Your fantasy real estate: Palais de Papes

Credit: Jean-Marc Rosier from http://www.rosier.pro

I'm like a friggin' ReMax agent, showing you prime real estate for your campaigns. Just avoid Jimmy Nine Fingers; he'll sell you a subprime mortgage and homeowners insurance, then burn down your house with you in it and collect the insurance, which you so benevolently left to him.

Also don't ask him why he's Jimmy Nine Fingers.

Any hoot, the Palais de Papes was the seat of the Avignon Papacy back in the 14th century and is now a UNESCO world heritage site. What's the Avignon Papacy, you didn't ask? I'll get to that later. For now, let's ogle the pretty palace.

Credit: Jean-Marc Rosier from http://www.rosier.pro

Credit: Ingo Mehling.

How much is that Balrog in the window?

"'fraid it's not enough, son." The blacksmith pronounced 'son' as 'soon'.

Merle looked down at the small collection of coins in his right hand, frowning at the imbalance between bronze and silver, then looked up at the other man sheepishly. "...it's all I have...sir."

The smith, a squat man of balding orange hair grumbled and inspected the coins again, pushing the bronze aside for any silvers he missed. He grunted. "Still not enough, son. Even my cheapest armor and weapons cost more than all that."

The young man bit his lip and fought off a tremble that threatened to run loose through his body. He could feel a tear start to form in the corners of his eyes. "Please...I need weapons and armor, I'll promise to work them off."

"Not hiring and the constabulary frowns on free labor."

"I'll send money back from jobs and whatever loot I can muster."

Things that exist: Battle Abbey

Wikipedia.

The Battle Abbey was an abbey that William the Conqueror ordered built in Battle, East Sussex, England on the site where the Battle of Hastings was fought. It was meant to atone for the bloodshed his conquest of England created and the altar itself was supposedly built on the very spot that Harold Godwinson, the king prior to William's conquest, was killed. Unfortunately, the abbey was partially destroyed in the 16th century during an event called the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Henry VIII was a huge douche. Today, only a few buildings associated with the abbey, like the gatehouse (picture above) survive and are used as part of a boarding school.

Aside from the awesome name, the abbey invokes some interesting fantasy and roleplaying images. It would be used as a model for an abbey that trains clerics and paladins. Maybe the abbey was abandoned in the past and an order of paladins takes possession of it as both a headquarters and a training ground for paladins. You could even include the abbey's partial destruction as the result of a titanic battle between the paladins and an evil army and turn it into a location for your players to explore.

Oh, the possibilities!

A matter of weapons

Wikipedia.

Swords! They're the standard weapon in fantasy and gaming and it's not surprising why, either; they're a versatile weapon and can easily be made in large numbers quickly. They're also symbolic of heroism. The problem is that they weren't the only weapon in days past and shouldn't be used like they are. The genesis for this was inspired by a post on Daddy Grognard's about a campaign he DMs for his children. What caught my attention was that one of the players uses a trident wielding fighter. People normally associate the trident with Poseidon and his Roman counterpart, Neptune, but it was a legitimate weapon used by both gladiators and in the field. Tridents could snag an enemy's weapon between the points and had the advantage of creating three wounds with one stab. Not bad.

Another piece of writing

“Zephros?” Groaned the wizard into the muck.
“Yeah?”
“Would you mind getting off me or shifting your pommel out of my back?”
“Sure, sorry. One thing though, Mikel?” Said the mercenary as he rolled off his companion and sat up.
“What?”
“You could have warned me there was a company of soldiers in the tavern. Drunk soldiers.”
Mikel lifted himself into a sitting position and examined the mud stains on his tunic and leather armor. “Well,” he began. “would you have gone in there if I had?”
“Not really, no.”
“Well then, there you go.”
Zephros thought for a moment and sighed. He stood, straightened his scale mail and stalked back to the tavern doors. “Yeah, you’re right.”

I wrote this at random the other night and would love to expand it, but I have this errant thought buried in my head that I'm unintentionally ripping off Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser series. I think it's because the story has two male characters and has a sword and sorcery setting. I've never read the series, so I can't possibly be ripping it off, but the thought remains.

Welp, time to get to writing.

Here's a piece from a story I'm working on

It's currently untitled and is the one I mentioned earlier.

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    Later, after everyone was fed and bedded in the barn, Charles found Adrian sitting on a log, chewing on a twig. Sitting down next to him, the former looked off into the distance.

    "You were supposed to be dead, but I guess word of your demise was exaggerated. That, or a miracle has occurred."

    "That's what everyone was supposed to think," Adrian responded. "me being dead, that is."

    "Most men would deck their best friend for deceiving them like that."

    "Take your best swing then, I wouldn't blame you."

    There was a long silence before the older man spoke again. "Why, though? Why did you throw it all away and leave?"

    It was Adrian's turn to be silent before standing up with a sigh. "Honestly? I couldn't handle it, that life. The political games, shifting alliances, the daggers hidden in every shadow just waiting to sink themselves into my back. Then there was the corruption, always persistent and like an impregnable fortress. No, I just couldn't take it any longer and left and do you want to know another truth? It was the best decision I ever made."

    The response from his friend was unexpected - laughter. Adrian looked down and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Did I say something funny?"

    "No, I forgot that you were always the most eloquent soldier I ever met. You could talk the edge off a sword."

    "And the bloomers off any maiden in a five mile radius." Adrian laughed, followed by Charles. After it subsided, the former turned serious.

    "Has Stephen really gotten as bad as you say? It's hard to believe that he would try to have killed."

    "Believe it." Charles sighed. "Our 'mighty' Lord Protector has become a stone in the fortress of corruption and my blood wouldn't be discernible to the rest of the blood already on his hands, I'm afraid."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Two weeks ago, there was revolt in the lower quarter of Bonham and he crushed it. Brutally. He had the entire quarter cordoned off and brought in artillery with the new incendiary shells." Charles paused, a weary look on his face. Adrian was aghast, but motioned for him to continue.

    "The fires burned for days, he wouldn't let the army or fire service put them out unless the flames moved out of the quarter. I was away at the time and by the time I returned, the inferno had been going for three days. I tried to talk sense into Stephen, but he refused to listen and so, I acted and doomed myself and my men in the process."

    "How so?"

    "I rounded up the Royal Guard and broke the cordon myself. We and a group of soldiers and civilians went in and put the fires out and rescued survivors. There weren't many and some of the worst off died later on."

    "And Stephen would order your death for defying him like that? It seems so inconceivable."

    "Oh, it's quite conceivable." Charles returned to the log and sat down, resting his arms on his legs and bowing his head for a moment before raising it and look at the other man. "Stephen has changed in ways that would shock you, my friend. But no, I don't think he ordered my death solely because of my actions that day. No, I believe he had planned it beforehand and merely used my insubordination as a justification to move against me. Only forewarning by one of his servants saved me and my men from the noose or axe."

    "Speaking of which, where are they all? Unless he severely downsized the Guard, there should be more than ten."

    "Some died resisting the new Guard when they tried to arrest them. Most escaped and I sent them into hiding until I could figure out what to do. The nine with me volunteered to act as my entourage."

    Charles finished talking and both men stood silently for a while, lost in their thoughts. Adrian was dumbfounded about the change that had taken hold in the Lord Protector.

---------

Obviously this is just an rough draft, it'll get better as I revise it. My weakest point is character interaction. I can write fairly decent dialogue, but not so much on the interaction front.

Feel free to share thoughts, criticism, and suggestions in the comments.

So I finally started writing again

And goddamn does it ever feel good. I don't really know why, but yesterday I went through my story folder, opened one I had started writing probably five years ago and just started typing away. There was only about three paragraphs from the last time, but I managed to more than double it. I didn't write any today, because I didn't feel in the mood, but I am tomorrow and hopefully through the rest of the week.

As for the story itself, it's fantasy, originally a medieval-ish one, but I'm shifting it to either late middle ages or early modern (15-16th centuries). The plot, as I have it now, involves a retired soldier leading a rebellion against power hungry Lord Protector who has eyes on the abolished throne. This soldier has a secret that is revealed several chapters in and is a nice little reference to a historical theory.

I think the impetus for this came from viewing some miniature wargaming blogs, a hobby I've taken increasing interest in. I can't remember which, but there's a few with a focus on the aforementioned time periods that will serve as the setting for my story. If I finish or otherwise accomplish what I want with it, I may move on and write other stories. Hell, maybe I'll have several going concurrently in order to keep the writing juices flowing. I certainly wouldn't mind doing one with an 19th century setting or one with an ancient warfare flavor.

Picture inspiration: Peltast

What's a peltast, you ask?

This is a peltast. They were light infantry used in Ancient Greece and if this picture is even partially accurate to their appearance, looked cool. As you can see, they were armed with javelins and were obviously not meant to go toe-to-toe with the more heavily armored hoplites that the city-states employed in their war making. Instead, they took position at the flanks of their army and chucked their javelins at the opposing forces. When those aforementioned forces came at them, they promptly ran like a bat out of hell until they were safe. One advantage peltasts possessed over hoplites is that they could run faster and over rougher terrain than their armored foes. They weren't cowards, however, as they could be used against other light infantry.

I like this picture and the peltasts themselves. They lacked armor, but were important enough to be used in the hundreds. I could see a story where the main character is a peltast on a campaign and has to survive hoplites, cavalry, other light infantry, even Persians. I also believe that the time period is another untapped vein for fantasy fiction, much like the early modern and modern periods. I know David Gemmell did a trilogy (well, more like 1/3 of one) before he died about the Trojan War, and Ben Bova wrote a novel about a Hittite warrior. There's probably some more that I'm unaware of, but much like Jello, there's always room for more!

Picture via Wikipedia.

Picture inspiration: Grenadier of Napoleon's Old Guard

Credit: Wikipedia.

I have a bucket list of sorts of all these stories I'd like to write. It's a mixed bag, some are science fiction, others are fantasy. In the case of the latter, one of them is to write a story set in an early modern/modern historical setting, but completely fantasy based as opposed to just historical fiction. The reason is that there's an entire swath of history that is for the most part ignored by fantasy writers. That period stretches from the end of the Middle Ages up to around the late nineteenth, when steampunk (which I consider more fantasy than science fiction) takes over. Naomi Novik's Temeraire series is an exception, taking place during the Napoleonic Wars and featuring dragons, but it's an exception that proves the rule.

Getting that writing Jones.

You'll fear the kilt almost as much as the halberds.
Wikipedia.

I've been thinking about writing lately. I used to do it a lot, about ten years, until I stopped about a year or so ago. Nothing ever came of it, just random fantasy and scifi stories that never got anywhere. However, since getting into fantasy fiction and starting this blog, I've been tempted to write again - not full length stories and probably not even short stories, just bits and pieces of whatever comes to mind. How does this relate to the above picture? I'm toying with the idea of writing a brief tale about a group of halberdiers during a battle. Obviously, it won't be LOTR quality, but that's not the point. The point is just to write something that's fun to both write and read. Anyway, if I do go through with it, I'll be sure to post it here first and only.