The post is up! In an effort to get mildred_of_midgard more Fritz/Katte fic, here is a draft of what I propose to comment on that post. I have totally cribbed from both of your posts and comments, sometimes lifting several sentences at a time, just so you know (with credit!)
I'm happy for you guys to make changes or really to totally rewrite, if you want -- I'm sure either of you could make a better case for the fandom than I can :D I just thought I'd take a stab at it.
FANDOM NAME: 18th Century CE Frederician RPF WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Would you like a fandom with all kinds of canon slash tropes (mean abusive dad who might have been suppressing his own slashy tendencies, tragic love story with best friend)? Would you like a fandom about a magnificent bastard royal figure who is a modernist and reformer (and very much into freedom of speech and religion) for his time but also likes to invade various territories for fun? Would you like a fandom with interesting, layered female characters, including a woman who becomes Empress despite all of Europe thinking this is hilarious being that she's a WOMAN?
Let me introduce you to Frederick the Great / Friedrich II / "Fritz" fandom! Fritz is beaten and publicly humiliated by his father (Friedrich Wilhelm), and his boyfriend is deported when his father caught them. He falls in love again, and he and his boyfriend (Hans Hermann von Katte) try to escape, but dad catches them and executes Katte, whose last words may have been "I die for you with joy in my heart!" (Well, in French.)
Fritz earns his freedom by marrying a woman (Elisabeth Christine), whom he sees... approximately once a year, for dinner. He eventually becomes king when his father dies, at which point he turns out to be pretty much a spectacularly magnificent bastard. Voltaire reports that he said, "In this country, there is freedom of conscience and penis." But he also goes around breaking treaties and invading people on paper-thin and/or really zero justification. (Hilariously, he writes the Anti-Machievel, basically saying "You should definitely positively not break treaties and invade other people just because you can" in September of the year he invades Maria Theresia's province of Silesia in December, just because he can. In December. Later he tells his people to come up with a historical claim to Silesia.)
Maria Theresia, meanwhile, fights three wars with Fritz, after which he gets to keep Silesia. Also during which she meets with Fritz' sister Wilhelmine, thus leading to Fritz getting upset and a three-year estrangement between Fritz and Wilhelmine (!) So there's lots of family drama in this fandom too, and female friendship!
And I haven't even gotten into the Voltaire/Fritz frenemy ship!
Fandom promo post
I'm happy for you guys to make changes or really to totally rewrite, if you want -- I'm sure either of you could make a better case for the fandom than I can :D I just thought I'd take a stab at it.
FANDOM NAME: 18th Century CE Frederician RPF
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Would you like a fandom with all kinds of canon slash tropes (mean abusive dad who might have been suppressing his own slashy tendencies, tragic love story with best friend)? Would you like a fandom about a magnificent bastard royal figure who is a modernist and reformer (and very much into freedom of speech and religion) for his time but also likes to invade various territories for fun? Would you like a fandom with interesting, layered female characters, including a woman who becomes Empress despite all of Europe thinking this is hilarious being that she's a WOMAN?
Let me introduce you to Frederick the Great / Friedrich II / "Fritz" fandom! Fritz is beaten and publicly humiliated by his father (Friedrich Wilhelm), and his boyfriend is deported when his father caught them. He falls in love again, and he and his boyfriend (Hans Hermann von Katte) try to escape, but dad catches them and executes Katte, whose last words may have been "I die for you with joy in my heart!" (Well, in French.)
Fritz earns his freedom by marrying a woman (Elisabeth Christine), whom he sees... approximately once a year, for dinner. He eventually becomes king when his father dies, at which point he turns out to be pretty much a spectacularly magnificent bastard. Voltaire reports that he said, "In this country, there is freedom of conscience and penis." But he also goes around breaking treaties and invading people on paper-thin and/or really zero justification. (Hilariously, he writes the Anti-Machievel, basically saying "You should definitely positively not break treaties and invade other people just because you can" in September of the year he invades Maria Theresia's province of Silesia in December, just because he can. In December. Later he tells his people to come up with a historical claim to Silesia.)
Maria Theresia, meanwhile, fights three wars with Fritz, after which he gets to keep Silesia. Also during which she meets with Fritz' sister Wilhelmine, thus leading to Fritz getting upset and a three-year estrangement between Fritz and Wilhelmine (!) So there's lots of family drama in this fandom too, and female friendship!
And I haven't even gotten into the Voltaire/Fritz frenemy ship!
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?(optional):
The best primer for this for a total beginner is probably
A hilarious summary of the War of the Austrian Succession is here.
[Many thanks to