Author's Notes: This is a wholly fictional story and creative liberties have been taken with historical facts. No offense intended in any of it.
This is not a remake of Lawrence of Arabia. I offered several plot choices to Edna, who requested this title originally, and she opted for a completely different storyline. I will not give away the plot, but to give y'all an idea, it has some flavorings of 'Gladiator' and 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. I did this because we felt that it would be redundant to tell a story you can much easily watch on your own, I wanted to go back further in time to forgo all the technological things that typically surround Logan and Marie, and I just could not take apart a classic like Lawrence and not butcher it in the process. A story that good should be left alone (at least by ferrets).
Speaking of storyline, this story takes place at the turn of the first millennium during the time of the Himyarite rule, before the birth of Christ and before the introduction of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. Ancient Arabia is divided into two regions, the northernmost deserts where Bedouin nomads traversed the dunes, and the lush southern coast where city-states flourished in the Asir region by the Arabian Sea. The settled populations in the south were mostly wealthy merchants and lived off agriculture and trade, while the nomads of the north traversed the actual trade routes to the Roman Empire and lived pastorally. Occasionally, we will move into the wilds of Germania in Europe, on the fringes of Roman rule. I know this sounds a whole lot like Ancient History 101, but rest assure, the story will not read like a textbook. I like to subtly incorporate setting and culture, not beat you over the head with it. This will still be an L/R fic through and through.
About the rating. This story is R/NC-17 because like most of my stuff, it will include variety in the content department. That means sex, deaths, fluff, angst, drama, violence, etc. Expect it, so don't say you haven't been warned.
Also, while my goal is to keep our heroes' personalities recognizable, their names will change. Logan will become Lo'gan al Jabir. Before you freak, let me explain, I've never given Logan a last name (that's sacred territory in my book and unless the upcoming 'Origins' gives him one, he will forever remain just Logan in my world) but in order for this to work, Logan needed to be part of a tribe/clan. Men at this time did not have surnames, they simply took on the clan name. 'al' means house of. So Lo'gan al Jabir, means 'Lo'gan from the house of Jabir.' The split in his name was just an impulse on my part. Thought I'd go for different (hehehe) As for Marie, she gets a name change too. I can't explain why without giving it away, but she will be Mari of the Battavians. Not very telling, but you'll see later on. And for those that are curious, all the names I use in the story are real of the people and tribes that frequented these regions at the time.
Now, for those of you used to playing 'spot the X-Man' in my fics, I decided to up the challenge a bit for you. Like I explained in my WRFA interview, many of the x-characters we all know and love, could not easily fit in this particular AU world. For example, it would be ridiculous to try and make red-headed, all American, Dr. Jean Grey a Bedouin woman, so what I did instead was take the personalities of our motley crew and apply them to characters in the story. In other words; different bodies, same characteristics. For example, Xavier is basically Sheik Khalaf Jabir. While he is not a white bald dude in a wheelchair, Khalaf is a clan leader who is noble, wise and the voice of peace and coexistence in the story. And yes, he has a bum leg from his run in with Eric's Arabian counterpart as well. That one's a freebie for you. The rest you'll have to figure out. The only two characters that will physically remain the same are Lo'gan and Mari. The only adjustments in appearance will be that Lo'gan is kind of tanned with very long black hair (residual SailorLogan fantasy on my part) and Mari is henna'd to the nines (I had to, Lo'gan loved the idea and the visual was too good to let go)
Okay, now why all this foreshadowing? Just wanted to give you guys a heads up. I like this story so far and I want you to enjoy it too. If ferret fics in general make you cringe, don't bother with this one. I consider this a fair warning, but if you must flame, I'm ready at: s_ithier@yahoo.com.
Finally, a standing ovation and pleasant shirtless Logan dreams for my awesome (and speedy) fact checker, Diane. She spent a lot of time researching for me and every last Arabian culture reference in this fic originates with her. She is a fabulous reviewer and a great ally to have at your side when writing. Kudos, babe, I learned more from your notes than I ever did in my ancient history classes! You're getting great payback fics (plural) for sticking with ferret on this one. Also, nekkid Arabian Lo'gan dreams for Ann M, who is my very own wrbeta mentor and has the marvelous tenacity to put up with my boundless impatience, my tumultuous scheduling and my irreverence to proper comma usage. Along with betas Susan K and Pia, these ladies are a godsend.
That's it for now folks. As always, enjoy.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Dedicated to Edna, whose wonderful idea this was in the first place and RedRazor who cared enough to ask how I was doing. This fics for you. Many thanks to Diane, avid researcher and fact checker extraordinaire, who went above and beyond what I ever expected, to bring some semblance of realism to this story. Gracias. Also many thanks to Ann M, Pia and Susan K, my beta team on this one. [ These indicate a foreign language. ]