[MR] Help with Russian persona - with heavy Mongol overtones ;)

[rmhowe]

Larissa Simmons wrote:
> 
>   Greetings Good Gentles,
> 
>   I am in need of help in completing the development of my Russian persona.
> I am satisfied with my first name, but need a second name. 
> My persona is circa 1124 in Kiev and has ties both to the Kievan
> nobility and the Mongol horde (thus far, I may need help tweaking her
> history).

There are Russian and Mongol name guides on the internet and I'm sure 
the Academy of St. Gabriel knows of them. It's easier to use St. Gabriel
who think name puzzles are funny to argue over than to do it yourself 
frequently. I imagine you can reach them off of http://www.sca/org/ 
under Heraldry or Names.

> I also need to know where to look for pictures of armor post 
> Kievan Age Russia.  I am grateful for all help.
> In Service, - Iaroslavna

Scale and mail seems to have been popular at that period. So were
helmets of either spangenhelm or single raised conical helms with a
nasal and decorative brow and eyebrow decorations. Leather armour
was used by the mongols frequently over a loose silk shirt. This
had the advantage of not cutting like a normal cloth wood and easing
the withdrawal of an arrowhead. The loose silk threads also pulled
any corruption of the wound out. The best picture of a leather laminated
scale cuirass I know of is in the Eyewitness book on Russia.

As far as most armor pictures go they principally exist on pottery
or engraved and embossed articles. Osprey has a number of books on
the Mongols and Medieval Russian Armies in their various series.
In the Campaigns Series there is the Battle of the Kalka River.
Mongols and Rus even fought with each other briefly against the
Teutonic Knights and their allies. This is in one of the books that
Osprey puts out by Dr. David Nicolle. In the Osprey series alone
you should find 4 or so good books on the Mongols.  I have somewhere
around a hundred and ten of the things. Some of the Romano-Byzantine
armor wouldn't be too far off. It heavily influenced the Russians,
and the Mongols were fighting in that area as well.

Osprey Man at Arms    105 The Mongols         ISBN 0850453720  132282
Osprey Campaign Series 98 Kalka River 1223AD       1841762334  134187
Osprey Campaign Series 46 Lake Peipus 1242AD       1855325535  132104
Osprey MAA  333 Armies of Medieval Russia 750-1250 1855328488  132503 
Osprey MAA  251 Medieval Chinese Armies 1260-1520  1855322544
	During the first part of this era the Mongols ruled as
	the Yuan Dynasty. Their successors were overthrown by 
	Ming Dynasty. So, somewhat the same warriors.
Osprey MAA 295 Imperial Chinese Armies 590-1260 AD 1855325993
	The Mongols were a diverse group of Tribes until Genghis 
	Khan united and named them. The last part of this book
	is applicable.
Osprey MAA 287 Byzantine Armies 1118-1461 AD       1855323478
	Remember these folks were highly influencial on the 
	surrounding cultures, and there are a great many 
	depicted in period paintings and modern illustrations
	and photographs. This has a lot of Scale Armour and
	weaponry in it. The Vikings served them as the 
	Varangian Guard, and the way they got there was
	on the rivers passing through many areas north to 
	south. The Rus were a tribe of Scandinavians invited
	in to rule the early Russian slavs.
Osprey MAA 222 The Age of Tamerlane by David Nicolle PhD.
0850459494           
	Warfare in the Middle East 1350-1500 AD. A Turcified
	Mongol descendant and Conqueror. Probably a bit late
	for you, but might prove useful for the ethnicity.

National Geographic Vol. 190, No. 6, December 1996 issue on
	Ghenghis Khan and the beginning of the Mongol conquests.
	Written by Mike Edwards, Photographs by James. L. Stanfield. 
	Map Supplement with a mongol ger wagon train on the reverse.
	Pages 3-37. 
National Geographic Vol. 191, No. 2, February 1997 issue on
	Sons of Genghis - The Great Khans pages 2-35.
	Written by Mike Edwards, Photographs by James. L. Stanfield.
	This covers the subsequent expansion of the various 
	Mongol Khans taking the empire to its greatest extent.

Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute - the Story of Lady Wen-Chi, 1974,
	Metropolitan Museum of Art, 89 pages, 18 color(full-page), 
	73 black/white reproductions; text of poems on scroll by Liu
	Shang, 8th C.; paintings by unknown 12th C. artist. Introduction,
	commentary and translation of poems by Robert A. Rorex and 
	Wen Fong, Distributed by the New York Grapic Society, hardback 
	in slip case, about sixty unnumbered pages. Although Lady Wen 
	Chi was originally abducted in the second century AD by 
	predecessors of the later Huns who troubled Rome, her story 
	was retold over the centuries and reillustrated with new 
	pictures. The ones in this book relate her as if she were 
	living with the twelfth century Mongols and the illustrations
	of their Gers and wagons, processions, and daily life is the 
	most accurate for the Mongol period we have. Well worth obtaining.

A Former Horde Brother of mine who knew and researched Mongolian/
	Chinese Costumes quite a lot felt the best book on the
	subject is 5000 years of Chinese Costume if you can
	find and afford one.
 
Compleat Anachronist # 99 Life in Thirteenth Century Novgorod 
   by Gregory William Frux. Available through the SCA stock clerk. 
   
Compleat Anachronist #35 An Introduction to Russian Costume 
   by Soraya Evodia of Odessa, same stock clerk.

Compleat Anachronist # 54 The Mongols by Georg of Glacier's Edge
   Same stock clerk.  http://www.sca.org/ Membership services.

The Mongol Warlords - Genghis Khan - Kublai Khan - Hulegu - Tamerlane;
by David Nicolle, plates by Richard Hook, Brockhampton Press, London,
1998, Hardback, dj, 8to, 192 pages, with Black and White and Colour 
Illustrations and Photographs (a great many actually).   

Marco Polo, The Historic Adventure Based on the Television Spectacular;
Random House, New York, 1982, Based on the Italian/Chinese Movie
Production.  Storybook on the movie by Elizabeth Levy. Hardback
with color picture illustrations and colors. 62 pages. ISBN 0394853296.
If you -ever- get a chance to see the whole huge film don't miss it!

Also you might like to see the movie Alexander Nevsky. The 1939 film
was a propaganda film against the Germans, however it is primarily
based on Fact. It's generally in VHS somewhere. The battle on the Ice
at Lake Peipus is stunning at times. Try http://www.ccvideo.com/

Then you might wish to join the Slavic Interest Group, or SIG.
http://slavic.freeservers.com/  Which is composed of SCA members
who can aid you. I blind copied a few (might be old addresses but
you never know. You may get sucked in anyway.)

In any event, once you've made up your mind I am fairly sure we can 
arrange an abduction of yourself, at your request at Pennsic.
It's happened before. Then you'll have your story, and someone
may paint and write the poems of a long scroll for you.

Master Magnus Malleus, OL, Atlantia, Great Dark Horde
Khan's Own Intelligence Agency