Perfidia - World Editing 1

Perfidia Bal Berith's office stood as testament to the nightmare. Wall to wall, floor to ceiling stacked tomes and scrolls that contained the key details of Whitecrosse. By reusing an older world, Perfidia saved herself a lot of initial trouble and a little Humanity, but the downsides became apparent quickly. None of this crap was computerized. The Perfidia of 1642, younger and more eager to please, ignorant of future human technological advancement, had happily operated in the antiquated medium of parchment and quill pen. The Perfidia of 2017, upon fishing all this junk out of storage, only slumped her shoulders in despair.

Nonetheless she got to work. As she expected, the world of Whitecrosse more-or-less remained unchanged since Coke's time. There'd been births and deaths, strife and conflict, disease and hunger, but no real political, social, or technological advancement. This immutability turned out to be a problem, though. For starters, everyone in the world spoke in Shakespearean English: lots of thee, thou, prithee, and so on. Such vernacular would make the world unlivable to a modern teenager, so Perfidia updated it to a more contemporary style. But when she did that, she realized everyone started to use slang that wouldn't feel suitably fantastical or medieval to a 2017 ear, so she had to adjust again, trying to find a mode that sounded old without actually being old.

***

[7] Form Specifications Rather Than Formal