From: BrendaWriter@yahoo.com   
      
   On 10/18/2014 8:59 PM, Jymesion wrote:   
   > On Sat, 18 Oct 2014 10:07:43 -0700 (PDT), Shawn Wilson   
   >   wrote:   
   >> On Friday, October 17, 2014 4:31:31 AM UTC-7, Jymesion wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>> it's why someone would establish a convent.   
   >>   
   >> Why?  Maybe just because he finds it amusing.   
   >   
   > What story purpose does that serve?   
   >   
   >>> I have a time-traveler story that's stalled because he planned   
   >>> meticulously, and I can't think of anything to throw at him that'd be   
   >>> a real threat.   
   >>   
   >> Other people are always the greatest threat of all.   
   >   
   > Unfortunately, he's set things up in such a way that they can't be a   
   > real danger to him. If something unexpected does come up, he can be   
   > out of there instantly and start over somewhen else.   
   >   
   >>> If there was a decent reason for him to establish a convent, it'd be   
   >>> wide open. Neon pink robes, dark sunglasses, and jodhpur boots for   
   >>> everyone! :)   
   >>   
   >> See above- "To get on the good side of a bishop, he paid to have a   
   cathedral finished. To keep up his public image, he's endowed several churches   
   and a hospital."   
   >> add '...and financed a convent'  Problem solved.   
   >   
   > In my opinion, they're completely different.   
   >   
   > Cash support of the cathedral, churches, and hospital heightens the   
   > power and prestige of the leaders of those institutions without   
   > intruding on their beliefs or practices.   
   >   
   > Requiring strange rules for a convent would be imposing new beliefs   
   > and practices.   
   >   
   > In the first case, the populace would say "Our bishop is a great man.   
   > The foreigner must be okay if he supports our leader."   
   >   
   > In the latter, they'd say "Why is he trying to force this upon us?"   
   >   
   > That could be overcome, but it'd have to be for a really, really,   
   > really good reason (and, obviously, a reason which contributes to the   
   > plot).   
   >   
   >> I am dirt poor in a culture that can't cross to other dimensions, and *I*   
   have a Nook with ~4000 titles on it.  He has a book on dye making.  If I were   
   going to the middle ages you damn well better believe I would pick up a   
   thousand or so books on    
   useful topics first.  (AND a solar battery charger, plus a couple of spares in   
   case the first one breaks)   
   >   
   > He's not there to help them, and he won't be living there very long.   
   > He's using the era and place as an operational base for his illegal   
   > activities.   
   >   
   > His concerns are placating the local bigwigs so they won't mount an   
   > attack on his ship (or allow anyone else to do so), and so he can hire   
   > locals for simple work (chipping rock from fossils, etc.).   
   >   
      
      
   Mmm, then that gives you an opening. The local baron is oppressed by   
   three older sisters, who boss him unmercifully, drink all his wine, and   
   spend far too much of the barony's income on fashion. All his   
   neighboring barons are either viciously ambitious, so that he does not   
   dare to empower them by handing off a sister in marriage, or already   
   happily married and so unavailable. What he needs, yes! is a convent.   
   Essentially a socially allowable way to get his sisters to live   
   somewhere else. And look! here is a handy foreigner who is anxious to do   
   business. For the mere founding of an Abbey dedicated to St. Catherine,   
   sir, you got a deal.   
      
   Brenda   
      
   --   
   My latest novel SPEAK TO OUR DESIRES is available exclusively from Book   
   View Cafe.   
   http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Brenda-Clough/Novels/Speak   
   to-Our-Desires-Chapter-01   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)