It’s nice to finally not be at Uni again. Although, of course, the rigamarole of marks is yet to come (three hours and counting, to be technical) I’m happy that it’s over, and fairly confident that I passed - well, I’ll know for sure shortly, at any rate.

In the past week or so, I’ve done a bit of web design/css stuff, and have begun a complete redesign of andiyar.com, based on the layout and styles seen here in this journal - adapted, certainly, but fairly preserved. It’s served also as an introduction to css, and I’ve learned more from taking apart the source code and the style sheet code and figuring out how they work together than I’ve ever done by reading a couple of online tutorials - although I must say the tutorials make a bit more sense now. ^_^

I’m going to spend a bit of time here thinking out loud about the Fall of the Nervii rewrite - I’m working on character profiles/descriptions and my test readers (both of them!) might be interested - and since I’m typing here already, I’ll just do it here. And so, without further ado, I present the life of Zeltar, one of the main characters of the Fall of the Nervii.

Zeltar

Zeltar is an elderly man in his late fifties, of slightly more than average height (about 5 foot 9, maybe 10), with a short silver beard and hair. He was born originally in Prydein (Wales) but was captured by slave-traders when he was nine. He was eventually sold in Rome to an operator of a gladiator group, who purchased him to act as a body slave. He eventually became a gladiator for his master, and won his freedom from slavery through exceptional bravery and skill in the arena. He won, and held the title of gladiatorus maximus for more than two and a half years, and won more than seventy death bouts in the arena.

After he was freed, Zeltar continued to fight in the arena to earn money with which to travel home, or at least to leave Rome and seek out his cultural roots. He was approached by the young Julius Caesar during this period, who became his sponsor in the arena. The two men grew to be friends, and Caesar eventually offered Zeltar a position in his own legion as a warrior for Rome. Zeltar declined this offer, however, as the purpose of Caesar was to invade the tribal lands of Gaul, where the people were those Zeltar regarded as being his own, or at least, were those of Celtic descent. The two men fought over the issue, and Zeltar left Rome in anger shortly afterwards. Caesar sent a patrol of men to bring the tribesman back, as he possessed information about troop movements of the legions that Caesar did not wish the tribes to become aware of. Zeltar was cornered during his escape, but managed to get away, killing several of the men sent after him in the process, one of whom happened to be Caesar’s second cousin, thus affirming Caesar’s enmity for him.

Zeltar travelled to Gaul and made his way to the north, planning to take ship back to Prydein. Along the way, however, he fell in with the troops of Bladrath, Lord of the Nervii, who took him to see their ruler after they discovered his skills with a blade. The Lord received him quite courteously, and the men were soon fast friends. Zeltar was also affected by the wife of Bladrath, Ilarón, who was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. She had only ever had one child, a daughter, Talia, who was ten years old at the time, and after he had met her, Zeltar knew that he could never be content with another woman in his life, and that he would never sire children of his own. This saddened the gladiator, and he left the court of the chieftain for two years, during which time he built himself a small homestead to the east of Belgae, where he dwelt in solitude for a while, before news that the Roman invasion was at hand drew him back to the side of his friend.

Resigning himself to combat, Zeltar joined a small band of tribesmen from the Belgae region, and fought in a guerilla campaign against Caesar’s scouting parties and staging legions. He soon became recognised as one of the most skilled fighters in Gaul, however, despite all the skill he possessed, Zeltar alone was unable to prevent the conquest of the Nervii by the legions, and it was not long before Bladrath was merely a tributary chief to the local Roman Procurator. Zeltar left the main settlements of the Nervii behind again, due to his highly public profile, and retreated to his home in the mountains. He maintained close contact with Bladrath, and often travelled to his capital to discuss possibilities of rebellion, and also to renew his friendship with the Chief. His life of solitude and camaderie was shattered, however, with the uprising of the Belgae against Rome. Zeltar assisted Bladrath in several brief campaigns, but then retired to his home, vowing to never spill blood again. And, until the time when the story takes place (two years later) it seems that he was able to keep his vow.

rnHmm. That was fun. I’ve got to keep a copy of that… you see, that’s the first time that I’ve actually sat and written all of that down. It’s been floating around in my head in various shapes and forms and I’ve been meaning to get to it - and now I have done so. All good.

And now, in an update on what I typed half an hour ago, it seems that my Uni results were out a few hours early. So… I passed! Admittedly, I didn’t pass all that well - got 54% for Chemistry and 53% for statistics - but I passed! I can finally do my second year subjects - which do include more chemistry. Hmm. Ah well. Them’s the breaks - and I can finally do biochemistry, and genetics… which I’ve been really looking forward too. ^_^

Other stuff? Well, the Fall of the Nervii is currently three chapters done (if we count the prologue) and the third chapter is underway - and is proving a little touchy, because the focal character is Talia, who I’m having a bit of trouble keeping where I need her to stay - it’s not so much that she’s a difficult character, it’s just that various things (emotional and psychological, for me) keep getting in my way of writing her. And, as a side note for Lilla, no that doesn’t mean I fancy her. So there. :-p

And, speaking of Lilla, she’s managed to get tickets for me to go and see Les Miserablés - which I’ve never seen, and am quite looking forward too. Add in Christmas shopping to do, and being rather busy at work - hope you get better soon, Lou, I don’t really want to have to keep supervising on weekends! - I’ve been quite the busy boy. And, of course, this in top of my normal activities of lounging on the ‘net, watching movies, reading, writing, and doing as little as possible.

Life is hard, you know? ^_^

rnVisit upminsterlocksmith.co.uk for more info.

-Andiyar