#orlais

(Pitch: F! Chevalier x F! Fereldan Hedge Knight during the Orlesian Occupation of Ferelden) “Ser Branwyn of the Briars,” Aurelie said with a weariness. It was a good name. The sort that bards carried across generations. Some foolish girl would hear it and long to be Ser Branwyn of the Briars, as girls once longed to be Ser Aveline. And then she would make the same foolish decision: to pick up a sword for the Empire.

Aurelie paused.

“Did you mean what you said about the scar? How you still wanted to be at my side even if—?” Aurelie asked, ashamed of how desperate she sounded.

Branwyn nodded.

“I’ll make up for it my entire life, Branwyn.” Aurelie vowed.

Branwyn said nothing. Bravely, the Lady of Bergerac took the marigold.

Ser Branwyn of the Briars smiled at her. 

Hello. This blog is dedicated towards my 5-part novella series Contes de Bergerac on Ao3. The series is set during the last years of the Orlesian occupation of Ferelden. More specifically from the Blessed Age 8:96-8:98. It follows Lady Aurelie de Bergerac, a chevalier, who becomes enamored by a Fereldan woman named Ser Branwyn of the Briars. I have two parts finished: 1. A Fool's Errand: This serves more as a very quick prologue of how they met. 2. The Courtship: I consider this the true start of the series as they begin their courtship.

The third one I'm writing and should be posted soon.

I guess the best way I can describe the style of writing is that it's a historical fiction with a romance. Not a romance in a historical fiction if that makes sense. Worldbuilding is more DAO than Inquisition and Veilguard.

So somewhat filler, but I think having two joust chapters was too much! So decided on an interlude to break up the action. Gonna type up what I was trying to go for in terms of theology in a different post, but I loved writing a historical sermon. This entire sermon is based on Luke 5:16:  But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

And I feel like after the First Blight, this idea of Andraste who sang the Chant in the Blighted Lands would be powerful. You cannot heal the Blighted Lands (I'm pretty sure that's canon right?) It cannot be reversed. Only the return of the Maker can heal the Blight. Kinda drives the lore reason for why Anderfels-which is absolutely Blighted-have the most devout followers. So a criticism I have of the Western Approach is that it's too much of a regular desert! It's too pretty! It's supposed to be a blighted wasteland.  "The Approach had a strange sort of beauty to it even so. It was a desert, but not a warm desert with glowing yellow sand. It was a cold desert, mottled purple like an unhealed bruise. Rocky pillars jutted out of the sand like brittle, twisted bones; there was a sense that the howling winds had long covered everything else." - Dragon Age: Asunder 

---

Again another food scene. The reason why I chose honey-vinegared chicken is that it sounds kinda extravagant...But it's an obscenely simple dish that uses pretty basic ingredients. I wanted to show that while Aurelie is a chevalier, she enjoys meal that are of simpler fare (It's a lot better than what her men are eating, for sure but someone from Val Royeaux would turn their nose to it). When she was stationed in Val Royeaux, she missed provincial food. And to her great horror, she does like Fereldan cuisine due to its similarity.

This is also an homage to ASOIAF:

“‘Hungry again?’ he asked.  There was still half a honeyed chicken in the center of the table.  Jon reached out to tear off a leg, then had a better idea.  He knifed the bird whole and let the carcass slide to the floor between his legs.  Ghost ripped into it in savage silence.” -A Game of Thrones

And the recipe that I'm thinking from is from Inn at the Crossroad

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken for roasting

olive oil/butter (~1 Tbs)

salt

Sauce:

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup honey

Dash of mint, dried or fresh (abt. 1 tsp.)

Small handful of raisins

~1 Tbs. butter

Maker, to have an opera of Moira Theirin just months after her death—this was foolish. Maric still lived. The rebellion was not over until every Theirin was dead. But Laurent had explained that the performance was to assuage the doglords—their masters were generous and forgiving. As Orlesians, they see all, they know all, and they forgive all.

And so Laurent commissioned the opera from a famed composer of Val Royeaux. Jean Capet found the music of Ferelden so raw and real—so devoid of artifice—that he tore apart his sheet music. Capet then renounced the music of falsehood. He took the nearest ship to Denerim, where he entered Laurent’s employ.

The Courtship - Chapter 7: Beauty

---

During the occupation, I headcanon that most Fereldan nobles learned the Orlesian ballroom dances just to keep up politically. If you don't know how to dance with an Orlesian, you're just fucking yourself over politically. But I also like the idea that the Orlesians also took a bit of Fereldan folk dancing and made it part of their repertoire. This is especially true for the Orlesian nobles who occupy Ferelden. And Ferelden dancing to me is a lot of stomping. Just seems to fit in with the culture. Very physical. You will collide into other people. Leaping. Ok I swear this is relevant but one of my favorite opera is Eugene Onegin (which actually inspired the fanfiction) which shows the different societal class of Russia. So you see a lot of different dances through the opera that range from the peasants, the provincial aristocrats, and to the elites of the Imperial Court. So in Eugene Onegin, the provincial aristocrats have the mazurka which is a lively polish dance. And I love this rotating part they do in a lot of Mazurkas. I was like "I don't really want to think about the dancing culture and how it fits into Ferelden/Orlesian culture. I want this dance move for my stupid lesbos to do." So that's why I have decided the mazurka is my headcanon for Fereldan dancing. I mean less refined than this version (this is from the ballet Coppelia ) But I love the idea that both Aurelie and Branwyn love to dance.