This entry of mine won the first price in @Alex Caember 's (cursed be his name) writing contest this year, that is, in the category of character history. It was tied with my famous Jhelom PK poem. Franz & Sherelle: A Renaissance Love Story In the 2nd year of Renaissance history, that is, Anno Telamon 2, in February, a certain love story took place in Britannia. A small chapter in the vast history of our lands, of which some may still remember! It came to pass that Franz Pfniffel, the oustandingly and colorfully dressed gentleman, walked the streets of Ocllo. As he strode there, twirling his awesomely waxed moustache, his heart suddenly jumped. There in front of him, aye, like an epiphany, stood a fair young woman all dressed in pink jester clothing: Sherelle, a Freemaiden of the Village of Paws. According to some witnesses, love struck at first sight "My God! What a beauty!" Franz exclaimed. "Love your style, Franz" was her reply. "Sherelle, a oui, mon plus belle! Franz and Sherelle, a mix of German and French. The total opposites! The forbidden! The romance!" Franz chanted. After this encounter, Franz would always stop and spoil the young woman with compliments, flowers and chocolate. Whenever Sherelle was not there, in the streets of Ocllo, Franz would longingly await her arrival. In the mind of Franz, there was little doubt that a meeting betwixt two such colorfully cladded persons was a mere coincidence. Perhaps Sherelle was not equally convinced ehrm... Well that's beside the point. Because as we all know, in any great love story there's that evil figure defying any union of two young lovers. This figure was characterized by none other than Jupiter of the Grey Order, the great wizard of the Village of Paws. Of course, there was already rivalry between the Franz and Jupiter: the blossomingly colorful one contrasted starkly with the grey. And Jupiter emphatically objected what he regarded an unholy union. Some of his original statements have been preserved unto this day: "To the mischievous lad known as Pfnifferdilly your affections towards our dear daughter of Paws have come to my attention and emphatically do not give you my blessing to pursue this courtship! To help emphasize my position I've written a special verse, Roses are red, cattle prods are hot, If you come near her again I'll blast you're charming face so far beyond recognition that Belok's own mother would have you!" This confrontation stirred up feelings within the whole Renaissance community. Everyone were talking about it and Jupiter did not stay idle. He continuously mutilated the name of his opponent, speaking of "Pnfimpernilly" or "Pfniffernelly". And he even encouraged men and women to sign a petition against a potential marriage between Sherelle and Franz. Fearing that Franz would "employ the full force of the Associates [that is, cA] in order to wed his supposed affianced", the petition would ensure the breaking of any marital bonds. That is, in case Jupiter would die before a potential wedding. As people chose sides – for or against love – the sneaky Jupiter revealed another purpose of his petition: the uncovering of the people's loyalty. One Ningauble joined Jupiter even though he liked Franz and cA. Others, Snap dragon, an orc named LudKrud (if the recorders interpreted his orcish tongue correctly) and, aye, even Blaise signed for the marital union of the loving couple. Also, Godric Greycliff of Stormhold promised to "champion the effort of seeing that their union is legally recognized within the bounds of Stormhold". Jupiter explained the public betrayal of him as the works of cA having infiltrated the government, spreading their influence in all levels of society. According to some witnesses, Sherelle herself would have said the following: "Am I allowed to sign this? Because I did. Haha." As the great historian I am, and seeing all the evidence for the love between Franz and Sherelle, one must not jump to conclusions. This could well be the result of Jupiterian propaganda. Also, even if Sherelle did utter those very words, we may not by historical means verify whether they were an expression of her own will. One may only imagine what kind of influence Jupiter had over the many Freemaidens of Paws. As one might understand, in the midst of all this, conspiratorial theories flourished. Jupiter accused Franz of faking his love only to get a big dowry out of the Village of Paw's treasury. Franz, on the other hand, claimed that Jupiter had an evil master plan in the works all along. He'd use the Freemaidens of Paws as "strategical pieces (aye, pieces as in his favourite game chess)". According to Franz, this was to form alliances with guilds and kingdoms to eventually overthrow the "one and true king, Lord British". Franz argued he was "in fact saving Sherelle from an arranged marriage with some king (perhaps such a one as Blaise) where she'll be unhappy and enslaved for the rest of her life!" These suspicions were even affirmed by Godric Greycliff. Epilogue. The reader has been introduced to a chapter of Renaissance history of love, intrigue and conspiracy. We might never unravel the whole truth. Some rumours have suggested that Snap dragon and Franz were planning to trick Sherelle. Apparently, a moongate would bring her to a fully decorated wedding hall, having a priest at the ready on the spot, sealing the deal. What we do know is that nothing of the sort took place. Shortly after, Franz left our lands for years, perhaps burdened by grief. And Sherelle? Her whereabout is unknown to this day. Who knows, mayhap this is not the end of the story? I, historian and chronicler, Terragast O'Connel, have gathered these records from the great tome of "The Salty Dog Tavern" and other ethereal sources of the sort. APPENDIX Found on a dusty floor in Yew, this poem by Franz himself was discovered. ---------------------------------- Love Poem to Sherelle by Franz Pfniffel ---------------------------------- - * - The Fragrance of Spring In All it's Color, Blossom of Flowers, Blossom of My Heart - * - ---------------------------------- - * - The Sunshine of Summer In All it's Heat, Warmth to All the Living, Warmth to My Life - * - ---------------------------------- - * - The Gray of Autumn In All it's Calm, Peace to Nature, Peace to My Soul - * - ---------------------------------- - * - The Cold of Winter In All it's Blue, Freezing All of Nature, Freezing, Never With You. - * - ---------------------------------- ||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||**|||||||||||**||||| |||*||||||||*||||||||*||| ||||*|||||||||||||||*|||| ||||||*||||||||||||*||||| ||||||||*||||||||*||||||| ||||||||||*||||*||||||||| ||||||||||||*|||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
What, dumb urk, it was epic rhyme at the end even though it was not a rhyme poem. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that urks can't distinguish between poetic genres like we bards can!
Franz, a master of tongue indeed, the name speak for itself. Fine poetry indeed, could you be The master of many tongues? Even the colorful clothing.... *Edited: Notice the "King Of Jesters" on the side of the cart????
Dear Random, aye tis true. I very well remember these rude guards stopping me on my journey to the castle. However, I didn't know someone recorded this encounter!
The Scarlet Pfimpernell so pomp and slurry; Shall ne're abate my fury! Our fair daughter, Sherelle so named, shall never by Franz be defamed! Off into never, safe doing chores, I have shuttled her to safer shores! - Jupiter
How do you know she's doing chores? Because she's a woman? That's blatant sexist! Something is very fishy about this whole thing. I'm still not 100% convinced that @Sherelle isn't one of @Jupiter 's alts!
Aye, very sexist! I believe Jupiter's poem enhances my ideas of old: authoritarian rule over VoP and restrictions of freedom! The woman is to do chores in the home, all in waiting to be married off to some king, such a one as @Blaise .
The King of OoO is decidedly single until such time as he gets bored of slutting it up at the local taverns with women in their 20s. It's good to be the king.
Definition of chore 1 chores plural : the regular or daily light work of a household or farm at what point did the word chore become akin to a bore? Perhaps another fatality of the feminist movement! *defiantly grows another old man grey hair, whilst doing manly chores.*
Master Jupiter, you obviously has nothing to say in these matters as you're an old, grey haired and bearded man! We tell you what you are and you swallow it all up. @Blaise did I just see what you did there? "It's good to be the king"
Absolutely. You obviously have an eye for the finer things in life, such as the History of the World: Part 1
Unfortunately, it seems like this saga will indeed continue. I'm still shocked that I made so much of an impact, even years after my departure.
