Persona Development
May. 1st, 2008 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
isabelladangeloRather than go things you should do in your persona development (like, um, I don't know? Read a book on the time and place? Or at least the Wikipedia article?) I just want to point out a few things you should not do.
1) You are not a tree worshiping Druid priestess. Sorry. The Druids had LONG died out by the SCA time period...and they were more like "tribal elders & healers" than strange dark pagan priests running around calling upon "magic" anyway. By the late 10th c, almost all of Europe was Christian. If you weren't Christian, you were Jewish. If you weren't Jewish, you were Muslim. If you happened to live in Lithuania prior to the 14th c, then you can be a polytheist but you might want to brush up on what they actually believed rather than just saying you are a pagan in Lithuania and then going into modern paganism belief systems.
2) If you want to portray the Roma (Gypsy), fine. That's okay. However, they did not wear tie in the front modern tribal belly dancing (Raq) tops with long tiered skirts. The Roma of the period look to wear an Italian styled chemise, sandals, some sort of head wear, and a large rectangular cloth tied over one shoulder. That was it. This is actually extremely comfy for summer events.
3) Remember your station! A peasant would no more sleep in a nice comfy feather canopy bed with quilted comforters than a noble would sleep outside in the trees. Actually, a peasant wouldn't sleep outside in the trees either. You might take a nice little nap in the orchard beneath a tree but then again, remember the tale of Dame Heurodis!
4)Keep your garb from one time and place. It's okay if you are wearing a hat from 20 + years earlier with your 15th c gown but it's not okay if you are wearing a hennin with your Viking outfit. Guys, your doublet with the 13th c braies don't cut it either.
5)Remember the [insert major war/battle here]! There are some events, to your persona, that might be incredibly memorable like the Black Plague, the Crusades, Defeat of the Spanish Armada, the break with the Catholic Church, ect. When you've picked a specific time period (like such and such century) you might want to know about major events in your country or around your country during that time. The excuse "I'm only a peasant" doesn't cut it. You were affected somehow by the major events of the time.
We all make mistakes from time to time. Don't get all huffy if someone corrects you. Yes, they very well could be wrong but so could you. Books are your friends. Even the internet can be your friend. Research is a good thing. Not conducting proper research is very very bad.
1) You are not a tree worshiping Druid priestess. Sorry. The Druids had LONG died out by the SCA time period...and they were more like "tribal elders & healers" than strange dark pagan priests running around calling upon "magic" anyway. By the late 10th c, almost all of Europe was Christian. If you weren't Christian, you were Jewish. If you weren't Jewish, you were Muslim. If you happened to live in Lithuania prior to the 14th c, then you can be a polytheist but you might want to brush up on what they actually believed rather than just saying you are a pagan in Lithuania and then going into modern paganism belief systems.
2) If you want to portray the Roma (Gypsy), fine. That's okay. However, they did not wear tie in the front modern tribal belly dancing (Raq) tops with long tiered skirts. The Roma of the period look to wear an Italian styled chemise, sandals, some sort of head wear, and a large rectangular cloth tied over one shoulder. That was it. This is actually extremely comfy for summer events.
3) Remember your station! A peasant would no more sleep in a nice comfy feather canopy bed with quilted comforters than a noble would sleep outside in the trees. Actually, a peasant wouldn't sleep outside in the trees either. You might take a nice little nap in the orchard beneath a tree but then again, remember the tale of Dame Heurodis!
4)Keep your garb from one time and place. It's okay if you are wearing a hat from 20 + years earlier with your 15th c gown but it's not okay if you are wearing a hennin with your Viking outfit. Guys, your doublet with the 13th c braies don't cut it either.
5)Remember the [insert major war/battle here]! There are some events, to your persona, that might be incredibly memorable like the Black Plague, the Crusades, Defeat of the Spanish Armada, the break with the Catholic Church, ect. When you've picked a specific time period (like such and such century) you might want to know about major events in your country or around your country during that time. The excuse "I'm only a peasant" doesn't cut it. You were affected somehow by the major events of the time.
We all make mistakes from time to time. Don't get all huffy if someone corrects you. Yes, they very well could be wrong but so could you. Books are your friends. Even the internet can be your friend. Research is a good thing. Not conducting proper research is very very bad.
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Date: 2008-05-02 03:42 am (UTC)Seriously, don't go giving them ideas, Isabella!
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Date: 2008-05-02 10:00 am (UTC):-) Seriously though, this was all brought about thanks to some, shall we say, less than thought out responses I've seen lately in regards to personas on the Merry Rose (Kingdom of Atlantia Listserve). I really don't comprehend why a)anyone needs to make a story that is so terribly complicated and b)why anyone can't open a book. There was a person who wrote in on the list that very clearly has never done actual research in her life. By her writing, I'd say maybe late teens/early 20s...ya know, the time period when I was writing full reports on the translations of Ancient Greek I saw along the temple walls in Egypt and their significance or the social impacts of Aung Sung Suu Kyi in SE Asia..