Alright, this is pissing me off. When I log in I see a icon stating I have an unread message. Yet when I go to my messages, there are none unread. MADDENING!

...the very world seemed to be ending. Everywhere, in all corners of what was once the Empire, it was as if the old pagan war god had raised his horn to blood-blackened lips, and bellowed out a call to ceaseless, pitiless, total war. The barbarians were not merely at the gates, they had already trodden them down, and set fire to the city. Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Magyars, Lombards, Saxons, Huns, Jutes, Angles, Vandals, and Franks. 

In the sands of the east, Persians, and by the 7th Century, the armies of the Muslim conquest would come, bringing the sword and fire out of the heart of Arabia.

The Franks would drive them back across the Spanish border under the leadership of Charles Martel (the Hammer) whose son would be crowned 1st Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in the year of our Lord 800, seven years after the first Viking raid was recorded upon the abbey of Lindesfarne. Soon, the Norse would come en masse, and by the dawn of the 9th century, the fury of the Northmen was felt across Europe, the near east, and the lands east of the Danube.

It was a time of heroes, gods, and monsters. Beowulf and Grendel. Arturius and Merlin. The last gasp of the age of the near mythical; a final brush with the essence of the ancient world.

My question then, is why less of it is seen in Faire circles. The history is rich, the costuming kicks ass, and it brings to life so much of the story of Western Civilization. So snuff out the so-called light of the Renaissance, I say! delve back into the Dark Ages. Trade the rapier for the spatha. The breastplate for the hauberk or lamellae. The tights for trousers. The poet shirt for the tunic. Blood and fire and steel in favor of the banter of so-called "Royal" courts. 

-Romulus Germanicus Geiseric-

You scored as Captain Barbosa, You are cruel and black hearted and you'll get yours in the end but not without taking a few with you. You will surpass even death to reap your rewards. Captain Barbosa 92% Captain Jack Sparrow 83% Sinbad 75% Mary Read 67% Captain James T. Hook 58% Will Turner 50% Morgan Adams 33% Long John Silvers 25% Dread Pirate Roberts 25% Black Beard 8% What kind of Pirate are you? created with QuizFarm.com

 

 

Well hot damn, he always was my favorite character in that film series. Depp was Depp. Bloom was pathetic (as usual) and Nighy was brilliant. But Rush was the true master of his craft. All else paled before him, fled and cowered from him in every scene, and eventually that black ship was his again. Blackened timbers in the hands of the perfect man to wield it.

 

-C-

Rome is dead. 

The light of the West has gone out, and darkness blankets the once vibrant provinces. A sense of perpetual night, lit only by the ravenous flames of the conqueror's torch, casting dancing shadows upon the shattered remains of the Empire. The once mighty legions broke apart as old bones, splintering before the might of the barbarian, and consuming themselves in the lust for the gold promised for their loyalty. The once ripe fields were devoured by fire and plunder. The mighty roads that once laced the Empire, and were bustling with traffic of commerce, pilgrimage and the measured tread of Legions, now are choked with refugees, fleeing east, hoping for salvation behind the walls of Constantinople. The cities, once the pride of every citizen, lie in ruins, in chaos, and in the hands of fell men intent upon their subjugation.

Everywhere is death, blackest death. Despair. Decay. 

 

Save in the hearts of a few, in whom the might of the Empire lives on. Whose oaths to it are not rescinded until the last breath rattles from their lungs. The 6th century soon shall dawn. Ave Caesar! Moriture te Salutant!