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| shared_worlds:benjamin_upham [2013/12/10 09:40] – Petike | shared_worlds:benjamin_upham [2020/02/04 00:13] (current) – Updating to new link format eofpi |
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| === Session 1 === | === Session 1 === |
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| **[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=2460182&postcount=329|An English Whelp: Witness to the Black Death (1335-1350 AD)]]** | **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/1/post-2460182|An English Whelp: Witness to the Black Death (1335-1350 AD)]]** |
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| My name is, well, I've gone through quite a few, really, but this is the one I was born with: Benjamin Upham. I was born in a town in the south west of England in the Year of Our Lord Thirteen Hundred and Thirty Five, in mid-December, so it may as well have been 1336. At the time, and for centuries on until modern medicine, sanitation, and reliable heating came along, most children born in mid winter didn't last long. To say that I was resilient is an understatement. Must be genetic, as I still can count one brother, several children, and my father among the living. As far as I know anyways. | My name is, well, I've gone through quite a few, really, but this is the one I was born with: Benjamin Upham. I was born in a town in the south west of England in the Year of Our Lord Thirteen Hundred and Thirty Five, in mid-December, so it may as well have been 1336. At the time, and for centuries on until modern medicine, sanitation, and reliable heating came along, most children born in mid winter didn't last long. To say that I was resilient is an understatement. Must be genetic, as I still can count one brother, several children, and my father among the living. As far as I know anyways. |
| === Session 2 === | === Session 2 === |
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| **[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=2460182&postcount=329|Marriage / My Father's Son (1351-1366 AD)]]** | **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/1/post-2460182|Marriage / My Father's Son (1351-1366 AD)]]** |
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| I married at sixteen, not unusual for those times. Her name was Mary-Jo, daughter of the local smith. I was only three years older than her, her age at marriage being normal for those times too. Sure a couple of children followed, but not as fast as one would have expected at the time. Sort of like my parents. | I married at sixteen, not unusual for those times. Her name was Mary-Jo, daughter of the local smith. I was only three years older than her, her age at marriage being normal for those times too. Sure a couple of children followed, but not as fast as one would have expected at the time. Sort of like my parents. |
| === Session 3 === | === Session 3 === |
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| **[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=8414891&postcount=1499|Crusader Revenant (1367-1400 AD), Conquistador (1400-1550 AD), Colonist Rogue (1550-1671 AD)]]** | **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/1/post-8414891|Crusader Revenant (1367-1400 AD), Conquistador (1400-1550 AD), Colonist Rogue (1550-1671 AD)]]** |
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| The Kings who ruled what is now the north of Spain were always in need of soldiers to fight their wars against Muslim Al-Andalus. While most of their recruits were religious nuts and homicidal maniacs, there were many who had more worldly reasons for going. The pay was reasonable for the time, though not for the risks that one would have to take. (Trust me, it never is. I've served in many armies and that has been a constant. Along with foul-mouthed drill sergeants.) The nobles were usually idiots. (Another constant.) And to this day I can remember the ear-blistering rant that the Seargent at Arms went off on when one of the other recruits asked him a question. He wasn't helped that it was a stupid question. From my own prior experience, I knew to remain quiet and do as I was told. (I was also helped by the fact that I could already read and speak French. Made it easier to learn Spanish and I could at least get what most of was being said right from the beginning.) Unfortunately said NCO picked up on my having 'prior experience' and gave me the unwanted task of making the other Englishmen aka "Those f---ing morons"* into something that resembled an effective fighting force. At least I managed to make them into a unit that was capable of obeying orders before they got me killed. I didn't manage to accomplish much else before that happened. | The Kings who ruled what is now the north of Spain were always in need of soldiers to fight their wars against Muslim Al-Andalus. While most of their recruits were religious nuts and homicidal maniacs, there were many who had more worldly reasons for going. The pay was reasonable for the time, though not for the risks that one would have to take. (Trust me, it never is. I've served in many armies and that has been a constant. Along with foul-mouthed drill sergeants.) The nobles were usually idiots. (Another constant.) And to this day I can remember the ear-blistering rant that the Seargent at Arms went off on when one of the other recruits asked him a question. He wasn't helped that it was a stupid question. From my own prior experience, I knew to remain quiet and do as I was told. (I was also helped by the fact that I could already read and speak French. Made it easier to learn Spanish and I could at least get what most of was being said right from the beginning.) Unfortunately said NCO picked up on my having 'prior experience' and gave me the unwanted task of making the other Englishmen aka "Those f---ing morons"* into something that resembled an effective fighting force. At least I managed to make them into a unit that was capable of obeying orders before they got me killed. I didn't manage to accomplish much else before that happened. |
| === Session 3 === | === Session 3 === |
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| **[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=8415573&postcount=1501|Apostolos and Benjamim]]** **[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=8420759&postcount=1506|share a discussion]]** | **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/1/post-8415573|Apostolos and Benjamim]]** **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/1/post-8420759|share a discussion]]** |
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| __[[Prometheus]]:__ It looks like Benjamin and I are close in age, too. Lots of 14th Century brats, eh? I ended up in Boston eventually as well, but not till the 1800s. I've shunned the damned ocean for most of my days, so it took me a while to make the jump across the Atlantic. | __[[Prometheus]]:__ It looks like Benjamin and I are close in age, too. Lots of 14th Century brats, eh? I ended up in Boston eventually as well, but not till the 1800s. I've shunned the damned ocean for most of my days, so it took me a while to make the jump across the Atlantic. |
| === Session 4 === | === Session 4 === |
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| **[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=8426674&postcount=1534|A Convenient Marriage (1671-1776)]]** | **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/1/post-8426674|A Convenient Marriage (1671-1776)]]** |
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| Ah, yes, where was I? Oh, Boston. My arrival in Massachusetts was quiet. Quiet I like, doesn't draw attention to me. The town was vibrant and new, like everything in the Americas at the time. It was also very English, something that I'd found that I had missed. While the place was small enough that hanging around too long was risky, Massachusetts itself was diverse enough that one could move to another town and not be recognized quickly there. And then there were also the other English Colonies that were reasonably close. To put it kindly, the image of Puritans and their like being dour prude who wore dark clothe is wrong. Only the assholes who fit the stereotype wore that. Most people wore clothes that were colourful, often as brightly colouful as the available dyes would allow. And while they did project the image of being uptight douchebags (as the kids would say these days), what went on behind closed doors was another matter. This leads right to Shann, the Irish eternal who'd by that point called Boston home for 40 years. I'd always found that a 'house of ill repute' was a good place for a new arrival to learn about the town. On the one hand you'd have those needs taken care of. (As an eternal, forming meaningful relationships with those who you're damned to outlive is at best, difficult.) On the other, just by ordering a drink and listening to the surrounding ephemerals natter away got one acquainted with everything one needed to know about the town quickly. It's an acquired skill, but we have time to learn, don't we? Usually the proprietress of such an establishment would be a woman of middle age who'd survived prior employment in one and has either inherited it or had opened one of her own. Shann was different from that. For all I saw at the time, the proprietress was a woman in her early twenties who could get and hold the attention of virtually any man just by entering the room. She'd certainly got mine. So I'd finished my drink. Had another. (The gossip was very enlightening, and a couple of juicy scandals had opened the possibility of maybe getting dirt on and then blackmailing someone important as a way of ensuring that my secret stays safe. Though I needed to learn more and those contacts take time to develop.) And then I went up for a roll in the sack. Sea voyages can be quite long and quite frustrating, especially for the majority of us who aren't into buggery. The fact that I hadn't gone right upstairs following my arrival from the docks was ultimately noticed. The girl waiting for me was emphatically not the one that I'd paid for. And a knife to the heart was not definitely not the service that I'd been after. | Ah, yes, where was I? Oh, Boston. My arrival in Massachusetts was quiet. Quiet I like, doesn't draw attention to me. The town was vibrant and new, like everything in the Americas at the time. It was also very English, something that I'd found that I had missed. While the place was small enough that hanging around too long was risky, Massachusetts itself was diverse enough that one could move to another town and not be recognized quickly there. And then there were also the other English Colonies that were reasonably close. To put it kindly, the image of Puritans and their like being dour prude who wore dark clothe is wrong. Only the assholes who fit the stereotype wore that. Most people wore clothes that were colourful, often as brightly colouful as the available dyes would allow. And while they did project the image of being uptight douchebags (as the kids would say these days), what went on behind closed doors was another matter. This leads right to Shann, the Irish eternal who'd by that point called Boston home for 40 years. I'd always found that a 'house of ill repute' was a good place for a new arrival to learn about the town. On the one hand you'd have those needs taken care of. (As an eternal, forming meaningful relationships with those who you're damned to outlive is at best, difficult.) On the other, just by ordering a drink and listening to the surrounding ephemerals natter away got one acquainted with everything one needed to know about the town quickly. It's an acquired skill, but we have time to learn, don't we? Usually the proprietress of such an establishment would be a woman of middle age who'd survived prior employment in one and has either inherited it or had opened one of her own. Shann was different from that. For all I saw at the time, the proprietress was a woman in her early twenties who could get and hold the attention of virtually any man just by entering the room. She'd certainly got mine. So I'd finished my drink. Had another. (The gossip was very enlightening, and a couple of juicy scandals had opened the possibility of maybe getting dirt on and then blackmailing someone important as a way of ensuring that my secret stays safe. Though I needed to learn more and those contacts take time to develop.) And then I went up for a roll in the sack. Sea voyages can be quite long and quite frustrating, especially for the majority of us who aren't into buggery. The fact that I hadn't gone right upstairs following my arrival from the docks was ultimately noticed. The girl waiting for me was emphatically not the one that I'd paid for. And a knife to the heart was not definitely not the service that I'd been after. |
| === Session 5 === | === Session 5 === |
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| **[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=8429590&postcount=1538|Oathkeeper (1776-1783)]]** | **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/1/post-8429590|Oathkeeper (1776-1783)]]** |
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| Back when I'd assumed my father's station, I'd sworn an oath to my liege and to the King, to uphold the laws of the land, to keep the king's peace and to remain loyal to both Edward III and to his heirs. As I'd never sworn any oaths of loyalty to any succeeding king, I simply interpreted the second part to mean 'loyal to the current king, whoever that may be'. | Back when I'd assumed my father's station, I'd sworn an oath to my liege and to the King, to uphold the laws of the land, to keep the king's peace and to remain loyal to both Edward III and to his heirs. As I'd never sworn any oaths of loyalty to any succeeding king, I simply interpreted the second part to mean 'loyal to the current king, whoever that may be'. |
| === Session 6 === | === Session 6 === |
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| **[[http://alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=8447343&postcount=1546|Exile and Reunions (1783-1812)]]** | **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/1/post-8447343|Exile and Reunions (1783-1812)]]** |
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| So it was that we were exiled to what is now the Canadian province of Nova Scotia in 1783. Halifax, the capitol of the Colony of Nova scotia and the main British naval base in North America, now that New York was lost to treason, was a frozen shithole swamped with refugees. Many of the displaced loyalists were 'encouraged' to move to sparsely settled portions of both Nova Scotia Colony and the Canadas, in order to strengthen the crown's hold on it's remaining possessions. We had money. Lots of money, though we didn't dare admit how much. So we got to stay. Of course we had to discreetly grease some palms here and there, and I'd had to make myself useful. Still, the place didn't remain an overcrowded shithole for long. Lots of new construction saw to that. Winters were still a bit colder than I'd been used to, but not as bad as it could have been: We could have gone to York (now known better as Toronto) or Montreal... | So it was that we were exiled to what is now the Canadian province of Nova Scotia in 1783. Halifax, the capitol of the Colony of Nova scotia and the main British naval base in North America, now that New York was lost to treason, was a frozen shithole swamped with refugees. Many of the displaced loyalists were 'encouraged' to move to sparsely settled portions of both Nova Scotia Colony and the Canadas, in order to strengthen the crown's hold on it's remaining possessions. We had money. Lots of money, though we didn't dare admit how much. So we got to stay. Of course we had to discreetly grease some palms here and there, and I'd had to make myself useful. Still, the place didn't remain an overcrowded shithole for long. Lots of new construction saw to that. Winters were still a bit colder than I'd been used to, but not as bad as it could have been: We could have gone to York (now known better as Toronto) or Montreal... |
| ==== Personal information ==== | ==== Personal information ==== |
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| **Birth Name:**\\ | **Birth Name:** Benjamin Upham\\ |
| **Birth Date:** \\ | **Birth Date:** 13? December 1335\\ |
| **Birth Place:**\\ | **Birth Place:** <expunged> Kingdom of England\\ |
| **Status at Birth:** \\ | **Status at Birth:** Firstborn son of the Sheriff of <expunged>\\ |
| **Relation to other Eternals:** \\ | **Relation to other Eternals:** Son of Joesph Upham of <expunged>. Married to Shann of Cork. Brother of <expunged> Upham of <expunged>. Father of <expunged>, <expunged>, <expunged>, and <expunged>.\\ |
| **Current Pseudonym:**\\ | **Current Pseudonym:** <expunged>\\ |
| **Past Pseudonyms:**\\ | **Past Pseudonyms:** <expunged>\\ |
| **Current Home:** \\ | **Current Home:** <expunged>, Alberta, Canada\\ |
| **Past Homes:** \\ | **Past Homes:** <expunged> (England), <expunged., <expunged>, <expunged> and Cordoba (Spain), Havana (Cuba), Kingston and Montego Bay (Jamaica), Boston (Massachusetts), Halifax, Moncton, Alliston and Calgary (Canada)\\ |
| **Current Occupation:** \\ | **Current Occupation:** <expunged>\\ |
| **Skills:** \\ | **Skills:** Swordfighting, wrestling, swimming, horseback riding, boxing, archery, marksmanship, drinking, whoring, piracy, chemical engineering and tax evasion.\\ |
| **Languages Spoken:** \\ | **Languages Spoken:** English, French, Spanish, <expunged>, <expunged>, <expunged>, German, Italian, Latin, Greek, Arabic and Russian.\\ |
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| ==== See Also ==== | ==== See Also ==== |
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| **[[AH.com Eternals]]** | **[[AH.com Eternals]]** |
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