The Free Company Tavern & "OOC" Thread: Book IV

[Craig Ashley]

WOW! This is starting out very well. Now, LD, get to posting and let's meet the rest of the company.

Quick question: What language do a majority of the FC members speak?

 

[unmerged(6528)]

Craig, this has actually comeup before. Essentially, if you speak it, so do we. The normal languages used to be french and english, but german and Italian are also common. There's more, but those are where the majority of the recruits used tobe from anyway.

RJ

 

[Faeelin]

I don't picture most of these guys using latin as a lingua franca, anyway. Probably French and italian would cover you.

 

[Lord Durham]

Sorry I took so long. It's all yours.

Craig, Rj and Faeelin are right. You can assume that everyone probably has a rudimentary knowledge in several tongues. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a 'melting-pot' of words with so many peoples fighting together. However, it never hurts to display ignorance of certain languages for realism if you wish.

 

[Craig Ashley]

First off, wooooohoooo!!! I was the first to get a post in after LD opened it up.

Secondly, my characters speak Mongolian and Chinese primarily. They will use this among themselves and unless your character has knowledge of these languages please remember you can't understand a word of what they are saying.

Two of them (there are 3 all together, but one is my "main character") are fairly fluent in Italian and Greek along with Arabic, so they will have no problem communicating with the company.

 

[J. Passepartout]

I'm in! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Seriously, I really like my character. How's my writing?

 

[Faeelin]

Originally posted by J. Passeportout
I'm in! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Seriously, I really like my character. How's my writing?

So a tribe of bedouin, a hundred moors on horseback, and english longbowmen walk into byzantium....

How does ther rest of the joke go?

 

[J. Passepartout]

The Emperor says "What is this, some sort of joke?"

 

[Faeelin]

Originally posted by J. Passeportout
The Emperor says "What is this, some sort of joke?"

I was going to say "And then the Venetians sack the city."

That works too, of course.

BTW, I see a derrik von lichtenstein. Any hard rock while you joust with the beys and I'm shooting you with a crossbow bolt.

 

[Auspend]

Originally posted by Faeelin


BTW, I see a derrik von lichtenstein. Any hard rock while you joust with the beys and I'm shooting you with a crossbow bolt.

Hey! It's Dekkeret! Get it right.

Although I suppose it doesn't matter provided you don't shoot me.

 

[Lord Durham]

Originally posted by J. Passeportout
I'm in! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Seriously, I really like my character. How's my writing?

It's just fine. Nothing to worry about.

Jousts already, are there?

 

[Craig Ashley]

LD, check your PM box.

 

[Craig Ashley]

*quietly changes atvar to featured character's homeland*

 

[Syt]

Excellent work by everyone so far, and I admit I do get that itching... alas, it's off to work for me in a few minutes, but I'll be right with you tonight.

 

[unmerged(6777)]

Ahhhh...feels good to be back in the saddle.

I will be introducing my new FC character tomorrow, but as a FYI I should mention that I will be posting in three character voices as the thread progresses. I will have the pleasure, besides my FC character, of also being the ongoing voice of John VIII and you will also see the occasional accounts of a pasha of Murad's Janissaries. Let the ground tremble before my mighty...err...well, let's ahve some fun shall we?

BTW, great posts Driftwood, Derek, Emp. C. and LD. The set up seems to have worked quite nicely and we all have a good flavour for the setting.

Now let's see, who shall I be in the Free Company? Hmmm.....

 

[Barkdreg]

Couldn't stop myself, had to post in Free Company thread.
The story is getting on nicely, some of those characters look mightely interesting.
Nice job everyone.

 

[Norgesvenn]

Things are looking good. New members are arriving. LD, you're one hell of a recruiter...

I wonder if I should hire you for recruiting more members to the organisation I'm working in.

Even for a non-Byzantine fan like myself, that city of Constantinople has a certain attraction.

I've tried to research a little, and come up with a few links:
A short intro on Byzantium

Warfare in the Byzantine world

Paul Halsall's Byzantine Studies Page

 

[Lord Durham]

Norg, er thanks, I think.

Just a quick note about the passage of time. Typically I use EUII to gauge the movement of infantry, cavalry or ships and plan accordingly.

However, for small mounted units moving at a good clip I generally allow for one week of travel between provinces as opposed to the average two.

Small ground units could probably do it in 3 weeks as opposed to the average 4, since they're unencumbered by baggage trains, etc.

The distance from Livorno to Florence is about 60 miles, and could be done in 2-3 days. Florence to Venice would be closer to a week.

Bear in mind that it's only a rule of thumb, used for a modicum of realism.

Note that I will advance the story by about two days tomorrow to allow some of the out-of-towners to arrive.

 

[Deaghaidh]

Well, I've thrown myself in now I'm still thinking on a reason to return to Constantinople with the FC, though.

 

[unmerged(6777)]

Heh, heh. Any veterans up early today?