#godfrey calainon

[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!

[forgottenroisin]

Macdara I of Malconaire, King of Oak & Tree, Lord of the Wood, Wielder of Guardian the Oakenbrand, Keeper of the Sacred Groves, Warden of Malconaire, called Oakensteel

ok so obv these titles are 10000% made up/aren't his real stuff etc etc etc (also defffff are considered a list of his seacred duties rather than his honors in this context!!), but!! i thought, in light of this new info we've got re: kings and their castles in astaira, we might wanna talk a bit about the malconaires' og kingly ancestor? now, we've talked abt how they're one of the oldest great houses in all astaira, so im guessing that'd mean this dude is probs a mytho-historic figure to them, a la king arthur?

we'd also talked asp a bit abt how, maybe way back when, astaira was maybe originally ~multiple countries~ that came together to fight the gods and, after that, set up elections between them and their whole culture/convention of elected leaders kinda sprang out of that? ~if we do go w that idea, im guessing that house malconaire and the other of the oldest houses were kings of their respective lands? like, lorcan and stafford seem to be some of those but calleary, for example, is one we've explicitly talked abt being a newer house, so they probs ~weren't, for example?

(note: @forgottenvalentina believes this is all nonsense btw!! she will stubbornly maintain they are ~not of the blood royal as she herself most certainly is! lkjasdklfjsdjf as lizzy said, they're of a ~broken line of kings whereas she is ~not -- roderick: 'wait didn't i kill those guys?' ;DDD)

either way tho! what i ~really wanted to talk abt a bit is ~actually castle malconaire or, more precisely, its guardian tree and an idea i think ive mentioned a bit that i actually stole wholesale from the odyssey #sorrynotsorry so, in the odyssey, its revealed (its a whole thing but anyway) how odysseus carved his marriage bed out of a still-living tree (in his case an olive but shhh) and it was still this living, growing thing and here's a recreation of how it is kinda described w like...the bed is a tree but lowkey so is the whole bedroom sorta thing:

we've also discussed how the tree, like in the odyssey, is the center of the home and how its 1) a guardian and 2) also the sheath of guardian the sword. well, i thought it might also be, nestled upstairs amongst higher branches the lord's bed/bedroom even as it reaches out of the roof far above and to the sky, and possibly below...the ancient malconaire throne...

like, maybe those trees at the front door are all part of this one absolutely insanely mammoth ancient ancient ancient tree that's been built around to make a home/castle, and at its central stalk right in the middle of the great hall is the sheath and the throne a la

(idk why the above wont preview like the others???) or

but still living, growing out of the tree like

or even

bc perhaps ~it is also the portal to find the sword...and to free the gods. what if the reason the sword is lost is bc its acting as a key in a very, very ancient lock, one of many no doubt such as the eternal flame in kolchis and others im sure, that's helping to hold back the gods or smth????? idk?????

i was just thinking abt how, like, in celtic mythology trees sometimes ~are portals...and also prisons, think merlin walking inside the tree and never walking out again as a more modern telling of this concept. a lot of celtic heroes walked into the otherworlds by walking through the opening in a tree and arrived in faerie etc but once they went in they often never returned or, if they did, it was centuries after they'd left and that sort of thing...

so anyway basically the staffords, malconaires, and lorcans think they're doing good by reclaiming the lost stafford sword, and thus galvanizing astaira to fight for its freedom, hoping to keep the gods at bay, but in so doing, they're actually unwittingly making the jail that binds them weaker??? or smth?? idk...alskjfkljdsf like, there's a reason their ancestors sealed it away and ensured that none but their bloodline, its keepers, could ever undo what they'd done, etc??? but the secret of what they're keeping has been lost over the centuries and just the legends of the sword remain now unrelated to the tale of the irmprisoned evil gods??? idk!!!

this might also be part of why @forgottengodfrey is helping them bc he's read all these ancient tomes and sort of puzzled out that these families are significant to his apocalyptic dreams?

~also, side note, @forgottenrian regardless of all the above, v much wants the ancient stafford sword to prove his legitimacy as ruler of astaira so yeah!! lotsa threads here idk????

its also like...we can have parts of this be true w/o the rest necessarily needing to be true. for example, we can have the cosmetic stuff like the central tree and not the plot stuff, or like just the throne or just the portal or...whatever!! but yeah idk i was like 'we could maybe combine all of this???' and went a bit bonkers here hahaha i def will not be offended if you guys aren't feeling this it was just a wild notion i had so i wanted to share! lajksfkljsdf

EDIT! oh one more thing! what if the sword, guardian, is called such bc its actually -- or its hilt is -- a piece of the guardian tree and so its said that the blade shall always remain sharp so long as its wielded by a malconaire but for any nonbeliever who picks it up it shall return to a branch? and it has some eternal-living ivy twining around the hilt? some visuals:

also the door:

[forgottenamira]

OOC | Amira's Dream

ok so i was just innocently going abt my day at work when amira woke up and said 'hi! i have a recurring nightmare!' so now you guys gotta think abt this too

so in this dream, amira poisons her husband. and, in this dream, amira cannot lie. she sits by his side, holding his hand as he gasps and spits blood and chokes, and she whispers to him abt how she was the viper in his bed all along, how she murdered his first wife and poisoned his children and sowed the seeds of his empire's collapse. he attempts to strangle her w his final breath. she bears the marks around her throat forever after.

the war is long, but it is won. when they fall into her hands, amira poisons her husband's children, one by one. in the end, of all roderick's wives and children, only edmund, amira, and marian remain. she chains marian in the darkest, deepest cavern beneath the palace she can find. marian only smiles. amira sees her white teeth glowing in the darkness as she backs away, crowing, from her cage.

amira crowns edmund emperor, herself. it is her greatest moment, her final triumph. but she has had this dream before, and some part of her knows how it will end. she screams at herself not to do it, not to do it , not to do it. but her strangled throat makes no sound, and the crown fits her ownly child far too well.

w the imperial diadem now upon his head, amira backs down from the dais to make her obeisance to the new emperor. yet, when she looks up, she finds the marian now stands behind her son's throne, her hand upon his shoulder. she bends low and kisses his cheek, whispers in his ear. edmund pronounces his mother guilty of regicide and murder and witchcraft. he orders her seized. tristan himself catches hold of her and will not let her go. godfrey looks on with laughter. and amira cannot lie.

'i did it for you!' she screams. 'all for you!'

'no,' snarls edmund, a strange echo of her own words upon his lips. 'you did it for yourself. all for you.' the last three words echo all around her as edmund orders his mother's execution. bc she is mother of the emperoro, she will not be burned: she will be done no harm at all. tristan, himself, locks her in a windowless room. struggle as she might, she cannot break free. there, in that wretched room, she is left to starve to death, as her grandmother did before her, all while hearing the revelry of the the coronation feast and smelling the delectable whisps from her son's own table. she sobs and pounds her fists bloody against the doors, the walls, sobs 'not like this, not like this!' but the only response she ever hears is the sound of guin's mother's laughter.

amira wakes with a start. but now the only sound she hears, now, is her own laughter in her ears...

the only variation is that, lately, the woman on the dais has been eilia.

[forgottenedmund]

Breaking Fast | Edmund & Godfrey

Spring was here and this morning Edmund had been grateful both for the sunlight and the warmth it provided. For the last few months, he and his uncle had risen before the crack of dawn to practice swordfighting, jousting, archery, and anything else that Godfrey felt could use some improvement. It had been cold and dark and brutal, but Edmund has risen to the challenge and now, he felt as though the seasons had rewarded him for his work. Now finished for the day, he and his uncle were enjoying their breakfast.

Edmund felt good after the exercise. He allowed his uncle to push him harder than anyone else, for he was truly the one person who he wasn't afraid to fail in front of. The measure of a man does not change if he falls, Edmund. What matters is what he does next. If he finds a way to stand again, he will be even stronger.

He was learning how to use his strengths to work for him -- not against him. His uncle was stronger and his blows could still knock Edmund to the ground -- but Edmund was faster and if he could anticipate his uncle's next move, he could stand his ground. He'd managed to beat him this afternoon, once, and while he felt proud for this accomplishment, he knew not to let it go to his head. He'd studied under his uncle for months now and had come to learn his style.

It would not always be his uncle who he would be fighting.

Despite this, he couldn't help but he couldn't resist the temptation to tease Godfrey about it, "You're getting older, uncle," He smirked, "It's a sad day for a man when he is beaten by the Raven Prince."

Edmund was not ignorant of his reputation. He'd heard what they'd used to say about him when they thought no one was listening. The Raven Prince had never won a tournament. He'd never even been close. The only times he'd ever advanced was when his opponents were woefully underqualified. Edmund suspected that they'd only won a spot in the tourney at all so that he might not loose every opponent he faced.

[forgottenarthur]

OOC | Arthur & His Line of Succession

idk what to entitle this but!!! my brain at 5am was like 'here have this' so now you get to hear abt it too lksdjfkljsdfjl

ok so!! arthur's faction, even objectively speaking (like in an au where every single varmont really and truly is the disgusting vile monster that ronan thinks they all are, this is STILL an advantage for arthur), has a v big advantage over the others, and that is @forgottensebastian!! while sebastian just being the amazing person he is, is a total win for arthur, like i said, even if he were actually leck quasar born again (SCREAM), his v existence would still be a huge advantage to the Arthurian faction bc he's a designated and direct heir and historically!!!!! that is a huuuuge asset in getting ppl to fight/vote for you!! so i wanted to sort of explore this a bit!

so, when ur abt to embark on a civil war for 'who should rule us next' ur hoping ur not gonna have to turn around and do it all again once ur chosen leader kicks the bucket, and arthur having a clear, designated heir from the get-go is a a part of that! bc w edmund or guin, say they get crowned etc, well great! but they're just one person right so what happens if/when they die before having kids! ur back to square one -- if guin's crowned, well, whose her heir? edmund? arthur? ur back at it again!

this is (one of) the reasons @forgottengodfrey is so keen to get edmund hitched (also gaining the stafford/astairan alliance etc but yeah), so edmund can start making heirs of his own, pronto!

ironically, its also one of the reasons @forgottenroderick is so reluctant to let his kids marry bc then ppl might start wanting one of his kids to rule more than they want ~him too!!!! its also the reason he was so desperate to have kids in the first place and took three wives to do it </3

but annnnyway, as a result, i do think arthur's sort of...thought abt this a lil bit frankly (he's so much more introspective than i ever thought it throws me every time i swearrrr) now, obv, idk how this will all go down but, if roderick were to die, and arthur to begin his gambit to seize the throne, i think he'd make his line of succession basically the sons of roderick in order of age; the sons of roderick's father in order of age (aka alaric), the sons of roderick's grandfather in order of age (aka bartholomew) and then their male line descendants in order of age (aka eoin). if all these men were to die, then it would follow the same structure but w women so:

arthur

sebastian

edmund

alaric

bartholomew

eoin

guinevere

cassandra

ciara

now, in his ideal world alaric and the other male varmonts would inherit before edmund like so:

arthur

sebastian

alaric

bartholomew

eoin

edmund

guinevere

cassandra

ciara

but he def recognizes that obv edmund has a way better claim to the imperial throne (not necessarily the kingly one of the og country tho depending on how ~those inheritance laws are written, but in that roderick apparently reopened old laws from ther abt multiple wives, im assuming its still true that edmund would have a better claim to ~that throne as well?) than alaric, bartholomew, or eoin so yeah! the top one is what he's currently thinking! HOWEVER i do think the more he talks to @forgottenarias the more he rethinks his position and so i think he may potentially end up considering heirs in order not just male heirs so:

arthur

sebastian

cassandra/edmund

edmund/cassandra

guinevere

alaric

bartholomew

eoin

ciara

now this would actually be a mistake for his faction, really, bc it'd mess up his ability to claim that ~he should be king since guinevere is, in fact, older, so i do think he'd at best do some handwave abt how roderick's male heirs come first bc that was the intention of the founder or whatever, and THEN roderick's female heirs and then everybody else hahaha but i do think he'd still want to be like CASSANDRA OVER EDMUND but yeahhhh idk if he could reasonably pull that off so i do think it'd result in a lot of confusion abt who has precedence between those two were he ever to actually realize his claim (unlikely!!) but yeah!! sldkjfalksdlfjdslkfj

anyway, he might potentially handwave abt his mother's line being the true imperial one (and thus cassandra still having precedence over edmund despite her sex) as marian became ~his mother and thus cassandra having precedence over edmund or smth but idk -- if they're still at war w edmund when this comes down the line he'd def be like 'yeah that's how that's happening' but if somehow arthur's in power and edmund's cool w it or whatever then he'd probs feel edmund would be a better fit for the crown than cassandra tbqh and have him as the third

anyway!! ngl none of this will probably EVER matter bc even if we do kill off roderick and start our war w/o that one big revelation etc, we uhhhh know that lil smth abt arthur that he don't know so yeah!! (and lbr even if he did manage to seize power as soon as he and edmund made peace, amira would just poison him soooo) but anyway here we are i thought of it so i thought id share it hahaha

[forgottenbrigit]

Eye on You | Brigit & Godfrey

This evening hadn't exactly gone to plan.

Brigit meant to keep an eye on each of her three sisters throughout the entirety of the evening, but between both their Astairan and Varmont connections, it seemed each of them had suddenly become three of the most in demand guests of the evening. Which meant that Brigit's plan of "staying together" had quickly fallen to pieces.

Just now, she didn't have an eye on any of them. She needed a better spot than this -- somewhere she could see down into the crowds. Perhaps then she still could manage to keep on eye on all of them, even as they went their separate ways.

Slipping away unnoticed from the great hall, Brigit tried a few empty staircases and hallways until she stumbled upon the same mezzanine where Cillian and Edmund had had their confrontation mere minutes ago.

Brigit had just found Rosie (speaking with Cassandra which while not ideal could have been much worse) and was keeping her eyes out for both Eithne and Aoife when she was suddenly aware that she was not alone.

Turning, she saw that a man was crossing the mezzanine on his way to the stairs and he had clearly seen her there. She couldn't remember who he was, exactly, but knew he was some sort of extension of the Varmont family. Wasn't he one of the Queen's brother's? Regardless, it was very likely he knew that she wasn't supposed to be here.

Brigit was less than pleased with this turn of events -- both that she had been discovered and that she now supposed she ought to say something to him. She wondered if her feelings showed upon her face?

It was then that she remembered she ought to courtesy and, easing into something that somewhat resembled one, she lowered her eyes, "Your Grace."

[forgottensebastian]

ooc | Sebastian & Godfrey

I get the feeling that Sebastian does not trust Amira at all (a big part of this is probably because of his mom, but she doesn't do much to dissuade the rumors about having a witch-y bloodline either) and I'm not sure he'd trust her brothers (especially Godfrey) I'm not sure what he suspects him of (i don't think even Sebastian knows tbh) but I do feel like he probably just has his guard up when Godfrey is around?

[forgottenalaric]

ooc | Alaric & Godfrey

Alaric and Godfrey are best friends!!! tbh I feel like they compliment each other a lot and Godfrey helps Alaric to get out of his shell a little more and actually have fun sometimes!!!

However, I do think that Alaric has always been a little suspicious of Amira and her fam??? Like they never really sat right with Alaric and ngl I feel like he got close w/ Godfrey to try to see what he could find out about them but it kinda backfired and Godfrey charmed him into being friends????

I do think that Alaric kind of has a complicated relationship with Godfrey though, like he loves hanging out with him and spending time together, but I think he also knows that Godfrey will ride or die with Edmund and b/c of this and the fact that he does NOT trust Amira, I don't think he will ever fully be able to trust Godfrey and although he does let his guard down a little more than usual when they are together, he does censure what he allows Godfrey to know.

[forgottencassandra]

ooc | Cassandra & Godfrey

I don't think Cassandra sees the family lines drawn in the same separating ways as pretty much everyone else in the family does, and I kinda think she would see Godfrey as an uncle to all of the kids and not just Edmund? Like she sees them as all one family and not just the three different families that Roderick has?

I feel like Cassandra would honestly like him? Like she'd find him fun and enjoy his charm and charisma and tbh probably would have had a crush on him as a little girl if she didn't think of him like her own uncle tbh haha -- I also feel like she'd be excited to see him marry her cousin (and then he will truly be her cousin, as well) and I feel like she definitely ships them super hard haha

Ofc, this would also all depend on how Godfrey would treat Cassandra, too, because if he was dismissive of her or something, then she would probably hate him

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Roderick & Amira

in the spirit of fleshing out interfamilial relationships where i play multiples, i wanted to dive in w this toxic mess too! so this is gonna focus on roderick's feelings re: amira and my plan is ultimately to reblog it from her site w her feelings re: him as well hahahah so! without further ado, let's get into this mess! if you wanna skip ahead to their current vibes [ here ]'s his pinterest board for amira! ;D

roderick's biggest feeling abt amira is that whole 'not like other girls' thing. amira keeps her emotions largely under lock and key, mostly just floating around giving off menacing vibes instead asdkjfkljdsf which roderick is like 'damn, nice' about basically bc #thatsthegoal he too wishes to be feared...unfortunately for everyone, he ~also wants to be admired (smth abt which amira couldn't give two figs but ill get more into that later) hence burning naysayers as witches basically lakjsdfkljdjfs however!! amira might be a witch (jury's out lkasdjfkljsdfj) but you must NEVER speak of that in roderick's hearing bc he's like I SEE NOTHING I DONT WANT TO always lksdjfakjlsdjf and if you bring this to his intention, instead of bringing his ire down on his queen it'll bring it down on ~you bc itd make him look bad to hate witches and then turn around and marry one so, like, to notice this inconsistency is frankly unpatriotic!!!!!!

but!!!! let's really dig into their interpersonal relationship!!!!! ok so roderick first met amira when she came bearing the head of the deposed god-king of kolchis out to him. she was quite young (im thinking she may have lied abt her age at first bc like...roderick is a creep in a lot of ways but not quite ~that one...like, don't get me wrong, 16??? we're talking aksldjfkljdsf like, he ~is a creep, but under 16 even ~he is like 'that's a literal child' but amira's ambitions weren't gonna be held back by a couple years!!!!! bc this was her moment and if she didnt ensnare him then she never would bc ngl roderick ~can be a lil goldfish-like this way -- he's got a loT of beautiful women tryna get his attention yknow aldksjfkldsjf), but i mean look at her she's a stunner, and she wasn't afraid of gore (obv laksjdfkljdsf she was literally carrying around a head on likely a silver tray bc why not ;D stylish AND convenient alksdjfkljsdjfk judith meets salome style ig aklsdjfkjdsjf), which deF shocked him at first no lie!!!!! like women are supposed to faint at the sight of blood!!!!! but she was def rocking that bad girl chic (it ~is her thing laksdjfkljdsf) and being perceived as a conquering hero and feted by the ppl who he'd conquered was!!!!! fun!!!!!! ngl i think he's still chasing that high!!!!

roderick does ~generally go for the good girl archetype, i think, but when he first saw her he def wasn't thinking he'd ever take another wife! he was thinking...that looks like a fun fling!!! (before he had multiple wives, he def took mistresses when he wasn't w his wife bc he was off campaigning etc, tho he was v discreet abt it and idk how widely that's known or not? im down w whatever works best for plots re: that, if we ever wanna explore it hahaha he's also def of that medieval belief that you can't sleep w a pregnant woman bc she and the baby might die!!!!! but ~he can't go without ofc soooo anything goes and def doesn't count as cheating!!!!! bc he's just being a good guy protecting his wife and kid!!!! lakjsdfkljdsjf and same kinda goes if he's away from his family on campaign or whatever for a prolonged period!!!!! *facepalm*)

anyway!!!! he meets her this way and he def thinks she'd be fun for a weekend or whatever, but she's like 'no, sir, im a lady' *looks directly into the camera but roderick doesn't notice* and we all know roderick enjoys a good conquest so this was frankly working really well!!!!! he was like 'have jewels!!! have money!!!!!' and eventually 'ill make you my official mistress! my wife can deaL' and she was like 'oh but i cannot for i am the priestess of calainon, and i cannot unless we are wed' anne boleyn style and THIS is when things change for roderick bc of that one lil word: CALAINON. i've already discussed roderick's feelings abt intertwining his legacy w that of the great calainon and now he can do that in a v LITERAL way and while he's mulling this over, but to his credit, he's unwilling to abandon his og wife, even tho he is pr frustrated that there's, as yet, no heir and there's a literal PROMISE of kids from amira re: the prophecy that the line of calainon will last until the ending of the world (too bad godfrey has plans to bring about that v ending #whoops ;DDDD)

finally perceiving that roderick won't be putting aside the og wife, tho (amira: sigh), amira one day whispers, 'oh, my love, if only it were like the days of yore when a man could take multiple wives...' and roderick suddenly has a thought entirely his own that amira def did not place there ;DDDD anyway, we all know how this goes!!!! (also like...damn...imaginie being wife #1, and i def think roderick wanted her to be present/have a role in the wedding ceremony, too, in order to showcase how they were all one big happy family, and you just know!!!!!!! that had to be like just sm fun for her!!!!! </3 esp bc ~she probs saw quite clearly that amira was a snake in the grass)

so more abt this on her side, but up until the wedding, amira has def been toeing this line between sultry and [ untouchable ] w a heaping topping of godly (when roderick invaded she had this revelation, you guys, that the fire was actually to celebrate the one god of roderick and she was really ~his priestess all along!!! ;DDD) but now they're married and amira doesn't feel quite so constrained tho she does NOT like that the empress has more status than ~she as the primary wife and she deffff wants to have a boy right quickly so that she can cement her position as the undoubted mother of the next emperor!!!! roderick for his part didn't care which wife gave him a son, first, he just wanted one!!! however, w amira hiding her true nature less, it starts to bleed through and over time roderick begins to learn that she isn't in love w him at all, tho she keeps up the pretense, in her way, even now

now, as i said before, roderick here likes to be admired!!!! and, bizarrely, this is really working for him bc he also likes to conquer and it just...it gets all kinds of toxic. he loves her. he hates her, too. he wishes she would die. he craves her heart. she is too cold for a woman, too cold to be anything but respected, tho. and he still wants her. and sometimes he even thinks, as he used to, that perhaps she ~does love him, only to discover again that she does not. they fight and they fuck and they fight again and while this goes on, the empress gets weaker and weaker, and there's still no son from either of them!

enter marian. this is when things get real, honestly. before now they've been doing this weird toxic dance, but amira was secure in knowing she had her claws in him. she was still his new, shiny toy. now, she realizes she's lost that. and, slowly, he sees her see that. i think, after marrying again, roderick really perceives the real amira for the first time, and part of him sees this dark reflection of himself: that ruthless ambition, stripped of all the trappings he adorns his with to make it more palatable to his woldview: she's just ragged hunger, and deep down he understands that. and he detests it. but he can't put it away from himself either bc it tugs at smth dark inside himself, and strangely he trusts her more now bc he finally gets her, finally gets what's really driving her, and its what's driving him, too. they're both just scared kids that know what its like to be trampled and powerless, and will do whatever it takes never to be that way again. but worst of all, he knows that she can see that in him, too. so he can never let her go: never let her unleash that knowledge upon the world. so now they can really work together. and now they can really hurt e/o. and they do.

as ive discussed before, i do think that, when arthur was born, roderick was like 'ah yes at last my heir!' but amira changed all of that! amira never forgot that the empress had precedence over ~her as the first wife and like hell she was gonna let anyone forget that the same applied to amira and marian! ~her son was to the heir!!! and roderick is fine w this: let the women squabble for his favor. this suits him just fine!! he doesn't yet see his sons as threats to his own situation or greatness bc they're still little, but that'll come as they hit they're teenage years don't worry! lkajsdkfjdsfh and then his empress dies and everything changes. bc the whole world revolves around roderick, and bc she's been deteriorating since the moment he married amira, roderick is sure that her death is ~his fault (and he's not entirely wrong since he did bring the person who poisoned her into contact w her while also furnishing that person w a motive ~to poison her!) and he is inconsolable. i feel like for two weeks he locked himself in his room and would do nothing but carry his lil daughter around and promising her the whole world

but smth else happened, too: during the empress' final illness, roderick saw a side of amira he'd never seen before as she tenderly nursemaided the empress, never leaving her alone for a moment even as she grew worse and worse and worse. he'd never seen tenderness in amira, save a smidge towards their son in his infancy, insisting on wetnursing him herself and always attending v faithfully to all his meals and such!! and roderick found that, despite her failure to save the empress, he was grateful to amira for what she'd done! or at least (seemingly) tried to do! smth that, coupled w his guilt, bound him to her.

ofc, the marked favoritism he then showed to guin certainly did amira's peace of mind no favors, and she'd pick at him, but his laugh was a dead thing, and he'd just tuck a curl behind his daughter's ear and tell amira over his shoulder to see to her own son and leave him to his daughter and chuckle dryly as she stood in all her towering fury knowing she was dismissed and that he'd call for the guards to escort a hysterical woman to her chambers if she persisted any longer.

ofc the first fervor of the empress' loss did wear off, and we've discussed at length roderick's wonderful parenting skills. their relationship has ebbed and flowed largely w his relationship w edmund, esp since -- now that he understands her ambition is his own -- he knows edmund is a chip he can use to hurt and maneuver her as much as she knows this same abt him. she will always advocate for her boy and he can show his approval to ~her, even, by showing it to edmund, or simply by denying it to guin or arthur -- and his lack thereof in the same way.

i do think, like i said, he still sees amira as ~not like other women~ so if he had to pick a queen to serve as regent (not that he ever would tbqh!!!), itd probs be amira from the fact that he trusts to her logic and to her ambition...however!! he likewise does not trust amira since he knows she serves her own ends not ~his, but does trust that marian would do precisely what he asked. this is def a moot point tho bc lbr the only ppl he'd trust w this would be bartholomew or alaric, but here we are! my general point is that he does sort of see amira ~as her own thing~ but tbh im not sure that does her too many favors all the time bc she's def a curiosity -- less than a man, more than a woman, smth which i think he largely attributes to her calainon heritage so yeah!! lakjsdfjkldsf this has been an examination of roderick's relationship w amira lkajsdfkjdsf there's more but this covers the general stuff lkfasdjfkljsdkjf

he does see her brothers as entirely loyal to himself, as sensible men, but its no secret that they're all team edmund (tbh i think tristan is more team: lets just prevent a civil war and keep my nephew safe and happy and not force him to go to war w his own siblings, but roderick just assumes an edmund-for-emperor bias), but yeah that's a whole other thing and def way less important bc those're just sort of ancillary reltionaships to his ones w amira and edmund, from his own pov

there is just one thing left to say, and that's that...roderick loved her, he did, and now he knows she never loved him and...they understand e/o in a way no one else does, but...he's sad and bitter bc he wanted her love, even if he just lost it, he wanted it bc he loved her, and he hates that he was the weak one and ~she the conqueror and that causes all sorts of chaotic undercurrents and subtext, both trying to steal her heart at one moment and tryna punish her another as well as a thousand little daggers and sadnesses and bitterness and pleading and storming and yeahhh toxic!!!! its just toxic lakjsdfkljdsjf

[forgottenamira]

OOC | Amira & Edmund

hiya, it's ya mama!! ummm idk how to tell you this but...godfrey's the fun parent klajdsflkjsf amira is too busy tryna one-up varys at court and being all 'you embarrassed me today' when edmund fails as a motivational tactic lkasjflkjdf (and we've already discussed the kind of dad ~roderick is akljsdfkjsf) BUT don't let her fool you!! where roderick is all fire, amira is all ice and if you touch her kid you WILL quietly and painfully die -- not that she'd ever tell edmund that beyond smth along the lines of 'no one else matters, only us' bc her parenting is a++++

ANYWAY!! edmund is 100% the product of her ambition like...lol she don't give a flying fuck abt roderick! as far as she is concerned, roderick is a tool in multiple senses! ;D honestly, edmund ~is the person she cares most abt (sorry, bros!), but like...he's #2 in her life bc the thing she cares abt most isn't a person at all -- it is ultimately revenge/power (they're the same thing to her -- miss thing is a slytherin ;DDD) <333333 she's def got a 'the world is at your feet or its at your throat' mentality so she ~does 100% see gaining revenge/power as protecting edmund in her own weird way bc she's been at the world's mercy before and she'd do absolutely anything to make sure that edmund never is -- like, making him emperor is, in her eyes, the only way to keep what happened to ~her and to godfrey from happening to her baby, but that is still 100% more important than his happiness!!! and she would 100% acknowledge this openly there is no dancing around it alkjsfkljsdf like, she doesn't really believe in gods as such (just that there ~are super powerful beings out there that it pleases men to call gods), but if she did, that whole 'god doesn't want you to be happy, he wants you to be strong' quote is 10000000% amira's whole mentality so that's fun!!!

anyway, she's def raised edmund as mommy's lil warlord <3 he must be strong if he wishes to survive what's to come!!! (she also thinks roderick is actually weak af and that's why things have gone as abysmally as they have) also lowkey think amira might've poisoned guin's mom bc she was worried she would have a son </3 and amira can compete with marian for roderick's affections, but not w his og empress, so she didn't think edmund would stand a chance of ruling if the og wife ever had a son. like...amira's been looking towards this war since the first day she clapped eyes on roderick and said 'imma seduce that man' alskdjfkldf also tbh i don't think it actually ~was black magic that produced edmund but i think ~amira thinks it was alksjdfaljksdf so!! that's fun ksjdfaklsjfaksdf amira: you know what really spices things up in the bedroom? black magic babies!

ANYYYYYYWAY, she had edmund specifically and intentionally to create the next emperor and then stupid marian beat her to the punch (i.e., hearing about marian's pregnancy is when amira turned to black magic to ensure she'd conceive) but then amira really fucked up and started to actually care about edmund!!!! #whoops so she was like 'no more babies! i will not become weaker!' and that's why edmund has no full siblings aldksjfskldjf

so, re: amira's opinions abt the future!! she isn't really worried about guin becoming empress bc she honestly can't see roderick w all ~his hangups ultimately wanting guin to rule, what w being a woman, and besides -- and much more importantly bc amira doesn't give af what roderick wants tbqh -- guin obv doesn't wanT the throne so she aint gonna fight for it after roderick dies (in fact, bc of this amira is 100% fine w roderick picking guin -- she'll just oops! tragically die of grief after losing roderick, just like her mama did, and then BOOM edmund for emperor aljsflkjsf), but arthur ~will fight for the throne. sebastian's hardest to nail down, but he ~is male, so ppl of the varmont empire might still amass behind him, so amira means to axe him too someday, just for good measure

i do think once or twice, she has tried to kill arthur and sebastian when amira thought roderick was on the brink of making a decision she didn't like (yeah? that one really really srs childhood illness arthur had? poisoned by his stepmama, but tragically -- tho he nearly died -- he pulled through after all :/) but i do think she was only halfhearted even then bc i think she believes that the competition makes edmund stronger so his bros get to live a lil longer ig alsdjflksdf but she probs has been poisoning marian for awhile, just enough to keep her from conceiving again lkajsdfkljsdf bc amira realized too late that poisoning wife #1 actually made guin's position stronger w roderick and she def doesn't want that for arthur and seb, so marian gets to live lkajsdlfkjdjf

[forgottenciara]

Riots in the Square | Ciara & Godfrey

"My lady, we are to escort you back to your chambers immediately. You cannot be here."

"Why? Lord Calainon is expected here any moment ... " Ciara found that she now often met such requests with perhaps a tad more hostility than it warranted. She supposed that that was a direct result from her guilty conscious, which always suspected that this was the moment that her cousin had discovered that she had gotten herself involved in the resistance and, even though she had been his own secret informant, it would be apparent that not everything had been disclosed to him.

"-- It is for your own safety."

"What is happening?" She asked, again.

"Those are our orders."

After a silent march to her rooms and more unsuccessful attempt to gather any information, Ciara slipped from her rooms the moment she no longer heard them in the hall. From a distance, she trailed the guards and found that they and a great many others were rushing towards the walls and the main gate of the castle.

She went to the nearest window, and although she wasn't truly able to see anything from it, when she opened it she could hear the sounds of a large, rioting crowd, which must have been making it way towards the castle. In mere moments, the shouting turned to screams, followed by the unmistakable cries of grief, and then before Ciara could make it down to the courtyard, all had gone silent.

"My lady, you shouldn't be here."

Ciara turned -- this time it was Tristan who spoke to her. She shook her head defiantly when he tried to usher her away, "No, Tristan, I -- "

"-- Come, my brother will not be pleased if he finds I've allowed you to stay."

"He was on his way here! He may, even now, be on the other side of the wall." On the wrong side of the wall, she feared -- if anyone were to recognize him as a brother of the Queen. (Whatever was happening outside, she doubted that he would not be seen as the enemy). Given that the crowds had died down significantly, Ciara worried that if something had happened to him, it might be too late.

She could tell that Tristan suddenly shared in her fears and he moved with some urgency back towards the gates where he shouted orders to the guards.

Minutes later, the gates were opened and Godfrey passed through and Ciara felt herself breathe easy again as relief washed over her. She wasted no time in greeting him as soon as he dismounted from his horse.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Ciara searched his face for any signs of injury, but all she found there was distress.

She took his hand and lead him to a more secluded part of the courtyard, as Percy led away his horse. It was not the first time that Ciara had noted the convenience of their relationship: she might have been his informant, but she was his fiancé, too, and no one batted an eye to see them tucked away whispering together. Even here, in the open, they may speak freely.

"Did you see what has happened? No one will tell me anything."

[forgottenroisin]

Ok so in Irish mythology right there’s this evil giant cyclops who basically has the same power as cyclops from X-men (I doubt this is a coincidence btw) but like BIGGER he can level whole cities w a glance etc and he can turn it off/on at will idr his name but I think it’s balor or smth like that so we’re gonna go w that. This dude was Celtic!roderick basically and he was the worst and ~the destroyer~ basically (but also like fire/lightning and in our verse fire/sorcha is mother to eithne which is in fact how forest fires often work the destruction of summer ushering in new life for the coming spring etc but also his whole clan represents water/floods too…)

He had a Zeus/Oedipus thing going where there was this prophecy that his grandson would someday kill him (and, in this case, bring peace and justice to the land etc)

~balor’s daughter was named Eithne!!! she represented grain and bounty after desolation of the land etc and idr all the details but iirc she had some doomed tragic romance (ofc!) w Cian (the Romeo to her Juliet bc there’s also this whole big clan war thing happening and their child's now son of ~both clans etc), and the couple secretly had a son lugh (THE dude in Irish myth basically he’s got like…everything going like he’s never met a challenge he can’t conquer) who she smuggled away knowing her dad would kill him bc of that pesky prophecy! Anyway lugh had that traditional upbringing by shepherds all these guys inevitably get (do shepherds ever have any children of their own or are they all just cast off/secret prophecy babies this is the real question 😂😂😂)

Anyway lugh eventually grows up and through a series of events comes back and slays his evil grandpa. the day upon which that happened is supposedly ~Samhain when the world walks into darkness freed from its shackles and thus hopeful of spring/bounty/eithne to come

Anyway I took this ~outta the Samhain thing for lfr initially bc I forgot lugh’s mama was eithne herself but I’ve just remembered it so I might put that back in 👀🤔😂 oh also (amongst a whole heap of other things!) lugh represents both light and water/the sea so i feel like we can def work that in somehow somewhere etc if we like too!

anyway...I ~did start writing this w some bigger point but its gone now lakjsflkjdsfjsdf hopefully I'll remember it…someday...heehee!

anyway!!!!!!!1 in lfr, he may or may not be a giant cyclops who shoots lasers out of his eye lkasjdflkjdsjf but i feel like maybe there might be some myth in malconaire of eithne i and her fam overthrowing some evil overlord (maybe in that day an evil god...) while the veil between worlds was at its thinnest, or whatever, on samhain thus restoring hope for the coming year etc!! annnnnd i think its safe to say that roderick hates this story <333 lakjdsflkjsdlkfjdsf oh!!! that was my bigger point!!!

ok, so i feel like he probs ~currently~ doesn't know this story, but i can def see the resistance spreading it around and comparing roderick to the villain of the piece, ofc, and saying 'malconaire has triumphed over worse monsters before!' etc!! and roderick is INCENSED!! AND THEN LEARNS THIS TALE IS DIRECTLY LINKED TO SOME LADIES HIS SONS ARE DATING AND !!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! and then like...THEYRE WITCHES TOO AND THEY BEWITCHED MY BOYSSSS andddddd yeahhhhhhhh!!!! and one of the v witches who went after his firstborn son is herself NAMED eithne!!!!!! like!!!!!!! TREASONNNNN!!!!!!!

anyway i feel like this could all potentially feed into the burning of the malconaire woods witches thing!! @forgottenroderick @forgotteneithne @forgottenbrigit

(they didn't even leave him a spare son! and their brother tried to get w his eldest daughter! TREASON! TREASON! TREASON! tho i think it'll be fairly clear the vasilievas aren't involved in the treasons but he'll probs ~assume cassimir was manipulated into dating guin by his evil scheming witchy sisters!)

also...lbr if the resistance ~isn't spreading this tale to non-astairans...my man godfrey (heh) probs is! (but saying he heard it from rabble rousers ofc!! except ~hes the rabble rousers whoops) laksjdfkjlsdf

anyway idk!1 what do you guys think?

Malconaire Samain Traditions

AUTHOR'S NOTES

ok so!!! before i get into this too much, some author's notes, starting w fun facts abt irl samhain (which i wrote samain above bc that's the old irish spelling and we're mostly going w old irish spellings here -- caoimhe rather than keeva, etc) that im running w here are as follows: ancient celtic tradition holds w largely two types of major celebration on their quartered calendar: Beltaine and Samhain which occurred on opposite times of the year, and Imbolc and Lughnasa which also straddled the year. The latter set marked important crop rotations: sowing and harvesting the fields.

The former, however, are said to have been dedicated to the movements of cattle herds and their shephards. At Beltaine, the shephards and their flocks would wrap up their half year of having held their beasts at home amongst the village in the valleys where they were safe from winter snows. at samhain, the shephards would do the opposite: begin driving their herds home across the treacherous montain passes from where they had been grazing in upland pastures for six months, and heading home to the valleys. Both Samhain and Beltane were seen as liminal or threshold holidays. Yet, they were also seen as inverse of one another, with Beltane being a festival for the living and Samhain for the dead.

Many Irish and British Neolithic tombs are aligned such that they are illuminated by the light of the sun as it over Samhain and Imbolc.

In Celtic belief, all spirits appear to be interlinked, w ghosts alternately appearing as faries or gods and vice versa, so I've used guardians, gods, and ghosts here where I thought most appropriate as stand ins but yeah this is just my interpretation??? Anyway, fairy mounds are often literally burial mounds so make of that what you will! I did ultimately choose to include ghosts but I strongly considered restricting it to purely guardians and gods, but yeah! Lmk if you think I should go back and restrict it to just those two!

Samhain in Ireland and Scotland are pr similar, so there'll def bc riffs from both cultures but, bc Rosie's name means little rose, and the very related ancient Welsh tradition of Calan Gaeaf ties in both roses AND ivy v strongly, I'm gonna be pulling a lot from that, as well.

I'm also gonna steal some Venetian St. Mark's Day beliefs and practices and English St. Mark's Eve ones. I have zero excuse except that it dovetails really nicely, and that its frankly sooo fitting for our Miss Rosie.

all the 'tales' here are inspired and even drawn directly from ancient lore!

Cleansing fire and light, cleaning, divination, guising (dressing up and trick or treat-esque shenanigans), dancing, mummery, saining (blessings), feasting, belief that spirits (good and evil, human and fae and godly and demoic, etc) walk amongst us that night, and veneration of the dead are common themes, and it is believed that it is this time when the veil is thinnest between the various otherworlds and our own.

Samhain is a last deep breath before the plunge. It is a time of preparing for the death of winter to come. Interestingly, Samain, the Old Irish root word for Samhain, is thought to come from an ancient word for 'summer,' though it was celebrated in November. No one knows why, but imma lean into it as a rebirth kind of symbolism -- yknow that 'spring in winter' sort of concept. Another explanation is that Samain comes from yet another ancient word that means 'reuninion, assembly,' and imma lean into that, too.

There was initially a fortnight of celebrations for Samain, which overtime got cut down to our modern night of Halloween, so idk how long this celebration should last hahaha and i deliberately left the timeline vague bc of that

Conveniently, I'd already hc'ed that Rosie actually views autumn as more a time of rebirth than spring (weirdly enough, it was actually one of my v first hc's for her!), and all this will allow me to tie it in nicely with her character theme of wonder <3

(Also disclaimer that you might notice some similarities between this and my TFW not!halloween traditions in which case...no you didn't ;DDDDD its just that i was inspired by the same sources hahaha except here i pulled in welsh and venetian things as my secondary instead of ancient roman and greek things aklsjdflkjdfdf)

SAMAIN TRADITIONS

like her sisters, rosie was born around the time of an ancient astairan holiday, causing the celebrations to overlap in malconaire

hers falling near samhain, an autumnal festival celebrating the midpoint between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, and is held to mark the beginning of winter

it is said that it is at this time that the veil between this world and the other is said to be at its thinnest and, thus, the guardians are feted in an effort to strengthen them during this most dangerous period, w seers and all the ppl of astaira gathering to do whatever they can to help

it is a time of unity and mutual faith, generosity and thanksgiving, of finding strength and hope and cheer in ourselves and in one another even as things grow their darkest

as twilight gleams its last, all the fires in the region are put out and a great bonfire lit by a seer at the local shrine. from this protective blaze, every fire in the region is relit so that cleansing, protective fire burns for the guardians against the gods in every home, every shrine, and every gathering place across all malconaire

it is said that on this night, sometimes even non-seers can hear the whisperings of the guardians -- and that, at times -- the howls of the gods echo across the world, but beware to any who hears ought, for gods can appear and speak as any being they wish and, it is said, one must never trust a stranger who arrives upon samhain who will not go into the light

according to ancient tradition, anyone who believes w a true heart may wield some of the powers of a true seer because the veil is so thin, and in addition to being able to hear the voices of gods and guardians, can also sometimes hear the voices of their deceased loved ones

sometimes this is said to be a trick of the evil gods, but many believe that deceased loved ones do in fact arise

in addition to the fires, many gifts of food and drink and harvest and flowers etc are offered to the guardians, in addition to gifts of delights and entertainments such as dances and plays

as it is said that ghosts rise from their graves at this time, whether crossing over from an otherworld or revived by the power of the wicked gods, welcoming feasts are held in every home and, during the feasts, in addition to offerings made to the guardians, places are set for dead members of the family who may be visiting their loved ones while they are able

hoping to thwart any wicked spirits or gods who might be walking the earth, many wear a guise each night when the protective power of the sun is snuffed out

bc it is said that everyone may have use of a seers powers, it is also tradition to go from house to house and give offerings and blessings back and forth there, and this is often when fires from the great shrine bonefire are brought to each home, as well

following feasting in homes, there is also a tradition of gathering around the great bonfire in the evening and sharing sweets

while there, dancing and plays go on with gift-giving continuing well into the night

traditionally, one carves their name into a stone and then tosses it into the fire. those stones that had had the name burned clean off of it will receive good fortune. those whose names are still writ upon the stones will do well to take care over the course of the winter, with death or misfortune said to hunt them

Myths, legends, and ghost stories are all frequently told around the bonfire, with some tales being considered specific to Samain, and others simply tall tales or simply invented stories, but whatever their origin, stories play a highly important role on Samain, both as offerings and as entertainment. i'll include one or two as a sample somewhere in here

traditionally, all across astaira, peace was delcared during samain and it was a great time of unification, of treaties, of mending fences great and small, neighbor to neighbor and nation to nation, alike, w any conflict or even grudge, save that against the gods, being seen as borderline blasphemous, and an insult to the guardians for all efforts must be communally poured into that conflict at this time

in this same vein, it is a time for housekeeping, both great and small -- houses are cleaned, spick and span, and great councils are called by the rulers to undergo yearly reforms

anyone who broke laws during this time would, therefore, be banished for the rest of the year for the grievous offence of having wounded the goodwill of the guardians

traditionally, astairans avoid crossroads during samain, said to be haunted by nefarious deadmen and gods

on the morning samain, young and unmarried people traditionally go out into the fields and collect ivy and autumn roses. traditionally, girls collect ivy while boys pick roses, after which they come together again, with the girls presenting the boys they admire with ivy and the boys presenting roses to the girls they fancy. if a couple's presentations are mutual, they then wind them together and create crowns of roses-and-ivy to wear. at the end of the day, each girls collects all the roses she has been given, and each boy all his ivy and mingle them till they do not know who gave which. then they toss one into the bonfire for the guardians are return home, placing the remaining plants under their pillow. it is said that they will then dream of their future and, if they remember any of the dream, some of it will come true in the coming year. it is also sometimes said that if they dream of a particular other person, they will likely wed that person.

unmarried women are instructed to darken their rooms in the evening, and then a married woman can look into the mirror to see the face of the future groom. If a skull appears in the mirror, the unmarried woman is meant to die within the year. If a future groom cannot be seen, unmarried women are instructed to peel an apple and throw the skin over their shoulders. The shape the apple skin makes is said to show the first initial of her future husband

just before midnight, any remaining children are bundled off to bed and, then, it is tradition for those who wish to see to gather on the holy ground of the shrine, for surrounded by the guardians is the only way one may safely witness what is to come. those who do not wish to see must return quickly home and close all their windows and close their eyes and try to sleep, for any not protected by the guarian who looks upon it shall die on the spot. those who stay at the shrine may see, but they must maintain absolute silence or it is said they shall never see again. at midnight, the dead walk. a whole squadron of them troop by, but if one should spot oneself or any known to one trooping with them, that person is doomed to die within the year. some say the cause of death may even be observed, drowned victims soaked to the bone or hanged men marching with nooses around their necks, and such the like.

games and friendly competitions around the bonfire are common, such as dares and apple bobbing

two hazelnuts roast near a fire; one named for the person roasting them and the other for the person the desire. If the nuts jump away from the heat, it is a bad sign, but if the nuts roast quietly, it foretells an excellent match. 

Items were hidden in food—usually a cakes and breads — and portions of it served out at random. A person's future is foretold by the item they happened to find; for example, a ring means marriage, and a coin means wealth

A salty oatmeal bannock was baked; the person ate it in three bites and then went to bed in silence without anything to drink. This was said to result in a dream in which their future spouse offers them a drink to quench their thirst

Egg whites are dropped in water, and the shapes foretell the number of future children

SAMPLE OF SAMAIN TALES

story of a seer who rushed up to the door to the otherworld in the repulsion of gods, but closed the door as the gods were sealed off on his thumb. he then sucked on his wounded thumb and, from that moment, was said to have gained otherworldly wisdom but the cost was that he was, too, a link that the gods had to this world so he ultimately sealed himself, too, away inside a tree using their own magic to bind himself so that he could harm no one, but it is said that the gods have no mercy and that they force his ghost to walk the world on the night of Samain and sow the seeds of their ill-will for the year to come.

the monstrous gods used to demand two-thirds of the ppl's crops and livestock and even children during samain before they were sealed away, causing many to starve

a certain god, it is said, would command three men to go to a certain goddess every Samain to seduce her. when they inevitably failed, he would take their lives and force them to walk the world as his undead vessels for the rest of the year, wreaking untold havoc upon the world till at least one did succeed and the goddess gave him her magical garter. before the god killed his two companions, the goddess' lover, said sometimes to be from the snail house and alternately from the frog house, warned the vile god that it would spell his own doom if he struck those men down. laughing, the evil god did so, and so the lover used the magic girdle to fight and defeat him and help the guardians seal him away ((fun fact, this is drawn from a story said to have been the origin of the bog men...hence the frog or snail house being involved!))

one samain night, before the veil was raised against the gods, the king offered a prize to any who could tie a band around a hanged man's ankle. each challenger after the other fled in terror to the king's hall but one. when the band was tied, the dead man asked for a drink so, feeling pity for the hanged man, the challenger carried him on his back, stopping at three houses. when they entered the third, the dead man drank and spat it on the householders, killing them. returning to the gallows to bind him again, the challenger spotted an army of the gods burning the king's hall and slaughtering those inside. the challenger pursued the host through a portal into an otherworld where he learned that what he had seen since touching the hanged man was only a vision of what would happen the next samain unless something was done. he returned to the hall and warned the king, and astaira began to arm themselves against the gods who plotted against them.

another tale tells of a man who fell deeply in love w a goddess before the veil was raised against them. so in love was he that he followed her to an otherworld, despite her warnings that if he followed her, he could never return home. they lived happily together for two years before he began to long for home. watching him pine away, the goddess agreed to allow him to visit the mortal realm on her own horse, but only if he solemnly swore never to dismount the horse which would take him there and then back to her. he hastily agreed and started on his way. yet, when he arrived, he found that in the mortal realm two hundred years, and not two, had passed and that everyone he loved had died. distressed to see their graves, he fell from the horse to kiss them, but as soon as he stepped upon the ground, mortality found him and he grew old and died on the spot, collapsing as no more than bones and dust upon the earth of the graves of those he loved.

according to legend, the tradition of presenting roses and ivy to a lover originated when a man of low social standing is said to have fallen in love with a lady of house malconaire known for wearing ivy in her hair. in order to win her father's approval -- who said he might only wed his daughter if he could prove his love for her was true -- he became involved in a distant war. he was mortally wounded in battle, but managed to pluck a rose from a nearby rosebush for his loved one. a companion was entrusted with returning the blood-stained rose to his lover, who cast the ivy from her hair and wore the rose until the day she died. from their graves, buried beside each other, ivy and roses still grow.

CHARACTER HC'S

it was during samain, many years ago, that domhnall and later his heir, eilionora, offered roderick a treaty but both efforts he rebuffed. to the first effort to achieve peace he did not reply. yet when eilia tried again, he did, sending her only a piece of paper that bore simply a list of the countries he'd already conquered, with astaira's name listed at the bottom. eilia did not try again.

on the samain before bran and sorcha began courting, he decided that he would woo her with the traditional roses. sadly, however, he wasn't able to get out into the fields until late and, when he finally did, all that were left were very, very small roses, indeed. fortunately, she had the same idea and presented him with ivy as well. when she saw the wee rosebuds, which he presented with some embarrassment, saying he ought to have given her something far greater, she laughed and declared that someday he would -- if they ever had a daughter born in autumn, her name should be roisin, for the first gift he had ever given to her.

last samain, rosie presented edmund with ivy, forgetting he problably knew nothing of the tradition (and would likely consider it heresy, if he did!) realizing too late that he probably didn't know what she was telling him, she laughed and made a joke of it, weaving him a ivy crown, anyway, saying that if he meant to rule over astaira, someday, he best pay attention as he would have to know how to make a flower crown. she never mentioned it again.

bran threw eggs into water with sorcha the year they were married. when her egg predicted four children and his six, he was terrified it might mean he would outlive her and she laughed and told him that was a ridiculous thing to suppose, for he'd come to their marriage with two children already: his raven, and malconaire.

the year of sorcha's death, she stayed out to watch the ghosts walk, hoping for a last glimpse of a loved one whom she had just lost, while bran took the children home to sleep. she was drawn and white when bran awoke the next morning and, though she made jokes of it when he mentioned it and proceeded about her day, she seemed distracted, but would say nothing of what she had seen. at the time, bran only assumed that she was distressed about her loss, but after she died, he always wondered if perhaps she had seen her own spirit on the march that night.

though usually done privately for their parents, rosie always enjoyed mumming with her sisters at samain, telling tall tales and dramatic ones alike amongst themselves

while she hasn't done any mummery since childhood, as she imagines its likely not dignified for a lady of her age and position, she does still enjoy guising and generally dresses as favorite heroines from fairy tales and other stories. she is convinced cassandra would enjoy this as well and wants to bring her to such an event one of these years. no o ne can seem to convince her this is terrible idea.

cillian stays out late every year to watch the souls pass and, every year, he informs saoirse that he has seen her go by, but she says she'll have her revenge one of these days, because someday he ~will see her, and then he'll be sorry when he has to tell her so and she laughs in his face.

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Roderick's Tiers for Holdings

RODERICK'S PRIORITIES

@forgottenedmund @forgottenmarian ive been meaning to put this down somewhere, so here it shall be! but this is basically his strategy for figuring out who gets what kind of land/spoils/titles/etc -- w the best/most strategic/richest/best stuff going to higher tiers etc!

ok so roderick is def gonna make sure that ~roderick has the best of everything like!!!! this is def a given lakjdsfkljdf but he also knows that rewarding his most faithful servants is a good idea, so that's def a thing, but he ~also knows he doesn't ever wanna invite anyone getting too big for their britches and tryna grab smth out from under him/his fam, and (atm anyway!) even ~he knows he can't hold the whole world by himself wo v powerful allies to back him up. he also believes that family is the thing he can trust most, w those related most closely being worthy of more trust than those ~less related etc!

this must also be balanced w due respect etc towards the crown and such!!

so! when roderick's handing out goodies to the playable characters, what's the priority? ive got some kinda ~tiers, and within these tiers, he tries to keep things pr even, but in a longterm kind of scale/w a sense of ~earning things getting you more etc. so, if you really exert yourself for roderick you'll get rewarded for it!

for example: uncles of heirs is a tier and, if godfrey really acquits himself well and gets smth big out of it, roderick will then put an uncle of arthur's or guin's in a position where he can really acquit himself and thus potentially earn as much as godfrey did! if he doesn't, that's on him, bc roderick gave him equal opportunity! that kind of thing ;D

RODERICK'S TIERS

empress -- now...the empress is dead! buT she just can't stop winning! and dead or alive, she's still the richest woman in the varmont empire! one of the big things roderick likes to do, right, is play his wives off against e/o by making ~them compete to be his next empress like he does w his heir, its unlikely this award will ever be given, but he's ensured this pot is pr large so the prize is def worth having! and boy is it! the empress, alone, is free to rule over her own holdings like any male lord might! i know, jaw-dropper! now, atm, these holdings are in trust and probs stewarded by either alaric or bart (or perhaps even working together bc it is...a lot and they're both busy, as is!), w that regent splitting the revenues w roderick and w guin, as heirs to the late empress, but all to be reworked, should a new empress ever be named. the empress, as part of roderick's winnings, is always awarded a new holding in every single nation. roderick feels it would be a slight against his own glory, were his empress not to be the second most powerful person in the world and the .richest woman alive!....and she is! well, rich..not...alive... ;D anyway ngl this is also a way of helping assuage his guilt over her death, so that's fun too!

alaric -- sorry to roderick's many (living) wives and children, alaric's in a league of his own!! he's the man who has believed in roderick longest, had his back throughout it all, his most trusted compatriot and warrior and bff! after roderick himself, alaric gets the best of everything! roderick knows alaric can and will hold it, and enrich himself and the empire w whatever he gets bc he's proved it! AND he knows that alaric will do all that w roderick's best interests at heart, too! alaric, alone, out of all the tiers can count on getting a new holding in every single country, regardless of how he acquits himself atp! his loyalty is proven!

ot3: succession -- those heirs out here to scooooore!!! they're gonna get the next best stuff!!!! this is their training-to-rule opportunity, really, so use it wisely bc duly pleasing roderick is as close to that as youre ever gonna get!! nd roderick really ~does actually want them to have a holding in every single country but they're now at the age where they have to earn it!! he will be embarrassed if they fail to do this and they will have to suffer the consequences! now, the boys are most likely gonna earn this through conquest: guin will have to do it by negotiating extraordinary trade deals and diplomatic affairs and strategic marriages and such, both within the empire and outside of it. t he boys can do this as well but they MUST do the other as well and guin CANNOT.

queens: that's right, ladies! sleeping w roderick has its privileges, and you get to hold land in ur own name! obv you don't get to do much ~w that or abt it w/o permissions etc, but you get the revenues from it and that prestige too! also a lot of their households will probs be ppl'd by ppl from their various holdings (aka implied allies) etc!! and they can do more or less as they like, so long as they meet w their council of (male!) advisors before doing anything too big, the heads of which are their respective firstborn sons. alaric, bart, and eoin, and any other extraneous male varmont relations there may be also sit each council, and the respective queen's own male relatives may do as well, (as appointed by the presiding son in question,) all presided over by edmund or arthur, respectively, which is honestly probs another big opportunity for them each to learn abt such things so that's smth! in marian's case, sebastian would also be part of this council. before edmund and arthur were born, arthur or bart or perhaps even roderick, himself, was probs the presiding member.

sebastian: same as ot3: scs, but w less pressure and less opulent potential winnings, bc roderick doesn't mind as much if he doesn't have a holding in every country, etc! he also doesn't have access to affairs ~outside the empire, but may negotiate to his heart's content ~within it as long as he doesn't in any way embarrass roderick ofc!

cassandra: so this one's a lil uhhh weird...she can't do anything to earn anything except by pleasaing/displeasing her father or her mother or full bros doing the same! she also doesn't even get to attend the sessions where her lands etc are dealt with! the deal here is basically that these holdings are effectively her dowry. whoever marries her automatically becomes one of THE most powerful men in the world, becoming archduke and count and lord and everything else w a holding in each of roderick's many domains bc, after guin and roderick's wives, cassandra is the wealthiest and most powerful. (powerless) woman in the world via everything she's got. now, its not nearly as nice as what sebastian's got, bc roderick is here to make sure that his own blood is still more powerful than whoever just ~marries in~ etc, but!!! this is an insane level of wealth and power notwithstanding!!! rn, tho, this one's largely seen to by arthur w sebastian's help, since they both got a lot of holdings of their own to attend to. (also arthur defff checks in w his mom abt what she wants done here but that's just out of love/respect and isn't official bc marian is, ofc, a woman alksdjfkljdsf ironically tho i doubt it occurs to him much to check in w cassandra re: what ~she might want even tho these are literally ~her holdings lakjsdfkljsdf)

the church: yeah his one god getting a temple in every single land! and its gonna be bigg and granddd and flashyyyy, and this guy don't have to earn it! its not on the ~choicest pc of land but its still rad af and lotsa ppl would kill for it but they won't get the chance! the god gets his piece no matter what <3 i would guess that royce is running these, largely, but this lowkey falls under the jurisdiction of the entire privy council to deal w should anything come up and roderick is actively involved w designing each temple etc too

so the immediate imperial family now taken care of, roderick starts to think of satellite family. their tiers are still extravagant, but all ~the best has already been divvied up in the above tiers! now, best can mean amany things, and it incorporates both wealth/power AND strategic significance. so yeah! these guys are less trusted and can't rebel as easily, is basically the thought here!

bartholomew: once roderick's immediate family is all taken care, the very next guy roderick's thinking of is his uncle! he loves this guy, and trusts him as much as he trusts anyone, and before there were kids and multiple wives, bart got WAY choicer pieces!!!! so in the early conquests he realllly made out, still!!! he will still be more wealthy/powerful, id imagine, than cassandra's husband, id wager, but he's now much lower on the pecking order than he used to be, as each successive wife and child pops him into a lower bracket than he was, early on. bartholomew, like everyone else, has to earn these but it seems like he's extremely competent so ive no doubt that happens!

eoin/any other extraneous male varmonts: he's only a nephew, sure, but this dude's still a varmont! his ~sons will be varmonts! and that means smth!! so eoin, on his own, probs less wealthy than cassandra's future hubby, since he wasn't alive and accumulating wealth ~that long before roderick started having kids etc, but once he inherits from his dad and unites everything they both have, well, that varmont name still looking pr great!

brothers-in-laws: w all roderick's blood relatives taken care of, its time to start looking in on those in-laws! they def gotta earn this stuff, and a lot of this will depend on politics re: the related queen/heir etc bc if roderick's mad at amira, well, tristan's (look i brought it around to him again in his own post! ;D but...just as an example bahahah) not being put in a position to earn another holding! ~marian's brother is! and so forth lakjdsfalkjsdf this will ultimately also encompass families who intermarry w roderick's kids, etc. (bc in roderick's mind this is def happening someday! too bad only roderick stands in the way... ;D alkjsdflkjdsf) fathers of wives get better pieces than her brothers, older brothers get better pieces than younger ones, etc. cassandra's husband's family would get lesser pieces than the families of the queens, or of the princes' wives, since his social standing would be lesser. guin's hsuabdn's family would get more than sebastian's and it'd be a whole thing abt whether he gets more than arthur or edmund's bride's families but probs he would?

council members: here's where your alistair greys and your alexander royces come in! they too have to earn it -- in war, yes, but largely w good politicking! roderick likes that thing you did? you get a holding! you get a holding! you displeased him? no holding for you! etc

other loyal lords: earned by extraordinary deeds and pleasing roderick! you're a lord who distinguishes yourself in. me way? you get another holding courtesy the god's chosen! congrats! its good to be you!!! so yeah, roderick keeps lands to himself in this strata and a lesser one so that he can hand them out as rewards to those who earn them in his mind. beware tho! he will also give this strata of holding to the tier below if his lords have displeased him in some way, playing the commons and lords off against e/o just as he does w everyone else! (this also tends to help funnel rebels towards local landowners rather than himself -- this is another benefit @forgottenrian unwittingly offers roderick, which he's happy to exploit at any time!)

anyone else: roderick gets the significance of rewarding extraordinary effort! so he ~will raise you from nothing into a lord (w a lesser holding ngl but still!), if you're somehow epic enough as an ally to him/he happens to notice you for whatever eason and is randomly feeling generous/wanting to make the point of his generosity felt to his underlings! this category of man, who owes everything to roderick, he knows will fight the hardest and prove the most loyal. he exploits that

[forgottenamira]

Amira, Witch-Queen of Kolchis

headcanon time!! ok so this has the chance to get loooong so imma spare us aLL and bulletpoint this one, but everyone and esp @forgottenedmund as both admin and the other person currently playing a calainon, lmk what you think bc this might just be ~too insane and idk what you have planned etc alskdjflkjsdfjkdf

KOLCHIS & INTRO

house calainon does not exist or, it perhaps once did, but if it ever truly did, the ages have turned its true history to legend and myth

nonetheless, amira and her brothers make claim to that descent through one tenuous proof: witchcraft

while, given her husband's acute hatred of all seers, this might seem a great shock, this is also the truth, and it is (part of) why amira so tenaciously clings to the memory of her grandmother's gift

so real talk, im using kolchis as the place-holder name for the place amira's from (yes i ~did lift that from greek myth and just partially changed the spelling and no i will ~not apologize ;D), but im picturing an ancient athens meets mythological colchis meets constantinople/the byzantine empire w/ just a dash of ptolemaic alexandria sdlkafjskljdfjkdsf gotta grab all my greek-rooted mega cultures ig laksdjfkjlsdf (and yeah im sure the soldiers there def dip into sparta shhhh) so yeahhhh when you picture amira growing up, its that

CALAINON

in ages past, it is written, there once lived a young and ambitious warlord, called calainon, who is said to have conquered the known world (think alexander the great meets achilles meets hercules meets oedipus meets pelops meets atreus etc etc)

many legends speak of this ambitious fellow, holding often that he was the son of a god and a mortal woman, that he was possessed of superhuman strength and skill and daring, and that no mere mortal could stand before him

while there is no certainty, in truth, that this person ever did exist, it is said that he was the founder of the great city of kolchis, which he made the center of his great empire and that he built the still unfinished, storm-struck tower which was, for many eons, the highest building in all the world and called the stair of calainon (as according to legend he had built it as an attempt to reach the heavens and tear the gods from their holy temples in the skies)

there are two versions of the tales of calainon -- one in which he is cast as a tragic hero, and another in which he apears as a twisted villain

known to history both as calainon the deathless (for it is said that he groans still, buried deep in the bowels of the earth, half unable to die as his father was a god and half unable to live as his mother was a mortal) or, more popularly, cursed calainon the balsphemer

it will probs not surprise you to learn that calainon has always been a great hero of roderick's and thus that, tying his own burgeoning legend to the great calainon's, was a very appealing prospect to roderick

many hero-kings, horrific monsters, celebrated seers, cruel despots, and tragic martyrs of myth and legend are said to have descended from the house of calainon, and it is said that the line of calainon will endure until the end of all time for, cursed though they may be, half-gods they once were also

yet, if any of them ever did exist, it is ages past since any of them were known, save one source: local legend of kolchis speaks of the high priestesses of kolchis...

CALAINON THE VILLAIN

often held up as an example of hubris, calainon dared so much that the gods, themselves, stepped in

a great war took place and, it is oft said in kolchis that calainon committed the heresy of not merely daring to lock away the gods -- a heroic act -- but of attempting to steal their power

all of this he attempted w the erstwhile help of the guardian of kolchis known as the kolchian dragon

some myths hold that the great poisonous drake aided him only in sealing away the gods, and he forced the guardian's hand in attempting to steal the power of the gods

but others hold the guardian wished to aid him in both quests

tales disagree as well on how much calainon achieved: did he manage to seize for himself the power of the gods, or did he fail?

all sources agree on one thing however: there was a titanic battle fought amongst the clouds. the earth shook, lightning broke the fortress below, tidal waves sweeping the broken battlements away, and whole islands were drowned in the uproarious fury of the gods

but ultimately, though sealed away, the gods prevailed and cast down the heretic calainon in his hubris, imprisoning him forever beneath the earth

in his defeat, they cursed him, blinded him, and buried him alive, hurled from the heavens into the abyss of the earth (think: fall of lucifer sort of imagery)

in some variants, the gods also cursed his bloodline forever after, but this is another point upon which there are several variants

CALAINON THE HERO & THE HIGH PRIESTESS OF KOLCHIS

one of the many myths of calainon relates to an unending fire and a dragon, and it is in this version of the story (which happens to be roderick's favorite), that calainon appears not as a villain, but as a hero

in this legend, calainon's war with the gods is a fight for freedom, suppressing the deities with the help of kolchis' legendary guardian, known most often as the kolchian dragon

in the tragedy of the great calainon, he fights the gods only to be cast down in their vengeance, but not before sealing them away forever

in this version it is said that his warrior's spirit shall someday be reborn in a new form to lead the world once again (i invite you to guess how roderick might think he could potentially tie into this myth ;DDD)

according to a local legend in the great city of kolchis, before launching his campaign against the gods, calainon as god-king of kolchis appointed his eldest daughter, arsinoe, as high-priestess

she was a great seeress, famed for her wisdom and power, whose responsibility it was to tend the sacred eternal flame at the shrine of the kolchian dragon

hers was a fiery offering to keep the dragon-guardian strong against the fearsome gods, where her female descendants (for in kolchis it is held that a true seer must be a woman) shall forever after continue her great work, tending the eternal flame to assure that it may never go out or the kolchian dragon, the great guardian, will fade to nothing and die and, it is said, upon that day the gods will be unleashed and bring apocalypse upon the mortals who dared give them chains

this flame was a great bonfire at the center of the shrine, so vast that in ancient days, it was said that it could be seen in every part of the old city, a beacon that never went out

according to this legend, it is the divine blood of calainon which gives a seer her powers and, thus, it is believed -- according to this obscure kolchian legend -- that every single kolchian witch may trace her descent back to mighty calainon

A THOUSAND THOUSAND YEARS PASS...

in roderick's day, the most recent high priestess (sometimes called the 'fire-keeper' or 'witch-queen' of kolchis) was none other than the seeress who was amira's grandmother, with amira seemingly destined to be the next high priestess after her

while once the high priestesses of kolchis were revered, regarded almost like oracle of delphi meets melisandre of asshai-type figures, and each was regarded as the chief and best mystical advisor to the so-called god-kings of kolchis (so called bc it was calainon half-god who had established kingship in kolchis)

these priestesses were known as a powerhouses in their own right, the last known vestiages of calainon himself, ruling the hearts of the people of kolchis, and running a powerful temple overflowing with priestesses and acolytes, almost a small religious city within the greater city, itself, leading to them being known to outsiders as the 'witch-queen of kolchis'

yet by the time of amira's birth, the position had centuries since lost any luster, becoming a ruin of its former self

as the old religion faded into only memory anywhere but astaira, the high priestesses came to be despised, an embarrassing reminder of an age of backwater supersticion compared to the cosmopolitan center kolchis had became and wished to be

without the temple economy still running strong, kolchis' stratification intensified, till it was said that in kolchis, the rich fed not on fruits but on the poor

still worse for the temple, itself, nearly a thousand years ago, a war of religion broke out and the temple was sacked, much of it pulled down and the rest -- though marble -- burned (fun fact: marble ~will burn if the fire is hot enough) till all that was left of the erstwhile 'jewel of kolchis' was a crumbling, burned out shell of its former self. still, the high priestesses endured in the slums, and still the eternal flame burned on

the old city, where the ruined temple was located, was now located in the slums and grime of kolchis amongst its most dangerous dark corners

there, only the lost or the most daring would venture: the ruinous temple of the dragon and its keepers were seen as a supersticious and untrustworthy lot who lurked in the shadows, preying upon unsuspecting tourists

pick-pockets, liars, and harlots who played at mysticism and fortune telling to make off with valuables and steal souls, so the supersticion ran, for their dark, twisted magic

THE LIFE & TIMES OF AMIRA CALAINON

it is with this reputation and in this situation that amira and godfrey grew up, doing their utmost to protect little tristan from the sad truth of the world around them

their father had disappeared when tristan was a babe at the breast, likely murdered in the dangerous streets where they lived, while fleeing with what few valuables the family had left

their mother, the high priestess's only child, died of the pox while her children were still quiet small

thus, though blind and decrepit, it fell to their grandmother to raise her grandchildren

not thinking much of men in general, and regarding the sight as the realm of women anyway, as the kolchian culture long had held, the grandmother relied largely upon amira, training her in what arts she could with the expectation that, someday, amira's magic would show itself

a true believer, her grandmother was sure that, as the last female calainon, amira must be a witch or else the line of high priestesses would die with the grandmother, herself, unless amira were to produce a seer for a daughter

not wishing to surrender her only utility to an unborn daughter who may never even arrive, amira did her best to play along as a witch

a thing which exulted her in her grandmother's eyes who, though she loved her grandchildren fiercely, regarded only other seers as her equals

amira learned to read bones and fires and stars for potential futures (or at least to guess at them)

she learned to read people and 'see' in their futures what they wanted

she learned trickery and slight of hand and, perhaps most of all, she learned about poisons

such things were sacred to the kolchian dragon, known for poisonous fangs and breath and fire hot enough to melt the bones even of beings divine and cold as winter

meanwhile, living in extreme poverty, godfrey and amira learned to lie, to steal, to spy, and to cheat simply in order to subsist

RODERICK

by the time roderick invaded, things were desperate indeed

the star of the cosmopolitan center of kolchis, even, was well into its decline

kolchis had become so corrupt and top heavy that the rich knew little at all of what their ppl suffered -- and cared even less -- living in sublime luxury while everything they sat upon rotted beneath them

still, the god-king was eager to keep what little was left of his so-called empire, now reduced only to a single city

it was soon quite clear that kolchis was roderick's target

the god-king sent many troops to die in vain upon the teeth of roderick's armies, but nothing he did would hold the young would-be conqueror back

at last, with roderick upon him, the god-king ordered the impregnable gates of kolchis closed and laid in wait for a siege

the people in the streets began to starve -- and soon enough amira's own grandmother succumbed

but watching their grandmother slowly die, amira and godfrey had already long since sprung into action, lying and deceiving their way into the palace as servants

there they watched and listened and plotted, aligning themselves with a growing restless movement amongst the poor who meant to tear their god-king down w them

so it was that the common ppl stormed the god-king's castle, killing his guards and his ministers and hanging their bodies from the high walls and trees of of kolchis (yes this is a golden fleece reference)

ultimately, guided by amira and godfrey who knew the freedom fighters of kolchis could not possibly overpower roderick, the god-king's head was delivered to roderick as a gift, and the gates opened to him, inviting him inside as their celebrated and longed-for emperor, with amira as the chief intermediary sent to treat with him given her status as high priestess of kolchis

seeing an opportunity, amira immediately set about seducing the emperor, cleopatra and anne boleyn-style

while also taking full advantage of the local legend she'd heard from her grandmother, and introducing herself as amira calainon, supposedly acknowledged descendant of calainon, the first god-king of kolchis

she was willing to bet, afterall, that roderick probably admired and wished to associated with himself. she wasn't wrong.

so she brought him a head and a crown of laurel leaves and slowly made herself a queen

amira crowned roderick king of kolchis (roderick abolishing all use of the term 'god-king'), herself, in her role as high priestess of kolchis, in the sight of all the kolchians, at the ancient temple of the dragon which roderick had had esp restored for the event

before her marriage, she appointed an acting high priestess to keep the eternal flame burning

which roderick permits as a cultural tradition relating to the cultural hero, calainon, his own relative by marriage

a connection sealed with the birth of their son, edmund

VENGEANCE -- OR FEAR

to be clear, amira is not in love with roderick (they have some weird twisted thing that i could write its own novella on probs but that's for another time), he is the means to an end. for one thing, with one move she had gone from desperately clinging to survival in the slums to one of the richest and most powerful women in the known world, but this was not her only goal in wedding roderick.

amira wants money, she wants power, and she wants revenge. she wants vengeance on roderick, as she blames him (as well as the god-king of kolchis, but she's already wreaked her vengeance upon ~him) for the death of her grandmother, the only person besides godfrey who ever really looked out for amira, and certainly the only one who ever saw smth superior to all others in her.

she also wants revenge against all those -- and even the symbols of those -- who held her head underwater so long so that they, themsleves, could breathe

amira enjoys, endorses, and encourages all of roderick's worst traits bc his zest for conquest is a weapon she wields against the rest of the world. now ~she's the the one holding ~their heads underwater. bitch.

but most of all she wants revenge upon the world for allowing any of it to happen

she means to wait a long time to avenge herself on roderick, himself. when she is ready, he will die, as will all of his children save her own, and edmund will reign at last, and they will finally, finally be untouchable.

in the end, however, even amira's quest for vengeance is rooted in the deep horror she cannot face, the fear that she, too, will be conquered, defeated, helpless, and left to starve to death w the only ppl she truly loves in the fetid streets, just like the only woman who ever loved her.

however, she seeks always to project strength (even to herself!), as it is an armor, her last line of defense, to prevent this from happening, so she will stop at nothing, doing literally whatever it takes, to see her goals met bc then and only then will she be truly safe, or at least as safe as anyone in this world can ever be, with edmund as emperor

as a result, she is always quick to remind herself that it is vengeance and not safety she truly seeks -- but is that really true?

[thelongforgottenrealm]

RONAN FROST / NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU

♛ Age: 32 ♛ Relationships: Cillian Frost (brother), Saoirse Frost (sister), Kale Brennan, Percy Reaves, Finn Calleary, Fiona Calleary, Isolda Vane (fellow resistance members/friends), Ciara Varmont (interest/fellow resistance member), Godfrey Calainon (rival), The Varmonts (enemies), Padraic Lorcan (best friend), Eithne Malconaire, Brigit Malconaire, Aoife Malconaire, Roisin Malconaire (friends)

has not been the same since the battle of malconaire

ronan lost a father figure in lord malconaire, but he also lost one of his closest friends upon that battlefield

the image of his friend dying in agony in his arms will haunt him to his dying day

ngl he is secretly dealing with ptsd from it all but doesn't talk about it because #man

refused to live in a world where roderick varmont was his king and soon after roderick was crowned, ronan was arrested for attacking varmont soldiers who entered malconaire

ronan escaped, but now lives in hiding as a wanted man

with a mark already on his head, ronan decided to do whatever he could to continue to rebel against roderick's rule

with the help of his brother and the friends he had left, ronan began to assemble a small band of men who would help him resist roderick's rule (this eventually grew to include his younger sister, a fact that ronan is still not especially fond of and he only ever gives her the absolute safest tasks he can, because he will NOT endanger her!)

ronan is intelligent and calculating, but he can also be ruthless in his pursuit -- the ends will always justify the means!!!

he is not afraid to get his hands dirty and he will do what needs to be done! the resistance is a democracy for the most part, but ronan is not above going rogue to achieve his ends, even if he does not have the support of everyone else

he has a lot of build up anger that can come out when provoked!! he is angry that so many bad things have happened to his home and the people in it and sometimes he feels like he's helpless to do anything about it

used to take everything v seriously (sense of humor? never heard of it!), but has softened a some since ciara's come into his life??

she made him laugh once and everyone thought he was broken at first

what he has not told her is that he means to kill literally everyone in her family because keeping even 1 varmont alive is dangerous!!! (he does mean to spare her father and her brother, but roderick and his entire brood must die!)

ronan is v loyal and v protective and it's one thing to cross him, but if you hurt someone he loves? that's when you've crossed the line!

TAKEN BY KATE AA.