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jeffjerwin

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Everything posted by jeffjerwin

  1. Hi. I'm the author. Lands of Tristram was commissioned by Green Knight but they folded before they could publish or pay me for it. A copy leaked to the web but I had nothing to do with releasing it. Greg asked me to rewrite it for KAP and it's awaiting the 6th edition. It's substantially rewritten, with scenarios and integrated with the newer books.
  2. Crossbows were used for hunting as early as the 15th century, and the Queen's hunting parties were a deliberately conservative past-time. https://todsworkshop.com/products/15thc-hunting-crossbow Crossbows are very accurate. I'd make them a standard piece of hunting gear for men and women for the Grail and Downfall periods. Crossbows are not used by knights when in battle, but are definitely used by them when hunting.
  3. Note that women did use crossbows (and bows) while hunting, if you have lady characters. https://books.google.com/books?id=-FNAAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA107&lpg=RA1-PA107&dq=queen+elizabeth+I+crossbow+woodstock&source=bl&ots=R-8RTkRA50&sig=ACfU3U0Zcw3b_Mfb1N3DhXt5_iYcalVz0w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiii6jy3MfpAhWGrZ4KHauOC40Q6AEwDHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=queen elizabeth I crossbow woodstock&f=false
  4. I think 510 makes sense. You could start with the 'tourney' at London before Arthur draws the sword from the stone and the PCs could witness it as the first adventure. You can steal most of the story from Boorman's Excalibur and most of the players will get into the story right away. Have them help Arthur search for a sword for Sir Kay.
  5. That's true. Welsh genealogies have Llew (Loth) and Arawn (Nentres) as the brothers of Urien and thus sons of Cynfarch.
  6. If the name is from MS 3859 then he's direct descendant of Llew hen ap Gwydion... which would make his ancestors interlopers in the North, presumably claiming rule via a female line. In the Guiron cycle, Lot is illegitimate, and his legitimate sister is the Lady of Nohaut. He is descended from one of the followers of Joseph of Arimathea, Perron, in the Lancelot-Grail. I would make him at least 30 in 510 to give his insult against the 'beardless boy' some meaning. Uriens has adult bastard sons in 510 so he would have to be about 40 in 510 and since Lot was his superior and seeming elder it would look better if Lot was at least a handful of years older than him, maybe born in 465. So 468 isn't impossible... Edit: also, the Lady of Nohaut is no older than her 30s in 522 when she meets Lancelot, which implies that Cadlew as Lot's father should really be the warlord in 485.
  7. What's strange is that the original hundred in medieval Wiltshire was Chalke hundred. I wonder if Churchford derived from a messy piece of handwriting Chalkhill > Churchford could look pretty similar, particularly if scribbled in pencil.
  8. In the Downfall period mercenaries abound (in parallel to not only Mordred's use of them, but also the 15th century and 'bastard feudalism'). Now the Wasteland might have been one reason for this, and the rise of a cash economy, but are there sound mechanical reasons for it in KAP?
  9. Though I can't share more I have worked on this region. Here's something I can fairly tell you: If you are featuring Listeneise you may want to read the Estoire du Graal and the Queste, not just the abridged story given in Malory. Needless to say, the Grail Kingdom is not a peaceful place in the centuries and decades prior to Uther and Arthur's reign, starting with the death of King Lambor onwards. You may also want to read the commentaries on the Conte du Graal written by Pickens (Perceval and Gawain in Dark Mirrors) and Cazelles (The Unholy Grail). Chretien depicts a kingdom devastated by war and in simmering conflict with Logres. Think more of Border Reivers, the Anglo-Scottish wars, and the wasting of the North by William the Conqueror.
  10. AS a Cornish AND Welshman I am a master of all the fighting arts.
  11. As a Cornish person I must disagree. Our martial arts involve wrestling giants and ambushes out of hidden fogous.
  12. Possibly second marriage, of course. Keep in mind, however, that the likely original of Leodegran is Ogyfran Gawr, 'Jackdaw the Giant' and his daughter's name, Gwenhwyfar, in Welsh means 'Beautiful Phantom'. Guinevere and her father were originally fairies. An aged king with a magic table and a supernaturally beautiful daughter and heiress are fairy tale rationalizations of this.
  13. Could be. As I recall, however, Guiomar first appears as Leodegran's ally and vassal (along with his brother Sadoine) in the Estoire de Merlin. As a vassal of Cameliard he's more likely to be part of Leodegrance's line than his wife's, as Leodegrance presumably married outside his kingdom (like most medieval rulers). In some romances, however he's specified as the Queen (Guinevere)'s nephew. This is chronologically improbable in KAP as he's already a knight in 510. But it also suggests that he is related to Leodegrance in the mind of the author, as he would have to be Guinevere's sister (?)'s son.
  14. Guinevere also has a first cousin named Guiomar, obviously by Leodegrance's younger sister, as he isn't a contender for the Cameliard throne. He was the lover of Morgan briefly in the 510s before Guinevere ordered them to break it off, embittering Morgan against her forever.
  15. You'll note that Badon is also Arthur's first great crisis without Merlin, who disappeared only a year or so prior. He _has_ to step up, and maybe Merlin's retirement/death is a deliberate decision by the wizard.
  16. Don't worry. It'll be good. I know the person you speak of.
  17. As arms of the Holy Roman Emperor, these arms were retroactively assigned to Classical emperors (and to Constantine the Great). At some point the Julio-Claudians were assigned personal arms (the medieval heralds loved anachronisms like this) but they all feature the eagle, the undifferenced one being supposedly Julius Caesar's personal coat. The coat of arms of Aeneas is often shown as a variant of the Hapsburg coat in the early renaissance because that family claimed unbroken descent from him (Or a lion rampant Gules). Brutus is assigned the three gold crowns on blue, in bend, sometimes impaled with Pandrasus (Gules a double-headed eagle Or - for Greece/Byzantium). There are a bunch of attributed arms from the HRB tradition here: http://wappenwiki.org/index.php/Edward_IV_Roll
  18. The white and green on the Welsh flag comes from the livery of the Tudor family and is wildly anachronistic for Aurelius, though of course any heraldry is, so I'd prefer the white or even better a golden shield to match his brother. The dragon itself is associated with Cadwaladr in Welsh tradition, who is the descendant of Maelgwn, but Aurelius adopting one makes sense. However there are arms assigned to Aurelius/Emrys in rolls of arms. W. Gurney Benham, in "Ancient Legends connected with the Arms of Colchester," in The Essex Review, v.9, on p.216 illustrates them (see below). They allude to his descent from Constantine and Coilus. Arthur's three crowns are attributed originally to Constantine the Great. A variant Azure three antique crowns Or 2, 1 (or in pale as in Arthur's arms) is attributed to Beli Mawr and Cunobelinus. It seems to be the arms of the High Kingship, really. Coilus is (also) assigned Azure three open crowns in bend Or. Macsen Wledig is assigned the coat of arms of Rome: Or a double headed eagle displayed Sable. Cunedda is assigned Sable three roses Argent 2,1. Gorlois was traditionally assigned Argent three Cornish Choughs Sable beaked and taloned Gules 2,1. The arms used in KAP were modified from those of King Mark.
  19. The RTK knights drive the narrative, and most of them are not kings, great nobles, etc. By having too many great nobles, it distracts from them. In theory, the RTK is an equal brotherhood under the king and quite possibly a counterbalance to the magnates.
  20. In KAP canon, he's related to Igraine, and his son and probably he are Arthur's cousins if you read carefully. There'll be more detailed official information in the future. He's clearly not Gorlois' son in the game or it would have been mentioned in the same statements. In various non-game sources he's Gorlois' son, Gorlois' cousin, Arthur's cousin, the son of Geraint ab Erbin (who is identified as a son of Constantine, but this is not the case in KAP), the brother of Mark (see this Cornish pedigree: https://books.google.com/books?id=DRwiAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA230&dq=alanus+becket+cornwall&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvsIm_1NnnAhVKu54KHfftBHMQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=alanus becket cornwall&f=false) etc. The Cornish (and apparently the Bretons) also identified him with Teudar or Tudar (T can resemble C in medieval handwriting) and called Teudar King Mark's father. But this comes from the version of the Mark and Isolt and Tristan story where they lived a generation after Arthur. Teudar was identified by the Bretons with a son of Macliau or Meliau, King of Vannes, in Brittany. Some Cornish and Breton stories suggest that the two regions were one kingdom. Despite the wealth of Cornish stories about the period, there is no coherent chronology, because many of the stories derive from hagiography, and the writers of saints' lives tried to place their heroes as early as possible. The historical Geraint or Gerran, for instance, seems to have lived in the 580s or so, but he is made a younger contemporary of Arthur and various saints said have lived in the first half of the sixth century in religious stories. Note that Constantine son of Cador is the Constantinus of Gildas' De Exidio, and would have lived in c.545. Also note that Yder king of Cornouailles, who becomes Idres in KAP, derives from a spelling error for Cador. Idres, Yder, Cador (and several of these other characters, like 'Sador') are all distinct characters in KAP.
  21. Here's just how "afforested" medieval (as opposed to Dark Age) Hampshire was... Though some of this pasture, moors, and unfortunate villages... http://info.sjc.ox.ac.uk/forests/ForestIndexSouthCentral.html
  22. N.B. Camelot Forest covers the the west and northwest of Camelot's surrounds if the romances are anything to go by, as it must be traversed by knights travelling from Cornwall, Cambria/Gales and Cumbria/the North.
  23. Originally this comes from Chretien's Cliges, if I recall correctly. Count Angres was identified (at least in Greg's older stuff) with the Count of Silchester.
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