Trying out some writing styled I don't do too often. Is it good/bad? should I do writing style like this more often or should I keep to the plain old history book timeline writing like I'm doing with my Vinland TL?
so in short, Thoughts?
In 97 AD among the Tribes of the Thulonni had became a local powerhouse, although around this time the knowledge of Iron working had spread to many neighboring natives along with sheep, goats, cattle, wheat, barley, and rye. However another thing was given to the natives from the Trans-Atlantic exchange; Rats. The rats had devastated the primitive civilizations along the interior of Nemusannia and they had gone all the way south to the southern tip pointing to the Antarctic.
The devastation on the early civilizations was great and it was not just the food they would steal, but the diseases they would carry. The ecosystem was in ruins with the exception of the Snakes who thrived like they never did before; This did not bother the Thulonni because they had long been accustomed to owning cats as far back as when their ancestors first settled Thule. The usage of Cats was not adopted by the Native peoples at the time and the Thulonni had been able to take extreme amounts of loot from their dying neighbors, however they too were beginning to feel the effect of diseases on the rats that the cats had missed.
The undisputed expansion of habitat that the rats had gotten allowed for huge amounts of diseases to spread as no longer were they hunted by the domesticated cat. The Thulonni had been able to persevere with their cats while nearly every civilization on the two continents had been brought low and many smaller ones ceased to exist from diseases alone. At this time is when many civilizations had encouraged the spread of snakes, without a mousing animal such as the cat they made due with the snake; the modern day House snake is a result of nearly two-thousand years of domestication and they will rarely ever bite humans.
In Rome the knowledge of Nemusannia was little, mostly known among the British merchants who did business in Thule but even then the knowledge was few. However new evidence has been revealed by the bodies of three Adult men and one adolescent child around the age of fourteen were found very far south, DNA testing has found that they were of British and Latin descent, and they were closely related with the older man around the age of forty-seven being the father with the other three being his children:
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"Caecilius! Camillus! Aetius!" shouted the old man at the tent where his three children were still asleep with the sun well up in the sky.
The hairy young man gets up slowly and wearily: "Why must Father insist on us waking so early?"
"Because if you three slouchers sleep all the time how are we going to move any distance? Besides, the place we're going is probably going to have Women who would 'appreciate' you for a small Iron sewing needle."
The youngest one, about the age of fifteen finally came out of the tent groggily: "I don't know about you, but it would seem odd doing that thing with this being a family trip and all".
The oldest one then smirked: "You're just scared because you haven't felt a woman before."
The other brother then came out of the tent very groggy looking, Camillus was a very large and strong looking man, his father did not like the idea of putting his children into combat but if such were to happen Camillus was sure to at least cleave two men apart with the large British sword he carried.
"Shut it you two, if were going to be travelling out here in the middle of nowhere you should at least be less annoying." Camillus never did like it when Caecilius and Aetius bickered, not so much because he was worried for Aetius the younger brother but because it was always so annoying.
"Well" the old man said, "we ought to make a couple Stadia before dusk, if we follow this river inland I think that's were the village is."
The group had been in Nemusannia for two months, with little provisions they had to hunt. They had planned to keep the bat safe but a storm had knocked it against the Rocks, while none of them wanted to admit it, they were stranded.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"Boys! Will you look at that."
The group had been trying to work it's way inland to Thulonni territory where they might have some hope of making it back to Britain alive.
The Thulonni village they were looking at seemed to bustle with commerce, they seemed to be thriving here. The father of the Group made his way to what would be the Chief or other lead figure, he had been Speaking Thule for years and the Thulonni dialect wasn't far off.
"We wish to trade and get boat back to Thule"
"Boat we came on crashed on Rocks"
The Chief seemed to understand and them to stay at his (what would go by for local standards) Mansion. The father had brought out a small wooden board with a pattern of squares. The Chief knew exactly what this was and had smiled in delight as his guest got out the proper pieces; His cousins in Thule had well known the game the British Merchants brought to play. As the rules were explained they had played the game all night, along with drinking the local brew.
The next day the Old man had inquired about hitching a ride upon the next ship to Thule, the Chief had said that only once every couple months does a ship from Thule arrive or where they send a ship to Thule.
"Jupiter's wrinkly Scrotum! If it takes a couple more months then we'll have been on this boring continent for an entire Year!"
"Father it can't be that bad, I've taken a liking to the drinks these Thulonni make; And their women aren't too shabby either."
"Caecilius, stop spouting nonsense. The Women here are much more 'Independent' than those back in Londinium, if you try and hit on them they will slap you no matter how much jewelry you offer them. Not to mention they marry at Twelve years old so they're Husband will beat you until you look like a used horse."
"Wait.. You saw that? Why were you following me?" it was said in a way that sounded like a joke but was actually true.
Aetius couldn't help but burst out laughing at that and Caecilius replied: "At least I can get some action you little brat."
"About that.." piped the Old man: "The Chief said that he had a daughter around Aetius' age that he would like to marry off to him."
"What? That would mean I would have to stay here, what would Mother think?"
"I have considered that, but if we were to refuse him it would put us on bad terms and you can forget about us getting home."
"We'll come back in time to visit you, brother." Camillus had said.
"Geez, I know I'm starting to get the ropes on the Thulonni language but it's still rough around the edges."
"If it's any consolation, the Girl is somewhat pretty."
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The Thulonni traditions in mariage were quite strange, they had a large feast afterwards though.
"You know? These Thulonni aren't too bad, they know how to party, they have good drinks, and the food is filling and tastier than anything in Londinium."
"I hear that girl is the Chiefs only child"
Aetius then raised his eyebrows and said: "You mean that when the Chief croaks I'll be the successor?"
"Apparently, I have no idea why he would choose you. No offense but wouldn't he try and choose someone of power from a different village or something? I mean what's so special about Aetius?"
The Father of the new Husband spoke up from eating the Venison: "Well, these Thulonni view Rome as a mystical place. One of their ancestors or something probably stumbled across a city and thought it to be so magical. And another possibility is they want access to more trade, when we first came they went mad over the Bronze we brought."
Caecilius then spoke with a sense of realization, "I see, that's why they want a Family member to stay here. So that we'll come back to visit instead of never coming here again, with that a steady stream a trade if only by us will start and other merchants will follow."
"Yes, but that does not explain why he would choose Aetius as a successor."
The following months the family would spend their days relaxing as a guest of the Chief, Camillius had sparred with the Chiefs warriors and had learned a thing or two for sword fighting.
However a boat finally arrived, it appeared to have aboard... Romans?
Fabius used to be a Roman soldier, though he retired he had found that trading with the Thule was very profitable. The people living on the Isle of Thule were desperate for slaves and Fabius had made a fortune on it, he had heard of the rich lands west of Thule and the abundant natural resources. He had decided to pay the new land a visit, however he severely underestimated the distance and five of the crew members had died and they were barely surviving when they saw land.
When they saw Land they had found it was an Island off the main coast, after resupplying and repairing the ship they headed for the mainland looking for settlements, because if he came all this way it better be profitable.
The new ship came, however they were not there for trade.
When the first man to great the newcomers found a sword through his chest is when the men under Fabius led an attack. Fortunately the Chief had men with weapons there and a small battle had raged on, the Former Roman Soldier had led his men as such, the Thulonni warriors killed seven of the attackers before the rest escaped. They had buried four men, one of which was closer to a child in one hole and the the other three in another.
"Jupiter's magnificent Phallus that was too damn much." The Father of the three had said after nearly passing out after his old body went through the combat.
"Well, at least we have a boat now... If we can get to it..."
"I wouldn't bet on it, damn coward probably won't come back."
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"I told you to wait until they got rid of their weapons before we Striked!"
"That man could see it in my face sir, his eyes just made me do it.."
Fabius sighed, "Are you alright?" he had seen this many times in the army, war was something that could break a mans mind, seeing a man cough up blood and fall over from your own blade came with it's own set of nightmares for the first few times he knew from experience.
"I'm fine sir, just a little.."
"Boy, I know it's not a festival to jab a man in the innards and the stress of doing so makes you impatient and wanting to get it over with. But you need to get patience, without it you'll die."
The Boat had floated further south, they came across another settlement and prepared to raid like they did last time but hopefully more successfully.
"Their skin is like those from Libya, are you sure these are Thulonni?"
before Fabius could walk off the ship in non-threatening way he caught a stone arrow to the throat and the entire crew was killed by the natives. These were not Thulonni.
Another ship arrived at the village but this time it was more peaceful, it was from thule and after some Bargaining the Father and two brothers were ready to leave. How they would get to Britain from Thule they had no idea. Leaving behind the Sixteen year old Aetius with his new bride.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////