WhiteWall - Seledd

Seledd Brightspear

An NPC in the Swords campaign, 100-Thane in Hereward's Legion.

<Jane>ST p106
"A Hundred-thane is an experienced warrior who commands a hundred men. He must be a devotee, and must have spent at least 2 years as a Ten-thane. He is expected to have Close Combat 10W2 and Warband Tactics 10W. He has a Shieldman and Swordman, who act as his bodyguard; a servant, who looks after his gear; and a secretary, who takes care of he administration of the unit."

And the Legion write-up version:
"A Hundred Thane is an experienced warrior who commands a hundred weaponthanes. The Hundred Thane must be a devotee of Humakt, preferably of Hereward's cult, and have spent 2 years as a Ten Thane. Close Combat 10W2 and Warband Tactics 10W is expected. The Hundred Thane is attended by a Shieldman and a Swordman, a servant and a secretary."

We know that in current game-time, she is disliked by all the PCs (who report to the other 100-Thane in the Legion, Yodi). But reason why was ever given.

We suspect, going by her nickname, that she has Light connections. Suggestion is that she was a Yelmalio initiate before she joined Humakt and the Legion.

Worth noting that Jane's PC, Dorinda, is ex-Sun Dome (Pavis, not the County proper), but not ex-Yelmalian. We have no idea of relations between them before Whitewall or afterwards.

OK, I know things are going weird when I start dreaming in-character. Things are going really weird when I start meeting my PCs in my dreams. This is usually when I'm having an attack of compulsive fiction-writing as well, which is what's happening at the moment. Last night Dori showed up in a dream, so I asked her about Seledd. And she came over all careful about her wording, which probably means either that she was right on the edge of that geas about never lying, or that she doesn't want to end up in a duel with Seledd if she says the wrong thing. I did have to prompt her a bit.

"Seledd is an extremely good fighter, and a brilliant tactician and strategist. Oh, and she plays chess."
"But?"
(very careful) "I'm not sure it is a 'but'. She handles her troops as if they were chess pieces. All the same. She always wins, she always takes low losses. But when she says she lost three warriors, I'm never sure she even knows which three. So she can make decisions like that one down under the Tor at Whitewall?. She was right, you know. If she'd tried to rescue the standard, the line would have broken, and we'd all have been lost, and so would the city."
"Probably. You can't be sure, can you?"
"Probably, as you say. Me, I'd have taken the gamble. But that's just one reason why she's a 100-thane and I'm an acting 10-thane."

After a bit of thought and another slice of pizza (yes, I said this dream was odd):

"She likes her troops uniform, she doesn't want individuality. That's why Yodi got all the weirdos in his hundred."
"You? Weird?" (OK, maybe I was being a bit sarcastic...)
"Oh, she doesn't like me. I let the Sun Dome side down by not using a spear. I have disreputable friends, I have strange hobbies, and my sense of humour is 'not conducive to discipline'."
(half-admiringly): "She's got quite a way with words, too."

And at that point the dream changed, or I woke up, or something.

But I think the description works?

<Donald> Yes, it's great. Not too sure about the pizza though. Sun County could have some food that looks like pizza I suppose. </Donald>

<Jane>The pizza was purely in-dream. I'm not insisting on any of this being transcribed directly into eventual NPC description, I just needed to get that down in writing before it vanished. Pizza... (sigh) I dunno what goes on in my head at times.</Jane>

<Nick> Pizza appears in the Aeneid -- which is set at the time of the Trojan War. It's invented by the Trojan colonists of Latium... </Nick>

We suspect that something she did at Whitewall made her very unpopular: possibly she was blamed for the major defeat and loss of a Standard we suffered there. (from an outsider's view-point, this wasn't so much a defeat as an incredible victory against overwhelming odds, with only 75% fatalities).

What did she do?

She's still a 100-thane. Didn't get demoted. Or executed. So it can't have been very bad, or possibly something suspected but unproveable (though with this much truth magic around, that's hard!)

My guess would be that she took a decision which was technically correct but was very unpopular.

In any other group, I'd say she gave the command to carry on fighting that got 75% of us killed. But around here, she probably gave the command to retreat that kept 25% alive :)

Or, there being two 100-thanes, maybe her group retreated leaving ours to get wiped? So we hate her, but her lot don't?

Yelmalians "Brightspear"? She isn't an (ex-)Yelmalian, is she?

<Tim> if she is Yelmalian what would Dori's opinion be?

<Jane> Good question. Dori originally hated and despised Yemalians, mainly due to the examples she'd seen being her father and older brothers. The idea of a female Yelmalian would be new to her when she first met Seledd. A lot would depend on how Seledd handled it. Dori might, for instance, resent her having had opportunities that she hadn't. Or she might have taken her as a role-model. Or she might have just reflected whatever Brenna felt (remember, Dori started as Brenna's 15-year-old apprentice). Whatever attitude we want her to take, I can probably justify :)

<Tim> could we position the legion it the forefront against the Shargashi? attack, and for some reason the leions suffered a defeat/dishonour, and Seledd caught the blame for being tainted by her Solar connections mind you that might affect Dori too

<Jane>If it was her Solar associations that caused the problem, then yes. My thought is that Seledd really was once a Yelmalio initiate, complete with Bright Spear, and it's still her main weapon, not a sword. And her approach to shield walls is very Sun Dome: rigid lines, no flexibility.

Dori OTOH was never a Yelmalian, but spent a season or so in Nochet as a member of a hero-band based around a weird sub/hero-cult that thinks Yelmalio is a sub-cult of Humakt and Truth = Light. Yes, they're wrong (and now mostly dead).

<tim> Pronounciation

Is it SeleD or is it the welsh dd i.e. SeleTH ?

<Jane>
It's spelt with 2 Ds. I'm assuming some form of Celtic/Sartarite, Welsh being one example. So yes, Seleth (erm, "th" as in "then", for those not familiar with Welsh).