Who is inspired by Medieval and Early Modern time periods?

[Finchbearer]

I find myself more and more drawn to take inspiration from these time periods - though of course my fantasy world doesn’t need to be historically accurate, but more inspired by the general technology, culture and traditions of the time.

Anyone else drawn to this time period as a foundation for world building?

 

[Insolent Lad]

My first fantasy novels had a Late Renaissance (16th Century) vibe to them. I did not want a generic medieval setting. That's just been done too much. I can still have knights riding about but they're liable to carry wheel-lock pistols. The beginning of the Middle Ages and the fading of Antiquity (the decline and fall period) is a rich source of inspiration too. My 'Devastation' novels are set in an analog (of sorts) of that period--at least on a technology level.

 

[skip.knox]

I have stories here. Tons of romance fantasy go to the Tudor-Stuart period, though I've never understood why. The costuming starts out atrocious and ends up in wigs.

My WiP series, The Trouvères, is set in the Altearth equivalent of the late 1300s. A Child of Great Promise is also late medieval. I may do something with the 30YW time period, but I have yet to tell Emperor Frederick II's story, who is impatiently waiting for me to finish with these stupid jugglers. Best not to keep Emperor Fritz waiting too long.

I will routinely protest that the Middle Ages have not been done too often; rather, they have been done badly too often.

 

[pmmg]

Generally not. The world I am writing in is probably 11-12th century technology. I dont have must interest in bringing it up, and the next set of stories in my head are SciFi, with lasers and FTL travel and all that.

My (very) old game world had some gun powder in it, but it was not really a great add to the story. I think my brain will likely skip those ages as finding others more interesting. Maybe in some short stories I might.

 

[BearBear]

Yes, and I even brought the future of Earth into this age.

 

[ThinkerX]

My 'Empire' series is set in a transitional period between what might be termed 'late medieval' and 'early industrial.' Knights charged valiantly into battle on horseback - but ordinary legionnaires rode bicycles to those battlefields. The final battles of that war were decided by catapults hurling barrels filled with explosive powder and shrapnel into the enemy ranks. A decade later, the legions were issued with hollow crossbow bolts filled with black powder.

Being quasi-Roman, the major nation benefits from an excellent system of stone paved roads spanning its length and breadth. These highways are paralleled by thousands of semaphore towers, allowing messages to cross thousands of miles in days instead of months. Meanwhile artisans and scholars are conducting ever more experiments with mechanical devices, alchemy, and electricity. Crude camera technology is sort of available, as are steam powered boats.

Socially...the Traag War almost broke the empire. Unable to pay his soldiers in coin, the emperor instead awarded all veterans land and citizenship - something previously granted only to twenty-year veterans. This move increased the middle class tenfold almost overnight, with major social implications.

 

[Finchbearer]

I’m drawn to this time period I think because I’m interested in domestic history, what people lived like day to day, the customs of the time and what restrictions this would have placed on a society, throw magic into the mix and what changes? People were still highly superstitious back then (hello witch-hunts) and folklore would have felt far more real to people, so in my world some of those things would be made a reality.

My female characters don’t all wear dresses however, and so what kind of society would have had it where women are able to wear ‘immodest’ clothing.t here are the other questions of courtship too how does magic/powers influence this.

But I do want to play around with candlelight as a ‘smoke and mirrors’ affect (Wolf Hall style) along with perhaps throwing in the plague and a looming war in for good measure. 1660’s is around the time I’m interested in.

Medieval and early modern art also heavily inspired me, with it being so heavy in symbolism too. Love hearing about all your worlds and chosen time periods.

 

[Orc Knight]

For me it started with the tales and pictures of knights and castles in the medieval period and as time has gone on, I've gone both backwards and forwards with inspirations. The gunpowder era is something that's just made it's way in through games like Greedfall and the fancy hats and clothes. Mostly the hats. It's became more aesthetics in fantasy worlds with only tenuous connections with reality.

Still have spent a large amount of time looking into them all, but my fantasy world's tend not to follow a full Earth timeline. Nor should they. And even my more 'realistic' ones still only going to have trappings, because the world's are their own things.

 

[Finchbearer]

For me it started with the tales and pictures of knights and castles in the medieval period and as time has gone on, I've gone both backwards and forwards with inspirations. The gunpowder era is something that's just made it's way in through games like Greedfall and the fancy hats and clothes. Mostly the hats. It's became more aesthetics in fantasy worlds with only tenuous connections with reality.

Still have spent a large amount of time looking into them all, but my fantasy world's tend not to follow a full Earth timeline. Nor should they. And even my more 'realistic' ones still only going to have trappings, because the world's are their own things.

I think the aesthetic quality of any fantasy story is so important, I mean it has to have substance too, but why are we drawn to older time periods in world history as inspiration? I think it’s because they serve as amazing ‘backdrops’ to imagined worlds. I mean for all of the magic that flows in many fantasy tales, there is often still primitive pre-industrial age technology used.

 

[Mad Swede]

Because I started writing partly as a way of dealing with my PTSD a lot of what happens in my stories is based on things I've seen or been involved with or even done personally. Given that I spent over 30 years in the military, using a medieval style setting avoids some of the issues with things like security classification of things like tactics, weapons etc that might otherwise arise if I used a contemporary setting. At the end of the day, for me the interesting things are about people and why they act the way they do, not what sort of weapons or tactics they're using. So a medieval style setting works for me (and my readers, it seems).

With that written I, like skip.knox , don't like poorly written settings. To me, that's just lazy writing. A medieval setting is fine, but it needs to be thought through. Things like merchants and trading, money, law etc. Working these things out helps define your world, and why things happen in that world. When you then add your characters you've got the basis for your main plot and all those incidental events which give your story depth.

 

[Aleshe]

I like it because it's simple and imagine reading by candle light and warming by the wood stove or hearth and it sounds romantic. Warming by the wall heater looking through my phone is a lot less so.

 

[skip.knox]

You should try reading by candle light some time. I'll take a good 60w bulb any time.

 

[ThinkerX]

You should try reading by candle light some time. I'll take a good 60w bulb any time.

I've done that a few times during power outages. It kind of sucks. Might also explain the big windows in ancient scriptoriums and libraries.

 

[skip.knox]

People in general didn't read. Those who were literate tended to read in daytime. Reading after dark is very modern, for the most part.

 

[Finchbearer]

You should try reading by candle light some time. I'll take a good 60w bulb any time.

I’m all for this 🕯

 

[pmmg]

What would it matter, my screen has its own light?

 

[Aldarion]

People in general didn't read. Those who were literate tended to read in daytime. Reading after dark is very modern, for the most part.

To be fair, doing anything after dark is very modern. I don't think many people today can imagine just how dark the night gets when you don't have artificial lights all around you.

 

[weavo]

People in general didn't read. Those who were literate tended to read in daytime. Reading after dark is very modern, for the most part.

Depends what you call 'modern', maybe. Pre-industrial Europeans tended to wake up for a few hours in the middle of the night, and there are sources from the 17th century that discuss medics and clergymen using the time to study by candlelight.

 

[turtlebiologist]

I find myself more and more drawn to take inspiration from these time periods - though of course my fantasy world doesn’t need to be historically accurate, but more inspired by the general technology, culture and traditions of the time.

Anyone else drawn to this time period as a foundation for world building?

Yes! I am currently working on a midcentury novel dealing with pirates and mythical beings! I really want to add some of the old folklore on creatures at sea and bring them to life!

 

[nck]

I think of myself as a frustrated medieval historical fiction writer in some ways, so definitely.