The Kingdom of Naroni

""Wedding this, pregnancy that, someone's dead and everywhere you look there's a kid with the duke's face.""

- Sparron, Leaning on the Fourth Wall to more or less sum up the story.

The Kingdom of Naroni is an ongoing Machinomic illustrated with The Sims 2. The series debuted as a possible Royal Kingdom Challenge, but the author abandoned the idea of a free-play blog very quickly, instead opting to use the game to stage the illustrations for a pre-scripted story.

The serial takes place in the titular kingdom, which is located somewhere in continental Europe (though the occasional hint and outright Word of God indicate that it is somewhere in the France/Spain area) from the year 1155 A.D. onward. Its genre is somewhat ambiguous, possibly a Fantasy or possibly Historical Fiction (although if one were to classify it as such, it would be an admittedly historically-inaccurate one). The story stars an Ensemble Cast and features several story arcs, both completed and ongoing.

The story can be found here.

Tropes
"Falidor: We're all hypocrites, I guess. Perhaps you should just outlaw hypocrisy. Severin: Ah, but if we are all hypocrites, would it not be hypocritical to outlaw hypocrisy?"
 * Absolute Cleavage - Holladrin.
 * Arranged Marriage - All over the place.
 * Severin and Alina kick off the plot by subverting this trope (Alina was supposed to marry Severin's older brother) and running away together.
 * The Arranged Marriage of Alina's niece Lileina and Medea's younger brother Cambrin introduces many of the relatives left back in Dovia, and is the setting for.
 * Severin's refusal to do this to his children is often a bone of contention between him and other nobles.
 * King Roderick, on the other hand, is only too eager to do this to his children.
 * And many more ...
 * Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence -
 * Attractive Bent Gender - Ashe didn't turn out too badly.
 * For a community challenge, the author did a gender-swapped version of a post involving Severin, Alina, and Laralita. A male reader commented on Girl-Severin's appearance.
 * Bi the Way - Searle Kemorin and likely Aydelle as well. Also possibly Ailede and Geneva.
 * Blonde, Brunette, Redhead - Holladrin (blonde), Celina (brunette), Alina (redhead).
 * Also Rona (blonde), Hilla Diarn (brunette), Riona Kemorin (redhead).
 * Bonding Over Missing Parents - Celina and Aldhein do this in one post, noting that both of their mothers died giving birth to them.
 * Bonus Material - Quite a few extras links for a machinomic...
 * Break His Heart to Save Him -
 * Bungled Suicide -.
 * Cerebus Syndrome - Many of the early posts are comedic in nature, but these now seem to be in decline in favor of more dramatic or at least two-sided posts.
 * Character Alignment - As an extra, the author once whipped up a Dorkly-esque alignment chart featuring nine of the characters in the various slots. The chart can be viewed here.
 * Top row: Celina is Lawful Good, Severin is Neutral Good, Florian is Chaotic Good.
 * Middle row: Falidor is Lawful Neutral, Octavius is True Neutral, Geneva is Chaotic Neutral.
 * Bottom row: Roderick is Lawful Evil, Aldhein is Neutral Evil, Deian is Chaotic Evil.
 * Character Development - The story begins with an almost experimental feel, as if the author is playing around with different ideas and trying to figure out just who they are. As it progresses, the characters grow stronger and more distinct.
 * Chekhov's Gun - Remember that pond where everyone used to have sex?
 * Childhood Friend Romance - Severin and Alina.
 * The Dovia Diaries prequels also show Octavius entertaining a little of this for.
 * Christianity Is Catholic - Sort of justified considering the time period.
 * Crazy Enough to Work -
 * Deadpan Snarker - Florian, and a few other characters on occasion.
 * Death by Childbirth - A few instances, most notably.
 * Death Is Dramatic - Demonstrated by the fact that the deaths of major characters like  got more emphasis and buildup than the deaths of characters like.
 * Death Notification - Happens on occasion, particularly near the beginning of the serial.
 * Death of the Hypotenuse -  and.
 * Decoy Protagonist - At the start, it looks like it's going to be a story about Roderick. Enter Severin.
 * Died in Your Arms Tonight - In perhaps the biggest Tear Jerker of a post to date,
 * Dirty Old Monk - Fathers Quartus, Quintus, Sextus and Septimus.
 * Double In-Law Marriage -
 * Driven to Suicide -  Also,
 * Dying Moment of Awesome - While the actual event occurs between posts, most readers seem to agree that
 * Eats Babies - Deian, apparently.
 * According to Brother Remiel's bio page, he once ate a kitten.
 * Ensemble Cast - The various storylines also allow for Rotating Protagonists.
 * Everybody Has Lots of Sex - ...seriously.
 * Everyone Is Related - This is particularly true of the painfully inbred nobility.
 * Formerly Fat - Garrett, apparently.
 * For the Evulz - Deian.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble - The original noblemen: Severin is sanguine, King Roderick is choleric, Octavius is melancholic, Dalston is phlegmatic.
 * The original noblewomen too: Alina is melancholic, Geneva is sanguine, Medea is choleric, Celina is phlegmatic.
 * This could also apply to Severin and Alina's daughters (Raia = sanguine, Viridis = phlegmatic, Riona = choleric, Vera = melancholic).
 * Also, Isidro and his three cousins (Augustin = choleric, Bernardo = sanguine, Casimiro = phlegmatic, Isidro = melancholic).
 * Freudian Excuse - A few instances:
 * Much of Severin's behaviour in the beginning seems to be rooted in trying to be the exact opposite of his father.
 * Aldhein also shows this tendency. His father was an abusive drunk who ended up dragging him all around Dovia and relied on him for everything.
 * Isidro's self-esteem has been virtually wiped out by his father--this after.
 * Searle. Minara.
 * Gayngst - There is an entire ongoing arc about this. The angst gets to the point where
 * Gender Bender - A rare female-to-male example occurs when . All things considered, however, this could possibly work out.
 * Geographic Flexibility - The size and population of Naroni are both quite ambiguous. Also, new castles just seem to appear out of nowhere whenever someone is knighted
 * Granted, a lot of time passes between individual posts (usually at least a month), so maybe that excuses it.
 * Get It Over With - Searle Minara doesn't seem content to wait for death.
 * Girlfriend in Canada - Inverted with a male suitor Aspen made up to dissuade Rona from trying to set her up with random boys. Hilla calls the bluff, noting inconsistencies in both the man's name and his occupation.
 * God Before Dogma - This seems to be Severin's philosophy.
 * Good Bad Girl - Aydelle, Riala, and arguably Geneva.
 * Head Desk - Octavius does this a couple times.
 * Heir Club for Men - Comes up every now and again. Unfortunately for Crown Princess Jeda, the royal family has a particularly strong subscription to this mentality.
 * Heroic Bastard - Severin.
 * Hot Dad - Due to the combined forces of Older Than They Look, Everybody Has Lots of Sex, and the fact that the story is set in a time before birth control was a societal staple, pretty much any fertile, reasonably attractive, heterosexual/bisexual male character eventually becomes this.
 * Hot Mom - Same as the above, only for the ladies.
 * Human Sacrifice -
 * Hypocrisy Nod - A couple instances.

"Deian: You might want to take that baby out of my sight, though; I'll admit that I'm feeling a tad peckish."
 * I Am Not My Father - Severin
 * I'm a Humanitarian - Deian and Co.

"Thetis: ] aren't of that sort. Florian: Thetis, this is Naroni. Everyone is of that sort."
 * In the Hood - Geneva does this at one point. It seems to work.
 * It Is Not Your Time - . Also, in one arc,
 * Kissing Cousins - Any two nobles are pretty much guaranteed to be related somehow, so there is plenty of this.
 * Lampshade Hanging - Done on occasion, usually by means of Florian.


 * Last Kiss -.
 * Law of Inverse Fertility - Played with somewhat in regards to Severin and Alina, who  Also, Medea,
 * There's also Ietrin, who
 * Like Father, Like Son -
 * Lipstick Lesbian - Princess Camaline.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters - To the point where One Steve Limit is meaningless.
 * Locked Away in a Monastery - This seems to be the ultimate fear of most of the ruling class.
 * Happened to Severin briefly, before he decided to give society the finger and run off with his brother's betrothed.
 * Long Hair Is Feminine - Averted, as many of the major male characters have long-ish hair despite being portrayed as masculine.
 * Love Dodecahedron - Cord courts Asalaye, who has a Foe Yay-filled Will They or Won't They? relationship with Lonriad. Lonriad is in turn being pursued by Rona, who is seemingly oblivious to 's affection for her.
 * Further complicated when.
 * This is now resolved:
 * Madwoman in the Attic -
 * Make It Look Like an Accident -
 * May-December Romance -, and later.
 * Mommy Issues - Searle Minara toward Laralita.
 * Morning Sickness - And lots of it.
 * Multigenerational Household - A few instances of this, seeing as Generation Two has begun to reproduce but Generation One hasn't died off yet.
 * Naked First Impression - When Thetis first meets Florian, she is in his kitchen (having been invited in by Electra) and Florian walks in from the bedroom... naked.
 * The hilarity increases when he ends up covering his face.
 * Naked on Arrival - Tavrin... but then again, he is almost always naked. Also Deian and Co. (who are also always naked).
 * Nay Theist - Severin at times.
 * Never Accepted in His Hometown - Severin.
 * No Periods, Period - Averted, seeing as a significant part of the story revolves around reproduction and its accompanying aspects.
 * Obnoxious In-Laws - The Royal Family to... pretty much all of their in-laws.
 * Laralita especially takes the cake here. Seriously.
 * Odd Couple - Hints of this with sisters Nanalie and Asalaye.
 * Older Than They Look - Most likely due to the limitations of the illustration platform, the surviving original characters don't look like they've aged much in the past twenty years. Also, Severin's father is looking mighty fine for a seventy-year-old great-grandfather.
 * One Steve Limit - Absolutely turned on its head. Seriously, there are like a million Searles.
 * Perfectly Arranged Marriage - Dalston and Celina, although they do have their problems.
 * seem to be shaping into this, but they don't get a lot of airtime between their wedding and, so it's hard to tell.
 * thus far.
 * Prince Charmless - In the Dovia Diaries prequels, Roderick to Geneva.
 * Also in the prequels, Rudolphus to Alina, though he isn't a prince.
 * Second Love:  and
 * is this for both of them.
 * Also
 * And
 * Single-Target Sexuality - Lorn for Leara, as well as.
 * Sinister Minister - Brother Remiel.
 * Sleeping Single - Ietrin and Jeda.
 * STD Immunity - Considering the amount of carefree sex going on in this story, it's kind of a miracle that penises aren't falling off right, left and center.
 * Straight Gay - Sparron (who is also something of an Armored Closet Gay). Also
 * Sugar and Ice Personality - Rona throughout her teenage years.
 * Sweet on Polly Oliver - Played with somewhat during the crusade arc, when
 * Sweet Polly Oliver -
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome - Severin, as well as his father and one (so far!) of his sons.
 * Tangled Family Tree - Just look at it.
 * The Beard -
 * The Family That Slays Together - Deian and Co. Domingo's family may have shades of this as well.
 * The Heretic - Severin on many occasions.
 * There Is Only One Bed - This happens with Riona Kemorin and Isidro, although it turns out.
 * Tsundere - Arydath to Halford at times.
 * Riona to Isidro, before they hooked up.
 * Twincest -
 * Vitriolic Best Buds - Lorn and Searle Minara (Type 2).
 * Jadin and Isidro seem to be shaping up to be this as well.
 * Where the Hell Is Springfield? - The most specific location Naroni is ever given is somewhere between France and Spain. Dovia is known to be east of Naroni, but that's it. A third fictional country, Carvallon, is occasionally mentioned and implied to be on the coast.
 * Will They or Won't They? - Isidro de Cervantes and Riona Kemorin.
 * Will They or Won't They? - Isidro de Cervantes and Riona Kemorin.