To garner details
to create a realistic primitive setting, it helps to
look at history, back to times when harsh
circumstances greeted individuals each morning.
Imagine waking without running water. No bathing,
flushing a toilet or adding water to the coffee
maker.
Bathing In a Primitive Fantasy World
Do people in your
fantasy world take baths? Is it a luxury? Fantasy
writers have options. Characters bathing in lakes or
rivers can be found out by passersby. Another
bathing option includes a wooden tub hidden beneath
a canopy or tent for privacy. During the summer
months, this tub could be found outside in a garden
setting. In the winter, it would be found beside a
raging fire indoors. Either makes for a setting
spilling over with possibilities.
In most primitive
fantasy settings, wealth separates classes. The
wealthy have more amenities available because they
have servants to do the work. One such servant would
be the bathman. This servant readies bath
accessories and helps their lord or master to get
dressed.
Other than the
wooden tub, a lavabo makes for an interesting
bathing scene. A lavabo is "a large stone basin
equipped with a number of small orifices through
which water flowed, used for the performance of
ablutions."
Some of these lavabo were rather ornate. Fantasy
writers can carve a lavabo into a shape of a
creature relevant to the plot. Although such a tub
is historically tied to rituals, it's existence
makes for an interesting possibility when designing
your fantasy's amenities.
In the Old
Testament the Jewish priests washed in a laver. This
large basin sat on a pedestal of ornate bronze oxen
statues. This bath set outside the Hebrew
tabernacle, and represented a spiritual cleansing.
Fantasy writers can add an element like this for
cleric-like characters.
Growing up, I
visited my great-grandparents before they had
running water. A basin sat at the door for washing
hands as each person entered the house. Such a
washbasin can be included in a primitive fantasy
world for washing before and after meals. In fancier
settings a refillable tank can be placed above the
basin to help keep wash water clean, but remember it
is someone's job to fill the tank.
The Privy or Latrine In A Primitive Fantasy
World
Where do fantasy
characters go when it's time to relieve themselves?
Privy and latrine are names for toilet commonly used
when writing fantasy. Remember, primitive times were
crude. Chamber pots were a common household item,
used to collect urine and feces and later dumped.
For this article we'll look at the more
aesthetically pleasing privies that were often used
in castles. Much like an indoor outhouse, privies
consisted of stone or wooden seats that emptied via
a chute into water like a moat or stream. As
primitive as this sounds, a privy was a bit of a
luxury and unfortunately had to be cleaned. People
with this job were called gong farmers.
Another
consideration when designing your fantasy privy is
lighting. Is there a source of natural light or do
characters have to carry a lantern, candle or torch?
Is it drafty enough to blow out the light? Also,
consider information from the above section and
think about whether your privy is equipped with a
washbasin. How advanced is your society?
When designing the
privy, think about the chute. Is it a way for
enemies to gain access, or is it equipped with bars
to keep invaders out? If so, who cares for the
condition of the bars? Do they rust? Do they need
cleaning?
For wealthier
fantasy characters, you may want to add a chamber
privy. This is nothing more than a seat protruding
out form the wall of a private sleeping chamber, but
such a convenience may make for an interesting
setting in your fantasy novel.
And what about
privacy? Do all your characters use the same
facilities? What about the guards? As a writer, you
can develop facilities that work for your story.
Historically, large castles built special towers so
guard privies could be located in one place. These
emptied into a pit in the basement that made
invasion to overcome the guards more difficult.
Another common location for guard privies would be
within the castle wall construction. Check my
article on castles for more information (link).
Wells As a Source Of Drinking Water
When writing
fantasy, strategically place clean water sources to
make sense in your plot. Capture the source of
drinking water and you capture the people. In
primitive cultures wells were a common, essential
source of drinking water. When creating larger
castles, fantasy writers can dig more than one well
in the courtyard or bailey. It may be located within
a wooded structure known as a well house or if the
society has the technology, the pump house. Wells
can also be placed inside a castle setting. If you
do this in your fantasy writing consider logistics
and keep it near the kitchen or other places where
water is often needed.
Because wells are
necessary in a primitive setting, another idea when
developing your fantasy is a secret well. If you
create it, give it purpose. Hide it in the basement
or dungeon as a secret way into the castle, or give
it magical properties like something that could be
used by a healer or in a wizard's dorm.
You've most likely
seen buckets tied to ropes to pull water from a
well. This method was even used to draw water from
one floor to another within a castle as buckets
pulled through trap doors from one floor to the next
helped avoid carrying water up long staircases.
Biblically, in nomadic societies, wells were
conquered and filled with large stones so they
couldn't be used. Women draped cloth over the mouths
of wells to dry grain, which biblically was used as
a way to hide men from those searching for them. Be
creative. Wells should exist in your primitive
fantasy world. Use them in your plot.
Don't Forget the Sense of Smell
With all that we've
learned about amenities, consider the sense of smell
when writing about a primitive fantasy world. Where
do characters draw water? How does the moat smell?
How about within the castle? And just think, we
didn't even talk about garbage or livestock.
