A blade from the past
R, J and I played Dungeons and Dragons for many many years. In fact for years when we were all in much more straitened circumstances than we are now, we used to have a group of up to 10 people playing in our two bedroom flat in Govan. We were all students, and our visitors’ required standard of food and accommodation was not high – we had people in the spare bedroom, on the sitting room sofa, and even sometimes in sleeping bags on the hall floor. The “payment” for the whole weekend to me for their food and beer was £10 each, and for that they would get at least one huge meal of something like homemade pizza, lasagne or macaroni cheese.
Anyway, this D&D campaign went on for many years and our characters were very beloved to us. R’s main character was a paladin (this is a sort of holy knight) called Klaus. Klaus was kind, gentle and a thoroughly upstanding member of society. A protector of the weak and an enforcer of the law (though definitely on the wishy-washy reforming side rather than the “let god sort them out” party). My favourite character was a very powerful wizard called Vergannen. He was a formidable character who did not suffer fools gladly and had a notoriously short fuse, which combined with his ability to throw balls of fire about, made him greatly feared. He had zero respect for useless laws, time serving bureaucrats, or what in modern terms would be described as wokery, but at base he had a kind heart.
At one point in the campaign, Vergannen was captured by his enemies and tortured over a period of years. Klaus, who was much younger and less powerful than him, rescued him at the risk of his own life, and in recompense the great archmage made him a sword called “Justice”. In game terms this was a very powerful weapon, but Klaus (and by extension, R himself) valued it more because it represented sacrifice on one side, and true gratitude on the other.
I always have difficulty buying R Christmas presents – so this year I bought a replica of the Justice sword and made a plinth to hang it on with Vergannen’s motto on it (Sol Exsolita Est – the sun is outshone), and a scroll commemorating the occasion of its presentation. The final line of the scroll has an epithet which I think suited Klaus, even though I made it up. “Vera iustitia non in gladio solo sed in corde iusti residet” – or “True justice lies not in the blade alone but in the hearts of the righteous”.
The sword looks good hanging on the wall in R’s office and I find it rather amusing to reflect after all these years that both R and I still bear more than a passing resemblance to the D&D characters we each chose to portray so long ago.
PS J was deeply offended that he and his character did not get a mention. So I will inform you that Klaus’ companion on the rescue message was Sharkiel – aka “Sharky” He was a rogue/wizard and was badly needed in a party where nearly everyone was a fighter type. Magic items were a bit thin on the ground in my campaign, but on the first adventure Sharky ever participated in they found an extremely powerful dagger, and he was given it because he was the only one likely to use it. The weapon was “The Dagger of the Seas”, and the joke was that it was cursed, with the curse being that the wielder became obsessively interested in marine biology. In fact Sharky was interested in undersea creatures – but this had nothing to do with the dagger, it was a pre-existing obsession all of his own. This joke is not amusing when written down, but you may note J that there is now a mention of Sharky in here.
