The Settlers of Catan (Book)
The Settlers of Catan is a historical novel by Rebecca Gablé . It was first published by Verlagsgruppe Lübbe in 2003. It is based on the board game of the same name by Klaus Teuber , on whose initiative the novel was created. Based on the novel, Klaus Teuber developed the game Candamir in 2004 and Elasund - The First City in 2005 . Some characters in the novel were also included in the game The Princes of Catan in 2010 . In 2012, a calendar designed by Michael Menzel with motifs from the novel was published, some of which were incorporated into the English translation.
action
The book is about the village community from Elasund, a fictional village in the far north. The action takes place in the time of the Vikings . After an attack by the hostile Turon lands and a subsequent starvation winter, a large part of the village decides to look for an island that the richest and most traveled man of them, Olaf, once found by chance, and where life should be better. On the way they get caught in two storms, which leads them to the legendary island of Catan, which according to legend, Odin himself is said to have created. In the beginning the community sticks together, but over time a power struggle develops between the three most influential men: the main character Candamir, his foster brother Osmund and Olaf. The latter suffers from his dwindling influence in his new home and tries first of all to exploit and humiliate Candamir. When Olaf had to flee the settlement after a scandal, he founded a second settlement in the desert together with some of his sons and numerous runaway slaves, from where they regularly raids and raids the original village - according to the robbers in the board game of the same name.
But in addition to the external threat, there is also a competition between the open, sometimes capricious Candamir and his more sensible, but sometimes dogged foster brother Osmund. On the one hand, it is about a woman: Siglind, who joined the community during a stopover by travelers on the Cold Islands when she fled from her brutal husband, the ruler of the archipelago. With her self-confident and emancipated behavior, she makes an impression on both of them. Eventually she marries Candamir; however, he must also respect their wishes, and the two lead an unusually equal marriage for the time. On the other hand, the dispute is ignited by religion: Candamir's slave Austin, an Anglo-Saxon monk, brought Christianity to Catan and spread it. Siglind becomes a Christian, as does Candamir's younger brother Hacon, and Candamir - himself not very religious - tolerates the new faith. Osmund's wife Inga, on the other hand, the student and later successor of the “witch” / priestess / herb woman Brigitta, fights Christianity fanatically and finds the support of her husband. This conflict ultimately divides the entire community.
Ultimately, the book deals with the question of why, despite favorable external circumstances (fertile soil, good climate on Catan), no peaceful or even paradisiacal life is possible. It is also about religious tolerance and equality between men and women.
Acting persons
- Candamir
- Osmund (Candamir's foster brother)
- Olaf (richest man in Elasund and uncle von Osmund)
- Siglind (formerly Queen of the Cold Islands, later Candamir's wife)
- Harald (the village blacksmith)
- Hacon (Candamir's brother and later Harald's apprentice)
- Austin / Sachse (actually Byrtferth ; Anglo-Saxon monk, Candamir's slave, later free man in Catan)
- Brigitta (the connection to the gods)
- Inga (Osmund's wife and later priestess of Catan)
- Gunda (Frisian slave, initially Candamir's bed companion, later Hacon's wife)
- Jared (Olaf's eldest son)
- Lars (Olaf's second oldest son, after his death his successor as leader of the robbers)
- Asta (Candamir's sister, later Harald's wife)
Translations
- Polish: Osadnicy z Catanu. Translated by Lisiecka fame. Wydawnictwo Sonia Draga, Katowice 2007, ISBN 978-83-89779-99-1 .
- Dutch: De Kolonisten van Catan. Translated by Jaap van Spanje. De Fontein, Baarn 2005, ISBN 90-261-2213-6 .
- Italian: I Coloni Di Catan. Translated by Anna Carbone. Gruppo Editoriale Armenia SPA, Milano 2005 ISBN 88-344-1815-8 .
- English: The Settlers of Catan. Translated by Lee Chadeayne. AmazonCrossing, Las Vegas NV 2011, ISBN 978-1-61109-081-9 .
Individual evidence
Web links
- Website of the author, with excerpt
- Encyclopædia Catanica Volume 3 (Shows the connection between play and novel)