let fury have the hour,

[agogemod]

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? Agoge's third TDM! And the death of an important guy. And some very upset royalty.
WHEN? Late 1792, Paris.
ANYTHING ELSE? Violence, as always. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence, and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.

IT'LL BE FINE;

Paris, 1792: revolutionary france.

read the France setting infopages

arrival for new recruits

(Note: If you were one of the people who used the previous TDM and want to use that as canon while still participating in this one, feel free! The following will still happen, though the guide will apologize for a malfunction in your BCE causing you to zap through the intervening month instead of joining your comrades like you should have. You'll be assured the glitch is fixed now, and it probably is. Probably.)

You wake up in a Parisian hotel room with a kind woman standing near the door, waiting for you to awaken. You have none of your clothing, just black military-issued underwear, and none of your previous possessions beyond the one you chose (if you remember choosing) to bring with you.

The woman by the door speaks French, and if you didn't understand the language before, you do now. If you have questions as to what's going on, she'll answer: you are a member of COST, a paramilitary organization of time travelers fighting against the Regency, a tyrannous kingdom of the future who are trying to stamp out freedom and individuality in the name of peace.

She will provide you with the clothing necessary to fit in at this time, and show you how to use your BCE implant to look up information on this time period and its social and political mores. She won't let you leave until you're properly dressed to fit in, but once you are, she'll wish you luck.

KILL THE KING

It doesn't matter if you're new, or if you've been here a while. You'll hear about the execution going on today. It's as though the barely restrained urban chaos of Paris has ground to a halt. Everything is about the king. Is it really going to happen? Are they really going to do it? Can they do it? Is it even possible?

Anyone out of the loop will be filled in, but with no small amount of ridicule: Today is the day of the king's execution. His trial has wrapped up, and the National Convention voted to execute him for treason and tyranny.

The crowd at the execution is enormous, a riotous mob of passion barely restrained. Everyone is jockeying for a better view, with children and adults climbing up on nearby statues, lampposts, the sides of houses, rooves, some even hang from windows. Everyone watches the scaffold.

The prison cart arrives with no fanfare save the yells of the crowd. Within it sits a small, fat little man, looking like he's doing his best to remain composed. He's brought to the scaffold, and his crimes are read out: colluding with foreign powers, and the crime of royalty, which is anathema to the republic of France.

When asked for his final words, Louis Capet, known to some as King Louis XVI, speaks in a quiet voice. "I forgive my enemies."

When the blade comes down, the crowd errupts into cheers. Many rush forward to touch the blood of a king, dipping bits of cloth in it in an attempt to save it.

I PREDICT A RIOT

It's as though all the built up tension in Paris exploded when the king was killed.

Who knows what started it. Rumors spread like wildfire, and it doesn't matter, does it? In the end, most of Paris is swarmed with chaos, especially in the areas nearest to where the king was executed. There's no doubt that the riot and the king's death are directly related; no peasant currently throwing stones and breaking windows will deny it.

Fights are happening with great frequency. It only takes a word, a half sentence, for someone to decide you're some kind of counter-revolutionary. There is a current of anxiety in Paris that hasn't gone away; after reaching a fever pitch, it has expressed itself with violence and chaos.

let's visit the tuileries

The Tuileries was the royal palace in Paris, the last residence of the king before his death. Of course the people of France end up clamoring at its gates, screaming profanities and attempting to scale them.

The majority of the guard let them do this, making only the most token of efforts to keep the peasantry back. But one guard, a man by the name of Antoine Colin, seems to become spooked and shoots repeatedly into the crowd before someone knocks him out.

By then, though, it's too late. The crowd was rambunctious, but not murderous. Now it's bloodthirsty, and the gates are stormed. It isn't long before the common people of France are trampling through the corridors of power. Inside, they'll mostly find servants running and hiding, and lots of valuables to steal.

Most are content with that, but not all. Some clamor for the deaths of the queen and the royal children-- per the laws of inheritance, Marie Capet's remaining son is now King of France. Should he not die as well?

The queen is hidden in a safe room, a hollow wall inside her apartments. Do you try to find her? Try to save her? Try to kill her yourself?

...And what about those kids hiding in there with her?

BRING IN THE TROOPS

The riot in the Tuileries lasts several hours, well past nightfall. It's beginning to peter off, people loosing their energy or vigor, when the sound of gunfire echoes from the front courtyard.

General Lafayette has arrived to save the queen, and brought with him a retinue of personal soldiers. All on horseback, brandishing firearms and sabers, they stream through the expansive halls of the Tuileries and attack anyone who looks out of place. They're here to clean up this mess with no concern for more filthy peasants getting in the way.

Aftermath

The night is a long one. Several fires break out in various parts of Paris, shops are looted, and several die in the Tuileries. The queen has disappeared, along with Lafayette. Some say she and Lafayette died, and they'll show you the bodies for a couple sou. Others claim they saw them riding off into safety just before sunrise. There are already talks of hunting them down, trying to find the traitors.

Only one thing is known for sure: It may be advisable to stay inside for the foreseeable future.

read the France setting infopages

NAV NETWORK LOGS OOC PLURK DISCORD

Comments

[northerndragon]

"No, not a spy, my lady," he says. A woman who's driven to survive, maybe, or... "A mother. It's honorable to stay here, but there's no honor in them wanting to --" Spill your blood, he nearly finishes, but the children are here and clinging to him. "There was no honor in killing the king. I thought that perhaps Lord Lafayette might help you. He can't have wanted any of this to happen." And all of these words come out in French as they should: Madame, une mère, le roi, Monsieur de Lafayette. This doesn't seem to Jon like the path that Lafayette favored at all.

He addresses Ashitaka and Daenerys now, in hushed, rushed tones. "We may be able to get them out through the kitchen, but I don't know where we can take them after that." Then, back to the Queen. "My lady, where do we go from the passage to the kitchen? Do you know?"

As if a queen knows the back route to the streets in a palace where she's been a prisoner. They might have had better luck anywhere but the Tuileries. He's heard of Versailles, in these days here, but never seen it; surely she knows it better.

[dorzalta]

Incompetence should not be rewarded with blind loyalty. Incompetence should not be rewarded with death, either, she would argue. And yet many a men are guilty for both in this country. She's fallen silent while the others speak, discussing the passage maids favored down toward the kitchen. She's familiar with the route, having taken it herself when opportunity struck.

This reminds her of Meereen, in those last desperate moments where she'd been reunited with ser Jorah, holding Missandei's hand, accepting whatever fate might've come to her. But Drogon had come.

Drogon will not come here. Her gaze sweeps the room, hovering on the candles strewn about. It would take time to burn, time they do not have. Barricading the door, a pile of flammable items. Most of the things here to be looted would be of value, but the flames would draw attention.

"Fight to stay with your children until your very last breath." She squeezes the queen's hands, her voice harder. "Don't leave them in this world without their mother."

To Jon and Ashitaka, she says: "I wonder if Jeanne-Anne might be of help... if we could find her." They could bribe her. She'd told the two as much about their plans to sneak into the king's quarters, at least. Likely, she's looting what she can if she hasn't fled from the palace. "We'll need to alter their clothing, it draws too much attention to it versus the rest of us."

They might need to separate upon escaping the halls. A queen and her children is far more conspicuous versus a man and women with their children.

[lonelywar]

It seemed desperation had fled her by this point, replaced with the cloying cold of reservation and despair. It was a hurtful thing to see, and for many it would rob them of their steel, but it only strengthened Ashitaka's conviction. If there was anyone that could intervene in this for the best here, it would be them. The queen and her children might not be nearly as comfortable as they had been, but they would be alive; they just need to get them out of the palace.

Jon had had more interaction with Lafayette, so he trusts his judgment when he suggests spiriting the queen and the children away to him. He had always seemed to be a staunch defender of theirs (far more so than the rest of the guard), so it seemed as best a plan as they had.

Ashitaka is actually quite familiar with the kitchens, considering what he had had to deal with some time ago with their hungry late-night intruders. He was more aware of the storerooms, but his visits there had made him think of something.

"The servants had to have had a separate entrance to bring in the food and other supplies to the kitchens without having to go through the entire palace." He'd realized this when he took Mordred to the storeroom, wondering why he had never seen any of those supplies go through the front gates. "I am sure if we can make our way to the kitchens, we can find that passageway."

Daenerys brings up a good point, however. Their fine clothing would be a beacon as soon as they got into the city streets. "Perhaps some of us could go to try to find clothing to disguise them while the rest search for this passage. We can then meet and make our escape together."

[agogenpc]

She looks between them as they speak - outside it seems the riot grows ever louder. Ever more destructive. This once proud home of France was being swallowed whole by it's people. They deserved it, she knew it now - God would not have punished them this way if they did not.

But she lets Danny's hand grip tightly. A weak nod that is - yes, yes her children, yes this plan is as good as any. This was exactly what, once, they had tried to do when fleeing Versaille.

It seizes her as a fever takes a body when she sinks down onto her knees, her arms out wide, to both her daughter and son, all that was left to her now - "Marie, Louie, come, come here." And reluctantly the children both come back away from Jean's leg. To their mother, but she does not embrace them. Not immediately. Instead, she takes Louie's hand, bringing it up to kiss his little fingers.

"My boy, my prince, this is never as it should be - " she looks between them. Her cheeks still wet with tears but she swallows it as deeply as she can. "Louis-Charles, you must listen to me: you are the King of France now - " and uncomprehending, the boy begins to cry. "Listen. You must be brave, brave as the King before you. Can you do that for me? For your f-father?" It isn't for the boy's sake if they are to get out of here, the children must not scream and cry, and in the same, she turns to Marie-Therese. "My daughter, you are Madam de Royal. You must be composed, remember, and you must watch over your brother."

The little girl nods, and Marie swallows down. "You are the children of France. I bid you, never forget it."

And when she is done, she stands, children both in hand. "Bring us the clothes. Danny, fetch me a maid's overdress from their chambers, as well as something for the children. You will need to dress me." Her clothes were no longer the height of French fashion ( that she had set ) three-foot hair and panniers as wide as door frames, but there was certainly no getting in and out of them easily.