The Middle Ages ~ Part 2 ~

Generation 6 Queen Hilde

Hilde adjusted to her life in the castle fairly quickly. She continued to play the violin regularly, becoming known across the kingdom.

Shortly after Queen Elizabeth gave birth to her second son prince Henry, and lets just say she also died in childbirth (it was common back then!) King Augustus died not too long after of old age, making Prince Arthur now King Arthur, and Hilde, now Queen Hilde.

(The King didn't get the memo initially)

(King Arthur aged up shortly after)

(Still a huge fan of his wife's violin skills)

King Arthur and Queen Hilde decided to raise Prince Henry as if he were their own.

(Prince Henry)

 And not too long after, Queen Hilde gave birth to a son, named Prince Louis.

(Prince Louis)

(The two boys together)

Guinevere was overjoyed that Hilde arranged for her to join her at the castle. She was a dutiful house maiden and loved Hilde but she couldn't help but become enamored by the handsome prince. She began to meet with him in private eventually charming him and beginning a secret romance.

(This was pre-aging up, around the same time that Henry and Louis were born)

And just like this story always goes, Guinevere gave birth to a girl named Cecelia never telling the truth of her parentage. 

(Cecelia)

The three children grew up together in the castle. Hilde engaged them in violin lessons while she herself moved on to piano and a bit of home improvement on the side.

Prince Louis was a sweet and gentle hearted boy. Lady Cecelia was a bit of a drama queen and although a bit tough and sometimes bossy she was overall a sweet child. Henry was a playful and a bit mischievous boy.  He was always pulling pranks on the other two. He always fought with Cecelia for who would be the leader while prince Louis followed. 

Queen Hilde continued playing violin and piano as the years went by. And King Arthur proved himself to be a worthy king. 

As for the kids growing up within the castle walls wasn't always easy. Cecelia and Henry were often jealous of Louis. Cecelia, after all, was the child of a king (as she finally learned) but without the recognition. She could never be considered a princess and therefore would never marry a prince and become queen. Henry too felt cheated. He was the second son of the king but would never be king himself because his brother fathered a male heir. And why did Louis deserve to be king over him? He was too kind and softhearted, not king worthy at all.

(Prince Louis all grown up)

(Prince Henry looks at the wildfire and thinks BURN THEM ALL! J/K its the King's wine stash and he wants to drink it all for himself)

So the two, Henry and Guinevere conspired together.  Henry would challenge Prince Louis to a duel and if he won he would win the Game of Thrones... I mean he would become the new heir to the throne and banish prince Louis to a far off island somewhere. Then he would marry Guinevere and she would become his queen. The two would have everything they ever dreamed of. 

So prince Henry approached prince Louis and challenged him to a duel. But alas, Prince Henry had underestimated prince Louis and in fact, Prince Louis won!

Prince Henry groveled at prince Louis feet, please forgive me and don't banish me to a far off island!

Banish you? I would never he told prince Henry. The first rule of being a good just king is to be forgiving. How about I make you the head of my army when I'm king? And you Cecelia can marry a far off Prince. Even if we have different mothers you are still my sister, after all! (And cousin!)

Prince Henry and (Princess) Cecelia were eternally grateful. And the three continued as if nothing had happened between them. 

Indeed Prince Louis would be a good king.

And it's a good thing because change would come again soon. Someone (or a lot of people?) were inventing science and new types of art. It was like they were entering a Renaissance...

The Middle Ages ~ Part 1 ~

Generation 5 Araceli Saxon

As the Roman civilization began to fall, Atlas accepted a position as a member of the royal guard of King Henry. 

A fun fact is that since the beginning of the challenge I started a royal family and moved them into the castle. Each generation I had the royal family have two kids and then moved one kid out and another became the royal heir. Then each of the kids in the next gen had two kids and so on and so forth. (Actually all of the Roman citizens came from this bloodline) 

King Henry was married to queen Elizabeth, (who actually is technically the heir to the Egyptian royal family, which I continued off screen. Remember Anemenhat II?) Heir to the throne was Elizabeth and King Henry's son named Prince Arthur. 

(This is a more recent photo of the King and Queen as I hadn't taken a photo when I originally played) 

After fighting valiantly at war for the King, Atlas brought home with him a woman named Lady Gwendolyn whom he fell in love with while overseas and promptly married. Afterwards he was granted a large piece of land in which he built a house big enough for his sister Araceli and her husband Lancelot to join him, as well as their parents Iset and Brutus of course.

Although the family of a member of the royal army, the family lived a modest life. But they were together so they were very happy. 

(Atlas and Araceli's home)

(Araceli takes up cooking and painting)

(Lance and Araceli)

Atlas and Gwendolyn had a beautiful daughter named Guinevere, while Araceli and Lancelot had a daughter named Hilde (pronounced  Hilda) 

(The only photo I have of Gwendolyn, sitting across Iset)

The two girls grew up as sisters and were very close. 

Life was as happy as could be!

But then things started to change. First it was the death of Brutus and then Iset, who passed away from old age.

(Poor Guinevere was in the middle of breakfast when Iset passed)

Then tragedy struck.  Iset and Brutus' deaths were hard enough on the family, but then war returned to the Kingdom and Atlas had to go off and fight for the King. Gwendolyn was pregnant at the time, but due to the stress, she died in childbirth giving birth to her son who sadly didn't make it as well. Atlas never returned home and the family realized that he must be dead too. 

This was so much for the young Guinevere that the grim reaper himself came to comfort her.

 (Who in my game was fat from a previous hot dog addiction)

Luckily for Guinevere she had the love of her amazing aunt and uncle, Araceli and Brutus who took in the young girl and raised her as if she was their own daughter. 

Young Hilde was also upset about the deaths of so many family members, and Guinevere, feeling better after having spoken to the Grim Reaper about life and death, decided to be the one to cheer her up.

Araceli also comforted her, reassuring her that she is a strong girl and that as her mother, she will always be there for her.

But this wasn't enough for Hilde. She wanted to be able to bring her family back home. Remembering an old fable she had heard growing up, she decided to seek out the legendary fairies who lived in a secret village in the forest.

After hours of wandering through the forest she began to realize that she was very very lost. No matter how far she walked the trees all looked the same. Just when she thought that not only will she never find the fairies, she may never find home! She heard a whimsically laughter. She followed the laughter to a bundle of bushes and behind the bush there it was! The town of myth and there in the town were the fairies she had been told about!

The fairies told her they would grant her one wish, but when she asked the fairies if they could bring her family members back to life they told her that matters of life and death are beyond their control. So Hilde thought of another wish....

"I want to marry the prince when I grow up and live in the castle!" 

"As you wish my future queen" they giggled to little Hilde and then they kissed her on the head and she woke up back home. 

As years went by Hilde grew into a beautiful woman. As a child she fell in love with the violin and after years of practicing had become quite well known in the village for her skill. Often people came from far away to listen to the music she played. 

Then one day a knight came by to listen to her play. She played her favorite song to him. A song so beautiful it brought tears to the knights eyes.

When he lifted his helm, it turned out to be Prince Arthur! He was smitten by Hilde's beauty and her amazing violin music, and wanted her to become his bride. 

She agreed but on one condition. She wanted her adopted sister/cousin Guinevere to join her at the castle. 

Prince Arthur agreed! He would take Guinevere as one of his maids.

And together they moved to the castle to begin their new lives as royalty.