#madeleine tronson

[cyniibar]

Do you like my more wholesome version of the Sanson ?

Also, what do you think of the father-daughter parallels between Jean-Baptiste and Marie ? Also, do you have ideas for Madeleine-Claude Gabrielle?

About Madeleine-Claude...

out of all the Sansons, she's the most gentle and empathetic. Madeleine-Claude is genuinely tender hearted towards her younger siblings and holds deep respect for her kind step-mother (As she is the closest to Jeanne, following her footsteps to become the future 'perfect wife'). On the other hand, she's very passive and the most introverted in the household.

One thing that I'm absolutely certain of, is Madeleine-Claude being a heavy dreamer. She spends her days getting caught up in her fantasies and daydreams even while she occupies herself with daily activities. Tends to see things in an unconventional perspective. She has the softest voice, very soothing and pleasant to the ears. Though she also has a peculiar way of speaking, bringing up strange or random topics that leave some members a bit puzzled.

Madeleine doesn't hate Jeanne, but she strongly believes that no one can ever replace her mother. Her memories of Madeleine Tronson are very vague, so she fills the void by imagining her. How she felt, how she looked, her scent, and her voice....

A very sentimental and nostalgic young girl, yearning to be a child again in her mother's arms. She desires to be care free. Instead she's very insecure about her appearance, despite being a beautiful maiden, as she deals with extreme verbal abuse from Anne Marthe- insulting her of her looks and mocking her image. Because of this, her self-criticism is brutal and she had developed a hate for mirrors.

The only bond Madeleine-Claude has with her father, is when they share their aching longing for Madeleine Tronson.

Jean Baptiste looked exactly like Marie Joseph when he was just a young boy so I guess that's enough parallel as it is.

[subiysu-chan]

Madeleine Tronson for Innocent prequel

Looks:

Opulant wavy black hair worn in braids or low buns, pear-shaped body, baby face with thin eyebrows, snowy complexion, small downturned mouth, grey eyes with short floofy lashes and dark circles that take quite a bit of space in her face, creating the illusion of larger eye sockets and thus making her look even younger. Enjoys to wear clothes that hide her stays and body shape as much as possible, namely manteaux de lit made of strong, washeable linen to protect her stays and a robe battante on Sundays, inherited from her mother. After her wedding with Jean-Baptiste, I think she should wear soft cotton or linen lace more often, and add a silk ribbon to it, because why not. Does not have the face for makeup.

Overall, very cute in terms of looks, very femine and yet etherial.

I think for modern!AU, she would love to wear kimono dresses (the westernized varient as opposed to traditional Japanese kimono), especially on the beach since she's soo pale, long nightgowns, on colder days would wear her bathrobe on top of her pijamas, shapeless housedresses and on days she chooses bifrocated garments, long slacks and a knitted shawl or a light vest of long, flowy material. Prefers baggy dresses, though, that make her look and feel modest, pretty and feminine.

[olliecowz]

For some reason, I keep imagining Madeleine Tronson with pale ashy skin, big doe eyes, dark circles and opulant black hair, a rather pear-shaped body covered by shapeless clothes that hide her waist.

I am also thinking of a random character design for "the beautiful torturer's daughter" type of OC, but in a high fantasy setting, with maybe an Orzhov color palette of murky greys, greens and mostly beiges and browns.

OMG I love! I don't know much about the actual historical figure herself but this art slaps omg

Alsooo Please do share more about the oc bc I'm tryna get back into character design and worldbuilding!

[unpunishablelamb]

Here are my Madeleine Tronson x Jean-Baptiste headcanon...Please, add your own, or take it as inspiration.

Teenage!Jean-Baptiste was had all the sense of danger of a lobotomy victim, a strict, smothering mother and an inconsistant set of father figures, developped a talent to collect beatings, often dragging Madeleine into this, who...Even when he didn't drag her into it, Madeleine would victim-blame him as a gesture of misguided, imature worry.

-Madeleine once attended school, and was frequently subject to quite stringent corporal punishment because of her lack of knowledge on "normal" behavior. Her clumsiness would get her injured more than it has to, and of course, Jean-Baptiste blames her for it.

-They were very close, and shared an almost sibling-like bond (kind of like two children from befriended families become very close), which turned sexual after they reached puberty. Jean-Baptiste, coming from an executioner family, doesn't particularly mind this and was liable to mistake: "No, your like a brother to me." for romantic consent if it comes from anyone with the XX chromosomes and about the same age-group.

-Despite this, they were both quite sweet, compassionate people who loved each other very much...Just that maybe starting a family as two horny 18 year olds under the command of a sociopathic woman is bad...For everyone.

I LOVE THOSE SO MUCH! especially the relationship with her and jean baptiste is so well portrayed!!

[gallowking]

Cookies and Cream: a family headcanon.

Cookies and Cream: a family headcanon.

Madeleine Tronson is the name of his Mother that had given birth to him and had married his father Charles-Jean-Baptiste Sanson when both of them were 18 years old. Sadly, she had passed away when she was only 22 years old, leaving his father with ten children to tend to. This led for Charles-Jean-Baptiste’s sons to become executioners in order to honor and become one together with the family. 

[cyniibar]

I hope school is doing well for you.

How do you think Madeleine Tronson would be in a potential Innocent prequel (the first wife of Jean-Baptiste, mother to Madeleine-Claude Gabrielle and Charles -Henri)

Thank you! Got accused of participating in illegal behaviors but other than that, it's pretty skibidi.

Not for Madeleine Tronson....

Tall, very tall and a bit on the underweight side.

Chiselled features, with a pale complexion, having somewhat a mature look yet still beautifully striking. She'd be mistaken often as a full grown adult when she was just around 14-16. And where else would Charles inherit his grey eyes and black hair? HIS MOTHER ! ! ! So she'd definitely have dark hair, if not pitch black and somewhat wavy.

Madeleine would be a lot closer to her eldest daughter than to Charles. Because Charles belonged to his father, and Anne Marthe. She had very little control or say over her son's life because he was destined to be the next pillar upholding their legacy. The only time she ever felt like a mother was when it came to her daughter. So she was heavily protective of her. She coddled her excessively even as her daughter grew older, assured her child security, protection from her father and Anne-Marthe. Leading Madeleine-Claude to develop this attachment to her mother, that separating them would result to chaos. With her mother, Madeleine-Claude is a toddler that struggled to accept growing up.

[subiysu-chan]

The living of Charles-Jean-Baptiste was insane...

Between 1732-1746.

So...After Anne-Marthe married Barré, the utter clusterfuck was insane.

So, he would have to deal with his new step dad, that most likely turned out to be quite abusive. And, must I remind he had one of the most sadistic individuals of his time as a neighbor, during the height of the convulsions scandals. What a wonderful environment for puberty.

At age 18, he would marry the recently orphaned Madeleine Tronson. At that time, he would need his mother's permission to do so. Misery likes company, I guess. The couple had two children in a row : Madeleine-Claude Gabrielle and Charles-Henry. What an emotionally safe place to give birth !

Oh...And Nicolas-Gabriel would stick around until 1745, so...Yeah.

In 1742, widowed for two years, Charles-Jean-Baptiste would remarry to Jeanne Berger, and two years later, she would give birth to her first child. Oh, and Barré still in the house, and Charolais is still alive.

[subiysu-chan]

It must be a different kind of pain when your heart belongs to a person who doesn't know how to love. I'm talking about Jean Baptiste and Marie Josephe. You can't get through them, because they don't want to let you in. They're emotionally unavailable.

And I suppose having sex with them won't lessen the heaviness in your heart— you know that in their eyes, they don't see the act as intimately as you do.

They're repulsed at the idea of someone having romantic affection for them at all. If you express any admiration or adoration to these people, I'm certain they'll immediately jump into a manner that's both disgusted and defensive, 'Who are you to assume you truly know me?' kind of way. Oops, now they're immediately distancing themselves away from you. Way to go!

Okay, like daughter like father, they're both awful. Whatever, they still got some aspects to love about. The majority of the Sansons are capable of love, so why is Jean Baptiste and Marie Josephe like this? How do you get them to lower their guard and seep your way into their heart? What do you think they truly desire from someone in order to reciprocate the person's feelings?

I think Jean-Baptiste and Marie-Josèphe, while both emotionally unavailable, are so in very different ways.

Jean-Baptiste clearly loves his mother, at the exclusion of everybody else. However, to have only one object of affection for your entire life cannot be healthy. Also, there is no way this man ever could develop a sense of identity outside of being an executioner. Most modern torturers and professional killers have a "normal self persona, the default personality that developped in early childhood" and a "ruthless killer personality". With Jean-Baptiste, ruthless executioner and torturer is the default personality, with honestly very little outside of it.

He is able to love his children, but would only show this affection very conditionally as a reward for behaving how he wants, or when they are unconscious, when it's more of a genuine affection.

Now, that man, as a boy between 7 and 19, had rivals lining up for his position. Rivals that were fully grown men, mind you. He was in a semi-incestuous relationship with his mother, and at some point, with Madeleine Tronson, the daughter of his "father figure", a somewhat mentally incestuous union that resulted in a death, and two offspring, of which Charles-Henri is the second. To add insult to injury, his younger brother envied the semi-incestuous, and at the very least mentally abusive attention, Jean-Baptiste received from his mother. Anne-Marthe is plenty physically abusive herself, and they were at a time of "spare the rod, spoil the child", in which physical discipline was a mark that a parent cared for their child. And Nicolas-Gabriel was jaleous of that abusive attention. Her, let's say selective aftercare probably worsened the relations between the two brothers, but I think Gabriel dodged a bullet, here. Oh, and he did have a big sister who ran away with her lover when he was 13 years old. Add to that being forced to kill people, and you have a recipe for mental disaster.

Marie-Josèphe...She does express, narratively to herself, sadness when she believes Charles rejects her. At one point, she asks him if he finds her disgusting for being able to kill without a second thought. To a normal person, it doesn't probably mean much. But for someone who's been raised a pariah, caring what someone else thinks of you must be very intimate, implying a certain degree of trust. She is enraged and griefstricken when Alain is killed in front of her.

With Marie-Josèphe, her ability to love is hidden between layers of honestly betrayal. At the ripe age of two, she witnessed her brother being tortured. She then mimicked that behavior on her doll. I honestly don't want to think what it would do, mentally to a child that young, to see a sibbling being tortured. She was tortured herself by her own grandmother at age 5. Said brother, much later, completely changed his personality overnight, in a sense. When she was tortured, her own mother didn't lift a single finger to help her. Her father...Well, Jean-Baptiste is Jean-Baptiste, and he's not an affectionate parent. Alain left her, and was shortly killed after their reunion. Plus, she was raped at age 10...So, again, the fact she has any ability for affection after being betrayed so many times is surprising.

Honestly, both would need years of therapy, and I don't think their mental state is even salvageable at any point. Marie-Josèphe was actively wanting to kill people since age 4, and was honestly, never taught proper morals by anyone. She is a very underwritten character...So we can only speculate. I think her real chance of finding romantic love would be someone to tell her how absolutely f-cked up her family is. Now, in terms of personalities she is drawn to, they are extremely kind people who seek to make the world a better place, perhaps gravitating towards a goodness, a sense of justice she lacks in herself.

For Jean-Baptiste, he probably knows he's not normal, but probably on a purely cognitive level. The "respectable" individuals on his economic strata, that he knows personally, are absolute monsters, and I think even he knows they are bad people, and probably doesn't want to be associated with them. They also look down on him. Why would anyone want to compare themselves to sadistic creep who looks down on them ? He knows his mother wants to for some reason, but his mother is a woman who sees anyone of her own sex as a rival.

For mutual, healthy relationships, it's probably only friendships with other men. His probably exclusively heterosexual, in an emotionally incestuous relationship with his mother. For him, sexual attraction and familial love go together. Also, it's likely for him, showing he has basic humanity is more intimate than having sex. He really never had a place to express that, outside of religious self-harm. He probably fears, especially after his stroke, that showing humanity would probably cost him: the love of his mother, the authority he has over his wife and kids. His way of showing love is to "be strong" for someone. Like, when he acted like typical angry dad when Marie-Josèphe sadistically massacred Griffin in front on him. Anne-Marthe is the type of person who, I think deep down doesn't want neither children nor a husband, but brainwashed killing machines working for her benefit, just having sons and grandsons is the easiest way to get that. I think someone, who would genuinely show him that they would not think anyless of him because of his heart would drastically transform him. It won't happen over night, and it won't "fix" him, but it will allow a door to be open in his mind.

[subiysu-chan]

What can you tell us about Jean-Baptiste and his circle? Did he have any friends who didn't see him as a boogeyman?

His manga version, no. I wouldn't call someone who'd rape your child behind your back a friend.

His historical counterpart...We don't know...

Now, his social position and the historical context do not land themselves well for friendship.

If the Mémoires are to be believed, he did develop a friendship with Lally-Tollendal. Kinda...

Also, he once could have befriended Madeleine Tronson before things took a sexual turn.

[subiysu-chan]

The Innocent manga and HP crossover makes so much sense to me because of the Black family. I've always imagined them exactly the same as Sansons: the underlying rivalry, the emotional incest, the mingling with death and the morbid, the torturing... Moral dilemmas and outcast aristocrats. Do you agree?

I think the Black family is quite different. The Black family is sure aristocratic, but they are not outcasts, and are blood-purity fanatics. Also, fans of HP who claim Sirius wasn't abused. He's from a family that decapitates house elves, and that Bellatrix is seen as "nice" to houseelves by comparison of the other purebloods. Bellatrix is a nutcase, Andromeda is a victim and Narcissa is a snob. Sirius is a nutcase, and Regulus, while a death eater, might be the most normal out of them.

The Sanson actually contribute to society (giving free health care to the poor).

They both are torture addled, wealthy and a bit incestuous. While the Black family view incest as the lesser evil than exogamy, the Sanson simply do not care. Like, Jean-Baptiste hides the fact his mom still allows him to suckle on her breats, but that's about how far the level of shame stops. Jean-Baptiste didn't have babies with Madeleine Tronson because of blood-purity thing, even if her dad was an almost father-figure to him. He did it because she was an acceptable in his eyes member of the opposite sex to marry. Charles-Henri straight up refuses endogamy.

In both cases of endogamy, there is a sense of entitlement.

[subiysu-chan]

The Sanson servants, rewright

Yes...They deserve arcs...

So André Legris:

Now, nothing is known about him, exept that he accepted the offer to rip up Damien. Since André Legris sounds a lot like the fake French names I found in an article about Romani/Sinti people having multiple false identities, it gives me some idea. So, initially, he went to work as a servant for Nicolas-Charles-Gabriel Sanson, thinking it would be a more normal job, and by the time he understood that no, it's not a regular job, well his tabar had long since f-cked off, leaving him with a social position he hates, but is too afraid to leave. His goal is simply to get enough money to take his leave and marry (executioner servants were typically allowed to marry, like, I have encountered executioner assistants being married with kids, just it wasn't as common probably for economical reasons), maybe with a position as executioner in a small town, or go back to traveling. So, he even found a young woman, no girl (of 15) who's the foster daughter to Soubise, who's also of romani descent, and they can kind of relate to her...But because she had become Barré's protégée, Nicolas-Gabriel hates her guts. Imagine if racial prejudice, professionally induced sadism meets sibbling rivalry (since, unlike his older brother, he did eventually come to see Barré as a paternal figure, probably due losing his father younger). He honestly is a bit desperate to have someone who would share his struggles. Also, he thinks it's only a matter of time that she ends up lynched or gang-raped in a prison riot, and he's not exactly wrong. Plus...He's the only one to point out how weird the habits of the "equarisseurs" in terms of child-rearing are.

Nurse-maid in charge of Sanson baby number X: Puts her or the Sanson baby inside random dead guy's rotting rib cage

Legris: Did you know what you're doing is perfectly disgusting.

Now, Soubise...

Soubise: He a travelling torturer but increasing torturer of Paris, at least de-facto, because Barré is getting a bit too old to inflict "la question par l'eau" which involves lifting some pretty heavy stuff. Descendent of the Guillaume family, he fought all his life to bring back his dynasty to it's former glory, even if it meant being unable to afford a stable home, and for a time, travelled through different provinces to torture sessions, often returning to Paris to work under various masters, and does the odd correction at the Hôpital Général to round off monthly expences. During that time, he married and had a son, but his wife died in childbirth. As a youth, he was apprentice to Jules Tronson, and developped a form of emotional attachment to Madeleine, whom he also wished to marry, albeit more out of dynastic ambition and sibbling-like attachment than romantic or sexual feelings. He still strongly hates Jean-Baptiste Sanson, for in his eyes, taking away everything he held dear. Tronson's attention, Madeleine Tronson, the post of executioner of Paris (which he believes is the rightful property of the Guillaume bloodline). Also, he resents Jean-Baptiste for having Madeleine's body burried near those of respectable people, since when they were alive, they only saw Madeleine as someone they could use for sadistic fun. Not only did he loose a loved one, but he also interpreted her burial as a post-mortem indignity, thinking leaving her body to the dogs would at least be a more dignified burial than this. He's sadistic and hateful, with a playful sadistic side, but also one that's deeply affectionate to those he perceives as family members. He's kind of "papa cat", like those adult male cats that play nice with kittens. He, Barré, his son who's named André, and Blanche (his foster daughter, in fact the daughter of the nurse-maid he hired/rescued, real name Parni) and her mother Marie, real name Luludji, are a kind of "found family".

La Blancheur: The most competant one, and Jean-Baptiste's right hand man. He is a mulato, and almost 80 years old, but remarkably in shape for his age. Originally a slave born of rape, used as a slave to whip other slaves, he eventually fled after the next one to whip was the man who raised him...He eventually reached Nantes, were he did the odd jobs for a bit before eventually coming to work for Sanson II, after the latter saved him from an almost lethal injury, free of charge. He rapidly rose the servants/aids rank. He is qualified enough to get a post in Rouen, and his new boss Jean-Baptiste would be more than happy to finance it, but honestly, with the amount of intrigue and mind games he would need to acquire this posts, La Blancheur isn't interested in that. Plus, he honestly likes the younger servants of the Sanson estate who consider him a grandfather figure and love and respect him, and he doesn't want to leave his social group behind, especially as he's at a point in his life were every day could be his last.

[subiysu-chan]

How I think Shinichi Sakamoto would design Madeleine Tronson in an Innocent prequel

So, grey eyes, dark circles and long, glossy, beautiful, wavy, black hair. Her outfits might be kept on the simplier side, with perhaps a little "manteau de lit" to protect her stays, with her sunday outfit probably more...revealing, or perhaps a very simple robe battante.

[subiysu-chan]

The utter insanity that was the Sanson family

So, I would only talk about the second, third and fourth gen, and there is more than enough drama.

So, Charles Sanson II died, leaving behind three children: Anne-Renée (named after both her aunt and her step-grandmother, and yes, it's the same person), Charles-Jean-Baptiste and Nicolas-Charles-Gabriel. Eventually, Anne-Marthe remarried to Jean-Baptiste Barré, from Metz, in 1732. Oh, and the marriage was such a disaster that she had to seperate from him in 1745, which given the time period, almost certaintly met some domestic violence, before returning again somewhen before 1754.

To make the situation even more cringe, Charles-Jean-Baptiste married the orphaned daughter of his curator/tutor (in the sense of a legal protector) in 1737, both around 18 years old. Given the patriarchy, it probably means Madeleine Tronson, the new bride, would move into the house, in which the shit-show with Barré and Anne-Marthe happened. Also, being surrounded by rivals since age 7 didn't stop Jean-Baptiste from enjoying himself, since the couple had two kids: Madeleine-Claude-Gabrielle and Charles-Henry. Madeleine died a year later, leaving behind a husband and two kids.

Jean-Baptiste eventually remarried, with his step-dad still in the home, and had a bunch of other kids with his second wife, Jeanne-Gabrielle Berger.

In 1778-1779, Louis-Cyr-Charlemagne Sanson married his either 17 or 24 year old niece (sources diverge on this one). The couple would have children none of whom survived. Also, there is a chance they dug up Charles-Jean-Baptiste's remains for that.

[subiysu-chan]

Do you have any headcanons regarding the older generation of Innocent (Jean-Baptiste, Madeleine etc) as that fucked up group we talked abt yesterday?

-At the "ripe" age of 15, Jean-Baptiste and André would personnally know all the perverse aristocrats and intellectuals, who spend tremandous amounts on seeing the worst tortures and executions possible.

-During adolescence, he would become increasing "though", starting to fend off rivals by himself.

-Madeleine Tronson would have probably been exposed to the "convulsionnaires", accidentally, at age 12. She would have been afraid to cross cemetaries afterwards for a while. That fear would be...understandable.

-When her father became a torturer...There relationship quickly soured, and she did began to fear him...Have a loved one turn into a "monster", capable of inflicting horrible harm, is a terrifiying experience to anyone.

-Strangely enough, having young!Subyss knocking around would be a grounding presence, since he would come from a family of torturers, and for him, her new and terrifiying is more normal.

-Subyss is actually the same age as Jean-Baptiste, just younger looking from lack of sunlight, and he and Nicolas-Gabriel became an item when he was 18, and Gabriel 16. Because Subyss is a maniac and Nicolas-Gabriel has a tendency toward intrigue...Just, not a healthy relationship.

-Jean-Baptiste would go between trying to cover them up to protect his younger brother, and attempting to break them appart.

-Nicolas-Gabriel goes full rebellious teen on attempts to break up the relationship.

-Poor André would have an increasingly destabalized social circle, with once close people becoming more and more terrifying, and he would be exposed to more and more violence. He'd be quite relient on older staff, both as he's learning new skills, but also emotionally, would require a grounding presence to stay sane.

-Being the least rough and tough of the Sanson servants, the physical fist-fights whenever he needs to run errands would exhaust him.

-Thankfully, both Jean-Baptiste and Nicolas-Gabriel are fairly tolerant with André's difficulties.

[subiysu-chan]

Do you have any headcanons about Innocent characters of your choice in a relationship?

Jean-Baptiste:

Would seldom understand, even on a pure cognitive level, the concept of romance and courtship. That doesn't mean he cannot fall in love or experience sexual attraction, just, that he's from a subculture that doesn't really do that and never had the time nor interest to read about it beyond "that thing that gets people to do dumb stuff"Because of his rigidity, I think he's a very loyal spouse. Not necessarely out of love, but because adultary is morally wrong. I think he only loved, romantically, one woman, and that woman was Madeleine Tronson. He never needed to court her, because they were very close friends with an almost fraternal bond even before anything sexual was involved. With Jeanne Berger, he does care about her on some level, appreciates her care and affection and is attached to her, but...I would seldom consider it anything romantic, or even count as love. I think it was probably an arranged marriage with someone who's both young enough to be adaptable and not have children from a previous relationship and thus complicate successions and be moldable to his needs, and with the skillset of someone from a poorer executioner family.

In terms of parent-child relationship, with Anne-Marthe, he is still emotionally quite dependant on her, and, if intriguing is needed, would need her to help him, a lot. That doesn't mean he's dumb or incapable of dealing with rivals himself, but, intrigues are not his strong suit. The subtle art of reputation destruction and doing small gestures to tip everything down. He can fight, he can play mindgames to some extend, but not this. Most men are like that, and while some can be violent and emotionally manipulative, lack the skillset for relational agression. Jean-Baptiste is the most loyal son one could hope for, and honestly, to anyone who has children, I would hope they'd be as loyal as Jean-Baptiste, only more emotionally independant. With her, he allows himself a level of trust and emotional vulnerability like he never does with anyone. Coming from an old dynasty, this marriage to Jean-Baptiste symbolizes his full intergration to his cast.

With his children, Jean-Baptiste is strict and emotionally distant, but doesn't seem to have issues with rewarding what he perceives to be desirable behavior with some praise and headpats. He's more liberal with punishment than reward, and would only show sincere affection beyond "good boy" headpats when they are unaware of it, like dizzy, tortured silly, maybe dead. If they have a medical issue or questions about the world, he's very dependable, even if intimidating. He can cry in front of them, but that's only if he's at breaking point. Jean-Baptiste is in his own way, a very loving father, and a highly empathetic one, but, he crushes his own fluffier fealings, and rarely shows it, unless he's at breaking point. Also, being mentally unstable, a hardened pariah and executioner he would interprate a desire for good reputation and social intergration beyond that of executioner in training, he would interprate it, emotionally, as betrayal and slowly becoming a stranger. Even when he knows it's necessary, he still hates it.

With friendships, because of his lack of experience with it, Jean-Baptiste can be guillible.

Marie-Anne Jugier:

Oh, this woman, despite being over thirdy when she married, and seeing several people experience great hardship, and managing a household quite well, is surprisingly naïve with relationships outside of blood relations. Never having experienced neither friendship nor romantic love before meeting Charles, she had that innocence to her that is very unusual in an adult woman.

[subiysu-chan]

So, a good idea for an Sanson story that is somewhat historically accurate and character-driven

So...

Established situation:

So, Charles Sanson II died in 1726, leaving behind three children: a daughter and two sons. Anne-Renée is respectively 16 or 10 (unclear notes in the documents, lol, but given how many members of executioner families married young, and she married Chrétien Zelle in 1736, and had to be alive to recommand her nephew Shmidt, so 10 it is. Charles-Jean-Baptiste Sanson is seven at the time of his father's death, and was born the 19th of April 1719. Nicolas-Charles-Gabriel was 5 at the time of his father's death. Before his death, Charles Sanson II made sure his post was inherited by his eldest son, but Anne-Marthe needs to find a "regent". She finds first has George Hérisson who dies, who dies a year after his tenure in a cart accident. He has to be replaced, this time by François Prudhomme who's an old friend of Sanson II, and is the tutor/curator of Nicolas-Gabriel,so all is well. Since he's a questioner, one needs to find replacement for him, so Jules Tronson fits the bill for reasons of his own, as his friendship with an executioner family does make him less employable. Soon enough, with the several affairs, the number of executions is to big to handle, and thus another regent is necessary.

Here, the story would start proper in 1732, with the three Sanson sibblings being respectively 16, 12 (with his birthday in a few days) and 10 (with his birthday in about a month). The antagonist of the story is introduced: Jean-Baptiste Barré, also known as Johannes (because Alsacian). Now, his goal, for the purposes of the story, would be to be the next executioner of Paris, because of the money and power it would bring. Now, Anne-Marthe very much wants to conserve the name and prestige of her late husband's name, and simply wants to use Barré as a regent and then disgard him. And the principe of their union is: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. Because Anne-Marthe is a master manipulator, she manages to turn the mariage deal very much to her adventage, but Barré doesn't cancel out his plans yet.

So, at first, Barré, he doesn't really want to harm his step-sons and he kind of feels responsable for them. It won't turn that well for the boys, as he's from a region that very much values frequent and harsh canings and birchings. But he also teaches them plenty of practical skills, as well as both Yeniche and Alsacian. Now, the two boys don't really trust him, but they eventually do kind of warm up to him, exept Jean-Baptiste, mostly because at some point, Barré gets delusional enough to try and make the kids call him "father", which they actively refuse to do. Subtly, however, Anne-Marthe does secretely tell Jean-Baptiste about the real reason why she married him.

Things go even further in the wrong direction for Barré when Jean-Baptiste falls for Madeleine Tronson, so he does everything in his power to split appart the "happy couple" so that Jean-Baptiste would be less interested in claiming his inheritence to be with her. So, in his campain, he finds unlikely allies in Henri Tronson, Madeleine's uncle, and the young Soubise, apprentice to Jules Tronson as questionnaire.

Now, time for the love triangle, and Madeleine, she, at age 14, her education ends with a disaster when her identity is discovered, as well as her frequentations.