mare-of-night In reply to AymsterSilver [2013-03-14 04:35:51 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-02 23:06:30 +0000 UTC]

I'm not up to anything in particular I just saw some of your art on the 18th century tag on tumblr and really liked the descriptions and thought your characters sounded interesting.

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-03 01:01:06 +0000 UTC]

Well, you're up to making me pleased that someone has noticed the doodle blog.
Ancien Régime Europe has sucked my soul, so expect to see a lot of it both on Tumblr and here.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-03 01:46:11 +0000 UTC]

Hee hee, same here, actually! (I'm... very, very slowly writing a story in that setting. Currently in the overresearch everything phase.)

I look forward to seeing more of your stuff, then

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-03 01:52:56 +0000 UTC]

Ohh my favourite phase! Good luck with it. Which specific era/events are you planning to write, if it's not indiscreet to ask?

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-03 04:11:11 +0000 UTC]

Not indiscreet at all, I like talking about my stories way too much

I'm starting in 1780, and I'll probably keep going until my main character gets himself killed or has to flee the country. (So the decade before the revolution, and probably a couple years into the revolution.)

Events are an alternate plot for A Tale of Two Cities, mostly focusing on Charles. (So technically fanfic, but by the time I'm done with it it'll be mostly new stuff, since Dickens is actually pretty sparse with details of characters' lives.) In the original story, he's the nephew and heir of a Marquis who is... very much not a nice person, and he's got ideas of trying to make things better for the peasants once he inherits, which never really happens because he gets distracted by a love interest in England as soon as uncle dies. And I really wanted to know how the "help the peasants" thing, and acting as a seigneur in general, would have gone for him. So I'm changing a few things to make sure he stays in France and actually attempts this project. I still keep changing my mind about what the actual events are, but it's probably going to involve a lot of local politics, some murder attempts, and some break-the-idealist.

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-05 15:58:08 +0000 UTC]

I like the sound of that. Who needs love interests when you can have seigneurial problems instead! It's not like feelings are any less intense in the latter case, right?

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-05 20:00:09 +0000 UTC]

By the way, is there more of your Firebird story somewhere other than dA?

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-06 12:34:56 +0000 UTC]

Nowhere but in my hastily scribbled notes, unfortunately: I am plodding half-way through book #2 out of three, in a phase of second draft and neverending content editing, so there isn't as much postable stuff as I wish. Plus, I'm not sure the novel will ever be up on the web in its entirety, for obvious publishing problems reasons. But side stories and semi-polished snippets will likely keep appearing here.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-07 02:51:35 +0000 UTC]

Sorry to keep splitting the conversation into more threads, I keep thinking of stuff after hitting send |'D But I've been curious - how does an 18th century soldier come upon a firebird anyway? And is it a phoenix, or something else that looks similar?

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-07 10:48:33 +0000 UTC]

I am actually giddily flattered that my story is capable of making someone so curious as to split a conversation into further threads to ask questions.

Well, before winding up a soldier, Filipp used to be the lazy libertine son of a nobleman: after screwing up big time at the card table and getting his beloved, almost unnaturally perfect Gary Stu brother killed, he hides away in his father's country estate, somewhere south of Moscow, effectively nursing grief by means of riding through sunlit fields and enjoying himself with the local serf girls; during one of such pleasant romps, a firebird just broken out of the egg gets in his way - quite literally, burning the leg of his horse. Then other things happen, a bit fastforwarded because the events in the first three chapters span over a time of about two years but I'm only showing the bits that are relevant to the plot (in other words, those that get Filipp kicked out of Russia for good).
As for birdie, it - well, he to be precise gender-wise - is not a phoenix, and since Russian folklore isn't all that precise with this creature's looks and behaviour, I just rolled with a personal interpretation: a mix of chicken, pheasant and peacock with a slightly higher intelligence level than your average bird, some training in responding to Filipp's commands, and of course magical ability to create and control fire, glow in the dark and keep his master warm in the winter. |D

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-07 17:50:52 +0000 UTC]

Aah - sounds like a good way to escape. Does the fire bird imprint on him or something because it had just hatched, or does he catch it?

Sounds pretty And useful to have in a place like Russia.

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-08 01:38:37 +0000 UTC]

Birdie imprints on him, and since Filipp is generally better at keeping long-term relationships with pets rather than people, mutual affection grows over time.
Also useful when you're roaming rural Prussia on your own and entering an inn wearing a Russian uniform might seal your fate, so you have to spend the night outside no matter the weather.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-08 02:48:08 +0000 UTC]

Awwwwww! :3

Hmm... is it possible to pet a firebird? Do birds even like being petted?

Ooooh, he ended up getting kicked out of the country while in uniform? That sorta sucks. Does he also have to be careful about his accent and such because of that?

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-08 18:14:06 +0000 UTC]

Some do. I swear I'm talking from personal experiences, even before the internet showed me this: [link]

Yeah, running away from a battlefield was not a smart move in this regard; good for him he speaks German and considers himself rather proficient at lying on his nationality when necessary. Results, of course, may vary.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-08 21:26:20 +0000 UTC]

It redirected to the homepage, but I suspect you had a particular pic of a cute birdie?

Aaah, yeah, that would do it. Was the battle going poorly?

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-08 22:19:27 +0000 UTC]

Ach, verdammter Link! But yes, a cute birdie that was: [link]

Well, historically speaking, it was a draw and not even a particularly bloody one. Filipp has other concerns than strategy, and for him it goes horribly enough that he decides he's done with all this shiz. The shiz, unfortunately, is not done with him: so, one year later at an inn in Westfalia, a certain non-commissioned officer buys him a drink with what is aptly called the King's shilling, and suddenly redcoats happen.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-08 22:24:29 +0000 UTC]

Awwwwwwwww! :3

Aah, ok. That... that sucks. And also that scenario sounds really familiar... Same thing happened to Candide in Westphilia, I think?

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-08 22:34:26 +0000 UTC]

Aye, though Barry Lyndon is far more to blame for me getting the original story idea, and writing my fictional British regiment as stationed in Germany rather than North America: The last of the Mohicans evidently didn't make me cry enough.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-08 22:42:45 +0000 UTC]

Aah, ok

I... actually haven't read either one of those, so I can't comment much, sorry |'D

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-08 22:51:35 +0000 UTC]

Aw well, I mostly saw the film versions, and only read The luck of Barry Lyndon: far from a great book if you ask me, but the movie... Man, that movie. There are inaccuracies in uniforms and other hard history details and I couldn't care less. This alone should be rather telling.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-09 02:57:44 +0000 UTC]

Heh. I've actually never studied uniforms. That'll be interesting, if I ever have to... I'll probably at least need to learn what the police look like. And livery. Though there would be a whole lot of leeway with livery, since it's different for everyone.

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-09 21:18:52 +0000 UTC]

Funny little things, uniforms. 18th century ones win at eye-candy, if you ask me and my bias, though to the extent of my knowledge there was no such thing as an established French police uniform until around 1829; amusingly enough, when I was researching about a 1740s militia unit in a village of Austrian-ruled northern Italy, I never came across a mention of uniforms (or formal training in any sort) for this military corps in all of my primary sources.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-09 23:26:44 +0000 UTC]

I'll make sure to look it up myself, but I guess that makes some sense that police wouldn't have uniforms, since in other countries constables were people who would chase down thieves and such for you if you paid them enough. Also interesting about the militia thing

Thanks for the watch, by the way

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-11 02:16:46 +0000 UTC]

You've earned that watch, for bearing so valiantly with my history & OC rambling.

Historical police forces are a fascinating universe, right? And I just found out the Préfecture de Police in Paris has a museum; do I even need to say it goes straight away to my list of places to see in Paris? (Said list does not include the Eiffel Tower, and does include the Musée de l'Armée. I have priorities in life, after all.)

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-11 03:05:35 +0000 UTC]

Haha, thanks. I'm enjoying this Especially at this particular moment... I'm writing a requirements document for a piece of software I have to write in the next 10 weeks for school, and feeling annoyed that I have so much more to write and worried that I picked a too-ambitious project. (But at least I picked a project I actually care about, which makes it more interesting. If all goes well, the website for my story will run on this software, once the story is far enough along to start posting.)

o.O cool! And, I like your priorities XD I don't even know what I'd go see if I had the opportunity to go to France... it's not something that's likely to happen anytime soon. I'm kind of vaguely considering trying to learn French, mostly so I can read things even if there's no translation available, and also it would be nice to be able to pronounce my own characters' names without sounding like an idiot.

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-11 23:37:09 +0000 UTC]

That sounds all too familiar. I ruined everyone's Christmas break with my thesis angst this winter, but at least it seems to be paying off by means of an early graduation. W00t!
Pro-tip for life: comparing yourself and your achievements, or lack thereof, to professional historians is not good for easing your stress. Don't indulge in it.

Pfft, such priorities are the reason why my friends must be secretly relieved I've never accompanied them in their Parisian summer trips. Then again, I got to busy myself with Berlin and it would be hard to beat that.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-11 23:56:06 +0000 UTC]

Oh man, thesis? Good for you! What subject were you writing about?
...yeah, that sounds like a good tip.

Ooh, Germany is fun. I wasn't as into history when I went (I was 16), but I got to see the oldest castle in the country that's still standing, and my mom and I went to see art museums in Munich without the rest of the family being there to be annoyed by it XD

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-13 18:21:43 +0000 UTC]

Thesis. Mothafuckin' thesis. On the shenanigans of a militia unit in Italy around 1746: murders! Forage parties! Deserters! Wavering loyalties! People who die in jail from poor diet and torture, and the judges are even surprised!

I managed to travel to Germany only last year; I've been to Austria, too, in earlier times, but that doesn't count because, well... Austria =/= Germany. And it was a schooltrip, so no time to visit places that really matter, like the Heeresgeschichlichtes Museum or the Kriegsarchiv. Eh, back in those days I wouldn't even have thought of archival adventures abroad; growing up is a good thing, let me tell you!

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-13 20:17:33 +0000 UTC]

That sounds exciting! Exciting in the way that you want to read about it but wouldn't want to be there.

Yes, agreed about growing up.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-06 22:37:20 +0000 UTC]

Aah, ok. Thanks for telling me

...Oh man. So this is barely relevant, but I have this project for school to make some kind of website that uses a database, so I was going to make a Wordpress-like software for displaying comics and stories. And I had found it odd that there were so many of those for comics, but I couldn't find any for stories. And just now I realized that writers are probably often either writing something that they intend to publish and don't want online, or writing fanfiction and putting it on existing fanfic sites instead.

...sorry, I'm just incapable of having minor epiphanies without sharing, apparently...

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-07 10:18:18 +0000 UTC]

Nah, it's alright. To be honest, I'd love to share more and MOAR, so to speak, of what I write because I love the smell of feedback in the morning like the next person, but until I figure out how/if I want to publish for real, be it with a company or doing it myself, it's just better to keep the first publication rights strictly watched. No matter that it sort of feels like keeping a bride a virgin until marriage, and I don't know whether to lol or facepalm at the comparisons my brain can draw from time to time.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-07 16:47:52 +0000 UTC]

This sounds like how I am sometimes about spoilers... I'm not going to try to publish, but even just trying to not tell people what happens before I actually write it is hard.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-05 19:23:08 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! Maybe a tad less strong, depending on what exactly happens, but the uncle-is-trying-to-kill-me problems will make up the difference

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-06 12:09:08 +0000 UTC]

Oh, indeed! If it's not too much of a spoiler, who is this murderous uncle?

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-07 02:50:18 +0000 UTC]

That would be Charles' uncle, the Marquis. Not really a spoiler because he was already trying to have Charles killed in the original story. He thinks Charles is going to embarrass the family by taking all these silly "enlightenment" ideas too seriously - he doesn't seem to realize that you're not supposed to actually act like poor commoners matter. So obviously Charles needs to be gotten rid of for the sake of the family's honor and good name.

Uncle is tentatively named Thierry. Personality-wise... he's probably got some things in common with your new character who you say is an asshole? XD Very concerned with power and reputation, and doesn't care about too much else.

He and Charles are also stuck living together (he's using blackmail to make sure Charles says where he can keep an eye on him), so they'll probably be figuratively at each others' throats even before things get really dangerous.

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-07 16:33:13 +0000 UTC]

So, ages ago I started reading A tale of two cities, then got distracted and never picked it up again; now I remember the Marquis, and that he was my favourite character. It sounds rather creepy, but I am not actually in favour of running over peasant children on the public street, let this be known. Being stuck living together with such a guy? Not cool. As source of narrative conflict? This gets better and better.
Also, my assholish character is named, depending on the place you occupy on the social ladder, with a noble title I'm yet to figure out, or Joe for short. If ?Thierry? is fine with strangling prostitutes for the lulz of it, he and Joe could start a club.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-07 18:21:56 +0000 UTC]

It doesn't sound creepy to me, probably because I think like that sometimes too |'D I just become a horrible person when I write. Or, like, conflict is good, so I just make things worse and worse for people. The Marquis was one of my favorites too - both very polite and very sinister.

I think Thierry would like that sort of club XD He misses the days when he could get away with stabbing people for the lulz.

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-08 01:19:30 +0000 UTC]

I lay a lot of the blame on history for being horrible to begin with: the characters are men of their times after all, so... Male chauvinism? Check. Racism? Check. Antisemitism? Check. Religious intolerance? Check. Rape kinks? Check. And so on.
Then again, deserters, serial killers and drinkers of human blood were kinda disliked even in the 1750s, so maybe there is some hope for the protagonists to not look like complete and unredeemable jerkwads.

How old is Thierry? There's quite some time span between the Seven Years War and the French revolution: much to everyone's chagrin, Joe survives the former to live a long, happy, depraved life. They might have met and started the club long before we even brought up this topic.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-08 03:45:22 +0000 UTC]

Yeaaaah, you do tend to end up with something not so nice if you keep the ideologies right for the time period.

Thierry is 60-ish. So born in 1720. He and Joe might actually be around the same age... And Thierry does have something of a depravity club actually |'D Just a group of friends who get together a few times a year for "parties". Usually involves a lot of prostitutes and some not-normally-prostitutes. Joe could join, if you like cameos. (I'm not completely sure that I'll be able to make cameos work in the story, but I don't see any reason not to yet.)

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-08 16:50:19 +0000 UTC]

Joe would love to partake in these debauchery sessions. And my notes list him as born in 1729, so even age-wise he'd fit pretty well in a bunch of old libertines.
(No matter whether cameos are going to happen or not, here is my reaction accurately depicted: [link] )

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-08 21:36:41 +0000 UTC]

And I'm sure they'd be glad to have him

(I literally actually laughed at that gif XD It could at least be fun to figure out how they met just for funs, even if it might not become canon...)

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-09 01:23:32 +0000 UTC]

Two words: grand tour. I find it coherent with Joe's character that he be sent to Europe (ergo, to France) to complete his education, and end up debauching for most of the time instead, with his domineering cane-wielding father left behind at a safety distance. Great fun! Whores everywhere! And if you accidentally kill or maim one, nema problema, just leave whatever country you're in a bit sooner than it was planned!

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-09 03:44:53 +0000 UTC]

Ooooh, this works! So the would've met as young men, and perhaps got together again years later, after the war? Joe is probably also acquainted with Thierry's twin Leonide, in this case. (Leonide is also Charles' father.) He and Thierry were partners in crime when he was alive. Sometimes literally. (Though they'd say it's not a crime if you're important enough to get away with it...)

By the way, is Joe British or American?

How did Joe handle his "bear-leader"? This conversation is making me remember of something I read about a lad who got his tutor to let him do whatever he wanted through a combination of bribes and threatening to complain about the tutor to his father.

Charles is very jealous of Joe now, by the way. He's not so fond of whores (I think he might actually find them scary...), but he wanted to see the Roman and Greek ruins, and learn more languages, and visit England, and get away from his unpleasant guardian. But Uncle wouldn't let him go, since the Grand Tour isn't something French people typically did anyway. He did eventually get to England, though. I suspect that his first trip involved leaving home early in the morning and riding very, very fast.

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-09 21:39:49 +0000 UTC]

Likely, likely. I'm tentatively placing Joe's first passage to France in late 1748 or 1749, just because his father wouldn't let him cross the Channel while there is a war with France going on, and one in which Joe's military uncle even got himself killed. I think this screams Britishness loud enough, eh?
So, the bear-leader. He is an abusive, stubborn asshole in his own right, and Joe learnt to weasel his way around him very well by means of deceit, good manners (you never, ever hear Joe say a cuss word) and using his father's youngest brother as an easy scapegoat, playing on the fact bear-leader is convinced this poor freckled creature is actually a bastard child and, overall, a stain on the household's honour.

Now Joe would like to reassure Charles that regarding Greece and Italy, he hasn't missed anything, barring the cheap whores in Naples, but a lot of filthy beggars, annoying priests and time-worn old stones. Bah!
I suspect that his first trip involved leaving home early in the morning and riding very, very fast.
Why oh why am I not surprised? I shouldn't have lol'd at this, but I did. I am a bad person, amirite.

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mare-of-night In reply to VFreie [2013-03-09 23:50:55 +0000 UTC]

Yes, sufficiently British XD And that's... wise of him, to wait until they're not at war.

...man. Now I feel sorry for that kid. Is this Benedict Graves? Which of the two is older, by the way?

Charles isn't buying it, but okay XD

Yeah, we're all bad people here I actually got the idea because a friend suggested that he might've tried unsuccessfully a few times and ended up getting dragged back home by one of the servants.

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VFreie In reply to mare-of-night [2013-03-11 01:50:45 +0000 UTC]

Yep, that unlucky child is Benedict Graves, who in later life becomes lieutenant-colonel of an infantry regiment raised by the bear-leader (ehr, William Graves, 2nd Earl of Corvesleigh, actually). Benedict was born in 1725, not long after his father's death, and his mother died in childbirth: bear-leader William it's Lord Corvesleigh, dammit had his own way of coping with grief and therefore immediately suspected the child's natural father to be someone who clearly was not the elderly lord. Not that he ever had any proof (hell, he probably doesn't even want it, for he'd hate to think of his mother as a strumpet and of his father as a cuckold), but you tell him it's cruel, stupid and irrational to treat Benedict like a horrible urchin on the basis of a simple prejudice.
For further clarity's sake, Lord Corvesleigh's birth year is 1704; there were two other brothers in-between, one born in 1712 and another in 1716, both dead before the novel's events.

Pauvre Charles, pas de chance! D: I guess he should consider himself lucky his lovely uncle didn't have him locked up in prison for good until he grew some respect and obedience. Well, I don't know if it was an acceptable "educational" practice in France, but in the Italian states it sure was.

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