Scriptorium Editorial for April 2014

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Contents

• Introduction
• Top News
• Scriptorium News
• Recent Articles
• Scriptorium Article Reviews
• Closing Statements
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Introduction

Greetings and welcome to the Scriptorium editorial for April 2014! We have concluded the writing competition, and will announce the winners here! In addition we will bring you any news about the Scriptorium and reviews of the winning articles!
Also make sure to read the reviews made of the winning entries from the competition!

Top News

Winter 2014 Competition Winners


We apologize for the delay in getting this Editorial out to announce the winners. We know all of you have been eager to know the result, but now here they are at last!

Overall Winners
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/image...gold_large.png1st: The Winter War by General Retreat!
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/image...lver_large.png2nd: I Hate Humans by Diamat!
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/image...onze_large.png3rd: A Blade of Grass in the Killing Fields by Dance!




Librarian's Choice
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/image...rian_large.png- Alexander, by ggggtotalwarrior




Category Reputation Winners
50 Rep to runner-ups and 25 to second runner-ups

Themed
Runner-Up: A strange and beautiful light by Legio Itallica
Second Runner-Up: A Christmas Journey by Finlander, and Past and present by Veteraan


Long
Runner-Up: -Untitled- by Inkie Pie
Second Runner-Up: In the Snow, by Strengelicher. And Forever Lost by Armenum


Short
Runner-Up: The Death of Archimedes by Dance!
Second Runner-Up: The Canadian Exercise by La♔De♔Da♔Brigadier Graham, and Alexander by ggggtotalwarrior


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Other News

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Recent Articles

Below is a list of all articles added to the Scriptorium catalogs since the time of our last editorial in January 2014.

Recently Added Articles

January 2014 [TW Guide] How to Manage the economy in a Medieval II HS/Strategy Added 03.01.14 [Modding] Shogun 2: How to create an area of recruitment Added 09.01.14 [History] Vladimir the Great - The Grand Prince of the Kievan Rus Added 09.01.14 [History] Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse Added 19.01.14 [TW Guide] How to Play in a Hotseat game Added 29.01.14 February 2014 [Modding] Dbsql db interface Added 04.02.14 [Modding] Creating a custom unit in Total War: Rome 2 (video tutorial) Added 07.02.14 March 2014 [Modding] Rome 2: How to Change Region Ownership and Add/Remove Armies using the Assembly Kit Added 22.03.14 [Modding] Rome 2: How to export an external model into Rome 2 Added 22.03.14 [Modding] Want 40 units fighting under one General? Here is how!Added 22.03.14 April 2014 [Modding] Rome 2: Variant Editor-Beginners Guide to the Assembly Kit Added 18.04.14

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Article Reviews

1st place The winter War, by General Retreat - review by Sir Adrian

Much like last winter's winner this years winner once again focuses on war, however unlike last winter's winner the author does not visit the blood soaked fields of the Roman Empire choosing to take us instead to the frozen wastelands and brooding forests of Karelia at the height of the Finnish-Soviet war of the winter of 1939-1940. The story is split into 5 chapters and tracks the the exploits of two freshly conscripted soldiers: a Finnish infantry man and a soviet tank gunner/commander over the course of a month. herein lies the first problem, of the 5 chapters only the first is dedicated to Finnish point of view and it ends so abruptly that it seems like it was a latter addition meant only to extent it, even so it does manage to set the pace for the rest of the story quite well and it could be a short story in its own right. The story is written mostly from the first person perspective, each chapter being structured like an individual journal entry, and when combined with the heavy but very effective use of visual images it manages to create a deep sense of immersion as if the reader was there riding the tank across Finland's border or desperately defending against the Finnish ambush. The style of writing is very good and the author and manages to maintain the balance between description and the action scenes so that neither of them gains too much prominence or falls completely in the background, which is by itself no mean feat. To cut a long review short The Winter War was a big surprise for me. When I first saw it I expected a long, cumbersome story with many twists and turns and instead I discovered a very well written, very easy to read, highly immersive and very entertaining story about the misery, suffering and the general feeling of helplessness usually associated with war. Our community seems to agree with me because they chose the Winter war as the grand winner of the 2014 Scriptorium Winter Writing Competition, an opinion we respect and for that reason we are very proud to award General Retreat with the gold medal and recommend the Winter War to all members of the site. -Sir Adrian

2nd place I hate Humans, by Diamat - Review by Sir Adrian

Coming up on second place we have I Hate Humans by our resident avian philosopher, Diamat. I Hate Humans is a slightly humorous philosophical take on the futility of our modern "society" and the absurdity, and in some cases hypocrisy, of our day to day lives and habits. The author does this by presenting a very succinct summary of the life of 5 stereotypical people from and outsider's perspective (knowing the author most likely from the perspective of a budgie :P): a corporate "drone" sinking away in daily routine and self imposed convictions with the unflinching determination of the metaphorical ox calmly following his herder to the slaughterhouse, a debutante in the world of politics who despite her veneer of civic masculinity ends killing herself due to emotional trauma, an atheist who ends up worshiping science and falls into the exact same pitfalls as the religious people he actively dissociates with, an ex-convict with an unhealthy addiction to weed and other people's money and finally a "theist" who is basically the female version of the aforementioned theist. While, overall, the author did a very good job of identifying the absurd situations we so candidly consider normal and constructing a story around them but some of them are very hit or miss, like the story about the convict, what aspect of life is begin criticized or what is wrong with picture being unclear at best. The writing style is simply, direct, to the point and deliciously caustic in certain places and manages to convey a lot of information in a few words. The submission is very well structured and makes it easy to read but it also gives one a feeling that there could have been more to it. This is especially true of the conclusion/moral of the story which, while doing a great job underlining the futility of our modern "society" and the absurdity we willfully build into out lives fails to provide much else. Regardless of these minor issues Diamat's I Hate Humans is well written and thought provoking and for those reasons the humans of this forum gave it a well deserved the Silver Medal and my personal recommendation. -Sir Adrian

3rd place A blade of Grass in the killing fields, by Dance - review by Sir Adrian

No Writing Competition final without Rome says an unwritten law of the Scriptorium, a law which I am incredibly happy that it exists for Dance's A Blade of Grass in the Killing Fields truly deserves to be here. This submission deals with very much the same theme as Diamat's - the absurdity and pointlessness of our existence and daily struggle - however Dance takes a completely different route: introspection. Instead of an outside perspective presenting 5 stereotypes we get to see the world through the eyes of a Roman soldier and learned man by the name of Titus who lay dying in forgotten field somewhere in Italy. The submission itself can be split into two parts. Part one deals with the inner musings of the dying soldiers and he ponders the means by which he got where he is, the insignificance of mortal existence in the eyes of the gods and what it truly means to be a hero while part presents the meeting between the soldier and the giant himself, Hannibal Barca, as well as Titus' death at the hands of Carthaginian soldier. Both part blend very well into one another, the arrival of Hannibal being both the element which triggers the soldier's introspective episode and what causes him to wake from that state. The author does not use many figures of speech but they are used masterfully and to great effect. The same can be said of the visual images employed, all of them, from the countless blade of grass which Tituts equates to the life of a soldier to the grizzled image of Hannibal himself, serving a very precise purpose within the she story and helping underline the overall message. To conclude A Blade of Grass in the Killing fields is a very well written, very well thought out submission which and for that reason we are more than happy to award Dance the bronze medal and our hearty recommendation. -Sir Adrian

Librarians choice: Alexander: Reviewed by Lord William

Alexander Evening ladies and gentlemen, it is a with a great pleasure that I get to give a review on this competition’s “librarian’s choice award.” As always the choice is never simple as there are so many good authors and stories to choose from but with tons of coffee and grinding our teeth into nubs we have come to a decision. This Seasons winner is ggggtotalwarrior for his short story titled Alexander. The author successfully attempts to poetically describe the life of Alexander the Great and to share his interpretations of Alexander’s eventful life with his audience. The poem is written in a third person perspective possibly a scribe or historian following his death in an attempt to glorify perhaps even idolize the campaigns of their late King. The author did a great job in writing the poem he maintained structure as well as historical accuracy however vague he described the events, which had come to pass. For those who are unfamiliar with the stories of Alexander it is similar to David and goliath, Alexander being David and the Persian Empire being goliath. With that imagine imbedded in your minds I would like to end this review by stating that this poem was a fantastic and I enjoyed reading it. The poem is great for a light read, so if you have a bit of spare time you know what to do!

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Closing Remarks

Thanks to all who entered the writing competition and congratulations to the winners! I hope you have found it well performed, and we have tried our best to get it done so smoothly as possible. We'll have another writing competition this summer starting around August.

Also, we're always on the watch for new additions to the scriptorium! If you have something you think is worthy of being saved here please PM any librarian. The thread would be copied there for easy access for future users.

Thank you all for reading our editorial!

Vér sjáumst!

The Scriptorium Team

Vaðarholmr - Chief Librarian & Editor
Gen. Chris - Writer & Librarian
knight of meh - Writer & Librarian
Lord William - Writer & Librarian
Sir Adrian - Writer & Librarian
Riverknight - Writer & Librarian

StealthFox - Retired advisor
Hader - Retired advisor

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