Manip + Graphic - 8 September 2022
Title: National Treasure instagram: 8 September 2022
Artist: Hakka ( prue84 )
Fandom: BBC's Merlin (post-canon, modern magic) AU
AU: National Treasure
Characters: Arthur Pendragon.
Rating: G
Tagline: Mandatory social post by Arthur Pendragon for the news of Queen Elizabeth's death.
Series: National Treasure instagram
About the graphic: Arthur had been in close contact with the Queen since he returned - or, at least, since Merlin couldn't keep the world outside of his cottage's door anymore and had to allow people to get near Arthur (a crime, if you ask him!).
Being Elizabeth the current monarch of the British Islands, Arthur always respected both her authority and her role in the kingdom (a kingdom definitely bigger than his own; it took him months to wrap his head around the fact she was ruling over a united Albion. And Merlin by then had still to touch the whole "Earth is round" and "English Empire" subjects). Too different and with a ridiculously crazy age gap for any chance to become close friends (literally children of two different millennia), they stroke a cordial rapport nonetheless and even enjoyed a couple of horse rides together (one on the shores of lake Avalon, no less).
The picture captures a friendly moment between former King and current Queen during one of the private visits the Queen (with Prince Consort Philip) did to check the progress of the restoration work on the castle that has then come to be known as the Pendragon Castle of New Camelot.
Queen Elizabeth officiated both the grand opening of the restored castle and the ceremony for the founding of the New Camelot enclave, but Arthur choose to celebrate Her Majesty's memory with a more private picture from his personal collection.
For Arthur, the passing of the Queen is a sad day.
About the AU: Under the graphic.
Notes: I didn't know what Arthur would say (he would say something complimenting her and how he appreciated having to do with her? Something more formal?) so initially I decided to steal the purple heart posted by Bradley James on his Twitter. A last-moment change, right when I was in the middle of the posting, turned this into a simple "farewell".
Disclaimer: I don't mean to express any opinion on the figure of the Queen nor Elizabeth Windsor's persona. I am Italian, so I don't hold any resentment toward the UK Royal Family, their role in the society, their flaws or crimes. Nor, at the same time, I'm loyal or feel drawn to them either. I'm not even a fan. Sure, I hear the news (unfortunately, media here are treating the funeral like you can expect - no matter that we're holding politic elections or that we aren't a British colony so she wasn't our queen - but media are enamored with the Royal Family and their shenanigans since Princess Diana) but neither I cheered nor I cried when the announcement was made.
Since in this AU Arthur meets and has close ties with the Queen from his return and prompted by Bradley Jame's tweet, I just wanted to make a mock-post about the death, because I feel Arthur would. Arthur's opinion don't necessary reflect my own. He's a medieval king, after all. He almost respected Sarrum, why wouldn't he respect an old woman who seems more decent than the guy who tortured his sister?
Sure, he might have some beef with how modern royalty works, but he'd ascribe that to "bloody modern times". Besides, the woman didn't bat an eye when her nephew and future heir married a "commoner": that's enough to get brownie points in Arthur's opinion.
Tec stuffs (aka Behind The Manip): It took me more time to search for pics than to make the manip itself. It's embarrassing. But find a Bradley pic that would work and then find a proper fitting pose for Queen Elizabeth wasn't as easy as it seems.
Also. I meant to work on this as soon as possible but it's been an awful two weeks for me, starting with 27 hours of head spinning and then having hard time to sleep and... well, let's say I manip only during specific hours and I was in bed sleeping in those hours so... yeah. But I had to finish before the window closed on Monday, so here I am.
Original manip is way bigger but it was scaled down to 1080px as that is the maximum size of the pics on Instagram.
Instagram graphic made all by-hand, with much moving/copy/pasting and, especially, a wearying research to find out which font the website used. No template site. Since I created my own template (with a couple of tweaks, including not cutting a longer IG Story title), it won't reflect any future changes the platform might make (I have no intention of modify my template).
Disclaimer: Don't own anything on this. Full credits below the manip itself.
Crossposted: Dreamwidth, Deviantart (instagram post, photo), Tumblr.
Click to see fullsize (935 x 551)
And the photo in full size:
Click to see fullsize (1080 x 725)
Credits
Bradley James at Pierrefonds, 19 June 2012. Photo taken by Yavannauk.
Queen Elizabeth in Windsor, 21 April 2016. Photo found at Royal Family Around the World.
About the AU
It's the 21th century and the existence of magic has been widely known since Guinevere, the last queen of Camelot, lifted the ban and had made Merlin her own advisor. With the centuries the myth of the Once and Future King has grown unchecked: Arthur Pendragon belongs to the category of the great people of history who the most have influenced the world, with the only difference that he will one day return.
Magic, for a number of circumstances never verified (possibly a mix of abuse and industrialization), seems like having been drained, leaving only the passive one: charms applied to old houses or objects still works, but new charms cannot be cast and are ineffective. Immortality is a rare gift unavailable to most, but few people belonging to the world Before The Drain still live, the oldest of them born in the Late Renaissance age.
Merlin, former wizard and oldest man of the world as the only one alive since the Middle Ages, is considered the world's grumpy uncle, that one parent who is a font of knowledge and tells funny stories about an otherwise serious topic like History but isn't willing to sit down and socialize with the youngsters (which means basically anyone, to him). Told to be always traveling, he imparts his knowledge almost exclusively through his blog, "Merlin's Cave". Unknown to all, though, Merlin has also a second identity under which he lives an almost ordinary life: Gaius de Bois, young professor of Medieval History at the University of Avalon, down-to-heart person, a professor much loved by his students, and, especially "nephew" of the Great Merlin.
Arthur Pendragon emerges from the secluded Lake of Avalon and his return is made official by Merlin with a post on his Instagram, a photo about the two halves of a broken coin (with Merlin's and Arthur's profile) reunited. Arthur leads a quiet life, residing in Merlin's cottage on the shores of the lake, with his grumpy (not-so) former servant to protect him from meddlers and fanatics. To preserve and allocate the necessary resources to restore a conducive environment for him and his needs of Middle Ages man, he is given the title of National Treasure that grants him a monthly revenue, total coverage of expenditures and funds to restore the castle of Camelot - castle that Merlin has preserved by magically miniaturizing it and placing it in a snow-less globe.
Merlin, through his social media and website, shares with the world the chronicles of how his king is adjusting to the modern times.
Arthur is initially followed by paps and generally by the curiosity of the people: it's just Merlin's angry presence (and an endless stream of ordinances) that shelters Arthur from the frenzy although soon it becomes an ordinary sight to see the king going around wearing his armor and sunglasses. When Camelot is restored, it gets the status of Principality within the United Kingdom, a kind of enclave named New Camelot on which Arthur is granted absolute power: initially a city-state enclosed within the strong walls of the citadel, it grows when further lands and pastures are assigned to the principality to assure Camelot's self-sufficiency. Life in New Camelot, per Arthur's choice, doesn't reflect the innovations happened after the king's death, and the citadel will become a haven for people who wish to live a simpler life or simply unplug a bit from the modern times.
With time Arthur will fully embrace the perks of modernity, thanks to Merlin (and his money) who spoils him, and he'll even get a driving license (against Merlin's will). But that's another story for another time.
Artist: Hakka ( prue84 )
Fandom: BBC's Merlin (post-canon, modern magic) AU
AU: National Treasure
Characters: Arthur Pendragon.
Rating: G
Tagline: Mandatory social post by Arthur Pendragon for the news of Queen Elizabeth's death.
Series: National Treasure instagram
About the graphic: Arthur had been in close contact with the Queen since he returned - or, at least, since Merlin couldn't keep the world outside of his cottage's door anymore and had to allow people to get near Arthur (a crime, if you ask him!).
Being Elizabeth the current monarch of the British Islands, Arthur always respected both her authority and her role in the kingdom (a kingdom definitely bigger than his own; it took him months to wrap his head around the fact she was ruling over a united Albion. And Merlin by then had still to touch the whole "Earth is round" and "English Empire" subjects). Too different and with a ridiculously crazy age gap for any chance to become close friends (literally children of two different millennia), they stroke a cordial rapport nonetheless and even enjoyed a couple of horse rides together (one on the shores of lake Avalon, no less).
The picture captures a friendly moment between former King and current Queen during one of the private visits the Queen (with Prince Consort Philip) did to check the progress of the restoration work on the castle that has then come to be known as the Pendragon Castle of New Camelot.
Queen Elizabeth officiated both the grand opening of the restored castle and the ceremony for the founding of the New Camelot enclave, but Arthur choose to celebrate Her Majesty's memory with a more private picture from his personal collection.
For Arthur, the passing of the Queen is a sad day.
About the AU: Under the graphic.
Notes: I didn't know what Arthur would say (he would say something complimenting her and how he appreciated having to do with her? Something more formal?) so initially I decided to steal the purple heart posted by Bradley James on his Twitter. A last-moment change, right when I was in the middle of the posting, turned this into a simple "farewell".
Disclaimer: I don't mean to express any opinion on the figure of the Queen nor Elizabeth Windsor's persona. I am Italian, so I don't hold any resentment toward the UK Royal Family, their role in the society, their flaws or crimes. Nor, at the same time, I'm loyal or feel drawn to them either. I'm not even a fan. Sure, I hear the news (unfortunately, media here are treating the funeral like you can expect - no matter that we're holding politic elections or that we aren't a British colony so she wasn't our queen - but media are enamored with the Royal Family and their shenanigans since Princess Diana) but neither I cheered nor I cried when the announcement was made.
Since in this AU Arthur meets and has close ties with the Queen from his return and prompted by Bradley Jame's tweet, I just wanted to make a mock-post about the death, because I feel Arthur would. Arthur's opinion don't necessary reflect my own. He's a medieval king, after all. He almost respected Sarrum, why wouldn't he respect an old woman who seems more decent than the guy who tortured his sister?
Sure, he might have some beef with how modern royalty works, but he'd ascribe that to "bloody modern times". Besides, the woman didn't bat an eye when her nephew and future heir married a "commoner": that's enough to get brownie points in Arthur's opinion.
Tec stuffs (aka Behind The Manip): It took me more time to search for pics than to make the manip itself. It's embarrassing. But find a Bradley pic that would work and then find a proper fitting pose for Queen Elizabeth wasn't as easy as it seems.
Also. I meant to work on this as soon as possible but it's been an awful two weeks for me, starting with 27 hours of head spinning and then having hard time to sleep and... well, let's say I manip only during specific hours and I was in bed sleeping in those hours so... yeah. But I had to finish before the window closed on Monday, so here I am.
Original manip is way bigger but it was scaled down to 1080px as that is the maximum size of the pics on Instagram.
Instagram graphic made all by-hand, with much moving/copy/pasting and, especially, a wearying research to find out which font the website used. No template site. Since I created my own template (with a couple of tweaks, including not cutting a longer IG Story title), it won't reflect any future changes the platform might make (I have no intention of modify my template).
Disclaimer: Don't own anything on this. Full credits below the manip itself.
Crossposted: Dreamwidth, Deviantart (instagram post, photo), Tumblr.
Click to see fullsize (935 x 551)
And the photo in full size:
Click to see fullsize (1080 x 725)
Credits
Bradley James at Pierrefonds, 19 June 2012. Photo taken by Yavannauk.
Queen Elizabeth in Windsor, 21 April 2016. Photo found at Royal Family Around the World.
About the AU
It's the 21th century and the existence of magic has been widely known since Guinevere, the last queen of Camelot, lifted the ban and had made Merlin her own advisor. With the centuries the myth of the Once and Future King has grown unchecked: Arthur Pendragon belongs to the category of the great people of history who the most have influenced the world, with the only difference that he will one day return.
Magic, for a number of circumstances never verified (possibly a mix of abuse and industrialization), seems like having been drained, leaving only the passive one: charms applied to old houses or objects still works, but new charms cannot be cast and are ineffective. Immortality is a rare gift unavailable to most, but few people belonging to the world Before The Drain still live, the oldest of them born in the Late Renaissance age.
Merlin, former wizard and oldest man of the world as the only one alive since the Middle Ages, is considered the world's grumpy uncle, that one parent who is a font of knowledge and tells funny stories about an otherwise serious topic like History but isn't willing to sit down and socialize with the youngsters (which means basically anyone, to him). Told to be always traveling, he imparts his knowledge almost exclusively through his blog, "Merlin's Cave". Unknown to all, though, Merlin has also a second identity under which he lives an almost ordinary life: Gaius de Bois, young professor of Medieval History at the University of Avalon, down-to-heart person, a professor much loved by his students, and, especially "nephew" of the Great Merlin.
Arthur Pendragon emerges from the secluded Lake of Avalon and his return is made official by Merlin with a post on his Instagram, a photo about the two halves of a broken coin (with Merlin's and Arthur's profile) reunited. Arthur leads a quiet life, residing in Merlin's cottage on the shores of the lake, with his grumpy (not-so) former servant to protect him from meddlers and fanatics. To preserve and allocate the necessary resources to restore a conducive environment for him and his needs of Middle Ages man, he is given the title of National Treasure that grants him a monthly revenue, total coverage of expenditures and funds to restore the castle of Camelot - castle that Merlin has preserved by magically miniaturizing it and placing it in a snow-less globe.
Merlin, through his social media and website, shares with the world the chronicles of how his king is adjusting to the modern times.
Arthur is initially followed by paps and generally by the curiosity of the people: it's just Merlin's angry presence (and an endless stream of ordinances) that shelters Arthur from the frenzy although soon it becomes an ordinary sight to see the king going around wearing his armor and sunglasses. When Camelot is restored, it gets the status of Principality within the United Kingdom, a kind of enclave named New Camelot on which Arthur is granted absolute power: initially a city-state enclosed within the strong walls of the citadel, it grows when further lands and pastures are assigned to the principality to assure Camelot's self-sufficiency. Life in New Camelot, per Arthur's choice, doesn't reflect the innovations happened after the king's death, and the citadel will become a haven for people who wish to live a simpler life or simply unplug a bit from the modern times.
With time Arthur will fully embrace the perks of modernity, thanks to Merlin (and his money) who spoils him, and he'll even get a driving license (against Merlin's will). But that's another story for another time.