The fic that research killed

[ladyjanelly]

I've had this floating around in my story-file for a while,

(blah blah disclaimer, etc)

 

August 14

London

We have taken as passengers two Irishmen, the brothers MacManus out of Dublin. Troublemakers, by the look of them, and Catholic no doubt. They will need watching, of that I am confident, to insure the safety of this ship and her crew.

Captain Norrington frowned as he watched the two young men striding up his gangplank, grinning and joking with each other. They were of the same height, and wore the same long dark coats. One was dark of hair and fair of skin, with a small mark to the left of his mouth that seemed to pull his lips into a perpetual half-grin. The other had lighter hair, and skin of a more golden shade, but there was something in the way they moved that marked them as kin.

With a tilt of his head, Norrington sent three riflemen up to the plank to intercept the intruders, bold though they may be. They seemed to ignore the guns, as if they just happened to stop there to address him. The lighter of the two grinned. The darker smirked. Identical crosses swayed on their chests, perfectly in time.

"This is how ya greet passengers then, is it?" Blue eyes met his as bold as you please. As if they were his equals. There was a confidence about them that irked him. No one on this ship should be that confident except for her captain. Their very smiles were a threat to his authority.

"I believe you are on the wrong ship," he informed them in a crisp voice. "This is a vessel of her majesty's navy, and not a transport for the likes of you."

The riflemen shifted uneasily as the darker reached into his coat. "Well then. Admiral Greenly must have made a mistake." He held out a folded sheet of parchment. "It seems he thought it was both."

With all the dignity he could muster, Norrington took the page. The wax seal broke under his thumb; he unfolded it and read the letter of introduction the admiral had sent with them. He could feel his cheeks flush as he digested the words. Brothers MacManus...all due courtesy...a cabin for the journey...debarking at the port of their choosing . He wondered with an internal groan if they would be with the ship all the way to Port Royal.

He glanced up to see the darker brother rub at the corner of his mouth with his knuckle. The word Aequitas was tattooed along the side of his hand.

"I do not like this," he declared. The list of reasons Greenly would grant them passage on one of her majesty's ships was short indeed. Bribery and blackmail were at the top of it in Norrington's mind. Unfortunately he was in no position to protest, and the letter did look legitimate.

"But you'll not disappoint your admiral, eh?"

"I assume you have names?" Norrington asked with an exaggerated show of fading patience. He glanced between them, trying to determine which was the older. Probably not even brothers, he thought.

The darker one's grin was back. He felt something stir in his chest as that intense gaze was turned on him once again. "Oh, aye." The tattooed hand was offered to him. "I'm Murpy. This is Connor. It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain..."

He may have to transport them, but he would be damned if he would touch them. He turned away without shaking the offered hand.

"Mister Harding, please see them to a cabin."

He turned and left without waiting to see if his coldness had offended them.

----------------------

And I was running through my archives today, looking for likely candidates for the fan-fiction finishathon http://www.livejournal.com/community/multific/3895.html 

and I thought I should do a little research about the subject, and turned up sites like this:

http://www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/1638

and

http://www.ewtn.com/library/HUMANITY/SLAVES.TXT

And quotes like "the number of Irish
transported to the British colonies in America from 1651 - 1660
exceeded the total number of their inhabitants at that period,"

and "Subsequently some 52,000 Irish, mostly women and sturdy boys and girls, were sold to Barbados and Virginia alone. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were taken prisoners and ordered transported and sold as slaves. In 1656, Cromwell’s Council of State ordered that 1000 Irish girls and 1000 Irish boys be rounded up and taken to Jamaica to be sold as slaves to English planters. "

And yeah.  My fic is going to have to be abandoned or totally re-visualized.

And I'm depressed by how ugly humanity can be.

 

 

Comments

[venilia.livejournal.com]

The thing about PotC is: no one really knows when it's set. You can make it pretty late in the game, or earlier. Because of the unknown dating for this film, those who wish to write historical fanfic on it may pick and choose which facts to accept, and which to bin.
A great site full of all sorts of useful research is http://seacouver.slashcity.net/history/
Hope that helps, because I should love to see this fic written. But only after LAYB, ok? Because I am addicted to LAYB, and think it's the greatest BDS fic ever. /fangirling

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

I've always used the timeline of Tortuga for the framework for PotC, which would put it between 1635 and 1685. The removal of Irish-Catholics from their land to be replaced by Protestant English settlers started in 1612. The worst decade was probably 1641-1651, when some 800,000 Irish died to war, plague and relocation (that's over half the Irish living in Ireland at the time). Even if I could get Norrington in the right mind-set, I think living in that world would have darkened the spark in the twins.

[venilia.livejournal.com]

You've got to be kidding me. I think living in that world would have darkened the spark in the twins. This is what made the Irish the Irish!
Well, part of it, anyway.
They've been looked down on sinse the days of Rome. They've been recognized as fierce and fiercely loyal sinse then, too.
Sure, the twins might not be quite so carefree, but the Irish spirit is indominable!

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

I don't think the environment would so much dim the spark, but make them darker, sharper at their core than I imagined them for this fic. Angrier, fiercer.

Not unworkably so, but the story'd need some re-imagining. I'd thought that the animosity would be only on Norrington's part, but I can't imagine them being open or friendly with an Englishman, now that I've done my research.

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

But I do thank you for this discussion, for helping me question the road-blocks I put up on this fic.

Mmmm, tasty debate.

[venilia.livejournal.com]

Dark, fierce sort of things anyway, aren't they? The twins, I mean, not the Irish in general. I mean, killing mobsters - not exactly sunlight and candy. That's part of what makes their bond so deep, if you ask me, is that they know just how hard and how much of a bastard life can be, but so long as they have each other they can cope individually.

But yes, the discussion is an interesting one and you have some good points.

I live to serve. *grins*