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What would you do in the year 1000AD?

Started by Will, June 14, 2008, 12:22:12 AM

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Asmodean

Quote from: "Willravel"
Quote from: "Asmodean"Yes. Somewhat.  Although my holy war would probably succeed.  :raised: Did Asmoday, the prince of Hell with his 72 legions of demons just pwn a prophet!? ( :D )
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on July 25, 2013, 08:18:52 PM
In Asmo's grey lump,
wrath and dark clouds gather force.
Luxembourg trembles.

Lexxvs

Well, if the premise stands â€"that is, you are thrown there without any preparation- then also stands the lengthy troubles that I mentioned before, including the battle skill things.
But if you can have a small advantage, lets say a minimal great one â€"in a good Terminator way you can’t get back anything  with you but your astonishingly beautiful naked body, lol.  
I don’t think we could easily form and army unless our success exceeds our expectations and â€"as long as we were seem as a menace for Christendom and not just another feud between nobles or kings- we could face a huge coalition to wipe us from the map. And no, they would have no contemplations at all, even if it meant to wipe up all the inhabitants of our now unsacred land. Remember what Arnaud Amalric said in the siege of Béziers on how to distinguish Albigensians from Catholics:  "Kill them all; for the Lord knoweth them that are His". :devil:

Asmodean

Well, I would most certainly take with me my somewhat limited skills in geology and my somewhat greater skills in chemistry and a couple of other skills, then I'd seduce some minor lordling to be his lover or ingratiate myself to some blasphemer of a king as his "alchemist" and then plot and scheme for years about how to come to power while mass-producing explosives. And then I'd use my explosives to come to power. Imagine an old school catapult shooting a 10 kilo grenade. Now imagine 100 such catapults hammering 10 kilo grenades upon the enemy forces... :D

Basically, my plan would be long term and simplified could be described as coming in a position of power, training men in warfare, other than the glorious charge at the field (like sniping them wih crossbows in cities and woods), making tons and tons of probabl nitroglycerine based explosives (make it stable with coal or sugar), waging WAAAR!!!  :devil:

*plotting world domination*
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on July 25, 2013, 08:18:52 PM
In Asmo's grey lump,
wrath and dark clouds gather force.
Luxembourg trembles.

Lexxvs

Oh, Asmoean, now I see how much better you could turn the ancient world with such a great amount of love.  :P . My goodness, didn’t count on having a geologist in the forum. Hey, that’s not fair. Well prepared people would have it easer compared with us, just empty brained people. Hey, we also deserve to rule. I mean, we always have done it . Why to distort the past with an intelligent guy/girl? This goes against human natural process of dumbness. Well, besides, at least you can adorn your achievements by improving the mining with all that explosives.

Asmodean

Haha, I'm no geologist. I do however have an interest in geology and chemistry and right now I'm studying engineering so physics is not a foreign subject to me either... The point is I can identify the minerals I need to suit my evil purpose. I could probably even identify magnesium ore for gun barrel steel, but metallurgy is not my strongest side. Thus, grenades and fire bombs. I'm really good with making things blow up. Should have been a pyrotechnician... Oh well... Life, you know...

As for making a better world, why after I've run out of explosives I'd work on that. *scheming and plotting*

No, seriously, I think if I combined my talents with what charisma I can scrape together, I'd get pretty far in that day and age. Even if my crusade would prove to be an unreachable goal and the papacy would label me a thousand kinds of heretic, I'd still do well, considering... I think...
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on July 25, 2013, 08:18:52 PM
In Asmo's grey lump,
wrath and dark clouds gather force.
Luxembourg trembles.

Smallville

Survival tips for going to the year 1000? Hm? Medieval history would never be the same if they knew what we know.

First: don’t drink the water. Potable water would be at a premium beyond the knowledge of most at that time. Standing water, most wells, you wouldn’t drink from. The danger could be great even from running streams. Any drink with even the slightest amount of alcohol would be far safer to drink. Skoal!

Second, don’t drink the water. (It’s really that important.) Next, food. If you’re lucky, you wouldn’t want to get there in July. That would be the worst month for starvation with the edible food supply at its ebb. Winter supplies gone, harvest not ready.

Basic survival: water, food, tools and weapons, fire, how to build shelter, knowledge of first aid. Have as many immunizations as possible beforehand. Know how to find clean water. Know basic foods available in the woods, how to identify them, how to prepare and preserve them. Know how to hunt â€" simple traps, bow and arrows, and snares for small animals and birds â€" don’t sweat it about larger game unless you know how to tan hides and preserve meat. The excess would rot too easily and attract predators like wolves. Have a knowledge of what tools are available or easily made, how to use them, how to keep them in working order. Know how to make fire (a handy skill even today). Know the appropriate shelter for where you are and how to prepare and maintain a warm, dry habitat. First aid speaks for itself. Oh, and disease identification. You wouldn’t want to catch the plague.

Learn how to watch the weather, find your direction, and how to travel safely. Basic old time Boy Scout skills would be extremely helpful for survival.

Language. If you know your destination, prepare with language studies. Know habits, customs, and superstitions of indigenous people.

Learn as much of the history of the place and time as possible. You might want to set yourself up as a learned man and use upcoming events to your advantage. Otherwise, apply the Prime Directive to keep from screwing up history.

Feudalism is in its rise. You would either be fief, slave, or hermit in the woods because of primogeniture. And forget about an instant “in” with the church that was full of those royal enough to have name and education but not land and power. Everything belonged to royalty or the church. This includes all manner of labor, learning and industry. If you’re trying to work your way into a noble’s graces, knowledge of simple machines (lever, wheel and axle, pulley, ramp, wedge, and screw), construction of war machinery, or even medicine could help. The more knowledge in the right noble’s grasp could ensure your survival.

Remember anachronistic ideas will not come to fruition in the times you’re now living. You can’t make a forty-five with basic chemistry for gunpowder (the basic components and percentage of ingredients most people do not know) and metallurgy for manufacturing the components of the firearm. It’s a lot more complicated. Warmongers could not create a neurotoxin but they could use diseases to make biological weapons. (A chunk of rotting meat from someone who died of the plague in the town’s water supply would do the trick.) You couldn’t build an airplane but you could balloons and gliders.

The Vikings still terrorized Europe. (It was good to be a barbarian!) But they were not survivalists since they lived off the wealth of others. Other than that the barbaric invasions were over, minor kingdoms prevailed, and the church controlled them worse than Isildur’s Bane.

You didn’t quite say enough for the scenario but let’s assume we have enough warning or planning before our trip. (If it’s not a freak rip through the space/time continuum but a planned trip, that is.) If possible, avoid as much contact with locals since it could screw up history’s time line.  (If it is a ‘freak trip’, then do what you have to for survival.)
Two wrongs don't make a right but three left turns will.

"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything." â€" Nietzsche
"Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt." - Clarence Darrow

Will

I'll clarify. You're driving home from work or walking to class and are transported with only your clothes. There is no time to prepare and you cannot bring back tools of any kind besides what you can do with your clothes.
I want bad people to look forward to and celebrate the day I die, because if they don't, I'm not living up to my potential.

Smallville

Quote from: "Willravel"I'll clarify. You're driving home from work or walking to class and are transported with only your clothes. There is no time to prepare and you cannot bring back tools of any kind besides what you can do with your clothes.

Wow, that does make it more difficult. I guess the parts with any prior knowledge and survival skills or training would still apply. Other than that it would just rely on native ingenuity and rolling with the situation.

Still, it's a great concept to speculate on.
Two wrongs don't make a right but three left turns will.

"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything." â€" Nietzsche
"Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt." - Clarence Darrow

Will

Quote from: "Smallville"Wow, that does make it more difficult. I guess the parts with any prior knowledge and survival skills or training would still apply. Other than that it would just rely on native ingenuity and rolling with the situation.

Still, it's a great concept to speculate on.
Oh, yeah. It's supposed to be nearly impossible. It also sounds like a decent plot for a science fiction anthology.
I want bad people to look forward to and celebrate the day I die, because if they don't, I'm not living up to my potential.

MommaSquid

Quote from: "Willravel"Oh, yeah. It's supposed to be nearly impossible. It also sounds like a decent plot for a science fiction anthology.

Have you read Timeline by Michael Crichton?  

The book has quite a few of the elements you've mentioned in this thread (with a bunch of science fiction elements thrown in).  It's one of my favorite books.

No way I'd survive for very long being wisked back to 1000 A.D.  I'd either starve, get sick, or piss off the wrong person.

Lexxvs

The secret of a good preparation? Grasp Asmodean and Willravel hands tightly at every time in hope that if it happens, you are thrown back with any of them or both. Hey, don’t say it’s not possible. What if this anomaly happened to Siameses? Ah, and I forgot Smallville. I still think that at the end of the day we are just people with an enormous XXI century chauvinism, based on other peoples merits that we don’t even scratch the surface, and less know how to mimic. Ok, just say a prayer, lol. It would be funny to see how well we would manage in the down to the earth daily survival.
By the way, Smallville was true about alcohol and water. The Greeks used to drink watered wine and -indirectly- they avoided many contaminants.

Will

Quote from: "MommaSquid"Have you read Timeline by Michael Crichton?  

The book has quite a few of the elements you've mentioned in this thread (with a bunch of science fiction elements thrown in).  It's one of my favorite books.
I made the horrible mistake of seeing the movie first. It basically presents the plot (ruining the book) and presents it horribly. It's like watching the 80s version of Dune before reading the Frank Herbert version.
I want bad people to look forward to and celebrate the day I die, because if they don't, I'm not living up to my potential.

Asmodean

When it comes to water, the access would greatly depend on your location. Here, for instance, we don't filter drinking water and survive just fine.

Still... I'd have to develop a filtration system in other areas so as not to give the troops free reign over the kegs... Wouldn't want my grenade catapults to be operated by a bunch of alcoholized guys who couldn't aim at their own noses...  :unsure:
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on July 25, 2013, 08:18:52 PM
In Asmo's grey lump,
wrath and dark clouds gather force.
Luxembourg trembles.

Will

Water filtration techniques available in 1000AD:
Sedimentation
Boiling
Distillation

I would think that combining all three would be your best bet. Sedimentation can remove larger particles, boiling can kill microorganisms, and distillation can separate the water from solutes. What you may have issues with are contaminants with a similar boiling point to water. One could contract Pontiac fever or another form of Legionnaires' disease from long term distillation, but there's no evidence that bacteria existed more than a few decades ago, let alone a thousand years ago.
I want bad people to look forward to and celebrate the day I die, because if they don't, I'm not living up to my potential.

Asmodean

Quote from: "Willravel"Water filtration techniques available in 1000AD:
Sedimentation
Boiling
Distillation

I would think that combining all three would be your best bet. Sedimentation can remove larger particles, boiling can kill microorganisms, and distillation can separate the water from solutes. What you may have issues with are contaminants with a similar boiling point to water. One could contract Pontiac fever or another form of Legionnaires' disease from long term distillation, but there's no evidence that bacteria existed more than a few decades ago, let alone a thousand years ago.

Yes, combining the three techniques is the best bet, however, distilling water for, say, 10 000 men is too grandiose a project with tools awailable at that time. So sedimentation and boiling would have to do.

Still, as long as you managed to stay away from sights of epidemic outbreaks and take reasonable precautions, I don't think water or food or air for that matter would kill you any time soon. What would be more likely to kill you is the lack of food or water. And the ancestors, naturally. As I understand, many of them did not suffer weird strangers lightly.
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on July 25, 2013, 08:18:52 PM
In Asmo's grey lump,
wrath and dark clouds gather force.
Luxembourg trembles.