"It's one of the few built-up places which is still mostly Ungol; most of them are still in the north and nomadic, or in tiny stanitsas; the other cities and towns are mainly Gospodar. Most of this isn't ancient, of course, but they match the style where they can."

There's still a lot of foreigners in the cloth market, and a lot of variation in the products.

He looks over the fabrics. He's expecting a mix of both higher and lower quality fabrics than back home but generally in relatively low amounts.

"Makes sense people tend to care a lot about preserving their culture."

It's a lot by contemporary standards, but yes, not relative to anyone with the Jacquard loom.

"In most ways we're one country, but yes, there are still large differences in other ways. The boyars* like it that way."

Going along the inside of the inner walls takes them east and north, into another district where the foreigners are rarer and the buildings more of a mix of styles, less rich (about like the small island) and still mostly Ungol.

*Hereditary nobility, as opposed to nominally-elected ones or the tzars

"I'm not surprised politics is like that."

"We're still better than some. Most, even. And the tzarina has been trying to elevate some of the Ungols to power, which would help. But it's not a place I'm proud of us."

They approach another gate and a lot more of the French-looking guys show up. Most are in relatively poor health even by the standards of those around them. A few have chainmail and steel helmets, better health, escorts of several others looking servile, and some of the haughtiest expressions you've ever seen.

"Speaking of the 'most', we're passing the Bretonnian Quarter now. It's mostly their lower classes who serve on ships and get here, but you can recognize the few nobility demonstrating their legal right to wear plate armor. Even when there's no danger nearby to make it useful."

"I wouldn't expect plate armor to be that useful with guns around. I suppose you don't have armor piercing rounds if you're still using muskets though."

"Rodney."

"Right, sorry. It's not like I explained how to make them or anything though."

"Guns are illegal in Bretonnia. Even cannons. The code of chivalry forbids them to knights, and peasants aren't allowed to manufacture things."

"That seems like it might backfire if the enemies you told us about are also theirs. Though I guess you did say that sometimes guns are less effective than they should be."

"I'm sure it does, but our enemies rarely have guns. And, to be fair: discounting the elves, Bretonnian knights are indisputably the world's best heavy cavalry. Their horses are treated better than their peasants, and their nobles do nothing but pray and train. Even before they earn the personal blessings of their goddess and live for centuries, they may only have one trick but it hits like cannonfire."

"Ah, living for centuries and endlessly practicing does sound like a good way to get very skilled at something."

"It's not that many of them that get it, but striving to achieve it is a cultural obsession. Also their horses were probably interbred with the elven magebred lines and pegasi, I assume that helps."

"Pegasi? You mean you have real flying horses? What does it mean for a horse to be part Pegasus?"

"Oh yes. Supposedly the Druchii have a bat-winged flesh-eating kind as well. Intensely magical, of course, everything larger than an albatross that flies is. I'd guess the heritage makes them lighter on their hooves and slower to tire, but it's subtle enough that I couldn't say. Maybe also making them cleverer and picky about their riders, but that may just be unicorns."

"We have myths about unicorns and pegasi on our world it's a very odd coincidence that they're real here. I guess flying horses could just be an artifact of translation but unicorns are stranger. Our myths say they're creatures of exceptional purity with a preference for morally pure people. Some of the stories also have them care about whether people have had sex but I don't know how common that is. I haven't read about the myths in depth. Oh and of course they have one long horn growing out of their forehead above their eyes. How similar are the real ones here?"

"...Much too similar for coincidence. They almost always reject men as riders and strongly prefer female mages, but there are no stories of any of those turning to the bad; fighting others who ride unicorns, sometimes, but not falling to corruption magical or mundane. Evil magic is said to roll off them and their riders like water, because of, yes, their purity."

"The preferring women to men is part of our legends too. I wonder where the common thread is. If our world actually did have those things I'm pretty sure it doesn't have them anymore and nobody's found evidence. On the other hand, it's possible that someone who knew our legends somehow had a hand in shaping your world. We also have stories about Elves and Dwarfs though there have been enough variations that I couldn't guess at whether a match is actually meaningful."

"If someone had a hand in shaping our world I would very much like to confront them and issue some complaints. If not some bullets."

"Ah, yes I suppose that would be fair."

"Leaving aside anger at our possibly-existent and almost certainly absent creator. It could also go the other way, our people occasionally finding their way to your world and bringing legends with them."

"Ah yes, we've established that travel between is possible. If there is a pattern, it's a good sign that there's a way for us to get home."

"What can be done by accident with magic can usually be done on purpose eventually, though getting there is unsafe enough it's rarely tried. I hope it works."

"Thank you, I hope it does too." Rodney is humble enough not to assert it will. This is after all an entirely unfamiliar field he has no grounding in. Some humility is in order here.

And on that optimistic note, here's the far shore of the island and their bridge.

"We'll be in the Grand Market as soon as we cross the bridge. They don't mind browsers who aren't buying, but don't interfere with anyone who is. And beware pickpockets, obviously."