The Finest Trick of the Devil... · 3:07pm Feb 2nd, 2013
...is to persuade you he does not exist.
— Charles Pierre Baudelaire, “The Generous Gambler”, 7/2/1864
Ah, how've you been, my lovelies? I've been silent for near to a month, but never have I been still. But what have I been doing, you might idly wonder. Well, let's find out!
A huge part of what I've been doing involves streamlining the lore and backstory, while still taking care to never violate show canon. A lot of this amounts to me editing my little lore bible (think Tolkien's “Simarillion”), creating a fleshed-out explanation for everything. For example, Jericho is carrying amount a book called Ich Bin Skantarios [“I am Skantarios”], and so I needed to devote a lot of explanation to the book's in-universe factual story, like who this Skantarios guy was, why he was important, important quotes from the book that Jericho himself is quite fond of, and so forth. It's probably beyond unnecessary, but I like to destroy any holes in the story's lore and logic before they can even be thought of. But there's a ton of new stuff getting adding, too, so fear that not. Oh, and all references to Jericho's last name have been scrapped, because of future use for the Rule of Drama.
I've also had as many people combing Jericho for errors as possible, and I've found many things to change up regarding errors and questionable logic. So, everything should flow nicer, I hope. Seriously, by the time I'm done with these edits, Jericho is going to be so polished and shiny and clean that you could eat off it. But till then, there's still a ways to trudge.
Oh, and lastly yet perhaps most importantly, there's been a terminology overhaul. What does this mean? It means that a lot of terms have been altered and change, but these don't expressly affect the story or anything, just how things are worded. For one major example, the made-up word Preutsch has been given the axe, replaced by the less-silly-but-still-made-up word Teutsch, complete with all the German declensions and versions of the word [teutscher, teutsches, ein Teutscher, eine Teutsche, die Teutschen, et cetera], but Preußen still exists. And that old order of knights? Yeah, that's just gonna be called the Ordo Teutonicus instead of the original pun I had.
Along with that, the pun “Hensch” is gone, going back to the standard German Mensch. There's a bit of lore to go with that, involving how I'm going to use Mann and Männer [Man & Men] as acceptable Prussian terms for stallions, relating to the history of those words with the Equestrian ones being utterly different.
To those of you who can remember any names of Prussian characters, a good bunch of those are getting shifted. Thema is going to be Hellsing, for example. And most importantly, Adolphus is now Alphonse, even though that's a French name. Bismarck is staying as it is, though.
But overall, these names amount to little more than semantics, but they might confuse you if they weren't mentioned here, which is why they're important.
That's what I've been up to, not sleeping but working from the shadows. Now, let's wait to see if the season 3 finale gives our canon a huge shift. If it does, you can get Jericho's going to account for those too.
Bonus: For being such a patient and good reader, I present to you something of an apology. Thought not posted to Fimfic because of future EQD reasons, the next chapter, Omnes Relinquite Spes, is on Google Drive. Feel free to glance through her and toss me an opinion on it. Oh, and comments are enabled, so if you see an error and wish to help, then my all means have at it.
Until we meet again, convince yourself not that I do not exist, for that too is my most dangerous trick.
You have indeed be silent for way too long!
And with that out of the way, I've a question: What is I Am Skantarios exactly? I think I've heard of it before reading Jericho, but I just sort of looked over it. Is it a book or movie or television show? Woah, Jericho's so meta it's making my head spin.
785544
I Am Skantarios [Full original nae: "I Am Skantarios! — Rebirth of the Eastern Roman Empire"], in real life, is neither of those things. It's an ARR, an After Action Report, which are sort of like a "Let's Play", but aren't live, use pictures and prose, and are an exclusive sub-genre to Strategy Game. This particular one was made with the game "Medieval 2: Total War". This particular one is perhaps the best example of an ARR you will ever see. You can read it here [Beware: Long]. A lot of Jericho's backstory is heavily inspired by this, even thought those parts takes place some 2,500 before the events of Jericho.
785560
Great, thanks for the information and link. Also, if Twilight does indeed become an Alicorn like many fans predict, do you have any ideas as to how you're going to go about that?
785572
It's hard to say, since there's not much we currently know about what will stay changed at the end of that episode. For all we know, it'll be a return to status quo at the end. I guess what I'm saying is, I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.
785610
Ah! Thank you vari mash! Now if you'll excuse me... *begins reading I Am Skantarios*