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forgottenroisin · 4 months

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Malconaire Samain Traditions

AUTHOR'S NOTES

ok so!!! before i get into this too much, some author's notes, starting w fun facts abt irl samhain (which i wrote samain above bc that's the old irish spelling and we're mostly going w old irish spellings here -- caoimhe rather than keeva, etc) that im running w here are as follows: ancient celtic tradition holds w largely two types of major celebration on their quartered calendar: Beltaine and Samhain which occurred on opposite times of the year, and Imbolc and Lughnasa which also straddled the year. The latter set marked important crop rotations: sowing and harvesting the fields.

The former, however, are said to have been dedicated to the movements of cattle herds and their shephards. At Beltaine, the shephards and their flocks would wrap up their half year of having held their beasts at home amongst the village in the valleys where they were safe from winter snows. at samhain, the shephards would do the opposite: begin driving their herds home across the treacherous montain passes from where they had been grazing in upland pastures for six months, and heading home to the valleys. Both Samhain and Beltane were seen as liminal or threshold holidays. Yet, they were also seen as inverse of one another, with Beltane being a festival for the living and Samhain for the dead.

Many Irish and British Neolithic tombs are aligned such that they are illuminated by the light of the sun as it over Samhain and Imbolc.

In Celtic belief, all spirits appear to be interlinked, w ghosts alternately appearing as faries or gods and vice versa, so I've used guardians, gods, and ghosts here where I thought most appropriate as stand ins but yeah this is just my interpretation??? Anyway, fairy mounds are often literally burial mounds so make of that what you will! I did ultimately choose to include ghosts but I strongly considered restricting it to purely guardians and gods, but yeah! Lmk if you think I should go back and restrict it to just those two!

Samhain in Ireland and Scotland are pr similar, so there'll def bc riffs from both cultures but, bc Rosie's name means little rose, and the very related ancient Welsh tradition of Calan Gaeaf ties in both roses AND ivy v strongly, I'm gonna be pulling a lot from that, as well.

I'm also gonna steal some Venetian St. Mark's Day beliefs and practices and English St. Mark's Eve ones. I have zero excuse except that it dovetails really nicely, and that its frankly sooo fitting for our Miss Rosie.

all the 'tales' here are inspired and even drawn directly from ancient lore!

Cleansing fire and light, cleaning, divination, guising (dressing up and trick or treat-esque shenanigans), dancing, mummery, saining (blessings), feasting, belief that spirits (good and evil, human and fae and godly and demoic, etc) walk amongst us that night, and veneration of the dead are common themes, and it is believed that it is this time when the veil is thinnest between the various otherworlds and our own.

Samhain is a last deep breath before the plunge. It is a time of preparing for the death of winter to come. Interestingly, Samain, the Old Irish root word for Samhain, is thought to come from an ancient word for 'summer,' though it was celebrated in November. No one knows why, but imma lean into it as a rebirth kind of symbolism -- yknow that 'spring in winter' sort of concept. Another explanation is that Samain comes from yet another ancient word that means 'reuninion, assembly,' and imma lean into that, too.

There was initially a fortnight of celebrations for Samain, which overtime got cut down to our modern night of Halloween, so idk how long this celebration should last hahaha and i deliberately left the timeline vague bc of that

Conveniently, I'd already hc'ed that Rosie actually views autumn as more a time of rebirth than spring (weirdly enough, it was actually one of my v first hc's for her!), and all this will allow me to tie it in nicely with her character theme of wonder <3

(Also disclaimer that you might notice some similarities between this and my TFW not!halloween traditions in which case...no you didn't ;DDDDD its just that i was inspired by the same sources hahaha except here i pulled in welsh and venetian things as my secondary instead of ancient roman and greek things aklsjdflkjdfdf)

SAMAIN TRADITIONS

like her sisters, rosie was born around the time of an ancient astairan holiday, causing the celebrations to overlap in malconaire

hers falling near samhain, an autumnal festival celebrating the midpoint between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, and is held to mark the beginning of winter

it is said that it is at this time that the veil between this world and the other is said to be at its thinnest and, thus, the guardians are feted in an effort to strengthen them during this most dangerous period, w seers and all the ppl of astaira gathering to do whatever they can to help

it is a time of unity and mutual faith, generosity and thanksgiving, of finding strength and hope and cheer in ourselves and in one another even as things grow their darkest

as twilight gleams its last, all the fires in the region are put out and a great bonfire lit by a seer at the local shrine. from this protective blaze, every fire in the region is relit so that cleansing, protective fire burns for the guardians against the gods in every home, every shrine, and every gathering place across all malconaire

it is said that on this night, sometimes even non-seers can hear the whisperings of the guardians -- and that, at times -- the howls of the gods echo across the world, but beware to any who hears ought, for gods can appear and speak as any being they wish and, it is said, one must never trust a stranger who arrives upon samhain who will not go into the light

according to ancient tradition, anyone who believes w a true heart may wield some of the powers of a true seer because the veil is so thin, and in addition to being able to hear the voices of gods and guardians, can also sometimes hear the voices of their deceased loved ones

sometimes this is said to be a trick of the evil gods, but many believe that deceased loved ones do in fact arise

in addition to the fires, many gifts of food and drink and harvest and flowers etc are offered to the guardians, in addition to gifts of delights and entertainments such as dances and plays

as it is said that ghosts rise from their graves at this time, whether crossing over from an otherworld or revived by the power of the wicked gods, welcoming feasts are held in every home and, during the feasts, in addition to offerings made to the guardians, places are set for dead members of the family who may be visiting their loved ones while they are able

hoping to thwart any wicked spirits or gods who might be walking the earth, many wear a guise each night when the protective power of the sun is snuffed out

bc it is said that everyone may have use of a seers powers, it is also tradition to go from house to house and give offerings and blessings back and forth there, and this is often when fires from the great shrine bonefire are brought to each home, as well

following feasting in homes, there is also a tradition of gathering around the great bonfire in the evening and sharing sweets

while there, dancing and plays go on with gift-giving continuing well into the night

traditionally, one carves their name into a stone and then tosses it into the fire. those stones that had had the name burned clean off of it will receive good fortune. those whose names are still writ upon the stones will do well to take care over the course of the winter, with death or misfortune said to hunt them

Myths, legends, and ghost stories are all frequently told around the bonfire, with some tales being considered specific to Samain, and others simply tall tales or simply invented stories, but whatever their origin, stories play a highly important role on Samain, both as offerings and as entertainment. i'll include one or two as a sample somewhere in here

traditionally, all across astaira, peace was delcared during samain and it was a great time of unification, of treaties, of mending fences great and small, neighbor to neighbor and nation to nation, alike, w any conflict or even grudge, save that against the gods, being seen as borderline blasphemous, and an insult to the guardians for all efforts must be communally poured into that conflict at this time

in this same vein, it is a time for housekeeping, both great and small -- houses are cleaned, spick and span, and great councils are called by the rulers to undergo yearly reforms

anyone who broke laws during this time would, therefore, be banished for the rest of the year for the grievous offence of having wounded the goodwill of the guardians

traditionally, astairans avoid crossroads during samain, said to be haunted by nefarious deadmen and gods

on the morning samain, young and unmarried people traditionally go out into the fields and collect ivy and autumn roses. traditionally, girls collect ivy while boys pick roses, after which they come together again, with the girls presenting the boys they admire with ivy and the boys presenting roses to the girls they fancy. if a couple's presentations are mutual, they then wind them together and create crowns of roses-and-ivy to wear. at the end of the day, each girls collects all the roses she has been given, and each boy all his ivy and mingle them till they do not know who gave which. then they toss one into the bonfire for the guardians are return home, placing the remaining plants under their pillow. it is said that they will then dream of their future and, if they remember any of the dream, some of it will come true in the coming year. it is also sometimes said that if they dream of a particular other person, they will likely wed that person.

unmarried women are instructed to darken their rooms in the evening, and then a married woman can look into the mirror to see the face of the future groom. If a skull appears in the mirror, the unmarried woman is meant to die within the year. If a future groom cannot be seen, unmarried women are instructed to peel an apple and throw the skin over their shoulders. The shape the apple skin makes is said to show the first initial of her future husband

just before midnight, any remaining children are bundled off to bed and, then, it is tradition for those who wish to see to gather on the holy ground of the shrine, for surrounded by the guardians is the only way one may safely witness what is to come. those who do not wish to see must return quickly home and close all their windows and close their eyes and try to sleep, for any not protected by the guarian who looks upon it shall die on the spot. those who stay at the shrine may see, but they must maintain absolute silence or it is said they shall never see again. at midnight, the dead walk. a whole squadron of them troop by, but if one should spot oneself or any known to one trooping with them, that person is doomed to die within the year. some say the cause of death may even be observed, drowned victims soaked to the bone or hanged men marching with nooses around their necks, and such the like.

games and friendly competitions around the bonfire are common, such as dares and apple bobbing

two hazelnuts roast near a fire; one named for the person roasting them and the other for the person the desire. If the nuts jump away from the heat, it is a bad sign, but if the nuts roast quietly, it foretells an excellent match.

Items were hidden in food—usually a cakes and breads — and portions of it served out at random. A person's future is foretold by the item they happened to find; for example, a ring means marriage, and a coin means wealth

A salty oatmeal bannock was baked; the person ate it in three bites and then went to bed in silence without anything to drink. This was said to result in a dream in which their future spouse offers them a drink to quench their thirst

Egg whites are dropped in water, and the shapes foretell the number of future children

SAMPLE OF SAMAIN TALES

story of a seer who rushed up to the door to the otherworld in the repulsion of gods, but closed the door as the gods were sealed off on his thumb. he then sucked on his wounded thumb and, from that moment, was said to have gained otherworldly wisdom but the cost was that he was, too, a link that the gods had to this world so he ultimately sealed himself, too, away inside a tree using their own magic to bind himself so that he could harm no one, but it is said that the gods have no mercy and that they force his ghost to walk the world on the night of Samain and sow the seeds of their ill-will for the year to come.

the monstrous gods used to demand two-thirds of the ppl's crops and livestock and even children during samain before they were sealed away, causing many to starve

a certain god, it is said, would command three men to go to a certain goddess every Samain to seduce her. when they inevitably failed, he would take their lives and force them to walk the world as his undead vessels for the rest of the year, wreaking untold havoc upon the world till at least one did succeed and the goddess gave him her magical garter. before the god killed his two companions, the goddess' lover, said sometimes to be from the snail house and alternately from the frog house, warned the vile god that it would spell his own doom if he struck those men down. laughing, the evil god did so, and so the lover used the magic girdle to fight and defeat him and help the guardians seal him away ((fun fact, this is drawn from a story said to have been the origin of the bog men...hence the frog or snail house being involved!))

one samain night, before the veil was raised against the gods, the king offered a prize to any who could tie a band around a hanged man's ankle. each challenger after the other fled in terror to the king's hall but one. when the band was tied, the dead man asked for a drink so, feeling pity for the hanged man, the challenger carried him on his back, stopping at three houses. when they entered the third, the dead man drank and spat it on the householders, killing them. returning to the gallows to bind him again, the challenger spotted an army of the gods burning the king's hall and slaughtering those inside. the challenger pursued the host through a portal into an otherworld where he learned that what he had seen since touching the hanged man was only a vision of what would happen the next samain unless something was done. he returned to the hall and warned the king, and astaira began to arm themselves against the gods who plotted against them.

another tale tells of a man who fell deeply in love w a goddess before the veil was raised against them. so in love was he that he followed her to an otherworld, despite her warnings that if he followed her, he could never return home. they lived happily together for two years before he began to long for home. watching him pine away, the goddess agreed to allow him to visit the mortal realm on her own horse, but only if he solemnly swore never to dismount the horse which would take him there and then back to her. he hastily agreed and started on his way. yet, when he arrived, he found that in the mortal realm two hundred years, and not two, had passed and that everyone he loved had died. distressed to see their graves, he fell from the horse to kiss them, but as soon as he stepped upon the ground, mortality found him and he grew old and died on the spot, collapsing as no more than bones and dust upon the earth of the graves of those he loved.

according to legend, the tradition of presenting roses and ivy to a lover originated when a man of low social standing is said to have fallen in love with a lady of house malconaire known for wearing ivy in her hair. in order to win her father's approval -- who said he might only wed his daughter if he could prove his love for her was true -- he became involved in a distant war. he was mortally wounded in battle, but managed to pluck a rose from a nearby rosebush for his loved one. a companion was entrusted with returning the blood-stained rose to his lover, who cast the ivy from her hair and wore the rose until the day she died. from their graves, buried beside each other, ivy and roses still grow.

CHARACTER HC'S

it was during samain, many years ago, that domhnall and later his heir, eilionora, offered roderick a treaty but both efforts he rebuffed. to the first effort to achieve peace he did not reply. yet when eilia tried again, he did, sending her only a piece of paper that bore simply a list of the countries he'd already conquered, with astaira's name listed at the bottom. eilia did not try again.

on the samain before bran and sorcha began courting, he decided that he would woo her with the traditional roses. sadly, however, he wasn't able to get out into the fields until late and, when he finally did, all that were left were very, very small roses, indeed. fortunately, she had the same idea and presented him with ivy as well. when she saw the wee rosebuds, which he presented with some embarrassment, saying he ought to have given her something far greater, she laughed and declared that someday he would -- if they ever had a daughter born in autumn, her name should be roisin, for the first gift he had ever given to her.

last samain, rosie presented edmund with ivy, forgetting he problably knew nothing of the tradition (and would likely consider it heresy, if he did!) realizing too late that he probably didn't know what she was telling him, she laughed and made a joke of it, weaving him a ivy crown, anyway, saying that if he meant to rule over astaira, someday, he best pay attention as he would have to know how to make a flower crown. she never mentioned it again.

bran threw eggs into water with sorcha the year they were married. when her egg predicted four children and his six, he was terrified it might mean he would outlive her and she laughed and told him that was a ridiculous thing to suppose, for he'd come to their marriage with two children already: his raven, and malconaire.

the year of sorcha's death, she stayed out to watch the ghosts walk, hoping for a last glimpse of a loved one whom she had just lost, while bran took the children home to sleep. she was drawn and white when bran awoke the next morning and, though she made jokes of it when he mentioned it and proceeded about her day, she seemed distracted, but would say nothing of what she had seen. at the time, bran only assumed that she was distressed about her loss, but after she died, he always wondered if perhaps she had seen her own spirit on the march that night.

though usually done privately for their parents, rosie always enjoyed mumming with her sisters at samain, telling tall tales and dramatic ones alike amongst themselves

while she hasn't done any mummery since childhood, as she imagines its likely not dignified for a lady of her age and position, she does still enjoy guising and generally dresses as favorite heroines from fairy tales and other stories. she is convinced cassandra would enjoy this as well and wants to bring her to such an event one of these years. no o ne can seem to convince her this is terrible idea.

cillian stays out late every year to watch the souls pass and, every year, he informs saoirse that he has seen her go by, but she says she'll have her revenge one of these days, because someday he ~will see her, and then he'll be sorry when he has to tell her so and she laughs in his face.

#about #ill probs have other notions for other characters etc later but here we are!!#ooc #macdara malconaire #sorcha malconaire #eithne malconaire #brigit malconaire #aoife malconaire #edmund varmont #cillian frost #saoirse frost #eilionora stafford #roderick varmont #domhnall stafford #cassandra varmont #also forive the formatting i know its a mess alksjdfkjdsf #also my tenses #i haven't edited lakjsfjkdsf

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lizzysrps · 3 months

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This is so Cormac & Cassandra coded 😂

They would never go below 4 as a first response!! (True gossip pals!)

#the long forgotten realm #cassandra varmont #cormac calleary

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forgottenrian · 4 months

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OOC | Rían & Cassandra

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 are 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 @forgottenmarian 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 bend 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

#cassandra varmont #ooc

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forgottenroderick · 4 months

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OOC | Varmont-ians & Religious Culture

(and to be clear, i mean, like, peeps from the varmont empire -- esp the og nation -- not just the fam...)

so we know a good bit about the astairan religion, and so i wanted to hammer out some details abt its counterpart, roderick's god! so far, we know a few things

they have one god

the phoenix symbol is linked to their religion

they do NOT like witches!!!!

they consider the guardians to be demons

so!! obv there are multiple real-world monotheistic faiths, [ zoroastrianism, atenism, judaism, islam, christianity, and numerous others ], from which we can take inspiration

we also know that ppl from the og varmont country have a wide variety of naming bg's

roderick (anglicized visigothic) famed ruler

alaric (anglicized visigothic) ruler of all

guinevere (anglicized welsh) white phantom

edmund (old english) rich protection/protector

arthur (anglicized welsh or anglicized latin) bear king or honorable/respectful

sebastian (latinized germanic) venerable/exulted

cassandra (greek) excelling/shining one

bartholomew (greek-ized aramaic) son of the furrowed

marian (anglicized egyptian) sea of bitterness/rebelliousness/wished for child/beloved/star of the sea

alistair (scottish) defender of man/protector

there's also eoin (irish-ized hebrew) god is gracious and ciara (old irish) black lady who have irish names, but i consider these outliers and attribute this to their calleary mama <3

now, why am i jabbering abt names in a post that purports to be abt religion? well, i thought it might help sprinkle in some fun elements to the religion itself if we can kinda pinpoint sort of a cultural element for og!varmont the way we did for astaira

so, why ~these names for these ppl? now, obv there are doylist reasons for this haha but i was thinking it could be fun to run w it and add a layer of in-world reasons esp w the rise of nationalism in og!varmont that came w roderick

so!! the things that came up the most?

visigoths x2

welsh x2

greek x2

english x1 (but almost allll of the names are anglicized -- for obv reasons, we're english speakers hahah -- but still!)

latin x2

germanic x1

scottish x1

now!! its also interesting to note that germanic and visigothic language have the same root, and that welsh, irish, and scottish all have the same root, so by ~that estimation, names of those origins both show up x3 respectively. another interesting fact, english is comprised of ~both of those roots w a dash of french thrown in for spice ;D (thanks, Wm the Conqueror!)

HOWEVER!! it should also be stated that the names of the royal family (those ~born varmont, anyway) should bear the most weight bc those are most likely to be traditional names to the og culture, so the egyptian and scottish names are probs the least relevant to this process but def still worth considering imo! HOWEVER!! its also worth noting that both roderick and alaric were born to a second wife, so its ~also highly possible that their names are derived from the tradition of whatever ~her culture was so yeah!! bc of these sorts of considerations, bartholomew, guin, arthur, and edmund are likely to have the most 'traditional' names as they were all named w the notion that depending on how things shake out they might rule someday, whereas even tho roderick, for example, was born a second son his dad def wasn't viewing him as a potential future king, and therefore its unlikely he viewed alaric that way, either, whereas we all know its equally possible w our ot3: succession kids laksdjfakljsd

ANYWAY, i feel like, altogether, including each one, this tapestry of names is actually telling us a bit of a backstory -- i.e., that the og!varmont nation (OVN for short from now on!) was an international hub, and im thinking that might tie into maybe roderick's father and grandfather and great-grandfather doing lots of trading w other nearby nations, until whatever OVN's ~pure culture felt kinda lost to "revivalists" such as roderick who felt they had to unearth it from the mire of homogenization, leading to the rise of nationalism and acts such as digging into the ancient past to try to discover whatever may have once been unique abt OVN, and as such roderick making huge national statements like IMMA TAKE MORE WIVES NOW and not receiving backlash bc that's what the ancient kings of OVN did, a fact stated in his bio!

this nationalistic and xenophobic rising tide paired w conquest of course then ironically hurls off the shackles of alien cultures (thus alienating the new culture OVN had since been building) only to then do the same to other cultures by obliterating them in the tide that is this frankenstein'd version of whatever the lost ancient culture might've been bc i love it when roderick is always and inevitably hypocritical without realizing it <3

ANYWAY!! all this international trade and such means you'd have an influx of foreign alliances and marriages and, ofc, names, so yeah!!

so, question 1: would it be helpful to sort of figure out culture(s) to model OVN on? and, if so, do any of these appeal?

now let's circle back to religion!

so when you get roderick's reactive party rising to power, you start seeing a couple of things. now, ngl, i kinda feel like maybe roderick actually follows his mama's religion, which may or may not be/have been the same as OVN's, if we wanna explore any potential religious backlash from within OVN, or anything like that? but irregardless of how it came about, roderick has in fact established his religion as the official state religion of his new empire, and failed to believe accordingly meets with a fiery (aka in his eyes, cleansing!) death

sooooo im having some frankly insane ideas abt Roderick’s belief system thanks to the Phoenix iconography (like…boiled down roderick might legit worship death effectively -- the only god that comes when you call, the god of all, the god of equality?!!?!! Though in a slightly more life/death ying/yang creation through destruction kinda way, motto ‘in my end is my beginning’ sorta way idk Sfjkhffg HELPPP!) and before I get too carried away bc idk if we need a death cult emperor 😂😭 ummmm I wondered if you guys had any thoughts abt the varmont faith/the one god/etc adhkkjgdgh

some other thoughts i had — Phoenix flames, sun, light, fire — dichotomy of light/dark, good/evil — so roderick's view, then, Astaira and the staffords literally take the night as their standard (three stars in the night sky) and worship demons, conquest cleanses etc...idk!! what do you guys think? the sun and moon are the eyes of god

i also had some notions pulled from mostly atenism, orphism, and zoroastrianism re: its cosmology, that maybe there once were three gods: the light god, his goddess wife, and the dark god, but the dark god attempted to kill the great god, stabbing him through the eye (the moon eye) but the pregnantn goddess sacrificed herself and her divinity to bring back her husband who cast down the dark god, stripping him of his divinity, and now he's basically ~satan, but he couldn't bear to never see his wife again so he used the divinity he'd seized from his dark brother to #reincarnation and his reborn wife, tho no longer a goddess (since, to bring back both wife and unborn child he had to split the divinity so yeah #onegod), bore their mortal child whom roderick considers to be his ancestor, so basically the varmonts are possibly descended from the god and goddess, reincarnation is maybe a thing, there's one god of light and one demon of the dark, and death might be good maybe? laksjfkljsfk

(i was thinking a belief in reincarnation maybe bc of the phoenix symbology -- representing resurrection, rebirth, life in death, etc, and the dark god bc they obv believe in demons of some kind, and not!god evil gods w demonic servants appear in many monotheistic belief systems, judaism, islam, christianity, and zoroastrianism to name a few)

question 2: is this absolutely unhinged inanity, or does it have potential? i myself keep going back and forth alksdjfakljsf

also last but not least...@thelongforgottenrealm did you have any notions abt this?

#lore #ooc #edmund varmont #arthur varmont #guinevere varmont #sebastian varmont #cassandra varmont #amira varmont #marian varmont #bartholomew varmont #eoin varmont #ciara varmont #alistair grey #alaric varmont #not me in a world-building frame of mind!! adsjflksjdf #facepalm

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forgottenedmund · 8 months

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arthur & edmund: "don't you dare throw that snowba--goddamnit!"

[ 15 years ago ]

"What on earth are you doing?"

It was snowing. And not just any snow: it happened to be the first snow of the season. The entire courtyard was covered with it. Edmund had stopped on their walk to grab himself a handful of the stuff.

"We don't have time to play in the snow." Arthur continued. There was no patience in his voice. All five of the Varmont children had been presented to their father that morning on one of his rare appearances. He had tested them all (Guinevere, Arthur, and Edmund more than the rest) and Arthur and Edmund had both been found wanting. It was Guinevere who had won the round and with this victory, he had asked her to stay behind after the other's left.

The jealousy and frustration Arthur felt at this slight was apparent.

"Arthur's right, Edmund," Sebastian said softly. "Our tutors are expecting us."

Edmund stood upright, packing a handful of snow in his hands.

Arthur arched an eyebrow, "Are you going to throw that at me?"

"Of course not," Edmund replied sarcastically. "I never throw a snowball after I've gone through all the effort of making one. That's the real fun."

Arthur did not appreciate his brother's sarcasm -- especially in this moment. "Stop being such a child."

"I am a child. And so are you." Edmund would have thrown it at him right then if he'd been confident he wouldn't miss. His throwing arm wasn't particularly strong and he didn't want to look like an idiot just now.

"I am not a child!"

Edmund supposed, in a way, he was right. Despite Arthur's rather childish declaration of not being a child, they hadn't had much of a childhood thus far. The three of them had been pitted against each other for their father's throne since the day they'd been born and Sebastian was always trying to run interference whenever their tempers flared. The only one who had ever really been allowed to be a child was Cassandra, who was too busy trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue to notice that her brothers were on the verge of fighting with each other.

"Alright, enough. Let's go," Sebastian interjected.

Arthur and Edmund stared at each other for a few more moments without saying a word. It was Arthur who turned first and started to head off after Sebastian. The fact that Edmund still hadn't dropped the snow in his hands had not escaped him. And after he'd turned around, he gave his brother one final warning,"Edmund, don't you dare throw that sno-- Goddammit!!"

At that moment, a snowball came crashing into the back of Arthur's head. To say that Arthur looked infuriated as he turned round, was an understatement. Before he could say another word, Sebastian stepped between the boys. "Arthur, Edmund I -- "

"-- I told you not to throw that snowball!" Arthur pushed passed Sebastian, heading straight for his youngest brother.

"I didn't." Everyone looked down to see that Edmund still had the snow in his hand. It was hardly resembled anything more than a melting mess, now.

"What -- ?"

Everyone turned then to see Cassandra standing behind Edmund, eyes wide as she witnessed her brother getting angry. She'd seen Edmund making snowballs earlier and, while everyone was talking, had begun making one of her own oblivious to the tension that had been rising. She'd honestly meant to throw one at Edmund, but she'd thrown it too hard and it passed up over his head and landed, instead, on Arthur's.

"Nice shot." Edmund was both impressed (even if he knew Cassandra wouldn't have been able to replicate that again if she tried) and amused (it took everything he had not to laugh -- Arthur truly looked a ragged mess).

But Cassandra beat him to it yet again and although her brother's were all suddenly afraid that she might cry, the next minute she started to laugh at how ridiculous Arthur looked. Whatever tension had been growing between Arthur and Edmund began to fade away and it was now Arthur's turn to laugh.

"Your turn!" Cassandra shouted.

Arthur bent down and made a snowball of his own. "Don't think you I won't get you back, just because you are a girl!"

Cassandra squealed, laughing as she ran to hide behind Sebastian, "You won't be able to catch me!"

"Hmm, perhaps you are right," Arthur mused and, instead, he tossed one to Edmund instead.

"Not too old for this, after all?" Edmund raised an eyebrow.

"Guess not." Arthur shrugged.

It was Edmund's turn to throw and this time he hit Sebastian who had long ago given up on trying to get any of them to their lessons on time.

Moments later, the four of them were properly drenched from the snow and they'd managed to leave their footprints over almost every inch of the courtyard. It had been a long time since they'd played like this: forgetting every care they had in the world.

"What on earth is going on? Look at the four of you. Absolutely Deplorable."

All four of them stopped in their tracks and stared at Guin. No one had noticed her step outside and, noting the disapproval on her face, each of them were suddenly ashamed at this display. It was not befitting of princes and princesses.

"If you are going to have a snowball fight, you must do it properly. Not a single one of you have constructed a fort. How can you prepare your arsenal if you do not have the right defenses? Come, let me show you all how it is done."

#this honestly became a varmont kid drabble but no regrets!#drabble #challenge #arthur varmont #sebastian varmont #cassandra varmont #guinevere varmont #because of reasons i'm going to make notes about their ages atp #guin and arthur are 11 #sebastian is 10 #edmund is 8 and cassie is 7

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forgottencormac · 4 months

Text

OOC | Cormac & Cassandra

another cousin!!!!!!! its so nice to have such a large extended family!!!!!! i def think that, if he's ever heard cassandra tell her tales, he pictures cassimir as the hero every time, and assumes she (and frankly everyone else too!) does the same thing and that all her tales are just her tryna tell cassimir how she feels bc he 100% believes that she's in love w him!!!!!!! and he cannot blame her for this!!!!! which why he has told her, unprompted:

'were i a young maiden, i know i should certainly find myself quite besotted with our comely young lord malconaire'

he just wants her to know that she's not alone!!!! every young lady is in love w him!!!!!! as they should be!!!! and he pities the og malconaire sisters every damn day bc they have to live w him while knowing he can never be his...so tragic...

anyway!!!! i think cormac and cassandra are actually weirdly similar in some ways??? like, he's also wrapped up in all these romantic and unrealistic stories he tells himself and he's also been sheltered and frankly has no idea what's out there in the world, and even his obsession w cassimir is him lowkey running from that, tryna find a protector and fix his daddy issues and yeah!!!! anyway!!! my point is, idk that -- given he's clearly v much aligned w cassimir whose v much a viallin to her -- they'll be close or anything, but in another world i feel like they could've had some stuff to talk about bc i think they actually have a weirdly similar outlook hahaha

#cassandra varmont #ooc #im legit DYING imagining this weird ass dude who thinks hes ur cousin just walkingup 1 day & declaring his bff super hot w a quick NO HOMO #slkdjfaklsdjfkdsjf WTFFFFF #aklsdjfklsjdfjsdf #DYINGGGGGG

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forgottenarthur · 6 months

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OOC | Arthur & His Line of Succession

idk what to entitle this but!!! my brain at 5am was like 'here have this' so now you get to hear abt it too lksdjfkljsdfjl

ok so!! arthur's faction, even objectively speaking (like in an au where every single varmont really and truly is the disgusting vile monster that ronan thinks they all are, this is STILL an advantage for arthur), has a v big advantage over the others, and that is @forgottensebastian!! while sebastian just being the amazing person he is, is a total win for arthur, like i said, even if he were actually leck quasar born again (SCREAM), his v existence would still be a huge advantage to the Arthurian faction bc he's a designated and direct heir and historically!!!!! that is a huuuuge asset in getting ppl to fight/vote for you!! so i wanted to sort of explore this a bit!

so, when ur abt to embark on a civil war for 'who should rule us next' ur hoping ur not gonna have to turn around and do it all again once ur chosen leader kicks the bucket, and arthur having a clear, designated heir from the get-go is a a part of that! bc w edmund or guin, say they get crowned etc, well great! but they're just one person right so what happens if/when they die before having kids! ur back to square one -- if guin's crowned, well, whose her heir? edmund? arthur? ur back at it again!

this is (one of) the reasons @forgottengodfrey is so keen to get edmund hitched (also gaining the stafford/astairan alliance etc but yeah), so edmund can start making heirs of his own, pronto!

ironically, its also one of the reasons @forgottenroderick is so reluctant to let his kids marry bc then ppl might start wanting one of his kids to rule more than they want ~him too!!!! its also the reason he was so desperate to have kids in the first place and took three wives to do it </3

but annnnyway, as a result, i do think arthur's sort of...thought abt this a lil bit frankly (he's so much more introspective than i ever thought it throws me every time i swearrrr) now, obv, idk how this will all go down but, if roderick were to die, and arthur to begin his gambit to seize the throne, i think he'd make his line of succession basically the sons of roderick in order of age; the sons of roderick's father in order of age (aka alaric), the sons of roderick's grandfather in order of age (aka bartholomew) and then their male line descendants in order of age (aka eoin). if all these men were to die, then it would follow the same structure but w women so:

arthur

sebastian

edmund

alaric

bartholomew

eoin

guinevere

cassandra

ciara

now, in his ideal world alaric and the other male varmonts would inherit before edmund like so:

arthur

sebastian

alaric

bartholomew

eoin

edmund

guinevere

cassandra

ciara

but he def recognizes that obv edmund has a way better claim to the imperial throne (not necessarily the kingly one of the og country tho depending on how ~those inheritance laws are written, but in that roderick apparently reopened old laws from ther abt multiple wives, im assuming its still true that edmund would have a better claim to ~that throne as well?) than alaric, bartholomew, or eoin so yeah! the top one is what he's currently thinking! HOWEVER i do think the more he talks to @forgottenarias the more he rethinks his position and so i think he may potentially end up considering heirs in order not just male heirs so:

arthur

sebastian

cassandra/edmund

edmund/cassandra

guinevere

alaric

bartholomew

eoin

ciara

now this would actually be a mistake for his faction, really, bc it'd mess up his ability to claim that ~he should be king since guinevere is, in fact, older, so i do think he'd at best do some handwave abt how roderick's male heirs come first bc that was the intention of the founder or whatever, and THEN roderick's female heirs and then everybody else hahaha but i do think he'd still want to be like CASSANDRA OVER EDMUND but yeahhhh idk if he could reasonably pull that off so i do think it'd result in a lot of confusion abt who has precedence between those two were he ever to actually realize his claim (unlikely!!) but yeah!! sldkjfalksdlfjdslkfj

anyway, he might potentially handwave abt his mother's line being the true imperial one (and thus cassandra still having precedence over edmund despite her sex) as marian became ~his mother and thus cassandra having precedence over edmund or smth but idk -- if they're still at war w edmund when this comes down the line he'd def be like 'yeah that's how that's happening' but if somehow arthur's in power and edmund's cool w it or whatever then he'd probs feel edmund would be a better fit for the crown than cassandra tbqh and have him as the third

anyway!! ngl none of this will probably EVER matter bc even if we do kill off roderick and start our war w/o that one big revelation etc, we uhhhh know that lil smth abt arthur that he don't know so yeah!! (and lbr even if he did manage to seize power as soon as he and edmund made peace, amira would just poison him soooo) but anyway here we are i thought of it so i thought id share it hahaha

#ooc #about #edmund varmont #aria stafford #sebastian varmont #guinevere varmont #roderick varmont #cassandra varmont #eoin varmont #alaric varmont #ciara varmont #bartholomew varmont #godfrey calainon #i think i tagged all the varmonts skdjfkldsjf tumblr was suggesting them in a weird order and it threw me a bit #marian varmont #also i pranked myself bc i forgot i tagged myself in this and then i was like 'why do i have notifications now!' heehee #amira varmont

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forgottenroisin · 8 months

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“Tell me a secret.” (Cassandra x Rose)

The day was sunny and warm in the meadow, surrounded by a broad field of tall billowing grasses and wild poppies that waved merrily in the breeze.

The sound of Cassandra's question was not particularly astonishing to Rose -- such things were said between them often enough, and in that moment they'd made a game of it, taking turns with little harmless demands for truth and tales -- but stretching out her legs on the quilt upon which they'd sat (bedecked with a generous tea service -- that Rose with Eithne's help had lugged out here before the princess's arrival -- and a mountain of scones and tea sandwiches and other such delights for the girls to enjoy), Rose closed her eyes and turned her face to the sun. Nothing in particular came to mind. "What would you like to hear?" she asked, at last, opening one eye and glancing towards her friend who was lounged beside her, lying flat on her back to gaze up at the wide blue sky.

"Something...exciting. Shocking."

"Lord Ormond is a servant," blurted Rose.

"What?!"

Giggling, then, Rose lay back as well and turned her gaze towards her friend who was now looking directly at her. She wiggled her brows and then, shook her head. "What I mean is...and its not precisely a secret, but it is little known. About," she shrugged, waved a hand. "Eight hundred years ago--"

"So recent history," teased Cassandra, propping herself up on one elbrow to look at Rose.

"--Lord Ormond's ancestor was ennobled. The legend goes that the first Lord Ormond had been nothing but a servant, you know, with hardly a penny to his name. One morning, the King of Astaira, unbeknownst to the poor servant, had gone on a hunt and become separated from his group and grievously wounded while pursuing a boar. The unwitting servant stumbled upon a man in the middle of the forest, bleeding profusely and, though he had precious little to spare, the servant took the king back to his humble hut and he nursed him back to health."

"This sounds like a fairy tale."

"It might be. Now shhh, do you want to hear the story or not?"

"I think I know where its going. But go on."

"Now the king was a very young man, inexperienced with the world. He was clever and capable, but he was arrogant and conceited, as well, and he gave scarcely a thought to the condition of his people save those he saw on a daily basis who were all, of course, nobles and quite wealthy.

"At first, the king was in no condition to tell the servant who he was but, as he saw where the servant lived and how, the king became too ashamed to tell him once he was able, knowing that the servant was sacrificing so much to help him, where the king had never done the same for the servant and those like him, though it would have been the easiest thing in the world for him to do.

"While the servant tended to the king, the two became close and the king, as he improved, began to try to take on some of the servant's labors to help his friend. The king began to realize that he might prefer this life: he had never wished to be king and it was a sweet reprieve, and he began to contemplate never telling anyone at all. Soon, however, he was recognized by the people the servant worked for, and the crown having been held so long by his wicked uncle unbeknownst to the king, there was much upcry in the house. The nobles for whom the servant worked realized that they'd been presented with quite an opportunity. Particularly because they knew something else that the king did not know: his accident had been, indeed, no accident at all. His wicked uncle had attempted to arrange his death."

"How horrible!"

Rose nodded. "Despite having become dear friends, when the nobles revealed the king's identity in front of the servant, the king and servant had a vicious falling out given the king's lie.

"After the servant had retired to the kitchens and the king had stormed out into the night for a long walk to clear his head, the noble family gathered around the fire, debating what to do in light of what they knew. It seemed the king had little wish to return to his throne and was, therefore, unlikely to look kindly upon their recognition of him, and certainly would not look favorably upon his brother's actions in his absence -- actions which had directly benefitted the wealthy while further persecuting those less well off. While they were discussing this, the servant quietly came up from the kitchens to continue his work and overheard their deicion: they would secretly turn in the king to his uncle who would quietly have him killed off.

"Rushing out into the woods to warn the king, the servant told him what he had heard but the king would not believe him, given the argument they'd just had, and his own belief that his people were good at their core they ad simply -- like him -- been blinded by their own lifestyles. His uncle could never do such a thing! 'Your Majesty,' said the servant at last. 'It is not I who have deceived you. I have never lied to you, and I don't mean to start doing it now, even if it does mean you will speak civilly to me again.' But, still, the king would not listen.

"That morning, the son of the noble family rode out to court and, in the afternoon, came a black-hooded assassin whom the king only avoided due to the servan'ts quick thinking. Lost in the woods together, and evading the blackguard who looked to take the king's life life, the king and the servant reconciled and realized it was up to the two of them to save the country, so they devised a ruse.

"In the end, they switched places. The servant drew the assassin away, and the king -- who now knew something of the life and ways of servants -- slipped into the castle undetected in the guise of the servant, so that he could sneak in and reveal his return before the entire court, knowing that many truly were still loyal to him and, once the truth was known to all, the uncle would be forced to relinquish his stolen crown. And so it was."

"But what happened to the servant?"

"Well," began Rose, rolling onto her side to face the princess, and propping her head on one hand. "They had planned for him to come to the palace after the king was safely reinstated, but a night and a day passed and he did not come, so the king organized a search and, in the end, the king found his friend bleeding in the woods, just as he himself had been found. With all honors, the king had him escorted in comfort to the palace where the king, himself, tended his wounds with the aid of his best physicians.

"In the end, the king punished the wicked uncle and nobles, and he turned all the goods and possessions and titles of the family for whom the servant had once worked to the faithful servant, and overturned the wicked laws his uncle had passed, while also making improvements on his own shortsighted ones for the good of all. He did, however, make a request of his old friend, the former servant, now Lord Ormond."

"What was that?"

"That he stay on and advise him, and that while he did it, he always, always speak the absolute truth to the king, no matter how little the king wished to hear it. Its the reason for the Ormond's family motto: 'Truth Prevails.'"

Cassandra lay back once again, blue eyes turning towards heaven as, for a moment, the girls fell silent. "That wasn't a secret."

Rose giggled. "No, it wasn't, but I don't have any secrets," she lied to the sky. "And it's your turn, anyway. Tell me a secret. Or a fairy tale. You choose."

#drabble #challenge #meme #ask #cassandra varmont #rosie telling a story abt the importance of telling the truth: *lies through her teeth*#rosie gossip girl voice: that's a secret ill never tell #this can either be a genuine astairan legend or smth that rosie just 100% made up off the cuff im down w whatever hahaha

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