Rev Arc

Fanfiction
Title:	Revolutionary Arc
Author(s):	kitsunerei88
Date(s):
Length:	>1.2 mil words
Genre(s):	Crossover
Fandom(s):	Song of the Lioness, Harry Potter, Rigel Black Chronicles
Relationship(s):
External Links:	Revolutionary kitverse
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Known as "Revolutionary Arc", Rev Arc, or Kitverse, this series of fics diverges from the Rigel Black Chronicles(a Harry Potter fanfiction) somewhere in Book 3, though the differences start earlier. While initial works (Liar Liar and Breaking the Lines) seemed to be set in canon or canon-adjacent, From America With Love, Vanguard, and Cataclysm diverge heavily from the RBC canon. The main differences in rev arc are Aldon Rosier being a halfblood, an alternate Triwizard Tournament, and the depiction of AIM and Archie, which have butterfly-effect like consequences.

Featuring a host of OCs and different worlds and events from the RBC, fic written in Rev Arc is often incompatible with fic written in RBC canon, and has attracted its share of fans who recurse Kit's canon. However, it is also the most polarizing fic in Rigel Black Chronicles (Fandom), and garnered a great deal of negative responses and hate during the posting of From America With Love; while the hate seems to have died down later, the awful response in the beginning was bad enough.

Rev Arc, which is a fanfiction of Rigel Black Chronicles, has also had Rigel Black Chronicles borrow from its worldbuilding in chapter 16 of the newly rewritten Pureblood Pretense on AO3.

Rev Arc Canon

Some notable inclusions in Rev Arc are:

• John Kowalski and Francesca "Chess" Lam, two OCs who attend school at AIM and are main characters of the work; they do not exist in RBC.
• Aldon Rosier is a halfblood, and his complicated family background is Kit's invention.
• the fleshing out of AIM as a school, and the existence of factions who later play roles in the revolution.

Notable Works

• Breaking the Lines(BTL)

[Fanfiction of murkybluematter's The Rigel Black Chronicles] Caelum's life is full of lines, between pureblood and Muggle, powerful and weak, pure and impure, fake and real, right and wrong. Harriett Potter shatters them all. A story about Caelum Lestrange, first and foremost: about his childhood, his life, and his relationship with a certain Harriett Potter.

• Liar Liar

Fanfiction of murkybluematter's The Rigel Black Chronicles] Some people are not all that they seem to be. Rigel Black is not, and neither is Aldon Rosier. [AU post-Ambiguous Artifice]

• From America With Love (FAWL)

[Fanfiction of The Rigel Black Chronicles] Everyone knows the story of Harriett Potter, centre of the Rigel Black controversy and one of the most gifted potioneers Wizarding Britain has ever seen. But it takes two to stage a ruse destined to set the world on fire, and Arcturus Rigel Black charts his own path to revolution.

• Vanguard

[Sequel to Liar Liar and From America With Love] Revolutions don't begin with spellfire and flying Molotov Potions. Revolutions begin with people. This revolution begins with a pureblood boy standing trial for a ruse he and his halfblood cousin have perpetrated, and a halfblood bastard with a gift for uncovering secrets.

• Cataclysm

[Sequel to Vanguard] Lord Riddle is dead, and the Ministry has fallen. What began as revolution becomes a war, and wars are never easy – not least because of the enemy.

Kit has also written many extras in this series, some of which were gifts for various exchanges, which can be found in the AO3 series Revolutionary Arc Plus Extras

While not part of the canon, blink was written as a response to the criticisms of From America With Love. It borrows some of the same worldbuilding and characters, and could be considered an AU of Rev Arc as well as of Rigel Black Chronicles

Controversies

Characterization of Harry

The lack of focus on Harry as the protagonist, and the highlighting of her potential to be fallible and self centred angered some fans. In the original media and in common fan conception, Harry is somewhat idolised. In particular, FAWL chapter 16 was heavily criticized as people disagreed with the arguement Archie and Harry have in the chapter, and that they disagree. The author received a great deal of cruel hatred in comments from readers.

• Overall effect / resulting discourse? Maybe not the place for it. Could move to RBC page instead.

Back borrowing from rev arc in RBC rewrite

Murkybluematter is a fan of rev arc works, and included a callout to Kit's work in an Ao3 rewritten chapter. However, this callout did not clearly identify at first the aspects of borrowed worldbuilding, and murkybluematter did not follow Kit's blanket permission statement at first. After being made aware of the problems of this uncited callout, murkybluematter apologised and amended the authors note to give credit more comprehensively.

Some Reviews

[...] I did really love your characterization of Caelum too. He's sharp and proud and prickly and unwilling to overlook faults in anyone, but you can really see how he comes to respect and eventually care for Harry and through that connection recognize the faults in the pureblood supremacy system. Their interactions from the original felt fresh and new here and I really loved the emphasis on Harry as young and a bit naive. There's also a playfulness to her interactions with him that I somehow missed in the original-I like him for bringing that out in her. His fear of insanity from torture, his eventual torture of Bellatrix, and his gradual abandonment of the modified strengthening solution as he escaped from his family also felt true. [...]

this fic (and the series) is incredibly good, i haven't read anything so captivating and intelligent in ages. Your portrayal of Archie is excellent beyond words - he's really such a flat background character in the original series but you've taken every little thing from canon and woven it into a deep, rich character with a lot of nuance that perfectly fits into canon. Obvious deviation from murkybluematter's plot in book 4 aside (i'm assuming you wrote this before she'd gotten far into that part of the series), this is basically become my accepted canon for Archie now, because it's so interesting to have this idea of how life at AIM affected and shaped him while living with the Ruse.

I feel like I can't put my impressions of this fic into words as well as I'd like to, but please know I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed reading it (and the previous from Aldon's POV which was also extremely extremely excellent and such a fascinating twist again on a character that fits so well with the original series). I love John and Chess and the way you write Hermione, Archie was so nuanced and loveable and a wonderful narrator, and the other AIM students all brought so much life to the story. It was also so satisfying (and at times heartwrenching) the way you slowly unfurled the Ruse throughout the story, especially near the end. So so good, I'm so excited to read the rest of this series!!

*sigh* up until 2am reading this, again. Then I was lying in bed for several hours thinking about it. Why. Why did you have to write such an amazing story that I lost all semblance of a sleep schedule.

This was super interesting, seeing things from Archie's perspective! I love all of these characters, they're flawed and problematic but at the same time I can't help but love them, they're all trying so hard. and aaaaaaaaaah the amount of thought which went into the logistics of this world, and making the politics make sense, is utterly astounding, I love it so much!!! THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS AMAZING THING BUT WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO IT SO WELL THAT IT'S TAKING OVER MY LIFE

I love how real this feels; I honestly had to keep reminding myself that this was NOT actually another of Violet's fics with a different perspective on the ruse. You get the dialogue and scenes from the original to fit in so well in this that it seems like it could really be Aldon as he is in Violet's fics. The stuff about magical theory is also amazing, and Aldon's interest in it makes so much sense.

Related Works

Link to AO3 bookmarkers tag collecting work of this series

Podfic

• Running the Gauntlet: Redux by Elsin

Videos

• Young Dumb and Broke by

Fanfiction

Most Rev Arc fanfiction uses the Inspired by Revolutionary Arc - Kitsunerei88 tag

• The men and women, merely players by Kitzah is an AO3 collection of her work in this universe, mostly set in the background and with a specific focus on the Kowalski family.
• Unbecoming Pandora by Elsin and the recursive remix fic Pandora and Pansy by Baozhale

Fanart

• Family, art, history - heraldry on a cushion by Kitzah
• Calculus over Ramen by PoisonousCephalopod