In Which a Merry Christmas Is Wished All Around!

Merry Christmas to whoever may be reading this! Or whatever you celebrate! :)

I tried to get some shots of the group in modern clothing, but apparently my game can't handle sixteen controllables at once, so because I can't actually post the next chapter yet (not finished-- SEVENTY FREAKING PICTURES! May need to split it into two chapters if I can find a decent breaking point...), I give you... quickie wedding recaps! *waits for applause* *crickets chirp*

Roderick and Geneva--August 7, 1153

Nothing too special here, folks. Roderick is the second son of King Farilon of Dovia. Both he and his older brother Oswald married daughters of earls--Oswald married Medea's younger sister Athalia, and Roderick got Geneva, also the younger of two sisters. Her older sister is the comically undesirable Eudocia, who ended up marrying Severin's half brother Rudolphus... but more on that later. Of course, neither were particularly thrilled with the match. Roderick is completely uninterested in anything romantic or sexual. All he cares about is power and money (or the illusion of), so really the only thing he got out of it was his heir, Ietrin, unless you count the fact that Geneva is something of a prize, which he could interpret as representing his status as a "winner". As for Geneva, she doesn't mind having someone to jump every night, but you can just tell she'd rather be unmarried and free to have sex with whoever the hell she wants. Not that her marriage really stops her, mind you...

They had a typical royal wedding at Farilon's castle. All of the nobles now living in Naroni were in attendance. Geneva's ladies were Medea, Athalia, Eudocia, and Roderick's sister Holladrin, while Roderick's men were Oswald, Rudolphus, Geneva's brother Karlspan, and Medea's brother Cambrin.

Dalston and Celina--November 29, 1154

As we know, Dalston was given the hand of Farilon's niece Celina in marriage in exchange for accompanying Roderick into exile. Celina, of course, was simultaneously thrilled and frightened by the idea. She loved Dalston, but found him to be very much above her. Unbeknownst to her, Dalston too thought himself unworthy of his innocent new spouse, due to his past behavior (we know he had some sort of altercation with Geneva, and, realistically, he probably slept with a few maids before he got married). But as we all know, they finally admitted their love to each other right after their son's birth, and lived happily ever after. OR WILL THEY?

They had a fairly small, impromptu wedding. It was elegant, of course, seeing as they were both nobles and she was the niece of the king, but no invites were sent to any distant relations, only Farilon's family and Dalston's brother's attended. Celina's ladies were Holladrin and Athalia, while Dalston's men were Oswald and his brother Arkon.

Octavius and Medea--February 12, 1152

Medea had been angry with her father since her younger sister Athalia married Prince Oswald in 1150. The way she saw it, she, as the older sister, should be the first one married, but Oswald had asked specifically for Athalia and her father had accepted. So it was that pretty much every man of standing in Naroni was married or promised, the exception being Dalston, who Medea refused to marry out of loyalty to Geneva, who had always had a thing for him. So it got to the point where she started throwing tantrums and screaming at her father to find her a husband. Octavius, who was the eighth and last son of a lesser Dovian lord, was studying to be a priest at the time. His first three brothers had all married, but the next four had all gone on to become priests, and he was to do the same until his father was approached by Medea's, who pretty much begged him to let Octavius marry Medea. Medea, of course, wasn't thrilled with this, since Octavius was below her station (her father was an earl) and her sister was going to be the next Queen of Dovia. Needless to say, she and Athalia aren't on particularly good terms.

Since Medea "couldn't undergo such a humiliating marriage publicly", it was a small ceremony, with just their fathers, siblings, and Geneva present. Medea's only lady was Geneva, and Octavius's only man was his brother Tertius.

Severin and Alina--November 25, 1154

As we know, Severin and Alina were pretty much in love with each other since they were little more than babies. However, Alina had been promised to Severin's brother Rudolphus shortly after she was born. Rudolphus never caught Alina's interest, since he's not too bright and rather boring, and he really never paid any attention to her until she got old enough for him to find sexually appealing. Severin, being the bastard second son, was supposed to enter the priesthood. He nearly completed his training, but then one night, he decided "What the hell, I'm going to go elope with the love of my life", ran away from the monastery he was studying at, bribed the randomly-selected Adonis to witness the proceedings, rode to Alina's father's castle, climbed through her window, and begged her to marry him that very night--which happened to be the eve of her wedding to Rudolphus. She agreed, and they hurried off to a nearby village church where they were hastily wed, then went back to Alina's room and had sex (a first for Alina--Severin might have had a few little "encounters" with some maids). Unfortunately, her mother found them the next morning. She didn't react too strongly though; just kind of a "well, congratulations, maybe leave before your father finds out about this" sort of thing. So they pretty much wandered around Dovia with Adonis and Honora for a few months, then finally settled in Naroni.

Adonis and Honora--January 3, 1155

One night, Adonis was minding his own business when Severin barged into his house and asked him to witness his marriage proceedings. Adonis said "Yeah, sure, why the hell not?" and went through with the plan. In exchange, Severin promised that he would somehow make Adonis the poor peasant farmer a middle-class gentleman. Alina then offered him the hand of her maid, Honora, in marriage.

They got married in a random Dovian church once they both decided they were ready. Severin and Alina witnessed, but other than that, there were no guests. As such, Alina was Honora's only lady, and Adonis's only man was Severin (although they got more help than Severin and Alina themselves--those two pretty much undressed each other. Not that they really minded).

Florian and Electra--October 27, 1154

As we shall see in the next post, Florian was pretty close to his older brother Hamrick, who was Electra's first husband. However, Hamrick got sick when Florian was quite young, and as a result, Florian was not exactly a model of good behavior in his youth. He was eventually arrested on multiple theft charges and sent to the king's dungeon. Farilon toyed with the idea of executing him, but then he decided that the charges weren't severe enough. At the same time, however, keeping Florian in jail was a waste of tax money, so he decided he'd let Florian go on the condition he was out of the country by the beginning of 1155. Florian's mother died shortly after Florian was released from prison. While on her deathbed, she told Florian and Electra each seperately that she thought they should get married. They came to this agreement while they buried her, then had a quickie, sinfully unromantic wedding at the local chapel, went home, and went to bed in seperate rooms without so much as a hug. They still haven't slept together. If they did, I'm fairly sure Electra would be thinking of Hamrick the entire time; Florian would probably think the girls he used to roll in the haystacks with back in Dovia were better.

Halford and Arydath--July 16, 1154

Halford and Arydath's wedding is the one we know the least about, which is a shame because it's one of the more interesting ones. Basically, Halford and Arydath grew up on neighboring farms in Dovia. One day, when Halford was nine and Arydath was four, Halford decided it would be terribly funny to push Arydath into the stream that marked the boundary between his family's lands and her family's lands. Arydath got back at him the next day by greasing the udders of his milk cow. They continued pranking each other like this for years, until it got to the point where Arydath decided she'd end it once and for all with the ultimate prank. She'd seduce him, then lie about being pregnant with his baby a few weeks later. However, her mother overheard her telling Halford about the fake pregnancy, and fell for it just as easily as he did. She then pretty much forced the two of them to the alter that very day. After the ceremony, Arydath told Halford that she was actually not pregnant, but he said he didn't really care, since the prank had given him an excuse to marry her. He then confessed he had been in love with her since she was twelve. She admitted that she also loved him, and then they decided they'd do something romantic... like run off to another country.

Norwan and Thetis--September 11, 1154

Following the deaths of her parents, Thetis went to live with her uncle. He was a lazy, drunken farmer who was up to his neck in debt to Norwan. One day, Norwan decided he'd had enough and went to the house, demanding payment. Thetis's uncle told Norwan he didn't have any money, but he did have a thirteen-year-old niece that he wanted to marry off. Norwan, in a moment of "generosity", agreed.

He married Thetis the next week, with just her uncle present. She didn't get any ladies on her wedding night. Norwan undressed her himself, then proceeded to rape her. He then took her off to Naroni where they didn't know anyone, so he could do as he pleased. Chances are, her uncle doesn't even realize they're gone.


So I know there's no way this is anywhere near as enjoyable as an actual post, but a little extra information never hurt anyone--it just makes a somewhat boring Christmas present. Nevertheless, Merry Christmas! Next year, something better, I promise!