forgottenroderick

[forgottenroderick]

Aix-la-Chapelle Cathedral, Aachen, Germany

This chapel located in Aachen, Germany is the first cathedral our group of students visited to begin study abroad. I remember being struck by the vast expanse of the cathedral paired with the incredibly detailed artistry lining every inch of the interior.

I selected this cathedral because of the impact it left on me. I still vividly remember walking in for the first time. The sense of awe that I felt then, returns in memory.

The cathedral was commissioned by Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor himself. There was no staple architecture style at this time so Charlemagne hired architects from Italy and other areas in Europe to collaborate on the Cathedrals design. The result became the origin of many European style churches to follow.

Because so many architects were called to work on this cathedral aspects of the architecture can be sorted into categories based on region. The Greek and Italian style marble collumns. The large mosaic dome and bronze doors bear the imprint of Byzantine tradition.

The stained glass was originally designed to portray Bible stories to the illiterate.

Aachen was Charlemagne’s favorite city. So much so that he was buried in this cathedral and his remains can still be found there today.

I was surprised by the magnitude of mosaics found in this cathedral. Every wall is covered upon entry and completely envelops the circumference of the chapel. I personally love mosaics and similar ceramic art. Knowing the time and planning that goes into completing a small mosaic, I was astounded by the time, effort, and attention to detail which was evident in the masterful artwork I saw on the walls.

[forgottenroderick]

NOTE: found this in my drafts and apparently never finished or published it. i haven't re-read this yet so it might just be...all nothing now but yeah!! thought id toss this out notwithstanding!

---

oooh also incoming thought (based on some of our other ooc talks!) but like -- another option for the boys?

the forthcoming lorcan girls!

edmund and arthur will have to bicker over the eldest ;D but sebastian may help himself to any of them ;DDDDD but anyway, since, by the sounds of things, we now know that a lorcan ruled within roderick's lifetime, he probs views them as ~another viable candidate and pseudo-princesses and this is probs why he placed rian as lord over lorcan, specifically, rather than some other place that had lost its lord...that, and its a fortress etc aka all the other reasons already present but yeah!!! they're not ~as legit as the staffords, in roderick's eyes, and he probs views them as effiectvely rebel upstarts against the og rulers (the staffords) or smth alkdsjflkjdsfsdf but still! they have in fact ruled astaira and he remembers it, and believes the rest of the world will too!

anyway!!!

forgottenmarian @giadesstrin … Marian may be about to suggest they throw some sort of ‘eligible suitors and prospective wives invited!”!Style tourney or ball for their children 🤦🏻‍♀️ (… but mostly for Arthur so he can be kingly and have heirs! And maybe guin… so she can get her out of there and out of the running for Roderick’s heir!) giadesstrin @forgottenmarian Omg I frankly love the idea of a ball for [marrying off] the boys and a tourney for [marrying off] the girls!!!! Even if he doesn’t ultimately go for marrying off his kids I feel this would be enough of a fun event for us all that mayhaps he’ll at least agree to the event to give it a go/humor her so [we] can all benefit heehee @thelongforgottenrealm

this is from a diff post but i still wanted to pop this into the discussion here for all of us to see bc i feel like, even if the marriages/betrothals don't go through, this def could and it just sounds like fun! itd probs be down the line bc itd involve inviting foreign/unconquered royals to court etc, so even in-world it would take lotsa planning etc (irl these sorts of events, involving multiple royal houses and the like used to take literally yearssss to plan! dont even get me started on the field of the cloth of gold! lakdjsfklsdjf but anyway i think it taking us months to get to or whatever is reasonable, but everyone would know its coming and being planned etc bc gossip like that spreads pr quick hahahaa) but yeah!! it just seems like a fun thing to write heehee

marian: 'edmund isn't as strong as arthur. he could never protect his wife and children!' my inner rosie: 'hey!' alksdjflksjdf no but honestly i love her maternal bias <333333 and so does arthur!!! my inner arthur: 'thanks mom ily too <33333' A MOTHER WHO HAS NEVER BEEN ACCUSED OF BEING A WITCH LAKJDSFLKJSDFKJ amira: 'yeah! so is that really the bitch you want backing ~you up??? she's not even a witch!' godfrey: *world's longest sigh* tristan, being forgotten: 'no worries, that's totally fair. i don't always want these two for family, myself. i would also strongly advise against it, in general, but edmund's honestly just such a cool guy! its a tough call.'

GUIN'S MARRIAGE

no but honestly i think she's lowkey right abt guin? like, obv idk what'll happen there, but in a reality where guin ~did marry whoever roderick picks out, etc, i think roderick would at first be v proud during the betrothal stage yknow like 'this is all so great!' etc buT then the marriage comes and he sees her in full bridal regalia bc ofc she'd need every last trace of imperial glamor etc!!!!!!! but then like...obv bridal regalia is suchhhhhh a traditional symbol of feminity and he's like *seizes chest* my god she's a girl!! a;ksjdfkjsdf but he does slowly kinda recover yknow but then she's pregnant!!!!!!! and obv you don't get more ~traditionally feminine~ for a dude like him, like!!!!! roderick, the dude he is: 'A PREGNANT WOMAN COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE FIT TO RULE AN EMPIRE!!!!' and presumbaly she'll be pregnant again asp, and yeah that'd be suchhhh a huge cognitive check to him!!!!

this is def another thing in which marian could potentially look forward to seeing help from team calainon (godfrey, anyway! amira might honestly be like 'what! we can't install her w a powerful ally!' bc that def could come back to bite them later no question if her hubs wants to be emperor! and he'd ~have to be powerful for roderick to perceive him as worthy of his daughter/bloodline, etc! not to mention she'd get her own household and that would presumably put her out of amira's power to poison care for her if she ever fell into some weird distress which ig must be genetic given it happened to her mom, too! ;D but godfrey's got plans for the world that might prove a stumbling block even for a stupid powerful husband and an un-poisoned guin! ;D plus, a guy w the right bg and personality mix could be absolutely ideal!! -- and maybe even make guin pr happy tbh! but ngl godfrey aint too concerned abt ~that akjsfklsjdfkljsdf)

ALTERNATELY THO!! lets say she runs off and marries someone he does not approve!!!! or that cass does the same, for that matter!! that results in roderick's absolute FURY!!!!!!! in guin's case, she's is no longer considered fit to rule ANYTHING!!!! that marriage is getting quickie annulled and covered up!!! it NEVER happened!!!! but just in case she's pregnant, she's getting married to the first roderick!approved man in sight, be is alistair, aleksander, cassimir, rian, or whomever!!!!!! he's getting a BOATLOAD of cash!!!! enough to gild away any uncomfy questions (while also keeping them in supreme style bc itd look bad on roderick if they weren't since she's still his daughter!)!!!!!! annnnnd she's getting immediately banished from court (supposedly off to start her own household bc NOTHING IS WRONG BC NOTHING HAPPENED!!!!!!!) we will never speak of this again!!!!! and itd be a looooong time before he'd forgive her enough to so much as see her again honestly, if ever!!!!!! (ngl i feel like ~this is the situation that amira most wants for guin, if not straight up killing her which is the ideal [SCREAM]! who cares if she's ever happy again!!!! she should just be happy to not be -- allegedly -- poisoned, right?! laksjdfkljsdf smdh)

MARRIED SONS

ok so there're a lottttt of ways this can gooo!!! most of them directly relate to roderick's mental health (ALWAYS a loaded subject!) and the boys' own actions

but yeah! his boys marrying and having kids wouldn't have any of ~those drawbacks! but it would have the v decided drawback of 1) making roderick feel old and therefore kinda desperate to prove his immortality!!!! which would make him even more competitive w his sons, but weirdly might make him bond more w his grandchildren???? but it ~would make him respect his sons more, all the same????

ALT 1

just having a wife makes him respect them more, they're more adult persons if they have a wife/home/potential family! but the moment she's pregnant/there's a kid he's like whoa whoa whoa!!!! ~im the one whose a young dad here hahaha not you!!! *panics and marries the first ~young woman who smiles at him and possibly even makes her empress even if she's the silliest most vapid little thing in the empire as a full-fledged midlife crisis sets in*

but i do feel like it would also weirdly make him feel more like...either of them could rule bc now they're not his sons!!!! they're just him but smaller (not younger!!!!!!!! ~he's young!!!!! alkjdsfkljsdjf)

but that's on good days!!! on bad days they're coming for him and his crown and he might have to kill them to survive if it comes to that!!!!

w this mindset, there ~is the chance for a reality where #varmontcivilwar unexpectedly comes years early w roderick still alive, just making war on his own sons yayyy SCREAM cue arthur, raising an army to protect himself and his fam from the dude who raised him: 'sooo glad that's not my dad after all damn' jk jk obv he doesn't know but yknow!!

so yeahhh ideal dad always lkdjafldksjfsdf SCREAM

ALT 2

but let's talk an alternate scenario, the one where arthur runs off and marries, oh idk let's say ~aria w/o permission ;DDD you guessed it! that there is TREASON!!!! he's clearly just tryna use her claim to overthrow roderick and now roderick is legit tryna murder arthur!!!!! edmund is getting a wife and he's getting declared a king and, if sebastian doesn't help hunt down his own brother, amira's becoming empress to basically exclude any of marian's kids from the throne, even once arthur is dead lakjsdfkljsdf

HOWEVER, if its known that aria's a witch, then she BEWTICHED HIS SON!!!! this isn't arthur's fault bc he's BEWITCHED!!!! and roderick must go rescue his boy by burning that witch!!!!!!!! (who, in ~this scenario, is now using ~his son~ to make ~herself powerful rather than the reverse!)

the latter part of this also applies to edmund and rosie, if they were ever to be in a similar position (at least after malconaire witch-gate situation), since she's a believed witch asp but doesn't (as far as roderick is concerned) have a claim to the throne/royal blood (even tho she actually does bc #astaira but anyway! al;kjsdfkljsdf) so its not full ~treason its just wild disobedience and ~arthur is getting his own kingdom, and possibly even guin, etc. the whole thing in opposite applies, tho, if godfrey's plan works out and edmund married eilia, but even ~more bc she's the eldest/former queen and ~roderick's own intentded bride!!!!!!!, etc, so!! but hey! marian gets to be empress, and at this rate ~both her sons might get kingdoms out of this one (guin too ngl -- sorry, cass, none for you tho, but ur probs getting married to a king)! so, really just fun-for-the-whole-fam scenarios out here!

note: if smth like this played out ~before rosie's considered a witch, so she's just this dowerless but still noble girl, roderick is FURIOUS at edmund, but he's finding them and seizing them and getting them annulled and hushing this whole thing up, which probs ~does result in him effectively bribing malconaire to keep them quiet bc THIS NEVER HAPPENED!!!!!!!!! if a pregnancy resulted, that is a bastard!!!! but he ~will make sure his grandkid is cared for!!!! but edmund will never get to see his kid or his so-called ex-wife ever again!!!! tbh unless he already knew, he would probs never even be informed there ~was a child, and also team calainon is in the DOG HOUSE and must scramble and scrape their way up to win back his approval!!! but after awhile, if edmund lets it go and is sufficiently contrite, they can all move on and forget this unpleasantness ever happened!!!!!

this same scenario is true of ~any of roderick's sons marrying a girl who roderick perceives as beneath their station etc, but itd be worse on the two male heirs bc he frankly holds them to higher standards/perceives it as more grasping in the would-be bride and a worse endorsement of the kind of emperor they could someday be! even tho lbr in roderick's worldview this is ~still more the woman's fault for ~beguiling his son, but its more his son's ~defiance of roderick that roderick is having trouble w here ngl!

ok so, let's stick w just the aria/rosie witch!wife scenario for a moment, tho, and lets say that the lovers are caught and the witch is burned and roderick now expects everything to go back to how it was!!! after a small adjustament, ofc, while the magic wears off etc! weirdly????? he's initially gonna have more respect and dote a lil more on his kid????? that is until grief/anger doesn't just...subside and get replaced w gratitude for burning that wicked witch aldksfjlskdjfd obv idk what edmund would do, but arthur, i can say for sure, would NEVER forgive roderick for that and would def be actively like IMMA HAVE MY VENGEANCE/FREE ASTAIRA LIKE SHE WANTED and yeahhhh!!!! another #varmontcivilwar come early scenario could def come out of this ngl!!!!

let's talk our boy sebastian tho!!! we already discussed roderick re: him taking someone beneath him to wife! other scenarios tho? most of the above more or less applies, but if he marries a witch or a princess w/o permission, he's getting a lot of this same stuff leveled at him, but w less...far-reaching consequences? like, it doesn't reflect as much on his faction, there's no one getting raised to empress or king as a direct result/reaction, etc, and roderick doesn't really view this as reflecting on anyone's chances at being his heir, so yeah!

BUT!! it does, at least intitially, in specifically the princess scenario, feel like him overreaching himself/tryna be heir when he was never a contendor! get back in ur box, sebastian!!!!!! weirdly, tho, for sebastian, him taking a princess to wife might, like???? idk i feel like weirdly roderick would kinda respect ~him striving (or that's how roderick would perceive it!) bc its not a challenge to ~roderick, its a challenge to his own siblings, as roderick sees it, bc he's beneath them and tryna get on their lvel, and he'd probs -- after sebastian wins his forgiveness, consider giving him more responsiblity/power etc bc he's proven himself to be in roderick's own mold, a younger son reaching up, and roderick would feel kinda proud of that i feel like? alkjfklsdf the witch thing tho just goes the burn the witch route tho pr much just like his brothers! tho it ~is less of an ~international concern~ as far as roderick is concerned, in his case than w the heirs aldskjflksjdfdsf

ALT 3

roderick decides he ~is cool w his sons taking multiple wives???? to be clear, this is a strictly varmont-privilege, and one

OOC | Varmont Marriages

in light of @forgottenmarian tryna convince roderick to consider marriages for arthur, he may end up reconsidering, in which case he'd do the same for ~all his boys, as he does try to keep things pr even between his wives and heirs etc unless he's specifically punishing someone smdh (guin we're still a ~maybe tho bc this is one of the places he ~will remember she's a girl!)! and i just thought id make a post on what ~roderick thinks his sons should look for in brides!!

BRIDES

she must be of the blood royal! of pristine pedigree and character! suitably beautiful to compliment his ~own beauty he's given his boys (yes rodierck ~is vain!) and, hopefully, from a numerous family as it may suggest a fertile wife! she must be pure in every way! she MUST be (whether by birth or conversion) of the true faith!!!!!!

so!! some ladies he might consider?

frankly, i defffff see him lamenting that ciara would've been the perfect bride for one of his sons had she not been also their own cousin SCREAM but those varmont genes are perfect!!!! smdh anyway!

aria

siobhan

this one's only possible if their bastardy is ever overturned! eilia isnt on this list, being his ~own wife and thus off the table for anyone else! laskdjflkjsdf however it is VERY possible, he would then be like 'wait no those're your aunts nm on this one!' also, being but younger sisters, they are only suitable for sebastian and not for either of his potential heirs #facepalm

sonya vasilieva

she's sooooo distant from that throne that this is more likely to be a sebastian bride too, if alaric loses interest! he's not looking to push his brother out of smth either! anyway, she'd have to take her mama's birth house as her own tho, esp given the malconaire taint once they're declared witches etc!

and here's the most likely for both arthur and edmund!

a princess from a nation as yet unconquered

in this case, he may even declare (w ~himself emperor ofc of each land, but) his son ~king of his respective bride's country kdljfalksdjfsd so...there's that (imagine having a hubby forced on you and then he's suddenly ruling your whole country after all ur male relativews have suddenly and suspiciously disappeared overnight and ur younger sisters and cousins are all being held as hostages and married off to ppl from far away -- this is the kind of father-in-law roderick would be SCREAM lakjsfkjlsdf)

so, all the ladies on this list can ultimately be possibilities for any of his sons, depending how things go, even eilia potentially, but yeah!! in terms of preferences, sebastian has a lil more wiggle room! lakjdsflkjsdf

HUSBANDS

however, depending how things go, he may think of guin marrying too!

the same credentials will apply for husbands, save he need not be pure (tho he must be discreet in any...indiscretions)! but he must be wealthy and powerful and a credit to roderick as a potential son, but also must NOT be a potential rival/threat to him! he must be himself either heir or ~ruling over whatever~ himself, no younger sons here!

(another situation where he'd be all 'alas eoin would be perfect were he not her cousin' *facepalm*)

rian

ive already discussed tho the issues w him re: cassandra and they apply ~even more so~ w guin! and note, for later, that cassimir would face these same challenges re: both daughters

marian's eldest brother!

so this one's a lil nuts and v dicey bc #varmontcivilwar so like??? will guin be able to count on him?? will arthur??? can ~he trust his own ~wife? tis a meSS! but he's a v prominent lord etc and ive already disccused that all roderick's bros in law are given quite a lot but also he's not a threat to roderick also idk if there's any royal blood, but obv he's connected to the ~imperial family and that trumps things! plus he's ovn-ian!!!! which is also a big deal to roderick so he ~could be a contender! this one's unlikely tho bc roderick does like to play his court off against itself so he does like to keep the factions ~fairly clean and obv this would uhhh not do that!!!!

godfrey calainon

soooo you might be saying to yourself -- but what about ciara??? and trust me so is roderick!! if they're married by the time this comes up, godfrey's off the table! if, however, they're still just betrothed, well, the needs of his daughter trump those of his neice, so if guin needs godfrey, ciara is getting bumped! but don't worry, ciara! if this ever transpires, ciara's getting betrothed to marian's eldest bro! (this one's unlikely tho bc itd require some wild mechanics, given all this, and would probs have smth to do w geopolitics esp re: kolchis and its neighbors, so we probs won't even get into all that ++ godfrey would be fighting it for obv reasons and we all know him to be a crafty bastard lkajsdfjkldf but anyway! i did think i should mention it bc it would be ~possible) plus this one presents all the same problems (but also the same advantages) as the above (except godfrey ~does have royal blood...potentially if the legends be true akdsljfklsdjf) and that'd probs be the major factor here -- godfrey is, in some sense, a king, and a god-king, no less, but one who is supremely loyal to roderick and his son and his queen, w a lineage that is said shall last unto the ending of the world, and even supposedly descended from a (false!) god! so some exciting stuff here for roderick to chew on but yeah! -- like all the stuff that was alluring abt amira as a wife for roderick is also tantalizing w godfrey as a husband for roderick's daughter but yeah obv supremely messy too alksdjflkdsjfjsdf this one is, however, potentially the least likely on this list, all things considered, but would potentially be brought up in a list of names for contender (tho it probs wouldn't get much past that stage)

cassimir vasiliev(a?)

same things as w sonya but yeah!! a possibility!! he'd face the same challenges as rian tho but is less enticing as he's even ~less royal~ in roderick's eyes since they were so far down the totem pole that roderick just...literally forgot to execute them alkdsjfkljsdf whereas rian's grandfather was king and rian was, in roderick's opinion, rightful king right up till the moment roderick invaded, so yeah!

(also, total side note, but im realizing that @forgottenvalentina will probs try to get @forgottenrian and sonya hitched, if the other potentials don't work out! l;kajdsfkjd he's ~also of the blood royal, and he's got lorcan if nothing else so they can hide out there while the ppl of malconaire are being mad at them alksdjfkjsdf but that's only if none of the varmonts bite after all!)

a foregin prince/king

in this case...actually not ~the most likely option, as it is w his sons?? bc he wouldn't wanna make her hubby a king!!! but he would feel guin's due being a queen in this instance but obv this is roderick so he'd struggle emotionally w naming her queen in her own right and yeah!! its a whole thing!!! but also he feels she's due this so yeah...she's least likely for anything to actually come of any of this for lotsa reasons and this is one of them!

------

to pull smth i wrote before re: cassandra marrying (but also all the more true of the heirs!):

"honestly roderick is probs starting to feel like its getting past time both his girls were married!!! fortunately for both them and for marian, all his kids need partners who’re 'worthy’ of roderick’s own legacy and, so far, that’s no one!!!!!! like, if there’s a dude that reaches those heights, roderick DESTROYS him, and if there’s a woman, roderick marries her, himself laksjfsdaf so frankly – antsy as he might feel abt it – they probs aren’t getting married (by ~his leave, anyway!) any time soon laksdjfkjdsf like it’d literally have to be like a king or smth and roderick has a habit of executing those alksjdfkljds his bio states that eilia is the only exception bc he thinks he can marry her and thus prevent astaira from revolting laksdjfkjsdf but in another world she would’ve been the ideal wife for either arthur or edmund in roderick’s own book except he doesn’t wanna give either of his boys that powerbase when he could seize it for himself smdh 

"but yeah who knows the king of orinthia might be a good match for cassandra lajsdkfasdf and i ~do think he keeps talking that way, but he does at least run it by [marian] for her thoughts bc women and marriage are a natural fit, so she gets to have an opinion there – doesn’t mean he’ll abide by it, but he ~will actually consider it alksdjfkjdsf honestly the sad thing for marian is that roderick does believe women need husbands so the girls are more likely to get married off first etc, and since guin is a potential heiress, she has to marry THE perfect speciment to carry on roderick’s legacy, basically (same w all three potential heirs), so cassandra is the one roderick’s most likely to ~actually marry off etc, w sebastian or guin just behind her (would depend on circumstances)"

and this bit too:

"so!! honestly i think rian’s idea of marrying guin is a pipedream if he wants daddy’s support in that (tho ngl running off w her or marrying her two seconds [after] roderick dies or smth are ~not off the table as far as he’s concerned, thanks to her claim!) BUT there is a varmont princess roderick ~might consider wedding to him (tho idk if he’d actually go through w it or not tbqh!) and that’s our cassandra! lbr itd be a TOTAL disaster and im guessing [marian] would v much have other ideas on that one hahahaha but anyway!!! he ticks boxes for ~roderick’s requirements:

"royal/king (since he was the firstborn male as far as roderick’s concerned pre!roderick, he should’ve been monarch, not eilia) and thus roderick assumes he’d come w the support of the most powerful single country roderick’s got/that it might help [mend] fences w the angry astairans (he is ofc quite wrong im sure, but!)

"he’s bent the knee (this does come w the backhand that roderick will never respect him but w the positive that he’s a male of royal blood whose still alive and not a direct relative lakjsdfkjsdf)

"he’s clever, capabale, and obdenient to roderick

"so yeah!! that’s all pr good as far as roderick’s concerned!! if he were to do this, he’d wanna give him smth much bigger than one single lordship, since roderick’s own grandson would stand to inherit whatever rian has etc etc etc and that has to be sufficiently grand if roderick’s bloodline will be there etc etc etc but yeah!! being real, i def think marian could easily dissuade roderick from this notion, so idk that this would ever transpire, but ~he would be all for it, even when their personalities inevitably clash lakjsfjkdsf bc lbr itd def tip roderick’s bid towards rian being named roderick’s stewart of all astaira when he inevitably moves on to conquer the next thing lkajsdklfjdsf but anyway!!! laksdjfkljdsf"

there's def more to be said here but anyway i thought id just toss this out for plotting purposes, should marian prove successful in her bid! but yeah idk that any of the current characters would ultimately hit roderick's standard, as it currently stands, largely bc...in the long run, ~no one~ will ever be good enough for any of them but for guin in particular!! but yeah stuff might get thrown around anyway if he thinks he's being open to this now!

[forgottenroderick]

Faux Flattery | Roderick + Aria

"Your Imperial Highness."

Aria sank into a low curtsey, holding the was no hint of sarcasm in her voice. Aria had spent the morning practicing, trying to keep her voice even and low and remove all sarcasm as the phrase was so often laced with when she spoke with a certain Varmont prince.

Weeks she had been preparing for this event. Every calculated comment, every precisely planned move, all leading to the first grand celebration held by the Varmonts in Asteria.

In truth, Aria had doubts that the conquering emperor had even noticed the subtle changes in her attitude. He seemed too concern with convincing Eilia to be his bride while using his free moments to inch his family closer and closer to a civil war between all his potential heirs.

Daring to glance up from her lowly position, she noticed the Emperor had paused before her, she rose slowly.

"My sister and I are honored that you would extend the invitation to us for this celebration. Your daughter is radiant this evening," she paused momentarily.

Its now or never.

"I will confess I am not blind the the fact that the... the... transfer of power has not gone exactly as you had hoped," she continued, her voice dropping slightly. "But for the good of Astaria, I do hope our families may remain on good terms."

[forgottenroderick]

A Devoted Wife || Roderick + Marian

Marian had instructed the servants to alert her of her husband's return immediately upon his arrival. A messanger had come from Malconaire that afternoon alerting the imperial household that there had been a mishap along the road causing damage to the emperor's carriage and, until another could be dispatched, he was remaining in the hospitality of the lord's family.

What had caused such a delay in returning her husband to the castle, Marian could not say, but the afternoon had come and gone, dinner had come and gone, and he had still not returned. Marian was contemplating preparing for bed when a servant arrived to tell her Roderick had returned.

After giving hum sufficient time to return to his quarters and settle, Marian arrived at the door of his chambers, immediately being admitted by his manservant.

"My love," she greeted him with a warm smile and a deep curtsey before rising and approaching him.

"I have heard there was trouble on the road and your carriage was damaged? I am so happy to see you are unharmed. It seems as if the one true god has smiled upon you once again," she reached out her hand towards her husband, quite happy to have him safe within the castle once again. Marian knew it would anger him to know she thought such things but, with all the unrest in the past weeks, she worried when he was out and vulnerable in his travels.

She observed the man in front of her, so much changed from the young man who had courted her all those years ago. He looked like a man who had spent his entire life fighting. Marian wondered if she, herself, looked that much aged in his eyes. Perhaps that was why he sought a younger bride now...

Pushing the thought away, Marian retained the adoring smile on her face she always wore with Roderick. It was habit, at times, in these past few years but a part of her still cherished him dearly. She did hate to think of his traipsing about the mud and dirt in the Astairan countryside-- hardly something an Emperor should be forced to endure.

"You were missed at dinner this evening," Marian informed him. "Conversation was quite lacking. Our sons both seem distracted, however. I cannot begin to imagine what should be bothering either of them so..."

"Speaking of dinner, I did not even think-- should I have the servants bring up something for you for supper? That lady of Malconaire is..." Marian paused, unsure of exactly what word she wished to use to describe Valentina Malconaire in that moment.

"Are you hungry, my love?" she concluded, deciding instead to forgo trying to describe Lady Malconaire. She was quite sure her husband had had quite enough of her being stranded at the house as he had been.

"Tell me... is the house as... interesting as it is described? Cassandra tells me it is full of living trees and I confess I imagine a treehouse more than a home befitting a lord..."

[forgottenroderick]

Blood in the Water | Roderick & Aria

"I had the good fortune, today," Roderick was saying as he approached. The feasting was in high gear -- minstrels playing their hearts out in the gallery, volleys of servants carrying course after course of sumptious vittals from the kitchens, and the whole place in the uproarious hubbub of animated talk. "Of entertaining your...fascinating sister."

It perhaps was not the most...choice word to describe the often stony-faced former queen, in truth. But Roderick meant to be chivalrous towards the lady. These games of courtly love were easier to play, besides, in the flushes of triumph. Generosity came easy today.

The day's sport had drawn to a close, with more to resume the following day. Roderick had much love for such efforts -- the excitement, the glamor, and the stunning show of force all more than enough to get the blood flowing...and doubtless subdue the flagging hopes of any malcontents.

Oh, yes, there was other game afoot, too, and Roderick reveled in that knowledge. It would not be long, he meditated, before the last remnants of Astairan rebellion had been stamped out for good.

"I fear, however, that caught up as I was in her pleasing attentions, I have managed to neglect your noble self, my lady. But I mean that to last no longer. I would hear your opinions of these games. Have they managed to entertain?"

[forgottenroderick]

Victorious | Roderick & Marian

Roderick reined his warhorse around, laughing as the stallion tossed his head. The black steed was decked out all in purple and gold finery, displaying the glorious charge of his imperial master, and Roderick, himself, was no less well adorned. His high helm and burnished armor gleamed fiercely in the sunshine and, beneath his helmet, the emperor was grinning as his adoring public cheered their revelry.

Holding his lance aloft, he rode the circuit once, twice, the fallen Sir Tristan saluting as he passed on his way out of the lists. It was a wonderful feeling, this, and Roderick roared with them before, finally, riding towards the stands where Guinevere crowned him victor of the day, later to receive his trophy from other hands.

Soon, he rode away to strip of his armor and bathe and return to the purpure robes of an emperor rather than the steel ones of a warrior. With the feast commenced, Amira was seated to his right as his senior wife, and Marian to his left. Pointedly leaning away from Amira as she began to address him, he turned to his other wife with a vibrant smile. He felt alive, tonight. The roar of the crowd thrummed beneath his skin and his blue eyes danced, bright, as he seized a glass of wine and sucked down its contents.

"I hope you enjoyed today's festivities, wife," he began. "I thought them thrilling enough from my vantage. I hope the spectacle diverted you, hm? Our son showed himself well today, did you not think? Though I knocked him down, myself, I was not disappointed. After all, the boy cannot yet hope to smite his father. I am not so very old yet."

[forgottenroderick]

Sweet Sister | Roderick & Aria

"Greetings, dear sister," said Roderick, starting forward to take both her hands in his own. His voice was warm, and his smile bright, as he led the lady out into the sunlight. "I know that it was my son you had planned to escort you on your walk, today, but I was obliged to send him elsewhere on an errand of mine, and decided to take his place, myself."

In fact, he had sent Arthur away particularly for this very purpose...Roderick had grown remiss, indeed. He had become so focused upon Arthur's previous dalliance that he'd failed to notice the boy's eye had perhaps begun to wander elsewhere until Marian had mentioned how much time they'd spent together during the tournament. Oh, she did not seem to have drawn any particular conclusion about it, it was true, so there was certainly room for mistake -- for all Roderick knew it had been Arthur's gentle encouragement, directed towards Aria, which had resulted in Eilionora's reconsideration of his addresses! But he meant to find out.

In truth, Roderick was confident that it was his own impressive stunt at the tournament paired with his recent kindness which had worked the change in her -- women were, after all, simple creatures. And he further suspected, knowing his son's roving eye as he unfortunately did, that Arthur had had entirely other motives in any attentions he may have paid towards the once and future Queen of Astaira's dark eyed sister.

"It occurs to me, sister, that you have never seen my home, which strikes me as deeply sad, as Eilionora is to become my queen. Might it please you, someday, to see it?" He paused as they strolled, and added, almost off-handedly: "I trust His Imperial Highness the Prince Arthur has told you of home?" he inquired, gesturing towards the temple where he led her.

This was one of Roderick's building projects: a spectacular addition appended to the otherwise dull and unremarkable Astairan facade. His temple was a glorious thing, sporting a roof of gold, and littered everywhere inside with jewels and silver and gold on every surface in the hush of the one god's presence.

"Pray with me, sister, will you not? And give thanks. It will go well for us all, should my forthcoming marriage prove both happy and fruitful." His voice was more warning and than adulation.

He paused, then, taking a step back to admire her amongst this scenery. Women were so susceptible to flattery, after all. "You look well here, sister, rather as if this were your home."

The irony of this palace being just that was entirely lost upon the emperor, who had turned her mother's private garden into a gaudy bauble to ornament his false god.

[forgottenroderick]

Daughter Mine | Roderick & Cassandra

Since the discovery of her brother's...indiscretions, Roderick was determined to keep a sharper eye on his children, particularly his girls, when it came to the locals. For some time, Roderick had tolerated Cassandra's wild fancies about this Ormond but further inquiries into him had turned up confusion at best, which was an irregular thing, in truth. Roderick's intelligence was the best in the world -- he had the resources of half the world behind him, after all. How not?

Still, he'd not thought it a pressing issue until the rumors of Sebastian had found him. If his own, and most private, son was publically cavorting in an open tent, matters had progressed far further than he had realized. And Roderick did not much care for surprises. His sons might get any number of rustics with child they chose, but the same could not be true of his daughters. They were women, after all.

As the company returned from the Malconaire gala, where this lurid tale had first come to light, Roderick pulled his youngest aside. Guinevere was duly protected with a husband already lined up, but Cassandra? He could take no risks there. Her care was most urgent.

"Tarry a moment," he said, as the rest of their kin glanced and walked away. It was obvious this interview was to be conducted alone.

"Cassandra," he said, tone not that of the indulgent father, but that of the emperor. "You are not to see this Lord Ormond ever again. Do you understand me? He is not a suitable companion for you, little less anything more. I wish you to look to Rían Stafford, or a man of our own nation, unless I give you another name, for such...distractions from now forward. Lord Ormond, I fear, is not a respectable man. I will not hear his name again. Repeat it, daughter. You will not see the Astairan, again."

[forgottenroderick]

Congratulations | Roderick & Guinevere

"Come here, my girl," commanded the emperor. "Thank your father for your good fortune."

A kiss on the cheek he expected and a demure, blushing thanksgiving. This is how a dutiful daughter ought to react to such as Roderick had this day given to Guinevere. A husband! A House! Another title to add to her coils of rippling golden tiaras. Such had been the glories he had bestowed upon her. But so far all that had loomed between them had been silence.

He did not entirely blame her yet for any particularly egregious ingratitude. He knew he had -- by design, no less! -- taken her quite by surprise. Should would see none of this coming. Girls, after all, loved surprises. How often had he heard Cassandra squealing her delight over a fine gown she had not expected to receive? Guinevere had always been more dignified than her little sister, as she ought to be, and more reserved. She did not leap ahead to give herself airs, either. And there had been much to happen thereafter, returning to the palace only to change before embarking for the Malconaire event.

Now that they were at last ensconced afterwards in the castle, though, the time was right. But perhaps her natural feminine quietude prevented her from approaching his august presence uninvited. So, now, he invited. He expected all due gratitude.

"Your cousin will be a fine husband, my dear. You need have no fears of the married state, either. It is for your mothers to prepare you for what is to come, of course," he added, quickly. Though her only living parent, he was no woman to give her such advice, but he had no doubt his wives would be more than eager to impart knowledge...or Marian would be, at any rate. Amira's character was perhaps not so...generous. But he need not warn Guinevere of such. She knew it well enough, already.

"But know I wish you very happy, indeed, daughter. Your future husband will be kind and, I suspect, biddable. See you remember that you are no ordinary woman, born to be meek and obedient: you, my Guinevere, are of a different kind." Elaine lived in her, still, he saw, that same fire burning in the grey of her eyes, in the set of her soft pink lips, in the shape of her brows as fathomless eyes lifted to his. Yes, Elaine lived still and slowly, slowly, he raised his hand to her cheek, felt the living heat of her skin beneath his palm.

"You are mine."

He paused. Stiffened. His hand fell away. Elaine was not there: she was not Elaine. No one would ever be again. Not in this lifetime. Not, perhaps, for many more lifetimes to come.

His shoulders felt tense. The room, in the summer heat, felt too close. A low, scratching voice in the fireplace was laughing at him. His head ached.

Roderick paced to the long, low table, so often featuring maps of war, but now instead scattered with paintings of wide swaths of picturesque land and strange Astairan castles. He sometimes felt that, in conquering the largest country in the world, he'd somehow captured, instead, a pastoralist's dream: oblitering an army of farmers to seize the world's largest grange.

"There is the matter of a betrothal gift, my dear. The final decision, of course, shall be mine," he added, airily. "But, as it shall form a future seat of your own here in Astaira, what say you that I give to Eoin: mountain, fens, or heathland?"

[forgottenroderick]

The Great Oak | Roderick & Marian

"You see, wife, I have taken your advice."

Behind him, Guinevere and her new betrothed, her cousin Eoin, was being announced at the Malconaire gala, and Roderick beamed in paternal pride, watching how she conducted herself, and wrapping one arm around Marian's waist as, for once, the emperor stood aside for someone else to take the spotlight.

"What think you of this scheme?"

Roderick's announcement earlier that day had proven both sudden and shocking to everyone, just as he had hoped. There was something fine and pleasing in hearing a whole crowd of people suddenly indraw their breath, eyes wide and shining. Many, Roderick knew, had held pretentions to his Guinevere's hand; many had been foiled. But Marian, he was sure, would be delighted.

Oh, it was true that she had pressed for Guinevere's marriage to one of her own brothers, but surely she could see that none of them was worthy of any child of his! No, even to suggest it had been absurdity, and he was sure she must see that now. The pretentions of the House of the Sun, he hoped, had today been diminished. They required rather more reminding of their place than he should have wished. He would never forget how they had tried to maneuver him. He would never allow them to forget, either: Roderick would move. Roderick would not be moved.

Still, whatever the case of that, Marian had wanted Guinevere married. And now she was so to be. Women did so like to be considered in such matters. He was sure she would -- must! -- be pleased. He was the emperor. He need not have thought of her at all.

"And," he added, gesturing about them. "Did I not promise to bring you to Malconaire? What think you, wife, of this so-called Great Oak?" He did not care how close the Malconaires stood. He did not care if they overheard, or if what they overheard insulted them. An emperor might say whatever he liked, wherever he may be. "Do you still think it a tree house? I daresay you must be right about the local pests, hm? The staff here must be forever plagued with them.

"But still...a lovely place to bring up a child, do you not think?" He arched his brows, thinking of Arthur's babe growing within Eithne Malconaire's womb: the child who, one day, would rule over all of this.

He knew that this aspect of things would likely not best please his queen: she would have wanted her grandchild brought up where he need not fear squirrel bites, no doubt, to be raised by a mother who did not lift her skirts for the first wealthy man to look her way, and to grow to rule over something far grander than a house interrupted by the out-of-doors from within, but...most bastards did not rule over anything. And it was that consideration which he hped would bring her some comfort. He sought to remind her of that. "No doubt the future Lord Malconaire will enjoy an idyllic childhood from this seat."

He took her hand in his. "Come, let us take some refreshment. It was a dusty ride, and no doubt you are parched."

Spotting Arthur and Sebastian laughing with one of the Malconaire girls, Roderick's eyes narrowed, but he passed over the consideration. The girl was with child, already. What more harm could be done there? Let them have their fun tonight, he supposed. Still, it reminded him of another matter.

"Do not imagine," he said, as he passed to Marian a goblet of wine. "I have forgotten our sons in all of this. I have considered what your said the first night of the tournament, my love, and certainly, a spouse shall liven up our listless boy, do you not think? Yes, they shall each be wed soon enough: daughters from the greatest Houses the world around. It is sad that there are no legitimate daughters of House Stafford, but there are such from the royal House of Lorcan. What make you of Astairan brides for our boys, wife?"

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Update

so i just wanted to do a lil catch up w how our boy is reacting to all these changes, and i what they are, and i think its all putting him in a good mood! which might just be worse for everyone else...

so everything is coming up roderick! one of his wives is [ pregnant again ], and eilionora has finally come around to [ recognizing their betrothal ] after nearly three years of denying its existance! (now that she's accepted btw he's saying that the betrothal started when he first proposed marriage, not that it started when she accepted those proposals...), his [ firstborn daughter is engaged ] and gets to retain the coolest last name in the entire world (his own)!

sure, there's that pesky resistance out there, but even they've [ taken his bait and are now spending his marked coins ] so he's starting to be able to locate them! and, yes, matters in malconaire are heating up with all sorts of rebel coin going to its upkeep...and since there's only ~one man there @forgottencassimir is becoming of ~particular interest bc, either he's continuing to show his incompetance now by not only daring to allow his roads to come into disrepair (which reflects poorly on roderick, himself!) but now he's blithely allowing an uprising to percolate in his own backyard, or...he's a traitor!

if its blind incompetence, @forgotteneithne [ 's engagement remains suitable for his grandson's false father ], but if its treason...malconaire ~will be getting a new lord and so will be eithne! really, these malconaires ~are presenting the biggest thorn in his side rn, bc getting a couple of pretty (tho admittedly pregnant) girls married to men who aren't interested is proving shockingly slow-going! alskdjfksldjflkjsdf

the other issue he's facing rn? he expected ~this to take some time, but finding suitable candidates for his sons' marriages is quite a trick [ given his high standards ]! princesses and queens ready and available to wed them are proving surprisingly thin on the ground...maybe he'll just have to conquer a few more countries and force the issue w a rough wooing as he did w eilionora...or just wed those princesses and queens himself...

now that -- for the moment -- domestic issues are his primary concerns, and uncle bar is perfectly adept at dealing with such things, roderick is indeed beginning to think of conquest again. he's not ready to move on from astaira just yet, or anything like that, not till his own wedding at least, but perhaps even those of a few of his kids, and certainly not until the ultimate suppression of these revolting upstart peasants, but when those things are completed...well...there's still half the world out there to conquer, and he means to do it!

anyway, i fear, friends, that w his black mood moving off, we will be get to see the more ~active emperor~ he often is, riding off on his horse w his knights to various counties and checking in ~personally to exert his own authority...for FUN!!!!!!! and everyone will just have to live w his judgments <333333 what a guy!!!!! klsdjafkljsdljfskdjf this is what roderick's ~good mood~ looks like laksjdflkjdsjf enjoy!!!!! lkajsdfkljsdjf

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | OVN-ian Kingslist Mock Up

ok so since we've been developing the ovn, itself, a lot more recently, i wanted to do smth similar to [ this ] for them! (w all the same authorial notes abt names being stand ins till we decide and dates changeable the same way save for canon and so forth)

ok so i have had in my head for awhile that like the semi-legendary (think like...charlemagne or albert the great, like...he was a real historical figure, right, but there're also all these wild stories appended to him which some vers of may or may not ever have occurred but...certainly not like that lakjdskjfsdjf) rival/ally brother princes and later kings of the ovn named THEODEMIR and AUDOVACAR in ancient times, but like...we're gonna focus on more recent times...feel like they've got kind of a romulus/remus or even caine/abel thing going too w like murder and usurpation involved just...varmont vibes yknow lakjsdflkjsdf

1262-present -- roderick varmont, b. 1245, m. 1262, m. 1264, m. 1265

1257-1262 (5 years) -- athaulf iii varmont, b. 1196, m. 1228, m. 1243

1200-1257 (57 years) -- amalric ii varmont, b. 1168, m. 1195, m. 1231

1158-1200 (42 years) -- euric xii varmont, b. 1128, m. 1168

1158 (6 months) -- alaric ix varmont, b. 1126

1146-1158 (12 years) -- alvarus varmont, b. 1099, m. 1123

1125-1158 (33 years) -- athanaric varmont, b. 1076, m. 1098

1030-1125 (95 years) -- ildefonsus iv varmont, b. 1023, m. 1039, m. 1056, m. 1059, m. 1060, m. 1070, m. 1072, m. 1077, m. 1092 m. 1103 m. 1125

1027-1030 (3 years) -- ildefonsus iii varmont, b. 974, m. 996

1019-1027 (8 years) -- athaulf ii varmont, b. 922, m. 937

1017-1019 (2 years) -- ramirus viii varmont, b. 952, m. 973

1017 (2 months) -- euric xi varmont, b. 936, m. 951

1013-1017 (4 years) -- ildefonsus i varmont, b. 957, m. 972

1000-1013 (13 years) amalric i varmont, b. 930, m. 946, m. 952

once again i cut ot off at the year 1000, but am happy to do more if we like!

ok so i imagined that 1) we've got a pair of brothers in here where one strangled the other for the throne (and ~that's roderick great-grandpappy! yay! akljsdfjksdf); we've got a a henry viii/ivan the terrible type who was so desperate to provide an heir of his own body that he kept marrying and killing or confining to a nunnery wives who'd failed him (it was ~their fault!) and taking new ones but in the end he never had a son (those daughters do NOT matter!) and it was his hated cousin's kid who inherited; and at the beginning of the 11th century, generating that crisis, we've got a fully fledged civil war where all the extraneous brothers and cousins were killing each other for the throne so that's fun, too! idk it all just really fit i thought w what the house of varmont has got going on rn -- i also made pr much every king who didn't have a succession crisis have a kid pr much ~immediately upon marriage to give a lil credence to roderick's like 'you MUST conceive with three months of marriage or its time to panic!' to his wives lakjsdfljksdf

anyway obv any and all of this is up for change etc but yeah just a framework for us if we want it but also smth we can completely tear up and start again if we prefer <3 i just really enjoy making kingslists lakjsdlfjksdf

[forgottenroderick]

50. Writer's preference: roderick/edmund -- "Your legions. Are they in readiness?"

The imperial war room smelled faintly of parchment and the smoke from the great hearth. A massive map stretched across the central table, its surface crisscrossed with markers denoting armies, trade routes, and territories won.

Roderick Varmont stood at the head of it -- his gaze moved over the map focusing, searching for any weakness. Edmund entered, his boots clicking softly on the marble. He bowed just enough to be proper, but not an inch more.

“Father,” he said smoothly.

Without looking up, Roderick asked, “Are your legions in readiness?”

Edmund smiled faintly, though there was no warmth in it. “Of course. They could march at dawn if you gave the order.”

Roderick’s eyes flicked to him then: sharp, appraising. “And yet your brother tells me otherwise. He claims your supply lines are overextended, that you lack enough horses to support a full campaign.”

Edmund gave a soft, almost incredulous laugh. “Arthur would tell you the moon is made of gold if it meant winning your favor.”

“That’s not an answer,” Roderick said, his tone still calm but weighted like stone.

Edmund stepped forward, resting his hands lightly on the table’s edge. “My supply lines are secure, my cavalry well-mounted, and my men ready. Arthur’s… concerns are misplaced. Or perhaps deliberately exaggerated.”

Roderick regarded him in silence for a moment, then tapped a marker on the map—an outlying border province, recently taken. “This is your prize. Keep it strong, or I’ll give it to one of your brother's.”

The words were neither threat nor promise; they were simple fact, and Edmund knew better than to mistake them for anything else.

“Understood,” he said, inclining his head.

Roderick moved a pawn-like marker closer to the heart of the Empire. “And remember, son… victories fade quickly in my memory. Only the next one matters.”

Edmund left the room with the faint chill of his father’s voice still clinging to him, the reminder that in the Empire, even sons were pieces on the board.

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Roderick & the House of the Sun

ok so on disco:

and i wanted to get into this a bit more, and while this will def have to remain an 'until we get x characters we're guessing it goes x way' kinda thing for now, i thought that, since its just the four of us anyway and it ~is significant to roderick, marian @forgottenarthur @forgottensebastian @forgottencassandra and actually -- allll the varmonts tbqh lkjasdfkjdsf v much including bartholomew hahaha but yeah! that it might be smth that we might wanna dig into a bit more so yeha! here's this post to make it so!

anyway so like...idk how any of these characters would've opporated exactly or anything but i ~can suggest some strategems that'd def have an impact on roderick so imma lay out some different things they could've potentially done that i think would be well designed to move our man in the direction they wanted...

so, honestly i def think that marrying bartholomew or alaric (tho he was like...6 and ~under at the time so like...i really don't think roderick was worried too much abt his marriage atp alksjdfjksdf) is also v much a big coup, but obv roderick is v much the biggest fish even in that big pond, and if there's one family that has enough ambition/sense of its own self-importance to rival roderick's own (besides the calainons anyway ;D), i def feel like that'd be the house of the sun?

i do also think that witnessing @forgottenamira 's campaign to be his second bride probs laid some things pr bare re mechanics but!! also looking at [ roderick's timeline ], constructed via character bios and ages, roderick marries amira just two years after he marries elaine lakjsdfjdsf (yay! fun times there huh girlie SOB) and then marries marian just one year following ~that, plus we ~also know that there may have been a stafford sister in the mix too during that time, so things moved pr quickly which makes me think that, yes, there was a TON of groundwork laid wayyyyy ahead of time and now im almost like -- was amira able to make her play so quickly bc she was (unwittingly) walking a path that'd be pre-paved for her by the lord of the sun/marian's dad intending for it to be walked by his daughter instead (the way amira would HATE that!!!!! sooooooo!!!!! much!!!!!!! btw lkajsdfkljsdkjfj)

ok so what i mean is like...roderick was happily married! he was in love! he probs did ~know that his ancient ancestors took multiple wives but i don't think it occurred to him that any progressive, cultured, modern king would ever consider such barbary, unless someone was already whispering that in his ear, yknow? bc right up until the time he was fighting to have multiple wives, my man was NOT having it w the multi-wife thing he was like 'that's a gross ancient practice that no god-fearing man would EVER undertake' laksdjfkljdsf and a take like that does have to be worn down over time and that's always smth that ive been a bit like ??? how'd he get from there to here abt bc i just knew this to be true of him (roderick tells me he's a hypocrite all the time and i just don't question that <3) and sorta handwaved abt the head trauma (which def is still a v big deal!) but yeah!!

so im thinking, esp w elaine having been allied to the house of the sun but then ~also v much proving herself not to be under their thumb at aLL and v much going her own way, well, things had to be changed!! im thinking maybe initially the hope was that roderick might put her aside and take a new bride (marian) but roderick was still in love w her tand ~that wasn't gonna happen so then we handily remember that there's a precedent for multiple queens

did marian's father/mother/brothers/sisters/marian/sun-house-in-general start playing on roderick's fears re his legacy? whoever it was, i def feel like this might be a possibility? esp bc i ~do kinda envision her dad, what w being charles dance ig, hahaha as being super crafty etc, and like!!!! roderick had only one living child and now he wasn't just a king, he was an emperor!! surely ppl will better remember his extraordinary deeds if he passes his crown down to his son, not some daughter or even a brother...his own dynasty continuous...besides, poor alaric has been left alone so often in the world surely a big brother would want to ensure he has more numerous family to keep him company???? and he doesn't have to rule???? and i can ~def confirm that roderick would be v vulnerable to these kinds of points!!!!!! so w these fears bubbling to the surface, he's now primed for whispers abt how obv we can't disturb elaine but...surely an additional consort to mother the dynasty is of utmost import to allay such fears...that the empress need not worry...ofc the lady would need the purest of pedigrees to bear his heirs and such...where on earth could such a bride be found i wonder...

next step, what w him having sm to think over and having need of some respite from war and court and decisions and ppl always asking him for things and all the stress of rule, roderick and his (male) relatives and/or just bart? are perhaps invited to the sun family home to hunt w the lord and his sons...where, in the evenings, marian and her sisters (bc im guessing??? roderick would've had his pick of them, unless one was already wed?) and mother entertain them w song and dancing etc for a few days before roderick returns to court where his wife is and marian/her sisters are not and where worries and anxieties greet him so his associations w marian/her sisters are all v soothing and plesant whereas wo them...less so alskdjfksdjf

my maybe most surprising thought is that i feel like...nothing at all overtly romantic would be planned for this, and absolutely no talk of extra wives: he must volunteer that himself! -- he's NOT being hunted here, he's having a relaxing get away for once!! if ~he wants romance he can pursue it, ofc, and would probs be welcomed to it, at least by the girls (per instruction?)? but maybe encouraged to pursue it in ~secret (since doubtless papa sun had noticed that that clearly worked so well for him and elaine...) but there ~is someone being courted, and that's bartholomew...roderick is there as a wingman in that sense don't worry ur not being hunted still king tho...the houses of sun and varmont together ~do make sm sense don't they...? ;D

for roderick, this def reinforces that the ~suns are friends!!!!!! any advice they give is friendly and def not pushing!!!!!! i mean here they had this huge opportunity to bend his ear wo anyone else to interfere, but did they??? roderick has hella issues ofc but he ~isn't dumb so he v much went there expecting to hear them try to get him to do smth for them...but no...that's v interesting indeed! that being said he isn't totally naive either so he has to know they're getting ~smth out of this and that's been provided for him too to allay suspicions! he thinks he knows what they ~were after: a royal marriage!...to bartholomew, ofc...and that ~is a huge coup...and it also v much does paint their daughters as desirable brides...for varmonts too...esp whichever might have happened to catch bartholomew's eye the most...

this is just occurring to me but i wonder if perhaps strategy might ~also work to make ~roderick seem more appealing to the ~girls? bc they've already got all this state propganda saying roderick is theeeeee greatest man alive (probably to ~ever live!! lakdsjfkljdf) and like...he ~does look like jude law so that def doesn't hurt lakjsdfkjsdf and like!! man is on vacation!! ur defff seeing him at his best!!! lakjsdfkjdsf but yeah idk but it occurred to me so i wondered but anyway alkdjsfksjdf plus lbr im guessing ~the girls being invested~ was probs deemed less important than getting ~roderick keen on the idea unfortunately SOB

and that being said i ~do think roderick is a serial romantic in his own way so once he ~did start paying attentions to a lady it probs ~did feel super romantic and like he was lowkey obsessed w her bc...lbr...he probs was!!! man's ~always gotta have smth he's questing after!!!! and he cannot think abt anything else till he's got it!!!!! whether that's a country or a wife... *skull emojs*

im ~also guessing that somewhere in here, after he returned to court, that's when the first hurdle in this plan presented herself: if we do go w ~réalta stafford (yes, it means star laksjdfljksdf)/rian's sister/whoever had a potential romance w roderick or at least ~tried to (and probs did turn his head if she ~did meet a bad end...) first made her appearance as a candidate for this. and someone else stealing in and grabbing that #2 position was ~always a threat of opening roderick's eyes to the possibility of multiple wives etc and yeah...as we've discussed probs a big reason for the ovn!stafford vs sun beef!!!! esp since we've discussed that the staffords probs ~do have varmont ancestry and roderick likes them cousin marriages so that was probs an added attraction bc lbr this man is obsessed w bloodlines so!!!!!!! that girl is literally part varmont aka the bestest bloodline of them all!!!!! lakjsdfjkdsf

anyway, we ~do know who his second wife ended up being and, again, she's got an ancient powerful pedigree and like a prophecy attached and ~everything like this is cool af (royal) we like it v much!!

while i would ~imagine the house of the sun was probs ~furious roderick had snagged an additional wife that ~wasn't one of the ones they were tryna serve up to him on a silver plate, im guessing they nonetheless were instrumental to him repealing the laws that said he ~couldn't do that notwithstanding? possibly they had hoped to get a line in the official wording abt her having to be of ovn blood or smth???? but obv if that was there, roderick repealed ~that too bc he was set on amira atp!!!!! and being told he ~couldn't have her just made him want her more!!!!!

and then suddenly and miraculously when amira's brought home and, (when she's not getting pregnant,) notices roderick's eye roving and him getting a lil too cozy w réalta ~that bump in the road suddenly and miraculously...goes away for the house of the sun wo them having to life a finger lakjsdfjldsjfk (tho im ~guessing they would've v much been willing to testify to her being a witch if she did indeed come to trial on that score?)

anyway, idk if this next one just kinda fell in their laps, bc i def do think the calainons could've come to it indepdently, or if the house of the sun infact decided to turn their initial disadvantage to gain and ~also engineered this next bit (all while knowing itd never happen etc) but we talked abt how perhaps [ marian/her sisters were considered to wed godfrey ], and the ultimate result may have been that amira made marian and/or her sisters her ladies at court to strongarm their dad into allowing this (which didn't work!) which brought roderick's eye on marian onceagain esp w the marian/bart romance moving forward and yeahhhh...lakjsdfkjdsjf

obv im sure there must've been many other moves and countermoves, some of these things they may have done and not others etc etc etc but, just from my kids' povs (esp roderick's), here're some things that came to mind that they def could've done to potentially improve their chances in terms of roderick's psyche/goals/etc!

(also not me at the end of this, if we do end up going w any of this, like...did marian's family and amira's family ~both actively and inadvertently contribute to setting them up as rival queens by actually setting up the rise of the ~other queen...)

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Astairan Conquest

ok so kate the great asked abt the war timeline on disco (but disco won't load so imma answer here) <3 so for reference here's what we go so far <3

year 1288 OC/26 AR – surrender of affaraon, roderick invades astaira

year 1289 OC/27 AR

year 1290 OC/28 AR – arthur takes kil-kennar, roderick gets bogged (heh) down in the fens

year 1291 OC/29 AR – arthur beheads aine seeress of kil-kennar, roderick burns fiadh and the fens and begins the pyre walk, edmund takes malconaire from the riverbend, surrender of astaira

kate said: "so my random thought were...where in the timeline do we think the surrender of hanthom/lord c's execution and the beginning of the siege of lorcan happened? since those locations are close to the citadel, was that maybe happening around the same time as everything else or earlier?

"also knowing astaira is MASSIVE assuming there was a lot of fighting going down in those first couple years in ~places we haven't created yet!"

ok, so, imma split this up into a couple parts <3 1) the surrender of hanthom 2) the death of lord c and 3) the siege of lorcan...i ~also assume there was hella fighting elsewhere!! but honestly i don't really have too many thoughts on that just now except that maybe @forgottenmarian 's fam ~was able to involved somewhere in there after all ;D just maybe not ~as helpful as team calainon since we know that's impacting things now? but the short answer is...i think maybe yes? i feel like a lot of that maybe ~was more or less concurrent?

but yeah idk ok so

THE SURRENDER OF HANTHOM

ok so i have lotsa thoughts on that re @forgottengodfrey but idk that ive ever really gotten into it? but imma be stealing some tactics from my man edward iii re the battle of sluys (w a lil henry v and elizabeth i to spice things up) bc i can <33333 but!! the jist here is that i think its a massive sea battle that godfrey, being a calainon, naturally won w fire ;DDDDD

ok so ~part of this would have to do w where, physically, the ovn and kolchis etc are on the ~world map in relation to astaira, ig? i kinda pictured them to the east of it -- ig bc i think of astaira and ireland as similar and roderick visigothic etc but...anyway!! i have no idea if that's right or not? @thelongforgottenrealm

but yeah handwaving all that for a moment, imma say that the citadel is actually harder to hit via the sea, given that, since we based it on mont saint michel, it maybe has that similar tidal structure where you can walk to it via land sometimes, so its *handwaves* not deep enough or wahtever, so my man godfrey (heh) rather than doing the expected thing of tryna tackle the closer stafford, took his ships and whipped on around that spur of land there to hit hanthom, instead, thus ~also cutting off stafford ships from getting to hanthom (tho taking a pr big risk that he wasn't sandwiching himself between them but obv it worked out for him). hanthom mounted a defense that involved some v sophisticated sailing close together in order to form a wall against him, and godfrey said 'cool! i have kolchean fire' and made a maritime disaster out of it for them

however, im ~guessing there were probs ~multiple naval battles, that's just the one that was most decisive? anyway, i do feel like hanthom did make it pr far into the war? since only lorcan, of the known places, is specifically noted as never having fallen, im ~guessing that means that hanthom ~did surrender before eilia surrendered (tho we know lord calleary, himself, did ~not surrender! so im thinking maybe lord c was captured -- more on that in a bit!), and id guessing that its fall was probs yet another nail in the coffin re eilia's decision to surrender

ok so lord c being captured, what's this? ok, so we know two things (and ill talk abt this some more in the next section too!), 1) lord c did not surrender and was beheaded for it and 2) cormac ~did surrender. now, we ~also know that, by astairan law, ~eabha was lord c's heir, so the astairans wouldn't have surrendered if cormac told them to unless it was already a done deal, so im thinking cormac's formal surrender probs came after the close of the war, basically

but also we know lorcan's the only one that held out, hence lord c was captured. im guessing eabha was still doing sneaky stuff, but im ~guessing the bulk of the fleet was ~also captured/obliterated when lord c was taken, plus obv lord c was being held hostage and yeah it was probs a situation where like...they weren't technically surrendered but their hands were v much tied/they had been defanged and yeah! it was basically a done deal? what do we think?

DEATH OF LORD CALLEARY

ok so im realizing i def had it in my head that he was beheaded, post-war? but im not sure if im basing that on anything or not?

let's see, eabha's bio says "her own father did not bend the knee and he payed for that with his life" and cormac's says "[cormac] was quick to bend the knee to roderick after he saw what happened to his father/while people may say it was out of cowardice, it did save his life and likely the lives of his brother and sisters (even if fear for his own life was certainly the top motivator)"

ok, so idk that cormac would've even been in a position ~to surrender until after the surrender of astaira, simply bc if pops daddio had perished ~before the close of the war, eabha still would've been his heir and so she would've taken up where he'd left off and def would ~also have offered roderick resistance if the war were still ongoing

so! im thinking that either godfrey captured lord calleary during the war and was holding him during it or that he as captured ~after the war, but either way i feel like he probs actually survived the war? and that, thus, any actions eabha might've undertaken were still considered as under the direction of her lord father and thus dismissed bc obv a woman would listen to her lord father!!!!! and also cormac frankly wouldn't have had any voice in matters until ~after the war so yeah!

that being said, tho, im def v open to other alternatives!! we could def come up w reasons why cormac wasn't held responsible for crimes against roderick that ~eabha might've committed if pops daddio kicked the bucket before the close of the war!

THE SIEGE OF LORCAN

ok so just to sum this all up: i def agree that i think lorcan was probs being hit abt the same time as the rest! probs byc.1289/90 OC it had begun?

if that really badly drawn map i did from lizzy's descriptions (you can check that out on the disco) is even a slightly fair portrayal of what she was saying (tbf! it might ~not be!), if ur marching south on the western side of astaira, ur gonna hit lorcan, then potentially? a ~sliver of malconaire, then hanthom, ~then (potentially) a sliver of stafford, so id guess that hanthom fell ~before stafford, and was probs attacked in response to lorcan's refusal to fall? like ok we hit it from one side, lets surround it and see if lorcan cares ~then (spoiler alert...they didn't! ;D)

meanwhile, if ur marching south on the ~eastern side of astaira, ur hitting ormond > (sliver of lorcan? >) malconaire > (sliver of hanthom? >) stafford, so this might ~also be part of why the battle of m was so strategic, it was yet ~another angle from which to hit lorcan, while simultaneously splitting the southeast in half AND isolating stafford, effectively making lorcan's fortitude immaterial bc now you can still hit the capital despite that siege being ongoing?

ANYWAY!! also thinking of my post on tristan's past as well as saoirse's and ronan's lorcan experiences re the pyre walk (tho not actually reading through those which i probs ~should do! but this is purely from memory so i might be way off frankly!), i think i def had it in my head that that all happened well before the siege of stafford, and possibly even more or less at the same time that kil-kennar and the fens were happening, more or less? for tristan, cerainly, i believe i said he met up w rian there and started uhhhh knocking on the door while roderick was still stewing in the fens, since he had been meant to meet up w them and they had to just...go down there and get started wo him. for saoirse and ronan in lorcan, that was obv ~during the pyre walk, so that would've been later, probs closer in time to the battle of m, but we know lorcan held out throughout the entirely of the war, so...yeah! laksjdfkjdsf

so yeah...idk if this was helpful but...have some of my thoughts!! laksjdfkljsdfkj

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | King, Prophet, Emperor

hiya so ya girl returning after her unexpectedly long hiatus w a roderick hc for you! so lizzy and kate know abt a lil fun annecdote in roderick's bg but, lauren, idk if you do! so imma say a lil abt that and then imma launch into the new content!

BACKGROUND

ok so we all know my man roderick's a religious zealot, but man kinda cobbled together his own religion outta like bits and pieces he liked from various different belief systems already present in the ovn already (its why i made alistair's ppl believe in reincarnation -- roderick was like 'that's neat!' *snag*) BUT!! where exactly did this begin?

ok, so ive also discussed a lil bit how roderick's mama was a princess from another country and brought her ~own religion to the ovn, and how that was ~also a huge influence on everybody's fav conqueror. roderick is universally acknowledged as terrible but, frankly, his dad and older half-brother were even worse, and roderick's mama didn't have a lot of recourse and sought refuge in her religion and got kinda...intense abt it!!! so man had that bg going on. his mama was the only person who gave him any kind of love or regard -- and honestly probs too much, frankly! v alicent/aemond s1 hotd coded honestly -- but she died giving birth to alaric and then all roderick had were his memories and an abusive father and older brother and a bullying older sister and an infant brother who was basically his to look after bc pr much everyone else lowkey forgot abt him.

SO!! roderick, when he started out his life, was pr ok...i mean not some paragon of virtue or anything, but he had a lot of promise!! he was traumatized and lowkey [ scheming ], but by and large was using his cunning to get by and make things better moreso than...whatever it is he's up to, these days honestly laskdjfklsjdfjk

roderick's first war wasn't at all his own choice, w another country (that's a whole thing too and i will happily do a write up abt ~that if we want but in the interest of keeping this brief im not really gonna get into it much except that it happened, and then their allies jumping in etc. so, roderick's newly 18 and he's king and he's stunning absolutely everyone w the fact that...he's actually winning this war!! so his enemies decide to just...deal w this threat! they can still win this war, dammit, and take over the ovn w this new kid on the block outta the way! they send an assassin.

roderick is severely injured w, specifically, a head injury and falls into a coma for a bit. like my man the emperor caligula, when he gets up again, he's a different man: brutal, paranoid, and absolute, all roderick's worst qualities coming to the fore while his better nature takes a backseat.

NEW HC

so!! here's where the hc comes in! roderick had a big fever dream! w his significant head trauma and his coma, roderick's body may have been floating in limbo between life and death and...so was his mind, but roderick truly believes this was divine revelation, the god revealing himself to roderick's willing mind to make him his living vessel and champion! its part of why he was able to speak w much conviction abt this -- he believes he experienced it!!! did he codify it later, add stuff later, all that good jazz? absolutely!! when he sees smth he likes, he suddenly remembers that wait maybe that was part of the dream too <3

he also feels fully endorsed in this! like no soon did the god give him this glorious vision and new life plan (aka world conquest!), then he marches on kolchis which immediately throws its gates open to welcome him as their conquering hero and meets his super sexy second wife who is, herself, rumored to be of divine heritage and whose legacy he now believes he's meant to revive! kingdoms start falling at his feet, his enemies laid utterly low and humiliated! the ovn, a formerly fractious and diffident place, now pulled together by external threats from their internal bickering, is thriving again for the first time in years! he's crowned freaking emperor!! his super sexy third wife chooses him over everyone else (not that he would've sat quietly by if she hadn't but!! anyway!!)!! like!!!!! everything is coming up roderick!!! (man ~did have a lil stress abt his no-kids situation for a couple years there but that obv got resolved eventually lkajsdfkjsdf)

anyway, i def have some thoughts on this dream but im actually realizing its bed time so that's it for now but yeah!! a lil post tag sale lore drop for you, my friends!

also if you want more on roderick's religion, you can find that [ here ], and def other places we've talked abt various aspect in various spots etc but!! anyway!! i believe this is the big bit here so yeah! <3 i can def dig up more asp tho <3 should probs make a religion masterpost or whatever asp...aslkdjfskldjf

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Placeholder Titles & Styles

ok so this is v much just a placeholder, since he's still open characters, but @forgottenguinevere asked what i thought eoin's titles might be, if he were being announced alongside our girl, guin <3 and, since both barth and eoin are open, i thought id go ahead and just do some ~placeholder~ titles for those purposes bc...that is my idea of fun lakdsjfjksdf might come back for barth, too, while im at it!

ok, so, some samples [roderick and arthur are NOT placeholder ones -- amira is umc] (these're ppl who'll def be exulted above both barth and eoin as emperor/imperial heir but!):

RODERICK

INFORMAL STYLE OF THE TRUE EMPEROR

His Imperial Majesty, Roderick the First of His Name, by the Grace of the One True God, of the Great and Holy Empire of [Varmont] and Astaira and of His other Realms and Territories One True Emperor, Conquer of the Twelve Kingdoms, Defender of the Faith, and God’s Own Champion

FORMAL STYLE OF THE TRUE EMPEROR

His Imperial Majesty, Roderick the First of His Name, by the Grace of the One True God, of [Varmont], and of Antillia, Kolchis, Alatyr, Aarnu, Vinetta, Kvenheim, Aotepo, Argadara, Xangadu, Malakarta, Affaraon, and Astaira, and of his Dominions beyond the Seas, One True Emperor, Protector of Vyrajj, God-King of Kolchis, Archduke of the Two Isles and of the Shimmering Seas Overlord, King-Elector of the Astairans, Lord of the Two Lands, Sun-King of the Hauren, Divine Emperor of the Iddenese, the Freefolk, and the Cockaignians, Evenstar of Astaira, Conqueror of the Twelve Kingdoms, Defender of the Faith, and God’s Own Champion

ARTHUR

His Imperial Highness, the Prince Imperial Archduke of [Varmont], Arthur, Prince of the House of Varmont, Firstborn Son of Emperor Roderick the Great, Prince of the Silver Mountains, Prince of Karshvar, Prince of Vanta, Archon of Meropis, Boyar of Vyrai, Duke of Ilnarria, Duke of Duanun, Marquess of Celliwic, Count of Kunsang, Earl of Vanarheim, Lord of Toionga, Lord of Kil-kennar, Champion of Celliwic, Lord Commander of the Order of the Dawn, Lord High Commander of His Imperial Majesty’s Legions of the Dawn, Wielder of Daybreak

AMIRA (making this one up on the flyyyy so it might not stick but:)

Her Most Gracious Royal Majesty Queen Consort of [the OVN] and of Kolchis, Great Royal Wife and Chief Consort, Cradle of the Great Empire and Most Serene Lady Mother, Princess Flamekeeper of Kolchis, and Princess of the House of Calainon, [list of 12 more titles from most exulted to least]

Eoin's informal style might be:

His Lordship Prince Eoin of --- and --- of ---

but his more formal title might be smth like:

The Most Illustrious Lord, Prince Eoin of --- and Lord of --- [lists ~10 more titles from most exulted to least], Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Griffin, Only Son of the High and Mighty Hand of the King, Bartholomew of Varmont, by his lady wife, --- of Calleary

im happy to go into more detail, even come up w what these ~listed titles~ might actually be if ppl would like, etc, but yeah!! this is how i would personally envision the styling, based on what i could dig up of ~historical examples~ of ppl in eoin's kind of position!