Ooooh, epilepsy will be cool! Especially if it happens to be a daughter of Aed -- I can just see everyone living in Aed's direct vicinity staring and muttering with their friends as Uallach walks by, but otherwise having to pretend it's perfectly normal, since, you know, it's Aed's darling daughter.

Also, that might explain partially why Sigefrith turned her down for Caedwulf (or at least, I'm guessing it was her, based on the ages of her sisters). There's enough bad blood in the Royal Family as it is, according to Sigefrith.

I've actually wondered whether or not Daeglan has Downs syndrome, but I've never actually met (or even seen as far as I know) someone with Downs syndrome, just heard it described, so I could be way off.

Aww, no intersexed people for Lothere? Oh well. I guess I'll just nab that idea for myself

http://www.lothere.com/bio/379

Wow. His kids are definitely darker than the scots we've been seeing!

http://www.lothere.com/bio/487

He looks YUMMY! The wife, not so much.

http://www.lothere.com/bio/1187
PRETTY.

I was looking at Uallach and I went through her living relatives and WOW! You've been busy.

Yay! Black people in Lothere! How long till the age of exploration and slave trade?

Goodness Ugly Wife has a freaky looking brother!

Too bad their kids are gonna be a cross of ugly and yummy... Yugly?

Point well taken. However, there is only so much ugly I can handle as a reader. If he pops out a ugly one, kill him off!

Okay, I think I already know the answer to this question, but I figure I'll ask it anyway, just to make sure I'm on the right page here.

Okay, so let's use Leofric's family as an example. Suppose Sir Sigefrith kicks the bucket before Leofric himself does. Then, who becomes Leofric's heir -- Cedric, or Haakon? Or would it be Hraef, since the church probably doesn't consider Leofric and Leila's kids legitimate... oh well, I'm pretty sure it would be Haakon anyway.

Oooooooh...

(Like if Caedwulf went stark, staring mad, and we ended up with... King Drage. *shudders*)

Wouldn't there be some serious DRAMA if that possibility was in place? Like, I don't want Caedwulf to go mad or anything, but say he has like, eight or nine daughters with Ogive and no sons... and meanwhile, Drage is considerably younger than Caedwulf, so he's still around...

After 8 or 9 daughters and no sons, Caedwulf would probably go mad just from freaking out about that. Or have a mistress or two, just in case.

He doesn't need to have that many though. He doesn't need to live very long at all. Just long enough to outlive Sigefrith (who probably doesn't have all that many more years ahead of him, in my impression) and to let Drage grow up to scheming-age. (Or let Myrddin do the scheming for him.)

Caedwulf could always (mysteriously or not) die young. And I don't expect Caedwulf and Ogive will get married till he's at least 18. So he may simply run out of time to have an heir.

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Well I was thinking if Ogive turned out to be barren while Cecily is fertile but the heir has to be legetimate and therefore Drage would be the heir-apparent... I wish Harold didn't die.

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I would rather see the bastard child of Caedwulf on the throne than the anti-christ which is Drage.

In Drage's defense, we don't know much about him other than that he's a spoiled brat (hey, he's five years old and has an indulgent mother) and that Myrddin has been teaching him some unusual skills, such as spider wrangling. Also we don't even know what Myrddin's up to, other than that he seems to have no qualms about destroying people's lives to get what he wants.

Accusations of anti-christery may be a bit premature.

When Leofric dies (which I hope isn't going to be for a loooooong time) and Sigefrith becomes lord, who gets Sigefrith's manor?

How much does Aelfden know about Brede's various issues?

Random question, " Rua was supposed to marry Lor." really? Could Someone explain?

Augh, thanks ermine! I wrote a reply to that question but I guess I must have clicked preview and not save?

I actually asked whether she was confusing Lar and Lor, but it's true that the wedding was not discussed much in the story either way.

They're not restricted to adult male, but they are restricted to male. Dante is too, technically. The difference is that forms like Cian, Fergus, Sebastien, Brude, Malo, etc. are real flesh. Forms like Dre and Aletheia and Dante-Maud are just illusions. Dante can look like any creature he wants, even animals -- except in his case he has to have that mark visible no matter what he turns into.

No... I don't believe that for a minute. In fact I think he loves Bruni just as much as if she were his. (I was thinking about a chapter with Alred and Bruni lately, in my attempts to figure out what to do about Alred and Hetty.) Alred has a special relationship with each of his children, and with Matilda's children I'm sure part of the specialness comes from the fact that they're Matilda's, but I really don't believe he thinks of David and future sprout as second best.

The only person in the valley who comes to mind who shows any greater attachment to any of his children over the others is Egelric. Not so much because his other kids are second best, but because Finn is somewhat holy. Egelric has been starving for Finn for fourteen years, and all this time he has been imagining how things might have been, so I think he is still feeling that every minute he passes with Finn is a precious opportunity.

Finn also represents a chance for him not to fuck up like he has with his other kids. (May be too late for that though. Didn't take long.)

And finally, Finn is just reaching that age where he can be met man-to-man -- I doubt Egelric will ever have a fully father-son relationship with Finn. They meet almost as adults. I suspect Finn will always be somewhat unknowable to him, and therefore all the more fascinating.

I am looking forward most eagerly to some upcoming Finn & Egelric father-son chapters! *scurries back to writing*

It's a good question. Before modern medicine, when we understand the role genetics can play in such things, I wonder how much girls would have feared having the same problems as their mother?

I am sure all medieval girls and women worried about childbirth though. It was about the riskiest activity a woman would ever undertake, akin to a man going off to war, and there was little she could do to prevent having to face it. I don't remember the exact data but I think it was Renaissance Florence... something like 1 in 5 women died as a result of childbirth. Not that you had a 1 in 5 chance of dying each time, but over your lifespan if you had lots of babies like everyone, one of those times your luck might well run out.

So wow.

Now Gwynn is pretty naive things about all things reproduction, so I don't know what she thinks of all of that. She knows her mother died in childbed, and other ladies have all around her, but at the same time she is not one to think too much about cold hard facts. She is much more one to dwell on the cuteness of dimpled babies, and the happiness of new mothers, and the fun of making little dresses and picking names and so forth. So she might just gloss over the risks in her mind. Plus she was youngish when her mom died, and she's seen Hetty go through two pregnancies with no problems, and Eadie and Cat and so on. (And Brit, whee!) so I am sure she figures it will go just as well with her.

If Gwynn has any true, dark worries (as I think she does about some things), they are buried very deep in her and even I don't get to see much of them. It is not always clear to me how much of Gwynn is true naivete, and how much is her playing the same sort of pretending game as Margaret.

Now, as for Margaret... Margaret knows perfectly well how babies get in and how babies come out, and the Margaret I know wants nothing to do with any of that. She would rather be a man. From "Margaret and Conrad make a wager":

"That's easy for you to say," she pouted.  "You're a boy.  When you're a man, you may do what you like.  You could be a knight or a pirate or a rogue or anything.  But I'm a girl, so my only two choices are a wife and mother like everybody, or else a bad girl and mother like Girl-Flann."

"You know about that?"

Margaret rolled her eyes.

"You could be a nun, too," he suggested.

Her entire body swayed as if swung around by the weight of the eyes she rolled still more wildly.

"On second thought," he said with a slowly growing smile, "no, you couldn't."

So she knows that she will eventually get married, and she knows that she will eventually have to have children, but she isn't looking forward to it the way Gwynn is. I'm not sure she ever will look forward to it quite the way Gwynn is, but I suspect she will come around when she gets a little older.

Anyway, as for your question, Margaret seems much more like the type to coldly analyze the situation and recall that her mother had a very difficult series of pregnancies that terminated in a fatality, and that there's no reason why the same thing couldn't happen to her. Which is all the more tragic when you consider that -- at least in terms of body types and how much they resemble their mother -- Gwynn is much more the type to have it actually happen to her.

And yeah, Leia is still too little to think about that at all. Babies are smelly and annoying, and all she knows of motherhood is Lady Eadgith, who handles it well.

I wonder what Alred thinks though? That's just one more reason for him to wish his daughters could somehow be kept safe at his side forever. When they grow up and get married, he might lose them to worse than just their husbands.

I have high hopes for Dunstan coming in this winter and fixing some of the things that are wrong in that castle. He's only been living there for a few days now (and the night of the 20th he is spending at the King's castle) so we have to give him a little time.

He's the one who suggested to Alred on the fateful morning before his suicide attempt that perhaps he had not been thoughtful enough about Hetty's grief and Hetty's needs. (As revealed in "Alred sees through a smile".) So we know he's paying attention. He is also partly responsible for Alred and Hetty getting together in the first place... remember how the crafty boy nudged the old gentleman in the right direction? (Apparently the meddling genes didn't all go to Gwynn.)

And plus he has Brit on his side now, and I wouldn't be surprised if his family was a frequent topic of their nightly pillow talk. Between Dunstan's sensitivity and Brit's matter-of-fact just-do-it-already nature, I think a lot of good could be done.

As for the particular topic at hand, I think Dunstan has been a little out-of-touch with the way things are with his sisters lately. But it's worth noting that this is the 11th century and men may have different ideas from us about what sort of things girls ought to know. Even in Victorian times girls weren't necessarily supposed to know how babies were made till they were embarking on marriage themselves. So I don't know whether Dunstan thinks their absurd naivete is normal or not.

But it wouldn't surprise me either if Brit said, "You know, Dunstan, if someone doesn't talk to those girls..." On the other hand she might feel too guilty about her own pre-marital experimentation to bring it up, for fear he would learn of that...

I don't know about Yware at all yet. He might enlighten her. He didn't know his mother for a great many years, but he remembers how she was... plus he was raised by her cousins Magnus and Godwin, who knew her since they were babies, so it's possible he knows more about her than his siblings do. At least more about how Matilda was as a 13-year-old girl. Plus it just seems like the kind of passive-aggressive tactic Yware would employ against his father, with an extra helping of "that's how Mother would have wanted it" guilt. But perhaps I say too much, considering we haven't seen how he really is yet...

Iylaine hasn't seen Wynna since Wynna was married. (Obviously Iylaine did not attend that ceremony.) Wynna hasn't been back to her mom's house since she was married. She and Iylaine both have babies at home so neither is able to travel so far just for a day visit.

Anyway, any relationship they had left would mostly be based on politeness. Gunnilda does visit Iylaine, and so does Bertie when he's in town, so I'm sure both of them tell her how Wynna's doing, and Bertie tells Wynna how Iylaine's doing, but that's as far as it goes. Maybe they trade knitting patterns or something by way of Bertie.

Hmm, now there's a young fellow we haven't seen much of lately...

And Finn would be the type to point-blank ask Dru, "Why does Lar look so much like you?" and stand there till he got an answer.

I was reading the chapter with Lar and Lor yesterday, and it occurred to me that Lar has something of a habit of asking people to remember him to Dru, whenever he meets someone who might see him. And of course he told Aelfden to warn Dru that someone was out to kill him. I think Lar still has some daddy issues he needs to work through.

Anyway, as for Finn, I'm not sure what he would think about either of those elves if he knew the truth. Both truths... the truths about what sort of monster Dru is, and the truth about how Lar acted to save Finn from Dantalion (by baptizing him) and let him go. (And how he acted to save Dru as well.) That's a lot for a young mind to process.

On the other hand, lately Finn has had to do a lot of processing of information that contradicts various long-held beliefs, so maybe his mind is getting flexible in that way. He certainly has been growing up fast these past months. *can't wait for upcoming Finn chapters* *which involve neither Lar nor Dru*

Hmm I wonder why you think it won't happen? He admitted he isn't really looking for a bride this round, but he did seem to get a bit goofy over her. I doubt he'll forget about her entirely once he's left the valley.

It's actually a good question, though, since Sigefrith was sitting right next to Connie, Gwynn, and Aed at supper, and he had to have observed that Aed seemed more interested in Gwynn. He also had to be at least a little suspicious of the dress -- it's not the sort of thing Gwynn usually gets to wear. Sigefrith was hoping he could score a few points with Young Aed by introducing him to Connie, and instead...

So I expect this will be one of those nights where Sigefrith stays up late pacing the floor. He has to figure out what to say to Alred and what to do about Alred's inevitable reaction. Aed will probably want to see more of Gwynn, and Alred will probably want to keep her locked up. (The dress stunt might prove to be an excuse for a medieval grounding, for at least as long as Aed's in town.) Sigefrith will be looking at a repeat of the conversation that he and Alred had yesterday, times ten. Already Alred nearly had a fit at the mere idea of Aed being in the presence of his daughters.

However, if Alred tries to keep Gwynn close at hand, he may end up getting a visit from Aed himself.

Alred would never allow it now. But what if Aed established himself as a proper suitor and waited the proper time, what then? Alred's going to have to let her go someday...

Ah, but my question was about Alred. I doubt Alred is as Fwynn!!! as the rest of you. Less now than ever. He does so resemble his father...

You think Gwynn is soft? I think she's mostly just naive. And it's not even her fault.

Fwynn!!!

Gwaed? Ew.

I agree. Like, I can't see her ever being as strong as Margaret is, but maybe if Alred didn't try to shelter her so much, or if Matilda had lived, or if someone just sets that household straight, she could definitely be strong.

Heheh, your prayers have been answered.

I usually check for pregnancies as soon as I write the last chapter of the day, but I've been rewriting massive swaths of code throughout that part of the database and haven't updated the live server yet. So I just copied the database locally and did the checks there.

Dara's the only lady we likely care about who conceived on the 20th. If anyone cares, Comgeall's wife (the one who made the "how many brother's does she have" comment) got pregnant on the 19th. And of course dear Mouse is 1 week pregnant, though she doesn't know it yet.

And poor Aia had to endure all that for nothing.

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Oh thank god Aia's not knocked up, all is not lost.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY FOR SHUS AND DARA!!

As for Aia... well, we know she didn't conceive on the 20th. However, as for the 21st...

Awww

Oh well, at least Devin's happy.

Eh. I'm sure she'll have a few runts in the future--who makes Sims as pretty as Aia if they're never going to reproduce? It will be a waste of good genes if she dies childless.

I'd imagine those are all recessive, though. Plus, Aia herself manages to be reasonably independent.

I wonder, since Aed is obviously so fascinated with the physical realm of feminine beauty, do you really think he'd go for a girl with obvious deformities? And a (former) prostitute? He mentioned wanting strong sons. I don't see how Aia (and her recessive genes) could give him that.

Did you seriously mean Young Aed, Devin? Yeah I definitely don't see that happening. He wasn't kidding when he said he needs someone clever and capable and strong... seriously, he needs a Matilda or a Sigi. Someone who can literally run the place while he's out making war. Someone like Matilda who can cow the likes of an Egelric, or someone like Sigi who can make a killer like Skorri Snake-tongue stutter and fumble. (And Carebear cry. ) He's surrounded by the likes of Egelric and Skorri, so it would be a great help to him to have someone to keep them in line while he's away.

And just like Sigi, Gwynn seems like the type who could rise to the occasion... she just needs everyone to step back and stop squishing her into infantilism and give her room to stand on her own. You will note that Aed was *not* charmed by her calf-eyed innocence (and indeed he was rather repulsed by it on Connie's side) but by her glamour and her wit. He senses the potential in her.

(Even though we KNOW Gwynn + Aed isn't going to happen! Don't worry, kids!)

And Aed does also need someone who is going to give him healthy children... he's the last in his line, after all, and considering how far out on the edge he lives, he must really feel the pressure to have a son or two before he inevitably gets himself killed.

Altogether Young Aed is a lot more like Eirik than either he or Eirik would care to admit. And that's probably why they'll end up as enemies. Assuming they both survive, that's where I see the big conflict in the Irish Sea five or ten years from now. Old Aed is getting old and risks becoming irrelevant, and if Eirik is still alive five or ten years from now, it's a safe bet Whitehand won't be.

It will be Young Aed against whomever fate puts in his path, or Eirik against whomever fate puts in his path, and if they both survive, prepare for a battle of titans. Ambition like that can't be contained.

As for Aia, aside from the fact that she's crippled, she reminds me more of Maud than Matilda. All she really wants is to have her little house and her kids (and I'm not even sure she wants a husband... nor even that Maud really did). Oh, and because she seems mentally slightly off-kilter.

I actually thought you meant Mouse's brother Oswald. He lives just over the dale and up the hill.

Aia is the one who never leaves home. Oswald is a rather quiet and retiring guy, like his father, but he's a farmer and gets around to market and out on business and things, not to mention visiting his two sisters in their respective households.

However, if he were to meet Aia right now it would probably be due to him heading up there for sex. But considering he's such a stubborn virgin that all his girlfriends cheat on him and get stuck with other guys, I don't see that happening. Dear Os.

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You said he was wealthy for a farmer does he have a lot of animals and livestock? It would be good to see the little mother's house again. And he could provide for Aia and their children and Aia will have nice clothes to wear...

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I shall follow

Oh, Devin, and we know that having nice clothes to wear is the most important thing.

Os is doing very well for himself as a farmer. Quite the young gentleman. But he's not exactly a go-getter... He might be found by a girl, but he doesn't seem likely to find a girl on his own. He may end up an old maid just from being too comfortable as he is and from lack of trying.

I suppose his sisters will find a girl for him sooner or later... but they're both so nice and have such fond memories of their Little Mother that I doubt they would be the scheming type to throw all sorts of unsuitable girls at him. They would much rather wait till the right girl comes along.

(I do, however, doubt that a crippled amateur-prostitute elf girl would fit the bill.)

Oh, Devin, and we know that living next door is the most important criteria when choosing a wife.

What about Ralf, have you bookmarked him?

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If Aia could manage to nab Ralf then Matilda could get Oswald.

I Want Maire Dead before 1086 fund - Please kindly support

Aia is very special. Everyone is special in a way. Maybe she could fall in love and truly care for Ralf. He's not a bad guy at all like Llen.

Devin is so bipolar it's hilarious!

First he's all "Mind your own damn business!" then he's all "Everyone is special!"

I love this!

Devin on a rant about his beloved women is amusing indeed!

You mean sims having romantic interactions all on their own? Yeah, mine definitely did that pre-ACR and pre-Nightlife, although not as much.
Also, if you have any EPs after Nightlife, the chemistry thing is still a factor, so that will affect it too. Two family sims, a family and a knowledge, two romance, a romance and popularity, etc, etc.
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I'm romantic, literary, cynical, and a diehard Alred Sebright groupie.

So, how are Saralla and Sorin going to react to Dara's pregnancy?

I seem to remember you saying something about how elven ladies have some degree of influence over the nature and gender of their babies. Do you think Dara will try to influence those, or will she just see what she gets?

Hmmm... since Madra's obviously not keen on getting 'er done with Ris again (not that I blame her), it would be interesting if Shus and Dara had a girl with fire nature.