#sim: ultia of the sedanti

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As Far As Dawn, 1.4

Milos: [My King. How are you feeling?]

Bilustibas: (groaning dramatically) [They've poisoned me, Milos.] Ultia: (Stop that nonsense! Nobody is poisoning you.) (to Milos, over her shoulder) [The King does not like how the milk of the poppy tastes.]

Tarbantu: (Because you spoil him. I’ve told you time and again you’re too soft on him--) Ultia: (No wonder you've been losing all those battles, you've been guzzling potions left and right--) Milos: (clears throat) [Excuse me, my lord. My Queen, I need to speak with you. In private, if possible.]

Ultia: [What do you mean, Scipio sent envoys?!] Milos: [They are waiting in the audience chamber.] Ultia: [Oh, Tanith! You let them in?] Milos: [We didn't really have a choice.] Ultia: [I suppose not. Unless we want to end up marching in a triumph! Have the herald inform them I shall join them momentarily.]

Author’s Notes

I have no idea what they would have given Bilustibas to control his pain during a flare-up. So I borrowed a leaf from Game of Thrones’ book. 

I apologize for the lighting in this one; I’m having difficulty keeping the light as realistic as possible while also still letting you see what everyone’s doing, and not running into walls. I may retake the photos. (If anyone has advice for shooting inside house lots, please send it along!)

Credits

AroundtheSims for the bedframe and SketchbookPixels for the mattress; Mutske for the windows and shutters

Danjaley for the poses

FakeHousesRealAwesome for the lot, which I made changes to in order to disguise my lazy filming location (the CAS world; I couldn’t be bothered to load Jefferson today.)

Anubis360, AprilRainSimblr, EA, and VenusPrincess for the hairs

All-About-Style, EA, KentConverts, myself (the veil and the chiton top), NaiyasFury, Pixicat, and RustyNail for the clothing

Simshelaene and Simlicious for the patterns

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As Far As Dawn, 1.3

Excerpt from a letter of an unknown Roman in the campaign of P. Cornelius Scipio.

"...King Bileseton was unhealthy. I think it was that illness known in Greek as 'thalassemia.' He was not quite thirty, but already he walked haltingly even with a cane, his face lined like a man of fifty or sixty...

“...His illness manifested itself in frequent attacks of pain, such that his half-brother, Tarbantu (some by-blow of the late King Laurbeles by a Celt), had to lead the troops in the field, and his wife, a woman of the Sedanti, often ruled in his stead… 

"...When he died, it was while having his tonsor trim his hair. He collapsed and fell, knocking over the chair he sat in. The tonsor had cut his scalp as he fell, but no more than to be a bald spot had he lived...”

“...Still, the man (quite reasonably) assumed he would be blamed–and he too collapsed. It’s like something out of an Oscan play…”

Author’s Notes

Bileseton is only appearing in flashbacks, because he’s very dead, I’m afraid. Laurbeles will not appear at all unless I really feel the need to recreate some past events.

The Celtic and Tartessian territories overlapped, according to some maps of Pre-Roman Iberia. I also created Tarbantu as a Celt for @schokokokatze (readers of Schoko’s stories may recognize him as Kuneris King’s Hound) and felt he might be a nice foil for Ultia.

His illness is supposed to be something in the sickle-cell family; I took inspiration for his sudden death from the way Gaius Julius Caesar (Julius Caesar’s namesake father) supposedly died very suddenly while lacing his boots one morning. In modern terms, Gaius Julius (and our Bileseton) probably suffered an aneurysm or a stroke. Unfortunately, even today, people can and do die from conditions related to the sickle-cell trait.

A tonsor (plural tonsores) is the Latin term for a slave that does barbering. Women’s hairdressing slaves are called ornatrices (ornatrix singular).

Oscan plays had a reputation for crude slapstick. I think that even the Oscans might have groaned and rolled their eyes at this turn of events.

While Iberian men tended to wear shorter tunics, I chose to give Bileseton a long tunic because he’s the king and deserves to be fancy.

Tarbantu’s outfit, surprisingly, is actually very close to an Iberian man’s outfit as described in Boucher’s “20,000 Years of Fashion.”

I’m still working on Ultia’s improved clothing (mostly adjusting her skirts and creating a good-looking chiton).

Credits

@danjaley​, @greenplumbboblover​, and Spladoum for the poses

Anubis360, EA, IfcaSims, and VenusPrincess for the hairs

All-About-Style, Danjaley, EA, Littlecat/Editsim, NaiyasFury, Pixicat, Rusty Nail, and Simlicious for the clothes

@simlicious​ and Sionelle for the patterns

EA, @murfeelee​ and Simalia for the buy mode items

Mammut for the wall and floor

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As Far As Dawn, 1.5

Ultia: (Come along, Ammisa! Let us see what these Romans wish to gain.) aside (And let us hope we all come out of it with our heads still on our necks!)

Author’s Notes

(Don’t ask me how long it’s been between Ranassius and Egilius being escorted to the audience chamber, and Ultia finishing her bath, because I honestly don’t know. What’s her excuse? She’s a QUEEN, not some Suburan slob who just rolls out of bed and chooses their least wrinkled tunic.)

If it’s not obvious, Ultia is being bathed, dressed, and adorned befitting her station as the Queen Regent. 

My planned drapey top is still in meshing hell, so I whipped up this new top as a consolation prize and to make myself get off my butt and post. It’s inspired by a variety of things and is kind of meant as a multi-period/multicultural item; it could be used for Vikings just as well as for Greeks and Romans in their winter gear. (There is, sometimes, a method to what I am doing.) Utia’s wearing a headdress very closely related to the modern Lebanese tantour.  The colors on her tunics, veil, and mantle are accurate to contemporary tomb carvings of aristocratic Iberian women and Punic-Iberian religious statues; it’s a lot of look.

The ornatrix, or hair-dressing slave, is meant to be wearing a sakkos, which is a Greek hairnet made of sprang. ATS3′s turban works very nicely for the shape. 

The slave walking behind Ultia is Ammisa, who is her ancilla, or handmaid. I tried to demonstrate that she is of higher status than the others by giving her nicer fabric and a longer skirt.

Credits

AmberLights, Chibikinesis, and Danjaley for the poses

AprilRainSimblr, Danjaley, EA, GramsSims, and IfcaSims for the hairs

Buckley, Danjaley, DoroSimsFan1, EA, Editsim/Littlecat, myself, Pixicat, SeagullSims/QuizicalGin, and Winnie for the clothing

Sehmulated and Wundersims for the makeup

AroundTheSims, Lorandia, Murfeelee, myself, SilFantasy, and VenusPrincess for the accessories

AroundTheSims and Danjaley for the decor and furniture

Oepu, SimHelaene, and Simlicious for the patterns