Alien Romance, the daily comic strip

[gs_silva]

I wasn't going to post a daily comic today, but the prompts were so good! This one covers two: mythology across cultures (at least the first half of that one) and language-learning tricks.

Cathy explains to Maurice the fascination her city, Lyon, has with Saint Maurice, and he hands her a dictionary and asks her to tell the story in English. Maurice, the patron saint of Lyon, was a centurion from Egypt who was sent by Roman Emperor Maximian to secure Lugdunum, the previous name of Lyon. At some point in his service, he found himself required to slay Christians in the area. He refused to do it, so his unit was decimated in the Roman tradition. Eventually Maurice himself was martyred.

I portrayed him as a black African because that's how he appears in the painting on the Wikipedia page.

This scene is a bit of foreshadowing! Maurice isn't saint material, but he will provide a sanctuary for people in need at times.

Thanks to tesariel and ysabetwordsmith for the aforementioned prompts, and more prompts are welcome!

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

Comments

[moth2fic]

He might well have been Black African. Some of the emperors were too. Rome depended on citizenship not birthplace. I didn't know that story so thank you!

[gs_silva]

The name literally means 'black African' (or, technically, 'from North Africa') with the social implication that it suggests having dark skin. Of course, any old person can name their kid Maurice, and my Maurice wouldn't be North African. But he has a fairly generous amount of melanin!

I only color him that way in summer scenes, though.

Maurice & Saint Maurice

[tesariel]

I'm glad my prompt inspired you.
(I always love learning about and even using mythology/religion in my own writing, so I am glad it worked for yours as well).

Also I like the fact that Maurice, is learning about someone else who shares his name. (I realize I don't know a lot about Christian saints and the stories around them, compared to my knowledge of gods in different cultures, so it's cool to learn more about them).

Happy Holidays!

-Quinley (Tesariel)

Re: Maurice & Saint Maurice

[gs_silva]

Yeah! Like Cathy, I was raised on this stuff, and it's a very rich and underappreciated mythos full of stories that were unabashedly adapted, stolen, or meant to be told with a twinkle in one's eye. I think taking it all too seriously does the tradition a disservice. It can be as fun as Greco-Roman, Norse, or Indigenous mythology if you let it!

Happy holidays!