OOC: FAQ/Info taken from civ_barbarian

This was originally done by rude_not_ginger, little_immie and others. Fanny is her own person and we have been doing character analysis on her and posting them to her personal journal and to the various muse/prompt groups. This FAQ hopefully gathers some of that in one place.

1. Who is Fanny Fae / Faelyn ?

Fanny is based off of a Scottish ancestor of mine who was a village healer. I started hearing that voice in my head and so I have been taking dictation for her for almost half a decade now. Fanny Fae was born Frances Moira MacKay, Fanny Fae is her nickname. She was born in Scotland in a little village that is between the Highlands and the sea called Dunnlauden. The village is no longer there, having been burned to the ground by an army of invaders. She is the daughter of a devoted Priestess of Danu and a Unseelie Sidhe (Fae) Prince, Gan Ceanach. She is therefore half-Fae and half-Human, or a Halfling as the slang amongst the Sidhe. She is therefore considered Immortal and has been alive since around the mid-fifteenth century. When her mother was murdered at age four, she was raised Morgienne, the High Lady (Queen) of the Fortunate Island who became her foster mother, who was able to bring pressure upon Gan Ceanach and the Unseelie Court to legitimise Fanny as one of their own. It was at this time that she was given leave to assume her Fae name of Faelyn. Later, as vengeance for a part in the death of her mother, Faelyn slowly poisoned Morgienne, usurped the throne of the Fortunate Island and declared herself as High Lady. Her best friend is Hsu Danmei, whom she met in the latter part of the fifteenth century, is a Highlander Immortal. Their friendship is as solid as it is long.

2. Why did you choose Monica Bellucci as Fanny’s PB? Everyone chooses her! Wasn’t Fanny’s PB on Livejournal originally someone else?

I chose Monica Bellucci as Fanny’s PB because she was quite frankly the only dark haired woman on the planet that was gorgeous enough to pull off who and what Fanny is. She is graceful and imperious – and she carries herself exactly as I know Fanny does. At the time I noticed her, which was over ten years ago, very few in the U.S. had even heard of her. I had seen her in a French film and recognized her for having done some photo layouts in Italian Vogue. I had been using Monica as a PB for Fanny over on Pan Historia, a writing and RP site that my business partners and I founded back in 2000. The first PB I had for Fanny on LJ was Caprice Bendetti, who played Maria Owens in Practical Magic. Alas, Ms. Bendetti does not have a very large body of work and therefore she does not have very many photos out for her, so my choices were very limited. I had been collecting photos of Monica, so the choice was quite natural. As far as others choosing her, I cannot control that. Ms. Bellucci has grown very popular over the last decade. Is there any wonder why?

3. Wasn’t Fanny originally a pirate and Wytch?

Yes. I did engage her in acts of piracy because at the time she was writing in the Cutthroat Island fandom over on Pan Historia in the online “novel”, Ile de Torture. It has since fallen into idleness. Because Fanny is a Scot and a typical Celt, she claimed Fae ancestry even then at the beginning. She has since left piracy behind, but she was always someone engaged in witchcraft and magic of one kind or another. As her scribe, I have the knowledge to back that up, but Fanny definitely knows more than I do both as an herbalist and as someone who wields magic. She will always have a soft place in her heart for the charms of captainbarbossa, however. To her, he is the very epitome of what a pirate truly is or should be. There are few cahracters / muses that will make Fanny drop everything to talk to them, and Captain Hector Barbossa of the PoTC fandom definitely is one of those muses on the shortlist and will always get that sort of response from her. I think it is because she values his intelligence and above all his ruthlessness. On those things they understand each other quite well.

4. There are so many “Faeries” running around out there on Livejournal now. Aren’t you just following a trend?

Fanny Fae does not follow trends. She IS the trend. And she would be the first to (albeit, arrogantly) point out that she has the awards won over a good number of years that prove it. As a result of being the trend, there has been as of late some pale copies of her running around out there. If you are at all confused, read her writing. You will quickly know the difference in her voice and her demeanour from anyone else’s. She has absolutely nothing to prove. She knows exactly who she is and makes no apologies for it – ever. End of story.

Faerie lore is wide and varied and to put it quite bluntly, no one has proprietary knowledge on it varying through region and culture. I have tried to stick to Celtic myths and the genre of Faerie stories as put forth by Charles Perrault, who founded what we know of the modern “faerie tale” or fantasy genre back during the reign of Louis XIV. Fanny has on more than one occassion insisted it was she who gave him his information. 😉

5. You know, your stuff strangely resembles the works of Laurel K. Hamilton and her Merry Gentry series. What’s up with that?

I have been writing Fanny online far longer than Laurel has been writing her series. I want to say that Laurel K. Hamilton is not the only, nor the first, nor will she be the last author who writes stories around the world of the Fae. While I have read them, and think that they are ok, there are some major differences between Fanny and Hamilton’s main protagonist, Princess Meredith Gentry.

Fanny Fae as a character, unlike Merry Gentry, was not born into nobility. She was born a bastard child of a young dedicant priestess who was essentially raped by the Unseelie Fae who was Fanny’s father. She would not be, therefore, at all in line for the Unseelie throne. The throne that she has, she took from her foster mother, Morgienne. The Fortunate Island is actually based after the magical Isle of Avalon, but has its own mythos and such with in Celtic lore. I tried to stay closer to that than anything else. I do confess, however, to have also to have based much of my version of the Fae Courts far closer to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Elves and Lothlorien as well as those elements of various Faerie lore writers such as the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, Charles Perrault, Andrew Lang and others. Tolkien was a linguist and his depth of creating his Middle Earth is unsurpassed by any other writer to date.

To be absolutely brutal in regard to the Merry Gentry series; in this writer’s view, Princess Meredith Gentry is not the type of character that I could ever write. She is one of those heroines for whom I have little if any kind of sympathy. That as far as writing and character development are concerned, is a mortal sin. To be heartlessly cruel, I will say that I personally feel that Princess Meredith Gentry is probably the most bona fide “Mary Sue” I have ever read. Ms. Hamilton long ago stretched the limitations of readers being able to suspend their disbelief – even within the fantasy genre. It comes off as ridiculous and honestly, just how many pages of badly written and executed “fairy porn” does it take to make a novel these days?

Fanny for her part, definitely has her faults, her fears and her shortcomings. And although she is always loath to ever admit to them, she does indeed have them. I can safely say that If Fanny met Meredith, she would most likely think that Merry was a bit too nice and definitely too weak to ever be considered an effective sovereign. This is due mainly because Merry is lacking something in the way of a spine. According to Fanny, such rulers usually end up the victims of an assasin. However, Hamilton’s character, Queen Andais, the Unseelie Queen of Air and Darkness, bears a much greater resemblance to what Fanny would think a true Fae sovereign should be – even if Andais does tend to be a bit over the top at times. 😉

6. You work alot with history. Where do you get your source materials?

I am a voracious reader and a downright history freak. I originally wanted to go to school to become an Egyptologist. I am not that now, of course, but I never lost my love for history. I love politics, anthropology, folklore and sociology. Throw in occult and metaphysical interests and you have some of the sources I use to write Fanny. I will do my research, but in my artistic license, I will bend events, because sometimes things get reported just slightly differently than how they actually happened. I will always list my resources, because I love to generate further interest in finding out more in Fanny’s readers, and hear from people who have read the same things. But most importantly, that is how it should be done.

7. How do the Musketeers and the works of Alexandre Dumas come in?

I have always been a fan of Dumas. I think he is probably one of the best writers ever. He took elements of history and earlier fictional works and wove them ingeniously. When the muse, Athos ( allfor_one) came on to the scene, there was that niggling muse voice that insisted that Athos and that time period was very much a part of her life and we were going to explore it. Through Athos she met the Comte de Rochefort (all_forme) who was the love of her life and was later to become her husband.

8. Isn’t Fanny rather Machiavellian?

Yes. Thank you for noticing. She is extremely Machiavellian, but before Machiavelli there was the Vedic philosopher, Kautiliya, who wrote the Arthrashastra, which was the manual of teaching Maharajahs and Kings in Ancient India how to rule and how to administrate their kingdoms. The Fae and the Rajas are very similar in how they rule. Though some might consider her to be an usurper, Fanny/Faelyn definitely believes in the Divine Right of Sovereigns. There are no ‘accidental’ monarchs just as if you play the game and a throne is involved, you either win your objective, or you die.

9. Fanny is an arrogant bitch!

Yes she is. And if you are expecting an apology from either she or I, it will not be forthcoming.

Fanny is such a muse slut!

On the contrary. Fanny is actually very selective with those whom she takes as her lovers. She hasn’t in the Fae sense, had all that many. Her marriage to Sebastien de Rochefort is open, so she does what she does with no fear of jealousy or reprisals or whether or not her husband will be upset about it. Both Fanny and Sebastien know that each one alone has the other’s heart. Everyone else, while she can care about them, will never take his place in her heart. As her mun, I have learned that if you try to foist your morals on Fanny, she doesn’t care about them. Her morals are her own – and there are far more people in the world whom she wouldn’t even give the time of day let alone being someone whom she would become intimate with. She tends to be the Dominant in most given situations. *shrugs* Fae Sovereigns are like that.

RP FAQ’s

1. Who does Fanny hang around with?

Most of her friends are Immortals of one kind or another. Some are from the Highlander fandom, others are Fae, some are Vampires, others are deities, demons, angels, fallen angels and the like. Immortals have their own set of issues to deal with and she tends to stay around people who understand what it is like, although she will interact with just about anyone. Fanny likes the other party to be interesting, and tends to ask a great many questions of them to get to know them better. I guess that would be the diplomatic side of her.

2. Who is Sebastien?

He is the Comte de Rochefort and is the love of Faelyn’s life. When he was killed, Faelyn tried for four hundred years to bring him back from the dead. How she actually did it is coming up in a future storyline. Suffice it to say, it is a surprise. Even before his appearance in the works of Alexandre Dumas, in the Three Musketeers fandom, he was was originally in a much earlier work, Le Mémoires de Monsieur le Comte de Rochefort, which was written by Courtilz de Sandras in 1678. I own an actual 18th century English translation of this book and the the writer of Rochefort has one from 1684 in French. It is a very rare book so most libraries won’t have it. It is available online however, even if you do find the PDF for it online at Archive.org for example, the versions that I have seen are almost hopelessly unreadable due to incorrect formatting, mainly. It was written back in a time when “S’s” and “F’s” were interchangable as moveable type and it can be a bit of a long slog even when you have the actual book in hand. Rochefort’s scribe and I have come to the conclusion that Dumas himself was in fact a fanfic writer. Albeit he was an ingenious one, but he borrowed very heavily from de Sandras’ various works as well as from history. What else is new? Everyone does it. The fact that Dumas did, too, just legitimises the practice that much more.

3. Do you have a timeline for Fanny?

Not yet, but it is in the works and will be quite similar to the one that civ_barbarian has on his user info. She was born in 1444. There is alot of history to play with. She does tend to stick to locales in Western Europe for the most part, although she has travelled extensively to the East.

OOC FAQ’s:

1. Who are you?

I am Christina, Fanny’s scribe. My mun journal is over at niankhsekhmet.

2. What is your friending policy?

At present, Fanny will friend anyone she likes. It isn’t necessary to be reciprocal. If she takes an interest in what you have to say, and especially if you are a mature and kick-ass writer, you will most likely gain her interest. To be honest, someone has to screw up pretty bad and be spouting some hands-in-the-crazy type of vitriol before being un-friended by her. There have been very few instances of this, thankfully.

3. Is Fanny going to be in a novel or movie?

Yes to both. The concepts of Fanny’s story are registered with the Writer’s Guild West (WGA West) and the film is in pre-production now. Therefore her concept and storylines are copyrighted works. Both I and Waterline Entertainment, the production company which has acquired first rights to produce the film, do have legal representation and we will not hesitate to send cease and desist letters to anyone who thinks infringement is ok. Fanfic involving Fanny / Faelyn without getting prior permission shall be considered such an infringement. I hate to go all Ann Rice on people, but given recent events, I can definitely relate to protecting one’s works. Those precious few who do have permission know who they are and are writers whom I trust implicitly to protect the integrity of who Fanny is. Those who don’t also know who they are.

4. Can my muse (or I) hook up/sex up/marry Fanny?

That depends entirely on her and the chemistry between your character and her. She is, as I have mentioned, extremely selective in whom she hooks up with or gives her confidences to. She has very few close confidants. Sexually, she is even more so. And to the last question, no. Fanny / Faelyn is married to Sebastien, and Fae sovereigns can only marry once according to their laws. It’s for the whole of her life, and it does not matter if she becomes widowed or (Gods forbid!) divorced. She loves whom she loves for different reasons. Also, Fanny is mostly heterosexual and has only ever had two instances where she has been sexual with another woman. It has something to do with that woman being truly able to stand on equal footing with her. In both instances, she felt this was true.

5. I hate the way you write Fanny! You should just hang it up, stop writing her and delete the character!

Then don’t read it. No one says you have to. There is alot more to read here on LJ and it won’t break either my heart or Fanny’s if you don’t read what she has to say. As far as ever stopping taking dictation for Fanny or deleting her, yeah, right. It’s definitely not going to happen. Someone actually had suggested that I do that once. In response I bought Fanny a permanent Livejournal account. That shows just how much I took that bit of unsolicited advice to heart and now I write her far more than I do in my own mun journal.

6. I heard that you are a freakishly controlling, asshat mun who likes to control everything.

I have quite a few RP and writing partners that say otherwise and it’s their opinions who count. I am actually pretty damned easygoing. I am all for exploring new storylines. My only requisites are that you do not portray my characters’ dialogue or actions without runing it by me first and understand that I have a life and sometimes reps can be slow. Interestingly enough, most of my RP and writing partners are the same way. They also have real lives. I haven’t got time to control everyone else’s storylines or anything else. It’s hard enough being a working, single mother of a son who is in college. I have a priesthood, I am a writer a practising clinical herbalist and I have just been drafted into the wonderful world of film production. I am also one of the moderators for , and so I don’t have time to either be an asshat or controlling.

7. I heard that you said…

Did you hear it from me? Taking second, third and so on information is considered, in my view, as unethical. If you don’t tell me something directly, I won’t take it as being the truth unless I hear it from you. I would appreciate if you would please accord me the same privilege. I am very direct. I say what I mean and I mean what I say. I do not have time for drama, wank, gossip or bullshit. If you have any questions, ask me. I will have absolutely no problem telling you directly. I may not be at all tactful in the telling, but you will get the truth. If the truth hurts, then that’s really not my problem.

8. I heard there was some drama between you and……

See above. There have been writing relationships that Fanny has had in the past that did not work out. In those cases, the writers went their separate ways and did as they saw fit. No hard feelings on this end. I cannot and will not speak for anyone else. There is room enough for everyone and grudges and wank have absolutely no place in my world or Fanny’s.

9. I have a problem with you.

Then write to me. My email is fanny fae at gmail dot com. Or my alternative email address is maatpublishing at gmail dot com. I am very easy to talk to. I believe in open and honest dialogue. We may not agree in the end, but I will always respect your opinion and your right to it.