They were called as such because it was the midpoint between the fall of Imperial Rome and the modern age. It's a rather outmoded view of the era, as it paints those who inhabited it as primitive and simplistic when the reality was anything but. Humans in the seventeen and eighteenth centuries preferred to think themselves markedly more sophisticated than their forebears.
( they were not, in point of fact. but burgeoning world travel, literacy, advancements in medicine and the like certainly convinced them of it, though godric himself had attended surgeries aplenty in his childhood. the druids knew which plants helped and which harmed. which could bring down a fever or draw an infection. technology was not the only lost thing. )
I see... from your perspective, having lived so long and seen so much, do you think people became more sophisticated? I don't believe we're much more so where I am from the past, as much as innovations have come to pass. This place and time seems much the same... people are still people, I don't find them particularly more advanced.
[ He's not dissing anyone, but... people really don't seem too different to him. Just more technologically developed. ]
Some do enjoy treating me as if I'm impaired somehow for not understanding the technology, though.
( the human condition is not an innately sophisticated one to begin with, but after a moment he amends — )
In the era of my birth, you had those that hated slavery, violence and brutality. That took joy in learning about other cultures rather than tear them down, that were honorable to their enemies and generous to their friends. In the era I am most recently come from, you have those that are much the same and in being so, those people were and still remain good people. The issue is that those that revel in humanity's worse traits are the loudest and have always been so. The future has given them more platforms.
( he lifts one hand, palm-up. )
A city is still a city. Streets, sewers, coliseums. People value displays of wealth in the same way. People still make promises they don't intend to keep. And people still stand in defense of others for the betterment of mankind. They have cultivated a better idea of things like germ theory, social and medical sciences, preservation of art and the like, but those things always existed to an extent, it is humanity's understanding of them that has shifted.
( he has a great many opinions on a great many people, too many to list. history has remembered the loudest voices but very rarely the best. his attention snaps back to trevor as if pulled by an elastic, and he sets his mouth into a firm line. it isn't dissimilar to the look he wears when expressing displeasure at an underling. )
And any who treat you poorly for an ignorance you cannot help is themselves a fool. You are an intelligent man, the advancements of the age are merely a matter of experience. You will learn.
[ Trevor listens to Godric's observations on humanity and nods along in agreement, finds himself wondering that he isn't balking at listening to a vampire's opinion but it's...... correct, to him. And the way he speaks, Trevor doesn't have to ask him to explain what he's saying the same way he often does with other people from the far future. It's strangely comfortable, already, and he doesn't know how to feel about that.
He realizes with a bit of a gutpunch that he likes Godric, despite himself and the difference in nature between them. It's almost like the moment he realized Alucard was a friend, but more shocking for it being a full vampire and there being no Sypha to mediate, to calm his instincts.
Who would have thought?
Then Godric says he's intelligent and Trevor finds himself feeling a strange sense of pride in that. He never thought of himself as being especially so, he's not a scholar or scientist, he's the one who hits things until they die, but. The rest of it makes sense to him and he finds himself valuing Godric's opinion. ]
That's something I've not heard since I was a child -- but yes, anyone can learn. Especially practical things such as this. Is your time as advanced as this city?
( but all human cities are essentially the same. all develop along the same lines. all grow from one small settlement. he has seen it enough to track the progress and understand it. )
New Amsterdam exists roughly five hundred years beyond my own time.
I see. So you're closer to this time than I am, but still a ways back. Interesting. I wonder if there's some correlation with the times and places people are drawn from, or if it's entirely random.
[ And now they're just.... chatting. As if Godric wasn't a vampire and Trevor wasn't a vampire hunter, as if he didn't just feed the other man his own blood. Strange. ]
Ah... I should get out of your hair, so to speak. Let you go back to whatever it is you were doing.
[ And reflect on his life choices. Possibly with more booze. ]
I would extend you the same courtesy. If you find your hunger growing again, or anything else I might be able to assist with.
[ And he'll definitely follow up if Godric doesn't, on the first count. But for now he nods and turns away, heading back to the kitchen for some privacy more than anything. ]
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2020-02-04 12:52 am (UTC)They were called as such because it was the midpoint between the fall of Imperial Rome and the modern age. It's a rather outmoded view of the era, as it paints those who inhabited it as primitive and simplistic when the reality was anything but. Humans in the seventeen and eighteenth centuries preferred to think themselves markedly more sophisticated than their forebears.
( they were not, in point of fact. but burgeoning world travel, literacy, advancements in medicine and the like certainly convinced them of it, though godric himself had attended surgeries aplenty in his childhood. the druids knew which plants helped and which harmed. which could bring down a fever or draw an infection. technology was not the only lost thing. )
no subject
Date: 2020-02-04 06:45 pm (UTC)[ He's not dissing anyone, but... people really don't seem too different to him. Just more technologically developed. ]
Some do enjoy treating me as if I'm impaired somehow for not understanding the technology, though.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-04 08:09 pm (UTC)( the human condition is not an innately sophisticated one to begin with, but after a moment he amends — )
In the era of my birth, you had those that hated slavery, violence and brutality. That took joy in learning about other cultures rather than tear them down, that were honorable to their enemies and generous to their friends. In the era I am most recently come from, you have those that are much the same and in being so, those people were and still remain good people. The issue is that those that revel in humanity's worse traits are the loudest and have always been so. The future has given them more platforms.
( he lifts one hand, palm-up. )
A city is still a city. Streets, sewers, coliseums. People value displays of wealth in the same way. People still make promises they don't intend to keep. And people still stand in defense of others for the betterment of mankind. They have cultivated a better idea of things like germ theory, social and medical sciences, preservation of art and the like, but those things always existed to an extent, it is humanity's understanding of them that has shifted.
( he has a great many opinions on a great many people, too many to list. history has remembered the loudest voices but very rarely the best. his attention snaps back to trevor as if pulled by an elastic, and he sets his mouth into a firm line. it isn't dissimilar to the look he wears when expressing displeasure at an underling. )
And any who treat you poorly for an ignorance you cannot help is themselves a fool. You are an intelligent man, the advancements of the age are merely a matter of experience. You will learn.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-06 02:41 pm (UTC)He realizes with a bit of a gutpunch that he likes Godric, despite himself and the difference in nature between them. It's almost like the moment he realized Alucard was a friend, but more shocking for it being a full vampire and there being no Sypha to mediate, to calm his instincts.
Who would have thought?
Then Godric says he's intelligent and Trevor finds himself feeling a strange sense of pride in that. He never thought of himself as being especially so, he's not a scholar or scientist, he's the one who hits things until they die, but. The rest of it makes sense to him and he finds himself valuing Godric's opinion. ]
That's something I've not heard since I was a child -- but yes, anyone can learn. Especially practical things such as this. Is your time as advanced as this city?
no subject
Date: 2020-02-15 08:46 pm (UTC)( but all human cities are essentially the same. all develop along the same lines. all grow from one small settlement. he has seen it enough to track the progress and understand it. )
New Amsterdam exists roughly five hundred years beyond my own time.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-17 11:51 pm (UTC)[ And now they're just.... chatting. As if Godric wasn't a vampire and Trevor wasn't a vampire hunter, as if he didn't just feed the other man his own blood. Strange. ]
Ah... I should get out of your hair, so to speak. Let you go back to whatever it is you were doing.
[ And reflect on his life choices. Possibly with more booze. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-02-18 04:39 am (UTC)Please, do not hesitate to call on me in the future. I will help you if I am able.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-20 06:10 pm (UTC)[ And he'll definitely follow up if Godric doesn't, on the first count. But for now he nods and turns away, heading back to the kitchen for some privacy more than anything. ]