This challenge is based on Morbid's Ultimate Decades Challenge. It is a very involved challenge, and there are also spreadsheets (a blank one is available in the challenge write up), to track your family's progress, and also to keep track of what "year" it is. For instance, year 1300 lasts a mere 4 sim days. And, there are certain restrictions that come with the time period you are working on, such as what harvestables you can grow, and restrictions on items you can't use during that time period (for instance, in 1300, there was no electricity, so you can't have a tv). This challenge is not for the faint of heart. as it involves "death rolls" to coincide with what could have happened to your sim during a certain time period (disease, etc.). For someone who gets very attached to their sims, this, in itself will be a challenge for me.
Most gamers play this challenge with mods and cc; however, I won't be. This will be played as a vanilla game. I have, however, up-dated all the builds in the world I will be playing in to reflect off-the-grid builds. Some builds have been replaced and new builds have been downloaded from the gallery. For this time period, I have chosen to live in Henford-on-Bagley, and most of the residents' clothing has been updated; however, I can't account for those random townies' clothing, or sims from other worlds popping in. @Snarkysims has actually re-done Henford-on-Bagley as a Medieval World, and I have used some of her builds in my gameplay. Additional medieval builds have been placed in Newcrest. Not quite the same as you can see modern buildings in the background, but I had an overflow of lots that I wanted to use, and that is where I placed them.
I love that they had an egg hunt and that you had the King arrange it and everything! And I didn't know that bit of history about it either. Very interesting!
@MayaRose1138 - Thank you for the concern over their lost cow. So far, the cow hasn't shown up, but who knows, right? And until that glitch is fixed, I won't be participating in the cow festival. But now I am worried about the chicken fair, too.
@foxybilly - That is the second time that Agnes has pummeled William...never does anything to Francesca...only William. lol
@simgirl1010 - So glad that you are enjoying my story. Yes, a lot of research went into this challenge. Kudos to Morbid for undertaking it. For this medieval period, it does just center around Anglo-Saxon Europe. However, there are other cultures that could also be explored, such as Japan, India, Africa, etc. In my stories, I always like to do some research on topics. Thank goodness for google. lol I am trying to follow things outlined in the challenge, however, sometimes you have to throw in items or events from The Sims game, too.
@Belalucina - I thought that was kind of cool that I found that snippet about King Edward and the eggs in medieval times, so thought I would incorporate it. And I found some things out myself when egg hunts first started. I am sure that I will find out a lot of neat facts like that while I do this challenge.
@SoulGal7 It's really sad that the festivals are so glitched. I'm actually surprised, that your Sims won some ribbons. I never did and I think there are was some bug concerning this, but maybe it seems to be fixed now...
But it's cool that the CL eggs can be found with the egg hunt, I didn't know that :)
@flauschtrud - I had never completed the Decorative Egg Collection before, so was surprised when it happened. It was actually Bryan who found the last egg that completed the collection. Benedict found the rare egg needed for the collection. I didn't know that they could find other eggs as well, until it popped up that Amelia found a chocolate egg. And I thought it was so cute that little Conrad, who had played in the cupboard, found the freezer bunny egg. While they were at the church, I had William and Francesca search there for eggs as well, so this helped with the collection, but didn't cover that in my story, as I had it as a children's event.
@simgirl1010 - Yes, Colette and Reginald worked out. Poor Colette was willing to give up her own dreams to take care of others., but her uncle wasn't having it. And he certainly wasn't going to wait years for his dear niece to get married. lol And thank you so much for your comments on my love scenes. I try. :)
With an eventful few days behind them, they started off the week with Nugget becoming a full-grown rooster. A black rooster, and Francesca has to give him lots of love.
William was in the garden and tried his hand at some more flower arranging. He was very happy...it was a sunny day...the farm was prospering...he had a wife who he loved dearly...and a wonderful family...with another baby on the way.
He started to daydream about the future...and...oops! maybe William should concentrate on that flower arrangement because he pretty much cut that flower to shreds. Oh well...he would try again.
Life was indeed good for the Fletcher family, but then, of course, the bills came. Luckily they had sufficient funds to cover them.
https://i.postimg.cc/SNywXydV/week-3-bills.png
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
With four children, William and Francesca worked long hours to finish up their chores. It was often William who put the children to bed, and today he finally had a chance to bring in the crib from the barn storage area.
Afterwards, he went out to do some woodworking. William noticed how hard Francesca was working, and it seemed that the laundry was taking a long time to finish. With that in mind, William put up a second laundry line. But even then, Francesca seemed to be doing laundry until late at night. He noticed that she was tiring more lately and had talked to her about possibly having his mother come to help them out. But Francesca said that Gwendolyn had responsibilities of her own, and that Francesca would be fine.
William seemed to be watching Francesca more and more and knew that she was near her time. He seemed to be on high alert, and came running when he heard any little sound that she made.
And then it finally happened. Francesca felt the first pains after dinner on Wednesday. William saw the expression on her face, and immediately went over to massage her shoulders.
Francesca took some deep breaths: "William, it's time, the baby is coming..."
William seemed to be his calm self again, and swiftly went to gather some cloths and put the water on to boil. He also tended to the children and tried to put them to bed, but as soon as he left them, they got out of bed again and played on the floor.
He was going to try putting them to bed again, but he saw Francesca clutch her stomach and she let out an anguished cry. It would have to wait. Francesca needed him more.
William seemed rather overcome with emotion for Francesca and autonomously started to serenade her. Francesca seemed rather surprised. After she fed Conrad and placed him down to play, William came over and kissed her.
When they parted, he held her a bit longer and gazed at her, "My love, my Francesca, I don't tell you enough how much you mean to me. You are my everything, Francesca...and I am so happy that we have another baby together. You are so strong, Francesca, I see it everyday in everything that you do...and I see your strength in giving birth...enduring so much pain...to bring a new life into the world. And even though I know you are a strong woman, I feel a sudden wave of protectiveness and love when I look at you. And I know that I would do anything for you, Francesca, because I love you so much..."
Francesca looked at William, and brushed some tears from her eyes, "William, I never thought that I could love someone the way that I love you...but I do...and each day, I seem to love you more..."
And with that she kissed him on the cheek and William helped her to their bed to rest. He then went back to the cradle and picked up his new daughter and hugged her tightly.
William: "Welcome little Desirae. What bliss you bring to my life...:"(Note: From Whole Heart Sentiment.)
1 Birth - If Francesca gets this number, she dies :(
Francesca 10
5, 10, 15, 20 Babies - If Desirae gets these numbers, she dies :(
Desirae 9
And they both live! :)
Over at the Thatcher Farm, Isabelle was rather concerned. After the last time that she and Thaddeus had been intimate, Isabelle hadn't felt the signs of being with child like she normally did. Isabelle chastised herself for not listening to the women in the Weaver's Guild who had discussed a wife who could not bear children, after which a discussion ensued on various methods to aid conception. One woman advised to mash a bit of mandrake in water and drink it slowly. but since Isabelle had not really had any problems in getting pregnant, she had not really listened carefully and was unsure if both the husband and wife were supposed to drink this concoction. Another woman advised that if you went to a "stone-keeper" and held the sacred stone, that a child would be called forth and enter your womb. And, finally, another woman, who had borne 16 children herself, had said that eating more fish and eggs was the key.
Isabelle realized that she had done none of these things and feared the worst. She got a needle from her needlework basket and a bowl from the kitchen and went into the bathroom. She had seen her mother do this when she was younger. It was a test to determine if one was with child. After peeing in the bowl, Isabelle inserted the needle in it. She held her breath, but there was no color change. She was not with child as she had feared.
Isabelle cleaned the items and then had an idea. She went over to Thaddeus and asked him if he might catch some fish for dinner, which he was happy to do.
After a dinner of fish, eggs and bread, Isabelle felt that tonight was the night. So, after the children were in bed, she and Thaddeus were...well...you know...um...several times. And...she might not have been expecting before...but she is now! Another nooboo is on the way. Yes!
For the Spring Easter Festival holiday, the game automatically decorated the farm, and the decorations stayed up for a few days.
As Francesca and Isabelle had both woohooed on St. Valentine's Day, I figured that Isabelle would give birth the same night. When I went to worldview, I didn't see that a baby had been born at their house, and figured that I would get there in time for Isabelle's birth. Well, the thing was, she wasn't in labor, her stomach was flat. and she had no baby moodlet. And when I clicked on the toilet it gave an option to take a pregnancy test, which she did, and then found out she wasn't pregnant at all. This led to the whole research I did on medieval pregnancy tests and folklore on ways to get pregnant. So, even if you try for baby, you might not get pregnant. Isabelle rolled 6 attempts to get pregnant, and so this is now her 5th attempt.
Pregnancy tests have been done throughout history, and were sometimes done in medieval times. "Many variations of tests using urine have been found throughout history. Indeed, in a number of medical recipes from the medieval period onwards, a needle placed in a woman’s urine was said to turn red or black if she was pregnant." Read more about the History of Pregnancy Tests HERE.
Mandrake is said to be a natural aphrodisiac, and was used in medieval times to conceive. The full article is HERE.
Again with the interesting tidbits I didn't know! Fascinating about the pregnancy test and the mandrakes. Congrats on another baby and congrats to Isabelle and Thaddeus as well!
Or perhaps Isabelle is not well, or something had happened between Isabelle and Bryan. Francesca hoped that her sister would not go into labor during her visit.
When they had been at the Finchwick Cow Festival, Francesca had seen a notice at the Gnome's Arms Pub of a horse competition being held this week. Since she was not expecting, and after talking it over with William, she decided to enter. William was concerned with the weather and hoped that Francesca would be alright.
Later that night, there was a knock on the door, and one of the knights from the Knight's Stronghold was there. Sir InVain was delivering a special message from King Edward.
Francesca lifted Desirae from her cradle. Desirae had grown so much, and Francesca was having a hard time knowing that her youngest child would be aging up to an Infant today.
Thaddeus was giving Leopold some cuddles after Isabelle had fed him, and Leopold let out a soft burp. Leopold had gotten so big and today he was aging up to a toddler.
And here he is in CAS as an adorable toddler. Leopold rolled the Angelic trait. I love this hairstyle on him.
https://i.postimg.cc/65nT5PRf/EOPOLD-ANGELIC.png
https://i.postimg.cc/rmDJzMgZ/LEOPOLD.png
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Notes:
Death Rolls:
4, 8 - Toddler - If anyone gets these numbers, they die :(
Conrad 10
Leopold 3
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
12, 16, 18 - Infant - If anyone gets these numbers, they die :(
Desirae 9
And they all live!
About The Sims 4 Creative Corner
Share screenshots, stories, builds, custom creations, mods, challenges, and funny moments in our Sims 4 Creative Corner.
