Some Laws
In the Empire the rich and powerful live in their palaces and villas on the seven plus one hills (the Aventine Hill, home of the nouveau riche, is not one of the original seven) of the Empire’s Capital. The (much) less exalted make their home in Subura – the area below and between the eight hills (yes, that is where the modern word comes from). The denizens of this colorful but dangerous neighborhood have a mantra: The First Law of Subura is Survival. The first Law is not a Law at all – it’s words to live by.
The other Laws (the We Have a Few More from the title) have an interesting provenance. The Empire created the Capital Orphanage for Boys (everyone calls the members and graduates of the school COBs) at the conclusion of the first Hun invasion.
Purely coincidental that the Orphanage is run by the Legion and the boys train how to fight all day, every day from the age of eight to seventeen (they need to learn something after all). Some adolescent COB must have scrawled some pithy saying on the soon to become famous wall of COB house’s exercise yard. This soon evolved into the elaborate rule-based game that created the COB Laws. As a judge points out to an accused: “That is not the Law” , only for the COB to fire back: “It’s our Law!” – they are not the Empire’s Laws, but they are the unbreakable Laws that the COBs live by.
Most of the COB Laws (as pointed out by a new initiate) can be summarized as Your COB brothers will die for you – and you better do the same for them. This explains many of the actions of the characters: A fellow COB uses the laws to bring Marcus back into the war (or perhaps Marcus is just motivated by loyalty – my characters might not be that loyal to their rulers but they are to the Empire), Septimus manipulates COB Praetorian guards (or maybe they just owe him gambling debts and/or have whispered secrets in the early hours to people they shouldn’t have), and Septimus hides dead bodies for his fellow COB (that could just be friendship).
The most famous COB Law is the most unusual – or as Marcus describes it – incongruous for boys being trained for the marauding Legions of the Empire. It is the Law that sets the COBS apart. Other Military brotherhoods might have their own Laws – but none of them have Septimus’ Law. As with the other Laws it does explain much of the characters actions. Marcus uses his most effective cohort very cautiously – much to the cohort’s annoyance – but he might just be saving them for later in the siege as he claims. The XIX Legion (a Legion riddled with COBS) leads the charge against enemy fortresses, but they never partake in sacking a fortress – but then Captain Serious’ explanation to Mistral might be the actual reason. The XIX Legion is more than ready to fight for Antonia, but then they are always ready to fight. Septimus likes to be enigmatic and so the author can be as well. I leave it to the reader to decide what truly motivates the characters.
If you want to know what motivated Septimus to scrawl down the famous Law, you have to get to the second chapter in Part II of the book. If you want to learn Timolen’s motivation behind the incident that motivated Septimus, you have to get a lot further in Part II.
The overarching plot device behind the Laws are that they are a driving force behind what makes the COBs a brotherhood. My characters (just as in life) are mainly products of their childhood. The Empire is happily getting the finest soldiers for their Legions, but as with all things, there are unintended consequences. The COBs are loyal to the Empire, but are they more loyal to each other?
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