Realistic or Modern Looking for Partner/Small Group - Historical Fiction/Fantasy

[AlbaGuBrath]

• Basics
• Ideas/Interests
• Expecations

• 
  Hey there, I'm Never! So, I just finished listening to Edward Rutherford's The Dublin Saga today, and wow, what a journey! Nearly 1600 years of history, generations of stories woven together, a beautiful sense of place and of rhyme... It was incredible, and now I've got the history bug even more than usual (which is definitely saying something for me!). So now, I'm hoping to write!
  I don't have any clear plans in mind right now, but I'd love to discuss ideas with maybe 1-3 other people, either in a group or individually if somebody would rather just do a 1x1. I'm fine with either arrangement. (I just don't want to have to mess with GMing this time round, haha!)
  
  As far as historical areas/periods, I should mention that I'm definitely more familiar with Scottish and Irish history than anything else. I can branch out from that to an extent, but it will be more unfamiliar ground for me, and I'd definitely prefer to stick with one of the two right now anyway. But, don't let that keep you from suggesting your ideas!
  In general, I'm mostly interested in medieval-early modern Scotland and eighteenth-twentieth century Ireland, though I'm not adverse to trying something else. I've had Ireland on the brain for the last couple years (and especially now that I've just read those lovely books), so I am leaning a bit towards the latter, but if you have an idea for something Scottish, the chances are high that I'll say yes.
  
• 
  I'm mostly looking for something more-or-less realistic (though not necessarily interacting with real people), but mild fantasy elements might be tolerable, depending on the topic and time period. I'd be more comfortable with fantastic elements in the legendary/mythological or "Celtic" settings, for example.
  Some possible time-periods/topics (feel free to suggest!)
  Scotland
  Bronze/Iron Age - Not something I'm super familiar with, but it could be interesting.
  Wars of Independence - Just, please... No Braveheart.
  Jacobite Risings - Either one, though I'm more familiar with the 'Forty-Five.
  Romantic Scotland - I'm a little fuzzy on this, but I'm kinda thinking of poets like Burns and Scott, and some maybe something touching on that. -shrug- I dunno.
  
  Ireland
  Legendary/Mythological - Irish mythology is such a bizarre and delightful thing... I think something in that weird world of half-history, half-myth would be really cool. Or all myth, that's a thing too. Ask the salmon, he'll know what to do.
  Bronze/Iron Age - Like I noted above, it might be fun to explore.
  Vikings - Invasion and settlement, maybe a friendship/rivalry between the two groups. And, speaking of near-mythical heroes, there's Brian Boru.
  Rising of 1798 - This was a pretty bloody affair, so maybe not so much following the fighting and reprisals themselves... But, this is a fascinating study in memory, so exploring contrasting views of it could be interesting. A friendship between enemies would be interesting (for this or any of the other ideas).
  Nineteenth-Early Twentieth Centuries - This is a particular interest of mine and there are so many different topics to discuss. Parliamentary versus Revolutionary nationalism is an interesting topic here, from early parliamentary efforts toward Home Rule through the more revolutionary 1910's-1920's.
  
  Theme-wise... There are a number of ways we could go with it. I'm particularly interested in national identity/culture and historical memory, so something with that could be interesting. We might choose a particular figure or event that features prominently in identity and memory and explore different perspectives on it, for example.
  War and conflict is also an option (it would be difficult to avoid), but if it is heavily involved in our writing, I'd be more interested in thinking about character motivations and beliefs or the experiences of people involved than in writing combat scenes and dwelling on the violence. As mentioned up there, I like the idea of a friendship between "natural" enemies, or at least some situation requiring them to work together to discover the other's humanity.
  I'm definitely very interested in the lives and experiences of people going through historical events, which I think is why I loved these books so much. I do tend to lean more towards an optimistic/idealistic view than a pessimistic/skeptical one.
  
  As far as romance... Ehh... It isn't really my thing, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I might consider it as an element within a larger story, but I'm not really interested in it being the main point. I do have a vague idea for a sort-of romance (either developing in the story or established beforehand) between a Dublin woman and a man involved in the 1916 Rising, basically dealing with their political beliefs and thoughts on the rising, as well as how the event affects their relationship and vice versa. So yeah, that's an option if you want to talk about it.
  
  
• 
  So, what I'm looking for in a partner/group and what they can expect from me...
  
  • I'm a senior in college right now, so homework, research papers, and my senior thesis are things... My free time tends to fluctuate wildly, as does my will to write and interact with people, so a flexible schedule is pretty important. For the most part, if I'm not completely swamped and if my motivation is halfway-decent, I'm pretty comfortable with one or two posts every couple days. If necessary, I can wait for quite a while for a new post, but it does have an effect on my motivation if that happens regularly or for extended periods of time. Putting things on hold for a little while is also an option. Also, I'll be leaving for Thanksgiving break on Tuesday, so the roleplay will not be able to begin until after I get back. But, that leaves the rest of the time to discuss ideas and such!
  • With that point in mind, I understand that y'all have lives as well, and so I don't expect multiple posts in a day (unless we're both on and feel like it for a while). Actually, I'd prefer for it to be fairly slow-paced since that makes it easier for me to juggle both school and writing without falling behind. I would appreciate it if you talked to me about it if you will be gone for a while, though, so I'm not watching for a reply that's not likely to happen for a few days. For that matter, I'd love to just chat with you in OOC about anything. I know I find it much more enjoyable to write with somebody I also enjoy talking to, and I've heard others say they enjoy it as well.
  • So, fair warning... I tend to geek out about this stuff and might just talk your ear off if I get half a chance. I realise that not everybody is a history geek, so I'm not going to be super picky about historical accuracy, but I would like my partner to have at least a passing knowledge of the people and events in question. In short, you don't have to do primary source research (though if you know of any neat sources, I'd love to hear about them!), but at least a read through an overview or a couple encyclopedia articles would be appreciated. And, of course, if you notice that I've said something wrong, feel free to correct me!
  • If you haven't guessed already, sometimes I talk a lot. Sometimes that translates into my writing as well... It depends on my inspiration and comfort with a character, but I tend to write anywhere from 2-4 paragraphs to 5-7+. My guess is that I'll probably be a little towards the lower side to start off with, though I may edge towards the longer end as I gain familiarity with the character. As far as a partner's response, I basically just want something solid to work with. I don't require partners to match my posts or to meet a firm-set length requirement, but I prefer for a reply to be at least half of the previous post. That can change a bit, but that's a general rule of thumb for me.
  • I don't usually require writing samples for this sort of thing, but I've recently had a couple bad experiences where I didn't ask for them, so I think I will in this case just to get an idea of how our writing will mesh. You don't have to write something specifically for this if you'd rather not; you can just link me to a recent post in one of your roleplays. As for my part, I have a couple you can choose from; Return to the King (Skyrim), Diplomatic Overtures (Fantasy), and March to the Beat (Historical Fantasy - WWI). Please note that Diplomatic Overtures includes my partner's posts as well, but mine are marked in dark blue. If those links don't work, just shoot me a message and I'll send you a text copy. If you did feel like writing something new, you could write your sample as a response to one of those three, though that isn't necessary.
  • I really like the idea of doing something long-term, maybe even across generations like in The Dublin Saga, but I would rather write with somebody first before agreeing to a long-term project with them.

So yeah, I think that covers everything! I'll be around to answer questions or discuss ideas here or in PM. Also, if you just want to hang out and chat, that's cool too! Thanks for reading!

 

[universal silence]

Hey, I would totally be interested in doing any of these RPs! It looks like our historical preferences match up pretty well, which is cool.

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

Awesome! What parts of history are you particularly interested in? (:

 

[universal silence]

I mean, any of the ones you mentioned really, but I have a slight preference for Ireland. My favorite time period in general is medieval Ireland (so like the Viking plot), but I also took a class on late nineteenth/early twentieth century Ireland, so I could do either one.

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

Okay, Vikings is fine with me if that's what you're more comfortable with. Any particular ideas you had in mind? I was thinking of kind of having the dual-perspectives thing, with maybe one character being Irish and the other Norse, and exploring the way they both see the world. They could be enemies, friends, both, whatever. I kind of like the idea of them starting out as enemies, but maybe eventually becoming friends. Maybe one group begins a raid against the other and one of the characters are taken prisoner/hostage, or maybe there's a sort of fosterage situation where two leaders trade sons to ensure peaceful relations. I'm not sure if this latter idea was ever a thing during the time of the Viking invasions, but I have read of it in other situations.

Ahh, man, an entire class on Irish history... That sounds so cool, I have to admit I'm a little jealous! I'm excited just for the chance to touch upon Scottish or Irish history in my classes, much less have an entire class with them. It's not a super common area of study around here. Did you enjoy the class? What did y'all learn about?

Say, you look a little familiar... Have we ever written together before? I feel like I was writing with my selkie, Kulean Sea-Song, so maybe it was something with Cunara?

 

[universal silence]

I do like the dual perspectives idea. We could either have one character captured, or we could do something with Viking settlements and have the two learning how to live with their new neighbors. I think we could do the plot with trading sons, but I think we would have to either a) only have one person play one of the sons and the other play someone in the new court, or b) double up and rp both courts simultaneously. (Maybe courts isn't quite the right word, but does that make sense?) I would prefer to play a female character, but I'm more than willing to play a male if it suits the RP better.

It was actually while I studied abroad in Ireland, so I had several classes focused on Irish history/culture/language! One class was on folklore, one on the language/history of the language, one on the history of the Celtic people (so it went over other areas too), and one on literature from 1880-1920. I loved it.

Yeah, I think that sounds right. I knew your icon looked familiar.
( I promise I've gotten better at responding!)

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

Yeah, I think it would probably be better to have the action mostly set in one or the other group, maybe cutting back to the other from time to time. I feel like that would make more sense than trying to write in both at the same time. Which "court" (I'm not thinking of a better word right now either) would you prefer to have the main action set in?
I'm thinking that, if we want our characters to go from enemies to friends (or at least come to a mutual understanding), the prisoner situation would probably work better. The fosterage one could work, but considering that foster sons were usually quite young when they were traded, it seems a little less likely. (Unless you want to have a couple seven-year-olds playing warrior at each other, which might actually be adorable! (x )
As far as characters, I think it depends on the situation. I'm most likely going to be writing a male character (I usually do for historical rps). I feel like it makes sense that the captive, having been captured in a raid and/or being held for ransom, would most likely be some sort of warrior and so probably male. Female warriors were a thing occasionally, but not as common. So, if you wanted a female character, I think they would probably a member of one of the "courts" or a relative of the warrior or something? Or maybe she's a queen, and the hostage is held as tribute or something? I dunno, there are a few possibilities.

Oh, that sounds amazing! Where in Ireland did you go? I'd love to go again; it's been far, far too long... I'm hoping to get to go for a short time later this year, though, so fingers crossed!
All those classes sound so wonderful... Did you get to learn the language while you were there? I've been trying to teach myself, but with little success. Hopefully I'll be able to take a class within the next couple years or so.

Oh, that's fine! It's been ages anyway. Nice to see you again! (:

 

[universal silence]

I suppose my character could be a serving girl tasked with helping feed the prisoners? IDK. Unless your character is a higher rank so he actually interacts with the court, and my character could be a nobleman's daughter or something? I'm open to whatever, I just want to make sure it makes sense for our characters to interact, so if you have a better idea let me know.

I was at the University of Limerick! I had the chance to do a little traveling (cliffs of moher, ring of Kerry, cork, Dublin) which was incredible. I can't wait to go back.
I really only got through the basics. I don't remember much because I was taking German at my home university, and had to pick it back up when I got back, but I'm hoping to be able to take time and actually learn Irish someday.

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

Yeah, I understand... I guess the prisoner's rank would have to do with whether it was just a casual captured-prisoner thing or if there was hope for a ransom, or if the plan was for the captive to be a slave or something. If he was being held for ransom, he would probably be somebody of higher rank, if not, probably one of the others. But there should be a reason why he wasn't just killed outright, whether because of merciful captors, hope of some sort of gain, or something else. At any rate, I doubt an enemy prisoner would be interacting much with the higher ranked people of his enemies anyway.
As far as which group would see the main action... I was thinking more of an Irish prisoner in a Viking camp/whatever, but I'm fine with turning it the other way around. If the idea of nobility interests you, there are the High Kings. Actually, that brings up a question... Is this early in the invasions or later? Because, if it's later, there are Norse settlements in certain areas, so it wouldn't just be limited to nobles/warriors. Probably less likely to be raiding, though, I think. (This is a bit outside my study, so don't quote me on stuff, haha!)

That sounds amazing! Such beautiful country, and I love the people. And the opportunity to study culture and folklore! That's so, so, so cool...
Well, a little is better than nothing! I hope to learn one day too so that I can read sources in Irish and to teach it to others. I would like to teach my children (when I have some) at least a little bit, especially if we're living in Ireland at the time. I may not have much then, but I can give them the opportunity to learn more.

 

[universal silence]

Hmm... If you want the prisoner to be Irish, perhaps we could set this sometime around 850-870? It could take place in either a Danish or Norse settlement, but conflicts between those two groups, in addition to the Irish tribes, could force some sort of hostage situation. Maybe your character is a member of an Irish tribe, and he's being held captive to force an alliance? Or something similar to that?

Man, I would love to live in Ireland. Being able to read Irish sources is definitely an eventual goal of mine. My college offered an Old English course - while I was in Ireland, so I missed it! I would love to eventually be able to read any of those earlier primary sources.

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

Okay, yeah, I could see that. I'm going to have to go to sleep now, but we can discuss more tomorrow. I'll be brainstorming! (:

Oh, man! That sounds a little similar to what happened to me this semester. There was a Chaucer course that I wanted to take, but a second foreign language was required for the English major and Italian was in the same timeslot, so I didn't get to take it. I've since decided to just keep my English minor, so it turns out I didn't have to take Italian anyway, so I'm kinda bummed. I think they totally should have accepted Chaucer as a foreign language, because have you looked at Middle English?! (x
But yeah, Old English is really neat. I can't read a word of it, but my boyfriend is interested in it and a couple Nordic languages, so he took the time to memorise the opening bit of Beowulf in Old English and recited it for me once. It was very cool! I'm hoping to take a History of the English Language class next semester, so I look forward to learning more about it.

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

Giving this a bump before class.

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

I'm finished with classes for the week, so I'm here to chat or discuss ideas.

universal silence Okay, so I've been looking through some stuff to review ninth-century Ireland and thinking of ideas for plot/setting. Dublin would probably be the area with the most Nordic influence, though there were smaller settlements along the Leinster and Munster coast. I believe Wexford and Waterford both were settlements at one point, for example. I'd say we could probably choose from one of these depending on how large we wanted the population to be.
As far as plot, there is the hostage situation you mentioned, and I've been thinking of others. One source of conflict, of course, would be religion. So there's conflict over attacks on abbeys and such, but also just the conflict over being regarded as "heathen". (There was also conflict between the somewhat unorthodox "Celtic Church" and the Roman Church, but that might get a little technical.) I don't know if that's something you'd be interested in or not, but it is an issue that could be interesting to explore.
There was a slave trade in Dublin at the time, but I'm not particularly keen on that one. I think there was an Irish slave rebellion somewhere in Scandinavia at one point, but I'm not familiar with the details.
Finally, with settlement of course comes the mingling of peoples through inter-marriage, so that's a thing too. There could be a marriage alliance involved in some way, complete with political intrigue and drama.
So yeah, there are some other possibilities! What do you think?

 

[universal silence]

As partial as I am to the Munster coast (ie Limerick), I think Waterford would be a good place to set this. I like the idea of a slightly smaller town, and from what I remember, Waterford is probably the strongest Nordic stronghold (although later than our RP).
I love the idea of conflict over religion, cause that gives us something interesting to work with (although if I remember correctly, most of the conflict between the Celtic and Roman Churches happens just a little earlier than this). I'm always down for RPs that examine stuff like religion.
I would lean away from doing anything with slavery, but if we were careful in how we handled it, I wouldn't mind exploring that a bit. (I just feel like it gets handled poorly in general. IDK. I'm not really a fan of using it in RPs.)
Inter-marriage could be fun to examine. We could do that instead of the hostage, or the marriage could be proposed later as a solution to that / alliance building.

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

You know, I think you may be right about the Celtic/Roman thing. It would probably be closer to the seventh century, wouldn't it? My bad.

Yeah, I think it's a really interesting topic! Especially where it gets into culture as well. And there's a lot of room for misunderstanding/reconciliation. I think it might work with the latter idea, especially if we can work out a way to meld them together.

 

[universal silence]

Awesome! Would you prefer to do this over PMs or in a thread?

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

I'm fine either way. Do you have a preference?

 

[universal silence]

No, either is good with me.

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

Okay, I think PM may be more convenient. We should probably discuss characters and stuff further, though.

 

[universal silence]

Right. I guess if we're eventually working towards a marriage for an alliance, should the characters be at least nobles?

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

Yeah, probably, or at least of some sort of rank. Especially if we planned one of the other scenerios we mentioned before.

 

[universal silence]

All right. What other details do we need to iron out?

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

We should probably come up with some basic character sketches so we can flesh out our plot plans more fully (coming up with more specifics rather than just vague ideas). We should also establish where in our story's timeline we're beginning. Basically, how long have our characters been in the area, whether they've just met or have met before, etc.

Anything else you can think of?

 

[universal silence]

No, that sounds like about all we still need. Should we move the discussion to PM so we can keep track of this stuff?

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

Yeah, sounds good. I'll need to go to sleep soon, but I can discuss with you again tomorrow. If anybody else shows up and wants to participate I'll send them an invite.