ignoring it, and moving on to the next criminal. DeLorean had quite enough of this, so he made an example of the criminal, and asked Jean to retrieve water for the man. Embarrassed, Jean obeyed his father, and gave the man an entire bucket of clean water. From this day forward, Jean saw the virtue in being kind to others, and would make an attempt to act this way whenever he could. This deeply upset DeLorean, as he began to wonder if he had raised his child correctly. The boy was 13 years old, and he did such things? DeLorean confided in his wife once again, though she assured him that this was merely the way of things.

Nearly a year later, marshal Dàvi had finished pacifying Forcalquier, and he was ordered to his new assignment, in Genoa. The mission was exactly the same as before, he was to help quell rebellion in the region, and integrate the people into the company.

On February 16th, 888, Jean reached his 16th birthday, which meant that he was legally an adult. He had become quite the adept scholar, and a very good storyteller, so DeLorean was told. Throughout the years, one thing that Jean never abandoned was his love for the knightly lifestyle. As a gift, DeLorean bestowed a knighthood upon Jean. Though he was not very good at it, DeLorean felt that this would make his son happy.

In the intervening two years, DeLorean got to work on the development of the "DWC-III". In preparation for this undertaking, DeLorean reinstated the homestead plan in the city of Martigny, and ordered that farmland in the countryside around Savona be dedicated to producing feed for the new horses. He, of course, paid out of pocket for these things.

As always, fairly light and airy wood was required for the construction of the company's wagons. This was a luxury item in these times, one that simply did not exist within the company's boundaries, so DeLorean was forced to import dozens of logs from Aquitaine to even get started. DeLorean decided that he would seek to return to the company's roots, and develop another wagon for the aid of the people. His goal, specifically, was to develop a wagon that could navigate through the rough terrain of the company's countryside.

DeLorean would spend much of his time during these two years travelling alongside his R&D team, who themselves each brought a team of workers. He also used this time as an excuse to go hunting, to take his mind off of everything. Soon, though, a prototype was developed that was light enough to be pulled quickly, though still heavy enough to not go flying off of every cliff and hill in the country.

Afterwards, a few more tons of wood from Aquitaine were imported, and the company got to work on mass producing the DWC-III. Soon, the wagons were being exported all across Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. The highest demand for wagons came from Archon Felictu of Sardinia. Though the Sardinian people were traditionally isolationist, the Archon had begun to see the writing on the wall, and worried that the island's people would fall behind, if they did not take this action. To accommodate, DeLorean invested heavily into the port of Genoa.

Two years later, in 890, business was booming. The company's affairs had never gone better, and DeLorean himself was loaded.

But, of course, DeLorean was not satisfied. Soon, he was hungrily eyeing land to the south, in the Duchy of Provence. DeLorean barely bothered sending a letter to the new duke, Erlulf, the son of Angilbotto, before Gaucelin was travelling around the Provencal countryside, justifying war. Of course, the lords bordering the company had long since caught on to DeLorean's tricks, so Duke Erlulf forged an alliance with the duke of Friuli, Unruoch, to defend against DeLorean's upcoming attack.

DeLorean learned of this alliance through his spymaster, still Perinne. The alliance had been forged after a marriage between Duke Erlulf's young sister, and Duke Unruoch's son, also named Unruoch.

Perinne developed a plan to dissolve this alliance, by having young Clara assassinated. DeLorean utterly refused to be involved in such a thing, but Perinne did not yield. She knew DeLorean well, and so she made up a story about Clara, and how she had directly insulted DeLorean and his children, in public, nonetheless. This drove DeLorean over the edge, and he immediately began plotting to kill his petulant child.

By the time DeLorean had begun to have second thoughts, it was already too late. DeLorean was an old man, physically 65, but mentally, he was an 87 year old man. His long life began to take a toll on him, and he was hardly able to stand up from his bed. This only served to stress him out and upset him even more, and he shouted at practically everyone he saw.

DeLorean attempted to hold a feast to calm himself down, but unfortunately, it was far too late. After a particular meal of the heartiest food he could afford, DeLorean went to bed, and would never wake again. On September 30th, 890, DeLorean died, and the DeLorean Wagon Company was passed down to his son, Jean. How sad!

This one took a while, around two days, to write. I have little else to do besides this, so I'm not complaining. Next, will be the life and times of Duke Jean the Second of the DeLorean Wagon Company. Stay tuned over the next few days! Also, for whatever reason, some of the pictures load in as a link, or something. I have no idea what this is about, and I will make an attempt to correct this whenever I see it.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Thank you, Wonderful. Have you ever read Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court or Eric Flint's 1632 series as examples of modern persons transported back. There are certain things that a medieval person would be better than a modern. Two would be horse rearing and edged weapon usage. Did Duke John need a divorce as is one married if the bride will not be born for a millennium?

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Good stuff.

 

[HistoryDude]

DeLorean is doing surprisingly well for a car salesman displaced in time...

 

[uhhhscizo]

Duke Jean II de Lourein, of the Lourein Wagons Compaignie
Born 872, Died 935
Ruled from 890 to 935

Now, Jean often prided himself on how French he was. He would speak only "The King's French" as it were, and he only very rarely lapsed into his native Genevan dialect. For this reason, soon after the death of his father, Jean took it upon himself to "frenchify" himself, his company, and his family name. House DeLorean was changed to House de Lourein, and as such, the "DeLorean Wagon Company" was renamed to the "Lourein Wagons Compaignie". This was possible only because of Jean, himself, as he and his siblings were the only people on Earth able to speak and understand Modern English, though admittedly, they were fairly poor at it. Despite the name changes, Jean left the coat of arms of both the company and of House de Lourein unchanged, to honor his late father. Jean was also far more prideful than his father, and therefore, had no issue whatsoever with wearing a cape, and a crown.

Jean did still have his duties as a vassal of the king, though, so on the 6th of October, 890, he departed from his mountain home in Geneva to pay homage to King Louis II of Italy.

"How odd," the king commented, "a mere 22 years ago, your father gave me almost the exact same oaths!"

"I wouldn't say. My father was a faithful servant of the realm, and of the crown. I only wish to serve the realm as he did." replied Jean.

"Of course, but I would hope you wouldn't fall to the same vices as him? Anger, greed, and such?" responded the king, with a hearty laugh.

"Then you must not've known much of my father. He was a generous man. Much of his wealth was dedicated to the improvement of his people, and to the improvement of the church, even if it pained him. And, might I suggest, you pay heed your own words?"

"Well, I never...... know that you tread on thin ice, boy." responded the king, clearly taken aback by Jean's words.

"I simply do not take pride in making fun of feeble, dead men, especially not my father. Let him rest, my king."

Jean returned home to Geneva, and got his affairs in order. As it turned out, this was easier said than done. In the transition of power between old John DeLorean and Jean de Lourein, much of DeLorean's business skills had been lost. As well, Jean's younger brother, Archimède, had inherited his fair share of the company's land. He received Savoie, Canavese, and, worst of all, Genoa, meaning he had a large degree of control over what was brought in and out of the country.

If Jean was a worse man, he could have his younger brother killed, or order his lands seized, but Jean was better than that. There was no cause for a brother war, especially if Jean could just as easily expand his territory elsewhere. Jean called together the company's development council, and spoke with his spymaster, Perinne. He asked her to scour the Italian countryside, as she had in years past, for land that the company could expand into.

Soon, Perinne found the county of Brescia, home to the beautiful and rich church city of Bergamo. The count of Brescia, one Berthari (the same Berthari that replaced DeLorean as steward of the realm, nonetheless), was a weak, villainous man. Jean found this reason enough to declare war, and depose the man, however a claim would need to be fabricated on the county before such a thing could happen. The bishop of the realm, Gaucelin, was sent to Brescia to scrounge around for anything, no matter how weak, that could be used against the count to declare war.

In the meantime, Jean developed an interest in Christian theology, specifically, the manner by which men could become saints. He understood little of the process, and began studying it. As a part of his studies, Jean prepared to embark on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, spending a large amount of his money to do so.

Nearly a month later, after travelling across the country, and into the Balkans, Jean began to feel ill.

After another month, on Christmas Eve, Jean found himself in the Greek countryside, just outside of the grand city of Constantinople. Tomorrow was to be a joyous day, they would walk into Constantinople and celebrate Christmas the way it was intended. Unfortunately, some people did not find this day to be so sacred. A group of bandits were spotted a far distance off in the plains, riding to his camp. Jean took this opportunity to demonstrate his prowess with the sword, and cut the bandits down where they stood.

The next day was one of revelry. Though Constantinople followed the more traditional, and therefore less revelrous rites, the city was large enough that Jean was easily able to find like-minded individuals to party with. Soon, though, Jean was forced to depart from Constantinople, and resumed his pilgrimage.

By the end of the next month, Jean had arrived in Jerusalem. Here, he was able to study the faith, and learned much about the ancient martyrs and saints. What he found most interesting was the phenomenon of "incorruptible saints", and the idea that God could prevent a man's body from rotting. Jean observed a few examples of these incorruptible saints, before beginning the journey home. For much of his life, he would remain obsessed with them.

Jean arrived home late the following month to find that the Italian King had declared war upon his young nephew, King Loup of Lotharingia, with the goal of conquering East Francia. This was a war that Jean cared little for, and so he contributed very little.

Unfortunately, though, Jean was soon forced into conflict. The following month, the duke of Tuscany, Adalberto II, had somehow managed to gain a claim on the county of Genoa, and declared war.

The company was outmatched and outnumbered. As always, Perinne, the spymaster, was sent to gain intelligence about Tuscany. It was found that the Tuscans had far more men to their name, and if the company did not receive aid, they would be likely to lose. This was when Jean's arbitrary nature became useful. Jean had his relatives married off to secure alliances with the powerful lords near his borders.

Soon, the company's new allies were called to war, and the army was raised. The greatest commander in the land, a Polabian man named Lucjan, was placed in control of the army.

The army of the county of Lombardia was the first to answer the call. The two armies met in the sparsely inhabited region of Saint-Michel-de-Maurinne, and soon began marching to Genoa.

Once arriving in the county of Genoa, the army received reports that the Tuscan army was fleeing eastward, back into their territory. Commander Lucjan ordered that they pursue the army. They had apparently not expected this, as a battle soon ensued. There were many casualties on each side, however it was ultimately a victory for the Compaignale army.

After the battle, the Compaignale army travelled to the city of Savona, to garrison the city. This continued until July of the next year, when reports came of the Tuscan army laying siege to the city of Milano, in Lombardia. In order to protect the alliance, Lucjan ordered the army be sent to Milano, to dispatch the threat.

As the army approached Milano, Lucjan began to have doubts about his chances. This was not something he shared with anyone, however, soon before the army was set to arrive, the Tuscans abandoned their siege, and fled eastward. Luckily for Lucjan, they had left far too late to escape the Compaignale army, and another battle soon ensued. It was another victory. After the battle, Lucjan received word that a prominent commander within the army, the marshal of Tuscany, as well as the count of Lucca, Phillipe, was maimed in the fighting, losing his arm in the process.

Commander Lucjan noticed that the commander of the Lombardian army, Mayor Oberto of Bellinzona, had failed to report to him after the battle. In fact, the entire Lombardian army was found missing. As it turned out, the army had begun to pursue the Tuscan army. Seeking not to fail his Duke, Lucjan had little choice but to follow the Lombardian army.

The Compaignale army was lead across the Italian countryside, before arriving in the grand city of Luni. Possibly out of some sense of vengeance, the mayor had the city put to siege.

By May of the following year, Luni was fully occupied. In the meantime, however, the Tuscan army crossed into Ivrea, and began laying siege to the city. Jean considered this to be unfair play, and so a peace offer was sent to the duke of Tuscany, and accepted.

Later that summer, Jean received word from Gaucelin that a claim had been successfully fabricated on Brescia.

Now, here, I will cut away from the "immersion" for a moment to explain, in plain words, something unimportant, but nevertheless something that I cannot fail to mention. So, while the company was at war, the count of Mantua declared war on Brescia, and won. This can be seen in the above picture. Now, almost immediately afterwards, the previous count of Mantua died, and his lands were split between his sons. This means, essentially, we are right back where we started. Despite this changing nothing, I thought it was important to bring this up, so nobody wonders why the count of Brescia is someone completely different. Alright, back to the story.

In the process of gaining this claim, Jean was forced to pay quite a heavy price, going deep into debt in the process. It was nigh impossible to fund a war while in debt, so Jean was forced to wait while the company's coffers refilled. As well, the King of Italy had since won the war for East Francia, taking over his nephews entire kingdom in the process, and taking up the title "King of Lotharingia". It seemed as though the King of Bavaria had a similar idea, as well, to go to war over East Francia. These were obviously incompatible goals, so the two kings were at war. This was a dangerous time for internal conflicts, so Jean bided his time, and focused on his company.

During this time, Jean sought to continue his father's legacy, and began work on a "DWC-IV". The DWC-IV was to be an improvement on the previous model, the DWC-III, and be even lighter. In Jean's youth, his father often told him stories about his strange and foreign homeland, of men lifting off from the ground in strange wagons, and flying like birds. These were wonderous stories, stories which Jean hoped to emulate in his own lands. Jean called together the company's development council, and proposed that they begin work on developing such a thing. After all, it was already possible, and had been done before, as his father said. Nobody had the heart to tell him that this father was probably lying, however Jean did own the company, and therefore their livelihoods, so they agreed to help. After all, it was his money being spent, not theirs, so they couldn't care less.

Jean had the council start by finding the original homeland of his father. This required an etymologist, a rare profession in these times, however one was found. It was discovered that "DeLorean" meant "from the land of the laurel trees", a useful first step, however this meant almost nothing, as laurel trees grew everywhere. For many men, this would be the point they gave up, and resigned themselves to fate, but not Jean de Lourein. He was a diligent man, and so his search was diverted elsewhere, to finding one of these "flying wagons".

This proved to be a very difficult task, though soon, help arrived. A travelling merchant from far away India arrived in Genoa on the 12th of November, 895, and offered Jean a simple, small object: a flying paper lantern, from the far east. The Indian merchant explained that after hearing of the duke's plight in Jerusalem, he had come to give him the flying object. Jean offered to pay the merchant handsomely, however his offer was refused, as the Indian merchant stated that he merely wished to help. Soon afterwards, the technology was reverse engineered, and the company began creating and selling flying lanterns of their own, made from cloth instead of paper.

This represented a breakthrough in flying technology, and soon, the company began work on a flying wagon. After capturing and observing birds, it was suggested that a simplified bird-like design be applied to the conceptual wagon. A lightweight wood was chosen for the body of the wagon, and a thin but very compact weave was applied to the "wings" of the wagon, to emulate a bird's feathers. To emulate the strong winds that birds often coasted on, a great multitude of flying lanterns would be tied underneath these wings of the wagon. A system of ropes was designed for the wagon, as well, with the intent of being able to alter the angle of the wagon's wings for any wind. Finally, a powerful team of horses would be set to the task of pulling this great flying wagon by a long rope.

Eventually, the day of the first test came, July 19th, 896. A brave man was chosen to test the new wagon, and the horses were set in motion along a wide, flat plain. As the horses sped along, the man was instructed to tilt the wings upward, to force wind under them, and drive the wagon into the air. The wagon functioned as intended, and was lifted upwards. The man testing the new wagon was amazed, as was every member of the development council, but not Jean. Like the word that the knight, all those years ago had imparted upon him, if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.

The issue came, though, when it was time for the horses to slow down, so the wagon could return to the land. They would not. There was a small panic, and then a massive panic. The horses had been spooked by some sort of snake, and kept running without pause. At first, a fast horse was procured, and ridden in front of the other horses, in an attempt to steer them elsewhere, though this did not work. Another plan was formulated, a much more dangerous plan, to cut the rope, and let the man coast back down to Earth. He was informed of this, and prepared himself. The rope was cut, and the wagon continued flying. Unfortunately, at the same time, the wind began to die down, and the wagon began falling. In a panic, Jean gave a quick prayer to his father that the man would survive.

No later than the end of Jean's prayer, the wind picked up again, and the man was able to slowly coast back to Earth. His prayer had worked! His own father, John DeLorean, had heard his prayer, and passed it on to God. This was the only explanation for such a strange series of events. Jean passed this information on to his council. This was a shock to them, as well. Either way, Jean's mind quickly returned to the matter of the flying wagon. It was found that the man was completely fine, and was able to land the wagon without issue.

The DWC-IV was carted back to Geneva, its design recorded, and the company soon got to work on making more of them. Though it was impressive, it was also very, very expensive to make, and remained a very novel item, for only the richest men in Europe. The original model was placed on prominent display in the de Lourein manor's garden. Though it would always be known by its production number within the company, the DWC-IV gained another name outside of its boundaries, La Char Volant, the flying chariot.

After returning to Geneva, Jean began to wonder just how his father could grant him a prayer to God. He knew that only saints could do such a thing. He hazarded to even think about it. Could his father be a saint? Jean called on his bishop, Gaucelin, and relayed to him his suspicions. Specifically, he asked the bishop to exhume his father, to see if his body was incorruptible.

Miraculously, it was. DeLorean's body was reburied, and Gaucelin returned with the good news. A request was sent to the Pope in Rome to recognize old John DeLorean as a saint in heaven.

It was found that DeLorean had lead a virtuous life, specifically by helping the people within his lands greatly using his vast wealth. And as stated before, his body was incorruptible. On the 11th of Novemeber, 899, the council of priests who determined sainthood determined that every sign pointed to John DeLorean being in heaven, and a saint. This would become his feast day.

Woohoo!

During all of this time, the previous King of Lotharingia died, and was replaced with his young son, Othon. The war for East Francia raged on for many years, weakening Lotharingia enough that the duchies of Transjurania and Friuli were able to gain independence. After almost 10 years of war, peace was offered, and the war was over by the middle of October, 901.

For this reason, Jean was finally able to stake his claim on Brescia, and declare war. The Compaignale army was raised, and Lucjan was placed in command.

Unfortunately, just a few months later, Lucjan fell ill with Typhus Fever, and died. Jean himself took up the mantle of commanding the army, and rode out to meet the troops.

Once the Compaignale arrived in the city of Brescia, to do battle with the opposing army, it was found that merely 81 men were defending the city. They were quickly defeated, and the city was placed under siege.

On September 1st of 902, Brescia was occupied, and the war was won.

Jean returned home to Geneva, finding that in his absence, Bishop Gaucelin had died. In his stead was a strange, ugly Slovien man named Radoslav. At first, he seemed wholly unfit for the position, appearing to be a lazy, cowardly, lying fool, however everyone around him believed him to be one of the greatest philosophers of his time. Either way, this man was his bishop, so there was nothing he could do.

After this was done, Jean travelled to the capital of the realm, the city of Bar, to pay homage to the young king.

A few months later, a group of travelling, landless, former slaves from the Emirate of Calabria arrived in Jean's court. The leader of the travelers, a fairly attractive woman named Maria, came bearing gifts, offering to purchase a sizable portion of land within the company, and become a subsidiary. Jean had a much better idea, and offered the woman the city of Martigny, which was quickly renamed to "Marini" upon her acquisition of the city.

Jean eventually became infatuated with this woman, not just for her attractive face, but also for her attractive personality. He was unmarried, but things did not need to stay this way. Jean made the woman a member of his council to curry favour, before proposing that they marry. This offer was accepted, and they were married by Christmas.

This was an unpopular move on Jean's part. Many people began to shun him for marrying a slave woman. These were but words to Jean, however he did see the value in maintaining a good reputation, so he called for a hunt to take people's minds off of it. This plan of his was successful, and soon, people forgot that his wife was once a slave.

In October of the following year, Maria became pregnant.

Jean took time away from his company to spend time with his wife through such a difficult time. Though he had originally married her for selfish reasons, Jean came to sincerely fall in love with the woman after the months they spent together. As such, when Maria gave birth to a healthy baby girl, she was named after her mother, and named Marie.

Many months later, on his famous father's feast day, Jean began to have doubts about the wider Christian church. He observed rich priests taking advantage of people's charity for their own, selfish purposes. He recalled the epithet his father had gained after his canonization, "the generous" and felt that these people were ignoring his father's message, as well as God's, above all else. For this reason, Jean called together the most pious monks within the company, and founded the Acumenical Order. The Acumenical Order based itself around the idea that men only became rich from the help of the poor, and therefore, the order advocated that they give back to the poor. This balance of rich and poor was necessary to maintain order on Earth, and would surely bring many men to salvation. As this was a religious order, only order members would be allowed to hold church property, so the old priests were driven from their churches, with their lands revoked.

Jean lead the new order by example, and publicly swore a Vow of Poverty, for the time, at least. He swore to help the poor as much as he could, and sold his crown to assist in this goal.

In the spring of 905, Maria became pregnant. This marked a shift in Jean's attitude, away from the quiet churches in which he studied theology, and into the fields, where he began to study the arts of chivalry.

Later that year, on December 2nd, Maria gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She was christened "Jeanette", after her paternal grandfather.

On May 28th, 907, Maria gave birth to another girl, named Bonne.

In the fall of 908, Jean's studies awoke something in him. Throughout his life, he always loved hearing about the knights of the realm, able to fend of a bear with their wits and combat skills alone. He never found himself fitting this description, until today. Walking outside to the training yard, Jean found that his accuracy and strength had improved immensely. As such, he felt far more confident, and felt as though he could lead an entire army into battle. Wishing to put his skills to the test, he had his Court Chaplain, Fabrice, fabricate a claim on the rich county of Bern, belonging to the evil, greedy Duke Adalgoz of the independent Duchy of Transjurania.

The following year, Fabrice returned with good news. Not only had he managed to secure a claim on Bern, he had also managed to secure a document from a high ranking member of the Order, stating that Transjurania was their rightful territory. Jean didn't believe a word written on the document, but a claim was a claim, and soon, war was declared.

Jean called together his army, and placed himself in command. To assist in the war effort, he also called for his allies to join the war, and hired a group of mercenaries from Sardinia, the Band of Bastia, going heavily into debt in the process.

Jean received word that the Transjuranian army was marching for the city of Aosta, so he lead his army around the mountains to meet them.

In his haste to experience combat once more, Jean neglected to wait for his allies to arrive. Jean wanted to fight, but this was something he could not afford to ignore. Reluctantly, he had his army march to the city of Ivrea, but no further.

Jean was raring to go. Soon, he received word that his allies in Viennois and Como had arrived in Ivrea, as well, and he lead his men forward again.

Soon, the battle begun. Unfortunately, his allies fell behind in the march, and he was forced to begin the battle at a severe disadvantage. Luckily, it wasn't too long before they joined the battle as well. The battle was won.

With the way to Bern now unprotected, Jean marched his army straight toward the city.

On July 12th, 910, Maria gave birth to another child, a girl named Béatrice, though this was a fact Jean would not learn of until his return home at the end of the war.

The city of Bern was placed under siege at the beginning of that summer.

By the end of the year, Bern was occupied.

With this done, Jean began searching down and destroying the Transjuranian army. After the battle, Jean received a letter from his younger brother, Count Archimède, offering to lend him quite a large amount of money. Archimède, it seemed, held some sort of unknown stake in the war succeeding. It was very possible that he simply didn't wish to see his brother lose. Either way, the offer was sent, and accepted.

The following month, while marching his army back to Transjurania, Jean received a letter from the king. In this letter, the king offered to make Jean the spymaster of Lotharingia. This was something Jean simply could not do. He would have to kill people! He was far too compassionate for such a thing, and though some would call him a coward, unwilling or possible unable to kill, he knew his limits, and refused the offer.

After spending some time seeking out and destroying the Transjuranian army, he received intel that they and their allies were fleeing the region. As such, Transjurania was undefended, and the city of Biel was placed under siege early that June.

By mid-March of the following year, Biel was occupied. This was enough cause to force the duke to surrender, but before the offer could be sent, an army lead by one of Transjurania's allies met the Compaignale army in Biel. Thankfully, they were no match for the Compaignale army, and the very same the battle was over, the duke surrendered to Jean.

After the war, Jean prepared a series of documents, and reorganized the Duchy of Transjurania into the Compaignie du Char Volant, a subsidiary company, named in reference to the colloquial name for the DWC-IV. Jean intended to use the rich and flat, wide valleys of old Transjurania to produce and test the company's supply of DWC-IVs cheaply, and possibly, even, develop a "consumer model", for the people.

As well, the old duke of Transjurania, Eberhard, retained his land after the war. Jean figured this man would quickly become a burden on the company if not dealt with, so he was given a seat on the company's development council.

With this dealt with, Jean returned to his family. He met his young daughter for the first time, and gave his two eldest daughters, Marie and Jeanette, an education in the arts of chivalry. Though they were women, and neither of them had a particular interest in it, he had not a son to pass his knowledge onto, so they would have to do.

Unfortunately, Jean's attempts to pacify the former Duke of Transjurania were all for naught, as on the 25th of February, 913, Count Eberhard raised the flag of rebellion, seeking to place his eldest sister, Katharina, in charge of the new company. Even worse, just two days later, Maria gave birth to a baby girl, named Jeanne.

Jean called upon his allies once more. This time, he gave his marshal, Dávi, command of his army, as he wished to tend to his newborn daughter. Soon after entering the rebellious territories, a battle began. A total victory. Afterwards, the Compaignale marched to the capital of the rebellious count, Bern, and placed it under siege.

With Jean at home during the war, he took the time to educate his children in the arts of chivalry. One day, to his delight, young Marie took an exceptional interest in the household knights, like he once had, so many years ago. He suspected that a large part of this interest might be an early form of attraction, but this was no matter. In Jean's time, the old knight's words, "If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," had become something of a motto within the Compaignale knight corps, which was passed onto his young daughter. Marie internalized this lesson, and became a diligent person for the rest of her life.

The following spring, the city of Bern was occupied once again, and the rebellion ended. The rebelling Count was placed in prison.

This marked an increase in the company's temporal authority. Before, the Duke of the company was merely responsible for collecting taxes, and men. Now, though, in an attempt to prevent further insurrection, the duke could also revoke any vassals land, with reason, of course. As such, Jean began preparing a series of documents that would allow him to revoke the county of Bern from Count Eberhard, as punishment.

During all of this, a new culture was beginning to form in Lotharingia. After the Lotharingian domination of the Carolingian world, many Germans from East Francia came to move to the new capital of Bar, seeking work and favourable relations with the new king. These Germans brought with them cultural comforts from back home, and more importantly, their language. Soon, these Germans began marrying into French families, and raised their children with both German and French traditions in mind. This became the new Alsatian capital culture, a culture which the king of Lotharingia adopted as his own, and encouraged his vassals to adopt, as well.

This was an atrocity to Jean. He was a Frenchman! He only spoke the king's French, not German! This was something he could not live with, so he began encouraging cultural hybridization within his own realm, between the ruling class French and the Cisalpine Italians of the company's richer regions. His end goal was to encourage a proper and strong company culture to form, which could guide the company forward into the future.

The following year, Jeanette's chivalrous education began. One day, an ill little boy approached, and pushed her over. In retaliation, Jeanette pushed the child back. The boy's friends soon approached, as did Jeanette's. Soon, a giant brawl had broken out in the courtyard! Jean rushed out, and took his daughter away, teaching her a lesson about ignoring such trivial matters. This caused young Jeanette to become a very fickle person for the rest of her life.

The same year, on June 17th, Maria gave birth to a young boy. Finally, Jean had a male heir! On one hand, felt a bit bad that his daughters would not inherit any land, but on the other, his company would not be rent asunder upon his death, a fact which he could rest easy on. The boy was christened Roland, after the famous French knight.

After more than a year of encouraging cultural hybridization, Jean could finally say that the cultural landscape of the realm was vastly different than before. French and Cisalpine lived together, and cultural traditions were shared between them. Cisalpine values of community made up the backbone of this new society, though almost everything else about it, from the way they dressed, to the way they spoke, was French. Above all, though, the company was now able to wield this influence over the people like a hammer, and research new technologies of its own accord, instead of hoping that the king of France would share the development of his own realm with them.

One day in spring of the following year, Marie approached her father, telling him that a younger boy had started bullying her, and asked if she could have him hanged. This remind Jean of his own youth, and though he did not have the boy hanged, he made sure that Marie would remain willful throughout the rest of her life.

After many years of intense preparation, Jean was able to revoke the imprisoned Count Eberhard's county of Bern. As a final punishment, the count was also forced to join the Acumenical Order.

Later that year, during a feast, Jeanette approached Jean, telling him that she wished to leave the feast. This was a wish that Jean indulged, if relucantly. This gave young Jeanette the impression that this was the proper way to go about things, and as such, became a very impatient person for the rest of her life.

After many years, the Compaignale economy had recovered enough for Jean to repay his younger brother. He sent a trusted messenger with the money, as well as with an apology for taking so long.

As young Roland grew, so did his aptitude for rulership. Roland had many friends, and many things to have them do. Roland would occasionally lead his friends deep into the forests surrounding Geneva, merely to explore. They were almost always followed by the Lourein household's knights, though, so they were in no real danger. Either way, the boy was very willful, and a natural leader, so he was raised in the arts of chivalry as well.

As Jeanette aged, it became increasing apparent that she was simply not built for feasting. Often would she hide underneath the feasting table, disrupting other people, simply so she didn't have to interact with them. Jean eventually relented, telling her that she didn't need to come if she didn't wish. For the rest of her life, Jeanette would avoid attending social gatherings, and would stay inside her room to rest.

The following year, Marie became an adult. Though Jean taught her all he knew about the chivalrous lifestyle, she was, ultimately, a Christian woman, so she had little use for it. In the end, she became a highly valued member of the Acumenical Order, and moved to Nassau, to spread the faith.

By contrast, Jeanette was not as fortunate. She learned much from her father, but unfortunately she had little use for it. Soon after her 16th birthday, Jeanette retreated into her room.

Over the years, the Acumenical Order waned in popularity among the people of the company, possibly due to persecution and oppression from the king of Lotharingia. This was the only explanation. To remedy this, Jean began seeking out new territories for the Order to establish a presence in, starting with the county of Provence.

In a bid to secure closer relations with the king of Lotharingia (and for other.... reasons.....), Jean showed his arbitrary nature once more, and had his daughter Jeanette married off to the king.

At the same time, luckily, a claim was secured on Provence, and war was declared. To assist in the war effort, Jean hired a group of local mercenaries, the "Tard-Venus de Bresse", and called upon his ally in Viennois. Jean took command of the army personally.

After the army of Viennois arrived in Geneva, Jean lead his army to the capital of the county of Provence, Toulon.

Upon arrival, Toulon was placed under siege.

By the beginning of that autumn, the city was occupied. Soon afterwards, the neighboring city, Marseille, was placed under siege, as well.

Unfortunately, the enemy army soon approached, and attacked. The Compaignale army was outmatched in both numbers and wits, and the battle was lost. The Compaignale army returned home to Geneva, their heads between their hands.

In a further attempt to help the war effort, Jean went deep into debt hiring another band of mercenaries, the Routiers of Namur. They joined his army, and Jean marched his men back to Provence, to combat the enemy army. The leader of the band, a man named Vivien, was placed in control of the Compaignale army, as Jean had grown exceedingly tired of all of this business.

Unfortunately, it was all for naught. The armies met in Vaison field. After poor directions from the commander, confusion, and general misunderstandings, the battle was lost. Jean saw the writing on the wall, and due to his compassionate nature, offered surrender to the young duke of Provence, going even further into debt to pay the duke to end the war. Jean was forced to renounce his claim to Provence, a price which he was more than happy to pay to end the war.

After the war, Jean formally renounced his Vow of Poverty in an attempt to refill his coffers, much to the chagrin of his peers and fellow Order Members. As well, Jean was forced to beg, rather pathetically, the Pope himself for money.

After the war, Jean came to see the virtue in peace. He was an old man now, no longer suited for the battlefield and lengthy wars in his past. He was tired, and now wished to live the rest of his life in peace, preferably gaining wealth and fame in the process.

Over a year later, Jean received a letter from the king of Lotharingia, offering to make him the steward of the realm. Jean was honored, though secretly, he hoped that this would allow him to become a richer man. Either way, he accepted the king's offer.

Over two years later, Roland celebrated his 16th birthday, and could properly consider himself a man. Roland's long education from his father did him well. A chivalrous man through and through, and a fantastic commander, Roland immediately joined the Compaignale knight corps.

With all of his children grown, Jean was finally able to refocus on his company. Specifically, Jean sought to create a "consumer model" for the DWC-IV. Over the past years, Jean had held many exhibitions of the DWC-IV in the Transjuranian valley. Many agreed that while it was a very impressive and showy invention, it had little use outside of that, being showy. As such, Jean dedicated himself to developing a new model, the "DWC-V".

Jean began slowly, by testing larger and larger floating lanterns. This began to cause problems quickly, as it was found that the larger the lantern, the larger the fire required to keep it afloat. This was no matter for Jean, though, as his wealth had long since been recovered. A metal ring would be attached to the bottom of the lantern, and a small metal brazier would be attached to that. Coals would be placed inside, and a fire would be set. This was successful, and the lantern flew high into the sky, and deep into the night. These were very impressive, and could be seen for miles around. While it was not his goal, Jean put the company to work, and produced many of these larger lanterns, for sale among the masses.

With this tested, Jean had wagons with the wheels removed, and attached to the largest of the lanterns. A few brave men were called upon (paid) to test these new floating wagons, and were supplied with coals and firewood before stepping inside. Ingeniously, by placing a hatch on the side of the brazier, the fire could be forced to burn longer, and, if the circumstances were right, allow the wagon to land gently. Soon, the wagons were sent up, and Jean waited with bated breath for their return.

Just a few hours later, the wagons returned, with the men intact. The men reported that the balloons took them far into the heavens, and above the clouds. For many, it was a religious experience, and gave them time to reflect on what had gotten them here, and their significance in the world. This part was most uninteresting to Jean, but it did prove that the DWC-V prototype worked.

Afterwards, animals were sent up and retrieved, as was a great deal of cargo. The lantern was expanded a few times, to accommodate, but eventually, the design was perfected, and mass produced. Though many were initially hesitant to adopt the new technology, finding it strange and dangerous, it soon caught on. Soon, the DWC-V was being sold all across the Carolingian dominion. This revolutionized travel in Europe, as terrain was no longer a barrier for transport. As such, the design was soon copied by other men, produced, and sold elsewhere. Jean wished that this wouldn't happen, but there was little he could do, so he ignored it. And all this, before the invention of the horseshoe!

Just a mere few weeks later, a venomous spider bit Jean right on the leg. He knew that this couldn't be a pure lack of luck. Someone had placed his spider in his bed, with the intent to kill him. He didn't appreciate this very much, he would die on his own terms, thank-you-very-much!

And, just three years later, he did. On the 22nd of July, 935, Jean's long life came to an end. He had done much in his time, and now he could rest in heaven, as a true paragon of knightly virtue.

Now, I will need to rest a while after all of this, before we get to the life and times of young Duke Roland de Lourein! This one was, admittedly, very, very tiring, but also very fun! Either way, I think I'll need to rest a few days. In the meantime, I'll try to fix any errors, and add any missing pictures.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Interesting stuff. Loved it.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Great job! Wonderful side bar on balloons. Rest my lord, your labors done. Thank you for updating

 

[HistoryDude]

Jean is interesting - he seems like a proto-Protestant of sorts, honestly.

He managed to expand the realm as well, so that's nice.

His cultural snobbery amused me.

 

[uhhhscizo]

Jean is interesting - he seems like a proto-Protestant of sorts, honestly.

He managed to expand the realm as well, so that's nice.

His cultural snobbery amused me.

Thanks! What I was going for with the Acumenical Order was a mendicant order (like the societies in ck2) but I can definitely see that as well

 

[Koweth]

A very nice and fun AAR. Quite enjoyable to read so far.