Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Alternate History Lounge. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
The Future of Videssos; Videssos
Topic Started: Dec 6 2007, 12:02 AM (295 Views)
The Guy from Fiji
Member Avatar
Bullshitter
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
Two questions for the fans of the Videssos books.

1) Will the presence of the 'Ronams' have any long term effect on the world of Videssos.

2) If HT were to tell stories in that world after the Videssos Cycle, how might he create approximations of future events. For example: What might the Reformation look like in the world of Videssos?
Sic Temper Molemannis!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Custer
Member Avatar
Resident Kamikaze Warrior
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
I thought the Thanasioi rebellion in the third Krispos volume resembled the Protestant reformation - disillusioned believers thought that the orthodox religion was getting to materialist, hypocritical, and corrupt, so they split off and formed their own group.
Posted Image
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
The Guy from Fiji
Member Avatar
Bullshitter
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
HT has done some blending of real history to create events in Videssos (which is a good idea for a couple reasons), but I think that was intended to represent the Cathars.
Sic Temper Molemannis!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Custer
Member Avatar
Resident Kamikaze Warrior
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Not having finished the Videssos Cycle, I can't give a good answer to the first question.

Having started on book one, there was something that I picked up on right away - the Videssians have surnames. In the Tales of Krispos, people just have their single names, whereas in the Cycle they have first and last names. What up?
Posted Image
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
The Guy from Fiji
Member Avatar
Bullshitter
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
Wow, I never caught that. It seems a little too big to be an error on the part of HT (or his editors). I think we might chalk this up to HT finding subtle ways to show us the change over time in Videssian society. Similar to the change from 'Phaos' to 'Phos.'
Sic Temper Molemannis!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Makkabee
Count
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
There's a bit in the begining of the books that mentions that customs change over time. I assumed that the use of family names in the Romans' time but their absence 500 years earlier was such a change. Another is the declining status of Videssian infantry over time. In The Videssos Cycle, native infantry is a joke -- just worthless militia. In The Tale of Krispos there is native infantry but it's not particularly well regarded. In The Time of Troubles books, set another century and a half back, infantry gets mentioned without the sneering for the most part, and in Makuran an infantry army even beats a cavalry army at one point. They also establish that at that point stirrups were still a relatively recent innovation. HT also establishes changes in magicl technology.

The Thanassioi don't resemble protestants so much as Albignensian or Bulgar heretics -- both eastern and western Christaindom faced challenges from those who claimed that all the physical world was the work of the Devil, not God. Anger at Church wealth and corruption did fuel all these movements, though.

And yes, I think the "Ronams" have changed Videssian history dramatically. They stabilized a dynasty that would otherwise have fallen (OTL the Byzantine dynasty that lost at Manzikert did fall), they helped restore a frontier that would otherwise have been permanently breached, they introduced infantry tactics and training that will allow local forces to compete with cavalry -- this will have serious social impact down the line, as it tilts the military balance more towards the poor who can't afford to maintain a horse and kit. Theologically, they are living proof of other worlds, and that's got to affect the thinking of a society that so links the sun and its god.

I'd love to see more Videssos stories, and have an idea or two for how things might proceed after the events of the Videssos Cycle.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Custer
Member Avatar
Resident Kamikaze Warrior
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
The Thanasioi = Albigensian connection didn't even occur to me. How strange.
Posted Image
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
The Guy from Fiji
Member Avatar
Bullshitter
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
Quote:
 
I'd love to see more Videssos stories, and have an idea or two for how things might proceed after the events of the Videssos Cycle.


Where do you see things going?
Sic Temper Molemannis!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
MapleLeafs4Ever
Landowner
[ *  *  *  * ]
Makkabee
Dec 8 2007, 11:20 PM
I'd love to see more Videssos stories, and have an idea or two for how things might proceed after the events of the Videssos Cycle.

Given that Turtledove said in his introduction to his story in "After The King" that "Lord of the Rings" inspired him to write a sequel while in college which eventually became the Videssos series, you could do it. Just call it "Tales of the Fifth Age" and there you go. :P
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Makkabee
Count
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
My main idea was to have Marcus's grandson -- call him Markhos Skavros, though the first name can be just about anything -- be duke of Garsavra and have to deal with a Namdalener invasion led by Dosti's son. Possibly make it a riff on the Fourth Crusade and talk about how Videssos having a large capable body of native troops (which the Byzantines didn't, at least not compared to the way things were before Manzikert) would change things.

Possibly more interesting would be to have Marcus introduce Roman governmental customs in Garsarvra and combine them with Videssian traditions -- elected officials sharing power with the hereditary nobility, that sort of thing -- and see how that would change Videssian society in a few generations.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Custer
Member Avatar
Resident Kamikaze Warrior
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Makkabee
Dec 9 2007, 03:13 PM
Possibly more interesting would be to have Marcus introduce Roman governmental customs in Garsarvra and combine them with Videssian traditions -- elected officials sharing power with the hereditary nobility, that sort of thing -- and see how that would change Videssian society in a few generations.

Wouldn't that just result in Marcus getting whacked by the entrenched bloated bureaucracy for meddling with their tradition-honored system?
Posted Image
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Makkabee
Count
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Book 2 may alter your perceptions of that somewhat.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
« Previous Topic · Alternate History Media · Next Topic »
Add Reply