Challenge: Medieval Batman
- Thread starter acgoldis
- Start date
Given the dizzying array of privileges that peasants possessed from one village to the next, Batman is going to have an absolute hell of a time.
"I went to Forrabury and I found the lord did not honor Family A's right to fish from X stream. Then I discovered that he was barring family B from maintaining the beehives their family is entitled to have in the land contract! I taught him a lesson, but I had to make quick work of it because I heard from a shepherd that his family in the neighboring village was made to perform corvée labor on a Thursday, which they traditionally never did! The horror!"
Batman is lucky we have citizens, constitutions and universal legal codes these days.
"I went to Forrabury and I found the lord did not honor Family A's right to fish from X stream. Then I discovered that he was barring family B from maintaining the beehives their family is entitled to have in the land contract! I taught him a lesson, but I had to make quick work of it because I heard from a shepherd that his family in the neighboring village was made to perform corvée labor on a Thursday, which they traditionally never did! The horror!"
Batman is lucky we have citizens, constitutions and universal legal codes these days.
Not penguins, but they definitely knew about great auks, now-extinct, flightless, black-and-white seabirds that actually gave their name to penguins ("penguin" was originally a synonym for the great auk that was applied to true penguins by European sailors who noticed the similarity between the two). Of course, if "Penguin" seems anachronistic as a name, you could always use "Garefowl" (via Old Norse geirfugl, "spearbird"), "Apponatz" (an early French name), or any of the relevant synonyms in the language of wherever Medieval Penguin is from.
The Scarlet Pimpernal is a sort of protoBatman. Doesn't fit the OPs challenge in several aspects (time period, target, fictional), but same spirit.
The Jester confronts a conference of local corrupt noblemen
Jester: Ha, ha, ha. And I dost thought my jests in poor taste.
Sir Gambol: Giveth one reason why thou should not be beheaded
Jester: Let us turn the sundial back a year. These bailiffs and barristers dareth not molest thee. What transpireth? Did thy loins drop off? A man of my station...
Sir Gambol: A ghoul?
Jester: I know why thou hast thine confessionals in broad daylight. I knowest why thy fear the dusk. The Batman. Batman has shown Gothamshire thine true colors. Sir Dent, he is only the first stone. And as for the burgher banker's so called design, Batman hast no feudatory, he shalt put him to the question.
The Bohemian: What dost thou propose?
Jester: It is simple. We slay the Batman.
Doge Maroni: If it is so simple, why hast thou not already delivered his head?
Jester: If thou art skilled an archer, one must demand gold for unleashing the bowstring.
Doge Maroni: What is thy price?
Jester: Half.
Sir Gambol: Thou art suffering woodnesse
Jester: Nay. If we do not do something, soon, Sir Gambol won't be able to get a farthing for his Dowager.
Sir Gambol: Enough from the fool! I shalt deliver a proclamation, 500 pence for this fool slain, a million alive, so I might teach him courtly decorum first. Thou thinkest to be a highwayman unto us and just walk away?
Jester: Yeah
Jester: Ha, ha, ha. And I dost thought my jests in poor taste.
Sir Gambol: Giveth one reason why thou should not be beheaded
Jester: Let us turn the sundial back a year. These bailiffs and barristers dareth not molest thee. What transpireth? Did thy loins drop off? A man of my station...
Sir Gambol: A ghoul?
Jester: I know why thou hast thine confessionals in broad daylight. I knowest why thy fear the dusk. The Batman. Batman has shown Gothamshire thine true colors. Sir Dent, he is only the first stone. And as for the burgher banker's so called design, Batman hast no feudatory, he shalt put him to the question.
The Bohemian: What dost thou propose?
Jester: It is simple. We slay the Batman.
Doge Maroni: If it is so simple, why hast thou not already delivered his head?
Jester: If thou art skilled an archer, one must demand gold for unleashing the bowstring.
Doge Maroni: What is thy price?
Jester: Half.
Sir Gambol: Thou art suffering woodnesse
Jester: Nay. If we do not do something, soon, Sir Gambol won't be able to get a farthing for his Dowager.
Sir Gambol: Enough from the fool! I shalt deliver a proclamation, 500 pence for this fool slain, a million alive, so I might teach him courtly decorum first. Thou thinkest to be a highwayman unto us and just walk away?
Jester: Yeah