Welcome to Armies of the Black Pelican!
 
This is the revised blog studying the armed forces of Syldavia...and as was stated originally: the purpose of this is to document the creation of the uniforms of the Royal Syldavian army circa 1938-1939 during it's crisis with it's arch-nemesis Borduria, one of two countries derived from Hergé's Tintin story: “King Ottokar’s Sceptre”.  The story, for those sadly unfamiliar with the adventure, begins with Tintin uncovering a plot to overthrow the monarchy of a small and obscure country.  Tintin foils the plotters who sought to create a crisis of confidence in the King and then annex Syldavia to Borduria, a neighbouring state ruled by a totalitarian Fascist regime.

This has remained one of my favorite books from childhood and which fired my imagination for castles and adventure immediately and for years after.  As a result the inter war years are among my favorite periods in history, and I have often wondered what might have happened next.  Does Borduria attempt another more forceful invasion? What happens to Syldavia during the second world war? 

Since I enjoy the idea of reenactment, but I dislike the politics that usually accompanies them (by this I mean both the inevitable authenticity issues as well as the closeted fascist/hate group garbage).  So I thought, "why not recreate an army that never existed", no politics-no authenticity issues.   Other than the tiny detail that one cannot recreate what has never existed, this will be an ongoing venue for my plans and thoughts on (re)creating these uniforms.