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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
 Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 02:59:15
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Many times on many posts, we have been talking about how things really are (or, often, were). We've had lore on where certain weapons came from, the chemical makeup of metals, and discussions on history. These sorts of things always help when writing a story, and what is role-playing but a story, except one that grows more organically?
So, I'm starting this topic for all those who want to share knowledge about aspects of realism. These can include definitions of words, the look of certain plants, where to find things, what the origins of certain items were.
Please note that this is only for real items of interest. This isn't Realmslore. However, it is being put here for use with Realmslore, or anything else for that matter. The object is to bring our stories and campaigns to greater life than ever before by sharing the trivia we know. Anything that could be of use is welcome, and there is no need for it to be on-topic. Simply blurt out what ever interesting bit of trivia you know that we might not. Some of us will know it, probably -- but odds are that at least one person won't, and that person might be looking for just that sort of thing.
A lot of big names on these forums will be adding things. I have a very unorganized pile of such trivia; people such a Artalis, Sage, and Mournblade have much to add as well. But just because you only have one point to add, don't be shy. Or if you have a question, just ask. We're all here to help as best we can.
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 03:05:55
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Here' my first contribution, for those of you who wonder who's who in a noble ranking system, courtesy of my general notes on government:
Prince
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, from Latin princeps leader, initiator, from primus first and capere to take.
Princeling:
1) a petty prince.
Archduke:
1) a sovereign prince
2) a prince of the imperial family of Austria.
Duke:
1) a sovereign ruler of a continental European duchy
2) a member of the highest grade of the British peerage.
Marquess:
1) a nobleman of hereditary rank in Europe and Japan
2) a member of the British peerage ranking below a duke and above an earl.
Marchioness:
1) the wife of a marquess
2) a woman holding the rank of marquess in her own right.
Earl:
1) a member of the British peerage ranking below a marquess and above a viscount.
Etymology: from Middle English “erl,” from Old English “eorl,” warrior, nobleman.
Viscount: a member of the British peerage ranking below an earl and above a baron.
Count:
a European nobleman whose rank corresponds to that of a British earl.
Baron: a member of the lowest grade of the British peerage.
Baronet: a man holding a rank of honor below a baron but above a knight.
Gentry:
Relatives of nobles who have no titles of their own.
Gentlewoman: a woman of good family, or a woman attending a lady of rank.
Satrap: a petty prince; a subordinate ruler
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin satrapes, from Greek satrapçs, from Old Persian khshathrapâvan, literally, protector of the dominion.
Emir: A ruler, chief, or commander in Islamic countries.
Etymology: Arabic amîr, commander. |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 03:09:43
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This one should make for a pleasant session:
When a person or animal dies, muscles relax, voiding bladders and intestinal tracks -- in other words, if it’s inside, it goes out. Bodies get stinky almost immediately. |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 03:14:27
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And another death post. This, however, is a little less disgusting.
It's pretty obvious what happens when someone's hit by a fire spell. Same with sonic, acid, and cold damage. But what about when someone dies by electrocution? Well, the technical explanation is that the capillaries rupture and hemoglobin leaks into the paravascular tissue.
What's that mean to a role-player? Well, if you see a sort of “fern-like” pattern on the skin, that person got hit by electicity. |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 03:30:28
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Here's some medicine information for you. This might not be all that useful, but it depends on the level of medical science in your campaign.
Medieval medicine is thought of as backwards and idiotic. That's not really their fault, unless you count the fact that they never tried to prove the theories. Of course, everyone "knew" the theories were true, and corpes-defiling (as an autopsy really is, you know) was generaly frowned on. Same with surgery.
The guy who got all this started was called Galen. He was a Roman doctor assigned to the gladiators at first. It was bloody work, but he got a good look at the workings of the healthy human body. The book he wrote formed the basis of European medicine for centuries.
Extrapolating from both the Greeks and his own observations, he stated the following. There are four types of humors: black bile, yellow bile, and phlem. The last and most soverign was blood. It was like the air, it gave life. Galen also knew all the organs, but he didn't know how they worked. He only saw them in dead folks, after all. He found a lot of blood in the liver, so food must go there. It's a one way trip, since he thought it transformed into different colors. The heart was not a pump. He had no idea what it looked like when it was beating. He figured it to be more of a magical distilary. It was the seat of emotion and conciousness -- this is where the spark of life lived. Presumably he got that notion from the fact that the heart is the only organ that beats.
It was a lovely theory, and completely within the knowledge of the day. However, it should have been obvious to some (and it was) that at least parts of it were comlpete codswolop. Unfortunately, it was the medical gospel. Fail to follow it, and you don't get to be a doctor. |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 03:48:57
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Here are some military terms for those of you who like armies and battles in your campaigns.
Battalion: a unit composed of a headquarters and two or more units (as companies)
Brigade: a military unit composed of a headquarters, one or more units of infantry or armored forces and supporting units.
Company: two or more platoons, commanded by a captain
Legion: a unit of the Roman army comprising three thousand to six thousand soldiers.
Picket: A detached body of soldiers on outpost (sentinel) duty.
Platoon: a subdivision of a company-size unit usually consisting of two or more squads or sections
Regiment: a unit consisting usually of a number of battalions
Squadron: any of several units of military organization
Troop: either a cavalry unit corresponding to an infantry company, or soldiers in general.
Wing: a unit in military aviation consisting of two or more squadrons
Definition of 'Corps': from the French, from Latin corpus, body
"Before Morning Nautical Twilight" or BMNT: Obivously, this term is not going to be used in any 'realistic' campaign.  However, the thing it describes is. Basically, it's the moment when the sun's coming up. It begins at five degrees before Civil Twilight, which is what is commonly called false dawn. (This, in turn, is when the sun is five degrees below the horizon.) It's also a moment of psychological ebb when people are generally at the least alert, and generally the best time for an attack. |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 08:19:09
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This is a great idea Bookwyrm. I have a lot of trivia to contribute, little things that I like to add into the campaigns to give it more of a 'real-life' feel. Just give me some time to retrieve my notebooks out of storage. I should have a few interesting tidbits to post in an hour or two.
May all your learning be free and unfettered
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 08:25:06
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| That's just what I was hoping for, Sage. I've got tons myself, stuff I've forgotten that's just sitting in computer files, or in a dead-tree notebook. I stopped after just five bits, though, because I didn't want to hog the scroll, and I wanted someone else to post some info before I went on. |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 09:40:29
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I'll continue with the Etymological topics. These are general terms most likely used in most fantasy campaigns, and refer to many different aspects of medieval life. They are from my studies on the life of Cesare Borgia -
Emperor
- ruler of an imperial state or empire
Etym: borrowed from Old French, in the form empereor after 1300's. From Latin imperatorem normally from the base stem, imperare meaning 'to command'.
Empire
- group of normally neighbouring states or dominions under one rule
Etym: borrowed from Old French, before 1338 empyre. From Latin imperium normally from the base imperare meaning 'to command'.
Noble
- great and exalted, by birth or rank
Etym: from before 1200's in Old French noble. From Latin nobilis, earlier period gnobilis meaning 'renowned'
Court
- princely assembly, retinue, residence and/or household
Etym: before 1200 curt, cort from Old French meaning 'princely household'. From Latin, cortem earlier cohortem - an accusative of the Latin term cohors meaning 'courtyard', 'company' or 'retinue'.
Council
- meeting, grand assembly
Etym: from 1125 concilie meaning an 'assembly of churchmen'. Later period during 1300's counseil, to councel (before 1400's), borrowed from Old French North. Borrowing from Latin concilium meaning 'gathering'
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 12:48:29
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This interesting piece of information came in handy for general tabletop wargaming, and sometimes become of use in D&D campaigns dealing with large enemy armies.
An interesting fact to note, with regards to army formations, and tactics is the origin and usage of the term 'strategy'. The term first came to be incorporated in the vocabulary near the end of the eighteenth century, early nineteenth century. The very first usage of the term was considered nebulous and inaccurate. The Count de Guibert had made use of the term in his treatise Defense of the System of Modern War in 1779. He maintained that strategy was a major force that made considerable differences to the way an army conducted itself on the field of battle. He had asserted in his work that it made a big difference in the actual position of an officer in the army corp.
What he meant was that it made a difference whether a commanding officer was modifiying the frontlines of his army for a battalion, a core regiment, a standard brigade, or whether he was conducting the movement of major formations which tended to involve larger amounts of time and greater divisions of labor and thereby limiting his span of overall command and control. He maintained that the officer commander could no longer hope to effectively command and manage large separate columns of troops personally. He could only, basically, command the force toward a pre-selected point, leaving overall execution of orders to the subordinate military structure.
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 12:53:17
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This little piece I used in a AD&D campaign based in an Industrial Revolution-era style campaign.
The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, however it can be changed into several different forms. Energy exists in many different states, which include kinetic/potential energy, heat energy, chemical energy, light energy and sound energy. It is interesting to think of the magical systems of most fantasy campaigns as operating on a similar, though less-scientific principle.
Magical energy from the Weave is converted by spellcasters (the device responsible for converting the energy from one form into another) into the many different uses present in the several categories of spell types. Magical energy can be converted into kinetic/potential energy in such spells as Forceful Hand. It can be converted into heat energy in the form of such spells as Fireball. The conversion to chemical energy is represented by such spells as Melf's Acid Arrow. The Flare spell seems the conversion of magical energy into light energy. The conversion of magical energy to sound energy is can be seen in such spells as Sound Blast. The fact that during the transition of one energy state to another not all the existing energy is converted into the new form can be ignored for ease in incorporating this law into your campaign.
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 12:55:57
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This is something I was thinking about while working on an alternate mythology for the civilization of Maztica -
An analysis of ancient world beliefs brings to light this little snippet of information -
Before the dawn of philosophical inquiry, many ancient-world cultures believed in an absolutely inseparable union between the natural world and it's people. These peoples believed they could harnass and use the power of nature by crafting and carving 'imitative representations' of nature in the form of sketches, carvings, and effigies. Placed in sacred sites or points and occurences of natural energy, they could command the very primal forces of nature.
This seems to put an interesting spin on the nature of Runic magic and the Druid core class.
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 12:58:34
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This is the beginning to an alternative system of soul-progression I have been tinkering with this past year.
Plato believed that the human soul consisted of three independent and conflicting divisions. These divisions were made up of the 'reasoning part', the 'spirted part' and the 'appetitive part'. Plato viewed the reasoning part of the soul as the highest and most valued part. He also believed that the reason for this was because only the 'reasoning part' or intellect was capable of apprehending the absolute truth of the eternal world and his theory of forms. Plato saw the other divisions of the soul as morally less significant due to the more chaotic and unruly nature of these divisions.
A curious take on the afterlife of your PC when his soul makes the final crossing to the Fugue Plane eh?.
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 14:43:51
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This is some information that I used to give my Bardic PC's more real-life substance. It is the incorporation of two unique musical instruments from eras past in the Real world, but I felt that they really added a new dimension to my campaigns.
Qanun
This is an Arab designed musical instrument found in Egypt and in many other locations of the East. The qanun is a psaltery (a dulcimer-type instrument of considerable age and antiquity). A dulcimer-type instrument is a musical construct with strings of graduating length stretched over a long sound-board, or square box.
The strings of the qanun can number up to 100, and are normally played with a plectra (a thin flat piece of plastic or wood). It is said ro have been created during the Tenth century, and it quickly spread across the Mediterranean and had enjoyed very much activity and popularity in Middle Eastern states.
From the 13th century onwards, the qanun was normally played with the back of the instrument against the player's chest. Much of the earlier history of the qanun consisted of the player plucking the instrument while being placed along the players legs and knees.
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 14:49:58
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Here's another -
Nanga
This is a trough zither designed in Tanzania. Trough zithers are crafted from a piece of wood which has been hollowed out longitudinally with the strings attached at either end of the instrument. The ends are then woven and wound around slits in the wood. The hollow trough of the Nanga acts as a sonic resonator when the strings are plucked.
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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eilinel
Learned Scribe
France
296 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 14:59:39
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are u trying to compile all the knowledge that could be used in DnD or what?
i don't mean that its useless but there is a misunderstanding here... |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 15:06:16
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We are basically looking for any useful tidbits of knowledge or trivia that you use from real-life to give your campaigns that extra edge of realism.
Of course, if you are looking for something in particular, well, we are all here ready to help  . Simply ask what you are looking for here, and I am sure someone here will have something you can use.
May all your learning be free and unfettered
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 05:48:41
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Oooh . . . be still, my heart.
Sage, you've got some wonderful information here. I especially like your look at magic as a (partially) scientific phenomenon. At least so far as the five energy types, plus the force energy. (I'm substituting electricity for light in this case; as well, cold, in its scientific form, is merely the absence of heat.)
Such pseudo-scientific laws are not a new thing in the fantasy genre. There're two that are the most famous: the Law of Contagion (like to like; spell components, anyone?) and the Law of Sympathy (that which was together stays together; affect one, and the other is affected equally). This, I suppose, is the Law of Energy Conversion, and is demonstrated by the feat Energy Substitution.
Ah, I do so love finding pseudo-scientific causes for this sort of thing. I figured out an interesting explanation for why iron is supposed to block magic, for those who do that in their campaigns; I did it for a story of mine some years back. See, I found out that iron is the one of the densest naturally-occuring metal elements in existance. Lead, of course, is a lot denser, but there's a lot more iron used in things that people would be carrying around.
So I was thinking that, if you had to pick a reason, then it could easily be that dense atomic nuclei absorb or repel magic. No real need to actually say that in the story or campaign, but it kind of helps the author's visualization. |
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Artalis
Senior Scribe
USA
444 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 06:09:33
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Ok some things to consider.
Disease: ie the common cold killed many in the dark ages due to unsanitary conditions and low immune system capablities.
The afore mentioned unsanitary conditions: people threw their bones and refuse onto the floor of their dining area for the dogs to clean up. Without the knowledge of disease or how they were caused people did some NASTY things. IE dumped their chamberpots into the streets and so on. Baby diapers were changed daily only in royal families in some cases.
Nutrition: People by and large ate the same thing a lot and went to great lengths to get spices to make their food taste different. Fortunes were made in the spice trade. Folk had no concept of nutrition at all which also caused disease (scurvy anyone?)
More goodies to follow but these are the things you have to decide about when you create a campaign in D&D too. Does your world have these problems? Is it truly gritty or only a little?
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Artalis
Email
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Edited by - Artalis on 17 Jun 2003 06:12:33 |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 06:19:03
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| To follow off of that one, something to consider might be a possible poisioning check if a character is wounded though a dirty article of clothing. Germs love dirty clothing almost as much as they love open wounds. I'm told it's one of the reasons that some peoples without real armor would go into battle wearing as little as possible. It wasn't a fashion statement. (Of course, it gets hot in a battle, even in cool weather, so that's another reason.) |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 06:28:41
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Hey, what do you know? I'd forgotten that my next trivia post was also on the subject of health care, in the form of medicinal herbs. I don't have much, but I did pull this off of a PBS show I'd watched.
Rosemary for headaches; rosemary tea is easy to make, you just need a few flowering tips.
Myrtle for an antiseptic; chop up the myrtle bits and heat with alcohol. "Neat" alcohol is a good choice; you get it from rotten fruit, heat it gently (the suggestion was to put the pot in sand that is over a heat source) and collect the vapor. That, however, would take some doing. Not insurmoutable, though. Warning, though: neat alcohol is not for consumption. It can kill you easily.
Nettle for hair loss.
Dried fennel seeds for flatulence. |
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Herr Doktor
Seeker
52 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 06:30:43
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Hmn, I suppose I'd like to see a source on how a medieval Inn was actually run. Room makeups, what were the privy areas like, et cetera.
Can someone provide? |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 06:40:36
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Let's get to our favorite subject again: battle, fighting, blood and gore. (Okay, so I'm laying it on a bit thick. So sue me.)
First, here's something I wrote down a while back when I first started some martial arts. My teacher, like all real martial artists, are quite critical of actors who only act like they can fight. (Though he liked Jackie Chan, since Chan does all his own stunts, and generally the fights, while obviously choreographed, weren't really the sort of fake karate you see so often in the movies and on TV.)
Okay, to keep a long story shorter: something monk players should remember, when describing their attack rounds, is that while the fying side kick looks flashy and impressive and works for Xena the Warrior Princess, it's really best used against immobile targets and blind men. However, when it it connects, it tends to smart. |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 06:53:23
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Well, Herr Doktor, for one thing, you only have a real lavatory in an upscale inn or castle. And even then, it's basically a straight dump into a cesspool below. Sorry for the image; but to get an idea, take a look at the pictures of old Roman public toilets. I've been in one; there's no longer a running sewer underneath it, but you can see how it functioned. And you can see the little privacy they gave each other. There were no partitioned cubicles, for one, and generally both sexes were in there at the same time.
Whether or not your inn has an actual privy room, the most advanced version of the toilet you're likely to find is the chamber pot. They really aren't that obsolete; they were still using them in the continental United States in the sparser areas until quite recently. (I don't know about other countries, though, sorry.)
However, it's not a simple container for stuff you don't really want to think about. Next to it is a bucket of wood ash, which a good-sized inn will have in abundance. Those of you who have fire places in your homes know how much ash is accumulated in a certain amount of time. Now, once you've done your business, you shovel some ash into the pot. It completely neutralizes the smell, and keeps critters such as flies from being attracted to it.
For wash up -- well, they didn't have the same ideas on personal hygiene that we do. However, they often had scraps of linen to wipe off with. The cleanliness of that rag, though, might leave something to be desired. It was certainly not one-use-only.
I hope that helps. |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 06:55:16
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| By the way, for a latrine, the process is similar to the chamber pot. Ash is laid down over your waste. The hole, though, has to be dug deep, since in the army a lot of men are using it. And you have to be careful about where you put it. One thing you should never do is put it upstream of your camp! |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 07:00:00
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Here's the other bit of monk material I forgot to add. Though it's more in the nature of a brawl, and basically just explains why too many hits to the head is bad for you.
A heavyweight (I'm assuming that would be an 18 Strength, don't you think?) can land a punch at up to 1000 pounds per square inch. When it connects to the head, the energy of the punch is transferred through the cerebrospinal fluid, compressing the brain against the skull. This temporarily disrupts neural activity. To use a non-technical term, it's the brain's version of a short-circuit. Take too many, and your brain shuts down. |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
Edited by - Bookwyrm on 17 Jun 2003 07:05:29 |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 07:04:10
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Heh. I remember writing this one down. I got the title and situation from the book Against the Tide of Years by S. M. Stirling. The text I modified for humor.
Recipe for Crisco Extra Virgin Instant Inferno
Take one castle with wrap-around entry ramp, add one attacking army. Take large tubs of olive oil and bring them to a boil, adding tallow or lard as desired. Wait until attackers are packed in on ramp. Pour mixture over castle wall and onto ramp and glacis. Allow to run under the feet of the enemy soldiers and splatter on clothes and faces and under armor. Road surface will be slippery and attacking army will likely be immobilized. And one torch. Serves fifteen thousand. |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 07:09:22
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Here's a description I collected about what the Native Americans used before the bow made its way to them (the Eskimos, by the way, were the first to have them, so I guess there was far more contact than we usually think of, up north were the lands are close).
Atlatl
A spear/javelin thrower. A wooden handle with a curved end piece to hold a shaft, and a butterfly-shaped stone weight on its end. Its function is to extend the effective length of the operator's arm, giving enormous leverage. Atlatl spears are thin, like oversized arrows, and might employ fletching.
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Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 07:11:21
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Here's a little something I wrote down to remind myself:
It is only in tales, told by those who have never seen the real thing, that men have died silently when hit by an arrow. If you want someone to die silently, without alerting his fellows, a knife (coated with lampblack, aka soot) at close quarters is what is needed. |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 07:15:38
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| Here's an interesting term: "skinwalker." I first found it in a book I read; I hadn't made my way to Native American mythology at the time. It's basically the same as a shapechanger. Lycanthopy as we know it wasn't part of their culture; however, I was thinking it would be a good term to use with a barbarian NPC or such . . . after all, people use different names for things in different areas, even if they speak the same language. |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2003 : 07:25:07
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This has many uses, especially if your characters are escorting someone of importance:
A wagon made to transport the rich over long distances will have a small balcony at the rear to allow the occupants to get some fresh air while avoiding as much of the dust kicked up by their escort as possible. |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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Realistic Role-Playing
