one of my history-inspired fantasy stories! brought to you by the fact that i have more information in my head about first-century judaea and the roman-jewish wars than anyone probably requires, and my readers are going to hear ALL about it.

naturally, the cultural worldbuilding of the land of kokhba is heavily influenced by bits and pieces of early christianity, second temple judaism, and gnosticism. those of you who were in the trenches with me some ten or twelve years ago will no doubt recognize that the title of this series comes from the gnostic gospel of judas, and those of you who are also near east ancient history nerds might catch that the setting’s name is a reference to simon bar kokhba, alleged messiah (if you happened to be rabbi akiva) and proven nightmare (if you happened to be a roman). it’s been great fun to build something fantastical off these foundations, and dig into some of the stranger types of magic that can be found in the bible and other near eastern mythologies.

out of all my stories this one probably intimidates me the most, because it insisted upon becoming a trilogy and now whenever i start tinkering with the outlines i get the feeling i’m biting off more than i can chew. it’s exciting, though. highly motivating. for sure. it is also probably one of my grimmer (though not, i hope, grimdark) stories, with multiple violent rebellions/violent quashings thereof, some gruesome magic, and a pretty high body count. so. uh. sorry to my characters for that, but when the central protagonists were inspired by the sicarii, well… things will get bloody.

“Look toward the gates, nowhere else,” Ardeth murmured.

Leah knew what he meant. As far off as Ghennereth, she’d heard of how the way into Yireh was paved with blood. For a mile before the city’s gates, corpses swung on the gallows that lined both sides of the road, hanging not by the neck, but by the ankle. That was how the Bellonese killed those they deemed rebels.
 
Ardeth’s back was to her as he continued on, and in spite of his warning she turned and glanced toward the gallows anyway. It felt wrong to walk past as though they weren’t there at all, and she thought that there must be a sacrament in bearing witness. Besides, she was not strange to death, not now. But the sight that met her nearly brought her to her knees. Dead beside dead beside dead, elders and children and all in between, the strong stripped of their strength by decay, the frail left to wither until only their bones were left. Beneath those that still hung from their bindings, more bodies lay on the ground, fallen on top of each other and bearing every sign of the attentions of the jackals that prowled when night fell.

Leah realized she’d been holding her breath and gasped, then retched and stumbled as the stench of rot attacked her in full force. Ardeth, well ahead of her, turned and ran back, only just catching her before she fell.

“I looked, too,” he said. “The first time I came by.”