Paksworld

18 Comments »

• Comment by Justin — July 27, 2010 @ 11:16 pm

  1
  

  I don’t think so. There was mention of a Clart captain in Sheepfarmer’s Daughter, but s/he was never named.

  ---

• Comment by Rachel — July 28, 2010 @ 12:16 am

  2
  

  Based on my reread of the relevant sections of Sheepfarmer’s Daughter not only did you never gave the Clart commander a name, and I don’t think the Clart commander is ever mentioned. A couple times a cohort leader is mentioned (never by name), but that’s about it. It seems like the Clarts had a very loose command structure since they frequently rode in smaller cohorts/groups with other mercenary companies and the different cohorts operated pretty independently. There’s also no mention of any Clart officers dying, let alone the commander. I hope this helps, and that if I missed something someone else will point it out 🙂

  ---

• Comment by jjmcgaffey — July 28, 2010 @ 12:29 am

  3
  

  Yes, I agree with Rachel – Phelan speaks to ‘the/a Clart captain’ several times, and several times they mention that they had losses (at the relief of Dwarfwatch, and at the ambush just before Sinavia was cornered for the last time, in particular), but no mention of a commander being killed or of a commander’s name.

  ---

• Comment by Rune F. Akselsen — July 28, 2010 @ 5:10 am

  4
  

  After searching through the e-text, I find no use of the phrase “Clart Commander”, nor any new names that I can see in the vicinity of those places the Clarts are mentioned. I agree with the two former posters.

  ---

• Comment by Robert Conley — July 28, 2010 @ 5:10 am

  5
  

  Using my Kindle search on the Deed of Paksenarrion I found 58 references to Clarts. No mention of any specific Clart person except for a Clart captain, unnamed, that Arcolin talked too.

  ---

• Comment by elizabeth — July 28, 2010 @ 5:57 am

  6
  

  Thank you! All of you!

  One of the places I’m working on in Book III needs a name for the current commander of the Clarts. I’m pretty sure that if I ever find the ancient notebook with the background stuff for the DEED in it, there would be a name, but since that’s lost (not forever, I hope)…it was either find a place where I’d named one in the book-as-published, or come up with another.

  ---

• Comment by David Watson — July 28, 2010 @ 8:27 am

  7
  

  If you need a new name for the Clarts commander, I will nominate one for you. How about ‘Bugsy’? DRW

  ---

• Comment by elizabeth — July 28, 2010 @ 8:44 am

  8
  

  David: I’m afraid that a) that’s out of period and b) you’re too late. (Just wait until I name some character in your Aero-Rangers stories! It will be full of apostrophes and unpronounceable consonant clusters!)

  We now have Nasimir Clart. Trim, dark-haired, beard neatly trimmed to a point, and hopping mad about something. His mercy was abused and since he is not by nature over-generous, it really stings that his good deed didn’t go unpunished. Neither is the next person’s fair but firm judgment going to go unpunished. Boy, can one addictive personality cause a ton of trouble for a lot of people…

  ---

• Comment by David Watson — July 28, 2010 @ 9:11 am

  9
  

  Well okay, maybe Nasimir works better than Bugsy… for this application. Poor ol’ Bugsy will be so disappointed. He was looking forward to a little vacation in a medieval/magical/fantasy world.
  I’ll find him something to do with the Aeros, but he probably won’t like it. Some people are never satisfied. DRW

  ---

• Comment by elizabeth — July 28, 2010 @ 9:21 am

  10
  

  Is Bugsy willing to use a pseudonym? Bugar, maybe? I might find him a place as a common soldier or thief or servant in an inn or something like that…of course, he probably won’t like fantasy as much as he thinks he would. He’d be pretty much limited to roles that involve fetching and carrying, scrubbing, shoveling…and there are no fast cars and the pretty girls wear clothes that reveal little, especially now it’s winter.

  ---

• Comment by Kip Colegrove — July 28, 2010 @ 9:21 am

  11
  

  So the Clarts are turning up again. Their commander sounds like a real beau sabreur, with the tang of irony that should always go with that term. Always did have a weak spot for the light cavalry.

  ---

• Comment by elizabeth — July 28, 2010 @ 9:31 am

  12
  

  Valdaire in winter: a mix of mercs, overwintering merchants, and toward spring, the arrival of the first caravans from the south and east, all wanting to head over the pass as soon as it opens.

  The locals make a lot of money off the mercs over the winter, but then they have to put up with a lot of idle soldiers in different commands (good and bad) with all that ensures of soldier-problems, from unplanned pregnancies to inter-company squabbles that wreck the insides of taverns. Or would, if the owners hadn’t figured out long ago that everything in the place should be sturdy enough to stand up to a riot.

  ---

• Comment by David Watson — July 28, 2010 @ 9:41 am

  13
  

  Bugsy turns up his nose at the name Bugar… he says it’s too close to ‘Bugger’ Though ‘Bugger’ is indeed a name of ancient valour, cadged from Bored of the Rings, Bugsy feels it might be misconstrued by sensitive modern readers.
  As for the jobs available to a Bugar in your universe being menial ones, Bugsy complains that’s precisely the problem in Aero Rangers as well. There’s no real chance for advancement to real Villain status with a name like Bugsy. Maybe if we used two ‘g’s things would be better. DRW

  ---

• Comment by elizabeth — July 28, 2010 @ 9:49 am

  14
  

  Sorry–Bugsy failed his audition for Paksworld. We have enough prima donnas already. Don’t call us, Bugsy; we’ll call you (someday in never-never-time.)

  Meanwhile, and back to the story…a thief is not the only problem person a thief can catch…the further adventures of Arvid…

  ---

• Comment by elizabeth — July 28, 2010 @ 1:07 pm

  15
  

  Last words of today’s main work session:

  “I doubt it,” said the innkeeper.

  ---

• Comment by Abigail Miller — July 28, 2010 @ 1:14 pm

  16
  

  Sound like “famous last words” to me …

  ---

• Comment by elizabeth — July 28, 2010 @ 1:18 pm

  17
  

  It does, doesn’t it. It hit me that way when I was shutting down (2120 words) and yet…it’s just something a busy man says when asked a conversational question. But by itself…has more punch than it would have in context. That’s why I put it up.

  ---

• Comment by elizabeth — July 28, 2010 @ 10:34 pm

  18
  

  And another 637 words late. 2737 for the day.

  Stuff happened. Stuff happened that’s going to make other stuff happen.

  One of the neat things about stuff happening is that it gives me a reason (sometimes retrospective) for reading things I want to read. I had picked up Xenophon’s Scripta Minora (Loeb Classical Library) a week or two ago when it surfaced during a brief attack on mess, and could not resist delving into “The Cavalry Commander” again. (Don’t be impressed with my scholarship–my very limited ability in Greek is far behind me, and the Loeb editions have the English translation on the facing page from the Greek original.) Anyway, there I was, indulging for a few minutes a day in cavalry stuff and the “Art of Horsemanship.”

  And lo, the Clart Company was delivered into the book as on a platter. Light cavalry. Xenophon would have known how to use them. (Yes, yes, I had read Xenophon and others back when I wrote the Deed.. Essential reading, Xenophon, in several areas–if you want, for instance, to hunt boar with dogs and nets. Personally I would prefer something with a large calibre and a telescopic sight.)

  ---

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment