Inside the Game as History

Here is the final installment of my series of articles on the main characters in Banish the Snakes, who are called “saints” in the game. I hope you have enjoyed these short biographies. Perhaps they have brought some understanding to a little-known episode in world history.

Born in Ulster Province, Moninne was the daughter of Machta, a high chief of Ulaid. Tradition says that she was baptized as a child and also later confirmed by Saint Patrick himself. It is said that he predicted that her name would be remembered forever. Perhaps because of this prediction, she chose a religious life,

Right in the middle of this important era in Irish history is the curious story of Brendan the Navigator. Born into a common family of fishermen on the Atlantic coast of Munster, he was baptized by Saint Erc, and as a boy studied under “the Brigid of Munster”, Saint Ita. He continued his ecclesiastical studies

Along with its three patron saints (Patrick, Columba, and Brigid) Ireland also has four “most sacred” bishops. The list changes with the telling, but most versions include Ibar of Beggerin. Ibar has been linked with Brigid; he was a missionary bishop who was active around the same time and in the same areas where she

The Twelve Apostles of Ireland were a group of twelve monastic leaders who spread Christianity far and wide. They led expeditions throughout the island, and then out into the wider world: to return the faith first to the Picts, then the rest of Great Britain, and then onto the continent. The Western Roman Empire had

The first set of six characters from Banish the Snakes that we described were contemporaries of Patrick — or even his predecessors. We now begin the first of six characters that rose to prominence in the following century or so, and played prominent roles in completing the conversion of Ireland to Christianity. In a historic

This is the last of six installments describing the characters represented in the historic “at start” cards. Over the following weeks, I will describe each of the six cards that are shuffled into the deck at the beginning of the game, representing characters that rose to prominence after the initial group did their work in

Like Patrick, Iserninus was born in Roman Britain, but he was apparently a fluent Celtic speaker; perhaps his family stayed with the old language of the Britons instead of fully adopting Latin as their language at home. Tradition says that he was ordained as a deacon at Auxerre in Burgundy along with Patrick and Auxilius.