The Legend of Broken (97 page)

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Herwald Korsar
A particularly interesting name,
korsar
still being a German word for “corsair” or “pirate,” but
Herwald
being an archaic name, its meaning apparently lost to time along with its use. Following the common system for determining the origin of such appellations, especially in the early and high Middle Ages, we are forced to conclude that Herwald Korsar came from a family of river- or seafaring adventurers—but whether they acted on behalf of the kingdom of Broken, or were among the enemies who agreed to join the kingdom at the time of its unification under Oxmontrot, is a question that must remain, for the moment, unanswered. —C.C.

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Amalberta Korsar
Gibbon writes, “The appearance of the name
Amalberta
is significant in helping us determine the various influences of surrounding societies on that of Broken.
Amal,
which appears with respectable frequency in early Germanic writings, is believed by some scholars to connote a representative of the eastern [Ostro-] Gothic royal family known as the
Amelungen;
whereas
berta,
of course, is simply another variation on the group of modern names centered on
Bertha
that imply ‘radiance,’ or ‘golden.’ Together, these components raise the rather interesting possibility that this wife of the supreme commander of the army of Broken—a woman who is acknowledged to be ‘foreign-born’—may in fact have been a Gothic princess of some importance.”

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“‘… some dog-bitten lunatic …’”
This last word, when used by the soldiers and citizens of Broken, naturally has an especially pejorative connotation, its root almost certainly having been, in the Broken dialect as in English,
luna,
or “moon,” both based on the Latin
lunaticus,
or “moonstruck,” reflecting the ancient notion—which Kafrans would have highlighted, given the Bane tribe’s (as well as their own ancient) worship of that heavenly body—that the moon’s powers included the ability to cause mental illness. —C.C.

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“Home to the God-King …”
Gibbon writes, “One cannot help but pay special attention to this idea of the ‘God-Kings’ of Broken, particularly given the location of the kingdom and the historical era during which it achieved its zenith of power: Germanic tribes of the Barbarian Age were well known for electing their leaders, whether they called them ‘kings’ or ‘barons.’ Such leaders, obviously, were not yet what we know as ‘divine right’ kings, nor was their power hereditary. Once again, then, the people of Broken anticipated European institutions and styles of rank by generations, if not centuries—no small accomplishment!”

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Oxmontrot
Of the many interesting silences that punctuate Gibbon’s comments on the Manuscript, none is more eloquent than his apparent refusal or inability to even attempt to determine the origin of this name. The most obvious and literal explanation, if we make allowances for the influence of Gothic and Old High German on the Broken dialect—which, as we have already seen and will see many more times, often reverted to what Gibbon called “phonetic approximations”—is that
Oxmontrot
meant simply “man as strong as three oxen,” or perhaps “man as fast as three oxen,” although this last seems less likely, as oxen have never been renowned for their speed, but rather for their plodding pace and power. But if we allow other possible meanings of the name’s components to enter the question, we find that the first two syllables in Oxmontrot may originate with either the Gothic
Audawakrs
and its German counterpart,
Odovocar
, both of which mean “wealthy and vigilant”; or with the Old German equivalent of Old English’s
Oswald,
“the rule of God”; or, finally, with
Oskar,
the still-used German equivalent of
Oscar,
translated either as “deer lover” or “godly spear.” The determining factor would seem to be what meaning we ascribe to the third syllable. It may be descriptive, based in early German phrasings and spellings of
rostrot,
or “russet, auburn.” One immediately thinks of the crusader and Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I, also called Friedrich Barbarossa, or “Redbeard,” although the likelihood of any inspirational connection vanishes when we consider that Friedrich did not rule until the twelfth century; still, Adolf Hitler thought enough of Friedrich’s zealous attempts to rid the world of the “racially inferior” Muslims to code-name his invasion of Russia “Operation Barbarossa”—and when one considers Oxmontrot’s policies in Broken, one cannot help but wonder if Friedrich’s name was not meant to recall, in some way, the founding king of Broken, and whether there is, therefore, a link between all three names. Or, the final syllable may relate to the more literal
trott,
a jogging pace. Lastly,
trot
may simply reach back to the early development of not only German, but to the Germanic languages of Saxon and Old English, as well, and translate as the number and quantity “three.” Why this should be significant, however, is obscure: much like the ruler himself. —C.C.

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Lumun-jan
Gibbon writes, “We can be in no doubt that the ‘vast empire’ to which the narrator refers was Rome, despite the fact that the name
Lumun-jan
does not seem to appear in most Germanic dialects.” Gibbon could not have known, of course, that he was looking in the wrong place; if we turn to the Gothic vocabulary, we find that
lumun
is a root common to various terms for “light,” or in this case “lightning,” while
jan
is a suffix incorporated into many words which imply “protection”—especially “shield.” The tribes who eventually made up the kingdom of Broken before (perhaps long before) the fifth century included Goths as well as smaller groups, and all must have had some contact with Roman military detachments before Broken’s establishment: despite Caesar’s vehement warning that Rome should never try to conquer the region north of the Danube and east of the Rhine, some ambitious emperors and generals did dispatch scouting and punitive parties into those areas, usually with mixed or disastrous results. At least some of the tribes of those areas evidently came to associate Rome itself with one of the most effective and time-tested Roman instruments of war, the
scutum,
or large rectangular infantry shield, which was usually embossed with some representation of lightning bolts. Hence
Lumun-jan,
apparently a Gothic-based Broken term for “lightning-shield,” and
Lumun-jani,
or “people of the lightning shield.” Thus deriving a name for a people from a weapon that they commonly use is not unique in world history, or even in the history of the areas making up and surrounding Broken: perhaps the most famous example is the Saxons, who are believed to have been named after a comparatively small, if still fearsome, weapon, their characteristic
seax,
or single-edged combat knife. —C.C.

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“the Mad King”
It should not strike us as strange that the people of such a kingdom would refer to their founding monarch as “mad,” nor is the case by any means unique, in history or in legend—and it was certainly not inspired, as we will see some of the kingdom’s officials try to state, by his apparently heretical religion alone. “Madness” was often equated with vision or genius of any kind, particularly in less intellectually developed societies, which Broken evidently was when Oxmontrot began his reign; and the fact that the term would later be used, at least by many, in a pejorative way does not change this fact. Nor does the frequent use of the phrase “Mad King” in countless popular works of legend, fiction, and history from later periods: whether the very real, as in the case of Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria, or in fiction, as in Edgar Rice Burroughs’s The Mad King. Indeed, there were apparently many in Broken, Sentek Arnem among them, who looked back on this supposedly “mad” king with great admiration—something they would certainly not have done, had they considered him simply insane. —C.C.

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Thedric
This is another distinctly Gothic name, suggesting that Oxmontrot married a woman of those tribes. —C.C.

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Isadora Arnem Isadora
is one of those rare Gothic names to have survived intact into the modern age. It is also a useful tool for helping us understand why the influence on Arnem’s wife of certain persons considered “exotic” would have been so frowned upon in Broken: like Amalberta Korsar, Isadora Arnem appears to have come from good Gothic stock, although in her case, the blood had definitely thinned, and the family had fallen on hard times, even before the deaths of her parents. But the notion that more northerly influences would have been viewed, in Broken, with the kind of suspicion usually reserved for persons from sunnier, more southeasterly lands is a noteworthy variation on the very old story of European distrust, prejudice, and arrogance. —C.C.

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Reyne Niksar Reyne
appears to be either an archaic or a Broken dialectal spelling for
Reini,
the shortened version of
Reinhold,
or “counselor [to the ruler].”
Niksar,
however, is more obscure: it seems, at first, a variation on
Nikolas,
and therefore yet another obvious confirmation that the influence of classical antiquity on the society of Broken was pronounced,
Nikolas
being a Germanization of the Greek
Nicholas,
or “victory of the people.” But there may be an alternate meaning, as
sar
may have been the Broken dialectal version of
saller,
which means, literally, “one who dwells by a sallow,” sallow being a type of small willow native to Germany. —C.C.

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khotor
and
fausten
See note for p. 00, for Broken’s military organization; in brief, here,
fausten
were, perhaps obviously, detachments of some fifty men, ten of which made up a
khotor.
Some may take issue with translating
fausten
to “fists,” because the spelling does not precisely match that of modern German; but then, it is not to be expected that it would, given the many influences on the Broken dialect that have already been discussed. —C.C.

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“at attention”
Although this phrase did not come into common use, among armies, until the fourteenth century, there were and are generally analogous phrases contained in nearly every language, ancient and modern, all of which are descendants, not surprisingly, of the Roman command, which Oxmontrot would have known and respected; but, because the Broken dialect remains lost to time, the Broken Codex having disappeared with the translator, we will likely never know what the specific term was. —C.C.

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“… the Merchants’ Council.”
The close identification of the patron god of Broken, Kafra, with the city’s merchant class and leaders reinforces Gibbon’s earlier point about the way in which the kingdom’s rulers and citizens gave a “decidedly Germanic treatment” to what was originally, in all likelihood, a mere cult of hedonism and materialism, turning it into “a pragmatic and highly organized system of theocracy”—a theocracy whose most visible and powerful underpinning was a determined merchant oligarchy, rather than the kind of warrior-based aristocracy that could be found in most barbarian states and tribes of the time. —C.C.

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“‘… let alone a sacred bull—’”
Gibbon writes, “The close association of lunar worship with male cattle—or, indeed, horned animals of almost any kind—was common to societies as ancient as early Mesopotamia, and likely existed in the vicinity of Broken long before the city came into being. Animal horns were identified with the ‘horns’ of the crescent moon, and from this comes the mystical association with virility and sensuality that was, evidently, a part of Old Broken’s lunar worship, and which survived among the Bane long past the arrival of Kafra. Indeed, in many parts of the Far East even today, high prices are paid for the horns of exotic animals, which are ground to powder and form the ingredients of traditional virility tonics; only one of the many paradoxes afflicting such Oriental peoples as the Chinese, who are capable at once of great works, great learning, and yet absurd, even vicious and exterminating superstitions.” It remains only to be said that this traffic in the horns and other parts of endangered animal species, illegally, brutally, and immorally harvested, has only grown with time; and that various peoples of the world—but especially, as Gibbon states, those of the Orient—will pay unheard-of amounts of money for such “virility tonics,” the efficacy of which has been found to be absurd again and again by modern scientists. —C.C.