Religion, not an easy one...
So I describe how the Church hates sorcery and think wizardry to be different, but still a “cousin†to be disliked. Now, this bit is tricky because yes, Christianity will be the dominant religion of the One God that many follow. But it’s a game…and we are a Christian household. I don’t want to have my kids who know magic is not real, that somehow the miracles of yesterday seem “a lot like magic†which isn’t real, means that miracles must be make-believe. People really did BELIEVE in relics then, just as many people do today, but clearly that belief was widespread, if not universal. So I need to be careful here. If this were a commercial game product, I would probably need to rethink very carefully how this was presented’ maybe changing it dramatically or eliminating it – which would probably ruin the authenticity of the setting. But since it is for home consumption, I can walk my kids through it. I’m confident I can handle it and even use it to spend time engaging in a Christian discussion and debate with my kids about what people believed then, versus now and the similarities and the differences. But I’m not sure what would work for a commercial product.
And back then, the old Celtic religion still thrived in less civilised or advanced areas. Mostly, it lived side by side Christianity, with people venerating old gods and following old practices, while being true Christian believers. But it provides for variety and conflict, so makes a great introduction to the game. Clearly there will be different spell sets and abilities for each type of holy man, and nothing that will surprise you. Druids will have a healing and nature portfolio with powers of divination as described in the research. Priests will have strong healing, protection, command and leadership powers.
The next chapter focuses on how people lived. Surprisingly, there is very little on anglo saxon life on the internet in this regard. You really need to dig and I had to buy some out of print books second hand, and pay to download some scholarly articles, and the default was the more voluminous info on the high Middle Ages. I then dig a bit deeper on Arcadium and the faeries, going into detail on the types of faeiries and they behaviour, as well as details on the Seelie and Unseelie court and ending with the “daily life†of faeries.
With the Seelie court, there will be lots of role play opportunities within the court structure. At the same time, there are numerous opportunities with regards to the Unseelie court, which can prove dangerous to PCs and provide lots of baddies and high level NPC foes.