Saturday, September 3, 2011

a new map for Autumn 1004



The Welsh, paid off for the year, feast on imported foreign delicacies, like beef. The Normans feast, gloomily, on the turnips thrown at them by the Danes they are besieging (and probably some of the mounts of their deceased LH). The Irish have a quiet dinner of kale, the English a haunch of venison and some good French wine (they still have plenty of silver left), and the Scots their traditional celebratory meal of herring roasted in oats.

Ireland, will you rise from your table to seek trouble, or will you finish your tasty meal (perhaps seasoned up with a wee taste of goat)?

Friday, September 2, 2011

more summer developments and the beginning of Autumn 1004

The Normans decide to try widening their foothold in the North and return to the siege of Denmark. But clearly the Danes have laid in more beer and neeps, as they see off their invading cousins for a season (Normans, please designate an element to be lost).

The English watch events with interest but choose not to venture beyond their dooryards. So cautious are they that when a contingent of Welsh shepherds turn up calling "Gŵyl San Steffan!", the English give them a huge chest full of hacksilver. The shepherds, marvelling, go on their way.

That closes out the summer of 1004. Leaves begin to turn, there's a chill in the air, and


the wind whips up the waves so loud,
the ghost moon sails among the clouds,
turns the spear blades into silver,
on the border.


Autumn, 1004 arrives.