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stravagatefaster · 2 years

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What Happens After Stravaganza

Or: How Baby Names Give Fabrizio an Aneurysm

I have my own headcanons for what happens after the series is finished. Having just finished yet another re-read of the series, I wanted to share my many thoughts with you. I’ve compiled most of these headcanons into this five and a half pages long rant, so bear with me. Let me know what you think!

Intro

Just a couple things before I get started:

First of all, two versions of this ”what happens next/next generation” exist, one based on the canon events and one based on my own “if Stravaganza was a tv show, here’s how I would fix the last two seasons” version. Most of the differences are mainly in the English side of things, but the main things remain the same. I’m only going through my canon compliant continuation here.

And second, a reminder that canon events end in 2006 in England and 1580 in Talia.

This long post will go through the immediate aftermath of the series, what happens in the years that follow, and what happens in the New Adventure Era. That is what I will call the era of the new Stravaganti, though I have only come up with the basic idea for just one so far. There will be a lot of gaps and missing information, so feel free to throw ideas at me, maybe some of them will inspire me to fill in the blanks! Anyway, let’s start where the series left off: The aftermath of Luciano and Arianna’s wedding and Rinaldo’s death.

Immediately after the series

After the series, the gate between England and Talia closes. No-one is able to go to the other world, and they can’t really find any explanations for it. The Talian Stravaganti keep working on it, trying to find the cause and to get the gate open again. Meanwhile, the English Stravaganti move on with their lives. They’re not even aware of the gate closing at first because none of them try stravagating for a while.

Fabrizio wants revenge on Bellezza, blaming the death of Rinaldo on the city and its leaders. It takes a lot of convincing from his family to keep the situation from escalating to an all-out war. Fabrizio reluctantly accepts that Rinaldo’s death was an accident, but he’s now more sure than ever that he wants Bellezza to one day to be ruled by a di Chimici.

Luciano’s warrant in the di Chimici cities is overturned for the same reason it was overturned in Fortezza. This frustrates Fabrizio, but his family once again keeps him from escalating the situation further.

The years in between – Talia

I want to note first that I’m about to list off a lot of different baby names and birth years. I decided not to go with the usual di Chimici naming conventions of giving the same 5 names to all the children. You can also assume that there may have been some miscarriages/stillbirths/children dying young in addition to the children I mention in this section. These are just the ones making it to the New Adventure Era, and they’re all based on Vibes and Divine Messages I sometimes get in my head (also known as Thoughts).

Bellezza

In Bellezza, Luciano and Arianna have (at least) five children, all of whom have ridiculously sentimental names. The first one is Davide, born in 1581. (Luciano has a minor crisis about being a “teen dad” because Davide is born before he turns 20, but no-one else understands what he’s on about because “it’s a normal age to have children in Talia, Luciano”.) The next one is Vittoria (1582). Silvia and Arianna raise her to be a potential new Duchessa after Arianna, though, spoiler alert, that plan won’t go through. I’ll talk more about Vittoria later on. Next there is Cesare (1584), and yes, this is in reference to the post I made earlier. Luciano did indeed get drunk with Cesare when Arianna was pregnant and lost a bet.

The second youngest of their children is Valeria (1587). Once Vittoria is out as a potential new Duchessa, Silvia and Arianna begin raising her as the new candidate instead. Luciano questions whether it would be better to just let the children be children, but Silvia tells him that “that’s not how politics work”. The youngest of the siblings is Guglielmo (1591). Dethridge died shortly before he was born, so Luciano and Arianna named their child in his memory.

Barbara and Marco’s children’s names ended up accidentally having a theme of all beginning with an A. Antonio, the oldest, is best friends with Davide, and the two try doing the ol’ switcharoo their mothers did, but they’re not smart enough to realize that in order to pull it off you need to a) look alike, b) lie well enough and c) have a mask that helps to conceal your identity. The other children are Anna, Agnese and Adamo (after Arianna’s alter-ego in Padavia).

Remora

Eventually Cesare takes over as the Horsemaster of the Ram, though he ends up spending a lot of time in “fancy circles” due to his friendship with Gaetano.

Gaetano and Francesca are still grossly in love even after many years of marriage. Gaetano gets to finally just enjoy the arts and eat good food, though he still sometimes has to worry about Fabrizio’s lust for power and revenge. Gaetano and Francesca’s first child, the one Francesca is pregnant with in City of Swords, is born late 1580, and is a girl they name Lucrezia. They also have Carlo (1582), the future Prince of Remora, Benedetta (1584), Ferrando (1587), future Prince of Moresco (more on this later), Clarice (1588) and Caterina (1593). Fabrizio got so angry when he heard that both he and Luciano would be made Lucrezia’s godfathers that he somehow came down with a fever and missed the christening entirely.

Giglia

Sandro and Brother Dog live happy and long lives. This is very important and worth mentioning.

After Bino (/Falco, 1580), it takes a few years before Fabrizio and Caterina have their next child, Isabella (1587). They still love each other, but their relationship is strained because Caterina has to keep reigning Fabrizio in to keep him from possibly starting a war and spiraling into madness. Over time she learns to do it more confidently, and becomes an expert on handling her husband. Their youngest child, Rinaldo, is born in 1592, and is named so only because a) all the other family names were taken and b) no-one else wanted to name their child after Rinaldo. Little Rinaldo has no interest in his father’s schemes, and rather than marrying to benefit the family, he would like to follow his late uncle’s footsteps and become a priest. Unlike his namesake, this Rinaldo has a genuine interest in religion, and eventually ends up becoming a Pope, though this time there is no scheming involved.

Classe

Beatrice is still officially cast out of the family, but everyone except Fabrizio and Filippo keeps in touch with her. Fabrizio does calm down enough to realize that he has to keep diplomatic relations to Classe in order to avoid a larger conflict, so he has to tolerate Filippo Nucci and Beatrice when it comes to certain official events. Though if he can, he’ll often find a representative to go to these events in his place, and he has not said a single word to his sister since she got married.

Beatrice and Filippo have only two children, Matteo (1584) and Nicoletta (1586). The latter is named in honor of Niccoló, and this annoys Fabrizio a lot.

Fortezza

There is a lot of rebuilding to do in Fortezza after the civil war. There are still tensions in the city between those that supported Ludo and those that supported Lucia. Her and Guido do their best to forget about the war, and they have two sons, Giuliano (1581) and Jacopo (1583). Fabrizio is not a fan of their marriage, and privately he says that the boys are “not real di Chimici”, and he worries about what happens to Fortezza after Lucia dies. In order to keep Fabrizio calm, Lucia promises that although her sons have their father’s last name, the ruler of Fortezza will still be called a di Chimici even after her death. This does not do much to ease Fabrizio’s nerves.

Volana

Alfonso keeps using Volana as a shield against Fabrizio starting an all-out war. Any time Fabrizio gets upset over Alfonso not taking his side on whatever weird plan he has going on, Alfonso kindly reminds his brother-in-law that Volana is the closest di Chimici city to Bellezza and its allies. If a war breaks out, Volana is the first one on the line, and Alfonso isn’t ready to take risks. (He doesn’t mention that Volana has a good relationship with Bellezza. Fabrizio doesn’t need to remember that when he’s being talked out of raising an army.)

Alfonso and Bianca have five children. The oldest, Ferdinando (1581), is named after the late Pope. Alfonso knew it was Rinaldo who was behind his death, and felt bad about it so he named his son in honor of their uncle. This is also why he and Bianca never name any of their children after Rinaldo. (They claim it’s so that Caterina can use that name.) The other children are Eleanora (1582), Giovanni (1584), Luciano (1586) and Beatrice (1588). Fabrizio isn’t happy about Luciano’s name, even though he’s named after Alfonso’s maternal uncle. Fabrizio just doesn’t want to be reminded of Luciano Crinamorte when he’s with his family. He’s also unhappy about Beatrice’s name, but Bianca keeps assuring him that her daughter is named after her aunt.

Bellona

By the New Adventure Era, Filippo still isn’t the Prince of Bellona. His father is old, but still alive, and Filippo is bored and frustrated. He keeps having trouble getting married, and it’s only after Fabrizio arranges him a politically advantageous marriage that he finally manages to find a wife. That’s also why his daughter Francesca, having been born in 1598, is so much younger than the other di Chimici children. Filippo spoils his daughter, but he’s worried that if he doesn’t have a son, the family will face another succession crisis in Bellona, and that’s something they do not need.

The years in between – England

After the series is over, Nick and Georgia manage to keep their relationship relatively drama-free and they stay together even while Georgia is studying and Nick is still in school. He gets so good at fencing that eventually he wins silver in the Olympics. When a reporter asks him how he feels about not winning, he says that he “looks better in silver”. Georgia becomes a journalist and her specialty is writing exposés about shady companies with unethical and environmentally bad practices.

Nick goes to university while still doing fencing (I haven’t figured out yet what he would study), but he is forced to stop doing sports when his leg begins to act up, and he has to have another surgery in his 20s. He and Georgia get married eventually, and they agree that they “might have kids someday, but definitely not now”. This goes on for a long time, but then the pandemic happens (yes, we’re going there). Georgia gets pregnant and they decide to keep the baby, and agree that Nick is going to stay home with it. Their daughter, little pandemic-baby Stella, is born in 2021. Nick uses his time as a stay-at-home dad to figure out what he wants to do with his life now that he can’t do sports anymore. He still often goes to Mortimer’s shop for tea with the baby. (The baby does not drink the tea.)

Isabel’s parents won’t let her do a full gap-year in the US, so eventually her and Sky decide to break up because the long-distance-relationship is a little too much for them. He ends up becoming a fairly successful artist, not world-famous, but definitely known within the art circles. (There may be just a hint of nepotism going on at the beginning.) He studies in the US and ends up splitting his time between the UK and US as an adult. He’s still best friends with Nick (Nick calls him after his silver-interview and asks if Sky saw it and got the joke), and although he’s Stella’s godfather, he’s decided that he’s fine with not having his own children, and is single as of the New Adventure Era.

Matt and Ayesha break up briefly during their college years, but end up getting together again. Ayesha studies law and Matt studies IT. They move to a boring neighborhood near Islington. Ayesha works in London and they have an agreement that Matt stays at home with their kids (2014/2016/2018, all still unnamed) until they've all started school. On the side Matt does some work here and there, and he ends up being the local “computer guy” to all the old people. He helps Mr. Goldsmith set up an online store for his shop, and runs into Nick whenever he has to go help with tech (Nick is still not good at any of that). Matt doesn’t know how to gossip so when Ayesha asks “Oh you saw Nick? What’s up with him these days? How’s the baby?” all Matt can say is “the baby is still a baby”.

Laura has not had any contact with Ludo (now called Luke) in years. His translation was a mess, and unlike Nick, who got an easy and soft start due to being a child, Ludo was in a lot of trouble right from the start. Laura’s parents were rightfully horrified that their child had a 24-year-old boyfriend with no past. Laura kept up with her fantasy about her and Ludo for a while, but eventually it all got too much for her and she decided to stop pursuing a relationship with him. She moves away from London when she goes to university. That’s when she pretty much drops off everyone’s radar apart from the occasional update they manage to gather from her social media. Laura blames herself for Ludo’s miserable life and just wants to get away from all of it.

No-one has really heard from Ludo in years either. He struggled a lot, since he had nothing to build his life off of. David Mulholland tried to help him get started, but it was a lot harder to do for a grown man compared to a teenager. The last anyone heard of Ludo was when he moved to Liverpool for some temporary job, but that was years ago, and no-one is sure if he’s even alive anymore.

Laura ends up back on everyone’s radar when Sky hears from his mother, who is now married to Paul, that Alice and Laura are together. That news is a little awkward for all the other Stravaganti, mainly Sky and Georgia, but Laura seems genuinely happy. She’s able to talk to Alice about all the things that happened to her as a teenager without lying or hiding information, and Alice is now fine with at least hearing about Talia, because she doesn’t have to fear losing Laura to it. Alice, who is now a journalist like Georgia, ended up connecting with Laura when they met because of their work. (I’m not yet sure what Laura does.)

Isabel is the biggest mystery to me so far. She didn’t become an artist in the same sense as Sky, though she’s still very much interested in art. For some reason I’m getting the Vibes that at some point she moved to Scotland and is very happy there. She could be a teacher(?), but honestly, this one needs a little more brainstorming.

The New Adventure Era

Background

After Ferdinando of Moresco died, his son Ferrando inherited the title of Prince of Moresco. However, Ferrando is gay and thus never married, which means that he has no children to be his heirs. He eventually realizes that he needs to sort out the matter of succession before he dies, so that Moresco won’t end up as Fortezza 2.0. At the time Fabrizio and Caterina haven’t had Rinaldo yet, so it is agreed that Moresco will go to Gaetano and Francesca’s second son, also named Ferrando. Once Rinaldo is born, Fabrizio feels that since they are the senior branch of the family, Moresco should go to Rinaldo, but so far he has not pressed the matter further to avoid any more drama within the family. He knows that everyone would side against him and take Gaetano’s side on this, especially since the matter has been clear for years now.

Fabrizio has, in general, matured and calmed down. He is becoming more and more like his father, and this is both a blessing and a curse. He’s less likely to act on an impulse, but he has become very good at scheming and plotting behind the scenes. His one weakness is his wife and children, and Caterina remains the only one that can truly manipulate Fabrizio.

Before Lucien ever stravagated, there were other talismans taken to England and other Stravaganti from that world (as mentioned in City of Masks). However, there was one talisman, taken from Moresco, which never found its Stravagante and remained unused. It was taken to somewhere in the 19th century, but the Talian Stravaganti have mostly forgotten about it by now.

The adventures begin

The New Adventure Era begins in 2021/1601. It has been pretty much exactly 15 years for England and 21 years for Talia since the gate closed.

A new Stravagante from England finds their talisman in Mortimer’s shop as usual. It is the long-forgotten talisman that was brought to England almost 200 years earlier. This one’s “problem” is that they are an only child whose parents are constantly away on business trips, so they’ve been forced to become very independent, almost too much so. They’re also very lonely whenever they’re not with their friends, because there’s usually no-one home. They even had to spend their recent 15th birthday alone, with just a card and a stack of money waiting for them on the kitchen counter. (They used that money to buy the talisman.)

The usual accidental stravagating happens, though this time it is very interesting to the Talian Stravaganti. Why is the gate suddenly open again? Why has more time passed in Talia compared to England? Will the gate remain stable again?

The new Stravagante ends up in Moresco and becomes friends with the younger Ferrando di Chimici, who has reluctantly moved there for the summer so that he can get to know the city he will one day rule. I have not yet figured out any more details for the main plot here, but I know that there will be Hijinks.

I mentioned earlier that we would get back to Vittoria. Well, it turns out that her and Bino have fallen in love and have a secret relationship that they maintain by writing letters and using official events as an excuse to meet each other. To these two idiots think it is soooo romantic that they’re together even though their parents hate each other. (Well, Fabrizio hates Luciano and Arianna, who at this point just consider Fabrizio an inconvenience when it comes to foreign politics.) During the New Adventure Era Vittoria and Bino get found out, and of course this whole thing blows up. Everyone is upset with them, and Luciano and Fabrizio are losing their minds. Eventually Bino, having learnt the art of manipulating Fabrizio from his mother, convinces his father that if he marries Vittoria, it will bring Bellezza closer to the di Chimici. Fabrizio remains under the impression that when Arianna is no longer the Duchessa, Vittoria will be elected and can then be used as a puppet. No-one tells him that Vittoria has no plans of becoming the Duchessa of Bellezza.

In clowncusion

There we go, my ideas for what could happen after the end of the series. Like I said, feel free to throw more ideas at me, I’d love to brainstorm some more fun headcanons. Especially if they torment Fabrizio.

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