Yes! I'm a historical RPF girlie ....Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland of England...to me, their real life history is the best because it's incredibly batshit detailed family drama that even the best fictional depictions can only pale in comparison to. Because there are SO many fictional legends and retellings, it's fun to play in that sandbox myself. I do a bunch of stuff set in the actual era (1160s-1190s) inspired by fun things I find in my research, but I also have a fun and goofy modern AU (the Burger King AU) where characters are American teens and tweens, and where royal-political war becomes mundane drama.

I like the two bc they have a big contrast in how they're perceived stereotypically --Richard is always the chivalric but distant and absent action man warrior (either that or in the latter 20th Century, Sociopathic Homosexual) and John is always the Spoiled, tyrannical child of Robin Hood villainy (straight but like, Evil Gay Villain coded) Which are very static, Cartoony images, but I like the History of who they are and how they become who they are known for, and that context comes from knowing their background, contentious relationship with their father, mother, and brothers during many periods of interpersonal interfamilial strife that was So Bitter even the contemporaries were Weirded tf out.

I could get Into It for ages hehe, but that's the simple part of it. For how it connects to the fanart on this page usually I like the dynamic of Richard having some resentment towards John for being the more sheltered and loved one but still caring for him, and John being mischievous and impetuous but still greatly admiring his older brother(s). It's a dynamic that translates to both that historical time but also to the way I think even modern day siblings feel about each other as well, esp when there's a large age gap and when they are not loved equally by their parents or people around them, but still feel a connection nonetheless...it's moe to me.