Interviews SF Interviews 2.0 - Florete

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

Sirius and Zak Something.

[Rezzy]

Shin and Zak Something

[Raguna]

I think I have a good pool of historical questions to ask so Blah it is.

[Shin]

I want to hear blah go blah blah.

Also Ninjamonkey, of course I wouldn't forget!

[Sunwoo]

Shin's far too great to be interviewed in this thread, it's just a waste of his time

blah

NinjaMonkey

[Rezzy]

Shin's far too great to be interviewed in this thread, it's just a waste of his time

I want to find out how old he is.

[Sunwoo]

I want to find out how old he is.

Not as old as me

[Moblin Major General]

blah the Prussian

[Party Moth]

Only just discovered that this exists. Going to nominate Blah the Prussian.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Blah The Prussian

[Julius Nepos]

Nominations:

8: blah the Prussian

2: Zak Something

2: NinjaMonkey

1: Quintessence

1: Sirius

1: Shin

[Starman]

Zak and Jin

[Julius Nepos]

Nominations:

8: blah the Prussian

3: Zak Something

2: NinjaMonkey

1: Quintessence

1: Sirius

1: Shin

1: Jin

[Alex95]

blah I guess

[Raguna]

Welp, guess blah's going to be summoned much earlier then he probably expected. I'd love to see his reaction when he reads the title. Might as well make it a question when he pops up.

[Julius Nepos]

SF Interview #84: blah the Prussian
Interview ends on 7/8/2016.

Final nomination count:

9: blah the Prussian

3: Zak Something

2: NinjaMonkey

1: Quintessence

1: Sirius

1: Shin

1: Jin

Edited August 2, 2016 by Hattusili II

[blah the Prussian]

Hello Serenes Forest, I am blah the Prussian, resident Monarchist and history buff. Ask me anything.

[Raguna]

I'll go ahead and start the questionaire.

1. Impressions of me? (The beaten dead horse question)

2. Which historical simulation game would you say is your favorite? Please mention your favorite faction or nation within that game as well.

3. What qualities in Otto von Bismarck do you find appealing since he has become your avatar?

4. As you mentioned it before in a separate thread but now in more detail. What makes the Napoleonic Wars have a better moral reason to fight more than say World War 1?

5. Why are you a monarchist?

[Moblin Major General]

1. Obligatory impression question.

2. Opinion on Birthright and Revelations?

3. Do you like War Thunder?

4. How accurate is Der Untergang?

5. Du spreche Deutsche?

[blah the Prussian]

I'll go ahead and start the questionaire.

1. Impressions of me? (The beaten dead horse question)

2. Which historical simulation game would you say is your favorite? Please mention your favorite faction or nation within that game as well.

3. What qualities in Otto von Bismarck do you find appealing since he has become your avatar?

4. As you mentioned it before in a separate thread but now in more detail. What makes the Napoleonic Wars have a better moral reason to fight more than say World War 1?

5. Why are you a monarchist?

1. Well, you voted for me, so positive.

2. Probably Europa Universalis 4, from Paradox. I really enjoy playing as the Ottomans in that game. I also love Rome Total War, and my favorite factions in that are a tie between Rome, for making me feel like the biggest badass, and Parthia, because of the Horse Archers.

3. I like how he played the different powers of Europe off each other, especially France and Russia. He realized that France would always oppose Germany so the best option was to diplomatically isolate them. I also like how he created the German welfare state- the first in the history of the world IIRC- to Copt support for the Socialists among the lower classes.

4. Not moral, as morals never really play a part in politics, domestic or international, but they were a comflict both sides should have been fighting. On the one hand you have Napoleonic France, who realize that all of Europe are against them, so they need to be strong, because the European monarchs would never accept an upstart house like House Bonaparte. On the other hand, the Coalition had every reason to see Napoleon as a threat, and specifically Britain was rightfully terrified of a France that no longer had Austria and Prussia to distract her from building a navy. War was in the interest of both sides, so both should have fought it. WWI, on the other hand, brought no real long term gain to the Entente, and I'm fact collapse to Russia, and would have brought little to the Central Powers had they won.

5. Several reasons, but the biggest is that I believe that since politics are inherently divisive, a politician should not be the head of state. The goal of a head of state is to represent the interests of the entire nation, and a politician by their very nature only represents the interests of those that voted for them. It is much, much better to have an impartial head of state than one so tied to politics. Monarchy has served as a unifying symbol many times in the past, with the most recent example being the Belgian political crisis of 2007-2011. Finally, a politician MUST want the job. This rule has basically no exceptions. I, being a cynic, do not think that they would have entirely benign motives; it is very rare for a person to do something solely out of the goodness of their hearts. This gets especially bad when you realize that the system of Republicanism treats power as a reward for the most successful politicians, which is something you never want power to be. A Monarchy, by having the monarch be born into power, treats this power as a responsibility, and the monarch, not having to work for it, will likely feel actually less entitled than a President, not more. Example: the Oanama Papers. Of everyone the only monarch on the list was the king of Saudi Arabia, and I hate Saudi Arabia. Monarchs are less likely to be corrupt because of these reasons. Anyway, that was a long spiel, so I'll leave it at that. I'll go into more detail about specific points at request,

Rommel:

1. You're a good guy. We don't see eye to eye on certain political issues, but I enjoy talking history with you.

2. Birthright was acceptable. It was better than Awakening because it toned down the brokenness of some mechanics, but it was just so outclassed by Conquest that I just couldn't enjoy it as much. I haven't played Revelation.

3. I'm thinking of starting it, but of what I played at a friend's house it's quite a good game, especially the Katyushas.

4. Pretty damn accurate. I don't believe that there were any girls in the Volksturm, but I could be wrong. It also does a good job of capturing just how spineless people like Kietel and Jodl were towards Hitler.

5. Nien.

Edited August 2, 2016 by blah the Prussian

[Thane]

Hello!

1. Impressions of me?

2. Why do you spell your name with a lower case B?

3. What would you say are some of the most fascinating historical events?

4. If you could have a drink with three historical figures (politicians, military leaders, explorers of the New World...), who would it be and why? Language barriers would not be an issue, and your (and everyone else's) safety would be guaranteed, in case you' want to talk to someone really violent.

5. Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or 10 duck-sized horses?

Also, will you allow for more than five questions?

Edited August 2, 2016 by Thane

[blah the Prussian]

Hello!

1. Impressions of me?

2. Why do you spell your name with a lower case B?

3. What would you say are some of the most fascinating historical events?

4. If you could have a drink with three historical figures (politicians, military leaders, explorers of the New World...), who would it be and why? Language barriers would not be an issue, and your (and everyone else's) safety would be guaranteed, in case you' want to talk to someone really violent.

5. Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or 10 duck-sized horses?

Also, will you allow for more than five questions?

1. You're a very smart person with some quite interesting thoughts on writing who can get a little carried away at times but will quickly reign yourself in. Positive.

2. Laziness, and tradition.

3. I've always thought that the fall of the Roman Republic is an event that gets overlooked too much. Basically you had rule of law slowly slipping away as the Senate tried to hold on to as much power as possible in vain, while ambitious men like Caesar and Pompey tried to make a name for themselves, and finally Augustus restored rule of law. I also think that the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century, where large tracts of the Empire declared Independance until Emperor Aurelian reconquer end it all, to be fascinating as well, because it provides an example of an Empire that by all rights should have fallen, but didn't thanks to the force of will of several great Emperors. Finally, I think that the French Revolution provides a great example of what every Republic should NOT do. I'm also a fan of the Mughal Empire in India and the modernization of Japan.

4. Now this is a hard one. The first would probably be the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great, my favorite monarch of all time, who was one of the most learned rulers in history and who was the richest man in the history of the world, brining unprecedented wealth to the Mughal Empire. He also was very progressive, improving the rights of women and secularizing his Empire, which would unfortunately be undone by his Islamic fundamentalist great grandson Aurangzheb. I'd talk to him about what it takes to rule an Empire, and about general history and philosophy.

The second guy I'd talk to is Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. Talleyrand was the French foreign minister off and on again for decades, starting out as a low level diplomat for Louis XVI, keeping his head down during the Revolution, allying with Napoleon to bring down the Republic, acted as foreign minister under Napoleon, eventually double crossed him when he saw Napoleon was on the way out, was made foreign minister of the restored Bourbon dynasty as a result of this, was booted out by the reactionary King Charles X, and was finally given the job again by the Constitutional Monaarchy of King Louis Phillipe in 1830. He was an insanely competant political survivalist, as well as a great conversationalist. I'd talk with him about any number of stuff.

Finally: Thomas Jefferson. I disagree with a lot of what Jefferson stood for, from Republicanism to Libertarianism to the role of government and the idea of rebellion. I'd absolutely love to have a debate with him.

5. 10 duck sized horses. What are they gonna do to me, nip me? I'll stomp the bastards.

And sure, ask as many as you want. Only five at a time, though, please.

[Raguna]

6. What got you into FE in the first place?

7. Which periods of history do you think are the ones you're least knowledgeable about?

8. What are you thoughts on FE archetypes? Especially the one of Camus and how you would change them if you think them inadequate.

9. Any favorite tv show or book you've seen or read lately?

10. If I may assume that you are a native-born Czech, what are your thoughts on the Velvet Revolution?

Edited August 2, 2016 by Raguna

[blah the Prussian]

6. What got you into FE in the first place?

7. Which periods of history do you think are the ones you're least knowledgeable about?

8. What are you thoughts on FE archetypes? Especially the one of Camus and how you would change them if you think them inadequate?

9. Any favorite tv show or book you've seen or read lately?

10. If I may assume that you are Czech, what are your thoughts on the Velvet Revolution?

6. I saw the trailer for Awakening. Thought it looked cool. Then I decided to play the earlier ones.

7. Definitely post decolonization Africa with the exception of Apartheid. I couldn't tell you much at all about the origins of the war in the Congo, or of West Africa, or of any of it really. The Dark Ages (fall of Rome to Charlemagne) are a close second.

8. I think they're tired and that they would greatly benefit from being shook up. Two things I would especially like to see: one, I would like to see an ambitious King being genre savvy enough to know not to trust the shady cult, and end up using them to gain a dark power without being manipulated. That would be very refreshing. I also think that the Camus would benefit from being either called out on their cowardice (as Sanaki does with Hetzel) or, as I said in another thread, being a Quisling style person who thinks siding with the evil empire is the only way to move his country forwards, sort of like Joao Lebello in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Failing that, the Camus needs to have a damn good reason for fighting. I actually think a Fire Emblem style game, Rondo of Swords, does it well by having the sympathetic enemy general, Matthias, be just not evil. It's very understated, and quite effective. Matthias is just good friends with the evil Emperor, and is honorable. It's much more believable than the whole "literally Jesus but much honor" thing most Camuses have,

9. Monster is an amazing show that is heavily involved in the history of the Warsaw Pact. One of its key locales is Prague and I can confirm that it's quite true to life. They did so much research, they even got the East Berlin traffic lights right. Definitely recommended. As for books, the Legend of the Galactic Heroes series was just released translated, and they are an excellent space opera.

10. I'm actually an American expat, but yeah, the Velvet Revolution was an unambiguously good thing. There are very few people in Prague with anything nice to say about the Communist regime. Unfortunately, the Czech President is a borderline neo Communist (he even declared the Russian soldiers who invaded Czechoslovakia in 68 heroes) but he doesn't have any real power.

[Alex95]

1. What's your favorite historical event and why?

2. Greatest stunt you've pulled off, or at least walked away from?

3. Have you ever done extreme BMX biking?

4. Impressions of me?

5. What current event in the world do you wish you could change, if any?

5a. Historical event?