Camelot Geography

It was a time of myth and magic, when the fair folk of Avalon would occasionally travel between the worlds to visit the British Isles. The Romans had retreated from Britain, while encouraging their pagan Germanic foederati – the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes – to take their place, particularly following their success against Attila the Hun in 451 A.D. As the Angles and Saxons conquered the southeast of Britain, the Celtic druid sorcerer Merlin saw that a king would arise in Camelot to unite the Britons and inspire countless generations of heroes to come.

Merlin's first choice was Uthur Pendragon, a stalwart warrior; however, circumstances led Merlin to decide Uthur's first-born son, Arthur, was instead the destined king. Merlin acted as Uthur's and later Arthur's court wizard and advisor. With Merlin's guidance, Arthur established the Knights of the Round Table, a knightly order composed of noblemen and men-at-arms where all the knights were considered "equal", though in practice most deferred to King Arthur and several notable knights, such as Sir Lancelot and Sir Gawain, for leadership. Several of the Knights of the Round Table hailed from Briton kingdoms in Wales, Armorica (later Brittany in France), and Ireland, as well as the Kingdom of the Franks.

Camelot stood in what would become Somerset County, at or near the site of Cadbury Castle. As such, it stood as a bastion against the Saxons of the neighboring Kingdom of Wessex. It is unclear how many battles were fought between the Britons and Saxons in this area, nor where they were fought. By 520 A.D., Camelot and Wessex had signed a peace treaty, although tensions were still high a few years later. Despite this, in 527 A.D., Camelot and Wessex united briefly to war against Mercia, ruled by the Angles, to the north.

The Castle of Camelot where Arthur held his court sat atop a hill with towers overlooking the surrounding land, and several tall stone walls surrounding it in a series of rings, the doors of which did not line up so as to make the job of besieging armies harder. The town itself grew up around the hill, and at its height reached a population of around 5,400; some have called Camelot in its time the largest of the Briton cities. The architecture of the town of Camelot was both functional and artistic; the people took pride in their town, making it a work of art. Unlike other towns, Saxon and Brittonic alike, Camelot had cobblestoned roads with Roman-style drainage gutters along the side, and trees lined every road into the city. Surrounding the town were wide fields used for farming and herding livestock.

The official religion of Camelot, like that of most of the Celtic kingdoms of the British Isles, was Christianity. Among the populace, the older Celtic religion still held sway (particularly among those that treated with the fae); the pagan Germanic gods (the Asgardian gods under another name) are worshiped in nearby Wessex. Magic was not unknown in Camelot, as Merlin and his student Morgan la Fey were known magicians; unknown to most, including apparently Arthur himself, Queen Guinevere was also a practicing sorceress. However, most knights and the populace held magic in fear and awe, or considered it a throwback to pagan times; those few who practiced magic tended to keep it hidden; indeed, the Queen kept her practice of magic secret from the King.

One of the Knights of the Round Table, Prince Mordred of Lothian (a kingdom bordering the Anglic kingdom of Bernicia and the chiefdoms of the Picts), the nephew and illegitimate son of Arthur from the King's half-sister Morgause (who had a one-night stand with Arthur at the start of his reign without either realizing their familial connection), coveted the throne of Camelot for his own, yet was passed over as heir in favor of Mordred's half-brother Gawain. Mordred paired with his aunt Morgan la Fey, another of Arthur's half-sisters, to indirectly challenge Arthur for the throne.

Legend holds that Camelot fell to the treachery Mordred at the Battle of Camlann circa 537 A.D.; legend also holds that Arthur was transported from the battlefield to his half-sister Morgan la Fey's castle in Avalon to be healed, where he continues to slumber today. These events – and Arthur's final fate – have yet to be depicted, so it is unclear just how close the legends hold to the actual reality.

First Post-Reboot Appearance: THE KNIGHTS OF CAMELOT #1.