Overview of Scarterra versus Medieval Earth

In the interest of balancing the the Rule of Cool with the Rule of Realism I have a done a deep dive into various aspects of real world medieval history and culture then applied it piece by piece to Scarterra to figure out what aspects of real medieval history apply to a world with magic, monsters, and active gods and which do not.   A lot of this was done for Worldember 2024 but some of this pulls in my older material, and I plan to keep expanding on this in 2025 and beyond.  

Things that are very similar to medieval Europe

    -Waste is taboo in Scarterra   -Privacy is a luxury in Scarterra   -People wear a lot of hats and head coverings in Scarterra   -Market days are once a week shopping events available in most settled areas   -Market fairs are once a year shopping events available in many settled areas   -Most careers are either farming or directly supporting farmers. Most farming is done by peasants on a family level and the techniques and practices of Scarterran farmers are fairly similar to ancient and medieval farmers.   -Scarterran towns are usually organized laid out in a similar manner to medieval Earth towns   -Most commoners have a complicated love/hate hate relationship with strangers.   Most people are carrying a knife most of the time.   -The medieval and ancient world of Earth had lots of holidays. Scarterra has lots of holidays. The holidays are for different deities but the basic idea is the same.   -High status individuals are expected to be publicly generous to maintain respectability.   -Most highborn people have a personal name and a family surname, maybe with a nickname. Most lowborn people have a personal name and a signifier for their profession or place of birth   -Even with the existence of magic, pretty much all manufactured goods in Scarterra have to be made by hand: cheese, beer, barrels, dresses, horseshoes, knives, bricks, loaves of bread, hats, houses, etc   -Slings are MOSTLY a relic of yesteryear having been replaced by bows and crossbows for practical reasons.    

Things that are moderately different

  -Medieval warfare is fought with the same core principles with lots of skirmishes and relatively few large scale battles, Unique Scarterran factors mean battles tilt heavily towards the actions of heroes relatively to Earth historical battles though.   -Like real world Earth, many civilizations are built on the ruins of ancient predecessors, but in Scarterra the rise and falls of civilizations tend to be more dramatic. The fact that there was a First and Second Unmaking makes lot of people on the lookout for a Third Unmaking.   -Hunting on a nobles without his permission without his permission is a serious crime much as it was in medieval Europe, but most nobles are more concerned with reagent potion than animal poaching. Wooded areas tend to be larger and nobles are more likely to give limited permission for visitors to hunt and forage (for food, not reagents) there.   -Due to limited access to magical healing, Infant mortality is somewhere between medieval Earth and modern Earth, and this has trickle down effects on society.   -Farming techniques in Scarterra are very similar to real Earth medieval farming techniques but judicious use of plant theurgy increases relative crop yields   -Having multiple names is a sign of status, with a vaguely religious or spiritual aspect to it.   -The Stewards of Korus encourage and ethos of conservation of nature that is centuries ahead of medieval Europe, but this ethics is backed by a powerful carrot (reagents) and a powerful stick (Korus’ wrath). As a side effect of this, Scarterra has more open wilderness than historical Earth.   -There are no anti-usury laws and banking in Scarterra is centuries ahead of medieval Europe, but its still well short of modern banking.   -Scarterra's religious institutions get a lot of money in the form of donations, but not enough forcing them to sell "temple cheese".   -"Privvys" and waste disposal are mostly the same as medieval Earth, but there is some available magic to help make things slightly less gross   -Filial piety is similar to historical Earth but its more prevailent due in no small part to the fact that filial piety is potentially rewarded by supernatural miracles.   -There is a precious metal currency that transcends cultures across Scarterra. One change from real world history is that due to godly meddlling, nearly everyone uses the same set of standardized coin weights.   -There is a feudal system with hereditary nobility in most places, but “the Dragon’s Path” gives a real albeity difficult chance at social mobility   -Messages have to be hand delivered, but some forms of magic make travel easier though 99% of travel is non-magical. Scarterran Messengers still mostly rely on mundane methods of carrying messages.   -Purification helps with sanitation a little bit and magic helps with construction a little bit, but the overall layout and organization are very similar between historical medieval cities and Scarterran cities. In other words, they are usually cramped and a bit dirty.]   The practice of finding orphans with skilled apprenticeships is more widespread -Periodic monster attacks are a real thing, but it tends to make feudalism even more attractive as a political system. It leads to citizen militias being more widely utilized and weapon ownership in Scarterra is generally less restricted than in Medieval Earth cities. This leads to fewer slaves and serfs and more free peasants. The advocacy of Zarthus’ Lanterns also leads to fewer slaves and serfs.   -Scarterrans are widely aware that boiling water is a cheap and easy method of sanitation that didn’t catch on Earth till well after the medieval era.   -Various factors mean that Scarterra has more Marco Polo type characters than historical Earth did   -Castles and walls are still important for defense but this is largely because they enhance defensive magics.   -Breaking an oath was a big deal in pre-industrial societies on Earth and in Scarterra oaths are sometimes backed by supernatural force though intermittently. In most but not all cases, oaths are backed by social norms alone. Likewise, curses are taken seriously because they are sometimes backed by real mystic powers.   -Filial piety was and is a real thing in historical and contemporary Earth, but in Scarterra it’s even bigger. The spirits of the honored dead have a limited ability to interact with the living...especially those who practice filial piety.   -elemental ethnicity in mortals replaces Earth’s real physical indicators of race and ethnicity but they are largely treated similarly. Elemental ethnicity can form the basis of racism ranging from joking stereotypes to true bigotry, but elemental ethnicity is normally less important for group identity than national identity, social class or religous views.   -In Scarterran veranacular, "mortals" refers to sapient living creatures that have fully complete souls. Beasts is a catchall for sentient living creatures that do have full sapience or mortal souls. "Species" is a little bit too modern for my tastes though I figure some Scarterran academics use the word but even then if a Scarterran does use the word "species" in conversation they probably refer to animals.. "Race" is usually used to differentiate between mortal species in Scarterran vernacular.   -Necromancers are fairly rare, but they are common enough that funerary practices often have anti-necromancy precautions baked into them. Though the core purpose of a funeral remains mourning the dead.   -There is a relatively small number of languages globally.        

Things that are very different

  -Dragons exist, they are powerful, intelligent and all too often hostile   -Reagents and the lands that can produce them are the most hotly contested resource in Scarterra   -The words of religious leaders are indirectly backed by theurgy (divine magic) which increases their political power relatively to real world Earth religious institutions.   -Religious institutions are politically influential, but a canny Prince can play them off each other. Most pre-industrial Earth religious institutions had veritable monopolies on the orthodoxy of their respective areas.   -Alchemy is real, it’s effective and can mimic some modern substances in their utility.   -Magic is common enough that pretty much every adult has seen something magical at least once in his or her life though it’s not an everyday thing for most Scarterrans. About 1% of Scarterra’s mortal population are spellcasters or wielders of supernatural abilities of some sort although powerful magic users are fairly rare.   -Divination magic is relatively common. Athletics contests and tournaments usually have a diviner to check for magical cheating, and visitors to important areas often have to go through check points where they and their possessions are scanned not unlike a modern metal detector checkpoint.   -The world of Scarterra lives alongside and with the subterranean Scarnoctis and the aquatic Scaraqua. Most Scarterrans, Scaraquans and Scarnoctans are aware of the other two realms in broad strokes, but they underestimate the size and complexity of the other two places and certainly don't understand the motivations, politics, or etiquette of the other places.   -Fair Folk are very real and they often interfere with mortal's lives. They are often dangerous and unpredictable.   -Spirits manifest solidly in the material plane fairly regularly to carry out the Nine’s will. They can be summoned by spell-casters or appear of their own volition.