From London’s Culinary Icon to a New Chapter in an Expanding Cinematic Universe

NEW YORK, NY

Ciro Orsini, the celebrated restaurateur, entrepreneur, entertainer, and humanitarian, is bringing his natural charisma, strength, and unmistakable presence to the screen as Sergeant Saber in Stan Lee’s LEGION OF 5.

The role opens an entirely new dimension in his remarkable journey, from the boxing ring and military service to commanding one of London’s most iconic dining rooms and now entering an expanding cinematic superhero universe built around original characters and stories created by Stan Lee.

There is something Ciro possesses that cannot be manufactured: authenticity.

A personal history shaped by boxing, military service, entrepreneurship, entertainment, and humanitarian work gives him a commanding presence ideally suited to Sergeant Saber.

The fighter from Naples never truly disappeared. He simply found a new arena.

From Naples to Knightsbridge

Born in Naples, Italy, Ciro dreamed of becoming a professional boxer. His natural ability took him to Milan and Rome, where he trained seriously before being called to complete 18 months of military service.

Ciro’s Pizza Pomodoro

His journey ultimately led to London. Drawing upon restaurant experience gained from an early age, he took over a struggling establishment on Beauchamp Place in Knightsbridge in 1978, just around the corner from Harrods.

What followed was far greater than the creation of a traditional restaurant.

By combining authentic Italian cuisine with live music, high energy, entertainment, and unmistakable Neapolitan hospitality, he created Ciro’s Pizza Pomodoro, which grew into an internationally recognized destination and genuine London institution.

For decades, the restaurant became more than a successful business. It became a stage where food, music, friendship, and entertainment came together to create unforgettable experiences.

The Heart Behind the Larger Than Life Personality

Behind the international reputation and larger than life personality is a deeply compassionate man committed to helping children and families experiencing hardship.

As a founder and trustee of the registered Ciro & Armand Charity Foundation, Help Children Now, Ciro has supported humanitarian initiatives addressing hunger, poverty, illness, educational disadvantage, mental health challenges, and the needs of refugee children.

That commitment has taken him far beyond London, including support for children at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan and participation in international relief efforts. Following the outbreak of war in Ukraine, he traveled to the Polish Ukrainian border, where he and other volunteers prepared hot pizzas for displaced families and children arriving as refugees.

The work reflects a principle that has guided his restaurants throughout his life: food can bring people together, restore dignity, and communicate love when words are not enough.

                                 Ciro Orsini as Sergeant Saber

Enter Sergeant Saber

That same strength, authenticity, personality, and heart now come to the screen through Sergeant Saber in Stan Lee’s LEGION OF 5.

His inclusion reflects qualities at the heart of the LEGION OF 5 family: originality, character, loyalty, resilience, courage, and a willingness to explore unexpected new possibilities.

Sergeant Saber is now part of that expanding story.

Inside the Expanding LEGION OF 5 Universe

Stan Lee’s LEGION OF 5 is a live action superhero franchise based on original intellectual property and characters created by Stan Lee.

At the center of the story are five young heroes who are unexpectedly armed with extraordinary abilities. While confronting their own personal challenges, they must learn to work together against a super powered force that the military cannot control.

The vision reaches far beyond a single motion picture. LEGION OF 5 is being developed as an expanding entertainment universe encompassing feature films, sequels, video games including LEGION CHAMPIONS, digital content, licensing, merchandising, and future interactive experiences.

Behind the LEGION: Building a Global Entertainment Universe

The continuing development of Stan Lee’s LEGION OF 5 is being advanced by partners Lee Baker and Marco Derhy through Advent Entertainment, PARALIGHT, and Legion Digital Studios.

Their partnership brings together Baker’s creative foundation as Stan Lee’s longtime creative partner, author, visual effects executive, and screenwriter behind LEGION OF 5 with Derhy’s experience as an entrepreneur, film producer, and leader in strategic partnerships, global business development, distribution, and marketing.

Together, they are establishing the creative, business, technological, and global foundation for an entertainment universe spanning feature films, video games, patent pending artificial intelligence technology, digital content, emerging experiences, and worldwide distribution.

PARALIGHT: Empowering a New Generation of Creators

The transformation of Ciro into Sergeant Saber also demonstrates the creative possibilities of PARALIGHT, a patent pending filmmaking technology powered by artificial intelligence.

Designed to empower screenwriters, filmmakers, actors, producers, studios, and independent creators, PARALIGHT helps transform ideas and screenplays into visual productions.

Its technology can assist in developing scripts, characters, scenes, shots, storyboards, visual environments, and other essential production elements within a unified creative platform.

The purpose is not to remove human creativity or replace the performer. Instead, PARALIGHT gives creators sophisticated tools that can help transform imagination into professional quality cinematic storytelling.

Its possibilities extend across film, television, commercials, music videos, video games, and social content.

The portrayal of Sergeant Saber illustrates an evolving relationship between authentic human personality, performance, storytelling, and emerging technology.

Technology may help create the world, but it is the human being who gives the character life.

                                       Official Stan Lee’s LEGION OF 5

Welcoming Ciro to the LEGION OF 5 Family

Welcoming Ciro Orsini into Stan Lee’s LEGION OF 5 represents far more than adding another name to a cast. It means welcoming a friend, entrepreneur, entertainer, and humanitarian whose life reflects many of the qualities found in memorable heroes: perseverance, courage, generosity, loyalty, and heart.

For nearly five decades, he has created experiences that bring people together. His international reputation was built by giving guests far more than a meal. He gave them music, friendship, memories, and a place where everyone could feel at home.

As Sergeant Saber, that same passion, authenticity, and larger than life energy now enters the Stan Lee’s LEGION OF 5 universe.

Ciro, we are proud to welcome you into the LEGION OF 5 family.

Your journey from Naples and the boxing ring to Knightsbridge and now into a cinematic superhero universe reminds us that the most extraordinary chapters of our lives may still be waiting to be written.

And in the true spirit of Ciro Orsini:

Expect the unexpected.

The Story Continues

The transformation of Ciro Orsini into Sergeant Saber is one remarkable chapter in something far bigger.

The LEGION is expanding. New heroes are rising. Powerful new stories are about to unfold, and the next chapter promises even greater surprises.

Who will join the LEGION next?

Stay ready. The next chapter of the Stan Lee LEGION OF 5 Legacy will soon be revealed.

Watch, Connect, and Learn More

Watch Ciro Orsini as Sergeant Saber

Join the PARALIGHT Community with Ciro

Explore PARALIGHT.AI

Discover Advent Entertainment

Visit Legion Digital Studios

Visit Ciro’s Pizza Pomodoro

Support Help Children Now

About Stan Lee’s LEGION OF 5

Stan Lee’s LEGION OF 5 is an expanding entertainment universe built around original characters and stories created by Stan Lee, with development spanning feature films, video games, digital content, emerging technologies, licensing, merchandising, and future interactive experiences. The project is being advanced through Advent Entertainment, PARALIGHT, and Legion Digital Studios.

About Ciro Orsini

Ciro Orsini is a restaurateur, entrepreneur, entertainer, and humanitarian known for his decades long career in London hospitality and entertainment. He is a founder and trustee of the Ciro & Armand Charity Foundation, Help Children Now, and portrays Sergeant Saber in Stan Lee’s LEGION OF 5.

To read the full interview with Marco Derhy visit the source of this article.  

Media Contact

Derhy Enterprises

[email protected]

Alexandria, VA

New book combines mythology, medieval history, baking-inspired satire, and cultural storytelling in an unconventional exploration of Kyivan Rus

Author Todorov has announced Bread and Blood: The Bakers of Kyivan Rus, a satirical exploration of Slavic folklore, mythology, medieval history, and cultural resilience told through an intentionally absurd world of bakers, bread princes, flour gods, and culinary empires.

Jacketed in blue and yellow, the book uses baking and corporate parody as a storytelling device to introduce readers to figures, legends, and historical personalities associated with Kyivan Rus and the wider Slavic tradition.

The idea for the book began while Todorov was working on material inspired by Norse mythology. According to the author, his time serving in Kyiv as part of the U.S. Embassy’s Defense Attaché Office also influenced his decision to explore Ukrainian and Slavic history through humor.

“The posting definitely helped in the decision,” Todorov said. “I developed a close connection and affinity to the country and people of Ukraine.”

Rather than approaching the subject as a conventional academic history, Bread and Blood: The Bakers of Kyivan Rus uses satire to make mythology and medieval history more approachable to general readers.

“Using humor is the best way to confront violence and war,” Todorov said. “Readers did not need another dry academic treatment of Slavic myth. I wanted to create something they would actually finish.”

Slavic Folklore Through an Unconventional Lens

The book reimagines well-known figures from Slavic folklore through the language of bakeries, corporations, startups, supply chains, and culinary competition.

Baba Yaga becomes an off-grid pioneer operating a mobile bakery from her legendary chicken-legged hut. Koschei the Deathless is recast as the immortal executive behind a fictional “Big Bread” empire, while Vasilisa appears as an ambitious culinary apprentice navigating an exaggerated medieval marketplace.

Other sections reinterpret Marya Morevna, Ivan Tsarevich, Solovei the Robber, and figures from the Slavic pantheon, including Perun, Veles, Mokosh, Svarog, Dazhbog, Stribog, Svetovid, and Triglav.

The book also introduces the “Bogatyr Bakers,” satirical versions of legendary heroic figures including Svyatogor, Mikula Selyanovich, Volkh Vseslavyevich, Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, and Alyosha Popovich.

Historical rulers associated with Kyivan Rus—including Rurik, Olga of Kyiv, Volodymyr the Great, and Yaroslav the Wise—are similarly reimagined as executives overseeing an elaborate fictional baking economy.

Beneath the parody, the book explores themes of cultural continuity, mythology, trade, political power, resilience, and the connections between the medieval societies of Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and Byzantium.

History Beneath the Humor

Todorov describes the book as both comedy and an attempt to introduce readers to a body of mythology that is less familiar to many English-language audiences than Norse or Greek traditions.

The book presents the author’s interpretation of Kyivan Rus as an important medieval political and cultural center whose history was shaped by Slavic communities, Scandinavian traders and settlers, Byzantine influence, and extensive regional connections.

“Even though it is presented in a humorous form through baking, it demonstrates the resilience of the Ukrainian people through their history,” Todorov said.

Historical and political interpretations contained in the book represent the author’s perspective and are presented through a satirical literary framework rather than as an academic or scholarly reference work.

From Flour Gods to Bread Princes

Among the book’s major sections are:

• The Flour Gods of Kyivan Rus, which reimagines the Slavic pantheon as a dysfunctional corporate baking conglomerate.
• The Bogatyr Bakers: The Elders, featuring legendary heroic figures recast as larger-than-life founders of a medieval culinary economy.
• The Bogatyr Bakers: The Defenders, following Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, and Alyosha Popovich through exaggerated baking conflicts.
• The Bread Princes of Kyivan Rus, which transforms major historical rulers into fictional executives overseeing the development of a sprawling baking society.
• The Unyielding Crumb, a satirical reflection on later periods of Ukrainian history and cultural survival.

The resulting combination is deliberately unconventional: part mythology retelling, part historical parody, and part culinary satire.

A Broader Slavic Series

Bread and Blood: The Bakers of Kyivan Rus is intended as part of a broader series exploring different areas of the Slavic world.

A second volume, Bread and Blood: The Balkan Ovens, is currently in final edits, according to the author. A third volume is in early development.

Together, the planned books draw inspiration from different Slavic cultural and folkloric traditions while maintaining the same baking-centered satirical approach.

Slavic Folklore Through an Unconventional Lens

The book reimagines well-known figures from Slavic folklore through the language of bakeries, corporations, startups, supply chains, and culinary competition, while drawing on recognizable characteristics from the traditional stories and historical figures that inspired them.

Baba Yaga, one of the most recognizable figures in Slavic folklore, traditionally appears as an unpredictable witch or supernatural woman who lives deep in the forest in a magical hut often depicted as standing on chicken legs. Depending on the tale, she may threaten, test, mislead, or unexpectedly assist those who encounter her. In Bread and Blood, Todorov transforms that mysterious independence into culinary satire, portraying Baba Yaga as an off-grid pioneer operating a mobile bakery from her legendary wandering hut and tending volatile sourdough cultures beyond the reach of conventional authority.

Ilya Muromets, one of the best-known heroes of the traditional Kyiv cycle of epic songs known as byliny, represents the heroic side of the book. Traditionally depicted as a powerful bogatyr who defends the realm and confronts formidable enemies, Ilya becomes the book’s heavy-hitting defender of the independent crumb. Todorov recasts his legendary strength through exaggerated feats of kneading, baking, and culinary combat while retaining the broader image of Ilya as a protector facing threats to the world around him.

Rurik, or Riuryk, is presented through the book’s corporate parody as a Scandinavian regulatory consultant arriving to impose order on a chaotic culinary marketplace. According to the medieval Primary Chronicle tradition, Rurik was a Varangian chieftain invited to rule in the north in the ninth century and became the ancestral figure associated with the Rurikid dynasty that later ruled Kyivan Rus. Todorov turns that dynastic origin story into a satire about administration, regulation, and the consolidation of an unruly baking economy.

Yaroslav the Wise, who ruled Kyiv during one of Kyivan Rus’s most important periods of political and cultural development, becomes the book’s “Chief Legal Officer of the Lamination.” Historically associated with the development of Ruska Pravda, the legal tradition of Rus, as well as the growth of education, religious institutions, architecture, and dynastic relationships with European royal houses, Yaroslav is reimagined as an executive attempting to bring legal order, infrastructure, and international reach to the fictional Kyivan baking enterprise.

Other sections reinterpret Marya Morevna, Ivan Tsarevich, Solovei the Robber, and figures from the Slavic pantheon, including Perun, Veles, Mokosh, Svarog, Dazhbog, Stribog, Svetovid, and Triglav.

The book also introduces additional “Bogatyr Bakers,” satirical versions of legendary heroic figures including Svyatogor, Mikula Selyanovich, Volkh Vseslavyevich, Dobrynya Nikitich, and Alyosha Popovich.

Historical rulers associated with Kyivan Rus—including Olga of Kyiv and Volodymyr the Great—are similarly reimagined as executives overseeing an elaborate fictional baking economy.

Varangians and the Dnipro Trade Route

The historical backdrop also incorporates the Varangians, Scandinavian traders and warriors who traveled through Eastern Europe along the medieval route commonly described as the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” The network of waterways and portages connected Scandinavia with the Black Sea and Byzantine Empire, with the Dnipro River forming a major part of the southern route through the lands of Kyivan Rus.

Varangian groups became involved in the commercial and political development of Rus, serving at different times as traders, warriors, military retainers, and mercenaries. Medieval chronicles describe Varangian-led forces moving along the Dnipro and becoming closely connected with the emerging princely dynasties. Varangian fighters also served rulers of Rus during struggles against both external opponents and internal rivals, although their political and military role diminished as the state developed its own established ruling and military structures.

In Bread and Blood, that mixture of Scandinavian movement, trade, warfare, and cultural interaction provides another layer for Todorov’s satire, placing the fictional baking empires within the same network of rivers, commercial routes, competing rulers, and shifting alliances that shaped the medieval world surrounding Kyiv.

Beneath the parody, the book explores themes of cultural continuity, mythology, trade, political power, resilience, and the connections between the medieval societies of Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and Byzantium.

About the Author

Todorov is an author whose work combines history, mythology, satire, and cultural storytelling. According to the author, his experience serving in Kyiv as part of the U.S. Embassy’s Defense Attaché Office contributed to his interest in Ukrainian history, Slavic folklore, and the cultural connections surrounding Kyivan Rus.

His Bread and Blood series uses culinary parody and modern corporate language to reinterpret mythological, folkloric, and historical figures for contemporary readers.

Verification Disclaimer

Historical interpretations, biographical details, military or diplomatic service references, and cultural claims in this release are based on information supplied by or on behalf of the author and should be supported by authoritative records where available. The book is a satirical literary work and should not be treated as an academic or scholarly history.

References to historical nations, governments, institutions, and cultural figures do not imply endorsement of the book or its interpretations.

Media Contact Details
Evgueniy Todorov
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Website: genetodorovreads.com

PHILADELPHIA, PA

The company is taking its bill-by-results model nationwide, up against the consulting firms and point-solution vendors that have run up the bill on American taxpayers for decades

 FSH Technologies, which builds software for cities, school districts and state agencies to replace outdated, slow-moving government IT systems, today announced $25 million in total funding. That includes a $20 million Series A led by Lachy Groom, an early backer of Figma, Notion, Ramp and Lattice, with Acrew Capital co-leading and Operator Partners, Contrary, Cooley and several angels also participating. The round follows an earlier $5 million seed led by Contrary with Acrew Capital, General Catalyst, Scribble Ventures and Basis Set Ventures joining.

“Bill-by-the-hour is why consulting can never lead to government efficiency,” said Lilly Chen, founder and CEO of FSH. “We built the opposite model. We only grow when a city or school district loves our solution and expands the scope, so the incentive is to build something that works, not to stretch out the invoice.”

Chen previously worked as an AI/ML engineer at Meta before advising on Philadelphia’s mayoral transition team, where she saw firsthand how city procurement decisions get made, and who they fail. Before that, she spent time as a Buddhist monk and professional video game player. The company’s name comes from a saying she carried out of that period: be the pond, not the fish — look at the whole picture, not one problem in isolation.

FSH’s model is already replacing the two kinds of vendors that dominate the $160 billion state and local government IT market: consulting firms that bill by the hour, where a slow project is more profitable than a fast one, and point-solution vendors that get bought up by private equity and coast on renewal fees. Pittsburgh Public Schools moved to FSH after a security vulnerability in its previous vendor exposed student data. Buffalo made a similar switch after years on a system that had simply stopped keeping up. When a Philadelphia tax law change left thousands of small businesses suddenly owing a new city tax, FSH stood up a support program in a single month that reached more than 1,000 businesses in 13 languages, most filing for the first time.

“GovTech is a notoriously difficult space because people think bureaucracy is a grind. Lilly and the FSH team obsessively enjoy solving what everyone else thinks is boring. It takes that level of intense optimism to change something that’s always been broken,” said Lachy Groom.

FSH has grown revenue inside more than 30% of its existing accounts, for a 1,340% increase across that group. After activating its expansion strategy in the second quarter of 2026, the company’s own annual recurring revenue grew sevenfold. FSH projects reaching $450 million in annual recurring revenue by 2028. The company is now taking the model nationwide, expanding from its current base in Buffalo, Denver, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with a goal of operating in all 50 states within the year, adding categories including EMS and police scheduling, transit management and case management along the way.

Lilly Chen is joined by COO Jason Chen, who spent six years as a Partner at Contrary after starting his career at PwC, and CTO Rodda John, who led Ramp’s 20-person engineering team behind billpay.com before co-founding Moab, an ERP startup for equipment rental companies.

The new funding will go toward product development, sales growth, and hiring, taking FSH’s team from 11 to more than 45, primarily in engineering, design and client strategy. FSH’s long-term goal is to make government software work, by default.

About FSH Technologies

FSH Technologies builds software for governments and school districts nationwide, replacing hourly-billed consulting firms and point-solution vendors with a single platform that only grows when the software actually works. FSH currently serves Buffalo, Denver, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, among other locations, with plans to expand to all 50 states.

Media Contact Details
Outlier Partners | Lauren Wallack-Estes
FSH Technologies
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