Post by Katie on Aug 18, 2019 22:57:18 GMT -5
Thinking Medieval; Important Considerations To Make
"Many long centuries from now, our Childer's Childer's Childer and the whey-blooded descendents of the Kine who surround us now, shall look back upon these dark nights with fear and fascination, for the Long Night shall be lost forever, and we, those who dwell here within it now, shall be the only beings who remember what it was to reign in Hell." -- Lady Ruzena Szantovitch the Defiler, Clan Toreador
Most people in the dark medieval era face contradictory truths, which they try to reconcile as best they can (neither cognitive dissonance nor paradox suddenly sprung into being until the twentieth century). Some zealots do hold straightforward, simple views of the world; most people tend to juggle conflicting claims, and the interplay of concepts fuels both passion and doubt equally. A character yearning for certainty may commit to a course of action despite any reservations, or indeed precisely because of them, to feel that she is facing temptation and persevering in her search for truth. Another character who has long held a particular outlook may suddenly stop and attempt to reappraise.
Order and Chaos is a critical dichotomy and concept to consider in the medieval mindset. Once, it was a perfect world, created by God in the seven days of Genesis. Manifestly, it is not anymore, and neither banishment from Eden, the Great Deluge or the sacrifice of His only Son on the Cross seems to be enough to set the world (and humankind) back on the right track. The search for just what causes a chaotic and unjust world in the face of God’s omniscience and omnipotence is one of the great questions of the age, one to which your character may hope to find an answer.
Nowhere is this question more starkly illustrated than in the matter of dualist heresy. These heresies (the Cathars of southern France, the Bogomils of the Balkans and so on) claim that the entirety of the physical world and the various social hierarchies within it are irredeemably corrupt and separate from God. Only the spiritual remains holy in the face of a corrupted world, they reason. Therefore, it is there, and only there, that mankind’s focus should lie. The Church, for its part, thoroughly believes that these heretics are twisting the Word of God, which holds the only hope of returning to His grace. Both sides are utterly convinced that the other represents a grave threat to the salvation of mankind and their eternal souls. The bloody Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars of southern France is only the most glaring example of the stakes of this battle of ideologies, a battle in which your character may become directly involved in order to try and better understand the nature of God and the world itself, to say nothing of saving their own soul from eternal damnation.
Next, consider the concepts of Good and Evil; your character almost assuredly believes that there is a fundamental source for virtues, and likewise for vices. Just as the world seems uncertain in its orderliness, so in its goodness it is unsure as well. Christians, Jews and Muslims all believe that God is essentially good, but many believe that He has given the world over partly or entirely to demonic powers for the time being, hence the toiling misery and bloody reign of the dark ages. Pagans believe that gods and spirits of many sorts contend, and that the outcome of their eternal struggle is by no means guaranteed to favor goodness alone. Doubters hope or fear that even though there are magical and supernatural powers, they are essentially amoral, lacking any direction except that imposed by acts of will. Almost everyone, of virtually every outlook, agrees that the questions “What is supposed to happen when I act virtuously or wickedly?” and “What is likely to happen when I act virtuously or wickedly?” have significantly different answers. The brokenness of the dark medieval world is something simply accepted as an unfortunate given almost everywhere, except among gatherings of some mystics and the outright foolish.
Hierarchy is yet another major concept to consider; those who are high, and those who are low. Most people in the dark medieval era believe that inequality is an important part of the way the world functions. There are superiors and inferiors, and a good society acknowledges this fact so that those who are fit to lead can direct those who are fit to follow. It is in the details that things get more complicated. In practice, there are certainly wicked and incompetent rulers in both the secular and ecclesiastical hierarchies. Coups, wars and crusades stem in part from disagreement over who is fit to rule and why—either the heavens keep silent about such matters, or they reveal signs that lend themselves to more than one interpretation. The idea of fundamental equality is, again, a notion for mystics or for those who despair for justice short of the overthrow of all existing power structures. Your character will inevitably have some thoughts about what the proper lines of authority are and what she should do when they are broken or corrupted, and these thoughts will guide her in times of disorder and tumult.
Finally, there are matters of regional and racial tension to consider. In the dark medieval era, the mentality of 'Us versus Them' was extremely predominant, even in the most open-minded of localities. Racism and bigotry were very commonplace among all social classes and peoples, and it was not considered immoral or improper to be so prejudiced. Outlanders, minorities, and even locals with deformities or odd accents are all appraised with skeptical, wary and sometimes hostile attention. Religious and ethnic cleansings, though uncommon, are an unfortunate but accepted fact of life for people in the dark medieval era, and periodically, even in the most civilized of areas, pogroms are crudely organized to enforce certain levels of segregation or to bully, torment or murder any of the persecuted minority they encounter. Due to Prague's precarious position between the lands of the East and the lands of the West, and the odd melting pot of races and religions assembled therein, as well as its reputation as a massive trade epicenter, have ensured a myriad of people exist therein, and the racial tensions run quite high. It is considered improper for a true-blooded Aryan male to fraternize with a Magyar female, or for a Romani female to even speak to a Jewish male. People keep to their own, marry their own, and breed with their own almost exclusively. Moreover, it is rare for a Hungarian to trust a German over one of his fellow Hungarians, even if they are both absolute strangers. Familiarity breeds trust; foreigners are often reputed and portrayed to be deceivers and immoral sub-humans by the masses. There are always exceptions, of course, but by and large these mentalities are pervasive. Remember this when both selecting your character's race, and when playing in the game itself.
"Many long centuries from now, our Childer's Childer's Childer and the whey-blooded descendents of the Kine who surround us now, shall look back upon these dark nights with fear and fascination, for the Long Night shall be lost forever, and we, those who dwell here within it now, shall be the only beings who remember what it was to reign in Hell." -- Lady Ruzena Szantovitch the Defiler, Clan Toreador
Most people in the dark medieval era face contradictory truths, which they try to reconcile as best they can (neither cognitive dissonance nor paradox suddenly sprung into being until the twentieth century). Some zealots do hold straightforward, simple views of the world; most people tend to juggle conflicting claims, and the interplay of concepts fuels both passion and doubt equally. A character yearning for certainty may commit to a course of action despite any reservations, or indeed precisely because of them, to feel that she is facing temptation and persevering in her search for truth. Another character who has long held a particular outlook may suddenly stop and attempt to reappraise.
Order and Chaos is a critical dichotomy and concept to consider in the medieval mindset. Once, it was a perfect world, created by God in the seven days of Genesis. Manifestly, it is not anymore, and neither banishment from Eden, the Great Deluge or the sacrifice of His only Son on the Cross seems to be enough to set the world (and humankind) back on the right track. The search for just what causes a chaotic and unjust world in the face of God’s omniscience and omnipotence is one of the great questions of the age, one to which your character may hope to find an answer.
Nowhere is this question more starkly illustrated than in the matter of dualist heresy. These heresies (the Cathars of southern France, the Bogomils of the Balkans and so on) claim that the entirety of the physical world and the various social hierarchies within it are irredeemably corrupt and separate from God. Only the spiritual remains holy in the face of a corrupted world, they reason. Therefore, it is there, and only there, that mankind’s focus should lie. The Church, for its part, thoroughly believes that these heretics are twisting the Word of God, which holds the only hope of returning to His grace. Both sides are utterly convinced that the other represents a grave threat to the salvation of mankind and their eternal souls. The bloody Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars of southern France is only the most glaring example of the stakes of this battle of ideologies, a battle in which your character may become directly involved in order to try and better understand the nature of God and the world itself, to say nothing of saving their own soul from eternal damnation.
Next, consider the concepts of Good and Evil; your character almost assuredly believes that there is a fundamental source for virtues, and likewise for vices. Just as the world seems uncertain in its orderliness, so in its goodness it is unsure as well. Christians, Jews and Muslims all believe that God is essentially good, but many believe that He has given the world over partly or entirely to demonic powers for the time being, hence the toiling misery and bloody reign of the dark ages. Pagans believe that gods and spirits of many sorts contend, and that the outcome of their eternal struggle is by no means guaranteed to favor goodness alone. Doubters hope or fear that even though there are magical and supernatural powers, they are essentially amoral, lacking any direction except that imposed by acts of will. Almost everyone, of virtually every outlook, agrees that the questions “What is supposed to happen when I act virtuously or wickedly?” and “What is likely to happen when I act virtuously or wickedly?” have significantly different answers. The brokenness of the dark medieval world is something simply accepted as an unfortunate given almost everywhere, except among gatherings of some mystics and the outright foolish.
Hierarchy is yet another major concept to consider; those who are high, and those who are low. Most people in the dark medieval era believe that inequality is an important part of the way the world functions. There are superiors and inferiors, and a good society acknowledges this fact so that those who are fit to lead can direct those who are fit to follow. It is in the details that things get more complicated. In practice, there are certainly wicked and incompetent rulers in both the secular and ecclesiastical hierarchies. Coups, wars and crusades stem in part from disagreement over who is fit to rule and why—either the heavens keep silent about such matters, or they reveal signs that lend themselves to more than one interpretation. The idea of fundamental equality is, again, a notion for mystics or for those who despair for justice short of the overthrow of all existing power structures. Your character will inevitably have some thoughts about what the proper lines of authority are and what she should do when they are broken or corrupted, and these thoughts will guide her in times of disorder and tumult.
Finally, there are matters of regional and racial tension to consider. In the dark medieval era, the mentality of 'Us versus Them' was extremely predominant, even in the most open-minded of localities. Racism and bigotry were very commonplace among all social classes and peoples, and it was not considered immoral or improper to be so prejudiced. Outlanders, minorities, and even locals with deformities or odd accents are all appraised with skeptical, wary and sometimes hostile attention. Religious and ethnic cleansings, though uncommon, are an unfortunate but accepted fact of life for people in the dark medieval era, and periodically, even in the most civilized of areas, pogroms are crudely organized to enforce certain levels of segregation or to bully, torment or murder any of the persecuted minority they encounter. Due to Prague's precarious position between the lands of the East and the lands of the West, and the odd melting pot of races and religions assembled therein, as well as its reputation as a massive trade epicenter, have ensured a myriad of people exist therein, and the racial tensions run quite high. It is considered improper for a true-blooded Aryan male to fraternize with a Magyar female, or for a Romani female to even speak to a Jewish male. People keep to their own, marry their own, and breed with their own almost exclusively. Moreover, it is rare for a Hungarian to trust a German over one of his fellow Hungarians, even if they are both absolute strangers. Familiarity breeds trust; foreigners are often reputed and portrayed to be deceivers and immoral sub-humans by the masses. There are always exceptions, of course, but by and large these mentalities are pervasive. Remember this when both selecting your character's race, and when playing in the game itself.