Frederick the Great, discussion post 14

[cahn]

Check out the opera clips at Rheinsberg!

(both the real-life place, which selenak found out hosts a festival for young opera singers! and the community rheinsberg)

Also! our fandom has been producing lovely fic at a rapid clip (okay, well, selenak has):

Sibling dysfunction: Promises to Keep and My Brother Narcissus

Sibling dysfunction PLUS sibling M/M love triangle: The moon flies face to face with me

VOLTAIRE! Between the hour and the age

Comments

Re: Me, Myself and I: The Time Travel Edition

[selenak]

I love the idea that we're in a timeline that Fredersdorf fixed! Though I would suggest that Georgii actually wasn't acting at anyone's behest. He wasn't a spy, he was a hapless go-getter whose lies got out of control, and when Fritz finally caught on, Georgii panicked and killed him. Since he then shot himself, no one ever found out why he did what he did and on whose orders he acted (everyone assumed he was acting on orders). This is also why it takes the Fredersdorfs some time to uncover what's going on, since Older Fredersdorf works on the assumption that Georgii was a spy and that they need to uncover whose assassin he was, lest he simply gets replaced when taken out of commission. This leads to much secrecy and non-explanations, which leads to young Fredersdorf getting kicked out of the tent.

Oh, and also, let's say that the older selves can only speak to the younger selves. No one else is able to communicate with them. (Hence older Fredersdorf not simply going to Fritz himself.) Older Fredersdorf doesn't warn himself from alchemy because in the original timeline, he and an alchemist whom Fredersdorf in the fixed timeline never meets (Saint-Germain?) actually came up with an alchemical method of time travelling. (Since Lehndorff also canonically meets Saint Germain, this is his own time travel chance.)

Émilie independently developes her method by maths and physics, and I love your idea for her too much alter a single bit.

One thing about Lehndorff, though: alas he can't fix cousin Du Rosey getting away, because if he doesn't marry his original wives in the order he marries them, he wipes his children out of existence. No way fond father Lehndorff is going to do that!

Re: Me, Myself and I: The Time Travel Edition

[mildred_of_midgard]

I love your elaboration of the Fredersdorf plot, especially Saint Germain! But yes, especially given how we've developed Georgii, his lies getting out of control and suspicious Fritz catching on is perfect.

Émilie <3

I did think of that with Lehndorff, alas. I guess if we have enough parallel universes, instead of a single time track, he can have his cake and eat it too beloved kids and wife of choice too.

Re: Me, Myself and I: The Time Travel Edition

[mildred_of_midgard]

I love the idea that we're in a timeline that Fredersdorf fixed!

Me too, although I should point out that Heinrich MT AW hundreds of thousands of soldiers some Saxon civilians some people disagree on whether it was fixed or broken. :P

Loyal Fredersdorf maintains that it was fixed to the best of his ability. Voltaire grudgingly concurs.

Re: Me, Myself and I: The Time Travel Edition

[selenak]

LOL, yes. Mind you, due to older Fredersdorf travelling back within his own life time, we'll never know what ramifications the early death of Fritz has on overall German history even in the 19th century, let alone later. It might or might not depend on the unsolvable question as to whether Heinrich without Fritz in his life becomes his best or worst self. If you believe in the timeline being elastic but eventually stable, Prussia's rise to European superpower still happens, just with Heinrich as Prussia's Richelieu (to AW's Louis XIII), and hence everything else.