so rian loves this dude to death!!!!!! but also he is the bane of his existence on the daily alksjdfjlkdsfj rian is the easiest target in the whole entire world and i fee like garbhan knows ~exactly how to press his buttons expertly lajkdsfjlsdjf like this dude is sooooo srs and doesn't?? know??? how???? to relax???????????? and if garbhan's doing like the lfr equivalent of like doing shots and a conga line or smth, rian is like THIS IS STRESSING ME OUT EVEN MORE lksjdfajklsdjkfajsf like garbhan does not even have to ~try little less the effect he gets when he ~does...sdlkjfasdljfjsdf
honestly think rian would be a loT happier if garbhan had been the firstborn, wheeling and dealing and having to interact??? w ppl???? and then rian could be his man in the shadows doing math and history and stuff alkjsdflkdsjf but sadly the one w ppl skills is not the one whose duty is to interact w ppl lajsdlfkjsdjf
i ~do feel like tho when they actually ~do work together, they can be a pr effective team bc they do have v complementary skills and weaknesses so where one ~isn't up to the task the other ~is etc but like?????? idk how often they can get enough out of their own way to pull that off????
so kate and i have also done a lotttttt of hc'ing abt the stafford family backstory so i will bc presenting a crash course on that in a hot second but first some direct ~nowadays~ business that might even drum up some potential plots if you like any of it...
rian: PLS STOP HITTING ON MY POTENTIAL FIANCEES I ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH COMPETITION IN THEIR HUSBAND AND FIANCE(S) RESPECTIVELY
lakjsdflajsdjfajsdf its ok tho bc rian has big plans for his lil bro and matrimony!!!!!
i ~do feel like (only ~partially to distract him from distracting his own ladies!!!! alsdjfkljsdf ;DDDDD jk jk i think he made this list while they were still in the ovn lakjsdfjsjdf) rian ~is looking to get garbhan hitched sometime pr soon!!! some ladies he's got lined up for their political value to their cause:
eithne malconaire -- so you might remember this one from the cassimir/rian post, but an old blood astairan family to garner the sympathy and loyalty of the ppl! (~was eithne but she got betrothed so that's out) but im guessing?? brigit will NOT be feeling that?? so aoife would've been his next choice but seeing as finn snagged her, rosie's next up (really, rian thinks bran was awfully inconsiderate having so few daughters ;DDDD like this if we're already scraping the bottom of the barrel like this!!! rosie: ...thanks lakjsdfjsdjf no but its so sad like garbhan could've been a ruling lord smdh lsjkdfajklsdjf), but yeah i ~do think ideally he'd marry closer up the line than further down it since there're no sons in this family so he's higher up the line of succession etc but yeah if brigit is deeply against it rosie'sll do aljsdfljdf so if garbhan can seduce aoife away from finn? so much the better!!! or better yet??? steal eithne away from cassimir!!!! gold star brother move right there!!!!!!! lakjsdfkjldsf
lorcan -- so this one ~which lorcan literally does not matter to rian since none of the girls are set to inherit so!!!! if he wants the middle one, rian says go for it!!!! this is another old blood family and esp if rian can't close the deal w aine (which lbr...that woman is married in her own heart so like...it aint happening, man!), garbhan coming in clutch w a lorcan alliance is GREAT!!! esp bc the lorcans managed to keep their armies pr pristine whereas the malconaire armies, for example, got hella chewed up, etc, so they could potentially bring military to the table, too! this still ranks number 2 tho bc rian still thinks there's hope for him and aine where he can get lorcan ~and calleary assistance that way, but if he does def and definitively strike out w aine, this marriage prospect might go up to the #1 position in rian's mind tbqh
calleary -- again legit doesn't matter which one for the same reasons!! they aren't old blood astairan so its not ~as good a match as above but...the callearies are wealthy w hella naval experience and allies etc...itd still be a good match! just stop flirting w one in ~front of the others ok????
after that its all a bit of a crap shoot in rian's mind but he's left garbhan a larger pool of choices than himself ig alkjsdfjdf rian: i call that generosity!! no but lbr garbhan is probs way better equipped to juggle all that ~and make actual progress w it too...rian is still barking up two wrong trees smdh
ok so, @forgottenarias , pls def say so if im misremembering smth or leaving smth really significant out or whatever!! i wanna do sorta the footnotes vers of events as our primer for you, here, lizzy, regarding our hc's on rian and garbhan's faction and its schism from eilia, aria, and shiv's faction, just to give you a hopefully pr straightforward foundation for this stuff
if you're interested, you can also find more in the tagged 'ooc' and 'lore' posts [ here ] and [ here ], but that ~will probs mean a lil digging unfortunately lajsdjflksdf we did a lotttt of chatting lakjsdfjksdf and much of it on disco too so even there may be missing stuff *facepalm*
also -- obv pending approval etc -- but as sort of a skeleton for what im abt to say here, i did make up an [ astairan kingslist ] covering only the past like...200years or so. ill copy that here as a reference re what im abt to say bc idk sometimes timelines make things easier (note: this one starts current -> past):
1288-present – roderick varmont, b. 1245, m. 1262, m. 1264, m. 1265
1281-1288 (7 years) – eilionora stafford, b. 1267
1263-1281 (18 years) – domhnall stafford, b. 1243, m. 1264
1255-1263 (8 years) – finnian lorcan, b. 1230
1244-1255 (11 years) – dubhán stafford, b. 1215, m. 1238
1238-1244 (6 years) – ciar stafford, b. 1179, m. 1196
1236-1238 (2 years) – caoimhe ormond vii, b. 1170, m. 1192
1236 (4 months) – callum braoin, b. 1192, m. 1222
1233-1236 (3 years) – declan stafford, b. 1214, m. 1232
1233 (1 month) – conan básdorcha, b. 1216
1232-1233 (1 year) – aine ó loch lorcan, b. 1208
1228-1232 (4 years) – aoife killough, b. 1161, m. 1198
1228 (29 days) – bréanainn boyle, b. 1187
1228 (2 months) – cillian stafford, b. 1196, m. 1220
1226-1228 (2 years) – tairdelbach lorcan b. 1154, m. 1173
1226 (2 weeks) – fionn calleary ii, b. 1182, m. 1203
1225-1226 (1 year) – diarmuid stafford v, b. 1162, m. 1182
1222-1225 (3 years) – senan calleary, b. 1206
1222 (3 weeks) – feardorcha stafford, b. 1187, m. 1221
1222 (7 months) – mellán hanthom, b. 1203
1222 (9 days) – fergus ormond, b. 1180, m. 1213
1200-1222 (22 years) – brigit malconaire iii, b. 1180, m. 1209
1134-1200 (66 years) – cerball lorcan, b. 1121, m. 1138
1123-1134 (11 years) – sorcha calleary, b. 1036, m. 1073
1103-1123 (20 years) – macdara malconaire ix b. 1041, m. 1073
1101-1103 (2 years) – cathaoir tierney, b. 1053, m. 1086
1043-1101 (58 years) – darach malconaire, b. 1019, m. 1043
1011-1043 (32 years) – cormac byrne, b. 964, m. 1002
1000-1011 (11 years) – caoimhe lorcan, b. 967, m. 169
so stafford history hc bullet points:
while obv anyone in astaira is eligible to rule, right down to pate the pig boy, for whatever reason the staffords have boasted the largest number of kings in their family line across the board, including the semi-legendary first king of astaira, who first united the land in the age of the heroes etc, and as a result historically the house has felt sort of a family legacy of responsibility for the crown and wellbeing of astaira etc
just like in the ovn, the plague hit astaira c. 1220, lasting until c. 1245, and wiping out thousands of souls. as such, in the midst of piling bodies in the streets and creating hasty burials all while desperately tryna care for your sick dying loved ones, bc of astaira's unique election system, the crown experienced horribly instability as astairans were drug out again and again and again to spend weeks electing someone only for them to drop dead months later obliging everyone to stat all over again
issues in astaira ground to a halt at the v worst time possible and some amongst the staffords developed a desperate plan: eliminate elections and crown the eldest stafford and his heirs as perpetual heirs of astaira ever after, the way ~other kingdoms work
this all came to a head at the election that ultimately saw dom crowned, brother vs brother, w dom opposing what he saw as a coup against the ultimate authority of astaira (the ppl) and rian and garbhan's dad (who we've been calling riacan just bc he seems like the kind of dude to effectively name his son after himself esp since he named one son 'king' and the other 'little rough one' lajslfjksdf but yeah obv just a ~working title~ for him but ill use it here just for ease/to hopefully keep it less confusing) and ~riacan representing what he saw as stability and salvation for the realm
obv we know who won in the end...
so yeah that's the general bullet points and what rian, at least, sees himself as fight for!! its for the good of astaira!!! why can't his foolish cousins just see this indisputable truth smdh lkasdjfkjdf
it should also be noted that there were other factors involved w the riacan vs dom situation, such as fierce sibling rivalry and the fact that lena (eilia and aria's mother,) was promised to the future king of astaira, whoever that might be (should he prove male -- her brother was promised should the next ruler be a queen) and riacan, during his time as ambassador for his father to orinthia, had fallen madly in love w her, etc, so like...a lot here!!!
there's also a whooooole thing w garbhan's aunt, princess réalta stafford (sister to dom and riacan), the woman whom roderick had been promised to by his father and whom roderick jilted to wed elaine right before the plague killed his own father. realta went on to be ambassador to the ovn on dom's behalf, countering riacan's bad press there, and ultimately met a bad end in a jail cell there which almost caused a war, hugely impacted aria's growing up (that's another whole thing) etc so like...that's a whole thing, too! but i already threw a ton at you and for now ill leave that bit off but i did want to mention that it ~existed at least alksdjfsjkdf
STAFFORD LEGITIMACY STUFFS
there may also have been rumors in the ovn, while rian and garbhan were growing up there, regarding both the stafford girls illegitmacy (which did come home to roost) as well as some regarding the stafford boys (secretly spread by riacan's implacable rival, lord sun -- who may ~also -- w amira -- be behind realta's mysterious fate shhh ;D and which roderick will almost certainly choose to unleash should the boys ever act against him etc and which he's always held over their heads w exactly that threat in mind) which suggest that riacan may have secretly wed lena all those years ago in orinthia, thus invalidating both riacan and lena's later marriages (the current stafford illegitimacy claim hinges on the idea that dom was secretly married to aine of kil-kennar prior to his marriage to lena so it doesn't impact the validity of riacan's marriage...) which two marriages, together, resulted in the births of all five of the current staffords...you can read more abt all that in [ this ] thread so yeah!!
ik that was a tonnnnn of stuff i just threw at you so def lmk if 1) you like any of this!!!! obv this is all v much pending re your thoughts on how canon-viable any of this is, and is v much still in the hc'ing stage!!!!! but also ofc also 2) idk how ~clear this even was so like pls def lmk if ur like wtf is even going on/you have any questions alksjdfalkjsdljfkjksdf
anyway, v excited for our boys!!!!!!! i just know, whatever direction we take things, they gonna be a disaster <33333333
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