Merlin Big Bang Masterpost - The Edge of Darkness
Big Bang Story: The Edge of Darkness (Masterpost)
Title: The Edge of Darkness
Author: mialoco
Summary: Arthur has struggled to gain his father's acceptance, but it has always seemed to evade him except in the area of fighting, where he has always shined whether magical beasts, bandits, invaders, or just tournaments. After the dragon attack, his father seems less than impressed with him in that area, as well. As Camelot starts to rebuild, Arthur is determined to prove to his father that he has what it takes to be the future king. When the children and young adults in the Lower Town and an outlying village start acting in strange and disturbing ways, Uther is sure that it is the result of sorcery. This, added to the fact that Morgana is still missing after Morgause stole her away, drives Uther's determination to wipe sorcery from Camelot with troubling results. As Uther starts to break under the pressure and refuses to look further than sorcery for the cause, it is up to Arthur to step up. As he tries to find a cause before the future of Camelot is wiped out Arthur has to come to terms with whether his father's pride in him is as important to him as developing into a King in which he himself can be proud. When Merlin starts displaying the same symptoms Arthur must make even harder choices.
Warnings: Violence, Lots of minor character death (children) mentioned from both illness and executions, some symptoms and effects of illness, mentions of blood and loss of limbs though no graphic description.
Spoilers: Season 1 and 2
Genres: Pre-Slash (Merlin/Arthur despite my fighting it all the way), AU, Canon era - takes place between Seasons 2 and 3
Rating: PG 13 to be safe for some topics
Word Count: 54.500
Disclaimer: The Arthurian Legends are in public domain, but I do not own the interpretation that BBC Merlin has given to it nor the characters. I just like to play around with them for my own amusement and make no money from it.
Author’s Notes 1: A world of thanks must go out to silkmoth101 who literally dragged me kicking and screaming into signing up. She has been there the whole time bouncing ideas with me, cheering me on when I gave up, teaching me the intricacies of LJ that I have never used before and telling me when things were not working. This would have never happened at all without her. She has been my rock.
More thanks goes to my fantastic beta heavenlybodies than I can possible find words to express for taking gobbledygook with spastic punctuation and wrestling it into something readable. If you find mistakes, it is because I don’t follow directions well.
The great music and art were all done by rebeccaann08 .Take a loot at it HERE.
Author’s Notes 2: I started playing with the idea of what if there was disease that could cause symptoms that could be thought to be sorcery. What Kind of havoc would that cause in Camelot? I found the perfect villain in Ergot Poisoning. Evidence of Ergot Poisoning symptoms have been found in writings all the way back to the Middle Ages. Ergot is a fungus that forms in cereal grains, especially rye that was used almost exclusively by the poorer people during the Middle Ages. It is usually formed during wet growing seasons, especially when the field has a lot of shade. The fungus yields alkaloids that cause constriction of blood vessels, which can result in a variety of symptoms in the body, usually affecting children, young adults, elderly and babies; easily passing through mother's milk. It is toxic to humans and livestock, but eating only small amounts can cause some symptoms that get better if no more of the toxins are eaten. The alkaloids are chemical derivatives of lysergic acid, which is used in the synthesis of the hallucinogen LSD. In later research I learned that there has been a long running debate whether Ergot Poisoning might have come into play to cause the actions of those involved in the Salem Witch Trials in the United States. I took a bit of artistic license with the disease and the fact that Gaius has the help of magic, so he found the cause about a thousand years earlier than his non-magical counterparts are on record for discovering it.
Read more HERE.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven
Title: The Edge of Darkness
Author: mialoco
Summary: Arthur has struggled to gain his father's acceptance, but it has always seemed to evade him except in the area of fighting, where he has always shined whether magical beasts, bandits, invaders, or just tournaments. After the dragon attack, his father seems less than impressed with him in that area, as well. As Camelot starts to rebuild, Arthur is determined to prove to his father that he has what it takes to be the future king. When the children and young adults in the Lower Town and an outlying village start acting in strange and disturbing ways, Uther is sure that it is the result of sorcery. This, added to the fact that Morgana is still missing after Morgause stole her away, drives Uther's determination to wipe sorcery from Camelot with troubling results. As Uther starts to break under the pressure and refuses to look further than sorcery for the cause, it is up to Arthur to step up. As he tries to find a cause before the future of Camelot is wiped out Arthur has to come to terms with whether his father's pride in him is as important to him as developing into a King in which he himself can be proud. When Merlin starts displaying the same symptoms Arthur must make even harder choices.
Warnings: Violence, Lots of minor character death (children) mentioned from both illness and executions, some symptoms and effects of illness, mentions of blood and loss of limbs though no graphic description.
Spoilers: Season 1 and 2
Genres: Pre-Slash (Merlin/Arthur despite my fighting it all the way), AU, Canon era - takes place between Seasons 2 and 3
Rating: PG 13 to be safe for some topics
Word Count: 54.500
Disclaimer: The Arthurian Legends are in public domain, but I do not own the interpretation that BBC Merlin has given to it nor the characters. I just like to play around with them for my own amusement and make no money from it.
Author’s Notes 1: A world of thanks must go out to silkmoth101 who literally dragged me kicking and screaming into signing up. She has been there the whole time bouncing ideas with me, cheering me on when I gave up, teaching me the intricacies of LJ that I have never used before and telling me when things were not working. This would have never happened at all without her. She has been my rock.
More thanks goes to my fantastic beta heavenlybodies than I can possible find words to express for taking gobbledygook with spastic punctuation and wrestling it into something readable. If you find mistakes, it is because I don’t follow directions well.
The great music and art were all done by rebeccaann08 .Take a loot at it HERE.
Author’s Notes 2: I started playing with the idea of what if there was disease that could cause symptoms that could be thought to be sorcery. What Kind of havoc would that cause in Camelot? I found the perfect villain in Ergot Poisoning. Evidence of Ergot Poisoning symptoms have been found in writings all the way back to the Middle Ages. Ergot is a fungus that forms in cereal grains, especially rye that was used almost exclusively by the poorer people during the Middle Ages. It is usually formed during wet growing seasons, especially when the field has a lot of shade. The fungus yields alkaloids that cause constriction of blood vessels, which can result in a variety of symptoms in the body, usually affecting children, young adults, elderly and babies; easily passing through mother's milk. It is toxic to humans and livestock, but eating only small amounts can cause some symptoms that get better if no more of the toxins are eaten. The alkaloids are chemical derivatives of lysergic acid, which is used in the synthesis of the hallucinogen LSD. In later research I learned that there has been a long running debate whether Ergot Poisoning might have come into play to cause the actions of those involved in the Salem Witch Trials in the United States. I took a bit of artistic license with the disease and the fact that Gaius has the help of magic, so he found the cause about a thousand years earlier than his non-magical counterparts are on record for discovering it.
Read more HERE.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven