Travelling East: What will a traveller note in 1230 AD?

[Vrylakos]

i'm trying to get a sense of what folks will note as changing as one travels from France to Jerusalem, travelling along the northern coasts of the Mediterranean, Aegean, and so on.

Food? Clothing? Customs? Beliefs?

I'm trying to also read up on the Eastern Church and how it differs and relates to the Western Church and it's Pope.

Some books are useful for this in Ars4/5, but there's a lot of rules-crunch as opposed to flavor. I may have to see if anything can be gleaned from the few Crusader diaries I own.

[Vrylakos]

Whoops, got cut off. In any case, I was wondering if the combined knowledge of the Ars board might throw in their 2 cents as to what a French traveller might note as they moved into the exotic Mythic East. I can only become so versed in the times in the scant days my game will occur there... I am sure many here have insights that I would not consider, or have ran games over the long term in these parts.

Any advice or assistance would be appreciated!

Vrylakos

[thrakhath]

It really depends what route you take, you can miss out any culture you want on the route by choosing to take a ship past them to speed up the route. In the second crusade the english crusaders took ship almost all the way stopping and fighting in portugal, before continuing on around gibraltar.

1st crusade routes:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... de.Map.jpg
show the different choices made based on starting location

If you do choose to go the land routes the whole way remember how fractured greece is in the wake of the 4th crusade with the various latin principalties fighting against the native Byzantium pretenders:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LatinEmpire2.png

So give an exact route you want, and better give a year reference as the situation changes.

[Vrylakos]

Apologies. The year is 1230AD. The route taken is from France, the group travels to Venice, and takes ship from there to the Aegean, stopping at some Venetian held islands such as Santorini. From there, I imagine a continuance East, but am unsure what popular ports of call exist between the Aegean and Acre... or Arsuf - unsure what the best port to land at if Jerusalem is your final destination.

[thrakhath]

I'm afraid my own knowledge is appallingly scant in terms of culture of the time, I'd tend to go with knowledge of the current culture and go from there, but that's my own cop-out.

I'd just say make sure you have the Rome 3rd edition book (downloadable from e23 if you need it quickly) if the magi are heading through Venice, as with all of the covenants in the tribunal keeping houses in the city, there's plenty of room for hermetic interaction. I'd also say that it would be wierd if your group travelled past Harco without stopping there as it's on the route, and that a redcap travelling companion can always help, especially in terms of language and guiding.