OH MY GOD

[bedlamsbard]

I figured it out! And it is glorious and messy and brilliant and tiny, a butterfly flapping its wings and Peter, Peter and hubris and fate and love, and Caspian doesn't have a thing to do with it except in all the ways that he does.

And I'm going to have to set up a metric fuckton of Dying Times history, and do so subtly, but oh my God. And it works thematically, too! Because when it comes to the Golden Age, we know the ending. We know how hard Narnia (and Peter, and Susan, and Edmund, and Lucy) falls. But we have to know where it falls from -- and how. And why.

"As if it matters, how a man falls down."
"When the fall is all that's left, it matters."

Comments

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

???

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Why Caspian is in the Golden Age, and what he sets into motion. Oh, Peter.

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

I know THAT, woman! What IS it? Unless you don't wanna tell and you're just TAUNTING us all. *frowns*

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

The taunting thing. That one. *grins*

Remember how Telmar is so fucked up internally that it's one of the countries that doesn't invade Narnia during the Dying Times? One of the reasons that happens is because the missing crown prince of Telmar comes back, and then there is a long messy drawn out civil war. But Natare and Belgarion, the two countries that do invade Narnia, eventually destroy themselves doing so; they leave themselves open for the Shoushan Empire to conquer, and it does so. Telmar gets conquered -- later. But they get conquered in such a way as to still have an independent identity, more or less, and so they can form up in a group and head over the mountains into Narnia. And the reason for this goes back to Telmar not invading Narnia. BUT if the crown prince of Telmar were to come to his father's great ally, begging for Peter's help to take Telmar back from his uncle -- and Caspian had dropped just enough hints that Peter were to figure out that something Very Bad is going to happen to Narnia, and chances are it involves the Telmarines -- and Peter loves Narnia more than anything, and a weakened Telmar is better for Narnia, yes? -- and he were to refuse Prince Beturian, when otherwise he might have done the honorable thing and offered Narnia's support -- well, then.

Just tell me that makes sense.

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

Oh, politics. *waves hands dissmisively*


It *does* make sense. You can't run your country for other people's benefit, no matter how much you might like to help. Your duty is to make sure your *own* people are taken care of-properly fed, sheltered, clothed, educated, with good trade, roads/briges and other physical infrastructure, and a strong military to protect the from those who'll want to take it away from them. Any time/effort/money/concern left over for the benefit of other countries, no matter how nice they might be, is gravy.


If Caspian isn't going to tell them the whole truth, then it's better that he say nothing, lest he give inadequate/incomplete/incorrect information that gets acted upon. Me, I'd say it's less Peter's fault than Caspian's. *shrugs* I wouldn't put it past Caspian to have said "just enough" deliberately, trying to stir up trouble.

Ok, let me edit this-I just saw the (very tiny!) part about "great ally" and "taking back from his uncle"...

But there's nothing in canon that I can recall about Narnia knowing anything about Telmar, for one thing. Peter would be ill-advised to travel there, given that Narnia doesn't like to be separated from him; and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to send Edmund, given the bond/support thing and the repurcussions of stuff that they're still working out. So it would have to be Susan or Lucy who would lead any troops, which they *could* do, if the Telmarines would follow a woman. But-transporting enough troops there would be a great difficulty. Plus, the thing I said about being overextended in wars already still holds.


I think it could work, but I still don't like the "honorable thing" line. *frowns*


I'm going to bed, I've got to work AGAIN (damn, that keeps happening) and you'll do whatever just fine without anyone's input. I'm glad you're seeing your way to where you wanna go. What *I'm* hoping for, after you get this series finished, is some one-shots and stuff, now that we've broken down your smut-resistance. *shifty eyes*

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Okay, I started replying to your original comment, and then I refreshed my e-mail...

Peter gallivants off to go to war in other countries all the time. *rolls eyes* And it wouldn't necessarily have to be troops -- Narnia's help could all be monetary. Hell, for that matter, Narnia's opinion is pretty damn important, and if Narnia were to support Beturian for the throne rather than Marroquin, openly and vocally... (If I remember correctly, back in the Revolutionary War, it was a big deal when France recognized America as an in independent nation. During the Civil War, what the Confederacy wanted was to be recognized as an independent nation. Opinions matter.) But if Peter looks at Beturian and just says, "Yeah, no, sorry, have fun!" then all Beturian has is what little support he can drum up on his own, and he's a kid. He's just been exiled. Of the surrounding countries, there's Natare (just got its ass kicked by Narnia, in certainly no condition to be helping anyone), Shoushan (more likely to conquer Telmar than help it), Resi (a possibility. Probably not all that great of one), and Archenland (teeny-tiny, constantly over-extended, and on tenterhooks with both Narnia and Calormen).

In my Narnia, Telmar is well-established as a neighbor, if not necessary the best ally ever. (Religious problems. Narnia's first refugees came from Telmar, how nice.)

Sometimes Peter acts out of honor and not common sense. Possibly there could be a parallel here to PC, too. Somehow. *frowns* And it's not Caspian doing anything deliberately, it is Peter's fault for interpreting things in ways they, uh, probably weren't meant to be interpreted. (Well, I want to blame Peter. For thematic reasons. We'll see how this actually ends up turning out.)

I should have been in bed a couple hours ago, I have to get up at ONE AM tomorrow morning to get on a plane back to New Orleans. And I will see what I can do for you as far as smut goes. *snort* (Seriously, woke up this morning thinking of Peter/Caspian/Peta. QUIET IN THERE, KIDS.)

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

(Well, I want to blame Peter. For thematic reasons. We'll see how this actually ends up turning out.)


Well, there ya go.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Narnia's a tragedy. Let's see a little of what makes it so, here. *grin*