@Elsee 
yaaaaay I’m so happy that you’re enjoying the game and the characters! It’s always great to see Arthur and Lance get some love. Thank you for all the encouragement, and I hope you’ll like the next part when it’s ready!
@mistylavenda Those are all FANTASTIC questions!! Let me see what I can do…
Overall, the Guenverse is a much more benign place than the historical Middle Ages, because I don’t think it’s naive or stupid to imagine better worlds rather than worse ones.
Most peasants don’t bother learning to read or write because it’s not very useful to them, but there’s no cultural injunction against them learning, and opportunities exist, either through priestesses at Goddess-shrines or through middle-class secular schools in the larger towns. A bright peasant child who really wants an education will most likely be able to get one, unless they’re extremely isolated or their family is strongly against it (not common). I should also mention that peasants/farmers are generally treated with respect in the Guenverse. They’re neither starving nor filthy.[quote=“mistylavenda, post:8587, topic:1996”]
What are the social views on virginity for both nobles and commoners? I’ve noticed that Arthur doesn’t really seem to mind if Guen isn’t a virgin.
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This is… complicated. There’s absolutely no mindset that sex is sinful or dirty, or that virginity = moral purity, or anything like that. The cult of the Goddess teaches that sex is healthy and good as long as it’s under appropriate circumstances (consenting adults, no lying about intentions, etc.) – and does not specify marriage as necessarily being one of those circumstances. However, the noble and royal families are obsessed with their bloodlines, because magic powers are inherited genetically (more explanation in book 3), and there’s a massive terror of those powers being inherited by someone who shouldn’t have them. For that reason, heterosexual intercourse among noble and royal families is closely monitored and discouraged before marriage because it’s considered a betrayal of the bloodline.
As for Arthur: He’s a bit clueless about sex in general, having been forced to focus on other things since just about the age when he would otherwise have probably devoted more attention to learning about sex. He missed out on some of the basic sex ed that most people get (see below), and because he was brought up as an apparent orphan with somewhat unusual foster-parents, he missed out on a lot of the cultural indoctrination re: noble bloodlines. He does know that things were a political mess when Uther died without naming an heir, and he knows that sex makes babies, but that’s about it. Hence his combination of ignorance and open-mindedness.
Not reliable – that’s part of the problem. There are infertility curses in the Guenverse, but those are not widely known and not used for contraception, nor is any other magic. So people are stuck with medicinal or physical contraception, both of which have a failure rate. There is a much better culture of sex education than exists even in many western countries today (because sex isn’t viewed as a bad thing in itself), which means that most people do understand how pregnancy happens and the best ways to avoid it.
In Britain and on much of the continent, the “other” major religious practice is druidism, which focuses on nature. (The Goddess cult is more human-focused than the druids.) The druids and the Goddess-worshipers are not usually at odds with each other. They see the world in different ways, but don’t consider those ways to be in conflict most of the time. Druidism is older and waning; Goddess-worship, with its more human focus, has gained popularity. Aside from those, there are various pantheistic religions, mainly practiced by the Romans, who have their traditional historical pantheon, and some continental groups (e.g. Saxons, probably) who worship a version of the historical Germanic/Scandinavian pantheon.
Alchemy is science and can be studied by anyone, but it can certainly work in tandem with dark magic, since they involve similar principles and techniques. (This is prob going to be part of Morgana’s father’s backstory, if I ever get around to writing it.)
Haha good question… 
I do have an origin story for the three royal families, but tbh I haven’t come up with a full creation story. I will definitely have to think about that, so thank you for bringing it up! 
Sure; magical aptitude is not exclusive to nobles. Of course, dark magic requires some training and/or access to books and materials, so a peasant with dark magic ability might never realize it, and dark magic is relatively rare anyway. Light magic, on the other hand, is fairly common. Without training, it probably won’t ever be able to do a whole lot – just simple healing, maybe – but anyone who shows light magic ability would probably be invited to come to Avalon for training, regardless of birth status. The priestesses of the Goddess come from all walks of life (though not many are from noble families).[quote=“mistylavenda, post:8587, topic:1996”]
Is there a “middle class” of wealthy merchants and artisans?
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Yes, absolutely, much more than in the historical Middle Ages. Priestesses of the Goddess, artisans, and merchants (and druids, in their own way) have a great deal of freedom. They can get a good education, marry whomever they want, and travel as much as they want / can afford.
Merlin – very unusually – practices both dark and light magic, though he does not teach dark magic (reasons in his backstory). He does study alchemy and science as complementary to dark magic. Light magic doesn’t involve any alchemy or require any materials, just spiritual strength and practice/training.
he’s oblivious, and ridiculous and really annoying sometimes but ughhhhh i cannnnt. i just. cant. i really like earnest, sincere guys IRL so yeaaaa. im most definitely into arthur. lance was really charming. I also fall for guys that are funny and say witty crap like he does so i love him too buuuut, i feel REALLY shitty at the thought of hurting arthur so i broke it off with him. i swear for all the replaying i did, i could never push myself to be mean to arthur. hes just a cinnamon roll that i really want to protect and love and uglycries lol sorry about that i just HAD to fangirl about him or i will go insane flailing around my room hahaha. 
anyway keep it up girl, im rooting for you.
; sinnamom roll was written instead of sinnamon roll… Lmao
The options could work either towards or against Arthur’s vision.