Mayday Plays - Heroes You Should Know: Boudica

Episode Date: April 1, 2021

Join Allegra and Sergio as they discuss and stat-out Celtic Queen Boudica.

Hi, friends. Welcome back to your Double Nerd Show, where we do history nerd shit and then D&D nerd shit. I'm Allegra, and joining me this week is the wonderful Sergio. Hey! He is our PM for Doom to Repeat, and he is now playing Rad the Sea Turtle, our totally tumultuous dude. How are you doing, mate? Shock is all around. Yeah, nice to see you, Allegra. It's nice to be here. I'm excited. Me too. Yeah, this is going to be super duper fun. Just a quick overview of what we're doing here. This is here as you should know, and on here as you should know, I tell you

about historical figures that I think are important, that we don't hear about for a myriad of reasons that you can imagine because you're a smart person. And then we turn them into D&D characters because why wouldn't we? Yeah, so this week, we are going to be talking about Boudica or Bodica or Bodica, or there's like 8,000 different permutations of her name, of the pronunciation, of the spelling. It's stupid. Not stupid, but like the amount is overwhelming a little bit. Like, I think Welsh, her name is spelled B-U-D-D-U-G. Yeah, I've seen like Boudug, you know, like we're kind of really weird. There's the Latin Boudica. A lot of different. But like Fuck the Romans. That's something we should talk

about real quick. It'll be a theme in this episode of Fuck the Romans. It's a theme in my life, to be honest. I fucking hate the Romans. So if I get too far off of Fuck the Romans tangent, please feel free to like reel me back in. Also, a quick warning, there is going to be a sexual assault trigger warning up in this. So I'll just, I'll just blanket that right now. I'll also give you a warning before it gets brought up in the episode. So if you need to step away, totally cool. So as we're all aware. But yeah, I'll let you know before it happens so you can mute for however long. But we're going to start about Boudica. So, and that's how I'm going to say her name. I know Bodica and Bodica

or whatever. I'm glad because you're pronouncing it the way that I think I would pronounce it. Right. And also like there's a song by Carleen or something like that. And she says Boudica and I'm like, all right, I'm going to, I'm going to take your word for it because you're a singer because that's logical. Anyway. So a lot of our information about her actually comes from the Roman perspective, which sucks, mostly because the Celts didn't keep like written like a ton of written records. So specifically, a lot of our information comes from historians Cassius Dio and tactius, even though neither of them were present for the actual historical events. However, tactius's father in law was involved in the suppression of the rebellion.

And so he's kind of widely regarded as the more factual account. Cassius Dio is just a fucker who was like born 100 years later and like, I'm going to talk about this like I know what I'm talking about. So there's that. And also like a part of this is she was fighting the Romans. So a lot of it's kind of skewed by that fact. And so there's not a whole lot known about her from the side of the Celts. And it's very obvious in the artwork that we're displaying below where she looks like she's dressing in Roman garb. It's like, this is not what they would be looking like. They were they very much Romanized her for being like an enemy that they were very much

against. So kind of a blanket phrase Celts is going to be used a lot in here. So this is just a phrase to talk about the ancient people of Europe that weren't the Romans or the Greeks. So a lot of this is going to be as a main hole. It's the Gaels, the Britons and the Gauls. So the Gaels are the people of Scotland and Ireland. The Britons are the people who live on Britain. And the Gauls are the Celtic people of the continental Europe. So so within the Celts, there's a there are dozens and dozens of independent tribes that live in the same area. So the Celts we're going to be talking about were kind of like serious warriors. They were described as barbaric by the Romans. But also like if you think about it, the Romans are super barbaric

too. So like there's not really a anyway, not going to go down that road. But they also created chainmail. They were the people who like, innovated that I suppose. They also already had paved roads, even though the Romans tried to take credit for having those first. But they were both wrong, because there were actually stone paved roads as early as 4000 BCE in Ur. So back with that girl in Hedjuana. So pretty cool. Very cool. Butika was born around 30 CE. And it's kind of widely accepted that she was a noble from birth. She described as tall with tiny hair that was really long wearing colorful tunics and a gold necklace. So that was called a torque. And they were, they were really thick and they were made of a single piece. And they like, there would be

like a piece that went around the back. And then there were two like heavier bits that were at the front. So they're super hard to take off. And they were kind of seen as like a symbol of status. So like, you had to be pretty wealthy and pretty well off within the community to have a torque. And then they also said she was loud, but also intelligent. So kind of the coolest bitch. She may have been a druid. So in that time, the druids were priests of the tribe, they practiced medicine, alchemy, they were super duper, like they were, they were highly regarded as like the smartest people in the tribe. They performed the pagan rituals. Gender didn't matter. You could be whatever and you could still be a druid. But the presence of Romans kind of

greatly diminished their religious freedom. So as like the, the Romans incurred upon them, the, the number of druids kind of dropped with that. She also would have been trained in weaponry and fighting. At that time, like the Celts, everyone, everyone was trained to fight, because you had to, you know, fight to protect your tribe. I get the notion that the, the Celts in general, you had to be a pretty tough person to survive. Yeah, I think everyone was pretty stalwart. Yeah, they did not live in the lap of luxury as many Romans did. And they did sort of have the wealth and the technological advancement in certain ways. But yeah,

Well, actually, their tribe was pretty, pretty well off. Like the Celts had had pretty good stores of like, not necessarily what the Romans would have seen as like wealthy, but like to the Celts people, they actually were pretty well off, which is really interesting to see. Anyway, so around age 18, she becomes the queen, she marries King Prasutagus. I always get afraid I'm going to mess up. Yeah, I've heard it. I heard it in a couple of videos talking about her night. And I don't remember, but yeah, it's Prasutagus, Prasutagus, something like that. Prasutagus is probably a good guessing.

Yeah. And they were part of the Isenai tribe in modern day Norfolk and Suffolk. She was pretty well liked. Everyone thought she was a badass, which makes sense. So a little bit before that in 43 CE, the Romans had conquered southern England, and they were steadily kind of working their way north. Now, I have to stop you here for a second, because maybe I'm just dumb. But like, you know, growing up, you always hear about how Western culture is influenced by the Romans. And you don't really put two and two together. You just think, okay, you know, we, we read their books or something. But no, of course, the Romans conquered Britain. They were there for a period

of time. It's something I never really even thought about and thought it thought it was fascinating to cultures that I never thought really interacted with each other. Yeah, I mean, the Romans were so fucking widespread. It was ridiculous. And I also forget that they conquered Britain. The only reason I remember it half the time is because because of an episode of Dr. Who. I'm like, oh, yeah, that is a thing. And like, Dr. Who's maybe not always most historically accurate. But I think in that respect, you're saying the the Queen of England didn't establish torchwood? You don't know.

Don't know. They also could be like and throw up. You don't know. Anyway, so the Romans are working their way north and prosodagus knows his warriors can't go up against the legions like this, like they are they're their most organized. They are just carving swaths. And I think that's where the the Romans are more advanced than the Celts. They have the they have the weapons of war down. Yeah, they're like the phalanx, the way they would like make the wedge and then go outward.

Like they had so many tactics. Like it makes sense why they conquered so much because they were they were good fucking strategists. I hate to give them compliments, but they were good strategists. So he knows the Romans are marching north. He knows that like there are other tribes who are getting taken by them. He knows that his his army can't hold a candle to them in this respect. So he tells them he's like stand down. We have to chill. We have to come to a peaceful agreement with the with the Romans. So he came to the agreement with Claudius, who was emperor at the time. Okay, when I die, you can have you can split the land of my two daughters. He and he and Boudicca had two daughters. And the

the Romans would get like they would split it. It would be an equal kind of thing. So Claudius is like, sure, whatever. So the Romans to integrate them into the society matter, grant them a grant of their currency, which is four million cestresses, which I think I think someone converted it in a video I was watching, it was something like $150 million, ridiculous fucking some. So they so they give it and they're like, here you go. This is this is how you're going to become integrated in the society. And this is how you're going to become Roman, even though the Celtic had their own resources, and they were very much self sufficient. So it starts on his grant. And then when Nero takes over in 54, they're like, kidding, it was a loan, you have to give it back

to us. Because, of course, and of course, with interest. So as I said, Nero takes over for Claudius in 54, when he's 16. And he's already this terribly irresponsible big spender, we all know about the saying of Nero play the fiddle while Rome burned, like that's a Nero. I hate Nero. So he's neck beard of history. Yes. Perfect. So he becomes emperor, he's 16, he's spending all this money, and he decides the way to recoup their losses is like, hey, go after all these loans that I sent, and like charge interest, all this shit. So he assigns Polinias as the governor of Britain, and Polinias is also the leader of the army. And he sent to collect loans on on all the tribes that they've they've sent them on, which

include other tribes besides the I sent I tribe, other tribes in the area, which proves to be a pretty big point that reunites them later. But of course, they couldn't pay the loans back yet, because they, you know, they'd been in the, they'd been in the Roman Empire for maybe 11 years at the most. Yeah. So like, there was there, they had no resources to pay them back. And then Presidious dies in 60 CE, and Boudica becomes the sole ruler of of the I sent I tribe. But the Romans are now claiming that they control all of the land, and not just the part of the land they were supposed to share with Presidious is $2. And of course, Boudica is not about that shit. So this is this is the point that an assault occurs. If you need to step away,

please do so. Give me like 1520 30 seconds. It's not going to be explicit, of course. But then I'll I'll I'll give you a thumbs up when it's cool to come back. So yeah, if you need to step away, please do so now. Okay. So as a means to humiliate the tribe, they publicly beat Boudica, they rape her two daughters, and they take the most valuable things from the tribe and sell a lot of the Royals into slavery. It's not told how old the daughters were. But given that Boudica died when she was around 30, they can't have been terribly old. So yeah. All right, everyone, come on back. We are not talking about that anymore. Okay, so Boudica's pissed. She's dealing with some shit. And she wants to, you know, she wants to get the Romans out. So 61 CE rolls around. The Romans

start shifting their focus to taking whales, which means they take a majority of their army along with Polinias over that way. And so Boudica calls together the leaders of the surrounding tribes who all have issues with the Romans. And so they meet, they like air their grievances, and they decide that they're going to come together, unite under Boudica, revolt and drive the Romans out of Britain. So much of this story, certainly this part at least, reminds me of other stories in history. I mean, probably most obvious, the story of Braveheart, you know, the Scottish rebellion. I mean, it was almost exactly the same to the T this outside force that had conquered this island was, you know, forcing them to do things, did awful things to

the people. And inevitably, the people were so pissed, they started a huge rebellion. Yeah. And I mean, a lot of it comes from like, they're trying to change the way of life that they've been living for ever. Right. So, so I think, I think not to get imperialist in here, but like, I think a lot of the really successful empires did, because I think it was the Mongols that did this, they were like, okay, we've won, like we've taken your land, we claim this is our land, you can keep living however you were living before, we don't give a shit. You just pay your taxes to us now. And that's like, that's the big difference. Right. The Mongols, I think maybe the Persians may have done it at some point. I don't remember throughout history class, there were

standout civilizations that were like, all right, we'll be cool. Not to be like, this is the way to have imperialistic society because like, fuck that. But I think if we're talking about like successful empires, that's, that's the way you have to do it, which that sounds terrible of me to say. Anyway, it's just a natural progression of history, you know. Right. So most depictions of Boudicca in this time period, I'm sure that in the pictures you've seen them feature her in a chariot at the head of the army, war paint on her face, sword in hand, and both of her daughters riding with her into battle, which I think is so cool. Like, because they I'm sure they were trained to fight too. So I'm sure they were like, holding onto mom's skirt

with one hand and like sword fighting out the back with the other, which isn't my favorite image ever. So Boudicca leads an army of somewhere around 100,000 to 120,000 Celts to attack Camulodian, Camulodunum. That's a good guess, yeah. Romans, Romans, which is the modern day Coletrester in England. So this is their like the Roman center of operation. But if you remember, it's being poorly defended right now, because Rome is off trying to capture Wales. So Boudicca and the and the Celts are easily or have an easy time taking it. They take no prisoners. They kill all the Roman citizens and the Celts who align themselves with the Romans. But also, since we're getting this from the Romans, there is a chance that

this is an everyone's barbaric but us take and like throwing it to the extreme because we really don't know what happened there from any, you know, equalizing perspective. So there's a there's a chance that there were prisoners. There's a chance that there were people that they let go because the Romans say everyone's barbaric but us. So, you know, it's like, obviously, we don't want to assume because we weren't there. But if I was Boudicca, I was thinking about it like I would be so ruthless and savage to the Romans that I'm not surprised at all that there might not have been any survivors. Oh, no, like I feel like I feel like if anyone was survivor, it was Celts that were forced to align themselves. And like maybe she absorbed them into the army. But oh, no, I

think I think any Roman citizen was just fucking done for like she's done. So the story in Cassie's Dio writes all upon the Romans by a woman a fact which in itself caused them the greatest shame. And it's my favorite women. Yeah, because like that's kind of where like the bullshit like patriarch patriarchy stuff started was the Romans being like men are above everyone else and women are subservient. And it's and it's really evident when they're taught when you read kind of like the Roman taught the Romans talking about Boudicca and in a lot of these perspective is just like and it's a woman. It's a woman who's taking us out where everywhere else in history or most places in history is pretty it's pretty equal. You know, it was like, all right, cool, you're a woman. Great.

We're going to we're going to go fight some people. You ready? I feel like in societies like the one that Boudicca grew up in, it's more about like, have you proven yourself? So she had to have proved herself as a badass, as competent, as a good leader. Like these are not just these are not societies where you can just stumble into positions of power. Yeah, like, yeah, she's got 120,000 people of different tribes, tribes who had been fighting before the Romans came, right, like they were they were they weren't always allies, like these people came to an agreement under her, which is so like that had that mean that has to mean so much. Um, so yeah, so they they take Camilla Dunham, and then they move on, they take on the ninth

Roman legion. They burn Camilla Dunham to the ground. They even burn the temple there, where the Romans like kind of gathered their last defenses, they're like, okay, we'll go to the temple, they surely won't fuck with the temple, they fucked with the temple, they burned it to the ground, the Romans were killed. So Polinius hears about this, and he starts to try to get in front of her. He evacuates Roman citizens where he can fortifies where he can, and tries to like make strongholds, but Boudica's army is just too strong, like they're, they're they're not the same kind of organized, but they are massive in number, and they are like they are pissed. It's hard to imagine what 100,000 pissed off people looks like,

but it's a lot of people. 100,000 pissed off warrior, like skilled warriors. So so like places just keep falling to Boudica's army and falling to Boudica's army, and it's growing a little bit too. And like how many successes does she actually have? Did you make note of that? Because I three or she gets three or four successes. I was gonna say three or four big sacks of cities. Yeah, she she she fucks them should have at least three or four times, which is to say they take modern day London, Londonium, which is the biggest city in the Isles, burn it to the ground, one of them, one of the many times London gets burned to the ground, went after the people that lived there, then they hit

a very lamium, very lamium. Yeah, and a very similar fashion. They are, you know, no quarter, no holds barred. They are out for blood, and they want to get the Romans the fuck out. So a lot of tribal people had been taken as slaves under the Romans. So when they're freed, they join up with the army and the army keeps growing and growing and growing. And at the time, Nero actually considered pulling out of the aisle all together because Budica was reaching wreaking so much havoc. And if she had succeeded in this last battle, it probably would have brought about the fall to the Roman Empire. Like, can you imagine that? I was thinking as I was doing research about Budica, like, God, what if she had succeeded? Like, all of history would have changed

because, you know, the English brought Western culture and society to other places. Like, it would have been so different. This kind of Celtic, pagan, nomadic people, it just would have been a totally different thing. Man, there's an alternate timeline somewhere without fucking happen. And I bet, like, alternate timeline us are living their best lives in that world. Not that we're not living great lives here, but, you know, it would have been really, really different. Yeah. Yeah. I think it would have at least driven the Roman Empire out of Britain. Why do you think it would have brought the downfall of the Roman Empire? Well, I think I think I think it would have a lot to do with Roman mentality in that, you know, it's this,

you know, it's a tiny island far away. Like, it shouldn't matter. Like, this should be easy for us. And then add to that, it's a woman. And like, I think that mentality of like, we lost this island to a woman would have been, it would have been kind of a fracturing moment for them and maybe a lot of questioning. I don't know. I think it would have, I think it would have put them on the hill to like, downfall a lot. Sure. I think that makes sense. I mean, look, the Roman Empire, I don't know my history that well, but this has to be close to the end of the Roman Empire anyway. So it was on the way out. Yeah. So yeah, it was on the way out. So I think I think this did definitely like, shake them a little bit. So they continue Seizing Power.

And their idea was like, before this before this last big battle, they were like, okay, we haven't, we don't have a whole ton of our resources anymore. But we can go to the Roman food resources and we can take that we can eat. And like, this is what will sustain us as we continue forward. But Polinias was a step ahead of them and burned it down before, before he went to Wales or before he, or when he came back from Wales, I'm sorry, when he came back from Wales, he burned it to the ground. So when they got there, there was nothing left. And Boudicca's army was kind of like, scrounging for food at that point. So now we come to the final battle, which is the battle of Watling Street. So Watling Street was a Roman road in England, but historians kind of disagree

about where it was. But there's, but they're saying it's somewhere in the Midlands. You'd think that a major like highway like this would have a better designation than a street, like at least an avenue or something, you know? Nah, it's just Watling Street. Also, Watling, Watling is a fun word to say. So, so the way the Romans, the Romans set themselves up very well, because they are, they are good strategists and they knew, you know, they knew that she was coming. So they set themselves up on top of a hill and behind them was a forest. So they knew that no one was going to come at them from behind. They were, they were, they were controlling where the attack would be coming from. But their army was significantly

smaller than Boudicca's army. I, man, I didn't write how, down how small it was. But I think it was only like a few thousand. I saw in one of the videos I was watching, they showed an example, I mean, and it was a pretty impressive Roman army, but compared to the hundreds of thousands of, yeah, they were tiny. Yeah. So they needed that advantage. Exactly. Like they set themselves up well. And so, you know, they were, the Celts are fighting up hill. They're weak from, from not having food. The Romans also have full, full shields. They have full armor and they have javelins that they can throw long distances. So all of, and, and they'd set themselves up in a fashion that they had lines, like the shield

people were at the front, and then they would have people behind them throwing spears and they'd have people that would switch out from the shields and people that would switch out from the front line of fighting so people would get a rest. Whereas the Celts were like all or nothing, like whole hog going after it. Everyone at once. So, you know, as, as you can, as you can assume, as you can assume, it didn't go well for the Celts. So the Romans lost about 400 soldiers, whereas the Celts lost more than 80,000. That's crazy to think about. That's 80% of, from the small, that's 80% of their army. So they, they, they obviously lose these people and they, they get the fuck out. They're like, we can't, and it took them a while

to flee because they had such good feelings about this battle that they had brought along like caravans of their families. Yeah, and they'd set the caravans up around the back of, around the back of the battlefield so they'd essentially box themselves in. So it took them a while to figure out how to get everyone out of the way and then go. So it was just a really unfortunate loss in multiple directions. So there's not really a clear cut explanation of what happened to Boudica. Some people say she was killed in the battle. Most people say though that she and her daughters did survive. And then after they left, they drank poison rather than be endure, the brother of an endur being trapped, being captured by the Romans. And at the time, this would have been

seen as the honorable thing to do. You know, you've lost 8% of your army. You've, you've lost this huge battle. It's, it's like an honorable thing to do is like, all right, I'm not fit to be leader anymore. I'm done. Although Cassie's Dio posits that she survived and then died years later of illness. But like, Cassie's Dio, where the fuck did you get that? Yeah, that sounds like something made up. She would have led the army probably would have gotten injured in the process and probably would have said time to check out before they get me and make an example of me and make things even worse. You know, it would have been so much, it would have been horrifying. It would have been the end of Braveheart. Right. Exactly. It would have been so bad. And, and she, and I'm sure she

felt a lot of responsibility because, you know, all of those tribes did come together under her, under her lead. And she, you know, she led them through all of this. And so I think, I think a lot of that is also like, guild and honor, kind of mixing into one. So as a result of the rebellion, the Romans did retain their power in Britain. But after Nero passed away, the oppressiveness of their rule kind of lessened. So they weren't as ham handed, they were still fucking Romans, but they weren't as, as heavy handed. There were other, there were several or smell, smell, small rebellions, smell rebellions, small rebellions. But none of them were as successful or as widely received as Boudicas. So, so once again, Motherfucker Cassius Dio has this, has this, has written this speech

that he claims Boudica said before the last battle. And a line from it is, win the battle or perish. That is what I, a woman will do. You men can live on in slavery if it's what you want. Which feels like the biggest fucking quote, because there's, there's no reason for her to make the distinction that she's a woman. There's no reason. Yeah, it's clearly by Roman ideology and right. So it feels like a very, a very, and like, and like calling herself a woman to put down the men feels very Roman. So I just wanted to dig at the Romans again. That's why I died in there. Fuck Cassius Dio. So, so no, none of her remains have been found. There's not really a marked grave for her. However, in 2001, in 2002, there was an archaeological

there was an archaeological dig called the wet wine graves. I didn't read that until just around. It's funny. I am an adult. I can say wet wine graves without giggling. Yes. So, so the North is skeleton of a tall warrior woman in her 30s or 40s, with a pretty lavish burial that would have been given to someone of a higher status. There was a chariot buried with her alongside two smaller skeletons who were also buried like warriors. So it's spectated that that is Boudica and her daughters, though the carbon dating calls that into question. So it's, but also there have been studies recently that are like carbon dating is not exact. Carbon dating might have been fucked up. So it's, it may or may not be

Boudica. I kind of like the idea that it is. I like the idea that it is too. It's also just like what other feminine, you know, female warrior with two smaller warriors is known in history. And a chariot. The chariot's a beginning too. It adds up. Yeah. I think so. Like, probably it is. Who knows if they're in a they're in a research facility at the I think it's the British Museum. I can't remember. Maybe they'll clone it and we'll find out. That would be so fucking dope. Jurassic Park with like ancient warriors. Boudica Park. There was a statue of her in London on her chariot with her two daughters. And so she's seen as the like the symbol for the human desire for freedom and justice, which I think is a little bit

funny coming from the British. Yeah. She's the British example of the human desire for freedom. Right. Right. It is cool to see though that she really had a consistent influence in English history. She kept coming up. The queen was compared to her at one point and things like that. Yeah. Like she was she was kind of lost to history for a little bit. And then she was brought back by Tactius and Cassius Dio. And then she was lost for a little bit. And then Victoria kind of came around. And their names kind of mean the same thing. So I think that's where a lot of parallels were drawn to. And her image was also adopted by the suffragettes in the early 1900s during the women's suffrage movement. So yeah, that's that's our that's our girl Boudica. There's I wish I wish

there was more about her because she seems like the coolest bitch on the planet. Yeah. I do wish there was a little bit more about her her actual personal life and right like the day to day things of the the Sinai people. Because yeah, a lot of it tends to kind of go over the same subjects, the wars, the battles, you know, but but there's still a lot left to unearth about who Boudica was. Yeah. So Serge, I am very excited to see what you built for Our Lady. Well, I think I did an OK job. It's a kind of a basic build, but I think it's a good start where we'll I'll show you what I have. And I think you have some very clever ideas. But I kind of approached building Boudica in a in a in a numeric in a timeline sense, like, you know, like she

gained levels in this thing at a certain point in her life, that kind of stuff. So Caleb did something very similar. And I'm not surprised that you guys built this like in a similar way. So I started with Ranger. I made her I chose four levels of Ranger. But I decided that if you were going to be a Kelt, if you were going to be in the Asini tribe, you were probably a pretty capable Ranger, at least a level two Ranger. Oh, yeah. And, you know, you knew you hadn't you knew the the way the land you know how to get around you know how to survive. And I in my research, I did learn that the Celts were very good with horses. They had a lot of horses and they raised horses and trained horses. So Ranger also makes sense. Eventually, I chose the the Ranger archetype of

what is it called Beastmaster, because I wanted to have a horse companion for Boudica. It would make sense that, you know, maybe the horse leading on her chariot was a horse she had, you know, ridden and trained and all that kind of stuff. So four levels of Ranger, some spells in there for the fighting style. I chose Druidic warrior for her. So that's where kind of some of the Druidic influence comes from Ranger. But then I thought, okay, at a certain point, she had to leave the basic Asini life basic. She was a noble for sure. But the kind of simpler life to combat this incredible enemy. And I think that's when she would become a paladin. She would take four levels of paladin. And to me, the the oath that makes the most amount of sense was the

oath of the crown. She is royal. She is now the queen of all of these people. She takes an oath of the crown to protect these people and to protect the sovereignty of the Asini peoples. So I did four levels of that. Nothing particularly special about, you know, beyond that in terms of paladin. And I think the paladin choice definitely comes after the Romans do what they do to her and her daughters, like, right, games over, right? That's it. Yeah, that was where I, that was where I marked paladin. Yes, that's where that happens. And then I think once we get into the actual combats and the fighting, that's where I think the final four levels, because we went to 12, the final four levels was barbarian because and it's funny because you wouldn't think to put

barbarian last. Sometimes people put barbarian first in their builds and stuff. But I just think the savagery of battle would have hardened her. I think it would have changed her. I think that her rage and her anger would have fueled her in those final weeks and months. And I chose under barbarian the ancestral path. And the reason I did that was because I thought about the Asini people, probably pagans, probably worship gods, probably also gave a lot of reverence to their ancestors. And I could see Boudica, you know, that late night before battle, praying to her ancestors, praying to those who came before her, maybe even her husband, and just asking for their guidance and their strength. So to me, the ancestral guardian makes sense, that path.

Where do we go next? The abilities? Yeah, just tell me how'd she stand out? How'd you end up there? Honestly, she's a, Boudica to me is an example of an intelligent barbarian or a barbarian that leans on the more mental stats. I gave her a strength of 12. So she can keep herself up in combat, but she's not a, you know, unstoppable force, a dexterity of 10, just normal dexterity, a constitution of eight. I gave her that as the lowest stat because I wanted to, I wanted to reiterate that she was very mortal. She was successful and she got very far. But at the end of the day, the, the, the Romans were just too much and they ended up, you know, defeating her, but her intelligence is 13, her wisdom is 15, and her charisma is 14. So for

those paladin and ranger spells, she would be pretty effective. Right. Beyond that, I didn't really give her anything special. For her background, I was debating between noble, which seems like an obvious and good choice, but I decided to go with inheritor. It says, you are the heir to something of great value. And I, and I thought that was kind of an interesting flavor on, she was taken on the role of, of a leader. She wasn't necessarily always a leader. And for the ASIs, one of them, I just dumped it into dexterity so that she was as high as possible in that. And then the other two, one of them, I chose inspiring leader. And, and one of them, I chose, uh, mounted combatant, because I love the idea of her riding a horse and, you know,

striking dudes. So I, and, and again, you know, relating it back to their, their relationships with their horses and stuff. I thought that would be a good feat. Hell yeah. But otherwise, in terms of equipment, you know, nothing special. I didn't think of any good magic items or anything like that. Right. But I think that's, that's kind of how I would have started building, uh, butica. Nice. Did you have any like thoughts on what God she would, she would be kind of following for her Paladin? I don't always equate Paladin to God's. I always equate it more to like the oath itself is what's powering them. But if she's going to be following something, it's going to be a pagan God. I'm not super familiar with pagan gods, but I know that there's many

of them and their nature, influence and stuff like that. So probably like a druidic, you know, deity. Nice. But yeah, that's my, that's my build for her. Oh, I love it. I really like it. We were, we were very similar actually. Yeah. Um, I like some of your flavorful changes though too. Yeah, it's a little, it's a little bit, uh, chaotic, which shouldn't be surprising. So I took, uh, barbarian six druid two and paladin four. Um, so I actually started with barbarian because fighter didn't, fighter feels more Roman to me and barbarian feels, barbarian feels like much more emotional than, than fighter does, which maybe is why I haven't played a fighter yet. Um, so, so I gave her barbarian and I went with, um, what did I go with?

Where is my, I think path of the wild, path of wild magic. Yeah. Because I love wild magic, first of all. And second of all, it's, um, it's, it's tied to like beauty and like intense emotion, which kind of is her whole thing. Like they, like the Romans even describe her as very intense and very like loud and intelligent. And like, I just feel like she kind of exudes that, that feeling. Um, so we started there, uh, and then I went druid two, uh, circle of wildfire, um, which is all about kind of like, in order for things to get better, sometimes you have to fuck them up. Yeah. Sometimes you have to absolutely rinse it to the ground. Yeah. That to me is your most inspired choice is going the wildfire route because I think in our research, there is a lot

about her raising cities. It's very appropriate. Right. Um, and I also like the idea of her being like her be having the capacity to tank in three different ways, like tank in rage, tank in, I'm just going to be a big fucking animal and tank in the like classic Paladin sense. Yeah. Um, and then also for Paladin, I took oath of vengeance because as you said, like after all of that went down with her Romans, it's over for them. Like she's, she, she is here to divine smite them and that is it. Vengeance is for sure the next most logical. For me, it was. I was like either vengeance or the crown. I think vengeance. I looked at crown two, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so she set it out as a strength of 16, uh, just because I know I had to have it fairly high for barbarian and Paladin,

uh, dexterity of 12, constitution of 14, because like leading an army cannot be it's gotta, you have to have like some kind of will within yourself to keep that shit going. Sure. Um, I actually dumped her intelligence, but it more comes from, in my head, intelligence is very much like book learning and stuff that's by rote. Yeah, that makes sense. Um, whereas wisdom, which is 15 for her, is very much more like interpersonal and like logical and, and world, world intelligence rather than book intelligence. That makes sense. Um, and her charisma is 14 as well. Um, let's see. Uh, she, she knows druidic and common. I also gave her primordial and Sylvan, which I think just, that one, that's mostly flavor so that she can wreck shit. Yeah. Uh,

and, and talk to people while she does it. Um, for barbarian, for her barbarian, I gave her an ASI. I think I, I think I pumped, I think I pumped wisdom and constitution for that one, if I'm remembering correctly. Uh, and then I gave her inspiring leader as well, because it's obvious and a good choice. It's a great choice for, for this character in particular, for sure. Right. Um, she has dangerous sense, reckless attack, extra attack, like you do for barbarians. And then with, uh, with wild magic, there, uh, the three of the things that she has is magical awareness. So as an action, you can like open your awareness and like figure out where there's magic in the vicinity, which I think could, could translate in game, very cool to like

where like the Roman magic folks hanging out. Um, wild surge also means that sometimes magic just happens. And when you enter a rage, you roll on the wild magic table. I love. Yeah, that's great. And just, and like, just the idea of the, like her inner power just coming out in like, okay, I'm pissed off. And now you better run because I don't know what's going to happen and you don't either. Um, and then at six level, you get bolstering magic, which means that you can like use the magic that, but that's just like innate within you to bolster your companions, either give, give back spell slots or, um, add, add to ability checks and attack rolls, which as a leader makes a lot of sense to me. Yeah. Yeah. I was definitely looking for abilities

that bolstered my allies because that was something she had to have done, you know, being around them and leading them into battle and, and the, you know, her speeches, I'm sure were inspiring. So yeah. Uh, for wild shape. So, so she, for, sorry, for druid, she doesn't get a whole lot because it's only a two. Um, but with circle of wildfire, you get, um, burning hands and cure wounds all the time prepared whenever, which is I think really perfect for her. Um, and then you also get summon wildfire spirit, which means you just put a little elemental on the field and it wreaks havoc and you can tell it what to do when it goes and does it. I was reading about that and thought that was really a fun addition to it. Yeah. I like to imagine that it's

maybe the, the, the fire elemental just looks like her daughters kind of running around. Oh, that would be so cute. Like she has a third little elemental daughter just like rocking around with like flame hands. Oh, I love that. You know, that you, you bring up the daughters, it makes me think about whether we should consider the daughters as being hirelings or, uh, you know, they have those, those elements of D&D, you know, like the, the followers or whatever. Yeah. Oh, they could have counted as hirelings. Probably. Like, like as a DM, I'd be like, sure, we're going to call them something besides hirelings because they're your kids, but yeah, we'll count it. Mechanically, they're hirelings. Right.

And then for paladin, oath of vengeance, there's, uh, abjure enemy, um, which you just, you're, the creature's frightened of you, which tracks. The creature can be frightened of you, um, or they, um, or they take a little bit of extra damage and there's also about enmity, which, um, means that you also can, uh, you have advantage on the attack against the, the creature of your choice until, uh, minutes up or until it drops to zero hit points, which I think would be fucking terrifying as like, if I were a Roman soldier and she vowed enmityed me, I'd be like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like I changed sides. I give up. Please, please, please, um, but there's also divine help. Divine's my land hands.

And I gave her dueling, which I think it fit better than, I wanted to give her protection, but then I realized that would involve a shield and she didn't really have a shield. So dueling, dueling was the next best choice. I feel like if I, if I could maybe do it again, I would try to make her a little bit more deck spaced because, because they were of course using spears and javelins and stuff. So I'm sad that I wasn't able to kind of figure out how to make that work because barbarian, you need a certain amount of strength, but, uh, yeah, I would have totally gone your route as well with the dual wielding. Yeah. I think if I, if I was playing her like as an actual character, I think I would have built her a little bit differently, but trying to keep in like historical

context made me build her a little differently, but, um, yeah. See, I don't mind when they're, they're not perfectly built. Like I really do kind of prefer like, okay, I'm choosing Paladin because this thing happened in this character's life. Exactly. Makes more sense to do it. So I don't know if they're not balanced or yeah, like I would have, I would have kept the same classes. I think, I think I would have just statted her out differently. Uh, for my, um, for my channel divinity, the, uh, oath of the crown has champion challenge. When you issue a challenge that compels other creatures to do battle with you, each creature of your choice within 30 feet must make a wisdom saving throw on a failed save. They can't move more than 30

feet away from you. Um, and then turn the tide, I think gives a D six plus one plus your charisma modifier, um, to, uh, hit points to your allies within 30 feet of you. So I thought that was kind of cool too. Yeah. A good like ally pump is solid. Um, also for drew, or for, sorry, for Paladin, uh, she would get Bane and Hunter's Mark, which are good, good spells. Um, I also gave her command thunder wave entangle and wrathful smite, which just the, the logic of it's there. Yeah, absolutely. Explain it. The only, the only difference in, in spells I think I chose was I chose control flames or control fire or flame, I guess it's flames to kind of symbolize her, you know, uh, uh, leaning into burning things. Right. I think if I hadn't done oath or circle

wildfire, I would have taken that, but I was like, I already have a little elemental. I don't need you. Uh, and then for cantrip, she has resistance in Shalala. Um, because I have this stupid image in my head. So I'm going to make you listen to the dumb image I've made in my head, but I love it. Um, having, having two attacks, casting Shalala on your spear, using the butt end of it to hit someone once and then stab down through them twice. And I like that idea a lot. And it's fun. And it's a magical weapon. Exactly. Um, so I gave her the druidic focus as her torque just because I think that's a, that makes sense. Cool flavor thing. Uh, a handful of, um, extra, extra little things, uh, items that I think would be useful for her aim, let of health,

because everyone can use an aim, let of health, uh, braces of defense or ring of protection. Um, just cause her, her AC is kind of low. It's at 13, but also it makes sense because she's unarmored and she's, you know, fighting in the middle of a chariot. Um, circle of blasting for more firepower, uh, the sword, the defender, also the flametongue sword. Um, there's also the Mace of Terror, which makes people afraid of you in like a 30 foot, uh, circle, uh, the sunblade, and also the sword of sharpness, which will let you just lop limbs off people. If you roll right, if you roll right, you just cut limbs off people. No, are you saying you gave her all of these weapons? No, I'm just saying, like, if, if she were to have a cool weapon, it might be one

of these. That's good to say. She just needs one of them and she could have beat the entire Roman army. I'm, I think sort of sharpness is my favorite one for her, but they're all, they're all cool. Okay. Um, and then I, I went through the gods just in the, in the player's handbook, uh, that might be someone she would kind of a lot ally with. Um, Tretharion, Curie Jollith, and Daldorn are kind of the top three that I'm like one of those would have, because they're all about like honor and justice. Um, and then there's Lafander, Helm, Tempest, and Torm. Um, Sonya, those could have been cool as a, as a god for her to hang out with. For sure. Um, yeah, that's, oh yeah, and she's a noble because easy, but that's, um, that's about it. That's, that's, that's my build for her as well.

Yeah. I mean, a very interesting character and a very interesting point in history that you don't think about or learn about too often. I guess if you're not British, maybe the British are taught more about her than English or the Americans are, but you know, this is, this is my first time learning about her, but fascinating character and, and just so many similarities between her and, um, other freedom movements, whether it be the Scots, uh, whether it be, uh, the, the, I mean, so, so often it tends to be somebody versus the, the English, you know what I mean? Right. Uh, yeah. Like it's slowly shift to the Romans, Roman, the British being the Romans, which I wonder if that's like, like that mentality was probably definitely take it like the, like the, the imperialist entire

mentality that the British eventually have. Of course. Definitely came from the Romans. Yeah, of course. And, and like that, that mentality comes from the superiority, you know, like we, we know that we're better than you in the sense of at least militarily. So they can kind of throw their weight around, but that also was their downfall for a lot of those battles because they were unprepared for the, uh, the, the Celts to attack, uh, you know, they, they caught them with their pants down. So it's a double-edged sword when it comes to that superiority. Yeah. They're just, they underestimated people and that was kind of where it all came crashing. Yep. Uh, thank you so much for, for doing this with me, Serge. It was so much fun.

I had a blast. I can't, I can't wait till the next one. Yes. Um, is there anything you want to, you want to, what do you, what do you say? You say plug and like talk about what are you jamming on, Serge? Well, what am I jamming on? I'm jamming on our new show, a show, a Soka, a Soka. I'm trying not to say a Soka because it's a different person, a different world, but loving our show, a Soka. We're doing it every Friday where we're releasing it, but we're also doing it live where we'll, we'll play it back on Twitch and we're all hanging out in the chat. So if people want to hang out with us and talk, we're, we're hanging out there every Friday. But I mean, loving Ironsworn, you're going to be on Ironsworn with me. In fact, I think

I will have been. Yeah. This is, this is, we're recording this now, but we're going to play tomorrow. So this will be in the, in the future or the past either way. Yeah. So yeah, check out our Ironsworn game. What else? Pretty soon we're going to start recording Doom to Repeat again. Can't wait to start doing that. So Arc 2 is coming in a few weeks. Yeah. But yeah, I'm having a blast with everything we're doing and enjoy seeing everybody join us in the chat when we run this stuff. So lovely. Well, thank you. Thank you again for doing this with me. As ever, friends in the chat, if you have people you want us to cover, please let me know. I have a very long list of historical figures. I always want to learn about more historical figures. So please, please hit me with

those. Also, if you can think of another system that you want me to try and build a character in, I would love to do that as well. I, I'm doing D&D just because that's the one I'm most comfortable with. And that's the one that I'm, that, that has a lot of versatility that I'm aware of, but I'm woefully unaware of many, many TTRPGs. So if you have one that you think would be cool to try it in, I would love to hear about it. Yeah. They'd be interesting to try a different, different system depending on like who the person is. I feel like D&D works really well for all the history characters, but maybe more modern people. Yeah. I thought about trying to do like Delta Green at some point. And I was like, I don't know. I don't know how I could classify them as government

like officials. It would be hard. It'd be more just like selecting what abilities, you know, they have percentages in or something. Yeah. But it's a good idea. Yes. Well, thank you. Thank you everyone for joining us. And I'll see you in a couple of weeks with a new, a new hero you should know. Bye.