The Family Tree of Frieda Jacobs

According to the popular southern yarn, a girl would rise from the commonfolk who was born of the blood of the “seven queens”—girls of “the forest” who the monarchs or heirs apparent of seven southern kingdoms of Eden had married in the hopes of bringing magic back to the land.

Charlotte Goose believed her granddaughter Frieda was that prophesied girl, and she created the chart—following years of research—to prove her theory and to rally the kingdoms of the south to her cause.

Aisling O'Briar by E. Christopher Clark

Alexey I by E. Christopher Clark

Alexey II by E. Christopher Clark

Astrid D'Helena by E. Christopher Clark

Auset of the Realm by E. Christopher Clark

Bonnie MacAdam by E. Christopher Clark

Bridget by E. Christopher Clark

Charlotte le Fay by E. Christopher Clark

Colin Spriggins by E. Christopher Clark

Daisy Rampion by E. Christopher Clark

Eleanor - Wife of Frederick II by E. Christopher Clark

Ella of the Ashes by E. Christopher Clark

Fiona of Fatherland by E. Christopher Clark

Frederick I by E. Christopher Clark

Frederick II by E. Christopher Clark

Frederick III by E. Christopher Clark

Frieda Jacobs by E. Christopher Clark

Gorlois le Fay by E. Christopher Clark

Gretel der Jager by E. Christopher Clark

Gwen Ellaswife by E. Christopher Clark

Hamish II by E. Christopher Clark

Ingvar I by E. Christopher Clark

Ivan Goose by E. Christopher Clark

Jack Spriggins by E. Christopher Clark

Jacob Goose by E. Christopher Clark

Laudine de Landuc by E. Christopher Clark

Leonid Alexeev by E. Christopher Clark

Luna of Neverland by E. Christopher Clark

Maeve Murphy by E. Christopher Clark

Malik I by E. Christopher Clark

Marnie Miller by E. Christopher Clark

Marta of Fatherland by E. Christopher Clark

Morgana le Fay by E. Christopher Clark

Nefertem I by E. Christopher Clark

Sadie Winters by E. Christopher Clark

Siorsa Spriggins by E. Christopher Clark

Urien Rheged by E. Christopher Clark

Wilhelm I by E. Christopher Clark

Wilhelm II by E. Christopher Clark

Yvain le Fay by E. Christopher Clark

Zahra - Wife of Nefertem by E. Christopher Clark

Charlotte Goose, born Charlotte le Fay, grew up hearing tales of the prophecy as bedtime stories. But though her own descent from royalty was well-documented (she grew up in the house which had once belonged to Marnie Miller, after all), and though she knew her husband was descended from Motherlandian, Fatherlandian, and Realmish royalty, Charlotte knew all too well that the woman who had given birth to her granddaughter was a second-generation prostitute of decidedly low birth.

However, each time her granddaughter made the trek from Watersmeet to Covenant to visit—that long journey over the river and through the woods—Charlotte grew a little more intrigued. How did that girl in her little red riding hood make it all the way each time with nary a scratch on her body and with no nightmares in her head at bedtime?

Charlotte began asking Frieda to bring books from the royal library in Watersmeet along with the sweets and other goodies she usually packed her picnic basket with. And slowly but surely, Charlotte pieced things together.

Word spread of Charlotte’s findings and the neighboring Empire of Oz grew worried of a kingdom that might rival their own in size and power. They grew so worried that their then-emperor, the aging and paranoid Oscar Diggs, hired the Big Bad Wolf to slaughter Goose and her granddaughter and put an end to the threat once and for all.

Goose was finishing a final draft of the family tree when the wolf attacked her and swallowed her whole. The version we have today was a copy she made of her lost original—dissolved in the stomach acids of the wolf’s belly. The surviving document was crafted immediately following Frieda’s slaying of the wolf and rescue of her grandmother, during their brief overnight stay in far-off East Dumbstruck, just hours before they set off to use the tree and the story of their ordeal with the wolf as justification to unite the south and go to war with Oz.

Citizens of five of the seven kingdoms who heard tell of the document—led by those who were lucky enough to see it with their own eyes—were quick to pressure their sovereigns to bend the knee to Jacobs. And the holdouts didn’t hold out for long. By the outbreak of hostilities in the War of Western Aggression, the more hesitant kingdoms of Promiseland and Neverland had agreed to the creation of the United Kingdom.

The document remains a national treasure, enshrined now in the royal library in the City of Hearts. Copies are kept in the Edenian Athenæum and the The First Imperial Bank of Oz as well, now that the nations of Eden live in relative peace with one another.