Note sulla lingua: la fanfiction è in italiano, ma cercherò di postare soprattutto in inglese le cose che potrebbero essere utili anche ad altre persone.
english version
I read "Atlantica la genesi", an italian book from a small publisher. And it captivated me: the lack of editing and the absence of worldbuilding, the crazy way the characters act, the fact that it was the action-per-action report of some D&D session.
So I did what I had to do. I started writing a fanfiction which only has the characters and some plot points in common with the original, in which I added a lot of things I found important.
The fanfiction is called Petra:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
This blog is about the medieval world I built for Petra.
Versione italiana
Ho letto il libro "Atlantica - la genesi", pubblicato da una piccola casa editrice italiana nel 2016.
Mi ha affascinato immensamente: la mancanza di editing, l'assenza di worldbuilding, il comportamento pazzo dei personaggi, e soprattutto il fatto che è il resoconto, azione per azione, delle sessioni di D&D dello scrittore.
Quindi ho fatto la cosa più naturale. Ho iniziato a scrivere una fanfiction che ha in comune con l'originale solo i personaggi e alcuni punti di trama, a cui ho aggiunto un sacco di cose che ho trovato importanti.
La fanfiction si chiama Petra (come il personaggio che è stato trattato peggio nell'intera storia):
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Questo blog parla del lavoro di ricerca e worldbuilding medievale che sto facendo.
Gems have long been considered by all peoples as somehow magical because of their brilliance of colour and hardness, but other materials, such as teeth, also had magical properties.
This ring has the hoop engraved with two inscriptions, providing double the power; one a magic formula, the other a biblical phrase. The magical charm: ‘BURO + BERTO + BERNETO’ is to protect against toothache; the tooth set in the bezel may well have been expected to contribute to the prophylactic power of the words. The biblical phrase 'CONSUMMATUM + EST' are the last words Christ spoke on the Cross, and were used as a charm to calm storms.
As this ring is large, it is probably it belonged to a man, and as storms would endanger the wearer only when at sea, it has been suggested that a travelling merchant who undertook many sea voyages might be a possible candidate for ownership.
The decomposition process occurs in several stages following death:
Pallor mortis
Algor mortis
Rigor mortis
Cadaveric spasm
Lividity
Putrefaction
Decomposition
Skeletonization
PALLOR MORTIS
The first stage of death.
Occurs once blood stops circulating in the body.
The cessation of an oxygenated blood flow to the capillaries beneath the skin causes the deceased to pale in appearance.
In non-Caucasians, the pallor may appear to develop an unusual hue; the skin will lose any natural lustre and appears more waxen.
Occurs quite quickly, within about 10 minutes after death.
ALGOR MORTIS
The cooling of the body after death.
The cooling process will be influenced by many factors, including the deceased’s clothing, or whether they are covered with bed linen such as blankets or duvets.
The body will typically cool to the ambient room temperature, but this alters if there is heating in the room or if there is a constant draught cooling the body.
RIGOR MORTIS
Can occur between 2 and 6 hours after death.
Factors including temperature can greatly affect this.
Caused by the muscles partially contracting, and the lack of aerobic respiration means that the muscles cannot relax from the contraction, leaving them tense, subsequently resulting in the stiffening we associate with rigor mortis.
This stage typically begins in the head, starting with the eyes, mouth, jaw and neck, and progresses right through the body.
The process is concluded approximately 12 hours after death (although, again, certain variables may occur) and lasts between 24 and 72 hours depending on circumstances.
Contrary to popular belief, rigor mortis is not a permanent state and is in fact reversed, with the muscles relaxing in the same order in which they initially stiffened.
The reversing process also takes approximately 12 hours, when the body returns to its un-contracted state.
It is possible to ‘break’ rigor mortis by manipulating and flexing the limbs. This is usually done by undertakers, pathologists or crime scene investigators who are attempting to examine or move a body – or by a murderer trying to hide their victim in the closet or the boot of a car.
CADAVERIC SPASM
A phenomenon that can be misinterpreted as rigor mortis.
The instantaneous stiffening of the body (most commonly the hands) following a traumatic death.
Unlike rigor mortis, the stiffening of the affected limb is permanent and is not reversed, causing the deceased to maintain the rigidity until such time as putrefaction causes breakdown of the particular muscle group.
Examples:
The deceased following an air crash were later discovered still clutching their seatbelts or arm rests in a final, desperate act of survival.
In a drowning case, the victim was discovered with grass from the riverbank still grasped in their hand.
Perhaps the most famous case of cadaveric spasm involves the rock band Nirvana’s lead singer, Kurt Cobain. Cobain reportedly committed suicide in April 1994. His body was discovered a few days after his death with a shotgun wound to the head, and tests revealed he had large traces of heroin in his system. He was reportedly discovered still clutching the gun in his left hand, due to cadaveric spasm. However, a great deal of controversy surrounds the veracity of this latter assumption, and indeed the cause of his death, with many people insisting and attempting to prove that he died as the result of foul play rather than suicide.
LIVIDITY
Also known as livor mortis, hypostasis, or suggillation.
Once blood can no longer circulate, it will gravitate towards the lowest point of the body.
Example: A supine body will display pinkish/purple patches of discoloration where the blood has settled in the back and along the thighs.
Occurs about 30 minutes after death, but will not necessarily be noticeable until at least 2 hours afterwards as the pooling process intensifies and becomes visible, finally peaking up to between 8 and 12 hours later.
Once it is complete, the lividity process cannot be reversed.
Therefore a body discovered lying on its side, but with staining evident in the back and shoulders, must have been moved at some point from what would have been a supine position at the time of death.
It is worth noting that if the body has had contact with the floor, a wall or other solid surface, lividity would not occur at the points of contact as the pressure would not allow the blood to seep through the capillaries and pool. The specific area of pressure will be the same colour as the rest of the body and a pattern of contact may well be evident.
PUTREFACTION
Derives from the Latin putrefacere, meaning ‘to make rotten’.
The body becomes rotten through the process known as autolysis, which is the liquefaction of bodily tissue and organs and the breakdown of proteins within the body due to the increased presence of bacteria.
The first visible sign is the discoloration of the skin in the area of the abdomen.
Bacteria released from the intestine cause the body to become bloated with a mixture of gases; over time these will leak out, and the smell will intensify to unbearable proportions.
Typically, this will attract flies that will lay eggs, which develop into maggots.
Bloating is most evident in the stomach area, genitals and face, which can become unrecognizable as the tongue and eyes are forced to protrude due to the pressure of the build-up of gases in the body.
At this stage, the body will also begin to lose hair.
The organs typically decompose in a particular order: starting with the stomach, followed by the intestines, heart, liver, brain, lungs, kidney, bladder and uterus/prostate.
Once all the gases have escaped the skin begins to turn black: this stage is called ‘black putrefaction’.
As with all the other stages of death so far, the rate of putrefaction depends on temperature and location. A body exposed to the air above ground will decompose more quickly than a body left in water or buried below ground.
During putrefaction, blistering of the skin and fermentation can also occur:
Fermentation - a type of mould that will grow on the surface of the body. This mould appears white, and is slimy or furry in texture. It also releases a very strong, unpleasant, cheesy smell.
As the putrefaction process comes to an end, fly and maggot activity will become less, which leads to the next stage.
DECOMPOSITION
The body is an organic substance comprising organisms that can be broken down by chemical decomposition.
If the body is outside, any remains that have not been scavenged or consumed by maggots will liquefy and seep into the surrounding soil.
Thus when the body decomposes it is effectively recycled and returned to nature.
SKELETONIZATION
The final stage of death is known as ‘dry decay’, when the cadaver has all but dried out: the soft tissue has all gone and only the skeleton remains.
If the cadaver is outside, not only is it exposed to the elements but it also becomes food for scavengers such as rats, crows or foxes.
As the remains are scavenged, the body parts become dispersed so it is not unusual to find skeletal remains some distance from where the body lay at the point of death.
The way in which skeletal remains are scattered in such cases is of interest to archaeologists, and is referred to as taphonomy.
Where a body has lain undiscovered at home for a period of time it has also been known for family pets, typically dogs, to feed on the body. The natural instinct of a pet is to attempt to arouse the deceased by licking them, but once it gets hungry, its survival instinct will take over and it will consider the body as little more than carrion: it will act with the same natural instinct as a scavenger in the wild, which will feed on any corpse, be it animal or human, if it is starving.
Obviously the number of pets, the body mass of the deceased and the time lapse before the body is discovered will influence to what extent it has been devoured.
For further research on the stages of decomposition and the factors that affect it, look up body farms. These are medical facilities where bodies are donated for research purposes so scientists can specifically observe the decomposition process. However, be aware that some of the images are quite graphic.
Source ⚜ More: References ⚜ Autopsy ⚜ Pain & Violence ⚜ Injuries
Bereavement ⚜ Death & Sacrifice ⚜ Cheating Death ⚜ Death Conceptions
I'm saying this in response to a post I recently saw on Tumblr, claiming that medieval women didn't remove body hair. I am very much a hairy feminist but we shouldn't rewrite history: medieval women were also subject to sexist beauty standards and they followed trends on what hair and where you were supposed to have.
This is particularly true for the upper classes. Some of the hair removal methods in medieval texts go from being uncomfortable to disgusting or dangerous. Look up Trotula's Treatments for Women.
The eyebrows are the easiest to notice: if you watch realistic portraits from the late middle ages you will find that a lot of women have very thin or sparse eyebrows (even when their hair is dark), and very tall foreheads, because they plucked their hair!
Example from 1489 source
Piero della Francesca's "portrait of Battista Sforza"
January: By thys fyre I warme my handys;
February: And with my spade I delfe my landys.
March: Here I sette my thynge to springe;
April: And here I here the fowles singe.
May: I am as lyght as byrde in bowe;
June: And I wede my corne well I-now.
July: With my sythe my mede I mawe;
August: And here I shere my corne full lowe.
September: With my flayll I erne my brede;
October: And here I sawe my whete so rede.
November: At Martynesmasse I kylle my swine;
December: And at Cristesmasse I drynke redde wyne.
One important thing I learned from writing a fanfiction is that you should always comment and compliment another writer's fiction. A writer feeds on comments.
Ho finito di scrivere Petra. Ecco un link all'ultimo capitolo: Capitolo quindicesimo. Continuerò ad usare questo account per condividere disegni, illustrazioni e fatti sul medioevo, ma per ora la strada di Cosetta si ferma qui.
I started this fan fiction knowing that I was going to kill one of the main characters and doing my best to make it heart-wrenching, but now that I got to it I feel so bad... this was never supposed to be serious
Libra. Signs of the zodiac. Liber astrologiae Georgii Zapari Zothori Fenduli , Sacerdotis, Philosophi atque Palatini ; ex Albumasar, Alim Syro, et Maymone Kaliffa concinnatus, c. 1301-1400
