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#42
August 23rd, 2012, 05:23 PM
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The author's thoughts section was mostly for foreshadowing and thoroughness so that later I'm not caught with "you never mentioned this before!". But in the end I am human, so yes your praises help, even if I don't like to admit it. (<.<) (>.>) 
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#44
August 24th, 2012, 01:00 AM
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#45
August 24th, 2012, 05:16 AM
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Author's thoughts: pt 2
Geography: The Caribbean holds several advantages and disadvantages for the exiles. Advantages:
Last edited by Unconsensual; August 25th, 2012 at 06:52 AM..
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#46
August 25th, 2012, 04:45 PM
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August 28th, so I've got word of my art commissions for this TL. (no I can't draw) They'll be along soon, hoping to add at least a title-page to this.
Last edited by Unconsensual; August 28th, 2012 at 05:52 AM..
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#47
August 26th, 2012, 08:29 PM
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They’ll say it was luck really; luck that she happened to be on this trip, luck that she made it as a sailor, and luck that her father just happens to be a blacksmith.
But it wasn’t luck, we’ve visited this village several times and I was the only one who’d noticed. It wasn’t luck that the captain chose me over 20 others. And it wasn’t luck that I paid attention to my father’s trade. Sitting in her cabin, she delicately sorted the basket of dull grey rocks. Treating with the at most fragility as if they were new born babes. Ore! Iron ore! There’s no mistaking it. She knew that they were always looking for Iron. She had seen her elders use it, forge it, and re-forge it but she had never seen them making more of it. It was only a matter of time until we ran out from rust, wear, and loss. It didn't take a genius to see that. She was on her rite of passage; her passage into adulthood. I remembered the stories that mother told me, back in her youth. Back then they didn’t have enough ships and all the young men wanted to be a sailor. The captains decided to test the new crews during the calm seasons when the hurricanes were absent. Those that managed great deeds or brought back great treasures were afforded the proper respect and treated as full adults. Those that failed or performed poorly had to wait until the next season and would have to bear the shame in the meantime. Originally it was just the Veneti girls who participated, but it wasn’t long until more girls started participating. It helped a lot that so many of the Veneti sailed with their families; I guess old habits die hard. Still the old Veneti men are so protective of their families, as if they expect danger from around every corner. Her ship sailed for one of the less popular destinations: a large island to the west, beyond the chain islands and past the Mountainous Isle. The anchor was set, the merchants greeted the chief, and the sailors greeted the girls. But she did not have a routine and so she wandered, along the way she saw some children playing with pebbles. It was unmistakable, just like the descriptions in the books. With the promise of an apple, she secured the help of the children. It seems like they didn’t have a word for it, like it was just another rock to them. Eventually through a charade of middlemen and bribes she found someone who knew where the dull rocks came from. It was more than I could’ve hoped for! There was an entire field of it, I couldn’t believe my luck! Pulling out her chisel, she collected a basket-worth of the dull rock as proof. This pilgrim is going home . Last edited by Unconsensual; August 29th, 2012 at 11:16 AM..
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#48
August 30th, 2012, 08:08 PM
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Pt 1
It was like greeting a lost friend. Donning his helmet, the Legate strangely felt at ease despite the prospect of imminent death. I remembered when foes trembled at the mere sight of this. The helmet he held was that of a younger man-a younger Legate. It was the symbol of authority in the old legions, but that was eons ago. Its cheek guards worn and dented in many battles and it’s once shining surface dull and tarnished. Still, ever practical the helmet served the legate’s purpose; its fiery red plume made him easily visible to his men and offered the illusion of height and authority. I’m getting too old for this. It started five months ago, when one of the ships brought back unbelievable news: They found a source of iron. It was just what we needed; we were rationing tools by then, disagreements were rampant and tempers were simmering. After the initial excitement died down, he joined the other counsels in an emergency meeting. By the time he had arrived Taie, the Carthaginian, and the captains were already waiting. Even Sertorius himself attended, but despite the rarity of his visits all attention was focused on the young lady standing before them. As she sailed under his command, the captain was obligated to introduce her. Clearing his throat he spoke: Tell us, what is your name? Aemilia Julia Domna, Junior Seaman of the Templum’s Maiden . [1] And why are you addressing us today? I am addressing the counselors today because I return from my pilgrimage bearing not only a boon of iron but knowledge of a source. It all started when… The counsel listened intently as she described her journey, interrupting only to verify and clarify. Their faces passive, but there was no doubt they were all thinking the same thing. Where can we get more? As she finished her tale, she was praised by each and every one of the counselors in turn. Once again , her captain was obligated to expand the topic. How should we get more? As usual, the more influential members of the counselors spoke their minds. The Carthaginian was putting forth feelers for tentative plans on distribution. I suggested that we send more surveys and start preparations for constructing an outpost. While Taie in response stressed caution in the difference between trading and settling to the natives. The ship captains were in favor of trade, but Aemilia pointed out the natives’ inability to recognize or mine ore. There had to be someone there to supervise , Aemilia claimed. someone whose not only knowledge about metals but also with knowledge and experience of the area. Of course most of the captains balked at the idea of letting someone so green command of a voyage, especially a woman. What proper man would trust their lives in the hands of someone so young? they asked, what man would be foolish enough to let a woman at the helm? They bickered and bickered. In the end lacking better suggestions themselves they could only grumble, while the Carthaginian and I agreed. The Carthaginian stressed the importance of metallurgy to their image of superiority they had, while the I stressed the safety of both the crew and Templum if metallurgy ever escaped. In the middle of all the commotion, the old man who had been silent the entire time spoke. To men of status who often spoke loudly it seemed a whisper in comparison. But it was the whisper of Quintus Sertorius and the room fell silent instantly. There is no doubt of our great need for ore or for the matter our need to maintain the traditions of authority. But like I saw in many of you when you were chosen, I now see the seeds of greatness within this one. Alas she does not have the experience to be captain as dictated by the Chain that Binds, instead she will accompany her crew as a honorary first mate, she will organize all the details of the land party while her captain commands the ship. If she succeeds, she will be given the full honors and command of the next ship commissioned. In the meantime she will continue as a honorary first mate to gain the experience she will need. [2] With the weight of the father of the Latins on her side, Aemilia smiled know that her captainship was assured. For those of you interested here's a image of a replica centurion's helmet. I love the combination of flare & practicality.  [1] Due to the prominence of sailors in the Sertorian era many Latins (born post exile) referred to themselves by both their given names and the ship they served on. This convention only fell out of favor as Templum (Latin republic) expanded to the point where duplicate and triplicate names became a common occurrence. Among the military the practice was halted early due to the First Yucatan war where it betrayed vital military information. [2] The Chain that Binds is the code that is the basis of the Latin naval ranking system. Promotion was based upon seniority and merit, with crews often spending a lifetime together. The ranks were organized not by function but rather by status, where each section of the ship often had their own hierarchy. This created the unlikely, but probable situation of a captain serving as the cook and other various positions upon a ship. For more details, refer to “The Latin Republic” by Taitus Sertorius. Last edited by Unconsensual; August 30th, 2012 at 10:43 PM..
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#49
August 30th, 2012, 08:41 PM
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Also as a side note, I will be making a post on Veneti navigation. It deserves some work.
(reserved for later ranting) Last edited by Unconsensual; August 30th, 2012 at 08:48 PM..
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#50
August 31st, 2012, 12:09 AM
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This is really neat, I've always wanted to see the Romans in the Americas.
__________________
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#51
August 31st, 2012, 09:28 PM
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PT2
Journal CXXVII Four weeks after Aemilia left, we received word the expedition found the ore. It was even better than we could’ve hoped for, good easy veins near the surface. [1] That was about the extent of the good news, after that it went downhill. The natives were difficult to deal with; we could not barter with them to provide labour for mining. Taie was unable to help out as he has never met those tribes before. Unlike the fishing villages we were so used to dealing with the tribes inland valued land more than possessions. While the ore was of no use to the natives no less than four tribes had claimed the land and they started to harass the expedition. Eventually word got out that we were seeking some sort of very valuable rock and the harassment started to include thefts. In spite of all of these clear signs of hostility Sertorius refused to let me reign of the expedition. “I did not come all this way to fight” he said. Instead he sent a few guards along with next ship and instructed them to make palisades around the camp. What timidity! Yielding the initiative to the locals, their hostile intent was clear, we should’ve marched out to the chiefs themselves and demanded recognition. But in the end it didn’t feel right to oppose Sertorius. He was still the man I respected, but he was missing something; like a portrait without color, a meadow without sound. He no longer had the vigor and fire in his eyes that I remembered. Nowadays he prefers to spend most of his time at his farm in the hills with his wife and kids. Oh well, things will reveal themselves soon enough. The next ship is supposed to arrive by dawn. [1] Cuba’s mineral wealth also included copper, manganese, nickel, chromium, cobalt, gold, and silver. The item of great interest is how close some of the deposits were to the surface and hence rudimentary mining techniques. Manganese was only of interest to Latin glassmakers as a method to decolorize glass while Cobalt was used as a blue dye for glass. Nickel ore on the other hand was quite similar to silver ore and was often mistake as such; hence the phrase Herme’s silver. And finally the uses of chromium were unknown to the Latins of the time.
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#52
September 2nd, 2012, 11:06 AM
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Sept 2 nd. Ok I finally got my commission through, managed to upload the image into the first post take a look at it. Gimme an opinion, do you like the artist's style?
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#53
September 2nd, 2012, 11:10 PM
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Yes it's good.
__________________
Guerreros del Arcoiris
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#54
September 13th, 2012, 02:36 AM
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There are only two kinds of people that truly understand Legionaries: Legionaries and the dead.
Decius Mus-The first Latin aqulifer The man was elated; never in his wildest dreams did he believe that he would be an aqulifer. [1] Well, it’s not exactly what I thought it would be either. For one the “legion” he served in to numbered less than a Maniple[2]. More of a signifer than an aqulifer really, but there wasn’t really any choice really; many of the men were either out of port or needed in Templum. Of course a full legion is impossible, that would need pretty much every soul in Templum. Still… the size of the legion made the position seem less glorious.[3] Also he was expected to fight; his aquilia was secured to the back of his armor in order to free his hands. Once again I guess it can’t be helped; there just wasn’t enough experienced soldiers. They were old yes, the younger ones among them were now in their 30’s & 40’s, but they were trained and disciplined. And at last there was the odd sight of the army itself, a sight unseen in Templum for over twenty years. There were three ranks of infantry. The first rank contained the few hunters and spear fishers in front. There simply weren’t enough time to train proper velites, especially with limited deck space. Still it shouldn’t be a problem, they are only expected to harass the enemy before falling back when the lines closed. The second and third ranks contained a mix of legionaries who served in the Old World and the strongest and most valiant of the Latin youth. There more than was enough equipment for everyone brought over from the Old World, they originally brought them over for protections. But asides from the occasional spat with neighboring islands there was never a need for them. Imagine the blacksmith’s fury when the Legate revealed that he had hidden iron gear from him. Still I wished that we had more time. Back in the Old World, legionaries had at least months if not years of experience. Short of time and pressed by the Captains many percussions and rules were broken. The men were assembled in a day and left port a week after, during this time and the two weeks on the seas the Legate attempted to instill some basic discipline and formation into the new recruits. While the young men were capable fighters, they were not soldiers. They didn’t know how to fight in formation like a soldier, they had no sense of camaraderie in their legion beyond family and friends , and they used courage in place of discipline. *Sigh* It wasn’t enough, if we only had more time. Still at least we’re here to show them the ropes. [1]An aquilifer is the standard bearer of the legions. Derived from the standard he carries the “aquilia” which meant the symbolic eagle. He was often a soldier of high-standing ranked just below the centurions (one grade below the highest position). The position was considered very prestigious and often given to men of great distinction. [2]A Maniple is an inherited Roman organizational unit; it is comprised of 2 Centuries each of which contain 10 Contubernia each of which contained 8 legionaries for a total of 2X8X10=160 men. A full legion consists of 10 cohorts, each made of 3 Maniples totaling 5240 men including the addition of 120 horsemen as scouts and messengers. [3]A signifer is the standard bearer of a legion cohort (480 men). Sources vary but somewhere along the line the western Kingdoms incorporated the Golden Mountain Bear as the standard for their mountaineering legions. Last edited by Unconsensual; September 13th, 2012 at 03:28 AM..
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#55
September 23rd, 2012, 05:36 AM
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Hmm well quite frankly I've got writer's block-no shortage of ideas, just absolutely no idea how to write a battle scene. I'm trying to create a battle highlighting the motivational, organizational, and technological differences between semi-nomadic warriors and Romans.
Also, school's started again. Anyways, expect slow progress. Last edited by Unconsensual; September 23rd, 2012 at 06:11 AM..
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#56
January 15th, 2013, 04:50 AM
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Veneti Seafaring:
Before I continue I must profess that the sources for the Veneti are almost non-existent, a few old mentions in accounting texts and a few military notes about them from the time of Caesar just before their massive depopulation. However it has been noted that their ships were designed for blue-waters, that their primary propulsion source was sail, that they dominated trade from the Bay of Biscay to the North Sea, and that their merchants were present in Hispania and Morocco. What is mentioned here is mostly conjecture based on the general sailing technology of the time and latter Roman experience in the North Atlantic. First off technology isn’t a major concern, the main problem was navigation. Take for example the Polynesians who settled the Pacific with canoes. The dominant ship for the Roman times was of the Mortise-and-tenon construction: “Mortise-and-tenon joinery was a common and widespread practice of shipbuilding in the Mediterranean stretching back into the Bronze Age and likely originating in the Levant.This technique entailed inserting wooden pegs, or tenons, into fitted holes, or mortises, that ran along the upper and lower edges of each side plank. As a final step, a dowel was often inserted transversely through both the plank and the tenon to further secure the fit and join.The ultimate result of this method was that each strake was securely affixed to the adjacent planks above and below by several hundred double locking joints.” Often the internal reinforcements would be added after the construction. The main advantage of the Mortise and tenon construction method is its great durability in the shell of a ship; something prized by the Romans for ramming in warfare and as protection from the frequent shipwrecks that occurs in the Mediterranean. The drawback would be the extensive labor costs to carve and fix each plank and the excessive usage of wood (neither of which was lacking in the Roman Empire). However the Veneti reliance upon sailing would imply that the internal skeleton was reinforced sufficiently to allow the vessel to be propelled by sails mounted on a mast(s). Roman accounts also describe the Veneti ships as thicker hulled, which would go hand in hand with the fact that larger vessels (which require tougher hulls) can support bigger masts for sailing and tolerate rough storms better (than say the Mediterranean’s milder storms). Also chances are the Veneti ships were mostly civilian as with most temporary navies of the time and the fact that they were able to strip entire settlements from the advancing Romans. Range wasn’t the a big concern, swapping cargo for survival supplies in addition to fishing and rain catching sails. The largest problem would be the equatorial weather which is prone to periods of high pressure: meaning no winds for the sailing ships, made even worse by the fact that the predominate sail of the time was the square sail, a sail designed for going downwind and nothing else. For the cross-Atlantic journey this would’ve been the largest concern. Veneti navigation on the other-hand mostly guesswork on my part, the most likely method they used was a combination of celestial navigation and calligraphy. Given the fact that they frequented Hispania and the Northern African Atlantic coast there exists a distinct possibility that they knew of the trade winds. However due to the lack of accurate clocks the time of day cannot be accurately determined and since the earth rotates 15 degrees an hour they Veneti would’ve had to have had astronomers who can determine time from the positions of Jupiter and the moon. Also like many ocean-faring navies the Veneti could've used hydro-phobic birds to sight land , these bird often have feathers that could become waterlogged which would render the feathers useless, something the bird would like to avoid. Thus when the bird is released it will either fly towards land (and fly back as it's trained) or simple fly back to the ship. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also I'm planning on rewriting the content thus-far, I want to be better organized with a more consistent writing style. Also I intended to get a bit into social structure, belief systems, and farming technology Last edited by Unconsensual; January 15th, 2013 at 10:17 PM..
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#57
January 20th, 2013, 03:51 AM
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When you rewrite this, should you have them ever get to South America, let me know if you need any help. I'd be glad to help.
__________________
A story of the Roman Empire, and the family that inherited it from Justinian...
The Mauricians: A Medieval Roman Novel
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#58
January 20th, 2013, 05:58 AM
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#59
January 20th, 2013, 07:07 PM
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An exile society based on Sertorius would be impressive if it could survive in the long run. Given the Atlantic currents I could see an exile socity starting in Cuba and another one in Brazil if the fleets got separated. Each would have its perks and quirks, the Cuban one could become a maritime power with colonies throughout the Caribbean and northern South America. One in eastern Brazil, possibly starting at modern Rio e Janiero or Recife, could develop into a land power with some maritime tradition but more emphasis on developing the continent. Also I might send 10,000 refugees initially with 5,000 making it to the New World. The diseases and Colombian exchange would create a very unique culture, and a hybrid Andean-Roman culture might emerge in the mountains.
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#60
January 20th, 2013, 08:10 PM
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