frogbeastegg's story on the Princess

**littlelostboy** · 10-30-2005, 04:10

I'm a junior member so I cannot post a reply in the Mead Hall. I've just read half of frogbeastegg's story in a day and a half and still have another half to go on. I must say:

. This is one of the best written story I've ever read and even to say that does not do justice to the story. I love how the characters develop, everything in the story seem to run like clockwork. Basically, there's a lot of things that I have to say and all of them are good things.

I like Tempwrick (spelling?) No, not the like as my favorite character but in a way that he's almost so believable in his sadistic manner that everytime when he enters a scene I acutally shiver. He is also the hardest character to work out, in fact, I spend half the time thinking what is Tempwrick's motive. It is only at one part of the story that he wants to marry Elanor (spelling)

Seems like he wants to get the crown.

Hehe, nice story, this story is the first that I've seen that it is very character driven. And also very dialouge driven. Like a John Grisham style but even better. I have an idea,

, why don't you join Rome: Total War Heaven Games forum, give those writers there a shock of their lives. They would never believe that a girl could have wrote such a good story (no sexism intended). Your story beats all of their 'epics' 10000: 1.

By the way, are you a professional writer? The way you structure your story is fanatastic, all the suspense and the tension. WOW!
Okay, I know I'm rambling but this is the very first excellent story that I've read on any R:TW forums.

Cheers!

**littlelostboy** · 10-30-2005, 15:15

This is a post about the landed nobility. Its very general but I hope this helps.

Duke (duchess): Derived from the Latin dux, or "leader", the duke is usually the most powerful of the landed nobility beneath the monarch and is the highest title in the English peerage (i.e., the nobles entitled to sit in the House of Lords). A state or area within a state rurle by a duke is variously called a dukery, duchy or dukedom.

In some societies, nonruling dukedoms have been bestowed upon princes in direct line of succession to the throne or upon generals who have won great victories in battle (such as the English generals Marlborough and Wellington). The first nonruling English duke was created by Edward III in 1337 when he made his oldest son, Edward the Black Prince, Duke of Cornwall.

Some states with many dukes distinguish the most powerful (or, for exmple, the siblings of the monarch) as "grand dukes". Grand dukesmight wield great power within a state, as in Imperial Russia, or be the leaders of small states, such as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
(French duc, duchesse; German Herzog, Herzogin; Italian duca, duchesa; Spanish duque, duquesa)

Marquess (marchioness): Dating from the eleventh century, this title originally applied to lords who were responsile for guarding border areas, known as marches. In Germany, where the title Markgraf was bestowed upon counts who stood boder guard for their monarch, such nobles could be further distinguished as Landgraf or Markgraf, depending on the sort of territory they controlled.
(French marquis, marquise; German Markgraf, Markgrafin; Italian marchese, marchesa; Spanish marques, marquesa)

Count (countess): From the Latin word comes, "companion," a count is a powerful noble with authority over a province or similar area. The English quivalent is the earl, the oldest title in the English peerage. Derived from the Danish jarl, or "chieftain," the earl was originally the lord of a shire. (Hmm, reminds me of the hobbits

)
(French comte, comtesse; German Graf, Graefin; Italian cont, contessa; Spanish conde, condesa).

Viscount (Viscountess): Meaning the lieutenant or deputy of a count, the title of a vice-count was probaby created in the Holy Roman Empire prior to the reign of Frederick I of Barbarossa. In some states, high-ranking soldiers have sometimes been rewarded with title of viscount.
(French vicomte, vicomtesse; German Vicomte, Vicomtesse; Italian visconte, viscontessa; Spanish Visconde, viscondesa).

Baron (baroness): Barons are the lowest level of noble who are granted land directly from a sovereign, and their name is derived from this meaning. The tilte came to England during the Norman Conquest, where barons became the lowest evel of noble entitled to sit in he House of Lords. Historically, the baronage relished the power they lorded oer those below them, bt chafed at royal control. It was the barons of England that took advantage of the weakness of Kig John Lackland by foisting the Magna Carta upon him An area ruled by a baron is called a barony.
(French baron, baronne; German Baron, Baronin, Freiherr, Freiherrin; Italian barone, baronessa; Spanish baron, baronesa)

Baronet (baronetess): Baronets were originally English barons who lost the right of individual summons to Parliament in the fourteenth entury. A hereditary order of baronets were created in England in 1611 by King James I and sold to gentlemen willing o set up plantations in Ireland. In 1624, baronets were also created for gentlemen prepared to setle in Nova Scotia. The title for the wife f such a noble would simply be "lady". Historicaly, oly one woman was ever made a baronetess.

That's all! Hope this info is useful for all those curious about nobility and also a useful tool for those writers out there! I got my info from this book called "The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference". This is a great book for writers and fantasy writers alike. Go get it!

At your service, LLB,

**frogbeastegg** · 10-30-2005, 19:34

Glad you are enjoying it

I shall blow my own trumpet and say that it gets better as it goes on, in all possible ways. I only wish I could re-work the beginning and middle to fit better with what I can do now.

Trempwick might be less intimididating when you learn I call him Trempy for short. Someone said that sounds like a donkey, not a spymaster. He is great fun to write. Well, to be honest, so are almost all of my characters. They all have their own individual things I like or have fun playing with. Trempy is simply fun because he is Trempy, being Trempwick-like in a Trempwick-ish manner. Eleanor is the most fun for me, which is good as she's the main character!

I'm not a professional writer; I'm an entirely self-taught amateur, who has been writing for a year and a bit. I do have the ambition to get into print one day, though whether I will succeed or not is another matter.

A Roman based story ... hmm, I could do that, and enjoy it. But not now - I'm too busy to write another while still working on Eleanor, and I'd need to do a lot of research to get the same kind of historical accuracy in that story as I do in Eleanor. I've been exclusively medieval in my history tastes for a couple of years now.

Thanks for the bit about ranks

I shall save a copy for future reference. A few weeks after I posted my confusion on the earl/count/duke point I seemed to encounter very little else but explanations of the various English ranks, what they meant, when and how they were introduced, and so on. Before that I had been searching for a long time for that information without good success, even though the books I looked in seemed far more likely to have it than the ones I found it in. This is why, after a little while, Trempy is always referred to as earl, and dukes vanish entirely. Dukes were introduced to England about the time the story is set in, but the king who introduced them is obviously not a part of my story's world. Edward II never existed. Counts are the continental version of earls, at this time, so there are a few of them knocking about here and there.