As modern people playing a medieval game, we sometimes bring references to our modern loves within our time in the Society, whether it be through subtle cosplay or what goes into a particular piece of art that we create for someone else.  While we prefer to keep some of those things from encroaching on our medieval lives, sometimes the joy of hiding modern things in plain sight at events because they look right at home.

Besides hiding phones in cases made to look like wax tablets or girdle books, our modern items and loves can also hide in other ways.  For example, on a whim, I decided that the one thing that the fantastic beasts from the Harry Potter universe really needed to be in the ultimate fantastical beast collection: a bestiary.

So I painted a Niffler in the style of a 12th c bestiary (like the Aberdeen Bestiary), and also calligraphing text written in Middle English.  Most bestiaries, from what I can see, were done in Latin, but I don’t happen to be particularly good with Latin.  Middle English is a bit easier to cobble together from Modern English sources.

One of the ways to incorporate a modern item into a medieval setting is to draw it in a medieval way.  Humans look cartoony, and well, most animals don’t look like their real-life counterparts.  It was quite natural to take the same sort of concepts as applied to animals like Amphisbaena and Yales and use them for a completely fictional universe.

I may do more of these.  I mostly did this for practice with calligraphy and illumination, but I find a certain silly joy in doing ridiculous fictional animals in a wholly period style.

Speaking of practice, woof, my calligraphy needs it.  But, we’ll see how much it improves with the next piece.