What happened to Convent of Notre Dame d'Arc-en-Ciel?

[tmcd]

Conveniently, a search here for "Ciel" has few hits.

KK Chat, March 06, 2011, 08:16:36 PM

"<Evie_> is Arc-en-Ciel still around in Kelson's day?

"<KK> I'm sure it is."

Was there any more information on what happened to this order?

If I can invent notions:

Orders in the real Middle Ages rose and fell in popularity. For example: Benedictines are the way (wait some decades) Let's all support the pure Cluniacs (decades) Cistercians are strict due to the corruption of other orders, so they deserve our donations (decades) How about them Franciscans?

Further, they were Bremagni in origin. Perhaps Jehane was associated by a rival order who hated how nice and accepting Arc-en-Ciel were, and when Jehane went to Gwynedd, she firmly induced Brion to redirect any royal patronage to someone else, like the nunnery off in Eastmarch.

[Evie]

That's certainly plausible. Of course, from a writer's perspective, the simplest reason for the convent not appearing in the Kelson Era stories (aside from the obvious one that KK had no reason to invent it before she needed a place to educate Alyce and Marie) would be that KK didn't need a convent to figure prominently in any of Alaric's and Duncan's adventures, so apart from the one that Jehana goes scurrying off to in a snit over Brion adopting "evil Deryni" ways, the only other one we really see is St. Brigid's, which entered the story in order to show the reader the ruthlessness of the Mearan army, and of Prince Ithel in particular. So in a way I'm glad Arc-en-Ciel hadn't been conceived in KK's mind yet when she wrote that series, since those events might have ended up happening there instead, which would have been a very sad fate for Alyce and Marie's former companions!

I like to think Arc-en-Ciel is likely still doing fine, though how Deryni accepting it is (or not) might sometimes vary depending on whoever is in charge there at the time. It's simply not a location of great importance for the current lot of characters, in the same way that the high school my dad attended over 60 years ago and holds fond memories of means nothing to me personally aside from a name,since I've never even seen the place. But others of my generation and younger might have had grand adventures there, which I will never know since they aren't in my own personal life story. 🙂

[tmcd]

Of course, from a writer's perspective

I was thinking of earnestly explaining Watsonian versus Doylist and mentioning that this was a Watsonian fanwank, but realized that everyone here is probably already familiar with the idea. Q: How fast do they get from Rhemuth to Ratharkin? A: They travel at the speed of plot.

[Laurna]

I am not an English major like many people here, so I had to look up Watsonian versus Doylist,  And that lead me down a Rabbit Hole! So many jargon names for bits and pieces of writing that I had no idea even needed naming. 

As for getting from Ratharkin to Rhemuth? We have collectively written an entire novel about that.  They traveled at the speed of the plot. Amen!

[Jerusha]

"They travelled at the speed of the plot."  I like that!

[Evie]

There's an ongoing joke here about the "elastic roads" of the Eleven Kingdoms, because not only is the travel time between two points very plot-dependent, the size of the land mass itself seems to have changed over the decades. Compare the width of Gwynedd in one of the early one-page maps found at the beginning of one of the original paperbacks to the latest maps as found in the Childe Morgan trilogy or the Deryni Adventure Game sourcebook. Though given the internal chronology of the series, maybe Gwynedd is actually shrinking dramatically during the first three decades of Alaric's lifetime rather than growing?

[DoctorM]

I've wondered about that. Gwynnedd and its neighbors seem to have shape-shifted since first I read the novels. In my mind's eye, the original maps in the early Ballantine editions are still the "real" Eleven Kingdoms. Somehow it's important that there's that extra space!

[tmcd]

maybe Gwynedd is actually shrinking dramatically during the first three decades of Alaric's lifetime rather than growing?

(dramatic voiceover)

Caeriesse ... was just the first.

Starting in 2023, the exciting new trilogy from Katherine Kurtz, One Down, Ten To Go.

Deryni Sinking, Deryni You Sunk My Battleship!, and Low Deryni.

----------------------

BTW, the "the speed of plot" phrase was from Marion Zimmer Bradley about travel times on Darkover.

[revanne]

Goodness, Tmcd! Given the imaginations of some of us on here that's like a red rag to a bull - look out for exciting fanfiction!

Hi by the way - I'm from across the pond so tend to show up at weird hours from the p o v of you all. It's good to have you in the Castle.

[Nezz]

(dramatic voiceover)
Caeriesse ... was just the first.

.

I snorked aloud at that one.