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Fandom Overview: Kushiel's Legacy
Hello! I am very pleased to commandeer the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
crack_van and take you on a delicious ride to damnation and beyond; I have sworn it Terre d'Ange! I have struggled with how much detail to go into, because pretty much anything past the first book is guaranteed to be spoilerific, but thank goodness we have lj-cuts and spoiler tags.
These are my very favorite books and my very favorite fictional world! Bear with me as I wax poetic, which is actually fairly canon.
Basic Premise
Alternate medieval France where the inhabitants are descended from angels and a masochistic courtesan must save the realm.
(Lots of kink. Very LGBT and BDSM friendly.)
Backstory
When Yeshua ben Yosef hung dying on the cross, his blood ensanguined the earth's soil and mixed with the Magdalene's tears. From the womb of the Earth sprang Blessed Elua, a first overlooked and then cherished angel whose sacred precept is Love as thou wilt.
And this he did. He traveled the world, with flowers springing up in his footsteps and animals coming to dote upon him. Various nations reacted in various ways – fear, apathy, treachery. Several angels really dug his happy free-love vibe and left heaven to wander with him. Naamah, who laid down with kings to free Elua from captivity and then lay with commoners to feed him; Kushiel, punisher of hell who loved his charges too much and was drawn to Elua's sacred precept; Azza, full of pride; Anael, who brought husbandry to the people; Shemhazai who brought knowledge; Camael the warrior; Eisheth the healer; and Cassiel, the Perfect Companion who, alone among the fallen angels, maintained the One God's traditions but protected Elua out of a sense of duty that even the One God had forgotten.
Cassiel alone remained chaste and acted as Elua's bodyguard. The rest Loved as thou wilt across the land, dividing up France and begetting pseudo-angelic offspring until the One God and Earth called them off to the Terre d'Ange beyond.
Kushiel's Dart
Phèdre is a child born to a Servant of Naamah in the Court of Night-blooming Flowers (called the Night Court by any but the most provincial). The Night Court, in the City of Elua, is comprised of Terre d'Ange's world-renown pleasure-houses, where they view love-making as both an art and a form of worship. Each of the thirteen houses of the Night Court is named for a night-blooming flower and holds to a specific canon: perfection, devotion, pleasure, joy, modesty, truth & vision, healing, wealth, dignity, fragility, the arts, dominance, submission.
Phèdre's mother is of Jasmine House, the house of sensuality and pleasure. Unfortunately, her father is a minor son and a spendthrift, so Phèdre finds herself sold as a bond-servant into Cereus House, first among all houses. She is deemed unfit to serve as a Servant of Naamah, due to a red blood-prick in her eye. It has been so long since the world saw an anguisette, someone god-touched by Kushiel so that she finds pleasure in pain, that even the First House does not recognize her for what she is.
Anafiel Delaunay, disgraced poet, does. He buys her marque, teaches her the arts of covertcy in addition to Naamah's arts, and unleashes her - along with adopted-brother Alcuin - upon the higher realms of nobility that are barred to him after making an enemy of someone very powerful.
Of course, what follows is lots of kinky sex, treasonous actions, various puzzle-piecing, adventure, honor, duty, sword fights, torture, poison, true love, revenge, giants... Oh, wait, wrong fandom. No giants, but it does have one pissed-off giant angel. And a miracle or two (no deus-ex-machina though).
Un-spoilerific look at books 2 & 3 of the first trilogy
Kushiel's Chosen: Book 2 – Phèdre hunts for the biggest, baddest traitor from Book 1. Now with more pirates!
Kushiel's Avatar: Book 3 – As if saving the realm once or twice wasn't enough, Phèdre must now save the world from the greatest evil that it has ever known. More cultures! More magic! More darkness! (TW: noncon – Sorta. She goes willingly only because she has to.)
Spoilerific look at the second trilogy: Seriously spoils the first trilogy. Read those first!
The second trilogy is known as theImriel “Imri” Trilogy. It's like the original Kushiel's Legacy trilogy, Second Generation.
Imriel de la Courcel de Montrève is now Phèdre's foster-son. The first book in this trilogy is his coming-of-age story as he struggles to leave all of the suspicion and taint of his traitorous parentage behind. He runs away to Tiberium (Rome) to find out information about where Anafiel Delaunay learned the arts of covertcy.
Book 2 sees him accepting his duties and actively fighting Elua's precept. A closer look at Alba!
Book 3 – Imri must save the realm from a magical spell that threatens not just Terre d'Ange but the whole world.
Naamah's Trilogy/Moirin's Trilogy (I'll be honest – not really my favorite, so I probably won't focus on it a lot. I'll see what fic is out there though.)
Set several generations after the first two trilogies, Naamah's Kiss follows Moirin, half-D'Angeline born to Alba's Maghuin Dhonn, an earthy, magical folk. Moirin embarks on a quest to understand the magical abilities she inherited from the Maghuin Dhonn and the sensual reverence she inherited from her unknown D'Angeline father - and, of course, she must travel to Ch'in to save a princess possessed by a celestial dragon.
Naamah's Curse sees Moirin setting off to save her dude-in-distress as they both come to grips with her dual-magical inheritances.
Naamah's Blessing – Dammit, D'Angelines just won't stop messing with angels and demons! Moirin must now travel to the New World to set right what a renegade D'Angeline set wrong...with her help.
A look at the characters and their usual pairings. I actually love gen and just character/world exploration, but given how sex-charged the books are canonically, fanfic really goes all out with interesting erotic interludes.
Phèdre nó Delaunay de Montrève - Our intrepid, masochistic heroine. Usually paired with everyone.
Joscelin Verruil - Cassiline Brother; Phèdre's oath-sworn protector; Phèdre's consort . Usually paired with Phèdre, though sometimes given a role as mostly-observer/sometimes participant in Phèdre's assignations.
Hyacinthe - Phèdre's best friend, seer, really important not-gonna-spoil-it character after book 1. Usually paired with Phèdre, occasionally with Phèdre & Joscelin, sometimes with any or all of Alba's nobility.
Ysandre de la Courcel - Queen of Terre d'Ange and strong female character with simmering passion that she doesn't get to show in public. Lots of Phèdre/Ysandre fic out there.
Melisande Shahrizai - Scion of Kushiel, Phèdre's patron, their lives bound together in more ways than 3. Melisande is amazing, y'all. Just saying. Phèdre/Melisande is amazing in canon and out of it, but we also see her paired with Anafiel a lot. Sometimes Joscelin, just to see him squirm.
Anafiel Delaunay - Phèdre's foster-father. Sometimes they're paired together, but more often we see him with Melisande or Alcuin.
Alcuin nó Delaunay - Phèdre's foster-brother. Ditto above.
Imriel - Often paired with his cousin Mavros (<--hotness! I love Mavros even if he's not a main character), sometimes Phèdre, Sidonie de la Courcel (Ysandre's daughter), Maslin (his kinda-enemy/Sidonie's suitor).
Favrielle nó Eglantine - Surly couturier (fashion designer) and fan-favorite. Even though she's a minor character, I really think some of the best fic is Favrielle-fic.
Barquiel L'Envers - Delaunay's nemesis (one of them, anyway), Ysandre's uncle, Big Dude at Court, possibly gone native after too much time in Kebbel-im-Akkad. The dude everyone loves to hate. Show Barquiel some love, people! I may be the only one who really likes the guy (even in canon), but I do, so I'm including him.
Nicola L'Envers y Aragon - Cousin of Barquiel, patron of Phèdre, she ties a good knot. Lots of yummy shibari fic out there. Often paired with Phèdre, sometimes Joscelin, various Shahrizai characters. I thought Ysandre, too, but I'm not seeing any with a quick search. I'll look harder. If not, we should totally get that going.
Fandom Links!
eluaschildren All fic, all the time
kushiel_trilogy Kushiel discussion community
kushielexchange Fic & art exchange community that is just getting started. Jump in now!
night_court A little dead at the moment, but a Night Court sorting community. I'm a mod there.
Jacqueline Carey - Author website
Rod & Weal - Great info on the books. Used to be just a reference, but looks like they've added RP now.
Kushiel's Legacy Wiki
Kushiel RPG and Kushiel RPG – OOC list - Kushiel Roleplaying Game! Play-by-email; original characters. Disclaimer: This one's mine! Has just been rebooted for a new game. Come on in! Set 200 yrs before Dart takes place, so that's really the only one you need to have read.
Edited to add:
kushielsorting - Noble House (as opposed to Night Court) sorting community
FuckYeahKushielsLegacy - Tumblr
Night's Doorstep - DeviantART
crack_van and take you on a delicious ride to These are my very favorite books and my very favorite fictional world! Bear with me as I wax poetic, which is actually fairly canon.
Basic Premise
Alternate medieval France where the inhabitants are descended from angels and a masochistic courtesan must save the realm.
(Lots of kink. Very LGBT and BDSM friendly.)
Backstory
When Yeshua ben Yosef hung dying on the cross, his blood ensanguined the earth's soil and mixed with the Magdalene's tears. From the womb of the Earth sprang Blessed Elua, a first overlooked and then cherished angel whose sacred precept is Love as thou wilt.
And this he did. He traveled the world, with flowers springing up in his footsteps and animals coming to dote upon him. Various nations reacted in various ways – fear, apathy, treachery. Several angels really dug his happy free-love vibe and left heaven to wander with him. Naamah, who laid down with kings to free Elua from captivity and then lay with commoners to feed him; Kushiel, punisher of hell who loved his charges too much and was drawn to Elua's sacred precept; Azza, full of pride; Anael, who brought husbandry to the people; Shemhazai who brought knowledge; Camael the warrior; Eisheth the healer; and Cassiel, the Perfect Companion who, alone among the fallen angels, maintained the One God's traditions but protected Elua out of a sense of duty that even the One God had forgotten.
Cassiel alone remained chaste and acted as Elua's bodyguard. The rest Loved as thou wilt across the land, dividing up France and begetting pseudo-angelic offspring until the One God and Earth called them off to the Terre d'Ange beyond.
Kushiel's Dart
Phèdre is a child born to a Servant of Naamah in the Court of Night-blooming Flowers (called the Night Court by any but the most provincial). The Night Court, in the City of Elua, is comprised of Terre d'Ange's world-renown pleasure-houses, where they view love-making as both an art and a form of worship. Each of the thirteen houses of the Night Court is named for a night-blooming flower and holds to a specific canon: perfection, devotion, pleasure, joy, modesty, truth & vision, healing, wealth, dignity, fragility, the arts, dominance, submission.
Phèdre's mother is of Jasmine House, the house of sensuality and pleasure. Unfortunately, her father is a minor son and a spendthrift, so Phèdre finds herself sold as a bond-servant into Cereus House, first among all houses. She is deemed unfit to serve as a Servant of Naamah, due to a red blood-prick in her eye. It has been so long since the world saw an anguisette, someone god-touched by Kushiel so that she finds pleasure in pain, that even the First House does not recognize her for what she is.
Anafiel Delaunay, disgraced poet, does. He buys her marque, teaches her the arts of covertcy in addition to Naamah's arts, and unleashes her - along with adopted-brother Alcuin - upon the higher realms of nobility that are barred to him after making an enemy of someone very powerful.
Of course, what follows is lots of kinky sex, treasonous actions, various puzzle-piecing, adventure, honor, duty, sword fights, torture, poison, true love, revenge, giants... Oh, wait, wrong fandom. No giants, but it does have one pissed-off giant angel. And a miracle or two (no deus-ex-machina though).
Un-spoilerific look at books 2 & 3 of the first trilogy
Kushiel's Chosen: Book 2 – Phèdre hunts for the biggest, baddest traitor from Book 1. Now with more pirates!
Kushiel's Avatar: Book 3 – As if saving the realm once or twice wasn't enough, Phèdre must now save the world from the greatest evil that it has ever known. More cultures! More magic! More darkness! (TW: noncon – Sorta. She goes willingly only because she has to.)
Spoilerific look at the second trilogy: Seriously spoils the first trilogy. Read those first!
The second trilogy is known as the
Imriel de la Courcel de Montrève is now Phèdre's foster-son. The first book in this trilogy is his coming-of-age story as he struggles to leave all of the suspicion and taint of his traitorous parentage behind. He runs away to Tiberium (Rome) to find out information about where Anafiel Delaunay learned the arts of covertcy.
Book 2 sees him accepting his duties and actively fighting Elua's precept. A closer look at Alba!
Book 3 – Imri must save the realm from a magical spell that threatens not just Terre d'Ange but the whole world.
Naamah's Trilogy/Moirin's Trilogy (I'll be honest – not really my favorite, so I probably won't focus on it a lot. I'll see what fic is out there though.)
Set several generations after the first two trilogies, Naamah's Kiss follows Moirin, half-D'Angeline born to Alba's Maghuin Dhonn, an earthy, magical folk. Moirin embarks on a quest to understand the magical abilities she inherited from the Maghuin Dhonn and the sensual reverence she inherited from her unknown D'Angeline father - and, of course, she must travel to Ch'in to save a princess possessed by a celestial dragon.
Naamah's Curse sees Moirin setting off to save her dude-in-distress as they both come to grips with her dual-magical inheritances.
Naamah's Blessing – Dammit, D'Angelines just won't stop messing with angels and demons! Moirin must now travel to the New World to set right what a renegade D'Angeline set wrong...with her help.
A look at the characters and their usual pairings. I actually love gen and just character/world exploration, but given how sex-charged the books are canonically, fanfic really goes all out with interesting erotic interludes.
Phèdre nó Delaunay de Montrève - Our intrepid, masochistic heroine. Usually paired with everyone.
Joscelin Verruil - Cassiline Brother; Phèdre's oath-sworn protector;
Hyacinthe - Phèdre's best friend, seer, really important not-gonna-spoil-it character after book 1. Usually paired with Phèdre, occasionally with Phèdre & Joscelin, sometimes with any or all of Alba's nobility.
Ysandre de la Courcel - Queen of Terre d'Ange and strong female character with simmering passion that she doesn't get to show in public. Lots of Phèdre/Ysandre fic out there.
Melisande Shahrizai - Scion of Kushiel, Phèdre's patron, their lives bound together in more ways than 3. Melisande is amazing, y'all. Just saying. Phèdre/Melisande is amazing in canon and out of it, but we also see her paired with Anafiel a lot. Sometimes Joscelin, just to see him squirm.
Anafiel Delaunay - Phèdre's foster-father. Sometimes they're paired together, but more often we see him with Melisande or Alcuin.
Alcuin nó Delaunay - Phèdre's foster-brother. Ditto above.
Imriel - Often paired with his cousin Mavros (<--hotness! I love Mavros even if he's not a main character), sometimes Phèdre, Sidonie de la Courcel (Ysandre's daughter), Maslin (his kinda-enemy/Sidonie's suitor).
Favrielle nó Eglantine - Surly couturier (fashion designer) and fan-favorite. Even though she's a minor character, I really think some of the best fic is Favrielle-fic.
Barquiel L'Envers - Delaunay's nemesis (one of them, anyway), Ysandre's uncle, Big Dude at Court, possibly gone native after too much time in Kebbel-im-Akkad. The dude everyone loves to hate. Show Barquiel some love, people! I may be the only one who really likes the guy (even in canon), but I do, so I'm including him.
Nicola L'Envers y Aragon - Cousin of Barquiel, patron of Phèdre, she ties a good knot. Lots of yummy shibari fic out there. Often paired with Phèdre, sometimes Joscelin, various Shahrizai characters. I thought Ysandre, too, but I'm not seeing any with a quick search. I'll look harder. If not, we should totally get that going.
Fandom Links!
eluaschildren All fic, all the timekushiel_trilogy Kushiel discussion communitykushielexchange Fic & art exchange community that is just getting started. Jump in now!night_court A little dead at the moment, but a Night Court sorting community. I'm a mod there.Jacqueline Carey - Author website
Rod & Weal - Great info on the books. Used to be just a reference, but looks like they've added RP now.
Kushiel's Legacy Wiki
Kushiel RPG and Kushiel RPG – OOC list - Kushiel Roleplaying Game! Play-by-email; original characters. Disclaimer: This one's mine! Has just been rebooted for a new game. Come on in! Set 200 yrs before Dart takes place, so that's really the only one you need to have read.
Edited to add:
kushielsorting - Noble House (as opposed to Night Court) sorting communityFuckYeahKushielsLegacy - Tumblr
Night's Doorstep - DeviantART
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I am so excited to see this fandom on Crack Van!
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Would that I had such problems with my own work though. lol Can't complain too much! Love JC and the amazing world she created, and I'm happy and eager for another look whenever I get the chance. :D
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I added a few extra fandom links that someone shared with me.
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