#eliduc

1) GUIGEMAR. Acespec icon cursed by dying deer to suffer for love or die. Also featuring magic chastity belt shenanigans

2) EQUITAN: King of France has affair with stewards wife. Couple conspire to murder her husband but end up in hot water after ill-timed sex.

3) LE FRESNE: Do you have to cheat to have twins? Local woman gives birth to twins, regrets spreading rumors.

4) BISCLAVRET: Breton baron insists on three day naked weekend. This is because he is a werewolf.

5) LANVAL: Why does Sir Lanval not want to fuck Queen Guinivere? This clearly deserves the death penalty.

6) THE TWO LOVERS: overprotective/incestuous king demands daughter's suitors perform impossible feats of strength. Intrepid suitor + daughter succeed, but die. Worth it?

7) YONEC: Woman imprisoned by abusive husband has affair with a shapeshifting bird-knight. Don't worry, she checked he was christian first.

8) LAUSTIC: Knight's wife has emotional affair with bachelor neighbor over garden wall. Very Pyramus and Thisbe.

9) MILUN: Welsh knight almost kills long-lost secret son in duel. They make up.

10) CHAITIVEL: Nantes woman can't choose between four knights. She has a solution: polyamory

11) CHEVREFOIL: Tristan and Iseult hook up at a pentecost feast. It's not the first time and it won't be the last.

Bust of Marie de France by Jean de Liege & 4 Works: Pour l'amour de Marie France by Jacqueline Dauriac

Extracts from Marie de France, The Lay of Eliduc:

Eliduc Slandered Eliduc was very dear to his lord, the King of Lesser Britain, and rendered unto him such faithful service that whenever the king must needs be absent, he for his prowess was made warden of the land. And still better fortune befell him, for he had the right to hunt in the royal forests, so that no forester dared gainsay him or grudge him at any time. But for envy of his good fortune—as befalls others often-times—he was brought into disfavour with his lord, being so accused and slandered that he was banished from court without a hearing, yet knew not wherefore. Again and again he entreated the king to show him justice, and not hearken to false charges, inasmuch as he had served him with good will.

Since the king would hear nothing of it, he must needs depart, so went home, and summoning all his friends, told them of the king’s anger—’twas an ill return for his faithful service! As the peasant says in proverb, when he chides his ploughman, “Lord’s favour is no fief”; so he is wise and prudent who, with all due loyalty to his lord, expends his love upon his good neighbours. The knight said further that he would not remain in the land, but would journey over sea to the realm of Loengre, and there take his pleasure for awhile.

On Risk & Renown Eliduc answered: “Friends, I give you my word that he who does not venture often where he expects to lose shall never win much, nor attain to great renown. Now ye are all the king’s men, and should keep good faith with him. Come with me where I shall go, and do as I shall do; and I promise you faithfully that ye shall come to no harm as long as I can aid you. If we gain anything, it will be to our glory to have weakened our foes.”

The Generosity of Eliduc The king rejoiced marvellously at these tidings, and descended from the tower to meet Eliduc, and to thank him for his good service. He in turn delivered up his prisoners; and divided the booty among the other knights. For his own use he kept only three horses that he liked especially. All his share he distributed and gave out among the prisoners as well as among the other folk.

The King & the Chessboard Now the king was risen from dinner and entered into his daughter’s bower, where he was playing chess with a knight from oversea; and from across the chess-board the princess was watching the game. As Eliduc came forward, the king showed him great favour, and bade him sit by his side; then, turning to his daughter, he said, “Damsel, acquaint you with this knight, and show him all honour; for there is none more worthy among five hundred!”

I got two fics this year--one a fix-it fic and one post-canon, and both of them stories that I've been aching to read for a long time.

Alona wrote me The Enchanted Hawk, which takes a minor character--the Robber Girl from Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen--and gives her an adventure of her own. The Robber Girl is a very practical heroine (who actually checks info that she gets from enchanted sources), unashamedly interested in fortunes and princesses alike; the Princess of the story is clever and knows about secret passages; and there's a wonderful older woman called Mistress Flax who's an anti-monarchist revolutionary. it all fits together beautifully, and I'd love to read other adventures of the Robber Girl and her eventual partner.

Angevin2 wrote me a chance that doth redeem all sorrows, 14th Century CE RPF in which Anne of Bohemia, the wife of Richard II, did NOT die tragically of plague in her twenties. Richard kind of fell apart at Anne's death; it's lovely seeing how much her being there prevents an already bad situation from getting far worse, and ultimately saves both Richard's crown and his life. Angevin2 has referred to Anne as "the Edith Keeler of the histories"...only, in the case of this story, with far less tragic results. That made me so happy.

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I wrote three stories for Yuletide this past year:

Amaranth (6358 words) by Gehayi for angevin2

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Eliduc - Marie de France, Lais of Marie de France Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Guildeluëc/Guilliadun, Eliduc/Guilliadun, Eliduc/Guildeluëc/Guilliadun Characters: Eliduc - Character, Guildeluëc, Guilliadun, Original Male Character(s) Additional Tags: Polyamory, Threesome - F/F/M, Pre-Threesome, medieval era, Female Protagonist, POV Female Character, POV Third Person, Bisexual Female Character, Resurrection, Magic, Polyamorous Character, Flowers, Past Tense, Princes & Princesses, Knights - Freeform, Weasels, Magical Lesbian Weasels, Yuletide 2013, Misses Clause Challenge Summary:

A tale of a medieval threesome, two determined women, enchanted flowers, and magical weasels.

I wrote this one for Angevin2. She mentioned wanting polyamorous Eliduc fic for Yuletide 2013 and was certain that no one would write any, so I did. (And another person wrote her polyamorous Eliduc fic as well.)

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The City of Carcayona (15496 words) by Gehayi for sophia_sol

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Robinson Crusoe -- Daniel Defoe Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Xury, Robinson Crusoe, Scottish Sailor (Robinson Crusoe), Portuguese Captain (Robinson Crusoe), Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: 1600s, 17th Century, Canon Character of Color, POV Character of Color, Male Character of Color, Female Character of Color, Character of Faith, POV Male Character, POV Third Person, POV Minor Character, Slave Trade, Non-Sexual Slavery, Sailor - Freeform, Muslim Character, Historical, Moriscos, Legends, Turkey (Country), Venezia | Venice, Egypt, Ottoman Empire, Road Trips, Yuletide, Yuletide 2013, Wordcount: 10.000-30.000, Chromatic Yuletide Summary:

"It's only a story, Xury," said Téo gently.

"I know it is a story, " Xury replied with wounded dignity. "I am fifteen, not five. But do you see why she is so important to us? She never quit. No matter what was flung at her, she kept on. And eventually she won. There are worse stories, Téo. Like the story that sings loudly, 'You are alone, enslaved, helpless and without hope, and thus it shall be forever.' That is a terrible story to believe in."

I wrote this for Sophia_sol because, quite simply, the canonical situation was intolerable and I couldn't resist her prompt. You see, in canon, before he landed on his notorious desert island, Robinson Crusoe was captured and enslaved by a pirate from the Republic of Salé. After two years, he escaped…only to sell Xury, the Morisco boy who had escaped with him and who had saved his life multiple times on the journey, back into slavery. After that, Xury vanishes from Defoe's novel; we never hear of him again. Sophia_sol wanted this fixed and/or acknowledged as problematic. I decided to do both.

Then I discovered that Moriscos--people from Spain of Arab heritage and/or Muslim background who had either converted to Christianity themselves or whose ancestors had--were hated and widely distrusted at the time of the story. Expulsion from Spain  by royal decree, for being secret Muslims (which many were); banned from most countries after the expulsion; legally enslaved in numerous places, including Spain, because they weren't Christian (which somehow made it okay), executed in Turkey as Spanish spies...seriously, they couldn't catch a break. This may explain the length of the story. Finding a place for Xury to be free and where he could practice his own religion in peace was not easy.It made me more determined than ever to find a safe place where Xury could live his life...while making me all the more aware of all the people who never got that chance.

(Personally, I think that this story is the most obviously mine, given the amount of history in it. I mean, it even has a bibliography.)

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...And Substitute My Own (3555 words) by Gehayi for woggy

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: American Gods - Neil Gaiman Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Mr. Jacquel, Mr. Ibis, Santa Claus, Belit-Sheri, Yuşa Additional Tags: POV Male Character, POV Third Person, POV Character of Color, Male Character of Color, Female Character of Color, Post-Canon, Prosperity Gospel, Identity, Friendship, Past Tense, Gods, Rewriting Toxic Myths, Goddesses, Writing, Chromatic Yuletide Summary: 

Deliberately changing one god's words into the exact opposite of what they had said was an act of war, attacking the god in the present and any believers the god might have in the future. It was, in divine terms, a threat to go thermonuclear. So, of course, it could not be ignored.

This was the shortest one I did (probably because it was a last-minute pinch hit that I wrote in a day and a half). Also, the most popular of the three, which surprised me. Tumblr, which introduced me to a certain Daily Show gifset about the black Santa controversy (which, in turn, provided a related link to an article about the Conservative Bible Project), is most responsible for this story. If not for Tumblr, I wouldn't have had a plot. 

OTOH in real life you couldn't actually remarry if your spouse joined a convent, either. So there's that.