Yeah, I think you're right. So long as the invasion starts quickly, as some RPs can drag on too long in the opening scene.

Agreed, on the dawn of the attack we can show our characters' lives... before and then how it changed and set them on their course during and then after the attack.

It's unanimous, then! I'll finish up my CS, which I'm having a rather undue amount of trouble with - I hate character sheets!
Then I'll do my Economics midterm exam...
And -then- I'll start writing the IC. xD.

Name: Marduk (“Bel”, “Baalam”)
Sex: Male
Race: Arabian Blue [Dragon]
Personality: Marduk is easygoing, submissive, and rather apt to rely in the present figure of authority. He is not lazy, but he has never had to, say, feed himself or make important decisions.
Appearance:


Standing 5’ at the withers and easily between 6 and 7’ at the top of his snout, Marduk is a looming figure in the crowded streets of Jerusalem. Yet, he is nevertheless somewhat smaller than many other dragons of his species, and slighter of build.
His hide, smooth and lacking scales, is a ‘bole’ shade of brown, though lighter along his belly and broken up with a pattern of broad stripes that are lighter still. Markings on his face of the same color as his belly lie above his eyes.
The dragon’s claws are broad and triangular, better suited for digging and for maintaining traction on rocky ground than for cutting – they are not designed as weapons, although doubtless they might be used as such if he were desperate. The short, stunted horns on his head are certainly for display only – there is little practicality in the notion that he might be able to injure something with them.

Skills: Does obedience count? Marduk has had no opportunity to acquire a hobby or trade. He has however spent his life as a mount and on occasion draft animal, and thus is at least capable of carrying things. Or people.

Equipment: None; no earthly possessions.

Background: There is frankly not a lot to tell of Marduk’s background. He was raised by a dragon breeder in one of Jerusalem’s peripheral villages – he is frankly not sure of the name, only that he would know it when he saw it. It was a simple life in which his primary activity was existing. There were other dragons, of course, and he had never been lonely!

During his youth he received obedience training, and reinforcement of that has continued throughout his entire life. In his adolescence, too, he was acclimated to the trappings of a working animal: A saddle, a bit and bridle, reigns… it was humiliating, at first, but he soon got used to it. When he had demonstrated acceptance of being ridden, he was taken to market in Jerusalem and sold to an affluent Seljuk merchant.
His master was kind to him, and after a time Marduk became more or less one of the family. He was taught Arabic and introduced to the Moslem faith. But he has as well been expected to do his share of work; when he is not carrying his master, he is often rented for labor to help pay for his upkeep. A dragon is after all not cheap to feed!

Half-assed, but I've done worse.

The IC is up! Wow, it's been a long time since I wrote one of those. Hope it gives you enough to work with! It's a little hard to write anything terribly specific for a whole city~

Also, Jinxer, the more I try to research the subject, the more I get confused. Would you happen to know exactly what was going on with the leadership of Jerusalem at the time? Some sources I've read from claim that it was ruled by the Seljuk turks until 1098, when the Fatimid dynasty of Egypt conquered the city in order to protect it from the crusaders. Or something like that.

Yet as I was reading up on other miscellaneous tidbits, it mentions the fatimids building a mosque in Jerusalem like thirty or forty years before that, and I think I saw something else stating that the city had been in Egyptian hands much longer. I couldn't tell you WHERE I read this, since I've had a lot of trouble tracking down just where I found any individual piece of information to verify it. But I'm very confused.
xD.

It is a very confusing time because of the very fractious nature of the Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims and the numerous sultanates across the Holy Land.

It WAS controlled by the Seljuk Turks at the beginning of the Crusades but after the battle outside Antioch (after the Crusaders had captured the city and then besieged inside it in late 1098) but the Egyptian Muslims (the Fatimids) took the city as a result of that defeat outside of Antioch when the Sunni Seljuk's cohesion was completely destroyed.

Beforehand the Sunnis were led by the Abasids who lost Jerusalem to the Fatimids in the early 11th Century (1000s) however the Seljuk Turks took control of the Sunni Caliphate circa 1055 and drove the Fatimids back from Jerusalem and Damascus. Then in 1098 the Fatimids took the territory (again) including Jerusalem.

In short: Yes, it's very confusing because not only do you have the Sunni and Shi'ite Caliphates you also have different dynasties taking over the caliphate which is really, really confusing and it ends up going back and forth constantly.

Also if anyone gets confused by any of Rhiannon's Welsh words just yell (or Google) - I'll tend to stick with bach which means 'little' literally but is more of a friendly term of affection (or demeaning).

Thanks, Jinx! That clears things up a little bit.
Seems like the ancient world was playing hot-potato with Jerusalem. xD.

Oh crap, what language is everybody speaking? Does Hayate speak middle-English? Rhiannon speaks Welsh? Marduk speaks Arabic? Mordecai speaks Hebrew and possibly Arabic, I'd assume?

...We probably need to decide on a common language.

Lol. Yes, Mordecai speaks Hebrew, but knows some Arabic as well. He is familiar with some English (and possibly Welsh) words from pilgrims who worship with his congregation when visiting the Holy City.

Rhiannon can speak Welsh and French and very basic Latin. (Yay for complications!)

Well at least Rhiannon can communicate with the crusaders?
What about greek? Wasn't greek kinda the international language of the day, what with the byzantine empire floating around?
Not that a bunch of country yokels would know it. :L.

It would not be implausible for Hayate to know french, given his association with what amounts to a French empire in modern-day England. But Mordecai and Marduk aren't going to know French.

Nobody but Rhiannon ought to know Welsh.

Hebrew of course is isolated to Mordecai.

Any one of them might have been exposed to Greek because of its prominence in the ancient world.

Arabic is also a decent option, because it's not impossible that the foreigners would learn some Arabic before visiting Jerusalem.

I'm not really sure about Latin. What's the influence of Latin culture at this point? The Western Roman Empire has collapsed, after all.

Hayate likely knows old style english, with the 'ye' and 'beareth' style of speech, though unless you would prefer I actually add in those (I don't mind RP'ing that out IC if you guys would like it) Although he could have taken basic teaching in another language, Arabic, Latin or Greek. He would not be proficient in the language, but he would be able to at least preform basic communications in it.

I think Latin died with the Western Empire. The Byzantine Empire was run mainly by Greece, as far as I know. Mordecai would likely know some Greek, as much of the new Testament was written in that language and Israel/Palestine had been conquered by the Greeks in the past.

I think Greek would be best, but I don't know if many Europeans would know it. Then again, they would probably know even less Arabic.

Regardless, I'll try and post tonight. I can't promise a timeframe - I've got a lot of studying to do tonight. Composition midterm is due tomorrow and an algebra quizz too. P:

The Catholic Church made Latin the universal language of Western Christendom (hence why they're called Latins by the Byzantines). All nobles would have a basic knowledge of Latin and many in French, Greek would be ignored as the Renaissance has not yet occurred.

In the East itself most would speak Greek and the learned would speak Latin; Hebrew would be known by the Jews and scholars and Arabic by the Jews, Muslims and maybe some Eastern Christians.

In England they would speak Saxon (a bastardised German) or Norman French depending on which rank they come from.

Wait, really? Greek? Now that's a little confusing. So is Greek more widespread than Arabic?

Should we just settle on Latin, then?

I may not in fact be able to post tonight, though. :( This work is taking much longer than I'd hoped.

Greek would be predominant among the Armenians, I should think. Arabic was still a High Language at this point thanks in part to the practice of Dhimmitude (which, by the way, is a very smart way of doing things).