A Message for The Mountaineers

The Age of Magiq Dispatches from Lion's Heart
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Hey Mounties,
I just got this message. It’s from Alison. She’s been out of contact for a while, and she says she needs your help.

I don’t like asking for help. Not really my thing. But I need help. I need the Mountaineers.

I’ve been using Yuri’s “meditation” technique to try and recall specific ancestral memories, but I’m having trouble with the ones I’m looking for, mainly because they’re pretty old, the oldest I have in fact, and my power doesn’t work the way it used to.

See, there’s a house. It’s where our lineage started. There was a confluence there. A confluence of two families, and an illegitimate son born there. My first memories were his. And I can’t see them anymore. At least not clearly, not like I used to be able to see them.

I know it’s in France. I also known that the family that lived there was somehow connected to Anne of Brittany.

I need to find the house. I need to find it soon.

I think my mom’s there.

Can you pass this on to the Mounties? They might be my best bet at finding her.

So, Mounties, do your thing? I’ll send her any leads you come up with and let you know if/when she follows up. :eaveshug:

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Glad to hear that Alison seems well, and that Lion’s Heart seems to be allowing for a bit of modern technology at the moment.

I’ll need to take the time to do more than skim to see if it meets all of the specifications, but I found a couple chateaux that could be worth looking into that have ties to Anne.

With all of the stuff I skimmed through, the Chateau d’Amboise seemed most promising, though Chateau de Blois does have a house of magic “fronting” it, which feels right as well. They’re both in the same river valley, anyway.

Mainly just itching to dig deeper and see if either has a connection to an illegitimate child…

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Right?! Things are slowly improving here tech-wise, with occasional backslides. It’s a lot like when I was training Theo. We’ve basically got a skittish, protective castle-puppy.

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Ooh, I smell research!

I’m glad we’re getting more contacts.

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My vote is the Château de Langeais.

It changed hands many times, but it was where Anne of Brittany and Charles VIII were married, uniting Brittany and France in 1491. Before that, in 1466, it was given to Jean de Dunois, “The Bastard of Orléans.”

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Anne of Brittany’s father, Francis II of Brittany, had a few illegitimate sons, who would have been Anne’s half-brothers. He had those sons with Antoinette de Maignelais, who had been Charles VII’s chief mistress until his death, which could be the confluence of two families? Since a) she was somewhat part of the royal family and b) Francis’ mistress and therefore would have been essentially another family living with Francis’ legal family. My bet would be more on perhaps Château des ducs de Bretagne, where Anne herself was born, and which was the residence of the dukes of Brittany during Anne’s time.

I don’t have conclusive proof that his illegitimate sons were born there, and honestly, I’m not even sure who they were, people don’t seem to be too interested in them, but still, there’s a healthy chance they were born there. And it would make sense for Alison not to know exactly their relation to Anne, or that they were descended from a famous family like that since these bastard sons seem to be ignored by history. Even on genealogies and family trees, they are typically listed as just “illegitimate sons” image

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Right on the money there Lexington.

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Okay, so I did a sweep in general of homes associated with Anne of Brittany. I say homes because honestly most of them are castles, not houses, but it’s about all she lived in.

Château des ducs de Bretagne - She was born here, and the possibilities here are detailed by @Wyvern.

Château de Langeais - She married Charles VIII here. In addition to the Jean de Dunois connection @Lexington pointed out, this marriage was only legal because she got an annulment from the Pope himself of her previous marriage (and her husband’s daughter was engaged to Charles… yikes). Depending on how we want to interpret illegitimacy, all of Anne’s kids by Charles could be called illegitimate, but none of them lived to adulthood.

Château du Clos Lucé - While married to Charles, Anne lived primarily in the royal castles of Amboise, Loches and Plessis, BUT while at Amboise, she actually resided in the nearby Clos Lucé, which was remodeled entirely for her (and looks much more house-like than the others on this list) by Charles. (Clos Lucé was also the future home of Leonardo da Vinci.)

Château de Blois - After Charles’ death, the treaty Anne signed as a part of her marriage stipulated that if he died without male heirs, Anne would marry his successor. His successor, Louis XII, was already married (to his cousin, gross). Again an official annulment by the Pope was needed to get Anne wed. After this marriage, she primarily resided in Château de Blois. Louis XII had an illegitimate son, Michel Bucy, during this time, but there’s nothing I can find on if said son was born at Blois.

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Leonardo da Vinci was actually also born out of wedlock, and although he wasn’t born in Clos Lucé, that is still an interesting connection. It couldn’t be the house where Leonardo was born since that was in Italy but it’s interesting that Leo was also apparently something of a bastard.That lends a bit more evidence for Clos Lucé although since he wasn’t born there it’s more tenuous.

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Hi Mounties! I sent your ideas to Ali and her response just came through. I’m sharing it in its entirety, even though she said I could cut out what I wanted. I think you all should know everything. Also, :confetti_ball:

Those are all great guesses, and please tell them how much I appreciate their research, but none of them feel exactly right. They’re definitely on the right track, though.

I’m having a hard time with the meditation practice and finding more information because A) it’s hard and nebulously effective, and I really, really like detailed instructions and concrete outcomes, and B) well, B is the reason I really need to find this place and my mom in the first place. I’m pregnant. Like, woefully, massively pregnant, (and yes, Eaves, the guy who helped make this happen knows, and he’s excellent, as you also know, but I have no intention of raising this kid with him.)

My memories had already turned foggy and fragmented since the turn of the new age, but I think, though I’m not sure, that whatever memories I still have, whatever power I still possess, is already being transferred to her. Yes, her. Baby girl. Yes, I’m really excited and pissed off and regretful and hopeful, and whatever. And I never thought I’d say this, but right now, more than ever, I want my mom. I want to be with her when it’s time. I know her mom was with her when I was born, and the transference took place. My baby won’t be able to access them until she’s older, not wholly, and not like I could because all the rules have changed, but I still want all the support I can get when it happens. When I lose the power and become a mom myself.

I never thought I wanted kids until Port. Until I had to protect her from Fallon and his cronies, until I felt that fear, that primal need to keep her safe. I didn’t know I was capable of that. I remember my mom’s fierce independence, the independent spirit of my countless ancestors, and thought that was my future. And also, I wasn’t sure I wanted to pass this on to anyone. Maybe I wanted the line to end.

Then Port got a little older, more independent, and started building relationships of her own, like her sisterhood with Yuri, which is the most beautiful thing. And she didn’t need me anymore. Not like she used to.

But I realized I did have more in me than memories. I had love and tenderness that I was blind to most of my life. So when it happened, a complete accident I might add, and I found out, I knew I wanted to see it through. Anyway. Send this to the Mounties if you want, or not if I seem like I’ve gone completely soft and saccharine as I’ve hit my 30s.

I have two or three images in my head, and maybe they’ll help.

  • Hunting on the grounds. One of my first memories. Possibly the first in our line. The son born from a confluence, near a confluence.
  • Renovations in Renaissance style. New buildings.
  • Soldiers. 18th century-ish uniforms. Commandeering, damaging the house.

OMG, Ali being the last to know she has a heart of gold is peak precious. And Magical BC34 Bab FTW!! We have to get Ali to Knatz before she pops. Do your thing, Mounties!

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Perhaps Château de Chantilly?

It was destroyed during the French Revolution which might account for the soldiers - and it was rebuilt in Renaissances style. It also has an art gallery with Renaissance-era paintings. The house matches some of the other criteria as well, but I wasn’t able to match it to “confluence” off hand.

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First: tenor

Second: I haven’t got very far into the digging, but Lyon comes up a few times in Anne’s history and is home to a big ol’ confluence (even has a Confluence Museum, though that’s definitely not old enough for what we’re looking for).

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Okay, poked around a bit more. Checked other rivers and everything, but Lyon still looks most promising on the confluence front.

Tried looking up historic residences, and Hôtel Bullioud looks most promising. Antoine Bullioud was General Treasurer of Finance in Brittany just before Anne died (based on year, anyway). It’s probably more tin foil, and I haven’t had luck checking for illegitimate children, but maybe something to look into?

Edit: May also be worth digging about at Boutiers-Saint-Trojan, I saw the word confluence re: borders, and Claude’s husband’s relations track back to nearby Cognac, and there were some illegitimate children (daughters so far as I can find, but who knows?).

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Built at the confluence of the Veinne and Loire Rivers. Anne of Brittany spent most of her life in the Loire Valley. Phone’s about to die, so dig away lol

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It is also the subject of an Alexander Dumas book called Le Dame De Monsoreau, which one summary describes as a tale of fraternal strife. Perhaps that is a transposed memory of an illegitimate son, one that in this Book of the Wild is fiction, which could explain part of why the memory is so hard to access now. It’s no longer “real”. It is certainly a Renaissance style building, and had been a site of various conflicts over the years.

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I’m also liking how much green space there is in the surrounding areas, with that memory of hunting on the grounds. Definitely a good find!

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Hi Mounties!

Ali just wanted to let you know that something about @Fox’s Château de Chantilly felt worth investigating, though she couldn’t put her finger on why. She’s heading there now, should take her a day to get there, and she’ll follow up when she can. :crossed_fingers:

I hope you’re all well.

We’re good. We’ve spent the past two weeks rebuilding and replanting our garden after an unfortunate week of rain led to a very minor but not at all inconsequential mudslide which wiped out a good chunk of the southern grounds outside the castle. :confused: We found remnants of old stone walls near the woods, maybe retaining walls that used to protect against this, so rebuilding them might be the next step for us. #castlecore

Also, our castle puppy is finally cool with lightbulbs.:bulb: Yay! It’s quite a long road to the 21st century. We’re currently in the 1920s, which in many ways I prefer to the 2020s if I’m being honest.

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Thanks for the update, @Eaves! I hope Ali has a fruitful visit - if nothing else, the place looks beautiful.

Mudslides are insidious - might be worth taking a survey of the grounds to check for other weak spots. And yay for castle puppy getting trained! Maybe now that you’re in the 1920s, everyone can learn the jitterbug.

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Chateau de Chantilly seems most affiliated with Anne de Montmorency, who was supposedly named for his godmother, Anne of Brittany.

Looks like his eldest son married an illegitimate daughter against his will, but that’s the closest I can find to that part.

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Looks like Chantilly is another river confluence, of the Oise and Seine. Extensive grounds and famous stables would lend to the hunting memory. The illegitimate son part is the main hang up for all of these places though. Plenty of illegitimate daughters, but no sons to be found =/

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