The Beautiful Girl and the History Class

JimboIX: The name is certainly French at least. As for the rest of the details... you'll just have to see I find the shifting tides of your opinion of her quite fascinating however

Chief Ragusa: There is no party this weekend. That was a lie Melody told the cop to help get out of the speeding ticket she would have otherwise gotten. Congratulations on getting the drugging bit right, by the way. I'm curious to know one thing, however. Did you know all the different Suchet last name people before, or did you research it after it appeared here?

J. Passepartout: Which one are you calling a jerk?

Fulcrumvale: People often respect a quality which they either do not have within themselves or are required by circumstances not to exercise a quality they possess. aussieboy has a good theory as well

aussieboy: The dispossessed noble certainly seems to be a popular idea concerning her father. I find the possible linkage you've drawn between Melody's family and the de Semurs a very intriguing one in and of itself Whether or not that's the truth of the matter, even I don't know. The only thing I know for certain is how Melody's mother and father came to be married, and even that is only a 90% certainty, rather than 100%.

Estonianzulu: Hilarious!

Lord J. Roxton: Ah, I was wondering if someone would pick up on that allusion in the last post (read: balatant ripoff) Thank you for the compliment Incidentally, my own personal opinion is that Melody is much stronger than Daisy, though I'll admit that I could be wrong, as I don't fully know her yet. Nick at this point I would see as more of a Nick without the sage advice that Nick's father so snobbishly gave him

Chief Ragusa: That's fascinating information about the Suchets, particularly that the Marshal had a father in pharmaceuticals. And Nick is scheduled to go to a Christmas party put on by her family in December, so he'll be able to see her in her element then (and us too!)

J. Passepartout: And the straddling line between Nick and Gatsby is interesting in and of itself, considering that it can be argued Jay and M. Carraway are both refractional representations of Fitzgerald himself. I don't think the parallels extend quite that far though, but again anything's possible.

JimboIX: Amused himself is a very apt way to put it. I'd say he was largely indifferent to Daisy, as any animosity he may have felt towards her was balanced by a) her charm and b) the fact that they were cousins. The more I think about your observations, the more J. Passepartout's straddling line makes sense regarding Nick's stance towards Melody right now. The Great Gatsby is also one of my favorite novels.

I passed the rest of Sunday as if in a dream. Everything tingled with the memory of Melody and that incredible weekend. Now Monday's here and so are Melody and I in Prof. Morengay's class. She's in pale yellow and white today. Normally I don't like yellow, but she makes it look good. I don't offer her anything more than a casual upnod of acknowledgement on my way to my seat. She downnods back. It's more than we would've exchanged in public before at any rate.

The prof ambles in, beaming as ever on Monday. I don't mind it this Monday. After all, I just bedded the most amazing girl on campus and got invited to a jetset party besides.

"Good morning class and welcome back!

When we met last Friday, I told you, among other things, about how King Louis I came to be Duke of Karten and receive several vassal counts in the Middle East. I told you about how he conquered Cairo and set sail again shortly after his return to Bologna, but didn't tell you where.

Where he sailed was right back to Cairo.

Unfortunately, in early November of 1112, the Duke of Ancona and his vassal, the Count of Ancona, rebelled against the de Semurs. Some thought was given to pulling the Bologna regiment from its Middle East journey to deal with the revolters, but in the end, Marshal Charles de Semur was sent with the Ferrara regiment to put down the insurrection.

Two weeks after Marshal Charles marched with his army, on November 23rd, 1112, the great King Louis I de Semur of Italy and Croatia died in his sleep while his fleet was still in the Adriatic Sea.

The entire dual kingdom mourned for days. Arnaud de Semur, Louis's chosen heir, was particularly distraught. Already in a great depression, he renounced his right to rule the two kingdoms and so the crown passed to his younger brother, Yves, who was the kingdom's steward."

Prof. Morengay stops to put up a couple portraits on the overhead.



"This is King Yves I of Italy-Croatia."



"And here's the Queen, his not-so-pretty wife.

As if the problems weren't bad enough for the de Semurs at this time, Pope Folco, who'd called for peace before, demanded again that the de Semurs make peace with their Catholic enemies, in this case the Duke of Ancona. Yves, fiercely determined not to lose any of his father's Italian possessions, refused and ordered Charles to continue his lightning campaign.

This Charles did and in March 1113, the Duchy of Ancona and County of Urbino were back in de Semur hands, this time with Arnaud de Semur, who felt quite comfortable ruling as a duke over a poor Italian county.

To combat the ill will generated by crushing the insurrection, Yves elevated a couple other of his counts to Duke status and this generosity did much to improve the rest of Europe's opinion of the new king, because everyone likes a guy who gives out presents. That's why Santa Claus is so popular."

We all chuckle appreciatively at the quip and listen as Morengay continues.

"Shortly thereafter, a pair of Yves's vassals declared war on the shiekdom next to Cairo. The king, still eager to prove his reputation and restore the tarnish on his spirituality from refusing to make peace with Ancona, joined the battle and sent Marshal Charles from Cairo to handle the matter.

Unfortunately, this all proved for naught, as the Steward of the County of Provence, which was still ruled by Zaccaria de Semur, conquered both of the shiekdom's territories with Charles's assistance and claimed them in his own name and under the flag of Zaccaria, who was only too happy to be the only count in all of Europe to have his own vassal.

The marshal's bad fortunes continued at a massive tournament held by King Yves I in late January, 1114. Not only did Charles suffer an embarassing loss in the final, but he was gravely wounded in the process.

What was clear in the first six months of Yves's reign was that he was in no way even close to matching Louis the Great as his predecessor came to be called, and Italy-Croatia seemed to be in a stalemate.

Only time would tell if the de Semurs would be able to break out of the rut.

That's all. See you Wednesday."

We're all somewhat flat as we leave. I enjoyed hearing about Louis, but so far this Yves guy seems real boring.

Oh well, maybe he'll improve. After all, if I scored with Melody, anything's possible.

Hajji Giray I: It's hard telling just how long this thing will last. With regards to Nick being simple, I don't think it's the case that he's simple, more that he seems to represent an average intelligence, which would naturally seem simple to the intelligesia of this board. I'm glad you logged on to see if there was an update.

Pirate Z: Would Melodie` be better? Thank you for the compliment, by the way And yes, there's a lot of people who think there's some nobility operating there, though I'm not sure just how many would think her family a branch of the de Semurs.

Chief Ragusa: Yeah that 0 intrigue is scaring me. I don't remember why I married Yves to the ugly d'Albon way back in Louis's reign. Probably the d'Albon name and I think there was a dead spot for brides at the time I went hunting.

at the idea of Caveman compiling a dossier on Melody.

Edit: I love Zaccaria as a character myself. If I didn't already have this main storyline established, I'd be tempted to explore him more thoroughly by playing him.

Pirate Z: Yeah, 10% efficiency is not fun.

JimboIX: I figure Nick would notice her wardrobe, though it does get difficult sometimes to avoid being repetitious and maybe I have at some point already. Ah well. The Kingdom can survive, yes, particularly with... well, I'll just let Morengay explain that Wednesday. Yep, now that I think about it, it was the d'Albon name that led to the marriage.

With regards to Zaccaria, he's an independent count. Remember, the last lecture update before this one, Zaccaria rebelled against Louis during Louis's aggressive grab for Cairo from his vassal. Louis took the Duchy of Karten title back, but allowed Zaccaria to remain the Count of Provence. Since Provence isn't in the Italy territory, Zaccaria's remained independent.