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yahtzee63's lj --
The Hypothetical AU Meme: Take any one of the fandoms you know I write AND give me another time period (Ancient Rome, Regency England, etc.). I will then explain what story from that fandom I would AU in that era.
It looks like fun, and I am here all afternoon -- meme me!
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The Hypothetical AU Meme: Take any one of the fandoms you know I write AND give me another time period (Ancient Rome, Regency England, etc.). I will then explain what story from that fandom I would AU in that era.
It looks like fun, and I am here all afternoon -- meme me!
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Date: 2008-03-28 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-28 09:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-29 09:33 pm (UTC)So that's my structure: an oligarchic system on its last legs, warlords contending for power, Caesar forced to start a civil war to defend his own position... I'd probably make the patronage system stronger, so that soldiers were more dependent on their generals. And maybe, since this is "Rome" and not actual history, focus not on the military stuff but on Atia and Octavia as powerbrokers in their own right -- moving it into outer space, I could get rid of the Roman gender expectations. So in this story, I think it would be Atia and Octavia who actually brought about the revolution.
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Date: 2008-03-30 05:30 am (UTC)You know, you could totally write this for real by changing it up some. I would read that book for sure.
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Date: 2008-03-29 02:33 pm (UTC)But instead, let's say: France. Caesar as the marechal, Octavian still his grand-nephew, taken on as part of his staff at 18. Vorenus and Pullo are, as before, soldiers, and as before, Vorenus has been promoted up through the ranks due to the loss of too many officers. (Was this an issue in France as it was in England? I am too lazy to explain to my husband why I would want to know.) Octavian, I think, is assigned to Vorenus -- on the one hand he looks down on Vorenus, because the Octavians are provincial aristocracy and Vorenus comes from a fairly low bourgeois family. But also, at the academy, Octavian had become devoted to socialism -- call it adolescent rebelion! -- so he bonds much more easily with Pullo. (Pullo, of course, could care less about politics -- all he wants is to kill some more Germans and go home with all his limbs intact -- but Vorenus is vehemently anti-communist.)
The plot, I think, revolves around the plans for peace, rather than the war itself -- what kind of country will France become? Will there be a revolution there, as well? Caesar, I think, is a conservative, and it's possible that (if he survives the war) he might end up opposed to his firebrand grand-nephew.