Saturday, August 2, 2008

My imagination

I know the sheer title of this post will create thrill in some of you... not so fast, but yes, I want to confirm I am working on this. I set a time-frame: 1715-1740, that is between the conclusion of the War of Spanish Succession and the opening of the war of Austrian Succession. I establish a broad geographic area when my imagination will be: the west bank of the river Rhine, somewhere east of France, southeast of the former Spanish Netherlands, southwest of the Holy Roman Empire ecclesiastical states of Mainz, Trier and Cologne, and north-west of Wurttemberg. Or, to me more precise... south of Frankszonia, and north of the Bishopric of Uber-Gruntshuffen, if you know what I mean...
(By the way: I should probably drop a note to Brother Anslem, Librarian at monastery of Alt-Wittendorf, and make sure he will "officially" register my spot!)
I have a map of my principality, and a very detailed one for that! Thanks to the campaign system provided by The Perfect Captain, I worked over the past couple of evenings to a very detailed chart of the area.
I already have a plot, which should get my first campaign started as soon as some of my WSS battalions will be painted and ready to undertake their mission! My imagination belongs to the Empire, but because it's strategic position, and its complicated dynastic issues, it is the object of the ambitions of many competing states in the area. I have a few personalities, around whom the events will revolve: the Marquis de Belmont, Viscount Diversey... [can't you guess I live in Chicago?]
I also have a plan about how to maintain the chronicles of my principality: following what many of you already did, I will spin-off another blog completely dedicated to the principality, but I intend to keep that as a mere mirror of what I will continue to write here. In other words: Desto Fante is and remains my wargaming blog; the other one will only collect writings related to the specific project, at least until I will move all the contents to a website.
Finally... I hear you clamoring... what's the name of the principality?
Well, in honor of a staunch supporter of Desto Fante, who was also the first one to leave a comment on my blog on its very first day, the first name of the principality will be Saxe. Now, tongue in cheek, since "Saxe" sounds very much like the Italian noun "sasso", i.e. rock, I could not help but choosing "Pape-Cyssor" to complete the name I was looking for. Cyssor, pronounced in the French way, will be the capital of the principality.
So, here we go: Saxe-Pape-Cyssor will be.
Going back to the geography of Saxe-Pape-Cyssor. I took very seriously the task of designing a credible map for this imaginary region. Since the area borders with France, many names will show a French influence: the major city on the border is in fact Chateu Mauvoisin, who sits right along river Rhine. Saxe-Pape-Cyssor is crossed by another river, the Butte; its second city is therefore Harassee-sur-Butte - again, tongue in cheek: but this is as far as I will go, since I am very jealous of my PG-13 rating on Blogspot. A few other spots that found their way on my map were the towns of Sankt Sergius, Schloss Roget, Hirshwald Hof, Fahreberg, Saadbrucken, Thornbach.
The map is pretty much done, but it still requires a few cosmetic adjustmens before I will share.
Well, these are all the news that fit to print, for the time being. It will take sometimes before the WSS units I began to paint last week will come into line, so there is no rush into getting the details out about Saxe-Pape-Cyssor: but I feel I am off to a good start, and by the time the battalions will deploy on the ground I think I will be enjoying a very good time in tracking the maneuvering around this small, but far from negligible, principality at the westernmost border of the Holy Roman Empire.

3 comments:

Bluebear Jeff said...

I look forward to seeing the map . . . and remember, if you want to join the "Emperor vs Elector" group blog, email me at . . . bluebear@uniserve.com . . . and I'll see that an invitation wends its way to Saxe-Pape-Cyssor.


-- Jeff
http://emperor-elector.blogspot.com/

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Happy Sunday Adolfo,

Yes, I too am eager to view your map. This is one of the most fun parts of an imaginary campaign, besides actually moving the soldiers around the table-top!

Best Regards,

Stokes

A J said...

Welcome to the world of ImagiNations! May Saxe-Pape-Cyssor flourish.