Let's Read: The General (By David Drake)

[Terra Novan]

Warning: Depiction of a town getting sacked. As Bellevue operates under the pre-modern rule of warfare, it contains everything you can expect, except the explicit depiction of sexual violence.

Raj has crossed the border and reached a Colonial border town named El Djem (there is a town with the same name in Tunisia). The town is agricultural and lightly defended except for a wall, as there has been no Civil Government raid since the failed one two decades ago.

Muzzaf has joined the companions, as Komar has become a bit dangerous for him after the last chapter. His expertise as a trader and businessman is going to be useful throughout the series, and as he admits, it is never a boring day in Raj's command. Several bordermans have joined the raiding force as well.

The attack on El Djem commences when the morning prayer and work is about to start, and they quickly overcome the meager defense. The 5th destroys the heliograph tower first to cut the communication line, then using the confusion of the explosion to destroy the defenders. The adult male population of El Djem is theoretically all soldiers, a land grant militia, but most of them are completely unarmed and caught off guard. During this, Raj nearly dies but one of his men, a former vakaro (vaquero, cowboy) saves him by taking down the opponent with a lariat. This is the first case where Raj nearly died and only managed to escape by sheer luck and the help of others (including Center), there are several more of such occurrences through the series.

Side note, the Colonial man who nearly killed Raj is described as wearing a ha'aik. I have no idea what this is, as the closest thing I managed to find is Haik, which is a female garment. Maybe Drake and/or Stirling just made a mistake.

The 5th takes El Djem without difficulties, and now looking for a caid (Arabic word meaning leader, or alternatively an incorrect spelling of qadi - judge. In any case, he is a headman of this town), while assessing and dividing the plunder. Like the historical practice, troopers are lining up for plunder, taking their turns in order of their unit.

It is not the most humane or pleasant thing, but as Raj notes here, they have earned it. Raj (and several other officers) often express distastes for such practice in the series, but this is a customary privilege of soldiers against the 'legitimate' targets, and depriving it would be bad for discipline and morale. Raj does clamp down hard on anyone who steps out of boundary and go against the friendlies and enemies who surrendered on terms. Even under a rule allowing plunder, the former is an allowed deviation, the latter is a sign of ill-discipline.

Also, there was a sheep bestiality joke. Descotters tend to get hit with such insults, like Scots, Welshmen, and New Zealanders. I am certain that East Residence aristocracy says the same thing to Barholm out of his ears.

The plunder is extremely plentiful, one thousand five hundred silver FedCreds. I have no idea about the exact value of that, but people are thinking about how to spend it - Staenbridge is planning to send Foley to war academy, Da Cruz is considering renting a farm for retirement. Raj warns them to not price the unborn calf, and they all spat and made the... horn-sign? Is this an RL custom?

They are planning to not just destroy the town, but to render the area completely uninhabitable for several generations by destroying all sources of water, a brutal but pragmatic strategy, as it leaves a hole in the Colonial border defense for many years. As Drake's later work, the Belisarius series, noted (using the Mongols as an example), you simply raze the town and people will just come back after you leave, but if you utterly extirpate the population and render the environment unsuitable for habitation, there won't be any rebuilding of the town.

Finally, the borderman irregulars have discovered the caid and proceeds to brutalize him. Being a frequent target of raid similar to what happened with El Djem, I'd say their grievance is legitimate, but it is still quite ugly, especially when they kill caid by castrating him. While caid is lay dying, a colonial girl (as revealed in later chapters, caid's daughter) manages to escape from the clutch of a trooper and runs into Foley. Staenbridge saves the girl, Fatima, by trading some high-quality alcohol with a trooper, displaying a rather admirable quality of authority and self-confidence to defuse the situation.

 

[Terra Novan]

I am restarting this thread.

Chapter Ten starts with Raj's 5th and Stenson's 2nd having reunited after their raiding and pillaging operations at the Civil Government - Colony border. They have chosen a manor, which had been set on fire, as a place to set up camp for the night, while their commanders are having dinner with plundered local foodstuff (rice and dates, a rather typical Middle Eastern foods) and sauroid meats. Considering that they are well within the enemy territory, I'd say the menus are quite fancy for the circumstance.

Center warns Raj of his lack of proper entrenchment, which Raj dismisses because they are a raiding force, not an invading army, so they can't spend three or four years every day to set up defenses since speed is far more important. Besides, there is an entire company of cavalry out there doing sentry duty, and his men are all resting with their boots on, ready to react against the threats. The Center does not respond back. Raj is a brilliant commander, but he is still inexperienced.

Unfortunately, Stenson and his men were not as successful as Raj, taking heavier casualties with much fewer plunders. Worse, his targeted settlement managed to send out a heliographic warning to the rest of the Colony before being sacked, so the Colonial army is certainly alerted by now, meaning that it's time to pull back to the friendly territory.

A Colonial delegation approach under a flag of truce. Raj communicates with their leader, an imam, through Muzzaf as a translator (in case you have forgotten, Muzzaf is a well-traveled merchant and a half-Colonial himself). Bags of gold and silver are exchanged for the Colonial captives. I think the delegation is scouting the camp for weakness, the imam is too calm, and he drops this speech:

"We do not grudge the money, Messer Captain," the imam said suddenly, in good Sponglish with the accent of the southern border. Raj looked up sharply. "Such is pleasing to the Merciful, the Beneficent." A slight smile. "And who knows, perhaps someday you will need the gold to ransom yourself. Peace be with you, kaphar."

Click to shrink...

And just as the delegation and released captives have left, the Colonials ambush the encampment. The 5th reacts with reasonable speed, but they are directionless, while the 2nd is shooting at everything that moves, with one of them almost hitting Raj.

With the typical Allahu Akbar! battle-cry, the Colonial cavalrymen charge straight against the commanders of raiding force. Suzette's unfortunate chamberlain, who had come running to see what is going on, is the first one to die, cut down by the Colonial scimitar.

Raj, Stenson, and M'lewis react. Raj knocks over the dinner table to create a makeshift cover for noncombatants and fights the Colonials with a handgun and saber. Stenson may be a lousy commander, but he is a good gunfighter and shoots down Colonial after Colonial with revolvers in each hand, before getting shot, but only injured. M'lewis manages to kill one with his Armory rifle, but then it jams, so he draws his skinning knife and split open one dog's guts (which, considering that the dogs on Bellevue are pretty much Warg-sized monsters, is a ballsy move). Eventually, Lieutenant Mekkle Thiddo and half of his platoon come in to save them.

The Center then shows Raj a simulated vision. It turns out that the Colonials have managed to sneak past the Descotter sentries, and have carefully scouted and analyzed the Civil Government force. They have noticed that the 2nd side of the camp is an undisciplined mess and that the cavalry platoon watching over the delegation will ride out to see that they leave by the agreed route, meaning they won't be immediately available in case of emergency. It appears that while the readers were led to believe that the delegation and imam were scouting for the Colonial, the actual scout was out there in the dark.

The Colonist commander grinned and spat. "Ahh, this is good. Gather about me, warriors of Islam." The others crowded close to hear the low voice. "Brothers, there is no God but God, and nothing is accomplished save by the will of God. If we slay the commander of the unbelievers, this will be a thing of great good; his is the better-ordered band among the invaders and without him perhaps they will be easy meat for the amir. The danger will be great. Who will come with me?"

None of the men hesitated more than a second. The Colonist officer nodded, pride on his face. "Remember that he who falls in battle against the unbelievers is granted forgiveness of sins and attains Paradise." He pulled a notepad from his sash, and a graphite writing stick from the cloth winding about his spired helmet, sketching a map and writing quickly.

"Here," he said, handing them to the scout. "To the commander of the forward column, and with a recommendation that it be shown immediately to the amir himself. Follow us only half the distance; if we kill the unbeliever, I will throw a flare bomb." He touched a wooden casing at his belt. "Report our failure or success, as God wills." The scout's face worked as he prepared a protest. "Those are your orders, Husni az-Zaim, and are so written in that message."

Click to shrink...

These are good soldiers, smart and determined, capable of seeing that Raj is a far more dangerous enemy and valuable target than Stenson, while also not forgetting the bigger picture. The vision then ends with a worst-case scenario, showing just how close they were to killing Raj and everyone around him.

Raj then angrily asks the Center why it did not show them before the attack. The Center replies that it is because Raj ignored its warning, and ends with this note:

i have waited a thousand years, the voice said, in the same chill tones, it is necessary to educate you. if the process kills you as well, there will be another, if not in this cycle, then the next.

Click to shrink...

This is something that I like about the Center, it is clearly a machine, not a human. Unfortunately, this character trait gets downplayed as the series goes on.

Grim news arrives with Raj's outlying vedettes, or what's left of them. The regular Colonial army, a thousand-strong cavalry force, has arrived, is close to Raj's position, and is coming fast. The Center advises Raj to retreat quickly now, and Raj decides to abandon their position and pull back fast to El Djem, the town the Descotters had sacked in the prior chapter. The town is a burnt-out ruin, but the stockade is (mostly) intact, and there's water, from there they can either hold the Colonials off or retreat back to Komar.

The next day, the Civil Government force is on the fighting retreat, almost at El Djem. They have already sent away noncombatants to the town. Unfortunately, things get worse for them:

Tewfik's seal-of-Solomon banner in the lead. Raj felt his lips crack and bleed as he snarled at the sight; far too many of Center's scenarios had turned on Tewfik's skills. Was that burly figure under the banner him? It was a little too far to see faces with any clarity, especially with this heat haze, too far even to pick out an eyepatch; Tewfik's was said to have the Seal of Solomon picked out on it in diamonds, and his men believed it carried a curse to his enemies.

Click to shrink...

That's the Colony's best general coming after Raj, and while Raj will grow into someone capable of matching him on the battlefield, that is in the future.

The Colonial force starts to deploy, clearly intending to attack and destroy the Civil Government force before they can reach El Djem, which they decide to reciprocate. The battle starts with the Colonial cavalry charge, seemingly in a fruitlessly suicidal manner, which makes Raj suspicious of what is going on because this is nothing like Tewfik's reputation. He quickly realizes that they are trying to draw the Civil Government force into a trap and manages to hold his men back, but Stenson ignores Raj's order and charges straight into the guns of Colonials.

And you know that the situation is really bad when the Center does not give any advice for him, simply saying this:

you are the sword of the spirit of man, (...) there can be no weakness,

Click to shrink...

Also, something interesting to note:

And a pom-pom-pom sound, Colony artillery. Light quick-firing guns spraying half-kilogram miniature shells from a clip of five. Not as accurate as the 75's, and a lot less weight of shell, but they fired as fast as a carbine. . . . A cloud of smoke was rising from the low swale over the ridge, twin to the one that was drifting and dispersing ahead of him.

Click to shrink...

Stirling stated that, although I can't remember the exact source, he modeled each side's weapons after the historical difference between Roman and Persian archery. The Romans preferred to draw deep and fire powerful shots at a slower rate, while the Persian preferred to quickly launch as many arrows as possible, sacrificing power for firing rate. Thus, the Civil Government (Eastern Roman) got single-shot Armory rifle (Martini-Henry, basically. Apparently Drake wanted them to be Springfield Trapdoor, but Stirling was more familiar with Martini-Henry) and 75mm field gun, while the Colony uses lever-action magazine carbine (Henry rifle) and lighter pom-pom gun. I think it is a clever choice.

The Colonial now begins their real attack, which Raj and the 5th Descott manages to fight back with great difficulty... then it turns out that the Colonials moved ahead of them and recaptured El Djem. Suzette has managed to escape back to the main force with survivors, reporting this:

"Thiddo's dead, this is all," Suzette shouted back, wild-eyed and clutching her carbine.

Click to shrink...

A bit of a spoiler, but this is not the first time Thiddo dies. This series has some pretty glaring writing mistakes.

Now Raj is surely trapped, with the route back to Komar cut off, and his plan in complete disarray. The remaining Civil Government soldiers form a square around their field guns, and Gerrin is seriously wounded.

The chapter ends with our protagonist in mortal peril, wait for the next chapter to see how he manages to pull himself out from this debacle.

 

[slybrarian]

It's a good chapter to show that Raj has some pretty big faults in his tactical abilities at this point and show that (a) Center gives very few fucks and is willing to let Raj terminally fuck up to prove a point, and (b) there's limits to what having a strategic AI in your ear can do when faced with a sufficiently bad situation. The note about the parallels between the Civil/Colonial and Roman/Persian weapons makes sense, Drake loves doing that sort of thing.

A bit of a spoiler, but this is not the first time Thiddo dies. This series has some pretty glaring writing mistakes.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, little glitches like this pop up fairly often, I suspect it's an artifact of having been written by two people way before any modern collaboration or writing tools existed. I'm not sure why the editor didn't catch them, I don't think either were popular enough to cast 'protection from editors' like Weber could.

 

[Terra Novan]

The note about the parallels between the Civil/Colonial and Roman/Persian weapons makes sense, Drake loves doing that sort of thing.

Click to shrink...

It is referenced in the Belisarius series as well, several times I think, with the Romans depicted as capable of wounding both the rider and the horse with one arrow.

 

[dptullos]

I always enjoyed the comparison between Raj and Tewfik. Most works try to present the protagonist as the good guy, but Tewfik isn't generally more evil than Raj. He fights for the Colony, Raj fights for the Civil Government, and Raj stumbled across Center.

If Tewfik had stumbled across Center...well, he's already a veteran general. With Center on his side, Raj's story would probably end right here.

 

[silentorphan]

If Tewfik had stumbled across Center...well, he's already a veteran general. With Center on his side, Raj's story would probably end right here.

Click to shrink...

IIRC, during Raj's final campaign, Center made that exact observation. Raj conceded that it was true.

 

[Avernus]

Raj warns them to not price the unborn calf, and they all spat and made the... horn-sign? Is this an RL custom?

Click to shrink...

Yes, it is; one with many variations across many cultures. It has all sorts of meanings positive and negative; from the context I expect the one being used something like this one:

The apotropaic usage of the sign can also be seen in Italy and in other Mediterranean cultures where, when confronted with unfortunate events, or simply when these events are mentioned, the sign of the horns may be given to ward off further bad luck. It is also used traditionally to counter or ward off the "evil eye" (malocchio in Italian). In Italy specifically, the gesture is known as the corna ("horns"). With fingers pointing down, it is a common Mediterranean apotropaic gesture, by which people seek protection in unlucky situations (a Mediterranean equivalent of knocking on wood).

Click to shrink...

 

[LordInsane]

IIRC, during Raj's final campaign, Center made that exact observation. Raj conceded that it was true.

Click to shrink...

IIRC, it also included Center indicating that had his physical machinery happened to be beneath Al Kebir instead of East Residence, Tewfik would have been his choice for Raj's role.

 

[Terra Novan]

In the last chapter, Raj and his men were in deep, deep trouble, as the army of the Colony, led by their greatest general and outnumbering them, is relentlessly pursuing them, with the raid force stuck in enemy territory, its strength sharply cut down thanks to Stenson, and their planned escape route cut. In this chapter, we'll see how Raj somehow pulls himself out of that debacle.

"Ser."

"Hunnha!" Raj sprang erect, throwing aside a blanket he didn't remember pulling over himself.

"Ser, we're here." M'lewis' voice had a lisp to it now, with most of his front teeth missing. A thick cup of kave steamed in his hands. Raj took it, trying to stop the tremors in his own.

"I was back in the desert," he said, more to himself than anyone else. Most of the other fifteen figures scattered around the lounge of the steamboat Orbital Paradise were as unconscious as he had been a moment ago. All were as filthy-shaggy, uniforms caked and stained until the original color was undetectable. "On the retreat, the third night, when they tried to overrun us again, and the gun blew up, you know. I was back there."

"We're here, ser," M'lewis repeated patiently.

Click to shrink...

...Yeah, that appears to have been solved in the background, during the time skip. Now, I know that too many details and explanations are not a good thing, but I still feel robbed.

Evrard, Kaltin's little brother, was killed offscreen, and Kaltin himself had suffered serious facial wounds.

Anyway, Raj, his closest subordinates, and Suzette are back in the East Residence. First, we get to see Suzette and Anne Clerett (Theodora expy) meet. Anne is a ruthless political operator, just as RL Theodora was reputed to be, although not as impressive or terrifying as Theodora from the Belisarius series, like how Suzette is somewhat underwhelming compared to Antonina from the same series (who actually commands an army, wears a boobplate as fuck-you to the moral of her time, and blows off someone's head more than once with his giant piece of handgun).

She is, however, useful in her own way, because she's an enemy of Chancellor Tzetzas, and a good friend of Suzette, who notices that Anne is wearing mourning clothes, and asks if someone's dead. Anne replies:

"Someone's going to, my dear. Someone's going to."

Click to shrink...

Raj, meanwhile, is led to Barholm, who is presiding over a theological dispute. It appears that the Governor (Barholm isn't one yet, but he pretty much is) is also the Head of the Star Church ('Supreme Pontiff'). I don't believe that the Emperors of the Romans ever held a comparable ecclesiastical position in RL (and the title Pontifex title was abandoned by the time of Justin and Justinian). They can, and did, throw a lot of weight around, but they were not exactly a supreme religious authority in the Christian Church.

As for the theological argument:

"And it says clearly in the Canonical Handbook," the speaker at the podium in the center of the room was droning, "that the greater set subsumes the lesser, the metaphysical implications of this being, firstly, that all subroutines are necessary but not sufficient to the operation of the code, and secondly, that an operational subroutine may therefore be treated as a virtual entity in, though not obviously for or by, itself. Thus if—as I hold Orthodox doctrine to state—the Spirit of Man of the Stars is the Spirit governing all stars, and since the Star of This Earth is unquestionably a Star, and since This Earth is unquestionably in orbit around that Star and therefore under the celestial influence and governance of that Star, then the Spirit of Man of This Earth—" there was an audible gasp at the mention of the deity of the western heretics who ruled in the barbaricum and lost territories "—is actually no more than a facet of the Spirit of Man of the Stars!"

Click to shrink...

I think this is essentially a Miaphysitism, but I am also sure that I am wrong. Naturally, the meeting devolves into chaos with the usual shout of 'Heresy!'

Next, the representative from the Old Residence, aka Rome, speaks. Again, it is explicitly noted that the Pope-equivalent is actually subordinate to the Governor in the formal hierarchy of the Church.

since you are in communion with me, and i am representative of the federation, does this not make you the avatar of the spirit?

Raj clutched at his amulet, imagining himself rising and speaking to the assembled hierarchs. He shuddered, feeling a nausea-panic almost as great as the one he had felt when Tewfik's squadrons charged home into the Valley of Death. Bad enough to be the Sword of the Spirit, and a piss-poor job I've been doing of that—

Click to shrink...

Raj is, as you can see, a very religious man. He will become less so as the series goes on, and almost completely irreligious after the Bellevue books. Still, it is an appropriate reaction to having an entity your faith regards as an angel speaking directly into your head.

Barholm then calls Raj, and they go to the Governor's bedroom, for the important matter of succession. Af

Governor Vernier is dying, and honestly, it is sad, pitiful, almost painful to read. He is clearly in excruciating pain and not in the right mental state, and Barholm is badgering this dying old man to give an official appointment of him as the Governor.

Honestly, Barholm is a bastard. Like, I am pretty sure that 99% of SVers, and a lot of historians, will call Justinian a bastard, but I don't think the real Justinian was ever like this to his uncle, Justin. And if Procopius said he was, I am not inclined to trust his words considering that Procopius was Alex Jones of his time.

Sergeant da Cruz (which is also part of Raj's name, funnily enough), Raj's man, shares the same opinion as me, but as the Center notes, a smooth succession IS important for an autocratic monarchy. And Stirling, again, commented out-of-book that the Civil Government started out with a more republican form of government like the Roman Empire, which makes the legitimacy and succession of the Governors a rather shaky business, prone to coups and usurpations. And Barholm, and the Cleretts in general, are not liked by the old nobility that dominates the politics of the East Residence, so he needs every ounce of authority he can get, and even that is not enough to deter coup attempts, as will be seen at the end of this book.

After that sad business is done, and Barholm makes an inauguration speech, he and Raj talk about the latter's command. Barholm promotes Raj to the rank of Brigadier, after the disappointing performance of his predecessor during Raj's adventure in the Colony.

This is not a reward, however. Raj's plan of stopping the planned Colonial invasion of the Halvardi succeeded too well because now they are going to invade the Civil Government next year instead. Raj's new post is at the frontier and he is tasked with creating an army to defeat the Colonials.

The Settler Jamal himself will personally lead the Colonial army, but Tewfik will be in effective command, and as the last vision of the Center shows, Tewfik is still a superior commander to Raj at this moment.

 

[Dahak]

And if Procopius said he was, I am not inclined to trust his words considering that Procopius was Alex Jones of his time.

Click to shrink...

Procopius had opinions about Justinian

Some who have been in Justinian's company in the palace very late at night, men with a clear conscience, have thought that in his place they have beheld a strange and devilish form. One of them said that Justinian suddenly arose from his royal throne and walked about (although, indeed, he never could sit still for long), and that at that moment his head disappeared, while the rest of his body still seemed to move to and fro. The man who beheld this stood trembling and troubled in mind, not knowing how to believe his eyes. Afterwards the head joined the body again, and united itself to the parts from which it had so strangely been severed.

Another declared that he stood beside Justinian as he sat, and of a sudden his face turned into a shapeless mass of flesh, without either eyebrows or eyes in their proper places, or anything else which makes a man recognisable; but after a while he saw the form of his face come back again. What I write here I did not see myself, but I heard it told by men who were positive that they had seen it.

Click to shrink...

 

[Terra Novan]

Procopius had opinions about Justinian

Click to shrink...

Yeah, and they are about as truthful as 'Obama is a child-eating lizard man', 'Hillary Clinton bathes in the blood of children' and 'Biden rapes his son'.

 

[Avernus]

Yeah, and they are about as truthful as 'Obama is a child-eating lizard man', 'Hillary Clinton bathes in the blood of children' and 'Biden rapes his son'.

Click to shrink...

Hah; since you already mentioned the Belisarius series, that reminds me of how in that series they hired him as Antonina's secretary specifically because it was ridiculously easy to manipulate him into feeding the villains "scandalous" misinformation.

 

[Terra Novan]

Hah; since you already mentioned the Belisarius series, that reminds me of how in that series they hired him as Antonina's secretary specifically because it was ridiculously easy to manipulate him into feeding the villains "scandalous" misinformation.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, and then unceremoniously firing him once he outlived his usefulness.

 

[silentorphan]

Yeah, and then unceremoniously firing him once he outlived his usefulness.

Click to shrink...

I thought Justinian said that he might retain the guy as his own secretary after the failed coup and his abdication. Just another layer of irony added onto the RL timeline.

 

[Terra Novan]

I thought Justinian said that he might retain the guy as his own secretary after the failed coup and his abdication. Just another layer of irony added onto the RL timeline.

Click to shrink...

Well, Antonina and Belisarius fired him. Justinian did say something like that. In any case, I doubt he will become famous in that universe in comparison to Calopodius.

 

[Cosar]

Governor Vernier is dying, and honestly, it is sad, pitiful, almost painful to read. He is clearly in excruciating pain and not in the right mental state, and Barholm is badgering this dying old man to give an official appointment of him as the Governor.

Honestly, Barholm is a bastard. Like, I am pretty sure that 99% of SVers, and a lot of historians, will call Justinian a bastard, but I don't think the real Justinian was ever like this to his uncle, Justin. And if Procopius said he was, I am not inclined to trust his words considering that Procopius was Alex Jones of his time.

Click to shrink...

I do think this is one of the cases where as much as he's a bastard, the system that's been set up doesn't really have good options. Like, Vernier is clearly not capable of leading at this point and is dying. In a system with robust rules of succession this wouldn't be an issue: an adult nephew who is already acknowledged as the next heir would have no issues. But we already know that this isn't one, since Vernier himself got the throne in a bit of a soft coup at the death of the previous Governor when things were a bit unsettled(despite relatives existing).

So many of the other ones feel more like a comment on his character as opposed to this one, largely because of that.

Hah; since you already mentioned the Belisarius series, that reminds me of how in that series they hired him as Antonina's secretary specifically because it was ridiculously easy to manipulate him into feeding the villains "scandalous" misinformation.

Click to shrink...

Honestly, comparing this and the Belisarius series is kinda fascinating? Especially given that they share one author.

 

[slybrarian]

The religious debate is the sort of petty pendantic nonsense that I love in a fictional religion. Way too many of them have a nice and tidy doctrines and texts, and not enough "Excuse me but Pelor clearly prefers to use the Oxford comma so you're wrong about your interpretation of that passage regarding abominable fruits."

 

[Valmond]

Well, in lot of fictional religions the gods are quite capable of coming down and explaining what they intended.

 

[Terra Novan]

Well, in lot of fictional religions the gods are quite capable of coming down and explaining what they intended.

Click to shrink...

So is the Center. Well, kind of.

 

[Avernus]

Well, in lot of fictional religions the gods are quite capable of coming down and explaining what they intended.

Click to shrink...

I'm reminded of some old novel with real gods-that-show-up that had a funny in-universe religious story about how one god showed up and talked to his people, explaining everything. And the people listened to only what they wanted to hear and promptly fell to to arguing among themselves about it, prompting the god to leave in frustration and never come back.

 

[Valmond]

I'm reminded of some old novel with real gods-that-show-up that had a funny in-universe religious story about how one god showed up and talked to his people, explaining everything. And the people listened to only what they wanted to hear and promptly fell to to arguing among themselves about it, prompting the god to leave in frustration and never come back.

Click to shrink...

It's a funny story i am sure, but does not really work if the gods in question are willing (and able) to enforce their doctrine.
Sure there might be a level of disagreement, but it would likely be closer to different interpretation of law, rather than wildly varying differences in opinion leading to church splits and holy wars.

 

[dptullos]

In the last chapter, Raj and his men were in deep, deep trouble, as the army of the Colony, led by their greatest general and outnumbering them, is relentlessly pursuing them, with the raid force stuck in enemy territory, its strength sharply cut down thanks to Stenson, and their planned escape route cut. In this chapter, we'll see how Raj somehow pulls himself out of that debacle.


...Yeah, that appears to have been solved in the background, during the time skip. Now, I know that too many details and explanations are not a good thing, but I still feel robbed.

Evrard, Kaltin's little brother, was killed offscreen, and Kaltin himself had suffered serious facial wounds.

Anyway, Raj, his closest subordinates, and Suzette are back in the East Residence. First, we get to see Suzette and Anne Clerett (Theodora expy) meet. Anne is a ruthless political operator, just as RL Theodora was reputed to be, although not as impressive or terrifying as Theodora from the Belisarius series, like how Suzette is somewhat underwhelming compared to Antonina from the same series (who actually commands an army, wears a boobplate as fuck-you to the moral of her time, and blows off someone's head more than once with his giant piece of handgun).

She is, however, useful in her own way, because she's an enemy of Chancellor Tzetzas, and a good friend of Suzette, who notices that Anne is wearing mourning clothes, and asks if someone's dead. Anne replies:

Click to shrink...

I like the fact that Raj's first mission isn't a glorious success, but an operation that starts off well only to go horrifically wrong due to a single act of carelessness, incompetent subordinates, and simple bad luck.

Eric Flint has a somewhat bad habit of whitewashing his Good Guy Characters, which is how the Belisarius series Rome can be portrayed as a meritocratic society. The Federation, on the other hand, is a snake pit, and Anne Clerett is portrayed as an ambitious woman of great ability who is also a terrible human being.

Fortunately, Suzette had the good sense to treat Anne Clerett with appropriate respect from the start, while other women of high rank were looking down on Anne as a prostitute. This is understandable, but also profoundly unwise, because Anne is married to the Vice Governor.

Moral of the story: If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

Raj, meanwhile, is led to Barholm, who is presiding over a theological dispute. It appears that the Governor (Barholm isn't one yet, but he pretty much is) is also the Head of the Star Church ('Supreme Pontiff'). I don't believe that the Emperors of the Romans ever held a comparable ecclesiastical position in RL (and the title Pontifex title was abandoned by the time of Justin and Justinian). They can, and did, throw a lot of weight around, but they were not exactly a supreme religious authority in the Christian Church.

As for the theological argument:


I think this is essentially a Miaphysitism, but I am also sure that I am wrong. Naturally, the meeting devolves into chaos with the usual shout of 'Heresy!'

Next, the representative from the Old Residence, aka Rome, speaks. Again, it is explicitly noted that the Pope-equivalent is actually subordinate to the Governor in the formal hierarchy of the Church.

Click to shrink...

I believe that the Eastern Roman Emperor is the head of the Eastern Church. They called it "Caesaropapism". I call it the blind worship of secular power, but I'm a Protestant, so I don't have much skin in this game.

It makes somewhat more sense in the context of the Civil Government's religion, because they literally worship the Federation and the Governor was a representative of that Federation. The theological argument involved is also very important from a secular perspective, because it means that the barbarians are just schismatics who can be reunited with the Church. With guns.

Raj is, as you can see, a very religious man. He will become less so as the series goes on, and almost completely irreligious after the Bellevue books. Still, it is an appropriate reaction to having an entity your faith regards as an angel speaking directly into your head.

Click to shrink...

I enjoy the contrast of the first books, with Raj genuinely venerating Center even as he argues with the "angel", while Center is entirely indifferent to that veneration. Yes, he is a computer, but he doesn't really get why that matters so much to Raj.

Raj's religion is also kind of trash; we don't hear about feeding the hungry or healing the sick or loving your neighbor, just conquering unifying the world to bring back the Federation, which is good because...uh, because it's good.

Barholm then calls Raj, and they go to the Governor's bedroom, for the important matter of succession. Af

Governor Vernier is dying, and honestly, it is sad, pitiful, almost painful to read. He is clearly in excruciating pain and not in the right mental state, and Barholm is badgering this dying old man to give an official appointment of him as the Governor.

Honestly, Barholm is a bastard. Like, I am pretty sure that 99% of SVers, and a lot of historians, will call Justinian a bastard, but I don't think the real Justinian was ever like this to his uncle, Justin. And if Procopius said he was, I am not inclined to trust his words considering that Procopius was Alex Jones of his time.

Sergeant da Cruz (which is also part of Raj's name, funnily enough), Raj's man, shares the same opinion as me, but as the Center notes, a smooth succession IS important for an autocratic monarchy. And Stirling, again, commented out-of-book that the Civil Government started out with a more republican form of government like the Roman Empire, which makes the legitimacy and succession of the Governors a rather shaky business, prone to coups and usurpations. And Barholm, and the Cleretts in general, are not liked by the old nobility that dominates the politics of the East Residence, so he needs every ounce of authority he can get, and even that is not enough to deter coup attempts, as will be seen at the end of this book.

After that sad business is done, and Barholm makes an inauguration speech, he and Raj talk about the latter's command. Barholm promotes Raj to the rank of Brigadier, after the disappointing performance of his predecessor during Raj's adventure in the Colony.

This is not a reward, however. Raj's plan of stopping the planned Colonial invasion of the Halvardi succeeded too well because now they are going to invade the Civil Government next year instead. Raj's new post is at the frontier and he is tasked with creating an army to defeat the Colonials.

The Settler Jamal himself will personally lead the Colonial army, but Tewfik will be in effective command, and as the last vision of the Center shows, Tewfik is still a superior commander to Raj at this moment.

Click to shrink...

It's notable that Raj is Barholm's man for the succession, which indicates that he is closest in the Vice Governor's trust.

Barholm is written as an awful human being, which is fair. He's also written without any real humanizing or redeeming traits except his love for his wife, which is less fair. A little bit of kindness towards his dying uncle, who did made Barholm Vice Governor, would not be unreasonable. But that's a stylistic preference on my part, and the truth is that Barholm may well have lost sight of his fondness for his uncle in his eagerness to assume power.

Sergeant da Cruz does object to the mistreatment of an old man, where he certainly didn't object to the sack of a city. Deliberate Values Dissonance for the win!

Credit to the author; you really do get the impression that the Civil Government is a falling power, while the Colony's star is on the rise. They managed a successful raid; Tewfik is coming back with an actual invasion.

 

[Terra Novan]

I believe that the Eastern Roman Emperor is the head of the Eastern Church. They called it "Caesaropapism".

Click to shrink...

No, the Emperors of the Romans were never official heads of the Eastern Church. He (and occasionally she) had a lot of influence over the Church, yes, but the idea that the Emperor was also a supreme authority in ecclesiastical matters never became a fully accepted idea.

Here, the Governor IS explicitly the highest in the Church hierarchy.

It makes somewhat more sense in the context of the Civil Government's religion, because they literally worship the Federation and the Governor was a representative of that Federation. The theological argument involved is also very important from a secular perspective, because it means that the barbarians are just schismatics who can be reunited with the Church. With guns.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, that makes sense.

Raj's religion is also kind of trash; we don't hear about feeding the hungry or healing the sick or loving your neighbor, just conquering unifying the world to bring back the Federation, which is good because...uh, because it's good.

Click to shrink...

Agreed. But then, considering that the Federation explicitly annexed Bellevue (and probably erased the previous name since that is definitely not an Arabic name) against the will of its original Muslim colonists, I'd say that's pretty much the natural result. The Federation was not Jesus, and while many evil deeds were committed in His name, He was not an imperialistic conqueror.

Barholm is written as an awful human being, which is fair. He's also written without any real humanizing or redeeming traits except his love for his wife, which is less fair. A little bit of kindness towards his dying uncle, who did made Barholm Vice Governor, would not be unreasonable. But that's a stylistic preference on my part, and the truth is that Barholm may well have lost sight of his fondness for his uncle in his eagerness to assume power.

Click to shrink...

Agreed. This is why I prefer the Belisarius series Justinian and Theodora, although it is partially because Barholm is clearly being set up as someone Raj has to overcome in the path to reunifying Bellevue instead of an ally, and he doesn't have a future super-intelligence showing how he fucked up.

 

[Terra Novan]

In this chapter, we see... the Canadians!

"Well, fuck me," the trooper on the observation platform of the heliograph tower said, lifting the helmet from his head and drawing a sleeve across his face.

"Not whiles there's goats in t'world, Saynchez," the duty corporal said from below. "Keep yer eyes open, I wants to know when the El-Tee's gettin' back."

Click to shrink...

We start this chapter with POV from a common trooper. Of course, being a Descotter cavalryman, Trooper Saynchez would be a yeoman farmer and probably takes an offense at being called a common trooper.

In any case, he gets quickly taken out by M'lewis and his trusty garotte, tasked by Raj to test the unit's alertness.

True enough. "All right, lads, just a lesson . . . now, you're Descotters, not peons, so you should be able to think. Why do you think I've got you out here in the first place, putting up these towers and spending your days in the desert? Besides my reputation as Brigadier Brass Ass, that is?"

Click to shrink...

We can see that Raj has learned well from his near-fatal mistake in Chapter 10. Funnily enough, Brass Ass/brazaz is a name for the Brigade aristocracy as well, although I am not sure if Stirling had that in mind when he wrote the upper paragraph.

Jorg Menyez sneezed.

"Sorry," Raj said, and maneuvered Horace around to the other, downwind side of the Kelden County officer. Menyez was mounted on one of the long-legged riding steers some of the nomads north of Pierson's Sea used, bridled with a ring through its nose; the great forward-sloping horns were tipped with steel, and it rolled its eye at the hound.

"Muuuuuuh," it said warningly.

Click to shrink...

Jorg Menyez, our honest infantry commander is back and is still suffering from a dog allergy, which barred his career in cavalry service and sent him into a less prestigious infantry branch.

We see that Bellevue has another exotic mount in addition to the giant dogs. Perhaps in part of that world, someone had managed to domesticate local sauroids and ride on them.

"You tell people long enough that they're shit," the brown-haired man continued, "that they're not fit for anything but to suck mud in front of the paws of anyone who rides by on dogback, and they believe it and act like it." His pale eyes watched as the thousand men of the two battalions mustered in a row of columns of fours. "They're still nowhere near as steady as I'd like, except for the Ausarians. And my Kelden County Foot."

(...)

There was a roll of martial music, as the fife-and-drum unit behind each battalion standard struck up; they had rifles slung over their shoulders, but Raj had seen to it that every outfit produced a band. The officers had bought the instruments out of their own pockets; a "suggestion" from Raj relayed through Menyez and backed by his writ of extraordinary authority from Barholm. Some of the infantry outfits hadn't even had standards; he had made the men contribute to those themselves, then had the ArchSysup of the Southeastern Diocese bless them in as impressive a ceremony as the cleric and he could come up with together. That sort of thing was almost as important as prompt pay and sound boots and seeing that the sutlers kept their cheating within bounds . . .

(...)

. . . not least because they reminded the foot soldiers that they were something other than men who had the bad luck to be visible when the press gang came around, and too poor to bribe their way out. His Descotters and the other cavalry units were mostly here because they'd wanted to be, or their families had . . . or at worst, because a father had come after them with compulsory weddings in his eyes and a loaded gun in his hands. They didn't need as much prompting to think of themselves as fighting men rather than victims.

Click to shrink...

We also see just how badly the infantry battalions are mistreated and neglected. It is noted, both in story chapters and appendix, that the infantry units are regarded as only useful for garrison and police duties, and considering that everyone steals from them, including their officers, I cannot see they would be particularly good at those duties, either.

As noted in the last paragraph, it is partially due to social differences. The cavalry, as seen with the Descotters or Stenson's 2nd Gendermarie, is either free farmers or aristocrats, and they are mostly volunteers or enlisted as part of the tradition of service in exchange for a tax deduction, while the infantry is made up of destitute conscripts.

Note that this is far from how later Roman infantry force was treated. Even as cavalry became more important in the Roman military tactics, infantry remained as the core of the Roman army and remained just as solid as during the earlier antiquity.

This is, however, a popular pop-culture narrative of 'degeneration/barbarization' of the Roman army, about how the reliable infantry Legionaries are degraded and mistreated while the formerly auxiliary cavalry became important and pampered, and how that destroyed the Roman military might and Glorious Tradition of Roman Legion. Needless to say, that's complete bullshit. It also draws from the worst description of the Limitanei, who, okay, were often neglected compared to the Comitatenses mobile army, but 1) Limitanei units contained cavalry, and 2) the Comitatenses were mostly infantry themselves.

Semul Falhasker was staging a revival of Minalor's Foreshadows of the Fall, classical mime-drama. No expense had been spared: a full orchestra and troupe from the East Residence, with fireworks and illumination on the Drangosh to follow. Little enough, for the richest merchant in Sandoral.

"No, thank you," Raj said, looking aside. "I'll be, ah, that is, too busy. I'll be dropping by for the banquet and review afterwards." On torchlit barges out on the river; that was being staged by Wenner Reed. Captain Wenner Reed, if you please; Falhasker's bitter rival, second-richest merchant in Sandoral, and commander of the city militia. That made it a matter of military courtesy to attend . . . "Enjoy yourselves by all means."

Click to shrink...

And we see a reference to the high culture of the Civil Government, as well as discord within the Civil Government defenders even as the largest Colonial army in the living memory, is about to descend upon them.

And we finally get to see the Skinners, aka the Quebecois (or more likely, the Metis people), and Bellevue's equivalent to the Huns. They have been hired by the Civil Government to fight for them.

"And I don't envy you the Skinners," he continued, changing the subject with a slight shudder. Nobody liked the barbarian mercenaries from the far northeast; compared to them, the western tribes of the Military Governments, the Brigade and Squadron and even the Stalwarts, were models of civilized sophistication.

(...)

There were probably more of the Skinners watching behind their heavy two-meter sauroid-killer rifles. Not because anyone had assigned them to it, simply because that was what those particular warriors had chosen to do. The camp up ahead contained half his Skinners, it would be an offense against the patron Avatars of the Army to call them a battalion of soldiers . . . and this was better organized than his other war band of them; he kept them well north and south of the city respectively, they came of different clans and had a habit of casual sniping whenever he brought them in range of each other. The chiefs assured him that would stop when a real enemy came in sight.

The Skinners had been assigned an evacuated village on the fringe of the cultivated lands as their camp; it was almost all destroyed now, the huts burned down, the orchard trees hacked for firewood or used for target practice or simply destroyed in idle vandalism. Some of them had rigged sun shelters of sauroid hides—they were hunters, mostly, at home on the northern plains—and more simply dropped and slept wherever impulse took them. The stink was enough to make the troopers behind him gasp and breathe through their mouths; enough to make him, too, if dignity had not prevented.

There were flyblown half-eaten sheep carcasses lying in the muddy patches between shelters, some writhing with maggots; flies clustered blackly on the mouths and eyes of men lying sleeping against their saddles. Dogshit and human dung littered the ground; as they watched, a Skinner undid his breechclout and squatted. Another staggered out of a roofless hut with a jug clutched in one hand, swayed, pirouetted, vomited, and fell facedown in the result, twitching and mumbling. Hounds of every color raised their massive flop-eared heads as the party from the 5th trotted by, scratched at fleas or simply slept.

Raj suspected that his own relative popularity with the Skinners was based on Horace; few other peoples rode hounds, with their incorrigible tendency to do exactly as they pleased with very little regard for consequences . . . which, come to think of it, was very much like the Skinners themselves.

Click to shrink...

What charming descriptions. The 'two-meter sauroid-killer rifles' (15mm, btw) are certainly a reference to the famous Hunnic asymmetric bow. And they somehow, somehow, can shoot them on dogback with terrifying accuracy.

I guess the massive flop-eared hounds are Newfoundland dogs?

They were coming up on a relatively intact hut, one that had not been burned down, at least, and whose tile roof was mostly still there. Also there were at least fifty heads, identifiable as Colonists by the spired helms, lined up in the eaves trough of the house or dangling from the branches of a dead orange tree beside the door; some had fallen, and been casually kicked into corners. The trooper took a look and went eyes-front, making an audible swallowing sound.

Click to shrink...

But they are certainly very good at what they are paid for.

"Eh, my fren', amitu!" he called, in an atrocious mixture of Sponglish and Kanjuk.

Click to shrink...

As I said, they are Rude French Canadian, crossed with the Dothraki and fighting T-Rex on the steppe.

"Dog piss," he said politely, and drank again; thank the Spirit he'd had the foresight to stuff himself with bread soaked in olive oil before coming out here. The liquor was basically arak, a sort of gin distilled from dates; the additions were those traders dealing with the steppe had found popular, chili peppers, sprigs of wormwood and a little turpentine.

Click to shrink...

I am pretty sure that combination will kill man, or at least blind them...

Raj informs their chief, with some difficulties in communication, that there's going to be a great feast, and he replies:

The barbarian's eyes lit with comprehension. "Ah, medicine dance!" He crossed himself vigorously. "Kill cattle for Juscrist an' de whetigo. Fais thibodo! We make great medicine feast before fight, take lots of heads, good fighting!"

Click to shrink...

Another reference to the culture before the Fall. I don't know what exactly he is talking with those French-sounding words, though.

Next scene, Raj is back in the city with Gerrin and Fatima. Fatima had been manumitted and had a baby with Gerrin or Foley, who is adopted by childless Gerrin. Considering her circumstance, I'd say she's living pretty well.

"It's yet another missive from our distinguished Chancellor, moaning and whining about the infantry drawing cash," Gerrin said, skimming it expertly into the fireplace. The heavy linen paper curled and browned on the bed of coals before bursting into flames.

Click to shrink...

Also, Tzetzas is raising his usual stink about how much money the infantry is drawing from. He's also worming his ways back into Barholm's favor, despite Anne's machinations against him.

"Oh, plenty reason," she said. "I fifth daughter of concubine with no sons, mother die have me. I servant, not even valuable like slave; always talk back, get beaten. No dowry, so have to marry poor man, or be small-small—" she looked over at Foley.

"Insignificant," he told her.

"In-sig-nif-icant concubine like mother." For a moment an old anger brooded in her eyes, the slights and petty cruelties of the harem. "Then, El Djem fall, I have no house and not virgin any more. No Muslim man want me; have to be whore on streets if I stay in Colony. Better here, I know these two good masters, not cruel men: take risk of dying, but better that than life so hard." She grinned. "I right, too. Now I freedwoman, my son heir to rich shayik. Better to be woman here anyway, not kept in all the time, go—" she broke into Arabic.

Click to shrink...

Fatima explains her reasoning for why she defected to the Civil Government. Honestly, I understand her choice.

After that, Kaltin and Gerrin have a conversation about Suzette. Kaltin thinks Suzette is an unfaithful bitch of a wife. Gerrin, however, sees exactly what she is doing, and how important she is to Raj, who is definitely NOT a political operator and will be eaten alive in the East Residence's snakepit of court without her.

Which is kind of strange. You'd think Kaltin, someone with a reputation as a womanizer, would be able to see what she's doing.

Next, Raj is receiving intelligence from Muzzaf, who is now pretty much a permanent fixture to Raj's staff, while the city of Sandoral is watching the fireworks. And he reports this:

"But of Messer Reed's household, I have learned something. There is a new servant there, who calls himself Abdullah ibn 'Azziz"—the Colony equivalent of "Saynchez," it was so common—"who is suspiciously functionless. He seems to have moved here from the west recently. I will try to find out more."

Click to shrink...

A spy would not be surprising, considering that Sandoral is at the path of the Colonial invasion route.

"There, first," Raj said, nodding downstream. The Skinner's barge erupted in shrieks and roars and a volley from the massive 15mm rifles fired skyward that made fireworks of its own; in the dark the muzzle flashes were longer than the weapons themselves. "To get very thoroughly drunk. And tomorrow, you and I and the 5th/1st/1st"—Foley's platoon, first in the first Company of the 5th Descott Guards—"are going looking for Tewfik. Enough of this sitting on our butts sniffing the wind."

Click to shrink...

This chapter ends with Raj deciding to personally lead the reconnaissance against the Colonials. This is something he'll do several times throughout the books, to the dismay of his men.

 

[Cosar]

Agreed. But then, considering that the Federation explicitly annexed Bellevue (and probably erased the previous name since that is definitely not an Arabic name) against the will of its original Muslim colonists, I'd say that's pretty much the natural result. The Federation was not Jesus, and while many evil deeds were committed in His name, He was not an imperialistic conqueror.

Click to shrink...

I believe there are a couple mentions of more charitable aspects of the Civil Government's religion, especially ones that can be inferred to not solely be a military thing (like the various nun/doctors that show up a lot). There's a whole part about confessing sins, which seems to be basically the same as Christian doctrine. But the books are really laser focused on part of Raj's point of view, only really showing the military stuff so a lot of things that aren't related to that aren't developed.

I'd agree that the religion definitely is a pretty imperialistic one from what we see, but slotting it in as just that seems to miss a bunch.