#aria varmont

[forgottentristan]

OOC | Tristan & Aria

so, as commander of the kingsguard, i feel like tristan def sees a good bit of aria, whether escorting her around the castle, seeing her while he's on duty, or just...the weird-ass family dinners im sure roderick requires lajksfkjsdfj (cue tristan staring directly into the camera every fifteen seconds honestly)

honestly i think he lowkey hopes that she and eilia and siobhan can all get out of this!! but frankly he doesn't see much path forward except for eilia to marry roderick alas aljsfkljdsfj and obv, being brother to one of roderick's queens, he's not exactly ~all about~ that option, either! lkajsdkfljsdkf

[forgottenarthur]

Marian/Arthur - “ you’ve been so quiet. what’s on your mind? ”

The prince started. In truth, he'd not known someone was there, so lost in his thoughts he'd been. Sitting in the broad windowseat, long legs outstretched with Aria's book in his lap, he'd been reading for hours when movement outside the window had caught his eye. Aria's scarlet cloak wafted in the breeze, a stark contrast to the snow-struck world ringing round her. She'd stopped in her course, noting a stablehand, and the ring of her familiar laughter had wafted, too, all the way to Arthur, his book forgotten in his lap, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched, entranced, as crimson heat overtook her cheeks, green-dark eyes shining bright.

Surprise bloomed in his chest -- a princess, even reduced now to a lady as she was, but still a princess raised -- stopping for a casual chat with a hand and, not only that, she grew entirely absorbed in it. Her face was angelic in happiness, her forest-dark gaze star-bright and dancing all about her as if the whole of cosmos bent closer when she smiled. How could she be so joyful in such circumstances? Everything she'd once known lost to her!

Unconsciously, Arthur leaned closer, as if he could prize the secret from the smiling curve of her lips or the flush of her rosy cheeks. He didn't think he'd ever been so pleased in his whole life as she was now to stop and chat with a servant in the blistering cold, yet another bell-soft peal of laughter seemed to make all the ice sparkle.

Sighing, he leaned back against the cushions pillowing his back, his eyes roving now over this icy landscape: her native home. How it would change from here on out, Arthur already knew. He'd watched his father conquer other worlds long before he'd ever set foot in hers, and whatever sweet wildness was here to be found: that, he'd stamp out and ring all in stone and iron to suppress it and, strangely, something in Arthur's chest ached now to think of that brutally civilizing force, to think of the way her eyes danced now like starlight, and to think they might be suppressed only into tame, flickering candlelight.

Was this how he, too, would someday be? If he lived, he would be emperor, and if he was emperor, would he too smother the stars beneath the tread of his imperial heel? Was it always destined to be so? Was that the only way, the only path to survival? For him, he knew it was empire or death: his only salvation. But was he doomed to uproot every flowering plant in his path? Would she ever smile like this again?

Arthur jolted at the familiar sound of his mother's voice in that moment and, quickly, sat up, swinging his legs around to sit in a less relaxed way, the window and Aria in her scarlet cloak now to his back.

"Mother--" he took a moment, processed what she had said. Arthur licked his lips, unconsciously glancing down. He saw the long-forgotten book in his lap and he slammed its cover closed.

Glancing up again, he spotted his mother following where his gaze had earlier strayed. Arthur pressed his eyes shut, knowing she could not fail to note Aria, robed as she was in crimson against a backdrop all of white, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"The Lady Aria is quite a beauty, isn't she?"

Arthur shook his head. She was, but he didn't wish to be having this conversation. "It's awfully cold out--" he began, not quite sure where he was going, but wishing to dislodge the line of thought he feared was forming in his mother's mind.

"And you...worry she will catch a chill?"

"What? No, I--" Arthur shrugged, helpless. "It's not like that, Mother."

"Hmm..." Marian slowly seated herself beside her son. "What is it like, Arthur?"

"I--" he shook his head again; rubbed the back of his neck again. "Will I be emperor, Mother?"

Her face shone with astonishment, settling into certainty. This was not the question she'd been expecting, but she had never shown even a hint of doubt that that was to be his future. "Of course."

Arthur fell silent a moment. He wished he could be so sure. He thought death a more likely outcome, in truth. "This is a beautiful place," he said, gesturing around them.

"It is."

"She's talking to a stablehand, you know."

"The princ--Lady Aria?"

He nodded. "They talk to stablehands here. Princesses. Talk to stablehands."

Marian's brows furrowed.

"It's a very natural conversation, too. Friendly."

"Arthur...Are you...jealous?"

"Mother!" he reddened. "Focus! What this means is...it's normal. Maybe she's not a princess, anymore, but she was one, once, and it was ordinary to them, then, that a princess ought to speak on friendly terms to a stablehand."

"What are you driving at?"

Sighing, he rubbed his arm. "I don't know, I--I don't know."

"Is that the type of Emperor you wish to be?"

"What?"

"One who speaks on friendly terms to a stablehand?"

Arthur frowned. "Is that...possible?"

"When you're emperor, Arthur, anything will be possible."

"Anything?" Unconsciously, Arthur glanced towards the window behind him. Aria was laughing again, and taking her leave. He glanced down at the book in his lap. "Anything..."

But he couldn't be so sure.

[forgottenronan]

oooooh this is such an interesting question!! ok so i do think a big part of it would hinge on whether or not ronan knows aria used seer-powers to heal him? bc h is understanding of seers is that they are by nature healers so if she was literally just following her instinct to heal, well, he can't really reasonably be mad at her for healing to nearest injured person!!! as big as a mistake as that cearly was!!!

im also wondering if arthur wasn't injured in the resistance's attempt to free aria in which case its even more like YOU HELPED HIM KEEP YOU A PRISONER??? (and also they probs would've imprisoned and/or killed arthur himself tbf -- ronan's varmont policy aint exactly forgiving) and tbf i don't think arthur knew exactly what was going down (and possibly aria, herself, didn't either?) -- just that they were in danger and he had to protect them both from these random bandits that were savaging them, not that he was like ~actively imprisoning aria by doing all that hahaha but still! (also arthur is def the sort that like fought off these bandits, rode off w aria, and then collapsed half an hour later bc he got stabbed during the fight and never mentioned it, leaving aria to try and get both herself and an unconscious and severely injured prince the rest of the way back on her own lakjsfkljsfj dumbass you mentioned that marian would always freak out if her sons were unwell and i feel like as a result arthur learned to hide it so as not to scare her bc he is v protective of his mama <3 but yeahhh honestly its a mistakE esp in this situation!)

also i picture this going down smth like this: arthur sees the abndits and assumes that they're assassins

arthur: fear not, my lady! these ruffians are here for me

rebels: bold, coming from a dead man. perhaps you should speak to us more softly, boy. in these woods the varmont name is not known and we are as close as it comes to a king anymore.

arthur: enough talk. if you want to kill me, come and try it already.

~smth along those lines~ w arthur honestly hoping to provoke a duel bc that's best case scenario vs tryna fight a whole band of ppl alone w/o armor etc but yeah i don't think it went that way for him obv hahahaha fortunately for him, he don't go nowhere w/o his sword and his primary attribute is being a great warrior, so he ~can hold his own for a bit even w an ambush like this specifically designed to take him out! lakjsdfkljsdfjk

honestly if ronan knows that siobhan's outside the castle??? (roderick would defff want that hushed up but i feel like ronan has to know between cillian and @forgottenciara?) but either way i defff think he'd be on the lookout for her if he knows!! the staffords being close to the malconaires, she's practically a (distant) cousin to him ;D and even if she weren't, having one of the true princesses would def unsettle roderick and give the gerneal populace a reason to gather round them etc etc so yeah!! so many having her would be great so they're def on the same page abt that!! (also eilia too is def sort of telling herself the same narrative re: soibhan's situation and she lowkey knows it may not be but i don't think she wants to be in any way dissuaded on that tale, either!!)

OOC | Ronan & Aria

sooooo obv ronan was raised in the astairan faith, but i think he's stopped believing that there's any higher power out there that cares abt humanity and that the guardians are just comforting lies etc etc etc but if he knew that aria and brigit can see them etc i think that'd help change his mind bc these are ppl he trusts!! like...he knows saoirse is a believer, and claims she can 'sense' them, but i think he sees this as smth comforting she chooses to believe/do to cope w everything, but once its this many ppl he believes in having these pr concrete exerpeinces (as opposed to saoirse's non-concrete form of sensing), i feel like that could help change things for him!!!!

in any case, i don't think he ~does know so here we are laksjdfkljdsf but yeah he def wants to free the staffords!!!! idk if he thinks monarchy is the best way to go, anymore, bc i think he's a lil bit of an anarchist atp tbqh, but i do think he thinks that if anyone can pull off being a good ruler its the staffords <333333

[forgottenroisin]

OOC | Astairan Science & Witchcraft

sooo ya girl has had a thought anD now you gotta hear abt it ;DDDD tbh i feel like this isn't really even my thought it think its smth we've all lowkey been driving at but never fully addressed so i thought id do that!

ok so @forgottenarias mentioned in a post abt the stafford observatory (and i 10000% agree! they totally have that!!!!), and yeah it sent me down this train of thought and, surprisingly, while i def think it applies to astaira over all, i feel like it feeds in v nicely to a lot of the other world building we've been doing and all esp re: the malconaires...and their future predicament!

ok so basically? my thesis here is...astaira is stated to be the largest country in the world, and we know it has a system based on merit etc so top minds're gonna really go places ++ they've got the largest variety ~of minds etc and basically thesis statement: i think maybe astaira has some of the best educated ppl, top to bottom, and more advanced science than most anywhere else in the world, perhaps???? and, bc of that, when roderick looks at them...he sees a bunch of witches! bc he sees ppl out there doing what are (to him!) unexplainable/impossible things w ease, but its just that they have more knowledge etc.

so, obv there are ~literal seers here too and that's def just throwing fuel on the fire (heh), but i lowkey think that there's a lot of things that roderick (and his countrymen etc) just see and...don't get and they go witch!!!!!! that's witchcraft!!!!! kinda like how amira has a reputation of witchcraft bc (well, ok her gm who raised her was a seer but also!!) she has this intense knowledge of medicines and poisons and she can heal and she can harm w a touch and????? witch!!!! but ofc she isn't a seer! and aleksander royce has a v similar backstory, himself, except he was able to fashion into his divine miracles rather than sorcery, but its that same kinda thing!

so!! a lot of our houses and things are tied in w precisely elements and such: perhaps not simply the house (as we've established), but the ~ppl of stafford, specialize in astronomy and astrology and so forth; the callearies/cultures who also hail from not!atlantis (minus cormac lbr ;D) are probs up on all sorts of oceanic and marine sciences of the day w advanced knowledge of tides and of fish etc alike; the kolcheans are students of heat and how it interacts w other materials and so forth (i always hc'd that kolchean fire aka greek fire was a thing... ;D); and the ppl of malconaire understand plants and the earth

now, @forgotteneithne gave us the hc that sorcha and bran always made sure their daughters weren't just wealthy and pretty and refined, but that they also had practical skills, and esp if either of them knew/suspected @forgottenbrigit 's gifts (but even if they didn't!), i can see where they may have also put emphasis on learning all abt plants from anyone who could teach them, wherether grand or humble of origin (esp if we go go the idea of actual seers having ~specialties or whatever too -- ex. perhaps brigit is more earth based in her powers as a malconaire, and aria more air based, but again even if not its just good stuff to know!)

so maybe, amongst their practical talents of cleaning and cooking and such, the girls also learned herbology and like hemlock can relax you or even help staunch a wound to keep you from bleeding out, but too much can kill you, bc it slows your organs etc -- that sort of thing. and maybe, amongst the other things they do when they go to the village, they help cure the sick, and that sort of thing, and perhaps this is another way they also helped out during the battle of malconaire, etc?

and yeah! maybe, given that (most of ;D) the malconaire girls aren't ~actually witches, maybe this (and the whole romancing ~all of roderick's sons! egregious! roderick is SHOOKETH) is another 'proof' of their witchcraft, but also smth they can fall back on while they're on the run?

regardless of this, rosie, i think, (as ive said before) will be leaning into her showmanship to try to spook the o.v.n.-ians and save ppl (ig all those pranks came in handy in the revolution, after all! ;D #weaponizewonder) but yeah i also like the idea that she might be out there helping ppl in other ways than just distracting ppl so others (rebels, refugees, etc!) can make a get away and such (whether or not she's hooked up w the rebels or is just helping other accused witches escape or...what idk!! but yeah this is the direction i see her going in) -- actively in there brewing up teas and sewing up cuts and making healing elixirs and such!

idk!! anyway!! we don't need to do anything w any of this but yeah!! just thought id throw this out there and see what everyone thinks?

[lizzysrps]

The Long Forgotten Realm + Text Posts

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Varmont Marriages

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

BRIDES

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

so!! some ladies he might consider?

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

aria

siobhan

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

sonya vasilieva

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

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

a princess from a nation as yet unconquered

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

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

HUSBANDS

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

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

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

rian

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

marian's eldest brother!

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

godfrey calainon

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

cassimir vasiliev(a?)

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

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

a foregin prince/king

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

------

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

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

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

and this bit too:

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

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

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

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

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

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

[forgotteneilionora]

OOC | Varmont & Stafford Heirs

this is relevant to nothing, really, but getting emo and i just had to share about the anti-parallel of the three heirs of roderick vs the three heirs of domnhall -- the unity of the staffords vs the discord of the varmonts; the fact that each is an equal member of house stafford while two children aren't even heirs for house varmont despite its conflict over that v matter; the fact that the stafford ruler was chosen by vote and the varmont one will likely be chosen by war; the fact that in both cases one heir is held apart from the others -- for the staffords only physically, for the varmonts by gender; that each of the six is a reflection of their parents and all the factors that created them; that each, in their way, fights endlessly for the things that really matter to them...

...excuse me...imma go cry now

[forgottencassandra]

Trapped | Cassandra & Marian

"The riots ended days ago, are we truly still not allowed to leave the palace?" Cassandra groaned, crossing her arms as she took a seat upon her mother's bed.

This was not unfamiliar: they had been in dangerous places before and her father was quick to enact a lockdown (especially when it came to his wives and daughters) if he sensed that anything was amiss. But this had seemed particuarly long to Cassandra, who had never had friends who lived outside of the castle walls before.

She'd had plans to meet Rose this afternoon (or rather, she'd had plans to meet her the day the riots occurred and, after accepting that she would not be going anywhere on that day, had decided each day after that this would be the day that she would have a chance to leave ... only to find herself once again disappointed).

They had not had time to properly talk about all that had transpired at the ball and Cassandra was eager for her company. Rose had taken to writing Cassandra a letter, but she found that she was too distracted to give it the proper attention it deserved and believed that saying everything in person would far better convey everything than writing it down, anyway. Not to mention, Cassandra hardly had the discipline to scribble down more than a few lines unless she happened to be waxing eloquently in her journal when describing her own romantic encounters.

"Arthur is convinced it will still be a few more days yet ... " Cassandra felt especially crestfallen to hear that - if Arthur felt that she could not leave (even with his own protection) than it might truly be days until her father allowed it. "Oh, how shall we ever bare it?"

[forgottenarthur]

In Ruins | Arthur, Roderick, Eilia, Aria, etc...

Another step. Another. Up and up and up they rose before him, unending as the Kolchean ouroboros. And not a soul was speaking. For all the attendants traipsing and tripping after their god-given Emperor, a strange breathy silence pervaded, headed by the sullen-faced ó Réaltaí sisters (as the Staffords were now, evidently, to be called) and maintained by Roderick's many retainers, half-gasping with the interminable climb. The silence was a veil and Arthur felt twitchy, his fingers beating a tattoo against his thigh as he walked and walked.

"You Astairans certainly were not in jest when you claimed to live amongst the stars, I see."

Silence. Arthur detested silence. He'd always dested it, and he detested it now most of all. It was tense; it was subdued. And he didn't know what Aria was thinking...

Or anyone else. His father, for instance, or even...He glanced around to catch another face, half-desperate to prove there were other feelings which concerned him. Eilionora. No. But he wasn't supposed to care what she thought: she was the enemy. Still. He cared even less for what Sir Gregory thought.

Huffing, he shrugged. "I think I shall be eighty years old by the time we reach the top!"

"And here I imagined," began Eilionora, tone condescending. "A knight might be glad of such exercise."

"I--" Arthur frowned, rankling against the comment and struggling to invent a sufficient retort, when at last daylight (dying, by now, he saw) broke upon them. "At last!"

By the time Arthur gained the room, a world of ancient plaster featuring a tiny stone window in its concave surface. His father was already there, attendants arrayed about him like the streaming light of the sun, itself painting all in Arthur's own red. Eilionora stood opposite him, her expression fierce and determined, with her sister at her side and, fobidding as Aria looked, Arthur found himself drifting towards her.

Looking up, then, Arthur saw the look on his father's face. "Shit."

This was an expression well known to Arthur: triumphant and gleaming. The emperor was about to make the weight of whatever victory he'd won felt. "You thought to keep it from us," began Roderick, eyes glowing. "You strove and you strove, but every trace of your heathen gods will now be expunged."

Arthur felt Aria's eyes on him, but he could not pull his gaze from his father. Turning, Roderick grinned knowingly and suddenly thrust his arm directly through a wall.

"Father!" Arthur cried, starting forward. He stopped short. The emperor was unhurt and, in fact, a hole now stood in the wall where his hand once had been.

"A crafty illusion, to be sure," gloated Roderick. "Who'd think to vellum up a wall? Painted so precisely as to look to be pure plaster. But your woman's trick has come to naught."

Snapping, Roderick gestured and, at once, his attendants got to the business of tearing down the wall.

"God," breathed Arthur.

Roderick's gaze flicked towards him. "Why do you stand by them, Arthur?"

Arthur glanced hastily at the ladies. Swallowed. "To ensure they do not attempt to flee."

Roderick frowned.

"Your inevitable victory is something they really ought to see, Your Imperial Majesty."

Satisfied, Roderick smiled triumphantly at Eilionora, and nodded to Arthur. Aria glared at him. The emperor turned as a broad, wooden door was revealed and, with some difficulty, prized open by the attendants.

Now, it was to file into the room. Two servants went first -- to ensure the safe passage of the glorious presence behind them against any booby traps -- then the emperor went through followed by his attendants and lastly the ladies, with Arthur bringing up the train.

The door was low and ancient he saw, its planks turned half to stone by unimaginable age and, curious, Arthur swept his fingers along it as he passed through. The soul, he was told, was recurring. Had some version of him ever touched this wood before, perhaps its gentle-growing branches before it had been cut. Stooping to pass under the lintel, Arthur was temporarily blinded by a blanket of dark, limpid eyes narrowing as he stumbled a step or two inside.

He emerged into a vault of starlight as the last vestiges of day gave way to velvet-soft night, the firmament dotted with twinkling starlight, caught in a veil of midnight. It seemed a thousand, thousand stars glittered in the liquid night and that, if Arthur only stretched out his hand, he might just touch them with the edges of his fingertips.

"God be good," whispered Arthur. "I've never seen so many stars."

Glancing about him, he took in the ruins all about him -- a shattered dome, floor-to-ceiling arches that may once have contained windows now gaping over a yawning chasm.

"Do you know what this room is, Arthur?"

"No," he said, curiously glancing around him. "What is this place?"

It seemed to him that each lain stone was blue as lapis lazuli -- perhaps was lapis lazuli! -- and inset with ivory or some such so that stars were inset even into the very stones that strained to shelter them against the heedless sky above. Stretching out a hand, he laid it flat against one wall, cautiously approaching the casements to peer over the side of the mountain. Nothing but open sky greeted his gaze.

"How far up are we?"

"This is the crest of the mountain, Arthur."

He straightened, turned back towards his father. "What?!" he demanded. " Then--then this is--"

"Yes, the so-called Vault of the Heavens, the Cathedral of Stars, and other such: the very spot where their heathen goddess is said to have once set foot, according to some legends; where the shards of starlight were found from which their familial swords were forged. This," Roderick pointed down, grinning now in the pale starlight. "This is the most sacred place in all of Stafford."

Arthur glanced down at his feet, some sensation half like guilt springing vine-like across him, before his gaze shot suddenly to Aria, her own gaze now trained, relentless, upon Roderick.

"Now," continued Roderick, even his tone a gloat. "Where are those craters where the stars touched the earth? They're in this very room..."

Arthur's gaze did not leave Aria's face and, though it was hard to tell in the streaming starlight, he thought perhaps he saw tears sparkling at the edges of her eyes. His throat tightened. Arthur's hands closed to fists.

"Fill them in, shall we?" continued Roderick. "And bring what's left of this place to the ground. No trace of this heresy shall remain once I've done."

It was misery on her face, bleak and utter. She seemed to look at the walls, to the sky, as if they spike to her, friends soon to be shattered. A loss as deep as her name. Gritting his teeth, Arthur turned abruptly to his father, but Eilionora beat him to it. She was...laughing. Arthur watched fury dawn upon Roderick's face, unfurling like a plume of liquid flame over obsidian-dark granite. Sneer for sneer and glare for glare, emperor and former queen stared one another down.

She came forward. "No original ideas, have you? Do you know some of my own ancestors had a similar notion. Their great hall might prove more useful, they believed, otherwise. They tried everything they could -- every earthly tool there is: stone to cover up and concrete to pour. They even attempted, when that did not work, to flatten the rest of the earth. In every case, their tools came away bent and broken. The goddess shelters this place still. You can no more raze this site than they!"

Roderick's face was granite, craggy rocks -- brow and nose and lips -- etched with statuesque ire. As Roderick moved to close the gap between himself and his would-be bride, Arthur stepped forward.

Arthur had seen his mother do this a thousand times. Surely...surely he could do it, too. Oh, he could not employ precisely the same tactics she did: what Roderick might find favorable in a woman would prove repulsive to him in a man, but the principles still stood. He could move the Emperor, if he chose. Surely he could. He simply never had. But surely, surely he could. And he would. Just this once. Just this once, he would...

Slowly he began to clap, letting boastful swagger into his step as he strode forward, placing himself between the emperor and the ladies, and turning a look of perfect arrogance upon the one-time queen. He'd perfected this look long ago. One in eternal competition had to.

"It was a fine attempt, my lady," he laughed. "But did you imagine the God's Chosen would fall for so obvious a ploy?"

"Ploy? It is no--"

Laughing, again, Arthur held up a hand to silence her and turned towards his father, clapping him on the shoulder. "The hubris of women excels everything."

He felt Roderick's gaze heavy upon him. Here it was. The moment. Everything hinged on what he said next. It wasn't a betrayal of Roderick, he told himself. What he said could be true! And there was Aria, lovely and lonely as the stars above, tears radiant with the same silver light. He couldn't stand by and watch. How could anyone bear the misery on Aria's face? No. He had to act. He had to.

"Imagine, trying to goad an emperor into cheating himself of his greatest prize!"

Arthur was careful not to look at Aria. He felt the weight of her look, but he did not turn. He hoped she saw what he was doing -- but he doubted it as well. She'd just see the hateful swaggering prince too easily bent by his father's will: the one she'd always detested leaping out again: throwing her beliefs in her sister's face; laughing at them both. Still, it was better, Arthur told himself, better than the alternative. It was the best he could do.

"When this is the seat of power she's been guarding, the secret she's been holding onto!"

Roderick's eyes were fastened on Arthur, and the prince knew his father would not ask for clarification: he would not wish to admit to anyone that he did not see what Arthur was getting at. But Arthur would have to be careful in that, too. He couldn't let his father realize that Arthur knew he wasn't following.

"It's like a woman, isn't it? To try to manipulate you into destroying the very thing that gives her power over the Astairan people." He turned his gaze on the queen, then, found her expression contoured with rage...and confusion. "This is it, after all, isn't it? This is the reason they follow you? This place? That lost blasted sword! You blind them with symbols of power till they believe in you and nothing else! You must hate your people in truth: to wish further unrest on them, rather than cede to peace under someone else! You'd rather this place reduced to rubble, wouldn't you, than see its power put into the hands of your conqueror?"

Roderick's hand was heavy on Arthur's shoulder. He was behind him, and Arthur couldn't see his face. Was it ire? His clever father had seen the betrayal in him, and now his cruel wrath would fall upon Arthur's mother and brother and sister as well as himself! The hand was heavy enough. But it lingered, too. Was it encouragement, then, a kind of thanks for showing him...what was, in fact, a lie? A rotten son, indeed, and to both parents, it seemed. Arthur swallowed hard.

"Easy, Arthur," his father said. "We cannot fault her for trying. It can be no easy thing to see one's seat of power fall into another's hands for a second time, I am sure."

Arthur heaved a deep breath, pressing his eyes closed. It had worked. And then he heard Eilionora laughing again.

Roderick gestured and the ladies were led away. Arthur did not dare look at Aria. He had saved her sacred site for her, yes, but could she forgive him for the means? And did she know it had been his intention? And, god, he had betrayed his own honored father in so doing! Perhaps he deserved punishment, after all. And, he thought, he'd suffer it all gladly. God, what was becoming of him?

It was Arthur's turn to laugh. And putting his hands to his face, he did.

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Event 3

AHHHHHHHH!!!! omg obsessed w this new event!!!! ok so i defff think that roderick's eternally sus brain is gonna be doing paranoia somersaults over this one!!!!!

also w this having happened, its now gonna be even WORSE on both @forgottenarthur and @forgottenarias if/when roderick learns that he's been allowing aria out bc roderick's defff gonna believe, if he learns that now, that she was fomenting all this!!! and def that idolater siobhan as well!!! but she's def at the root of this, regardless ;DDD

either way tho he's def gonna tighten up security around the two 'ladies of stafford' bc he is feeling the trust even less now than he was just five minutes ago alkjsfkljsdkjfdf

[forgotteneilionora]

Feast Day | Revelers

((ooc note: this is open to any character present all guin's bday ball who wishes to jump in on this! this one im intending to make a bit plot-based, as i wanted to write out roderick allowing the astairans to make offerings...and then the publically receiving the "shocking" news that the staffords might be bastards soon after just bc its high drama and i thought we might all have fun w it!!))

The Great Hall seemed to glow. Decorated by the Varmonts in gold and in bronze everywhere and limned with torches and roaring fires in each of the halls many hearths, Eilia was struck with the strange impression that she stood within a jewelry box, gems and metals catching the light in a strange dark-light transmutation that left all the world half kaleidoscopic in glowing shadows of amber and black.

Drums boomed a sonorous rhythm as the people of the Varmont Empire danced their controlled, static dances, and Eilia found their motions were more trancelike than joyful. Perhaps, she thought bitterly, joy would indeed be the next thing Roderick would outlaw. It did, indeed, seem to be the kind of bent his mind took. Still, Eilia shook her head clear of these thoughts. When she approached the golden thone, she must inhabit another character, entirely. She would not be the scorned, conquered queen but, rather, the grateful guest. Her quest was too important to fail.

In place of the high wooden seat of Eilia and her father and his father before them, carved with stars and moons, tangled amongst a world of faux bois foliage, Roderick had got in a garish polished-gold throne that soared up and. up and up. She thought he must have plundered the wealth of half the world's nations to build his golden throne, alone, and Eilia's lips pressed together in disquiet she refused to speak. Still, this too she pressed aside as, approaching the throne, Eilia caught Aria's eye. The time had come.

Previously, she'd been speaking with Sebastian and he was even now speaking in hushed tones to his father. Eilia held her breath and she prayed.

The Emperoro's eyes were sharp and grey like ice and, as they glanced past his son towards her, Eilia straightened. There was a calculating gleam in Roderick's eye, and Eilia could not trust it.

"What do you suppose he will say?" Eilia quietly asked her sister. "Ought we to have a...fall back position, should he refuse?"

[forgottenroisin]

OOC | Fashions???

so as you know, i usually start my lore posts on either of my rulers, but since this is a fashion post, this one's posting to my queen of fashion's blog ;DDDD anyway, i wanted to chat w you guys abt ur thoughts re: astairan fashions in general? i mostly talk abt rosie and her court fashions here, since her bio says she's a trendsetter etc and ive never really talked a ton abt that, so over a year in, i thought it might finally be time hahaha but yeah! i know, kate, you have a lot of thoughts abt aria's gowns and such, as well? and, lizzy, you've talked a bit abt brigit's style being kinda counter-culture, too? and in decorating, at least, we've talked abt more simplicity and nature being drawn into astairan aesthetics, etc, vs varmont, so i feel like that may also apply to their sartorial selections? idk! id love to hear more abt all ur thoughts on all of this!

ok, so as you all know i v much enjoy thinking abt lfr fashion bc!! tis fun heehee since rosie is a bit of a trendsetter, i also like to think abt like...what're maybe some of, like, the ~established style norms~ and how does she break them, if she's setting trends, etc, so!! anyway, from here's imma chat mostly abt rosie's (and eilia's but as a mirror to rosie's) fashions!

i feel like our baseline is obv general medieval/fantasy aesthetic of course and, since historically speaking, queens (whether ruling or consort) were the ppl to set the fashion tone at court and, thereby, throughout the kingdom, i thought id start w @forgotteneilionora 's fashion sense/style and work from there? tbh idk if eilia really ~is setting any trends, but i thought she could at least work as a type of standard, just to get this duscussion kinda going?

obv there're lotsa styles and style cues and honestly i feel like every county probs has its own stylitstic personality and obv each ~person has theirs and so on and so forth (for example, eabha wears a lot of v sort of greco-roman kinda styles which...idk if that's just ~her or if its a calleary thing or maybe a ~their og water nation~ style thing, or some other option entirely) but yeah!

so!! eilia's style is...ngl v deffffff big time a riff on like...~medieval fashion~ in a v indistinct kinda sense ngl hahaha if princess buttercup from the princess bride or lady morgana from merlin or princess isabella from braveheart would wear it...eilionora probably would, too! i think of her as v traditionalist in her dress, but also v elegant and understated as well: she def kinda plays it safe, i think, but she dresses well and is always thinking of her public image through the lens of being a symbol of astaira and therefore wanting to be v respectable etc in the way she presents herself

id say that eilia's biggest contributions to astairan fashion have probs been twofold (with a bonus trait thanks to roderick but i'll get into that in a bit): first, she is super understated in her dress and i feel like, rather than crowns or coronets, she generally opts for a simple ferronieres (aka a sort of...chain or loop that goes over the forebead, often bearing a [ jewel ] or [ jewels ] and, historically speaking, admittedly much more of a renaissance staple than a medieival one but...here we are) as well as a v standard [ medieval silhouette ] of form-fitting bodice with boatneck and flowing skirts below the waist (usually including a long chain or belt at the waist/hips as well), and sleeves that flow outward dramatically from the elbow like [ this ] to various lengths. (the bonus thing she's contributed to astairan fashion is, i think, actually sort of accidental bc i think its just a political statement: and that's a rise in popularity of wearing blue and/or stars as frankly a political statement just bc those're her colors etc and she happened to be queen when roderick took over, so its sort of a symbol now of a free astaira, and since this is all ulatimately a preamble to my thoughts on rosie's dressing standards, i def think rosie does this, too.) another thing eilia does a lot of is sort of...paying a lot of attention to textures: i feel she wears a lot of silk, a lot of velvet, and a lot of diaphonous fabrics as well. you'll def catch her w various transparent veils and such too!

so, w rosie, i think she did a couple things: i think the first thing she popularized, when she first arrived at eilia's court as one of her ladies, was an off-the-shoulder cut, taking eilia's standard cut, but rather than using the standard boat neck, she just...lopped it off altogether like [ this ] bc i do think one of her big focuses when imagining gowns fcomes from thinking in terms of dramatic silhouettes

because of this, i do also think fairly early on she got into sort of...building out dresses w underlayers and with draping and with folding and all sorts of things to produce certain effects, like you'll see on her [ samain/birthday dress ] (and yes this dress was absolutely a splurge -- w the cloth-of-bronze/copper vibes, i imagine it to have been one of @forgottencassandra 's old dresses that rosie took apart and put back together the way she imagined it, since cassandra will often give her some of her old clothes, etc!)

the next trends i think she started actually came from her being inventive about reusing clothes, but making it up in a I MEANT TO DO THAT kinda way so 1) lots of embroidery!!!! i think she did this initially to patch up holes as malconaire became poor and rosie became its seamstress (thanks, valentina!), etc, like imagine if [ these were patches ] how effective that'd be in hiding it as decoration!

an innovation that came even later, from taking one of her mother's old dresses, updating it, and adding literal curtains to form a full skirt (bc again she's imagining dramatic silhouettes), is juxtaposing fabrics like [ this ], taking two toally different textiles that're complementary in one way or another, but also completely different, to make both pop, another kinda riff on eilia's textural choices!

and, 2) more recently, still, lotsa panelling, for when ur reduced to mere scraps and you gotta make a whole dress work outta that! like [ this ].

3) literal actual regional natural motifs!! their jewles are gone...so rosie's bringing back flower crowns and such in a bigggg way! laskdjfkljsdf

i def feel like she partially gets away w this stuff bc 1) she just carries it well and v confidently etc, and 2) she'd already been established as a fashionplate before valentina made them poor but yeah! lkajsdflkjsdkjf

im sure there's other stuff she's done etc but yeah! just some ideas i thought id toss out there!

also she does def wear all kinds of colors, but mostly you'll find her in green and malconaire colors <3

anyway, [ here's ] her pinterest re: wardrobe!

[forgottenrian]

OOC | Rían & Aria

cousin!!!!! awkward meeting this way...jk jk but only bc they met years ago at the ~queensmoot~ where it was even MORE awkward to meet bc he was a ~25 year old getting his ass handed to him by his ~16 year old lil cousin, and getting all his life's hopes crushed under her lil heel in the process alskdjflkdsfj ;DDDDD

no, but this is all v complicated!!!!! i feel like rian is, in theory, an astairan EXPERT!!!!! he's studied every single detail of their culture, history, beliefs his entire life!!!!!! he lives and breathes this stuff!!!! but he's also never, EVER lived here until now and while he may be able to recite every astairan verse ever written, he says it with a varmont accent, and when he dances astairan dances, he does it with the structure and rigidity of instilled by a varmont dancing master, like...he really is in the weirdest position! he's like a scholar of an ancient religion -- you can ask him anything and he knows all the theory!!!!!!!! but he's never experienced any of it and, as a result, he gets a loT of it wrong -- lotsa book smarts, zero street smarts!

anyway, as a result, rian truly believes he'd be great for astaira and that he knows her backwards and forwards but!!! the truth is quite different!!!! and he doesn't really belong here, he doesn't belong in varmont, he doesn't belong ~anyway and he's only just finding that out

anyway, his feelings about the stafford girls are VERY complex!!!!!! on one hand, he was brought up w the ideals of chivalry and such and like!!!!! this is not how you treat ppl!!!!!! and also its a family embarrassment that his kin were declared bastards and he doesn't like that!!!!!! but he also resents them (esp eilia!!!!) for the whole ~queenship thing! he truly believes that he was astaira's best bet and look what happened!!!!!! ~he never would've lost astaira (but then again eilia never would've fed vital info to roderick!!!!!!)

but alsooooooo he threw in w roderick bc he believed what roderick was saying about strength and stability (and bc he wanted revenge shhhh) but then roderick started quite literally burning ppl!!!! and without trials too!!!!!! and so rian's just sat here quite literally going 'my god what have i done' but he sees no way to fix it save to just...keep going and alkjsdkljf SCREAM

[forgottenarthur]

50. Writer's preference - "And what if it is not you?"

The barb stung and Arthur turned away as quickly as if she had struck him.

These walks had become something of a tradition between the Prince and former Princess over the rolling weeks. With the out of doors near unpassable, Arthur's mornings had shifted to a shorter indoor practice before dawn, followed by a brief repast and then a stroll through the Orangery with the Lady Aria. Though they still argued as often as they didn't, there was something free and flowing in these conversations -- a strange sense that no subject was off limits...And that every single one was somehow taboo. It was perhaps true that they had each been raised as royalty, but it seemed their worlds could not have been more different.

Today, the subject had fallen to that all-encompassing theme of his life, the most pressing topic in the empire, and the one least likely ever to be openly addressed: Roderick's line of succession. It was an ache in his gut, this, a hill he had run up all his childhood only to find a sheer rockface confronting him. Now, scrambling for footholds in the brutal cliffside, it was a race to the top against those he loved most -- a climb now far too high to risk the drop. It was success or the death of all meaning. But what was he to do? Throw his siblings from the sides? They too held on by meager fingertips and he could not bear to think of them dashed against the teeth of the unforgiving stone so far below.

Arthur's jaw clenched. He kept her pace, but he no longer looked at her as she spoke; heard her only as if from a great distance. What was there to say? Yet, her last words burned, searing like vinegar in his cuts, and he turned sharply towards her, a rush sounding in his head.

"What? You favor someone else?" he demanded, all effort at bluster or calm stripped away. Surprise seemed to register in his face and, pressing his eyes shut, he shook his head, realizing she meant this only as rhetoric and, with a look of defeat, he sighed; shook his head. "How should I know? It would be the end for me."

He didn't look at her, now, gaze straying upwards towards the gently nodding trees, branches heavy and sagging with fruit. He thought of the tart-sweet of them, tawny and opening with a kind of crack. Fibrous chambers of juice attended the tiny seeds at the center and this, then, was life. Even trees limned their children with sweet cushions against the harsh reality of the world around them. When he laughed, it was a bitter sound.

Sighing, Arthur shook his head. "Aria, I--" but he stopped. He'd not said her name so baldly before and he gestured, helpless, voice trapped within his throat.

Her eyes were dark: not mere chocolate, but something else as if the sea had leaked into them and tossed against stormy shores within her mind. Her face was set, but he could not read it. He searched for something written there, something designed for him to read: he wanted it. He knew the message he wished to read. A very simple message. He wanted to read it again and again, see it roiling within the storm of her eyes. But there was nothing. She was no harbor. She was, perhaps, another deathly drop.

Aria lifted her chin. "Go on."

"I don't know what will happen if my father chooses someone else any more than you do. But I do know I will be a threat to whoever is chosen, simply for having been in the running, and..."

And if it were Edmund who were selected, whom Arthur regarded as the most likely alternative, he would not expect to long outlive his father -- or even his father's choice. Enemies of the House of Calainon had a way of disappearing. Arthur was not altogether certain they even lifted a finger: they were witches, after all. Likely, all they needed do was wish for a thing, and their dark magic did the rest. Edmund might not wish him gone, perhaps...but Amira would not hesitate. He could not help but think that would make for a horrible ending, all the demons of hell rising at her command. His would be a silent end, he had no doubt, yet he knew, too, that if it were by Amira's hand, he would die howling.

If Aria had said something else, Arthur had not heard it. At last, she said: "And what if the Emperor doesn't choose? What happens to us all, then?"

Arthur stopped short, and Aria beside him. "Then it'd be war."

He walked out without another word.

[forgottenamira]

Amira had not cowered in fear at the sound of battle below. Instead, she'd made herself ready, summoning her own household guards, who stood shaking at her doors, and dispatching them to the main gates. "A stone wall may make ten men mighty against ten thousand. Defend that, not these doors." If they break through that, she'd thought. Even a thousand of you at this wooden door would be of little use. Only two she held back, the two she best trusted, and them she sent for her son, to bring him to her, alive and well, whatever the cost.

Next, she'd sent her maids and ladies, alike, scurrying to the armory, ordered to arm every fighting man, and all the Varmont (but not Astairan) servants after that, and further to (subtly) ensure that they had control of the armory and not any of the Astairans within the castle. Next, with all her household dispatched, she'd come to the room where her poisons were kept, and she'd wetted the dagger she always secreted upon her person in them. If it came to that, any who touched her son, any who struck her down would die in agony. But it did not come to that.

Roderick had given over an entire floor of the palace to housing his wives and their younger children. Since Amira had but one child, it meant she kept a whole wing of the palace to herself over which she presided, indisputed queen. A broad, round tower, steeped in ancient stained glass windows, trailed its way up and up and up to meet Roderick's second wife. She kept her quarters still and quiet and darkened in velvety silence. Amira had learned at her grandmother's knee the significance of maintaining an atmosphere -- therein was the start of one's own iconography. She had chosen a play of light and dark, of white incensed smoke wafting to heaven against a backdrop of silent night. The moon, every Calainon (children of the eclipse) knew, was mightier than the sun, and the true Eternal Flame was hers to keep. Amira was the last High Priestess of Calainon. She did not intend to let anyone forget it.

Amira had used her tactics to make those around her fear her; Godfrey to garner their friendship; Tristan not at all. Amira believed she had made the best choice. Her servants did not include a single Astairan, each man and woman who aspired to wear Amira's livery hand-selected by the queen, herself. They, too, were creatures of quiet, moving soft as shadow, chosen for discretion and for patience and, yes, even for cunning, dangerous though perhaps it might be. So long as she kept being on her side in their best interest, they would always serve her. She did not count on faith or on kindness to instill loyalty. Those things could turn. She counted on ambition.

This was her style of leadership. Roderick chose to inflame passions: the lofty faith in a fiery god, half of his own creation; Marian had chosen softness as her weapon, her kindness slicing slick into wounds he had inflamed; but Amira was a realist. Priestess though she was, she offered no red deity to burn away all sorrow, for as one who had tended the Eternal Flame all her life, she knew no fire had that power; woman though she was she did not showcase any gentleness, for she'd cut that out of her heart long ago: it had never served her in a world so cruel. No, Amira offered achievement, rise; she offered money and she offered power. She promised swift justice to those who served her, and to those who hampered her, alike. Life was hard. Amira Varmont was harder. She forgot no slight, no favor; she saw and she schemed and she struck.

Her presence chamber smelled of the great incense of Kolchis -- a warm and stimulating swirl of spices: pepper, spikenard, cinnamon, aloeswood, ambergris, musk, frankincense, myrrh, balsam, indigo, dyers’ herbs, lapis lazuli, fustic, and storax (with her own person perfumed in pine, ivy, bay leaves, myrtle, and rosemary) -- her stone walls and stained glass windows draped in heavy, dark fabrics to keep out the cold as best they could. The wide, still room included a dais and a set of three great chairs -- her husband's, her own, her son's -- as any presence chamber ought, canopied and draped and displaying the ancient arms of Calainon for all the world to see crowned with those of Varmont. It was a room for power. Her bedchamber she had specifically designed to entice her husband, draped all in silks and scented with her own perfume, cool and sultry. But she had other rooms, too.

One, in particular, to which only she, herself, had the key: a room none, save those of Calainon blood, she ever permitted to enter. And it was this room that they at present occied. This room was contained in one of the towers boasted by Amira's wing of the castle, and boasted views of practically all of Stafford. It was also the brightest in her wing, save perhaps her bed chamber, bearing no stained glass, but clear, floor-to-ceiling tracery windows, often opened to let in fresh breezes, so that the room was surprisingly bright and airy given its mistress, and comfortable furniture (claimed from its pervious occupant) proliferated. It was, after all, the only room where she might be her truest self.

Here plants everywhere grew in wild array so that the whole room burst with deadly life: purple belladonna, white-budding hemlock, exuberant foxglove and leafy mandrake, spotted hensbane and breathtaking oleander, trumpeting datura, and many more. Poisonous plants, Amira found, bore the most exquisite blooms, all bursting with lively color and fantastical shapes. Yet, for all that each of these plants was poison, each had its use in medicine, as well, and she nourished them, each, herself. How many of Edmund's hurts had she soothed with mandrake or datura; how many of her own?

Generally, Amira preferred to busy herself with her gardening when ensconced here, but today her focus was on her son. It was in a riot that the line of god-kings had ended, yet in that tumult, Amira had triumphed in the fall of the leaders. She and Godfrey had opened the gates to them and, when it was done, she, herself, had plucked one of the god-king's own silver platters from his kitchens, and used it to bear his still-bleeding head out to Roderick. It had been their first meeting.

Coming to Edmund's side and, with him gazing out the wide window (and failing to note her brother), the queen placed a hand upon his back. "Your father always goes too far." She paused, her hand falling away as she came closer to the window, gazing with curiosity upon the destruction so far below. "That is why he owns half the world. And that is why his doom shall plunge us all into war."

But Edmund knew all of that. It was not what he was asking. Settling into one of the chairs, Amira tilted her head. "If the cause of this upheaval truly is some misplaced affection for that woman, then she is a threat...But threats can be made assets, too." She paused. "As you know, I have long...fought the notion that your father ought to wed that useless piece," she said with a wave of her hand, referring to Eilionora. "Now? Perhaps he ought to."

Amira did not enjoy poisoning anyone...well, on occasion there was a certain satisfaction in it, but when it came to lethal poisonings, no. She had never gleefully ended a life by her own hand, only ever grimly. In an ideal world, she would not have killed anyone, but she'd learned long ago that this world was far from that. She did not regret the deaths, either, not truly, not when they'd brought her where she was, today. But she had wished to avoid killing Eilionora. It did not seem wise in this climate -- yet, hperhaps that was the only option now left. But she was really an innocent in this, besides. Of all her husband's brides, Eilionora very clearly wished for his hand the least. But if he must wed her, then she must die.

Amira glanced down at her nails in a somewhat dismissive gesture. He didn't seem able to beguile this foreign queen. Strange that he could conquer twelve nations, but not a single girl. But which of Roderick's previous brides had not chosen him before ever he chose her? She supposed they each had made the way for him too easy in the past. Amira smiled softly. She, herself, had till now been the wife he had had to fight most to claim, having had to change the very fabric of law to take her to him. But she had been all too willing to take his hand.

"The era of this girl's choice must be at an end. An Emperor may give commands and we, his denizens, must see it done. The integrity of the empire stands in the balance. If a rabble can overthrow your father here, then the rest of the world will learn that they might do the same." She'd seen the truth of that for herself in Kolchis. "They must not learn that lesson. Even Roderick Varmont cannot best a twelve-sided foe. One way or another, this threat must be quashed, and without delay. It is your future we are speaking of."

Standing, again, Amira crossed once more to the window, turning to look her son in the eye, she smiled softly. "This would-be queen has a sister. What is a hostage for, if we do not use her? I think it high time we give this Astairan wench something to fear. All Roderick's brides of the past chose him: it is Eilionora's turn to do the same."

A Game of Thrones | Edmund & Amira

Edmund watched from his window as the peasants finally dispersed from the gates -- the threat of the imperial guard finally enough to placate their revolt. Form his vantage point, Edmund had not seen that the rider who came safely through the gates had been his uncle.

Where once this would have been common place -- it was not unusual for the locals to voice their discontent with Roderick Varmonnt -- this was the first time it had roused Edmund's attention. He knew exactly what they were angry. And having had relationships of his own with Astairans, he could certainly understand why.

He turned from the window to see the arrival of his mother, "Do you he's gone too far?"

Edmund had not spoken to Rose about the announcement his father had made at the ball. When he saw her at the palace the next day, both knew it was neither the time nor the place, but he could read the expression on her face well enough to know that it had angered her.

It had angered them all.

[thelongforgottenrealm]

RIAN STAFFORD. STEWARD OF LORCAN / RICHARD ARMITAGE

♛ Age: 35 ♛ Relationships: Garbhan Stafford (brother), Eilionora Stafford (rival/cousin), Aria Stafford, Siobhan Stafford (cousins), Guinevere Varmont (target), Aine Lorcan (target/charge), Eabha Calleary, Cormac Calleary, Finn Calleary, Fiona Calleary, Laoise Lorcan, Aisling Lorcan, Caoimhe Lorcan (charges), Padraig Lorcan (rival/enemy)

rian's father was domnhall's older brother and, as the eldest, he always assumed that he would one day be king

when he lost the trials, he took his family, left astaira and did not return until it was for his brother's funeral

rian and his brother, garbhan, were both raised with the intention that one of them would be king following domnhall and not one of his daughters

the brunt of this pressure was placed upon rian who dedicated his life to learning everything he could to one day take his rightful place

however, he could only learn so much from his father and never gained the love or the respect of the people -- so when it was time for rian and his brothers to face the trials, they both lost to their cousin eilionora

again fleeing from astaira in their disgrace, rian's father brought his sons back to the varmont occupied country they had once fled to

rian's father was enraged and disappointed in his sons, who had both failed him -- their relationship never recovered and he went to his grave never having forgiven them

after this, rian was out for revenge against astaira and he aided roderick in his campaign -- lending any and all information that he knew he could pass along

in return, roderick has placed him in charge of lorcan

it is far from the throne of astaira, but rian is pleased to be lord of one of the most impressive estates in all of astaira

does know the lore that there is a secret stronghold beneath the castle but has not been able to find it and the lorcan girls swear they know nothing about it (he's unconvinced)

determined that lord lorcan will NEVER return and take this from him

has designs to convince his wife, aine, to marry him so he might keep control of it even after her son comes of age

he also hopes that his loyalty to roderick will one day earn him the stewardship of astaira when roderick inevitably moves on to another land

but this is not rian's only plan -- while he is less hopeful of its success, he also has designs on roderick's eldest, who may one day become empress of half the known world ...

TAKEN BY KATE AA.