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Nerdiday: Let Them Eat Cake!

Posted by Kim on October 16, 2012, 12:59pm

Marie_Antoinette_1767.jpg
The excesses of breath-taking wealth, the crumbling of a monarchy, the madness and blood of sudden freedom...
219 years ago today, Marie Antoinette, ultimate symbol of the corruption that led to the French Revolution and a pop culture darling even to this day, made her final walk to the guillotine.

When confronted by a pauper pleading that she stop spending the entire national fortune on frivolity when the rest of the country did not even have hard black bread to eat, she famously responded:
"Let them eat cake."
For you see, dear Marie did not know it was possible to live in a world where there wasn't a buffet full of options, where running out of maggot-ridden bread meant you had run out of everything.

When the French peasantry rose up and put the nobles who had tortured them for so long to death, it spread dangerous ideas like democracy and the abolishment of slavery around the world, igniting class struggles or revolutions everywhere the news spread -- And plunged France itself into one of the darkest and bloodiest periods of its entire history, as the newly freed people turned on one another as well.

To this day, it remains a source of inspiration and nightmare for thinkers of all stripes. It is a theme that plays out over and over in literature -- and in roleplay. Strife, tragedy, redemption, pride, catastrophe, struggle, oppression, what greater backdrop for sweeping, tangled plots?

Today, let's write dark stories together, and remember where they come from.

Parade of Characters


Violent revolutionaries and spoiled or wicked nobles are invited to show their colors in a parade of characters. These two character types should get to know one another -- infinite games of cat and mouse, oppression and resistance await them!

Join the parade, find a new RP partner, or just come to cheer on the marchers!

New Templates


Sweet tooth? Let Them Eat Cake in chocolate or vanilla!

letthemeatcakevanilla.png letthemeatcakechocolate.png

Thank you to Sanne for the design of these scrumptious templates. Even though "cake" meant a loaf of fancy white bread at the time, we couldn't resist adding some sugar.

Darker deeds? Try the Eve of the Revolution!

eveoftherevolution.png dawnoftherevolution.png

Comments

Dragonfire

October 17, 2012
8:18pm

Oooh, cake! Lovely new themes!

I'm pretty sure none of my characters fit the theme, so I'll just sit back and enjoy some cake. :3

RexDraco

October 17, 2012
8:00am

Cake! We should have this. Also those themes are awesome. The colors are oh so sweet but also satisfy my dark side for cookies.

Legion

October 16, 2012
4:19pm

ressurect then lily?

TheLily

October 16, 2012
4:10pm

Man! If Faer had her own profile and wasn't abandoned under my D&D stuff of characters I don't use, I would shove her into one of those raven profiles!

Highjinx

October 16, 2012
3:49pm

WOO! Themes!

ferabird

October 16, 2012
2:40pm

I forsee all of those templates getting a good bit of use! Nicely done.

Dylan

October 16, 2012
2:11pm

Those cake templates are adorable!

Legion

October 16, 2012
2:04pm

Awesome, the reaper with the crow will be perfect for my necromancer idea

Kim

October 16, 2012
1:38pm

I'm so glad you like them, guys! The parade seems to be filling up in a hurry, too. :D

Sanne

October 16, 2012
1:38pm

YAAAY CAKE! I had so much fun with those templates. <3 Everything in them is hand drawn! Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for sugar comas or dented walls from all the hyper bouncing. XD

Rubix

October 16, 2012
1:29pm

Oh my these are AWESOME! HAVE SO MANY IDEAS NOW!!! *RUNS OFF!*

Darth_Angelus

October 16, 2012
1:13pm

I'm trying to eat this news post, those cakes look delicious :D

fallensiner

October 16, 2012
1:06pm

Awesome! These look amazing, and the introduction was wonderful as well. Thankyou for the hardwork.

Sadrain

October 16, 2012
1:00pm

Thank you for the new themes! Quite the way to introduce them!