posted
[Newly added 2 September 06: I'm adding an index of sorts to help people navigate through or be reminded of the story so far. Suggestions are welcome if there's a better format.]
All-
I've gotten some feedback that suggested not everyone may be as familiar with Arthurian lore/history/mythology as I assume in writing Legion of Camelot.
While some things are deliberately vague, other things may be so familiar to me that I assume they need no explanation. Mea culpa.
In this thead, I will offer a little more backstory without adding exposition to the narrative, and anwer questions on things that some may find confusing or miss the context.
Let's start with the basics:
Europe circa 500 CE(Common Era)
It's the beginning of the Fifth Century and the Dark Ages. While modern scholars debate if the Dark Ages really were dark consider:
A long, virtually uninterupted chain of Mediteranean civilizations (Egypt, Greece, Rome, to name a few) seems to be at an end, ans horde after horde of barbarians descends across Europe.
The Huns have came east in the late 300s and 400s, causing a domino effect, pushing the various Germanic peoples south and west into Roman and Celtic territories. There is friction, genocide and everyone trying to defend homelands - or seize a new land from someone else.
German Goths have resettled or taken over Spain, Northwest Africa, southern France, and Italy.
Britain and Ireland Britain, cut off from Rome for the first time in centuries, struggles to stand on its own feet, while bombarded by Germanic invaders: Saxons (Khunds for this story), Angles, and later Jutes - and also dealing with internal struggles, and northman raiders (Vikings).
While the Roman provence of Britian largely overlapped with today's England, to be less confusing I refer to Britain in modern context as the entire island, and Roman Britain as the extent of long-term colonization.
With the withdrawal of Roman forces in the 4th century, many small kingdoms began to emerge, just as pre-Roman Britain was divided among many Celtic tribes.
The Celts of today's Ireland, Scotland (Caledonia) and the Isle of Man are Gaelic Celts, who were just starting to colonize western Scotland at this time. The Scoti tribe prior to this dwelled in Ulster, the northeasternmost of Ireland's four traditional kingdoms (although more Irish kingdoms, too, were emerging at this time).
The Celts of today's England, southern Scotland, Wales (Cymru), Cornwall and Brittany (also called either Armorica or Lesser Britain, a peninsula in northwestern France) were Brythonic Celts, and spoke a different language than the Gaels.
Then there were the Picts, a small, darker (stone-like) people who lived in Scotland before the Scots (You still see traces of Pictish blood in some Scots. Look at a picture of Andrew Carnegie - how dark he looked!). Their custom of painting themselves (a la Braveheart) was laer adopted by Scots, and also was the origin of the word 'Picture.' Also, thier small, reclusive lingered in folk memory after they were gone as a seperate people - the 'pixie' ( a term I use in LoC as an anachronistic term).
For most story-telling, assume speakers are talking in Latin, the comon tongue of that era, although Greek was the language of the educated, the elite, across the old Roman Empire.
More on specifc parts of Britain later.
France (Gaul) and Spain (Iberia) The Franks, the predessessors of the French, are a Celtic people struggling to unify and hold onto northern France (except Brittany), having been pushed out of Germany (Frankfort = French fort).
Building an empire, Clovis (a real historical figure) has recently (in 496 CE) taken Allemania (which has several spelling variations), a small kingdom of the Germanic Suevi peoples, which would have ccupied today's southwestern Germany and eastern France (largely the Alsace-Lorraine, if you remember your World Wars history). I place Strausbourg as its capital, although sources differ.
In the coming years, Clovis will also take southwestern France form the Visigoths, and take the independent German kingdom of Burgundia, which lies in southeastern France, a much largewr area than today's Burgundy.
A Visigoth kingdom, based in Toulouse, rules southern France and most of Iberia. After Clovis takes France, Toledo becomes the Goth capital (called by its Roman name in Interlude Three).
Clovis' kingdom stagnates after him, but revives 300 years later, when the Islamic Moors take Spain, and Frankish king Charles Martel beats them back.
Moorish Spain, centuries after Arthur, was reknowned as a tolerant, multicultural, educated land where christian, Jew and Muslmin coexisted peacefully, until the Inquisition ruined it in the Middle Ages. For my purposes, I portray a sense of the cosmopolitan, egalitarianism in the Toledo that my Iberian characters come from.
Another branch of the Suevi people control the northwestern part of Iberia, the traditionally Celtic land of Galicia, north of today's Portugal.
In north-central Iberia, the Basques rule their own nation.
The Mediterranean and non-British Religion
The Eastern Roman Empire, centered at Constantinople (aka Istanbul or Byzantium), has all but abandoned the west. It will exist into the 1300s.
Rome itself is a ruin, a shadow of itself. The Roman Catholic Church has only recently seperated from the eastern church, but their authority on many matters lies at the whim of their Germanic rulers. Two rival popes further divide the church.
Despite Hollywood's long focus on Christians and lions, the Empire long accomodated many religions peacefully, and some historians say Christians were persecuted for a total of about five years during the centuries before Emporer Constantine himself converted.
With Constantine's acceptance and promotion of organized Christianity in the early 300s, the church began using its authority to clamp down on alternative forms of Christianity- even more than it did towards other religions.
This relates to our story only in terms of an ongoing theme of orthodoxy (not necessarily in the sense of Eastern Orthodoxy), literalism and authoritarianism of a church hierchy ripe for abuse by our villainous characters vs. (for example) the Celtic Church, a very decentralized institution that promoted charity and good will - and had no trouble co-existing with (or co-opting the legends and vocabulary of) indigenous paganism.
Many cults and religions were rampant though the Roman Empire, and many had temples in Londinium (London).
Those I touch upon include:
The Cult of Isis, obviously Egyptian in origin, was very popular among the Greeks, and among the learned and scholarly in general. As late as the French Revolution, Isis was used as a symbol of thought and reason.
Apollo is the Greco-Roman sun god, obviously.
Mithras was a popular god among Roman soldiers, and he had a prominent temple on London. Mithras was very rooted in middle eastern dualist religions such as Zoarastrianism, Manicheeism and Christian Gnosticism (one of the 'heresies' official-state Christianity worked its buns off to destroy). To summarize, there are two gods of equal strength: the evil god who rules this world, and the good god who rules the world beyond. To get to the good world, you must purge yourself of the world's evil before you die. Please note that I grossly oversimplify in my summary here; it's fascinatingly complex, and this theme resurfaces in later medieval Christian Catharism snd more certain branches of recent Protestantism.
[ September 02, 2006, 05:21 PM: Message edited by: Kent Shakespeare ]
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Dec 2003
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Back in school, we were taught that the primitives developed polytheism to explain things like lightning and sunrises, etc - that they needed to explain and have literal faith in these supernatural beings.
I say that's as accurate as 33rd century archeologists seeing our comic books and concluding we similarly beleived these characters and stories were real.
Without delving into Joseph Campbell or Karl Jung (look them up if you don't know) too deeply, these characters (gods or super-heroes) are archetypes that represent powerful ideas and themse - the stories are neither real, nor intended to be --- but yet a powerful tale's magic should seem real -- not by belief, but by suspension of disbelief.
With that in mind, my Druids and other assorted pagan clergy might look upon authoritarian, literalist-Christians the way we might cringe at TV show that show comics/genre fans as soo geeky we can't differentiate between reality and fantasy at all. Combine that with organized authoritarian, literalist-Christians, you've got a quite a culture clash on your hands!
I have simplified organized Christianity in the cities of Roman Britain as being mainly Rome-centered (ignoring fringe groups), as are the occassional hermits or monks of the south (who traditionally are commonplace in Arthurian tales).
I see the Church as not having made that many in-roads into the countryside (where most people lived), any any Christianizing may be superdicial at best. I base this on that by the late 500s, Irish clergy faced serious hardship reinvigorating Christianinty in Britain, and that many pagan customs are documented in the county towns well into the 1800s (or longer, although less authoritatively documented, if you accept the ties to modern Wicca).
As most of my knights come from urban or noble backgrounds, many were raised in Christianity. But as many nobles still needed to keep their ties to the old ways as well, and as Londinium residents would be exposed to various backgrounds, most (but not all) of my knights are a tolerant bunch.
The Celtic Church, meanwhile, was centered in monastaries, not cities, and was decentralized and without the secular authority to enforce itself - even if it chose to. Missionary work was more its style, not pogroms.
Speaking of pogroms:
The Romans obliterated the Druids from Gaul (France), as they were leading the resistance there.
They likely carried a prejudice coming into Britain, as indeed several noteworthy rebellions transpired (Most notably, that of Iceni warrior-queen Boudacaea, who gave the Romans a permanent scare).
And, Romans apparently did slaughter a Druidic settlement on the Isle of Mona (today's Anglesey).
I have chosen to portray, in light of the withdrawal of Roman foeces and the new Khundish threat, that Roman Britains and Druids buried the hatchet and found ommon goals and a common foe. I see this reconciliation dating back to Ambrosius' overthrow of Vortigern (more on that later).
While Druids are typically shown as wizards or priest, they were more the scholars, lawyers and advisors to lords and kings of the Celtic world. As this is a fantasy story, I add a smattering of magicks, mostly based on herb-lore and mental tricks, and leave the real magicks ot the Priestesses and Teachers (more on them later). All three are rooted in Celtic religion, which I will deal with next.
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Dec 2003
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Like many cultures, the Celts evolved their own heroes, gods and monsters, an elaborate cast of names and deeds.
Rather than try to retell the stories, I'm looking at the themes, and the history that fed it.
Britain was covered in a sheet of ice, once, which ended about 8,000 to 10,000 BCE. Plants came in the ice's retreat, as did birds and later animals, including people. The global melting of Ice Age ice lowered the seas, turning Britain into an island.
Those early people were primative hunter/gatherers, and like most people of thouands of years ago, they likely formed a religion around the cycles of life: particularly fertility, hunting and death.
Fertility and birth. The Maiden becomes the Mother. The wise woman who, while the hunters were out, gets to know every root, every herb, which may aide an injured hunter - and which may grant release from his pains. The Crone.
The triple goddess theme resonated in many cultures. In Britain, it was Arianhrod, Ceridwen and Cailleach (among other variations). In Ireland, Brigid, Danaan and Morrigan (or Morrigu).
To the hunters of the great beasts of the forest, the leader of the herd, the pack, would be a natural archetype for masculinity: the alpha-male, the biggest challenge - and biggest danger.
The King Stag. The Horned God. Herne, the hunter. Cernnunos.
And for every king stag killed, a young buck would ttake his place, every year? every few years?
The Year-King, who rules the season, only to die and reborn. And in later agricultural era, the Corn King.
And sometimes, the hunter became the King Stag's victim - a fair trade in a contest of equals. And each stag -king or otherwise, had given its life (voluntarily or not) that the people might eat.
Nature. Balance, Respect.
And heroism. The hunter who risks his life for the tribe easily segues into the war-chief who will save the tribe from the invaders, to the king who will protect his people's fields and villages - but balanced with responsibility to the people. If the crops failed, the king might be expected to sacrifice himself that fortunes would turn. What might have oce been an annual sacrifice (our hunter for the king stag) probably became cyclical (one every seven years) to only-when -needed (the crop failure analogy), and maybe even becoming only symbolic, for ritual (just as Christian communion presumably takes symbolism from a dinner party 1970+ years ago).
Many cultures (particularly in Europe and nearby) grow from similar themes. With the transition to an agricultural culture, the legends become more complex. With the taming of the horse and the advent of war, my-gods-beat-your-gods create elaborate interconections and relations.
The Tuathe de Danaan - the fair-haired children of Danaan (who was a mother goddess long before she got in the yogurt business) came to Ireland, beating back the Fir Bolg - the big men- a race of ugly, deformed giants, according to myths.
Does this suggest an allegory to a prehistoric colonization of Ireland? Praising the victors as god-like and beautiful, replacing a scorned previous race? Yet the legends of these gods also include truces wit the giants, and intermarrying and interbreeding.
The Celts had wonderful oral traditions of storytelling (and still do), yet oral stories change over time. By the Middle Ages, variations of the stories had turned the Tuatha De Danaan into elfin faerie-monarchs, the human-like Titainias and Oberons to the more non-human subserviant faeries.
Likwise, Arthurian tales were not written doen for some five or more centuries until afterward, for reasons I'll go into another time.
So, without telling you who Wayland and Dagda and Lugh are, this is a taste of Celtic religion's themes.
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Dec 2003
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One Brandius returns from hunting to find Mordru waiting for him. His mood changes from good to foul.
Two Brandius interrupts Mordru's moves on his ward Luornu, who i helping to hide her sisters, believed dead by Bishop Vidar.
Three Mordru tells Brandius' son Reep and foster-son Rokk that they are recruited for war against the Khunds, and that the high king, Ambrosius, has died.
Four Sending Luornu (and her hidden sisters) for a nearby convent, the men depart for war.
Five At the British war camp, Sir Garth of Brittany meets Duke Marcus and his step-son Sir Thom, both of Cornwall, just as hostilities begin.
Six The eldest son of the northern King Lot thinks poorly of the southern British knight, until he encounters Sir Thom in the midst of battle.
Seven After the battle, the war leaders of Britain gather to find that Rokk has suceeded in pulling Ambrosius' sword from a stone, a feat no one else has or can do, marking him as the king's successor. Mordru tells them after an attempt on Ambrosius' son's life, the king had him hide the babe with Brandius; and Rokk is Ambrosius' son.
Eight Rokk shares his fears with Reep, and concludes that he must rule and rule justly, else someone less just rule.
Nine Lot's son opts killing his young cousin Rokk in his sleep, but choses not to.
Ten A princess and diillusioned priestess of Avalon, Jeka, is told she is being sent to marry the new king. Thinking she is outscheming her superiors, she brings another priestess, Imra, an adept at mind-magics, along, but this is just as Lady of the Lake Kiwa and chief Druid Beren expect.
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Eleven Rokk meets his aunt Morgause and uncle Lot, and distrusts them. Reep is suspicious of an errand their eldest son, Gawaine, is up to.
Twelve Gawaine meets a mysterious lady in the woods, seeking to recruit him to assassinate Rokk. En route back to Londinium, he tosses their blade into the river, vowing not to be a tool. Someone else fishes the blade up after his departure.
Thirteen Asleep, Mysa learns that Imra and Jeka are en route to Londinium, and dreams ill of Mordru.
Fourteen Rokk, Reep and Brandius grow concerned with Vidar's manipulations.
Fifteen On the road to Londinium, Garth befriends Thom, who is distraught that his true love Nura has married his father Marcus.
Sixteen The faerie Saihlough contemplates the mystery of the Dark Stranger as Mysa arrives in town.
Seventeen At his father's urging, Dyrk drinks Querl's formula to defend against Vidar's influence. Unseen, some of the formula vanishes.
Eighteen Rokk decides to send Vidar to Rome
Nineteen While chasing a foe through a crowd, Gawaine is assailed by his nemesis, the Green Knight.
Twenty Garth proposes a cavalry unit. Rokk learns of his bride's arrival, and that of a woman claiming to be his sister - Mysa.
Twenty-one Rokk meets Mysa, and is flooded by memories. He storms out to confront Mordru.
Twenty-two Mysa, uncertain if Rokk stll accepts her, finds comfort in the arms of a drunken Garth.
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Twenty-three Jeka tells Imra how her sister Guinevere died, and how Imra must pose as her.
Twenty-four Rokk asks Mordru why he resembles his recollection of Ambrosius, but finds no help.
Twenty-five Querl concedes L'ile's invisibility, and L'ile conjectures a Dark Circle of rogue Druids.
Twenty-six An unseen woman sees Garth enthralled with one of Voxv's daughters, and later believes Rokk's life in danger, but seeking Gawaine's aide, only finds Saihlough.
Twenty-seven Garth learns the woman he is smitten with is Rokk's bride. At Rokk's coronation, assassins attempt to kill Brandius; the three youngsters stop the plan.
Twenty-eight Rokk and Brandius conjecture about the plot, and note that they have many allies with strange gifts.
Twenty-nine En route to the betrothal ceremony, Imra hates the deption, especially with Pharoxx, Lot and Morgause seemingly knowing the truth.
Thirty Gawaine returns with the Dark Stranger, the mastermind behind the plots and an old foe of Brandius'. Repenting his prior ill will, he renames himself Jonah.
Thirty-one Learning that a Ulsterwoman warrior Laoraighll lies ill nearby after fighting in Britain's aid, Rokk and Sir Prize go to seek her, following Querl, some Druids and soldiers already en route.
Thirty-two Learning that the new beefeater Tenzil is a poison expert, L'ile asks him to follow to aid Laoraighll.
Thirty-three
With a wounded, unconscious Laoraighll, Querl seeks to evade Khundish raiders amid a heavy rainstorm.
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Thirty-four Thom believes the Khunds who have settled in southeastern Britain are being treacherous. Following Nura's predictions, Marcus sends Thom into the faerie realm to save Rokk.
Thirty-five Imprisoned, Querl sees Rokk in danger but cannot help. Laoraighll rescues him, accidentally injuring him further.
Thirty-six After (to him) untold months trapped in the faeries realm, he executes the fae-queen who captured him, and laments a curse he made on fae-kind.
Thirty-seven Lamenting being useless, Sir Prize takes off to find a way to prove bravery.
Thirty-eight Jousting against the recovered Laoraighll, Garth discovers there's more to his lightning nick-name than speed.
Thirty-nine Querl evaluates the recent abnormal occurances.
Forty Despairing that nothing is going right, Morgause summons the Crone aspect of Goddess, who plays a trick on her and Reep.
Forty-one Mysa tells of the bandit Torachi; Imra and Garth share an awkward moment.
Forty-two Mordru helps Mysa put clues together.
Forty-three Imra clears the air with Rokk about the deception.
Forty-four Luornu and her sister Laurentia debate thier futures, and meet Carolus, the new court jester.
Forty-five En route to get two reluctant kings to attend the upcoming wedding, Dyrk, Jonah, James and Thom are attacked by an old foes of Jonah's. The Green Knight interrupts Jonah's solo battle with Caradoc.
Forty-six Without the missing Jonah, the other knights meet one of the kings, who hosts a mysterious guest linked to the ambush.
[ September 02, 2006, 04:00 PM: Message edited by: Kent Shakespeare ]
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Dec 2003
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Sixty The court meets at the round table to discuss the Angles, as Garth and Brandius prepare to travel.
Interlude One A monk on a desolate isle watches a volcano, and fears a trapped devil will escape.
Interlude Two With ihs fortunes in Rome turning around, Vidar savors vengeance.
Interlude Three In Toledo, Garth is impressed with Iaima and Iasmin's steeds, and with their friend Genni, who can outrace horses.
Interlude Four In Khundia, Q'Bahl inspects the aftermath of the destruction of a coastal village.
Interlude Five Brendan seeks The Hunter in a strange land to the west.
Sixty-one Thom is severely wounded in a boar-hunt near Glastonbury.
Sixty-two Mysa is challenged by the Christian ladies of the court.
Sixty-three At an old hill-fort south of Glastonbury, Rokk explains his strategy for three fortresses to support refortified coastal defenses.
Sixty-four Zoe tends to the healing Thom.
Sixty-five Rokk learns of the Angle kings' plans.
Sixty-six Rokk learns his curse is in abeyance as long as Thom remains loyal to him.
Sixty-seven Querl's war-crafts go better with Loomius' aid.
Sixty-eight The Angles unleash their plan to discredit Imra and Rokk's knights, but the court stands ready.
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Sixty-nine Jonah welcomes Garth's return with the horses.
Seventy Garth and James entrall Iaime with tall tales, until the signal for a Khund attack comes. Querl overhears Iaime's mention of a magic belt to keep him from harm.
Seventy-one In Avalon, Imra hears a plea from the legendary Irish hero Lar Chulain of centuries ago, who warns her Garth's and Rokk's lives are in danger.
Seventy-two The villain Cranyac taunts the moping Dyrk.
Seventy-three Eva and Lavarrus ask Mekt to move his forces, leaving a gap in Londinium's defenses.
Seventy-four The knights celebrate their cavalry's success, while Jonah tries to console his brother Agravaine, who has accidentally killed a friend.
Seventy-five Hoping to test his Computus during the attack, Querl and Loomius move it to a hill overlooking a likely battlefield, only to be ambushed by Khunds.
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One Hundred and Seven Lot's army is stalled by the blizzard.
One Hundred and Eight The deserters tend to Berach, who has taken a fever for creating the blizzard.
One Hundred and Nine Jonah's forces has success against the angles.
One Hundred and Ten On his quest, Balin is given a second sword by a maiden.
One Hundred and Eleven Garth suspects another army will descend upon Londinium from the west.
One Hundred and Twelve Attempting to capture Loy, MacKell and Laoraighll find Manaugh has reached him first.
One Hundred and Thirteen Ag and Jeka depart for Rome.
One Hundred and Fourteen Thom learns that the Kentish Khunds have been attacked by the raider Roxxius.
One Hundred and Fifteen Scouting to the west, Genni finds an army encampment mired in death and disease.
One Hundred and Sixteen Tarik retreats, vowing vengeance.
One Hundred and Seventeen Rokk's forces find and welcome the rest of Tarik's deserters.
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posted
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Kent Shakespeare: [QB]Thread page twelve: Roxxius Looming
One Hundred Eighteen Lot submits to his punishment; Imra lashed out at Rokk psionically after he hints of her feelings for Garth.
One Hundred Nineteen Rokk knights Tarik's deserters. Jonah betroths Tinya.
One Hundred Twenty Mordru departs, pledging to aid Mysa if she needs it.
Interlude Six Vidar's power base in nrthern Italia grows.
Interlude Seven Jeka convinces Ag to take her with him to Palestine.
Interlude Eight Festus grows vexed at Vidar's rise.
Interlude Nine Lavarrus returns to Venitia with Eva to find Mekt waiting for him.
Interlude Ten King Theodoric of Italia dispatches his spy, Kenzius, to Britain.
One Hundred Twenty-One Visiting Morgause in Lothian, Mysa learns that her aunt has a new son, Medrod, while her second-youngest Gareth is now a fosterling of Khunds in Kent, while she is fostering young Harlack.
One Hundred Twenty-Two The knights hire a mercenery to test Querl's use of Iaime's belt, to no avail. They coclude that a legitimate threat, not a set-up, may be needed, and avise Querl to keep wearing it.
One Hundred Twenty-Three Roxxius burns a village in Brittany, while seeking the Grail.
One Hundred Twenty-Four Jo and Tinya settle into regency over the Angles in Lindum, when Jonah sees the Green Knight - but Tinya doesn't. They debate the sighting until they hear that Roxxius is attacking.
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