I am trying to solidify the first part of Alaidia (Peter’s Angel), and I am wondering if the following scenario is realistic. Imagine with me for a moment…


You are the crown prince of a fief. I am the son of a duke of your motherland. You are almost 21; I am 18. You know who I am – I was born in your country under strange circumstances – and we pass each other occasionally at political meetings. But I am of no direct consequence to you, because I have no power over your country. I have done nothing important, and you see me only rarely, even after I move to your country. I am, however, memorably short – only 5’.

Our countries tangle over a valuable chunk of your land, the area I happen to live in. My father stands up for your country’s rights. During the resulting skirmish, you are kidnapped. I stumble across you and rescue you, but I am bruised and badly burned. My left wrist, especially, is a mess. You are even worse and can hardly see through your bruised eye. Do you recognize me?

Say that you don’t. I rescue you and then vanish. You search for me, remembering the gash on my wrist. During this time, you learn that my father was captured and I disappeared. There is a risk that I was among the ill-handled dead, but it isn’t highly likely that I went unrecognized. After a few months, you finally find me living with a family in one of your cities. I tell you a different name and a different backstory, pretending to have no relation to the duke you once knew. I pretend to be only your rescuer, a commoner, and nothing else. Do you recognize me, or do you accept my lie and obliviously move on?

Most likely there would be recognition, which would be further validated if a scar on the wrist was seen. And with such a recognition would probably come a curiosity that would want to find out the reason for such strange actions.

Yes, because of your encounters with him. You would recognize his voice.

(Side note: I don't there are such things as: Crowned princes of single fief. what might it be called is: The appointed sheriff / guardian / of your fathers lands. Just my two cents)

@Jonathan. The curiosity could be extinguished by exhaustion.

I'm confused, Jonathan. Do you mean to say that you'd recognize me and wonder where I got a scar?

Voice is a major problem I'm working over, Welt. Features I can disfigure; voice I can't, easily.

(Thanks for the 2c. Since it's more-or-less a made-up political system, I can use any terms, but that is a solid idea to employ for variety and authenticity.)


How about this... what if, prior to me rescuing you, you knew I existed but had never seen me?

It is true curiosity might be tempered by exhaustion or being busy.

I meant that if I recognized you and saw a scar on your wrist, it might further convince me you were who I thought you were, when I remembered seeing your hurt wrist in the past.


I'm not sure how much of an impact that would make. Maybe not much, unless I had heard a lot about you.

Thanks, Jonathan. This backstory is a mess... changed it again yesterday! But it's getting there, thanks to everyone's help.

I know how that goes. I'm glad to help.

What you have here doesn't line up with what the replies to the thread imply. Is this an edited version?

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Accept the lie. If, at some point I think about the duke for some reason, most likely I'll just wonder if people are getting shorter.

No... the version in the first post was the current version when I started this thread. The story itself has changed, but I didn't make any edits to my posts.

Thanks, Droid!

I don't get what others are saying about recognizing the scars. If I understand you, you are admitting you are my rescuer. Thus, no worries about recognizing scars, since that happened from the rescue. Or am I goofing something here?

Anywho, you're welcome!

Ah, I see what you're saying. I am asking - will you recognize me as the duke? You absolutely recognize me as your rescuer, but do you realize your rescuer was the duke's son, or do you accept my false identity and think of me only as your angel?

Yeah, that's what I thought, and answered.

Thank you muchly!