cahn | Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 39

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Last post, along with the usual 18th-century suspects, included the Ottonians; changing ideas of conception and women's sexual pleasure; Isabella of Parma (the one who fell in love, and vice versa, with her husband's sister); Henry IV and Bertha (and Henry's second wife divorcing him for "unspeakable sexual acts"). (Okay, Isabella of Parma was 18th century.)

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From:

cahn

One more, to show off the "make it snarkier":

Write a story with Frederick and Voltaire talking.

Frederick and Voltaire were sitting in the king's study, engaged in a lively conversation. Frederick was leaning back in his chair, his face animated as he spoke.

"Voltaire, you must understand that this is the only way," he said, his voice urgent. "We must take action now, before it is too late."

Voltaire shook his head, his expression skeptical. "I agree that the situation is grave, Frederick, but I am not convinced that violence is the answer. There must be another way to solve this problem."

Frederick sighed and rubbed his temples. He knew that Voltaire was a man of peace, but he also knew that the situation demanded decisive action.

"Voltaire, my friend, I understand your reservations," he said. "But trust me when I say that this is the only way. We must strike now, before our enemies have the chance to regroup and counter-attack."

Voltaire looked at Frederick for a long moment, his eyes searching the king's face. Finally, he nodded, his expression resigned.

"Very well, Frederick. I will trust your judgement. But I hope that you are right, for all of our sakes."

With that, the two men shook hands, united in their determination to protect their country from its enemies.

make it snarkier

Here is a revised version of the dialogue between Voltaire and Frederick that is snarkier in tone:

Frederick and Voltaire were sitting in the king's study, engaged in a lively conversation. Frederick was leaning back in his chair, his face smug as he spoke.

"Voltaire, you must understand that this is the only way," he said, his voice dripping with condescension. "We must take action now, before it is too late. But of course, what do I know? I am just the king, after all."

Voltaire rolled his eyes, his expression sarcastic. "I agree that the situation is grave, Frederick, but I am not convinced that violence is the answer. There must be another way to solve this problem, one that doesn't involve spilling innocent blood."

Frederick sighed and rubbed his temples. He knew that Voltaire was a man of peace, but he also knew that the philosopher's sharp tongue could be irritating at times.

"Voltaire, my friend, I understand your reservations," he said. "But trust me when I say that this is the only way. We must strike now, before our enemies have the chance to regroup and counter-attack. But of course, what do I know? I am just the king, after all."

Voltaire looked at Frederick with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. "Very well, Frederick. I will trust your judgement. But I hope that you are right, for all of our sakes. And for the sake of your ego, of course."

With that, the two men shook hands, united in their determination to protect their country from its enemies, even if they didn't always see eye to eye.

[LOL FOREVER to "for the sake of your ego, of course"!]

From:

mildred_of_midgard

Well, of course!

This is amazing. I told it to write me a story, and it gave me a history lesson (mostly, not entirely accurate), and then I told it to "add more dialogue", and it ADDED MORE DIALOGUE! Now it reads like fiction.

Update: I just tried "make them more ruthless" on Charles XII and Görtz, AND IT DID. They're now plotting to kidnap family members as leverage.

Okay, wow, I need to stop and get back to German reading (I'm on a roll this week), but holy cow.

...I just told it "Gian Gastone was gay" and it changed "beautiful women" to "beautiful men." I'm dying.

From:

cahn

i KNOOOOOOQQW I need to work, or at the very least write enough on my Yuletide fic to decide whether I'm defaulting or not, but playing with this is so fun :D (I did ask it some Yuletide research, though -- it got a lot of what I was asking (historical agriculture questions) wrong, but in ways that at least gave me hooks to do google searches...

From:

mildred_of_midgard

This is all reminding me of the holodeck on Star Trek, particularly the episode where Janeway starts to be attracted to one of the characters and keeps making adjustments to bring him closer to her romantic ideal. The point of the story is "Is a relationship satisfying if you can arbitrarily change anything you don't like?", but the hands-down best line was when she went, "Computer, delete the wife." *g*

From:

selenak

This is amazing, and I have to admit I am darkly amused the AI, having learned that Fritz and FW are two different people, proceeds to blame Fritz for Katte's death. "For the sake of your ego, of course" is the most Fritz/Voltairian line ever.