Time Travel Q: Do you have the secret to charm a King with?

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by BarlowEnter, Sep 8, 2013.

  1. thirdwind

    thirdwind Member Contest Administrator Reviewer Contributor

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    You know, anyone with even an elementary knowledge of physics and math (calculus) would be a god. Just think of all the stuff you can do!
     
  2. EllBeEss

    EllBeEss Senior Member

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    I wouldn't survive very long. I have some knowledge of maths and physics (at a year 12 level) but that wouldn't get me very far.

    I'd probably get burned at the stake for witchcraft before doing anything ground breaking.
     
  3. BarlowEnter

    BarlowEnter Member

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    Do not join Randall Flagg's side!! His goal is to end civilization, so don't get lure in by the air-conditioning and chocolate milkshake.:oops:

    Above is a reference to The Stand...in case that joke didn't come across.

    LOL I can see it now. "What is this that you wrote?" "I can..if I add this and minus that..it'll look like.." "But why is it like this though..how did this happen?" "I lack the fundamentals to disassemble its complexity and explain it to you."
    "Can't explain? Witchcraft!"
    "No!!!!"
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2013
  4. DPVP

    DPVP Active Member

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    a modern person with a basic first world education would be able to do a lot. your basic STEM courses you took in school would give you a big leg up over most of the population of the time period. I don't know if everyone had to complete first responder training in high school but that would give you an edge. i also was/ still certified as a EMT witch i guess gives me more a medical edge then the averaged person on the streets now.my other skill is finance, and is what i currently do. i probably could run a competitive bank then if i could get the start up capital.

    the issue with the skills we have is the society then. if you suddenly show up with radical knowledge it may be rejected and seen as a heresy. our idea of medicine and the function of the human body is very different from theirs. being too much out the box could be dangerous for you.
     
  5. EllBeEss

    EllBeEss Senior Member

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    It's not the maths I was worried about. :p I do anything weird including appearing in a puff of smoke wearing jeans and I'm dead.
     
  6. DPVP

    DPVP Active Member

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    Is not the real goal to take power and use your knowledge to make an empire?
     
  7. EllBeEss

    EllBeEss Senior Member

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    it's also about surviving long enough to create an empire
     
  8. DPVP

    DPVP Active Member

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    of course, like The Prince says you have to be patient and work hard to get power. at the same time, we have to have our eye on that prize and start building early.
     
  9. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    I'm a doctor. I also speak several languages. I read tarot, tell fortune from tea leaves and coffee, do astrology (Western and Chinese plus date selection). I can sing, and tell stories. I see myself as one of those witches/healers/advisors/arch manipulators that King simply cannot do without ;)
     
  10. BarlowEnter

    BarlowEnter Member

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    A doctor and an engineer, hard to tell which would be the real powerhouse in a chaotic environment like the medieval period.

    If you're skilled in western medicine, would you still be considered as witch/healer type person? Wait...now that I think about it, yes it should be people's first reaction. But if you're willing to train other people, I think your mythical status would be stripped away, unless you're good at manipulating religious aspects, or you just don't care if people knows the secret.

    I can do Running suture and Interrupted suture on pig feet and that's about it.:p
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2013
  11. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    The thing with doctors is, we are quick learners. I'd have to learn more about herbalism, since penicillin, aspirin and warfarin, ok digoxin, opium, atropine as well, wouldn't be enough. I would probably find a really old healer woman and apprentice with her for a couple of years, and take all her recipes. Teach her how to set bones, deliver babies (or add to her existing knowledge) and perform surgery. In any case, no way I'd be letting anyone strip me of my mythical status. I'd probably seduce a string of powerful men and bewitch them to serve as my personal army and slaves.
    It's as good a start as any. Maybe you can be my nurse? Close them up etc :)
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2013
  12. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    Are we coastal? I have this nugget majesty, my knowledge, you see, I can show your mariners how to sail against the wind, and think maybe construct a nice deep keel for the latest vessels in the range? Perhaps we might explore the oceans of the world? Oh yes - and free swimming lessons too...

    Fancy a ship full of inca gold, seems I'm your conquistador of choice, well they quite give the stuff away. We'll tell them we're Gods or something, then afterwards up Tahiti for r n r with the hula chief's daughters. Maybe ditch the North West passage plans and you see that saucepan up there in the sky well, follow the pan's lip, all the way up, that's the Matstar.

    Given a couple of these mathmatician slaves, I'll have longitude licked in a decade. Oh, and I'll invent surfing...
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2013
  13. BarlowEnter

    BarlowEnter Member

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    I don't mind being a male nurse :) No, use the title: an 'apprentice', don't want that mythical element go to waste.
    I came to the right place. This sounds magical. But I'm not sure about being on a ship that's built using the old design. Pirates and sailors life weren't as magical as they are now, or in fictions.

    If you can find a way to avoid the harsh condition they had to bear when they're at sea, maybe a modern design of a wooden ship, or the reversed sail you mentioned, then sea life would be amazing. Considering that there's no pirates at that time, you would be the first ones to dominate naval warfare.

    If you can take the sea that early in history, you can use your knowledge to earth's map, which you had learned and yet they're clueless, and go for the most resourceful place with the least defense.

    I think if you can actually make ships that can sail far and healthy, then you're probably the winner, given you're the only one among us with an army.
     
  14. Porcupine

    Porcupine Member

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    I agree that anybody with good to reasonable knowledge of maths, engineering and physics is going to become a star. There is so much you can do from relatively simple materials that will get you very far, very soon. First step to making more robust equipment is, of course, going to be improving tools. A good drill, a good lathe, and you're halfway there.

    Put a modern chemist in a medieval alchemist's lab and he'll probably make aspirin before you can say "Purple of Cassius". Oh, that has nanoparticles.

    Once our electrical engineer hands me a working flash-lamp, I can take a pair of good silver mirrors, a ruby from the King's crown, and build a laser. :D
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2013
  15. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    Get speccys back to the lab. An attractive, arts type all-rounder is required for a mission of this dimension.
     

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