Whimsical Press Release

For Immediate Release:

Diplomatic Standoff Intensifies between the Principality of Pillau-Zerbst and the Electorate Zichenau

War Likely as Foreign Ministers Race to Find a Solution

Schmitten, The Principality of Pillau-Zerbst 20 May 1768 -- The disappearance in February of Pillau-Zerbst’s Princess Valerie, betrothed to the French mercenary officer Phillipe de Latte, has sparked considerable upheaval in diplomatic circles. Recent issues of Der Schimtten Zeitung have been filled with numerous articles on the matter. Popular consensus blames Zichenau’s Prince Ruprecht II for Valerie’s abduction. Indeed, agents for Pillau-Zerbst report that a young woman matching her description was seen at various springtime social events with Prince Ruprecht.

Generals Organize Their Armies along Frontier

Diplomatic efforts have failed to produce an amicable solution so far. Last weekend, the Pillau-Zerbst assembly called impatiently for war to decide the issue during an emergency session. Unable to remain aloof any longer, Grand Duke Alexander von Ostenburg-Buttinski of Stollen offered the services of his army to Pillau-Zerbst on Monday, expressing wishes to exact revenge for the loss of territory to Zichenau two years ago. The situation intensified when Zichenau recalled its ambassador from Schmitten last Wednesday. Pillau-Zerbst and Stollen followed suit two days later, issuing mobilization orders. Neighboring Pillau-Reuss, Werben-Steinau, Tauroggen-Fiebus, and Zeller-Schwartzekatz, are watching the developing situation closely. War seems imminent as commanders mass their armies along the frontier between Zichenau and Pillau-Zerbst.

War the Standard Modus Operandi in Area Relations

The 1763 Treaty of Paris and Treaty of Hubertusburg notwithstanding, this corner of the continent has enjoyed no appreciable peace since the end of the Seven Years War. Even the smaller principalities embroil themselves in conflicts between their larger neighbors. Typically, war is declared by one or another state at the slightest pretense. Recent conflicts have had as their catalysts: a royal love affair gone bad, temporarily misplaced crown jewels, a plagiarized monograph on metaphysics by a dilettante academic, an expatriate artist who failed to deliver a commissioned portrait to his royal patron, and, last summer, the utter humiliation of Zichenau’s Prince Ruprecht II at the hands of a master tailor.

Latest Tensions Barely Register with Dominant European Powers

In the hinterlands of northeastern Europe, the Electorate of Zichenau, Grand Duchy of Stollen, and neighboring territories have been influenced culturally and militarily by their larger neighbors for decades. The same cannot be said of Prussia, Austria, and Russia, who seem unconcerned with the complicated minuet they observe with bemused and detached interest. When pressed, the Prussian ambassador to Stollen, the Baron Heinz von dem Salat, observed wryly that his country had no intention of involving itself in what many foreign diplomats regard as the latest in a long line of fairly inconsequential developments. Despite their current preparations for war, then, it seems that Zichenau and Stollen, together with the principalities, will continue to occupy the fringes of European political and military affairs for the foreseeable future.

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And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

Sunday Morning Coffee with AI. . .

A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century. And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed. The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area. Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are. Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors. Grrrr. As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered. For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...

Continued Regional Map Revisions. . .

F ooled around a bit more with the revised map just before and after dinner this evening, using the Fotor app to reinsert missing text . I also removed a few other things using the 'Magic Eraser' function, which works surprisingly well. Now, we're getting somewhere. I just have to figure out how to ensure that the text is all a uniform font style and maybe figure out a way to add a few bunches of trees to suggest forested areas, Ninja AI is not always entirely cooperative to the tune of "I'm sorry Dave. I can't do that." -- Stokes

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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