The Forest House （Avalon #2）
Marion Zimmer Bradley
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Those who are familiar with Bellini’s opera Norma will recognize the origins of this story. In homage to Bellini, the hymns in chapters five and twenty-two are adapted from the libretto of act I, scene i, and those in chapter thirty from act II, scene ii. The hymns to the moon in chapters seventeen and twenty-four are taken from the Carmina Gadelica, a collection of traditional Highland prayers collected in the late nineteenth century by the Reverend Alexander Carmichael.
PEOPLE IN THE STORY
* = historical figure
（ ）= dead before story begins
ROMANS
Gaius Macellius Severus Siluricus （called Gaius, native name Gawen）， a young officer, born of a British mother
Gaius Macellius Severus, senior （called Macellius）， father of Gaius, Prefectus Castrorum of the II Adiutrix Legion at Deva, Equestrian rank
（Moruadh, Royal Woman of the Silures, mother of Gaius） Manlius, physician at Deva
Capellus, Macellius’s orderly
Philo, Gaius’s Greek slave
Valerius, secretary to Macellius
Valeria （later called Senara）， half-Briton niece of Valerius
Martius Julius Licinius, Procurator （financial officer） of Britannia
Julia Licinia, his daughter
Charis, her Greek maid
Lydia, nurse to her children
Licinius Corax, the Procurator’s cousin in Rome
Marcellus Clodius Malleus, senator, Gaius’s patron
Lucius Domitius Brutus, Commander of the XX Valeria Victrix Legion after its move to Deva
Father Petros, a Christian hermit
* （Gaius Julius Caesar, "the deified Julius,” who began the conquest of Britannia）
* （Suetonius Paulinus, Governor of Britain during Boudicca’s rebellion）
* （Vespasian, Emperor AD 69–79）
* （Quintus Petilius Cerealis, Governor of Britain AD 71–4）
* （Sextus Julius Frontinus, Governor of Britain AD 74–7）
* Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Governor of Britain AD 78–84
* Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, his son-in-law and aide, a historian
Sallustius Lucullus, Governor of Britain after Agricola
* Titus Flavius Vespasianus, Emperor Titus AD 79–81
* Titus Flavius Domitianus, Emperor Domitian AD 81–96
* Herennius Senecio, a senator
* Flavius Clemens, a cousin of Domitian
BRITONS
Bendeigid, a Druid living near Vernemeton Rheis, a daughter of Ardanos and wife of Bendeigid
Mairi, their eldest daughter, wife of Rhodri
Vran, her young son
Eilan, their middle daughter
Senara, their youngest daughter
Gawen, Eilan’s son by Gaius
Cynric, foster son of Bendeigid Ardanos, Arch-Druid of Britannia Dieda, his younger daughter
Clotinus Albus （Caradac）， a Romanized Briton Gwenna, his daughter Red Rian, an Irish raider
Hadron, one of the Ravens, father of Valeria （later called Senara） * （Boudicca, "The Killer Queen,” queen of the Iceni, leader of the revolt in AD 61） * （Caractacus, a leader of the rebellion） （Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes, who betrayed Caractacus to Rome） Calgacus, Caledonian chieftain, who led the tribes at Mons Graupius