The links are to themefiles that go up on the server to give people some idea of the backdrop to what is going on on the game. And text are just some examples of roleplay from those time periods, which we feel capture the atmosphere of that particular campaign particularly well.
The Lost Generation
"They are not missing. They are here."
- General Plumer's speech at the Menin Gate memorial, 1923
Morgenstern moves up close and lies down next to Mason, pulling him close to let his head rest on his arm. He leans in to be able to hear the dying corporal's last words. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he says, his own voice labored and out of breath. In a sudden fit of frustration, anger and sadness, he pulls out the whistle and throws it towards west. The metal of it glitters in the sun when it arcs, and then it falls down into the mud.
"I'd tell you to report to Corporal Luz, but he bought it a few days ago," Rothschild tells Marchand, not looking up as he rifles through his pouch. He appears to be acting as courier for the day. He's carrying a small bag of what looks like mail. "Then I'd tell you to report to Corporal Mancuso, but he bought it last night." He lays this out with a stark sarcasm, as if he can't quite believe it. "I think there are a couple others knocking around town right now. You can probably track a corporal or a sergeant down. Just be quick about it. He'll probably have bought it by dinner time."
The Spanish Civil War
"Was there ever a people whose leaders were as truly their
enemies as this one?"
- Ernest Hemingway
Juan blinks at Marchand. "We are not here to trade one tyrant for another." he says crisply… in French, as he does speak that. "The revolution is upon us, and we will not end it merely to bow down to the degenerate workers state created by Stalin.". He eyes Vidal, and switches back to Spanish. "It was you, Comrade, who warned us not to cooperate with the government when the rising began. What has happened to your ideals?" he wonders.
Lind doesn't like it, even if she brought it up. She bites her lip and nods, seeing the necessity for discretion. "Have you heard, the rumours?" she says, and now choses to whisper as if just talking about the rumours will put the spies of the SIM on top of them. "About people disappearing."
The Winter War
"We gained 22,000 square miles of territory. Just enough land to
bury our dead."
- an unnamed Soviet general
"That or shoot us." No gentle lies for the ears of women from Matti - his words are harsh, and blunt. He shakes his head. "In Stalin's eyes, we're all undesirables. Mass deportations, executions, and everything that goes with them." He adopts a mock cheerful smile, that ends up being rather horrible, "So I guess we all just better fight really really hard."
"29, now…" Sonja replies after a moments thought. "I didn't really think much of what it meant to be Red or White until very recently, I've never been all that political.".
"Only that…" He squeezes her arm again, then lets go. "Far too young…" He groans softly, leans back in his seat and listens. "One of the boys said, the other day… 'Red blood on White snow: Finland's pink.'" He leers, but briefly—nun or not, prudish Lutheranism or not, an old soldier of all people is going to appreciate the irony of saying that to a woman. It goes away, though, and is replaced by a more somber visage. "Pink, like the sunset after a good hard day's accomplishments. I think I like a pink Finland, Sister."
Ivan smiles, and offers a cigarette to Pekka when he's done, letting him keep his own copy of the signed document. And Mikhail does the talking. "The orders are already given to our men, no more offensive action. We will need your cooperation in ensuring a smooth transition to peace in this city, of course. All locomotives on the Leningrad-Viipuuri railway line must be left as they are, with Soviet soldiers guarding them to make sure the treaty terms are met. And we expect an orderly withdrawal from the city, within seven days, which we think is generous in the extreme.".
Rise of the Third Reich
"I have not come to make men better, but to make use of their weaknesses."
- Adolf Hitler
Wagner's voice is loud and clear as he raises his right hand and repeats the oath, "I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, as my Fuhrer, loyalty and bravery. I pledge to you and the superiors appointed by you, obedience unto death. So help me God." The oath uttered, Wagner can't help but grin in satisfaction.
Wagner whistles sharply at the SS men, to get their attention. Then he shoulders his submachine gun and shouts, "Prepare to fire! Get the untermensch off this road, now! Those who don't run immediately are partisans! Show no mercy!"
"No… Belief. Nothing to believe in. Progress is… A lie. Science is a harlot - she has been sold for a pittance." Dr. Schmidt staggers to his feet, the bottle of Schnapps dropping away from his hand, and tilting on the table, splashing hard A across his desk. "Welcome to the New World we are bu-builing, Fraulein Weir! Welcome to apathy, welcome to unreason, welcome to my-mystical nonsense and madness on a gr-grand scale. The w-world is my asylum!" Dr Schmidt stares at you with maddened eyes, staggering on his feet; suddenly, he pulls a crisp, perfect Nazi salute, "Heil Hitler!" And falls straight backwards. It's not a sissy collapse, but a straight transformation from vertical to horizontal, without anything in between. By the time he hits the ground, he's already passed out.
The Fall of France
"We are beaten. We have lost the battle."
- Prime Minister Paul Reynaud