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95-399: The first three books in the series follow Proton serf Stile as he enters Phaze and becomes an important political force there. The next three concern the adventures of Mach (Citizen Blue's son), Bane (Stile's son), and Bane's companions. Finally, volume 7, Phaze Doubt follows Bane's and Mach's nine-year-old children, Flach and Nepe, among others. In the series, Proton is only one planet in

190-476: A Citizen lose so many wagers that he is unable to pay his debts with his proceeds from the Protonite mines, he is prevented from wagering further until once again solvent. In contrast to Proton, Phaze is a lush and verdant world. Besides humans, it is also populated by several species common to the fantasy genre such as unicorns , werewolves , vampires , trolls , and animalheads —humans with beast-heads like

285-445: A certain and explicit way, from several respectable persons that one man [living] close to our time, whose name is R. Eliyahu, the master of the name, who made a creature out of matter [Heb. Golem ] and form [Heb. tzurah ] and it performed hard work for him, for a long period, and the name of emet was hanging upon his neck until he finally removed it for a certain reason, the name from his neck and it turned to dust." A similar account

380-451: A fee for the right to leave her lord, and in compensation for her lost labour. Often there were arbitrary tests to judge the worthiness of their tax payments. A chicken, for example, might be required to be able to jump over a fence of a given height to be considered old enough or well enough to be valued for tax purposes. The restraints of serfdom on personal and economic choice were enforced through various forms of manorial customary law and

475-410: A few years of crop failure, a war, or brigandage might leave a person unable to make his own way. In such a case, he could strike a bargain with a lord of a manor. In exchange for gaining protection, his service was required: in labour, produce, or cash, or a combination of all. These bargains became formalised in a ceremony known as "bondage", in which a serf placed his head in the lord's hands, akin to

570-586: A friend. The nature and quality of their words are mysterious, sealed, and hidden." But it has been said of this passage, "Even when [the Maharal is] eulogized, whether in David Gans' Zemach David or on his epitaph ..., not a word is said about the creation of a golem. No Hebrew work published in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries (even in Prague) is aware that the Maharal created a golem." Furthermore,

665-525: A full complement of labour to the lord, often forcing them to rent out their services to other serfs to make up for this hardship. Villeinage was not a purely uni-directional exploitative relationship. In the Middle Ages, land within a lord's manor provided sustenance and survival, and being a villein guaranteed access to land, and crops secure from theft by marauding robbers. Landlords, even were legally entitled to do so, rarely evicted villeins because of

760-404: A galaxy of human-inhabited worlds. Most of the atmosphere of the planet has been destroyed through the mining of Protonite , a valuable energy source, and the inhabitants of Proton live in domed cities with artificial life support. Despite its advanced science, Proton's socioeconomic scheme somewhat resembles the medieval period. The planet is run by fabulously wealthy Citizens but the bulk of

855-486: A golem, in the 12th century. In 1625, Joseph Delmedigo wrote that "many legends of this sort are current, particularly in Germany." The oldest description of the creation of a golem by a historical figure is included in a tradition connected to Rabbi Eliyahu of Chełm (1550–1583). A Polish Kabbalist , writing in about 1630–1650, reported the creation of a golem by Rabbi Eliyahu thusly: "And I have heard, in

950-612: A human body, is sent to infiltrate the Phaze/Proton resistance but finds that a prophecy makes him the key player in the planet's defence, though his loyalty remains with the BEMs. The realm of Phaze is also briefly visited in Piers Anthony's twenty-seventh Xanth book, Cube Route . Serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism , specifically relating to manorialism , and similar systems. It

1045-515: A knight or baron "fought for all" and a churchman "prayed for all"; thus everyone had a place (see Estates of the realm ). The serf was the worst fed and rewarded however, although unlike slaves had certain rights in land and property. A lord of the manor could not sell his serfs as a Roman might sell his slaves. On the other hand, if he chose to dispose of a parcel of land, the serfs associated with that land stayed with it to serve their new lord; simply speaking, they were implicitly sold in mass and as

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1140-618: A lone Adept. Each spell an Adept uses can only be worked once by that Adept, though countless variations can be created. Humans are different from other species because they do not have the capability to do magic on their own and require phazite. Unicorns in the Apprentice Adept series are somewhat different from those traditionally described in fantasy. First, Phaze's unicorns are as intelligent as humans. Also, they are not colored in blacks and greys like horses but rather in more dramatic colors. For instance, one unicorn character, Clip,

1235-467: A man was a primary issue in determining a person's rights and obligations in many of the manorial court -cases of the period. Also, runaway slaves could be beaten if caught. The usual serf (not including slaves or cottars) paid his fees and taxes in the form of seasonally appropriate labour. Usually, a portion of the week was devoted to ploughing his lord's fields held in demesne , harvesting crops, digging ditches, repairing fences, and often working in

1330-551: A number of legal restrictions that differentiated them from the freeman. Within his constraints, a serf had some freedoms. Though the common wisdom is that a serf owned "only his belly" – even his clothes were the property, in law, of his lord – a serf might still accumulate personal property and wealth, and some serfs became wealthier than their free neighbours, although this happened rarely. A well-to-do serf might even be able to buy his freedom. A serf could grow what crop he saw fit on his lands, although

1425-429: A part of a lot. This unified system preserved for the lord long-acquired knowledge of practices suited to the land. Further, a serf could not abandon his lands without permission, nor did he possess a saleable title in them. A freeman became a serf usually through force or necessity. Sometimes the greater physical and legal force of a local magnate intimidated freeholders or allodial owners into dependency. Often

1520-568: A patch of land. As part of the contract with the landlord , the lord of the manor, they were expected to spend some of their time working on the lord's fields. The rest of their time was spent farming their own land for their own profit. Villeins were tied to their lord's land and could not leave it without his permission. Their lord also often decided whom they could marry. Like other types of serfs, villeins had to provide other services, possibly in addition to paying rent of money or produce. Villeins could not move away without their lord's consent and

1615-618: A relationship with his robot lover, Sheen. Stile has gained significant power in Phaze as the Blue adept, whose songs and poems hold incredible power. However, on Proton he faces deportation and enters the tournament in the hope of gaining citizenship. His adversary is revealed to be the amulet-making Red Adept, who exists in Proton as a serf in the Tourney. Stile defeats her in combat in Phaze and in

1710-435: A round, they proceed to a Game console. There, one player chooses one of four categories: 1. PHYSICAL, 2. MENTAL, 3. CHANCE, or 4. ARTS. The other player chooses among A. NAKED, B. TOOL, C. MACHINE, or D. ANIMAL. (In this context, naked does not necessarily mean unclothed but rather unassisted by external tools.) Once the grid is completed, players continue on subgrids until they select a particular game to play. For instance, in

1805-400: A serf earns a gram of Protonite, and his retirement. While a paltry sum on Proton itself, this is enough to make the former serf comfortably wealthy elsewhere in the galaxy. Even then many serfs would choose to stay on Proton after their twenty years are up, but it is not permitted in most circumstances. The exception to this rule is getting far enough in the tourney (see below). In addition to

1900-455: A serf's taxes often had to be paid in wheat. The surplus he would sell at market . The landlord could not dispossess his serfs without legal cause and was supposed to protect them from the depredations of robbers or other lords, and he was expected to support them by charity in times of famine . Many such rights were enforceable by the serf in the manorial court. Forms of serfdom varied greatly through time and regions. In some places, serfdom

1995-464: A source of agricultural labour . Serfdom, indeed, was an institution that reflected a fairly common practice whereby great landlords were assured that others worked to feed them and were held down, legally and economically, while doing so. This arrangement provided most of the agricultural labour throughout the Middle Ages . Slavery persisted right through the Middle Ages, but it was rare. In

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2090-464: A speaking tube. The Oracle will answer any querent a single question. But like the original Oracle at Delphi , the pronouncements of Phaze's Oracle are usually cryptic and self-fulfilling. The Oracle is actually a computer with its source line running through the west pole so it can have power in Phaze. As referenced before, most of the adepts in Phaze are named after colors and each has a unique mode of magic. The Adepts and their powers: Note: Due to

2185-410: Is "kneaded into a shapeless husk". Like Adam, all golems are created from mud by those close to divinity, but no anthropogenic golem is fully human. Early on, the main disability of the golem was its inability to speak. Sanhedrin 65b describes Rava creating a man ( gavra ), whom he then sends to Rav Zeira . Zeira speaks to the man, but he does not answer, whereupon Zeira says, "You were created by

2280-429: Is a blue stallion with red "socks," that is, ankles. In addition to their coloring, unicorns with socks can actually remove them. If humans don them, the socks cast the illusion that the human is in fact a unicorn of the sock color. Furthermore, unicorns in Phaze are shapeshifters; most can learn two other forms. If a unicorn learns to shift into a hawk, he can fly in that form; if a human, he can speak. Finally, unicorns in

2375-522: Is a popular figure in the Czech Republic . The 1915 novel by Gustav Meyrink ( The Golem ) was briefly popular and did much to keep the imagination about the golem going. Several restaurants and other businesses have names that make reference to the creature. A Czech strongman , René Richter goes by the nickname "Golem", and a Czech monster truck outfit calls itself the "Golem Team". Abraham Akkerman preceded his article on human automatism in

2470-474: Is an animated anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore , which is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud . The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel , the late 16th-century rabbi of Prague . According to Moment magazine, "the golem is a highly mutable metaphor with seemingly limitless symbolism. It can be a victim or villain, man or woman—or sometimes both. Over

2565-512: Is first recorded in English in the late 15th century, and came to its current definition in the 17th century. Serfdom was coined in 1850. Serfs had a specific place in feudal society, as did barons and knights : in return for protection, a serf would reside upon and work a parcel of land within the manor of his lord . Thus, the manorial system exhibited a degree of reciprocity. One rationale held that serfs and freemen "worked for all" while

2660-407: Is inscribed on the golem, sometimes on its forehead. In this example, the golem could then be deactivated by removing the aleph (א), thus changing the inscription from "truth" to "death" ( מת , mét , 'dead'). One source credits Solomon ibn Gabirol , who lived in the 11th century, with creating a golem, possibly female, for household chores. Samuel of Speyer also was said to have created

2755-465: Is not open to the general public. Some Orthodox Jews believe that the Maharal did actually create a golem. The evidence for this belief has been analyzed from an Orthodox Jewish perspective by Shnayer Z. Leiman. The general view of historians and critics is that the story of the Golem of Prague was a German literary invention of the early 19th century. According to John Neubauer, the first writers on

2850-474: Is often used today as a metaphor for a mindless lunk or other entity that serves a man under controlled conditions, but is hostile to him in other circumstances. Golem passed into Yiddish as goylem , meaning someone who is lethargic or in a stupor. The oldest stories of golems date to early Judaism. In the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 38b), Adam is initially created as a golem ( גולם ) when his dust

2945-521: Is seen in Frankenstein , The Sorcerer's Apprentice , and some other stories in popular culture, such as The Terminator . The theme manifests itself in R.U.R. ( Rossum's Universal Robots ), Karel Čapek 's 1921 play that coined the term robot . The play was written in Prague, and while Čapek denied that he modeled the robot after the golem, many similarities are seen in the plot. The golem

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3040-461: Is sometimes a mixed blessing. Golems are not intelligent, and if commanded to perform a task, they will perform the instructions literally. In many depictions, golems are inherently perfectly obedient. In its earliest known modern form, the Golem of Chełm became enormous and uncooperative. In one version of this story, the rabbi had to resort to trickery to deactivate it, whereupon it crumbled upon its creator and crushed him. A similar theme of hubris

3135-534: Is successful. Out of Phaze is about the early adventures of Mach and Bane. Mach is the robotic son of the original Blue Adept/Sheen from Proton and Bane the son of Stile/Lady Blue from Phaze. The two discover that they have the ability to switch frames, but have difficulty switching back. Both fall in love with people from the other frame: Mach with Fleta, the daughter of Neysa the unicorn, and Bane with Agape, an amorphous alien. Conflict arises between Mach and Bane due to their individual honors. Mach allies himself with

3230-570: The Middle French serf and was derived from the Latin servus ("slave"). In Late Antiquity and most of the Middle Ages, what are now called serfs were usually designated in Latin as coloni . As slavery gradually disappeared and the legal status of servi became nearly identical to that of the coloni , the term changed meaning into the modern concept of "serf". The word "serf"

3325-481: The Minotaur or Anubis . As in classic fantasy fiction, magic is a daily part of life in Phaze. It is powered by Phazite, the same substance as Protonite on the other side of the curtain. Just as magic does not work in Proton, advanced technology does not operate in Phaze. For instance, when one of Proton's self-willed robots crossed the curtain into Phaze, she became inert until returned to her home dimension. Later,

3420-638: The Vilna Gaon or "the saintly genius from Vilnius" (1720–1797). Rabbi Chaim Volozhin (Lithuania 1749–1821) reported in an introduction to Sifra de Tzeniuta that he once presented to his teacher, the Vilna Gaon, ten different versions of a certain passage in the Sefer Yetzira and asked the Gaon to determine the correct text. The Gaon immediately identified one version as the accurate rendition of

3515-491: The kholops in Russia, could, by contrast, be traded like regular slaves, could be abused with no rights over their own bodies, could not leave the land they were bound to, and could marry only with their lord 's permission. Serfs who occupied a plot of land were required to work for the lord of the manor who owned that land. In return, they were entitled to protection, justice, and the right to cultivate certain fields within

3610-406: The manor house . The remainder of the serf's time was spent tending his own fields, crops and animals in order to provide for his family. Most manorial work was segregated by gender during the regular times of the year. During the harvest , the whole family was expected to work the fields. A major difficulty of a serf's life was that his work for his lord coincided with, and took precedence over,

3705-480: The shem before the Sabbath (Saturday) began, so as to let it rest on Sabbath. One Friday evening, Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the shem , and feared that the Golem would desecrate the Sabbath. A different story tells of a golem that fell in love, and when rejected, became the violent monster seen in most accounts. Some versions have the golem eventually going on a murderous rampage. The rabbi then managed to pull

3800-473: The shem from his mouth and immobilize him in front of the synagogue, whereupon the golem fell in pieces. The Golem's body was stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue , where it would be restored to life again if needed. Rabbi Loew then forbade anyone except his successors from going into the attic. Rabbi Yechezkel Landau , a successor of Rabbi Loew, reportedly wanted to go up

3895-679: The Abolition of Slavery also prohibits serfdom as a practice similar to slavery. Social institutions similar to serfdom were known in ancient times . The status of the helots in the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta resembled that of the medieval serfs. By the 3rd century AD, the Roman Empire faced a labour shortage. Large Roman landowners increasingly relied on Roman freemen, acting as tenant farmers, instead of slaves to provide labour. These tenant farmers , eventually known as coloni , saw their condition steadily erode. Because

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3990-711: The Adverse Adepts/Contrary Citizens due to the denial of his "forbidden relationship" with Fleta in Out of Phaze . Mach learns magic from the book of magic to become the robot adept. In the end, Mach and Bane have a contest across the frames, and Mach wins, putting both Mach and Bane on the side of the Adverse Adepts/Contrary Citizens. This book chronicles the adventures of the children of Mach/Fleta (Flach) and Bane/Agape (Nepe). Each has powers derived from both their parents. The bug-eyed monsters (BEMs) attempt to take over Phaze. Lysander, an alien mind in

4085-569: The Brown Adept makes and animates golems while the White Adept performs magic by drawing sigils in the ground. Not only are Adepts able to achieve almost anything through their magic, only they are powerful enough to magically affect resistant creatures such as unicorns and animalheads. As a rule, Adepts cannot harm or otherwise affect another Adept through magic for very long; however, a group of them working in concert can usually overpower

4180-665: The Chinese Qing dynasty (1644–1912) as also maintaining a form of serfdom. Melvyn Goldstein described Tibet as having had serfdom until 1959, but whether or not the Tibetan form of peasant tenancy that qualified as serfdom was widespread is contested by other scholars. Bhutan is described by Tashi Wangchuk, a Bhutanese civil servant, as having officially abolished serfdom by 1959, but he believes that less than or about 10% of poor peasants were in copyhold situations. The United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on

4275-456: The Citizens and serfs, Proton is home to advanced robots, some of which are self-aware and possess their own free will . As the series opens it is not common knowledge that some robots are self-willed . Humanity has also made contact with alien species, some members of which make their homes on Proton as well. The main pastime of Proton inhabitants is The Game . When two persons want to play

4370-693: The French. Status-wise, the bordar or cottar ranked below a serf in the social hierarchy of a manor, holding a cottage , garden and just enough land to feed a family. In England, at the time of the Domesday Survey, this would have comprised between about 1 and 5 acres (0.4 and 2.0 hectares). Under an Elizabethan statute , the Erection of Cottages Act 1588 , the cottage had to be built with at least 4 acres (0.02 km ; 0.01 sq mi) of land. The later Enclosures Acts (1604 onwards) removed

4465-518: The Ghetto of Prague , English edition 1925. The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906 cites the historical work Zemach David by David Gans , a disciple of the Maharal, published in 1592. In it, Gans writes of an audience between the Maharal and Rudolph II: "Our lord the emperor ... Rudolph ... sent for and called upon our master Rabbi Low ben Bezalel and received him with a welcome and merry expression, and spoke to him face to face, as one would to

4560-515: The Golem. Rosenberg claimed that the book was based upon a manuscript that he found in the main library in Metz. Wonders of Maharal "is generally recognized in academic circles to be a literary hoax". Gershom Sholem observed that the manuscript "contains not ancient legends, but modern fiction". Rosenberg's claim was further disseminated in Chayim Bloch's (1881–1973) The Golem: Legends of

4655-403: The Maharal himself did not refer to the Golem in his writings. Rabbi Yedidiah Tiah Weil (1721–1805), a Prague resident, who described the creation of golems, including those created by Rabbis Avigdor Kara of Prague (died 1439) and Eliyahu of Chelm, did not mention the Maharal. Rabbi Meir Perils' biography of the Maharal published in 1718 does not mention a golem. A similar tradition relates to

4750-536: The Prague ghetto from antisemitic attacks and pogroms ". Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor . The Golem was called Josef and was known as Yossele. He was said to be able to make himself invisible and summon spirits from the dead. Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem on Friday evenings by removing

4845-536: The Prague Golem were: A few slightly earlier examples are known, in 1834 and 1836. All of these early accounts of the Golem of Prague are in German by Jewish writers. They are suggested to have emerged as part of a Jewish folklore movement parallel with the contemporary German folklore movement. The origins of the story have been obscured by attempts to exaggerate its age and to pretend that it dates from

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4940-721: The Prussian States in 1792 and finally abolished it in October 1807, in the wake of the Prussian Reform Movement . In Finland, Norway, and Sweden, feudalism was never fully established, and serfdom did not exist; in Denmark, serfdom-like institutions did exist in both stavn s (the stavnsbånd , from 1733 to 1788) and its vassal Iceland (the more restrictive vistarband , from 1490 until 1894). According to medievalist historian Joseph R. Strayer ,

5035-533: The Tourney on Proton, leading to her expulsion from both worlds. Years of mining for the high-energy mineral "Protonite" has left an imbalance between Proton and its sister world, Phaze. To restore the balance, Citizen/Adept Stile must juxtapose the frames and transfer "Phazeite" from Phaze to Proton, or the two worlds will both be destroyed. However, he faces resistance from the Contrary Citizens and Adverse Adepts who stand to lose considerable power if he

5130-638: The acceptance of the lord to whose manor they proposed to migrate to. Villeins were generally able to hold their own property, unlike slaves. Villeinage, as opposed to other forms of serfdom, was most common in Continental European feudalism, where land ownership had developed from roots in Roman law . A variety of kinds of villeinage existed in Europe in the Middle Ages. Half-villeins received only half as many strips of land for their own use and owed

5225-489: The annual Protonite production equal to about one kilogram at the moment of Citizenship. (Assuming, of course, that the winner is not a Citizen already.) Other Tourney participants who last until the final rounds are rewarded by being allowed to stay a serf on Proton for an additional term of years. Not only do Citizens participate in the Game, they also wager vast sums amongst themselves in any conceivable fashion. However, should

5320-514: The body of Rabbi Loew's Golem still lies in the synagogue's attic. When the attic was renovated in 1883, no evidence of the Golem was found. Some versions of the tale state that the Golem was stolen from the genizah and entombed in a graveyard in Prague's Žižkov district , where the Žižkov Television Tower now stands. A recent legend tells of a Nazi agent ascending to the synagogue attic, dying under suspicious circumstances thereafter. The attic

5415-418: The books, Stile plays a Naked/Arts round in interpretive dance , while later on the same category produces extemporaneous poetry. Chance/Tool covers board and card games, among others. Most sports are under Physical, but so is Tiddlywinks. Due to the wide variety of contests available, any given round could take any one of thousands of forms. In choosing categories for the Game and then particular contests once

5510-570: The centuries, it has been used to connote war, community, isolation, hope, and despair." In modern popular culture, the word has become generalized, and any crude anthropomorphic creature devised by a sorcerer may be termed a "golem". There may be metal golems, such as Talos , or stone golems, e.g., in Dungeons and Dragons . The word golem occurs once in the Bible , in Psalm 139:16, which uses

5605-497: The ceremony of homage where a vassal placed his hands between those of his overlord . These oaths bound the lord and his new serf in a feudal contract and defined the terms of their agreement. Often these bargains were severe. A 7th-century Anglo Saxon "Oath of Fealty" states: By the Lord before whom this sanctuary is holy, I will to N. be true and faithful, and love all which he loves and shun all which he shuns, according to

5700-649: The concept of feudalism can also be applied to the societies of ancient Persia , ancient Mesopotamia , Egypt from the late Old Kingdom through the Middle Kingdom ( Sixth to Twelfth dynasty ), Islamic-ruled Northern and Central India , China ( Zhou dynasty and end of Han dynasty ) and Japan during the Shogunate . Wu Ta-k'un argued that the Shang-Zhou fengjian were kinship estates, quite distinct from feudalism. James Lee and Cameron Campbell describe

5795-579: The contemporary city with a short satirical poem on a pair of golems turning human. A Yiddish and Slavic folktale is the Clay Boy, which combines elements of the golem and The Gingerbread Man , in which a lonely couple makes a child out of clay, with disastrous or comical consequences. In one common Russian version, an older couple, whose children have left home, make a boy out of clay and dry him by their hearth. The Clay Boy ( Russian : Гли́няный па́рень , Glínyanyĭ párenʹ ) comes to life; at first,

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5890-608: The cottars' right to any land: "before the Enclosures Act the cottager was a farm labourer with land and after the Enclosures Act the cottager was a farm labourer without land". The bordars and cottars did not own their draught oxen or horses. The Domesday Book showed that England comprised 12% freeholders, 35% serfs or villeins, 30% cotters and bordars, and 9% slaves. Smerdy were a type of serfs above kholops in Medieval Poland and Kievan Rus' . Kholops were

5985-424: The duties of serfdom, people bound themselves and their progeny. The social class of the peasantry can be differentiated into smaller categories. These distinctions were often less clear than suggested by their different names. Most often, there were two types of peasants: Lower classes of peasants, known as cottars or bordars , generally comprising the younger sons of villeins; vagabonds; and slaves, made up

6080-453: The inhabitants are serfs . Serfs must be employed by a Citizen and remain naked at all times unless ordered otherwise by a Citizen. A Citizen has complete authority over his serfs and may order them to do anything he desires. The weakest among them have wealth to rival medieval kings. Serfs, however, are not slaves; the serfs of Proton have all chosen serfdom as their occupation (or are descended from those who have). After twenty years of work,

6175-490: The institution persisted until the mid-19th century. In Russia, serfdom gradually evolved from the usual European form to become de facto slavery, though it continued to be called serfdom. In the Austrian Empire , serfdom was abolished by the 1781 Serfdom Patent ; corvées continued to exist until 1848. Serfdom was abolished in Russia in 1861. Prussia declared serfdom unacceptable in its General State Laws for

6270-555: The later Middle Ages, serfdom began to disappear west of the Rhine even as it spread through eastern Europe. Serfdom reached Eastern Europe centuries later than Western Europe – it became dominant around the 15th century. In many of these countries serfdom was abolished during the Napoleonic invasions of the early 19th century, though in some it persisted until mid- or late- 19th century. The word serf originated from

6365-581: The latter. The decline of serfdom in Western Europe has sometimes been attributed to the widespread plague epidemic of the Black Death , which reached Europe in 1347 and caused massive fatalities, disrupting society. Conversely, serfdom grew stronger in Central and Eastern Europe , where it had previously been less common (this phenomenon was known as " second serfdom "). In Eastern Europe,

6460-503: The laws of God and the order of the world. Nor will I ever with will or action, through word or deed, do anything which is unpleasing to him, on condition that he will hold to me as I shall deserve it, and that he will perform everything as it was in our agreement when I submitted myself to him and chose his will. To become a serf was a commitment that encompassed all aspects of the serf's life. The children born to serfs inherited their status, and were considered born into serfdom. By taking on

6555-471: The lower class of workers. The colonus system of the late Roman Empire can be considered the predecessor of Western European feudal serfdom. Freemen, or free tenants , held their land by one of a variety of contracts of feudal land-tenure and were essentially rent-paying tenant farmers who owed little or no service to the lord, and had a good degree of security of tenure and independence. In parts of 11th-century England freemen made up only 10% of

6650-496: The lowest class of serfs in the medieval and early modern Russia. They had status similar to slaves, and could be freely traded. The last type of serf was the slave. Slaves had the fewest rights and benefits from the manor. They owned no tenancy in land, worked for the lord exclusively and survived on donations from the landlord. It was always in the interest of the lord to prove that a servile arrangement existed, as this provided him with greater rights to fees and taxes. The status of

6745-410: The main category is selected, the intelligent player uses his knowledge of his opponent, trying to play to the opponent's weaknesses and his own strengths. Of course, his ability to do so is limited because half the grid is in the opponent's hands. Every year, the top-ranked players are entered into a Tourney . The final winner of the Tourney is immediately made a Citizen and given a small percentage of

6840-400: The manor to maintain their own subsistence. Serfs were often required not only to work on the lord's fields, but also in his mines and forests and to labour to maintain roads. The manor formed the basic unit of feudal society, and the lord of the manor and the villeins , and to a certain extent the serfs, were bound legally: by taxation in the case of the former, and economically and socially in

6935-408: The manorial administration and court baron . It was also a matter of discussion whether serfs could be required by law in times of war or conflict to fight for their lord's land and property. In the case of their lord's defeat, their own fate might be uncertain, so the serf certainly had an interest in supporting his lord. Villeins had more rights and status than those held as slaves, but were under

7030-402: The passage. The amazed student then commented to his teacher that, with such clarity, he should easily be able to create a live human. The Gaon affirmed Rabbi Chaim's assertion and said that he once began to create a person when he was a child, under the age of 13, but during the process, he received a sign from Heaven ordering him to desist because of his tender age. The existence of a golem

7125-578: The peasant population, and in most of the rest of Europe their numbers were also small. Ministeriales were hereditary unfree knights tied to their lord, that formed the lowest rung of nobility in the Holy Roman Empire . A villein (or villain ) represented the most common type of serf in the Middle Ages. Villeins had more rights and higher status than the lowest serf, but existed under a number of legal restrictions that differentiated them from freemen. Villeins generally rented small homes, with

7220-433: The right to gather deadwood – an essential source of fuel – from their lord's forests. In addition to service, a serf was required to pay certain taxes and fees. Taxes were based on the assessed value of his lands and holdings. Fees were usually paid in the form of agricultural produce rather than cash. The best ration of wheat from the serf's harvest often went to the landlord. Generally hunting and trapping of wild game by

7315-483: The royal territories ( królewszczyzny ). "Per household" means that every dwelling had to give a worker for the required number of days. For example, in the 18th century, six people: a peasant, his wife, three children and a hired worker might be required to work for their lord one day a week, which would be counted as six days of labour. Golem A golem ( / ˈ ɡ oʊ l ə m / GOH -ləm ; Hebrew : ‎גּוֹלֶם , romanized :  gōlem )

7410-562: The sages; return to your dust". During the Middle Ages , passages from the Sefer Yetzirah ( Book of Formation ) were studied as a means to create and animate a golem, although little in the writings of Jewish mysticism supports this belief. The earliest known written account of how to create a golem can be found in Sodei Razayya by Eleazar ben Judah of Worms , who lived in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. It

7505-522: The same robot was magically made into a golem , allowing her to operate in both worlds, using electrical power in Proton, and magical power in Phaze. Most humans in Phaze are able to do some minor magic but are not magicians by trade. The exceptions are the Adepts, extremely powerful wizards, each with his or her own special mode of magic use. Most of the Adepts in Phaze are named after colors; for instance,

7600-413: The serfs on the lord's property was prohibited. On Easter Sunday the peasant family perhaps might owe an extra dozen eggs, and at Christmas, a goose was perhaps required, too. When a family member died, extra taxes were paid to the lord as a form of feudal relief to enable the heir to keep the right to till what land he had. Any young woman who wished to marry a serf outside of her manor was forced to pay

7695-469: The series have hollow horns which they use as musical instruments. Each unicorn character described in the books has a distinct instrument. For instance, Clip's horn sounds like a saxophone, while his sister Neysa's horn makes harmonica sounds. One final, important feature of Phaze is the Oracle. Although the actual Oracle is hidden from sight for reasons explained later in the series, it is accessible through

7790-400: The steps to the attic when he was Chief Rabbi of Prague to verify the tradition. Rabbi Landau fasted and immersed himself in a mikveh , wrapped himself in phylacteries and a prayer-shawl and started ascending the steps. At the top of the steps, he hesitated and then came immediately back down, trembling and frightened. He then re-enacted Rabbi Loew's original warning. According to legend,

7885-479: The tax system implemented by Diocletian assessed taxes based on both land and the inhabitants of that land, it became administratively inconvenient for peasants to leave the land where they were counted in the census. Medieval serfdom really began with the breakup of the Carolingian Empire around the 10th century. During this period, powerful feudal lords encouraged the establishment of serfdom as

7980-419: The time of the Maharal. Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg (1859–1935) of Tarłów , before moving to Canada where he became one of its most prominent rabbis, is said to have originated the idea that the narrative dates from the time of the Maharal. Rosenberg published Nifl'os Maharal ( Wonders of Maharal ) ( Piotrków , 1909), which purported to be an eyewitness account by the Maharal's son-in-law, who had helped to create

8075-549: The universe. He then removed the Holy Name that was embedded on his forehead, thus causing him to disintegrate and return to dust. Nonetheless, while he was engaged in extracting the Holy Name from him, the Golem injured him, scarring him on the face." According to the Polish Kabbalist, "the legend was known to several persons, thus allowing us to speculate that the legend had indeed circulated for some time before it

8170-568: The use of the Book of Magic, which contains all forms of Adept magic, Robot and Unicorn and Red Adept 2 are not limited in the method in which they invoke their magic. The Game-champion serf Stile is assaulted on Proton by an unknown enemy, but learns he can escape into a mysterious fantasy world (Phaze). In Phaze he meets Neysa, a unicorn, and learns of his magical legacy as the Blue Adept. Back in Proton he tries to uncover his enemy, while building

8265-422: The value of their labour. Villeinage was much preferable to being a vagabond, a slave, or an unlanded labourer. In many medieval countries, a villein could gain freedom by escaping from a manor to a city or borough and living there for more than a year; but this action involved the loss of land rights and agricultural livelihood, a prohibitive price unless the landlord was especially tyrannical or conditions in

8360-477: The village were unusually difficult. In medieval England, two types of villeins existed – villeins regardant that were tied to land and villeins in gross that could be traded separately from land. In England, the Domesday Book , of 1086, uses bordarii (bordar) and cottarii ( cottar ) as interchangeable terms, cottar deriving from the native Anglo-Saxon tongue whereas bordar derived from

8455-408: The word גלמי ( golmi ; 'my golem', 'my light form', 'raw material' ) to connote the unfinished human being before God's eyes. The Mishnah uses the term to refer to someone who is unsophisticated: "Seven characteristics are in an uncultivated person, and seven in a learned one" ( שבעה דברים בגולם ). In Modern Hebrew , golem is used to mean 'dumb', 'helpless', or ' pupa '. Similarly, it

8550-454: The work he had to perform on his own lands: when the lord's crops were ready to be harvested, so were his own. On the other hand, the serf of a benign lord could look forward to being well fed during his service; it was a lord without foresight who did not provide a substantial meal for his serfs during the harvest and planting times. In exchange for this work on the lord's demesne, the serfs had certain privileges and rights, including for example

8645-482: Was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery . It developed during late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages in Europe and lasted in some countries until the mid-19th century. Unlike slaves , serfs could not be bought, sold, or traded individually, though they could, depending on the area, be sold together with land. Actual slaves, such as

8740-531: Was believed that golems could be activated by an ecstatic experience induced by the ritual use of various letters of the Hebrew alphabet forming a shem (any one of the names of God ), wherein the shem was written on a piece of paper and inserted in the mouth or into the forehead of the golem. In some tales (including certain stories of the Chełm and Prague golems), a word such as אמת ( emét , 'truth')

8835-524: Was committed to writing and, consequently, we may assume that its origins are to be traced to the generation immediately following the death of R. Eliyahu, if not earlier." The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel , the late 16th-century rabbi of Prague, also known as the Maharal, who reportedly "created a golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava River and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations to defend

8930-456: Was merged with or exchanged for various forms of taxation. The amount of labour required varied. In Poland, for example, it was commonly a few days per year per household in the 13th century, one day per week per household in the 14th century, four days per week per household in the 17th century, and six days per week per household in the 18th century. Early serfdom in Poland was mostly limited to

9025-419: Was reported by a Christian author, Christoph Arnold, in 1674. Rabbi Jacob Emden (d. 1776) elaborated on the story in a book published in 1748: "As an aside, I'll mention here what I heard from my father's holy mouth regarding the Golem created by his ancestor, the Gaon R. Eliyahu Ba'al Shem of blessed memory. When the Gaon saw that the Golem was growing larger and larger, he feared that the Golem would destroy

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