Fun with Maps isn't just about digital maps for the present. It can include historical maps, such as for Felix Legion.
Cover image uses a map from Encyclopedia Britannica which had been modified for completeness by @magnacarta for this post.
Normally, the "Fun with Maps" subseries of the GHAWG Behind the Scenes series of posts focuses on the path taken by David Guardia on his Epic Ride. As shown by the cover image, the topic for this post is the region of Pannonia which existed during the Roman Empire.
Why is this map relevant to The GHAWG Universe? Keep reading!
About David Guardia's Epic Ride
Originally his ride was between his hometown of Bayonne, New Jersey, US to Sturgis, South Dakota, US where the annual motorcycle rally is held every August. Before leaving STURGIS, his ride had transformed into The Epic Ride.
How did David Guardia's long-deferred ride to STURGIS become The Epic Ride? Due to a sequence of events which had taken place before and after reaching STURGIS, his life had been transformed. This transformation affected life after STURGIS for him.
The expected thing would have been for him to return home to Bayonne. Even though he had no way of knowing what was going to happen after the rally at STURGIS ended, he himself sensed that he was not returning to New Jersey. It's one reason he passed {Guardia Courier Services} along to Slim (whose real name is Li Jun Fan, which will be backfilled into GHAWG soon) before starting his ride.
What began as "just" a ride to STURGIS will have him go to the Pacific Northwest, then close to California's border with Mexico, then to Chicago, Illionois, US via what would have been the iconic Route 66, then to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, then west toward Iowa.
About Those Yellow Vests Used in Portland
After delivering a message from the uncanny Manny Rey to Harry Hoqualogue at STURGIS, Harry himself handed David a message addressed simply to "The Courier"](@magnacarta/re-magnacarta-25z4mzoc2). This message, meant for David, directed him to ride through Portland, Oregon, US slowly at night. The message included a phtograph showing the ride in progress, and notable in the photograph are riders wearing fluorescent safety yellow vests.
For much of the ride after leaving Portland, no other mention of these vests was made. Fast-forward to zapfic entries from mid-March 2024, and David thought it was time for a "fashion upgrade" for Our Heroes (now consisting of The Brothers Marchenko (Hank & Frank), the foreign exchange students from UNC (Sanjay Rampersad and Lionel Odunsi), the refugee from the far-left activist life (Lindsay Etxeberria), and the independent trucker who became his wife (Rhonda Bella Guardia) during the course of his Epic Ride).
It seems he had been thinking about this "fashion upgrade" for a while, but it took a chance viewing of Gladiator for a concept to crystallize what he wanted for the upgrade. From this chance viewing of Gladiator, he took away two words which rang through his mind:
"Felix Legion"
As David must have done, I needed to do some research into the history of the Felix Legion referred to in the movie. After my first try at research, it turned out that most of the Top 100 entries referred to Gladiator, which did me no good.
My next attempt was more promising. Instead of searching for Felix Legion, I switched to a more general search term; something like Roman legions. This search was more promising. Although I normally avoid Wikipedia, in this case my search was productive. Encyclopedia Britannica was useful for finding information about the founder of the historical Felix Legion, the Roman Emperor Vespasian.
Among my discoveries:
- It turns out that it was one of several legions designated "Legio Quarta" (4th Legion), and each of these went by different names. The previous 4th Legion had been named Legio IV Macedonica, and it served the Roman Emperor Vespasian (Caesar Vespasianus Augustus).
- Around 70 A. D., Emperor Vespasian (born as Titus Flavius Vespasianus) disbanded this 4th Legion due to lack of trust in the loyalty of its men. In its place, Vespasian founded Legio IV Flavia Felix ("4th Lucky Flavian Legion").
- It is Legio IV Flavia Felix which we see at the start of Gladiator, serving Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) and under the command of Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe), native of Hispania.
Connection to Hive Blockchain
Fellow Hiver @goddesseva may appreciate these 2 details from The Felix Legions Steam Group at Steamcommunity.com:
- According to the Overview section of the page, "After the Dacian invasion of 86 [A. D.], Domitian moved the legion to Moesia Superior, in Singidunum (modern Belgrade, Serbia));
- Another part of modern-day Serbia where Legio IV Flavia Felix saw action was Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica, Vojvodina), the key town of the Sava River valley.
Bonus Discovery for The GHAWG Universe
One detail which fell into place for me by pure good luck: the logo for Legio IV Flavia Felix was a lion.
This means I can move the Templar motif to the background and place a lion's head at the center of the logo being designed by David Guardia for Our Heroes, to be rechristened Felix Legion.
This is
[!!]See you next time for another edition of Fun with Maps!
[!!] -- Graphic signature was designed by @ahmadmanga