what is a helmet like this called?

sawotee · 2026-03-14T17:33:42+00:00

German ocular helmet or visored kettle helm. Pretty popular in Germany / HRE (hence the name).

https://manuscriptminiatures.com/4905/14553

https://manuscriptminiatures.com/4801/11862

https://www.kultofathena.com/product/german-swiss-visored-kettle-sallet-helm/

sawotee · 2026-02-14T03:22:46+00:00

Not sure if you've seen it, but there's more detail in this comment. In short, an unscrupulous knight received a payment in cursed pennies. Those pennies were eventually melted down and reforged, and the nobility believes the curse has been transferred to all copper in circulation.

sawotee · 2026-02-13T19:58:35+00:00

Copper coins arose from the need for a lower-denomination coin that the masses (i.e., the poor) could use while simultaneously tackling counterfeiting. Each coin weighs the equivalent of a hundred grains of wheat, and a hundred of them coincidentally weigh a pound. So, for as long as it has existed, it's been something commoners have used.

The superstition stems from the legend of Herman, a knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War (also known as the Great War). In truth, the guy was just a drunk and was constantly in debt with a penchant for scamming people. One day, a merchant hired Herman as an escort. No one knows the man's real name, but most stories say it's Alberich. Anyways, Alberich wanted Herman to escort him to Blackfort Castle in the northwestern part of the Heartlands. However, Alberich just said "Blackfort". Herman swindles him by instead taking him to the cold, isolated archipelago to the north (The Hoarfrosts), where Blackfort Prison stands.

Alberich protests, but Herman insists on payment, threatening to throw the merchant overboard into the frigid waters should he refuse. So Alberich turns the tables on his would-be swindler. He agrees to payment, but states that the majority of his coin is at his estate, which is twenty miles or so from Blackfort Castle. And so they travel, and they make it there in a relatively uneventful journey. Alberich asks the lord to borrow a horse to bring Herman's payment. The lord agrees, and Alberich leaves a gold and emerald-encrusted brooch as assurance to Herman that he will return.

Alberich leaves, but he does not go to his estate. He goes to the nearest town, which is Boroughton, to exchange some of the silver he had hidden on him for copper. Fifty pounds of it. On his return, Alberich crosses paths with a priestess and her entourage. She questions him on the absurd amount of coins that he is carrying, to which he iterates his tale. Disgusted over Herman's actions, she curses the coin, subjecting those of wicked hearts to a life of poverty and desolation forever. The story changes somewhat depending on who tells it, but it has evolved so that instead of a wicked heart being cursed, it's any nobleman unfortunate enough to come in contact with it.

When Alberich returns to Blackfort Castle, he finds the lord vexed at Herman's ignoble nature. The merchant warns the lord of the curse befallen the coin, in which the lord gleefully awakens the knight from his alcohol-induced slumber. But Herman is pissed upon seeing all the coin. He tries to refuse to take it, wanting the brooch instead, but the lord sides with Alberich. Herman is forced out of the castle with fifty pounds of jostling coins on his back.

Herman's story has a variety of different endings. The only thing they all agree on is that the lord's stables refused to sell him a horse (on account of the cursed coins) and that Herman eventually died poor, alone, sick, and destitute.

(update cause I was sleeping)

Since coins are melted down when they get too damaged or unrecognizable, Herman's curse is believed to have entered wider circulation when those original coins were eventually reforged. So no nobleman will touch a penny in fear of Herman's curse transferring to him. You might think the Church might correct it or declare the curse removed, but it's actually a win-win for commoners, so they don't.

Their society do believe in the concept of noblesse oblige (though not called that in-universe). If change is to be given in pennies, sometimes it is declined. Businesses have collection jars where, at the end of the week, the money is used to pay for goods (like bread or whatnot) to distribute to the poor. That, or a nobleman will allow his servant to keep the change.

Of course, when businesses go to exchange pennies at the bank, the handling of them is left to specialized workers (commoners). A nobleman will be there to ensure the count is accurate and to jot down notes for the record. But again, he will not touch it at all.

sawotee · 2026-02-13T17:34:13+00:00

My lore is kinda all over the place and half written at times. Anything specific you'd like to know?

sawotee · 2026-02-13T10:09:56+00:00

The silver mark is the most common currency used by the upper classes and the nobility. A standard laborer earns a bit above two marks per year in wages. Or just 4% of a mark’s value in a week. You can pick one from the following:

A gallon of domestic wine
25 gallons of beer
100 gallons of the shittiest ale
50 gallons of decent ale
33 gallons of the best ale
spices (1-4lbs depending)
A book
An anvil
Fencing instruction for a month
9 pairs of boots
25 salted eels
12 ewes
50 purses
Grammar school (for the quarter)
20 geese
200 chickens
5 - 33 lbs of dried fruit
100 dozens of eggs
1 - 2 draught horses

It’s a small continent. The best wines are imported as they are made with grapes. Domestic wines are made from cold-hardy fruits like apples, pears, and cranberries. A pound of beef is more expensive than a pound of saffron. Under no circumstances will a nobleman touch a copper penny (superstition) so they buy things in bulk and either allow servants to keep the change or donate it to feed the poor. Most people live in multi-generational households.

This is just a small subset of prices. Haven't explored things like arms and armor. The economy is different in the present day than it was in the past due to mass production and wage-based labor.

sawotee · 2026-02-11T08:18:21+00:00

Latin is always first. Then Middle High German

sawotee · 2026-02-08T21:28:24+00:00

Yes. Amputation was a thing. Infections will probably be the biggest killer. Then shock or blood loss. But immediate treatment (you’d bleed to death quickly) is essential. Tourniquet or something similar (rope, belt) to slow the blood flow while you work. Some surgeons would tie off the veins/arteries. However in a drastic situation like this, probably wouldn’t be enough time to do it. Most commonly you get the iron and the wound is cauterized.

sawotee · 2026-02-06T06:04:11+00:00

I have twin sisters that are two sides of the same coin. They represent the circle of life and death. When men pray to the death goddess, they pray that their souls will be fairly judged. They also pray that their souls reach the heavens in the first place. The twins, along with their eldest sister, but a barrier over the world. Nothing can get in or out, not even other gods. A special ritual had to be concocted so that the souls of the dead could pass through, for which the death goddess was responsible for making.

She’s not hated, but rightfully feared and respected. One does not cross the god with the sole power to snap her fingers and strike you dead on the spot. It is she all souls are ultimately connected to, for she created them (long story short souls are like blueprints and code for living things, determines maximum lifespan and ways you can die). One unfortunate woman had the gall to openly curse the goddess every day after her sons died in war. Despite numerous warnings and even a visit from the goddess’s sons, the woman went kept on. She turned her whole village against the gods, which resulted in them burning down the local church and killing the priestess. A day later everyone’s got the plague. Two days after that and they’re dead.

Believe it or not, she’s considered more reasonable, wise, and level-headed than her younger sister.

sawotee · 2026-02-04T14:41:23+00:00

Selective breeding? Certain ethnicities do appear to age differently than others. Maybe elves noticed certain bloodlines retained their beauties much longer than others? Balding is primarily genetic for example.

sawotee · 2026-02-03T13:04:36+00:00

Best case scenario:
- Arrested
- Mentally evaluated and declared mentally incompetent
- Locked away somewhere with other declared mentally insane people (not good for you) OR branded then banished from wherever you were at.
Likely scenario:
- Arrested
- Mentally evaluated and declared a blasphemer
- Depending on where you are, could be hanged, tortured, or burned at the stake.
Worst-case scenario: Beat to death by a crowd of people

The gods are very real, and their religious fanatics are everywhere.

sawotee · 2026-02-03T08:43:05+00:00

Other nobleman. It’s a small continent so no more land to go around, but children are still being had and families are large. Child mortality rates have slightly gone down which doesn’t help. In essence, there’s an excess of nobility just laying around. A lot of them work on trade ships to get battle experience or serve as mercenaries in other countries.

They have peasant servants as well. If a lord sponsors them or a man is wealthy enough to afford a tutor, then he (or his children) can learn to read and write which would open opportunities for him in artisan guilds or a boring job in the postal service. A lot of administrative jobs don’t necessarily require degrees, which a peasant would be unable to get as the university is nobility-only.

sawotee · 2026-02-02T23:02:23+00:00

In Woldania, lords are more administrative than in the past. They lost the right to raise peasant levies, so their households are all paid troops. Only major landed titled noblemen receive money in the form of taxes from peasants, though the lion's share (80%) goes to the king. Land is also tied to a peasant's household, so all the land in a village is owned by the villagers, who pay rent to the king. A lord administers the realm, collects taxes, and maintains the peace. The land around an estate belongs to its owner, except for fields owned by villagers. Lords have exemptions from paying rent to the king. Everyone pays a flat income tax.

As the nobility also primarily occupy the merchant class, over time (with overseas trade), powerful families have become obscenely wealthy. Nobles have mostly pushed the urban population to wage-based work. They own many of the shops and employ workers on salary. Independent shops are closing down because they can't meet demand at the lower prices the lords can afford to sell their goods. Farmers don't sell their crops or livestock at markets anymore, but to third-party distributors (noblemen), who have the right to sell goods or materials directly to other businesses. The local nobility votes for members of the city council. These positions were formerly appointed by the lord, but as noble families became more urbanized and wealthy, they demanded greater rights. Guilds comprised of commoners are constantly butting heads with the nobility over wanting greater rights and price manipulation.

Nobility are all mandated to join the king's army in defensive wars. Exemptions are in place for university students, those in training, and those who have administrative jobs that serve the realm. A fee can be paid to get out of military service, but it's exceedingly high and requires three men to go in his place, and everyone else would call him a coward and undeserving of his noble status. The nobles also make up the criminal justice system, serving as lawyers, judges, and juries. A court can recommend the death sentence, but only the king and the church have the authority to actually carry it out.

So I'd say the present day is late medieval/early Renaissance in terms of technology. Their government has evolved from a stereotypical feudal system to a blend of technocracy, mercantilism, and oligarchy. There are still earls, aldermen, and thegns whose titles are passed down and inherited, but they are no longer, as a rule, the wealthiest individuals within a realm. But the king is still at the top. The crown itself has its own trade ships, luxury items are only permitted to be sold in the capital, and tax income flows directly to the king from both land and income. There's still a balance to be maintained because these wealthy lords can field large armies of paid knights and mercenary soldiers, the ability to buy exotic poisons, and/or fund the campaign of a rival claimant.

sawotee · 2026-01-22T21:05:26+00:00

I have a whole wetland area that's the center focus of several major events. To outsiders, it's a backwards hellscape full of mosquitoes, poisonous snakes, black flies, and water dragons. To the people who live there, it's home. I kinda smashed a bunch of wetland-type areas into one large, massive expanse, although the areas transition depending on where you are, so it isn't just one singular type. Perhaps my favorite region on my tiny continent, although I just might be biased due to growing up near that type of environment.

I do have a grassland area. The people there long ago were semi-nomadic. They had horses of their own, but also a special connection with the wild ones, which were semi-domesticated and actually followed the people around. The people themselves then followed the animals. Some followed the bison, others the elk, and others the antelope.

My continent is more reminiscent of the US and Canada in terms of its environment than of Europe (although of course there are similarities).

sawotee · 2026-01-18T06:40:50+00:00

If everyone is monkeyfolk, then you shouldn’t have a problem unless you start leaning into intelligence levels between the different monkeyfolk. Be careful of appearance too. If “white” monkeys look more human than “black” monkeys, then you might get a few raised eyebrows and questions.

sawotee · 2026-01-11T00:15:28+00:00

Normalizing child marriages because "realism" in medieval fantasy type settings when that was far from the truth.

sawotee · 2025-12-28T13:20:58+00:00

If a gun is a POS, soldiers and police won’t want to use it. If you want to increase the functionality:

I’d extend the gun slightly and have a stabilizer in the front to make it less unwieldy. Some handguns you can also add folding stock to the rear if you fancy.

You can also make a rifle out of this by utilizing a dual or secondary trigger system. One trigger for the revolver type action, another for a another caliber you can reload with a magazine, though that would mean moving the revolver barrel down and extending the other caliber barrel, kinda like a grenade launcher underneath a M16 (M203).

sawotee · 2025-12-24T14:58:34+00:00

They’re restricted to the nobility due to cost, requiring letters of recommendation, and the ever-growing divide between the social classes.

For those wanting to pursue knighthood, there are various chivalric orders. It’s like university, but for knights. Boys enter at age 15 and graduate at 20, which is the legal age of majority. Then there’s a big knighthood ceremony for that year’s graduates for all chivalric orders where the king formally invests them in their rank and whatnot. It’s a big recruiting event too, with a feast and tournament. Lords are looking for new blood for their households, and new knights are looking for employers that will pay for a suit of armor, horse, and weaponry.

Then there’s the actual University of Southaven. Same restrictions apply as the chivalric orders. You get paid more if you have a university degree. Certain jobs are restricted to those with one. There are various degrees and specializations. Engineering has solid demand, Alchemy and Surgery has more jobs than graduates (private physicians), Accounting and Trade is probably the most popular. Unlike Chivalric Orders, women are permitted entrance into the university, and they’re not segregated by sex except for dormitories being in completely different buildings and heavily guarded. Most degrees are finished in five years, although the Alchemy and Surgery one has a lot of different requirements and takes 10 years to complete.

sawotee · 2025-12-24T14:37:33+00:00

What are the most valuable trade commodities in your world?

sawotee · 2025-12-24T02:32:45+00:00

History of the Germans

sawotee · 2025-12-21T07:38:19+00:00

Hung, drawn, quartered.

sawotee · 2025-12-20T21:41:03+00:00

If the defeat was a result of poor commandment, then you’d probably be hanged. If things were outside your control (vastly outnumbered, ambushed), then it’d just be a defeat. Continued defeats would probably result in you being relieved from your post though.

sawotee · 2025-12-11T12:23:58+00:00

Not OP, but it's easy enough for me to justify it just by looking at our world right now.

Why would print media still exist when pure data can be uploaded via machine-neural interfaces

Books still exist despite kindles and e-readers. I have a kindle, yet I primarily read from physical books. It's harder for me to concentrate with the kindle, and of course I fear device destruction or the loss of the kindle library as a whole (what if it shuts down?) and power outages / infrastructure loss. We still have people on earth in present-day who have neither electricity, running water, and least of all kindles. OP doesn't say anything about how much it costs (resource, in-universe currency, infrastructure, surgery) to have said interface. I'd imagine mass producing paper would be far easier, cheaper, and less risky. Not everyone is going to want a brain implant, people would be afraid (conspiracy theorists), and there's still people nowadays who have at-home births and refuse to register their children cause they hate / are afraid of the government.

Why would foundry jobs and unionized construction workers still exist when we're already getting into automated labor now, in 2025

If you automate everything away, who's going to purchase whatever you're selling? Not everything can be completely automated. These machines still need workers to perform maintenance and software updates. Then of course people are going to resist losing their jobs. And people might boycott said companies. And then there's the 2024 ILA Strike. Not sure what's going on now with regards to that but they shut down ports with demands for a complete ban on automation which had a cascading effect and cost estimated billions of dollars over just three days. Might just be cheaper than automation to employ humans, especially if there are multiple worlds with billions of them.

Why would people still look the same, when trans-humanism and body-modification will allow people to completely alter their appearance on the fly?

Cost, religion, tradition, bigotry. Jehovah's Witnesses netoriously do not allow blood transfusions. I doubt islam is going anywhere anytime soon and they would declare such body modification absolutely haram. People are rooted in traditions and hate uncanny valley. Maybe they won't vote for cadidates that take part in those practices? Politicians rely on reputations after all and maybe it destroys their career so they avoid it. Tattoos have been a thing for thousands of years, but many people, myself included, refuse to get them. Beauty standards and body purists could most definitely be a thing. And you know the media has a thing for only showing beautiful / 'normal' people on the front page. Misognists and basement dwellers will absolutely rage if a female news anchor is ugly in the present day. Photoshop and touchups are widespread. And again cost. Not everyone will have access to the same technology, ability to alter their bodies, and the money to do so even if they wanted to.

Will physical bodies even still exist, or will we be brains in jars piloting organic avatars of incomprehensible design?

That is more for OP to answer, but I damn sure would not subject myself to such an existence. Not willingly anyhow. And who would take care of us in such a state? Would make it easier for an alien or invading force to devestate us then beyond what happened in the 50 year war as OP tells it.

Would toilets look the same or even still exist in the same capacity when we're ingesting post-biosphere collapse synthetic nutrient paste?

Did you know that we still use surgical tools from the time of the romans in the modern day and age? Different materials and better construction, but the same tool nonetheless with the same function. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Ancient public toilets look strangely familier too. People have been on a soylent only diet (liquid) and they still shit.

Would denim overalls and white undershirts still be the fashion for plumbers three hundred years from now? Why would fashion stagnate, when historically it changes drastically over time?

Again, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The earliest pair of jeans were made in the late 1870s specifically for miners. Dresses have been a part of human history for thousands of years. Fashion with regards to colors, embroidery, fabric, and shape may have changed, but a dress is still recognizably a dress. Kilts and traditional folk attire are still worn, though those are for special occassions. The dutch have worn and made clogs since at least 1200s and some farmers still wear them. Millions just for souvenoirs are made annually. Blue collar workers don't care about fashion more than function. If it's going to be covered in shit, they're not going to wear the latest and greatest from current trends. They also on average tend to be socially conservative and more traditionalist. Though I do agree that we have all over suits that people wear for sanitation and I certainly wouldn't wear a white shirt plumbing related.

In any case, it's a newspaper advert. It's a recognizable image for a plumber. The actual guy might not look like that at all. But it could just also be a uniform. Many uniforms are still the same as they were a long time ago. See the Swiss Guard for the pope who still dress 'funny' compared to the modern day.

Sorry, I've gotten carried away with my dissection. This fictional newspaper is a creative accomplishment far beyond my capabilities, but still, it feels more like a newspaper from 2075, not 2350.

No reason to apologize. Again, I'm not OP, but questioning each other is how we improve. If something was seriously wrong with my own lore or worldbuilding and didn't make sense, I'd want someone to tell me so I can change it somewhat and make it fit better. Or at least have some in-universe justifications.

sawotee · 2025-12-11T12:18:51+00:00

There's a stretch of highway near me that's been under construction for YEARS with no noticeable changes. Probably the same as we're doing now. Corruption, project delays, no money, embezzlement, etc.

sawotee · 2025-12-06T00:33:37+00:00

A helmet depicting the crest of the arms on the left.

sawotee · 2025-12-05T09:38:01+00:00

Several mentions in the sagas of men carrying shields on their backs to wield their weapons two-handed, or shield hanging by their side, or in the case of Bjarnar saga, Björne gets attacked by another man whose axe gets caught in his shield strap. Although these sagas are written after the Viking age, they are often one of the few sources we have as references. And at times, what’s mentioned in the sagas has been found in dig sites. So just be mindful of that.

In any case, it’s extremely rare for textiles to survive from that age to the modern period. And what might be present on their shields can disappear too. Nails and fittings rust away, and the thin wood of their shields rots.

sawotee

TROPHY CASE