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FULL NAME & TITLE. arthur penddraig. SOBRIQUET(S) / ALIAS(ES) / TITLE(S) / POSITION(S). art and variations; never artie. formerly arthur pendraegon , king of the britons and high seat of the round table. currently self employed, title pending ( functionally: private investigator , loosely and only when inclined to; fixer and cleaner of a sort , by absolute necessity ). the once and past king. AGE. forty ( 800+ ) GENDER + PRONOUNS . cis man, he or they ORIENTATION. emotionally unavailable ( bisexual ) ALLEGIANCE. self THEMES. lost glory, loyalty vs. disillusionment, legend weighed down by reality

TOUCHPOINTS. t.h. white's the once and future king. geoffrey of monmouth's historia regnum britanniae. lev grossman's the bright sword. bernard cornwell's the winter king (the warlord chronicles). john boorman's excalibur (1981). anakin skywalker, star wars. patrick zweig, challengers. officer k, blade runner 2049. amleth, the northman. achilles, greek antiquity.

BASICS.

theo james. cis man. he/him. 40/800+. ⸻ king roberon cole welcomes ARTHUR PENDDRAIG to fabletown—or, as they were once known, KING ARTHUR from WELSH ANTIQUITY.

before the magic mirror, they come glamoured in the mirage of

a broken throne towering over a cracked table, dusted with disuse ; feet scrabbling for purchase in the mud, bloody hands over splintered wood and a shining light just beyond reach, impaled by one's own honor ; an overturned goblet, honey-wine dripping thickly into the cobbled floor and gnarled, ringed knuckles unable to right it in their trembling.

the tale from which they hail exalted their UNQUESTIONING LOYALTY and UNIMPEACHABLE CONVICTION , but decried their RIGIDITY and ARROGANCE in equal measure. no matter; this time, they shall write their own. in accordance with the fabletown compact, they are granted amnesty for any and all transgressions, even that which is little known: arthur not merely had his marriage vows broken, but broke them himself as well.

DETAILS.

01. you know the story: he's born in secret and raised in obscurity. strings are pulled in his name all the while until the boy pulls himself out from the mud of his upbringing by the hilt of that damned sword — which screams, by the way, as arthur tears it from its anvil womb. this story has no gentle beginnings, or middles, or ends.

02. the details, for what little they're worth, are less than fantastical: sir ector was a fine knight and a poor father. sir kay was a poor knight but a kind brother. merlin was never really good for anything besides kingmaking and arthur, for his part, was a poor page and a poor son, but occasionally a good christian if you ignore the bit about the grail at the end. and yet he never entirely outran those childhood embarrassments. when a father doesn't love you and god can't love you, the only thing left is everyone else. and by god if arthur would be loved by everyone else, no matter the personal cost.

03. he was a good king. that much could be said, for a while. and certainly he was good — or otherwise he strove to be when his more human instincts tried clawing their way out. but he was never really arthur, either. see notes above on personal cost. because that's the raw deal, the real rotten core: he was everything to anyone and no one at all behind the gilded portrait. he couldn't be, when hopes and legends and half a goddamned religion was all leaned up against him. there couldn't be any cracks; so much as a shift in his footing could somehow, someway, level towns in a far off spit of land a boy from the haystacks – because that's what he was, remember, the last time he was just arthur – has hardly even heard of.

04. you know the story, so you know the end. the misplaced trusts, the grand betrayals, the swords one impales themselves on in a desperate scrabbling for any other outcome. you'll note that arthur never saw the end, much as it loomed over him and devoured his country. he ran, too, away from the yawning darkness, and his own failures – both profoundly mythic and deeply human – and, most of all, the realization that whatever came next would, by necessity, arrive without him to witness it.

05. he's still running – just mostly from himself; the war against fate and worse natures not surrendered but turned inward, lines moving in centuries and inches. when the myth is stripped back, the armor shed and the glamours refracted, arthur isn't sure he likes what he's sees. but the only thing worse than enduring is an eternity that leaves him behind.

SUGGESTED CONNECTIONS.

betrayer, once or future. someone from arthur's past or current circle who has betrayed him or is poised to in some way. could be a rival, former friend/protége, or even a supposed ally. reminds him too much of mordred, and promises made in the dark. you remind me of him. the way you smile like you’ve never drawn blood.

the one who stayed. a companion from days of olde, or a new ally forged between rain-slicked streets. chivalric and honorable, once, in the way that arthur might have been, too. loyal, but changed by the city. nostalgic, enabling, or tragic. we swore our oaths under stars long dead. that doesn’t mean we stop trying.

secret-dealer. possibly a journalist, a records keeper, or a black-market sorceror. knows more about arthur than they have any right to and he is equal parts dogged after them and avoidant entirely. he has no business playing in knowledge and prophecy, and yet it tempts him all the same. in short: they remember the real story, not the glamorized myth. can lean tragic, romantic, adversarial, or philosophical.

secret-stealer. someone more cunning and manipulative who knows something about arthur's past — his secret, perhaps? — and would certainly enjoy using it as leverage. could be a blackmailer, reluctant ally, or manipulative "friend."

sword in the pawnshop. whether merited or not, arthur believes they may hold the key to restoring some of his self-obliterated sense of honor — or , at least , the appearance of it. a collector, a fence, or even a pawnshop owner themselves. arthur never stops searching for the holy grail and his excalibur, in actuality or metaphor. he needs them, but they don't need him.

you built a kingdom... and you let it rot. the monument to arthur's failures, singular or collective. disillusioned fables, someone cursed who holds arthur to blame, a former knight from any tale, or alternatively younger idealist fables. could look up to arthur despite the failures (thereby reminding him of them, constantly) or resents him for them. in either case, he wants little to do with them but cannot otherwise help himself from meddling.

lover, once or future. as it says on the tin. maybe they don't remember him, maybe they do. maybe this is a dance they've done before and are bound to do again and again, always toiling towards their own ends. there are so many stories, but this one is always the same. love, duty, and betrayal all wound into the same tapestry.

lover, once. a past love interest (or one-sided admirer) from another story, someone who knew arthur at his best and weathered him at his worst. themes of unresolved feelings, regret, and/or current temptation particularly in the face of knowing better.

antagonist-turned-ally. he never would have been caught dead on the same side of their line, but arthur is the pinnacle of honor no longer and his company might as well reflect his face-planted position. magical authority or ability welcome, but by no means necessary. someone who could pivot arthur's forward path, or simply take advantage of it's downward direction. alternatively may try to help him curb his darker instincts or exploit them.

the last noble thing he might ever do. something younger and brighter, wide-eyed and hand outstretched, fingers trailing in a river that runs clear and strong ( as opposed to arthur's – dry, and abandoned ). offering a mirror to what he once was, the compulsion to, well, help, in whatever shape that might take in his current state is ... as it says on the tin.

against his better judgement. alternate to the above, a more tough or modern fable – streetwise and clear-eyed, doesn't give a damn about kings or knights or even the days of yore. an unlikely partnership, or god-forbid mentorship. an unexpected emotional core connection.

company in exile. another former king/queen/prince/princess who either empathizes with arthur's fall from grace or constantly reminds him of it. vibes could be rivalry, camaraderie, or co-dependent trauma bonding.

the healer who can't fix him. could be literal or emotional. someone who could, and likely wants to save arthur from himself, but the tension arises from an arthur who doesn't necessarily want to be saved. the difference between restoring what was and moving on from it. needling in on the tension between hope and futility.

collector of antiquity. someone fascinated by the mighty who have fallen and are either obsessed with the idea of arthur or collecting him in their pocket (metaphorical ... or literal?). could lean as trying to seduce him, study him, or break him completely <3

the dark mirror. a fable hero who did keep their kingdom intact, until of course they all met the same fate and ended up here. still, the divergent endings and the footing they stand on now force arthur to confront his personal failings. could be allies with tension, frenemies, or publicly united but secretly at odds.

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