Night of the Patriots

The placeholder cover for Night of the Patriots.

Night of the Patriots is a WWII era journal-style visual novel currently being written by thekatcameback#2253.

## Premise

As the days leading up to the Battle of Kursk dawn upon the 6th Tank Corps' 22nd Tank Brigade, a young lieutenant finds himself promoted to senior lieutenant and taking over command of his subunit following the death of their company's officer.

Recommended by their commissar, the lieutenant starts his own journal, talking about his everyday life, complaining about the people around him, and going about his merry way, waiting for the Germans to regroup and attack. One day, he's given information about a new officer who's come to take his place.

As this new captain settles in, Novikov notices his odd actions and disappearances, and decides to dig further into the everyday activities of this novel officer...

## Specifications

Night of the Patriots will be available on Mac, PC, and Linux in the upcoming future. It is set to release on May 9th, 2024.

### Engine

Night of the Patriots runs on Ren'Py 7.5.3, an older version of the software, due to capabilities missing from the 8.0 version. Prior to August 2023, the text editor used was Atom, before finally ending compatibility with MacOS Ventura. From August 2023 onwards, the text editor has been changed to Microsoft Visual Studio Code.

## Chapters

There are 25 planned "chapters" (officially entries, as Novikov words them) in Night of the Patriots. Each chapter is usually written from the perspective of Lieutenant Novikov. There are 5 possible endings to the story.

Full document with all the chapters will be linked here.

## Characters

### Artyom Antonovich - Lieutenant Novikov

Lieutenant Novikov is the main character of the story. Born in Sillamäe, Republic of Estonia during the beginnings of the Estonian War of Independence and the Russian Civil War, there hasn't been a time in his life where he's been out of influence from the military. His father was originally apart of the

Novikov is a graduate of the Kharkov Tank School with a degree in mechanical engineering, and has participated in the Winter War and the Occupation of Estonia from 1940-1941. He then participated in the Battle of Moscow, then Battle of Rzhev, bringing us now to the Battle of Kursk, in 1943.

### Fyodor Stanislavich - Captain Strelnikov

Captain Strelnikov is the Commanding Officer of the 2nd Company, to which Novikov is subordinate to. Strelnikov was born in Vilnius, Russian Empire, just before the Battle of Osoweic. His father, a medical NCO for the Tsar's forces, would end up defecting against the king and moving himself and his family to Perm in order to fight against the Tsarist White Army.

Strelnikov attended Moscow State University, and pursued a degree in political science. He joined the Red Army as a political officer in 1938, following the officer purges, and was first deployed to the Far East in 1939 to participate in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol as apart of a BT-7 unit. He was transferred from the Far East to the 22nd Tank Brigade in 1943, after the death of the commander of the 2nd Company.

### Konstantin Heinrich - Lance Corporal Von Koch

Lance Corporal (or in-language, efreitor) Von Koch is a machine gunner apart of the infantry detachment of the 22nd Tank Brigade. Born in Freiburg, Weimar Republic, Koch did not have the same upbringing as most of the other characters, coming from a lower noble family. As a child, Koch was a member of the German Boy Scouts, until 1936, when membership to the Hitlerjugend became mandatory for all youth and children under 18.

Koch did not go to university. In 1939, a draft was sent out to all men 18 and over, as the Invasion of Poland begun. Koch entered his basic training in November of 1939, and eventually, participated in the Battle of France the following year. Koch participated in Operation Barbarossa in 1941, and the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942, where he defected to the Red Army in trade for information of his unit's whereabouts. Koch was repatriated in early 1943, and was eventually attached to the 22nd Tank Brigade as a machine gunner. Koch periodically does in-house reconnaissance, capturing enemy documents, camps, files, and sometimes even tanks.

### Ekaterina Ivanovna - Guards Sergeant Vasilevskaya

Guards Sergeant Vasilevskaya is an administrative NCO for the 22nd Brigade. After a complicated human rights incident during the Battle of Stalingrad caused her to be temporarily pulled from her former unit, the 13th Guards, Vasilevskaya finds herself as a secretary for the major's office with the rest of the brigade staff. Vasilevskaya was born on June 1st, 1919. That's all the information she'll tell you about her childhood.

Prior to joining the Red Army, it's said that Vasilevskaya had immigrated from the Far East in order to pursue an education, some time in the early 1940s. It is highly probable that she was a participant of the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, though no one can confirm. In awe of the Soviet military, she decided to join the Red Army, though unsure in which field. Vasilevskaya ended up being conscripted as a riflewoman, and eventually received training as a sniper by 1942. Vasilevskaya participated in the Battle of Stalingrad as her first engagement.

### Lukyan Nikolaevich - Guards Sergeant Pavlov

Guards Sergeant Pavlov is a reconnaissance/sniper specialist from the 13th Guards Rifle Division. Pavlov was born in Petrozavodsk, Finland, during the height of the Finnish Civil War. His mother moved him out of the region only a few days after being born, to Moscow, as his father was then attending the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy there. Pavlov lived most of his life in Moscow, becoming a marksmanship instructor with the OSOAVIAKHIM.

Pavlov did not attend university prior to his Red Army service, and instead used to work at the Tula Arms Plant in Tula, Russia. He joined the Red Army as a aniper in 1939, during the Winter War, where he was quickly pulled to work in translation services. Pavlov was released in 1940, being moved back to the reserve until 1941, when he was remobilised in the Battle of Kharkov, then eventually to the Battle of Stalingrad.