This entire file began with the mental picture of Decimus Helvetius, the legion's primus pilus (top sergeant). I was watching the fourth episode of The Battle for Rome (known as Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire to those of you who may have seen it on a channel other than Discovery US) the other day, and there's a scene in which the Roman general (and future emperor) Titus Flavius is trying in vain to get his legionaries to quit sacking the Temple of Jerusalem and maybe consider putting out the fire. It involves a lot of fruitless yelling and the general sense of a situation that's spiraled completely out of control.Which immediately gave me the image of a harried centurion in the middle of a similar mess, yelling in vain for his men to snap to and follow orders, and then finally declaring, "You fucking guys are so decimated when we get back to base!"
That, in turn, led to the image of an Einherjar legion in which the response to that is for all the guys to just kind of slump and go "urrrgh," because decimation is really just painful and embarrassing if you're in an army where everyone comes back to life each morning. :)
--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/