During our recent cruise, I re-read one of my favourite books, SAVROLA: A TALE OF THE REVOLUTION IN LAURANIA by is Sir Winston Churchill. It was his only novel, and it was written in the last years on the nineteenth century.
Back in 2008 it inspired me to create a map of Laurania and later it – and an neighbouring imagi-nation named Maldacia that I created to be Laurania's potential opponent – provided the background to several wargames.
One thing that surprises me is that when I started my current Belle Époque project, I forgot to include Laurania! I'm not sure if I could make such an addition at this stage in the project's development ... but it's something that I will be giving some thought to.
SAVROLA: A TALE OF THE REVOLUTION IN LAURANIA was written by Winston S Churchill and published in 1900 by Longman, Green & Company.
Interesting stuff, Bob - 'Imagi-Nations' clearly didn't start with Tony Bath's Hyboria and Charles Grant's VFS.. Was Churchill any good as a novelist?
ReplyDeleteDavid in Suffolk,
DeleteImagi-nations go way back in the history of wargaming, and could be said to include Glasstown, which was created by the Brontë children.
All the best,
Bob
Looks like an interesting setting for a mini-campaign Bob!
ReplyDeleteMaudlin Jack Tar,
DeleteIt has served that purpose well in the past … and may well do so again in the future.
All the best,
Bob
Picking up on David’s point, I think that there is a subtle difference between imagi-nations and what Tony Bath did with Hyboria. In its pure form at least, I’ve always taken imagi-nations to involve wargame analogues for a group of states that are historically contemporaneous and broadly occupy the same geographical region (though the resulting game map may be entirely imaginary, whether they are fighting at home or in some colonial setting).
ReplyDeleteTaking a pre-existing fictional entity like Hyboria as a basis for a campaign world feels rather different to me, though I admit that Howard’s fictional setting was inspired by history – as well as mythology and other pulp fiction – and Tony was definitely using historical examples for his states’ armies (though drawn from widely different time periods).
Of course, putting fictional entities like Laurania – or even better Ruritania – into one’s imagi-nations is a nice idea, and one can claim that, though fictional, these are just pre-prepared analogues of "real" states somewhere in eastern Europe or the Balkans.
Glasstown, is a particularly interesting example of an early imaginary world, though I’ve never been certain whether any actual wargames were fought, or if the epic histories were purely based on Branwell’s (in particular) imagination. The earliest imaginary nation “wargame with model soldiers” I can think of is on the floor of Robert Louis Stevenson’s attic in Davos - though the sources for this are limited and we really don’t know much about the two belligerent states separated by the mighty Sandusky river,
Happy new year,
Mike
Mike Hall,
DeleteI agree that the best imagi-nations are those that have some sort of historical basis. By this, I don’t mean that one should just take a real country (or countries) and just change the name and leave it at that; one needs to use one’s imagination to extrapolate from the real to the imaginary for it to work effectively. For example, in my Belle Époque project, Khakistan is based on Ottoman Turkey but it has a different geography and political system.
I am currently researching early imagi-nations for a forthcoming book, and will hopefully be including those of the Brontës and Robert Louis Stevenson.
All the best,
Bob
I forgot to add to my prior comment a note that an ebook version of "Savrola. A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania" can be found on fadedpage - along with a bunch of other books including some intersting Canadian history titles - at https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20170479,
ReplyDeleteMike
Mike Hall,
DeleteThe book seems to be quite widely available now, but when I first came across it, it was not.
Thanks for the very helpful link. I’m sure others will also find it very useful.
All the best,
Bob