[color=white][b][u]Forsythian Fantasies[/u][/b][/color] ---------- Monarch Major is my G-52 codename, but my real name is Lionel March. Alternatively, you know me as His Mightiness, King Lionel XVIII of Leonine, one of the many planets in the Forsythe System that no longer exists thanks to CNG being so unhappy with us not wanting to stay behind the times. (The fact is, it just wanted to use us as its puppets to get what it wanted.) In retrospect, we're not really bothered by it. Everything happens for a reason, and we consider it a privilege to bless planet Earth with our musical talents. We are most grateful to Wildcat City for the fact their city believes in preserving history as much as possible, and so if you visit it, you'll find what's called the Royalty Square. This is Mayor Jabowitz's term for the property that was chosen to build 100%-accurate recreations of the royal palaces and castles we lived in. It coincidentally forms a perfect square. To put it in perspective, the palace I live in is diagonally across from the one owned by His Majesty, King Leo V of Kriegland, while to my right, we have the palace of His Grand Highness, King Lacklund VII of 1776, and to my left, the palace of His Exalted Highness, King Ross II. (King Lacklund's home is shaped like a military field drum, or rope-tensioned snare drum, as a staple of the planet of 1776 loving fife and drum music in particular. The rest of us have traditional palaces. Also, my palace and the one King Ross owns are two stories high, while the other two are just one story. The difference now, of course, is that there is modern electricity, air conditioning, and stuff like that; stuff we didn't have back home.) ----------- I've been asked to bring you this announcement given the context of it. As a celebration of how [i]Circus Delights[/i] got its own animated television series for children as a reward for being named an ICH (intangible cultural heritage) of Canada (and that show will air in the U.S. on WBC's children's block), WBC itself is adding us to its lineup of original children's programming to accompany our new all-CGI version of "The Adventures of Drummer Dog." This new show is called "Forsythian Fantasies." It is also a reboot of sorts, because rather than show all the planets as was, it is reimaging specific Forsythian lands as kingdoms and realms on one fantasy planet known simply as "Forsythia." For the purposes of this program, Bengalia is not included on the list, because it was a republic modeled after the U.S. Constitution (although it was a monarchy at first). Instead, we're employing the other planets as the main kingdoms, and adding a few fictional ones based on other worlds we cannot speak about in detail (such as Dark Wolf's world). The show is also following the same method as the show for [i]Circus Delights[/i] by having specific characters voiced by the real thing; i.e., Landon the Labrador provides the voice for his animated self. ---------------- Thus, the kingdoms of Forsythia are as follows, alongside populations of the kingdoms (albeit with slight differences): [color=gold]1. Leonine - populated by lions only, natural and white 2. Kriegland - populated by felines of all sorts, big and small 3. Golbarka - populated by dogs of all types (the real Golbarka had only bulldogs, but for storytelling purposes, it has dogs of all types) 4. Dingoxia - populated by dingoes only; the dingoes all speak with Australian accents 5. 1776 - populated by red, white, and blue tigers 6. Ratatat - populated by rats only; the rats are either white, gray, brown, tan, or a brownish-orange kind of color 7. Foxboroughopolis - populated by foxes only[/color] Dingoxia and Foxbouroughopolis were republics in real life, following Bengalia's example, but for the purposes of our show, they agreed to allow themselves to be reimagined as monarchies with a royal family. (The fact Bengalia wasn't on the list was luck of the draw, but the Bengalians weren't bothered by it; in fact, a good chunk of the staff working on the show is Bengalian.) An actual Forsythian from these places will voice the respective kings in charge. The new fantasy kingdoms added to the world are: [color=gold]1. Eastern Wilds - populated by lions only; natural and white. 2. Northfang - populated by wolves only.[/color] ------------- The show features a mix of made-up characters and recreations of the real monarchs, and so these are the rulers you can expect to see on the show: [color=cyan]1. Leonine - me, King Lionel XVIII (a natural-colored lion, of course) 2. Kriegland - King Leo V (a natural-colored lion) 3. Golbarka - King Jax I (a brown bulldog); the original ruler was a cruel military dictator named Brutus (also a brown bulldog). Elements from the actual Golbarkan Wars we fought against those space pirates are incorporated into the show, but with the names changed to protect the innocent. 4. Dingoxia - King David IV (dingo) 5. 1776 - King Lacklund VII and Prince Lacklund VIII (white tigers); this version of Prince Lacklund eliminates the bratty half-pint issues he used to have in real life, and instead portrays him as a mature prince. 6. Ratatat - King Ross II (rat) 7. Foxboroughopolis - King Frank II (red fox) 8. Eastern Wilds - King Malro I (white lion) 9. Northfang - Duke Karron (gray wolf)[/color] The fact Northfang's ruler is called "Duke" instead of "King" is because its wolves had continued to say "duke" instead of "king," and it just stuck. Duke Karron, however, is an absolute monarch. As mentioned above, while each actual Forsythian monarch is voicing themselves in this show, WBC hired other talent from the matching planets to voice the respective kings, so we'll have a dingo from Dingoxia voicing King David, a bulldog from Golbarka voicing King Jax (and also Brutus), and a fox from Foxborougopolis voicing King Frank II. One of Dark Wolf's troops selected from his musical unit, Black Wolf Troop 222, was selected to voice Duke Karron, while Lionel Craig (the drum major lion, not the motorcycle champion that was D.W.'s rival for a time in Supercross) will voice King Malro. -------------- By the luck of the draw, the main story arc centers around me and my kingdom, but it will also explore how much we had in common with Kriegland, especially when you consider the similarities in presentation. Our royal banners always contain a gold lion's face on a blue background; if you change blue to purple, you get the Krieglandonian emblem. Likewise, I wear a royal blue drum major uniform, even though I march on my bare paws. King Leo's uniform is purple for the same reason. (If you're curious about the other two, King Ross's royal banner is a silver treble clef on a navy blue background, even though the flag of Ratatat had a three vertical stripes: a brown, black, and white stripe. A variation of this flag has a picture of a rat's face wearing a crown in the middle stripe; when King Ross was recruited to serve the G-52s as Regal Rat, named after Snare Soldier's iconic drum solo of the same name, the same rat's face image was placed in the center of his chest.) I can't give any spoiler alerts apart from the ones I am giving here, but it is a fact the first episodes will tell the story of how I came to the throne. They don't quite match the real story, but it is essential to tell the story properly because we are reimagining our homes as kingdoms of one planet instead of multiple planets. --------- So what is the real story, you ask? It was simple inheritance; that's all. It almost didn't happen, though, because a great storm did major damage to Leonine, and the royal family's records were thought to be destroyed. It didn't help that the storm separated me and the queen mother (my mother), and so I wandered for a while, not knowing I was royalty. (In the show, an invasion from Golbarka's dictator adds to the problem.) DNA tests had to be done to prove that I was the rightful heir to the throne, but we did manage to do those without Golbarkan interference (because those space pirates were causing problems, and they were trying to destroy the records, but the storms prevented them from doing anything). Fortunately, I still had formal education, schooling, music lessons, etiquette lessons, etc., so that by the time I was able to enter the royal palace for the very first time, I could do so in a very professional manner. Eventually, the big coronation day came, and because Leonine had radio at the time, but not television, my coronation serves as the most-listened to broadcast in the history of the kingdom. (The fantasy series does not use any modern technology to keep with the fantasy theme.) This is why I can reveal that my father was King Rory IV, while my mother was Queen Leah III. ----------- More information is to come, so stay tuned. Thanks for letting me bend your ear, and have a pleasant day or night, depending on where you live and what time it is right now. ------------ [color=yellow][b]THE END[/b][/color]