Tymothi Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Would you consider a saracen a occupation or not? I would personally say it's not a occupation... Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soltakss Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 I have treated it as a background in Merrie England. OK, Merrie England is not Dark Ages Cthulhu, but shares many of the concepts. Having Saracen as a Background means that you can have different Professions for that Background, so a Saracen Warrior, Saracen Priest, Saracen Mage and so on. Does Cthulhu Dark Ages have Backgrounds? I vaguely remember that it does. Quote Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. www.soltakss.com/index.html Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g33k Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 15 minutes ago, soltakss said: I have treated it as a background in Merrie England. OK, Merrie England is not Dark Ages Cthulhu, but shares many of the concepts. Having Saracen as a Background means that you can have different Professions for that Background, so a Saracen Warrior, Saracen Priest, Saracen Mage and so on. Does Cthulhu Dark Ages have Backgrounds? I vaguely remember that it does. Yeah, a "saracen" just means Muslim, really. It isn't any sort of "profession" or "occupation," etc. Quote C'es ne pas un .sig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tymothi Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 Yeah that is what I thought... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali the Helering Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 6 hours ago, g33k said: Yeah, a "saracen" just means Muslim, really. It isn't any sort of "profession" or "occupation," etc. Etymologically it means 'tent dweller'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g33k Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 (edited) 12 hours ago, Ali the Helering said: Etymologically it means 'tent dweller'. (a) that's not actually a "fact" that everyone agrees upon. There is a remarkably deep dive on the topic at Wikipedia... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saracen#Early_usage_and_origins (b) functionally, in the medieval & the dark ages, the etymology was unknown/irrelevant, vs. the term as-used in RL. Also note it was a somewhat informal term, so you might find different people (in different places) using it to mean different things... One place might consider it primarily religious; another might see it as primarily ethic; some might see the ethnic & religious meanings as identical, and presume both are implied by the term. Depending on WHEN you set your "Dark Ages" (i.e. 7thC c.e.? or later? or earlier?) Islam may be a lot less prevalent than you may have thought. Here's a nifty GIF for the 7th century, when the Caliphate really grew hugely: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam#/media/File:Mohammad_adil-Rashidun_empire-slide.gif Edited October 6, 2020 by g33k Quote C'es ne pas un .sig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali the Helering Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 31 minutes ago, g33k said: (a) that's not actually a "fact" that everyone agrees upon. There is a remarkably deep dive on the topic at Wikipedia... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saracen#Early_usage_and_origins (b) functionally, in the medieval & the dark ages, the etymology was unknown/irrelevant, vs. the term as-used in RL. Also note it was a somewhat informal term, so you might find different people (in different places) using it to mean different things... One place might consider it primarily religious; another might see it as primarily ethic; some might see the ethnic & religious meanings as identical, and presume both are implied by the term. Depending on WHEN you set your "Dark Ages" (i.e. 7thC c.e.? or later? or earlier?) Islam may be a lot less prevalent than you may have thought. Here's a nifty GIF for the 7th century, when the Caliphate really grew hugely: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam#/media/File:Mohammad_adil-Rashidun_empire-slide.gif Fine, just going by what I was taught at Cambridge Uni. While they are not all knowing, I wouldn't dismiss it too readily, but there you go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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