by Alan Smale
The Mourning War is an authentic idea, with many historical examples of long-standing feuds and territorial disputes between native peoples of North America. Although there is no direct evidence of such a large-scale and pervasive feud between the Mississippian and Haudenosaunee nations, there is archeological support for an increase in the palisading of towns and villages from A.D. 1200 on in those cultures and also in Algonquian territory. Clearly, these peoples were not establishing such vigorous defenses just for fun. And although people nowadays tend to associate the practice of scalping with the colonial wars, it was in fact a form of violence frequently perpetrated long before the arrival of Europeans.
The Iroquois were noted for their competence in the lethal arts. However, there are no grounds for believing them responsible for the deaths of the Cahokian women buried in Mound 72 (the Mound of the Women), as Great Sun Man tells Marcellinus. In our world, those women probably perished as part of a home-grown ritualized killing. In reality the women may not even have been from Cahokia; their teeth and bones are more typical of people originating from the satellite towns and eating poorer diets.
Just in case there is any doubt, the People of the Hand include the ancestral Pueblo peoples at the tail end of the Great House culture centered in Chaco Canyon, and the People of the Sun are the postclassic Mayan culture.
Many of Cahokia’s mounds still remain, and walking among them inspires awe. The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is just across the Mississippi from modern St. Louis, Missouri. It is well worth a visit and, failing that, can be investigated on the Web at www.cahokiamounds.org.
APPENDIX II: THE CAHOKIAN YEAR
The approximate correspondence between the Julian calendar and the Cahokian moons and festivals is as follows:
In Cahokia, the exact dates of spring, midsummer, harvest, and midwinter are determined by the position of the sun on the horizon at sunrise and sunset, as measured from the Circle of the Cedars.
In order to maintain the alignment of the lunar cycles with the annual solar cycle, a thirteenth month is added into the Cahokian calendar every three years. This is the Dancing Moon. As its name implies, the Dancing Moon can be inserted into the Cahokian calendar at the most convenient time, as chosen by the shamans.
Other ceremonies and celebrations occur during the Cahokian year but are scheduled when the signs, time, and weather are right, at times that may appear arbitrary to the uninitiated.
APPENDIX III: NOTES ON THE MILITARY OF THE ROMAN IMPERIUM IN A.D. 1218
After the death of Septimius Severus in A.D. 211, the bloody civil war between his sons Caracalla and Geta nearly destroyed the Imperium. No one then alive could have foreseen that that decadelong firestorm would forge a new, stronger Roma that would last another thousand years.
Once the turbulence subsided and the rebuilding began, Roma’s new Imperator and Senate did their utmost to prevent such a calamity from ever happening again. A thoughtful and intelligent Imperator, Geta proposed a number of civil reforms designed to limit his own powers and those of his successors, and having lived in terror of the vicious and predatory Caracalla for the previous ten years, the Senate was only too happy to pass those reforms into law. By and large Geta succeeded in stabilizing the Imperium and returning it to its former greatness, but further military reforms were needed in the centuries that followed to prevent the Roman army from growing too strong and again playing a political role. Key to the successful preservation of the Pax Romana was deterring individual legions from aligning themselves with pretenders to the Imperial throne. This had the useful secondary effect of strengthening Roma’s borders against the threats of barbarian invasion.
And so by A.D. 1218 the army has been re-formed and streamlined while maintaining those elements which enabled Roma to establish a mighty Imperium in the first place. The legionary structure is largely intact, but mobility between ranks and the assignation of commanding officers is now almost entirely merit-based, reducing the opportunities for ambitious young consuls or governors to seize control of their local legions and mount a bid for the Imperial purple. Rather than being kept separate, legionaries and auxiliaries are combined within their cohorts and considered equal members of their units, reducing the risk of mutiny. Finally, officers and soldiers are now permitted to marry and to take leave between campaigns, and they receive sizable bonuses in money and land upon honorable retirement from the army.
APPENDIX IV: GLOSSARY OF MILITARY TERMS FROM THE ROMAN IMPERIUM
A glossary of Roman terms, Latin translations, and military terminology appears below. Many aspects of Roman warfare have remained unchanged since classical times, but language does evolve, and in a few cases the meanings of words have migrated from their original usage in the Republic and the early Empire.
Ala: Cavalry unit or “wing.” An ala quingenaria consists of 512 troopers in sixteen turmae; an ala milliaria consists of 768 troopers in twenty-four turmae (plural: alae).
Aquila: The Eagle, the standard of a Roman legion. Often golden or gilded and carried proudly into battle; the loss of an Eagle is one of the greatest shames that can befall a legion.
Aquilifer: Eagle bearer; the legionary tasked with carrying the legion’s standard into battle (plural: aquiliferi).
Auxiliaries: Noncitizen troops in the Roman army, drawn from peoples in the provinces of the Imperium. Career soldiers trained to the same standards as legionaries, they can expect to receive citizenship at the end of their twenty-five-year service. Originally kept in their own separate units, auxiliary infantrymen have now been integrated into the regular legionary cohorts.
Ballista: Siege engine; a tension- or spring-powered catapult that fires bolts, arrows, or other pointy missiles of wood and metal. Resembles a giant crossbow and often is mounted in a wooden frame or carried in a cart.
Braccae: Celtic woolen trousers, held up with a drawstring.
Caligae: Heavy-soled military marching boots with an open sandal-like design.
Cardo: Colloquial term for the wide main street oriented north-south in Roman cities, military fortresses, and marching camps (more formally known as the Via Praetoria for the southern part and the Via Decumana for the northern part).
Castra: Military marching camp; temporary accommodation for a legion, often rebuilt each night on the march.
Centurion: Professional army officer in command of a century.
Century: Army company, ideally eighty to a hundred men.
Close order: Infantry formation, with men massed at a separation often as small as eighteen inches, making a phalanx or another close formation difficult to penetrate or break up.
Cohort: Tactical unit of a Roman legion; each cohort consists of six centuries. Sometimes the First Cohort in a legion is double-strength.
Cohortes equitate: Mixed units of cavalry and infantry that train together, generally consisting of either six centuries and four turmae or ten centuries and eight turmae or some other combination with a similar ratio of foot soldiers to cavalrymen.
Contubernium: Squad of eight legionaries who serve together, bunk together in a single tent (in a castra) or building (in a fortress barracks), and often are disciplined together for infractions (plural: contubernia).
Cornicen: Junior Roman officer who signals orders to centuries and legions by using a trumpet or cornet.
Corvus: Literally, “crow”; wide gangplank or rotating bridge that anchors a Roman warship to the bank with a heavy metal spike or can be embedded into the deck of an enemy vessel so it can be boarded.
Cuneus: Literally, “wedge” or “pig’s head”; dense military formation used to smash through an enemy’s battle line or break through a gap.
Decurion: Professional army officer in command of a turma of cavalrymen. Roughly equivalent in rank to a centurion.
Dignitas: Dignity.
Duplicarius: A decurion’s deputy, second in command of a turma.
Forum: Public square or plaza, often a marketplace.
Gladius: Ro
man sword (plural: gladii).
Greek fire: Liquid incendiary, probably based on naphtha and/or sulfur, although the recipe was lost in Europa and is a closely guarded secret in Nova Hesperia.
Imago: Image, copy, ancestral likeness. The image of the current Imperator displayed on a standard or banner.
Imperator: Emperor; Roman commander in chief.
Imperium: Empire; executive power, the sovereignty of the state.
Intervallum: Walkway or area just inside the exterior fortifications of a castra; in other words, the space between the ramparts and the blocks of tents or barracks.
Lares: Roman household gods, domestic deities, guardians of the hearth.
Legate: Senior commander of a legion, more completely known as legatus legionis. By the thirteenth century, “legate” and “Praetor” are synonymous.
Legion: Army unit of several thousand men consisting of ten cohorts, each of six centuries.
Legionary: Professional soldier in the Roman army. A Roman citizen, highly trained, who serves for twenty-five years.
Medicus: Military doctor, field surgeon, or orderly (plural: medici).
Onager: Siege engine; torsion-powered, single-armed catapult that launches rocks or other nonpointy missiles. Literally translates to “wild ass” because of its bucking motion when fired. Often mounted in a square wooden frame.
Open order: Infantry formation, with soldiers in battle lines separated by up to six feet and often staggered, providing room to maneuver, shoot arrows, throw pila or swing gladii, and switch or change ranks.
Orbis: Literally, “circle”; a defensive military formation in the shape of a circle or square, adopted when under attack from a numerically superior force.
Patrician: Aristocratic, upper-class or ruling-class Roman citizen.
Peristylium: Within a Roman building, a courtyard open to the sky, often surrounded by a portico with columns or pillars.
Pilum: Roman heavy spear or javelin (plural: pila).
Porta Praetoria: South gate of a legionary fortress or castra, leading onto the Via Praetoria (or Cardo).
Praetor: Roman general, commander of a legion or of an entire army. In the Republic and early Empire the term was also used for some senior magistrates and consuls; the latter usage has died out by the time of Hadrianus III, and only legionary commanders are referred to as Praetors.
Praetorium: Praetor’s tent within a castra or residence within a legionary fortress, situated at the center of the encampment.
Principia: Legionary headquarters building, situated at or near the center of a legionary fortress.
Pugio: Dagger carried by legionaries; Roman stabbing weapon.
Roma: The city of Roma, capital of the Roman Imperium, although often used as shorthand to mean the Imperium as a whole.
Sagum: Military cloak made of a rectangular piece of heavy wool and fastened with a clasp at the shoulder.
Scutum: Roman legionary shield (plural: scuta).
Senior Centurion: Also known as the primus pilus. The most experienced and highly valued centurion in the legion, he commands the first century within the First Cohort.
Signum: A century’s standard, usually consisting of a number of metal disks and other insignia mounted on a pole (plural: signa).
Spatha: Roman long sword, often used by cavalry (plural: spathae).
Subura: Notorious slum and red-light district within the Urbs Roma.
Testudo: Literally, “tortoise”; Roman infantry formation in which soldiers in close order protect themselves by holding shields over their heads and around them, enclosing them within a protective roof and wall of metal.
Tribune: Roman officer, midway in rank between the legion commander and his centurions. Originally a more generalized military staff officer; by A.D. 1218 the tribunes have administrative and operational responsibilities for specific cohorts within their legion.
Triplex acies: Three-line battle formation.
Turma: Squadron of cavalry, subunit of an ala. One turma consists of thirty troopers and two officers (a decurion and a duplicarius) (plural: turmae).
Urbs: City.
Via Decumana: Northern part of the Cardo; wide north-south main street of a legionary fortress extending from the Principia to the north gate.
Via Praetoria: Southern part of the Cardo; wide north-south main street of a legionary fortress extending from the south gate to the Principia.
Via Principalis: Wide lateral street of a legionary fortress, extending from the west gate to the east gate and passing in front of the Principia and Praetorium.
Vigiles: Literally “watchmen”; firefighters and police of Rome and other large cities.
APPENDIX V: FURTHER READING
In addition to the books listed in the Further Reading section of Clash of Eagles, I found the following useful in researching and writing Eagle in Exile:
Stephen Ambrose, Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West, 1997.
Nancy Marie Brown, The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman, 1988.
Duncan B. Campbell and Brian Delf, Roman Legionary Fortresses, 27 BC–AD 378, 2006.
Ross Cowan and Angus McBride, Imperial Roman Legionary AD 161–284, 2003.
Ross Cowan and Angus McBride, Roman Legionary 58 BC–AD 69, 2003.
Raffaele D’Amato and Giuseppe Rava, Roman Centurions 31 BC–AD 500: The Classical and Late Empire, 2012.
Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns, Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, 1997.
John C. Ewers, The Blackfeet: Raiders on the Northwestern Plains, 1983.
Nic Fields, Donato Spedaliere, and S. Sulemsohn Spedaliere, Hadrian’s Wall AD 122–410, 2003.
Tim Flannery, The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples, 2002.
Lynn V. Foster, Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World, 2005.
George Franklin, Cannibalism, Headhunting and Human Sacrifice in North America: A History Forgotten, 2008.
Horatio Hale, The Iroquois Book of Rites, 1883.
Jason Hook and Richard Hook, The American Plains Indians, 1985.
Elias Johnson, Traditions and Laws of the Iroquois, 1881.
Michael Johnson and Richard Hook, American Indians of the Southeast, 1995.
Michael Johnson and Jonathan Smith, Tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, 2003.
Michael Johnson and Jonathan Smith, North American Indian Tribes of the Great Lakes, 2011.
George E. Lankford, Reachable Stars: Patterns in the Ethnoastronomy of Eastern North America, 2007.
Charles Godfrey Leland, Algonquin Legends of New England, 1898.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clarke, The Journals of Lewis and Clarke, undated.
James Bovell Mackenzie, A Treatise on the Six-Nation Indians, undated.
Castle McLaughlin, Arts of Diplomacy: Lewis and Clarke’s Indian Collection, 2003.
Lee Sandlin, Wicked River: The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild, 2011.
Paul Schneider, Old Man River: The Mississippi River in North American History, 2013.
Quinta Scott, The Mississippi: A Visual Biography, 2009.
Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, 1863.
Jack Weatherford, Indian Givers, 1989.
For my parents, Peter and Jill Smale
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The last couple of years have been quite the voyage of discovery, and I’m lucky to have been steered through them by a host of true professionals.
Once again I’d like to extend my thanks and gratitude to my intrepid agent, Caitlin Blasdell of Liza Dawson Associates, and my enthusiastic and extremely sharp editor, Mike Braff at Del Rey/Penguin Random House. Eagle in Exile benefited a great deal from their insights, and thanks to their steady guidance and cheerfulness I am a lot closer to being compos mentis than I might otherwise have been. Sincere thanks and high fives also go to Alexandra Coumbis and Greg Kubie, media and publicity experts at Penguin Random House, and Miranda Jewess, my ed
itor at Titan Books UK. I’m also grateful to designer and illustrator Simon M. Sullivan for working patiently with me to create the literally fabulous map of Nova Hesperia.
Backing up a few decades, I owe profound thanks to my parents, Peter and Jill Smale, who taught me to read early and thus ensured that I would blow through books rather quickly in my childhood. They later encouraged my faltering steps into my own fictional universes, and even preserved the results. In my writing life and otherwise, they have always been helpful and supportive.
I sincerely appreciate the efforts of my valiant beta readers—Karen Smale, Chris Cevasco, Peter Charron, and Fiona Lehn—who gave generously of their time and smarts to wade through the manuscript and alert me to problems, inconsistencies, and oddities. Each approached the text from a different perspective and provided feedback about different areas, which is just what you want from beta readers. Great stuff.
I’d like to give a general shout-out to the SF writing community, which I’ve found to be incredibly supportive. Writers near and far, some good personal friends and others distant online acquaintances, have helped me with advice, reassurance, and good sense at various points, sometimes without even knowing they were doing it.
Finally, I’m indebted to my wife, Karen, for encouragement and joy through this entire process. Thanks for taking this journey with me.
BY ALAN SMALE
Clash of Eagles
Eagle in Exile
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALAN SMALE grew up in Yorkshire, England, but now lives in the Washington, D.C., area. By day he works as a professional astronomer, studying black holes, neutron stars, and other bizarre celestial objects. However, too many family vacations at Hadrian’s Wall in his formative years plus a couple of degrees from Oxford took their toll, steering his writing toward alternate, secret, and generally twisted history. He has sold numerous short stories to magazines, including Asimov’s and Realms of Fantasy, and won the 2010 Sidewise Award for Best Short-Form Alternate History.
