Winging It In Wismar

by Tim Sayeau | Apr 19, 2019

June, 1635   "All I'm saying is, it could have been any one of you," commented Major Dag Rödvinge of the Army of Sweden. "The only reason I got the job is I was closest to the colonel when he had his brainstorm about Engler and Narnia. Why you think I should be...

Protecting the Seed

by Tim Sayeau | Oct 16, 2018

Paris Mid-September, 1633   Sunday in the d’Aubray household presented difficulties. Before, Sundays had been idyllic, the Lord’s Day, the Day of Rest. Marie Ollier and Antoine Dreux d’Aubray mère et père would attend either morning or evening Mass at Notre-Dame...

Uprooting the Seed

by Tim Sayeau | Aug 14, 2018

Paris Early September, 1633   Marie-Madeleine Marguerite d'Aubray clutched her Barbie and peered through balcony railings to the scene below. For a wonder, neither of her parents were with her. She loved Papa and Maman, she really did. Papa would always pick her...

Cremonensis Faciebat 1632 or, Body and Scroll: The Luthier’s Tale.

by Tim Sayeau | Jun 11, 2018

December, 1630   Nicolo Amati stared at the plague-pit of Cremona. Inside it were his father Girolamo, mother Laura, sisters Margherita Caterina, Vittoria Caterina, Elisabetta Caterina, and Elisabetta's husband Vincenzo Tili. The plague season this year had done...

The Proper and Correct Marine Response: A Tale of the USE Marines

by Tim Sayeau | Apr 9, 2018

"Attention on deck!" barked Marine First Sergeant Petrus Saalwächter as First Lieutenant Matthias Valentiner entered the large room within the Hamburg USE Marine barracks set aside for the daily administrative duties of India Company, Third Battalion, First Marines....

You’ve Got To Be Kidding!

by Tim Sayeau | Dec 19, 2015

As Colonel Nils Ekstrom worked his way through the various reports sent to Lübeck from Torstensson's adjutants, he spotted an oddity. Thorsten Engler, that sergeant the princess wanted made a count, had captured both the French cavalry commander and the French army...

The Bad Seed

by Tim Sayeau | Dec 14, 2015

Paris, 22 July 1633 Master Antoine Dreux d'Aubray, Prefect of Paris in The Year of our Lord 1633, stood listlessly against a door jamb, staring into the room in which his little daughter Marie Madeleine Marguerite slept. The moonlight coming in from a window...

Decisions of State

by Tim Sayeau | Aug 2, 2014

Ferdinand III stared at the slim, up-time object on the table before him. “This,” he announced to the courtier who had brought it to his attention, “is ridiculous.” “Yes it is,” agreed the courtier. “But . . .” “Indeed,” mused Ferdinand. “But . . .” “It’s honestly not...