Ineptshieldmaid, I'm kinda aiming this at you...

[xxlucyferxx]

Or anyone else who just happens to be a history buff. Although I don't think I have any others on my flist.

I really need some vampire mythology that Dr. Cornelius could feasibly have unearthed at some point during one of his magical escapades. I'm working on this section in Sanguinis Vinculum where he's been going through some ancient books he has about vampires, incubi/succubi, etc. I won't explain the whole scene here, but I really want to be able to quote a relevant passage or two from these books.

Problem: my knowledge of vampire mythology is fantastic when it comes to the 19th century, but that's far too modern for a Narnian setting. I need something that sounds as if it could have been written in a medieval book of the occult, or something along those lines. I tried to write my own passage, but I really don't know enough medieval literature to pull off that sort of thing. So basically, if you can give me a positive answer to one of the following three questions, I will love you forever:

a) Do you have access to any suitably ancient writings about the vampire, which I could use as a reference point and/or quote in my writing?

OR

b) Do you have any skill at all in writing in a way that might sound appropriate to the sort of literature PC-era Narnians/Telmarines might have had access to, and would you be at all willing to sacrifice a bit of time to help me construct something that won't sound completely embarrassing?

OR

c) Do you know a person who COULD help me with either of the above, and could you direct me to them?

Comments

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

Yes, there's shades of that- although I'm not touching the Abusive Miraz thing, it's a) unpleasant and b) done too often for my liking. Basically, poor ole Caspian doesn't know how to have friends. I'm not sure he even knows how to have fun.

Yep, that's what I needed Catamite for. Cornelius gets to give Caspian a pointed lecture about not puppy-dogging at Peter's heels, because the Telmarine lords will not be pleased if their king is this Narnian upstart's catamite. And then Susan is going to forcibly dance Caspian around the ballroom and threaten to string him up by his heels and castrate him if he doesn't leave Peter alone. And then they all leave and Caspian's back to square one.

Caspian *is* such an ass. Also a bit of an arse. And he likes BEING the arse. It's all rather complicated.

I'm thinking the Narnian Telmarines may actually have conquered Archenland. Which is important, because they control the mountain pass. And also there are priceless silver deposits in the Archen mountains, which Telmarine Narnia needs to support its economy in the absence of sea trade. See also mountain passes and desert routes.

Oh, and they DIDN'T find Narnia bereft of humans. That's received mythology Dr Cornelius picked up from his dwarfish roots. There were humans in Narnia when the Telmarines arrived- and naturally they were absorbed into the Telmarine population. Or the Telmarines were absorbed into the Narnian population, depending on how you look at it. Working example here is the Norman Conquest of England. So Caspian speaks something which can best be termed Telmonarnian. For convenience, we will inhibit language development in order that Telmonarnian be intelligible to speakers of Old Narnian, which is not actually the language spoken in the Golden Age, but the language spoken by 'Old Narnians'. The language of the Golden Age, which Dr Cornelius has termed Old High Narnian, is not quite intelligible to speakers of Old Narnian but is relatively easy to learn. Caspian must've learnt it, since he read Susan's treaty. This is actually quite a clever political move, as far as establishing himself in Narnian good books goes.
DRINIAN, on the other hand, speaks CalormoTelmarine as his mother tongue.

The Pevensies understand all this because of Magic. Also Old Narnian is intelligible to speakers of Old High Narnian but not the other way around. Anyway, it is Aslan's Will that the Pevensies speak any language necessary for them.

Oh, and the Lone Islands speaks something close to Telmonarnian. Let's call it Narnimarine. It's the common tongue of the island nations, not exactly parrallel to Telmonarnian, because Telmarine Narnia has been isolated due to hydrophobia. But mutually intelligible.

YEAH I PUT WAY TOO MUCH THOUGHT INTO THESE THINGS.

In other news, I have written a title on my paper for monday. That's all. Time to panic now.

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

actually, on reflection, all this language business is unsustainable wank. Bugger. We shall keep the cultural development, and ignore language. If C.S. Lewis did, so can I.

Did you know your LJ eats the edge of the comment box

[xxlucyferxx.livejournal.com]

I feel dreadfully sorry for poor Caspian. XD

Wow...well, I personally find the language issue absolutely fascinating, but it's nearly impossible to sustain without doing a Tolkien and writing whole books about the grammar of invented languages that only obsessive hardcore scholar-fans are going to read. And in fanfic, it doesn't work. I keep wanting to fit some form of French into my stories, because it's the only other language I speak with any degree of competency, but sadly I can't make it fit into the Narnian universe in any way, shape or form. I spent hours looking up all the different islands and far-flung corners. It doesn't work.

Really? Are you sure? Crap...well, I am NOT fixing the goddamn layout again. CCS coding is HARD. Does it always do that, or is it just because this thread is getting so long?

Eep! That's what you get for filling your brian with Narnian politics and teh buttsecks. Good luck getting it finished... :/

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

I think it's just because this thread is getting too long. It started doing it at about the third comment, though.

You can code? *envies*

[xxlucyferxx.livejournal.com]

Well, not really...I kind of just make it up. Like, I know how to make it work once I've got a template, but I couldn't write my own code to save my life. XD

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

still a pretty handy skill, that :)

[xxlucyferxx.livejournal.com]

True. But it's so masochistic. It makes my head explode. :P

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

pssht, who needs a head anyway?

[xxlucyferxx.livejournal.com]

Well, exactly. Nice to see SOMEONE has a bit of common sense.

PS. This conversation has now completely disappeared. XD

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

WHEEE MAGIC VANISHING CONVERSATION!