The Art of Amalaric 9d - Afghan Detour

 

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For my fourth and final 'bonbon' I return to a work that featured briefly in Part 8. It differs from the stories of deliberate abductions of innocents because this man becomes a captive as a direct result of being a soldier. He's a Corporal, name unknown, a Prisoner of War, strictly speaking, but his capture is a less-than-glorious result of over-enthusiastic aggression against the inhabitants of a quiet village in poppy-growing country. You get a sense of his 'bad ass' character in the image above.

He loses contact with his comrades in the side streets and ends up surrounded by understandably hostile and armed locals giving him no option but to surrender. By the time his disappearance is noticed he is tied up and on his way to a distant place where his comrades wouldn't even think to look for him, there to be handed over to the dreaded local militia. Their first act is to make him strip down to his briefs. This has the multiple benefits of (a) humiliating him, (b) depriving him of his status as a soldier, (c) impressing on him how helpless he is and (d) turning his underpants into a prison uniform and low tech 'tag', making escape as difficult as if he were chained to a wall.

In Amalaric's picture he has a chance to reflect on his actions and his parlous position. You can almost see him thinking 'Oh shit!' and bracing himself for what comes next. The garb of his guard underlines the gulf between them, none of his body can be seen and the practical face-covering of desert dwellers gives him a sinister and menacing air. There's not even the comforting sense that he is just another soldier doing his duty.

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In due course the Corporal is indeed chained to the wall (of course!) and there he forfeits the last shreds of his modesty. He's put on display for locals to come and inspect. For some it will be their first sight of an American in the flesh, so naturally they prod and poke him, they tease and ridicule him, they show their anger and contempt too too and he has to take it all, impotent to defend himself. Trashing their homes doesn't seem so clever now and they haven't even started to interrogate him yet. His face shows his mounting fear as he wonders what it will feel like to be whipped, for that is what he has been promised.

The Corporal has little information to give to his captors, but they torture him anyway and grow to respect his resilience and courage. That's little comfort to him in his agonies but maybe it helps to save his life. Maybe the satisfaction they derive from testing his unbreakable spirit is just too good to end. The unexpected discovery of such a manly specimen from amongst the evil enemy warrants better. It makes him a trophy captive and so gives them kudos amongst friends and colleagues.

As you might expect they soon want to see and test the strong American for themselves and as his reputation grows payment can be demanded for his 'performances'. Given the intense bodily involvement that defines these encounters, it's to be expected that some men will want to conclude with sexual intimacy. It matters not whether it's his natural inclination, in fact divulging the existence of 'the girlfriend back home' only adds desirability.

 

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Unfortunately keeping him alive means another mouth to feed and he also has to be kept in peak condition for the 'entertainments' and allowed to recover from the extremes of over-enthusiastic tormentors. In the end someone has the bright idea of using him to pull the plough out in the fields. This enables him to earn his keep and get some fresh air while maintaining his strength and fitness. Using him as a substitute for a dumb beast reminds him of his still lowly status, popular though he might have become with some men. It's a sort of enslavement within an enslavement.

Needless to say he doesn't get his own clothing back, nor is he even allowed to wear the threadbare, filthy cast-offs of others. He's always tied up when he's not imprisoned, since he's still an enemy soldier and cannot be trusted. More importantly, if he runs off and falls into the hands of the locals then he'll probably end up worth nothing at all. For ploughing he's tied to a yoke improvised from a branch. It's similar to that used to restrain Kelvanus, thebarbarian Prince (in the previous post) and in a sense that is what he has become in his own right, a Prince of Pain, you might say. Whatever would his rural parents think of this?

~

This is an exceptionally compact story but lacks none of Amalaric's loved ingredients. The imagery is attractive and richly composed, successfully invoking the 'stranger in a strange land' theme that was explored in Part 1 of this series. For a soldier, being cut off from his unit which is like a second family (sometimes more) and then plunged into a culture so utterly different from his own is a double shock. But more immediately than that, it is totally bewildering and you sense that in the images. In the narrative, Amalaric ensures that the Corporal's captors go out of their way to maximise his confusion and uncertainty, brutally imposing their mastery on him and their contempt for his impudence in invading their homeland.

Read 'Afghan Detour' at Telemachus12

~

The military setting of this story leads us into Part 10 'Military Manoeuvrers' (pending)

Read the whole of this series from Part 1

The Art Of Amalaric 9c - The Barbarian Prince

 

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'From Barbarian Prince to Roman Slave' is the self explanatory title of the story of Kelvanus, a British leader in Ancient Times who finds that visiting the Continent to visit relatives is not without risk. His story has some similarities to that of Owein the Celt in 'Ancient History' (Part 2 of this mitchmen series, picture 211 onwards). However, it's the beautiful imagery that draws me to it, not least the handsome man who plays Kelvanus. He is also gifted with some memorable clothing and settings in which to play. I'm not usually a fan of historical costumery but the hero looks terrific in this scanty garb with the chunky belt of a champion and just a hint of S&M interest in the harness and shoulder armour. Usually, though, it's better to dress down when visiting foreign lands, particularly those where slavery is practised.

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This image of Kelvanus in captivity makes a stark contrast with the holiday snap above. He's reduced to a loin cloth now with ropes substituted for his weaponry and finery. The ruins behind him and barren desert beyond sum up the bleakness of his situation. His ginger hair has begun to bleach in the torrid sun. Sadly for him, the luscious, sweaty muscularity revealed by stripping off his clothes has only enhanced his desirability as an acquirable object.

We know little of what Kelvanus is really like as a man, but if he could be compared with a modern prince we might expect to see his outward attractiveness and record of military prowess complemented by a wayward, sometimes wilful spirit. He might be inclined to rebel against his family and perhaps forge inappropriate and troublesome relationships. As a result, there might be those in his family who will shed few tears over his forced conscription into the ranks of unpaid, physical, hard labour in a very distant land.

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We learn little of Kelvanus life as a slave except that it's awful and so he escapes. I love this picture of him wandering into a tropical forest which seems the very epitome of freedom. Pitching a naked man into the 'rawness' of this lush greenery would work as an image even without the storyline of an escaped slave trying to evade his pursuers. Imagine him as a modern Prisoner of War who has also escaped from his captors. 

His nakedness shows how completely his captors have tried to subjugate him, but he has shown he still has the spirit to escape. Nevertheless, he looks around dubiously here as though sensing hidden danger close at hand in the murmurs of this alien wildness. Dangers which he is ill-equipped to deal with since he is 'sans everything'. The ferns and leaves reach out to brush his thighs reminding him of that fact and responding to it, drawing him in. 

Beyond him, a bright but misty clearing seems to suggest now the place he has come from wasn't that bad, although it's murkiness might shroud the closeness of his pursuers, or perhaps mark the approach of a strange denizen of the forest which harbours malign intent towards 'intruders'.

Putting cute models into 'back to nature' settings like this is a stock device for photographers but somehow here (by pulling back and using dark tones, I think) Amalaric has given the forest that slightly sinister 'presence' that is more than just a pretty backdrop.

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I'm spilling the beans about what happens here, but this is by no means the end of the story and I wanted to include this image for bondage ingredient. The dashing of a man's yearning for freedom is the hallmark of Amalaric's stories and an interesting discussion might be had about why that is a satisfying twist in erotic fiction when it's usually a frustrating disappointment in conventional plots involving escaping heroes.

Kelvanus's forced return to the 'normal' world is marked by a brightening of the light, but there's a distinctly autumnal atmosphere. As he stands on the muddy path, yoked once more and awaiting collection by his master, the falling, dead leaves mark the end of his dream, the approach of winter and the remorseless, unheeding passage of his seasons in captivity.

Those who recaptured him are nicely modelled here, standing back as though fearing contamination or an attack, or any suspicion of association with him when his master turns up. In this world you trifle with an immobilised, naked man that doesn't belong to you at your peril! They chat, perhaps speculating about their reward and about his punishment for running off. They may be hostile to him (ungrateful, foreign slaves, I hope he gets 100 lashes!) or perhaps more sympathetic (poor blighter, but the bounty will come in useful). It doesn't matter, it's all the same to Kelvanus now.

~

Read 'From Barbarian Prince to Roman Slave' at Aquadude (free), 13 frames

This post continues in Part 9d (pending)

Read the whole 'Art of Amalaric' series from Part 1 - A Slave To Passion

 

The Art of Amalaric Part 9b - Abducted

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The title of this piece and the image just above give little inkling of just how different 'Abducted' is to Amalaric's usual fare. Kidnap at gunpoint is cruder than than his usual methods, but it's an efficient, business-like technique that reflects all that is about to happen to Rob McGuire. He has been lured to this place in a professionally-planned operation.

Rob is the owner of a Plant Nursery (yes, another gardener). His occupation gives a tenuous, ironic connection to what follows. A connection that has nothing to do with lust for his hunky body, lightly dusted with hair, oozing with masculinity with underpants that reek with......sorry, where was I?

Amalaric paints Rob as a family man with powerful libido. He looks like a tough guy but his embarrassment at being forced to perform the 'jeans-drop' in this desolate, debris-strewn tunnel shows more appealing qualities, none of which will help him in the days ahead.

 

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Rob discovers he is the captive of a well-organised business. A professional-looking, suited character (left) keeps tabs on all his processing. Here he is being subjected to a detailed medical examination (by a medic who in another job gave Rusty Stevens a torrid time in a water tank). As you would expect Rob's assessment is more prolonged, more invasive and more embarrassing than any you or I might have ever experienced. It concludes with the forced production of a semen sample by means of a painful, electro-stimulation of his rectum.

Apart from this short, sharp shock and a refusal to return his clothes, Rob is treated relatively well. For the next two weeks he is given a regime of good food, plenty of exercise and adequate time to relax. Nurtured like one of his own plants, you might say, although it feels to him more like the proverbial mushroom treatment rather than being treated a greenhouse specimen. He resents being fitted with a chastity device during this time but dislikes it even more when it's removed for him to produce a daily sample. His puzzlement about it all continues beyond the scene above.

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All is revealed when his captors explain that he has passed his tests with flying colours and all they now want from him is a quota of sperm. One litre to be exact. Notwithstanding Rob's impressive virility, this is expected to take several more weeks. Worse still, he learns that the 'production' semen has to be extracted by the hand of a specially-trained milker in order to guarantee quality. The resolutely heterosexual Rob refuses to co-operate and suffers the usual punishments meted out to slaves in Amalaric's Universe. At length. But he isn't a slave, at least, not in the usual sense.

Eventually he complies and they stop punishing him. He goes on to develop a touching relationship (as it were) with his milkman (seen teasing him above). I won't reveal the ritual of extraction or what happens when his task is complete, but this is a refreshing and enjoyable tweaking of Amalaric's normally gloom-laden format.

Read 'Abducted' @GayBondageFiction
It's a Paysite but Chap 1 (of 4) is free to read.

This post continues in Part 9c 

Read the whole 'Art of Amalaric' series from Part 1 - A Slave To Passion

The Art of Amalaric, Part 9a - White Collar Perks

 In Part 9 of the mitchmen 'Art of Amalaric' series, I review some Amalaric 'bonbons', small, sweet pieces that delight the taste buds for a variety of reasons – the plot, the writing, the images or their pure inventiveness. The slick mass-abduction of the Raytown Softball Team from Modern Slavery (see Part 1) is one of these little gems, so too the ultimate S&M sex toy Amalaric invented for 'The Cube' (Part 8).

White Collar Perks

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This amazing torso by itself immediately distinguishes 'White Collar Perks' as a special story and it belongs to one of Amalaric's most memorable victims - Jimmy Ruisdale, who is a landscape gardener at the offices of a large corporation. There he attracts the lustful interest of one of the Company Executives when he innocently shucks off his shirt to work out front in the hot sun. But it's not a dastardly management plot that ultimately delivers him into the arms of his secret admirer, but his own foolishness in wrecking the the company's lawn tractor during a joyride.

Summoned to a disciplinary hearing, Jimmy is forced to put on shackles before it even starts. His guilt is taken for granted and the enquiry is all about how he is going to pay for it and whether he should keep his job. Persuading him to lift his shirt is just the start of the negotiation of one of Amalaric's classic, creeping 'reductions'. Jimmy resigned resentment as he starts to comply (above) shows his bravado is not yet extinguished, but it's contradicted by the sheen of worry juice on his skin.

Amalaric juxtaposes the executive's hand and a (stroking?) finger in the vicinity of Jimmy's crotch. Having got Jimmy by the balls, he is preparing to enjoy them.

I was tempted to include this image in 'The Ritual Of Undress' post (in Part 4a of this mitchmen series on Amalaric's art). It's possibly Amalaric's best example of a 'Stage 3' pose, but I felt this story and Jimmy deserved their own slot in the series.

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The simple disciplinary hearing rapidly escalates into a nightmare. Jimmy is badgered into avoiding legal penalties and the loss of his job by accepting instead a summary punishment on the spot plus compensation payments to be paid in instalments out of his wages. It's rather like the open-ended contract Dave McGuiness makes with his Devil to stave off repossession of his parent's house in '24 Hours' (see Part 3). Jimmy's agreement is encouraged by the prods of the intimidating Security Officer posted behind him to prevent trouble, but pretty soon he makes sure Jimmy is in no position to cause it anyway, nor even to protect his modesty for that matter.

Amalaric's underwear moments have rarely seemed quite so exquisitely 'exposing' as this, with the eyes of everyone focussed on that private garment and it's intriguing contents. Jimmy struggles to comprehend how this sudden nudity can happen to him in the formal surroundings of his employer's office. The undisguised interest shown in his white pants by the executive's (female) secretary compounds his embarrassment, it's a red-face treat Amalaric serves up for straight men sometimes.

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Jimmy's penance commences immediately with a simple spanking bent over the executive's desk. It is pure, schoolboy humiliation but Jimmy's indignity is a moment of supreme gratification for his long-frustrated admirer. Conventional spanking is a relatively unusual punishment in Amalaric's lexicon (shared only by Todd Sanders, I think, see Part 3). However, as you can see from the picture above, Jimmy experiences more manly torments on top.

Eventually, inevitably, Jimmy's spirit is beaten out of him and he is reduced to begging for the pain to end. Amalaric's picture neatly captures his abject submission, a vision of masculine bulk stripped of everything, including his self-respect. The hunky buck's bowed head acknowledges of the totality of the executive's power over him. His tormentor glories in the moment, he doesn't even need to look at the object of his lust any more, Jimmy is his. He dismissively tells him it is finished.

This is one of Amalaric's 'Oklahoma!' moments, You know, that point where the show finally reaches the glorious title song and you think it's the end, they've done all the big numbers. Then you discover as the stage excitement subsides that there is still another hour to go.

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Amalaric's 'Phase 2's are much more exciting than Oklahoma! and usually involve an adjournment to a private, dungeon-like space. Thus it was with Todd Sanders, Part 3 , with Pete Devereux (Academy Thugs, Part 4b) and to some extent with the Raytown Sports Team, whose story seemed to be ending with the abductees progressively disappearing to an unseen fate (like the condemned nuns in 'The Carmelites') but then we do see what happens to the final, 'trophy' member of the team, transferred to a bleak, tiled cell for his rather unpleasant processing (see Part 1).

Thanks to Amalaric's deceptive words, Jimmy's Phase 2 comes as a surprise to us and it's a terrible shock to him of course. The unexpected treat of a bondage/abduction sequence acts as a transition into one of Amalaric's best X-frame scenes. It's tightly structured, economically written and features some truly evil villains who for once go all the way. The eventual ending is slightly predictable but has a thought-provoking, exotic twist.

Read 'White Collar Perks' @Telemachus
(it includes more servings of Jimmy's delectable torso!).

This post continues in Part 9b (Abducted)

Read the whole 'Art of Amalaric' series from Part 1 - A Slave To Passion

Royale Studio 01c - Sailor, Tight Shorts, Rigging

Royale Studio - Sailor in Shorts in The Rigging 03

(For an explanation of the image sizing and blurring, please see my footnote below).

This Royale Studio, 'Sailor in the Rigging' group is an example where the model is not tied to the ropes to simulate a full blown flogging, but simply poses with the rigging net, having first dressed in the flimsy, tight, Royale, gym shorts and belt as their flogging ritual demanded. Not a wow physique, some Royale models were beefcake body-builders but many were ordinary guys. His footwear is quite interesting, not Royal Navy standard I think. Other models in the Rigging series are bare footed. Perhaps this one jibbed at climbing the ropes in bare feet.

Royale Studio - Sailor in Shorts in The Rigging 04

Standing at attention before the rigging, he has all the appearance of a condemned serviceman preparing to meet his fate. His curled fingers certainly suggest some tension (and would attract a rebuke and maybe more from a superior - they should be straight). This detail and his longish hair makes me wonder whether he really was a serving member of the armed forces at the time of the shoot.

 Seen from behind in this picture, the outfit seems better balanced and more sexy, although the RN cap looks slightly incongruous. Despite the blurring we get a reasonable impression of a shapely back and bottom

Royale Studio - Sailor in Shorts in The Rigging 07

This is a better view. He has climbed onto the ropes and is standing with feet apart and shoulders opened which gives a better impression of his physique. We have jumped to picture No7 here, the intermediate shots probably showed him stepping up. The half-turn position with hips twisted was a favourite Royale Studio device for accentuating body shape in a teasing way.

Royale Studio - Sailor in Shorts in The Rigging 08

This is probably my favourite picture in the set, it's such a shame that I don't have a better copy. The arms-raised pose coupled with a slightly upward looking viewpoint seems to magically produce a much better balance to the sailor's physique. His shorts and cap seem smaller and more in proportion. In fact the shorts seem to have almost disappeared, producing a most alluring sight to any would-be spanker. Imagine being the photographer who watched and directed the model as he took up these positions! I wonder what 9 and 10 showed, but we're missing them!

Royale Studio - Sailor in Shorts in The Rigging 11

In the frontal position the sailor looks up at his wrists almost as though they are tied, perhaps he wishes they were! The old half turn trick and clever lighting brings out an impression of excitement within those groaning shorts. They seem to have a short fly and button close like the old style rugby shorts, I'd have liked to have seen a better view - button open even - and with the belt removed. 

This is the thumbnail version of the same picture. It's the only image in this set which comes to us in both sizes. The difference in image quality is very obvious and for that reason the big version is usually the only one that's ever posted from this set, but I think it works much seen better alongside the others. The thumbnails have the benefit of numbering which enables us to visualise the progression of what must have been a very sexy shoot.

Royale Studio - Sailor in Shorts in The Rigging 12

The sailor gazes down at his incriminating bulge. Even if it's mostly padding, it must have felt sexy, particularly with an audience watching closely and possibly the photographer's fingers making adjustments down below.

Since first publishing this post I have discovered the identity of the model in this series, it's Alan Adair, a name that's new to me. This discovery is described in a separate article in the Rigging series.

~

Although I refer to the photos in Royale Studio 01 as 'The Rigging Series', it actually brings together fragments from several different series which happen to feature the Royale rigging prop. The set in this article is the nearest we get to a complete series - 6 out of a minimum of 12 images. We don't know if 12 is the last picture in this set, but I have seen an example of a 12 image Royale thumbnail sheet. We can speculate about what might have followed, but the 'phantom snipper' (see footnote below) must have had the full set and it's reasonable to suppose that those which have survived were probably the best of the bunch.

~

Continued in Royale Studio 01d (link pending, but see below for other articles)

This completely new article has been inserted into the original mitchmen Royale series (2010) which is currently being extensively revised and extended (July 2021) and as an adjunct to that I am gradually creating an archive housing my entire collection of Royale images. There is now (Oct 2021) a 4th post in the Rigging Series, 'Sailors in the Rigging 01d' and I have provided a link to the latest updated 'Rigging' archive in that post.

 

To see which articles have been revised to date, please check the 'Come and Get It!' post

 

You can access them all (old and new) by clicking on the 'GIU/Royale' label at the foot of this post

Read the new series of Royale Studio articles at mitchmen from the start:-
Royale 1 - Sailors Flogged in the Rigging

The Royale Open Archive link will appear in the next post

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A Note from the mitchmen Curator

All but one of this vintage, military 'Sailor in the Rigging' set are 'thumbnails' from a Royale Studio catalogue sheet. They seem to have been literally cut out from the original paper sheet with scissors - but not very carefully. As a result none of these images were square and they had all sorts of odd borders with splinters or strips of the white surround included on some of the sides but not all. Visually the effect was quite confusing and scruffy so I have mounted them all on a plain white surround which makes it easier to look at them. I haven't changed them in any other way, no cropping, no straightening. If you look carefully you can see the original boundaries.

These thumbnails are also quite small, so to aid appreciation, I have blown some of them up here using the blogger re-sizing function, it produces blurry results, but better than my primitive, photo manipulation skills. The others are all in original size. You can view them all in the original sizing by clicking on the image or retrieving them from the archive (link in next article).

~

Beautifully Bound - The Look of Betrayal

All the boys in the gang borrowed money from their leader Nico. They were under no illusions about how nasty he could be if it wasn't paid back on time, but it was common knowledge that he would usually accept payment 'in kind'. The sexual kind. With kinks. That didn't faze the boys, they were tough and streetwise and took rough treatment in their stride. Nico might be a harsh master but he looked after them, he protected them from the police and rival gangs.

So when Lucio went to pay his debts, empty handed as usual, he submitted without complaint to the ritual humiliation of being taken into Nico's damp cellar, stripped of all his clothes (another fine jacket ruined but you didn't come to these appointments dressed in rags) and then tied up with rope. He knew that what would follow wouldn't be pleasant and he would probably be out of action for a few days, nursing bruises and violated orifices, but he would be able to stop worrying about the money he owed. It was a large sum this time, well into four figures, the most he'd ever owed. Nico was angrier than he'd ever seen him before and it had been a huge relief when he had started unbuttoning Lucio's shirt, sliding a hand inside and nuzzling his neck, gently chiding him for his weakness for gambling. "What am I to do with you, Lucio?" he said (like he always did) and Lucio hung his head in shame (like he always did) and submitted to his usual fate.

The punishment would be harsher than usual, he knew that and he wasn't disappointed. In his anxiety to get it over with, he didn't notice that this time Nico used methods that left few marks, nor that the refrain of "What am I to do with you, Lucio?" continued well into the session which was one far longer, far more varied and humiliating than he had ever suffered before.

Lucio bore it all like the tough guy he was, but his stoicism was sorely tested when Nico took him upstairs and drew him into his bed for the sexual denouement. Sex was expected, yes, but chained to a wall or tied over as bench, not in the soft sheets and opulent surroundings of Nico's inner sanctum. That had never happened before to him, nor anyone else in the gang, to his knowledge - though which of them would want to admit to it, even if it had? Nico's gentleness evolved into  animal passion between the crisp white sheets. He  devoured Lucio's helplessly bound body and that was much more testing than the manly appreciation he normally bestowed on them as he delivered his seed at the conclusion of their punishment. Lucio had never doubted Nico's love for him but it wasn't supposed to be like this and when Nico, finally sated, drifted off to sleep, Lucio lay awake for hours, fidgeting in the uncomfortable restraints and wondering what this all meant.

Well, that was last night but this morning, his torment had resumed in the cellar where it had left off. This time though it was as if both men were trying to expunge the memory of what had just happened between them, eagerly collaborating in a ritual cleansing until eventually Nico, plainly exhausted, had left him there, hog-tied, helpless and racked by pain on the bare stone floor. Finally then, Lucio slept.

He awoke to find Nico releasing his hog tie. He was coaxed into a standing position, arms still pinned to his sides. Lucio was trembling with fear now, as well he might, as Nico delivered his final verdict. This time Lucio's debts would not be forgiven, but by a happy chance the amount owed was very close to the going rate for ginger slaves, so he was being sent to the auction where he might even realise a modest extra profit for Nico, if the right buyers were alerted. Nico's parting words were coldly cruel.

Lucio felt betrayed. This wasn't how these punishments were supposed to end. He belonged to Nico! What about last night? Did that mean nothing? Then he realised the truth. That was it. Nico loved him too much. Suddenly, feet grated on the cellar steps and he looked up. Two men stood there, faces hidden in shadow, but their buff-coloured uniforms confirmed what Nico had said. They began to descend and Nico pushed him, stumbling towards them. 

After they had gone, Nico wept.

Luke Riley is a captive of Nick Moretti

 This image is taken from the Bound Gods video Slicked Master and the Golden Boy (2009) which has a plot utterly different to my story!

Luke Riley's 'bad boy' looks earned him many appearances at Bound Gods on both sides of the S&M fence including the (for me) classic, 'Hicksville' where he kidnaps Phenix Saint, (a video which for some strange reason never made it into my mitchmen Tribute to Bound Gods). What is unexpected about this picture is how big he is, when standing next to Nick Moretti. Ideal material for the gang - and for the slave market then! Nick's suave, Italian, good looks create a more mysterious but equally intimidating presence which suits the mobster role I cast him in here.

This is 'The Look' No 24, for others click on the label below.

Royale Studio 01b - More Sailors in the Rigging

Royale Studio - Solo Sailor in the Rigging 1

 A solo rigging image featuring a different model. Like his other Royale comrades he is tied into the rigging by ropes at wrist and ankles. The device of subjecting different models to the same, well-defined ritual or theme is commonly used by modern studios too (e.g. First Auditions, Bait Buddies) and it is an intriguing 'hook' for many fans. Obliging these men to don a 'military' uniform as part of the ritual conveys an added sense of control over them and since the clothing is contrived to fit tightly and highlight their assets, it gives the process a distinctive erotic twist. 

 

In the Royal Navy of old, flogging on the back and on the ass were standard punishments for men but it's fairly obvious in these images that the place of interest is the lower option. In the GIU flogging ritual shown in Part 1a the punishment implement was a sort of Cat-O-Nine-Tails fashioned from unravelled rope, but this man's buttocks seem to cry out for something firmer. He turns his head towards us as if wondering what it will be and that action produces a great, sexy pose that has not dimmed with the passage of decades.

 

 

Royale Studio - Solo Sailor in the Rigging 2

 

In this rarely-seen variant he seems to brace himself for the blows to come. The rope restraints are clearly visible (if not entirely convincing). This image has been cleaned up, there's a more authentic version in the Open Archive (see link below) but the ties are not fully visible in it. 

 

The tight fit of the trousers around the model's backside is a delight, especially if you are a spanking fan or like touching. The creases around his upper thighs suggests there's also something substantial inside his trousers at the front. He seems to be looking down at it - or perhaps it's the thick rope rising between his legs that's attracting his attention.

 

 

Royale Studio - Solo Sailor in the Rigging 3

 This coloured, frontal view comes from the Colville Collection mentioned in Part 1a. They named it 'The Brig' for some reason. The restraining ropes can be seen even more clearly here and there's more sense of restraint and struggle than we saw in the equivalent duo shot in Part 1a. Erotically though the pickings are frugal, quite a nice torso and a suggestion of something tucked down his left leg, but the frontal pants area is largely spoiled by a billowing 'flap'. Also Royale had a practice of tucking the belt under this flap, I don't know why. It doesn't really work for me.

The model's face is clearly visible but I've not ID'd him conclusively yet.

Update Dec 2022 - Model ID'd as Peter Watts (in Modern Male No 13)

 

 

 

Royale Sailor in Punishment Shorts

A different series in which the Sailor-model has been ordered to don PT shorts to receive his punishment. This wasn't standard practice in the Navy (officially) but real offenders were forced to wear ducks (white trousers) that had worn thin at the seat of the pants and with no underwear allowed either. The shirt here is the standard Royal Navy design with square neck trimmed in blue. Royale didn't generally use real uniforms but used authentic copies made from thinner, more sensual material. By contrast, 'Guys in Uniform' Studio tend to stick to PT kit or mix and match uniform elements with fetish gear.

 

The Royale belt jars again for me in this context, I'd rather get a glimpse of midriff flesh. However, part of the point of Royale imagery was to take military men, manly representatives of a powerful national institution and subject them to humiliating situations. Retention of elements of the formal uniform is essential for this construct to work. Belts, gaiters and boots were Royale's favoured fetish items.

 

Royale Sailor Punished in Shorts 1

With his wrists tied into the rigging the model looks back in anxious anticipation as though suspecting that this job involves more than just looking sexy, his briefing having omitted a crucial detail. That mischievous rope between his legs looks even more suggestive here, being truncated (ouch!) by shadow. It's capable of multiple erotic interpretations with different degrees of filth according to taste!

 

Sadly, the passage of time and/or original over-exposure has pretty much washed out the detail of the captive's back, but we can see the nearer man's assets quite well, suggestively cloaked by obviously wet fabric. His weapon of choice looks a bit more weighty than the 'Cat O'Nine Tails' in the pictures of Part 1a (the previous post), and he's wagging it purposefully.

 

You can probably see what I mean about the belt here. The sailor's shirt has pulled out of it as he stretches upwards and is now concealing most of it except a gap where skin would otherwise be visible. Still, it's a nicely-designed, dramatic image overall with the upward viewpoint and overlapping poses indicating a photographer with a creative artistic eye.

 

 

Royale Sailor Punished in Shorts 2

This image is better preserved than the last and that's true in more than one sense, because this is the only Royale image I can think of that shows a punishment blow actually being delivered. There probably were more produced but they don't seem to have survived, perhaps because they were too realistic. 

 

Thus the knotted rope is blurred but we get a better view of those tight shorts. The model's upright pose indicates that he had braced himself to receive a genuine blow - compare it with the more relaxed receiving position just above. Sadly that adjustment in position means his bottom shaping is less attractive than it might be. The high waist-line of these shorts had an eroticism all it's own in those days with connections to feminine wear that persist today, but it is less appealing to modern eyes accustomed to squarer-shaped brevity for men. 

 

The modest (real?) bulge of the spanker here offers some compensation, it's notable for it's tightness as much as it's size. His smile suggests he might be exploiting the model's restraint to add realism.

 

Royale Sailor Punished in Shorts 3

He's got a more business-like expression here and the hapless victim appears to have collapsed onto the ropes under the weight of his blows which seem to be targeting his back. If the bulge seen previously seemed less than amazing, the victim's one here is a cracker and once again that centre rope seems to be directly involved. In the olden days, if anything was worse than depicting man-on-man spanking, it was the idea that the victim might actually be aroused by it. Imagine the embarrassment of those bullying, sadists on learning what disgusting body function they were encouraging down below!

My original copy of this picture is very small and I've done my best to enhance it but only have crude skills in that department. The original bulge detail must have been quite interesting but the ravages of time have not been entirely destructive and it's still very striking. I'm also attracted by the sensual sheen on the captive's thigh. You'll find the original picture in the archive (link below). 

 

The bulge in this picture gives a clue to who staged it..........

Brian Cross by Scott of London

 

Tight, white shorts like this with bewildering bulges were the trademark of one photographer in particular in this era, Scott of London. Some of his images (like that of Brian Cross above) are inspirational classics and are still regularly reposted by admirers today, including me - two more samples here. I've seen statements linking him with Royale and the glimpse of improbable man-tackle in the preceding image is characteristic of his style and artifice, and it's not the only one in this post (see below).

 

 

Royale - Sailor In The Rigging (with bulge)

 

 A different model again, (possibly Don Avard) shown wearing a Tee shirt, ducks and standard webbing white belt for his punishment session. I like to think the shirt was ripped off him for later pictures in the series, but sadly I've never found any of them! Straps have replaced ropes round his wrists here. 

 

His image offers another graphic explanation for tightness of pants round the buttocks (and possibly the billowing effect after removal as seen in the coloured image above). You can decide for yourself whether it's real. The ropes that are framing this area are contrived to highlight the effect. In an era where such displays were totally illegal, obvious non-realism might have conceivably been a ploy to get round the prohibition, but I can't imagine it would have worked.

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This series continues with another scantily clad Sailor in Royale Studio - Rigging series 01c

Information about the mitchmen Open Archive of Royale images is below 

 

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Sailor Al

You may have noticed that the last of the shorts set above is marked 'from Sailor Al's Collection'. Sailor Al used to have a web-site of sorts where he offered paid views of his collection of Royale images. Some were identical to freely circulating images but this one is unique I believe. Others of his pictures were top quality images. I was in touch with him at one time and he told me how he had come by them and how he had unintentionally donated them to the whole internet by sharing them with a member of a spanking group. That group and it's archive has since declined and then perished with the creeping destruction of Yahoo! Groups. Any Royale images included here or found on the internet which have the word 'Originals' in the file name all came from Sailor Al's collection and we are all in his debt for saving and sharing them (unwittingly or not). I may tell that story one day.

 

The 'mitchmen' Open Archive of Royale Images

 These images come from 1950's Britain, a time when military service was compulsory for young men and opening up opportunities to see the world and meet new people. But it was also a time when gay men were being ruthlessly persecuted in the UK and often put in prison. The very creation of these photos with a not very subtle eroticism was brave statement of defiance, an underground resistance if you like. The recruitment of serving soldiers and sailors to pose for them was a delicious sabotage of institutional 'respectability'. It's effectiveness as propaganda must have been considerable. It asserted the existence in every walk of life of a sizeable minority the Government wanted to make invisible. An important gesture even if it did attract ruthless reprisals and ultimately the closure of the Studio.

 

The surviving Royale Studio images are part of gay history and deserve to be preserved and cherished by us as a community. Many of them (like the first in this post) still hold their own as erotica in the modern era. However it's become increasingly difficult to find coherent collections in recent years, thanks to the creeping sanitisation of internet hosting services and search engines. The best way of preserving them and celebrating them, I believe, is by sharing them as widely as possible and that torch picked up by younger generations. To that end I am making my whole collection available as a new, open archive here at mitchmen in the hope that they will inspire other gay men and encourage them to help preserve this piece of our heritage.

 

These 'Sailor in the Rigging' images form the first album of the new Open Archive. It also includes a few other sailor pictures, a number of variants of those presented here and some interesting cropped details. At first I tried to label them using the original Royale numbers but some photos have different numbers on different copies so the result has not been entirely satisfactory. 

Note added Dec 2022:- There's a separate post explaining Royale Numbers, 

what's real and what's not

 

You can access the album as a zip file via this link: Royale Open Archive

 Please tell me via my profile link if you have difficulty downloading 

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This article was originally published on 31/7/2010 but extensively revised and extended in July 2021, a process that I hope to apply to the rest of the series in due course and as an adjunct to that creating an archive housing my entire collection of GIU and Royale images. I have provided a link to the 'Rigging' album just above.