Games I Play – MORPGs

This is a large topic and one that I will return to later. MORPGs (multi-player online role-playing-games, also known as MMORPGs) have been developed over the last 25 years as computers become more powerful and game companies attempted to bring many players together at the same time in virtual worlds. The first MORPG I played was Diablo, by Blizzard North, in 1996. While not really a MORPG by some standards, you could play with other people, across the country, and you could role-play your character, a little. The next game I played which was a real MORPG was Ultima Online, from Origin Systems. I played Ultima Online for two years before switching to EverQuest, from Verant Interactive. From EverQuest I tried many games, include Asheron's Call, and Dark Ages of…

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Marriage in Imperial China

In The Burning Tower, Sandun and the other Keltens happen upon a city at the wilderness. The city is named Gipu, and it is one of several trade cities, which exist beyond the edge of Serica's borders. The people of the city have a very unusual custom, where they offer eligible young women to visiting merchants; acting as temporary wives. Sandun is given a young woman, named Ashala, who actually knows a little Kelten as well as is fluent in Serice. With Ashala acting as a teacher, Sandun is able to learn how to speak the Serice language. This element of my story is loosely based on the real world, and the cities of Kashgar, and Turpan. At one time, the Tang Dynasty took control of these far-western trade cities and then asked…

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Prices in Imperial China

In an earlier blog post (Currency In China) I described my currency and some of the actual currency used in China during the Imperial era.  Today, I want to talk about prices. In The Burning Tower, my characters are given some salt notes and they exchange four of them for ten silver cats and six strings of coins. With this money they buy some goods and they also donate some of this money to the local temple of Sho'Ash help repair the statue of their god, as well as making improvements to the building. Later, Sandun offers two silver cats and, in return, he is given a top quality Serica-glass vase, though this was perhaps not the most accurate price. And this relates to China how? Imperial China covers a…

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