OH MY!

Shame on me, it's been nearly a year and a half since I last posted here. I will make up for it. Perhaps I will work on a less ambitious work. Thanks for your patience. Remember, all of my ad income is donated to homelessness causes.

Time period

The backdrop of the 3 century gives me ample opportunity to craft a story in historically turbulent times. While I have not yet decided on the exact locations nor the precise decade where and when my story happens, the history gives me lots of choices.

This is a time when the empire is under attack both without and within, and territories are distributed between at least 3 main entities, one of which, Lydius was related by back story history and lineage: Palmyra.

The changes in dynastic rule of the empire provides confusion and conflict about the authorities ruling outlying areas, and there were many conflicting claims as to who was really the boss. The record reveals that many commanders had an "every man for himself" attitude which led them to establish their own upstart empire-ttes.

Sorry to have neglected you for a few days, but life does take it's toll. With luck, I will be adding more detail to the characters and conflicts over the next week. Thank you for your patience!

Reference: Zen and the Art of Writing

Dedication Page

At last, something easy to write:

To Frank, the true love of my life:

Your personal story is so much more interesting than anything I have ever imagined.

Your most devoted fan, Dustin.

Changes always changes

Mia Culpa! ( you don't really want to know the vulgar translation of that phrase. . .)

There is a basis in history for the name of Lydius. And to think, I thought I picked it out of thin air. Seems there was a siege at a place called Cremna where a Lydius pretty much bitch slapped his way around the place. He's referred to as a bandit. Now,our Lyius has even more shady family history to hide, since this happened about a century before our target date, and will give us added material to weave into the story.

reference:
The other Lydius


Other reference of interest for the period of time
3d century crisis

Other references: Plotting a play

The new working title: "Descent From Divinity"

Scenes Chapter 1

1)
A young boy of about 11 is setting traps in the woods, when he chances upon a strange sight of soldiers.

He is frightened when he hears them speaking in an unknown language, he begins to run back to his village though the woods.

Several times, strong arms reach to touch and catch him when he falls. Men are laughing and having great sport with the child, but he escapes.

Entering the village, he runs home to inform his mother of the sighting, she in turn pales and hurries to inform the elders.
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The details of this scene will include the kid smashing one of the soldiers in the face as he holds the boy too long and incites panic in the boy. The other soldiers will be laughing at the little tykes poor victim. Rage fills the soldiers face as he moves quickly to punish the boy for his offense, only to have one of his comrades strike the soldier away from the boy and facilitate his escape.

The point here is that the three act play is here in it's entirety. Tranquil beginning, the inciting moment, escalation of tension or increasing the stakes and resolution, all in outline form.

This is one of about four scenes which will make up the maser scene of which there should be at least four or five per chapter. Call it sixteen to twenty pages per chapter.

All of this process is currently seriously out of order, but will be made right when the real construction of the story begins. Chalk this post up to everything being in the idea stage and my not following the snow flake plan in a linear manner.

Why would I have a boy of an age, whom we would barely credit with the ability to wipe his own nose out setting traps and snares? Simple. No iPods. This was a time when there was no luxury of education beyond that which might help you survive. The boy's family would not just welcome his inputs to the dinner table, they would have demanded he earn his keep from the time he was able to demonstrate the ability to pick a head of wheat. The boy's father, or perhaps uncles or other siblings would be charged with his training and would have expected he become competent rapidly.

Lydius More info

I am not yet done with our dear Auslander, Lydius. While we have given him a bit of background there are dimensions yet missing to his character and mission. The story itself suggests time lines, chases aka a quest and more in depth conflicts. Fortunately for us, these can be supplied easily enough.

In the proto opening, Lydius is referred to as Old Lydius. Perhaps that should not be mistaken for a man of age, but taken more like Lydius the Elder. This implies a Lydius the Younger. Congrats, old man, you have a new born son, who just happens to wind up held captive by our erstwhile, if unnamed Roman commander. I suspect there will have to be a rescue immediately launched, only to find The Younger is well en route to the slave market. Bad luck old boy, now things are getting even more complicated. How are you going to save your only son and heir in time to prevent him from breaking a nail on the first gladiator he meets and save your adopted nation? Only time and a grand chase will tell. In the mean time, you're going to have to deal with the fact that Roman commanders often turn their young male hostages over to favored soldiers for despoilment. In modern terms, that means The Younger will wind up being the camp butt boy.

Actually, treatment of hostages by Rome was pretty good, so long as they and their nation/village/family were well behaved. It's in the event of war or other misadventure a hostage could suffer death, humiliation and torture.

Here is a nice link to this post which gives a brief view of the life of a Roman hostage.

Lineage of Lydius Character sketch

Anthony-Cleopatra
Cleopatra Selene II and king Juba II of Mauretania
Ptolemy of Mauretania or Ptolemy of Morocco
Drusilla of Mauretania
Gaius Julius Alexio

These in order are documented in the historical record. The history of the line is lost until the third century when a queen claimed decent from the line.

I foresee an exciting escape from death by one of the main character's ancestors and some material being derived which will illustrate the cunning and political acumen applied in the book.

Name Lydius

A nonsense name sounding Roman, but it isn't
Lydius wants to escape his family's past history. He's descended directly from
Anthony and Cleopatra. Lydius is trapped in the matrix of the current Roman invasion of his adopted homeland, where he has become counsel to the rulers of that land, based on his scant knowledge of the outlying world. Lydius' yearning desire is to live out his remaining years in peace. His current goal is to survive the Romans current attention. Lydius' conflict is that he desperately wants to never allow his new countrymen to know of his former ties with Rome, lest they feel he has conflicting interests. Lydius finds that the Romans respect the authority represented by Lyduis's past. Lydius has his family history to thank for giving him the negotiation and political skills to overcome the current events.

Resource: Roman Timeline 4th Century AD