Cassia Carataca
From EastKingdomWiki
| Photo |
|---|
 Carataca at the Æ A&S Faire/Queen's Prize Tourney in April AS 57. Photo by Elska Á Fjárfelli, used with permission. |
| Information |
| Resides: Barony of Settmour Swamp |
| Status: Active |
| Awards: Order of Precedence |
| Heraldry |
 Registered device: Per fess sable and argent, in chief a lotus blossom in profile Or. (AKA Corwin's colors: black, silver, and amnesiac.) |
| Award & Office Badges |
| Companion of the Order of the Sycamore (Æthelmearc), AoA (Æthelmearc) None |
Introduction
Hi I'm Carataca! (Pronunciations: Cah-rah-TAH-cah (Latin), Ca-RA-ta-ca (English))
I'm a scribe and bard (the singer/songwriter kind). My persona's very late Romano-British, so Carataca is the given name and Cassia is the family name. I don't get offended by she/her pronouns but do get warm fuzzies when people use they/them for me; I have yet to register Cassius Caratacus but it's coming, because Cassium Caratacum is a terrible option and also not remotely attested.
I first joined in something like 2008 but didn't get involved, then went to Pennsic 39, and then occasionally played far far away from home (up in the Barony of the Rhydderich Hael in Æthelmearc, or other events in AE; I live in Settmour Swamp) until fall of 2022, when I started doing my best to get involved locally.
Persona
Carataca is a 5th century immediately post-Roman Romano-British subject of the burgeoning Kingdom of Dumnonia. Her area of Britain (modern Cornwall) -- well west of Isca Dumnoniorum (modern Exeter in Devon) -- was never spectacularly Romanized anyway, but it's the year 420 and Rome has left the island and the Britons aren't fighting off the Vikings (much) or the Saxons (at all) yet. She's thinking of moving to Tintagel and/or maybe becoming an early Christian saint, which seems at least somewhat adventurous and a great reason to know how to read and write, and hardly dangerous at all anymore probably.
The idea of a persona living at the edge of the end of the world appeals to me.
Her given name is the Romanized and feminine version of what's now the Welsh name Caradoc/Caradog -- Caratacus -- who was an iron-age British king that resisted Rome, didn't get caught, sought sanctuary with Queen Cartimandua, got turned in and taken to Rome, then gave such a stirring oration in front of the Senate that he was allowed to live out his days with his family in Rome instead of being put to death. There's another legendary king by that name who lived in the fifth or sixth century, who's mentioned in the Matter of Britain, who is also absolutely not a relative of Carataca.
Offices & Positions
None.
Event Staff/Classes
- Imbolc Schola 2023: Taught an intermediate calligraphy class on developing your own scribal hand.
- Mudthaw XLII: Not actually staff, but I made the site map for it and ran a 'calligraph your name' table for the scavenger hunt!
- Pennsic 50: Taught the 4-day Pennsic University scribal track on the Book of Durrow.
Projects & Publications
- Calligraphy for the Golden Alce scroll for Lord Joubert de la Rose, Æthelmearc
- Calligraphy and illumination for the Order of the Sycamore scroll for Lady Muirgen of Delftwood, Æthelmearc
- Prize Scroll for First Place: a 10th century manuscript page, at Ice Dragon 2023 in the Barony of the Rhydderich Hael, Kingdom of AEthelmearc
- Golden Alce for Brenecks Zemgale in AE
- Keystone for Lady Cristina ?? in AE
- Calligraphy and illumination for a Seahorse for Ronan FitzRobert in Østgarðr in the EK
- AoA for (redacted) in the EK
- Calligraphy and illumination for a Silver Lantern for Lada Monguligin in Østgarðr in the EK
In Case of Court
If you want to know if I'm going to any given event in AE or the EK, please email me at 197621 at members.eastkingdom.org and ask if I'm going, or ask me to come, because I like being wanted. I guarantee I will forget this paragraph exists.
More Information
My scribal blog is at Shaky Hands Medieval Calligraphy