tiny dancers .

iv. timeline of events .

small note. due to the flexible nature of interactions on this blog, these dates are fixed only for my own reference and continuity. dates of birth and ages of the sisters may change depending on the setting and who they are interacting with.

1152 CE – Pomerania wins its independence from High King Berchtold. Duke Ingmar of Stettin House is unanimously elected to take the throne as High King.

1155 CE – High King Ingmar falls ill and dies. His younger brother, Agnar, inherits the throne.

1156 CE – Agnar begins a crusade against the fey folk under the guise they were the cause of Ingmar’s illness.

1158 CE – Agnar marries Princess Constanza of Grenada.

1159 CE -  Prince Ermelaus is born.

1161 CE -  Princess Hildegund is born.

1178 CE – High King Agnar is beheaded. His reign posthumously becomes known as The Dark Shroud.

1179 CE – Prince Ermelaus is killed. Constanza is exiled to a convent. After a fight over succession, Hildegund secures her place as High Queen. She marries Count Wolfram of Kestramore and becomes the only recorded queen whose authority eclipses her husband’s.

1180-1188 CE – Hildegund has three children. Two of them die in infancy, but a son survives. His name is Gunther.

1189 CE – A peace treaty between Pomerania and the fey folk is drafted but never put into action. The fey, having faced years of persecution, attack Pomerania. War begins.

1199 CE – Although not a documented treaty, the immense casualties on both sides bring them to a tentative truce. In later years, this war becomes known as The War of the Vale.

1206 CE – Hildegund dies of an illness. Gunther, 21, takes the throne as High King Gunther I.

1216 CE – Gunther I marries Princess Apollonia of Lyonesse.

1221 CE – Apollonia gives birth to Crown Princess Osanna.

1223 CE – A son is born but he dies only a few days later.

1242 CE – Osanna marries Duke Geoffroi of Florentis.

1243 CE – Gunther I dies. Geoffroi becomes High King, uniting Pomerania and Florentis.

1244-50 CE – Osanna gives birth to Crown Prince Hanns, Prince Jakub, and Prince Ludolf.

1264 CE – Hanns becomes High King as his father’s health declines. Jakub and Ludolf conspire to assassinate their brother. This results in an act of betrayal from Ludolf, who poisons Jakub and usurps the throne from Hanns, beheading him. Ludolf is crowned High King.

1266 CE – Geoffroi dies.

1267 CE – High King Ludolf marries Duchess Lizabet of Grenada.

1270 CE – Fraternal twins, Mathilde and Melchior are born. Lizabet dies in childbirth.

1288 CE – Princess Mathilde is married to a Duke from Lyonesse to strengthen national bonds.

1290 CE – Melchior stages a coup against his tyrannical father. Ludolf is subsequently killed. He is crowned High King later that same year.

1295 CE – Over the next few years, Melchior works to mend relationships with the fey folk. He falls in love with a woman of lower birth named Drizelda. They are eventually married, much to the concern of the Court.

1296-1306 CE – Drizelda has four children; two girls and two boys.

1326 CE – Melchior dies during a skirmish on the outskirts of Pomerania. His reign having been remarkably conflict free and renewing good relations with the fey folk. The eldest son, Nikolaus is crowned High King.

1330 CE – High King Nikolaus, encouraged by the love between his own parents, finds a love match in Sophye, Duchess of Pomerania.

1368 CE – Gunther II is born to Sophye and Nikolaus.

1390 CE – Nikolaus dies. Gunther II inherits the throne.

1400 CE – Gunther II marries Lady Helena of the annexed territory of Jasny.

1402  CE – Gunther III is born.

1410 CE – Helena dies of an illness.

1430 CE – High King Gunther II dies.

1431 CE – Gunther III inherits the throne. He and Duchess Rosalinde of Kestramore are married that same year.

1432 CE – Crown Princess Angelika is born.

1434 CE – Brunhilde is born.

1438 CE – Clara, Dora, and Erna are born.

1440 CE – Franziska is born.

1442 CE – Gertrud is born.

1443 CE – Helene is born.

1445 CE – Ilse is born. The fey folk switch the baby with one of their own. No one is the wiser.

1447 CE – Josefine and Katrine are born.

iii. the princesses of stettin .

small note . It should be obvious that all of the sisters excel at various forms of dance, both partnered and solo. But it was important to me to give each sister a distinct personality and interests beyond dance. So while dance will not be a huge focus in the following descriptions, keep in mind it is an integral part of their story as much as anything else.

Crown Princess Angelika . The firstborn daughter and heir apparent of Gunther and Rosalinde, Angelika is every bit as her namesake suggests. A true Stettin princess in all the ways it counts, worthy of one day wearing the crown as Queen. Though she is rivalled in beauty by her sister, Brunhilde, none can argue that she is the kindest and most selfless of all the girls. Of the twelve, she remembers their mother the most and mourned her deeply after her passing. She keeps one of her mother's old journals by her bedside, which contains every thought Rosalinde ever had about her life as a wife, a queen, and a mother to ( then ) eleven beautiful girls and considers it much like a blueprint for how she herself will one day reign.

Princess Brunhilde . If ever there were a maiden more in love with the idea of love than Brunhilde, that maiden shall not be named. Brunhilde is second in line to the throne after Angelika, but takes little interest in the idea of it. Always the romantic, she dreams of being whisked away by a handsome prince and fall madly in love. Brunhilde speaks in soft sighs and seems to always have a far-off look in her eye; as though she thinks herself to be anywhere but where she is now. Despite being the second oldest,and despite a string of suitors, she has yet to find her "true love". While optimistic, she can also be terribly naive and entirely too trusting. Her beauty is rivalled only by her late mother's, of whom she is almost the spitting image.

Princess Clara, the heavens-touched . The youngest of the triplets by four minutes, Clara's presence is difficult to ignore and hard to forget. While not boisterous or disruptive, she and her sisters were considered miracle children for not only surviving through the birth, but continuing to survive past infancy. This immediately elevated them to somewhat mythical status throughout the kingdom, as the survival of twins — much less triplets — was almost unheard of. Clara is rarely seen without her twins close by and visitors have commented that they appear almost like ghosts, waifish and moving together in shades of blue. Clara, herself, is soft-spoken to the point of selective mutism, but sings like a canary; high-pitched and trilling.

Princess Dora, the seas-touched . The second of the triplets to be born, Dora is similarly often seen with her twin sisters; though her personality is more brazen and lacking tact, and a style of dress that is less restrictive than society would dictate. The triplets are the only children on record to have come in direct contact with the fey folk and were openly blessed by their magic while Rosalinde was pregnant. Dora has a fondness for the sea to a degree that others will swear she smells of saltwater despite her clothes and hair appearing dry and the castle's distance from the coast.

Princess Erna, the stars-touched . Erna is the eldest of the triplets and, perhaps, the most enigmatic. She is often the one leading in the trail of triplets as they move from room to room, and yet somehow always appear as a cohesive unit — one sister blinks and it is reflected in the twitch of another's lips. She has a fondness for the stars and general sciences, a passion she seemed to have inherited from Rosalinde. Together, the triplets have the uncanny ability to sense things before they happen. Some call it coincidence, others consider them the Fates reborn, but more whisper that the fey-blessed triplets are an ill omen upon the kingdom.

Princess Franziska . More joy could not be found in a single individual. Franziska is considered a proverbial sunbeam in the family, spreading her warmth and love like a balm over the aching and grieving hearts of her family. She is the most openly affectionate of her sisters, and can always be seen linking her arms with one of theirs, hugging them, or simply playing with their hair. Internally she deals with the fear of abandonment. She was only ten when Rosalinde passed, so she remembers enough to know that there are things she misses and longs for.

Princess Gertrud . Gertrud had an obsession with the fey folk from the time she was a small child. Similar to Angelika, she found notes in some of her late mother's old journals which recounted some of the lesser known fey tales across the kingdom. Her sisters believe it is because she wants a way to be closer to Rosalinde — she was very young when her mother passed and so has few core memories — but the truth is, Gertrud believes she has the Sight, able to locate and even perceive the vale of feyfolk shrouded in glamours and magicks. She is prone to fantastical daydreaming and even odder dreams during sleep. But she never speaks of them to anyone.

Princess Helene . Little is known and even less is asked about Helene. She is the unspoken ghost of the family, willowy and drooping like a violet in countenance while mousy and unassuming in appearance. Her choice to often wear earthy shades of browns and rust reds only serve to make her even less remarkable. Between her eleven other talented sisters, with either blonde or fiery red tresses, her dull brown hair feels like a disappointment. She keeps to herself with books, and even though she loves her sisters dearly, she's no stranger to being unintentionally ignored or forgotten by them.

Princess Ilse, wolfstochter of Stettin . Ilse is nothing short of an enigma. Though deeply loved by her family, it is indeed strange that she looks so impossibly different from her sisters. Her striking dark hair, porcelain skin and the natural red flush upon her cheeks and lips are in stark contrast to the warmth of Brunhilde's radiant beauty; more cold, more detached. She is a painter's masterpiece made manifest. Some members of Court whisper that she is an illegitimate child borne from an affair Gunther might have had with a mistress; while stranger myths persist that she is a changeling that was switched with the real Ilse as a babe. Her disquieting mannerisms, shrewdness in politics, and personal vanity do not exactly help to paint a warm picture of her, but her father and sisters are fiercely protective all the same.

Princess Josefine . Josefine and her twin, Katrine's births were marked by struggle and difficulty. Rosalinde had nearly perished during the birth and Josefine almost didn't survive. Despite this, all three pulled through. Jo enjoys more proactive interests beyond just dancing—such as archery, fencing. She also quite enjoys attending jousting tournaments when they're held. Boldly claiming to her sisters that one day she'd like to be in one herself, much to her father's chagrin.

Princess Katrine . The second of the twins and slightly daintier than her twin She prefers more simpler interests like embroidery, painting, and indulging in outdoor picnics when the weather is nice. Despite her sweet and sensitive demeanour, Katrine isn't afraid to explore and expand her curiosity and on more than a handful of occasions is in cahoots with the youngest, Lisel in pushing the boundaries of their gilded cage. She has a fondness for fruits, which is fortunate given the grove of orange trees that cover the lands beyond the palace. A darling, summer dream of a girl.

i. brief history .

The House of Stettin has ruled Pomerania for over three hundred years, where it began as a small duchy in the early twelfth century. Several wars with the reigning king at the time over territory eventually resulted in Pomerania winning its independence, thereby becoming its own kingdom, with the patriarch of the House of Stettin—the calculating Duke Ingmar—being unanimously voted as the king that would lead them into an era of prosperity.

Ingmar would, tragically, have a short reign. As just short of his fifth year in power, he grew terribly ill. Healers and apothecaries were brought in from all over the continent, but no matter what remedy was tried, which ranged from the scientific to the strange, the sickness would not fade, the fever would not break. Rumour began to circulate that he'd fallen victim to "fey sickness." It was said that those that had unwittingly eaten food of the feyfolk would become weak, fevered, and easy to compel. He passed just a mere three weeks after falling ill, without a direct heir, and his will passing the throne on to his younger brother, Agnar. Later rumours would swirl that the fey food had been planted by design for the purpose of Agnar usurping the throne; but those whispers did not last long, as any caught spreading such information was considered treason and were never heard from again.

Regardless, the kingdom grew fearful of the fey folk, with their strange magic and their stranger customs, and under Agnar's reign there was a widespread hunt to rid the kingdom of the fey and their ilk. By the time of his death, after a storied fifty-five years, his reign became posthumously referred to as "The Dark Shroud". Later generations would eventually ease up and even embrace magic and the fey folk once more.

Which brings us to the House of Stettin today. Now headed by Agnar's descendant, King Gunther III. Gunther's wife, Rosalinde, died during the birth of their last child, so he has done his best to raise his twelve daughters to be ready for the time when they will marry and become rulers or high-ranking nobility of their own lands. Pomerania is more welcoming of magic and the fey folk than earlier predecessors. King Gunther keeps a somewhat ambivalent attitude towards their kind, neither fearing them nor trusting them completely. The fey, like the royal court, are simply pieces in a chess game. It is simply a matter of when someone will make the next move.

ii. the monarchs .

High King Gunther III, of Stettin . A man of foreboding stature and build, he has a striking scar along his left temple and cutting across his cheek that was said to have come from a bear attack in his youth. His strength and his prowess on the battlefield is unparalleled even with a slight limp in his left leg, sustained in a skirmish in the early days of his reign. He is a loving father to his daughters, and can even appear soft and vulnerable when in their presence. A rare, if not wholly unheard of, sight for those not closely connected to the family. He tried for years with his wife to have a male heir, but fate clearly had other plans.

Queen Consort Rosalinde . Rosalinde was considered beautiful by all who knew her, but it wasn't just her physical beauty that charmed people. She was wise and clever, with an abundance of knowledge across a vast array of subjects not typically taught to women during the time period. She was originally from the neighbouring Duchy of Kestramore, but was sent off to marry Gunther at just nineteen years old as a means of political alliance. While it's hard to say whether she and Gunther were ever truly in love, there can be no doubt that Rosalinde was a devoted and loving mother while she was alive and her death was felt kingdom-wide. Her warmth, her kindness, and her love of dancing has trickled down and planted a seed into each daughter so that, even in her absence, her legacy lives on.