Pawns and Queens--Dramatis Personae

[Evie]

Added for Chapter Twenty-Eight:

The House of MacEwan

[Evie]

Since I am posting a spin-off story tomorrow, but am likely to forget to update the Dramatis Personae since it's not a regular posting day for me, I'll go ahead and update it now.

Added to "The Camberian Council": Aidan of Llyr (Banoidhre Aoife's male guise).

"Aidan" will make a brief appearance in tomorrow's spin-off story, "The Star-Crossed," and a slightly longer appearance in a future chapter or two of Pawns and Queens as well as other future stories.

[Demercia]

Since I am posting a spin-off story tomorrow, but am likely to forget to update the Dramatis Personae since it's not a regular posting day for me, I'll go ahead and update it now.

Added to "The Camberian Council": Aidan of Llyr (Banoidhre Aoife's male guise).

"Aidan" will make a brief appearance in tomorrow's spin-off story, "The Star-Crossed," and a slightly longer appearance in a future chapter or two of Pawns and Queens as well as other future stories.

Please when you get a moment could you remind me how titles work in Llyr, I know the succession is matrilineal.

[Evie]

Since I am posting a spin-off story tomorrow, but am likely to forget to update the Dramatis Personae since it's not a regular posting day for me, I'll go ahead and update it now.

Added to "The Camberian Council": Aidan of Llyr (Banoidhre Aoife's male guise).

"Aidan" will make a brief appearance in tomorrow's spin-off story, "The Star-Crossed," and a slightly longer appearance in a future chapter or two of Pawns and Queens as well as other future stories.

Please when you get a moment could you remind me how titles work in Llyr, I know the succession is matrilineal.

The Ard-Tiarna (High Lord) is the Sovereign of Llyr. He is the eldest son of a Banoidhre. If the Ard-Tiarna is married, I think his wife has a courtesy title that translates to "High Lady," but I've forgotten what that was and will need to go back and look it up.

The Banoidhre (Heiress) of Llyr is the eldest daughter of the previous Banoidhre and hence usually the Ard-Tiarna's sister, unless a Banoidhre or future Ard-Tiarna has not been born for that generation yet or they have not yet come of age.

The titles for their younger siblings are Fhlaith/Banfhlaith, which are roughly equivalent to Prince/Princess.

And a ridire is a knight.

A Sagart/Ban-sagart is a priest, so Catriona of Llyr in Kelson's generation was a Ban-sagart. (The prefix ban- means woman or female, though Llyrians don't distinguish between male and female knights for whatever reason, so they're both called ridire.)

If a generation's Banoidhre fails to produce both a son and a daughter to inherit after them, then one or both of those lineages can continue through a cadet branch of the family (though an Ard-Tiarna selected that way still won't pass his title to his son since that will always be passed down through a Banoidhre), though I don't think Llyrians follow strict primogeniture, so if the next male or female descendant in line is found wanting in some way, the Royal Family and/or the people can opt to pass over him or her and select a different heir or heiress. So it's a bit more like tanistry in that sense, I think.

[Demercia]

Since I am posting a spin-off story tomorrow, but am likely to forget to update the Dramatis Personae since it's not a regular posting day for me, I'll go ahead and update it now.

Added to "The Camberian Council": Aidan of Llyr (Banoidhre Aoife's male guise).

"Aidan" will make a brief appearance in tomorrow's spin-off story, "The Star-Crossed," and a slightly longer appearance in a future chapter or two of Pawns and Queens as well as other future stories.

Please when you get a moment could you remind me how titles work in Llyr, I know the succession is matrilineal.

The Ard-Tiarna (High Lord) is the Sovereign of Llyr. He is the eldest son of a Banoidhre. If the Ard-Tiarna is married, I think his wife has a courtesy title that translates to "High Lady," but I've forgotten what that was and will need to go back and look it up.

The Banoidhre (Heiress) of Llyr is the eldest daughter of the previous Banoidhre and hence usually the Ard-Tiarna's sister, unless a Banoidhre or future Ard-Tiarna has not been born for that generation yet or they have not yet come of age.

The titles for their younger siblings are Fhlaith/Banfhlaith, which are roughly equivalent to Prince/Princess.

And a ridire is a knight.

A Sagart/Ban-sagart is a priest, so Catriona of Llyr in Kelson's generation was a Ban-sagart. (The prefix ban- means woman or female, though Llyrians don't distinguish between male and female knights for whatever reason, so they're both called ridire.)

If a generation's Banoidhre fails to produce both a son and a daughter to inherit after them, then one or both of those lineages can continue through a cadet branch of the family (though an Ard-Tiarna selected that way still won't pass his title to his son since that will always be passed down through a Banoidhre), though I don't think Llyrians follow strict primogeniture, so if the next male or female descendant in line is found wanting in some way, the Royal Family and/or the people can opt to pass over him or her and select a different heir or heiress. So it's a bit more like tanistry in that sense, I think.

Thank you

[Evie]

Added for Chapter Thirty-four: The House of Von Horthy.

[Evie]

Nooo, I just realized I forgot the newest little Haldane!

Princess Cynewyn Haldane, introduced in Chapter Thirty-Two. (See "The House of Haldane")

[Demercia]

Nooo, I just realized I forgot the newest little Haldane!

Princess Cynewyn Haldane, introduced in Chapter Thirty-Two. (See "The House of Haldane")

Not to mention the latest Northwode (Fitzroy) - though admittedly I doubt he has quite recovered from his birth.  And certainly no-one else involved will have!

[Evie]

Nooo, I just realized I forgot the newest little Haldane!

Princess Cynewyn Haldane, introduced in Chapter Thirty-Two. (See "The House of Haldane")

Not to mention the latest Northwode (Fitzroy) - though admittedly I doubt he has quite recovered from his birth.  And certainly no-one else involved will have!

I can give it a try, though the issue I had with getting a decent picture of Cynewyn is that if you specifically ask for a black-haired baby, even if you specify fair skin, the AI image generators seem to automatically assume that any baby with black hair is either of African or Asian descent. And while I can see Colin and Catalina's child perhaps looking like he has some mixed ancestry, given Catalina's Andelonian heritage, I was trying to get a mix that looked more like a direct descendant of Cinhil and Alixa. This was one of the only ones that ended up having both the correct hair and eye color, straight hair like both parents, and more European features.

The other issue is that trying to generate a newborn often comes up with some very Yoda-like young'uns, but trying to generate an infant will have them instantly aged up to at least crawling age. It's nearly impossible to get it to generate a pretty newborn with the exact hair/eye/skin tone coloration needed and in an appropriate medieval setting, so after I managed to get a decent Cynewyn and a future heir to the throne, I gave up on trying to generate more babies. So if I try for Cole, I might give him Mellie's hair color just to try to alleviate some of the frustration. Or I might wait until the sequel and try for an older Haldane-looking infant or toddler, which will likely be easier.

[Evie]

Nooo, I just realized I forgot the newest little Haldane!

Princess Cynewyn Haldane, introduced in Chapter Thirty-Two. (See "The House of Haldane")

Not to mention the latest Northwode (Fitzroy) - though admittedly I doubt he has quite recovered from his birth.  And certainly no-one else involved will have!

Well, for once the AI decided to cooperate with me! (It probably helped that I asked for brown straight hair rather than black hair.) Cole has been added to the "House of Northwode" section, and the info in that section has been updated.

[DerynifanK]

I was looking through the picture gallery and I have to say some of the kings were a grumpy looking lot. Ademar, Hort of Orsal, was especially grouchy looking besides being a lot older than Miranda. I felt rather sorry for her. Joss was young, much better looking, and doesn't look like he's mad at the world. However, Miranda seems to manage the Hort pretty well and it was  an important alliance for Gwynedd.

[Evie]

Adémar is about 12 years older than Miranda, I think, but I'd have to check my notes. IIRC, when they were first betrothed, she was 16 and he was in his late 20s (maybe 28?), so still young, but with over a decade more life experience. In this story, I think she was 25, so that would make her husband around 37 now. But the age gap isn't the problem in their relationship so much as other major differences in personality and values that I can't really get too much into since I have a partially written Miranda story in the works.

[DerynifanK]

Adémar is about 12 years older than Miranda, I think, but I'd have to check my notes. IIRC, when they were first betrothed, she was 16 and he was in his late 20s (maybe 28?), so still young, but with over a decade more life experience. In this story, I think she was 25, so that would make her husband around 37 now. But the age gap isn't the problem in their relationship so much as other major differences in personality and values that I can't really get too much into since I have a partially written Miranda story in the works.

I will look forward to that.I have read that when a woman marries for reasons of state, she is given right to remarry whom she pleases if her first husband dies. Miranda doesn't appear to be unhappy with Ademar but we really don't know much about their relationship. Will look forward to learning more.

[Evie]

Adémar is about 12 years older than Miranda, I think, but I'd have to check my notes. IIRC, when they were first betrothed, she was 16 and he was in his late 20s (maybe 28?), so still young, but with over a decade more life experience. In this story, I think she was 25, so that would make her husband around 37 now. But the age gap isn't the problem in their relationship so much as other major differences in personality and values that I can't really get too much into since I have a partially written Miranda story in the works.

I will look forward to that.I have read that when a woman marries for reasons of state, she is given right to remarry whom she pleases if her first husband dies. Miranda doesn't appear to be unhappy with Ademar but we really don't know much about their relationship. Will look forward to learning more.

The answer to that is not so much "Yes" as "Yes, but..." or "Yes, as long as...." For instance, if a widowed Queen is regent for her infant son, then if she wishes to remarry, her prospective husband might need to meet the approval of a regency council to make sure he or any future children she might have won't be potential threats to the throne or the line of succession. (Katherine of Valois marrying that Twddur bloke and complicating the potential lines of succession during the Wars of the Roses, I'm looking at you!) Or even if she isn't Regent, but is mother to the heir of the throne, similar conditions may or may not exist if her son is a minor. If she isn't mother to an heir who is still a minor, then remarriage is less likely to cause potential problems (that I can think of on the spur of the moment, at least).

But yeah, besides that, if said young widow had the good sense to want to marry someone who isn't going to end up being the match made from Hell that starts the next major Game of Thrones, then sure, she could likely remarry.

[Demercia]

Nooo, I just realized I forgot the newest little Haldane!

Princess Cynewyn Haldane, introduced in Chapter Thirty-Two. (See "The House of Haldane")

Not to mention the latest Northwode (Fitzroy) - though admittedly I doubt he has quite recovered from his birth.  And certainly no-one else involved will have!

Well, for once the AI decided to cooperate with me! (It probably helped that I asked for brown straight hair rather than black hair.) Cole has been added to the "House of Northwode" section, and the info in that section has been updated.

He is a cutie, thank you