#armorica story

[armoricaroyalty]

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author's note: theo they could never make me hate you

If you'd like to know more about how I plan to handle cancer as a subject (and a list of the tags I'll be using), click here.

Transcript under the cut.

On their pre-dinner tour of the house and the grounds, Frederick told her that the room under the eaves had once belonged to his father. He had spoken of the King with unmistakable pride and warmth, and the obvious affection in his voice had made Emily sick with anxiety. He idolized his father; how would he cope with news of the divorce?

All that worry, wasted. The King had less than a year to live; all else was moot.

EMILY | ...Frederick? FREDERICK | ... EMILY | Do you, um...do you want to talk about it? FREDERICK | No. EMILY | ... EMILY | I can't imagine what you're feeling right now, but I'm here to listen if you— FREDERICK | I SAID I DIDN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT! EMILY | ... FREDERICK | ... EMILY | ... FREDERICK | I shouldn't have yelled. EMILY | ...it's okay. FREDERICK | No, it's not. I'm sorry. [ exhales unsteadily ] ...I'm going for a walk. EMILY | Oh...do you want me to come with? FREDERICK | No. FREDERICK | I need to be alone. FREDERICK | ...

Standing there with the house at his back, Freddy reached for his phone the way his father used to reach for a pack of cigarettes. It wasn't a considered action; it wasn't something he thought about at all. He was seeking comfort, seeking contact. He opened his recent text conversations and tapped the phone icon to begin a call.

[ shower running ] [ phone ringing ] THEO | Shit! Shit, shit, shit— [ phone ringing ] THEO | Hello? ...yeah, I just got out of the shower. What's up? THEO | ...is everything okay? You sound...upset. THEO | Sure, I can talk...what's going on, Freddy?

[armoricaroyalty]

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Roberts Apartment, Norrington Palace, Windenburg

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Thank you to @armoricaroyalty​ for this little collaboration - my first time hosting sims! 😊 I’ve really enjoyed working with someone and getting to know Jacques and Vivi a bit better. You can think of this as a prologue to Chapter Three 😊

Their post with Polo match can be found here ✨

Transcript under the cut

Keep reading

[madebysimblr]

Random Line WIP Tag *~.~~.*.~~.~*

got tagged by @armoricaroyalty & @sirianasims :3 thank u sm.

from posts I have in my Q:

"Cut." "No-no wait! Just let her get into it!"

from a future event that hopefully will happen by the end of the year:

"I did what I thought was best. For all of us. And I was right."

and from something so far into the future that it's open to change lol watch this spot:

"Why didn't you tell me??" "You would have left." "Well DUH."

i did a lil extra lul don't mind me. I tag @daniigh0ul @lynzishell @colourfullsims and @nilonne (if u already done it i tag you again tag ur it)

[sanctus-ingenium]

I have a few questions about the world and other stuff. I’m becoming obsessed with Inver now.

1. What type of entity is the Red King? Do they have a set form or can they change it? What is their personality like? Do they have a human-esque form that you’ve ever drawn before?

2. Are werewolves/lycans considered a type of fae? Or do they simply just worship the fae you call The Immortal Hound? I know they came from Armorica, but I’m curious about their origins. Are they magical or evolutionary?

(If answering any of these spoil any of the books, feel free not to answer)

hiiii thank you for asking!!

1 - The Red King is a barrow lord. There's not strict hierarchy (or strict rules at all) about faeries, but a barrow lord is a faery famous enough to be known by their name & to have attracted many followers and superstitious legends. Barrow lords are usually referred to euphemistically and not by their name (i.e why we don't say 'Puck', we say The Lord of Lies) to avoid attracting their attention. The Ruad itself was named after the Red King who traditionally holds dominion over that entire forest. Sometimes it's called the Red Forest, but that refers strictly to the king and not the actual colour of the forest. The Red King is considered to be in direct opposition to the Immortal Hound, they're ancient enemies.

Until recently, the Red King was considered to be the highest & final authority in all of Inver. Although stories and legends always crop up around the forest, there have been no confirmed firsthand accounts of the Red King in almost a century.

Followers of the Red King were once numerous, but in the 1860s the practise has waned as the Immortal Hound's followers gain more and more power. Small sects remain, particularly in communities close to the edge of the Ruad. The Sons of the Stag/"Stagsons" criminal gang in Invergorken city are adherents of the Red King, and operate under the assumption that the King of Inver's laws are false, because he's not the true king (this is not a valid defense in court).

The Red King is emblematic of Prey. In most stories he takes the form of a red deer with the rotting head of a stag rival entangled in his antlers (that's his crown). Followers of the stag are bound to his core principles of cold, hard survival and fighting for their lives; prey animals get no respite if they show any signs of weakness, and are often more violent and dangerous than any predator, because in every fight, their life hangs in the balance, and not just their hunger, and the Red King is the prey victorious.

Famously holding humanity in utter contempt, the Red King does not take a humanoid form, though some legends of green men are occasionally ascribed to the Red King.

2 - The werewolves are considered to be humans which have been given the ability to become beasts; not faeries of their own accord but definitely in commune with the Immortal Hound (who is a barrow lord). They don't all worship the Immortal Hound (as you'll probably see..) because lycanthropy is hereditary. If your parents were lycanthropes you probably will be as well, but you share a werewolf form with them - whatever werewolf your dad turned into, your werewolf form will look identical, because it is dictated in part by your own physical qualities and in part by a manifestation of your family's pact with the Immortal Hound. Size, physical power, triggering moon phase - these are determined by the terms of the pact your ancestor made (often under the purview of the monarchy, so naturally the higher ranking nobles have the best werewolf traits

So like anybody can make a pact with a faery (if the faery gives enough of a shit to accept), usually the human gets some knowledge in return, mostly about spellcrafting (this is what the title 'witch' refers to in Inver). Technically this means that the werewolves are just witches with very specialised pacts, but not a lot of people think of them that way (Félix is not in this category, he's something else).

Usually 'werewolf' is an umbrella term for anybody in pact with the Immortal Hound, but 'lycanthrope' refers solely to the family line 'body transforming into a big canine beastie' type of werewolf. A 'fleshwolf' is the other type, they do not physically transform but wear the flesh of the Immortal Hound like power armour. The pacts of some lycanthropes stipulate that they can bite someone to turn them into a fleshwolf (fun fact)

[nexility-sims]

𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄'𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 / ❛ boy crazy ❜ part 1 (@armoricaroyalty)

❝ The Lover's Gala was the Armorican Queer Front's biggest annual event and 2044 was the 25th Anniversary. The organization's communications team had spent months putting out stories about the gala and the celebrities and members of the royals family expected to attend, trying without much success to turn the event into a major cultural major. Overnight, Princess Zofia (and her new boyfriend) blew them all out of the water. It was only his second time in Armorica, and the first time they'd appeared in public together since the funeral. It was only natural that they landed on the front page of every newspaper in the country, the gala (and the work done by the AQF) a vague footnote after paragraphs upon paragraphs breathlessly speculating about the intimate details of the lovebirds' long-distance relationship. "

♥ shoutout to gabe for pitching this very fun idea, as well as for the title card, the contextual prose, and, of course, my beloved daughter miss zofia augusta st. fleur !!!!!!! she's my favorite barbie doll & has been for a long time :^) i guess i love and adore my son as well, but nonetheless. this is special in part because it's the first time i've written them speaking outside of a parody piece that will never see the light of day. anyway, enjoy this super premature dialogue-inclusive, full-color sneak peak of Them™

PART 2

TRANSCRIPT:

{Light music, overlapping conversations}

[Z] It’s gotten so long since December!

[R] Anything for you.

[Z] Anything at all? Promise?

[R] On my life.

[Z] So ... Can we leave then?

[R] Well, that’s actually your call—

[Z] Okay, let’s leave right now!

[R] We’ve been here for only a short while, Fia.

[R] Even less if you count the “restroom break.”

[Z] That was worth it, and no one even noticed.

{Knocking}

[Z] Occupied!

[Z] Anyway, Hannah’s still here. Even Pidge. Et cetera. We can go.

[R] They walked out ten minutes ago—Hannah with Hugo, Margaret following Arthur. All through a servant’s door. Very conspicuous.

[Z] Did they? Huh. So they did.

{Rui laughs}

[Z] Look, if we leave now, it’ll be perfect. It’s barely nine o’clock. We can go back to the city, change clothes, go dancing—!

{Imaginary club music thudding} [Z&R V.O.] Party all night—bet you don’t believe me, but we actually do have good clubs [Rui snickers] or, like, one I like a lot—then I get a cheeseburger—[no pickles]—right! Oh, remember that poor cashier in Nakawe? You sure told him. [“Plain” means plain.] My hero! Anyway, then you carry me and my sore feet to bed. Ideal night.

[Z] You can keep this on, actually. Maybe ditch the jacket.

[R] Undo another button or two?

[Z] Of course. [Soft sigh] You get me.

[Z] The rose is also a must.

[R] It’s for you—a keepsake.

[Z] Aw. Our first appearance and our first Valentine’s Day ...

[R] A sign, probably. Meant to be.

[Z] Romance novel worthy. I’d read it.

[R] The boxes are checked: excitement, fate, many graphic—

[Z] No! Erotic. {Repeats in Armorican} Memorize that one.

{Murmuring}

[R] Do you think I should’ve worn a tie this evening?

[Z] What?

[R] If we were home, obviously not. But, Armorica is ... People here seem to care a lot about unnecessary things. So, was that a misstep?

[Z] {Laughs}

[Z]  Pfft. Hugo didn’t even have his jacket on.

[R] {Scoff} I am not Hugo.

[R] I want to make a good impression—on your family, really. This visit is different. They’re all, for better or worse, paying attention to me.

[Z] Are you kidding? Mission accomplished. [Z] Trust me, they love you! Now, come on, let’s go already—!

[armoricaroyalty]

TRH the Duke and Duchess of Laye are in Caledonya today for the wedding of the Princess Imperial and Viscount Bridger. This is the first time the Duke and Duchess have traveled internationally on behalf of the King since their wedding in August.

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Wedding of The Princess Imperial and Viscount Bridger: Foreign Royals Arrive

Foreign Royals from all over the sim continent have begun to arrive at St. Peter's Abbey.

The first of the foreign royals to arrive are Their Royal Highness' The Duke and Duchess of Lockwood. Her Royal Highness looks lovely in a dark blue lace dress and matching fascinator. This is TRH first visit to Caledonya and TIM hope to continue a friendship with Albany. @albanyroyals

The next to arrive are Their Royal Highness' The Crown Prince and Princess of Esha. Her Royal Highness dazzled in a green dress and matching fascinator. This is Their Royal Highness' first visit to Caledonya and we certainly hope it won't be the last. @crownsofesha

Following The Crown Princely couple are Their Royal Highness' The Duke and Duchess of Laye. Duchess Vivienne wore a lovely purple dress with a white fascinator with dark blue accents. This is again TRH first visit and TIM hope to further relationships with Armorica. @armoricaroyalty

Next to arrive is Their Royal Highness The Countess of Chafford and The Viscountess of Bellavista. The Countess looks gorgeous is a dark purple dress and The Viscountess sparkled in a dark green dress. Another new royal visitor to the Empire. TIM hope again to continue friendships with Kindelria. @houseoflennoxx

Next to arrive from Eltonia are Their Majesty's King Frederick and Queen Elenore. Queen Elenore looked gorgeous in a dark blue silk dress and fascinator. TM are friends and ally's of the Empire.@miyuzarry

Last of the foreign royals to arrive and distant cousins of the bride are Their Imperial Majesties The Emperor and Empress of Alexandria. Empress Regina dazzled in a light blue dress with a matching fascinator. @thealexandrianroyals

[fallstaticexit]

One of my simblr bingo prompts is to message someone who's made me swoon and tbh I don't even know who else I could reach out to since your take on Nancy (and Vanessa!!! and their whole relationship!!!) owns my entire shit forever....i'm listening to my sad, despairing love song playlist and having Emotions. I cannot believe you made me think of NANCY LANDGRAAB while listening to Heart of Chambers by Beach House which has been my go-to sad song forever

Omg, Thank you so much 🥹✨💜 high praise considering how I adore your writing and armorica story! Also, I gave that song a listen and wow it’s so Nancy and Vanessa coded too!

[myddrinmob]

Coeden Onnen

“Why do you want to be a knight so much?” Merlin asks him. The source of a dream can be illuminating, in its own way. Lancelot, behind him, answers in a low tone. Something of melancholy sits upon his tongue. “When I was a boy, my village was attacked by Frankish raiders - God alone knows how they had gotten so far west. I imagine the village must be gone now.” He pauses, and Merlin turns to see him fidgeting with the leather cuffs around his wrists. “They were slaughtered where they stood. My father, my mother. Everyone. I alone escaped, further west, to my mother’s people in Armorica, and then, when I was ready, to here. I have devoted my life to the art of combat, and now -” he shrugs, “- everything I fought for. Wasted.�� Not wasted, Merlin thought. Such skills were never wasted. But he saw  that there was no way to convince Lancelot of that now. “I give you my word,” he said, prompting Lancelot to raise his head. “Whatever it takes, I will make this right.”

Chapter 5! Our boy Lance has arrived! *Insert celebatory horm noise here*

The Lancelot episode is one of my favourites, and is the beggining of Arthur amassing his knights who are noble in spirit rather than blood - something that we'll come back to in later episodes, and which I intend to give a different take on than the show's.

Gaius: The First Code of Camelot states that only those of noble blood can serve as a knight. Uther created the knights to protect this kingdom from those who wished to destroy it. He knew he would have to trust each of his knights with his life. So he chose them from the families that had sworn allegiance to him.

(I have Opinions on how medieval-fantasy stories deal with noble class - I started writing it out here, but it got so long that I thought it would be better off as it's own post. So keep an eye out for that! For now, suffice it to say that it's going to change.)

The other thing I'm doing a bit differently compared to the show, highlighted in this episode, is the anti-magic competancies of a kingdom apparently famous for them.

Uther: You must prepare your knights, Arthur. Arthur: Have faith, Father. We'll be ready.

Are you, though?

Look, I love swords as much as the next bi, but a suitable weapon for every senario they are not. You want to fight a huge, aerial creature? With a short-range weapon?

Like, they didn't even go for greatswords. I'm just saying.

You want something with reach, and you want something that can control its movement. Given that griffins aren't real, and that we don't really have winged animals of that size anyway, I chose to think of it as if they were fighting a boar that was particularly aeorodynamic. And for boars, you use spears, and you use crowd control - usually dogs.

Now, whether or not Uther and the rest of his retinue have ever fought a griffin specifically, we do know that they've fought dragons. They were so good at it that most think dragons extinct! A griffin is just a small dragon that doesn't breath fire - an easier dragon, really, a cakewalk. Even allowing for most of the actual fighting force being made up of men too young to have seen the Purge, the tactics would still be known by those in charge - it would surely be part and parcel of any training Uther put Arthur through, as much as would be relevant at least.

So, if we assume that these people can at least make an educated guess as to the best way to combat the griffin, and we assume ideal tactics match what would work with irl large mammals -

“And a spear for each man,” Arthur says, mind already whirring, thinking how to best defeat this novel enemy. “For the beast will likely not close with us.” Uther nods. “You see the shape of our attack already. As you prepare the knights, so I shall prepare the armsmen, the hunters, and the falconers.” “The falconers? Whatever for?” “You said it yourself, Arthur. This beast has wings. Your knights will have the best chance of killing it if we can remove that advantage. Those that work in the royal mews were invaluable once in our eradication of dragons. Weighted nets, game hounds, mimic whistles. And for the guardsmen, bows and buckets of thick tar.” “You hope that we can lure it, and then ground it.”

Spears for everyone in that courtyard, and nets for controlling its movement. I kept the, frankly stupid, decision by Uther later to send the knights out unsupported and in the dark to finish the job - he is still a man of high hubris, convinced that there is nothing magic can make that he can not defeat. But that first fight needed changing up.

Two other minor descisions, about the two I think are really the stars of this episode:

Gwen's changed role in this ep is really a continuation of her new role in the season - Merlin's best buddy, and co-conspiritor in shennanigans. She isn't going to sit around while her friends run headlong into danger. No sir. She's going to go with them of course, nervous but brave. Is there going to be fighting? Well, later canon episodes show that someone (Morgana?) has taught her at least the basics with a sword. I went with a bow this time, mainly as a salute to the very medieval British tradition of peasants being damn excellent with bows - sometimes it was a legal imperitive to practice so many hours a year, specifically to make sure that the levy in wartime was as good as can be.

The other thing Gwen gets in this ep is -

Merlin speaks, in a manner Gwen has never heard, does not know, but which tugs against her like a half forgotten childhood memory.

A clue for you all, which I'll not be explaining for a while yet.

Onward"

You may have noticed in the flavour text at the top of this post a brief line about the Franks, and about Armorica. This links in with Lancelot's backstory, as I've decided to construct it.

The character of Lancelot is from the French & German versions of the Arthurian mythos, with a recurring spot among the Dutch, and doesn't really enter the English canon until later. It seemed right to keep him French, or as French as you can get before France is even around. The Vulgate has him as from "in the borderland between Gaul and Brittany", which I like, and helps lay down some new and interesting threads.

The Franks did indeed move from east to west during their various conquests of what was once Gaul, and I imagine that Lancelot's village fell around or just after the fall of the Kingdom of Soissons in 486 - the rest of former Gaul, save Brittany and Septimania, would fall during his lifetime.

Having this early nod to the Franks - Germanic peoples who migrated into and conquered much of the former Roman Empire, doesn't that sound familiar - will help me put more substantial bits in later. It seems right - in a show that talked a big game about a Golden Age TM, and what aspects of pervious ages (Uther/Romans, druids/Celts) to bring forward - that we should consider the real world changes that were happening during the theoretical years of Arthur's life.

As for Brittany - for those who don't know, Brittany=Armorica, the most celtic part of France (they still have morris dancing I think), and a destination for migrants from Britain during this period. I imagine the reverse was also true. Either way, places like Cornwall kept trading with Armorica, bits of the Iberirian penninsula, and further still.

(Cornwall is one of those weird places that got more Roman after the Romans left, in part due to the continued stability of their trade. Grass is always greener, I guess.)

I have no idea if this was deliberate on the part of the writers, but when they made Igraine of Cornwall into Igraine du Bois, they opened a rather neat posibility: the du Bois family, established in Armorica, from a long line of Romanised Gauls, powerful enough to put themselves forward as nobles if they weren't such already, emmigrating to Cornwall in part or full sometime after 410.

I wonder if Lancelot ever met any?

[bdslab]

Thinking about “resolute Gauls” again cause like- literally picture any scene where they talk about themselves and it just does NOT have the impact indomitable does like come ON “Why do you keep complaining about them using resolute I thought the characters almost never say it” it’s the one used AT THE START OF EVERY ALBUM and they don’t have a consistent alternative used when the characters say the line I also still honestly feel like “resolute” misses the point of the series kind of significantly. A story that’s written just after WWII by a Jewish man who had to flee his homeland about a group of people who have the power to NEVER be taken down by an invading army? “Resolute” is firm and loyal and stubborn; but it’s not infallible. “Indomitable”, “irreducible” those words mean that no matter WHAT you do you can’t take them down, they can’t be beaten. THAT’s the point. That there’s some little village in Armorica that will NEVER be conquered It’s not really about how hard and steadfast they are against the invasion. Just look at them! Fighting back is more of a daily chore and form of entertainment than anything else. It’s about “hey Caesar you’ll never get us all and you can’t stop us from living our way of life” sometimes it’s even “we’ll even mock you on your home turf to remind you that we’re still here.” That’s really the point, that they’re still there and they’re never going away. Sure you can describe people who act that way and hold that mindset as “resolute” in real life. But in real life we don’t have magic potions. Real life isn’t a world where the little guy really and truly could be indomitable against the entire Roman army.

[trentonsimblr]

My fave would be power couple Tristen and Eleanor 😍

Yessss! I still have no idea what their AU story would look like aside from their family but once I do I will either share it all as a text post OR if I have the time/energy I may make something similar to the Archenor AU. BUT here’s a lil scene of them.

Setting: Canon story (sorry no AU power couple convo for this one), Takes place sometime between Lauryn getting pregnant with baby 5 and before she goes on her extended vacation to Armorica. Tristen, Lauryn, and the girls are in Trenton for a birthday (either Emmett or Payton, you can decide lol). Eleanor is chilling off to the side with a sleeping Bebe Aubrey and Tristen walks over to her.

—

Tristen: How are you holding up?

Eleanor (in a sarcastic/snappy tone): I’m doing great, never better. Raising three kids while learning how to run a county someday and making sure I always appear perky and put together is a piece of cake.

Tristen: I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.

Eleanor: No, no, I should apologize. I shouldn’t have been so snippy with you. I’ve just been so overwhelmed, I can’t seem to ever catch a break.

Tristen: Tell me about it.

(Tristen looks over at Lauryn playing with the kids, she seems to be enjoying herself)

Tristen: This is the happiest I’ve seen Lauryn in awhile. This…pregnancy, was unexpected and is taking a toll on her.

Eleanor: She and the girls are welcome to stay as long as they’d like. Maybe an extended vacation would be good for her.

Tristen: Thanks, I’ll suggest it to her. Though she did mention wanting to visit an old friend.

(Tristen and Eleanor are quite for a bit, Tristen seems deep in thought)

Tristen: Have you ever thought about giving it all up?

Eleanor: All the time. I wonder if I’d be happier if I wasn’t a princess, wasn’t the heir. Would my marriage be in a better place or would Ryland and I get divorced. Would I live here in Trenton or explore the world. There’s so many things I wish I could do but I’m stuck in this life.

Tristen: You’re not stuck, it’s your sense of obligation. I feel the same way. I just want to take Lauryn and the kids as far away from Druzar as I can. Somewhere we can relax and be a happy family.

Eleanor: What obligation is holding you back?

Tristen: My obligation to the Druzian citizens and the promise of a brighter future. I’m the only one of my brothers that knows how to deal with our father…most of the time.

Eleanor: Your father’s actions aren’t your responsibility nor your burden to bear.

[armoricaroyalty]

Andre’s promises weren’t worth much, but he had never intentionally misled her. (x)

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author's note. :^)

Leonor is, as always, @nexility-sims's wonderful character! She's the star character of her current story.

Transcript under the cut.

[ clock ticking ] ANDRE | ...please don't cry. ANDRE | I'm sorry, darling but it's just not possible. ANDRE | They'll be here tomorrow. Even if you left now... ANDRE | [ voice breaking ] D'you think I don't want you here? ANDRE | This is going to be the most difficult thing I've ever done, and...I wish I didn't have to do it without you. ANDRE | I wish you were here. ANDRE | I wish I weren't alone. ANDRE | And after everything I put them through before.... [ sighs ] I wish I didn't have to do this to them again. ANDRE | I love you, Leo...I love you so much more than I can say. ANDRE | [ sighs ] I should go...it's been a long day. I'll see you soon, okay? ANDRE | I promise.

[the-lancasters]

Royal Wedding of Robert and Alexandra Part Two, Windenburg

Thank you to @armoricaroyalty @trentonsimblr and @officalroyalsofpierreland for sending your sims to the wedding! 😁

Previous| Beginning  | Next

Transcript under the cut

Karen: Hello and welcome to INNs live coverage of the royal wedding between Prince Robert and Lady Alexandra Sinclair.

Today is the culmination of a proper royal love story. It all started at another royal wedding - between the Prince’s brother Crown Prince Charles and Lady Alexandra’s best friend Princess Victoria.

Over the past four years, they had managed to keep their relationship under the radar until the couple was spotted walking hand in hand through central Windenburg. Lady Alexandra was then invited to attend The Queens annual carol service at Lancaster Cathedral - a clear sign of approval from the Royal family.

They announced their engagement to much joy five months ago and since then, the countdown to the wedding of the year began, with announcements of wedding details followed closely by royal watchers.

We now go to our correspondent at Windenburg Cathedral, Marissa how is the atmosphere out there?

Marissa: Thank you Karen - the excitement out here is high, waiting for the wedding party to arrive. Guests have been arriving over the last 30 minutes or so, from politicians, friends of the couple, to organisations that Prince Robert is a patron of.

We have some family arriving now, the Elderly Princess Amelia, supported by her sons, Prince Arthur and Prince Frederick, along with their families. Princess Amelia, the Kings Aunt, is currently the oldest living member of the Royal Family.

Her husband passed away 17 years the, but she still lives in the home that she was gifted by her brother King Edward II. Prince Arthur still does engagements on behalf of the Crown, but his brother Prince Frederick now lives mostly as a private citizen.

Exiting a car now is the Duke and Duchess of Laughton

They have stopped to speak with Prince Frederick, and his wife Lady Frances Atherton. For those unfamiliar, the Duke and Prince Fredrick both went to school with the King, and the Duke is a member of the privy council, a group of the Kings closest advisors.

I have here with me a former co-worker of Lady Alexandra’s - Keeley, thank you for talking to us on this very special day.

Keeley: You are welcome Marissa

Marissa: What was Alexandra like as a coworker? Were you close?

Keeley: Oh absolutely! She was super fun to work with, and we had girls lunches all the time.

Marissa: You worked together when Robert and Alexandra first met yes?

Keeley: I remember when she first met him - totally gone for him, I mean - heart eyes all over. She was obsessed. I'm not surprised we all ended up here - only that it took so long!

Marissa: So there you have it - love from the very beginning!

Now we are starting to see some foreign arrivals to the Cathedral –

getting out of the car now are Their Royal Highnesses Prince Oliver and Princess Hortense, the Duke & Duchess of Rothsey. The Princess is looking beautiful in a red gown and traditional tartan while Prince Oliver is wearing a traditional tartan kilt

Here comes Their Royal Highnesses Princess Eleanor, and Prince Ryland, the Princess and Prince of Westburg, dressed in Trenton purple for the occasion.

Princess Eleanor is wearing the delicate Danielle Bandeau tiara, commonly worn at significant overseas events by both the Princess and her mother Queen Elizabeth.

Their Royal Highnesses Prince Jacques and Vivienne, Duke and Duchess of Laye have now arrived at the Cathedral representing Armorica.

The Duchess is a close friend of Princess Margaret and made a very public visit to Illyria during Fashion week, attending many shows and parties with the Princess. There was no confirmation if the Duchess’ young son or husband travelled with her during that trip.

--

Karen: Here with us in the studio is Royal correspondent Miles Hightower, who has covered the royal family for over thirty years - Welcome Miles

Miles: Thank you for having me

Karen: And welcome Nancy Fortuna, author of the best selling book “King George: A Life of Service”

Nancy: Great to be here!

Karen: Miles, you have seen many a royal wedding in your time covering the royals

Miles: I certainly have! I was outside the cathedral when His Majesty married then-Lady Elizabeth Lyons. Weddings are such a celebratory occasion and a great chance for the public to participate in such an important family moment too. While Prince Robert is not going to inherit, there has always been fascination with “the Spare” and their wife and children.

Nancy: King George’s reign has been all about continuing the House of Lancaster and making sure its stable for generations to come so I'm sure he is thrilled that another of his children is getting married.

Miles: His dual role as monarch and father cannot be understated. A father to the nation and to his own children who will undoubtedly follow in his footsteps in making their own families

Karen: Princess Margaret doesn’t seem in any hurry to settle down

Nancy: Sources say that the King is very supportive of the Princesses choices, letting her move into Kensington Palace and strike out on her own

Miles: Ah she's young - once she finds the right man, she will settle

[liminalpsych]

Geoffrey of Monmouth: They attacked with several thousand men, and the other side had multiple thousands of men, and all but a few hundred were slain on both sides, so another person went and raised some more thousands of men from the other side of the island, and...

Me: ...you have written this sort of battle multiple times for every few generations or so. How are there any people left in Britain at all??

Geoffrey of Monmouth, blithely: "Maximianus had finally gathered up such a great host of men that he believed he would be able to subjugate all of Gaul. However, he put aside his warlike spirit for a time until the realm he had already captured was secure and he was able to repopulate it with Britons. And so he made an edict that one hundred thousand common men from the island of Britain should be mustered and report to him. Furthermore, he demanded thirty thousand soldiers as protection for those who were to remain in Armorica. Once he had done these things, he distributed these men all throughout the lands of the realm of Armorica, thus creating a second Britain..."

Me: ...HOW many?? What even was the population of Britain in the... *checks notes* 4th century?

Wikipedia: "At the end of the fourth century, it had an estimated population of 3.6 million, of whom 125,000 consisted of the Roman army and their families and dependents. The urban population of Roman Britain was about 240,000 people at the end of the fourth century."

...Oh, okay then. I guess.

The numbers I've found so far in Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of Britain", starting a bit after the Trojans settled the island. Listing these out helped me realize that it isn't quite as ridiculous as the first impression I had, but still. (I got a little distracted and just started summarizing everything I was reading. Oh well.)

Gwendolyn musters "all the youth of that realm" (Cornwall) in war against her husband Locrinus because he starts cheating on her openly. Their armies clash. He doesn't say how many die in this one, just Locrinus who got hit by an arrow.

We get a few generations without much war. Maybe enough time to repopulate. King Ebraucus did his best to contribute to repopulation, as he had twenty sons and thirty daughters (with twenty wives). But most of them went off to Italy or Germany. (The sons led a fleet into Germany to conquer some of it.)

A few more generations pass, during which we get a random necromancer king after multiple books of nothing more fantastical than an oracular dream. He also makes wings and tries to fly? And taught necromancy throughout the kingdom? I am very confused by this part.

Then we get the King Lear story, only it's spelled Leir here, before Shakespeare's version. Lots of political and family drama. Another war, with a Gaulish army taking back Britain for Leir and his youngest daughter Cordelia. 15 years later, Cordelia's nephews are mad about a woman ruling the land, they muster up armies, more war, they divide the kingdom up between the two of them after winning. Two years after that, the nephews go to war with each other.

A bunch of generations pass. Another war between two brothers (this seems to be a theme). One brought over an army from Gaul again (I guess Gaul just really likes to support internal war in Britain), the whole army gets killed along with the one brother, mom gets upset and kills the other brother, the kingdom splits into five kings "who wage constant war on one another".

Eventually Dunwallo of Cornwall wins and becomes high king for the rest of his life. Then his sons fight over the crown after some fits and starts. "Fifteen thousand died in battle that day, and less than a thousand of the survivors escaped without a wound." The battle was between Norsemen and Britons, so it wasn't just Britons who died in this one. Later on, the one brother comes back from Gaul (of course) with an army (again), but mom interrupts and gets them to make peace with one another. Still, they've got these perfectly good armies all ready to go, so they decide to conquer Gaul, which they do over the course of a year and then push on to conquer Italy too, because why not? "At long last, after thousands of men had fallen dead on either side, the brothers were granted the victory."

Next generation, there's more war, though Geoffrey doesn't say how many people died this time. But we do get 30 ships of Basques from Spain as refugees, and the king sends them off to a not-yet-peopled Ireland (supposedly). So that probably helped with some repopulation.

A couple more generations pass. "In his days it happened that a certain king of Moray attacked Northumbria with a great force and began to ravage the countryside. Morvidus, assembling all the young warriors that he could, rushed forth and met him in battle. Morvidus by himself was a greater force in battle than the most part of the army that he led forth. And after he obtained the victory, no living man escaped death at his hands. Morvidus commanded that the prisoners be brought before him one by one, and he entertained his cruelty by slaying each one personally. When fatigue finally forced him to pause, he ordered the men who were left to have their hearts torn out and their carcasses burned." And then a sea monster comes out of the sea and is devouring the people who live by the shore, so Morvidus decides to fight it and gets eaten.

More war a couple generations later, but apparently not exciting enough for Geoffrey to describe. And then we skip over... thirty-one kings. Geoffrey lists them in order but doesn't really add any details except an occasional sentence for one or another.

Which brings us to Book Four, the "dealing with Rome" book. We get a gory play-by-play of a battle with Julius Caesar. Lots of people die (numbers aren't specified), Caesar gets kicked out. He comes back a couple years later. The king has "mustered all of the island’s young men and built a barracks near the shore where they would await the enemies’ arrival." All the young men of Briton? Cool. They win, though, after sinking a bunch of ships before they land, so they don't necessarily lose a ton of people. But then the Britons go back to in-fighting, one of them asks Caesar to come back and help. One guy takes 5,000 men and waits in a forest to ambush the vanguard, while the full remaining armies fight, implying that there are probably significantly more than 5,000 men in the armies. Where are they getting all these people? "The troops rushed together and much blood was spilled. On both sides, the wounded fell like the leaves of a tree in autumn."

Two or three kings later, another battle with Rome. And then another one.

Next king, the Picts attack along with Scythian allies. They "lay that region [northern Britain / Alban] waste". More battle, but the surviving invaders get to settle in an unoccupied part of the island.

A few kings later, more war with Rome again. "As soon as he had assembled the fleet, he gathered together a mighty force consisting of many young men of the land", more war, then Rome sends over three legions because their guy kind of went rogue. New guy wins the kingdom in battle, and then "inflicted great slaughter upon those Britons who had abandoned the Roman state and supported Carausius". So the Britons set up the Duke of Cornwall as their king instead and go to battle again. "Many thousands fell." A lot of them were Romans, but still.

Then more internal strife, the former Duke of Cornwall who became king gets killed in battle.

20 years later or so, a bunch of exiled Romans get the current king to go do battle for them in Rome. So he takes a British army and goes and conquers Rome. Like you do.

Back home, another rebellion.

"One hundred thousand common men from the island of Britain should be mustered and report to him. Furthermore, he demanded thirty thousand soldiers as protection for those who were to remain in Armorica. Once he had done these things, he distributed these men all throughout the lands of the realm of Armorica, thus creating a second Britain". Eeesh. He gives Armorica (a part of ... Gaul? I think?) to his rival-turned-ally, Conan. Conan fights off a whole bunch of Gauls and Aquitanians. After winning, Conan wants to give all of his men wives (like you do), but doesn't want them to go wholly native or "intermingle with the women of Gaul", so he asks for women from Britain. And the guy back in Britain "selected the daughters of noblemen from throughout the various provinces of Britain, to the number of eleven thousand, to which he added forty thousand women of lesser birth" and sends them over... except the entire fleet sinks. Whoops.

And then, the Huns (?? like Mongolian Huns? Really? Did they actually make it that far west? EDIT after looking it up: No, no they did not) and Picts join forces when they realize Britain doesn't have any armed men anymore, since they're all in Gaul and surrounding areas trying to conquer stuff. "They completely slaughtered the peasantry. As was mentioned above, Maximianus had taken away all the young warriors who could be found; only unarmed and infirm farmers remained behind." Maximianus sends men back to Britain, they repel the invaders who flee to Ireland, and meanwhile Maximianus and most of his remaining Britons get killed or scattered back in Rome.

The Picts, Huns, Scots, Danes, and Norsemen invade again, led by the same kings as before, because Britain had more internal strife and was vulnerable. They kill a whole bunch of people until Rome sends a legion, which drives the invaders out. Then Rome is all, "Hey, we're not doing this again, grow up and defend yourselves", and leaves, so the Britons gather anyone who's remaining and get them armed and trained. At least at this point, Geoffrey acknowledges that there aren't really any more armed forces or young men in Britain. Still, that didn't work; as soon as the Romans leave, the invaders come back and succeed this time, and kill even more people. Rome still refuses to send aid. So they go to "second Britain" / Armorica and ask for aid, and get a general with two thousand men, who is made king in a section of Britain, has three sons, and then gets stabbed to death by a Pict in his service while in the forest.

Which brings us at last to the start of Arthur's story, with Vortigern and Uther Pendragon, and I'm going to pause my reading here, because the horses need to be fed before it gets dark.

[fandolinroyals]

State Visit to Armorica

Their Royal Highnesses, Princesses Isabella and Lucy Lockmere will be flying out to the kingdom of Armorica for a state visit. TRH’s are thrilled for this incredible opportunity and hope that this visit will foster a deeper relationship between the two kingdoms. Her Majesty wishes her daughters well and will see them off at the Lockmere private airstrip later tonight. 

@armoricaroyalty​

[sanctus-ingenium]

What are some of the other countries in the alt-history your Inver stories are set in? Is Armorica roughly where modern day Brittany would be? :0

Because our concept of countries is very modern & constructed it's not quite that Armorica or Hibernia were Countries as we might understand them. They were mostly made up of smaller fractured kingdoms and cultures which were always fighting one another. Armorica was a region which was roughly here (map and history ramble under the cut SORRY i basically didn't answer your question i got carried away)

(this map is from the 1860s! not Finbarr's time.. I still need to make a map of that)

but it was never a country, just a region alternatively ascribed to Inver or Aquitan. It fell on the northern side of the Inver border with Aquitan whenever it was established but the border was put there rather arbitrarily and cut across the region without consideration for the people who lived there.

So there IS in fact a whole other history which doesn't even concern Inver at all. There is a small city-state on the southern coast of Aquitan called Suzette, which was founded by the pseudo-Catholics of this world and used as their main base of operations. It's basically just the Vatican, but an early actually-Catholic historical figure called (Saint) Alexandre led a schism with the church and was successful. The schism dealt with the legality of using magic to advance the church's position, Alexandre argued that it was a moral imperative to preserve the ability to use magic within the ranks of their holy knights. Alexandre became a very polarising figure but his most famous follower was military leader called Renzo who, in the renaissance period, basically upturned and reshaped the entirety of the Mediterranean region.

At the time, Aquitan was a kingdom with an absolute monarchy and the same werewolf-based religion as the nobility of Inver (the winners of Finbarr's war were the Aquitanian werewolves and it became the dominant religion in Inver as well). Renzo led a religious crusade against the monarchy of Aquitan, to wipe out all that pagan werewolf stuff. He blindsided the queen of Aquitan, who had been running her own campaign of expansion against the king of Notte [placeholder name], on the far-western coastline of Iberia. When Renzo began winning substantial victories in the southern countryside of Aquitan, the queen immediately turned around and ""allied"" with the king of Notte, by mounting an invasion against the city of Notte and forcing him to surrender and play nice. She sent him off on an enforced holiday under house arrest, aware that her play relied on not martyring this king while she ruled his country in all but name. With the combined might of these two kingdoms she was certain she could crush Renzo, and this began a decades-long war.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, the king of Notte was killed by bandits who didn't even know who he was, before he ever reached his holiday home. The nondescript carriage was ambushed and there were no survivors. The queen, in a panic, chose not to publicise his death.

Well guess what Renzo was doing with his holy knights' blood magic. With each victory his army grew, because he raised the dead to serve him. Resurrection and immortality were key themes of Saint Alexandre's teachings and although Renzo's war crimes would result in his own religion banning the practice of this type of magic, it was kind of a-ok back then (the Church of Suzette would later go on to be pioneers of medical innovations such as antibiotics, germ theory, and safe anaesthesia). And you'll never guess whose dead body Renzo's knights found one day, dumped on the side of the road. Renzo alone recognised what had just come into his possession, and he formulated a counter-play against the queen by using the dead king as his own pawn. Using the king, he got the entire Iberian peninsula to turn on the Aquitanian monarchy, so instead of it being 2-on-1 against Renzo, it was suddenly the queen who was dangerously outnumbered and deeply unpopular.

The monarchy of Aquitan was finally defeated by its own people sixty years after the war began, and a theocracy based on the teachings of Saint Alexandre was founded there, along with the city-state of Suzette. The final execution of the monarchists had severe ripple-effects that reached Inver, which had been pretty insulated from the war by virtue of being a kinda pointless place to invade and housing a population of faeries outnumbering humans 10 to 1. The monarchy of Inver took pride in its links to the Aquitanian nobility and now that was gone. The result was a death spiral for the Kingdom of Inver, as the werewolf monarchists, fearing their imminent extinction, began to fight one another to grab as much power and wealth as possible before the Suzettes reached them, too. They banned the church at the border, only allowing the harmless priests of Suzette's poor Austerity sect to build their hospitals, though they were forbidden from holding religious services and actively converting the public, you have to willingly join.

The final Hibernian families who bought into the monarchy of Inver included the descendants of Finbarr, who had largely betrayed everything he would have stood for by assimilating into their enemies' ranks. And, as anyone might have predicted, their assimilation did not protect them when the nobles of Inver chose to prune their own ranks to concentrate power. One of these families was the noble and now extinct Mercier family, the family of one of our protagonists of Said the Black Horse (bowman lol). The other two protagonists are a second-gen immigrant Hibernian and a war orphan originally from Notte.

[niall-noigiallach]

The Breton Migration

My French Genetics writing got me thinking more about Brittany, and how many academics still believe that the Bretons came from SE Wales fleeing from the Anglo-Saxon invasion. This is due to erroneous medieval assumptions and not historical fact. Our sources on the centuries between the retreat of Rome and the High Middle Ages are very scant, often relying on earlier, possibly faulty accounts instead of direct folk memory, so misconceptions can propagate easily. There is much that we simply can't know. Nonetheless, we have enough to dispel myths and piece together a true story.

The area in question is Armorica, now called Brittany, which is now politically controlled by France. Since the advent of the Celts in Europe, this peninsula has been populated by Armorican Gauls. In the time of Caesar these tribes included the Osimii, the Venetii, and the Curiosolites. We can assume that after the Roman conquest, they lived as typical, if rural, Roman subjects. We can assume they sent their druids to meet in Gaul and Britain with other druids of the area. A Byzantine writer Procopius tells us in the 6th century, that the people of Armorica had the task of ferrying the souls of the dead to Britain. The story goes:

The people of Armorica heard a knock on the door at night, and a low voice calling them. They went to the coast and found boats there weighed down with the souls of the dead, so that the gunwales barely stayed above the water. Leaving from Baie de Depassés at the tip of Armorica, the men would row the boats across the channel to Britain, at which point a voice would call each soul by name, and each soul would disappear when called.

Thus went the druid religion of the Gaulish Armoricans.

But the Empire didn't last forever, and Armorica, being on the far west of the continent, was either thrown around by the political machinations of the Gaulish courts, or so isolated that they weren't even concerned. By 409 the Armoricans, as Zosimus tell us in his "New History",

Encouraged by the example of the insular Britons, had thrown off the Roman yoke. This British-Gallic secession occurred in the time of the Emperor Constantine.

The next year, 410 AD, is when the official retreat of Rome came, and Emperor Honorius told the cities of Britain to "look after themselves." Rome was too weak to hold onto either Britain or, it would seem, Armorica.

We've established the lack of Roman control of Armorica, now we must discover where the new people, the Britons or Bretons, came from.

The common narrative is that the Bretons came from central Britain, fleeing from the encroaching Anglo-Saxons; they are essentially Welsh. This idea comes from Gildas (as well as some others, such as Nennius and Eginhard), who said that, 1) the Bretons fled their island from the Anglo-Saxon invaders, and 2) the leaders and generals of the Bretons came from SE Wales. Both of these are misleading. Gildas' account has the Bretons coming from around the above area, and fleeing over the sea through Wales. However, linguists have shown that the Breton language is closest to Cornish, and that many sentence structures common in Breton and Cornish only appear in poetical Welsh. We can see, therefore, that the Bretons could not have come from Central Britain or Southeast Wales, because their language would be closest to Welsh. They instead must have come from Devon starting around 410 AD. What do we make of Gildas' accounts then?

Gildas only states that the aristocrats and military leaders of the Bretons came from Wales, presumably because they had such experience fighting Saxons, that they would be useful against Saxons in Gaul. At the retreat of the Roman Empire from Britain, the island was set upon on all sides by barbarian raids, from the Scots (Irish), Picts, and Saxons. Each was ferocious as the other, enough to be called a "barbarian conspiracy" by Ammianus Marcellinus. I've gone through the extent of the Irish raids before, and how they settled much of West Britain, and especially in the case of the Bretons, the south coast of the Severn Sea. It is impossible for the Anglo-Saxons to force out the Bretons beginning in the early 400s AD, because by 500 AD their expansion was halted at the Seige of Mons Badonius. And in 429, St Germanus wrote that Britain was under the control of Britons. We've already seen Procopius's story of the Bretons sailing to Britain from Armorica, and there is ample evidence of cross-sea interchange of people and ideas between Armorica and the Dumnonian Peninsula.

So let's discover the proper story.

In the early 400s, Saxon raiders left their lands in Germania and sailed to the east and south coasts of Britain, as well as to the North of France, as raiders. Because of this new pressure from the east, Roman infrastructure had reorganized itself to accommodate the threat, with all major power centers shifting eastwards. This happened internally in Armorica as well, with all military strongholds now facing the eastern border as well as the coast. A Roman military document, the Notitia Dignitatum, shows that the military command of Northern Gaul was totally removed from the interior and placed around the east and the coast to prevent Saxon landings at all costs. Few measures were taken to protect the west, which allowed the small-scale migration of Celtic Bretons to slip through.

Roman cities such as Nantes, Vannes, and Rennes retained their Gallic language, Roman customs, and Roman affiliation, while the western lands of Armorica slowly filled with this new population which was closely tied to the British Celts. The name Armorica ("by the sea") fades out of use, and the first reference we have to "Brittany" is in a letter written by Sidonius Apollinaris. The people may have called themselves "Lidwiccias", and their land "Lledau" or "Letavia". A Breton tradition tells us that there was, for a time, a double kingdom existing on both sides of the English Channel, ruled by a single King Riwal of Gwent. He came from Eastern Wales and "ruled as 'dux Brittonum' on both sides of the sea until his death."

We have a number of saints' Lives (a biography of the saint) dating from the 9th century, while our earliest Welsh Lives come from the 11th. This, and the constant communication with Britain, indicates a generally high intellectual life in Brittany at the time. So it seems that the Dumnonii people of southwest Britain were not settling Brittany out of flight from invaders, but it was a political expansion encouraged by Irish raids into the Severn Sea. The Bretons expanded willingly into this newly unoccupied stretch of Armorica. As for the formation of a real Breton kingdom, our earliest sources refer to this peninsula called "Prettonaland" as a duchy or a realm, not a kingdom. Frankish sources especially emphasize the dependence of Prettonaland on the Frankish King Childebert.

And while the Franks were expanding their power over post-Roman Gaul under Clovis, the Armorican cities of Nantes, Rennes, etc. recognized the Franks as the rightful rulers of Armorica. The Bretons disagreed. The Franks saw themselves as heirs of Rome, and denied Breton freedom.

The Bretons nominally accepted the title of "Count" in the Frankish court, but this never hindered Breton independence struggles. As the Breton pushed eastward, the city of Vannes was transformed into the city of Bro Waroch ("Territory of Waroch"). Waroch was a lively figure in the accounts of Gregory of Tours, and a major rival of the Franks. In 587 he invaded Nantes, and in 588 he invaded Rennes and Nantes again. In 590 a powerful Frankish army tried to take Vannes, but it was destroyed by Waroch's son Canao. The struggle between Bro Waroch and Frankia lasted for centuries, with the Frankish armies being repeatedly wiped out by the Bretons, but the Bretons unable to hold onto what they had gained. Later, Louis the Pious appointed a native Breton named Nominoë as Count of Brittany, and the same Count then convinced King Charles the Bald to give Brittany independence. The Charles was occupied elsewhere with Viking invasions. With a later successor of Nominoë, named Salomon, Brittany paid tribute and homage to Charles the Bald once again, but within a few years, they had rebelled once more. However, after this failed rebellion, Brittany would enter the feudal world of medieval France. Not peacefully, not willingly, but the destiny of Brittany was forever tied to France. Here is what Arthur III of Brittany said about it in 1458:

I have always served Charles and his kingdom; I am constable, and as such I am bound to comply with the King's orders, but not as Duke of Brittany. I am not a peer of France, since my duchy has never been a part of the kingdom, and it is not a dismemberment of it; and, in order not to compromise the independence of my subjects, I will not appear in Montargis or elsewhere.

Fin