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BG1 => Dynaheir - my favourite witch! She was dark and non-Caucasian.

Oh yeah...she was great. Feisty young lass. Loved that accent.

There was even an Elder Scrolls: Redguard game.

Great! It's a very good book, plowking, and I hope you'll like it enough to continue reading <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />.

I'm sure I will. Especially perfer the more adult nature of his writing compared to the PG 12's nature of Robert Jordan.

Yes, it's VERY adult (you'll see later).
Ah you noticed it too about R. Jordan? I though I was the only one.

BTW, if Lews comes, we were talking about some distant relative of Michael Jordan, okay? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

It's a deal...and VERY adult you say?

Well it's about time, a fanasty writer with some backbone...and probably another bone.....er......I'll shut up now. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shhh.gif" alt="" />

No, I don't mean sexual relations. You'll see what I mean when you'll read the book and try to think which of the characters are good.

There's some graphic sex, as well, but it's usually rather brief.

men in fantasy books just don't last long, huh? if only they have viagra ... .

Ah, actually, there's some lesbian action in the books, as well. On top of mentions of rape and descriptions graphic violence.

Good to hear...it makes the characters all the more real for this setting. It's a harsh world and I'm only a few chapters in. In Jordans wheel of time I never felt there was ever anything gritty about the world they lived in.

Exactly. Although I feel, sometimes, that it's going a bit far. Few of the characters have any moments of peace, quiet, or happiness. They seem to drown in an eternal sea of miseries, angst, and bad fortune. (Not a bad thing per se, but in excess...)

The Medieval epoch wasn't exactly glamourous. I am no historian but I bet the Wars of the Roses was full of miseries and bad fortunes for every side.

The Medieval epoch wasn't exactly glamourous. I am no historian but I bet the Wars of the Roses was full of miseries and bad fortunes for every side.

Like most eras, Western Europe in the medieval period went through periods of greater peace and all out war. But what most people mean when they say "medieval" is actually the early Renaissance (1200-1400), and during that time, especially the 14th century, life was pretty much a hell for everybody. The Roman Catholic Church had spread its influence into every land and forced conversions were constant. Religious dissension was put down with horrific brutality (usually, it has to be said, not by the RCC, but by the governments). Structural and social experimentation, much more common than we previously thought in the true medieval period, was quashed by largescale nationalist regimes. Class boundaries firmed up. Rebellions were common. The Black Plague made its first incursions. Income distribution was skewed more and more to the upper classes.

Despite the vast wealth available to the rich and powerful, luxuries were virtually non-existent. Even the concept of using controlled, vented fireplaces lay hundreds of years in the future: heat was constantly lacking. Glass was a luxury--windows were small and covered by paper, when possible. The most basic notions of sanitation simply didn't exist. Fleas, lice and parasites were common everywhere, though in better households, wives were instructed how to fold clothes and blankets tightly to literally strangle some vermin. Fuel was hard to come by, and the sun determined the hours of work and sleep for nearly everyone. Despite films to the contrary, most people did not use torches or oil lamps after dark. They went to bed.

Foods were basic, and often surprisingly diverse, but there was only one spice unless you were wealthy, at this time: honey. (Later on, the middle classes would acquire a taste for pepper, salt, etc.) People drank at table from a common cup passed around to all. Forks were introduced sometime during the 14th century among the upper classes, while something resembling a spoon had existed for some time. Otherwise, you ate with your hands.

There were few books, and hardly any literacy. Scientific knowledge in general and medical knowledge in particular received a slight boost from the absorption of texts in the hands of the Ottoman Empire, but it was mostly knowledge gained a priori, without experience, and suffered from being theoretically unsound (like the concept of life resulting from spontaneous generation, or the extraordinary idea some Churchmen had that women were the result of imperfections in the fetus). Slavery became far more common, with most slaves being imported from Eastern Europe (the term Slav is linguistically cognate). For women, things were still worse than for men.

The patriarchalism of the Roman Catholic Church meant an abrogation of whatever rights existed locally, so that all of a woman's goods passed to the control of her husband. Matrilineal inheritances were banished. Sex was forbidden on two out of every three days in any given year, due to sacred holidays, and only one position was authorized by the ubiqitous RCC, which felt that sex was simply for the propagation of the species, and to work off extra tension.

Yeah, it was pretty nasty. And during the 14th century, it was the equivalent of living in an African nation torn by rebellion and outside interference, today. You never knew where your next meal would come from, or who would be invading your lands, claiming them in the name of some leader, and requisitioning your private property (with reimbursement in some distant future). Not for nothing, the biggest hit tune of the period was one entitled, "Ah, These Men of War!"

Ah yes, I knew fable could explain it much better than I did <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />.

Hey, that's what you pay me for, isn't it? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Did I pay you? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />

Not yet. I'm still waiting for the three truckloads of vanilla fudge ice cream. I hope they didn't get lost.

Uhh yeeesssss. And if my bankers are listening, let nothing STOP you from SENDING this man's ice cream <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />.

BTW, if Lews comes, we were talking about some distant relative of Michael Jordan, okay?
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Hey, wow, that basketball guy? COOL!
He wrote a book? No way!
I stopped reading Robert Jordan, I expect them to actually make a dent in the plot BY THE 8th BOOK!!! GOLLY!
And I'm re-reading Harry Pot-head JUST IN CASE there is anything intresting in there, I found one thing so far. The-the-the D (heehee!) word! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />