Need History Help
Jan. 16th, 2011 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stickmakerCan folks who know more than I about the French Revolution and language review this for drastic fubars? It's part of a fictional history for my Masks universe.
1793 Francis (Le Rapière Rouge) Augereau fights the excesses of the French Revolution openly in a flamboyant costume while working to improve the system from within in his secret identity.
Second son of a prosperous but non-noble merchant family, Francis earned the disfavor of his father by becoming an actor. He favored energetic - even acrobatic - roles, often playing the classic folk figure of the scaramouche clown. He became involved in politics late in 1790, due to his acting mentor's membership in a liberal political assembly. Having developed a talent as a negotiator between actors and actors and management, Francis served much the same role in the political movement and, later, the Republique Française. A quiet, even shy man when not playing an adventurous role, he rarely attracted much attention from political allies and rivals, despite his successes in peacemaking within the disparate and squabbling factions of the Republic.
Francis and his mentor opposed executing Louis XVI and his family. They first advocated exile then, later, life imprisonment. They lost, the royals were executed and both Francis and his mentor fell out of influence. Disgusted with politics, Francis returned to the theater while his mentor remained in politics.
In 1793, as the Terror was just getting underway, Francis's mentor was accused of secret royalist sentiments and imprisoned. No trial was scheduled, but Francis received word from allies that his mentor was targeted for private execution.
Desperate, Francis and others from the theater who knew and admired the man pieced together makeshift disguises, stormed the jail and liberated all the prisoners. In a moment of inspiration, Francis struck a theatrical pose just before exiting, and proclaimed that all those unjustly imprisoned should take heart; Le Rapière Rouge would free them.
The prisoners were smuggled out of France by a hastily improvised organization similar to the Underground Railroad of the United States. Francis realized that there were things he could do as Le Rapière Rouge which were not possible as himself or through the secret organization which he and his fellow theater folk were creating. Moreover, Le Rapière Rouge had struck a chord among many people of widely disparate backgrounds. Francis learned that in the frantic haste of the operation, no-one knew who was in which costume. Even some of those who had participated were soon convinced that Le Rapière Rouge was not one of them, but a mysterious figure who had organized and led the rescue through his bizarre powers.
From this sprang an idea. Francis created a role to play, a larger than life champion of the oppressed. A man in favor of the Revolution but opposed to the excesses of those who had gained control of it. The legend grew, deliberately encouraged by Francis both as himself and his alter ego. Shortly after the Thermidorian Reaction Le Rapière Rouge made a final appearance, atop the Bastille. He bowed, with a sweeping flourish of his hat, announced that sanity had returned and that he was no longer needed. Then he vanished.
Francis Augereau soon retired from politics and returned to acting, which he frequently claimed was more real. He married and had half a dozen children, most of whom also chose the theatrical life. He expanded into producing, then writing, then forming a troupe, and eventually owned his own successful theater. He refused to comment on the Empire, but privately complained that most of what he had fought for died with the crowning of Napoleon. He refused to take action against the new regime, however, except in plays he wrote and rolls he played which indirectly criticized Napoleon through portrayal of fictional or historical characters. Francis lived to an unusually old age, actually long enough to comment - publicly and in his journals - on the US Civil War and see hope in the reconciliation following its end.
Francis learned basic swordplay for some of his stage roles, and through further training and hard experience became arguably the finest swordsman of his time. He was a natural athlete, one of those people capable of doing well at anything they try. He was also intellectually brilliant, with a talent for negotiation. Some of his plays are still produced today, and a few claim him to be the equal of Shakespeare. Whether he had any actual powers is unknown; disregarding the more spectacular feats as stagecraft or pure invention, we are left with an account which could represent either an extraordinary normal human, or a low-level super. What is known for certain is that people provably descended from him have genes for powers. Multiple searches for actual genetic material from Francis Augereau have proven fruitless. Following his wishes, after death he was cremated and his ashes scattered in the wind from the roof of his favorite theater.
There is a huge amount of speculation about the "true" inspiration for Le Rapière Rouge. Some claim that Francis was familiar with the works of Robert Montgomery Bird, and his Nick of the Woods character. Given the completely different personality of Le Rapière Rouge, even if he were familiar with the character Francis did not base his invention on it.
1793 Francis (Le Rapière Rouge) Augereau fights the excesses of the French Revolution openly in a flamboyant costume while working to improve the system from within in his secret identity.
Second son of a prosperous but non-noble merchant family, Francis earned the disfavor of his father by becoming an actor. He favored energetic - even acrobatic - roles, often playing the classic folk figure of the scaramouche clown. He became involved in politics late in 1790, due to his acting mentor's membership in a liberal political assembly. Having developed a talent as a negotiator between actors and actors and management, Francis served much the same role in the political movement and, later, the Republique Française. A quiet, even shy man when not playing an adventurous role, he rarely attracted much attention from political allies and rivals, despite his successes in peacemaking within the disparate and squabbling factions of the Republic.
Francis and his mentor opposed executing Louis XVI and his family. They first advocated exile then, later, life imprisonment. They lost, the royals were executed and both Francis and his mentor fell out of influence. Disgusted with politics, Francis returned to the theater while his mentor remained in politics.
In 1793, as the Terror was just getting underway, Francis's mentor was accused of secret royalist sentiments and imprisoned. No trial was scheduled, but Francis received word from allies that his mentor was targeted for private execution.
Desperate, Francis and others from the theater who knew and admired the man pieced together makeshift disguises, stormed the jail and liberated all the prisoners. In a moment of inspiration, Francis struck a theatrical pose just before exiting, and proclaimed that all those unjustly imprisoned should take heart; Le Rapière Rouge would free them.
The prisoners were smuggled out of France by a hastily improvised organization similar to the Underground Railroad of the United States. Francis realized that there were things he could do as Le Rapière Rouge which were not possible as himself or through the secret organization which he and his fellow theater folk were creating. Moreover, Le Rapière Rouge had struck a chord among many people of widely disparate backgrounds. Francis learned that in the frantic haste of the operation, no-one knew who was in which costume. Even some of those who had participated were soon convinced that Le Rapière Rouge was not one of them, but a mysterious figure who had organized and led the rescue through his bizarre powers.
From this sprang an idea. Francis created a role to play, a larger than life champion of the oppressed. A man in favor of the Revolution but opposed to the excesses of those who had gained control of it. The legend grew, deliberately encouraged by Francis both as himself and his alter ego. Shortly after the Thermidorian Reaction Le Rapière Rouge made a final appearance, atop the Bastille. He bowed, with a sweeping flourish of his hat, announced that sanity had returned and that he was no longer needed. Then he vanished.
Francis Augereau soon retired from politics and returned to acting, which he frequently claimed was more real. He married and had half a dozen children, most of whom also chose the theatrical life. He expanded into producing, then writing, then forming a troupe, and eventually owned his own successful theater. He refused to comment on the Empire, but privately complained that most of what he had fought for died with the crowning of Napoleon. He refused to take action against the new regime, however, except in plays he wrote and rolls he played which indirectly criticized Napoleon through portrayal of fictional or historical characters. Francis lived to an unusually old age, actually long enough to comment - publicly and in his journals - on the US Civil War and see hope in the reconciliation following its end.
Francis learned basic swordplay for some of his stage roles, and through further training and hard experience became arguably the finest swordsman of his time. He was a natural athlete, one of those people capable of doing well at anything they try. He was also intellectually brilliant, with a talent for negotiation. Some of his plays are still produced today, and a few claim him to be the equal of Shakespeare. Whether he had any actual powers is unknown; disregarding the more spectacular feats as stagecraft or pure invention, we are left with an account which could represent either an extraordinary normal human, or a low-level super. What is known for certain is that people provably descended from him have genes for powers. Multiple searches for actual genetic material from Francis Augereau have proven fruitless. Following his wishes, after death he was cremated and his ashes scattered in the wind from the roof of his favorite theater.
There is a huge amount of speculation about the "true" inspiration for Le Rapière Rouge. Some claim that Francis was familiar with the works of Robert Montgomery Bird, and his Nick of the Woods character. Given the completely different personality of Le Rapière Rouge, even if he were familiar with the character Francis did not base his invention on it.
