[Age of Arthur] Important Personalities

[rust]

I assume that the supplement will include at least some of the personalities of the Age of Ar-

thur from history or legend.

Here is an incomplete list of "Arthurian Personalities" mentioned in the early sources:

Amr (Historia Brittonum)

Arthur (Y Gododdin)

Aurelius Ambrosius (Gildas)

Bedivere (Culhwch and Olwen)

Cerdic of Wessex (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle)

Constantine (historical)

Culhwch (Culhwch and Olwen)

Cynric of Wessex (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle)

Eliwlod (Welsh Triads)

Gawain (Culhwch and Olwen)

Guinevak (Culhwch and Olwen)

Guinevere (Culhwch and Olwen)

Hengest (Beda)

Hoel (The Dream of Rhonabwy)

Horsa (Beda)

Kay (Culhwch and Olwen)

Mabon ap Modron ((Culhwch and Olwen)

Mark of Cornwall (various)

Myrddin / Merlin (various)

Mordred (Annales Cambriae)

Olwen (Culhwch and Olwen)

Owain / Ywain (historical, Owain map Urien)

Taliesin (historical)

Urien (historical)

Uther Pendragon (Welsh Triads)

Vortigern (Beda)

Vortimer (Historia Brittonum)

I highlighted those which I think we will need as a minimum for the explanation of the

background of the setting.

Edited June 18, 2010 by rust

[Bleddyn]

Oh their are so many more ... the key ones used ... should be the Archtypes .... Merlin the archtype druid, Taliesin the Archtype Bard .... etc. if we did a full historical work up it would be thick.

Also the saints should be mentioned. Padrig and the rest of the merry gang.

[rust]

Just add the people you want to include, and delete the ones you do not want.

[ClawCarver]

Taliesin the Archtype Bard

To me, a more intriguing and fascinating character than Arthur. I confess that in my head I think of this setting not so much as "Age of Arthur" but as "Time of Taliesin".

[rust]

I confess that in my head I think of this setting not so much as "Age of Arthur" but as "Time of Taliesin".

The same with me, which is why in my list above Taliesin is in bold letters, and Arthur is not.

[ClawCarver]

Historically (rather than legendarily) speaking, there are also the Christian missionaries of the age: Ninian, Columba, Augustine of Canterbury, etc.

[Thalaba]

Some links:

Lots of famous people on this site, esp. saints: http://www.cushnieent.force9.co.uk/CelticEra/

160 pages worth of Vortigern?: http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/vortigernhomepage.htm

And here's another obscure saint from SW Scotland who rode across Luce bay on a rock: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Medan

[soltakss]

There are a host of Cornish/Welsh/Breton saints of the ers, as well as another host of Irish/Scottish ones.

I'd put a paragraph on each personalty, with perhaps major ones taking half a page/one page and some with characteristics.

We should probably split personalities into Historical and Arthurian, so that those people who want a purely historical supplement can ignore the Arthurian ones.

[ClawCarver]

There are a host of Cornish/Welsh/Breton saints of the ers, as well as another host of Irish/Scottish ones.

True. Sainthood was a popular career path in these islands back in the day. Let's not forget they weren't saints while alive. They were monks (or nuns), priests and missionaries. This might feed into our discussions on character generation. The monastic life may not be an especially attractive option for PCs, but the missionary aspect, especially in a wild and hostile environment with pagan druidic types opposing you, might lend itself to a good adventure or two.

I'd put a paragraph on each personalty, with perhaps major ones taking half a page/one page and some with characteristics.

We should probably split personalities into Historical and Arthurian, so that those people who want a purely historical supplement can ignore the Arthurian ones.

The trick will be deciding what to do with the ones who fall somewhere in between, like (for example) Taliesin and even Myrddhin/Merlin. There were almost certainly real people with these names, but their personalities have become entangled with other people, folk legends, and possibly local pre-Roman deities.

[rust]

The monastic life may not be an especially attractive option for PCs, but the missionary aspect, especially in a wild and hostile environment with pagan druidic types opposing you, might lend itself to a good adventure or two.

It seems to me that the monks - perhaps also the less often mentioned nuns - of the Celtic tra-

dition had a lot more freedom to move around and to make their own decisions than the monks

and nuns of the Roman tradition, so I could well imagine a monk or nun as a player character

- after all, someone has to deal in a professional way with demons, devils and all that other na-

sty stuff.

[ClawCarver]

It seems to me that the monks - perhaps also the less often mentioned nuns - of the Celtic tra-

dition had a lot more freedom to move around and to make their own decisions than the monks

and nuns of the Roman tradition, so I could well imagine a monk or nun as a player character

- after all, someone has to deal in a professional way with demons, devils and all that other na-

sty stuff.

Indeed so. Exactly the point I was fumbling to make. Apropos of nothing, I've just noticed that I share a birthday with St Columba, although he's older than me by a few years. (1,446 years, to be precise.)