No, I'm just an idiotI can't help think that you don't seem to get discouraged by the idea of yet another illustrated epic.
I thought, "let's just try an AI set on that old 'Diana' series."
That was about three months ago...
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The Slaves of Atticus Lucius Tiburcus
- Thread starter Wragg
- Start date
I thought, "let's just try an AI set on that old 'Diana' series."
That was about three months ago...
malins
Stumbling Seeker
anyway, properly done cross raisings are always plenty hot!
Well, the outcome is quite satisfying. The images are great and the story is nicely done, as always. I'm amused by the fact that the carnifexes appear to be Germanic or Scaninavian, but why should the Romans have all the fun?No, I'm just an idiot
I thought, "let's just try an AI set on that old 'Diana' series."
That was about three months ago...
poem21045
Tribunus Plebis
Love the series, Wragg!
malins
Stumbling Seeker
apart from them being a bunch of slaves as well I guess the AI , with a global prompt, just really likes everyone to have similar hair colors...Well, the outcome is quite satisfying. The images are great and the story is nicely done, as always. I'm amused by the fact that the carnifexes appear to be Germanic or Scaninavian, but why should the Romans have all the fun?
If you ask Aulus, he'll tell you that the Romans don't know which end of a nail goes into the victim...why should the Romans have all the fun?
We're in the northern reaches of the Roman empire. For once in my life I have fixed a location, the city is Juvavum which is the modern city of Salzburg, it had previously been within the Kingdom of Noricum which was an ally of Rome during the Cimbrian Wars, but that didn't prevent it from being swallowed up by the Empire. Tiburcus is, or rather was, a Roman, so is Gnaeus, Aulus is a local lad, Lukas from North Africa, and Gunter and Diana are Teutons or Huns captured in various skirmishes and brought to the Juvavum slave market.
thecuriousone
Tribune
There's several centuries between teutons and huns. Those people never lived in the same age.If you ask Aulus, he'll tell you that the Romans don't know which end of a nail goes into the victim...
We're in the northern reaches of the Roman empire. For once in my life I have fixed a location, the city is Juvavum which is the modern city of Salzburg, it had previously been within the Kingdom of Noricum which was an ally of Rome during the Cimbrian Wars, but that didn't prevent it from being swallowed up by the Empire. Tiburcus is, or rather was, a Roman, so is Gnaeus, Aulus is a local lad, Lukas from North Africa, and Gunter and Diana are Teutons or Huns captured in various skirmishes and brought to the Juvavum slave market.
Imagine their confusion as they all show up in this story. I'm sure they'll work it out over a nice cup of tea (which didn't exist at the time of the Huns either, I suspect - what a treat they're in for).
thecuriousone
Tribune
Actually, the huns originated from asian steppes bordering china. So there's a chance that they were familiar with tea. Sorry for the interrupting of this otherwise good story.Imagine their confusion as they all show up in this story. I'm sure they'll work it out over a nice cup of tea (which didn't exist at the time of the Huns either, I suspect - what a treat they're in for).
There. Teutons, then, no Huns.
For a while she just screamed and writhed as she began her desperate battle with her cross, then she looked down at me watching her, and three words echoed back from the walls of the city.
“FUCK YOU, AULUS!!!!!”
Gunter went back to his previous work, and Lukas and I began tidying up a bit; I gathered up Diana’s discarded clothes, brushing the dirt off her robe for no good reason. I looked at the spectators, some felt that they’d seen the main event, and began departing, but others were in for the long haul, arranging themselves on the grass to watch her and listen to what she might say.
One chap looked at me and grinned. “Fuck you, Aulus!”
I shrugged. “I’ve had worse things said to me. I don’t get many ‘thank-yous’ in my line of work.”
“Why do you do it?”
“I’m a slave, I do as I’m told.”
“Yes, but come on. You’re more than a slave. You led that crucifixion, and I see no sign of your master. You could have done as she suggested, and run off with her.”
So he’d heard all that. I wondered who he might be reporting back to. “See those posts? They are all ready and waiting for their next customers. You know as well as I do that if I’d tried that, Diana would still occupy that cross, the only difference being that I’d be on the one next to her."
He was talking to me, but his eyes were looking over my shoulder. I turned and watched her. She was still showing no sign of settling down. For a moment I imagined myself on the cross next to her. Then she saw me looking at her.
“Aulus… please… I’m sorry! I…. didn’t…. mean… that. Please, please…. Get me down!”
I gazed back at her. “You know I can’t do that, Diana.”
“You… must… understand! That wine…didn’t work! The pain… the pain… unbelievable! I never… hurt…. anyone… So… unfair! Have… mercy… PLEASE!”
Once in a while, I’d crucified someone who I really felt had deserved all they got, Criminals, fraudsters, rapists, traitors. But our bread and butter was the crucifixion of slaves as a kind of waste disposal system for wealthy owners whose slaves had committed some minor misdemeanour or had simply become too old or infirm to fulfil their duties. Most of these owners never came up here to see what was involved. And this was a business for Gnaeus. He’d put signs up advertising crucifixions – sometimes even offering a reduced price if business was a bit slack.
I remember standing with Gnaeus looking at a woman in her sixties who we’d just stripped nude and nailed to a cross for the usual fee. Like Diana, she had just begged to be taken down for just the same reasons- it hurt so much and she had never hurt anyone in her life.
She’d been a slave cook in that household since her teenage years – fifty years of faithful service, but now she’d grown clumsy and forgetful. Some owners might have freed their slave, some even gave them bed and board for their twilight years and swallowed the cost. But some just sent a message to Gnaeus and had them brought up here.
“Sir?” I’d ventured. “I get that we slaves are your property and you can do as you please with us, but why must it be so brutal?”
“It’s an example,” he’d said, dangerously. “Slaves have to work and pull their weight, or this is what happens. So don’t you get any ideas about slacking!”
I’d gulped.
He’d looked at me.
“You keep doing what you’re doing, Aulus, and you won’t end up there. And I’m not one of those owners who crucifies just because you’re ill or hurt. You look after me, and I’ll look after you.”
I’d figured that I could have done worse for a master, and so I tried to do my best. Diana could beg, but she was staying right where she was.
I turned away from Diana. Then she cried out in an agony that came grom the depths of her soul. “Oh, gods, NOOOOO!”
Something about her tone made me turn back to her. I expected her to be disappointed that I was ignoring her, but that outburst suggested that her day had got even worse than that.. I wondered if she’d dislocated a shoulder or something, but she was gazing over my head towards the city.
Just coming into view was a dismal procession. A woman in front, and a man behind, both carrying a patibulum. Bringing up the rear were Gnaeus and a Roman soldier.
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thecuriousone
Tribune
I love the casual cruelty to slaves just to crucify them as retirement.
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
SirMGBZ
Governor
That is a standard feature in many of my universes. In fact, I have a half-written story titled "Retiring Rita" that is about precisely that. ;-)
No matter how dramatic the performance, there's always a heckler...One chap looked at me and grinned. “Fuck you, Aulus!”
My first reaction was surprise. Not that they’d caught the slaves – I’d known they wouldn’t be on the loose for long – but that Gnaeus had managed to load them with lumber without a slave to do it for him. I concluded that the Roman soldier must have helped him. The people who’d been heading back to town turned and came back up, unable to believe their luck.
I sprang into action. “Lukas! Got enough nails for two more?”
He nodded.
“Gunter! GUNTER!!!” Some days I wondered if he was deaf as well as stupid. I pointed at the uprights either side of Diana and motioned to him to get them down. He ambled over. Lukas got the wedges out for him and he pulled the posts out perfectly easily and laid them down.
“There you go, Diana. There was I just thinking what a pity it was for you to be suffering alone, and here comes some company for you. Your lucky day!”
“I…hate… you! How… is…. THIS... ‘lucky’?”
Maybe she’d had better days, but I didn’t have time to discuss it, as cries of ‘Diana! Oh, gods! Diana!” told me that the slaves were arriving with Master Gnaeus.
“Didn’t take you long to find them, sir?”
He grinned. “Thought they could hide up a tree until the fuss had died down. Startled a bird and here they are!”
From above came a groan. “Emil…. You IDIOT! I…stayed… so you… so you.. could run!”
“He thought he knew best, Diana!” Aedilia was still standing with her patibulum, looking up at Diana with wide, terror-stricken eyes.
Aemillius was contrite. “I’m sorry, Diana, I, oh FUCK!”
Gnaeus hadn’t waited until we’d taken the beam before he ripped off Aemillius’ loincloth. I looked at his erection without surprise. Even the men we brought up here alone mostly had erections when we stripped them. With Diana there Aemillius, or ‘Emil’ as Diana had called him, had no chance of avoiding one. I left Master Gnaeus admiring him while Lukas and I took his patibulum. I left Lukas to his construction, and I even got Gunter to help me with ‘Dilla’s’ load, and I set up her cross myself.
It didn’t take long, but even so I heard Dilla shriek. ‘Emil! NO! Leave him alone, you bastards!’
Lukas and Gnaeus were getting Emil down onto his cross, and Gunter, numbskull that he was, made no effort to stop Dilla from rushing over and raining blows and kicks onto Gnaeus, who couldn’t respond without dropping Emil. I sprinted over.
In seconds I had her, and pulled her away.
“Let me GO!! Leave him ALONE!”
I held her firmly, but she struggled and swore and tried, unsuccessfully to bite me.
“Quiet!” I ordered. “QUIET!”
“Fuck off, asshole! EMIL!”
“The more you fight, the worse this will be! Look! Here’s someone to help you. Now pack it in or I’ll send her away.”
Zelda, the old crone, was there, with her drugged wine.
“WITCH!” called Diana. “Don’t…. touch it,…. Dilla! It’s…. fake!”
“It’s not,” I contradicted her. I’d drunk some, once. It tasted foul, but it was good stuff – Lukas had almost had to carry me home – but it just wasn’t quite equal to the pain of the cross.
But at least it had diverted Dilla’s attention from Emil. “What is it?”
“It’s drugged wine, dear.” Zelda looked at her with pity. “I’m sorry, dear, but they are going to hurt you. I’d give you more, but you’re only allowed one beaker. She held a beaker out to Dilla. I let her arm go, and she took the cup, and drank it down in one go.
She gave it back to Zelda. “Can Emil have some?”
By now Gnaeus had Emil pinned down on his cross, but Emil seemed to have accepted the inevitability of his crucifixion, as he was just laying there with outstretched arms awaiting the first blow. I thought he was trying to set an example of courage for Dilla. We’d see how long that lasted.
Zelda went over to Emil’s cross. Gnaeus tended to accept Zelda and her administrations with somewhat grumpy grace, limiting her, as she had said, to one beaker per cross. But he didn’t relax his grip on Emil’s arms, as I had for Diana.
“I’m sorry, dear, I can’t get down there. It’s my knees.” If Zelda was fazed by Emil’s nudity and erection she showed no sign.
Gnaeus looked at Lukas, who got up, took the cup, and did his best to pour the contents into Emil’s mouth, with reasonable success though some inevitably dribbled down Emil’s chin and onto his chest. After a coughing fit, Emil rested his head back onto his cross. “Thanks, lady.”
Zelda smiled and hobbled off out of the way to observe proceedings.
“Shit…” said Dilla, to me. “Look at the size of those nails!”
“Maybe you shouldn’t watch, Dilla. Come on, I’ll get you undressed.”
“I don’t want to get undressed!”
I stood in front of her, to block her view, and grabbed her tunic. “Nobody does, but it doesn’t make any difference. You have to be nude for your cross.”
She didn’t resist as I pulled her tunic over her head. Behind me came the clang of a hammer and an awful bellow from Emil.
“Please – let me see!”
I shrugged, and moved out of the way. She watched, wearing only her loincloth, as I folded up her tunic and placed it on top of Diana’s clothes, which were close by.
I sprang into action. “Lukas! Got enough nails for two more?”
He nodded.
“Gunter! GUNTER!!!” Some days I wondered if he was deaf as well as stupid. I pointed at the uprights either side of Diana and motioned to him to get them down. He ambled over. Lukas got the wedges out for him and he pulled the posts out perfectly easily and laid them down.
“There you go, Diana. There was I just thinking what a pity it was for you to be suffering alone, and here comes some company for you. Your lucky day!”
“I…hate… you! How… is…. THIS... ‘lucky’?”
Maybe she’d had better days, but I didn’t have time to discuss it, as cries of ‘Diana! Oh, gods! Diana!” told me that the slaves were arriving with Master Gnaeus.
“Didn’t take you long to find them, sir?”
He grinned. “Thought they could hide up a tree until the fuss had died down. Startled a bird and here they are!”
From above came a groan. “Emil…. You IDIOT! I…stayed… so you… so you.. could run!”
“He thought he knew best, Diana!” Aedilia was still standing with her patibulum, looking up at Diana with wide, terror-stricken eyes.
Aemillius was contrite. “I’m sorry, Diana, I, oh FUCK!”
Gnaeus hadn’t waited until we’d taken the beam before he ripped off Aemillius’ loincloth. I looked at his erection without surprise. Even the men we brought up here alone mostly had erections when we stripped them. With Diana there Aemillius, or ‘Emil’ as Diana had called him, had no chance of avoiding one. I left Master Gnaeus admiring him while Lukas and I took his patibulum. I left Lukas to his construction, and I even got Gunter to help me with ‘Dilla’s’ load, and I set up her cross myself.
It didn’t take long, but even so I heard Dilla shriek. ‘Emil! NO! Leave him alone, you bastards!’
Lukas and Gnaeus were getting Emil down onto his cross, and Gunter, numbskull that he was, made no effort to stop Dilla from rushing over and raining blows and kicks onto Gnaeus, who couldn’t respond without dropping Emil. I sprinted over.
In seconds I had her, and pulled her away.
“Let me GO!! Leave him ALONE!”
I held her firmly, but she struggled and swore and tried, unsuccessfully to bite me.
“Quiet!” I ordered. “QUIET!”
“Fuck off, asshole! EMIL!”
“The more you fight, the worse this will be! Look! Here’s someone to help you. Now pack it in or I’ll send her away.”
Zelda, the old crone, was there, with her drugged wine.
“WITCH!” called Diana. “Don’t…. touch it,…. Dilla! It’s…. fake!”
“It’s not,” I contradicted her. I’d drunk some, once. It tasted foul, but it was good stuff – Lukas had almost had to carry me home – but it just wasn’t quite equal to the pain of the cross.
But at least it had diverted Dilla’s attention from Emil. “What is it?”
“It’s drugged wine, dear.” Zelda looked at her with pity. “I’m sorry, dear, but they are going to hurt you. I’d give you more, but you’re only allowed one beaker. She held a beaker out to Dilla. I let her arm go, and she took the cup, and drank it down in one go.
She gave it back to Zelda. “Can Emil have some?”
By now Gnaeus had Emil pinned down on his cross, but Emil seemed to have accepted the inevitability of his crucifixion, as he was just laying there with outstretched arms awaiting the first blow. I thought he was trying to set an example of courage for Dilla. We’d see how long that lasted.
Zelda went over to Emil’s cross. Gnaeus tended to accept Zelda and her administrations with somewhat grumpy grace, limiting her, as she had said, to one beaker per cross. But he didn’t relax his grip on Emil’s arms, as I had for Diana.
“I’m sorry, dear, I can’t get down there. It’s my knees.” If Zelda was fazed by Emil’s nudity and erection she showed no sign.
Gnaeus looked at Lukas, who got up, took the cup, and did his best to pour the contents into Emil’s mouth, with reasonable success though some inevitably dribbled down Emil’s chin and onto his chest. After a coughing fit, Emil rested his head back onto his cross. “Thanks, lady.”
Zelda smiled and hobbled off out of the way to observe proceedings.
“Shit…” said Dilla, to me. “Look at the size of those nails!”
“Maybe you shouldn’t watch, Dilla. Come on, I’ll get you undressed.”
“I don’t want to get undressed!”
I stood in front of her, to block her view, and grabbed her tunic. “Nobody does, but it doesn’t make any difference. You have to be nude for your cross.”
She didn’t resist as I pulled her tunic over her head. Behind me came the clang of a hammer and an awful bellow from Emil.
“Please – let me see!”
I shrugged, and moved out of the way. She watched, wearing only her loincloth, as I folded up her tunic and placed it on top of Diana’s clothes, which were close by.
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
Lots of drama developing in front of Diana's cross! Nice chapter, Wragg!
Hiding in a tree!?How smart can you think you are!?
There are lots of fine trees at the Tree Estate!!!Lots of drama developing in front of Diana's cross! Nice chapter, Wragg!
Hiding in a tree!?How smart can you think you are!?
