Five Songs of Arthur Pendragon

inspiration for, notes about, and excerpts from a post-apocalyptic gender-revised retelling of Arthurian legend

[songsofarthur]

Just a silly something: Tristan and Gawain have very different approaches to encouraging Arthur’s affections for Gwen...

[awaywardmind]

new genre concept: soft apocalypse

the world as we know it has ended and mother nature starts taking back what’s hers. there are no zombies or cannibals or murderous bandits. the most valued members of the community are those who know how to garden and farm, sew and weave, treat wounds, work wood or build with bricks, cook from scratch. 

people bond together to begin rebuilding instead of killing each other. everyone teaches each other whatever they do know and works together to figure out the stuff none of them know. books become incredibly valued resources because they’re often the only way to learn critical information. if someone is elderly, disabled, or otherwise unable to work at the same level as most of the community, they’re taken care of by the others, not told any sort of “survival of the fittest” bs.

as the generations ware on, communities begin expanding into small cities. some of the settlements even find ways to repurpose solar or wind power on a small scale and have electricity in some of their buildings. storytellers wander the countryside telling tales of the old world in return for some hot stew or a place to rest for the night, and the mythos of the new world start to incorporate elements of the past. the only thing that remains constant is that humans survive, and they do it by working together.

[songsofarthur]

this is literally the setting of my arthurian retelling!

from my author’s note:

I imagine this: that despite the hunger, violence, fear, and sickness, people would work together. We would remember or re-learn lost arts that we once used to survive: how to grow and hunt our own food, and how to make weapons that can help us hunt; how to spin yarn and weave and knit and sew clothing; how to ride horses and sail boats; how to build defenses for our towns; how to live in very small communities, stuck with the same people our whole lives.

I imagine that maybe in the midst of this, when faced with large threats — a famine, an outbreak of disease, an invasion from another land — a great leader would emerge, someone who could bring together the strong ones from across the land and inspire them to set aside their differences, if only for a little while.

And maybe in those footsteps, an even greater leader would rise: a ruler with a good heart and true friendships, who could remind us that there is more than survival. There is justice, and beauty, and peace.

If you come with me on the adventure that is this story, I will show you how I imagine this could happen.

[awaywardmind]

new genre concept: soft apocalypse

the world as we know it has ended and mother nature starts taking back what’s hers. there are no zombies or cannibals or murderous bandits. the most valued members of the community are those who know how to garden and farm, sew and weave, treat wounds, work wood or build with bricks, cook from scratch. 

people bond together to begin rebuilding instead of killing each other. everyone teaches each other whatever they do know and works together to figure out the stuff none of them know. books become incredibly valued resources because they’re often the only way to learn critical information. if someone is elderly, disabled, or otherwise unable to work at the same level as most of the community, they’re taken care of by the others, not told any sort of “survival of the fittest” bs.

as the generations ware on, communities begin expanding into small cities. some of the settlements even find ways to repurpose solar or wind power on a small scale and have electricity in some of their buildings. storytellers wander the countryside telling tales of the old world in return for some hot stew or a place to rest for the night, and the mythos of the new world start to incorporate elements of the past. the only thing that remains constant is that humans survive, and they do it by working together.

[songsofarthur]

this is literally the setting of my arthurian retelling!

from my author’s note:

I imagine this: that despite the hunger, violence, fear, and sickness, people would work together. We would remember or re-learn lost arts that we once used to survive: how to grow and hunt our own food, and how to make weapons that can help us hunt; how to spin yarn and weave and knit and sew clothing; how to ride horses and sail boats; how to build defenses for our towns; how to live in very small communities, stuck with the same people our whole lives.

I imagine that maybe in the midst of this, when faced with large threats — a famine, an outbreak of disease, an invasion from another land — a great leader would emerge, someone who could bring together the strong ones from across the land and inspire them to set aside their differences, if only for a little while.

And maybe in those footsteps, an even greater leader would rise: a ruler with a good heart and true friendships, who could remind us that there is more than survival. There is justice, and beauty, and peace.

If you come with me on the adventure that is this story, I will show you how I imagine this could happen.

[aesterea-archived]

i really really mean it please write muslim characters, it’s really not that daunting literally all you have to do is throw in a few casual qualities.

have them squint uncertainly at the meat options in a restaurant and ask if there’s pork in the sandwich. have them mention on the phone “oh, i’m gonna stop by the mosque first for prayer but i’ll be there soon.” have your hijabi girls squeal over cute scarves in mall store windows and swoon over sparkly pins. have them kindly reject a glass of water and say “oh, i’m fasting today.”

just don’t make their religion their only defining aspect. like??

for most women, wearing hijab is about as casual as wearing a shirt or pants. give me a badass woman on a mission to save the world just like you’d write literally any other badass woman on a mission to save the world— this one just happens to keep her hair in a headscarf and is careful not to eat certain foods?

and not all muslim women wear scarves, a lot of them just choose not to or they decide not right now but they’ll do it later? like, give me a girl who’s absolutely determined to break a world record and halfway through the story she shows up in a headscarf for the first time and it’s no big deal. 

give me a kid who’s on the search for an ancient magical artifact and also they get anxious at some point cause they’re busy but prayer’s gonna start soon and they don’t wanna miss it. have them whip out their phone and search for the nearest mosque. have them find some quiet place to pray alone, like in the corner of a hotel room they just booked while their travel companion’s watching TV with the volume turned down low.

just?? do a bit of research (when are the prayer times, when is ramadan, what are halal foods, mosques in texas, etc.) and write!!! muslim!!! characters!!!

[smallnico]

i’m honestly so tired of apocalypse stories that involve people killing each other and betraying one another for supplies or “survival” or whatever. unless it’s a social commentary on the damage done by the societal ideal of total singular self-reliance, i’m not interested in that hobbesian thesis on humanity anymore.

humans live in groups for a reason. it’s so much easier and more rewarding to survive in a group than it is to survive alone. we have different skills and inabilities, and nature has almost designed us specifically to encourage us to depend on others for physical, mental, and emotional support. i’m tired of people insisting that that scientifically-supported notion of humanity is lame and for idiots.

i’m gonna write a post-apoc story where the biggest theme is friendship and support and the biggest threat is losing group cohesion, just out of spite.

[deactivated-blog]

kingsguard

[goingawaybyethanks-deactivated2]

My edit: The children of Morgan Le Fay in Welsh Arthurian Legends: Yvain/Owain & Morfydd

In Le Mort d’Arthur of Thomas Malory, Yvain is the son of King Urien and of Morgan Le Fay, the famous sister of King Arthur. He is a valiant warrior and the best friend of sir Gawain. Yvain appeared for the first time in the chivalry romances with a famous poem of Chretien de Troyes, Yvain ou Le chevalier au lion (written maybe in the 70s of the XII). Yvain maybe was inspired by the historical character Owain mab Urien. Owain mab Urien, such as a lot of arthurian character, is became material for legends. He also appeared in the Mabinogion and in a lot of Welsh tales. In the tale of  Culhwch and Olwen it was named his twin sister Morfydd. In many sources of Welsh folclore (such as the Welsh Triad, N°70), they are coinceived by King Urien and Modron, a sort of goddess (who is supposed to be a “proto-Morgan” character). A Welsh tale speaks about their strange coinception

 In Denbighshire there is a parish which is called Llanferes, and there is there Rhyd y Gyfarthfa (the Ford of Barking). In the old days the hounds of the countryside used to come together to the side of that the ford to bark, and nobody dared go to find out what was there until Urien Rheged came. And when he came to the side of the ford he saw nothing except a woman washing. And then the hounds ceased barking, and Urien seized the woman and he had his will of her; and then she said “God’s blessing on the feet which brought thee here.” “Why?” said he. “Because I have been fated to wash here until I should conceive a son by a Christian. And I am daughter to the King of Annwfn, and come thou here at the end of the year and then thou shalt receive that boy.” And so he came and he received there a boy and a girl: that is, Owain son of Urien and Morvydd daughter of Urien.[1]  

[for credits at the sources of the tale click on the 1]

[1116665-555567777]

In [fairy tales], power is rarely the right tool for survival anyway. Rather the powerless thrive on alliances, often in the form of reciprocated acts of kindness - from beehives that were not raided, birds that were not killed but set free or fed, old women who were saluted with respect. Kindness sown among the meek is harvested in crisis

Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby. (via priscillajeanohare)

[songsofarthur]

“Ring Down Below” - Elaine of Corbenic Playlist, Track 3

Ring down below – Oh, ring down, ring down everybody Ring down below –  Oh ring down, ring down I tell you Ring down below – Oh ring down, yes I meet up with the devil

[songsofarthur]

“What Kind of Man” - Elaine of Corbenic Playlist, Track 2

and with kiss, you inspired a fire of devotion that last for twenty years what kind of man loves like this? to let my feet dangle at a cruel angle - oh, my feet don’t touch the floor sometimes you’re half in and then you’re half out but you never close the door

[songsofarthur]

"Holding Out For A Hero” - Elaine of Corbenic Playlist, Track 1

through the wind and the chill and the rain and the storm and the flood i can feel his approach like a fire in my blood

[novangla]

This closes out my Guinevere playlist and it is heartbreaking and perfect and I commend it to you all.

This is the hardest story That I have ever told No hope, no love, no glory Happy endings, gone forever more

This is the way you left me I’m not pretending No hope, no love, no glory No happy ending This is the way that we love Like its forever Then live the rest of our lives But not together

[prokopetz]

Why do you think highly advanced ancient civilizations are so prevalent in sci-fi/fantasy?

Basically it’s the Roman Empire’s fault.

No, seriously.

One of the reasons the Roman Empire was such a big deal in the ancient world is because it was able to punch way above its weight class technology-wise due to its sophisticated civic infrastructures. When the Western half of the empire collapsed, those infrastructures essentially imploded, leaving a huge chunk of Europe with large caches of technology that they could still use, but lacked the means to reproduce or repair. A lot of what modern Eurocentric history books present as the natural technological progression of civilisaton is glossing over this massive hiccup where innovation was being driven primarily by the need to repurpose or maintain this leftover tech in the absence of the infrastructures that produced it. Things basically went all Mad Max for a while there - that actually happened.

(This is all hugely oversimplified, of course, but that’s the gist of it.)

The thing about modern fantasy settings is that, by and large, they’re also going all Mad Max. Your typical Western fantasy setting used to be dominated by this huge, technologically sophisticated empire, but then somebody screwed up and blew up the world, and now everything sucks and people live in fortified shanty towns separated from each other by miles of barren wilderness populated by gnarly monsters, where the most valuable commodities are the scavenged detritus of that bygone empire. It’s straight up post-apocalyptic - the only variable is how much time has passed between the apocalyptic event and the present day.

And in terms of literary and artistic antecedents? You can pretty much draw a direct line between Western fantasy fiction’s obsession with post-apocalyptic worldbuilding and the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It’s been 1500 years and we still haven’t gotten over it.

EDIT: To be 100% clear, I’m talking about the antecedents of the specific constellation of post-apocalyptic tropes that characterise Western fantasy fiction, not the more general trope that things used to be awesome in the distant past and now everything sucks. A couple of the responses are giving me grief about how this can’t possibly be right because the Romans themselves wrote about how things used to be awesome in the past and now everything sucks, and it’s absolutely true that they did - along with very nearly every storytelling tradition in any culture whatsoever. Certainly, there’s a discussion to be had about why that might be the case, but it’s a separate and much broader question from the one I’m addressing here.

[novangla]

And people ask why my Arthurian retelling is post-apocalyptic. This is literally my reason why.

[rymi-art]

let love blossom

[wearepaladin]

Excalibur by  YURI SHWEDOFF

[romancingthebookworm-deactivate]

Gwen Hayes on thinking of your plot as a caduceus rather than an arc.

Holy bananas. That’s actually genius and makes so much freaking sense?

[songsofarthur]

This seems like great advice even for non-romance!

[percahlia]

When Fantasy and History Collide: Marisha Ray Models 3D Printed Armor.