#bezante

[urayuli]

this is my original oc his name is chocolate bezant but his youtube name is mr best and he has 151 million subscriber s

#eebieposting #eebie art #osc #osc oc #osc ocs #object shows #object show community #osc art #object show art #roomies the show #roomies #roomies mr best #mr best #chocolate bezant #roomies chocolate bezant

[heraldrydiculous]

357 Concentric

#Circles #concentri #pelle x reader #fimbriated #argent #gules #bezant #khevron #heraldrydiculous #heraldry #simple

[king-of-men]

Machine heraldry

Today's AI-safety question: Can ML image generation do heraldry? Clearly, an AI that cannot recognise (and spoof) medieval IFF technology is no threat to humanity.

Test number one: The emblem of the Ynglings, "sable a wolf's head erased gules" - my user icon, as it happens. StableDiffusion go!

Uh... no. Looks like it just doesn't know heraldry from a handsaw, and just caught the "wolf's head" bit. (Although even at that rate, what's with the second-quarter image? It's more like a... lion with bat ears? WTF?) I'll give very limited credit for having the third-quarter image in three-quarters profile which is arguably in the direction of "erased", and the background in the fourth quarter could with maximal charity be a conventional crosshatch rendition of 'sable', though it looks more like woodgrain. But these are so limited as to be plausibly randomness plus pareidolia on my part.

Still, that was literally the first prompt I tried. Let's try giving the poor algorithm some more guidance. "Sable a wolf's head erased gules, heraldic manuscript illustration" - does not work, like, at all. For some reason it gives me only two images? (Possibly the web interface is throttling me due to heavy traffic, rather than my prompt being difficult?) That aside, the said images are very bad.

I guess they are moderately "manuscriptish"? But not heraldic in the least. 0/10, would not quarter my arms with ever.

But I'm missing rather an obvious bet, aren't I? "sable a wolf's head erased gules, coat of arms"! Obviously.

...obviously not. I guess these are more or less shieldish now, are sort of centering wolf parts (looking at you, second quarter - although you are the first to include any gules, so points for color theory), and the surrounding elements are plausibly distant cousins of heraldic supporters. But as emblems for visual recognition at a distance and easy reproduction, no; and also the AI clearly does not speak french.

Ok, ok, one more try: "Azure three bezants, coat of arms" - the arms of the Aiello, to be specific, the far-famed merchants of Venice.

Well... this is somewhat better. These are at least moderately plausible shapes, and it seems to understand "azure" (which, to be fair, is a word in English, like 'sable' and unlike 'gules') and has somehow picked up on gold as the right colour for bezants, although it apparently doesn't know what they are. They are all nicely symmetric, and third quarter has something like a double crest and mantling. As extremely stylized artistic renditions, meant for showy display in one's grand dining hall rather than on one's shield for battlefield recognition, they might conceivably do.

Still, if I were an artist blazoning away at a heraldic college, I would not fear for my job just yet. The algorithm can do something vaguely related to heraldry but it cannot do a specific blazon, at least not without much better prompt engineering than this five-minute first pass.

This is actually a bit odd; you'd think heraldry, with its extreme stylisation and an actual conventional formalism for translating blazons into images, would be very suitable for machine image-making! But no, or rather, the algorithm has been taught something very general and as such cannot take advantage of the formal structure in this obscure sub-sub-corner of image space.

#ai art #heraldry #azure three bezants #sable a wolf's head erased gules #machine heraldry #stable diffusion #ai discourse

[catrocketship]

Micah Bazant

#Micah bezant #marsha p johnson #pride #transgender #lgbtq #queer history #quotes #lettering #inspo #Black lives matter #other people's art #other

[yeoldegodzilla]

Gold bezant from the reign of King Cnut, 1224.

[science70]

Man working on computer electronics, Toronto, 1976.

Photography: Graham Bezant / Toronto Star

#technology #computers #electronics #photojournalism #Toronto #Ontario #Canada #1976

[pwlanier]

Ontario Police Have Arrested Eight People Suspected of Forging Thousands of Artworks Attributed to Indigenous Artist Norval Morrisseau

Forced child labor, murder, and a member of the Barenaked Ladies all factor into the story around the elaborate forgery ring.

Taylor Dafoe, March 6, 2023

Artist Norval Morrisseau in a photo from 1977. Photo: Graham Bezant/Toronto Star via Getty Images.

Eight people in Ontario, Canada have been arrested in connection to an art forgery ring responsible for producing and selling paintings falsely attributed to the late Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau.

The suspects now face 40 total charges related to forgery, fraud, and criminal organization, according to information shared by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) last week.

The arrests, made on March 1, mark the culmination of a multi-year investigation into the elaborate forgery scheme—the full story of which also includes forced child labor, murder, and a member of the Barenaked Ladies.

Considered by many to be the grandfather of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada, Morrisseau—or Copper Thunderbird, as he was sometimes known—was a member of the Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation who fused Indigenous lore, mystical symbols, and political messages into his vibrantly colorful work. When he died in December 2007, Morrisseau left behind a rich and seemingly abundant body of work—though how much of that work is authentic remains somewhat of a mystery

The probe into fake works by the artist began in 2019, when Detective Sargent Jason Rybak of the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) in northwestern Ontario was researching the death of a man named Scott Dove.

“During that, [Dove’s] mom called me and asked if I had seen this documentary called There Are No Fakes, which had information on the murder of her son,” Rybak recalled in an interview last week with CBC/Radio-Canada.

Released earlier that year, the documentary begins with Kevin Hearn, keyboardist and guitarist for Barenaked Ladies, who had filed a complaint against a Toronto-based gallery alleging that a Morrisseau painting he had purchased there was a fake.

Hearn’s lawsuit had, at the time, been dismissed by a local court, but the film found evidence of a forgery ring that likely produced the artwork he owned, and suggested that they may have even been created by underage forgers in sweatshop-like conditions. (In September 2019, the ruling in Hearn’s case was overturned by the Ontario Court of Appeal and the rockstar was awarded $60,000 in compensation.)

After watching There Are No Fakes, Rybak reached out to Hearn. “That really was the jump-off point for this investigation,” the detective said.

Not long after, TBPS officers obtained a warrant to search the home of Gary Lamont. There, police “started seizing painting after painting after painting,” Rybak explained. “We quickly realized the magnitude of what we were getting ourselves into.” It was at that point that the team behind the investigation called the OPP for help.

A suspected Morrisseau forgery seized by police. Courtesy of the OPP.

Lamont is one of the eight suspects charged last week. The others are David John Voss, Diane Marie Champagne, Linda Joy Tkachyk, Jeffrey Gordon Cowan, James White, David P. Bremnerand, and Benjamin Paul Morrisseau—a nephew of the late artist.

Together, the suspects represent three different, yet connected groups of Morrisseau forgers. The first was launched back in 1996, while the others were established in 2002 and 2008, respectively. At times, all three rings collaborated.

Police believe Morrisseau made for a lucrative target both because he was an important artist and a prolific one.

The forgers “knew his lifestyle,” Rybak said. “They knew that he had struggles. They knew that he never kept a list of his paintings… At times [Morrisseau] would just give paintings away to people for milk and and eggs, and so they knew that there was no way in their mind of tracking legitimate paintings.”

To determine which paintings were fake, the investigative team took a “multifaceted approach,” according to OPP detective inspector Kevin Veillieux.

“We conducted a wide range of witness interviews that provided very valuable information,” Veillieux told CBC. “We had reached out to different groups that had the ability to do certain forensic testing for us.”

In total, investigators seized more than 1,000 fake Morrisseau artworks from a variety of sources, including collectors, galleries, and museums. Some were purchased for “tens of thousands of dollars,” according to police.

And there are likely many more Morrisseau forgeries still out there. Some even suggest there might be 10 times as many fakes as there are genuine Morrisseau artworks on the market. Veillieux encouraged owners of other suspected imitations to seek legal counsel before going to the police.

Artnet News

Comment from me regarding the last paragraph of this article.

“And there are likely many more Morrisseau forgeries still out there. Some even suggest there might be 10 times as many fakes as there are genuine Morrisseau artworks on the market”. This reminds me of a joke a dealer friend of mine used to tell. It was also a commentary on “savvy” American tourist/collectors. Regarding the extremely prolific and easy to forge landscapes by Camille-Corot he said “of the 15,000 documented Corot paintings in the world…..25,000 of them are in the United States”

#norval morrisseau #first nations #canadian art #forgeries

[illustratus]

On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969

Sir Hilary Bray explains: “Have a look at this: arms of Sir Thomas Bond. Baronet of Peckham. Died in 1734. Argent on a chevron sable. Three bezants. Good motto, eh? “The world is not enough.”

#on her majesty's secret service #james bond #coat of arms #crest #film #heraldry #blazonry #blazon #blason #the world is not enough #sir hilary bray #ian fleming #spy #assassin #007 #george lazenby #heraldic #family crest #shield #british #latin #spectre #college of arms #ohmss #piz gloria #london #england #blofeld #orbis non sufficit #george baker

[cinqueform]

Day Ten: Concerned

Azure, between a chevron enhanced and base or, three bezants

It looks like a concerned face

#heraldecember #heraldecember2023

[windermeresimblr]

Zoste Patrikia: A Middle Byzantine Propoloma Accessory for TYAEF.

It’s a new year, and I’m back on my Byzantine nonsense as a break from the texturing long-haul of the bustle project and to give myself a quick “ooh fancy fancy” project. So have a propoloma as a Tres Reyes/Epiphany/Twelfth Night gift!

What is a Propoloma? 

During the early Byzantine empire, the “propoloma” was a simple turban, as seen on the iconic mosaic of Theodora in Ravenna (1). While most depictions show it on courtiers or saints, because Byzantine art tended to focus on courtiers and saints, it is by no means improbable that a Byzantine woman with enough fabric and time on her hands could give herself a nice turban to wear. It could be worn by itself, if the fabric was nice enough, or worn under a veil. 

By the 10th century, it had somehow transformed into a fascinating trapezoidal/pyramidal cone, usually worn over one’s maforion, or over one’s hair, whether worn loose or styled (2). This ‘new’ propoloma was almost certainly a court headdress or upper-class headdress, if only for reasons of practicality.

The propoloma was usually white, although the zoste patrikia--the Empress’ most high-ranking lady-in-waiting--wore hers with a purple stripe, and ladies of the Imperial family wore theirs in solid purple (1). Because this is the Sims, of course, you can make yours neon pink with zebra stripes if you so desire. 

Although a propoloma of a similar shape and orientation on the head is worn in a Byzantine depiction of David’s entry into Jerusalem, as illustrated in the 1082 Vatican Psalter (3), and in the iconic Venetus A illuminated manuscript of the Illiad, circa 900-1000 (4), I would like to clarify that this is probably not the most historically accurate shape or style! Most reconstructions (e.g. Levantia and Anna’s New Rome) show the propoloma as fitted around the wearer’s head (1, 2). However, it’s extant, it’s documented, and I think it has a certain charm, so I’m sharing this with all of you.

I did not create this mesh; I took it from Bipsouille’s TS2 Star Wars: The Phantom Menace hair. You can see the original here; as you can probably tell, I took off the danglies and the earmuffs, and retextured it so that the propoloma is now fabric-textured instead of hair-textured. I also removed the original overlays and created five masks; the “x” and diagonal stripe are from the eleventh century (1001-1100) and the horizontal stripes and horizontal stripes with bezants are from the twelfth century (1101-1200) (5). I am unsure if the original Star Wars headdress was inspired by Manchu liangbatou headdresses, Russian kokoshniks, or a combination of the two, as I am not familiar with all the varieties of either of those headdresses.

Download your propoloma here!

Important Information

Polycount 86 Vertices, 168 Faces. 

Bone Assignment Head Dome. 

Recolorable? Yes, with one, two, or three channels depending on the mask. The mesh is curved, so some patterns may not “read” successfully.

Ages and Genders Teen through Elder females. You may use NRAAS or another mod to make this available for teen through elder males!

Categories Found in “Earrings” under Everyday, Formal, Career (for courtiers, of course), Makeover, and Maternity.

Custom Thumbnail? No, sorry!

EPs Necessary Base Game Compatible.

Credits

Bipsouille, whose original mesh I’ve hacked to pieces. Merci!

@aprilrainsimblr, whose linen texture I used to retexture the propoloma.

@ninjaofthepurplethings, @ice-creamforbreakfast, @sweetdevil-sims, and @simlicious for the models used (Penny O’Hare, Margaret Crabtree-Spencer, Helen Ray, and Aurora Brunetti). 

@danjaley for the poses (Medieval Story).

Mammut from the SimsZoo for the outfits (EF, TF, and AF Mittelalter).

@carversims and @procrasimnation for the veils (Carver’s Scarf Casual and one of the Aanhamdan conversions; Procrasimnation’s Sporty Hijab and LumiaLover’s Hijab).

Parsimonious for the patterns.

Recommended Downloads

My conversion of Wawa’s Byzantine crown (unisex)

My conversion of Wiccandove’s veil (female only)

Citations

(1) Syrakousina, A. D. (2015, January 16). The propoloma: A headdress of the ZOSTE patrikia and other high ranking women in the courts of Eastern Rome. Anna's New Rome. Retrieved January 2, 2023, from https://annasrome.com/2014/08/13/the-propoloma-a-headdress-of-the-zoste-patrikia-and-other-high-ranking-women-in-the-courts-of-eastern-rome/ 

(2) Dawson, T. (n.d.). A woman of the high aristocracy. Levantia. Retrieved January 2, 2023, from https://www.levantia.com.au/zoste.html. 

(3) Meyer, M. “DID THE DAUGHTERS OF ISRAEL COME OUT DANCING AND SINGING TO MEET... DAVID ? A BIBLICAL IMAGE IN CHRISTIAN-MACEDONIAN IMPERIAL ATTIRE.” Byzantion 73, no. 2 (2003): 467–87. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44172607.

(4) Manuscript miniatures: Iliad (venetus A). (n.d.). Retrieved January 2, 2023, from https://manuscriptminiatures.com/4919/14628. 

(5) “Byzantine Clothing Inspiration Page.” House Capuchin 3, September 24, 2021. https://housecapuchin.com/clothing-inspirations/byzantine-clothing-inspiration-page/. 

#ts3cc #the costuming is not as accurate as i would like but i wanted this done #this has been several years in the making i think #i just like fun hats for my pixel dolls

[grandmaster-anne]

The Princess Royal at 70: The stories behind Country Life’s Frontispiece pictures

Country Life | Published 30 July 2020

Country Life magazine’s famous frontispiece page has featured many members of the royal family over the years, and it’s always something special when they take part.

The 29 July 2020 appearance by Princess Anne is doubly so, since The Princess kindly agreed to edit this very special issue to mark her upcoming 70th birthday.

We’ve got a few details below of the images chosen by our picture editor Lucy Ford for this page, so all our readers can find out where and when each one comes from.

1950: Mother and daughter portrait

21st October 1950: Princess Elizabeth with her baby daughter Princess Anne who is wearing the Royal christening robe made of Honiton lace. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

1954: The smiley young girl

An official portrait of Princess Anne taken on 14 August 1954, one day before her 4th birthday. (Photo by STF/AFP via Getty Images)

1973: The budding horsewoman and future Olympian

Princess Anne competing in the Dressage section of a three day event In Kiev, Russia, 5-11 September 1973. (Photo by Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)

1974: A Royal Tour

Princess Anne pictured during Royal tour of Canada in 1974 with her first husband, Mark Philips. (Photo by Graham Bezant/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

1979: On duty in London

Princess Anne at The Great Children’s Party in Hyde Park, London, on 30 May, 1979. (Photo by Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)

1980: Defying the rain on her 30th birthday

HRH The Princess Anne in the grounds of her home at Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire on 10th June 1980. Part of a series of photographs to commemorate Princess Anne’s 30th birthday — note the umbrella in the corner to defy the summer rain! (Photo by Lichfield Archive via Getty Images).

1982: A family of her own

Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her children Peter and Zara Phillips. (Photo by © Norman Parkinson Achive/Iconic Images/Getty Images)

2018: Royal Parade

Princess Anne at Trooping The Colour, the ceremony marking the Queen’s 92nd birthday, on 9 Jun 2018. (Photo: WENN.com via Alamy)

2020 and beyond: Still going strong

The final image in the frontispiece was taken by photographer John Swannell, who has photographed Princess Anne many times over the years — and who took the image of her on the 29 July 2020 magazine’s front cover.

#princess anne #princess royal #country life #article

[kazsartcorner]

SILVER BULLET: DINAR

After the disastrous losses caused by the two Fourrée incidents, Silver Bullet retrofitted Bezant units into cheaper production models in order to stay afloat, widely marketed to security companies, Albatross, the Trade baronies, Union, Private Military Units, and according to rumour, even discreetly sold to crime families. Ultimately despite the rushed development  the plan worked and Silver Bullet survived the disastrous legacy of the Fourrée.

#mecha #mecha art #mechanical design #mech #lancerprg #lancer rpg #lancer art #lancer homebrew #lancer #robot #robot art #digital artwork #digital art #digital illustration #illustration #my art #my artwork #art #artists on tumblr #artist on tumblr

[burlveneer-music]

Badge Époque Ensemble - Air, Light & Harmony

On November 3rd, Toronto’s Badge Époque Ensemble return to Telephone Explosion Records with their new album Air, Light & Harmony. The release keeps up the jazz-funk group’s torrid pace of releases for TER; A,L&H being their 6th LP release, and 4th proper album for the label since 2019. The release completes a trilogy of triptych-titled works, following 2019’s Nature, Man & Woman, and 2021’s Future, Past & Present. All 3 of these releases feature compositions which resample loops and stems from prior albums. Air, Light & Harmony takes this gambit further with in-house recycling of snippets from dusty LP copies of their own work (ala Portishead’s famed approach) featured throughout to create warped and ambiguous moodscapes. This emphasis on texture is befitting of BÉE’s only entirely instrumental album. In many ways this latest work is a counterweight to the maximalism of last year’s Polaris long listed Clouds of Joy album. Clouds carries the density of a Discogs rabbit-hole binge, with its nearly 20 contributors; precise arrangements, soaring choir vocals, extended solos and meditations on joy… By contrast, Air, Light & Harmony has a distinct yin energy - a lightness of touch that could be said to resemble a playlist as much as an album (something playfully alluded to by the generic streaming service displayed on an iPhone screen that is the album’s cover). Bandleader Maximilian Turnbull has alluded to the change-up: “I wanted to do an album that was more sketch than painting. No deliberation, just spontaneous movement.” Accordingly, the record was made swiftly in Turnbull’s garage home-studio, and is characterised by an unassuming breeziness. A stylistic tour this broad, yet unassuming is a rare accomplishment befitting such a unique and eclectic group. Like water finding its level, Badge Époque Ensemble have created an album with a free flowing approach, arriving at their plane of sound naturally, a place you would do well to dip into.  BADGE ÉPOQUE ENSEMBLE IS: Jay Anderson - Drums Chris Bezant - Guitar Edwin de Goeij - Rhodes, Piano, Synths Karen Ng - Alto Saxophone Alia O'Brien - Flute Gio Rosati - Bass Ed Squires - Congas, Vibraphone, Percussion Maximilian Turnbull - Production, Guitar, Synths

#Bandcamp #Badge Époque Ensemble #canada #telephone explosion #2023 #Maximilian Turnbull

[rhianna]

The Byzantines by Thomas Caldecot Chubb 

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70596

Author

Chubb, Thomas Caldecot, 1899-1972

Illustrator

Powers, Richard M., 1921-1996

LoC No.

59005919

Title:       The Byzantines

Original Publication   United States: The World Publishing Co., 1959.

Contents   A crusade that went astray -- Byzantium, crossroads of the world -- The Roman Empire and Constantinople -- The Holy Augustus -- A Roman army on horseback -- One religion, one church -- Golden Bezants -- The Byzantine way of life -- Last days of the Empire -- Chronological chart of the Byzantine Empire and world events -- Books for further reading -- Index and glossary.

Credits  Bob Taylor, Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

(This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)

Language   English

LoC Class

DF: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Greece

Subject

Byzantine Empire -- History -- Juvenile literature

CategoryText

EBook-No.70596

Release Date  Apr 19, 2023

Copyright Status   Public domain in the USA.

#byzantine #byzantine empire #history #project gutenberg

[amethystrparchive]

𝑭𝑹𝑶𝑴 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑳𝑰𝑷𝑺 𝑶𝑭 𝑨 𝑺𝑪𝑹𝑰𝑩𝑬.

Within the Palace of Facets (which houses one of the most ancient reception halls utilized by the Grand Princes of Moscow) a Byzantine Eunuch stands to attention. In his hand, he grips a gilded staff topped with the double-headed eagle of the Roman empire, and, with obsidian eyes agleam, he pounds it against the marble floor. Once, twice, thrice, and a palpable silence descends upon the room –– jubilant voices replaced by the heavy reverberations of the eunuch’s staff.

Beneath the imposing twelve apses of the hall, a thrum of anticipation spreads across the Tsar’s Muscovite courtiers, their foreign guests, and through Alexander himself, who heads the bejeweled ceremony at his velvet-canopied dais. The eunuch makes a bold proclamation and Sophia, sister of Basileus Rhomaiôn Theodore II, appears. Silk banners fluttering along the walls of the banquet hall have seemingly foreseen this very moment –– the heraldic joining of Byzantine and Russian blood. Surrounded by the sumptuous iconography of Theotokos and St. Demetrios, the room glisters with the mightiest and purplest blood of the east and west: kings, emperors, and khans, each paying homage to the historic melding of two fearsome crowns.

For once, the prismatic eyes of Christendom have turned away from Constantinople and Moscow’s bloody past. As Sophia sweeps across the hall –– followed by a handsome dotal train of jewels, silks, servants, helots and troves of precious Bezants, laid at the Tsar’s feet –– she appears every inch the lamb to the slaughter. The eyes of the world are upon her, and upon the magnificent future encrusted in the Tsar’s crown. A glorious sunrise for both empires await –– yet this they know well: all can crumble by the close of day.

𝑰𝑵 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑫𝑬𝑻𝑨𝑰𝑳𝑺.

WHEN: the evening of july 26, 1319.

WHAT: sophia of byzantium is first presented to her bridegroom, tsar alexander. afterward, a grand reception will follow –– banqueting, dancing, and courting aplenty.

WHERE: reception hall of the palace of facets, the kremlin complex, moscow.

WHO: all guests of tsar alexander.

𝑶𝑶𝑪 𝑫𝑬𝑻𝑨𝑰𝑳𝑺. 

THE RECEPTION is a mini-event to mark the opening of AMETHYST. All muses are invited to witness Sophia of Byzantium being presented before her bridegroom, Tsar Alexander, for the first time. The aforementioned reception will be followed by a sumptuous banquet feast, dancing, and musical theatrics. The mini-event will last a week, beginning on 7.25.22 and ending on 8.01.22. All members are encouraged to participate in this trend and write event-related threads! Please tag any event-related threads, graphics, and other paraphernalia with #amethyst.reception.

The event will mark the opening of Amethyst, set to begin today @ NOON EST.

#history rp #period rp #oc rp #lsrp #new rp #amethyst.reception #amethyst.event

[hellcnas]

♱ @fcodosia​.

Conditions, constraint. 

Helena observes as another witless dvoryanstvo loses his hand to Feodosia, skin roiling with sweat and unease as the Dowager’s cards dance and shapeshift, illustrated with wild imaginations––a Knave of Horns in lapis lazuli, a Queen of Hearts doused in wine-dark crimson.  Each gilded vignette glimmers on the gambling table, crowded with silver chalices and coin purses relinquished by the woman’s string of deficient opponents: each one believing himself worthy of laying a bet, of challenging the Dowager’s fortitude.  They were no match for Feodosia’s expert hands, her flurry of royal flushes, and crumbled like the gritty wings of the sphinx with each reveal of her card.  Forked over fortune flies into Feodosia’s palms like flocks of starlings: gilded hair pins and repoussaged badges and filigreed plate and holy reliquary.  Her eyes hungered over the banquet of grave goods.  Helena watched, head askew, her eyes the depth and darkness of a moonless night.  The despoina’s intrigue blends with enchantment as a new game begins.

Helena’s own purse had thusly remained in the hands of her lady; standing innocuously beside Helena, an unremarkable dichotomy to the Princess’ radiant gleam, flushed cheeks, and the onyx prisms of her watchful eyes.  Her purse swelled and quickened, trembling to be used and gambled and ventured with caution thrown to the wind, for her riches exceeded threefold of what any Russian lord had since wagered.  It chimed heavily with Bezants: rounds of the purest gold, minted with the likeness of Emperor Augustus.  She was not likely to part with her precious coins; for few dared to challenge Helena––partly in fear of invoking her ire––and even fewer managed to best her.  The iron of Helena’s mind grew hot as another opponent lowered himself before the Dowager and began to shuffle through a deck of cards.  She whisked to the side of the newest challenger––a portly boyar, with the meaty, unskilled hands of a blacksmith––and lounged her arm across his shoulder.

The Princess leveled her gaze across Feodosia, threading her lithe fingers into the crosshatched material of the boyar’s tunic.  Helena felt him shudder beneath her touch.  “Tsarina Feodosia,” she greeted, her voice a honeyed purr.  “Whatever your opponent has offered you, I’ll offer double; but only if you’ll grant me the honour of a game.” Helena then extended a smile to the boyar, and directed him to quit his seat.  “And you, good sir, I am certain we’ll be in need of another carafe of wine.  Be a saint and fetch it for us?”

#fcodosia