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Description
Yes, more smudgy, tartan enveloped historical stuff now, because I fancy a change every so often.

You know what that means, right?

HISTORY TIME.

So, I've drawn Athdara here a couple times now, and generally the writeup for each picture has focused on her clothing. That's all fairly interesting, but I thought I'd have a change. So, firstly; her name. Athdara is actually Irish Gaelic (Scots and Irish Gaelic, as spoken in the 16th/17th century were very similar) and means 'from the oak tree ford' A fairly specific name, honestly, but nice, I thought, and fairly easy to pronounce; without understanding the complexities of Gaelic language. Given that Athdara is from the Scottish Highlands, where Gaelic was the predominant language, I think it's entirely possible she'd have carried this name. I can't verify how popular a name it would have been, for sure, but have found the name mentioned in both Gaelic writing, and Lowland 'Scots' writing, implying that the name was popular enough to carry across those two languages and cultural groups.

So, that's her name. The next thing I want to mention is her weapon. For those who don't know their guns all that well, it's a Musket. Specifically, a 'matchlock'. Why matchlock? Well, the 'lock' is traditionally the bit of a musket which fires the gun. You pull the trigger (or, on some older guns, like Athdara's, the tiller, which has its origins in the crossbow) it moves some internals, and pulls down on the 'dog' which is the little curved bit of metal, which holds whichever 'igniting' mechanism the gun relies on. A Flintlock, for example, has a piece of, you guessed it, flint, held in the dog's 'jaws'. Pulling the trigger would release the dog, swinging it against a striking plate, causing the flint to spark, and ignite the gunpowder, and, boom. A matchlock on the other hand, uses a 'match' or fuse. This is a length of rope, or cord, treated to burn slowly once lit. This is held in the dog, and when the trigger is pulled, it drops against the powder pan, and off the gun goes.

Now, Flintlocks came somewhat later, indeed, Matchlocks were the first widely produced 'lock' type guns. Earlier designs literally required the shooter to apply a match to their weapon's 'touch hole' by hand. Not ideal, since it made aiming very difficult, and was a clumsy operation to do in the heat of battle. The introduction of the matchlock dramatically improved the ease of operation for early guns, as well as allowing them to be shouldered in a way that would be familiar to modern shooters.

Unfortunately, matchlocks weren't ideal. The matches were vulnerable to damp, and became useless when it was raining, indeed, there's records of entire units of musketeers having to basically do nothing during rainstorms, because their matchlocks were utterly inoperable due to the weather. Additionally... keep in mind that a musketeer will have a LOT of flammable stuff about their person. Their woollen clothing, contents of their powder horn, and even the little pre-packed cartridges hung from their belts were all flammable, were all vulnerable to being set alight if the match happened to 'ash off' or rub against them when it was lit. Further, if the match went out, then the gunner would have to try and relight it, before they could use their gun. The matchlock would be replaced in most European armies by the end of the 17th century, and in civilian hands, not long after. Some Asian, and African armies would retain matchlocks for much longer, and there are records of Tibetan peoples still using matchlock guns as late as the 1900's, for hunting and such.

The shape of the gun is also somewhat unusual, given the period that Athdara 'exists' in. She's from sometime around the turn of the 17th century, (I really need to settle on some dates.) By this time, most muskets had a recognisably 'modern' shape, whereas Athdara's gun has a much more... blocky, crude, un-ergonomic appearance. This is because, when designing it, I based it on a variety of older guns. The butt (the part which tucks into one's shoulder) is based on mid 15th Century German arquebus (a type of light, more portable matchlock gun) while the stock (the wooden bit which the supporting hand holds) is more akin to 16th century muskets. There's no real reasoning behind the choices other than 'I thought they looked nifty'

That said, such a weapon would be unlikely to be in use by many of the European armies of the day, save perhaps in the hands of a hard up mercenary. Or, perhaps as a hunting gun, or an older weapon, bought (relatively) cheaply. Athdara is not a soldier, per-se, and so wouldn't really have access (or funding to buy) a more contemporary firearm.

You know... that said, as well as not having a defined date for her to exist in, I also don't really have a defined role for her... Perhaps she's a camp follower with a grudge, perhaps she's just off on an adventure, who knows.

Anyway, waffle aside, I hope you enjoy the picture. It was fun to work with, and, if you took the time to read it: I hope you enjoyed my history bit. I hope it doesn't come off as too 'preachy.'

Description
Yes, more smudgy, tartan enveloped historical stuff now, because I fancy a change every so often.

You know what that means, right?

HISTORY TIME.

So, I've drawn Athdara here a couple times now, and generally the writeup for each picture has focused on her clothing. That's all fairly interesting, but I thought I'd have a change. So, firstly; her name. Athdara is actually Irish Gaelic (Scots and Irish Gaelic, as spoken in the 16th/17th century were very similar) and means 'from the oak tree ford' A fairly specific name, honestly, but nice, I thought, and fairly easy to pronounce; without understanding the complexities of Gaelic language. Given that Athdara is from the Scottish Highlands, where Gaelic was the predominant language, I think it's entirely possible she'd have carried this name. I can't verify how popular a name it would have been, for sure, but have found the name mentioned in both Gaelic writing, and Lowland 'Scots' writing, implying that the name was popular enough to carry across those two languages and cultural groups.

So, that's her name. The next thing I want to mention is her weapon. For those who don't know their guns all that well, it's a Musket. Specifically, a 'matchlock'. Why matchlock? Well, the 'lock' is traditionally the bit of a musket which fires the gun. You pull the trigger (or, on some older guns, like Athdara's, the tiller, which has its origins in the crossbow) it moves some internals, and pulls down on the 'dog' which is the little curved bit of metal, which holds whichever 'igniting' mechanism the gun relies on. A Flintlock, for example, has a piece of, you guessed it, flint, held in the dog's 'jaws'. Pulling the trigger would release the dog, swinging it against a striking plate, causing the flint to spark, and ignite the gunpowder, and, boom. A matchlock on the other hand, uses a 'match' or fuse. This is a length of rope, or cord, treated to burn slowly once lit. This is held in the dog, and when the trigger is pulled, it drops against the powder pan, and off the gun goes.

Now, Flintlocks came somewhat later, indeed, Matchlocks were the first widely produced 'lock' type guns. Earlier designs literally required the shooter to apply a match to their weapon's 'touch hole' by hand. Not ideal, since it made aiming very difficult, and was a clumsy operation to do in the heat of battle. The introduction of the matchlock dramatically improved the ease of operation for early guns, as well as allowing them to be shouldered in a way that would be familiar to modern shooters.

Unfortunately, matchlocks weren't ideal. The matches were vulnerable to damp, and became useless when it was raining, indeed, there's records of entire units of musketeers having to basically do nothing during rainstorms, because their matchlocks were utterly inoperable due to the weather. Additionally... keep in mind that a musketeer will have a LOT of flammable stuff about their person. Their woollen clothing, contents of their powder horn, and even the little pre-packed cartridges hung from their belts were all flammable, were all vulnerable to being set alight if the match happened to 'ash off' or rub against them when it was lit. Further, if the match went out, then the gunner would have to try and relight it, before they could use their gun. The matchlock would be replaced in most European armies by the end of the 17th century, and in civilian hands, not long after. Some Asian, and African armies would retain matchlocks for much longer, and there are records of Tibetan peoples still using matchlock guns as late as the 1900's, for hunting and such.

The shape of the gun is also somewhat unusual, given the period that Athdara 'exists' in. She's from sometime around the turn of the 17th century, (I really need to settle on some dates.) By this time, most muskets had a recognisably 'modern' shape, whereas Athdara's gun has a much more... blocky, crude, un-ergonomic appearance. This is because, when designing it, I based it on a variety of older guns. The butt (the part which tucks into one's shoulder) is based on mid 15th Century German arquebus (a type of light, more portable matchlock gun) while the stock (the wooden bit which the supporting hand holds) is more akin to 16th century muskets. There's no real reasoning behind the choices other than 'I thought they looked nifty'

That said, such a weapon would be unlikely to be in use by many of the European armies of the day, save perhaps in the hands of a hard up mercenary. Or, perhaps as a hunting gun, or an older weapon, bought (relatively) cheaply. Athdara is not a soldier, per-se, and so wouldn't really have access (or funding to buy) a more contemporary firearm.

You know... that said, as well as not having a defined date for her to exist in, I also don't really have a defined role for her... Perhaps she's a camp follower with a grudge, perhaps she's just off on an adventure, who knows.

Anyway, waffle aside, I hope you enjoy the picture. It was fun to work with, and, if you took the time to read it: I hope you enjoyed my history bit. I hope it doesn't come off as too 'preachy.'