Excerpts from Ancient Inscriptions of the Great Peninsula.
WALL
Peter, the Great Chara of Emor and Its Dominions, Judge of the People, Commander of the Armies, Lord of the Marcadian Mountains, Ruler of the Arpeshian Nation, Master of the Koretian Land. He helped the Ambassador to bind the Three Lands in a Golden Chain of Peace.
Commentary
This inscription is found on one of the most stunning survivals of ancient times: an eleventh-century wall, originally eighty meters long, on which are preserved the names of all the Charas of the Empire of Emor, one of the ancient Three Lands of the Great Peninsula.
The end of the inscription tells us that the owner, whose name has not survived, paid for the creation of this wall in order that the names of the Charas should not be forgotten. Each massive stone contains the name of a Chara, his titles, and the act for which he was most remembered. The titles of the Charas gradually become more elaborate until the titles peak in length at the time of the Chara Peter. The later Charas have shorter titles, suggesting that the empire was in decline, and territory was being lost. The wall may have been built in an attempt to preserve what was most in danger of being lost during the eleventh century: memory of the Three Lands.
This wall is our main source of knowledge about the Charas. Little is known about the Chara Peter, but references to him elsewhere suggest he was widely admired by his subjects. This wall connects him with the "Ambassador," whose identity is known through other epigraphs.
TOMB
HERE LIE BURIED THE ASHES OF ANDREW [words missing]
LORD AND AMBASSADOR [words missing]
[lines missing]
FR[IEND] OF THE CHARA
[lines missing]
Commentary
For centuries, Andrew – also known as Lord Andrew and as the Ambassador – was a legendary figure in the Great Peninsula. The rediscovery of his tomb showed that he was a real man. Sadly, before modern archaeology could develop, his tombstone deteriorated; these are the only fragments that remain of its inscription. The surviving words appear to confirm part of the legend, which is that the Ambassador was a friend to one of the Charas.
Lord Andrew is known to be the author of the original version of the International Law, which forms the basis for the Great Peninsula's modern law system. The International Law has been dated to after the death of the Chara Peter, but the dates are close enough that Lord Andrew might have consulted beforehand with the Chara Peter. Alternatively, perhaps helped the Chara Peter put some of the international law system's practical principles of peacemaking into use. In either case, this would explain why the Chara Peter was regarded by his subjects as an exemplary ruler.
WAX TABLET
I LOVE THE LAW.
I LOVE THE CHARA.
I WISH I HAD A FRIEND.
PsN (CTB)
Commentary
This wooden tablet was found by archaeologists in the remains of a mansion in the former Town of Brookside. Perhaps it was sent as a keepsake to kinfolk. It is signed by young Peter son of Nicholas, who had evidently not yet acquired the imperial title of Chara To Be, but who was anticipating doing so.
From the looks of it, this was a schoolboy exercise in learning to write. It was inscribed on a fresh wax tablet; while the wax no longer remains, the scratch-marks of the stylus can be clearly deciphered in the wood. The Chara mentioned in the exercise was Peter's father, the Chara Nicholas. That Peter referenced him in such a manner suggests the young heir had a distant, formal relationship with his father. The final, sad sentence indicates how isolated the boy must have been during his upbringing.
INK TABLET
Boy, 8, Kn cap, to L Carl, En cap, 40 gc.
[Boy, 8, Koretian capital, to Lord Carle, Emorian capital, 40 gold coins.]
Commentary
This tablet was found near the southwestern marshes of Daxis, preserved in a bog. It is one of several tablets found next to the body of a man who evidently slipped into the bog while travelling. (The body was so badly deteriorated that it yielded little information.)
The inked words on the tablets are written in Emorian. The content of the tablets suggest that this was an Emorian slave-seller, on his way to purchase more merchandise. A date on this tablet indicates that this particular sale of an eight-year-old boy – rather cheap, by the standards of that century – took place in the same year that Koretia fell to Emorian forces (961). So the boy may have been a Koretian victim of wartime invaders.
Of special interest is the reference to Lord Carle. It is known from other sources that, at one point, Andrew (not yet a lord) tried to kill this powerful Emorian lord, who lived in the Chara's palace. This tablet may indicate Andrew's motive, for priestly chronicles indicate that Andrew – who had the dark skin of a Koretian or Daxion – was eight years old at the time that Koretia fell.
Ultimately, however, neither the slave-seller nor Lord Carle made the decisions that led to the boy's captivity. The decision to hold Koretia captive was made by the Chara Nicholas and was upheld by his successor, the Chara Peter.
Not until the tenth year of his reign did the Chara Peter release his hold on Koretia. By that time, he may have had strong motive to do so.
GRAFFITI
—Portia loves Peter.
—You fool, do you really think Andrew will give up the Chara?
Commentary
This amusing interchange of graffiti was discovered by archaeologists at the site of the Emorian capital's ancient stadium. The first inscriber may have acquired a romantic crush upon the Chara Peter, either by hearing reports of him or by seeing him from a distance at the stadium. A second inscriber points out that the Chara is already taken by Andrew.
This inscription was evidently made before Andrew obtained any titles, but after he had risen high enough in rank to have acquired a special association with the Chara Peter, one that Andrew would be reluctant to give up to another "love."
Just how Andrew acquired his freedom from slavery, and how Andrew first came to speak with Peter, is unknown. However, it seems likely that Peter would have crossed paths with Andrew at some point in the latter's slave years, since Andrew was owned by one of the Chara's council lords. At some point, the two unhappy young men must have discovered that they had mutual interests.
CURSE TABLET
To Lord Andrew, I plead of your pity to ask your wine-friend the Chara to extract from their thief the six silver coins which I have lost.
Commentary
Ancient curse tablets, usually carved upon lead sheets, were designed as petitions to gods or goddesses to take action against another person. In Emor, where the law system was venerated, such tablets usually took the form of petitions to law courts. Less commonly, the curse tablets might petition the Chara, the law's chief representative.
This curse tablet, which was found in the remains of the ancient law court in Emor's capital, is the only surviving tablet to petition a third party to intervene with the Chara. The tablet is quite specific in identifying the relationship that arose between Lord Andrew and the Chara Peter: wine-friendship, a pledge of lifelong friendship made through the sharing of wine in a single cup.
DAGGER
[Close-up image of the tip of a dagger hilt.]
Commentary
The provenance of this handsome dagger leaves no doubt that it was originally owned by Lord Andrew. With its hilt and sheath elaborately carved from bone, the dagger now comprises the centerpiece of the Peninsularean Museum's exhibit on ancient life in the Great Peninsula. It is considered to be the finest surviving example of ancient craftsmanship.
The question is how Lord Andrew acquired such a rich item. The answer may lie at the tip of the dagger, where an extremely tiny emblem can be seen upon careful scrutiny. The minuteness of the royal emblem of the Charas suggests that the gift-giver did not wish the emblem to be noticed by anyone except the gift-recipient.
Did Peter initially keep his friendship with Andrew secret? Or did he merely hesitate to reveal to the world the extent to which he felt love for the former slave?
CUP
From Andrew to Peter, with love
From Andrew to his ward, with love
Commentary
This silver wine cup, plain but with beautiful proportions, has proved to be the most mysterious object tied to Lord Andrew.
Its provenance is broken, but it is said to have been recovered from the ruins of the Daxion capital. Legend links Lord Andrew with Daxis. The family that has handed down this cup, over the space of centuries, insists that the cup once belonged to Lord Andrew, and that this was the very wine-cup of friendship that he shared with the Chara Peter.
Though this tale may be somewhat simplified, epigraphists have confirmed that the engravings on the bottom of the cup are from the tenth century, and that the engravings were not made by a skilled craftsman. Moreover, the second inscription, while from the same hand as the first, differs in two important respects. The first inscription is in Emorian, while the second is in Daxion. And the first inscription is in a firm hand, while the second appears to waver.
From this, a scholarly speculation can be built. This may have been a gift from Lord Andrew to the Chara Peter, during the time that they lived together in the Chara's palace. After the Chara's death, Lord Andrew may have recovered the cup and taken it with him to Daxis. There he kept the cup until he grew old, whereupon he bequeathed it to his ward, who was Daxion.
If this speculation is true, then it is the firmest proof we possess that Lord Andrew valued his ties with the ruler whose empire had enslaved him. Whatever his motive may have been for befriending that ruler, Lord Andrew appears to have used his special position as the Chara Peter's wine-friend to secure peace between Emor and Koretia.
WILL
I, Peter, the Great Chara of Emor and Its Dominions, Judge of the People, Commander of the Armies, Lord of the Marcadian Mountains, Ruler of the Arpeshian Nation, do bestow my wealth upon the following people whom I value.
[text snipped]
. . . and unto Lord Andrew, Ambassador of Koretia, I do give my empire, my law, and our peninsula's peace. He will know how best to keep it.
Commentary
The text of this wholly remarkable will has survived because of a morbid ancient custom.
In ancient times, attendees to royal funerals were gifted with a ceremonial copy of the dead person's will, for remembrance's sake. This particular copy was in parchment and managed to pass through warfare and neglect, surviving to the present day.
The most remarkable aspect of the will, of course, lies in its final lines. Did the Chara Peter intend to will his entire empire to a former slave? Or did this line symbolically indicate Lord Andrew's ability to keep lawful peace in the Three Lands of the Great Peninsula, even after the loss of his royal friend?
If the latter, the Chara Peter's faith in Lord Andrew was justified, for it was Lord Andrew's subsequent peacemaking that permitted the creation of the International Law. Much has been lost since ancient times, but not the law, thanks to the friendship between these two men.
HISTORICAL NOTE
I drew the materials inscribed in this story from materials inscribed in Roman Britain. The one exception is the enormous wall.
That wall actually exists, but in Turkey. It was built in the second century CE by Diogenes of Oenoanda. The old man's motive was to preserve the teachings of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, "to help also those who come after us." Without that wall, with its 25,000-word inscription, we would know much less than we do about Epicureanism, which has been revived in modern times.
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trope_of_the_month, to the November 2024 prompt: Epistolary.
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