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From what I recall of my history classes, Christianity gained popular following with the common folk because of it's tenants regarding equal and merciful treatment for all. A religion that cared about it's poor and that a person born in any walk of life could rise in the ranks of was extremely progressive and likable at the time. Most other religions were discriminatory or required a great degree of wealth to get anywhere in their systems.
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Jul 26, 2015 05:27
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Metal Meltdown posted:From what I recall of my history classes, Christianity gained popular following with the common folk because of it's tenants regarding equal and merciful treatment for all. A religion that cared about it's poor and that a person born in any walk of life could rise in the ranks of was extremely progressive and likable at the time. Most other religions were discriminatory or required a great degree of wealth to get anywhere in their systems. It didn't hurt that Norse beliefs were big on good things for warriors in the afterlife and meh things for those who didn't die in glorious combat. In contrast anyone can get a sweet afterlife deal with Christianity, the only catch is you have to ask Jesus. And that guy just can't say no.
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Jul 26, 2015 08:25
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And when barbarian northmen converted to Christianity, they didn't abandon their willingness to commit violence, they only had to take extra steps to justify the violence to their souls. Also, this chapter was an extremely explicit criticism of a trope of history, where peace leads to stagnation and technological advances are driven by warfare. In this story, Hild was a one-of-a-kind genius: not only was she brilliant, but her talents were fostered by far-sighted people. 10th century Europe could have been fertile ground for her innovations. Labour-saving machinery would have been readily adopted during this time period, while populations were still low and labour was in short supply. A more vulgar story would have had Hild saving her village with her inventions: her brand of technological violence would have won out over poorer technology. But it was not to be, these advances were ended by violence, before they could improve the lives of people. Bloodshed does not sweep away the old growth to allow young saplings to take root, it destroys everything and poisons the soil. Imagine if the Mongols had not burned the workshops of Song China or the libraries of Baghdad. Imagine if the Silk Road could have opened from east to west without the destruction of the great trading cities along the way. Imagine if Japan had not scoured Joseon Korea from Busan to Pyongyang, and had taken their craftsmen as friends, and not slaves. Imagine if the conquistadors had not burned the Aztec codices, and Tycho Brahe could sit down with their priests as colleagues. Imagine if the poets of London and Berlin had not choked to death in the trenches. Violence is never essential for advancing humanity. Phobophilia fucked around with this message at 13:14 on Jul 26, 2015 |
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Jul 26, 2015 13:10
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Phobophilia posted:Violence is never essential for advancing humanity. Violence and war results in stagnation of practical inventions and human ingenuity, but wide-scale war lead to massive improvements in infrastructure and trade and any technology with a semblance of usefulness to murdering the poo poo out of people you hate. It's hard to say there's a net balance when you consider the cost of human suffering, but until the black plague Europe was fairly overpopulated relative to its ability to produce food without advanced farming techniques. The three field system didn't even take over until the late medieval age. Prior to that the moneyed elite didn't really give a poo poo if they could see long term gains from a new method because their only concern was with fielding troops for the wars and buying the newest arms and armor for their knights. Plus civil wars were super common for centuries so ten years later you could have an entirely new class of landlords who prior to that had no experience running a fiefdom. It's amazing how often titles and lands changed hands from 1000-1400. One of my favorite descriptions of nobility was from a movie about the kids of insanely wealthy families, and one of the them was going to inherit the titles of a Duke, Margrave, and Count, and he said it was all meaningless because all it meant was a few hundred years ago his ancestor killed someone the king hated and the king went "Okay, these titles are yours now".
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Jul 26, 2015 14:39
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have any series finished the last year? i always lose track of ongoing series...
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Jul 26, 2015 14:43
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pentyne posted:It's amazing how often titles and lands changed hands from 1000-1400. One of my favorite descriptions of nobility was from a movie about the kids of insanely wealthy families, and one of the them was going to inherit the titles of a Duke, Margrave, and Count, and he said it was all meaningless because all it meant was a few hundred years ago his ancestor killed someone the king hated and the king went "Okay, these titles are yours now". Try to not think about it too hard because this is still one of the main driving forces behind who owns what in the modern day. And then you're an anarchist/communist and people don't like that.
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Jul 26, 2015 20:43
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So it sounds like the local sawmill or whatnot decided to eliminate the competition, what with the raid being explicitly intended to kill Hrafnkell. Which means that Hild is the reason her village was destroyed and her family murdered. Which she probably feels guilty about. Kind of wonder if Thorfinn has made the connection between his killing of Hrafnkell and Askeladd killing Thors. Especially since in both cases it was because Askeladd was paid to kill a specific person.
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Jul 26, 2015 21:07
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One day we'll get that wily Floki.
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Jul 26, 2015 21:18
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pentyne posted:Violence and war results in stagnation of practical inventions and human ingenuity, but wide-scale war lead to massive improvements in infrastructure and trade and any technology with a semblance of usefulness to murdering the poo poo out of people you hate. You're looking at the wrong side of the conflict. In this chapter Askeladd's mercenaries have done something that will get them paid. Their lives are improved. Their little mercenary base-towns will have more resources to improve their lives in many ways. The ability for violence to profit the victors has never been in doubt. That's not the issue here. The sadly novel observation is how much better peace would have been. That's the best thing about Vinland Saga now. "Violence is bad" is a really, really basic uncontroversial position to take. But this story is doing a fantastic job walking us through it- looking at how it happens, what it does to us, and what we can do about it. And it's really incredibly well done. The story drags us so far down into the pain and guilt of it... Thorfinn's determination to break out of the cycle is something the reader ends up really invested in.
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Jul 27, 2015 06:43
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I am posting in the VEGETA subforum: Otoyome 48 MAXIMUM OVERDOKInext chapter is not pariya lol, Mori is a monster
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Aug 13, 2015 17:03
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Epoxy Bulletin posted:I am posting in the VEGETA subforum: Otoyome 48 I love everyone getting excited over the mad abacus skillz on display. And the extreme amounts of 
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Aug 14, 2015 22:00
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RabidWeasel posted:
It really emphasizes how skills now accepted as mandatory in first world countries for 10 year olds is considered insanely skilled in a almost-feudal clan based society.
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Aug 14, 2015 22:35
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pentyne posted:It really emphasizes how skills now accepted as mandatory in first world countries for 10 year olds is considered insanely skilled in a almost-feudal clan based society. It should be noted that if he's actually good with that abacus he can calculate much faster than most people can do off the top of their head or on paper. He's not only multiplying the prices, he's summing them into a running total at the same time. Before the invention of the electronic calculator, speedy mathematical operations required tools such as an abacus or slide rule that the general public didn't necessarily know how to use even when multiplication was widely taught to primary schoolers .
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Aug 15, 2015 06:05
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Pure mental calculators are still faster. But they might use an imaginary abacus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_abacus Recently (last week) I've been practising my mental calculation and I've been surprised at how quickly I've actually improved at it.
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Aug 15, 2015 06:32
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i forgot how much kid thorfinn was a nihilist prick
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Aug 24, 2015 23:10
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I thought that slave girl would have become an actual character alongside Thorfinn, but he tossed her aside like it was nothing. Askeladd ruins everything he touches.
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Aug 25, 2015 00:53
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Askeladd is the best character in the series by a country mile.
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Aug 25, 2015 03:33
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Pewdiepie posted:Askeladd is the best character in the series by a country mile. Thorkell is a close second fursonally.
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Aug 25, 2015 03:39
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Pewdiepie posted:Askeladd is the best character in the series by a country mile. I agree with you, mr. pewds.
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Aug 25, 2015 12:12
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New chapter of Vinland Saga - http://kissmanga.com/Manga/Vinland-Saga/Vol-016-Ch-119--The-Hunter-and-the-Hunted--006-?id=239832
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Aug 26, 2015 09:56
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Ah drat, knife in the ear made me cringe super loving hard 
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Aug 26, 2015 10:35
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I had forgotten how edgy Linkin Park Thorfinn was.
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Sep 15, 2015 10:36
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new vinland and ad astra were so close to Cannae.... so close.......
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Sep 25, 2015 16:33
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Crossbae
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Sep 25, 2015 16:34
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TheLovablePlutonis posted:Crossbae
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Sep 25, 2015 16:36
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New
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Sep 26, 2015 01:57
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Oh no, Hild didn't take momentum into account.
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Sep 26, 2015 02:07
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Hild owns so much.
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Sep 26, 2015 02:56
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That is one lovingly-detailed crossbow.
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Sep 26, 2015 09:15
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The only reason we're being given her backstory is so that it'll be even more sad when she dies two chapters from now.
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Sep 26, 2015 10:02
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It would be bad to do that, so it ain't happening. The whole flashback is her remembering all the times people told her to forgive.
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Sep 26, 2015 11:42
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If we're getting her full flashback story like this, then by One Piece logic she's definitely going to join the crew.
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Sep 26, 2015 14:00
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DrSunshine posted:If we're getting her full flashback story like this, then by One Piece logic she's definitely going to join the crew. This seems like a solid argument to me.
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Sep 26, 2015 14:27
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Sharkopath posted:It would be bad to do that, so it ain't happening. It seems to be more about letting the rage go. All the forgiving talk is couched in not letting hate and anger take over. 5 chapters from some Jomsvikings showing up with lightsabers.
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Sep 26, 2015 15:43
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DrSunshine posted:If we're getting her full flashback story like this, then by One Piece logic she's definitely going to join the crew. Track record of people who got full flashback stories in Vinland Saga: 1. Thors - Died 2. Askeladd - Died
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Sep 26, 2015 16:27
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she's going to join the crew and go to vinland with all our friends
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Sep 26, 2015 16:34
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Cake Attack posted:she's going to join the crew and go to vinland with all our friends shes going to constantinople and is gonna learn a lot
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Sep 26, 2015 16:34
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JosephWongKS posted:Track record of people who got full flashback stories in Vinland Saga: The slave lady who died too
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Sep 26, 2015 16:44
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Cake Attack posted:she's going to join the crew and go to vinland with all our friends
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Sep 26, 2015 17:13
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This chapter was awesome.
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Sep 26, 2015 23:45
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