Ru of the Picts

This page exists to announce work that is not yet finished, concerning events that were never entirely clear to begin with. Ru of the Picts is a historical comedy of the Severan campaign in Caledonia, reconstructed from songs that disagree with each other, depositions that disagree with the songs, and a small quantity of Roman paperwork that disagrees with everybody, including itself.

The present editor makes no claim to have resolved this. He has, however, scheduled several things.

Forthcoming

• Ru of the Picts The novel. In progress. The version that survives best so far.
• On the Sources of the Present Edition An editorial note explaining, at excessive length, why the sources cannot be trusted and must nonetheless be used.
• The Ru–Cruithne Problem: A Reconsideration On a damaged name, and everything later scholars have confidently built on top of it.
• Seven Endings: A Comparative Study of the Northern Return The present editor has collected seven distinct accounts of how this story concludes. He finds all seven equally plausible, which he recognises is not a compliment to any of them.
• On a Certain Resemblance Nobody Went Looking For Concerning a stone, a cup, and a coincidence the present editor did not invent and cannot now unsee.

Editorial note. This page, like the manuscript it announces, has made extensive use of artificial intelligence in matters of collation, reconstruction, and unwarranted confidence. Readers are encouraged to consult the primary sources themselves, once the present editor determines which ones those were.