Recent content by Vandor

Some of what they developed, such as the early Islamic nations, depended heavily on fighting style. The middle east favored light cavalry mixed with infantry, and in the hot climate, a plate was impracticle, as the crusaders later found. Heavy armor would have slowed them down and reduced the...

One technique that struck me was that smithing is not always such a solo act as people make out. For small stuff - hammers, tools, horseshoes, etc. one person is just fine. Same for detail or finishing work. But when it comes to raw shaping and bending of the metals, the apprentice comes in...

Yes, they had to purchase their own weapons and armor, and equip their own men. The whole feudal system gave the knights the resources to maintain those forces. I'm not talking about arrows acting like .50 bullets, just having heavy tips, fired in a volley, and enough finding their mark and...

Maybe have them as different strains? Lineages? Stages of life? For example, a group of werewolves lived so long with their condition that the forms began to blur. Wolf mixed with human permanently, altering the bloodline. Also depends how far your lycanthropes shift form. Old werewolf tales...

Don't know if you've read any of the Wheel of Time, but there's several occasions that employ a wide range of magic users and battlefield tactics; final book's battle scenes display numerous genius applications. Among them are simulated artilery, portal maps, and teleporting cannons. Just ook...

Take a look at the Temeraire novels by Naomi Novak. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Majesty%27s_Dragon Its doable, and has been done well, though you're suggesting a different time period and possible epic focus; the series remains in the Napoleanic Wars. She takes it as an alternate history...

My uncle gave me a few books on metalwork and carpentry, pretty thorough volumes. Also spent a summer as an apprentice for what its worth. Ask away if you want to, and I'll try to answer what I can now. I'll repost when I find those books.

Full plate that most people think of was definitley cumbersome and heavy, especially older alloys. Armor and weapons are huge for how the culture approaches battles and tactics and even their own history and morals. Big examples are French knights, English longbowmen, Greek phalanx, and Roman...

Patrick O'Brien used the manner described by Butterfly to great effect in his Aubrey-Maturin/Master and Commander series. It was easy to keep track of and reminded the reader of the context of those passages. I guess the italics also helped evoke the idea of written words.

I bounced some map and world ideas off of my brother. He doesn't write per se, but he's read enough and seen enough maps to give me some solid feedback. I showed him some variations I had, and he came up with this: Why cut off the edges of the map? Why put a huge desert, an ocean, or...

You might want to introduce the second POV character to some degree, just the audience can keep themselves immersed. Imagine: one second you're dealing with a certain character(s) and feel, then turn the page. Now you have to adjust to a whole new character you don't really know or have a feel...

To expand on what Wordwalker said, There is a point in the game that reveals that originally all golems were made of willing subjects. It was only later with corrupt rulers that political enemies and criminals, etc. were forced into being made golems. In all cases, the golems retained their...

Possible SPOILERS Wheel of Time also dealt with this differently, given the extensive number of primary and secondary characters on both sides of the final conflict. The struggle between the hero and the big bad is more mental than physical, and the whole while a huge battle rages on. In it...

This reminds me of watching The Return of the King with one of my friends. All of the climactic battles wrapped up, and he gets up to leave, but there was still at least a half-hour left in the movie, while the book had a whole other plot line that took place afterwards. Wheel of Time FINALLY...

Pillars of the Earth and World Without End both have references to the early medieval universities you mentioned. There aren't many specifics and it is a historical fiction, but it gives the appearance of a melding of religious study and early-approved!-scientific practice. Again, mainly for...