Read The Black Prince: Part II Online

Authors: P. J. Fox

Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Horror, #Dark Fantasy, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Fantasy, #Historical, #Sword & Sorcery

The Black Prince: Part II (58 page)

BOOK: The Black Prince: Part II
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So the question then becomes, in terms of world building, which aspects of history should be used and which should be discarded?

When I set about creating Isla’s world, I started with its name.

Morven is a name that appears, both as a given and a place name, in Scottish, Celtic, and Gaelic mythologies. It means simply “by the sea.” Although, depending on who one asks, there are alternate meanings as well. The Morven of
The Black Prince Trilogy
is based of course on England. Or, rather, a combination England as it existed during the high middle ages and an alternate version of England that existed, and exists, only in my mind. Which, in both cases, as we’ve discussed, doesn’t much resemble the England that most people think of, when they think “medieval.”

England was a diverse place, then, and still is. One of the primary reasons being that before being united by Alfred of Wessex, it was a patchwork of different kingdoms. Many of which shared nothing in terms of either language or culture. Someone from Cornwall wouldn’t necessarily understand someone from Devon, or even his neighbor in the next village if he spoke Breton and his neighbor spoke Cumbric or Gallo. Even by the high middle ages, post-Conquest, these divisions were still apparent. Hence the fact that three distinct languages were still in use, all of which could equally be called “English.” No one could agree, really, on what being “English” even was.

Morven struck me as perfect, because the word itself reflected this mixed heritage.

In terms of more specific geography, Isla is really meant to be in the middle of nowhere and Ewesdale, keeping in mind that I’ve taken certain liberties because this is fantasy, is meant to be in Shropshire. Despite my calling it the Highlands, it really has no relation to the historical Highlands. Shropshire, rather was a fairly unlucky place where nothing happened for most of the middle ages. Except that, on occasion, it was overrun by Vikings. The tribes hailing from what would now be modern day Norway contributed a great deal to my imagining of the frightening—and mysterious—people of the North. The Northern religion takes much, too, from Norwegian beliefs and practices of the time.

There is a tendency, too, to think of the phrase
the middle ages
as referring to a unified set of beliefs, practices, and experience. When in truth there was variation, and conflict, just as there is today. Isla’s lack of experience with the issues plaguing the capital, for example, reflected the fact that she’d grown up in a place where overpopulation hadn’t yet led to the explosion of public works-related concerns with which cities—then and now—coped.

Some people were drilling artesian wells, first drilled by Carthusian monks in 1126, while others viewed scientific advances with grave suspicion and even as evil. Again, much like they do today. Education level, and even simple interest in the surrounding world varied wildly—from location to location, yes, but also from person to person. “All” peasants didn’t think one thing and “all” aristocrats another, any more than they do now. And while society was, for the most part, an amalgam of rigidly fixed systems, there was more movement, both upward and downward, than one tends to imagine.

Tristan is from—the closest analog would be Northumbria. I’ve taken certain liberties with geography, of course, principally by enlarging the size of the North. I’ve also separated the border between Morven and “beyond” with a sprawling range of mountains cut in two by a massive inland lake. That is, of course, not a feature of the real Northumbria. Any more is Norway attached to it. Although settlers from many different tribes did come, from all over what is now modern day Scandinavia, integrating themselves into their new culture as they shared their own.

Northumbria has a long and storied history as a kingdom within a kingdom, which for much of that history was more involved with Denmark than England. Created from the unification of two separate kingdoms, Bernicia and Deira, by King Aethelfrith of Bernicia in 654, it soon became a force to be reckoned with. Edwin, who ultimately succeeded the line, was widely regarded as the most powerful king in England (which, recall, was not yet a unified country) by 627. Much later, William the Conqueror recognized Northumbrian independence in exchange for Northumbria’s pledge to protect the rest of England from the dread threat in the north–the Scots.

Although Darkling Reach is entirely my own creation, I was inspired by this history in creating it; as I’m sure other authors have been. Hence the name.

Morven’s rival, Chad, the France analog, recalls the dubious nickname for a certain piece of plumbing that directed that expressed in the garderobes into the lime pit (or moat) below: the chad chute. This my own dig, not at France but at the British perception of it. Even as Britons of all ranks continued to follow, and borrow, French culture.

One major historical departure, however concerns Tristan’s rulership over the North. He is, within this world, a much stronger ruler than the later Northumbrian kings. Not to mention, far more willing to seek peace with the South. Tristan’s desire to see Morven unified reflects a struggle that has, to one extent or another, dominated England’s history. His brother, Piers, is inspired by another monarch of whom you might have heard: King Stephen, whose decades-long war against the Empress Maud came to be known as The Great Anarchy. “God,” as one cleric noted in his journal at the time, as he described the horrors ravaging the land around him, “has deserted us.”

This, I thought, was the perfect setting for a really good story.

And I had to ask myself—and still do ask myself—what came next?

The trilogy begins with that question, but also ends with it. What do Isla and Tristan do with their happy ending? Do they stay in Morven, never aging? Or do they leave eventually, maybe travelling to the East?

Do Piers and Eleanor have a son? Does Asher become that son’s right hand man, or does he become king? Do he and Aveline, in fact, marry?

I have my own thoughts on these, and other questions.

But, in the end, I decided to leave the answers up to you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

P.J. Fox is the #1 bestselling author of
The Demon of Darkling Reach
,
The Prince's Slave
, and many other beloved books read the world over. She published her first story at age ten and knew, then, that she was hooked. After she received both a degree in medieval history and a law degree, she decided to leap into this writing thing full time. And, is pleased to say, has never looked back. She lives with her family in a suburban subdivision, the atmosphere of which she finds highly conducive to writing horror. Please visit her at
pjfoxwrites.com
.

BOOK: The Black Prince: Part II
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