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M egan H owett

Space and Environm ent: Secret Lairs

O nline G reenlight Review

16th N ovem ber 2012

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T e secret lair of the m edieval pirate...

U pon receiving m y brief of M edieval Pirate, I em barked on researching m any aspects of m edieval history. T anks to the

added characteristic of 'm edieval' I knew that m y pirate would not resem ble the sw ash-buckling Jack Sparrow s that com e

to m ind w ith the word, presenting m e with the challenge of m oving away from m y preconceive ideas surrounding

pirates. A er researching the m iddle ages, or m edieval period, I decided to place m y character's world in the early

centuries of the era. I found that Vikings are described as m edieval pirates so this lead to m y decision to m ake m y

character a Viking.

Key aspects of m y research that inuenced m y design include early m edieval shipping and m yths and legends

surrounding V ikings, dragons and sea m onsters.

Keels (or Ceols): T ese w ere the descendants of the Scandinavian tradition of shipbuilding, w ith the fam iliar lines of the

Viking longboats. Keels were open decked w ith a single m ast and square rigging. T ey were generally sm all (up to 100 tuns),

and had a extrem ely shallow dra which m ade them very suitable for coastal, estuary or river work, as well as for raiding.T ey seem to have had an unsavoury reputation for piracy right into the M iddle Ages.

In m edieval tim es, the Scandinavians described swim m ing dragons and the Vikings placed dragons on the front of their

ships to scare o the sea m onsters...

T e m ost w idely know n and far reaching pirates in m edieval Europe were the Vikings, warriors and looters from

Scandinavia w ho raided m ainly between the 8th and 12th centuries, during the Viking Age in the Early M iddle Ages.

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Character Bible

N am e:N hggrm eaning 'dreaded striker', from Norse m ythology

Background:Born in N orw ay. As a teenager his fam ily w as slaughtered by Viking w arriors. o escape he

took his father's longboat and sword and ed to a rem ote island w here he hid him self in a cave along the

shore, unaware that he had ended up in a sea-m onster's lair. W hen the beast returned he battled w ith it,

and using his father's sword severed it's head. O ver tim e he gained strength and assum ed the nam e

N hggr, and began attacking V iking ships, punishing those w ho had m urdered his fam ily. H is lair

provides him w ith a safe place to store his plunder, w here sailors won't venture due to the fear of the

m onster that once lived there. T ose sam e sailors and other pirates talk in fear of N hggr the dreaded

striker.

H ero Prop:O riginally belonged to the pirate's father, the longboat nam ed H lr, aer the N orse God of thesea. A er N hggr slaughtered the m onster in the cave the ship absorbed the spirit of the beast. T e

m ythical ship cannot be sunk and gives it's captain power over the m onsters at lurk in the depths of the

ocean. N ow N hggr uses H lr, the unsinkable ship to travel the sea, com m anding sea-m onsters and

resisting w eather, to bring terror to other Viking ships.

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Inuence M aps

Secret Lair H ero Prop

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H ero Prop

Final Concept

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Secret Lair Final Concept