it is like this amazing virtuoso spontaneous thing and whoa
Awww, thank you! High praise indeed.
One little quibble:
Katte was in the process of destroying 1,500 letters when he got caught
Technically, Sophia Dorothea and Wilhelmina (Fritz's mother and sister, also in on the plot) were destroying the 1,500 letters (and destroying was the easy part; the hard part was rewriting them under the gun to be less incriminating) that Katte had forwarded them. We don't know *what* Katte was doing that kept him from escaping when he had the chance.
a) Waiting for his fancy French saddle to be finished, presumably so he could escape in style? (What a primary source who doesn't like Katte has to say. I and others are highly skeptical.) b) Destroying/hiding his own incriminating evidence, particularly those valuables Fritz had given him for safekeeping? c) Hoping that the whole thing would blow over, believing fleeing would confirm his guilt but staying put might allow him to talk his way out of it, on the grounds that he *hadn't* actually deserted, and maybe all the evidence of him conspiring with foreign powers could be destroyed in time? <-- Highly plausible, if you ask me. d) Not wanting to leave Fritz behind alone without even knowing what was going to happen to him? e) Terribly indecisive about what the right move was? (I mean, he told Fritz he wouldn't go, tried to talk Fritz out of it, went along with the conspiring anyway, waited to get permission to leave Berlin, wouldn't sneak out without permission, told his interrogators that he would have sneaked out if he'd gotten word the Prince had made it out of Prussia safely, packed and got ready to flee Berlin when he knew his arrest was imminent, did not actually flee Berlin despite plenty of warning. Does not strike me as the most decisive personality in general. Probably a very laid-back kind of guy who got along with people as iron-willed as Fritz precisely because he wasn't constantly clashing with them. See for contrast: iron-willed Voltaire.) f) Some combination of all of the above?
Fritz decided to use himself as an experimental test subject to see if it was entirely possible to do without sleep via the application of coffee WITH PEPPERCORNS AND MUSTARD
Yes and it's WORSE THAN THAT. The experiment was "can 40 cups of coffee totally obviate the need for sleep?" It was unsuccessful. The "coffee is best taken with mustard and peppercorns" thing was LIFELONG. He liked that shit into his 70s. Or drank it without liking it, no one's sure. I can't decide which would be weirder.
WTF, Fritz.
"rationalized sadism"
I'm not sure if you're using "sadism" in its sexual sense here, but just so your readers are clear, I wasn't. I was using the word in its generalized sense of emotional gratification from inflicting pain on others. I totally think FW was power tripping on making his son suffer and at the prospect of finally breaking his will, do not think he was getting off on it (ewww).
Fritz' sister Wilhemina wrote tell-all memoirs about her totally insane family which I am SUPER going to read now, watch this space
OMMMGGGG, I can't wait! Will be watching this space, you can count on it.
Also, there is apparently some subplot involving Russian fanboys that introduces an entirely new cast of people which I am dying to find out about
Well, I can see that we're going to have to share this with you! :DDDD
Trailer: Russians be crazy. (Including Russians who are actually German because European royal intermarriage was such a thing that your poor Don Carlo had 4 great-grandparents instead of 8.)
I'm so glad you're enjoying all this. My best friend is someone who likes to go on long trips with me and encourage me to ramble about my current favorite things. I always get self-conscious about the unlikelihood of other people being interested in hearing at great length whatever I'm currently most obsessed with, but apparently some people find my story-telling style entertaining and informative? Thank you for being one of them. <3 I'm happy to entertain with the slightest encouragement.
no subject
Awww, thank you! High praise indeed.
One little quibble:
Katte was in the process of destroying 1,500 letters when he got caught
Technically, Sophia Dorothea and Wilhelmina (Fritz's mother and sister, also in on the plot) were destroying the 1,500 letters (and destroying was the easy part; the hard part was rewriting them under the gun to be less incriminating) that Katte had forwarded them. We don't know *what* Katte was doing that kept him from escaping when he had the chance.
a) Waiting for his fancy French saddle to be finished, presumably so he could escape in style? (What a primary source who doesn't like Katte has to say. I and others are highly skeptical.)
b) Destroying/hiding his own incriminating evidence, particularly those valuables Fritz had given him for safekeeping?
c) Hoping that the whole thing would blow over, believing fleeing would confirm his guilt but staying put might allow him to talk his way out of it, on the grounds that he *hadn't* actually deserted, and maybe all the evidence of him conspiring with foreign powers could be destroyed in time? <-- Highly plausible, if you ask me.
d) Not wanting to leave Fritz behind alone without even knowing what was going to happen to him?
e) Terribly indecisive about what the right move was? (I mean, he told Fritz he wouldn't go, tried to talk Fritz out of it, went along with the conspiring anyway, waited to get permission to leave Berlin, wouldn't sneak out without permission, told his interrogators that he would have sneaked out if he'd gotten word the Prince had made it out of Prussia safely, packed and got ready to flee Berlin when he knew his arrest was imminent, did not actually flee Berlin despite plenty of warning. Does not strike me as the most decisive personality in general. Probably a very laid-back kind of guy who got along with people as iron-willed as Fritz precisely because he wasn't constantly clashing with them. See for contrast: iron-willed Voltaire.)
f) Some combination of all of the above?
Fritz decided to use himself as an experimental test subject to see if it was entirely possible to do without sleep via the application of coffee WITH PEPPERCORNS AND MUSTARD
Yes and it's WORSE THAN THAT. The experiment was "can 40 cups of coffee totally obviate the need for sleep?" It was unsuccessful. The "coffee is best taken with mustard and peppercorns" thing was LIFELONG. He liked that shit into his 70s. Or drank it without liking it, no one's sure. I can't decide which would be weirder.
WTF, Fritz.
"rationalized sadism"
I'm not sure if you're using "sadism" in its sexual sense here, but just so your readers are clear, I wasn't. I was using the word in its generalized sense of emotional gratification from inflicting pain on others. I totally think FW was power tripping on making his son suffer and at the prospect of finally breaking his will, do not think he was getting off on it (ewww).
Fritz' sister Wilhemina wrote tell-all memoirs about her totally insane family which I am SUPER going to read now, watch this space
OMMMGGGG, I can't wait! Will be watching this space, you can count on it.
Also, there is apparently some subplot involving Russian fanboys that introduces an entirely new cast of people which I am dying to find out about
Well, I can see that we're going to have to share this with you! :DDDD
Trailer: Russians be crazy. (Including Russians who are actually German because European royal intermarriage was such a thing that your poor Don Carlo had 4 great-grandparents instead of 8.)
I'm so glad you're enjoying all this. My best friend is someone who likes to go on long trips with me and encourage me to ramble about my current favorite things. I always get self-conscious about the unlikelihood of other people being interested in hearing at great length whatever I'm currently most obsessed with, but apparently some people find my story-telling style entertaining and informative? Thank you for being one of them. <3 I'm happy to entertain with the slightest encouragement.