005 – SAGA I – 1066 – PART ONE TRANSCRIPT

I know not who shall be reading these words I am inscribing; or if anyone will ever read them. If they will survive the tests of time in any way; I know not. But I do know I have survived. Survived through tests that were supposed to finish me. To end me. So there is hope yet. And whoever is reading these words from whatever time in the future, the distant future, or perchance – somehow – the past, I welcome and wish to preface my tale with a warning: prepare yourself, for this is going to be a tough tale to digest. 

My tale begins in the year of our lord, 1066. This was a year like any other, but it was also a monumental year of change and effect due to the result of a monumental battle that took place on the 14th of October. You see, events are all about context. Sometimes the events are small and unimportant; and sometimes they have knock-on effects that are felt not just throughout the lands but also spanning land masses throughout the world, as well as across the reaches of time itself.

[AUTHOR’S NOTE:] 

It is this phrasing and deliberation on the concept of time that drew the interest of the Conclave to this chronicle. I will extoll their impressive ways of its discovery at the end of this saga, but wish to make this initial point to begin it.

[RECORDER’S NOTE:] 

Sorry to stick my face in here, or since this is audio, stick my tongue . . . oh no, that sounds very bloody wrong. We won’t say that again, I promise. But it felt warranted since the author did it first, to give you an idea of what these addiive notes are going to be like. And also, yes, If I’d come across this text on its own it definitely would’ve piqued my interest with that interesting phrasing about time. Okay, enough nattering, let’s get back to it, shall we?

[SAGA CONTINUES:]

If you are startled by this wording about time, and perhaps even find it anathema from when you are from, I ask you to please be patient with me and let me plead my case and tell my story first, lest ye be quick to judge.

1066 was the year of the Battle of Hastings, when the country known as Englaland brought together by King Alfred the Great many years before, a land consisting of Britons, Saxons, Vikings, Danes, Celts, Picts, and many others, were brought into a new regime with the killing of King Henry and the coronation of King William at Westminster Abbey. The first French King of what would be known as England.

And now that a French royal had rightfully claimed the lands of England in victory in a mighty battle that in all likelihood would be remembered in the many ages to come in our future, and distant future no doubt, he and his council needed a way to understand what the great lands he now possessed truly consisted of and so he convened all his men in a great discussion and planning, whereby an agreement was reached to conduct a great, nationwide survey, known as a census, which would be collected in a great volume known as the Domesday Book.

The lands were divided up into smaller parcels which were known as shires and many groups of surveyors were sent out to conduct this important census. No detail to be gleaned from the lands was too small. They began with the number of people in a town, dividing them into men, women, and children who were either girls or boys. No doubt there were some who identified as one of these categories but were perceived to be another, or identified with neither of them, but alas they were not categorized as such. Then the different types of animals were cataloged from pigs to sheep to goats to cows to ducks to chickens to even dogs and cats. And then the types of crops were recorded, be they barley or wheat or oats or rye, and whether they were used for food or some other purpose, such as for the animals or as trade or as tax to the king. The amount of space dedicated to these different crops was also ascertained. And then the smiths of the town were interviewed and it was discovered what they made and in what quantities, whether they be tools for working in the fields, or for some other use, picts and spades and shovels; or for forestry such as axes and saws; or for hunting, such as bows, arrows, or spears; and then weaponry such as swords, knives, spears, lances, halberds, maces, and many more, and what length and type they were, and how these weapons were to be exactly used, such us in battle or skirmishes, or what amount would be given to the king, and how many men of the town would use these weapons in service to the king, and how soon they could report for duty, how long it would take them to reach London should a call to arms be made, and in what numbers men would come to . . .

There. I feel I have bored the most determined reader with this long-winded invented treatise on the Domesday Book. Many a steady eye would have given up long ago, hopefully. If you are still reading, then you must be someone of import and therefore I would wish to tell my tale. Not the one I have been fabricating to appease every reader so far, but my true tale.

Prepare yourself, for what you are about to read is not for the faint of heart and some may find it hard to digest, let alone understand. 

But you have been warned.

[RECORDER’S NOTE:]

Gasp! Oh wow!

Sorry, it doesn’t actually say that on the page. I was just reacting to what I just read because I did that thing you always do – especially if you’re recording – where you’re saying the words aloud but your eyes are already jumping ahead and seeing and reading the words before your mouth catches up with them, and then your brain is reacting to what you’ve just read and going “Oh shit, oh wow!” just as your mouth has finished saying the last sentence . . . oops, sorry for dragging it out a ridiculous amount. Let’s get to it.

[ SAGA CONTINUES:]

The Ostium Network fucking let me here to die! I can’t really believe it, except that my way back is gone and I’m now permanently trapped in the eleventh century.

I know not who shall be reading these words I am inscribing; or if anyone will ever read them. If they will survive the tests of time in any way; I know not. But I do know I have survived. Survived through tests that were supposed to finish me. To end me. So there is hope yet. And whoever is reading these words from whatever time in the future, the distant future, or perchance – somehow – the past, I welcome and wish to preface my tale with a warning: prepare yourself, for this is going to be a tough tale to digest. 

My tale begins in the year of our lord, 1066. This was a year like any other, but it was also a monumental year of change and effect due to the result of a monumental battle that took place on the 14th of October. You see, events are all about context. Sometimes the events are small and unimportant; and sometimes they have knock-on effects that are felt not just throughout the lands but also spanning land masses throughout the world, as well as across the reaches of time itself.

[AUTHOR’S NOTE:] 

It is this phrasing and deliberation on the concept of time that drew the interest of the Conclave to this chronicle. I will extoll their impressive ways of its discovery at the end of this saga, but wish to make this initial point to begin it.

[RECORDER’S NOTE:] 

Sorry to stick my face in here, or since this is audio, stick my tongue . . . oh no, that sounds very bloody wrong. We won’t say that again, I promise. But it felt warranted since the author did it first, to give you an idea of what these addiive notes are going to be like. And also, yes, If I’d come across this text on its own it definitely would’ve piqued my interest with that interesting phrasing about time. Okay, enough nattering, let’s get back to it, shall we?

[SAGA CONTINUES:]

If you are startled by this wording about time, and perhaps even find it anathema from when you are from, I ask you to please be patient with me and let me plead my case and tell my story first, lest ye be quick to judge.

1066 was the year of the Battle of Hastings, when the country known as Englaland brought together by King Alfred the Great many years before, a land consisting of Britons, Saxons, Vikings, Danes, Celts, Picts, and many others, were brought into a new regime with the killing of King Henry and the coronation of King William at Westminster Abbey. The first French King of what would be known as England.

And now that a French royal had rightfully claimed the lands of England in victory in a mighty battle that in all likelihood would be remembered in the many ages to come in our future, and distant future no doubt, he and his council needed a way to understand what the great lands he now possessed truly consisted of and so he convened all his men in a great discussion and planning, whereby an agreement was reached to conduct a great, nationwide survey, known as a census, which would be collected in a great volume known as the Domesday Book.

The lands were divided up into smaller parcels which were known as shires and many groups of surveyors were sent out to conduct this important census. No detail to be gleaned from the lands was too small. They began with the number of people in a town, dividing them into men, women, and children who were either girls or boys. No doubt there were some who identified as one of these categories but were perceived to be another, or identified with neither of them, but alas they were not categorized as such. Then the different types of animals were cataloged from pigs to sheep to goats to cows to ducks to chickens to even dogs and cats. And then the types of crops were recorded, be they barley or wheat or oats or rye, and whether they were used for food or some other purpose, such as for the animals or as trade or as tax to the king. The amount of space dedicated to these different crops was also ascertained. And then the smiths of the town were interviewed and it was discovered what they made and in what quantities, whether they be tools for working in the fields, or for some other use, picts and spades and shovels; or for forestry such as axes and saws; or for hunting, such as bows, arrows, or spears; and then weaponry such as swords, knives, spears, lances, halberds, maces, and many more, and what length and type they were, and how these weapons were to be exactly used, such us in battle or skirmishes, or what amount would be given to the king, and how many men of the town would use these weapons in service to the king, and how soon they could report for duty, how long it would take them to reach London should a call to arms be made, and in what numbers men would come to . . .

There. I feel I have bored the most determined reader with this long-winded invented treatise on the Domesday Book. Many a steady eye would have given up long ago, hopefully. If you are still reading, then you must be someone of import and therefore I would wish to tell my tale. Not the one I have been fabricating to appease every reader so far, but my true tale.

Prepare yourself, for what you are about to read is not for the faint of heart and some may find it hard to digest, let alone understand. 

But you have been warned.

[RECORDER’S NOTE:]

Gasp! Oh wow!

Sorry, it doesn’t actually say that on the page. I was just reacting to what I just read because I did that thing you always do – especially if you’re recording – where you’re saying the words aloud but your eyes are already jumping ahead and seeing and reading the words before your mouth catches up with them, and then your brain is reacting to what you’ve just read and going “Oh shit, oh wow!” just as your mouth has finished saying the last sentence . . . oops, sorry for dragging it out a ridiculous amount. Let’s get to it.

[ SAGA CONTINUES:]

The Ostium Network fucking let me here to die! I can’t really believe it, except that my way back is gone and I’m now permanently trapped in the eleventh century.