Doin' The Research

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Information from Townsends, specifically from a book meant to aid families in where to apprentice their sons. Focus of this livestream is the food trades: baker, butcher, chandler, cooks, confectioners, cheesemonger, and a discussion of food safety and food poisoning in the era.

Things to remember. Salmonella didn't get into chickens until after World War 2, that was a direct result of factory farming, there's different more hilarious food spoilages you need to keep in mind instead. Food preservations were entirely different without common refrigeration. Instead you had potages sealed with fat, you dried and salted shit, you laid your barrels right and your food became seasonal. You buried things. You pickled and brined your foods. You used spices if you got them, onions and herbs from the garden. You cold smoked meat by hanging it in the upper chimney. And you did not have your own oven unless you were a major household, instead you carried your bread to the local baker and rented space in the communal oven.

And so many pies.

On Riding Sidesaddle

Mages ride sidesaddle.

No you will not convince me of otherwise. Yes I mean it.

A Circle mage's robes consist of the corset bodice and the skirts. These skirts are adorned around the waist and down the front with a sash, meant to remind the mage of exactly what they might become. These reminders are adorned with embroidery and pins and entire chatelaines if they're an Enchanter or have a specialty that requires tools. But this sash is still a reminder, a purple silk sash meant to invoke revulsion and instinctual fear in anyone who knows that sash to be the only clothing a traditional abomination will wear.

If a mage is going into battle, or if they're a First Enchanter capable of being called to defend himself, the corset will be armored. This armored corset is often the only armor a mage can expect to wear in their lives as a mage. Because they still wear that skirt. Depending on the temperament of the mage, the skirts may be full and flowing and easy to move in, or it may be a full hobble skirt. A mage with a history of escaping is one who is usually fitted with the hobble skirt and expected to just wear that for the rest of their lives. So how does such a mage ride a horse?

How can a Templar be expected to lead such a mage home after they've been caught? Surely you don't expect the Templar to carry the mage all the way back to the Circle, that'd be work. No, the mage needs to be able to ride. The mage needs to be able to ride in the least effective way possible.

Riding astride is impossible with a hobble skirt. Riding astride is undesirable given much of a Circle mage's setup. The corset makes it difficult, the skirts make it impossible, a Templar would rather just hogtie the mage and toss them over the horse's back like a sack than let the mage ride astride.

Thus the mage riding sidesaddle. Riding sidesaddle requires a straight controlled spine, offered by the corsetry, and both legs daintily folded to one side. In a modern sidesaddle saddle there is a saddle tree for the thighs to grip to allow for the rider to stay seated during running and jumping but that is a modern invention. Without that structure it becomes much harder for the mage to stay seated during a run or jump or even a proper trot. So instead the horse has to walk. It's perfect from the Templar's perspective, they can lead a walking horse with a bitching mage perched upon the horse behind them, hands tied together and then around the horse.

However, like everything meant to oppress, those mages who learned sidesaddle learned how to excel at it. The Inquisition, with Master Dennet and his entire stable of experts, has trained enough horses for mage use that those horses are the steadiest, most give-no-fucks mounts in all of Thedas. Desensitized enough for a mage to cast a fireball from horseback. Willing to take commands signaled by a stirrup on one side and the butt of a staff on the other. With this newly invented type of saddle with a saddle horn on the left side for the mage to grip with their thighs.

Mages ride sidesaddle but by 9:44 Dragon that is not longer an insult. It's just expected.