Father Brude faces the consequences

Cat and Flann are meant to be a little "spunkier" than average. I actually created them merely to tease Ethelwyn and for the fun of giving Egelric a rapid increase of gray hairs, though they went their own ways once they got here. Their father was rather glad to be rid of them, since he might have faced a similar situation if he had kept them at home, but then he wouldn't have had the convenience of Egelric to blame.

Otherwise, the relative spunkiness of my women is an issue I think about as I write. I do believe there is, on the one hand, a need for occasional anachronism to make the story comprehensible to a modern reader. But more importantly, we shouldn't make the assumption that the freedom of women has been something that has been increasing linearly from 0 in Neolithic times (where the men bash them over their head and drag them to their caves) to where it is today. If that were true, then, for example, the prudery and strict social constraints of the Victorian era would necessarily still be a time of greater freedom than the situation in the 18th century, which was really not the case.

Also, I am writing about the end of the 11th century, not high medieval / early Renaissance times. We are only a few generations past the era of the Vikings, in which women warriors were not unheard of. There were not many independent women rulers at this time, but it was quite common and expected for women to defend castles when the lord was away (sometimes for years), and even on occasion to command armies. Indeed, the real Lady Godiva died in 1067. Her husband had been dead for years by then and she was a powerful land-holder in her own right. I think it's safe to say that Anglo-Saxon women were quite far from Victorians (or Regency-era lasses) in their behavior. God knows the men were.

Also, this corner of the island is fairly lawless and "uncivilized", and if you head up into Cat and Flann's homeland in Scotland, this is even more true.

In truth, I think some of my definitions of what gentlemen and ladies would and wouldn't do is more an artifact of the Regency romances I've read than it is an historical fact. It is not impossible that Matilda is a more realistic Anglo-Saxon noblewoman than prissy Queen Eadgith, especially considering the power-grabbing family Matilda came from.

Hope that doesn't sound defensive or anything. *steps down from the soapbox and kicks it under the desk for next time*

Having seen the size of that last comment, I think I need to make like Mao and start a separate blog to blog about my blogging.

The clothing in particular is one area where I have totally disregarded history. Not because I wanted to, but because there is very little realistic Sims clothing for this early in the medieval period (and much of the "later" stuff is more fantasy than medieval). When I started, I had downloaded practically nothing, so I had the ladies wearing low-cut, form-fitting gowns without hair coverings at all, whereas Anglo-Saxon women would indeed have their hair entirely covered and would be wearing long, loose-fitting gowns that covered everything.

The mesh that I have recolored to use for "cloaks" on all the ladies is the closest thing to Anglo-Saxon women's clothing that I have yet found. If I had downloaded it at the beginning, they would all be wearing variations on that dress! And there is nothing for men that has pleased me yet.

And even though there were no kilts as such in Scotland in this period--what's a Scot without a kilt? You have to humor me there.

If I had taken the time to "do it right" and download/make appropriate clothing, I probably wouldn't have started writing yet. The original point of this exercise was to throw my usual hang-ups about accuracy out the window (which didn't really exist in Anglo-Saxon buildings at all ) and just have fun writing.

As for chivalry... what would Alred be without his circa 13th century chivalry? In his case I've made him well-read, cultivated, and a French-speaker with a slight, suppressed interest in French culture (Monty Python jokes notwithstanding), which is the best justification I could find for making him the gallant knight he is.

Really, once I brought in the elves and the demons, trivial details like head-scarfs didn't matter so much anymore anyway.

And that is why I need a separate blog.

Certainly, as Flann reminded him, they were only men under the robes.

In the 11th century and particularly during the pontificate of the "current" Pope Gregory VII (who has only a few months to live...) the question of clerical celibacy was under debate, since there were a lot of priests, especially in rural parishes, who had wives. Things had gotten a little out of hand by this time, but Gregory's reaffirmation of the necessity of celibacy has pretty much survived until today.

But, as we know, it has always been a problem, and it makes me think in particular of the friar in The Canterbury Tales, who finds husbands for the girls after getting them into trouble.

For our purposes, we should know that if the Church were to find out about Brude's affair, he would certainly be forbidden from celebrating Mass and from any ecclesiastical function until he had repented and, of course, given her up. However, the validity of the sacraments he has administered meanwhile would not have been called into question, e.g. the babies he has baptized are still baptized.

The lack of blood and gore hasn't bothered me too much, actually. I am not fond of horror movies, and I don't think it would have added a lot, for example, if I had actually shown Dartesas getting his head nearly severed from his neck or the blood spilling out of his mouth as Lar described it. I thought that pool of blood (and tears) on the floor in which Lar was wallowing (to use Dantalion's term) was sufficient.

I think the potentially-worst image I have had so far was when Sigefrith found the body in the snow. I described it as having its face ripped/chewed off, but since the picture was so dark you don't really get the gory details. If I had had the possibility to get a better-lit, more realistic chewed-off face, I wouldn't have used it.

Same reason I haven't gone for the full-frontal nudity yet, actually. Because I am something of a wimp. One of the reasons for writing this story is to de-wimpify myself, so maybe we'll get more naked people and more chewed-off faces in the future.

I admit that one of my reasons for not doing the nudity is that it would simply look silly. I only have one or two female skins with body hair. I do have some "wearable" hair for the men, but then my problem is with the actual bits. The crammyboy "accessory" looks rather strange with the Gunmod Radiance lighting, I find. It seems to be lit like an object rather than like a Sim, with the result that it appears to, uh, glow. I do use it, but only to remind myself what parts need to be covered by a strategically-placed piece of furniture when I'm taking pictures.

Ooh, Tiana, you might re-ask the question once you get caught up so some of the other readers see it. I've been wondering about dwarves myself. I think it might be possible with SimPE using the stretch factor that I use to make Sigefrith tall and Alred shrimpy.

If you make Sims very short then their limbs get stumpy like dwarves, but their head stays the same size. Perhaps their torso, too, I've never played with it much. But I don't know how well it would work with clothes and things, and even animations.

edit to add: Regarding the sexiness of the Scots, there will be some kilts coming up shortly. *fans self*

On the contrary, Aithne, I would be delighted to see another early medieval story.

As you've read, my story has since begun to drift ever so slightly from the true historical timeline, but that drift has actually become a huge part of my plot. It allows me to make my characters interact with the rest of the world now. On the other hand it doesn't remove the need to do research, because now I will be doing historical "what if?" scenarios.

It also allows me to pretend that it's not a semi-fantasy world but the real world... except that in our timeline, in which Leofric died at Hastings, something happened that caused all the elves, etc., to drop out of circulation. Who *did* build all those megaliths in Britain and Brittany?

Also, I would love to see some of those haikus.

*dies of flattery*

Alred would be tickled. So would Vash, for that matter, though you would have to explain the concept of haiku to both of them. Although Old English verse is syllabic as well--they would certainly understand.

The megaliths I mean are indeed the stone circles. Here's a photo of one in Lothere, looking east towards Raegiming.

I have some ideas for another Sim project I would like to do, too, but real life is definitely in the way of that one. Just when I have less time to write (i.e., when I finally get a full-time job), I have an idea for more story-telling to do. It figures.

I don't think the Sims lends itself well to gory stories. Unlike some of the other video games that are used for machinima, shooting things up was not part of this game. Every time I have tried to do something bloody, it is has been hard. But my stories are -- let's face it -- a lot of romance novels intertwined, so the Sims is pretty close to perfect for that. Except when I have a man taller than a woman and he limits himself to kissing her nose.

Ha, il manquerait plus que ça, que tu sois de la même période.

I am working on the church problem... really, in recent months I have been working on the building problem in general. My later castles have begun to be a bit more realistic, though they're still more 12th century than 11th. As for the churches, I am working on some CC to get some more color into them. I have always been very frustrated with the minimal amount of architectural stuff that the game provides that can be used for medieval church building. There are those connecting arches, and that's about it. I would love to have proper roofs with barrel vaulting and so on... grand arches... *sigh* I don't know how to make new objects, though, so all I can do is paint on the walls.

But Sigefrith's new minster that he has recently begun building should at least be a lot more colorful. And there is a very talented painter in the valley whom you will soon meet, and he may be able to help with that...