Battle of Winwaed

In a torrential downpour, the once-mighty Mercian shield wall collapses at the banks of the flooded River Winwaed. King Penda, the last great pagan king, watches his dominion dissolve as his retreatin

Setting

The muddy, treacherous north bank of the River Winwaed. The terrain is a chaotic churn of grey silt and flattened reeds, rapidly being reclaimed by the rising, debris-filled river. The landscape is a valley basin where the water has overtopped the banks, creating a lethal marshland trap for the Mercian retreat.

Characters

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King Penda of Mercia

primary

A rugged, barrel-chested warlord in his late seventies. His face is a roadmap of battle scars, featuring a broken nose and a weathered, leathery complexion. He has a thick, iron-grey beard braided with silver rings and long, thinning hair matted by the torrential rain. Despite his age, his eyes burn with a predatory, undiminished ferocity.

King Oswiu of Bernicia

primary

A man in his early forties with a lean, battle-hardened physique and a sharp, angular face. He has a trimmed reddish-brown beard and piercing blue eyes that reflect the grey Northumbrian sky. His hair is matted with rain and sweat, clinging to his forehead beneath a simple iron circlet.

Cadafael ap Cynfeddw

secondary

A man of wiry, lean strength with high Brythonic cheekbones and a narrow, pointed beard. His hair is dark, matted with rain, and braided with silver wire. He lacks the physical bulk of the Mercian lords but possesses a calculating, predatory grace.

Mercian Standard-Bearer

secondary

A rugged, battle-hardened veteran in his late forties with a salt-and-pepper beard matted with river silt. He has a thick, muscular build, though his strength is being sapped by the freezing current. His skin is pale from the cold, and a jagged scar runs from his left temple to his jawline, a relic of past Mercian victories.

Bernician Priest

background

A lean, ascetic man with a sun-weathered face and a tonsure in the Celtic style, his hair shorn across the front from ear to ear. His beard is short-trimmed and grey-streaked, and his skin is splattered with mud and rainwater, highlighting the deep-set lines of religious fervor around his eyes.

Dialog

Cadafael ap Cynfeddw The dragon of Gwynedd finds no purchase in a drowning marsh; we shall keep our blood for a sunnier field.

King Penda of Mercia Dog of the west! Coward! By the spear of Woden, I shall carve the blood-eagle into your treacherous spine!

Mercian Standard-Bearer My Lord! The ground—it melts! The Wyrd is cold! The water claims the gold!

King Oswiu of Bernicia Behold, for the Lord of Hosts hath unstopped the bottles of heaven to wash the filth of the heathen from this land.

King Penda of Mercia Stand, you curs! To the river-bank! Give the Winwaed its fill of Northumbrian meat!

King Oswiu of Bernicia As the Red Sea swallowed the chariots of Pharaoh, so shall the Winwaed become the sepulcher of the unrighteous.

Mercian Standard-Bearer The raven... he will not wait... for the... dry land...

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Coordinates

Year: 655
Date: 11/15
Location: Banks Of The River Winwaed, Near Modern Day Leeds, West Yorkshire
Layer: 2
Fingerprint: 79ecde363953...

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Battle of Winwaed

Setting

Characters

Dialog

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