Note
Br = British English.
Am = American English.
FL = Fallen London
In FL, we use Br. Note that in Br vs Am, some words have different spellings, different meanings, different uses.
The issue of "outlandish artefact" vs "unprovenanced artefact" is a matter of definition. Let me break things down as simply as I can. Please search google if you still do not understand me.
artefact comes from the latin words:
arte = something that comes from art
factum = to make
I assume you know what "artefact" means. Artefact is Br. It has 2 meanings:
- a manmade object that is of historical or archaeological or cultural interest/value. Example - an urn from ancient Greece (in B.C. times)
- something that is observed in a scientific experiment. this "artefact" is not a physical objecy. Instead, you are a scientist. You observe something during an experiment that is NOT naturally there when you first start the experiment. Instead, you suddenly see this happening when you are halfway through the experiment OR at the end of the experiment. Example: Plastic from an empty soft drink bottle (like Coke) curves if you put a burning candle under it. So in your report you will write "the curvature of the surface is an artefact of the application of heat".
In the context of FL, definition of artefact is (1).
Let us see what "outlandish" means. It has 2 meanings, both of which are applicable in the world of FL:
a. something that looks/sounds bizarre, weird, strange or unfamiliar. Example: If you have never seen traditional Manchurian dance before with old music, old costumes etc, you will say it is "outlandish".
b. something that is foreign or alien to your own culture, mores, ways, habits. Example: If you don’t know anything about cosplaying as cartoon or comic characters (dressing up like a superhero or as a Star Trek character), you can call Jack who is dressed that way "outlandish".
So, in FL, outlandish artefact will mean:
- a strange object that you found while performing an archaelogical dig. this thing you found is strange, alien to London "culture" and what most "normal" people in FL are used to. but you know this thing is from an old, ancient culture, that’s why you can call it an artefact.
Also, in the FL world, "outlandish" is a pun that gives the word yet another clever joke-type of meaning. Yes, "outlandish" has the definitions I spoke of above AND the "pun" (a joke that is obscure because you have to be in the know to grasp its meaning) at the same time. I will explain. In this "joke" context, this word "outlandish" is formed from the words and meanings "coming from outside this land". In the FL world, what is "this land"? London and Fallen London. So, think. This joke means "this object comes from outside the land of London and Fallen London", meaning it did not originate in London or Fallen London. This joke meaning ALSO combines with the meanings of outlandish as stated above in (1) and (2). Again, the nuance may be lost to you if you’re not familiar with English.
Unprovenanced is a word that will be "outlandish" to you if you are unfamiliar to the nuances of English, especially archaic English. Archaic English means old-fashioned English. That was once normal English not very long ago, but is not used much nowadays except by people in certain age groups or people in certain jobs or people who specialise in a certain field of studies. This is different from other older forms of English that I will not talk about as it will likely confuse you. Instead, I will give you a modern day example of "archaic English" using myself as example. Example of this: I like to say "I don’t know aught". In modern 2020s English, you will say "I don’t know anything". But if you don’t know English well, you will not understand me when I say "I don’t know aught".
FL uses archaic English because this game is in Victorian times and the English then is not the English now. Words that are normal then, are not "normal" now. Example - now you will can call a man "a guy". But in those days, you must say "gentleman" if he is a man with good manners or "man" if is a rough sort of man who spits everywhere or "workman" if he is man who does hard labour. In those days, you say "I met an odd personage whilst taking a turn in the shubbery". Nowadays, you will say "I saw a strange dude as I walked in the park". Notice the difference between archaic English and modern English. So bear in mind that even if you know English but you don’t know the literature, etymology of words etc well, some of the word usage in the FL game will be very "outlandish" to you and I mean it indefinitions (a) and (b).
Now, let us look at what "unprovenanced" means. To do that, let us see what "provenance" means. "Provenance" has 3 meanings:
i) it is a fancy way of saying "origins". Example - What is the provenance of this wine? When you say that, you want to know the origins of the wine, like where it comes from, where is it made, which vineyard makes it, what year is it made, what species of grape, etc. In another example, you want to know the history or origins of a precious item. Pretend you live in a castle with a 16th century rug that is very beautiful and in very good condition. I visit you. I notice this rug. I will ask you, "what is the provenance of this lovely rug?" You will say, "oh, it is of Persian provenance" meaning it is made in Persia.
ii) the start of something’s existence. Example - Science is still trying to determine the provenance of the universe. This means scientists are still trying to find out how the universe started.
iii) the record of ownership of an artwork (like a painting or statue) to prove that it is a good quality AND authentic object of historical value. Example - Pretend you have a medieval book of hours (a religious book) that is handmade, handwritten, hand painted. Pretend that you need to sell this book because you need the money. You will need to prove the provenance of this book, meaning you need to prove that it is real, that it is not a fake, that it is really owned by you, that it can be proved that you inherited it from your father, that it can be proved your grandfather bought it from a famous auction house that proved the object is real, that you have an expert to prove that the book is high quality, etc.
In the world of FL, especially when the object is found when you perform an archaelogical dig, the definition of provenance is the one I spoke of in (i).
Now that you know Provenance, let is look at "unprovenanced". It is the opposite of that. Simply put, you don’t know the origins of object X. You don’t know where it comes from or what it is.
Within FL, "an unprovenanced object" is an object
- that you don’t know what it is
- you cannot trace its history because you don’t even know what this thing is
- you cannot trace its origins because you don’t know what it is.
I surmise that FL changed the name of the object from "outlandish artefact" to "unprovenanced object" because they want to convey this meaning:
- it is more mysterious to say "I found this thing but I don’t know what it is because I cannot trace its history/origins, and no one knows anything about it either"
- previously, it was "I found this strange object that is just bizarre to me because I have never seen anything like this before, but my research shows that I can trace it to a previous Fallen City that was ‘consumed’ by the Bazaar".
edited by Lady Strange on 5/24/2020
edited by Lady Strange on 5/24/2020