Who's Who of Lothere

You called me out on Matilda! That's a crappy picture of her... the only one I had was from when she was very sick in her last pregnancy, and to get a new one I would have to resurrect her. Maybe I should just snag a picture of her from an old chapter. As for the resemblance, I think it will come out better when Gwynn is an adult.

Oh, and I just added a sneak peek of your almost-namesake today.

What's behind the "PRIVATE" on the last two ancestors is more interesting still.

Sela's mama is dead, but I added Aia to her family tree just for you, Devin! We'll be seeing her.

I know... I exported all of these pictures from SimPE, but the last time I saved Colburga's appearance it was right before she died. I would have to resurrect her, change her appearance, save the game, then open up SimPE and extract her picture again. I'm too lazy. Maybe if I find a good quality picture of her from a chapter somewhere I will just use that.

Well, they are sisters, Devin! I think you will find Aia is quite lovable, though, so wait and see before you rule out a new favorite.

The only time I have mentioned either (and I didn't even mention the word) was Samhain in this chapter:

"To the ancient people, this was the last day of the bright half of the year," Myrddin said. "After the sun sets tonight, it is the dark time. Or would be, if we were still pagans."

Most of the noble families in Lothere are from the south of England, where Celtic festivals were not celebrated, and most of the chapters are from their POV.

They do celebrate May Day, but this was not an exclusively Celtic holiday. The Anglo-Saxons also made a big deal of it, and in Lothere they are continuing this tradition. It's funny I've not mentioned it, as I've always considered it a holiday there. It may be simply because I don't like taking pictures for parties (especially outdoors) and because I have no Maypole.

The elves use a lunar calendar and they celebrate the beginning of the new year as being the first new moon after the autumn equinox. This is usually quite a bit earlier than Samhain, however, at least if you assume the Celtic holidays fall on a particular day of the solar year and not the lunar year, as may have been the case in very early times.

I do have plans for Nush and Nina, but they will probably have to wait until the winter. Aia should be coming sooner to tide you over.

I am not sure about Aia's hair (I am at work) but I would guess it's either one of Peggy's (possibly a free one) or from XMSims.

I have quite a few people who don't have a mother explicitly given, as well as a few cases of mothers but no fathers. It's not really "intentional"... more like laziness. I don't want to make up names for people who don't really matter to the story.

In the case of Stein's older brother, it was important that he had a son because otherwise Stein would have inherited all of their father's fortune. Instead most of it goes to the little boy. Stein has to make his own way in the world.

I made Old Aed have an eldest son (Donnchad) who had an eldest son (Aed) who had an eldest son (Cuilen), just to show that Aed's line is definitely going to be carried on! And also because I think it's funny that Aed has a baby son who is younger than his great-grandson.

I will make up mothers for them later if it turns out to be important. In the case of the Scots it might be.