Festive Journal 2018 + Kaffre talks Candy #45

Now that it's finally winter, I'd like to welcome everyfur to my December journal *distributes candy canes and hot chocolate* Thus far, December has been wet and mild, but otherwise uneventful as both of my dental appointments and my nephew's birthday (Dec 12) went off without incident. I did, unfortunately, wind up going a bit over-budget on gifts for the holidays, but I feel that's standard for this time of year and I should be able to replenish the money taken from my savings in relatively short order. I'm also pleased to tell you all about my gift to myself this year - I sponsored a Canada Lynx with WWF and recieved a charming plush of it whom I plan to name 'Marley' in honour of my seldom seen and lynx twins Marlene and Marlowe though I am, at present, open to other suggestions.

I don't really have any concrete plans for the remainder of this month, but my brother and his two children may be coming to spend the holiday with us which would certainly be nice and provide a bit of extra excitement for the holidays. Beyond that, my cat, Parker, is a bit underweight so we'll be trying to fatten her up a bit before the vet spays her this spring as the other main project in my life. Finally, I say if every month, but I really do need to get back into drawing and/or writing a semi-regular basis and that will definitely be one of my resolutions for this coming year though, lacking a personal scanner, I'm not 100% sure when I'll be able to share any results with my many friends here on FA, but I'm sure I'll manage it eventually!

Well that's about if for real-life. Kaffre has past few weeks since reverting to his normal age being extra good, but alas any hope of receiving the pet he asked Santa Claws for is in vain though he may be lucky enough to get some toy animals to practice caring for and maybe some books on the subject. For this month's topic of conversation, we continue our voyage through Furry history with as we delve into: TL 3 - Medieval Furrydom. Unfortunately, this particular, installment turned about a bit more Eurocentric than I'd have liked, but ultimately Europe experienced more change in this time period due to instability resulting from the collapse of the Roman Empire than most other regions where things had greater measure of continuity.

In the real world, the medieval period began with the collapse of the Roman Empire and the resulting lack of a strong centralized government led to loss of infrastructure. As a result of this (and the Church's opposition to slavery), the majority of technological advances during the Medieval period were related to finding ways to replace human labour. While primitive watermills and windmills had, of course, been used during the iron age, but their design was much improved during the middle ages and they were used in far greater numbers than before. The other major way in which slave labour was replaced was by using animals which, depending upon whether or not 'normal' animals exist, might not be feasible, but could still have ramifications for furries by virtue of how it was achieved. Firstly, animal breeding allowed for larger more powerful beasts of burden (horses of the modern size first appeared in this epoch) while the other was a result of superior harnesses which furries might benefit from. Particularly the quadrupedal furs popularly referred to as 'ferals' who would be quite grateful at not being choked while pulling. Paper was another important invention in this epoch, but I can't see it being much different from our world unless the furries' vision was so poor as to preclude reading, but even that would affect any written languages regardless of medium and would largely do away with any need for paper anyway - though if the paper is thick enough, it can be used as a construction material which could be useful. In Kaffre's world, all of these changes happened as they did in ours and while Kaffie has yet to encounter the four-legged varieties of equines, I feel he would be suitably impressed by their stature.

Warfare in the medieval period tended to feature smaller armies which, combined with the previously mentioned improvements in horse-breeding meant that cavalry was very important as it allowed a force of soldier to ride out, attack, and return to their fortifications within a single day. Therefore, this era saw improvements in saddle-design, the introduction of stirrups, couched lances, asymmetrical bows, and other paraphernalia to facilitate fighting from horseback. In a world without four-legged riding beasts, these technologies would never have developed. The middle-ages are also the time period when Black Powder first appeared and while it saw very limited use outside of siege warfare, it is worth considering whether furries would've developed it. In our world, Black Powder is believed to have been discovered by Taoist alchemists experimenting with saltpetre (KNO3) and as discussed in the installment of furry warfare, I'm of the opinion that a furry society would be significantly less likely to invent the stuff - mostly due to differences in diet and the possibility of not having surpluses of animal dung and/or carcasses lying around for deposits of potassium nitrate to form under. So far as Kaffre's world goes, I still think war would've been less frequent among furries which may have pushed back some of these inventions.

In the realm of the occult, the medieval period sees two significant changes.The first of these involved comprehensive 'scientific' theories about how magic functions (in those worlds where it does) this makes it possible for magic-wielding furs to design their own spells and rituals from scratch as opposed to compiling them piecemeal from disparate sources. The other is that, despite the church's policy being that "Witches don't exist," there were, in many places, rumours of furs making dark pacts with malicious entities in exchange for magical power. Naturally, the impact either of these have are contingent upon the existence of magic and, to a lesser extent, how much furries actually believe in it as well as the nature of religion practiced by said furs. Sadly, Kaffre's world is devoid of magic apart from occasional games of make-believe and I've not really given much thought as to what their religions might be like yet.

How have the innovations introduced in this epoch affected the lives of your characters?

Well, I guess that's it for this month. Thanks for stopping by to chat with me! *holiday hugs* Anyway, I hope to see everyfur again happy and healthy in 2019! *nuzzles and purrs*

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[b]Kaffre talks Candy #45[/b]

Name: Fox's Chunky Cookies
Manufacturer: Fox's Biscuits
Size: 175 gram package
Where Purchased: British Isles Shoppe
Description: Consists of cookies with cookies with chocolate chunks embedded in them and a coating of milk chocolate on the bottom.
Opinion: British product I've not tried before. Despite a number of similarities, these are a bit different from most North American chocolate chip cookies in that they're lighter in colour, and are harder possibly to facilitate being dunked in tea. They are, however, quite tasty nevertheless and I would definitely consider buying them on a semi-regular basis were they more readily available.

Name: Pocky, Chocolate Banana
Manufacturer: Thai-Glico
Size: 70 gram box
Where Purchased: Midori
Description: Consists of thin biscuit-sticks one end of which has been lightly dipped in a yellow, banana-flavoured compound.
Opinion: A Thai import I've seen around, but never tried until now. This product was an interesting one imparting a very artificial, but nonetheless tasty banana flavour. Overall, I enjoyed this product, but am unsure whether I'll buy it again as there are other varieties of Pocky that I like better.

Name: Ramune, Original Flavour
Manufacturer: Japan Sangaria Beverage Company
Size: 200mL bottle
Where Purchased: Midori
Description: Consists of a clear carbonated beverage sold in an unusual Codd-neck bottle.
Opinion: This product is a Japanese import - the name being a localization of the English word 'Lemonade' though it does come in a multitude of flavours. The product itself was pleasantly fizzy, but I found the flavour somewhat milder than I'd have preferred. Despite this, I did enjoy this item and am looking forward to sampling some of the other flavours.

Name: Smarties, Orange
Manufacturer: Nestle
Size: 38 gram tube
Where Purchased: British Isles Shoppe
Description: Consists of orange-flavoured chocolate pieces coated in an orange coloured candy coating
Opinion: Limited Edition British product. While I have yet to sample the British iteration of Smarties, these are very similar to the Canadian version except for the addition of a pleasant dose of orange flavouring. Therefore, your opinion of this product is mostly a matter of how you feel about orange-flavoured chocolates - I like them! Overall, I enjoyed this product and would likely buy it again if it were available year-round.

Name: Tim Tams
Manufacturer: Arnott's Biscuits Limited
Size: 200 gram package (11 cookies)
Where Purchased: Food Basics
Description: Consist of two chocolate biscuits with a layer of chocolate cream between them and then enrobed in a layer of milk chocolate.
Opinion: An Australian product I was unfamiliar with, but decided to sample. These cookies are, if nothing else, very certain about what they're trying to be and do it quite well being very crunchy, very chocolatey, and very sweet. Of these, only the sweetness bothers me at all and, worst case scenario, all three can be rectified with a glass of milk! Overall, I enjoyed these cookies and would certainly consider trying them (or one of their many variations) again at some point in the future.