pretty sure I could have stamped "MADE BY BEDLAM" on this fic and it wouldn't have been more obvious

[bedlamsbard]

Hi hi hi! So, narniaexchange reveals were today. intrikate88 wrote The Exhaustion of Dawn for me, which is an absolutely gorgeous Polly and Digory fic set during WWI and involving the Cottingley Fairies. So go and read that! It is lovely.

I wrote Written in the Dust for rthstewart, which has, like, half a canon character in it. Maybe two if you stretch it. ANYWAY. I will repost it on my own journal tomorrow and put it in the Warsverse timeline (yes, it's Warsverse! It post-dates PC/VotDT/SC by about a century and pre-dates LB/Dust by about two centuries/a century and a half), but there are things I want to say while I am here.

So, it was written entirely while I was at Cambridge, which I think is probably pretty obvious -- I'm pretty sure this fic had my fingerprints all over it, aside from not having a big action sequence -- and included things that I knew had been or would be referenced in Dust. AWKWARD. Which is why King Absalian the Blind's name is not anywhere in the fic, even though I got called on that by one of my betas, and why I was seriously worried I was going to have to hold back chapters of Dust until reveals. This is why The University in the Dust interlude is never actually named, although after completely blanking on how to not name two universities, I slipped Glasswater's name very quietly (I think!) into the interlude, though Beaversdam was never named. (Beaversdam: we're going to see it. I HAVE SAID IT AND IT WILL BE SO.) There was a section in Dust 25 that I ended up cutting because it talked about Beaversdam and was also completely unnecessary. Also I have some baaaaackground that never made it into the fic.

SO: the University of Beaversdam was founded right by Caspian right before Prince Rilian disappeared; one of the oldest colleges is actually called Prince Rilian's College, and I think, though I'm not sure, that that might be where Tirian went. The University of Glasswater was founded not that long afterwards -- it was either founded further on in Caspian's reign or during Rilian's reign, but it's not that much younger than Beaversdam.

Beaversdam and Glasswater are technically independent cities/towns/some kind of political entity. Glasswater shares a name with Lord Vespasian's family lands, but they are not on Glasswater land and their possessions more or less equal the Glasswater family's. I think the family is a traditional benefactor or has a seat on the university council or something.

The University of Beaversdam, modern Telmarine-Narnian Beaversdam, is nowhere near Golden Age Beaversdam. Modern Beaversdam is located on the Great River not far from Beruna, while Golden Age Beaversdam was further west and further north.

The members of the royal family alternate which university they attend: Tirian went up at Beaversdam, but his father Erlian went to Glasswater. (I think Tirian may have been at Beaversdam at the same time as Marcia Bracken, but they didn't run in the same crowd.)

Beloscuida is from a minor Telmarine noble family, but her partner Nolan is a Narnian and also a lady. I think she might be a baker, but I'm not entirely certain.

Beloscuida's paper was ground-breaking but pretty heretical, and is largely still considered such by Tirian's time. She died, um, pretty bitter, and might have actually been sacked from Beaversdam and ended up at Glasswater, though I am not positive on this. Either that or she stayed at Beaversdam and spent a lot of her life arguing about the worth of her research.

Caspian I and Byzia did marry and I think the modern Telmarine kings are descended from one of their sons. I also think she might have been murdered by a Narnian extremist and Caspian remarried a Telmarine woman. The Narnian-Telmarine conflict went on for a very long time before it ended up in the state it's in by PC.

Doctor Cornelius was one of the people who lobbied for the foundation of a university in Narnia; I believe he went to university in Calormen. The town of Beaversdam may have actually been founded at the same time the university was, since it was on land that had not been previously occupied by the Telmarines.

I JUST HAVE ALL THESE FEELINGS, OKAY?

In retrospect I may add a coda from Tirian's POV two hundred years later. I have been pondering it, though I haven't written it yet.

Comments

[cofax7]

There was NO WAY that wasn't you. IJS.

[bedlamsbard]

Like I said, I probably could have stamped MADE BY BEDLAM on it and it wouldn't have been more obvious. :)

[autumnia]

I figured the King was likely to be Absalian since he was blind and all. Also, the meta and how scholarly the story was was another hint as well as to the authorship. :-)

It was a great story though, giving us more hints about what life was like between Caspian/Rilian's time and Tirian's reign.

I'm surprised Cornelius would have gone to school in Calormen. Are there no universities in Archenland, or were his academic interests more suited to study in a school further south?

[bedlamsbard]

Yeah, apparently I don't exactly do subtle. :)

I have been dating for the past month or so whether or not there's a university in Archenland, but I kind of don't feel like the country is actually big enough to support it. I'm not sure. *muses*

[rthstewart]

As I said, I loved it and I was so fortunate to have drawn you for the challenge. Thanks so much.

[bedlamsbard]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it!