Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Illithid Tentacles 11-13-03, 08:05 PM	I'm playing an online game based loosely on Final Fantasy (the original on the NES, not the piece of crap made for the WSC and later ported to the PSX), and it incorporates a lot of D&D elements. My character is a Fighter, and after a while I decided he was of Spanish descent. Basically what I'm looking for is information on Spanish culture around 1100 AD. Weapons and armor, food, customs, peasant life, and pretty much everything else.
KardalysDelAranya 11-13-03, 09:43 PM	Well, historically, Spain in this period was under the rule of the Moors, although by 1100 the reconquista might have started in Northern regions like the Basques. Some spanish cities (Toledo comes to mind) that were prominent during the rule of the Muslims are also famous for their swordmaking ability, so wielding a sword would make sense. Armor I have no idea about. Culturally, Spain at that period was a amalgamation of Christian, Jewish, and Islamic culture, without much of the religious strife we see from these groups today. Of course, this changes 300 years later with the Crusades and the Inquisition. Foodwise, expect a lot of olive oil in the middle part of spain, and a lot of fish and seafood on either coast. At least today, ham is much more a staple than beef, too. Thats about all I can remember from my spanish history lectures, hope it helps.
CaoSlayer 11-14-03, 06:52 AM	ummm, I agreed with all the stuff from the previous poster. Since Im spanish, It is supoused that I must know something. the mulism entered the peninsule in the year 714 A.C. and they were totally expelled in the year 1492 (in the same year, the jewish was also expelled from spain). Before the reign of the chatolic kings (Isabel and Fernando) the peninsula was divided in reing, being the two more important the kingdom of Castilla [All the centre of the country] and the kingdom of Aragon [Cataluņa y the mediterranean coast zone]. The most important heroe of that time was the Cid, there is a holliwood movie about him and you will find tons of info, he is the main character of a epic poem. Mainly you have two options, be a cristian or be a mulism, for the cristian, you can be a cleric or a knight or mercenary, the will surely use any medieval weapon, but the long sword + shield, the lance, the greatsword (Mandoble) or the mace are the most usual options, if it is from castilla be sure to adquire Masterwork weapons, the steel from Toledo it is famous in the whole world. For a mulism, The weapons most used are the Halbert (Alabarda in spanish being the mulsim name) and the Cimitarra(alfanje) or Falchion (Alfanjon). a mulism hero should get a very good horse, the Arabe horse are famous in the whole world. agh, it is hard to talk about spain in english There is a full rpg set in those years named Aquelarre, I dont know if there is some info in english about it.
Arilou_skiff 11-14-03, 09:01 AM	Had the Castillians taken Toledo by 1100? I'm not sure they have...
Trydan 11-14-03, 09:37 AM	"Spain" as such is a vague term when taken back to the 1100s. Back then it was Aragon, Castille, Catalunya, and so on. If I remember rightly, Catalunya was a powerful nation back then, and had invaded Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, etc. (or was all that later?)
CaoSlayer 11-14-03, 11:46 AM	Originally posted by Arilou_skiff Had the Castillians taken Toledo by 1100? I'm not sure they have... Im almost sure that it is too soon, I guess that the reconquest began by Century XIV. Im andaluz and in school we tend to be tauch about the muslim that was the mayor influence in that time and they give us little to no data about the north of spain.