Has anyone else made any interesting discoveries while doing research for their novels? For example, I had to do some research into New Orleans / voodoo for the setting of my novel, and I also wanted to include a main character that was a special being (non-human) - he started off as a vampire but I decided I wanted to go in a different route, and not a werewolf either. So I began researching shapeshifters. I decided I wanted a character who was not limited to the type of animal he shifted to, so I settled on him being a "therian" or "therianthrope". After having done more research into therianthropy, I never even realized that there is actually a whole philosophy (or religion or way of life - still not 100% on the specifics) that revolves around therianthropy. I'm shifting the lore of the "therian" a bit to suit my own purposes for the novel, but it's just interesting the things you discover while researching. The fact that therianthropy has such a following/philosophy attached to it may open even more possibilities for my story Any interesting discoveries you want to share?
In my fantasy universe, I based my 'elves' off of the ancient Roman Empire. I learned that as advanced as the Romans were, they were also very backwards or depraved with their thinking. One thing I discovered they did was they used a syrup to sweeten their wine. The syrup was made with lead and in lead pots. The Romans knew lead was poisonous, but they still made and used the sweetener in their wine. Some of the richer Romans also had a room in their homes called a vomitorium (basically, a room where you go to vomit). This wasn't a room for sick people. When having a large feast sometimes the guests would get full before it was over. They would go to the vomitorium to vomit and empty their stomach to make room for the next course of the meal. Elves...such an advanced race.
i discovered that the only way for perpetual motion to work is to have the machine so large it covered differing levels of gravitational force and so the energy that is lost at one end by friction is not as high as the energy added by gravity at the other end. also a human cannot suck water through a tube any higher than 3 metres. (stupid gravity)
Interesting! I think I had heard about the throwing up bit before - I had heard they stuck peacock feathers down their throats or something to make themselves vomit (I don't know if that part is true). Interesting!
