Fake Canon-Era History Week: 19-25th June

shellcollector:

aka Napkin Ring Martyrs Memorial Week

Who are the Napkin Ring Martyrs, you ask, wearily? Well, the origin is this prototype for a canon-era fanfic prompt, which arose in the middle of a rant about… you know what it doesn’t really matter, thank god:

In 1831 Jean-Michel Actualléresearchedthèse and Jean-Marie Aixknowhistoire almost organised a pre-emptive insurrection in the wake of the Istoribouque napkin ring factory strikes, although in the event they were betrayed by three separate police spies. I’m really interested in how the Amis would have interacted with this – maybe a scene with them in conversation with the principals? Or possibly an AU where they thwarted the spies and succeeded? IDK, do what you feel

Now, having been essentially cyberbullied by fandom into hanging out in the British Library crying gently into a book about early socialists a handkerchief, I promise, no tears got on the book, please don’t put me on a List – having been thus cyberbullied, I For One kind of want to take my revenge on reality, academia, any way of learning about history other than those segments on the Great British Bake-Off where lovely Sue Perkins strolls around talking about the invention of bread pudding, and the general concept of The Past. This revenge will take the form of Misinformation and Lies. 

After all, it’s what those two brave forgotten Heroes of the People Citizen Actualléresearchedthèse and Citizen Aixknowhistoire would have wanted. Well, mostly they would have wanted to build a Republic based on principles of equality and shared ownership of the means of production, but failing that I think they’d have settled a load of people on tumblr making up fake 1830s historical research and/or fiction. And since failing that was kind of their speciality I think they’re going to have to settle after all. 

So! Citizens of this Blue Hell, rise up! Join me and Citizen @pilferingapples, who would be aghast at being described as the sensible half of this endeavour, in memorialising them thusly. Here are some ideas for what you might want to produce and share during this momentous week:

• Detailed pseudohistorical accounts of political unrest and sedition
• A scene where Feuilly and Combeferre discuss said unrest and sedition in a totally clunky exposition-heavy fashion because goddammit you took notes on the whole chapter and you’re damned if you’re leaving any of the details out
• Hitherto undocumented sleeve variants
• Some of the less well-known medical theories of the time, and why Joly would have found them 100% convincing
• Talk about your weird AU/headcanon where Enjolras is some sort of haut-bourgeois student instead of a hardworking printer (feel free to invent fake facts to justify yourself)
• Responses to and/or elaborations on the original prompt, because why not?
• That thing that came to mind just now and made you giggle to yourself
• Seriously just go nuts

This begins one week after the @lesjoursdete fills are due; the idea is that it will be Particularly Cathartic if that’s what you’ve been doing with yourself for god knows how long. However, it is open to any and all. 

Tag your Stuff with #Napkin Ring Martyrs, or #napkinringmartyrs if you dislike spaces and capital letters and being able to discern the individual words in things.

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