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How Firan Taught Me History

Kate, of FiranMUX, property of Adam and Stephanie Dray. One may wonder, and justly so, how a fantasy game -- a work of fiction -- could teach someone about history, which is by definition the study of past events: events that have actually occurred. Generally speaking, this seems impossible; one cannot learn true history by watching a fictional movie or reading a novel. However, it is not a stretch to say that FiranMUX, a game set in a fantastical Greco-Roman world, does just this, through both an out-of-character venue and an in-character one, drawing upon fact and fiction to ... read more

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Kate, of FiranMUX, property of Adam and Stephanie Dray.

One may wonder, and justly so, how a fantasy game -- a work of fiction -- could teach someone about history, which is by definition the study of past events: events that have actually occurred. Generally speaking, this seems impossible; one cannot learn true history by watching a fictional movie or reading a novel. However, it is not a stretch to say that FiranMUX, a game set in a fantastical Greco-Roman world, does just this, through both an out-of-character venue and an in-character one, drawing upon fact and fiction to teach history itself and, more importantly, how history is made.

I majored in history at University and I know that many other players and staff on Firan did the same. There is an incredible wealth of historical knowledge on Firan that is welcome and ready to be tapped for references and ideas. There have been discussions on the various OOC channels about thematic issues and, more often than not, people actually do research into the topic to provide an answer. Those on the game strive to avoid anachronisms as best they can, even if nothing is, technically, an anachronism. It seems easy to chalk "errors" up to "they may not have had whatever in Rome, but this is Firan, so we do!", but startlingly few discussions end that way or even encounter that argument. People take time to explain how, and when, forks were invented, if Firans have forks, what they look like, and any other details a player may need about the thematic implications of a fork. Players and staff alike focus effort, thought and interest into contributing historical facts to create a better fiction.

Despite popular misconception, history is not the study of dates and figures; it is the tracings of events, what sparked what war, why, and how. The game itself is based on loosely on people and places and times, we do not recreate the actual Cesars and Augustuses; we study the feelings, the reasonings, and the thought processes behind decisions Cesar may have made or Augustus may have addressed. This, in fact, is history. The major players, the Ranivors and the Viceroys, the nobles and the proxies, they make decisions in precisely the same manner, weighing results and fabricating what may happen if they take one path or the other. Lesser key figures, commoners and middle class and smaller nobles, also shape the path Firans take, working within their families and clan and selves to achieve their goals, whatever they may be. They show us what life may have been like in another time, place, climate, culture. Firanis, in fact, watching a fictional history take shape, morph, and grow. Players at FiranMUX do not simply learn history; they live, weave, and retell it.

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