Games - Skittles

Farmers Playing at the Skittles Jan Steen (1665)

First off, not the candy.  Skittles is a game of knocking down pins, which has had many derivations and evolutions over the course of human history (including modern USA style bowling).  Some try to connect Skittles to Ancient Greece, or Rome.  Others suggest that the earliest known game of this type comes from 3rd or 4th Century Germany, where monks would try to knock over a kegel (or club) with thrown stones (Kegelen is the modern German term for Skittles).  Kayles (again, Skittles) players show up in 14th C France as well.  Whatever its origin, for some reason, we like throwing heavy things at pins.
    For the basic rules, I'm using a games handbook from 1892.  Nine pins are used in the game, placed on a wooden board in a diamond pattern (a square, with one point directed at the player).  From a distance of about 21 feet, the player should throw a heavy round (or cheese-shaped) ball, attempting to knock down as many pins as possible (though the book doesn't suggest a way to "win," the best players knock down the most pins in the least amount of time and/or throws).  Ordinarily, one step is allowed before releasing the ball, but the "trotting" variation allows multiple steps.  Other Nineteenth Century variations include: Nine Pins, Dutch Pins, Four Corners, and Rolly Polly.
    As suggested, the variations on this game are legion.  Pins come in a variety of shapes and sizes (and materials), sometimes employing a "king pin" which is taller.  Often, the kingpin should be knocked over first, or maybe it is the only pin you want to knock down, or the only one you should leave standing.  The pins will only be placed on a board if you're throwing at them.  Otherwise, they may be placed on a smooth patch of ground, or at the end of a wooden alley in a pub.  The ball might be made of rubber or wood (with lignum vitae being the old favorite). At times the ball (or cheese, or even a club) should be thrown, but it might be bowled, or bounced as well.  In the French variation, after the first bowl is taken at a distance, a second throw (if needed) is done at point-blank range.  Scoring is another place for wide variety, with the goal of some games being the least number of bowls to knock down the nine pins, to trying to knock down the most pins in a certain number of throws. 
    Confusing isn't it?  Don't worry too much.  Skittles is, at its heart, a simple game.  Its history is much like the history of Fairy Tales.  The core remains the same while the details are altered to best fit each community.  Like any good traveler, if you want to get involved in the game, let the locals show you how to play.  If you want to make up your own variation to put in a story, or to play at home, feel free.  You'd hardly be the first.  
   



Rule Book (pg61-63) - http://books.google.com/books?id=ljAPAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=quoits+history&source=bl&ots=Nff7pjlbrM&sig=3MTsT1pgz4-lyfIfZuTmoaVTg2I&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sCasU4OkO8OeyATchIHIDw&ved=0CGkQ6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=quoits%20history&f=false
History and rules variations by region - http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Skittles.htm
London Skittles - http://www.londonskittles.co.uk/content/history.htm

Cobbled together

Yesterday I was having a chat with a colleague.  We got to wondering how the shoe repair shop across the street stays in business, in this day and age.  Once upon a time it was cost effective to have someone re-sole a shoe, or to fix the heel, but today overall quality seems to be on the decline (so you wear through the material of the shoe before the sole) and fashions change so rapidly that there is little reason to keep the shoes by the time they're in need of repair.
    As the conversation turned, he told me that a "shoemaker" is a derogatory term used in the restaurant industry for a chef who kind of just throws things together with little understanding.  I made the natural leap from shoemaker to cobbler (being the archaic term, and by now you should know how I like those), and from there to connecting to the idea that something "cobbled together" suggests a something put together hastily or carelessly.  It seems that our society holds a dim view of shoemakers in general.
    I know that this is going the long way around to make this point, but it's fascinating to me how some of these terms enter the lexicon.  A "Philadelphia lawyer" is a slick, highly capable, professional in that industry who thoroughly outclassed their country cousins (though for some reason, the term has more recently fallen out of favor). There are loads of idioms related to professions which say something significant about how the public perceives them.  By making clear use of this in a story, especially related to some fantastical profession, you can give a sense of age and cultural evolution to your world without having to do a whole lot of work.  Now, go get creating.


http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/cobble+together
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/philadelphia+lawyer

The Crier

http://historicalfictionresearch.blogspot.com/2012/10/you-must-come.html

In a time before moveable type, much less newspapers, getting information to the illiterate masses was an interpersonal experience.  You might wonder why the government would be interested in sharing information with their subordinates.  Today's politicians certainly seem like they would be much happier if they didn't have to keep us up to date on what is happening in the realm.  Within the frame of history, the role of the town crier is manifold. 
    The history of the town crier goes back to Ancient Greece, with the Spartan runners.  These men were essentially messengers and envoys.  These messengers would carry the news of the ending of political relationships (aka declaring war), or proposals of truce to reestablish those relationships.  Pheidippides was the man sent to Sparta, traveling 240km in two days, to request help against the Persians who had just landed at Marathon (and yes, supposedly died after sharing news of the subsequent Greek victory).  As the Roman conquest spread across Europe, the role evolved and steadily increased in importance. 
    In Roman Britain, town criers apparently carried news of battles from settlement to settlement and were not always met with polite responses (as an example, recall the movie "300").  Indeed, bearers of bad tiding were often put to death.  Over time, these criers (more, heralds) gained the protection of the Throne, leading to the saying, "don't shoot the messenger," as harming them was a treasonous act (and really didn't accomplish much anyway).  These messengers would be sent out by the victorious side to inform local population centers of their victories, and what changes to expect in the case of a new overlord. 
    William the Conqueror was a big proponent of the Town Crier, decreeing that all large settlements should have one to spread the news of the kingdom and to warm of danger.  These criers were generally respected men who were fairly well educated (they had to be able to read).  Either by shouting, or sounding an instrument (bells became popular in the 1850s) they would assemble a crowd, usually near the local tavern, and read their news.  Once recited, the news would be nailed to the post of the tavern for the general consumption (leading to "The Post" being used for newspapers ever since).  It was not uncommon for the position of Crier to be passed from father to son, for generations. 
    There were a variety of roles that related to the Crier.  Some towns had traditional Criers as well as "Bell Men," who would walk the town crying the news.  In some places, women were also used to cry news (though there were also husband/wife teams in which the lady rang the bell), but if the Town Crier was CNN, these ladies were TMZ.  Their information was on lost items, fresh food at the market, or a bit of local news.  All this was available to the common listener, for a small fee. 
    Being the Town Crier was generally only a part time job.  Before the establishment of the police force, these men might be empowered to uphold the law (he told everyone else what they were, didn't he?), an officer of the court, an auctioneer, or just about any other thing...

JAMES Williams, Parifh Clerk, Saxtone,
Town Cryer, and Bell-man --- makes and fells
all forst of haberdayfharies, groceries, &cc. like-
wife hair, and whigs dreft, and cut, on the fhor-
teft notice.
N.B. I keeps an evening fchool, where I teach at
reafonable rates, reading, writting and finging.
N.B. I play the hooboy accafionally, if wanted.
N.B. My fhop is next door, where I bleed,
draw teth, and fhoo horfes, with the greateft fcil.
N.B. Children taut to dance, if agreable, at 6d. per
week, by me, J. Williams, who buy and fell old iron,
and coals -- Shoos cleaned and mended.
N.B. A hat and pr of flockens to be c____ led for,
the belt in 5, on Shrof Tufhday. For particulars enquire
within, or at the horfe fhoo and bell, near the church.
on tother fide of the way.
N.B. Look over the door for the fight of the 3 pidgeons.
N.B. I fell good Ayle, and fometines Cyder--Lodgins for fingle men.
The Quebec Herald of Monday, January 18, 1790

    All of this is interesting, but doesn't really say why these criers were so important.  Okay, well maybe it is self evident, but I'll summarize anyway.  In a time when the world was impossibly large, these men helped to shape your little corner of it.  They let you know what was going on, who was in charge, and how that person in charge wanted you to act.  Through their proclamations you learned what goods were coming to market, the best ways to prevent a fire, and if the Saracens were expected to swoop down on you anytime soon.  The News is a key factor in forming a national identity.  It's a powerful tool of promotion and disparagement (depending on how you want to use it).  Delivered by well respected men, it is imparted with an air of authority and reliability.  By employing these men properly, a population can be more effectively controlled than by any force of arms.






General+Australia - http://perthtowncrier.com/support.html
General+UK - http://www.towncrier-davidcraner.co.uk/Pages/TownCrierHistory.aspx
General+Scottish - http://www.scottishtowncrier.com/history.html
Later History - http://www.historyinanhour.com/2014/01/08/history-of-town-criers/
Florence - http://historicalfictionresearch.blogspot.com/2012/10/you-must-come.html

Time in a Fantasy setting

When I think about realism in a Fantasy setting, one of the sticking points always seems to be the ages of these worlds.  Their histories tell us of thousands of years of history, cultures clashing, mighty empires rising, only to tumble and be reborn.  Prophesies are made, long forgotten, and now come to fruition.  Perhaps some of these histories stem from elaborated oral traditions, like the Norse or Chinese tales of old, but it never quite feels that way. 
    The trouble is that, after a couple thousand years, humans moved beyond a Medieval setting.  The Medieval period itself didn't last all that long.  Hell, the events depicted in the Bible were supposed to have happened two thousand years ago.  A heck of a lot happens in a couple hundred years: technologies evolve, philosophies are birthed, nations rise and fall.  To stagnate at one technological level for thousands of years would seem to require a significant effort.  
    One of the classic ways to get around this is to have your Fantasy world build upon the ashes of a much more high-tech world, ala the Sha-na-nara setting.  Magic arising from a scientific apocalypse is an old idea.  Usually the suggestion is that the magical creatures had been hiding out all along and came back to the surface once humanity wipes most of itself out (anyone else remember the animated film "Wizards," fondly?).  Otherwise you get into evolving/mutating humans (or other animals) to create Fantastic creatures.  Magic might then arise from tapping into primal energies or faiths that arise (or again had been dormant).  It works, but for me it's been done; it's a little too "Planet of the Apes."
    The interaction with other sentient species could cause a retardation of technological advances, if they are anti-science.  Elves are typically portrayed as the defenders of nature, living in am idyllic relationship with their surroundings.  If they stand up to humans who attempt to despoil the land, then they might slow the development of human society.  Then again military need has always driven scientific advancement, so conflict with another culture might accelerate the development of military technology.  Elves also tend to be smaller in number, due to their lifestyle, so this might also encourage humans to organize more efficiently to overcome any physical or intellectual advantages that the elves have.  This history could depict the slow shift in the balance of power between the cultures.
    Conflict with a group that preys on humans might limit the evolution of culture.  Humans have long been an apex predator, but what if there were a predator as intelligent as we are?  Again, it might encourage the rapid military advance, but if the other species is far enough ahead, they might have a lifestyle that represses our culture, or perhaps they treat us as cattle.  However, if they are that intelligent, the same questions would apply to them.  It could be a couple hundred years of oppression, but if humans throw off the yoke, there is no reason they would lose the technology of their oppressors and then build upon that. 
    It isn't enough to have conflict between nations.  "Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." (The Third Man ).  Human history is full of conflict, so we can see how much that slows our development.  Wars tend to build industry and to fire nationalism. 
    Magic may replace science in a setting, but only if it is universally accessible to the intelligent (e.g. not an inborn gift) or cheap to obtain.  If all of the intelligent could use magic, then there might be no one of ability interested in furthering science.  If the less gifted were the only ones interested in it, it would slow the development significantly.  Technology is so much a part of our everyday that magic use would have to be a universal practice.  Science is too universally valuable to be ignored.  That could lead to an interesting conflict between technology and magic, with magic being the power of the elite... 
   Religion and philosophy seem to be the only feasible methods of slowing the advance of technology in a traditional Fantasy setting.  The trick is that they must consciously oppose the development of science.  Most who are interested in acquiring power do not care where it comes from and will subsequently support scientific development.  There must be some kind of intentional limitation, like in Dune, where their religion does not allow thinking machines (leaving those creepy mentats).  Wait, that isn't a traditional Fantasy setting.  Oh, it's just an example of an idea, don't worry about it. 
    The bottom line is, things happen really quickly in the course of history.  Generations take less than twenty years.  If you don't write them down, things that happened in your father's day may be lost to the mists of time.  There is no need to give your world such a back-story.  Stick in a little more reality and you will see how quickly things can develop.

Rain Shadow

For those of you who clicked over expecting a post about Storm Shadow's little brother, I apologize and welcome to my blog.  Odds are you've never been here before.  It's not that I'm above GI Joe, far from it, but as unfocused as this series may seem from time to time, I do attempt to remain on the topic of building worlds of words.  GI Joe actually demonstrates two of the basic tropes of fantasy exhausted during my childhood 

1) A team-up of disparate types of people who join together to defeat the big bad.

2) The outsider (Snake Eyes) taken in and taught the secret fighting arts of some highly select group for no good reason, but for the fact it makes a cool story.

However, as I said, this is not a GI Joe post, so I'll stick to science and if you want to discuss the Joes, you can do it in the comments section or some other corner of the internet.  Ahem...

from the wiki

"Rain shadow" is term used to describe a meteorologic effect (orographic lift) which explains why you can have lush greenery on one side of the mountains and a desert on the other.  These rain shadows are formed in the lee (prevailing winds come from the other side) of mountain ranges.  When warm moist air is forced upwards by the face of the mountain range, the cooler temperatures and reduced atmospheric pressure forms clouds. These clouds drop rain and snow on that face.  Once it goes over the mountains or through the passes, the clouds (having spent much of their moisture) descend to the warmer layers of the atmosphere and dissipate.  Such is the case with in Death Valley (Sierra Madres and Pacific Coast Range), the Atacama Desert (Andes) and the Tibetan Plateau (Himalayas).   
    You may ask why I bring this up.  The basic point is that the rain shadow effect is not uncommon.  Mountains are barriers to more than just human passage.  The higher and more extensive the mountain range, the more pronounced the effect.  Rain shadows don't just produce deserts, they can form grasslands, scrub-lands or any other kind of semi-arid region.  They also come into play on islands.  Wiki has loads of examples.
    All I'm saying is that I don't know how many times I've read a story in which one side of an impenetrable mountain range looks much like the other.  Not that this can't happen, just that I'm always impressed by writers who can fully realize their natural worlds.  It is these interactions of the natural environment that create the varied terrains which compel so much human variation (or that of other Fantastic creatures).  By learning more about how the environment interacts with itself, we can make our worlds more believable and help to inspire our own creations.





Net Sources
NatGeo - http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/rain-shadow/?ar_a=1#
Wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_shadow
Pacific NW - http://www.olympicrainshadow.com/rainshadoweffect.html

Receiving Guests

http://rodale.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54f86af5688330120a557d986970c-popup

I'm sure that most people have experienced this, but it's funny how we require our homes to be better kept when company is coming.  I know that my mother would go into (and still does) a flurry of cleaning when she was expecting guests.  I suppose that it is vanity that makes us want to trick others into thinking that we live more tidily than we do.  Perhaps it is respect for our friends, who deserve better than the squalor we wallow in daily (fine, fine, I'll just speak for myself), kind of like putting on your best clothes for Church.  I know a friend's mother likes to have her guests' favorite breakfast items on hand (assuming they are staying over).  To make others comfortable, many of us will go well beyond what we would do for ourselves.
    However clean we make the house for a guest's arrival, the relationship between guest and host varies somewhat from culture to culture.  It generally seems that the poorer or more inhospitable the climate, the more generous the host.  Many is the story of the wanderer lost in the wilderness who chances upon a lonely hunter/hermit/nomad who will give the shirt off their back to aid the unlucky one.  They understand how hard it is out there.  Often it seems true of cultures as well.  If a country is doing well, it expects the poor and downtrodden to "pull themselves up by their boot-straps," while the residents of the poorer nations tend to pool their resources and pitch in to help their neighbors.  I have certainly experienced this in my time spent living abroad.
    Applying all of this to a Fantasy world seems like a relatively simple idea, especially since we've seen it pop up quite prominently in A Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones, for you HBO viewers).  Guest right is a very serious issue in a more primitive culture.  What are the responsibilities of the guest and the host in this relationship?  Today, we often say, "Make yourself at home," but what does that mean?  I would never treat someone's house like my own.  That would be rude.  Likewise, what is an appropriate response for the host once that line has been crossed?  Are they more tolerant of outsiders because of cultural differences, or less?  By exploring this relationship and its implications you can continue to build your world, instead of exploiting a trope.  


I know I have readers from a variety of regions, countries, and backgrounds.  Let me know a bit about how guests are received where you come from, or in your experience.  I'd love to know.

mmm Gruel

Yes, I admit it, musical theater is sometimes referenced in my daily life.  When you work in food service, it's only natural that you quote "Oliver!" around staff-meal time.  The question then becomes, "What, exactly, is gruel?" (we all know better than to ask for more).

http://royceferguson.blogspot.com/2011/05/porridge-gruel-grits-and-lawyers.html

The basic recipe for gruel consists of grain boiled in water or milk.  Grains used commonly for these recipes include: oats, wheat, rye, rice, millet, hemp, and barley.  Chestnut and acorn flour (though from those rare, less tannic, oak trees) have also been used in especially hard times.  "Gruel" is a catchall term in English, which can be used to describe foods from across the globe, from the English dish (typically made with oats) to Korean Jat-juk (pine-nut and rice) to Mesoamerican Atole (maize, chili, and salt). 
    Gruel was a staple in the diet of the Medieval peasant.  Meat was extremely expensive (even when animals were the source of your income), so most meals consisted of grains and vegetables (and fish, depending on where you lived).  When preparing, these grains could be roasted and ground roughly at home, avoiding the added cost of using the mill.  It was easily digestible, so commonly prescribed for invalids and freshly weaned children.  For those living outside of a town, ovens were not generally available for the baking of bread (remember, in many places, ovens were a luxury used by the whole community), so gruel was a way to get the calories into those bellies. 
    Try to think of it this way, gruel doesn't have to be a terrible thing.  It has gotten a bad name thanks to a variety of literary sources (as in my association).  Even in Medieval times they were making upscale versions.  Gruya (14th C France)  is a version made from barley and almond milk, with sugar and salt thrown in.  Mmmm luxury.  Gruel is essentially a base, like the basic recipe for any soup.  It can be as savory or sweet as you like.  Wiki suggests that Ovaltine is essentially a gruel.  Now go out there and give some a try.  Quit being such a snob and believing everything you read.  Didn't we just talk about that?
   



definition -http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gruel
wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruel
competent source - http://www.mrbreakfast.com/ask.asp?askid=10
recipes - http://www.medievalplus.com/food-cooking/recipes-gruel.html

Spontaneous Generation

No, I'm not talking about the children of the 60's, you silly people.  It's what we all heard about in seventh grade science class, laughed about with an air of superiority, and pushed to the back of our minds with all of the other trivia that holds no bearing on modern life.  Today, the idea that organic life can spring from non-living matter, like rats born from a pile of rags, maggots from rotting flesh, or policemen from a sack full of hammers (I'm not sure about that last one) is laughable to everyone.  The reason to discuss it is simple: we didn't get around to fully disproving it until the 19th Century; thank you Louis Pasteur.  Consequently,  characters in a Fantasy setting might just hold with this belief.
    Much like the whole "the Sun goes around the Earth" concept (though the Church held on to that longer than common people did),  the idea that something can come from nothing was a widely held belief.  In a world ignorant of the microscopic, and with limited capacity for the scientific, it is an entirely understandable conclusion.  This concept is also in line with any belief in a Creator/God.  If a god created life once, no reason not to do it again, or all the time.  
    Modern scientific thought doesn't even have a good answer for where life came from originally.  It's entirely possible that life may spring from inanimate matter on a microscopic level.  You can't prove that it never does.  Science doesn't work that way.  Bigger stuff, though, is pretty clearly a no go on the spontaneous generation front.  Eventually we learned that flies lay their eggs on rotting flesh (which become maggots), and microorganisms can travel through the air to make your food moldy.  However, it took a long time for scientists to devise the proper experiments to disprove these theories.   
    Is it such a difficult concept to believe?  Weren't humans made from clay before being brought to life (at least in Greek myth)?  It's only natural then  for your characters to believe that elves were birthed from the trees and dwarfs from stone.  I seem to remember orcs having been birthed from fungi in some universe.  When you remember to remove some of our ingrained scientific understanding, you leave a lot more room for magic and wonder in your world.  Give it a try and you just might give birth to something wholly new.  




http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/BC/Spontaneous_Generation.php
http://www.allaboutscience.org/what-is-spontaneous-generation-faq.htm


interestingly, the second site seems to be going in an anti-evolution direction with some of its entries.  the history part seems good though.  as always, be mindful of what you read.