Casca (series)

Cover of Casca 1: The Eternal Mercenary.

Casca is a series of paperback novels, and since January 2014, ebooks as well, created and written by author Barry Sadler in 1979. The stories revolve around the life of Casca Rufio Longinus, the soldier in the Roman legions who drove the Holy Lance into the side of Jesus Christ on Golgotha, and (in the novels) who is doomed by Jesus to wander the Earth aimlessly, always as a soldier, until the Second Coming. The character is loosely based on the Longinus legend of Christianity.

Sadler wrote some of the early novels in the series while the others were assigned to ghostwriters. Two subsequent novels (Casca 23: The Liberator and Casca 24: The Defiant) were written by Paul Dengelegi. The current author, Tony Roberts, has written all the novels since 2006, excluding Casca 29: Immortal Dragon and Casca 33: The Outlaw, which were written by Michael B. Goodwin. In April 2013, "Casca 29: Immortal Dragon" was removed from the list of books on casca.net due to alleged plagiarism, and shortly afterwards his other novel in the series, Casca 33: The Outlaw, was removed for the same reason. There is another story, in the form of an unauthorized audiobook, Casca: The Outcast, which was written by Paul Dengelegi in 2004.

Series overview

Casca was first introduced in Casca 1: The Eternal Mercenary. Little is known about his early life, although vague clues are given in various books in the series. He spent most of his adult life serving the Roman empire in the Legions, and there are some scraps of information about his family. He grew up in the hill country of Etruria, now known as Tuscany, to the north of Rome. The village name was Falerno.[1] When he was a child, he saw the 10th Legion march through his village en route to Gaul. His uncle, Tontine, enlisted into the army under Julius Caesar. His family died of plague and the young Casca burned the family home afterward. He enlisted into the 7th Legion at either Messilia[2] or Livorno.[3] His first battle under the eagle of the 7th was on the German border against the Suevii when 15,000 tribesmen attacked them at dawn. Only 300 made it back into the forests of Germania. He joined the 10th Legion and was sent to Jerusalem where he was assigned to the execution detail for three prisoners, amongst whom was Jesus.

At Golgotha, Casca stabbed Jesus with his spear, in an attempt to relieve Jesus of his pain and suffering. Jesus condemned Casca by saying, "Soldier, you are content with what you are. Then that you shall remain until we meet again. As I go now to My Father, you must one day come to Me." As Jesus died, blood from his wound trickled down Casca's spear and onto his hand, and Casca unknowingly tasted it after wiping sweat from his mouth, causing his body to convulse in pain. Casca did not initially understand what was happening to him until he was condemned to work in labor mines over a 30-year period. There he slowly discovered that he does not age and cannot be killed or seriously wounded. He learned that he is immortal, although he can feel all pain inflicted on his person. While his wounds heal completely, his body accumulates countless scars over the centuries.

Casca possesses an affinity for spoken languages. He can master most languages that he encounters, including their dialects, colloquialisms, and sub-tongues. Casca is also superbly skilled in edged weapons. He was first trained as a Roman Legionnaire with the Gladius Iberius sword. He later improved those skills as a Gladiator in the Circus Maximus.

Casca is easily recognizable by the long facial scar that he possesses. It runs from the side of his eye to his mouth in a crescent shape, giving him a permanent sneer. Casca acquired the scar while trying to short-change a local prostitute in the Holy Land. Over the years many onlookers assume that Casca received the wound while in battle; Casca just chuckles and thinks, "If they only knew."

Casca knew some of the most famous people throughout history, including:

Other characters

Dr. Julius Goldman

He was a surgeon in United States Army with the rank of Major, stationed at the 8th Field Hospital in Nha Trang during the Vietnam War. He first met Casca when the latter was brought into the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and a large mortar shell fragment lodged in his skull and into his brain, which should have been fatal. Dr. Goldman discovered Casca's unusual healing properties and became his biographer and chronicler after hearing his story. He is often visited by Casca for updates on his life and experiences throughout the ages. Dr. Goldman later leaves the Army and establishes his own practice.

As Dr Goldman ages and reaches his mid-70s, he introduces Casca to Danny Landries, the son of his former army comrade, Colonel Bob Landries. Danny first meets Casca in book 34 (Devil's Horseman) and gradually takes over from Goldman as his biographer.

The Brotherhood of the Lamb

The Brotherhood of the Lamb is a fanatical religious sect and sworn enemy of Casca. It is run by an elder, who oversees the sect's hierarchy, the Inner Circle. The circle is composed of an elder and twelve other specially chosen brothers who run the militant religious organization. They preach force and power over traditional virtues of piety and compassion.

The Brotherhood was founded by Izram, a man who called himself the Thirteenth Disciple, in the wake of Jesus's death at the hands of Casca's spear thrust. He purchased the spear from some of Casca's comrades to be used as a relic and symbol for the events on Golgotha. Known as "The Spear of Longinus", the sect worships the spear which forms the central focus at prayer times.

On the most holy of days in the Brotherhood's calendar, the sect recreates the crucifixion, right down to killing one of their blessed brethren who has been selected to act the part of Jesus. Another, usually the Elder, plays the part of Casca, dressed in Roman uniform, who executes "Jesus" with their holiest relic, the Spear of Longinus.

Izram went into the wilderness for forty days before a revelation came to him: Jesus said to Casca, "Soldier, you are content with what you are, so shall you be until we meet again". Therefore, he reasoned that when Jesus returned at the Second Coming he would meet Casca. The Brotherhood keeps Casca in their sights until that day; though they may hate Casca for his actions on Golgotha, they must not prevent him from meeting their Lord. Casca Longinus is their path back to Christ and they will stop at nothing in keeping their most hated enemy in their sights for all time. On occasions they inflict severe pain on Casca as punishment for his actions. Once, the Elder Dacort severed Casca's hand for daring to touch the Spear at their monastery in Asia. In Casca 6: The Persian, Rasheed, a minor acolyte, arranges to have Casca burned at the stake, thinking it just punishment for spearing Jesus. In Casca 9: The Sentinel, Elder Gregory murders Casca's adopted son, Demos, and his woman, Ireina, for which Casca crucifies Gregory to death. Casca was also a prisoner of the Brotherhood, in Casca 18: The Cursed and Casca 4: Panzer Soldier. In Casca 28: The Avenger he kills Elder Thassus as part of his mission of vengeance.

In the novel Casca 35: Sword of the Brotherhood, the spear of Longinus is stolen by the Sassanid Persians and Casca is blackmailed into retrieving it.

Known Elders of The Brotherhood of the Lamb:

The Longini

In Casca 28 we are introduced to the Longini, a family that is created to protect Casca through his long life. Unbeknown to the Eternal Mercenary, this family slowly grows and seeks to thwart the efforts of the Brotherhood. We encounter them next in Casca 40 where Isabella Longini helps Casca during WWII, and again in Casca 42. Unlike the common habit where when a woman marries a man and loses her maiden name, in all cases of marriage the union results in the family name of Longini being retained, thus preserving their identity to one another.

Books in the series

Credited to Barry Sadler, the original author

By other authors

NOTE: Books #29, "Casca: Immortal Dragon" and #33 "Casca: the Outlaw" have both been proven to be plagiarized from other books and are a) no longer considered "canon", b) These books have been pulled out of the order and will no longer be published, and c) These book numbers will not be re-issued, they will simply be skipped over and ignored. [4]

Audiobook

In 2004, former Casca author Paul Dengelegi wrote an unauthorized story titled Casca: The Outcast. Without the permission of the Casca publishers, he contracted with Americana Audio to have it published as a three-disc audiobook CD. This was subsequently withdrawn in 2006 following the collapse of Americana Audio.

Ebooks

From January 2014, the series was put into ebook format, and all existing books in the series with the exception of the two Paul Dengelegi novels (23 & 24) and the two removed novels of Michael Goodwin (29 & 33) were available in kindle format from all amazon sites with effect from 3 June 2014.

Notes

  1. ↑ Casca 15: The Pirate
  2. ↑ Casca 2: God of Death
  3. ↑ Casca 1: The Eternal Mercenary
  4. ↑ (http://www.casca.net/?p=1931 quoted from the current author and publisher)
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