Lest Darkness Fall Revisited
Appendix N Revisited, Part 7
Hello, and welcome to the seventh installment of my "Appendix N Revisited" project! As I mentioned previously, in the course of this project, I want to revisit the classics of fantasy fiction, weird fiction, and science fiction that made up "Appendix N" to the original Dungeon Master's Guide by Gary Gygax, both to explore their influence on my Hobby (RPGs) and my own writing and conception of fantasy fiction. The seventh installment focuses on L. Sprague de Camp and Lest Darkness Fall. If you have never read the book and wish to avoid spoilers, you should stop reading at this point, as I shall be discussing the book in some detail.
L. Sprague de Camp (the L was for Lyon!), 1907-2000, was a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction. He also had the distinction of being one of the few authors specifically mentioned more than once by Gary Gygax in Appendix N - for "Lest Darkness Fall, The Fallible Fiend, et al." and with Fletcher Pratt for the "'Harold Shea' series, Carnelian Cube" . . . since I will be addressing Fletcher Pratt for Blue Star separately, I thought I would pick one of de Camp's independent works for this installment of this project. And as a professional Classicist, I could not resist starting with Lest Darkness Fall, about a man stuck in the past (near the beginning of the Dark Ages in Europe) who determines that the best thing that he can do is prevent darkness from falling - prevent the worst of the Dark Ages - with the 20th century knowledge he has brought with him to the past.
The Wikipedia article about de Camp points out that he was a materialist (like Padway!) "who wrote works examining society, history, technology, and myth" (I've read some of his nonfiction books on the history of technology). It also notes "a common theme in many of his works is a corrective impulse regarding similar previous works by other authors" - this certainly applies here! "Some, like Asimov, felt de Camp's conscientiousness about facts limited the scope of his stories: de Camp was reluctant to use technological or scientific concepts (e.g. hyperspace or faster-than-light travel)if he did not think them possible. This, his response to Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court was to write a similar time travel novel (Lest Darkness Fall) in which the method of time travel was rationalized and the hero's technical expertise both set at a believable level and constrained by the technological limitations of the age." So, in a sense, Lest Darkness Fall can be seen as a critique of the genre of sci-fi time travel into the past in which the time traveller is easily able to overawe the people of the past with their modern knowledge.
Ease of Availability
This is quite an easy book to find in paperback and Kindle format, but there does not seem to be an Audible audiobook available at this time.
Summary and Commentary - SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!
The first version of Lest Darkness Fall to see print did so in December 1939, and a later version was published in 1941. I start with this to give the reader some notion of the 20th century world in which de Camp was writing - on the eve of the Second World War, and rewritten during the war. When de Camp wrote disparagingly of Benito Mussolini, it was while Mussolini was an ongoing concern! The protagonist of the story is Martin Padway, a student of history and archaeology visiting Rome under Mussolini. His host, Professor Tancredi (named for the famous hero of the Crusades?), shares with him a theory of the nature of time. Time, he says, is like a tree. On occasion, he believes, when someone just seems to disappear off the face of the earth, they have somehow slipped down the trunk of the tree. Where they end up begins a new branch of the tree, completely separate from their original timeline (of course, otherwise all sorts of logical paradox problems arise). Tancredi further theorizes that history is tough four-dimensional web, but with weak points - focal points in history where backslippers in time would arrive - "places like Rome, where the world-lines of many famous events intersect."
Conveniently, of course, soon after Professor Tancredi shares these thoughts with Martin Padway, this is exactly what happens. Tancredi drops Padway off at the Pantheon, where Padway takes refuge from a growing storm, and as thew "grand-daddy of all lightning flashes" struck nearby, "the pavement dropped out from under him like a trapdoor" - he hung in the midst of nothing, blinded by the flash. Then suddenly his feet hit the ground with an impact "about as strong as that resulting from a two-foot fall." Padway does not realize it, but he has slid back down the trunk of time and come to rest in late antique Rome, at the beginning of a new branch of history caused by his own presence.
It is a common enough theme in Appendix N literature - the man outside of his own time and place, plucked from our world (well, in this case, now, the world of 1939 or so, a world now almost as alien in its own way!) and dropped into another. But instead of John Carter on Mars, or David Innes in Pellucidar, modern men making their way in alien worlds, Padway is in the past, in history, and cannot (like David Innes) hope to get help from his own world. Padway has only the contents of his own mind to sustain him, and no hope of anything else!
Padway runs into the Pantheon for shelter from the storm, thinking it odd that the electric lights were not on. As he looks around, he sees that the modern trappings of Rome have disappeared and been replaced with ancient and primitive features. Listening to the chatter of the people around him, Padway realizes it is not Italian, nor is it Classical Latin, but some "late form of Vulgar Latin, rather more than halfway from the language of Cicero to that of Dante." A nice bit of attention to detail on the part of de Camp, who could expect in 1939 that any reasonably educated person reading his book would understand the references. I think it's a bit harder for modern readers to follow, sadly.
Padway's first thought is to find a policeman, and tries out his ability to speak proto-Romance based on his knowledge of Latin and Italian. COULD this be done? Well, with fluency in Italian, and the kind of fluency in Latin expected of education before Sputnik made everything about STEM, yes, theoretically. When I traveled in Italy, I was able to make myself understood just based on my knowledge of Latin and the principles of linguistics (how words were likely to have changed into Italian, mostly). But for Padway, the very concept he's attempting - policeman - doesn't really translate; does he want an "agent of the municipal prefect"? He next tries to establish the date. Reckoning by Anno Domini (by the "Year of the Lord" - the number of years since the birth of the Christ) is not yet in fashion, but he learns it is 1288 Ab Urbe Condita (From the Founding of the City), which he is told is about "five hundred and something [years from the birth of the Christ]. Better ask a priest, stranger." (in fact, that would be the year 535 C.E. by out reckoning).
Having roughly established where and when he is, with no way to return to the middle of the 20th century, Padway takes stock of his prospects for survival. He has little on him of practical value - no real technology from the future of use to him, no books, little hard currency. And really, what could he have that would change the world? My first Latin teacher, Mr. Hodge, played a little game with our class where would try to come up with one single thing to bring back and time to give to Julius Caesar (or whomever) and change the world. People came up with guns ("What happens when it runs out of bullets?"), radios ("To whom would he speak or listen?"), telephones (This before the age of smartphones or even ubiquitous cellphones - "Same problem - to whom would he speak? And without the network of telecom wires and cables?"), etc. Most students did not realize the problem. Mr. Hodge had thought when he gave the assignment that no student would come up with anything that would significantly change history. I changed his mind - my answer was "the stirrup" - replicable technology that would have introduced heavy cavalry - the armored medieval knight - at least five centuries early and could have changed the history of the whole planet! I was proud of that one! But anyway, Padway has nothing like that. He goes to a goldsmith/money-changer named Sextus Dentatus to try to convert the modern coins he has with him into Roman currency. He is offered a solidus for the whole lot. While he considers this, he is hailed in Gothic by a stranger who assumes from his outlandish garb that he must be a Goth.
The stranger, Nevitta Gummud's son, convinces Dentatus to offer a better rate of exchange - 93 sesterces. Nevitta is there to get Dentatus to re-set a gem in a gold ring. He mentions that his house is under a curse, but when he describes the symptoms of this curse, Padway realizes that Nevitta is describing allergies, and suggests ways to alleviate the worst of the symptoms (have the dogs sleep outside, have the place swept well daily). Martin Padway, soon to be going by "Martinus," has realized that his 20th century knowledge can help him survive and perhaps even prosper in the past, if he is clever.
Padway gets his new friend to recommend a lawyer (Valerius Mummius), a physician (Leo Vekkos), a banker (Thomasus the Syrian), and a place to stay (Nevitta helps him find a place and haggle to rent down from 7 to 5 sesterces). The next day, Padway goes to Thomasus the Syrian to try to procure a loan to start a business -perhaps making brandy? While there, he learns that the current ruler in Rome is Thiudahad, who murdered his co-ruler Queen Amalaswentha (an event in history of which Padway, as a historian, was aware, thus enabling him to orient himself somewhat in time). Again, the modern reader may be scratching his head, but it would not be unreasonable to assume that a historian of 1939 would know about such historical events that are now no longer taught much!
Padway teaches Thomasus' clerks the use of Arabic numerals, and thus secures his loan at 10.5% interest. He hires a "dark, cocky little Sicilian named Hannibal Scipio" and they successfully distill some brandy, which impresses Thomasus. While out celebrating their production of brandy, a religious debate turns into a brawl, from which they are rescued by a Vandal named Fritharik Staifan's son. Padway hires out Fritharik as a guard a couple of weeks later. He also hires a serving-wench from Apulia named Julia.
Once he is better-established in 6th century Rome, Padway finally gets around to doing some reading at a local library, including some works long-lost by the 20th century (how envious I am!). At the library he meets the patrician Cornelius Anicius and his daughter Dorothea, who appears to be intended as a love interest, though she does not reappear much.
Padway and Thomasus visit the Baths of Diocletian, where Thomasus shares the latest news from Constantinople of a war between the Goths and the Byzantine Empire.
Fritharik catches Hannibal Scipio stealing copper from the distillery and fires him. One senses that this will have ominous repercussions later . . .
Soon thereafter, Padway begins to seriously contemplate the coming Dark Ages and whether or not he, one man, could change the course of history in order to somehow prevent the fall of civilization - "How to prevent darkness from falling?" Padway comes to the conclusion that he must build a printing press and become a printer. He soon discovers that creating a printing press from scratch is no easy task! None of the prerequisites, such as the paper, the ink, the type, and so forth yet exist! Nor are they easy to produce without the existing industries which make them!
In the middle of February, Padway gets a visit from Nevitta, who notices that Padway is falling ill. He sends for his physician, Leo Vekkos, whose primitive medicine frightens Padway. Julia the housekeeper sends for her priest. Padway even has to chase away an astrologer!
Sicily had fallen to the Byzantine general Belisarius in December. Now, in April of 536 C.E., Padway is ready to print his first book - an alphabet book, to help spread literacy. He also decides to begin a weekly newspaper - Tempora Romae ("The Times of Rome") - offered at 10 sesterces ("about the equivalent of fifty cents"). He enlists the city's scribes as journalists, but since there is no real concept of journalism as yet, he has to be careful of the gossip they keep turning in, particularly gossip about powerful nobles - Padway reminds himself that there is not yet any such thing as the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (which guarantees, among other things, freedom of speech and of the press).
Padway soon realizes he cannot continue to publish on vellum - there are not enough animals to skin to meet the demand! - so he has a felter experiment with making rag paper. This is the sort of thing that an educated person at the time this book was written might reasonably be expected to come up with, though I suspect it would be a bit more challenging for the average person now!
Over lunch with Fritharik and Ebenezer the Jew, Padway discovers that Thomasus the Syrian has sold the secrets of modern arithmetic for 150 solidi. Padway realizes that once he has loosed new technologies, they have a way of spreading without his knowledge or consent. Padway next tries to produce a clock, but finds this much harder than expected, even with his wristwatch for a model. He can't go to the Flaminian racetrack when Nevitta invites him because he's working on his newspaper, but agrees to visit Nevitta's farm in Campagna, where he discusses the future of the war against Belisarius with Nevitta's son Dagalaif.
When Padway arrives back in Rome, he finds himself under arrest by order of the municipal prefect on charges of sorcery. Upon arrival at the jail, there is a debate about jurisdiction in a capital case involving a non-Gothic foreigner. He eventually finds that the complaint was sworn out against him by his prior employee, Hannibal Scipio. Padway is able to offer a bribe in the form of a promise to set up semaphore telecommunications, and a wedding announcement in his newspaper for the prefect's daughter.
A semaphore telegraph sounds like exactly the sort of thing young D&D players were always trying to introduce to their medieval realms in the early 1980s. Primitive versions of existing tech, like the Professor on Gilligan's Island making cars out of coconuts - somewhat absurd, and only existing in the heads of characters because their players know about them and want them. But L. Sprague de Camp is being careful here, using technology that Padway would know about, be able to describe well enough to replicate, and is not absurd for its time and place - it's just that the Romans didn't think of it!
Padway gets some Roman senators to invest in his semaphore signal towers, but makes sure that he has controlling interest in his corporation. He visits Florianus the Glazier to get lenses for the telescopes he'll need . . . and finds the man just can't deliver. So many things we would take for granted that Padway would be able to have made are impossible to obtain! Eventually, he gets some crude telescopes made by a glazier named Andronicus in Naples.
Padway gets the Roman Telegraph Company under construction, but the Goths halt construction under suspicion that the project could be pro-Greek somehow! He needs to appeal to King Thiudahad. Padway journeys with Fritharik to Ravenna to seek an audience - requiring a bribe of 5 solidi and a bottle of brandy to get a timely one! Padway ends up bribing the king to get the project underway again!
But upon returning to Rome, Padway finds that his lieutenant at the newspaper, George Menandros, printed some libel about the Pope! He tries to round up all the papers before they are distributed, but gets arrested by the Gothic authorities (again), and needs to bribe his way out of trouble (again).
At this point, the first leg of the Telegraph Company is due to be completed in a week or so. Padway is coerced into a romantic liason with his housekeeper Julia, but when he breaks it off, he finds her priest, Father Narcissus, preaching against sorcery. "Padway feared a mob of religious enthusiasts more than anything on earth, no doubt because their mental processes were so utterly alien to his own." So Padway goes to the local bishop and reveals that he works hard to suppress scurrilous rumors about the clergy, and the bishop puts pressure on Father Narcissus to leave Padway alone.
Padway bets Thomasus one solidus that Evermuth the Vandal will desert to the Imperialists. The first message received over the Telegraph is that Belisarius landed at Reggio and that Evermuth had gone over to him. But now King Thiudahad orders Padway to stop operating the Telegraph - word of Evermuth's desertion had been all over Rome within hours of it happening, which was very bad for morale! Through Thiudahad, Padway meets Cassiodorus, who likes him, though he is horrified by Padway's plans to print his newspaper in Vulgar Latin. He makes some inroads into polite society ("a couple of very dull dinners that began at four p.m. and lasted most of the night"), and accepts an invitation from Cornelius Anicius, bringing Fritharik with him. He overhears Cornelius preparing a speech (plagiarizing Sidonius). He comes close to a romantic engagement with Dorothea, but nothing comes of it. Later, Padway learns that Cornelius Anicius wants Padway to publish his poetry.
In August of 536 C.E., Naples fell to Belisarius. A son of King Thiudahad names Thiudegiskel causes some trouble, trying to bully Padway, but he is chased off. Nevertheless, Padway decided to move his business to Florence, since as far as he could "remember his Procopius, Florence had not been besieged or sacked in Justinian's Gothic War" - but Padway is not half done with his preparations to move when soldiers come from the garrison to arrest him (again). He tries to bribe his way out of trouble again, but is unsuccessful this time - Thiudegiskel has accused him of colluding with the Greek Imperialists! Padway is put into a prison-camp at the north end of the city, between the Flaminian Way and the Tiber. After a few days, he hears about a moot called by the Goths to discuss the loss of Naples. He bets a patrician prisoner a solidus that "they depose Thiudahad and elect Wittigis king."
Thomasus the Syrian is able to bribe his way in to visit Padway, and even bring him things needed for painting. Padway offers the captain of the guards, Hrotheigs, a portrait, and after that, he is allowed to paint landscapes from atop the camp's walls (under guard, of course). Soon after, Thiudegiskel is imprisoned in the same camp, since his father was deposed. Padway begins to consider the problem of whether or not he can truly change history, to prevent a long and devastating war in Italy. He gets Thomasus to smuggle in some sulphur and rope for him; he uses the sulfur to cause a distraction and the rope to escape over the wall.
Padway goes to the home of Nevitta for help, and proposes to win the war for the Goths, thus changing history. Next, he goes to await Thiudahad on the Flaminian Way, hoping to catch the former king on his panicked flight to Ravenna. He warns Thiudahad that if he returns to Ravenna, he will be killed. The assassin sent to kill Thiudahad, Optaris, catches up with them and Padway is forced to fight him - he wins (more by accident than anything else).
By September, Padway and Thiudahad are back in Rome. Using knowledge acquired in the future that Belisarius will come up the Latin Way in November, Padway plans for the defense of Rome. He is able to calculate where Belisarius' army will make camp near Fregellae, and has a large catapult ready with loads of sulfur paste to shoot into the Byzantine camp. His Goths have shields painted white for recognition. It seems well-planned, but Padway runs into problems of execution when his Gothic artillery crew decide it more honorable to charge into combat than wait for orders to fire the catapult again (a similar point is made repeatedly in Harry Harrisons' The Hammer and the Cross about the unsuitability of the ancient warrior ethos to modern military discipline, with soldiers - in Harrison, Vikings - unwilling to restrain themselves and follow orders when there is personal glory to be won!). The Gothic commander Liuderis is killed, leaving Padway in command of the Gothic forces.
Padway captures Belisarius and tries to recruit him, but Belisarius will not forsake his oath - "the word of Belisarius is not to be questioned." He resolves to recruit Belisarius' secretary Procopius of Caesarea as a historian.
Next, Padway and Thiudahad intercept the returning generals Asinar and Grippas, and turn their armies against Wittigis in Ravenna. They get into the city and head to St. Vitalis' church, where Wittigis intends to marry Mathaswentha, daughter of the mudered Queen Amalawentha, against her will. Padway is able to capture Wittigis and send him to Thomasus the Syrian as a prisoner.
Padway thinks he is falling in love with Princess Mathaswentha, and she with him, but he discovers he does not truly love her when he begins to realize just how bloodthirsty she really is. He tries instead to arrange a match between her and Urias, Wittigis' nephew.
Padway plans to extend the Telegraph, move the capital to Florence, and start a newspaper and school there. He wants to put Urias in charge of an academy for Gothic officers, and to introduce the crossbow and better armor.
Trouble next comes in the form of Hlodovik, an envoy of the Franks, to whom Wittigis made certain promises as King that cannot be honored. Next, an envoy of the Bulgarian Huns - Boyar Karojan - they had an offer from Justinian to refrain from invading Byzantine territories, and the Huns wonder if they can get a better offer from Thiudahad. This envoy is sent away as well.
Then General Sisigis on the Frankish frontier sends word of suspicious Frankish activity, and a letter from Thomasus that someone tried to assassinate Wittigis (apparently an old time secret agent of Thiudahad), and a letter is received from Justinian refusing peace with the Gothic kingdom - and releasing Belisarius from his vows. So Padway shuffles around military commands, sending Belisarius to face the Franks.
Next, Padway tries to make gunpowder. The modern reader might be surprised that he did not attempt it earlier, but despite the ease with which this hurdle is cleared in popular culture (e.g. Bruce Campbell Vs. the Army of Darkness), the formula can be somewhat elusive if one does not already know how to make it. He a;so has trouble getting serviceable cannon from a brass foundry, but even once he has the cannon, he can't get the gunpowder formula quite right.
Padway gives Urias his blessing to court Mathaswentha.
Next, Padway gets word that Wittigis has somehow escaped detention, tried to kill Thiudahad, and was in turn killed by the guards. But Thiudahad is becoming increasingly unhinged, and is now generally recognized to have lost his mind. A new election is to be held at Florence, with Urias as a candidate after marrying Mathaswentha. Unfortunately, Thiudahad's son (and Padway's old nemesis) Thiudegiskel has a strong following among conservative Goths for the election - undermined a bit by having a child slave call him "atta" ("papa!") in public! So Urias is elected the new king.
They then receive word of a new Imperial invasion coming up from Bruttium. While Urias organizes the defense of Italy, Padway resumes experiments with gunpowder. The war goes poorly at first, as Thiudegiskel joins the Imperial forces. But Padway issues an edict in Urias' name emancipating the serfs of Bruttium, Lucania, Calabria, Campania, and Samnium to fight against the Imperial forces. A second edict recalls Belisarius from Provence.
By May of 537 C.E., Padway is at Benevento with his forces, bringing pikes to arm former serfs. He meets up with Dagalaif and learns that his old friend Nevitta died in battle. Padway tries to help with what techniques he can in the war against the Imperial forces. The arrival of Belisarius' reinforcements help to complete the victory.
Dorothea is furious with Padway for the financial ruin of her family due to Padway's policies freeing the serfs - no romance for Padway!
But Padway sees that his Telegraph, printing press, new postal system, etc. have become too well-rooted to be be destroyed by accident. He successfully turned a long, brutal, ruinous war into a short conflict, and changed the outcome. History had been changed. "Darkness would not fall."
That's the rather unsatisfying ending de Camp gives this piece. The rather terse assertion that darkness - the Dark Ages - would fail to come about due to Padway's interference, at least in his branch of history.
While one can see the influence of this kind of fiction on Gary Gygax, it is subtle and indirect. There is no module or campaign setting one can point to and say, "There! THAT was Gygax' homage to Lest Darkness Fall!" Time travel is not featured much in Old School modules. In fact, the only old module that addresses time travel well is CM6 Where Chaos Reigns, a great module I'd love to see revamped for a more modern audience - but it has little to do with Lest Darkness Fall.
There have been other attempts to use time travel in a FRPG setting (such as 2nd edition D&D's Chronomancer), but these were rather disappointing on the whole. It would be interesting to see someone attempt a OSR module inspired by Lest Darkness Fall.
Conveniently, of course, soon after Professor Tancredi shares these thoughts with Martin Padway, this is exactly what happens. Tancredi drops Padway off at the Pantheon, where Padway takes refuge from a growing storm, and as thew "grand-daddy of all lightning flashes" struck nearby, "the pavement dropped out from under him like a trapdoor" - he hung in the midst of nothing, blinded by the flash. Then suddenly his feet hit the ground with an impact "about as strong as that resulting from a two-foot fall." Padway does not realize it, but he has slid back down the trunk of time and come to rest in late antique Rome, at the beginning of a new branch of history caused by his own presence.
It is a common enough theme in Appendix N literature - the man outside of his own time and place, plucked from our world (well, in this case, now, the world of 1939 or so, a world now almost as alien in its own way!) and dropped into another. But instead of John Carter on Mars, or David Innes in Pellucidar, modern men making their way in alien worlds, Padway is in the past, in history, and cannot (like David Innes) hope to get help from his own world. Padway has only the contents of his own mind to sustain him, and no hope of anything else!
Padway runs into the Pantheon for shelter from the storm, thinking it odd that the electric lights were not on. As he looks around, he sees that the modern trappings of Rome have disappeared and been replaced with ancient and primitive features. Listening to the chatter of the people around him, Padway realizes it is not Italian, nor is it Classical Latin, but some "late form of Vulgar Latin, rather more than halfway from the language of Cicero to that of Dante." A nice bit of attention to detail on the part of de Camp, who could expect in 1939 that any reasonably educated person reading his book would understand the references. I think it's a bit harder for modern readers to follow, sadly.
Padway's first thought is to find a policeman, and tries out his ability to speak proto-Romance based on his knowledge of Latin and Italian. COULD this be done? Well, with fluency in Italian, and the kind of fluency in Latin expected of education before Sputnik made everything about STEM, yes, theoretically. When I traveled in Italy, I was able to make myself understood just based on my knowledge of Latin and the principles of linguistics (how words were likely to have changed into Italian, mostly). But for Padway, the very concept he's attempting - policeman - doesn't really translate; does he want an "agent of the municipal prefect"? He next tries to establish the date. Reckoning by Anno Domini (by the "Year of the Lord" - the number of years since the birth of the Christ) is not yet in fashion, but he learns it is 1288 Ab Urbe Condita (From the Founding of the City), which he is told is about "five hundred and something [years from the birth of the Christ]. Better ask a priest, stranger." (in fact, that would be the year 535 C.E. by out reckoning).
Having roughly established where and when he is, with no way to return to the middle of the 20th century, Padway takes stock of his prospects for survival. He has little on him of practical value - no real technology from the future of use to him, no books, little hard currency. And really, what could he have that would change the world? My first Latin teacher, Mr. Hodge, played a little game with our class where would try to come up with one single thing to bring back and time to give to Julius Caesar (or whomever) and change the world. People came up with guns ("What happens when it runs out of bullets?"), radios ("To whom would he speak or listen?"), telephones (This before the age of smartphones or even ubiquitous cellphones - "Same problem - to whom would he speak? And without the network of telecom wires and cables?"), etc. Most students did not realize the problem. Mr. Hodge had thought when he gave the assignment that no student would come up with anything that would significantly change history. I changed his mind - my answer was "the stirrup" - replicable technology that would have introduced heavy cavalry - the armored medieval knight - at least five centuries early and could have changed the history of the whole planet! I was proud of that one! But anyway, Padway has nothing like that. He goes to a goldsmith/money-changer named Sextus Dentatus to try to convert the modern coins he has with him into Roman currency. He is offered a solidus for the whole lot. While he considers this, he is hailed in Gothic by a stranger who assumes from his outlandish garb that he must be a Goth.
The stranger, Nevitta Gummud's son, convinces Dentatus to offer a better rate of exchange - 93 sesterces. Nevitta is there to get Dentatus to re-set a gem in a gold ring. He mentions that his house is under a curse, but when he describes the symptoms of this curse, Padway realizes that Nevitta is describing allergies, and suggests ways to alleviate the worst of the symptoms (have the dogs sleep outside, have the place swept well daily). Martin Padway, soon to be going by "Martinus," has realized that his 20th century knowledge can help him survive and perhaps even prosper in the past, if he is clever.
Padway gets his new friend to recommend a lawyer (Valerius Mummius), a physician (Leo Vekkos), a banker (Thomasus the Syrian), and a place to stay (Nevitta helps him find a place and haggle to rent down from 7 to 5 sesterces). The next day, Padway goes to Thomasus the Syrian to try to procure a loan to start a business -perhaps making brandy? While there, he learns that the current ruler in Rome is Thiudahad, who murdered his co-ruler Queen Amalaswentha (an event in history of which Padway, as a historian, was aware, thus enabling him to orient himself somewhat in time). Again, the modern reader may be scratching his head, but it would not be unreasonable to assume that a historian of 1939 would know about such historical events that are now no longer taught much!
Padway teaches Thomasus' clerks the use of Arabic numerals, and thus secures his loan at 10.5% interest. He hires a "dark, cocky little Sicilian named Hannibal Scipio" and they successfully distill some brandy, which impresses Thomasus. While out celebrating their production of brandy, a religious debate turns into a brawl, from which they are rescued by a Vandal named Fritharik Staifan's son. Padway hires out Fritharik as a guard a couple of weeks later. He also hires a serving-wench from Apulia named Julia.
Once he is better-established in 6th century Rome, Padway finally gets around to doing some reading at a local library, including some works long-lost by the 20th century (how envious I am!). At the library he meets the patrician Cornelius Anicius and his daughter Dorothea, who appears to be intended as a love interest, though she does not reappear much.
Padway and Thomasus visit the Baths of Diocletian, where Thomasus shares the latest news from Constantinople of a war between the Goths and the Byzantine Empire.
Fritharik catches Hannibal Scipio stealing copper from the distillery and fires him. One senses that this will have ominous repercussions later . . .
Soon thereafter, Padway begins to seriously contemplate the coming Dark Ages and whether or not he, one man, could change the course of history in order to somehow prevent the fall of civilization - "How to prevent darkness from falling?" Padway comes to the conclusion that he must build a printing press and become a printer. He soon discovers that creating a printing press from scratch is no easy task! None of the prerequisites, such as the paper, the ink, the type, and so forth yet exist! Nor are they easy to produce without the existing industries which make them!
In the middle of February, Padway gets a visit from Nevitta, who notices that Padway is falling ill. He sends for his physician, Leo Vekkos, whose primitive medicine frightens Padway. Julia the housekeeper sends for her priest. Padway even has to chase away an astrologer!
Sicily had fallen to the Byzantine general Belisarius in December. Now, in April of 536 C.E., Padway is ready to print his first book - an alphabet book, to help spread literacy. He also decides to begin a weekly newspaper - Tempora Romae ("The Times of Rome") - offered at 10 sesterces ("about the equivalent of fifty cents"). He enlists the city's scribes as journalists, but since there is no real concept of journalism as yet, he has to be careful of the gossip they keep turning in, particularly gossip about powerful nobles - Padway reminds himself that there is not yet any such thing as the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (which guarantees, among other things, freedom of speech and of the press).
Padway soon realizes he cannot continue to publish on vellum - there are not enough animals to skin to meet the demand! - so he has a felter experiment with making rag paper. This is the sort of thing that an educated person at the time this book was written might reasonably be expected to come up with, though I suspect it would be a bit more challenging for the average person now!
Over lunch with Fritharik and Ebenezer the Jew, Padway discovers that Thomasus the Syrian has sold the secrets of modern arithmetic for 150 solidi. Padway realizes that once he has loosed new technologies, they have a way of spreading without his knowledge or consent. Padway next tries to produce a clock, but finds this much harder than expected, even with his wristwatch for a model. He can't go to the Flaminian racetrack when Nevitta invites him because he's working on his newspaper, but agrees to visit Nevitta's farm in Campagna, where he discusses the future of the war against Belisarius with Nevitta's son Dagalaif.
When Padway arrives back in Rome, he finds himself under arrest by order of the municipal prefect on charges of sorcery. Upon arrival at the jail, there is a debate about jurisdiction in a capital case involving a non-Gothic foreigner. He eventually finds that the complaint was sworn out against him by his prior employee, Hannibal Scipio. Padway is able to offer a bribe in the form of a promise to set up semaphore telecommunications, and a wedding announcement in his newspaper for the prefect's daughter.
A semaphore telegraph sounds like exactly the sort of thing young D&D players were always trying to introduce to their medieval realms in the early 1980s. Primitive versions of existing tech, like the Professor on Gilligan's Island making cars out of coconuts - somewhat absurd, and only existing in the heads of characters because their players know about them and want them. But L. Sprague de Camp is being careful here, using technology that Padway would know about, be able to describe well enough to replicate, and is not absurd for its time and place - it's just that the Romans didn't think of it!
Padway gets some Roman senators to invest in his semaphore signal towers, but makes sure that he has controlling interest in his corporation. He visits Florianus the Glazier to get lenses for the telescopes he'll need . . . and finds the man just can't deliver. So many things we would take for granted that Padway would be able to have made are impossible to obtain! Eventually, he gets some crude telescopes made by a glazier named Andronicus in Naples.
Padway gets the Roman Telegraph Company under construction, but the Goths halt construction under suspicion that the project could be pro-Greek somehow! He needs to appeal to King Thiudahad. Padway journeys with Fritharik to Ravenna to seek an audience - requiring a bribe of 5 solidi and a bottle of brandy to get a timely one! Padway ends up bribing the king to get the project underway again!
But upon returning to Rome, Padway finds that his lieutenant at the newspaper, George Menandros, printed some libel about the Pope! He tries to round up all the papers before they are distributed, but gets arrested by the Gothic authorities (again), and needs to bribe his way out of trouble (again).
At this point, the first leg of the Telegraph Company is due to be completed in a week or so. Padway is coerced into a romantic liason with his housekeeper Julia, but when he breaks it off, he finds her priest, Father Narcissus, preaching against sorcery. "Padway feared a mob of religious enthusiasts more than anything on earth, no doubt because their mental processes were so utterly alien to his own." So Padway goes to the local bishop and reveals that he works hard to suppress scurrilous rumors about the clergy, and the bishop puts pressure on Father Narcissus to leave Padway alone.
Padway bets Thomasus one solidus that Evermuth the Vandal will desert to the Imperialists. The first message received over the Telegraph is that Belisarius landed at Reggio and that Evermuth had gone over to him. But now King Thiudahad orders Padway to stop operating the Telegraph - word of Evermuth's desertion had been all over Rome within hours of it happening, which was very bad for morale! Through Thiudahad, Padway meets Cassiodorus, who likes him, though he is horrified by Padway's plans to print his newspaper in Vulgar Latin. He makes some inroads into polite society ("a couple of very dull dinners that began at four p.m. and lasted most of the night"), and accepts an invitation from Cornelius Anicius, bringing Fritharik with him. He overhears Cornelius preparing a speech (plagiarizing Sidonius). He comes close to a romantic engagement with Dorothea, but nothing comes of it. Later, Padway learns that Cornelius Anicius wants Padway to publish his poetry.
In August of 536 C.E., Naples fell to Belisarius. A son of King Thiudahad names Thiudegiskel causes some trouble, trying to bully Padway, but he is chased off. Nevertheless, Padway decided to move his business to Florence, since as far as he could "remember his Procopius, Florence had not been besieged or sacked in Justinian's Gothic War" - but Padway is not half done with his preparations to move when soldiers come from the garrison to arrest him (again). He tries to bribe his way out of trouble again, but is unsuccessful this time - Thiudegiskel has accused him of colluding with the Greek Imperialists! Padway is put into a prison-camp at the north end of the city, between the Flaminian Way and the Tiber. After a few days, he hears about a moot called by the Goths to discuss the loss of Naples. He bets a patrician prisoner a solidus that "they depose Thiudahad and elect Wittigis king."
Thomasus the Syrian is able to bribe his way in to visit Padway, and even bring him things needed for painting. Padway offers the captain of the guards, Hrotheigs, a portrait, and after that, he is allowed to paint landscapes from atop the camp's walls (under guard, of course). Soon after, Thiudegiskel is imprisoned in the same camp, since his father was deposed. Padway begins to consider the problem of whether or not he can truly change history, to prevent a long and devastating war in Italy. He gets Thomasus to smuggle in some sulphur and rope for him; he uses the sulfur to cause a distraction and the rope to escape over the wall.
Padway goes to the home of Nevitta for help, and proposes to win the war for the Goths, thus changing history. Next, he goes to await Thiudahad on the Flaminian Way, hoping to catch the former king on his panicked flight to Ravenna. He warns Thiudahad that if he returns to Ravenna, he will be killed. The assassin sent to kill Thiudahad, Optaris, catches up with them and Padway is forced to fight him - he wins (more by accident than anything else).
By September, Padway and Thiudahad are back in Rome. Using knowledge acquired in the future that Belisarius will come up the Latin Way in November, Padway plans for the defense of Rome. He is able to calculate where Belisarius' army will make camp near Fregellae, and has a large catapult ready with loads of sulfur paste to shoot into the Byzantine camp. His Goths have shields painted white for recognition. It seems well-planned, but Padway runs into problems of execution when his Gothic artillery crew decide it more honorable to charge into combat than wait for orders to fire the catapult again (a similar point is made repeatedly in Harry Harrisons' The Hammer and the Cross about the unsuitability of the ancient warrior ethos to modern military discipline, with soldiers - in Harrison, Vikings - unwilling to restrain themselves and follow orders when there is personal glory to be won!). The Gothic commander Liuderis is killed, leaving Padway in command of the Gothic forces.
Padway captures Belisarius and tries to recruit him, but Belisarius will not forsake his oath - "the word of Belisarius is not to be questioned." He resolves to recruit Belisarius' secretary Procopius of Caesarea as a historian.
Next, Padway and Thiudahad intercept the returning generals Asinar and Grippas, and turn their armies against Wittigis in Ravenna. They get into the city and head to St. Vitalis' church, where Wittigis intends to marry Mathaswentha, daughter of the mudered Queen Amalawentha, against her will. Padway is able to capture Wittigis and send him to Thomasus the Syrian as a prisoner.
Padway thinks he is falling in love with Princess Mathaswentha, and she with him, but he discovers he does not truly love her when he begins to realize just how bloodthirsty she really is. He tries instead to arrange a match between her and Urias, Wittigis' nephew.
Padway plans to extend the Telegraph, move the capital to Florence, and start a newspaper and school there. He wants to put Urias in charge of an academy for Gothic officers, and to introduce the crossbow and better armor.
Trouble next comes in the form of Hlodovik, an envoy of the Franks, to whom Wittigis made certain promises as King that cannot be honored. Next, an envoy of the Bulgarian Huns - Boyar Karojan - they had an offer from Justinian to refrain from invading Byzantine territories, and the Huns wonder if they can get a better offer from Thiudahad. This envoy is sent away as well.
Then General Sisigis on the Frankish frontier sends word of suspicious Frankish activity, and a letter from Thomasus that someone tried to assassinate Wittigis (apparently an old time secret agent of Thiudahad), and a letter is received from Justinian refusing peace with the Gothic kingdom - and releasing Belisarius from his vows. So Padway shuffles around military commands, sending Belisarius to face the Franks.
Next, Padway tries to make gunpowder. The modern reader might be surprised that he did not attempt it earlier, but despite the ease with which this hurdle is cleared in popular culture (e.g. Bruce Campbell Vs. the Army of Darkness), the formula can be somewhat elusive if one does not already know how to make it. He a;so has trouble getting serviceable cannon from a brass foundry, but even once he has the cannon, he can't get the gunpowder formula quite right.
Padway gives Urias his blessing to court Mathaswentha.
Next, Padway gets word that Wittigis has somehow escaped detention, tried to kill Thiudahad, and was in turn killed by the guards. But Thiudahad is becoming increasingly unhinged, and is now generally recognized to have lost his mind. A new election is to be held at Florence, with Urias as a candidate after marrying Mathaswentha. Unfortunately, Thiudahad's son (and Padway's old nemesis) Thiudegiskel has a strong following among conservative Goths for the election - undermined a bit by having a child slave call him "atta" ("papa!") in public! So Urias is elected the new king.
They then receive word of a new Imperial invasion coming up from Bruttium. While Urias organizes the defense of Italy, Padway resumes experiments with gunpowder. The war goes poorly at first, as Thiudegiskel joins the Imperial forces. But Padway issues an edict in Urias' name emancipating the serfs of Bruttium, Lucania, Calabria, Campania, and Samnium to fight against the Imperial forces. A second edict recalls Belisarius from Provence.
By May of 537 C.E., Padway is at Benevento with his forces, bringing pikes to arm former serfs. He meets up with Dagalaif and learns that his old friend Nevitta died in battle. Padway tries to help with what techniques he can in the war against the Imperial forces. The arrival of Belisarius' reinforcements help to complete the victory.
Dorothea is furious with Padway for the financial ruin of her family due to Padway's policies freeing the serfs - no romance for Padway!
But Padway sees that his Telegraph, printing press, new postal system, etc. have become too well-rooted to be be destroyed by accident. He successfully turned a long, brutal, ruinous war into a short conflict, and changed the outcome. History had been changed. "Darkness would not fall."
That's the rather unsatisfying ending de Camp gives this piece. The rather terse assertion that darkness - the Dark Ages - would fail to come about due to Padway's interference, at least in his branch of history.
While one can see the influence of this kind of fiction on Gary Gygax, it is subtle and indirect. There is no module or campaign setting one can point to and say, "There! THAT was Gygax' homage to Lest Darkness Fall!" Time travel is not featured much in Old School modules. In fact, the only old module that addresses time travel well is CM6 Where Chaos Reigns, a great module I'd love to see revamped for a more modern audience - but it has little to do with Lest Darkness Fall.
There have been other attempts to use time travel in a FRPG setting (such as 2nd edition D&D's Chronomancer), but these were rather disappointing on the whole. It would be interesting to see someone attempt a OSR module inspired by Lest Darkness Fall.
I hope you enjoyed my thoughts about Lest Darkness Fall. Please join me again for future installments of Appendix N Revisited, on or around the Ides of each month!
Until next time . . . Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd
Villa Picena, Phoenix, Arizona
Running a bit late - originally this post was scheduled for July, and I didn't get around to posting it until September!
Villa Picena, Phoenix, Arizona
Running a bit late - originally this post was scheduled for July, and I didn't get around to posting it until September!
Next up for Appendix N Revisited: August Derleth (with H.P. Lovecraft)!
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