The Legend of Celatus Bolgius: An Iceni AAR

[DukeOfNorfolk]

It has taken almost a hundred years, but the Iceni have established themselves as the dominant people of Britannia, as well as Caledonia to the north. Where once there were several disparate tribes, now the Iceni now rule over the whole island. Our ways and traditions, once known by only a few in the marshes around Venta Icenorum, are now seen in the mountains around Caereni, the beaches of Fortis Vallum, and the plains that surround Gangania.

Whilst the Sinora clan have always been the figureheads of the Iceni, and will ultimately claim the credit for the successful conquest of Britannia, there is one man whose importance must not be forgotten: my grandfather, Celatus Bolgius. Although the Bolgius clan are not the dominant force they were, Celatus Bolgius was at the centre of everything that made the Iceni the force they are today. He used to tell me stories of his deeds when I was younger, and I have chosen to write them down, and make sure that they are not lost to time. Unfortunately, whilst my grandfather had strength and courage in abundance, his way with words meant his stories were uniquely told. I have therefore chosen to intersperse his stories with some of my own commentaries on the tales that Celatus told me as a child, as in some cases his recollections do not entirely match the records available in the archives of Venta Icenorum. Where his tales differ from the records (mostly made by people working for the Sinorii no doubt), I shall try to present both sides in order for the reader to choose which version they believe is correct.

Our tale begins around a century ago, when the Iceni were a small collection of clans in the east of Britannia. Our family owned a small farm in Bramulovium, not too far from the larger dwelling of Venta Icenorum. We were insignificant even amongst the people in the territory, known to a few in the village, but that was about it. Then one afternoon an event took place that marked the young Celatus Bolgius out for greatness. I shall let him tell his story, before providing a commentary afterwards:

“Me do being young in them days, and us Bolgiuses have a farm which we do growing crops which we then take to village for selling. One day my father go to market in the village which do make me in charge while him be gone. Me do walk around the farm and watch for any bad men that may come from beyond the fields where we do grow the crops, and after some time some men do come to talk at me. Them ask me who in charge and me do say him gone to market. The lead man do smile and say ‘in that case give me all your stuff, or me take you and burn down your farm.’

Me not like this man and me stare at him and his two friends, and tell him me not do give up like that. The bad man who talk me do have a stick in his hands and it look like him be going to swing it at me, but me also have a stick and me swing hard and fast and hit him good. The bad man clutch him side and his friends raise them sticks too, but me swing for them too and do hitting them until them all be on the floor look up at me. Them look in horror as a big black bird do fly above my head, then them get more scared as me stick out an arm (which me not know why me do, but it seem good so me do it), and that big bird do land on me arm. The big bird do help me fight the bad men as it do pecking at them and mean that me can do them hitting with the stick. Eventually, them bad men do run away, and me hear them say about seeing a raven. When father come back me do tell him this and him take me to the town to tell the tale to the shaman. That shaman do say a raven mean me have a big future ahead, but me just be help save our farm, so me not be sure what it all mean. ”

Whilst my grandfather may have doubted the shaman’s words, everyone who heard the story was convinced that this meant that Celatus Bolgius was a man destined for great things. The raven had chosen to aid him in the struggle against the raiders, and so the raven would become the symbol of the Bolgius clan, which we still use on our shields to this day. As for the raiders that Celatus drove off, we believe that they had come from the territory of the Trinovantii to the south. In those days, the Iceni were not as strong as they are now, and they could be raided from the south or west with ease. However, as fortune favoured my grandfather, so it also favoured the Iceni. We had always been proud of our martial skills and prowess, and these would soon come to the fore against not only the Trinovantii, but everyone on the isle of Britannia. The history which I shall now tell covers the almost improbable rise of the Iceni, with Celatus Bolgius taking the place he deserves, at the centre of the story.

 

[DukeOfNorfolk]

Hello and welcome to a new AAR. I’ve been away from AARland for a while (more of which later), which means I’ve had plenty of time to think about what I’ve liked and disliked about my previous AARs. Whilst I liked trying to write AARs from different perspectives, or with a bit of a twist, the ideas would fizzle out, or I would play too tentatively in order to try and keep the AAR going, or both. Having hopefully learned my lessons, and having really enjoyed what little I’ve played of Imperator in the last few years, it’s time to try writing AARs again, starting with this one.

Having tried a similar concept to this before (my Yemen AAR in EU4, discontinued because I was far too tentative for my own good), but with Imperator’s families giving more to work with than EU4’s estates did at the time (somewhere around 1.26/1.27), I thought I’d try writing about the fortunes of a particular family, then Celatus Bolgius came along, and his story mirrored the rise of the Iceni as they conquered the British Isles, so I decided to write his life story instead.

This does mean that this AAR is probably not going to be very long - Celatus will not live forever, and with the Iceni having already conquered the British Isles I’ve reached a crossroads in the game where something spectacular could happen, but given that I’ve not played a lot of Imperator, it probably won’t.

DISCLAIMER: I haven’t actually played past 531 AUC, hence it still could happen, but I’ve played maybe ten games of Imperator in total. Half of these have been playing as the Romans, and another one lasted about five minutes as I declared war on my neighbour at the start of the game, and lost that war. I hope you can see why I’m not confident of pulling a rabbit out of the hat if I did play on.

As I’ve hopefully made clear in the introduction from Senica Bolgia (his granddaughter), the Legend of Celatus Bolgius is told using both Celatus’s stories, and a narrative from Senica. To do this, I’ve used their oratory skill as a guide, and as Celatus’s oratory skill is 0, this means his tales are told using a hybrid of weird and wonderful things my two year old child says (which is partly why I’ve been away for a while!), crossed with a character from Neverwinter Nights with an intelligence of 8 or lower. If anyone struggles with this, please do comment, and I will change the way this is done. For the avoidance of any confusion between who is narrating at the time, Celatus’s story will always be written in italics, and if you can see parallels between Celatus’s tales and any classics you may have read, then this was entirely intended, I just hope it still emerges from Celatus’s unique storytelling.

With the serious bit out of the way, please enjoy the Legend of Celatus Bolgius!

 

[Idhrendur]

Interesting start!

 

[HistoryDude]

Another Imperator AAR? Excellent!

Congrats on unifying Britain! I look forward to seeing how that was achieved.

 

[DukeOfNorfolk]

Thanks both - glad to have you along. @HistoryDude I agree, this is such an underrated game. I've got a couple more ideas for AARs if this one goes well!

 

[DukeOfNorfolk]

Book One: The Wars against Dobunnia

Our history begins with the gathering of the clans to discuss the matter of Britannia. The chief, Deionara Sinora, had decided that she had had enough of the meddling raids from the Trinovantii, and that it was time that one nation ruled the island. There were those, namely the Crescii, who were against this stance from our chief. They pointed out that our allies in Coritania and Durotrigia, along with several other tribes in Britannia, would be against this stance, and favoured the status quo. When not attending to business in Venta Icenorum, the Crescii called the farmlands of Bramulovium their home, and had no knowledge of the life that families like the Bolgii would have experienced. Whilst Deionara Sinora conceded that we should be kind to our allies, the Crescii were still upset at the idea of expanding Iceni territory.

Along with this new militarist posture, the chief took it upon herself to introduce new coins, which were to be introduced at markets owned by the Iceni. At the time our main imports were stone from the Brigantii to the north, and livestock from the Taurinii who lived overseas; our trading partners took a while to get used to the coins, but this reform helped to grow the Iceni economy and set us onto a strong financial footing.

This economic reform was immediately beneficial, as the Iceni were able to fund a new gathering place in Venta Icenorum, but it would also have long term benefits. Shortly after the council had concluded that we must protect the weaker peoples of Britannia, the Dumnoni decided to attack the Dobunni, whose territories were to the west of the Iceni. The chieftess Deionara decided that the Iceni should take advantage of the situation by also attacking the Dobunni; in order to make sure that the Iceni were certain to win the war, the chieftess hired the mercenary company of their commander Iacii, the newly minted coins were helpful in paying the mercenaries to keep them loyal.

As the Dobunni and their allies in Siluria were now being severely outnumbered, and attacked from all sides, it was a case of when, rather than if, the Iceni would win; the bigger question would be how much territory we could take for ourselves. In order for the Iceni to control as much land as possible, the army marched for the fort at Corinium, the chieftess assuming that if we conquered the fort, then the surrounding settlements would fall into line. The seven thousand strong Iceni surrounded the fort and waited patiently for the defenders to surrender, but despite their rather hopeless situation, the people of Corinium would not be easily cowed. The days soon became weeks, and the weeks became months. A small detachment of soldiers raided the territories around Corinium, but this attracted the attention of a much larger enemy force and the raids were abandoned.

Eventually after over a year, Corinium finally surrendered. The defenders held out hope on the grounds that the combined army of the Dobunni and Silurians would come and drive off the Iceni and lift the siege. However, one morning an Iceni scout brought news that the enemy army had split itself in two - the commanders could not decide which of the many invading forces to attack, and had gone off in separate directions. The Dobunni army did march on Corinium, but they were heavily outnumbered by the Iceni; the defenders did their best to prevent a loss of life by surrendering rather than be slaughtered, but the army offered battle and was defeated.

With the Dobunni lands now being entirely occupied by the Iceni, Durotrigii and Dumnoni, the only thing left to do was to swiftly take down the Silurians. Whilst the fort at Burrium did fall much more quickly than Corinium, the enemy made a last stand at Bornium to the west. All that stood between the Iceni and a total victory was two thousand lightly armed Silurians against an Iceni army nearly twice their number. What is known now as the Battle of Bornium was very nearly a disaster as the overconfident Iceni charged repeatedly into a narrow mountain pass where the Silurians had made their stand. The bottleneck that this created prevented the Iceni from deploying its battle line to full effect, whilst the Silurians had nothing to lose and made an heroic last stand, but just as it looked like things were going awry and the Iceni needed a hero, up stepped my grandfather Celatus Bolgius. I shall let him tell the story from here:

“After we do take them fort, the chief say we need to do march west and take on them bad men. We do march across a flat bit where we could do good fighting like we do before, but them bad men not be on the flat. We find them bad men in between two hills which do be close together. Them bad men fill the gap between one hill and the other, so we have to do fight through them. This be hard because we do have more men than them, but we can’t all do fighting them at once because them make a small space to do fight in.

As we do have more men than them, we do get our best ones in the centre and do charge them, but them bad men do stand together and it be hard for us to take them down. Our best men start to fall and we do run away back to camp. Them bad men not follow us so we charge them again but them bad men hold firm so we run away again. The chief say them lose about as many fighting men as we do and that one more charge do being enough to break them bad men, so we do get ready to charge again. This time me and my clan do being on the left side rather than at the back.

Me do feel a bit scared, as it feels like we not can do break through them bad men, but then me look up and do see a bird like the one that had done me help on the farm against the raid. That bird do hover just to the left of them bad men and me have an idea. Me do speak to my father Adminius and tell him maybe we do get up the hills on the sides of where them bad men be, then we can do charge down on them, and then maybe we do better at hitting them. My father do explain this to the chief who do say yes, but do it at night when them not be able to see us. Me think this why she be the chief as she do have the best ideas.

In the night we do sneak up the hill and get near the top, then we wait for the main army to line up when it be light again. Then as the main army do charge, we do charge down the hill and them bad men now panic as we do attack from three sides. The main army do hitting the front again, but us who attack from the side do much good hitting and them bad men finally do run away and we do cut them down.”

When my grandfather told me this story, I could sense the fear in his voice when he spoke of lining up amongst the Iceni to charge against the entrenched Silurians. The raven that aided his fortunes against the Trinovantian raiders had helped once again and turned the tide of the battle in favour of the Iceni. With both the Dobunni and the Silurians now defeated, the Iceni were able to annex the former lands of both tribes; the main question was whether our next move was to attack to the south or north. Whilst Celatus had certainly played his part in the victory, the Bolgii clan were still a way away from their current position as one of the major families of the Iceni, and the Iceni’s conquest of Britannia had barely begun.

 

[HistoryDude]

Congrats on your victory!

How large do the Iceni consider Britannia? Is it the entire island, the British Isles in general, or just OTL England?

Will the Iceni attempt to diplomatically annex their allies if that's possible?

Did you adopt any new technologies in the tech tree?

 

[DukeOfNorfolk]

Congrats on your victory!

How large do the Iceni consider Britannia? Is it the entire island, the British Isles in general, or just OTL England?

Will the Iceni attempt to diplomatically annex their allies if that's possible?

Did you adopt any new technologies in the tech tree?

Thanks!

To answer your questions in order:

I was aware of the "Perfidious Albion" achievement (form Albion by 500AUC), so the original goal was to conquer all of the tribes on the British Isles and see how close I got to being able to form Albion in that time.

I'm not sure how to answer the "diplomatically annex" question without spoiling anything! If it was an option, I certainly didn't think of it while I was playing.

As this is the British Isles, we all start with no tech upgrades, and a research efficiency/output of next to nothing. Tech will barely play any role in this AAR I'm afraid.

 

[DukeOfNorfolk]

Book Two - The Conquest of Cornovia.

After the war against the Dobunni and Silurians that I have spoken of earlier, many tough decisions faced the Iceni. The major question was whether to continue aggressively expanding against neighbouring tribes, or let things settle down. Additionally, there was also the question of Iacii’s mercenaries; they had undoubtedly helped in the last war, but were now proving rather expensive to continue to pay. In making both of these decisions, the Iceni were helped by a stroke of good fortune which once again involved my grandfather Celatus. I will let him tell the story of what happened after the Battle of Bornium:

“After beating them bad Silurian men, we do being happy and do drink some beer with the other fighting men of the Iceni. We do have several beers, when me do hear a man from a big clan do saying how him do being the strongest man of the Iceni. Me not know exactly what happen next as me might have done drink too much beer, but them big clan do come to our faces and do say if me do being the strongest man then me need do prove it to them. Me not do know what to say, but then me do have idea. Me step up to the big brave man and me do say ‘if you so strong, we go patrol by ourselves tomorrow and see who find the biggest tree at the top of the hill and who bring back the biggest one win.’

The big man from the other clan do laugh, and his clan do laugh with him, but him do accept my challenge. So next morning me and him do head off up the hills. Him go up one hill, me go up the other. It do be steep, but me do get to the top of the hill, and me do look over the other side. There me do see a town, which do have big walls, so me go look closer, and on them walls do being no guards. In fact, it look like them not do have any fighting men. Me rush back up the hill and then do find the biggest tree and cut it down. When me do get back to camp, them other clan do wait for me with their big tree and my family do wait for me and see what me do bring. That man from the other family did do being strong, but when we do put our trees next to each other, me do having cut down the bigger tree. We do a big cheer and the chief do come over and see what is the fuss. We do tell her and then me also do saying to her can you know about the town which do have no guards. Me do see the chief smile before her do go away, and me think it be a good thing that she do smile. It look like we have more fighting to do.”

Celatus relished telling the story of the tree, which had gained much prestige for the Bolgii, but ultimately the news of the relatively lightly armed tribes to the north was of more importance to the Iceni. With the army already massed, it was time for the Iceni to go to war again, this time with the Cornovii. This did leave the Iceni with the problem of how to afford to govern the newly conquered territory as well as pay the mercenaries. Although it was not to everyone’s approval, the chieftess decided the best way to afford Iacii’s band was to dismantle the fort at Burrium; the money made from selling the stone would hopefully pay for the mercenaries, which would help the Iceni win the war.

The war with Cornovia, as well as their allies in Ordovicia and Deceanglia, was in theory an even contest, but the ongoing employment of Iacii’s mercenaries by the Iceni tipped the balance heavily in their favour. If there were any complaints about the length of time the Iceni’s warriors had been at war, they are not recorded. The conquest of the Cornovian territory was swift, as Celatus had been right about their forts being largely undefended. However, problems arose sieging the fort of Canovium, which belonged to the Deceanglii. Once again, thanks to my grandfather, the Iceni were able to take the fort. Here is Celatus’s story:

“The chieftess do tell us to fight them other men from the town me find, because them have no fighting men we do take them down easily. Then the chieftess say we have to do fight them friends in order to take them land too. We do find the fort and do set up one by side around the fort so them people not can do get in or out of the fort. This do go on for some time and we all do hear them hired men say that them might leave if we not do give them money. This do make everyone afraid of what them hired men might do, especially the chieftess.

One afternoon me do have a walk around the fort and try and do the best think me can do. Me do think that the fort do being high on the hill, and while them do see us come from in front of the walls, maybe if we do make tunnels, them not do see us from below. Me do seek the chieftess, who listen while me do tell her, then her do that smile again and do give me a spade. Me know how to use one of these from all the time me do spend on the farm, but she tell us again do dig the hole at night, so them bad men not can know we come.

It do take a few of us and much effort to do dig the hole, and it also be hard as we have to do dig quiet. It do take us a long time, but we do well and dig a long hole which go all the way under the fort. We do wait til it be dark to do the final dig, then we do take the best fighting men in the hole. The chieftess do send me to do the last bit of the dig, which me and them other digging men do and then the fighting men do burst out. Me do dig and then we do see the light at the end of the hole and them fighters do run havoc in the fort, while them do go into the town, me do look around where we come through the hole and me do find an amulet. Me not sure why but me do pick it up, it seem to tingle in me hand so me do keep it while the fighting men do…..”

I have chosen to end Celatus’s story there. He would occasionally describe what happened that night at the sack of Cornovium, but as many innocent people were killed it would be inappropriate to describe it here. The sack did keep Iacii’s mercenaries satisfied, and the news of what had happened at Cornovium brought the swift surrender of the Ordovicii, leaving the Iceni not only victorious, but significantly stronger than it had been less than a decade ago.

It was this growth to a regional power in Britannnia that allowed Deionara Sinora to hold a celebration in Venta Icenorum, in the grand hut that was now significantly embellished by the trophies from the recent wars conducted by the Iceni. It was at this ceremony that the chieftess made a special proclamation. Calling on the Bolgius clan to stand and come before her, she announced to all present that the Bolgii were to be rewarded for their efforts in the recent wars of conquest, and the house of Adminus Bolgius would now have greater significance amongst the Iceni.

This move was not universally welcomed, the Crescii for one did not approve; however, at the moment where the head of the Crescii stood as if to speak and denounce the promotion of the Bolgii, the chieftess noted the amulet protruding from Celatus’s pocket; Celatus being present as one of Adminius's bodyguards. Upon inspection, the amulet contained an image of Cissonius, one of our patron gods, and given its discovery among the settlement of Cornovium during the recent sack, it was decided that the amulet had been a gift from the gods and a sure sign that the recent wars of conquest had been entirely justified. Many gifts from the recent wars were showered on the Bolgii for their part in the battles, and the family were granted new lands in the recently captured territories.

Although the Iceni had been successful, there were still numerous threats. During the war with the Cornovii, the Brigantii to the north had annexed the territory of the Coritani, which meant that the Brigantii now shared a border with the Iceni. This was a cause of much concern, as the Brigantii were still the major power in Britannia, and would have been easily able to take over the Iceni if they had wished. The chieftess Deionara decided to wait and see what happened next, and hoped that the strength of the Iceni and Iacii’s mercenaries would be enough should the Brigantii cross the border. There was also the matter of the Trinovantii to the south, but if the Iceni could survive these challenges, they would soon become the masters of Britannia.

 

[HistoryDude]

Celatus has increased his prestige!

Will disbanding that fort come back to bite the Iceni? Is anyone considering attacking them?

Congrats on becoming a Regional Power!

 

[DukeOfNorfolk]

Celatus has increased his prestige!

Will disbanding that fort come back to bite the Iceni? Is anyone considering attacking them?

Congrats on becoming a Regional Power!

He certainly has! I'd played enough Imperator to want to write about a character, and promotion of the Bolgii was the first time I became aware of Celatus, who I I hoped would go on long enough to write a good story or two about.

At this point I was bracing for the Brigantii to attack - I didn't even get a CTA from the Coritanii, they tried to stand up to them in a straight fight and got annexed. The rest of the south of Britannia is pretty evenly matched at this point too: I'm allied to the Durotrigii, the Demetii and Dumnonii are allies in the west, whilst the Canticii and Trinovantii make up a third alliance in the south east. The next move would be make or break for the campaign.....

 

[The Kingmaker]

Congratulations, @DukeOfNorfolk! You are the Character WritAAR of the Week!

 

[Midnite Duke]

Fun ride even if I know nothing about IRome. Thanks

 

[Chac1]

So glad that @The Kingmaker and others directed me here. Usually I don't find myself in this part of the forum. This is a very different take on the Roman era and that is attractive to me. Love the character Celatus and his voice. This is an excellent start and we'll see what you cook up regarding his life and the success of the Iceni.

 

[Sukhoy47]

It's weird to see your family name being used in a video game, which has a really great story.

To back up what I'm saying about my surname, look up Vin.ce.nt Bolgius (I've made mistakes in my first name on purpose) on the net and you'll find me

 

[DukeOfNorfolk]

Thank you for all of the comments, there will be more of Celatus's adventures to follow (hopefully this week). @Sukhoy47 if you need a family historian, let me know!

(Joking aside: I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I hope I've not caused any offence. It was pretty surreal to do a Google search for your name in the post above and be met with this AAR as the second suggestion.)

 

[Chac1]

Welcome to AARland @Sukhoy47 . What a strange way to stumble into this land of stories.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Welcome @Sukhoy47.

 

[DukeOfNorfolk]

Book Three - Wars against the Brigantii.

Despite the successful wars, the chieftess knew that the Iceni had ridden their luck in expanding their territory. She therefore decreed that there would be a full year without campaigning to allow for the Iceni’s warriors to recuperate and return to their homes. For the Bolgii, this meant spending some time on their new, larger farm in the recently conquered territory of Glevum, as well as travelling to the capital to participate in the meetings of the clans. There are those who think that this was just reward for the efforts of the Bolgii in the recent wars, whilst others speculate that the granting of new lands so far away from Venta Icenorum were an attempt by Deionara Sinora to keep the Bolgii at arms length from the capital in case their popularity should grow further. Certainly in the short term, it allowed for the chieftess to pass a new grain management reform, and to pass laws allowing the Dobunni peoples the same citizen status as those of Iceni heritage with no interference from the Bolgii. As a bodyguard to Adminius Bolgius, Celatus would have to attend these meetings of the council, although he would have had little role in the proceedings.

The meetings never seemed to amount to much, the chieftess would ask how things were going in the newly conquered territories, where the people were coming to terms with their new overlords. Then she would ask the Iceni’s researchers how their work into making things better for the Iceni people was coming on, which invariably led to a lot of explanation, but no tangible proof of anything useful. However, the chieftess Deionara soon had more reasons to be grateful to the Bolgii when some barbarians came marauding into Iceni territory around the recently captured city of Deva. Celatus will take over the story:

“We do have a good rest on the new big farm after them wars. Me do like the bigger space, but me also still do think about them raiding men who me do beat with the help of the bird when me be littler, and how me like to do fight them with the sword now me have one.

It do be a wet day when some people do come to the farm. Me go to them and them tell us the chieftess send them to be some more fighting men for us, and that we have to go do fighting some bad men who come to Deva. Me do get the sword and father do lead us all up to the north where them bad men do raid some farms and do take money and people away.

We do follow one side of the the river from our north from our farm in Glevum and then we do see them on the other side. Them not see us as them do raiding rather than watching for us, so we do wait until them go raiding and then do cross the river. We do wait for them in the trees that them have their camp in and when them come back we do charge them and do hitting them with swords. Them bad men not do fighting back but do run away instead, them drop all the gold and leave people behind as them do flee, so we do take the gold and people to the chieftess and she do be pleased with us.”

This victory took place on the plains of Letocetum and caused much excitement and euphoria among the citizens of Icenia. Whilst the chieftess may have tried to keep the Bolgii away from the capital due to their rising popularity, once again the Bolgii had used the situation to their advantage and furthered their position and prestige.

There was no time to make the most of this newly won prestige, as news from the north was that Brigantia had gone to war with the Votadini and Darinii. The Iceni would not get a better chance to attack Brigantia, and Deionara Sinora took it. With the Brigantii forces occupied to the north, the Iceni invaded Coritania unchecked, and made short work of the defenders both there and in Cornovia to the east. With the Brigantii attacked from all sides, their capitulation was swift. Celatus did not have much to tell of the war against Brigantia, but here is what he had to say:

“The chief do a clever thing by making sure the bad men be busy fighting in the north and not do having any fighting men in the south to do fighting us. We not have to do any fighting, but there do be one big fort we have to take. It be much flatter around the fort than the one we take before, and them bad men have people watching in case we do make holes in the ground like last time, so we have to do think of something else.

Them bad men still not come so we do wait and hope them people in the fort do give up, but them not want to give up, so we do wait a bit more. Then someone do have an idea. Him do watching things go up the trees and see how them do have claws to do help them do that. Him say that if we do have things that do help us get up them walls, then we can do getting inside and take the fort.

Me do think this be a good idea, and the chieftess also do think that, but she say let them men we pay for do going first, and we do going next. Them paid fighting men do agree and in the night them do go up first, then me do lead some Bolgii men up them walls. The idea do work and them paid fighting men take out the people on the walls and then me and the Bolgii do lead the charge through the fort. Them bad men do see us inside the fort and do give up.”

The fort that Celatus is talking about in this story has to be the one at Ratae, which was the only time the Iceni would encounter the Brigantii. The enemy armies were defeated in the north of Britannia, and their lands were overrun by the Darinii and Votadinii in the north, whilst the Iceni swept through the south. The ensuing peace left the former Brigantii lands divided between the Iceni and Votadini, although the Iceni were now clearly the superpower in Britannia. After the surrender of the Brigantii, an event of great significance to the Bolgii happened on the march home from Ratae.

“After the Iceni do beating them bad men to the north, we do head for home. As we do march them hills, our leader Adminius do feeling his heart and looking pale. Him do his best to look like him not be sick, but him do walk slower and slower and the Bolgii have to do slow down and walk with him. After a long time we do stop for the night, Adminius not want to do going in his tent, instead him tell us him want to see his farm one last time, then him do looking at the moon and the stars and tell us to get some rest. In the morning, we find him lying and not moving. Him must have done dying in the night before.

The Bolgii do carry his body and do march home with the rest of the Iceni to the big city. As we do reach the big city, a big bird do fly and hover near me. Them Bolgii say it means Adminius have done choose me to be the new head of the clan. Me do being honoured, but me do think there must be someone else who do being a better chief, so me say me not do want to be the head of the clan. Them Bolgii not do think so, them say the big bird show that me do being the best man to lead, and so me say yes, and from then on me do being the new head of the Bolgii.

The first thing we do is take Adminius to lay him in the ground on his farm, which him still love very much even though we do being in the big city now with the chief. Then we do head back to the big city, and see what do coming next.”

My grandfather was never one for big displays of emotion, but even he would always seem distant or moved when talking about the passing of Adminius Bolgius. Under his leadership, the Bolgii had become one of the most respected families in Iceni territory, and now got to sit in with the Chieftess on important matters of running Iceni life. His death had come as a surprise, but the choice of Celatus as the new head of the Bolgii was not. The influence of Celatus Bolgius had helped the Iceni become the strongest power in Britannia, and with him at the head of the Bolgii, it seemed like the Iceni could still grow stronger.

 

[DukeOfNorfolk]

A quick author's note:

Some of you may be wondering why Celatus's narrative here is in the first person, but when Celatus was named character of the week he replied in the third person, so I thought I'd give a quick explanation:

Celatus is based on a character from Neverwinter Nights, who would talk about themselves in the first person (e.g, "me do talk at you now,"). However, his stories are intended to be loosely based on some of the ancient histories. When replying to winning an award, it seemed like a good time to imitate Julius Caesar, who spends all of his works talking about himself in the third person. Therefore, the rest of Celatus's narrative will be delivered in the first person, but any posts outside of the AAR might be in the third person if it seems appropriate to do it.