The Sacred Band of Stepsons
The Sacred Band of Stepsons series of fantasy novels and stories take place in a myth-like milieu that mixes historical places such as Nisibis, Mygdonia and Chaeronea; warriors such as Theagenes (commander of the Theban Sacred Band at Chaeronea); gods such as Enlil, Maat and Harmonia; philosophers such as Heraclitus and Thales; cavalry tactics and customs such as homosexuality in the militaries of ancient Greece with those that exist only in fantasy.
In a fantasy context, this series explores the difficulties facing war-fighters in personal relationships and the enduring questions surrounding the military's historical mixing of homosexuals and heterosexuals in combat.
[1] Because Thieves' World was a "shared universe" where many writers could use the same characters, others wrote stories featuring the Stepsons and their immortal commander, Tempus.
Notable authors who wrote stories featuring characters from the Sacred Band of Stepsons include Chris Morris, Robert Asprin, Lynn Abbey, Andrew Offutt, and C. J. Cherryh.
[7] Tempus's leopard-skin mantle and boar's-tooth helmet, his choice of panoply and mount and food and drink, and many other allusions and references hark back to Homer's Iliad.
Paired Sacred Banders such as Critias and Straton have historical counterparts in ancient Greece; the witch who stalks Nikodemos through many novels and stories is called Roxane, who shares that name with the wife of Alexander the Great of Macedon.
Unlike today's prevailing vision of the Theban Sacred Band, the Stepsons mix pairs and individual war-fighters in a single unit.
The Sacred Band of Stepsons was developed by their fictional commander, Tempus, from an original ten pairs of lovers and friends, plus thirty single mercenaries.
To this end, the Stepsons rescued twenty-three pairs from the doomed Theban Sacred Band at the Battle of Chaeronea and integrated the survivors into their force.
Sworn to defend the Rankan Empire from its northern enemies, Tempus leads a band of mercenaries, wizards, and an extraordinary woman against the mages of Wizardwall.
"[2] Kirkus Reviews said of Beyond the Veil: "sword and sorcery reign supreme...main thrust here concerns the effort of immortal, sleepless, accursed Tempus, the junior wizard Randal, the knightly Critias to counter the evil conspiracies of the spirited witch Roxane -- a power struggle complicated by an assortment of slaves, walking undead, rogues, slavering beasties, aloof wizards, pregnant warriors, vile devils, demonic avatars, and meddlesome gods...absorbing and enjoyable fantasy.
The stories explore the fraught personal relationships of mixed hetero- and homosexual troops, only sometimes paired, as they fight for their commander, the immortal Tempus.
