SPOILERS (about Desmond Deathflores)
Hi guys. I've been wanting to write about a certain character that appears in my first fable - The Tale of Desmond Deathflores - so I will! But just letting you know, it will contain ... spoilers? Well... Not *Really* big spoilers, but... I just encourage you to read the book before reading this.
That said, you can feel free to read this beforehand too! I don't mind. Lots of fun to be had in this post!
This little ramble is about Rey. You may or may not have noticed that I kept "the child" genderless for the entirety of the fable until the very very end. This is because the flower never looked at Rey in such a manner. Rey was "Rey" or "the child" or "my child" - simple as that. I'd like to speak more about this child - to do so is to give away gender, as well as expound on other elements written only on the last page/s.
...........
Okay! SO!
Remember that image of the land and kingdom on the last page - and the image of the palace on the hill with the three strangely-pointed walls? Anyone from Rhíad would be able to tell immediately what kingdom that was and what kind of story they'd be reading just by seeing that picture. That is the Three Pronged Tower (though I don't know how much I'd consider them "prongs" so much as "pointy walls" but prongs sounds cooler...). It became a symbol for prosperity, equality, grace, and second chances...
This is all because of "Good King Rey" who is referred to by people from Rhíad with a similar respect we give "King Arthur." Rey was the first widely-known king to believe in the re-education of criminals and prisoners of war - although he only really gave second chances and no more than that, he did actually offer it. And he didn't hold back on his offer, either - when a criminal had proved himself to have potential for the kingdom, he released them to lead good lives. He would present them to the people as having earned their citizenship, and they would live near an honored family who would act as a guide for their new life and help answer questions when they struggled. If they returned to a criminal life, they were almost never given a third chance, but most who entered into this Honor Program became great assets to the kingdom, and often some of King Rey's most powerful warriors.
Rey also believed in public schooling, to be accessible to everyone - especially to orphans and homeless. Himself having come from a terrible background where even the killers of his family thought him so worthless they did not even need to mark him for assassination as he'd be dead soon anyway, he took pity on those told by society that they were worthless. He adamantly rebuked such ideas and fought for honor to be restored to orphans and homeless as human beings. He invested in The Righters who's job it was to go out and find those who struggled and guide them to an education and encourage the furthering of a skill - to right wrongs, basically. If the person showed little to no effort or appreciation for the education and assistance, they were cut off from the kingdom and told to live at the rim, where they discarded trash - at least they could try to eat whatever rotten food they might scavenge there, or they could pick themselves up and try to enter a different country.
Although heavy-handed and firm, sometimes terrifying, Rey was known more for his kindness and generosity - to the point that, in the middle of his reign, he practically assimilated two other countries without even trying. One had gotten into a devastating civil war. The people overthrew their ruler, then elected a leader to form a binding agreement with Rey, that their kingdom would pledge allegiance if Rey could guide them out of their poverty and provide structure. The second nation saw this, witnessed the prosperity of Rey's kingdom and that of the recently assimilated one, and recognized his kingdom was growing tremendously in wealth and might. They were small, but had good land that was threatened by a neighboring nation, so they offered Rey their own agreement of loyalty in exchange for his protection and guidance.
There are many legends - some true, some not so true, others outlandish to say the least - about Good King Rey and his reign of prosperity. None of which would ever have been possible if not for a single apothecary from the outerlands (where they have "dark skin and strange hair" as the centerlanders say) falling in love with the child prince, and believing something better of an endangered poisonous flower once used to destroy the child's family.
There's more about Rey and Caston and many other characters, and I will try my best to write what I can, but there are many other stories I wish to tell you as well - the people who, hundreds of years later, were still being affected by these lives.
I hope you enjoy reading them.
And as always, thank you for reading. Have a wondrous day. ^_^