forgottenroderick

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | The Imperial Nursery/ies

ok, so once again i went to answer the guin/arthur thread and realized that, tho we'd talked abt their later years, we hadn't really worked out the early ones! so i am once again asking you to all to help brainstorm how we want that to work!! sldkfjaksldjf so you know me, i immediately consulted history so ive got some potential thoughts! we don't need to go w these but hopefully they'll get the discussion started, at least!!

ok so we abt [ here ] abt their later lives and, armed w that knowledge, i wade in here hahaha

smth we didn't really talk abt much is the set up of the ~imperial nursery~ prior to the heirs being separated out into their own households, and i kinda have two thoughts on that...and we should maybe have a freewheeling discussion abt this? @forgottenmarian @forgottenguinevere @forgottenedmund bc obv the kid players should def get a say, but also the wives would have had one bc, for example, i don't think someone as sus as @forgottenamira would be chill w her baby being left where elaine (who she was probs more worried abt than marian at the time, since she could pull rank etc if she wanted to plus probs had a bigger grudge against amira at that time, all things considered, etc) or marian could get at him!!!!

but anyway, there're usually kinda two/two point five/three structures, more or less, for royal nurseries

COLLECTIVE

ok so in one structure there's a collective nursery where ~all royal kids are attended by their maids and nurses etc, and obv their mamas can come in and carry them off, boss ppl around, etc, but yeah kinda like the maternity ward at a hospital, the kiddos are all quartered in, cared for, and educated, etc in their own ~children's wing, essentially, which is separate from the queen's wing, tho the kids can be brought to them there etc etc

@forgottensebastian and @forgottencassandra probs would've remained there even after ot3: succession got their own households, but what happens after they are deemed old enough/achieve their majorities can differ -- and, given they were being shuffled across countries and castles, might've differed depending on the physical limitations of the current palace, itself?

in some situations, esp harem situations, there would be slightly more independent quarters in the ~children's wing for older children who aren't heirs (aka sebastian, cassandra) where they would basically remain until married/titled and can go to their own home

alternately, they would only remain in the children's quarters so long -- usually at least until such time as they achieved their majority/were deemed old enough to begin their adult life and thus move on. in sebastian's case, he probs would've been off to join roderick, marian, or @forgottenarthur 's household (or potentially edmund's, but im guessing? marian would object and arthur ~def would since that gesture would seem to say he supports ~edmund's claim lakjsdfkljsdf). cassandra to join likely marian or guinevere's household (which im guessing? marian would've objected to, since itd, again, be an implicit support of ~guin's ascendancy coming from arthur's full sister, but arthur, himself, would probs view it as harmless bc hes like 'idk they're just girls being girls let them be girls father will never countenance a female heir anyway' lakjsdfkjdsf) -- or cassandra ~could amira's, technically, but i really cannoT recommend it on a loT of levels lkajsdfkjlsdf tho i ~can def see amira tryna lure her there to implicitly support edmund lakjsdfjsdf but im just guessing marian would not be having ~that lakjsdfkjlsdf

financially, this is probs a better set up for the queens, bc it basically means that paying for all the kids' needs comes out of the king's household reveue, and keeping up royal kids, clothing them, feeding them, educating them, etc, is a huuuuugely expensive affair, ~esp heirs!!!!!!

alternately, financially, the collective nursery would sometimes be set up as its own household ~within the king's household, essentially, under a chosen governor -- probs bartholomew or potentially later on @forgottenalaric -- tho as im thinking abt this, he was probs ~living there himself, since he's sm younger, and would have had a similar trajectory to sebastian's own, choosing between his brother's household, his uncle's, or one of his nephew's, or else in his case, roderick might've formed alaric his own ducal household as soon as he was considered old enough/came of age/whatever.

@forgottenciara and eoin could also have been in this nursery, too, after their mom died and esp since their dad was off at war (tho that'd be bart's call if he wanted that or not), another thing that'd make it beneficial in roderick's eyes to have a single collective nursery for all the varmont kids!

given all that, this collective nursery is probs the set up roderick would've preferred but he does think women get a say in marriages and childrearing (but not much else lakjdsflksdf) so, in this, anyway, he def would've listened to what they wanted.

QUEENLY

an alternate structure is that each queen has her own nursery for her own kids as part of her own household

can def say that @forgottenamira defffff would've pushed for this!!!!! doesn't mean she would've won, but its def what she would've wanted!!! she aint abt trusting anyone w ~her kid!! lkajsdkjf

in this set up, @forgottentristan probs would've been part of of this, or else sent into alaric's, godfrey's, or (ultimately) edmund's household. even in the collective nursery set up, tho, he's probs in amira's or godfrey's (but probs amira's bc...godfrey's off at war and tristans like 6, a lil young for war even by varmont standards lkasjdfsjdf) household in the above set up, tho, since, unlike alaric, he's not a varmont (which is probs another reason amira was for the queenly set up -- i got a kid here already anyway!!)

in this case, cassandra likely more or less stays put even when she is deemed old enough, simply being appointed as a lady-in-waiting of the queen when she's old enough (tho she certainly could ~request transfer to another female household if she wished, once she hit her majority! tho itd be up to marian whether or not to honor that request), but sebastian probs has the same situation as the other one, having to formally join a household, since he's a boy

in this situation, alaric was probs either in the empress' nursery, or else his ducal household was probs set up in his minority w a governor (likely bart or potentially even someone like @forgottenalistair or aleksander royce if bart already had too much on his plate as hand) to oversee it till he was old enough to do so, himself. if he was initially under the empress, his ducal household was probs formed after her death, and if ciara and eoin were in the royal nursery, eoin was probs admitted to alaric's household atp (tho i can def see amira and marian potentially tryna get him placed in edmund and arthur's households respectively).

ciara would've been a source of some consternation, bc she'd need to be in a female household but there's no longer an obv place to put her, and again itd be a tacit support for her to be in any household. roderick would probs think she should go to guin's since that's effectively the empress household, still, in his mind anyway; amira would def push for ciara in her own as roderick's next-ranking queen; i imagine marian would also want to take her? bart might've just taken her home tho atp? idk lkajdsfjkdsf if either of his kids were even there to begin with...

financially, this means that paying for the kids comes out of the individual queen's own household revenue and yeah!! huge expense!! (might be another reason amira was like 'nah, one kid at a time' till edmund got his own household and had to pay for ~himself if we go w this option alkdsjfkljdsf)

COMBINATION

so in this situation, you kinda get both the above!! and would potentially make a good compromise if there was a lot of tension re the other options? so in this system, raising, feeding, clothing, and caring for the kiddos is the queen's responsibility, but they all come together to be trained/educated in the various lessons they'll need to learn, and ~that's the king's responsibility

the household situations in this one probs work out as they would more or less in the queenly nursery option

so yeah!! idk what everyone's thoughts are but!! that's a thing! also, if you guys have other ideas/suggestions pls def add those! these're just structures im aware of, but im confident there are others irl -- and lbr we can also completely make up our own thing, too so!! def don't want us to feel limited by this, but hopefully it'll get the ball rolling on talking that all out! <3

[forgottenroderick]

"it is cool when ~i disrupt an evil ruler!" ~roderick varmont, probably

no but i ~do think that roderick did this for a couple reasons (which i will ~not be listning in any particular order of importance or anything) and, while one ~was legitimately just out of the goodness of his own heart, most of it was ~not!

notably, this is ~also the year that roderick was betrothed by his father to someone and secretly married elaine, instead. roderick knew that was going to be found out sooner or later, one way or another, particularly as roderick ~also knew that elaine was secretly already pregnant at the time of their marriage, and that ~he certainly wasn't going to marry his father's chosen princess or ~anyone who wasn't his beloved elaine! (at the time he had big ideas abt having just ~one wife~ ik -- wild stuff truly ;DDDD) and what could be more distracting to ~everyone from all this than a nice lil war in ur own backyard?? plus, instability would likely cause the hoped-for alliance to renege on the deal and then ~that source of conflict and discovery would be eliminated

another reason for this ploy was that frankly!! roderick's dad was arguably an even worse person than roderick, he simply lacked roderick's scope, talent, and vision so he accordingly lacked the resources to make his personality the entire world's problem, unlike his son lakjsdfkjsdf but anyway!! roderick, as we know, does NOT like to be made to feel small or to be hurt or vulnerable or any such thing which was his ~constant paradigm under his father's thumb and frankly, even knowing the severe punishment he'd face for it if the ploy didn't come off and athaulf conquered the rebels, roderick thought it might be worth it just to stick it to him and watch him take it (it was!)

he ~also did have big ideas abt justice at the time, and curtailing his father's power (and that ultimately his arguably even ~worse older brother who was at the time poised to be the next king,) was smth he thought would legit be good for the ovn (he was def right!), and only the lords coming together against him had the power to do that wo completely crushing the ovn, itself, as a war w ~another country would've done in that moment, esp w his father's ruinous reign

also, if it ~did work, this plot would leave roderick w powerful allies at his back whom his father wouldn't be eager to once again piss off, and hopefully afford roderick and his new wife and their unborn child some protection against his father and his bloody wrath...which it did! this posse roderick built here later went on to form his future inner circle when roderick, quite by surprise, came to the throne, himself and war came knocking at his door

finally, there's also the goodness of his heart reason -- roderick legit didn't want to see that happen to alistair, and that's the reason he'll credit if you ask him, and its the reason that's written down in the history books and talked of in the empire, etc (tho this incident is largely forgotten now bc it has frankly been HUGELY overshadowed by all roderick's ~other imposing accomplishments lakjsdfjdsf) but...yeah...there was a lot more going on that! lakjsdfjkdsf roderick: 'yes, i ~did use you, alistair, and yes, you ~should still thank me for it!'

anyway, this all allowed roderick to get away w his marriage to elaine wo any of them ~mysteriously and terribly dying~ or anything else sinister happening to them, so when you think abt it, in a way this all led directly to guin's birth, so that's wild too lakjsdfkjdsf machinations for the win!! lajskdflkjdsf

Alys of House Fell

ok so its time i tell you all the story of [ alys fell ]. house fell was a minor house from the ovn, which had recently become exceedingly wealthy by marrying into a merchant family. while this gave them wealth, it decreased their status still further, and -- looking to climb -- they decided now was the time to try to tempt high lords into alliance schemes by any means necessary

beautiful, charming, and flawlessly elegant, thei daughter, alys, was raised with this ambitious mindset and pushed by her parents at a young alistair grey, an orphan from an ancient and respectable great house, lord in his own right, and utterly without any living relations leaving him pr alone and wo counsel in the world, but also possessed of huge swathes of land -- and no way to finance their upkeep. to alys' parents, it seemed like the perfect marriage: alys would be awarded his lands, title, and high status; alistair would be awarded her wealth, beauty, merchant connections to help further finance his assets, and get heirs out of it to boot. and all of house fell would reap the rewards by becoming inextricably connected w one of the oldest and most storied families in the realm. however, they ~also knew, due to their own status, that this would still be an uphill battle, so they must find a way of making the union irresistable to the young man

HOWEVER, alys' family weren't the only contendors vying for alistair's lands. the late king (bart's father/roderick's grandfather) had taken alistair as his ward for precisely that same reason. while alistair was underage, the king had had complete control over those lands, but w alistair coming to his majority and the old king passing away, alistair took possession of them himself -- but, lacking any legitimate relatives, should he die without any heirs, the lands would all ultimately revert to the crown anyway, and thus whoever was king at the time of his death would get them. as a result, a marriage for alistair most decidedly did NOT suit the house of varmont

house fell, however, wasn't entirely aware of these machinations, at least not at the start! so what did they do? on a day they knew that alistair would be at court, they trotted out their lovely daughter, presenting her to the king and court in all the splendour they could afford, and instructed her to charm her way into alistair's heart -- and gain the unswerving admiration of all who met her -- by whatever means necessary. they'd need all the allies they could get and, if alistair ~did decline to wed her, they wanted to line up as many backup suitors as they possibly could

the fells had trained their girl well. she did precisely what she was asked, and alistair was breathless with love from practically the first moment. she did more than she'd been asked, however. alistair was hardly the only one. she'd also caught the eye of the king, himself, and one thing an up-and-coming family doesn't like to do is gainsay the royal family when an opportunity like this one presents itself

alys soon found herself secretly royal mistress -- and, at the same time, she received an offer of marriage from the besotted alistair grey, just as originally intended. at first, the king was incensed, but soon a plan emerged. alys was pregnant, already, but no one else yet knew. she would marry alistair, pass the child off as his, and then they would arrange for alistair to have a convenient "hunting accident," and kill him. the lands would, indeed, pass into the hands of the house of varmont, as well as those of house fell, and the king could even ward his own child for years. it was the perfect plan and it was put into action -- but @forgottenroderick overheard his father plotting and risked his wrath to warn alistair, who foiled the plot

there are differings stories on precisely what happened, but a minor revolt began where alistair first displayed his skill in strategy by duping ruling forces and forcing the king's much larger army into a humiliating route w a much smaller force armed largely w cunning and ferocity. it was only diffused when the king signed certain accords which limited his own power (and made him furious to boot!) and alistair called off his famed wulvar warriors, and talked down the other barons who had risen with him, incensed that the king would try such a thing and fearful he might try it w some of them next

i also wanna take this moment to remind you that alistair was a ward to the prev king and thus that he and the king were foster brothers so...awkward on lots of levels alksdjfjkdsf

this incident is also the reasons roderick is [ wary of disturbing the nobility too much ] -- he's seen that go south for kings, before! even if ~he was the whistleblower that time!! and even if he frankly enjoyed watching his abusive dad take roderick's own machinations on the chin

there are also conflicting stories abt alys -- and her fate. some say she threw herself into the sea, some that she was strangled, others record simply that she was one of those ultimately lost in the plague which ravaged the ovn around this same time. some say that it was prince euric who took her to his bed, many that it was his father. her very personality is a subject of some dispute. most remember a flawless, charming, and cultured young woman who was forced into a terrible position by ambitious parents and a cruel king, but others whisper that it was she who orchestrated the entire thing to serve her own unyielding ambition, and caused the death of thousands in a pointless civil war. whatever the truth of alys, however, it is known now only to alistair grey, and he will not speak of it...

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Roderick & Alaric

ok so ive only got a few minutes before work so i wanna make this short and sweet but!!!! i think alaric and bartholomew ar the two ppl roderick trusts most in the world!!! cause his wives are women and even his male kids are still kids in his mind anyway but bart and roderick i feel like kinda co-parented alaric (poor alaric honestly no one deserves roderick as a co-parent no matter the circumstance alksdjfjksdf) but fortunately for alaric roderick was SUPREMELY distracted and also a far softer person when he was younger so like he didn't get the full roderick™ that roderick's kids got, he got one that had more kindness and understanding and will to create joy -- plus i def think that alaric, being the last piece of their mama, was someone he was gonna be more tender towards!! idk but i feel like their mom was kinda an advocate for roderick when nobody else was in a lot of ways??? he felt v alone and isolated and despised but she tried her best!!

so i know i spoke to you briefly somewhere asp abt my hc's for roderick's bg but here's a write up i did asp and i thought id put it here as a reminder etc

Ok so og king varmont/Roderick’s dad, I’m thinking he set the example for roderick if having multiple wives…but he did it in a more ordinary way. Like Viserys I/Henry I, I’m thinking the king had two queens one after the other when the first died. This first marriage where big bro came from, as well as a big sister. The first wife had been a princess of a country across the seas that had had some tumult w the og varmont nation, and their marriage had been arranged to help ease those tensions, which it did. They then also arranged for Roderick’s sister to marry its future ruler and all seemed good till the marriage. The newlyweds, at their wedding, went on a boat ride to celebrate, racing, and the two ships sunk. Rumors of scuttling and assassination came to a head. Meanwhile the spring illness took the lives of the king and his eldest son, and roderick having lost three family members in rapid succession, comes unexpectedly to the throne. Rather than trying to work the White Ship Disaster out diplomatically as his father would’ve done, Roderick invaded.

okay, so!! idk what they were like as ppl, and id love to figure that out w you, but i can def talk abt what i think roderick’s perceptions may have been. this being roderick, hardly the most clear-sighted person abt ppl, he may have been waaaaaaayyyy off as he’s clearly quite messed up but yeah!! these were my thoughts aljskdfklsjdf

KING — VARMONT 

possibly bc tywin lannister is an inspo for roderick (i know i know such amazing role models no wonder he’s the best dad akjsdflksdjf) i see his reign his reign as having been…shall we say…a mixed bag. i feel like he was the sort of ruler who was really strict w internal measures so he was super high handed and pedantic w his ppl while also giving breaks to certain ppl and not to others creating unrest, but really didn’t give much thought to his external politics so he was easily pushed around by foreign powers, bc basically he was a really distracted ruler and roderick REACTED!! 

roderick is a force in the international arena, he is singleminded in his reign and policies, his word is absolute and never to be brooked, etc. anyway, idk what kind of ~person he was, but i see – and maybe for very good personal reasons who knows – this having been a huge influence on roderick bc he looked at his dad getting pushed around and just knew that what he wanted to be as king was ‘not that’ and he was going to prove himself, if not to his father, then to the world (tho he’s still chasing his father’s approval even tho he can never possibly get it bc his father is dead etc etc etc) but yeah!! i think a loT of this is a reaction to his father alksdjfkldjf

at the same time tho i def think his dad was super high handed w roderick, himself, and he felt he could never measure up to his half-siblings and, whether or not that was true, it galled him. i think maybe roderick believed that his dad had really loved his first wife but that his second wife had been a purely political move and one which he felt tarnished the first, and thus that he resented it – and resented the children he got from it too

despite his policy having been a mess, tho, i think roderick perceived him as a tyrant at home, quick to rage w his younger boys and perhaps even borderline abusive like – i just don’t see roderick as someone who had an even marginally happy childhood, frankly, i think he felt he had to fight for every scrap he got one way or another, and he’s still doing just that in his own way

also i think that roderick believes that his dad woulve pulled through had he not lost first his daughter and then his eldest son but grieving and ill, he was too weak to keep fighting and didn’t see anything WORTH fighting for in roderick or alaric or their mom, basically

QUEEN — VARMONT

i think roderick felt that his mom never got a fair shake – but also that she should have taken what she wanted. i think, bc she was his mom, he couldn’t blame her, so he was like 'its just that she’s a member of the fair sex’ and that his feelings abt gender are largely informed by this and by his sister which ill get into later. im thinking maybe she was religious (maybe this is why things were weird w the dad, maybe she wanted to be a varmont!nun, or smth, but being a princess she had to marry instead, or smth?) and maybe that’s where he gets his fanaticism? maybe even a lil like anna ivanovna (at least where she is abt halfway through the first novel bc that’s where i am currently hahah) re: feeling trapped by life etc, but also marked and unapologetic favoritism towards her own children vs her stepchildren and roderick kinda internalized that 'as the way it should be’

also do we think she’s still kicking, or is she gone, too?

PRINCE — VARMONT

i feel like roderick hated this dude’s guts…but also loved him. he was his big bro on one hand, but their dad saw him as almost supernaturally gifted and, in roderick’s view, always seemed to be comparing them and finding roderick severely wanting. roderick was much younger (he was only 18 when he became king iirc), and he was a son of the wrong wife to boot, and roderick felt he was always chasing behind trying desperately to catch up and always always failing, and he STILL has an inferiority complex abt this dude and STILL wants to beat him but he never can bc he is, of course, dead

PRINCESS — VARMONT

so i see her as a sort of confusing figure for him, another person both adored and reviled, another he was forever being unfavorably compared to, and someone who even beat him to wearing a crown (tho she promptly died). i feel like losing her broke their dad, as far as roderick could tell, and roderick was seized w the utter conviction that if roderick had been the one to die, their dad might not even have noticed honestly, and he tried to tell himself that it was just that men could be softer w their daughters than their sons bc their dad had – to roderick’s way of thinking – always shown her all the tenderness he had secretly craved. like, elder prince was his pride, and princess was his joy and roderick was like ALARIC AND I DESERVE SOME OF THAT TOO

somewhat like his own kids, roderick loves all of these ppl and resents them by equal measure. its a huge mess.

so yeah idk if any of that works ok for you, but that’s sort of how i imagined roderick seeing it

OH MAN THAT’S HONESTLY LIKE MY FAV THING ABT HIM [roderick]???!?!!! LIKE HE’S SO SELF-DEFEATING AND WHAT HE CHOSE TO SAVE WAS THE WRONG THING THAT’LL HARM SOOOOOO MANY INNOCENT LIVES INCLUDING HIS KIDS BUT HE CAN’T STOP EVEN WHILE IT DESTROYS ALL HIS OTHER HOPES 

so yeahhhh id loveeeee to hear all of your and alaric's thoughts, ideas, impressions, etc!! but that's sort of what i had in mind for our boy -- to be completely casual in referencing him -- 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

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Marrying off Malconaires...

ok so ive discovered that my male characters have a favorite hobby and that's interfering in the love life of @forgottenaoife (and her sisters but ~esp hers apparently...) cormac's given it a go, now it's roderick's turn...

so as far as roderick's concerned, arthur's baby is taken care of, the future lord (bc obv this kids are all gonna be boys!!!!!!!) of malconaire (thanks, cassimir!) but now he's still got @forgottenaoife and @forgottenroisin to marry off so sebastian/edmund's sons can be lords, too, since they're all still ~roderick's grandsons! lakjsdfkjdsf

so ive talked a bit abt this in replies so:

quillington

40m @quillington Lauren, just so you know this story [abt the supposed varmont-malconaire pregnanies] broke at the currently on-going malconaire party so the consequences haven’t really been explored yet — but yeah [roderick]’ll also feel responsible for arranging good marriages for the pregnant girls (brigits on her own! 😂) so his grandkids will have comfortable lives and he’s def gonna be looking to kill two birds w one stone by marrying them to varmont supporters to help further intertwine varmont and Astairan ties sfjkkvbfhnmk @forgottenaoife @forgottenroisin @forgottenbrigit

phabblebabbles

39m @quillington Don’t worry, @forgottencormac is going to help arrange those marriages, too 😅😅😅

quillington

33m @phabblebabbles Afjlhddhkkh Cormac: have no fear your majesty I have accounted already for the fair aoife! You can trust in me! I am renowned for my unimpeachable powers of sniffing out the ideal match! Roderick: ok yeah whatever this guy proposed doing? Let’s do the opposite Jk jk

forgottenguinevere

35m Tho im also like, Guin is team: "oh we gotta GO" as soon as this news bomb gets dropped. Hahaha. Separate all the involved parties including @forgottenroderick , and just like fucking... murder on the orient express-ing this whole thing. 😂

quillington

31m Murder on the orient expressing this BAHAHAHAHA honestly roderick is DESPERATE to suppress this so fir once they on the same page ig! Dhklgdfj Amira ~and Valentina, however? They spreading this one far and wide as they can!!!!!!!!

quillington

27m @forgottenmarian how would Marian feel abt @forgottenaoife potentially getting matched to one of her brothers, since her kid is meant to be @forgottensebastian ‘s so the (imaginary) kid’ll be raised by his mother and great-uncle, kinda thing? Not sure what he’ll do abt @forgottenroisin since Edmund’s family is more limited… @forgottentristan ig???? Tho as lord commander is he permitted to wed while he still holds that post? @thelongforgottenrealm

quillington

19m I mean provided that things don’t go forward w @forgottenfinnegan ultimately

phabblebabbles

15m @quillington I think she might be on board? Esp if it mean her family was out of the dog house with Roderick! Idk if she’d want it to be her fav bro but… there’s plenty to pick from

so rather than spamming poor guin's post i thought i might just pop this up here and we can go to town!

ok so here're my thoughts! first, some general stuff

roderick knows this can be a rotten deal to swallow you don't wanna leave ur own heirs nothing in favor of a ~fake kid obv so he's gonna sweeten this deal w both graciously enlarging the girls' dowries by OBSCENE amounts and then also being absurdly generous w his wedding gifts!! this is his grandson (what's a granddaughter? never heard of it!) so he's gonna need to grow up to rule smth w a title of his own as well as be stupid rich!

i ~do think roisin's marriage will get precedence in his mind over aoife's bc roisin's carrying the son of one of his heirs ad, as always, poor sebastian thus gets short shrift from his dad lajsdkafjksjdf if edmund becomes emperor he can't v well have ~his firstborn being ~less well off than his non-imperial brother's! i think w malconaire being one of the largest, if not ~the largest span of land in all astaira and astaira being ~the largest country in the world world~ he's feeling that once he increases eithne's dowry and gives her all these wedding gifts, that's well taken care of for arthur if he becomes emperor but edmund needs the same treatment! lakjsdfkjdsf

ideally, the marriage will kill two birds w one stone by helping to further unite varmont supporters w an old astairan house, but that's sorta ~optional and yeah! w no further ado!

AOIFE

in no particular order...

contestant 1: finn

ok so despite my joke abt roderick second guessing cormac (tho...he does! h e does noT like that guy alksjdfsjkdf), this one ~can potentially work for him w a few caveats! first, if roderick believes that finn and aoife's engagement is of long standing and that finn is ~still willing to keep to her despite that (gasp!), the callearies are still wealthy enough that roderick could be cool w her marrying a second son (and thus his grandson taking finn's place ultimately)

ok so i think roderick has kinda clocked the way cormac looks at cassimir and lets just say he ~isn't too worried abt him having kids lakjsdfjksdf so finn's ~probably gonna inherit from cormac one way or another but roderick'll probs do one of two things if cormac does asp mean to wed -- either, he'll try to arrange for cormac to marry some varmont of roderick's own choosing, which'll also help unite the ovn and astaira further, or just...string him along and backically block his marriage chances forever

contestant 2: cormac

honestly tho?? i think he'd actually prefer to wed aoife to ~cormac, of the calleary bros, its just that much cleaner BAHAHAH but yeah he dwon't break up smth that's alwready been arranged in this case kinda like he's down w the cassimir/eithne thing plus cormac would probs be quite glad of an heir no questions asked etc lakjsdfjkdsf

contestant 3: marian's bro

honestly i think this is probs roderick's ideal outcome! ill talk abt some of the pros in rosie's tristan bit but yeah! it'd be pr neat in roderick's mind! so this would def be a younger one of marian's bros, NOT her eldest! roderick aint looking to piss off her dad by usurping ~his house's future w a bastard grandson of his own, even if that kid is ~also a bastard great-grandson of his, too! but how does this make roderick's grandson a lord? isn't that one of the goals! aye, it v much is!! BUT each of these guys has his own lordship atp i gotta believe given all the conquest and [ roderick's tiers for holdings ] so it might be itsy bitsy but he's gonna be STUPID RICH too bc in all cases roderick's giving them OBSCENELY valuable wedding gifts + augmenting the girls' dowries a lot himself so that his grandsons will be set uP!! this goes for anyone who'd marry aoife in her ~spoiled state, too, as well as any takers for @forgottenroisin

contestant 4: alistair

this guy's also on the table for rosie too, so girls! get squabbling! alksdjfjksdf honestly roderick thinks its weird af this guy hasn't married asp ~anyway! he needs heirs, he's got big holdings that're v valuable and that'd be great for roderick's grandson to rule! they abutt guin's foxe lands too (and the foxes are related to marian's fam, anyway and so is this kid so really its quite perfect!) so like she could work w her nephew and that all seems pr honky dory plus its another marriage that'd help varmont/astairan relations (in roderick's mind anyway) and atp he's probs old enough he'd take ~any heir and not want to ask too many questions abt where that baby came from, plus he seems to like seb a lot ~anyway sdklajfsjkdf

contestant 5: bartholomew

sooo eoin's off to marry guin which really means the ~lord varmont~ title will be pr much up for grabs, and bart's deffff got titles and lands enough to give some to a late-in-life second son anyway without eoin feeling in any way jipped! honestly i think ~this arrangemtn's a lil cozier in his mind for edmund's kid bc edmund's an heir, so if he does one day rise to be emperor, his firstborn being lord varmont just all works pr neatly in roderick's mind!! and if the baby comes out looking like roderick, well, no surprise there! lakjsdfjkdsf but yeah lkajsdf this is def an option for roisin, too!

contestant 6: rian

so, as we've established, marian isn't too col w rian marring cassandra so, w that being so, that alliance will probs collapse, clearing the way for ~this! once again, a more viable fit for rosie for the same reasons, more or less, as above, but anyway there's a ~good chance~ that, if its not either alaric or one of his own sons, that roderick'll leave rian as steward of astaira, which means that this kid could potentially grow up to effectively rule astaira (as subservient to the emperor but still!) so that's a pr good position for one of roderick's grandkids! i f not, it does still bestow (at least nominally) royal astairan blood upon that kid in roderick's eyes. he'd also give rian his own lordship, should this wedding take place

contestant 7: lord ormond

yeah so this guy's been getting a lil ~too cozy w his daughter and roderick ~officially no longer trusts in the chastity of these astairans. let's bribe him to leave cassandra alone w a stupid rich wife...the ormonds are even vassals to the malconaires, which'll be his heir!brother's bastard!!! those kid's'll grow up together and arthur and sebastian can ride out together to visit them etc! it'll be great! ;D

contestant 8: someone else

an as-yet unmade character or someone who ~is bouncing around but i just haven't thought of idk bingo free space vibes ;DDD

ROISIN

in no particular order...

contestant 1: tristan

for edmund's baby, tristan presents many of the advantages that marian's bro does in the case of aoife: he's related to the real!father so the family still gets to raise the kid/its not weird if edmund visits a lot or the baby ~really resembles him, etc (if the baby comes out looking varmont and not calainon...everyone's just gotta agree noT to see that!!! ;DDD) plus, once again, tristan is a younger brother so its not like he's out here replacing the main line house calainon w his own cukoo etc etc etc not sure if the lord commander can wed until he's left his post tho?

contestant 2: bartholomew

see above

contestant 3: alistair

see above

contestant 4: rian

see above

contestant 5: cormac

see above

contestant 6: someone else

see above

roderick when they aren't visibly pregnant eight months from now: either they lost the child, or they lied!

rosie: ~we weren't the ones who claimed we were pregnant!

roderick: did someone hear something?

EDIT: so i remembered the thing i was forgetting to say!! @forgottenmarian her bro marrying aoife wouldn't ~fix the situation bc the truth is that roderick feels that marian's dad is a lil too powerful and her bros a lil to plentiful given roderick's ~own number of sons and that's just...not gonna change (roderick can't stomach ~anyone doing better or even ~threatening to do ~as well~ as him ever lakjsdfkjlsdfjk no challengers ever pls!!!!! but also he gets bored that way...idk man alkjsdfjkdsf he'll never be happy lkajsdfjkl) but!! it ~is a step in the right direction re healing the ~latest buggaboo situation...lakjsdfjksd so yeah mixed bag ig alskdjfklsdjf

[forgottenroderick]

quillington

Apr 5

@forgottencassimir @forgotteneithne ~also realizing that like...roderick might start to think that like cassimir losing at the tourney was a ploy to throw off suspicion???? bc he had a plant to do the real rebeling and this was a way that his name wouldn't be tied w the winnings? and thus throw off suspicion that he is actually a rebel or whatever alksdjfjdkslfjsdf roderick to cassimir: 'most sus of all the way you cunningly failed over and over again, even made it appear for some time that your mother, a ~woman, had charge over you...' etc *facepalm*

quillington

Apr 5

@forgottencassimir @forgotteneithne ok so also re: the marked coins...idk why ~this didn't occur to me but it also doesn't have to be marked ~as bran's winnings (bc i feel that'd be v difficult to do prior to distributing them since itd have to be manuel etc) but just marked as winnings ~from the event~ bc ~that would be extremely doable!! it would make following the threads more difficult if the resistance hadn't grabbed the whole pot but, bc they did (or at least roderick ~believes they did) its all pr easy in his mind! so yeah! laksdjfkljdsf so yeah they might not know its bran's winnings, specifically, and just see it as ~rebel money~ basically lakjdsfkjldsf

quillington

Apr 5

sorry to keep spamming here i just...am at work now (shhh) and new ideas that shoulda been in the post keep occurring alkjdsfjksdf *facepalm* but anyway!! i defff think its possible that, if @forgottencassimir and/or @forgotteneithne are still hiring after the tournament?? that roderick (godfrey will def try too but idk how ~assured it is that ~his candidate would get hired -- roderick has much deeper pockets and can get ~the perfect dude for the job to apply so?? that feels more likely ig?) will defffff do everything he can to get a spy hired at malconaire as one of the new employees alkjsdfjkdsf so ~that's fun lakjsdfjkds

quillington

Apr 5

@forgotteneithne @forgottencassimir tho smth @forgottengodfrey might do is get ~roderick's spy, if hired, to ~also act as ~godfrey's spy for a lil extra cash on the side alkjsdfjksdf idk!! that's also additional danger but here we are lakjsdfsdf but anyway!! this could contribute both to the cassimir is a rebel/cillian is a rebel AND the the girls are servants, the girls are witches thing so!! lsdkjfsjdkf oops lakjsdfljsdf

^^ just some of our replies. now then, to the meat!

not me lowkey hc'ing if we do go forward w any part of this plot, that the great oak, being prescient as a guardian, reached out and created the pothole w their own roots and powers <33333 even if they go out thwarting roderick, in the end, they still got some use outta him re: cassimir and valentina first <33333

ok so imma just use the same headers you did just to make this all clear etc!

random thoughts first

so we do know now that @forgottenbrigit negotiated w @forgottenronan to keep ~her winnings for malconaire so!! malconaire def has 330,000 crowns incoming! potentially more, if the resistance thinks its necessary or whatever, but that much for sure!

ooooh that's a good thought re malconaire having a target on its. ack! i hadn't considered that! honestly i think it ~may, but probs not as much a one as maybe it ~should -- let me explain! so i defffff think roderick HIGHKEY underestimates the importance of malconaire to ~astaira, like he doesn't know the history of lorcan and stafford and malconiare all being kings who came together to create the country in order to fight the gods like that'd sound like nonsense to him if he ~did hear it? wh at kind of king would give up his crown???? and like...general stuff like that!

but! h e ~does have access to many maps so he doeS know that those three are ~the biggest plots of land/counties in all of astaira and that!!!! that ~is smth to him!!! and i think ~that's part of it, plus...

i def do think that, being a conqueror himself, roderick def believes in conquerors rights, so i def do think he still kinda has it in mind that malconaire belongs to @forgottenedmund by rights so, to keep the peace since cassimir had surrendered, he left it in those hands, but i think it does sort of bother him as this miscarriage of justice bc!!!! conquerors!!!! are!!! everything!! lkasjdfkljsdf he def gave some other big astairan holding to edmund in place of malconaire but it still doesn't quite sit right w him that a conqueror doesn't hold his conquest!!!! lakjsdfjdsf (he doesn't want anyone getting ideas abt things like that after all ;DDD) @forgottenamira is also defff aware of this and is always there to keep this ~injustice alive in roderick's mind too lsdakfjskdjf esp now she knows it has a guardian...

but yes! anyway!! i think malconaire ~does have a bit of a target on its back but i ~don't think that's true of ~all astairan holdings that aren't run by varmonts, just the most powerful ones (which he doesn't think malconaire could possibly be tbf bc -- have you seen the state of those roads?! ;D), but like lorcan??? while ~we v much see that as run by a varmont bc clearly @forgottenrian sided w them etc! ~roderick is deeply xenophobic and he does noT see it that way!! that dude is an astairan, through and through, and it was roderick's ~generosity that propelled an astairan to such heights of power! lakjsdfkjsdf what a guy lakjsdfkljds

urban flight & the rise of malconaire

so i def think there was! i do know that @forgotteneilionora contacted @forgotteneabha via @forgottenpercy iirc and got her to help smuggle ppl out of stafford for fear of reprisals from roderick so there's that for sure plus yeah i think you've gotta be right i think ppl'd be finding all kindasa ways to get out after that! r oderick aint exactly known for his mercy lajsdfkljsdf (tho that's not what ~he would tell you lakjsdfjk)

but yesss i think we ~did talk asp abt guilds having big presences in stafford, and esp the citadel, and i looove the idea of them getting the hell out!! a nd i do agree idk that that's smth roderick would see the importance of bc he's like so???? that's an outdated astairan thing anyway we got our own craftsman if we need them etc alksdjfjdsft

i looove the idea of them going to malconaire!! plus it ~is still a place that, by and large, still feels astairan -- hanthom feels kolchean, if anything atp tho that probs owuld've been the most logical point since shipping makes commerence easy etc but there're principls at stake! and im sure there ~were craftsmaen who set up shopt there (esp bc i defff think @forgottengodfrey did his utmost to entice them!) but i think national pride still runs strong in astaira <3

he def wouldddd care if malconaire were doing better than stafford frankly!! he might not have cared sm ~before the riots but he def cares ~after them bc this is just another stab at his statemanship and he do not like blows to his pride!!! its the one thing he can't with!! lkasjdfkjdsf

"bran" as a folk hero/resistance symbol

OBSESSED OBSESSED OBSESSED i mean by and large obv this is up to @forgottenbrigit so i won't say too much except that im completely in love w this whole idea <333333 SOBBB <3333333 but yeah! if there's some folk hero whose a symbol of resistance out there its is safe to say that roderick WILL be gunning for him and wants to wipe that smear off the face of the earth whatever it takes!!! even tho he seems to just be a shadow and the only time they ever corerened someone it just turned out to be a girl??? so obv the wrong person SOB alksjdfkjlsdf ;DDDD jk jk (but only kind of!) abt the girl but!! yeah! h e will ~never suspect brigit...until ofc he hears she's a witch so!! unnatural AND evil?! but even then...he might not connect the two unless given a reason to frankly lkajsdjklfdsf

roderick/godfreys potential spy

perhaps neither here nor there but @forgottenroisin honestly would be in support of bringing in more ppl to help cillian before relieving herself -- what he does benefits all of malconaire and such whereas, while clothing is essential too, rebuilding is arguably a bigger deal yknow?

but yessss! spies all around!! lkasdjfkjd honestly feels abt right w the way malconaire's beeing living that ofc if they finally take a step forward they've alwso taken a step back SOB alossssso spies in ther ecould def help w w providing 'evidence' both for and against them being witches to really ~spice up~ the trial lakjsdfkjds (even if it probs is largely a mock trial oops laksjdfkjsdf roderick: 'i can sense witches so this trial is just a formality reall' lkajdsfsdf jk jk but...only kinda lkajsdfkjds)

OOC | On Brigit's Winnings/Malconaire's Roads/Roderick & Malconaire

so, i have one pressing question @forgottencassimir: did cassimir fix the roads when he came to power? i am unfortunately not joking OR exaggerating when i say the whole fate of malconaire may lie in the balance here *facepalm*

ok so this thought is entirely predicated on like...idk that roderick would realistically ever notice finances in malconaire so long as, like, the ~public aspects are more or less maintained: roads are upkept, that sort of thing! and he certainly wouldn't be like WHERE ARE THEY GETTING THE MONEY if they are upkept when he returns to malconaire for valentina's party bc he ~did recently mention to @forgottencassimir that he expects to see road improvements etc after his carriage broke down etc so like...that being fixed suddenly, if it were, ~wouldn't surprise him bc he ~expects that he has only to say smth and then it will be done, right???

so!! it occurred to me that, like...since its @forgottenvalentina in charge i can tell you that, during ~her administration, while the ~specific pothole that took out roderick's carriage was certainly filled in on the ~double after that! -- honestly if nothing else my man @forgottencillian might've taken that one upon himself just bc like...we do noT need the emperor coming here unawares!!!! no thank youuu!!! his sons are bad enough!!!! however, he and the girls are all stretched sooooo thin that, while he'd def do his best to maintain the roads by himself if that's what it takes to keep roderick out, idk how doable that ~is for one dude while ~also maintain everything else at malconaire itself, etc, and it certainly wasn't on valentina's list of priorities!!!!! so yeah!!!! -- so yeah valentina did not fix the roads

basically....w @forgottencassimir having sort of started to come into his own power since last roderick was there do we think that cassimir repaired the roads?

i mention this bc, if he did, i think he may have inadvertently covered for @forgottenbrigit and her winnings...and thus lowkey for himself as well? ok so what do i mean? if the roads were, to roderick's observation, repaired the v next time he went to malconaire after he mentioned it to cassimir, he's like 'ok cool all's as it should be' and not thinking further on that one! However, if they're still pr ruinous, roderick's distinctly annoyed and ~now he's wondering why he's being ignored which'll mean he'll be launching secret investigations into malconaire

if he sees that its ~all poorly maintained that way, he's thinking malconaire's doing poorly and, while he must tread v carefully for reasons i outlined [ here ] re land changing hands etc, he'll be feeling this reflects poorly on ~him and is the opposite of his beliefs abt what he's here to do re: conquest, etc, and thus have him wanting to ensure improvements there -- whether by perhaps letting @forgottenmarian bend his ear a lil more re: change in leadership there or, more likely, by involving ~his officials in tryna get them better streams of revenue, perhaps by arranging cassimir and/or the girls' various marriages or, if things still don't markedly improve (bc by now he's seeing more than just the state of the roads, perhaps considering a change in leadership

smth else he might realize is that the og girls are servants there and he might expose that to help throw cassimir off his pedestal as well in therms of leadership change and simply betroth eithne or sonya to whomever he chooses as the next lord malconaire and justify it that way, saying cassimir was abusing his power etc and use that as justification, just as he has w ciara and godfrey and hanthom etc!

HOWEVER!! if he's investigating all this already and then suddenly, out of nowhere, w no revenue stream on cassimir's books, things just start magically improving in malconaire right after all the winning disappear, ngl that will def make roderick sus

if he does start to think that malconaire stole the money, at first he'll deffffff have his eye on cassimir ngl bc like!!!!!! a woman could never have pulled that off!!!!!! obv this is a man's work!!!!!!

this does two things for roderick in this situation! 1) it allows him to bring up cassimir on criminal charges and thus give legal reason for why he now must attaint him as a traitor etc and can now give malconaire to ~anyone of his choosing w/o stirring unrest amongst the lords of the empire and 2) allows him to publically prosecute the thief and thus restore trust in the public eye that the theft has been duly avenged by the gov/helps roderick as emperor save face re his own plan working just as intended etc (even if roderick knows cassimir didn't do it! but esp if he thinks he ~did) and thus pin the blame on someone for that

in the scenario where roderick ~doesn't believe cassimir really did, this lets roderick give malconaire to someone of his choosing while also lulling the rebels into a feeling of false security bc, well, he clearly collared someone else!! he is ~not onto them!!!! in the scenario where roderick believes cassimir ~did do it, he might frankly think that cassimir is a rebel alkdsfjklsdfj and is thus putting all kinds questions to him and possibly even wanting to get him to 'escape' and infiltrate and betray them since roderick thinks casimir's ~one of them lkajsdflkjsjdkfds

also he's still exposing the og girls as servants thing etc and doing everything to frankly blacken cassimir's name ngl he doesn't want ~any lords thinking this might happen to them if they're behaving but he ~does want to make an example of what happens to a lord who ~isn't behaving alkjsdfjsdf

HOWEVER, when roderick discovers the witchcraft he'll realize that cassimir didn't know what he was doing when he stole that money (either have to pretend to 'realize' this or actually come to that conclusion depending...and/or convince himself he believed cassimir was guilty the whole time and now emotinally exonerate him??? who knows lakjsfkjdsf) since he was bewitched lajdsfjkdsf so he'll be off the hook for that lakjsdfkjdsjkf (~all of cassimir's 'misdeeds' are ~their fault now btw!! including forcing them to serve him somehow alskdfjksldjfds)

also if there's a scenario where roderick's already given malconaire away when the witchcraft thing comes out then there's the drama over like...how does ~that lil bugaboo resolve laksdjflkjsdfkj we ~know picking a single heir to things when there're rival claimants is ~not his strong suit oops ;D alksdjflkjsdf jk jk that's a ploy/emotional thing which he probs won't feel re malconaire but still!! again there's the whole not upsetting the lords thing and yeah!! that'd be a big deal laksjdfkjsdf

(at present, id say the most likely candidates for receiving malconaire/replacing cassimir are @forgottenedmund given he's the conqueror there; @forgottengodfrey or @forgottenalaric if alaric requests hanthom/depending how that situation all goes down; alaric or bartholomew just in general bc trust etc; eoin as basically a wedding present for @forgottenguinevere if that betrothal does go through; or one of @forgottenmarian 's brothers, but who knows! roderick be changing his mind always alkjdsflkjdsf)

but yeah!!! if cassimir ~did fix the roads then roderick's not picking up on ~any of this but yeah it occurred to me that like...that's deffffff smth roderick wiLL be paying close attention to now that valentina's invited him to malconaire for her fete lajskdfkjsdjfksdf SCREAM

so yeah!! i just suddenly realized this and i was like 'omg' alkjdsfakjsdf anyway we can easily handwave it away and say cassimir got right on fixing those roads before roderick got there and thus roderick will never go down this path, but yeah this is smth roderick would do if they ~aren't alksjdfjkdsf man likes his orders OBEYED thank you alkdjsfslkjdfjsdf

[forgottenroderick]

There was sharpness in the boy's tongue, such as Roderick was unaccustomed to hearing, and his eyes flicked up to meet his son's. His chin he raised in defiance, his own eyes reflecting back the sharpness of Sebastian's mood. A sneer parted his lips. The Emperor bit out a harsh laugh and threw his gaze back to the blackening fire in the hearth. The blue of his eyes turned to glittering flame in echo of it.

"I had hoped," he said softly, slowly. "To hear the rumors contradicted by you, at least. But it seems they are true." He did not speak of the threat to burn Astaira whole. Roderick stood. "Your brothers' taste for flesh is well established, and I did not hold out much hope that the rumors regarding them were flase, but I thought you stronger than the rest in that respect. And your crime most disgusting of them all! Did you not know, my boy, that you were...observed? That the flap of your tent was still open, that you were seen fornicating with that Astairan wench?"

He shook his head, standing to pace about the room again. "I thought it perhaps some lie invented to blacken your character in the eyes of the people, but now with your foolish defense of this godless people, I see the truth of it for myself! I am ashamed, Sebastian, most heartily ashamed of you! Did you think nothing of your House before you did this? Have I not always taught discretion in these matters? What, then, is your excuse?"

He barked a laugh, ire glowing upon his features. "Stripped them of all whom they loved, have I? Is that how you see things, now you've your oh-so accomodating little Astairan piece to muddle your brain? They know nothing of loss! I could have at any moment taken all from them -- even now I could! They dare think this of me! Of our holy crusade! I ought to stamp them out for such hubris! And you!" He turned and pointed at his son. "What have they made you? One fuck and you're their messenger boy?"

His fists clenched. His own son! This weakness -- it showed weakness in him. Horror rose as bile in the back of his throat, choking him. They all could see it. They all could see it. They all could see it! Raising his hand, suddenly, he backhanded his son across the face.

Roderick froze, his royal rings glinting in the firelight, but the only glow he saw was the red marks burning across his boy's face where he'd left them, and he felt sick, watching them deepen, pink burning to scarlet as he watched, the imprint of his own rings and knuckles there to see. He moved forward, raising shivering fingers as if to touch his son's face. Gently, this time, gently. He pulled away again.

He snarled. He looked away. His voice sounded more grieved, now, than angry, at first, yet he was working himself back up to ire again, that much stood out in the tenor of his tone. "I ought to imprison you, boy! I ought to send you home half in chains! How dare you come to me with such defiance burning in your belly! I am your father! I am your king! I am your Emperor! You ought to kiss my boots!"

He turned away from him quickly, caping fanning out behind him as he moved. "Always, too soft the father. Mine own sire should never have stood for such behavior. Never."

Still, his gut clenched and he felt half-sick. He was careful, always, in how he touched his children -- careful in the way he'd always wished his own father might have been. Yet this had been blasmphemy, had it not! Or near as any to make it so. He had a dut to the god to stamp it out! God's Own Champion was a role even more sacred than that of father.

"You will have a wife," bit out the Emperor, still not facing his child. "A princess of perfect pedigree. One of the Lorcans, mayhaps. Perhaps that Vasilieva girl. Not Aoife Malconaire, Sebastian. Never her."

Summoned | Roderick & Sebastian

"Your Highness, His Imperial Majesty, your father, Roderick Varmont the First of His Name, Conqueror of the Twelve Kingdoms, Defender of the Faith, and god's own Champion, requests your presence this afternoon."

The servant bowed low following this announcement and Sebastian had to bite his lip to catch himself from laughing -- he noted that he had transcribed his father's array of titles in the palm of his hand and was using his bow as covered so he might check that he had said them.

Sebastian was certainly not going to point out that he had missed some.

"Of course, thank you."

As soon as he excused the servant, Sebastian allowed himself to exhale. He never particularly looked forward to these interactions with his father. If he was being summoned, it often meant that his father was angry with him, or that he meant to test him. There had been a time when he would have been eager to rise whatever challenge his father might have prepared for him, even as he knew he would likely fall short in comparison to his brother's. But now? Sebastian was almost more eager to disappoint than to please: he had no interest in ever being a pawn in the same brutal game that Edmund and Arthur had been playing their entire lives.

Still, he did -- and always would -- respect his father and his wishes, and he answered the summons with promptness.

He was admitted to his father's chambers and after bowing to his emperor, he spoke, "Father? You sent for me?"

[forgottenroderick]

ok so i went to answer the arthur/guin comment and noticed their development seems to depend a lot on what happened after elaine's death, so i thought maybe i should pop over here and hash that out. for that purpose, i did a [ revised timeline ] of roderick's life and it looks like her death (seredipitously enough!) actually lines up pr well w some stuff during his conquests so! elaine died during roderick's conquest of aarnu (think: fantasy!egypt) and, as we know, roderick defff thinks she died of a brokenheart. i do feel like the illness was of some duration, since @forgottenamira absolutely wanted to ensure it looked natural buT also couldn't let it go ~too long bc she didn't wanna risk a cure or a birth, so yeah!

so! lets get to the part of the timeline that's relevant here and ill include a couple years to sorta give an example

year 1270 OC/8 AR – aged 25 – birth of edmund, surrender of malkarta, roderick invades aarnu

year 1271 OC/9 AR – aged 26 – birth of cassandra, siobhan, death of queen léna of astaira

year 1272 OC/10 AR – aged 27 – death of elaine to unknown illness during the early stages of pregnancy

year 1273 OC/11 AR – aged 28 – surrender of aarnu

year 1274 OC/12 AR – aged 29 – roderick invades argadara

okie dokie so as you can see in the first year there, roderick receives the surrender of malakarta and then pr much ~immediately turns around and invades aarnu that same year and that's typical of his regime if you look at the prev places he'd invaded (without prompting from ~them) kolchis (tho that may have been ~slightly provoked but mostly not idk its a thing i can get into some other time alksdfs), vinetta, and malakarta. he seizes it, stabilizes it for maybe a couple months, and then moves on to conquer the next thing. after aarnu, we can also see that he returns to this pattern. but then w aarnu we see smth strange. he waits a whole year before invading smth else. so honestly that was already there, id originally put it in bc i was like 'surely even ~roderick needs a lil break from time to time!' but!! now this feels like cause/effect -- roderick in mourning

so, i defffff have always thought that the death of elaine was a key factor in roderick's psychology, and i kinda think maybe the end of the aarnu conquest, following her demise, was where we first get a glimpse of the brutality that roderick will later unleash in astaira, giving his grief and guilt a full outlet in the decimation of his enemies. honestly, i think ppl like @forgottenalistair who were old enough to have participated in the conquest of aarnu, probs wrote it off as a fluke -- like obv he's not doing well w the death of his wife and this was horrific but surely this'll never come again etc! its just bc of elaine's pass ing and not a pattern etc etc etc. meanwhile ppl like @forgottentristan ~weren't old enough to remember and had never seen the like before astaira.

if we say that elaine perhaps died at the end of the year? and roderick returned to obliterate aarnu's resistance, conquering them by the beginning of the year, we then have basically a two year absence from fighting for roderick that is the direct result of elaine's death. so guin's abt? seven? when he goes to argadara, but up to that time he probs kept her v close, giving her every lil thing he could think to, all that was left of elaine, as if any of it could make up for losing her mother...

roderick has trouble staying out of battle for too long lakjsdfkjsdf (def not a red flag there SCREAM) so eventually he ~had to return but not before setting guin up w her own household as a potential heir to the imperial throne and probs investing her w all kinds of titles, powers (to be wielded by her when she came of age but until then largely to be wielded by roderick as her surviving parent), lands, and revenues as a direct result! if her grandparents were still alive? esp her grandfather bc...well, roderick's not here for women doing anything lakjsdfjdsf he was probs the official governor of her household until such time as guin came of age. if her grandfather was dead, it was probs bartholomew. before he left, roderick def appointed all the members of her household personally, ensuring they all met stringent standards of morality (his vers anyway!), learning, experience, and pr much every other lil detail! No one but the perfect candidate for ~his kid!!!!

its ~also possible he merged the households of @forgottenalaric (until arthur's birth, he was still heir presumptive to the throne after all) and guin, so that could've been a thing, too? if so, though, bartholomew def would've been the governor of their combined household at least until alaric came of age and went on to be established in his own unique role as duke, etc.

he def stayed in daily communication w her various household higher-ups (as well as various spies and household plants) to ensure he had a v clear and v direct picture of what was happening there. no detail is too small to escape ~his imperial notice...even today!

she would've had only the best of the best in her houlsehold -- tutors, to teach everything from comportment and ettiquette to statescraft (her education would've been sterling and included both must-knows for traditional princesses as well as that for tradtional heirs to the throne!); a fleet of ladies-in-waiting both her own age and older, to provide both examples and companionship and care and service as the case may be. she would have had household secretaries (accountant/lawyer/scribe/our idea of what a secretary is all rolled into one) and servants w their own liveries pertaining to her household and horses and hounds and every sort of thing any peer of the realm would have had but n an even grander scale given her rank and potential future as empress.

in fact, all this also goes for @forgottenedmund and @forgottenarthur as well, save that they would noT have been taught anything a princess needs to know hahaha -- this is traditionally how you raise an heir to the throne, so they all got that, but guin def got it first. it was probs a few more years before the boys got their households established as independent from those of their mothers. obv, the boys also would not have had ladies-in-waiting hahaha but they def would've had gentlemen of the chamber (and when they were still kids nurses ofc just like guin herself) @forgottenmarian's father or one of her brothers and/or bartholomew was most likely the governor of arthur's household till he reached his majority; @forgottengodfrey or bartholomew likely served that purpose for edmund

so yeah!! that's what roderick would've done most likely to set up his daughter before he skeddaled off to war/after he did. when he was home, he was always sur e to see all his wives and children, but esp in the first years after elain's death, probs kept guin around him most out of anyone

i do think there're two version of elaine at court, now: the vers of her that was real, and the ver that exists in roderick's brain after all these years of missing her that was absolutely perfect and also agreed/agrees w him on absolutely everything and yeah!! i do think if/when he's ever confronted w the reality of things that ~weren't perfect it causes him a lot of cognitive dissonance and he tends to lash out so that's...fun alksdjfkjdsf so yeah!!

i kinda based guin's sitaution/upbringing this way off the royal household of elizabeth i as heiress presumptive to henry viii between 1533-1336 and that of mary i as the same before her, if you were wondering <3 but...fantasy-ified! laksjdfdsg

now on to the stuff you ~actually asked abt here laksjdfkljsdf sorry for the digression i just thought i should address it laksjdfjksdf

roderick, giving guin a surprise husband: ill give her a surprise! women love surprises!!

SCREAM honestly tho he'd been fighting the idea of ~any of his kids getting married (they're just children!) until recently (i can get more into that in a sec) so i feel like on that count it had to be even ~more shocking too bc he'd toss i t abt and then have some prime NONONONO reaction and itd all be dashed and so i def think all his kids were kinda like...in limbo/that won't happen almost kinda thought processes...arthur def was, anyway! lakjsdfkjdsf

(between marian convincing roderick [ here ] that it was time and now scandals breaking out abt his sons having impregnated the malconaire girls, eithne, aoife, and roisin, he's had a v decided change of heart)

ooooooh that'll be interesting to see how that goes!! roderick is inherently stubborn so he really digs his heels in when other ppl try to tell him he's wrong/take charge in any way but also?? he won't respect ppl till they try it???? man is contrary af there's literally no winning w him bc ultimately ~all his heirs are in competition w ~himself bc they can't embarrass him but they also can't outshine him and even ~he can't quite figure out where that line is...but at the same time guin can get away w sm that the rest of the world cannot???? and also feels less threatening to him bc she's a ~mere woman~ so like??? i honestly don't know how he'll react to that??? lskjdfakljsdf it could be reaaaaally bad or it could be good????? i truly don't know! alksdjfjkdsf good luck, dear guin!!! lkajsjkfsdf

OOC | Roderick & Guinevere

hihihi! ok so obv there's a lot [ here ] regarding general treatment, but!! ngl just straight out the gate, guin's his favorite child alsdkfjklsdf she's also the one he feels most guilty towards bc of what happened to her mom so he's always looking to make up for things in his own weird way??? largely this consists in sending her clothes and jewels. she ~is the kid he shows up most for, but honestly even that isn't saying ~that much bc he's still off subduing nations etc and like???? he's there if he gets to it but??? actually interacting w her occasionally at least appears on the to-do list (in the if-i-get-to-it category but still that's more than the rest get)!

he def does feel that her mother's loss is his fault and she was the one he truly loved and frankly her loss haunts him. i also think guin probs resembles her mom, at least a bit, so he can never really put that to the back of his mind either and alkdsjfkjsdf

anyway, i think you said that she resents him a bit iirc? do you think this is obv? or does she keep this under wraps, bc that would def impact the way he interacts w her, too!

i also think that, in general, he doesn't view women as capable of ruling (yikes) but he holds guin as an exception to this -- not in a 'you've proven women capable way' but in a 'wow you're not like other girls' way which alkjsdfjkadsf but anyway here we are im so sorry for him in advance alskdjfakljsdf

[forgottenroderick]

Timeline

year 1236 – birth of bartholomew

year 1237

year 1238

year 1239 -- birth of alistair

year 1240

year 1241

year 1242

year 1243

year 1244

year 1245 – aged 0 – birth of roderick

year 1246 – aged 1

year 1247 – aged 2 – birth of marian

year 1248 – aged 3 –birth of aleksander

year 1249 – aged 4 – birth of amira

year 1250 – aged 5

year 1251 – aged 6

year 1252 – aged 7

year 1253 – aged 8

year 1254 – aged 9

year 1255 – aged 10

year 1256 – aged 11 – birth of godfrey

year 1257 – aged 12

year 1258 – aged 13 – birth of alaric, death of queen millicent in childbirth

year 1259 – aged 14

year 1260 – aged 15

year 1261 – aged 16 – birth of tristan

year 1262 – aged 17 – roderick secretly weds elaine causing a scandal as he was betrothed to another, death of king athaulf and prince euric to plague, roderick becomes king, war breaks out w antilla thus inadvertently starting roderick’s world conquest

year 1263 OC/1 AR – aged 18 – an assassination attempt nearly kills roderick after which he becomes significantly more brutal, surrender of antilla, roderick is crowned emperor alongside his elaine, surrender of kolchis, meeting of roderick and amira, fighting breaks out with kvenheim

year 1264 OC/2 AR – aged 19 – birth of eoin, roderick officially reinstates the old ways and weds amira

year 1265 OC/3 AR – aged 20 – roderick weds marian

year 1266 OC/4 AR – aged 21 – surrender of kvenheim, roderick invades vinetta

year 1267 OC/5 AR – aged 22 – birth of guinevere, arthur, ciara, eilionora, death of bart’s wife, surrender of vinetta, roderick invades malakarta

year 1268 OC/6 AR – aged 23 – birth of sebastian

year 1269 OC/7 AR – aged 24 – birth of aria

year 1270 OC/8 AR – aged 25 – birth of edmund, surrender of malkarta, roderick invades aarnu

year 1271 OC/9 AR – aged 26 – birth of cassandra, siobhan

year 1272 OC/10 AR – aged 27 -- death of elaine to unknown illness during the early stages of pregnancy

year 1273 OC/11 AR – aged 28 – surrender of aarnu

year 1274 OC/12 AR – aged 29 – roderick invades argadara

year 1275 OC/13 AR – aged 30 -- death of queen léna of astaira

year 1276 OC/14 AR – aged 31

year 1277 OC/15 AR – aged 32 – surrender of argadara, roderick invades xangadu

year 1278 OC/16 AR – aged 33

year 1279 OC/17 AR – aged 34

year 1280 OC/18 AR – aged 35 – surrender of xangadu, roderick invades aotepo

year 1281 OC/19 AR – aged 36 – death of domhnall, eilia becomes queen

year 1282 OC/20 AR – aged 37

year 1283 OC/21 AR – aged 38 – surrender of aotepo, roderick invades alytar

year 1284 OC/22 AR – aged 39

year 1285 OC/23 AR – aged 40 – eilia comes of age, surrender of alytar, roderick invades affaraon

year 1286 OC/24 AR – aged 41

year 1287 OC/25 AR – aged 42

year 1288 OC/26 AR – aged 43 – surrender of affaraon, roderick invades astaira

year 1289 OC/27 AR – aged 44

year 1290 OC/28 AR – aged 45

year 1291 OC/29 AR – aged 46 – battle of m, conquest of astaira

year 1292 OC/30 AR – aged 47

year 1293 OC/31 AR – aged 48 – roderick turns 49, ice ball, riots, hangings, the present

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Empress Elaine of House Foxe

ok so this'll hopefully be short and sweet but!! lauren and i were chatting and we came up w some ideas to flesh out the late empress!

so 1) a la anne boleyn and her first cousin katherine howard both marrying the same man, elaine, since she's noted to have come from a poor family, was from a less well-off branch of @forgottenmarian 's own house! and, like anne boleyn, deffff showed off 'hey, im one of these guys' i think we were thinking that maybe her mom was descended from them, or some such?

but regardless of the above 2) we're thinking that, though still a kind woman, that elaine was rather canny and knew precisely what she was walking into! she did love roderick, but she also knew that, being from a rather poor house, having a prince for a husband would help quite a great deal! she was also well aware of roderick's father and brother and their ~tempers, as well as roderick's own (tho it ~was at that time much more sealed off) and knew she'd need some srs survival skills in that household

she did also gunshot wedding him w a baby that arrived only abt 7 months after their secret marriage and frankly was ~absolutely full term (def an open secret kinda thing i think lkajsdfkljsdf). sadly, tho, this child -- an infant son -- died mere days after birth, but bc of this, and bc guin later arrived healthy, there was every confidence that a healthy son could, too, be produced in time, further underscoring amira's decision to take action when elaine conceived for the third time...

fun fact for all roderick's living children, he's always lowkey like '[infant i never got the chance to know] never would've done this!' any time they disappoint him lkajsdfkjdsf

also, since edmund must've already been born at the time of elaine's death, she died 23 years or ~less ago, but we didn't nail that timetable down

[forgottenroderick]

The Badge of Empress Elaine

The Imperial Arms of her Imperial Majesty, Elaine of the House of Foxe, Empress of [Varmont]

Or (yellow/gold): generosity and elevation of the mind

Gules (red): warrior or martyr; military strength and magnanimity

Argent (white/silver): peace and sincerity

Vert (green): hope, joy, and loyalty in love

Pupure (purple): majesty, sovereignty, and justice

Tawny/Tenné (orange/brown): worthy ambition

Unicorn: extreme courage; virtue and strength; purity

Fox: defensive wisdom, ingenuity, and wit; intelligence and refusal to be captured

Sun: glory and splendour; fountain of life

Rainbow: good times after bad; hope and prosperity

Forget-me-nots/the Guinevere flower:

Crown: heaven; victory, sovereignty, empire; success

The imperial badge of the Empress Consort

the elaborated crest of empress elaine

the badge of guinevere, the princess imperial

the elaborated crest of guinevere, princess imperial

i did a mockup of how i thought this might appear! as always, lmk, dear, if this doesn't fit w your vision! <3

[forgottenroderick]

Or (yellow/gold): generosity and elevation of the mind

Argent (silver/white): peace and sincerity

Pupure (purple): royal majesty, sovereignty, and justice

Heron: wisdom, piety, prudence; contemplation, vigilance, inner quietness, and righteousness; courage and devotion; familial longevity through time

Crown: heaven; victory, sovereignty, empire; success/princely crown

Crown, Naval (composed of masts and rigging): one who first boarded an enemy’s ship; distinguished naval commander

so spoke w @forgottenguinevere and!!! we now have a confirmed sigil for our girl <3333 everything's the same, but the bird is a heron (which should be holding a stone but they didn't have that on the site sooo)!!!!! anyway, here're some mock ups <33333

The Banners of House Varmont

note: there may be more. the queens would have their own badges, as well, as would the late empress (tho likely that's now what guin is using, i'd think?), and cassandra likely has use of her mom's and/or arthur's with cadency marks, but since she's an imperial princess, and not just a royal princess, roderick would def ok her usage of her own badge, as well, though that's usually reserved for sons, heirs, and titled warriors, it is likely that guin, cassandra, and each of the queens, as well as the late empress, has at least one unit who fights in their honor given that roderick's empire is v much a military operation, so yeah! basically there may be as many as four other varmont insignias out there, but these are the big five! also pls note that i am convinced roderick has given each of his children an obscene number of titltes to bandy abt (tho not so many as he has!) in order to showcase their importance as his children, but we'll say these are perhaps shortened, more casual titles for astaira ;D

The Imperial Arms of 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

Or (yellow/gold): generosity and elevation of the mind

Gules (red): warrior or martyr; military strength and magnanimity

Pupure (purple): royal majesty, sovereignty, and justice

Phoenix: resurrection

Crown: heaven; victory, sovereignty, empire; success

Crown, naval (composed of masts and rigging): one who first boarded an enemy’s ship; distinguished naval commander/conqueror's crown

The Princely Imperial Arms of Her Imperial Highness, the Princess Imperial, Guinevere, of the House of Varmont

Or (yellow/gold): generosity and elevation of the mind

Argent (silver/white): peace and sincerity

Pupure (purple): royal majesty, sovereignty, and justice

Dove: represents the soul, the spirit of god; peace, purity, chastity

Crown: heaven; victory, sovereignty, empire; success/princely crown

Crown, Naval (composed of masts and rigging): one who first boarded an enemy’s ship; distinguished naval commander

The Princely Imperial Arms of His Imperial Highness, Archduke of [Varmont], Edmund, Prince of the House of Varmont, Lord of [the Riverbend]

Or (yellow/gold): generosity and elevation of the mind

Sable (black): constancy or grief

Argent (silver/white): peace and sincerity

Pupure (purple): royal majesty, sovereignty, and justice

Raven: divine providence; knowledge; durable resistance; bringer of death

Crown: heaven; victory, sovereignty, empire; success

Crown, naval (composed of masts and rigging): one who first boarded an enemy’s ship; distinguished naval commander

Crown, mural (a crown composed of bricks): defender of a fortress, token of civic honour; one who first mounted the breach in the walls of a fortress; power

The Princely Imperial Arms of His Imperial Highness, Archduke of [Varmont], Arthur, Prince of the House of Varmont, Lord of Kil-kennar

Eagle: nobility, strength, bravery, and alertness; magnanimity; or one who is high-spirited, ingenious, quick-witted, and judicious; a person of action and vigor especially where important and high matters are concerned; high intellect and quick comprehension; salvation, redemption, and resurrection

Eagle displayed (wings spread): the above + protection/one who is a protector

Or (yellow or gold): generosity and elevation of the mind

Gules (red): warrior or martyr; military strength and magnanimity

Pupure (purple): royal majesty, sovereignty, and justice

Crown: heaven; victory, sovereignty, empire; success

Crown, naval (composed of masts and rigging): one who first boarded an enemy’s ship; distinguished naval commander the imperial crown of conquest

Crown, mural (a crown composed of bricks): defender of a fortress, token of civic honour; one who first mounted the breach in the walls of a fortress; power

The Princely Arms of His Imperial Highness, Sebastian, Prince of the House of Varmont

Or (yellow/gold): generosity and elevation of the mind

Vert (green): hope, joy, loyalty in love

Pupure (purple): royal majesty, sovereignty, and justice

Falcon: one who does not rest until objective achieved; person of action

Crown: heaven; victory, sovereignty, empire; success

Crown, naval (composed of masts and rigging): one who first boarded an enemy’s ship; distinguished naval commander

Crown, mural (a crown composed of bricks): defender of a fortress, token of civic honour; one who first mounted the breach in the walls of a fortress; power

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Roderick, Lovers, & Bastards

ok so over on disco @forgottenmarian said this:

which now I’m like wait what if Roderick had some bastard sons rolling around? Magpie would be a good bird for their banners?

and ommmmggggggg yesssssssss!! magpie ~would be a GREAT sigil!! <3333 if he has multiple bastard families, and they don't all share a sigil (tho they might!) others that could work would be, like, cuckoos, cowbirds, or smth else w like stolen nest imagery ;D or like mockingbirds...anyway!!

but ur question got me thinking! so the short answer is...i think it ~is possible he does, but 1) they ~probs aren't, any of them, formally acknowledged (there are caveats, ill get to that), and 2) i think, just like his legitimate children, there're probs effectively tiers of them smdh

ok so i can explain

SEXUAL POLITICS

ok so, as we know, roderick is extremely strict and narrow-sighted in his view of things, right, and he's defff out here all day, everyday, tryna project the image of an ~upright pillar of (his) society~ and frankly to be admired!! to do this, he tries to conceal ~any human failings or weaknesses!! and this even comes up in his sex life

so, i def think that he's of the opinion that sex should be between a man and if wife (or wives, in ~his case but yknow) in order to have a morally upright society, which is part of why he's so horrified to find out that his sons have (supposedly) been having these v public sexual liaisons w noblewomen -- ur supposed to ~conceal all that and lie assiduously to your wife/wives and neighbors and say that you've never once looked at another woman (unless its your ~other wives ofc ;D but ~that's a privilege reserved for roderick, alone, as the god's own champion! laksjdfkjlsd)

and i def think that's what ~he's done dlksfjakdf

ABSTINENCE

as we all know, this is a concept reserved for women, alone, but you can't be flaunting that ur unchaste, either, even as a virtuous man!!!! but, and i think ive mentioned this before, but ive borrowed some of the weirder ideas medieval/renaissance nobles had abt sex and procreation for roderick, and i ~do think he's of the belief that having sex w a pregnant woman risks srsly harming her and/or the unborn child

now, for much of his married life, that hasn't really been a problem bc, even when he's had two wives pregnant at once, he's still had a handy ~third wife to fumble in the mean time buT that might've been an issue for him twice in his life???? or perhaps never??? but let me elaborate

MISTRESS(ES)

ok, so as we know, roderick and elaine's romance was forbidden and he actually secretly eloped w her when he was 17, some time before the death of his father and brother that same year, causing a scandal and his father's fury, and then didn't marry amira until he was 19, so we have a couple years there were the dude's got only one wife. now, as we know, guin wasn't born until he was 22, but that doesn't ~necessarily mean she wasn't getting pregnant, and then potentially losing the pregnancy/baby

now, idk that that ~was the case, but if it was, then roderick would've frankly taken an ~unofficial mistress for those months, but it, frankly, probably would've been more or less an open secret. while roderick was still just a prince, this would've been a low-ranking and potentially even already-married woman: a baron or viscount's daughter/wife. if that affair resulted in any children, it would've been difficult, by design, to prove that roderick was the father but if the babies looked enough like him it'd be all-but considered gospel at court

once he was king in his own right, tho, he could've had pr much any woman he liked fill this role, and wouldn't be limited to those simply looking to social climb by doing the king's son a favor, sort of thing. i can see where a maîtresse-en-titre might've even been an official role at court, in his father's time/his own early reign, as it was in france, for example, but once he got more built up in the tenants of his "ancient" religion and became emperor and also took a second wife, that would've changed.

but! we've already got some tiers going here. this is all just a thought experiment, not canon necessarily, but let's say that roderick ~did have an unofficial mistress while prince, and they did have a kid, and then later he had an ~official one as king, and they ~also had a kid, well, you've already got some weird layers. on one hand, that initial child is his firstborn living child, but also he's been officially "claimed" by his mother's husband, and sure everyone knows roderick was sleeping w her, and he sure does have ~his eyes, but you still can't really ~prove that that's roderick's kid and he's certainly never claimed him. so now lets go look at his official mistress' child, well sure he's never formally claimed him, but no one else was sleeping w roderick's own mistress and that one you really ~can be sure ~is his, plus that isn't a prince's get, that's the king's kid, etc.

SEPARATION

now, let's fastforward. roderick's emperor and he's got 3 whole wives to himself, and atm not a one is pregnant, right, BUT there's still a circumstance that might have him sleeping w someone else and that is ~war. roderick doesn't bring his wives to war w him, highborn women stay where its peaceful (for the most part) etc. but roderick still has his needs, so this is where he'll take a local woman to his bed. since he's now a man of faith whose abolished the practice of publically taking mistresses, these are captured and conquered lowborn women. and there could be quite a few of these. i ~do think he's v careful abt keeping track of any potential pregnancies, like after he's done w them, he probs keeps them quartered somewhere for a full ten months, or until they're def known to be pregnant just to be sure.

if there's a child, he probs marries her to a someone he then ennobles or a pre-existing lowranking nobleman, himself providing the bride w a huuuuuge dowry big enough to make her new hubby look the other way abt the timing on that convenient pregnancy or any hesitancy abt letting that baby inherit etc. if there's no pregnany, he gives her a large sack of gold and sends her on his way! he didn't acknowledge any of these and def kept the whole thing as hush-hush as he could, but this is probs not as ~truly secret as he may wish, and any children resulting from this are yet another tier bc they're born to the ~emperor but also of lowborn stock and technically claimed by someone else, even if their supposed 'father' didn't even meet their mother until a few month into the pregnancy

LAST MISTRESS?

now, there's one more instance wherein roderick may have been w his wives, but also all three of them may have been pregnant? and that's if there was any overlap during amira's pregnancy and marian's w @forgottencassandra . they're different ages, but w it being only a year and having two different mothers, that could ~be a full year or even as little as a few days difference, depending on the time of year they were born etc. so, if there was overlap there, and if elaine was also pregnant at that time or else already dead, then roderick would've needed yet another lady to warm his bed, and this would frankly make him feel he's in a bit of a pickle, bc ur not meant to be sleeping w a woman not ur wife in the same house where your wife dwells!!!! but he can't sleep w any of ~them, dammit! and that might lead to him letting a house somewhere quiet in the city and quietly keeping a mistress there

being, now, the emperor, he can keep any woman, even a highborn one, he likes pr much at his disposal, and this affair would ~certainly be an open secret at court. if a child resulted and she wasn't already married, he'd probs pull the same and arrange some magnificent marriage for her where his kid can inherit etc to take care of both mother and child for life, etc, but yeah esp if this is a high-ranking woman, this is yet ~another tier of child

CLAIMING BASTARDS

now, i deffff don't think, if he had any bastards running around up to the point when cassandra was born, he was claiming ~any of them, ~except if a bastard, esp if a boy but really ~anyone would do then, was born to him in that window before guin and arthur were born but after he already had three wives, bc as we know, he was defffff feeling pr desperate for an heir at that time. so, if a mistress popped out a kid in that window, he would reason could always ~legitimize this claimed kid, if necessary, PLUS it was probs a point of pride just to prove that he ~could father a child, and his pride being involved ~is smth that, in his eyes, could def trump his role as a respectable religious man profile etc! and honestly of all the times he's most likely to claim a bastard, this is it, like honestly id say its a 95% chance if he had bastard(s) in this window that that kid is getting publically claimed, baptized, the whole thing, and that goes to 99% if boy(s)!! also, if so, that kid publically slighted @forgottenamira at birth sooooo def on ~her shitlist to this day lakdjsfkljdsf

there ~is another window in which roderick might've started claiming bastards, and that's basically...any born over the past ~16-ish years. so, after guin and arthur were born, and until several years after cassandra was born, roderick was feeling pr confident abt his heir situation, but after probs abt ~six years passed after cassandra's birth, and he started to realize that chances were slim he was gonna get any more kids from his current wife roster, and he still had three wives and only five children to show for it, he was starting to feel a lil embarrassed, so any bastards born after ~that point he might've considered claiming as well, ~esp if they were boys! gotta show off he can pop out kids w the best of them *facepalm*

now, if there ~are any claimed male bastards older than edmund, have they ever had any mysterious bouts of illness following a trip to visit pops daddio at court while auntie amira just happened to be there??? you betcha!! kajdskflsjdf

so yeah!! i ~do think its possible that he has bastards! and also, if so, that he's def made a whole mess of ~that situation, as ~well alksdjflkjdsf

[forgottenroderick]

The stars are out again tonight, smug and silent as always.

[forgottenroderick]

forgottencassimir

1h GOD I love the idea of them being taken down by a pothole aldkjlafjlsdjflsdjf!!! That being said, I do think that Cassimir ~would~ have the roads fixed??! I feel like he's been happy to have his mom run things and sorta got some pleasure out of seeing Malconaire slowly fall apart because he likes to think that that wouldn't have happened if he had been in charge and it's like he's getting his revenge upon Bran for passing him over?? HOWEVER, since all of this is also happening at the same time that he is trying to marry Eithne, he's definitely changed his tune and wants to prove to everyone (including her) just how good he will be for Malconaire!!! And yeah, he was also hella embarrassed by the state of things when the emperor dropped by unannounced!!! So he is doing everything he can to improve the place, but I also think that it isn't something that can be done overnight just based on the lack of labor/funds that they have -- even after selling some of his mom's jewelry. So I do think that the improvements would be slower than he would like -- but yeah then when Brigit's money comes into play things start moving a lot faster??? So I can see where Roderick might not be suspicious if he can tell that work is being done but if has any suspicious and looks into it more closely, he might see that the biggest improvements happened after the tournament?? (Also love that Brigit indirectly would have a hand in removing Cassimir ... just not at all in the way she planned lajsdlfjd)

forgotteneithne

1m @forgottencassimir @quillington I definitely think that if cassimir was listening to Eithne at all, infrastructure would’ve been first on the list of things they needed to fix! And she also would’ve started to dig in her heels a bit if he hadn’t been making ANY improvements since she made those conditions for their engagement! (Honestly tho regretting not making it more abt getting Valentina out of the house!!!) I also love Brigit potentially both helping Malconaire and getting rid of cassimir indirectly with her winnings!

not cassimir rooting for valentina to lowkey slowly destroy malconaire to revenge himself on bran klajdsflkjdfs (but also love that for him akljdfjksdf) but also yeah!! honestly if the emperor drops by and tells you he wants you to do one (1) thing to ur house ~AND that one (1) thing happens to align really well w proving urself to ur girl (and everyone else), it makes total sense that that thing'd get done! heehee

ok so if that's the case, as i said, i ~do think that roderick would just sort of assume that that embarrassing juncture is over and not think abt it again unprompted HOWEVER if we do want to pursue this plot? and, correct me if im wrong, but it sounds like maybe we do? i feel like we can come up smth to get him to look back into things there so let me think out loud for a hot second haha

ok soooo!! to crystallize this, what we're looking to do is to get roderick to notice that malconaire is using bran/brigit's winnings and then pin that on cassimir and i do think this is still doable!! just need to give this some thought...obv we know roderick is ~actively looking for traces of these moneys so some ideas that could maybe bring this back around to roderick investigating cassimir re: brigit's winnings:

note/thinking aloud: cassimir did appear, himself, in the lists so that may add suspicion to this since it'll thus be obv that bran wasn't cassimir in disguise or smth -- dont know off the top of my head what conclusions he might draw/how that might play into plots if we go w marked coins etc but yeah just smth we could brainstorm on in terms of how that could effect the plot -- deF not occurring to roderick tho that it was a WOMAN...omg could've been that cassimir got @forgottencillian to be his henchman tho since obv that manservant of cassimir's didn't appear in the lists...lkajflksdjfsjkdf cue cillian screaming klasdjfksd I WOULD NEVER lakjdsfjsdf anyway that could have them trailing/surveiling cillian which could then lead them to the resistance so long as the woods didn't eat the ppl following him...but either way if theppl following him start disappearing then roderick's highkey sus alkjdsfjkdsf

they secretly marked the coins for various winners so they could track where that money went so maybe they notice that malconaire and the surrounding region is getting flooded w bran's winnings...and when they look into it, they see that its all paying for improvements to malconaire and seems to be coming from the top -- if so tho @forgottenciara might get wind of it to warn the resistance re godfrey? since iirc he's on the council? might be wrong abt that tho...

someone draws roderick's attention to the fact that malconaire was clearly flailing but now its doing well (i can volunteer @forgottengodfrey if nothing else -- he's always here to throw things im sure i could come up w a reason why he'd do that ;D)...tho lbr roderick will be like 'well thats just what happens when you remove a woman from power and supplant her w a man!' bc of the timing kldsjfksdf but yeah hmmm ok mayhaps its in the context of...like there're rumors of demons living in the woods etc and maybe someone suspects or reports rebels or wanted men or whatever being there and so roderick looks into the region of malconaire ~for that reason~ and then notices that it seems to be the exact amount of bran's winnings and not the full amount stolen or whatever that's there and that's just...odd and defff worth investigating since bran's earnings went w all the rest etc!! so ~clearly malconaire has some connection there since its directly benefitting but w specific winnings etc...anyway!! this way there's def a rebel/malconaire connection already drawn in roderick's head etc so not that hard to be like cassimir...rebels...wait is cassimir a rebel ;DDD lajkdsfkljsdf

malconaire starts threatening stafford re: grandeur/beauty/whatever!!!!!!! this is OFFENSIVE and it is TERRIBLE and it might even be a CRIME like!!!!! you cannot outdo R O D E R I C K V A R M O N T are you crazy!!!! lakjsdfkljsdf he wiLL be calling foul on that asap if it ever happens alskdjfalskjdf tbh idk how doable ~that is given how wrecked poor malconaire is and what the budget is???? althoughhh given that its brigit AND cassimir (inadvertently) working together w two sets of budgets (bc i imagine what w selling jewels and not buying more cassimir has a mucH better budget to work w, himself, than valentina did akljsfjksdf) but that would ABSOLUTELY get roderick's attention!!!! and, since both malconaire and stafford are set up to be royal palaces, that they when taken care of are at equal status ~does make sense etc so!! ill leave this as a possibility alksdjfakljsd he ~wants it ~more splendid for his grandsons (since ~obv the babies the malconaire girls are expecting are all boys!! lakjsdfkdsf) but not ~that splendid alkdsjfjkdsf

legit if smth ever happens to create a pothole in the road again BAHAHAHA kdsljfkjdsf

idk some combo??

im sure there're other things????? but yeah if his attention ~is grabbed? then i do think uncovering that they were poor as church mice, the sisters were servants, and then suddenly???? all this money is there??? and things're getting repaired beyond what they could have afforded before???? and it all seems to be coming from the house/family itself roderick will have his eyes right on cassimir! so yeah!! we could potentially still do this w the right ~other plots moving forward

also:

quillington

4d @forgottencassimir @forgotteneithne ok i think i ~might know (again who can be sure bc things change etc) what roderick would do if he's already given malconaire away when the witch thing comes out, but in the circumstance that he gave it to an unattached man, right, he's betrothing sonya to that man w a huuuuge dowry as a wedding gift and giving them to the fens; cassimir is restored and all is as it was before and we all tryna forget the past unpleasantness lakjdsfjkdsf; if the new lord ~is married/engaged tho OR edmund (bc no way his son marrying someone that far beneath him!! lkjsdfjksdf), things're v different and ill have to think further lakjsfjklsdfj w the edmund thing, he might play up how sonya is of royal blood (valentina living the dream!) and then betroth her to @forgottensebastian (his spare son smdh SCREAM) tho potentially??? but im really not sure i thinnk he's probs still think she's too lowly for such an exulted position...tho she could def be second wife material for bart lakjdsfkjdsfj again playing up the whole royal blood thing, or if @forgottenalaric is still interested but ~only if he's interested (and again the royal blood angle getting played up lakjsdfjksdf) so yeah!! lotsa possibilities alksjdfdsf

just thought id pop this here bc it ~also has potential plot implications if we're moving forward w this plot? lakjsdfjklsd

feel like there was smth else i wanted to say re: all of this but anyway!! this's a start! ;D alskjdfklsjdf

OOC | On Brigit's Winnings/Malconaire's Roads/Roderick & Malconaire

so, i have one pressing question @forgottencassimir: did cassimir fix the roads when he came to power? i am unfortunately not joking OR exaggerating when i say the whole fate of malconaire may lie in the balance here *facepalm*

ok so this thought is entirely predicated on like...idk that roderick would realistically ever notice finances in malconaire so long as, like, the ~public aspects are more or less maintained: roads are upkept, that sort of thing! and he certainly wouldn't be like WHERE ARE THEY GETTING THE MONEY if they are upkept when he returns to malconaire for valentina's party bc he ~did recently mention to @forgottencassimir that he expects to see road improvements etc after his carriage broke down etc so like...that being fixed suddenly, if it were, ~wouldn't surprise him bc he ~expects that he has only to say smth and then it will be done, right???

so!! it occurred to me that, like...since its @forgottenvalentina in charge i can tell you that, during ~her administration, while the ~specific pothole that took out roderick's carriage was certainly filled in on the ~double after that! -- honestly if nothing else my man @forgottencillian might've taken that one upon himself just bc like...we do noT need the emperor coming here unawares!!!! no thank youuu!!! his sons are bad enough!!!! however, he and the girls are all stretched sooooo thin that, while he'd def do his best to maintain the roads by himself if that's what it takes to keep roderick out, idk how doable that ~is for one dude while ~also maintain everything else at malconaire itself, etc, and it certainly wasn't on valentina's list of priorities!!!!! so yeah!!!! -- so yeah valentina did not fix the roads

basically....w @forgottencassimir having sort of started to come into his own power since last roderick was there do we think that cassimir repaired the roads?

i mention this bc, if he did, i think he may have inadvertently covered for @forgottenbrigit and her winnings...and thus lowkey for himself as well? ok so what do i mean? if the roads were, to roderick's observation, repaired the v next time he went to malconaire after he mentioned it to cassimir, he's like 'ok cool all's as it should be' and not thinking further on that one! However, if they're still pr ruinous, roderick's distinctly annoyed and ~now he's wondering why he's being ignored which'll mean he'll be launching secret investigations into malconaire

if he sees that its ~all poorly maintained that way, he's thinking malconaire's doing poorly and, while he must tread v carefully for reasons i outlined [ here ] re land changing hands etc, he'll be feeling this reflects poorly on ~him and is the opposite of his beliefs abt what he's here to do re: conquest, etc, and thus have him wanting to ensure improvements there -- whether by perhaps letting @forgottenmarian bend his ear a lil more re: change in leadership there or, more likely, by involving ~his officials in tryna get them better streams of revenue, perhaps by arranging cassimir and/or the girls' various marriages or, if things still don't markedly improve (bc by now he's seeing more than just the state of the roads, perhaps considering a change in leadership

smth else he might realize is that the og girls are servants there and he might expose that to help throw cassimir off his pedestal as well in therms of leadership change and simply betroth eithne or sonya to whomever he chooses as the next lord malconaire and justify it that way, saying cassimir was abusing his power etc and use that as justification, just as he has w ciara and godfrey and hanthom etc!

HOWEVER!! if he's investigating all this already and then suddenly, out of nowhere, w no revenue stream on cassimir's books, things just start magically improving in malconaire right after all the winning disappear, ngl that will def make roderick sus

if he does start to think that malconaire stole the money, at first he'll deffffff have his eye on cassimir ngl bc like!!!!!! a woman could never have pulled that off!!!!!! obv this is a man's work!!!!!!

this does two things for roderick in this situation! 1) it allows him to bring up cassimir on criminal charges and thus give legal reason for why he now must attaint him as a traitor etc and can now give malconaire to ~anyone of his choosing w/o stirring unrest amongst the lords of the empire and 2) allows him to publically prosecute the thief and thus restore trust in the public eye that the theft has been duly avenged by the gov/helps roderick as emperor save face re his own plan working just as intended etc (even if roderick knows cassimir didn't do it! but esp if he thinks he ~did) and thus pin the blame on someone for that

in the scenario where roderick ~doesn't believe cassimir really did, this lets roderick give malconaire to someone of his choosing while also lulling the rebels into a feeling of false security bc, well, he clearly collared someone else!! he is ~not onto them!!!! in the scenario where roderick believes cassimir ~did do it, he might frankly think that cassimir is a rebel alkdsfjklsdfj and is thus putting all kinds questions to him and possibly even wanting to get him to 'escape' and infiltrate and betray them since roderick thinks casimir's ~one of them lkajsdflkjsjdkfds

also he's still exposing the og girls as servants thing etc and doing everything to frankly blacken cassimir's name ngl he doesn't want ~any lords thinking this might happen to them if they're behaving but he ~does want to make an example of what happens to a lord who ~isn't behaving alkjsdfjsdf

HOWEVER, when roderick discovers the witchcraft he'll realize that cassimir didn't know what he was doing when he stole that money (either have to pretend to 'realize' this or actually come to that conclusion depending...and/or convince himself he believed cassimir was guilty the whole time and now emotinally exonerate him??? who knows lakjsfkjdsf) since he was bewitched lajdsfjkdsf so he'll be off the hook for that lakjsdfkjdsjkf (~all of cassimir's 'misdeeds' are ~their fault now btw!! including forcing them to serve him somehow alskdfjksldjfds)

also if there's a scenario where roderick's already given malconaire away when the witchcraft thing comes out then there's the drama over like...how does ~that lil bugaboo resolve laksdjflkjsdfkj we ~know picking a single heir to things when there're rival claimants is ~not his strong suit oops ;D alksdjflkjsdf jk jk that's a ploy/emotional thing which he probs won't feel re malconaire but still!! again there's the whole not upsetting the lords thing and yeah!! that'd be a big deal laksjdfkjsdf

(at present, id say the most likely candidates for receiving malconaire/replacing cassimir are @forgottenedmund given he's the conqueror there; @forgottengodfrey or @forgottenalaric if alaric requests hanthom/depending how that situation all goes down; alaric or bartholomew just in general bc trust etc; eoin as basically a wedding present for @forgottenguinevere if that betrothal does go through; or one of @forgottenmarian 's brothers, but who knows! roderick be changing his mind always alkjdsflkjdsf)

but yeah!!! if cassimir ~did fix the roads then roderick's not picking up on ~any of this but yeah it occurred to me that like...that's deffffff smth roderick wiLL be paying close attention to now that valentina's invited him to malconaire for her fete lajskdfkjsdjfksdf SCREAM

so yeah!! i just suddenly realized this and i was like 'omg' alkjdsfakjsdf anyway we can easily handwave it away and say cassimir got right on fixing those roads before roderick got there and thus roderick will never go down this path, but yeah this is smth roderick would do if they ~aren't alksjdfjkdsf man likes his orders OBEYED thank you alkdjsfslkjdfjsdf

[forgottenroderick]

just thought this discussion of changing lords, since it impacts every holding etc, was significant enough that i should have a copy here too <3

OOC | Eabha & Marian

eabha does NOT trust varmonts, and i feel like she is lowkey like 'the nice ones are just putting on an act' and so she's even sus of poor marian ngl alkjsdfjdsf esp w not one, not two, but all three of her children constantly lurking around malconaire, i tink eabha lowkey thinks they're up to smth!!!!! and this is some sort of spy operation alksjdfkljdfkj

tbh the fact that arthur stops hanging around there sm when eithne breaks up w him will def put some holes in that pet theory, but she just doesn't trust the ppl who ripped her away from her home and took it for themselves!!!!

anyway ngl i doubt these two have many opportunities to interact? but i imagine eabha's pr cold if/when they ever do ngl -- she don't trust like that, alas, not after losing her home </3

me: chill out, eabha, marian's innocent of roderick's many crimes, babe

eabha: eyes emojis

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | On Brigit's Winnings/Malconaire's Roads/Roderick & Malconaire

so, i have one pressing question @forgottencassimir: did cassimir fix the roads when he came to power? i am unfortunately not joking OR exaggerating when i say the whole fate of malconaire may lie in the balance here *facepalm*

ok so this thought is entirely predicated on like...idk that roderick would realistically ever notice finances in malconaire so long as, like, the ~public aspects are more or less maintained: roads are upkept, that sort of thing! and he certainly wouldn't be like WHERE ARE THEY GETTING THE MONEY if they are upkept when he returns to malconaire for valentina's party bc he ~did recently mention to @forgottencassimir that he expects to see road improvements etc after his carriage broke down etc so like...that being fixed suddenly, if it were, ~wouldn't surprise him bc he ~expects that he has only to say smth and then it will be done, right???

so!! it occurred to me that, like...since its @forgottenvalentina in charge i can tell you that, during ~her administration, while the ~specific pothole that took out roderick's carriage was certainly filled in on the ~double after that! -- honestly if nothing else my man @forgottencillian might've taken that one upon himself just bc like...we do noT need the emperor coming here unawares!!!! no thank youuu!!! his sons are bad enough!!!! however, he and the girls are all stretched sooooo thin that, while he'd def do his best to maintain the roads by himself if that's what it takes to keep roderick out, idk how doable that ~is for one dude while ~also maintain everything else at malconaire itself, etc, and it certainly wasn't on valentina's list of priorities!!!!! so yeah!!!! -- so yeah valentina did not fix the roads

basically....w @forgottencassimir having sort of started to come into his own power since last roderick was there do we think that cassimir repaired the roads?

i mention this bc, if he did, i think he may have inadvertently covered for @forgottenbrigit and her winnings...and thus lowkey for himself as well? ok so what do i mean? if the roads were, to roderick's observation, repaired the v next time he went to malconaire after he mentioned it to cassimir, he's like 'ok cool all's as it should be' and not thinking further on that one! However, if they're still pr ruinous, roderick's distinctly annoyed and ~now he's wondering why he's being ignored which'll mean he'll be launching secret investigations into malconaire

if he sees that its ~all poorly maintained that way, he's thinking malconaire's doing poorly and, while he must tread v carefully for reasons i outlined [ here ] re land changing hands etc, he'll be feeling this reflects poorly on ~him and is the opposite of his beliefs abt what he's here to do re: conquest, etc, and thus have him wanting to ensure improvements there -- whether by perhaps letting @forgottenmarian bend his ear a lil more re: change in leadership there or, more likely, by involving ~his officials in tryna get them better streams of revenue, perhaps by arranging cassimir and/or the girls' various marriages or, if things still don't markedly improve (bc by now he's seeing more than just the state of the roads, perhaps considering a change in leadership

smth else he might realize is that the og girls are servants there and he might expose that to help throw cassimir off his pedestal as well in therms of leadership change and simply betroth eithne or sonya to whomever he chooses as the next lord malconaire and justify it that way, saying cassimir was abusing his power etc and use that as justification, just as he has w ciara and godfrey and hanthom etc!

HOWEVER!! if he's investigating all this already and then suddenly, out of nowhere, w no revenue stream on cassimir's books, things just start magically improving in malconaire right after all the winning disappear, ngl that will def make roderick sus

if he does start to think that malconaire stole the money, at first he'll deffffff have his eye on cassimir ngl bc like!!!!!! a woman could never have pulled that off!!!!!! obv this is a man's work!!!!!!

this does two things for roderick in this situation! 1) it allows him to bring up cassimir on criminal charges and thus give legal reason for why he now must attaint him as a traitor etc and can now give malconaire to ~anyone of his choosing w/o stirring unrest amongst the lords of the empire and 2) allows him to publically prosecute the thief and thus restore trust in the public eye that the theft has been duly avenged by the gov/helps roderick as emperor save face re his own plan working just as intended etc (even if roderick knows cassimir didn't do it! but esp if he thinks he ~did) and thus pin the blame on someone for that

in the scenario where roderick ~doesn't believe cassimir really did, this lets roderick give malconaire to someone of his choosing while also lulling the rebels into a feeling of false security bc, well, he clearly collared someone else!! he is ~not onto them!!!! in the scenario where roderick believes cassimir ~did do it, he might frankly think that cassimir is a rebel alkdsfjklsdfj and is thus putting all kinds questions to him and possibly even wanting to get him to 'escape' and infiltrate and betray them since roderick thinks casimir's ~one of them lkajsdflkjsjdkfds

also he's still exposing the og girls as servants thing etc and doing everything to frankly blacken cassimir's name ngl he doesn't want ~any lords thinking this might happen to them if they're behaving but he ~does want to make an example of what happens to a lord who ~isn't behaving alkjsdfjsdf

HOWEVER, when roderick discovers the witchcraft he'll realize that cassimir didn't know what he was doing when he stole that money (either have to pretend to 'realize' this or actually come to that conclusion depending...and/or convince himself he believed cassimir was guilty the whole time and now emotinally exonerate him??? who knows lakjsfkjdsf) since he was bewitched lajdsfjkdsf so he'll be off the hook for that lakjsdfkjdsjkf (~all of cassimir's 'misdeeds' are ~their fault now btw!! including forcing them to serve him somehow alskdfjksldjfds)

also if there's a scenario where roderick's already given malconaire away when the witchcraft thing comes out then there's the drama over like...how does ~that lil bugaboo resolve laksdjflkjsdfkj we ~know picking a single heir to things when there're rival claimants is ~not his strong suit oops ;D alksdjflkjsdf jk jk that's a ploy/emotional thing which he probs won't feel re malconaire but still!! again there's the whole not upsetting the lords thing and yeah!! that'd be a big deal laksjdfkjsdf

(at present, id say the most likely candidates for receiving malconaire/replacing cassimir are @forgottenedmund given he's the conqueror there; @forgottengodfrey or @forgottenalaric if alaric requests hanthom/depending how that situation all goes down; alaric or bartholomew just in general bc trust etc; eoin as basically a wedding present for @forgottenguinevere if that betrothal does go through; or one of @forgottenmarian 's brothers, but who knows! roderick be changing his mind always alkjdsflkjdsf)

but yeah!!! if cassimir ~did fix the roads then roderick's not picking up on ~any of this but yeah it occurred to me that like...that's deffffff smth roderick wiLL be paying close attention to now that valentina's invited him to malconaire for her fete lajskdfkjsdjfksdf SCREAM

so yeah!! i just suddenly realized this and i was like 'omg' alkjdsfakjsdf anyway we can easily handwave it away and say cassimir got right on fixing those roads before roderick got there and thus roderick will never go down this path, but yeah this is smth roderick would do if they ~aren't alksjdfjkdsf man likes his orders OBEYED thank you alkdjsfslkjdfjsdf

[forgottenroderick]

Unreliable Narrator Alignment

new alignment just dropped! ;D

ok so ngl i had waaaaaay too much fun w this heehee but yeah i made a thing! since i truly believe ~any character can be an unreliable narrator in the right circumstances, since we all have our blindspots, i put all my characters on here, w the poles representing each of my ~most unreliable narrators oblivious (cormac), in denial (roderick), and liar (amira) and so, without further ado, here it is!

ok so ~some of these have slightly mitigating factors --

for instance, bc of the situations in which he's found himself, cillian is much more likely to lie rn than he would under normal circumstances, but still even when he was a kid, i do think he would occasinally bend the truth (why no i absolutely did noT break my leg by climbing on the roof after you explicitly told me not to!) and eilia, as another example, is pr well informed but is being currently held in a tower so...she's oblivious against her will, however i ~do also think she's the type to sometimes be a bit ~too confident in her own opinion/source of knowledge and thus can sort of...be willfully oblivious to some things from time to time, which yes, def dips into being in denial as well, but since its more out of blind confidence than pure delusion, i put her where i did and anyway here we are! but anyway, weighing all these factors in, this is sort of where i more or less landed

the most fiddly re: placemaent are i couldn't quite place godfrey or valentina where id like...valentina can be all three, ofc, but obv she veers most strongly towards lying and denial; godfrey will absolutely lie but he's more in denial (this whole apocalypse thing will totally fix everything, boys!) but yeah bc of the shape i couldn't quite angle them enough so its sorta handwave but this gets the idea across i hope! <3

-----

(i made this using pixlr express, my icons, and the .png ill share below if anyone wants to try it -- it was v silly and v fun but also a good exercise in understanding my characters' blindspots! ;D anyway all due credit to all creators tho unfortunately idk who they are alas!)