The Beaver King, A Cautionary Tale of Medieval Dysfunction

Out of all the characters in the Beaverton Kingdom, This Minstrelle must declare her vitriol and bias whilst singing his song. To know Little Lord Brentin is to despise him. He is the second born son of the Beaver King and Queen Brystal. Due to The Turning (Baylor the Brave’s departure) he is the heir apparent of the Log Cabin Castle and the Beaverton Kingdom.

Little Lord Brentin is in his early 20’s. He is of average height and has a slender but soft build. He is not weak, but shall we say unused. His scruffy beard is maintained poorly, with his hair often unkempt beneath his crown. He wears his robes carelessly, and no matter what the ceremony he will alway been seen wearing a specialty type of shoe. After three winters of refusing to wear boots the cobblers of Beaverton made him an imitation set of shoes from the neighboring realm of Belmarche. He refers to them as Maison de Conversé, though many think it is just another example of his pretentiousness. His appearance signals status without discipline, a Prince who expects authority to compensate for effort.

He is entitled, reactive, and performative. Little Lord Brentin carries himself with the confidence of someone who has never been adequately put in his place. LLB (as he is affectionally called by the Dowager Queen) is King Robert’s mirror, but not his equal. This clearly leaves room for his sociopathy to be perfected as the years pass on in Solipsia. Brentin has learned that:

• Power comes from reaction, not responsibility
• Lies will work if delivered with confidence
• Outbursts are forgiven if followed by sulking
• Accountability can always be deferred.

He is impulsive, jealous, and deeply insecure, but within the Beaverton walls those traits were protected and not corrected. The Beaver King sees Little Lord Brentin as familiar, understandable, and just like him. Therefore, when LLB behaves beneath his station it is minimized, reframed, and blamed on others. This Minstrelle has found based on experience it will be the women in the family due to our weak constitutions. It would appear on the surface that King Robert is not teaching him to rule, he is teaching him to expect. Due to the Turning LLB views his new status of Heir Apparent not as a burden but a validation. Inside, The Beneficiary was ecstatic with his brother’s Abdication.

The Beaver King has but one hesitation to calling the Houses of Beaverton to swear obeisance to their new Prince. It was the Dowager Queen Brynda who first taught the court how to speak of Brentin’s possible fondness for men without ever naming it, framing truth as a concern and desire as a deviation. With a sigh here, and a lowered voice there, she seeded the idea that his attachments ran contrary to the expectation, repeating in Court just often enough that others would carry it for her. The language she chose was careful, moral, ruinously effective, transforming private trysts into public euphemism. By the time whispers hardened into potential custom, her role had vanished entirely, leaving behind only a lesson the court would remember: that some rumors endure not because they are hidden, but because they are taught. Even though The Beaver King spent a few minutes longer than he would like ruminating on these whispers, he ultimately refused to acknowledge the insinuations. After all, he learned from his Mother, the Dowager Queen that familial harm, when delivered as concern, is best ignored rather than named.

He truly believes that his lifestyle is sanctioned. He feels that his behavior will never meet resistance. He has convinced himself that the throne is a prize he deserves and is arrogant enough to believe that The Beaver King engineered this outcome for him. In his vapid mind he thinks “If Baylor wont be King, then it must be mine, and it will be if the system remains unchanged.”

Queen Brystal does not intervene with LLB. She allows the patterns to retreat and treats his behavior as inevitable. Her silence functions to him as approval. He knows that his Mother is not a force to stop him, thus emotional harm has no consequence and discomfort can always be absorbed by someone else.

Little Lord Brentin lies experimentally. He watches how his Father has done it and tests the variations; half truths, denials, and emotional reversals. When, or if confronted, he smirks, deflects, and plays offended. He is still learning, but he is learning quickly.

Little Lord Brentin is competitive with siblings, cruel to those beneath him, and insecure around those who see thru him. He is especially threatened by calm resistance or anyone who refuses to react.

This Minstrelle can only imagine his newest betrothal agreement is less about affection and more about control.

Brentin isn’t the worst outcome of Beaverton. He is the INTENDED outcome.