A Verray Parfit Gentil Orke
Jun. 28th, 2010 08:00 amOn the morning train, I found myself standing next to a character: big, burly, shaven-headed, in his prime, tattooed on his shoulder with an orc's head fanged and helmed, and wreathed about it this legend: ODERINT DUM METUANT.
Googling gives me the translation, "Let them hate, so long as they fear," and its attribution, to the very satisfactorily orcish Emperor Caligula. It also turns up a Warhammer Online guild of the same name, thus solving my small mystery of the day.
140 words of novel between today and yesterday, in the baking stone city without sea or mountain breezes to relieve it. Pretty weather and good for visions, but ill for work or sleep alike. I could take off my skin and dance around in my bones.