Allow Myself To Explain...Myself
Oct. 16th, 2007 05:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
funraniumI too submit to the Justify Your Interests Meme. The interests of interest were:
1) Byzantium
My interest in the Byzantines is a big ball of other interests all rolled into one: church history, theology, Roman splendour & decadence, intrigue that makes the average soap opera look like Sesame Street, and most importantly, most people don't give a damn about the history of Byzantium. I like knowing things other people don't especially when I feel they help me understand how the world works. The modern world makes no sense if you ignore the 1100 years of Byzantium. Christianity got its shit together, and then lost it completely and forever, at the command of their kings (AKA basileus from which the Slavic name Vasili and Basil come from). The first caliphs cut their teeth against Byzantium. Imperial and Patriarchal decree created states and borders in Europe that we are still fighting over (see Kosovo).
Most importantly, the Roman Empire didn't die when Rome was sacked it just finished sloshing the power to the East. 1000 years later, it sloshed back west again when Venice ordered Constantinople sacked.
Also, Byzantine histories are wonderful inspiration for my kind of D&D game. There is a reason my players receive a tasteful hardbound leather notebook to take notes in and study of those notes is strongly recommended prior to each session.
2) Rugby
I can't stand most team sports, but rugby has always appealed to me in a way American football never did from the first time I saw it played in junior high school. It is not...wussy. The game only stops for blood. You are not watching a game, it is battle. I got the hang of the rules of rugby after hanging out in New Zealand during the '03 World Cup right after I got off the Ice. I remain a casual Canterbury and All Blacks fan because of that.
3) Urban Exploring
I like being places I am not supposed to be and seeing things I'm not supposed to see. There is something very restful about wandering a derelict building/complex at night all by yourself or with a few friends. For a short time, you own it. Hidden away in places you'd never think to look, there are little treasures, like a Meritorious Service medal sitting inside the frame of a broken open wall or the amazing graffiti tucked amongst the gang tags. Bring a camera to document the ruins, because progress will get the better of them soon and you won't be spy enough to go poking around in them when they become ruins again.
4) Radiation Related Accidents
This is my job. It is also the dark side of Adventure Science in the Amazing Atomic Age. In general, I am keen on all manner of stories where things go terribly wrong, but radiation mishaps are perhaps my favorite. Such wonderful quackery and arrogance have been there from almost day one when Willi Roentgen radiographed Frau Roentgen's hand to check out the bones and her ring, giving her a skin burn in the process.
5) Bartending
Many things about it really. First, it is chemistry you can drink and I make some tasty things. Two, sitting behind the bar is a comfortable place to be at a party; the party comes to me when I am slinging booze and usually doesn't wander all that far away. I can hold court telling stories, hearing tales, and all the while vaporizing small chunks of liver. This leads to the last bit, Three, in vino veritas. The drunk are less likely to lie, or at least less likely to do it convincingly.
I was the bartender for South Pole Station and I still miss it. I do my best with what I've got.
6) Despotism
First off, it is another bit of my interest in the Byzantines. Despot was a title Manuel the First granted to his son Alexius. Eventually appointed foreign rulers within the Byzantine sphere ruled as despots in their Despotates.
However, it is of more interest to me because I think it is the default human government when you move beyond the family group. Other governments require much more work or are just rule by fear and intimidation but dressed up real nice like. When things break down, start looking for despotism...but that's also the tools you have to work with to make something more. Montesquieu was a believer in the enlightened despot, that it takes that absolute authority to enact the reforms necessary to improve the lot of the people. The problem is convincing despots to be enlightened, to stay enlightened, and to go away when the reforms are done. Good bloody luck. Blood is important.
1) Byzantium
My interest in the Byzantines is a big ball of other interests all rolled into one: church history, theology, Roman splendour & decadence, intrigue that makes the average soap opera look like Sesame Street, and most importantly, most people don't give a damn about the history of Byzantium. I like knowing things other people don't especially when I feel they help me understand how the world works. The modern world makes no sense if you ignore the 1100 years of Byzantium. Christianity got its shit together, and then lost it completely and forever, at the command of their kings (AKA basileus from which the Slavic name Vasili and Basil come from). The first caliphs cut their teeth against Byzantium. Imperial and Patriarchal decree created states and borders in Europe that we are still fighting over (see Kosovo).
Most importantly, the Roman Empire didn't die when Rome was sacked it just finished sloshing the power to the East. 1000 years later, it sloshed back west again when Venice ordered Constantinople sacked.
Also, Byzantine histories are wonderful inspiration for my kind of D&D game. There is a reason my players receive a tasteful hardbound leather notebook to take notes in and study of those notes is strongly recommended prior to each session.
2) Rugby
I can't stand most team sports, but rugby has always appealed to me in a way American football never did from the first time I saw it played in junior high school. It is not...wussy. The game only stops for blood. You are not watching a game, it is battle. I got the hang of the rules of rugby after hanging out in New Zealand during the '03 World Cup right after I got off the Ice. I remain a casual Canterbury and All Blacks fan because of that.
3) Urban Exploring
I like being places I am not supposed to be and seeing things I'm not supposed to see. There is something very restful about wandering a derelict building/complex at night all by yourself or with a few friends. For a short time, you own it. Hidden away in places you'd never think to look, there are little treasures, like a Meritorious Service medal sitting inside the frame of a broken open wall or the amazing graffiti tucked amongst the gang tags. Bring a camera to document the ruins, because progress will get the better of them soon and you won't be spy enough to go poking around in them when they become ruins again.
4) Radiation Related Accidents
This is my job. It is also the dark side of Adventure Science in the Amazing Atomic Age. In general, I am keen on all manner of stories where things go terribly wrong, but radiation mishaps are perhaps my favorite. Such wonderful quackery and arrogance have been there from almost day one when Willi Roentgen radiographed Frau Roentgen's hand to check out the bones and her ring, giving her a skin burn in the process.
5) Bartending
Many things about it really. First, it is chemistry you can drink and I make some tasty things. Two, sitting behind the bar is a comfortable place to be at a party; the party comes to me when I am slinging booze and usually doesn't wander all that far away. I can hold court telling stories, hearing tales, and all the while vaporizing small chunks of liver. This leads to the last bit, Three, in vino veritas. The drunk are less likely to lie, or at least less likely to do it convincingly.
I was the bartender for South Pole Station and I still miss it. I do my best with what I've got.
6) Despotism
First off, it is another bit of my interest in the Byzantines. Despot was a title Manuel the First granted to his son Alexius. Eventually appointed foreign rulers within the Byzantine sphere ruled as despots in their Despotates.
However, it is of more interest to me because I think it is the default human government when you move beyond the family group. Other governments require much more work or are just rule by fear and intimidation but dressed up real nice like. When things break down, start looking for despotism...but that's also the tools you have to work with to make something more. Montesquieu was a believer in the enlightened despot, that it takes that absolute authority to enact the reforms necessary to improve the lot of the people. The problem is convincing despots to be enlightened, to stay enlightened, and to go away when the reforms are done. Good bloody luck. Blood is important.
