#isolda vane

[forgottenronan]

OOC | Coin Clipping & Second Heist?

ok so yet another money-making scheme? it occurred to me this morning (why're my characters all yelling at me as i wake up? lskdjfaldksjf) that a way that the rebels can make their funds go even further is coin clipping!

so you guys may know abt coin clipping but just in case you need a refresher or whatever bc this one's pr escoteric, back in the day coins were hand-forged bc yknow...that was what was possible, so none of them were uniform in shape or size. as a result, crooks would take sharp tools and trim off the edges of coins, w no one the wiser, given that all the coins just kinda looked like that™ get enough of these clippings and, if you've got a forge and have stolen some molds from a mint...you can make urself some new coins!

now, this does debase the currency slowly (not that this one act would be enough to debase an entire empire's economy but still! get enough ppl doing enough of this over time and you've got urself a real problem!) so messing w the currency this way became in a lot of societies an act of treason -- in england, for example, you could be hanged, drawn, and quartered for this -- but you know who don't care abt debasing roderick's currency? these guys! in fact, that might even be an over all plus in their book!

so yeah, now that they have the money from the winnings, the next step might just be clipping all those suckers -- @forgottenbrigit i can see ronan having potentially negotiated w brigit that he'd return all her winnings ~after having clipped them, bc it won't impact her ability to spend what she's got, but it ~will make resistance coin go that much further...and then, yeah! we're on to stealing one of roderick's fancy molds...lsdjflajsdfj

i feel like all our noble rebels will come in ~particularly handy w stealing the molds...but it also has to be v carefully done bc ~not tipping off roderick is key or he'll go and redesign his coinage, soooo what they really need to do is make a mold (probs using resin or smth?) of the og mold from which they can then reverse engineer its mirror image and thus get to minting their v own coins...

but we'll also need to find a resistance-friendly blacksmith willing to risk it all...

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | On Brigit's Winnings/Malconaire's Roads/Roderick & Malconaire

so, i have one pressing question @forgottencassimir: did cassimir fix the roads when he came to power? i am unfortunately not joking OR exaggerating when i say the whole fate of malconaire may lie in the balance here *facepalm*

ok so this thought is entirely predicated on like...idk that roderick would realistically ever notice finances in malconaire so long as, like, the ~public aspects are more or less maintained: roads are upkept, that sort of thing! and he certainly wouldn't be like WHERE ARE THEY GETTING THE MONEY if they are upkept when he returns to malconaire for valentina's party bc he ~did recently mention to @forgottencassimir that he expects to see road improvements etc after his carriage broke down etc so like...that being fixed suddenly, if it were, ~wouldn't surprise him bc he ~expects that he has only to say smth and then it will be done, right???

so!! it occurred to me that, like...since its @forgottenvalentina in charge i can tell you that, during ~her administration, while the ~specific pothole that took out roderick's carriage was certainly filled in on the ~double after that! -- honestly if nothing else my man @forgottencillian might've taken that one upon himself just bc like...we do noT need the emperor coming here unawares!!!! no thank youuu!!! his sons are bad enough!!!! however, he and the girls are all stretched sooooo thin that, while he'd def do his best to maintain the roads by himself if that's what it takes to keep roderick out, idk how doable that ~is for one dude while ~also maintain everything else at malconaire itself, etc, and it certainly wasn't on valentina's list of priorities!!!!! so yeah!!!! -- so yeah valentina did not fix the roads

basically....w @forgottencassimir having sort of started to come into his own power since last roderick was there do we think that cassimir repaired the roads?

i mention this bc, if he did, i think he may have inadvertently covered for @forgottenbrigit and her winnings...and thus lowkey for himself as well? ok so what do i mean? if the roads were, to roderick's observation, repaired the v next time he went to malconaire after he mentioned it to cassimir, he's like 'ok cool all's as it should be' and not thinking further on that one! However, if they're still pr ruinous, roderick's distinctly annoyed and ~now he's wondering why he's being ignored which'll mean he'll be launching secret investigations into malconaire

if he sees that its ~all poorly maintained that way, he's thinking malconaire's doing poorly and, while he must tread v carefully for reasons i outlined [ here ] re land changing hands etc, he'll be feeling this reflects poorly on ~him and is the opposite of his beliefs abt what he's here to do re: conquest, etc, and thus have him wanting to ensure improvements there -- whether by perhaps letting @forgottenmarian bend his ear a lil more re: change in leadership there or, more likely, by involving ~his officials in tryna get them better streams of revenue, perhaps by arranging cassimir and/or the girls' various marriages or, if things still don't markedly improve (bc by now he's seeing more than just the state of the roads, perhaps considering a change in leadership

smth else he might realize is that the og girls are servants there and he might expose that to help throw cassimir off his pedestal as well in therms of leadership change and simply betroth eithne or sonya to whomever he chooses as the next lord malconaire and justify it that way, saying cassimir was abusing his power etc and use that as justification, just as he has w ciara and godfrey and hanthom etc!

HOWEVER!! if he's investigating all this already and then suddenly, out of nowhere, w no revenue stream on cassimir's books, things just start magically improving in malconaire right after all the winning disappear, ngl that will def make roderick sus

if he does start to think that malconaire stole the money, at first he'll deffffff have his eye on cassimir ngl bc like!!!!!! a woman could never have pulled that off!!!!!! obv this is a man's work!!!!!!

this does two things for roderick in this situation! 1) it allows him to bring up cassimir on criminal charges and thus give legal reason for why he now must attaint him as a traitor etc and can now give malconaire to ~anyone of his choosing w/o stirring unrest amongst the lords of the empire and 2) allows him to publically prosecute the thief and thus restore trust in the public eye that the theft has been duly avenged by the gov/helps roderick as emperor save face re his own plan working just as intended etc (even if roderick knows cassimir didn't do it! but esp if he thinks he ~did) and thus pin the blame on someone for that

in the scenario where roderick ~doesn't believe cassimir really did, this lets roderick give malconaire to someone of his choosing while also lulling the rebels into a feeling of false security bc, well, he clearly collared someone else!! he is ~not onto them!!!! in the scenario where roderick believes cassimir ~did do it, he might frankly think that cassimir is a rebel alkdsfjklsdfj and is thus putting all kinds questions to him and possibly even wanting to get him to 'escape' and infiltrate and betray them since roderick thinks casimir's ~one of them lkajsdflkjsjdkfds

also he's still exposing the og girls as servants thing etc and doing everything to frankly blacken cassimir's name ngl he doesn't want ~any lords thinking this might happen to them if they're behaving but he ~does want to make an example of what happens to a lord who ~isn't behaving alkjsdfjsdf

HOWEVER, when roderick discovers the witchcraft he'll realize that cassimir didn't know what he was doing when he stole that money (either have to pretend to 'realize' this or actually come to that conclusion depending...and/or convince himself he believed cassimir was guilty the whole time and now emotinally exonerate him??? who knows lakjsfkjdsf) since he was bewitched lajdsfjkdsf so he'll be off the hook for that lakjsdfkjdsjkf (~all of cassimir's 'misdeeds' are ~their fault now btw!! including forcing them to serve him somehow alskdfjksldjfds)

also if there's a scenario where roderick's already given malconaire away when the witchcraft thing comes out then there's the drama over like...how does ~that lil bugaboo resolve laksdjflkjsdfkj we ~know picking a single heir to things when there're rival claimants is ~not his strong suit oops ;D alksdjflkjsdf jk jk that's a ploy/emotional thing which he probs won't feel re malconaire but still!! again there's the whole not upsetting the lords thing and yeah!! that'd be a big deal laksjdfkjsdf

(at present, id say the most likely candidates for receiving malconaire/replacing cassimir are @forgottenedmund given he's the conqueror there; @forgottengodfrey or @forgottenalaric if alaric requests hanthom/depending how that situation all goes down; alaric or bartholomew just in general bc trust etc; eoin as basically a wedding present for @forgottenguinevere if that betrothal does go through; or one of @forgottenmarian 's brothers, but who knows! roderick be changing his mind always alkjdsflkjdsf)

but yeah!!! if cassimir ~did fix the roads then roderick's not picking up on ~any of this but yeah it occurred to me that like...that's deffffff smth roderick wiLL be paying close attention to now that valentina's invited him to malconaire for her fete lajskdfkjsdjfksdf SCREAM

so yeah!! i just suddenly realized this and i was like 'omg' alkjdsfakjsdf anyway we can easily handwave it away and say cassimir got right on fixing those roads before roderick got there and thus roderick will never go down this path, but yeah this is smth roderick would do if they ~aren't alksjdfjkdsf man likes his orders OBEYED thank you alkdjsfslkjdfjsdf

[forgottenfiona]

OOC || The Resistance Card

Keywords: endings, sudden change, unhealthy attachments Quoted from the guide: "[You] chose this card because sometimes life is cruel and doesn't give you time to prepare for the end of something meaningful... this card appearing in your spread represents the beginning of a much better life."

[forgotteneabha]

OOC | Eabha & Event 5

no lie, eabha lowkey wishes, if she could have gotten away w it, that fiona and not cormac had been the one to enter in the tournament!! she would have gotten further than those funds could've done sm for calleary esp (hanthom is overall doing pr ok except that its being occupied etc but still!)

she's also disgusted the cormac bet big on cassimir and thus lost a tonnn of money lajskdfajdsjfk she's like idek how he does it he lost money just sitting in the stands lkjasdflkjsdfjk

anyway some stuff we wrote in replies etc:

Forgot to say…Cormac only betted on Cassimir <3 Eabha: you somehow just lost us even ~more money wo doing anything at all today except getting dressed…

eabha’d probs lowkey feel out alaric abt it and if he seemed receptive she’d be like ‘crazy idea alert!!’ real smoothie over here hasdfjsdf hers would be a blue silk ribbon depicting the arms of calleary

lizzysrps said:  @quillington sadfsajflsdkjf omg!!! Alaric would definitely wear Eabha’s...Kale may have asked Eabha ngl only to find she’d given her’s to Alaric and so instead would probably ask Isolda or Fiona

  @lizzysrps i gotta laugh bc ~both eabha and cillian like Y E S S S S abt how this turned out w their respective varmont alkjsdfakjsdf 

@forgottenfinnegan real talk, i feel like eabha and ofc fiona <3 have some actual weapons training…they aren’t allowed to enter. cormac, who is a danger to himself and those around him (but not in the way you want in this kinda competition) ~is allowed alkdsjfkjlds eabha: this whole situation is so unserious…

eabha is honestly super embarrassed that cormac 1) entered in the competition when everyone knew how that'd go and then 2) pulled out at the last moment w the stupidest reasons like....house calleary just looking like fools rn and that pains her ngl la;ksdjfkljsdf like it would've been ~more embarrassing if he'd entered and made a display of himself like he was def gonna do but like...if he was just gonna pull out w the stupidest excuse just...don't enter man!!!! its ~that easy slkdjfkalsdjfj honestly literally every single decision he makes as lord makes her cringe so hard alksjdflkjsdfj

she was def v pleased that alaric wore her favor bc surely that bodes well for their courtship!!!!! she, however, felt terrible when poor kale asked for it...and she had to reject him kljadsfjkkfjds but she was greatly relieved when he was wearing ~someone's at the tourney!!

i feel like hanthom used to always have these like...shipwright contests and ragattas in the summer so i think she's probs wanting to get @forgottengodfrey to agree to continue that ngl! they need the money from those prizes more than ever rn!! and honestly i think he'll consent its a good opportunity for him to find the best shipwrights etc while also garnering some popularity w the ppl etc aljsdfkljsdf

i think she's also hoping to sponsor a similar program at lorcan bc its ppl have def also been through it and they've got a whole lake so boats may be different etc but still!!! so she's def wanting to talk to @forgottenaine abt that and abt approaching rian abt it too! (eabha thinks hes more likely to hear aine out than her interloper sister) but i think she also wants to get allll her siblings actively involved in that, if it goes through!!! @forgottencormac @forgottenfinnegan @forgottenfiona she feels all three of them would benefit from more constructive, hands-on interaction w the ppl, tho in vastly different ways lajdfkjsdf idk how accurate that is but its the thought lakjsdfkjdsf and also her peadar and clea but ~that just bc they need smth fun and happy and exciting to look forward to after everything they've been through, poor beans!!! plus, she thinks her ~dad would've wanted to start teaching them abt making ships etc right abt now so she's taking it upon herself as his heir (cormac sure as hell aint gonna!) to do it in his stead lsdkjfakldsf

i think eabha's looking to ideally estbalish a kinda school of like...shipwrights etc so ppl of their culture can continue to do well even w/in the empire etc and she feels confident they've got the skills so they can attract ppl from across the empire to invest and enroll and thus help pay for the poor of astira to enter as well etc and yeah!! as we know, eabha's thinking is less that astaira can cast off the varmont shackles and more abt how astairan can survive ~within the empire and yeah!! here's another thought she's got re: that

[forgottenroisin]

OOC | Witches of the Wood

so kate the great and i went kinda nuts in disco and i thought i should record it here to make it searchable for when we inevitably are scratching our heads tryna remember what we said...

... and since we NEVER go down a rabbit hole in comments... everything we went on about re: the stafford family swords forgotteneithne @gi

note (smth i meant to say at the time and just realized while posting this that i ~didn't say): re godfrey's interest in uncle lonan, i think its partially bc of his seemingly addled state??? like, if he asked ~brigit for example 'hey what'll happen if i incite the apocalypse?' or whatever she'd be able to be like 'yo this guy's thinking abt inciting the apocalypse' whereas lonan is more likely to try to warn ppl saying smth like 'lo! the moon shall devour the earth as the forsaken spring from their prison' or whatever and sure that's godfrey's sigil ~and plan but like????? itll certainly take a lot more time for ppl to puzzle out the intricacies of ~that one than brigit's alksdjfkdsf also also ngl i like the opportunity for godfrey to ~get advice he misinterprets MUAHAHAHAHAA

(esp bc she does ~know and ~trust most of the resistance members ~anyway...)

CASSIMIR'S HEIR(S) ok so @forgotteneithne raised some interesting points abt 1) who @forgottenroderick would replace @forgottencassimir w as

fun fact! ur not!bf's big brother wants to kill you </3 #datingproblems lkasdjfkldjsf hi, so, cassandra has never hurt a fly but ronan is c

ive hit the ~only 30 images allowed per post thing right as ive come to the end of what we said!

kate aa:

Oh ngl I defffff had it on my head that she was!!!! And like she’d pick foggy days so they’re hidden and have rebels climb the trees and shriek and moan and hurl things etc to spook any varmont troops who might be nearby and like circulate villagers to send their best storyteller to hang out to the tavern where the most varmonts hang out and tell the scariest stories ~abt the guardians and witches — she has a v ‘if they fear us, let them. We’ll make the most of it’ kinda pov I think after all that. So spin the ghastliest takes from of old and tell some new ones too as if they’re real, really stoke their fears. Use props and effects just like she used to on Cassimir for effect like Blackbeard using smoke and fires to create an image that ppl still fear today. I also think she probs believes she’s the last living malconaire and she’s def like ‘of us all — why me??’ But she takes her duty srsly so she’s gonna use everything she’s got and I def don’t think she has a ~ton in common w commander Lorcan but the ability to use perception abd the unexpected to her advantage? She’s got that in spades!

annnnd imma reblog this in a sec to respond to the bits i left unanswered above <3

[forgottengodfrey]

OOC | Godfrey & Event 5

ok so as we know, my man godfrey (heh) entered in the tournament!! so some info there!

Name: Godfrey Calainon Participating Categories: Jousting, Archery Skill Levels in the Following – Melee (on foot): Level #4 Melee (on horseback): Level #4 Archery: Level #4 Jousting: Level #3 Overall: 15

godfrey would request ciara’s [favor]

godfrey is betting on himself, tristan, and edmund. 

and betting on his bro and nephew got him some good stuff <3

he himself was awarded a runner-up prize of 30,000 bc his team (of which, tbf, he was captain) came in second place for the team melee but, and ngl this is more important to him, @forgottenedmund won in that same category <333333 and ngl godfrey did not ~let him win or anything!!! that was def an earned thing and godfrey is soooo proud and 1000% told him soo!!!!1 (honestly tho if edmund hadn't brought home a single trophy, he'd have been proud of him for just participating esp when he knows the pressure he's under etc!!)

but i do think all this is sort of bringing godfrey to the realization that edmund is eclipsing godfrey re: what he can teach him, and its time to get him a more skilled instructor, but one he can still trust re: discretion, so i think rn he's contemplating @forgottentristan but he's still not 100% sold bc he ~does know that tristan's loyalty is divided in the sense that tristan thinks itd be better for edmund if, yknow, he doesn't have to fight and kill his own siblings????? and given how v wild and outlandish such a notion is godfrey's not 100% convinced he's the best man for the job lakjsdfakljsdkjf

like his sister, tho, godfrey's thoughts don't rest solely on the tourney, he's still got his eye on the ball, and i do think godfrey is -- whether bc he was told or just bc...like...he knows roderick by now etc -- pr much aware of the fact that this is a trap for the resistance, and he's determined that they ~not be caught bc, as we know, they've got a purpose to serve before they are!!

so, as ive said...elsewhere somewhere lkadjfkljsdf godfrey def offered his share of the winnings to @forgottenciara for the resistance but is def going along w the 'oh no they were stolen!' thing even if the resistance themselves ask bc he's v dedicated to keeping ciara's role as double agent a strict secret!! but he's also thinking it might be time to reach out more directly to them, himself...which might just mean it might be just abt time to draw edmund, himself, into some of his plans! aklsdjfksjdf

ok so let me explain! to be clear, he's not looking to introduce edmund ~to @forgottenronan or anything like that, but i do think he's thinking, if this works for you, lizzy, of like sitting edmund down and being like 'there's unrest here, edmund, but i think that can be useful to you in conquering your brother. make astaira your base. here, he is the butcher of kil-kennar -- you can be the savior' sorta thing

speaking of which, while amira is out there spreading rumors that arthur (and possibly sebastian?) have impregnated local darlings, eithne and aoife, smth happening more or less at godfrey's periphery, ~godfrey is looking to potentially go ahead and out the true identity of the butcher of kil-kennar, since roderick covered kinda had that covered up bc of marian's influence etc! i ~do think this (and i think godfrey is aware of what im abt to say) is a bit of a dbl-edged sword bc i think a lot of varmont supporters/true believers will be like HELL YEAH abt arthur being the butcher of kil-kennar, but also obv the astairans true believers will noT be best pleased!!! lkjsdfkljsdaf and that's def what he's banking on since he's looking to make astaira, as the largest country in roderick's empire, edmund's powerbase, etc.

i do think he'll also be encouraging edmund to 1) repair things w @forgottenroisin (just long enough for her to tragically die courtesy uncle godfrey roderick ;D) and 2) to cozy up to the staffords -- he will noT be best pleased if he learns that @forgottenarthur has already made some significant inroads w @forgottenarias ngl lkajdsfkljdskf (godfrey, michael bluth voice: him?) i do think he's also ok w the rumor getting out abt edmund having potentially impregnated roisin bc he plans to ~also spread the rumor that they're star-crossed lovers that roderick cruelly parted, and that this is part of why you, as an astairan, should really accept edmund as deeply pro-astairan w all ur best interests at heart!!!! since the malconaires command a lot of loyalty in astaira etc

he's also gonna be tryna make more substantial inroads w the malconaires, himself. idk how stoked he'd be abt @forgottenamira approaching @forgottenbrigit the way she just did but...here we are! lkadsjfkljdsf if he learns of that, he'll def do his utmost to spin it like he does lakjdsfkljdsf but anyway, between edmund and tristan spending sm time there he's optimistic he can get in there and get a lil trust going so that they'll be willing to trust in him when things inevitably go badly for them etc bc he's like 'this whole situation is fully a tinderbox its just a matter of time that it ~will go badly for them' esp bc he knows brigit was already accused of witchcraft etc so yeah!!

idk that he knows amira is also doing this lakjdfkljdsf but i do think he'll be investigating the sigil treasure map ~and i think he'll be lowkey alerting @forgottenroderick esp bc somewhere in here @forgottenrian will absolutely finally get a look at the stafford sword roderick's got and be like 'that aint evenstar' a thing he will not hold back in revealing which will make roderick FURIOUS btw!! he does NOT like to be tricked!!!!!!!! and he will know it was the stafford girls who tricked him!!!!! so he wiLL be lashing out in some way ive not yet discovered lakjdsfkljdsf so ~that's fun lakjsdfkljsdf godfrey is frankly all for this and wiLL absolutely be publishing all the gory details of whatever punishment he unleashes for the ppl of astaira to consume and rail against roderick etc all while simultaneously using it all to tempt roderick into finally unleashing the gods for him <3

i ~do think godfrey's a lil uncertain what'll happen to the one who opens the lock etc and unseals the gods so i do think he's v happy for roderick to be the one to do that, plus it does set up that delish narrative that roderick is the true evil that edmund must fight against to restore peace and justice to all etc! and if roderick ~literally brings abt the apocalypse (even if unintentially) well!!! that's pr good evidence of that ladksjflksjdfjksdf

also, if post-valentina's party is indeed the occasion on which @forgottencassandra is getting nabbed by the resistance? then obv we know godfrey will def be heavily involved w all the behind the scenes, but either way, awe all already know that he's def laying the groundwork for the malconaires to be accused of witchcraft lakdsjfklsjdfkjsdf and then also for them to disappear after that. i ~do think he had it in mind that malconaire, the place, would be obliterated by roderick...the guardian destroying themself to save malconaire def was NOT on his bingo card kdlasjflksdjfkljsdfk

i also think that @forgottenbrigit linking up w the resitance ~without him~ wasn't smth he predicted (or wanted!) but here we are lkajdsfkljsdf but yeah re: the heist he will def be confirming that he, himself, ordered for his stuff to be taken out to roderick, and confirming that he ~didn't to the resitance hahaha both efforts to protect @forgottenciara and her involvement in the whole affair from the various parties who might sideye her if they heard the opposite so yeah!

def feel like there's smth else but i have gone on long enough!! baiscally godfrey is never idle laksdjfksldjf