Records of Caer Baddan

You are among the relics of kingdoms risen and fallen, of the victors and the vanquished. You have heard that among them are the records of a mythical and legendary kingdom known as Caer Baddan. You don't know if this kingdom was crushed, or if it became an empire and changed it's name. All you know is you've never heard of it.

You find an old item made of sheepskin that has been scraped, soaked, hardened, and sewn into pages like a book. As someone who can read Latin, you carefully find it a clean place to rest it and you carefully try to read what it says.

"I am Flavius Balneensis, senior scribe of Dux Arthurius Pendragon, ruler of the region of Caer Baddan. I write this in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ, D XL IX. My name states that I am yellow haired and from the Bath. My region is named after a fortification on a hill nearby a set of mines, and a supposed Bath that once stood proudly around ancient hot springs.

We are Romano-Britons, a once proud people whose way of life is but a flickering candle inside an open aired hut, during a fierce stormy night. Every single day I have to make hard choices about what will be kept for the future and what will be forgotten. I am forced to reduce the number of words I can draw from, because I fear that it's unlikely that many will be able to read Latin very well in the future. I myself can not read all of the records put into my care, and some words are smudged or perhaps misspelt. I myself with care go over my own writing to make sure it is correct, and to make sure meaning is not lost.

Besides a resentful Ducatus to the south of us ruled by a man who thinks himself a Rex (King), we are surrounded by Heathens and it is a long sailing journey and weeks of walking to the nearest true Roman. The faraway Romans who I am told don't even speak Latin, but instead speak this tongue known as Greek, land on the shores of the resentful south Ducatus. These people call us Heathens because we believe that as creatures of the Almighty God, we are given souls and the ability to choose righteousness or to be evil. They say we are chosen to be called evil and burn in the fires of hell, before we are even born. I currently understand that their people are mostly farmers chained to the land and unable to leave, little better than slaves.

To be brief, we are alone. We are alone in our Roman and Briton ways, for we are both Roman and Briton, while a few others are Roman and a few others are Briton, but not both."

You examine what is before you and then find what appears to be a set of writing that is written by a different hand. It too is in Latin.

"I am Lucius, Right hand of Dux Arthurius Pendragon. I am one of his ring men and the writing you see before you is written by me, for I can read and write. There are a few dozen others who are his ring men, as the way of giving rings is the way of the Britons. Britons might also be known as Cymry (People/Country) in our Brittonic tongue. I am a free man of middle means, who learned to read and write from priests and my mother. I learned to ride ponies, throw spears, raise shields, and hack with an axe by my father and other miles (Soldier, related to the later words "Militia" and "Military") before me.

The others call themselves Teulu (Brittonic), meaning we are the household or houseguard of Arthurius. This is true, as his ringmen we sit at his table and guard him with our lives. However, I can read and write, and I am a true Roman as much as a Briton, so I call myself a Custos (Related to Custodian) Ducis. I see myself as no different from any other Palatini (related to "Palace), and since I fight with an axe, I see us as Securiferi.

My own armor is made of rings of iron, which are nailed together. I wear a helmet and my armor resembles the lorica hamata of old. I have a circular shield, unlike my ancestors, but I still am fully capable of fighting in a shield wall. All the pedes (Foot) and miles of my Dux fight in shield wall, and the pedes have spears longer than the heathens. My axe can be used with one hand or two hands, and is similar in size to a Roman digging axe, but it is more suited for splitting shields and skulls."

You check and learn that the word pede eventually became the word pawn.

"I Lucius, like many of my people, cut my hair short and remove all hair from my chin and cheeks. I do have hair upon my lip and I wear it proudly, even prouder before my wife. This is the Roman way.

We decorate our shields many ways. Some have a symbol of the cross, others have the first two letters of the words Jesus Christ (X and P, from ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ), and still others paint a Latin I."

You are confused for a short bit, but you thankfully remember that there is no J in Latin and thus the letter I was likely used in its place. The letter J, so you've been told, replaced one of a few uses for the I letter.