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Eler Nersal, brother of Horth Nersal, wrote thirty-seven plays featuring
significant events and people, usually thinly disguised as historical
dramas. He made no attempt to deny he based them on contemporary research.
Now and then he even fought a duel over some of those produced during
his life time, either by Reetion thespians or his personal company of
courtesan players and sword dancers. Although -- sometimes literally --
painfully controversial, Eler single handed resurrected Sevolite participation
in the arts, on Gelion. Inspired in part by Amel's unintentional example
by spending time as a courtesan, and more so by Erien's cultural exchanges.
From Erien's point of view, an unlooked for and unappreciated side effect.
The Reetions were so impressed by Eler's work, that they considered it
further proof of Gelack barbarity that Eler was allowed to continue behaving
like an ordinary Nersallian, fighting duels and flying as a battlewheel
commander and hand leader.
Descriptions of a selection of the plays follow.
The House of Mersan (tragedy)
Eler's first masterpiece portrayed the agony of his own family's self-destruction
over a question of honor so powerfully, his Liege brother Horth nearly
put a sword through him for airing it in public like that. House "Mersan"
is divided over the Vrellish and Nesak interpretations of Okal Rel,
as was House Nersal during the events of the novel "Okal Rel",
in which Horth challenges his father, Hangst, for his title and an 11
year old Eler witnesses the fatal confrontation, at home, between another
brother and the power of Nesak orthodoxy when a priest urges their mother
to kill her young children rather than leave their souls embodied on
the wrong side of the argument.
Tell Me When to Look Serious (comedy)
A comedy based on incidents at an early cultural exchange. Including
the Reetion man unsure just WHAT happened with that Vrellish woman;
Amel suffering homophobia; Erien juggling "Heir Gelion" with
"the boy next door" and other shenanigans. Usually ones that
jab sharp knives into tender bits of cultural sensitivity without mercy.
Love in Red and Blue (comedy)
A look at the hopelessly irreconcilable Vrellish and Demish views of
love, set in the court of the Demish Golden Age but paralleling the
romantic quadrangle of events covered in the novel Avim's Oath.
The women are a stereotypical Golden Princess and Vrellish hell-raiser,
representing Luthan Dem H'Us and Vretla Vrel. The men are a tongue-tied
Lor'Vrel with a Demish heart but too much Vrellish pride to admit it,
and an excessively earnest Demish prince, frustrated by his inability
to make his libido fall in line with his romantic ideals. The men come
to blows after driving both women half mad, each in her own way. The
Demish prince is wounded, at which point the Vrellish woman wades in
on his behalf, prompting the Demish one to betray her love for the Lor'Vrel.
The play concludes with the Vrellish observation that a little violence
always helps people sort out their priorities.
Lusting for Quality (comedy)
Mocks Demish snobbery masquerading as love of the arts, through the
comedic tale of a popular courtesan who turns out to be the long lost
son of the liege house of the patrons using him in a game of one-upmanship
aimed at impressing each other. The courtesan shines as a sword dancer.
When rescued, he horrifies them all by preferring not to trade his art
for status and running away with the maid who was the only one who really
knew how good he was, sufficiently enriched to found a dancing school
in the next town over.
Ten Child Contract (tragedy)
A heartless look at the forces behind the ten child contract imposed
on Ev'rel and Ava Delm by a court afraid to lose its last tame Purebloods.
Ev'rel portrayed as a rel protagonist but not blameless. Probes flaws
of all models illustrated: Monitum' resistance to outside blood leading
to decline; House Nersal's bloody embrace of challenge rights through
the kinf'stan; the H'Usians' bloodless concentration on the contract,
then being shocked when it blows up in execution. Without Purebloods
of any kind stability is at risk, which is equally obvious. In the end
the decision makers are too morally exhausted by their compromises to
see either Ev'rel or Delm clearly. Except Nersal, which cops out by
abstaining, leaving Monitum holding up the Vrellish end of court affairs
it finds too distasteful to indulge in. (Some liberties taken with actual
events, or at least time frames.)
Sword Shy (tragedy)
Story of a Bryllit Nersallian slated to be heir and much admired, until
he fails to recover his nerve for duelling after a near-fatal injury
on the challenge floor.
Lorel in Black
A humorous but quietly suspicious look at Erien as a callow youth in
the Nersallian fleet, recast as a young Rene Lorel, who learns to manipulate
without sharing the emotions of those he moves among.
Reforming (comedy)
A bit of a jeering poke at Perry D'Aur, for playing the "just
an old space hand looking for middle class respectability" routine
throughout a career astonishingly blessed with successful mekan'stan
relationships of remarkable utility. Not without affection, but written
by someone obliged to take one order too many on the strength of a particular
mekan'stan connection. But although Perry may not be much with a sword,
or a rel-ship in a shakeup, being damn good at getting and keeping the
right mekan'stan is a legitimate Vrellish virtue she is justly admired
for -- no doubt, Eler knew, to her acute discomfiture. A passage featuring
her repression of some Nersallian party animals led critics to wonder
whether a minor character's protestation that she can't "lock me
up without a fight and get away with it" might be getting taken
care of by the play's existence.
Willful (tragedy)
A Lor'Vrellish Ava, concerned with defending the rights of commoners,
is confronted with a gorarelpul who would rather die than be bonded
to his service. He accommodates her but is unable to trust her. She
expresses her devotion fanatically to prove she can be just as trustworthy
without the bonding. Their inability to settle on their roles has tragic
consequences, in circumstances where the gorarelpul does at least prove
her loyalty, but the Ava is forced to grasp that what he wanted most
was sheer obedience.
The Poet Who Couldn't be Cruel
A fanciful tale done in the style of a Demoran legend, that featured
a poet who is barred from greatness in his art by his compassion. He
writes beautifully, but the power of his work lies in the music and
dance sequences that illustrate its unfulfilled promise. Done for a
cultural exchange, Eler even got Amel to do the choreography set to
Reetion flute compositions of Erien's which gave Eler the idea to begin
with, for the sake of the Vrellish force and Lorel virtuosity striving
to overcome the intrinsic simplicity and sweetness of the chosen instrument.
Developed during a time when Eler was riding Amel for not expressing
anything challenging in his poetry, but Amel did not know the dance
work was destined for a play about the issue.
Coming to Power (tragedy)
The story of Ameron's transition from sidelined heir to Ava, during
the Killing War, when his arguments for breaking off the genocidal push
to punish okala'ni Reetions convinces his father to put him on the throne,
over the dead body of his mother. Ameron's first act, to uphold Okal
Rel, must be to execute his father for assassination. Which Avatlan
Lor'Vrel knew before he killed the honorable Trenseel Vrel so dishonorably.
Killing War (tragedy)
Follows the escalation of the Killing War from the point of view of
Ava-Trenseel and a fictional Reetion commander suspitiously akin to
Ann of Rire.
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