OH MY GOD

[bedlamsbard]

One of y'all tell me not to do this terrible thing, or even think of this terrible thing, or tell my brain to SHUT UP.

Because. Well.

Last Battle AU where there is no train crash and a shed is just a shed and Aslan does not, you know, end the world, and five years later Calormen has totally taken over Narnia and the remaining true Narnians are hiding out in the woods, along with Tirian, Eustace, and Jill. And Tirian? Not popular. He's looked upon as a weak king and the Narnian outlaws have no real leader; they're just a scattered mass of rebels that aren't really succeeding in doing anything, argue a lot among themselves, and make no impact on Calormene Narnian society as a whole. The most they've succeeded in doing is killing Shift and Puzzle, and now the Calormenes aren't even making a pretense at worshipping Aslan or Tashlan; it's a big mass conversioin of Narnia to worshipping Tash. In a way it's sort of like the Telmarine situation at the time of PC, but about ten times worse, and without the thirteen hundred years of trauma beforehand.

Meanwhile, what's sprung up among the free Narnians is a kind of cult worship of the Pevensies, who had fallen out of vogue in the three hundred years between Caspian's reign and Tirian. But in such a time of deprivation, they're Back In, and so once again you start seeing charms asking for the protection of the King of Summer, or the King of Evening's vengeance, or the blessing of the Queen of Spring, or the luck of the Queen of Morning. Belief in the Pevensies is kind of muddled at this point, between the actual historical figures that are talked about in the history books -- and still, there's not much left -- and the somewhat mythical figures of legend. (There's a big debating school on whether it was really the Kings and Queens of old who showed up during Caspian's time; some believe it was just their "spirits", and in most of Narnia the Pevensies hold demigod or saint status.) Someone, somehow, gets the bright idea to summon the kings and queens back to Narnia -- maybe using earth magic, maybe using blood, maybe using need, maybe using their sacred artifacts, which have been stolen from Calormene-occupied Cair Paravel. (Which is not built on the ruins of the old Cair Paravel; the new Cair Paravel is located on the mainland, not the nameless island, or maybe it has a name now.) Well, they're summoned -- and they come. All four of them.

I think at this point Tirian, Eustace, and Jill have all been captured by the Calormenes, and Peter and the others break them out of prison; it's worth it just for the sight of Peter sticking his head in and Eustace going, "Peter?", Jill going, "Lieutenant Pevensie?", and Tirian going, "...I am so fucked," because he remembers the curse/prophecy passed down through his line back to Caspian the Seafarer himself, where it's said that the High King will only return to Narnia to enact his vengeance on Caspian's line if Narnia should be ruined.

Also, for Peter drawing Rhindon in one smooth movement and Tirian going, "NOBODY USES THAT SWORD. EVER," and Peter raising his eyebrows and going, "It's my sword."

There is no romance. There is some Susan drama where Lucy mocks her a lot and Susan finally screams at her.

Also, there is no plot; I mostly just want to play with how the Pevensies are looked at differently based on the times, and something about the demarcation between history and myth, and legend and history, and belief.

Also, there is this:

Some days, Tirian finds himself wondering if his ancestor Caspian the Seafarer lived this same kind of outlaw existence, hiding in the woods and stealing food from the towns, fleeing before Calormene soldiers and Narnian traitors.

Okay, NOW I NEED TO STUDY.

ETA: OKAY FINE. Because it's the weekend (and Homecoming weekend at that! Roll Wave, wash out Army, and so forth), and I am a crazy person, and before I lose the threads of this, are there any specific bits that y'all would want to see? Just throw out some situations here and I'll play with them. Also, do not even think about saying "the whole thing!" because seriously, no plot.

Comments

[westingturtle.livejournal.com]

Oh please. You know we're all going to tell you to go for it. And what's wrong with writing something based on those views? And I don't know how Caspian's Voyage is passed down in the whole Narnia mythos, but is there any line drawn between Eustace and the Pevensies? Because as much as he may have grown as a person, I think he'd eventually have to stop and correct someone's grand story of how the Pevensies as mini-Gods, if only for internal inconsistencies.

Also, King of Evening, Queen of Morning, squee! Lucy would so be called on for luck.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

How much are the Narnians going to believe him, though? I mean, he's just this kid who came out of nowhere and hangs out with Tirian a lot. (And Tirian, at this point? Not well-liked at all.) And for that matter, Eustace doesn't know all that much about the Golden Age, and what he does know, he doesn't really believe. And it's hard to argue with True Believers.

[westingturtle.livejournal.com]

I just meant if the legends mentioned the whole Voyage of the Dawn Treader thing, because the great King Edmund and Queen Lucy were there, even if they didn't really do anything, along with this third guy Eustace. And since Eustace and Jill were responsible for bringing back Caspian's son, especially Caspian's son considering his life had already been so populated by legendary figures, I was wondering if Eustace, if not necessarily Jill, had made it into legend at all. It would certainly give them some kind of position in the resistence, and probably be enough to keep the Narnians from killing Tirian outright, even if the Narnians aren't sure whether or not it's true.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Oh, huh. *considers* I don't think there's all that much known about the voyage -- there weren't a lot of people there to witness it, a lot of what was brought back was dismissed as just sailors' tales, and there's no real reason to believe that the King of Evening and the Queen of Morning and their kid cousin was there; it's already unbelievable enough that Caspian sailed to the end of the world and brought back a wife. I mean, there's scholarly dissent and all that over what actually happened, but I think the general school of thought is that they weren't actually there. (From a three hundred years later viewpoint, anyway.)

Now, with Rilian's little adventure -- that's even more shrouded in the mists of time because there's about two people in Narnia who knew about it: Puddleglum and Rilian himself. And Puddleglum? Not really the person to, a, talk, or, b, be believed. And Rilian, well...there's some dissent about where his loyalties truly lay, and whether he was really "disenchanted", or if Caspian's dying as soon as he saw his son was a coincidence or not. Maybe he was rescued...or maybe not. And the political situation in Narnia, which started out rocky during Caspian's reign and eventually more or less leveled off, went back to being rocky throughout Rilian's reign. He's not really the most fondly remembered king in Narnian history. A lot of people think that the two children who "rescued" him were his attempt to play off real historical events from his father's rise to power, but that he was afraid to openly use the High King and his siblings, so he used the lesser-known cousin from Caspian's voyage and then made up another girl.

But there's enough doubt, especially given Eustace and Jill's mysterious appearance, to keep them from being killed as Calormene spies/Narnian traitors. They're not particularly well-regarded, but then again -- neither is Tirian. And some people still give him credit for being king of Narnia.

Not much credit, though.

[westingturtle.livejournal.com]

So the whole monarcy has been shaky for the last 300 years? It does help explain while Tirian is persona non grata but I'm impressed they lasted that long if there was such doubt about Rillian. I figured Eustace and Jill would be feted and whatnot, so that at least some other people would know about them.

I truth, this is mostly beside the point. I really want to see Susan finally snap at being back in Narnia. And I believe if I ask enough questions you will develop a plot and write the thing.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Not the entire monarchy, just Rilian's reign, and the latter half was considerably more stable than the previous half. There was just a pretty good degree of doubt about whether he really was who he said he was -- after all, he was gone a long time, and for a while there (before and after his return) Narnia had pretenders showing up claiming to be him. And he was a good king; there was just the whole legitimacy issue, which quieted down during the next three hundred years. Good kings, mostly; some bad, but not to any extent that would destroy Narnia. Probably not any tyrants.

Tirian's not unpopular because of his ancestry, although there have always been a few grumbles and conspiracy theories about Caspian pushing the High King out of the country way back when, but those are the crazy conspiracy theories. Tirian's unpopular because his country was conquered out from under him, and he never even put up a fight. Not something a true Narnian king would do, or let happen, or so say the whispers...well, at this point, they're not really whispers. They're more like shouted insults to his face.

No, but you asking me questions means I think things through! Because I hadn't thought about post-Caspian Narnia at all.