#libania is better than you

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

The Enchanted Ring: a summary

Sine last night was mostly out of context screenshots, I present to you the story thus far:

Our heroine is Princess Libania, daughter of the deposed King of Persia. Her father was overthrown and killed by a revolution due to his being a tyrant, and Libania was raised by a wise sage who didn’t reveal her true identity to her until her 18th birthday. On that day, she gets a letter from her guardian revealing that she is the princess, and that her guardian has been working tirelessly on her behalf for years and there is an army and a mountain of gold waiting for her whenever she would like to take back her throne.

Libania writes back to say that she appreciates the thought, but that the new king seems pretty decent and the people seem happy and that she doesn’t want to bring about another round of bloodshed and violence just to overthrow a decent ruler for the sake of her own gain. She then exiles herself from Persia so that no one is tempted to stage a revolt on her behalf anyway.

All of that is backstory. Our narrative actually begins two years later, when Libania wanders into a grotto on an island. There, she finds a bronze statue, who tells her (and therefore us) all of the above in order to explain why she is the most virtuous woman to have ever lived. As a reward for this virtue, she is given the choice between two magic rings, sent by God: a ring of “solid mercury” that grants invisibility and a ring of gold that grants “amour.” It is not specified whether the solidity of the mercury is part of the magic of the ring or not. Libania chooses the gold ring, which is the Best and Most Virtuous choice, according to the statue. Most beautiful women would have trusted in their own beauty and appeal to attract love and instead chosen the ring that would allow them to gain knowledge of everything. (Sidenote: he’s got me there -- when she picked the gold ring I did literally say to my partner, “I feel like she’s beautiful and charismatic enough to attract love and loyalty without magic, she should have picked the other one.” +1 to Mr. O’Neddy for a solid grasp on psychology.)

Libania chooses the ring, and the statue reveals that it is actually a fallen archangel who had taken part in Lucifer’s rebellion. At the last moment, the archangel realized its mistake and as it was falling from heaven sent waves of remorse and regret towards God, who therefore exiled the angel to earth instead of to Hell. Its mission was to await the coming of the most perfect woman and give her the rings. This duty has now been accomplished, and so the archangel can return to Heaven at last. Before leaving, it explains to Libania how her ring works.

As long as Libania is not in love with anyone, the ring will grant her love and protection from all humans, animals, plants, and even rocks and weather patterns. She will be greeted with joy and welcomed wherever she goes, and nature shall not harm her. However, should she fall in love, all that will stop and instead the ring will grant her eternal happiness with her partner and his love will never stray and neither will hers. The only thing that can mar the relationship between them while she has the ring is death.

Libania goes on to travel the Orient, exploring every corner of her native region. Everywhere she goes she is, of course, welcomed and treated like royalty. Having explored all Asia, she then moves on to Europe, crossing into Germany and wondering at its vast forests. However the land she most wants to see is, of course, France, the Best Place ruled by the Best King, Charlemagne.

When Libania arrives at Charlemagne’s camp, he is laying siege to the Avars in their last city. Libania asks to see the King himself, but is told that he is preparing for the final assault and gave word that he was not to be disturbed for any reason. Libania explores the camp for a while, charms all of Charlemagne’s aids and generals, including a Bishop who makes it his mission to try to convert her. (Sidenote: this is the first indication we get that Libania isn’t Christian, other than the fact of her being from Persia. Her actual religion is never stated, or at least hasn’t been yet -- I assume it’s meant to be Islam.) Eventually she decides she wants to go see the Avar city before it gets sacked by the French. Just as she’s deciding to do this, a mysterious man emerges from Charlemagne’s tent. He is wearing a blue cloak and has his visor down and no one knows who he might be as he sets out towards the city. Libania catches up to him and asks to go with him, and he agrees.

In the Avar city, the pair learns that the Avar king has just died abruptly and mysteriously without any heirs. The council of elders has convened to pick a new king, but it’s complicated because there are lots of distant relatives vying for the job and picking any one of them will upset and anger all the others. The council welcomes Libania and the mysterious messenger, and seats Libania in the best chair they have, the King’s throne. The messenger tells the council that he has come with a proposed peace treaty from Charlemagne: if they surrender to him here, and promise to swear fealty and pay an annual tribute, he will cease the hostilities and let them keep their city and their territory.

The elders are pretty dubious about this and, anyway, only the king has the authority to make decisions like that and they don’t have one right now, so could the messenger please sit tight until the pick one. The messenger agrees, but points out that a new king would be required to ask Libania to give up her seat to him, which would be completely unacceptable. The council then gets an idea and, after throwing each other Significant and Meaningful Looks, ask Libania if she would like to be their queen. Because she is clearly and obviously superior to all the other hopefuls, none of them will by rights be able to challenge for the throne, nor be mad that they weren’t the ones chosen.

Libania accepts the throne, and agrees to the treaty, on the condition that the annual tribute be swapped out for a one time offering. The messenger agrees and takes off his helmet to reveal that, shock gasp, he is Charlemagne himself! The treaty is signed, the Franks retreat, and Libania is left to rule the Avars, with a promise to go visit Charlemagne before the year is out. Not wanting to be called Queen of the Avars, which in French is a synonym for greedy, she styles herself the Queen of Transylvania.

Fast forward a year, and Libania has gone to visit Charlemagne. She is wise and just and has a knack for picking wise and just men as councilors and advisers, and she uses these talents to benefit Charlemagne as well. During her stay, he falls madly in love with her. She, however, is not in love back, and the narrator isn’t entirely sure that she even notices that Charlemagne wants her. One of the councilors is the archbishop, who redoubles his efforts to convert Libania. Charlemagne approves of this, since he could only marry a Christian woman. At this point the translator notes that, historically, Charlemagne was already on his fourth wife and had several children.

One morning, she surprises him about to sneak out of the castle, and he admits to her that he’s off to go retrieve a magic serpent’s egg. This egg will grant a bunch of things to its bearer, including eternal life, and he wants it. They have a back and forth about it, and she declares that, far from trying to stop him, she is going to go with him. She tells him about her magic ring and the two set off on their quest. And that’s as far as I’ve gotten. More to come!