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Hi, my name is Herzog, I’ve been reading screenshot LPs for 12 years, and now it’s time for me to give something back.  What is this game? Pentiment is a 2022 point-and-click adventure game created by Obsidian Entertainment. Its story centers on Andreas Maler, an artist working at an abbey in early 16th-century Bavaria, and the lives of people of the abbey and its nearby village. Obsidian Entertainment was created by former members of Black Isle Studios who worked on classic narrative RPGs such as Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Fallout 2. Obsidian developed further classics Knights of the Old Republic II, Fallout New Vegas, and Pillars of Eternity. Pentiment was directed by Josh Sawyer, who started with Black Isle as a designer on Icewind Dale and went on to direct Fallout New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity. With a smaller budget and more niche genre, the game is a major departure from the studio’s mainstream RPG catalog. Sawyer went on record saying that he was motivated to pitch the game after Obsidian was acquired by publisher Xbox Game Studios in 2018, which offered Xbox Game Pass as an alternative business model to the AAA environment that Obsidian was used to. The game was released in November 2022, and received high praise from critics for its medieval manuscript art style and strong narrative. I’m playing it because it taught me about history in a way that no other medium ever could. It sucked me into the world and made me care about its characters enough that I felt compelled to play through it three times back to back and 100% the achievements on Steam before I could put it down. Now it’s been about a month since I put it on the shelf, and I’m ready to get back to it one more time in order to share my experience with all of you. How are we going to do this? Pentiment is an extremely “choices matter” kind of game. There are very few explicitly highlighted major decisions, and the broad story beats are generally fixed, but within the framework of the story, the player’s choices have significant effects on the lives of the people of Tassing and Kiersau Abbey. At the points in the game where Andreas is free to move around and explore, he generally has a limited amount of time and won’t be able to investigate every available option, and the way he uses his free time will affect his relationships and limit the choices available later on. I’ll be asking for thread participation for:
Aside from the choices, I will be making an effort to talk to everyone frequently and explore out-of-the-way places to show off as much of the game’s dialog and optional scenes as possible. Spoiler policy It’s a story-based game that came out a few months ago. Don’t spoil anything or hint at anything that’s going to happen. If you’ve played the game, you know what choices are available, and you want a particular thing to happen, then you’re welcome to say “please be nice to X,” or “please be mean to Y,” or vote for/against sidequests or whatever. Bonus content This game turned on all the lights in my brain because of the history. For me, the idea of almost any time more than 100 years ago has always been a sterile image of a handful of famous paintings, or a high-drama, fanciful interpretation of events centered around some historical figure like Henry VIII (yes, I’m talking about The Tudors). Pentiment puts you at eye level with people living in Bavaria in the early 16h century; not just historical figures, but people of all of the social classes that don’t have their stories told in the textbook narratives. The designers of the game did their homework in order to present a reasonably accurate depiction of a very specific time and place, and it inspired me to go way the hell out of my way to learn more about that time and place. In that spirit, I’m going to do some more homework in order to share more details about the world as it was in the 1500s. My goal is to intersperse occasional historical posts between gameplay posts, focusing ondetails brought up during gameplay that deserve a deeper dive. Readers are absolutely welcome to add their own historical information posts or ask me to focus on a particular topic. Let’s get started! s__herzog fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Mar 19, 2023 |
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Feb 24, 2023 06:19
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Part 1: April 1518 The main menu is basic stuff. You can have up to three saved games.  We start a new game, and the book opens as we zoom in for our first historical joke right out of the gate. Some monk started writing the text of the Gospel of John and then veered off into a tangent, mixed in a little bit of I Corinthians, messily scratched out a mistake in the middle of the page, and complained about his job. Credit to petcarcharodon: Surprised no one mentioned this, but I thought I'd point out that the manuscript you rub out is the first paragraph of The Name of the Rose. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was beginning with God and the duty of every faithful monk would be to repeat every day with chanting humility the one never-changing event whose incontrovertible truth can be asserted. But we see now through a glass darkly, and the truth, before it is revealed to all, face to face, we see in fragments (alas, how illegible) in the error of the world, so we must spell out its faithful signals even when they seem obscure to us and as if amalgamated with a will wholly bent on evil.  Obviously, this manuscript is worthless, but the parchment it’s written on is both durable and expensive, so we need to scrape off the ink so we can reuse the parchment for our own story. This kind of reuse was incredibly common throughout the Middle Ages, until handwritten books were eventually phased out by the proliferation of printing presses and affordable paper throughout Europe. At the time of our story, in 1518, the decline of manuscripts has been underway for quite a while, and the era of monastic scribes is almost over.    After the page is cleared, we flip through a few more pages of the book and watch the ink lift itself from the surface and disappear.   Now that the book is empty, we can start to write the story of Pentiment. The Latin on the first page contains some very subtle hints about what we’ll be witnessing.     The music in the game, as you might expect, is in a historically informed Medieval style, performed by the band Alkemie. Definitely worth a listen if you’re into that style. The use of music is pretty reserved, with a lot of the gameplay underscored by natural environmental sounds without music.   This text is part of a synopsis of Act 1, which we haven’t played yet, so I won’t be translating it.     With the credits out of the way, we set the scene.  We see our protagonist.  The camera zooms into the illustration, and the story begins with a dream sequence.   I’ll be screenshotting most or all of the game’s dialog choices, with our selection highlighted.  Saint Grobian is a literary figure invented in the late 15th century as the patron saint of vulgarity.  Socrates is arguably the most famous of ancient Greek philosophers, used here as a personification of rationality.  Prester John is a legendary figure imagined by medieval Europeans as a powerful Christian king in a faraway land of Asia or Africa, used as inspiration for European explorers throughout the Middle Ages.   Beatrice is a character from Dante’s Divine Comedy, who guided Dante through Heaven and personifies divine love and grace.  Throughout the game, character and glossary entries are underlined in red in the dialogue, which you can click to zoom back out of the scene and read about them as footnotes.  In the case of character names, the footnotes are just pictures of their faces. Going forward, I’ll only show images for these notes if the illustrations are particularly interesting.  That is true, and Andreas is simply under the abbot’s employ, not a sworn brother of the abbey. Despite the abbot’s ire, you must endure. Soon you will have finished both the abbot’s work as well as your masterpiece. Nuremberg Free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire, major trade center and city of arts, including printing.  Yes, marriage to someone he has never met. Hardly ideal. Well, the alternative is becoming a philosopher. Oh, Jesus, then you should definitely get married. Is she pretty, at least? It is growing late. The wheel of time stops for no man, Andreas. I fear you must leave us. Ah, true, your majesty. Will you visit us again soon? Of course. If you are not here tomorrow night, I pray you will be someplace as pleasant. Grobian, please see Andreas safely home. Of course, your majesty. Until next time, Andreas. Until next time, your majesty. The Ship of Fools originated with Plato as an allegory for any enterprise run by a group of people where no one has enough expertise to actually lead the work successfully. It was illustrated as a literal ship full of court jesters in printings of a long poem titled Ship of Fools (Die Narrenschiff) by Sebastian Brant in 1498, which was also the origin of Saint Grobian. I never do.   At least I would if they’d stop stepping on my feet. Watch where you’re going! Hehe. They’re fools, Andreas. No point in trying to teach them anything. I know old John wants you to endure the abbot’s poo poo, but since I take you home, I get the last word. Don’t let him run you ragged, boy. That’s what I like to hear!  Characters make it extra obvious when they’re upset by splattering their ink. Would you please st–  Hehe. As you wish, Andreas.   Time to get up. Gameplay begins! We can now walk around and click on points of interest in the environment. Books on the table: The Picatrix, Key of Solomon, the Heptameron… Prior Ferenc keeps giving me all of these books to read.Scattered papers on the table: I really should clean this up… Compline Monastic hour corresponding to 8 P.M. One of the little hours of prayer, the monks and nuns retire to their dormitories shortly afterward. We’ve seen everything up here, so we head downstairs to the ground floor of the Gertner house, where Andreas is lodging.   We find Clara and Eva casually hanging out and cooking.   What kind of obnoxious dickhead would answer his host any differently?  Oh, I’m glad to hear it! Anyway, I know you’ll be off to the abbey, so I packed you some food. Almonds, cheese, and some of the rye you like from the Albans. Otto wanted me to ask you to join him for dinner at the abbey. Yes, around dawn.  Here you are, Andreas.  Master Andreas, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could I… I mean, could we…?  And if we… raised it by two groschen?Groschen A type of thick silver coin minted throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Groschen are typically worth 12 pfennigs, but may be minted at different values. I hate to ask, but we’re behind on our taxes to the abbey. Two months behind. Peter’s losing his hair over it. Even more than usual, I mean. Every once in a while, Andreas has an opportunity to speak with himself and get feedback from his dream personalities to consider a dialog choice before answering.  I’m not sure how to respond to this. Rent wasn’t due until the beginning of May. On the other hand, she might think she can keep asking me for advances on rent. Hm… Oh, God bless you, Andreas! And may Saint Luke watch over you today.Saint Luke Christian evangelist and patron saint of artists and physicians, often represented by a winged bull. Speaking of Saint Luke, how is your masterpiece coming along? It’s been two months now, hasn’t it? Slowly, I’m afraid. Most of my days are spent doing work for the abbey. It’s only during the Divine Office that Prior Ferenc allows me to work on my masterpiece.Divine Office The prayer times observed by all Christian monastic orders. Monks and nuns pray together seven times a day and once at night, as dictated by the Rule of Saint Benedict. A reasonable restriction, but slow going. The city council doesn’t require it to become a master. I’m making it mostly to show clients - and for my own sake. And yes, when I do finish, I will go back to Nuremberg, where I will marry and open a workshop of my own. From Nuremberg to a university and now traveling the world as an artist! What a life you have ahead of you, Master Andreas. Yes, I suppose it does feel like I’m starting a new chapter in my life after… It must be frightening - starting all over again.  The game helpfully lets you know when one of your dialog choices will affect a persuasion check later on. I’m sure you make your family proud, Andreas. Anyway, I don’t know anything about art, but I’ve seen you sketching such beautiful things in your little book. Your masterpiece must be wonderful. Hard work will get you all the way. That’s what my father used to say, God rest his soul. Now I have to get back to my own work. Have a good day at the abbey, Andreas, and we’ll see you after Vespers for supper.Vespers Monastic hour at dusk. One of the major prayer hours, it is followed by supper. Not tonight, but thank you. Claus Drucker invited me over for supper. Of course. Please say hello to the Druckers for us. Of course. Until later, Clara.And with that, it’s time to head outside and start heading to work. (Eva doesn’t have anything to say if we try to talk to her now.)  Peter is hard at work in the field. We’ll head to the right first.  Well, we can’t go this way. Let’s see what the old guy is all about.  …Andreas. Ah, oh. Yes, Andreas. This weather’s been God-awful. This town’s gone to poo poo since my days…  The old abbot didn’t bother us much about our customs. He didn’t mind if we left a little offering to Perchta to keep the skies clear, the weather fair.Perchta Pagan goddess of the Alps, associated with animals and spinning wool. She is still invoked by some Christians in Austria, Switzerland, Bavaria, and Swabia. Matthias knew that Christ was in our hearts even if the White Lady’s name was on our lips. Saint Moritz Saint Moritz is the patron saint of Tassing. Legend states that he was an Egyptian-born commander of a Roman legion who converted to Christianity. They were all martyred for their faith. His hand is a relic in Kiersau’s shrine. Heh! Sharper than you look, eh? The saints weren’t the first to watch over Tassing. My father knew that. Old Rannig Kemper knew that.Rannig Rannig Kemper, the late husband of Ottilia. That bastard abbot may not like it, but some of us keep the traditions alive. When you get up in the night to take a piss, go around the right side of the house, and never go back the same way. That way the witches don’t steal your soul. *cough cough* I should go. Hmm? All right. God bless you. The only way to go now is back to the left, where this strapping young lad accosts us.  Morning, Big Jorg. How’s it going? You working today? Just taking a rest for a bit. Dad’s still in the field. He hit a big rock with the plow and it took me Lord knows how long to pull it out. You off to the abbey? Right. Thank God for Sundays. Huh. Just smells like fresh Alpine air to me. You’ve been traveling too much. Where was it you spent your Wanderjahre before you came to Tassing?Wanderjahre Wandering years during which a journeyman artist or craftsman travels far and wide to improve their skills. Decision time! We need to make a few choices to define Andreas’s character. A couple of them will come up during this conversation with Jorg, and then the rest will follow a few minutes later in an interaction with another character. I want to cover them all now so I can fit them into the next update. These decisions unlock various unique conversations, affect some persuasion checks, and determine how easy or difficult it is to get certain narrative outcomes. None of them are critical to the way the game plays out overall, but some options are absolutely better than others. Regardless of what we settle on here, I’ll probably do a parallel playthrough to show off some of the more interesting dialogue from alternate choices. First, where did Andreas travel for his Wanderjahre?    Next, of course Andreas is an artist by profession, but what are his other priorities?      Andreas spent some time in university before dropping out and deciding to pursue a trade. What was his major field of study?    Finally, what else did Andreas learn in university? We can pick two of these, so please give a first and second choice.      While we’re at it, feel free to give suggestions about what kind of attitude Andreas should have toward various kinds of people (peasants, well-to-do townsfolk, clergy, nobility), and I’ll start making dialogue choices accordingly. New character bios   
s__herzog fucked around with this message at 15:25 on Mar 1, 2023 |
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Feb 24, 2023 06:21
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Thanks to everyone who’s cast their votes so far! I’ll leave the options open for Andreas’s background until tomorrow night and then get to work on the next post on Monday. For now… Let’s Talk About Fonts If you’ve only heard one thing about Pentiment, it’s probably something like “the game with medieval art” or “the game that nerds out about text.” So let’s nerd out about text first.  The text is one of the celebrated features of this game, particularly the way that each line of text is animated as someone was writing it out in real time, and the way that social class, status, and education are reflected in the font used for each character. Grobian here uses the “Humanist” script, which is reserved for characters with some amount of university education, like our protagonist Andreas (Grobian sounds like a humanist, despite being a vulgar fool, because he’s really just a voice in Andreas’s head). Humanist dialog boxes pop up with the text already outlined and then carefully filled in. Emphasized words are filled with red ink in a second pass, a ubiquitous manuscript technique known as rubrication.  Clara, a peasant, naturally uses the peasant script. This script has a lot of unevenly sized letters to give the impression of rapid and unskilled handwriting, and it generally identifies characters who are either illiterate or at least uneducated. Peasant textboxes frequently make spelling errors that then get corrected before the animation finishes. The other three fonts will come up in the next update as we meet some more of the local residents. There is a lot of fascinating historical detail to discuss about lettering styles in medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. For this particular topic, I don’t have to do my own full writeup, because it’s already been wrapped up into a neat little package specific to Pentiment. Obsidian hired a specialist design studio called Lettermatic to help them develop these distinct fonts, and one of the designers, Riley Cran, was kind enough to write a blog post describing the process very thoroughly. You can read all about it here: https://lettermatic.com/custom/pentiment
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Feb 26, 2023 03:38
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Podima posted:Good point! OP, if you want, you should drop a link to this LP in the Video Games thread for Pentiment (spoilers for the entire game, obviously), as ropekid - aka Josh Sawyer - posts there quite frequently. Thanks for the suggestion! I will post a link there and take another half a day before I tally the final votes just in case there's anyone watching that thread who hasn't seen this yet and wants to chime in.
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Feb 27, 2023 04:52
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Part 2: Sheep The results are in! I had to make a couple of tiebreaker decisions. We’re going with: Low Countries Rapscallion Imperial Law Latinist Logician Our Andreas’s personality is rooted in an abiding disdain for authority, combined with an overabundance of cleverness in turning systems of authority against themselves (or at least trying to). He’s a rowdy boi who likes to do petty crimes and then weasel his way out of the consequences on technicalities. He’s generally friendly, particularly among the lower classes, and he usually has enough tact not to actively antagonize his betters. At the same time, he can’t resist speaking like a pedantic know-it-all, and sometimes his aggressive urges push him over the line. We don’t even have to stretch the explicit text in the game to play a character just like that (or a pretty good variety of other personalities), which speaks to the strength of the writing. I’ll probably just add a little bit of extra inner monologue here and there (in italics, to distinguish from the real text) if it seems appropriate.   Where’s that? North and west, down by the sea. There’s your problem. The sea air has confused your sense of smell. Spend enough time in these mountains and you’ll be able to smell a storm coming. How long will that take? Mm. Ten, fifteen years?    Antwerp is overflowing with riches, rich fools, and traders from across Christendom and beyond. There’s always someone to have a bit of fun with. Or a bit of a fight. Sounds like a strange way to pass the time, Andreas. Anyway, I have to get going.  See you later, Andreas. Until later.We head up the road into the southern part of the village of Tassing.  Before we engage with the scene in town, let’s just take a quick look to the left…  Road blocked by sheep again, alright. Turning back to the one true path, we meet the local blacksmith, Endris.   Do you have a moment to lend me a hand? There are countless opportunities to brush people off and make it clear that we don’t have time for them. Per the thread’s consensus, we’re not playing a callous rear end in a top hat, so of course we’ll take a minute to help. Wonderful! I’ve got too many irons in the fire. Or rather, shoes. Horseshoes.     This is the first of several minigames sprinkled throughout the game. There’s no skill involved, you just have to rotate the horseshoe to each side and tap the hammer a few times. The minigames get a little tedious if you play through the game a half dozen times, but for a normal person, they’re short enough to come across as fun little novelties that break up the standard gameplay loop of walking from one side of the screen to the other and clicking through a bunch of dialog boxes. After two horseshoes, we’re done.  If you leave a piece of steel in a hot forge for too long, it will get too hot. Just below the melting point of the metal, the carbon will burn off, messing up the crystalline structure of the steel and causing it to crumble into useless slag. Having too many irons in the fire, so you don’t have enough time to work them all before they overheat, is a good way to ruin some of your expensive materials. Hm. It sure would be nice to have someone to help me out here every day. Ah, well… that’s probably a topic for another day. Anyway, I don’t want to take up any more of your time. I’ll see you and Otto up by the abbey guest house for dinner. Until then. What’s going on over here? We stop in the middle of the ovine traffic jam.    That looks a lot like standing there and doing nothing.  Ah, morning Andreas. Excuse us. One of the fence rails fell and the sheep started hopping it. Should I offer to help? Wait - that’s presumptuous. I’m not close to their family… Thanks. It’ll probably take an hour or two to track them all down at this rate. Blood sacrament! Dammit, Veronica! What did I say about blasphemy? Sorry, mom. The camera pans up and left to the town stonemason shouting and gesticulating at a visiting nobleman.    Look at this sketchy motherfucker.  I don’t know, Martin, but Lucky is giving him an earful. Christ, I haven’t seen Lucky that worked up since Peter and Clara’s wedding when Johan pulled his pants down. Knocked two of my man’s teeth out. You don’t want to feel the strength of a stonemason’s anger. Do you think he’s a noble? He looks really rich. What, Aunt Heddy? Behave yourself. Don’t we have enough to deal with right now? Andreas, if you wouldn’t mind moving your skinny body up the road, we need to get these sheep under control. Of course. See you later.  Hm… Anyway, time to move along.   Sheep railroad continues.  New part of town, more sheep, and a new character to meet.   Claus Drucker is a printer, so his dialog boxes have a special font and animation, laying out the movable type (mirrored, of course), inking it, and then pressing it. Morning, Claus. Another day at the abbey, another few hours to work on my masterpiece. Good to hear. You still coming by for supper tonight? Marie and Bert would love to see you. You really need to see these new woodcuts I have for an Italian edition of Till Eulenspiegel.Till Eulenspiegel The titular character of a popular 15th century book. Till is a prankster, continually exposing the vices and hypocrisy of others. He is also quite skilled at tricking people into smelling, touching, or eating his excrement. I didn’t realize Father Thomas let you print books in Italian. Come on, Andreas, he’s not that strict. I know he’s just trying to protect people from… He doesn’t mind those so much, actually. No? As long as they don’t get too… carnal. Ooh. So, supper tonight, after Vespers? Great. I’ll tell Marie and Bert you’re coming. See you then. See you later. There’s the town priest, better be polite and say good morning.   Father Thomas uses a new font, scribe text, which is associated with characters who are literate and reasonably well-read but without a university education. Scribe text makes frequent typos and corrections just like peasant text does, but the lettering is more precise and consistent.   Good, good… Andreas, I don’t recall seeing you at Sunday morning Mass. You understand how important it is for your salvation that you receive Holy Communion, don’t you?. I stayed up too late on Saturday. I don’t want to get into an argument with him about this. Actually, I think he can make me go. poo poo… You don’t have to make a promise to me, but our salvation is contingent on th–The noble and his servant enter from the left.  Master Maler, this is Lorenz, Baron of Rothvogel, a great lord from the countryside near Worms.Worms Prosperous imperial free city in the western part of the empire. Located on the Rhine river, Worms has been the site of many imperial diets.   Well… yes. What brings you back to our little town? My wife and I were returning from a trip to Venice. We spent a few days in Innsbruck and it was terribly dull.Innsbruck Capital of the Austrian county of Tyrol and major stop on the Imperial Road connecting Italy and Bavaria. It is the closest major city to Kiersau Abbey and Tassing. Notably, it was also the site of witch trials in 1485. Venice One of the most powerful republics on the Italian peninsula. Sitting on the northwest coast of the Adriatic Sea, Venice is a major center for commerce and art in southern Europe. I mean, it has a certain charm common to these Alpine cities, but the place was crawling with nobles for the emperor’s diet.diet An imperial diet is an assembly of the three colleges of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire: the prince-electors; the princes and dukes; and representatives of the imperial cities. They meet to deliberate on matters of importance to the empire.  The emperor?! Was he there? Did you see him? Oh, briefly, but he was sitting for a portrait at the time. Quite lovely. I didn’t want to bother him or the painter. I’m sure you know him. An older man from Nuremberg with enough reputation to paint the emperor. I’m sorry, my lord. I’m not sure who you mean. First background fail here. Because Andreas spent his travels in the Netherlands, he couldn’t talk to the baron about Venice, and because he’s not an extremely serious artist (didn’t pick Craftsman), he doesn’t know the most famous artist working in his own hometown. I’m not generally going to highlight minor missed opportunities like this - you should play the game yourself to try out the alternate backgrounds! But I will do a few supplemental updates later to show off some highlights from an alternate timeline where Andreas is a Hedonist Occultist Theologian who traveled to Italy. Dürer Albrecht Dürer is a renowned painter and printmaker from Nuremberg. He is revered in Venice as well as across the Holy Roman Empire. Since 1512, he has enjoyed the patronage of Emperor Maximilian I. Anyway, my wife wanted to stay a bit longer in Innsbruck and I decided to ride ahead to make a visit to Kiersau. I heard Father Matthias died shortly after my last visit, of course.Father Matthias Abbot of Kiersau before Father Gernot. Widely respected by the monks and nuns as well as the people of Tassing. Known for his kindness and his love of books. A great loss for the abbey and for us all. Indeed. By good fortune, I recently came across a copy of the Historia Tassiae he was reading during my last visit.Historia Tassiae An account of the early history of Tassing. Kiersau’s previous abbot, Father Matthias, had a copy. Baron Rothvogel brought another to the abbey as a gift. Father Matthias was hoping to find a second copy to corroborate the contents of the first. It contains some fascinating details about the history of this place. I’m afraid they might even cause a bit of a scandal, heh. But I’m afraid I must be off. There will be time enough to discuss Tassing’s past later. I commissioned a manuscript from the abbey through Father Gernot and I have come to check on its progress. Oh! My lord, If you have come to see your manuscript, you should speak with young Master Maler here. Andreas is a journeyman artist from Nuremberg. For the next few months, he’s also helping in the abbey’s scriptorium.scriptorium A room for writing, illustrating, and illuminating manuscripts. Though typically associated with monasteries, they have disappeared from almost all abbeys by the 16th century. A Nuremberger artist working in an abbey scriptorium? In 1518? Oh, we should talk, Andreas. I must know the story.  Thank you for the introduction, Father Thomas. Come to supper at the abbey tonight. I’m inviting you to the abbot’s table. Is… did the abbot invite me? Oh, don’t worry about it, father. Just come to the abbey after Vespers. What is he going to do, refuse us?  Michlaus, I’m dismounting. Run ahead of us and take the horses to the abbey’s guest house. I’d like to take my time talking with Master Maler. I’ll meet you there.   Forgive me for saying so, but you seem a little old to not yet be a master. Are you unmarried? No, I’m not married, but in truth I came to my vocation later than my father and brothers. I was in university for a number of years, at Erfurt.Erfurt Erfurt is one of the most populous cities in the empire and is located near its heart. It has been home to a respected university since 1379 Erfurt! Wonderful! The same university as Martin Luther. Have you read his works? Tremendous mind.Martin Luther Priest and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg. Controversial for his opinions on the church’s sale of indulgences to forgive sin, which were recently published and distributed throughout the empire. He says things about the church that should have been said years ago. Might get him into trouble, but he’s a brave, brilliant man. Wait, you may even have met him! Did you? You must tell me. Ah, no. He was a few years ahead of me.On our way to work at an abbey, talking about Martin Luther less than a year after the widespread publication of his ideas. This is definitely going to end well. For now, our best bet is to just tell the baron whatever he wants to hear.  I wonder if the good brothers of the abbey have heard of him. Perhaps they have even read his list of ninety-five theses against the church.ninety-five theses A list of propositions against the church’s practice of selling indulgences for the remission of sin. It was written in 1517 by Martin Luther. Father Matthias was not above having a lively debate. I hope Father Gernot does not disappoint in that regard. But enough about Luther for now. Tell me about your university studies. Ha. No. My family is merely wealthy enough to have provided me with all of the books and tutors a child could dream of. I love all knowledge, from Aristotle to Cicero to Ficino and Erasmus - and everyone in between and yet to come.Aristotle Greek philosopher and student of Plato. Renowned as a polymath, he wrote on a wide variety of subjects. His work is extensively cited by current scholars…and even more work is attributed to him than he could have ever written. Cicero Statesman, scholar, lawyer, and renowned orator of the late Roman Republic. He is revered both for his contributions to Latin literature and his skill at rhetoric. Ficino Marsilio Ficino was a 15th century Italian priest and humanist who was one of the leading figures of the Italian Renaissance. He is well known for his translations of the works of Plato into Latin. Erasmus Erasmus of Rotterdam, a Dutch priest and philosopher who is preeminent among northern humanists. He is known for his works in Latin and Greek as well as his calls for reform within the church.   Extremely cool effect with the textbox speaks for itself. I- no, I didn’t. Only a master’s degree. I started working toward a doctorate, but I didn’t finish.This reminds us that the concept of “dropped out of university” doesn’t mean the same thing in this context as it does for your 21-year-old cousin who had some trouble in their sophomore year of undergrad and now works at a gas station. (Also, no criticism of low-status workers, everyone’s got their own lives to live.) Oh, that’s a shame. Well, what was your area of study?   Besides, the empire is such a mess of jurisdictions. Bavarian law, Rhenish law, Franconian law. Nonsense. Hello to you, too.  The old woman turns around and heads back where she came from. These rustic communities display a shocking lack of hospitality, don’t you think? Who knows? By the time I finish guessing, the old crone will probably be dead. We walk along for a moment and then pick up where we left off. Well, what of your early time in university? Every student must study the trivium and quadrivium, yes?trivium and quadrivium The trivium and quadrivium represent the lower and upper divisions of a classic liberal arts university education. (Latin) grammar, logic, and rhetoric form the trivium. Arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy form the quadrivium. Did you have a favorite subject? I focused on Latin. It’s useful in so many ways, but especially for understanding manuscripts. Wonderful! A beautiful language used in the greatest empire of the ancient world. Tell me, what is your favorite sententia?sententia Sententiae are commonly-understood moral maxims, typically originating from ancient Rome or Greece. They may be employed as a sort of quasi-logical rhetorical shorthand among educated audiences.   Hah! But using Erasmus is cheating. A little, but Erasmus was paraphrasing Aristotle. Fair, if you don’t mind dipping your Latin cup in a Greek well. And your other studies? Was there anything else you excelled at? Logic, geometry, and arithmetic. Quite interesting for an artist. Was Aristotle’s Organon the foundation of your study? Yes, the Organon for logic and Euclid’s Elements for geometry, but the past few centuries have yielded wonderful new texts on logic.Euclid Mathematician of ancient Alexandria. He is recognized as the father of geometry and is most well-known for his book of Elements, the foundation of all university education on geometry. Peter Abelard provided the foundation of scholastic philosophy and established the primacy of Aristotle’s work.Peter Abelard 12th century French teacher, philosopher, and theologian. He is known for his philosophical work in logic and his theological work in atonement theory. He is also remembered for his love affair with his student, the renowned Benedictine nun, abbess, and scholar Heloïse d’Argenteuil. The Englishman William of Ockham gave us the Summa Logicae, arguing nominalism against Platonic realism.William of Ockham 13th and 14th century English Franciscan, philosopher, and theologian. Known for his commentaries on Peter Abelard’s Four Books of Sentences, his defense of Apostolic poverty, and his writings on faith and reason. And of course Thomas Aquinas gave us the tools to employ both faith and reason in the pursuit of truth.Thomas Aquinas An immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism. All monks and friars, of course. A great deal of work to force Aristotle to fit within the church’s vision of truth. Is that so wrong? I question that these great men should have to wrestle logic into what the church established by fiat and force.We proceed on the last leg of our walk.   I have good memories of this place - and of Father Matthias. I was sad to hear of his passing. How did you come to know him? How did you come to know of Kiersau at all? My family have been patrons of Kiersau for, oh I don’t know how many generations. Some years ago I heard that Kiersau still had a wonderful library and artisans. Professional artists have taken over most manuscript production, so I was shocked to find an active scriptorium here. Certainly, though I’m sure you miss the comforts of Nuremberg when you’re stuck in a drafty old abbey like this. That’s good for me since I still appreciate the abbey’s work. I commissioned a manuscript through Father Gernot a year ago. I thought I would stop by and check on the progress. Wait - are you the artist working on it? It’s a prayer book with twenty illustrations. I know the work, but no. I do know the artist well, the venerable Brother Piero. How venerable? He still has his wits and skills, if that’s what concerns you. Brother Piero has an incredible talent with color. Then I very much look forward to seeing it.We stop by the outer wall of the abbey, Lorenz checks in with his servant briefly, and we proceed inside the abbey walls.     Quite unusual for a Benedictine house to have monks and nuns, even if they are separated.Benedictine Founded in the 6th century, the Benedictines are a Christian monastic order that observes vows of obedience, poverty, chastity, and stability under the Rule of Saint Benedict of Nursia. The church closed most of them centuries ago. But then, Kiersau is a place out of time in more ways than one. We are acquainted, yes. Let’s leave it at that.The abbot walks in from the right and sneaks up behind Lorenz without speaking.   Ah, if you say so. I am not good with remembering faces. Please forgive me, my lord, but I wasn’t expecting you for another few days. Monastic script is reserved for the leadership and senior residents of the abbey. Yes, I know, but I rode ahead. I just couldn’t wait to see my manuscript. I’m sure it’s no trouble. We- I…yes. I mean, no. It’s no trouble. Did you want to see it now? Oh, in a moment. I could do with a bit of refreshment, though. May I grab something from the kitchen? Yes, yes. Certainly, my lord. I will meet you there.The baron walks into the abbey, while the abbot remains outside for a word with Andreas.  Andreas! I don’t know what you were doing with the baron, but I need you in the scriptorium, now!  drat, that was satisfying. The abbot scoots off quickly after the baron and leaves us alone.  Maybe I could just convince Brother Mathieu to pay me early.  I know I said I was going to play up the petty crimes a little bit, but I really don't think this is a good idea. After the sheep railroad and the long walk up to the abbey, the plot is starting to take shape, and we’re finally set free. Sort of. We still have pretty limited options at this point, so in the next post, we’ll be moving right on with the plot after some very minor diversions. I’ll gradually have a little more commentary to add as we gain a little bit more choice and more familiarity with the setting and characters. Our Protagonist  New Characters Because we’re meeting so many characters so quickly in these first few segments, and they all get sorted in alphabetical order into the biography section of the menu, I’m going to save them up and post a larger batch next time so I can avoid posting too many duplicates or going to too much trouble cropping individual sections. s__herzog fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Mar 1, 2023 |
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Feb 28, 2023 06:54
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I appreciate any amount of extra information people want to add to the glosses or other parts of the setting, so I feel less pressure to go back and pick on every little detail myself.
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Feb 28, 2023 17:23
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Oops, I was really tired when I finished last night's post and I accidentally left this absolute gem off the end. Going back to edit it in.
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Mar 1, 2023 02:47
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petcarcharodon posted:Surprised no one mentioned this, but I thought I'd point out that the manuscript you rub out is the first paragraph of The Name of the Rose. I just added this to the post (in a spoiler tag since the foreshadowing surely wasn't meant to be picked up by the majority of the audience).
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Mar 1, 2023 15:27
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Illustration Pentiment’s art is styled after a combination of colored 15th-16th century woodcuts and medieval manuscripts. Woodcuts are notable for their clear, often bold black outlines–you can only shave a piece of wood so thin before it breaks when you press it down on paper. There are also many extant colored woodcut prints from this period. The ink would be printed on a press, and then color would be painted on afterward. Stencils came into use for this purpose in the late 15th-century, which would make the coloring process faster and cheaper and thus make colored prints available to a wider audience, but the most detailed coloring was still done entirely by hand.  Illustration from Apocalipsis cu[m] figuris, Nuremburg: 1498, by Albrecht Dürer At the same time, color printing was in its infancy in the form of chiaroscuro prints, where two or three colors of ink would be used to produce an image with some shading. This technique was pioneered in Germany and Italy in the early 16th century; it doesn’t feature in Pentiment, but it was happening at the same time.  Saint Christopher: c. 1509, by Lucas Cranach the Elder It was only barely hinted at in the introduction, but it’s starting to become clearer from the dialogue at this point that this story is set in a period of major change in European history. We now identify this time as the transition from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern period, and Pentiment is set in a Medieval holdout that hasn’t quite given way to the new era. Baron Rothvogel says it plainly: there are not many double monasteries or functioning scriptoria remaining. By 1518, the production of manuscripts has been in decline for some time, in favor of printing, and monasteries are no longer a major factor in the advancement of arts and other studies. For context, here’s some of what’s happening in Europe and its sphere of influence in April, 1518:
Andreas and all of the characters under 50 at the beginning of the story belong to the first generations of the modern era, and they are clearly rendered in a woodcut style. However, all of the characters who are old at the beginning of the game belong to an earlier part of history, so they have characteristics of older art styles. Their linework uses a lot more hand-drawn ink (particularly the red), and they have spots of ink and paint worn away. Some of them have less realistic facial features and body proportions, as seen in a lot of earlier medieval art. Look at Ill Peter’s weird noodly arm and hand. He’s not disabled or weak; Jorg says he still works in the fields. That’s just how you might see a hand drawn in a medieval illustration.   Andreas is a modern person. Ill Peter is a medieval person. For a short period in history, they coexisted. Sources: https://artinprint.org/article/coloring-within-the-lines-the-use-of-stencil-in-early-woodcuts/ https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2018/06/11/a-renaissance-chiaroscuro-woodcut/ https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/heavenlycraft/heavenly-15th.html https://www.medievalists.net/2021/08/the-black-death-and-the-great-transition/
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Mar 2, 2023 03:37
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Part 3: Literal Nut With our new freedom, we’ll take a look around the abbey and meet all of the residents before we finally get to the scriptorium. First, let’s see if we can figure out why Mother Cecilia seemed hostile toward the baron.    Despite having no training in medicine or interest in Heavens & Earth, Andreas is observant enough to comment on various medicinal plants around the environment.  Sister Matilda and Sister Sophie are working in the garden. They both politely inform us that they’re not allowed to have idle conversations with men, so we let them be. We’ve got more important things to do in the garden, anyway.   We’ll see Mausfänger again later. Now let’s speak with the prioress.  God bless you, Mother Cecilia. Is there something I can help you with? What concern is it of yours? It just seemed unusual. The baron arrived to see the abbot and the scriptorium. It isn’t appropriate for the sisters to interact with men. As they need to, at my discretion. The baron is an important patron of the abbey, but there is no need for him to speak with the sisters. Or me. I see. That makes sense. Thank you, Mother Cecilia. Until later. Until then.There’s no one in the convent loquarium, but there’s a little historical note that deserves attention.  Hildegard of Bingen Saint Hildegard of Bingen was a Benedictine abbess, visionary, mystic, and prolific writer on a variety of subjects from theology to musical composition to medicine. I went to school for music, and Hildegard von Bingen stood out in my education as one of extremely few women composers included in the standard canon of European music, and definitely the earliest. At this point I’m going to skip the screenshots of walking between areas and just start teleporting to the next interesting location or conversation. We’ll be back and forth through all of these places enough throughout the game that you should get a pretty good idea of how they’re connected; there’s a map that I will show off when we have more options for places to go; and if someone would really love to see a screenshot series walking through the world, I can put that together later. So we leave the convent and stop by the shrine.  The shrine hosts a relic of St. Moritz (I think he was glossed earlier), who is a real legendary figure and the patron saint of (fictional) Tassing. You can google “hand reliquary” or visit a museum with a significant medieval European collection to see what this would look like. Relics of saints were big business in Europe for several hundred years, and many saints apparently grew a number of extra fingers, limbs, and possibly even heads for the sake of the various churches and towns that venerated them. This particular fictional relic will come up a few more times in the story, so we’ll talk about it more then. There are three nuns in the shrine who we can speak with. Sister Gertrude is much less shy about conversation than the two nuns in the garden were.   How goes your work in the scriptorium? Oh, then I guess you wouldn’t be interested in the saffron Agnes Steinauryn received yesterday. What? Saffron, really? Where’d you hear that? Sister Matilda saw her at the Albans’. Maybe you can convince Prior Ferenc to get some for your yellows. Hmm. Good to know. How’s Mausfänger? She’s around here somewhere, hopefully getting to the baby rabbits before Sister Matilda does. Until later, Sister Gertrude. Bless you, Andreas. Maybe I’ll see you by the shrine of Saint Satia one of these days.Saint Satia One of Tassing’s patron saints, Satia was a local pagan who converted to Christianity and miraculously aided Saint Moritz’s soldiers with food in the dead of winter. She was martyred for her actions. The tall nun in the middle, Sister Lijsbet, won’t talk to us. The last one on the right will.  Interesting detail: The monks and nuns use either peasant script, scribe’s script, or monastic script, according to their positions in the abbey and their education. Mother Cecilia, the prioress, uses monastic script, as does her assistant Sister Lijsbet. Sister Gertrude uses scribe’s script because she’s educated in medicine and herbalism. The other nuns that we’ve met use peasant script because they’re uneducated and may not be literate. We’ll see the same mix when we start meeting the monks.  No, wait… it’s Master Maler. I thought you couldn’t see, Sister Margarete. During the day, I can see some colors. How did you know it was me? You and Brother Piero both smell of the pigments you use. But you’re taller, and you have another smell to you… like fish or… burned almonds. Well, I wouldn’t know. God has saved me from the temptations of beautiful men. You’ll just have to trust me then.  Have a good day, Sister Margarete. God bless you, Master Maler.Next location: the abbey church.  Entering the church, we hear a single singer practicing. If you enjoy Medieval/Renaissance music, you should consider buying the Pentiment soundtrack, checking out other works by Alkemie, and then looking into other recording artists in the early music community. Aside from a couple of special scenes, I don’t consider music a critical element of this game’s presentation, but if anyone wants me to lean on my actual academic background to talk a bit more about music from this part of history, please say the word and I’ll oblige. YouTube clip Spotify: Rüdeger’s Rehearsal  We can stop and say hello to the cantor, Brother Rüdeger, but he honestly doesn’t have anything interesting to say. We move on downstairs to the crypt.  Examining the structure in the crypt, Andreas notes that the foundations of the abbey were built over a thousand years ago during the Roman occupation, and remarks on some of the crypt’s more recent history.  At the far end of the crypt, there’s a particularly interesting piece of art.  You can click on a few parts of the sculpture and get fluff comments like “There must be something around here,” but you really just have to click on the key.   Now what.. ? There are nuns in the library right now, who would be extremely upset if Andreas popped up through their secret entrance, so the game won’t let you even try it. It goes without saying that this will be relevant later. Back to the church, we skip the tower stairs because there’s nothing to do up there. We need to have a conversation with this tiny Swiss man.  How’s the sacristy today, Brother Mathieu? The same as yesterday. Does my vocation seem silly to you, Master Maler? Then go in peace, friend, knowing that the abbey’s treasures are secure for another day. God be with you. Yes, Andreas? You can be such an rear end in a top hat to so many people in the game if you really want to. You can walk right up to the third most important person in the abbey, make fun of his job, and then just say “Give me my pay,” when you haven’t earned an advance and he doesn’t have any reason to cooperate with you. We’re not going that way, but I appreciate having the option. That isn’t part of the agreement you made with Father Gernot. You’ll be paid on the completion of each additional manuscript you illuminate, not before. Not without good reason. This abbey runs through mutual agreements, not haphazard payments. Breaking such contracts would cause undue trouble not only for Kiersau, but for Tassing as well.  What is this about, Andreas? … the Gertner’s [sic] failure to pay their taxes have [sic] reached even you, I see.I’m not usually super pedantic, but you gotta call out errors in a game that cares about words as much as this one. Very well. Do not ask this of me again, Andreas Maler.Mathieu escorts Andreas into the sacristy and takes down the strongbox full of coins.  Thank you, Brother Mathieu. Hmph. God bless you, Andreas.  Clara asked for money in plain words. We can hand it to her without being sneaky. First quest completed! You can actually walk all the way back to the village and deliver this right now, but there’s no reason to go to that much trouble. The sheep are still all over town so there’s nothing else to do over there. Right now, we have a few more monks to meet before we finally get to the scriptorium. First, the cloister.  Did I say that the art in Pentiment was based on European medieval manuscripts and Renaissance woodcuts? Well, there’s more! There’s also Brother Sebhat, demonstrating the manuscript style of 15th-century Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a unique history as the only significant Christian nation in Africa during the Middle Ages and one of two modern African countries that were never colonized by Europeans. Brother Sebhat! I am surprised to see you still here. As am I, but I will be leaving soon, returning to Rome. I and my bishop regret that we could not reciprocate Father Rodulf’s generosity earlier. He showed much kindness to our priests at the Council of Constance many, many years ago.Council of Constance Meeting of bishops that took place between 1414 and 1418 in the Diocese of Constance to end the Papal Schism. It was also notable for the condemnation and capture of the Bohemian theologian Jan Hus. Will you remain in Rome? That is up to my bishop, but I will miss these mountains in any case. You should travel to Ethiopia, Master Maler, and see the highlands. God has blessed my home with a wondrous beauty. I would love to… someday. I still need to return to Nuremberg and open my workshop. Yes, someday. Until then, if you are ever in Rome, I may still be around. By the way, if you have some time in the next few days, it would be nice to share a meal with you and some of the townsfolk. The townsfolk? I am accustomed to strange looks, especially in rural places, but I have had kind words with the baker and his wife. Oh, yes, the Albans, Ulrich and Grett. I offered to tell a story to the children and their mothers over a meal someday. Grett seemed excited about the idea, but I would be more comfortable if you were there as well. Yes, but I am a guest, and I am not bound by the Rule as they are.The Rule The Rule of Saint Benedict of Nursia is a book of instructions for monks living together under the guidance of an abbot. Written in the 6th century, the Rule provides the principles for living a monastic life. Father Gernot kindly allows me to come and go as I need to. Sometimes, politely asking questions before agreeing with people gets you some extra information with no downside. Thank you, Andreas. I look forward to it. God give you health.Brother Florian is working in the infirmary.  Brother Florian, how are you? The brothers and sisters are well, so I am well. Thank God. Andreas, have you spoken with Claus Drucker lately? Yes, quite recently. Why? I believe he may be receiving a medical text from Bologna soon. I’m quite interested in it.Bologna One of the largest cities in Italy, Bologna has been a center of the arts for centuries. It houses a well-known university which was home to both Dante and Petrarch. Can you read Italian? Ah, no. Little Italian, and my Latin is not as good as I would like. I was hoping Brother Piero could help me with it, if he has the time. I’m sure he will make time. He is a patient teacher. That he is. I will see you later, Andreas. Until then.We can meet three more monks, who don’t need their conversations written out.  Brother Lukas is cleaning fish in the kitchen. He says that working for the abbot and the prior is difficult because they’re super privileged and picky about everything they eat, and Brother Aedoc likes to complain about the fish (because he’s from Cornwall and fish is the only thing they eat there), but Brother Wojslav is kind to him.  Brother Wojslav is in the cellar. He asks Andreas about his living situation and chats a little about the Gertner family.  Brother Volkbert, in a white novice’s robe, is shoveling poo poo in the pig pen, and will only say hello. At long last, Andreas heads to the scriptorium to get some work done.    How is your morning going, Brother Guy? It’s fine. More contracts for the abbot. Which would you rather be making, contracts or manuscripts? I honestly don’t care, Andreas. As long as the abbot is impressed, he could have me write the first chapter of Genesis until Judgment Day. Does the abbot’s opinion mean that much to you? The abbot’s and the prior’s, both. You’re lucky. When you’re done with this, you’re going home. I’m never going to see Burgundy again. I need to make the best of the next forty years.Burgundy Powerful former duchy of eastern France that became a province in 1477. Known for its wine, art, monasteries, and courtly fashion. Then I’ll leave you to it. How are you feeling today, Brother Aedoc? Awe mill. “Awe mill”... that’s easy. “I am well.” Well done, my son. It is early. I will give you a harder one later. I look forward to all of your anagrams, Brother Aedoc. Literal nut. …ah, yes! Until then. Good morning, Brother Piero. Good to see you as well. I don’t like this weather. My bones ache. It means a storm is coming. Big Jorg Gertner says that if you live here ten or fifteen years, you can smell storms coming. Brother Aedoc has been here long enough that we can always smell him coming. Are you comparing yourself to a prophet, Brother Aedoc? I am comparing you to an impudent youth whom the Lord, in His ineffable wisdom, may choose to strike down!  I wonder if there are any consequences for pissing off Guy. I need no defense against the likes of you! God protects his faithful against the iniquitous! Well, everyone seems quite lively. I suppose that means Prior Ferenc is not overseeing us today. He was here, but then he heard Lorenz Rothvogel had arrived and he hurried out like a little mouse. Ferenc is so desperate to impress the abbot and nobles like Rothvogel. It’s pathetic. You feign kindness to father abbot and our prior only to speak about them like this behind their backs. It’s shameful.  I just realized that he will want to see his manuscript. How silly of me. Of course that’s why he’s visiting. Perhaps if you were younger and faster you wouldn’t need to worry so much about patrons’ visits. Rapscallion is the best background.  You’re the one mocking old men. What’s wrong with you? Anyway, what’s the problem? The baron is just one client. He has to wait like anyone else. Andreas, Baron Rothvogel is not like anyone else. He has powerful friends, including the Prince-Bishop of Freising.Prince-Bishop of Freising Religious and secular ruler of scattered territories in the Holy Roman Empire, including the lands containing Tassing and Kiersau Abbey. Kiersau is already… out of favor. Father abbot does not want to have to deal with more attention. Well, if Prior Ferenc isn’t here, I’m going to work on my masterpiece until he arrives. In der Maur A prominent family of the Swiss Confederacy and Austria. Andreas goes over to knock on the library door.  A book. The In der Maur manuscript, the book of hours.book of hours A type of illuminated manuscript that contains an abbreviated form of the prayers for the Divine Office in addition to other religious texts. Most are relatively plain, but wealthy patrons often commission lavish examples with elaborate illustrations.  Your hair looks messy today. Did you get enough sleep? I mean did you sleep alone, or… ? It would be nice to have something to think about during divine reading.divine reading Lectio divina is the thoughtful reading of and meditation on scripture. The practice leads to prayer and contemplation. It is a daily part of life in Benedictine communities.   Ugh. That’s all the way upstairs. Can’t you get by without it?  Escalating all the way to green text. She is really pissed. Sister Illuminata! Andreas needs a book and he’s being inappropriate with me.Sister Zdena leaves the window, and Sister Illuminata takes her place.    I didn’t think that you were. Sister Zdena has a poor attitude toward her vocation, the Rule, and, I suppose, the Ten Commandments.  In any case, I overheard you requesting the In der Maur manuscript. Here. Please return it promptly.Andreas takes the book and returns to his desk. Piero comes over to take a look.  Of course. Your opinion is always welcome.  The contrast of colors is also quite nice. Rich and beautiful on their own, but not overpowering the scene. It’s an excellent interpretation of someone else’s work. My son, you’re copying the illustration from the In der Maur manuscript almost exactly. So? What’s wrong with that? Haven’t I improved on it? Aesthetically, yes. It’s wonderful. But I feel you have not given much thought to what it represents. It’s… November. In November we show peasants leading the pigs into the forest to forage on acorns before the slaughter. Andreas, the peasants here are no longer allowed to forage acorns in the forest. Many great lords and abbots across the empire have forbidden it, even Father Gernot. What difference does it make? This is the way November is painted. But it is not the way November is. It’s most important to me that my clients are happy. They won’t pay me for truth.It’s starting to become quite apparent that art is just Andreas’s job, not something he feels great enthusiasm for. We’ll see if that changes over the course of the story, or if he has something more important to care about. Yes, but with God’s grace, this book of hours will outlive us all. What will it say to those who see it in a future generation, centuries beyond our comprehension. Some will gaze deep into your lines and paint to seek a deeper meaning. What will they find? But you need not listen to my opinions. They are just the thoughts of one old monk. There is no place for the monastic scriptoria anymore. In truth, this room is a place out of time. Some people, some places, have a difficult time letting go of the past. I am not among them. The creation of books, of art, is no longer the province of monasteries. So be it. More people will be able to write, more will be able to read and, in so doing, be brought to truth.   Ok, you can have this one.  My dude is so sensitive, he remembers everything. I have lived a long life and am happy to have served the Lord. When He calls for me, I am ready.Piero turns back to his desk, and everyone settles in to work for the rest of the morning. Time passes.  Next time: Mystery! Intrigue! Books! I'm not thrilled about some of the character portraits cropped from these scenes with dim lighting, but I don't currently have a save file far enough ahead to get everyone in better light. I'll fix that eventually. Characters We’ve covered the vast majority of character introductions for this act, so now I can post a whole bunch at once and then fill in the rest one at a time as the last few faces appear a little later.          
s__herzog fucked around with this message at 16:43 on Mar 7, 2023 |
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Mar 3, 2023 15:45
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Red Mike posted:Baby rabbits are ravenous and will take over and destroy your garden (and are also small, nimble and dumb enough to get past most things that'll keep a fully grown rabbit away). If you're intending to keep your garden whole, you're not going to be saving them, quite the opposite. Better for the cat to have its fill too so at least someone comes out on top. You're right, I wasn't thinking hard enough about the reality of gardening. Red Mike posted:I don't remember but I think this is one of the rarer font switch situations that also involves the character speaking in a different language (that then gets translated back to English after the text is scrubbed out)? Yes, this happens here if Andreas speaks Italian. Our Andreas knows some Dutch and French instead.
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Mar 3, 2023 17:17
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I've only done superficial reading on the subject so far, but I get the impression that the Roman Catholic Church had a strong interest in being friendly to Ethiopians, particularly as potential allies against Muslim nations. There were quite a few Ethiopians traveling around Europe at this time, mostly based in Rome, where the pope specifically designated a church for the use of Coptic monks in the late 15th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Stefano_degli_Abissini I'll definitely do some homework and talk about this a little bit more when we have a meal with Sebhat, and hopefully one or more other readers will have something to add.
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Mar 3, 2023 22:00
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Part 4: Bibliophilia intensifies After a few hours of work, a bell rings to call the monks to prayer.   Terce Monastic hour corresponding to 9 A.M. One of the little hours of prayer, Terce precedes Mass and the chapter meeting. Too much talk. I must ask forgiveness for not honoring the Rule. Until later, Andreas. Until later.A moment after Piero leaves, Andreas drops a bowl of paint on the floor and bends down to clean it up. Just at that moment, Prior Ferenc rushes into the room, looking around with an anxious expression, and walks up to the open book on his lectern.  Ferenc quickly heads back out the door, and the moment the door closes, Sister Illuminata opens the library window.    Oh, I’m sorry, Sister Illuminata. I knocked a bowl of paint to the floor. But then Prior Ferenc came in, wrote in one of his books, slammed it closed, and left. He was in such a hurry, I don’t think he even noticed me. He was slamming books shut? Prior Ferenc should know better than that. Some of these manuscripts are quite delicate. I think he is on edge since Baron Rothvogel arrived early. Which is why books should not be taken out of the library unless it is necessary for divine reading or work in the scriptorium. Cronica Clara The “Clear Chronicle,” a history of the universe from creation to 1082. Written by the Irish monk Marianus Scotus. No. Anger is not an appropriate response for a nun. But the fact remains that you tricked me into giving you that book for no valid reason.  Cologne Large, powerful free imperial city on the river Rhine. It is a major hub for commerce between Italy and the Netherlands. It is also a popular site for pilgrims, as its cathedral contains relics of the Three Wise Men, represented as crowns on their arms. Fulda Town built around an old Benedictine abbey near the center of the empire. Fulda’s abbots are imperial princes and wield great power. Mainz Located on the Rhine river, Mainz is the home of the Archbishop of Mainz, an elector of the Holy Roman Empire and primas germaniae - the pope’s substitute north of the Alps. No, it’s not. Not unless it pertains to your work or the abbot permits it. Now, if you’ll excuse me… Wait, what’s all this fuss about Lorenz Rothvogel? Why is Prior Ferenc so nervous? Lorenz? I didn’t know you were familiar enough with the man to use his Christian name. Anyway, I haven’t dealt with him, personally, but the prior and father abbot have. I only know that he’s purchased a number of our most valuable manuscripts over the years. And he paid enough to help the abbey when we needed it. Like what? What did he buy? Hm. I can’t remember. You know, I have my own responsibilities to attend to. How about this, Andreas. If you help me recover some missing books, I’ll tell you what I know about the baron.  Where should I begin? Out there, where you and your cohort have carelessly strewn books around the scriptorium. I will tell you what books I’m looking for. Find them and return them to me. The first books are two volumes of the Aeneid.Aeneid A poetic epic telling the legend of Aeneas, a heroic Trojan who struggles to reconcile his personal desires with his destiny to found Rome. It was written in the 1st century BC by the Roman poet Virgil. Reddish covers. Fourteen inches by ten inches. Three inches thick. The combination of Law, Latinist, and Logician has cemented this as Andreas’s defining character trait in this playthrough, even though this particular choice doesn’t require any of those backgrounds. … what?   Reddish. Oh! I know the ones. They’re among Piero’s favorites. He keeps them by my desk. They are not his to keep.The books are visible on the bottom edge of the last screenshot. Clicking them brings us into the Aeneid.   Those volumes were old even when Piero started to make the copies. How long ago was that? Three years. The Aeneid is not one of my favorite stores, but I understand why it appeals to Piero.     I did not make you for a scholar of Roman poetry, Andreas. The words sit easily in my memory. I’m not sure why. Probably out of love rather than duty. Do you think Aeneas’ sense of duty appeals to Piero? We all have our vocations. Brother Piero takes his more seriously than most of the others in this abbey. You clearly take your chosen vocation seriously. Andreas, I didn’t have a choice in my vocation. Few women do. Is it really that bad? Is being a woman that limiting? True. She knows her life better than I do… I appreciate that you understand how limited our roles and our choices truly are.  Like Dido, we ordinary women are merely tools in the tales of men. We can never be the protagonists of our own stories. No woman is exempt from that, from the empress to a nun. It is our lot. I suppose I understand now why you are not fond of the Aeneid. It’s fine poetry. For men. Now, the books, if you please.Fade back to the scriptorium.  Wretched Guerrin An Italian chivalric romance written by Andrea da Barberino in the early 15th century. The titular character rises from impoverished origins to go on heroic adventures and discover his noble parentage. Originally published as a manuscript, it enjoyed greater success as a printed book. I do not have the size in the ledger, but hopefully the description is enough. I know the one you’re talking about. Brother Aedoc was reading it.Again, we find the book and click it to enter its pages.   We don’t. It belongs to Amadea Rusco of Lugano. It’s a Venetian edition that’s quite valuable.Lugano Highly contested Swiss market town located in the southwestern Alps. The Dukes of Como and Milan fought for control over it until it was claimed by the Swiss Confederation in 1513. He loaned it to us five years ago. It was subsequently “lost” and the abbot has received three letters about it. I’ve certainly seen the brothers enjoying it. That book is not appropriate reading for Benedictine monks.  You forgot the best part! In the end, Guerrin learns he has royal blood, the son of a Duke! He reigns as a king and dies a pious hermit. What’s not to love? Benedictines should be dreaming of reconciliation with our Lord, not… lusty adventures! It’s not my place to reprimand anyone for reading stories, least of all, you, Andreas. Still, we must be on guard. Fantasy leads to temptation. Temptation has led to the downfall of many men. And women. Sometimes, yes. But books like this… it’s all the same type of fantasy, isn’t it? To die better than we are born. And what’s the problem with that? Why shouldn’t a peasant dream of being a king? “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” We may be on in Christ, but we are not equal in this world. It isn’t this world you should be concerned with, Andreas. But… the book, Andreas. We must return it. Or would you like the abbot to receive a fourth letter?     The book, please.We bring the book back to the library.  A dark red cover. Eight inches high, five inches across, two inches thick. Last time, same process, click the book to open it.  Very good, please bring it here. What is this, anyway? What is this?   He literally cannot help it.   Three French bishops condemned the book. All copies were to be burned. Its author shared the same fate. What? Why? I don’t know, Andreas. It isn’t my place to question the judgment of one bishop, much less three. And before you ask, no. I haven’t read it, but I know it contains a dialogue between Love and Reason.The book in question is The Mirror of Simple Souls, written by Marguerite Porete in the early 14th century. It was associated with the loosely defined Heresy of the Free Spirit, involving the annihilation of individual souls and indistinguishable merging with God, without the intercession of the Church. So the book is dangerous… when did the bishops condemn it? I haven’t done much image manipulation since about 1998, and I have to say that very slow animations that occupy a large portion of the window are not super fun to GIF.  What?! Why? Why is it still here? Because Father Matthias loved books. All books. He didn’t want to see it destroyed.  It’s not my place to question the former abbot’s decision, but when Father Gernot learned it was in our possession, he wanted it destroyed. Mother Cecilia made a note of it in the inventory when she was the librarian. I do. So do Mother Cecilia and Father Gernot.  What?! Why not? What are you going to do with it? Give me that book or our deal is forfeit. I won’t tell you anything about Baron Rothvogel. I’ll be gone by the time Father Gernot asks about it, and if you like, you can say I stole it. I doubt he’ll make a fuss about me stealing a book he wanted destroyed. I don’t like this, Andreas. It feels wrong in my heart. First persuasion check of the game! We lost some points for (as it should be), but for this particular check, you just have to agree to be helpful in order to get on Illuminata’s good side. There is no RNG involved; either you earned enough points, or you didn’t. Some checks are very easy, some are very difficult, and it doesn’t clearly spell out the exact quantity of points required. I’m trusting you in this Andreas, against my better judgment. Don’t make me regret this. She may only have time to answer one question, so I should choose carefully… The baron is quite wealthy, quite educated, and he loves fine art. I think it’s clear why he enjoys your company. Most of his peers don’t share his passion for… modern thinking. Nor are they interested in art. You are a rare thing, Andreas Maler - an artist with a university education You may not be of high birth, but whatever the baron’s faults may be, he chooses to fraternize with common people. Sometimes with… unpleasant consequences? Yes, but I can’t say anything more than that. It was a tragic affair. No one at the abbey wanted to deal with it then, and certainly no one wants to dig up the past now. Should I be concerned for my safety, sister? I can’t say. I don’t know Baron Rothvogel much more than you do, Andreas. But there is an inherent danger to walking in the shadow of a powerful man. Just… be careful. Well, I must be off to Mass. Thank you again for your help, Andreas. What are you smiling about?  You are a strange man. Good day, Andreas. God be with you.For me, this sequence encapsulates the essence of Pentiment. It’s a brief historical look into specific real pieces of literature from the perspectives of people looking at the work with a Renaissance mindset. It reveals a lot about Andreas and Illuminata without using too many words. It shows printed pages, handwriting, and illustrations. It has an especially complex dialog tree with a huge set of conversation options for various backgrounds and multiple possible persuasion checks, and the last bit has real stakes on the plot, because (mild spoiler but not really) you will have a limited time to gather critical information later on, and Illuminata telling you about Baron Rothvogel’s history with the abbey makes it easier for you to pursue a couple of leads.  Andreas goes back to work on his masterpiece for a few hours, until the next bell rings.  Sext Monastic hour corresponding to noon. One of the little hours of prayer, followed by dinner. (the midday meal, which many of us would call “lunch”) I should see if Otto is around and still wants to eat with me. I think he’s working by the guest house below the abbey.Before we go to meet our friends for lunch, we have to do some snooping, because we love information and petty crimes and this is a pretty good intersection of those interests. What exactly was Ferenc doing in his book?  Clicking the book opens it.   Doctor of Theology Georg of Gran.     In any case, it’s a thorough commentary. Libra, Capricorn, Aries? All astrological symbols. What’s written below? Hm. Maybe I should have learned Greek at some point. I can’t make any sense of this. I suppose I’ll figure it out in due time, but I’ll copy this all down to reference later.Since all of the monks are in the chapter house for dinner, we can walk right into Prior Ferenc’s house without worrying about getting caught.  His door was unlocked, and he left his volvelle right out in the open. Let’s take a look at it.  Brings me back to 1990s PC games. I’ve seen these before, in astronomy and medical tracts. What’s this one for? Two wheels. The top wheel has Greek letters and holes cut out to reveal Latin letters underneath. And the outer edge of the lower wheel is divided into four sections, each bearing an elemental symbol. Ah, a quarter turn of the upper disc aligns a different elemental symbol with the top of the lower disc.   But these symbols aren’t the same. The elements don’t appear in the cipher and the astrological symbols aren’t on the volvelle… There has to be some connection between them that I’m missing. Sister Illuminata is in there most of the day. Perhaps I can find a way in after dark… And if all else fails, perhaps I could ask Werner Stolz. He lives off of the north commons. I have a sense he doesn’t like me much, but… I’ll find a way to get the information out of him.We’ve done all we can over here for now. Before lunch, we have one more stop to make.  The front door of the abbot’s house is locked, but the back door is open, so we can enter from the garden. And meet another very important character.  Next time: Lunch with Otto and Endris, just bros doing bro things.
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Mar 7, 2023 04:12
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Discendo Vox posted:I think there may be a missing animation or image for the discovery of the secret passage. Thanks for catching this. Fixed!
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Mar 7, 2023 16:43
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If you choose the Bookworm background, Andreas has the option to tell Illuminata that he's read Pizan so he has at least an academic understanding of contemporary women's issues.
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Mar 7, 2023 23:47
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Trying to move on through the early parts and into the meat of the story, where there will be more to slow down and talk about. Part 5: Picnic With the Boys We leave the scriptorium and walk all the way past the outer abbey walls to the guest house, where Baron Rothvogel is staying. Otto, the town carpenter, was doing some work over here today, which is why he invited us to this location for lunch. When we get to the guest house, we find Martin loitering outside.   Andreas is a bit more worldly than Martin, so he has some pertinent advice.     I love how the text gets smaller.  It’s been a busy day, I’m having a break, enjoying the sun. Nothing more.  Go piss in a bucket and pour it on your head!Jesus, dude, you’re welcome. Otto and Endris are hanging out just 20 feet away.    Ah, Andreas! Good to see you. I trust Clara gave you my message. Afternoon Endris, Otto. Clara did give me your message. Sorry I missed you this morning, I was still asleep when you came by. Ahh, the abbot really lets you get away with anything, doesn’t he? Leave him be, Otto. I’m hungry - let’s pray. Here’s our first of many meal scenes. They’ll definitely get their own bonus post.  Through Christ, our Lord, amen. Amen. Protip, if you want people to like you, always start conversations by engaging with their lives rather than complaining about yours. Especially if you belong to a distinctly higher social class. Not too bad, thanks. I hurt my damned hand splitting timber to replace a bad beam in the abbot’s house. Three times per meal, we break from the conversation to select something to eat.  It’s not that bad of an injury, it just galls me that the abbot bleeds us dry and we’re expected to do work here when it suits him. Oh, it’s not all bad. I get a lot of good work from the abbey. Casting pilgrim’s badges isn’t really smithing, but I don’t mind.This suggests that different workers have very different individual experiences with their landlord, depending on their specific trade. The blacksmith has the privilege of working in his shop consistently, since the forge isn’t portable. The carpenter, on the other hand, has to go all over the place at the abbot’s whim. I’m sure he’s paid for his work, but as we will see later, there is also an opportunity cost to the village when their only carpenter is required to spend his time maintaining luxury housing for guests of the abbey. The peasants, unlike the blacksmith and the carpenter, have to live with the fact that their economic output is drastically affected by the weather. I’ll have a whole post on that later.    I don’t like the idea of Piero being pressured by anyone. He’s too old for that. He’s a nobleman. Everything must happen on their time. Just like with the abbot. His work always comes first, and drat the common folk. Well, this abbot anyway. Father Matthias was more reasonable. The late abbot was well-acquainted with the baron, you know, but he always had misgivings about him. You’ve got that right. He’s been known to fool around with young women. He’s married, of course. Otto, that’s only gossip, and it isn’t Christian to spread rumors like that. It’s not gossip that he beat up that farmer a few years back, old Rannig - may he rest in peace. Well, I wasn’t there, so I don’t know. But if he did that, yes, it speaks poorly of his character. What did you talk about, then? I mean, no offense, but what does a nobleman have in common with an artist? Right, Saint Andreas in the flesh. As if a rich bastard like him has any sense of virtue. This bitterness and envy are not good for our Christian souls, Otto. It’s not envy, Endris! No one should get away with what he does, what this abbey does. No offense to you, Andreas. I don’t have any problems with the books the abbey makes. I mean, I never did learn to read, but if people are paying the abbey to make them, it doesn’t bother me.  No, but I’m not surprised. Martin was supposed to fix that fence and he probably did a bad job at it. He’s always in a foul mood, and he could be the laziest soul in Tassing. He can’t even hold a hammer properly. Married and a father at such a young age and he barely lifts a finger for his wife or child. On top of that, he’s a damned thief. And before you say it, Endris, that’s more than just gossip. Look at him, over by the guest house. He’s probably figuring out what he can steal with the least amount of effort. Heh, especially when you look in a mirror. Speaking of the Bauers’ sheep, their ewes are shorn and the women will be spinning it soon… Otto. I got it, Endris. No need to tease. What God wants to happen will happen. Right. I’ll catch up in a moment, Endris.  I should return to work in the scriptorium. Until later. We’ve passed a couple of hours. The sky darkens, and it begins to rain.  From the guest house, we walk back up the stairs and into the abbey, and we meet Brother Mathieu.  Hello, Brother Mathieu. What are you doing out here? I thought you were aware that in addition to my role as Kiersau’s sacrist, I tend to the shrine of Saint Moritz. He is the patron of Tassing and Kiersau both, so it is my duty to ensure his reliquary is well cared for.Andreas is not particularly reverent, and he knows that he doesn’t have to be Mathieu’s best friend. Especially since he already got that advance on his pay.  Andreas, this is the hand of a saint. Do you doubt the miracles of Saint Moritz?  The Lord has protected my mind from comprehending whatever depravity you meant to imply. Despite your impish character, you really ought to learn something about the saint while you’re here. Very well.  Saint Moritz is most widely known for his martyrdom at the hands of the Romans. He protected a town of Christians from slaughter, and in turn, he and his legion were decimated.     Yes. He was a Roman citizen, and led a legion made up entirely of Christians into Bavaria. When he refused to kill the Christians, even though they were traitors to Rome, the emperor had his legion massacred.Until this line, I was going to say that decimation was probably the correct term for the sentence passed on the legion as collective punishment, so Andreas’s pedantry was off base. But saying that the emperor had the entire legion massacred paints a whole different picture. Most of the pilgrims who visit come knowing only this, if anything, about his life. However, Tassing venerates Saint Moritz because he was the one to convert the town and save it from destruction. Indeed. He and his legion were snowed into this pass, and the townsfolk refused to aid them. The daughter of the town’s leader, Satia, was moved in spirit, and snuck from the town to convert. She led Moritz to a spring, and as soon as she was baptized, the snow melted, revealing all manner of fruits. Moritz and his legion were saved by these miraculous gifts, the town was converted, and the rebels fled into the mountains. She, too, was martyred for her faith by the rebels inhabiting the town. Now her shrine protects Tassing from harm. You are welcome, Master Maler. God bless you. Until later, brother.There’s another peasant from Tassing visiting the shrine, so we’ll take a moment to say hello.  Hello, Karl. You seem busier than usual today. I’m behind in my work. I went up to the Shrine of Saint Moritz this morning to pray for his aid. The candle I lit had all but burned away, I was there so long! Now I need to catch up. I usually go every autumn, for a good harvest. Now that Helenas’ pregnant, I’ve tried to go pray every week. Her mother had trouble in childbirth, so I’ve been paying visits to Mortiz’s hand and Satia’s shrine to pray for their aid. Thank you, Andreas. So do I.And now, back to work. In the scriptorium, we find Prior Ferenc walking around and looking over everyone’s shoulders.   You’re working like you want to see this place closed. Brother prior, I am working to the best of my abilities and I dispute your criticism. I may not be fast, but I still have my talent, praise be to God. Many apologies, brother prior. I will work harder. You should have finished this months ago! Is your mind so corrupted by age that you didn’t notice the seasons have changed? Well, you’re not the one who will have to answer for it, so why should you care? Typical. You… impudent knave! How dare you speak to me like that? I am the master of this scriptorium. It is my place to run the scriptorium as I see fit! I agree, brother prior, Brother Piero’s work is unacceptably slow. You are insufferable, Brother Guy. Oh God, give me the patience to endure this. Please, everyone, this is my work and I accept responsibility for it. Prior Ferenc is right.The baron and the abbot appear.    It is, my lord. I can expl- No, no. I don’t want excuses. I’ve come all this way and I have to be honest, I expected more. It’s nowhere near finished and the style is… well, it’s very old fashioned. I thought I made my desires clear.  I… no, of course not, my lord. Never. We can fix this, of course. Of course. We only want to accommodate you. Ugh…gently caress this guy.  How should I respond to this? The abbot already seems annoyed.  Well, my lord, why not have Brother Guy complete it if speed is your conc- No, no. I’m not talking about the script - that’s fine - but the art, the illustrations. I want Andreas to do the others. Of… course. I mean, if Andreas is all right with it. Between the lord and the abbot, we’re not really in a position to do anything here but be polite and try to stay on their good sides. There we have it. I hope this allays your concerns, my lord. Excellent. By the way, father abbot, am I still welcome at your table for supper? Naturally, my lord. Wonderful. I’d like Andreas to join us. Uh.. well.. that would be quite unusual. Unusual or not, I doubt that my good friend the prince-bishop would deny additional guests at his table. What do you think? I understand. Yes, you’re right, of course. Andreas may join us for supper. I look forward to it.The abbot and the baron leave, and Ferenc gets right up in Andreas’s face.  You must have put your hook in the baron when you ambushed him in town. Brother prior, Andreas is not to blame for any of this. I am. Yes you are! And you’ve embarrassed me, the abbot, and the abbey! Prior Ferenc is right, of course. No wonder we don’t get more commissions. Guy! Can you stop flattering the prior for one minute?  If you please, Sister Zdena and I would prefer it if you could keep the noise down. It sounds like Samson slaying the Philistines in here. Get back to work, everyone. Well, that was… not wonderful. But there’s nothing to be done about it now. I’ll finish my work here and wash up in the lavatorium for supper at the abbot’s table. The lavatorium is a small building in the courtyard.   I won’t be able to speak with you - none of the brothers will, but it will be good to have you with us. That’s a shame. I always enjoy our talks. Now, the same doesn’t apply to you at the abbot’s table. You can talk all you like. Though I… wouldn’t recommend it. Father abbot does not look kindly on idle chatter. Anyway, I’m sorry for how the prior treated you. It’s not fair. It’s humiliating. Oh no, no, my son. There’s no need to worry about me or my pride. And we all need a taste of humility from time to time to keep our feet on this Earth. And when you leave all of us at Kiersau Abbey behind, you can call upon your friend Lorenz, the Baron Rothvogel, to help you in your career. Don’t trouble yourself over it. Time passes for us all, things change, the future will write over the present. You need not fear it, any of it, so long as you remain true to yourself and God. Now I must hurry to the refectory to join my brothers. I will see you inside.Next time: Supper at the big table. Audience participation: How should Andreas behave at supper? Piero carefully explained that Andreas is allowed to speak but that it might irritate the abbot, so it’s pretty obvious we have some choices coming up. Is there anything in particular he should speak up about? Should he do his best to stay silent? Or should he go out of his way to be a public nuisance just for fun? s__herzog fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Mar 11, 2023 |
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Mar 9, 2023 18:56
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Discendo Vox posted:I'd rather not get contact embarrassment from an LP, so I'd prefer to not be a dick or a useless pedant. I don't know why I chose not to use this in the first place. I'm going back to edit it into the last post. Red Mike posted:Not putting this on you s__herzog, but I wonder if this is the type of LP that would benefit from having an abbreviated 'alternate timeline' view of the complete opposite choices once you're further along. I think some of the differences end up being quite stark. Already in the works! I have a parallel playthrough going with completely different background selections that will also diverge on most or all of the story choices, and I'll post some highlights of that once I have enough content. I'm also compiling some screens of Andreas being a random jerk. Supper behavior It's clear which way the wind is blowing.
Unless the thread descends into a riotous debate about table manners, I'm pretty sure the outcome of the next scene is decided, with Andreas hitching his wagon to the morally-questionable star of Baron Rothvogel.
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Mar 10, 2023 16:08
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Part 6: Baron's Best Friend The thread has spoken. Andreas is 100% in the baron’s corner and the abbot can get bent.   Thank you, my lord.  Oh, the gospel of Matthew. Wonderful. Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in Heaven.” “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Have you read Matthew much, Andreas? Gernot is immediately irritated by Andreas daring to open his mouth.  “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth will be loosed in Heaven.” Then He ordered His disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Messiah. “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven.” That reminds me, Father Gernot, have you read anything by Martin Luther? LET’S GO He has some incredible ideas about the church. Brilliant, I think.Everyone in the room stops eating and looks at the baron, and everyone except Andreas is either alarmed or offended (Brother Lukas doesn’t seem to have any facial expressions, but I’m sure he feels the same way). The Abbot tries desperately to recover.   The quail? My God, father abbot, the quail’s fine, but don’t you think Luther’s ideas are worth discussing? He’s talking about the future of the church, shaking things up in a way I don’t think we’ve seen before. Father Thomas, you see value in his ideas, do you not? Brother… Mathieu, yes? How appropriate. What are your thoughts on Luther’s attacks on the church’s sale of indulgences? Baron, please do not involve the other brothers in this conversation. Fine, fine. What about Andreas? Certainly a man who attended the same university as Martin Luther can spare some thoughts on his work. Uh… he’s really put me in a difficult position. That doesn’t seem like the most prudent attitude at the moment…The game goes out of its way to tell you that you’re about to really piss everyone off. This is a pretty severe breach of the social norms within a monastery, and he’s not a person of especially high status. He’s really not supposed to be here, and if he were playing his role according to the abbot’s expectations, he would be as invisible as possible. The appropriate thing to do here would be to remain silent for the whole meal (even verbally responding to the earlier question was improper in the abbot’s eyes). But our Andreas is fairly selfish, a little bit nihilistic, and pretty chafed at the way that working for the abbot restricts his personal freedom. He’s been around the block enough times to know what kind of faux pas he’s about to make, but he also knows that friendship with the baron has a lot more value for his future than anyone else in this room ever could. Riling up the local religious authorities (without any risk of legal consequences) is a nice little bonus.   Andreas! You should know better. Lord Rothvogel, you are our guest and held in high esteem, but you have worn out my patience. You will not be discussing Luther’s work with Andreas, Thomas, Mathieu, or with any other brother. Is that clear? I suppose, father. It is your abbey, but you’re taking too much offense at this and you’re far too afraid of change. Whether it’s from Luther or someone else, reform is coming to the church. You had better accept it.  This talk is beyond insulting! It’s blasphemous! Outrageous! How dare you?! I… see. I have overstepped my bounds. And I suppose I have ruined everyone’s supper. My apologies. In spite of this unpleasantness I will make good on my manuscript payment and the donation of my copy of Historia Tassiae. If you cannot accept what the future will bring, perhaps it’s time for you to come to terms with your past. Well, no need to overstay my welcome. Fathers, brothers, Andreas… good night.  You can’t tell me what to do, dad. Now then, I must ask you to leave so I can speak to the brothers in chapter privately. Brother Piero, please accompany Andreas out. I will take my leave as well. Good night.We’re ushered out the door.  I hope father abbot can see that the baron’s heart is in the right place, even if he picked the wrong time to express himself. It may be so, but we must never lose hope. In any case, I do hope the baron respects the abbot’s wishes for the rest of his stay, for everyone’s sake. Brother Piero, what do you think of Martin Luther’s ideas? Ha! That is for younger and wiser men than me to decide. I am just a monk, thank God. Good night, my son.  We’re dumped out into the darkness outside. Time to walk back to Tassing and turn in for the night.  Lorenz must still be awake. I wonder how he’s doing.At this point, Andreas has been so firmly on Lorenz’s side, I won’t judge you if you start shipping them. And what was he thinking? He’s a baron, but he couldn’t have expected that to go well. The storm doesn’t seem to be letting up any time soon. I should get back to the Gertners’. Something in this image doesn’t belong…    A helpful local hears Andreas shrieking in terror and strolls over to check in.    The ghost?  Well, I’m not here to tell you what you saw.I can’t confirm this yet, but this may be the only time we see Til’s frowning face. Rational Andreas continues to win friends with his facts and logic. Wouldn’t be the first time people have seen ghosts around these parts. Mm hm. Usually around the ruins. Who knows how many restless Romans lie beneath those stones? Well, I think I found Johan’s last lost sheep. I’m going to head home. Take care, Master Maler. Ok, let’s hurry up and get to bed and put all this behind us.   Jesus, what now?  Pale horse! Pale horse! Still on the floor!  Father Thomas comes running out from the front door of the church.  Do you hear me?  Yes, father. I hear you. Am I here? Is this now? Yes, you are with us. And this is now. I… apologize, Andreas. I imagine that must have been quite alarming. Is she all right? She is, yes. Sister Amalie is a mystic, gifted with visions when God sees fit to give her one. Some are more frightening than others. She lives there, yes. I’m a little surprised you haven’t noticed her before. If you came to Mass more often, you would see that I give her communion through a window to her cell. Her cell? She is an anchoress, a religious hermit so devoted to God that she has enclosed herself in a cell next to the church. She is dead to the world, but continues a life of prayer and religious contemplation. And sometimes, ever so rarely, she receives great and terrible visions. Is she local to Tassing or was she a nun at Kiersau? Neither. She came here from a Benedictine abbey in Lower Bavaria after it burned down. I am her confessor and caretaker. Many anchoresses are not literate. I write down her visions to help interpret them. This and a couple of other references indicate that Brother Volkbert has a cognitive disability. We will barely interact with him in this playthrough, but he has one optional scene that gives a better sense of his character, which I will show off in my alternate run.   In the most drastic example yet, Sister Amalie is downgraded from monastic script to peasant script in Andreas’s perception. Of course, sister.Sister Amalie walks away from the window to go back to sleep. She seems… unhappy. She is not unhappy, but she is in pain, both physical and spiritual. her spiritual pain comes from her revelations. They come and go. I try to address them as best I can. The physical pain comes from a deformity in her spine and aching in her joints. I know of no cure for that, save prayer to the Almighty. Sister Amalie was saying she had a vision of death. Could someone be in danger? Oh, no, don’t rush to judgment. Her visions are divine and powerful, but they could have many meanings. Some of her revelations take years to comprehend. Some may never be understood at all, as God wills it. Still, the argument at dinner was quite troubling. Perhaps it has cast a shadow over our thoughts. Now, the good sister appears to have fallen back to sleep. I must prepare for bed myself. Good night, Andreas.Well, at least aiding in the abbot’s public humiliation hasn’t made Father Thomas personally dislike us, so that’s good. Good night, father.I wonder how many more random encounters we’ll have before we can travel a few screens over and get to bed.   So far, so good…   Made it!  Now we get to see how five adults and one small child share a single room. Ill Peter, the oldest person in town, manages to sleep upright in a wooden chair.  Poor Jorg doesn’t have enough blankets to cover his feet. Anyway, upstairs to bed.     A little shorter than previous posts, but obviously a natural stopping point. Next time: just a few more diversions before the plot takes off. s__herzog fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Mar 13, 2023 |
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Mar 12, 2023 07:23
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Regallion posted:A screenshot of "She's in pain" is misplaced to be in the after-dinner section instead of the terrible vision section. Fixed it.
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Mar 12, 2023 16:49
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Part 7: The Storm The rest of the night passes uneventfully, and Andreas gets up for another day at work. We can hear heavy rainfall outside.   There’s a bit of a scene downstairs. Water drips from the ceiling, and there is an occasional flash of lightning.    No, a little crying won’t hurt her. Besides, I think we’ve gotten almost all the leaks now. Ursula is my first child and she’s been a handful, but I think I have the hang of it now. Big Jorg has been a godsend. He helped Christine with Eva when she was a baby. I never took you for a family man, Andreas. Andreas’s character is still pretty malleable at this point. Let’s hope he’ll eventually grow up some more. I appreciate the offer. You’ll make a fine husband someday, Andreas. Ugh, when will this storm let up? It’s been going all morning. Peter and Jorg are outside, trying to deal with the flooding as best they can. I was going to say, “we don’t give a gently caress about the abbey,” but really almost everyone who lives up there is pretty cool. But you really don’t want to tell the farmers with the leaky roof that you’re worried about their landlord. There’s always a danger with this much rain, but we’ve lived through worse. Whatever happens, it will be as God wills it. We must have faith in Providence and endure what is to come. Oh, I have some food for you.  Didn’t Otto ask me to say hello? He’s probably courting her. Grobian started out pretty funny when he was talking poo poo about the abbot, but sometimes he can be a real dick to people who don’t deserve it. We’re not going to listen to him in cases like this. They’d probably be happy together…  Oh, he did? Haha. Hm. Good. Thank you. Have a good day at the abbey, Andreas. Try to stay dry. Thanks. You too. Good luck. Ursula stops crying and hops up to walk over to Andreas, but he’s already out the door.  Things aren’t looking good on the farm this morning.   It is. It must have broken in the night. Some of our sheep escaped. We’ll have to track them down later. This is the way it always is. Rain falls on the abbey and rolls downhill to us little people. Well, it’s hard to blame the abbey for that. That’s just how rain works. There’s a reason we’re down here and they’re up there, Andreas.Peter knows the score. Anyway, I have to get back to this. See you later.We actually have business back in the house with Clara, so we stop back in now that we know she’s not busy with Ursula’s tantrum anymore.  Hello, Clara. I have something for you. Oh? This should be enough to pay my rent, and the tax you owe to the abbey. Andreas! This is far more than your rent payment. We can’t accept this.Remember, Clara asked for advance rent plus an increase of two groschen, which might be something like 15% of the original amount (I’m not a historian and it’s hard to get good numbers for this kind of thing in 10 minutes on the Internet. The game does not give you a choice here, and Andreas simply offers much more than Clara requested, showing us that his income greatly exceeds the standards of the community and he is unquestionably the kind of person who likes to share the wealth rather than keeping it to himself.   But Andreas, how did you even find so much coin? Are you sure you’ll have enough to spare for yourself? We could have actually robbed the sacristy earlier, but I didn’t bother posting about it because there wasn’t any interesting text in the process. It was trivial to get the money just by asking, so we’d have to be incredibly antisocial to go as far as stealing in these circumstances. God bless you a thousand times, Andreas. You don’t know what this means to us. You’re a good man, Andreas. Thank you. I’ll let you move on with your day. God bless you. Until later. There’s a popup about completing the sidequest, and our journal marks off the task as completed. Now it’s time to head up into town and start heading toward work.  This time, instead of sheep barricades, there’s a big puddle in the street., and apparently Andreas is too dainty to walk around or through it, so we can’t go this way. It’s a clever way for the game to split up the town introductions into a couple of parts by blocking us from some paths on the first day and other paths on the second day.  Good morning, Endris. So… Otto and Eva, huh? Yes? What about them? I’m not a gossip, Andreas. Did he really? Or did you just assume the part all on your own? You’ve started picking up poor habits during your time in Tassing, Andreas. Joke’s on you, buddy, I had all the poor habits before I ever heard of this place. It can’t be the Gertners. Peter is stern. Maybe the monks talk too much? Well, if you ask me, I think Otto’s being a bit too slow about it.Oh? He’s old enough already not to be smitten like a boy. They both like each other. Seems to me, if you’ve found the right person, you should go for it. It’s what I would do. Um. Well, that’s… uh, personal. One of the very few times when Logician gives you an empathetic and reasonable dialog option. … no. I, uh, do hope to find someone to have at my side as we build a family. God has not given me this blessing.To be fair, there are about 100 people living in this village, and the pilgrims to the shrine probably don’t make a point to swing by town to find unmarried men. It’s easy to imagine the local courtship pool drying up completely for a given generation and leaving some poor fellows behind.  One hopes so. Ah, I must get back to work, Andreas. Enough talk. Until later. New part of town, let’s go!  Check out the perfect Bavarian pretzel on the sign. Pretzels came into use as the canonical symbol for bakers in southern Germany in the 12th century.    As God wills it. It’s no trouble at all. Please say hello to Lucky for me. Of course. Now I’m off to home and then to the Pfeiffers.Remember, we met Karl Pfeiffer yesterday afternoon, and he was worried about his wife’s upcoming childbirth because they lost their previous child.   The midwife Agnes absolutely notices what kind of attitude you take toward the people she’s helping through a life-or-death event. Her last one was hard. He didn’t make it, God rest his soul. I just want to give her the best chance she can have. It is in God’s hands. Trust in Providence. Always, Ulrich, but I’ll do what I can to help. Why make the Lord do all the work? I must be off now.  She will appreciate that, Andreas. Thank you. Until later. Until later, Agnes.There’s no gameplay reason to go inside the bakery, but we have to meet the utterly wholesome Alban family.    Back for more of my rye? Andreas! He he. I was passing by and thought I should say hello. Now, I must say goodbye. Aren’t you a good man. Well, you’re always welcome here, Andreas. And always welcome to my rye. Be well! Until later, Grett. CAT   Moving along past the Drucker house and the church, we find Lucky Steinauer speaking with Father Thomas.   It’s affecting the foundation. It needs to be looked at. I understand, but if you dig here, you may be disturbing the bodies decomposing in the yard. Of course, father, but they’re going to be dug back up again anyway. Yes, yes, but why disturb them unnecessarily? It’s your church, father, but you can’t put it off forever. The foundation is going to crack. I understand. Perhaps after some of the bones have been moved to the ossuaries. Thank you, Lucky. Mm.Lucky heads back home. Ah, good day, Master Maler. Good day, Father Thomas. Oh, yes. Lucky was again reminding me of the danger severe rainfall can pose to the foundation. God looks after His flock, but sometimes the pen requires an earthly hand. It will be taken care of. God be with you, Andreas. And with you, Father Thomas. Until later. Before going up the meadow to the abbey and to work, we’re going to take a quick detour into the forest now that the game allows us.  We heard earlier that the peasants had been forbidden from foraging in the forest with their pigs (because presumably the landlord can sell the foraging rights to someone else, or do the foraging and sell off the produce). Now we also learn something about the use of wood from the forest. We’ll have a lengthy post on the history of the commons in Europe later.  At the moment, we have some special characters to meet.  This is Adam “Smokey” Köhler, the charcoal burner. Making charcoal was a job that was done close to the source of wood and required constant attention, so if there was enough demand for someone to do this as their regular profession (rather than ordinary farmers attending to it for some weeks of the year), they would have to live most of the time in a hut in the woods outside of town. There isn’t anything particularly unsavory about burning a coal pile, but the simple fact of residing away from town made the charcoal burner a sort of outcast, and superstitions accumulated over the centuries to enforce this social status.   We met once before, I think. You were drawing something by the uh… the waterfall. I’m Smokey. Well, Adam. But people call me Smokey. Ah! Good. So… is there anything I can do for you?I haven’t used italics for LP-original character voices yet, so here’s your reminder. Why the hell are you wandering over to my place on some random morning? In the pouring rain, no less. Actually, I’m a video game protagonist, and behind my eyes there’s someone with a keyboard who has only been at this for a couple of hours, and they’ve never met you. The game itself didn’t give any particular pretense for them to come to the woods today, so they just wandered over this way because they hadn’t been here yet. No, just being friendly. Oh, of course. Good to see you. Until next time, Master Maler. Until then.We really want to meet the other guy over here.  Hello. You’re not a local, are you? Um… no. I’m staying in Tassing only briefly. No. I mean, I didn’t know him before coming to Tassing. But he’s let me stay with him, so yes, I suppose he is. People don’t much like Romani. Most folk despise anything that’s different. I like staying on the edge of town.I was born and raised in Minnesota, so my general cultural understanding of Romani people is the equivalent of most Europeans’ understanding of Native Americans. I am going to make a post about Romani later, and I hope some helpful thread participant(s) will help contribute some more information to the topic.  Ah, you’re the artist staying up at Kiersau. Yes, just visiting Tasing for some time. My name is Andreas. Andreas Maler. … it’s nice to meet you. Most folk in Tassing don’t come down here to talk. Uh, right. I’m Vacslav. A traveling tinker. I travel from place to place, sharpen knives, mend small things that need mending. That sort of thing. Well, I, uh, actually came to visit Kiersau’s library. I had hoped for one of the monks to read them to me, but… The abbot wouldn’t let me in. … he does seem like an angry man. He threatened to expel me from Tassing entirely. What were you looking for? Uh… well, I explained I was looking for a text about the elements. If they’re primordial, as Aristotle says, then God didn’t create them. They exist with Him, since the dawn of time. Who are we to judge? Not only that, but it explains the presence of the angels and demons before the creation of the world! Of the five elements, angels are fire and air, and demons are water and earth. And the world was aether before the Lord formed it. That’s why Satan appeared as a snake to Eve. Snakes can only dwell in deep caves and pools.I don’t think that’s how snakes work. Also, shouldn’t you be more careful talking like this to people you’ve just met?  … I did not expect such open dialogue with you, Master Maler. Few men with your stature would entertain such ideas with someone like me. Uh… anyway. I should get back to work. Until later, Vácslav.Onward to the meadow, where Til is still rounding up sheep.  Hello, Til. Bumped into any ghosts lately? Hehe. Good, good. Have you ever seen a nicer view? Don’t get sights like this in the cities, I expect. Oh yes, the old Roman ruins. Tassing is full of them. Quite the marvels, they are. I don’t pay much mind to the writing on them, as I can’t read Latin myself, but you might enjoy giving them a look. If you do, you’ll have to tell me if they match the old legends I read about. Well, when Father Matthias was abbot, he would let me borrow books from the abbey’s library.  He and Father Thomas are strict about which books should be read, now. Books should glorify God, they say, not discuss the old pagan ways. Still, the accounts of the Romans in Tassing are my favorite. That old book talked about how the Roman knight Gaius Metellus defeated the uh… Raetü, I think it was. Heavy snowfall had him caught in this very valley, barbarians on all sides, when Mars sent a wolf to the knight.Mars The Roman god of war and agriculture. Mars represented civilization and peace through military might. Instead of killing the beast, Gaius followed it to a magical spring with trees covered in all sorts of fruit.Mars provided the wolf and the spring, and Gaius Metellus founded Tassing after defeating the barbarians to honor Mars. That’s where all this came from. I hadn’t thought of that. Both were snowed into this valley, weren’t they? And saved near a spring. I wonder if it’s the same story. Oh, I don’t know about all that, Master Maler. A lot of stories get mixed up over the years. It might be all fable, but I enjoy the story all the same. It’s nice to feel you’re connected to those who came before you, even if it’s only by the land you live on. It’s been good chatting with you, Master Maler, but I’d better get back to work. You let me know if you find any particularly good books in that library, all right? I will. Until later, Til.As soon as we start walking toward the abbey, Martin comes running past.    Martin respects his crime senpai.  Hey Andreas! Uh… take care of yourself, all right?  He turns and runs off to the left.  So that was a thing that happened. Probably won’t come up again. I should get to the scriptorium. Gernot will give me an earful if I’m late again.Michlaus is preparing the baron’s horse outside the guest house.    The weather is unfortunate, but the baron’s wife, Lady Salomea, will be arriving today. My lord intends to depart as soon as she arrives. How long have they been married? Seven years, now. She’s a fine woman, a true lady. I was hoping to bid farewell to the baron before he leaves. I’m sure he would appreciate that. He spoke highly of you before he went to bed. He was glad you were willing to debate him at supper, even though he’s sure the abbot will hold it against you. Ah ha ha! Then you and my lord have much in common. Good job Andreas, you were very successful at sucking up to the douchebag noble.  He says it’s a small thing compared to future commissions, but he hopes that you will wear it with pride.   As you wish, of course.It seems like Andreas’s fortune is made, and he will now be permanently adorned with a badge of honor for ruining the abbot’s supper last night. Where has your master gone, then? He went for a walk early in the morning. He didn’t say when he’d be back. My lord might surprise you, Andreas. He never minds getting mud on his boots. Of course, I’m the one who has to clean them! A normal person would move along and let this poor servant get back to work, but we’re an adventure game protagonist, so we have to eke out every bit of dialogue we can. Ah, it may be so. I only know him as my lord for these last seven years. That reminds me. Did you see a short, surly looking young man in a hat on your way up this morning? Hah, no. He was shorter than you by two hands, at least. I ain’t no fuckin snitch. Ah. That’s a shame. Some of my lord’s rings went missing, along with some gulden.gulden Gold coins used as currency throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Though different standards exist for the gulden in different regions, it is generally equivalent to the Florentine florin. No need to concern yourself, though. My lord is a man of means. He won’t miss them. In any case, I must finish preparing the horses. It was good talking to you, Andreas. Of course. I hope this rain lets up for you soon. God willing. Until next time. Until then.Up to the abbey. In a neat touch, the monks are dealing with a leaky roof too.  The bucket is strategically placed to prevent us from entering the chapter house, where all of the monks are currently meeting, so there's no one for us to talk to. All we can do is get to work.  Next time: plot actually happens, I promise s__herzog fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Mar 16, 2023 |
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Mar 15, 2023 06:25
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I just got assigned to a large language model project at work, so I've been spending some time chatting with Bing.  These are only the most basic questions that came to mind before I started digging deeper. Asking it for detailed help solving mysteries and exploring interpersonal conflicts within the fictional setting gets really fun. s__herzog fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Mar 16, 2023 |
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Mar 16, 2023 02:53
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Part 8: The Incident  Good thing the abbot had Otto replace the roof to the scriptorium and library last month. With the calefactory next door, we can stay warm while everyone else is cold and wet.calefactory A communal warming room in monasteries. Calefactories are usually attached to the cloister, but in Kiersau it is part of the old abbey, and therefore connected to the old scriptorium. It keeps the monks warm and the library dry. Instead of bragging about our good fortune, you should think upon your brothers and sisters and pray for their health and safety. The abbot’s foresight saved a lot of our work and protected what’s in the library. The town hasn’t fared as well. I’m sure they’ll be fine. More importantly, if they’re not, I don’t care. Brother Guy, your heart is harder than the stone of this floor! Huh. We have the grumpy old monk, but where’s the nice one? Brother Piero? Haven’t you seen him yet today? I did, before Brother Guy arrived. Brother Piero left to speak to the abbot some time ago.A bell starts ringing.  I pray it stops soon. Such a cacophony is an assault on my frail ears. It’s not stopping. I suppose this means we’re being summoned to the chapter house. God, give me the strength to endure the rain. It’s fifty feet, old man. You’ll live. God, give me the strength to endure this man.Guy and Aedoc get up and walk out. The bell continues to ring.  I should see what’s the matter. FYI, this is the calefactory, just to the left of the scriptorium.  We hear a high-pitched scream as we approach the door to the dormitory.  The scream repeats just after we enter the cloister.  A few steps further, a higher and more intense scream.   Soundtrack: The Body   Be silent, brother. Brother Florian, if you please.Brother Florian walks over, reaches down to briefly touch the body, then gently takes the knife from Brother Piero.    Sister Margarete, calm yourself! Sister Gertrude, please take Sister Margarete back to the garden. Yes, Mother Cecilia.Sisters Gertrude and Margarete walk out, and Brother Mathieu runs in.    This abbey is odd in more than one way. Its existence offends some in the church. We are far enough from Rome and Mainz that everyone forgets about us, but… this could bring unwanted attention. Florian… how easily do you think you could… dispose of this body?Everyone from the monastery here, and the abbot immediately and publicly goes for “hide the body so the prince-bishop doesn’t catch us” without trying to talk through it first. Born leader, this guy.  Florian can’t believe he just heard that sequence of words come out of the abbot’s mouth. Father abbot, what are you saying?  To be fair to the abbot, this is a legitimate existential crisis for the abbey. He just doesn’t know any other way to react than by panicked over-exertion of authority.  Everyone understands the stakes now. Silence! Quiet! Calm yourselves, all of you.Mother Cecilia takes one step forward to grab the abbot’s attention. Father abbot, Baron Roghvogel’s manservant is already preparing to leave. The baron’s wife should be here in a matter of hours. This is not the time for rash decisions. Yes… yes. You’re right. Forgive me. But then, what will we do? We must send the baron’s man to the court of the prince-bishop in Freising at once. Mother Cecilia, the baron said the prince-bishop’s archdeacon was in Innsbruck for the imperial diet. Even better. Swift action will silence any whispers of impropriety on our part. Given the baron’s stature, the archdeacon will undoubtedly come to investigate immediately. We must cooperate with him fully and pray for a speedy resolution. Yes… yes. Good. Thank you, Mother Cecilia. Brother Wojslav, please detain Brother Piero in the cellar until the prince-bishop’s man arrives. The thread has decreed that we must protect Brother Piero. Now is the time.   It wasn’t your will I was going to test, father. He was caught in flagrante delicto! Covered in blood with a knife in his hand!in flagrante delicto “In blazing offense”. Indicating an individual has been caught in the act of committing a crime.  Father, do you really believe that Brother Piero is capable of such a foul deed? Yes! Capable enough when motivated by anger. I had no anger against the baron, father abbot. I simply came across him like this. No anger? Not even for insulting your work and forcing us to give it to Andreas? This is not a subject for debate. When the prince-bishop’s man arrives, we must not be empty handed.    My decision stands. Brother Wojslav will detain Brother Piero in the cellar until I say otherwise. Brother Florian, please escort Andreas out of the abbey. Andreas, do not show your face here again until tomorrow. Do you understand me. After a couple of seconds of wordless glarin, Brother Florian indeed escorts us outside.  I’m sure the other brothers and sister believe Piero is innocent as well, but the abbot is worried about the prince-bishop’s attention. I appreciate your passion, but if you pursue this indelicately, you could make matters worse.Brother Florian, you don’t understand, we’ve done everything indelicately so far, and we’re not showing any signs of changing. Take a few hours to calm your nerves and your mind. You need to think clearly. Go to the Druckers, eat a good meal, and come back at Nones.Nones Monastic hour corresponding to 3 P.M. One of the little hours of prayer. We won’t have much time, but tap on my window with a small stone and I’ll let you in. Let me in for what? To examine the body.  Hopefully it will clear my head.All the way back to Tassing and the Druckers’ house.   Andreas… are you all right?  No, forgive me. Come inside and sit down for a minute. Not an imposition at all. My friends are always welcome in my home. Besides, I could use your opinion on something.   Oh, my! Claus, you must invite Andreas over more often so I can hear someone compliment my food. Ehh. Your cooking is lovely, darling.   Sleepy. Come back to my workshop. What do you think of these new ones? Thank you. I’ll be sure to let Marie know. Are these her woodcuts? They are. The drawings were mine, but she did the block cuts. I’ve got enough talent to draw the designs, but only she can do the woodcuts and the type.Dinner is ready. Everyone sits down at the table.  Through Christ, our Lord, amen.     Sausage, spaetzle, and buttered bread. A little light on the vegetables, but a pretty decent meal. The visiting nobleman, Lorenz Rothvogel, was found murdered in the chapter house. God in Heaven! He just rode by here yesterday. Yes. And it gets worse. One of the elderly brothers I work with in the scriptorium, Brother Piero, was accused of the crime. That’s awful! A murder in Kiersau? How could a monk do such a thing? I’m sorry, Andreas. The baron seemed like an interesting man, and I know he’s been a patron of the abbey for years. How did he die? Could it have been an accident? And does the abbot really believe that Brother Piero killed him? You’ve always spoken of him in the kindest terms. But no, I can’t believe Piero did it. I can’t imagine him harming anyone. Stabbed?! It’s hard for me to imagine a monk doing that as well, but who knows? Oh, but could it have been one of the sisters?! But if it wasn’t Brother Piero, who do you think could have done it? I did see Lucky Steinauer get into a shouting argument with Lorenz yesterday just before I walked by your place. Lucky? Why would he have cause to shout at a nobleman? There’s probably something else going on that you wouldn’t know about, dear. What do you mean by that? I’m not one to trade gossip, but if you really want to know, talk to some of the other women in town. … or Mother Cecilia up at the abbey.  Oh, there’s no need for that. Lucky is a forthright man. I’m sure if you ask him, he’ll tell you what the argument was about. Thank you, both. That’s good advice. There’s something else, though. When Lorenz and I were walking through the meadow, the Widow Kemperyn came out of the woods and… Yes? Well, she cursed him. I’m not surprised. Ottilia’s late husband, Running, ran afoul of Lorenz on his last visit to Tassing. I don’t remember the details, but Rannig died just last year and Ottilia hasn’t been the same since.  She was always an old bitch, even before she was old. Claus! That’s enough! She’s had to deal with a Job’s lot in life. And now she lives all alone at the edge of the woods. There are rumors she’s going to lose her property soon. I do pity her, even if she is a b- … bitter woman. There should be some exception in the law for her to inherit. Surely Andreas the crimes lawyer can solve this case. Did she come from a wealthy family? She did, in fact. Wealthier than Rannig’s anyway. If the land they lived on was part of her dowry, she may make a case to lay claim to it or property of equal value. One more great reaction to add to the pile. Enough about Ottilia. Is there anyone else you think may have done it? I don’t know if he has any ill intent, but Prior Ferenc has been acting strangely since the day Lorenz arrived. Perhaps an academic disagreement? I know they’re both avid readers, both of classics and new works. On his last visit, the baron bought a book on astronomy from me. I know the prior has some similar interests. But would the prior kill someone over a simple disagreement? It’s not that outlandish. When I was in university, I saw men throw punches over small academic concerns. What is an opinion for some is a testament of faith for others, and worth killing for. That may be so, but I’ve never seen that sort of anger in Prior Ferenc, not even when Gernot was made abbot instead of him. Afterward, he seemed bitter, but never violent. That just doesn’t seem to be part of his character. So… Lucky, the widow, and the abbey prior. Anyone else? There was something strange when we approached the abbey together, Mother Cecilia was outside with some of the sisters. Mother Cecilia scowled and took the nuns inside without saying a word. It sounds like they have a history, at least. I do not know Mother Cecilia personally, but I have never heard anyone speak badly of her. If she had cause to dislike the baron, I must believe she had good reason. Well, Andreas, it sounds like there’s a lot to look into. You are always welcome here, Andreas, any time. You are especially welcome with this one.     I could talk to Lucky Steinauer. He’s probably working in front of his house. The Widow Kemperyn lives south of here, near Frantz Bauer. Prior Ferenc is usually at the scriptorium, but I won’t be able to talk to him until tomorrow. Still, nothing would prevent me from talking to Mother Cecilia in the convent. But if I don’t attend Brother Florian’s examination of the body at the abbey, he’ll have to do it without me.Thread participation time! The game has turned into a murder mystery, and Andreas finally has as much freedom as he ever will to explore the village and the abbey, talk to people, and go through various events to investigate the murder. There are a certain number of time-consuming events we can choose to do, and a few time periods when we can do them. It’s impossible to follow up on every lead in one playthrough. There are also a limited number of meal times, which we can choose to spend with various families in town. The in-game map now highlights the locations of major investigation options:    The next update should get us through a lap around town for a bunch of minor conversations, plus one major investigation event, so we won’t necessarily need to vote on meal choices yet. I am making executive decisions to attend the autopsy with Brother Florian tomorrow and spend one meal with Brother Sebhat, but beyond that, the direction of the investigation is up to the thread. First, overall, which suspects do you want to spend the most time looking into? The four options are Lucky Steinauer, Prior Ferenc, Ottilia Kemperyn, and some unknown nun(s) in the convent. It may not make sense to check with the thread for specific decisions at each step, so getting a general idea will help me keep things moving along. Second, what is our first place to go? The options are:
These four choices will still be available the next day, along with a couple of new ones that will open up later. s__herzog fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Mar 18, 2023 |
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Mar 18, 2023 01:31
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Cooked Auto posted:I think you meant him there. I always appreciate the quality control, thanks!
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Mar 18, 2023 03:24
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Surnames in Europe Since someone brought it up, and we’ve met almost all of the characters in this part of the game, I thought I’d take a moment to talk about European surnames. Note that I’m specifically talking about the working and middle classes; surnames among aristocracy had their own development shaped by different factors. There was a gradual process of increased record keeping in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, with a lot of regional variations depending particularly on how taxes were levied. But in most cases, records of individuals tended to be kept at a local level. In a very rough nonspecific example, a king would tax counts, a count would tax barons and lesser lords, and lords would tax all of their local subjects, so only the local lord would need to know exactly how many peasants they had working on their land, and how much they owed in taxes. People mostly kept to their local communities, and names only needed to distinguish one person from another in local common usage. So a lot of people could get by without any kind of surname, or if they shared a given name with someone else, the obvious choice was to tack on their profession, some notable physical trait, or literally anything else that could differentiate them from others. Even in a city, local communities still tended to consist of a manageable number of people, and if you needed to distinguish further between the John Smith on your street and the John Smith from a few streets away, you could easily just extend them to “John Smith of <neighborhood name>.” For quite a long time in many places, this meant that surnames weren’t usually inherited by children. If your father was a carpenter but you become a stonemason, it doesn’t make sense for people to call you Carpenter all your life. And if your father was called Hertz for his kind heart, but you grow up to be a dickhead, you’ll probably get a different surname for that too. One common exception was that in many places (including Germany), particular plots of farmland acquired traditional names, and whoever worked on that land would take the land’s name as their surname, and once a family had established themselves as the generational stewards of the land, their children would inherit the surname at birth, even if they didn’t inherit the land itself. Other surnames became heritable in different places at different times as more centralized recordkeeping increased, from about the 1200s to the 1800s. German name translations So how about the characters in Pentiment? Maler: painter Gertner: gardener/farmer Schmidt: smith - this was used to refer to many different crafts, not just blacksmithing, which is why Smith is more common than other occupational names Bauer: farmer Drucker: printer Müller: miller - we’ll meet them next time Stolz: proud - the doctor might have an inherited surname, or people might just call him Stolz because of his personality. You’ll see. Pfeiffer: whistler, flute-player Steinauer: stonemason Zimmermann: carpenter Alban: from Alba (there have been several places with this name so we don’t know exactly where the Albans are originally from) Kemper: farmer/serf Kreutzer: lives near a cross (such as one put up on a roadside to mark the town boundary) Köhler: coal burner Häberle: oats - oat farmer, merchant, general oat guy Sprecher: public speaker - poet, lawyer, neighbor who likes to speak up at town meetings Bonus Rothvogel: red bird - maybe from a coat of arms, or local folklore from his estate, or any number of other origins Mausfänger: mouse catcher Schlau (the cat in town): clever If anyone wants to fill in more details about how surnames, taxes, or general feudal relationships developed in specific locations, or if anyone wants me to go out of my way to do that research and post again, please speak up.
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Mar 19, 2023 04:28
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Part 9: Autopsy During investigation periods, it’s a good idea to run around and see who’s available for extra conversations and incidental scenes. Because of the gloomy weather, most people still aren’t out and about, so we only have two brief stops for now. First up is Frantz Bauer, at the easternmost farm.   Still not a snitch. Also, Frantz is a first-class rear end in a top hat:   If you see him, will you tell his mother? She’s driving me crazy about it.  Good. Until later, Maler. Until then.We’ll leave this pleasant fellow and stop in at the Gertners’.   Time goes quickly when you’re working hard, praise God, though I wouldn’t mind a few more hours in the day. If it’s not the washing, it’s the cooking, the mending, the tidying. The work never ends! And that’s before we get to the wool. Ah, goodness, all that wool… Wool?Metal Gear? We shirred the ewes last week to prepare for the lambing - you remember the bleating, I’m sure. How could you forget? My ears are still ringing. Now the wool’s all washed, and we’ve got a pile of spinning to get through before the lambs are born. Ah, where will we find the time? Oh yes, sometimes more than we need! Many of the women in Tassing lend a hand, so it goes quickly. Many hands make light work, eh? I’ve never had much of a hand for spinning, so I enjoy the company more than the work. It’s rare so many of the women in town are in the same room together. We share recipes, stories, hardships… friendship, you know? And maybe a little bit of gossip, too. We know some, it’s true. But Johan Bauer is there to watch over us, so things can’t get too rowdy. Oh, Andreas, you should come by! Everyone will be glad to see you, I’m sure. We meet at Johan Bauer’s house. Please come by in the morning or afternoon and speak to Johan. I should get back to my labors, but it was lovely to see you, Andreas. Take care. We now have an invitation to the spinning bee, so we can show up there later in our investigation to listen in on the gossip if we have time. With that out of the way, it’s time to get back to the abbey to observe Brother Florian’s autopsy. We have to do this now; if we spend the afternoon on anything else, Florian will leave a note in Andreas’s bed saying that he couldn’t wait any longer and had to proceed on his own, and we won’t get any useful information about the state of the body.  We’re officially not allowed back into the abbey until tomorrow, so we have to get Florian’s attention to sneak us in.   Now, even though I gave instructions that I was not to be disturbed, we must work quickly. Seeing a corpse up close can be unsettling for some. I hope you’re up to it. Yeah, dude, you’re such a badass.  Now then, you should probably take notes as we go. They might be useful later. Ah. Of course. No visible wounds. No blemishes. Teeth in good condition. Nothing unusual. Neck, shoulders, and chest are ordinary. I need to clean some blood away to examine the torso. Yes, there it is, a puncture wound between the sixth and seventh ribs.    What? Nuremberg inches are longer. I’ll write down Nuremberg inch. It wasn’t. It’s likely incidental, received while falling on his own knife. He must have some other wound that issued forth all the blood we found him in. It means it’s incredibly unlikely that Brother Piero stabbed the baron, but it doesn’t explain what actually killed the man. Brother PIero never should have picked up that knife. I’m sure the appearance of guilt never even crossed his mind. Now then, let’s move on. Lightning flashed when I took this screenshot. I may go back and take a better one later. Syphilis was known as the French disease in many places, the Neapolitan disease in France, the Spanish disease in the Netherlands, and the Christian disease in Turkey. I’m not familiar with it. It was first discovered twenty years ago by French soldiers visiting brothels in Naples. Anyway, it seems the baron was not the most faithful husband. Not uncommon among the nobility. I spent many years as a mercenary. Sex and death are common companions in that world. Besides, sex isn’t all that rare even in an abbey. Andreas really isn’t as worldly as he’d like to think. It’s not relevant to our examination, Andreas. Let’s continue. Other than a few blisters on his feet from what I assume are new shoes, there’s nothing wrong with his legs. Andreas, can you help me turn him over?  I don’t think it has anything to do with how he died, though. How could that have happened? I have no idea. Whatever the reason, it didn’t contribute to his death. Here it is. A rather dramatic head wound. In my experience, I’ve never seen someone walk away from a head wound of this severity. Too many and not enough. As grim as it sounds, there is always more to learn. Italian doctors try to examine as many corpses as they can to fully understand the mysteries of the body. The battlefields of Poland and Lithuania aren’t as ideal a learning environment as the University of Bologna, but they did provide an education, of sorts. I appreciate your confidence. The wound looks like it was caused by a single powerful blow from a blunt object, probably no more than four or five inches across. The skull is cracked in a single spot and there’s a clear impression in the skin around it. It would take extraordinary precision to hit the same spot twice unless the baron were already dead. It’s likely he didn’t die immediately. How long he could [sic] have survived for? I’ve seen similar injuries in battle. The victims don’t last more than a few minutes, but it’s an agonizing death. Even so, he couldn’t have wandered far from where the blow was first struck. So he may not have been attacked in the chapter house?  Yes, that’s possible. The cloister connects directly to the chapter house but there’s a high risk of being seen. Anyway, whatever killed the baron was a blunt instrument of considerable heft. The part that impacted him was likely a little smaller than a fist. Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. I suppose that he was struck, drew his knife to defend himself, and fell on it before Brother Piero discovered him. So, I believe we’ve discovered two important things. Yes, exactly. If you can find what caused the blow, it may lead you to the killer. We also know that Piero didn’t stab the baron. We know that, and I suspect even the abbot knows that, but you may need more evidence to convince the archdeacon. Oh! There is one other item of interest. I found it in the baron’s jacket, but didn’t want to open it without you. I trust you to open it more carefully than I would. “The girl. The girl who died and the innocent with her. Matins. Chapter.” The girl? What girl? And what innocent? That could be anyone, and I’m not as familiar with the families as you are. Can you tell who wrote it? We don’t know anyone French or Flemish other than Guy (who would not write in bastard script working in a Bavarian monastery), so the second option is profoundly unhelpful in this case. If anything, whoever wrote this has more talent than either of them. What? Really? If not them… who? I wish you good luck finding the answer. Now, I’m sorry to rush you, but I must ask you to leave. Every minute you stay here is additional ri-There is a knock at the door.    Time to meet the doctor! Yes, uh, I’m in the middle of something. Could you return after supper? All right. Just give me a moment. (whispering) Andreas, I need you to hide yourself. You’re not supposed to be in the abbey until tomorrow, remember? Get behind the cupboard!  Andreas hides and puts on his best petulant child face. Florian goes to open the door, then returns with the doctor.  Now, what did you need? The abbot wanted me to examine the baron’s body before his wife arrives. It seems unnecessary at this point as I’ve just completed my own examination. Well, then what’s the harm in letting me take a look? Doctor Stolz, with all respect, I’ve finished. The cause of death is clear. If you had arrived an hour ago, I would have had no problem with your assistance. My dude is a little touchy about his status.  Andreas is not about to let himself be upstaged in any display of immature behavior.   Came from Nuremberg, boarding with peasants?You can just hear how he pronounces “peasants.” Some funny story about a failed attempt at university, I recall. Wait, what is he doing here? Wh- what?! Why? You’re delusional if you think threats are going to get me to apologize. It’s ridiculous. STRIKE FIRST  STRIKE HARD  NO MERCY  He quickly turns and runs off.   It will be all right. I’ll see you tomorrow, Andreas. Until then.  “The girl who died and the innocent with her.” What could it mean? And who wrote it?All good questions! Next time: investigating Lucky Steinauer
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Mar 21, 2023 20:51
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Alternate Scenes Part 1: Hedonist Theologian In this timeline, Andreas read one book by Saint Augustine and decided to base his entire personality on it. The point here is just to show off diversions in major choices and some special dialogue options from a different set of backgrounds. Don’t expect a ton of consistency or thoroughness, just some scattered highlights. Do expect Andreas to be the abbot’s best friend, because that’s the biggest difference from our canonical route so far. What did you spend your time in Italy doing, anyway?  Why not? Priests tell us to emulate the lives of the saints. I revere Saint Augustine, who said, “Lord, make me chaste - but not yet!”Augustine Augustine of Hippo was an early Christian philosopher, theologian, and bishop of Hippo Regius. He is recognized as a doctor of the church and is most known for his works The City of God and his autobiographic Confessions as well as his development of the doctrine of original sin. Skipping ahead to our walk with Baron Rothvogel…  Not odd at all. It’s a good field of study if you want a position in the church. My late uncle was the abbot of Fulda. I spent many hours reading the manuscripts in their library with his permission.Fulda Town built around an old Benedictine abbey near the center of the empire. Fulda’s abbots are imperial princes and wield great power. He was a pious enough man, I suppose, but he wielded great power from that abbey.And the next choice…  Oh? Esoteric how? Mystical texts. Books on alchemy, invoking spirits, divination… purely academic, of course. He knows exactly what we’re talking about. I started with Ficino’s Corpus Hermeticum and my interest only deepened from there.Corpus Hermeticum A compilation of seventeen religious and philosophical treatises encompassing the soteriology of Hermes Trismegistus or “Thrice-Great Hermes.” The centuries-old texts reflect Egyptian, Greek, and Jewish traditions and ideas and were translated into Latin in the late 15th century by Marsilio Ficino and Lodovico Lazzarelli. Quite interesting, Andreas. I’ll make some time to speak with you more on this topic during my stay. We’re an adventure game protagonist, we’re not worrying about discretion. Our final background choice is Orator which basically gives you a bunch of free bonuses to persuasion checks all over the place. Nothing particularly interesting in the dialogue with Rothvogel there. We skip ahead to the first scriptorium scene. Do not forget, Brother Guy, the fate of the youths who jeered the aged prophet Elisha outside of Bethel.  Bible studies pay off in pedantry just as much as Latin studies, but obscure religious references go over a lot better with this crowd. Then there’s Sister Zdena:   In the conversation with Sister Illuminata, education in theology is a major asset.  Yes, always, but they still must choose redemption. Should we go on sinning so grace will increase? Of course not. Fantasy leads to temptation. Temptation has led to the downfall of many men. And women. That is exactly when his words are most needed.For the heretical French book:  More sound than a condemnation from three bishops of Paris? Behold the power of academic name dropping! Albertus Magnus Renowned 13th century Dominican theologian, philosopher, astrologer, and bishop of Regensburg. A prolific writer, he was known primarily for his work on Aristotle and his knowledge of natural science. What is your argument, Doctor Maler? Both Albertus Magnus and Aquinas recognized the role of the intellect in allowing humans to exercise free will. Aquinas believed that it is ignorance, not knowledge, that leads to sins of the intellect. Even knowledge of heresy that corrupts the teachings of the holy church? Are we to believe that any falsehood, no matter how alluring and comforting, can withstand the light of truth? Destroying this book will not destroy the idea of heresy. Destroying it will not place our sinners’ souls closer to grace, just as reading it will not perch us on the precipice of damnation. Defeated by facts and logic! I’m trusting you in this Andreas, against my better judgment. Don’t make me regret this.At dinner (lunch) time with Otto and Endris, if you start the conversation by complaining about Andreas’s sore neck, you get this:  Choosing the second option results in spending the entire meal in silence. Pentiment gives Andreas plenty of opportunities to be mean or dismissive to the working people of Tassing or just to take their landlord’s side against them. I appreciate that these dialogue options are in the game, so you can feel free to express a variety of opinions and experience the characters’ reasonable reactions to them. But I don’t plan on showing many examples like this because they’re unpleasant and not fun to participate in. Also, gently caress landlords.   On a related note, the Hedonist background is mostly just silly fun, but it lets you really go hard on interfering with Otto and Eva’s clearly established relationship, and it’s extremely icky. Let’s move on to some lighter content. If we’re not trying our hardest to suck up to the baron, we can really bother him by breaking decorum, but he’s too composed to react the way the abbot does to minor slights.    I neglected to show the mural in the chapter house before the murder.   Dance of Death An artistic allegory on the constancy of death. Illustrations often feature people from every station of society to communicate that death inevitably claims everyone, from the peasant to the emperor. During the big supper scene, there is one critical choice. The Orator option and the silent option have the same outcome here, but (and I haven’t tested to confirm) Orator may allow you to still earn the baron’s pin if you did everything else right up to this point.   Keeping quiet at supper makes a big difference to the abbot, and since he’s the one who survives the following day, his opinion probably has a bigger impact on the rest of the game.  Afterward, you’re likely to have an unpleasant encounter with Martin. It’s extremely difficult to pass this check if you’re not a Rapscallion.   Same to you, little buddy. At the murder scene, I forgot to include one screenshot:  It’s not of any real consequence to our investigation given our choices in the main playthrough, and we’ve already seen the autopsy scene. I’m gonna openly guess that the cause of death was just getting his head slammed against the wall, with no weapon involved. Speculation on the blood splatter on the wall makes the investigation slightly more interesting in this alt playthrough. If you know you know, and if you don’t know, you’ll see soon enough. We’ll wrap up today’s alternate story with a scene at the Gertner residence. Clara just told us about the spinning be.  Andreas Maler.  I’m not sure, but this may be the only way to see Clara’s angry face. I don’t even want to make a portrait for it.  It’s nothing against you, you’re a fine young man, but… Well, I’m glad you understand.And I’ll leave you on that profoundly uncomfortable note. This secondary run will resume after the main run finishes Act 1, so we can come back for some of the alternate investigation options and especially the alternate meal scenes.
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Mar 24, 2023 03:20
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Part 10: The Cat in the Cradle After the autopsy, we’re set free again to choose who to eat with. The in-game map gives a handy list of meal invitations.    We definitely won’t be able to eat with everyone before the plot moves on and leaves a lot of missed dinners behind, so we have to be thoughtful about our meal choices. Right now, the thread’s choice to investigate Lucky first requires us to eat with Lucky and Agnes, because the rest of the town respects them too much to share details about their family history. If we want to get to the bottom of Lucky’s story, we need to hear it from him and Agnes directly, and that starts with breaking bread with them to earn their goodwill.   It would be my pleasure. Are you hungry now? Let’s eat, then.  Amen. Ah, I don’t mind it. She needs the support, and I’m happy to give it. Someone has to look after the women of this town, and Werner hardly cares to. I like how even these little portraits have blink cycles. He’s terrible. Haven’t you met him?As a matter of fact… but there’s no flag in this meal to allow us to comment on our personal interactions with Doctor Stolz.  A stuck-up rear end who thinks he knows everything just because he went to a fancy university! No offense meant to you of course, Andreas. You’ve never lorded your education over me. Pah. Else deserves better than his clammy attentions.  I try to do right by the women here, aso I hope they would do right by me. It’s the Christian thing to do. Even if the woman in question is Else Mülleryn. Is Else the miller’s wife?Duh, my dude, her surname is “miller’s wife.” Married to Lenhardt Müller, yes. I’m surprised you haven’t met her yet.The game hasn’t let me meet her yet! It’s not my fault!  There’s Lenhardt Müller, the richest man in town. He basically gets to set grain prices unilaterally because he’s the only miller in the area and he can afford to turn away anyone who he doesn’t feel like buying from. You get one guess about what kind of person he is. We will meet him at least a few times to confirm your assumptions. Did something happen to her? She lost a child a few weeks back. She was overjoyed when she finally quickened, but her bleeding returned soon after. It has been difficult for her. But she has been through it before. She will make it through again. We usually think of pasta as an Italian thing, but mixing eggs and flour to make noodles or various other dough shapes is not exactly a unique regional secret. The modern word for this dish is Maultaschen, or “mouth pockets” in English. There is a story that monks at a particular monastery in Swabia created this dish to put ground meat inside dough pockets during fasting periods (like Lent) so God couldn’t see that they were secretly eating meat.  She does dote on him, though Lenhardt hardly deserves it. Why’s that? The miller is not a kind man - not to the peasants and not to his wife. Spreading rumors is not Christian behavior, Agnes.It’s hardly a secret. The man has power in this town, and he makes certain we all know it. Take it as a caution, Andreas. Don’t get on the miller’s bad side. Andreas is not going to learn nuance at this stage of his life, we just need to live with this. I hope you will consider the power he has over the Gertners before you go looking for fun. They have fed and sheltered you during your time here. In your position, I would not make trouble for them. He’s trying, ok? The best thing we can do for Else is care for her as neighbors, like Christ tells us to. She isn’t the only one in Tassing who struggles in her marriage. Even my Brigita has her troubles. Logician finally being useful to probe for information rather than just annoying people. Our only living child, yes. God rest their souls. We should never have agreed to their marriage. She deserves better than Martin Bauer. She loves him, Lucky, and she had to marry sometime. What could we do? Found a man who isn’t such a useless poo poo. At least we got Wolff out of it. I’ll make sure he grows up solid. He’ll become a great stonemason. Just like his grandpa. Now, why don’t you tell Andreas about your work at the abbey? You said you found something strange in the building?Strange how? Ah, that. I was repairing a cracked wall down in the crypt. The abbey used to be a Roman fort, right, so it’s no spring hen. I bumped into a relief of the Virgin and a door slid open! Was the damnedest thing. That old abbey’s full of secrets, make no mistake. Anyway, stuck my head up through the trapdoor and one of the nuns screamed. You didn’t tell me that part!I felt bad for scaring them.  Ah, I probably should’ve knocked first. Never know what you’ll find behind a closed door. Speaking of work, I should get back to it. Still lots to fix after that storm.  See you around the abbey, I expect.  We will not be sneaking into the library tonight, because it would use up tomorrow’s first investigation period. We have other things to do with our morning. Tonight, we’re going to put the crimes on hold and just go to sleep. We head to the Gertner house and click on the bed to turn in.    There’s a toddler in the house. Sleeping all night is always a gamble. (I’m going to delete this line later, but first readers: someone please speak up if these screenshots are unreasonably dark for the facial expressions, and I will lighten them. If you think they look ok, cool, I will take your silence on the issue as tacit acceptance of the screenshot quality.)  Oh, it’s not morning. It’s the middle of the night, Ursula.   I see. Ha ha. Would you like me to tell you a story? Would that help you sleep? Mm.  Far up north, in Flanders, where Lenhardt’s mill came from, there’s a town by the sea. A hundred years ago, there was a great flood there on the feast of Saint Elizabeth.Saint Elizabeth The mother of John the Baptist. She became pregnant in old age after it was foretold by the archangel Gabriel. You know how mad your dad gets when the water comes through your farm? Well it was like that but much worse. If your dad saw Saint Elizabeth’s flood, he’d probably lose all his hair on the spot. The waters rose so high that everyone had to leave the town. Many families lost their homes. When the floodwaters went down, the townsfolk went to look for survivors. Would you believe that they saw a baby’s cradle floating in the water? I know. It strains credulity, but it’s about to get even stranger. There was a cat on the cradle. It was jumping back and forth to keep the waves from getting in. The townsfolk couldn’t believe it, so they slowly rowed their way out to the cradle.  Ursula abruptly turns around and walks back downstairs.   Makes more sense if you know Dutch.  The next day dawns. Now that the storm has passed, a lot more people are out in about, so we have a few things to do before committing to the next step in the investigation. Our first destination is the doctor’s house, in the north part of town. Werner is standing outside with a broken nose, a black eye, and a very sad face.   I warned the abbot of your activities. He was not pleased, to say the least.Joke’s on you, we were already on the abbot’s poo poo list, there is no possible way for us to piss him off any further.  I am 100% willing to believe that there was slang translating to “climb up his own rear end” in 16th century Germany, and I hope some scholar of historical profanity can confirm. You speak of a man of God, Maler, be respectful. Hm. If you say so. Before I go, could you answer a question for me? Do you know how the elements relate to the astrological signs? Are you serious?  It’s very simple. Even someone with a bachelor’s degree should be able to understand. Each astrological sign is ruled by one of the four elements. Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius are fire signs. Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces are water. Air rules over Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. And now let’s see the power of your trivium education. What signs can you infer are ruled by earth. Good, now leave and never return.Haha, you wish. We’ll see you again someday. Here ends the lesson, Master Maler.That was absolutely delightful. Our next stop is the mill. Today is the first time in the game when the Müller family is outside and available to visit.  It is extremely obvious that these are the wealthiest people in town.   Forgive me, I’ve forgotten your name. Andreas Maler, master artist.Excuse me?  Oh, a master at such a young age? It’s… impressive. That’s better, don’t get ahead of yourself. What is… that like? Ah, to live a dream…The characterization is not very subtle here.   The mill… Yes, that’s me. I heard Clara and Eva had an artist boarding with them. That must be very exciting. Perhaps Eva more than Clara, hm?We’ve only shared a handful of words with Eva so far, and Clara has been a perfectly gracious host, so I don’t know what you might be getting at. Oh. I only meant… living on a farm, among the townspeople. Isn’t it very lively? Ursula brings some joy to the household, though.    Have you finished with your gabble? There’s work that needs doing! Oh no… I’m sorry, I have to get to my labors. Of course. I apologize if I’ve bothered you. Until later, Mistress Mülleryn. (whispers) Until then.The next member of the Müller household is Staub (English: “dust”).  And then there’s Paul.  Paul, right? I don’t think we’ve talked before. I’m Andreas. I’m staying with the Gertners. Oh. But you’re not a farmer. Why are you living with the farmers? They’re letting me board with them while I work in the abbey’s scriptorium. You’re a monk? I’m an artist. Oh! Like you do drawings? Drawing, painting, calligraphy. If it goes in a book, I can put it there. Oh. Is that… how do you get money? I don’t understand how you need a university education in logic to explain to a child that you get paid to be an artist (an established profession with guilds and everything), but there you go. Art is a job, just like being a miller is a job. But it’s also a calling. I didn’t- my dad says-  Not where he can hear! Do you like to draw, Paul?  He gets mad.  Can I tell you a secret? Sure. Sometimes I draw on the ruins. In the meadow, where dad can’t see. Cats. Mom. I don’t know, stuff. … I probably shouldn’t be talking to you. Dad won’t like it. You’re probably right. I’ll go. Until later, Paul. And hey, keep drawing, all right? I will. Bye.There’s one more person to meet today.   How could you tell? You don’t smell like sheep. Quite unlike the Gertners.Also not subtle.  For peasants, maybe. Not a curious one among them, excepting Eva. How is she, by the way? I’m only curious. She used to bring their barley to me, but Peter insists on delivering it now. A shame. She’d shown some curiosity about the mill. I’d hoped to foster that.Please proceed with the speculation about Lenhardt and Eva. I’ll return to this topic later.  I’m not really interested in buttering this guy up, but Andreas can’t resist nerding out about whatever he likes. There are many in the farmlands along the Leie, particularly west of Ghent. Ah, the Lys. A lovely, uh, range of hills.  She’s the only windmill in Bavaria, did you know? Constructed in exacting detail from Dutch specifications. The gem of the Alps. And none of the incurious dolts here can appreciate it. Except you.  I should be going. Until later. Until later, Maler.Finally, we take a stroll to the base of the aqueduct.  Next time: Investigating Lucky Steinauer, for real
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Mar 27, 2023 04:45
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I think the "can I eat with you right now" thing is largely a gameplay necessity so you don't have to worry about planning in advance. Everyone has enough to go around right now, so one extra guest at one meal is no trouble, and I'm sure welcoming visitors to your table is a nice break from routine.
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Mar 27, 2023 13:56
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Beyond just mysterious extra body parts, people would go to incredible lengths to steal bits of relics in order to install them in their own localities. Attempts at theft have even become miracles attributed to saints. I was lucky enough to visit Madrid last year, where the cathedral had a special exhibition about the city's patron saint, San Isidro the Laborer. Among many other events in the detailed timeline of the saint's life and posthumous existence, there was a story about a contingent of nuns visiting from some other region. One of the nuns managed to bite off one of the saint's toes. When the travelers' caravan reached a bridge out of town, they found themselves miraculously unable to proceed, until the guilty nun confessed and relinquished the stolen toe. This is one of the miracles counted as evidence of Isidro's sainthood. And this is literally the only saint I have ever read more than a few dozen words about.
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Mar 28, 2023 04:02
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Everyone check out this guy talking about Pentiment, idk who he is but he seems to have some interesting opinions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeg51A61wSs Edit: I'm resisting the urge to do live commentary on this video in the middle of the LP. I wonder if Obsidian is hiring software engineers, I gotta look into this. s__herzog fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Mar 28, 2023 |
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Mar 28, 2023 04:21
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Part 11: The Stonemason No more screwing around, it’s time to figure out what motive Lucky might have had to kill the baron. We can find him working outside his house.   Andreas, I have things to do. Father Thomas needs me to help out at the church. After that I’m going fishing with Old Otto. So if you don’t need me to repair a wall or a fallen chimney, then leave me be. I can see you’re busy, so I’ll keep it brief. I’d hoped to ask you a few questions about Baron Rothvogel. I don’t think so. I don’t want to. You are a grown man - that should be reason enough for you. I saw you shouting at the baron when he arrived in Tassing. What was that about? Andreas… It’s very tricky to get all of the parts of Lucky’s story. This dialog choice is critical in passing a check in the future.   If I wait here, maybe he’ll leave and I can observe his actions. But should I do it now? It will probably take a while…  Lucky picks up a bucket and fishing pole and walks off. We catch up with him outside the Zimmermann house.  But Grett Alban is making the rounds to deliver bread and can’t help but stop to see what’s going on.  Ah! Nothing going on here. Just having a rest. How are you doing? You’re looking well! Very… healthy? Oh you, such a flirt! I’ve been taking a restorative made by that new doctor in town, Werner Stolz. Being a parent is terribly exhausting, you know. Haha, of course you don’t, but I’m sure you will someday. Nice man like you… Are the Gertner’s [sic] feeding you enough? You’re looking a little thin. Here, take some of this bread! That should perk you right up. Nothing like bread to fortify the spirit. I’m delivering it to Father THomas. You know how the father loves his bread! He’s quite the bread enthusiast. My favorite customer, ha ha!Otto and Lucky finish their conversation and head off to the right, while Grett keeps talking. You should come by the bakery more often, Andreas! Anna would love to see you. It’s so cute when she tries to steal your hat. Oh! Of course! Until later!Follow them!  We see Lucky again by the church.    Aw, we really hurt the father’s feelings with that one, but we just can’t let on that we’re following Lucky. And then, of course, Grett comes up again, because she just told us she was about to deliver bread to Father Thomas.  Ah, Grett. You know I can’t live without my rye. You’re too kind. Please, enjoy it with my well wishes. I should be off. Be well, you two!Grett leaves, and Lucky walks over to confront Andreas. He’s on to us.   Have you suffered a head injury in the ten minutes since we last spoke? Are you following me, Andreas? Damage control! This is the least bad option. God drat it, Andreas, don’t play dumb with me! Lucky, leave the man be. He and I were talking about the church. All is well. Now tell me, how’s my wall? The damage is not difficult to repair - I can do it next week. And I can put the fallen stones back up now. That would be marvelous. I’m sure the Lady would appreciate it, too. But don’t risk yourself. Get some younger men to help you. Lucky starts hauling the heavy rocks from the sled to the gap in the wall. Old Otto walks in.    Even at his age, Lucky is quite able. Only Big Jorg can match his strength. Thank you for your labors, Lucky!Lucky silently picks up his bucket and fishing pole and heads off.  Father Thomas might know where the men go fishing… Buf if I ask him, he’ll know I actually am following Lucky, which he could tell Lucky later… Lucky would be unhappy about that, especially since he already believes I’m following him… And it’s not a good idea to get on the bad side of a man who’s so strong. Our Andreas can’t be a complete caricature, he has to acknowledge his limits at some point.  CHEESE IT Andreas runs off before Father Thomas can react. Oh, uh, goodbye? It would be silly to ask the priest where Lucky went, because there is literally only one fishing spot near town. We rush ahead and hide in a hollow fallen tree. Surely this will end well.   After a moment in the insect-infested tree, a huge-rear end beetle crawls up Andreas’s arm.  The game dynamically detects keyboard only, mouse + keyboard, or gamepad controls. With a mouse, you need to click the beetle. I’m in keyboard mode to make screenshotting easier, so it gives you a specific key to press. I fail this one to get a reaction and raise the stakes.  The view cuts back to the men fishing for a moment, then the next insect.  I pass this one.  Lucky catches a trout, then we swiftly cut to a millipede crawling up Andreas’s leg.  I fail this one too, for a couple of lines of dialogue.   Cut back to the fishing.   Lucky ties his line to his rod, picks up his bucket, and gets ready to leave.  Andreas comically rids himself of all of the remaining insects…  …and hurries after Lucky to the old salt mine.     Lucky kneels, lays down some wildflowers, and closes his eyes in prayer for a moment at the grave. Andreas walks up to the gravestone to take a look.  As a stonemason, Lucky is the only person around who could carve a gravestone like this. Anyone else would mark an informal grave with a pile of stones or a wooden cross. That’s strange. Are there two people are [sic] buried here? Children, perhaps? Could they be… Lucky’s children? But why would they be buried outside the churchyard, then?What could have happened for Lucky to carve a stone for two innocents who could not receive a Christian burial? It’s almost like someone was trying to hide them. Oh. And he left a note with the flowers. The writing is identical to the script on the note Brother Florian found with the baron’s body. Someone was trying to lure Lucky to the chapter house to kill Baron Rothvogel. It remains to be seen if he did. This grave does seem important to him… But could it be motive enough for him to kill Lorenz? I won’t know until I figure out who’s buried here. Time has passed.  Joke’s on you, buddy, we have more than enough random interactions to fill this update before we can make it to dinner. Obviously, our first diversion is this collection of adorable scamps. Based on my own experience raising children, I’m going to guess that Bert is about 7, Paul is 9, and Anna is 5 (all give or take a year). They are the only children in town (Ursula is a toddler and too young to join the group yet) so of course all three of them form the local adventuring gang during their free time.  Afternoon, Paul. What are you kids doing down here?  What was that? Frogs! They keep putting Paul’s speech in this small font to show that he’s quiet, and it’s too adorable to handle.  I am! Me too! It appears you’re out-numbered. It’s nothing bad. We’re throwing rocks! Bert! Rocks down the hole! You’re throwing rocks in the old mine? … maybe. I’ve thrown a hundred rocks. It’s really not that many.  Andreas no  Isn’t it dangerous?Andreas, a small child knows better than you. Many of the best things in life are.Please stop I don’t know. I think it would scare my mom. I mean. More than she already is. Jesus christ, dude Um. Not down a big hole. What do you think’s at the bottom. Rocks! …aside from the rocks. Salt? Dad says the dead guys ate it. He means the Romans. They built the salt mine. The aqueduct, too. The aqueduct, the Imperial Road, and many other things besides.Imperial Road Also called the Via Imperii LP note: “Imperial Way,” which is the same as “Imperial Road”, the Imperial Road links Venice in the south with Stettin on the Baltic Sea in the north. It passes through Verona, Innsbruck, Nuremberg, and many other cities along the way. It also brings thousands of travelers to Tassing and Kiersau every year. Thousands of travelers per year visiting Tassing sounds pretty exciting, and a major source of revenue for the abbey and some of the townsfolk. It seems this town is riddled with Roman building projects. Oh. Right. There’s something shiny at the bottom. It’s what we wanna hit with the rocks. Oh. I hoped it might be groschen. Or gulden! The treasure. We should get it! Ugh, he can’t be stopped. Heh heh. Your dad wouldn’t like it, Bert. Are you gonna tell, Andreas? No business! I refuse to put “Fwog” in text instead of a screenshot. Anna requires respect. Thank you, Master Maler. Until later. Bye!Alright, we’ll check back with this gang a while later and see how many of them actually make it home safely after Andreas’s horribly irresponsible dialogue choices. Until then, the only way to go right now is back toward town.  Oh, hello.   There’s no subtlety here, we may as well stop and have a conversation.     Outside of the spinning bee, I think this might be our first opportunity to meet Brigita Baueryn, wife of Martin and daughter of Agnes and Lucky. Are you here for a swim, too? Heh, probably not!  I’m sure there are some anime archetypes mapping to Brigita and Veronica’s personalities in this situation or something. You won’t do anything weird, right? Our Andreas’s interests are petty theft and random acts of violence against privileged men. To be honest, he doesn’t really have a noticeable sex drive. Let’s call him ace in this playthrough.  Well… we are! And you shouldn’t be! We should be getting back for dinner, actually. Mom’ll be wondering where I am. It’s fine!Veronica really wants some more adventure in her life and I’m afraid we can’t help her with that today.  Have a good dinner, Andreas!Andreas fucks off back to town. Next time: We do our best to pull together the threads of Lucky’s story, we meet Brother Sebhat for dinner, and we visit the widow Ottillia Kemperyn to understand her situation and her motive as a potential suspect in the Baron’s murder. Thread participation: meal times We’ll have at least one or two more meals to share with the people of Tassing in this act. Lucky’s investigation route is unique in requiring a meal with Lucky and Agnes to pass a critical persuasion check, and we’ve reserved a meal time for Brother Sebhat because it’s a very special event that deserves attention no matter what. But who else should we eat with? Note that I will make sure to show off most or all of the losing choices in alternate posts, so this vote specifically pertains to our main playthrough. The options are:
s__herzog fucked around with this message at 16:09 on Mar 31, 2023 |
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Mar 30, 2023 20:55
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Edited into the post.
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Mar 31, 2023 16:09
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Prerelease image highlights from the recent dev video: 
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Apr 2, 2023 04:02
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Item Getter posted:First paragraph of that looks like a spoiler if it's accurate to the final game. Good catch. Redacted.
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Apr 3, 2023 03:51
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Next post goes up tomorrow, and then I'll close votes on meals. We have two meal periods remaining, which we will spend with Lady Salomea and then Smokey, Vácslav, and special guest, unless we get a sudden wave of 5+ votes for someone else. Note that I will be posting the alternate meal scenes separately, so you don't have to worry about missing anything.
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Apr 5, 2023 03:59
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Big thanks to Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! for the detailed historical context posts! Part 12: Hat We need to go straight back to Lucky’s house to confront him and finally get to the bottom of things.  Good day, Lucky. Do you have a moment to talk? Make it quick. I saw you leave flowers there. Who were they for? That’s not your business. I won’t talk to you about this, Andreas. Don’t ask me again. Perhaps his wife, Agnes, can tell me more. “Remember the girl. One grave for two innocents. The red bird flies. Matins. Chapter.” Do you know where it came from? No. Maybe I can wait him out. Uh-huh. What’s the worst he can do, frown? That’s all you’re getting from me, Andreas. You keep looking at me like that, you’re gonna regret it.  What’s that supposed to do, scare me? Just answer my question.Fine. If it’ll get you to leave.I found it with my tools the night before Rothvogel was killed.I don’t know what it means. Why don’t you keep it, since you care so much.You done now? Perhaps another time.Until then.We need to talk to Agnes to get any real information.  Good day, Agnes. Was there something you needed? You’re lingering. I tried to speak with Lucky about it, but he refused. Ah. Yes, that does sound like my husband. Should we not pray for the souls of the dead, Andreas?  It’s the grave of our first daughter, Beate. She had an affair with Baron Rothvogel and fell pregnant. The baron took no responsibility for his part. Beate was crushed. Yes. That’s what we told her, that there was nothing to worry about. It’s not that uncommon, even a small town like ours. How did she come to know Baron Rothvogel? The baron met Beate on one of his visits to town. He took a liking to her. He made her many promises. Promises he had no way to keep, no intention of keeping. Beate was no child, but she had little experience with men and the things they’ll say to get their way. When she missed two cycles, she came to me. We’d already been through this with her sister. Was this before or after Brigita had married Martin? Before. Strange thing, since Brigita is younger. Was younger. Both our girls had wound up in trouble, but Beate knew we wouldn’t be angry. Lucky’s a gruff man, but he loved both our daughters, no matter what happened. If she’d died in childbirth, she would have been buried in the churchyard. She tried to restore her bleeding cycle, end the pregnancy. I didn’t want to help her, so she… helped herself. To the medicine I use with other women. It was an accident. God knows it was. Even if the church thinks differently. Do you think he blames the baron for Beate’s death? In a sense, I believe all of us who loved her do. I wish you could have known her, Andreas. She was a bright soul. But that’s not what you’re asking me, is it? You want to know if my husband killed your friend. He says, proudly wearing his fancy new pin. Be that as it may.  But I’ll leave you in peace. Be well, Agnes. You as well.And there we have it. Baron Rothvogel treated at least one young woman in this town (and who knows how many other women in how many other towns) exactly the way you would expect, based on what we know of his character. Being the midwife’s daughter gave her the opportunity to make a rash and accidentally fatal decision, which devastated the people close to her. Someone with really nice handwriting slipped notes to both Lucky and the baron suggesting a meeting at a certain place and time. There is no more evidence available. The questions Andreas will need to ask himself are:
  I do not know him well, but I find it hard to believe he could have killed the baron. Sadly, no. Most mornings I spend my time reading in the courtyard but the rain made that impossible. And although the brothers are friendly, I do not know them well enough to speculate. I am sorry. I know it might be far from your mind, but have you considered my offer to eat with you and the townspeople? The gospel says that man cannot live on bread alone, but from time to time, a little bread is required. At the shrine to Saint Moritz. I’ll see you there. Until then. Yes? Are these all of the mothers from Tassing and their children? Helena Pfeifferyn couldn’t make it. It’s a long walk up here in her condition.Remember, we heard from both Karl Pfeiffer and Agnes that Helena is in the final days of her pregnancy and not feeling particularly well. And Heddy said Hans was too big for stories.Hans is Veronica Bauer’s little brother, he’s 13 or so, and I don’t think we’ve had an opportunity to meet him yet. Stories? I like stories! Yes, maybe a little too much. Ha! All right. I can tell a story, but first let us pray together and eat. O Lord, thank you for bringing us together as you brought Jesus to his disciples on the road to Emmaus. With the breaking of bread between us, let us recognize each other as Christians and rejoice in our salvation through you. Amen.  My Ulrich always says that bread brings people together!   Obviously the idea of “no bread” makes the baby cry. Where’s Flanders? North, down by the sea. It’s where the Müllers’ windmill came from. It’s true. They have whole fields of them where the land is flat. I want to see them. Father Gernot eats a white bread, does he not? Yes, the finest wheat is used for the abbot’s bread. Why?Anna is the cutest kid but Paul is the best kid. The Abbot is a very important man, Paul. We have a bread in my home that we call injera. We make it thin, round, and wide and we put our food on top of it. We eat it with almost every meal. As you love the bread of your home, so I miss mine.If you haven’t eaten Ethiopian food, I hope you get a chance to try it. There are a lot of Ethiopian people where I live, and I grew up with this stuff. Injera is very unique as far as breads go, because it’s left out to ferment as a thin batter for a week, then cooked like a pancake, so it comes out really sour and rubbery and full of air bubbles.  Oh, what’s the recipe? Maybe we could make it! Thank you, but no. We use a fine grain that does not grow here, called teff. I do enjoy it, perhaps too much. I am becoming too accustomed to life in Rome, even life in these mountains. In truth, I can no longer remember the taste of injera, not even the feeling of it in my mouth. It is the great danger that comes with the blessing of travel, living a life between worlds.   Don’t be rude, Bert. Father Thom. Yeah! Father Thomas has one! It’s huge! My dad has one. It was printed in Bamberg. Very good. This is a Bible from my home that I brought to give to the abbot. Andreas, do you have a favorite story to illustrate from the Bible? The one with fists, of course. It is a powerful image, it speaks to us as we struggle to comprehend the divine. Our struggles are not as spectacular as Jacob’s, but just as difficult, and may leave us transformed, as he was. Now then, children, do you know the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes? Fish and loaves! My mom and dad make loaves. Why is everyone brown? Because where I am from, everyone looks like me. Because we are all as God has made us. I know Tassing seems big to you, but the world is so much bigger than we can imagine. There are many people of many different colors all over the world. There are places where no one looks like you or me.  The people look and dress very differently from us. Differently from Brother Sebhat. They make art out of gold that is so beautiful it outshines the greatest of works of the Christian world.    There’s nothing to apologize for. We can’t shield them from the world forever. I did not know him, Bert. But do you know the story of Lazarus? Every time a child makes a new face, I’m just trying as hard as I can not to have to crop and edit a new portrait.    But Jesus brought his followers to Lazarus’ tomb. He prayed to God and when they opened the tomb, Lazarus emerged, returned from the dead.  He can, Bert. One day Jesus will bring us all back from the dead. Everyone who has ever lived and died will come together and be resurrected on Judgment Day.  Don’t you dare speak against this angelic child.  even the Romans?   I saw one come out of their tomb, like Lazarus. What do you mean, Paul? Well the ruins below the mill, they’re Roman. And they all died a long time ago. But I saw one come out the other night. They were in white, like Lazarus.Let’s stop telling stories, Paul. And you shouldn’t have been outside at night. Andreas, what does he mean? I know there are two background dialogue options, but the regular “I saw a ghost!” choices are just too compelling. What, really? Where? Maybe Paul did see a spirit of some kind. It’s a very dire omen if that is what he saw. I will pray on this. Ah, apologies for that, ladies. But thank you for sharing a meal with me today. I will be leaving for Rome soon, but I am glad to have spent some time with you and your children. Thank you, Brother Sebhat! It was wonderful. Don’t forget to stop by the bakery before you go. I’m sure my husband will want to see you before you go. I will. God grant you all health.  Next time: Investigating the widow Ottilia Kemperyn, and supper with Lady Salomea.
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Apr 5, 2023 20:10
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Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Church in the Late Middle Ages I have a small collection of tidbits to share on the topic of Ethiopia and its relations with medieval Europe. A very superficial history We of European descent (I'm a white American) have a cultural tendency to draw a historical line from Greece to Rome to post-Roman Europe, and cast other cultures as side stories to our Eurocentric "main branch" of world history. In particular, we tend to regard societies in sub-Saharan Africa as weaker or less sophisticated than European ones at any given point in history. But from the perspective of an Ethiopian in 1500, their own country was the center of the world, and in our century, a lot of historians are working hard to rebalance our understanding of history by giving non-European sources proper consideration. Current historical research suggests that the Kingdom of Ethiopia was in a particularly powerful position in the Late Middle Ages compared to its European contemporaries. This article gives a great introduction to the subject, says everything better than I could, and links to a recently published book for a great deep dive. Because only one person is ever going to buy that book because of my LP and only a handful of people are going to go read the whole article, here are a couple of quotes: "Traditionally, the story centered Europe and placed Ethiopia as periphery, a technologically backwards Christian kingdom that, in the later Middle Ages, looked to Europe for help. But by following the sources, Krebs showcases the agency and power of Ethiopia and Ethiopians at the time and renders Europe as it was seen from East Africa, as a kind of homogenous (if interesting) mass of foreigners." "Aksum, a predecessor kingdom to what we now know as Ethiopia, '[converts] to Christianity in the very early fourth century,' much earlier than the mass of the Roman empire, which only converted to Christianity by the sixth or seventh century. The Solomonic dynasty specifically arose around 1270 A.D. in the highlands of the Horn of Africa and by the 15th century had firmly consolidated power. Their name arose out of their claim of direct descent from King Solomon of ancient Israel, via his purported relationship with the Queen of Sheba. Although they faced several external threats, they consistently beat those threats back and expanded their kingdom across the period, establishing uneasy (though generally peaceful) relations with Mamluk Egypt and inspiring wonder across Christian Europe." "Europe, Krebs says, was for the Ethiopians a mysterious and perhaps even slightly barbaric land with an interesting history and, importantly, sacred stuff that Ethiopian kings could obtain. They knew about the Pope, she says, 'But other than that, it's Frankland. [Medieval Ethiopians] had much more precise terms for Greek Christianity, Syriac Christianity, Armenian Christianity, the Copts, of course. All of the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches. But everything Latin Christian [to the Ethiopians] is Frankland.'" Monasticism and manuscripts Monasteries continue to play a significant role in Ethiopian society to the present day, and it’s likely that Ethiopia has more Christian monks per capita now than any European country. Ethiopian monastic orders developed quite differently from European ones, with a greater emphasis on monks’ independent pursuit of their individual spiritual and professional development, compared to the European orders’ strict rules which completely negated individual freedoms in order to allow members to devote their lives fully to worship and service. But one commonality between the Ethiopian and European monastic traditions was their development of the art of illuminated manuscripts, as we see in Brother Sebhat’s Bible study. I’ll share a few images of original Ethiopian manuscripts, and you know that the Internet is your friend if you want to find more.    Ethiopian influence on the Protestant Reformation Over decades of his career, Martin Luther developed an appreciation for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as a counterexample to the practices of the Roman Catholic Church at the time. He was finally able to have a direct conversation with an Ethiopian clergyman in 1534 to interrogate and confirm his impressions. This man, known in Europe as Michael the Deacon traveled to Wittenberg specifically to meet with Luther, and left Luther with a very positive appreciation for the doctrine of the Ethiopian Church. At a time when Roman Catholicism was popularly perceived as the singular source of religious authority in Europe, Luther was inspired by the knowledge of a legitimate alternative in a Christian tradition that actually predated the Roman church.
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Apr 10, 2023 05:01
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Comparing with similar illustrations, it looks like those are the sun and the moon, in reference to the darkening of the daytime sky during the crucifixion. https://ima.princeton.edu/2018/04/04/the-iconography-of-crucifixion-darkness/
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Apr 17, 2023 23:29
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Part 13: The Widow It’s time to visit Ottilia Kemperyn and learn her story. On the way, we meet one of the Bauer families outside.   Have you seen Martin recently? He wasn’t feeling well, so I let him sleep until Prime…Prime Monastic hour during the first hour of daylight. One of the little hours of prayer.   I did see Martin running through the meadow, but… This is a delicate situation, and I’m not sure how I should handle it. He may very well have been involved in Lorenz’s murder. But if I tell Kat I saw him fleeing the abbey…     It doesn’t need to be that complicated, Andreas. Just don’t be a snitch.   He has a history of making… poor decisions. How do you mean?  Bread, from the Albans. Eggs from Johan’s and Peter’s farms. A pilgrim’s satchel, once, on the road to the abbey. It is my great shame. I have failed him as a mother. I’m sorry. This is not your trouble. Thank you for speaking to me.  I don’t want to impose. But… If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, please let me know if you see Martin. I’m so worried for him. Thank you, Master Maler. Be well.Brigita is working just a few feet away.   I fear that would be a lie. Martin’s gone missing. Kat is beside herself. I’m very worried for him, but… This is not the first time he’s run off. He said he wasn’t feeling well this morning, and I just knew he had another scheme planned. I’m sure… I’m sure his mother knows where he is. He speaks more to her than he does to me. I’m sorry. THey’ve always been close. They’ve had to be, to endure… well. How did you know?Uh, Frantz told us directly that he was going to beat Martin as soon as he saw him again.  Frantz is a difficult man, and very hard on Martin. It’s made him… difficult, too. So “difficult” that he could commit a murder? He would never hurt someone. I can’t imagine it. What are you talking about? [Lie] It’s nothing. An idle question. I’m sorry to have disturbed you. I should probably get back to my chores. Frantz will be angry if he sees me shirking.  He will. I must trust in Providence. Be well, Andreas. Be well, Brigita.There’s one more new character to meet at the other Bauer farm, finally completing the list of Tassing residents in this act.  How’s it going, Hans? Keeping busy in the fields? I guess. … Do you like it? What? Farming. I never really thought about it. Dad says it has to get done whether I like it or not. What do you think about, then? Uncle Frantz said Brigita might come help with the laundry today. She’s Martin’s wife, right? She seems nice. I wish Brigita lived here instead of her. What? Until later, Hans. Uh. Bye.So that was extremely worthwhile and not weird at all. Let’s forget about it and move on to Ottilia’s house.  Just casually leaving symbols of pre-Christian gods next to the path.    Pah. Sarcasm, how original. What do you want? You must be bothering me for something. Not the first time Perchta answered my call. You want to know what I think? I’m glad he’s dead. I hope whoever killed him gets the abbot next. Maybe burns that entire abbey to the ground. And that’s all I have to say about it.  You think I care about what happens to some old monk? Pah. Idiot. Kill them all, see if I care. Every agent of the church should die. NO GODS NO MASTERS  That’ll show Him, the holy bastard. Don’t you make fun of me, boy! No! Well, maybe. Don’t suppose those skinny arms of your can hold more than a paint brush?  Not often someone offers to help out old Ottilia… Fine. You do some things for me, maybe it’ll jog my memory. But it’s going to take a while! Lots of things been building up, things I’m too old to do. You got some place to be? Follow me, then.We follow Ottilia to the woods.   I’m an old woman. Everything’s difficult! And no one’s around to help me, not since my husband died. Now stop yammering and get to work. This light won’t last forever.We walk around briefly and pick a few sticks off the ground.   After picking up all of the sticks we can find, Ottilia tells us to go over to the big chunk of wood.  Break off that branch there, the big one. I know Ottilia feels she’s been wronged by the abbey, but the wood does still belong to the abbot.  This response is out of character for Petty Criminal Andreas, but we’re going with it because the subsequent dialog is a lot more interesting than the alternative. You think the abbey doesn’t steal from us?! The people of Tassing were here before the abbey was. This forest is ours! Just because some piece of paper somewhere says this land belongs to the church, we can’t use it? The people who care for it?  You… hmph. No one’s ever asked to hear my side of things. Well, I’m not in the mood to talk about it! So you’ll just have to mind your business. Leave the branch. We’ve got enough wood.Andreas dumps the basket of sticks on the ground. I can’t use all these sticks - they’re too big. You need to break them down for me.   I’ll know it when I see it. Now get snapping, boy!One brief minigame later… Hmph. Maybe you’re more useful than you let on. Now come help me back at the house. Hmph.Back at the house, we have another chore to do.  They’ve gone crooked, and I can’t reach. Could you hang them for me, Andreas? And please… be careful with my pictures. Some are very fragile. I would hate to lose them to your carelessness. Another minigame, we rotate a couple of pictures back into place.   There you go. That looks all right. Thank you for hanging those. Just one thing… Remove the cross. Don’t you gainsay me, boy. What Ottilia is asking of me is sacrilegious. And whatever she says, I don’t believe it’s the cross that’s her problem. THere is something more there I’ve yet to uncover. Taking the cross down might only cause her more pain in the long run… But if I anger her, I might miss out on information about Lorenz’s death… Perhaps I could convince her to put it somewhere out of sight, so it won’t torment her. That might be enough. We’re going this way because, like with the tree branch, we get a lot more dialogue from asking questions rather than meekly obeying. Destroy it, of course. The church never did anything for me and took nearly all I had! Why should I be made to venerate it? What did the church take from you? What does it matter to you? Just take the thing down like I asked! I understand that you’re angry and hurting now, but you might regret destroying it later. I don’t think it’s possible to pass this check without the Orator background. We’ll see that result in the alt playthrough.  Pah! If you won’t remove the cross, then you’re useless to me!The dialogue abruptly ends. There’s a note on the table that we can click on.   So the rope-puller has contacted more than one potential suspect. Where did this note come from, Ottilia? No idea. I found it on the table the night before Rothvogel died. I can barely read it. The writing’s too fancy. Keep it if you want. It means nothing to me.Now we can talk to Ottilia one more time for the final segment of this investigation sequence.  A legal document - I need you to read it. The words are too small for my old eyes, and my reading’s not so good. Andreas finally feels useful! Hmph. Of that I have no doubt.And immediately gets called out for being a nerd!  Clicking on each paragraph from the top to the bottom… I tried to read the German, but just parsing the letters in the script gave me a headache by the time I finished the first paragraph. Something about the abbey being the owner of the land between Franz Bauer’s plot and the forest and leasing it to Rannig Kemper, etc. etc.  Here we are, the meat of the document…It says… Oh.Due to the recent death of Rannig Kemper, his lack of heirs to inherit, your inability to pay fees on the land…Your property is forfeit to the church.So the abbot just had someone hand this letter to Ottilia, very well knowing that she wasn’t very good at reading (especially reading the fancy script).   Crime Lawyer is on the case! Do you have any documentation on Rannig’s lease agreement with the abbey? No. Never seen anything like that. I didn’t think the lease was with Rannig. My family’s lived here for over a hundred years. If that’s true, it’s quite likely the lease is with one of your father’s ancestors, not Rannig. If that lease allows for partition of the land, you would have the ability to allow others to farm here in exchange for payments to you. Pfft. Johan and Frantz Bauer never would. They want this land for themselves. Hmm. That could work. I’ve never had any problems with the Gertners. In any case, it’s clear that the abbey is not being truthful about the existing lease on this property. It seems they used Rannig’s death as an opportunity to try to change the existing lease to something more profitable. Yes, Running’s death. This is all the fault of that monster, Lorenz Rothvogel! If he were alive, I’d kill him myself. May he boil in Hell for all eternity! Here we go. Running, my husband - he caught that Rothvogel devil riding through our property and told him, rightly, to leave. The baron beat my Rannig for it, beat him so savagely that he took a cane to walk. Even his breathing pained him. Never could breathe deep so long as he lived - which wasn’t long at all. That second choice, Jesus. Again, props to the writers for letting you play all kinds of careless, clueless, and callous if you feel like it. That baron was the worst kind of man, careless and cruel. He knew he could beat my Rannig and suffer no consequences, so he did. We were not even so low as animals to him. We were furniture. And I knew - I knew after Rannig died the church would try to take what little I had left. This document only confirms it. All because of Lorenz Rothvogel. Since Rannig left, I’m just waiting to die. Why should I have to go on living when he is gone? I hoped I would follow him before the church came for what was left of our life. Just as the church likes it. It doesn’t matter, boy. The laws will never change, and nobody cares. You know… that’s a pretty compelling reason for you to have killed him.Man, you didn’t have to come out and say it. You said yourself you’d do it if you could. Who’s to say you haven’t already? Finally, some honesty from you. This was the real purpose of your visit all along. I’m an old woman, Andreas. Even walking from my bed to the door pains me. How could I kill a man in his prime? Not that it matters. I’m sure I’ll take the blame for it anyway, just like I’m blamed for every runny nose and thrown horseshoe around here. The people in town can’t wait for me to die, and the abbey vultures hate me for my contempt of them. None of it matters. I don’t care what happens to me anymore. Thank you for your help, boy. You’re the only one who’s come calling since my Rannig passed, do you know? Now get out. I need to lie down.   With one afternoon of showing some basic kindness to the old widow (who, we note, has been widowed for less than a year), we have the whole story of her potential motive as a murder suspect, and we will now have two suspects to discuss with the archdeacon after he arrives tomorrow. Next time: Supper with Lady Salomea, and whatever tomorrow morning brings.
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Apr 20, 2023 05:03
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Sorry, work and family have been extra demanding lately. Maybe in a week.
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May 6, 2023 22:20
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