Russian Aristocracy

That's the tentative title of my Russian Epic. I've got Princes, Counts, a Tsar and Tsarevich, Royal Guards, and possibly a Sultan. In Russia, Princes aren't next in line. It's just another title. The Tsar is the Emperor, the Tsarevich is the heir, and all other children are Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses.

To be a Prince in Russia isn't like being the Prince of Wales. It's just a title. A high title, with populated land (meaning serfs) but it's just a title. There was no line to being Tsar, unless you planned a palace coup, but that's another story.

Katria and Nikolai. They're in love, the deep passionate kind. Their marriage is called off, their lives endangered, their families threatened. Russian Epics at their finest! Move over, Tolstoy! Or maybe not...

Crimean War and you

Not so perfect together. I have 1 slim volume, and 2 very large, very detailed books on the Crimean War. Luckily, they come with an index, because I truly have no desire to read through them! But they do have some cool pictures.

Hmm, I can only find 2 at the moment. I can't imagine where that 3rd large one went to.

Crimea: The Great Crimean War 1854-1856 by Trevor Royle
The Origins of the Crimean War by Brison D. Gooch

Naming them is harder than usual, because of the patronymic, the Russian middle name. Everyone had one like Worf, son of Mogh in Trek, it meant the same thing: -ovich/-yevich/-yich for son of and yevna/-ovna/-ichna for daughter of.

The patronymic is an official part of the name. It's used in all official documents as well as when addressing somebody both formally and among friends. For instance, you'd rarely formally address a person named Mikhail simply as Mikhail, but rather as Mikhail followed by his patronymic Mikhail Nikolayevich or Mikhail Sergeyevich. However, when a person is called by a diminutive, Misha for Mikhail, the patronymic is rarely used.

See the problem? Off I go to name, name, name. I intend to have this completely plotted and broken by Friday.