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The queen of London thought that curry was the best thing the whole colonial era had brought to England. Well, that and proper tea. Tea was crucial. And, she supposed, there had been some temporary power things that kept England in good condition relative to the rest of the world, but that was really all beyond the length of her reign. London was hers, not the whole of England. There was no queen of England--oh, there was the Queen, but there was no queen, from respect. Good thing, too, as far as the queen of London was concerned. Would have been way too difficult for something that powerful to be contained on one island, though the island thing would have helped. By her nature, London believed that some things needed to be contained and restrained, even while she enjoyed going to a good punk concert held on two hours notice in a warehouse, and curry was one of her favorite things. She even had an odd affection for all the tourist monuments, but she hadn't decided if that was because of the influence of all the tourists on her or if it was a genuine consensus of the population. Usually she could tell which things were queen-feelings, and which were her own, and this was definitely a queen-feeling, but nobody could answer her question about how transitory populations would affect the queen of the area. It mostly wasn’t an issue with the others in England, and she supposed she could have asked Paris, but she did not get along very well with the reine d'Paris.


Inspiration: Random pick of London and Queen from a headline.
Story potential: High.
Notes: I like the idea of a sort of embodied spirit of a place that has power, but which is also incredibly influenced by the opinions of the people living in that place. And is also a for-real human.
She stood in front of the masses, the throne looming behind her, the heavy crown barely supported, it seemed, by her reed-thin neck. Her always pale skin looked even paler than normal, but the powder would hide the hectic nervous patches that she hated but which always glowed high on her cheeks when she was nervous. "Behold--" the officiant said, stepping forward, "the new Queen." A man stepped forward out of the crowd of courtiers. She recognized her cousin by birth, her closest relative after the wasting sickness took mother, father, and three siblings in one horrible fortnight. "She is not," he said. "Her father knew he had been cuckolded, but chose not to announce it because she was lowest in line--"

Inspiration: Ok, so this had the awesomest inspiration. One of the tricks I use for story ideas is to pick a word or phrase out of a dictionary. Today's was Champion of England: a hereditary official at coronations, representing the king or queen being crowned, whose job is to challenge to mortal combat anybody disputing the right of that person to rule. Cool, isn't it?
Story Potential: High, based on my mind spinning ahead to possible storylines.
Notes: I guess historical-type books that are not based on actual history are fantasy, eh? Not alternate-history per say, because that requires some serious historical knowledge. I dunno. I like this. I'm thinking the Champion throws the fight. Maybe she even really isn't the rightful queen, but is the best one. Shades of gray. The Grey Queen? That's a catchy phrase itself.

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penthius

January 2025

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