In the character of Rene the Great my interest in history intersected with my fantasy universe in a most fortunate manner. During the spring of 1999 I became fascinated with the historical figure of Louis XIV of France, the Sun King. While reading a biography of the young Sun King, I was struck by a sudden image of the boy king in tattered finery peering through the window of a modern suburban home, watching the American children playing within.
Although the idea was absurd and unworkable, the image wouldn't leave me alone. Finally realizing that the name "Rene" had the same sort of dynastic significance to the de Montaignes of the Swamp Kingdom that "Louis" had held for the Bourbons of France, I realized I could do it as an Ixilon story. Thus the boy king became Rene XIV, exiled from beautiful Sainte Genevieve through a worldgate by his wicked uncle Sebastian, wizard and usurper.
This story, with the working title of Young Rene XIV, would be a sort of crossover-in-reverse. Instead of young people from the mundane world being summoned to the magical world to save the magic prince, the magic king would come to the mundane world. Only when he solved a problem here would he be able to go back to Ixilon and regain the Cypress Throne.
However, the Sun King proved too potent a figure to lift so easily or lightly, and I soon discovered that there was much more to Rene the Great than the boy king exiled into present-day America. Like Louis XIV, he proved to be a long-lived and dynamic ruler, the longest-lived of any human ruler in Ixilon. Like the founder of the de Montaigne dynasty, King Rene was one of the Admiral-Kings, who bore the magical Admiral's Gift that was the foundation of the strength of the Swamp Kingdom's Navy. Rene the Great fought terrible wars and in his old age even had to face down an attempt by his own sons to usurp the throne under the mistaken assumption that he was in his dotage. There will be at least three novels about Rene the Great, and who knows how many stories.
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This page last updated March 15, 2000
