Questions tagged [medieval]
For questions about the medieval era (500-1500AD o.e.) as a whole, regardless of the location.
829
questions
8
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4answers
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How could people hundreds of years ago have protected themselves from radiation?
In my world, there is a civilization with about 1800's-level technology. There is a nuclear accident in part of the world that they need to access. Is there a way for a civilization with this level of ...
16
votes
11answers
4k views
Medieval airship nomads
In a medieval society, an ethnic group lives most of their lives aboard airships. These airships are rudimentary, perhaps holding only enough room for a single family. They consist of slender wooden ...
15
votes
7answers
5k views
Would medieval people be able to build a wall to keep the rising sea levels from engulfing their continent?
Long story short the earth-like planet is being bombarded by ice comets crashing into the oceans and the sea levels are rising. I want there to be a huge wall(probably around 20 meters or so) that ...
6
votes
4answers
121 views
Can a nonhuman species maintain an empire in a mostly human world? [closed]
In my fantasy world based on late antiquity/the early medieval era orcs have a large, powerful empire and seek to expand its borders to invade more land. Since most of the world's population is human ...
0
votes
2answers
145 views
Why would medieval sleeper agents gather in one place? [closed]
I am making a system of sleeper agents that work to support an invasion. This all takes place in a late-medieval Chinese-inspired setting, on a large island nation (let's say "Keiza") that ...
3
votes
2answers
217 views
Raid-efficient feline species
Let's say that there is a warlike tribe that focuses on raiding small villages. They are kind of like the Vikings, but they don't arrive by riverboats; they strike the oblivious villages, arriving ...
2
votes
2answers
103 views
How would an underwater city be structured? [closed]
Let's say there is an underwater civilization of merpeople. They were able to develop medieval technology (approximately, since an underwater civilization would develop differently than an above water ...
23
votes
30answers
7k views
Why would civilizations have no major technological development even after ten thousand years?
Basic Introduction (story background for anyone interested)
I have a character whose punishment for causing massive genocide was immortality for ten thousand years. To be more specific, after his ...
3
votes
7answers
2k views
Can a group of assassins help win a war? [closed]
The Icratic empire and the Noctan Empire, both powerful empires, are fighting a war. The Noctan Empire has physically well-built soldiers that are well suited to the terrain they are fighting in, but ...
3
votes
4answers
229 views
Controlling the late-medieval world with just a network of agents and instant communication
The World Controlling Agency
I have long had a concept about a world-spanning NGO; an organisation with the power to start and end wars, and whose CEO any monarch would kneel to rather than risk their ...
21
votes
25answers
5k views
How hard magic could make bows, swords and other early/mid- medieval weapons relevant alongside fairly advanced gunpowder weapons?
Introduction
In a quite a lot of games swords, bows and so forth exist on a regular basis alongside guns, and often are as powerful, if not more so, than firearms. In a realistic, non-magical setting, ...
6
votes
16answers
2k views
What could be some limitations to magic to make it less overpowered? [closed]
In many movies and animations, magic is overpowered. Most of the time, magicians could only be countered by other magicians.
I'm building a medieval fantasy world where magic exists. In this world, ...
10
votes
16answers
1k views
How does one hide a floating island in the sky from anyone below looking up?
So, floating islands are a pretty common trope at least in the media I've consumed, and one thing that sort of stands out - oftentimes, they're meant to be a reveal to a larger world (Either as part ...
3
votes
5answers
363 views
Reality Check: Medieval economics - could peasants ban rent?
Question:
Is there any economic reason they would be unable to do this / some unforeseen way it would ultimately come back to bite them? Ultimately they want to let their peasants live rent-free in ...
4
votes
1answer
66 views
Lions and their natural habitat, and biomes
First time here in a few years. I remember that the last time the questions had to be specific to what I was looking for but I don't wanna swamp anyone with too much info, so I'll endeavour to be lean ...
15
votes
15answers
5k views
How Do You Get Wood in a World Where Monsters Defend The Forests?
PROJEKT ' IRON SONG '
In the Empire of Tyvertsia, there are many strange and often hostile beasts—bears, mountain lions, sirin, bauk and the like—living among the wildlife of the thick Western forests,...
16
votes
10answers
5k views
Taking the bayonet to its logical conclusion. Or, the pike-rifle
Due to some copious amount of handwavium, projectile weapons are not as effective as their melee counterparts. They are still very useful, but not to the point of replacing close combat. Historically, ...
5
votes
2answers
316 views
Could medieval people build an airtight spaceship or space ark using their common resources?
This is set on a fictional alien world with medieval people. However, this world has alien livestock that are capable of flying into outer space and traveling to other worlds. These medieval-age ...
4
votes
2answers
849 views
Feasibility of an amateur setting their own broken nose
I am working on a fantasy set in a medieval age (the exact time period is loose due to magic progressing science differently to the real world), and an experienced fistfighter gets their nose broken ...
4
votes
4answers
370 views
How could a medieval person drug someone to sleep?
My story takes place in a fantasy world with roughly medieval level technology (as is to be expected in that genre). One of my characters intends to spike someone's drink in order to make them fall ...
30
votes
13answers
5k views
How long will it take for a medieval human to adapt to our current world?
Meet Henry, he is a sharp and quick-witted rich young adult from the High Medieval Ages(1000-1347). He can be described as someone with decent adaptability skills, though not much
He found a time-...
4
votes
3answers
119 views
Vegetation on medieval farmland abandoned for 40-80 years
What kind of vegetation may I expect to encounter on a farmland that was abandoned partially about 80 and completely some 40-50 years prior?
This is medieval-style farmland, so it is not wheat for ...
3
votes
2answers
103 views
How would a planet's (human) life adapt to inconsistent night duration?
I realise this question is rather broad, so I'll do my best to narrow down what I'm looking for as much as possible.
The big idea
The full daylight cycle on this hypothetical planet is consistent in ...
1
vote
1answer
103 views
How would someone talk to animals (without technology or magic)
In a short part of the story that I am writing, there is a scene in which all the characters are sitting together and asking a female character, "how does she talk to the animals?"
The whole ...
6
votes
4answers
621 views
How effective would a scythe be in a one-on-one, sword-versus-scythe fight?
In one-on-one combat, with one combatant using a sword, the other the aforementioned false Death, how effective would a scythe be in combat? What tactics could be utilized with it, and what tactics ...
8
votes
2answers
746 views
Could my character dye her hair with clothing dye or other common materials? [duplicate]
The world is a sort of medieval era place with very widespread trade, so the character would have access to a range of materials from different climates
The current colour is a blue-ish hue, but that'...
9
votes
15answers
4k views
Why would a government sanction crime within a city?
Assume this city is relatively large by late medieval standards, around 200,000 people. The city is mainly a site for trade due to its geographically central position and being on a river. Also, ...
9
votes
11answers
3k views
How to balance the power of magic warriors and physics warrior in medieval [closed]
I'm creating two character classes:
Physics warrior - Just like an ordinary warrior
Magic warrior - Like a physical warrior but using magic. (not a mage or magician).They can attack by firing magic ...
6
votes
1answer
161 views
How to estimate the price of an animal in a fantasy setting, or why does a duck cost more then a chicken? [closed]
I realise now that this is not the right place to ask this question, but for anyone else who happens to stop by and is looking for a good reference to use to price their animals, I've found a resource ...
3
votes
4answers
305 views
I want to build the safest habitat(a castle) I can
So I'm in the 1700s and thinking of building a castle surrounded by a 1000 metre moat.
I am going to section off the moat into three parts so that each section contains piranha fish, crocodiles and ...
4
votes
3answers
268 views
Feasibilty of Chainmail in 12th Century Medieval Settings
This question is inspired by a comment in this video that the official war historian of the Battle of Cresson describing 140 knights attacking an army of 7,000 as "an experience that will turn ...
3
votes
4answers
173 views
Crewed polearms
In ancient and late medieval combat, the pike emerged as a supreme weapon, an evolution of the spear. The pike being longer than any other melee weapon, a phalanx of pikemen would skewer the front ...
-3
votes
3answers
183 views
Evolution of Monks [closed]
Wait, what? Monks...evolving? Don't worry, I don't mean biological evolution, I mean social evolution, the natural progression and alteration of a societal role, specifically the Monk Class.
...
2
votes
3answers
212 views
Ancient artillery, throwing bombs with slings [closed]
a sling can throw a projectile up to 400 meters or further, in some cultures children grow up training with slings and in adulthood it develops into an extension of their arm, developing the ability ...
16
votes
7answers
6k views
How to defend a kingdom without killing anyone [duplicate]
What resources, schemes, and strategies does a medieval king need to protect their power without killing or torturing?
1
vote
3answers
172 views
How might a person summon the devil from its prison? [closed]
A society of prophets live according to middle-age superstitions. They abide by a lunar calendar, put a strong emphasis on star signs, and believe they possess psychic powers such as palm reading and ...
4
votes
7answers
409 views
Medieval rebel army, mostly peasants, led by a small number of men with considerable military experience. What is camp life like?
In continuation to this question, my small (for now) force, made mostly of peasants, is rebelling against an empire that has conquered their land. Most people of this force have no military experience,...
4
votes
1answer
130 views
Aircraft aluminum grade 7075 used for body armor in medieval setting
I've read a few discussion on the use of aluminum in medieval armor. There are a lot of people saying that aluminum is a bad choice for armor because it's too soft and brittle. There are many ...
9
votes
5answers
847 views
Inventions that could have come earlier [closed]
There are some technical ideas that could have been developed much earlier, changing the ancient or medieval world.
A sterling example is the hot-air balloon. It was actually invented at the close of ...
6
votes
6answers
1k views
Cannibal City: Part 1 - Eating your enemies
The Great City has impregnable walls. No-one has ever overwhelmed them and likely no-one ever will. The only way to defeat the inhabitants of this mighty city is to besiege them and simply starve ...
0
votes
1answer
111 views
Benefits of Boomerang Enchantment for Humans
This is the long-overdue human equivalent of Benefits of Boomerang Enchantment on Items.
On an item, the Boomerang Enchantment allows an item to fly back to their owner's hand after being thrown, ...
33
votes
7answers
11k views
Can archers on the ground shoot down a hot air balloon?
As a scenario, let's say that a group of heroes is traveling in a hot air balloon as a proof-of-concept for bandit-proof travel. Some particularly well-armed bandits naturally have taken an issue with ...
23
votes
17answers
7k views
A huge forest native almost solely to elves who are widely regarded with hatred. What's to stop an army from simply burning the entire forest? [closed]
A big army, fearful and hateful of elves, is standing in front of the forest they all (or vast majority of) reside in. Behind them is a stream, and beyond the forest is the coast. What is to stop them ...
21
votes
9answers
4k views
How long would a character stay unconscious when fainting after a combat?
I have a character who engages combat finishing with in-armour duel that pushes her to the limit. After it is over she is so exhausted (and probably dehydrated) that she faints.
Assuming:
she is not ...
4
votes
5answers
266 views
Medieval fantasy world, rebel forces against an empire, how can the rebels win? [closed]
So I found myself in this situation:
My characters are in a land composed mainly of city states with some degree of recognition of common nationality (a la greeks at the time of the persian wars), the ...
2
votes
8answers
689 views
What ingredient is required to make a salve that can rapidly heal wounds in around 5 minutes?
In medieval times, instead of using potions to heal wounds, they use a healing salve that can rapidly heal open wounds of all types in, let's say, 5 minutes. (Not really severe ones or closed wounds ...
27
votes
5answers
3k views
Bow types and their pros and cons
What bows are used for different situations and what makes them the best choice?
In my story a village is only easily accessible in one direction (Tall mountains around it and a fast river behind) ...
16
votes
17answers
3k views
Justification for each country having their own form of magic
There's three mighty countries in this part of the world. In each country, one finds magicians. They are very rare: about one in ten thousand babies is born with magic, and it doesn't matter whether ...
6
votes
2answers
159 views
What natural occurences can be blamed on Witches but also explained with medieval science [closed]
I want to write a Story about a medieval village
This Village is plagued by a lot of misfortunes and as people are they blame it on witches but i am having a hard Time finding good occurences.
The ...
4
votes
4answers
247 views
Feasibility of foot launched projectile weapons
So, one of the species in a fantasy world I'm working on is a lemur like species that stands around 3-4 feet tall, or about the size and weight of baboons.
They have very strong legs with opposable ...
